Laud checked his instrument panels, his eyes roaming over the many dials and readouts. His right hand was playing over the hilt of his sword. It would do him little good in the depths of space, but its presence was always a calming one to him. Before him, through the transparent material of his cockpit, he could see that yawning void. Small in it, but growing larger, was the restored jumpgate.
A voice crackled through his radio, "The gate will be ready for your arrival. You will be out of communication. Near as we can tell, we can get you there, but getting back will be harder. The destination gate isn't something I'd trust to start the process. As it is, we barely trust it to get you there."
Engineering was not his forte. Laud frowned a little. "Tell me there's a plan."
"Of course. It just requires time. That's one thing you should have plenty of. Most gates weren't placed idly. There should be a world, possibly several, to explore. That is your mission."
"Right." Laud thought back to his acceptance of the mission. It had been a tremendous honor, but faced with the reality of it, he questioned if his past self had considered the matter fully. It was too late to back off. He would never live it down if he cringed away in fear at the last moment. "I'll have a full report ready for the first ship to follow me."
"Provided it's one of ours," spoke the voice. "Good to hear you're still with us. I'm sending the coordinates now. Match up with the gate and be ready for the call to proceed. Do not deviate from the flight course."
Preparing for the jump was standard enough. It was almost comforting. He just had to not think about the unknown gate he was going to appear at. He gave his console a light patting. "At least you'll be with me." He had his ship, and his sword, and his ideals. They would have to see him through.
The signal came, and he nudged the ship forward as directed. The gate flickered into life, a deep thrumming felt all through the ship as tremendous energy swirled in it, ready to send him soaring to a new place. It was far from the first time he'd jumped, but it was the first time he didn't know where he'd land.
Everything was gone.
He came to in front of a deceptively earth-like world. It had blues and greens. It had stretches that looked like mountains and deserts. It was a world. It had clouds. If its atmosphere was right, it could even be a nice place. There was only so much he could tell, gaping at it from so high above. He swiveled the ship around to see the gate he had come through.
It was a wreck. Fresh smoke billowed around it. Sparks jumped fitfully. It was no small miracle that he had even arrived safely. No, he would not be jumping home through that, at least not until it had gotten major repairs. The jumpgate was just a hollow reminder that he was alone. He was alone with a world to explore and document.
Laud took a slow breath as he pivoted the ship around slowly, looking for other worlds. The world had two moons, one much larger than the other, and also on fire. It was very rare to see a moon burning like a tremendously small sun. To make matters worse, he could find no sun. There were also no other planets. The world was floating free in the void with only its satellites to keep it company.
What matter of apocalypse or madness would create such a thing? The idea that it happened naturally seemed beyond impossibly against all odds.
He would get no answers simply looking. His ship informed him that the atmosphere of the planet wouldn't kill him. The balance was unique, but every planet was a little different. It was well within the bounds that meant he wouldn't be wearing a suit for his entire visit. That was good, really good. Considering it was the only planet he had a prayer of reaching, he could only thank God that it was a good one.
He took hold of the controls directly and eased the ship down. He'd done re-entries before. A gentle touch and a good feel for the ship brushing against the atmosphere had let him land without issue on many worlds.
Most worlds didn't have sudden gravitational waves. Several panels went red and the interior began strobing as alarms began sounding. A monitor showed that both moons were moving far more quickly than they had been a moment prior. The force of the motion slammed into his ship and he hit the atmosphere wrong. Flames erupted from the front of his ship.
"Blast it all to Hell," he swore as he pulled hard, trying to undo the damage, but the controls were sluggish to respond. The world was coming at him uncomfortably fast. He eased the ship to a horizontal path, cutting through the atmosphere in a bright fireball, moving far too quickly for how far down they were. He was twisting knobs wildly, trying to brake the ship and avoid becoming a crater on the new world. That would be too ignoble a start to his assignment. It would also be his end.
His ship wasn't responding the way he'd have liked. Had it taken damage arriving in the failing gate? There was no time to consider that too deeply. He did the best he could as the world spun by beneath him. Too fast. He was still too fast.
He struck.
The ponies of Ponyville all gazed up at the sky. There was a star in the middle of the day, well, more morning. It streaked past, leaving a brilliant trail of smoke behind. Even the uneducated among them started gossiping wildly at such a huge meteor coming in like that.
Starlight glanced aside at Twilight, then back up at the sky in the direction it had gone.
Twilight nodded to the unspoken question. "Pack your bags."
"Already done." Spike popped up with two filled saddlebags and slipped them on Twilight and Starlight. "Are we getting the girls?"
Starlight nodded. "Probably a good idea. I'll go get Trixie."
Twilight gave an uncertain smile. "This isn't exactly her kind of adventure."
Starlight frowned at that. "What is her kind of adventure?"
Spike rolled a hand. "One where she gets to show off?"
Starlight clopped a hoof in annoyance. "Stop that! She's a friend and she's been learning magic. She can help us."
Twilight let out a weary sigh. "Alright, go ahead. I'll get the girls. Come on, Spike."
He saluted and off they went to recruit the others.
Laud awoke to the sound of warbling sirens. Smoke was filling the cockpit. That was bad. He moved without thought. He popped it open with a hiss, allowing the air of the world to come in and greet him. It smelled fresh, though that wasn't hard compared to the scent of smoldering electronics.
He scrambled free and fell the short distance to the ground. The landing was far smoother than it had been for his ship. He hit and rolled, coming to a smooth halt and springing back to his feet. He spun around to look at his ship, or what was left of it. It was a crumpled mess. It was nothing short of a miracle that he was even in one piece after it. It was on fire. No extinguisher would make a difference. Barring a divine ritual, his ship was thoroughly lost. He reached for his side and realized his sword had been left inside.
He could write off the ship, but his sword? Never! "This damned world isn't taking that." He got to climbing, sticking to rocks where he could, they were less heated than the still smoldering surface of his ship. He had been wearing his flight suit, thankfully, which provided some heat resistance.
Pain flashed through his fingers as he put too much pressure on a sharp flap of metal, but he pressed on. A small gash wouldn't stop him. He crested the opening leading to his cockpit and waved at the smoke that had filled it. His sword was in there. Laud jumped in and reached around wildly. He heard the tink of its metal bouncing against his gloves. He grabbed it up and strapped it properly into place. He couldn't see. He couldn't breath. They said you should always wear your flight mask, always. That was one rule he regretted not following.
He was cooking, blind, and choking. He jumped. The second landing wasn't nearly as graceful as the first. He slammed into the ground roughly with a pained wheeze, but he was alive, and he had his sword. He rolled over and pushed up to his hands and knees. There was his ship, burning brightly. He would get nothing else out of it. "You always wanted some adventure, Laud."
He turned his hands to look at the cuts he had felt before. A sharp and narrow gash ran right along the underside of his fingers on his right hand. Painful, but not terminal, he decided. Unless the world had horrible diseases waiting to come get him. He couldn't do much about that but keep his hand clenched and wait for it to clot.
It was only at that point that he actually took in where he was. It appeared to be a mountain side. His ship had been sailing so fast, it failed to be surprising that it had smashed into the first thing tall enough to stop it. Moving away from his ship to get a better view, he could see he was fairly high up. The rest of the unknown world spread out before him away from the mountain. He had no idea what direction that was. He didn't have a compass, and he couldn't trust magnetic north could be geographic north anyway.
"You're off to a good start," he sighed out to himself.
The entire crew had been gathered. All of the Elements, plus Trixie, Starlight, and Spike.
Twilight pointed off towards a nearby mountain. "It landed on the same mountain where we had to talk that dragon out of sleeping."
Pinkie peered at it, and the smoke that could be faintly seen drifting up. "Do you think it's some kind of crazy space dragon? Maybe it's taking a nap too. See? It's smoking."
Applejack shook her head. "Ah ain't no dragon expert, but that didn't look like no dragon t'me."
Spike nodded in agreement. "Dragons breath fire, they usually aren't on fire."
Rarity considered it a moment. "Twilight, dear. You know I want to support you, but this isn't really an emergency. It's not a threat to Ponyville."
Fluttershy gave a soft noise that sounded agreeable. "I mean, it's a space rock."
Trixie put a hoof to her chest. "Very well then. Trixie will claim the honor of recovering this cosmic meteor!"
Starlight flashed a bright smile at that. "That's the spirit! I wonder what kind of rock it is."
"Wait, it's a rock?" Trixie looked confused.
Starlight blinked. "We just said that. It's a rock, from beyond Equestria."
"Trixie has had enough rocks." She waved the whole thing away. "Good luck!"
Trixie departed, but she was not alone. Pinkie remained, ready to help Twilight and Starlight. "If this is a rock," noted Pinkie. "I know exactly who would be a huge help, and she's right here in Ponyville!"
Pinkie was gone in a streak and back almost as fast, holding up Maud, who didn't look surprised at all. "Behold, Ponyville's resident roctor!"
"Roctor?" asked Twilight.
"I have a doctorate," explained Maud.
Spike snickered. "A doctorate in rocks, a roctorate. So you're a roctor. Um, congratulations though. What are you doing now?"
"Being asked to go with you."
Starlight nodded. "Good to see you, Maud. Did you see the meteorite?"
"That wasn't a meteorite."
Everyone blinked at her.
"Its flame signature was entirely off. It was composed of metal and unknown materials." She put on a hard hat. "I'd like to examine it."