//------------------------------// // Anomaly. // Story: StoneHeart // by JT //------------------------------// I stand at my spacecrafts window, taking in the sea of stars. I always did love space, so it's ironic that it will be my undoing. I fumble with my trench coat's buttons, my hands unknowingly polishing the steel. Here I am, at the edge of the universe, hurtling at F.T.L speeds through the cosmos. I was banished because of a fault in which I had no choice. At fifteen, I was kidnapped by a world power's government, I have no clue as to which. I was experimented on, augmented, and turned into a cybernetic killer. When other nations found out about the project, Stoneheart, They liquidated the program and released all assets to the World Court, including me. I was treated like an animal, or as they called me, an abomination. The court tried me and found me guilty of crimes against humanity. As punishment I was outcast into the stars. "Sucks to be me" I continue to contemplate my fate. Staring out the window until a synthesized voice comes out over the ship's loudspeakers. "Large anomaly detected. Course offset. Cause of anomaly analyzed. Black hole detected. Estimated time to center.....Ten....Nine.....Eight." I sigh as I turn and walk to my quarters. I sigh again as I sit in my chair. I sit there awaiting my own destruction. "Really sucks to be me." I close my eyes and take a deep breath, I can feel my blood start to be pulled against the walls of my veins, urging to get out.The voice continues counting, though my mind has gone blank. ".....Two......One." the ship rocks violently, and the sound of screeching metal reaches my ears. "Aft section destroyed, closing emergency bulkheads." My eyes feel heavy, I decide to close them. I did not want to see the inside of a black hole. The sound of screeching metal stings my ears again, and I feel a sharp pain shoot through my chest. I jolt my eyes open to see a large piece of steel has pierced my chest. A blue liquid dripping from the wound. The metal pierced my secondary helix, an extra organ I received during my augmentation. I grunt in pain as I wrap my hands around the metal. My entire torso screams in protest as I pull the shard out of my body. Eliciting a few spurts of blue liquid to shoot from my chest. The shard comes out with a sickening slurp, and lands with a clang as I toss it aside. Then it hits me, I'm not dead. Could life and reality be so cruel as to leave me inside a black hole? I grunt in pain again as I stand up, the bleeding of the wound slows to a trickle as my primary helix organ repairs and replaces the damaged cells. I open the door to my room, finding only a starch white hall, missing some few panels. The lights are still on, so the reactor hasn't been destroyed. I look to my left and see a steel colored door, a bulkhead. So I kissed the engines goodbye. I walk to the door, press a few buttons and with a hiss, the door slides open. Revealing...... A colorful landscape, dotted with trees, houses, stone,ponies. I stop myself. Ponies? I rub my eyes, and look again. There are still several dozen ponies all staring at me with shocked looks, and I'm sure I looked just as stupid. A few moments of silence passed. neiher side saying a word until a pink maned pony with wings flies straight up to me, her eyes wide in horror as she looks at my wound, which had stopped healing, hurt like hell, and was still trickling a blue liquid. She then proceeds to stick her hoof straight in my wound, causing me to jump back and yelp in pain. "Oh my, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you." My eyes widen, the pony just talked, in perfect english too. I mentally throw my arms up into the air and yell. 'Fuck it, this place beats the ship, so fuck it. If they talk they talk.' the thought runs through my mind. If this pony could talk, and I could understand it, maybe if I talked to it, maybe it could understand me too. "It's fine, I'm okay." "No you're not! You're bleeding!" "It's just some regenerative fluid, I'll b fine in a few days." "Oh-Okay. Well....um......What are you?" This question made me stop, mad my stomach sink, and made my mind reel with questions. What am I? Nothing anyone ever told me during the project ever said anything about what I was. I knew I was human, or at least a variation anyways. I replied with the only thing I knew about myself. "Nothing." Silence reigned for a few minutes, and I could see tears welling up in the pony's eyes. She looked like she was about to cry up a storm. This made my stomach sink even deeper. "B-But, you aren't nothing! You're right here! You live, so you have to be something. Do you even know who you are?" I look at my hands and sigh. "Not anymore." "Well...um.....I'm sure the princesses would like to know that a strange creature just crashed into the Ponyville tower. So....um.....can you stay here, while I go get Twilight and the rest of the girls?" "I shall remain here." The pony started to leave, but quickly turned around. "Oh...I'm...um.....Fluttershy." I smile as I hear the name. Fluttershy. I repeat it in my head several times, getting a feel for every syllable. "Call me HK48." With that, she turned to leave. I remained behind, still standing in the doorway of my vessel. Staring at the ponies who stared back. "Ummmmm....Hi?" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight had heard the boom, and seen the meteor crash, she had already sent off a letter detailing what had happened to the princesses. She had gathered the rest of the elements of harmony. they were all running down the road to the site. They were running as fast as they could, Twilight's heart pounded in her chest. She was so focused on the scientific value of the meteor that she didn't see Fluttershy before she ran right into her. "OOOOWWWW! Fluttershy! We need you to come with us! A meteor just landed and we need to study it!" Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and sighed. "Yeah come on Fluttershy.It's not like we can't study a rock everyday!" Twilight shot her a venomous stare, before returning her attention to fluttershy. "Oh...um...Twilight, it's not a meteor, and you won't have to study it, just ask it questions, you see, it's really nice and all, but I think if you scar-" "WHAT! WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN ASK IT QUESTIONS?" Her eyes widened as she discovered what the pegasus meant. "YOU MEAN SENTIENT EXTRA-EQUESTRIAL LIFE IS HERE ON EQUESTRIA!" Rainbow dash gave an inquisital look at Applejack. "What's she going on about?"