Chapters Next
Close
Where Outside Of Equestria Are We?3,657 words
Who Is This Six, And Why Were They Afraid of Seven?2,711 words
Sweet Dreams Are Made Of What?2,900 words
But If You Are In Here, How Are We Moving?2,645 words
When Will Dinner be Served?2,638 words
Was This an Accident?2,816 words
And What of Everyone Else?1,757 words
Who's Asking The Questions?1,668 words

Where Outside Of Equestria Are We?

“Two minutes to full charge of drive.”

“Collectors are powered down. Power levels are steady. Batteries one through sixteen are green.”

“Navigation matrix active. Calculating…”

“One minute, thirty seconds to full charge.”

“Landing selected. Navigation ready to go.”

“Engaging levitation field.”

“Levitation field active. One length and holding.”

“One minute to full charge.”

“Batteries at sixty percent.”

“Engineering, double check your readings. Did you read a nine as six?”

“Negative, batteries at fifty eight percent.”

“We are draining power too fast. Abort.”

“Aborting charge… Nutbunnies! The Sparkle Drive isn't responding!”

“Re-engage collectors!”

“This close to launch?”

“We’re at one minute and can’t abort!”

“Re-engaging collectors.”

“Batteries at fifteen percent!”

“How are we losing power this fast?!”

“What was that!” “Crabapples!” “Mother!”

“Levitation buffer four just blew!”

“We’re going to stabilize us manually!”

“With how heavy we are? Not even you can do that!”

“We have to try or we’ll wind up lost in space!”

“Batteries at five percent!”

“Oh please, let Us make this.”

“Charge complete! Launching!”

I was awestruck that it had worked. I had expected to us to fry up in a star, but some miraculous event placed us in a large clearing. There wasn't much light besides what was given off by the controls, though without power they should not have been emitting light at all. Oh, wait, there was a moon in the sky, that would explain it. I picked myself up off the floor. Apparently I had fallen down while trying to keep our aim steady.

“Is everypony okay?” I called, looking to the rest of the crew. Three sounds that were half groan, half affirmatives greeted me. “Good. Status report?”

The pony to my left was first to respond, “We've suffered a 100% increase in nausea…” Oh Double Take, always the humorous one. Double Take was the crew’s engineer. Surprisingly he was a pegasus, not as one would assume, a unicorn or an earth pony. I looked over at the yellowish orange pegasus. His wings were flared out, his head bent over, and his cheeks looking slightly greener than usual.

“Other than that, looks like we blew the collectors, and the batteries are shot,” Double Take managed to wheeze out, “I imagine most of the circuits are fired too.”

“Well so long as there is edible plant life here, we should be able to sustain ourselves until it can be fixed,” I noted, looking around our crash site. In truth it was more of a landing than a true crash. We had landed on a shallow but large hill. Had it not been for the fact that our systems broke, I would say we had made a successful first jump. Though there seemed to be little plant life, and the soil was laid out in an odd pattern of alternating peaks and troughs laid out in straight lines. The plants even seemed to be evenly spaced apart. This was all much too neat. If I had not known better I would have guessed we were on a farm back in Equestria.

“What's our status? Let me just flip on the console and… Oh that’s right, without power the navigation systems don’t function. How about that?” The unicorn to my left quipped. Quick Wit was a rather obnoxious mare. As her name implied, her mind outpaced nearly all others. She became upset, however, whenever anypony could not keep up with her. This lead to some rather rude comments. I glared at the light green mare and she looked away.

“The cargo is secure. All none of it,” muttered an off white earth pony stallion. Under his breath, I then heard him mention that he needed a drink. I was unsurprised that Hard Stuff was almost unphased by what had happened. Already he was the first up and about, checking our new surroundings. Hard Stuff was out quartermaster for the trip. The plan had been to make a quick test jump to the moon, grab a few things, and hop back to Equestria in about two hours. It now looked like out trip would be much longer.

“I think this planet is inhabited,” Hard Stuff noted, “Do you all see the light peeking over the tree line?”

“Yes, I do. It’s called a sunrise,” Quick Wit exasperatedly explained.

“If there is a sunrise, there must be somepony controlling it,” I pondered, “Hard Stuff, I going to assume your assessment is correct. This planet is inhabited. Now it is only a matter of if they are willing to aid us.”

“Hey, as long as they don’t ‘aid’ us the way of the lemon, I’m good,” Double Take joked, chucking at his own dark humor.

“Let’s wait for more light before we asses the damage,” I recommend. I chorus of yes mam’s followed.

A police car pulled into the driveway of the farm house. After a second the headlights went out and the engine was cut. An officer with a questionable mustache stepped out and walked up to the man sitting on the house’s front porch.

“Alright Dale, where are these kids that were making crop circles,” sighed the officer.

“Good ta see ya again, James. Though, uh... It's a bit more complicated that I said on the phone,” Dale explained, leading the way out to his field. The two crept quietly along until Dale stopped and pointed.

“That doesn't look like kids making a crop circle, Dale,” James stated, “That looks like Stonehenge and The Washington Monument pooped a baby out into your field.”

“Well if’n Ah had told ya that would ya ‘ave come?” Dale asked.

“Okay, that’s a fair point,” James admitted, “But what do you want me to do about it?”

“Call it in! Don’t y’all have codes for aliens and things?” Dale gestured to the structure that clearly had four quadrupedal forms moving around it.

“Oh we have codes for aliens alright, but those codes actually mean false alarm. There is no code for this,” James shrugged.

“Well then make one up,” Dale ordered.

James picked up his radio, “Dispatch, this is officer Mandal, the situation at Dale’s is a little more complicated than he made it out to be. I’m requesting another car be sent out to help me handle it.”

After what I guessed to be a half an hour of waiting the sun still had not crested the trees. It had in fact, not gotten any brighter.

“So much for a sunrise,” Double Take sighed.

“Wait, why can’t you just lift the sun, Princess?” Quick Wit asked.

“If this planet is indeed inhabited by another race, I do not want to make a poor impression by taking control of the sun from them,” I stated, “After an amount of time I deem suitable has passed, if the sun still has not risen. I will raise it.”

“I think that really you can’t,” Quick Wit challenged, “I mean you are princess of the night after all. The sun is much bigger than that hunk of rock you push around.”

Fooling a pony that has been alive for several times your lifespan is not easy. No matter how smart Quick With thought her bait was, I was not going to rise to take it.

“That 'hunk of rock’ is much bigger than you seem to think it is,” I said, unamused, “Perhaps on our way home I shall make a quick stop to drop you off so that you can become better acquainted with that fact.”

“Can we save the arguing until after we get home?” Hard Stuff asked, “I kind of don’t want to listen to bickering for however long it take for us to make the repairs.”

“Wise words,” I nodded, “Still, I will not be moving the sun until I feel it safe to do so.” And with those words I sat down and waited for the sun to crest the horizon.

The driveway of the farmhouse was packed with cars, when yet another van drove up and had to park on the lawn. Counting the most recent addition, there were now seven cars in front of the house. The house’s owner’s pickup truck was blocked in the driveway by two police cars, and an ambulance. Pulled off to the side of the twisting gravel drive sat a firetruck, and a state trooper’s car. The new car pulled off behind the state trooper’s car and cut the engine. Two men in black suits stepped out of the van and made their way to the scene, another two pulled equipment out of the back of the vehicle.

A group of uniformed people milled around beneath a hill while the rest peeked over the hill at the alien craft. One of the black suited men shook his head at the disorganization and attempted to figure out who was in charge. By the time the rest of his team had brought their gear over he had decided there was no one in charge.

“If I could have everyone’s attention,” the man projected. And just like that he was in charge. With all eyes now on him, he continued, “We appreciate everyone’s concern with the situation, but your presence is no longer required. If everyone could return to their respective stations for debriefing it would be most appreciated.”

“Who are you guys? The Men In Black?” a fireman joked.

“No. We are the successors to Project Blue Book,” the man answered, his gaze passing the assembled crowd.

Almost ten seconds passed before a paramedic spoke up, “Well then. I think I’ll leave the situation in your capable hands. Not much we can do here anyway,” With a wave of her hand, the EMTs all began making their way back to the ambulance. That broke the spell that had kept everyone frozen in place, slowly the crowd dispersed, leaving just the four agents.

“Set up a monitoring station at the top of the hill,” the lead agent ordered the two laden down with equipment, “We’ll see what intel we can gather and re-assess the situation when the sun rises.”

There was a poke in my side.

“Princess, wake up,” Hard Stuff hissed.

“Hmm?” I opened my eyes only to have to close them again. At some point I had fallen asleep, and apparently the sun had risen.

“The sun’s up Princess,” Hard Stuff poked me again.

“We can see that. Tis why We are sleeping,” I grumbled, then the events of last night hit me. I sprung up and held a hoof over my eyes to allow myself to adequately view the situation. Double Take and Quick Wit were both still asleep. I glanced above the treeline to where the light had been coming from during the night. Only the sun was not there. Instead it was just above hill on the opposite side of us. “The day, tis almost over? Why were We not awoken sooner?”

“Errr. About that,” Hard Stuff hoofed the ground, “I kind of just woke up myself.”

“Double Take! Quick Wit! Awaken, we have nearly slept the day away. We must work quickly while we still have light!” I ordered.

The two stirred, both looked like they had just reached the dream state. I scrambled to my hooves, moving to asses the battery that took up most of the central pillar.

“No need to rush. The sun’s rising, not setting.”

I quickly twirled around to face the new voice. What stood before me, meandering its way down the hill, was a creature the likes of which I had never seen before. It walked on two legs, protrusions on the front of its hooves helping to steady it. Most of it was black, save a while spot beneath what I assumed was its neck and its head. It had a flat face, its mouth set at the same depth as its eyes. Said eyes were small, the two together took up less space than its mouth. The top of its head was covered in a closely trimmed brown mane that seemed to sprout from all over rather than just in one vertical stripe. Affixed to the side of its head were two rounded ears, and by affixed, I do mean affixed, there was absolutely no way that they would be capable of any sort of movement.

It was impossible to tell the creature’s height because it was still moving down an incline, but I hypothesized that it was roughly three lengths tall. Twice the height of the average pony. I remained silent, analyzing it as it continued its descent. I could see no external focus that would allow the creature to perform magic. Though there was always the possibility that, like dragons, it could breath fire. It worried me that this being had no visible means to defend itself, yet it seemed not to regard us as posing any danger. Whatever this thing was, it obviously was keeping its abilities under wraps.

“I apologize if I startled you, but I didn’t want to wake you all up. Figured you’d be tired from your trip,” It stopped about twenty four lengths away from us, looking us over, gauging our reactions. And that’s when it grew a second pair of limbs. No not grew, they had already been there, the shadows had hid them. They folded out from behind its back before it clasped them together. The limbs ended not in hooves, but in hands, that much to my relief, lacked claws. Like its head, the creature’s hands were the same color as a shaven pony, an odd tannish pink. “Allow me to welcome you to Earth.”

“We appreciate the greeting Earth creature,” I bowed my head, hoping the others were following my example, “Forgive Us for not parting in your greeting gesture, but we lack the necessary anatomy to perform such an act.”

It looked down to its hands and smiled, “Oh, this isn't a greeting gesture. When we talk we simply move out hands about unless we have something better for them to do.” True to its words, the being’s hands seemed to flitter around as it spoke. I felt like I was missing half of the conversation not being able to derive the nuances of its movements. “If you don’t mind me asking, why make all the effort to traverse the vast emptiness of space to reach our little ball of dirt?”

“In truth it was an error,” I answered, “We were aiming at our moon. Fate decided that We would be brought to your planet instead.”

It nodded at this, “Well, if your presence here is an accident, how can we help you get where you want to be?”

“We are currently assessing the damage and will leave as soon as everything is operational. Your offer is appreciated, but We would hate to inconvenience you,” I stated. One does not live thousands of years and engage in politics with multiple other species without learning to pick up the meaning behind the words. The meaning behind this creature’s words were obvious, ‘We will help you, but we won’t trust you.’

“It wouldn't be an inconvenience at all. I am sure you all are eager to return home after all,” it gave a friendly smile. The same sort of friendly smile you give to a pony that had just apologized for waking you up from a wonderful nap.

“If We do require anything, We shall inform you post haste,” I told the creature with a slight bow. It bowed its head in return. We remained staring at each other until it moved to sit down.

“Princess, could you come look at this please?” Double Take asked. Hesitantly, I removed my eyes from the creature and walked to the central pillar. Double Take made no move to show me what he was looking at, but the frown on his face told me it wasn't good. In place of the dark silver pillar that was our battery, we now had a hazy crystalline structure.

“What happened?” I asked.

“It oxidized. After we drew all available power from it, the battery tried to take the ambient magic from the air. It would have super-heated before pulling in everything it could to try to filter out the magic,” Double Take responded, “So it’s not just surface deep, it’s all the way through. With the refinery back in Baltimare it would take almost two years to remake. But here...”

It looked like we might have to take the alien up on its offer. I glanced back at it. I hoped it was too far away to pick up on our conversation. Its small ears gave me reason to believe that it could not, but it still worried me. Then again, what were the chances that this species was advanced enough to even produce the equipment necessary for the refinement process. In fact, so far I had only seen this one, there might not even be others. This brought a frightening thought to my mind, what if this creature was the only one of its kind and was imprisoned here much like I had been on the moon. But what choice did we have? We would be stuck here for who knows how long unless it did have the capability to refine the needed material.

With a sigh I walked to the edge of the platform and said, “We were never properly introduced.”

“Jonathan Smith,” the creature informed me, “It’s a pleasure to meet you…?” Jonathan Smith. The name was not mentioned in any legends, that was a good sign.

“Luna,” I stated, “Well Jonathan Smith, it seems there is something We could use help with. Do you have the capability to melt quartz?”

“We do,” It nodded, “Though I must ask, Princess Luna, I hear correctly that you are a Princess?... Princess Luna, what use do you have for melted quartz?”

I paused to keep my surprise from showing. This creature had overheard one of the others calling me ‘Princess’, that meant that its hearing was much more acute than I had predicted. It also meant that it had heard everything else we had said. I determined that, most likely, it was somehow enhancing its hearing with magic.

“It is not the quartz We are interested in, but rather one of the components of said quartz,” I answered. I saw nothing to indicate that Jonathan Smith had reacted to me staying calm after finding out that it had heard us.

“Very well,” Jonathan Smith stood up, “We can help you refine quartz, but it will take some time. Would you mind moving to a safer location?”

And there was the catch. It was worded eloquently, but it was there nonetheless. This Jonathan Smith had heard that our battery was fried, and knowing that we would be incapable of moving ourselves, we would be forced to hand ourselves over to it.

“We are more than capable of looking after ourselves,” I informed Jonathan Smith, “your concern is appreciated though Jonathan Smith.”

Jonathan Smith turned and began pacing, keeping his distance from the platform constant.

“Tell me Princess Luna, if advanced alien lifeforms landed on your planet, would you allow your populace free access to them? To allow them to interact with potentially dangerous creatures that you know nothing about?” Jonathan Smith asked, turning to look at me, “I thought so.” I noticed that my lips had formed a sliver of a frown. How was it that this being could read me so well? Our facial structures were vastly different. What powers was this Jonathan Smith keeping hidden?

“We appear to be in the middle of nowhere. We have little concern that crowds of your kind will flock to marvel at Us strange beings. Besides you seem very confident. We assume you have some form of defense that gives you such confidence,” I noted.

“Princess Luna, with all due respect,” Jonathan Smith drew himself up, attempting to become more imposing, “You will be moved. And I think we all would prefer if the transition was peaceful.”

Jonathan waited for a response from the alien standing about four meters in front of him. It was quadrupedal, built much like a small horse. The horn on its head and the wings on its back were the two big things that told him that it was not, in fact, just a painted horse with a speaker hidden nearby. The thing’s translucent, navy blue ‘mane’ bothered Jonathan. It acted as independent of the wind, constantly flowing in an undetectable current. The rest of the creature was midnight blue save for a black crown and chest piece, the later of which had a white, partially eclipsed circle adorning it. The creature came up to Jonathan’s chest. Though the others with it only rose to his hips.

“Oh, come on. she’s obviously female.”

Jonathan’s right ear rang with the voices of his team.

“So it was called 'princess", that in no way means that it has to be female.”

Two of them had been bickering over this and several other pointless things since they had set up the monitoring station.

“Princess is a female title, so it has to be a girl.”

Jonathan wished he could yell at the two of them to shut up, but they were behind the hill and he didn’t want the aliens to know he wasn't alone.

“The translator might have mess up. For all we know we might not have a word for its title so it used princess as the closest thing.”

Jonathan didn’t mean to issue an ultimatum like that. He was just so frustrated that his co-workers couldn't take things seriously without him there to watch over them.

“We will oversee the travel process,” Princess Luna declared, “And if anything happens, you will be answering for it.”

Jonathan let out a mental sigh of relief. That could have gone much worse.

“Wonderful, I’ll notify my associates. They should be here soon,” I smiled.

1,613 views

Chapters Next

Aim For The Moon - CalmAndInsane

Stats

FIMFiction

Follow & Support Us