The ship was in bad shape, but salvageable nonetheless. Due to the slight buckling of the underside of the hull, and the precarious position of the spacecraft, the egress rampway was out of the question. Alex had to instead fight one of the external maintenance airlocks to allow him access to the outside world (after confirming it’s habitability, with a slightly higher-than-normal oxygen content), and then make his way, rather precariously, down the side of the ‘craft. While he left his mechsuit in the ship, deeming the environment suitable for standard uniform wear he did, however, leave with one of his Holographic Interfacing Tools equipped to his left wrist, standard wear when in hostile locations. Incorporating a quantum computer architecture, massive internal storage space, and fully able to integrate into a mechsuit’s myriad range of sensors, as well as possessing a sensor array of it’s own, the tool was many an officer’s first line of situational awareness. It also had limited communications ability, able to reach a ship in orbit, and had a limited computer library, usually restricted to mission-specific information, such as chemical or metallurgical analysis databases. However, Alex was taking no chances; he asked Lucy to compile a library comprising of geological, chemical, biological, meteorological, and radiological databases, as well as all the information they had on magic and its application as known to his species. He’d also made sure to pack a knapsack with water, some Meals-Ready-to-Eat, and various other survival-critical items.
The ground was very much like he remembered Vulperia… or even Earth for that matter. Grasses and various terrestrial plants dotted the landscape, punctuated by trees in blossom. In the distance, he spotted a large, black enclave of trees, with even the sky itself darkening above the canopy. It gave off an eerie, haunted vibe. Even being a stranger to this land, he knew well enough to stay away from there.
Alex tapped several buttons on his Holotool, “Lucy, until I can establish what’s going on, we are to maintain radio silence. Initiate Repair Protocol 3, and wait for further instructions.”
“Understood, radio silence until you re-establish contact. Good Luck. Lucy out.”
Alex took one last look at his ship up close; it pained him to see the Aurora like this, but he knew that Lucy would have her fighting-fit eventually. Tapping his wrist, he brought up a map of the local area, with his destination being the small hamlet picked up earlier. Sure, there was a city not far from it, but it’s a well-known fact of intelligence gathering that it’s easier to conduct it in areas with appreciably less population density. Also easier to… contain certain problems.
As he made his way to his destination, he was stuck by the strangeness of the sky. The sun was on one side, and the moon, in full waxing, was on the other side. Being told about it by Lucy was one thing, but seeing it… he was in awe at the majesty of such a celestial occurrence, natural or artificial.
He was about to press on with his journey, when he stopped, his ears picking up distinct sounds of movement in the distance... rapidly approaching, judging by the increasing volume. Sounds like someone’s travelling by horseback. I’d best find somewhere to hide, I don’t want to reveal myself this early. His eyes darted around, before finally settling on a modest-sized bush. After diving in with all due haste, he quickly regained his sense of direction, and peeked out in the direction of the incoming sound. Two equine-like life forms quickly emerged over the hill, sans any form of rider. Aside from the sound of their hooves making furious contact with the earth, the only other sound he could hear was that of his breathing, Bigger eyes, shorter posture… could these be sapient?
His question was answered quickly, as they came to a stop nearby, both of them gazing up at the sight of the Aurora in the distance. One of them had a cream-coloured body, with pink and purple highlights in her mane and tail. The second one had a light green body, with white and light green mane and tail highlights. “Lyra, we have to go back! If we don’t we’ll be… punished. You know that!” shouted the first one, looking slightly nervous.
“Roseluck, I’d risk any punishment for this! You know how much Humans fascinate me! This could be them!”, the green one beamed, with an almost enviable obliviousness to how severe the situation appeared to her companion. At least I have names of two of these… I still have no idea what these are. Horses? Ponies?
“You know what happened to the last ponies who defied her. I don’t fancy being turned to stone, and neither do you. You don’t trifle with the sort of power that can put princesses into stone prisons! If this means that much to you, we can come back when we’ve worked out the Guard’s patrol patterns. It’s a miracle we haven’t been followed already….” the cream-coloured one pawed at the ground nervously with a hoof “And you saw what they did to her friends.”
“I know, Roseluck, but… what can we do? She sits in that castle, protected by magic stronger than anypony in Equestria, with guards so loyal to her cause, they’d sacrifice themselves for her. What if… what if the person who owns that thing… can help us? I want my old life back, Rose. I don’t want to worry about when my next meal is going to come. And if we don’t get to that thing soon, she could find it! She’d be able to solidify her control over everything, possibly even the Crystal Empire!”
Do I or Don’t I? If they were to be apprehended on their way back, my situation could be compromised. The craft would have clearly caught attention from that spire in the distance. But… these beings are in distress. I know it’s none of my business, but can I ignore my training? My pledge?” Alex mused to himself, his instinct to help grappling with his training.
While he was debating with himself, they quickly sped off. running off in the direction they came from. Well, that raised far more questions than it answered. So, they’re ponies, clearly intelligent beings, and speaking the same language as me. It’s a little convenient, but I’ll take everything I can get at this point. This ‘all-powerful ruler’ bit is interesting, she appears to be responsible for a great amount of hardship… this needs investigating more closely.
Emerging from the bush, he could see the two ponies still running off in the distance, in the direction that should take him to his destination. The small hamlet was visible in the distance, most notably for a large structure that seemed to almost gleam in the combined sunlight and moonlight. There didn’t appear to be any sort of borders, just a number of dwellings that got greater in concentration as they got closer to the hamlet’s center.
It didn’t take him long to get to the first run of houses. While he wasn’t able to guess the two previous ponies’ sizes from bush observation, the houses seemed to indicate that they might be around waist-height, judging from the door sizes. For a race without opposable thumbs, they’d made impressive architectural strides. His idle musings were shattered by a window being slammed open, immediately leaping against a tree in response, “We have been through this before, Vinyl, there is no food in the house! All the food farmed here in Ponyville is collected, and shipped off to Canterlot. Every time I go to town to get food, I’m given the bare minimum for two mares! If you hadn’t binged on the food I brought back, we would have been able to pace ourselves!”
“I know, I know, I’m jus’... going stir crazy for the lack of food here! I couldn’t help it! All I could think about when I saw the packs was that it had been months since I’d had a decent meal. I’m sorry Octy, I’m so sorry!” the argument ended with what sounded like sobbing, and the cries of someone on the edge of a mental break. Population Control 101: A society weakened through hunger and exhaustion is less likely to rebel against you. ”It’s alright, Vinyl… I’ll try and see if I can scavenge something at the other side of town later on. Maybe the food bank will have something...”
Alex’s chest tightened. There was suffering going on around him, suffering apparently inflicted willingly by a central authority. There is no going back from this. I swore an oath in front of my Elders that I would do what is right, wherever I went. This is definitely not right. He gingerly undid the straps of his knapsack, and removed two MREs. I have a month’s supply of these.. I think I can spare two of them. Enough calories in these to make them forget about hunger for a night.
The task now, was how to approach them. In any kind of first-contact situation, great care had to be taken to prevent outright panic of seeing something that didn’t fit that species’ idea of ordinary. One would usually present themselves an intellectual-type, like a scientist.
Or rather, this is what would have happened, had a certain white-coated pony not taken the time to stare out of the window at Alex, MREs in hand. “Are those.. are those food…?” she stammered. Remembering the earlier conversation, he surmised this pony must be called Vinyl. This pony had a horn, unlike the two previous ponies he encountered. “Yeah, they are… tell you what; you let me into your house, and you can both have one each. Deal?”
The pony bolted from the window, and ran across to the other side of the house. Alex navigated around the house, just in time for the pony to hurriedly open the door for him, “Deal.”