The final frontier

by capkirk123

3 Investigation

"Ummm, I'm not the only one seeing this, right?" Asked Austin cautiously.

"Nope, that's a city full of goddamn rainbow horses" Deadpanned O'Neal.

"Abner, would you kindly explain what the hell we're seeing here."

"This is among the dozens of settlements we have found on this planet's surface." Replied Abner.

"So, we've found a planet of rainbow horses?"

"No, there seem to be several other intelligent species as well, including Griffons and zebras."

"So, we've found rainbow animal land?"

"You could say that."

"Wait, isn't this place is in high orbit of a brown dwarf. There shouldn't be enough light to sustain that kind of plant life." pointed out O'Neal.

"Well, there seems to be a miniature star." Replied Abner.

"Just when I thought this couldn't get weirder." Muttered O'Neil.

After several more minutes of conversation, and a couple theories as to what was going on (The suggestion that they were all in a dream was quickly debunked by Spearing, who claimed she could always tell if she was dreaming), they decided to bring the Intrepid over to the planet, unofficially named "rainbow pony land" and see if they could send a group of marines to the surface with the scientists to gather some samples and get a closer view of the inhabitants.

Soon, the Intrepid was ready for the jump. Fortunately, since they were in such high orbit of the star, they were at almost perfect orbital velocity. With a slight lurch, the Intrepid instantly accelerated to the speed of light, before returning to subliminal speeds a second later. The drop from FTL was a bit bumpy, no thanks to their close proximity to the planet's gravity well, but the FTL drive was fine. As soon as the drive had shut down, the ship began slowly turning around, before lighting up its main engines, correcting its orbit to meet up with the Prometheus. They switched over to cold gas thrusters as they grew closer, and opened up their radiators. However, miles below the them, their short burn did not go unnoticed.

All across Equestria and some parts of the neighboring countries, a small light, noticeably brighter than the stars around it, appeared in the night sky. Most were asleep, or not particularly concerned with watching the night sky, and did not notice it. However, a certain purple unicorn did.

---

Twilight Sparkle looked up to the night sky, her telescope on the balcony next to her. The mid-summer months were particularly good for star watching, and Rainbow Dash had assured her their wouldn't be a cloud in the sky. Princesses Luna had told her a day before that there would be a small meteor shower. Nothing particularly large, but since most didn't happen until later in the year, and usually weren't visible from Ponyville, this was a unique opportunity. Spike was already asleep, but had spent most of the day helping Rarity, so she had let him have the evening off. After all, it wasn't like she would need help stargazing, although she felt spike might want to see the meteor shower.

As Twilight mentally labeled constellations and stars waiting for the shower to start, she noticed a flicker of light in the corner of her eye, causing her to glance over. A pure white light, too bright to be star, and moving to slow to be a meteor, was slowly working its way across the sky. Twilight scrambled to point her telescope at it, but just before she could, it faded out, leaving nothing but a faint glowing, which quickly dissipated. She continued searching with her telescope, slowly tracking the path the glow would have taken.

As she neared the horizon, she spotted something. A faintly flickering light, similar to that of sunlight reflecting off metal. It disappeared for a second and as her eyes adjusted, she could make out a faint outline against the blackness of space. Then, with a harsh glare, the reflected light obscured her vision again. Before Twilight could get any further looks, it slipped beneath the horizon. Quickly, she grabbed a notebook and pen and lit her lamp, no longer interested in a meteor shower as she began sketching what she saw.

---

After the short burn, the Intrepid and Prometheus quickly rendezvoused. Both ships were in a slow roll, to ease the stress on the climate control systems, which caused polished surfaces to occasionally reflect sunlight. Most of the bridge crew, seated to the side or below the front screen, barely noticed, but the captain's chair was directly in the center, with a clear view to the glare. Something, though Austin as yet another flash of light left him seeing spots in one eye, that gets very annoying after a couple minutes. He reached over to his console, and increased the opacity and sensitivity of the screen and external cameras. Much better, he thought, as the next flash of sunlight was almost completely blocked out. He quickly got back to looking over the crew roster. While normally the marine commander, Sergeant Major Anna Lewin would be in charge of choosing who would go on a mission like this, he felt like making the choice himself.

The planet was, as one could tell just by looking, Garden-class. It had an atmosphere consisting of nearly 30% oxygen, 60% nitrogen, and the rest carbon dioxide, argon, and other typical trace gasses. Plus the large amount of water, floral and animal life in some cases seemingly identical to that on earth, mostly flat land, an average temperature of 15 degrees Celsius, and gravity of .92 Gs, it scored as more habitable for human life than Earth itself.

Of course, the most certainly non-spacefaring civilization living on the surface meant colonization was out of the question. On the other hand, several of the intelligent species on the planet seemed to posses some form of telekinesis, giving it the ability to hold things meant for hands with things that were most certainly not. The most pronounced example was the unicorns, one of the three "pony" subspecies, who could lift objects at least as big as they were, even at relatively long distances, although this ability seemed to be limited by line of sight. The shear number of intelligent species, most from earth mythology, or even currently existing earth species, was also unusual. Already, theories that a portal of some kind had connected earth and this planet had popped up. Of course, all of this was from orbital observations, and a couple dips into the upper atmosphere by a shuttle, and actual samples would be needed to determine any of this for sure. Which, if things went to plan, they would have soon.

Meanwhile, on the lower decks of the intrepid, it was lunchtime for the alpha shift of marines. David had just finished showering off from his morning workout, hair still wet. He knew the shower had cost him a decent portion of his monthly water ration, but sometimes the various dry cleaning methods just didn't cut it. He grabbed sandwich, consisting of peanut butter and some form of flavored nutrient paste smeared in-between two loaves of bread. He sat down at a relatively empty table and took a bite. Surprisingly not bad, he thought as he took another bite. He was interrupted as someone sat down next to him. He glanced up to see his bunk mate, Mark, with a bowl of soup.

"Y'know, these PB&R sandwiches aren't so bad," Said David.

"PB&R? Peanut butter and rations? I think I'll pass." said Mark, looking with disgust at David's sandwich.

"Oh come on, it isn't that bad. I think they actually managed to find some grape flavored paste to but on these."

"Whatever you say," responded Mark. After a second, Mark looked up. "I bet the officers don't have to deal with this." he mumbled accusingly.

"The officers get the same food as we do. we've both been to the officers mess before, remember." countered David. Mark grudgingly agreed, before continuing to eat his soup.

Just as David was finishing his lunch, his tablet pinged. He reached down and picked it up, looking at the message he had received. It was from the captain, requesting that he come to the shuttlebay. He looked over, and noticed that Mark had gotten a message too. "You get called down to the shuttlebay?" asked David.

"Yeah, and by the captain himself. It must be important. Or something." replied Mark, somewhat nervously.

"Wonder what it could be," said David.

"I dunno, but I bet it has something to do with the planet we're in orbit of. I got a glance of it from the lounge, and it looked pretty earth-like."

"Wait, what were you doing in the lounge?"

"Uhh, nothing. But It is unusual for the captain to call marines down himself." Said Mark, trying to change the subject.

David just sighed, and continued walking. The rest of the journey to the shuttlebay was relatively quiet, most of the marines still on lunch break, and most of the officers on the upper decks. As they walked into the shuttlebay, they noticed an atmospheric shuttle was already prepped for launch, the faint hum of its reactor barely audible over the background noise of the ship.

The atmospheric shuttle was the size of a small bus, and despite it's boxy shape, was fairly sleek. Two intakes protruded halfway down each side, and a pair of exhaust nozzles extended from the rear, as well as several cold gas thrusters. A pair of short wings were folded against its hull, to stabilise the shuttle in atmosphere.

A small group of scientists stood nearby, several from the Prometheus, based on their uniforms, excitedly talking among themselves. The Captain and Sergeant Master Lewin Stood nearby.

"Well, looks like we're gonna be escorting some civvies while they explore some brave new world" said Mark.

"Hey, they've proven themselves reasonably good at not dieing." Responded David.

They approached the Captain and Lewin. Lewin stepped forwards, and after glancing around to make sure it was only them and the scientists, began talking. "Well, as you've probably guessed, you're going to be escorting some scientists for this mission" Started Lewin.

"But, don't expect this to be your standard mission to some dead rock floating in space." continued the captain. He motioned to the projector nearby, which had a holographic projection of a planet displayed. At first glance, it could be mistaken for Earth, but it only had three noticeable continents, one stretching from pole to pole, and two more on the opposite side of the planet, looking rather similar to the first, but separated by a sea that looked no wider than a dozen miles at a few points. "This planet, as well as being the most earth-like planet ever discovered, contains several intelligent species, many from ancient mythology. The council has already approved this mission, and are expecting results soon."

Mark and David looked somewhat skeptical, but continued listening after a harsh glare from Lewin. "We want you to go to here" Said the captain, motioning to a forested area, near the base of a mountain, in the southern hemisphere. The hologram zoomed in, showing a thick deciduous forest. To the east, the forest grew much thicker, turning from a light green to an ominous, darker color, completely covering the forest floor below. To the north, the forests thinned almost completely, turning plains. Towards the very top, what looked like fields of wheat and an orchard could be seen. "Three biomes seem to meet here, and while all of them seem to resemble earth, the thicker forest seems to contain some unusually large animals. A settlement of one of the native species is nearby, so you may get a chance to observe the natives, although you may want to take caution to not be spotted. There is a fortress city on top of the nearby mountain, so you may get a chance to observe that. Also, a cloud formation to the north seems to remain completely stationary, and it keeps generating unusual radar returns, so you should probably steer clear. And remember, they are non-space faring, so preventing cultural contamination is to be more important than your lives."

The captain continued briefing them about the mission, including the natives they would likely encounter. The inhabitants of the nearby village were, to the surprise of the two marines, small, technicolor, pony-like creatures. They looked somewhat cute, almost as if they had been taken from a cartoon. However, the somewhat ridiculous flying abilities of the Pegasuses, along with the telekinetic abilities shown by the unicorns, were somewhat concerning. Of course, they had to remain in full environmental containment while on the surface to prevent the spreading of any alien bacteria or other organisms.

Seeing as they would likely be encountering your average north american forest, with a potential mythological twist, both Mark and David decided to wear light power armor. It over doubled your strength, had a full sensor suite, had chemical boosters to allow it to fly short distances, and had enough armor to withstand .50 cal fire, albeit only on sections of the front. They both had standard issue 10 mm assault rifles and handguns, too weak for combat against most power armor and vehicles, but rapid firing and light, perfect for unarmored targets. David grabbed a .50 cal Gauss marksmen rifle as well, while Mark went for a rocket launcher.

"Really? You're bringing a rocket launcher?" asked David incredulously as he attempted to fit his pistol into a leather holster. "You'll only be able to carry three rockets. Plus, it seems a bit overkill."

"Well, there's no kill like overkill" responded Mark. "And who knows? It'll be useful if we have to fight a dragon."

"There aren't dragons anywhere near where we're landing" pointed out David. "If there were, we would've seen them from orbit."

"You're no fun" said Mark with a fake pout as they hopped into the shuttle.

Author's Note:

Well, I don't have an excuse to not write now that it's summer break, so I guess I better start writing. These chapters take quite a while to write, but at least I can use my PC now. Also, for the sake of keeping things simple(ish), this story will assume that only the ponies, griffons, zebras, minotaurs, diamond dogs and dragons are sapient, while everything else is simply unusually intelligent. Also this is (or was, until the ponies showed up) relatively hard sci-fi, so everything, with the exception of the Alcubierre style FTL drives/gravity manipulation (they're the same thing) and magic, is within the reach of modern technology, or at least a proven theory.

Comments

[Reeve]

Don't know anything about the story itself, just noticed something in the description that tonnes of people do but probably shouldn't

MLP:FiM and all associated material is property of Hasbro

This is a fanfiction site, it's pretty obvious that the one thing that links all the stories on here is not owned by any of the writers, and since this is a non-profit site it's not like you'd be breaking any rules by leaving that out.

[badninja]

So far it has been enjoyable enough to warrant being tracked. So the real question is how will this all go to heck? I also applaud you starting this story on a tablet it had to be a real headache to type out.

[capkirk123]

6062393 Hey, thanks for tracking. Now that I have learned a bit more about proper dialogue and have access to a tab key, things should get better. Also, for how everything goes wrong shuttle+magical rainbow= boom, and biology is happy to do the rest

[Mister E]

I like the take on Equestria being visited from space faring vessels as opposed to the constant portal from another dimension motif that everyone uses.Next chapter should be very interesting.

[capkirk123]

Rewrite inbound