Well everyone, I'm back. Chapter was a bit hard to write due to barely touching my computer in the past two weeks and I may go back and rewrite it.
2400. Earth. England.
The Halsey Residence was a beautiful place in the fall. The estate right on the English Coastline, the cliffs overlooking the sea, the beautiful sun rises in the morning and sun sets in the evening, everything was beautiful.
Though Cat was away from her friends in Hawaii these few days, she did enjoy her days at her family’s vacation home during the summer.
And best of all, her older brother was coming this year! He’d been stationed on a naval base near the inner planets and was now on his way home if not already here.
Cat looked out the window on the deck. Her mother sat there going over the schematics to some new ship the company was developing. In truth Cat didn’t care. She was just waiting for Danny to come home and her father to return from his ship.
There was a knock at the door. Cat smiled and jumped up and ran to the door. She pulled the heavy oak thing open.
Danny wasn’t there.
Instead were two men in naval uniforms. Her smile fell.
One took off his hat, “Hello Miss, is your mother home?”
“Mom!” Cat called.
“What is it dear? Mommy’s busy and…”
A tall woman came to the door. She had an aura of elegance and importance around her. Almost god like authority with the elegance of a queen. She came to the door.
The other man removed his cap, “Madam…”
Her pad fell to the floor, “No…”
“Mrs. Halsey…”
“Cat, go upstairs. Go watch TV.”
Cat did as she was told but then waited at the top of the stairs. She watched as her mother collapsed onto the floor and began to wail.
***
Begin implantation.
Are you sure?
Yes.
Sir you know what this will mean. He’ll be like the others but… he’ll be different. More unstable. He may have a breakdown at any time in his life.
But if he survives he’ll have stability. Right?
Sir, you wrote these protocols. You know better than any of us. He can but the chances are slim. But if he does he’ll be considered human.
Like the others?
Yes. But unlike the others he won’t be born human. He’ll seem human, act human, but at some point it’ll fall away and he’ll figure it out. Then it’s just a matter of time.
Why is it different with the others?
It’s either the emotions or the implants. His brain can’t assimilate both at the same time. You can do half and half. That’s the best we can do. But there’s the chance he’ll become his own person. He won’t be Danny. If you give him the emotions he’ll be a person. But if he has the memories, he’ll be your son, just not as you remembered him.
… Can we do one then the other?
I don’t know. There will be a period of time between now and when another implantation can occur of a few years, but between now and then anything can happen.
… Do half and half. Give him the basics for both.
Okay sir. Just so you know this will be the first experiment ever done like this.
I know. Begin implantation.
***
Present day. Equestria. 2012 AD.
Somewhere in a Cantorlot hospital, in the recovery ward in the west wing, in an unassuming room laid a boy. A normal looking boy. Slightly muscular, not enough to be a jock but not too skinny to be a shrimp. Black hair. Jet black hair. A metallic arm where his left should be.
He was wearing a black shirt with blue jeans and sneakers. Normal. He was unconscious in his bed. A bag lay next to his bed. Nothing had been removed. No IV was in his arm, no anything was in his arm. A small bandage and patch covered one of his eyes. Various patches went into his shirt, monitoring his vitals, if they could be called that. Very strange vitals indeed.
Doctors had been baffled when the boy arrived. Nothing went into his skin. The few small needles that did came out eaten. No mana treatments worked on him. He was a very strange character indeed.
He did not have the musculature like the Earth people or the marks or forehead marker of unicorns. He did not have wings like pegasi. He was just… normal. An incredibly generic person, minus the arm.
A guard was placed outside his door.
Doctors were still baffled by him. They checked up on him regularly but other than that their day was going normally.
Until the boy who fell from the sky woke up…
***
One week earlier. Cloudsdale Aerodome.
The Princess stepped up onto the stage. Today she was going to make an announcement. It was not one she wanted to make but… there was nothing she could do. This event was beyond her control.
The Sun Princess stepped up. Her spectrum colored hair flowed behind her. Her giant white wings opened lightly and closed. She was sad.
“Today…” she began, “Today I have decided to call off the search for the Wonderbolts Captain, Spitfire.”
The media began to speak but she silenced them with her hand.
“I have not come to this decision lightly but after six weeks with no leads on her location and with nothing between my sister and I it is reasonable to assume she is not on the planet if she is alive. The accident surrounding her disappearance is still shrouded in mystery but we can definitively conclude that she is not anywhere we are capable of searching for her if she is alive.”
She gulped.
“She was an amazing individual. A fiery spirit, a free individual. She led her team with dignity and respect. She was a friend to many, her ‘Follow your dreams and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise’ attitude made her unique. She will always be remembered for her determination, her amazing leadership, and her skill as a flier. She was and always will be a role model for all. She was and always will be a person of fierce personal character. She was, and is an inspiration. She was and is…”
There was a crackling behind her. It started off small but soon got louder. The Princess of the sun turned. There was a crackling of electricity behind her. It began to increase in frequency. Bolts of wild energy shot out around the stage. The Princess covered her face as the brightness increased. The crackling grew louder. A point of light began to develop above the stage. It grew brighter and brighter before it was almost blinding to look at. The crowd gasped and shielded their eyes.
Suddenly, with a bang, a girl exploded into existence and flew across the stage before skidding to a stop. She wore skinny jeans, running shoes, and a T shirt with a leather jacket over it, a pair of fingerless gloves, and a large duffel bag with an unknown style to it. She wiped her orange hair before getting to her knees.
“Jesus Christ,” Spitfire said, “That is the last time I am doing that. Damn it my head hurts.”
The Princess stepped forward, “… Alive?”
Spitfire looked up and around her, clearly looking for something.
“Oh no, oh nonononono. Where is he? He was right there with me when I jumped! Where is he?” She jumped up and began look around her furiously.
“Captain?”
Spitfire turned, “Princess! Have you seen a boy?! About this tall? Black hair? Robotic arm? A bit cute looking?”
“Whoa whoa whoa! Slowdown Captain, what happened? Who are you looking for? And where have you been for the past six weeks?!”
Spitfire blinked, “SIX WEEKS?! What?! Oh no. You must have it wrong. I’ve been gone for six months not six weeks! And I’m looking for Jett!”
“Okay, slowdown again Captain. Who is Jett?”
“Uh, my friend? He was there with me when I jumped but I can’t find him! I’ve been living with him for the past six months now please help me find him!”
***
Fleetfoot was sad. Today was the day. The princess had already informed her and her team of her decision to call off the search so there was no need for them to travel to Cloudsdale for the hearing.
So for now she was just walking around the Wonderbolts Base Courtyard. Nothing else that could really be done. Her friend was missing, presumed dead, normal day.
She sighed and sat down one of the benches. The base was before her, Canterlot behind her, Cloudsdale to her right. She turned and looked at the city floating in the sky.
Suddenly there was a flash of blue in the sky. A black object appeared.
“What the hell?” she stood up to look at it.
She couldn’t get a good look at it but quickly came to the assumption that it was shooting towards her.
“Oh shit!” She dove out of the way just as a human sized black object hit the ground at Mach 1. A large thud could be heard as various dirt and debris flew into the air as Fleetfoot covered her head.
“What the fuck was that?!” Soarin’ yelled running out of the mess hall towards the courtyard. Fleetfoot stood up.
“I don’t know,” she said shakily, “Some random thing flew out of the sky. I dove out of the way just before it hit.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she said brushing herself off, “I’m fine.”
They walked over towards the impact site. A large crater had been dug into the ground. Where there should have been the plateau’s signature green grass there was a massive hole. But what was inside it was far more interesting.
Rather than a meteorite or some other thing that Fleetfoot thought that could be in there was… a boy. Around her age. He was unconscious and his body was as limp as a rag doll. He had unnaturally dark hair but other than that he was normal looking. His left arm was different. It was a black metal surface. All over his body were burns.
Soarin’ stepped up the crater rim, “What the hell?”
“It’s… he’s… he’s just a kid. Like no older than us.”
“That fell from the sky? And did this?!”
“Call the hospital,” Fleetfoot said.
“We don’t even know if he’s alive.”
“Well do it anyway you block head!”
“Geez, fine. I don’t recall Spitfire making you Captain before she left.”
“Yeah well she didn’t really get to say much of anything before that show now did she? So suck it up.”
Fleetfoot jumped down into the crater and skidded to a halt in front of the kid. She placed a finger on his neck.
“He doesn’t have a heartbeat!” she called. By now the other Wonderbolts had heard something and were now running out of the base towards the crater.
Suddenly the kid’s eyes shot open and he grabbed Fleetfoot’s hand in a vice grip. A pair of brilliant Sapphire eyes glared at her.
“Aaahh!” Fleetfoot grabbed her hand.
“You… You are not Spitfire,” he gasped before his eyes flashed several different colors before shutting off. He went limp and fell into her arms.
Lightning Streak reached the crater’s edge first, “Aw hell. Fleetfoot! What the hell happened?”
“He just… fell from the sky and hit the ground like this. I went to check on him but he had no pulse. Then just now he shot up and said the strangest thing.”
“What’d he say?” Lightning said jumping down into the crater.
“’You are not Spitfire.’”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” He said helping to pull the kid up out of the crater and onto the green.
***
“Captain! You’re not making sense! Please calm down,” the Princess said.
After getting the immediate media problem out of the way with Spitfire literally dropping into the press conference that was going to announce her being declared missing and presumed dead. But the Princess had bigger problems to attend to rather than answering every single question the media tossed at her. Spitfire was the same way. Now the two were in the Aerodome’s locker room. Though Celestia was having difficulty understanding what Spitfire was panicking about.
“Calm down?! I lost him! He was right with me!” she punched a locker with such force it dented. The princess raised an eyebrow. Pegasi were known for their endurance, speed, and agility but not strength like that.
“Why don’t you start from the beginning?” the regal princess asked, “From our timeframe you’ve been gone for six weeks. But you said you were missing for six months? What exactly happened?”
Spitfire sighed. She sat down on the bench in front of the princess, “Do you really want to know?”
“If it will help me understand why my Wonderbolts’ Captain who led the team during the Black Claw incident is now panicking worse than Twilight when she lost her homework then yes. Please tell me.”
“You have to promise not to tell anyone, Princess. Please.”
“You have my word.”
She scooted over before looking down on the floor, “I… I fell in love, alright? I know I’m a flirt with the guys here and typically have one night things with them but… I fell in love with a boy where I landed.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. This was certainly interesting. Along with complicating. The princess still managed to smile though.
“Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts, fell in love? Well this day came sooner than expected.”
She turned red, “It’s not that I meant to! I just… I couldn’t help myself. I… I can’t describe how he makes me feel when I’m around him. I just…” she sighed and sat down on the bench, “What do I do Princess? He’s done so much for me and asked nothing in return. He just… I… I’ve never seen someone so kind and funny and smart and just… I can’t help myself. He’s shown me wonders that were just everyday things to him and still found a way to make them seem extraordinary. I… I just can’t put into words what he’s like.”
“Captain, love is not one of those things you have control over. It will happen anywhere and, whether you are looking for it or not, it will find you. That’s why it’s one of the primeval magics. One of the most pure and beautiful. It holds tremendous power, and when it happens like that, you won’t have any control at all.”
“Well… what can I do? I can’t find the courage to tell him. Whenever I tried something would always happen from him getting shot to just plain annoying interruptions.”
“You’ll find it eventually. And if it’s any consolation I’m sure it will all work out in the end.”
Spitfire laughed bitterly, “You’d be surprised how clueless he is.”
“Well why don’t you tell me? Can you start from the beginning? From the very beginning. What happened EXACTLY?”
Spitfire sighed and rubbed the back of her head, “You probably know by now that trick didn’t go as planned right?”
“Yes. We were short one Wonderbolt that night.”
“Well, I obviously didn’t die like some people apparently thought. I landed in some Rainforest on a planet called Earth. Luckily it had an environment like ours minus Magic but I’ll tell about that in my report if you want it.”
“That would be nice. But it can wait. Go on.”
“Well, I had landed in a tropical rainforest outside some place called Rio. But, that’s not the crazy part. The real crazy part is that I was found by some random kid who had been skydiving and been blown off course. He found me and rescued me when I was out. Of course when I woke up I punched him in the face but that’s for later.”
The Princess laughed, “That’s the Spitfire I know.”
“Yeah,” Spitfire laughed awkwardly rubbing her head, “But not the one he knew. He didn’t know me at all. But he took me into his home which by the way was on a moon orbiting a planet called Jupiter that was way far out in their solar system but… it’ll be in the report.”
Celestia was intrigued but let her continue.
“He clothed me, sheltered me, he kept me safe in his crazy world. He showed me everything about his culture, his customs, hell, I even picked up some of the local slang. But for the first few months I was trying to find a way back, through the teleporting that got me there but… after a while I didn’t want to leave. Sure it was different, and I mean, I had wings so I had to hide those which could be a pain,” she gestured to the jacket covering them.
“But… I guess I started to develop feelings for him. I don’t really know when but I did. That was right around when he got hit by a car and was hospitalized.”
Celestia put a hand to her mouth, “He wasn’t too badly hurt was he?”
“No, no. But… he’s a machine Princess. He’s a robot.”
She cocked her head, “A robot? Like the things in Starswirl’s old labs?”
“No! No, not like that. Not even close. He’s… he’s like a computer. He just happens to live in one. He’s the kindest, most caring, funny, fun to mess with person I’ve ever met. While he’s a robot I’ve never felt more like myself around him. He… he saw me for who I was. Not the celebrity or the hot chick but just as a person. I could laugh around him, crack jokes with him, just plain have a good time.”
She sighed, “I soon came to realize I was crushing over him. That was around when we went back to school.”
“School?” Celestia almost laughed, “You were at school?”
“Yeah, his civilization has one of the most advanced education systems I’ve ever seen. I learned geology, advanced aerospace engineering, astrophysics, there’s so much that they teach you there. That and they have a flight team.”
“A flight team?”
“Yeah, but not like any you’d find here. They flew space planes. WE flew space planes for his school’s team. It was so amazing. We were the best”
“Glad you weren’t totally homesick when you were gone,” Celestia laughed.
“Yeah well it wasn’t all fun and games. There were some… unwanted people who tried to make advances. But Jett always protected me. He even got shot by one of them. But he always bounced back.”
“And you fell in love with him?”
“Yes! He… he could make me laugh like no one else I’ve ever met. He kept me safe from all the dangers in his world down to when I jumped back here. But… I can’t find him, and that’s why I was panicking.”
“He sounds like a nice person.”
“He is. He may be a machine but to me he’s so much more than that. I just want to find him and make sure he’s okay. Now please, can you help me?”
“Of course,” Celestia smiled, “I would very much like to meet the person who kept the Wonderbolts Captain safe for six months.”
“Yeah, well, it was a wonderful six months,” Spitfire laughed.
A guard walked in, “Sorry to disturb Princess but an object crashed into Canterlot a few minutes ago.”
“Was anyone hurt?” She asked standing up.
“No, but what fell into the city is what’s interesting.”
“What was it?” Spitfire asked.
“A boy. Some kid dug a hole into the ground the size of a small house. They don’t know if he’s alright or not because he apparently doesn’t have a heartbeat.”
“Have they tried to use magic on him?” Celestia asked.
“Yes. Tried being the key word since nothing worked on him. They don’t think he’s dead but he doesn’t look alive either.”
Spitfire turned to the Princess, “That’s him.”
***
Spitfire followed by the Princess and her guards burst into the hospital room. What she saw made her gasp. The guards behind them immediately went out the door.
On the bed was a boy. Specifically a black haired boy. He was unconscious and had burns concentrated around his right shoulder along with several bruise type welts on his arm. He had several cuts on his face. Doctors looked to be attempting to help him but nothing was working. Magic just didn’t plain affect him in any way. Every time one of them would raise their arm and concentrate nothing would happen. Even intravenous injections didn’t work. The needle would be removed half eaten away. All they could do was just sit there and monitor vitals, or what passed for them.
Around the bed were several people. Fleetfoot, Soarin’, Misty, and Blaze.
Spitfire put a hand to her mouth, “Jett.”
The four Wonderbolts all turned. They all had inquisitive looks on their faces, like they’d all seen ghosts.
“Spitfire?” They all said at the same time.
She turned to face them. Her team. By her timeframe she hadn’t seen them in six months. They were like family to her. And here they were.
She gave a small smile, “Hey guys.”
Fleetfoot stepped forward, a stunned look on her face, “Long time.”
Spitfire chuckled, “You have no idea.”
“What was you nickname for me?” Fleetfoot suddenly asked.
“The White Dragon,” Spitfire laughed, “You always had a temper at flight camp.”
Everyone continued to stare at her in disbelief.
Suddenly the Fiery haired flier found herself in her friend’s warm embrace, “We thought you were gone forever!”
Suddenly everyone else was around her too, embracing their friend, “We missed you so much,” Misty said.
They released her.
“Where were you?” Soarin’ asked.
Spitfire turned to the hospital bed, “It’s a long story. Is he okay?”
“We have no clue. He fell from the sky and landed in the courtyard. Why? You know him?” Blaze said.
Spitfire walked over to the bed. Jett was out like a light. There was no movement in his body at all. All he was doing was just lying there.
“You could say that,” she sighed.
“Well who is he then? He kinda just appeared a mile up in the sky and started falling.”
“He’s… he’s a close friend,” she turned, “Like I said, it’s a long story.”
She turned to face one of the doctors, “Is he okay?”
The doctor looked at a clip board, “We honestly have no idea. From what we can tell from his vitals, if you can call them that, is that he appears to be in some kind of comatose state. Anything we try to do to help him doesn’t work or is immediately rejected. Because we don’t know anything about him we don’t know if he’s alright or not but… doesn’t look like he’ll be going anywhere anytime soon.”
“Will he be alright though?” she asked worriedly.
“We honestly don’t know. He’s not ‘dead’ per say. I mean he doesn’t appear to be alive to begin with or have a mana signature so… But we are picking up something from him so maybe but I don’t know. We’ll keep you informed.”
She conceded. There was nothing she could do here, “Alright.” She gave one last look at him before turning to her team.
The Princess turned, “Go home Captain. Get some rest. I’ll keep some of the guard here to watch him.”
Spitfire raised an eyebrow, “No offense Princess, but don’t bother.”
“Oh? And why is that? He’s not too benevolent, is he?” she laughed.
Spitfire gave a wry grin, “No. But if he panics when he wakes up, there won’t be a thing your guards can do about it.”
“We’ll see.”
With that the party left the hospital room. Spitfire conversed with her team about the events of the last few weeks as they headed back over to the Wonderbolts HQ.
***
“Oh hell,” Spitfire said just as the rest of her team dog piled her into the ground.
Spitfire had just walked into the cafeteria and immediately been tackled by the rest of her team and friends who like the rest of the world assumed the worst. But she took it in stride and fell to the floor laughing. Some of them were crying, others were beaming, all of them were happy to have their friend back. Spitfire herself smiled. It felt good to be home. Her team; her friends, all threw a spontaneous celebration of her return. There were many laughs and happy moments as they all treasured the moment. Soarin’ challenged her to a race to see how fit she kept herself while she was gone. Spitfire smiled, though her wings hadn’t been used that often she still beat the blue haired jock by a longshot. The mood was cheerful and positive and happy. They all reminisced about the great moments they’d all had over the years. Soon Spitfire was telling her story of the adventure she’d been on for the past few months, minus a few details. They all listened intently as she told her tale, laughing and gasping at all the right parts. They continued long into the night. And for once, Spitfire wasn’t worried about the boy with the jet black hair. Almost…
***
Meanwhile, in front of the hospital room across town, the guards fell asleep. The doctors had all gone home for the night so the place was mostly empty. Morning was soon approaching.
The first shift soon arrived before the sun rose up. The guards woke themselves up and continued on as normal.
And in the hospital room, the boy from the sky woke up as well…
***
“Well everyone it looks like the Wonderbolts will soon be back at the top with the return of their captain! That’s right everyone Spitfire is back! An investigation is still being conducted and the princess is awaiting her report on the event but for now she’s spending time with her friends who have asked for privacy while they treasure the return of their friend.”