//------------------------------// // Obstruction // Story: Operation Final Destiny // by Armguard //------------------------------// ~ Chapter 2: Obstruction ~ ...I...am I...still here? I smell smoke. Not good. I... "AH HAAAAAA! NO! My arm! It's broken?! That shouldn't be bent that way! WOW! WAHOW! Ow...there..." Shock is setting in finally, now I can't move well at all. That hurts like hell! I'm breathing, so...we must be on the surface of the planet. Is the ship functioning? "Jonah, respond! OW!" PROCESSING SPEECH PATTERNS. CAPTAIN'S LIFE FORCE DETECTED, IN UNSTABLE CONDITION. REQUIRES IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION. "Of course I need medical attention...Jonah, is the medical bay in decent condition?" MEDICAL BAY IS 80% OPERATIONAL. ARM REPAIR POSSIBLE IF THE CAPTAIN PROCEEDS DOWN THE APPROPRIATE HALLWAYS. "Good...Jonah, is our other-" OUR OTHER SUBJECT IS STABLE. 6 MONTHS AND 2 DAYS SINCE DEPARTURE DATE. "Light up the way to the medical bay." AFFIRMATIVE, CAPTAIN. Outside of my left arm breaking, I was fortunate to only receive a minor concussion near my right ear. The hallways leading to the medical bay were slightly blurred and at an angle. At first, I thought this was a symptom of the concussion and shock of my broken arm; the ship crashed at a crooked angle, probably about 15 degrees off-balanced. Every other step sent a blistering twinge of pain up my arm and into my shoulders. My philosophy on pain: if you feel it, you know you are alive and that is a fortunate thing. The throbbing pain on my left side, coupled with the concussed skull, gives me oodles of 'fortunate cognizance'. The arm bobbed in place as I approached the final hallway; I watched as it hung useless at my side. I made one final attempt to try and clench my left fist, but the pain engulfed my entire body after that mistake, bringing me to my knees in front of the medical bay doors. After opening the doors, I stepped into the operating room, where 3D modeling equipment was ready to do a full scan of my arm and shoulder. Thankfully, the computer scientists were able to fix Jonah with a virtual surgical program that enables him to perform operations like the one on my arm. THE CAPTAIN'S LEFT ARM IS BROKEN IN ONE PLACE. ULNA FRACTURE, CLASSIFICATION: MONTEGGIA. BEGINNING OPEN REDUCTION INTERNAL FIXATION. PREPARE TO BE ANESTHETIZED. "Jonah, you be...careful...you hear me..." "Twilight, it's almost midnight, and you want to investigate a ROCK?!" While Spike was visibly frustrated with Twilight's late night meteor hunt, the unicorn could hardly contain her excitement. "Spike, don't you see? An event like this has never been recorded as happening for the past 950 years! It's a one-of-a-kind rock, a rock that has never kissed the surface of this world before, it's-" "The love of your life?" Spike forced a giggle before Twilight, rolling her eyes, swiped her instrument case from his claws. "It's a huge night for all of Equestria. Besides, better than another catastrophe like Discord, the Changelings, or Sombra. I'm sure Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would appreciate a fresh topic to discuss in my letters!" Suddenly, a purple wisp slithered down from the starry sky and in front of the two sojourners. A letter with Princess Luna's seal plopped onto Spike's head and fell to the ground in front of them. Twilight unraveled the letter with her magic and read the contents aloud: "Twilight Sparkle, It pleases us that you observed this rare occurrence and informed us in short notice. Please be informed that the object has been observed to have landed near Smokey Mountain inside a secluded nook in the Unicorn Range. We presume you are already making your way there, and are close to the location of the impact site. Once you are there, immediately report what you discover, and we will take further action based on your testimony. Princess Luna" "Huh, that's all there is? Nopony else is going to investigate the impact site?" Spike shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe she thought it best for you to be the first one to see something like this? I don't understand why they wouldn't just send a party of Royal Unicorn Guards or something." Twilight stood still for a moment, considering Spike's words. Then she shrugged it off and kept walking, laughing to herself as she left Spike without a response. Spike tugged on Twilight's right ear, getting her attention. "Twilight, you don't think that's strange? You aren't a professional on this, you know." "Spiiike..." Twilight pat Spike's head and continued forward. "I'm the Element of Magic. If this was in any way dangerous or harmful, I know hundreds of spells and wards to defend us against any potential threat. Domestic or stellar." Spike looked bewildered at his companion. "Is-is that pride I'm hearing, Twilight?! That's not like you." Twilight stopped and turned her face towards the dragon, giving him a look of amusement. "Am I supposed to just ignore the confidence Princess Luna has given me on this situation? She's learning to trust in my ability to handle these situations, and you say I should doubt myself?" Spike shook his head. "No, Twilight, don't doubt yourself, but doubt that rock or whatever it is. It could be dangerous to us." "...it's a rock, Spike. What danger does a ROCK pose to Equestria?" Spike leapt from Twilight's back in front of her, and held an open palm up. "Hold on. Discord was a rock before he caused all kinds of evil things to happen." "...he was a stone statue, not a rock. Look, I know you're trying to look out for me, but we will be okay!" "But Twi-" Twilight paced a hoof over his mouth and smiled. She removed it, and he breathed a deep sigh. "Whatever you want to do, but just don't put yourself in too much risk when we get there." "I promise to be situationally aware at all times. Cross my heart, hope to fly." The adventure through the forest north of Ponyville proved to be very simple, with dispersed hollers and squawks of the forest animals as Spike and Twilight passed through. The chirping of crickets accented an unusually beautiful and bright evening, the gibbous moon reflecting light over the entire arboreal expanse. A perfect night for stargazing proved to be an even better night for a walk, as a cool breeze swept across the forest floor. Twilight lifted her head and soaked in the breeze as they meandered around oak after oak, searching for the impact site. Unusual features started to appear more frequently: charred tree limbs, smaller craters, entire trees uprooted. Spike took note of everything Twilight observed and vocalized to him, knowing that the impact site was at hand. As they began to see more anomalous feature in the forest, Twilight gasped at some of the remains of the fallen object. They appeared to be shards of some kind of metal! "Spike! Look at this!" The shard hovered in front of Spike, captured by a field of Twilight's magic. "Twilight, what is that weird inscription?" Twilight was just as confused as Spike, but far more intrigued. "Copy the symbols down to the best of your ability, Spike. Let's keep moving." A fog thickened inside of a clearing made by the meteor; Twilight drew forth a brilliant light and fired a blast at the epicenter of the clearing. What materialized in her vision filled her with fascination and trembling. "Sp-Sp-Spike?! What am I looking at?!" Spike couldn't blink. "I don't know what that is, but it is huge, and it is not a rock." "We need to keep a safe distance for now, Spike. Write down everything I say, and don't leave this spot, understand?" Spike saluted and readied his quill. Jonah, you don't have a clue how strange this feels for me. What a tragedy this is, having a broken arm, shipwrecked on a foreign world, and likely dozens of light years from home. After surgery was completed, all I could feel in my arm was a constant, subdued type of pain. I couldn't tell if it was having my whole arm casted and forced in a singular posture, or if it was just the consequence of being cut open. Thankfully, modern medicine has grown past the need for stitching and prolonged recovery of skin molecules. That skin gun thing actually did the trick; stem cell research advancing beyond the need for embryos certainly calmed the thunderous critics, and it saved my arm from bleeding. The prognosis that the back-up AI gave me didn't ease my concerns any more than being alive had done. Most of the propulsion and shielding systems were disrupted in the crash, and the hull, without proper maintenance, is beyond repair (I'm just one 'goobernaut' versus a team of expert engineers). "Jonah, what happened out in space? How did we end up here?" A SCHWARZSCHILD WORMHOLE WAS DETECTED SOON AFTER EXITING THE KUIPER BELT OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM. DESTINY WAS PULLED INTO THE EVENT HORIZON OF THE WORMHOLE. "The astronomers-*COUGH*-...ugh, back at Mission Control said that the wormhole should have dissolved the matter entering its radius and killed us. Why are we alive?" SEARCHING DATABASE FOR ALTERNATIVES. ... ALTERNATIVE FOUND. SCHWARZSCHILD WORMHOLE MISCLASSIFIED. ACTUAL EVENT COULD POTENTIALLY BE A TRAVERSABLE WORMHOLE. "A traversable wormhole? That was never discussed in our briefing, Jonah. Explain." A TRAVERSABLE WORMHOLE IS AN EVENT WHERE A BLACK HOLE AND WHITE HOLE FORM SIMULTANEOUSLY. HOWEVER, UNLIKE A SCHWARZSCHILD WORMHOLE, THE TRAVERSABLE HOLE MAINTAINS A CONNECTION BETWEEN ITS TWO ENDS DUE TO AN EXTERNAL FORCE KEEPING THE MATTER BRIDGE OPEN. "So...we were fortunate enough that 'something' kept the bridge open for us. Question, have you launched scouting equipment since our crash?" AFFIRMATIVE. EMERGENCY SUBROUTINE #5 IN FULL EFFECT. SCOUTING PROBES WERE DETACHED WHILE DESCENDING FROM ORBIT. CURRENT GLOBAL MAPPING PROGRESS IS 20% COMPLETE. "What is our current-" RED ALERT: TWO LIFEFORMS DETECTED APPROACHING DESTINY. RECOMMEND RETRIEVING DETERRENTS. "...get me to the locker." The locker is one of the few areas of the ship that is outside of the central computer's domain. The deterrents are two firearms that have provided necessary protection during my time with I.S.A.C.: my onyx-coated Colt M1911 and my M14 rifle. I've only need to use these weapons once in my entire life, and I'm hopeful it isn't necessary again. Being tasked with essential research and development of the final hope of human longevity gave I.S.A.C. a huge target on its back by radical environmentalist groups. An organization that branched off of Greenpeace, called 'Offspring', claimed that I.S.A.C. was not made for humanity's survival, but Earth's destruction. They claimed that the League of Nations schemed with the intention of depleting Earth's resources to such a degree, that these governments would monopolize what was left and subvert human kind to their will. Of course, after a decade of R&D, it became clear that these claims were false; there was simply not enough to suggest we could sustain ourselves. Offspring became livid, and started targeting isolated I.S.A.C. research pods with frequent attacks. I am a member of the primary division in charge of the on-board artificial intelligence design team. My knowledge of how to interact with Jonah's systems, coupled with the astronautics training I received, gave me a head-start in taking the reigns of this important mission. Due to my expertise on the AI of DESTINY, Offspring marked my research team as VIPs and targeted our facility in Titusville, Florida. We had to defend ourselves from their assault, with nominal assistance from the United States Coast Guard. My rifle was used mainly as a deterrent against the Offspring attackers sieging the bunker where our DESTINY ship had been locked away. I never killed anybody (that I know of) with those rounds, but I'd like to think what I did was the key in keep my colleagues safe. "I can't really use the rifle with the cast...the Colt will have to do. Jonah, secure lock on D-2a locker door, voice recognition constraint set to default. Confirm." D-2A LOCKER SECURED. LIFEFORMS HAVE STOPPED THEIR APPROACH 20 METERS EAST OF YOUR POSITION. I have no idea if they are a threat or not, and I cannot risk failure...but this isn't how it was supposed to happen. I can't get this ship off the ground, I can't do that by myself. If only he hadn't- WARNING: UNKNOWN ENERGY SIGNATURE LAUNCHED IN DIRECTION OF CRAFT. "Open the blast doors, Jonah, we have to defend our DESTINY!" BLAST DOORS OFFLINE. CIRCUITS MALFUNCTIONED DUE TO CRASH. REQUESTING ALTERNATE ROUTE: MANUAL EXIT THROUGH ROOF CANAL. "You're killing me, Jonah...you are literally killing me." "Did you get everything down, Spike? Every word?!" Spike looked up and displayed his now-swollen writing hand to Twilight. "Do you THINK I wrote it all down? You speak faster than Pinkie Pie can party!" "Calm down, Spike. Just end the letter and send it immediately. We may need to get closer to know for certain what we're-" "OWWW! Why are you making me do this, Jonah?!" Twilight's ears shot up and she promptly ducked down. "SPIKE, GET DOWN." Spike crouched behind the brush and petitioned his companion frantically. "What's happening? Who's there? Ghosts? Timberwolves? ZOMBIES? We need to get out of-murrrph muaaah, pfffth..." "Spike, be quiet. I see something climbing out of that metal thing." "Wuh...wah...what is that thing, Twilight?" Spike's head gradually rose out of the brush to get a peek of the mystery creature leaving the object, only for Twilight to shove his head down again. "Spike, we have no idea what is climbing out of that rock, so stay low. If it is hostile, I have my magic to protect us." The creature stood in the middle of the clearing, in view of Twilight's earlier spell. This foreign creature's appearance elicited a gasp and a notepad, with Twilight jotting notes, detailing its features. "It's standing on two legs! It has eyes, a nose, ears, a mouth, a-" Spike turned Twilight's face towards him. "What are you doing?! Is it a threat or not? What is that thing its holding? This isn't some science experiment anymore, Twi-" *BANG* Something grazed the ground next to Spike and kicked a clod of dirt into the air, the sound frightening both of them. "I hear you out there! Don't think I don't! There's no way I'm dying today!" Twilight peered above her spot behind the brush, only to hear another BANG, and something grazing just past her horn. She flattened to the ground, visibly shaken from the experience. "Twilight, that thing is a threat! What do we do?" She calmed herself down, and projected a sphere around her body for protection. "Spike, you stay put. I'm going to confront this creature myself." Spike tried to grab the unicorn, but her shield prevented his attempt. She revealed herself from behind the brush and walked slowly towards the open clearing. "I hear you out there! Don't think I don't! There's no way I'm dying today!" What am I doing?! Maybe they are just animals. OH GOD! *BANG* Nothing. I'm wasting rounds. I'm a mess, a broken arm, and what happens if I need to reload? I can't do this, I- "I don't mean any harm, don't make those noises again! Please!" What I saw walking towards me blew my mind: a figure that looked like a horse walking into the thick fog. It continued to issue pleas to quit making noise; how is that animal talking?! Where in the galaxy am I?! "What are you? How are you talking? ... Where am I?" That's a horse! A talking horse! Am I in the land of the living? Did I perish during the crash? Is this an illusion from the devil? Am I a ghost? Maybe if I punch my arm- "OWWW! I'm alive, okay okay! I'm alive!" The horse-figure continued its approach. "You, stop right there." The unicorn gasped and galloped towards me. I raised my Colt and pointed it towards her, causing her to stop moving. But then she spoke up again. "Hold on! I don't want to harm you! Please lower that thing and let's talk." It was then that I acknowledged the glowing purple sphere surrounding her body. Magical shielding? I shot a round at the shield, but it deflected the bullet to the ground. "Is this real life?! You have a shield around you! That's not...possible..." The unicorn shouted in protest. "Of course it's possible! Unicorn magic! WHY did you fire that thing at me?!" The roar I gave forced her backwards a few steps. Then a bright light flashed in the sky above me. The light overtook my vision and knocked me to the floor. "No, it can't end like this, they...count on..." As I laid on the ground, before falling into unconsciousness, I heard voices I didn't recognize call out from the sky. "Twilight, did this creature harm you?!" "We will handle this from here, Twilight Sparkle. Stand back..."