//------------------------------// // Research // Story: Stuck on Earth // by The Unremarkable Author //------------------------------// The team was crowded around something Brandon called a computer. At least one of the ponies still held their weapon and had it pointed at Brandon's back. The rest of the team had their eyes glued to the screen, awestruck at how something so small could display something with so much detail. "This is called Google. I give it a question or something I want to know about and it spits out hundreds of answers." Brandon explained. "Wait, hundreds? If there are so many answers, how do you know which one has the answer you're looking for? That sounds awfully inefficient." Deep Thought said from Brandon's side. "Well, Google usually does a pretty good job at figuring out which answers you're looking for." Brandon said, opening a page on the screen. "Here's a page with a bunch of information on Hasbro." He scrolled through the page and then pointed at a line with a finger. "Here's Hasbro's address." "Where is Rhode Island?" Connie asked. "Oh, right. You don't know about this world." Brandon said. "We're in Canada right now. We're in a providence called British Columbia and we're along the west coast. Directly south of us is America. America is huge and so is its military. Rhode Island is in America and it's along the east coast." "Wait, huge military?" Lea said with a furrowed brow. "Yeah, they have one of the biggest military in the world I think. You don't have to worry though, as long as you don't draw any attention to yourself, you won't be visited by a battalion." Brandon said, now idly turning in his chair. "How big are we talking here? I feel like you're exaggerating it a bit." Leading Edge said. "I'm not actually sure." Brandon said, turning to the computer and typing something in, another website popped up and he glossed over the details. "Their army has one million seven thousand soldiers, but that's just their army." Leading Edge's jaw was on the floor. "One million? You're joking." "No, I'm not joking. It says right here." Brandon said, pointing a finger at the screen. "But yeah, that's just their army. They have the Navy, uh, which is their naval warfare service branch. Oh, and there's the Air Force, the National Guard, the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, and they have nuclear weapons. Some of those aren't really the military, but they're still pretty powerful." "Great," Fail Safe said, "We've landed ourselves on a war riddled planet with no way back home. Good fucking job." He said, and then clopped his fore-hooves together in a slow clap. "Good job, team. We did well." "Wait, what? You guys are stuck here?" Brandon said, turning around to face the team. The team glanced at each other and then collected in the corner and began muttering among themselves. Occasionally they'd glance over to Brandon, causing him to fidget in his chair. "What do we tell him?" Healing Touch asked, careful to keep her voice low. "If we tell him the truth, we put this whole mission at risk." "Yeah, but if we lie to him and he finds out, he's not going to be happy. I don't really want to mess with a species with that many soldiers." Deep Thought said in a hushed voice. "If we're honest with him, it'd be easier to get him to work for us." Healing Touch stated. "So if we get Brandon on our side, we gain a foot hold on this society." Leading Edge said. "I like it, so we're being honest with him?" The other ponies in the team nodded and they parted to let Deep Thought step forward. "If you have any questions, we'll answer them." Deep Thought said, crossing his forelegs and sitting on the floor. "What do you want to know?" Brandon took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "What happened? How'd you guys get stuck here?" "We went through a portal and then the portal shut. We're not sure if that means that we're stuck here though." Deep Thought said. "Who's the leader?" Brandon asked. "Me." Connie said, raising a hoof. "Can I meet Rainbow Dash?" Brandon asked, a glint of hope in his eyes. "No." Deep Thought replied quickly. Brandon slouched a little, dropping his smile immediately. "Oh." A few seconds passed before he looked towards the team again. "Why?" "The portal is closed, Brandon." Deep Thought stated simply. "Yeah, but when you do get the portal open, can I?" Brandon said, that glint of hope resurfacing. "No, Brandon." Deep Thought said, frowning. "No you can't." "But if the portal is open, then I should be able to meet her, right?" Brandon pleaded. "Why can't I meet her? She's been such an inspiration to me. Can you imagine her reaction if she found out she's popular in two worlds? I need to be the one to tell her, please." Deep Thought inhaled slowly, and then let it out. What am I supposed to tell him? I really don't want to be the one to break the news to him. "Next question please." While the team answered Brandon's questions, Leading Edge walked up to Connie and nudged her. Without a word, they slipped out of the room. They entered the living room with Connie and they hopped up onto the couch. "What's up?" Connie asked once she got comfortable. "I'm sure I know why you did it, but I just want to be sure." Leading Edge said. "When Brandon asked who the leader was, you said you were the leader. What's up with that?" He asked. "Well, he was asking who the leader was, right?" Connie said. "I felt like he was trying to figure out who to target. It's like, if he was being held at gunpoint, which he was, he'd want to figure out who to target first. So I technically volunteered to be targeted so you wouldn't get hurt and the rest of the team wouldn't be affected so much." Lea just listened and Connie continued. "I figured with me being the least experienced of the team that if I were to be injured, it wouldn't make that much of an impact. If you or Healing Touch were injured, or Fail Safe for that matter. If any of you were injured, this entire mission becomes a whole lot more difficult. I don't want to see you guys get hurt." "Wait," Leading Edge said in a soft voice. "Do you think that you're any less important to the team than Healing Touch or Fail Safe?" "I don't know." "Yes or no, do you feel like you're not important to the team?" Leading Edge asked, moving his head closer to Connie to here her. "You're important." He said. "Your service may not be required as often as Healing Touch's or Fail Safe's, but that doesn't mean you're any less important to the team." Leading Edge continued. "You're important in your own way. When the time comes, you will be the one to go out and do recon for us. Plus, you were chosen to keep the team from falling apart." He smiled. "That sounds pretty important to me." Connie finally brought her gaze to meet Lea's. Tears were in her eyes, yet she was smiling. She leaned in as if to say something then she pecked him on the cheek. Before he could say anything, she got up, spread her wings, and flew down the hallway to where the rest of the team was. Leading Edge rubbed the spot where Connie kissed him, still too surprised to say anything. "The fuck?" By the time Leading Edge entered the room again, the team had finished answering all of Brandon's questions. Whether that be because Brandon ran out of questions or the team decided to usher him out was up to his imagination. Sure, he could've asked, but he didn't need to know. He could care a whole lot less. Not only did the questions end, but the day ended too. The dark gray light from outside had turned to a simple black, the storm blocked the night sky. The team was weary, a long day of stress, panic, and loss could do that to anyone. With the exception of a pocket knife, the team gave Brandon his things back. The team gathered in the living room and Brandon went off and did his own thing. Connie flopped onto the sofa, letting out a sigh. "One thing's for sure. Comfort is universal." Leading Edge hopped onto the sofa with the assistance of his wings. "You got that right." He turned in place a few times before settling down. "My everything hurts." "I could help you relieve that pain." Connie offered, turning over to face Lea. "Uh, no. I know what you're offering. I'm not a fan." Leading Edge said without opening his eyes. Connie let out a little huff. "Am I really that easy to read?" Fail Safe dropped his saddlebags at the base of the couch. His horn lit and shortly afterwards a bubble of energy engulfed the couch. "Aren't you two a couple of love birds?" "We aren't in love, nor are we dating. We have enough mission complications as it is. I do not want pregnancy on the list of things we have to deal with." Leading Edge said, his tone as bland as ever. Connie nudged Leading Edge with a hoof. "Oh, I'm just messing with you." She yawned. "Even if I did want that, I know you wouldn't allow it." She flopped onto her side, curling up. "Today's been rough. I'm so tired of living I could do what that pegasus did in Canterlot a while back." She said, smiling. "Oh my god." Fail Safe laughed. "What was up with that guy anyway?" "From what I heard, he was sick of how the government was handling education so he..." Connie stopped. "Yeah." "What happened in Canterlot?" Healing Touch asked, setting her saddlebags down. "We'll tell you later." Leading Edge said, yawning. "I think we're beyond our depth here. I'll figure everything out tomorrow. I'm beat." One by one, the team fell asleep, Fail Safe being the last one to succumb to slumber. However, Brandon had not fallen asleep yet. He was in his bedroom on his phone. An application was open, allowing him to communicate with others. He messaged a friend back and forth for a while, and was eventually able to establish voice communication. "Brandon, whatever you're smoking, I want it." His friend said. "Jake, I haven't smoked anything. At least not today." Brandon joked. "I'm not pulling your leg here." "Uh-huh, right. So let me get this straight. You haven't smoked today, you haven't taken anything today, and you're telling me there are magical talking horses from one of our favorite shows in your house." Jake reasoned. "No, no. I believe you. Sounds completely realistic, down to Earth, and could totally happen, Brandon." Brandon sighed, rubbing his forehead with his hand. "I get it. This.. sounds pretty far fetched, but what I came home to today is... I just want someone to talk about this, dude. I'm alone in my house with five aggressive talking ponies and I don't know what to do." "So.. what? You want me to come down there to supercell land and keep you company?" Jake asked. "Yeah, no. I'm not risking my life to chase fiction, thanks." He said. "I'm going to hang up, Brandon. It's one in the morning." "Wait!" Brandon exclaimed. "Please, Jake. Don't hang up. I can get proof, uh pictures." A sigh could be heard from Jake's end. "Fine, Brandon. Let's see how your photoshop skills are." Brandon pushed the door to his bedroom open slowly, careful to avoid making noise. "I'm not using photoshop, dude." He whispered. "I heard them in the living room before. I'm going there right now, I just have to be really quiet." He eased his way down the dark hallway, avoiding the spot that creaked. "Uh huh, right." Jake deadpanned. He peaked around the corner to get a view of the living room. On the couch, five ponies lie, their sides rising and falling slowly. He snapped a quick picture with his phone and hurried back down the hallway to his room. Once in his room, he let out a sigh of relief. "I got the picture, Jake." "Send it then." Jake said, his patience was running thin. With a few taps of the screen, the image was sent. It was dim and difficult to make out, but the shape of five ponies sleeping peacefully on the couch could be seen. Two with wings, two with horns, one with none. A gasp could be heard from Jake's end, followed by a few seconds of silence. "I know you took graphic design classes in high school, Brandon, but I don't think they teach you this kind of stuff." Jake said. "What am I looking at here, Brandon? Don't you lie to me, I want the truth." "I have five talking ponies in my house, Jake." He cleared his throat and after a moment, he continued. "I don't know what to do. I feel like I should be happy that I'm meeting the very thing I have based a decent portion of my life around, but..." He paused. "I'm at a loss here, Jake. I just want someone to share this with. I want to know that I'm not losing my mind here." Brandon said, his voice wavering. Several seconds of silence passed before Jake replied. "God damnit, Brandon." "What?" "If I get over there, and there's no ponies, we're going to have a problem." Jake said. "Wait, what do you mean 'we're going to have a problem?' What are you going to do?" Brandon asked, his voice betraying his facade of serenity. "I'll probably just have you pay for the gas." Jake stated plainly. "That or you buy me lunch or something." "Alright, drive safe, Jake." Brandon said, and then hung up. He stood still for a moment before walking to his bed and flopping down on it. "What the hell is going on?"