USS Gerald R. Ford
Officer's Cabin C-43
Timestamp: Three (3) days after recorded First Contact

The camera turned on, focusing on a spot behind several blurs before an unseen man adjusted it. The figures came into focus: Two ponies, one a midnight blue pegasus and the other a blue-gray unicorn, sat on small chairs to the left. Another chair, empty, was opposite them. A man quickly walked into the field of view and sat down, looking at the two ponies.

"Thank you for agreeing to answer our questions." The man said, giving them a small nod. "First off, can you tell me your names, jobs, species, and gender? Remember, this is for the record."

"Didn't we already tell that to the... Rush-ans?" The pegasus asked in a male voice.

"Correct. However, we would like a source of information other than the Russians." The man said.

"O-kay... I guess." The pegasus said, raising a hoof up to run through his two-toned purple mane. "My name is Focused Lens, and I was a maker and repairpony for anything from telescopes to magnifying glasses. I'm a pegasus, and I'd think it's obvious I'm a stallion."

"So a male?" The questioner asked.

The pony nodded, making a motion towards the unicorn, presumably to hand over the question to her.

"Uh, right." The unicorn said, her voice female. "Uh, I'm Perfect Craft, and I'm a unicorn and, uh, a sculptor. And I'm a mare- uh, female, if that's what you wanted to know."

"It is." The questioner said with a small smile. "Thank you for telling that to us. Now, do you mind if we venture to the land you lived in?" The questioner raised up his notepad, flipping through several pages before continuing. "The one you call Equestria."

"Sure." 'Focused Lens' said. "It's a diarchy, meaning that we're ruled by our two Princesses, Celestia and Luna. Celestia raises the sun and controls the day, and Luna raises the moon and controls the night, along with the dreams of ponies."

"So, this Celestia raises your sun?" The questioner asked.

"Yeah, I mean, how else would it rise?" The pony asked. "Not like it can do it all by itself."

There was mild murmuring off-camera between an unseen person and the questioner, who exchanged hushed words with said person. The ponies glanced at one another for a moment, confused, before the questioner turned back around.

"I am sure that we can come back to that later." The questioner said in a calm voice. "Now, can you tell me about these 'Princesses?' Celestia and Luna? And if they are Princesses, where is the Queen or King, if there is one?"

Perfect Craft shook her head, looking at the questioner. "We don't have a Queen. After an Alicorn, her name unknown, created the world thousands of years ago, the two Princesses have ruled in harmony. Aside from the Nightmare Moon stuff that went on a few years ago, it's been mostly peaceful."

"What is an Alicorn?" The questioner asked.

"An Alicorn is a mix of a Pegasus, a Unicorn, and an Earth Pony. There are only three, with Princess Cadence of the Crystal Empire being the only other one." Focused Lens said.

The questioner nodded, satisfied. "Thank you for clarifying that. Now, can you tell us what these Princesses are like?"

It was Focused Lens who came forward with the answer. "Princess Celestia is a kind and benevolent ruler. She's never really led us wrong in all her thousands of years of rule." The questioner hummed for a moment, pausing once the two ponies noticed before motioning for them to continue. "Princess Luna isn't seen much by anypony, but she's probably fine after Nightmare Moon got banished away from her."

"Who was this 'Nightmare Moon'?"

"Nightmare Moon is an evil entity. It took over Princess Luna a little over a thousand years ago and led her into rebellion against her sister, Princess Celestia. She was banished to the moon for an entire millennia, and only came back a few years ago. The new Elements of Harmony, including Princess Celestia's new student, purified her of Nightmare Moon's influence."

There was a short pause before the questioner spoke up again.

"What are the Elements of Harmony?"

"The Elements of Harmony, uh, are Celestia's greatest force for good. Six mares hold one Element each, representing the foundations of Equestria: Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, Honesty, and Magic. They are used to defeat any evil that threatens Equestria's safety."

Another short pause before the questioner spoke up again.

"Thank you, Mr. Lens and Mrs. Craft. You've given us a lot to consider. These men will be outside of your door if you should need anything."

With that, the video turned off, saved within the public files of the 'Net' system. Within minutes, it had been distributed to the entire task force, and with it the attached report.

First Report on the Two Equines Recovered by Russian Forces

Subject one is a pegasus stallion (male), midnight blue with a two-tone purple 'mane', as they call it. Subject two is a unicorn mare (female), gray-blue, also with a purple 'mane'.

Both report nation we are next to being a Diarchy, with two Princesses as monarchs: Celestia and Luna. Both are reported to control the Sun and the Moon respectively, although our report concluded that this is most likely false [1]. They are also two of only three 'Alicorns', which have the wings of a Pegasus, the horn of a Unicorn, and, apparent, the strength of the 'Earth Ponies' (those with neither).

'Princess Celestia' is reported to be kind and benevolent, although this may simply be a mask for any activities they may do. A being known as 'Nightmare Moon' apparently resulted in the banishment of 'Princess Luna' for a total of one thousand years via unknown means, before an unknown weapon the subjects identified as 'Elements of Harmony' apparently 'freed' 'Princess Luna'. This suggests a disagreement of sorts between the two monarchs.

When questioned by Russian sources about countries outside of Equestria, they were not able to provide many answers. The 'Crystal Empire' is apparently a single, large city to the north ruled by the third known Alicorn. A species subject two identified as 'Griffons', with a eerie similarity to the mythical species, lives to the north of Equestria, and to the East of the Crystal Empire. She was able to identify several other intelligent species, including Zebras, Minotaurs, and Changelings, but was unable to identify their location, other than the Changelings, which she described [2] with 'venom', according to the Russian report.

Further information will be released as it is compiled.

[1]: It is likely a falsehood used to control the populace. Both are reported to have lived for thousands of years, so it is not beyond belief that they have built up their own 'Perfection' to remain in power. There is also a report from the subjects that this planet was created by an Alicorn an unknown time ago. Needless to say, we believe it is false.

[2]: Changelings were described as being insectoid in appearance, with the ability to change in a perfect replica of any species. They apparently used this ability to attack the capital, 'Canterlot', two years ago. The Russians were also told that they could 'feed on positive emotion'. Discussion is ongoing.

Author's Note

Act IV will begin in a week at the most. Currently, I am going through a busy time at school, so I am writing this with my free time. Tell me what you think about this below.

This chapter was intended to give you a point-of-view of what the humans are thinking. As readers, we can identify everything about both sides. However, this is an unknown land to the humans, and they are simply drawing conclusions and parallels. The same is likely occurring with the ponies.