//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: The Lost Equestria // by RubySpinel //------------------------------// I woke up somewhere very warm and comfortable, and my first thought was that the crash had all been a dream and I was back aboard the Romulus after a very uneventful journey. I didn’t want to get up and report for duty, I wanted to stay curled up around this warm pillow. There was also someone walking around which was strange because I lived alone. I didn’t matter as long as I could stay in this nice haze of almost-asleep. The footsteps multiplied and then there was whispered talking and it pulled me awake. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times at the bright sunshine coming in through the windows. There was a four-legged purple creature staring at me with gigantic eyes. It took a couple of steps back. I was sure it was one of the creatures from last night, although it didn’t look so threatening up close and it daylight. “Oh. Hi.” It said. “Are you okay now? Do you understand me?” I nodded as best as I could. My mouth was too dry to speak. “Where did you come from? Did you fall out of the sky? Are you a shooting star?” I shook my head. I couldn’t answer any of its questions. It was a serious crime to interfere with developing cultures more than necessary. My ship. The computer would be rebooted and I had to get back to send a distress signal. Tell the Romulus what’s going on. I tried to get up but it was so much harder than I thought it would be. “No no no no no, don’t move!” Another creature appeared, brushing past the purple creature and putting up a paw to stop me. More like a hoof. This new creature had wings like a bird folded against its sides. “I have to get back to my ship,” I explained, before I realized I was giving away information I shouldn’t. “What’s a ship?” The purple creature asked. “Please, Twilight, it needs to rest. You can talk to it later.” The winged creature told the purple one. “Oh. Right. I should get back to my research anyway.” Twilight looked at me longingly for a moment and then left the room. “Now, are you hungry? Do you think you could keep some soup down?” The winged one asked me. I was hungry, but there was no guarantee the soup would even be edible to me. Not to mention that there could be any number of toxins or bacteria that were harmless to these creatures but would kill me. I couldn’t explain, so I just shook my head. “Um, okay.” It looked up at the ceiling for something to say. “You know, none of the animals I take care of can talk back, so this is really nice. Well, now. Now that you’re awake it’s really nice.” It paused awkwardly. “Are you sure you’re not hungry?” “I don’t think I can eat the same food as you.” “Oh. I didn’t think of that. Are you a carnivore? Because I can, uh, ask if maybe Owl can share some of whatever he eats.” Then, it added very quietly, “Um, as long as you won’t eat it in front of me.” It backed away slightly, like maybe I would tell it I preferred to eat it. “No, I can’t.” “Okay. I’m still going to bring you a bowl, okay? In case you change your mind.” It left the room and I could hear it banging around behind the wall. I sat up carefully. I dropped the heated pillow and regretted losing the warmth on my shoulder. I checked myself over. The cut on my head was bandaged, but I’d have to find something to make a sling for my injured arm. Everything else ached, but I would live. I had to get back to my ship and send the distress signal. I didn’t know how far away or in what direction it was. I could’ve been out for days and be half the planet away by now. I’d still have to try. The creature returned, expertly balancing the bowl of soup on a tray held in its mouth. It set it down on a table near me. It smelled edible and delicious, but I’d have to ignore my hunger. “You should be lying down.” It said. “Here, I’ll fix your pillow.” It grabbed the pillow with its front hooves and fluffed it. It was impressed by the way it managed without any hands. “I have to get to my ship.” I repeated. “Will you take me there?” It considered this for a moment. “If there’s something you need from your, uh, ship, I’m sure I can get it for you.” At least I knew now that it was close by. “No.” If the creature wouldn’t help, I’d have to find it on my own. I got up to my knees and the slowly stood up. I swayed only a little. My head almost reached the ceiling of the room, which I thought was odd since the creatures barely came up to my hip. “Please, don’t!” The creature squeaked. It reared up to stop me, using its small wings for balance. It didn’t stop me, though. I found the door and opened it and stepped outside. The overwhelming sight of being planetside hit me and for a moment all I could do was stare. There were plants everywhere, and it was difficult to accept that the ground continued forever. The sky was couldn’t be touched and the sun was so bright that it blocked out the stars. I looked around for some idea of where my ship was. It was incredibly disorienting to see the distance that I did. I looked for trees and found the arboretum where I must have crashed off to the left. I started off in that direction. The creature followed me. “You should be resting!” It said, having no difficulty keeping up. It jumped in front of me and blocked my path. “No. You are not well and you need to go back.” It said firmly. It would have been endearing if I wasn’t so worried about getting to my ship. I stepped around it. It wasn’t a long walk, but it drained me. The creature was right and I should be resting, but this was far more important. It objected quietly the entire way, but didn’t try to stop me again. My ship was right where I left it. I was so happy to see it again that I almost cried. The tiredness I felt before was gone. I could send a distress signal. I looked around for my helmet, which was necessary to interface with the ship’s computer. I remembered dropping it, but I didn’t remember where. The creature found it first and peered curiously into it. It still had my blood covering the visor, but I got most of it off with my sleeve. I slipped my helmet on and the display came up immediately. There was a yelp from the cockpit and then a purple head appeared. The purple creature was in my ship. It looked at me embarrassed. “Get out of my ship!” Twilight climbed out of the cockpit. “I’m sorry. I know I should’ve asked for permission. I just…” It trailed off. “Out!” It jumped off the wing and stepped away from the ship. I climbed up into the cockpit to see what it had messed up. There were several dirty hoofprints on the seat, but otherwise nothing was out of place. The computer synching up with the helmet must’ve been what startled it. It was still waiting by the ship with the winged creature. I ignored it and brought up the computer. It was difficult to operate with just one hand, but the AI quickly compensated. I had rough coordinates for where I was. With a sinking feeling, I confirmed I was in a forbidden zone, a place where undeveloped systems were protected from outside influence. Being on an undeveloped planet was bad enough, being on a forbidden planet meant that I could face prison time. If only I hadn’t messed up the coordinates. I sent the distress signal to the nearest relay station. I had no hope of fixing the ship myself and pretending like this never happened. I’d have to wait for a ship to come rescue me and possibly cause more trauma to the locals on the planet. I was going to lose my rank and position over this. The message would take a few hours to reach the relay station and come back with a reply. There was nothing, by necessity, in the forbidden zones, so my long-range communications were useless. I’d have to communicate by relay or short-range when a ship got close. I sent another message via relay to the Romulus, explaining the situation. I took out the first aid kit and opened a pain pack. I slid it under my shirt to where it felt like my collarbone was broken. The relief was almost instantaneous. I’d still have to put my arm in a sling so I didn’t damage it further, but every move would no longer be in agony. I put a couple of more packs in my pocket for later. I pulled out an energy bar from storage and unwrapped it. It was supposed to taste like a gourmet meal, but they all tasted bland to me. It didn’t matter. I was hungry enough that I ate the whole thing in a few bites. I ran a systems check on the ship. I knew the engines were gone, but if the hull was still intact, I could be towed instead of having to have a landing party bring my ship back up. It was much faster and had less impact. I was also worried about all of the scanning equipment lodged in the gunner’s seat. It was sensitive and expensive, and would be near impossible to replace. It would be just my luck that the hull was breached and my equipment was junk. I was so happy to find out I was wrong. I grabbed a second set of clothes and more energy bars. With the delay between messages and the distance to any ships, I’d still have to spend a few more days on the planet and I didn’t want to do it in the cockpit. There was nothing sling-like to wrap my arm in, so I used another jacket. It looked ridiculous, but it worked. I climbed out of the ship to find the winged creature sitting angrily on the ground. “You were very mean to Twilight and you should apologize. She is very upset.” “She should not have been in my ship.” If I had to be mean to these creatures to protect them, then I would be. “She already apologized. You didn’t have to yell at her.” The creature was right. I should not have yelled at her, especially when I was going to have to spend a few days here anyway. She was just curious, like a child. “I’m sorry.” “It’s Twilight you should apologize to.” She got up and came to stand beside me. “Now, you’ve seen your ship. It’s time for you to rest.” It was difficult to argue. The walk back was harder than the walk up and I had to sit down about halfway. The creature was all over me then, mumbling to itself about how it never should have let me come. The creature took my pack from me and looped it over its head. It spread its wings to balance it on its back. I tried to take it back because it was obviously heavy for the small creature, but it wouldn’t let me. “I have it. You shouldn’t carry heavy things.” We walked the rest of the way, with the creature walking slow and unsteady. It dropped my pack right inside the door and nudged me back towards the bed it had made on the floor for me. The purple creature, Twilight stuck her head out of a side door tentatively. She saw me and pulled her head back instantly. “Wait.” I said. The head came back. “I’m so sorry. I won’t touch it again.” “I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I’m sorry for that.” The winged creature looked very satisfied. Twilight came over and leaned her head against my leg. I wasn’t sure why she did, but I patted her head gingerly like I would a pet. The winged creature came over and picked up the heated pillow with her mouth. “I’ll go refill this for you.” She said through gritted teeth. She went into the other room and I heard the sound of water running. Twilight watched her leave. “So, your ship, does it take you places?” “I can’t-” “I know, but it’s a ship, right? That’s what ships do.” It was obvious that she had already figured something out. “But ships sail on water, and you weren’t near a lake when we found you. And then there were all the trees and burned grass.” The water shut off. Twilight glanced back. “You fell from the sky.” She said quickly and stepped away from me as the other creature came back. She dropped the pillow in my lap. “All warm,” she said. “I’ll, uh, come back later.” Twilight said. She eyed my helmet hungrily and then left. The winged creature hummed as it adjusted the bed. It was glad to have me back safe in its care. I lay down on the bed, cuddling the warm pillow to my chest. I was asleep almost instantly. I woke up groggy and disoriented. It was dark out. The winged creature was asleep on a sofa, with its back leg hanging off the edge and an opened wing draped over it. I checked my helmet to see if any messages came back from the relay station, but it said it was out of range. I’d have to get closer to the ship to check. I sat up and replaced the pack on my collarbone. It was throbbing again and the warm pillow had gone cold a while ago. I got up quietly so I wouldn’t wake the creature. I made my way over to the door and set down my helmet so I could open it. I opened it slowly and carefully, but it squeaked loudly before it was open enough. The creature rolled over on the couch, still asleep. I picked up my helmet and shut the door. It was silent this time. It was still very dark out, and I didn’t have a light. I remembered the direction my ship was in, though, and I also recalled that the path there was pretty clear. It was peacefully quiet out here. There was always background noise on ships, no matter where you were. It was strange. I always thought that the molten cores of planets would make noise, similar to the engine noise on ships. I checked my helmet every once in a while to see if it had reestablished a connection. I got more and more worried as I went on that I didn’t know where I was going. The dark was making it impossible to see any landmarks that I remembered from the path before. And then I saw it, the hole in the trees and the scorched path where my ship crashed. But my ship was gone.