“Twilight got a letter last night that Princess Celestia was coming first thing in the morning and she was soooo excited to meet you! And now she’s here.”
“No, I’m not going to meet her and Twilight should not have told anyone about me. Where is she?” Why was Twilight sending this other creature as a messenger?
“She’s doing princess stuff, y’know, with the Princess. But she asked me to bring you and she says that she’s not mad about last night. Although she’s still mad about last night. But she told me not to tell you that. Oh.”
“No. I’m not meeting anyone.” The pink creature was talking so fast that I couldn’t catch everything.
“But it’s the Princess. The Princess.”
And it hit me. Twilight didn’t just tell a couple of her friends about me, she’d told one of her leaders. A thousand sunrises wouldn’t fix the absolute panic I felt. It was too late.
No, no. I could still salvage this.
My ship was gone, so aside from the crash site and me, there was no evidence that I was here. The crash site could be explained away. Maybe a meteor or a volcano or whatever disaster planets had. I’d have to find somewhere to hide. They wouldn’t find me and Twilight and Fluttershy would just be dismissed as crazy.
But there was still the pink creature bouncing in front of me.
I briefly considered striking it with my helmet. Maybe knock it out or worse. It would give me enough time to run before anyone knew where I was going. I’d have to run into the trees, and then find somewhere to hide until I could locate my ship or a rescue ship came for me. It was not a good plan.
“You’re not moving.” The pink creature observed. Its ears swiveled backwards. “Oh, but that’s okay! The Princess came to meet you!”
In a moment, I could hear the sound of creatures coming up the path.
And then there was no choice.
The creature turned towards the noise and I swung with my helmet. I felt it connect and the creature went down. I took off towards the trees. With enough head start and the creature out long enough to not know where I went, I might just avoid this disaster.
“Mr. Johnson?! Where are you going?”
I stopped and turned towards the sound before I could even process the oddness.
There was a gigantic white creature standing on the hill, covered in golden jewelry. It started coming towards me, but all I could do was stare.
Twilight appeared behind what could only be Princess Celestia and rushed towards the pink creature. “Pinkie? What happened?” She said as she poked the pink creature with her hoof.
Princess Celestia turned her head curiously towards Pinkie, then back to me. I backed up into a tree.
“Mr. Johnson, why didn’t you—you’re not Mr. Johnson.” The creature said, confused, when it got closer. “Who are you?”
Recognition. That’s what was so odd. This was a primitive planet in the forbidden zone. I should’ve been the first human this creature had ever seen. But this was not its first contact.
How was that even possible? There would have been records somewhere if humans had been here. Ship trajectories are tracked, communications triangulated. You can’t just contact an uncontacted planet and have no one know about it.
The creature was right in front of me now. It towered over me, leaning down its head to keep eye contact. There was a long spike protruding from its head that hovered dangerously close to my face.
“Do you work with Mr. Johnson? Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”
“I’m…not supposed to be here.”
“What do you mean?” The creature backed off a little, tilting its head, confused. “Are you running from something? Is it the war?”
“No. What war?”
“Mr. Johnson said that you humans were at war. He said when the war was over, humans would start coming again.”
We were always at war. Humans were so spread out that there were constant planetary disputes, uprisings, religious wars. But this planet was so far out of colonized space that it was absurd that this creature would even know about a human war, much less be involved with it.
“I don’t know what war you’re talking about. Humans don’t come here because it’s a forbidden zone.”
“What?! No, no. Twilight said you were injured and clearly you should be resting. We’ll go back to the castle and talk about this when you’re feeling better.”
I was a little irritated at the brush off, especially since I knew there was something else going on.
“Why did you-” I started, but was interrupted.
“No! I mean, we’ll talk about this later. It’s just a terrible mistake. Twilight!” She shouted back to her. “If you would please, go tell my escort to bring the carriage here and we’ll head straight back to Canterlot.”
Twilight bowed deeply. “Yes, Princess, but, um, what about Pinkie? I think she’s hurt and I can’t just leave-”
“I’m sure she will be fine, now go.”
“Yes, Princess.” Twilight bowed low again. She moved Pinkie’s head from where it was resting against her leg and set it gently into the grass. She ran back up the path.
“Don’t worry, we will get this all settled.” The Princess told me, lowering its spike to my eye level. I wasn’t sure, but it almost felt like a threat.
I had the feeling that I should have kept running.
“So, tell me, what happened after the crash? I was so busy I didn’t get Twilight’s letter until late last night.”
“Twilight and, I guess it was Pinkie, found—how did you know I crashed?”
“Princess Luna had your ship moved to our stable. I don’t know how she managed it, with the technology as old as it was.”
“My ship? You took my ship? Where is it?” I caught myself looking around frantically, even though it was obviously not here.
“It’s in our stable, in Canterlot. It’s not a model that I’ve seen before, so the repairs might be more difficult. But, oh, here’s the carriage. We’ll talk about this when we get to the castle.”
The carriage rumbled into sight over the hill. It was pulled by a team of creatures. Twilight came running up behind them.
“Let’s go,” the Princess said. She turned and walked gracefully to the carriage. She just assumed I would follow her, and she was right. She had my ship. This whole nightmare would be over if I could just get to it and know when the rescue ship would arrive.
As I passed by, Pinkie stood up uncertainly and said “Wait.”
“I’m really sorry I hit you.” I apologized.
She looked at me for a moment before kicking me hard in the shin. She turned away and walked unsteadily to Twilight. I definitely deserved that.
The carriage was open on the top, which made me a little agoraphobic. The Princess was already in the carriage and there was little room left for me. I was surprised, however, to find there was a built in bench in the back of the carriage, which the Princess would be unable to use.
“Back to the castle,” she ordered the creatures pulling the carriage. The circled the carriage back onto the path, and we headed off for the castle, and my ship.