Welcome to Ponyville -- Now GO HOME!

     There was a very loud "whooshing" noise that roared off in the distance, which caused Amethyst to gaze at the sky to determine its path.  There seemed to be a dark-colored ball-shaped object of undetermined size as it arced towards the Everfree, smashing through several trees and skidding to a stop.  It left burning debris in its path on the ground, the trees surrounding it having been bent and broken, charred, or otherwise still on fire.  The dark purple mare galloped quickly to investigate, and noticing some trees on fire quickly summoned some rain clouds to douse the flames.  A hatch seemed to open from the top of the nearly black sphere and an odd bipedal creature exited, though whether or not it was a human was another question entirely.

     He was clad in an over-sized black space-suit, covering his entire body except for his head, the garb matching the ship's exterior.  He wore a face plated helmet, making it difficult to ascertain his intent.  An odd sounding beeping came from somewhere and a language unfamiliar to Amethyst was being spoken by male and female voices.

He must have remote communication with a home base somewhere, the purple mare thought.  I wonder what his intentions are.  She cast a language translation spell in order to understand what this being was saying and what he was being told.

     "Atmospheric readings show optimum composition.  I should be able to remove my helmet and breathe normally," stated the male voice.

     "Be prepared for anything -- suggest you defray plans of conquest until further hostile threat is confirmed," came the female voice.  Amethyst frowned in disapproval and used a language conversion spell on the being, who interpreted it immediately as an attack.  He readied a weapon closely resembling a military assault rifle.

     "You!  Halt your attack immediately!" he shouted.  He leveled his weapon, aiming it directly at her.  Without further hesitation, he squeezed the trigger, unleashing a hail of bullets, which impacted the ground where she had been standing.  She had teleported directly behind him and turned his weapon from metal into wood, rendering it useless.

     "You must immediately stop your hostility!" she shouted at him.  "I cast a language translation spell on you so you could understand my speech!"

     He whirled around to see her standing about ten feet behind him and readied a knife-blade from his glove, which she immediately transmuted into wood.  "What are you?  How are you able to do this?" he asked, examining what had happened to his weapons.

     "I am a unicorn and I can wield magic.  Your hostility is unwelcome in Equestria.  I don't care who or what you are, but I am going to send you back whence you came," she replied, enveloping him in her purple aura, casting the return teleportation spell on him.  His form flickered a few times but for some strange reason, the spell failed.  He removed his helmet and grinned at the dark purple mare.

     "My turn now," he chuckled as he readied another weapon, only to stare at it in shock when it too was turned into wood.  "Stop doing that!  Let me kill you properly!" he shouted.

     "I don't understand why my attempt to return you failed.  I will have to contact Princess Celestia about this," she mused softly, refusing to address him with her comment.  She faced him as he approached her slowly, the suit impeding swift movement.  "You are hereby ordered to cease and desist from further hostility.  If I cannot return you to your home world peacefully, I have authorization to use lethal force against you.  You can either surrender peacefully, or we can do this the hard way."

     He refused to answer her demand and removed his suit.  He too was a human, standing nearly six feet tall.  He appeared to be a lightly tan-skinned man about 30 years old, his jet-black hair close-cropped to his head and shaved to the skin along the sides and back.  His eyes were a steely blueish-grey and very narrow, looking somewhat beady.  He showed about three days growth of beard stubble and Amethyst could detect faint traces of alcohol on his breath as her sense of smell was that keen.  His form was somewhat slender with a some muscular development, though his body was mostly covered with a black skin-suit as well.  He took a fighting stance to ready himself against any attack she might use against him.

     "Well, soldier?  What's it going to be?" she asked, her voice showing great irritation.  "I have more important things to do today than deal with more human intruders."

     "I am Podgorny Sarovich from Almaty, Kazakhstan!  I have been sent to conquer this land!  I will not be stopped!"

     "You have been sent from the greatest county in the world?  Princess Celestia would be highly amused," the purple mare chuckled.  "Be that as it may, I cannot allow anyone to besiege this land with plans of conquest."

     "I will bring more with me!  We will take this land as our own!  You and all your kind must die!" he shouted, glaring angrily at the unicorn.  He was quickly enveloped in a blue aura and hit with a freezing spell.

     "You will wait here while I contact Princess Celestia.  I'm sure she's going to be quite upset with you," the mare responded.  "Why it is you resist my teleport spell befuddles me."  The mare teleported to the Library to meet up with Twilight.  The librarian was puzzled by her housemate's worried expression.

     "What's wrong, Ammy?  Did you deal with that human?"

     "He resisted my teleport spell -- I can't seem to return him to his home world.  I need to contact Princess Celestia about this."

     "Spike!  Take a letter!"

     "Right on it, Twi.  Shoot!" the dragon exclaimed cheerfully.  Twilight dictated a letter detailing the human's arrival and Amethyst's subsequent attempt to return him, an attempt which proved futile, and requesting the Alicorn's assistance with the issue.  Within moments of Spike sending the letter via his dragon breath, the Solar Princess teleported to meet them.

     "Amethyst, where is this human who resisted your spell?  This is most unusual," the Alicorn mused.

     "Your Majesty, he is not far from the Everfree -- his spaceship landed there.  He exited his vehicle and attempted to shoot me with a weapon which fires metal projectiles at a very high rate of speed.  I tried to teleport him back to his home world, but ended up subduing him when that attempt failed."

     "I can sense his location.  Twilight, I would appreciate you joining us for this little visit.  This should be somewhat amusing."

     "Princess, I believe I have seen more humans in the past few years than I ever want to see again," the librarian complained.  "They hold no interest for me anymore."

     "Twilight, my faithful student, I implore you to accompany us.  I shall show you how I deal with those who resist us," the Alicorn grinned.  "I give you permission to follow my example.  These humans have become quite bothersome, so I feel confident in trusting your judgement of them.  If they give you trouble, you are entitled to show them no mercy.  Their numbers, from what I've been told, are virtually endless."

     The lavender unicorn gave a slight smile upon hearing this and joined her housemate along with the Alicorn as she teleported the three of them to the human's location.  He was still under the effect of the freeze spell, though it was beginning to show signs of wearing off.

     "How long did you freeze him for?" asked Twilight.

     "Fifteen minutes -- I figured that would be enough time to get Princess Celestia's advice or assistance to deal with him properly.  He says he's from some place called Kazakhstan, so he speaks a foreign tongue.  I suggest you use a language translation spell, though I have already cast one on myself and him as well.  Oh, his name is Podgorny, by the way."

    "What a strange name," mused Celestia.

     "With humans, there are many who have strange names," the dark purple mare chuckled.

     "When I get my hands on you --" Podgorny grumbled.

     "You will do nothing, human," the Alicorn said sharply.  "You are here with hostile intent -- we have no tolerance for those who desire to conquer our land.  You will leave now."  Celestia lit her horn and enveloped the man with her golden aura.  He flinched upon experiencing this, then his body flickered a couple of times, though he remained resistant to her attempt to teleport him.  "Your resistance is troublesome, human.  You tempt fate with your continued intransigence."

     "I don't know what you're trying to do to me, but it's not going to work!  I have come on behalf of my people in Kazakhstan to claim a new land for them!  I have been specially trained to deal with many things, though I never thought I'd be targeted with colorful plasma attacks!" he shouted.

     "I am Princess Celestia of Equestria, the ruler of this land.  Your persistence gives me pause, though I am tempted to rid this land of your presence another way.  The needs of your people do not concern me and your continued efforts to attempt conquest are most unwelcome."

     Podgorny glared at the Alicorn, his stern expression speaking volumes of his contempt for her.  Though he no longer had weapons on him, he had enough martial arts training to defend himself if physically attacked.  "You say this land is called Equestria?  My ship's computers must have malfunctioned.  You refer to me as a human, as though you've never seen them before," he said, his anger tempered by curiosity.

     "We have dealt with humans before, Podgorny.  We no longer welcome them in Equestria.  We attempted to return you to your home world, though my attempt and the earlier attempt by Amethyst Shadow failed.  We wish to know how it is you resist our attempts to peacefully return you failed," Celestia mused.

     "I have no home world to return to," the man said, a tinge of sadness to his words.  "I was placed in a state of suspended animation many centuries ago, my ship's computers maintaining my metabolism and health for the journey.  I have no idea of exactly how long ago it was, though the information I was able to gather before my ship lost its power was that I had been traveling for more than a hundred thousand years."

     The three equines stood slack-jawed at this information.  "Then why do you have plans of conquest if you claim to have more people who can follow you?" asked Amethyst.

     "I was bluffing.  I was trying to scare you into surrendering to me," he said flatly.

     The Alicorn smiled a little wider at his comment, though Twilight and Amethyst frowned in disapproval.  "Surely you realize, Podgorny, that we have the upper hoof here.  Your weapons cannot harm us, you have no home world to return to, you have no friends -- I suggest you drop your hostile attitude, or we may send you to another human home world and let them deal with you appropriately."

     He hung his head sadly.  "I knew it was a dangerous mission -- I knew I would be leaving friends and family behind -- I felt I had nothing left to live for which is why I volunteered for the mission.  I was told my family would be compensated for my sacrifice.  I was 19 years old when I volunteered, and I have aged about 10 years during my stasis.  I was told my metabolism would be stopped, not slowed to 10,000 years per year of stasis," he complained.  "Now I'm here in some strange land full of talking ... equines of some sort, and not in the place I was meant to conquer.  What am I supposed to do?"

     "Your Majesty, his ship is in the Everfree -- perhaps we could find some answers by examining it, or having him get some information.  If nothing else, perhaps we can use our magic to repair his ship and send him on his way," Amethyst mused.

      "You can repair my ship?" he asked incredulously.  "I would be eternally grateful if you did so!"

      "So long as you promise not to return to our world and act in peace from here on out, we'll gladly repair your ship and send you on your way," the Solar Princess stated.  The man smiled and turned around, running towards his ship.  The others followed him at a slow trot and arrived at the landing site shortly.  Twilight expressed great interest in the vessel, wanting to inspect the inside as well as the outside.  Celestia pondered its appearance and presence, using her magic to examine it.

     "Your ship appears to have suffered only minimal damage," Celestia mused.  The man disappeared into the interior of the ship, having picked up his over-suit and thrown it inside.  Some beeping noises were heard and the ship powered up for a moment before the last of the emergency battery back-up died.  He clambered back out the top.

     "Um, I need all the batteries recharged -- the nuclear fusion reactor has run out of fuel as well," he noted glumly.  "I'll never make it to my destination like this."

     "Very well then, Podgorny.  This shall be done for you.  Good luck," the Alicorn stated, enveloping his ship with her aura, recharging the batteries and replenishing the fuel for the fusion reactor.  The ship powered up immediately, bringing a big smile to his face.

     "Thank you so much -- I will have the ship place me back into stasis for the next journey.  Here's to the future!" he shouted before disappearing back into his ship, the hatch sealing itself shut.  The ship floated into the sky, then disappeared extremely swiftly.

      "I wanted to learn so much about him and now he's gone," Twilight said dejectedly.  "He was very interesting."

      "I guess even those with hostile intentions are not always bad," Amethyst mused.

      "Thank you for bringing some levity to my day, Amethyst.  I shall be off now," Celestia stated before teleporting back to the castle.  The two unicorns made their way back to the Library so they could have lunch.