One would think first contact with an alien race or in this case multiple races would happen years into the future of the pony race, the accidental astronaut Fluttershy would disagree with that as she was currently making an interesting first contact. One where she figured out that the crew or in particular the large friendly bipedal frog was at least trying to prove she was of an intelligent mind. The wear and tear resistant saddlebags should have been somewhat of a dead giveaway.
The device she had emplaced on her head felt a bit funny, it covered the top of her forehead and swept around her ears to her cheeks where a microphone popped out of the right side of the device. She still had little inkling as to why it was given to her, but she knew it was a headset like a pair of earphones that didn’t cover her ears.
In front of her the frog was gave her the simplest test in the universe, one of which she was sure Twilight would either roll her eyes at or fall into an ever rising panic that caused a domino cascading effect of epic proportions. Fluttershy completed the test well enough and was completely patient with her new friends or at least she thought they were friends. All she had to do was put the objects on the screen into their proper slots after watching the frog show her how to do it, it was basically puzzle solving on the magic box thing that reminded her of a movie projector screen only a lot more interactive.
Next the frog wrote down a math equation, something she recognized since her race had the same style of performing mathematics and she wrote up a more complex math problem which the frog solved with an amused smile. She nodded to him that he had gotten it right, at least math was somewhat universal between ponies and these aliens, the written and spoken languages were completely different though.
A voice was heard yelling and the frog flinched, he hit a few buttons and the screen popped up with a view of a beautiful scene underwater. The scene slowly flowed towards some ruins and they were covered in the toxic sludge that had been dumped into the ocean. The frog had made some form of comment in appreciation to what they were seeing before the toxic sludge; Fluttershy whimpered sadly and stared at the beauty of the seas slowly turning into a nightmarish place. It was moments later that the screen showed warped and twisted sea creatures coming out of the woodworks towards what she assumed to be a real time movie camera or that was what she thinking of it as being.
After a moment she heard what she knew to be the fox’s voice coming from the scene and it seemed to be urgent and the frog started to say something as the waters started to get darker. She heard the rabbit make a comment from wherever he was and the frog stated something in a sad tone, Fluttershy then saw something fly in front of a camera. It looked like two commas glued together and were spiraling towards the threatening creatures before violently exploding. Twin blue lasers lanced out from the camera and they were witnessing the deaths of the mutated creatures while the fox speaking in an even normal tone but there was a hint of fear and anxiety in it.
She poked at the screen with a hoof sadly and tears sprung up in her eyes, those poor creatures, they could probably rest easier now that they were no longer in pain. Did the fox really have to kill them like that? More of those spiraling balls of light flew through the water after the frog tried to make an upbeat comment. They were lighting up the darkness of the ocean very well and allowed the fox to avoid the dangers that kept coming at him. The camera rolled, tilted and bounced with the movements of the vehicle he was in.
The frog stared at her with a wondering look and noticed that she was looking at the monsters on the screen as they died; he gave her a gentle hug. At least the fox wasn’t needlessly killing everything; he was only attacking the mutated creatures that came at him. Still a lot of them perished, squid like things, clams, anglers, small jellyfish, eels and some things she couldn’t even logically compare to from her world. Those exploding shellfish and starfish were around as well, all of them were twisted from the more peaceful creatures she had met foraging earlier that let her be.
Fluttershy didn’t like watching this, she heard the bird made a disparaging comment about something and he wasn’t even in the room for her to glare at. Didn’t he see that the lives of innocent creatures were being ruined? Suddenly the fox spoke up in an alert tone, she didn’t see anything on the screen but the frog next to her was doing something with haste. Turning back to the screen she saw something open up and a giant eye was staring right back at her, she screamed and leapt backwards. The frog looked up at what she saw and gawked as it became quite clear what had scared her.
It was huge and it was absorbing and spewing toxins into the surrounding waters, it was truly hideous in appearance and it certainly didn’t look friendly. It looked like a clam that was much bigger than the vehicle the fox took down there, Fluttershy didn’t know whether to feel sorry for the fox or the creature for becoming what it did.
It wasn’t a long fight, but the vehicle the fox was in took a pounding from the monstrosity and the monstrosity itself had its muscles that helped keep its dome shut shredded and its eye blown apart in a very bloody fashion sending chunks of it flying everywhere scattered along the ocean floor which became filled with a mist that turned the water red. There was a sudden cheerful sounding dialogue between the four emotional beings she had met, the water even cleared up slightly as the vehicle the fox was piloting was heading towards the large flying object she was on. The large vehicle dipped itself slightly into the ocean to receive the damaged underwater traversing device.
Fluttershy really needed to learn how to talk to these people as she was upset by what she had just seen. She had to learn more and why they were doing what they did; though she had some idea of what was going on she didn’t know the full scope of it. She wanted to understand why this tragedy had to occur.
By this point Twilight would have used some kind of translator spell and would have fixed the communication issue, Fluttershy did not have that luxury. Rainbow would have brute forced her way through the issue and probably would want to fly one of the arrowheads. Applejack would have probably started an alien fruit plantation by somehow floating the underwater trees on the ocean to create an artificial island. Goodness knows what Pinkie would have done should she have ended up here, probably steal one of the vehicles on this spaceship and then subsequently crash it in the most bizarre and silly manner she could possibly get away with. Rarity would do nothing but go on about fashion this and that, even in the direst of situations not to mention holding her appearance up to an incredible standard with minimal supplies on hoof.
Out of all of her friends Fluttershy figured she was the most level headed easy going one, even if she knew she was shy beyond all reason. She understood animals on an emotional level; she could even speak with them as equals and even hold conversations for long hours about how to prepare nuts for winter the correct way. She would take this one hoof at a time, she was nowhere near her home or even with her friends right now and had no right to force her views upon others especially if It was going to get them killed or without having a full idea of the situation. The rules outside her world were definitely going to be different and on some level she knew she was very frightened by this, she just had to keep calm and keep a goal in mind. Find a way to get home, but not to the point that the cost would be who she truly was and if she was gone long enough who she truly was might not even be the Fluttershy that left. It was a sobering thought that made her whine slightly at the possibility. New goal, never ever forget her friends and the world that she was born on.
Fluttershy calmed down and gained a determined look, she would communicate with these male creatures and she would find out what their purpose for killing that admittedly monstrous foul sludge and monster spewing gigantic clam. During the battle it had created long giants worms that reminded her of viral parasites just on a larger scale, they were equally frightening looking as the explosive pearls and the bile it constantly spewed everywhere.
Fluttershy moved over to the frog and poked him, causing him to jump, inhaling slowly she decided to say something. His enjoyment at the ending of a life, even one as twisted as that one was, felt wrong and she would give voice to her feelings even if that voice was not understood.
“I know you may not understand what I have to say, but I think that what is and has happened here to be a horrible thing. I hope that when you can finally understand what I have to say, that we can part on better terms then we’re going to right now. I just want you to know that those poor creatures didn’t choose to be like that and they had lives before they were turned into what they became.” Having finished speaking to the frog, she solemnly turned and walked out of the room with her head down not waiting for a response or even hearing one in the silence.
Fluttershy idly wandered the corridors of the ship until she ran into the paunch of the rabbit and he was looking down at her with a sympathetic smile, his eyes spoke of seeing worse then what she probably had today. He put a hand on her withers and started to lead her to a room and then he made her sit at a table. It wasn’t a large room by any standards; the rabbit showed her three pictures floating in the air.
One picture was green and had a plant on it, one was a swirl of red and green having both an image of a plant and animal on it and the last was just red having only the indistinct animal on it. Fluttershy tilted her head at the images; she flicked an ear in question at the rabbit and tried to get an idea of what he wanted of her. She shrugged in confusion, the rabbit got the message and opened his mouth to clack his teeth together and then rubbed his stomach before pointing at the images.
Reaching up with a hoof Fluttershy daintily hit the plant option as to point out her dietary needs and then remembered something. She unstrapped her saddlebags from her body and placed it upon the table much to the rabbit’s interest as she had seemed to have forgotten about them ever since their spaceship slammed into her. Opening the bag she pulled out some of the fruit she had found in the ocean she only had three left, she also had some kelp wrapped around a wad of moss. She bit off a chunk of kelp and offered some to the rabbit and he shook his head no, she pointed to the moss and again he declined.
Fluttershy held up a fruit to him and placed it before him and placed one back into her saddlebags, leaving the moss and kelp for her to eat with a single fruit for dessert. It was good enough for her to survive on and she wanted her friend to know what she has been eating, she also separated some moss and kelp if he felt the need to look at it. The rabbit picked up the fruit and scrutinized it, whatever created the images sent down a grid of light to move over the fruit length and width.
A new image lit up in front of Fluttershy with a picture of the fruit and the trees it came, plus a picture of this planet she had seen before she entered its atmosphere where her bubble finally popped. The mare quietly watched as he read whatever the squiggles were telling him and he smiled and took a bite out of it giving a simple hum of appreciation to the sour flavor. He went through the process of looking over the seaweed and the moss; he pushed it back towards her while sticking to the fruit she had graciously given to her host finding no issues with what she has been eating.
After a while of watching her eat, he looked towards her rear end and brought up several images of insects that looked nearly like butterflies but not quite. He was curious about her cutie mark? Fluttershy knew he wasn’t a pony and wouldn’t understand the meaning behind it, but it wouldn’t hurt to try and help him understand. She waved a hoof to get his attention she pointed at her ball of moss and made a wide exaggerated motion with her hooves. Nodding a picture of the planet showed up, she looked around the floating images surrounding the planet until she came to the fish. She touched it and smiled as she watched a wave of them swim through the air above her made of nothing as if by the magic of a unicorn that specialized in illusions.
Her wings fluttered in excitement at watching the images flitter about through the waterless air above her, she went through several of the creatures she had seen in the ocean that weren’t mutated by those other space vessels. Without saying a word she bonded with the rabbits by showing him how she saw nature and its beauty by pointing out details about each creature with a hoof and motioning about why she was fascinated about each one. The rabbit scrutinized what she was showing him and started to smile a little as he watched her point out details that most wouldn’t catch or think important about all these creatures.
The rabbit was smiling at her excitement and silent lesson of appreciating the beauty of nature; he frowned a bit after a moment in a lull of her teachings. He quickly summoned up a picture of a familiar box like spaceship design. Fluttershy frowned at it and looked at the images of the mutated animals he brought up next. The rabbit pointed from one thing to another and then created a frowning face with the images. Fluttershy nodded shyly hiding her face, sadness and tears behind her mane. The rabbit gained a stern look on his face at seeing her being so sad and clenched his right hand. It was not in anger but simply in grief, he apparently didn’t like those flying boxes either and looked away with a faraway stare in his eyes.
A voice is nowhere as prominent as an action. The things you show others can mean more then the things you can possibly ever say, Fluttershy had learned this from watching the body language of hundreds of animals and the one she was communicating to learned this by the wisdom of his age.