//------------------------------//
// 2. A whole new, well, everything. 
// Story: A Bridge Over Troubled Space 
// by Sinaqua 
//------------------------------//

James begins working his way towards the galley, wondering what has happened over the last day. He goes to work, like any other day, he heads to the engineering sector, like any other day, and now he's beyond the observable universe, not knowing whether he's going to ever make it back. It was a problem best saved for later, thought James, food awaits. 
The galley was a medium sized room, with all the furnishings one would expect a ship's galley to have: chairs, table, fridge, stove, and another fridge. In the far end of the room was an odd-looking machine, but since the last odd-looking machine put him in this situation in the first place, James decided to avoid this one. He goes to the first fridge and opens it--nothing. Same with the second fridge. The thought of including a galley without stocked fridges was shocking to say the least. Cravings overriding his fear of machines, James decides to try it. "Hello?" he asks the machine.
"ONLINE; REPLICATION MATRIX 001 READY FOR OPERATION."
Well, might as well try it, "Can you make a sandwich?"
"CAPABLE, INITIATING REPLICATION MATRIX--POWER IS AT FULL. WHITE OR WHEAT BREAD?"
"Wheat--I guess."
"CONFIRMED. HAM OR SALAMI?"
"Salami."
"CONFIRMED. REPLICATING."
A short hum was heard from the internal workings of the machine, and a few seconds later, a sandwich comes out of an opening. Wheat bread and salami, exactly what James wanted--but, alas, James' mealtime was interrupted by a voice in the speaker system: "TOUCHDOWN LOCATION FOUND, CAPTAIN TO BRIDGE." James sighed, picked up his sandwich, and headed for the bridge.
Upon entering the bridge, James immediately went to the cube. "What do you want?"
"IRRELEVANT; LOCATION FOUND: A FOREST CLEARING LARGE ENOUGH TO HIDE THE SHIP IN. SUGGESTED TO MOVE DURING THE PLANET'S NIGHT CYCLE TO AVOID DETECTION BY THE LOCALS. IS THIS ACCEPTABLE?"
"Y-yeah, sure. Just don't burn the forest down or something."
"CONCERNS NOTED. ENGAGING LANDING PROCEDURE."
The ship slowly begins descending through the planet's atmosphere, through the cloud layer, and eventually begins to gently hover towards the forest, eventually stopping above the clearing, about two or three miles away from the city. All in all, the planet was very pretty, even at night; the grass stretched out in all directions, except for a small grove of trees near the city, in the distance mountains scraped the sky, and there was smoke coming up from the valley from, what James mused, might be a train, the only thing beyond that was the planet's full moon. James noted that the moon had a very peculiar pattern on it that somewhat resembled a sickle. All this was soon obscured by the trees, and soon, there was nothing more than the light above from the moon. James checked the planet's atmospheric readout and concluded that the atmosphere was breathable. He opened the docking hatch. 
When the hatch finally opened all the way, James stepped out. The world seemed oddly colorful, like everything had been slightly oversaturated; it made James feel strange, almost happy, and then he remembered just how far up shit creek he was. I'll mull over it in the morning, thought James, right now, I'm going to bed.

Sometime during the night James awoke to voices, seemingly from just outside the walls. "D'ya think it's sick?" says one with a feminine voice, clearly accustomed to shouting. 
"No, it can't be, it's made of metal." Another, more enunciated voice.
"Well, it can't be doin' too good, otherwise it'd be breathing or somthin'." A third said, this one with a southern accent.
"I think it's a machine," says the second voice, "some kind of flying machine, look, it's got wings." 
"Who would need a machine to fly?" another voice this time. 
"Somepony not a pegasus," another stated matter-of-factly. 
"Oh, that'd make sense."
"Umm, guys... I think that it is, um, open over here." a quiet voice stated, closer to the hatch.
Shit, thought James, I never closed the hatch!
"Good find flut--" the voices trailed off.
Shit, shit, shit, I need to do something fast! thought James. "Close the hatch!" he shouts toward the cuboid.
"CLOSING HATCH. PLEASE STANDBY."
The hatch closes with a THUD, and soon the voices are back.
"I think it came from over here!" Something hits the side of the wall.
"Don't hit it!" One of them shouts.
"What? I didn't dent it or anything." Shouty says, defending herself
"Would y'all just shut up?" This time, the southerner.
"Girls, girls, let's not fight, I understand it's late, but we need to figure out what this thing is before it ends up flying away, or whatever it does." matter-of-fact's turn
"Sorry." three of the voices stated.
"Hello," the matter-of-fact voice stated, "is anypony in there?"
Shit, what do I do, thought James, For all I know, I'm trespassing in their territory or some shit. 
"You must be scared, don't worry, we won't hurt you."
 Yeah, I'm going to believe that. 
"Well, we don't want to."
 Hopefully, these things can't read my thoughts. James gets up, goes over to the cube, and asks, "Are there cameras on this thing?"
"NEGATIVE."
"Any weapons?"
"THERE IS A KNIFE IN THE GALLEY. THIRD DRAWER FROM THE ENTRANCE."
"No, something on the outside."
"ACCESS DENIED - SAFETY PROTOCOLS ENGAGED"
Well, shit."Can you tell me how many things are outside the ship right now?"
"PLEASE SPECIFY."
"The things that have been talking."
"UNKNOWN - VOCALIZATIONS HAVE TAKEN PLACE DURING THE ENTIRE NIGHT-CYCLE."
"The most recent ones; come on computer they speak fucking english!"
"PREFORMING SCAN... ... ...THERE ARE SIX LARGER BIOLOGICAL BEINGS OUTSIDE THE QUARTER'S WALL... ... ... ONE APPROXIMATELY 10 METERS ABOVE THE SHIP... ... ...THREE OTHERS ARE DETECTED APPROXIMATELY 1/2 MILE AWAY."
"Can you tell if they are armed?"
"NEGATIVE, ALL SIX APPEAR TO BE UNARMED, AS FAR AS CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS."
"Do you think that I should trust them?"
"CAUTION IS ADVISED. UNKNOWN SPECIES, UNKNOWN PLANET, UNKNOWN SYSTEM. IT IS UNLIKELY THAT THEY WOULD LIE, GIVEN THE EVIDENCE, EXTRAPOLATION SUGGESTS THAT THEY HAVE A CURIOUS NATURE."
"And what does--"
"CAUTION ADVISED FOR PROLONGED EXPOSURE, MINOR TRIONIC READINGS ARE DETECTED ON TWO OF THE CREATURES."
James heads back to the quarter-wall, and begins, "How do I know I can trust you?"
"HEY! THERE'S SOMEPONY INSIDE OF IT!!" 
If this is my death, I will never stop haunting Avalon.
"Open the hatch."
"CONFIRMED, OPENING HATCH. CAUTION ADVISED."
As the hatch opened, James had a sight to behold: Four little horses were clustered around the entrance. The one closest to the hatch was purple except for one fuchsia stripe running through her mane, a horn jutted out of her head, and a tattoo of sparkling stars decorated her flank; the next one was white with a purple mane--also with a horn--this one had a tattoo of three diamonds; the next was bright pink with an equally pink, frizzy mane, three balloons decorated her flank, it was worth noting that this one did not seem to stop moving. The next was dull orange, blonde mane, and wore a hat; James couldn't see her tattoo. The other two were out of view. That accounted for all six that the cube mentioned.
"You can come out now," stated purple, "we don't want to hurt you."
James carefully walked out of the ship, the night was still running strong, but it was quite warm out. There were sounds of the forest, and as soon as James was out of the ship entirely, the hatch began to close. It was nothing but him and six unknown beings.
"I'm here, now what?" stated James curtly.
"We just wanted to make sure you were okay! I mean you were inside of the thing, and it did fall from the moon!" spoke pink.
"I didn't fall, I landed here because my ship ran out of fuel. Had I have fallen, we would-"
"What about the other guy?" asked orange.
"What other guy?"
"The guy who said 'closin' hatch' like it was some big thing."
"That was the computer."
"Ah. Wait, what's a--"
"Anyhow," began purple, "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends. This is Applejack," she gestures towards orange,"Pinkie Pie," Pink, "Rarity, " White, "And up there is Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy was around here somewhere." 
James looks up to see a blue pony flapping on wings, a prismatic mane, and a cloud/lightning-bolt tattoo on her flank.
"And you are?" Twilight asked.
"James, James Oakfield."
"Well, James, it seems that you're going to be here for the night, since--what was it--your 'ship is out of fuel', and Celestia isn't up until dawn." Although the air quotes had no way of being actually gestured, James still felt the small horse was skeptical of the whole thing. So was James, as a matter-of-fact. And who the hell was Celestia?
"Oh, you'll find out in the morning, for now we should try to move your ship somewhere safe; the Everfree Forest is well known for making things vanish." Stated Twilight, somehow knowing the question on his mind.
"I can fly it somewhere."
"Ah thought you said it was stuck?" Applejack chimed in
"Worth a shot. We're not going to carry it far, only God knows how much it weighs."
At once, the ship's hatch opens. James gestures toward the ramp, then gets in himself. The ponies follow, except for Rainbow Dash. I'd rather fly my own way back was her reasoning. James takes his position in the seat near the cube.
"UNIDENTIFIED CREATURES ONBOARD, FRIEND OR FOE?"
"They're friendly enough."
"CONFIRMED."
"So, where do you want to go?" he asks Twilight.
"Just to Ponyville."
"Where?"
"The nearest city."
"Cube, make it so."
"AFFIRMATIVE, ENGAGING FLIGHT. ALL BIOLOGIC ENTITIES MUST MAINTAIN A DISTANCE OF NO LESS THAN -2- METERS FROM THE ANSIBLE WHILE IN FLIGHT."
"Well, what did any of that mean?" Rarity asked.
"Don't get near the spinning thing."
"Oh."
The ship begins ascending, then the engines reorient, and fire. They are landing in the main square within five minutes. The hatch opens with a loud CLANG on the cobbles below. It was an odd city, every building seemed to be no higher than two stories, and the doorways seemed to be oversized, considering the intended inhabitants. James could easily fit into the buildings. Then James turned to lay his eyes on the biggest tree he'd ever seen. It seems that it was a building of it's own right, complete with a door, windows every so often, and lights galore.
"Well, if y'all don't mind, I'ma head home for some shuteye," Applejack said.
"Yeah, as much excitement as it has been, the morning is a better time," Rarity's turn.
"Yeah, I'll um, see you guys tomorrow." This one must've been Fluttershy, James doesn't remember seeing her get on.
"Do you need somewhere to stay? I have some spare room in the library if you need," Twilight offers.
"No, I'm good. I got a room in the ship."
"Alright, sleep tight-"
"BEDBUGS HAVE BEEN ERADICATED, DO NOT MAKE MENTION OF THEM,"  The computer chimes.
"Okay then." James and Twilight say in tandem.
With the excitement and oddity of being welcomed by several small horses to a world that James couldn't even fathom, and a promise of yet more excitement the next morning, James heads to his quarters, hoping to wake up from this insanity.