//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 Goodbye Appleloosa, Hello Train // Story: The Phoenix Project // by Cydon //------------------------------// Chapter 5 Goodbye Appleloosa, Hello Train Personal Log, Captain Cydon Imperius, November 8, 2132 "Today is the day, The day we have all been waiting for, today we leave our dead world behind to begin anew on some distant star. Project Phoenix, heh, so are we supposed to rise from the ashes of a crashed pod or something? Whatever happens now this will be my final entry, maybe someday humanity will return to its homeworld and find these logs maybe not but at least it will live on. So, this is goodbye, Captain Cydon Imperius, United Terra Army Ranger signing off for the last time." <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> I woke up. I was warm and lying on something soft I could feel a weight on my chest and hear soft snores. 'What happened yesterday? Lets see ate breakfast, talked to the Professor, fought Changelings, got hurt, fell asleep in the hospital.' I open my eyes I was in a small room, various medical supplies line the walls and shelves. I look out the window the sun hasn't risen yet a faint glow on the horizon. Sky is sleeping peacefully curled up next to me her head on my chest rising and falling as I breathe. I carefully get up making sure not to disturb Sky. Looking myself over I notice most of my cuts and bruises are gone although my chest was still tender and my leg throbbed a little. 'That medistim works great! Another day and my leg should be healed too. Too bad my pants didn't make it.' The leg was nearly torn off and the whole thing was covered in dirt. 'Good thing I brought extra clothes. But first I need a shower.' I limp to the door and quietly let myself out. I step into the hallway and look back and forth. 'Guess I'll go... this way.' I start off and walk around a corner into another room. 'Looks like the main lobby. Maybe the nurse can help me out?' I walk over to the desk where a brown mare with a pink mane was busy filling out paperwork. "Excuse me but is there a place I can clean myself up?" The mare sighs before responding. "Down the hall second door on the right." She says without even looking up. "Ok, thank you." I walk down the hall easily finding the shower room. The room appears to be made completely from tile, the shower heads are a little over half my height. I approach a shower head. 'Guess this will have to do.' ___________________________________________________________________________ One refreshing shower later I turn off the water and use a provided towel to dry myself off. 'Step one get clean, check.' I grab my bag and pull out my clothes. I quickly get dressed. I step out of the shower room in the casual clothes I kept in my bag. A pair of bluejeans and a grey t-shirt with the Ranger's logo on it. I was still wearing my army boots, hat, and jacket. 'Step two put on clean clothes, check.' I walk the halls again until I find the room I woke up in, I quietly let myself back in. Sky is still sleeping so I sit on the chair next to the window and look outside. The sun is just rising over the horizon. 'Good morning day three.' I check my watch 8:30 'Still early.' Sky rolls over on the bed. "Mmph Cydon? Cydon? Where did you... oh there you are." She says as she starts to untangle herself from the bed sheets. "Good morning Sky." Sky stretches and jumps off the bed fluttering her wings so she hovers next to me. "What'cha doin? And where did you get those new clothes?" Sky looks at me a grin plastered on her face. "I was just thinking about stuff." I shrug. "And I've had these in my bag." I point to my now mostly empty bag. "Do you know what we're going to do today?" "Well..." The door to the room opens revealing the Professor as he walks in. "Good morning everypony." "Good morning Professor." Sky and I say simultaneously making her giggle. "The town had a meeting about you last night Cydon." The Professor's gaze becomes serious before lightening a little. "They are very grateful for your help driving away the Changelings, But they still don't trust you as you are a strange new creature from a faraway land." "So what does that mean?" "It means that if you want the ponies to like you try not to be scary and especially don't hurt anypony." "So just be myself without firearms or knives or martial arts training or.." Sky gasps. "Are you really that dangerous?" "Only to bad guys, when I'm with you guys my most lethal weapon is a hug. If you can survive being tickled that is." I give Sky a mischievous grin, she just glares at me. "Don't you dare." We stare each other down for a few seconds before the Professor clears his throat. "If you two are done playing around how about some breakfast?" "Quite right ol' bean time for some tea and crumpets eh?" I say attempting my best British accent. "You sound just like a native Canterlotian." "I guess the British knew a thing or two about fancy then." "Who's the British?" Sky looks at me with curiosity in her magenta eyes. 'Hnnnggg I certainly hope they can't weaponize adorableness my heart wouldn't be able to take it.' "They are a people on my home planet, I come from The United States of America and the British come from Great Britain." "Oh, ok so how many countries are on your planet?" "On my planet? Umm, none not anymore at least." My head droops and I sink back into the chair. "But what happened to them?" Concern filled her voice as she gazed upon my saddened figure. "The great cataclysm, the end of days, the Rad plague. It didn't matter what you called it but it destroyed our world killing all life until only 1100 or so humans remained." "But you survived so maybe the others did too." "No, they didn't, my pod malfunctioned and I crashed here over five hundred thousand years ago, if you ponies had never found the pod I would still be sleeping, buried under the ground." "I'm sorry I.. I didn't know." Sky backed away drooping her head her ears flat against her head. "It's ok I have to tell everpony sometime but lets wait for now I don't want to explain more than once or twice. Oh and Professor, here's the data I got from my pod before the Changelings attacked." I pick up the datapad and hand it to the Professor. "Oh thank you but uh, how do you use this?" "Oh right let me just..." I take the pad and press a few buttons, slide a few things around and done. "There, all set." "Good, but uh what did you do?" "I activated the voice commands, here I'll show you how to use it." I tilt the datapad so they can see. "Computer Authorization Cydon Imperius Charlie Kilo Delta Sierra." "User recognized state command." "Create new user Professor Bones." "User created, create password?" "No. All right Professor your turn." The professor's magic grabbed the datapad and levitated it over to him. "Tell the computer to take you to the index the just tell it where you want to go or what you want it to do. It will listen and try to help you." "Ok, Computer Index please." The data pad's screen went blank before a list of all the information that was downloaded appeared onscreen. "Oh, OH! This is amazing there's so much information it will take me weeks to go through it all." "I'm glad you like it but this is just a taste, the pod contains the entirety of all human knowledge on it's hard drives. Oh! But about the datapad it runs on solar energy so if the batteries are low just give it some sunlight to charge it." "THERE'S MORE!" "A lot more. I'd say you will be busy for the next several decades." My stomach grumbled loud enough for everypony to hear. "Now you said something about breakfast?" "Yes the Tumbleweed Cafe is just down the street shall we go?" I open the door and do a slight bow. "Ladies first." Sky giggles and thanks me before walking through the door. The Professor and I follow just behind. Sky leads us out of the clinic building and onto the main thoroughfare. "Cydon I sent the Princess a letter asking for an audience when we arrive in Canterlot, I hope we can get your full story then?" "Of course, the leader of your land and my friends will all know, it is a sad tale but one I will share with you because it is something you need to know." The Cafe was a short wooden building with a few wooden tables and chairs shaded by umbrellas. We sat down and waited for a waitress. "Welcome to the Tumbleweed Cafe what can I get for you? Oh my! Are you that, what was it a hew-man?" A green coated mare with a lighter green mane says as she holds a notepad with her magic. "Why yes I'm the human." The mare smiles. "I heard what you did yesterday, thank you, if it wasn't for you more ponies would be hurt right now." "I'm happy to have helped." I say smiling back. "Now what can I get for you today?" She levitates the notepad back in front of her and looks at us expectantly. "Hmm how about some apples and some toast and jam." "Excellent choice and for you ma'am?" "I'll have the same." She scribbles the orders down. "Professor?" The Professor was busy reading the datapad as fast as he could trying to learn all he could about the long dead humans. "Professor?" "Huh? Oh yeah just some buttered toast please." "I'll have your food out in a sec." The waitress trots away to the kitchen to fill our orders. "Professor I need to know everything you can tell me about the Changelings." "The Changelings, but why? They left and we will be heading to Canterlot soon." "I just get the feeling we will see them again." "Ok knowledge is power as they say. Changelings are connected to their Queen and by extension the rest of their hive, they feed on love and use it to power their shapeshifting magic. They can look like anypony but if you are smart you can see through their disguise. Alone they are not very strong but what they lack in strength they make up in number their hives can grow extremely large so long as they have enough love to feed on." "So they will try and steal love by disguising themselves as a loved one but if they are threatened they can zerg rush?" "I'm not sure what a zerg rush is but yes I think." "Good to know." The waitress returns with our food and we eat heartily enjoying a quiet meal with good company. "Ahh that was good, so Professor when does the train leave?" "The Canterlot train is overnight to Ponyville and then a few more hours to Canterlot itself so it will leave at seven o'clock." I look at my watch. "Well it's almost ten now so how about we visit Braeburn to say goodbye and then walk around town for a few hours?" "I think it's a splendid idea but I can't go I must pack my things and help the loading crew move your pod." "What are you going to do with my pod?" "We are going to bring it with us to Canterlot to show the Princesses, but don't worry we won't touch it without your consent it is yours after all." "Oh good I was worried for a moment. That pod contains many things, and not all of it is safe, and most of it is fragile, please be careful with it, and don't touch anything I don't give the ok on." "I understand." "Good, Sky do you want to come with me?" "Yeah i'll go." "Ok then see you later Professor." "Tata see you at the station." The Professor trots away and Sky walks up to me. "So you ready?" "Yep lets go." We quickly walk to the edge of town and into the orchard towards Braeburn's humble abode. "Hey Cydon, remember yesterday when you said you would tell me what you meant when you said you had Ranger training?" "Oh yeah I guess I did didn't I, well it's later so do you want to know now or do you want to wait until Canterlot?" "Can you tell me now?" "Yeah, well it's like this. When I was a kid went to visit my best friend and I saw his parents getting robbed in their own home, I was scared and didn't know what to do so I ran away as fast as I could. On my way around a corner I ran into some guys, they were wearing a uniform like the one I wore before and when they saw me crying they asked what was wrong. I managed to tell them about the robbery and I lead them to the house. They went inside and I heard yelling there was a struggle and the soldiers left the house carrying the unconscious robbers. One of them walked up to me and he said "Hey kid, ya did good, always remember that Ranger's lead the way." And with that they left, I assume they dropped off the robbers at a police station. Ever since that day I strove to be the best of the best so I could be a Ranger so I could lead the way so I could help stop the bad guys." "That makes a good cutie mark story too bad humans don't get cutie marks. But what is a Ranger exactly?" "When I joined the army my goal was to be a Ranger. A Ranger is an elite soldier trained to be the best of the best. I was with the Third Battalion for a while before I was transferred to the U.T." "What's a U.T.?" "It stands for United Terra we were peacekeepers and helped everyone however we could." "Hmm..." We reached Braeburn's house and knocked on the door. We heard some shuffling and the clop of hooves on wood before Braeburn answered the door. "Well howdy do if it isn't Sky and Equestria's only human, what can I help you with today?" "Hi Braeburn we were just coming by to let you know that the Professor was taking me, Sky, and my pod to Canterlot today so we came by to say good bye." "Is that so well it was a pleasure meeting you but why don't you come in for a spell the train doesn't leave for a while yet." "We would love to." Sky says. We walk inside and see Silver and Dutch sitting at the table talking to each other. "Hey guys how's the farming goin?" "Howdy Cydon the farms doing great thanks for asking. What are you up to today?" "Were leaving for Canterlot this afternoon, we're just stopping by to let you know and say goodbye." "Canterlot eh? Those fancy ponies are too stuck up for my liking." "I need to meet the Princesses so we can have a nice chat." "Well aren't you moving up in the world, just yesterday you slept in ma barn and now you get to see royalty." We sat around the table and talked for a bit until my stomach once again demanded attention. "GGrrroooohhh." "I reckon it's time for lunch don't ya say Braeburn?" "Eeyup." Braeburn went to the kitchen to fetch some food and came back with a plate stacked high with apple fritters, apple pie, and apple dumplings. "How many different ways can you make apples?" "I know thirty seven recipes but Granny Smith knows em all." "How many is that?" "I don't know but it's a lot." The food was delicious who knew apples were this good? After lunch we said our goodbyes and headed for the door. "Cydon hold up a minute." "What is it Dutch?" "That train passes through Ponyville right? Well I got a niece that lives there can you tell her uncle Dutch and uncle Silver said hello?" "I'll be sure to let her know who is she?" "Don't worry you'll know her when you see her and she'll probably see you first." "Ooo mysterious that's cool anything else?" "I want you to take this." Dutch pulls a brown stetson from behind him. "It'll be better than that one to block the sun." "Thanks Dutch." I take Sky's feather out of my army cap and put it on the stetson and then the stetson on my head. "It looks good on ya boy." "Hehe yeah I guess it does thanks again Dutch be seein ya." With a wave I turned and jog down the road catching up to Sky who was waiting for me. "Nice hat." "Dutch gave it to me, oh and we need to say hi to his niece when we go to Ponyville." "They have a niece in Ponyville? Cool I'd love to meet her." "At this rate we'll be back in town by three what do you want to do for a few hours?" "You remember that tree where you met me?" "Yeah, the big one on the hill." "Lets go there." "Ok lets go." We walk through the orchard and up the hill until we reach the tree. Sky sits down and I sat down next to her with my back against the tree. Sky leans against me putting her head on my shoulder. "Cydon I want to say thank you." "For what?" "For being my friend when I was alone and giving me a shoulder to cry on when I was sad even though I'm not a human like you." "Sky, no one deserves to be alone I don't care if it's a purple alien with three heads and tentacles for arms, I will always be there for my friends be they humans, ponies, or purple aliens." "Thank you for being my very bestest friend." I put my arm around Sky and hugged her. "Numquam soli you are never alone as long as you have friends." we sat by the tree just watching the sky for a few hours. We were interrupted by the sound of a train whistle. I look at the horizon and saw steam stretching into the sky. "Guess we should go, don't want to miss our train." We stood up and Sky gave me a grin. "Race ya." With that she took off and I sprinted after her trying to stay close. By the time we left the orchard I had caught up to her. "Back on my world I would have no hope of beating a pony in a sprint." Sky looks over to me and flashes me another grin. "You still don't." Sky opens her wings and took to the air nearly doubling her speed. 'Damn she is fast, well so much for winning.' I sprint as fast as I can but Sky still beats me by a wide margin. *pant pant* "Told ya." *pant* "So you did. Do you see the Professor?" I look around the station but the Professor was nowhere to be found. "No but he should be here soon the train leaves in twenty minutes." The Professor trots around the corner carrying his saddlebags in his magic. "Ah you're here good I have our tickets and your Pod is safely loaded onto the train, shall we depart?" "Yeah to the train TO CANTERLOT!" I shout as I march to the train and step inside earning many an odd look as Sky giggles and shakes her head before following me in, the Professor just sighs and boards the train. I walk through the train until I find an empty cabin near the back, I go inside and sit down. Sky and the Professor join me a minute later and chat with each other while I stare out the window. 'I hope I can make a good impression on the Princesses something tells me I don't want to be on their bad side.' The train whistles again and lurches forward as it begins its journey. I lean back and close my eyes, feeling the soft cushions of the seat behind me I drift off to sleep.