//------------------------------// // Operation START-UP // Story: FedEx 715 // by BronyPilot //------------------------------// Emerging from the forest, the two pilots glanced at their transport, sitting where it always had been: noise pointed towards the forest with one of the escape slides deployed. As the two approached the aircraft, Roberts asked yet another question. “So what are we gonna do about that?” “About what?” Responded Beckham. “The slide. Obviously we can’t go anywhere with it deployed so what are we going to do about it?” “Ummmm…” The captain honestly did not know how to answer that question. Obviously they didn’t have Internet out here, so they couldn’t Google something like that (though he doubted they would find the answer via a search engine anyway). Pondering more about this issue as he and his co-pilot approached the deployed slide, he settled on dealing with that wall when they came to it. They had settled on not trying to fly the aircraft unless the navigation and other systems were still operational anyways. “So…?” Hearing his copilot’s voice the captain returned to reality and spoke up once again. “Oh, well, lets worry about that if we get to the point where leaving might actually be possible.” “Agreed.” The two pilots now stood at the foot of the evacuation slide, pausing their conversation until they made it into the cockpit. The captain tried running up the slide first, but the mud on the ground was sticking to his shoes, bringing his traction up the slide to an unacceptable amount. Thus, he slid back down, avoiding the mud now left on the slide. “Uh, Beckham?” “What is it now?” “Maybe we should try taking are shoes and socks off. It might just give us better traction.” “That's… actually not such a bad idea.” Why didn’t I think of that? The captain sat on the slide and removed his shoes and socks, leaving just his bare feet to climb the escape slide. Beckham started up the slide a second time with Roberts aiding him on the side. It was a struggle, but after a climb that could rival Mt. Everest in difficulty, the captain was able to grab the doorframe and haul himself up into the small hallway that was connected to the cockpit. He motioned for Roberts to toss his shoes up to him, as well as his own, before starting his own climb to command central. Being younger and bit more agile than Beckham, Roberts started up the slide with some speed. As he neared the top he started to slip, yet before he slid back down Beckham grabbed his hand and assisted in hauling him into the cabin. After the two completed the ritual of putting their shoes back on, they moved into the cockpit and pulled out their needed materials hoping for a possible way back home. ************************************* Rainbow Dash groaned as she began to open her eyes to the bright lights above her. After adjusting to this light, she was able to see her surroundings. On her right was a nightstand with a lamp, which was currently switched on. She was in a standard hospital gown in a standard hospital bed, with some bandages around her forehead and side. Sighing, she tried to think of how she ended up here. She struggled as she tried to get her memory to cooperate with her. There was that storm and Twilight had me get the other elements… then that fog and weird noise. As she thought about the noise she and her friends heard for a second her eyes shot open in realization as she remembered the giant metal machine screeching through the sky in her direction and seeing two things. What were those things? They weren’t ponies, or they didn’t look like any pony I’ve seen. Suddenly the door to her room opened, causing her to lose her train of thought. “Ah Rainbow dear, you’re awake. Twilight just came by with Applejack to see how you are doing.” Behind Rarity, Twilight and the other elements filed into the room. “How are you feeling Dash?” “Ok I guess. What exactly happened again?” Twilight looked over to Applejack, who shut the door behind her. Twilight then looked back to Dash before speaking up. “After you had informed of the strange flying object, we all went out near Sweet Apple Acres to meet up. Then that noise occurred and a fog rolled in. You flew up into the clouds to investigate, and that thing came out of nowhere and struck you before you had any time to react. Me and Applejack went to find it after I struck it with some of my magic while the others brought you here.” Dash smirked at the magic shooting part, then focused back on the situation at hand. “So you went to investigate? You find anything?” All the elements except Applejack turned towards Twilight, waiting for an answer. Twilight sighed, preparing to reveal her findings. “Well, we were kind of successful in that regard. We found the machine sitting in front of the Everfree a short distance from Applejack’s. It was mind-blowing to say the least. When up close, its huge. I wouldn’t be surprised if it stretched higher than a few buildings in Ponyville.” All eyes were concentrated on Twilight, astonished at not just her findings but also the details of the actual monstrosity. “It turns out it is some sort of advanced flying machine. I explored inside it and found a control room with two seats and many different switches and buttons. It had labels written in Equestrian and… it was just amazing.” Everpony’s eyes had dilated at that point. “S-So wh-what uses i-it?” Fluttershy squeaked. Twilight looked down deep in thought before offering an answer. “It looks like a pony, who knew how to use it properly, could possibly fly it. I honestly don’t know what could use it though. There isn’t anything on a pony inventing something as complex as what I saw.” “Here’s a better question Twi: Where’d it come from if its not from Equestria?” Applejack looked at her sternly. “I don’t have the answer to that Applejack. Possibly the princess knows but other than that I have no answer to that.” Pondering further she looked to Rainbow Dash, with realization in her eyes. “Rainbow, when you saw it the first time, what was a common thing going on other than the storm when it appeared and disappeared.” “Uh I don’t know Twi, the storm was the only thing I noticed. I mean the storm did have a few weird perks than a usual storm but-“ “What kind of perks?” Twilight inquired. “Well there was that lightning…” “Lightning…” Twilight said to herself before her eyes widened in realization. “I think I might know how it got here.” She said. Silence followed before Rarity spoke up “Well don’t leave us in the dark dear, how did it get here?” Twilight looked up with determination written all over her. “Before I reveal my hypothesis, I want to see something first. Pinkie, go ask if Rainbow is allowed to leave yet. We might need her help.” “Okie Dokie Lokie” Pinkie said in her singsong voice before hopping out of the room. “Everypony else, I’m going to investigate a little bit. Applejack, take everypony to the site we found the machine once Pinkie gets back. I’ll be there looking around for something.” With that, Twilight left the room and headed off for the crash site. ***************************** Back at the cockpit of the 777, the two pilots had just fired up the battery and APU and were attempting to align the IRS. “Any idea why it’s taking so long?” Roberts asked while yawning. “You tell me. Wherever we are, it has to be further north of the equator than we were. I know it can take longer to align up there.” The captain sighed. Just as he finished that sentence, the ‘Align’ lights above the switches started flashing. “Well that's one step done.” The captain focused his gaze to the flight computer and open the ‘Init. Ref.’ page. He selected the last known position using the side keys and entered it into the position line. The ‘Align’ lights immediately extinguished once the blank squares on the small display were replaced with the numbers of a coordinate position. The PFD came to life showing regular attitude indications, while the NAV display still showed a blank. The captain sighed and rubbed his eyes as he turned the knob to a full zoom out, which still resulted in a blank. The first officer pressed different buttons on his side of the cockpit. They buttons turned on and off different information on the display. No matter what he tried, nothing seemed to show up. The first officer looked out his cockpit window and spotted something in the distance. Squinting he made out what looked like a purple colored horse. “What the..” he started to say but he saw the horse starting to move faster in their direction. “Uh Captain. There is a purple horse moving towards us and I’m not so sure if we want to be here when it gets here.” The captain looked out the same window and stared at the sight, not believing what he was seeing. “What should we do?” Roberts inquired. The captain kept staring until he saw the purple horse teleport closer to the aircraft. “We stay out of sight and wait to see what it does.” With that the captain flipped some switches, turning off the APU and the battery systems putting the screens back to a blank. The captain got out of his chair and made his way to what looked like a closet door. He opened the door revealing the dark cargo area. The captain made his way inside followed by his first officer. The first officer closed the door behind him enough that one could peer out the crack and barely see the rest of the cabin. ***************************** Twilight kept making her way towards the flying machine. The fog had cleared by now, so finding the monster-sized machine was not very difficult. However as she approached it she heard a sound similar to when it was originally discovered, but a little less loud. She still made an effort to get to the machine faster, curious to what was going on. She decided to teleport to get to the door even quicker. After the teleport she heard the sound start to die down as if it was being shut off. She quickened her pace running the rest of the distance and arriving at the yellow slide below the door. Twilight immediately noticed the streaks of mud on the slide and immediately teleported up to the door. She walked into the small hallway a bit before coming to the control area. Nothing seemed out of place, except what looked like some kind of saddlebag placed behind one of the chairs. She looked around again, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. She went back to the small hallway facing towards the door to the outside. She immediately noticed the cracked door to the left of the main door. Not sure what was behind the door, she decided to prepare in case it tried to escape. She focused her magic on the door and tried to pull it closed. Nothing happened. She trotted over to the doorframe and realized the giant slide was in the way. Using her magic, she put force on the slide. The slide ripped away from its holds and began to deflate. Twilight tossed the slide towards the forest and attempted to close the door again, being successful this time as she heard the lever lock the door into place. She then crept towards the smaller door, using her magic to crack it open a bit further. She saw something quickly move away from the door into the darkness. “Hello?” Twilight called out. She moved opened the door further to the point she could walk right in. She crossed the threshold of the door leading into the darkness. “Hello? Anypony here?” she called out again. She lit up her horn revealing the contents of the room. Not to far from her she saw large metal boxes. She started walking closer to the boxes examining them. She heard a hoof-step behind her. She spun around to see what was behind her only to be met with a pain to her head as she blacked out of consciousness.