//------------------------------// // 13: Pondering // Story: Beyond Earth: Phoenix Rising // by Stalin with Da Spoon //------------------------------// 'Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.' - Isaac Newtons Third Law "... Ares, run a general diagnostic." "Jameson, I've already run several for my sensors, optics, and primary systems, all are green. This is real." "Then... What the hell!? How... How is this possible?!" "I don't know... But that's above our paygrade to know right now. Let's just keep gathering data and move on. We'll just have to leave it up to high command to decide what to do with this info." "Right... Right." Jameson's breathing slowed as he adjusted the aircrafts speed and exited hover mode as he left the airspace over the small town, leaving the humans below unaware before a pony-drawn carriage soon pulled onto the streets, humans watching on in confusion and intrigue as Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer sat in the back, waving at the humans as a select few waved back. Twilight couldn't help but smile as she looked around at the humans, most dressed in their work attire, with others in more casual clothing just going about their day. She always admired how different human fashion and clothing was compared to ponies, always preferring function or durability over form or fashion. While her friend Rarity would make an elegant white dress, a human tailor would prefer to make a durable and pocket-filled pair of jeans. If it weren't for anatomical differences, she was sure ponies would love to try on human clothes, if the recent idea of human-pony fashion fusion was anything to go by. Starlight looked to see a few children playing around a small playground, swinging on a swing set and sliding down a slide before turning and waving at the ponies as they passed by, prompting her to wave her hoof back. Hands... That was what confused Starlight the most. They are like claws, but not sharp. They had five on each hand, including the all-important thumb, which allowed them to wield their tools so efficiently. Were they expert crafters and workers purely for their hands? Probably not, but it was a factor. Besides, she was getting caught in the differences between ponies and humans when today was meant to explore the similarities. The carriage pulled up in front of a large brick and mortar building, a large metal sign in front reading 'New Richmond Elementary-High School'. The building appeared far blander when compared to traditional pony schools, but from what she knew about human design, it no doubt made up for it with size and durability, thanks to yet another human invention, 'bricks'. Standing below the gate, were six human children, the majority them having white skin tones while a couple had more darker tones, or as the humans called them 'African Americans'. The standard white skin was known as 'Caucasian'. It still fascinated Twilight how there was so much variety in human appearance, yet they all seemed the same. There were around four boys and two girls in the group, and behind them was Mayor Buckshaw and a teacher in a nice looking school uniform. The students appeared to be smiling while wearing their school uniforms and carrying their backpacks on their shoulders. Starlight and Twilight stepped out of the carriage with smiles on their face, waving to the students as they nodded back before they stepped past and Twilight placed her hoof in Buckshaw's hand for a shake. "I thank you again for giving us this opportunity mr Buckshaw!" "Please, thank Mrs. Cassie." He said gesturing to the teacher beside her as she nodded. "I have always been looking forward to the day my little students would get to attend class alongside other creatures. I hope you will enjoy yourselves while still behaving everyone!" The students all nodded. "Yes Mrs. Cassie!" Cassie smiled before turning and nodding to Twilight. "I have no doubt today will be a grand experience for both them and your students." "Yep, today's gonna be perfect! Now come along children, we've got room in the carriage for all of you and I bet your gonna love the trip!" "Well this day went off the rails real fucking quick..." Jameson said, his jet still silently streaking across the clouds undetected while the cockpit remained totally silent, save for the slight beeping and whirring of his instruments and interfaces. "... Ares." "Yes?" "... What do you think about this?" "Well, with what data I gathered, I have formulated several hypotheses." "Alright, let's hear them." "Be advised, they may dip a bit into the realm of... Conspiracy." "Please, your talking to a guy who got put on the U.F.O Location and Interception task force. And before you ask, no, I never saw any aliens." "Well, first theory is that somehow, one of the facilities opened early and released it's humans onto the surface. This is unlikely, as the facilities administrator AI would no doubt have alerted the others in the network and triggered the awakening sequence. Of course, it's possible that a facility could have become isolated and cut off from the net, causing them to judge it necessary to release their population." "Alright, that one makes sense." "Theory two, they somehow survived the mage comet. This is actually more likely than you think, because well, mage energy was never discovered before and when it was that comet was the only known source. Due to it's distance and speed we couldn't get a sample to test, so we could never confirm it was lethal. Those reports that Dr. Keifer made were mostly estimates, and it's possible the energy messed with the readings, like it does with this jet's sensors." "Dang, your right, that could be possible." "Theory three, and this one just straight up goes off the deep end, somehow over the last million years, apes manage to survive and re-evolved into humans once more alongside these ponies." "... Okay yeah you can go ahead and scratch that off the list." "Understood. Now then, if we continue on our course we will be heading across a large stretch of water. My sensors indicate a large spike in temperature and carbon emissions on the other side, indicative of an active volcano. I already activated our thermal shielding so we can do a passover for the map." "Got it. Just fly right over an active volcano. Eh, I flew missions on Venus, this shouldn't be as bad as that." Soon the green verdant hills below gave way to sandy beaches, until the cascade of bright blue seas was visible below. The aircraft lowered slightly, it's speed causing it to create slight ripples in the waves beneath it. "Ah... Now this is flying in style." It helped Jameson take his mind off of recent events, just focusing on how he was flying once more, soaring above the waves inside the safe and enclosed cockpit of his aircraft. Even in a world so different to the one he knew, it still felt all the same to him. Same blue sky, same white clouds, and according to his instruments, cleaner air to boot. Begone lung cancer! He pulled back on the flight controls as the aircraft rose from above the sea, adjusting it's course and allowing him to get a clear view of his destination. Ash and smoke choked the sky, his temperature sensors already detecting spikes in heat. The large mountains puffing out steam and smoke stood out among the charred and blackened landscape. "Jesus, looks like this place got hit with a De-atomizer strike..." "A more correct comparison would be if it were subjected to a Scorcher bombardment. But I must agree, this land must be in a state of permanent seismic and volcanic activity to cause this form of ecological damage. However, the pollution from the volcanos is kept in lower atmosphere and entirely isolated onto this island zone somehow, which explains why it hasn't burned a straight hole in the ozone layer. Whatever prevents it from spreading also prevents it from building up in-atmosphere, so that's why it doesn't blot out the sky." "Probably should just chock it up to Mage energy at this point." The jet flew in a oval pattern around the island, mapping out the land below just like the mainland. However, a blip was detected as he turned and inspected his radar. "What the... Ares, is that blip real?" "Scanning... Affirmative, and according to my sensors, it's coming up right beside us!" Jameson nervously turned his head, adjusting the view from his cockpit to allow him a clear sight at the massive object beside him. It's massive crimson wings flapped in the air, with each beat of it's wings sending shockwaves through the air around it even slightly shaking the aircraft as flight stabilizers engaged. It's body was coated in blood red scales from it's large horned and reptillian head all the way to it's winding tale. It's eyes burned a crimson gold and black, heat readings indicating it's mouth was giving off an ambient temperature exceeding the temperature needed to melt steel. Jameson let out a whistle before silently increasing his jet's acceleration as the dragon slowly fell out of his cockpit's view, causing him to let out a sigh of relief before a slight chuckle. "... Here be damn Dragons." Marcus had always heard stories about the School of Friendship, how all the ponies and the other creatures came here to learn the value of friendship and harmony. His ma and pa always told him that what truly mattered was good hard work, but they also said it was still important to have good friends you could always count on. His ma specifically told him that come a few years from now, when he's all big and strong, he'll have lots of friends. Heck, maybe he'll have a girlfriend, who knows? But he preferred to spend his free time playing Jenga with his little brother Bobby. As the carriage he and his classmates were riding in slowly came to a stop, he looked over to see William slightly sweating as he looked up to the towering school building, because even Marcus had to admit it was a bit big for just a school building. "Aye William, how you doin' man?" "Well, right now, I feel like this can go both great and horribly. What do you think 'bout it Marcus?" "I'm more a glass half full kinda kid, so I think it'll go just fine." "We'll just have to see." The boys nodded to each other as the carriage doors opened and the little stairs folded out, allowing the children to step out with Twilight and Starlight following behind them. Marcus liked the pony princess and her friend, they were very friendly and answered his questions. Papa said that even if they were ponies, they were still creatures just like us, and while they may not see us as equals sometimes, we still gotta try and be friends. Marcus turned his attention back to the large doors of the school, seeing the distinct shimmer of light indicating Starlight's magic as she pulled on the door handles and swung the doors open for the children as they all gawked at the interior. "Woah..." "So shiny!" "Where'd they get all the crystals?" "Agh, too bright!" "Little children, welcome to the School of Friendship!" A happy expression was visible on all of the human students, as they surveyed their surroundings with wonder in their eyes. Suddenly, a pinkish blue blur zoomed past as a hippogriff let out a squawk before smiling with a grin so wide it threatened to tear her beak. "Are you kids the new human transfer students!?! That is so cool, you're the first humans to ever attend this school, you are sooooo lucky, we are gonna have so much fun!" Marcus knew deep down that either way, he was gonna like it here.