Chapter 12: New Revelations

Jake lightly jogged through the trees, focusing on the ground as he went to ensure he didn't trip on any random debris. While the forest certainly seemed unnerving, he hadn't really seen any reason to fear it. Yet.

But something told him that time was coming to a close, the intermittent motion on his radar appearing more frequently than before. He could see dots pulse in and out on the indicator as they either pull out of range or stop moving entirely, pushing him to run harder as his feet carried him through the trees.

The run was taking too long, and he figured he must've made a turn somewhere without realizing it. Cursing under his breath, he stopped for a moment and looked around. It felt almost like midnight despite the time displayed on his hud saying otherwise, little light reaching the ground thanks to the tangled branches overhead.

“Lucy..." Jake whispered, glancing to another flicker on his radar. "Which way is the ship from here?"

There was a moment of silence, until a small circle appeared in his vision amongst the trees to his left. The circle hovered in his place, locked right on where the ship was in the distance. Turning away from it, Jake looked back into the trees.

Just in time to see a maw leaping towards him.

He brought his arms up on instinct, the teeth clattering against his right forearm as he spun and threw the creature away. Jake looked at the wolf-like creature as it tumbled to the ground for just a moment before it skittered into the darkness.

Shaking his head Jake pulled the rifle off his back, shouldering it.

"Motion indicates at least fifteen targets." Lucy voiced, making Jake grip his gun a bit tighter.

'Fifteen?!'

"Or more." She added as a small group of dots showed up behind him on radar.

Spinning in place he count four wolves, their eyes a piercing yellow and burning towards him with hunger. Each let out a growl as they broke into a sprint. Jake didn't hesitate, flicking a switch on the rifle’s side and electing an even higher whine from it. Pressing the trigger produced a shrill screech, followed by pained yelps as plasma-fire rocketed from the barrel.

The full auto peppered three of the wolves as they took it head on, igniting in blue fire. One managed to split off with a yelp, their side smoking as they ran off into the dark. Jake kept his aim downrange where it’d vanished, before flicking around for any others that might try and pounce.

Everything was dead silent now, not even the birds made noise.

Lowering the rifle, Jake looked at his ammo indicator. 35 rounds.

Approaching the bodies of the still burning wolves, he peeked closer and gaped in surprise at what he saw. It seemed like they were made of... wood? He shook his head as he watched one disintegrate into ashes before his eyes, the blue flames winking out a moment later.

Pulling away from the pile of ash, he glanced around one last time. "...these ponies live right next to this place, they have to be resourceful. They must be able to help us."

"Agreed." Lucy chimed in. "Let us make haste back to Twilight, we must have an audience and make arrangements sooner rather than later."

As Jake broke the tree line he kept a brisk jog towards the town. Only when he entered did he slow his pace to a walk as all the ponies in town began to notice his presence. And there were way more than last time. It was 1pm now, according to his suit’s clock, so he assumed most of the town was awake by now. Regardless, he couldn't let the townsfolk’s reaction get to him, he had bigger priorities right now. Stashing his rifle onto his back, he walked a slower pace through town while ignoring the stares and horrified whispers he could hear.

And thanks to his suit, he could hear a lot.

He did feel a little bad. Jake tried to imagine what it’d be like seeing a monster walking through town from his own eyes, and now that he thought about it… it wasn’t hard to imagine at all. Humans, if anything, would be even more hostile towards a sudden new species. Especially after the impression made by the Verix and their first contact. The library finally came into view, and Jake picked up his pace as he neared. A small group of ponies were also approaching the building with books in tow, but froze and scurried away after noticing the nearing human. Jake ignored them and ducked into the front door, bumping his shoulders on the small frame as he squeezed through.

As Jake stood fully he looked up to the source of flapping overhead. "Oh, you’re back!” Twilight’s voice rang from above as she shoved a book into the shelf and flittered down towards the human. “Was something the matter, why’d you run off like that?" She asked with a shake of her head, flipping her long bangs out of the way.

Jake's helmet retracted as he looked down at the princess. "I need to talk to your… king, queen? If they ask why tell them…" He gave a small pause, shaking his head. "That this affects your world as much as it does mine. One way or another, I need help." He stated with a slight sigh as he leaned against the nearby wall. “If you guys can’t help me, I’m sorry but I’ll have to find others who can.”

Twilight was a bit taken back by the suddenness of his request, for a moment, but nodded with a determined smile as she composed herself.

“Got it, I’ll send an emergency letter right away.” She stated, moving to leave before looking back. “Oh and… there’s no ‘Queen’, the princesses don’t like almighty terms like that.”

Then she left the room, a short silence ensuing as Jake thought on that revelation.

’Only princesses, huh? Okay…’

Jake fiddled impatiently waiting for Twilight, worried how long it would take for a ‘letter’ to reach the capital. The pony returned promptly, carrying a parchment wrapped with red ribbon that was laced with gold. Jake saw the scroll floating in her telekinetic grasp and panicked for a moment, the memories of his suit’s recent malfunction jumping to the front of his mind. The scroll burst into a beautiful array of colors before dispersing as Jake’s hand hovered over his wrist, Lucy’s voice jumping in just a moment before he pressed down.

“Wait!” Lucy yelled, making him pause as he hovered the eject button. “Don’t worry, I’ve filtered the ‘Magic’ frequency from the suit’s speakers and overhead display. It won’t happen again, I hope.”

“You hope?” Jake said aloud, electing a strange glance from Twilight as she looked to the human’s still exposed face.

“What? I didn’t-“ Twilight began, confused.

Jake cut in quickly with a wave of his hands. "S-Sorry never mind, talking to myself… what’d you just do?" He asked, hoping to make her forget the blunder… explaining an AI to miss 20 questions was NOT his priority right now.

"Oh... hehe. I do that sometimes too haha~“ She giggled, covering her face a bit as she let out a small snort.

Jake couldn’t help but give a half smile at the display, he had to admit… this one was kinda cute.

Twilight pointed elsewhere in the library. “Well usually I need Spike to send letters, but in case of emergencies I wrap it in the ribbon you just saw and send it using a special spell. It arrives almost instantly to her location! Developed it myself." She finished proudly.

“Huh, smart cookie.” Jake quipped, electing an eye roll from Twilight as she waved it off with her wing.

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

Celestia sat in her private quarters washroom, enjoying a particularly invigorating bath. Having almost no time to herself, balancing the nobles trying to stay in her good graces and the flooding reports of a rogue "Falling star", she soaked in the pleasure from the moment as best she could.

Also, according to a recent letter from her pupil… a strange creature had been found coming from the Everfree. Apparently, it’d been entering the town a few times but other than a bit of a scare hasn’t caused any damage. The freakiest part though, was the Celestia was given about said creature…

‘Human’, the thought made her chuckle again, she knew it couldn't be true… humans were mere legend. Something scrawled on cave walls and written in old scrolls with broken languages. But the idea intrigued her greatly, there was still a few unexplainable mysteries about these humans. Many ponies believe human clues date back only a few hundred years ago... but she cpuld swear her parents mentioned something...

Never the less, she felt like she’d have to look into this matter soon.

When the nobles calmed down.

In the meantime, she had faith that her star pupil could handle it. Before she could continue her train of thoughts, there was a familiar flash as a scroll appeared midair. She caught it with her magic before it hit the water with a confident look. Her smile faded as she noticed the gold laced red ribbon surrounding the parchment. Sighing inwardly, she shook her head as she got up from the gigantic tub… which was more like an inside swimming pool with a miniature water fall.

"It seems I have no time to relax..." She spoke to no-one in particular, lighting her horn up and levitating a few towels over.

She unraveled the scroll and began reading, half focused on the letter while drying herself off. However, as she got further and further in her towels slowed before falling to the floor. Focusing intently on the parchment, she absorbed every last bit of information.

Dear Princess Celestia

Something seems to have happened with our guest, the one I told you about in my previous letter. He seems really worried about something and told me that he needs an audience immediately.

Now usually I wouldn't send letters like this and I know you’re very busy, but I feel like this is a real emergency. I haven't told you yet as I haven't had time to finish the report but... from just from his armor alone I can tell there’s so many things to learn! He told me that the thing he crashed in was called an "Escape pod", and that he’s not even from this planet! Could that have been the star from last night, I saw it too…

Oh, this is so exciting! What interests me most is this would mean they’re capable of travelling between worlds! Something completely unthinkable in modern Equestria!

Sorry… I got a little worked up there. I don't know how you feel but this could be a new turning point for Ponykind! The things we could learn from them are outstanding, unfathomable! But… before I ramble on I feel like you should come meet him yourself, especially since he wants to meet you. Badly. He’s here now, if you think you can manage.

Forever your student (Despite the wings)
-Twilight Sparkle

Celestia had no idea how to feel. Until now she'd been paying the 'falling' star absolutely no mind... expecting it to be some kind of hoax or joke. But now it was obvious, something else entirely was going on.

Lighting her horn up, Celestia quick dried her mane and coat with magic as the towels lay forgotton on the ground. If there really was a new intelligent race from a completely different world in Equestria… how could she’ve been so foolish as to allow Twilight to make first contact! Of course, it's not like she didn't trust her... on the contrary Twilight was one of her most trusted individuals, but things like this should be handled with great care! And Celestia knew how Twilight would tend to act around... new things.

Concentrating, Celestia opened her mind and felt a familiar bond.

"Luna, something extremely important has come forth, and while I know this is sudden I ask that you accompany me to Ponyville this evening." Celestia prodded out with her magic, shivering at the cool sensation that replied.

"We are on the way, dearest sister. May we ask, what has happened so suddenly that would cause thou such distress?" The whisper was like a cool wind brushing past her ears.

Celestia nodded to no-one, donning her regalia with practiced efficiency. "I will explain on the way but right now we must make haste!"

As Celestia prepared to meet with her sister, she felt a familiar feeling deep within her that she’d felt every day around this time for as long as she could remember. Looking into the sky, her horn ignited a brilliant orange matching the sun above, gently coercing it lower toward the horizon. As its twin sibling overtook the sky and darkness blanketed the land, she continued to stare into the stars while the feeling faded and a new, unfamiliar one took it’s place. Thousands of lights twinkled as her eyes jumped from one to the next, trying to imagine what else may be out there. One thought came to mind, reminding her of what she read in the letter…

A being from another world.

Star travel…

'Are we ready for this?'

Author's Note

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