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                      Lone Starfarer                       
                   -by Strangest Things-                   
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                   Chapter 1: Departure                    
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Chapter 1: Departure
The first thing he noticed was the smell. The God-awful metallic tang that came with navy-grade recycled air. Lieutenant Matthias Hendrix scrunched his nose and eyes reflexively before vigorously rubbing them with a hand and pulling that hand down his clean-shaven face. Before even opening his sleep-filled eyes, Matthias swung his upper body around into a hunched forward sitting position and stretched his back and arms, the thin blanket falling onto his legs. Rubbing his eyes one last time, he finally opened them to darkness. Soft green lights of various panels in the room before him were the only things his eyes could make out. Taking a moment to stretch his legs, Matthias tapped a finger against where he instinctively knew his bedside clock would be in the upper right corner, its dim red lights displayed “04:59”.
“Shit,” Matthias muttered under his breath. The clock advanced one minute, and the lights in his small officer’s quarters immediately blazed to life. Matthias hissed in response to the unwelcome stimuli, his eyes reflexively squeezed shut. For a moment Matthias didn’t move, his chin now pushing into his chest. He sighed to himself and forced his eyes open while leaning forward and grabbing the edge of his sleeping pod before pulling himself up and out. Stretching once more, he quickly set about getting ready for the morning. Donning his blue and gray battle dress uniform, and putting on his boots and service cap, Matthias stepped out of his room into the hallway.
0600, or as it was now 0613, was the quietest station 247 would ever get, as the overnight crews prepared to make the official hand-off at 0630. Of course, quiet was relative. Voices of service members echoed through the thin interior plating, HVAC ducts roared with their pressurized payload, and various tools could be heard clanging and driving at various tasks. The Mcmiller class exploration forward operating base—or eFOB as its inhabitants liked to call it—was as versatile and as modular as the Navy could design and that often meant assembly and work continued well after it was declared habitable. Very rarely did the Navy bother with creature comforts such as port holes or observation decks that weren’t strictly functional, but if they ever did, Matthias was willing to bet many credits that no matter where you looked at station 247 you would see at least three SRVs towing some component or another.
Despite being as busy as it was, station 247 would be relatively small compared to the 246 McMiller class eFOBs that came before it. Only three jump points were detected in this system, and one of them didn’t seem to lead to anything significant. Despite the somewhat disheartening find, the 14th Galactic Exploration Task Force personnel attacked their assignments with the same vigor they have always possessed. Station 247 achieved operational status just two months after its commissioning and was mission-capable just two weeks after that.
Last week saw a major boost in morale as Anvil Carracks 226 Journeyman and 519 Void Cutter arrived. The maintenance crews were really happy about that. Matthias had piloted his assignment here. Somewhat lackluster compared to its larger cousins, Anvil Terrapin 579 was just as vital to mission success as Journeyman and Void Cutter. At least that was what Matthias echoed in his mind. In truth, Matthias was somewhat disappointed he didn’t receive an assignment aboard either of the much more impressive exploration ships. He wasn’t expecting a command but he did hope to be piloting one of the sub-capital ships. “Grace and gratitude,” Matthias chided himself internally as he half-returned a salute to a passing service member who snapped to attention at his approach. And of course, everything had picked up in a major way just yesterday as a huge final shipment had arrived. Docking port number one’s direction room had been overcrowded as that ship had arrived. A massive MISC Hull-E had made that delivery and it was a sight to behold. The pictures didn’t do that ship justice.
Finally reaching his destination, the officer’s mess, Matthias stepped through the sliding door and removed his service cap. Instead of the ReadyMeals that had to fight for space aboard various Starlifters that were usually bringing everything the rapidly growing station would need, the full-service synthesizer was finally able to be put through its paces as one of the massive cargo arms that the Hull-E had was dedicated to foodstuffs. Matthias had never thought a plate of re-hydrated eggs and sausages would bring a smile to his face but it was hard to resist after almost eight days of ReadyMeals.
The lone door to the mess slid open with a hiss, revealing a man in his late twenties wearing a pressed navy uniform, the blue velvet of the chest contrasted by the fabric of the charcoal gray pants, proudly standing on either shoulder’s black patches were two silver inverted chevrons indicating the rank of the newly arrived Lieutenant Commander.
Matthias immediately stood at attention. “Commander Sterov, sir,” he greeted. Sterov and Matthias both saluted briefly.
“As you were Lieutenant Hendrix,” Sterov said, before moving to the synthesizer. Matthias returned to his meal half-heartedly, knowing the question that was coming. There was a clunk of cutlery on porcelain.
“BDUs Matt?” Sterov asked.
“I find they’re more comfortable than the uniform,” Matt said with a shrug. This wasn’t the question he was dreading.
“It may not seem all that important, but today will be your first command. Everyone starts somewhere, and you should look the part,” Sterov half assured him and half-chided him with a smile.
“Terrapin regulations require that a user wear a vacuum-rated suit at all times when the craft is outside of a habitable environment,” Matt countered.
“Are we on board your Terrapin right now?” Sterov snorted with a raised eyebrow. "That definitely isn't vacuum rated," he said gesturing to Matt's clothes with a fork.
“No, but it’s easier to change out of this,” Matt said between bites. “I’m bringing all of it with me anyway. I’ll be ready if we’re to have a parade at the outset of an empty jump point,” Matt’s voice held a mirthful bitterness to it.
“You know…” Sterov began. Matt had been dreading this question.
“I could delay our collective departure,” Sterov continued. “There’s still a chance for you to become a pilot aboard Void Cutter, it wouldn’t be that hard either. You may lose your first command position, but pilots do act as FOs aboard Carracks. I could easily recommend you for a position of command after. What do you say?”
So badly Matt wanted to say yes but at the same time, he didn’t want some other lieutenant to get stuck with this, or even worse be the reason the expedition was delayed getting a third Carrack out here. The 14th was lucky to have gotten two as quickly as it did.
“I appreciate the offer, Jack. But I’ll pass. Junior Lieutenant Calleban can only get so much experience from the simulators the Navy has. Unfortunate that they passed on MicroTech’s Simpods,” Matt said.
“Well, you know the old saying,” Jack said, a knowing smile forming on his face.
“Do more with less,” they said in unison. A beat passed before they started laughing together.
The door opened again, revealing a young man. His single yellow inverted chevron almost gleamed in the harsh sterile lights of the mess hall.
“Good morning sirs!” he greeted enthusiastically while stepping to attention.
“Lieutenant Calleban, good morning to you too,” Jack said with a smile.
“We’re all friends here Calleban, you can dispense with the pleasantries,” Matt said while motioning him over. Lieutenant Calleban’s smile widened at that as he strode over and joined the lone table.
“Calleban, you’re to be the pilot of Void Cutter, correct?” Matt asked. He knew the answer already, but it was good to get the new guy talking.
“Yes Sir!” Calleban replied enthusiastically. “I’m grateful and excited for my first real assignment.”
“Just call me Matt while we’re in here,” Matt said with a shake of his head.
“Understood, Matt,” Calleban replied while vigorously nodding.
“Lieutenant Matthias Hendrix, report to ready room one. Repeat: Lieutenant Matthias Hendrix, report to ready room one,” a monotone voice called over the station PA.
Matt stood with a grunt. “That’s my cue,” he said, gathering his plate and depositing it in the central dish receptacle. “Just don’t get too comfortable Calleban. The good commander Sterov here can be a real taskmaster of a skipper,” Matt joked. Jack rolled his eyes and Calleban’s smile wavered just a little.
“He’s joking,” Jack assured the young lieutenant as Matt donned his service cap and walked out of the officer’s mess.
The halls of the station were much busier now. Glancing down at the thin piece of silvery metal on his wrist that was his MobiGlass, Matt regarded the holographic display with some disbelief. It reported that he and Sterov had been eating together for nearly an hour. The ready room wasn’t far, just three sections over. But Matt still picked up his pace.
Despite Matt’s outward smiles and salutes, his feet felt as if they were encased in stone. His first command. Nearly six months of just floating in the vast emptiness of deep space, waiting for the jump point to reopen. Station 247 would continue to grow in his absence and when the jump point reopened they would have it stabilized. At least that was the idea. But the long-range sensors had said there was absolutely nothing out there. He wanted that to be false on some level, but internally he knew it wasn’t. Sure the sensors would always miss minute details, but if anything was physically there they would pick it up.
Coming to the sliding door that read “RDY ROOM 01” Matt paused for the doors to open automatically. Once they did, he crossed the threshold into an empty assembly hall with rows of unoccupied seats set before a raised platform with multiple displays on the back wall.
Matt briskly walked towards the platform and held his MobiGlass against the silver indentation in the otherwise uniform back wall. A beep sounded as all of the screens sprung to life. “LT. HENDRIX … TRANSMISSION READY” the central screen read.
“Execute,” Matt said.
The screen went dark before switching to a loading icon. Instead of being on but with no display, the right screen now read various commands and responses the system was running through. Finally, the right screen read “CONNECTION OK” before going blank. On the central screen a middle-aged man, perhaps in his mid-forties gazed on his face neutral. Behind him, the insignia of the UEE Navy. Golden letters spelling out “UEE” on a blue orb which itself sat on top of a ribbon that turned into a simplified illustration of wings. The golden border which the wings spilled out over stretched at the top to fit “NAVY” in blue and at the bottom to fit “United In Purpose” in white. The insignia which normally served as a source of pride for every service member felt large and looming on its plain white wall. Matt snapped to the position of attention.
“Vice Admiral Davis, it’s a pleasure,” Matt said while rendering a salute, his voice neutral.
“Lieutenant Hendrix, likewise,” Davis said, returning the salute. There was a pause.
“Lieutenant,” Davis began. “I’ve seen your record. You’re incredibly thorough, and I’ve little doubt in my mind that your talents are above a Terrapin in deep space. You’ve probably combed through the preliminary written briefing a few times now.”
“Five times, but who’s counting?” Matt thought to himself while schooling his expression.
“Originally this call was supposed to inform you that the assignment of a lieutenant and a Terrapin in deep space was an oversight and a gross misallocation of valuable resources,” Davis said, his small accent coming out as his words picked up speed. “You would have been put on standby for further orders, but the situation has changed. Five hours ago sensors picked up an unknown energy burst coming from the predicted outset of the jump point you’ve been assigned to. We’ve had our best minds slamming their heads at the data since we got it but they’ve so far come up empty. Your mission remains unchanged, but I want to remind you that this is your command. You are free to use your discretion and I encourage you to do so. Do you have any questions, Lieutenant?”
Matt pursed his lips. “No sir,” he said after a moment.
“Very well Lieutenant. I wish you the best of luck,” The vice admiral said, his arm shifted and the screen cut out.
“TRANSMISSION END”
Matt let out a mixed sigh before holding his MobiGlass against the silver indentation on the wall. A long beep sounded and all three screens went dark. The room lights that had automatically dimmed without him noticing came back up to full strength.
Matt walked briskly down from the speaking area, through the rows of seats, and turned away from the door that led back into the hallway. He instead turned right and walked through a door frame into a room with rows of lockers and benches. He turned at the first row, walking down to a locker with ”006” painted on its front. The digital display below read his name and had an outline of a hand, indicating where to place his own. Doing so caused the locker to spring open, and the interior lights flickered to life as the exterior screen went dark. Inside the locker was a black and gray undersuit, a black and gray set of armor with a matching backpack, and finally an armored helmet with an uplink transmitter of the same color scheme. Matt blinked owlishly at the contents before his face morphed into a scowl. Someone higher up on the command chain decided his UEE flight suit and helmet wouldn’t be good enough. With a huff, Matt removed his service cap and began removing his BDUs.
The undersuit was somewhat difficult to put on, as he hadn’t used one since before basic. This undersuit seemed to combine the benefits of a vacuum-rated armored undersuit with those of a flight suit designed to keep the blood in your head during sudden changes in flight direction and acceleration. All in all, the undersuit was tight. Tight and bulky. The videos he had seen of Earth’s penguins came to mind as he waddled around trying to get used to the foreign suit. Next came the armor pieces. These were simple enough. A collared chest plate with a flexible lower section for his abdomen and securing buckles. A strap that went over his shoulder came with a multitude of tools already attached. Then came clam-shell thigh and shin guards, as well as separate pieces that covered his kneecaps and his feet. Continuing, he put on a pair of rounded, small shoulder pauldrons that connected to a pair of upper arm bands each featuring a metal plate with a single silver inverted chevron that physically raised on the plates rather than being painted on. Finally, he pulled on the forearm-length gloves that featured a pair of formed metal plates and intricate metal plating for the back of his hand and fingers. He then picked up his earlier discarded MobiGlass and snapped it back onto his left wrist. It fit snugly in between the plating atop his forearm and the back of his hand.
Giving his left hand one last experimental flex, Matt turned to face the helmet he still had yet to remove from the locker. Its beady lenses stared back lifelessly. The area around the eyes had white lines tracing where the nano-mesh was covered by plating. Matt frowned as his much more full-of-life eyes made their way down to a completely armored facial area. The phrase “faceless superiors” came to mind. He had sworn to himself if were ever to receive a command of his own he would not be an officer who leads from a desk. Grabbing the helmet and pulling it out of the locker, Matt gave it one more once over, spun it around, and tucked it under his right arm, the uplink antenna poking uncomfortably into his armpit. Matt turned awkwardly and spotted his folded BDUs and undershirt sitting patiently underneath his well-worn service cap. With a sigh, Matt hung his head. He then released the mechanism on the helmet by twisting the antenna back, causing the back of the helmet to open on a hinge hidden inside. Pressing the helmet into his face, Matt’s other hand came around and pressed the helmet closed around his neck before twisting the hexagonal base of the antenna back into the upright position. A variety of mechanisms came to life as the helmet resealed itself and connected to his undersuit and armor. Hexagonal micro screens fluttered their borders across his vision to indicate they were all working before displaying the inside of the locker room. A series of commands were running in the lower left corner of his vision as multiple armor systems came online with the helmet now unifying them. Matt took the time to test his neck’s now somewhat limited range of motion. Turning back to the bench his BDUs were on, he picked up the clothes and tucked them under his left arm before he strode quickly out of the locker room, through the back of the still-unoccupied ready room, and out into the hallway, face to helmet with lieutenant commander Sterov.
The two stared at each other for a moment before Matt stepped to the right and rendered a hasty salute. Matt was surprised that the salute was met with first, a raised eyebrow, and then an uncharacteristically dismissive return salute. Sterov filed past while Matt held the salute, still somewhat dumbfounded at Sterov’s perceived odd behavior. Calleban thought the held salute was for him and he paused to return it.
“As you were s-,” Calleban cut himself off when he saw the rank on Matt's pauldrons. “S-sir. So sorry, s-sir!” Calleban scampered off in embarrassment, his cheeks visually flushing red. The four enlisted following him in all snickered at his expense while rendering salutes to Matt, who was only half paying attention.
“Of course he didn’t recognize you, you moron,” Matt berated himself. “He can’t see your face, and you didn’t say anything.” Feeling a little relieved, Matt glanced down at his MobiGlass and noted that H-hour for Journeyman was in a little under an hour.
“Must have used a different ready room,” Matt mused to himself. “Either that or their skipper thinks the crew doesn’t need an in-person briefing.”
Matt made his way through corridors and back into the officer’s quarters section of the eFOB. The door slid open for him automatically, revealing his officer’s quarters exactly as he had left it. Moving to the locker in the wall just opposite of the small table, Matt opened it and pulled out a small sealable container. Opening it revealed his officer’s dress uniform, neatly folded on the bottom. Placing his BDUs on top, Matt sealed the box and began carrying it to hangar seven. His walk was uneventful, and any service members he passed that did notice him and render a salute, only received a nod in kind. His steps were much quieter with the undersuit on.
Making his way to Deck One’s hangar seven through one of the number of lifts on the eFOB, his MobiGlass remotely confirmed his clearance and a heavy pneumatic door at the pad-level entrance opened for him. Passing over large warning signs on the ground which usually said something along the lines of “BEWARE BLAST,” Matt made his way into the hangar proper.
Stepping out from the crew bay, the enormous and primarily yellow space yawned above him. Harsh floodlights burned at the gray ground making his very shadow feel painfully unwelcome. In front of him was the rear of Terrapin 579 in all its ugly glory. Its primary drive arrays were rotated into their VTOL position, and the metal of the cold nozzles gleamed wickedly under the blazing floodlights. Echoing shouts of various out-of-sight maintainers and loaders turned the deceptively still chamber into a cacophony of human labor.
Matt made his way to the port side of the vessel, walking past the composite secondary drive section and the large port-side landing strut. Easily weaving around the aft port primary drive section, he spotted a service member on the open loading ramp. The man was wearing an olive green vacuum-rated jumpsuit and a helmet that had a large transparent section over the face to provide as much view as possible to the user. The five red chevrons on each arm plus the stylized illustration of a balance underneath them told Matt exactly who this was. Petty Officer Mason O’Connelly, loadmaster of Anvil Terrapin 579.
“Loadmaster O’Connelly,” Matt called out, internally noting his voice now sounded muffled and mechanized.
Mason turned to glance over his shoulder and jumped down from the upper section of the loading ramp, his face lighting up with recognition.
“Lieutenant Hendrix, sir,” the man said in a thickly accented baritone whilst snapping to attention and rendering a sharp salute.
Matt nodded in acknowledgment before offering the box to Mason.
“Ah perfect, she’s just about ready to be buttoned up,” Mason said while accepting the package and moving to take it inside. Matt took this moment to take off his helmet and tuck it under his left arm.
“Permission to speak freely sir?” Mason asked as he once again dropped down from the upper section of the ramp rather than walking the distance.
“Granted,” Matt said as he resisted rolling his eyes at the frankly ridiculous request. He wasn’t some admiral staring at a star map and Mason outdid him in the experience department by a decade at least.
“I’d feel a lot better if you kept the helmet on while outside of your ship or the crew bay,” Mason said without hesitation. “Sudden decompression can be a nasty thing, sir.”
Deciding to not make any comment, Matt motioned for Mason to follow him, which he did. Stepping back into the crew bay Matt turned to face Mason, prompting him to stop.
“All set then?” Matt asked, a hand gesturing to the Terrapin.
“Yes sir, all supplies loaded and accounted for. Would you like a copy of the manifest sent to your comm?” Mason responded.
“That won’t be necessary. Thank you,” Matt responded, his gaze wandering to the ship in question.
“Do what you need to do,” Matt said, tearing his gaze away from the ship. “Dismissed.”
Mason rendered another salute, which Matt returned before turning around and heading for the access door.
“OI LADIES, BUTTON UP AND FUCK OFF!” Mason shouted into the hangar as Matt stepped through the threshold, the doors sealing behind him.
Checking his MobiGlass once more, Matt noted that the H-hour for Journeyman and her crew was in 10 minutes. Matt then strode towards the hangar lifts which moved laterally across deck one, rather than vertically like all the other lifts on the station. Selecting hangar four on the screen, the lift closed and jerked sideways. Eventually, the horizontal transport came to an equally sudden stop. Stepping out of the transport, Matt saw the digital display of the large pneumatic door that led to the pad level read “AUTHORIZED ACCESS ONLY.” His stride remained unbroken as he walked to the smaller door that read “CONTROL ROOM” and pushed through the freely swinging door that led to a steel staircase where every ledge was covered in caution tape.
Stepping into the control room revealed a cramped hallway with protective transparent windows. Three controllers dressed in service uniforms wore headsets, each of them communicating with a different part of the ship. The large primary drive section was already active with the telltale blue glow of burning hydrogen fuel.
“Disconnecting power,” A voice from one of the controllers sounded. Matt couldn’t hear any kind of reply but he assumed there was one. Data streams changed as the ship moved to internal power.
“Hangar depressurizing in twenty seconds,” another called. Red hazard lights around the hangar began to spin. A muffled klaxon made it through the wall. A moment passed.
“Depressurizing in ten,” the same operator said. Another moment.
“Beginning depressurization cycle,” The klaxon died off, becoming quieter and quieter as the hangar was starved of atmosphere.
The room was silent save for the soft murmur of ventilation.
A light on the control board turned green.
“Depressurization sequence complete, opening doors.”
There was a clunk heard through the walls as something shifted and engaged. Interlocking mechanisms on the massive doors ahead moved on along their vertical seam, yellow latches the size of a grown man slamming into their housing. The doors began to shift slowly. The first two sections collapsed into the next two. Another clunk reverberated through the walls. More yellow latches slammed home. The second section of the massive hangar doors began to move. There was a third clunk as those fell into the final segments of the doors. Finally, the last segments of the doors finished retracting into the walls that surrounded them.
“Hangar doors opened successfully, strut tethers disengaging now,” a final light, larger than all the others blinked green.
“Journeyman you are clear for launch. Traffic management is not online at this time, continue at your discretion,” the same controller said.
Journeyman’s ventral section came to life, slowly increasing power output. The streams of burning hydrogen grew larger, and the ground underneath the vast array of lift thrusters began to reflect their pale blue burn. The main body of the craft began to rise, slowly easing off its humongous struts. After a long thirty seconds, Journeyman was off the deck. The primary drive array flared briefly and Journeyman started to crawl forward. The massive struts retracted up into the belly of the enormous ship.
Seeing that the show was nearly at an end, Matt decided to take his leave. Pushing off the wall he was leaning on with his hips, he moved quietly to the door and headed down the stairs. As he dropped back down to the lift level, Matt glanced at his MobiGlass and saw that Jack’s H-hour was in thirty minutes. Perhaps more importantly his own was in an hour. Matt debated internally on whether to be more prudent, and head to hangar seven, or to try and say goodbye to Jack at hangar five.
Matt pursed his lips in thought as he pressed the call button for the elevator. Once the elevator arrived he stepped in. His finger hesitated over the section of the touch screen on the interior that read Hangar 5 and then shifted down and selected Hangar 7. He would see Jack again in six months. No use in trying to shirk his mission. He had done enough of that.
Stepping out into the small foyer, the large pad access doors automatically opened at his approach once more. The pad was completely silent now, save for Matt’s muffled footsteps. He trudged on through the blazing floodlights to the port side of the Terrapin, the loading ramp now closed. He then held his MobiGlass against the exterior operating panel which chirped after a few seconds. Stepping back, he brought his MobiGlass up to his chest and tapped the first auxiliary button. There was a hiss of pressuring hydraulics and a whir of an electric motor from inside the ship. The loading ramp detached itself from the upper sealing section and folded out, a secondary segment slid out of the primary portion that sealed the craft from the environment, gently coming to rest on the ground right in front of him. Floodlights came to life and illuminated the ramp and part of the interior which was dark save for the light spilling in from the opening, and a low-level red light that illuminated the floor and sensor station chair. He strode up the ramp into the main cabin and pressed the same button on his MobiGlass, causing the door to close in a reversal of the opening sequence.
Matt was plunged into darkness as his eyes adjusted. The red lights, while still on, were incredibly dim. After about a minute the interior began to resolve itself. Right in front of him, the scanning station’s operator chair was bathed in a red glow, its integrated shoulder harness was up. Just behind it, aft and starboard, was a small kitchenette that appeared to be pre-stocked with foodstuffs. Directly below it was a single bed, and next to that was a standard shower-toilet combination. On the second port side armored section—the one that didn’t act as the door—was an integrated wall locker. Opposite it on the starboard side was sample storage that could be sealed off from the rest of the ship. Continuing to the fore, just next to the sample storage was an armor locker that was flanked by two filled weapons racks. Matt raised an eyebrow at the veritable arsenal he was granted. He then turned and stepped up into the hexagonal walkway filled with various component access points. Matt moved past these briskly, stepping up further into the flight deck. Though closer to a cockpit in design in his own opinion, Anvil Aerospace had been insistent if the labeling on the floor was anything to go by. Matt forwent sitting in the chair and instead reached around it awkwardly for a button that was shining green on the panel of the main electrical board. Pressing this button caused the entire ship to spring to life with a long beep. Fans began to whir, interior lights came on, and various displays sprung to life.
Matt straightened up and then sat down in the pilot’s seat. The seat automatically turned once he had connected the three-point harness, bringing him right up to the dash. The comm panel on his right was already tuned to hangar seven’s control frequency.
“Hangar control this is Terrapin 579, standing by,” Matt said after pressing the transmit button on the screen. The response he got was almost immediate.
“Terrapin 579 continue standing by,” an unknown voice sounded throughout the ship.
Matt did just that. He waited and waited, and waited some more. After what felt like ages to Matt—which in reality was less than forty minutes—the ship’s comm came to life.
“Terrapin 579, you’re cleared for engine start,” a voice came. Matt scrambled in his seat to react. He had been watching a video version of the manual of arms for every weapon that he was granted.
“Terrapin 579 copies all,” Matt said quickly after rather aggressively pressing the transmit button.
Reaching for the engine panel, Matt pressed a glowing green button that said “AUTO START.”
With the button depressed, the lights seemed to dim briefly. There was a roar accompanied by a loud mechanical whine as the engines sprang to life. With various affirmatives appearing on the screen, Matt released the button. The roar of sudden fuel flow reduced to the familiar growl of hydrogen engines as they throttled back down from start-up. Various maneuvering thrusters ran through test fires before reporting their successful function and the primary drive array tested its range of motion by rotating out of VTOL and then back into it.
Reaching down, Matt grabbed his helmet off of the floor next to the chair where he had stashed it and put it on. The familiar start-up sequence ran across his vision as he reached for the transmit button.
“Terrapin 579, requesting launch clearance,” Matt said while turning on his landing lights.
“Standby Terrapin 579. Depressurizing hangar in twenty seconds,” The voice rang out.
From inside the ship, Matt saw the same lights begin to shine and spin. The klaxon much louder now, made its way into the ship.
“Depressurization in ten seconds,” Matt’s grip tightened around the stick in his right and the throttle in his left.
“Depressurizing hangar,” The klaxon began to quiet and the growl of the engines dimmed as atmosphere quickly left the space.
“Depressurization complete. Opening doors,” Matt felt the thud as the massive doors began to move. Not quite as impressive as those that contained Journeyman and Void Cutter, but still massive compared to himself. Slowly but surely they revealed the inky blackness that lay beyond their threshold. Matt couldn’t help but feel a little excited, even though he wasn’t particularly looking forward to the actual assignment.
“Tethers disengaged. Terrapin 579, you are cleared for launch.”
“Clear for launch, Terrapin 579,” Matt responded.
Matt slowly twisted the stick in his right hand outward. The seat pressed up into him from below. He slowly added more thrust until the altitude ribbon moved.
“Launch complete,” the ship’s automated voice said without any hint of emotion.
He let the stick go causing his upward movement to cease. Now hovering, Matt retracted the gear. The large hydraulics hissed and whirred in response.
“Landing gear, raised,” the ship confirmed.
Matt crept the throttle forward, causing the craft to move slowly out. Past the threshold, his engine output suddenly fell. Pressing a switch on his throttle quadrant, the primary drive array swiveled out of VTOL mode.
“Launch successful. Traffic control is not available at this time, continue at your discretion,”
“Terrapin 579 copies all,” Matt responded before changing frequency to the Unicom standard. He pushed the throttles a little more causing the engines to whine in response. The acceleration was laughably slow compared to the Gladius’s he was used to flying. By comparison, Terrapins flew like a brick with rocket motors strapped on. Matt eased the stick back, causing the terrapin to roll along the y-axis, fore to aft. He gave it more throttle and it sluggishly complied with another whine. Matt stopped the rotation of the craft and flipped a switch labeled “Spool Quantum,” something began to whir inside the cabin. Immediately his heads-up display changed, and a small square appeared directly in its center. Below the square read “3.9 Gm,” and “Jump Point #03.” The whirring got louder and was soon accompanied by rapid beeping. On the right of his HUD, thousands of calculations were running back and forth, too fast for him to make out any information. With one final beep, the calculations were replaced with one abbreviated word, “RDY.” The cabin seemed to be charged with power, its buzz permeating the air. With the squeeze of a trigger on his joystick, Matt heard a click followed by a loud whoosh. Space itself seemed to compress in front of him, stretching out as his craft began to creep forward. Clouds, like those of nebulae began to cover his views. Streaks of matter that ripped by, faster and faster, and with increasing frequency formed the image of a tunnel around the Terrapin. With a shudder and a bang, the craft ripped into the void.
Matt leaned back in the stiff pilot’s chair, admiring the swirling colors of quantum travel. This jump wasn’t very long but it was unfortunately long enough that he would get bored, and not long enough to get up and do something meaningful with the time where he wasn’t doing anything. So Matt decided to just sit and wait. After a few minutes of waiting, a whine permeated the space. The distance now read 500 Mm and was rapidly reducing. There was another whoosh and the Terrapin shuddered once more, snapping fully into real space. A dying whine now echoed throughout the interior. Checking his mission clock, Matt noted that he wouldn’t have time to do anything except prepare to jump. His window was due to arrive in thirty seconds.
Matt leaned over the armrest of his seat to one of the multi-function displays and tapped a few times nonchalantly.
“WARNING! WARNING!”
Matt rolled his eyes underneath his helmet at the blaring sound. While it was ill-advised to disable Quantum safeguards, he believed that ships that were designed to explore jump points really should make disabling them easier. A secondary confirmation screen with a timer on the proceed option would easily suffice, as that method was also implemented in this tedious process.
Tapping the now unlocked proceed button, Matt settled back in and brought up his MobiGlass, just watching the seconds pass until the jump point was at its weakest and he could punch through. As soon as his mission clock reached twelve minutes and thirty seconds, he spooled his quantum drive. Like before, it whirred to life. Except now there was no target for him to align to. The right side of his HUD flashed a message in red—“No destination solution”—rather than running through calculations. Eventually though, once the spooling was completed the same section of HUD displayed “RDY.”
Matt glanced back down at his MobiGlass' self-contained mission clock. As soon as it hit thirteen minutes, he squeezed the trigger. A whoosh sounded, the Terrapin shuddered as space appeared to be stretched and squeezed around it, and finally with a bang it was off again. Except this time there was no tunnel. No light existed here. Slowly the clouds of matter that made up real space drifted around and away out of Matt's vision. This was a place beyond the physical realm. There was nothing here. No two ships ever ran into each other in this realm, and if the quantum drive malfunctioned out here a ship would be lost in deep space between systems, without any direction of where it came from or where it was headed. Matt shivered at that thought. He glanced over his shoulder at the quantum drive access hatch behind him and gave a silent prayer to whatever deity would listen.
Matt didn’t know exactly how long it would take to travel through the jump point, but estimates put it at around fifteen minutes. With the estimated travel time in mind, he undid his harness, the seat automatically swinging him around to face the cabin. Making his way through the hexagonal connecting hallway, he moved to the armor locker and began removing the exterior pieces. The whole process was relatively simple, if a little tedious but it felt great to have the restored range of motion without all the added bulk. No matter how much he wished to remove it, the helmet had to stay on per Navy modified Terrapin operation manuals. At least until he was in an environment where the failure of the sealing mechanism didn’t spell certain doom. Which meant, he was going to have to get used to it. And meals would have to be eaten in the toilet shower-combo. For six months. Unlike onboard Carracks where only in two separate areas a Starman had to remain in an EVA capable suit while they were there. Behind his helmet, he gave the single door of the Terrapin a withering glare. At that moment ship shuddered and the quantum drive gave a dying whine.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Matt shouted frantically while holding his hands up as if to placate or reason with the inanimate vessel. Hurrying over to the quantum drive access, he nearly smacked the open button.
“Please don’t be broken, please don—” Matt began to plead with the silent quantum drive but cut himself off. The quantum drive was fine. Every status LED winked green in the darkened alcove.
“Did…? Am I here?” Matt asked himself. If he was he had arrived a few minutes early. Making his way towards the flight deck, he poked his head around the seat. Matt felt his jaw drop underneath his helmet.  
“Is that a fucking star!?”
Author's Note
INCOMING TRANSMISSION  
ORIGIN: SOL SYSTEM  
DECODING
Hello! Thanks for reading! For the four of you who decided to follow me on this site after my first publication (if you didn't just skip to the third paragraph), you may be wondering "Where's Planet Side? Is it coming back?" or "You're alive? Are you alive?" or maybe even "I was sure I killed you last time. How did you manage to survive?"
Well, in order those answers are:   
It's dead.   
Short answer? No. Long answer? Please read the updated author's note in the second chapter. It's a bit lengthy (like this one, go figure) but it explains a lot. (And if you're on this website, you like reading. You don't have an excuse)  
Yes! Isn't it great?  
Calm down, Plato.  
And finally, you've already tried landmines on my morning commute. You did paint them this time, which helped but I was ready for it. >:)
Once again, thank you for taking the time to read this beginning, and I hope it wasn't too boring. It is a bit lengthy. Even lengthier than I imagined it would be when I started. I welcome feedback as I'm always looking to improve and I hope you'll all join me in seeing where this story goes.  
Strangest Things, signing off.
END TRANSMISSION

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                    Chapter 2: Arrival                     
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Chapter 2: Arrival
Matt sat hunched over in the scanner station chair. The well-lit cabin interior showed his uncovered expression was riddled with confusion. His brow furrowed as observed data streamed in. He glanced at the closed loading ramp from the corner of his vision. He snarled as the operation manual came back to him.
“To hell with the regulations! What is this?” Matt asked himself, his expression souring further as the onboard computer scrubbed calculations and tried again to model the system.
As it turned out, the system did not have a star. It had a fragment of a solar core with just enough mass to sustain itself. The system also contained two celestial bodies, each the same mass as the solar fragment.
“They should all be tidally locked, so why are the solar fragment and the other planet all orbiting that one?” Matt thought, bewildered. Hints of anger bled through his thoughts. And why shouldn’t he be angry? This system, which sensors didn’t pick up at all for some reason, seemed to laugh at the very notion of conventional physics. And every time through half of their orbit, there was a small burst of that same unexplainable energy that the sensors had seen.
“Focus,” Matt said aloud as he grabbed his helmet from the floor and donned it. Pressing a button that caused the scanner station’s shoulder harness to release, Matt stood and instinctively stretched just a little.
“I have other mission objectives I need to focus on,” He said to himself. “Other mission objectives” was really only one mission objective. The only directive he was given—other than observe and report—was to set up a comm-triad so he could communicate with and send data to the UEE. While he could accomplish this whenever he wanted, just as long as it was accomplished before the halfway mark, Matt found he really needed something else to do. He lifted one of the storage panels to reveal a large metallic, cylindrical object. Next, he opened the main loading ramp. Atmosphere quickly rushed out as red lights danced on the ceiling. In the lower right corner of his vision, an O2 timer informed him he had an hour of air in his undersuit. Matt walked over to the engineering corridor and opened a panel labeled “GRAV GEN.” He pressed a button on the recessed component, causing green lights on the device to go dark. In response, a multitude of flush thrusters fired all along the undersuit, causing Matt to stay firmly planted on the deck. That is until Matt thumbed a subtle control on the left side of his right index finger. He began to float up, before thumbing the control in a different direction, causing him to strafe back into the main cabin. Changing direction, he floated over the stored comm-triad and stopped. With another subtle movement of his hand, thrusters fired forcing his feet to the deck. Using his leverage, Matt gently pulled the comm-triad out of its storage before disabling the downward push of his suit's thrusters. He readjusted his grip on the comm-triad before thumbing controls, causing the suit to push him back and out into the void.
Matt had only been on a bonafide spacewalk once before. In pilot school, you had to undergo exoatmospheric SERE training. It was something that was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. A thin layer of flexible composite and a helmet were all that separated you from certain death. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Moving to a point he estimated was fifty meters away from the Terrapin, Matt released the comm-triad and began work on setting it up. He set the triad to deploy in thirty minutes, giving him plenty of time to move his terrapin out of the way of the ten-kilometer across relay once it did deploy. Matt drifted back to the terrapin and went about sealing it and turning the gravity generator back on.
Settling back into the pilot's chair, Matt gave the ship a little throttle, causing it to awkwardly begin accelerating. The flying brick that was the terrapin eventually achieved a speed of around 100 m/s, and Matt held this speed for a while to make sure he was well clear of the triad-comm when it deployed. As he continued his burn, the primary body of the system, the planet that the other two bodies seemed to orbit around despite being equidistant and equal in mass, came into view. From this distance, it appeared as a pale blue dot. That was the other thing that irked him. The central body was a Gaia world like Earth. Ideal for the development of carbon-based life. But there were no detectable signs of space-faring life in the system, except for maybe the weird orbits.
“An experiment left behind to make a Gaia world, created by some long-gone race of aliens. Yeah right. It's more likely a practical joke if it was intentional. Which seems more and more likely,” Matt muttered to himself, whilst reaching for his quantum drive controls. He had already taken the liberty of mapping jump points to each celestial body. Aligning to the rocky planet, calculations began to run ensuring a safe jump. With one final beep, Matt squeezed the trigger on his stick and started his brief journey to his target.
The terrapin shuddered to a halt just 600 km shy of the planetary body’s mass shadow. No sooner had the ship come to a stop than Matt sprung into action. Leaving his pilot’s chair, he walked quickly to the scanner station and sat down, the shoulder restraints with mounted screens coming down automatically. The screens came to life with geological and terrain data. This planetary body seemed to be normal at least. There was no atmosphere to speak of, nothing beyond craters and impact furrows that dotted the surface. Strangely enough, the gravitational constant was 0.98 but many small planetary bodies were close to that number. Deeper, focused scans didn’t reveal too much else. The surface was formed most likely by volcanic activity that went dormant a long time ago. The primary compound on the surface was pyroxene with many purer element deposits scattered around.
Matt stood and returned to the pilot’s chair and pushed the throttle forward, burning down to the surface with his thoughts preoccupied. Another interesting fact had become apparent. The main body of the system was saturated with the same strange energy the sensors had picked up and its study would be invaluable. The other planetary body and the solar fragment both had near-non-existent levels by comparison, but the rocky body he was rapidly approaching had significantly more. As Matt closed in on the surface, the onboard sensors quickly established an altitude of 110km and a pitch ladder appeared on his HUD. He pulled the throttle back just a little and rotated the primary drive array to prepare for a VTOL landing.
Minutes later, Matt pulled back on the stick, causing the craft's nose to rotate upward, bringing the ship’s vertical momentum to a halt. The primary drive arrays roared in response, the whine of their inner mechanisms permeating the interior. Now just five kilometers above the ground, Matt let out a terrain ping to find a suitably flat landing area. Once he found one, he pushed the ship’s throttle forward, causing the secondary drive array to come to life. The secondary drive array wasn’t very powerful and only served to get the Terrapin up to enough velocity in high-gravity environments to transition to completely horizontal flight without falling back down in the process, but for now, it would suffice.
Just a few hundred meters above the landing site, Matt came to a halt. He turned the stick in his right hand inwards and slowly descended, dropping the landing gear in the process. With the cessation of hissing hydraulics as his cue, he increased his descent rate. With a thud, the large dampening shocks of the struts met the ground, large clouds of gray dust kicking up around the craft. Matt killed the engines, their dying whine slowly vanishing with their blue glow. Dust quickly settled as he made to leave the flight deck.
Grabbing a simple soil sampler from the sample containment section, Matt opened the loading ramp and set to work. He could not feel any change as he stepped out from his ship and onto the rocky surface. A fine layer of dust collected on his helmet whilst he was walking away from his ship. After about thirty meters, Matt noticed that most of the surface was covered in fine dust no more than a centimeter deep. His ship hadn’t disturbed the surface this far out. After walking what he estimated was a hundred meters, he took the small cylinder in his hand and stuck it into the ground. The device vibrated in his hand for a moment before a light on top lit up green. Pulling the device out of the ground, Matt carried it back to his ship.
After reaching the Terrapin, he placed the sample in its sealed environment before closing the main ramp. The interior cabin was filled with the smell of oxidizing rock as the dust still on his suit was exposed to elements that had never been present in its former environment. Wiping away some of the dust from his visor, Matt walked into the shower toilet combo, closed the door, and pressed a button that read “DECON.” His vision was washed out as an aggressive stream of pressurized chemicals battered him.
While Matt knew nothing could live out in that environment, protocol dictated that he had to go through the hastily installed decontamination cycle the Navy had added to all their exploratory craft. Stepping into the now sterilized interior, he quickly made his way towards the flight deck and made to take off.
With the landing struts retracting, Matt rocketed off toward the blue and green planet almost giddy with excitement. While he was somewhat irked about the physics defying nature of the system, he was much happier about having something to actually do. The quantum drive was spooled as soon as the struts were stowed and locked. The familiar buzz of energy permeated the interior and moments later he shot off at near-light speeds, his destination rapidly approaching. With a reverberating shudder, the quantum drive deactivated itself moments later, stopping just short of the predicted mass shadow. With no detailed planetary beacons, a spline jump was unavailable. Before beginning his burn to the surface, Matt left his pilot’s chair and moved to the scanner station. The planet seemed to be mostly ocean with two major landmasses. One stretched from near the north pole of the planet to just past the equator, while the other was more circular and had a larger range of longitude than latitude. The more circular continent seemed to house an interior desert, with most of its greenery on the periphery. The other continent was more temperate, covered in much more greenery.
Matt mulled his options over in his head for a moment.
“Not a big fan of sand,” Matt muttered to himself before making his decision and standing from the scanner station. With a new energy to his movements, he quickly began his burn to the surface.
Author's Note
INCOMING TRANSMISSION  
ORIGIN: SOL SYSTEM  
DECODING
Yes it's a short one, and yes it took me much longer than necessary to get this out, but we're getting there I promise. Please issue feedback and critique as you see fit and thanks for reading!
END TRANSMISSION

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                Chapter 3: Strange and New                 
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Chapter 3: Strange and New
Stars twinkled high above a small sleepy town. If one were walking along a lonely dirt path into town from the South, just beside rows and rows of apple trees a worn sign, painted on untreated wood read “Welcome to Ponyville”
Along this dirt road, a well-traveled path led to a quaint farmhouse and a weathered barn beside it. Continuing on the main road, one would pass a silent schoolhouse. Its students long departed for their families this evening. The dirt road terminated at an arched stone bridge, afterwards the road became cobble. Continuing along this cobbled road, one would pass many buildings. Some homes, some businesses. All of the same cottage style. But along the northern edge of Ponyville, whereas all other buildings were dark at this hour, one still had the telltale flicker of candlelight emanating from a second-floor window. The Golden Oaks library, a living tree that had its interior hollowed out to make space for Ponyville’s bounty of knowledge, still had an occupant awake at this hour.
Twilight Sparkle, academia extraordinaire, personal student of Princess Celestia, element of magic, and newly coronated Princess of Friendship, sat hunched over a desk in her shared room. A small candle’s diminutive flame flickered slightly at her exhale. The flame illuminated the pages of a newer book that had arrived that morning from Canterlot. “Clover The Clever’s Clandestine Essays,” was essentially one of Clover the Clever’s more recently found journals, hidden a long time ago because of their unorthodox and less popular ideas, edited from a personal journal into more formal essays. The book was long, and the material was usually pretty dense but for Twilight it was an invigorating read. She was finishing up the last essay now.
To many readers, much of many of these essays would seem more akin to the excited ramblings of an easily distracted pony, but to Twilight the paths of thought were clear, and the path she was reading was the most exciting of all.
“While gazing at the moon or any nearby star system's celestial bodies, it is easy to see the hostility of the universe and assume that the races of Equus are the only intelligent life around. But from what little we know of the universe, we know it is enormous and vast and full of discoveries yet to be made. We see what resources Equus has to offer, and we assume that nowhere else life can exist. And yet on our very own planet life finds a way of existence in the harshest of conditions. I propose that life must exist away from Equus. Perhaps we are alone because we are the first, but the universe is simply too vast and varied for life to not exist anywhere else. Eventually, when we are among the stars we’ll meet somepony else out there, I’m sure of it.”
Twilight blinked as her eyes found their way to the top of the next page only to be met with the glossary. With a sigh, she rested her hoof on the open book and brought her head down on top of her fetlock, resting it on the soft hairs of her lilac coat. The fringe of her indigo mane came to rest in the upper portion of her vision. Her eyes glanced up in thought, imagining the stars through the wooden ceiling.
“Life among the stars, huh? I wonder if they’ll make good friends,” Twilight said to herself. She lifted her head from the book and closed it with a touch of magic. A purple glow that matched the one from her horn enveloped the book and quietly closed it. The candle was carefully lifted and hovered just above her head. It followed her to her bed where she quietly maneuvered around Spike’s bed on the floor. She gently set the candle down on her bedside table before it was magically extinguished. Twilight yawned, sleep rushing to catch her in its warm embrace. Her eyelids drooped as she got comfortable. As soon as the covers were over her barrel, her eyelids became too heavy to keep open. Her thoughts melted away, and her breathing slowed. She could feel her body shutting down in preparation for sleep. The feeling of the comforter and sheets on her lilac coat became less and less noticeable as her body warmed them. Her mind began to drift in an endless quiet sea.  
…  
…  
BANG BANG
Twilight shot awake as the whole tree shook. She instinctively lit the candle on her bedside table. Spike was awake too, and seemed relieved a little by the presence of the light. For a moment, neither of them spoke, they just stared at the ceiling above. The tree had stilled before Twilight lit her candle. A receding roar gave way to rattling leaves which died down. Voices could be heard from outside the library. Everypony had heard that. Twilight wouldn’t be surprised if that had been heard in Canterlot, whatever it was.
“Twilight, what was that?” spike asked, his voice shaky.  
THUNK THUNK THUNK
Somepony pounded at her door. Twilight jumped out of bed to answer. Whilst she trotted down the stairs her horn was aglow with magic that sent bolts of energy to every candle in the library and to the fireplace, lighting up the interior in moments.
“Twilight, wait!” Spike called out, her tail in his hand. Twilight turned her head to look at Spike, half-concerned and half-miffed.
“What if t-the thing responsible for that is at the door? Are we sure we wanna let it in?” Spike asked, fear filling his voice.
“Spike, I think the pony who did that is at our door,” Twilight replied.
She opened the door by grasping the handle telekinetically, causing the door to swing outward. Standing just outside the threshold was a pegasus mare with a cyan-blue coat and an unkempt prismatic mane.
“Rainbow Dash! Why in the name of Celestia are you performing sonic rain booms at this hour!?” Twilight questioned. Rainbow Dash had opened her mouth to respond, but the tone of Twilight’s voice stopped her.
“I- uh,” she stammered out
“Well?” Twilight pressed. Rainbow Dash took a moment to compose herself.
“Twilight, that wasn’t me,” Rainbow Dash said.
“What?” Twilight asked incredulously. “Well, then what was it?”
“I was hoping you knew,” Rainbow Dash said with a shrug.
“Rainbow Dash! What in tarnation were you thinkin’?” a new voice questioned. Said voice belonged to a mare with an orange coat and a blonde mane and tail. Her green eyes were illuminated with anger and her freckled cheeks only lessened her fierce scowl by a fraction of a degree. Her stetson hat was crooked as if it had been put on hastily.
“Rainbow Dash didn’t do it Applejack,” Twilight said, stopping Applejack’s storming gait.
“Then what did it? Whatever it was, it’s gotten Granny in a tizzy,” Applejack said, her scowl lessening into a thoughtful frown.
“Hiya girls!” came a new voice. The almost painfully pink and somehow energetic even at this hour mare known as Pinkie Pie bounced through the open door into the library.
“Soooooo. Watchya doin’?” Pinkie asked addressing all present.
“We were discussin’ the loud noises we all heard just now. Did your uhhh, watchyama call it tell you about any o’ this Pinkie?” Applejack asked.
“Not at all, but my Pinkie sense sure did! Two pinchy knees and somepony needs a welcome to Ponyville party!” Pinkie said.
“Are we all here to reprimand Rainbow Dash, or is it just me?” came a posh and refined voice. A unicorn with a pristine white coat and an expertly cared-for mane trotted into view.
“Hey Rares, Dashie didn’ do it,” Applejack briefly informed the unicorn.
“Oh. So what did make that dreadful cacophony?” Rarity asked.
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out. Why does everypony always assume it’s me?” Asked Rainbow Dash. Every pony in the library sans Pinkie raised an eyebrow at the question.
“What?”
“Um, girls?” A butter-yellow pegasus mare with a long pink mane stood at the doorway, perched on her back was an owl she was having a conversation with.
“Owlowiscious just told me that something big just disturbed the Everfree. Could that be what we’re looking for?”
“Hmm, it very well could be Fluttershy. But we should probably wait until daylight to investigate,” Twilight reasoned.
“In the meantime, Pinkie. You said there were two pinchy knees what’s the second one?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, I don’t know you silly filly. I just know that it’s going to be big-” Pinkie Pie was cut off as a large red stallion came crashing through the library’s open door.
“Applejack! Didja take Apple Bloom an’ her friends with you?”
“Naw… they didn’” Applejack began.
The stallion’s ears flattened against his skull
“... Eyeup,” he said.
“Big Macintosh! How did those three sneak away from you? They ain’t exactly subtle,” Appleack said exasperatedly.
“I had to keep Granny in check, she’s locked herself in tha’ kitchen,” Big Mac said.
“Oh land’s sakes…” Applejack muttered, a hoof coming to rest on her forehead.
The other five ponies in the library kept quiet, watching the exchange.
After a moment, Rarity spoke up. “Well, I for one am going to look for Sweetie Belle and her friends. Who’s with me?”
There was a chorus of agreement as everypony filed out of the library. The group began to canter towards the Everfree Forest, urgency fuelling their gait.
A red light, out-shining the night sky hurtled into the air before slowing and beginning a lazy arc, and then its slow descent. The group stopped and stared.
“Oooh. Somepony has fireworks! Yay!” Pinkie cheered and began to bounce.
“That’s not a firework, Pinkie. That’s a distress flare,” Twilight said. “When did Sweetie Belle learn that?” She asked Rarity while breaking into a gallop.
“Sweetie Belle doesn’t have control over her magic as far as I’m aware,” Rarity got out in between gasps while galloping. “Which means-”
“They’re in serious trouble,” Twilight finished for her. Rarity redoubled her efforts at this news. “Rainbow Dash, fly ahead, see if you can’t help before we arrive!”
Rainbow Dash saluted and pumped her wings hard, leaving everypony else in her wake.
Earlier...
BANG BANG
“AHHHHHH” a chorus of three fillies screamed, holding each other for dear life. The entire house was shaking, and a receding roar drowned out everything else. When all went quiet aside from yelling downstairs Applebloom dared to open her eyes, and all she saw was a darkened cloud of Fuchsia hair.
“Uhhhh Scootaloo? Ah think we’re okay,” Applebloom said. The orange filly immediately released her vice like grip on Appleblooms yellow coat.  
“Oh- ah yeah. We’re totally fine, like nothing even happened,” Scootaloo said trying to downplay her reaction.
Applebloom looked down at the shivering white filly still hooked into her red mane.
“Sweetie Belle? Didja hear me? We’re fine,” Applebloom said while placing a hoof on Sweetie Belle’s pink and purple mane. Sweetie Belle forced her muscles still and extracted herself from Apple Bloom’s mane.
“Yeah, we’re okay,” Sweetie Belle squeaked out before clearing her throat.
“What do ya’ll think that was?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Dunno. Let’s find out,” Scootaloo said while standing. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were quick to follow. Heading towards the general ruckus downstairs, the trio of fillies found Applejack with her mane let down and no stetson, and Big Mac wrestling a frantic aging green mare with a wiry silver mane.
“THE END IS NIGH! THE GREAT APPLE OF DOOM HAS COME TO TAKE US!” The older mare screamed at the top of her lungs.
“For buck’s sake Granny Smith! Calm Down!” Applejack yelled back, unsuccessfully wrestling a cooking pot out of the older mare’s hooves. Growing tired of Granny Smith’s antics, Applejack took up a commanding authority that Apple Bloom rarely saw.
“Mac! Handle her. You three, try an’ git back to bed,” Applejack said pointing her hoof first to Big Mac, then to Granny, and finally, to the three fillies that had made it to the bottom of the stairs.
“I need to find Rainbow Dash and give her a piece of my mind,” Applejack said hotly, slamming her stetson onto her head and storming out of the house.
Scootaloo gasped with excitement
“This is perfect!”
“How so?” Apple Bloom asked.
“We can find Rainbow Dash first, and maybe get our Cutie Marks in bounty hunting as well!”
“Ooh, that’s a good idea,” Apple Bloom nodded.
“I don’t know… Applejack told us to get back to sleep,” Sweetie Belle said hesitantly
“We’ll be fast. I know where Rainbow Dash would go if she was trying to get away from anypony looking for her,” Scootaloo said.
“Well… Okay,” Sweetie Belle agreed.
“Great! Let’s go,” Scootaloo said while pushing Sweetie Belle and Applejack out the open door.
“Now if I were trying to hide from everypony, I would hide in the Everfree,” Scootaloo said while confidently leading the way.
“The Everfree!?”
“Calm down you two, we’re just going to the very edge. Rainbow Dash wouldn’t go very far in. She’d need to be able to get out if there was any danger. Not that she would run or anything,” Scootaloo explained while leading the way. Scootaloo’s wings buzzed with excitement, as she continued her explanation.
“Rainbow Dash could fight off a hydra! She could fight off a hundred timberwolves, she could-”
“We get it scoots,” Apple Bloom cut her off.
Their journey continued in relative silence. Past rows upon rows of Apple Trees, out onto the dirt road, and then into the grassy bank that separated it from the Everfree.
The trio came to a stop just at the edge of the forest. The evergreen trees stood still in the darkness, towering high and foreboding. Like sentinels, the dark trees watched the three fillies approach the perimeter.
“Well, it looks like Rainbow Dash isn’t here, time to go back!” Scootaloo said, her voice cracking.
“No way! We haven’t even gone in the forest yet,” Apple Bloom protested before marching forward, the other two fillies were quick to follow.
The three delved in, constantly calling out for Rainbow Dash. Deeper and deeper they went into the forest, gleaming green lights following them the whole way.
“Rainbow Dash? Rainbow Dash?” Apple Bloom called.
“I’m starting to think she’s not here,” Sweetie Belle said.
“I’m starting to think we’re lost,” Apple Bloom tacked on.
A howl pierced the night air. Green gleaming eyes, glowing with hunger began to illuminate in the bushes. Leaves rustled as slowly silhouettes of wolves emerged from nearby shrubbery. The creaking of wood accompanied each step they took. The fillies began to shake. The wolves snarled, baying in anticipation of their next meal. Snapping their jaws with an audible crack. Basking in the easy prey’s fear. Sweetie Belle sobbed. Suddenly, there was a new presence, a shout was heard. Another crack of twigs as brush was forced aside or trampled by hurried movement. Something big stumbled into the space, drawing the attention and the ire of the wolves. As the wolves suddenly quieted. Apple Bloom worked up the courage to open her eyes. All of the wolves were focused on something else, something that looked like a minotaur but lanky, and with incorrect portions. In place of eyes were two small glowing blue circles. Its arm shifted, pointing to the sky.  
THUMP - FSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
The area was bathed in red. The timberwolves could be seen now, as could the creature that was definitely not a minotaur. It stood on two legs, but that was where the similarities ended. Its hooves were elongated and covered in dark metal, as was the rest of its body. Its face was completely flat and featureless other than its soulless eyes. It had long claws at the end of its arms and stood twice as tall as the Timberwolves that were now surrounding its front. The claws of its right arm were wrapped around a piece of metal that had a dissipating trail of smoke. The area darkened slightly as the light it fired off dimmed with distance.
The creature shifted, holding the metal item in its claws as if offering it to the timberwolves. There was a loud chirp and a flash of red. One of the timberwolves collapsed into a pile of smoldering sticks. Another flash, a chirp reverberating around the clearing. The timberwolves caught on and abandoned their former prey, now fighting for their survival. The creature retreated into the bush while being followed, flashes of red outlining it and falling timberwolves. The flashes stopped. There was a crunching of grass, that got fainter and fainter.
“Hey! You’re okay!” The fillies looked up to see Rainbow Dash overhead.
Earlier...
Matt flew just above supersonic, around ten kilometers from the surface. His terrapin rattled and groaned in protest, but he paid it no mind. Detailed scans had shown the largest concentration of biomass on the chosen continent. A forested area with few suitable landing spots, but some finer adjustments revealed plenty of space to land. Reducing the throttle, Matt banked through a cloud and slowed down over the forest. Following the predetermined path laid out by his ship’s navigational computer, the Terrapin settled nicely into a clearing just large enough for it.
Matt hopped out of his seat and immediately lowered the Terrapin’s ramp, hurrying down onto the ground. He stopped, taking a moment to survey his new environment. Matt shut the ramp and began briskly walking towards the edge of the clearing. Heading East, Matt began collecting sample after sample. A leaf here, a blade of grass there, a blue and black flower. Anything he found that was new was swiftly collected. A variety of creatures were photographed and cataloged. Another interesting fact was the atmospheric composition. It was mostly Nitrogen but had more than enough oxygen to sustain him. Matt had found a true Gaia world.
As he was going about, something rustled in the bushes. It walked out into the open, sniffing the night air and turning its head each and every way, focused on Matt’s general location, but couldn’t seem to lock onto his actual presence. As it got closer, Matt noticed that shockingly, it was made out of wood. Switching his helmet to infrared sweep, the creature was much easier to see. It stood on four legs and in the visual spectrum, its eyes, or analog for eyes as it appeared to be blind, glowed a ghostly green. While bio-luminescence was certainly not unheard of, usually it served as an aid to sight or as a lure for prey. But here it didn’t seem to serve any actual purpose. When poked, the creature would react. Immediately investigating what had touched it. It could smell and hear Matt, but couldn’t see him. However, it acted as though sight was its primary method of locating a target.
“Incredible,” Matt breathed out. “Do you collect organic detritus and fashion armor from it?”
The creature walked forward cautiously, sniffing the air. When its muzzle bumped into Matt it recoiled back. Eventually, it lost interest and returned to the shrubbery it came from. Matt walked in a different direction, once again collecting various samples.
While going about gathering, Matt heard a noise.
“Was that? No, it couldn’t have been,” Matt reassured himself. The noise came again.
“That sounds like a voice,” Matt said to himself. He was curious now. He couldn’t make out any of the words, but he had definitely heard a speech pattern. Had someone else gotten here first? Maybe it was a citizen who had gotten through the jump point first. Matt made his way towards the voice.
Moments later, Matt could make out distinct, high-pitched voices. Two at least, maybe three, but still had no idea what they were saying. English was the Imperium standard, but other languages still existed in familial circles.
Matt prepared to call out before a howl pierced the air. The voices stopped immediately. A multitude of noises, growling, barking, and snarling permeated the air. And in that mess, he could make out crying.
Matt drew his Arclight II from his thigh and charged forward, attaching the SERE alert flare launcher to the under-barrel rail.
“Citizen!” He called as he tore through the underbrush into the clearing, only to be met with confusion. There were no citizens to be seen. In fact, there were no humans at all. Three small, likely prey animals quaked with fear, surrounded by more of the wood-armored creatures. But now those creatures had shifted their focus to him. Using the button on the launcher, Matt fired the flare. It rocketed into the sky, bathing the clearing in red light. The infrared in his helmet deactivated, and in the visual spectrum, details became a lot more clear. The three formerly surrounded animals were looking at him in wonder. Their eyes possessed a familiar gleam of intelligence. The same that was possessed by Terravin, Vanduul, Banu, Xi’an, and Humans. The three came in different colors, one was white with pink and purple hairs on its neck and more protruding from its back. It had a horn that was too short and blunt to be used for defense. Another was orange with fuchsia hairs and had wings much too small to lift itself off the ground. The third was yellow with red hairs, but what was more interesting was the third one had a ribbon tied into a bow decorating its neck hairs. That spoke of at least some level of industrialization. These small creatures were part of a larger, at least somewhat industrialized, society. Matt could feel the headache coming on. But he had no time to dwell on how much he had screwed up a first-contact scenario.
Deciding not to forfeit any favor with whatever society called this planet home, Matt leveled his Arclight at the closest wooded creature and fired. The red bolt slammed into the creature's forehead, causing it to collapse into a smoldering pile of twigs. An eyebrow raised underneath Matt’s helmet. He shifted and fired again, and another wooded creature dropped, once again revealing no creature inside. As if the sticks had come to life on their own. At this point, the creatures had wised up and charged. Matt retreated, giving ground to keep distance. Firing repeatedly. One of the creatures lunged at him, missing by a large margin. Re-affirming they somehow couldn’t see him, but could see the three creatures they had cornered. Seven shots later, all nine of the creatures were dead. Matt collected a stick from the latest pile and began moving again. He heard another voice in the clearing as he left. There may be a settlement nearby, and he would have to do some more reconnaissance. But for now, there was a whole forest to catalog.
Author's Note
INCOMING TRANSMISSION  
ORIGIN: SOL SYSTEM  
DECODING  
The story progresses! This chapter was a bit difficult to write, and originally it was going to be three separate chapters (and maybe it still should be) but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out overall. As always I welcome feedback and thank you for taking time to read this, and I hope you'll be here next time!  
Signing off,  
END TRANSMISSION

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                    Chapter 4: Everfree                    
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter 4: Everfree
“Hey! You’re okay!” Scootaloo instantly recognized the voice of Rainbow Dash, as did the other two fillies, who looked up in relief. Applejack, Fluttershy, Big Mac, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity came crashing into the clearing shortly afterward. Rainbow Dash landed on the ground.
“APPLE BLOOM, SCOOTALOO AND SWEETIE BELLE!”
All three fillies flinched at the sound of Applejack’s voice.
“Are ya’ll okay?” she asked.
“You’re not mad sis?” Apple Bloom asked, surprise in her voice.
“Heck yes I’m mad,” Applejack responded. “But I’m more concerned with yer wellbeing. Are ya’ll okay?”
“We’re fine,” Apple Bloom said, her eyes not meeting her sister’s.
“Good work with that flare Sweetie Belle,” Twilight said, casting her gaze upwards. “You can stop casting now. We don’t want you suffering from magic exhaustion, right?”
“Oh that wasn’t-”
“Dang Sweetie Belle,” Rainbow Dash said, inspecting one of the piles of Timberwolf. “You could give Twilight a run for her money! Twilight come check it out,” she continued, motioning Twilight over.
“Impressive work Sweetie Belle. Y’know, you might be a great fit for magical study. Have you ever considered Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns?” Twilight asked.
“Well-” Sweetie Belle was cut off.
“Absolutely not!” Rarity exclaimed. “We don’t need another Twilight. No offense dear,” Rarity said turning to Twilight who only rolled her eyes.
“Sweetie Belle didn’ do any of that stuff,” Apple Bloom spoke up.
Twilight’s gaze returned to the flare, scrutinizing it now.
“Huh. So who did?”
“We don’t know. But it was tall! Really tall, and it had no face or eyes or ears. It had these long hooves and long claws!” Scootaloo said, jumping around to emphasize each statement.
“It stood on two long legs,” Sweetie Belle added. That threw Twilight for a loop.
“It? Two legs? But minotaurs are the only bipedal race on Equus and they have faces and eyes and ears. What actually helped you three?”
Twilight grabbed the flare with her magic, as she pulled it towards her, she noticed the smoke trail that billowed behind it.
“This flare is, burning?”
Twilight flared her magic a little, starving the flare of oxygen. The flare brightened in response but did not extinguish.
“What on Equus is this thing?” Twilight asked
“You said it was a flare silly filly!” Pinkie responded with a smile
“Yes it is, but it’s not magical. Griffins have burning flares, but those have to be set up by two to work. And griffins don’t walk on two legs,” Twilight explained. “And their flares can be put out, so why not this one?” The flare in question was still a good distance away. Even being fifty tail-lengths away, compared to the nearly three hundred it was before, it burned almost painfully bright and the heat made everypony present recoil. Twilight summoned a tub of water and dropped the flare in. The water bubbled angrily as smoke was released. The flare while certainly diminished and much easier to approach, still stubbornly burned. Twilight then froze the water. There was a sizzle and a pop, but finally, the flare was out. Twilight melted the ice, and pulled out the flare… which immediately re-ignited.
“Oh for the love of Celestia!” Twilight shouted, almost angry. She dropped the flare back into the water and re-froze it. The flare went out once more.
“I guess we’ll leave it in there for a bit,” Twilight said with a disappointed sigh. She had really wanted to study it.
“So, back to the first question. What saved them?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Right. Let’s take a look at those twigs,” Twilight said, enthusiasm returning to her voice.
Twilight walked over to one of the piles and began shining a light from her horn.
“The twigs that were damaged appear to have been struck with a pinpoint, high-intensity burst of directed energy, which means that…” Twilight trailed off, her face scrunched up in confusion. “...that- but- that’s impossible!”
“But what’s impossible, darling?” Rarity asked.
“There’s no magical residue on any of these,” Twilight exasperated, picking up a stick with a clear burn mark that had a chunk taken out of it.
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out sugar cube,” Applejack said. “In the meantime-” she began but was cut off by twilight.
“Wait. Impossible pyrotechnics? Powerful non-magical energies? I think I may have just figured it out,” Twilight said.
“Is it ponies from a future without magic!?” Pinkie gasped.
“Uhhh. No, I don’t think that’s it. But I want to be sure before saying anything,” Twilight said. “Fluttershy, do you think any of your animal friends know where that metal object Owlowiscious found is?”
“Oh, for sure,” Fluttershy responded with a nod. She quietly walked over to a nearby tree stump and knocked twice with her hoof. A raccoon poked its head out in response.
“Um, excuse me Mr. Raccoon, but we’re looking for something big and metal that arrived in the forest not too long ago,”
The raccoon chittered something quickly to Fluttershy who nodded.
“Thank you, Mr. Raccoon!” Fluttershy said before turning to the other ponies present. “It’s this way,” she said before trotting to the edge of the clearing. Every pony present followed her closely. Twilight lit a spell light to keep their surroundings illuminated as they traversed the varying levels of underbrush. Twilight and Fluttershy took up the front, while the rest of the group encircled the three fillies that were with them.
Twilight walked with Fluttershy until she almost ran into a metal plate that dimly reflected light. Twilight modified the light and sent it up above to illuminate the clearing in its entirety. What sat before them, no pony present could identify. It was large and angular. It rested on three distinct plates that were connected to the object on metal cylinders. It had four distinct metal plates on each corner with shiny oval rings of metal sticking out from underneath each segment. Each ring sheltered a pair of warm holes and the object had a reflective bulbous end and a non-reflective flat end with a single hole, that was also warm. The object was mainly grey and black, with a mixture of white and maroon markings.
“No way this thing was what went supersonic overhead,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Do you have proof that it didn’t?” Twilight asked.
“Do you have proof that it did?” Rainbow Dashed challenged. “Besides, I don’t need proof. Just look at it!”
“Rainbow Dash, you of all ponies should know that anything can move as fast as you want it to if you get enough power behind it,” Twilight explained. “Besides, look at it. Those three plates on the cylinders? They didn’t leave any impact furrow despite the speed this thing was going, but whatever method of energy it uses to achieve flight is still being dissipated,”
“But what is it, Twi?” Applejack asked.
“I think there’s only one thing it can be. An alien spaceship,” Twilight said with finality.
For everypony else present, the trees at the edge of the clearing got a little darker.
“OHMYGOSHALIENSAREGONNAEATOURBRAINS!”
“PINKIE!” Twilight shouted. “I seriously doubt the alien is here to eat our brains based on its interaction with Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle,” Twilight explained, calming everypony a little.
“So, should we-” Fluttershy said, preparing to suggest they leave until Twilight cut her off.
“Of course we should study it!” Twilight was already on top of the craft, scrutinizing every nook and cranny.
Everypony just watched Twilight begin muttering to herself.
“Aha!” She exclaimed. “This is a viewport,” she said while leaning over the reflective bulbous end. “I think I see a hallway, maybe if I can just…” She trailed off as her horn powered up.
“Twilight, I doubt that this is a good-” Rarity began
POP
FZZZT
With a flash of purple, Twilight was sent careening back, crashing through the brush. A blue glow enveloped the entire craft.
“...idea,”
“Oh goodness! Twilight, are you alright?” Fluttershy asked, landing beside her friend.
“But… how?” Twilight asked herself in disbelief. “There’s no magic. I would have felt it,” she insisted, getting up and shaking herself off.
“I hate to interrupt you sugar cube, but these three need to get to bed. Heck, we all do,” Applejack said, putting a hoof over Twilight’s withers.
“All right,” Twilight said with a sigh. Her horn sprang to life and with a loud pop, everypony found themselves back in the Golden Oaks library.
“All right everypony, good work tonight! I’ll get started on a letter to the princesses,” Twilight said.
“Maybe get started on a stern talking to for his flying too,” Rarity suggested.
“That too. But how to go about that? Hmmm.” Twilight pondered.
After a multitude of good night wishes, Twilight and Spike were left in alone in Golden Oaks.
“Spike, take a letter. No, two letters” Twilight said. “Dear Alien,
-”
“Alien!?”
“Don’t worry Spike, the alien isn’t here to eat your brains or foalnap anypony,” Twilight said.
“Are you sure, Twilight?”
“Yes, I’m sure. It even saved Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle from timberwolves,” Twilight said. “Now, back to the letter, right?”
“Right,” Spike said, picking his quill back up.
“Dear Alien. While I’m very excited to meet you and learn from you, your flying caused quite a stir throughout Ponyville. I implore you to come to town and meet me at the Golden Oaks library so we can discuss your apology to the townspoinies. I’m quite sure that everything was an accident, and I don’t see Mayor Mare issuing any kind of formal punishment. But a proper apology would go a long way. Afterward, we can spend time together discussing both your world and mine! Yours, Twilight Sparkle. Princess of friendship,”
Spike handed Twilight the leader who grasped it in her magic before teleporting it away with a pop and a flash of purple light.
“Great! Now onto the next letter. Dear Princess Celestia…”
Twilight had Spike take down a summary of events, expanding on details when Spike asked. After about twenty minutes of dictating, Spike sent the letter via Dragonfire.
“I guess we should call it a night. I’m beat,” Twilight said.
“Right there with you,” Spike responded with a yawn
Matt walked through the brush, uncaring of the sounds he made. He had already explored this area thoroughly and collected every sample he could. As he came up to his ship he noticed a piece of paper on the ground, just ahead of the forward landing strut. He picked it up to inspect it closer and realized it was an envelope, sealed with purple wax that had a stylized six-pointed star on it. To whom it was addressed he didn’t know. There was one word on the back of the envelope, written in a script he didn’t understand. But he decided to place it into sample storage once inside, just to be safe.
Author's Note
INCOMING TRANSMISSION  
ORIGIN: SOL SYSTEM  
DECODING  
This chapter was a bit on the shorter side, but I promise we're getting to the main event. Please leave any feedback you have, as I'm always looking to improve.   
Until next time!  
Strangest Things  
END TRANSMISSION

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                Chapter 5: Royal Procession                
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter 5: Royal Procession
Princess Luna stood upon her tower’s balcony, ethereal blue light shone from her horn and wafted away in quickly dissipating wisps of magic. Tonight had been a calm night if not a little strange in Ponyville of all places. Most nights in Equestria were calm. Few nightmares plagued the populace these days, and those that did were more often than not resolved rather quickly. In essence, most of her nights were rather boring. Night court had met some resistance from the nobility on its re-establishment. Many argued that her first and foremost duty as guardian of the night was to stave off non-existent nightmares.
Princess Luna sighed as these thoughts greeted her mind's return to the material realm. The magic around her horn solidified and returned to its normal aura, retaining its pale blue color. The magic strengthened as she probed her connection to the moon, preparing to lower it. Her sister's magical signature in the dreamscape had winked out only minutes ago. As the connection was made, she frowned. Something was off. It was barely noticeable, but in thousands of years, the only thing that changed the way the moon felt was meteor impacts. And those were much more perceptible. She would have felt one as soon as it happened. She focused her mind, but nothing jumped out. She focused more as she paused the moon’s lowering, her eyes squeezing in concentration.
“Where are you?” She asked.
Light bled through her eyelids as the sun began to peek over the horizon. Luna scowled in frustration before relenting and setting the moon completely. The energy provided by said frustration quickly retreated. Luna looked down at the floor of her balcony, the lack of sleep rushing to her head. The sparkling white marble was becoming more and more luminous as the sun continued to rise. The fringe of her mane hung in her vision as her brain tiredly pondered what on Equus she felt. Luna turned and began making her way back to her room to sleep through the day. As she crossed the threshold a knock came at her door.
“Enter,” she called, her gaze moving to the threshold. Pale yellow magic enveloped the door, pushing the handle down and gently swinging the door open. Princess Luna’s elder sister and co-ruler of the Equestrian Diarchy, Princess Celestia stood just outside Luna’s room. A concerned frown marred her normally pleasant demeanor.
“Tia, what troubles you?” Luna asked after a beat.
“Twilight has sent me an… interesting message,” Celestia said, choosing her words carefully.
“You seem hardly pleased,” Luna observed.
“I am concerned for how the general populace will react, but I’d like to hear your thoughts as well,” Celestia said before she presented a piece of parchment to her sister.
Luna took the parchment in her own magic before beginning to read.
“Dear Princesses Celestia and Luna,
Last night, the town of Ponyville received a rude awakening from a supersonic overhead flight. I believe that most of the town’s residents, (as I initially did) thought the disturbance was a late-night practice session from Rainbow Dash. However, Rainbow Dash denied any connection to the event, and shortly after we received word that something foreign had disturbed the Everfree, closer to the ground. Moments later, we were also informed that the Cutie Mark Crusaders (Three local fillies, whom I’m sure you remember fondly) had left on their own to try and find Rainbow Dash. The other Element Bearers and I immediately entered the forest, following a flare which we believed to be cast by Sweetie Belle. Arriving at the flare's location, we found the Cutie Mark Crusaders thankfully unharmed and surrounded by several former timberwolves. After some discussion, Apple Bloom informed us that they had been rescued by an unknown creature. A succinct amalgamation of all the descriptors used by the Cutie Mark Crusaders to describe this creature would be a tall, lean, and lanky minotaur with incorrect proportions and no snout.
Whatever this creature was, it was utilizing advanced technology. The Timberwolves were dispatched by powerful, concentrated bursts of energy, leaving significant scorch marks and even splintered and destroyed sticks. However, the Timberwolf remains bore no magical residue other than the energies they had previously contained. And the flare! The aforementioned flare was launched by the creature. It was pyrotechnical, but the only way to put it out was to leave it frozen in ice for some time. It continued to burn whilst starved of oxygen and even underwater! I had to extinguish it in ice, twice! After removing the flare from the ice immediately following the successful extinguishing, it reignited.
Deciding to investigate further, all ponies present (we decided it safer to stick together) followed the instructions of one of Fluttershy’s animal friends to find the foreign object. I struggle to describe it beyond “metallic and blocky”, but I have strong suspicions that it was what flew overhead. It had these strange oval openings spread evenly across the craft which were radiating heat.
All evidence and events from tonight strongly indicate that we have a visitor from the stars! I have already extended it an invitation to Golden Oaks Library by way of a note I left at its ship. It will be arriving sometime this afternoon by the time you read this letter, and I hope that both of you can come to greet this future friend!
Your faith fellow princess,
Twilight Sparkle”
Luna blinked a few times as she reread the last paragraph her excitement growing.
“Celestia! Think of all it could teach us!” Luna said, a beaming smile on her muzzle.
“I’m excited too Lu Lu,” Celestia said with her own softer smile. “But how do we inform the populace?” Celestia asked, her smile wavering.
“That is a question for a later date. We must depart for Ponyville, posthaste!” Luna said. A determination that Celestia hadn’t seen in over a thousand years burned in her eyes.
“And we will, Lu Lu,” Celestia said, a smile returning at Luna’s excitement. “But perhaps it would be better if we informed Princess Cadence as well before we depart?” Celestia asked, knowing the answer. Luna’s ears splayed back against her head in a show of mild embarrassment.
“Of course, sister. We- I was merely excited,” A sheepish grin splayed across her muzzle. Celestia smiled knowingly. Using her magic, Celestia quickly penned a small note and sent it and Twilight’s letter with a pop. There was a long pause before Celestia spoke again.
“Perhaps while we await a reply, we can plan on how to break this news to the populace,” Celestia suggested.
“Prudent as always Tia. We don’t need our welcome to be-” Luna was cut off by a flash of blue light.
Before them, stood a pink alicorn mare with a purple and yellow mane that curled along her neck and withers. She was slightly winded, and a few stray sparks jumped from her horn indicating recent strenuous magic use. Across her back were a pair of saddlebags and on her flank was the depiction of a crystalline heart with multiple geometric facets around its center and two golden ribbons beneath. For a moment the only sound in the room was the breathing of the new arrival as the other two blinked in surprise at her sudden arrival.
“That was fast,” Celestia idly observed. The arrival took a few deep breaths and composed herself.
“Twilight needs our help, Auntie Celestia. And any chance to get out from under that paperwork,” She responded. Celestia smirked at that.
“Shirking responsibility is unbecoming of a princess, Cadence,” Celestia said mirthfully. Luna spared a glance at her empty desk, a pang of envy echoed in the back of her mind but she quickly pushed it away.
“Shiny has it well under control,” Cadence said waving a forehoof.
“Regardless, we are grateful for your swift arrival. Shall we prepare for departure?” Luna asked, eager to be off.
“We shall,” Celestia agreed.
“Lead the way,” Cadence said with a smile.
Luna nodded before taking the lead out of her quarters. The guards out front bowed at her arrival.
“Are either of you a messenger?” Luna asked. The guard on her left, closest to the stairs raised his head.
“I am Your Highness,” he said immediately.
“We require transport to Ponyville immediately. Prepare chariots,” Luna said. The messenger hesitated for a moment before he schooled his features and bowed.
“Yes, Your Highness!” The messenger saluted before turning away.
“Messenger?” Celestia called, causing him to pause and return to attention.
“Perhaps it would be better if you had the royal locomotive prepared. No procession, please?” Celestia asked. The messenger looked between the sisters briefly, having received conflicting orders.
“As you recommend sister,” Luna said.
“Yes, Your Highnesses!” The messenger saluted before galloping away.
Luna craned her neck around after the messenger had departed.
“We have one of those?” Luna asked
“Indeed,” Celestia said with a nod. "Perhaps I should lead the way to our departure?” She asked. Luna nodded and allowed her sister to take the lead. Their journey throughout the castle was in relative silence. Guards at their stations and various palace staff bowed at their passing. Celestia led them into the main courtyard where four royal guards awaited their arrival. Without a word, they fell into formation, escorting them into the cobbled streets of Canterlot.
Despite its small size Canterlot was abuzz with activity. Ponies of every shape, size, and color milled about the streets of the equestrian capital. They all turned to gape at the royal procession before quickly bowing as they passed. Luna’s ears picked up whispers from the ponies that stared after they rose. Her eyes began to drift towards the ground and her ears flicked as her experiences in Ponyville on Nightmare Night shortly after her return came to mind. She glanced at Celestia in front of her. Ever calm and ever confident. Her sister strode on, nodding to those who bowed. Luna tried to follow her example but everywhere she met eyes, they held that uncertainty that she loathed. Cadence bumped her withers against Luna’s as a means to comfort her. Luna smiled gratefully at the attempt. Overhead a pegasus with a camera flew slowly, circling. The click of their camera barely audible over hushed whispers on the road.
Celestia led them through a few turns until their destination was finally in sight. Groups of Ponies became less dense as they approached the Canterlot Train station. They walked through the spartan waiting area to the southbound platforms, station staff bowing as they approached. On the farthest platform stood two guards, who bowed at their arrival. Just behind them on the only platform that was not numbered was a single locomotive engine with a single car attached after its coal car. The engine and coal car seemed identical to the ones present at other platforms, the only difference being instead of bearing a number, they bore the Equestrian flag. The singular car was a pristine white that also bore the flag of Equestria and had a narrow entryway, prompting the three princesses to subconsciously shift into a single file line. A red carpet welcomed them on board. The four guards who were escorting them had stopped on the platform and assumed a bow. Celestia paused just before boarding, noting the bowing team of engineers that operated the locomotive.
“I hope we didn’t arrive too early?” Celestia asked them. Luna glanced up at the locomotive, seeing that steam wafted up from the top and underneath the wheels. Dark gray smoke laden with fine particulates rose steadily from the smokestack. The train was obviously ready, Celestia was just being nice.
“Of course not, Your Highnesses,” The leftmost engineer replied, rising from his bow, prompting the others to do the same. “Nothing else in the train yard, really. Getting the tender filled took no time at all,” The stallion continued.
“Excellent work as always, Rolling Thunder,” Celestia said with a smile before boarding. Rolling Thunder stood a little taller, bowing his head deeply to each princess as they passed.
“Gentlecolts! Get to work! Steel-” Whatever else Rolling Thunder had to say was cut off as Cadence closed the boarding door. Luna’s eyes caught flashes of movement through the windows as the engineers started making preparations to depart.
The interior of the car was simple, a red carpeted floor that padded the hooves of anypony present, and four elongated thrones separated from the corners and each other by small stands. The throne closest to the entrance was made from white marble with gold inlay and had a red cushion. The throne directly across from it was made from polished onyx, it had clear gemstones set in patterns mimicking the most well-known constellations and was adorned with a a blue cushion. Next to what Luna assumed was her seat was a throne carved from rose quartz with curling blue patterns of different quartz. Golden trim adorned its edges and a yellow cushion sat atop it. Finally, across from the third throne was another crystal throne. This one was carved from amethyst and had a white cushion. It was adorned with a few starburst-shaped pink gems. Large windows stretching the length of each throne with curtains tied back afforded a near-panoramic view of the surroundings. The two separate pieces of wall that joined each pair of windows held lamps and up above a skylight ran along the entire length of the train car.
Celestia quickly made herself comfortable and perched upon her throne, her forelegs and hind legs tucked beneath her body. Princess Cadence also quickly took to her throne, choosing to leave her legs flat out underneath her body which rested against the back of the throne. Luna simply stared at her throne.
“Is it not to your liking?” Celestia asked.
“No. I like it very much,” Luna quickly reassured her sister, who she assumed had some hoof in the design based on the question. “I’m just surprised,” she said.
“Surprised?” Celestia asked.
“It’s a little large for a train don’t you think?” Luna asked.
“Maybe for this journey, but these will also serve as beds should we need to make use of the train car overnight,” Celestia explained.
“Ahh,” Luna responded in understanding. She climbed up and sat on her haunches.
“Lu lu,” Celestia began. “When we start moving, you may fall over. I recommend laying down until we reach speed,”
Luna complied, and just in the nick of time. There was a muffled hiss from below and from the engine up front, a bell began to ring. The bell rang five times before the train’s whistle sounded, low and wailing. It seemed to echo off the station's walls. The bell rang ceaselessly and monotonously.
Chuff
The train lurched, and all the inhabitants were rocked gently.
Chuff
…
Chuff
The whistle sounded again. The train was picking up speed now.
Chuff… chuff… chuff chuff chuff chuff chuff
The noise of the steam engine became background noise as the whistle wailed again. Daylight bloomed into the car as the train pulled out into the open. Ninety minutes to Ponyville
Author's Note
INCOMING TRANSMISSION  
ORIGIN: SOL SYSTEM  
DECODING  
I struggled a bit with this one, but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. As always leave any feedback you feel is necessary. I'm always trying to improve! Thanks for reading, and I'll hopefully see you in the next chapter.  
END TRANSMISSION

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                 Chapter 6: First Contact                  
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Chapter 6: First Contact
“Luna…”
“Luna…”
“Luna!”
Said lunar Princess snapped awake.
“I- wha- huh- what’s-”
“Luna,” Celestia said calmly. “We’ve arrived in Ponyville,” she explained, standing up and stretching her legs. Luna glanced out the window above her seat to find a small station with only one platform which their train occupied.
“Perhaps you should have stayed in Canterlot to rest?” Princess Cadence offered. Luna scoffed at the idea.
“Absolutely not,” Luna said, miffed. She was the princess of the stars and moons— and an equal sovereign of Equestria. To fail to greet an interstellar visitor would be akin to throwing away what destiny had so generously granted her. The train car door swung open, and all three members of royalty stood to make their way out.
The Ponyville train station was a single platform, attached to an open-air ticketing booth. The Ponyville ticket master was staring as they passed. Hushes fell over the market crowds as the royal entourage made its way past stalls and stands, all freezing their transactions to watch as the group passed. As the three royals made their way to the familiar Golden Oaks library, the crowds resumed but where there had been an amicable drone of casual conversation, there were now the hushed whispers of questions and gossip. Luna stole glances at the other two Princesses present as the group maintained their easy gait. Cadence and Celestia seemed wholly unbothered. Princess Luna herself wanted to break into a trot and move more quickly. Part of her knew that would garner more attention and quickly squashed the idea of hurrying. Luna was absorbed in her thoughts to such a degree that only when Celestia knocked on the door of the Golden Oaks library did she realize where she was. A muffled scramble could be heard on the other side of the Library’s door when a somewhat frazzled lilac alicorn mare opened the door. She smiled wide at her fellow royals.
“Princesses!” Twilight greeted enthusiastically with a bow. “Come inside, come inside!”
Staying the light-hearted reprimand for her former student Celestia, followed by Cadence and Luna, walked into the modest library interior. The circular interior of the library was only interrupted by a stairway leading to a living space and a stairway leading to a basement. Bookshelves were carved into the trunk's interior, and a lectern allowed for reading in the main chamber. A ladder that traveled on a perimeter track rested in between the rearmost shelves. Unexpectedly, an obstruction blocked off the stairway to the living space. A green and purple baby drake watched from his elevated position, secured in his fortress of cushions. A pot protected his cranium, and a frying pan served as his weapon of choice.
“Princesses!” He called them when he noticed their arrival.
“Oh thank goodness you’re here! Twilight has this idea in her head that she should have invited the alien here to “make friends,” more like it’s going to make FOOD… of us!”
“Spike, these fears are completely unfounded! I’ve just sent them a letter, inviting them to discuss… well, everything! There’s so much to learn and-” Twilight was cut off.
“Twilight?” Celestia began, gaining Twilight’s rapt attention. “Have you considered, that maybe this visitor can’t read our language?”
Twilight’s words stopped, and her bright demeanor fell. Silence reigned.
“Perhaps a more direct approach should be taken,” Luna offered. “An excursion into the Everfree perhaps?” Twilight gasped in excitement.
“Of course!” She exclaimed, dashing to a different part of the library, bowling over Spike in the process. Various items, papers, books, quills and ink, and lots of parchment began to glow with a purple magical aura before zooming around the room into various saddlebags, and some into Spike’s arms.
“Then it is decided,” Luna spoke again. “We journey to the Everfree, and meet with the visitor.”
“Patience sister,” Celestia said. “We have no reliable method of communicating, but perhaps somepony else does. Twilight,” she asked the smallest present alicorn who immediately snapped to attention. “Could you get Fluttershy to join us? I understand the element of kindness has an innate ability to communicate with animals.’
“She does, princess!” Twilight responded. “We can stop by her cottage on the way,” she continued, a noticeable bounce in her step as she made for the door. The royal procession and Spike departed from the Golden Oaks library and made their way Southwest, travelling along cobbled roads and receiving looks all the way. A mixture of confusion, concern, and surprise. Finally, they reached the edge of the town proper, and the cobbles came to an abrupt end. A worn dirt path carried them to a small clearing between the edge of the Everfree and Ponyville proper. Just in front of a small brook was a picturesque cottage. Animals of all shapes and sizes lived together. Songbirds of every color flitted between birdhouse and feeder. No animal flinched at the group’s approach. All much too relaxed to care. Twilight knocked on Fluttershy’s door. A moment later it opened slowly and a small voice greeted her.
“Hello Twilight-” Fluttershy cut herself off. “Oh, um, hello princesses,” she said with a low bow, her long pink mane covering her face.
“Hi Fluttershy, we need you to help translate what the alien is saying. Will you help? Yes? Great! Come on!” Twilight said quickly before using her forehooves to yank Fluttershy from her college, The pegasus’ protests were drowned out by the sound of her hooves being dragged across the grass.
Twilight began cantering towards the everfree, dragging Fluttershy with her. The other princesses were quick to follow. The atmosphere darkened as the group crossed the threshold into the forest proper. They made their journey in silence, only broken by an occasional whimper from Fluttershy.
Their trek went uninterrupted, the unnerving quiet had even gotten to Twilight's mood, dampening her excitement considerably. Leaves shivered and rattled with every errant breeze, and the forest was eerily calm. While nothing in the Everfree could ever be reassuring, at least nothing was trying to kill them.
Snap
Everypony froze and their ears pricked forward. Spike clutched onto Twilight’s leg.
Crunch crunch crunch
The crunching of grass was getting closer. The density of the trees caused the sound to bounce, making it difficult to pinpoint.
Crunch crunch crunch
It was behind them, they all spun around to see… nothing.
Crunch crunch crunch
Still, the noises came closer. “We have become the prey of our own quarry,” Luna remarked grimly. Her horn began to glow.
“Auntie Luna, we don’t know that for sure,” Cadence said, but her wavering voice betrayed her true feelings.
The low hanging branches and tall brush parted to make way for the creature. Exactly as the three fillies had described, it was tall. Really, really tall. At least three hands taller than Celestia herself. It’s carapace was metallic and dark. It was lanky, and its arms seemed too short for its legs. It seemed to have a head, but as described, no face or facial features to speak of except for two eyes and an antenna. However, its eyes looked white rather than blue. Its arms ended in appendages that seemed to dull to do any actual damage. Near the union of its legs there were a multitude of items, and it had a large box on its posterior side. Upon its anterior side there was a belt halfway between the union of its legs and its upper half. The belt had many pouches but what caught everypony’s attention was the knife. It was large and in a hard sheath, black in color. The exposed handle was brown and grooved, and the knife had a strange cross guard. One side had a hole and the other was missing.
The group and the creature stared at each other for a moment before the creature slowly moved its hand towards the knife. The ponies tensed. Slowly, but with sure and clear movements, the creature grasped the handle of the blade and removed it with a shik from its holster. The blade was made from dark metal, and looked similar to the carapace. Its lower half was serrated, and the upper was smooth. It tapered to a wicked point and grooves ran along the flat of the blade. The creature then lifted the blade for all present to see, before it dropped the blade unceremoniously, where the point sunk silently into the forest floor. Luna’s horn powered down, and the group let out a sigh they didn’t know the were holding.
The creature reached for its head, one of its appendages covering its face and the other reaching for the antenna. The antenna twisted with a click, and something behind its head moved. The creature pitched forward slightly, removing its helmet before it brought its actual face to bear.
For an alien, its face was strangely pony-like. It had no coat to speak of, but it did have a very short mane of sandy blonde hair. Its exposed skin was pale and its eyes were a murky green. They appeared small and beady compared to a pony’s, but like a pony, it had exposed sclera and defined eyebrows. It didn’t actually have a muzzle, its face was rather flat, but it had a protruding button like nose with nostrils underneath. It had two large ears, that made a strange cave-like shape and were attached to the side of its head but had a free portion at the bottom. Its lips were more defined than a pony’s. Its chin protruded out in front of its neck just above where- what Twilight decided was rather armor than a carapace- covered the rest of it. Its expression was neutral, assuming that ponies expressions were similar.
“Greetings starfarer, I am Princess Luna. Sovereign of Equestria, a nation of Equus,” Luna took the initiative. She stood tall and proud, well as tall as she could compared the visitor. The creature didn’t respond.
“Do you… understand me?” Luna asked. The creature didn’t do anything but stare.
“We may be here for some time,” Luna observed with a sigh.
“Fluttershy,” Twilight said, drawing the attention of all. “Can you try talking to them?” she asked, gesturing with her hoof. Fluttershy was hiding behind her mane, but made some silent agreement and slowly shuffled over to the alien. FInally she arrived in front of it and began mumbling without looking up at it.
“Um, hi m-mr. Alien, I’m Fluttershy,”
The alien blinked as if in surprise and knelt down to Fluttershy. It grunted something. Twilight began scribbling furiously. Alien language! Real, alien language! It sounded almost guttural and had a growl to it. But it didn’t sound inherently harsh. Flutershy repeated herself. The alien nodded. Fluttershy proceeded to introduce everyone present. The alien nodding after each name and descriptor. The alien then stuck out an appendage, one of the dull claws pointing at Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy,” it said in perfect Equish. Everypony stopped, stunned. It rose to its full height and pointed at Celestia. “Princess Celestia,” it then switched to Luna. “Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, Twilight, Spike,” it finished off. It then pointed to itself and made a noise. Fluttershy tried to repeat the noise, and it corrected her. She tried again and it corrected a second time. After the third time it seemed like it had found the pronunciation acceptable.
“Very good vocal mimics,” Twilight muttered under her breath.
Her horn caught the attention of the alien, who made his way over. Something on his arm beeped. A silver band that fit snugly between two pieces of armor had a blinking, blue light. The alien brought it up to his face, and tapped it. Twilight’s mouth fell open when in the air, right in front of her, appeared a graph. Not just any graph, a magi-graph. She recognized the wave pattern from the multitude of academic journals and periodicals she had read. The alien had come to study magic! Twilight let out an involuntary squeal of excitement.
The alien’s appendage appeared right in front of her face, as if asking her to pause. She complied. The alien stood and brought the silver band up and angled it so that the top of the band was tilted towards her. A blue light enveloped Twilight’s body, and she froze. The others present were apprehensive. After about thirty seconds, the light shut off and what appeared in the air was a black and white image of a muzzle, and a reference picture of Twilight in the upper corner. A blue square appeared on the reference image and began slowly moving.
Twilight watched in utter fascination as the image of the muzzle began to change, morphing into the inside of a pony’s nasal cavity, hers specifically. But the alien had an objective. He was focusing on her horn. She saw the conical structure melt away to expose the nerve. On some level she was a little uncomfortable staring at what was originally only possible with cadavers or something that was supposed to be incredible painful. But those thoughts were shoved aside by the sheer magnitude of what had just occurred. A full body scan able to look through tissues layer by layer. That could revolutionize non-magical medicine! All others looked on too, fascinated by what seemed to be something entirely mundane for the alien. It seemed to notice this, and turned the band towards himself, performing another scan. Twilight began bouncing from hoof to hoof in excitement, realizing she was about to see alien anatomy in extreme detail.
The scan stopped, and the images appeared again. This time, the images encompassed the entire body, and changed continuously, moving from head to toe. Twilight had quite a few notes at the end of it all.
First, the alien had a large brain. Bigger than a pony's easily. While she couldn't decipher the alien script that was shown along with the images, she could guess they were labeling materials. Some of the pictograms looked like more detailed versions of molecular illustrations she had seen in The University of Manehatten's material science periodicals. Second, its eyes were definitely smaller than a pony's. Third, it was, as far as she could tell, a mammal. Its short mane on its head was evidence of that. Fourth, its skeleton seemed to be purpose built for a vertical posture. The upright position had not been a defensive one that had been adopted in response to meeting the royal entourage plus Fluttershy. Fifth, it was probably male. Those structures had made her face heat up slightly before she mentally reprimanded herself. This was a first contact scenario! Language and understanding came first.
“Oh, these are for you!” she said excitedly, pulling out several books on Equish language and magically shoving them into his hands. He leafed through the first one and set the stack down.
"Fluttershy, can you-?" Twilight began, but stopped when the alien started moving.
He grabbed the first one and scanned the book. As the scan progressed, digital pages filled with Equish script appeared and then disappeared to by replaced with the next page at an impossibly fast speed. He then proceeded to do that with the next book, and the next, and the one after that. After the last book had been scanned, he handed the stack back to Twilight, who was distracted. She was drooling over how quickly he could copy and store books. She snapped out of her stupor with a sheepish look, before grabbing the books and refocusing on the alien. He was pressing buttons, his eyes flitting back and forth, the lines of alien script were constantly changing and running circles around the familiar Equish. Finally, he spoke something in that strange growling language into the device, before something else returned. He looked it over a few times before opening his mouth.  
“Hello, it is nice to meet you all. My name is Lieutenant Matthias Hendrix, of the Navy of the United Empire of Earth” he said.
Author's Note
Sorry I'm late. You ever have those moments where you can envision a scene, but just don't know how to get there? Yeah, that was this. Thanks for reading though, please rate and review.