Chapter 1- Discovery (Rewrite!)

Air forced its way into David’s rapidly thawing lungs; the tweny-two year old man gasped loudly, painful-sounding, and feeling, coughs ripping out. Inside the whirring, hissing cryopod, there was little room to bend over, and David pressed his hands against the glass as he struggled to come fully to. It was a blessing, really. Cryosleep was not a pleasant experience. Black, dreamless sleep, with the strangest feeling of prickles that just does not go away until one wakes up. Gritting his teeth, David slowly flexed his hands, sighing in relief as they moved smoothly. Being an Explorer-Engineer, his hands were his life, and it would suck to have to go to the clinic the second it was up on the ground. That would be a waste of time, and no one wasted time anymore.

Once David was sure he was fully awake, he went through a mental checklist, slowly moving his hands down his chest, sides, and legs. No points of pain really stood out, and the pod would have alerted him to any /major/ malfunctions in his system. He glanced up at his reflection; grungy, goateed face, with shaggy brown hair? Check. Hazel eyes? Check. Sardonic smile? Oh, double check. He let out a breath, slowly reaching up to tap the release sequence control on the hologlass screen. Immediately, a small screen brightened the formerly opague front of the pod, showing the red V-in-circle symbol of the colony’s sponsor, the NASA-Parker Co-operative. David gave a small, proud smile at the sight of it. Every person on the NASA starship had worked hard to prepare their fledgling movement for this day, for the day when America, when all earthlings, could step onto a new home.

“Welcome back, colonist.”

The voice of the Director of the colony was a deep baritone; David had seen the Director before being put into cryosleep: an African-American, tough and tall, guiding everyone to their proper pod with a soft hand. It had given the painfully overworked at the time David a bit of comfort. The voice now was warm and incredibly pleased, almost vibrating with excitement.

“It has been six hundred and seventy three years since we had left our home. I know that must seem like an immense, impossible amount of time, but…”

He chuckled softly in the audio.

“Think of how long it’d be without the wormholes! But that is beside the point. We… have done it. You will see once you are released from the pod, but we have found a new world.”

A lightning bolt raced through David’s spine, and he couldn’t help but smile widely. Of course, it made sense- why else would they have been woken up? But to actually hear that…

“I won’t spoil the moment with a picture of it. You’ll get to see a proper view yourself here shortly, after all. But now I must go over your duty assignments. As an Explorer, you will be among the first humans on the ground, and will be privy to our initial scans. Once you are released, report directly to the Command and Control Center on C-Deck. Your equipment will be waiting for you there, as will your proper briefing from myself, the captain of the vessel, and the captain of the military division onboard the main colony lander. Good luck, Explorer. Let’s get started, shall we?”

“I am all for that, sir,” David whispered, still grinning widely as the glass door slid up into the machinery above.

Oh dear. The walkways were a veritable madhouse of scrambling people; mostly scientists, judging from their blue jumpsuits, which differed from his silver Explorer uniform. Frowning, David watched as a pair of violet culturists quickly ran to a set of scientists. Sociologists? Already? Shaking his head curiously, David quickly strapped on his ID necklace, turning to jog up the staircases built every few pods down. The staircases were just as crowded as the hallways, but these were stacked more with black-uniformed soldiers and other silver explorers, each giving each other terse nods and soft greetings. David did away with that, simply climbing his way up the stairs towards the “top” of the ship.

The Command and Control Center was built in a large dome structure at the top of the colony ship, allowing a 360 degree view of the space around them. Not that there had been much to view for the on-shift bridge crew these past years, David imagined with a small smirk. That smirk died the second he saw the planet. It was only a small view- the windows cut the view into a dome-like picture. But still… The world was, in a word, incredibly massive. At least two Earths could have fit inside its mass, with a riot of greens, browns, and blues running across it. David’s hands twitched. So much to see…

That familiar baritone chuckled beside him, and a paw of a hand clapped firmly onto the smaller man’s shoulder. Director Aurelias Michaels beamed down at David, his middle-aged face alight with an energetic fire.

“Beautiful, isn’t it, Explorer?” he asked, sounding both amused, and still a little awed himself.

David managed to chuckle faintly, trying to stuff his initial panic down, “Very much so, sir.”

David had to make a good impression here. If Director Michaels didn’t like him, he could get the crap jobs- exploring volcanoes or the like. He reluctantly turned towards him, holding out his hand.

“David Winters, sir, Explorer-Engineer.”

Aurelias’ smile only widened, and he gripped David’s hand tightly, giving it a firm pump.

“Good to meet you, David,” he boomed, “I was waiting for you, actually. The Explorer-Captain said you had the highest marks in wilderness survival, improvisation, and reverse engineering. Is that correct?”

Startled, David could only nod, staring up at the Director in awe. Waiting for… him? He bit back a yelp as the taller man quickly led David towards a small group of men and women, and a single, miniature screen. Explorer-Captain Geoffrey Davis, a Caucasian man in his late fifties, grinned faintly at David, giving a nod of greeting. Beside him stood a stiff Asian-American woman; she looked more to be in her late twenties, but wore the blood red uniform of the Head of the Xenobiology Department. She didn’t nod or smile, merely stare at David with a calculating, appraising gaze. David swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. And finally, the armored figure of Captain Dennis Venkin stared impassively at David for just a moment, then turned his attention back to the screen.

David glanced at it, and frowned.

The hell…

On it was a probe view of a series of tall, stone structures, built into the side of a mountain. Spires rose high into the sky, colored a soft, marble white, and capped with a dull, tarnished metal finish, though parts of the spires seemed weakened and cracked. Water ran down the mountainside from a flowing moat-river, letting steam and spray rise up to partially obscure the view of the sprawling, ruined city around the tall... castle?

“Where… is this?” David asked slowly, frowning, “That doesn’t match any Earth-style castles. Is this from the archives?" What was he missing?

He gazed up and around at the surrounding crewmembers, eyes widening at the somber expressions on their faces. Director Michaels let out a soft sigh.

“That’s from the ground, son. This planet is inhabited.”

********************************************

David’s fingers flew over the probe controls, and he blocked out the stunned gazes of the crew behind him. Twenty probes, their views slaved onto the main viewboard, zoomed across the landscape, scans coming back with more and more shocking redoubts. A soil probe revealed that the soil of a large continent on the temperate northern hemisphere held enough nutrients similar to those on Earth to easily allow the growth of many staple crops they had brought with them in the cavernous cargo hold. Indeed, the botany probe was already finding analogues for wheat, apples, corn, and potatoes, and the botany department could practically be heard squealing from their rooms on C-deck. A geology probe, flying into a natural cave, revealed dozens, if not hundreds, of raw diamonds embedded into the wall, and deep-rock scans revealed even more gemstones all across several of the major continents. And the mineral wealth… basalt, bauxite, raw gold veins… David licked his lips slowly. This colony would be phenomenally wealthy. Well… assuming…

“We should scan for other worlds in this system,” the Asian women muttered for the fourth time in as many hours, shaking her head slowly, “There are lifeforms on this world.”

And, for the fourth time, the Director shut her down with a dismissive wave.

“No,” he replied patiently, “This world holds too much promise to just give it up. Look at the scanner. So far we are only finding small groups of life signs, and all the cities and ruins we have found have been just that- ruins."

The women scowled, jabbing a finger at the screen so hard David was half afraid she might crack it.

“And they’re spread out across it. At the very least we should land on an island, out of the way of their population.”

“And then we won’t have the proper room to expand ourselves, or study the aliens."

David glanced hesitantly over at the pair of Captains; both men had been staring impassively at his work-screen, scanning the lifeform screens thoughtfully. Captain Venkin was the first to move, moments later, when he lightly pointed to a small patch of darkness on the screen.

“Here,” he intoned firmly, “It’s sectioned off in a set of forest, with hills and mountains around it we can use as defensive positions. And it’s just close enough to one of the smaller native groups so that we could observe them.”

He glanced up at Davis, who nodded his assent, turning back to a quiet Michaels.

“Our Explorers can go out, quietly of course, and observe the natives. Let us get a better view of them, their appearance, intelligence. The light-bending armor is operational, of course.”

Venkin’s smile was downright predatory, “And if they prove to be hostile… well, I have four hundred men and women on this ship ready to go hunting, sir."

Yes, let's go hunting the aliens. Definitely the first thing we should do on an unspoiled alien world. Oi.

“It’s too dangerous,” the Xenobiology Head argued hotly, glaring holes in both men, “We don’t know what these aliens are like, what diseases they might have… damnit, they’ll see us landing! If they are intelligent at all, they'll want to check the colony out!”

And that’s my cue!

David quickly got to his feet, clearing his throat and smiling softly at Director Michaels.

“That might not be entirely true, sir,” he said quickly, heading off the quickly puffing up civilian, “There seems to be a big storm building up over that continent. Some kind of hurricane, perhaps? Either way, if we hurry, we can land using the storm as visual and audio cover. The natives likely will think our thrusters are thunderclaps.”

Judging from the grin slowly spreading across the faces of all but the civilian, David could only imagine what his next job might end up being… Whether that was good or bad, well, that’s life.

****************************

Melanie Storm cackled excitedly as she tightly gripped the controls of the Colonial Landing Vehicle and Prime Colony, storm-grey eyes bright. She hadn’t had this much fun since piloting jets for the ARC paramilitary back on Earth. The storm was bucking and rocking the CLV-PC with everything it had, and Melanie had to keep a white-knuckled grip just to control the descent. To her right and left, her co-pilots, both men, were screaming like little girls.

“WHY THE HELL AREN’T WE JUST USING THE AUTOPILOT!?” One yelled, staring at Melanie in horror.

The twenty-seven year old blonde rolled her eyes, smirking back at him slyly.

“Because the autopilot isn’t made for storms, and I’m the best damn pilot here. Now hush, and double-check those scans. That cloud-city we saw had to be some kind of illusion.”

Thankfully the storm had blocked them visually from whatever low-orbit device that “city” had been, but they had plenty of scans of it. Melanie had had the forethought to launch a few probes to study it for the colony scientists. That might earn her a few ration points later! Chuckling faintly, the pilot glanced at her screen, nodding. Right on check, they’d land safely in the valley, hooking into the geothermal vents their deep-scans had shown were in the rock face below. Melanie was pleased with that- the excess energy from geothermal could be used to charge her wing of Tacjets in the hanger bay, or even one of the dropships. Getting out in the skies again with one of the super-lights would be just…

Melanie shivered in delight, earning concerned looks from both co-pilots. Eh, screw ‘em. ...well, maybe later.

**********************

Anya Sulucia frowned deeply as she stared down at her datapad, tapping out rapid-fire commands as she walked determinedly for the airlock. The twenty-four year old Indian woman was dressed in her field gear- an exosuit colored blue for her Scientist class, bulky and lined with sensors, evidence bags, and a few test kits. Though she disliked weapons in general, she did keep a SK-12 Sonic pistol on her belt, and knew the weapon inside and out. A nice little stun device on one setting, and a deadly hellion on another.

“This can’t be right,” she muttered softly, then froze as she thumped into another exosuit-wearing colonist.

The silver-armored young man glanced back at her in surprise, then smiled warmly.

“Hey Anya!” David greeted cheerfully, “Ready to go?”

David Winters and Anya had been working together in NASA for several years before the Seeding project, mostly on field research into the dangerous Middle Eastern Nuclear Zone. It had been there that they had undergone rigorous field tests for their NASA-Parker handlers, and even more testing once the Seeding project had been announced. It had been damn hard work to get on the same ship together, but neither would have traded partners and been happy about it. Anya trusted David’s gut and aim, and Anya knew David trusted her moral compass and logic more than even that. In a word, they were friends. Good friends.

“Now that my brains have had time to unscramble from that rough landing, yes,” she replied with a smirk, moving over to the locker to fetch her coded helmet.

“Definitely Melanie’s handiwork,” David replied, already snapping on the airtight seals.

Scans showed that the world had a perfectly breathable atmosphere, but protocol was clear. Exosuits on till virus and bacterial studies could be conducted. Getting some kind of alien superbug in the first week could spell the death of an entire colony. And Explorer teams were the ones who’d be exposed more often than not. Anya glanced over at the rifle David removed from the weapons locker, frowning slightly.

“Do you really think we’ll need an Armor-Piercing weapon?”

He shrugged, shouldering the long rifle and smiling as it linked up with his suit, “Can never be too careful. We don’t know what the natives even look like yet, or how dangerous they might be. For all we know they can be carnivorous monsters with six heads and tank armor.”

He grinned at Anya’s deadpan look, matching gazes till she finally cracked, giggling a bit.

“Let’s just get out there,” she admonished, punching his arm lightly and sealing on her helmet, hurrying down towards the airlock.

Signing out at the airlock took longer than Anya expected, but NASA had always been a stickler for protocol. Hopefully that would fade over time. It wasn’t that Anya disliked NASA-Parker- they had saved her family’s home in the Mississippi River Basin, after all, and given her the best job in the world, and were a step up from the ARC conglomerate- but the mountains of digital paperwork could always get a bit… tiresome. Especially when she was so damn excited to step on this alien world, and to possibly even study its inhabitants! Finally, the airlock sequence began, native air hissing in as their own, recycled air was pumped out. Her armor sensors pinged on a few things right off the bat- more of the strange energy spikes in the very air, and higher-than-normal oxygen levels. Not enough to cause them physical problems, but interesting nonetheless.

David reached over to pat her armored shoulder firmly, giving it a small squeeze. No words were needed now. This was their destiny, after all. Grinning widely at the majesty of it all, Anya surged forward as the outer airlock door swung open… and sunk calf-deep into a peat bog, falling on her face in the fertile but mushy substance.

*********************

David was still cackling as he dragged them both out of the bog, grinning down at a glaring, huffing Anya. He couldn’t help it! That had been utterly priceless! Idly, he sent in a request to build a support at that particular airlock, so they could move a little more freely next time.

“Look at it this way, Anya!” he exclaimed cheerfully, “The agronomists will be excited that you discovered the best fertilizer for their crops!”

“Oh shove it,” she snarled half-heartedly, rolling her eyes and stomping her way up the muddy slope.

The storm they had used for cover had stopped but, oddly enough, the deeply ominous black clouds remained. David frowned as he peered up at them, quickly readying an atmospheric probe with a few flicks of his eyes on the holographic headset the exosuit helmet gave him. His armor was more designed for scanning and observation, linked to Anya, whose gear could analyze whatever he found. Anya glanced over at him, likely noting the atmospheric probe settings flashing on her headset, then peered up at the sky herself. Her sharp intake of breath instantly brought David’s face back up towards the sky, and he gaped up at it in wonder. The object looked shockingly like an ancient Greek acropolis, tall columns and wide buildings set up in a step-up pattern. But... on... clouds. In several places, a rainbow colored liquid seemed to be trickling down from a few buildings.

“Launching probe,” he whispered softly, activating his active camouflage and kneeling down as the silver spheroid launched out of his backpack with a soft hiss of released rockets.

The probes were only the size of a fist, but were packed with sensors and audio/visual recorders; they had been originally designed as spy-grade remotes, useful for listening in on conversations or spotting for snipers. These were far more benign, which suited David just fine. He and Anya stared, enraptured, at their screens as the probe rose higher and higher, finally poking through the cloud cover. Anya nearly fainted in shock, leaning against David’s side. The probe was zipping through street after street, able to easily punch its way through the "buildings," which seemed to, somehow, be made of clouds themselves. This... was impossible. Amazing! But impossible.

“The xenobiologists are going to piss themselves when they see this,” he whispered softly.

Anya snorted, “I’m about to piss myself. They must have some kind of advanced technology, somewhere, to-”

A loud, incredulous cry rocked their audio sensors, and both humans froze, turning slowly to their right... and looking right into the face of a rainbow-haired, cyan-coated alien, its ruby eyes staring straight back at them from the thick cover of the forest. It was panting heavily from the loud whinny, trembling heavily and slowly pawing the ground. Anya bit her lip as she slowly turned towards it, keeping her arms raised peacefully. This was... a very big moment. She had to do this just right...

"Hi there, little guy... awww."

God... damnit, David.

The alien blinked at them in surprise, ears flopping back on its head and eyes going wide. Looking around slowly, staring uncomprehendingly at the massive bulk of the colony lander, then back to the two humans, the alien slowly stepped back... then turned and bolted back into the forest. Anya bit back a curse... then yelped as David raced after the alien.

"Wha- get back here, you idiot!" she screamed, frantically racing after him.

"Turn your armor on and follow it! It'll lead us back to the rest of them!"

"Or into a trap!"

"That's why I brought the gun!"

Anya groaned loudly, blinking at the eye-sensitive display in her helmet to turn on her armor's light-bending technology, leaving her all but invisible in the dense brush. Damn David and his excitable nature. If this got them killed, she was going to kill him in the afterlife!

Author's Notes:

Phew! And the rewrite has started! As you can see, this is going to be quite different from the original!

Chapter 2- Observation (Rewrite)

David was letting out a litany of curses that would have made a sixteenth century pirate proud as he and Anya raced through the dense undergrowth, their light-bending exosuits making them only a blur to observers. Anya had a firm hand on David's back, small pressure changes with her fingers telling exactly when and where to change directions or to duck. It was a system they had made together during their field trials; they truly worked best as a team. David was thankful for the assistance, as he was also doing his absolute damnest to keep the fast little alien in his sensor-sights.

The creature was definitely an equine of some kind, and was as fast, maybe faster, than its kind back on Earth. But no equine known to science ever had wings. As far as David could tell, they were vestigial- the alien had yet to take flight, and they seemed far too puny to get its body into the sky for anything more than a glide, at best. But it knew the forest far better than the clumsier humans, who tended to just smash through the briars and branches in their path.

"I really hope we're not being led into an ambush!" Anya muttered nervously, a few probes flying from her backpack as she twitched her eyes on the controls.

David grinned shakily and chuckled, his hand clenching tightly on his rifle. He hoped not either, but he dared not voice that again. This WAS his idea. The forest gave way to a clearing rather abruptly, and the equine put on a frantic burst of speed, heading for the relative shelter of a nearby cave. It was a small entrance, carved into the side of a low, loamy-looking hill. But it was the object about a hundred yards away from the hill that had drawn the attention of the humans. It was a single massive crystal, its color shimmering between blue, red, and orange, spinning inside a large black ring. Completely ignoring gravity as it sat several feet in the air, seemingly watching over the cave like a protector. ...or a predator.

"That looks alot different than the other ruins," Anya whispered, voice holding a small degree of awe, "My god, how is it... floating... some kind of antigravity..."

"Uh, Anya..."

"I have to get more probes, a field lab. If we could find a way to reverse-engineer that technology..."

"Anyaaaa..."

"This could be one of the biggest scientific dis-"

"ANYAAAA!"

"WHAT?!"

David moved his head to one side so his partner could see, "We have guests."

About two dozen other equines had slowly stepped out from the cave, their stance unmistakeably wary. Larger, broader equines stood in the center of the mass of aliens, their chests puffed out and large, expressive eyes locked on the humans. On the flanks stood more of the winged ones; they walked stiff-legged, wings stretched out wide to make themselves appear bigger. Here and there, David spotted a few hulking brutes of their subtype, though these sported odd, bat-like wings and large fangs curving out of their mouths. Bringing up the rear were a dozen or so tall, thin equines with long, sharp horns gracing their foreheads. These, out of all of the aliens, struck David as something being wrong with them. They were walking slowly, heads hanging, their grayness seeming more ashy, while those of the others, minus the rainbow-colored one, were simply dark.

"What should we do?" David asked Anya quietly, grateful for the fact that he could turn off his external audio.

"It's a threat display," Anya hissed quietly, "We need to back off. We can get the Rangers and biologists to come back to this place, paddock it off. This is their home, and I'm willing to bet they'll defend it. They probably have young inside."

David nodded slowly, "Right. So, we slowly walk back and-"

A flash of color in the corner of his vision; David spun, leveling his rifle- right at a trio of small equines that barely came up to his knee. They had frozen in place, trembling- each one a different subtype of the equines and each having just a bit of color to their bodies, unlike the others. The winged equine had a small tinge of purple to her mane, while the horned creature had a little pink to hers. The "unadorned" equine had some yellow to her fur, and a few streaks of red in her mane. ...David wasn't sure how he knew they were female, but...

Back in the herd of equines, one of the broader equines gave a startled whinny and jerked in the line, stomping its hooves, making the small, yellow furred one wince. The mother, perhaps? David struggled to remember horse herd dynamics, and if they might work with weird, small alien... ponies. Letting out a tense breath, David slowly lowered the weapon to the grass, kneeling down and slowly holding his hand.

"What are you doing?!" Anya hissed.

"Hopefully something soothing," he replied quietly, "Now hush."

Very slowly, careful not to put too much pressure on the head, David trailed his suited fingers over the alien's furred ears. The fur was quite thick, he found, and he imagined it was soft. The already wide eyes of the alien widened even more for a moment... then closed, a deep rumbling rushing through her, followed by a soft noise.

"It's... purring!"

With each pet, the little equine leaned more and more into David's hand, a smile stretching over her rounded muzzle. He could feel the purrs through his fingers. It was easily the most adorable thing David had ever witnessed, bar none. And he had been to Tokyo at night. Peering up, David tensed, his hand freezing for a moment. The herd of equines had edged closer, though the hostile body language had slowly bled out of them. They seemed hesitant. but curious. A somewhat pink maned pony poked her head out of the main herd, staring curiously up at Anya before edging out to nudge at her legs.

"Oh, no, don't... oh... oh god, you're so cute..."

David grinned back at his partner, suppressing a chuckle as he watched her pet the surprisingly perky, compared to her fellows, equine. After a moment's thought, his eyes flicked up to connect his body camera directly to the feed on the colony lander, and attach his audio sensors.

"Director, sir? You have to see this."

*************************

Aurelias sighed heavily as he stood in front of the three parties, doing his best to keep from looking as fed up as he felt. Each of the three groups represented the various scientific teams on the colony- the xenobiologists, the manufactoring teams, and the geneticists. All of them incredibly intelligent. And all of them just as incredibly impatient, more than likely escalated by the cocktail of cryo drugs still working out of their systems, and the stress of the most recent discovery by the explorers. Hell, he was stressed out by the recent discovery! Alien life! Not just microbes, or tiny insects, but mammals! Honest to god mammalian life with, from initial reports, dog-like temperaments. The only way it could be better is if the aliens laid golden eggs and puked biofuel!

One would think that, like the rest of the crew, the cadre of scientists before him would be more focused on the single largest discovery in mankind's existence, besides the Inflection Point that sent them here. But...

"I have to insist, Director Michaels," one of the geneticists spoke up, tone tense and highly irritable, "My team needs to have all of our scientific resources focused on Project Promethean. Upgrading our people-"

"Takes too long!" One of the manufactors snapped instantly; the younger woman shot a glare at the male rival, "You're talking gene research! Genetic therapy! We don't have that kind of time; if we want to survive on this world-"

"We need to focus on it."

Michaels blinked and exchanged a surprised glance between himself and a scientist who had said the exact same sentence; he was the youngest present, in his late twenties, with the jumpsuit and silver ball insignia of the Xenobiologist department.

Clearing his throat, the young man rather sheepishly went on, "This ecosystem, while similar to our own on Earth, it still vastly different. We can't adapt to it until we understand it better. My teams have been studying the ponies for the past few days. For animals, they are incredibly intelligent. They have a highly developed frontal lobe, problem-solving skills, a strong herd mentality... we believe they could be domesticated quite easily. Another labor force to add to the robots, or a way to keep morale up over the colony. Either way..."

"They're our sole focus, scientifically, for now," Aurelias finished for him, grateful for the help, "I need the manufactory teams working with the ag teams to get the farms up, and to find a mine site. The Genetic teams, I need you to focus on all the virus and bacteria samples we've collected and prepare any kind of gene therapy you need to make us immune to them. Do I make myself clear?"

For a moment, judging from the stern faces turned towards him, Director Michaels was afraid they would disagree, and he would need to call security... but the department heads nodded in acquiescence and turned to rush back for the colony proper. All but the young xenobiologist. He turned back to the Director, and Michaels tilted his head slightly as he looked him over. He was supposed to know all the big scientists on the colony, he had been apart of the vetting process. Messy brown hair, green eyes half-hidden behind thick glasses, lanky, tall body... wait a minute...

"Cole Adams?" Aurelias ventured slowly, grinning at the spark in the man's eyes, "It's good to see you again! Thanks for the back-up there."

Cole chuckled quietly and rubbed the back of his head, "It was no problem, sir. I'm sorry about all that, the heads have been fighting over their agendas since we woke up. Once they thaw some more..."

Aurelias chuckled softly, "I'm hoping so. You were right; we have to focus on learning more about this planet before we turn the focus back to ourselves."

"I actually wanted to speak with you about that, sir," Cole replied quickly, motioning Aurelias to walk with him back towards the pony paddock.

It had been fairly easy to corral the ponies; they seemed to be using the cave as a home, and only ventured out to fetch fruits from a nearby orchard, or nibble on grass. An ultrasonic fence easily kept them from leaving the area immediately outside the cave, and the science teams had been fetching fruits to bring to the ponies, which seemed to cut down mightily on the stress on the animals. Cole led Aurelias over to a small knot of scientists, kneeling around one of the horned ponies, who was lying on the grass, eyes closed.

"Is it dead?" Aurelias asked quietly, frowning.

But Cole quickly shook his head and smiled softly, reaching down to run his fingers through the thick mane on the pony's head, "No, sir, just under some anesthetic. There was a thick thorn lodged in her hoof, and we removed it. Took the opportunity to scan her. These creatures are incredibly... heh, we've taken to calling the horned ones unicorns, after that Earth myth."

Aurelias blinked and grinned, chuckling warmly, "I like that. And pegasuses for the winged ones, then?"

"Pegasi, sir, but yes."

One of the scientists, a young Caucasian woman, cleared her throat and lifted an eyebrow, making Cole flush immediately.

"Right, right, got side-tracked. Anyway, sir, we took the chance to take some samples, and do a full body and brain scan," Cole went on, smiling faintly, "I... believe these creatures have recently undergone an evolutionary, mental shift."

Aurelias blinked slowly, and the team nudged and poked at Cole irritably.

"Err, what I mean, sir, is that the ponies' all seem to have highly developed brains. The pegasi and 'normal' ponies have brains quite similar to ours, in fact. And the unicorns here seem to have larger than average brains for their kind. All of them are highly developed... I do believe that, quite possibly, we're looking at a race on the verge of sentience."

That stopped Aurelias cold, and he gazed down at the unconscious pony in undisguised awe. That could change everything. Back on Old Earth, genetic experiments on dolphins and whales had led to several being legally declared sentient beings, before the seas were poisoned and many of their species disappeared. Before that point, they had been incredibly useful in mapping the seas and the species within. Aurelias slowly rubbed his chin, frowning slightly at the thick stubble he found there.

"I don't think we should force it, sir," Cole went on softly, "Not yet, at least. But perhaps if we keep interacting with the ponies, adding to their diet, test their intelligence... well, we may see it in our life-time."

"Do it, Adams," Aurelias replied in an instant, nodding at the relieved smiles on all the scientists' faces, "Do whatever you feel like you need to do, within reason. Their presence is helping morale as it is, and if we can have them take the place of pets, or even helpers, then it's worth the time."

Cole smiled and stood up, reaching out to shake Aurelias' hand firmly. Both were relieved and giddy. Maybe, just maybe, the colony would work on this planet. Neither noticed the subtle pulse of the towering pylon several hundred yards away, or the faint wince on the face of the unconscious pony...

Author's Notes:

Sorry about the wait, folks! Rewrite, go!