Water Flowing Under-- OH MY GOSH, WHERE IS THE GROUND?!

[spontaneouscombustion]

Who: Pinkie Pie and YOU, tall non-pony creature!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Waking up on the HS Marsiva
When: April 26, a few hours pre-shuffle

[Holy space guacamole, Batman, this newcomer is PINK! And just coming about a really nice dream about a mountain of ice cream when her eyes flutter open and she mutters sleepily.]

Mmm... hey, where'd the ice cream go? [A few more blinks towards the ceiling... and then she registers something.] Hey, where did the COLOR go?

[In an attempt to investigate this monochrome mystery, she sits up in the cot... and her eyes BUG out wide at the large, white, sterile, mostly empty hospitality deck that's most definitely NOT her flat at Sugarcube Corner.]

Forget the color, where did I go?!

[Her eyes dart around until she sees the REALLY BIG WINDOW! An escape route! And the sky's still black and starry.]

Oh, PHEW, it's still night time! Maybe I can get back before anypony gets too worried!

[She makes to charge at the window, but stops in her tracks a foot away, her eyes wider than ever as she sees there's NOTHING beneath that black. No buildings, no trees, no mountains, no roads, no ground or water or anything at all.]

... SWEET CELESTIA, LUNA, CADANCE, AND TWILIGHT, WHERE DID EVERYTHING GO?!?!?!?!

[I apologize for any damage to auditory organs, particularly to those that are actually ON the Marsiva. If anybody's watching the broadcast or on the Hospitality Deck, mind helping out a tiny, pink pony with no concept of space travel?]

Comments

video;

[forcesensitive]

[What a weird-looking alien. At least she speaks Common--or what his augment recognizes as Common, anyway. Finn turns on the video function and waves, trying to look encouraging.]

Uh, hi. You gotta be new here. I'm Finn, and you're on a ship called the Marsiva! Don't worry, everything at home is just the way you left it.

Video (1/2)

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[Miiiight take her a while to respond because a) Pinkie's trying to figure out where that voice is coming from.]

Huh? Who sai--

Video (2/2)

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[Aaaand b), apparently SOMEBODY was out of ideas for where to place a communicator on a naked, short-furred sentient equine, so her communicator is clipped to the bottom of her mane. Miracle it didn't fall off during all that running around, really.

Once she pinpoints the voice to this weird little light box in her mane, though, Pinkie pulls it out with her teeth (gently, though, don't wanna hurt the voice's owner) and then put it between her hooves. Oh, look, there's a little... thing in the box. She gives it a small (if still a little nervous) smile.]

Um... hi, Finn, I'm Pinkie Pie! Wait, I didn't leave home, at least I don't NORMALLY sleepwalk. And I DEFINITELY can't sleepFLY like a pegasus, and even if I could there's no WAY I could sleepfly far enough to not see the GROUND anymore! Oh! And is the box your home or part of your body?

Video

[forcesensitive]

Oh, uh, neither? [He thinks he can keep all of that straight, but answers her in reverse order.] It's a communicator, so we can talk to each other from far away. You're in the Marsiva right now, and I'm on another ship. If you look over toward the big moon from the window, you can probably see it.

Hate to say it, but we all got kidnapped here by these guys called Atroma.

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[Impressive, Mr. 2187.]

OH, I gotcha! Kinda like a magic mirror or something? Oooh, that IS a big-- wait, there's more than one moon?! But how's it moving?

Wait, WHAT?! Why?! What'd I do to them, we didn't deal with anypony called the Atroma back home!

[forcesensitive]

[He's not really sure what a magic mirror is, but he nods anyway.] The ship's orbiting the moon! So really you're the one who's moving, you just can't feel it because of the tech. [Yep, she's definitely from one of those worlds without tech. Fortunately, every kid gets space travel explained to them, so he doesn't find it hard. She's excitable enough to be young for a...whatever she is.

--Pony, apparently. Wait, isn't that like a horse? Oh no, he was just talking to one of his shipmates about eating horse meat! Finn's suddenly glad he never tried it himself.] They, uh, take us for what's called a reality show. For their entertainment. It's pretty sick if you ask me.

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[You poor, fairy tale deprived soul. And hey, they have tech, thank you very much! Most of it just goes into entertainment. (And she's probably not that much younger than himself.)]

No, I mean, who's moving the moon around the planet? Somepony has to, don't they need magic to move?

Noooo idea what that is. I'm guessing THEY don't have any idea what fun is, either. Since when is KIDNAPPING po-- others fun?

[forcesensitive]

[Considering how recently he broke out of his conditioning, she's probably much more mature than him. She's just more excitable.] Not really magic, no. Gravity? [Hopefully the augment will help fill her in on that. He's no scientist.]

Fun for them, not for us. And who knows? They sure seem pretty weird to me. But I kinda like meeting people from all over different worlds anyway.

[spontaneouscombustion]

Wait, WHAT?! It moves on its own?! What about the sun?!

[That is both awesome and horrifying!]

Well, me too, but I'd kinda like to be ASKED about it first! What if there's a monster attack, or a friendship problem?! What if I miss somepony's birthday?!

[forcesensitive]

Uh, the planets move around the sun, and the moon moves around the planet. So when you're on the surface, it looks like you're staying still and they move, but that's just an optical illusion. Gravity's kind of like the Force - it binds everything together. But I heard in some places they have something like the Force, but they call it magic? So maybe you're from a place like that.

A--okay, I can help you if there's an attack, but I don't know about a friendship problem. What's that, like where two people are in love but they won't talk to each other because one of them's a scruffy-looking nerf herder?

[spontaneouscombustion]

What's the Force? And... I guess? I mean back home Princess Celestia raises and sets the sun with her magic, and Princess Luna does the same with the moon every night. And before THEM, ALL the unicorns did it together.

Ooh, that's a good one! Sometimes they can be pretty big, though, like one time Twilight and Fluttershy stopped these two clans from fighting forever and ever and ever because of some argument their ancestors got into, and me and Rainbow taught this old griffon friend of hers how to start making friends when NOGRIFFON makes friends! But if I'm HERE and not HOME, how am I gonna help with those, or if a bad guy starts causing trouble?!

[She can handle herself in a G-rated fight just fine. What SHE'S worried about is not being available for a season finale or a plot arc episode.]

[forcesensitive]

[Okay, yeah, if they had to manually move everything in the galaxy, it would take a hell of a lot of Jedi..]

So--mediators. You're a mediator. Well, they tell me when you get back home, no time passes at all there while you're here. So I don't have to worry about Rey getting into trouble without me, and you don't have to worry about your friends, because to them it'll be like you're not gone at all.

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[Mediators, diplomats, magical girls, whatever Equestria needs that day, really.]

Wait, it does? Oh, PHEW, okay, that actually helps out a LOT! I'd feel TERRIBLE if my friends needed help with something and I wasn't there! Or if I missed a birthday or holiday or cuteceañera.

[forcesensitive]

Well, I know what you mean. I miss some of my friends, too. But one of 'em is here! So maybe your friends will show up, too.

[spontaneouscombustion]

That'd be nice. I mean it'd be really mean of those Atroma to start taking MORE ponies but it'd ALSO be nice to have my friends around, you know what I mean? [A pause as she realizes something.] Iiiii'm guessing that means you don't know any other ponies, right?

[forcesensitive]

That's just what I mean, yeah. I miss Rey, even though I know she's doing what she's gotta do back home.

Don't think so, but I haven't been here that long. So your friends might be here?

[spontaneouscombustion]

Yeah. And I know the girl will, too, and then I'll be there WITH them because of that clock-stop thing.

Yeah, they might be. Thanks a ton for all this, Finn. So how long have you been here?

[forcesensitive]

Yeah! Just like that.

Oh sure, no problem. I've been here, uh. About a month, I guess?

[spontaneouscombustion]

And how long to these Atroma guys keep us before sending us back home?

[forcesensitive]

Well, nobody knows, cause it's different for everyone. Sometimes people are here and then gone, sometimes they stay for a really long time. It's usually at least a couple months, I think.

[spontaneouscombustion]

Okay, that shouldn't be TOO long then! Can't have TOO many adventures without my friends or they might get jealous or something, right? [Wink!]

[forcesensitive]

Don't want anyone to get jealous.

You got a better idea about everything now?

[spontaneouscombustion]

Yeah, I think I do. You're a real big help, Finn! Oh! So how do I keep in touch with these things?!

[forcesensitive]

Uh, let's see. There should be a little icon you can push to save me to your contacts? Then you can call me up any time. Or if you have a general question or something, you can call everyone in the Fleet. Or if someone else is broadcasting, there's a little icon to answer their call. You can do video, or just talk, or write.

[...Hopefully she can write. Can quadrupeds write?]

[spontaneouscombustion]

[Oh my Lucas, Finn, you can't just assume quadrupeds can't write, that's species-ist!

But yes, she can read and write in Common just fine. Miiight take her a while to get used to typing, though. And lucky she has a pencil on her so she can take it in her mouth and use the eraser end to tap that icon.]

Schwee', tanksh, Fi'!!