Inquiry

The 3 mechanical monstrosities that replaced the caravan of thieves made their way up the winding path, the cars threatening to tip over and fall off of the mountain. The transports crawled up, hugging the walls of the mountain and fearing that the path may get smaller, up ahead. They began approaching a waterfall and closed drawbridge. The pristine white bricks reflected the sun's rays in a gorgeous manner, threatening to blind any and all who dare gaze upon to for more than quick glance. They fit together seamlessly, great care in laying the stones down readily apparent.

"We're on foot from here." Joseph got up and began to open the door before being stopped the shoulder.

"Hey Chief, how wide is the moat? Can't tell from the turret cam," Michael asked, his hand still placed over his friend's shoulder.

"Some 2, 3 feet," the chief continued, "You thinking about climbing over?"

"Not exactly,"

The MP chief knew exactly what he was saying, now. He shifted gear to Ram and sipped a drink his cup holder. He flexed his back and stretched his arms, gripping the wheel tightly. He tapped 8 digits on the wheel and waited in anticipation.

4 taps. 1.

4 taps. 2.

4 taps. 3.

"Hold on, it's going to get bumpy," the chief ominously stated.

The gas pedal literally hit the floor and warnings lit up the dashboard. The craft lurched forward at 550 mph as entire brick sections shattered over the wheels alone. The back section felt the impact of the wall after the driver did and the passengers did not expect for the entire transport to dip into water and then jerk backwards. Dust and rocks impacted the side of the vehicle in what sounded like gunfire impacting. The whole vehicle shook back and forth, the back two wheels struggling to work underwater.

"Fuck!"

"Are we under fire?" The passengers panicked and Michael smiled, seeing the whole thing from a monitor.

The APC hurtled itself of the bed of the moat and flew at least 3 feet into the air after overcoming the slope of the artificial river. The chief quickly hit the brakes and the passengers, too stubborn to put on seatbelts, piled on the back wall on, on top of each other.

"What in the hell just happened?"

The chief smugly replied, "We're in, that's what,"

"Dear Princess Celestia,

Please help there's alien minotaurs outside of Ponyville.

Get over here now please.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle" Celestia finished reading aloud to her sister.

They both said nothing and simply looked at each other.

"Go." was all Luna could say.

And that she did, remorseful that she was causing so much grief with her doubt in what Luna was suffering.

Princess Celestia appeared behind the Element bearers, unfazed by the surprised looks.

"What seems to be the problem h..." She looked at the sprawling complex that she previously saw out of the corner of her eye. Her jaw slowly slid open in awe.

An entire town had been set up, pristine and white as her coat, with only the occasional color strip for navigation in the maze.

"You say alien minotaurs?" Celestia entirely forgot what she was asking previously.

"They're going inside their little homes to rest or something. Only a few are still outside, and they're making paths," Rainbow explained, surprisingly intelligently.

Twilight piped up, "What should we do?"

Celestia considered all the possibilities of waltzing in with a battalion of guards and just speaking. Thoughts of balefire and piles of corpses from both sides filled her mind. Images of the oddly-shaped birds diving into her ponies flickered through her eyes. Her wise mind had never had to think through a situation quite like this before. With the probability of language barrier and cultural misinterpretations looming over every plan of diplomacy she had previously used, she stood on all fours at a loss.

The Raiser of the Sun thought long and hard about what to do.

She reached a point.

"We let them talk to us. They're 'ready when they're ready,'" Celestia mirrored Twilight's words from when she was but a filly, arguing with a butler about when her hair would be brushed. Her student lightly blushed and agreed.

"So... picnic cancelled?"

"Picnic cancelled."

The ponies began to walk away without their princess and she waited for them to realize it.

"Ahem. Twilight," Celestia politely coughed and smiled.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry!" she sheepishly apologized and asked, "You had something more to say?"

"I'll be sending a platoon to set up camp on this hill, if that's alright with you?"

"Uh-- of course! Anything!" Her student eagerly agreed.

"One of these days, you should take assertion lessons from your friend Fluttershy," her teacher sagely advised, "she knows a thing or two."

Her head snapped around to her butter-coated friend in questioning as Fluttershy shrunk. Twilight turned her head back around to find her mentor gone in a blinding flash of light.

"Home base, this is the Science Convoy requesting immediate diplomatic presence and air support,"

"Excuse me?"

"We just damaged property of another species and we may be making formal first contact,"

The radio went silent for the next two minutes. The battalion of guards surrounding the vehicle pointed their admittedly useless spears at the dirtied white transports, in an attempt to display their "overwhelming" numbers and dominance of the situation.

The guards were little ponies, like before. But they weren't all unicorns. Some had wings and some had nothing at all, but all of them managed to sport some sort of projectile weapon or lance or spear. They were clearly intelligent, their panicked and uncertain eyes and expertly crafted armor displaying the extent of their sentience. But their technology was centuries behind even the humans' relatively simple combat knife.

"The captain is on his way planetside in a modified Tyto gunship, Hades-Class plating. He is being escorted by 4 Gryfalcon ground-to-air helicopters," the announcer added, "He is not happy,"

Within a surprisingly short time period of about 40 seconds, a massive, vaguely bird shaped, rocket-powered VTOL slowed to a stop and touched down onto the ground. 2 tilt-rotors landed beside the behemoth of an aircraft and one circled the area, the other flying higher above and keeping an eye out for any any sort of ambush.

The attention of the sea of guards quickly turned to the massive steel birds and a single pegasus glided over the ground quickly, toward some sort of palace. The gauss minigun of the "ambush" tilt-rotor followed the darting figure, making sure he wasn't setting off some sort of explosive.

The communications announcer simply stated, "Chief and science team, immediately shift channels to Administration."

Screens inside the helmets of the users quickly brightened and the Captain's angry face appeared.

"What is this?"

"We entered a castle, believing it was abandoned, sir," Michael monotonously and guiltily replied.

"Why is that a good idea, private?"

"Science Administration recommendation, sir," Joseph quickly answered for Michael.

"Who authorized this expedition?" The captain's voice was growing calmer, he was an understanding man. He also knew full well that he was not commanding a military ship's crew members. He shuddered at the thought of the stories his father would tell him about being a Lieutenant in the Sol Dominance War. Men being torn limb from limb, explosions that never made a sound and twisted steel hurtling at breakneck spe--

"I did, sir," The police chief confessed.

The captain let out a long, deliberate sigh.

"Are we to meet a designated leader?"

"No, for the time being, we're being held at spearpoint while they retrieve their command,"

Celestia had just returned home when word from the Ponyville camp was received about 3 large, six-wheeled carriages making their way toward the capitol.

"Pull the drawbridge and assign a greater amount of guards to the gates, Shining," Celestia's calm and unflappable tone sang its way into the Captain's ears as he complied.

"When and if they arrive, send word for me to greet them," Celestia reminded, "They seem like an interesting, if not dangerous bunch."

"Right away," the lionhearted Captain replied.