Red Comet

by Aragem

Beginning

Noa promised herself that once the meeting was over she would sleep. She had been up for the last 36 hours and it was time to sleep. Yet, she didn’t retire to her quarters nor did she leave her office. She nursed from a coffee mug and read over data gathered by the drones. So far, she didn’t see much difference between the ponies’ society and her own, but she was certain that there were differences there. They were different species after all.

There was a chime from her console. Without glancing at it, she tapped a key to allow the visitor inside. Winter stroll inside as calmly as a small breeze. He was wearing his uniform slacks and his white undershirt stretched against his broad chest outline every crevice of his muscular frame.

Noa set her pads aside and regarded him with an almost bored expression, “Let me guess, you’re in here to beg for mercy for on behalf of the little pony child?”

“Something like that. How did you know?” A smile played on his lips as he crossed the room to her desk.

“Nothing happens on this ship without my knowing.” Noa drew a data pad from a receptacle and switched it on. “Mikala went into the training room where you were training hours ago. And it was after Belgard sneaked into the brig to tell her what was going on. I can only make the assumption when her sobbing face that was the reason why she went to see you. And it’s only right that it comes down to you, because you are the cause of this drama.”

“And I regret doing that. If I had known that it was sentient, I would have left it where I found it, believe me. Briggs was all over me about it. Lots of tears and some snot. She tried to keep her eyes on my face, but she kept imagining me as the starring role of shirtless Prince Charming XXX.”

“Why did you save it?” Noa glanced at him for the first time. “Just curious.”

“Because it was a little thing in trouble. When I was a kid, I was always saving mice and birds from cats and I even got hurt for standing up to my dad whenever he beat my little brother and sister.” Winter stood amiably as if they were in a café having coffee. “I guess it’s why I enlisted. I thought joining would allow me to help others, I guess I was proven wrong.”

“We’re to serve our government, not to help it.” Noa uploaded a report distastefully with a curl of her lip. “Now let’s skip the cordials and get to the end of the matter. No, I will not change my mind. It is in the best interest of the mission that the pony be terminated. Briggs should be grateful that I am authorizing Tibbs to put it to sleep instead of me taking a hammer to the thing’s head.”

“About that... listen, I’m not here to talk you into saving that pony’s life. If you wanted me to, I’d go into the brig and snap its neck myself. What I do want is for you to consider the crew.”

Noa turned her eyes up from the datapads and focused on him. “Continue.”

“Everyone is still screwed up from Shraxi. The war may have ended months ago, but everyone is still hurt by it. We lost some good people and had to do things that has damaged our souls.” Winter’s voice carried heavily, weighted by dark memories. “Killing the pony will carry echoes of that time. And though you may not hear it, but the crew is worried. The crew will have your back, no matter what. We’ll charge into hell if you order it. But they need reassurance that you aren’t going to have them blacken their morals any more than what Shraxi did. The crew can’t afford that. Also, I don’t think what’s left of your humanity can afford it either.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Something bad was going to happen. Her caretaker returned hours away upset, but trying to hide it. But the filly could see something was upsetting her. Her eyes were wet and her mouth was set in a tight line. The smile she gave Applebloom when she returned was forced with gritted teeth. She lost her taste for drawing and paced the narrow cell, trying to ease the anxiety in her heart. Finally, her caretaker picked her up and cradled her against her chest. The soft murmurs and the petting eased Applebloom to relax and close her eyes.

She opened her eyes hours later, seeing that her caretaker had dozed off as well. She shifted her legs, her hooves gently nudging herself free. She plopped onto the floor, and trotted to the glass door. It was as the metal door before with no knob or handle. The filly assumed that it was opened and closed by magic. Again she wondered why they were and what was going to happen to them.

Feet with long legs appeared before her and the glass shield hissed opened. Applebloom drew back, but not before one of them seized her by the middle and lifted her. She heard her caretaker call out and another voice bark sharply. The pony was tucked under a thick arm and carried away.

“Let go! LEMME GO!!!” Applebloom cried out as she wiggled, her hooves waving in uselessly as she attempted to kick at her captor.

She was carried down a dim hall. Her eyes didn’t have a chance to adjust before she was carried in a well-lit and familiar place. This was where they had tended to her injury which was still bandaged. She was put on a table, the same table where her wound was mended and held down onto her side by several hands. A hand pinned her face to the cold surface, but she could still see the gruffy doctor creature standing over her with a grim face. She was holding a syringe and was drawing a yellowish liquid from a small vial.

Applebloom knew that whatever was in that syringe was for her and it terrified her. She bucked, kicking at the hands, but more joined the others in holding her down. They were tall and wide, standing around her as cold dark sentries blocking out the overhead light casting them as dark shapes. She screamed, crying out for her sister, her granny, and her big brother to save her. Where was her friend? The one who cared for her? Why wasn’t she here to save her?
She felt a sharp sting in her rear and she knew the liquid was inside her. Her heart raced in her small chest as she wailed, her hooves scraping the table in a futile rush to flee from the chemical flowing through her veins. Fatigue crept upon her despite her panic and she struggled against herself to keep her eyes open. She had to stay awake, she had to.

They had released her and the gruff doctor was stroking her body whispering things to her she could never understand. Applebloom batted her eyes, curling on her legs beneath her as sleep drew her toward darkness. Her last thought was if she would ever open her eyes again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inside the Apple family home, Granny Smith was standing on her hind hooves watching the bubbles rise on a pancake before flipping it over with spatula. Big Macintosh was staring into a bowl of untouched oatmeal, a large tear rolling down his red face. Applejack appeared from downstairs, her hat gone and her blonde mane loose from the band she usually wore at the end. Her tangled mane hung across her back and shoulders and the bags under her green eyes were thick. She hadn’t slept at all last night; she doubted if any of them slept at all last night.

She didn’t understand why Granny Smith was cooking breakfast. Since Applebloom had gone, Granny Smith made Applebloom’s favorite breakfast food each morning. For when she came home, she said each morning. Applejack believed that she was still hoping Applebloom would come home still, despite the horrible tracks she had found last night.

No, she didn’t want to think about it. Thinking about it brought images to her head that were better left unimagined. Applebloom was gone and it was time to move forward. She would spend the morning writing letters to all of their relatives to let them all know that in three days would be Applebloom’s funeral.

That would mean the agonizing job of going through the photos and finding one for the funeral. It would have to be a good one, since there was no body to bury. The burial would at the Apple Family burial yard. It was on the far side of the orchard, in a clearing where Granny Smith’s parents, husband, and her son and his wife was buried. It was where Granny Smith would one day be buried, and now they would bury Applebloom.

The door opened and Applebloom walked in. “Is that pancakes Ah smell, Granny?”

The proverbial record scratched to a halt.

All eyes turned to Applebloom who strutted into the kitchen. Granny Smith was frozen in mid-flip of a pancake and it rolled off the spatula and landed on the floor with a plop. Big Macintosh stared with saucer shaped eyes and Applejack’s mouth hung up. The filly glanced between the members of her family; her ears slanted backward, “Um . . . did somepony die?”

Then they were on her. She was bodily lifted up in embraced by all of them. Tears were in Granny Smith’s eyes as she thanked the goddesses over and over. Big Macintosh’s large body was wracking with sobs as she was held against his broad chest. Applejack was speaking to her, but she couldn’t understand, she was smothered by hugs and kisses and the sounds of their sobs in her ears.

“Where ya been? Where ya been?” Applejack held her face between her hooves, her tearful face inches from hers. “Where were ya, Sugar cube? We looked and looked. . . I thought. . . I thought a wildcat got ya.”

“Ah. . . ah was outside. Ah woke up in the orchard. Ah don’t know why, but Ah musta spent the night out there.” Applebloom looked uneasily at each of the weeping family members.

“No, no, we looked in the orchard for her ya, but ya weren’t out there.” Big Macintosh mumbled as he drew Applebloom into another big bear hug. “Couldn’t find ya nowhere for three days.”

“Three days! But yesterday we was talkin’ in the apple orchard yesterday.” As she looked away, embarrassed by her brother sobbing as if he was a foal again, she noticed something on her flank. “Did Ah get my cutie mark?”

It wasn’t a cutie mark. It was three upraised scars along her flank that looked as if it was put there by a wildcat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mikala’s room felt empty when she returned to her room the following day. Her pony was gone, but not dead. Dr.Tibbs had created a chemical cocktail of drugs which contained a sedative and a special drug that can render short amnesia of the last several days. The pony could be returned home with no memory of her time on the ship and therefore couldn’t threaten the mission.

The chemise was still lying across the blankets. Mikala put it away, knowing that deep in her mind whenever she looked at it, she would always think of it as the pony’s chemise. And she laid it in her drawer atop of her drawing pad which contained not only her sketches, but the childlike drawings of the pony as well.

She had taken the time to look at the drawings after they taken the pony to Dr. Tibb. The drawings consisted of other ponies, such as a big red pony with yellow mane and tail, and a smaller green pony with white hair curled into a bun. Then there was of two small ponies, a white one with purple and purple mane with a small horn and an orange pony with wings and purple hair. But the one that Mikala planned on framing and putting on her wall when she returned home was the one of her standing with her pony and the large orange pony with blonde hair.

She slid the drawer shut and resumed her work. She brought the crewmember files on record using the security key her superior provided her when he transferred her to the Heller and she was also provided an encrypting program that can cover her access to the records. One by one, she went through each crewmember’s personal files. Crenshaw had a wife and child back on the colony moon

Simoli, Belgard was raised in a foster home with many fosterlings in a rural area on same moon.

Mikala didn’t look at their files for too much longer. They were pretty much what she guessed upon meeting. She moved onto other files. Dr. Tibbs was a recovering alcoholic who had an estrange daughter living in Capital City back on Haven. Winter’s father was an abusive drunk who murdered his own wife and was executed for his crime. Winter and his siblings were split up into different homes and Winter enlisted at the age of eighteen.

She leaned her cheek against a folded hand prompted by her elbow as she continued onto the upper level officers. Upholder had come from a long line of military officers. His grandfather led the Havensguard to victory against the Surigas back in 6040s. Cortez came from humbler backgrounds. He was part of a poor family of six and won a scholarship to the Military School of Grines where he earned his position by high marks in tactics and strategy .

But the real prize was the one folder she was looking at now. Noa Laotaner, all personal information in her personal file scrubbed. Where her background information should be printed a large N/A was on the first line. And who would have the authority to have the commander’s personal information scrubbed from record?

Mikala closed out all the files disappointed that she hadn’t been able to find anything this time. Her superior would be disappointed that she would have to report that she found nothing when she returned to Haven. He hungered for any information that would discredit Noa Laotaner, he simply hated her and her success. But what didn’t know was that Mikala had her own reasons for looking into Laotaner’s background. Personal reasons.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The miracle of Applebloom’s return spread quickly throughout Ponyville. Pinkie Pie been had released from the hospital and was already planning a welcome back party for the returned filly. Applejack announced that there would be no party for a few days, the family wanted to give Applebloom a chance to rest and to be with her. Fortuantely, she didn’t miss much school since due to Twilight Sparkle aiding in the search, school had been called off for a week, but will hopefully resume next week.

When Twilight Sparkle returned to the library, Spike had a letter from Princess Celestia that was sent the day after Applebloom disappeared.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I am very sorry to hear of your friend’s terrible news. I understand what is to lose a loved one as I have endeared this hardship many times during my long life. Please, give her my heartfelt condolences when you see her again.
And I believe I may be able to help with your school. I know of a celebrated teacher from the far north in Caneighda that will make an excellent substitute until your friend is up to taking back her teaching duties. I will write a letter shortly notifying her of your need and I will also arrange transportation for her to come to Ponyville. Due to their Winter Welcome festivities, she’ll likely arrive sometime next week if she accepts.
Your Proud Teacher Always,
Princess Celestia

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two days later found Applejack led Applebloom away from the hospital office. The doctor ran a series of tests on the filly and released her with a clean bill of health. He found nothing wrong save for the three scars on her flank which he was certain would fade with time and he reassured Applebloom that they would not prevent her from getting her cutie mark. However, he couldn’t explain why she had no memory of the last three days.

“Her memory may come back on its own. It may come back in bits and pieces or it may come back all at once,” the doctor had told them.

“Ah don’t unnerstand why Ah can’t walk around by myself. Ah’m not a little foal,” Applebloom grumbled as her sister walked close beside her.

“No siree,” Applejack replied firmly. “Ah ain’t lettin’ ya outta my sight. When school starts back Ah’m walkin’ ya to and from school from now on. “

“But about Cutie Mark Crusaders? We was gonna meet up at the clubhouse.” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had visited the farm to visit their lost friend. For over an hour they each attempted to guess where Applebloom had been from her being adopted into a Buffalo Tribe to being trapped in a dragon’s cave, but none of them could come up with an answer.

“Ah’m afraid yer gonna hafta give that up, Applebloom. Ah can’t have ya runnin’ around freely as before.”

“What!?” Applebloom froze in place staring at her sister with wife eyes full of horror.

“Ah mean it, sis. Ah jest cannot go through ya goin’ missin’ again. Jest about broke me to pieces thinkin’ you were dead.”

“That’s not fair!” No matter what she said or how much she pleaded, Applejack would not budge. She was adamant that Applebloom would stick close to home from now on and would always be under supervision.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Science Officer Trevor gnawed on a granola bar as he read over the data compiled from the drones. The native language was already sixty percent translated and he expected it to be completed by tonight. Also, he was exchanging information from his sociology expert contact back on Haven. The man promised a report would be provided by tomorrow.

Everything was going smoothly so far, but the bigger challenge lay behind him.

A tall column like machine rested against the far side of the lab. The machine was closed now, hiding away the secrets that lay inside the tubular structure. In bold face letters on the front was the word TIGGER.

End of Book 1

Comments

[Aragem]

This part is completed, but I I will begin the next part soon. I'm sorry if this story has become heavy with humans. I'm really setting up events to take place in the next part, planting seeds, I should say.

Please, any critique is much appreciated.

[DavidPony]

memory loss................saw it coming

also CLIFFHANGER
[img] http://www.demotivationalposters.org/image/demotivational-poster/1002/cliffhanger-megan-demotivational-poster-1266040022.jpg [/img]
cant wait for part two

[Flying Wingnut]

621368
There's another one?!
Im keeping my eye on you. I look forward to your future work.

[Lyrken]

Can't wait.

[mrpretzel]

Trans
Ionic
Genetic
Gene
Eugenics
Rewrite.
This is nonsense. Ending the chapter on it is anticlimactic, which can be humorous but here just seems out of place.

[Aragem]

631191 I've reread the last part of this chapter and I see what you are talking about. I meant for it to be ominous. But I can remove it just the last bit.

[Schillok]

Aww, I am so glad Applebloom is back safely.

No, I really mean it. I couldn't stop reading it, it was well written and the story kept me captive. So glad she is back...

Glad I read this before I started the sequel... which I hope will be just as good.

[Aragem]

907395 No problem. After I get done with Jammin' Gemini, I plan on going back over this and making corrections.

[McPoopin]

I like it. ONWARDS TOWARDS MOAR!