Assignment: Equestria

by Naxanz

Departure

The next morning Nick woke up and stretched. The bed was small and it gave him cramps. The first thing he did was pull his PC off of his belt and check the time. It was only going to be about two and a half hours until communications were reconnected. Smiling Nick hooked the PC back onto his belt and walked over to the door. He slowly cracked it open and peeked out into the library.

Twilight was asleep at her desk with piles of books surrounding her. Spike was nearby sleeping on his back snoring. Nick glanced over at a clock; it was eight o’clock in the morning.

“Not too early,” he thought opening the door the rest of the way and stepping out.

Nick ambled over to the center of the room and set his PC down on the floor facing up.

“I wonder if I really was looking at the Milky Way last night,” wondered Nick while taking a few steps back.

“Commence star map,” he said trying not to wake up Spike or Twilight.

“Initiating star map,” answered the computer glowing slightly.

A few seconds later the room was filled with miniature holographic solar systems and galaxies.

“Mark the Milky Way,” said Nick to the PC.

A red dot appeared over the Milky Way galaxy.

“Find the galaxy Equus-avis Stella and mark section OGLE-3045-BLG-270Lb,” instructed Nick.

Another red dot appeared on the star map. Nick knew what galaxy he was in and what section, but he was in an uncharted solar system. The USS Atropos was assigned to explore the OGLE-3045-BLG-270Lb sector and chart the solar systems. Also, their mission was to find other habitable planets and planets with useful resources. So, although Nick didn’t know what solar system he was in, marking the sector would be the next best thing.

“Computer, would the Milky Way galaxy be visible to the naked eye from the OGLE-3045-BLG-270Lb section,” asked Nick.

“Calculating…” replied the feminine voice.

Nick thought he heard Twilight start to stir.

“Oh crap, if she sees this holographic star map the questions will never end!” thought Nick quickly glancing in her direction.

“Computer, terminate star map,” ordered Nick.

“I can’t terminate program while calculating,” replied the PC.

Twilight moved some more.

“Well then hurry…” said Nick anxiously.

“I’m going as fast as I can,” replied the PC.

“Oh come on,” huffed Nick, “You’re a computer. You should be able to do this in like 10 seconds flat!”

“Oh really? I’d like to see you try star-galaxy projection calculations!” countered the computer sounding irritated.

Twilight’s eyes fluttered open just as the computer said, “Yes, the Milky Way galaxy would be visible to the naked eye from the OGLE-3045-BLG-270Lb sector in galaxy Equus-avis Stella. Would you like me to terminate the star map now master?”

Before Nick could answer yes he heard Twilight say, “What the hay…”

“Never mind computer; it’s too late now,” said Nick doing a face palm.

“Nick, what is this?” asked Twilight getting up from her desk.

She started to walk over to him all the while ducting from incoming comets and sidestepping galaxies.

“What is what?” inquired Nick smiling and pretending not to notice the thousands of miniature holographic galaxies and star clusters.

Twilight just gave him a look that meant “you know what”.

Sighing Nick took a deep breath and said, “Well ya see… Last-night-I-thought-I saw-my-home-galaxy-so-when-I-woke-up-this-morning-I-came-out-here-and-set-down-my-PC-so-I-could-look-at-the-star-map-and-tell-if-I-really-did-see-my-home-galaxy-last-night-or-not! I was hoping you wouldn’t wake up…”

Twilight looked confused.

“Seriously Nick, slow down,” said the PC, “You said that so fast that even I could barely understand you.”

“Whoa! Who said that?!” exclaimed Twilight swinging her head back and forth.

“Ahem,” answered the computer making a sound like it was clearing its throat; although it didn’t even have a throat.
“Was it that thing?” questioned Twilight pointing at the PC.

“Excuse me? I am not just a thing,” objected the PC, “I am a pocket computer, and I have more than one thousand different capabilities.”

“That’s enough computer,” interrupted Nick, “Terminate star map. Sometimes I wonder why I couldn’t have just been like the rest of my patrol and got a PC with no emotion data.”

“Ha, ha…” laughed the computer flatly.

The holographic star map disappeared and Nick walked over to the PC and picked it up before turning to face Twilight. Then Nick explained what had happened and what a computer was and how it could do many things.

Still looking perplexed Twilight asked, “So, it isn’t alive?”

“Nope…”

“And that wasn’t magic?”

“Nope…”

“It’s a machine?”

“Yes.”

“Wow, that’s incredible!”

“I guess…”

“It even talks!”

Suddenly Spike jumped awake yelling, “No Rarity! I’ll save you!”

After realizing that it whatever had just transpired in his mind was only a dream he blushed bright red and said, “Hehe… So Nick, Twilight, what’s up?”

Ignoring Spike Twilight asked, “So, does it have a name?”

Nick had never thought about that. Should he give it a name?

“A name would be nice,” said the PC unexpectedly.

“Ugh, I forgot to put you on standby mode,” exclaimed Nick, “Have you been listening this entire time?”

“I guess you could say that…” replied the PC.

“Whoa, what is that thing?” questioned Spike jogging over.

“It’s a computer,” answered Twilight before explaining to him what a computer was, “And it needs a name.”

“How about Bob?!” supposed Spike excitedly once Twilight had finished explaining.

“Umm, how about no,” replied the computer, “I’m a girl!”

“Sure you are,” said Nick sarcastically, “Until I change your voice settings to male.”

“Don’t you dare!” snapped the computer while Nick chortled.

“Since your name is Nick how about we name the computer Nicole?” asked Twilight.

“I like that,” said the computer.

“I don’t know…” answered Nick sounding unsure.

“Please master! Please let my name be Nicole!” whined the PC.

“Fine.”

“Thank you, saving name to memory banks now… Save complete.”

“Now go to standby mode,” said Nick getting annoyed.

The computer stopped glowing as Nicole went into standby mode.

Nick hooked her back onto his belt before asking, “So, now what?”

“I don’t know,” said Twilight, “Didn’t you say that you’d be able to contact your starship thing today?”

“Yeah, in about two hours,” said Nick glancing at the clock.

“What will happen after that?” asked Twilight.

“Well, to tell you the truth, I’ll probably go,” replied Nick.

“Aw, but it seems like you just got here,” countered Spike glumly.

“It’s ok Spike; I’ll most likely come back.”

“Two hours isn’t very long,” said Twilight checking the clock as well, “I’ll go get the others so we can all wish you farewell.”

Before Nick could respond Twilight was already out the door. So, Nick and Spike hung out in the library for about an hour and a half until Twilight returned with her five friends.

“I’m back,” said Twilight smiling as she stepped in through the front door.

Following her was Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy.

“Is it true?” asked Pinkie pie while bouncing over to Nick, “You’re leaving?”

“Afraid so Pinkie, but don’t worry I’ll probably be back,” answered Nick.

The friends all conversed back and forth for awhile before Nick checked his PC, Nicole, and exclaimed, “Communications are reconnected!”

Everybody stopped what they were doing and watched Nick as he hesitantly unhooked his communicator from his belt and flipped it open.

“Atropos, this is Nick. Come in Atropos. This is Nick calling the USS Atropos. Come in Atropos…”

For a few seconds there was just static until suddenly a familiar voice responded, “Hello Nick, this is the USS Atropos.”

Nick sighed with relief before replying, “Is that you Mark?”

Before the Atropos could respond Rainbow Dash interrupted saying, “That is so awesome! They are so far away yet you can still talk to them. Is it magic?”

“No, it’s called technology,” informed Nick with a small grin.

“Yep it’s me,” replied Mark over the communicator.

“Ain’t that somethin’,” said Applejack sounding surprised, “A machine can do somethin’ like dat! By the way, who is this feller Mark Nick?”

“He’s a friend of mine, and also the officer in charge of the Atropos’s communication system,” answered Nick.

“What happened Nick? We all thought you were dead,” said Mark suddenly over the communicator, “When you didn’t return to the ship I asked the captain to send out a search party for you. He agreed and we probed your entire flight path. All we found was a burnt out shell of an F-56 starplane; you were nowhere to be found. We would have come down and searched on foot but those strange energy reads were very high in that area. Thus, we flew back to the Atropos and presumed you to be dead.”

“Your scanners probably couldn’t pick me up because I was most likely inside of a building,” replied Nick.

“Wait, what?! Don’t tell me that you went to that small town we found near your crash site!” exclaimed Mark.

“Yeah I kinda did; I also met some nice…”

“Are you still in the town?!” interrupted Mark.

“Yes…”

“You fool! Get out of there now! You’re lucky not to already be dead. The inhabitants of this planet are very aggressive!”

“What? More like the opposite. The inhabitants here are really nice.”

“You’ve conversed with them?”

“Yeah…”

“Maybe they’re not the same creatures as the ones that we found to be vicious.”

“Can’t be, the ones I’ve met wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Either way Nick you should probably come up; as long as you stay down there you are in danger. Give me your coordinates and I’ll send down a hoverjet to pick you up.”

“Ok, give me a sec Mark.”

Nick looked down at his PC, which he was holding in his other hand, and said, “Nicole, what are my current coordinates?”
Nicole rattled off a chain of numbers which Nick then relayed to Mark.

“Alright Nick, we’ll be there in less than ten.”

With that Mark ended the connection and there was nothing but static. Nick then turned off the communicator and turned to face the six ponies and the little dragon.

Twilight was the first one to speak, “They must have been attacked by the same creatures that attacked Las Pegasus!”

After realizing what she had said Twilight covered her mouth with her two front hooves and held her breath.

“What are you talking about Twilight? Did something happen in Las Pegasus?” asked Rarity looking perplexed.

With a deep sigh Twilight answered, “Well I wasn’t supposed to tell anypony but Las Pegasus was attacked by an unknown force.”

“What!?” exclaimed the other five in surprise.

“I’ll explain later. Let’s first say goodbye to Nick before he goes.”

Nick exchanged goodbyes with everybody, including Spike, before ambling over to the door and walking out. As he shut the door behind him Nick thought he heard Twilight start to explain the Las Pegasus incident to her friends. Suddenly there was the loud sound of choppers and the sudden rush of a strong wind. Many ponies came out of the houses to see what was happening but quickly hurried back inside once they saw the massive metallic hoverjet slowly descending out of the sky. When it was about forty feet from the ground it dropped a ladder and Nick climbed up. Once inside of the hoverjet he pulled up the ladder and closed the door. Nick then looked around. There were only three other people inside of the jet besides him: A soldier, which Nick didn’t know, Mark, and the pilot.

“Hey Nick, good to see you again,” said Mark as the hoverjet slowly ascended before shooting towards the Atropos.

--Meanwhile on the Atropos--

“Sir, you should probably take a look at this…” reported a crewman to the captain.

“What is it?” asked the captain sounding a little annoyed.

“It’s regarding the inhabitants of this planet sir,” answered the crewman.

Captain Chris got up from his seat on the bridge and replied, “This better be good.”

The captain followed the crewman through a few hallways before getting onto an elevator and descending down to the lab section of the Atropos. Once there he followed the crewman to a white door labeled, “Lab sector 8-Alien species study”. The crewman opened the door and the captain marched inside. Inside of the room was a large fiberglass wall. The captain walked over the glass and peered down through it and into the room below; he was immediately taken aback by what he saw. The room was completely white and had nothing it with the exception of one thing. Standing in the center of the white room was a brown horse with an hourglass printed on its flank.

“Prodigious…” said the brown horse as it looked up at the staring captain.