Subdivisions

               I have made interest in logging these events In my memoirs, for from what I have seen, it will be little remembered otherwise. As You may have guessed from my previous entries, I am not the most powerful of writers, but seeing as many don't find this a significant event to chronicle, I will try my hoof at relaying what I believe to be one of the most serious and life-changing events in our race's history. As a personal annotation and usual ranting, I have to say that I find it hard to believe that this event has fallen so far into the depths of obscurity. But of course, I can easily see why. For the life of her, and I take great caution and risk in writing these words, Celestia would never admit to the exact details of these years, that I am only sure of. Not to discredit the Princess by any means, for if the situation had fallen out of my hooves like it had hers, I would know empathy with her actions to date. But that doesn’t matter now; the story ahead is of much more pertinence that my own opinions.

As with any entity it seems that befalls this land, they came in the dead of night. Like the rising of the morning sun they came, falling from the sky in a thundercloud, and finding rest in the frozen wastes at the feet of the crystal mountains. Though through its intensity, few saw the event itself unfold, as the final hour of the summer solstice celebration had come and passed, and for few an eye was open. But assuredly, by the morn it was certain that nearly all had heard the news of their coming, as now I know that word had even spread on that first morning from Canterlot and all across the empire to Dodge junction. We were sure of impending doom by this new omen. The day passed, and fear was in our hearts. Such a thing was unheard of, and was thought to be a new, dark magic coming to descend upon Equestria. But the day was silent, without danger or disturbance all across the land, even in my crystal empire, which was closest to where they had fallen. By Luna's rise of the next moon, it was determined that I would go with a party of my finest guardians to locate the place of impact, and learn the secrets of its mysterious apparition.

           When we found it, the sight was impeccable. The hulking mass of smoothed and refined metal rested in the snow, far into the wastelands and in the teeth of a powerful blizzard. It stretched for what seemed oblivion, going so far that I am sure that even on a clear day, one end could not be seen from the other. The smooth blue-grey metal on its outside sat cold in the blizzard, but no snow would pile on it. For hours, we scoured the perimeter of the Object, unsure of what to make of it. It seemed more than a space rock, no, it was something much more ingenious. The way it crashed had looked maneuvered, almost controlled. The more fantastic minds of the party even imagined that there were some ponies inside it. After a time, even I admit to entertaining that conclusion. Of course, what we found was something far beyond what we could ever have anticipated.

           In our time of patrolling the metallic beast, some days into the exploration, a breakthrough. About noon of the third day on site there was at once a brilliant flash of light through the blizzard, that left everypony in a blinding daze. Once my eyesight had recovered, I found myself confronted with yet another unimaginable development. All across the massive metal rock, rows of lights had come to life, as well had a low droning sound that rumbled the ground beneath our hooves. Slow as I may be, It was here that I came to fully accept that the was more than a rock, this was a machine, and that it had not come from Equestria. A hissing sound louder than the howling wind around us broke the air, as far ahead of my party's camp, a massive slab of the blue metal fell away from the whole, and lay with the ground. With minimal investigation, we found this to actually be a large doorway into the machine, which was as well to our surprise, lit from the inside. We had not gotten less than steps into the belly of the beast, when the echo of a commanding but shrill voice came from an unknown place. To this day, I still remember the words, as to my disbelief they were spoken in Celestian Equestrian, just like us. The voice said;

"All federation units and crew still intact in hull sectors C through L excluding G, connection with primary power grid has been re-established, and life-support systems are back online. I repeat All Judgment of Syrinx Crew and personnel still alive, connection with power grid has been re-established. "

It was within minutes of this that we saw them for the first time. When the voice had finished, a wall slid open with an angry droning noise, and out stumbled a beast that I can only describe as one of the most disturbing creatures I have ever seen, even in my travels into the Everfree forest. It stood, or rather tried to stand, upright on two long legs, with long extended feet that came out far in front of its center, all covered by a strange clothing that fully cloaked every inch of its body save what I guessed was its head. It had two more legs, but it did not stand on them, letting them hang down by its lower waist, and each with five long and disgusting growths from the ends. Almost like the arms of a monkey. Its face also resembled that of a hairless monkey, with two ears low on the sides of its head, and an area of particularly long hair growth atop its head, black as night.

           It saw us as we saw it. For a time, we both sat in silence, staring at one another intently, both obviously eyeing each other up. It had minuscule eyes, and an oddly shaped nose that was the only thing that made me sure It wasn't actually an ape. After this long moment of silence, The creature made an obvious glare at our weapons, and with a sense of urgency, scrambled back through the doorway it came from, the wall once again closing behind it with the same droning noise. In shock, we all exchanged glances, and galloped towards the place the wall had opened and closed. When we approached, the door once again slid open, and a smell like no other hit us like a wall. Inside the room, At least thirty of these creatures stood staring at us, eyes squinted, and pointing at us strange objects they held with their arms. The floor lay ridden with vomit, and many of the creatures shook as they stood. The one I had recognized from the hallway stood in front of the crowd, his obviously threatening object in his hands held steadily on me. Here it spoke to me, and with all my might I kept my mouth from falling agape, as I heard from its mouth come words that I understood so loud and clear, I had to obey.

"Drop your weapons, or you may die." It had commanded.

           I was the first to relinquish my drawn sword. Obviously there was something dangerous about what  the creature held, but just what that danger was, was something I did not wish to know. After I had done so, and so had my companions, one of the upright creatures on the far right lowered its own weapon, and fell to its knees vomiting upon the floor violently. I specifically remember it looking faint afterward, as it proceeded to suddenly slip from its knees to its stomach, and lie with its face down in the vile mixture.  Although still threatened I worried, but said nothing as it was dragged with extreme effort from its own vomit by two more of its kind. Even now, It almost brings me to tears to remember the sight. Perhaps it was because I saw the markings on their clothing and recognized them to be some form of soldier like me? Whatever the case, There I wept. Silently, but nonetheless I wept. The creature ahead of the group lowered its weapon, and with an emaciated yet dedicated arm, raised its hand into a salute. Obliged by amazement, I did the same.

           We learned they were called humans. They came from a land far different from ours, in fact many lands they emphasized. They asked for food, we gave it to them. They asked who we were, we told them. They asked how we understood them, if we could have told them we would. There were thousands of humans on that ship, which they said had been forced to flee from battle after taking major damage, and crash landed here. All of them were soldiers, and all of them were hungry. So we did what we could, what we thought was right. We gave them a home. We set aside a section of the city for them to live in until something developed, and helped them where we could. Their peculiar eating habits slightly disturbed us, as they were very fond of the flesh of other creatures, but we kept them fed nonetheless; if with an adjusted diet. The neighborhood of the crystal city we gave to them was renamed from its former ruby district to the new name of the Quartz district as the redness of a ruby admittedly gave too much insight of the nature of these creatures in their dealings with one another. But through all the changes, I approved all of it. It made me feel good.

           But I could not foresee the future. I could not foresee what we would do to them, and I still cannot see why. They knew why, and that's why they did what they did. But I still cannot find it in my head to know why. I knew they were warriors, but I had no idea what it meant to them.