Solar Wind

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Prologue

“We have cleared the storm, captain.” advised an accented voice through speakers. “Sensors are searching starcharts for familiar patterns in an effort to determine approximate location within known space.”

“Thank you, Orac.”

The response came from a man considered young by his peers, as his black hair had not yet started to gray with the wisdom of age. Save for a single scar over his right eyebrow, his face was unblemished, offering further to his youthful appearance. By his subordinates he was known as captain, but by his commanding officers his moniker was often “kid” or some other condescending title. It irked him to no end, but he knew of course that was the very reason they did it. He had learned the “game” of military hierarchy quickly, which meant he understood the reason for officers making sure those lower in rank needed to be reminded of their place.

As he pondered his reasons for taking the mission that had brought him to some currently unknown corner of the metaverse, he began inspecting the bridge to be sure nothing was out of place from the decidedly rough flight thus far. To the captain’s relief, nothing seemed damaged or broken, though the navigation array seemed to have a few malfunctioning sensors…

“Orac?” he asked while crouching to fiddle with the components of the holographic display.

“Yes captain?” the computer responded helpfully.

He spent a moment looking over the components for the display before closing the cover and standing with a huff. “What are the results of the starchart search?”

“Inconclusive.” the computer replied after a moment of silence.

The captain raised an eyebrow skeptically, making his way to the head chair. “So basically, you’re saying you have no idea where we are.”

There were a few more moments of silence before the computer stated, “If you wish to use layman’s terms, that is correct.”

He shook his head with a sigh as he fell back into the captain’s chair. “Lovely. Do us a favor and run a few proximity scans while deploying the scout probes. We’ll likely be able to learn more if we can find a point of orientation, and perhaps some intelligent life might be able to help us. See if you can find a populated planet nearby.”

“Understood, sir. Deploying the probes and firing up the proximity sensors. I would advise ingesting some sort of sustenance, lest you faint from exhaustion...again.” the computer responded in a snarky tone that seemed somehow unfitting for a machine.

The captain rolled his eyes as he stood. “If you’re going to needle me, then at least call me by name. Saying such things and then referring to me as ‘sir’ or ‘captain’ just confuses me, because my mind wants to discipline someone, but there isn’t anyone to do so to.”

“Very well, Diedrick.” the computer replied with an implied grin. “Now, will you make your way to the rec quarters on your own or must I blare alarms to herd you there?”

Captain Diedrick Cornelius Thompson was strong in many ways, but at the moment found himself rather helpless before the threats of a computerized GIN unit.

“Fine, fine.” he grumbled before beginning the journey to the rec hall.

To his endless gratitude, Diedrick found the Hyperion to be the pinnacle of the technology available to Sector A-34. Running from the work of an astral Genuine Intelligence unit (which unlike centralized units was not based in any one area of the ship), the Hyperion was able to be piloted by an entire crew, or a singular individual ‒ the latter of which was currently the case. Since it was designed with a large crew in mind, it offered the very best in modern amenities for nutrition, entertainment, and comfort. While normally it made the spacecraft seem like a miniature city, vacated, it seemed to echo more than necessary with silence.

Diedrick sat at one of the tables in the mess hall, hungrily shoveling what was once a liver pie with peas into his mouth. He thanked whatever deity was watching over him that the developmental team for his ship had thought to include such a comfortable ship interior, which was a stark contrast to the downright frightening appearance of the exterior.

As a Class 2 destroyer vessel, the Hyperion had changed the tide of battles merely by it’s appearance alone; enemies fled at the sight of its sixty-two laser batteries, and those that stayed were made to be examples to any foolish enough to stand against the pride of the Sol planetary system. Powerful shield batteries shielded the ship from space debris and all but the most determined of attacks, and the hull was heavily armored with nanomachine technology that would repair damage accrued.

Currently however, the captain was simply pleased to have hot food and a hot shower available to him.

“Captain?” a familiar voice chimed over the sound systems.

He swallowed the bite he had taken and looked to the ceiling speaker that he could see. “What is it, Orac?”

“The probes are still out, but preliminary scans have finished.” the ship’s computer answered. After a moment of silence, the computer continued with, “There is a very large Class C planet within fifteen million kilometers.”

“Well-” the captain began to answer excitedly.

“However,” the computer interrupted, “it seems to be completely sheathed in some sort of radiation. Said radiation is from an unknown source, but seems to be electromagnetic in nature and is more powerful than gamma radiation. The problem with this is that said energy is preventing surface scans, and all preliminary space scans have shown a distinct lack of any observation satellites in orbit. That, however is by far the most easily grasped information.”

“O-kay…” the captain muttered, scratching his scruffy beard in response, “what is the strange thing you are inevitably going to tell me about this planetary system?”

“Its single moon and the star revolve around the planet.” the computer, Orac, explained dryly.

Captain Diedrick raised his eyebrow skeptically. “Isn’t that sort of, oh I don’t know...impossible? Physics don’t work that way; thousands of scientists throughout history have proven that the more mass an object has, the more gravity it commands. This is why the star of a planetary system is always the central focus of said system, since no planet can get as large as a star can. Are you sure your sensors aren’t malfunctioning?”

“I take offense to your question, Diedrick.” Orac replied with annoyance. “My sensors are error free, meaning that either the planet is somehow more massive than the star ‒ which is nigh impossible ‒ or there is some other force at work here; a force we do not yet fully understand.”

The captain nodded with a sigh. “I suppose for now, we’ll have to assume the latter. Have you-”

“Sent communications to headquarters? Yes, I have. We are currently broadcasting on all frequencies, but we have heard nothing as of yet.” the computer replied with a glum tone.

Captain Diedrick slumped a bit, resting his chin on his palm as he thought for a moment. “Well, we have little other choice than to attempt to make contact with any beings on the surface and see if they can help us. Even with quantum bursts, it’ll take at least a week for us to hear back from headquarters if they aren’t in this galaxy. Considering the fact that we can’t even use the star charts to find where we are, I believe that’s rather likely. Send down the terraprobe to see if it’s safe first, and if it returns, I’ll head down to the surface. Park us in medium orbit with shields at full but weapons on standby. If there are any sapient beings on the surface and they are able to detect us, I want to give them the impression of only cautiousness, not hostility.”

“Understood, captain. Entering hyperspace in T-minus ten minutes and counting. Please make your way to the bridge.” Orac advised before going silent.

Captain Diedrick sighed before standing and flexing his hands a few times. “And so it begins again.”

Chapter 1

“That’s not supposed to be there.” Princess Twilight Sparkle mumbled to herself as she gazed through the lens of her telescope. She once again looked over the several books of star charts that were levitating around her before turning her attention back to the telescope. “Definitely not supposed to be there.”

The young alicorn was confused; actually, frustrated would likely be a more accurate word. While she knew it was not specifically her job to plot the stars in the sky, she did so to help her fellow princesses. Luna was far more busy than she after all, so Twilight had decided to pick up some of the more abstract duties, so that things would run more smoothly. After all, Celestia had once told her, “No deed done out of the goodness of one’s heart can ever be called insignificant, no matter how small it seems.” Twilight had took her mentor’s wise words to heart, and as she was still being assimilated into the royal family, she often found herself with more than enough time to work from behind the scenes by organizing important records, validating said records, and more recently, handling minor affairs of state that shouldn’t have made it to court in the first place. This all in turn offered all three alicorns of Equestria more free time to themselves, which meant they could all have time to simply be ponies instead of princesses.

Unimportant though it may have sounded, Twilight couldn’t argue with results.

Currently, Twilight found herself more than a little peeved that there seemed to be a bright spot in the sky that was only getting brighter as the minutes passed. It meant that either a previously uncharted of star was being destroyed in a supernova, or there was a comet that hadn’t had its elliptical path mapped yet. That wasn’t the unfortunate part of course, since Twilight would normally jump at the chance to discover something new; no, the problem was that Luna was too busy to speak with at the moment, which left Twilight with no one knowledgeable enough to speak with this discovery about. After all, if she couldn’t speak to the princess of the night about the night sky, who could she speak to? Spike was busy and Celestia was currently investigating a strange incident just outside Gryphonia, which meant Twilight was on her own.

A knock at her door startled Twilight, causing her fur to stand on end in surprise. After taking a moment to smooth down the parts of her coat that showed she answered, “Come in, please.” Her room was entered by a tall orange-coated guard with a blue mane and tail. She offered him a warm smile. “Hello Flash Sentry. Do you bring news?”

The guard removed his golden helmet and nodded with his lips pulled into a neutral line. “I have, your highness. Princess Celestia is making contact with us from just outside Gryphonia, and requests your presence in the viewing room immediately.”

The princess raised her eyebrow but nodded, smoothing out her pants and jacket as she stood. “Very well. Lead the way, Flash Sentry.”

Twilight had always prided herself on being able to deal with whatever pressure was put on her, even if she sometimes was accused of “bringing the crazy”, as Rainbow Dash put it. Still, she knew that no matter what, she could find a resolution to nearly any problem presented to her.

Twilight’s problem-solving abilities weren’t what had her nervous at the moment, however; rather, it was the fact that her mentor Princess Celestia had required her immediate presence in the viewing room, which meant that whatever was going to be spoken couldn’t wait until Princess Celestia returned to Canterlot, nor would a letter arrive fast enough, even by magic (the latter of which only took two minutes, even from such a distance).

As Twilight entered the viewing room with Flash Sentry, she watched anxiously as he nodded to her before closing the door behind her, leaving Twilight alone within the room before a large viewing screen. Celestia stood in an open field in all her beauty and regality, waiting patiently for her apprentice to approach.

“Twilight,” the solar princess greeted with a smile, “it is so good to see you. However, this contact is not for pleasure.”

Twilight nodded determinedly. “How can I help, Celestia?”

Princess Celestia smiled at her student and nodded, gesturing behind her to a strange metallic device embedded in the field she and her guards were blocking off from the public. “As you know, a few days ago our allies in Gryphonia advised us that something of unknown origin impacted the border between our two lands, and to be sure that neither of us were the perpetrator of the event, I left to investigate.” The elder princess then sighed a little tiredly. “However, therein lies the problem. From what I can tell by preliminary magic scans and visual observations, this device seemed to come from the sky.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “The sky? Can you be a little more specific than that?”

Princess Celestia nodded before explaining in a hushed tone, “Twilight, I believe we’ve come upon technology that is not of this world. While the materials it seems to be made of are clearly able to be found on our world, this design and the fact that it has burns consistent with atmospheric reentry point toward the very real possibility that it is something not of Arcadian origin.”

Twilight was silent for a few moments as she grasped what her mentor was trying to say. “So...aliens.”

Princess Celestia nodded with a sigh. “And I realize how downright foolish the notion sounds, but I have no other plausible explanation. Have you noticed any strange happenings in the sky lately?”

Twilight gasped and nodded vigorously. “Yes, I have! Just an hour or so ago I was studying a new phenomenon in the sky; it appears to be a bright light that is getting progressively brighter, but as far as I can tell it is not a comet. Do you think these two events might be connected?”

The elder princess’ eyes widened as she slowly nodded. “I think that very well might be the case, Twilight. I would like you to do your best to track this anomaly in the sky and try and figure out what it is and if it is actually approaching our planet. I need to know with as much forewarning as possible if we need to rally the military in preparation for an attack.”

Twilight’s jaw unhinged a bit as the implications hit her. “We’ve never made contact with another world before ‒ heck, the only ponies that can even go into space are you and Luna. Do you really think this might be an invasion attempt?”

Princess Celestia glanced back at the strange device before shrugging helplessly. “I am not sure, but life has taught me it is far better to be wary than blind to danger. I will have my communicator by my side should anything come up, so do not hesitate to contact me if you discover something new.”

Twilight nodded before closing the connection with the other princess, now very anxious about what might be coming in the near future.

As her student’s face disappeared from the communicator, Princess Celestia looked back over the assortment of gryphon and pony guards assembled. She nodded to the gryphon officer present before turning to her own guards.

“Listen up, ponies: we have come in contact with possible offworld technology.” she advised, much to the surprise of the guards gathered. “I want a perimeter set up in a one hundred yard radius; no one gets in or out without mine or Commander Steelbeak’s permission, is that clear?” All the guards nodded with shouts of affirmation before turning to execute her orders.

As the guards all went about their business, Commander Steelbeak made his way to the princess, who was now standing only a dozen or so feet away from the strange device.

“Any clue what it is?” he asked, scratching the feathers under his chin as he narrowed his eyes at the metallic thing.

Princess Celestia shrugged. “I have no idea, honestly. However, as I said, I believe it may very well be alien in origin.” She then turned her eyes to the grizzled gryphon commander. “Twilight has advised me of a strange anomaly in the sky, and if my hunch is correct, something or someone is approaching the planet at high speed.” Once again she looked to the metallic machine embedded in the ground in front of them. “I worry for my ponies, just as you worry for your own people; while I want to be wary, I do not wish to cause undue panic among the masses. However, if I’m right, we need to be prepared.”

Before either could say anything more on the matter, strange grinding and humming noises came from the machine, causing them both to back away in caution of what might happen. They both watched as a small red light began to flash on the top of an antenna, followed by a beeping noise.

Suddenly, rapid flashes of blinding light incapacitated all within the area, followed by what could only be described as a massive explosion that knocked all within a hundred feet to the ground.

As Princess Celestia gathered her bearings, she attempted to stand while reaching blindly for the nearby commander’s clawed hand. Once she found it, she stood and pulled him with her, until they were both off the ground so that they could survey the area. Princess Celestia’s vision began to clear, and the ringing in her ears died down to a manageable level. After a moment of searching however, she found the strange device to be gone, instead seeing only a patch of scorched earth where it had once been.

She gasped, whipping her head around in shock as she attempted to locate their target. “W-where is it?!” A tap on her shoulder got her attention, and she turned to see Commander Steelbeak looking and pointing to the sky. Sure enough, when she turned her eyes heavenward, she could just make out a retreating ball of fire in the sky, just before it cleared the atmosphere and retreated into space.

“What the hell was that thing?” Commander Steelbeak growled, digging a finger in his ear in an attempt to clear the remaining ringing.

Princess Celestia shook her head wearily. “I still don’t know, but I think I was right about something coming to the planet.” She turned to her compatriot and stated, “Return to your king and have him rally the troops. I will do the same once I return, but for now, you need to prepare your people for a possible invasion attempt by an unknown force. Ask the king to contact me tomorrow at noon, and we will figure out our next course of action.”

Captain Diedrick was looking over the different images the probe had brought back a week after its departure, sipping coffee as he did so. He had been up for nearly twenty-four hours straight once the probe returned, as he was simply aghast at what it had found.

The most important thing the probe had found was that the strange radiation surrounding the planet was completely benign, in the sense that it wouldn’t damage living tissue. Furthermore, the air on the planet was nearly an exact match for that of Earth’s, only with a far less degree of pollution ‒ negligible, in fact. There were familiar forms of wildlife and plantlife present, as well as liquid water. The soil was also completely compatible with terran flora, which meant that in many ways, this world seemed to be a much younger (and much cleaner) Earth. At that point in his investigation, he had been sorely tempted to make planetfall.

That was, of course, until the latest pictures were analyzed.

“Humanoid” was the first word to come to mind, then “xenomorph” after he looked over the photos a little more closely. All the creatures had fur or even feathers upon their bodies, yet from what he could tell from body structure and posture, they all seemed to be built to walk on two legs instead of four. Furthermore, he could see hands and even human-like mammary structure on the females. From there however, he could see a very large difference between facial structure and other things.

Many of those present in the speed photos had hooves on the legs, an equine facial structure, complete with mane-like hair and even a tail. Some had wings, some had horns, and one had both.

Others were feathered along all of their bodies, save for the legs, which seemed almost feline in form. This was complete with a beak for a mouth, eagle-like eyes, and a very lion-esque tail.

Lastly, and most importantly, Diedrick noticed that all present in the pictures were wearing complex clothing ‒ a rather obvious sign of higher-thinking societies.

Something seemed to prick at Captain Diedrick’s mind; a sort of sense of familiarity with the beings present in the probe’s photos.

“Hey Orac,” he began, stacking the photos before placing them into the folder beside him, “does anything about the beings in these picture seem...I don’t know, familiar to you?”

“I was thinking that very thought sir, at which point I began scouring our database for anything similar.” the computer replied proudly. “After a few minutes, I found something rather interesting that I believe you should take a look at.”

Captain Diedrick nodded before turning his chair to face the large bridge monitor. “Very well, show me what you’ve found.”

The screen flashed as images appeared, and the computer began explaining. “While it is not exact because of the humanoid form of the creatures we’ve seen, I believe this is the most accurate we’re going to find.”

The captain looked over the images and names present before looking to the title. “Creatures of Mythology; Orac, these are legendary creatures of Earth that have never actually existed.”

“Indeed captain,” the computer replied dryly, “and yet on this planet we already see what appears to be unicorns, pegasi, gryphons, and a winged unicorn. We’ve already seen that this system seems to operate on very different rules than what we’re used to, so such mythical creatures being the sapient lifeforms isn’t that much of a stretch.”

“And clearly, they’re also intelligent.” he replied gravely. “I’m not sure how much help they’ll be, but we don’t have any other choice.” He stretched and loosened the collar of his uniform before standing. “Well, let’s head to the armory. Only an idiot would go alone to a planet with nothing to protect himself with.”

“So why are you going to the armory then?” Orac replied snarkily.

The captain grumbled to himself as he stomped down the corridor.

Celestia was pacing nervously; she never paced.

The nervousness had overcome her though, as her student Twilight Sparkle had advised her that not only had the strange anomaly in space stopped, but that something was now approaching the planet again, seemingly from the unknown object in orbit around Arcadia. Furthermore, its course had been plotted, and she was now waiting a short way in the mountains bordering Equestria and Gryphonia for it to land.

Celestia was powerful; she knew that. However, she was no fool, and knew that overconfidence could easily get her injured or even killed. The fact of the matter was she and her guards were going to be dealing with an unknown, and she had no idea if it was hostile or not or even how powerful it was. She had every right to be nervous because of that, if not for herself then for her ponies.

Celestia’s anxiety reached its peak as the fireball in the sky began to slow as flames seemed to shoot out from the bottom of it, and its shape became clearer as its speed decreased. She saw a strange arrow-shaped craft that was made of shiny metal, with much darker coloring underneath. It looked to be heavily armored, whatever it was, so instead of ordering an attack, she waited patiently for it to land. She was bright enough to know that it was clear something was controlling its descent at least, so she knew that its vulnerability was inside; blasts to the outside would do little to nothing, and would only provoke retaliation. With a raised hand, she silently ordered all the guards and her allies to stay their weapons and magic as they all waited for the craft to come to a stop.

The fires from under the craft changed from orange to blue as it continued to slow, until finally it was hovering only a few dozen yards off the ground in front of them. What looked like legs extended from underneath, which supported the craft as it came to a halt and landed.

For all present, weapons and magic were at the ready, but they all waited patiently for something ‒ anything ‒ to happen.

Finally, after a few tense moments of silence, a hiss of steam escaped from a crease on the craft, followed by the crease opening slowly with a deep hum of machinery. A ladder then seemingly erupted from the base of the portal, straightening as it led from the craft doorway to the ground. Lights within the interior gave way to a large figure as it moved into the doorway, and all the ponies and gryphons present watched with balanced curiosity and caution as it turned and began to descend to the ground via the ladder. Once again Princess Celestia was forced to order her guards to stay put, lest they provoke the being before them.

The first thing she noticed was that it wore what could only be armor, though it was a design she was not familiar with. Seeing as how it came from space, she could only fathom it was meant to protect it from the environment, seeing as how every inch of its body was covered in the gray and black armor. Also, it wore a helmet with a reflective visor that gave no hints as to what the creature looked like under the apparel it wore. A strange object stuck up above its head from its back, and by the position, Celestia could only conclude that it was a weapon of some sort.

It finally turned to face them all as it officially stepped upon Arcadia for the first time, and Celestia could tell it was studying them ‒ likely trying to conclude if they were a threat or not. After a few seconds of tense quiet, the figure relaxed its posture and reached to its head, pressing a finger upon the side of it.

The helmet split apart and began to retreat, revealing a head of black hair, olive skin, and small hazel-colored eyes. It was then that Celestia saw something she definitely recognized: the sharp eyes of a soldier; this creature, whatever it was, was a warrior of some kind.

Fortunately for all present, Princess Celestia was nothing if not diplomatic.

Offering a close-mouthed smile she greeted, “Welcome creature; welcome to Arcadia.”

“Quod homo ex solis.” it replied neutrally.

“I beg your pardon?” Princess Celestia asked with a raised eyebrow.

The creature repeated itself. “Quod homo ex solis; it’s the name of my species. Referring to me as ‘creature’ in your records seems a little crude, don’t you think?"

Princess Celestia’s eyes widened, pleasantly surprised that not only could the creature speak her language, but it also possessed some form of manners. “You are correct. Well then, I might as well introduce myself: I am Princess Celestia Solari, ruler of Equestria and steward of the sun.” She then gestured to the gryphon by her side. “This is Commander Steelbeak of Gryphonia, military envoy for his people to the north. Might I know your name?”

The being nodded, still keeping its expression neutral. “I am Captain Diedrick Thompson of the Sol planetary system.”

Princess Celestia narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Did you mean s-o-l-e ‘sole’ or S-o-l ‘Sol’?”

“The second one; Sol, like our star.” the captain replied with a raised eyebrow. “Why?”

Princess Celestia’s mouth dropped open in surprise; the fact that her astral charge and this being’s home star was named the same thing could not be mere coincidence ‒ she had lived far too long to believe in coincidence anymore.

Princess Celestia took a moment to gather herself before responding, “Because our star is named the same.”

Captain Diedrick stared at the princess for a moment before stating, “We speak the same language, and have named our star the same thing. We also have similar body structures; I think we have quite a bit to talk about.”

Princess Celestia nodded firmly. “Yes, it seems we do. Unfortunately I cannot allow undue panic to befall my citizens, so I must ask that you remain here for a few days until we can decide what to do with you.”

The captain raised his eyebrow at the princess. “Decide what to do with me? What does that even mean?”

Thousands of years of dealing with hostiles in wartime came back to Celestia as second nature, and she offered a confident smile. “Surely you don’t expect us to allow you to simply wander our lands freely. We must detain you of course, at least until we can determine whether you are a threat or not.”

The mere thought of being detained without cause made the captain’s blood begin to boil. “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

Princess Celestia nodded. “This is true, but it may be only a matter of time before you begin harming my people; that is something I simply will not allow.”

Diedrick’s hands clenched unconsciously as he grit his teeth. “If I’m not wanted here, then I’ll just leave. I’ll find a different planet that’s a little more accommodating. I don’t have time to sit in some jail while you try to figure out if I’m dangerous or not.”

“You’re not going anywhere.” Princess Celestia stated firmly, motioning to her guards. “I will have you forcibly immobilized if I must.”

Diedrick’s patience was quickly wearing thin, and he had decided he didn’t very much like the white horse-thing. “As I said, I don’t have time for this. I’ll make this nice and clear so that there’s no chance you can misunderstand: I’m leaving. If you try to stop me, you’re going to get hurt.” Four pony guards approached him, and he simply warned, “Don’t do it; I’m warning you only once.”

Attempting to use numbers and a variety of different abilities, two earth ponies, a pegasus and a unicorn attempted to subdue Diedrick, rushing him all at once, with the pegasus approaching from behind to tackle him to the ground. In a flash of movement, both earth pony guards fell to the ground, and the pegasus was grabbed in the air and thrown like a toy. The unicorn guard then attempted to levitate the captain with magic, and as he was picked up off the ground with a flail of surprise, it seemed that the struggle was over. Then, with only a second of warning, Captain Diedrick pulled a strange device off of his hip and fiddled with it for just a moment before firing two blasts from it, hitting the unicorn guard in the chest. The blasts electrocuted the guard, causing him to lose focus and drop his target, at which point Diedrick rushed over and made a well-placed hit to the back of the guard’s head, rendering him unconscious.

Standing in the wake of four defeated royal guards, Diedrick looked back to the princess with anger burning in his eyes. “Now, I’m leaving. Yet again, if you try to stop me, you’re getting hurt.” Deciding not to take any chances, he slung the weapon from his back around to hold in his hands, ready to fire if necessary.

As he expected, the princess just had to try her hand too.

He found himself once again lifted into the air against his will, and he twisted in the air until he could see the princess glaring at him. Just before she could open her mouth to speak, he took aim and fired a blast of molten energy at her feet, the shot erupting with the sound of a thunderclap and leaving the ground smoking where she had stood just a moment ago.

With a growl he aimed right at the base of the princess’ horn. “Put me down. The next shot’s going in your forehead.”

Princess Celestia cautiously lowered him to the ground, but kept her glare burning on him. “You dare to threaten a princess of Equestria?”

Diedrick shook his head. “It’s not a threat, it’s a warning. I’m not a diplomat or a politician; I couldn’t care less who you are or what you do. I’m a soldier, and all I know is that when I came here to ask for help, you attempted to have me detained, and when I tried to leave because it’s clear I’m not welcome here, you tried to stop me.”

Princess Celestia didn’t take kindly to being defied, let alone by a visitor to her planet. However, she kept her anger in check as she suggested, “I could simply have you killed, you know. Clearly this is too much trouble, and you might bring an invasion force here.”

Diedrick smirked darkly. “And if you do that, I have a Class 2 Destroyer starship orbiting this planet, ready to burn it to a cinder. Your petty threats don’t scare me princess, so stop embarrassing yourself. Let me leave, and you’ll never hear from me again.”

Being silent this whole time, Commander Steelbeak decided to speak up. “What exactly did you want help with, stranger?”

Diedrick turned to the grizzled gryphon soldier and shrugged. “I’m stranded, and I’m trying to find out where I am so I can go home.” He then turned his eyes back to the pony princess. “So as you can see, there isn’t anyone else; I’m it. However, don’t let that make you overconfident. I’m more than capable of defending myself alone against a bunch of subpar soldiers like this.”

“Subpar?” Princess Celestia questioned, her anger slowly rising. “I’ll have you know these are my personal royal guards!”

Diedrick rolled his eyes. “Well then you should retrain them, because if they can’t win a four-on-one fight, they clearly aren’t good enough.” With a sigh as he reformed his helmet, turning away before stating, “For what it’s worth, I didn’t want any of this to happen; I didn’t want to cause any trouble at all. I just want to find out where I am so I can get home.”

“We’ll provide you with living quarters.” Commander Steelbeak offered. “In return, we ask that you lend some of your skills for our soldiers to learn.”

Diedrick thought for a moment. The offer sounded good, and it was never said exactly how much he needed to provide to be considered an even trade. Besides, from what he could tell, at eight feet tall, he towered over all of them, and he was fairly confident he also outclass them in strength as well. The gryphons also hadn’t necessarily bought his ire either, which was a plus.

“And you’ll tell me what you know about where I am in the cosmos?” Diedrick questioned carefully.

The aged gryphon nodded, adjusting his crimson uniform. “Aye. We’ve been plotting the stars for several thousand years, so I am sure our charts will be useful to you in some small way.”

Diedrick nodded with a smile. “I appreciate that. Shall we be off?”

“Unfortunately,” the commander began, “our cities can only be accessed by air. From what I can tell, you do not appear to have wings.”

Diedrick raised an eyebrow before once again removing his helmet and pointing to his ship. “Um, this flies. So long as you have a suitable spit of flat land, I can land it.”

Celestia, however, was not pleased by the forming arrangement, and she jerked her head off to the side. “Commander, might I have a word?” Steelbeak looked to her in confusion before nodding and stepping a distance away from the visitor. Once they were far enough away to avoid eavesdropping, Celestia hissed, “What do you think you are doing? This is an obviously dangerous creature, and for all you know, it could simply be looking to gain your trust before-”

With a raised claw and a glare, Commander Steelbeak silenced the pony princess. “Allies though we may be, you must remember that your choices need not be ours. I have invited the captain to our lands in hopes that he may learn what he needs to while we learn about him and his kind, and in doing so, creating a powerful ally. You would do well to keep in mind that predators are not so easily cowed by displays of power, especially when they have power of their own to bring to the table.”

Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow as she quickly glanced to their visitor. “Predator?”

Commander Steelbeak grimaced with a bit of contempt. “Truly you cannot tell? Look at the forward-facing eyes, the sharp teeth, and the behavior toward threats.” As the princess turned her attention back to him, he sighed a little sadly. “Not to seem racist, but you ponies tend to fear and shun that which you are not familiar with; a perfect example would be the Bloodtalon Conflict, when slave gryphons fought to free themselves from pony oppression.”

Princess Celestia frowned shamefully. “Steelbeak, I-”

“Was in self-imposed exile, I know.” the gryphon commander finished for her. “Regardless, your absence caused the breeding of fear in your ponies, and with that fear, they fought to kill or enslave threats. I don’t blame you, but I ask that you remember that though you often fancy yourself separate from the mortals, you still feel many of the same things they do. Just today, you were prepared to imprison someone simply because they might be dangerous; where is the justice in that? Have you no honor? Have you no shame?” Realizing that the pony in front of him was just barely holding back tears from having been so thoroughly disciplined by someone she considered a friend, he sighed and shook his head as he turned away. “We will speak again when I have settled our guest in a little. Until then, perhaps you should think on your behavior and that of your subordinates.”

Choking down a whimper, Princess Celestia motioned to her guards and led them a short distance away before casting a portal spell to Canterlot, leaving the field before she could make more of a fool of herself.

As Commander Steelbeak made his way back to Captain Diedrick, he mentally berated himself for being so harsh with the princess, though he knew it was needed. Shaking his head, he smiled to the captain and said, “We are ready to depart. Unfortunately, the mists surrounding the mountains make it all but impossible to navigate by sight, so I will fly ahead of your craft and lead you to our capital, Cragbreach. I’ll need to ask you to be careful, as I’ll need to be close so that you can see me.”

Diedrick smirked and patted the armored hide of his craft. “This old bird has the ability to see infrared, which will let me see you through the fog. Also, I can use sonar pings to see the terrain, so I’ll be good so long as you don’t forget where you’re going.”

Commander Steelbeak didn’t understand what this “infrared” was, but if it allowed his guest to navigate the Spearpoint Mountains, that was good enough for him. With a nod and a smile, he turned to his squad. “Alright boys and girls, we’re headed home. I’ll lead our guest through the mountains, and you all escort him. Move out!” As the twelve gryphon soldiers formed lines to accompany the craft, the commander turned to Captain Diedrick. “We’re ready to leave when you are, just be careful not to burn my squad. At cruising speed, it should only take us a little over ten minutes to arrive.”

Diedrick nodded as he donned his helmet once again. “You lead, I’ll follow.”

The flight through the mountains was uneventful, much to Diedrick’s relief. To his surprise, he found the predators more hospitable than the herbivores. Perhaps not as impressive with their lack of access to the strange energy the horse-people were able to wield, but more willing to offer him fair treatment; that alone was worth forming an alliance. Besides, from what he could tell of the city, they seemed fairly technologically advanced, at least on par with twenty-first century humans.

The landing craft made its touchdown just outside a large building built into the side of a mountain, which by its form alone seemed to be the capitol. Diedrick filed the information away for later as he disembarked, waving in a friendly manner to his escort.

“Welcome to Cragsbreach, Captain Diedrick. We hope it is up to your standards.” Commander Steelbeak greeted happily.

Diedrick took a look around, recognizing the familiar smells of a modern city. Restaurants could be seen from the steps of the capitol, and he could even see lit signs around the city. With a smile and a nod he replied, “Yes, this seems quite sufficient. I appreciate the hospitality.”

“Now,” Commander Steelbeak began, gesturing to the capitol, “we will meet with the king first, and then we will set up your lodging. Seeing as how it was my choice to bring you into our land, it is customary for me to be the one to offer you a room. Thankfully for you, it just so happens that I have a few guest rooms available for you to use, and plenty of room.”

Diedrick nodded with a smile. “That sounds good, Commander Steelbeak. What can you tell me about the king?”

Commander Steelbeak thought for a moment before answering. “Well, king Razorclaw has ruled for ten years, taking the throne after his father passed away. Where Blackfeather the Great was a fierce warrior, his son has focused more on enriching the lives of the people by advancing technology and ruling with a firm, but fair claw. He has brought our people to a new era, one defined by betterment of our society instead of military conquest.” He sighed with a smile turning the corner of his beak up slightly. “Our warriors will always hold a place of honor and prestige in our society, but no longer are we known as ‘the savage gryphons’.”

Diedrick nodded in understanding. “Sounds a lot like the way my people evolved, actually. So, do you think I have anything to worry about?”

Commander Steelbeak shook his head. “I do not. It goes without saying that you will be required to disarm before entering, but with my personal word of reference, I think the king will actually take quite the shine to you.” With a toss of his head he said, “Come, let us be off.”

With one last glance at the impressive architecture, Diedrick followed the flock of gryphon soldiers inside, preparing to meet royalty for the second time today. Just quietly enough so that only he could hear it he muttered, “Hopefully he doesn’t throw me in jail like the other one tried to.”

As night fell across Equestria, Princess Celestia found herself rather introspective.

“When did I become so distrusting?” she asked herself, shame radiating off her in waves as she sat wrapped in blankets, watching the moon rise in the distance. “When did I start thinking forsaking one’s freedom was the right thing to do?” After all, Discord had been reformed, so why did this new creature threaten her so much?

“Because I know what Discord is capable of.” she answered aloud to an empty room. “Chaotic though he may be, I at least know to expect randomness and the unexpected. With this Captain Diedrick Thompson, I know nothing.”

That was it, wasn’t it?

“I’m afraid of the unknown.” she thought with a groan. “By the stars, Steelbeak was right. I’m a monster.”

Princess Celestia had always been her own worst enemy, as well as her harshest critic. In this instance, she saw all the things she fought to abolish from Equestria within herself, and she hated it; she hated herself.

“Equestria is supposed to be a land of peace and love.” she mused silently. With a dry chuckle she remarked, “And yet the ruler herself denies both to a visitor from another world. How fitting that I should be the one to break my own rules.”

As she finally lay down on her overly-plush bed, she frowned and closed her eyes. Sleep would not come easy tonight, but tomorrow would be a day when she reevaluated what she had become, and what she wished to be. With a final flash of self-loathing, Princess Celestia allowed her consciousness to melt away as Luna guided her and others to the realm of dreams.

With hope, hers would bring perspective.

Chapter 2

Contrary to what Diedrick had believed of a castle built into a mountain, it was outfitted with all the modern amenities one would expect of a race that hadn’t yet mastered space flight. As he made his way through the long hallway past the foyer, he saw electronically-locked doors, electric light fixtures, a comm system wired in the walls and ceilings, and even a few vacuum cleaners here and there (though it was beyond him why they would be needed in a stone-floored hallway).

Deciding to gather some more information before meeting with the ruler of a race of previously-mythical beings, Diedrick chose to ask a few very important questions as he walked. “What should I expect when I meet with the king?”

“Expect?” Commander Steelbeak echoed.

Diedrick nodded with a flat look. “Yes, expect; what should I act like, do I need to bow, should I refer to him by ‘your majesty’...stuff like that.”

The elder gryphon’s eyes widened. “Oh! Yes, apologies for that. Well, I say act as you normally would to superiors; his subjects are expected to bow and refer to him as ‘your highness’ or ‘your majesty’, but foreign dignitaries and military officers are exempt from that rule. Instead, give him a respectful salute while looking him in the eyes, and refer to him as ‘King Razorbeak’. You are to hold your salute until he sits, and wait for him to address you before speaking. Request permission to speak freely if you feel simple questions will be inadequate for either of you.”

“I’m supposed to look him in the eyes?” Diedrick asked in confusion.

Commander Steelbeak nodded. “Of course. Meeting a gryphon’s eyes shows that you respect them and gives you the standing that befits your military upbringing. Averting your eyes would mean that you are either a liar or a coward, neither of which the king would take kindly to.” He thought for a moment longer before saying, “Also ‒ and I’m only telling you this because you don’t know ‒ he will attempt to cow you by threatening you, or even approaching you directly. This is a test to show your resolve, and you are not to back down, no matter what.”

Diedrick nodded before raising an eyebrow. “Wait, if this is a test, why are you basically giving me a cheat sheet?”

Commander Steelbeak considered his answer for a moment. “Because I do not serve the crown, I serve Gryphonia; I will do what is best for my country, and right now, I think you might be a very nice blessing bestowed upon us. I want you to succeed, for if you do, we all do. There is much we can learn about you, and hopefully there is much we can help you understand so that you can get home.”

Diedrick nodded. “I understand. I’m much the same, really. Luckily for me, most of the time I work on only vague orders, and more often than not I am completely on my own. For example: before I found your planet, I had been alone for nearly two months.”

The commander nodded before stopping at an oversized double door, turning on his heel. “The throne room is just ahead; we’ll need to temporarily take your weapons.”

Seeing as how he figured these gryphons were his best chance to figure things out, Diedrick complied and removed his energy pistol, his rifle, and his combat blade. Next, he opened his waist pouches and removed the ammunition he had on him. Once that was done, one of the armored guards at the door patted him down briefly before nodding, and the doors were opened.

Diedrick beheld what he would have expected of a throne room in structure, but it seemed rather bare in decoration. He had expected decorative tapestries, a long crimson rug, and maybe even an army of butlers waiting and beck-and-call. Instead, he saw bare granite walls leading to a small raised platform where a comfortable wooden throne sat. He noticed as all but the commander and three soldiers broke away to stand near the door, while the rest made their way to the throne.

As the five of them stopped at the foot of a small set of stairs leading to the throne platform, Diedrick began to fidget with boredom. A glare from one of the gryphon soldiers stopped him, but he still couldn’t help but drum his gloved fingers upon his hip.

After a few minutes of patient waiting, a tall slate-gray gryphon entered the hall from a door behind the throne, and it didn’t take much thinking for Diedrick to realize that this was the king. He was dressed in rather spartan clothing compared to what he had expected of royalty, but it wasn’t his job to judge.

As the soldiers around him saluted by holding a hand over the eyebrow, Diedrick only marveled for a second at the familiar motion before doing it himself, meeting the sharp golden eyes of the king as he made his way around the throne and sat down. Once he had done so, Diedrick lowered his hand and stood at ease with his arms crossed behind him, waiting for the king to speak.

With a wave of his clawed hand, the king ordered the guards to leave, save for the commander. After a few moments of waiting for the hall to clear, the king finally spoke to Diedrick.

“So, you are the strange creature that came from the sky.” he mused aloud, a confident smirk on his face. With a critical eye he concluded, “You aren’t quite what I expected. Somehow I envisioned someone a bit taller, and not so...flimsy.”

Already the shadowed threats were beginning, so Diedrick remembered what he had been told. With respect he replied, “That’s probably what many of my enemies have thought before they knew no more, King Razorbeak.”

The king’s eyes widened for just a moment before he smiled and stood, approaching the alien. “Well then, let’s have a look at you.” He raised his clawed hands before pausing, locking eyes with Diedrick. “Do you mind?”

Diedrick was unsure of the question at first, but then realized what the king must have been asking. With a nod of acquiescence, he allowed the older gryphon to place his clawed limbs upon him.

King Razorbeak immediately noticed a few things about this new creature in his land. First, the reason he didn’t seem so large and imposing was because he lacked both fur and feathers, which usually would have added quite a bit of size to the body. His shoulders, forearms, and neck were much thicker than that of a gryphon, and the fingers, while they seemed to lack claws, were far more dexterous. The more the king inspected the captain, he came to find that it was likely the only thing gryphons would be able to outclass him in was flight, simply because he lacked wings. When Commander Steelbeak originally told him of what this being was capable of, he had believed his old friend to be exaggerating. Now, looking at the eight-foot tall man, he realized it was quite possible the commander may have been underestimating. King Razorbeak was no fool, after all; he knew better than to ignore the obvious ‒ that this creature was taller, stronger, and faster than a gryphon on land.

Cautiously lifting the upper lip, King Razorbeak noticed a set of well-developed canines, confirming his initial belief that he was dealing with a fellow predator. This made things easier, since he knew that prey species were generally easily offended.

“What are you called, creature?” the king asked as he released the captain.

Diedrick cleared his throat. “My name is Diedrick Cornelius Thompson. My kind is known as Quod homo ex solis, or the ‘people of the sun’.”

King Razorbeak nodded. “I see. If I am not mistaken, your kind seems to be a highly evolved form of primates, yes?” Diedrick nodded. “And you are carnivorous in nature.”

“Omnivorous,” Diedrick corrected, “like many primates, at least from my world. To put it simply, we will eat anything so long as it’s edible.”

King Razorbeak grinned. “Indeed. Would you be above eating a pony?”

“I don’t eat sapient beings.” Diedrick shot back, realizing what the king was essentially asking. “It’s a moral thing, really; I don’t want to have to explain to one’s family and friends just how tasty they were.”

King Razorbeak barked a laugh, nodding. “I can understand that. Besides, ponies are rather touchy on the subject of eating meat. Heavens forbid nature actually runs its course and a predator hunts and eats a prey animal. However, you intrigue me, Diedrick. You, a stranger, come to my land and seek help. What makes you think that was a smart idea?”

“Another veiled threat.” Diedrick thought.

With a confident smile he replied, “Because I have things to offer in return that you can’t get from anyone else.”

“I could always use persuasive methods to get what I wish out of you.” the king threatened.

Trading blow for blow verbally, Diedrick thought for a moment before making his response. “You could surely try, but you would end up with no new information and a lot of dead soldiers.”

King Razorbeak took another step back, subtly tensing his arms and legs. “You seem rather confident in your abilities.”

“I’m a ship captain, King Razorbeak. It’s my job to be able to read my foes, and your kind would pose little to no threat to me in a fair fight.” Diedrick answered confidently. “Now if one of you were to take to the skies, that would make things a little more difficult, but I’m still confident I could win.”

“Is that so?” the king questioned. “Well then, perhaps we’ll need to test that soon.”

Diedrick shrugged. “So long as you know someone who’s smart enough to admit when they’ve lost, that won’t be a problem. I don’t want to break any bones on any of your people simply because they were trying to prove something by taking on the big bad alien.”

King Razorbeak shook his head. “We fight for honor and the thrill of battle, but we are far from the savages our kind used to be. Worry not stranger, should one of my men wish to fight you, you will find them an honorable opponent.” With a firm nod he said, “Now, we must discuss a few issues we seem to have come across. First of all, you seem to have become quite at odds with ponies within only minutes of landing on our world; how did you accomplish this?”

Diedrick shrugged. “She wanted to detain me as a prisoner. I said no and tried to just leave the planet, and she tried to stop me. There’s not much more to it than that, really; I don’t inherently have anything against these ‘ponies’, but I won’t be talked down to and neither am I going to be treated like a criminal when I’ve done nothing to deserve it.”

The king nodded once again. “Understandable. Next, we have a potential issue with the power you displayed, as I am not so foolish to assume that your weaponry is the extent of that prowess. Because of this, you will be watched by Commander Steelbeak himself as you enjoy your stay here. Do you find issue with this?”

“I don’t.” Diedrick answered. “Honestly, I’d be surprised if you didn’t have someone watching me. So long as there aren’t any bars on the doors and windows of wherever I’m staying, that’s good enough for me.”

“Excellent,” King Razorbeak answered happily, “then it seems we will get on quite well, I think. Lastly, in return for our services, I must ask that you do not leave the city without an escort while you stay here. It could cause undesirable developments across the kingdom if an unknown being is seen freely walking the lands, and I cannot risk a panic.”

Diedrick shrugged. “That seems fair enough, so long as I’m not chained up or anything.”

“We’re cautious, but not barbarians.” King Razorbeak shot back, a little offended. “The time for needless imprisonment left when my father died, and if I have anything to say about it, such a time will never live again in these lands. We are a people of enlightenment now, and we hope to equally balance our military strength with mutual respect for others.” He chuckled softly. “Some of the elder gryphons think it mad, but I see the potential for a much better way of life for my people, and the results thus far do not lie. Worry not, captain; as long as you stay here, you will be treated as a guest, not a prisoner.”

Showing a smile of gratitude, Diedrick nodded. “That seems very acceptable, King Razorbeak. Thank you.”

“I am pleased that we have come to an agreement.” the king replied with a smile of his own, nodding to the waiting Commander Steelbeak. “Commander, please escort the captain to where he’ll be staying and return his gear. We will speak more at a later date.”

As Diedrick left the throne room with Commander Steelbeak, he couldn’t help but ask, “He’s giving me my gear back?”

With a chuckle, the gryphon nodded. “He is indeed. The king is a very good judge of character; if gryphons had obvious ‘special’ talents like ponies did, reading others would be his.”

The mention of a special talent that these ponies seemed to have confused Diedrick, but he kept silent for the moment. Questions could come later; for now, he simply wanted somewhere to relax so he could digest all the new information that had been given to him.

After a few minutes of walking (and quite a few curious stares from the people of Cragsbreach), Diedrick found himself standing in front of a veritable castle in its own right, the grand manor of Commander Steelbeak speaking of his respect in the community and the rewards given for his years of service.

“Home sweet home.” the gryphon commented with a grin, turning to Diedrick and jerking his head toward the front door. “Come, you should meet my family. I wouldn’t want you to-”

Just before the commander could finish, the front door was thrust open with quite a bit of force as a brown and white blur shot through it, threading between Diedrick’s legs. Just as Diedrick looked to see what was currently using him as a shield, he heard a piercing screech, followed by another much larger blur slamming into his chest.

Only his superior size and weight kept Diedrick from being knocked over from the hit, but his assaulter was not so lucky. Sitting by his feet was a gryphon with violet eyeshadow and violet-tipped feathers on its head, leading him to believe it to be a young female. She was rubbing her brow as she pushed herself to a sitting position, panting softly.

“Ugh,” she groaned in a daze, “what’d I hit?”

With a frustrated sigh, Commander Steelbeak rubbed the bridge of his beak. “Captain Diedrick, please allow me to introduce you to my rambunctious daughters, Gilda and Tara.”

“Captain…” Gilda whispered to herself before turning her head up and opening her eyes.

Upon seeing the captain, she gasped and scrambled to her feet as her feathers fluffed up in an instinctive attempt to seem larger. After taking a moment to realize she was likely appearing to be a frightened little chick, she straightened her posture and locked her eyes with this “captain” before her. She mentally noted that he was a good two feet taller than her, and wore a peculiar outfit that covered his entire body. From his sparsely-haired head, she could determine that whatever he was, his kind didn’t grow fur everywhere, which meant the clothes were likely used to cover himself in lieu of hair or feathers.

After inspecting her father’s guest, Gilda concluded that he was obviously a military guy, and any uniformed officer was okay in her book. So, with a confident grin, she extended her hand to him. “Nice to meet you, captain. I take it those pony lame-o’s couldn’t handle you?”

Diedrick took the young gryphoness’ clawed hand in his own and shook it firmly. “A pleasure to meet you as well ma’am, and no, I suppose not. Already I find myself fitting in quite a bit better with your kind than theirs.”

Gilda released the captain’s hand and nodded, noticing just how strong his grip was. “In all my years of knowing about ponies and living near them, I’ve had one friend out of the thousands of them that could handle me.” She rolled her hand in the air in an indistinct manner. “You know the kind; they get all scared of things that are different from them, and so they don’t want it around.”

Diedrick nodded wordlessly before looking behind him, seeing a much smaller gryphon hiding behind his large form. Turning on his heel to face it, he kneeled down until he met the gold-flecked brown eyes of the commander’s second daughter. With a gentle tone of voice he greeted, “And so you must be Tara. It’s a pleasure to meet you, miss.”

The young chick looked up into the man’s eyes and nodded shyly, realizing she had sought safety from her older sister by hiding behind a complete stranger. “Y-yes sir.” After recognizing the familiar look in the man’s eyes, as well as the sight of armor ‒ unfamiliar though it was ‒ she gasped and asked, “Are you a soldier like daddy?”

Diedrick nodded with a smile. “I am indeed, though I’m not from this world. I’m lost, so your father will be helping me get home; is it okay if I stay with you until then?”

Taking a moment to think the question over, the gryphon chick then nodded rapidly, her crimson-tinted head feathers bobbing cutely. “Yeah, that’ll be so cool!”

Diedrick stood, still smiling, before looking back to his host. “Well, let us not put it off any longer now. I am sure the sooner things are settled in, the sooner we can begin helping each other out.”

Commander Steelbeak nodded before looking to his older daughter. “Gilda, please take his weapons to the guest room on the second floor; you know the one. Prepare the room for a non-gryphon guest.” He then looked to the younger and said, “Tara, go find your mum and tell her we’ll be having a guest stay with us, so we’ll need an extra place at the table set for tonight.” With a duo of salutes, the two younger gryphons rushed inside the house, Gilda only taking a moment to gather Diedrick’s gear as he handed it to her.

Once the two were alone, Diedrick looked to the commander with a raised eyebrow. “Rather obedient children you have there, commander.”

Smiling warmly, Commander Steelbeak nodded. “Aye. From a young age I instilled within them the values of hard work, respect of one’s elders, and good manners. True that they will slip up here and there, but they are still children, after all.” He then shrugged, closing his eyes and chuckling. “Gilda has just reached adulthood, and I’ll not be false and say her adolescence was easy to deal with. Still, she has truly come into her own, and though she has a long way to go, she is progressing and that’s what counts.”

Diedrick nodded as he followed his host inside the large home. “Well just so you know, my respect for you just increased a few levels.” As Commander Steelbeak glanced back at him, he shrugged. “It takes a good man to be a good father, as in many ways, parenthood is one of the most difficult jobs in existence.” He pointed toward the interior of the home. “To have two well-mannered children like that it’s clear that you’ve done a fine job with them.”

Eyes widening in surprise of the captain’s observations, Commander Steelbeak nodded. “I do try. So long as they are happy and don’t end up harlots, I feel I’ve done a good job with my girls.”

Diedrick found he enjoyed the blunt nature of Commander Steelbeak’s speech, allowing him to relax just a hair. Gently closing the front door behind him, he sighed thoughtfully as he envisioned roads in his own life that had gone untraveled; roads that might have provided him his own family. Shaking the thought away, he rolled his eyes at his own depressing thoughts. ‘I’m still young after all,’ he thought, ‘so it isn’t as if such a thing is completely off the table for me.’

“Now,” the commander announced, bringing Diedrick out of his inner musings, “I’ll allow you to settle yourself and clean up. Dinner is at sundown, and anything you need you can ask Gilda for; her room is on the same floor as yours.”

Glancing around and realizing just how familiar the architecture was, Diedrick saw fit to file yet another strange similarity away in his mind for later analysis. For now, he simply nodded to his host as he was led up a large wooden staircase, which gave way to an open second floor that was obviously made to accommodate both flying and flightless residents.

After a short tour of the upstairs, Commander Steelbeak beckoned his guest to an open room, which had an alien rifle propped up against the window of one wall. “Well, here it is. I do hope it is to your liking.”

Diedrick entered the room and found it furnished with a bookshelf, a queen-sized bed, and a nightstand. While by most people such a room would be considered spartan, Diedrick was simply happy to be staying somewhere that didn’t have bars caging him or cameras watching him. So, with a grateful smile, he nodded. “This will do quite well, thank you sir.” He then snapped his fingers and said, “Oh wait, one thing though. I don’t seem to have any clothes, so I’ll need to go back to my ship and-”

“Already taken care of, captain.” Commander Steelbeak interrupted with a smile, pointing to a steel locker set in one corner of the room. “During the ruckus of disembarking and preparing you to meet the king, one of my men took the liberty of bringing out this container, which was helpfully marked ‘civy wear’.”

‘And they can read english.’ Diedrick thought quietly, putting yet another thought away to think about later. He nodded with a smile. “Well I thank you and whoever saw fit to grab this, as it saves me a lot of time. Now,” he turned back to his host, “I need to wash up.”

Commander Steelbeak nodded. “Gilda will be able to show you where the washroom is and how everything works. Apologies, but I must depart, as I have a few things to take care of before the day ends. My daughters will be able to answer any questions you have until I return, so I ask that you not bother my mate.”

Diedrick raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know what sort of aura I’m giving off, but I don’t intend to disrespect the wife of someone who’s letting me stay in their home.”

Commander Steelbeak chuckled and waved a claw at him. “I meant no offense, simply that she gets ‘in the zone’ when she’s preparing supper for the family, and can become more than a little upset if she’s bothered.”

“Ah.” Diedrick murmured before extending his hand. “Well, I appreciate you opening your home to me, sir. It’s become obvious to me that not everyone on this world is so welcoming.”

Frowning at the thought of the Equestrian princess’ behavior earlier in the day, he sighed. “She has lived longer than you or I can fathom as mortals, and sometimes her behaviors can be a bit eccentric when dealing with the unknown. Give her time and she’ll come around, I promise; whether you are here for a week or months, she is a good ally to have on your side.”

Deciding not to respond verbally, Diedrick merely nodded as his hand was shook and the commander left silently, leaving him alone in the room for the moment. He reflected quietly on the fact that this was the first time he had stayed in a foreign land with all of his weaponry still with him, and one of the only times he had done so with the knowledge of the entire military and a monarch. With a sigh, he strode to the steel locker and typed in the combination, causing the lock to unhinge and the lid to spring open as a few stray articles of clothing were flung into the air, only to land on Diedrick’s head. Removing the pair of boxers and sock that had taken residence on his head, he stood and pulled a pair of pants, a shirt and a towel from the locker before turning and heading back to the doorway.

***

‘Who and what the hell is that thing?’ Gilda thought to herself, confused as to whether she should be upset that her father invited someone to stay without telling her, or happy that said person wasn’t another snobby ambassador from Equestria; for creatures that thought gryphons to be “uncouth” and “barbaric” in many ways, they sure liked to visit a lot. This new creature though, he seemed very different in comparison to her father’s usual guests, and was a soldier, which was always cool in her book.

Still, she wasn’t sure if she trusted him. Her father had long ago pointed out to her the difference between a normal soldier, and veterans of war. This guest, he had that look of one who’d seen combat quite a bit, and the fact he was alive meant that he’d probably done his fair share in said conflict. She wasn’t afraid of him of course ‒ Gilda wasn’t scared of anyone except her father ‒ but she was just...wary. Healthy caution kept people alive, after all.

Just as she rounded the corner of her bedroom door though, again she ran into the guest, but thankfully kept her stance this time. Forcing herself not to flinch under the sharp and alert eyes trained on her, Gilda offered him a friendly grin. “How are you settling in, captain?”

Diedrick shrugged, holding up his clothes where she could see them. “Alright, but I could really use a wash. Your father said you would be able to show me how everything works so that I don’t blow up your house or something.”

Chuckling, Gilda shook her head. “We use water just like ponies do, so I’m not sure how you’d do that. Still, I won’t lie and say it wouldn’t be pretty entertaining to see you pull that off.”

Stepping away from her doorway and curling a clawed finger for the captain to follow her, Gilda made her way to the large washroom nestled against a corner of the upstairs floor. For some reason, she felt the need to smooth down her shirt, shorts and feathers as she led her guest to their destination, but determined it to be unimportant to think about. After all, she just wanted to look presentable to him since she had already run into him twice already. Mentally chastising herself, Gilda sighed in embarrassment. ‘Ugh, did I really do that? The guy probably thinks I’m a clumsy ass now; great going, G.’

As the two of them entered the tiled washroom, Gilda began pointing to and naming off its fixtures. “Sink and shower ‒ red knob for hot water, blue for cold. Toilet if you need to use it, and the handle flushes-”

“I think I can get it from here, ma’am.” Diedrick interrupted with a chuckle. “My kind hasn’t seen things quite like this for nearly a thousand years now, but I’m sure I can figure it out.”

Backing away and coughing nervously, Gilda nodded. “Right...I didn’t mean to offend or anything, man. It’s just, you’re from a different world and all, so I figured maybe-”

“That I wouldn’t know how to use a water-pressure shower or a gravity-pump toilet, right?” Diedrick finished with a smirk. “It’s alright, I know my way around here. Thank you very much for your help.”

Deigning to remain silent, Gilda quickly left before she could make any more a fool of herself. Even with her reservations about this stranger, she still found herself oddly excited to get to know the alien being. After all, he couldn’t be anywhere near as bad as ponies could be, could he?

The hours before sunset found Diedrick sitting alone in his provided room, freshly groomed and dressed down in common street clothes. It had been nearly two spaceyears since he had felt the unfitted fabric of civilian clothing, but he could readily admit that it had its charms. Though it had been nearly ten years since he had taken up his military career, slipping back into a non-wartime role came easily to him, though his training still urged him to think logically in all situations.

Observe.

He was on an alien world with no contact with Sol HQ or any other known allies. He may or may not be able to get help from the people of this world, but the fact that there are so many similarities between this world and the one his people came from was beginning to worry him for some reason.

Evaluate.

The help offered to him was a double-edged sword, in that he was expected to offer something useful in return. Because of his military career, he was sure it would have something to do with either technology, military tactics, or even secrets that he might know (though the latter wasn’t much). All he knew for sure was that he would have to make sure the status quo stayed in his favor, as he couldn’t be positive if these gryphons would continue being accommodating if he was assumed to be a used-up asset. More worryingly beyond all that though, what if the rip in spacetime that clearly brought him to this place worked on a fluctuating time flow? It might mean that if he found a way back to familiar space, he could end up decades before or after he was just in his home system, which could cause any number of things to go wrong; the fabric of time could be a fickle mistress, he had found. The truth of the matter was that he had no idea what he would do if and when he found out where he was in the metaverse, and the thought of not knowing how to act scared Diedrick.

Prepare.

He was going to form new allies on this world. More than anything, he knew a lone wolf in the cosmos was a dead one, so more friends and allies meant more collective strength and a greater chance at continued survival. He would need to find out what they knew and how they worked as separate cultures, as well as how this strange planetary system worked and just what the hell this strange energy surrounding the planet was, as well as that force that princess used against him. He would need to be alert for any suspicious activity against him, and would need to be ready to act quickly if he caught scent of something dirty going on.

Execute.

First, before anything else, he was hungry.

Diedrick stood from the bed and stretched briefly before making a few strides to the door and heading down the stairway to the bottom floor, from where he could already smell something lovely being cooked by his hostess, no doubt. Seeing as how he hadn’t formally met Commander Steelbeak’s wife yet though, Diedrick thought it better if the commander himself was the one to introduce them. He was sure the missus probably knew there was a guest in the house, but he didn’t want to startle a potentially-hostile gryphoness.

Thankfully, his concerns were handled a mere second later.

The door opened with a loud, “I’m home,” followed by the master of the residence entering, nodding to his guest with a smile. “Well, you clean up quite nicely.” Looking over the captain, Commander Steelbeak chuckled. “You’re a might bit sparse in the fur department, aren’t you?”

Diedrick ran his palm over his face and nodded. “Yeah. My people evolved from primates originally, but our ancestors lost a lot of our fur in the process, which is why we wear clothes now. Still, there’s nothing quite like the feel of something like silk against bare skin.”

“And you’ll never know what it feels like against clean fur.” the commander retorted, sporting a grin. “Now, I think we’ve put this off long enough, and it smells like supper is just about finished. Come and meet my wife before she sets the table, so we can say a stranger didn’t turn up to eat with us.” Under his breath he added, “Though it wouldn’t be the strangest thing that’s happened in this house…”

Without another word the duo made their way to the extravagant dining room, which was furnished with a dark-stained maple table with sixteen chairs spreading about its impressive size. A cushiony and soft rug separated the table from the hardwood floor, and a gaudy chandelier lit the room.

Before he could stop himself Diedrick blurted, “What year is it?”

Commander Steelbeak glanced at him and answered, “3042, though our people have only been civilized for the last two-thousand years. We use Equestria’s calendar, as it is more accurate with when the races of the world began to evolve from creatures of instinct to creatures of true sapience.”

If what the gryphon said was true, it meant that the people of this planet advanced far faster than the people of Earth had. The thought made him a bit wary, as this meant it was likely the beings of this planet were a mere few years away from space travel, and subsequent colonization of their galaxy; if they continued to progress technologically as quickly as they had thus far, Diedrick could admit to himself that they had the potential to overtake the Sol system in universal exploration.

Such a thought was for another time however, as a plainly-dressed gryphoness entered the dining room.

One of the things that confused Diedrick about gryphons (in both the realistic sense and in mythology) was their biology: were they innately avian or mammalian? The reason he thought this was because while they had the wings, feathers, and head of a bird of prey, they had the lower half of a lion, complete with padded feet and a tail. Such things wouldn’t have been much of a problem normally, but the humanoid structure of their bodies on this world gave them a disturbingly appealing appearance to a soldier such as Diedrick, who hadn’t seen another of his own kind for months now. Feminine hips melded easily into the shiny brown feathers of the body, but underneath the down of the upper torso was clearly two very familiar mounds, thankfully covered by clothing that Diedrick thanked multiple deities the people of this planet wore. It was at that moment that Diedrick found a very disturbing thought claw its way from the depths of his imagination, right to the forefront:

‘I wonder just how humanoid they are?’

Diedrick mentally shook the images away as he realized the commander was speaking to him, gesturing to his wife. “...this is my mate and better half, General Typhoon.”

Raising his eyebrow, Diedrick couldn’t help but remark, “That’s quite a strong name.” Doing a mental double-take, he added, “Wait, general? Like, as in, your superior?”

Commander Steelbeak chuckled and nodded. “I did call her my better half, didn’t I?”

Realizing he was in the presence of one of far superior rank to him, Diedrick had to restrain himself from standing at attention and saluting sharply. Instead, realizing that this was an informal situation, he extended his hand and nodded with a respectful smile, meeting her eyes as he had with the king. “It’s an honor, ma’am.”

Rolling her eyes, the general clasped his hand in her own with a chuckle. “Dear, you’re a guest in my home. Drop the soldier act and just call me Tee, or Ty, or something else; you’re not one of my men, so you don’t need to act like I’m going to send you to the brig or something. In my home, you are my esteemed guest and I am your hostess, so don’t be afraid to speak with me as an equal.” Releasing Diedrick’s hand she continued with, “I do appreciate the respect, but I would much rather you address me with only as much respect as I deserve as a new acquaintance. I receive enough salutes and ‘yes ma’am’ answers at work, so I don’t need it here unless I’m telling my girls to do something.”

Nodding firmly, Diedrick smiled. “Very well, I accept your terms.”

Recognizing that Diedrick’s military training seemed to run much deeper than she initially thought, she simply sighed and shrugged. “We’ll work on that some more later. Now, please wash your hands before sitting at the table; dinner will be ready shortly.”

As Typhoon left the room, Diedrick stood silently next to the commander for a few moments before commenting, “I feel like she makes one hell of an officer when she’s working. She just projects this aura that demands obedience, even if she’s just asking something.”

Commander Steelbeak nodded. “She does, but it’s also what makes her such a good mother and wife. She keeps me and the girls in line when we go mad, and because of her position is quite respected in the community.”

Raising his eyebrow Diedrick asked, “Isn’t the two of you being married a bit of a conflict of interests in your work?”

“Not at all.” Commander Steelbeak replied with a smile. “I answer directly to the king, not her, as I handle affairs within the palace and security of his highness. She handles the regular military, and only presides over my station during wartime.” Chuckling lightly he explained, “It’s actually because of my wife that such measures were taken within the military. When it was revealed that the two of us were dating many years ago, she was already a lieutenant colonel, and had brought our people out of civil war with King Razorbeak’s help. She made it clear that if measures weren’t taken to fix the issue with us being together, she would retire. Well, as you can imagine, the king and his advisors couldn’t afford to lose such an important and respected officer because of such a simple issue, so they resolved it by reorganizing the balance of power, and making the royal guard its own separate entity with a private command chain.”

Nodding with understanding, Diedrick smiled. He always liked to hear about how people would fight fang and claw for that which is most important to them, no matter what it was. Such a thing revealed special people in the world with conviction, and people like that were the type that Diedrick tended to gravitate towards, since he felt them to be kindred spirits. True that he’d not yet found himself faced with a decision that would require such a resolute stance, but he was confident he would likely react in a similar way to this gryphoness, Typhoon.

Walking over to what Diedrick recognized as a stereo, the commander pressed a button on the front of it and turned a knob, allowing peaceful classical-style music to begin flowing throughout the home. A moment later, the sound of wings and feet on the second level preceded the two younger gryphons of the household entering the dining area, greeting their father with a smile and nod before walking into the kitchen to wash their hands.

“Yet again, I’m surprised at how obedient your children are, sir.” Diedrick commented, impressed.

The commander nodded silently before turning his eyes to Diedrick, requesting, “Please, enough with the ‘sir’ thing. Same as my wife, you are not my subordinate, you are my guest. Call me Steelbeak, please.”

Nodding, Diedrick offered him a smile. “Understood, Steelbeak. I meant what I said, though; I remember my mother often had to come up to my room and drag me away from whatever I was doing so that I would remember to eat sometimes.” He shrugged. “I guess it’s just nice to see kids who listen better than I did as a child.”

“Do you have children, Diedrick?” Steelbeak asked curiously.

Shaking his head, Diedrick sighed. “No, I don’t. With how wild my teenage years were and my military involvement beginning in young adulthood, I didn’t have time for it. I had more than my share of opportunities, but I didn’t want my child’s only memories of his or her father to be occasional visits home, with their mother doing the majority of the childrearing jobs.” He smiled fondly, remembering his own childhood. “I had a good upbringing, and I wanted to make sure my own kid had the same opportunities I did.” Silently, he added, ‘Though I never took most of them.’

“Good man.” Steelbeak replied, patting Diedrick on the shoulder. He then motioned to the kitchen behind him and said, “You should wash your hands as well, I think. It wouldn’t do well for you to share our table without having clean hands.”

Deferring to the good advice, Diedrick walked past Steelbeak to the kitchen, watching silently as the two young gryphons finished washing, and trying his best to keep out of the way as he did so. When they finished, he quickly soaped up and washed his own hands while marvelling at just how homey the place felt, when he had halfway expected the place to have bird perches and bird feeders or something similar. With a restrained chuckle, he had to admit to himself that the image of one of the gryphons around him sitting on a wooden perch and pecking out seed would be very entertaining to watch, all things considered. However, felt such a silly thing might be a little offensive, so he kept the thought to himself.

“You’d better get to the table soon, Diedrick.” Typhoon’s teasing tone suggested from behind him.

Turning to the gryphoness, he nodded. “Wouldn’t want whatever meal you’re making to be gone before I get to taste it, I suppose.”

“Indeed,” she returned with a smirk, “since, as the saying goes, ‘I’ve slaved all day over a hot stove for you, and this is the thanks I get?’”

Barking a laugh, Diedrick nodded and retreated to the dining room, Typhoon in tow.

The other three were already seated around the table at one end, and Typhoon took her seat at the head, next to her husband and older daughter. Motioning to the empty seat beside Gilda, Typhoon said, “Well don’t be shy, take a seat.”

For some reason, Diedrick thought it prudent to shoot a questioning glance to Gilda as he silently asked for permission to do so, as he was unsure if it might cause friction of somesort. To his relief, she nodded with a grin and watched as he took his place.

Curious at the silent exchange, Steelbeak asked, “What was that just now?”

As plates began to be filled from the platter and bowls of steaming food, Diedrick answered, “There are many different cultures just on my own world, and an infinite amount in the cosmos. As I was unsure of the family dynamics that your people hold true to, I thought it polite to ask the person I’m sitting next to if it was alright to do so, just in case.” He shrugged. “In some cultures that I know of, simply eating with the wrong hand can be considered disgusting and an insult, so I just wanted to cover all the bases.”

Chuckling, Steelbeak shook his head. “Gryphons are a rather vocal race, so worry not; if you do or say anything we don’t like, we’re going to tell you.”

Diedrick nodded as well, gratefully taking the bowl of seasoned beans passed to him. “Well, that makes everything that much easier. I don’t think I could take living around people that I always had to worry about offending, and them not saying anything about it for one reason or another.”

“Yeah, that would be ponies.” Gilda muttered with a scowl.

“Gilda…” Steelbeak warned before turning to Diedrick. “Though my daughter’s tact is a bit lacking, she is regrettably rather accurate in general. Let it be said that gryphons and ponies are two very different groups of people, with very different ways of doing things.”

Passing off the bowl and waving his hand in dismissal, Diedrick answered, “No big deal. As you well know Steelbeak, I am quite familiar already with some rather hostile behavior from them, so while I wish I could give them the benefit of the doubt, I can’t help but feel a little prejudiced against them already.”

“Prejudice tends to breed more prejudice.” Typhoon voiced sagely. “It’s why we endeavor to foster relations will all the civilized peoples of the world, since we well know just what it’s like to be discriminated against.” Shaking her head she said, “But that is a conversation for another time, preferably with plenty of liquor. Diedrick, how was your early life?”

Grasping another bowl, this one filled with what looked like red corn, Diedrick shrugged. “It was good, though I’ll be the first to admit that I was a bit of a wild child, and it only got worse as I hit adolescence. That being said, I still loved my childhood, and wouldn’t change anything about it.”

“Do you have a mate waiting for you back home?” Steelbeak questioned as he began to carve up and serve what Diedrick could only describe as a very large turkey-like roasted bird.

Diedrick shook his head. “No, not really. I never really had time to form any strong relationship with the fairer sex, and most of my friends are other males, seeing as how many parts of the military are still gender-segregated to prevent unwanted pregnancies and such.” He shrugged, nodding gratefully as he was served a slice of the giant-turkey-thing. “That’s not to say there aren’t a few women I could think to look up if I was ever put on furlough, but not anything significant.”

As he began to pour glasses of wine and pass them around to his family and guest, Steelbeak frowned slightly. “That’s a shame. You’re still very young; at your age, I was on the prowl, which was how I met Typhoon here.” He gazed lovingly to his wife before turning his attention back to Diedrick. “You should refrain from waiting too long before pursuing someone who has caught your eye.”

Raising his eyebrow with a smirk Diedrick asked, “My age? How young do you think I am; take a guess.”

Looking over Diedrick, Steelbeak noticed a distinct lack of age lines or predominant wrinkles, and his eyes looked sharp and clear. After thinking for a moment he answered, “I’m guessing twenties.”

Nearly choking just on air, Diedrick fought to keep from bursting out laughing, but couldn’t fully repress a chuckle. “You’re off by anywhere from seven to sixteen years, depending on your specific guess.”

Though she’d never admit it, Gilda was quite gifted when it came to anything number-related, and she quickly worked the equations in her head before asking, “You’re thirty-six?”

Turning to the gryphon beside him, Diedrick pursed his lips and nodded. “Very impressive. Yes, I am well on my way to what most of my people would consider middle-age.” Realizing his verbal slip up, he hoped with every fiber of his being that those present would think his comment about “most” referring to a societal thing instead of biological, which to his eternal gratitude, they seemed to do just that.

“Well, I retract my earlier statement then.” Steelbeak said with a grin. “I figured you for a young chick, but it seems there is far more to you than meets the eye.

By the subtle gleam in Steelbeak’s eyes, Diedrick suddenly became somewhat less sure about his previous thought regarding his statement, as it was clear Steelbeak was far more observant than he seemed. He would have to be more careful around the commander, it seemed.

Regardless, the meal with the family of gryphons was nice, and Diedrick found many of the tastes of the food to be either wholly familiar, or at the very least similar to what he was used to. Culture, meal styles, and even family dynamics of the gryphons seemed to be too similar to his own people’s to be mere coincidence, and yet again, Diedrick found himself taking mental note of yet more things to analyze later.

The amount of similarities between his kind and the gryphons was uncanny, and honestly, a little unsettling.

Even with his worries, Diedrick found the family of mythical creatures to be very kind and accommodating, and were more than willing to speak to him plainly. Even the youngest, Tara, had a few things to ask him, which made him smile for some reason. She was a cute little thing after all, and Diedrick had always been good with children.

Eventually though, dinner was finished and the youngest child was put to bed by her father, which left Diedrick at the mercy of two assertive gryphon females who began to poke and prod him with questions pertaining to anything and everything, ranging from his love life to, oddly enough, the request for sparring sessions between them. Diedrick’s answer to the latter was a “maybe” since he was unsure whether he should or not, but for the most part he found the friendliness offered to him a rather nice breath of fresh air since coming to this unknown planet. He was pleasantly pleased with his first contact with an alien species in his career, his initial meeting with the pony princess notwithstanding.

‘I’ll have to visit here sometime in the future.’ he thought privately.

As night fell and the house began to quiet, Diedrick went through his nightly routine of doing a few pushups and situps, then cleaning his gear and laying out his clothes for the next day. Routines were always a good thing after all, so if he was going to be on an alien world, he vowed to keep his habits intact to ease the transition.

Even with his attempts to relax, Diedrick found himself unable to sleep in the unfamiliar room, and soon found himself opening the nearby window to climb onto the butterfly roof. Laying down on his back, he began to look at the stars as the world slept.

The sky was as alien to him as could be, with patterns and constellations that were wholly unfamiliar, leaving Diedrick feeling more isolated than ever. Without a “next objective” or “next mission” to handle, he felt more than a little loss, which just left him unable to rest his mind and swirling thoughts within. Diedrick was no stranger to isolation and troubling thoughts at night, but somehow, the true extent of his situation finally hit him all at once. This wasn’t Diedrick’s first time in an unknown part of the metaverse, but every time before now the quantum burst transmissions had been able to contact his home system, eventually leading him home.

For the first time in his career, Diedrick began to doubt himself.

A faint rustling from the far end of the roof caught Diedrick’s attention, and in an instinctual reaction, he drew his energy pistol from his hip and readied it. His eyes sharpened, glittering in the light of the half-moon, and the pistol began to hum as it charged a burst of stunning electricity.

“Who’s there?” he called warily, darting his eyes about. “Show yourself!”

A pair of taloned hands were thrown up over the edge of the roof as a voice answered, “W-woah, chill out!” The shape of a familiar young gryphon floated up over the edge of the roof, flaring its wings briefly to land quietly.

Recognizing the violet accents of her feathers and eyes, Diedrick furrowed his brow. “Gilda? It’s late; what are you doing out?”

She walked over to him, nervously fiddling with her robe as she did so. After a moment of standing in silence, Gilda sat beside Diedrick and sighed. “Can’t sleep, like you.”

Diedrick raised his eyebrow curiously. “Wouldn’t your father be more than a little peeved that you’re sitting outside alone with an alien space soldier?”

Gilda laughed and shook her head. “Trust me, you’re not anywhere near the kind of person dad would be worried about. He’d be more worried about the chaos-causing draconequus kinda guy, rather than a respectable soldier.”

“What the hell is a draconequus?” Diedrick asked, holstering his pistol and laying back against the roof again.

Gilda lay down a foot or so away from him and answered, “Imagine a crazy-looking monster with the one arm of a lion, an arm of an eagle, a leg of a lizard, a leg of a goat, a deer’s antler, a goat’s horn, a snake’s tail, and two different-sized eyes of yellow with red pupils.”

The image brought to mind was...well, chaotic, and Diedrick couldn’t help but chuckle. “Oh, I’ve got to meet this thing at some point.”

Gilda shrugged, waving her hand in the air. “Supposedly he’s reformed now and only uses his powers for good, though we gryphons still don’t really trust him.”

Raising his eyebrow, Diedrick turned to his company. “Powers? What kind of powers?”

Gilda turned one eye to look at him without moving. “Magic. He can do pretty much anything with it, from making chocolate rain fall from cotton-candy clouds to eliminating gravity, causing everyone to just kinda float around.”

Diedrick frowned before turning his body and propping his head up on his bent arm. “There’s no such thing as magic.”

Realizing what he was saying, Gilda shook her head with a grin. “You’re not on your world anymore, captain. Here, magic exists, and it does some pretty crazy things.” She pointed to the sky and asked, “You came from space, right?”

Diedrick nodded. “Yeah. Took awhile to find this planet, but I found it eventually.”

“Notice anything weird about our planet system?” she asked, smirking. “You saw both the sun and moon revolving around the planet, didn’t you?”

Diedrick’s frown deepened, and he sat up completely now. “Yeah. Do you know why that is?”

Gilda nodded. “I do, and so does everyone else.” She also sat up, looking directly into Diedrick’s eyes. “That princess you met? Her and her sister use magic to move the sun and moon around the world, which is why it works like that.”

The implications of just how much energy and power would be required to move a star against inertia and gravity ‒ even a small one ‒ was frightening to imagine for Diedrick. Shaking his head he muttered, “N-no, that’s impossible. There is no possible way one person can go against the physical laws like that, let alone with telepathy.”

Gilda shook her head, laying back down and looking at the starry sky. “I’ve seen her do it, Diedrick. I’ve seen her stop the sun in the sky and move it around like it was just a toy to her; she’s more powerful than you could ever imagine.” She sighed heavily. “Dad told me what happened when you first met her, even though technically speaking, he wasn’t supposed to. Trust me when I say that you did what thousands of ponies, gryphons, and even dragons throughout history have tried and failed to do: you stared down the physical embodiment of the sun, and she blinked first. The only thing that kept her from ripping you apart was probably your threat to destroy the planet if she did. Make no mistake, she is stronger, faster, and more dangerous than anyone else on the planet, and somehow, you out-bluffed her.” She chuckled softly. “That’s probably the most insane, coolest thing anyone has ever done in the history of forever.”

As he tried to absorb the impossible things he was being told, Diedrick nodded dumbly with unfocused eyes. “Y-yeah, thanks.” He gulped audibly and asked, “Is she a goddess or something?”

Gilda shrugged. “No one really knows, though she doesn’t deny or affirm the rumors. I will say this: she’s one of only six people on the entire planet that have a permanent ‘not to be messed with’ sign taped to her forehead. She hasn’t really fought against anyone personally in, like, thousands of years, but legends say she used the power of the sun to fight back the dragons threatening the lands that would turn into Equestria.”

“She used the sun? What does that even mean?” Diedrick asked worriedly, now becoming a little more convinced of this princess’ power.

Gilda smirked. “I mean fire, and lots of it. No one knows exactly how she did it, but everyone knows that dragons are supposedly fireproof; I mean, they bathe inside of volcanoes for stars’ sake!” She then shook her head with a sigh. “Believe me, I know it sounds crazy ‒ hell, I didn’t believe any of it either when I was a chick ‒ but these ‘legends’ aren’t written in children’s stories, they’re in HISTORY books.”

Diedrick sighed and again turned his eyes heavenward. “So I just picked a fight with the most powerful being in existence...great.”

Gilda shrugged. “Lucky for you, she’s forgiving. I say give it a week or so and let my dad talk to her, and I think everything’ll work out alright.”

“Your father’s in good with the princess then?” Diedrick asked, finding his nerves slowly settling as Gilda explained things to him.

She nodded, smiling faintly. “They’ve been friends a long time, but I don’t know how exactly they met. All I know is that they trust each other, so if my father comes to trust you and tells the princess, she’ll ease up on you as well.”

“You know a lot about Equestria for not living there.” Diedrick observed.

Gilda went silent as she sighed heavily, seemingly deep in thought before she whispered, “A year ago, my best friend was a pony. I met her in flight school and trained in the Junior Speedsters with her, but after I had to come back home, we lost contact.” Again she sighed, though this one was layered with a deep sense of shame. “I went to visit her after like a year of us being separated, only to find she had a whole bunch of friends now, and I kinda overreacted a bit.” Gilda shrugged, trying to play it cool as she swallowed the lump in her throat and willed the tears not to fall. “I told her to choose between her new friends and me, and she chose them. After that I came back home, and I haven’t heard from her since.”

“That’s...remarkably sad.” Diedrick remarked, suddenly feeling the need to somehow comfort the young gryphoness. After thinking for a moment he stated, “If it makes you feel any better, you’re not the only one that’s made mistakes like that. I’m certainly no saint, and I’ve done my share of alienating people close to me.”

“Did you ever stop acting like that?” Gilda asked hopefully.

Diedrick shrugged. “I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s a lot easier when there’s no one around to upset. Frankly, if I can get one person to not despise me outside of the military, I would consider that an accomplishment; it’s hard to make friends with people when I don’t cater my speech to be politically correct.” Turning his head to Gilda, he smiled softly. “You should try and be kind to those that deserve it, but if people don’t like you for who you really are, then you probably shouldn’t try and befriend them; it’ll be a waste of your time, and both of you will end up angry and hurt at the end.”

Gilda thought carefully on his words, and realized they made a lot of sense. What hurt was the fact that she thought her friend had liked who she really was, so she still felt a sense of betrayal from the bitter memory of her last jaunt to the pony lands. However, she could admit that it felt good talking to someone who seemed to understand that aspect of her life, and she found her buzzing mind quieting as her body began to relax.

Rising from the roof, she rolled her shoulders and readjusted her robe to cover herself to protect her modesty. “Thanks for the talk, captain. I think I’ll be going to bed now.”

Diedrick nodded. “Understood. If it’s alright, I think I’ll just sleep out here under the stars; it’s been longer than I can remember since I’ve last been able to.” Gilda nodded with a grin before hopping off the roof, spreading her wings and shooting back inside the open window to her room beneath the awning. With his mind somewhat at ease and weariness finally overcoming his tired body, Diedrick closed his eyes and rested.

Chapter 3

As usual, Diedrick’s hearing was the first of his senses to awaken, followed shortly by his sense of smell. Both quickly informed him that the previous day had in fact happened, and that he was not on his ship. This allowed him to wake with a sense of comfortable relaxation instead of hostility or fear, which was a welcome change from the majority of his past endeavors. The scent of breakfast cooking made his mouth water as his stomach grumbled, so he sat up and stretched before standing.

The sounds of early morning in a city reached his ears, and he glanced over the nearby awning to see many gryphons already out on the streets, even before the sun was up. The scent of cooking on the air advised him that this family seemed to wake early as well though, which was fine by him since he often woke at early hours. Still, he could admit to himself even in the unfamiliar environment that being able to watch the sunrise would be nice.

The faint sound of wings catching air caught his attention, and he turned to see Gilda dressed in a pair of shorts and a tee shirt, smiling at him. “Morning. Feel like some breakfast?”

Diedrick nodded before stretching once more. “Sure. Let me take a quick shower and get dressed, and then I’ll meet all of you downstairs. Give me like seven minutes.”

She nodded before taking to the sky again. “Sure thing. I’ll tell my parents that you’ll be down shortly.” With that, she dropped down below the roof, presumably to her own room.

Diedrick gave a yawn before grabbing the corner of the roof and swinging expertly back into his guest room.

As Diedrick finished dressing and strapping his energy pistol to his thigh, he ran a hand through his damp hair before opening the door...and nearly tripping over the small gryphon that was preparing to knock.

After righting himself, Diedrick hurriedly offered his hand to the youngest member of the household, who had fallen onto her behind. “Are you alright?”

Tara smiled up at him and nodded, taking his hand to stand. “Mmhmm, I’m okay. Mum says breakfast is ready, so she told me to make sure you didn’t forget or something.”

Diedrick nodded to her and smiled. “Well thank you for checking on me, miss. I’ll follow you down.” With that, he proceeded to follow the child gryphon (or “chick”, as they were more commonly referred to) out into the overhang and down the stairs to the bottom floor.

When he arrived in the dining area, he found a nice assortment of breakfast-style meats, vegetables, and fruits upon the table. Already this gryphon family was far more helpful than he had known the “ponies” to be, but he couldn’t help but feel a little put off by it.

“I hope you aren’t doing all of this on my account.” he said with a frown.

Typhoon shook her head, taking her seat at the head of the table as the rest of them sat down as well. “Of course not. This is actually a very common meal for us, as well as the instance itself. As a family we share breakfast and dinner every day.”

Smiling faintly, Diedrick nodded as he took his seat. “That actually sounds very nice, and it’s something most of my kind shares in common with yours. We are a very close-knit people, and often large extended families will all live within the same town together.”

“Hmm, that actually sounds nice.” Steelbeak replied as he began dishing up food for himself and his youngest daughter. “Unfortunately, no such thing would ever work for gryphons. We’re far too independent. We have enough trouble most times just putting up with our immediate family.”

Diedrick shrugged. “Evolution does many things, and to my people, it changed our minds and behaviors. Over time, what was once a race of people that fought amongst themselves with wars more commonplace than I care to admit, we became a race united for the first time in our history as a sapient species.”

“This sounds like something we should be writing down.” Typhoon commented offhandedly.

Diedrick shrugged. “I’ve got ways to give you all the relevant history about my people that you might want, and I’m more than willing to provide it if and when I decide I can fully trust you and your kind with it.”

Steelbeak nodded. “Understandable. Well, today we want to see some of those things we can learn from you, so first we’ll be dropping by the barracks to meet with Colonel Silverstreak at Bloodfeather Arena, where our troops are trained. If and when we see the information you provide become useful to us, we will provide you with the star charts you were promised.”

Diedrick nodded with a smile, heaping a respectful serving of food on his plate. “Straightforward and simple...I like it.” After taking a bite of some sort of salted pork-like meat, Diedrick continued. “After we finish up here, I’ll give you a taste of what I can do for you. You won’t be disappointed.”

Gilda released a breath of relief as she stated, “For a second there, I was afraid you guys were gonna start glaring at each other and posturing for a fight.”

Steelbeak shook his head, glancing to his older daughter. “It’s a common way of establishing comfortable boundaries for new acquaintances in the military; a sort of status quo for soldiers, if you will.” He gestured a hand toward Diedrick. “You see, it would be foolish for Diedrick to provide us with everything he knows simply on the chance we might be able to help him. So, what he’s planning is to give us just enough that we are satisfied, while still palming is best cards.”

Diedrick nodded to Gilda. “And he knows that I’ll do that, just like he knows that I wouldn’t believe him even if he promised to provide me with what I needed. Instead, I’m ensuring both of us come out of this situation happy, until or unless true trust is established between us. I don’t know your father all that well yet, so I can only trust him insofar as a man who has provided me with living quarters.” He then shrugged. “Depending on how long I stay here though, I can see a nice friendship forming between us, provided neither of us stabs each other in the back.” Steelbeak nodded to him, winking at his daughter with a smile.

“If you two are finished,” Typhoon began with a roll of her eyes, “perhaps we can eat the breakfast I lovingly prepared.”

As he bit into a forkful of egg, meat and toast, Diedrick groaned happily. “I can definitely taste the love in this.”

“Can we not talk about tasting mom’s love?” Gilda whined. “It’s giving images I don’t want.”

Diedrick barely stifled an outright laugh, but joined Steelbeak in a chorus of chuckling snorts. Typhoon, thankfully for all involved, had a good sense of humor, and shook her head with a smile as the family and guest ate and chatted.

Diedrick was following Steelbeak through the streets of Cragsbreach, dressed in his full armor and armed with his rifle, knife, and energy pistol. The sight of such an unfamiliar creature dressed in unconventional armor was more than a little intimidating to the gryphons, not to mention the fact that he was taller than all of them by at least a foot, but seeing Commander Steelbeak escorting him assuaged their fears. Nonetheless, the two found themselves on the receiving end of quite a few confused stares.

Luckily for them both, Steelbeak’s house had been strategically built to be close to both the barracks and the king’s Bedrock Keep, so that he could quickly make his way to either from home. Within only a few minutes of walking, they had reached the military barracks, drawing entirely new stares from the recruits and officers gathered around the entrance.

“Wow, he does look kinda weird.” muttered one of them -- a gold and brown gryphon female.

Augmented hearing allowed Diedrick to hear the comment, and he chuckled as he replied, “I’ve never met your kind before, so you all look pretty weird to me too.” He pointed to his ears. “I can hear you whisper from about a hundred paces away.” He then shrugged. “I bet you all probably see better than I can though, seeing as how your top half appears to take after an eagle. How far can you all see?”

“I would be able to clearly see you from up to two miles away.” Steelbeak answered, chuckling. “I have to admit though, hearing is quite a bit more versatile than sight. While we must be facing what we’re looking for to see it, you can hear no matter what direction you’re facing, and hearing isn’t affected by light or darkness either.”

Diedrick nodded. “True. So, what are we doing today?”

“Well first,” Steelbeak began, pointing to an elderly gray gryphon in front of him, wearing an officer’s uniform, “I would like to introduce you to Colonel Silverstreak; he handles the day-to-day operation of our standard military, and is the one you have to impress today.”

Turning his eyes to the tall gryphon, Diedrick extended his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Colonel Silverstreak. I’m Captain Diedrick Thompson, ship captain of starship Hyperion, and your resident alien for the foreseeable future.”

Taking the captain’s hand in his own and firmly shaking it, Colonel Silverstreak gestured to the man in front of him. “See boys? Along with hard work and dedication, respect is what will let you go far in the military. Respect those more experienced than you, and respect yourself enough to become stronger, faster, and wiser.” He looked back to Diedrick and said, “And it’s a pleasure to meet you as well, captain.”

As the two got to know each other, Steelbeak announced, “I’ve got to check in with the other guards at the keep. I’ll leave you all to it.” Looking directly to Diedrick he added, “I’ll return for you in a few hours. Try not to hurt them too much.” Diedrick chuckled and nodded, so Steelbeak retreated toward the keep.

As he released the hand, Diedrick did a quick lookover of the soldiers gathered. About three-quarters of them appeared to be mere recruits or similarly low in rank, while the rest were officers of varying degrees. “So, what’s the plan today?”

“I was thinking a bit of a sparring match, if you’re up to it.” Colonel Silverstreak answered. “In gryphon culture, you must earn respect from our warriors.”

Looking around briefly, Diedrick nodded. “That seems fair.” Removing his armaments and setting them aside, he flexed his back and rolled his shoulders before asking, “So who’s first?”

Smirking, the colonel turned to a tall, burly gryphon soldier. “Boulder, you’re up first. Try not to break anything this time.”

Diedrick watched as a gryphon nearly as tall as he was stepped out of the crowd, removing a large two-handed hammer and pistol-like weapon and placing them aside. The gryphon then cracked his neck from side to side before stepping forward, a mere dozen or so paces away from him. Diedrick tensed his muscles as he waited patiently for an attack. To his surprise, the burly gryphon was also waiting, so Diedrick decided to push the bout on his own.

Taking a single step forward and springing off the ground, Diedrick launched himself nearly twenty feet into the air as he raised his heel high above his head. His opponent only had a second of shocked surprise to react as he rolled away, just in time to see the booted heel of Diedrick land and crack the stone of the ground he had previously been standing on.

Attempting to catch Diedrick off-guard as he recovered from his attack, Boulder used his wings to bolt forward and throw a punch at his face…

Which Diedrick caught by the wrist with one hand.

Twisting the wrist sharply, Diedrick soon had his opponent prone on the ground, helpless as he manipulated the weak joints of the arm, which were thankfully nearly an exact match for his own. He then spun around and mounted the downed gryphon, and began to pull back on the trapped arm.

“Judging by the fact that you can’t get up for fear of breaking your own arm,” Diedrick observed with a smirk, “I’d say I’ve won this round.” Punctuating his statement with a tensing of his arms, he began to pull on the limb, causing the gryphon to groan in pain under him. “Unless of course you want to keep going.”

“I think that’s enough.” answered Colonel Silverstreak. “Boulder won’t be much good to me if he can’t use both of his arms.”

Releasing his sparring partner and stepping away before helping him up, Diedrick was silently surprised he had lasted as long as he had. It would mark only the tenth time someone had survived more than two or three seconds against him. He almost wished Boulder had used his wings to fly; he would have lasted longer.

“I hope he’s not the best you’ve got.” Diedrick muttered.

Colonel Silverstreak raised an eyebrow at him. “What do you mean?”

Diedrick pointed to Boulder, who was rubbing his shoulder. “His reflexes were painfully slow, his attack was sloppy and took too long to hit, and he wasn’t flexible enough to escape my arm hold. Had this been a real fight, he would have been dead. If you care about your troops, you need to train them better so they don’t die the first time they come across someone like me.”

Grinning, the colonel shook his head. “No, he’s not the best. Powerful, imposing and ready to fight, but not the most skilled. He has quite a way to go until he’s graduated from the academy.” He then glanced at the recovering gryphon soldier. “Boulder, head to the infirmary to make sure your arm and shoulder are alright. Windcutter, you’re next.”

This time Diedrick saw a much smaller soldier step forward, and took note of her different body structure. She was well-developed and toned, but not enough that it would limit maneuverability or flexibility. Furthermore, she wore much lighter armor, and had multiple crests adorning her chestplate. Diedrick assumed the marks signified rank of some sort, so he figured this fighter would be far more capable than the last.

“I’m looking forward to this, Captain.” Windcutter greeted, her stark white feathers shining in the sunlight. “It’s been quite some time since I’ve been able to spread my wings, so to speak.”

There was a subtle confidence in her words that made Diedrick smile; this was going to be fun.

Luna was not having a good day.

Not so much because she was up running on nearly thirty-six hours without sleep (though that added to her irritability), but rather because her dear sister was moping. While it was true Celestia was strong and radiant as a ruler, as a mere pony she was very fragile, which was something only three on the planet truly knew about. Both Luna and Celestia had been forced to take the reigns of a growing kingdom from a young age after all, which left their personal emotional growth somewhat stunted.

It was by that token that Luna had mentally dubbed Celestia the unofficial “Princess of Pity-partying”.

Luna had heard of her sister’s first meeting with “the visitor”, and how badly it had gone. While it was true that the gryphons were much more civilized than they were a few hundred years ago, it was unheard of for someone to choose them over the ponies of Equestria for their hospitality. It might have had something to do with Celestia’s arrogant behavior toward the alien guest, but “familiarity breeds contempt”, as the saying goes. For so long Celestia was seen and praised as the strong ruler of a prosperous kingdom, and though alicorns were many things, they were not immune to fault.

Night court was a half-day away, which left Luna with the choice to either gorge herself on sweet fruits to stave off exhaustion, or comfort her sister. It seemed that the night princess’ hooves made her decision for her as she found herself hurriedly making her way toward the lunar wing of the castle, where the royal apartments were.

Celestia lay sprawled on her bed, mane and tail in disarray and clothes haphazardly strewn about the floor and bedposts. Truthfully, she didn’t care about the state of her room at the moment, as she was spending her time on much more important actions: judging herself. It was not something she was unfamiliar with, nor was it uncommon, but never before had she felt so thoroughly chastised by someone millennia younger than her.

Steelbeak was a friend after all, and one she had confided in quite a few times. As such, he was one of the only ones who knew the pony beneath the crown, and had the authority to tell her when she was doing something stupid, selfish, or downright wrong. Twilight would never outright criticize her mentor of course (at least not at her young age), and Luna was known to personally deal with many of the affairs that her royal cabinet would normally handle; Celestia was not going to bother her niece unless it was of dire importance, which left Steelbeak as the only one she regularly had contact with who she felt she could speak to as an equal. Since such bonds between her and others were rare, she cherished the few she had, and placed great importance on what transpired between them.

Her morose thoughts were interrupted by a familiar knock on the door -- familiar because of the pattern that had been created between her and only one other, thousands of years ago.

She sighed and pushed herself to a sitting position, covering her nearly nude body with sheets in case the princess was not alone. “Come in, Luna.”

The door opened and shut quickly as the lithe form of Equestria’s lunar diarch entered the room, and shining cyan eyes settled on the slumped form of the sun’s steward.

Celestia released another sigh -- one of relief -- and dropped the sheets from around her body as she stood to greet her sister. “Good afternoon, Luna. Can I help you?”

“No,” she clipped quickly, “I am not the one who needs help at the moment.”

Celestia released a sigh as she sat down heavily on her bed. "Luna, I'm fine. I am simply a bit out of sorts."

“It is unhealthy to bottle up your emotions, sister.” Luna admonished sternly. She pointed to the bed and ordered, “Sit, and talk to me.”

Knowing there was no way she was going to otherwise placate the lunar diarch, Celestia released a heavy sigh and plopped upon the cushioned mattress. After a few moments of collecting her thoughts she asked, “Luna, am I a good pony?”

Luna raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Er...what?”

“I’m serious, sister; am I a good pony?” Celestia clarified. “It seems since-”

“Your run-in with the visitor;” Luna surmised, “that is what this is about?”

Celestia shifted and wrapped her wings around herself, as if trying to block out the shame that began to overtake her. “The first visitor we’ve ever had from beyond, and the first thing I do is try to lock him up. Perhaps the fear of another great enemy has clouded my judgement, but if I truly am benevolent, why did I attempt to detain an innocent without probable cause? What have I become?”

Luna slowly walked toward the bed before sitting beside her sister, embracing her tightly as she did so and nuzzled her comfortingly. “Celestia, you are a good pony; some may say the epitome of good. Regardless of what you have done, you have ever only acted in Equestria’s best interests.” She then stopped and pulled away, looking into Celestia’s eyes. “However, you have let your fear rule your decision here. Perhaps you should get to know this creature before you pass judgement.”

Celestia nodded with a sigh. “Steelbeak tells me he is settling in well enough, and will likely need to speak with us about the stars in our sky. He appears to only wish to find his way home, and will require our star-charts to find it.”

Luna cocked her head to the side as she asked, “Does he know about-”

Celestia shook her head. “No, and I fear it will be quite the revelation to him. It seems he still does not fully grasp what magic is, much less how it works. From what Steelbeak has told me, his world has no magic, and his species has evolved without it. His people are a race of technology and science, not magic and Harmony.” She sighed again, rubbing her eyes. “I fear we will come upon quite a few problems early on, regardless of how hospitable we are.”

“Then we must show him the love our people are known for.” Luna answered with a smile. “Equestria is not its military, nor is its heart one of fire; Equestria is love and harmony, and we must show that to him when we next meet. He could be a powerful ally to any who befriend him, so we must not let this chance pass us up.”

Celestia nodded. “If any more of his kind appear, it would work to our advantage to have one of them on our side.”

“If there are any more, sister.” Luna corrected. “You know what happened to the others…”

The elder sister nodded again, this time with a heavy heart. “Yes, I remember. Best to leave those thoughts for when we know for sure the specifics of his arrival here.” With a shrug of her shoulders, she turned her thoughts toward what the visitor might be doing.

‘I hope he’s staying out of trouble.’

“Stop, stop! I give, I give!” shouted another gryphon soldier as he was pinned against the ground, his arms twisted behind him as the armored boot of Diedrick pressed on the back of his head.

Diedrick released the gryphon and offered his hand, hoisting his opponent to his feet with a smile. “Well done; you almost had me. Unfortunately, you overlooked the fact that I am still faster, stronger, and larger than you.” He chuckled and added, “I mean no disrespect by saying this, but none of you are going to be able to beat me.”

Colonel Silverstreak looked over the beaten soldiers behind him and sighed. “I never thought I’d say this, but you’re right. You’re on an entirely different level.”

Diedrick smirked and said, “My people have had thousands of years to evolve, and we’ve basically been bred to fight. From the time we’re young, we’re taught how to survive in a hostile environment, and how to use our abilities to the fullest in all situations.”

Steelbeak could be seen coming up from behind the group, and waved jovially. “Hello boys. So, how did he do?”

Colonel Silverstreak motioned to the defeated gryphons, most of which were still nursing sore joints and bruises. “How do you think he did? It seems his weapons aren’t the only thing dangerous about him.”

Diedrick merely grinned. ‘Oh, if only they knew.’

Steelbeak made eye contact with Diedrick and jerked his head away. “Come, we’ll meet the rest of the community; if you’re going to be staying here, it would work to your advantage to be familiar with our city and the people within it, at least to some degree.”

Diedrick followed, and once they were out of earshot of the others, asked, “Might I ask where you went for the past few hours?”

Steelbeak glanced to his companion. “I compiled a report for Princess Celestia, and met with the king again to advise him of your first day here.”

At the mention of the pony-princess, Diedrick’s mouth curled into a frown. “I can’t say I trust these ponies, Steelbeak. They made a horrible first impression, and didn’t even have it in them to earn my respect by being good fighters.” He shook his head roughly. “The wilds would eat them alive.”

Steelbeak chuckled at Diedrick’s reaction. “The ponies may not be the best warriors, but do not underestimate them. Beyond the fact that they have fostered peace within their lands for over a thousand years, they wield powers we can only vaguely comprehend, and have cultivated both the world’s greatest minds and its greatest artists. True that they are a bit soft by gryphon standards, but there is a reason that the other nations ally with them instead of declaring war.”

Diedrick eyed Steelbeak curiously. “You seem almost afraid of these ponies.”

The gryphon shook his head with a grin. “No, simply cautious. One alicorn has the power to destroy entire cities in the blink of an eye, without so much as breaking a sweat -- Equestria has four of them. They are a peaceful people, but to underestimate their protective nature is to walk the path of the fool.” As they approached what looked like a large park, Steelbeak motioned ahead of him. “We’ll take a quick jaunt through the city and have you meet some of the more influential members of society; get in good with them, and you’ll have no problems with others.”

Diedrick followed without complaint, eager to see more of the gryphon city.

Twilight stood out on the balcony of her home, resting against the crystal railing and thinking about what had happened in just the past few days. The fact that Princess Celestia had not been seen anywhere but her room and study worried Twilight, since she was well aware of what actions she would take if she were depressed. She didn’t like thinking of her mentor being unhappy, but Luna had assured her that things were being taken care of.

“Bit for your thoughts, Twi?” greeted a voice from behind her, just as two scaled arms snaked around her waist and a chin settled on her shoulder.

Twilight smiled as she leaned back into the embrace of her partner and hummed happily. “Just thinking about that alien and worrying about Celestia, even though there’s not much I can do about either right now.”

“Worrying is your thing, Twi.” the other responded.

Twilight turned around in the grasp and looked upon her oldest friend, and more recently, lover. “I know Spike, but I just wish there was something I could do besides sitting here and waiting. You know I hate feeling helpless.”

The dragon tucked Twilight’s head beneath his chin and stroked her mane comfortingly. “All we can do right now is prepare for the inevitability that at some point, he’s going to meet all of us, and we need to make a good impression. I’ll send out a letter to Pinkie, but you need to go and prepare the rest of them. Together we can make sure his second impression of ponies is a good one.”

Twilight nodded against his chest, simply enjoying the embrace of her drakefriend for a moment. “So how did your foalsitting thing go?”

Spike barked a laugh, his chest shaking with chuckles as he struggled to compose himself. “H-he’s definitely a chip off the old block, I’ll tell you that, and I’m not speaking about Rarity’s block. I can’t get him to sit still for anything, so I just took him out and let him run with me through the town to tire him out. We played tag, hide and seek, and even had a sparring match or two before he finally collapsed from exhaustion. He’s gonna be a nightmare when he learns how to fly, and from how fast he’s growing, I don’t see that being too far off.”

“Speaking of our fashion-centric friend, how is Rarity?” Twilight asked with a grin.

Spike shrugged and answered, “She’s alright I guess. She’s a little bummed that her quicker half had work this week, but she knew the week before that this would be an off-week, so all we have to do is wait until tomorrow.”

Twilight smiled again at the thought of the odd couple. “Dash is in Las Pegasus this week, right?”

Spike nodded in return, grinning at the thought of Equestria’s own city of lights. “Yep, and she wouldn’t shut up for it for like a week before she left. I swear, the only time I’ve seen her more excited was when she was accepted into the ‘Bolts.”

Twilight nodded once again before turning to look at Canterlot in the distance, her mouth dropping into a worried frown. “So did you hear about the visitor?”

Spike settled his weight upon his elbows as he leaned against the railing, also looking to Equestria’s capital. “Uh huh. Scootaloo sent me a message about it; she wasn’t on Celestia’s personal guard detail though, so she only knows bits and pieces of what’s happened.” He brushed his hand against the soft spines on his neck, shaking his head with a sigh. “Word is this thing took out four armed guards without even breaking a sweat, and then threatened them with ‘a weapon that fires molten energy’ if they didn’t let him go. If nothing else, this guy’s pretty ballsy; I’m kinda excited to meet him.”

Twilight shook her head, slapping a palm to her face. “It figures you’d want to meet something that threatened to commit regicide.”

“From what I heard, Celestia threatened him first.” Spike retorted with a grin. “That’s pretty stupid if you ask me, no matter who you are.”

Twilight’s face twisted into a grimace. “She had to-”

“She threatened an innocent visitor with no grounds for it besides fear, Twi.” he interrupted sternly, glancing at the princess out of the corner of his eye. “Seeing as how Equestria is the land of tolerance and love, that’s a pretty stupid thing to do when making a first impression.”

Twilight didn’t like it, but realized he was right. With a sigh, she leaned against Spike and turned her attention to the mountain city. “Well, if things pan out the way I think they will, we’ll get our chance to mend the tarnished image our guest has of Equestria. There’s so much we could learn from each other -- so much we could do to help each other.”

With all thoughts toward what might happen next, the dragon and pony silently basked in the late afternoon air.

Chapter 4

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