Arrival
BOOM!
"Quick! Get to the life pods, everyone!"
"Come with me..."
"I can't!"
"Get in!"
KA-BOOM!
"I'LL SEE YOU AGAIN!!!"
Day 1
Fluttershy let out a gasp as she opened her eyes. Looking around, she found herself in a small cylindrical room that was shaking something fierce. In the middle was a ladder leading up and on one side were two seats with straps. Spotting a window, she saw clouds outside. Eyes going wide, she realized she was in an escape pod. Stumbling to her feet, she went over to the window and looked out.
"Wh-What's going on?" She asked herself, her heart rate increasing. "Where is everyone?"
The whole pod shook as it was hit with a strong gust of wind, knocking her over. Letting out a yelp, she hit the floor. Panting heavily, she grabbed the ladder and used it to help herself to her feet. With another strong gust of wind, Fluttershy let out a squeak of pain as her head slammed into the ladder.
Stumbling over to one of the seats, she dropped into it and held her head. Tears filing her eye at the stinging pain in her forehead, she lowered her hand and saw some blood on it. Sniffling, she held the cut and pulled the metal bar down to help keep her in the seat. The cut began to sting now as she closed her eyes and winced from the pain while she just waited for the pod to land.
Not too much time passed before the whole pod shook more violently than before as it came to a sudden stop, the sound of water splashing outside accompanying it. Fluttershy raised the bar before stumbling over to the window. Looking out, she saw an ocean as far as the eye could see. In the distance, she saw her crashed ship.
"Okay..." she told herself. "I just need to get over there..." She then turned to look around the pod. "But... how..." Spotting the Med Kit Fabricator on the wall, she quickly limped over to it, also realizing just now that her legs hurt. Opening the fabricator, she pulled the First Aid Kit out and opened it up. Pulling out some alcohol and gauze, she poured the small bottle of alcohol on the gauze and took a deep breath. Pressing it to her cut, she let out a loud shriek of pain before tossing it away. Taking in some deep breaths, she grabbed the bandages and began to wrap it around her forehead.
Wiping away tears she fell on her back and stared up at the ceiling, letting the pain fade away. When the realization that she may never see another living being ever again set in, her eyes filled with tears and she just cried. Rolling onto her side, she curled up in the fetal position and sobbed into her knees.
Minutes passed before she picked her head up and wiped her eyes. "Alright..." she told herself. "There was more than one ship. I-If I can send a distress signal..." She then sat up and and looked over at a storage compartment near a computer panel, which displayed info about the status of the pod.
Getting up, she stumbled over to it and opened it up. Inside was a PDA, two nutrient bars, two flares, and a diving suit and mask with a small air tank and boots. Picking up the PDA, she turned it on. Flipping through the menus, she found a list of objects she could create with materials. One of which was a repair tool.
"So, if I build the Repair Tool..." Fluttershy thought aloud, before looking at the damaged radio on the wall. "I can fix the radio... and maybe call for help... But, I need silicone rubber, sulfur, and titanium...”
Trailing off, she looked at the floor where the lower hatch leading outside was. Knowing where she had to go frightened her and she began to sweat.
“I just... have to go outside...” she continued. “And underwater...”
Heart rate increasing, the scared pegasus looked at the diving suit. Her legs still aches and her head still hurt but she knew she had to go out. If not to look for the required ingredients to make the repair took, then at least for food.
Looking at what she was currently wearing, she knew she had to strip completely naked. There was no way the diving suit would fit over a sweatshirt. Besides, the less she weighed, the better.
Starting with her sweatshirt, she pulled it off and set it aside. The air was chilly against her bare skin and so she decided to leave her bra on. Next went her pants. As she slid them off, she whimpered at the slight pain. She deduced that she must have injured herself prior to waking up. Only, she can't remember much of what happened. She remembered there was a lot of yelling and then she woke up in the pod.
Once she had stripped down to her underwear, she slid into the diving suit. After getting her arms and legs in, she zipped it up and then grabbed the boots and helmet that were also in the storage compartment. Slipping the boots on, she stood up and walked around a bit to get a feel for them. They barely made any noise when she walked, telling her that they were light.
"Okay, Fluttershy," she said, taking a deep breath and picking up the PDA. "Silicone rubber needs seed clusters..." She then attached it to a clip on her hip. "I just hope wherever I am has the right kind..."
Kneeling down beside the hatch, she slid a panel open to reveal a button. Biting her lip, she pressed it and the hatch split in two, both halves sliding open. Staring into the water, Fluttershy gulped nervously before turning away.
"Come on, Fluttershy..." She urged herself. "You can do this..."
Turning back to the open hatch, she put the helmet on, making sure it connected properly and then grabbed the small air tank. After attaching it to her back, she inhaled to test it. It seemed to work. Taking a few more breaths to ready herself, she dropped through the hatch into the water. Once she was through, the hatch closed.
Looking around, she saw a beautiful scenery of small alien fish and gorgeous barnacles and rock formations. The way the sun rays shown through the water's surface was particularly amazing. Smiling, the pegasus found that she rather liked the view. Even so, she still wanted to get home.
As she looked around, she saw a fish swim past her face. Then, a thought popped into her head. How would she know anything about the flora and fauna of this planet if she didn't have a way of scanning things. Pulling out the thankfully-waterproof PDA, she found the ingredients to fabricate a Scanner.
"A battery and titanium..." she muttered aloud, tapping on the battery to see what it would take to make that. "Two acidic plants and copper ore..."
Putting the device away, she looked around for anything that looked like the things she wanted. Swimming away from the pod, she let her eyes scan the floor. Lots of rocks and seaweed and other kinds of grass, but not plants. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that she was a few feet away from the pod. Starting to sweat nervously, she froze. She knew she had to go further out, but she had no idea what to expect.
"You can do this..." she told herself, starting to go further when she heard a female's voice in the helmet.
"Warning. 60 seconds of oxygen left."
Fluttershy let out a gasp and quickly swam to the surface. Breaking the surface, she looked around. It sure looked peaceful, if it weren't for the crashed ship that served as a sad reminder of her situation.
Letting out a sigh, she went back under and came face-to-face with a pink fish that sort of looked like a sideways heart. A sharp gasp escaping her lips, she jerked backwards out of fright. As the fish swam around peacefully, the pegasus exhaled and chuckled to herself. Swimming closer to the fish, she watched it swim around and let out a giggle.
"You're cute," she cooed happily. Looking around her surroundings at all the other fish, she found herself feeling content. Wherever she currently was, it sure seemed peaceful. "This place is amazing..."
Remembering her current task, she began to swim out further away from the pod. As long as the floor was relatively close and it didn't get too deep, she figured she'd be fine. As she scanned the various types of flora she spotted a group of mushrooms. They seemed to be giving off a slight hint of steam.
"Acidic?" She asked, as if expecting the plant to respond. Swimming closer, she poked it. It seemed warm. "You're my best option right now..." Making a mental note of where she found it, she moved on to find the other two ingredients.
Starting to hum to herself, the pegasus continued to keep a look out for anything of use. Spotting a piece of metal on the floor, she gave a light smile. Moving on, she came across limestone chunks embedded in the side of the various crevasses and floor. Swimming up to one, she used the edge of the PDA to whack it. The limestone cracked open and revealed copper-colored rock.
"I think I'm getting the hang of this," she said, picking up the copper ore.
Holding it tightly, she went back to the metal and picked it up. Finally, she went back to the mushrooms and picked two. Smiling happily, feeling quite proud of herself, she headed back to the pod. Putting the metal under her armpit, she used her free hand and opened the hatch. After pushing the metal through the hole, she climbed inside and the hatch closed.
Taking the helmet off, she inhaled deeply and let out a soft giggle. "I did it..." she said, looking at the items.
Placing the mushrooms and the copper ore on the piece of metal, she dragged them over to the fabricator. Placing her hand on it, the device opened up, a tray slid out on the bottom, and a holographic menu appeared. Placing the items on the tray, she looked at the menu.
"Let's see..." she muttered to herself. "Battery is... electric..." she said, tapping on Materials and then Electronics. "Ah-ha," she cooed triumphantly, tapping the Battery icon. Only it didn't work. "What?" She asked, only now realizing that the Battery icon was gray.
Backing out of the menu, she went to the Basic Materials menu and saw Titanium grayed out. Removing all but the metal piece, the icon turned blue. Tapping it, the fabricator whirred to life and the metal disintegrated and absorbed into the device. A laser then began to move along the tray, sort of like a printer. Bit by bit, the fabricator built four chunks of titanium. When it was finished, the light shut off and the pegasus picked up the titanium.
"So, I have to do one at a time," Fluttershy realized, before putting a piece of titanium on the tray.
She then put the mushrooms and copper ore on the tray as well. Tapping the Battery icon again, the machine then properly converted the items into a battery. Tossing a piece of titanium on the tray, she tapped the Scanner icon. As the machine built the scanner, she brought the remaining two titanium pieces over to the storage compartment and dropepd them in.
Heading back to the fabricator, she picked up the scanner. "Does it work?" She asked herself, pulling the trigger. A message on the device's screen appeared, reading: Nothing to scan. "Seems to be doing something..."
Squatting down to pick up her helmet, she put it back on before leaving the pod once more. This time was easier as she knew what to expect going in. Looking at the scanner in her hand, she eyed a fish swimming by. It was one of those heart-shaped ones. Aiming the scanner at it, she pulled and held the trigger. A light beam began to scan the fish before her PDA beeped.
"Huh?" She asked, taking the PDA off her belt and looking at it. On the screen was info on the fish she just scanned. "Bladderfish?" She read questioningly. "Hmm... Good source of... calories... and can be fabricated into water?" She eyed the fish again, feeling slightly disgusted. She couldn't bear the thought of harming these cute and innocent fish.
Casually swimming around, the yellow mare scanned everything and anything she could. Table Coral, Peeper fish, limestone outcroppings, and a few others. As she swam around, she made sure to keep track of where she saw caves leading down. Might be worth exploring at some point.
After taking a few surface visits, she came across a cave with an interesting-looking plant inside. It seemed to be smoking. As she neared it, the plant opened up and a fat red fish came out. Eyes going wide, Fluttershy began to swim backwards to avoid it. The fish was too fast, though. As it neared her, it began to puff up and shake violently. Letting out an “eep” the pegasus kicked the fish away. Right after she did, the fish exploded. Letting out another shriek of fright, she shielded her eyes with her arms. Luckily, the explosion wasn’t that big and alone she felt was heat.
Realizing what had happened, she let out a gasp and lowered her arm. "Did I just... make it explode?" After shaking away the thought that she may have just killed something, she looked around again before spotting what appeared to be tall stalks of seaweed. On the seaweed were clusters of large yellow seeds.
Smiling at her find, she swam closer and closer. The water here seemed murkier and deeper than where she was, though she didn't notice as she was too intrigued by the seeds. Raising the scanner, she scanned the seeds. Hearing a beep, she picked up her PDA and read the info.
"Creepvine Seed Clusters. Perfect," she said happily, seeing that this was able to make silicone rubber. Picking off a seed, she looked it over. "You're too big for my pockets. So, I'll carry you," she cooed, turning to leave before she heard a roar from close by. Freezing in fear, she looked over her shoulder to see a barracuda-looking fish, that seemed three times her length, swimming towards her.
Eyes going wide, she began to swim like crazy back towards her pod. Hearing the aggressive fish still behind her, she looked around before finding a cave entrance in a rock face up ahead. She then looked back just in time to see the fish attempt to bite her legs. Pulling her feet away, she kicked the fish with both feet and propelled herself forward.
Getting to the cave, she quickly swam inside. As soon as she entered, she saw another path leading up. Diverting her course, she took the upwards path, only to find that it almost immediately led to a dead end.
"Oh, no," she gasped, turning around to take the other path.
As she did, the fish stuck its mouth in the cave and tried to get at the pegasus in the smaller passage. The mare did her best to keep her feet away from the gnashing teeth.
SNAP SNAP
The jaws opened and slammed shut inches from her feet. Tears began to fill her eyes as she very much feared for her life. To make matters worse, she heard that unwelcome warning message once more: "60 seconds of oxygen remaining."
Panting heavily from fright, she looked around. Then, something caught her eye. Past the jaws of the carnivorous fish was another plant that held the explosive fish from before. Looking at the seed in her hands, she had an idea. She waited until the fish took a break from trying to bit her. When it pulled back to make an attempt to ram its mouth deeper into the cave, Fluttershy shoved the seed as hard as she could at the plant before quickly backing away.
Watching the seed move closer and closer to the plant, she let out a gasp as he jaws of the barracuda fish returned, this time centimeters away from her feet. Whimpering, she watched the seed get closer and closer to the plant before it lightly tapped it. When it did, another boom boom fish came out and began to swim towards her.
The bigger fish pulled back once more, getting ready to attempt to finally catch its meal. When it did, Fluttershy kept her eyes on it. As the smaller fish came closer and the larger fish started its attack again, Fluttershy grabbed the explosive fish and moved it in the path of the larger fish's jaws.
Pulling her hand away just in time, the big fish clamped its jaws down on the small fish, causing a small explosion. Fluttershy let out a yelp as she was thrown back against the rock. The barracuda-like fish let out a roar and pulled back, finally swimming away.
As soon as it left, Fluttershy scrambled out of her little hole and grabbed the seed. Panting and whimpering, she quickly and sloppily swam back towards the pod. Legs feeling weak, she heard another warning message: "30 seconds of oxygen remaining."
Actually starting to cry now, the mare ignored the pain in her legs and pushed herself to swim further and further. Soon, she started to find it hard to breathe.
"No... No..." she whimpered, starting to wheeze.
Her vision began to darken as she neared the pod. Continuing to push herself, she finally made it back to the pod. Opening the hatch, she threw the seed in and climbed in. Once inside the pod, she pulled off the helmet and inhaled deeply. Dropping to her knees, she soon collapsed and just cried.
Breathing heavily and sobbing from her near-death experience, the mare just stayed on the floor, thankful to still be alive.