CRASHSITE OF AARON’S PELICAN

1415 HOURS

PLANET: UNKNOWN

Darkness.

That’s all Aaron could see after he completed the quick and rough slipspace jump. The extreme jump made him quickly lose consciousness for some unknown reason.

One reason that could be is because Aaron’s body was usually put into cryo-sleep before making jumps. Since he was exposing himself to slipspace for the first time, his body wasn’t properly prepared for it, so it shut down for a bit.

As Aaron slowly began to regain consciousness, there was a slight ringing in his ears and his head was pounding and aching. He tried to open his eyes, but the bright light of daytime forced them back shut.

Aaron started blinking his eyes constantly to slowly adjust to the sudden and irritating light which was for the moment unknown.

Aaron first thought that he didn’t survive and has already arrived somewhere in the afterlife to be finally reunited with his deceased family. He couldn’t have been more off.

When he managed to open his eyes and get his vision back, he discovered that he was still inside the cockpit of the Pelican that was miraculously still intact along with him. That meant that the new Shaw-Fujikawa engine successfully made the Pelican travel easily through slipspace without be shredded into molecules along with the operator. The blacking out part after the jump was a complication through, but that could’ve been Aaron’s fault for performing such a reckless task for testing the limits.

When Aaron looked out the window of the cockpit, he discovered that his Pelican had wound up in what appeared to be a cornfield.

This brought back the question if he was dead because he’s been growing up with cornfields in his early life. Does this mean that his resting place would be where he grew up?

It seemed like kind of a bummer because truthfully he really didn’t enjoy farm work as much. He also didn’t go to sleep when he was supposed to.

Instead he would spend time awake late at night when the full moon was present in the sky and gaze up at it while doing sessions of heavy thinking. As a bad result, he woke up too tired to do his chores the next morning, which his family members highly disapproved of. His usual punishment was to go the rest of the day without food. Also his father verbally abused him which sparked disdain in Aaron’s heart.

He hated the way that his father treated his mother and siblings if they didn’t do something right, as well. This thought made Aaron hope that his father was in hell instead of wherever he was now.

Curious, Aaron tried flipping the hatch-release switch so he could get out of the cockpit to get a glimpse of his surroundings more openly, but unfortunately the system did not respond.

Every system on the Pelican was completely disabled leaving it fully out of commission.

For the systems on his HUD, there was just distortion. With just a few hard knocks,  Aaron’s HUD was thankfully restored to proper function; at least that’s what it appeared to be.

His motion sensor and shield indicator were present, along with his grenade counter that was grey indicating he currently had no grenades equipped for the moment. In the center of his HUD was the usual small blue cross-hair which would change into a suitable targeting reticle for whichever weapon he placed in his hands.

As for his Armor Ability icon and Ammo Counter, both were not currently present because Aaron didn’t have an armor ability currently equipped to his suit, and he was wearing his MA5D on his back while his M6H was holstered on the hip.

As an alternative option, but not the best; Aaron brutally bashed open the cockpit hatch forcefully with his arm and elbow. It popped open like a can of soup, but did quite a number on the frame, and the mechanisms responsible for moving it open or closed.

When Aaron climbed out of the Pelican and landed on his feet, he was first a little wobbly because he was still a little disoriented from coming out of unconsciousness, but he recovered quickly and regained his balance and footing.

Aaron then paced around the perimeter of the Pelican to observe its state and how he landed.

The Pelican was in one piece like Aaron predicted, even though there was some smoke emanating from certain parts of the Pelican like the exhaust engines. The landing gear was completely torn out from under the belly of the gunship.

Behind the Pelican was a long burning and black skidmark of roasted corn and earth that stretched at least a mile and three quarters. It was a miracle that the Pelican didn’t come apart while it was skidding from uncontrolled atmospheric re-entry. Spartan luck has struck again even if Aaron chose not to believe in it, but he was grateful anyway.

Not getting a clear view of the full surrounding area because of the surviving corn blocking his view partially. Thankfully he already thought of a solution even though it wasn’t the most original or impressive technique. Matter of fact, anyone could think of it.

Since the Pelican was partially tilted to its starboard side, Aaron could easily climb onto the top of the partially chipped wing and get a better view from the top of the downed gunship.

When he got a clear view of the landscape, he knew immediately that he wasn’t dead and back on his family's farm.

He knew this because the surrounding landscape had hills somewhere off in the distance while the land back on his farm was flat as far as the eye could see on all sides.

Somewhere far off he spotted a red structure standing at least a few miles away.

To get a better view, he clicked a switch on the right side of his helmet right near the visor. This activated his HUD’s zoom mode that allowed him to see areas that lie ahead out of his motion sensor’s tracking range.

The red structure that he focused on turned out to be of what looked like a red farming barn.

This puzzled Aaron completely because the design and the contents that the barn was made out of which was wood, an ancient way.

The barn that Aaron had on his farm had a more wider and unique design to it. Also it was made out of steel and tin. What was the meaning of this extreme difference?

Aaron just assumed that it was some sort of historical monument that the citizens of this unknown planet wished to preserve. Kind of like a museum or something.

When he looked around even more while still in zoom, his assumptions were soon broken.

Not far from the area of the barn, Aaron spotted some sort of settlement resting behind a barrier of hills which only gave him a view of the rooftops which were completely made out of straw and hay. One structure that didn’t seem to be made out of hay was some sort of brown steeple.

Aaron was completely baffled now as he flipped the zoom switch again to return to normal view. Whatever colony was on this planet was definitely not acquainted with the UNSC, or the twenty-fifth century. By the looks of it, not the Covenant either thankfully.

He activated another switch on his helmet. This one was to activate his suit’s COMM network. He wished to hopefully contact the Express to inform them of his status.

“Pony Express, this is Sierra-408 Aaron Jensen do you read? Over,” Aaron tried. His only response was static.

“Captain Kenwood, do you copy? Over,” Aaron tried again. He still received static.

“Dammit,” Aaron cursed under his breath.

His suit wasn’t as fully functional as he thought, or maybe he was out of range. Either way, he knew he was for the moment stranded on an alien world without any connection to UNSC space. He should be thankful though that the planet can supply him with food and water, but the inhabitants of this planet were still a mystery to him.

The structures may have not been Covenant, but there could still be a chance that the inhabitants could become hostile if they feel threatened by a trespasser like Aaron.

Aaron went back into the Pelican’s cockpit to gain access to the holding chamber which could carry a maximum of fourteen passengers that could be civilians, or UNSC foot combatants.

Since it was gunship class, the Pelican also served as a mobile armory where ammo and weapons were provided in chambers above the seats where the passengers sat. Ammo was on the right where weapons were on the left.

Aaron first went to the ammo station to retrieve ammunition for his weapon system. He brought a total of seven empty magazine cases for his MA5D which would equal a total and maximum amount of two-hundred and forty-four rounds.

As for his MGH, he decided to see what kind of other weapons were onboard with him. He’ll never know if he may find something more useful than just a Magnum pistol even though it had super piercing bullets and a high ROF despite being semi-automatic.

The flaw that concerned him about the M6H was its small magazine capacity of eight bullets per round out of a total of thirty-two. If enemy numbers were going to be huge, he would need a bigger weapon and magazine size.

When he opened the weapons chamber, he saw two possible and headshot capable weapons. The BR85HB SR, and the M395 DMR.

Both weapons needed three full magazines to be at full round capacity, but they had different firing functions.

The BR85 could fire three bullets per trigger pull, but becomes less precise and accurate the farther the range extended. The total round capacity was a hundred and eight.

The M395 fired one bullet per trigger pull and remained accurate at any range depending if there was wind or any sort of breeze. It also had more range than a BR85, but not as much as a SRS 99-S5/AM. Unfortunately Aaron wasn’t much of a sniper, but he still possessed great marksmanship for any weapon he acquired at command, or on the battlefield. All UNSC soldiers were trained to be like that.

Aaron decided that accuracy and range was more crucial than round size so he went with the M395 which had a maximum of forty-two rounds. Not very big, but it will have its benefits.

Aaron took the proper bullets from the ammunition boxes and placed them in their  proper magazines until they were full.

He first switched on his MA5D.

The weapon made a brief whistling sound as it powered up and the blue LED ammo counter lite up displaying the digits ‘00’ in brighter blue indicating their was no ammo and magazine currently inside the rifle.

When Aaron inserted his first magazine into the chamber, the digits on the LED screen immediately shot up to ‘32’. A display of the weapon and the amount of ammunition it had appeared on the upper right hand corner of  Aaron’s HUD. The number of bullets in the magazine was displayed beneath the weapon’s diagram while the number of rounds left was displayed to the right of it.

Aaron proceeded the same procedure with the M395 which displayed a small green LED screen starting at ‘00’. When the full magazine was inserted, the number shot up to ‘14’.

With both weapon systems loaded, Aaron went to the grenade storage unit and obtained six frags to put on his belt despite the protocol being to limit two grenades per type, but this was a desperate measure.

The grenade indicator on his HUD automatically lite up with six of the frag type grenades. Now his weapon system was full and ready for action whenever it presented itself.

Aaron decided that his MA5D should be his primary weapon because not only was it a useful weapon, it also was a compass. A tiny arrow was displayed above the LED ammo counter to indicate directional heading.

The M395 would be his secondary so he placed it on his back.

Aaron planned on staying on the outskirts of the settlement to avoid detection, but he really wanted to get a closer look at it for reconnaissance purposes. The big question was how he was going to do that?

Aaron scanned the perimeter around the settlement to see what he could use for cover. He was lucky enough to discover that a distant forest was lying southeast of the village. It seemed dense enough to provide the cover he needed.

He headed off for the uncharted and mysterious forest, abandoning his crashed Pelican in thinking that no one would find it.

If he only knew he was already spotted coming down during his atmospheric reentry, and that the forest he was heading for was known as the Everfree Forest. One of the most sinister locations in Equestria.

Of course Aaron didn’t know that at all. This planet was new and foreign to him.

***

SWEET APPLE ACRES

2:15PM

There was a bright flash of light in front of Applejack’s farm house as she and Twilight appeared out of thin air.

Applejack, unfazed by the teleportation, quickly ran up to the patio of her home and frantically burst through the door looking for and calling out the names of her family members; while Twilight collapsed on the ground trying to catch her breath. Even as an alicorn, teleporting a very long distance exhausted her.

“Granny! Big Mac! Apple Bloom! Are ya here?” Applejack called.

She received no response increasing her worry even more.

“Where are y’all?”

She began to frantically trot around the house searching every room but not finding anypony. Her anxiety was pushed to the max as tears began streaming from her eyes.

“Please Celestia. Please let them be okay,” Applejack sorrowfully prayed to herself as she trotted out of the house past the still downed Twilight, and headed for the barn hoping they might be there instead.

When she swung the barn door opened, her hopes were shattered when she didn’t see a single one of her family members present within the structure. This could not be happening! She searched every possible area she could think off, but could not find anything.

Applejack finally came to the side of Twilight in a desperate and hysterical way.

“Oh Twilight! Ah can’t find mah family anywhere! Ah don’t know where they are!”

“Have….you….checked….the….cellar?” Twilight panted still having not recovered yet.

Without warning, Applejack scooped up Twilight and placed her on her back as she galloped quickly over to the farm’s cider cellar. Apparently Applejack didn’t search every possible location on the farm after all. There was still hope. At least that’s what it seemed.

When Applejack reached the cellar with Twilight in tow, she used one of her hooves to get the door opened. To Applejack’s surprise, it was locked. It was never locked because it can only lock from the inside. That had to mean that somepony had to be in there.

“Is anypony in there? It’s Applejack! Please open up!” Applejack called as she frantically pounded on the door.

“Applejack? Is that really you?” a familiar elderly mare voice replied muffled from the closed door.

“Yes Granny, it’s really me!” Applejack replied now becoming more relaxed. “Please open up!”

There was a slight clicking sound as the lock to the cellar became undone. The doors then gently lifted up revealing Granny Smith and Applejack’s two siblings. Her eldest brother, Big Macintosh; and her little sister, Apple Bloom. All three were safe and sound.

Crying tears of joy, Applejack hugged her family members with great passion.

“Thank Celestia y’all are alright,” Applejack said.

“We’re glad yer alright too Applejack,” Granny Smith said warmly to her granddaughter. Apparently they were just as worried about Applejack.

“We thought that meteor would wipe out everything so we took shelter. Right Big Mac?” Apple Bloom said and turned to her brother.

“Eeyup,” the red stallion uttered with an indifferent but deep voice.

“We saw it too. When Ah saw it head for our farm, Ah was worried fer y’all’s safety which is why Ah had Twilight teleport us here,” Applejack explained.

She then took notice of Twilight’s state.

“Oh no, we better lay her down somewhere comfy and get ‘er somethin’ ta drink. Ah was so busy worryin’ that Ah should’ve remembered about her limits.”

An emotion of regret came over Applejack’s face.

“Ah’m so sorry Twi. Ah’m sorry if Ah seemed ta care more about my needs then you.”

“It’s okay….Applejack. You did….what….you….had...to do,” Twilight replied with a weak smile.

“No it ain’t okay Twi. Ah owe ya big time fer this. We need ta get ya inside now.”

Applejack and the rest of the Apple family helped Twilight into their home and laid her down on the sofa.

Granny Smith made quick and easy apple treats for Twilight to eat while Applejack poured a glass of freshly squeezed apple juice as a beverage. Apple Bloom and Big Mac did whatever they could to make Twilight more comfortable.

When Twilight seemed to be getting her strength back, the Apple family members continued their discussion of the current situation.

“So ya were in Canterlot because Princess Luna was ill? That’s just awful,” Apple Bloom said sympathetically.

“Yeah, but Twilight also mentioned that Celestia needed our help to set up fer this years Gala. Hopefully Rainbow, Rare, Pinkie,  an’ Shy have started already. Ah jus’ hope the princess will be okay,” Applejack explained.

“Ah’m sure she’ll be fine dear,” Granny Smith reassured. “If it’s jus’ a sleepin’ problem, Ah’m pretty sure she’ll pull through.”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac said.

“What I don’t understand is why she’s dreaming about warfare that hasn’t even occurred in our world,” Twilight said now being able to breath properly again. She was still wrapped in a blanket, but had enough strength to sit up by herself and hold a cup of apple juice in her hooves.

“Oh yeah. Twi said that the princess was dreamin’ about some kind of conflict between two different aliens. One of them she claims is to be….well….somethin’ called a human,” Applejack reluctantly said. She knew how ridiculous it sounded.

“Oh don’t be silly Applejack. Their ain’t no such things as humans,” Granny Smith stated. “Jus’ mentionin’ such a word in front of your little sister will give ‘er nightmares.”

“No it won’t,” the little filly protested. “Ah think meetin’ or huntin’ down a human would be excitin’. Perhaps Ah could earn mah cutie mark fer doin’ such a thing.”

“You would do no such thing young mare! Even if they did exist,” Granny Smith argued.

“Yes Ah would!” Apple Bloom shot back.

“That’s enough outta the both of ya! Like Ah said, it was only a dream an’ nothin’ more!” Applejack interjected to try and stop the quarreling between her grandmother and little sister. “Ah and everypony else already knows humans don’t exist in our world. They could only exist in another dimension like the one Twi went to. Hay if they came to our world, surely they would be turned into ponies like us.”

Applejack’s words seemed to extinguish the heat between Apple Bloom and Granny Smith. Applejack did make a valid point.

“Sorry granny,” Apple Bloom said sincerely to her grandmother.

“Ah’m sorry too dear,” Granny Smith replied with the same attitude.

“Back on the subject of this meteor,” Twilight cut in. “Do any of you know where it could’ve landed?”

The Apples gazed at Twilight questionably.

“Meteors don’t land Twi. They either burn up or explode on impact. Yer talkin’ as if it stayed in one piece when it made contact with the soil,” Applejack said.

“I am saying that it might’ve stayed whole when it hit the surface. The speed and trajectory it had could mean it fully survived upon its re-entry into our atmosphere,” Twilight explained.

The Apples had no idea what Twilight just said, but it did sound convincing. Also because they knew Twilight read books about anything in order to gain so much knowledge. It’s no wonder Rainbow likes to refer to her as an egghead.

“Whad’ya suggest we do then?” Applejack asked.

“I say if we could figure out where this meteor landed, I could get an up close analysis of it for field research,” Twilight replied.

Applejack looked very unsure.

“Ah don’t know sugarcube. It sounds pretty dangerous to me. Why don’t ya let Celestia send her own guards to check it out,” Applejack suggested. She feared for her friend’s life. It was already bad enough that she exerted Twilight’s powers for her own anxiety.

“I’m glad for your concern Applejack, but this is a call for science and observation. Celestia’s guards are not entitled to perform such tasks,” Twilight explained. “I’ll get Spike to send a letter to Canterlot to inform her of my intentions. Now, did you at least get a vector as to where it might have landed?”

Seeing that Twilight wasn’t going to give up, they decided just to trust the brainy alicorn to tend to her intent.

“Last Ah can remember, it seemed to be headed in the direction of our cornfield. Dang thing must’ve left a lot of damage to our crop if it made contact,” Granny Smith said. “But are ya alright enough to walk dear?”

“Yes, I believe I got most of my strength back, but I definitely don’t intend on teleporting again. My magic is still a little weak, and I’m definitely still a little tired to fly,” Twilight replied. “Thank you all for helping me through.”

“Don’t mention it,” Apple Bloom said with a sweet smile.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed.

“I just need to find a way to help me track down the location of the crashsite,” Twilight said.

“Winona has a good nose. She ain’t no tracker breed, but she can smell the scent of burnt corn anywhere,” Applejack said.

Upon hearing her name, the brown and white border collie got to her paws and wagged her tail excitedly. She knew she was going to be needed for some kind of importance.

“That should be good enough,” Twilight said. “I’ll head off now.”

“Hold on there sugarcube. Ya can’t go off by yerself. Ah should probably go with ya ta make sure yer safe. Plus Winona mostly listens to me, or any other member of mah family,” Applejack explained.

“I don’t wish to put you in danger,” Twilight protested. She wanted to keep her friends safe incase this task was more risky than she thought.

“We’ve been on all sorts of dangerous missions Twi, but that never stopped us at all. Our friendship is what saved us time and time again. Don’t ya remember when the Everfree Forest came to life and nearly killed you? All five of us were there ta save yer life. Yer talkin’ the same way as before. Ya need somepony with ya Twi to keep you safe., an’ that pony is me.”

Twilight wanted to argue further, but Applejack’s lecture was completely accurate. Everytime she flied solo, Twilight always ran into danger that she couldn’t handle alone.

“Okay,” Twilight sighed defeated.

“Alrighty then, let’s get a move on,” Applejack said.

“Be careful out there you two,” Granny Smith warned.

“Tell us what ya find or bring somethin’ back. If it’s alien, Ah wanna see it,” Apple Bloom said excitedly.

“Ya take good care of mah sis alright?” Big Mac stated finally talking in a complete sentence.

“I will,” Twilight said and headed out the door followed by Applejack and Winona.

What this meteor may turn out to be is something that may make a revelation that Luna’s dreams weren’t as made up as anypony thought. They don’t know yet that that this meteor has carried somepony or something with it.

If they happen to run into it, their opinions about humans not existing in their world may have to be reconsidered.