At Greg's request, Princess Celestia teleports him to a secluded section of the castle where the alien shuttle had been taken.
"How is your transition coming, Greg?" The princess asks.
"Better than I thought it would." He says.
Celestia looked pleased that her subjects accepted this stranger so quickly, but something troubled her. "What are you going to do if you can get this craft working again?" She asks.
Greg cocks his head, trying to figure out how to not sound like a complete jerk. "If I can go, I will. I need to get back to my world."
Celestia nods. "Understandable. I've heard you left quite an impression on the ponies of Ponyville... especially Applejack." She says.
Greg clears his throat, almost choking up. "I know. It has been nice here so far, but I gotta let my friends and family know that I'm still alive. I owe them that."
The two approach the shuttle and look at each other one more time. "Then I will leave you to this." Celestia says, with an almost disappointed tone. "Should you require anything, talk to the guards and they'll help you."
Greg nods, and with that, Celestia leaves so Greg can begin working on the shuttle. He enters it and parks himself in the pilot's seat. He was right about Celestia's translation spell, he can read the labels on the various instruments. He powers up the shuttle and the console display turns on. Good, he can finally make some progress. He runs the diagnostic program to see what may or may not be damaged. The process would take a while, so he pulls out the Daring Do novel from a backpack Twilight had given him.
"Diagnostics complete." A voice said from the shuttle. Greg closes up the book and sets it on the co-pilot's seat. The voice sounded a lot like Command & Conquer's CABAL. "Thrusters fully functional; navigation online; life support online; hull integrity at ninety-eight percent." The voice continued.
"That's good news..." Greg says to himself before going through logs on the shuttle. He did manage to transfer all the logs from the ship, not just navigational records, but one thing caught his attention: 'Project Storm', the folder read. He opens the folder, which contains a lot of video data. "Interesting..." He says before opening the first video, which is displayed on the window.
One of his captors appears onscreen. "This is day one of 'Project Storm'. I, Ziabok, will be recording our findings." He begins. "Should we fail in our mission, the purpose of the project is to bring our allies, the Galtrans, back from the brink of extinction." He continues as Greg began to read more information on the project. "It is a reproductive issue, and... I wish there was an alternative to this, but my superiors insist that we collect genetic samples from races in this star region." He said, getting Greg's attention. "I will record an update when the time is right."
The video ends, leaving Greg upset about his actions and curious about their endeavor. He flips through the videos. The next one he plays is dated a month after his and Kate's abduction.
"Ziabok reporting. It seems the humans from Ceres, which they call 'Earth' could be key players in finding a solution." He says. "While the others have proven to be slightly genetically compatible with the Galtrans, the humans will give us an edge. We need to find another species that is compatible." He continued. Greg was getting more upset. Why haven't they told anyone about this? "On a side note..." the doctor continues, "I feel terrible for the loss of the human male... they never should've taken the Belfrean out of solitary confinement. Words cannot express my sympathies." He finishes, stopping the recording.
Greg was kicking himself for blowing up the ship. The next video he would play would be the day before their breakout.
"We recently picked up three siblings from the Equine world." Ziabok says. "Their compatibility with the Galtrans is nearly identical to the human's, so we will take the older female to him."
Greg pauses the video. "You have got to be kidding me!" He says in a disgusted tone. He closes the video and looks up information on the Galtrans. "Please don't let them be Centaurs..." He says quietly. He finally finds the information he was looking for and opens the file. He takes a look at the image of a Galtran and hangs his head. "Yep... Centaurs..."
A Unicorn guard enters the shuttle and wakes Greg who was passed out on the control system. He lets out a quiet groan before looking back to him.
"How long have I been here?" He slurs.
The guard floats a warm mug to him. "About six hours." He says.
Greg takes the mug. "Thanks." He says, then takes a sip of the coffee in it.
"No problem. Twily tells me you're planning on leaving." He says.
Greg raises an eyebrow. "You're Shining Armor, her brother." He says, extending his hand. "Sorry about that."
Shining chuckles. "Don't worry about it. I'm also the captain of Celestia's royal guard."
"Your parents must be proud." Greg says. "Their son is captain of the guard and their daughter is Celestia's personal student."
Shining rubs the back of his neck. "Yeah. I tell you, it's an amazing experience working for her." He says. "What are you looking at?" He asks, pointing to the monitor.
Greg looks at the monitor and takes a sip of the coffee. "Have you ever heard of a creature called a 'Centaur'?" He asks, looking back at Shining.
He places a hoof under his chin and lets out a low hum. "It sounds familiar, but I can't say for sure. That's Twily's area."
Greg nods. "A Centaur is a creature with the upper body of a human, such as myself, and the lower body of a horse... or pony, such as yourself from hoof to neck." He explains.
Shining nods. "Okay." He says. "Now I know what you're talking about. We thought them to be mythical beings."
Greg chuckles. "That's what my people thought about Pegasi, Unicorns and winged Unicorns."
Shining nods. "Yeah, that's what Twily's letter mentioned." He says. "It's hard to believe that your species doesn't have a means to control the weather." He adds.
Greg waves a hand before returning to the shuttle's controls. "Officially, we don't, but my country's government keeps so many secrets it's hard to really know if we do or not." He says, powering down the shuttle. "In any case, we do have people who monitor weather activity and report their findings to us."
A pink winged Unicorn enters the shuttle and trots up to Shining Armor. "There you are." She says. "Aunt Celestia told me you were going to check up on Greg."
Shining Armor looks at Greg and points a hoof to the new pony. "Greg, this is my fianceé Cadance."
The name rang a bell to Greg. "Cadance." He says, extending his hand. "Twilight told me about you."
She places her hoof on Greg's hand for a shake. "What'd she say?"
Greg chuckles. "She couldn't get past saying you're the best foalsitter in all of Equestria." He said, looking to Shining Armor. "Looks like you've got a real catch."
Cadance clears her throat. "I came here to let you two know that dinner's almost ready."
Shining gives her a quick kiss. "Thanks, we'll be up in a minute."
Cadance gives Greg one last look and then teleports away.
Greg rubs his face and groans. "Yeah... I think I better get out of here." He says, standing up and picking up the coffee mug.
Shining Armor and Greg exit the shuttle and head toward the door to the hallway. "What's the next step?" He asks.
Greg shrugs. "I think the next logical thing to do would be to send out a distress signal."
Shining throws Greg a confused look. "Are you sure you want to do that?" He asks. "You did blow up one of their ships after all." He continues, opening the door to the hallway.
The two enter the hallway, the guards on the other side stiffen up. "Yeah... I'm sure." Greg says. "I probably destroyed their only chance of saving their allies."
"What about your friends and family back home?" Shining asks. "Princess Celestia told me that you wanted to check in with them."
Greg nods. "Yeah." He says somberly. "I'd like to do that, but I also need to explain my actions."
Shining smiles. "I'm impressed. I honestly didn't think you'd do that."
Greg shrugs. "It's the right thing to do." He says. "I'd probably be one of a handful of humans who would though."
Shining Armor and Greg enter the royal dining room. In the middle was probably the largest table Greg had ever seen. At one end was Princess Celestia and the other Princess Luna; Twilight and her friends sat at the entire length of one side, across from Twilight was Cadance. Shining Armor trots up to his fianceé, sits next to her and gives her a quick kiss. Greg walks up to the table and sits two seats away from Shining Armor, across from Rainbow Dash.
"So, Greg," The rainbow-maned Pegasus says, "How's that project of your's comin' along?" She asks.
"I think all of us are curious." Celestia adds.
Greg nods. "Well, I did say that I intended to leave if I could get it running." He says, glancing at all of the ponies in the room. "I changed my mind. Instead, I am going to send out a distress signal to bring another one of their ships."
Everypony but Shining Armor gasps. "W-why would ya do that?" Applejack asks. "They held ya against yer will for a long time. Why would you go back?"
Greg chuckles. "That'd be a good question if I hadn't blown up their ship." He says. "I don't know what will happen, but I feel I should... face the music."
Celestia nods. "If you must, then we all shall respect your wishes." She says.
Everypony but AJ agrees. Greg takes notice when she wipes away a tear to mask her sadness. Greg extends his arm and places his hand on her hoof. "I have to do this, Applejack. I have to let them know what happened."
Greg pulls back his arm when a group of Unicorn servants enter the room with platters. "We'll talk about this later." Celestia says. The servants float the platters on the table and lift off the lids, revealing a delicious looking meal. "For now, dig in."