//------------------------------// // Hard Landing // Story: Lost In the Stars // by Crabs_of_steam //------------------------------// In a flash of blue light, Nico found himself within his ship. He was so relived to return to his mobile sanctuary he wanted to kiss the metal floor. He had little time for celebration as he noticed the flashing red lights that lit up the dark room and the alarms ringing constantly with no end. Wasting no time he dashed for the cockpit. As Nico ran through, the ship suddenly shook violently throwing him off feet his. Various containers tipped over, spewing out their contents all over the metal floor. Nico maneuvered through the scattered debris while at the same time trying to maintain his footing. When he was close to the cockpit door, Nico drew his pulse rifle. As the door whooshed open Nico charged in and aimed his rifle at whatever was in the pilot's chair and shouted, "Turn around and put your hands up!" Luna turned around in the chair looked at Nico, her eyes were filled with horror. "This is it!" she thought as closed her eyes. Nico almost jumped and threw down his weapon in surrender from seeing another Alicorn in his pilot's chair. The last Alicorn he encountered almost killed him, Nico didn't want to repeat the mistake in his own ship. His finger rested on the trigger when suddenly the ship shook again throwing Nico off balance. His eyes wandered from Luna to the cockpit's windshield seeing a green planet that took up the entire view. Nico made a deep and exasperated sigh. He holstered his weapon,and walked to Luna who still had her eyes closed. Nico grabbed the Luna's shoulders and began to shake her. "Hey!" he snapped. Luna opened her eye's and looked at Nico, she could see her reflection from the helmet's grey visor. Nico took off his helmet revealing his brown eyes, black hair, and brown complexion. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" Luna silently nodded. "Good, then if you wish to live do what I say. On the wall over there." Nico was pointing at one of the cockpit's back walls, "There's a red button. Press it, it'll deploy a seat for you. I don't think I have to tell you the rest, so go. Go!" Luna obeyed and rushed to the wall Nico was pointing at. She tried to maintain her balance as the ship shook once again. She pressed the red button and a seat appeared from a small compartment. Luna jumped in and strapped herself in. Nico sat down in the pilot's chair. "Computer, Initiate emergency crash protocol." There was no response. Nico wondered why until he stared at the control console. The control console was charred black and had large chunks of it missing. He turned his head to Luna with a scowl plastered on his face. "What the hell did you do?!" "Is this an appropriate time to bring this up now?" Luna shouted, her eyes focused on the ever-increasing green planet. "When it involves my ship, yes!" Nico flicked a series of switches under the control console putting him in manual control of the ship. "Spaceships that can travel faster than the speed of light aren't cheap you know! If we survive this, you're going to owe me alot of pixels." Nico's ship had just breached through the atmosphere. As the ship rapidly descended from space it began to heat up from the friction. Within seconds the ship looked like a flaming metal inferno. Within, the ship's hull slowly began to heat up. Nico tried to start the ships engines. "Come on, come on. There's gotta be some juice left in you." Nico could already feel the ship began to heat up. After numerous attempts, Nico finally gave up trying to activate the ship's engines. Sweat was starting drip down from his face. Crashing was inevitable, but if he doesn't do something, he and Luna would die a fiery death. The ship began to shake again and rocked Nico and Luna side to side in their seats as if they were just ragdolls. Nico grabbed hold of the controls that steered the ship and forced it down with intense force. Slowly, the ship began to level itself and the shaking decreased. Nico then added as much resistance to the ship as much as possible as he flicked more switches. Numerous flaps protruded from the ship, while small rockets aimed at the front of ship activated to reduce the speed of the ship's descent. With nothing else at his disposal, Nico hoped that this will be enough. For now, He could only maintain his hold on the controls as the ship fell from space. Nico could see the planet clearly. It was filled with green trees that carpeted the planet as well as the occasional large bodies of green water. He could see the sun rising over the horizon bringing light to the planet. When the ship was close to the surface Nico shouted, "Brace yourself!" The ship was a blazing ball of fire as it descened into the massive forest. It mowed and burned whatever tree in it's way, leaving behind an expansive trail of massive trunks fallen over and burnt to a crisp. When the ship made contact with the ground the ship plowed the dirt as well as the trees. It kept going until it gradually slowed down from the amounting dirt and trees. When the ship finally came to a complete stop, the front half of the ship was buried under a massive mishmash of trees, dirt, and anything else unfortunate enough to get caught in the aftermath. ---------------------------------------------------- "Ugh," groaned Nico, "Still alive?" Luna slowly opened her eyes to see only darkness. The whole cockpit was pitch black from the dirt that covered the ship. "Hold on a sec." said Nico. Luna heard a clicking sound then saw a beam of light that lit up a small part of the room. Nico unbuckled himself from his seat and slowly hobbled to her. He flashed the light at Luna's face, She hissed from the sudden exposure and groaned the soreness in her head and neck. Nico stood a few feet from where Luna sat, "You okay?" he said as he aimed his flashlight at Luna again to examine her. Luna groaned, "I'm alright. Just get me out of this chair, please." The second Nico unstrapped Luna, Luna fell into Nico. Nico dropped his flashlight to catch the falling Alicorn. "Sorry, I forgot to mention the ship is at a slight incline. Are you able to walk?" "Yes, you can put me down now," said Luna with a small blush in her cheeks. Nico obeyed and placed Luna on the floor. Nico was going to get his flashlight when saw the Alicorn's horn abruptly glow blue. He was about to draw his weapon but was stopped when he saw the flashlight floating in front of his face. "Here you go," Luna said. Nico swiped the flashlight from the air while making a small sigh of relief. "Do you need a flashlight?" Nico croaked, unsure of what's going to happen next. "No thanks, I can use my horn as a source of light." Luna's horn glowed once again. It illuminated the whole cockpit in a small blue light. "Well," Nico chuckled, "I guess I won't need this after all." He disposed his flashlight into his pocket. Nico went to the cockpit's door. He then inserted his hands into the door and opened them apart. Numerous pieces of debris fell through the door into the cockpit. "Watch your step," said Nico as he walked through the doorway. Luna followed Nico through the ship, filling the dark void of the ship with her magical light and the clacking sound her hooves made with each step. Seeing the destruction around her, Luna felt scared out of her wits. She expected the alien would throw a murderous fit from gazing at what remains of his ship, but the Alien remained silent as if oblivious to what's around him. Luna remained quiet, fearing that a single peep could provoke the Alien. Nico tried to hide his emotions from the Alicorn that was walking with him; his face was devoid of any expression. Of course his heart ache seeing his beloved ship in such a shape, but he was more antsy about the Alicorn behind him. He felt that any moment the strange blue horse would fire something from her horn and kill him, just like Twilight tried to do to him. "No, no" Pondered Nico to himself, "I'm the only one that can get her off this rock. Killing me now would virtually be suicide on her part. Why did she take my ship even though she obviously doesn't know how to operate?" Nico quickly peeked at the Alicorn. He could see the awe and fear expressed from the Alicorn. The way she breathed, walked, and the look in her eyes, It was like as if Nico was staring at a child. A small, lost, child pricked from home and faced with the vast unknown. A child filled with fear, curiosity, and wonder. Feelings Nico once and still to this day felt. regardless of what he saw, he maintained his guard and was ready to strike should the navy blue Alicorn decides that his presence was no longer needed. Nico and Luna finally reached the door that opened to the outside Nico previously used. Above the door was a valve with a red thin handle. Nico twisted the valve. Luna was wondering why nothing happened. She then heard a sound coming from the door. She wanted to get closer but Nico stopped her. The sound became increasingly louder, it sounded like a balloon being inflated. It went on like this until "Pop!" The door shot up into the air and landed on the ground with a thud sound. Both Nico and Luna flinched from the sudden exposure of light. Nico covered his eye's with one of his hands and jumped through the doorway. Luna ran and jumped through the doorway. While in the air, she then extended her wings and slowly glided down to the dirt ground. Luna gaped at the destruction she was observing. A blazing trail of trees knocked and piled over each other as if they were just dominoes. She then turned to look at the spaceship. Half of it was buried under a giant mound of dirt and trees the ship scooped up when it collided with the ground. Her thought's were then disturbed by a clicking sound. Luna turned around to see the Alien pointing his weapon at her. It was the same weapon that the Alien was pointing at her earlier back on the ship. The weapon was long and bulky with a black hole pointed her.She didn't know what to do, she never fought an opponent armed with such a strange weapon. Responding to instinct, Luna went into a defensive stance and aimed her horn at the Alien. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Nico said, his rifle still aimed at Luna's head. "The second I see your horn glow, I pull the trigger." Luna looked to the trees and wondered if she can find safety in the dense forest. Nico saw the distress in her eyes and exclaimed, "Oh yes! The forest! Offers a lot of protection, and if you decide to hide there know that I won't chase after you. But!" Nico's voice suddenly became dark. Luna could see the malice in his glaring eyes. "If you run now, I won't shoot you but I don't want to see your face again. Do anything stupid and you'll be flying in two different directions. If you want to stay and if you mean no harm, you gotta show that I can trust you. Don't aim your horn at me and sit down." Luna hesitantly obeyed and sat. Luna watched Nico slowly approach her, his weapon still within his hands aiming at her. Her heart was beating so fast that she thought it was gonna burst from her chest. Luna wanted to explode into the air and fly as far away from the Alien as much as possible. Despite this, Luna remained as still as statue. This alien is her only chance of escaping this planet and returning home. She continued to stare at Nico who was now a few feet away from her. Nico holstered his weapon and sat down in front of Luna. He held his hands up in front of his chest to show to Luna he's nit armed. He had a small smile on his face as he said, "Good, good. you've shown that you trust me, We're making great progress. Now, You have to show that I can trust you. I'm gonna ask you a question and I want you to be totally honest. Know that in my years of travel I've encountered many liars and con men. Let's just say they met with an unsatisfactory ending. Be honest in what you say and I promise I won't hurt you. My question is, why?" Luna looked up at with a confused look on her face. "Why?" she asked. "Why did you take my ship? When I was on your home planet I met a member of your species by the name of 'Princess Twilight'. She told me that someone named 'Princess Luna' was searching for an alien spacecraft that landed within the Everfree Forest and wanted to make contact with the aliens that landed." "Y-you didn't kill Twilight, did you?" muttered Luna. "Rest assured Princess, I didn't do it." Nico could see her eyes shrink at the sound of her title. He couldn't help but chuckle, "Oh please! Twilight told she was an Alicorn, because-" Nico pointed at Luna's horn and wings, "She had both of those. It was painfully obvious. Your color, tiara, horn, wings, the emblem on your flank. I knew who you were the first moment I saw you. Now, why did you take my ship?" Luna was afraid to tell Nico the truth. She feared that he won't keep his promise if she told him why she was in his spaceship. Still, the Alien knew so much and he was her only way home. "Might as well." Luna thought to herself. She took a deep breath and started. "I went to your ship, because I wanted to go on an adventure." Nico gave Luna a confused look. Luna continued, "I know, I know. It's foolish and stupid, but since I was just a young filly I stared at the starry night sky of my home and wondered to myself, 'What resides there that even an Alicorn can't reach?' Through the many countless events and years in my life that question remained. Recently I started reading picture books commonly called 'comics'. It showed me amazing tales of space travel and exploration, going to one planet to the next as if it were just a whim. It opened my mind to what lay beyond my home, and since then, I spend my nights gazing through a telescope hoping to see an alien spaceship. That was until I saw your spaceship." Luna's lips began to tremble and tears began to fall from her eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry. I just wanted to go on an adventure. Please, forgive me." Nico stood up, his face remained expressionless. Luna gasped as she thought this was gonna be the end. Nico's lips began to tremble. He then burst into into a maddening laugh. His face turned pink and tears were running down his face. He kept at this until he started to choke. As he was hacking and wheezing, Nico shouted at Luna, "How old are you?" Luna, confused, said, "I'm over a thousand years old. You're not mad at me?" Nico was still laughing and coughing. "Of course I'm mad, you wrecked my ship! In those thousand years, weren't you taught to respect other peoples' privacy? Jeez!" Nico took a series of deep breaths to calm down and said with a sigh, "I'm glad that you spoke honestly, and sorry for laughing. After realizing that everything was caused by a childhood fantasy, I couldn't help but breakdown inside. Give me your ha-er I mean... hoof." Luna offered her hoof to Nico, which he grabbed and lifted Luna up from the ground. "Don't be too sore about the ship, what's broken can be fixed." Nico looked at his half buried ship and silently muttered to himself, "Even though it'll take a long-ass time." Luna giggled, "Perhaps it's about time for introductions." "Ah yes, let's start over shall we." Nico then bowed and spoke with a regal voice, "Niccolo Jimenez, but you can just call me Nico. And who would I have the 'satisfaction' of meeting?" Luna spread her wings and bowed. "Princess Luna of Equestria. Honored to be here." "Well Princess Luna, let me be the first to say congratulations on simultaneously discovering space travel and committing grand theft auto at the same time! Let this planet just be a steppingstone on our adventure in the stars!" Luna looked up at Nico with a sparkle in her eyes and a wide smile. "Yes!" she squeaked. She jumped to Nico and gave him a hug. "Thank you, Nico." The tip of Luna's horn was grazing the bottom of Nico's mouth. He gulped and chuckled, "Heheh. Luna can you please be more careful with your horn? You don't want to poke out anyone's eyes would you?" "Oops! Sorry!" giggled Luna. She looked up at Nico, her smile showing no sign of falter. "I'm just.......thank you."