> Protocol D
>  by Topaz Moon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1 - The Creature  -(R1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes and potion bottles were scattered around the table. Near the end lay Twilight’s head, resting peacefully upon her foreleg. Every now and then, a slight snore escaped her muzzle. This was interrupted by a small, purple claw poking her in the side, followed by the owner of said claw shouting for her to get up. Groggily, she half-opened her eyes, realizing that she had fallen asleep in her basement lab... again.

Suddenly, Twilight shouted, "Spike! What time is it?!" as she frantically flailed around, her body not quite caught up to her mind's wakefulness. "Oh no, we're going to be late! Get my checklist," she said, finally getting her hooves under her.

Spike suppressed a snicker behind his claw. "Calm down, Twilight! It's only 6am, and it’s Saturday. There’s nothing scheduled today except for a trip to the spa this afternoon with Rarity. Remember, this was a break day for us," Spike said, a grin still plastered on his face.

"You're quite right, Spike; sorry for yelling. Wait— what do you mean was? And why are you waking me, then?" Twilight asked while she looked at the small dragon, trying to spot if he had a scroll or not. 

Spike started wringing his claws, then pointed upstairs before he answered, "There’s a pony here to see you, and she said it's urgent."

"Did they say what they wanted this early in the morning?" she asked of him.

Spike shook his head and replied, "No, just that she needed you right away."

Twilight looked around her lab briefly, making sure everything was turned off and stored away, before she started up the stairs with Spike following her. At the top of the stairs, Twilight paused for just a moment to cast a quick spell, straightening out her mane and tail, before going through the door to the library’s main room.

Twilight groaned slightly as soon as she saw who was in the middle of the library. There stood Ditzy Doo, shifting nervously from hoof to hoof, but still looking too perky for this time of the day. 

At least it's not a completely crazy pony I get to start my day with.

Once Ditzy Doo saw Twilight, she immediately started to bow. "Good morning, Princess Twilight," she said, still bowing.

Twilight sighed. "Good morning to you too, Derp— I mean Ditzy. Please stand up. How many times have I told you..." and everypony else in town, she thought, "...that you do not need to bow to me or address me as Princess?" Not waiting for an answer, she continued, "So what brings you here at this early hour?"

Ditzy stood up and looked at Twilight. Well, at least Twilight thought she was looking at her; one eye was looking mostly at her, while the other seemed to be looking at the ceiling. She thought it was a very unfortunate trait for a pegasus, and a few times wondered if there was any way to fix her wall-eyes.

Gathering her thoughts, Ditzy explained how she was out helping a friend who was sick. She had decided to take a detour while flying back home from delivering the last newspaper to the Apple family. She liked to watch the river from the bridge near the park on the south side of town, and thought it would be nice to do so for a little bit. While passing over the rock pile on the edge of Sweet Apple Acres, she saw something unusual. When she stopped to get a look, she realized it was some creature she had never seen before. It seemed to be sleeping in a rather uncomfortable position, and was completely in the open, so she went down for a closer view. Upon landing, she noticed that it appeared to be in bad shape, and she was not able to wake it up. The only reaction she was able to get from it was a few groans.

"After that, I flew here to get you, Prin— Twilight. It looks like it needs help, and I thought you would be the best pony to inform.”

"You have no idea what it is, though?" Twilight asked.

Ditzy looked to the ground and softly said, "Sorry, Twilight. I might not be as book smart as you or your friends, but I do know that it is not like anything I have seen before. It was wearing clothes, though."

Twilight smiled at her. "That's ok; I didn't mean anything like that. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I assure you that I will have this… creature… checked on."

Twilight then escorted Ditzy to the door and waved goodbye to her. She called to Spike and informed him that she would be going to see about this so-called creature soon. 


------------------------------


It was set to be a nice, spring day. Twilight stepped outside her door into the cool, early dawn air. The breeze felt nice against her lavender fur, but she was not too happy that this possibly relaxing day might be spoiled. This was one of the rare times that the few guards assigned to Ponyville, due to the newly crowned resident princess, might have been of use… but they were up in Canterlot for training. Twilight launched a magical flare into the sky, one that only her fellow Element Bearers could see. She was pretty sure Applejack would see it and come running, possibly Fluttershy also, but the other three were just a long shot.

Twilight thought about going to Sweet Apple Acres to get Applejack herself, but did not want to miss her on the way. Instead, she sat outside her library enjoying the morning air. She had Spike bring out a small breakfast, consisting of toast and orange juice, while she waited for at least Applejack to arrive. She started thinking back to the slightly cryptic letter Princess Celestia had sent almost three weeks earlier… 



Dear Twilight,

My sister and I would like you to keep an ear open for rumors of any strange sightings, unknown/unusual devices, or anything unexplainable. If you hear any that might sound credible, please spare some time to investigate. If they do turn out to be truly strange, unknown, or unexplainable to you, please inform us. You may tell your friends the same, but make sure they do not tell anypony else. There is no need to get a bunch of ponies worried about what most likely will be nothing.

On a happier note, Cadance and your brother should be in Canterlot in a month if you wish to visit. I hear you are getting better at flying— maybe you could show off your new flying skills to your brother and sister-in-law.

Your Friend,
Celestia


PS: Do not get too worked up about this. It is not some grave threat to us all—otherwise we would inform the Guard—it is just a theory Luna has, and it might turn out to be nothing.



Despite the fact that she was a princess now, Twilight was still in training, so she was not always informed of what went on up in Canterlot. It made her sad, not knowing everything that went on with the other princesses. Yet, it was also a relief; she liked her friends too much, and did not want princess duties to interfere with her daily routines just yet.

It did not take long before Twilight saw Applejack galloping up to the library. "Ah saw the flare an’ came over straight away. What's the problem?” Applejack asked, before she had even stopped.

Twilight stood up and replied, "Good morning, Applejack. I was awoken by Ditzy Doo just a little while ago. It seems she has seen some strange creature, either passed out or sleeping, out by the rock pile on your farm. If you recall the letter the Princess recently sent, I believe this qualifies as something to look into."

Applejack looked ready to take off without her. Facing the way she had just come from, she looked over her shoulder and asked, "Well, whatcha waitin’ for? If there's somethin’ on mah farm, Ah wanna know about it."

"Hold on, AJ— I want to wait a little bit to see if any of the other girls show up," Twilight responded.

A grin spread across Applejack's muzzle as she said, "You forgot, didn't ya? Rainbow and Fluttershy are off in Los Pegasus until tonight. Pinkie Pie… well, Ah forgot what she was doin’, but Ah know she's outta town ‘til late this afternoon. Miss Prissy will be sleepin’, so it's just you an’ me."

Twilight laughed, "Oh, I completely forgot. Let’s head on over there, then."

With that, they cantered off at a fast, but still leisurely pace, and began to chit-chat.


------------------------------


It took them nearly 30 minutes to reach the edge of the clearing where the rock pile was. Standing in the tree line, they gazed about the area. The rock pile stood out prominently in the small clearing, casting a long shadow in the early morning light. Small rocks lay strewn about like normal. They did not see anything unusual at first, so they moved forward into the clearing and started scooting around the side of the rock pile. Finally, they saw the creature laying on the other side of the pile, along with a small bag. Twilight and Applejack approached carefully until they were only a few feet away.

In front of them was indeed a strange creature. It looked to be bad off, just as Ditzy described. Based this on the fact that its hooves were covered in a hoofwear that covered the entire hoof, Twilight theorized that it was a biped, similar to a diamond dog or a minotaur. It also had hands similar to a minotaur, but much smaller, and with an extra digit. The similarities ended there. Unlike the blue, grey, brown, white, or black colored skin and fur of minotaurs or diamond dogs, this creature was a pale, pinkish-white. From what little skin she could see on its face, neck, and arms, it seemed mostly hairless, other than its strawberry blonde mane. Most of its body was covered in clothing, though the garments had seen better days. It was wearing a navy blue shirt on its torso, and a pair of tan shorts like Twilight had seen a minotaur wear before. There was a lack of a visible tail, though. It might be hidden in the shorts, she thought.

"Well, looky here. Looks like Derpy was right. Think this is what the Princesses had us on the lookout for?" Applejack asked.

"You know she does not like that nickname, Applejack," Twilight said with a frown.

Applejack grimaced slightly. "Ah know, it's just hard to remember. We thought that was her name for the longest time."

"I know, Applejack— I was just reminding you. I almost slipped earlier this morning, too. Anyways, to answer your question, yes, this might be. It certainly is not like anything I have seen before. It looks like it might be similar or related to minotaurs," she replied as she bent down to look closer. After a few moments, she gently rolled the creature onto its back. This movement elicited a groan from the creature, but nothing more.

Applejack peered down. "If that's a minotaur, it’s got some serious problems. It's lost all of its fur, even on its face, an’ its muzzle is missing. Is this some deformed, mutant one?" she asked.

"I’m thinking this is not a minotaur. It has some features similar to monkeys and apes that I have seen in books. It might be some exotic creature, or it might be some new race. It could be from down in the deep jungles south of the Zebra kingdom; those lands are largely unexplored. It could also be from the other side of the world that is mostly covered with water. We do know there are some large islands out there, but due to the dragons, sea monsters, and distances, they are not very well-explored," Twilight said as she looked over the creature.

"Well, no matter. This here creature looks in bad shape. Ah reckon we should get it to the hospital, an’ then worry about figurin’ what it is. Ah'll head on up to the barn an’ get the wagon." Applejack had already started to trot away as she finished speaking.

Twilight sat near the creature and pondered over what it might be, as well as what to do with it later. After taking it to the hospital, she decided she would first send a letter to Princess Celestia. Next, she would gather up some books about lost races and exotic creatures, maybe even schedule a visit to Zecora. Twilight was so lost in thought that Applejack surprised her when she returned. 

Twilight levitated the creature and its bag into the wagon. "Huh, that was strange."

"What was, Twi?"

"That took slightly more magic power than it should have to lift it into the wagon," Twilight said with a furrowed brow.

"Somethin’ wrong about that?" Applejack asked.

With a wave of her forehoof, Twilight replied, "No, just unexpected. This creature might have a slight magical resistance, similar to Spike and some other species. I don’t think it’s enough to affect anything, it just takes a little more energy to cast spells on it."

Once they were set to go, Applejack started pulling the wagon to the hospital with Twilight in tow.


------------------------------


The trip to the hospital was uneventful, aside from Twilight’s rambling on about possibilities of what the creature might be. After they arrived, Twilight had Applejack stay outside with the creature while she went inside to get some assistance. A few minutes later, Twilight escorted a nurse out to the wagon. 

Once the creature was transferred to a gurney, the farm pony waved goodbye as she turned to go home. “Chores ain’t gonna do themselves!” Applejack called over her shoulder.

The nurse acted quite professionally— even with a strange creature before her, she did her job without gawking, as most ponies would have. As they passed through the lobby, Twilight was thankful that it was mostly empty; the few waiting there were either reading the newspaper or nodding off. She was not ready for news of the unexplained creature to get out quite yet, just in case it was what Celestia’s letter was about.

Twilight followed the nurse to an exam room to wait for the doctor to arrive. She entered the non-descript room, indistinguishable from many others in the hospital, while the nurse moved the creature from the gurney to a small examination table. As Twilight made her way to a bench near the table, the nurse washed her hooves in the medical cabinet’s sink before leaving.

A few minutes later, a forest green unicorn stallion wearing a lab coat entered the room. Noting the white-and-black binocular compound microscope cutie mark, Twilight assumed this was the doctor. This assumption was confirmed when he smiled and said, "Hello, Princess Twilight Sparkle. My name is Doctor Scope. I hear you have brought in an interesting patient." 

Twilight stood and moved towards the exam table. "Twilight is fine, and yes, I have. I am not quite sure what it is. It might be a trained beast, or a new race from one of the more unexplored areas of the world. Until we confirm anything, I would like you to keep word about this creature limited to you and a hoofful of assigned staff. I need to ask Princess Celestia about something," she said, motioning him to take a look.

"I understand,” the doctor responded. “I will assign Nurse Redheart and Nurse Snowheart to be the attending nurses, and I will stay on as the attending doctor. After the exam, I will put it in the isolation wing with strict orders as to who is allowed access."

"Other than those you assign as needed, I ask that the Princesses, Element Bearers, and my assistant Spike, be the only ones that can visit. This is just a precaution due to it being unknown," Twilight said, satisfied with the doctor’s indicated plans.

Doctor Scope took note of Twilight’s wishes on his clipboard. Looking up, his gray eyes focused on his patient. At first observation, he paused for a moment before scratching his short, gray mane. He then charged up his horn and said, “Well, let’s start by getting you out of these clothes so I can see what kind of condition you’re in.”

When the doctor took the shirt and shorts off, he was surprised to see another layer of clothes underneath. A pink article of clothing covered two small mounds on the creature's chest. Once it was removed, they quickly figured out what it was covering, and had reason to believe the creature was female. He moved on to the underwear next, using his magic to remove those as well. Fully aware of what ponies used that type of clothing for, Doctor Scope chuckled softly when he noticed Twilight blushing. Moments later, all doubt in either of their minds was gone— this creature was indeed a female of its species.

"Well, Twilight, as you can see, this creature is most definitely a female. Seems like its passive magic, that would normally cover its genitals like every other living thing, has failed. Not completely uncommon when a creature, or being, is severely injured or involuntarily unconscious. That being said, I will start my initial examination. Would you like to return later this afternoon or wait in the lobby?" he asked, pressing the call button for Nurse Snowheart.

Twilight thought for a moment while she trotted to the door before she replied, "I will wait. I need more information before I start my report."

"I'll send the nurse to get you when I’m done. No more than one or two hours," he said, turning back to his patient.


------------------------------


Twilight returned to the lobby; passing the oak reception desk, she found an alcove where several fillies and colts occupied a large U-shaped bench. The opposite side of the lobby was more open, so she chose to sit in one of the blue-gray cushioned chairs next to an end table with donated magazines on it.

As Twilight waited in the lobby, some of the fillies and colts approached her, excitedly asking questions about her adventures, what it was like to be a princess, and other random things. She gladly answered their questions; it allowed time to pass faster while she played the waiting game. On the flip side, though, it was slightly annoying— this was time she could be using to think about the events from earlier that morning. After a little while, the fillies and colts were called away to their appointments. Alone in the lobby, Twilight randomly picked up an old fashion magazine from the end table. 

While she casually flipped through the book, Twilight was eventually interrupted by her name being called. She smiled when she looked up to see a familiar pale, yellow-coated mare with a mane of light blue and lighter blue streaks, topped off with a white nurses’ hat. 

"Hello, Nurse Snowheart. I assume the doctor is finished?" Twilight asked, eliciting a nod from the nurse.

As Nurse Snowheart escorted Twilight back down the hall towards the exam room, she quietly asked, "P-princess, is this… thing... a danger to us?"

Letting the whole ‘Princess’ thing slide, Twilight answered, "I am unsure at this time. She did not look dangerous, though. I didn't see any claws, fangs, spines, or other sharp protrusions. However, she was mostly clothed, so like I said, I cannot be certain."

When they reached their destination, they found Doctor Scope at the counter, writing what they presumed to be the exam report. Nurse Snowheart gathered the creature's belongings and left the room. Seeing the bag reminded Twilight that she wanted to get a look inside it.

"Doctor, can I have the bag the creature had? I want to inspect what is inside," Twilight asked, looking at the now closed door.

He looked up and over to her. "You can tomorrow. The bag contained more clothing and some other possessions. All of the clothing is off to get washed, and the rest of the contents to be sterilized, before going to the isolation wing. Now, on to more important matters."

Twilight opened her mouth to protest, “Bu—” before closing it, deciding it would be of no use. Instead, she moved over to the creature’s side, where the doctor was standing. "Did anything interesting pop up in your exam?" she asked.

Doctor Scope levitated the chart over and began, "A few things, actually. I will get to them after I give my diagnosis report. Since this is not a pony, the name Jane Mare is not suitable. All medical reports will have her listed as ‘Rock Pile Creature’ until otherwise advised. When you brought her in, you mentioned you did not know if she was some sort of trained creature, like a pet, or an unknown race. I am leaning towards the latter.”

He cleared his throat and started reading his report aloud. “Patient, Rock Pile Creature, is a bipedal female with pale, whitish-pink skin. She has a flat face and small, blue eyes, and a light strawberry blonde mane. The only other indications of body fur, or hair, are her eyebrows. She is a little taller than a full-grown stallion, but shorter than Princess Celestia. Her weight, however, is only about three-quarters of the average adult mare; it’s just below 100 pounds. I am unable to get a more accurate height or weight until she is awake, and can stand. She has a tattoo on her left hip— it consists of five interlocking rings of various colors set in two rows, with three small rows of blue wavy lines under them,” he said as he paused to flip the page, letting the information sink in.

Twilight started to say something, but he cut her off and continued, "Our patient here has multiple cuts, scrapes, and bruises. One cut on her arm required a few stitches, the remaining wounds were cleaned and bandaged; we are awaiting test results to see if it is safe to use healing magic on her. Even though she is unconscious, she has shown signs of being in pain, so she has been sedated to allow her to rest better. She also has a fever; I am not sure what her normal body temperature should be, but I know she has a fever. Though I do not know the severity for sure, I suspect it is only a slight to moderate one. I believe she is also malnourished, even though she appears to be an omnivore." He paused, noticing Twilight's widened eyes.

Twilight interrupted before he could continue this time and asked, "Do you think she is a danger to others in the hospital, or the public in general? I would hate to have brought something dangerous into town without proper precautions being taken."

Doctor Scope only shook his head. "I don't believe so. There is a lack of visible dangers such as claws, spikes, or poisonous stingers. She does have nails, but they are small, and most likely not able to do more than scratch a little. Her fangs are also small, and probably not used to attack live prey, let alone the fact that she has no muzzle to assist in reaching any vital part of an animal. They may be left over from evolution, but again, I am not sure. 

“Moving on to her body,” he said, with a wave of his foreleg over her sleeping form, “you already noticed the lack of fur.” Twilight nodded and he continued, “This seems to be normal for her, though I saw evidence that she used to have a light layer on her arms and legs, and a couple more dense patches. I have no idea why it is missing now— possibly normal with age as I did not detect any sort of skin or other issue that would result in loss of body fur or hair. The skin itself, though, is not as durable as that of a pony. She does appear to be very flexible, and would likely retain a fair amount of strength, even when contorted. However, her muscle and bone density is not anywhere close to that of a pony. This can be evidenced by how slender the hands and digits are, along with the toes on the foot. Now for the fun stuff," he finished with a smile, leading Twilight over to a lightbox on the wall.

"Don't you mean feet? And none of that other stuff was the ‘fun’ information?" Twilight asked with a quizzical look in her eyes.

With a grin, he flicked the switch activating the lightbox viewer. Twilight had an idea of what she was seeing, but had never seen something like it that was this advanced or streamlined.

She looked over at the creature's legs on the bed, then back to the screen. "Is that what I think it is?"

With a grin still plastered on his face, Doctor Scope replied, "It is indeed. You are looking at the most advanced prosthetic leg I have ever seen."

"Are you sure? It looks so real," Twilight said, her eyes wide. She looked back to the creature on the table, almost in disbelief.

Doctor Scope nodded. "Other than that small black line that circles her right leg a little above the knee, and a very slight color difference, you would never know just by looking. I am tempted to think this is some experimental prototype; the covering is some rubbery material, but most of the other materials it is made of I cannot identify unless I take it apart. That is only the beginning. See how it is mounted? That metal plate is grafted onto her skin and bone. I believe that the nerves are partially connected to a piece in the middle," he explained.

Twilight's mind was racing with the implications. "How is that even possible?" she questioned.

Doctor Scope shook his head before responding, "I have no idea. If you look at her right side, you will see she has suffered multiple broken bones sometime in the past, as evidenced by the metal pins and plates in her upper arm, the mesh on a few of her ribs, and what seems to be a little sphere in her eye. I think the sphere might be some sort of protective shell based on the other damage on her right side. Who or whatever performed the surgeries was very good, as there are only the faintest traces of scarring."

Twilight nodded and briefly wondered if it was one big accident or multiple that caused the creature to need the metal implanted. It was not an uncommon medical practice by other races, or even some medical ponies. She was interested in the eye, but since the doctor seemed to ignore it, she did not press the issue at that moment.

After a brief pause to see if Twilight was going to say anything, the Doctor continued, "Also, as you probably noticed, she has a magical resistance. On the MR-Scale, she ranks an MR-3, just like your assistant, Spike. For comparison, a pony is usually between 0.5 and 1, outside of a pegasus’s natural MR-6 to 8 electrical and MR-2 to 4 cold resistance, while a full-grown dragon ranks 8 to 9."

"Yes, I did notice that, and it’s good to know it's just a small resistance, so your healing magic should still work if it’s safe to use on her," she said with a slight smile.

Doctor Scope's smile faded to a frown as he spoke. "Yes, we will be able to heal most of those surface wounds nicely, provided we are able to. But wait, there’s more!” he chuckled to himself, as Twilight rolled her eyes. “When I assumed her passive magic failed earlier due to her condition, I was wrong." He paused a moment before he continued, "She has absolutely zero magic." He watched as Twilight seemed to break.

Her face scrunched up, and the wheels in her head began turning. After a few moments, her horn started glowing a soft violet that matched her eyes. A minute later, the glow faded out, and she grinned.

"What spell did you cast?" the puzzled-looking doctor asked.

"When you said she had no magic, I could barely believe it. All known research tells us that everything has at least passive covering magic. I cast a spell to see the interaction with the magical field that permeates the world. She does interact with it, just not as much as most creatures of her size. It is still strange, though— I will have to look into it. Is there anything else?" Twilight finished, eyes still squinted at the creature as if she would give up her secrets.

The doctor picked up the clipboard and flipped through the pages before replying, "Not at this time. Feel free to come back tomorrow morning. She should still be asleep until sometime in the afternoon tomorrow, but you can come by to check on her, and grab her bag that will be in her room."

Twilight waved goodbye to the doctor and headed home with much on her mind. She was already planning what books to grab, the letter to write, and even what tea she wanted.


------------------------------


The afternoon sun shone into the side room of the library, illuminating several piles of books. The books were stacked on the floor in a haphazard array, and a few of the stacks looked to be on the verge of tumbling over. Between them, next to a window, a princess sat rubbing her temple, her eyes shut with a creased brow. All around her lay several crumpled papers. Twilight was thankful that the library was quiet today. In fact, only one visitor had come so far to check out a book. The local alchemist was not there long, though; she knew exactly what book she wanted, so she was not too much of a bother. Now, the library would have seemed empty, if not for Twilight’s mumbling that occasionally broke the silence. 

The quiet atmosphere was interrupted by a knock on the door frame. Twilight turned around to see a white unicorn mare fluffing her stylized purple mane. "Hi, Rarity. I’m going to have to pass on the spa trip today. Something has come up."

"Sorry, darling, but unless Canterlot is burning to the ground, you need to get some relaxation time in. You are a princess now, and you must look the part, even if you do not act like it all the time," Rarity said, while she trotted over and grabbed Twilight by her tail.

"I can't, I-I need to research this and plan out what I’m going to do tomorrow," Twilight whined, pulling out of her friend’s grasp.

Rarity, however, was not about to take no for an answer. "You can tell me all about it, and think of what you are going to do, while at the spa. Now, Princess, I insist you get out that door," she said, as she practically shoved Twilight out of the library.

Reluctantly, Twilight gave up resisting, and went peacefully with Rarity to the spa. She explained the events of the day. Rarity was right— the spa trip was very relaxing. Between the two of them, they came up with a plan for the next day. In the morning, both mares would go to the hospital to check in on the creature, and they would take Fluttershy with them. Twilight would get an update on the creature’s status, while Rarity would inspect the clothing to see if maybe she knew where it came from, or the designer. Fluttershy, being an expert on animals, would go just in case it was some sort of rare, exotic creature.



> Chapter 2 - Impact  -(R1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

   About Three Weeks Prior

A high-pitched alarm echoed throughout the cabin. Other than the red lights that flashed in time with the alarm, the only light source, a small beam shining through a crack in the protective window shielding, reflected off of various metal surfaces, dispersing just enough light to make out the cabin layout. The sound of small electric motors and metal sliding across metal filled the air as four stasis chambers’ protective shells retracted, converting them back into beds. Life stirred aboard the vessel as the occupants of the stasis chambers emerged. The hatch in the bulkhead between the cabin and the cargo bay creaked open, and an older male figure ducked through.

"Computer, shut the hell up! Turn off that alarm! Lights! I’m not awake enough for this crap," came a gruff voice from the man stomping through the cabin.

The alarm stopped, and a sigh of relief could be heard from those within the cabin. It did not last long, as it was followed by wincing and grimaces from the sudden light. As the older man made his way between the two rows of seats, two women and a younger man rose from their stasis chambers, stretching their limbs to get the tightness out of their muscles. A third woman remained seated in her now converted bed.

"Brake! Quit fooling around and get your ass up here!" the older, bald-headed man yelled.

A fairly tall man, though not as tall as the one stretching, swiftly entered from the cargo bay. "I'm comin’, Chief," he yelled back.

"Quiet down, you two. No need to burst everyone's eardrums the moment we wake up," one of the women said, scowling.

"Sorry, Ma'am," both men replied in unison.

"Chief Tylor, you and Petty Officer Brake figure out what that alarm was, where we are, and how long we were out for," the brunette ordered.

"On it, Ma'am," the chief answered, before he turned and started talking to Brake.

The commander faced the two stretching near her. "Petty Officer Kozlov and Airman Wellis, go back to the cargo bay and get some food and drinks for everyone.”

The tall man turned to leave, but the blonde woman complained, "Just waking up after who knows how long, and already a gopher."

At this, the small woman still sitting on the bed spoke. "Airman Maggie Wellis, just shut up and do what Commander Sanaba said."

Wellis put a fake pout on and replied, "Yes, Lieutenant Campbell." She then skulked out of the cabin.

Finally satisfied that her prosthetic leg was good to go, Lieutenant Cassandra Elizabeth Campbell began standing up. She gingerly placed her feet on the floor. Now upright, she looked up and around at the other members on board. Bringing her hands to her face, she rubbed the sleep from her blue eyes. She idly ran her fingers through her long, light strawberry blonde hair to get some of the tangles out. She then began to stretch like the others, making sure everything was working properly. After a few minutes, she walked over to the lockers next to the beds and located hers.

Everyone had an assigned escape ship, and on board, each had a locker that came packed with some emergency supplies in the bottom section. Everyone was required to add at least a few sets of regular clothes and two uniforms, then whatever else they wanted. Many used their locker as a small storage unit. At the moment, Cassandra was more concerned with finding the other prosthetic leg she had packed. “Okay, let’s see… camping kit, folding shovel, rope, emergency beacon, clothing… ah, here’s my—” Upon locating it, she let out a loud sigh. 

"What's wrong, Cassie? Don't like having to reprimand your friend?” asked CDR Sanaba, a quizzical look in her eyes. “I know you two grew up together, and even went to college together before she dropped out." 

"Hey, Ashley. No, no, it's not that,” Cassie responded, shaking her head. “I couldn’t remember if I packed my good leg in here or not, so I was checking if I had. But... I didn't— just another standard one like I have on already. I was hoping it was my robotic one that uses the entire nerve plate. This one, and the one I have on, can only feel a little pressure in the general area when touched, and only let me have slight ankle and knee movement when I’m not walking," Cassie said with a slight frown on her face.

Chief walked back to the two officers at the lockers just as Kozlov and Wellis came back from the cargo bay with the food. Kozlov indicated for everyone to stand back a few feet from the center area between the lockers and stasis chambers. He then punched a few buttons on a nearby wall console. A section of the floor rose up, creating a table that he and Wellis placed the food on. As expected, the long-term storage food was just a very small upgrade from cardboard, but the foreknowledge of that did not stop most from grumbling about the quality under their breath. 

With everyone eating, the chief began his explanation of the situation. “It’s been a year and five months since the destruction of the Quasar. Our location is currently unknown. There’s a possibility that we’re not even in the Milky Way Galaxy anymore. The computer could not locate any familiar stars, but that’s most likely because the navigation array and long-range sensors are damaged, and currently have only limited functionality and range.”

Chief took a breath and grabbed a drink, then continued, “It seems that the spatial anomaly we entered after the main ship was abandoned was some sort of wormhole. We’re definitely farther from where the ship exploded than one or two years could take us. Even damaged, the navigation array would be able to ascertain our position if we were still in that general vicinity, space-wise. During stasis, our ship linked up with transport ships one and three. Ship three has had no response, but ship one responded, and Brake is currently getting the status of the ships. Four crewmen made it aboard ship one, but it was badly damaged.” It was at this point that Brake joined them.

Brake leaned against the bulkhead and started relaying the rest of their own ship’s status. “The window shields are malfunctioning. Only one would open, but it only opened about halfway. Engines are basically dead— they’ll only be good for a little bit before complete failure. All compartments still have full integrity. Some of the solar panels are damaged, but power remains at seventy percent. Ship one confirmed Chief's wormhole theory; they could not place our location, either. Ship three still had no response— status unknown. Somewhere in the last year and five months, the three ships got tangled up with some meteoroids. Other than just being battered, a few of the bigger rocks decided it would be fun to wedge between the ships. Unfortunately, they jammed the connectors linking us together. The only way to detach from one another would be for someone to do a spacewalk.”

CDR Sanaba finished the sandwich she was eating. "That shouldn't be a problem for now. What did Captain Wheeler have to say?" she asked.

Brake started fidgeting before he replied, "That's a problem, Ma'am. The Captain didn't make it on board, and neither did the Command Master Chief. Since we cannot get a hold of anyone in ship three, we don't know if CDR Drake is on board. That leaves you in charge of all three ships." Brake's eyes darted around the cabin.

The Chief lightly slapped Brake on the back of the head and said, “Come on, spit it out.” 

Brake rubbed the back of his head. "There’s also another problem. In about one to two hours, we’ll be landing on a planet. Due to the window shield malfunction, we can’t really see much. If you get in the far corner of the cockpit and look, you can see we are coming in from the side. The planet appears to have an atmosphere, though the exact composition is unknown. As everyone knows, these ships are designed to find any space body with some sort of atmosphere and automatically land. That way, the air can at least be filtered to be breathable inside the ship while awaiting rescue. From the—" He was cut short; CDR Sanaba had rushed past him, LT Campbell following close behind her. Had they let him finish, he could have told them that the planet looked to be an actual Earth-like planet.

Ashley and Cassie both squeezed into the corner of the cockpit, trying to get a view of the planet. It would have been much easier if they had waited until the ship realigned for a proper approach, but they had to see now. They gazed upon a planet very similar in color to Earth, but it was not Earth— the land masses were all wrong, there was much more vegetation, and no obvious signs of civilization. 

"We did it, Cassie. We actually did it. We found an Earth-like planet that is probably habitable, and hospitable, to human life. Not exactly the planet we were headed to, and our circumstances of getting here were not the greatest, but here we are," Ashley whispered excitedly, just loud enough for Cassie to hear. With a huge grin on her face and amazement in her eyes, Ashley said, “Just look at how blue that atmosphere shines, and how clean the air looks!” 

Cassie, with an equally large smile and wide eyes, replied, "Hell yeah! Now we just need to get down there and start an atmospheric analysis as best we can with this broken ship. Oh! And figure out where we are, and hope a rescue ship can reach us. But yes, it looks like our mission was a success! Well, in a roundabout way." Almost vibrating in place, Cassie added, “Lots of water down there, too. Look at those large oceans and lakes! I can’t wait to take a dip.”

Over the following hour, CDR Sanaba had the Chief and Brake coordinate with Ship one. The ships were not designed to land while still linked, but there wasn’t enough time to do a spacewalk to try and dislodge the meteoroids. Manual firing of the forward thrusters and deployment of the parachutes were going to have to be timed together. With the status of ship three still unknown, they had to make sure it also landed safely. 

With only 30 minutes to go, everyone was in their environmental suits. Even with the suits on, they were still able to easily move about the ship to complete preparations, as the suits were tough yet didn’t overly impede freedom of movement. The suits’ communications were all set to the same frequencies so everyone would be able to talk with the crews on both ships. It was a standard procedure in case the cabin became compromised upon landing, and the air wherever they landed had not been deemed safe yet. 

Piloting the ship, CDR Sanaba and PO3 Kozlov went through the final checks for landing procedures. LT Campbell and AN Wellis finished making sure the cabin was secured for landing, then they made their way to the rear-facing seats behind the pilots. With no other seating available, Chief Tylor and PO3 Brake returned to their stasis beds in the cargo bay and strapped in. CDR Sanaba announced to both crews that they were about to enter the atmosphere. Seconds later, they felt the jolt of coming in contact with the upper atmosphere of the planet. A thought tingled in the back of Cassie’s mind, but she could not place it.

A small explosion shook all three ships, and Cassie immediately remembered what it was she was forgetting. For those meteoroids to get wedged between the three ships, they needed to be five to twenty feet long in at least one direction. With the ships around them, they would not burn away like normal, but would superheat and explode. Before she could tell the Commander to somehow stop the landing, several larger explosions rocked the ships, followed by a massive one.

Warning bells blared, and lights lit up the cockpit like a Christmas tree. The ship was violently thrown to the side, and the sound of rending metal resonated through the cabin. The emergency bulkhead slammed shut, cutting off the cargo bay. The screech of tearing metal once again echoed through the small cabin as they started spinning out of control. The Commander and Kozlov panicked, trying to get the craft under some control, and profuse amounts of swearing was heard across the suits’ internal communicators. Thrusters could be heard, but barely felt, as they fired in an attempt to stabilize and slow the craft. The lurch of a parachute being opened was felt for a brief second, but seemed to do little to halt the fall.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!" CDR Sanaba shouted. 

There was a final blast of a thruster being fired, followed by the rumble of metal sliding over dirt and gravel, before the ship came to a stop with the crunching sound of metal. Now, the only sounds from the ship were the pings and pops of metal cooling. Not one of the crewmembers was conscious to see the birds and other small wildlife flee the vicinity of where the ship just crashed.


------------------------------


Anypony that happened to be up at this hour, and looking in the direction north of Canterlot, would have seen what appeared to be an explosion in the sky. Most would have deemed it a very nice meteor shower; a few saw something else. The next day in the papers, it would be listed as ‘a most spectacular showing of a large meteor breaking up in the sky in a fiery explosion, sending flaming chunks across the sky in several directions until they burned up.’ Many letters of praise from the astronomical society, and other amateur stargazers, were sent to Princess Luna, giving thanks for the unexpected show.

Celestia was having a pleasant dream when she was rudely awoken. It was not the sound of the guards running around, or the loud crashing sound moments earlier that woke her— it was the tingling of her horn due to magical wards being breached. She swiftly ran to the balcony attached to her quarters. Knowing where to look, she ignored the nighttime view of the city past the castle walls, and instead looked to the Royal Canterlot Sculpture Gardens.

The usual lovely view of the well-manicured gardens was broken by the sight of a few small fires, smoke rising from a section of the garden, and a large number of ponies running around. It looked like chaos down there, but there was order to it. Pegasus guards were quickly getting the fires under control with well-placed rainclouds, while unicorn guards were picking up debris with their magic, and earth pony guards searched for signs of an intruder. In the sky, Celestia saw the leftover trail of flaming objects off in the distance.

"Discord," she murmured.

Celestia did not bother putting on her royal regalia. She instead teleported in a flash of white light to where Discord's statue should have been. Due to an ‘Incident’ after Twilight's coronation, he had been temporarily re-encased in stone as punishment, but also for him to reflect upon his actions. Celestia was not sure how much of a punishment it had actually been, though. He had taken great joy in picking a new pose for his encasement. 

However, it seemed his imprisonment had been cut short. In place of his statue was a small crater with a hot, glowing hunk of metal and wires. Shattered pieces of stone covered the area, some of which seemed to have been pulverized to dust, others most likely vaporized by the heat and force of impact from the metal object.

Celestia motioned to the closest pegasus guard. He landed and gave his bow.

"I need you to go get Princess Luna. Tell her I need her here immediately," Celestia said with a calm voice.

The guard saluted, then took off towards the castle. Celestia looked to one of the unicorn officers nearby and called him over.

Celestia asked, "What is the current report, Major?"

The Major replied, "Princess Celestia, one guard has been seriously injured, one guard is still missing. They were on patrol near here when this happened. Fires are under control and almost out. We do not know enough about Discord to know his status, but his statue was thrown over the hedge. If you look in the sky to the north, you can still see some of the smoke trails left over from whatever it was up there that seemed to explode. This metal part appears to have come from there."

Celestia nodded in acknowledgment of the new information. She then sent the Major back to his duties. In a pale-blue flash, Luna was now standing next to her. Celestia relayed the information she was just given.

Luna then made her own addition to the report. While she was unsure of what metal type it was, or how it came to be there, she did know that part of the explosion was indeed caused by meteorites. However, these were ones that were not supposed to have been there for a few months still.

"Dear sister, where is Discord’s statue?" the younger alicorn asked.

Celestia smiled for a brief second, then her horn gave a soft golden glow for a few moments, opening a section of the hedge.

Luna cocked a brow. "I… see.” She waved a hoof in the statue’s direction and said, “He is likely fine. Let him lay in the dirt.” Luna made a mental note to remind Discord that even when in stone, he was predictable in his mischief.

Together, the two alicorn sisters chuckled a bit before inspecting the large L-shaped hunk of metal. It was still hot, but not glowing hot anymore. They took note of the markings on it— neither could decipher what was written, nor did they recognize what appeared to be a flag and emblem. To keep the investigation quiet, they decided that they would send letters to their fellow princesses to keep an eye out for any strange sightings or unusual devices. They were also going to neglect telling them about the object for the time being. They then recorded the markings for later study.

~| SSC Quasar (SEF-02) |~
~| Transport Escape Ship #1 |~
~| Flag Image  Emblem Image |~


------------------------------


Black smoke filled the already dark cabin. Lights on the piloting console, along with a few overhead, flickered dimly in the darkness, barely cutting through the thick, smoky haze filling the cabin. Various panels were open or missing completely. Wiring hung from the ceiling and walls where sections had fallen in, giving off sparks on occasion. An orange glow emanated from the rear of the cabin, along with a small sliver of silver moonlight filtering in through a gap between the hatch lip and the emergency bulkhead. The moonlight did little to illuminate the cabin; the small sliver was angled into the rolling smoke spreading out along the ceiling and swallowed up, leaving little more than a barely visible beam in the haze.

Cassie regained consciousness in the middle of this chaos. Her head pounded, and she felt like she had been on the receiving end of a tackle from a linebacker. She made a tentative check of her body to see if anything was broken. Thankfully, it didn’t seem that way. She cracked open her eyes to take in what little she could see from her position. It was hot; even through the environmental suit, she could feel the heat. Realizing the orange glow was a fire that needed to be put out, Cassie unstrapped herself from the seat. She tried rolling to the side, but found her movement hindered. Reaching up and turning her helmet lights on, she looked down and noticed that not all of the pressure she felt was a result of the impact. On her lower right leg and foot lay one of the heavier parts of a stasis chamber. Not being the strongest person around, and sitting at a slight tilt, Cassie was unable to get the leverage needed to dislodge the hunk of metal.

"Hey, is anyone out there?" Cassie asked into the comm system. "Commander, Chief, Maggie, Kozlov, Brake! Anyone!" she yelled, receiving no answer.

Cassie looked to where Maggie had been seated, but both her friend and the seat were gone. When she strained her neck to see into the cockpit behind her, she located the seat— it had been ripped from the floor, and was in a pile of debris at the front. Cassie’s spirit took a punch to the gut at the sight. Her eyes glazed over as tears slowly spilled out. She had a very good idea of what lay in that pile of debris, and it was not helping her in this situation. She called out once more, in hope that her eyes were playing a trick on her in the darkness. Nothing came back through the comm system but the occasional blip of static.

With the temperature still rising, and the smoke filling up more of the cabin, she needed to get out of the chair, and quickly. She hastily came up with a plan, though it was very risky. After a quick look around, Cassie found what she was looking for. She reached to the side, grabbed a small, jagged hunk of metal, and began cutting the seat belt straps off of the seat. She took one of the straps and started to loop it around her right thigh, about halfway down. Taking the free end, she pushed it back through the tightening mechanism. Once ready, she cinched the strap down on her leg as hard as she could, then trimmed the free end off so only a little was hanging. Next came the part that broke all protocols— praying that she tightened the strap well enough, she carefully cut into the suit just below the strap.

After a few minutes, Cassie had cut the suit leg off, exposing her prosthetic one. She gently rubbed her gloved hand around where the connection socket on her leg was, pulling the rubbery material off of her skin as well as the socket. It wasn’t painful, as the rubbery material was only glued on with costume glue to hide the black socket. With the rubber free, she rolled it down, exposing the connection point. She started to undo the thumb screws on the front and sides that held the leg to the socket. 

"DAMN IT!" she screamed to no one, as the screws slipped from her gloved hand and rattled into the pile of debris.

No longer thinking about whether or not she was still sealed from the unknown contents of the air, she pushed the prosthetic forward until it was free of the socket. Cassie then rolled to the side, hitting the floor with a thud. Thanks to the small tilt, she slid slightly towards the cockpit for a moment. This only helped her, as she needed to get near the front of the ship anyways. After removing some debris, Cassie located the compartment that held one of the cockpit fire extinguishers.

Cassie's eyes narrowed, glaring at the slant, and mess of the ship. "Great. Just… fucking… great… This is going to be a blast trying to get back there to the fire in this tilted mess," she complained loudly, scowling at the rear of the cabin.

It took several minutes for her to finally get into a position where she could put the flames out. The lingering smoke began dissipating, flowing out of the gap in the emergency bulkhead. She leaned back against a dislodged stasis chamber and tossed the extinguisher to the side, letting it clank and clamor in the silence.

After resting a few moments, Cassie made her way back to the front of the ship. Reaching the first-aid compartment, she located the medkit inside and pulled out a tube of sealing bio-gel,  which was normally used to close wounds until they could be stitched. Wiping off her leg and the environmental suit as best she could with an alcohol wipe from the kit, she applied a liberal amount of the gel all the way around the leg, including on the inside of the suit up to the strap. She hoped that with enough, it would seal the suit to her leg. After five minutes passed, she gave the flexible gel a slight poke; it was mostly set. Taking a deep breath, she undid the strap around her thigh. She released the breath she was holding and resumed breathing normally. After a few minutes passed, and she was not on the floor flopping around like a fish out of water, Cassie breathed a sigh of relief— it seemed to have worked.

Cassie called out once again, this time hearing a groan in response.

"Lieutenant, is that you?" a male voice shakily asked.

Cassie hurriedly replied, "KOZLOV! Where are you? Are you ok? Answer me! Kozlov!"

Kozlov's voice was much too quiet for him, and tinged with weariness as he answered, "I-I’m still in my seat, but there’s crap all around me. I feel light-headed, and a little cold. Where’s the Commander, or my gir— Wellis?

Cassie grinned for a brief moment. She had a feeling Maggie was dating him, but was never flat-out told. Cassie’s grin quickly returned to a frown as she remembered where her friend was, and her most likely status. Her thoughts were then pulled back to the current conversation.

He shouldn’t be cold. 

It was rather warm in the cabin due to that fire. Cassie tried to muster up a confident tone in her reply. "They are… unresponsive at this time." She heard him sigh, but continued, "Just hang in there, I’ll dig you out."

It took a lot longer than Cassie had hoped to dig him out, but she was eventually able to free Kozlov. She was not prepared to see the final fate of her Commander and best friend, so she did not attempt to unbury them on the other side of the cockpit. She helped Kozlov from his seat to the floor, and laid him on his back.

"Ma'am, I have a problem," Kozlov softly stated, motioning for her to look down at his stomach with his arm.

Cassie followed his motions. She gasped upon seeing his left hand; it was wrapped around a shard of glass protruding from his side. Both Kozlov’s glove and the glass were marred with red streaks. She could see blood still slowly flowing from the wound, dripping down his side. She turned to find the medkit she used earlier. Cassie was no surgeon; she had only taken the basic medical training required. This wound, however, needed some tending to.

Cassie started speaking with as calm a voice as she could. "Kozlov, your suit has been compromised. For all we know, you are breathing in deadly toxins and microbes. I hope not, but I don't want to give you false hope. This needs to be removed. I’ll have to cut open your suit even more. The smoke has mostly cleared out, but if you start having breathing problems… I'm afraid there is little we can do at that point. The ship is not sealed," she informed him. She was glad he could not see the sadness in her eyes.

"I-I-it's ok, LT. I know you’ll do your best," Kozlov replied with a small smile.

As stated, Cassie cut open Kozlov’s suit even more, as well as his shirt. It was a nasty wound. Using some bandage wraps, she wiped away as much of the blood as she could. She then dumped a bunch of cleansing alcohol around the wound, causing him to wince and clench his teeth. Cassie placed her hand around the wound and pressed down firmly, but gently. Her other hand held the bio-gel.

"On the count of three, I need you to pull the glass straight out as fast as you can," Cassie ordered, sweat forming on her forehead. She waited for his acknowledgement, and then started the count. "One... Two... Three!" she nearly shouted.    

With a pained yelp, Kozlov pulled the shard from his side, while Cassie simultaneously pressed down around the wound. Once the glass was clear, she shoved the nozzle of the bio-gel into the wound and squeezed, pulling it back out slowly at the same time. Kozlov's arm landed on the floor with a loud thump, and the groaning stopped. 

Cassie knew he had passed out. He still needed to have the wound bandaged to help the bio-gel hold. She only hoped it worked, and would stop the internal bleeding. She finished the bandaging as the adrenaline finally left her body. Pain from the crash-landing was catching up, and she felt very tired. With the immediate problems solved for now, she found a place amongst the clutter to lay down, and closed her eyes.



> Chapter 3 - A New World  -(R1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The oranges and reds of sunrise still illuminated the sky as the first rays of Celestia’s sun shone upon the small, northern farming town of Hoofbreak Ridge. The citizens of the peaceful and laid-back frontier town started their day bright and early as usual. However, unlike their usual strolling down the town’s two perpendicular main streets, several ponies were standing near the fountain in the town square around a hunk of blackened, charred metal lying in a small depression. Discussing what it might be from, as well as the short, unplanned, yet booming thunderstorm that occurred overnight, none of the citizens recognized the flag painted on it, or any of the other markings. 

The local sheriff asked around if any knew who the object belonged to, but determined it was probably just some scrap that fell off some pony's wagon overnight. He photographed the debris so he could include it in a lost-and-found report he would file later. The ponies then dispersed, returning to their daily routines and jobs around town. Some headed off towards the surrounding farms and the local lumber mill nestled amongst the trees of the nearby forest. In the direction of one of the outlying farms several miles away, a small, thin trail of smoke rose above the far edge of the forest, but nopony noticed it.

The Sheriff was getting ready to haul the piece of metal away when a well-known minotaur merchant approached. The locals were familiar with Beef Wellington, or BW, as he liked to be called. The large, ruddy brown merchant-blacksmith passed through regularly, selling his metal wares, buying metal, and doing small blacksmithing jobs. Beef had scars all across his torso, but the sheriff was not sure if they were from a past lifestyle, or defense of his wares. Nobody ever bothered to ask. Then again, he also carried two short-handled, double-bladed axes on his back at most times… 

"Morning, Sheriff," Beef said with his loud, gravelly voice, towering over the sheriff from his eight-foot height. "You interested in selling this piece of metal?"

The Sheriff scratched his chin before he replied, "Mornin', BW. I figured it was the metal you were after. Well, I don't rightly know what ta do with it. Nopony has reported it missing. Nopony knows whose it might be, or what it's from. I'll have ta send a report in on it later today. I can't rightly give it ta you yet. But, if no one comes to claim it by tomorrow, I can sell it ta you then. Be nice ta add some bits to the town coffers."

Beef smiled as he rubbed his hands together. "Sounds like a fine plan. I don't plan on heading out until tomorrow or the day after anyways," he said with a broad smile.

"One of these days you need ta tell me the story of how you got that forge enchanted. And the tale of how, and where, you got that cart that hauls it and all your other possessions around. I mean it only feels like yer pullin' a half-loaded cart full of vegetables, no matter how much stuff you pile on it," the Sheriff exclaimed.

Beef let out a hearty bellow, sunlight reflecting off the silver, mirror-like endcaps on his gray, well-polished horns. "It's not really that great of a tale. Helped out one of those pony alchemists years ago. Even with the help I gave her, it still cost me everything I owned to get those enchants. She was a fledgling alchemist back then. Bet she can do some really nice enchants now. Come to think of it, I still owe that pony some, but she's never tried to come collect," he answered with another bellow, a grin plastered across his face.

"Huh. Enchanters are a rare thing nowadays— training is too tedious for most. Too many ponies worry about a failed enchant possibly wrecking the item being enchanted, so it's just not worth it ta most. Most stuff is cheap enough ta replace, anyways. Though, one with the skill ta do large enough objects as your cart and forge would be highly sought after… Farmers up here would pay good money for services like that. Do you remember her name? Or where she is?" the Sheriff questioned.

"Yes, and maybe. I won't give the name, though." Beef watched the sheriff frown and kick the dirt before he continued, "Sorry, Sheriff, but she doesn’t like the notoriety. I think she lives in Ponyville now, and might even have a shop there. Enough of the past, though— how about I pick this metal up and take it back to your office for you? We can haggle on a price on the way," he cheerfully said, brushing his hands off on his dark brown legs before easily picking up the metal object.

The sheriff nodded, then started trotting back to his office with Beef’s large, well-muscled form following, the metal perched upon his shoulder. Some older ponies casually hanging around town could hear them laughing as they talked and haggled on the price, but paid them no mind.


------------------------------


Cassie rolled over and stretched. She tried to bring her hand up to her face so she could rub the sleep from her eyes, but instead was greeted by a thwack sound. She opened her eyes to see her hand resting on the glass of her helmet. She let out a small laugh at the sight.

Oh yeah, forgot. I crash-landed on an unknown planet last night.

She sat up and looked over to Kozlov. "Hey, Kozlov," she said, giving his helmet a nudge with her foot. Getting no response, she tried again. However, this time she kicked his helmet harder, and loudly called, "Petty Officer William Kozlov! You are late for duty!"

"Huh... what... where am I?” Kozlov stammered, still not fully awake. “Holy shit, my head hurts. Brake, how much did we have to drink last night? Who did we fight? I feel like my side lost a boxing match with a kangaroo." 

Cassie smiled and gave a small chuckle. "Whoa, Kozlov, take it easy. I’m glad to see you’re still alive, though. Think you can get up?" she asked.

A grimace formed on Kozlov's face as he tried to remember the events of last night. Grunting with effort, he was finally able to stand up, but was slightly hunched over, holding his side. "Looks like I can, LT," he answered, looking at her with a pained smile.

Cassie tried to avoid looking where the red-splotched bandages were; the wound had continued to bleed while the bio-gel took time to set. She explained to Kozlov some of what happened before she found him last night, then began talking about their current situation. Since he had not asphyxiated in his sleep, the air appeared to be breathable. However, it was unknown if there were any allergens, pathogens, or other potentially harmful contents floating in the air. Kozlov reminded Cassie that there should be a hand scanner onboard, capable of that scan, in one of the compartments or a locker. They would also need to do a radiation scan to see if there was any harmful radiation outside the ship before they fully opened the door.

Cassie decided it was time to get her leg back. With Kozlov’s help, it only took a couple minutes to safely move the fallen section of the stasis chamber. Not surprising, really, she thought. Even with him hunched over, Kozlov’s 6'4" frame towered over her. She sat down on the floor and looked at the bio-gel all over her leg stump and EV suit. Looking around, Cassie found a small piece of metal to replace the thumb screws she lost the night before, enabling her to hold her leg to the connection socket. It wasn’t perfect; the leg wiggled a little more than she liked, and running was out of the question, unless absolutely necessary.  

Well, I might as well get this over with. The cargo bay had all the extra breathing tanks and filters, so I’d have to do this soon anyways.

Cassie reached up to her helmet’s locking collar and undid the lock, breaking the air seal. She unhooked the two hoses off the back of it and dropped the helmet unceremoniously to the floor, then lifted the filter and air tank unit over her head, depositing it next to the helmet.

As she started unzipping the suit, Kozlov shouted in surprise, "Ma'am! Are you out of your mind?" Ignoring the pain in his side, he rushed forward and picked up the discarded EV suit parts.

Cassie pushed him away and gave him a stern look. "Kozlov, stop this at once. I know the regulations. I also know that in about 24 hours, the air tanks will run out, followed by the filters a few days later. Not that it matters— do you see any more tanks or filters around this mess? With the ship not sealed, how were we going to eat anyways?" she asked agitatedly, hands on her hips.

Kozlov just leaned against the bulkhead and hung his head. "No, Ma'am. I didn't think of that," he answered softly.

Several minutes later, they had both discarded their torn suits and donned their respective uniform coveralls. After some frustration, and choice words, at not being able to get all the bio-gel off her leg, Kozlov finally waved the removal solution from the med-kit in front of her face. After some mutterings and a facepalm, she grabbed the solution from him and removed the bio-gel, then threw the slimy, balled-up glob at Kozlov, but missed.

Kozlov laughed, “You throw like a girl.” Cassie glared at him, then looked around for something else suitable to throw at him, but found nothing. 

Cassie split up different tasks between them. Kozlov would find something to eat and drink, while she would try to locate one of the hand scanners. Kozlov's job was fairly easy; it only took him about ten minutes to find a few rations and water for them from one of the lockers. Cassie's job, however, took much longer. Roughly a half-hour later, she finally found a scanner that wasn’t damaged. Before they got set to eat a late breakfast, Cassie took the scanner and started the radiation scan. She propped the scanner up on the hatch lip that would have gone to the cargo bay, but now led to the world they crashed on.

She went back to sit across from Kozlov. "Well, Kozlov, we should know if we are completely doomed by the time we finish eating. The radiation scan will be done by then. We’ll need to do the atmospheric scan after that, though. Then again, neither of us has keeled over blue in the face yet," she said with a slight laugh. "By the way, how are you holding up?"

Kozlov placed his food ration down and leaned back with a loud sigh. "I've been better. Not looking forward to that..." he said with a grim frown, pointing his thumb over his shoulder to the wreckage at the front of the cabin. Cassie's eyes reflected his thoughts, and after the brief pause he continued, a half-hearted smile upon his face, "...otherwise, my side is still killing me, but it seems to have worked. I’m a little weak ‘cause of it, though."

They finished eating in relative silence. Cassie had Kozlov go see if he could get any of the computers online to see what scans the ship had done before the crash, while she went to check on the hand scanner. There was an unknown radiation signature, but it appeared to be non-harmful. Satisfied it was safe, she wiggled her arm, and the scanner, through the small opening in the emergency bulkhead to start an atmospheric scan. The results surprised her— they showed an atmosphere very similar to Earth, but with a slightly higher concentration of oxygen. Pollutants, at least in this area, were far, far below levels found on Earth. What intrigued her the most was the fact that no dangerous microbes or allergens seemed to be present. In fact, most of the allergens and pollens it did pick up seemed eerily similar to the ones back on Earth.

"Kozlov, you got any of the computers up and running yet?" Cassie yelled across the cabin.

Kozlov’s voice was muffled from being under one of the consoles. "Just about, Ma'am. I only need to bypass this last component," Kozlov called back. The snapping sound of electricity arcing, along with a yelp, came from under the console. “Damned cramped spaces,” he muttered.

Cassie picked her way to the front of the cabin. Just as she sat in the only pilot seat left, Kozlov climbed out from under the console. Wiping his hands together, he gave the console a swift kick, and it started booting up.

"There we go, Ma'am. Not quite sure how much of the computer will be working, though," Kozlov said.

Cassie nodded as she started accessing the sensor logs. Sure enough, most of the ship was still offline. The sensors themselves only seemed to be able to read the temperature, currently indicating a nice 76°F. After reviewing the logs, they knew a little more about the planet. 

“Okay, looks like this planet’s got one sun, one moon, and an asteroid belt… but it seems to be the only planet in this solar system. The readings are saying it’s a little larger than Venus, with about 5-6% less gravity than Earth. Damn, most of the pictures taken by the ship while approaching the planet are good, but quite a few are corrupted past viewability,” Cassie explained. 

Images began flashing on the screen in front of them. “It looks like there’s a vast continent on one side—most of it’s green—with only a few areas that seem to be desert. Look’s like there’s another continent to the east… might possibly be two or more… and there appears to be a large ocean to the west. I don’t see any photos of the other side of the planet— I’m assuming those are the corrupted ones,” Cassie said.

Kozlov let out a low whistle. "Seems we hit the jackpot with this planet," he softly said.

"Yeah, no kidding. Too bad we have no idea where we are in relation to Earth," she said with a slight frown. "Well, we have some work to do. We need to check the supplies, get that door open, and clean this mess up."

With the emergency bulkhead stuck, they started searching for a way to open it. When Kozlov eyed one of the stasis chambers that broke free in the crash, inspiration struck. He wedged the edge of the chamber into the crack in the door, then helped Cassie climb on top of it. Using a spot in the ceiling where a panel had fallen for support, she gently started to bounce, as Kozlov pushed down on the same end, using all of his weight as leverage. When the door finally broke free, Cassie hung from the ceiling a few inches above the floor.

Fresh air blasted them fully as the smell of smoke and burnt circuits cleared out much faster than before. Cassie was the first to step through the hatch; it was kind of tricky getting out. The ship had plowed through the soft dirt, causing a small drop-off out of the hatch.

"Be careful exiting… the ship," she said, her voice trailing off as she watched Kozlov climb out of the ship.

He climbed out faster than one would expect with his wound, carrying something under his right arm. "Hey, LT, do ya think there’s intelligent life on this planet?" he asked with a childlike smile.

"Other than me? Highly doubtful," Cassie responded.

"Great!"

Kozlov bounded off a few yards, practically bouncing, and opened the pack he was carrying. He then proceeded to slam a flagpole into the ground that had a somewhat singed flag hanging on it. "I CLAIM THIS LAND IN THE NAME OF THE SOL REPUBLIC!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. His jubilance died off rapidly as he grabbed his side, falling to a knee.

Cassie initially laughed at his antics, then ran to his side, putting her arm around his back. "Are you ok?" she worriedly asked.

"Yeah, just moved a little too fast," he said, regaining his composure. "I just couldn’t help myself. I brought that flag just so I could do that like the old explorers of Earth," he laughed.

Cassie slapped him in the back of the head lightly. "You moron."

Looking around, they realized they were in some type of gorge or canyon. A small stream flowed nearby; what looked like pine trees could be seen sparsely up and down its banks, along with brambles, shrubs, and pockets of grass. Looking north to the ridge line, they spotted what appeared to be a forest surrounding them from the north to the western side. The eastern side seemed to shift into more of a grassland type of area, with not as many trees along the canyon’s edge. At least, that's what they assumed from what they could see.

They turned to inspect the outer hull of the ship. They already saw that it had torn up the dirt for a good sixty feet as it careened across ground. Unfortunately, it had slammed into a weak rock wall. The ship was covered in rocks, ranging from pebbles to large boulders. Only a small portion of the top near the back was visible from above, and the back itself was only visible from the ground. A large chunk of rock hung slightly over it like an awning, propped up on the left by a huge boulder.

Cassie had Kozlov get back into the ship to find one of the fold-out shovels. Because of his wound, Cassie had him start checking to see what was still salvageable from the lockers while she fixed the drop-off from the hatch. Thankfully, the ship had settled during the night and was mostly level now.

About an hour later, Cassie had made a nice, flat area right under the hatch with a shallow, sloping hill to the ground about two feet below. Despite the ideal positioning of the sun directly overhead, the ship’s solar panels were covered with rocks, so with no way to repower the ship at the moment, they had to conserve its power. Not enough light entered for them to do a good review of the supplies, so they both started moving the stuff Kozlov had collected to the ground outside.

The fire had done a lot of damage. Kozlov's and Wellis's lockers were completely toasted, with nothing salvageable. His flag only survived because it had been in the compartment under his pilot seat. The commander's locker was mostly untouched. Some of the clothing was a little crispy, and parts of the emergency supplies were damaged, but not all of them. Somehow, Cassie's locker, other than being violently jostled around as it broke free from the wall in the crash, still had almost everything.

All said and done, they had one and a half weeks’ worth of food and water to share. Combined from the lockers and other storage compartments in the cabin, they had most of the gear, originally provided for camping away from the ship when doing overnight surveys, still available. Maggie’s and Ashley’s uniform coveralls, which were stored in a side compartment when they changed into their EV suits, as well as some of Ashley's clothes, were still useable. A small generator was also available, but the solar panels required to power and charge its internal batteries were missing.

Rummaging through her own locker, Cassie retrieved her extra leg and checked it for damage. Confirming it had remained unscathed, she then dug back into her locker for her prized rock pick, 10x triplet loupe hand lens, a sketch pad, colored pencils, a music player, and a few other odds and ends. Satisfied her toys were intact, she reached in and grabbed her uniforms, casual clothes, and a set of workout clothes to be set aside for the time being. 

Kozlov tapped Cassie on the shoulder. “Here, Ma’am.” 

Cassie turned to see him holding Ashley’s energy pistol. “Thanks,” she said, taking the weapon from him. Cassie opened the lock box in the top of her locker and laid the pistol next to her own. She was glad the handy little devices were available. 

“Whelp, I’m done with the stuff over here,” Kozlov said, leaning back against a rock. “Didn’t even take an hour. So, what’s next?”

"Well, I hope some of your advanced survival training and all that hunting you used to do comes in handy, Kozlov, ‘cause we’re going to need to figure out something else for food very soon," Cassie said with a flat expression.

"Well, there’s a stream nearby. Let’s just hope some edible fish have developed. The plant life should have some sort of nuts or berries, but we’ll have to find them and test them. I mean, there has to be something on this planet we’re able to eat. We can worry about that later, though, LT. I have a suggestion of what we should do first." He paused, waiting for a response.

"Sure, go ahead," Cassie replied.

"We need to clean out the ship. We can’t just let our friends… stay in that pile of debris. I'll get started clearing the way. I suggest you start digging— not sure if my side would appreciate me doing that," he finished, frowning.

"Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Alright, let's get this over with," Cassie answered, looking at the ground.


------------------------------


Standing near the rock face, Kozlov stared down at the mound in front of him, a panel with Maggie’s name and rank etched into it rising from the top. He wiped a tear from his cheek, then looked over at Cassie standing beside him, her head bowed in silence. Her red, puffy eyes reflected a similar panel with Ashley’s name and rank rising up from a second mound of dirt before them. The surrounding rocks served well as grave markers.

As they turned back to their crash site, taking in the view of their new home in the late afternoon sun, Cassie said, “Guess we oughtta make this place livable.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Kozlov responded. “Probably be best to finish clearing out the mess inside before anything else.”

Cassie nodded and picked up a shovel as they walked towards the ship. “You get in there and start putting any panels that you can back in place. Just pile any that are too damaged in the corner or something. I’ll work on making us a trash pit.”

It took them several trips to the trash pit to clear the miscellaneous junk still in the cabin, but they eventually finished the task. Together, they then removed the stasis chamber from above Cassie’s and placed it outside. Kozlov’s was too badly burned to be useful, so they dumped it into the trash pit. On the way back to the ship, they retrieved Cassie’s locker. After somewhat haphazardly reattaching the locker to the wall near the end of the bed, Cassie flopped down into a seat.

It had been a semi-productive day, but a tiring one. Physically and emotionally drained, they had a small, quick meal for dinner, and decided to call it a night. While getting ready for bed,  they discussed what they would do the next few days. They decided that once a base had been established here at the ship, they would start searching for the other two ships in hopes that others survived as well.


------------------------------


Perched way up in the sky upon a cloud above the gorge, Gale Wind sat admiring her gleaming, black talons. She had been watching the two strange bipeds most of the afternoon, all the while preening her tan, white-speckled feathers, her rump camouflaging with her perch. Sure, she was supposed to be gathering information for the Empire, but she had never seen a diamond dog before. From what little she knew about them, the two down below seemed to fit the description, so she had decided to observe them for a while.

To Gale Wind, the two seemed to have recently made an underground home, and looked to be furnishing or remodeling it. She wondered if they were sick, though; one seemed to hold its side a lot, and both appeared to have lost the fur on their arms and faces. They had also been moping around after burying two others of their kind.

Just because Gale was a griffon spy did not mean she was heartless. When they appeared to have gone to bed, she flew to the nearby forest and snatched up a rabbit. After killing it with the miniature scythes protruding from her claws, she quietly flew to where the creatures had planted a flag, and laid it down. When Gale Wind looked up, her bright yellow eyes widened in surprise. Instead of a cave entrance, she saw a metal wall with a blanket covering a hole in it.

Gale silently crept closer to the entrance, listening for any sign of movement on the other side. Satisfied, she slowly stuck her head in, letting her eyes adjust to the dimly lit cave. What Gale saw stumped her. This was no cave; she had no idea what it was, other than a metal room. She saw the beds where the diamond dogs were sleeping, a couple chairs, and strange glass panels with stuff displayed on them, giving off a light glow. Gale quickly backed up. She was beginning to doubt these were diamond dogs; no way did they have… stuff like this. If they were diamond dogs, they probably stole it from the ponies.

"What the hell did I just see?" she muttered.

A new thought occurred to her: maybe these creatures were working with the ponies on some sort of project. It would have been a good way to hide experiments or innovations from most spies. Gale quickly flew back up to the cloud and pulled out her maps. She marked the location, then started writing a report. When she finished, she put all the papers away, destroyed the cloud, and immediately set off for the Griffon Embassy in Canterlot.


------------------------------


The following morning came without incident. Cassie noticed that Kozlov appeared noticeably paler, but she said nothing. Adding to the list of similarities between Earth and this planet, they were surprised to find what was clearly a dead rabbit next to their flag. After a quick breakfast, they decided to make a proper campsite with a barrier wall. Now that they knew there was local wildlife, they wanted to be able to keep it out. 

By late morning, Cassie and Kozlov had built a fire pit. They set up the two seats that had broken from the floor of the ship to use them as chairs, and the non-burned stasis chamber served well as a table. Under an outcropping of rock on the cliff face they had a nice stack of firewood, compliments of some old fallen trees surrounding the site, and the kill setting of Cassie’s energy pistol in beam mode. They had also collected an abundance of branches of varying sizes for tinder.

To finish off the campsite, they collected several large rocks, some old fallen logs from around the area, and numerous damaged parts of the ship to form a simple, L-shaped perimeter. Outside the three-foot high wall, they dug a one-foot deep trench to keep water from building up next to it and flowing into the campsite. When they were finally done, Cassie and Kozlov stood back to admire their handiwork. 

“Grade A construction work there, LT,” Kozlov laughed.

“Yeah, so good that we should start our own business,” Cassie replied sarcastically. “Let’s get cleaned up.” 

She returned to the ship to get changed into the workout shorts and sports bra that were in her locker. “Hey Kozlov…” she said, stepping back outside, “…it’s your turn to get changed. Remember to try and not get your wound too wet. Maybe wrap it in plastic or something if you can find any.”

Kozlov watched Cassie walk towards the stream with a little too much leering before he said, “Hey, LT… you’ve got a nice ass.”

“Kozlov, what the hell!”

“What? You do! Looks nice, just like Maggie’s did. You know, if you weren’t an officer, I would’ve asked you out when we were getting ready for the mission,” Kozlov said with a wink and a grin.

Cassie blushed slightly, waving off his antics. “How many painkillers did you take?” Cassie asked half-heartedly, continuing to the stream with fake angry stomping.

Kozlov just laughed and watched for a moment more as her lithe form entered the water, remembering the days when he would watch her and Maggie at the pool back in college. With a sigh, he wrenched his eyes away and entered the ship to get changed himself.

Cassie stood in knee-deep water, glad Kozlov was unable to see her blushing from the compliment. She looked over her toned body, happy with how she looked. Since the accident that derailed a large part of her life, it had been a little harder to keep in the shape she wanted. Laying her bag containing her soaps and towel on the bank, she continued wading into the wide, semi-deep, calm part of the stream. Cassie dove under the water, elated to be swimming, one of her true passions. Despite being unable to swim as well as she used to, she was still like a fish in water. After several minutes of swimming around, she finally decided to grab the soaps and wash off completely. She was just about finished drying off when Kozlov walked up.

“Your form is as good as it always was, LT,” Kozlov said, winking with a sly grin.

“Kozlov!” she shrieked, jumping at the surprise.

“What? Your swimming is just as good as it was before you lost your leg.”

Blushing, Cassie turned to the side, brushing an errant strand of hair out of her face. “Oh, th-thanks,” she replied.

Kozlov laughed hard, clutching his side. “You thought I was talking about your body, weren’t you?”

Cassie's face reddened even further, but she didn’t respond. Instead, she just walked over to a large, flat rock on the water’s edge to sit in the sun, allowing the rays to dry her off the rest of the way. This also allowed her to keep an eye on Kozlov so he wouldn’t drown from doubling over or anything. Kozlov, for his part, stopped teasing and cleaned himself.

A while later, they sat in the campsite around the fire in the waning sunlight, eating the rabbit they had discovered earlier. They pondered how it got there, but all they could come up with was that some small predator had killed it, and most likely was surprised by something in the campsite, dropping it next to the flag. 

With all the basics of their little site finished, they finally had time to really look at the planet’s similarities to Earth that they had noticed all day. Not only was the air breathable, but they were amazed to find that the plants and animals were quite similar to Earth’s—not only visually, but biologically—as confirmed by their hand scanner. 

The rest of the evening was devoted to planning the next steps for their survival. Despite the similarities their new home may have had to their home planet, they were still unfamiliar with their surroundings. Discussion gave way to drowsiness, and they eventually retired to the ship.


------------------------------


The following day, Kozlov barely had the energy to get out of bed. His face was gaunt and his eyes sunken; he was barely recognizable. Cassie inspected his wound, and much to their dismay, the bio-gel did not work. He still suffered from some internal bleeding, which caused a large purple splotch under his skin. They used the dissolving solution in an attempt to drain some of the blood that accumulated inside under the wound before they reapplied the gel, emptying the tube. At least the wound wasn’t infected, but only one tube remained now.

Kozlov mainly sat around as Cassie went to check the traps he had made the previous day while they were setting up the camp. The traps had only been partly successful. Of the five on  land, two were tripped but empty, and one contained what looked remarkably like a squirrel. In the stream he had set two up; one held a turtle that Cassie released, and the other had three fish. She went back to the camp with the squirrel still in the makeshift cage— the fish she dumped into a bucket that they had made by modifying the covering to one of the burned-out consoles.

“The mighty hunter returns,” Kozlov chuckled, fist-pumping the air from his seat around the fire pit.

Cassie rolled her eyes. “Ha Ha," she mock laughed. "Here, make yourself useful and kill these so we can cook ‘em.” She set the trap on the table and the bucket on the ground, then went to get some more firewood from the pile.

After an early lunch, Kozlov set to work on the ship’s systems, starting with the emergency distress beacon, while Cassie crawled under the piloting console, popped the cover off, and started to diagnose the computer. 

Both he and Cassie had taken a few engineering extension courses—they had been mandatory for the entire crew. The courses had mostly focused on the primary systems of their ship, as well as some of the devices they would use on the planet they were headed to.

“What?” she asked, feeling a kick on her foot.

“I’m gonna need to get in there. See what non-critical components I can use to fix this,” Kozlov replied. 

“One sec.” Cassie wiggled out from under the console. “Here you go.” She handed him a cracked and burnt circuit board. “This board is fried. Maybe you can find a way to make some part of it useable. There’s a lot more damage down in there than we thought, it seems.”

Kozlov leaned on the pilot’s chair and looked over the circuit board. “I might be able to get some use from this. Anyways, I know you are pretty good with this engineering stuff too, but I need to use the computer to fix this beacon. And there’s not much else we can fix with the few spares we’ve got, so why don’t you get some fresh air? Maybe even take a look around: no need to be cramped up in here with me right now.”

Taking his suggestion, Cassie went to explore more of their new home, and started cataloging some of the rocks and minerals to get her mind off of recent events. Though the mission was ruined, and most likely help wouldn’t arrive for many years, she decided she would still do her duty and create a record of what she saw. As a volcanologist, surveying the planet’s volcanic activity and areas prone to earthquakes was her primary duty on this mission. Other geological recordings, such as mineral abundances, rock types, and amounts in the areas they surveyed were also part of her tasks, but with very little of her equipment, she would be hard-pressed to do many of her primary duties. Cassie grabbed her prized rock pick that had been given to her by her grandfather when she started college, as well as an electronic pad to do the recordings, then set off down the stream.

She returned late in the afternoon, bouncing into the campsite with a smile. “Hey, Kozlov,” Cassie cheerily said.

“You win the Solar Lottery or something?” Kozlov asked with an arched eyebrow. “Or could it be you came across a strawberry stand?” he chuckled.

Cassie smiled at the thought of finding a strawberry stand; she so loved the delicious red fruit. She tossed a small bag to Kozlov, who fumbled with the unexpected object before grasping it fully. “I wish. Pfft, what I wouldn’t do for a few strawberries right now…”

“That desperate, huh?” Kozlov snickered, wagging his eyebrows at her.

Cassie chose to ignore the comment. “Just open the bag,” she said, practically bouncing from foot to foot.

“Hold your horses,” Kozlov said, opening the bag, not seeing the scowl that flashed on Cassie’s face. “Whoa! Where did you find these?” Kozlov exclaimed, pouring out several small, cut and polished gems into his hand.

“I found them on the edges of the stream. Believe it or not, they are already like that. They seem to be in abundance, at least in this area. I saw many more small fragments. I wonder how big an area this comprises? Much more research needs to be done into how they come out of the ground that way,” she said, excitement still in her voice.

“I’ll say. Looks like you got your work cut out for you, LT,” he replied, still rolling the gems in his hands.

Cassie’s smile dropped slightly and she sighed. “That’s an understatement. Without my equipment, even doing mineral and rock studies will take years. Also, you know, since it’s just us, you can call me Cassie or Campbell.”

Kozlov scratched his head, then moved his hand to his chin, rubbing it back and forth with his eyes closed for several seconds before he opened one with a grin. “So I guess Campy is out?” he questioned, seeing the fire burning in Cassie’s eyes. Chuckling, he said, “Okay, okay, you can call me Kozlov then, LT.”

“Umm, everyone’s called you by your last name since I met you in my sophomore year of college,” she said, her brows pinched in slight confusion.

Snickering, Kozlov responded, “I know, I was just messing with you. I knew of you years before I even met you, being a fan of competitive swimming and all that. And, even after all this time, calling you Cassie now is just weird. You’re Lieutenant now.” His expression changed, his chuckling stopped, and a true smile of happiness cracked his face. “Sure, we’ve been friends for years; hell, that’s how I got this assignment. You know that everyone on the ship was required to not only have worked well with at least two others, but be friends with at least one person onboard. I qualified because of Maggie, who was recommended by you, but… I obtained the assignment because you were already appointed and are also my friend.”

Cassie’s jaw slackened a little, and her eyes widened slightly. She had known Maggie was assigned solely due to her recommendation. Due to the nature and length of the original mission, the Sol Space Command decided that they couldn’t just make a crew and hope for the best, but had to have members that already had some established bonds. She had always thought that it was Maggie, and one of the other crew members, that solidified Kozlov’s assignment to the crew.

Sadness filled Cassie's eyes, and her voice shook as she asked, “Y-y-you don’t b-blame me for being stranded here, or what happened to… Maggie, do you?” A tear slid down her cheek at the memory of her best friend.

Kozlov stood up slowly, teeth clenched, a pained grimace etched into his face. He walked over to Cassie and pulled her to his chest, wrapping his arms behind her back in a soft hug as he answered, “No, LT. I don’t blame you, and never think that Maggie would, either. Never think any of this is your fault. It's true that we both got this assignment because of you, but… always remember that every single member of the mission had to be absolutely sure it was something they wanted to do. Remember, three months before the mission launched, we were asked twice that month if we were sure we wanted to do this, then once again for each month after that. If Maggie was here, she would say exactly how I feel. Thanks to you, we got to experience a historic event in human history, and we achieved something that humanity has been searching for for a very long time. We found a planet that is habitable, even if we don’t know where we are.” Kozlov was now running his fingers through Cassie’s shoulder blade-length hair.

Cassie reached around Kozlov’s back, returning the hug and sniffling a few times. She rubbed her head back and forth, wiping the tears that had wet her face onto his shirt. All she could say was, “Thank you.”

Kozlov put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back some. “So, ready to activate the emergency distress beacon?” he asked, grinning.

“Wha... What? Why didn’t you say that right away?! Of course I want to!” Cassie smiled, playfully smacking him on the arm.

Kozlov sat back down, his body slightly shaking, a few drops of sweat forming upon his forehead. Cassie practically flew into the ship to grab the device. A few minutes later, she dragged the large, rectangular object outside. Cassie set it in an open area of the campsite, near the side of the ship with a clear view of the sky. She popped out the leg stabilizers, unlatched the top cover exposing the solar panels that would keep it powered, and extended the antenna array. On the side, she opened a panel revealing a small screen. Cassie entered a small message, closed the panel, and activated the beacon. Not wanting to be annoyed by the white light that would flash every minute, she flipped the optional cover up over it.

Dinner came early at Kozlov’s request; he even used the last of his lemonade mix for them. As they ate, he gave Cassie a status report on the ship’s systems. 

“The computers are still just as messed up as before, but I was able to get some of the sensors working. The temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure gauges are working fine, but the pollen count, UV, and proximity sensors are only partly functional. The UV sensor would work better if the little sensor on the top of the ship could be located and cleared off. The proximity sensor would likely only work for about 200 yards, instead of the ten miles it’s supposed to. The long-range sensors and communications array are completely destroyed. The computer batteries should be good for about ten more years, but only one solar panel on the side of the ship is currently useable for powering the ship itself. That being said, the sensors won’t be usable at all times, as the cabin section only has limited working batteries to store the power from the solar panel. To top it off, only a few of the lights inside are still functioning,” Kozlov explained.  

On a positive note, he was able to make a makeshift door for the ship. He had taken the hinge from one of the burned lockers, then used one of the energy pistols to sort of weld two panels from the interior of the ship together, and then to the hinge. He had done the same to attach the hinge to the interior bulkhead, including a few braces so that a piece of metal could be used to bar it shut while they were inside the ship.

The best thing Kozlov told Cassie was that the ship’s locator signal was active, and they had two working ship locators. This would allow them to explore their surroundings, and not worry about losing the ship’s location. Unfortunately, the pocket-sized locators did not give distance or ship number until they were within one mile— only the direction up to roughly twenty miles away. They hoped that maybe, if they took one with them when exploring, it might pick up any of the other ships’ signals, provided any of them survived the crash enough to send it out.

With the sun still above the horizon, Kozlov headed into the ship to sleep. Despite his reassurances, Cassie was worried about him; his face had become slightly sunken, and she could tell he was hiding pain when he moved. She gathered up the dishes they used and headed to the stream to wash them. She filled the two pots with water before she headed back.

When Cassie returned to the camp, she set up the parts Kozlov had made to catch the steam from boiling water above the fire pit. Once the fire was going, Cassie sat back until the water began bubbling. After the water had been boiling for fifteen minutes, she removed the pots and set them on a stone to cool. Eventually, she took the pots she had set on the stone, plus the container that caught the water from the steam after it condensed, and emptied them into storage containers.

Cassie grabbed her glass of lemonade from the table and sat at the fire, sipping her drink with a calm expression. While watching the red hues of the sunset, and waiting for the moon to rise, she lamented how the canyon walls hid the actual viewing of the two orbs ascending and descending over the horizons. She loved the night on this planet; a large, bright moon was framed in a sky of deep purple-blue, with dots of starlight filling it. She wanted to stay out a few more hours, but a sudden drowsiness overcame her, so she got up and headed off to bed.


------------------------------


A small vibration in his pocket woke Kozlov up. He was extremely exhausted, but knew he had to go through with his plan. He gritted his teeth, and let out of grunt of pain as he pushed himself up onto his feet. Once he was situated, Kozlov walked over to where Cassie was sleeping in her bed.

“Cassandra, are you awake?” he asked. Lightly poking her shoulder, Kozlov asked again, “Lieutenant Campbell, are you awake?

Kozlov gazed down at his friend and smiled, satisfied that the sleeping pill he put into her drink while she was washing the dishes worked. He combed his fingers through her soft hair, letting the strands slip through his fingers to fall gently onto the bed. His lips parted as the pinkish-red muscle glided slowly over his lips, causing them to glisten slightly in the glow from the computer consoles. He shifted on his feet.

Leaning down, Kozlov kissed Cassie on the cheek, then moved his lips close to her ear and whispered, "I'm sorry."

Kozlov stood up and turned slightly towards the makeshift door for several moments. He turned back to Cassie's vulnerable form and started unzipping his EV suit. He reached one hand inside while using his free arm to steady himself against the bed. Kozlov hunched over slightly, his breath became ragged, and his face scrunched. After several moments, he let out a sigh, his breathing returning to normal. As he straightened his back, a pleased smile graced his face.

Pulling his hand out of the suit, Kozlov held a small ring in his hand. The partially melted, gold ring still had the diamond center-stone, but only one of the flanking emeralds. "Ah, I thought I’d lost you," he said. "Seems I just forgot what pocket you were in."

Kozlov laid the ring on Cassie's bed next to her pillow. He then zipped his EV suit up and headed for the hatch. On his way out of the ship, he picked up a folding shovel and one of the lanterns.


------------------------------


Cassie let out a low moan as she stretched in her bed, feeling more rested than she had since she entered stasis after the disaster. Not wanting to get up, she grabbed her pillow and snuggled into it, pulling the sheets to her ears at the same time. A few minutes later, she snapped her arms out, knocking the pillow to the floor and flinging the sheets back against the wall next to her. She clicked the button on the wall next to her bed to turn the lights on, those that were left in her… lodging at least. 

Not seeing Kozlov, she figured he was already up and outside sitting in his chair. Maybe he was even getting breakfast ready, if he was feeling better. After making her bed presentable again, Cassie put on Ashley’s coveralls. The coveralls no longer fit within the uniform guidelines: the legs had been chopped off at about the knee, and the arms a couple inches above the elbow, effectively turning them into a tee-shirt and shorts style of coveralls.

Cassie squinted, raising a hand to shield her eyes from the sun’s rays as she stepped from the ship. Her smile faded when she saw Kozlov sitting in his seat, wearing his EV suit. Cassie walked over to him, calling his name as she neared. “Morning, Kozlov.”

He gave no response, so she called again, placing her hand on his shoulder. When he still did not respond, Cassie’s heart started beating harder; her breath became shorter and her brows pinched in worry. She moved to stand in front of him— his eyes were closed, and a content smile graced his face. Shakily, Cassie raised her hand to Kozlov’s neck, only to check what she already knew. His skin slightly sticky with dew, she grimaced as she felt for where his jugular vein should be. 

Just to make sure, she tried several times. The results were the same each time: no pulse. Cassie was crushed, and she was unsure what to do. Slumping onto the ground, she blankly stared forward, her vision becoming blurry and unfocused, her brain unthinking.

Cassie eventually roused from her stupor by the cry of a random bird echoing through the canyon. A breeze flowed through the camp, chilling her cheeks. Reaching up, she wiped away the wetness that had accumulated, then dried her eyes of the tears she didn’t know she had shed. With her vision cleared, Cassie noticed Kozlov held a notepad in his slightly dirty hand, a pen on the ground next to him. She also saw dirt on his knees, some of it smeared on his forehead. She took the notepad from his hand; she was about to open it, but stopped, placing it on the table. Whatever was written in that notepad, she wanted to make sure she was ready to read it. For now, she had other… work to do.

Sullenly, Cassie trudged over to the other graves to begin her task. To her surprise, a grave for Kozlov was already mostly done, right next to Maggie’s. One of the two lanterns lay broken nearby.

“Well, I guess that explains the dirt on him. Great, one of the lanterns broke, too,” Cassie said aloud with a sigh.

It only took her about an hour to finish digging the grave. Then, for the third time in recent days, she had the grisly task of taking a friend and burying them in the ground. Moving Kozlov was not easy; he was just over one foot taller than her, and due to his musculature, not particularly light. As gently as possible, Cassie moved him over to, and into the grave. When she had finished placing stones around the new grave like the others, tears were readily flowing down her cheeks as her bottom lip quivered.

Shuffling back to the ship, Cassie paused to get the notepad off the table, the shovel having slipped from her hand. She didn’t even glance down at it as she pushed her way past the blanket covering the hatch. Inside, she placed the notepad in Kozlov’s locker, then closed the makeshift door over the blanket and barred it shut. Not even bothering to undress, Cassie climbed into her bed. There she stayed for the rest of the day, curled in a tight ball, shakes wracking her body as she sobbed at the loss of another friend, until sleep finally took her.

It was raining the next day, and Cassie did not have the desire to even get out of bed. Her appetite had been lost, but she still took inventory of her food. She had four each of the breakfast and dinner rations, and nutrient bars. She would have to stretch them out as long as she could, supplemented with whatever edible stuff she could find around. Cassie knew her survival skills would not allow her to last long, and most nearby berries and nuts had already been eaten. As her eyes drifted to the ship locator, a weak smile creased her face. She decided she would follow the stream north in hopes that the locator would pick up a surviving ship, or the extremely remote possibility that she might run across some sort of intelligent life on the planet.

Cassie spent the rest of the day packing one of the backpacks. She put in her cloths, the food, a couple pictures, and many other things she would need to start her journey. Satisfied she was ready for the next day, Cassie went to bed.

Fortunately, the end of the canyon had a path that was easily scalable, almost like a hiking trail. Cassie wasn’t sure how she would have climbed it if it had been similar to the near-vertical walls of the rest of the canyon. The forest before her was dark, and had a foreboding, wild feeling to it. Staying close to the river, she stepped forward.

Sunlight penetrated the thick, dark canopy, causing pools of light to shine down on the forest floor. Cassie stepped out of the darkness and into one of the pools. She ran a hand over her forehead before wiping the sweat and dirt onto her pant leg. She then proceeded to fix her ponytail. Cassie had a watchful vigilance as her eyes scanned the forest ahead, looking for any dangers or threats. The forest was alive with noises, but none of them near her location. Cassie gingerly headed deeper into the thick trees, never letting the stream out of her peripheral vision.


------------------------------


Traipsing through the woods for the better part of the past week had been better than Cassie could have hoped for. So far, she’d only had one really bad incident. Yesterday, while trying to set up a trap in the river to catch a fish, a giant, snake-like reptile happened upon her. Before Cassie had run off, she noticed it had purple scales and orange hair, somehow in a pompadour style, eyebrows, and a large mustache. She lost the fish trap thanks to that creature, and stayed farther from the shore’s edge for a few days following. The run, along with all the other not-so-easy trekking, had taken its toll on her artificial leg, though. The metal she was using as a pin had stretched and bent a few times, making it weaker and more prone to bending now. She was worried it would break soon.

As she continued her journey, Cassie tripped on a root, causing her to stumble forward. Trying to keep her footing, she slipped on some leaves and fell to the ground, scraping her good knee across a fallen branch. She pounded a fist on the ground, crying out in frustration. The past week since the incident at the river had worn on her. Small, infrequent, and unfulfilling meals had been her staple as of late.

The rain pouring from the sky caused Cassie’s clothes to stick to her form like they were painted on. The canopy here was less dense than that of other places in the forest so far, and the leaves did little to stop the cold torrent falling from the sky. After a while, she finally got up and decided that was it for the day, and looked for the driest place she could find to try and make some kind of shelter, not wanting to bother with her small tent.

A few days after the downpour, Cassie was surprised at how fast the forest had dried out, and grateful that it did not hold the humidity like a tropical rainforest would. She sat down to rest, and eat one of the few remaining food rations, leaving her with just one breakfast, dinner, and protein ration. That was enough for one full day's worth of meals, but she had only been eating one of the versions a day, while trying to supplement with berries and nuts. The berries and nuts she had found were never in large quantities. She had spent a day trying to catch some fish, but her trap was not as good as the one Kozlov had made. Other food gathering attempts had also ended up being a waste of time, but they did allow her sore muscles to relax.

Cassie surmised that in the almost two weeks of going through the forest, she had not actually gone very far. The river she tried to stay near was not a completely straight line; it meandered around a bit. Sometimes she had to go around natural barriers, or chop up vines blocking the way. Other delays in moving forward were because of her search for, and the subsequent picking of, berries and nuts. However, it was mostly that she was just going slowly, trying to conserve energy. That, and with her leg becoming looser and looser, walking on the rough, uneven terrain was becoming more difficult for her. Other than the river serpent, no other animals seemed to bother her. She did hear wolves howling at night a few times, though, and prayed they did not approach.

Too tired to go any further, Cassie decided her current location made for a nice place to make camp for the night. Before going to bed, Cassie checked the wound on her forearm that she had gotten when she stepped on a loose stick and its other end came whipping up, hitting her in the arm with a sharp spur. The cut probably needed stitches, but she had lost her tube of bio-gel days ago when she tumbled down a small embankment that had collapsed. She wrapped the wound with a new portion of a shirt she had torn into pieces specifically for bandage wrappings. Cassie checked on a few of her other minor cuts and bruises before finally calling it a night.

The following morning passed like all the others. It had been almost three weeks since Cassie arrived on the planet. Her cheeks were sunken, and her eyes haughty, only partly focused. Across the river, and through some trees, she thought she saw a tower.

The river here was shallow and very calm, allowing her to wade across it with ease. Cassie noticed that the trees began to thin out here somewhat, and barely registered that some looked like apple trees. Ignoring what she thought she saw, Cassie continued to stagger towards the tower like a zombie.

Breaking through the tree line, she looked up at her goal. It was not a tower; it was a large, tall pile of rocks. In her frustration, Cassie started running towards the pile with reckless abandon. 

"It's not fair!" she screamed as she kicked a small rock.

Cassie advanced on the tower of stones, tears and anger clouding her vision. She never saw the rock that tripped her. One moment she was running towards the pile, screaming at it; the next she was flat on her chest, eating dirt. Cassie was determined to knock the pile over for mocking her, making her think she had seen a tower, and giving her false hope. She scrambled to her feet, ignoring the nausea and dizziness, and staggered towards the source of her frustrations.

In that final outburst, Cassie used up all her energy. She had no more to give. Hunger, pain, and sadness all welled up inside of her. The nausea and dizziness caught up with her, and she collapsed to the ground. Cassie's rational part of her mind screamed for her to get up, but she let the exhaustion take her and lead her to unconsciousness.



> Chapter 4 - The Hospital: Part 1  -(R1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Present Day

LT Cassandra E. Campbell was never a morning person. Her mind and body slowly started bringing her back to consciousness. She snuggled into the bedding, trying to fight off the urge to wake up, but the sunlight now filling the room made that impossible. She rolled over so that the rays from the sun no longer seared her eyes through her eyelids. She inhaled the dry air deeply through her nostrils; it smelled faintly of disinfectant. It was vastly different from the clean, crisp, air that smelled of earth and leaves, both fresh and decaying, that she had been used to these past few weeks.

Finally, Cassie relented to the assault of the sun’s insistence upon the room, and she slowly opened her eyes. What she saw was not what she expected. This was not her bed at home, the barracks, the stateroom on the ship, or even the transport ship bed she had been sleeping in recently. Cassie looked around at the light blue and white walls of the room. It had the appearance of a wispy, cloud-filled sky. Following the wall to the floor, she noticed a rich, brown molding where it met with a pale, light blue tile floor. That same molding went up the walls in the corners, where it came in contact with a white tiled ceiling. Across from her bed, and slightly to the left, stood a door with a small window, which Cassie assumed led into the hallway. Continuing her observation around to the left side of the room, she found a basic medical cabinet and two small benches. On the wall closest to her head was a door that she assumed belonged to a bathroom, but she could not see any sign indicating that to be certain.

Cassie turned back to the wall across from her and saw another bench with two small potted plants on either side. Turning to her right, she found that the wall on the far side of the room held two large windows with flimsy, white, semi-transparent curtains, which did nothing to keep the sun from shining through. Noticing the privacy curtains bunched up against a wall, Cassie realized this room was double occupancy, but the other bed was not there. Next to her stood a small end table with a lamp, and a pole with an IV bag attached. A vitals monitor that was set into the wall, above the right side of her bed, gave a soft beep every so often.

Cassie followed the IV line to her arm, then looked down at the slightly small hospital bed. Seeing as she was a little on the short side at only 5'2", she was still able to fit on it, but with only a couple inches to spare. At that moment, she noticed that she was nude underneath the scratchy sheet. A slight, disapproving frown flashed on her face for just a moment.

What the hell! Was it too hard to put me in a hospital gown, or at least an oversized shirt, or something?

“Damned military hospitals,” she muttered.

Cassie let it go and laughed it off as she realized it wasn’t really something to get worked up about; it was just a hospital, after all. At this point, she noticed everything seemed short— even her bed sat only about two feet off the ground. She wondered if maybe this was a hospital in one of the outer solar system colonies where money and resources were tight sometimes, or possibly a room for children. Cassie also wondered who rescued her, and how long she had been in stasis to make it back to the Sol Republic.

The stasis time slightly concerned Cassie, as she knew she had used around three and a half years, of the maximum ten that were allowed for safety reasons, just to get to that planet in the first place. She considered the thought only briefly as click-clack sounds started getting closer to her room.

Oh great! Uptight military brass that like to wear those small metal plates on their shoes so they click, and I still don't have anything other than this thin sheet over me.

The voices and footfalls were right outside the door, so Cassie rolled over and pretended to be asleep. She heard the door open, and many pairs of feet entering the room. They tried to talk in hushed tones, but Cassie could tell right away that they did not speak English.

Great, not even in a primary Sol Republic Military hospital, but some local colony military one.

Though she didn’t want to deal with the brass just yet, Cassie reluctantly stopped pretending to be asleep; she realized that a translator would be needed.

Cassie rolled over, eyes still closed, and made sure to keep the sheet covering her as she started saying, "I’m sorry, but I only know English. Do any of you spe—."

Cassie's sentence was cut short when her eyes opened, falling across a sight she could barely believe. Her eyes went wide as she looked across the room at four equine-like creatures, and a small, plump, lizard thing. Cassie shuddered as her anxiety started creeping up. She had a moderate case of equinophobia, and here in front of her stood four creatures that looked ‘off’ in several ways, but still close enough to resemble those horrible beasts that liked to bite and kick.

Cassie sat there, her mouth hanging open in shock. Someone had broken several laws. Genetic modification and engineering of creatures such as these was banned throughout the solar system. Yet here in front of her, and in a hospital no less, were four small, vividly colored, pony-like equines, and a two-legged purple lizard… thing. 

These mutated-looking equine creatures were very strange to Cassie. They were short, with more filled-out bodies than a normal horse or pony. Their heads were much rounder than a normal equine, with overly large eyes, and short muzzles. The legs were somewhat tube-shaped, especially the forelegs. They most likely had ball-and-socket joints at the shoulders, if the fact that one of them had a foreleg held out straight to the side was any indication. Three of them appeared to have a horn, like a unicorn from mythology, and one of those three even had wings akin to a pegasus. The fourth hid behind the others, and only one of its large, azure eyes could be seen. She settled on calling them unicorns for the time being.

"Emtt, Q amm cif lwpeajp qa ieism okkjan bpiv atlaypaz," a deep voice called out.

Cassie looked around for wherever the voice came from. Before she noticed it, the lavender unicorn with the wings appeared right next to her bed. She flinched away, keeping her shoulder scrunched to her jaw, and her arm held to her side and chest, bracing for the bite she just knew was going to come. Panic's claws started sinking deeper into her mind.

"Wep, Q'u aw awzzg. Q lqlv'b umiv bu bnecdpaj ukq," a feminine voice said.

To Cassie, it looked like the voice had come from the unicorn in front of her, which had thankfully taken a step back.

"Ug vium qa Xquvkmaa Beqtqop Axizstm, pih xtmiam rcab kitt um Beqtqop," the same feminine voice said.

"Please come out and take these unicorn things away. I don’t like being around horses very much, especially this close to me," Cassie said, sweat starting to form on her forehead, and anxiety filtering into her voice.

By now, the beeping of the heart rate monitor was increasing in frequency by the second. The lavender unicorn stepped forward, put her foreleg on the bed, and began to undeniably speak to her.

"Lhawoa lw vyb xa bnecpajaz. Em izm vyb dana bu vifh ukq. Izm ukq ijtm bu qjzanopwiz um ib itt?" the unicorn said with a small tilt of her head, and slightly higher-pitched ending.

Instantly, the monitor went into alarm mode as Cassie's heart rate skyrocketed to unsafe levels. Cassie's pupils shrank to pinpricks while her mind proceeded to shut down all coherent thoughts, going into full panic mode. She started flailing around and scrambling in the bed in order to get away from the unicorn. It did not take long before she pushed herself off the bed. Due to her thrashing, her right leg had become caught under the railing near the end of the bed, but she did not realize this until it was too late. Just before she landed on the ground, there was the creaking sound of metal being stressed too far, accompanied by a popping tink sound.

"Get away! Get away!" Cassie screamed as tears started flowing down her cheeks.

Now on the floor, Cassie lay both exposed and hobbled. She quickly grabbed the blanket she was tangled in as she slid back across the room on her butt, unable to walk or run. She continued shouting and frantically waving her free arm, as if trying to ward them off, while she moved into the corner of the room. Cassie huddled in the corner as far from the equines as she could get. She clutched the blanket around her to cover herself up as she pressed herself as far into the corner as she could, crying and hyperventilating. Her mind was still unable to process what was happening, only that this place was not anywhere she knew of. Cassie heard the pounding of her heart in her ears growing ever so loud. Her already blurry vision started wavering with black and white dots flashing in her eyes. Cassie was only dimly aware that the equines had not moved, and were making soft, soothing tones that sounded so very far away, when she threw up, then passed out from the panic attack.


------------------------------


"No one touches her," Doctor Scope stated. He looked at Fluttershy, knowing she was most likely to check on the creature, to make sure she got the message before he left the room to fetch a nurse.

Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike stood there speechless, and slightly horrified, at what just happened. The room looked like a small disaster zone. The pole that was once upright, and holding an IV-Bag, was now laying on the floor. It was no surprise that the IV had been pulled from the creature's arm while she was flailing around. A pillow and a now-broken lamp from the end table also lay on the floor. The mattress was partially hanging off the bed frame, and on the bed rested the creature's artificial leg. In the corner of the room, the creature lay passed out in a puddle of its own vomit and tears, with a small red line on her arm where the IV had been yanked out. 

Using her magic, Twilight picked the creature up and pulled it away so that it wasn’t lying in the puddle anymore. Spike walked over with his claws, pinching his nose, and looked down at the creature.

"Yeah, she's sleeping now, Twilight," Spike announced as he walked back, waving his claw in front of his face a few times to blow the stench out of his nostrils.

Twilight sighed, "Good. We don't want her to have drowned in her own mess. At least she’s not about to have a heart attack now, either."

"How utterly repulsive,” Rarity said, trying to ignore the new floor covering.

Fluttershy voiced the question everypony in the room was thinking. "I wonder why she seemed so scared of us?" she said, barely above a whisper.

"Scared? That was outright terror she displayed upon seeing us. She acted like a rabbit surrounded by timberwolves. Just another mystery to add to her," Twilight said loudly before she looked back over at the pitiful-looking creature.

"Twilight darling, not to change the subject, but why did you not warn me, or Fluttershy, about the fact that this creature had a prosthetic leg?" Rarity asked.

Fluttershy quietly added, "I-I-it was kind of scary when it came off. I thought the creature had broken its leg off for a moment."

"Sorry girls, I was going to get to that. I didn't expect her to be awake, or anything like… this to happen, for it to really matter," Twilight said, waving her foreleg over the scene before them.

"That’s alright, dear. It's just that it helps to be prepared so you don't have a shocked reaction upon seeing a pony like that, thus causing the pony to feel self-conscious about it. Enough of courtesies that were forgotten. Come, look at this; I’ve never seen anything quite like it," Rarity said, looking at the leg.

Twilight and Fluttershy trotted to the side of the bed, where Rarity inspected the leg in her magical grasp. Fluttershy cringed slightly at the thought of needing to use it, and what the cause could have been. Twilight had seen the leg before, but only briefly while the creature was on the exam table, and in the X-ray photos the doctor had shown her. Thinking it was cool-looking, Spike wandered over and tried to poke it, but both unicorns stopped him.

They all looked closely at the leg, marveling at how lifelike it appeared in comparison to the creature’s natural leg. Rarity felt the outer covering to find it had a rubbery texture, then rotated it around so they could all see the black metal part sticking out at the end.

"I don't know exactly how this connects to the creature, but I think I know what that sound was before she fell off the bed," Rarity said. "I am quite sure that this end is not supposed to be bent this way."

Spike held up two small pieces of metal. "I think this was one piece, and it looks like it would have fit in those holes," he said, looking up at Rarity with a smile.

Nodding in agreement, Twilight decided it was time to get to work on the reasons they had come. She took the broken pieces of metal from Spike and set them on the small table next to the bed. Levitating the prosthetic leg over to a bench against the wall, she then grabbed the bag and small box that were sitting there. 

Twilight used her magic to set the small box down in front of Rarity, who stood at the foot of the bed, then dumped the contents of the bag onto the center of the bed. Twilight left what appeared to be a small tent and bedroll attached to the bag, which she set down at the head of the bed. Clothing for Rarity to inspect was separated to the foot of the bed, leaving a few devices: a book, a knife, some nuts, some random items, and a couple of things wrapped in a metallic-plastic material with some sort of writing on them.

"I take it these are the items she was wearing when she came in, Twilight?" Rarity asked as she looked into the box.

Twilight replied, "Yes, they are. They have been cleaned, but I was wondering if you could repair them. Maybe you could even tell where they were made, or who the designer is?"

Rarity levitated up a pair of what looked to be tan shorts, noticing the tears and cuts in the fabric. Next, she levitated up a navy blue shirt, which was mostly okay, other than a ripped sleeve. However, a pair of short, white socks had no hope of repair in a way that would still be comfortable, so Rarity set them off to the side. The next items were strange-looking; they appeared to be some sort of covering that would completely surround the creature's feet. Other than some scuffing, and a broken lace on one, they seemed to be in good condition from what she could tell. The following item was a pair of pink underwear, with a semi-wide, white, lacy frill waistband, but it most curiously did not contain a tail hole or groove. The last item in the box perplexed Rarity; it was the same pink color as the underwear, but consisted of two pieces of dome-shaped fabric with white, lacy frill-covered straps coming off opposite sides with fasteners at the ends, and a white strap off the top of the dome connecting to the strap on that side about halfway to the end.

Rarity turned her head and asked, "Twilight dear, where was this on her body?"

Twilight looked at the article Rarity was referring to and slightly blushed. "That was over what we suspect are her, umm…" She looked down at a puzzled-looking Spike, then finished, "…let me show you," and trotted over to the creature.

Spike tried to follow, but Fluttershy stopped him. He instead focused his attention to one of the devices on the bed. A smile came to his face as he picked it up and took it to one of the benches to sit down while he examined it. Meanwhile, Twilight rolled the creature over part way and removed the blanket that was covering its torso. She then motioned to the small mounds on the creature's chest.

"Ah, I see," Rarity said, then she started trotting back to inspect the other clothes.

The wheels in Rarity's head started turning, and a thought came to her mind. She paused partway through her trot to the bed for a moment to cover the creature back up using her magic. The pile on the bed contained two more shirts, a pair of pants, a pleated skirt, two sets of socks, and two more sets of undergarments, all of which needed just a little fixing up. Rarity put all but the two sets of undergarments into her saddlebags.

"Twilight, does that book happen to have pictures of the creature in it?" she asked with a smile.

Twilight flipped through the book, but she only found pictures of rocks and minerals. However, a few photographs fell from between the pages. Twilight held up a picture from the pile on the bed that showed the creature next to what appeared to be two other females, and most likely three males. All but one of the males appeared to be in the same age group, and they were dressed similarly, in white uniforms, with big smiles on their flat faces. The other picture showed the creature on what looked like a podium with two other females, wearing only a jacket over her torso and her bare legs sticking out the bottom, holding a bronze medal.

Rarity nodded after seeing the image. "I thought as much. I will have to have a word with the doctor, and nurses, before we go," Rarity said.

"Oh? What's wrong? Umm… that is… if you don’t mind my asking," Fluttershy said quietly.

Rarity asked, "What, my dears, do you both notice about the photographs of the creature here?"

Fluttershy thought it over a moment before she answered, "They’re all happy and smiling."

"Based on these pictures, I think our creature here is on the noticeably short side for her species,” Twilight said in her scholarly tone.

"While that does seem to be true, Twilight, look again. In both pictures, the creatures are clothed, even in the outdoor photo where it appears to be a nice, warm, and sunny day. I see that she is basically hairless, so it might be due to having no fur to keep warm, or to help protect the skin. However, after inspecting the clothing, I think it’s culturally taboo for them to be without clothing covering… certain areas," Rarity informed them, holding up a pair of the undergarments. "I do not believe these are used in the same manner ponies sometimes use them. I think that is why, even in her panicked state, she was clutching that sheet to herself,” Rarity finished with a satisfied look on her face.

The mention of the undergarments caused both of the other mares to blush slightly. Twilight looked over to re-cover the creature, but noticed that Rarity must have already done so. She had started re-packing the bag when the doctor returned with two nurses and a gurney.

Doctor Scope glared at them very agitatedly. "I don't care if you are a princess, or the Element Bearers— this is MY hospital, and when I say don't touch the patient, I mean... Don't. Touch. The. Patient!”

"Oh, we're s-sorry, Doctor. It’s just that she was lying face-down in her own v-v-vomit, so Twilight moved her a bit," Fluttershy said softly, shying away behind Rarity.

Realizing his mistake, the agitation fell from the doctor's face, and he apologized for his outburst. That did not stop the death glares both nurses gave him for leaving a patient like that. The nurses walked over to the creature and gently lifted her onto the gurney. They started to leave, but Rarity stopped them and levitated the sheet over the creature. This interruption did not go over well with Nurse Redheart. The white earth pony stomped over to the white unicorn until their muzzles almost touched.

"Rarity! You do not stop hospital staff in the middle of taking care of a patient," Nurse Redheart angrily spoke through clenched teeth.

Rarity stepped back a pace before she gave her explanation. "Darling, I would never dream of preventing you from doing your job. Before you leave, however, I need to inform you, Nurse Snowheart, and Doctor Scope of something we think we found out."

Rarity and Twilight then showed them the photographs of the creature. They pointed out the fact that clothing was worn in each picture. Rarity levitated one of the sets of undergarments to Nurse Snowheart, who in turn placed them on the gurney. The other set Rarity placed in the drawer of the end table next to the bed. Twilight quickly looked at the metal plate on the creature's leg, with Nurse Snowheart watching her every move. When Twilight was satisfied a few minutes later, the nurses left to go wash up their patient.

"Doctor Scope," Twilight began, waiting until he looked over to her, "I am leaving the creature's prosthetic leg here for the time being. The connection point on the leg is definitely damaged, but it's still probably usable. From my initial assessment just now, the connection point on her body looks to be undamaged, but I cannot be sure until I look at it more closely. On the side table is a broken metal pin. Be sure no one messes with the leg, or that pin. When the creature next wakes up, make sure she knows where the leg is, and the pin," she finished, and waited for his reply.

"Princess, it's obvious she does not speak Equestrian. I'm not even sure she understands it. We still don't know for sure if she is actually sapient, and not just a trained exotic pet. How will I inform her of this?" Doctor Scope asked while writing two notes to be placed next to both objects.

Twilight sighed, "I know, Doctor. For all we know, in that picture she may have won a medal for some sporting event, or it could have been for best in show, obedience, or something to that effect. You will have to do it like you do with foals or a pet. I am sure you, and your nurses, will figure something out. Do you have any idea why she acted like that?"

"Umm, I don't know what she said, Twilight, but like you mentioned earlier, she was clearly terrified of all of us. That was worse than you with the snakes at Winter Wrap-Up that first year you were here," the butter-yellow pegasus said, grinning sheepishly once she realized the words she had just spoken.

Doctor Scope thought for a few minutes, then answered, "I don’t know. She could’ve just been overly surprised at waking up in a new location, or she could have a phobia of some sort. I didn’t even expect her to wake up for another few hours with the sedatives we gave her. She was pretty bad off when you brought her in here yesterday morning."

A slight popping and fizzing sound, similar to when a magic power-crystal breaks, echoed in the room. This was followed by a loud thump, something skidding and bouncing on the floor, and Spike screaming. They looked over to see Fluttershy laying in a heap, not moving. Doctor Scope immediately checked on the pegasus, confirming she was still breathing, and not choking or having a heart attack.

Spike ran to Twilight, still screaming. "I didn't mean to do it! Please be okay, please be okay," he said between sobs, his face now buried into Twilight’s rear leg.

"She's just knocked out, Spike. Similar to a stun spell, it appears," Doctor Scope stated.

Twilight spun on the dragon, with a speed that would impress Rainbow Dash, to look him straight in the eyes. "Spike! Tell me what happened," Twilight sternly commanded.

Spike wiped the back of his claws across his eyes to get the tears out. He pointed to the device on the floor, and hurriedly said through sobs, "I-I w-was l-looking at that... a-and I p-pressed a b-button... and a-a l-light shout out... a-and Fluttershy fell."

He re-attached himself to Twilight’s hind leg as she turned to the device. Twilight picked it up with her magic and placed a small shield around it. Then she gathered up all of the items on the bed and shoved them, as well as the device, into the backpack. A shield was then placed around the entire bag.

"I am taking these with me," Twilight stated with a commanding tone that left no room for argument.

Rarity was kneeling next to her friend. "Let's get you into a bed to sleep this off, Fluttershy. Twilight, I will let you get to analyzing those... things. I will take our dear friend here to a proper bed, and stay with her."

Twilight nodded, levitated the sobbing Spike onto her back, and grabbed the shield-enclosed backpack with her telekinesis. Doctor Scope helped Rarity take Fluttershy to an open room. 

I have a lot of work ahead of me, Twilight thought to herself as she trotted out of the hospital.


------------------------------


Cassie awoke with a headache. She glanced around the room, noticing it was the same one as before. Everything appeared to be the same, with the exception of her leg laying on the bench on the wall across from her, along with a cup of water on the end table to her right. Without hesitation, Cassie picked up the cup and gulped down its contents, relieving the dryness in her throat. 

It was then that Cassie noticed she felt cleaner, and had a slight tightness on her chest. A smile graced her face as she looked under the covers and saw the reason why. Her royal blue underwear set was on, though the panties were on backwards. Cassie was not one hundred percent pleased that she was bathed and dressed while unconscious without her knowledge or consent, but knew that’s how hospitals worked with patients sometimes. With a giggle at how the nurse managed to put them on backwards, she quickly fixed her panties so they were on properly.

Cassie felt a pinch on her arm. Looking to where the IV was taped to her forearm, she saw a nice bruise under the skin, and a small scabbed-over cut next to the needle hole.

I must have thrashed around during my nightmare from earlier.

Cassie thought back to the horrible nightmare she’d had earlier, with the strange-looking ponies that had been in the room with her, just waiting for her to drop her guard so they could bite and kick her. She shuddered at the recollection. 

“Oh, thank god that was just a dream,” Cassie said aloud.

Cassie’s belly rumbled. Before she could focus on her hunger, the door across from her opened. A small serving cart entered the room, pushed by a white pony. Cassie’s breath hitched in her throat, and a small gasp escaped her. The pony looked to her, then stopped.

“Nooo! It was a nightmare… It had to be!” Cassie cried.

The white, pink-maned pony with a nurse's hat started to push the cart towards Cassie again, albeit much slower. "Ep’o cy. Q'u vyb dana bu vifh ukq."

Cassie shrieked, “Get out! Get away from me!” She hurled the mostly empty glass of water towards the pony, hoping to scare it away.

Cassie’s plan worked; the pony was startled, and started to back up out the door. She noticed the pony seemed to look sad, like a dog that did something wrong. Its head was down, and it mumbled something. However, Cassie still wanted the pony thing gone. Looking for something else to throw, she spotted the box of tissues on the end table just as she heard the door click shut. She looked up to see that the pony had thankfully left, and she put the box back. At that moment, her stomach grumbled, reminding her to fill it. 

Cassie climbed to the end of the bed. The cart was within reach of her arms, so she pulled it over, slightly confused at what she saw. She was starting to think that whoever ran this place used these… ponies… as trained service animals, but she was still confused as to why in the hell they would let the ponies deliver livestock feed to a patient. The tray contained some hay, oats, pudding, apple slices, flower heads, and two sandwiches.

“Damn, no strawberries,” Cassie said.

Cassie pushed half of the stuff to the side, happily eating the apple slices, vanilla pudding, and the sandwich that had only lettuce, tomato, and some sauce, but not the sandwich with flowers in it. She leaned back on the bed, patting her full stomach satisfactorily with a smile playing along her face. Cassie briefly wondered why the doctors hadn’t visited her yet as she drifted off into a food-lulled nap.


------------------------------


The hallway was bathed in soft white light from the overhead magic-crystal powered lights. The floors of the isolation wing were made of the same pale, light blue tiles as the floor in the lobby and most of the non-carpeted hallways. There, in the middle of the white-walled hallway, stood Nurse Redheart in slight shock.

The echo of hooves approached her. Nurse Redheart looked up to see a pale, yellow-coated mare trotting up to her with a smile. Nurse Snowheart’s two-toned light blue mane bounced as she approached, her green eyes dancing with anticipation of asking how the feeding went. When she looked upon Nurse Redheart’s face, her own jubilance started to die off.

“I take it feeding her didn’t go well?” Snowheart asked her fellow nurse.

“It could have gone… better,” Redheart sighed. "When I first entered, she only seemed startled that somepony entered the room, and cried out. But, when I talked, she screamed something at me, and then threw a cup of water in my direction. When I noticed her heart rate was increasing rapidly, I slowly exited the room. That was only minutes ago.”

“Oh my,” Snowheart said, putting a foreleg over her chest. “Maybe we’re wrong about her being sapient. Do you think she’s a pet that might have been mistreated by ponies? Or, possibly missing its master?” she asked.

“I really don’t know. From her reaction when the Princess was here, to the reaction just now…” Redheart appeared lost in thought for a moment, then continued, "Regardless, I am starting to think she was mistreated by ponies.” As she started walking down the hall, Redheart said, “I have no basis for whether she’s a new sapient race or an exotic pet. Either way, to me, she’s a patient that needs help.”

The two nurses made their way towards the staff lounge. It was a decent sized lounge, similar in color to the reception area. Redheart headed to the small kitchen section, where a few cups with each nurse’s name on it hung on a small wooden rack on the island counter. Taking their cups from the rack, Redheart’s brow pinched in thought as her hoof hovered over a small bowl containing a few fruits that sat next to the rack, before she finally plucked out a few strawberries. Popping the fruit into her mouth, Redheart turned toward the stove against the back wall behind her and started a pot of coffee with the brewer on the adjacent counter.

Snowheart reached past Redheart for a partially eaten loaf of bread sitting next to a beat-up toaster oven in the back corner of the counter. Across from the kitchen sat two tables, each beneath a window. One was an oaken, booth-style table that had been donated from some restaurant when they remodeled years ago, the other was just a small circular pine wood table with a partly folded-up newspaper on it. On the far side of the room, snoring could be heard coming from one of three cots with divider curtains around them; a small flask lay on the ground next to it. Ignoring the possibly passed-out doctor, Nurse Snowheart opened the fridge, pulled out some sandwich fixings, and began making lunch.

A few minutes later, they made their way through the room, passing a large couch on their way to the round table to relax upon the cushions surrounding it. As Redheart poured them each a cup of coffee, adding a cream and two sugars to her own, Snowheart cut the sandwich in two and passed half to her friend. Snowheart then got back up and snagged one of the faded, well-worn, pale-green pillows from the couch to keep her propped up as she lounged sideways on the cushion.

“I’ve been thinking,” Redheart started.

Snowheart jokingly interjected, "Oh? Is that why your mane is pink? Is it your brain starting to catch on fire, but only making your mane glow like an ember?“

Redheart laughed. “No, no. I’ve been thinking that we can’t keep calling her ‘The Creature’ or ‘It’. Even if she ends up being just a beast, she should have a name. Any Ideas?” she asked her pale yellow friend.

Snowheart took a bite out of her sandwich. "Frenzied Heartbeat, that’d be a good name for her," she said.

Redheart almost spit her coffee out at the suggestion. After recovering from her giggles, she said, "While that would be a fitting name, I think we need something better. She does have that tattoo on her hip. It's sort of like a cutie mark in a way. If she does turn out to be just a pet, it's probably a brand from her owner."

"I don't remember the colors of the rings, but I do remember there were three on the top, two on the bottom, and they were all a different color. Oh, and it had those three blue wavy lines under it. Maybe we can call her Rainbow Rings, or Rainbow Squiggles?" Snowheart said.

"I kind of like the Rainbow Rings name. What about Rainbow Waves, Colored Rings, Interlock Rings, or Circle Wave?" Redheart replied.

After much discussion with many more names popping up, some wildly inappropriate, they settled on telling Dr. Scope that they’d recommend calling her Ring Wave. With their break over, both nurses left the lounge to continue on their rounds.


------------------------------


The clip-clop sound of hooves against stone broke the silence of the laboratory. Light flickered in the room, pushing the darkness back from two large, magic-crystal powered lights hanging above the center of the room. The lights glowed radiantly with soft-white light, keeping the darkness at bay.

A dark wood table sat against the far wall from the bottom of the stairs, well-worn from having seen a countless number of experiments and investigations take place upon its surface. The lab table was neatly organized, with each thing in its designated location. A stack of parchment sat on the right, with three quills laid out side by side above it, and three ink bottles in a row right above them. On the left of the table rested a small rack of test tubes; two held liquid of some sort, while the other three remained empty. In the center of the table, just the circle portion of an old alchemic spell-circle outline was burned into the wood, with clear lacquer filling the groove to keep the table surface flat. Light filtered in through a very small, circular, four-paned window nestled up near the ceiling, just above ground level, but it did little to illuminate the room. 

Around one side of the mostly circular room stood various large machines with wires, and other attachments, hanging off of them. All were silent at the moment, not needing to be used for the upcoming investigation. The side of the room where the stairs and walkway to the main floor stood contained shelves carved out of the trunk of the tree, just like the rest of the library, only not a part of the living tree any longer. The shelves held books, beakers, hot-plates, test tubes, and various other small scientific equipment. The room also had a small door that led to a closet under the stone walkway, which were carved from a very large boulder in the earth that the tree roots had grown around. A few roots from the tree crisscrossed on various sections of the mostly hard-packed earthen walls. The floor was comprised of a great circle of wood, carved in one piece from the main floor of the library during its construction.  

Twilight made her way to the table with the creature’s bag in tow. Upon reaching the table, she carefully dumped the contents out, and started separating them into piles. She put the book off to the side, along with the photos and some plastic-y metal pouches. To stop the assortment of nuts from rolling everywhere, Twilight levitated a glass dish from a shelf to the table and deposited them inside. It wasn’t more than a hoofful, but she did not want to take them from the creature permanently. Twilight was unsure if it was common food for the creature, or if it might have been a treat she was saving. A coil of string, tape, and some ragged strips of cloth were pushed to the side near the book. Twilight inspected the knife briefly, but found nothing out of the ordinary, so she placed it off to the side within its sheath, next to a compass.

Hmm… if this creature does turn out to be non-sapient, I wonder if it is used as a sort of pack animal, similar to how the minotaurs use those desert salamanders.

"Well, if that's the case, I hope its owner is okay," Twilight mused aloud.

Twilight furrowed her brows slightly. She was still not sure if this was actually a new creature to the equines, or a sapient race. She really had no way of knowing one way or the other, though evidence led her to believe new race was the most likely turn-out. 

Twilight paced back and forth in the center of the room, going over her options. On the one hoof, the creature was clothed, and had a pack with tools and supplies in it. On the other hoof, it was not able to communicate in Equestrian, freaked out upon waking up, and seemed to not be able to properly feed itself when on its own. Twilight stood there in thought for a moment, remembering when they found it. Any smart creature would have at least taken some apples from the trees around, but Applejack said none of the trees had been messed with. They also certainly did not find any apple cores around the creature, and it was clearly malnourished. Twilight sat on her haunches and groaned in frustration. Not even thinking about it, she levitated up a few of the nuts from the glass dish and bit down.

"Oh great, I just stole the creature’s treats!"

Twilight scuffed the ground with a forehoof. Her muzzle scrunched up, showing her teeth, as she hissed through them in frustration at her own actions. She made a note to buy a small bag of peanuts to return to the creature.

Until she could prove otherwise, Twilight decided to assume the creature belonged to a new race. Returning to the lab table, She gazed at the three objects she still had to study.

Twilight started with a small rectangular object made of glass and black metal. It had a few symbols on it and a small opening on one of the skinny sides. After flipping it around and poking it, she could not figure out its purpose. All Twilight found was that the bottom could slide open to reveal two small teardrop-shaped objects. Deciding it was not anything dangerous, she set it off to the side with the notes she took on it.

Twilight moved on to a larger, light gray, rectangular object. The top of this one was curved, with a picture of a compass rose on it. Pressing a small button on the side, Twilight's eyes lit up with excitement as the top flipped open, revealing the insides. Her ears perked up and rotated forward upon hearing a low beep from the item, and a smile began to form upon her muzzle. She levitated over a new piece of parchment and started taking notes, while continuing her observations.

The part of the object that flipped up had a piece of glass in it. It glowed with a green background, and had two perpendicular white lines crossing in the center at a dot. A white circle filled most of the screen. On each line, three tick marks fell within the circle. In the upper left above the green glass, a symbol that looked like a foal’s drawing of a house was glowing blue. It matched an arrow on the screen that rotated around to always face the same direction when the object was turned.

Could this be a location device, pointing to the creature's home? Oh, what if she’s an explorer?!

Twilight shook with happiness at her last thought, her tail playfully swishing behind her. She wanted to take it completely apart and see how the magic made it work, but thought better of it. Twilight put her enthusiasm aside for a moment, remembering to calm herself. She did not need another episode of her lust for scientific knowledge causing her to go slightly crazy. She also feared she would end up breaking it, so she settled with waiting to ask the owner about it. She scribbled a note on a separate piece of parchment before returning to her inspection.

On the base of the object, a small compass was embedded near where the top flipped up. Twilight, unable to read the lettering, used a spell to confirm the direction indicated, surmising that wherever this was pointing might be the creature’s home or camp. She would have to have it checked out, to see if the owner was still there, and to return the creature.

Twilight noted that every 30 seconds, the device made a small beep and the arrow flashed. One of the buttons turned the screen white with a flashing black line; another made the beep and arrow flash. A few other buttons were on the bottom, but she was unable to determine what they did, other than a quick double beep. Deciding it was also safe, she set the device off to the side with the other items.

Humming a soft tune, and bouncing on her hooves, Twilight recorded all her information on the parchment. She also added in a drawing of the opened device. Satisfied, a grin formed on her muzzle as she placed the parchment into a drawer.

Her joyful expression fell when her eyes looked back to the last object. Her lip twitched in anger, and her eyes squinted at remembering what that particular object did to Fluttershy. She pushed her thoughts aside as she began the task of recording her observations.

It was clearly some sort of pistol, somewhat like what the minotaurs developed, but much more compact. It was comprised mostly of lightweight, dark-gray metal, but had a couple of short, semi-transparent, white tubes on the top, with white bands at both ends. The handle was covered in a soft, but sturdy, ribbed material. A small piece of glass was embedded near the back, with a small round button next to it. On the top, at the back, were three buttons, two of which were white. The third button was smaller and colored red, with the dark-gray material of the object making a raised edge around it, slightly taller than the button.

At the end of what could be called the barrel, Twilight noticed a small lens. Figuring that’s where the discharge came from, she made sure not to point it at herself. She started with pressing the buttons on the top, but nothing happened. She then pressed the button next to the glass. Still, nothing happened. She cocked an eyebrow while looking over the device again. Twilight repeated the process, but held each button down a few seconds. This time, when she held the one next to the glass, the tubes on the top started giving off a soft-blue glow. The screen had a blue symbol on the left of a circle with a dot in the center, and a series of bars stacked on the right that went from bright green at the top to dark red at the bottom.

Twilight repeated her previous process. When she did, the symbol changed to green, and then red. She was slightly surprised when the tubes on top turned to red also when she pressed the red button. Twilight's tongue poked out of the side of her mouth in excitement as she recorded the observation. Holding the button for a few seconds changed the circle with a dot into a solid, filled-in circle.

Ready for a test, Twilight turned to face the wall, and raised a shield around herself. Making sure the lens was facing the wall, she used her magic to pull the curved trigger button she had yet to touch. Twilight jumped slightly and her ears splayed back in surprise, causing her to lose her magical grasp on the device, which fell to the floor. She had been expecting the magic power-crystal fizz sound, not for a red beam to shoot out of the end. Twilight also hadn’t expected to put a small hole in her basement wall. Twilight ran a hoof through her mane, composing herself as she recorded the observation.

Twilight started the test again; this time, she put it back to the color and symbol that she had found it on when she activated it. Readying herself, she pulled the trigger button again. A small ball of bluish light shot from the end, dissipating quickly upon hitting the wall.

Twilight's lips curled up in a smile. Her testing was satisfactory. She finished her observations before packing everything back in the creature’s bag, except what she dubbed the ‘magic energy gun’. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at the object. No one had ever been able to make magic power-crystals expel their energy like that. Twilight could not wait to get this to Princess Celestia to have it researched, or find the inventor.

Twilight returned to the main floor with the creature’s bag and called for Spike. The little dragon waddled out from the kitchen in a small apron.

"Spike, we have a letter to write," Twilight said with a huge grin.



> Chapter 5 - The Hospital: Part 2  -(R1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been five days since Cassie first woke up in the hospital. In that time, she had only had one more panic attack, though not as severe as the first. However, she was still scared and pulled away every time the ponies got too near to her. She was also quite miffed that no doctor had ever actually come in to see her yet, despite her loud protesting of the fact. The only interaction she had was with those two ponies that wore nurses’ hats, and the one with the lab coat. She even named them when she noticed they all had tattoos on their rumps.

Cassie had this bad feeling that these mutant ponies were some sort of test, and she was now part of the experiment, which only served to make her angry. She had no idea what the test could be, but she thought it could have to do with slightly smarter pets for service animal related tasks. It didn’t explain how that one had seemed talked to her, though. In her mind, Cassie determined it was just these ponies’ language, like dogs barking or orcas singing.

The dash-mark-faced, analog clock on the wall across from Cassie’s bed indicated it was almost time for when they delivered lunch. She smiled at the thought of food. A little bit of drool even escaped her mouth as her stomach growled in anticipation. Her breakfast had been a disaster, when a sudden sneeze caused her to spill it all over herself. Cassie was thankful that since the first night, they had stopped bringing her hay, oats, grass, and flowers when they fed her. 

During the dinner feeding time on the second day, Cassie finally let the pony she named Redcross into the room without yelling or throwing things at her to make her leave. The actions never worked anyway, and just kept the pony in the room longer to pick up whatever she threw. However, Cassie would still not let the ponies get too near to her. She was pleasantly surprised that night when the mare had smiled at her before rushing out of the room, and came back with a small dish of pre-shelled peanuts. Since that night, for every lunch and dinner, a small pile of the peanuts with a light dusting of salt was set on the side of the plate near whatever dessert they brought.

Watching Redcross push the serving cart in, Cassie noticed the peanuts again and smiled. Whoever was watching this experiment at least realized she liked the tasty nuts. Some time later, the pony Cassie dubbed Whitecross returned to get the serving cart. Cassie worked up the courage to try and interact with the pony.

"Don't bite me or anything, but can you bring me my leg?" Cassie asked, pointing to the leg on the bench.


------------------------------


Nurse Snowheart smiled with delight. Her tail lazily swished behind her as she held back the urge to dance and clap her hooves. The doctor had told the nurses to always be careful around Rings so that she wouldn’t be spooked, and not to talk to her. Snowheart still didn't like that name as much as Ring Wave or Rainbow Rings, but the Princess and Dr. Scope had decided on Rings. 

Though unable to understand her, Snowheart could tell Rings wanted her leg. Just as she was about to pick it up with her mouth, Rings cried out. Snowheart looked up to see fear and worry in Rings’ eyes. One of Rings’ hands was partly outstretched in the direction of the leg. The other hand she had in her mouth, apparently biting her nails.


------------------------------


"Oh, please be careful! Don't bite it hard. Wait! …Don't get it. No… bring it, but be careful!" Cassie pleaded.

Cassie’s face was strained. Her brows were pushed together and arched up in the middle just slightly, the edges of her eyes pulled in some. The leg's outer shell was pretty resilient, but she didn’t want to test its resilience against a pony chomping down on it. The rise and fall of her chest froze as she watched Whitecross pick up the leg in her mouth, then slowly bring it to the end of her bed. Cassie's face relaxed when the pony dropped it onto the bed and backed away.

When the pony left, Cassie crawled to the end of the bed to retrieve her leg. She was surprised to find that it wasn’t covered in pony spit, and relieved that the pony didn’t bite it hard enough to remove a chunk out of the rubber, or even leave a mark. The leg already had enough small cuts and abrasions from her trek in the forest. 

Cassie looked at the connection point. Her eyes started watering, and her smile turned into a frown as her lower lip quivered. She let her arms fall to the bed, and the leg fell over as she leaned back with her eyes closed. Cassie never saw the lavender unicorn in the doorway, but heard the click of the door shutting. She assumed Whitecross just hadn't fully closed it earlier.

After a few minutes, Cassie exhaled loudly. She picked the leg back up to determine how to make it useable again. In its current state, she could figure out a way to make it partly useable. The right side of the socket had been bent badly. With the proper thumb screws in the left side and front holes, the leg would be mostly fine to use, provided she did not put too much strain on it with movements that would cause the top of the leg to kick out to the right. Without the thumb screws, Cassie would be mostly restricted to standing up and slowly walking. She decided that eventually, someone here would talk to her, and she could just get her leg sent in to the company for repair, or find someone local to do a partial repair if needed. Cassie put the leg down on the floor, leaning it against the end table.

Cassie was quite bored sitting in the hospital room. There was that window she could go to to look out at the colony, but having to lean against the wall and hop on one leg was not very fun for her. Doing that to go the short distance to the bathroom was enough of an annoyance for her. Doing what she did best lately, she tried to take a nap.

Cassie couldn’t really call it a nap, though. She mainly just laid there in the bed with her eyes closed and tried to ignore everything around her. It usually worked, until she heard the tell-tale sound of hooves on the tile floor. She looked up to see that lavender, winged unicorn from the first day. Next to her stood a shockingly pink pony with a bird's nest of a mane. Seeing that they also had rump tattoos, Cassie named them Sparks and Balloons. It still confused Cassie how they tattooed the fur like that.

Maybe they did some weird hair transplant to mark these ponies.

Sparks slightly scared Cassie. She stood there with a smile showing all of her teeth. Sparks’ horn was glowing like the labcoat-wearing pony Microscope's did sometimes. Cassie had no idea how they were able to shrink down an anti-gravity device and implant it into these unicorn ponies. She was also baffled at how they could control and power the implanted device. The only thing she could come up with was that since she had been gone from the solar system for at least six years, in that time, who knows what advancements they had made? What intrigued Cassie more was that the backpack that Sparks held in her anti-gravity aura thing was hers. The pony never dropped her smile, as she used her anti-gravity aura to place the bag next to the bed.

Cassie felt a pressure on the bed and turned her head to look up. Her eyes widened to their fullest extent, the pupils shrank, sweat beaded on her forehead, and the heart monitor started beeping out of control. Cassie's muscles tensed up, locking her in place, and her mouth opened in a silent scream. 

The pink pony loomed over Cassie so close that the fur on its muzzle lightly tickled her nose, and she was overwhelmed by the scent of cotton candy filling her nostrils. Cassie stared into Balloon's large, blue eyes that seemed to glisten in delight, and peer into her being. In the edges of her vision, Cassie could see the radiantly white teeth of a grin that seemed way too large to fit the pony's face.

"De! Q'u Lejgea Lea! Epib'a ukqn vium? Lw ukq he—," came from Balloons in a fast-streamed, high-pitched voice.

Cassie reacted without thinking. Her right arm flew up with a closed fist and slammed into the pony's face. Cassie yelped in pain, along with the pony. She swung again, and this time she struck the side of the pony as it retreated off the bed. Cassie pulled the covers over her head, like a child hiding from monsters.

"Get out!" Cassie yelled.

She felt the bed shift a little on the left side, and one of the ponies made those noises right next to her bed. Cassie lashed out with her left arm from under the covers, striking nothing but the air.

"I said. Get. Out!" Cassie yelled again, with a soft whimper escaping her.

Her hand hurt a lot from hitting the pony. Cassie's face twisted in anger, and her eyes squeezed shut. She was angry at herself for lashing out like that. She didn’t want to hurt the pony thing; she only wanted it away from her before it could hurt her.

Cassie made herself as small as she could under the sheet, and put the pillow over her head to block the noise of the ponies out. She held her hand and flexed it some to try and get the sting out. Through the pillow, she heard the ponies making loud noises at each other, until it fell silent.


------------------------------


Pinkie's normally poufy mane lay half limp and straight. She looked down at the floor with the corners of her mouth dropping, and drops of clear liquid forming a trail behind her on the light blue tiles. Twilight tried to cheer her up, but all Pinkie could think about was that she just made Rings cry. It didn’t help that moments ago, she had been viciously yelled at for her actions by Nurse Redheart. Twilight stopped trying, and let Pinkie reflect on what happened, as the two mares made their way down the isolation wing's corridor on their way back to the reception area.

As they entered the reception area, Twilight asked, "Are you sure you’re okay, Pinkie?"

"I'm fine," Pinkie answered dejectedly.

"What's that on your coat, Ms. Pie?" Nurse Snowheart asked, pointing to Pinkie’s side.

"What's what?” Pinkie replied. Noticing where the nurse was pointing, Pinkie said, "Oh that's just where Rings punched me. I didn't think it was enough to bruise." She rubbed her hoof on the spot and realized it felt a little sticky. "Oh my Celestia, I'm bleeding!"

Nurse Snowheart rushed over. "Ms. Pie, you are not cut. Where did this blood come from?"

"Didn't Rings punch your face first, before she punched you in the side?" Twilight mentioned.

"Yuppers! And it was a doozy of a punch," Pinkie said, the area around her eye slightly swollen.

Nurse Snowheart trotted to the reception desk. "Paging Dr. Scope to Isolation Room 103B. Dr. Scope to Isolation 103B."

"What's the problem?" Twilight asked.

"Our patient possibly appears to be injured and in need of care," Nurse Snowheart said over her shoulder as she cantered off with Dr. Scope, who had just run past them.

Twilight made to follow, but the reception desk attendant stopped her.


------------------------------


Several minutes passed before Cassie poked her head out from under the covers. Now that they were gone, she breathed in deeply, and slowly exhaled. However, her relaxation was short-lived; when she looked to where her leg should have been, it was no longer there. A quick look around the room revealed that it had been taken.

"God-damned evil ponies! Give me back my leg!" Cassie shouted.

Cassie threw her arms up in exasperation. At that point, she felt something wet hit her cheek. She rubbed the location and looked at her hand. She found a small, red smear on her finger. With her earlier adrenaline gone, she started to feel the nagging sensation of pain in her right hand increasing. Looking down, she started to worry. Her right hand was partly covered in blood. In fact, there were little red streaks all over the bed and pillow, too.

Before she had time to look closer, the door burst open, and Microscope and Whitecross rushed in. Cassie didn’t have time to react as Microscope's gray anti-gravity aura forced her down to the bed on her back. She tried to struggle against it, but to no avail. Her last image was the nurses’ hat-wearing Whitecross poking her in the leg with a syringe before darkness claimed her.


------------------------------


A short while later, an angry, and tired-looking Dr. Scope returned.

"What happened, Doctor?" Twilight questioned.

Dr. Scope took a moment to wipe the sweat off his forehead. "Not much, really. I must say, with the resistance she has, holding her down while she is struggling takes a bit more effort than I am used too. Anyways, apparently Rings clipped Ms. Pie's teeth when she punched her. Put a nice cut on her hand between the last two knuckles. I healed it mostly with magic, so it won't need stitches. Before you ask, no, it won't leave much of a mark, if any. It will be tender for a few days, though, and the skin is very thin at the moment. Also, I am sorry to say, Ms. Pie, but you are not allowed back to visit for a while. You were told not to do anything outrageous, and you did it anyways, which resulted in an injury to our patient."

Pinkie's mane deflated the rest of the way as she sank to the ground. Fresh tears fell from her eyes. "I'm sorry, Doctor. I really didn't mean to hurt her. I was just so super-duper excited to make a new friend," Pinkie said, blowing her nose into a handkerchief that she pulled out of…  well, no one saw where she pulled it from.

Dr. Scope looked down at Pinkie; he wanted to reply, but Twilight beat him to the punch.

"We know, Pinkie. Perk up— you’ll get your chance, just not right now," Twilight said, pulling her friend into a hug.

Pinkie's mane instantly popped out to its full glory, and she wiped a foreleg across her eyes. "You're right, Twilight! And I’ll make her the bestest best super-scrumptious peanut-covered cake ever to make it up to her!" Pinkie exclaimed as she shot up into the air a few feet, leaving a small, short-lived, cloud-like shape of herself as she zoomed out of the hospital.

Twilight rolled her eyes at her friend's antics. A smile played across her face as she said her goodbyes to the nurses and doctor. With the prosthetic leg sticking out of her saddlebag, she made her way to Sweet Apple Acres.


------------------------------


The sun was close to setting when Cassie awoke. She looked at her hand and noticed it had been bandaged up. It still felt sore, but a lot better. She noticed her bedding had been changed also. While not happy about what happened earlier with the ponies, at least those running the experiment had fixed up her hand. Cassie assumed that the doctors sent the ponies in as a test to see if they could assist with an actual medical situation. She surmised that whatever intelligence boost they gave these pony-like things was enough to teach them how to stab a needle into a leg. Cassie shuddered to think what would happen if they were improperly trained, or forgot, and stabbed someone in the heart or eye on accident.

The food cart with her dinner on it was already next to the bed. Cassie looked at the tray to see what they’d brought. Delight spread on her face when she saw a piece of apple pie, but slightly diminished upon noticing that the peanuts were not there. Once she had finished her food, she gave the cart a little push towards the door.

Trying to forget the incident with the terrifying pink pony, Cassie picked up her bag. After a quick search, she noted that everything was still there except her energy pistol. Unfortunately, she could not remember if she’d had the weapon in the bag when she collapsed in that clearing, or if she’d had it on her side. If it had been on her side, it might have fallen out when she ran through that stream, or in the trees, on her way to the clearing she collapsed in. Since everything else was returned to her, Cassie assumed she’d dropped it, and the weapon was now lost in the forest on that alien world. She was, however, mildly surprised to find a plastic bag of shell-less peanuts; the few shelled ones that had been in the bag were now gone.

I wonder why they keep giving me peanuts? I mean, I like them and all, but did they get the idea from the ones in my bag or something?

Cassie noticed that her clothing had been cleaned, and more importantly, fixed up. She briefly wondered who fixed them; the seams of the stitching had been done very well. All the clothes were still usable and would look alright to boot. Her navy blue tee-shirt was now sleeveless, but she didn't mind. Her lips curled up. She had the urge to put the newly sleeveless shirt and her skirt on, but decided against it. She folded them all up and put everything back in the bag.

"All I would do is get you all wrinkly if I put you on to sit around in this bed," Cassie said to her neatly folded and packed-away clothes.

She debated whether to take a shower or not. After some time, her internal argument ended in taking a shower. Cassie was thankful that the attached bathroom had a shower and bathtub combination in it. Hopping into the bathroom, Cassie climbed into the tub and sat down. Making sure not to get her bandaged hand wet, she hung it over the right side of the tub through the shower curtain. For a while, Cassie just let the warm water fall from the shower head and create small rivers across her torso. Eventually, she proceeded to wash up using her left hand.

To dry off, Cassie had to sit on the edge of the tub, since standing on one foot would not have been in her favor. Having used up a significant amount of time in the shower and for subsequent hair brushing, for no other reason than she had the time on her hands to do so, she made her way back to her bed.

Once in her bed, Cassie pulled out her music player and checked its power level. She was happy to see it still had most of its charge. She popped the wireless earbuds in and listened to some of her music for a while until she decided to try and get some sleep.

Cassie was already awake the next morning when Microscope pushed the serving cart into her room. She was returning from the bathroom when he saw her. His horn started glowing, and the aura started to form around her.

"No! No, don't pin me with it again!" Cassie said, futilely trying to brush it off.

Cassie sighed with relief when the aura stopped. She finished hopping her way back to the bed to get her breakfast. A smile graced her face when she saw that scrambled eggs with cheese and some cinnamon toast were on the tray. While she ate, the pony made himself at home on the bench between the potted plants. Once she finished her meal, he took the cart and left.

Cassie went to grab a tissue for her nose from the end table when she noticed her leg leaning against it once again. She bounced in the bed as she rolled over to pick it up. Looking at it closely, she found the socket partially repaired. It still wasn’t perfect, but the right hole mostly lined up now.

Cassie's eyes widened, and her mouth opened to form a large grin. A few tears welled up in her eyes, not enough to spill over, though. On the table, she saw a roughly round piece of metal. The metal looked rather old, with a few signs of rust pitting. It also appeared to have been beaten with a hammer to straighten it.

Excitedly, Cassie reattached the leg. It took her a little time to bend the ends of the metal pin enough so that it would not slide out as easily. After five days, Cassie was thrilled to finally be able to stand up properly. Swinging her legs out, she firmly planted her feet on the ground. Standing up, she gingerly tested out movement. In her excitement she jumped slightly, only to fall as she landed, trying not to put pressure on the piece of metal holding her leg on.

"Oops," Cassie laughed.

Giggling with a smile, Cassie got back up. She walked over to the window to look at the colony for the first time. The sun hung above the horizon, still a few hours from setting.

Laid out before her, a short distance away, was a small, medieval type town. From what she could see, most of the homes stood two stories tall, with some reaching to three. They appeared to be made of wood, or stone, with thatched roofs. The streets looked clean from her vantage point, and were comprised of mostly a mixture of dirt, gravel, and well-worn grass, with some stone blocks now and then. Lots of bright green grass could be seen around most of the buildings.

It wasn’t the lack of the atmosphere shell every colony had, which was needed to hold in the air and regulate the temperature, that caused Cassie's jaw to drop and her breathing to increase. It was the residents of the town trotting around.

It took several moments before Cassie shook her head. She brought up a hand to brush her hair back behind her ears. Looking again, she confirmed what she saw just seconds ago. Her hand went to the wall as dizziness overcame her. She made her way to the bench and laid down, placing her hand on her forehead. After several minutes of deep breaths, Cassie felt her heart rate dropping. She opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling as she began analyzing what she had just seen.

Multiple ponies ran around in the town beyond the window. Some were just trotting from place to place, others were pulling carts, and some seemed to be operating market stalls. An idea started forming in her mind, one she had not previously thought of.

"A-am I still on that planet? Are these actually the inhabitants of this world?" Cassie wondered aloud with a shiver.

Cassie cursed herself for not thinking of this possibility sooner. The evidence had been placed in front of her eyes from the very start; she only refused to believe it. From waking up and still being weak and hungry, to only having seen the pony things instead of any human doctors. Her mind raced as she thought of other clues. Everything was sized for these ponies, even the bathroom, which she had just assumed was an old Japanese style toilet. Thinking it over, she realized the noises the ponies made did seem too organized to just be ‘animal talk’ noises. Cassie pressed her palms to her face, then slowly slid them through her hair while groaning, before she stood up.

“We… I was prepared to find alien life. I was prepared for Bigfoot, talking birds, little green things, sapient dinosaurs, Alf, even polka-dot jellyfish with arms, but this… never did I expect intelligent life to be equines," Cassie murmured to herself while pacing back and forth.

Cassie froze mid-step as her brain started kicking into overdrive. She began to sweat, and her heart thumped in her chest. She realized she had been treating these ponies like they were some sort of genetically modified service animals, and letting her fear of horses cause her to lash out at them. Cassie began to wonder if they thought of her as some alien to experiment on. She did not want to dwell on that possibility, and pushed the thought away.

They’ve taken care of me so far. Surely they don't plan on doing any weird experiments on me… do they?

Cassie did not want to find out. She spent the rest of the day preparing a plan to leave that night when the moon rose.

When lunch came that afternoon, Cassie ate the food as normal. Just like last night, she noted that the peanuts were not on the tray. Later that night, Redcross brought in her dinner. When she came to pick the cart up, she dropped a bag of peanuts off on the end of the bed. Cassie waited for the nurse to leave before she grabbed the nuts and put them in her backpack.


------------------------------


The moon sat high in the sky when Cassie awoke from her small nap. The time had come to set her plan into motion. She entered the bathroom and filled up the small water pouches from a pocket of her backpack. Though she would be a little warm, she dressed in her blue jeans and gray, long-sleeved hooded shirt with pink lettering on it.

Cassie slowly opened the door to her room and looked into the hallway for the first time. It seemed that every other light had been turned off, but more importantly to her, there were no ponies in sight. She crept down the hall to a door with light shining through the windows.

Cassie placed her back against the wall. Making sure she stayed in the shadows, she slowly slid up until she could see through the window at an angle. It appeared to be a reception area, where a pony sat behind a large oak desk. Cassie waited for roughly 30 minutes before an opportunity presented itself.

She slipped into the reception area and started making her way to the double doors that appeared to be an exit. When she got close, she heard voices on the other side. Cassie's adrenaline started pumping. She frantically turned left and right, looking for an escape. The door she had come from was too far away, but just to her left was another. She darted through the door just in time to not be seen.

Cassie leaned against the wall of the well-lit hallway, taking fast, deep breaths in an attempt to calm her nerves. Looking around, she saw doors every so often. When she looked into a few of the rooms, she realized these must be patient care rooms, much like her own, but these rooms were colored differently. The walls were more solid blue, with dark swirls in them, and the floor looked like sand; she preferred the cloudy sky of the walls in the room they had placed her in.

Cassie reached up to push an errant strand of hair out of her eyes, and continued down the hallway, coming to a T-intersection. Closing her eyes, she started swirling her arm in a circle and counted to ten. Once she hit ten, she stopped her arm and opened her eyes.

"Right it is," Cassie said, the corners of her lips arching up at her childish way to pick a direction.

Cassie passed many doors en route to the end of the hallway, which ended in a door and a short hallway to the left, with another door at the end. Her eyes twinkled at the sight of moonlight streaming in through the far door's window. She was about to turn and head down to her escape, but a niggling sensation beckoned her to look into the room in front of her. Peeking in the door, she quickly entered.

Thanks to the many windows on the wall, the room shone like silver. Looking around the room, Cassie saw small circular tables littered the room, with cushions surrounding them. Larger rectangular tables with bench-like seating lined the walls. To her right stood a long, buffet style counter, currently empty, and behind that was a swinging door.

Cassie made her way through the door into a kitchen and pantry. Shelves of cooking supplies and food lined the room. She immediately started searching for food to jam into her bag. After about fifteen minutes, she had completely stuffed her bag full of supplies.

"Hah! I won't be hungry for a while at least. Sorry that I have to dine and dash, ponies," Cassie whispered.

Cassie saw some parchment laying on one of the counters. She pulled out a pen from her bag and proceeded to leave a note. She returned to the hallway, feeling a little bad that she was stealing the food and a few other supplies.

As she swiftly made her way to the end of the short hallway, with a slight bounce in her step, Cassie’s stomach fluttered in anticipation. She took a deep breath as she turned the handle and pushed on the door… nothing. She tried again only to get the same result. The door handle violently rattled in her hand. She huffed loudly, and a loud thud echoed through the hallway as her foot struck the door.

Crouching immediately, Cassie’s hands flew to the top of her head as she mentally berated herself for the unthinking action. She listened intently to see if any ponies came because of the noise she made. Minutes felt like hours to her. Finally, she crept to the corner of the hallway. A sigh of relief escaped her lips.

Cassie made her way back towards the reception area. After peering in, she started making her way to the exit. Her hand was on the door when she heard hooves behind her. She did not hear the noise the pony made as she bolted out the door at the best speed she could.

She finally found herself outside, where the moon shone brightly in the night sky. Few clouds blocked the deep, vibrant purple-black of the star-filled backdrop. The town lay out before her. Only a street lamp here or there broke the darkness of the town. Most windows were darkened, the occupants of the homes asleep.

Cassie did not pause to take in the view; she ran as best as her leg would allow into the town. She had just reached the first houses when she heard the pounding of hooves on the hard-packed dirt street, along with yelling. She jumped into an alley and started snaking between the houses. After a few minutes, Cassie found a box just big enough to hide in next to a small wagon. She could hear the ponies nearing as they searched for her. She waited until their voices sounded farther away, then she slowly climbed out of the box and looked around.

Seeing that the coast was clear, Cassie pulled out her ship locator and noted that her ship was southwest of her current location. She put the locator back in her backpack and pulled out her regular little compass, before stuffing it into her pants pocket. She started making her way in that general direction, avoiding the searching ponies.

Cassie had just started crossing a street when she heard a pony yell, followed by a blast of wind. Brushing the hair from her eyes, Cassie looked up, and stumbled back against a wall. She had only seen one of the ponies with wings— that lavender one with the horn. This one didn't have a horn, only the wings. The pegasus had a more angular face, and was larger like Microscope. Combined with the voice from a moment ago, Cassie assumed it was male also. He had a dark gray coat, amber eyes, and a blue-silver mane done up like a mohawk.

Sweat dripped into one of Cassie's eyes, causing her to blink. The pegasus hovered above her, shouting like he was calling the others. She looked around for an escape. When the pegasus turned its head to shout again, Cassie scrambled across the street towards an alley. She was just about to enter the alley before she suddenly found herself smelling the grass between the houses up close. She lay there gasping, trying to get the air back into her lungs.

"Asshole," Cassie wheezed.

Cassie looked around the alley, then smiled as a plan formed in her head. Grabbing some dirt, she turned and flung it at the smug-looking pegasus. He turned away in surprise, giving her time to reach the end of the alley. Cassie watched the pegasus fly towards her from the corner of her eye. Right when he was about to hit her, she rolled to the ground and held up a thick piece of board.

She grunted when her arms jarred in their sockets and the board ripped from her hands, leaving a small splinter in her index finger. The pegasus yelped in pain as he plowed face-first into the dirt, eyes rolling in opposite directions. Taking the opportunity she created, Cassie took off down the adjacent alley, continuing on her way as the other ponies neared her previous location.

It took her quite a while to get to the other side of the town. Cassie had no more incidents, but she also knew a few more ponies were looking for her. She had seen a couple more of the pegasi flying around, and watched another pony run by, strangely barking like a dog. Checking her compass, she continued on.

Cassie began feeling tired, and she had no desire to travel the forest she had been in before at night. She looked around at all the apple trees, looking for a place to make camp. She had a feeling that making camp here would be a bad idea, since the trees were lined up nicely in rows like an orchard. Grabbing a few apples to eat, she continued on through the trees.

Leaning against one of the trees, Cassie took a drink from one of her water pouches, then let a little water splash on her face to rinse off some of the sweat from earlier. She was just about to continue on her way when the leaves rustled, and her skin goose bumped as the wind hit the water on her skin. In that brief moment, she saw a structure off to the side of where she had been heading. Picking the new direction, she made her way toward what she had seen.

Several minutes later, Cassie found herself standing below a decently sized treehouse. In the moonlight, she could not tell the color of the treehouse. It had a ramp with raised wooden slats, which made a 90° turn halfway up, leading to a balcony which encompassed the treehouse, with a rope hanging almost to the ground from a branch with a large knot on the end. On the structure at the top of the ramp stood a door with a heart carved into it, framed by wood of a lighter shade. Cassie spotted a window above the door with a flower box attached, and looked closely for any sign of movement behind the glass. Not noticing any, she moved her gaze to the larger window with wooden shutters on the right side of the treehouse and repeated the process. 

Circling the treehouse, keeping sure to stay hidden by the apple trees, Cassie took note of another ramp just like the one from the ground. This ramp led from the balcony to another smaller treehouse with a telescope at the very top of the tree. Continuing to the left side of the main treehouse, she spotted another four-paned window, just like the right side, but also a small square window next to it.

Not wanting a surprise, Cassie picked two fallen apples from a nearby tree. She hurled an apple at the door, and a wet splat sounded against the wood as it splattered from the impact. Cassie hid behind a tree, waiting for any sign of movement. After a minute, she repeated the process. Satisfied no one was home, she picked a few fresh apples from a tree before she climbed the ramp and entered the building.

Once inside, Cassie plopped her bag down. Detaching her bedroll, she unrolled it to get her flashlight out so she could look at her home for the night. To her right was a green painted ladder leading to the next floor. When she saw that the two larger windows of the room had pink, checkerboard patterned curtains, she moved to close them. Unfortunately, the smaller square window had no covering, so she would have to be careful not to shine the light directly at it. 

The walls were of a light-colored wood— pine or aspen, Cassie assumed. In one of the corners sat a crate, containing what looked like arts and crafts supplies on it, while a small, somewhat lopsided round table stood in the other corner. Cassie moved across the light green floor to the center of the far wall, where a podium stood. She brushed past the podium to inspect the red banner that spanned the wall. She giggled at the crudely cut and sewn on blue patch in the shape of a shield, but she shuddered upon noticing the yellow silhouette of a pony wearing a cape while rearing up. She backed up quickly, almost knocking over a lantern that hung on the back wall under the banner. 

Cassie decided this would be as good a place as any to sleep for the night. She laid her bedroll and blanket out on the white fringed, shaggy, brown rug in the center of the room for extra padding, then grabbed one of the cushions laying around the room to use as a pillow. 

Before she dozed off for the night, she ate one more of the juicy apples, hoping she would wake before anyone came to the treehouse.



> Chapter 6 - A Walk In The Orchard  -(R1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What do you mean she’s GONE?!" Twilight roared, at almost traditional royal Canterlot voice levels, her eyes flashing red for the briefest amount of time.

The question reverberated around the hospital lobby. The few waiting ponies quickly looked away, suddenly interested in anything other than the fuming princess and cowering doctor. If any of them had chosen to look carefully at the princess, they would have noticed the faintest trace of smoke rising from her mane.

"W-well, you see… sometime in the night she snuck out,” Dr. Scope stammered. “Rings was spotted at the exit when the nurse on duty was coming back from taking a patient to an exam room. She bolted when told to stop, and a chase went on for a few hours during the night," Dr. Scope spat out as he wiped a foreleg across his brow.

Twilight closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and slowly exhaled as she pushed a forehoof out from her chest. Upon opening her eyes, she noticed the dark bags under his. "We might all be at fault here. Maybe we should have put a collar and leash on her and tied it somewhere in the room, but so she could still move around. Or locked the door. Though, fully testing to see if she was sapient or not would have been better," Twilight lamented.

"Perhaps," the doctor agreed.

"Were there any incidents in her escape?"

Dr. Scope chuckled as he used a foreleg to rub the back of his neck. "If you ask a certain pegasus, he would try to tell you she used advanced combat tactics to put him out of commission and bloody his nose."

Twilight gasped. "She attacked somepony? That's no—"

"Calm down, Princess. Let me finish," the doctor quickly interrupted before continuing. "From witness accounts, he basically tried to swoop in foolhardily, then Rings just dodged and held up a board that was laying in the alley. He flew into the board and the ground all on his own. Oh, and she apparently threw a handful of dirt at him just before that, but we already knew she was prone to throw things at ponies when stressed."

"That's good to hear, then. Well, Doctor, I will let you get back to your work, and I'll let the guards know to keep an eye out for her," Twilight said, keeping her appearance calm.

Exiting the hospital, Twilight huffed in annoyance, kicked a small rock off the path, and stomped the ground with her hind leg.

"Blundering idiots," she mumbled. At least I have somewhat of an idea where Rings might be headed. Twilight put on a happy face and greeted ponies on her way back to the library.

Upon entering the library, she spotted Rarity talking with Spike.

"Good morning, Twilight. I am so glad I caught you. I was just about to leave this here with my dear little Spikey-wikey," Rarity said as she released the small drake's cheeks and gave her friend a quick hug.

Released from Rarity's grasp, a true smile dominated Twilight's face. Meanwhile, Spike appeared to be in a daze as he rubbed his cheek.

"Thanks, Rarity. I needed that. It's been a… trying morning so far."

Rarity pushed Twilight to a cushion and eagerly asked for details. As Twilight relayed the day’s events, Spike went and made the two mares some fresh tea.

"I guess we should’ve known better. I mean, Rings appears to be quite intelligent, regardless of whether she’s a new sapient race or a pet. Even our pets can escape; just look at the stuff they put the crusaders through sometimes. We’ll find her again, though," Twilight said between nibbles on a cracker.

"If you need me, do not hesitate to ask."

"Thanks, Rarity— I won’t. I have to come up with a plan to find her first, though. So what brings you here this early in the morning?" Twilight asked.

"In my haste to repair and return Rings’ clothing, I seemed to have forgotten to give you something of hers. It's a broken silver necklace— the gemstone is missing from this bent, oval pendant. I took a look at it, but I’m not able to fix it. Would you be a dear and return it to her for me?"

Twilight nodded as she took the necklace and levitated it onto the center table.

"Oh, one other thing— might I be able to borrow one of your magic power-crystals that you use in your lab equipment?” Rarity asked with a pleading look before she continued, "Sweetie Belle and her friends broke the backup one for my sewing machine while trying to earn their cutie marks as crystal installers. I am afraid to say the one in it is about to run out. "

"I don't know if I have a charged one that’s not installed at the moment. Why don't you just go visit the local alchemist?" Twilight replied.

Rarity put her tea down and asked, "You mean Topaz? I swung by her store on the way over, but it has a sign up saying 'Closed until tomorrow'. It would be ever so helpful if I could borrow one of yours. I already plan to send Sweetie Belle with a few gems that I think might be suitable to make a new one, and get my old one recharged tomorrow."

Twilight slowly pushed herself to her hooves. "Well, let me go look."

Spike immediately took Twilight's position as the alicorn descended into the basement. Spike set to asking the stylish unicorn if she needed anything while she waited. The two talked for a few minutes while they waited for Twilight to return.

"Sorry, Rarity, I don't have a fresh one,” Twilight announced, walking back into the room. “I do have this one, though. I think it's still mostly charged, and should hold you over ‘til tomorrow," Twilight said, a slight look of disappointment on her face.

Rarity's lips curled up in a smile, showing some of her teeth. "That's perfectly alright, dear. I am very grateful for you lending me this," Rarity said.

Spike let the thankful unicorn out and watched her trot away for a few moments before he closed the door. Twilight levitated the necklace behind her as she went up to her room, a plan already starting to form in her head. Partway up the stairs, she let out a soft snicker as she remembered something.

The ear-fin on the side of Spike's head twitched. Poking his head out from the kitchen, he asked, "What's so funny, Twilight?"

"Oh, nothing." The alicorn started laughing harder. "It's just that I probably should have told Rarity that Topaz might have actually been home and open."

Noticing the blank stare from Spike, Twilight continued, "Topaz has a tendency to forget things, and might have not taken the sign down."

Spike bent over and slapped his knee, joining her in the snickers, now remembering the forgetfulness of the mare in question.


------------------------------


In a small store, a pink mare lay sprawled out on a couch behind a slightly dusty counter. She lazily swished her tail as she read a book, waiting for the sound of a bell chiming to indicate she had a customer. The mare glanced at a clock on the wall and let a short huff of air escape her muzzle. It had been an agonizingly slow day so far. She usually only had a hoofful of customers or browsers a day, but so far, not even one had dropped by.


------------------------------


Cassie clutched a branch of the tree she sat in with all her might. Her morning had been a disaster almost from the start. For over an hour, she had been chased around by what she assumed to be three fillies. It was not a game of cat and mouse that she was happy to be playing. Cassie needed an escape, but all she could see from her vantage point were rows and rows of apple trees.

Her thoughts snapped back to the situation at hand as the three colorful demon spawn appeared below the tree, yelling at her again. Cassie felt a little safe in the tree, but her body still panicked some. The unicorn and normal one could not climb it. Unfortunately, there was an orange pegasus, too, but Cassie had observed that it couldn’t do more than hover a few feet off the ground for short periods.

"Leave me alone!" Cassie shouted.

The three fillies stopped yelling and seemed to huddle in a group, whispering something. Cassie took the time to gather a couple apples. Her respite from the obnoxious yelling was short-lived, as the fillies started shouting again.

"I said go away!" Cassie hollered as she hurled an apple at the fillies.

Her plan fell flat. Cassie had just thrown the apples in their general direction so they would get scared and run away. Unfortunately, the fillies ignored her action completely.

Cassie furrowed her brows and rubbed her forehead with a thumb and finger. She didn't like horses, and she didn't like these alien ponies either, but she didn't want to cause actual harm to them. After several moments of thought, she came to a conclusion.

Picking several more apples, she stared down at the yelling fillies. The blonde-coated one seemingly became more agitated with each apple she plucked from the branches.

"Last chance! Leave me alone!" Cassie angrily yelled, hoping that at least her tone would get through to them.

Cassie would never be known as a world-class pitcher. Her accuracy when throwing stuff was relegated to just the general area she aimed for. She looked directly at the filly making the most noise as she raised her right arm. In an instant, the arm whipped forward and a bright red apple bolted to the ground.

The fillies stopped yelling as they looked over to their friend. The blonde filly had apple parts and juice dripping from her coat. On the ground, a few inches to the side of the filly, was a smashed apple. Cassie didn't let their silenced reaction stop her. She launched another one, this time at the orange pegasus, but it landed about a foot away.

She then took aim at the blonde filly again. When she loosed the projectile, the white unicorn moved forward. An ear-splitting screech caused Cassie to cover her ears, and the other two fillies folded theirs down.

Quickly recovering, Cassie threw the rest of her apples at the retreating fillies. A crooked smile played on her face, and a small giggle tickled her throat at the sight of the apple impaled upon the unicorn's small horn, standing out in stark contrast to the white filly's coat.

With the fillies out of the way, Cassie climbed down from the tree and continued her journey. After several minutes of walking, she decided to make better use of her small reprieve before the fillies found her again for the umpteenth time.

Sitting down to rest her tired legs, she took a sip from one of her water pouches. She slid the back of her hand across her forehead and wiped it on her jeans. Cassie leaned back into the tree and let out a sigh as she tried to relax. She brushed the hair out of her eyes and hooked it behind an ear as she closed her eyes for a few moments.

She listened carefully for any noise that might indicate the fillies had found her. Hearing nothing, Cassie slowly peeked around the tree trunk. Time froze as she gazed into three sets of large eyes. The small white unicorn bopped Cassie in the nose softly with her sticky forehoof. Time came rushing back as Cassie screamed.

Falling onto her back, Cassie started pawing and kicking at the ground to get away from the fillies. They might have been small, but they could still bite her, and those hooves could cause injury if they kicked her. The fillies ran towards her as she tried to get up, causing her to trip on the small orange pegasus. Cassie let out a grunt of pain as her side impacted the ground, while the filly let out a yelp.

Suddenly, the white unicorn and blonde normal pony were in her face, yelling in that strange language and pushing roughly on her arms, shoulders, and back. Cassie balled her hands up and covered her face with her arms before the ponies could bite her fingers or attack her face. As she curled into the fetal position, her mind went blank, her breathing became ragged, and her heart tried its best to break through her chest. Cassie's body locked up and shook with fear, unable to get up and run from the attacking fillies. Her cheeks were moist with the tears flowing from her eyes, soft whimpers escaping her mouth.

After what seemed like hours to Cassie, a sudden deep, bass voice filled the air. The fillies’ yelling stopped, and she no longer felt their hooves pressing against her. Between the ringing of her elevated blood pressure in her ears and the whimpers of her voice, she heard the hooves retreating away. Several minutes passed before Cassie was able to summon up the courage to take a quick peek. Noticing they really were gone, she rolled over onto her back, wincing and gasping for air. After a full breath, a loud exhale of air left her lungs as her heartbeat finally returned to normal.

Cassie's eyes went wide when she tried to get up. A rope had been loosely tied around her ankles and wrapped up her legs to her waist. She easily untied the rope and let it fall to the ground. During this time, she noticed and felt the bruising on her upper arms already starting to show from where the fillies had been hitting her.

Shaking her head, Cassie pulled out her compass as she dried her eyes and cheeks with the palm of her other hand. Looking to her compass, she got oriented and briskly walked towards the dark, looming forest in the distance.

I have no idea what caused them to stop, but I thank whatever it was.


------------------------------


Ambassador White Talon reclined in his opulent, padded, redwood chair, with his lion-pawed feet resting on his large, marble-topped, walnut desk. The sun's rays bathed the room in light as they poured in through the glass-filled wall at his back. He gazed down his long, yellow beak to a clawful of papers held out at just the right length to read easily. Upon the desk lay a plate with a half-eaten salmon and a short glass with a dark liquid near the bottom.

The griffon reached a gray claw towards the glass as he mumbled under his breath. He swirled the liquid before he took a sip and set it back down, dropping one of the pages from his other claw on the desk at the same time.

Gale Wind just glanced at the older griffon while still eating her own fish. She knew the ash-feathered, white-furred griffon would address her when he was good and ready, and anything she said before then would fall upon deaf ears.

A deep, gravelly, gruff voice broke the silence. "Weeks ago, you brought me a report about some stupid diamond dogs you wasted your time watching. At the time, if you were anyone else, I would have had you plucked on the spot."

Gale Wind let out a laugh. "Surrre you would, Dad."

The old griffon dropped the papers onto the desk as he let out a laugh. "You got me. Though I’ve not seen a good plucking in a while."

"I can bring Left Claw or Right Claw in and see if they want to volunteer."

Regaining his posture after almost falling out of his chair laughing, White Talon pressed on. "I don't think the twins are zealous enough just quite yet to volunteer for that. Enough of that, though— we have more pressing matters. It appears what you thought were sickly Diamond Dogs might be something else entirely. Something has the Royal Guard on edge. An entire royal investigation team was recently sent up north to some hick town called Hoofbreak Ridge on request. The returned report was… disturbing. There are also reports of strange new devices being seen and even sold, but an inventor or company hasn’t been linked to them. That metal cave you found is now a high priority interest to the Empire."

"Wait, so that isn’t some weird joint venture between dogs and ponies?" Gale asked.

"No, it's not. They are even sending down an ARC with the investigation team. They should be here in about a week."

Gale's brain started going a hundred miles an hour. She slowly turned her head to her father and spoke slowly, already having a good idea who would be sent. "Who is the ARC they are sending?"

"Now sweetie, don't get mad. My request was shot down."

"WHO?!" Gale shouted.

"Razor—"

A shrill screech filled the room. The door opened and quickly shut as a plate sailed past the Claw brothers’ heads, shattering on the wall in the hallway as a knife embedded itself into the door. Gale's black talons glistened in the sunlight as they tore into the floor and sliced the leg off of a chair next to her.

Her father slammed a claw onto the desk. "You will calm yourself, Gale, or I will have you restrained," White Talon said forcibly.

Gale huffed and retracted her talons, leaving just an inch or so of them showing. Her feathers ruffled, and she swept a claw over her head to smooth the crest out. Venom dripped from every word when she spoke. "If he mentions going on a date or marriage to me again, I will tear his throat out and eat it while I make him watch. If he so much as looks at me in a lustful way, I will geld him on the spot and make him eat them. If he mentions him, even in the slightest, I will rip his wings off… slowly… and carve his name into his flesh with his own talons."

"Yes, I know. Hell, the entire Empire knows after your threats on the stand at his public trial. Most everyone believes he should have been roasted alive on the spit. If not for his family's wealth and influence, he would have."

"I demand a formal grievance be put in to the High Command. I don't give a flying hoot if they are using one of those national security exemptions as their reasoning and ability for them sending him. It was ordered that he never work with me by the Supreme Court!"

Gale stormed to the door. "I will do my duty, father, but so help me—"

The ambassador never heard the rest as the door slammed shut, causing the stone walls of the office to shudder.

The door reopened and a head popped in. "Should we stop her?" Left Claw asked.

"Not if you value your lives."

White Talon slumped back into his chair. "Well, that went better than expected. I even have the windows behind me still intact," he said aloud with a knowing smirk, looking at the grievance he had prepared earlier that afternoon.

I really hope the higher-ups know what they are getting themselves into.

Reaching for the quill on his desk, he pulled out a piece of official ‘Embassy of the Griffon Empire’ stationary. With a groan, he started writing his report to the Empire on the recent activities of the ponies, and asking for an updated timetable.


------------------------------


Twilight sat in a booth at Sugarcube Corner with Rarity, Fluttershy, and a bored-looking Rainbow Dash. Their usual booth in the corner of the small shop was situated next to a window, allowing them to peer out into Ponyville. Their current location also gave them a good view of the door. They were all sipping on drinks provided by Pinkie Pie, who stood at the end of the table, while waiting for Applejack to arrive.

Small talk was interrupted when three well-known fillies burst through the door and rushed to the counter.

With Mrs. Cake busy in the back, Pinkie said, "Be right back, girls," as she bounced to the counter, ready to fill the fillies' orders with a huge smile.

Pinkie had served the fillies and returned to her friends when Applejack entered the building, looking somewhat angered.

"What's wrong, AJ?" Twilight asked.

"Nothin' really. Just an apple-stealing varmint runnin’ ‘round mah orchard. It even stepped on poor Scootaloo."

A rainbow contrail filled the air as the napkins on the table flew off in a swirl. On the other side of the bakery, Rainbow hovered above Scootaloo, poking and prodding her. The mares smiled at their friend when she returned.

"What? I just had to make sure my number-one fan was okay," Rainbow said, looking to the side to hide her blush.

"What animal was it?" Fluttershy asked.

"It was that tall, two-legged thing me and Twi found the other day. Ah thought she was still in the hospital."

"Ahh, you must be talking about Rings, then, my dear," Rarity said.

Rainbow burst forth, hoof shaking in the air. "I don't care what it is or what it's called. It left Scoots’ side sore. If you want to go track it down and teach it a lesson or two, AJ, I’m with you."

Twilight put a hoof to her forehead. "Now now, calm down, girls. Yes, it was probably Rings. I doubt she tried to step on Scootaloo, and we should be somewhat happy she was smart enough to actually eat some apples on her own this time. As Rarity knows," Twilight continued with a nod towards the unicorn, "she sort of escaped from the hospital last night. I have an idea of where she might be heading, though, and I hope to track her to where she’s going to see if it leads us to her home, or if she’s a pet, to her master."

Rainbow let out a grunt as Applejack stopped her mid-flight by chomping down on her tail. "Whoa there, let's see what Twi has planned before ya rush off," Applejack said through her clenched teeth.

Grumbling, Rainbow returned to her seat and started picking at the cupcakes Pinkie had brought by. The mares all looked at Twilight expectantly.

"Before I start with my plan, can you tell us what happened on the farm that caused Scootaloo to get stepped on?" Twilight asked.

Rainbow huffed in the corner. Finishing her cupcake, Applejack rubbed her belly and wiped a napkin across her muzzle.

"Well, Ah wasn’t there. Ah got the story from them," she said as she pointed a hoof over her shoulder, "an’ mah brother. Anywho, the crusaders found a buncha apple cores in an’ around the clubhouse. Long story short, they found uhh… Rings, an’ chased her until she seemed out of energy in a tree. Somethin’ about getting cutie marks in apple-stealing monster catchers. Scoots got stepped on after Rings fell over an’ was tryin’ ta get up."

"So she didn't try to actually step on her, then?" Twilight asked.

"No,” Rainbow snorted. “Scootaloo told me it was her fault. I’m still not letting it get away with that, though."

“Rings is a ‘she’, not an ‘it’, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity commented.

"You might not know this, Rainbow, but I’ve seen her reaction to ponies, as have Fluttershy and Rarity," Twilight said as the other mares nodded. "Rings seems to be very scared of us. Just being chased by those three might have been a terror to her in itself. You chasing her probably wouldn’t be helpful to anypony."

"Yeah, well," Rainbow huffed, not having anything else to say.

The door to the store opened and Pinkie disappeared as if she was never there, only to reappear just as fast behind the counter. Twilight looked at Applejack to ask a question, then her eyebrow rose.

Softly, Twilight asked, "Is something wrong, AJ?"

The orange mare sat there a few moments. She was staring at the floor, her eyes lacking the shine of happiness from before, and her lips forming into a frown. "Ah… Ah didn't know that. Those fillies need to be told."

"AJ dear, please do tell. What do you mean?" Rarity asked, dabbing at her muzzle with a napkin.

"Well, Big Mac found ‘em pushin’ on her an’ yelling in her ears when he found them. An’ they were startin’ to tie her up. It was right after she stepped on Scootaloo."

Fluttershy's eyes went wide and she gasped. Rarity's head pulled back as her eyes followed Fluttershy's example. Twilight facehoofed and let out a long sigh. Rainbow let out a 'tsk' and shrugged her shoulders.

The mares glared at Rainbow.

"So what? It stepped on Scootaloo. It deserved to be yelled at," Rainbow said while taking a sip of her drink.

Twilight started to open her mouth before Applejack spoke up in a slow and steady voice. "You don't seem to understand. Ah wasn’t finished. When mah brother found them, she was curled in a ball an’ crying. He was disgusted with what he was seeing those fillies do to her. It was several minutes after he sent them away that she finally stopped. The only reason Apple Bloom ain’t fully in trouble is ‘cause they were only pushing on her an’ not kicking her. But she’ll have some sorta punishment."

Rainbow looked to the side and mumbled, "Okay, maybe I'll let her stepping on Scootaloo slide… this time."

Rarity's sweet voice rang through the building. "Oh, Sweetie Belle."

Sweetie Belle slowly trotted over to the table. "Yes, sis?"

"I have heard about your… adventure today. Is it true?"

"…Probably."

"Home. Now."

"Aww, come on! We said we were sorry."

"Don't get snippy with me, young lady. Home, now. Don't make me have our parents come back from vacation early," Rarity said, with no room for argument.

Sweetie Belle didn’t move fast enough in Rarity's mind. The small unicorn was wrapped up in a soft blue glow as she was hastily removed from the store and set on the ground outside. A small push of Rarity’s magic from behind, in the direction of Carousel Boutique, got the filly galloping off. The remaining two fillies went to follow, but were stopped by Applejack. Instead, they ran off in the direction of the farm.

"That's a little harsh, don't you think?" Rainbow asked.

"My sister knows better than to act like a common ruffian, and I will certainly not tolerate her  tormenting somepony. I also told her about my encounter with Rings, so she should have known better," Rarity said, puffing up her mane.

Twilight spent the rest of the time explaining her plan to the girls. Once done, Rainbow flew off to find a location that fit what Twilight asked for. Rarity returned to her shop to pick up a few items, and Fluttershy was sent to the farm to find Big Mac and deliver a request. Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie went to wait at the small park on the south side of town.


------------------------------


The small park had lush, freshly cut grass. It was surrounded on three sides by trees, and a small bridge went over the river on its open end. Fillies, colts and foals ran around the park doing various activities while their shrill, happy voices filled the air. Parents sat around on the benches that dotted the park, and some even ran around with the children.

Pinkie ran among a group of fillies chasing a ball around, no doubt provided by the energetic mass of pink. Twilight and Applejack sat on one of the benches, just watching the scenes before them with smiles on their faces, engaging in small talk as they waited. From the corner of her eye, Twilight noticed a grey pegasus making her way towards them.

"Hi, Prin— Twilight," Ditzy said, stopping her bow partway.

Twilight chuckled. "Afternoon, Ditzy. How are you doing today?" she inquired.

Ditzy shook her head in an attempt to get her eyes to straighten. "I'm doing fine. I was wondering something— whatever happened to that creature I found on Ms. Applejack's farm?" She nodded at the farmer with a smile.

As they waited, Twilight and Applejack relayed to Ditzy all they knew, other than Rings’ escape. Ditzy thanked them for letting her know, and did the motions for a Pinkie Promise to not tell anypony about her. Before she trotted away to talk with another friend, Ditzy offered to help in any way that she could. She still felt bad for not being able to do more for Rings when she first found her, causing Twilight and Applejack to smile.

It wasn’t long before Fluttershy returned, letting them know that Big Mac was ‘on it’. Rainbow Dash arrived soon after, giving Twilight a location and the map she marked it on. With that knowledge, Twilight sent the two pegasi off to the farm. They would meet up at the location on the map when ready. Pinkie soon returned from playing with the fillies and colts when they had to go home, so all that was left was for Rarity to arrive.

It took about an hour before Rarity finally arrived. She let them know Steve was willing to assist, but wanted more information first before he would say yes, explaining that he did not like his skills to be well-known, and did not like using them on others unexpectedly. Rarity also told them that Fluttershy and Rainbow had just arrived as she was leaving and everything seemed in order.

With the new knowledge, Twilight and the others gathered up their supplies and left to catch up with Rainbow and Fluttershy. They chatted animatedly as they entered the very edges of the Everfree Forest, not bothered by this section, as it was tamer than the rest. Once they met up with the others, they split up into three teams and set about their task.


------------------------------


"I'm back, everyone," Cassie announced flatly.

Entering the campsite, a smile flashed on Cassie's face. She was happy to see that nothing had really disturbed the site in her absence. Sure, a small part of the wall fell down, the site had leaves littered all around it, and some small grooves had been traced in the ground from heavy rains, but those were all minor things that rolled off her mind. Getting clean dominated her thoughts as she made her way to the ship to get her bath supplies.

Her skin goose bumped and a quick shiver rippled through her body as Cassie stepped into the stream. The water wasn’t particularly cold, but a little chillier than she would have preferred. She took little time cleaning the past few days’ worth of sweat and dirt from her body, followed by some firm yet gentle scrubbing of the clothes she had worn. With her primary task finished, Cassie held onto the large, flat rock that poked out into the calm stream as she floated on her back, just enjoying the current as it flowed ever so slowly under her.

During this time, Cassie closed her eyes and thought back to the past few days. The water churned around her as she furrowed her brows and shook her head back and forth, mentally kicking herself. She was angry with herself when she realized just how much time she had wasted in the forest before. Last time she had ventured into the wilderness to the north of her site, she had spent almost two weeks in it. On the return trip, she only spent two days.

Cassie tried to rationalize that it was due to all the time she spent looking for or trying to catch food, but she knew better than that. It had been mostly that she was just unmotivated to progress forward that much or that fast with no real knowledge of what lay ahead. Having a location and reason to travel had sure helped her move along on the way back. A small laugh escaped her lips as she opened her eyes. A quick motion of her hand wiped a few strands of hair from her face, letting them spread out in the water around her with the rest.

"Then again, having a bag full of food and water did help," Cassie conceded.

She breathed in deeply through her nose and held it for a few seconds before she exhaled slowly through her mouth. That wasn’t the only reason it took less time, her brain brought up. A sudden sneeze caused Cassie to submerge. Standing up, she ran her hand over her head to push the waterlogged hair back out of her face. The droplets of water glistened across her creamy torso, the slight breeze tickling her as it evaporated the water. She made her way to the edge of the stream, picking her towel up as she exited.

A surprised yelp, followed by a loud splash, disturbed the peaceful tranquility of the area. Grumbling, Cassie blew the end of a lock of hair out of her mouth. Standing back up, she started wringing her towel out. With most of the water out of it, she placed all her wet clothes and soaps into it, holding her dry clothes in the other arm. She was not that pleased to be walking back to her camp completely nude, but she didn't feel like wearing wet clothes back, either.

Newly dressed, Cassie had the campfire boiling more water for her stores while she sat at the table eating lunch. Her mind wandered back to her two-day journey. She had come across a small rowboat soon after she had entered the forest, almost as if guided to it while avoiding the wildlife she had heard around her. For some reason, she had felt… compelled to get in it. That's when things got a little fuzzy.

Cassie could clearly remember getting into the boat, then as the sun started setting, clearly remember it coming to the shore at a nice place to camp for the night, right near the path that led down into the canyon. She could also remember that it seemed to travel at a speed much faster than the current of the river would have allowed. Everything else was a blurry haze, with time seeming to flow strangely. Cassie was grateful that it made her trip much easier, but it concerned her that her memory of it was not very accurate.

Hope I’m not coming down with some weird sickness my scanner wasn’t able to detect.

The sound of a bleeping alarm coming from the ship halted her internal musings. Startled, Cassie dropped her spoon, causing it to splash some of her tomato soup onto the table. With a look of worry, she quickly ran to the ship. Once inside, she made her way to the front consoles to see what the problem was.

"Computer, turn off the audio alarm and return the lighting to normal," she commanded.

With the alarm silenced, Cassie looked to the proximity sensor's screen. On the outer edge, it showed two dots. So far, the only wildlife she had seen were small critters and some birds, but the sensor was set to only activate if it detected a living object that was medium dog-sized or larger. The objects on the screen moved only a small distance, then stopped.

Cassie exited the ship, bringing her hand up to shield her eyes from the sun. Blinking a few times, her eyes adjusted to the brightness that sharply contrasted with the faintly lit interior of the ship. Spotting the objects in the distance, she took a deep breath.

Closing her left eye, Cassie's nose scrunched up as she concentrated. A slight disorientation accompanied the quick zoom as her cybernetic eye focused in on the objects. It was not something she liked to do very often, so she never really got used to the effect. Cassie's heart skipped a beat at the recognition of Sparks and that yellow pony she saw the first time she woke up in the hospital. She let out a lungful of air she was unknowingly holding and sucked in a deep breath.

“Crap! They followed me. Probably here to attack or capture me like the evil horses they are,” Cassie said aloud.

Calming her heartbeat, Cassie observed that the yellow one had wings, and butterflies on its rump. She decided to call this one Butterfly, and needed to remember to be extra wary of the new flying pony. She also took note that while they were looking directly at her, they were not attempting to come any closer.

Breaking her gaze, Cassie closed her eye for a few moments so it would reset to normal. When she turned to push aside the blanket covering the door, her lips pulled down in a frown upon noticing how badly her hands were shaking.

Entering the ship, Cassie shut the door and barred it. With her back pressed against the door, she slowly slid down until her butt rested on the floor. She held her head in her hands, and a small tear trailed down her cheek.

She was afraid of the ponies. She was afraid of being attacked now that they knew where she lived. She had left to get away from them, and they only followed her. In the back of her mind, she was also angry with herself.

Cassie knew full well that the food she had stolen would only last so long. She was also keenly aware that she was no survivalist— not in the least. Her previous trip through the forest was proof of that. Still, she was scared of them, and knowing that she would need to attempt to communicate with them did not help matters.

Cassie spent the rest of the afternoon working on trying to repair some of the ship’s systems, or at least trying to make them work better. She also took the time to recharge her music player and other devices. She had to shut down everything other than the lights just so they would recharge at a decent rate.

"Ugh, having only one solar panel sucks. Maybe if I can unbury some of the other side of the ship, a solar panel or two might have survived enough to still be at least partly usable. What do you think, computer?" she asked.

"Insufficient data."

"Tsk, some conversationalist you are."

It was late afternoon when Cassie turned the computer systems back online. She smiled when she saw that the ponies seemed to have gone, then her brain ruined it by telling her they were probably off to plot whatever horrible plans they were thinking of. Grabbing her hair in one hand, she pulled it back and held it at the base, then pulled a scrunchie from her wrist with her other hand to place her hair into a neat ponytail that would not get in her way.

Cassie had finished tidying up her little campsite, and was just finishing up the repair work on the fallen wall section, when she noticed an object in the middle of the ground about halfway to where she saw the ponies earlier.

She warily looked around as she cautiously approached the object. Cassie's face softened and a sigh of relief passed by her lips when she realized it was just a small box with a piece of parchment attached. Picking it up, she gingerly made her way back to camp to see what it contained.

Being unable to read the note, Cassie threw it into the fire pit to use it as starter material later. Her lips curled up in a smile as she started pulling the contents out and placing them on the table. The ponies had brought her some vegetables, fruits, and bottles of water. There were also a few paper plates and some silverware. Her eyes slightly misted when she spotted a container of lightly salted, pre-shelled peanuts.

Well, they might be terrible horses, but at least they’re not stupid. I’ll try to take it slow with them.


------------------------------


The next couple of days played out the same way. In the afternoon, one or two of the ponies would come and leave a box or picnic basket about 100 yards from her camp. Cassie had noticed two new ponies come with the ones she already knew— a cyan-coated pegasus and an orange normal pony that Cassie named Crayola and Apple, respectively. Cassie was also able to give the name Diamond to the white unicorn she had seen that first day in the hospital.

Once, though, when Cassie approached the basket, Sparks and Butterfly did not stay away, but started to approach her instead. This caused Cassie to run back to the camp and hide in the ship for a few hours. Cassie was starting to trust that they were not going to attack her, but she wasn’t quite ready for them to be close to her if she could help it. The hospital had been an exception, as she had no choice.

Eventually, Cassie went back to get the box the ponies had left. It had another piece of parchment on it with some scribbles. Cassie still had no idea what it meant—possibly a greeting or apology, she mused—but she used it as kindling again.

Cassie sat at her table in the bright sun of a new day. She pored over the gemstones she had gathered recently with her hand lens. She still marveled at how they came out of the ground pre-cut, and most even already polished, before making notes in her electronic pad. Taking a break, she closed her eyes as a light wind washed over her. In the distance, she could see the ponies doing whatever ponies did. She paid them no mind, as they did not approach and stayed at what she felt was a safe distance.

Around mid-afternoon, Cassie watched Balloons pronk away from a cardboard box she had set down. Before Balloons left, she had jumped around yelling about something and pointing adamantly at the box. Once the pony was sufficiently far away, Cassie made her way to the box, noticing a cupcake rested on top.

"Thank you!" Cassie yelled in the direction Balloons went, figuring the others were there somewhere.

Sitting in her chair next to the campfire, Cassie happily munched on the cupcake. Her eyes widened in delight as a perfectly sweet and moist confection danced on her taste buds.

They might still be horrible ponies, but they sure know how to make a cupcake.

Cassie picked up the box, setting it in her lap. When she opened the flaps, a loud pop echoed through the air as she was blasted in the face with something. In a panic, she scrambled back in her chair, causing it to fall backwards as she shoved the box off her lap.

Taking short, rapid breaths while laying on the ground, Cassie felt something light landing on her face and arms. Focusing her eyes, she let out a small laugh when she saw party confetti raining down around her. Standing up, she pulled on the back side of her shirt and released it several times to try and knock the dirt off before brushing it off the back of her shorts.

While setting the chair back up, she frowned when she saw the gift from the ponies being consumed by the fire. Steam filled the air as the water in the bottles popped and hissed as it boiled away, while wax dripped from a low corner of the mostly burned box. This time, they seemed to have also sent her a few books with the food, but it was too late to save them, as they were already being consumed by the fire.

Unhappy with the turn of events, Cassie left the fire to burn itself out as she made for the ship. Once inside, she closed up the entrance and pulled out a day-old peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich to eat for dinner.

Those six ponies might not be that bad. If things continue this way, I just might be able to get over my fear enough to try actual communication soon.

Unbeknownst to Cassie, a lavender alicorn's eye twitched sporadically; its ear flopped madly and its teeth grated against each other. The alicorn tried with all its might to fly out of the brush that was her hiding spot, but two of her friends held her down.

The sandwich had not been very filling, but it did its job. Cassie walked over to the semi-repaired sink and proceeded to brush her teeth, making note to empty the collection bucket in the morning. Cassie stripped her clothes off and threw them in the corner, then she slipped into bed and snuggled under the blanket, hoping the next day would be just as good.



> Chapter 7 - Initialization  -(R1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The battered ship limped through the darkness as it inched ever closer to the lush green and blue planet ahead of it. Inside the vessel, three haggard males worked on various tasks. Lights flickered randomly in the ship and several wires hung limply from the walls, some of which sparked with life in conjunction with the flickering lights. Other wires were connected together in various haphazard fashions. The scent of burnt electronics lingered in the air, and a slight haziness spread across the ceiling. Dust and grime lined most of the less touched surfaces.

Their little ship had suffered the wrath of the SSC Quasar when it exploded in space. The explosion had shoved them, and a massive debris field, through the spatial anomaly. It had also damaged the maneuvering and propulsion systems, causing them to go offline.

It had taken them a few weeks of salvaging and doing repairs to their small vessel before they were able to follow after the Captain's escape ship. With a lot of luck, they had stocked themselves full of supplies for up to three years for a four-man crew, and until recently, had a container full of air tanks, filters, and scrubbers dragging behind them. Unfortunately, they lost a crew member early in the voyage due to electrocution while working on repairs.

They had also tethered two other escape ships filled with scrap and parts they had collected from the debris field behind their ship with detachable cables. They were too damaged to be habitable, but the crew hoped that the auto- landing systems might still work well enough that they could be useful on the ground. The two trailing ships were already programmed to land within half a mile of their own ship.

"Sir, we are nearing the location of the last known transmission from the other ships. It would appear they have landed on the planet below."

A bald man with a somewhat trimmed beard made his way towards the front, followed by a thin male with his brown hair spiked in all directions, grease smeared upon his face and clothes.

"Scan for signs of them and detach the tethering cables," the bald male said in a cracked voice.

"Got it, Flint," a young male with long, blond hair responded, as he started interacting with several controls in front of him. "Seems like I might’ve found the beacon from the Captain's ship. No, nevermind, it's just the computer's black box. Attempting to establish a link to determine the location and status."

A knock shook the ship, the sound emanating from the rear, quickly followed by the smell of fresh smoke. Scrambling, the two men ran to the back of the ship.

"Mark, keep trying to establish the link," Flint called over his shoulder.

More shocks reverberated throughout the ship, and the power eventually went out. Shouts and the exhaust of a fire extinguisher could be heard. Several minutes later, the power blinked back on, followed by grumbles of a half-serious argument from Mark’s two crewmates. Mark tuned out his friends, used to how the Commander and Petty Officer argued about the ship’s condition and maintenance constantly.

With the computers now booted back up, Mark began initiating the link again, just as a power surge blew out some relays in the walls. A console off to his side started coming to life, and he reached over to wipe the dust off the display. Mark’s heart skipped a beat, and his eyes widened in alarm.

"Umm, Sir, we have a problem," Mark calmly yelled to the back of the ship.

"In a minute," Flint called back.

Mark tried to hold his emotions in check, but failed. "Get your fucking ass up here now!" he shouted.

He winced as he heard the clanking sound of a tool being thrown to the floor, followed by the stomping of feet approaching the front of the ship.

"Don't take that tone with me! I am still your supe—"

"Can it," Mark said, not even looking at Flint. Instead, his hand pointed to the console he was staring at.

Flint expected that some new, random, small malfunction had made his subordinate cry wolf about a ‘problem’ again. He was not, however, expecting this. His eye started twitching and his heart started thumping loudly in his chest.

"I want you to stop it, anyway you can," Flint said, somewhat shakily.

Mark's fingers danced over different input controls. With a huff, he crawled under the console and started rearranging several of the computer's module chips. After crawling back out and messing with the controls some more, Mark slammed a fist onto the main terminal's screen.

"The computer is... malfunctioning. I’m totally locked out and it's not accepting any input— not even your command card."

The grease-covered man, now cloaked in perspiration and the stench of smoke, casually chewed on a nutrient bar as he approached. "So what's got your panties in a bunch?" he asked with a slow drawl.

"That does, Mitch," Mark said as he pointed to the console again.

Mitch's droopy-eyed, calm expression didn't change. He only sat down in a chair and continued eating. He even went so far as to prop up his feet on a little table. Flint, on the other hand, had recovered from his stupor and appeared to be turning his brain back on.

"How long before we'll be in low orbit and ready to make landing preparations?" Flint asked.

"Like, 20 minutes tops, and there’ll be no time for preparations. I don't have full flight control. We’re going in and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. A controlled crash into the snowy north is the best you’ll get from this ship now," Mark replied.

Flint looked to Mitch and the two started arguing again. The small explosion and fire had severed control to the only engine thruster that still fully worked, along with half of the right wing's flight control surfaces. Flint brought his palm up to his forehead with an audible slap, and released a long, loud sigh. A sharp clunk followed, as his boot smashed into the wall, slightly bending a metal panel.

"Mitch, is there anything you can do at all to get the engine thruster reconnected and online in time, even partially?" Flint asked in a steady voice that was belied by the shaking of his hands.

"Nope."

"Shit… Prepare to jettison the cargo after we breach the plasma zone," Flint said.

"Why don't we just jettison it now?" Mark asked.

Time seemed to slow as the ship fell into silence, both men turning to Mark as if he had grown a second head. A grin of white teeth shone in contrast to Mitch’s dirty face. Without blinking, an arm slowly rose from Flint’s side towards Mark. Flint's wrist flicked suddenly, and time returned to normal as Mark's head pushed forward, a dull smacking sound breaking the silence.

"How stupid can you be? This close to the atmosphere? I would rather take my chances trying to land with the cargo still in this barely held together hunk of junk. No, we’ll shove it out the cargo bay ramp… hopefully the parachutes work," Flint answered sternly while motioning for Mitch to follow him to the cargo bay.


------------------------------


A large, red and white checkered blanket lay spread out upon a well-maintained beach. On it rested Twilight and a few of her friends, along with a basket placed in the middle. Several dishes fanned out from the basket, though the plates were now mostly empty.

A book lay out before Twilight, the pages slowly turning as if caused by the small breeze that flowed over the area on occasion. Across from her sat Fluttershy, who at the moment was busy making a salad for her pet bunny. To the side, but still easily within conversation length, her friend Rarity relaxed in a beach chair under an umbrella.

Below them, the rest of their friends frolicked in the small lake. Rainbow Dash and Applejack seemed to be playing some game that involved running on a spinning log. Pinkie, on the other hoof, was splashing around with a few fillies.

Spike had gotten hold of a pair of red shorts, and had a red whistle hanging from a white lanyard around his neck. Twilight had no idea where he got the small life preserver he held in his clawed hand. She rolled her eyes as Spike passed in front of Rarity while he flexed his small arms, trying to look like was he nonchalantly passing by… again.

They were taking a break before they went to watch Rings. It had only taken them a few hours of watching her at her home to realize that she was in fact a new sapient race, and not just an intelligent pet.

Twilight sprawled out across her side of the blanket, lost in thought as she pondered the situation. She knew Rings was frightened of ponies, but couldn't understand why she didn't try to communicate with them in the hospital. All Rings ever seemed to do was yell at them like a scared animal, which was one of the reasons they’d thought she was a trained pet.

The back of Twilight's mind tingled with the knowledge that part of why they still thought that was because of the incident with Pinkie Pie. She had gone to visit Rings for the purpose of testing to see if she was sapient or a pet that day, but everything had fallen apart. Unfortunately, Twilight had not had time to go back before Rings ran away.

Twilight recalled what Rainbow Dash said she had seen inside Rings’ metal home. The speedy pegasus had flown in to look while Rings was away digging holes in the ground once. Twilight hoped the daily gifts and their being nearby, but not coming up to her or her camp, were helping to gain Rings’ trust. A smile played upon the mare’s face as she thought of how this slow approach seemed to be working… at least, she hoped it was. If it was indeed successful, she could learn more about the new race.

Spike tried to make another suave strut past Rarity, but his attempt failed as he let out a mighty belch of flames, nearly scorching the mare. As Rarity picked up her sunglasses and collected herself, a scroll formed from the dying fire, and was quickly plucked from the air by Twilight’s magic.

A shadow blotted out the sun for a moment, causing them all to look to the skies. Two Royal Guard chariots passed overhead, both being pulled by four pegasi with one pegasus trailing behind. While Twilight read the scroll, she saw her friends return from the pond in her peripheral vision.

"Girls, I need to get to the library. Seems like I have a meeting with the Royal Guard," Twilight said.

The mares offered to accompany her, and they quickly cleaned up, offering the leftover confectionaries to a few of the parents on the beach to give to their kids later.

Upon reaching town, they noticed that one of the chariots was parked next to the town hall, its former occupants now roaming the town. The other chariot rested in the shade of the library, its occupants formed up in ranks. Twilight noticed there were five of each type of guard, but the two grey unicorns with slightly different armor stuck out.

As Twilight approached the formation, an earth pony standing in front of the rest called them to attention and saluted. Twilight, in turn, nodded, and the guard dropped his salute, standing at attention with the rest.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle, we are ready to carry out our orders at your command. If you would wait inside, you will be briefed on the situation shortly."

Twilight and the girls acknowledged him, then went inside to wait. The letter did not tell her why the guards had been dispatched to Ponyville, but that did not stop the mares from speculating. They sat on cushions around the cozy, book-lined room while engaged in idle chit-chat. Spike, having made them drinks and placing a snack-filled tray on the center table with the horsehead statue, pulled up his own cushion near Rarity. It was not long after that the door burst in. A rush of wind flowed through the entryway, ruffling some of the mares' manes, much to the dismay of one.

"Shiny!" Twilight exclaimed as she rushed towards her brother in a blur.

Shining Armor nuzzled his sister while giving her a big hug. "Long time no see, Twily," he responded.

As they broke their embrace, Twilight blushed at Rainbow's teasing of her filly-like show of affection. Just as Twilight started speaking, she was interrupted by her brother.

"Sorry, Twily, but we have matters to discuss pertaining to a certain… individual. I know you know where Rings is, and I need you to tell me, or lead me to her," Shining Armor said.

"Can I ask why? And why all the guards? Especially the two arch-battlemages?" Twilight asked.

"Ah, yes. Some are for protection of the town, while the others are going with us to apprehend her," Shining answered, levitating a parchment over to Twilight.

Twilight's hind legs fell out from under her as she glanced over the contents on the paper. It had a picture of Rings with her hair falling about her face, most likely taken when she was just waking up. A slight frown crossed Rings' lips as she used a hand to hook some of her mane behind an ear. Underneath was a short description with a rather long list. Twilight tried to speak, but her mouth only moved.

"Well? What does it say?" Rainbow asked impatiently.

When Twilight didn't respond, Applejack put a hoof on her shoulder and asked, "Are you alright, sugarcube?"

Twilight shook her head to the side, then sniffled slightly and blinked the tears from her eyes as she cleared her throat and began reading the wanted poster aloud with a somewhat crackly voice.  







Twilight had to fight back the bile that tried to creep up her throat. The others in the room fared no better. Fluttershy had fainted, and Rainbow Dash worked to put her back on the cushion. Rarity had a tear dripping down her cheek as she fanned herself. Applejack just had a blank stare, much like Twilight. Pinkie Pie, her near-constant smile gone, snatched the parchment from Twilight and tore it up.

Pinkie then stomped towards Shining Armor and jammed an accusatory hoof in front of his face. "Why are you being so mean to her? That paper lies! Sure, she punched me… but I know it was my fault. And I still have to make it up to her. She’s really nice and I know it! Rings would never do what you said she did and I wo—"

Pinkie was cut off by a purple aura around her muzzle, and dragged away from the Captain. "Pinkie, I don't know what to believe, but I won't let you accuse my brother of anything. To get this… list, there had to have been an investigation, and somehow she ended up as a suspect," Twilight said, trying to rein in her own fighting emotions and thoughts.

Pinkie nodded. She looked around at the others before a giant smile crossed her face. "Oh, I have to go. I have more cakes to make!" The rest of whatever she said faded out as she rushed from the room, confetti fluttering down from the ceiling. Spike groaned as he opened the closet and pulled out a broom and dust pan.

While the mares conversed, a pegasus came in with a scroll and passed it to Shining Armor before departing. Shining facehoofed and asked Twilight if he could use her desk for a moment. After a few minutes, he asked Spike to send the scroll he just wrapped up. While waiting for a response, he tried answering the questions his sister and her friends put forth as best he could.

Spike was returning with some crackers and cheese when he let out a large belch, almost dropping the tray, but he saved it due to years of practice. He set the tray down and rubbed his throat as he looked at the larger-than-average delivery.

Twilight rolled out the scroll bundle, and swiped one off the top. It was mostly the same wanted poster, but had a few more pieces of information and crimes attached to the end of the list. Her brother took the rest of the posters and passed them to a guard just outside the door.

“Hey! What’s the meaning of this?” Applejack asked with anger in her voice.

“Huh?” Shining responded.

Applejack stomped over to him and shook the new wanted poster in front of his face, pointing at the new crimes. “Why’s she being charged with theft from mah orchard? An’ trespassing? I never pressed charges against her! An’ Ah know mah brother wouldn’t, neither.”

“Yeah, what she said! And Pinkie wouldn’t press charges for a little punch!” Rainbow shouted from above Shining Armor.

“We demand an explanation, my good sir,” Rarity said, stepping forward.

Shining Armor felt his ears fold down as he backed away from the angry mares. He threw up a shield spell and poked his head out the door. A few moments later, he stood talking with the pegasus from earlier.

Shining dropped the shield spell and cleared his throat. “Ahem. Now then, ladies. Along with her apprehension, we were also ordered to find out any crimes Rings may have committed in Ponyville and update the warrant accordingly. The charges are being filed on your behalf by the Crown. If you wish to dispute, add, or retract any that pertain to you or your property, you will have the opportunity to do so at her trial in Canterlot. However, after her capture, you can also request them to be dropped through your local magistrate as long as it is before her trial begins.”

“Ah want them removed NOW!” Applejack shouted.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Applejack, but my hooves are tied on this.”

Applejack kicked the floor and returned to her cushion, still fuming. Rainbow flew back to hers, but kept a stink eye on Shining. Twilight was still sitting in a daze, processing the information she had heard.

Shining nudged his sister to break her internal thoughts. “We need to find her. As much as you and your friends don’t want to believe it, she is our top suspect, and highly linked to the crimes.”

"I'll show you where she is," his sister dejectedly said, as a tear rolled down her cheek and splashed on the wooden floor.


------------------------------


Fresh and clean from a bath in the river, Cassie rummaged through her locker, trying to figure out what to wear with her limited selection. She finally decided to dress up a little today, and to help the wear on her other clothes she usually wore. For her undergarments, she went with the royal blue set with a slight amount of lace on the waistband of the panties, and both the panties and bra had a small pink bow in the center.

The dress she chose was a simple, lightweight, maroon summer dress, tied with a white diamond-patterned waist-belt. The sleeveless dress fell to just a smidge past mid-thigh. The front was cut in a shallow semi-circle fashion so it exposed her neck and upper chest, but stopped just before the beginning of her small cleavage. In the back, it dipped down enough to show just the upper portions of her shoulder blades.

Cassie liked the dress, but rarely had the opportunity to wear it. It had been a gift given to her by her mother on her last birthday on Earth, a few months before the mission launch. Cassie reached up to her neck, and a frown marred her face as she remembered her necklace had been lost.

Though the necklace was just plain silver and the gemstone it contained wasn’t valuable, she still missed it greatly. It had been given to her by her grandmother when she entered college. It held a cracked, roundish, marble-sized rose quartz gem, which was one of the first gemstones she had ever found and had spurred her interest in geology.

While Cassie had a little makeup available, she decided to skip that, and instead spent time fixing her hair some. She ran her fingers through the silky feeling of her long hair as she brushed the tangles out. With the hair now laying flat, Cassie made a small braid from the front to the back on each side of her head, linking them in the back to form a small circlet. She then took the hair trailing down her back and put that into a simple braided ponytail.

Cassie took a few steps back so she could see all of herself in the small mirror located above the sink. A smile danced upon her face as the edges of her dress flared up slightly from the small twirl she performed.

It was a short-lived smile. Cassie's feelings were conflicted. She felt happy, yet sad and unsure. She knew she should be spending her time working on the ship, setting traps for food, attempting fishing, coming up with a plan to get over her fears enough to interact with the ponies, and basically anything other than trying to look pretty for no other reason than to do it. Unfortunately, the other side of her brain was telling her to have some fun and relax a little.

One side of her lip rose in a crooked grin. She decided to let the playful side of her brain win the argument, and would not let the recent events stop her from just relaxing for the day.

Not letting the lack of proper footwear for her attire get her down, Cassie strode across her small camp with a slight bounce in her step. Reaching her destination, she stopped and did another twirl.

"Hi, everyone. How do you like my outfit?" she asked. After a slight pause, she smiled and continued, "I knew that you would. I like it, too." 

Cassie started telling her buried friends about the recent happenings, and what she had learned since her arrival. She even went so far as to act like they were asking questions for her to answer. A fierce blush and sheepish smile came to her face as a quick gust of wind swept past her. She quickly smoothed her dress back down and looked around to see if anyone saw. The blush quickly faded and the smile turned to a frown as she remembered where she was.

With her thoughts recollected, Cassie peered down at the graves. She bent down to put back some of the rocks that had rolled into the now settled dirt. She made a quick mental note to get some more dirt to re-level them out, then wiped her hands together to knock the little bit of dirt they had accumulated off.

Cassie next walked over to her table near the fire pit and poured herself a glass of water. The glass of water fell to the ground and its contents soaked into the soil as an alarm from the ship caused Cassie to jump. She set the glass back on the table before she ran to the ship with a worried brow.

It wasn’t the bleeping sound of the proximity sensor Cassie had been waiting for. This was a deeper warning signal with a one-second pause between the blaring sound. Upon entering the ship, she immediately knew something was off. Instead of the usual few lights being on, a red strip was lit up around the walls just before the ceiling, though some of the lights were broken.

Making her way to the front of the ship, a display she had thought to be broken was turned on. Cassie was interrupted before she could clear the junk laying on top of it off to see what was displayed.

The feminine voice of the computer could be heard as the alarm stopped. "Verify identity."

Cassie huffed before she replied, "Lieutenant Cassandra Elizabeth Campbell. Executive Officer Transport Escape Ship Four, Geological Survey Team Division Officer, Campbell 7-9-2-2-Sierra."

"Identity verified. Welcome back, Lieutenant."

"What do you mean, ‘welcome back’? I've been here for a few days. Ahh, god dammit! Don't tell me the computer core is damaged or memory chips are broken," Cassie nearly screamed as she pulled slightly at her hair.

The regular lights flickered to life, mixing with the reds. A few sparks shot from under the piloting console. Cassie mumbled under her breath and turned to leave, not wanting to deal with the ship at the moment.

"Protocol D initializing."

She stopped in her tracks as she reached the door and hung her head in defeat. "Computer, what are you initializing?"

"Unable to comply."

Cassie's eye started twitching and her face gained a slight red hue. She had been fighting with the computer a lot while trying to repair it lately. She stormed to the front of the ship, not wanting to deal with whatever the computer was trying to run.

She pushed the junk off the newly activated display and was confronted with the end of a loading bar. The red bar soon disappeared and changed to the word 'Protocol' in large, red font, with the letter 'D' taking up the remaining two-thirds of the screen. After several seconds of failed interaction with the controls, Cassie banged on the display. She cursed at the computer, her face flushed in anger that it was locking her out.

The computer didn’t care, as it continued running whatever it had just loaded. The feminine voice then came over the speakers, the screen synchronizing with it. "Systems verification in progress.

Dual-Phasic Energy Rifle… Online.
Ion Particle Cannon… Systems Failure.
Internal Sentry Energy Gun… Online.
Targeting Systems… Damaged.
Primary Communications… Systems Failure.
Secondary Communications… Systems Failure.
Primary Command Communications… Systems Failure… Switching to Secondary.
Secondary Command Communications… Damaged.
Secondary Weapons… Online.
Rerouting Main Engine Power to Weapons… Systems Failure… Switching to Battery Backup.
Systems Verification Complete… Systems Are Severely Damaged.

Ship Status… Grounded. Maintenance Priority Alpha-Two.

Weapon Deployment Activating.
Warning… Hatch Jam.
Warning… Dual-Phasic Energy Rifle… Offline.
Internal Sentry Gun… Deployed… Anti-Personnel rounds loaded.
Secondary Weapons… Activated.
Weapon Deployment Activated.

Protocol D has been Initialized.”

Before Cassie had a chance to comprehend what was happening, the bleeping of the proximity alarm went off. Giving the computer console a swift kick, she walked under the sentry gun and made her way out of the ship.

In the distance, Cassie saw Sparks and the others. She was determined not to let the computer running some random program keep her down. Cassie decided that when Sparks brought whatever gift it was today, she was going to close the gap to about 25 yards, instead of staying in her camp until they left. She didn’t trust them fully to allow them right near her, but she felt they wouldn’t hurt her.

Cassie was partway across her campsite when she saw several ponies in gold armor come up behind Sparks. She could see Sparks point and nod in her direction as more armored ponies arrived. Cassie's heart froze as she watched the armored ponies form up in ranks.

Sweat beaded on her forehead, and her legs felt weak. Slowly, Cassie backed up into the ship. She quickly grabbed Ashley's energy pistol once she entered the ship and set it to stun mode. She then heard a male voice with commanding tones.

Cautiously, Cassie stuck her head out. Sparks and her friends were nowhere to be seen, but a large, white male unicorn stood where the gift was usually given. On the front of its armor was a gem that looked like the mark on Sparks' rump.

"Q iu Odejejc Wnikn, Qodhowb kab hyv Zwgit Ocizl. Nejco, ukq wna qjzan izzmab. Lhawoa oqnnajzan dsoqstizzm," the pony said in its strange language.

"I have no idea who you are or what you want, but go away!" Cassie shouted back.

Cassie started pulling her head back into the ship when she felt a tingling sensation around her. A magenta glow surrounded her and started pulling her out of the ship. Cassie panicked and fought against it with all her might. It was a losing battle at first, but the aura was not as forceful as the time in the hospital, and she was slowly able to pull herself out of it.

As soon as it started, the feeling was gone and Cassie stumbled, reaching out with her arm to grab the side of the ship before she fell into the dirt. Cassie turned to stare at the unicorn, her blue eyes trying their hardest to bore a hole right through him.

I knew it. I just knew it! Sparks and those others tried to lull me into a sense of false security so they could spring this trap to get me. Scheming, vile ponies!

A sneer marred her face and spittle flew from her mouth as she yelled, "Screw you and your anti-gravity thing!"

Cassie saw the unicorn's horn start glowing. Before he could try to get her again, she shot. The first ball of energy whizzed past his body. The unicorn took a step back, but was unable to react fast enough as the next ball of yellow light impacted his side. Immediately, the unicorn dropped in a heap.

Angry shouts could be heard from the other armored ponies. Cassie saw several of the pegasi take to the sky. Her hands started shaking and her breathing increased. A startled cry left her throat as she watched a green ball of energy impact the ground mere inches away.

In her distraction, she barely saw a pegasus swooping down at her with a spear held in its fetlock. With a quick move to the side, the pegasus missed, but was still able to graze her back with the butt of its spear hard enough to cause her to wince.

Cassie felt a push and the tingling sensation again, but only localized on her side. Looking out towards the line of ponies, she saw a few more colored balls of energy flying her direction. She was able to dodge all but one. The final one hit her in the leg and caused her to stumble to one knee. Again, the tingling sensation ran through her body.

Her eyes widened and a crooked grin tugged at her lips when Cassie realized what the sensation was. It felt like a stun weapon with the setting too low to be more than just annoying. The sound of hooves pounding on the dirt brought Cassie back from her musing. She watched in horror as three of the normal ponies charged at a full gallop towards her little camp.

She pulled up her weapon and shot. The adrenaline of the fight and the fear of the horses trying to get her caused Cassie’s aim to be way off its mark. After many frantic shots, she managed to hit two of the three, but the third jumped over the little wall of her campsite. Cassie quickly switched the pistol to its highest stun setting with a press of a button. The pony's victory was short-lived, as it lost consciousness right after it landed from a well-timed shot.

Cassie laughed in defiance when another of the energy balls from the unicorns hit her. Looking to the sky, she saw two of the pegasi coming in for an attack. Wildly shooting in the air caused one to veer off. Unfortunately for the other pegasus, Cassie was able to land a shot right in its face. The pegasus hit the ground at full speed on its side, with a sickening crunch that made Cassie shudder.

Cassie looked at the other approaching ponies. There were more of the normal ones, and the two she first shot were up and back with their friends. A quick scan around the area caused Cassie to smile as she set the pistol to the kill setting in beam mode.

Aiming at a few trees on the upper edge of the canyon wall, Cassie pressed and held the trigger down. The red beam lanced through the trees. Splintering timber echoed through the canyon. The sound of leaves rustling in the wind followed. The ponies on that side of the canyon jumped back as the fallen trees landed with a thump on the ground, narrowing the path the non-flying ponies had to take to reach her.

Cassie set the pistol back to stun and single-shot. Taking aim at another unicorn, she fired. Her eyebrow lifted in confusion when the shot just bounced off some purple bubble. She fired again, only to see the same effect, but this time a crack formed.

A wicked grin crept onto her face, and a short laugh filled the air around her. Cassie changed the weapon setting to beam mode and fired again. This time, the shield broke and the gray unicorn behind it fell to the ground with a scream. Cassie's next shot hit a smaller white unicorn that was standing next to it.

The ponies all backed up. Two of the pegasi had reclaimed their fallen friend from inside her campsite, and the pegasus with a clearly broken wing had been floated back. Cassie tipped her table over and ducked behind it while she planned her next move.


------------------------------


"Get the two wounded back to the medic," Shining Armor ordered.

"Sir, why don't you just trap her in a shield?" one of the guards asked.

"I’d love to, but whatever she used on me has disrupted my magic. Looks like a good old earth pony takedown with pegasus support will be how we capture her."

Shining had the remaining three unicorns keep Rings pinned down while he conferred with the earth ponies on the plan of attack.

"Hey! Bright Rain, c’mere," a unicorn called.

"What do you want, Candlewax?" Bright Rain asked curtly.

"I need you to create a distraction. I have an idea to help keep it down," Candlewax said with a toothy smile.

"I think I can come up with something," Bright Rain said.

Candlewax watched as the pegasus flew in towards the creature, expertly dodging the balls of light that streaked towards him, like a dance in the sky. With the distraction in place, Candlewax galloped off to the far side, intent on surprising the creature. A couple minutes later, he emerged from the scant trees, perfectly in position for his plan.

Candlewax braced his legs as he started charging his horn. He gritted his teeth as he pushed more and more magic into the spell, causing the lime green glow around his horn to become overly bright, with a second lighter green glow on the outer edges. Sweat dripped from his forehead as he panted from the exertion.

Another pegasus flew up next to Candlewax. "Stop! What are you doing?!" the pegasus frantically asked.

"Stopping criminal scum," Candlewax deadpanned.

With those words, Candlewax released the spell. With all his energy spent, he collapsed to the ground. 

Bright Rain saw the spell fire at the last second and halted in mid flight, giving Rings all the time needed to shoot him. Bright Rain fell from the sky, his face still holding a look of stupor in the direction of the incoming magic attack.

The assembled ponies looked on in horror as the massive spell raced towards Rings. They saw the look of terror on Rings’ face as she turned to see it just before it slammed into the right side of her head. A pain-filled scream caused the ponies closest to flatten their ears.

They watched as Rings careened through the air sideways for several feet until she hit the ground with a grunt, all the air leaving her lungs. The medic instantly barreled past the other guards on his way to Rings’ unconscious body. As the medic jumped the campsite wall, he could see blood trickling from the sprawled-out female's mouth.

Shining Armor knocked a guard over as he galloped at full speed towards Candlewax. Fire raged in his eyes as he forcibly pulled the still-weakened pony to his hooves.

"What in the hell is wrong with you?! What part of ‘do not injure her while capturing her’ did you not understand?!" Shining roared, mere inches from the stallion's face.

"I did what needed to be done," Candlewax replied flatly.

Shining shook the stallion to try and snap some sense into him. "No, you didn't, you foal. Do you know how powerful that spell was? MR-3 or not, that kind of blast can cause damage well past knocking somepony out."

With a sigh, Shining dropped Candlewax to the ground, lest he did something he might regret to the stallion. Before Shining could say anything more, Meteorite, one of the arch-battlemages, appeared in a crackling teleport. The air felt alive with lightning around the fuming mage. Even though Shining was still the Captain of the Guard, he backed up, not willing to step in between the two.

Candlewax's eyes went white as his irises shrunk to pin pricks. His tail went between his legs and his ears splayed back as he looked upon the fiery red eyes of the mare. Without a word, Meteorite slammed her hoof into the cowering stallion's horn with a flash of light. A cracking sound mixed with a scream caused all the other unicorns in the area to flinch, as Candlewax's eyes rolled into the back of his head. Just as fast as she had appeared, the mage then disappeared.

Shining Armor gave a quick look to the unconscious Candlewax before he trotted over to the medic. The unicorn he left behind now had a slight crack in his horn. Nothing too major, and it would heal soon. However, he might as well have had it cut off, for at the base of the horn rested a restrictor ring of the highest grade.


------------------------------


Gale and the Claw brothers had watched the scene below. They had been ordered to get to the creature’s location and collect as much data as possible before the ponies arrived. Unfortunately, the ponies had moved faster than expected, and they arrived too late. With the primary mission scrapped, they had switched to the backup. Observe, but not interfere.

The Claw brothers both received a cuff to the head from Gale as they discussed how pitiful the guards were and that it would have been easy to just glide down and decapitate the creature before it knew what hit it.

"Silence, imbeciles. I don't know how father puts up with you two. What’s covert about killing the target you’re supposed to be spying on?" Gale quizzed, not expecting an answer.

In the aftermath of the engagement, they had watched the creature get carted away to a chariot on a stretcher, with bandages around its head. They also took note of the injured pegasus with its side and wing in a splint, also being moved to the chariot that the creature was in.

"Did you see that magic shooting weapon it had, Left?" Right Claw asked.

"I sure did, brother. Now that's tech we griffons could use. I see why the ambassador wants information on this creature so badly now," Left Claw responded.

Gale's quill tore a hole through the parchment she was writing on as she jumped from the sudden ear-splitting noises. Down below, a pony writhed in pain just outside of the entrance to the metal cave. Blood poured from its shoulder. Several ponies ran to its side to try and stop the bleeding as the medic ran up with his horn already glowing.

The griffons watched as a unicorn formed a shield around itself and started creeping towards the entrance. As soon as the unicorn took one step into the door, a rapid series of cracking pops reverberated from the cave. The unicorn's shield instantly shattered as it jumped to the side, but too late. Pieces of keratin and blood burst into the air like a firework as the unicorn's hind hoof shattered into pieces, and small clumps of dirt sprayed up from new holes in the ground where the unicorn had just been. The griffons collectively winced from the screams of the newly injured pony.

Over the screaming, they watched Shining Armor instantly erect a barrier around the entrance to the cave. The griffons ducked behind the edge of the clouds they sat upon as one of the arch-battlemages looked in their direction before she cast a new shield so Shining Armor could focus on more important matters.

"Well, crap. I think we’ve been spotted," Right said with his eyebrows pinched in worry.

"Ignore it. As long as we’re not interfering, they won’t bother us either," Gale calmly stated. "You know, we could always make them think we’re up to… other activities up here," Gale said, with exaggerated waggling of her eyebrows.

Gale couldn’t help but fall to the side laughing as the two brothers squirmed. She sat back up and used a claw to smooth out some of her feathers.

"Aww, still scared of daddy, I see," Gale said sheepishly with a fake blush.

"Damned right we are!" the brothers said in unison.

Gale's beak split into a smile when she heard one of them mumble 'and you' under his breath.

The griffons continued watching as the guard captain gave orders to his troops. All but one earth pony, two pegasi, and two unicorns left. The griffons watched as one of the pegasi and the earth pony started inspecting the campsite, while the other three kept the shield up and guarded the entrance.

Gale realized their chance to investigate was totally lost at this point. She ordered the brothers back to the embassy to report what happened, gave them her current notes, and told them to inform her father she would return shortly.



> Chapter 8 - Jail: Part 1  -(R1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cassie lay there, her head pounding, in almost complete darkness. Sweat beaded on her face and body, the clammy cotton sheets adhering to any exposed skin. Her tongue felt tender and swollen in her mouth. For several minutes, Cassie just lay there, gasping and listening to her heart as it settled down to a regular pulse. The dream Cassie had had was already fading back into the recesses of her mind, but it still left her shaking. Flashes, barely remembered glimpses of energy bolts exploding around her, the ponies attacking, and… pain.

Quickly swinging her legs out over the side of the bed, she pushed off with her hands to stand, only to lose her balance and fall over, hitting the ground with a loud thud. She felt for her leg and noticed it was missing. Before she could look around the room to see where her leg was, she heard laughter, mixed with muted voices in that unknown language. She looked to the direction of the sounds to see a torch light up.

Instantly, Cassie noticed bars between her and numerous ponies. Her other senses finally caught up and she felt cold stone against her skin, and… that something else was off. In the dim light, she first closed her right eye, then switched… and she was greeted with pure blackness. Horror of the realization seared into her mind.

“My eye!” Cassie howled as she put her hands up to her right eye. “What did you damned horses do to my eye?!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.

The guards snorted and trotted down the hall, still making those laughing noises.

Cassie sat there, tears gushing from her eyes in a torrent. Her face flushed red with fury; it was bad enough that they had attacked her at her campsite, but now they had locked her up, taken her leg, and somehow damaged the cybernetics of her right eye. Climbing back onto the bed, tears formed pools on the pillow under Cassie’s head. Her fingernails dug into her palms, a few red lines forming. She drew her legs to her chest as she continued to wail, the sound only broken by random hiccups.

Horrible, evil horses. Why can't they just leave me alone? I left their town. What did I do to them? Why did this planet have to have stupid talking horses?

Through her cries and frustration, Cassie heard the telltale clip-clop sounds approaching. She looked towards the sound to see ponies in armor on the other side of bars. They yelled something at her; Cassie assumed they wanted her to shut up, but she didn’t care. A few minutes passed before the ponies left, and a couple minutes later, she finally stopped, letting her raw throat rest.

Via a torch in a sconce directly across from the bars, the only light source nearby, Cassie finally took the time to take in her new surroundings. She sat in a small, windowless stone cell with bars dominating a good portion of the wall across from her, and a heavy, metal-reinforced wooden door next to them. She lay on a small bed tucked kitty-corner from the entrance. To call it a bed was an insult to other beds; it wasn’t much more than a raised platform of wood with a thin mattress, a pillow, and a sheet wrapped around the mattress, topped with a thicker cotton blanket. Cassie had a sudden appreciation for the foam mattress of the stasis chamber back on the ship. 

Next to the bed sat an end table with a drawer and open cubby under it. In the opposite corner, partly blocked from view from outside the cell by a short divider wall, was one of those trough-like structures for a toilet, though not as fancy as the one from the hospital. The last thing Cassie noticed was the manacles, both hanging from the wall and against the wall on the ground, between her and the toilet.

Cassie was thankful to see that she still had on her clothes from before the attack, but wished she hadn’t decided on wearing her dress that morning, especially one she liked.

At least the cell's not leaking water, with the constant sound of drips, like dungeons usually do in books.

A male voice called out, startling her. “Dana lneokjan, ukqn nwwl.”

I thought you would figure out I don’t understand you yet. Stupid horses…

The unarmored pony was pointing to a tray on the floor, but Cassie couldn’t tell exactly what was on it due to the pony's shadow stretching across the tray. Frowning at her missing leg, she scooted to the end of her bed. Using the wall as support, she hopped around the room to the tray, the pony snickering the entire time. Cassie’s brow could not furrow any further from the annoyance at not having her leg for her to pay the pony any mind. By the time she reached the tray, even more ponies had shown up.

She sat down, doing her best, yet failing, to ignore the noises the ponies were making that caused her to flinch quite often.

They sure don't sound friendly.

With tray in hand, Cassie scooted to the rear of the cell. She pinched her brows in confusion when she looked down at the tray. The first thing she noticed was that the medium-sized cup provided held water, which she greedily drank in an attempt to sooth her parched throat. The only other thing on the tray was a small pile of hay. She looked up at the ponies with an eyebrow raised, and a quizzical look in her eyes. Jeers were the response she received.

Anger flashed in her eyes. “I can’t eat hay, you stupid horses,” Cassie growled.

The ponies continued to laugh and point at her, and some clanked the butts of their spears along the bars. Cassie reached down to grab the tray, then launched it at the guards. The tray hit the bars with a loud chink and rattled on the floor. Bits of hay slowly fell to the ground as it filled the air from her to partway into the hallway.

The guards, stunned by her outburst, momentarily fell silent before a few growled at her in obvious anger. A couple brushed the hay off of themselves, while one seemed to take a hoofful and shove it in his mouth, shrugging his shoulders moments later as he continued to chew. Cassie raised both hands balled into fists, then extended the middle digit on each before she hopped back towards the bed.

At her movement, the ponies started making their jeering sounds again, and then… pain. Cassie cried out, falling to the floor as fire radiated through her back. The sound of hard plastic rattled on the stone floor behind her. She held back the water filling her eyes, not wanting these ponies to see her shed any tears. Pushing herself back up, she started crawling into the bed, only to be met with pain for a second time and the loud sound of bare flesh being slapped. 

Cassie cried out again. This time it had been against the back of her thigh. Still holding onto the bed with her arms, she started pulling herself into it. That's when she saw it. The glowing aura flew in from her blind side, surrounding the cup she had just drank from, as it smashed into the top of her hand. She crumpled to the floor, clutching her hand with a wail of pain coming unbidden from her throat. She couldn’t hold the tears back any longer, and they flowed freely down her face.

It did not stop there. Once Cassie was back on the floor, the cup in the aura hit her a few more times in the arms, sides, and one final time on her calf as she rolled under the bed to hide. The entire time, she could hear the ponies hooting and hollering.

Several minutes passed before Cassie heard a soft voice cut through the noises. Soon afterwards, she heard the shuffle of many hooves growing quieter as they traveled further down the hall. Cassie poked her head out from under the bed to see that the ponies really had gone. She took note that the cup, tray, and hay were also missing.


------------------------------


Hours later, Cassie heard the sound of hooves clopping on stone getting closer. She quickly completed her use of the toilet trough. She had barely finished pulling her panties back up when she felt the increasingly familiar tingling sensation on her forearms. Cassie had no time to react before she was yanked violently forward, and pressed into the wall face first.

Cold iron clamped tightly around Cassie’s wrists and legs, just above her knee and connection socket. She struggled against the manacles, the iron biting into her wrist before she stopped. Her knee and connection socket rested on the stone floor, slightly apart from one another, unable to move more than an inch. Her arms had more freedom, letting her bend them at the elbows so they were between her chest and the wall, with her head resting on her palms.

Cassie heard a grunt from behind her, and her arms were yanked up above her head as the chain was shortened. She groaned as the sudden movement caused the stone wall to give her face an unexpected kiss.

Time stopped as a steady, warm breath tickled the back of Cassie’s neck. She yelped as she felt something smooth and hard press against her skin at the base of her neck, then slowly trail down her spine.

The clinking of chains filled Cassie's ears as she renewed her struggle against her binds. The pony whispered something in her ear, but the pounding of her heart drowned it out. She wheezed as a sharp pain in her side knocked the wind out of her, ceasing her struggles. The hoof now rested on the small of her back. Cassie's hair stood on end when she felt another hoof press against her leg near the knee.

Gasping for breath, Cassie squeaked out, "Don't touch me! Stop! Let me go!"

The hoof slid up her leg until it touched the bottom edge of her dress. Cassie's breathing became erratic, her eyes little more than whites. Just as she felt the edge of the dress tickle her skin as it started moving up, she let out an ear-splitting shriek. She never felt the dress drop back down, or the pony's hooves leave her body, as she savagely pulled on the manacles holding her arms, all the while screaming incoherently in terror.

The sound of hooves bounced off the narrow hallway as a pony galloped down it. Cassie heard yelling from a gruff voice, and a calm reply from right behind her. With her strength sapped, she hung limply against the wall. The cool stone soothed the burning skin of her face, tears building up on her cheek before overfilling the blockage of their fall. A warmth slid down one of her forearms, and a stinging pain radiated from her wrist.

Cassie cried out when she felt the tingling sensation again. The feeling stopped almost as soon as it had begun, and her arms fell limply to her sides. A soft click from her legs and the pressure loosening barely registered in her still-panicked mind. A grimace crossed Cassie's face and a hiss escaped her lips as she rubbed her wrists. Both made her wince upon touching them. One had just been rubbed raw, while the other was sticky and slick.

The calm voice from before spoke. "Ajfku ukqn nwwl, ineokjan."

Turning around, Cassie finally saw her tormenter. She watched as a slate gray unicorn with a brown mane poured a cup of water onto a tray of hay before he trotted out the cell door and down the hall. Cassie slumped over on her side, shaking, still trying to catch her breath as she made sure to remember the silver shackles on the pony’s rump.

"I hate them, I hate them all," Cassie whimpered.

Crawling over to the tray, Cassie found that there was a small amount of water still in the cup. Her nose scrunched and she sucked air through clenched teeth as she poured the contents of the cup onto her bloodied wrist in an attempt to clean it out some. Hopping over to the toilet area, she wrapped her wrists with toilet paper.

Maneuvering back to the tray, Cassie picked up the soggy hay and let the water drain onto the tray before she tossed it outside of the cell, where it landed with a damp splat. Carefully, Cassie picked up the tray and set a corner in the cup before she tipped it gently, letting the water flow into the cup. 

With her newly half-filled cup, Cassie threw her head back and let out sigh of relief as the water coursed down her throat. She spit out a few particles of hay and smacked her lips together, trying to get the unique taste of the hay-flavored water out.

"I should have used the bedsheet as a filter or something," Cassie mumbled, as she picked a few stubborn pieces of hay off her tongue.

For a little while, Cassie occupied her time resting against the wall next to the bars, mixed with her intermittently smashing the tray against them to try and get someone’s attention. The only response she ever received was voices calling out from other cells far down the hall.

"Let me out of here!" Cassie screamed as she pulled on the bars. "Can anyone understand me? Anyone from the Quasar here? It's Lieutenant Campbell! Anyone?" Cassie yelled down the poorly lit hallway.

No response of any kind, other than a few in that pony language, ever came back. Not wanting to lose her voice, Cassie instead began pondering how to escape. A quick search found no loose stone in the walls, the toilet was secured very well to the floor, and none of the bars were loose.

The cell's door dominated her view as Cassie sat in front of it. She ran a hand through her hair and scratched the back of her head in thought. There was a small handle for pulling the door inwards to open it, but there was no keyhole on this side. Her sight fell upon the tray, and a crooked grin came to her face.

Cassie leaned the tray up against the divider wall at an angle. Cassie stood above it, smiling down with both hands on the top of the wall for support. With a short jump, she brought her foot down on the plastic tray, snapping it two. She repeated this process a few more times until she had a few smaller pieces, and one that she planned to save for later.

Before Cassie got to her task, she took one of the thin, longer pieces of the broken tray and hid it on the underside of the end table’s drawer by wedging it into the wood. She then hid another piece under her mattress, hoping they would find it and not look too hard for the first one.

Using a medium-sized piece, she cut a few strips out of the sheet that wrapped around the mattress. Cassie gritted her teeth as she peeled the toilet paper off her wounded wrist. Once she finished picking the remnants out, she secured a strip of the sheet she’d just cut around the wrist. Satisfied with her new bandage, she tucked the other strips into the end table's drawer.

Cassie returned to the door with a few of the smaller pieces of the broken tray. She took a thin piece and slid it between the door and the frame. With a little work, she shimmied it down to the bolt. She tried to get the small, hard plastic to maybe push the bolt back enough to pop the door open, but all that she managed to do was break the plastic a few times.

Snaking her arm out between the bars, Cassie felt around the front of the door for any kind of way to unlock it. When her fingers found the keyhole, her face lit up. Clumsily, she passed another small piece of plastic into her hand outside of the bars.

Ugh. Having no depth perception sucks.

The lock seemed to be really simple in design. Cassie could feel the piece of plastic partly moving the internal mechanism, but not enough. Hooves clopping down the hall halted further attempts. Slightly panicking, she gathered all the pieces of broken plastic and quickly hid them behind the toilet in hopes that the ponies would forget about the tray.

Cassie hadn’t realized that enough time had passed that they were bringing her food again. She watched a tangerine mare levitate the cup out through the mid-level slot in the bars, while a purple pegasus mare slid the food tray through the slot at the bottom.

The hay was of no concern to Cassie— she only wanted the water. She hopped around the room once the ponies took a few steps back from the bars. Slight surprise flashed in her eyes when she saw some form of large-blade grass next to the hay. She shrugged her shoulders and bent down to grab the cup of water.

Cassie's world swam. The floor rushed into her vision with a thump. Her jaw was in pain as the two ponies laughed. She lay there, secretly wishing for the pony who hit her to lose a leg. Cassie brushed her tongue across her lips to be greeted with the unmistakable metallic taste of blood.

"Asshole," Cassie muttered.

Eventually, the two ponies left. Cassie sat up and felt her puffy lip. There was only a very slight split on the lip, but it still stung. She drank the water and looked at the grass. Cassie sighed when her stomach grumbled. Tentatively, she reached for a piece of the grass.

Cassie looked it over; it was about as wide as her thumb, and about as thick as a piece of lettuce. Another grumble from her stomach made her throw caution to the wind. Mere moments later, her face scrunched up and she spat the grass back out.

Well that was a stupid idea.

Cassie spent a little while messing with the door lock again. Eventually, she grew tired of failing. She took the pieces of the tray and broke them into as small of pieces as she could. She saved a few, but flushed the rest down the toilet. She was surprised that none of the ponies came to check on the racket she had made the entire time she was breaking it up.

Just after getting rid of the busted tray, Cassie was startled to hear wing beats, followed by the soft tapping of hooves landing on stone. She looked over to see a dark blue, possibly black pegasus mare looking at her through the bars. Cassie quickly hopped back to the bed and wrapped the blanket around her, only giving a quick glance to the pony, hoping it would go away.

The mare did not laugh at her, did not glare at her… in fact, she did none of the stuff Cassie had come to expect from the ponies. Instead, the mare quietly grabbed the cup and tray, said a few words in a soft voice, and trotted away.

Cassie let out a long exhale once the pony had gone. She unwrapped the blanket from around her and did a final stretch before deciding to call it a night.

The night was not restful for Cassie. She mostly flopped around, unable to fall asleep more than a little bit at a time. She assumed it must have been morning when she was awoken by a slight splash of water to her face.

Cassie scowled at the tangerine unicorn. The unicorn just lifted her chin, causing her blonde mane to spill from her shoulders, and made a humph sound before trotting off. Cassie was disappointed to see that it was just a pile of hay and a cup of water… again.

Some time later, Cassie heard hooves approaching the cell. She got up and hopped across the room to put the cup back on the tray. She held onto the bars for balance and saw that same tangerine unicorn, along with a plain tan stallion sporting a short, tan mane and tail carrying a spear.

The two ponies seemed to be in a heated argument. The mare was saying something in a stern voice, and the stallion was answering back with a questioning tone, a look of defiance in his eyes. As they neared the bars, it seemed to Cassie that the stallion had just conceded to some point, if the sound of his voice and mannerisms were anything to go by.

Cassie turned to hop back to her bed just as the ponies reached the cell. Her action was stopped when the stallion jammed the spear butt into her stomach. She lay on the ground doubled over, coughing and trying to get air back into her lungs.

The mare yelled something at the stallion. He seemed to hesitate and said something back. Again, the mare yelled at the stallion. Cassie was on her hands and knee when the butt of the spear forcibly rammed into her left side.

A scream of pain echoed through the halls as Cassie fell over, clutching her side. Her face contorted as she ground her teeth together, trying not to cry out anymore. Her face was wet with tears; every time she tried to breath in, it felt like her side was being jabbed with a knife.

The mare said something, then hit Cassie several times with the cup. Cassie heard the stallion say something gruff to the mare, causing her to stop briefly. The unicorn scoffed at whatever was said, and the stallion trotted off.

The unicorn said something with a blatantly mean tone towards Cassie, hit her several more times with the cup about the torso, and then spat at her before also trotting off into the darkness of the hallway.

For a long time, Cassie just lay on the stone floor, trying to get the pain to stop. Every breath hurt, and every movement filled her with pain. Finally, she sat up. She hissed when she lifted the dress up to look at her side. A dark bruise had already begun forming.

I hope he only bruised it.


------------------------------


The hallway was busier today than it was yesterday. Cassie noted that the guards seemed to stop at several cells farther down the hallways and converse. They even stopped by her cell on occasion, though they only seemed to talk at her in rude or uncaring voices.

Cassie just sat on the bed. She hoped the activity would stop so she could fiddle with the lock again, but her thoughts were interrupted by a soft voice. She looked up and saw that dark blue pegasus mare pushing her food tray in. The mare then placed an apple onto the tray.

"Q jzwcopb pdeo noz ukq. Q dkla ukq hega ep," the pegasus said, pointing at the apple before trotting down the hall and out of sight.

At first, Cassie was apprehensive. She thought that it might be some sort of trap to hurt her again. She waited a little longer to make sure no ponies were near. Once satisfied, she hopped across the room and clumsily reached for the water and apple.

Sitting back on the bed, Cassie inspected the apple in the dim light. It didn’t appear to be tampered with. Her grumbling stomach decided it did not care what the apple’s condition was, but that it wanted it, and it wanted it now.

Cassie slowly took a bite out of the apple. Her eyes widened in delight at the taste. It wasn’t the best apple she had ever had, but it was up there in quality. She quickly devoured the rest, doing her best not to get juice all over her face. She was so hungry that she ate everything but the stem and seeds.

She placed the empty cup back on the tray before retreating back to the relative safety of her bed. Cassie had no idea why the pegasus put the apple on the tray, but she was grateful for it.

Cassie was laying on her stomach when the ponies returned to get the tray. Her breath caught in her throat and her pulse quickened when she saw the slate gray unicorn from the other day with that purple pegasus mare. She quickly pulled the covers over herself in an attempt to make herself as small as she could and appear to be asleep.

Rough poking to the bruises on her back and sides from a hard object caused Cassie to grit her teeth and squeeze her eyes shut to prevent any whimpers from escaping her lips. Suddenly, a loud smack filled the air. She jolted up and let out a scream while holding her butt.

Cassie's eyes squinted, burning with fury and pain. She saw the offending tray held in the unicorn’s amber anti-gravity aura. She furrowed her brows even further when she turned to the smug-looking unicorn.

The pegasus backed slowly away from the cell, looking around like a child about to be caught, before she turned tail and galloped away, dropping a broom in her retreat. The unicorn just looked back and shrugged his shoulders.

A smile crept onto his face, and Cassie saw the tray fly at her. She turned away and tensed up in preparation for the hit… which never came. The tray had stopped mere inches from her. Cassie watched as the unicorn danced the tray in front of her, laughing every time she flinched when he brought it in like he was going to hit her with it.

Cassie got her breathing and pulse back under control when she realized the unicorn was just toying with her. The next time he brought the tray in like he was going to hit her, she just stared at him.

The unicorn's eye twitched. He yelled something in Cassie’s direction and gave her a feral grin. He swung the tray again, but this time it came towards her much faster. She ducked, not seeing he had sent the cup at her also.

Cassie yelped and held the side of her head. Her vision blurred from the tears forming. The tray and cup clattered on the floor. She heard the unicorn mumble something, then felt the tingly sensation around her chest briefly before she was shoved into the wall behind her.

The unicorn quickly levitated the cup, tray, and hay out of the cell. He mumbled something else, then turned and galloped off down the hall.

"I hope your fur burns!" Cassie yelled.

The rest of the day was quiet for the most part. Ponies would walk by on occasion just as they had earlier. Cassie much preferred this over getting hit. Unfortunately, it left few chances to try and escape.

When her sixth… meal was delivered, the ponies had brought a wad of grey cloth, and seemed to want her to put it on. She noticed that they seemed eager, and talked in hushed whispers while watching her. She hid behind the short wall as she disrobed and put the itchy, rough-spun cotton outfit on. It was little more than a really long sack with holes cut out for her head and arms, with short sleeves that seemed to have been hastily sewn on.

Once Cassie drank the water provided, she retreated to the shelter of her bed, being struck once in the shoulder by that tangerine unicorn on her way.

So much for thinking I wouldn’t get hit by putting on this god awful... thing.

Under the sheet, Cassie curled up and buried her aching head in her arms, sobbing to herself. An unexpected drowsiness soon washed over her, and she succumbed to the lurid song of sleep.


------------------------------


Hooves could be heard clopping on the tile, each step vibrating through Cassie's hands and knee, which were bound to a gray, tiled floor. The damp air chilled her skin. She could feel pressure on her upper chest and stomach, seemingly holding her up from lying on the floor. She tried to turn her head, but found it restrained, only able to look down at the ground and see the hooves at the edge of her vision. Her cries of fear were muffled, unable to escape her mouth. The sounds of laughter echoed around her. Cassie's skin crawled as a warm wetness pressed against her lower back. Ropes of a slimy substance slid along the curves of her spine, forming small pools. She struggled against the bindings, but to no avail.

Cassie flinched as something semi-rough started to massage her side in slow circles. The wet pressure upon her lower back started pulsating, and slid down her legs. Her heart thundered in her chest as it tried to escape. Her tears splattered on the floor. Mucus dripped from her nose as her panicked breaths robbed her muscles of oxygen. Cassie's body ceased its futile struggle and went limp, but the restraints held her up. Her increased pulse filled her ears with ringing. Color started fading from her vision as black and white bubbles appeared on the edges. Her stomach lurched, and a burning pain filled her nose.

Cassie's eyes bolted open, her breathing shallow and rapid. The back of her hand came up and brushed against the cold, wet stickiness on her forehead. She trailed her fingers through her damp, tangled hair, only to get them stuck on a knot. Cassie's hands grasped at her clothes, her body shuddering underneath.

"Th-th-that was the most vivid nightmare I have ever had. It felt so… real. But no… it couldn't have happened, right?" she murmured to herself.

Metal clinking on metal grabbed Cassie's attention. She rolled over to peer out into the hallway, fully expecting some new torment to be coming. Instead, she saw another pony with restraints around its limbs being led further down the hall.

A small hint of a smile started forming on Cassie's lips for a mere blink of an eye when she saw a bundle just inside her cell. Her eyes darted around as they searched for any pony near. Satisfied they were not, she hopped across the cell to pick up her freshly washed dress and undergarments.

While changing, Cassie noticed her bruising had gone down greatly. Most even seemed to have healed. Her wrist was still tender, but the skin had healed, and even her side felt a lot better. A few minutes later, she was redressed, with the long shirt thing from the ponies folded and tucked in the cubbyhole of the end table. Unfortunately, her shoe was now missing.

While at the table, Cassie retrieved the long, thin piece of plastic tray from under the drawer. She took one of the strips of cloth from when she’d cut the bedding and wrapped it around one end. 

She looked at her newly made knife and said, "This’ll do, I guess."

Cassie then grabbed some small pieces of the broken tray from under the bed and went back to the door. She hoped whatever the guards were doing with the other prisoner would keep them occupied for a bit.

A small, pink tongue poked out of the side of Cassie's mouth, and her brows pinched in concentration. A soft click sounded in the silence. Cassie used her free hand to pull in on the handle, and the door swung open.

Cassie had to clamp her hands over her mouth to prevent herself from shouting in elation. She slid the knife into a newly made belt from the leftover cloth strips.

Carefully, she crept into the hallway. Cassie listened for any sounds of hooves on the stone. Unfortunately, she had a dilemma— she had no idea which way to go. She could go straight, or she could go left.

Having no clue as to which way was correct, Cassie pulled out her tried-and-true method of twirling her arm in a circle and counting to ten with her eyes closed. It had worked great back in the hospital, so why not here, too?

Cassie headed off straight. It was slow going; she passed a few prisoners, but they either didn't look to see or they just ignored her as she went on her way. Soon, she ran into a T-intersection. The right appeared to lead to a dead end, so she went left.

The clip-clop sound of hooves on stone stopped Cassie in her tracks. She desperately looked around for a place to hide, trying several of the cell doors until one finally opened. She ducked inside and hid behind the door. She held her breath and refused to move, even with an itch on the back of her knee. 

When the pony passed by, Cassie let out a sigh of relief, then bent down and took care of the itch on the back of her knee. Standing back up, she brushed the hair out of her eyes. A quick peek into the hall showed that the coast was clear.

Hopping back out into the hallway, Cassie was partly thankful for having no shoes. Sure, it sort of hurt a little, but her bare foot made hardly any sound on the stone.

At the next corner, there was only one way to go. Seeing nothing down the hall, she continued on her way. Cassie never noticed the wooden door near the end of the hallway; she did notice when it opened, and a familiar tan-coated pony stepped out.

Cassie and the pony froze, staring at each other on opposite ends of the hallway.

"Bnaava!" the pony shouted. 

"Fuck off, asshole!" Cassie shouted back.

The pony started pawing the ground, lowered its head, and snorted. Cassie could almost see the steam shoot from his nostrils. In response, she drew her makeshift knife and held it firmly out in front of her.

Narrowing his eyes, the pony said, “Tiab kpivkm— dih hyv gjeba lwev obr ush cb hyv ufcibr.” 

Cassie had no idea what the pony was saying, but she didn’t care. With one hand against the wall to keep her balance, she used the one holding the knife to flip him off, and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Q swnjaz ukq." 

With that, the pony reared up, nickered, and started charging at her. He was upon her much faster than she anticipated. Cassie tried to dodge while making a wild slash towards the pony. It was a futile effort. The pony collided with her around the waist, causing the knife to fall from her hand and skitter down the hall.

A wild scream escaped Cassie’s mouth as she used her fingers to claw at the pony on top of her. He tightened his grip around her torso in an attempt to keep her down. The stallion released a grunt each time Cassie's fist pounded into his back.

The pony released her waist and was now trying to pin her arms. They continued rolling around the ground in a tangle of limbs until the pony was finally able to pin her arms to the ground with his hooves.

"Get off me!" Cassie screamed.

Cassie's eyes were feral; she didn’t even think about her actions. She tried to kick him between the legs, but he just took the blow. His face, however, pinched in a tight grimace. Another voice filled the air. The pony stopped, looked back, and hollered something back to the newcomer exiting the room.

It was all Cassie needed— she lunged forward and bit his ear. The pony yelped in pain, releasing her arms. Cassie spat out the little bit of blood in her mouth. She quickly got out from under him, put her arm around his neck, and started squeezing. The stallion wasn’t going out without a fight.

He started squirming, and then tried to buck her off his back. Cassie used her other arm to punch him in the nose once, then yanked on his front legs until they gave out. They both grunted when his chin and chest hit the floor.

Cassie's actions finally started to take effect; the pony's resistance waned to almost nothing, and his face took on a purplish hue under the fur. A wicked grin formed on her face. She bent down to whisper in his ear.

"Payback's a bitch, but you're lucky I'm not you. I don't beat those that are defens—"

Cassie found herself violently yanked off the pony by another and slammed to the ground. She tried to get out of their grasp, but two new ponies lay across her, firmly holding her legs and arms in place.

More ponies showed up. Cassie's adrenaline dropped off and her body started hurting again from old and new bruises. She knew she screwed up by fighting with the pony, but at this point, she didn’t care. She stopped her struggling to save what little energy she had left.

Cassie was released by the two ponies, only to have three spears facing her. Her eyes widened in fright and she dared not move. An older-looking, dull red stallion stepped forward and said something to the others. She saw the unconscious pony being carried off. The couple left backed off and hooked the spears back onto their armor.

Crap, I screwed up big time.

The older pony stared at Cassie. She thought she saw sadness in his eyes. He did not say a word, only raised a hoof and pointed back the direction she had come from. With her head hung, Cassie got back on her foot and started hopping back down the hall.

Small, wet dots marked her trip back to the cell. The dull red pony said something and pointed to the corner opposite the door, next to the bars. An unfamiliar unicorn entered the cell and began using her anti-gravity aura to pick everything on Cassie’s bed up and shake it out. They searched the rest of the room as well. They took the shards of the tray and the cut strips of material. Cassie's eyes widened in surprise when unicorn remade the bed before she left.

As Cassie sat huddled in the corner, slightly shaking, she heard the unicorn say something to the red stallion. Cassie saw him nod his head, and the unicorn cantered off. When the old pony turned to look at her, Cassie looked away, unable to look him in the eye.

A few moments later, she heard his steps retreating from her cell, replaced with lighter ones approaching. The unicorn had returned with a smile on her muzzle. Cassie watched her shoe and sock float back into the room. The smiling unicorn nodded once and disappeared as fast as she had arrived.

"Huh?" Cassie asked with an eyebrow raised in confusion.

So I try to escape, choke out one of your guards… and I get my shoe and sock back?

Cassie shook her head. She was now at a loss of what to do. There was no way she could try to escape again, and she was afraid of harsher attacks now, too. She decided she’d had way too much excitement for one day, and crawled into bed.


------------------------------


Cassie had begun to lose track of time, but still knew it had been no more than a few days to a week since her imprisonment. At least most of the guards had stopped their taunting, and all of the physical attacks had stopped. The last of which had involved a spear from that slate grey unicorn, which put a gash in the back of her dress and cut her slightly. She had torn a strip from the bottom edge of the long shirt to use as a bandage wrap, too afraid to tell any of the other guards she had been cut.

So far, the ponies did not seem to care that Cassie couldn’t eat hay, or the variety of large-bladed grass that they brought on occasion. At least, they never made any indication of the fact when they used that strange anti-gravity aura to float the food-filled tray away. The water was welcome and drunk each time, but Cassie always wished they’d give her more.

Cassie recalled the time that pegasus brought her the apple. She had enjoyed the apple immensely, but the pegasus had not been back during feeding time since. Cassie briefly let her mind wander, and wondered if the pegasus had gotten into trouble for that. The pegasus had shown up a few other times, most likely while on guard duty, and seemed to talk to her with a happy-sounding voice. It was either that, or the mare really liked to hear herself talk, Cassie surmised.

She still did not like the small equines, and the recent days reiterated that they were nothing but horrible creatures, like she had always known. However, that particular pegasus seemed to be trying to be nice to her. Cassie also remembered that the three ponies from the hospital never did her any harm either, but the nice ones seemed to be the exception, rather than the norm. Even Sparks turned out to be traitorous; bringing those armored ponies to her campsite was the reason Cassie was captured in the first place.

Cassie rolled over on the cot, trying to forget the hunger pains. She cringed at the feeling of her ribs as she wrapped her arms around her sides. Lying there, she started thinking back to the flashing red console on the ship before her capture.

Since her imprisonment, Cassie had been racking her brain trying to figure out what ‘Protocol D’ was. Still, not even a rumor or a hint of what it was came to her mind. It bothered her not knowing, and she hoped these ponies would release her soon so she could investigate, but doubted that would happen.

Cassie also wondered when particle cannons had been installed on the transport escape ships. The only weapon equipped on the ships should have been a small energy gun, used to break up small meteoroids, or other objects in the way of a landing zone. Yet, the computer had said it was trying to activate a particle cannon. There was a bump on the top of the ship, but Cassie had been told that it contained scientific packages for the exploration mission; that must have actually been the weapon. She also wondered why a security sentry gun was in the ceiling of the cabin.

Neither one of those systems should have been on board, to her knowledge. Granted, Cassie was on the lower end of the hierarchy, but there had only been fourteen officers on the ship, five of which were below her in rank. Another Lieutenant had been on board as well, but he had seniority in rank. Regardless, Cassie believed she should’ve had at least a little knowledge about the protocol. She also didn’t understand what the computer meant by ‘secondary weapons’, since it was apparently not the cannon; it was all too vague. Frustrated, Cassie groaned, then brought her hands to her temples and began to rub.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of hooves clacking on the stone hallways, followed by the click of the lock on her cell being unlatched. Cassie rolled over in her bed to see a very large, pearly-white, winged unicorn that seemed to give off a soft glow in the dim light provided by the torch. It had a flowing mane and tail of four pastel colors that seemed to ripple and shift in the windless dungeon.

Cassie noted the stylized sun tattooed on the large pony’s rump. Debating between calling this one Apolla or Sunny, Cassie flipped a coin in her head, and came to the conclusion that she would refer to this one as Apolla.

Apolla took a step forward into the cell, causing Cassie to retreat to the corner of the room on the end of the small cot and let out a small, barely noticeable whimper.

She watched as Apolla turned to the guard and asked, "Qa apm iteiga hega pdeo?"

Cassie heard the guard quietly reply in that strange language. "Gma, apm’a iteiga ogeppeod izwcvl ca."

When Apolla turned back to face her, Cassie threw her pillow, hitting the white mare square in the face. Cassie saw a bemused smirk flash across Apolla’s muzzle. She didn’t know that the princess’s thought, ‘It’s not every day I get hit in the face with a pillow… and by a prisoner no less,’ was what caused the smirk.

"Let. Me. Go," Cassie stated softly.

The two guards bristled and made to step forward, but a look from Apolla stopped them. 

Cassie clutched the blanket on the bed around her like armor, as Apolla approached until she was about one pony length away. Cassie’s eyes widened in fright when Apolla’s abnormally long, sharp horn started glowing. Cassie tried to push back into the corner farther, but the stone proved to be unyielding, leaving her with nowhere to go.



> Chapter 9 - Jail: Part 2  -(R1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia, her facial expression unreadable, levitated a scroll in front of her as she spoke. "I know you do not understand what I am saying, but we have named you Rings, based on your false cutie mark we found back when you were in the hospital. I am sorry that I must do this to you, but without being able to communicate with you, I have no other choice." Celestia then started reading from the scroll.





Diarchy of Equestria



Royal Decree


Due to extreme circumstances and verbal communication impossible at this time I, Princess Celestia, Princess of the Day, and I, Princess Luna, Princess of the Night, do hereby decree that Princess Celestia shall perform one Memory View spell upon the prisoner known as Rings.

It is with much regret that we must employ this spell. Any and all information gained not pertinent to the investigation of the accused crimes shall remain secret, and Princess Celestia will reveal it to none.

Once the investigation is completed, and no more than one year since the casting has passed, the spell recipient may petition the Crown to have the knowledge gained wiped from the spell caster's memory. This is not guaranteed to wipe all knowledge gained.


______Signed_________________Signed______________________________Signed
__Princess Celestia__________Princess Luna___________Judge Balanced Scale, Equestria High Court




Celestia lowered the scroll. With sorrow in her eyes, she leaned in, closing the gap.


------------------------------


Cassie was on the verge of another panic attack when she stammered, barely audible, "P-p-please d-don't k-kill me!"

Being killed by this large horse was Cassie’s last thought as the glowing horn touched her head.


------------------------------


After several minutes, Celestia's eyes flared open, and a small gasp escaped her muzzle as she took a step back. Carefully, she levitated Rings' slumped-over body back into a lying position on the bed and covered her up with the blanket.

Celestia ran a hoof through the female's tangled mess of hair before whispering in her ear. "It's okay now, Rings. Sleep well."

Exiting the cell, Celestia spoke sternly to the guards, though maintaining the calm expression she always wore. "I want the warden in my private office, now, with his entire file on this female.” A sharp crack echoed throughout the dungeon when Celestia's foreleg slammed into the floor of the stone hallway, as if to punctuate her statement.

With a quick turn, Celestia took a single step forward, then stopped and turned back to the two stunned guards. Her eyes narrowed for a split second as she peered at the tan earth pony holding a spear.

"You are relieved of duty, Sandalwood. Return to the barracks immediately. You are to wait there until you are seen by the warden or vice warden," Celestia icily said to the stallion.

Sandalwood saluted and galloped off down the hallway, grumbling under his breath. Celestia turned to the other guard, who slightly paled and stood ramrod straight under her gaze. A warm expression quickly returned to her face, causing the guard to relax slightly.

"Don't worry about finding the warden, I shall have another find him. I would like you to stay here, at her cell, until you are relieved by the warden or Prince Armor himself. If anypony else approaches, you are under royal authority to challenge their presence. Oh, and please try not to stand directly in front of the bars," Celestia said in a more motherly tone.

The guard fired off a quick salute before moving to stand just off to the side of the cell's bars. Celestia nodded, turned, and trotted out of the dungeon.


------------------------------


Celestia sat in her office, deep in thought. The medium-sized office, used for non-court matters, held a rich mahogany desk with her cutie mark embedded in gold on the front. Directly behind the desk, two large windows breached the marble wall, illuminating the room. Centered above the desk, a crimson tapestry with the Equestrian national flag hung proudly, along with a deep-blue tapestry with the cutie marks of both princesses to its right, on the far side of the window. On the opposite, far left side, a portrait of Celestia and Luna from the founding of the nation hung with honor.

On the left wall stood two mahogany doors leading to Celestia’s balcony, though they were merely frames for the stained glass murals that dominated them. The left door portrayed an image of the sun, majestically shining onto a grassy meadow, while the right door depicted a beautiful night sky with the moon shining down and reflecting off of a lake. In front of the desk lay several large, white cushions with gold embroidery. Celestia had just poured herself tea when she heard a knock at the door.

"Enter," she called.

The door pushed open, revealing an older earth pony with a dull red coat, his cutie mark a black jail cell door with a gold key. Warden Lockup closed the door and slowly made his way to stand in front of the desk. 

Unlike the rest of the Royal Guard, the jailers did not wear the tradition guard uniform with the glamour enchantment. They tended to wear a modified version, which did not have the rump protection part that would cover the cutie mark. That, or just the chest and shoulder protection piece that Lockup currently wore.

"Good afternoon, Warden Lockup. Do you have the reports on our prisoner, Rings?" Celestia questioned between sips of tea.

"Yes, Princess," Lockup said, recovering from his bowed stance, which had caused his unkempt orange mane to fall over his amber eyes, before he trotted forward to pass the papers over.

Celestia set them off to the side for a moment. “How has she acted since her arrival?”

The warden began, "The first day she was rather noisy. She yelled at the guards quite a bit, but never approached them, nor the cell bars, though she did throw her first plate of food at them. In the four days since, the jailers report that she has barely moved from the bed, or even acknowledged their presence, other than when her food was provided.

"She did try one escape attempt, in which she bit the guard that stopped her on the ear hard enough to draw blood. She also choked him unconscious, but in a way that did not leave any lasting damage to his throat or require medical attention," Lockup finished, while standing stiff at attention.

Celestia nodded before she glanced over the reports for a couple of minutes, already having a good idea what would be listed. Even with beforehoof knowledge, and some important details missing, reading it in the report made her eyes harden and jaw clench, cracking her usual expression.

"Why were your guards taunting, jeering, and assaulting Rings upon her arrival? How long have you known she was not eating? How many guards reported it? And what were your plans to rectify the issue?" Celestia said, as her piercing eyes bore unwavering into Lockup.

The stallion’s gaze wandered, refusing to look at Celestia. Lockup’s ears splayed back partly, and his tail hung limp as he finally fixed his gaze upon her violet orbs, seeing the disappointment in them.

He answered shakily, "I've known since the second day. Only Sergeant Padlock reported it, and she has done so every day. I've told her that it's just a hunger strike. Ever since that prisoner a few years ago did it, we do have a plan to deal with prisoners like this. At least she has been drinking the water, but today was her fifth day not eating. If she does not eat breakfast tomorrow, then she will be taken to the medical wing at 10am to be fed intravenously. As you saw in the report, Princess, several guards were taunting and jeering the prisoner on—"

"Her name is Rings," Celestia interrupted in a stern, yet sweet voice that belied her annoyance.

With a cough, Lockup continued, "Of course, Princess. As I was saying, several guards taunted Rings for the first two days, but I put a quick stop to that. Since Rings’ third day here, the two primary unicorns in the attacks have been confined to the barracks, and placed on administrative leave, pending a full investigation and subsequent punishment. A couple more guards will probably face some sort of disciplinary action as well," he said, with his ears perking back up and his chest slightly puffed out.

"I am glad you did know of the situation, and had a plan in place. However, even with the communication issue, you should have checked to see if it was a hunger strike, or if she was unable to eat the standard food given. As for your guards, we are better than that. I wish for you to hold more training regarding the treatment of prisoners; I am also docking their pay by half for the month. Please report all names of those involved, even in the slightest taunting, to the Head of the Royal Guard Secretarial Services," Celestia said.

Celestia paused for a moment to pull out a fresh piece of parchment from her desk. "As for the primary jailers involved, I expect them to be fully punished in accordance to the rules and regulations of the Royal Guard. If those responsible wish to press for any leniency, tell them that Prince Blueblood would be more than happy to return from vacation to oversee the hearing.

"I eagerly await reading the findings of your investigations once they are complete, and the results regarding the punishment for the abuse. Please make note that there are some very important details missing in the reports you already have. If you desire, you should inform the two unicorns that they might also want to look into getting a good lawyer.

"Now that that ugly business is complete, there are a couple more matters to attend to before you go," Celestia said, reverting back to her normal motherly voice.

Celestia's horn glowed as Lockup's ears swiveled upon hearing the door open. He turned, and a smile of recognition played across his muzzle as he gave a small wave of his foreleg to the new pony entering the room.

"Now, with the arrival of the other needed member for this part of the meeting, we have a few things to discuss," Celestia said, using her magic to close the door.


------------------------------


Clank! Clank! 

The sound of metal striking metal filled the air around the small copse of trees. A short break in the noise was followed by the hissing of hot metal being dipped into water. Beef Wellington stood in the sunlight, eyeing the newly made horseshoe for any imperfections.

"Looks good," Beef said, adding it to a small collection of other shoes.

A meaty hand swiped across Beef's wet brow, clearing it of the sweat that had accumulated. He placed his tongs and hammer on the anvil. Grabbing his waterskin and a mostly clean rag, he headed to the small stream nearby.

On his way to the stream, he guzzled the water. Once there, he dropped to his knee, refilled the waterskin, and then plunged his head into the slow-moving water. Water flew through the air from his long, braided mane when he whipped his head back up. Using the rag to dry his face, he made his way back up the small embankment to the shade of the trees.

Beef plopped down on an old stump. Reaching down, he picked up his knapsack, rummaged through it for his horn-care kit, and then proceeded to polish his long horns until they shined and the silver end-caps reflected the sun like a mirror. He looked up to see four of Equestria's finest approaching— two earth ponies, a unicorn, and a pegasus.

"Royal guards, how's it goin'?" Beef called.

An earth pony mare answered, "Looking for you, Mr. Wellington, actually. My name is Sgt. Popcorn."

Beef gave a leisurely wave. "Howdy, Ms. Popcorn— call me BW. Ya know… always nice to see a fan, but I've been out of that business for years. I can still autograph something for you… or you. I should have a coat marker around here somewhere," Beef said, looking through his knapsack. 

“Ahh, here it is. So… where do you want it? Barrel, back or flank?” Beef asked with a sly grin, and an overly exaggerated eyebrow waggling.

"Wha… wh… huh?" Popcorn sputtered, her armor’s glamour enchantment doing nothing to hide the nice shade of red she was turning.

The other guards chuckled, trying to remain composed. Popcorn shot them a quick glance. Returning her attention to Beef, she cleared her throat.

"Anyways, BW, we have been told you bought an interesting piece of metal back in Hoofbreak Ridge. Another traveling merchant said you purchased some unique items from him as well. We were wondering if we might see these items, as they may be pertinent to an ongoing investigation," Popcorn said.

Beef brushed his hands together, then placed them on his knees and stood up. His massive minotaur frame was only slightly on the larger side for his species, but he towered over the ponies. He chuckled at the site of the unicorn moving behind the pegasus and other earth pony.

"Take it you never seen a minotaur before, huh, little guard. Think I'm big? You should see my dad and uncle," Beef said, making his way to his forge-cart.

The unicorn just shook her head. She seemed to visibly relax when one of the other whispered something into her ear. She instantly became interested in his cart, and hurriedly said something to Popcorn.

"That's an impressive cart you have there," Popcorn stated.

Beef visibly puffed out his chest, beaming with pride. He slapped the side of the cart and said, "The Everforge is a one-of-a-kind beauty, ain't she? She's got some serious enchantments. Once activated, it heats up to max temperature in about 15 minutes. The coals can last for months. I was told if I can ever get a dragon to fill it with magma, I’ll never have to worry about fuel again. Check this out."

Beef grabbed Popcorn with his muscular hands and thrust the mare right next to the opening, where the coals burned bright. He smiled playfully as the mare squirmed, trying to escape, but his grip was too firm.

"See!? No heat. It only escapes out the top vents, so no more uncomfortable heat when working with metal in the coals. Unless I want it to, that is. I can control how much escapes out of that opening with this lever here. Very useful in the winter. Has a few other side vents for heating purposes, too," Beef stated, releasing Popcorn from his grasp.

"I see,” Popcorn said, glaring at the minotaur. “While we would love to hear more about your forge, can we get to why we came?" she asked, stepping back from the minotaur.

Beef went around to the front of the cart. A few seconds later, the guards were startled when he dropped a large piece of metal on the ground next to them. It was mostly blackened— evidence it had been in a fire— while some of it was white where it appeared to have been scrubbed.

Popcorn and the unicorn approached the metal chunk. While the two murmured amongst themselves, Beef started showing off his wares to the pegasus and other earth pony. Popcorn could hear them talking about wing blades and horseshoes, but kept her focus on inspecting the metal.

"BW, this is indeed what we are looking for. Before we go further, can we see the items you recently bought from the other merchant?"

"Yeah, yeah, in a minute, cutie," Beef said, still measuring the pegasus’s wings.

Popcorn's bristled at the comment, but the hue forming under her cheeks betrayed her. The unicorn next to her let out a small laugh, earning herself a half-hearted punch to the shoulder. They waited as Beef put his measuring tools and notes away. After the pegasus hoofed over some bits, they filled out a piece of parchment, and the pegasus received a copy.

"You done yet, Private?" Popcorn asked, her forehoof rapidly tapping the ground.

"Uhh, oh yeah. Sorry, Ma'am," the pegasus sheepishly said.

Beef laughed, "Aww, don't bust his balls. And, you're too cute to do the impatient look."

Beef came back around the cart and held out a few objects. "Here they are. Not sure what they do, but that little one there flips open and has a compass inside. I don't know the markings, but it's accurate with the one on my cart. The other things just looked neat. I was gonna to take them apart for the metals."

Popcorn pulled out a scroll and started comparing the items with it. After several minutes of conferring with the unicorn, she nodded her head and turned to Beef.

"This metal piece and these items are indeed what we are looking for. We’ll need to take them for the investigation."

"Nah."

"What do you mean, ‘nah’? You don't have a choice. You’ll be compensated for them, or they will be returned in the future."

Beef ran his hand along his horns in thought. He knew he didn't have a choice in the matter, but he still didn't like it. A wide grin spread across his face when he came up with an answer.

"Fine— on two conditions. And, where are you heading next?"

"While we don't have to, I will listen for the sake of peaceful negotiations. You probably already know, since that's the major town this road leads to, but we’re going to Neighagra Falls to get on the train back to Canterlot," Popcorn said.

Beef nodded while rubbing his chin. "Okay, make that three conditions." Popcorn tried to speak, but Beef cut her off and continued, "First, you let me at least cut the big piece to keep some of it. Two, you all pull the Everforge to Neighagra Falls. Three, you buy me a drink at the inn down the road later tonight, pretty filly," Beef said with a wink.

Beef bellowed as he clutched his sides, leaning on the cart for support. Popcorn had turned a furious shade of red; Beef couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment or fury, but decided it was probably a little of both.

"Fine," Popcorn deadpanned.

"Wait, what? You actually agreed to those terms without arguing?" Beef asked.

He didn't get a response, as Popcorn had already hitched herself to the cart with the other earth pony. Beef scrambled into a couch at the front of the cart that he used for lounging. Popcorn and the earth pony stallion looked back at him with narrowed eyes.

"Pfft. Like it weighs any more. I know it doesn't. Plus, it has a great view," Beef said, smirking at Popcorn.

Popcorn quickly turned faced forward and flicked her tail back at the laughing minotaur, who was already striking up a conversation with the pegasus hovering next to the cart.


------------------------------


Celestia had just about finished writing a letter when the light sound of hooves neared her office door. She looked up to see a dark blue pegasus mare with gray eyes, and a long, silvery blue mane and tail, along with a gray cutie mark of a locked padlock adorning her flanks. The mare saluted in the doorway, and Celestia motioned for her to enter the room. Celestia smiled as the mare trotted in and proceeded to sit on one of the cushions that so many avoided when they visited this room.

"Do you know why I summoned you, Sergeant Padlock?" Celestia asked, as she offered the mare tea.

Padlock didn’t care much for tea, and so declined the offer. I wonder if she has any cider in that desk, she thought, instead asking the Princess for water. "Negative, Princess. I was only told to report to you," she said, taking the water Celestia floated over to her.

"I called you here for a few reasons. Namely, I want to get your take on your new prisoner, Rings. You have also been the only one to report her not eating so far. To start with, I am informed that you did not participate in the… events that some of your fellow guards engaged in. What made you abstain from participation?" Celestia queried.

Padlock noticed the inflection on the word ‘your’, but dismissed it. She looked directly at the Princess and replied, "Just because a pony is in jail, does not mean they should be treated badly. My dad… he… he did bad things in the past, and was locked up for several years. The jail he was in treated him very badly, and he was never the same after his release. I vowed that when I became a jailer for the Royal Guard that I would never treat a prisoner badly, no matter what their crimes, or accused crimes happened to be."

Celestia smiled warmly at Padlock, causing the mare to blush slightly. "I am very proud of you, my little pony. It would do well for some of your fellow jailers and guards to learn from you."

Padlock nodded and Celestia's smile faded somewhat. "But, that is being taken care of. What do you think about Rings?" Celestia asked, her smile returning.

Padlock took a sip of the water and leisurely leaned back on the plush pillow before responding. "She's scared of us. I don't know why, but for some reason she seems to be really scared of ponies. From what I’ve observed on watch, the fear seems to be from before she was imprisoned, but I don't think some of the other jailers helped in that area either," Padlock growled, pawing at the pillow.

Padlock flicked her head to the side to get her mane over her shoulder while she regained her composure, then continued. "I also have a feeling she wants to eat, but can't eat the standard food ration. At lunch on the second day I had to bring her food. After I placed the tray in the cell, I added an apple to it before I trotted away, knowing she would be more hesitant to come off the cot if I was around. When I came back, the apple was gone. I mentioned it to the kitchen, but it fell on deaf ears.

"I know she can’t understand me, but the times I was on watch I still told her about my day, and my job, and things like that. I mean, it has to be lonely for her in there, unable to talk to even the guards like the other prisoners."

The shine in her eyes dulled as Padlock looked to the ground. "Solitary confinement is one of the harshest penalties we can give a pony, and that’s basically what we’ve done to her. She's not allowed any other prisoner interaction, even though I doubt she would like that. She's not able to go to the prisoner galley or outside yard, either.

"In her cell, Rings barely ever moves off that cot, especially if any of us are nearby. Though… she doesn't shrink back from me as much as she does the others. Oh! And on a few occasions, she even stayed in the middle of the cell listening to me talk," Padlock answered, looking Celestia squarely in the eye at the end.

Celestia's horn started glowing, and Padlock heard the click of a door being closed and locked. "I am glad you noticed those issues, and cared enough about Rings to report your observations, even with the allegations against her. Earlier today, by Royal Decree signed by Luna and myself, and approved by a judge, I performed a Memory View spell—"

Padlock stood up and gasped, her tail lashing out. "P-Princess, how… just how could you? There’s no way Rings would even understand what you were doing! That’s reserved for only the most heinous crimes, and the most vile of criminals!” she said loudly in shock.

And even then, it’s rarely ever used.

Padlock’s thoughts wandered back to the horrific case the spell was last used for, causing a slight shudder to ripple through her skin— it was just over 2 years ago when a deranged pony wore another pony's head as a hat through two towns.

Celestia just raised a hoof and motioned for her to sit back down. "I know, but with the accused crimes, and the lack of verbal communication, it had to be done," Celestia stated, with the authority of her crown radiating from her body.

Celestia wanted to add in that a very stubborn and annoying noble happened to own property that had been destroyed— that he was causing all sorts of ruckus about wanting justice around the royal court and the criminal courts. She also wished to say that Rings’ capture was not only to appease the noble and his friends, but, amongst other reasons, to protect Rings from anypony who might wish to do her harm while the investigation continued. Unfortunately, only the first part of that plan had seemed to work, to which she was very disappointed.

"I understand. I was just surprised, Princess," Padlock said as she sat back down, looking off to the side while her face flushed crimson in embarrassment.

"That being said, you were spot-on in your observations. Rings has a deep phobia of all equines— I tried not to delve too deeply into her memories, so I do not know why exactly. Even if I did find out, I could not tell you, since it’s not part of the investigation.

"You were also correct about her food. She is not able to eat most pony foods, such as hay, most flowers, or grasses. If the jailer leadership had actually read the reports from Princess Sparkle, then they would have known that.

"Another reason why she is so skittish around us is that she truly has no idea why she has been imprisoned. She does know she attacked several guards, but she did that in self-defense, not knowing why they were even after her. Rings is sort of tied to the crimes she is accused of, for reasons I am unable to disclose to you, but not in any intentionally malicious or knowledgeable way," Celestia reported.

"So, she's innocent?" Padlock questioned.

"For the most part, yes, she is, though she will still have to stand trial in the future to prove that innocence. Tell me, did you notice anything wrong with her physically?" Celestia asked, taking another sip of her tea.

Padlock sat in thought a moment, thinking of Rings sitting on the cot. "Other than the obvious, her right leg missing, I would say her hygiene could use some work, but it’s hard to get her to the showers when she’s scared to be near us. Seems somewhat uncoordinated, too— probably lack of nutrition making her weak or something.

"She also has a few visible bruises from what those horseapple-heads did to her those first days she was here. Not sure why Rings is missing her fur— that might be some disease or illness. Oh, and you could sort of see a little of her ribs, and a very angry bruise on the rare occasions her sides were exposed. She just needs some food to stop her ribs being visible, and time plus some healing magic for the bruises to go away," Padlock stated with a small smile.

"You are correct on those facts, but there is a better reason for her lack of coordination. Rings is also blind in her right eye. It was caused by a unicorn guard hitting her in the head with an extremely overpowered stun blast during her capture."

Padlock had heard enough. She was tired of hearing about the mistakes of the Royal Guard. Her eyes burned with fury and her lips curled into a snarl. She instantly stood up, knocking over her glass and causing droplets of water to glitter in the sunlight that shone through the windows as they flew through the air.

She bucked a cushion across the room and growled to Celestia, “Who?! Who was the guard? I might not be a unicorn, but that guard needs to meet my hoof for their actions. What kind of foal are they? Royal Guards should have more restraint. They caused a permanent, life-altering injury.” Padlock was shaking her forehoof in the air like she was getting her muscles ready for action.

Celestia watched Padlock’s rant with a bemused grin. She was now confident that the decision made earlier was right. Celestia tapped a hoof on her desk to get Padlock’s attention, and motioned for her to sit again. Padlock’s face reddened under her fur upon realizing she had been ranting in front of the Princess. Sitting back down, she gave a sheepish grin, but the fury still raged in her eyes.

“That matter is also already being taken care of,” Celestia said.

Celestia had Padlock stand as she levitated a scroll over to her. Padlock started reading the scroll, her jaw dropping, as Celestia read its contents aloud from memory.





Royal Guard Jailer Service
This is to certify that
The Secretary of the Royal Guard has awarded a

Certificate of Promotion

To
Royal Jailer Sergeant Padlock, Equestria Royal Guard
For

Professional achievement in the superior performance of her duties as a Royal Guard Jailer. Sergeant Padlock demonstrated her unwavering kindness not only to an accused criminal, but to a sapient being of an unknown race. In the face of such circumstances surrounding Rings, she refused to participate in the deplorable actions of her fellow co-workers, and set about on the course she felt was just and right. Sergeant Padlock took action where others just dismissed the situation as a rebellious hunger strike, not caring to check into it. Sergeant Padlock's exceptional professionalism, initiative, and loyal dedication to duty reflected great credit upon herself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the Royal Guard Jailer Service. It is with great pleasure that I, Princess Celestia, with the supporting approval of Princess Luna, do hereby promote Sergeant Padlock to Royal Jailer Vice Warden. All rights and responsibilities of the position are now yours.
_

______
______________________________________________________________
_______________________________Signed For the Secretary of the Royal Guard
_________________________________Princess Celestia
_________________________________Co-Ruler of Equestria
_________________________________Commander-In-Chief, Royal Guards




The scroll fell to the floor and a tear spilled out of Padlock's eye, quickly followed by its friends. Her hoof found its way to her forehead as she wavered unsteadily on the other three for a few moments. Celestia used her magic to keep Padlock from falling over and levitated the mare a new glass of water, which was gladly accepted and drained down her throat.

To say Padlock was surprised was a gross understatement. Moments ago, she was just a mid ranked sergeant; now she was an officer, and a high ranking one at that. That sort of rank-jumping was unheard of, and all of it due to her kindness to a stranger. Too stunned to answer, Padlock just sat there on her haunches with her eyes unfocused. Her mouth hung agape and moved somewhat, but no words came forth.

Celestia held a hoof to her muzzle, muffling a small giggle. "I see you are pleased with your promotion, but be warned, Padlock— some ponies might resent you for it. You are a relatively new guard at just under ten years in, and you were enlisted, not even enrolled in the officer training program. Though it is not without precedent, it is still exceedingly rare to be promoted this way. Eventually, you will be given basic officer courses, but that is for another time. Also, I am sorry that right after your promotion, you are being taken from the jail temporarily."

“I understand,” Padlock said, saluting with a grin that could rival that of Pinkie Pie. "Wait! What do you mean I’m being taken from the jail?" she asked, head cocked to the right with her left eyebrow raised in confusion.

Celestia refilled her tea as she answered, "As part of your promotion, you are to undertake a special assignment prior to starting your new duties. Until further notice, the being known as Rings is a ward of the Crown, and you are to be her guardian and probation officer.

"You will attempt to befriend her, try to ease her fear of ponies, and if possible, find out why she is here. You will keep her from harm to the best of your ability, but you will not force her to do anything unless it is to prevent her from injury, injuring somepony else, or leaving Equestria. Lodging in Ponyville will be acquired, with a small allowance added to your pay for food, since there is no mess hall there.

"You will work with Princess Twilight Sparkle. She has taken an interest in Rings, and wishes to learn more about her. Lastly, you will help her learn our language. How you do so is up to you, but I know Princess Sparkle would love to help.

"Also remember, she is technically still a prisoner, and will have to stand trial. The sooner you can get her learning our language, the better, since we can only delay the trial for so long.”

Padlock saluted. "Yes, Princess."

Celestia nodded, then took a sip of her tea and glanced out the window for a brief moment, seemingly in thought. She turned back to face Padlock and looked directly into her eyes before she said, “There is another small matter to discuss. The Crown will also be giving Rings a small stipend in payment for our wrongdoings until we deem it is no longer needed. Since you are her guardian, you will be in charge of this money, and use it for her as you see fit until she is able to manage it herself. I believe there are a couple banks in Ponyville; I will let you choose which one to set up her account in."

Padlock nodded, but her mind started racing. This was going to be a whole new situation for her; she had never been on her own like this before. She had joined the guard as soon as she had been able to. She was used to schedules and barracks life. Padlock mentally shook her head and pushed it all to the side for now, refocusing on what the princess was saying.

"I have confidence you will do well in your new roles and responsibilities. Prince Shining Armor will have these special orders and additional needed paperwork for you by tomorrow, along with a temporary foreign residency card for Rings. If you have any questions or problems, feel free to ask Princess Twilight Sparkle for guidance, or send me a letter via dragonfire-mail from her assistant, Spike.

"Remember, though, you are the ultimate authority—short of myself or Princess Luna—in charge of Rings during your stay in Ponyville. If you deem anything—even Princess Sparkle’s studies—to be against Rings’ health or well-being, you are authorized to put it to a halt,” Celestia said.

Padlock did not know much about the new princess, so she was slightly confused with the last part of the statement. Padlock responded, “I will strive to do my best, Princess.”

"That is all I can ask of you. Do you have any questions at this time?" Celestia asked.

"I have a few right now, and probably more later,” Padlock replied. “First, why am I being promoted so highly just for being nice to a prisoner?" 

A flash of a grin marked Celestia's face as she took another sip of her tea. "I figured that would be your question. In about one year, current Vice Warden Iron Crate will be retiring. Not many know this, so do not spread it around. He wants to keep it quiet for a few more months. We will announce you as his replacement at his retirement announcement. You are, of course, free to tell anypony you want about your promotion, though.

"You didn't know, but you were already set for a different promotion. It is true that a few guards had already been up for consideration for the promotion you just received, but your actions made you stand out as a fine choice. Both Warden Lockup and Vice Warden Iron Crate approve of your promotion. Warden Lockup even said that some young blood in the leadership would be helpful, since most of the senior jailer staff are getting up there in years."

"I didn't think they thought that well of me. Thank you, Princess," Padlock said, dipping her head. "Second… well, it's more of a combined question: what is she and where is she from?”

Celestia's gaze wandered from the stained glass door depicting the night sky, to one of the windows behind her. She trotted to the window and peered down on the city below, watching the citizens go about their daily lives. Her brows furrowed, and her eyes closed as she held a forehoof to her temple.

Celestia recalled the memories and images from the spell. Planets, the stars, rocks, schools, friends, family, a farm, sadness, many pools and large bodies of water, celebrations, a gruesome accident, dreams crushed and dreams renewed, hospitals, a vast ship in a sea of darkness, an explosion, death, pain, happiness, fear, and many other things flashed in her mind. A deep inhale of breath, followed by a long, slow exhale escaped her muzzle.

With her thoughts together, Celestia turned back to the mare and answered, "I am afraid I cannot fully answer your question, due to both the decree and my lack of knowledge. I really did try my best to only view memories that were pertinent to the investigation, but… it is a difficult thing to do.

"I can say this: Rings is an intelligent being capable of both good and bad. I am not sure what they actually call themselves— I did not delve that deeply, nor could I tell you if I did. To answer your other question, yes, I do indeed know where she is from. Again, due to the decree, I am forbidden to tell anypony, as her place of origin was not part of the investigation. I will tell you this: Rings is not from Equestria, and you would be hard-pressed to find many more of her kind.

"As for your other question, I am not fully sure as to why she is in Equestria. From the spell… it's confusing to say the least. It is possible her presence here was purposeful. It is also possible she found her way to our land on accident. This is why it's up to you, with the help of Princess Sparkle if need be, to find out the 'why she is here’ part."

Padlock scratched her chin and looked towards one of the windows. "So, Rings is a bipedal foreigner from far away. Guess I have my work cut out for me trying to answer all of those questions. Say I actually end up communicating with her. Will I be able to verify answers she gave me with you? Even if they were not covered in the investigation? Or, would I need to find a unicorn that can cast a truth spell to verify any answers I might find… questionable?" Padlock asked.

"That is a… tricky situation. If you find any information that you wish to verify with me, you are free to send a letter. I will always reply, but whether or not I can answer your question will be on a case-by-case basis. Princess Sparkle knows the truth spell if you are ever concerned. However, she will not cast it lightly," Celestia replied.

"I understand, Princess. I just like options to cover all my bases," Padlock beamed.

Celestia's ears perked up as she glanced over the reports. "Tell me, Vice Warden— you mentioned her hygiene. I thought all prisoners were allowed to take a shower or bath at least once every two days. Rings has been here for the better part of five, and I see no mention of her being denied access with reason in the reports."

Padlock brushed her foreleg through her mane, her brows scrunched in worry while a smirking grin crept on her muzzle. "Weeelllll… you seeee, we uuuuhhh… sorta, maybe, had a teeny, tiny problem. See, we had the prison doctor knock Rings out with a drug in her drink. Then the doctor and a nurse took Rings to the shower and had her placed into a restraining harness. Well… the doctor messed up the dosage and she woke up in a drugged daze right when they started scrubbing her. Let's just say, from what the doctor and nurse said, it did not go well… at all.

"Now, the doctor is afraid it would put too much strain on her to try and force a shower on her again. I still put part of the blame on the mares in the other section of the shower area and their towel fight. Voices travel well through the shower area; those walls don't reach the ceiling."

Padlock’s eyes seemed to smolder with a burning fire as her foreleg pawed at the pillow. "That's also when the doctor found out about the abuse. It's in his report; he was furious. Spent a while trying to heal the bigger bruises up with magic, and put ointment on the rest before they returned her to her cell."

“Ah, I see. Make sure to get a copy of the doctor's report on that incident from medical and put it into Rings' jail file. For now, return to your charge. Select three guards to assist in watching over her when in her cell, and eventually her quarters here before you move. Again, congratulations, Vice Warden Padlock,” Celestia said, with a smile on her muzzle.

Padlock bowed, exiting the office with a bounce in her trot. Once in the hallway, she immediately cantered off toward the guard kitchen like an excited filly on her birthday. On her way, she thought of guards that might be suitable. She would confer with Warden Lockup before making her selection, though.

Luna materialized out of the dark corner, looking to the open door. "Do you think she knows?" she asked.

Celestia answered, "At this time, she has no clue, but I think I know what her reaction will be when she finds out."

"So we are going ahead with the plan?"

"Yes, Sister. We will be holding the meeting in two days’ time. This will give Blueblood enough time to arrive. He has already cancelled his vacation and is traveling back. Have you been able to get the corporal to talk?" Celestia asked.

"We have. Prince Armor can be quite intimidating. Didst thou know he can crush a coconut with his shields? Very effective at scaring ponies into talking. The corporal has given us the name of the one who paid him off to distribute the wanted posters early. We also have strong evidence of who made the forged orders," Luna replied.

"That's good to hear. While it has helped us slightly, it is unfortunate that it happened, and we can only hope they were removed before too much damage could be done.”

"We have also uncovered evidence linking said pony to the actions of a few of the jailers."

"I see. Have your agents continue the investigation… quietly. For now, you and I have a meeting with the castle staff and guards we must be getting to," Celestia said.


------------------------------


Cassie’s eyes shot open, and just as quickly squeezed back shut. The back of her hands wiped off a thin layer of sweat before her fingers massaged the area above her temples, trying to lessen her headache.

After a few minutes, she reopened her eyes. Cassie moved her head slightly, and her stomach roiled with nausea. She was barely able to hold down the water she had drunk earlier. Once the dizziness passed, Cassie saw the familiar dark blue pegasus mare looking at her from the other side of the bars with a smile. The mare was pointing to Cassie’s bed, with anticipation evident in her large, gray eyes that twinkled in the torch light. Wary at first, Cassie finally looked down next to her bed.

Cassie's eyes blinked several times in disbelief. For the first time in days, a smile started creeping its way across her lips. Timidly, she reached out with her hand to feel the lifelike rubbery material. Cassie picked up her leg and hugged it to her chest. Her already bad vision started blurring. A tear of joy leaked from her eye, making a trail on her grime-covered cheek before it dripped to the bed. Cassie looked up to see a large, toothy smile, seemingly bigger than the mare’s muzzle.

“Thank you,” Cassie said, still hugging the leg to her chest, tears now coursing down her cheeks and splashing onto the bed, as she smiled back at the mare.

Cassie brought the sheet up to her eye to clear her vision. She then used the bedsheet to wipe off the connection plate, and started to put the leg on… until she remembered she had no way to secure it. Her brow furrowed and the smile faded as she started putting it off to the side.

A tapping sound interrupted her. Cassie looked up to see the mare pointing next to the bed again. She glanced down again, but saw nothing. She was about to look back to the pegasus when she noticed a small glint of light. Looking harder, Cassie saw a small piece of metal that blended in with the floor.

Picking it up, she was surprised to see a long, perfectly round pin with a flat, round head on one side, and a little cotter pin on the other. It was about a quarter-inch longer than it needed to be, but its diameter was almost exactly what was required for the anchor holes. Overall, Cassie was pleased that it was useable.

Cassie gave the mare the biggest smile she could and said, “Thank you,” once again in soft tones.

The stone was cool and smooth under her bare foot as Cassie swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood, grabbing for the side of the bed as her legs buckled beneath her. Cassie heard a sharp gasp from the mare, and saw what appeared to be a concerned expression when she looked up. She rested a moment, weak from lack of food, before finally standing, albeit shakily, needing to use the wall for support.

The mare tapped the floor again. This time she slid a cup into the cell and spoke a single word. "Eibmz."

Ignoring her headache, Cassie stumbled over to the cup, not caring that the pony was so close on the other side of the bars. Cassie misjudged the cup’s location when she reached for it, bumping it and causing some water to spill. Her eyes narrowed somewhat in frustration, still not completely used to the lack of depth perception, and she picked up the cup. She didn’t see the corners of the pegasus’s lips bend down in a brief frown at the scene.

As Cassie brought the cup to her parched lips, the mare repeated what she said earlier a few times while pointing at the cup. Cassie realized that she was telling her that it was water, or cup, but most likely water.

So,~eibmz~ means water. That's good to know.

Cassie decided to try using her new knowledge. Pushing her fear aside for the moment, she put the cup next to the bars. "Can I get some more ~wa… wat… water~?” she asked, with a slight lift of her voice, but having difficulty pronouncing the word in the ponies’ tongue.

The pegasus mare beamed, swished her tail back and forth, and practically danced on her front hooves for a second. The mare reached into the cell and grabbed the cup with her hoof. How the ponies accomplished that feat still baffled Cassie.

Cassie noticed for the first time that the mare had a gray padlock on her flank. At first, she thought of calling the mare Master Lock or Brinks, but decided just plain Padlock would be easier to remember.

Padlock was not gone long. Cassie backed up, but only a few steps, when the cup of water was pushed through the lower food slot. Cassie watched the mare back away from the bars, which allowed her to feel better about getting the cup. She heard a nickering sound come from Padlock as she bent down to reach for the cup of water.

Surprised, Cassie stumbled back, landing on her butt. The newly dubbed Padlock had her side up against the bars, a tray visible on her back. Padlock nodded her head back to the tray.

Cassie thought for a moment. The only pony she had met in this prison that had been nice to her had a tray of food that was clearly not hay on her back, and was offering it to her. Cautiously, Cassie reached through the mid-level tray slot. Her movements were slow, partly due to the fact that she had to reach this close to a pony, and partly so she could grab the tray without knocking it over.

With the tray in her cell, Cassie looked down. Her hand came up to her mouth, and a large smile graced her face. For a brief moment, she almost wanted to hug the pony. Upon the tray lay a pear and a sandwich made with lettuce, cheese, thin potato slices, and some type of sauce. There was also what looked like some vanilla pudding with a spoon next to it. She devoured the pear with glee, and was about to do the same with the sandwich, but stopped.

Padlock sat on her haunches, just watching with a smile. Cassie thanked Padlock again for the food and hoped the mare understood how utterly grateful she was. Cassie knew she could not eat the food right away and hope to keep it down after being starved for days, so she laid the tray down to wait a few minutes before continuing at a much slower pace.

About twenty minutes later, Cassie had finished her food, pushed the tray to the bars, and climbed in bed, happy for the first time in days. She was still a little hungry, but dared not try to get more food. The food in her mostly full belly was lulling her to sleep. As Cassie slipped into the muzzy darkness bordering on unconsciousness, she thought she felt a soft pressure drape across her body.


------------------------------


Padlock exited the cell just after covering Rings with a soft comforter, giddy as a filly in a candy shop. It was not much, but had to be a lot better than just the sheet she’d had to keep warm.

It worked! My plan worked! And oh boy, did it ever work.

Rings had been overjoyed for her leg being returned, but it was the look on her face for the food that Padlock liked the most. That, and she got Rings to take a tray directly off her back. Padlock was happier about that part than the fact that Rings was able to learn the word ‘water’, and in only a few tries.

Padlock had a quick meeting with the three guards she selected to help watch over Rings. They were given orders to get Rings as much water as she wanted, and to put a piece of fruit in the bowl left inside the cell if it was ever empty. Each understood that they were to keep anypony other than each other, or other authorized ponies, away from Rings’ cell.

With the current matter taken care of, Padlock went off to another meeting with Prince Shining Armor and some of the castle staff.
> Chapter 10 - A Gilded Cage
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A gust of wind tore down the mountainside and through the small valley, whipping the snow into a frenzy. Two dark shadows appeared in the wall of white, slowly growing larger. The snow crunched beneath their feet with each step, breaking the monotonous whistle of the wind, until finally, two men emerged and stared at the ship.

"Home sweet home," Mark said, dropping the rope from his hand.

A grunt of exertion sounded off behind him. "It's great to be back, but it's balls-ass freezing out here. Get over here and help me get this crap into the ship," Flint shouted over the wind.

Mark brushed the snow off his goggles and walked back to his commander. After several trips, they closed the cargo bay ramp and sat back against the containers.

"Ahh, nice and warm," Flint said, taking off his cold-weather gear.

Mitch walked in from the cabin, laughing. "I told y'all to wear the EV Suits, but does anyone listen to me?? Nnoooo. Anywho, here, take this," he said as he handed over some sandwiches and drinks.

"Dude, there's grease on the bread," Mark said, brushing his damp hair out of his face.

Mitch just shrugged. "You'll live."

Mark grumbled, but shoved the sandwich into his mouth as he made for the cabin. Flint took the time to wander over to Mitch. After a little bit of discussion, Flint joined Mark in the cabin, leaving Mitch behind to inventory their most recent salvage.

It had been a rough week for the men since they made the emergency landing. Thankfully, Mark had somehow been able to land the ship upright, and mostly in one piece. They did lose the majority of the left wing as it clipped a few trees, and the communication arrays fared little better when the nosecone of the ship impacted a boulder. While most of the other ship systems were still operational, the computer had finally given up from all the damage over the past year or so, leaving it with only the bare basics of functionality.

"So, any sign of the second ship we towed here yet?" Mitch asked, joining them in the cabin.

Flint let out a loud sigh, leaned back in his bent chair, and stroked his beard. "Not yet, but we might have seen some evidence of it hitting the side of that mountain on the other side of that small forest to the south. If it wasn't for this blasted snow all the time we could easily pop out the binoculars and take a look."

"Hey, at least the other one isn’t too far away. Sure, it split in half, and part of it is upside down, but at least it's there," Mark said, a grimace on his face as the grease on the bread hit his taste buds.

Mitch playfully elbowed Mark in the side. "Don't forget, it's still got both wings," Mitch said with a grin, jumping back from the half-hearted punch directed at him.

They sat around discussing plans for a while and giving status reports on the various tasks they had been assigned. Eventually, Mitch headed back to the engine compartment, while Mark crawled under the main computer console with some new parts they had just obtained.

Several hours later, Mitch stood outside the airlock, a thin trail of gray smoke floating from his nostrils. The ruffling of wings caught his attention. He peered around, but saw nothing, only snow blowing in the wind. He took the cigarette from his lips, and held it between his thumb and middle finger before giving it a flick.

A gloved hand pressed a button on the hatch, opening the airlock. Mitch had just placed one foot in when he heard the ruffling of feathers again, followed by a thump on the top of the ship. Curiosity got the better of him. He took a step back on the ramp and looked to the top of the ship.

Mitch's eyes widened as his heart began to pump faster. He quickly dashed towards the airlock, yelling, "We're un—."

Flint walked into the cargo bay. "Come on, don't leave the damned airlock open. You're getting snow in here."

"Yeah, man. What he said," Mark said, jerking a thumb to Flint. "What're you yelling about anyways?" 

Not seeing Mitch, they made their way to the airlock to see why he had it held open. Both men stopped about halfway there and looked to the ceiling as they heard several thumps, followed by a clacking sound moving up and down the metal.

"So, Mitch… How are the Dales doing!?" Flint called.

After several moments of waiting for an answer, the two men turned to each other, their hardened expressions reflected in each others’ eyes. Without another word, they slowly stepped back to the weapons locker, each retrieving an energy pistol. Weapons in hand, Mark looked to Flint. With a slight nod from Flint, both men pressed the little red button.


------------------------------


A strong voice, followed by a much quieter one, wormed its way into Cassie's ears, forcing her to slowly become aware of her surroundings. A scraping sound soon marched down her ear canal, causing her to wince. Normally she would have pulled the blanket up around her head as she lay there, trying to avoid the day. Instead, she tossed the blanket back to get some air, ignoring her slight headache. Then she noticed that the blanket felt much heavier than usual.

Sitting up, the cool cell air hit Cassie's torso as the blankets fell to her lap. She opened her eyes and blinked a few times. With that not being enough, she brought her hands to her eyes, gently rubbing the sleep out of them. A short huff left her lips when she realized the wasted effort of doing so on the right. A hand traveled from her eyes and up over her head with the fingers spread as they passed through her hair, followed by the same motion from the other hand.

With a loud sigh, Cassie leaned her head back and shook it a few times before finally looking down at her lap. An eyebrow rose at seeing not just the thin cotton sheet, but also a thick, off-white comforter. She suddenly remembered the last thought she’d had the night before.

"Oh, wow. I wasn't just dreaming that," Cassie said softly, hugging the still warm blanket. "Guess they finally figured out a little sheet isn’t enough for me here."

Cassie moved to the edge of the bed to reattach her leg. She closed her eyes and dropped her forehead into the palm of her hand while her elbow rested on her thigh. She stayed like this for several moments before she breathed in deeply through her nose and held it, before exhaling loudly.  

Scrunching her nose, Cassie sniffed a few times. A smile crept up on her face, causing her to open her eyes and look around, until she spotted an object near the door. She placed her hands on the side of the bed and slowly pushed off into a standing position. Almost immediately, she reached for the wall. Leaning against it, Cassie again brought her other hand to her head with her eyes closed. After a few moments, she shook her head and slowly opened her eyes, hoping that the room was no longer spinning.

Cassie made her way over to the bars and promptly sat down, leaning against them. She could see an orange pony off to the side of her cell, just standing there. He looked back to her, gave a slight nod, and then continued to stare down the hallway like a statue.

Well that's new.

Carefully, so as not to spill it, Cassie reached out for the familiar cup of water. After drinking most of it, she looked down to the tray. Unlike usual, a vented lid rested over the top of the food.

Pulling the lid off, Cassie breathed in deeply through her nose. The smell of warm pancakes and scrambled eggs assaulted her senses. She hoped the small meal would taste as good as it smelled and looked, though the lack of syrup caused a slight sigh to escape her.

After picking up the fork, Cassie smeared the little bit of half-melted butter around before pausing. With the fork resting on the top of the pancake stack in preparation to cut, she looked up in the direction of the barely visible guard and said, "Thank you."

And a thank you to whoever told you what I can actually eat.

A smile tweaked Cassie's lips as the first bite of pancake touched her tongue. A slight moan of appreciation came unbidden from her throat as she chewed. She tried to hold back, but they were just too good, even without syrup, and she devoured them in short order. She followed that up with the eggs, but with no seasoning on them, they were bland. Cassie knocked back the rest of her water, put everything on her tray, and pushed it partway out through the ground slot.

Cassie made her way back to her little bed, flopping down on her back. She immediately regretted the action as she inhaled sharply and rolled to her right side with clenched teeth. Cassie started fidgeting while she laid there, feeling uncomfortably warm, and slightly sticky. A bead of sweat trickled across her forehead, followed by a quick motion to capture it with the back of her hand.

"Well crap," Cassie mumbled.

Sitting up, Cassie wiggled the new comforter out from under her and pushed it and the top sheet to the head of the bed. She then untucked the sheet from under the bed. While not ideal, she didn't have much choice. Shucking her dress over her head, she used the part of the sheet normally under the bed to wipe off the thin layer of sweat that had formed on her torso and head, before quickly re-donning it. Cassie lay on her side trying to ignore the worsening headache, occasionally using the sheet to wipe her forehead.

While lying there, Cassie started pondering what caused the ponies' recent attitude change towards her. It still didn't make much sense to her that when she tried to escape, they only did a quick inspection of her room for more contraband, and then gave back her shoe. Cassie shuddered slightly when she recalled Apolla, but it seemed like it was after that large pony’s visit that things started to get even better. Following Apolla's visit, Padlock returned her leg, and brought her food she could actually eat. They had even given her a better blanket while she slept, and more food this morning. She ran her hand through her hair before scratching the back of her head, but she just couldn't come up with anything for why the ponies were being nicer to her.

Cassie spotted the cup on the tray. A war between being thirsty, and not wanting to move waged in her head. After several minutes, the forces of thirst had beaten back the forces of lethargy, though it was a hard-fought victory. She slowly crawled across the cell and grabbed the cup off the tray.

Moving to the side of the bars closest to the guard, she pushed the cup through and asked, "~Wat… Water~ please?"

The guard turned around, took the few steps needed to the cell, grabbed the cup, and trotted down the hall where he yelled something. Cassie spotted a small bowl in between the bars with an apple and orange in it. She looked at it, but had no desire to eat anything at the moment. Instead, she placed her forehead on the cool bars and closed her eyes, while her shoulders relaxed.

Voices caused Cassie to jerk awake. Two ponies were in the hall outside of the cell, apparently arguing about something. The one from earlier stood in the center of the hall with his legs out at a slight angle. Cassie watched as the new red pony tried to walk past, only to be blocked by the guard.

"Q bwtl ukq, qjwqpdknevaz lanokjjah wna vyb ittweml bu amm Nejco. Eb ukq bzg ioiqv, Q sehh gipris ukq," the guard growled. 

"Lw ukq ybck epw Q iu? Q sehh dwra ukq nazqyaz bu akzcjjqvo hyv ntwwza. Vye ush cih kab ug eig!" the unknown pony hollered. 

The guard resumed his stance in the center of the hall. "Q lwv'b cera i bhuejc piqy epw ukq wna." 

Cassie crept back some, but still watched on. Suddenly, the new pony tried pushing past the guard again. Her breath hitched in her throat as she wondered if this pony was here to attack her. Time seemed to slow for her as she watched the guard strike out with a foreleg into the red pony's side, while simultaneously sweeping the front legs out from under him. Her eyes widened as the guard roughly shoved a hind leg into the red pony's neck while forcibly pulling his foreleg up behind his back and cuffing it, followed by the other.

The guard stood over the prone pony, jammed something into its mouth, and said something that Cassie could not hear before trotting back to the cell. Cassie backed away from the bars but the guard stopped just outside of range of being able to touch them if he had extended a foreleg.

"Lwv'b sknnu, Nejco. Vy cbs sehh ush dogh um," the guard said, before moving away from the bars. 

Cassie scooted back to the bars in time to see the guard grab one of the red pony’s hind legs and drag him down the hall. A few seconds later, she heard a door being slammed, and the guard returned to where he was when she woke up.

Wait… Am I being protected now?

With her headache getting worse, Cassie drank most of the water from the refilled cup before going back to her bed in an attempt to sleep the headache off. Sleep did not come; her mind kept thinking back to how she was being treated all of the sudden, but could only come up with the possibility that they were trying to make up for the earlier actions against her in here.

Cassie snuggled into the blanket, halfway between wakefulness and sleep, when a sharp click ripped her eyes open. She let out a slight hiss as she quickly spun in her bed to her left side to look at the cell door. After the back of her hand swiped across her head before drying it off on the bed sheet, Cassie let her vision focus.

In the doorway stood Padlock, wearing brightly polished, gold armor consisting of a torc with an attached chest plate. Cassie bundled the blanket around her and leaned back into the wall. She noticed the shine in the pony’s eyes seemed to drop slightly before Padlock pushed the door all the way open and stepped back.

"Ykia," Padlock said while making a beckoning motion with her foreleg. 

When Cassie didn't move, Padlock repeated the word and motion several times. Finally, Padlock sighed and trotted away from the door to talk to the orange guard.

"Yeah, not falling for this trap. Sure, you’ve been nicer to me, but I'm not falling for it," Cassie said quietly.

After several minutes of Padlock occasionally repeating the word and the motion, and Cassie shaking her head, Padlock finally left. A sigh of relief left Cassie. She stared at the open cell door. She wanted to believe that Padlock wasn’t going to do anything mean if she walked out of the cell, but fear of how she had been treated, and fear of the ponies in general kept her inside.

Cassie sat on her bed just staring out the cell door while debating back and forth if she should try to leave. Her hair danced around her head as she broke from her trance-like gaze when she heard hooves approaching.

Padlock had returned, this time with a tray of food. Instead of using the tray slot in the bars, the dark blue pegasus set the water down in the doorway, and the food tray a few feet into the hallway.

"You really want me to leave this cell, don't you?" Cassie commented.

The gurgle from Cassie's stomach forced her hand. Standing up, she held onto the wall for support, momentarily closing her eyes before making her way to the cell door. Looking down the hall, she noticed that Padlock had moved further down the hall and a different guard stood with her. Padlock nodded in her direction, and again motioned with her foreleg.

Cassie crouched down and grabbed the cup. She gave a sniff of the water, but couldn't smell anything funny in it. With a shrug of her shoulders, she took a small sip and waited to see if anything happened. Satisfied, she stood back up and looked back to make sure the ponies hadn’t approached. With a careful step, Cassie exited the cell to the food. Once she bent down, a small breeze of wind followed by a clack and click from behind her caused her to spin around.

I knew it! Those sneaky, evil ponies!

Cassie glared down the hallway at the two ponies. Everything for the recent actions of the ponies seemed to click in her head. "I see how it is! You evil little shits just wanted me out so you can say I tried to escape again! So you can use it as an excuse to start beating me again! Well, piss off, I'll wait right here until that old red one shows up again and sees that I didn't try to go anywhere!" Cassie yelled.

The two ponies only stood still as Cassie stood up and started pointing at them while she continued to rant. "Sparks and her friends already screwed me over once by lulling me into a false sense of security. Getting me to thinking I might actually be able to get along with you all. But NO, it's not going to happen again."

Cassie bent down and reached for the cup. Her hand clenched around the smooth wooden surface before she threw it at the two ponies with a scream. As usual, her throwing ability left much to be desired. The cup sailed through the air at the unmoving ponies before it harmlessly bounced off the wall and over the unicorn, but not before dousing the stallion with the water it held.

A small smile of satisfaction poked through Cassie's foul mood. Not willing to let the food go to waste, Cassie grabbed the tray and sat with her back against the cell door. Her eyes narrowed upon seeing the peanuts in the tray. In a huff, she shoved them off the tray, causing them to scatter around the hallway. Once she finished the rest of the food, she carelessly tossed the tray to the side where it bounced with a clatter a few times.

With her eyes closed while leaning her head back on the door, Cassie began to think. Just sitting here would be stupid, she decided. Sure, this was probably a trap, but if it turned out that way, she would fight back as much as possible, and as often as possible.

Cassie watched Padlock approach again. She looked from the small smile the mare held to her eyes. She couldn’t be certain, but it seemed like the mare was happy, yet unsure.

Stopping a few feet from her, Padlock again made a beckoning motion with her foreleg, though much less pronounced than before, and quietly said, "Ykia." 

Wonder if that means come or follow? Going with come.

"So you want me to ~C... come~ with you?" Cassie asked.

Padlock's smile grew bigger and she again repeated the motion and word a little louder this time.

"Fine," Cassie deadpanned before muttering, "I am so going to regret this."

Cassie stood with her head down and took a step towards Padlock, who took a few steps back. Not paying much attention while repeating this process, her foot stepped on the edge of the bowl containing the fruit. A familiar tingle enveloped her body with its soft, almost inaudible tinkling sound filling her ears as she stumbled forward.

"Get it off! Get it off!" Cassie shrieked, as she uselessly tried to wipe the pony’s anti-gravity aura off her.

The tingling feeling stopped as suddenly as it started, causing Cassie to fall onto her butt as she continued flailing around. Scrambling back to the cell door, her knuckles whitened as she held onto the bars next to it, while resting her head on her forearms. Sweat mingled with the stream of tears from her eyes, while her heart attempted to beat her ribs into submission.

It took several minutes before Cassie's breathing leveled out. She took one more long breath and held it, before letting it out and looking to see if the ponies were still there. Padlock sat like a dog, and the unicorn was gone, replaced by the orange guard from earlier. Her heart sank upon seeing the spear he held.

"Fine, get it over with and let me back in my cell," Cassie dejectedly said, slumping to the ground.

Cassie listened as the hooves clopped on the floor, louder and louder as they neared, each vibration causing a chill to ripple through her body, until they finally stopped. Her muscles tensed, eyes squeezed shut, and jaw clenched as she prepared to be hit. But it never came. Instead, she could feel and hear a hoof being tapped on the ground, along with something coming from the pony.

Taking a chance, Cassie brushed the hair out of her vision and looked up. Just out of arm’s length stood Padlock and the orange stallion from before. She watched as Padlock leaned over to the stallion's ear, followed by the spear being passed over. Cassie's eyes locked onto the spear Padlock now held, though unconsciously, her tensed muscles slightly relaxed at seeing Padlock now in possession of the spear.

While staring at the spear, the unexpected happened. Padlock swung the spear down in front of the other pony with force, causing a small spark at the impact, and held it with the point against the stone floor. Cassie's jaw dropped when the orange stallion reared up and slammed his hooves onto the spear shaft just below the metal head. A sharp snap echoed in the hallway, followed by a few clanks of metal rolling around.

Cassie's mind went blank trying to processes this. She started questioning her earlier thoughts, wondering if these ponies really were here to help, and not to hurt or trick her. Another snap and some tearing of wood brought her back. She looked to see the stallion breaking the shaft some more. The stallion then placed the now blunted spear shaft on the ground before nudging it towards her with a hoof, while simultaneously kicking the spearhead into her cell.

Looking into Padlock's eyes as she reached for the shaft, Cassie noticed a slight gleam in them and a small nod from the mare. With the shaft in hand, she stood up, wavering slightly before closing her eyes for a brief moment. She leaned into the staff, finding it to be sturdy enough for use as a walking stick, and to clobber a pony if need be. Both ponies smiled at her and began walking back, Padlock doing the motion with her foreleg again. A small smile spread on Cassie's face.

Maybe things really are getting better. This will help me walk, though I hope this dizziness goes away soon, and at least now if they try anything funny I can whack them with this.

Cassie followed them for several minutes down the corridors. Few of the cells had any prisoners in them, and the ones there asked Padlock and the other guard questions, which they responded to, but kept walking. None of the prisoners seemed too interested in Cassie, which she was thankful for. She took note that the hallways were better lit in this section of the dungeon.

As they approached a T-intersection, Cassie could hear the rattle of chains and clopping of hooves getting louder with each second that ticked by. She stopped as Padlock did. The other guard quickly trotted up to the intersection, then back to Padlock with a clenched jaw. He whispered something in Padlock's ear before taking up a stance like earlier when that red pony showed up outside her cell. Cassie could see the mare's eye twitch, and her tail flicked back and forth as she assumed the same stance, effectively blocking off the hallway.

Moments later, a white pony in gleaming gold armor entered Cassie's view at the end of the hallway, holding onto a chain leading to the forelegs of a slate-gray unicorn. A scream came from her throat as her vision blurred. She wanted to run, to get away from the unicorn that had been the worst of all the ponies. The want changed to a short-lived, frantic try. Cursing her own clumsiness, Cassie pushed herself to her knees and held the shaft out in front of her. She froze when the pony turned its head and looked at her with a sneer. Her mind barely registered the metal covering most of his horn, or the other set of shackles attached to his hind legs with the chain going to another armored pony. Instead, she dropped the staff, curled into a ball, and held her dress close.

No longer could chains be heard, no longer did hooves clop on the stone— the only sound Cassie could hear was her own ragged breathing. As her other senses began reminding her of their existence, she felt something soft on her back and covering her side. Her nose caught the smell of a rain shower, mixed with something she could not quite place.

After rubbing her palm across her eye, Cassie opened it to see dark blue feathers. They quickly retracted when she reached out to touch one. Turning her head to the left so she could see, she looked into the very large, and more importantly, very close gray eyes of Padlock. A quick glance back spotted the rest of the mare lying down only inches from her own back. With as much control of her breathing and fear as possible, Cassie rolled away so she was fully facing the pony, but with some space between them, while groping around until her fingers brushed against the wooden shaft.

Padlock kept a smile and pushed a glass of water to Cassie, but Cassie ignored it. With a nod, Padlock stood and began walking forward again, pausing with a look back to make sure she followed.


------------------------------


Just under a half-hour later, Cassie stood in front of an ornate doorway, though bland and indistinguishable from many others she had passed. The two ponies had led her from the dungeon to a large castle. Due to her being moved along at the fastest pace she could muster, Cassie hadn't had time to look as closely at anything as she would have liked. However, she still marveled at the architecture of the castle that Padlock and the red stallion had led her through, and hoped that maybe one day she would be able to appreciate it better.

One oddity struck Cassie; everything, from the lovely smelling flower garden to the marble-columned hallways of the castle, just seemed void of all life. Throughout the journey she had not seen any other ponies, other than a couple when they crossed the large outdoor field right after exiting the dungeon. A shiver ran through Cassie's body, remembering who she had seen there. A chuckle snapped her mind back to the present.

Padlock stood just inside on a rug in the center of the large room, and beckoned Cassie to enter. The mare began pointing out various features of the room, impersonating a tour guide, but Cassie tuned her out and only looked to wherever she pointed. While the room appeared very high-class and ornate, only a few items in the room caught her attention: the large, comfy-looking four poster bed with gems embedded in the wood, the table with padded chairs, and the large windows that overlooked a pleasant garden. She briefly wondered if it happened to be the same one she passed through earlier. During her brief pondering, Padlock had relocated to the side of the room to open another door. Cassie could see it led to a bathroom, causing her to immediately wish for a shower.

Padlock walked over to the desk in the corner of the room, picking up a parchment and quill. Already knowing she could not read the ponies’ language, Cassie went to the windows and looked out at the garden with a smile.

Cassie was so lost in thought that she didn't even think about the fact that Padlock had just tapped her on the leg to get her attention. Padlock held up a piece of paper to Cassie with her wing. On it, Padlock had drawn a stick figure in a bathtub, followed by the sun near the horizon. Cassie looked out the windows for the sun, but she was unable to spot it. It was either late morning or early afternoon, but without knowing which direction she faced, she couldn’t tell. The next picture showed Cassie and Padlock at a table eating. She really hoped it didn't mean the mare was going to try to eat with her.

Padlock has been nice, but so had Sparks and her friends, and look how that turned out.

Padlock trotted to the table and set the parchment on it. She then nodded to Cassie and left the room. Cassie looked around, and the small smile she had held dropped.

I hate how these ponies have made me so leery. I need to beat this fear of them as a whole. I need to maybe even try to trust them, but the last time I tried is how I ended up here in the first place. I wonder if this would’ve been different if I was trained in diplomacy instead of having my degrees and training in geology and engineering. I need to get back to my ship… by whatever means necessary.

Pushing her thoughts aside, Cassie left the window and made her way into the bathroom. Her smile returned when she laid her eye upon the large tub. Looking around the room, she found shelving units built into the marble wall, like a cubby that held various sized towels and soaps. She grabbed a few different-sized towels, a couple of the soap bottles, and then moved to the tub. Placing a large, fluffy towel on the floor, and two washcloths on the tub edge, she put the others on a rack stand near the end of the tub.

Cassie swiped her hand on the edge of the smooth, white tub, nearly shaking with glee. Holding back her excitement of a shower, Cassie walked over to a floor-length mirror. After disrobing, she looked at herself in the gold-framed mirror. She’d already known she had lost more weight than she would’ve liked since she crashed on the planet, even more so since she had been arrested; seeing her reflection in the well-lit room hammered it home. Her eye twitched seeing the few purple and blue bruises still left on her torso, and a couple older ones that had faded to just the ugly, yellowed ring. Cassie's hand traced up her side, slowly running over each slightly visible rib until it hit the cloth wrapped around her torso. Carefully untying the knot of the bandage wrap she’d made for herself, she unwound it until it stopped, a wince on her face. A grimace overtook her frown when she turned to see the reflection of her back.

The soft flesh of Cassie's foot padded near silently across the slightly grainy, tiled floor with the mostly unwound cloth in one hand, and her clothes draped over her other arm. Turning the shower on, she fiddled with the slider to achieve an appropriate temperature. Once satisfied, she turned the shower head so the water fell near the edge of the tub.

Sitting on the edge, Cassie leaned back into the stream with a content sigh. The warm water splashed on her upper back before cascading over her shoulder blades in little rivulets until the cloth wrap dammed the flow. It held the water just long enough for it to build up before spilling over in a torrent, and continuing down her back. After a few minutes, she reached her arms behind her to both sides of where the cloth stuck to her. Cassie closed her eyes and breathed in deeply several times before giving a sharp tug, followed immediately by her hands balling into fists with a grunt of pain. The falling water covered up her hissing through clenched teeth as the water probed the wound on her back

Leaning back out of the water, a tear rolled down Cassie's cheek, and her left foot bounced in place as she took one of the washcloths and pressed it to her back. Pulling the cloth off with another wince, she took a look at it, only to reveal the once aquamarine cloth now stained with an ugly red and yellowish-white splotch.

"Just as I thought— it’s infected. I better tell Padlock. This is as good as anything to see if I might be able to trust her more," Cassie said aloud.

About an hour later, Cassie finally emerged from the tub she had filled after her shower, smelling slightly of rose. Once rinsed and dried off, she dropped to her knees on the towel she had laid out earlier, and grabbed her dirty clothes. Dumping them in the soapy water of the tub, she proceeded to clean and rinse the clothes as best as she could, before draining the tub. Picking up the towel rack that had been at the end of tub, she placed it inside, then lay her clothes out on it to dry.

Sitting down, Cassie removed her leg. Her fingers ran down its length, taking note of all the minor imperfections that had accumulated on the surface. They lingered on a couple larger gouges and a very small hole. Several moments later, a small smile tweaked her face as she determined they could easily be filled in back at the ship, but none of that mattered to her. Just having her leg back is what mattered. Cassie hummed a happy tune as she picked up a washcloth, then used it to gently scrub clean the connection points on her thigh and the leg before drying them and putting her leg back on.

Satisfied with her work, she poked around in the open cubby again. Finding a brush and a few other items for later, she moved to the sink with a small mirror above it. A few minutes later, Cassie placed the brush on the counter, letting out a content sigh. The muscles in her face tugged upwards on the corners of her lips at seeing her cleaner reflection. While still a bit gaunt-looking, she had to admit that she did look much better cleaned up with her hair properly brushed out.

Choosing one of the mid-sized towels, Cassie grabbed the scissors she found earlier and began cutting it into strips. "Hope they don't get too mad about this. If it does piss them off, oh well." Cassie said, then continued with a chuckle. "These towels are nice, soft, and super fluffy, and I am totally going to steal a few of them when I figure out how to get out of here anyways."

After re-wrapping her wound, Cassie threw a towel over her shoulder and ventured back out into the main room. She jumped slightly when a shadow rapidly crossed the floor in front of her. Cassie's face turned a bright crimson when she looked to the side to see pegasus ponies flying in the distance through the large, very unobstructed windows. With her face getting more heated by the second, she turned from the windows and quickly wrapped the towel around her.

With the crisis averted and her face back to a more normal color, Cassie looked around the room for something to do. She raised an eyebrow at the door while running her fingers through her hair at the base of her neck. She gave a quick glance behind her to the windows before tiptoeing to the door. A crooked smile formed on her lips when she heard the small click after the handle reached the end of its movement. Surprised it had remained unlocked, she cracked the door to the hallway open and stuck her head out. Just off to the side stood a brown normal mare she had never seen before, mirrored by one of those white guards in gold armor on the opposite side of the doorway. She yanked her head back in, shutting the door with a little more force than necessary.

"Great, from a stone cage to a gilded cage," Cassie mumbled as she made her way to a chair.

Cassie flopped down into the plush, red cushioned chair next to a desk with a bookshelf built into the back. For the first few minutes, she wondered about its size. It could have easily held Kozlov, and probably still fit her in next to him without them being too squished together. Her eyes stared blankly at the rows of books on the bookshelves before her, and her thoughts wandered around in past memories, while her fingers absentmindedly picked at the towel where it rested on her thigh.

A knock at the door caused Cassie to shake her head a few times. The room spun briefly, and she immediately regretted that decision. The dull knocking on the wooden door sounded again. She briefly wondered why they were knocking instead of just entering, but brushed it aside like the sweat that had formed on her brow before getting up to answer the door. Slowly opening the door a fraction, Cassie looked into the eyes of a pony in a maid’s outfit.

"Q dwra jzwcopb ukq aviksa obr water, Nejco. Skqhz ukq hega um bu dih hyva cb hyv hopzs?" the mare asked with glee. 

Cassie stared blankly at the pony, a slight ringing developing in her ears, then spotted a small serving cart much like the ones at the hospital, though much shinier and decorated, behind the maid. Only understanding the one word, she decided to chance it, and opened the door to let the pony in.

Looking like she was just holding the door open, Cassie picked up the spear shaft from earlier. Her eyes never left the pony as it placed a pitcher, two bowls, and a glass onto the table in an efficient manner. Cassie’s knuckles whitened around the shaft when the smiling pony approached.

With a hoof on the cart, the mare stopped in front of Cassie. "Skqhz ukq hega um bu bapyd obm ntwemza noz ukq, Nejco?" the mare asked, before gasping loudly with her irises shrinking to pinpricks and galloping out the door. 

"Uh, thanks for the stuff... I guess," Cassie called half-heartedly to the fleeing pony. "That's new, too. And just what the hell was that all about?" she wondered aloud, closing the door.

Plus, there's that word ~Nejco~ again. I've heard that a few times now when they’re talking to me. Is that what they call me?

Cassie poured herself a glass of water while looking at the two bowls on the table. She frowned at the one containing lightly salted peanuts. She picked up the bowl and did a quick scan around the room, a toothy grin spreading on her face when she located the object of her search. Briskly walking to a corner near the door, she took a small handful of the nuts out, and then dropped the rest, including the bowl, into the trash.

"What's this supposed to be? Some sort of sick joke? Trying to give me peanuts like they did in the hospital for some sort of 'reward', or a peace offering? Pfft... as if. Not after the shit I’ve been put through," Cassie spat, the grin now a menacing frown.

The memories of the hospital brought a bitter taste to her mouth. Not because they were bad, but because those ponies were so much better than these ones. Her time in the dungeon had not been overly long, but added with her treatment, it had felt like months. While her new… accommodations were luxurious in comparison, they still represented her lack of freedom.

And for what? Stealing a few things from the hospital kitchen? Way beyond harsh.

Looking down at her action brought the grin back to her face. Though not some great victory, the simple act of being able to do something that she chose to do for herself greatly satisfied her. The fact that it also let her slightly get back at the ponies for trying to resurrect happier memories from the hospital helped, too.

Still smiling, Cassie moved back to the table. After grabbing the water and other bowl, she set them on the windowsill near the end of the bed. The legs of one of the smaller chairs at the table filled the room with a slow screech until it suddenly stopped with an 'oof' sound. Cassie let out a disgruntled huff as she kicked the corner of the off-white rug that filled the center of the room over on top of itself. Finishing the task with which she had been so rudely interrupted, she next tested the windows. She smiled, finding they could all be opened, and left the one next to her ajar.

Cassie inhaled deeply, relishing the crisp, clean air and fresh scents that flowed in from the flower garden below. Grape after grape lazily popped into her mouth as she rested an elbow on the windowsill, cradling her chin. Her eyes danced around the many features of the garden, while pointedly avoiding looking at the occasional pony that strode into view when possible.


------------------------------


Occasional soft snoring flowed into the evening air where two pegasus guards floated outside of a window, looking in at the being they had heard so much about. They whispered to each other in hushed tones, so as not to wake the sleeping female. Until recently, they had believed Rings was a terrible sight to behold, with eyes so cold they could freeze a pony solid, fangs jutting from her lips like a wild manticore, that she could bite a pony’s jugular clean in half, and easily do the same to its windpipe, along with tearing it clean out.

"I thought the rumors said she had to have pads on her claws because they could easily rip through flesh," the green mare said, looking at the rounded ends of Rings fingers resting on her arm.

"Well, that's how rumors are sometimes," the other mare replied.

"I know, I know, but after hearing all of that stuff, she actually looks kind of cute, all sleeping with her head pressed on the window. Even with her drooling slightly. I like her mane, too. And I don't know about you, but she doesn't look all that dangerous."

The yellow mare replied softly, "Yeah. The princesses did tell us that we should form our own opinion of Rings, and to not let misguided rumors influence us." A chilled breeze passed over the mares. Using a couple wing beats to move to the open window the mare continued, "I better close this window. She looks a little sickly, and without any fur… at least on the upper, top half of her. Tonight's planned on being somewhat cold, too. I don't think that's gonna help her any."

“Yeah, you're right. Too much condensation on the window above her forehead, too. Looks like she’s sweating a bit much. Think we should let the little unit assigned to her know at muster in the morning?” the green mare asked.

Closing the window with a soft click, the yellow mare replied, “We probably should, just in case."

Both mares suddenly looked at each other with a gasp before darting straight up, continuing on their patrol.


------------------------------


"Go away. I'm not on duty," Cassie said sleepily.

Two sharp, cracking knocks sounded on the door again.

"Damn it, hold on a minute," Cassie yelled.

Cassie smacked her lips after running a hand over her mouth and wiping it on the towel. Blearily, she started telling whoever was on the other side of the door to come in, before her brain reminded her that they didn't speak the same language. Cassie's arms fell to her sides after a few satisfying pops from her back, and she took a deep breath through her nose before pushing herself off the chair to answer the door.

As soon as she stood up, the overhead chandelier turned on, bathing the room in a warm glow that slowly grew in brightness. Cassie quickly looked around to see who turned the light on, but saw no one. She narrowed her eyes and rescanned the room to still find it empty.

"Come out of hiding. Now!" Cassie growled, glancing around the room suspiciously for any movement.

Filing it as something to look into later, Cassie finally opened the door. Unsurprisingly, on the other side stood Padlock, though with a small stack of rolled up parchment in a folder poking out from under a wing, and unexpectedly, the maid from earlier. She couldn't help but let the corners of her lips tug up briefly when she saw the nearly infectious beaming face of the mare. Stepping aside, she waved her arm out and the two mares filed into the room.

The maid quickly added ice to the water pitcher, placed two new glasses on the table, and took the glass and empty bowl from the windowsill. Cassie smiled internally when the mare wandered around with a confused expression, obviously in search of the other bowl. A small chuckle escaped Cassie when the maid's tail started twitching in agitation. Cassie stopped immediately when she noticed Padlock's ear swivel back in her direction. The maid, oblivious to the crooked grin having graduated to a physical presence on Cassie's face, rubbed a hoof under her chin while spinning in a circle before shrugging her shoulders, and closing the door on her way out, still looking confused. It took all her will not to fall to the floor laughing.

"Come," Padlock said, waving a forearm.

Cassie turned to see Padlock sitting in the bigger chair at the table, identical to the one at the desk she had sat in earlier. She fought back a giggle when she noticed how Padlock sat in the chair on her haunches like a dog, with her forelegs straight down in between. Not entirely pleased, and somewhat frightened to be in a closed room with Padlock, she cautiously moved towards the table. With only a few steps to go, her legs locked up, and sweat beaded on her already sweaty forehead. She heard Padlock say, "come" again, but it sounded distant. Cassie closed her eyes, focusing on keeping her fear in check.

Come on. You knew you had to do this, and you know you have to. Padlock's been nicer than the rest, like the three at the hospital. She's not going to bite, and definitely isn't going to trample me for no reason… I hope. She's intelligent, just like me.

With one final, long, deep breath and exhale, Cassie opened her eyes. The mare had not moved, and still held a joyful smile. Cassie weakly returned the mare’s smile and took a step forward, and then another, until her hand rested on the table.

"That's my chair," Cassie said, while pointing to the chair Padlock sat in. "You can sit in that one over there or something," she finished, pointing to the other chair.

The mare looked at Cassie blankly. Cassie repeated herself and pointed sternly at the other chair several times. After a moment, a sheepish grin came to the mare's face. Padlock's hooves clopped on the marble floor as she went around the table, opposite of Cassie. A small smile formed on her face when the mare moved, but she jumped for joy on the inside that a pony did something she wanted. Though her reasons for making the mare move were bigger than that; not only was this the bigger chair, but more importantly, it faced towards the window so if she had to, she could focus on the sky if her fear started creeping back up. Just as she started sitting down, a slightly red hue tinted her face.

"Umm, I'll be right back," Cassie quickly said, and darted to the bathroom, leaving a confused-looking Padlock behind.

A chill rippled through Cassie's body as her dress slipped over her skin. Having elected to forgo her bra, and grumbling about the still damp clothing, she fiddled with the dress until it settled properly. After kicking the towel she had been wearing into the pile with the rest, she looked at herself in the mirror.

Cassie turned her head back and forth, watching both eyes track side to side. The corners of her mouth drooped as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. While both were still a bright blue, the right looked dull and lifeless, as the pupil was stuck in a shrunken state, since the last thing it saw had been that bright light coming at her. The longer Cassie stared, the creepier the mismatched pupils began to look to her. She ran the brush through her hair a few times, then separated a section to fall over the right side of her face before putting the rest into a loose ponytail with a hair tie. She turned her head to the door and stared for several moments before looking back at the mirror.

"Come on, you can do this. You must. You need to get out of this place and back to the ship," Cassie muttered to her reflection.

A rapid, double slapping sound echoed off the bathroom walls. With her head back in the game, Cassie removed her hands from her cheeks. Properly dressed, and sporting a new smile, she returned to the bedroom and the awaiting pony.




> Chapter 11 - Papers, Please
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Padlock's long, silvery blue mane tossed to the side as her head turned towards Cassie entering the room. After a brief moment, the mare’s pencil started scritching across a piece of parchment. Cassie glanced at the unintelligible writing as she returned to her chair at the table, still surprised that using one’s lips to write with worked as well as it did. An eyebrow rose when she sat down and noticed a symbol on the top of the page that appeared eerily similar to her tattoo of the Olympic rings, though it lacked the swimmer under them.

The mare glanced at Cassie several times before she finished writing, and set the paper off to the side. She then tapped her chest with a forehoof, and said, "Xiltwks." 

Cassie looked at the mare for a few seconds before realizing what she was trying to do. The mare repeated the action, looking expectantly at her. After rolling the word around on her tongue a few times, Cassie gave it a shot.

"~P… Pa… P… Pddks~," Cassie sputtered.

The mare sat up straight. "Xi… l… T… Wks," she said slowly with an encouraging smile.

Cassie listened to the mare say what was obviously her name slowly a few more times before trying again.

"~Pa… Pa… th… th…~" Cassie’s face screwed in concentration, trying to pronounce the next part of the mare’s name. Padlock rejoined, saying the part Cassie had trouble with slowly, and with her at the same time, all while trying to hide her cringing at the butchering of her name.

Starting over, Cassie took a deep breath. With the mare still saying it with her, she tried again. "~Pa… Pa… Pad. Pa… Pad… Padlax… Padlack… Padlock~. Your name is ~Padlock~?" 

Padlock grinned and leaned back on her haunches, clapping her forehooves together rapidly. As a smile tried to break outside the boundaries of Cassie’s face, she saw her own happiness reflected in the mare's excited eyes. 

This is why I hated taking that foreign language class. Her name was a lot harder than the other two words, and those were hard enough.

The mare then pointed at Cassie and said, "Nejco."

Cassie shook her head, now knowing for sure that was the name they had given her. She prepared to return the introduction gesture. Placing her hand on her chest, and with a wicked grin, Cassie said, "Lieutenant Cassandra Elizabeth Campbell." 

She knew telling the pony her rank and full name would confuse the mare, but she hadn’t expected the mare to look so sad. Cassie watched as the mare looked down and fiddled with a forehoof, her ears drooping to the sides.

Cassie heard the mare trying to mutter what she had said. Realizing she might have gone too far, she quickly said, "Sorry." Rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

When the mare looked up, Cassie tapped her chest before Padlock could try saying her full name and rank. "Cassie," she said simply.

Padlock’s face scrunched up, and Cassie could see her mouthing the new word. Some quiet mutterings later, the mare gave a small nod to herself before looking back up to Cassie and trying to repeat it back.

"Ca… Cas… Case… see… Cassie," Padlock sputtered out.

Impressed with how fast Padlock had figured out how to say her name, Cassie excitedly nodded her head, causing the mare to beam. Padlock slid over a glossy folded parchment with a hardened border. Thankful that the mare did not wish to continue any other language lessons beyond names, Cassie looked at the images on it. It was unmistakably a menu, and Padlock wanted to know what she wanted to eat. A quick glance showed that almost everything listed seemed to be things Cassie could eat, or had eaten in the hospital.

Cassie poked the inside of her cheek with her tongue a few times, while her hand absently fiddled with the hem of her dress. Each selection her eye roamed to seemed better than the last. After a mental coin flip, she pointed to a pasta dish with a white sauce, asparagus, and finished her selections on dinner rolls. Padlock grabbed the menu before hopping out of the chair and trotting to the door.

Okay, this is getting weird— weirder than me not shivering in a ball yet with her being so close. They’ve been nothing but nice today and last night. They even just gave me a choice of food, and there were some expensive-looking dishes on it. Plus, it looked like wine on that back page, too… or at least bottles shaped like it with berries on them. If this continues, I think I’ll see if my next trust test works, and tell Padlock about the wound on my back. It’s one out of two so far.

Padlock's feathers ruffled as she settled in her seat, bringing Cassie out of her thoughts. Cassie watched the mare shuffle through the parchments before selecting a few, and placing one in the center of the table. She reached for the page, but missed by a few fingertips. With her eye narrowing, she tried again, this time pulling the page over to her side of the table. The page contained several, well-drawn images. A line separated the top few, which were circled in green, from the rest, which had red X's through them. The top picture showed what looked like Cassie sitting in a cell with a neutral face above her, followed by one with her in a cell, along with a pony outside with chat bubbles above them and smiley faces. The final picture showed her eating food, again with a smiley face above her head.

Before Cassie could move on to the rest, Padlock pointed at the three green images and made overly dramatic happy gestures, saying, "Gma," repeatedly.

Padlock's smile turned to a frown as she pointed to the first picture on the parchment with a red X through it. This time, she pointed with a stern expression and said, "Vy." She repeated the word as she pointed at each picture with a red X. 

The first picture Padlock pointed to brought a grin to Cassie's face; it depicted her throwing that first tray of hay at the guards. The next one showed her attacking the guard in the hallway.

Sorry, Padlock. It's just too vague. I don't know exactly what you are trying to get across: good, yes, okay, do, bad, no, not okay, don't do… they’d all fit.

Cassie could only shake her head and shrug her shoulders at whatever new words Padlock had attempted to teach her. Padlock let out a sigh, but continued her pointing. The third image she pointed to had Cassie's hands over her ears, with the guards outside the cell pointing at her and laughing.

The last picture on the page showed Cassie on the ground, guards hitting her with sticks. Cassie heard a quiet snort and looked at Padlock, only to see the mare's nostrils flaring slightly, her ears splayed back at an angle, and her hoof starting to tear into the paper. Cassie's blood pressure crept up slightly before she looked to the orange-hued sky, allowing it to drop back down.

Oh… ooohhhhh! Okay, calm down, I don't think she’s mad at me. I think I might be getting this. The top is how things are supposed to be, and the bottom is not. Is that why they’re being nice to me? Was all that shit I’ve been through lately not supposed to have happened? If not, why did they let it go on for however many days it's been?

The rippling of paper in the air yanked Cassie's attention back. The new paper had four images on it, all circled in orange. They seemed to be connected, if the arrows between them were to be believed, and baffled Cassie.

The first image showed a pony with a stethoscope and the Rod of Asclepius medical symbol that Cassie could never remember the name of. He appeared to be pouring something into a glass with a few vertical squiggles on it. The following pictures showed her drinking from the same glass, and then her laying down in the bed. The final picture filled the bottom third of the page, and caused Cassie to jump from her seat with enough force to knock the chair over.

Cassie's face turned an ugly shade of red, and she jammed a finger at the picture of her nude, held off the floor in a harness-like device with her extremities restrained. "What the fuck!" Cassie screamed at Padlock, a small amount of spit landing on the page. “That is not cool, ~Padlock~! I am not okay with that!"

This time, Padlock had been the one to shrink back from Cassie, making herself as small as possible in the chair. Pacing back and forth, Cassie kicked the fallen chair out of the way, and continued screaming mostly incoherent random thoughts, spittle flying from her mouth. Padlock's eyes darted around the room like a tennis match, and her chest rose and fell rapidly when Cassie returned to the table. With her hands clenching the table’s edge, Cassie leaned towards Padlock, causing the mare to look into her eyes. "I thought that was some nightmare, and here you are showing me that you ponies drugged me, stripped me, and put me on display!" A series of loud crashes bounced off the walls as Cassie's arm swept everything off the table.


------------------------------


Padlock could only sit in shock as she watched Cassie storm off to the bathroom. She flinched when the door slammed hard enough to rattle the windows of the room. After her ears finally returned to a more normal position, Padlock looked at the paper, then smacked herself in the face with a hoof hard enough for a 'tock' to be heard.

Frantically digging in her folder, she found the missing page. Padlock practiced Cassie's name a few times before moving to the door. She knocked on it softly. Getting no response, she tried the handle, only to find it locked.

"Rings... Cassie, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. Please look this over and come out when you are ready. Food should be here soon," Padlock said. 

Padlock slid the sheet under the door. With her muzzle nearly scraping the floor, she returned to the chair. "I hope I didn't screw this up," she muttered sadly.


------------------------------


Cassie ignored the mare’s supposedly gentle words, but she soon looked at the paper laying on the floor a few feet away. Her hand still shook when she leaned to the side and reached for it. Just when she started drawing her fingers together while pressing on the paper, she stopped. Smoothing it back out in her lap, she looked to see what Padlock delivered.

Her free hand flexed, seeing a more blown-up picture of her in the harness. Cassie's only comfort in the nude drawings of her was that they were both Barbie-doll representations, and not anatomically correct. Her hand relaxed, and the thumping in her ears quieted the more she looked at the picture. It showed her location to be an enclosed area, though the walls didn't quite reach the ceiling. The doctor from the other page held a movable shower head in his anti-gravity aura. Closer to her stood what seemed to be a nurse, if the Band-Aids in the shape of a plus sign on her butt were anything to go by.

Beyond that room, it showed a few similar rooms to the right. To the left, it showed a more familiar locker room-type shower area with a bunch of mares in it, some showering and others in a gaggle near the exit. Next to that were the actual lockers, and there, the mares looked to be having a towel fight, some of which were the mares in that gaggle. They all had smiley faces and big grins.

Cassie's eye widened and the paper fell from her grasp; now she understood. That nightmare, the images Padlock showed her, they all connected. She leaned her head back against the wall with her eyes closed.

"I feel so stupid. They didn't put me on display— it was two medical professionals trying to clean me in an isolated room. All those voices I heard in what I thought was a nightmare was just those mares having a little fun. And the only reason I got it all confused was because whatever that doc gave me didn't work right."

A smile wormed its way onto Cassie's face as she leaned forward, looking at the page on the floor. "Maybe that's why I felt a little better after that. Maybe—" Cassie's face scrunched in concentration as her hand absently ran through her hair to rest just under the base of her ponytail. "—Could it?" Her eyes darted back and forth as if trying to calculate. "It was! It has to be!" Cassie shouted, jumping to her feet.

The light twinkled in her eye, and a flash of white from her smile could be seen in her reflection on the mirror. Fitting the pieces together, Cassie realized that all the abuse and taunting from the guards, save one last incident, had stopped right after what she had originally thought to be a nightmare. The doctor and nurse seemed to be the key, just like at the hospital, not Apolla. Though she surmised Apolla still had something to do with the further change in treatment and conditions.

With her mood vastly improved, Cassie returned to the bedroom. She noticed the maid from earlier had just finished serving the food, and now tended to the broken dishes on the floor.

"Sorry about the dishes," Cassie said quietly, looking off to the side.

After dumping the shards in the trash, the maid returned to the table. Padlock glanced over to Cassie, then leaned into the other pony, whispering into her ear. Both mares smiled before the maid grabbed the serving tray and placed it on her back in preparation to leave.

Cassie had just reached her chair when the maid said, "Xua, Padlock. Xua, Cas-sea," while waving a hoof side to side.

The maid left before a confused-looking Cassie could respond. After picking her jaw up from the floor, she shook her head. She had been too distracted by another pony saying her name to catch what she said before it, though it had obviously been the ponies' word for ‘bye’.

"Sorry about all that earlier, ~Padlock~," Cassie said, gesturing around the room, then pointing to the paper she placed on the table.

A quick look around the table didn't reveal the other pages. Cassie thought for a moment on how to convey to Padlock that she wanted the other one. After a few gestures, Padlock placed the two from earlier back on the table, between the plates of food. Cassie grabbed the second page and tore the bottom third off, then handed that part of the page back to Padlock before moving over to the desk. After placing the two sheets under the ink bottle, she returned to the table and sat down.

The rich, cheesy aroma of a nice alfredo sauce tickled Cassie's nose. Her mouth began to water just looking at the pasta before her. Her eyes closed and she let out a light moan when the creamy sauce and perfectly prepared noodles roused her taste buds. Cassie cracked her eye when she heard a snicker from Padlock. She watched the mare look around like nothing happened then get extremely interested in her salad.

Laugh all you want. At least I don't have hay sticking out of my food.


------------------------------


Cassie leaned back in the chair, rubbing her belly, a stupid grin dominating her face. She didn't know if it had been the lack of food in recent days clouding her judgment, or if the pasta tasted just that good, but she really didn't care at the moment. The meal had gone much better than she expected. Padlock only sat on her side and ate, instead of trying to do anything else. How she held a fork with her hoof still baffled Cassie, so she added it to her ever-growing ‘figure out later’ file. During her relaxation, the maid had returned briefly to bus the table, but didn't speak that time.

The mare across the now cleared table had an uncertain look on her face. Padlock kept glancing at a few pages, and then back to Cassie. Cassie noticed Padlock's eye and ear would twitch occasionally, and a snort kept shooting from her muzzle. While unable to figure out all of the ponies’ expressions, it was obvious to Cassie that whatever those pages contained agitated Padlock greatly.

Padlock placed the first page down. The photographic image caused Cassie to flinch and shiver, while at the same time caused her blood to boil.

"Por likju. Ranu por likju," Padlock growled, with a click of her teeth. 

Cassie noticed the snarl in Padlock's voice. She also noticed the paper crinkling under Padlock's hoof. Unable to stand the sight of that smug-looking slate-gray unicorn, Cassie's arm shot forward and snatched up the paper. Tearing sounds filled the space between the two, followed by a shower of confetti.

"Q baah hyv aium eig, Cassie," Padlock said, then facehooved. 

Looks like you remembered I don't know but a few words in your language, but I take it you don't like him either.

Padlock chuckled softly and nodded to Cassie. Her expression grew dark before placing the next picture down. Cassie instantly saw why; the entire paper had a big red X on it with the pictures overlaid on top. Cassie's eyes narrowed at the images, and she resisted the urge to get up and hit something. Her focus to see exactly what they depicted broke when a loud snort caused her to look up at Padlock. She recoiled in her chair— it was the first time this mare's expression had frightened her.

If the pegasus had been able to shoot lasers from her eyes, Cassie was sure the paper would have had several holes in it, and probably be on fire. She watched the mare's nostrils flare, and for a brief moment thought she saw smoke snorting out. Padlock's lips twitched, and Cassie saw her foreleg digging its hoof into the upholstery of the chair she sat in, as if she was preparing to charge. Cassie registered the mare muttering something to herself.

I am soooo glad it’s not me she’s mad at. Let's see exactly what has her so ticked off, other than that asshole unicorn. I still hope his fur burns off.

Cassie shuddered violently when she examined the first picture. It showed the day the unicorn tried to do… whatever it was he had planned before he was interrupted. Not wishing to relive that memory ever again, she tore a hole through the paper. The next series of images consisted of the majority of the other physical abuse she had endured. The only thing similar between the images was the slate-gray unicorn, or that tangerine one. However, a few were missing, like the last attack when the spear cut her back.

Before Cassie could get more worked up, Padlock took the page away and replaced it. It showed a scene from earlier in the day, a scene she would also have liked to forget. With it being an image instead of being in person, Cassie looked at the scene critically. She spotted things she only barely registered before.

The pony's legs were shackled, with leads to a guard both in front and behind. A dull metal cap-thing covered his horn. The next picture showed that pony in a cell, minus the leg shackles, and a frown above his head. The following had the tangerine unicorn in a jail cell, but her horn only had the bottom half covered.

Cassie sniffled, and her hand came up to her face. Tears leaked from her eyes, splashing onto the table. Padlock started clearing the table in a panic, unsure as to why Cassie started crying all of the sudden, until she saw the smile. Cassie reached forward and yanked the papers from under Padlock's hoof.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Cassie shouted excitedly.

Cassie's face threatened to split while attempting to contain her smile. She finally knew for sure that it wasn't supposed to have been like that. She finally realized why Padlock and the others were so nice to her recently. That guard this morning really had been there to protect her, and even that guard who stopped her from falling was only trying to help. And most importantly, those two horrible unicorns had been arrested.

So overcome with joy that after everything that had happened, things seemed to be moving in the right direction again, Cassie leaped into the air and let out a whoop. Her excitement in the new information caused her brain to shut down momentarily. It kicked back on when her fear of horses overrode the joy, and she found herself hugging Padlock.

Instantly, Cassie released the mare and jumped back, giving a sheepish grin. A panic attack had thankfully been avoided, though her heart still thumped in her chest. Cassie was unable to tell if it was from her recent joy, or the fear, but most likely a combination of both.

"Cassie, oep. Q dwra acfs," Padlock said, while motioning to the chair. 

Cassie didn't want to sit. She wanted to dance around the room, but one little spin brought that to a stop. She lost her balance and fell to a knee, but the world kept on spinning. Standing up slowly, she crawled into the chair and closed her eyes, a hand on her forehead. Cracking her eye open, she watched the final moments of the world coming to a halt. Padlock pushed her a glass of water with a concerned look.

Her little dizziness bout over, Cassie ran the cloth napkin from dinner over her forehead and around her neck. Though her fever had lessened throughout the day, it had not broken yet. Cassie noticed earlier that every couple times she wiped the sweat off, Padlock seemed to jot something down. Nothing had been brought up about it yet, but both knew that the other knew.

Cassie sat up and eagerly looked across the table to see what Padlock wanted to show her. The page held photographs of four ponies, all of whom looked familiar, with those tattoos on their rumps expanded in larger images above them. She recognized the orange normal pony stallion from this morning. She didn't know about his red life-preserver tattoo, though. Next to him showed the white unicorn stallion that tried to keep her from falling earlier, with a tattoo of a book and handcuff laying on it. The next looked like that brown normal mare she briefly saw outside the room when she poked her head out. She had a yellow bowl of chocolate balls for a tattoo.

I wonder if these tattoos are more important than I thought. Maybe they’re like name badges or something.

The final photo depicted a pony she just so happened to be the most familiar with, outside of Redcross. A smile spread on her face when she looked up to see Padlock trying to imitate the same pose as her photo, though Padlock failed horribly with the grin she failed to conceal.

Cassie surprised herself as she unexpectedly let out a good, long laugh. Padlock joined her for a moment before placing down another parchment. This piece showed her room and one of the ponies in the golden armor, like the ones that captured her, outside of the room. One picture had Cassie in the room, the other did not, yet the guard always remained. She leaned forward, resting her elbow on the table, and her cheek against the back of her fingers. 

Ahh, got it. They're here to guard the room, not me.

As she sat back up and gave Padlock a nod, the mare smiled before placing another page down showing an overhead view of a castle. Everything inside the wall surrounding it had a light green shade covering it, while outside the wall had a red shade covering it. Padlock laid another down, this time showing her in various locations. Cassie's eyebrow arched when she noticed that every picture had one of the three guards in it, but they were not always near her. She twirled a lock of hair around her finger a moment.

Hmm, could this mean that I’m free to leave the room, but I have to stay within the castle wall? Still a gilded cage, but it's a lot more freedom than I’ve had with any other interactions with the ponies. Maybe if I play my cards right, I can leave the castle soon, too.

Cassie looked at Padlock, giving her a thumbs-up. The pony looked confused for a moment, and then shrugged her shoulders with a smile. The action caused Cassie to giggle internally. Padlock began rounding up all the papers and shoving them back into a folder. She left the last four pages behind. After some interpretation of Padlock's movements, Cassie decided that those pages were for her to keep.

Padlock moved to the door with a smile stretched across her muzzle. She turned, and said, “Xua, Cassie."

Cassie mulled the word around in her head while looking at an expectant Padlock. "~Bye, Padlick... Padlock~," Cassie said, kicking herself internally for the mess-up.

Padlock only smiled and left the room, leaving Cassie to her thoughts. She just sat there in the chair for several minutes, letting everything sink in. Finally, she stood up, grabbed the four pages, and moved them to the desk, where she stuck the other two with that doctor on them.

"I'm gonna do it," Cassie said. "I'm gonna tell Padlock I need the doctor's help in the morning."

Cassie proceeded to the bathroom to use the facilities and brush her teeth in preparation for bed. Once back in the main room, she unfurled the curtains that were nearly hidden in the corners of the room. Satisfied with the room's visual privacy, she checked the door. She smiled thankfully upon seeing the deadbolt and chain.

She nearly skipped the distance from the door to the chair at the end of the pastel red-and-pink canopied bed. Cassie quickly disrobed and laid her clothes on the chair. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she disconnected her leg and leaned it against the side of the dark wood bed, placing the pin on the end table. She pulled back the thick, fluffy, golden comforter, and silky smooth, white sheet while letting out a loud yawn. She gently slipped into bed, avoiding lying on the left side of her back.

"Thank god I don't have to wear clothes to bed anymore. I hate that," Cassie murmured.

Before drifting off to sleep, Cassie pondered more on the day's events. She now knew four pony words: Padlock, water, come, and bye. Though small, it was a start. However, she already knew it would only get harder. Learning a new language didn't happen to be a skill she had proficiency in.

Cassie tightened the covers over her shoulder and snuggled into the blanket. She continued smiling as she thought about the new freedoms it seemed she had, freedoms that she planned to see if they were true tomorrow. Her mood darkened slightly, and a frown briefly appeared. She wanted to see those unicorns in jail. She wanted to see for herself that they really were arrested. Cassie's thoughts returned to more pleasant ideas, along with what she planned to ask for for breakfast, as consciousness slipped from her.


------------------------------


A wrinkle on the curtain in just the right place allowed the sun to warm Cassie's face. Groaning, she squeezed the pillow she had between her arms and snuggled her face into it. She reluctantly sat up, the warm embrace of the blankets falling away. Cassie let out a long yawn, stretching one arm out wide while the other curled back behind her head. Tussling her hair, she rolled to the edge of bed. Reattaching her leg, and grabbing her clothes, she made her way to the bathroom to prepare for the day.

The warm light of dawn spilled around the silhouette of the young woman, casting a long shadow upon the floor. Cassie had high hopes for the oncoming day. Already one mystery had been solved from her ‘figure it out later’ file when she got up in the middle of the night, and realized that the lights were motion activated. Hoping that this new situation continued, she sat down at the desk, and set to work.  

Cassie sat observing the garden. Birds flittered from branch to branch, flowers of every color swayed in a gentle breeze, their scent flowing through the window she had opened, and pegasi pushed clouds around. Her brain came to a screeching halt; she blinked stupidly at the sight several times.

Hair flew around her head and Cassie's jaw snapped shut with an audible click. She brought her hand up to her eye, rubbing it to make sure she really did see what she thought she had just seen. Sure enough, she watched as a bright green pegasus flew up to a cloud, put both hooves on it, and pushed it out of view.

Cassie's mouth flapped like a fish out of water. "Wha... what? How?"

Deciding she had seen enough of the sky, Cassie pulled the curtains shut. Hearing a knock on the door, she mechanically moved to it, opened it up, and returned to her chair without even looking at who, or what, had knocked. During this time, her brain rounded up all the new information, shoved it into a box, taped it shut with caution tape, and dropped it into an ever-growing ‘investigate later’ closet.

"Nejco… Nejco." 

Cassie faintly heard the word the ponies called her by. Squeezing her eyes shut and blinking rapidly, she looked over to the maid, her brain still working on bringing her back to reality. The maid held out a menu in her hoof. Unlike the unicorn from yesterday, this maid didn't have any additional appendages. Taking the menu with a sheepish expression, Cassie searched for what she hoped would be listed. Smiling, she pointed out what she wanted to the maid, and returned to staring at the ceiling.


------------------------------


"~Come~," Cassie called, when she heard knocking on her door.

The last bite of Cassie's scrambled eggs with cheese twirled on her fork as Padlock entered the room, heading straight for the curtains. For a brief moment, Cassie’s breathing hitched before she forced herself to calm down. Placing the now empty fork back onto the tray, she washed the egg down with the last bit of her orange juice. She set the glass back down with a satisfied smack popping from her lips.

"Owwl acfbwbu, Cassie," Padlock chirped as she trotted over to the curtains. 

Some sort of greeting. Hi, hello, greetings, good day, good morning, morning? Too many choices— not even going to try.

"Uhhh, hi? ~Padlock~," Cassie replied with a questioning look.

Cassie walked over to the desk to get the drawings she made. A light tinking sound flittered around the room, followed shortly by the sharp crack of glass hitting a hard surface. Her hands balled in frustration, and she stomped back over to the table. Cassie jumped when the maid seemingly popped up out of nowhere from her right side, and started cleaning up the desk and floor.

Returning to her plan, Cassie placed the sheets in front of Padlock. It took a little pantomiming while pointing to the various pictures to convey that she wanted Padlock to go get the doctor. She grumbled under her breath about how it would have been so much easier if she hadn't spilled the ink all over the drawings.

While they waited for the doctor to arrive, Cassie began showing Padlock that she wanted to see that the unicorns were actually in jail. Initially, Padlock kept shaking her head, but Cassie scowled and kept pointing to the picture of her standing outside the cell. It wasn't until Cassie started vocalizing her want that the mare's ears folded back, and she gave in by circling the drawing while nodding her head.

Cassie's heartbeat picked up when the doctor arrived, floating a clipboard next to him. She hadn't asked for the nurse, but was glad she showed up, and she had saddle bags strapped on her sides with a band-aid plus mark that matched her rump tattoo.

"Dahhk, Padlock, obr Leoo Nejco. Epib ammua bu hyv lnkxhai?" the doctor said.

Padlock trotted over to the doctor and responded, "De, Zky. Dan vium qa oqhiozzm Cassie. Obmkomg, apm eivba ukq noz okiapdejc." 

While the ponies talked, Cassie re-closed the curtains, then moved to the door, closing and locking it. She smiled weakly at the ponies’ lifted eyebrows, before moving over to the bed and sitting down.

"~Come~," Cassie said.

Cassie briefly closed her eyes to fight her fear as the three trotted over to her. She held her arms out to stop them when they were just outside of arm’s length. After a bit more pantomiming, she finally got Padlock to turn around and face the other way. Darting her eye around the room to double-check the privacy, she stood up.

It's now or never. Hope this trust test works.

Turning around, Cassie bit her lower lip and closed her eyes as she grabbed the bottom of her dress and pulled it off. She cringed when she heard two gasps behind her. Turning her head to the left, she opened her eye to make sure Padlock had remained turned around.

Cassie started untying the knot in the cloth strip when she felt the tingle of an anti-gravity aura around the wrappings. Screaming, she dived into the bed, ignoring the pain in her back as she rolled onto it. Latching onto a pillow, she threw it at the ponies, hitting the nurse in the side. Grabbing the other pillow, she held it close, while huddling under the blanket.

The pillowcase darkened, sticking to her face. Cassie squeezed the pillow, thinking back to happy memories of swim meets in an attempt to control her breathing and maddening pulse. After several minutes, she could pick up the ponies whispering to each other. The bed vibrated as a pony hoof knocked on the wooden baseboard. Taking a chance, she peeked over the edge of the covers.

Padlock stood there, her muzzle almost in her face. Cassie's pupil shrank to match the one on the right, until Padlock moved back a step.

"Cassie, em'na awzzg. Dana, eibkp," Padlock said. 

The dark blue mare motioned for Cassie to watch. The nurse slowly passed a small knife over to Padlock. Cassie sucked in her breath and tightened her grip on the pillow, ready to swing it at the mare if needed. Her eyebrows rose sharply when Padlock took the knife to her own foreleg and swiped it across in a short, quick motion. Blood beaded on the wound before gravity took over, and started it on a trail through her coat.

Padlock dabbed it with a cloth to clear the blood and reveal the cut. The doctor moved over, lighting his horn up. Cassie watched as the aura surrounded Padlock's foreleg. A gasp left Cassie, her mouth stuck open as she watched the small cut seal itself in the aura, followed by an unneeded bandage being placed over it.

I really, really, really don’t like that anti-gravity aura. But what the hell was that? It… healed her? Is that what they are going to do to me? This is a much bigger trust test than I was prepared for. I just wanted some ointment and a proper bandage. I need time to think first.

With some effort, she got the ponies to sit at the table while she went into the bathroom to think.


------------------------------


Cassie returned to the bedroom roughly fifteen minutes later, wet towel bandage in hand. She had decided to chance it. Once back to the bed, she removed the towel covering her body, showing her back to the ponies, along with the makeshift bandage. Cassie could see their muzzles wrinkle upon seeing the gash. The doctor and nurse seemed overly agitated. Having moved the small end table toward them, the nurse drew a very detailed picture, wanting to know how she received that wound.

Having already drawn it, Cassie pointed to the desk. In the meantime, she flipped over the nurse's drawing, and drew out that she wanted to be sedated before they did anything, using images similar to the ones Padlock had shown her yesterday. She was going to go through with this much larger, not-as-well-planned version of a trust test, but she knew her fear of equines, and her newer fear of the aura, would prevent them from fixing the wound properly.

The nurse set all the pages from the desk on the table. The ponies sat patiently while Cassie flipped through them. Worrying the towel sitting across her lap, she laid down the image she drew of that slate-gray unicorn cutting her in the back with a spearhead, and her initial wrapping of the wound.

Padlock snorted and took to the air. Cassie had never seen her fly before. A small smile flashed on her face, but it quickly disappeared, replaced by an expression of unease, and then fright. Rage poured off the mare as she pointed at the paper, yelling loudly, her forelegs flailing in the air as she made wildly animated gestures. Cassie's eye locked onto the hooves as she fell back on the bed, crawling back from the enraged mare above her. Squeezing her eyes shut, images of hooves coming down at her face flashed in her mind.

The bed shifted, causing Cassie to roll to the side until she bumped into something soft. She wrapped her arms around the fuzzy, smooth, softness, hugging it tight, and then pressed her face into its warm embrace, a steady stream of tears wetting her face, and hiccups interrupting her sobs. Her grip tightened for a moment when she felt a sharp prick in her butt cheek.


------------------------------


Cassie's eyes fluttered open. Spying a glass of water on the end table, she rolled to the edge of the bed. The corners of her lips turned up when no pain shot up her back from the action. Eager to sooth her parched throat, she reached for the glass, stopping once her hand wrapped around its cool surface. Lifting the paper from under the cup, she studied it briefly. With a laugh, she tossed it to the side, grabbed the little cup with two pills in it, popped them in her mouth, and downed them with the water.

Bouncing to the end of the bed, Cassie grabbed her dress from the back of the chair. Swaying on her feet with the dress over her head, she stumbled around until it fell into position. Not paying attention to her surroundings, she turned to the right and stepped forward, only to trip over the chair. The chair crashed to the ground as she tumbled over it, a smile ever present on her face as she hit the ground with a loud thump.

"Oops," Cassie laughed giddily.

Cassie sat up on her knees, leaning against the fallen chair. Brushing the hair out of her face, she looked to see why the door opened. Her teeth flashed as her grin grew wider, and her eyes started sparkling in delight as the door shut. She quickly glanced around the room until her eyes fell upon the wooden shaft, the earlier grin turning manic as it spread across her face.

Practically skipping across the room, Cassie nearly ran into the wall as she grabbed her wooden shaft. She turned the door handle, tugging the door wide open. With a smile plastered on her face, Cassie strode into the hall, staff in hand.







> Chapter 12 - A Bow Filled Mane
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Warden Lockup leisurely trotted across the grass field as the sun warmed his back, followed by Padlock, who lagged slightly behind. The short, soft grass folded under his hooves, while Padlock pushed it over as her hooves dragged through it, roughing it up occasionally. All around them, Padlock could hear guards training, though she didn't bother to look up, causing her to ram her head into Lockup's hindquarters.

"Oww," Padlock cried, rubbing her forehead. "Why'd you stop all of a sudden?"

Lockup extended a hoof to the mare, helping her back up before replying, "Just admiring Celestia's sun upon this open field of green, and wondering what's got you so down."

"Nothing," Padlock said, slumping to her haunches and looking away.

In truth, she was thinking of Cassie. She couldn't get the last image she saw of Cassie out of her mind: pure, unadulterated terror, the likes of which Padlock had never seen from the girl. So much so that the nurse had jumped on the bed in an attempt to calm her, and the doctor had had to sedate her immediately. Padlock hadn't stayed; she just grabbed the papers and flew out the door, ashamed of the panic she had caused.

The old red stallion sat on the ground, picking a large blade of grass. "Don't give me that 'nothing' horse crap. You're thinking about Rings… I mean Cassie, aren't you?"

"Yeah. You should've seen her, Warden. I think she might’ve had an actual heart attack if the Doc hadn't been there. And all because of me," Padlock said, flopping to the ground.

Lockup shifted the blade of grass to the other side of his mouth, then placed a hoof on Padlock’s back, causing her to tense. "Now between me and you, not Warden and Vice Warden, that was a good thing," he said.

"How is that a good thing?" Padlock snapped back.

"Whoa now, settle down," Lockup said as he started rubbing the tension out of her withers. "If I recall, the Princess said part of your new assignment is to ease Cassie's fear of us. Well, how were you going to do that without knowing why she fears us? Her reaction to your outburst gives you a good starting point."

"But…" Padlock trailed off, fiddling with the grass a few moments. "…That's a great point!" Padlock exclaimed as she sat up, giving her wings a little ruffle. She then scratched her chin and gave him a thoughtful gaze. "Thanks for helping me get rid of that tension I’ve been holding. Anyways, I think I may have figured part of it out. I believe she may have been attacked from above, which means it could have been pegasi, but she’s never shown that kind of fear to me… Though I'd never flown in her presence before, so that could be why. Since she's definitely not from around here, it could be one of those larger horse breeds that attacked her. Then again, she's kinda weak, so maybe it was just her being in a bad position—like on the ground or something—with the ponies looming over her and attacking. Either way, it seems to all lead towards an equine attacking her from above."

Lockup spit the mushy blade of grass out before replying with a smile. "Very good, Padlock, very good. I agree with your conclusions. Next will be trying to figure out which one it is, provided one of your guesses is correct. The pegasus theory will be easy to test, though I have a feeling your… animated gesturing when you get too emotional might have played a bigger part than just you flying around."

Padlock turned away, her ears splaying back. "Sorry… it just happens sometimes," she said in embarrassment.

Lockup rose to his feet, chuckling. With a wave of a foreleg, the two ponies continued their path across the field, both trotting a little faster. Reaching the door to the jail administration building, Padlock raised her hoof to a metal panel until the lock registered her unique magical signature, allowing the pair to enter. Padlock's wings ruffled when the cold tingling feeling of the anti-changeling detector field at the entrance passed over her body.

"Enter into the log: Warden Lockup and Vice Warden Padlock, visiting prisoner #101280SS, Steel Shackle. Purpose of visit: initial questioning of additional abuse and misconduct in the pending case listed in his file," Lockup said, without changing his speed towards the dungeon door or looking to the guard at the desk. The guard narrowed his eyes and mumbled something too quiet for the two officers to make out as he watched Padlock pass through the dungeon door.


------------------------------


Padlock and Lockup made small talk with several prisoners as they made their way towards Steel Shackle's cell. Unlike the older section of the dungeon where Cassie had been placed, this newer section had a few extra amenities, not to mention better lighting. The two passed by a lounge, usable by non-violent inmates, on their way to the wing that housed Steel. Two prisoners briefly looked up from a board game, giving them a polite hello from the other side of the bars, as the wardens waited for the lock to register their magical signatures and open the door.

Their pace through this section of the dungeon was slightly quicker, as the majority of these prisoners were out on yard time. Of the ones still present, some gave curt greetings, or just ignored them. One particular resident stopped them to plead his case for more yard time… again. They politely denied his request, knowing full well why he really wanted it. Soon after, they stood outside their destination.

"Hello and good morning, Steel," Lockup announced as he and Padlock took a seat outside his cell.

The slate gray unicorn rolled over on his bed, his tangled, brown mane flopping over the dull metal covering his horn. He craned his neck back until his green eyes fell upon the two senior staffers. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, Boss?"

"It is not I who has come to speak with you, Steel. Rather it is my colleague here, Vice Warden Padlock," Lockup said.

"Before she and I… talk, when can I get this heavy thing off my horn? Its magical dispersion sucks. It builds up too much within me before the excess gets expelled; it’s giving me headaches. Where's my lightweight, magical restrictor ring?" Steel complained.

Lockup tugged at a short, rough patch on his chin a few times. "Hmm, oh yes. You should have it in a day or two… probably. The Enchanters Guild is currently reapplying the enchantments."

Steel snorted, "Figures."

Padlock coughed into her hoof to clear her throat. "Hello, Steel. I’ve come to inquire about a cut on Cassie's back."

"I know not who this Cassie is. Go bother somepony else," Steel retorted, grabbing the edge of his sheet and rolling back over.

Padlock rubbed the bridge of her muzzle with a hoof, letting out an audible sigh. "Cassie, the one you know as Rings."

With a huff, Steel rolled back over and let the sheet fall to the floor. He stood, letting a few pops echo in his cell before sitting down close to the bars, flashing a smile. "Ahh, the murdering hairless thing. I don't know what you're talking about."

Padlock's hoof dug into the floor. "Don't play games with me. I saw her reaction to you in the hall. I also have this picture she drew— a very well-done drawing, I might add. It fits you all the way down to your cutie mark," Padlock stated, shoving the picture into Steel's view.

Steel's eyes widened when looking at the picture, before quickly turning away. "I will not answer without my lawyer present."

Padlock let out a dejected sigh, tucking the page back under a wing, and turning on her hooves. "Fine. If you want to make it harder on yourself… so be it."

Padlock started trotting down the hallway, barely making it past Lockup, when Steel decided to speak.

"Be sure to tell the Captain of my willingness to cooperate when you are servicing him later. Or was it Prince Blueblood? I bet there’s a good chance it was both… at the same time," Steel sneered.

A slight popping sound and a swift breeze tickled the hairs on Lockup's coat. He turned just in time for his ears to splay back as Padlock rounded on the stallion behind bars, slamming her hoof to the floor with a sharp crack. The mare before him had her wings fully extended, her legs crouched, and her face bright red with anger. He knew instantly that Steel had pushed a few more buttons than he could handle.

Padlock screamed, “WHAT DI—”

"SILENCE!" Lockup shouted, cutting her off and holding a forehoof at her while turning his neck to face Steel. "Sonny, WHAT in Tartarus is wrong with you? Do you like digging your hole so deep that you can't even see the top anymore?" he snapped.

"Pfft. We all know it's true, just ask around… you'll see. How else do you think she gained so much rank unless she used her… feminine ways? Hell, you're probably in on the fun times, too."

Lockup put his hoof down to spin towards Steel with narrowed eyes. "Oh, shut up. That was a rhetorical question."

"Whatever, old-timer," Steel said, picking his bed sheet up, and flinging it lopsidedly over his back.

Lockup shook his head, letting his unkempt mane swish back and forth. "Steel Shackle, you, and those who think like you, are so very wrong. Padlock earned her promotion by doing her duty, and doing it well above what needed to be done. She is a shining example of how a jailer should be, while you are the blackness she shines to snuff out. Do you really think the Captain would cheat on his wife, the beautiful Princess Cadance? Or that Prince Blueblood would have a relationship with somepony in the guard without it being public knowledge, like all of his other flings, as to avoid perceived favoritism? And ME! While Miss Padlock is a very pretty mare… I love my wife and would not dishonor her, or my marriage, for a little 'fun'. No, sonny. She earned her rank the proper way; she honors her uniform by her actions, while you… you disgraced yours."

Lockup turned to see Padlock's nostrils flaring, and face still bright red with anger, but her aggressive posture no longer present. He trotted up to her and placed a foreleg over her shoulder. "Come, let's not waste any more time here. I'll fill out the report and send it off so that he can enjoy the full questioning procedures by an interrogator, with his lawyer present. You, on the other hoof, have someone to go check on."

Padlock snorted, and flicked her tail before stiffly turning and marching back down the hall, Lockup following behind her.

"Wait!" Steel hollered, his hoof outstretched through the bars. "I changed my mind; let's not get too fancy now. I'll answer her questions."

Lockup paused to look back at the unicorn’s pleading eyes. "Sorry, you've already wasted the time we had to give you," he said, before continuing back down the hall, a slight smile on his muzzle at the sound of a slow, repeated thunk of something hard hitting the bars of a jail cell.


------------------------------


Padlock trotted up the carpeted stairs to the floor where Cassie's room was, careful not to drop the bowl of fruit on her back. She smiled as she heard whispering up ahead, glad that Cocoa Puff was getting along with the regular guard. After rounding the corner, she had to flare her wings to keep the bowl on her back. Her jaw hung open, and her eyes went wide as dinner plates at the scene before her.

"…" Padlock's mouth flapped, but no words came out.

The brown mare quickly whispered to the guard before trotting over to Padlock. "Pads, I can explain, just come with me," Cocoa said, pushing Padlock's mouth closed, and nudging her with a shoulder to turn and follow.

Cocoa Puff led Padlock back down the hall to an empty room near the stairs. "Take a seat, Pads. This will be a few minutes," she said, running a hoof through her short, black mane.

-- One Hour Prior --

Cocoa Puff's ear swiveled towards the door upon hearing the handle being turned. She glanced over at the royal guard with her, who just shrugged his shoulders. She shifted slightly when the door was flung open, and her charge strode into the hallway carrying a wooden spear shaft. Her eyes widened briefly, both at the unexpected presence of Rings, and because she had never seen Rings this close.

A shiver went through Cocoa, from her muzzle to her hooves, when she looked up to see Rings’ toothy smile looking back down at her. "Uhh… hi, Rings," she nervously squeaked.

Cocoa's tail tucked underneath her, and her back legs started shaking when Rings reached out towards her, freezing completely when Rings' hand touched her. She felt her mane being mussed by Rings’ hand, then the strange feeling of its bare skin running along the side of her face to the end of her muzzle. Rings spewed gibberish, and patted Cocoa on the side before looking over to the royal guard.

It was now the royal guard's turn to adopt a deer-in-the-headlights look. Cocoa flashed a quick smirk before expelling the breath she had been holding. "Thirty Eight, I don't think she's here to do anything bad, but look at her eyes," Cocoa said quietly.

"Stop calling me that—I have a name, you know," he said while failing to keep his statue-like pose.

"Well, stop being last in your unit's training every single time, and I might," Cocoa snickered, bringing a hoof over her mouth to prevent herself from laughing too loud.

Cocoa looked on as Rings crouched in front of Thirty Eight, scratching under his chin while cooing unintelligible words at him. A minute later, she had sucked in her lips and bit down on them to stop herself from completely losing it. Rings had moved on to pushing down lightly on his rump while saying the same thing over and over again.

Eventually Thirty Eight relented and sat down on his haunches, which caused Rings to excitedly bounce in place while clapping her hands, before scratching the top of his head. "What is she doing, Cocoa?"

"I don't know," Cocoa sang, her muzzle scrunching up as she looked away.

Thirty Eight let out a content sigh when Rings stopped rubbing his head, and instead scratched behind his ear. He then felt Rings tapping the side of his leg a few times. His ears drooped, and his shoulders sagged, as he let out an anguished sigh before lifting his forehoof up to Rings’ outstretched hand. He looked into her eyes as she shook his hoof up and down a few times, before petting him on the head again.

"This sucks. By the way, I looked at her eyes. That blinded one is just straight creepy-looking, but the other is glazed over as bad as my brother's after he’s eaten a fresh batch of his 'special plant'," Thirty Eight said with another sigh.

"Deal with it. We were told to let her do whatever she wants, as long as nopony is getting hurt. Also, I think she’s more than just high. We know she doesn't act like this with ponies—with how she's treating you, I'm willing to bet good bits that she's hallucinating us as dogs."

"Yoo fink?" Thirty Eight muttered around the wooden spear shaft Rings had gently maneuvered into his mouth.

Cocoa couldn't take it anymore, and fell to the floor clutching her sides. Her laughing abruptly stopped when she felt Rings’ hands running down her torso. She opened her eyes to see Rings sitting next to her, still smiling.

"Your turn," Thirty Eight said as he spat the shaft onto the ground with a loud clunk. His ears instantly folded back as he looked up and said, "What did I do to deserve this?"

Cocoa snickered as Rings instantly stopped petting her, and moved back over to Thirty Eight. She bit down on her foreleg when Rings waved the shaft around tauntingly in front of Thirty Eight before throwing it down the hallway. "Better go get it," Cocoa said, as tears finally escaped her eyes.

"I should get hazard pay for this," Thirty Eight said before trotting after the stick, his armor jingling the entire way.

When Thirty Eight returned, he was 'rewarded' with another scratch behind his ears. While he would deny it if asked, he did like the feeling. He froze when Rings trailed her fingers through the hair on his chest, and then started undoing the buckles on his armor. "Help, she's taking my armor off," he pleaded to Cocoa.

"Just let her, you're not going to melt," Cocoa said between gasps of air.

Thirty Eight reluctantly stood there as his armor was removed from him. He heard the soft shimmer of the glamour enchantment ending, his coat returning to its pale yellow color. A frown dominated his muzzle as he watched his armor being unceremoniously dropped to the floor with a clank. Rings then proceeded to have him fetch the shaft a few more times, swaying unsteadily and giggling whenever she tossed it. He took his mind off the demeaning task by thinking of all the scuffs and scratches he would have to polish out now.

It was Cocoa's turn to get Rings’ attention again. After she was done making Thirty Eight chase the shaft for a while, Rings skipped back into her room, bouncing off the doorframe with a giggle, and returned with a brush. During that brief window, Cocoa had sent Thirty Eight off to find the nearest guard, maid, or random visitor to have them get the doctor. Cocoa relaxed into the brushing she received, with a slightly dopey look in her eyes.

"I have to chase after a stick, while you get pampered," Thirty Eight grumbled, returning to his post and pawing longingly at his armor. "Doc's busy, but will be here as soon as possible."

"I feel bad for her. I had to slightly lean over to her because her first try to reach my mane with that brush was off by a little bit," Cocoa whispered.

"You mean because of her eye?”

Cocoa nodded. “I wonder if there is any healing magic the docs could use to fix it.”

“I hope so,” Thirty Eight mused. “Glad I’m not in Candlewax’s horseshoes. Scuttlebutt is, that apparently an arch-battlemage not only put him in the hospital for a couple days with a cracked horn because of that, but they also restricted his magic completely. And they are treating him to an intensive retraining course over magic use or something. Not to mention he's been demoted a rank, and placed on restriction for two months."

"There goes that squad leader position he wanted. Hopefully he learns. He was always fun at joint trainings, and he never seemed like a bad pony to me."

With a look back over his shoulder, it was Thirty Eight's turn to laugh this time. He watched with bemusement as Rings put little bows in Cocoa's black mane. Unfortunately, he failed to be quiet about it. Rings instantly descended upon him, gently pushing on his back to get him to lay down. His face turned bright red as she rolled him over onto his back and started scratching his belly. He could hear Cocoa snickering when his hind leg started kicking, causing his face to somehow become even more tomato-like.

Thirty Eight rolled back onto his belly as Rings stood back up, turning to Cocoa. The action caused his forehoof to brush against her leg. Rings turned back to him with a smile, though a startled cry came from her throat soon after as she tangled her feet up, falling to the floor. Cocoa rushed over to Rings, relieved to hear her laughing. Rings’ hand found its way behind Cocoa's ear, causing the mare to push into it.

Suddenly Rings stopped, and let out a scream. Cocoa's ears splayed back, and she backed away. Rings started yelling in her strange language, clawing at her right leg frantically. Cocoa gagged, turning away when Rings’ fingers slipped under the material that looked like flesh, and peeled it back. A chinking sound, like a bit falling to the floor, and a louder thud, caused her to take a deep breath and look back.

Rings clutched the shaft again, this time leaning against the wall for support on one leg. She started screaming again, while slamming the spear shaft onto her detached leg repeatedly, until Cocoa flinched at the loud crack of wood breaking. Rings hopped to the leg, bent down, and picked it up like it was a dangerous animal before throwing it at the window. The window, not expecting the new force to be bestowed upon it, shattered, letting the leg continue on its way.

Cocoa heard labored breathing coming from next to her. She turned her head to see Rings laid out on the floor with an arm over her forehead, and wet streams on her cheeks. She quickly trotted over to the female, nuzzling her cheek before lying down next to her. Rings’ other arm started absently stroking her back, and Cocoa could feel Rings’ heartbeat slowing down. A few minutes after that, Rings moved over to Thirty Eight and climbed on his back, hugging him around the neck with her foot hooked over his rump, leaving her other leg to hang down. Soft snoring sounds followed soon after.

-- Present --

"And there you have it, Pads," Cocoa finished as they arrived outside Cassie's room.

"You know, you'll have to get used to calling her Cassie, instead of Rings," Padlock said, spying the leg next to the door. "By the way, how did you get the leg back already, and when will the doctor be here?"

Padlock smiled when Cocoa trotted over to Thirty Eight and Cassie, nudging the female slightly to re-center her on his back. "A pegasus guard saw it fall, and brought it back up to us. The nurse that stopped by said he shouldn't be too long."

"That's good. So, why is she still out here, drooling into your mane, instead of back in bed?" Padlock asked, removing a shard of glass embedded in the leg, then playfully slapping Cocoa in the shoulder to stop her snickering.

Thirty Eight grumbled under his breath then closed his eyes, sucking in a deep breath through his teeth before exhaling loudly through his nose. "The nurse said not to move her yet, since she’s sleeping. She was obviously given too much sedative earlier, due to… well, too much. Said it's better if she can sleep it off. Though the nurse said she also took the pain pills that she wasn’t supposed to take on an empty stomach, and they might have helped her fall asleep again with the other stuff still in her system."

Padlock’s tail drooped slightly, remembering just why she had been over-sedated. Her silvery blue mane flashed in the sunlight as she shook the thoughts from her mind. "Cocoa, where's the pin for this?"

"Uhhh…" Cocoa voiced, while looking intently at the floor. "Oh, it's right here."

"Thanks," Padlock said, taking it from Cocoa’s hoof with a wing.

Padlock entered Cassie's room, setting the leg and pin on the end table next to the bed, then trotted back outside just in time to see the doctor approaching.

"Hi, Doc," Padlock and Cocoa said in unison.

"Good late morning to you too, ladies," the Doctor replied, trotting up to Cassie.

He lit his horn up, while softly poking at Cassie for a minute. "Hmm. I was already pretty certain I gave her too much earlier, but this confirms it. Along with what you all told the nurse, I'm going to mark in her medical file not to give her this specific sedative anymore. While it works, and I am sure I know the proper dosage now—pretty sure I knew it before the… incident—she seems to be highly susceptible to the hallucinations that can be a rare side effect. Anyways, you can put her back in bed; she won't wake 'til about lunchtime."

The doctor spied the broken shaft. "If that broke when she was beating her leg like a dirty rug over a railing, then you might want to check to see if that leg is still okay. I've work to do, but if you have any other problems, just send somepony to get me," the doctor said, before giving one last look and a snicker at Thirty Eight before trotting off.

"Easy for him to say; we don't even know what it's made of, or how it's put together," Padlock lamented. "Well Thirty Eight, don't just stand there, get her back in bed."

"Yes, Ma'am," he said with a salute, before slowly moving Cassie back towards her bed. “Ugh, I can feel the drool in my mane. I can’t wait until I’m relieved.”

“You’ll be okay, it’s not… that much,” Cocoa said, giggling, before waving a washcloth in front of him.

Padlock assisted in transferring Cassie from Thirty Eight’s back and into her bed. Almost immediately, Cassie rolled next to a pillow and clutched it to her chest. Padlock smiled at the scene as she pulled the blanket up over Cassie, wondering how anypony could ever see her as a horrible killer. Her lip twitched, and a hoof scraped the floor at recalling how Cassie had been treated, wishing she knew just who was behind it all.

Moving to the desk in the corner, Padlock took a seat, and began trying to draw out what happened. Before Cocoa left the room, Padlock sent her to tell the maid to get a cold lunch ready and bring it up so it would be available when Cassie awoke.


------------------------------


Cassie awoke with a groan, clutching her head between her hands for a minute. With the headache a little more bearable, she scooted to the edge of the bed, swinging her legs over the side. She stopped just before pushing off, and looked down at her legs with pinched eyebrows. She briefly wondered if the ponies had stolen her leg for some reason, until she spotted it on the end table next to the head of her bed.

Grabbing the leg, Cassie felt some grit under her fingers. Upon inspection, her eyebrow arched when she noticed some dirt on it, along with a couple new cuts. She could have sworn she had completely cleaned it earlier, then her eyes went wide. Cassie barely recalled an image, like a dream slipping from her mind, of her ripping a snake off her right leg, beating it with a stick, and throwing it out a window.

While Cassie reattached her leg, her thoughts went over everything she could remember, and they all came to the same conclusion. Whatever they gave her when she had that panic attack must have been the same thing they gave her when they tried to give her a shower. Even though she had a feeling it wasn't meant to be a hallucinogen, whatever that drug was caused her perceptions to change. Cassie gave a little smile, silently thanking the doctor for the positive side. Whatever he had done stopped her dizziness, and caused her fever to finally break, leaving her only slightly warmer than normal.

Deciding to bring it up to Padlock later, Cassie looked around, smacking her dried lips. Spotting what she sought, she moved over to the table, noticing a covered serving tray with small stack of parchment on it. After setting the glass down with a soft chink, she looked at the top picture on the first sheet. It looked somewhat familiar, showing a picture of her smiling, holding a cup covered by a red X which contained two small pills. Next to that was a picture of her with her face contorted while holding her back and putting the pills in her mouth. It took her a minute to figure out the bottom pictures, but she came to the conclusion they were possible side effects. She glanced out the window; it seemed to be around noonish, based on her inability to see the sun and the presence of the serving tray. With that little bit of knowledge, and having just woken up, she wrote 'probably' next to the image that depicted sleeping.

Hair flying every which way joined her loud groaning. Cassie leaned back heavily into the chair, starting at the ceiling, while the other pieces of parchment lay strewn about the table. After a few deep breaths, she checked her hand for any bite marks, then her arms. Satisfied there were none, she tugged the front of her dress forward and looked down at her torso for any new bruising. Satisfied that the ponies outside didn't do anything mean to her, her shoulders relaxed.

"I think I owe a few ponies an apology," she lamented.

Cassie made her way to the door, pausing with her eyes closed and her hand wrapped around the handle. After a deep breath, she turned the handle, and pulled the door halfway open. Sticking her head out, Cassie looked to see the brown normal pony from yesterday. Looking at her rump, Cassie realized her tattoo of a yellow bowl with chocolate balls in it was the same as the one in the picture Padlock had shown her. Cassie's face flushed, and she looked to the floor when she spotted the little bows in the pony's mane.

"De, Cassie," the mare said. 

Cassie's head snapped towards the mare, wide-eyed. The mare repeated what she said, while waving a hoof with a smile. "Umm… Hi, uhhh… I'm sorry I treated you like a dog, and for tying bows into your hair. I think the drugs made me hallucinate," Cassie said, looking away.

"Cassie, dana," the mare said, slowly pushing a hair brush towards her. 

Slowly, Cassie crouched down and reached outward. Her fingers skimmed over the soft bristles of the cushion brush until they reached the handle. "Thanks, sorry," Cassie said, a light crimson hue on her cheeks.

While Cassie spent time apologizing to the mare, she failed to spot the guard to the opposite side of the door, quietly pushing a washcloth back towards the wall with a hind leg. Now 100% sure that the pictures she had just looked at in the room did actually happen, she turned to the guard and said, "And sorry to you for making you play fetch. ~Bye~," before ducking back into the room and closing the door.

Sliding the serving tray across the table, Cassie removed the lid and plopped down into a chair. Her hand twitched towards the brownie, but she forced her attention towards the sandwich instead. A quick check showed it had those large lettuce-like leaves again, but this time, instead of potato slices, it had carrot shavings. Several minutes later, scritching filled the room. While Cassie finished her meal, she wanted to make sure they didn't give her that sauce again; it was much too spicy for her liking. Putting the parchment down, she took a moment to press her finger to the plate to collect crumbs left behind from the brownie, and then licked them off.

Cassie ran her hand through her hair, only to have it stop on a tangle. She grabbed the brush the pony had returned to her from the other side of the table. With a frown, she made her way into the bathroom to retrieve one of the brushes in there. She held the cushion brush in her hand, debating whether or not pulling all the long black strands out was worth it, or if she should just use one of the other brushes in the little closet. For now, she chose a different brush, making sure to remember to clean the other out, as she liked that one more.

Once her hair had been tamed, she placed a hairband over it to hold the hair back, not wanting to put any style into it. Moving back into the main room, she refilled her glass of water and relocated to the corner desk. Pulling out a quill and fresh piece of paper, she hunched over the desk and began to work.


------------------------------


A smile parted Cassie's lips as she stared down at the parchment. While she wished she had her colored pencils, the partly shaded ink drawing still looked nice to her. Gently blowing on it to help the ink dry, she bit her lip, wondering if she should draw a second one.

"Maybe that glowy, aura-thing they do can magically duplicate it… magic…" Cassie said, her smile fading. "Hahaha, like that's what it is. It has to be some sort of anti-gravity device in those horns, or something," she laughed with an unsure smirk.

Cassie's brain decided to chime in at that moment, questioning how that option explained the healing-aura. "Shut up, brain! I don't need this now. Everything is freaky enough as is. There're alien ponies that talk, not to mention the fact that a lot of plants and animals have near-direct comparisons on Earth. So don't start trying to throw any mystical mumbo-jumbo into the mix," Cassie said, clenching her hands while staring at the windows

A pegasus flew by pushing a cloud, but Cassie wrapped that and the healing-aura fact up, and shoved it into the 'figure it out later' file before it could pipe up again. Leafing through the papers Padlock had left behind, she found the one she was looking for and folded it up. Though her dress didn't have pockets, it did have a belt, and in the back of the belt was a hidden pocket, just big enough to hold an ID. After a little forcing, Cassie had the parchment secured. With a newfound smile, she grabbed the drawing she'd just finished, walked to the door, and slid it under before moving to the bed.

Several minutes later Cassie peered down at the garden below her window. The distance didn't look to be too far, but with no depth perception, she was unsure how far it actually was. With a grunt, she tossed the sheets out the window. Looking back down, she was glad she used all the ones she could find. Grabbing the blanket closest to her, she pulled with all the force she could muster, then checked the knot around the foot of the bed. Satisfied it would hold, and that the bed seemed to be a good anchor, she checked the skies and garden for any ponies.

Cassie tracked a pegasus flying past a domed tower. Once out of sight, she climbed on a chair and onto the windowsill, looking down for footholds to assist. Gripping the blanket, she laid on her stomach, trying to feel for the ridge in the stonework with her foot. Scooting back, she let the prosthetic foot hit it, and then slid out the window, ignoring the fact that her dress was pulling up. Cassie wished for proper rappelling gear as she leaned back slightly, and started shuffling her feet down the wall to the next little protruding edge of the blocks making up the wall.

Nearing the ground, Cassie's hand slipped on one of the pillowcases she’d used to hold the twist on the sheets in place, causing her to fall a short distance. She rolled back and forth on the ground clutching her leg at the connection point, hissing through her teeth. Once the pain from the jarring landing passed, Cassie spread her arms out, running her fingers through the grass while staring up at the bright blue sky.

Standing up, Cassie brushed herself off. Her eyes danced from flower bush to flower bush. The fragrant scent of the flowers all around her filled her nose. Cassie took a few steps towards the closest row of flowers, but immediately stopped and looked down, her smile fading. Rocking back and forth, she could feel a hitch in the movement of the ankle: not enough to prevent movement, but definitely noticeable.

"Peachy," Cassie said, holding her head against her palm and rubbing her fingers back and forth across her forehead.

Deciding she could deal with it later, Cassie moved farther into the courtyard garden. Passing a small fountain in the center, she glanced around for any ponies. There weren’t any to be seen in the windows that surrounded the courtyard. A slight smile came to her face as she checked the sky and saw none there, either. Turning, she made her way to a medium-sized tree next to a short wall, which allowed a view out past the castle.

Cassie sat under the leafy canopy near the trunk of the tree, gazing out towards a waterfall, and the pool of water it spilled into. A rainbow formed in the misty spray. Suddenly she was pulled back in time, a half-smile forming on her lips.


------------------------------



Luna landed in one of the castle's small gardens. A disruption in the dream realm had awoken her, and its source had led her here. Approaching a tree, she had a good idea as to the cause. Spotting strawberry hair and a pale leg, she finally had confirmation of the source. Luna moved slowly, as to not disturb the daydream of a memory Cassie was experiencing.

For weeks, Luna had been seeing glimpses of dreams and nightmares flittering in and out of the dream realm. Every time she actually saw any of them form more solidly, they vanished almost immediately when approached. Her ears drooped, now knowing the source of the intangible nightmares she had no control over. It also gave her a couple of theories as to why she didn't have any ability to interact with them. Two of said theories tied into other suspicions she had already had that Celestia refused to discuss.
Luna's ears perked up, and she smiled faintly. Though she could not see into the current daydream, she could sense the feeling. She watched on, wishing she had a way to see what Cassie saw, to maybe understand the unknown visitor more. As she understood it, the dreamer was just as flighty as the dreams. She observed the visitor for another moment before cautiously moving.


------------------------------


It was late morning, during the summer between her sophomore and junior year of college. Their group of friends had decided to go camping for a long weekend. The camp had been set up rather quickly, and the boys went off to do some rock climbing, leaving Cassie and Maggie to head for the swimming hole at the base of a waterfall. The scene shifted, and now she and Maggie stood on the rocks overlooking the swimming hole. Cassie's lips tweaked up briefly seeing she still had both her natural legs in the scene. Screams of joy filled the air as she watched her and Maggie jump into the pool of water fifteen feet below. A separate memory of how she had been so afraid of underwater rocks the first time she stood on the rocks, before being told they had all been cleared out decades ago, briefly surfaced.

The memory playing out before her shifted again. This time she raced against Maggie from one side of the pool to the other, just a tad ahead of Maggie.

"I know you're holding back. Let's do it again, this time without holding back," Maggie's voice echoed in her head.

Cassie grinned at the results, having beaten Maggie by a full third of the pool. "You could've beaten me now, Maggie," Cassie whispered, rubbing her hand across her cheeks.

Looking back up at the waterfall, their group of friends sat around a good-sized campfire. A giggle left Cassie as she watched Kozlov's marshmallow catch fire, and then it went sailing through the air to land on his tent when he yanked it out of the fire too fast. The resulting scramble of he and his then-girlfriend dumping their beers on the tent to stop it from melting any further would never leave her mind, nor would the follow-up several seconds later.

"Don't look at us like that, Kozlov. We're just helping," sounded the two guys holding now empty buckets.

The mid-morning sun shone down on the little campsite with everyone packing up all their belongings. Slowly, each person started to fade away one by one, until only Kozlov and Maggie remained. Kozlov's appearance shifted from cargo shorts, an open safari vest, and shaggy hair to his military working uniform with his short-spiky hair; Maggie's appearance shifted to the one-piece swimming uniform of their college with goggles hanging around her neck.  

The image of Kozlov gave her own image a hug before standing back, and then Maggie's image filled the spot and repeated the gesture. Cassie's own image faded, leaving just Kozlov and Maggie. They stood there in the now dimming light of dusk, hand in hand, both waving towards her as they too faded into nothing.

Cassie reached out towards the fading memory, the waterfall cascading down the mountainside blurring out. She brought the heels of her palms to her eyes, and then wiped her fingers over her cheeks. Bending forward, she grabbed the front of her dress and used it to finish wiping her eyes and cheeks, adding more dark spots to the ones already dotting the maroon dress.

Blinking her eyes, and staring back at the waterfall in the distance, Cassie tried to replay the memory. However, the vision of the memory would not return. Instead, she leaned back against the tree with a soft smile adorning her face while visualizing the very last scene on the inside of her eyelids, and wishing it was somehow true.

Several minutes later, Cassie's hand scratched the back of her head while the other reached for the sky, eliciting a small groan, then they switched. She then twisted to the left, holding it for a few seconds before twisting to the right.

"Ahh!" Cassie screamed and fell sideways.

She quickly scrambled to her knees, putting the tree between her and a large, deep sapphire blue equine sitting mere feet from where she had been. She watched the semi-translucent cobalt blue mane ripple in the soft breeze flowing through the garden. Other than the sparkling silver glitter that seemed to accessorize the mane, it reminded her of Padlock, as the color nearly matched. Cassie then spotted the equine's rump, and instantly hoped that she hadn't spilled ink on the equine when she had her incident earlier.

"Umm, could you please g-go away?" Cassie asked, her hands starting to shake.

"Cnaapejco, Nejco… Cassie. Q iu Xquvkmaa Zibo" the equine said in a feminine voice with a small dip of her head. 

The newly identified mare's cyan eyes stared into Cassie's own red-rimmed, puffy, blue eyes, then shuffled towards Cassie a few steps and extended a wing. Cassie rolled back, away from the appendage, and the sparkle in the mare's eyes seemed to slightly fade, and her ears dropped somewhat while she shuffled back to her original position.

The small action lowered Cassie's fear of attack. Looking the pony over, she noticed the mare had wings and a horn like Apolla. Really hoping it was indeed not her fault for the black splotch on the pony’s rump, she decided to call her Ink Splotch. Her mind instantly changed from Ink Splotch to Princess Ink Splotch when the breeze changed direction and a small, black crown became visible just behind her horn.

Cassie backed up to the wall, frantically looking all around for the entourage and guards that would be following a Royal around. Her heart picked up pace, and the drumming slowly started in her ears as she was unable to find where they were hiding.

"Cassie, come," Princess Ink Splotch said with an extended wing.

While she didn't want to, Cassie didn't want to displease royalty either, especially in what was probably the mare's own castle. She nearly stumbled when Princess Ink Splotch rose to her hooves. She knew Ink Splotch was larger, but she didn't expect to be eye to eye with the mare. She walked past the pony, in the direction indicated by the wing.

At first, Princess Ink Splotch stayed just off to the side of her. Cassie's shoulders relaxed when the pony dropped back a few paces behind, and didn't come too close even when she stopped to admire or smell the flowers.

They wandered around the garden aimlessly until they approached the fountain at the center. Plopping down on a bench, a long breath of air whistled past Cassie's lips. She tilted her head towards the sky, rubbing her right thigh with her eyes closed while listening to the fall of water.

A quiet tinkling sound jerked her upright. Looking around, she saw a white flower, edged in a deep purple, floating inches from her face in a pale blue aura. A quick turn of her head revealed Ink Splotch on the bench to her right, sporting a matching glow around her horn. The flower moved down into her hand, the glow stopping once it touched her. Looking up to the mare, she too had a similar flower held to her nose. Taking the hint, Cassie brought the flower to her nose, giving it a sniff. Her lips instantly parted, and she inhaled deeply. She couldn't place the fragrance; strawberry mint was the closest thing she could come up with.

"Thank you," Cassie said to Ink, twirling the flower past her nose.

Cassie twisted on the bench so that she could keep Princess Ink Splotch in her vision, while resuming rubbing her thigh. She heard some clopping sounding off the stones around the fountain. Looking up, Princess Ink Splotch stood with her wing pointing towards the bench she had just been sitting at. Not wanting to upset the mare, Cassie slowly pushed off the bench and shuffled to the other, silently praying the mare would not sit next to her on it.

After watching the mare move towards the bench where she had been sitting, Cassie's shoulders relaxed. She didn't know if the mare knew about her blind spot, but appreciated the gesture nonetheless. Some of Cassie's thoughts while enjoying the garden further anchored themselves in. Here, sitting next to her, was apparently a royal. Cassie had no idea how much pull Princess Ink Splotch had, but the fact that no guards had shown up since she climbed out the window, nor had any come to protect Ink Splotch, had greatly lowered her earlier paranoia. Bundled with the fact that the mare had never once impeded where she wandered or stopped, had recently handed over a lovely flower, and now accommodated her comfort, allowed for Cassie to somewhat relax, though not nearly as much as if it had been Padlock.

The walk had tired Cassie out more than she had expected. She already knew most of that was due to the lack of proper nutrition until recently, and not moving much while in jail probably didn't help. However, she also knew of another reason. She gave a weak smile to Ink Splotch before turning to the right, and propping her leg up on the bench. Giving quick look over her left shoulder, Cassie saw the mare leaning towards her in an effort to see what she was doing.

Seeing the shining interest in Princess Ink Splotch's eyes, Cassie decided it would be rude to deny the royal what she wanted. Letting out a sigh, she beckoned with her arm and said, "~Come~."

Cassie pressed into the back of the bench when the mare scrambled from the bench and nearly stuck her muzzle into her face. Short, quick breaths escaped Cassie's mouth as she started sliding towards the end of the bench. She stopped when Ink Splotch gave a sheepish grin, backed up, and laid down on the ground with all four legs under her like a cat.

Cassie wiped the back of her hand across her forehead. Looking down at her leg, she spotted the thin black ring encircling it. Normally she would have had access to costume glue: it helped conceal the connection plate by making sure the tight, thin rubbery material designed to cover it stayed in place. While the tightness alone could usually keep it covered, sometimes it slipped down a little, like now.

Hoping the mare next to her wouldn't freak out at this next part, Cassie gently pressed around the connection plate with her thumbs until finding the lower edge. Once found she sunk them in until she hooked them on the inside of the fake skin. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as the mare's interest stayed, instead of turning away like most did the first time, though it did seem her face slightly greened. Pulling the skin outwards, she rolled it down once, then pulled it down over itself until the entire knee joint was exposed. Without some extra measures, that was as far as she would be able to go at the moment.

Working the cotter pin free, Cassie pulled the pin through the anchor holes. Not wanting to lose the two pieces, she put the pin back together and tucked it into her bra, while ignoring the quizzical look from the Princess. Cassie almost giggled when the mare tried to slyly shuffle forward on her belly for a better look when she pulled her leg off. The puppy-dog look from those large cyan eyes broke her. Reluctantly she held her leg out towards the royal mare.

"Please, please, please be careful with it," Cassie whispered as a pale blue aura engulfed it, floating it into the air.

Luna smiled at Cassie, hoping to put the girl at ease. While she really wanted to look at this marvelous piece of craftsponyship and medical technology, she didn't actually think Cassie would let her do more than observe whatever it was she was going to do. Luna sat up, kicking her silver shoes off before gently grabbing the leg with her hooves. Though she had never touched Cassie, she had a feeling this probably felt close to how her skin felt. Luna wished she could ask Cassie how her people made something like this. Everything about it was far beyond anything she had ever seen or heard of. Granted, she was a little behind the times in some respects. If only she could visit the female's dreams, some of the communication issues could be solved, as the dream realm would assist in translating thoughts and ideas. Unfortunately, Cassie's strange lack of magic hindered that.

Running her hoof over the leg, Luna's excited smile diminished. Nopony had been quite sure of anything before Twilight had found her, but the marred surface of the leg seemed to show that not everything had been sunshine and rainbows. Her eye twitched, knowing full well that some of this damage was directly related to her ponies.

Turning it over in her hooves, Luna looked at the part that connected it to Cassie’s leg. She had been sure Twilight mentioned a local pony having spent time trying to fix a part that had bent during her stay in the hospital, and doing a serviceable job, but had marred up the metal in the process. Her brows pinched as she looked it over; there were barely any tool marks, and few signs that it had been beaten back to shape, though you could still tell where it'd been bent. She made a note to ask Twilight if Cassie had done additional repairs herself. For a brief moment Luna's horn sparked to life, before she let the spell fizzle, deciding that an attempt to repair the flesh-like material would cause more damage, since she had no knowledge of its exact composition. Smiling, she instead levitated the leg to the bench next to Cassie's thigh, and gave a small tilt of her head.


Cassie let out the breath she had been holding, thankful that the royal equine had only looked at her leg. Picking it up, she inspected the knee joint. She already had a good idea that there were no issues there, and it only took a few flexes to confirm. This left the ankle joint. Unfortunately, she could only do a half-assed inspection since the skin could not be removed out here. Placing the foot on the bench, she gripped the ankle with one hand, and then pulled the leg back with her other. Cassie nodded to herself when the motion felt fine. Next, she pushed it forward. She sucked her bottom lip in and bit it lightly as she repeated the process. Sure enough, about one third of the way through the motion, the joint briefly caught, and did so again at the same spot when returning to the upright position. Letting out a huff, she tested a few more times, and determined it would be annoying, but didn't need immediate repair.

Twisting and scooting to the side on the bench, Cassie brought her other leg up next to her thigh and laid back. She closed her eyes, placing one hand on her prosthetic, and one in her lap, listening to the babbling of the fountain, and enjoying the fragrant mix of flowers wafting in the breeze.






> Chapter 13 - Steel Resolve
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cassie's nose twitched, then twitched again. Finally a sneeze let loose, forcing her to open her eyes. Smiling, she raised her finger to her face.

"Well, aren't you a pretty butterfly," Cassie said to the large monarch butterfly now perched on her nose. "Enjoying the garden like me? It is beautiful, isn't it? Reminds me of the one back at my old college, but I don't recognize a bunch of these flowers. I think you would like it more by the flowers instead of perched on my nose, though. It kinda tickles."

To Cassie's surprise, the butterfly blinked its overly large eyes, and flew off to the closest flower patch. Sitting up, she looked around for Princess Ink Splotch. Unable to spot the larger pony, she glanced at the sun. Pinching her brows together a moment, she wondered how Ink Splotch could be so quiet. She’d only had her eyes closed for about ten minutes, and hadn't fallen asleep. Shrugging, she put her leg back on and made for one of the garden exits to go back inside the castle.

Cassie wandered the halls for what felt like hours. The architecture and design amazed her, from the marble floors, columns, walls, and cathedral ceilings, to the exquisite busts of ponies, intricately woven tapestries and carpets, and stained glass windows. Even after seeing how ponies used their mouths, hooves, and anti-gravity aura—which could apparently do more—Cassie still wondered if some other race had helped them build any of it, maybe even a race before them.

Her little experiment had worked. There was no way the ponies hadn't realized she’d left her room by now, yet other than a few guards in a couple corridors, Cassie had seen no other ponies and heard no alarm.

"Score one for you, Padlock, and the rest of you, I guess. Looks like you didn't lie; I really can go where I want in this place."

Cassie tried backtracking to the garden, only to get more and more lost in the maze of hallways and rooms. She did find a small dining area, with some fruits and pitchers of water, which she helped herself to. However, her muscles ached, and she just wanted to get back to her room. Cassie actively looked for any pony she could find. She'd already realized they must have been told to give her space, because there was no way a castle would be this empty.

Resting on a bench in a small alcove near the bottom of some stairs, Cassie waited for any pony to wander by. Cassie's eyes lit up when muffled clopping getting closer reached her ears. Standing up, she took a step out of the alcove, almost running into the pony.

"Hi," Cassie said cheerfully to a wide-eyed mare dressed in a maid’s outfit. She noticed the maid's legs trembling, and quickly began unfolding the picture of her room Padlock had given her. "Can you take me here, please? Or to ~Padlock~?"

Briefly, Cassie worried the mare would not understand, or bolt away screaming. Instead, she reached for the picture, studied it a moment, then passed it back.

"E'hh hoys ukq jiks. Come, nuwttwe um," the mare said, passing the photo back, the fear in her eyes mostly gone.

A short time later, Cassie rounded a corner to see Padlock chatting with the somewhat familiar white unicorn guard she’d seen yesterday when she’d initially been let out of her cell. Traversing the halls of the castle while following the maid had been uneventful, although the distance proved long enough for her leg to start aching again.

Once they were standing in the hallway outside of Cassie’s room, the maid nodded to Padlock before turning and walking off.

"Thanks for bringing me back," Cassie called to the maid, then she turned to Padlock sheepishly. "Hi, ~Padlock~." To her surprise, she didn't seem mad at all.

"De, Cassie, come," Padlock said, waving at her with a hoof. She repeated the motion, this time only saying "De" a few times.

Cassie stood there, chewing on the inside of her cheek a little, with her eyes slightly narrowed. After a few moments, a smile formed. "~Hi, Padlock~."

Clacking bounced off the marble walls around Cassie for several seconds before both Padlock and the unicorn put their front hooves back on the ground, both with large grins. Before she could walk past Padlock, the mare brought out a few pieces of colored parchment. Cassie turned to the side with another sheepish grin. "Sorry, ~Padlock~, I know I should have walked out the door so they could come… ~come~… with me. I just wanted to see if I really had some choice in the matter."

Cassie took the pictures from Padlock with a nod. After a pantomiming session between the two, Cassie was surprised to learn it was only mid afternoon. Already growing weary of having to guess the time all of the time, she decided to press for a clock. Though Padlock didn’t provide her with one, she did agree to come wake her up in a couple hours, and after a little more charades practice, Padlock trotted off down the hall.

Entering the room, Cassie only briefly registered that the bed had already been remade as she flopped down onto it for a nap.


------------------------------


"I'm up, I'm up!" Cassie yelled, releasing a pillow and rolling onto her back to stare at the ceiling.

With a strength of will that could move mountains—or at least move a geologist out of a horizontal position—Cassie reluctantly stood next to the bed with a frown. She popped her dress out in a few places where it clung to her skin, then ran her hands down it to try and smooth some of the wrinkles out. The slightly sticky feeling of her clothes reminded her that her fever hadn't gone away completely, but that it was definitely fading.

A dull knocking filled the air again.

"I said I'm up… just wait," Cassie said with a slight bite. Her face scrunched up a moment before she said, "~Padlock, bye.~" She hoped with her extremely limited vocabulary that she had gotten her point across as she entered the bathroom.

Cassie stood at the sink splashing water onto her face, the cool water helping to chase away the last remnants of sleep. Wiping the water from her face with a washcloth, she gave her hair a few quick brushes before pinning it back with a hairband. Somewhat satisfied to face the world, Cassie returned to the main room, then opened the door to find Padlock chatting with two white unicorns: one she’d seen a few times, and a new one wearing the vest part of a suit, and a monocle. She had to suck her bottom lip in when she noticed his little blue mustache. Breaking her gaze from the pony, she turned to Padlock.

"~H-Hi, Padlock. Come~ in," Cassie said, opening the door the rest of the way.

Cassie stiffened when the new stallion took a few steps closer. "Cnaapejco, ieoo Cassie. Q iu Nivku Xivba. Ep qa jeya bu ummb ukq," he said, extending a hoof.

A small cry escaped Cassie's throat as she took a step back, bringing her hands up defensively. At the same time, Padlock moved forward to put herself between Cassie and the stallion, gently pushing his foreleg back to the ground and whispering in his ear.

With a small nod, the unknown unicorn said, “Ipp, Q qjzanopwiz, obr Q odzcuwns,” to Padlock, before looking back up to Cassie. “Awzzg bu dwra opwnphaz ukq, Cassie. Dwra i lhawowjp arajejc." With a dip of his head, and not another word, he turned tail and left.

"Umm, ~bye~… Mustachi," Cassie called before the unicorn rounded the corner. "~Padlock, come~."

Sitting at the table, Cassie started drawing out the idea she wanted to communicate. She had nearly finished it when Padlock cleared her throat. Looking up, Cassie saw the mare waving a couple pieces of paper over the center of the table, one green and one red. On the green one, Cassie saw images of foods they knew she could eat, her walking through the hallways, drawing, and a couple others. The red one was nearly the opposite, with food she could not eat, smashing a vase in a hallway, throwing ink bottles on the floor, and a couple others.

With Cassie's attention, Padlock laid the papers down, pushing the green one forward. She pointed to the first image at the top and said, "Gma." She repeated that for every picture on the page. Padlock then did the same thing for the red page, this time saying "Vy."

Cassie chewed on the information. She was still stuck on if it meant do, good, or yes, and don't, bad, or no. Suddenly, she smiled and moved to the other side of the room. "~Padlock, come… y-yes~?" she said, waving the mare over. Padlock's ear perked up as she jumped off the chair and trotted over with a smile. Cassie quickly moved back to the table, and spun around to face Padlock. "~Padlock, come… no~?" This time, Padlock stayed and only turned her head away, still smiling.

Waving the mare back over, Cassie sat down, scrunching her face up. She still had a dilemma. That narrowed it down by a word, but still not enough to get the exact meaning. Biting her lower lip, she grabbed a piece of paper from her stack, and with a shaky hand, she started drawing the gray unicorn she hated. The quill slipped upwards out of her grasp before she had finished. Cassie gave Padlock a weak smile as the mare set the quill back down on the table. Looking down at the crude drawing, Cassie pointed to it and said, "~No~?"

Padlock shook her head and answered, "Por. Por likju."

Cassie reached for the red page again, only to be intercepted by Padlock. "No, no, no," the mare said, pointing at random pictures, then back to the unicorn picture and saying, "Por," before wadding it up and tossing it towards the trashcan.

You know what, this is probably part of why there were so many conflicts on ancient Earth before there were translations for languages. People didn't know what the hell the others were saying and just said ‘to hell with it’.

Satisfied she now had two very useful words in her new vocabulary, Cassie moved on to what she really wanted to talk to Padlock about, for which the new words would come in quite handy.

The conversation did not go as well as Cassie would have liked, though she did learn the name of the slate gray unicorn. At one point, she stormed over to the wadded up drawing of the unicorn, and took it to the pony in the hall. She remained adamant, and eventually Padlock relented. 

Though her request for the brown mare she'd named Cereal from earlier in the afternoon to come was denied, the white unicorn from outside her door she’d nicknamed Handbook had come. Cassie continued following Padlock across an open grass field in the waning sunlight, towards a door she had passed through yesterday morning, while Handbook followed.

The trip through the castle and the grassy area was much different this time. The din of life as ponies wandered the halls brought a smile to Cassie's face, reminding her of the spaceship before they’d started stasis. She’d noticed that for some reason the background noise didn’t match up with the visual references, as only guards and maids were seen, and they kept quiet. It continued out here in the field where groups of ponies were engaged in various activities, some with balls, others just lazing around, while some flew above. A chant to her side got her attention. Glancing over, she saw a sight eerily similar to a game played back at the academy. The edge of her lip ticked up a moment when she saw one pony run from one line to the other, only to get knocked on his back as he failed to break through. Her smirk faded upon looking toward the building up ahead, which closed in on her with each step.

That weird sensation flowed over her as she stepped into the lobby. Her eyes darted around to all the ponies present as she continued following Padlock to the door on the other side of the room. Fighting the urge to turn and run out of the dungeon, Cassie moved up behind Padlock, close enough that the mare's tail occasionally brushed her leg. It didn't help her nerves that a growing number of unicorn guards had lined up behind them. Distracted, Cassie ran into Padlock. Flailing her arms and staggering back, Cassie looked down at the mare, who had an apologetic smile.

Padlock held up the picture of Steel Shackle with a wing. "Cassie, yes?" Padlock asked clearly, slowly pointing at her own eye, and then to the page.

"~Yes~," Cassie responded with a nod.

Padlock walked the last couple feet to another door, and held it open for Cassie to walk through. Cassie began rethinking her plan. She had initially surprised Padlock with her sudden demand to come here. She wanted to see that the unicorn had actually been arrested, and that they were not trying to trick her about it. She was fairly confident they wouldn't have had time to set it up, as they’d left directly from her room while grabbing Handbook on the way out, and the route felt direct. Now, nearing her destination, she wasn't so sure it was a good idea.

Cassie fidgeted with a pleat on her dress, twisting it nervously between her fingers near the hip as she slowly walked through the door. Handbook soon trotted past her and stopped outside a cell not far down the hall. With every step closer, her pace slowed, and her breaths became shorter and faster.

A furry weight pressed lightly against Cassie's left leg for a brief moment, causing her to let out a high-pitched eep and flinch to the side. Cassie looked down at Padlock's smiling face. Hooking a strand of hair back behind her ear, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds before releasing it and opening her eyes. Moving a half step to the side away from Padlock, she continued forward, closer to her normal pace.

A trio of unicorns rushed past her, taking positions up on both sides of the cell bars. Cassie looked nervously at them. Two of them—one on each side—had their horns glowing with that aura, the soft tinkling sound causing Cassie to tense up. After seeing the unicorns do more than just float things around, the aura had become an even bigger unknown. She didn't know if they all could use the anti-gravity aura, and then some had specialized skills like healing, or the bolts they shot her with during her capture, or if all of them could do it all.

Cassie stopped short of the cell, backed up a few paces, and bent down close to Padlock’s ear. "~Padlock, come yes." She then pointed to the three unknown unicorns outside the bars, and the pair behind them near the door. "~Bye, come no~."

Padlock shook her head, then looked up into Cassie's blue eyes while trying not to flinch away from the dead-looking right one, before finally closing her own gray eyes and nodding. She then trotted up to the guards at the cell, and after a short conversation, they cut the flow of magic to their horns and marched back out into the other hallway with the rest.

After being delayed a few minutes by Padlock for the arrival of another pony, Cassie finally made her way to the jail cell bars. A new normal pony stood opposite of Handbook, while Padlock sat on her haunches an arm’s length away on her left. Cassie’s whole body trembled looking at the slate gray unicorn, as he sat there with contempt written all over his face. She really wished she had a way to burn all his fur off.

"S-So i-it's true. You really are being punished. I just hope you don't have to go through what I went through. I hope they treat you better than you ever treated me," Cassie stated, knowing full well neither he nor the other ponies understood her. She felt a wing rest on her calf. Taking a deep breath she stood up straighter, narrowing her eyes at Steel Shackle with a twitch to her lip. "I hope that thing on your head makes it so you can never hurt anyone with your aura again! And if you ever, ever try to do anything to me again I will make you suffer! So fuck you, ~Steel Shackle~! Fuck you, ~bye~!" Cassie screamed, raising a balled fist at the stallion with her middle finger extended. She spat on the ground just outside his cell before turning and marching off to the door she came through, leaving Steel with a stunned expression on his face.

Passing into the previous hallway, Cassie's face split into a wide grin. She briskly continued through the jail, the route made easy by guards holding the doors to adjoining hallways open. Her mind played back everything she could think of since her capture, but it kept coming back to Steel Shackle. The look of contempt on his face didn't hide his anger, nor did it hide how he held himself, or the sleeplessness around his eyes. Cassie finally reached the lobby where she'd entered with Padlock and Handbook not too long ago.

Cassie looked out the open door at the last oranges fading from the sky as the smell of fresh-cut grass wafted in on a tiny breeze. She slumped against the wall, sliding down until her butt touched the floor, and held her head in her hands. Soft hiccups broke the silence of the room, and thin, glistening trails ran down her forearms. Hearing a flutter, she briefly looked up to see Padlock's hooves touch the ground. Cassie's arms shot forward, pulling the mare into a tight hug as she pressed her face into the soft fur of Padlock's neck, and felt Padlock's foreleg wrap around her shoulder. While she might not like all these ponies around her just yet, at least Padlock was not her enemy, and she decided to let go, at least for a short while.





> Chapter 14 - The Ship
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Beef Wellington sat on the floor of the inn, leaning back against the bed as he took stock of his knapsack. Feeling a slight pressure on his shoulder, he reached up and scratched the white pony behind her ear. When she leaned into his hand, he let out a chuckle.

"Morning, Popcorn," Beef said, lowering his arm and tracing his hand down her neck and jawline.

"Celestia needs to go back to sleep for an hour or two."

"I thought earth ponies were early risers?"

"Well someone kept me up all night," Popcorn grumbled, glancing at the unused bed across from hers. "Are you sure you don't want to come all the way to Neighagra Falls with us?"

Beef reached up and scratched her neck. "Sorry, cutie. I have to finish those wing blades for your private, along with some other orders for a few ponies I'm to meet here in the next couple of days."

"Okay," Popcorn replied, frowning. She then gave him a quick nuzzle on the neck before hopping out of the bed. "I'm going downstairs for breakfast. The others are probably waiting. Want me to order you anything?"

Beef looked at the piles of his stuff around him. "Yeah. Order me up some graincakes with whatever the freshest fruit they have is. And tell the cook I'll know if he tries to water the cakes down again." Plucking a small bag from one of the piles, he tossed it over to her with a wink. "Thanks, babe. That should cover it."

Popcorn smiled, and looped the jingling sack around her neck before trotting out the door.

Several minutes later, Beef cinched his knapsack closed, slung it over his shoulder, and strode out into the hallway, flipping a coin to the maid one room down. The worn wooden treads of the stairs creaked and groaned under Beef's weight as he made his way down to the common room. Hunching slightly so his horns didn't hit the ceiling, he stepped down the last few stairs.

Reaching the main floor, Beef stood back up, glancing over at the kettle hanging above the crackling fire. One quick sniff let the sweet and mildly spicy scent radiating from the pot tickle his nose. Continuing towards his friends seated at a table near the center of the room, he gave a nod to the innkeeper, an older pony he had known for several years now. On the way, he passed by an elderly pony couple sitting near the window to let the early morning sun warm their coats. Beef smiled to them, and gave the mare a lascivious wink, causing her to blush.

Beef approached the table where his new friends sat, a broad smile still dominating his face. "Good morning," he said, plopping down into a chair next to Popcorn. "Take it everything's already been ordered?"

The unarmored unicorn guard glared at Beef. "Yes it has. Should be out any minute now.”

"Aww, come now, what's got you angry with ol' Beefy?"

"You know exactly why, mister. I didn't get a wink of sleep."

"Well, you could have joined us."

"As if," the unicorn nearly spat.

"Well I had a grand time last night." Beef grinned and gave Popcorn a quick scratch behind the ear.

In response, the unarmored unicorn huffed and hit the table with her hoof. "Sergeant Popcorn, I request a separate room tonight."

"Ehh, we'll see," Popcorn replied, leaning towards the big minotaur, hoping for another ear scratch.

The pegasus private fidgeted in his seat for a moment, before giving a pleading look to the unicorn mare. "Ugh, fine. But you owe me back," she said.

Her horn lit up, levitating a small pouch from her saddlebag on the floor. After counting out a few coins, she sent the bag in Beef’s direction, and dropped it next to his with a jingle.

Beef smiled at the waitress coming out of the kitchen with a large, food-laden platter on her back, before looking back to the private. "I don’t need this: I had plenty of fun last night, more than enough to make up for a few measly bits," he said, pushing the bag back over to the unicorn. "But, let this be a lesson: don't spend bits you can’t afford. You won't always have a friend like this pretty unicorn right here to bail you out."

The blushing mare quietly levitated the small pouch back into her saddlebag while the waitress served their food.

Beef took another small bag from the pouch on his belt and pushed it over to the silent earth pony sitting next to the pegasus, who perked up. "Same goes to you. Ol' Beefy doesn’t need your bits—it was worth it for the experience."

Before she left, the waitress whispered into the two stallions’ ears while keeping an eye on Beef, and flicked them with her tail as she walked off. The two of them immediately gained a more cheerful demeanor, and small talk bounced back and forth as the food quickly dwindled before them.

"You sure you won't want a pair of battle shoes made?" Beef asked Popcorn and the earth pony stallion.

"We'll pass for now, BW," Popcorn said.

"Alright," Beef said, pushing his now empty plate away and leaning back in the chair with his hands behind his head. He silently thanked the owner for the foresight to have a couple minotaur-sized chairs in the common room, though he was pretty sure it had to do with him breaking so many pony-sized chairs when he’d first started traveling this route.

He'd just gotten comfortable when the sharp thud of a door being slammed open stopped all conversation in the room.

A stark white griffon marched into the room like he owned it. His yellow eyes scanned the room, until they fell upon Beef. The griffon’s black beak curled up in disgust. "I thought I smelled bovine. I was under the impression this was a decent establishment, but it looks like they just let in anything."

Beef only gave the griffon a passing glance before returning to conversation with his friends. The griffon bristled and stormed up to the bar, pounding on it to get the innkeeper’s attention.

"Hey, no need to go wrecking the place. Use the little bell, and Crossroad Slumber will be out in a minute," Beef shouted.

"I don't take orders from lowly cow," the griffon snarled.

"And I don't tolerate rudeness to my guests," Crossroad Slumber said, emerging from the back. "Now, before you go breaking my door or pounding a hole in my bar, how can I help you?"

"My acquaintances and I," the white griffon said, gesturing to the griffons seated around two tables in the corner of the inn, "require three rooms for the night, two stalls for our gear, and breakfast."

"Well, the waitress should be out any minute now. As for the rooms, I only have two available for tonight," Crossroad said.

"Fine." The griffon tossed a bag of coins at Crossroad Slumber.

"Hey now, there’s no reason to be rude and demanding like that," Beef said to the griffon, his hand resting on Popcorn's back.

Murmurs could be heard from the table where the griffons sat. "Hah, learn your place if you know what's good for you, cow. I am Razor, an ARC in the Imperial Griffon Army. You probably don’t even know what that means."

"If you’d look around, you’d find you’re in Equestria. Your rank doesn't really mean much here. But, alrighty, I’ll learn my place. I just figured I would give you some friendly advice," Beef said, leaning back in his chair with a smile.

"Pfft, as if I would listen to the 'advice' of a weakling, still suckling at his mother's teat. From the looks of it, you aren't even good enough to be in that pathetic group you bovines call an army," Razor said with contempt.

“Sure, sure.” Beef gave a double flick of his wrist and turned his attention back to his pony friends.

Razor’s beak twisted into a snarl, and his feathers bristled. After a quick glance around the room at all the ponies present, he ran a claw over his crest and marched back to his subordinates.

The guards left to get ready to head out, leaving Beef and Popcorn alone at the table, carrying on an animated conversation. Several minutes later, he let out a hearty laugh, and scratched Popcorn behind the ear.

Razor’s contemptuous voice carried over the noise in the common room. "Ahh, so that's why you’re hanging out with that pony. You can only get with loose ponies, I see. Didn't know it was that kind of establishment. Come over here, pony; I can pay better than him."

Beef rested his hand on Popcorn's back, giving a little squeeze to forestall a protest. "You know, you’ve been a condescending ass to everyone since you strut in here like you owned the place,” he said conversationally. “But you’ve just crossed a line. You can insult me all you want, but you will not insult Miss Popcorn."

Razor jumped out of his chair, knocking it to the ground. He shot forward to Beef’s table with a quick flap of his wings. "And just what do you think you’re going to do about it, cowpat?" he asked, slapping Popcorn on the rump. "So, how much for a go around?" he taunted, licking his beak at Popcorn.

In a flash of motion, Beef grabbed Razor by the neck. A strangled squawk caused pony ears throughout the inn to fold back, muting a pained grunt followed by the crack of dishes breaking on the floor. Metal clanked against metal as the guards from outside charged in to see the muscles of Beef's 8'5" frame bulging as he squeezed Razor’s neck and slammed his face into the table.

The fully armored guards quickly stood in front of the other griffons to keep them where they sat. Popcorn stood stunned at the quick change in Beef’s demeanor.

The minotaur leaned down, his short muzzle sliding across the side of Razor's face, while his horn barely missed scraping the other side. "Listen here, you little shit,” Beef hissed. “I know your type: you probably have a rich daddy, and you’re always getting your way. Those subordinates with you are all probably yes-griffs. Well, I'm only going to tell you once. You will apologize to the lady, pay your tab, and you and your little feathered friends will leave. If not… I will crush your throat right here, and your skull will perch upon the side of my family's battle totem. Do I make myself perfectly clear?".

Razor looked at his own reflection in the polished silver horn cap a mere inch from his eye. A small inscription was at the bottom. Beef Wellington, Son of Rib Eye, House of Brisket. Razor immediately stopped his futile struggle, and tried to speak, but was unable to let out more than a senseless squawk under the minotaur's crushing grip. Desperately, he very slightly nodded his head.

Beef released his grip and straightened up. The nervous-looking guests and guards let out a collective sigh. Rubbing his throat, Razor shouted at one of his subordinates to pay the tab, and leave a good tip, while the others gathered their food and started heading out the door. Beef got a wicked grin on his face and, just as Razor passed by, Beef reached out his arm. The slap echoed through the room, and a shrill cry came from Razor as his hind legs buckled.

"Wooo, look at that taut ass," Beef called to the retreating griffon, giving a wolf whistle before sitting back down to see a confused Popcorn, who didn't know if she wanted to yell at him or laugh.

As the griffons shuffled out of the door, the two armored pony guards returned to their friends.

"Sergeant, the griffons have two wagons. One’s larger than the other and both are magically enchanted. The larger one may be housing a prisoner. However, I am unable to legally perform a deep scan as they have proper paperwork for transit, signed by their embassy," the unicorn said.

"I see. Anything else of note?" Popcorn questioned.

"I suggest we send a telegraph to have them watched. Though the paperwork said they are here for some forest training and then to deliver supplies to their Canterlot embassy, I spotted and smelled evidence on the wagons that they have been up in the pine forests of the snowy north."

Popcorn rubbed her chin, leaned back in her chair to the point that Beef had to hold it from falling backward, and peered out of the window. "They’re all eating around one of their wagons. Once we get out of sight we can send you up ahead to the rail station," she said, nodding to the pegasus guard. "Once you’re there, you can shoot a message out using the telegraph. Since we know they’ll be here for at least one night, it should give the higher-ups time to send a discreet scout."

A dull thud emanated from the floor as the chair returned to its normal position. Popcorn finished off her drink, then stood up, stretching out all four legs at once. After a few pops and a soft groan, she started towards the door. Beef waved to the innkeeper, then pulled out a generous amount of bits and dropped them on the table before following his pony friends out of the inn.


------------------------------


Cassie stood in the shower with her eyes closed, holding onto the railing as she leaned her head back, just letting the warm water flow over her. The droplets from the showerhead lightly massaged her scalp before running down her gently swaying hair, finally falling to the bottom of the tub in a unified stream. She stayed like that for several minutes, not wanting to really look down at her own body. While she was glad to finally be getting fed, the effects of her malnutrition since arriving at the planet were still evident. It was bad enough feeling her ribs while washing, but the visual reminder of them, and the thinness in her arms—that was something she could do without.

The corners of her mouth lifted into a pleasant smile as her fingers worked the mint-scented shampoo into her hair and scalp. Using the matching body wash, she put a generous amount onto the loofah, before working it against itself to lather it up. She got completely caught up in the enjoyment of her shower—until she accidentally pressed the loofah too hard against a half-remembered bruise on her side. She winced and sucked a breath against clenched teeth, then turned her side into the warm spray from the shower, letting it dull the pain.

When she was satisfied with her work, Cassie gave herself a final rinse under the spray, then waited until the suds drained away, before finally shutting off the flow.

Cassie worked the towel down her legs, then sat on the edge of the tub, drying her foot off before spinning around and placing it on the towel she had laid out on the floor, and repeating the process with her prosthetic. Normally she would have just balanced on one leg, or propped a foot on the edge to dry off before stepping out, but her balance was still not back up to par, and she got dizzy sometimes. Nevertheless, she was grateful that her fever had dissipated, at least.

Mindful of the still-painful cut on her back, Cassie patted the area dry as well as she could. She was halfway through combing out her hair when she realized she didn't have anything clean to wear. Sure, it had only been two days since she’d washed her clothes, and she’d had to wear them longer than that recently, but she still didn't want to. Cassie didn’t particularly care for the grimy feeling of unwashed clothing on newly cleaned skin, and wanted to avoid it if she could. Padding out to her room, she grabbed her dress and undergarments and gave them a quick wash, laying them on that same towel rack as before to dry.

"Well, I wonder if there’s anything around here I might be able to wear," Cassie muttered, then began searching through the furniture of the main room.

During her brief search, she found a few extra blankets in the drawers under the bed, along with a pillow that was promptly placed on the bed. While peeking in the armoire standing in the corner, Cassie’s face lit up. Reaching into the lower drawer, she pulled out a pale green robe. Quickly closing the drawer, she made her way back to the bathroom to try it on.

Cassie studied herself in the full-length mirror, twisting around to examine herself from all angles. Unfortunately, the robe was almost too short to wear by itself, but it was the only thing she could find. Since she could do nothing about it, she shrugged and returned to the main room.

She sat sideways in the large, plush chair near the window with her legs curled up next to her. It still hurt Cassie's brain to see the flying ponies messing with clouds, but it beat staring at the wall. She smiled, imagining them as old-timey miniature fighter planes.

Her fingers absently twirled around the V of her neck where her necklace should have been. Realizing what she was doing, she pulled her hand away, letting out a sigh. I'll probably never see that again.

Once the pegasi moved on, Cassie found herself bored with nothing to watch, so she got up and moved to the table. She grabbed the cushion brush she had left on it before returning to the chair. Pushing her hair out of her face, she set to work getting the long black strands of pony hair out of the bristles. When she was satisfied with the result, Cassie moved to the bathroom while brushing her hair back. She retrieved a hairband from the cubbies to hold it in place, and then pulled her bangs forward to cover her dead right eye.

Hearing a knock on the door, Cassie shouted, "~Come~."

Popping her head out, Cassie watched one of the maids gather the dishes from the breakfast she’d eaten before her shower. Once the maid left, Cassie reentered the main room, stretching. A sudden draft made her realize something very important, and she quickly put her arms back down. The robe was too short for her: while standing, the hem just covered the bottom curve of her butt, barely preserving her modesty all around, but if she reached her arms over her head… not so much. Briefly, she wondered if the ponies would get mad if she removed the robe’s arms so that wouldn’t happen, but was reluctant to vandalize the soft robe.

Instead, Cassie stood on the hem of the robe and pulled gently but firmly at the top. She hoped to stretch it out enough to be a little more decent. After repeating the process all the way around, she slipped it back on. A mixed smile crossed her lips. The robe had indeed stretched, but unfortunately only about a half-inch. Deciding it was as good as it was going to get, she moved to the desk with all the drawings.

Cassie folded a few up while keeping one separate. After placing the folded ones into her pocket, she cinched the belt tight and strode over to the door. Hesitantly, she turned the handle and cracked it open far enough to poke her head out.

Turning her head so she could see to the right, she spotted one of those armored, white-coated guards. Looking back to her left caused a small smile to form on her lips. She had thought Cereal would have been mad at how she’d been treated yesterday. To Cassie’s surprise, the mare still wore small bows in her mane, but they were mostly yellow with some white ones instead of the multicolored ones Cassie had put in yesterday.

"Umm, ~hi~," Cassie said.

"Hi, Cassie," the brown mare replied cheerfully.

Snaking her hand out, she held up the picture of Padlock and asked, "~Padlock, come, yes~?"

The pony shook her head. "Awzzg, pih Padlock qa pigm obr apm kiv'b come ql zqopb vye." 

Cassie looked at her blankly.

Cereal quietly muttered to herself and brought a hoof to her face before looking back up at Cassie. "Padlock no come,” she said, her ears drooping. 

Cassie was disappointed that Padlock wasn’t available, even though she’d known she might not always be around. After a moment of thought, Cassie came up with a new idea. Folding and putting Padlock’s picture away, she pulled out the one that showed Padlock and three other ponies. Just to be certain, she pointed to the one that looked like Cereal and said, "~Yes~?"

Cereal nodded, her ears perking back up, and Cassie folded up the picture before slipping it back into her pocket. Opening the door fully, Cassie waved at the mare, saying, "~Come~."

At first, the brown mare just sat there, her ears folding back slightly. Cassie looked down at her feet, scuffing her shoe across the floor a few times. "Oh… okay, you don't have to come in," Cassie quietly said, and started closing the door.

Cassie wasn't entirely sold on her own hastily made backup plan, so the pony’s rejection didn't sting her too badly. She was still trying to sort out everything that had happened since she had been moved to this room. While she did somewhat trust that Padlock wouldn't do anything mean to her, that trust didn't quite extend to the other ponies, outside the nurse and doctor. However, seeing that Cereal wore bows in her mane and tail even after what Cassie had done yesterday, she had kind of hoped the mare would work out as a guide.

A brown leg shot forward, preventing the door from latching. Cassie pulled it back open to see the mare smiling at her before walking in. With a smile of her own, she shut the door and motioned for the pony to sit at the table. Not ready to completely trust her yet, Cassie decided to remain standing.

“Q’u Ykykw Ditt,” the mare said, touching a hoof to her chest. 

It took Cassie several minutes longer than it had taken with Padlock's name before she finally figured out how to pronounce Cereal’s real name without butchering it too badly, but she finally managed.

With that done, she pulled out one of the pictures Padlock had given her of places in the castle. "Can you take me here?" Cassie asked before remembering. "~Come, yes~?"

With the mare’s short mane flopping around enthusiastically, she got up and trotted to the door. "Cassie, come."

After a quick check of the pockets to make sure she had all the drawings, and a short tug on the robe for modesty, Cassie followed the brown mare into the hallway, closing the door behind her. Slightly unsure if this was the smartest thing to be doing, she followed the mare down the hallway and around the corner to some stairs.

When they reached the bottom, Cassie walked over to the large windows and looked down on the city spreading out past the curtain wall. Her eye darted around, taking in its splendor, from the slender domed towers mixed among pristine houses to the valley spreading out below. For a brief moment, Cassie wondered where her ship was in relation to the city, before suppressing that thought. There was no benefit to contemplating another mystery she currently had no way of solving. 

Snapping herself back to the present, part of her wanted to go visit the city below, while the other part reminded her it was full of ponies. With a sigh, and a wish that this planet would have had just about anything other than ponies as the intelligent race, she turned back to Cocoa Puff and continued down the hall.

Cassie stopped frequently to study paintings or carvings in the stonework. While she was aware of the unicorns’ ability to do some sort of manipulation, she was not sure they could have produced carvings like this. Not for the first time, Cassie began to wonder if this had all been built by another race before the ponies, and they simply did the upkeep on it.

Everything had been going smoothly, until they rounded the next corner. Cassie jumped next to a short cabinet stand that held a large flower arrangement, pressing herself against the wall as a group of guards walked in her direction. Her heart rate increased and she tried to meld herself into the wall, hoping they were not there to capture her. As they approached, her left eye never left them. Other than a quick glance over to her, they kept on marching down the hall. Once they’d disappeared around the corner, she let out a sigh of relief.

"Lwv'b sknnu, Cassie. Hyvm wnav'b dana bu ush ukq. Come cb, hap'a ush owejc," Cocoa said soothingly. 

Cassie blinked and shook her head, then looked down at the mare. She couldn't fully read Cocoa’s expression, but the tone of voice didn't seem to be as chipper as before. After a few more pony run-ins, all of which Cassie hugged the walls for, and a short break because her legs started to ache, they finally made it to the garden.

This garden was much more elaborate than the one below her window was. Birds flitted from branch to branch and tree to tree. Colors exploded everywhere and sweet scents filled the air. In other parts of the garden, she could see other ponies roaming around—most, oddly enough, wearing clothing.

Cassie spotted a group of white flowers edged in a deep purple and thought of Princess Ink Splotch. A smile came to her face as she remembered how the apparent Royal had been kind enough to give her space, and even stay out of her blind spot. Cassie still didn't know if she’d known about that before, figured it out during their meeting, or if it had just been a fortunate coincidence. A tiny part of her wanted Princess Ink Splotch to show up again, if for no other reason than she was familiar.

Moving over to the flowers, Cassie ran her hands down her butt to hold the bathrobe in place, squatting down with her knees together to take in the strawberry mint fragrance they gave off. For a brief moment, Cassie thought about picking a few for her room, but decided that would probably not go over well with the ponies. She had no desire whatsoever to do anything that might give them any reason at all to put her back in the jail cell.

I'm gonna have to figure out what these are called.

Deciding she really wanted one of the flowers, Cassie turned towards Cocoa. "~Yes~?" she asked, mimicking picking the flower.

Cocoa’s ears folded back, and she mumbled under her breath before responding with, "No." Her eyes suddenly lit up. After pantomiming for Cassie to stay put, she ran off further into the garden, disappearing around a hedge.

Cassie had returned to standing, warily watching the other ponies in the garden. A few rows over she spotted Mustachi, walking along with a slender, white unicorn mare. He didn't stop or point, but he did nudge the mare next to him, and they both gave a slight nod to Cassie before continuing on their way. She was still unsure what to make of him. He'd been the only visitor she'd had, and she didn't know why. She made a mental note to ask Padlock about him later.

Cassie spun around at the dull sound of quickly-approaching hooves, and saw a beaming Cocoa who slowed her advance until she was right next to Cassie. She started talking and gesturing too quickly for Cassie to understand what she was getting at, but with a little figuring out she finally deciphered Cocoa’s message. With a huge smile, Cassie surveyed the flowers, looking for one that wouldn't be missed. Spotting a suitable specimen, she carefully bent down and plucked it near the dirt to give it a long stem with a few leaves.

A sharp snort and a gasp sounded off to her right, followed by a bunch of harsh-sounding words. Looking up, she saw a pale gray unicorn stallion with a faded black mane standing next to a yellow unicorn mare with a lilac and white mane. Both were similarly dressed in shirts, with a sweater draped over the back, and tied in the front by the sleeves.

Cassie could feel the disdain pouring out of them as they stared at her with narrowed eyes for several moments before putting their muzzles in the air and stomping off.

Turning back to Cocoa, Cassie briefly spotted Mustachi looking in the direction of the unicorns, shaking his head, while Cocoa’s knees bent, her leg muscles tensing like compressed springs, giving her the look that she was ready to pounce. She spotted some ruffed up grass near the mare’s front hoof.

Looking around, she noticed several other ponies in the garden with similar sour expressions. Cassie’s breaths became shorter and her heart rate started climbing. She suddenly really didn’t want to be there anymore. With a trembling hand, she quickly reached into her pocket, and pulled out a few pages.

"~Cocoa Puff, yes~?" Cassie asked, pointing to a part of the castle with a portrait above it.

Cocoa looked at where Cassie had pointed, at the few ponies still nearby, and then back over to Cassie. The mare chewed on her lip in thought for a moment, then her eyes brightened, and she turned and motioned for Cassie to follow.

Cassie was relieved that Cocoa had recognized the urgency, even if it didn’t seem she was going where Cassie had intended, heading instead for an unremarkable door in the castle.

Cassie brought the flower up to her nose, relaxing at the smell as she followed Cocoa back into the castle halls. She suspected Cocoa had a good reason why they weren’t going where she’d pointed, but her impromptu tour of the castle was joyful for the most part. She really loved seeing the artwork on the walls, and the different themes in parts of the castle. However, Cassie was annoyed with how many times they had to stop at various benches around the castle due to her lack of energy, and the soreness in her legs. Unfortunately, she'd also noticed a fair number of ponies seemed slightly irritated with her presence, like the two she'd seen in the garden. That is, if the upturned muzzles and snorting as they saw her were any indication.

Along with her constant fighting with the short robe, Cassie felt that her limit for random pony encounters had been reached, and she just really wanted to go back to her room. On the way back, Cocoa let her know it was nearly time for lunch.

Cassie didn't quite understand the rest of what Cocoa tried to get across. It seemed like she had been given a choice to eat somewhere other than her room, but she couldn’t be certain. Cocoa wasn’t very good at pantomiming. With an apologetic smile, Cassie turned her invitation down: while she might not have been trying to hide every time unknown ponies approached, she still hugged the walls, quickly scooting past while keeping an eye on them for sudden movements. She was definitely not ready to just go eat with a bunch of them, especially not after the looks she’d received in the garden.

Clutching her flower in her hand, she let Cocoa lead her back to her room.


------------------------------


First Lieutenant Rook Ramparts stood at the edge of the pine forest, peering out into the snowy plain beyond. Behind him, he could hear his squad enjoying a brief rest and food break. A smile creased his muzzle as the rich scent of the burning wood in the campfires tickled his nose. Dropping his smile, Rook swiveled his ears forward to block out most of the noise, and looked down at the map lying across a hollow log. Pulling a compass from his saddlebag, he checked his bearing, and then made a few annotations on the map.

Rook trotted back to the camp, quickly looking around for his second-in-command. He spotted the light blue crystal mare talking with the Wonderbolt trainee who was attached to the squad for this mission, and veered in that direction.

"Gunnery Sergeant Jewel Joy, we have a few hours of marching ahead of us. Get the squad ready," he stated, then turned and trotted over to the campfire to get himself a mug of coffee.

Rook sat on a log, steam rising from the metal mug of coffee in his hoof as his unit started breaking down their mini camp. He mused at how much more efficient the older members of the squad were at this task than the others, despite the new training techniques introduced recently,  and made a mental note of those helping instruct the younger members with tricks not taught at boot camp.

He brought the mug back to his open muzzle, leaned back, and when no coffee was forthcoming, he pulled it away and looked at the empty cup with a frown. Grumbling, Rook scooped up some snow with it, mashed it around with a stick to clean it some, banged it against the log he sat on a few times to knock the snow out, and then chucked it through the air to land into the supply wagon-sled. He took a quick look around to make certain the area was cleared up to his satisfaction, then, Rook Ramparts stood and gave the order to move out.


------------------------------


The object the scout had spotted—now recognizable as some sort of snow-covered metal ship—loomed in the distance. A pegasus sat on a cloud above the craft, watching for movement, while another flew in a large circle doing the same for the perimeter. Two burly earth ponies lead the way with each snow-crunching step breaking a path, followed by First Lieutenant Rook Ramparts and Gunnery Sergeant Jewel Joy, and then the rest of the group.

Rook’s and Jewel's eyes narrowed upon seeing faint streaks of crimson which marred the pristine snow, many leading away from the craft to a small finger of pine trees that jutted out from the main forest. With a wave of his hoof, Rook sent a few of his squad that way to investigate. Further inspection revealed a few feathers, larger than the average pegasus’, sticking up from the snow.

"Griffons," Rook stated flatly.

The two continued towards the craft, eyes and ears never lingering in one spot. After a cautious lap around the craft, Rook stood next to the sheared-off stump of a wing, and had his team start inspecting the scene, instructing them all to keep clear of the ramp going up to the opening in the side.

Rook spotted some symbols near the front of the craft and made his way towards them. Looking up, he began taking a closer look at the writing for several moments. "Jewel, give me the black-backed scroll."

Jewel squealed in excitement. "Oh, do you think this is related to what landed at the castle, or at that farm?"

"Shhh… Wait a minute, how do you even know about those?" Rook asked, his eyebrow raised.

Jewel quickly looked away as her face flushed bright red. Her ears drooped, allowing her bright pink and purple mane to fall over them. "I, ummm… might have overheard some officers talking about it." Quickly and quietly, she pulled out the scroll and stuck her hoof out to the side for Rook to grab it, still not willing to meet his gaze.

Popping the silver seal, Rook unfurled the document. Scanning the contents within, he narrowed his focus onto the strange symbols.

~| SSC Quasar (SEF-02) |~
~| Transport Escape Ship #1 |~

He then compared them to the symbols on the side of the vessel. As best as he could tell, they were similar.

~| Zaire |~
~| SSC Quasar (SEF-02) |~
~| Transport Escape Ship #9 |~

Rook’s eyes widened upon the realization. "Cadet… Lance Corporal, whatever your rank is, Meadow Flower, report!" he bellowed to the circling pegasus.

Ignoring Jewel's protest, he slapped a piece of paper from his saddlebag on her back and began scribbling a note. He made sure to copy the writing as accurately as he could, and recorded their location. He rolled it up with the black-backed scroll on the outside, put the ribbon back around it, and sealed it with his mark.

"Meadow, it's time to put your Wonderbolt training to use. Get this to the Captain, now!"

Rook had no sooner hoofed it over to the usually reserved mare before a blast of wind covered his face in snow as a pink blur sped away. Jewel, annoyed that he had just used her back as a writing desk, hip checked him into the snow, while standing there with a warm smile and tilt of her head in an attempt to look innocent.

All ears in the area honed in on the loud clank, followed by coughing echoing from the opening in the side of the ship. Rook smacked himself with a forehoof. With the undisturbed snow built up on the ramp and no lights emanating from the dark opening, he had foolishly presumed the damaged craft abandoned. He gave two sharp whistles while swinging his foreleg around in circle, then pointed to a spot near the copse of trees when the scout looked over the edge of the clouds. The pegasus gave a quick salute, then shot off to each of the squad members, quietly relaying the information.

"So, do you think there’s another one of them?" Jewel asked in an excited whisper.

Rook let out a sigh, his two-tone green mane flopping from side to side. "Seriously, how do you even know about this stuff? Wait, never mind, she's not really a secret. Anyways, I've no freaking clue. I don't know what that thing is other than some type of aircraft, I don't know where it's from, I don't know who or what piloted it, and I don't know if whoever or whatever flew it isn't very good since they tore a wing off on those trees way back there, or if perhaps they are good and saved it from being just a trail of scattered wreckage. What I do know is that there is something inside and alive, and we need to be prepared just in case it's one of those things like her."

Jewel Joy wisely kept her muzzle shut as they continued to approach the clustered guards.

Standing in front of his subordinates, Rook looked over each of them. The squad had grown considerably for this hastily thrown-together mission, though Prince Shining Armor had assigned most of the new additions just to give them some long-range patrol experience. They hadn't even really expected to find anything other than a boulder, ice bear shelter, or some other random unimportant thing. Now the mostly green-membered patrol had turned into something entirely different. 

He felt a little bad that he didn't even know everypony’s name.

Rook relayed the entry plan, and entertained ideas from his squad. He knew he shouldn't have, but didn't see the harm in it. Everyone had moved over to the supply wagon-sled. Clinking filled their ears, and glints of light off golden metal left light spots in their eyes as everypony wiggled into their armor. Once he was dressed, Rook rolled his shoulders one last time to get the armor to sit properly, then marched his squad to the bottom of the ramp leading into the vessel.

Looking to the lone unicorn in his squad, Rook asked, "Are you able to project a light orb?"

"Yes, sir. I can send one to a location, or have it follow a pony," the unicorn said boldly. "It won't last more than a few minutes before I have to recast it, though," he admitted quietly.

"Close enough. Light up the space beyond the entry," Rook said.

A grunt mixed with tinkling preceded a large white orb being shot through the opening until it hovered just beyond.


------------------------------


Commander Flint Torsen drew in a ragged breath, releasing it in a pained wheeze. His eyes carefully followed his grubby finger as it moved over each line on the page of the thick manual lain open before him. He’d torn a section out of the front of the book, and then written over many of the remaining pages as he completed each task. The often-times barely legible handwriting dotted the margins, while entire lines had been scribbled out here and there. An engineer would have been appalled to see what he’d done. 

Flint didn't care what an engineer would think. He pushed the battered manual aside and started punching buttons on the reactor console, and then navigated to the correct menu. After a quick typing of his command code, swipe of his access card, and a thumbprint, he pressed ENTER and sat back heavily into the chair.

The room dimmed, and the everpresent yet quiet pulse of the reactor slowed as it began shutting down, moving into a safe, dormant state. Flint let out a chuckle. Out of everything that had happened recently, of course shutting off a starship reactor would be the only thing he could accomplish with full success. Moving the manual back in front of him, he flipped through it until he found a mostly blank page, then started writing.

Flint jumped at the sudden sound of voices filtering through the open airlock and the jammed engine room door, causing his elbow to knock the decoupler off of the desk with a loud clank. He scowled down at the tool as he listened closely to see if the sounds would continue. He heard clipped whispers, followed by a few sharp whistles.

His eyes turned red. Flint thought back to the winged monstrosities that had attacked his men. Mitch had disappeared, and Mark had been hauled off; both most likely were dead. His thoughts turned to himself as he looked down at the red stain that seeped through his coveralls.

Hah! You're too late. The reactor's been shut down, and the only way to start it back up is with my codes. The only thing you’ll find in this ship is death.

Flint scribbled on the page before ripping it out, folding it up, and shoving it into his chest pocket along with his access card. He swept the book to the floor and picked up his energy rifle. Setting it to maximum, he shot the book, turning it to ash, before returning the weapon to full stun.

"Good luck now. You’ll need an engineer if you want to try and bypass my code," Flint chuckled to himself.

Moving towards the door, he braced himself against the frame, one arm cradling his weapon, the other holding his stomach. He coughed several times, then licked the crimson spots off his lips before leaning to peer out into the cargo bay, ready to fry the first thing he saw.

Flint started to think he'd imagined the earlier sounds, when a bright light suddenly filled the cargo bay. He quickly pulled up his arm to shield his eyes and ducked back behind the door. Blinking the spots out of his eyes, he watched the rays streaming through the opening dim, and level off to a more natural indoor lighting.

Sharp clopping reverberated into the ship from the ramp, pulling his attention back to the cargo bay and airlock entrance. Briefly, he wished the airlock hadn't been retracted, but it was too late to change that: the controls were on the other side of the room. The instant he saw a shape start to materialize, he fired. He smiled from the scream his shot produced, and the thump of the creature falling off the ramp and into the snow.

"That's for Mitch!" he roared, his bold words ending in a paroxysm of coughing which slid him to the floor.

The glowing light that had hung in the middle of the cargo bay near the ceiling winked out, but was quickly followed by another brightly flashing one. Flint again ducked behind the door.

Clutching his abdomen, Flint blinked the spots of lights out of his vision. His finger hovered over the weapon settings, but he hesitated, deciding against turning it lethal now, as he could not get information from the enemy if they were dead.

The sound of metal against metal accompanied the vibrations of heavy clopping coming up the ramp. The pulsating light ceased, along with the clopping sounds, but was followed by a series of loud thuds ringing from the cargo bay.

Flint snuck his head out just enough to look into the cargo bay. At the entrance were four large, heavy-looking shields locked side-by-side. He raised his weapon and fired. The shield glowed a soft orange, and the energy shot deflected harmlessly to the side. Flint quirked an eyebrow at the unexpected resistance. Looking closer, he noticed a small scorch mark where he had hit. Taking aim, he fired again; this time the orange glow was weaker, but the shot was absorbed instead of deflected.

The orb of light flared, blinding his vision, and he felt a tingling in his arms and hands as his rifle was yanked from his grasp.

"Lhawoa opkl odkkpejc ib ca. Em wna vyb dana bu vifh ukq," a voice called from behind the shields. 

Ignoring how that had just happened, Flint pulled his energy pistol from his holster, and set it to kill.

"Give me back my men, and get off my ship!" Flint hollered, and then fell to the side coughing, flecks of red staining the floor.

The spots stopped dancing in Flint's eyes, and he looked out at the shields, just now noticing that he had fallen completely in view of the intruders. He raised a weak hand, pointing the weapon at them, and fired. His shaky hand caused the shot to hit the upper corner of one of the shields. Instead of bouncing or being absorbed, the orange glow flickered and disappeared from that section, and the shield behind it received an easily noticeable charred dent. He smiled, but hesitated pulling the trigger again upon hearing loud, unintelligible whispering, and then light clops running down the ramp.

It gave Flint time to think. This felt different from those winged monstrosities. They had flown in, and then started attacking and firing those crude crossbows instantly. Maybe this was something different. He coughed again, dropping his hand to the cold floor he lay on, but still held the weapon. He took shallow breaths through his nose while putting pressure on his abdomen and gritting his teeth.

Quick, light clopping raced up the ramp. Flint heard a commotion behind the shield-wall and again raised his weapon, while moving to set his back against the doorframe, though too weak to try to hide behind it.

Flint raised an eyebrow as a white cloth attached to a stick shot above the shields, covered in a blue glow. Hearing more of that unintelligible whispering, though sharper, the flag dropped out of sight briefly, only to quickly pop back up without the glow around it. He gave a slight thought about the glow, then dismissed it as he slowly lowered the pistol and put it back to maximum stun, though he held onto it, ready to raise and fire. The flag danced above the shields, moving towards the end of the line. He almost burst out laughing when a slightly translucent, light blue equine stepped out holding the white flag in its hoof and something in its mouth.

The strange equine nodded at him, and then slowly spun in a circle in an obvious attempt to show it was not armed. It then started walking towards him with slow, deliberate steps.

Sucks to be you, Lieutenant Campbell, if you made it here.

Flint chuckled a little at that last thought, hoping she had made it to one of the transports and wishing she had been on his, since she could have fixed most of the problems they had had on board. Then they never would have crashed in this frozen wasteland.

A gasp from the equine pulled Flint's thoughts back to the approaching pony. Its large eyes had zeroed in on his red-stained abdomen. The item that had been in its mouth hit the floor. Still staring at him, the pony kicked the cylindrical object towards Flint, finally moving its eyes to meet his and nodding again.

Groaning, Flint leaned forward and picked up the dry, rolled-up paper with the hand that had been holding his stomach. The pony made another gasping noise as he unfurled it.

Flint released the weapon, pushed it away, and leaned back with a relieved sigh while looking at a photo of Lieutenant Campbell sitting in a small—even for her—bed.

"Well, I'll be," he muttered, a glistening trail cutting through the grime on his cheek.

He sighed with relief that his hesitation earlier to fire appeared to be the right call, and that they were here to help, not attack.

"UMLEY!" the equine yelled over its shoulder.

Flint's eyes widened in alarm at the sudden shout, and commotion behind the shields. He feebly reached towards his weapon, only to find himself clutching his stomach and coughing. A light gray pony burst out from behind the shields, wearing saddlebags with big red crosses on them and a matching hat, and galloped right towards him. The pain from Flint's wounds overwhelmed his rational thoughts as to how this parallel to his own world could be, and he didn't have time to laugh as the new pony pushed the first one out of the way.

Frantically, Flint reached into his front shirt pocket, pulling out his command card and a few folded papers. The new pony slowed its approach, calling out to its friends, causing the shield wall to fall and more ponies to scramble into and out of the ship. Flint grabbed the pony the instant it got into range, and shoved the items in his hand into the pony’s hoof.

"Take these, give them to Cassie, or any other survivors you’ve found," Flint instructed.  He jerked as he felt a sharp pinch in his arm, and his eyelids grew heavy before he could even make a token protest.


------------------------------


Lucky Clover pulled the needle from the sedated creature’s arm, and tossed it to the side before removing the bloody hand that still gripped his light grey coat.

"Gunny, lay him down gently," Lucky said, pulling things from his medical saddlebag.

Finding his scissors, Lucky started cutting the red-stained garment open. He turned his head and loudly blew through his nose once he carefully pulled the clothing back. Jewel Joy gagged in the background, averting her eyes from the jagged wound across the creature's abdomen.

"Get the First Lieutenant here now, and prepare the wagon for an immediate evac!" Lucky shouted to the ponies still near the entrance.

Pulling out some sterile cloth and dampening it with some alcohol, Lucky began trying to clean some of the dried blood off to see the full extent of the wound. The creature had obviously done some sort of self-care, as there was an unidentifiable gel substance in and around the wound. Some of the substance wiped away, but Lucky left the stuff that did not, since it appeared to be what was preventing most of the bleeding.

He had just finished, and was preparing to wrap the creature's stomach with clean bandages for the trip when Rook skidded to a halt next to him.

"Sir, the creature is in need of immediate transport. I should have him ready in a few minutes," Lucky reported.

Rook looked at the wound, and his muzzle scrunched up. "That's definitely from griffon talons, confirming our suspicion. Probably why he attacked. At least nopony was badly injured, just one that’ll have a headache and a few bruises from the fall."

"Yes, I know sir. Gunny, help lift him up a little so I can get this bandage around him. Oh, and sir, he shoved that stuff next to me into my hoof before I sedated him. He said something too, but I have no idea what it was, and I don't think I can recall how it sounded," Lucky said, not stopping his treatment.

Rook picked up the few pieces of paper and a rectangular object. The paper seemed to be obvious notes, maybe even a final letter, if the creature's culture was anything like theirs. He held the card out, looking between it and the creature on the ground. His lips curled up on his muzzle, recognizing it as some type of identification card.

"Ohh, they are just going to love this back at command," Rook said, pulling a small sack from his saddlebag. Dropping the items in, he sealed it and wrote the relevant information on the outside.

Leaving the medic and Jewel to finish preparing the creature for transport, Rook moved back to inspect the shield that had been damaged. After talking with the shield carriers, they had determined that the Dragonfire Armor was partially effective against the weapon, though the one mode he had been briefed about at that officers’ meeting still overpowered the enchantments. He added that to his mental list of things to put in the report.

Rook took a moment to take a cursory glance around the room he was in, letting out a soft whistle at the creatures’ construction ability. Other than containers all along the walls, and some scattered around the room, there was the door to the room behind the creature, and one near himself that went towards what he figured was the front of the ship. Rook went over and examined it closely, but he couldn’t figure out how to open it: there wasn’t a handle or any familiar mechanism. The only other thing easily recognizable were the two doors that led outside of the ship: the one he had entered, and another exactly opposite of that. His ears drooped, and he let out a sigh, knowing he didn't have time to keep looking around, or try and figure out how to open the forward door.

Carefully trotting down the slippery ramp, Rook went to see the progress on the wagon-sled. All of the supplies had been dumped out, while bedding to secure the injured creature was being thrown back in, along with foodstuffs, and other needed supplies on the other side for the return trip. Four muscular ponies were already hitched to the wagon-sled, pawing at the ground and ready to go.

Rook double-checked that the return team only had the bare minimum, since the trip would be highly expedited. He began giving orders to the members that would be staying behind. Most went to forming the guarded perimeter, while others started setting up camp. During this time, Jewel and Lucky made their way to the wagon-sled with the creature floating on two shields held aloft by the unicorn’s magic.

Rook left them to finalize departure preparations, and called the pegasus scout down. The slightly pudgy pegasus stallion glided down, kicking up a cloud of snow around him upon landing, and used his wing to salute. Rook passed over a rolled-up scroll.

"Take this directly to the Search and Rescue division. They’ll know what to do. The faster you get there the better. We will need them to meet us on our trip back, since they will be able to take over and get the creature back much quicker," Rook stated.
The pegasus took off, though much slower than the Wonderbolt trainee had. Trotting over to Jewel Joy, Rook gave her final orders, before looking over the evacuation team. Lucky was in the wagon-sled with the bundled-up creature, making sure the IV bag was secured for transport. The four stallions at the front stood ready to go, while one stood at the back, and a mare on each side. Moving next to the stallion in the back with a smile, First Lieutenant Rook Ramparts gave the order to go, and all eight ponies took off across the snowy plains with the muffled thundering of hooves.