//------------------------------// // C.E. 1001 - Light of the World // Story: Of Gods and Men // by Sauron //------------------------------// "How is it?" Princess Celestia asked the nurse in the Manehattan General Hospital waiting room. "It has a broken leg, a concussion, some moderate bruising on the face, and two sprained ankles, but other than that, it's doing fine." replied the unicorn nurse, while reading through charts on a clipboard. "Good. I would prefer to see one of these creatures alive, unlike the ones we found near the Crystal Empire." Celestia said. "Please ensure that it gets the best care possible." "Of course, Princess." the nurse said quickly. "One more thing: have you been able to make contact with it yet?" Celestia asked. "No. It's apparently been unconscious since it was found in the Harbor." "Contact me as soon as it wakes up. I will be in my room at the Ditz Hotel." Celestia said as she trotted away. No sooner had she left the hospital than a pegasus Royal Guard flew up to her, landing on the ground and bowing. "Your Majesty, we have recovered the vessel the creature was floating in. It is on Dock 13 right now." "Really? I shall have to examine it. Lead the way." "As you command, milady." The Guard flew off in the direction of the dock, Celestia flying not far behind. When they arrived at Dock 13, Celestia dismissed the Guard and trotted over to the rather large crowd gathered there. Somepony spotted her and exclaimed "Princess Celestia!" instantly, everypony bowed, and some moved out of the way for Celestia to come near the object of examination. In the middle of the crowd, several scientists were examining a large metal object, while the Guards kept onlookers a few feet away. "So, what is it?" Celestia asked, curious. "Well... we don't know, your highness," replied Bill Neigh, the chief scientist of the group. "But it doesn't appear to be a boat, and it's much smaller than the one we found near the Crystal Empire. This one appears built for only three of the creatures." "Have you seen the other two then?" "Uh... No. The one that was taken to the hospital is the only one found in this vessel. We believe it may have been the only one." "So, what else have you learned?" Celestia inquired "Anything that might be beneficial to know?" "Well, we found what appears to be packaged food..." said Mr. Neigh "but..." His voice dropped to a whisper. "It appears some of the food is meat." Celestia nodded. It was somewhat unexpected, but not really surprising. "But the other food? Is it plants?" "Well... yes. Some of it appears to be plant matter, or plant based products. Some of it we are not sure about, however. Like this white powder here. We don't know what it is." the scientist said hesitantly. "So the creature is an omnivore." Celestia said, thinking of how they would feed the creature when it awoke. "It will have to subsist on a solely plant based diet for now. Save whatever of that food you can. The creature might need it." "Also, your highness, this craft is very strange. There are parts of the vessels hull on the inside, which show the outside part as if it were really there. It appears to be magical, but our unicorns can not sense any magic in the craft. And there are other strange items as well, which we haven't figured out how to use yet." "I fear we will not have many answers until the creature has awoken." Celestia remarked. Titus awoke in a bed. A real bed, not one of those bunks they had on Enduring Spirit. Where am I? Titus thought. He looked around, and saw what appeared to be a hospital waiting room. He was lying in a bed, his leg bandaged and tied to some sort of splint. He looked around to see an orange horse... well, unicorn actually, staring at a clipboard intently. The weird part, however, was the fact that the clipboard was levitating in some sort of blue field. Oh, that's right. ALIENS. Memories of everything that happened earlier flooded back, and Titus felt gripped with fear. He tried to calm himself. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil... Wait, these aliens can't be that evil, right? I mean, they didn't kill me. And they took me to a hospital. It can't be that bad. Slowly, his heart rate returned to normal. He took a deep breath, turned to the unicorn, and said "HELLO. MY NAME IS TITUS SLATER. I AM A HUMAN." "Oh, wena siphapheme. Ingabe nawe uzizwa kulungile?" the unicorn said. After a few seconds of silence, the unicorn must have figured out Titus didn't speak its language, so it said "I kumele azise umbusi wethu Celestia" and left the room. Titus waited, contemplating his fate. He was on an alien planet, severely injured, and was unable to communicate with anyone, not with humans because they weren't here, and not with these... whatever they were because they didn't speak either English or French. Things could be worse. He could be in one of those prison camps he had read about in Old Earth History class. Presently a tall horse, about twice the size of any Titus had yet seen, entered the room with the unicorn from before. This alien was pure white, with a multicolored mane that seemed to move on its own. The Alien oddly had not only a unicorn horn protruding from its head, but also a pair of feathered wings, which were folded at its sides. "Imikhonzo, ngikhona Celestia, umbusi waleli sombuso. Ngabe uzwa kanjani namuhla?" the alien said. Titus could not tell for certain, but a slight inflection of the voice seemed to indicate a question. "Um... I am a human." Titus said, making a random guess as to what the alien had said. "Ngiyabona ukuthi nina anazi ulimi Equish. Ngizozama elinye ndlela." the alien spoke again. This time there was no question. The alien appeared to contemplate something. After a moment, it picked up one of it's front legs, put it on its chest, and said "Inkosazana Celestia" three times. Titus guessed "Inkosazana Celestia" was the alien's name, but wanted to be sure. He pointed at the creature and said "Inkosazana Celestia". The creature nodded its head vigorously. Titus then pointed at the other alien. "Inkosazana Celestia?" he asked. Both creatures shook their heads side to side. Hmmm. I wonder if nodding yes and no is the same with these creatures as it is with humans? Titus pointed at himself and said "Titus Slater." The larger alien extended a leg towards Titus and said "Titus Slater." Titus nodded a yes. The alien curled up the corners of its mouth. Almost like it's smiling. The larger creature pointed at the smaller one and said "Inselo Ezithambile", then it moved its leg in a circle as if to indicate both of them. "Ngamahhashi amancane." Titus guessed than "Ngamahhashi amancane" was the race of aliens, but could not tell if "Inselo Ezithambile" referred to the small unicorns, or just this one in particular. Nevertheless, he waved his hand in a circle in front of his chest and said "Human." The larger one nodded its head, before saying "Titus Slater, Human" and then pointing at itself and saying "Inkosazana Celestia, ngamahhashi amancane". It then pointed out the window and spoke. "EZweni sa samahhashi" and swirled its arm all around the room, and pointed out the open door. "EZweni sa samahhashi." That must be the planet this is: EZweni sa samahhashi. As Titus was about to speak, an alien with what looked oddly like Ancient Roman armor entered the room and said "soMkhulu wakho, Angifisi ukuba nqamula, kodwa sekuyisikhathi sokuba ngawe ukukhulisa ilanga." "Oh!" exclaimed the larger alien, Inkosazana Celestia, as it rushed over to the window. It closed its eyes and appeared in deep concentration. Titus watched as a yellow aura illuminated Inkosazana Celestia's horn. What? It's almost like that levitation field. Titus glanced out the window at what the alien seemed concentrated on. He gaped in amazement as the sun appeared rapidly on the horizon, rising to the middle of the sky just as the alien's horn aura faded. There is no way this planet rotates like that! It when from dawn to midday in less than thirty seconds! "Ngiyaxolisa Thithu Slater, Human, kodwa mina kumelwe nihambe Manje, Nginezinto eziningi okufanele sizinakekele." And with that, the large white alien left the room.