For all Mankind

Chapters

1. Let's Go
2. The Past is Behind Us
3. A Century in a Moment

1. Let's Go

"Let's go!" - Yuri Gagarin

A man was lying in the dirt. He was in what was once a peaceful meadow. But now it was filling with the dark smoke of a burning crater. The man sat up and saw the embers in the grass around him, but he was uninjured despite the flames. He unsteadily rose to his feet and walked to the crater edge. Peering into the crater he saw a twisted metal wreckage burning at the bottom.

Suddenly a voice yelled, "Wake up!"

The man was lying in his own bed with an older man was standing over him. The older man told him, "We have to go to the speech today. Go get ready."

~*~

It was the 24th century, humanity had developed technology that would seem to be magic even to its most educated members only a few centuries prior. Just over sixty years ago humanity had build the Yagi-Dymond displacement engine. This device had allowed the vast distances between stars to be traversed in mere years instead of centuries. However mankind needed a destination to explore. A solar system was chosen due to its similarity to mankind's own. Robotic probes were sent to explore the new solar system. Of the planets in the solar system one stood out, it seemed to be almost a copy of Earth. It was of similar mass, orbit, rotation and even had a large moon, yet it had its differences. The atmosphere seemed to be thick with clouds obscuring the view of the surface from orbit. The first probes sent down to the surface arrived in what seemed to be desolate wastelands. But then a probe found what may be life. More were sent providing evidence to the existence of life on another world. The planet was named Geb after the Egyptian god of the Earth. A series of manned missions were planned to establish a research base on Geb.

~*~

Today was the last day before the launch of the first manned mission. In an auditorium people had gathered to hear speeches that were being given by people who worked on the mission to Geb.

Nishant Chandra, the director of the International Association for the Exploration of Space, was finishing his last speech before the launch. He said, "Humanity has gazed at the heavens for millennia. Our curiosity of what could be there and why it is has fueled of imagination of many. We have journeyed into space for the first time only four hundred years ago. Our feats of engineering have allowed us to explore our solar system and now we have begun to explore another. I believe that humanity's ingenuity will allow us to achieve even greater things. Tomorrow we will begin a new chapter in the history of human exploration when three men from Earth set off on a journey to another world. The cooperation and peace of mankind has allowed us to arrive at this critical point in future of human history and it will continue to take us beyond."

Lieutenant Commander Zhang Wei, the mission's commander, stood from his seat next to the two other astronauts and walked to podium. He said a few words to the audience, "It is an honor to serve humanity in our quest for knowledge. I will do all in my power to ensure my crew's journey to and from Geb will be as fruitful a quest for better understanding our universe as possible. Speaking for the rest of the crew and myself, I wish to thank our friends in the IAES and the people of Earth for this chance to better all of mankind." Wei and the other two astronauts walked off the stage.

~*~

Dr. Anatoly Volkov was floating a metre above the floor of his sleeping quarters when he heard a knock on the door. "Tolya it's Ed. Can we talk now?" said the voice beyond the door.

"Sure," Anatoly replied. Floating to his feet he walked to the door and opened it. At the door stood Captain Edward Smith with a look of anxiety about him. "Come in and take a seat," said Tolya motioning Edward to enter.

"You forgot the furniture," muttered Ed.

"Oh, let me fix that," replied Tolya with a chuckle. With just a thought he sent an infrared optical signal to the nano machines in the room. The machines flowed and coalesced into the form of a chair.

Ed taking his seat spoke, "Are you planning on sitting on that fog again?"

"Of course, nothing is more comfortable," with that said he sent another command. This time the machines formed a more elastic structure with the appearance of a stool sized cloud.

"I'd rather sit on something more physical, considering this is our last day on Earth for years," Ed responded.

"As I assume you can already tell, I am worried about the mission," said Ed.

Tolya replied, "Why, despite this mission's groundbreaking magnitude, we are using well tested technology? Humanity's early missions to Jupiter were considered more dangerous, but despite that there were no failures."

Ed changed his posture, leaning closer to Tolya. He spoke vehemently, "Exactly, they had no failures. What if we had one? What if we died? They could cancel the whole program. Delaying any manned mission using the Yagi-Dymond engine for decades."

Tolya surprised by Ed's sudden vigor slid back on his cloud. Tolya waited a moment for Ed to regain his composure before responding in a calm voice, "You shouldn't worry about that. Wei is one of the best pilots in the world and understands the Tianma better than any other single person. I have been a surgeon for years and have cross trained in many other fields of medicine. With the expert system's assistance, I could treat almost anything we could encounter. And you will be there to keep everything running and set up our base on the surface."

"Why me? I am not the best engineer in the program. I am younger and less experienced with the type of systems I will be handling compared with my alternates in the program. The only two reasons I was chosen for the first flight is because you needed someone from the United States and someone who would be able to live with only the two of you for four years," replied a crestfallen Edward.

Tolya placed his hand on Ed's shoulder and said, "It is because you are our friend. With all of us working together we can accomplish anything. There is no one else that could keep us together and complete the mission. Don't worry Doomsday. The mission will go perfectly and humanity will have us to thank."

A suddenly gratified Edward said, "Thank you, I just needed to get my worries off my chest. We can do anything. Keep up the good work Bones and we shall tell the world of our accomplishments from another."

With that Ed stood from his chair, which seemingly dissolved into the floor. "You can sleep on your fog tonight. However I will sleep on the floor to be as close as I can be to Earth for the next six years," Edward said as he opened the door and left.

~*~

The next morning Wei, Anatoly, and Edward were being suited in their pumpkin escape suits for the launch. Nishant walked into the room with slight smile on his face.

He waved then spoke, "Hello, gentlemen. Since this is the last time we will be seeing each other in person for some time, I wish to thank each of you for your skill and dedication that you are bringing to the program. I cannot thank you enough for the time you have sacrificed to make my dreams and the dreams of all mankind a reality."

Ed and Tolya were at a loss of words.

But Wei knew what they wanted to say, responding, "We would like to thank you, the others working for the program for making this possible. And to thank you personally for helping us throughout our training and preparation for this mission. Would this mission have happened without your vision and leadership?"

Ed and Tolya nodded and said, "Thank you."

"Well, then I have to the mission control center. Good luck and remember whatever happens you will be heroes," Nishant said before leaving.

~*~

The astronauts were seated aboard the Xenon. It was seven minutes to launch. Wei spoke to mission control, "Prelaunch operations have been completed. Ready to continue."

Over the radio the astronauts heard, "Understood automatic systems are go."

After a few seconds pause mission control continued, "Systems are ready for go."

A minute later the controls unlocked in the capsule. Wei said to the other astronauts, "Switch to suit supplied air."

Tolya and then Ed said, "Changeover complete."

Wei spoke to mission control, "Controls activated and air supply changeover complete."

A few more minutes of preparations and mission control reported, "Fueling tower separation, we have liftoff." The astronauts were pushed into their seats by the sudden acceleration. A couple minutes later the first stage was jettisoned from the rocket. Several minutes later the final stage separated.

Wei spoke to mission control, "Final stage separation complete, orbit achieved, antennas and solar panels deployed."

~*~

Two days later the Xenon was preparing to dock with the Tianma. In free fall in the service module, Wei and Ed were double checking their flight checklists. Ed said, "It looks like it is time to get our spacesuits back on. Is that what you have next too?"

Wei answered, "Yes, tell Tolya to get his suit on and head to the command module to prepare for rendezvous."

The astronauts were back in their space suits in the command module. Ed was adjusting controls on the panel in front of him. He said, "Automatic rendezvous sequence ready."

Wei flipped a switch then replied, "Sequence begun, next we shall monitor its execution."

Tolya and Ed responded quickly, "Understood."

~*~

Three hours later the docking had completed. After checking the air pressures the astronauts removed their suits and entered the Tianma. Wei gave orders to his crew, "Anatoly take inventory of the supplies. Edward and myself will prepare the reactor then assist Anatoly. Any questions?" Tolya and Ed shook their heads.

After the work was done the crew reassembled. Tolya addressed the others, "Good work everyone. We should eat and rest before departing Earth."

After completing their morning exercises the crew had gathered in the Tianma's control room. Edward was verifying the navigational calculations. "We're good to go," said Edward with a thumbs-up.

Wei relayed this to mission control, "Navigation verified, ready for departure."

Mission control responded, "Flight plan confirmed, controls unlocked. You are go for transit to Janus." Wei pressed a series of buttons on his control panel.

"Program initialized, we will arrived at Janus station in approximately one year," Wei said to everyone.

~*~

Six months later, Anatoly was speaking to Wei. "Wei, we can't have you neglecting your exercise. It will cause a risk to the mission when we get to Geb," Anatoly sternly told Wei.

"I have to recheck the vehicle's systems to ensure our safety," Wei plead.

"Edward and myself have been doing that as well. You have been spending too much time rechecking things that have been already verified, doing three times the amount of work necessary. Neglecting your health to do so could harm all of us. What if when we get to Geb you break a bone and become incapacitated? How would that impact our safety? By trying to protect us you are introducing us to risk," Tolya spoke with an almost vitriolic yell.

"Bones calm down. You shouldn't get angry over this. I understand your argument. I will continue my monitoring of our vehicle's systems, but I will not neglect my health to do so from now on," said Wei in an astoundingly calm response.

Tolya smiled and said, "Thank you, friend. I was worried about you."

"Remember, we are all in it together out here," Wei said before departing.

~*~

Another six months passed and the Tianma was finally docked with Janus station. Ed smiled and shouted cheerfully, "Finally, somewhere else other than that small space we were in for the past year."

"Remember we aren't going to be here for long. We are just getting more propellent and supplies from the station. Then we leave for the other solar system," Wei said breaking Ed's mood.

"Well, let's get to work then," Tolya said interrupting the other two.

~*~

A few days later the Tianma had disembarked from Janus. The team were back inside the Tianma's control room. "Preparations for activation of the Yagi-Dymond engine complete," Wei announced.

"Let's go," Tolya said excited.

Ed flipped a switch on his panel then said, "Wei, we can go when you are ready." Wei pushed a button and nothing seemed to happen.

"Did it work," asked Ed.

"I don't know we need to check the astrogation systems, but it appears it does based on the radio systems. Tolya stay here and watch the communications. Ed and myself will check the astrogation equipment to program our next flight path," Wei ordered.

Edward and Wei returned to the control room. "We have prepared the program to insert us into Geb's orbit," Wei told Tolya.

"Wei start the program and let's go," said Edward after taking his seat. Wei started the navigation system.

Tolya spoke, "We should send a message back to Earth to inform them we are on schedule." They wrote a short message to the people of Earth:

We have made it. We are currently in the gravitational sphere of another star. We may be the first to do so, but there will be others. We have begun on a course to Geb and will arrive in approximately a year. We thank the people of Earth for their support.

After they sent this message they received messages from Earth. The messages were sent in response to the Earth based command stations receiving the signal sent on activation of the Yagi-Dymond engine. One of the most important to the crew at least emotionally was Nishant's:

If you have received this message, you have made history. I personally thank you on behalf of the people of Earth for helping us to fulfill our dreams of exploration. Good luck on the second half of your journey to Geb.

~*~

Three months had passed since their arrival in this star system. Edward was speaking to Wei in the crew cabin. "I haven't gotten enough sleep in the three months we have been here," Ed told Wei.

Wei asked, "Why? You haven't had problems with sleeping before."

"I don't know why. I have not felt both this excited and bored before in my life," Edward said as he bounced a ball off the wall.

"I understand Ed, I really do. Here we are expanding the frontiers of humanity, while being trapped in a small craft doing repetitive work. It makes you feel two contradictory emotions. One of being immense awe of your accomplishments and hope for future ones. The other being the tedium of the day to day tasks of performing those accomplishments," Wei explained to Ed.

Ed shook his head and replied "It is just that I shouldn't be bored. I have told you before at the training academy. I am different from you and Tolya. While you may have some of the fasted reflexes in the world due to your modifications. I have had genetic modifications that effect my mind. They were intended to allow people with them to be able to learn faster, but the side effects made it controversial. The one important to us now is that it is normally very hard for me to become bored."

Wei took a moment to think then responded, "Then do you think there is a possible complication caused by your modification that could cause this?"

"Yes, one of the side effects is that I can more easily become affected by mimetic cues in the environment. We need to think of something for me to do before this could develop into a problem to the mission," Ed replied in a sad tone with a frown.

Wei responded quickly, "We could work together on art. Does that databook you use all of the time have a drawing function?"

Ed replied, "No, it is a read-only model, but that is a good idea. I think we have one with a drawing function in the auxiliary storage."

"Good, let's get it then. I can show you how to draw on it," Wei said as he went to the door.

"You are a diamond friend," Edward said following him.

~*~

They had finally made it after two years the Tianma was in orbit of Geb. It had docked with Pushan station, an automated supply station. "We have made it. Only a short trip down to the surface and we will be discovering new things for the betterment of mankind," Wei said triumphantly as he activated the diagnostic systems aboard the Pushan.

Tolya was monitoring the sensors when he suddenly jumped from his station. He yelled, "Solar storm warning! We need to get to the biowell."

The crew was gathered in the storm cellar to wait out the storm. Wei addressed the other crew members, "If we are going to be here a few days, we should go over the mission plan again." "After the Xenon has landed, we will exit using the surface EVA egress port. This will place us directly into our EVA suits. After running the suit diagnostics we will activate the surface vehicle. This should automatically open the hatch. If it doesn't I will open it for us. We will then us the vehicle to travel to the surface habitat using the habitat's radio beacon to navigate. Once we reach the habitat, Edward will use the external access computer to activate the habitat's long term systems and perform diagnostics. We will then attach our suits to the habitat's EVA port and enter. Any questions?"

"Yes, what if something goes wrong?" asked Ed. Wei went through the alternate plans with the crew members.

After eating in the storm cellar Tolya went to speak to Ed while Wei was drawing. "So do you think we will be able to do everything to have the surface base up and running, considering we have been in space for so long?" Tolya asked Ed.

"I see no problem with that as we have been exercising and keeping our health up thanks to your help," Ed replied.

"You are right. It was a silly thing for me to ask," Tolya said with a slight chuckle.

"Well, we need to get some sleep and hopefully this storm will end soon," Ed advised. "I'll finally get my fog back at the surface station," Tolya told Ed.

"I know how much you like that utility fog, too bad we couldn't use it on the flight," Ed said to Tolya.

~*~

A day had passed and the crew was still in the storm cellar. "This planet seems so strange," remarked Ed.

"Well, what did you expect? Did you think it would be just like Earth?" Wei said back to him.

"No, it is just that the atmosphere is seemingly opaque. However the surface probes detected enough light to use solar panels to power the base," Ed responded.

Tolya spoke next, "The light is possibly generated by some kind of bioluminescence by the life that was detected. The lifeforms on the planet may possibly use chemosynthesis to generate energy."

"We will be finding out what is on the surface soon enough," Wei replied to the others.

~*~

Finally the increased radiation from the solar storm had ended and the crew had re-boarded the Xenon. They completed the diagnostics and disembarked in the craft. "Okay, in six hours we should be on the surface," Wei told the crew.

A few orbits later the Xenon had begun its atmospheric entry. The heat shield was glowing red hot, but the inside of the craft was protected. Once the capsule was slowed enough, the pilot parachutes had deployed followed by the drogue chute. Suddenly the parachute failure light had come on.

The main parachute had not deployed. The crew flipped through their checklists to the section for the event of a parachute failure. Ed read the instructions to Wei, "Switch main parachute control from auto to deploy."

Wei flipped the switch, no response. Ed continued, "On the emergency panel switch the main parachute breaker to secondary circuit, then repeat step one."

Wei flipped both switches, nothing happened. Ed seemed slightly distraught as he continued to read, "Switch the backup parachute switch to on then activate the backup parachute release switch."

Wei complied, the backup parachute finally activated. Wei exhaled, "That was a bit frightful there."

Seconds passed and then Tolya spoke in a worried tone, "We don't seem to be decelerating enough."

Wei and Ed looked at the velocity indicator. Wei said, "We will be going faster than what will be survivable."

Tolya spoke with a shaken voice, "Friends, it seems to be that are mission will progress more like Komarov's than Armstrong's." Ed had broken into tears and was unintelligibly mumbling to himself.

Wei spoke with a cold acceptance of his fate, "We should say any last messages we have before–".

Tolya cut off Wei screaming into the radio, "Tell my daughter Sveta, that I love her." He was crying and barely intelligible as the spoke, "Tell her that I was doing what I thought was best." "I am so sorry what I put you though and that I won't be able to see you again," he cried. He gestured for Wei to use the radio, as he was alone with his regrets.

Wei spoke unnervingly calm, "I am sorry for only caring for work. I wish I could meet my brother Min again to make up for not taking time off from he program to visit my family." He paused before continuing, "You needed me and I shouldn't have been so selfish."

Ed was crying, unable to wipe the tears from his eyes under the helmet. Wei attempted to interrupt him to see if he had anything to say. He reached out to tap him and then shook him slightly. Finally getting his attention Wei told him, "Ed do you have anything to say?"

Ed nodded and tried to suppress his tears. He cried into the radio, "Sister, I am sorry for not being able to see little Iris grow up. Please, tell her that her uncle died doing what he loved to do. Please, I did this for the betterment of all of us."

Wei said a few last words to the crew, "We have had many achievements, but today we will be remembered as having died heroes to humanity."

As the capsule approached the ground unknown to the crew, there was someone who could help them. A white unicorn had noticed the object falling from the sky. She tried to slow it with her magic. However the capsule was going too fast and too close to the ground to be slowed enough to land softly. It impacted the ground hard. Not entirely sure what it was she ran to it. She inspected the strange metal object with her magic. And she found what appeared to be a door.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading this far. Please give me feedback.

2. The Past is Behind Us

"We stand now at the turning point between two eras. Behind us is a past to which we can never return…" – Arthur C. Clarke

Edward was standing in a desolate expanse. He looked up towards the sky. It was dark and empty. Neither the sun nor moon were visible. The stars washed out in the blue-grey glow. Looking down towards the horizon, he saw only a flat unbroken line stretching out to infinity. He glanced around, looking for anything other than himself.

His gaze spied a disruption to the horizon. What was it? Whatever it was, it seemed more interesting than the featureless surface he currently found himself on. He took a few steps towards it.

"Wait!" he shouted into the desolation.

"Where am I and how did I get here?" Ed stood motionless in thought. He strained at his memory. Where had I been before now?

Time stood still for him as he searched for what had happened in his recent past. The Tianma, our mission. His memories rushed back. The Xenon, we were going to crash. With this realization he looked at his hands. Counting his ten fingers as they became distinct and tangible from the haze of his surroundings.

"This is a dream," he mumbled to no one. My friends need me; I must awaken,

He watched the world as it faded into darkness. A dull pain was felt throughout his body. What happened to me and how long was I asleep? He attempted to query the computer that had been interfaced into his mind long ago. There was no response.

This is a very bad sign He attempted to communicate with the machine again. There was no response. He struggled to communicate with it for a third time. The final attempt ended as the earlier two. It seems as if my implants were destroyed or were somehow rendered completely inoperable. How could that have happened?

His attention turned to his senses. He tried to hear what was going on around him. The dull hum of machinery that he had known was gone replaced with a strange silence.

Next his mind turned to his sense of smell. This place smelled wrong. It was not the smell he remembered for the past two years; the odor of living in recycled air was gone. Nor did it possess the odor of a new habitat; the smell of newly awakened machines and freshly unpacked supplies.

It smelled like he was back on Earth. The scent of pollen and dust that may have been ignored or described as an irritant by someone who had always lived there would have brought great joy to someone who had been in space as long as Ed. But it didn't bring him joy, only confusion.

What? Where am I? I couldn't be on Earth, Edward frantically thought.

A sinister thought had entered his mind, What if I am dead?

He opened his eyes desperate to see his surroundings. He stared in shock at what he saw. This was not a medical room or a crew cabin. He was in some kind of bedroom furnished by someone of great opulence. It seemed he had been placed in a canopy bed. What appeared to be a wooden desk blocked his view of the room. The small portion of the wall he could see seemed to be made from carved stone.

His mind questioned, Is this some kind of a trick?

No, it couldn't be. Tolya wouldn't play a prank on someone in a coma or allow someone else to do so, he answered to himself.

I should pull myself up to get a better look around then, Ed decided. He tried to sit up, but there was something wrong with his arms.

Did I get some kind of nerve damage in the crash? He finally managed to lift his head high enough to get a look around.

Ed had completely frozen at what he saw. There was another living thing in the room with him.

His mind questioned, What is that? He attempted to process what he saw.

There was some kind of hexapodal ungulate-like animal looking out a window. It had not noticed him, so he took a minute to observe it. It was standing on what appeared to be four hoofed toes. With the other two limbs being some kind of vestigial wings. A single long horn was projected from its head. The creature was wearing what appeared to be gold jewelry on its neck, head and hooves.

It had what appeared to be white fur on its body excepting the mane, tail and its haunch. The mane and tail had multiple horizontal bands of color that appeared to move. Ed hypothesized that it could be made of a nano fog. The creature's haunch had a yellow circle, placed concentrically in a larger orange circle with eight darker orange undulated flame-like symbols extending from the larger circle. In all it appeared to be a stylized symbol depicting the sun.

It could be real or it could be just a trick. After all it looks like something Tolya would get his daughter for her birthday, Ed thought about the seemingly ludicrous situation he found himself in.

I should check if it is intelligent or just a cleverly disguised machine, he thought while looking for something to write with.

I just need a pen and paper to draw a right triangle, he thought looking at the desk. It had books and paper on it, but no pen.

Origami it has to be then, he through reaching out to the desk.

Ed screamed at what he saw, collapsing back onto the bed.

His heart pounded and he felt faint. His arm was not his own. It had been replaced with some kind of animal leg.

This must be a dream, his fearful mind tried to reason.

But if it is one; why can't I awaken? What if I am dead and this is some kind of afterlife? his panicked mind thought as his felt his heart pounding the blood through his ears.

The white unicorn turned to face him.

"You have finally awakened," it said to him in English.

Ed's mind raced to try to figure out what was happening. "What is going on?" Ed stammered, unsure of how it could speak.

"You have been in a coma," it replied.

"What happened to me? How are you able to speak English? Who are you? Where are we and how did I get here?" Ed yelled with fear in his voice.

"My name is Princess Celestia and I would like to welcome you to Equestria," she said, speaking the words like they had been rehearsed many times.

"Where is this Equestria?" Ed replied, curiosity replacing the fear in his voice.

"If I understand this correctly, we are at the place you call Geb," she answered him.

"If this is Geb then why the sun symbol? There shouldn't be a visible sun on Geb?" his mind questioned.

"Wait, if this is Geb, how did I get here?" he inquired as he pulled his body up once again.

"You arrived in metal cone, which fell from the sky. I think it is called a sky capsule," she replied seemingly unsure of what she was saying.

"I arrived in the Xenon, a space capsule. Okay, then what happened to me?" he said in disbelief.

Celestia attempted to explain as well as she could, "You were injured by the crash and I could not heal your injuries. You would have died. I copied your mind. I repaired it, as best as I was able. I then transferred it into a new body."

"So I am a copy of the original, Edward Smith?" Ed desperately asked.

"Yes," she answered.

Edward's mind was in shock. I did die. I was not myself, but a copy. There was still hope for my friends. However there was a more important problem, which I must make sure Celestia understood. The capsule's containment had been broken, exposing Geb's biosphere to contamination.

He knew what he must tell her. "Celestia, this is important. When you opened the capsule's door, you exposed your planet's biosphere to contamination with pathogens from Earth. Do you understand this?" Ed asked urgently.

"I do not understand," she spoke.

Ed exhaled and wrinkled his brow, thinking how to better state the danger. "There is a danger to Equestria. Possible illness has been let into Equestria. Do you understand now?" Ed explained again.

"I understand now. What should we do about this danger?" Celestia replied.

Ed had been watching her face, he couldn't tell for sure most of the expressions were. But this one he knew well and it filled him with dread, fear. She hadn't known about the danger of forward contamination until I told her. That meant I was the first person from Earth to speak to her.

Am I alone? Are my friends dead? I must contact Earth The final thought filled him with a new drive.

We must contact Earth his mind yelled. But first he had more questions.

"I need to ask you some questions first to determine the best course of action," Ed stated.

Ed started his next question, "Are my fri—". He stopped himself, Friendship may be an alien concept to the alien.

He rephrased the question and asked, "What happened to the others I was traveling with?"

"Both of the others are dead. They were in worse condition than yourself. It was not within my abilities to repair them," she said to him.

Ed had never felt this alone before. He was trapped. His friends were dead. This world may be doomed. In his despair he wondered, "Was this my fault?"

My only hope lay in contacting Earth. I had to get to the base soon, but not before finding out what was going on.

"Okay, can you tell me how you learned to speak my language, English?" Ed asked.

Celestia's brow furrowed and she glanced away.

She did not know how to explain it using a language they could both understand He tried to find something to help her explain. He remembered something from earlier and asked, "You said earlier that you copied and repaired my mind. Do your language skills come from that?"

Celestia thought for a moment more before she seemed to understand. Finally answering, "I think so. Your mind was so alien, but similar. I attempted to perceive your memories. They were too strange for me to understand completely, but I tried. From what I understand, this is how I learned about your language."

Ed was intrigued by this reply. Silently thinking, "How could an alien mind be not completely alien?" He devised another question.

He asked, "Did you learn anything else about myself or my home?"

An uneasiness crept through her as she tried to recall what she learned. "You came from a place called Earth. There is only one intelligent kind of creature from that world. You are in the military of a world that has mostly know mostly peace for years. You have machines that allow you to travel very quickly," she replied, unsure of her accuracy.

"Wait, do you mean that there is more than one intelligent species here?" Ed yelled in excitement. This was something completely unexpected, I had to know.

"Yes, there are different nations composed of different species," Celestia easily replied.

Ed was amazed. Simultaneous evolution of multiple species of an intelligence capable of forming civilizations was something that I thought could never appear in nature. But this also had a darker side, I was placed on a side of what could possibly be an extremely dangerous conflict. Celestia had placed me on the side of these horses before I could learn the truth about every side for myself. She biased me and in turn humanity into helping her and her species. I had to make sure to avoid falling into this trap.

Ed believed he knew enough about the situation to try to explain how he could go about improving it. He spoke, "Okay, I think I understand the situation enough to be able to help you. I need to use machines in the research base we placed here before I arrived. Can you take me there?"

Celestia seemed to almost smile before speaking, "I will be able to bring someone to help you tomorrow. He will be able to help you travel to this base you speak of."

Ed satisfied for now replied, "Thank you, is there anything else you wanted to tell me?"

"I almost forgot; I was distracted by your awakening. I prepared these books for you to help you understand this place," she said as she gestured to the stack on the table with her head.

"Thank you, may tomorrow bring a better day," Ed said. He attempted to extend his hand in a handshake. Before he saw he no longer had hands and retracted it.

I won't get use to this soon Silently hoping for it to be true.

"I have other duties and must leave now. I will return tomorrow with assistance for you," she said as she turned for the door. The door opened and closed without her making contact with it.

"Who puts an automatic door in a bedroom?" Ed mumbled to himself.

Time to look at these books He managed to awkwardly pick up the book from the top of the stack and drop it next to him on the bed.

He was about to open it when he remembered something. This may be a trap. She may have designed these books to brainwash me into betraying my duty to humanity

He knew that his curiosity will get the better of him eventually, no matter what he did now. He would have to mentally reinforce his loyalty. "You are human, Earth is your home, protect your home," Ed silently repeated to himself.

He opened the book. The first page had his name written on the top. Bellow his name something else was written, but in a strange script. He couldn't understand it. He turned to the next page. This page had English sentences and what he assumed to be a translation into Equestrian below it. Turning the page again, he found a diagram. It seemed to be describing the sounds used in Equestrian speech.

This will take weeks, even months to understand Not that he was deterred. He continued to study the book.

Author's Note

Hopefully I got the mixture of curiosity, fear and confusion down right. Any comments or concerns?

3. A Century in a Moment

The horizon was curved. The sky was fading from dark blue to black. Below were the clouds, but they seemed as far away as they were on the ground. The velocity was incredible, it made the clouds seem to roll by and fall away because of it. It was flight above a land of clouds and the purest blue sky. False lines dance about in the sky of the world. This was a machine, more powerful than most ponies could imagine.

"This isn't real. It is another dream caused by the aliens' memories," Celestia said to herself as the dream's sky rolled past.

She continued to watch in curiosity as strange symbols danced across her vision. What they indicated she couldn't understand, but they seemed to be inside this machine with her. Even as her head turned the symbols stayed between her and the inside of the machine.

In the center of her vision was a circle with a horizontal line going through it. It was stationary unlike the lines on the left side of her vision. To her left there was a vertical line with what she believed to be numbers on it. A triangle with a number inside it was on the line. The numbers were moving down the line and the number in the triangle was changing.

Looking down at the panel in front of her she saw two glass panes with moving images underneath. One of the panels had images of the lines. The other had something that appeared to be a map.

"I don't recognize the map. This must be a memory of the alien's home," she thought. She continued to study the images.

Celestia looked at the symbols and attempted to discern their meaning. "The line on the left must be altitude. It is the only thing that seems to be changing quickly enough," she said as she smiled. As she did that she gained an increased awareness of her form. The thought crept through her, "This isn't my body. I am one of them, yet I feel normal." As she adjusted to her newfound awareness of her alien form she looked upon the machine around her.

"This is amazing. How could the aliens have this power?" she wondered, "This machine could fly higher and faster than myself or any pony ever had." "They couldn't fly on their own or use magic like Unicorns, yet they could create these things," her mind inquired, "Why have my Ponies not done this yet? We are still limited to little more than our natural abilities. Is it my fault?"

Suddenly, the symbols faded. Celestia looked to the panels; they were dark. The sensation of fear flooded her mind. She looked out the window.

"I can't go outside. I would be blow to pieces at this speed. Even if I wouldn't I would still asphyxiate at this altitude," she thought, challenged to escape this situation. Knowing she would die in seconds outside the failing machine, she had one choice, stay inside.

"If I can control this machine, I can land or at least go low and slow enough to escape," she planned, "Now time to look at the controls."

Her left hand was holding on to a metal stick attached to a button filled panel. Her right hand was on another panel, not holding a stick, but instead over a series of buttons and switches. A strange feeling of confidence overpowered her fear as she pressed a button on the right panel. Lights illuminated a series of gauges in front of her. Her left hand jiggles the stick. The gauges move in response.

"I can still fly. I will survive this," she spoke triumphantly.

The world went completely black. Her heart raced. Her breath tried to keep pace. "Where am I?" she asked the darkness.

She stared into the darkness, almost expecting an answer. She attempted to stand, but she couldn't. "Something is wrong with my arms," she thought, "Wait, I don't have arms. I'm a pony. It's only the spell affecting my mind."

Celestia changed tactic and attempted to use her magic to create light. She tried and nothing happened. "Celestia, this is a simple spell even a foal could cast it," she chastised herself.

She tried again and managed to create a dim light. "That was harder than it should have been," she thought as she looked around. Through the dim light she could discern that she was in her bedroom. Then she frantically looked at her body checking if it was still normal. "Four hooves, check. Two wings, check. Cutie mark, check. I can't see my mane from this position," she said, getting out of bed.

She walked to her mirror. Her eyes widened at what she saw. "My mane, it isn't shimmering anymore," her mind worried, "This means my magic completely stopped while I was asleep."

"Is my magic failing? Has the spell doomed me to a horrible death of having my mind slowly destroyed? If I die, will Equestria survive?" her mind screamed. She could no longer bear to look at the mirror. Turning her head to the floor, tears formed in her eyes.

"It is all my fault. I have cursed the fate of Equestria. Without myself it will take hundreds of Unicorns to move the sun. But the knowledge of the necessary spells have long since passed from knowledge of most Unicorns," she softly spoke to herself, watching her tears drop onto the floor in the dim light.

"But I had to do this. It is my sacrifice for Equestria. I did what I had to do to guarantee the safety of my ponies," she reassured herself. She questioned herself again, "No, I could have just of left the machine. It seemed dormant. I just did this to satisfy my own curiosity. I risked myself and my ponies in the process."

"It was only a week ago, but it feels like a century. We found another machine from the sky, but this one was different," she strained to remember.

*~*

Celestia stood with two of her Pegasus pony guards, Swiftshield and Goldenwall, in Ponyville's town hall. "My plan is proceeding well, but everything is not accounted for. Who has been making the machines, which have fallen from the sky into Equestria?" she pondered, "Was is Luna? Or was it Discord? No, it couldn't be. They have both been trapped for centuries. The creator of the machines must be a being I haven't met before. But why would they start sending them in the few decades before Nightmare's return?"

An unnatural object burned against the atmosphere, but it was not consumed. A small twitch of her tail and a thousand others set off the klaxon's within Celestia's mind. "A thousand niggles can not be wrong. Another of those strange machines has arrived. A powerful force has been sending them. I can't risk not investigating it," she planned.

"We have to go now. Guards come," she commanded.

"Princess, what about the celebration?" asked Swiftshield.

"Leave it. What we have to do is more important," she ordered before teleporting herself and her two guards.

With a flash they disappeared and reappeared in a meadow. The guards tried to assess the situation. Looking for landmarks or something to fix their position. The mountains in the distance hadn't moved much from how they were visible in Ponyville. "We seem to have not gone far from Ponyville," Goldenwall said, barely loud enough for Swiftshield to hear.

"Princess, why are we here?" Goldenwall asked.

"There," she said, before everyone disappeared again.

Then they were somewhere else. A quick survey told them they haven't traveled that far, but there was something nearby in the darkness. An unnatural cone had dug itself into the ground. A pony was standing next to it, distracted by the object she didn't notice the new arrivals.

Celestia bolted from her guards, galloping towards the object. "Princess, wait!" they yelled to her. She ignored them, for velocity was her only concern. They took flight after her.

Celestia stopped behind the Unicorn. "Rose Quartz, what do you know about this object?" she asked.

The startled Unicorn jumped in the air with a small squeak before turning around. She bowed before she spoke, "Your highness, my apologies. I just found this object. It fell from the sky. I think a Pegasus might of dropped it from a high cloud. I am not sure what the purpose of it is, but it has what seems to have a door."

The two guards had caught up with the Princess. "Princess, why did you leave us? We can't protect you if you run away," Goldenwall said, gasping for air.

"This," Celestia said gesturing to the object, "We have found more objects similar to this one. We don't know who has created them. Miss Quartz explain the rest to them. I need to investigate this object."

Rose spoke to the two confused stallions, "I am Rose Quartz of the Equestrian Intelligence Agency. Strange metal objects have been found in Equestria over the past few decades. Only a few days ago, a group of larger objects landed in Equestria. Unlike every other object found until then these ones seemed to be moving on their own. We have been observing the new objects from the distance."

Swiftshield interrupted her, "Wait if you didn't want to disturb the other objects, what were you doing to this one?"

Rose continued, "The others were found after they had landed. I personally saw this object descend. I had to make a judgement on how to interact with it. It appeared to be approaching the ground much faster than it would if it was going to land softly. I attempted to slow it with my magic, but as you can see I was not able to do so."

A sudden sound of metal tearing interrupted her explanation. Rose turned to see what was happening. Celestia had ripped the door section from the object and tossed it aside. Lighting her horn, she peered inside. "This one has passengers," she told the three onlookers. She unbuckled the nearest of the passengers. With great care she moved the body out of the metal and on to the nearby ground.

The other ponies gathered around it. "Is it some kind of Minotaur?" asked Goldenwall.

"No, it couldn't be. Judging from the boots, it is plantigrade. Additionally, it couldn't fit horns in that helmet," replied Swiftshield.

"Is it alive?" asked Rose.

The question went unanswered as Celestia went to remove the next body. She removed it and placed it next to the other one.

"They must be from a faraway part of the world. I have never read about beings that look exactly like this," Rose said to the others.

"How could they have flow that far? That doesn't look like a flying machine and they don't have wings," Swiftshield inquired.

"They could have used magic or a giant cannon," answered Goldenwall.

"No, that wouldn't work. That would require an impossibly giant cannon. Magic might be an explanation, but they would require magic more powerful than the strongest of Unicorns had ever performed to fly such a large object from across the ocean to here," Rose explained.

"We don't know what their species is. They could possess greater magic than ponies," added Swiftshield.

Rose gaped as a sudden realization arrived. Her voice shook as she whispered her conclusion to the others, "They didn't come from this world. If they had existed here we would have known about beings with such powers earlier. The complete lack of evidence of the existence of an entire race of intelligent beings with this level of abilities cannot be explained any other way."

Celestia removed the final body placing it in a row. "This is the last of our guests. I want you to keep watch while I investigate them," she ordered.

The other ponies went to set a perimeter around the crash site. Celestia turned to the three bodies. "May you tell me your secrets," she whispered to herself. She cast a simple spell to determine if they were still alive.

The spell failed to determine anything. She tried again with a more complex spell.

Finally results appeared to her. Two of the beings were probably dead. One appeared to be almost so. But it was beyond her ability to heal injuries to an unknown being.

"I know of a spell that might allow me to retrieve more information from them. But is it worth the risk?" she thought, "I must try anything. Whatever these beings are, they have powers that seem to exceed any known being excepting the great powers of the world. If they are a race instead of unique beings, they could destroy Equestria."

Her mind decided, she set on her course. She prepared to cast one of her greatest spells. "This spell could kill me. It would certainly destroy the mind of a lesser pony. If I shall fail, Luna please forgive me," she spoke silently,

She cast the spell. Her mind went blank. For her a moment and a century passed simultaneously. "The spell worked," she remarked triumphantly. It was rare for a pony who could move the sun to cast spells that challenge her.

Celestia mentally touched the memories. Alien sensations flashed before her mind. "Rose's hypothesis was correct, the beings were from another world," she concluded.

"How much time had passed?" she asked the dark sky. She probed the sky with her magic. "The Nightmare is still in control, but there is still time for Twilight," she thought, "I should organize things here while I wait for her to complete her duty."

*~*

"That was how I started it. Afterwards I began to search the memories further, but I didn't know what would happen," her dark thoughts stirred, "I started to forget things. I did not notice this myself. Captain—"

"I can't remember his name," she cried as she strained to remember.

"I have been making preparations for Equestria while I still am able," she thought, "Just yesterday I started the greatest of these."

*~*

Celestia was standing alone in windowless room deep within the palace. The stone room was unadorned, only a few candles provided dim and flickering light.

"Everything is perfect," she said as she stepped into the center of the room. "If this works I can slow the damage to my mind and get the answers I need," she thought as she sat on the cold stone.

She closed her eyes, fixated the alien in her mind and cast the spell.

She opened her eyes. The world had changed. The room was gone. In its place was the horizon and the cool night of a calm sea.

She inhaled the salty air and looked down. The simple raft she sat upon had another passenger. The comatose alien was sprawled on the raft in some kind of light blue uniform.

Celestia smiled. "You and I must not be that dissimilar, even here you see yourself at the service of others," she spoke softly to the unconscious passenger.

"Let us get to work then," she said to herself. She looked to the sky.

The sky of this place had more stars than were visible in the sky of Equestria. Celestia concentrated on the sky and a second set of stars appeared. The new stars were distinguishable from the old by their color. The old were white and the new yellow.

Celestia continued to concentrate on the stars. The stars moved throughout the sky. Sometimes a yellow star would turn white. Sometimes all the stars moved slightly.

"I am almost finished. The points are in their places. I just need to prepare the failsafe spell," she spoke to the sky. SHe concentrated and it was done.

"Goodbye, next time you should be able to speak back," she said to the passenger.

Celestia opened her eyes. She was back in the palace. "Now for the second phase of the spell," she thought as she rose from he floor.

She stepped back from where she was sitting. She gripped a metal object from the floor with her magic. She held it before her. It was a simple knife. She removed it from its sheath. After taking a moment to observe the candlelight's flicker reflect on its blade, she lifted her left foreleg. "It's now or never," she mumbled.

She drove the knife against her leg. Wincing she dropped the knife and cast the next spell.

A gust blew out the candles. The room fell dark. "I need to cast the final spell," she whispered into the darkness. This final spell didn't seem to have any effect, but she knew it had succeeded.

She created a small light with her magic. A few motes floated in the center of the room. "It worked," she said, unable to stop the smile from coming to her face.

"I hope you don't panic too much from being an Earth pony, Captain Smith," she said to the empty room.

*~*

"The spell seems to have worked and slowed the progression of the chaos within my mind. However I cannot let this distract me from the problem," Celestia thought.

She looked back to her room's mirror. "I just need to recast the spell to connect myself to the sun," she said.

The spell was complex, but it was her most well practiced. A sudden flash and her pink mane dissolved into the flowing one she was known for.

*~*

Celestia had concluded her court early that day. She went to the room she had put the comatose pony. "He should be awakening soon, if my estimate is correct," she thought standing over him.

She cast a diagnostic spell on him. "You seem fine, but you won't awaken. The problem must not be detectable with this spell," she concluded, "I will wait a little while longer."

An eighth of a day passed. Celestia was looking out the room's window. "Had I made a mistake with the spell? It is possible, this was the first time something like this has been attempted," she thought as she watched the sky, "Could the alien mind be incompatible with a pony mind? No, that does not seem to be true as I could interact with his memories."

Suddenly, Celestia heard a scream from across the room. She turned around and saw the pony had awakened. "You have finally awakened," she said in the alien tongue.

Author's Note

This chapter took longer to get ready than I had planned. Thank you for reading this far.