My Little Serenity: Misbehaving is Magic

by Trachyon

Chapter 9: The Feather Flash

"Mnh..." Twilight Sparkle woke up slowly. She blinked open her eyes, as consciousness obliterated the memory of the dream she had been having. And what a dream it had been! It was vivid enough that Twilight remembered... Well, that it was vivid. She idly tried to remember more, as she pulled up the covers of her bed. Sure, she had stuff to do today, but just five more minutes of rest wouldn't hurt. Besides, she was so tired from last night, anyway.

She reached out with her mind, hoping to happen upon the memories of her strange dream. There had been a loud crash she had heard in Ponyville, then she had gone to... The meadows? No, that wasn't right. She had been in Ponyville, and had been stargazing...

Except that wasn't right either. She struggled to focus, as Spike shuffled somewhere nearby Twilight's bed. Maybe she should get up soon. After I remember this dream, she told herself. Now then, she had been stargazing... In the meadows! Then there had been the loud crash. An explosion? Yes, there had been an explosion! And Pinkie had been there too! And when the explosion ended, there had been...

Twilight's eyes opened, realisation dawning on her. The ship... Serenity. Malcolm, Wash, River, Book... That hadn't been a dream!

Twilight shot up, the hammock rocking. Two large, bright blue eyes gazed at her just centimetres from her face.

"Gah!"

"Morning Twilight! Sleep well?" Pinkie asked, her beaming visage taking up the entirety of Twilight's view. So it hadn't been Spike shuffling nearby she had heard.

"Pinkie, don't scare me like that, okay?" Twilight laid a hoof on Pinkie's shoulder, gently pushing her away so that she sat a comfortable distance away, at the the foot of Twilight's bed. Okay, hammock.

Twilight blinked the sleep from her eyes as a sudden rush to her head brought back memories of exhaustion from the night before. She let out a sigh and flopped back down. Then sat up again, surprised.

She wasn't totally exhausted, as she had anticipated the previous night. She felt tired and groggy, but that was to be expected after a night of explosions and alien encounters. Twilight hummed to herself in thought, before focusing a small amount of will on her horn. Magical sparks of heat and light sputtered erratically from the tip, but the magic she tried to channel, both her own and that from around her, was pitifully weak.

Now Twilight really was frightened for her ability. Magic was something she had practised since she had been a filly. She had based her whole life around it to the point where it was a part of her, like wings to a pegasus. She was the Element of Magic, for crying out loud! Okay, just relax. Maybe it's only temporary. I'll ask the Captain alien about it, and see what he knows about it, then it'll be fixed. Maybe it's just the shock of this whole situation. Yeah, that must be it! A bit more rest, and I'll be good as new!

Twilight was doing all she could to offset the horrible empty feeling inside her, like that one time when she had only studied a week in advance for a magic exam. But this was worse, like a huge, hollow pit of dread inside her, and Twilight was doing all she could to fill it with hopeful possibilities and excuses.

"So, what now?" Pinkie's voice pulled Twilight out of her own musings, but the sense of constant horror remained.

"I suppose we wait until somepony, or something, comes to get us. I guess it's morning now, but..." Twilight looked around at the room. There were no windows, as far as she could tell; the only only light came from the luminescent strip set into the ceiling.

Sighing, Twilight eased herself out of the hammock, dropping to the floor as Pinkie deftly bounced out behind her.

"So, wha'd'ya wanna do until they come, Twilight?"

"I don't know, Pinkie..." Twilight answered dejectedly, head drooping. Trying to find something to take her mind off of everything, she squinted down at the floor, nudging a hoof against it. Metal. Was this whole ship made out of metal? It certainly seemed like it. Twilight wondered how something so big and heavy could possibly lift itself off of the ground, let alone fly all the way up where the stars were. It couldn't use magic to fly; that reality was all too clear to Twilight. So what? Steam? If it could power a train, then maybe enough of it could power a spaceship like this...

Except Pinkie had mentioned that the ship used Elements other than the Elements of Harmony to fly. 'Hydrogen' and 'Tongue-stem' and Helium. That last one was interesting. In Equestria, Helium was used to blow up balloons, and it wasn't anything so powerful as an Element. It was just... Helium. Maybe they used it to make the ship light enough to float?

Twilight dismissed that idea. It was just too ridiculous, and it didn't fit in with what Pinkie had said last night. If she had heard correctly, it was 'Hydrogen' that did the actual work.

Maybe these humans used their own, special sort of magic? Twilight sighed again. She had so many questions, all swarming around her head like moths. She wondered on wherever or not anypony in Ponyville had heard the spaceships crash during the night, or if any of her friends had discovered that she was missing.

All she could do was wait for answers, doing her best to keep her mind occupied while Pinkie started blabbering - about what, Twilight had no clue. She prayed to Celestia that she wouldn't be kept waiting too long: spending even a few minutes in a bare, locked room with Pinkie was paramount to torture.

---

It was by pure coincidence that Mal ascended the ladder from his room into the corridor at the same time as Zoe. He turned to meet her.

"Mornin' Zoe."

"Captain."

...

"Zoe, last night, did we..."

"Yeah."

Mal nodded. "So the crashin'-"

"Uh-huh."

"An' then us an' Wash..."

"Yes."

Mal nodded sagely. "Right, right... And then, the three of us... With those ponies."

"I'm 'fraid so."

"...Great. Is Wash up?"

"Just about, sir."

"Make sure everyone's up an' ready." Mal stepped past Zoe, and begun up towards the cockpit. "We got some horses to saddle up."

Mal heard Zoe groan from behind him.

---

"...exactly like that time where you and Rainbow Dash and Applejack and Rarity and Fluttershy and me were all swapped around and I got to use your magic and Rainbow Dash had to be Rarity and she really hated it because she said that Rarity was too girly and she couldn't fly and Fluttershy had to run Applejack's business and then you said that we needed to find a way to undo it so we went to Canterlot and Princess Celestia said she couldn't fix a spell as muddled up as that but she said we had to go to that other place that was called something I can't remember because it had way too many consonants and I had to cast the spell because I was you and you were me but then it worked and I was me and you were you and Rainbow Dash was Rainbow Dash and Applejack was Applejack and F-"

Pinkie was cut off as a mechanical hiss sounded from somewhere above the two ponies. The hatch set into the corner of the room opened, and the Captain's voice sounded from the small hole.

"You two, we're going now. Come on up."

"Oh, thank Celestia!" Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, as Pinkie ceased her grating rambles to bounce merrily over to the ladder that had slid down.

"What was that?"

"Oh, er, nothing..." Twilight waited at the base of the ladder, where she just barely caught a glimpse of Malcolm's face, before it was obstructed by Pinkie, as she attempted to climb to the corridor. The process was long and awkward, to say the least. Pinkie did her best to ascend, but her hooves slipped many times on the thin rungs of the ladder, and she spent at least a minute with her hind legs still planted firmly on the floor. Twilight swore she heard the human sigh from above. Finally, after many failed attempts and grunts of exertion, Pinkie somehow managed to secure herself on the bottom rung.

"Finally!" she beamed. "Now I just gotta... umm... Aww, nuts," she sighed. She was perched precariously at the bottom of the hatch, positioned in such a way that moving either of her hind legs would result in a bruised rump.

"Oh, for crying out loud... Here, gi'me your han- er, hoof."

Twilight assumed that Malcolm had moved so that he was now laying on his chest; most of his upper torso was visible as he reached down, offering his hand to Pinkie Pie. She offered up her hoof, wobbling only slightly, as Mal wrapped his fingers around her foreleg. He grunted with sudden exerted effort as Pinkie let go of the ladder without warning, squealing with delight as Mal groaned, slowly pulling her upwards. She vanished over the edge of hatch, and Twilight begun her ascent, as the Captain let out another groan. "You things are heavier than you look... What d'you eat?!"

"Well, sandwiches are yummy, and dandelions, and roses, and they're even better when they're all together! Oh but cakes are absolutely-positively the yummiest! But I couldn't say which one is the most yummiest, I mean, sponge cakes, chocolate cakes, cupcakes..."

"Yuh-huh, that's great. Here, Twilight, right?" Ignoring Pinkie as she continued to talk about the many different varieties of cakes, the Captain extended his hand down for Twilight to reach. The unicorn had watched Pinkie ascend, and she had devised a technique to more easily ascend, but, standing on the bottom rung of the ladder, she realised that she'd only be able to climb with the human's help. So much for her technique. She offered her hoof up with only a small amount of reluctance, realising at the worst possible moment that she hadn't washed since a whole twenty-four hours ago.

Mal reached out with the same reluctance, as if afraid that Twilight might suddenly jump up and bite him. Twilight almost found herself scoffing mentally. Were they really that afraid, still?

"Now, just don't let go of the ladder, 'kay?"

"Mm-hm." Twilight braced herself as Mal's fingers grasped at her foreleg. In the small amount of time that contact remained between the two, the pony got She felt herself being pulled up and, after a few seconds of scrambling at the rungs, clambered up into the steel corridor. Okay, so going down was definitely easier.

"Here, down this way." Mal was already up and at the entrance to the dining room, signalling for the two ponies to follow with the metal stick he had been holding at both of them last night.

Pinkie Pie bounced after him, Twilight following behind her, the doubts and "what ifs" in the purple unicorn's mind weighing down her every step.

"Well? C'm'on, we're wastin' daylight here."

"Yeah, right..."

"Now remember, no funny business. No sudden movements. No runnin' off. You help us, we'll see what happens about keepin' you here. It's for your safety, much as ours," he added as an afterthought. "Now, you comin'?"

Twilight almost reluctantly followed behind Pinkie Pie as they made their way through the halls of the ship, all of these corridors new to Twilight and Pinkie both. Eventually they came to a door which, when opened by Mal, revealed the room the two ponies had first been locked in.

"The cargo bay," Mal announced. "We'll make sure the rest of my crew are ready, then we'll step outside, and you two c'n help us navigate."

Twilight nodded wordlessly, stepping through after Mal, and down the loud metal steps to the floor below. Two other humans were already present. Zoe, and the one called Book. Twilight pondered briefly on his name. Was he a librarian like her, or a writer? He seemed to be one of the only crew members with a name resembling a pony's.

"Wash?"

"Give him a minute." Zoe secured the strange belts she had strapped across each of her shoulders. Both belts had small pockets cut into them, spanning the entire lengths of the strips, each one containing a small metal cylinder. Twilight guessed at their exact purpose as she saw the human snap open her weapon, and insert two of the small objects into the tube. So it was some sort of projectile, then, a bit like the bows royal guards would sometimes use. You'd set the arrow (or cylinder, in this case) into the weapon, aim it, and fire it out.

"What about you, Shepard? You plannin' on gettin' yourself eaten by Reavers, too?"

"You're a man short, Mal, and we're heading into unknown territory, with your aforementioned Reavers afoot." Book pulled back and released a metal shaft on the length of his weapon, eliciting two distinct clicks. "I think I'll fill in nicely."

"Fine. Zoe, y'all set?"

"Yes sir, just waiting on W-"

"Don't worry, I'm here, everything's fine!" The voice, Wash's voice, rang out from above, closely followed by the human in question as he rushed down the metal steps. The weapon he held was similar to Book's and Zoe's in its shape, and in that two hands were required to grasp it, but the similarities ended there, His had two longer handles protruding from the main length of the weapon, itself much shorter than either of Zoe's or Book's, but longer than Mal's.

"You all set, Wash?"

"Sure am. I fiddled a bit with the ship's radar, said there's nothing about nearby. But... There's something else."

"'Somethin' else'?"

Wash nodded grimly. "Just... Take a look."

"Right..."

The Captain strode over to a metal protrusion off to the right, shaped almost like a bookstand. Several 'beep'-ing noises resounded from it, and the two ponies jumped back as the hiss of steam shot through the room. Twilight gaped in awe at the sight of the huge plates of metal sliding and moving, letting in the fresh outside air inch by inch. The sound of Pinkie Pie letting out a low whistle could just be heard to her right.

Regardless of what Wash had said, all four humans raised their weapons at the opening, ready for whatever might be waiting on the outside. Twilight almost rolled her eyes, but the lingering memory of the Reaver discussion just about kept her from doing so. At that point a chilling thought entered her mind. Were her friends okay? Were they out looking for her and Pinkie? What if they galloped straight into the Reavers?! What would happen then?

All of a sudden, Twilight couldn't wait to get outside. It was all she could do to hold herself off from rushing ahead of the humans as the first rays of sunlight broke out against the walls and ceiling of the ship, illuminating each individual mote of dust as they unsettled.

The ramp fell away, and the two ponies four humans were left blinking in the new source of light as fresh air washed over Twilight.

Mal pulled back the hammers on his pistols, almost as much a force of habit as a caution. His eyes, and the eyes of the rest of the crew adjusted quickly, and they were left looking at their first glimpse of the strange, new, alien world they now found themselves on. For right before their eyes stretched... a massive mound of upturned soil.

Of course. They were in a crater, after all.

"Okay. Wash, Book, out with me. Zoe, hang back a spell and cover us, when we're clear you follow with the ponies." Follow with the ponies. Had he really just said that?

With an intake of cool morning air, Mal begun the ascent up the slope of dirt, Book and Wash following closely behind. A glimpse of blue flashed just at the top of his vision, and he briefly glanced up at a pure, cloudless, bright blue sky. Maybe it wasn't all bad. With a few short strides up the small cliff, the humans ascended the slope one by one, Mal being the first to look out at the new alien world.

"Wuh duh ma huh tah duh fong kwong duh wai shung..."

"In the name of the Lord..."

"Holy crap!"

Mal turned to look at Wash. "Thought this was that 'something else' you were plannin' to show us."

"Well, yeah... I mean, I knew there were trees, but the ship's scanner couldn't have picked up all this!"

"Is it terraformed?" Mal asked almost breathlessly.

"Couldn't say. We were lucky to even have the life-scanner working as it was."

Mal nodded, and allowed his eyes to feast on the colourful world that stretched out before the trio. Everything about the planet; the grass, the trees, the sky, even the silhouetted mountains in the distance, all looked perfect and vibrant enough to look like they had been drawn and coloured by hand.

"Zoe?"

"Be right there, Captain." Zoe began making her way up the slope, the two little ponies easily closing the distance to the surface.

Twilight cleared the rim of the dirt bowl, just behind Pinkie, and stole a glance back at the ship. What started out as a short look back turned into a wide-eyed gasp. Seen during the night-time, fires illuminating the underside of the massive hull, the ship had looked eerie, but impressive nonetheless. In the full light of the morning sun, even as battered as it seemed, the Serenity looked...

"Amazing..."

"Hm?" Mal turned to look back at Twilight.

"The spaceship! It's amazing!" Twilight gasped, staring wide-eyed at the metal colossus, a few smouldering fires providing the underside of the ship with a red glow, to contrast the bright glares that the sun cast upon the skyward-facing plates of metal.

Mal looked to Twilight, then to the silently smoking pile of metal that had got his crew into this whole mess. Sure, it had saved them from a horrible, fiery death by way of it being about as graceful in the air as a potted plant, but that was more or less what had gotten them into the whole 'missing the starboard thruster' problem in the first place. Oh, and Wash had contributed too.

"Yeah, it's something." Mal sighed. He wondered at how Serenity could be both so lucky and unlucky at the same time, before snapping back to the task at hand. "So, Twilight, as you can probably see, our ship's in a bad way. We got parts missin' that we'd sorely like back. If we're lucky (that'll be the day), then they'll have fallen somewhere 'round here. On top of that, there's most likely big scary Reavers out to turn our bones into stew. So, we'll do what we can to keep these Reavers from being a nuisance..." Twilight wondered at how Malcolm could so lightly refer to creatures described as murderers and cannibals so lightly as 'a nuisance'. "...And you'll help us keep an eye out for those pieces of metal. Deal?"

"Deal." Twilight nodded, instinctively offering her hoof up to Mal. The human frowned almost at the same time as Twilight realised what she had done, and that these aliens probably wouldn't even know what a hoofshake was. To her surprise (and Mal's own), the human knelt down to wrap his fingers around her hoof, shaking it firmly. Twilight was surprised to find that they weren't claw-like at all, just fleshy. Similarly, Mal was expecting to be holding a, well, a hoof. He didn't expect to find that holding one of these... thing's 'hoof' was almost like holding a much softer human's arm, except with a feathery layer of fur on top. The actual base of the hoof, however, was almost nothing like a real horse's; very slightly warm to the touch, it was at the same time soft and firm, becoming less soft as more force was applied to it. Mal was rather unnervingly reminded of the base of a paw, on a cat or dog, only much larger.

The hand/hoof/appendage-shake ended. "Okay then."

"Well..." Twilight faltered awkwardly.

"Y'know, anything you could tell us would be a load o' help." Mal offered helpfully.

"Huh? Oh, right! Well... Wait a minute! Yes! Last night, when you crashed here! There were more ships!"

"More?"

"Yes! Loads and... loads... Oh no."

Mal nodded morosely. "Reavers. Where did they land?"

Twilight felt a chill run down her spine, as she pointed a hoof to the mountains just barely visible in the distance. "Over... Over in the mountains. About two weeks' trot away from here."

"Right." Mal paused. "How long is two weeks here?"

"Huh? It's fourteen days..."

"Right. Ten days until we see Reavers strollin' down here!" Mal announced.

"What?" Twilight questioned, perplexed. "But I just said..."

Mal cut Twilight off without a second's thought. "You don't take chances with Reavers. Did you catch anythin' else landin' down here?"

Twilight had to pause before answering. It had all been such a rush the night before! Memories were blurred, and the unicorn seriously doubted that at least half the conversations she had participated in had been real. How did she know, even now, that her judgement wasn't impaired? Maybe even that these aliens weren't brainwashing her somehow, for some evil purpose? Not that the two ponies could do much about it, were that true. With the effort she put in, it was almost a physical pain to dredge up the memories from last night that had become clouded and mixed-up. Where the meteors- where the spaceships had fallen.

"There were... I think, some of them might have landed in the Everfree Forest."

Wash had been standing beside Mal as Twilight had said this last sentence, only turning away to gaze over at the base of the faded mountains. "Say, that forest doesn't happen to be the one over there, with the foreboding atmosphere and perpetually seething storm clouds, does it?"

"Uhmm..."

"Great. So what's the plan?"

"Saddle up the mule. We'll scope out the whole edge of the forest, then see where that takes us. I'd rather wait until Jayne's up before headin into a place like that. If he's not up to it, then we'll go in anyway."

"Wait, you mean-" Twilight begun to interrupt, to be cut off by Wash.

"And what about the pony-things? Pinkie and Purpley?"

"Hey! We-"

"Easy. They're comin' with us."

"-here y'know! Wait, what?!"

---

"Sir, that really isn't much of a plan."

"Have you ever known any of the Captain's plans to go the way we want them to? Remember Ariel? What about that time Patience shot him? Twice! Way I see it, the less of a plan we have, the less it can go wrong when it invariably goes wrong."

"Wash!"

"What? It's true."

Mal ignored Wash, focusing back on Zoe. "So, sound good?"

"No, but we'll go through with it anyway."

---

Forty-five minutes later, the Mule II had been successfully, if painstakingly, brought up over the edge of the crater. Here, Twilight experienced her first, real taste of human technology in action. Opening large doors was one thing to look at, but a floating metal cart?!

"How does it work?" Twilight asked, staring in awe at the yellow machine marvel floating more than a hoof from the ground.

“Basically?” Mal asked. “The same way our ship does. Fusion. There’s a smaller reactor in there supplyin’ power to the whole thing. Ask Kaylee about it, when we bring you back.”

Wash was sat in the front seat of the vehicle, and with a single movement the roar of the machine was brought up to deafening levels, air blasting out from underneath its body.

Twilight jumped back in fright as a spluttering bang cracked from its rear, accompanied by a short plume of black smoke.

“Is... Is it safe?”

Mal looked down at her, smirking just slightly. “Not at all. Goes damn fast though.”

---

Crazy! These humans were crazy!

Twilight ducked yet again, as another dangerously low-hanging branch threatened to knock her clean from her seat on the Mule. The wind ripped past, searing her already narrowed eyes as the wall of black and brown blurred past on her left: the almost geometrically-perfect border of the Everfree Forest. Not a single tree spread it’s roots out past that invisible line that separated the expansive meadows on Twilight’s right, from the thorny malevolence of the woods beyond.

Even with the sun shining down on her, Twilight couldn’t suppress the horrible shiver of fear that was ingrained in the mind of every sane pony. Yet as irrational as it was (Twilight made frequent visits into the forest, for Celestia’s sake!) no rational thought could prevent that chill from moving down her spine, even with the rush of wind still threatening to blow her from her seat. Something felt different about the forest this time. Something wrong.

But of course, Twilight-

"Duck!”

“Wha-“ the unicorn was cut off as a hand reached around her to push her flat into the metal of the vehicle, a much lower branch just scraping the tip of her horn.

“Maybe you shouldn’t drive so close to the trees, hmm, Wash?”

“I think I see your point...” Wash chirped, cautiously rising along with the five other passengers. Twilight’s centre of gravity shifted slightly as the Mule listed away from the trees.

“You can barely see past the damn vines, anyway. Hey Wash, slow it down a bit, will ya?” The Captain turned around to face Twilight, who, sitting at the very back, was sat between and behind him and Shepard Book (whose named strongly implied that he was a book collector of some kind.) “So, Twilight Sparkle, how many else o’ these ‘ponies' live around here, anyway?”

Twilight hesitated before asking. “Well, I don’t-“

“Mal, in the sky!” Book shouted.

“Really?! Can’t I even speak half a sentence without being interrupted? What is it now?!”

“It’s Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie squealed elatedly, bouncing erratically between Wash and Zoe.

Wash turned to Pinkie, an incredulous look on his face, before focusing back on keeping the Mule from crashing into a tree. “Rainbow what?!”

“Rainbow Dash?!” Twilight looked up. Sure enough, just barely visible against the glow of the blue sky, a small, rainbow-coloured trail could be seen steadily flying directly above the group.

Mal drew his gun quickly, steadying it on his left arm as he thumbed the hammer. “Mind explainin’ what that is?”

“That’s our friend Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie shouted back.

“One of your pony friends?” Mal glanced down at Twilight, before returning his eyes to the now empty sky. He didn’t hear what Twilight said next. What he did hear was a roar of air, followed closely by a deafening “whump” sound as the air was knocked out of him.

The single painful blow to Mal’s chest tore him straight out from his seat, and continued forward to drag him along several feet of grass, where he eventually came to a grinding halt. The sky swam back into focus slowly, the pounding in his head receding, second by agonising second. Shouting could be heard from a distance, but Mal’s attention was more drawn to the angry, scratchy voice coming from atop his still constricted chest.

“So you think you can just get away with just ponynapping my friends, huh?! Well, bet you didn’t count on Rainbow Dash and her patented Feather Flash, huh?! So, what do you have to say for yourself, you big monster jerk?!”

“What...”

“Are you even listening to me?!” The sky above Mal was blocked out by a brighter blue as two large, deep, angry fuchsia eyes locked with his. As disoriented as he was, he could tell in a second that this thing was the same as the two aliens currently on the Mule; another ‘pony’.

“Rainbow Dash, wait!”

“Huh?”

Mal took advantage of the creature’s sudden lapse of attention to force the weight from his chest, causing the pony standing on top of him to tumble down onto the grass.

“Mal!” Sitting up, Mal saw the three crewmembers and two ponies running (and galloping?) towards him and the newcomer. “You okay?”

“Yeah Wash, I’m fine.”

“Mal, you were just sent crashing into the ground by this creature at around fifty miles an hour! Your spine should be in pieces right about about now!”

The Captain looked up at Book. He opened his mouth, then closed it. He really had been hit that hard, except he’d only been winded at worst. There might be bruising, sure, but most of the pain he felt now had been caused by the crash. That he hadn’t slept since coming here probably had something to do with it, too. Snapping from his thoughts, Mal stood up as the ponies started a conversation of their own.

“Rainbow Dash, it’s okay, these things aren’t monsters!”

“They’re not?”

“No, they’re aliens! They’re called ‘humans’!”

“Aliens, huh?” Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed. “Well, how do y’know that you can trust ‘em, hmm?! Maybe they’re just waiting for the best moment to try and eat us!”

“What? That’s nonsense!” Twilight scoffed, before turning up to the humans. “It is nonsense, right?”

“Well, maybe until we get really hungry-“

“Wash! Yes, it’s nonsense. Jus’ don’t go careening into every one of us y’see, okay? You’re lucky you didn’t get shot.”

“Shot?”

“Yeah, unless you're thinkin’ that you could outpace a bullet.”

The cerulean pony flared her wings, striking a pose at the humans. “‘Outpace a bullet’? Do you know who you’re talking to?!”

“I’m not entirely sure I wanna know.”

“The name’s Rainbow Dash,” the pegasus announced, nose raised proudly skyward. “Fastest flier in Equestria!”

“Uh huh... So... You’ve got wings.”

“Duh! I’m a pegasus pony!”

“O‘course you are. And these two...” - Mal pointed back to Twilight and Pinkie - “...Are your friends?”

“Sure are!”

“Right then...” Mal began, “So, you can fly pretty high, huh?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe! Hay, if I could fly any higher, I’d-“

“Yeah yeah, anyway, my point bein’, you haven’t just so happened to spy any flamin’ hunks of metal crash down here recently, have you? They’re parts of our ship, and we’re itchin’ to get them back.”

Rainbow raised a hoof to her chin in thought. “Huh, so that's what was in that crater? Looked more like a rock than a spaceship. Guess that’s why you crashed, huh?”

“She flies fine. ‘Least, she does when she’s all there. That’s why we need those parts back.”

“Hmm... Y’know, I think I sorta remember seeing smoke rise from the Everfree Forest. Maybe your ‘parts’ are in there? Either way, it’s not my problem!”

“Well, it is now!” Mal proclaimed. “Seeing as how you’re the only one whose actually seen what we’re lookin’ for, you’re gonna help us find what we need.”

The pegasus’ eyes narrowed dangerously. “Oh yeah? You expect me to just help a bunch of stinky aliens who just kidnap my friends? And why would I do that?!”

“Because we ‘stinky aliens’ are the only ones about who can help you with another up-and-comin’ problem: Reavers.”

“Reavers?”

“Reavers,” Mal affirmed. “You really think we just so happened to crash on this planet for no good reason? Truth is, Reavers chased us here, and they most assuredly followed us down here to the surface. Most times, if Reavers land on your chunk of rock, you find a new chunk to live on. Either that, or get yourself one of these, “ Mal unholstered his pistol, “and bid your behind ‘farewell’. Nothin’s worse that bein’ got by those monsters.”

Rainbow Dash snorted, chuckling slightly as she spoke. “Really?! Y’know, we deal with monsters on a weekly basis here. I think we can handle a few of these Reavers!”

Mal shook his head. “You don’t know. These Reavers will kill and cannibalise anything they see that breathes, and they won’t stop. You need our help.”

“I dunno...”

Twilight stepped forward. “Rainbow Dash, I really think we should listen to them. You didn’t see what I saw last night; how many more ships there were!”

“Well...” The pony mulled it over shortly, before making her mind up. “Okay, if Twilight says I should trust you, then fine. The sooner you stinky aliens leave, the better. But don’t think that I don’t have my eye on you!”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Mal turned from Rainbow Dash to the unicorn stood next to her. “Twilight, how many other ponies are there around here?”

“Well, I suppose the closest place is Ponyville-“ The bark of Wash’s laughter cut her off briefly, “- which is run by Mayor Mare...”

Mal turned to Wash.

Wash looked back. “What?”

“Well, aren’t you gonna laugh at that, too?”

“I’m already pretty much accustomed to it, at this point. Heck, if this keeps up, I’ll have a sore throat within half an hour.”

“Right... Zoe, a word?” Zoe complied, and the two stepped away from the group.

“You’re handlin’ this awfully well Captain, all things considered.”

“What can I say? Crazy begets crazy. Or, somethin’ like that. I’m just goin’ along with this so that we can get the hell back to being shot at like normal people.”

“So, next step?”

“We do what we’d do in any other situation. These things can reason like people, so we go to their ‘Ponyville’ and try to warn ‘em, and try to find the best way through this Everfree Forest. Sound good?”

Zoe shrugged “What’s the worst that could happen, that hasn’t already happened? I don’t exactly see us being run out of town by these ponies, anyway.”

“Okay then.” Mal turned back to the rest of the group. “Everybody, and ponies, back on the Mule! Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yes?”

“Take us to your leader.”

Everybody groaned.

Comments

[Trachyon]

What’s this, the fanfiction isn't dead?

It would appear so.

Firstly, major apologies, even though I don’t think that’ll be enough for the wait I put you through. I am a terrible person, and should never be allowed to plan my own time. But I wouldn’t leave you all hanging if I wasn’t really fucking busy.
Also, I had to reread this entire thing to make sure that I was following my own continuity, and to get the feel for this thing back again. So, as an apology, I give you this big chapter. All the chapters will probably be this long, although I cannot attest to my own ability to publish them to a schedule, which is a shame, because there are so many other Fimfiction projects I’d like to try, and I really want to to some more stuff with this very story, too.
But I said I wouldn’t leave this without bringing it to a conclusion, so, to those three people who are still reading this, I will finish this eventually. And besides, I really want to have River fight a manticore.

...If you’re still reading this comment, then congratulations, have a busty humanised Applejack dressed up as Mal. And a pony Mal.

I’m going to go take some headache tablets now.

As always, if you have any gripes/criticisms, comment away, and I’ll see what I can do to ease them.

[Icy_Breeze]

Mate, don't worry. I'd rather read a slow story that's well written than a fast one that's total rubbish any day of the week.

Keep up the good work!

[belmontzar]

WOOOT STILL AWESOME! take all the time ya need, and you have really nailed Captain Tight pants. -goofy grin- "take us to your leader" HAHA Wait.. that would mean Celestia..
well time to hoof it to canterlot! AWAY!
note on pic: AJ looks more like Zoe to me honestly..
Dammit now I want more serenity pony pics..
Like rarity Inara, fluttershy Kaylee, Twilight book [LOLZ] and rainbow dash Jayne XD "the mare called Jane.." LOLZ

[hanatoro]

I fell sorry for that poor manticore. And for Fluttershy when she tries to give River the STARE.

[zaptiftun]

*SQUEEE!* AN UPDATE! *excited Kermit-style flailing*

[NormalBipedalHuman]

An alien invasion of Reaver, it will surprise me if the first thing Twilight does isnt telling Celestia.
Also “Take us to your leader.” Just classic.

[Branden Hew Troy]

In interest of knowing what the heck is going on, I must now watch firefly.

[CharginChuck]

Holy crap, it's alive, IT'S ALIVE!

So glad to finally see an update, and to hear that you intend to see this thing through.

Just one bit of fridge logic that sticks out for me though-why would Mal be so surprised at the feel of Twi's hoof when they shake hands/hooves (and vice versa), when he just grabbed their hooves to help them out of the bunk a few minutes before? It's just a minor oversight.I noticed, not intended as criticism. I definitely enjoyed the chapter, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how the rest of the ponies react to the new arrivals (not to mention Jayne's reaction when he finally wakes up!).

[Trachyon]

1446257

Well, just so long as it is well written. I sort of feel like this story is the Duke Nukem Forever of stories: I spend ages not updating it, then I forget about it, then I start up again, but stop because I forgotten everything, then repeat the process.

I seem to be getting positive feedback though, so that’ll hopefully stop soon.

[Trachyon]

1446580

Mayor Mare was mentioned, but don’t think that Celestia won’t get involved at some point.

Also, I shall see if I can find more Firefly/pony crossover images for the next update!

[Trachyon]

1447850
You’ve read this far without watching FIrefly?!

Go watch it now! No, I mean that. FIrst chance you get, just, go on Netflix and watch the whole series. If you can’t do that, then order the set from Amazon, or Ebay. It’s fourteen episodes long, with a movie (Serenity) to top it off.

Really, though, watch the whole thing before the next update at least, and everything will start making sense.

[jasoncookies]

Squee. This made my day!

[Branden Hew Troy]

1449806 I'm on episode 4.

[RJC1212]

"Take us to your leader."

Really looking forward to seeing what happens next.

[Trachyon]

1451411
And loving every second, right?

You’re pretty much set for knowing who the characters are, and how they act, but there might still be a few references you could miss.

[Branden Hew Troy]

1455615 Eeyup