Artyom opened his eyes, only to be greeted by darkness. For at least twenty minutes, the astronaut remained hanging upside down from his seat, with fear slowly developing within him. Before he could do anything drastic, his sanity was saved by the welcoming green glow of the computer screen. His pod was now illuminated by emergency lights, covering him in a shine that seemed to say, "You're safe, Artyom."
He unhooked his seat belt, and fell below, hitting his head with a solid thud. It would be difficult to use the computer with it being upside down, but the astronaut couldn't handle any more blood rushing towards his head.
"Command: Area Scan"
The outside of the pod glowed a bright blue, observing the area, recording temperature, noting elements or compounds.
"Planet: -unknown-"
This pod was infamous for having annoying issues connected to it. One issue was it's poor ability to identify planets, and in effort to make friends with the other crew members, Artyom agreed to use this pod if an evacuation was ever necessary. Artyom kept promises.
"Observation shows that oxygen is in the atmosphere, yet is too pure for you to breath. You would surely die by breathing it in."
"Great, just wonderful," Artyom thought. His personal supply of usable air was incredibly low, and he wouldn't be able to drain oxygen from the pod. Mainly because he didn't know how.
It would take time before anyone would come to save him, if anyone ever came. His emergency signal was still working, and he knew he should just wait patiently for help, but his fear had taken control of him.
"Command: SOS lights"
The outside of the pod flashed with bright lights, making the ship shimmer like a diamond, trying to get anyone to notice it.
"Command: Activate Cameras"
The cameras of the pod seemed to be malfunctioning. They were stuck on thermal view, the image was a bit fuzzy, and Artyom could not zoom in. Luckily, he saw something. Something was alive, going towards him, attracted the pod's glow. Yet, as the creature came closer to the camera, he noticed something strange. I didn't look walk like a human, but moved on four legs, like some sort of horse. "Did I crash near a farm?" thought Artyom, "or could this be some sort of alien." The horse creature walked up to the pod, it appearing to look right at the camera. For some reason, this made Artyom on edge. He thought he could make out some sort of horn on the creature's head, and some indistinguishable murmuring outside the pod.
Suddenly, the pod began to shake. Artyom felt the pod float up into the air without him commanding it to take off. The camera visual became distorted, and the pod began to turn right side up. In terror, Artyom screamed. The pod fell back to the ground, now right side up, and Artyom quickly sat back in his seat, pressing himself against it.
Another creature soon appeared near the pod, followed by two more. The second horse had a horn like appendage as well, making them both some sort of unicorns, while the third and fourth seemed to be normal horses. These "normal" horses, however were strange. He couldn't completely observe them, but Artyom knew they were not the horses of his home planet. The sounds outside the pod almost seemed like words. Perhaps they were. He tried saying them out loud to himself.
"Twy...Solest...Penky..."
A pink glow appeared near Artyom, manifesting around the pod door, and he knew what was it was going to do. He grabbed the handle of the door, and pulled with all of his might. Artyom could feel the door slowly being pulled away. If he breathed in that oxygen, Artyom risked dying. Furthermore, if he somehow survived, he feared what the creatures might do with him. "Stop," he cried, "just stop!" And like that, the glow was gone.
The creatures backed away, and began to turn to each other. One horse then went away from the group and moved towards the pod. It seemed very energetic, almost bouncing towards Artyom. This slightly entertained the astronaut, until he realized it was really "bouncing" towards him. The horse lifted its hoof, and knocked on the metallic door.
-dun-dun-dundun-dun-
The pattern of the knocks sounded familiar to him. He replied with two knocks.
-dun-dun-
The horse stayed still, and then suddenly placed two hoofs on the door. It was trying to open the pod. He held the door back again, this attempt being easier then holding back the glow. The energetic horse left, but a new horse had taken its place.
The pod shook, and Artyom looked at the screen, seeing a creature kicking at the door with the back of its legs. Unless Artyom's eyes were playing tricks on him, he could have sworn it was also wearing a hat. He put his helmet on, just in case the door couldn't protect him any longer. Luckily, the hat wearing horse eventually stopped. The creatures walked away again, and got around in a circle.
"Were they talking to each other?" thought Artyom.
What the astronaut saw next sent a chill down his spine. Two more horses were coming, but not on foot. They were flying. The went over the group, and landed on the ground. One of these Pegasi walked over to his pod. He could hear murmuring, yet it was much more softer then the other sounds.
A thought soon burst into Artyom's head. "Is this Pegasus talking to me?"
Perhaps if he could properly communicate with it, maybe he could learn if the beasts were hostile. He searched though the command, and found what he was looking for.
"Command: Activate Communication System"
A large crack exited from the pod's speakers, scaring off the Pegasus.
Before he could react, the Pegasus had already ran back towards the group. He could tell they were talking about something, he just didn't know what. He saw the second Pegasus quickly fly off into the air at an incredible speed, and lost site of it.
"Update: Engines online"
Just then, Artyom saw the Pegasus speeding towards him. His camera seemed to fill with more static the closer the creature got. Artyom knew it was going to ram into him, and he wasn't going to let that happen.
"Command: Launch"
The pod burst in the air just as quickly as the Pegasus was chasing him. The pod suddenly turned sideways, and picked up speed. The Pegasus was still keeping up, and the pod was designed to make sure it's passenger was safe from danger. If it simply flew upwards, it would surely be destroyed. Artyom watched as the world rushed by through the thermal camera's eyes. He saw other horses and unicorns near what may have been houses. He even saw a strange reptilian creature walking around. The pod suddenly pulled up, going as fast as it possibly could. Artyom closed his eyes, expecting the worse.
When he opened his eyes, the pod had stopped. It only felt like seconds, but Arytom had just escaped the planet's atmosphere. The thermal camera had just switched to a normal view, letting Artyom see the planet below. It looked so familiar, and yet so strange.
"Update: Planet Identified..."
The name that flashed on screen seemed familiar to Artyom. He swore that deep down in his mind, he knew this planet, like he was somehow related to it in some way. His radio suddenly cracked on.
"Artyom? Is that you? Don't worry, we are sending help. Just stay in orbit, we are going to get you home."
Arytom closed his eyes, and began to drift off into slumber. He felt safe here, orbiting around the massive blue planet below. When he would awake, he would be taken back to his home, and be with his loved ones again. Yet deep in his mind, Artyom knew that he was truly at home here, the home where the ancestors of his ancestors were born. The home that was abandoned by man so many years ago, along with the creatures that the humans left behind. The home where these abandoned creatures evolved, gained sentience, and ruled over the planet.
Earth
