Solar Sails: Marooned In Equestria

by Bluecho

06 - Stranger In A Strange Land

Ch. 6 - Stranger In A Strange Land

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“What an unmitigated series of blunders.”

Sarin Miles cringed, wincing at the well-deserved criticism. Grudgingly, she forced her eyes open to look at her accuser. The balding Fatae fixed a glare upon MS G7-H3, hard scowl etched on his pudgy, pockmarked face. Sarin's body shuddered; she forced herself back at attention. Only thing she could do to weather the storm.

Somewhere in the distance, the sound of coconuts banging together could be heard.

“Come now, Major, there's no need for that,” said Lieutenant Jons, leaning forward and extending a hand.

“Whyever not?” Major Minder responded, directing his ogle to the Lieutenant and then back to Sarin. “MS G7-H3's last three missions have ended in near disaster. I should think a reprimand for poor performance is the least she deserves.”

There they go again, Sarin thought sadly. When they're mad, they don't use my name. Just my designation.

“But Major,” said Jons softly, trying desperately to bring down the emotional weight of the conversation. “Sergeant Miles is still reeling from Glencost.”

“Are you still not over that?” spat Major Minder, fixing eyes firmly on Sarin. He balled up a fist and slammed it against his desk hard enough to make Sarin flinch. In the background, footsteps and those coconuts beat a hurried pace. Sarin could feel eyes settling on her from outside the office. The Major continued: “It's been months! A real soldier in the Emperor's army would have steeled himself by now! Where is your conviction? Why haven't you grown up and stopped crying?”

“Really Major, that's hardly fair,” Lieutenant Jons said.

“Bah! Fairness!” the Major scoffed, stalking around his desk to manhandle a bottle of some alcoholic beverage. He poured the amber liquid into a glass as he continued, “Back in my day...back in the Vor War...our men and women would have to do far worse than what went on in Glencost. We never complained.” Minder plopped down in his chair, sipping the fluid mindfully.

Lieutenant Jons adjusted the cuffs on his jacket. “As I recall, sir, several men cracked under the pressure during that particular campaign.” He cracked a smile, desperate and genial. “Not everyone can be as strong as you.”

Major Minder grunted, swirling his glass on the statement. “Maybe...” he said, “but it's our duty to become that strong. For the good of everyone. Can't have hearts too weak to do what's necessary.”

Sarin frowned deeper. Anxiously her hands shook, so she started bending fingers back to settle her nerves and the shakes.

Seeing his subordinate's disturbing display of unease, Jons said, “Perhaps a lighter, less aggressive assignment would be more fitting. Something more methodical, like...”

“You coddle her, Lieutenant,” Major Minder commented before taking a hearty swig. He composed himself after the taste, drumming his fingers against the glass. “But perhaps you are right. I've received word from command that a new planet was discovered. The Pheta Centari system. Been giving off more Mana than anything we've ever seen. Some irregular planetary body movements.”

Sarin swore she could hear those coconuts clack again, this time with a flutter of feathers.

“Command has been looking for some agents to investigate the surface. See what's about,” continued the Major. “I'll recommend your girl, Lieutenant. But only because I hate seeing good time and energy wasted.” He looked into Sarin's eyes, causing her to stand up straighter. “You hear me, MS G7-H3? No more mistakes. No more freezing up. No. More. Blunders.”

Sarin Miles shifted awake, disengaging the knot of limbs she'd taken to sleeping in. She stretched at impossible angles, banishing the stiffness she felt from sleeping in other impossible angles. Propping herself against the wall, Sarin began slipping on her outer clothes, belts, and boots. Once she had everything she could carry, she draped a cloak around her and climbed out the window.

The trip south to Ponyville had been an uneventful hike. Maintaining a brisk but steady pace had her travel the fifteen to twenty kilometers to the town in roughly three hours. This was followed by several more hours casing the community from the outskirts. Her first few nights were spent camping in a nearby grove of trees, but she soon found more private sleeping accommodations.

Standing near the edge of the town, roughly a kilometer from the local apple orchard – one Sweet Apple Acres – was an aged two-story house. Condemned for what appeared to be many ages, examination of objects and papers within the residence revealed it to have housed a family of Earth Ponies. Photographs and letters painted a picture of a modesty well-off family that slowly dissolved due to lethal accidents, disease, and cases of insanity. What few members of the clan escaped this fate did so by fleeing elsewhere, leaving the last inhabitant to wither and die alone. Sarin found evidence of wilted funeral flowers scattered around the floor, suggesting the distant family or descendents of the last resident attended his funeral, and promptly vacated, wanting nothing to do with the place. Skulking around the neighborhood revealed that surrounding homeowners view the place as unlucky, and they avoid it if at all possible.

Lucky me, lucky me, thought Sarin when she considered the vacancy. She didn't know if one could think in sing-song fashion, but she tried it anyway.

Sarin drifted through town – after a brief detour to covertly collect a lunch's worth of apples from the orchard – hiding amongst the shadows and bushes to avoid detection. Such comprised her standard procedure for intelligence gathering for the previous three weeks.

In that period the modified soldier gathered a significant bulk of data.

There were the obvious points. Learning about the three races of pony, their strengths and roles in society, how their communities were structured, “cutie marks” and their relation to a pony's “special talent”, and the distribution of magic and the forms it took depending on the race. All cryptic, yet verifiable through simple observation. The idea that the different races could interbreed was mildly interesting, as was the revelation that an Earth pony couple had birthed twins, one a pegasus and the other a unicorn.

Recessive genes? Perhaps their ancestors were of those other two, and they carried the traits until they manifested. Or there was infidelity involved on the wife's part. Sarin would have liked to know for sure which was the case. For the report.

Of significantly greater interest was the governmental structure of this land – this Equestria. A diarchey, ruled by two princesses. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Apparently immortal and of great personal magical power. Potentially dangerous all on their own. Sarin's confusion over why the rulers were princesses rather than queens was compounded by the presence – if rumor was to be believed – of other princesses who held inferior authority. All were alicorns (Sarin also heard tell of “minor” princes and princesses who were merely of one of the three races).

One of them being the Twilight – Twilight Sparkle – Sarin saw in the forest.

Thus brought Sarin to the present, standing guard over the still living hollow tree that acted as Ponyville's library, and the residence of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

What is even the hell, Sarin thought, gawking. She's a Princess, and if the rumors are to be believed her “special talent” is in magic itself. And she chooses to dwell in a tree library in the middle of a small town? Had she incurred the wrath of other nobles and been exiled?

The only working theory Sarin had for this quandary was the purple pony's proclivity towards books. She never left home without several bulging from her bags. Sarin knew this, she stalked the mare for days on and off. This of course had been after investigation revealed her true target – Rainbow Dash – lived amongst the clouds and thus couldn't be easily assassinated. Giving up on that objective for a time, Sarin stuck to the princess, guessing that her exile was self-imposed. Done in an effort to pursue prosperon studies into every subject imaginable. As well as presumably several studies that couldn't be imagined.

All the observation was done to answer one thing: how can Sarin get inside that tree and retrieve the blood-splattered wood? If it were possible as well, Sarin would attempt to make off with as many tomes as she could carry to deliver with her findings. Assuming she ever received rescue.

An assumption growing progressively poorer each passing day.

The timetable for the mission had been set at seven months. Three months to reach the Equestrian planet from the nearest outpost, three more to get back. That left one month for observation. The ship's complement of provisions could last the crew seven months, so any longer than that would require the ship to start rationing further. No one liked to be told that the last month of voyage would be without food or water because the modified soldier with skin painted like a capital city strumpet wanted extra time watching the ponies. Without any word from the missing ground team, it would be irresponsible and dangerous for Lieutenant Jons to keep the search going any longer past the cutoff date.

Assuming the S.S. Docket Lot still hung in orbit, it wouldn't for much longer.

Best case scenario, if Sarin failed to reestablish contact, the Docket Lot would venture home and return with fresh supplies and preferably with a new set of soldiers. Which would take six months minimum, probably more given that the crew would likely be rotated, word passed along to command, and replacement modified soldiers brought in. In all that time, Sarin Miles would need to wait and hide.

Even in the best case scenario, she was no closer to being found by whatever team they sent than she was now.

Nothing to do about that now, Sarin thought. First things first, contain what the enemy can learn about you.

She trained her telescope at the tree. Through the windows, she could see the princess shuffling about. Then she was joined by the dragon – her personal assistant Spike. He was most often around during the day, keeping house and minding the public service aspect of the book collection while his master was away. And when he left, Twilight Sparkle would refuse to leave. The reptilian mook was the most galling obstacle to infiltrating the building and finding what she wanted.

Or at least he would be, if not for the pink pony. The one Sarin saw coming into view. Sarin bolted.

Over her stay in the town, no thorn stuck more painfully in the Sergeant's side than the one called Pinkemena Diane Pie. Wild, excitable, frighteningly social. And seemingly always aware of those watching her. On eight separate occasions over the preceding three weeks, the fluffy maned beast would twitch across her body, before turning exactly to where Sarin was hiding. She always knew.

Running at that point was paramount, as the creature would give chase. Always one step behind Sarin, Pinkie Pie forced the modified soldier to employ celerity and agility to run as far and as fast as possible. To Sarin's horror, celerity seemed to do little to widen the gap.

The crazy mare can teleport, Sarin swore. Always calling out with her “where are you”s and her “almost got ya”s and her “hey mystery pony, don't be shy. I just want to throw you a party”s. Lunatic.

The only sure fire way to avoid a chase was to drop everything and run the second she shows up. Run and hide. Even then, Sarin had cut it close more times than she wanted to admit. It got to the point where Sarin kept her ears cranked when sneaking around pony conversations, just for word of a Pinkie Pie Party going on. At least then, the soldier could rest a little easier. A little.

Sarin jumped over a gap in the rooftops, then slid down a pipe on the other side to descend to an alley. If I'm ever going to get into that library, she thought, ducking low behind a garden wall as she crawled along, I'm going to need to break in at night. Can't put it off forever. Who knows how long before the bookworm learns something from the blood.

As she crouch walked, her foot fell on a newspaper. Looking down, she checked the headline. Sarin almost turned away and started moving again before the meaning of the headline processed in her brain. She snatched the paper up and held it close, rereading the title.

Alien Sailing Ship Spotted In Upper Atmosphere, Says Royal Canterlot Observatory

Sarin's heart threatened to beat itself out of her chest. The edges of the paper began to stick to her hands, they produced so much sweat. She shot her head above the wall to see if any witnesses were around, then looked back down at the newspaper. She strangled down a scream, her hands shaking. Finally, she started to read the article proper, searching for specifics and citations.

Where is this observatory?

Author's Note:

As always, leave comments about any typos, grammar errors, and poorly explained plot elements, assuming someone else hasn't already pointed them out.