Day 7:

As the days go by we think to ourselves about going home. Already we are all tired and cramped in our ships with nothing to do. The last few planets were dead ends. Most either had too much gravity or not enough, no atmosphere or unbreathable atmosphere. That or the fact that it was too cold or hot to sustain any viable life. We've already ran out of fuel and we're hovering in orbit of an unknown planet. I lay on my bed and looked at the ceiling as Digi came over the intercom.

“Hey hey every-poneigh!”

“Digi, what in Celestia's name is it now? I swear if you and Pinkie sing another bucking Singing Telegram I am gonna lose it,” I cupped my hooves to my face and slid them down the length of my snout. I turn to a mirror and see myself: red maned with sky blue coat. Yellow tail and a Fillypine sunburst cutiemark.

“Nope! I just got done analyzing the readings of the planet below us. Turns out it's got just the right amount of gravity, oxygen, temperature, and soil composition. We're heading down to the surface!” His face appeared before me with a hologram. His stringy pink and purple mane went well with his lavender body. I jumped up out of my bed in excitement.

“Wait, really?” a chorus of questions erupted. We started to cheer.

“Good job Digi! Prepare to set hoof on the surface everypony!” Twilight was relieved and I could see her trot into her ship from the window. I waved to her and walked over to Dashie, slumpt back in the captain's chair napping. Boy, she can sleep anywhere I tell you.

“Dash! Dashie wake up! We're finally stepping off to the surface!”

As I jar her awake she jumped slightly and looked at me with joy in her eyes, “Alright! Finally some action!”

She darted off to the back of the ship and came back with our two gun cases. I started to don my uniform until I noticed a warm and firm hug stopped me from proceeding, followed by a quick peck on the cheek.

“I love you too,” I finished getting into my uniform and grabbed the revolver from my case. Rainbow and I stepped inside the teleporter room of the ship and awaited for the rest to radio in.

“This is Princess Twilight, all hooves report to teleporter decks!”

“Honey I'm already there. Go ask the others,” AnY looked like he had just woken up from a nap from the hologram. His thick German accent was always nice to hear. I didn't make fun of it, I just love the way it sounds. I can see why he became a chancellor, his charisma and voice helps.

“AJ and I are good to go here Supreme Overlord Alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle!” Digi smiled and messed around with AJ's hat.

“Now don't be too rowdy ya hear Digi! Haha,” she returned the playful gesture by putting her hat on him and blocking his eyes.

“Shall we get started Kim?” Antony came on screen and looked at KP. The white coated, blue haired stallion glanced back at the camera with light green eyes.

“This better be worth it... I woke up from a nap for this you know,” she was equally grumpy as AnY cramped inside the dusty hull of a spacecraft for a whole week. The bright teal pegasus mare wanted to fly so bad. Her yellow stripped auburn hair was pretty ruffled.

“HEL-LO!” Pinkie Pie and Puzzle Piece are the most optimistic of the bunch. They were posing for the camera and both had quite the look of excitement on their face. That green pony Puzzle was wearing his blue collar-cape... Thing... His glasses matched his eyes: a bright blue. His stained yellow mane was hidden under a red hat that reminded me of something Robinhood would wear.

“Fluttershy and I are ready! Come on now Flutters, don't you want to make friends with new animals you've never seen before?” Ink Rose, a maroon colored mare with dark brown hair was dragging Fluttershy into the teleporter room by her tail.

“Um... Well, if you put it that way,” Flutters smiled and tucked her pink tail behind her, “I could get excited about that!” She was barely talking above a whisper and was scratching at her chin in thought.

“I hope it's not too yicky down there. We can't have a dirty exploration team!” Rarity was her usual self as ever. I respected her craft, really I did, but I just found her to be the more annoying of the bunch. Obviously our two personalities don't mix, so I try to stray away from our dislikes and focus on the positives about her abilities. She IS the one who will make our clothes from scratch for the next year or two. A dark blue unicorn stepped into the frame and put one hoof around her in a hug.

“Don't worry my fair Rarity. I brought you your hazmat suit!” Tommy was wearing his trademark beret. His light green eyes shifted up and down at his wife.

“Oh you're such a dear Tommy darling!”

“Can we quit messing around and just get down there already?” Rainbow was impatient and put her hoof on the holograms.

“I agree, does everypony have their matter manipulators?” Twilight floated her's up with magic. Everyone else did so, some grasped with their mouths, wings, or just bare hooves, “Right! Starbound Team! Beam Down!”

The surface of the planet Alpha Velocia 98 I greeted us with a stunning sight of an evening sunset, tinting the atmosphere a bright amber color. We had beamed down into a large clearing of the forested planet. Ink Rose gasped at the beautiful trees that surrounded us. They were giant roses! Beautiful red flowers that gave off a crisp clean air. The trees themselves had no thorns, just pure essence of the pretty flowers that graced our sight. Beyond us is a mountain far in the distance with a snow capped peak rising softly from the rolling green hills.

“...This place is breathtaking...” Ink Rose stood in awe at the trees, “Oh my Celestia! I've never could have imagined a sight!”

“I do agree with you Inky dear, this is simply magnificent!” Rarity took off her helmet and sniffed the air, “Oh my! Such sweet aroma fills my lungs! This. Is. Truly. MARVELOUS!”

She bounced with glee. Rainbow turns to me.

“So, whatcha think?” she asked and smiled.

“...It reminds me of home...” the amber tinted sky brought me back to memories of when I was a colt growing up in the Fillypines. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, the tall rose trees, the picturesque mountain in the back, and... Something caught my eye. Something artificial. I trotted over the the edge of the hill we stood on and I saw what looked like a bunker, “Squad, hold up.”

“Something wron-whoa,” Dashie stopped next to me and I held her back gently with one hoof outstretched. From within I can hear a low whining. The rest of our team looked on.

“Dash, Kim, Tony with me. Let's check this out. Everypony else stay put. Everyone else have a sword with them?”

A few of our members flashed their defensive weapons.

“Good, Twilight if that will be okay with you?” I asked our leader.

“Well, you don't really need to ask me for everything,” She was still reluctant in her leadership role, “But it's your call.”

“Hmph, okay. Kim, Tony stay here. If we need backup we'll call,” I altered my plan of approach.

“Gotcha. Can you try and get some food on the way back?” Kim's stomach rumbled.

“We'll try. Digi, could you hand me your scanner?”

Digi came up to me and handed me something to scan the surrounding plants with to make sure they were edible. Most of our group came from Equestria, so most didn't eat meat. Although I myself don't mind it at all. Plus, AnY is half Changeling so meat doesn't bother him. I know Ink Rose and KP wouldn't say no to a some “Yes Bacon” though.

Rainbow and I cautiously flew over the structure. There were no guards and we landed softly on top of the roof. I placed my head to it and heard the whining from inside, it was mechanical in nature and I could only hazard a guess to what was inside.

That was until the floor collapsed under my weight to reveal spinning sawblades beneath me. I reacted quickly, but Dash caught me in time as I flew up. I jinked both of us upward and flew back to the outside door of the structure.

“Woo! Thanks Dashie.”

“Anytime buddy,” she ruffled my mane and I returned with a pat on her back. She dropped her pistol into the building and I took point opening the door. Inside was an empty room, aside from the spinning metal death machines that were thinly covered with dried blood. There was an odd alien symbol in the room of a sun with a bird like alien face in the middle, “What the hell is this?”

“First contact... At least we weren't anal probed,” I looked at the center of the room: treasure chests! My eyes widened as my mercenary days came back to me, “Loot!”

“Huh? Where?” Rainbow looked around, I grasped her head and pointed it to the center of the room. Her smile let out a small squee, “You thinkin what I'm thinkin?”

“MMHM!” I grinned but glanced back to reality, “Careful though, it could be a trap.”

I scanned the chests with the X-ray function of the scanner. No explosive compounds or additional traps. As pegasi we simply just flew over the saws and claimed our prize: the first chest held an alien medical kit complete with bandages, alcohol based disinfectant, and gauze. It was oddly fairly conventional, it even had a red cross over a white background on the front. It also had five pieces of coal that we could use to fuel our ships, albeit only warping faster than light to a couple hundred yards. The next chest was full of good stuff! There was a spear, a spear! Our first alien weapon was... A crappy little damaged spear. Well, you gotta start somewhere. At the bottom was a bounty! Ten pieces of gold and what appeared to be alien currency, shaped in squares with rounded edges. They felt like a cobbled together material used for manufacturing something.

We left the building with the traps intact and came back to the hill. Everyone else had started to make camp and three of the trees around us were chopped down to make our crafting tables and shelters. This was gonna be our first colony. Rarity was busy making beds out of plant fiber and rosewood with her husband while AJ, Pinkie, and Puzzle set to work on our farm. Some of the carrot seeds we brought had sprouted with the help of Earth Pony magic. Kim and Antony sat atop two of the rose trees that marked the beginning and end of our settlement with sniper rifles in hoof. They had beamed up to my ship and grabbed them from the armory. They were old rifles, Mauser 98Ks. It was what we had left after the wars. AnY and Twilight were helping to build the wooden houses that would be our homes. KP waved to me from her sniper perch.

“Did you find any food!” she yelled.

“No! But-” I flew up to her and showed her the contents of my bag, gold ore, alien money, and coal.

“Not bad, but I want fooood,” Kim was still hungry, “Everyone else here seems to have everything covered. Why don't you guys go and hunt for a while. I don't mind meat, I just want food. Food foood food fooood.”

Our lead bullets might poison any edible alien if we aren't careful. So we decide to fashion two hunting bows and a multitude of arrows. We set off in the other direction, east from camp. Our first contact with alien animals came in the form of an odd beast with a walrus like head and a boney tail that ended in a scythe. It had two toed feet and a streamlined body for swimming, as we encountered it near a pond. We gave them the name of Longtoothed Scythetails and they were aggressive predators. Rainbow approached one of them and it lunged into the air. We both drew our bows and pinned it right in the head, killing it with some well placed blows. We scanned the body and found it to be deemed edible. Good, I started to gut the creature and cut away into the meat. Rainbow looked away and kept guard as I prepared the animal. It was fairly familiar, mammalian with all the regular bits and pieces in place. The streamlined mid section had a delicious layer of fat that I didn't waste on cutting out some bits to cook for later. The skin on the abdomen felt like a feral pig. I found the liver and scanned it for toxins. The test showed positive and I was disappointed. I wanted to make alien Sisig, that was the first recipe that came to mind. I just needed a good liver.

A few more Sycthetails later we had a good haul of meat for our omnivorous members. We also stumbled upon of all things: RICE! And not some type of weird alien rice, actual, legit, white rice! It was growing on the side of the pond that one of the Sycthetails was occupying. That was another ingredient I needed in my journey, that I had so foolishly forgot to bring with me. I gathered the rice plants and placed them into my saddlebags. As we made our way back to camp I trip on a metallic object that seemed questionable. My gut instinct was to assume that it was a landmine and my heart skipped a beat. Thankfully I was proven wrong as the item broke away and spilled out ten of those alien coins. We collected them and started to notice that... They were hidden everywhere and in peculiar locations. It's as if someone was leaving them here. We galloped back to camp as night began to fall. It was getting cold fast and we made it to the gate of our colony. Pinkie Pie and Puzzle greeted us as the sun dipped below the mountain.

“Welcome back! Did you find any food?” Puzzle smiled.

I dug into my bag and pulled out bushels of rice plants and slabs of alien meat, “ WE GOT FOOD!”

The majority of the group cheered, some were disgusted by the meat but they were quickly silenced when the smell of roasted Sycthetail filled their noses. Pinkie Pie and AJ had baked some fresh loaves of bread while we were venturing out. I planted half of the rice plants and gave the rest to our resident farmer pony to process. We built our settlement in only a few hours with the matter manipulators and magic spells we used. Our houses were fully furnished with basic wooden furniture and we planted the rest of the saplings to grow more trees in the future. This was going to be our home in the stars, so we landed our ships within the fenced in area of our town. We decided to call it “New Ponyville” and I can see why. We passed the time by singing songs and gathering around the campfire. It was then we noticed the planet we were on was simply a moon of an even larger desert looking planet that filled the night sky. It was as equally mind-blowing as our first moments of stepping onto the surface. All of us looked into the night sky and bonded closer together as an extended family that day. The sense of camaraderie filled our hearts with joy as we opened the first chapter of our existence in the stars...