Are We Alone?: A Spore Storyby heat hornChaptersProject First ContactThe Reboot of Project First Contact Project SporeThe Collision of Two WorldsDiplomatic RelationsPrologueProject First ContactAuthor's Note Hi guys thanks for the support in this story and points to the guys who can guys what project d is. Anyway here is your chapter and as always please leave a comment and suggestion and a like if you feel that the story deserves it Project First Contact It was a regular day in Ponyville for Twilight Sparkle except that she and her friends were invited to the Grand Galloping Gala...again. With memories of the first one beginning to resurface, she did not want to go but alas the princess herself had deemed her presence mandatory thus requiring her to go. Two of her friends agreed to go with her as moral support but the rest had stayed behind for fear of what may happen to them should they go to the Gala once more. Twilight along with Rarity and Applejack, the two daring souls who had agreed to go with Twilight on her trip, were currently being wished a farewell and good luck by the rest of their friends, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy as they boarded the train to Canterlot. "Thanks for coming with me girls, it really means alot to me especially after what happened last time" Twilight said to Applejack and Rarity as they all took their seats. all of them slightly cringing at memories form last years Gala. "Oh t'aint nothin' Twi, after all what're friends for?" Applejack said as she attempted to brighten the mood "Applejack is absolutely right Twilight it is our obligation as friends to accompany you to where ever you go, even if that means going back to that dreadful Gala." Rarity stated backing up Applejack "If that is true then why did the others stay behind?" Twilight said in a slightly depressed manner as she put her bag below her seat "I mean I would understand if Fluttershy wouldn't want to go but Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were who I thought would want to go again. I mean I know that Rainbow Dash would love to see the Wonder Bolts again and Pinkie did have fun last year so what so different now? is it because i'm a princess? "Well dear I think that Pinkie is still a bit traumatized by last years Gala, you know being so embarrassed and all, so i'm not really surprised that she didn't come but rainbow is the real mystery" Rarity said trying to think about how Pinkie could be feeling right now it is quite odd that she would miss a party, even if it was the Gala Rarity thought to herself. "I bet Dash just chickened out" Applejack mumbled under her breath Rarity catching the comment Applejack had made felt the need to defend her friends honour "Applejack! how could you say such things about our friend, and behind her back no less!" Rarity bemused "I didn't mean nothin' Rare it's just that it ain't like Dash to just leave us like that, I mean she is the Element of Loyalty" Applejack said trying to redeem herself from the snide comment she had just made about her friend "Girls can we not have an argument here, were not even in Canterlot yet" Twilight said while pointing to the looming city of Canterlot off in the near distance "Ok" Applejack and Rarity said almost at the same time. An awkward silence ensued shortly after "So what're ya gonna do at the Gala Twi, I mean i'm sure that you can find something to do other than greeting the nobles an' all" Applejack stated after about 30 seconds of silence "Yes Twilight do tell, and if you do have plans could I possibly join you?" Rarity said hoping to at least get some excitement out of the Gala that didn't involve wrecking the event. "Well the princess didn't really say what I was supposed to there other than to be there so..." Twilight suddenly paused to think of what she could do there "I guess we could go to the library, if you're up for it" Twilight said with a weak but visible smile on her face "I suppose it's better than just sitting around with a bunch of stuck up, rich, and snobby nobles" Rarity said with a hint of doubt but it was enough to convince Twilight that Rarity wanted to go. Applejack slightly snickered at the comment that Rarity made but she sure not let Twilight or Rarity hear her. The rest of the train ride went by without incident mostly due to the fact that they were seated in the royalty section of the train and no other royalty was riding with them. As they got of the train however, they were surprised to be greeted by an entourage of royal guardsponies. "Hey Twili, over here!" Shining Armor said running over to Twilight with a big grin on his face. As he ran by each of the eight guards saluted him. "Shining Armor?! your here?" Twilight said in shock just before Shining Armor wrapped both of his hooves around her in a tight hug, which she returned half in shock and half in gratefulness that her brother had been sent to meet her. "Yeah Twi, the princess said for me to bring you strait to Canterlot Castle because she wants you to help with the preparations for the Gala tonight" Shining Armor said with a crisp tone in his voice almost as if he was giving orders but Twilight elected to ignore it "Princess Luna also told me that she wanted to see you after the ball was over but she didn't mention why" Shining stated quite blankly while bringing a hoof to the bottom of his chin in a thinking manner. "I will be sure to attend both meetings and also attend the main event, though may I ask why Celestia would want me to help her with preparations?" Twilight asked snapping her brother out of his trance. "Oh yes... well Princess Celestia said that the ball could use a younger generations touch and seeing as last years ball was very boring I think she's right." Shining Armor said remembering last years Gala. "Sir we have to move" one of the Guardsponies stated looking at Shining Armor "Oh yes well lets go" Shining Armor said in reply. He then turned to Twilight and her group "Twilight, Rarity and Applejack please board the carriage" he said pointing to the near by royal carriage which was silver and looked like it had been polished five times before they got to use it, it also bore the mark of the sun indicating that it belonged to Celstia's devision of the guard. It was hooked up to two earth pony guards which looked quite buff, the first had a white coat, brown mane, and a barely visible cutie mark of a wheel. The second of the two stallions was a bit less buff than the other, he had a light brown coat, a white mane and the cutie mark of a lance. The trio of mares trotted up to the carriage and quickly sat themselves down on the soft cushions of the royal carriage while the guards closed the door and assumed their positions around the carriage. "Move out!" Shining Armor said with force behind his voice as he took the lead, and with that command they were on their way to the castle. "What do you have planned for the preparations Twilight?" Rarity asked in an attempt to make conversation Twilight suddenly felt a surge of shock course through very being, suddenly remembering that she had done no planning what so ever in terms of the preparations. "Oh no..." Twilight said with a squeaky and barely audible voice "Hmm? What was that darling I didn't quite hear you?" Rarity said thinking she heard Twilight say something Twilight, who was now in shock said simply "[size=1.5em}"THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!!!!" her shout reached the outside carriage causing the two earth ponies to lose their balance a bit before quickly regaining it and slowing their pace so one of the guards outside could check on their passengers. Rarity's reaction was not so grateful, she had been covering her ears with her hooves and was curled up in the corner of the seat up until the sudden lurch in the carriage caused by the two ponies pulling it. Rarity was now lying on the floor with outstretched hooves and her face planted on the ground Applejack on the other hoof was handling the situation quite well and was currently laughing at Rarities position. "Hahahaha oh Celestia you should see your self right now! Hahahahah" Applejack said with no remorse. Suddenly the door burst open to reveal a white unicorn guard who quickly asked "Is everything alright here your highness?" the guard asked with genuine concern. He was slightly amused by the situation the mares were in but he didn't show it. "Oh it's nothin' ta be concerned about sir" Applejack said to the guards pony barely able to contain her laughter. The guards pony then closed the door and gave the all clear signal for the rest of the team to move out "Well I never thought that, in my state, one of my friends would opt to laugh instead of helping me" Rarity said as she attempted to get back onto her seat while pouting towards Applejack. Applejack had already resumed her bout of laughter knowing that the guards pony was gone and completely ignoring Rarities remark While the other mares bickered Twilight had begun too write her preparation plans on a scroll that she had packed along with quills, ink, a few snacks, and about 9 more scrolls. "We are approaching the castle, please remain seated and try not write." a guard said through an open window looking at Twilight. The carriage ride from then on was filled with argument after argument by Rarity and Applejack due to Twilights lack of intervention. For the rest of the carriage ride Twilight had been so focused on her planning to even care about what was happening around her, that is until she felt someone tapping her shoulder. "We have arrived your highness" the guard said to Twilight after getting her attention " Very well then" Twilight replied before proceeding to separate Applejack and Rarity. The trio walked into the castle and began thier trek towards the central ball room where the Gala was to be held, and once they had entered the room they were greeted by a familiar face. "Hello my little ponies, I trust you had a great ride?" Celestia asked the three ponies who had already begun to bow. "Well ta be honest yer' majesty we didn't really see eye to eye the whole trip so it was kinda uncomfortable" Applejack said gesturing to herself and then at Rarity "I have to agree with Applejack on this one we didn't really have the best ride going here..." "I-it's nothing really Princess the ride was alright" Twilight said trying not to give Celestia a hard time. The ride was kinda unsatisfactory Twilight thought to herself debating whether she should say what she fealt "Oh come now it can't be all bad right?" Celestia said to Rarity and Applejack as she motioned for them to sit at one of the many table that had already been brought out for tonight's celebration. After a brief explanation of what had transpired on the train and the carriage they started talking about Twilights preparation plans which she had hastily prepared during the carriage ride. The whole talk went by smoothly despite the argument that Applejack and Rarity had about who was feeling more uncomfortable but overall it didn't take more than a quarter of an hour, afterwards the trio went up to their respective room and spent most of the afternoon there. While Celestia and Luna along with most of the castle staff were downstairs making Twilights plans into a reality. "I wonder if this years gala will be different... I just wish I was also down there with them helping them with the preparations" Twilight said softly to herself whilst lying on her bed. I could always go to the library to wait she thought to herself right before getting up and heading off to the Library. As Twilight walked towards the Library she began to ponder on what books to read while she waited for the preparations to be completed. As she reached the Library she had made her decision "I wonder if they have any new books?" she said to herself as she pushed the Library door open and walked over to the Librarians desk "How can I help you your highness?" the librarian said with a happy tone in her voice looking up from her filing cards "I was wondering, do you have any new books?" Twilight said hoping that she wouldn't have to go back to lying idle by on her bed. "Why yes miss Sparkle we do indeed have a new addition to the assortment of books called 'Equestrian Myth's and Legends' the book is called 'Extraequestrials' and I think that you might enjoy it, I know that you like the more science oriented books" The librarian said as she pointed Twilight in the direction of the 'New Arrivals' section of the library . "I wonder what Twilight and Applejack are up too" Rarity said to herself as got up from her bed and went to the vanity set in her room and began to brush her mane. "Maybe Twilight is at the library...I should go check" Rarity stated simply, right before walking out her door and going to the library where she hoped to find Twilight Rarity began trotting towards the library in hopes of ending her boredom sooner. As she walked to the door she began to question her methods of 'ending her boredom' because for all she knew twilight would be wrapped up in some super advanced science-y book that she couldn't hope to understand. As she opened the door the Librarian quickly looked up to her and opened her mouth to greet her new customer however she was interrupted even before she could speak "Umm... excuse me but have you seen Twilight Sparkle anywhere?" Rarity asked the librarian before she had the chance to speak hoping to get a quick answer. "Yes, in fact she's sitting over there absorbed in a book called the 'Extraequestrials' and it doesn't look like she'll be finished any time soon" the librarian said pointing over to where Twilight was sitting. "Thank you very much, oh and if I may ask, What is the book about?" Rarity said knowing Twilight would want to talk about her newest interest, and she would most likely talk about it with her so it wouldn't hurt to at least have a little understanding on the subject. "If I remember correctly it is about the possibilities of other races existing in the universe besides us, It's finest record is that of project First Contact which features an actual alien message. I don't remember when the project was held though... sorry" The librarian said trying to remember every detail from when she had first skimmed the book. "Thank you so much" Rarity said before walking towards Twilights table awaiting the extreme lecture that would come next "Oh Rarity so Glad you could make it I was wondering when you would get here?" Twilight said barely looking up from her new book "You never mentioned to me that you were going to the library?" Rarity replied in slight befuddlement "Oh sorry I thought you knew, oh wait... sorry for not mentioning it on the carriage ride either." Twilight said in a calm voice suddenly recalling that she had not set a time frame for their activity. "Oh it's fine dear really" Rarity said looking at the book that Twilight was holding hoping that she could grasp a better understanding of the subject at hand. She immediately regretted that she hadn't grabbed a copy for herself. "Do you want me to explain it to you?" Twilight said with a huge smile wanting to test her own knowledge on the subject "Well..." Rarity hesitated silently debating her choices: 1. Reject and say that i'll just grab my own copy 2. Run away 3. Accept my fate "Ok fine but could you make it simple so I can understand?" Rarity said as she chose her option and silently wished that she had made the right choice. "Ok then here look at the book we'll read it together" Twilight said as she pulled Rarity in closer and opened the book wide enough so that they could both read comfortably. "The theory of other races first started with the 'Hoofwell (Roswell) Sightings'" Twlight said pointing towards the blurry picture of what seemed to be a thin blimp. Rarity squinted but she failed to see anything off-putting about the image. "It then grew stronger after another sighting right here in Canterlot" Twilight said now pointing to a less blurry picture of what seemed to be a ball-like object floating over the Castle" Twilight elaborated a bit more on the subject but Rarity got bored after the second statement and decided to skim the book instead of actually reading it. "Umm... Twilight what's that? If you don't mind me asking" Rarity inquired pointing to an odd looking machine that had a big bowl-like things on top "Hmm... i'm not sure" Twilight said as she began to read the text that was beside the photo. As Twilight was reading she go more and more interested but the first thing that struck her was that it had an audio file included within the page "Hey look Rarity a pre-recorded sound matrix, lets see if i can power it up with my magic" Twilight said looking at the book and hoping that the matrix wasn't corrupted The matrix suddenly activated.. and then deactivated again much to Twilights dismay "I'm going to go ask the librarian what's wrong do you want to come?" Twilight asked Rarity motioning for her to come along "Of course Twilight, this whole alien thing just got a lot more interesting after all" Rarity said looking at Twilight gleefully before moving out of her char and began to follow suit. "Can I help you?" The librarian asked shocked to see Twilight there with the white mare that she had seen before. She had expected that the white mare would come alone due to the fact that Twilight never leaves her books. "Yes umm... The matrix in this book seems to be corrupted do you know how to fix it? I have no experience with sound matrices" Twilight said as she handed the book over to the librarian "Hmm... yes well I can tell you that the Matrix it not broken it's just that we have a feild in this library preventing any sound related spell so that the building remains as quiet as possible" The librarian said much to Twilights dismay. "However you can borrow the book and then use the matrix outside the library" The librarian said levitating a stamp next to the book offering to let her borrow it "Oh yes please!!" Twilight said happily The librarian then stamped the book and gave it to Twilight who took the stamped book strait out the library intent on getting to her room and listening to the recording Rarity who wanted to leave politely gave the librarian her name and then asked for hers "My name is Diamond Gem but you can just call me Diamond" The librarian said before saying good bye to Rarity and resuming her work While she was waiting for Rarity in her room Twilight read that the recording was an actual translation of an alien message. The two mares met once again in Twilights room, ready to hear the recording on the book. "Come one play it i can't hold in the suspense any longer Twilight" Rarity said quite impatiently "Ok, Just give me a second" Twilight then readied herself and then released a bolt of magic strait to the page on the book. The sound Matrix absorbed the magic and began playing it's message. This is project First Contact audio recording 3 "-DAY MAYDAY!!" *static* "-ELP I'M HIT!! GOING DOWN!!! I REPEAT GOING DOWN!!" *static* "THIS IS BATTLESHIP FOXTROT 4 CRASH LANDING IN SECTOR 2 4 3 7 6 0 8... If anyone hears thi-" Twilight and Rarity stood beside each other and looked at each other both with puzzled and scared faces. They could only say one word... "WHAT?!" The Reboot of Project First Contact The Reboot of Project First Contact Twilight jumped back, reeling from the strange message. Rarity mimicked Twilights actions, both mares were in alot of shock after what they had heard. The sound matrix had already shut down leaving the room in complete silence. "Umm... did I just hear that right?" Twilight said still reeling form shock at what the message said "Oh my" Rarity said looking at Twilight with the same she shocked expression on her face. "Do you know what this means?!" Twilight said suddenly in a very excited state. Rarity, who had only begun to recover from the shock of the message, was now trying to comprehend what Twilight would say next. "What exactly does it mean?" Rarity said as she pondered on the message, putting a hoof to her chin. "It means that we have to find out who sent this and if their are more of his kind still out there!" Twilight stated as she hurriedly packed her things. "But Twilight this book was printed 50 years ago how do you know if this message will even lead to anything?" Rarity said looking at the books print marking. It's quite odd that it took 50 years for Caterlot Castles library to obtain this book...I wonder if there's anything special about it... Raity thought silently to herself. "Rarity the message and the book itself indicate that we may not be alone in the universe I can't just push this aside. Even if the message is 50 years old it doesn't mean that the race that sent it is extinct" Twilight said with conviction in her tone as she continued to pack "Can we at least finish the Gala and your... meeting with Princess Luna like you promised before we go chasing 'UFOs'" Rarity said hoping to get Twilight to at least keep her promises to the princesses... and extend her stay at Canterlot Twilight suddenly stopped packing and looked back at Rarity "Oh yeah that must've slipped my mind..." Twilight said, feeling a bit embarrassed, "Hey wait a second... where's Applejack?" Twilight suddenly noticed that their friend wasn't with them when they heard the message or even at the library. The two mares then walked out to the hall way and looked towards Applejacks room. "It doesn't look like it's been opened... did she step out?" Rarity suggested as she stared quizzically at the door "Lets go and see" Twilight said as she motioned for Rarity to follow her to Applejacks room. The two mares leaned in close to the door of their friends room and put their ears against it. "Do you hear anything?" Twilight asked Rarity, failing to hear anything herself "Why yes dear, I hear that Applejack is lying on the left side of her bed facing the left wall, sleeping under a blanket and snoring quite loudly if I may add" Rarity stated using skills that the Canterlot elite guard couldn't hope to replicate. Twilight looked at Rarity in disbelief seeing as her friend just described Applejacks current state right down to the volume of her snoring and her position on the bed, she then looked on the door for any possible means of confirming what her friend had just said. It only took Twilight a few second to notice the small keyhole right under the doorknob, she then proceeded to look through it to confirm or disprove Rarity's previous statement. "Wow, you are completely right... but how did you... but then that would mean that... wah?!" was all Twilight could say to Rarity trying to determine how Rarity could have perfectly predicted the position and the state that Applejack was in just by the sound coming form the room, which she couldn't even hear. "It's simple dear Applejacks snoring could have only been made if where were actually asleep this means that she had to be on the bed however her snoring sounded muffled which means that she must've had some sort of cloth on her, namely a blanket because what other cloth would a pony keep on their beds hmm? I was able to tell which side she was on due to the fact that the snoring sounded ambient and not direct which meant that it had to have bounced of off the walls, which then means that she was sleeping on the far side off the bed facing the other way as us. I figured out the volume of her snoring simply because I wouldn't be able to hear her snores form under the blanket if she wasn't snoring loudly enough for her voice to go through the blanket and echo of the walls" Rarity said quite calmly like she was Sherlock Hooves himself. "Wow... Rarity I had no idea that you had that much deductive skill... is this what it takes to be an expert gossiper? or did you train somewhere else?" Twilight asked in massive admiration of her friends skills. "Well-uh... Twilight i'm glad your asked, I got these skills from uh... Fluttershy... we kinda eavesdropped alot back when we were still I high school so we honed our skills, but even today Fluttershy is still better than me at gossip... even if she won't admit it." Rarity said trying to make up a quick excuse. "...Just when you think you know a mare, they go out and surprise you... huh, do you think you could teach me some of those techniques?" Twilight said hoping that she could learn at least a few of those skills "Uhh... I-I I don't th-think I could teach you that much..." Rarity said trying to dodge the question knowing that she isn't allowed to reveal anything about the training she had received, or where she received it "Oh... ok then i'll be sure to ask Fluttershy when we get back" Twilight said in a disappointed tone quickly losing her enthusiasm about learning the skills that her friend had just exhibited A quick glance at the clock told Twilight that they only had 20 minutes before the Gala would start "Umm.. I think we should prepare for the Gala" Twilight told Rarity while pointing to the clock Rarity just gasped at the time she had left before she quickly ran to her room to prepare herself for the upcoming event. "I should probably prepare myself" Twilight muttered to herself before retiring to her own room to do the same thing that rarity was doing... sort of the same thing. Rarity stepped into the bath tub that was filled with warm water. She felt herself relax as she submerged most of her body in the water, however the sensation was short lived due to the amount she had. Rarity quickly washed herself with the soap and shampoo provided for her, making sure too wash every last bit of her coat, mane, and tail until they literally sparkled. She stepped out of her bath and quickly dried herself off before trotting towards her vanity set. Rarity sighed as she levitated her hair brush, perfumes, and her curling iron to her side and began to style herself to her regular look. *knock* *knock* *knock* Rarity thought that she heard something but she decided to ignore it knowing that she was pressed for time as it is She then went to her bag and took out her Gala dress from last year but it didn't look quite the same it had been restyled and now had alot more gems on it that last time. Rarity put the dress on and glanced at the clock "Five minutes to spare... I wonder how the other two are doing" she then went outside to check on Twilight. Rarity approached the door to Twilights room and knocked twice, but when no reply came she thought to herself Maybe Twilight already went to the ball room Rarity then proceeded to go to the ball room in hopes of finding her friend... Twilight had stepped into the shower of her room and she began to clean herself just enough to get all the dirt out of her mane and her coat, she wasn't one for the fancy conditioner that the Canterlot room baths always had but her mane had another opinion and began to curl up even when wet, Twilight had taken notice of this and snorted as she grabbed the conditioner and began to distribute it among the strands of her mane. After about 10 minutes of bathing Twilight stepped out, satisfied that her mane and tail looked properly groomed. Twilight then stepped towards her dresser and levitated the hair brush which she then used to brush her mane. She then went to her bag and grabbed her dress from the bag she had brought and slipped it on. "Hmmm... ten minutes to spare, I wonder how the others are doing she said to herself before going out the door to check on Rarity. She was puzzled when the mare didn't answer her door. Maybe she went to the ball room early... Twilight thought before proceeding to the ball room herself Applejack had just awoke from her long nap and glanced at the clock on top of her dresser "Fifteen minutes til' the Gala hmmm... I got time" She said groggily before going towards her own shower and stepping inside it turning the nob so that only cold water came out. As the water ran down her mane and tail she shivered at the temparature, but she was used to it... after all it has always been like that at the farm. After the cold bath, she stepped out and dried herself of and slipped into her dress, she wasn't one for mane styling or perfumes and her ponytails had kept her mane and tail in the right place...even after her bath. Applejack, now in her dress walked towards the door Even if it's the Gala an Apple is never late she said to herself before giving a the clock a quick glance "12 minutes to spare huh... I wonder what Twi and Rarity are up to..." She said to herself before opening the door of her room and stepping outside. Applejack could hear muffled sounds of water coming form Rarity's room indicating that she was probably bathing, but nothing coming form Twilights. She then decided to go to the ball room early, thinking that Twilight would be there. AJ sat down at one of the many tables and looked around for Twilight, but when she couldn't see hide nor hair of the lavender mare so she decided that she would just wait at the table until one of her friends showed up. Suddenly a waiter walked to the table that Applejack was sitting. The waiter was a mare, unicorn with a white grey-ish coat, a black mane that was styled to look formal, she also had a silver tray for a cutie mark. The waiter was dressed in the standard Canterlot uniform complete with a bow tie and hooficuffs at the end of each sleeve "May I take your order madame?" the waiter said with a thick Canterlot accent in her voice while levitating up a pen and a notepad. "I thought the Gala doesn't start for another 10 minutes or so" Applejack said to the waiter confused as to why he would take someponies order ten minutes before the actual event "If you are early then you will be rewarded for your punctuality so we pay special attention to those ponies who show up earlier than the specified time, so would you like to order" the waiter blankly stated "Now may I take your order? or would you rather wait for the Gala?" the waiter said in a very soothing tone. "Thank you kindly but I think I would very like if I ordered the same time as everypony else" Applejack said calmly, not wanting to receive special treatment... even if she deserved it. "Very well then i shall leave you with the menu..." the waiter then handed Applejack a formal looking menu. Applejack picked up the menu and began to look through the dishes that they offered. Applejack had been looking through her menu for about 3 minutes but she still couldn't decide what she should have The rose petals look nice but they're only a side dish, I would have the parsnips if it weren't for my allergy, and i'm not even sure of what i'm gonna dri- Applejacks train of thought stopped cold in it's tracks as she heard a familiar voice sitting at the table across form her... "Twi?" Applejack said to herself as she recognized the pony that the aforementioned voice belonged too. She then looked over her own menu and saw Twilight talking with the same waiter that had attended to her Applejack waited patiently for the waiter to finish taking Twilights order before calling to her "Hey Twi when did'ja get here?" Applejack asked Twilight before getting up from her chair and approaching the table that Twilight was sitting at. "Oh hey Applejack I only got here a few minutes ago how about you, I didn't see you when I came in" Twilight said to Applejack trying to spark a conversation...and succeeding "I got here five minutes ago... I think" Applejack said, unsure of the actual time she got to her seat. The two mares talked for about 2 minutes before being interrupted by Rarities sudden appearance "Am I late?" Rarity asked jokingly "Oh didn't see you there Rare" Applejack said while motioning for rarity to sit down on the last chair that was around their table... Twilight had arrived at the ball room and began to look for Rarity but when the Alabaster unicorn could not be found she seated herself down at the table...right across the one that Applejack was seated in. She had only been sitting for about 3 minutes before she was approached by the same waiter that gave Applejack the menu "May I take your order madame?" the waiter said while levitating a quill and a notepad "Oh yes please, I would like a... umm... Mushroom soup topped with parsley, a side of rose petals, and hmm... an orange juice. Twilight said, recalling what food they served at the Gala. The waiter quickly jotted down Twilights order and trotted towards the kitchen to deliver the message Twilight was now left alone and had nothing to do, but she did notice something oddly familiar about the mare on the table opposite hers... until Applejacks head popped out the side and she quickly recognized her "Hey Twi when did'ja get here?" Applejack asked Twilight before getting up from her chair and approaching the table that Twilight was sitting at. "Oh hey Applejack I only got here a few minutes ago how about you, I didn't see you when I came in" Twilight said to Applejack trying to spark a conversation...and succeeding "I got here five minutes ago... I think" Applejack said, unsure of the actual time she got to her seat. The two mares talked for about 2 minutes before being interrupted by Rarities sudden appearance "Am I late?" Rarity asked jokingly "Oh didn't see you there Rare" Applejack said while motioning for rarity to sit down on the last chair that was around their table... Rarity had just arrived at the ball room and began to look for her friends, it didn't take long before her trained eye spotted her two friends at the table next to the window. She trotted over and and said "Am I late?" Rarity asked jokingly "Oh didn't see you there Rare" Applejack said while motioning for rarity to sit down on the last chair that was around their table... It was a little passed seven when the Gala finally came to an end, Rarity, and Applejack were not really all that tired so they decided to take a walk in the Canterlot Gardens "Well I would say that that went better than last years Gala" Rarity said to companion while they were walking through the gardens "Well I still got bored outta my wits so I have to disagree Rare" Applejack said to Rarity "I Wonder how Twilight's doing... do you think she's ok all by herself?" Rarity asked Applejack in a worried tone. The two mares came to a stop at the main gate to the castle and quickly turned around, none of them wanting to go outside at night. "I'm sure she's fine Rarity what's the worst Princess Luna can do?" Applejack said with confidence in her voice, even though her first encounter with Princess Luna had been quite off-putting she was quick to trust a friend of her friends. "Oh you're probably right... It's just that I don't get why Twilight gets to do these things and I don't... I mean, I know she's a Princess and all but I am still an Element of Harmony... why don't I get invited to the Gala, or get called by the Princesses, or even just a letter, that would be nice. Rarity was now hanging her head, but not in shame... in sadness. "I-I I never thought you felt that way Rare... but if you feel like you wanna be noticed then why didn'tcha go with Twilight?" Applejack asked her now disheartened friend "I tried to go with her but Princess Luna said that it was a private thing and wanted to be alone with Twilight" Rarity looked to Applejack for comfort and support... and a shoulder to cry on... "There there, it's ok Rare i'm sure the princesses will notice you... someday, maybe not today or tomorrow... but someday" Applejack let Rarity cry on her shoulder while she comforted her. "So I bet thou art questioning why I wanted to us be alone, yes?" Princess Luna asked Twilight while they sat don on Lunas bed "No princess i completely understand... It's something important right?" Twilight asked with a sheepish grin on her face. In truth she wanted to know what was so important that she had to be alone with her to discuss it. "Well Twilight I am sure you know of the new book that arrived at the Canterlot library today?" Luna had a sly grin on her face while asking this question "How did you... were you watching me?" Twilights grin quickly disappeared and was replaced by a suspecting glare. "No need for suspicion Twilight, I can assure you I had not known until now, for I have been reading your mind while we were walking here. "You can do that?!... ummm... how much do you know" Twilight was now blushing heavily at the thought that Princess Luna might know about her night time... rituals "Oh do not worry about your... secrets, Twilight Sparkle for I know very well to stay away from those regions of the mind...I have seen many a monster... but there are worse things... and many of those things lurk within those regions..." Luna said in a foreboding tone "Ummm... well yes, anyway what did you want to talk about?" Twilight said trying to rub off the fear that Lunas words had induced "Oh yes the new book I trust that you know what it is about correct?" Luna stated with a slight smile on her face "Yes I do it's... hey wait a second, if you knew about the book only now then how is it that you told me about our meeting at noon?" Twilight pondered as she brought a hoof to her chin Maybe the Princess has some sort of power to see the future... no, that's impossible nopony has been able to do that since... well... never. So if it wasn't seeing the future then ho- Twilights thoughts were cut short by the sound of Luna clearing her throat "Princess Sparkle since you have exhibited interest in the Extraequestrial field of study I will allow you access to one of it's greatest accomplishments..." Princess Luna said as she fiddled with a key that she held in her hoof Twilight looked at the key and gasped "What is it!! Its it a key to the pictures of sighting 4-6-7-0 or is it a key to the lost records of the alien specimen which evolved into poison joke? Or maybe it's the key to the files of project First Contact?!" Twilight said with glee as she imagined every possible thing that the key could unlock "Twilight, this key unlocks the most valuable piece of equipment that the researcher of project First Contact had... Their intergalactic receiver... I have tried to find where their team hid this machine but i had found no further clues as to its location" Luna said with a grave tone as she levitated the key to Twilight "I want you and your friends to retake this 50 year old project and make it a success, however you're friends will not just be completing this project... I am tasking you to take it to the next level therefore I will be renaming the project... I shall leave you to decide what name the project will bear" Luna said as she handed Twilight the key "P-P- Princess i'm not sure I can do that especially if you couldn't" Twilight said as she held the key in her shaking hooves "I trust that you can Twilight, not just because you are a fellow alicorn but also because you have something that never had... The Magic of Friendship" Luna said to Twilight before ending their meeting quite abruptly by exiting the room Twilight, who was still in shock went to the balcony of Lunas bedroom for some fresh air, she held the key tightly in her hooves while she carefully examined it. Hmm... it doesn't look like any key i've seen before, the engravings on it look like they are from ancient Equestria... but that would make no sense seeing as project First contact ended only 50 years ago. Twilight also noticed that the key had...10 teeth?! that's a bit much, whoever wanted the machine kept safe he wanted it bad althou- her thoughts were cut short as she heard soft sounds of sobbing and quickly looked towards where they were originating... she was very surprised to see Rarity in Applejacks arms She quickly tucked the key under her wing and went back into the room, ran back into the hallway, she then bolted down the main star case and out the door. "Rarity *pant* why are you *pant* crying?" Twilight was trying to catch her breath after running form a balcony to the front door... that's when realization hit her hard... Wait i could have just flown down... Horseapples She thought to herself before plucking the key out of her wing. "Leave her be Twi' I think we best not talk about it..." Applejack said looking at Twilight with tired eyes "No no it's *sob* ok i'm quite alright now..." Rarity said as she broke away from Applejack wipping the rest of her tears away. She then turned to Twilight so that she could explain to Twilight what had just happened "Well you see Twilight *gulp* I kind of feel left out and unnoticed what with you always getting called to this and that and invited to Galas and all" Rarity said to Twilight as she brush herself off and regained her poise. "I-I never thought of it like that Rarity I didn't think that all this was a privilege you wanted" Twilight said looking back at previous events and realised that Rarity, the pony that always wanted to be part of the Canterlot society had to watch her friend go to Royal meetings and balls alike while she stayed in Ponyville ... unnoticed "I'm so sorry Rarity i promise that I will make sure to try my best to include you in ANYTHING I get invited to" Twilight said while laying a reassuring hoof on Rarities shoulder "*yawn* Can we talk about this tomorrow?" Applejack said sleepily "Why of course Applejack... it is already 9:00 anyway... a bit early but I could use my beauty sleep" Rarity said whilst looking at the Canterlot clock tower "Well girls have I got a story for you in the morning..." Twilight said holding up the key she had received Author's Note Sorry for making you guys wait for this chapter, my internet was down yesterday so I couldn't upload it... so to make it up to you all I made this chapter longer than any other in this story...currently. I am also sorry for the slow pace of the story line but I promise it will get alot quicker I the next chapter... no spoilers though TEE HEE P.S. If you find any errors (not just spelling) please so not hesitate to tell me because i didn't exactly proof read this... also the proof reader I had for my other project kinda bailed on me (Kamen Writter) Project SporeAuthor's Note Sorry this chapter took so long but school resumed and the first days of the new school year are always the hardest... you know assignments and stuff like that. But anyway I'll let you read on...(man that took long to write) Project Spore Twilight was still in her room in Canterlot and had just finished packing her things. She thought herself ready to face the challenge of completing project First Contact, but she had also realised that it was her job to rename the project... and also expand it Do I have to rename the project? She thought to herself s she put the final scroll back into her bag and clipped it closed. Twilight proceeded to cross off the last item in her check list Twilight didn't bring much supplies to Canterlot, she just took her 'travel-ready' bag "Hmm... am I missing something?" she brought a check list up to her face a second time and gave it a look over and when everything was in order she went out of her room and walked over to Rarity, who was waiting a the entrance to Applejacks room. "Did you get everything darling, I would hate for you to have something behind" Rarity said as she gestured to Twilights suit case. "I don't think I forgot anything I even double checked..." Twilight said before she opened her suit case and began to thoroughly check it's contents, making sure that everything she owned was there As Twilight was checking her things with Rarity the door to Applejacks room swung open and Applejack stepped out with a large bag which looked quite bloated... "Well I'm about ready to go what 'bout you two?" Applejack said before she grasped her suit case tightly between her teeth Did I over-prepare... I mean maybe the anti-Manticore spray was a bit much... nah nonsense Appleajack always made sure that she was ready for any type of emergency when she travelled, even for those very specific emergencies... "Well almost ready I was actually going to go the library one last time before we left so it's ok if you two go ahead" Rarity said much to Twilight and Applejacks surprise "Rare are you sure you're ok... you're startin' to sound like Twilight" Applejack looked at Rarity with a puzzled expression Twilight looked up from her suitcase checking and asked Rarity "Why are you going to go to the library? Is there a book you would like to borrow?" "Well yes and no, you see Twilight I want to buy the book that played the message from yesterday" Rarity said to both Twilight and Applejack "Do you want some company? Twilight suggested as she checked of the last item in her list...for the third time... "Well if it sits well with you then I will greatly appreciate some companionship" Rarity stated looking at Twilight for reassurance "Oh it's completely fine by me how about you Applejack?" Twilight said to Applejack then looked to Rarity motioning her in a questioning manner as if asking 'Are you ready to go?' "Wait just a apple pickin minute?! What're you two talking about, what's this message?!" Applejack had put down her suit case and was now looking at both Rarity and Twilight in confusion and frustration as she tried to wrap her head around all this. "What ever do you mean?... oh...oh ok I get it... Well Applejack..." Rarity said while motioning to a near by bench. While Rarity explained to Applejack what had happened when she and Twilight found the book that had relayed the message Applejack showed an array of facial expressions, but the one that stood out the most was the one she showed when Rariy said the last line... "...The message itself was and SOS simply saying that he needed help... and by the sound of it... help didn't reach him in time" Applejack had a grave frown on her face "Applejack, there was nothing you could have done, it happened 50 years ago" Rarity said as she wrapped up her story and saw how sad her friend was after hearing it "So when you and Twilight triggered that matrix thingy the message played and it said that who ever sent it needed help?" Applejack, who was a bit less teary-eyed, pondered on the new information that she had received I wonder what happened to that poor sap Applejack thought woefully as she attempted to visualize what he saw as his last sight "Wow... I wonder what happened to him..." Applejack looked at Rarity with pity in her eyes, Applejack was always one to pity and sympathize with ponies who had experienced unfortunate events... even if they died, or aren't ponies at all. "So Applejack do you want to come with us to the library?" Twilight asked, hoping that her friend would find this topic as interesting as she and Rarity did "Nah you two go ahead... I don't do that sciency stuff Twi'... I'll just wait at the train station, catch'a there" Applejack said before picking up her saddlebags before going towards the exit of the main lobby "Well Rarity I guess that it's just you and me" Twilight said, she understood that Applejack was a simple mare and didn't want to be burdened with having to wrap her head around the complexities of another race and the implications that would arise with the subject. "Well okay dear... I was kind of looking forward to having Applejack with us at the library..." Rarity turned her attention from the door which Applejack had left through to her own saddlebags. "We had better get going then we don't want to keep poor Applejack waiting..." Rarity said as she calmly levitated her saddlebags to her back and strapped them on "Let's go then!" Twilight said in a gleeful tone, she didn't seem to notice the slightly depressed tone in Rarity's voice "Okay then" Rarity followed Twilight to the Canterlot library as they approached the door Rarity got her old Library card from her bags. She sighed at the sight, the card looked old and worn as if it hadn't been used in years. Rarity reminisced to the last time she had bought a book. "I haven't done this in a while" Rarity whispered to herself before following Twilight to the main desk "...I would like to buy this one please" Twilight put the 'Extraequestrials' book on the desk and put 250 bits next to it. The librarian took the book and stamped it, she then put it in a paper bag. She counted the bits before she poured them all in the drawer of the cashiers desk and turned on the movement matrix which printed the receipt. "Thank you for purchasing this book, now I need your library card so I can stamp that too" The librarian said realizing that she had only stamped the book "Oh sorry I hadn't-" Before Twilight could finish, a library card...Rarity's to be exact. "Here you go dear you can stamp mine" Rarity said as she waited for her card to be stamped "Ok then ma'am" The librarian picked up the stamp and took the card out of it's casing and stamped it, confirming the purchase. She then put the card back in its case and handed it to Rarity "Thanks Rarity, I didn't know that you had a Canterlot library card" Twilight said as she looked at the tattered card as Rarity put it back in her saddlebags "...Wait why did you even bring your library card? You didn't buy any books last time we were here?" Twilight asked Rarity seeing as the fashionista didn't usually buy books "It has a certain sentimental value Twilight, I like to have it around whenever I'm at Canterlot" Rarity walked up to Twilights side and trotted along side her as they walked towards the exit of the library "Well I guess we go to the train station to meet up with Applejack" Twilight said to Rarity in a peppy voice "And go home..." Rarity added realizing that she had left Sweetie Belle and Opal essence alone for two days... "I wonder if what this book says is true... I mean it's fascinating and all but I want a project that I can actually finish" Twilight said as she took the key that Luna gave her out of her pocket "What's that?" Rarity said as she tried to get a glimpse of what Twilight was holding in her hooves. It looked like it was shining "I'll explain on thee train... i want Applejack to hear this too" Twilight tucked the key back into her wing and continued trotting towards the train station. "Well ok then..." Rarity accepted the fact that she had to wait a little while but she couldn't shake the feeling that this had something to do with Twilights meeting with the Lunar princess Twilight and Rarity filled there trip from the castle to the train station with small talk and idle conversation. Rarity tried to squeeze a little information about the object Twilight had, but all she could be sure of was that the object was a key... to something. Their trip ended right next to the train station buffet where they saw Applejack, who was eating a daffodil sandwich and drinking a simple apple shake. "Hello Applejack we're back!" Rarity called out to her friend form the doorway, making sure that only Applejack and Twilight heard it. "Howdy girls, did'ja get your book Rare?" Applejack motioned to the two chairs that she had set on the other side of the table "Well yes, we did the book I wanted but I think Twilight has something to say that's way more interesting than that" Rarity looked over to Twilight expectingly "Umm.. well yes I do" Twilight brought out the key from her wing before saying anything else "Is that a key?" Applejack asked Twilight while leaning over to Rarity and whispering something along the lines of 'Is she serious with this?' "Princess Luna gave this to me last night... but that's not all she gave me, she also told me that I was to take on a project that has been uncompleted for about 50 years. The project is actually the highlight of the book Rarity bought" Twilight took out the book that she and Rarity had bought and turned the page to the beginning of project First Contact "Wow, Twilight this is a grand honour... Princess Luna trusts you with information that has been lying dormant for 50 years..." Rarity said to Twilight feeling both jealous and proud for her friend "I know it's a huge privilege but I have no idea hoe I'm going to go about doing this project, I can't even name it..." Twilight hung her head in shame and in grief "Twi' did the Princess say that you had to work on this project alone?" Applejack said remembering when she refused the help of her friends and what it had done to her "No...wait she said that she wanted me too get help from all of you... if she believes that our friendships can help me with this project... then I guess I have to believe too!!" Twilight suddenly felt very uplifted and pulled the book of the table and put it in her saddle bag "Girls were going home! I need the rest of out friends to know about this... " Twilight immediately jumped out of her seat and began trotting to the train stations loading deck and hopped on to the first train to Ponyville that left at 12:00 "I think we should follow her" Applejack told Rarity,who was currently in shock due to Twilights sudden display of determination "Yes indeed we must..." Rarity managed to say before she grabbed her bags and trotted alongside Applejack towards the train that Twilight had boarded That mare is really serious when it comes to friendship... Rarity thought silently as she stepped on the to train On the train ride Twilight maintained a steely eyed gaze, determination plastered hard on her face. The train made it's final stop at the Ponyville station and Twilight and her friends all got off the train and were greeted by all their other friends "Welcome back you guys!!" Rainbow Dash flew over to Twilight and hugged her tightly "Hehe I missed you too Rainbow..." Twilight returned Rainbows hug but quickly broke out of it "Omygoshomygoshomygoshyouhavetotellmeeverythingthathappedenedtoyou!!!!!" Pinkie Pie skipped over to Rarity and nearly made her deaf "Pinkie, calm down I'll tell you everything that I can remember..." Rarity cringed at Pinkies sudden outburst "I think we should go somewhere else to talk...ummm... if that's ok with all of you" Fluttershy softly addressed the whole group "Fluttershy has a point, I don't think that the train station is a good place to have an extended conversation...especially from Twilight, how about we go to the castle...or we could try Sugarcube Corner?" Rarity considered what options her friends had that wouldn't result in Twilight getting mobbed by other ponies, due to her new Princess stature "It's not a castle Rarity it's just... ok maybe it is a castle" Twilight didn't like being thought of as higher then anypony, even if she is an alicorn and a princess "Ooo sorry girls, while you were away the Cakes started renovating Sugarcube Corner so we can't enter... you know for safety reasons" Pinkie didn't like the fact that she couldn't get into her own room but she understood why the Cakes wanted to remodel. With only 6 tables inside Sugarcube Corner they couldn't house that many ponies at a single time and that wasn't very good for business. "Wait if you couldn't get in to Sugarcube Corner then where'dya sleep?" Applejack wasn't the smartest tool in the shed but she could put two and two together "Oh I slept at Fluttershy's house while you were all away" Pinkie didn't really like having to sleep in somepony else's house but since Fluttershy offered so quickly she couldn't refuse "We had a great time together" Fluttershy like having friends over at her house so naturally when her friend was in need of lodging she was the first to offer "Well then I guess we have no choice, to the castle!" Twilight and her friends trotted off towards the newly 'built' castle. The trip didn't lasted a little while, since they started from the train station. "I wonder if Discord's alright?" Fluttershy mused to herself remembering that she had left Discord alone in the castle As Twilight and her friends approached the castle door Discord appeared in front of then in his classic entrance "Ah welcome back Twilight, Fluttershy told me that you were coming back today so I took the liberty of readying the castle for your return "Thanks Discord... but you didn't go overboard right?" Discord had gained most of the ponies trust but Twilight still questioned his methods "Oh don't worry Twilight her let me get the door" Discord pushed the grandiose door open and revealed that the crystal castle was shinier than ever "Wow Discord you really cleaned the whole place?!" Twilight knew that Discord had been reformed but she never thought that he would do this "Well not exactly the whole place... I wasn't able to get into any of your rooms... I could just use teleportation but I didn't want to intrude on your privacy... I did get into Rainbows room though, she really like the Wonderbolts" Discord smiled when as he remembered what he saw in Rainbows room "If you touched anything there I will personally turn you back into STONE!!" Rainbow said as she rushed up to check on her belongings "If you didn't want me to clean your room then you shouldn't have left the door unlocked..." Discord said blankly to rainbow as she rushed up the stairs "Well then... at any rate I think Discord actually did a good job of cleaning the castle..." Rarity said as she gave the room a look over "I'll say... this room looks more spotless than Rarity" Pinkie said as she pointed to Rarity who was checking the floor for any traces of dust "Girls!... and Discord I guess... I have something important to tell you..." Twilight lifted the key up high in the air and motioned for all of them to sit at the meeting table. She tucked the key away and went to sit herself down when she realised that Rainbow wasn't with them or sitting at the table. "Oh I swear if he touched anything..." Rainbow dash ran up the stairs and through the hall until she found her room The room it self was completely spotless, save for a few scattered papers. Rainbow went to investigate further and began scrutinizing every inch of her room "Huh... every thing seems to be where it was... how did he do all this in two days" Rainbow Dash had little time to wonder because shortly before she had checked the last crack in her room... "Rainbow!!" Rainbow dash was sure that she heard her name being called form downstairs so she quickly ran out the door and down the stairs to see who had called her "Rainbow!!" Twilight called at the top of her lungs for a third time but it seemed to be of no avail, where ever rainbow may have gone she seemed to have become deaf "Give her some time Twilight she was worried when I told her that I had cleaned her room so I suppose that she wanted to make sure I didn't change anything... I don't blame her... I would have done the same in her situation..." Discord, even if he is the spirit of chaos he still has feelings... and he can't stop blaming himself for betraying his friends when Tirek tried to take away Equestria's magic "Rainbow!!" Twilight called again and was relieved when she heard hoof steps at the top of the stairs indicating that her friend finally heard her and was coming down "S-Sorry Twi I didn't hear you I was just making sure that HE didn't touch anything in my room" Rainbow dash gave extra emphasis when referencing Discord, she was indeed convinced that he was reformed but she still didn't trust him around her personal belongings "Rainbow you have to learn to trust Discord sooner or later... I mean we've been living together for the past two months and he hasn't done anything to chaotic" Twilight tried to remember when Discord pulled his last harmful prank but failed since she has gotten to know and has gotten to trust the draconequus, even though he tried to send Ponyville into complete chaos "Rainbow Dash I don't blame you for not trusting me, you have valid reason... but honestly I have changed for the better..." Even if Discord didn't like Rainbow Dash, he had come to sort-of befriend her since she was so close to his reformer... Fluttershy "This is not what I called you her for Rainbow, I have urgent matter that need to be attended to and I would appreciate it if you and discord would join us..." Twilight pointed a hoof towards the table where all their other friends were sitting and looking at them expectingly "Ok Twi but what's so important that you need all of us to be here?" Rainbow Dash had never seen Twilight this serious about anything, and this is Twilight were talking about so that's saying something "Yes Twilight, You have never called an audience like this in... ever actually... I am so grateful that I am invited" Discord wasn't the one for seriousness but he could deal with it, if only for a few hours... but as much as possible he stayed away form serious conversation "I'll explain everything once were all seated down" Twilight walked towards the table and took her seat, she then motioned for Discord to sit beside her and Rainbow to take her seat. Discord didn't have a throne made for him, so he improvised... using his powers he made a chaos throne appear next to Twilight and took his seat in it "Ok here it is..." Twilight brought out the key form where she had ticked it and pushed it to the centre of the table for everypony to see "Ummm... care to explain why this key is so important?" Rainbow said impatiently as she cocked her head upon seeing the piece of metal "Yes Twilight, I fail to see the importance of this key... even if I went with you when you got it..." Rarity remembered Twilight telling and showing her and Applejack the key that princess Luna had given her and was supposed to take a project that had been dormant for 50 years... however she couldn't find any link between the key and the project that Twilight had gotten "Well, Princess Luna gave me this key and said that it was supposed to help me find something left behind by the original researchers form project First Contact, but I have no idea how it's supposed to do that" Twilight levitated the key up and spun it slowly so that everyone could see both sides "I do sense and awful lot of magical residue on this key Twilight, perhaps it was a matrix at some point... but it's to deteriorated for me to tell what kind of matrix it was, or what purpose it served..." Discord was very well versed in the field of magic, after all it is kind of his bread and butter, but even with this knowledge he still couldn't find out what was so special about the key "Maybe it was a device used to track a location... but that wouldn't make sense because, why would someone put a tracking matrix on a key?!" Rarity reasoned out loud with herself and managed to catch the attention of Twilight "It could be a possibility, it would explain all the extra teeth the key has..." Twilight said as she handed the key to Rarity for closer inspection "Ooo I have an idea! Why don't we charge it up and see if the matrix still works!" Pinkie suddenly blurted out remembering what Discord said about there being a matrix on the key at one point "Ain't that bit risky seeing as this matrix could, you know be a trap... I'm just sayin' that what if this thing blows up right her right now?" Applejack put a hoof to her chin questioning Pinkie's idea "I would have sensed an offensive matrix such as a combustion matrix, because they last longer than any other matrix out there" Discord had some vague knowledge on how matrices work and when they dissolve into non-existence "I think we should give Pinkies idea a shot I mean what's the worst that could happen if Discord says that it can't be offensive or dangerous?" Rainbow said now knowing that they can rest easy knowing that the key would be the death of them all "Ok then I'll prep the safety precautions... Twilight excused her self form the impromptu meeting and began to take metal sheeting form her basement and began to construct a small bunker in the library with Discords help Once complete Twilight called all of her other friends into the makeshift bunker and levitated the key towards them untli it was about 3 feet form the bunker "I hope this works... Discord are you ready?" Twilight turned to Discord, who was focusing on the key trying to repair the broken matrix "A-Almost Twilight hold off a bit longer I need to make sure that the matrix is stable..." Discord hadn't used this spell in a few thousand years because he had never needed to stabilize and repair a matrix before... he usually had to break or de-stabilize them "Now Twilight!" Discord shouted as the matrix finally came into view and was operational Twilight concentrated a good portion of her magic into a single bolt of magic and sent it towards the hovering key. The matrix immediately absorbed the magic and began spinning. The key suddenly stopped and slowly drifted to the floor and began to etch carvings into the crystalline floor "What's it doing Twi?" Rainbow watched as the key twisted and turned until the key just stopped at what looked like the end of a map "I think that the matrix was programmed to depict and image by portraying it on the nearest surface... but why did the pony who wanted to convey the message put the matrix on a key?!" Discord said, as he recharged his magic deposits, and wondered if the key served some other purpose "Should we be seeing something?" Rarity said as she looked at the weird imprint on the floor "I think it's a map of some sort..." Twilight used her new wings to hover over the floor and get a better view of the drawing. She noticed that the matrix was programmed to use the keys current location as a starting point, seeing as the key had drawn an almost exact replica of Ponyville only that it looked alot older. The Ponyville depicted in the engraving was incomplete, It was missing Sugarcube Corner, and Carousel Boutique but Twilight was sure it was Ponyville because no other town had a tree in it "If I'm correct, the map should be leading us towards.. the Ponyville town hall?" Twilight shook her head trying to see if her calculations were wrong. After much scrutiny she finally gave up and came to the conclusion that the map indeed lead to the town hall. "I guess we should go to the town hall?" Rainbow suggested since the map ended there, and the key was lying on the icon of the building itself "To the town hall!!!" Discord said with conviction as he pointed towards the door. Twilight quickly picked up the key and then motioned for all her friends to come with her. The trip to the twin hall didn't last very long, due to the fact that Twilights new castle was only a a few blocks away. *Knock* *Knock* *Knock* Twilight hit her hoof against the grand doors of the town hall and waited. Twilight knows that the town hall is a public building, but she thought it polite that she would knock first "Hello?" Ponyville's mayor opened the door and was shocked to see Twilight standing there "Oh my.. P-Princess Twilight you didn't tell me you were coming! I haven't had the time to prepare..." Mayor Mare quickly bowed her head upon seeing Twilight "You don't have to bow Mayor, I thought we established that?" Twilight didn't like being treated like she was important even though she is. "Sorry Princess but it has become a habit... oh where are my manners, please come in" Mayor Mare stepped aside and let Twilight and the rest of her friends inside the main lobby of the town hall "O-Oh Mr. Discord your here too" at the first sight of the draconequus the mayor had started to sweat "Please mayor, there is no need to fear me anymore..." Discords voice sounded almost like he was pleading The mayor simply walked away form discord and went to Twilight, who was currently behind the central desk looking through the towns documents "Is there something that you're looking for your highness?" the mayor walked over to the desk and looked at the documents that Twilight was holding and noticed that all the documents were dated back fifty years ago What would the Princess be looking for from fifty years ago? Mayor Mare tried to recall if anything significant happened fifty years ago "Umm... mayor do you know if anyone brought anything here fifty years ago?" Twilight didn't even look up form the document she was skimming "Hmm... I can't be sure of that, I wasn't the mayor fifty years ago... but everything that's borough her is always put through the records in the stock room until claimed, but if the object isn't claimed then it stays in the storage room" Mayor mare was familiar about how the shipping system worked in Ponyville, but she couldn't remember all of the entries... especially if they were recorded 50 years ago "Aha! here it is!!" Twilight levitated the document up high so that the rest of her friends could see it. The document itself was fairly simple and wasn't really secured, it wasn't even labled classified. "Well what're you waitn' for! Open it up!" Applejack said as Twilight looked at the document without doing anything Twilight opened the document, the file inside read... Project First Contact The entirety of this project is for research purposes only. The personal information of the ponies within this file is strictly classified and will not be revealed Project First Contact, Proprietors: Soul Gem, Gem Shard Purpose: To establish contact with an extraequestrial race Royal Correspondent: Princess Luna Co-signer: Princess Miamoree Cadenza Location: Canterlot Laboratories, Fringe Science Department, Advanced Technology Division Date Started: December 7, 1962 Date Ended: March 5, 1969 Progress(Final): Stage one Research notes: Following the last entry on the file was an enclosed envelope... but what Twilight and her friends found strange was the envelope had been locked shut... literally "Who locks an envelope?!" Rainbow Dash shouted out completely dumbfounded as to why somepony would lock an envelope "Aha! Twilight maybe that's where this mysterious key goes!" Rarity looked at the lock and deduced that the only key that would fit would have to have ten teeth, and the only key with ten teeth is the key is the key that Twilight has "Your right Rarity!" Twilight quickly pulled out the key form under her wing and tried to push it into the lock on the envelope but the key didn't seem to fit, so she tried to force the key inside... "Come on!!" Twilight finally got the key inside the rusty lock and then and when she turned it, sure enough all the envelopes contents poured out onto the floor "Girls... I think we found the project..." Twilight began looked at the mess on the floor and noticed something odd Who were these scientists? Twilight silently thought to herself as she held up a picture of two ponies dressed in lab coats hugging each other Twilight and her friends began to sort and look through the many files that had been crammed forcefully into one envelope. They searched for about an hour strait before Twilight finally found something of interest "Girls come here, I think I found something" Twilight help up a piece of metal that had a note attached to it. She unfolded the note and read it aloud Dear reader If you are reading this then that means you found the key that we left behind, it also means that you have enough interest in this project to continue it. The piece of metal that this note is attached to is the final piece of stage two of project First Contact, the transmitter. If you are able to activate the transmitter then you will also find the receiver... once you have found both pieces then you will be able to pick up and send intergalactic signals. This project has cost us 7 years of our lives and we couldn't just end it like that, so we hid the two machines somewhere in a small own named Ponyville, hopefully you can finish what we started. If the coordinated on this paper are correct then it should lead you to the two machines X= 578.77 Y=235.96 Z=88.74 "Wow whoever worked on this project really wanted it done..." Rarity said after she heard the last part of the note "Wait a minute I recognize those coordinates... That's my basement..." Twilight said with confusion. Twilight had lived in the library for nearly 4 years before it got blown up and replaced with the crystal castle. "Hold on, if they put that there 50 years ago then wouldn't that mean that they were blown up by Tirek?" Fluttershy said softly. Even if she was quiet, it didn't mean she isn't smart "Hahaha that's where your wrong dear Fluttershy, Twilights basement lies well underground so it couldn't have been affected by the explosion." Discord reasoned out quiet happily Suddenly Twilight realised that it was almost 11:00 and then her body confirmed the clocks time... *yawn* Twilight's yaw started a whole chain reaction of yawns from the other five ponies...and Discord "Girls maybe we should continue this tomorrow?" Discord asked the group before rubbing his eyes, It's true that gods don't need sleep, but they still feel the need to sleep and the relief it provides. "For once Discord's actually right... I do feel a bit tired" Rainbow said before yawning again "Girls we have to finish this! we've come so far!" as much as Twilight wanted to stay and work on the project, her body had other plans... those plans mostly involved the soft warm sheets of her bed. "C'mon Twi' it's not like the envelopes goin' anywhere, heck I'm pretty sure that the Mayor will you bring it home... hey wait a minute, where's the Mayor? Applejack suddenly noticed the absence of the beige pony. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind if we just took this one file back to the castle, for one night" Twilight said hoping that they wouldn't have to go find Mayor Mare. Discord was feeling very sleepy so he decied that he would just take the files and teleport himself and the six ponies back to the castle for some sleep... and that's exactly what he did "DISCORD!!!" Twilight yelled at Discord, but she didn't have any energy to fully reprimand him so she just snatched the files from his hand and walked over to her room The other ponies on the other hand were actually thankful that he had done that... mostly due to the fact that they were dead tired "Thanks Dissy" Pinkie Pie whispered into his ear before she walked up to her own room. After Pinkie Pie the rest quickly followed, with one thought on their minds: SLEEP. Discord didn't even want to walk up to his room, so he simply teleported himself there But there was one pony who didn't want to sleep, and that was Twilight. I don't know what to do with the project, I don't know how to work with the files that I have, heck I don't even have a name for the project yet! Twilight slammed her head against the desk and began to drift to sleep No! I have to at least name the project... but what do I name it Twilight then lifted her head and looked at the folder one last time before finally succumbing to unconsciousness... the last word she saw was spore... Right above the orbit of Equus was a spaceship that looked like a horseshoe, It seemed to be scanning the planets surface. "What do the readings show Morbus?" a creature with two wings a short body structure and a beak walked up to another one of his kind and looked at the readings on the monitor "Hmmm... a T3 planet... maybe we could colonize this planet..." The creature wondered before he went to the tool selection station and pressed the colonization button, but before he could launch a colony pack a claw stopped him "Not Nibon, look" Morbus pointed his talon towards the main monitor, it displayed several icons dotting the surface of the planet, indicating that a sentient race was able to build cities and communities on the planet. "The planet has a sentient species? What is the nature of it's inhabitants?" Nibon dragged an object across the screen until it reached one of the cities. The icon began to enlarge until it displayed the basic skeletal structure and anatomy of a pony within it "I have not seen a skeletal structure like that in my entire life... It looks like the spine moves across the entire expanse of the body... I seems to have for legs and no hands... very peculiar" Morbus said as he scrutinized the pony skeletal system "Morbus look at this, it says that the species on this planet has a lot of variations... but from what i can tell it has 3 main variations look.." Nibon pointed to another window on the monitor and pointed to the pictures One of the pictures displayed a unicorns skeletal and muscular systems, another picture displayed a pegasi's Skeletal and muscular anatomy, and a third picture displayed an earth pony's anatomy. "Why is their so much variation within the species... are you sure these are all the same species?" Morbus asked Nibon while still looking at the monitor "Yes they all have the same central skeletal structure" Nibon pointed pushed a button with his claw which caused the three skeletal portraits to overlap, and sure enough the central skeletons lined up perfectly. "Maybe we could communicate with this race and elevate them to the next level of society?" Morbus asked Nibon while looking at the sentience scanner on the monitor "We can try... I'll bring the ship over one of the cities and then maybe we can try contacting them..." Nibon said before he walked over to another monitor and dragged his claw across the screen, causing the ship to move foreward. I just hope this goes better than last time Morbus thought to himself The Collision of Two WorldsThe citizens of Ponyville are going about their lives peacefully, completely oblivious to the alien spacecraft hovering above them... "Nibon please be careful to stay out of the planets orbit this time, we can't risk getting seen" Morbus tweaked a lever on the dashboard of the main ship control panel which caused the ships engines to slowly come to a stop "Relax Morby, last time was an accident... trust me it won't happen again" Nibon said as he flipped on the ships cloaking device on, just to be extra careful "I'm just worried that's all..." Morbus said as he prepared the transportation beam. Their ship was originally meant for the colonization and the tearraformation of planets, however... recently Morbus and Nibon decided that they would take on the universe as captains and not just a simple division ship. They traversed the universe looking for planets to colonize and to expand their empire, but Nibon had also purchased many other tools and weapons, that would make the ship a little more prepared and adaptable. "So are we ready?" Morbus said as he opened the socialization window in the monitor. Morbus' claw hovered over and icon that looked like a monument. "Wait a sec, what if this race turns out to be violent and aggressive?" Nibon reasoned as he recalled what had happened the last time they tried to elevate a race Seriously though, it's not like Spode is real or anything Even though the Birdie Empire is a large and flourishing one, they still fear the followers of Spode, mostly due to the fact that it takes 12 of their ships to match up to one of the 'Spodes Followers' ships. "C'mon relax I mean they don't look harmful, well maybe the one with the horn could be a little dangerous, but seriously I don't think that they would, or even could hurt anyone" Morbus said as he gave the anatomy of the skeletal scans another look over "We don't even know what they are yet, let alone their history, or their racial behaviour... but I do know for a fact that they're all herbivores..." Nibon had recognized the jaw structure that the scans showed, it was distinctly herbivorous. Nibon wasn't one for learning, he barely knew what to do in terms of terraforming a planet, but he did know what each body part did and what kind of body parts could be found on an animal. Nibon had been working in a research laboratory before being recruited for the fleet, even if he had no piloting experience, Morbus had insisted that his skills could be put to use in the terraformation of planets and how to stabilize their T scores Morbus closed the Window on the monitor and looked Nibon in the eye "I always wanted to try communicating with an alien race... face-to-face..." Morbus had always dreamed of meeting a new race and actually talking to them and teaching them how to build and use ships, but he never got to do that since he became a space pilot right around the time that the new technology called the "Monolith" was born "You can't be serious... right?" Nibon didn't like the idea of putting they're lives at stake by actually beaming themselves down and communicating with another race, that wasn't declared space worthy "I totally serious, but I have a plan... instead of going to the top figures of this race lets start small and you know meet with the 'locals' "I'm still not so sure about this, I mean we would be putting our lives at stake by going down there..." Nibon hadn't had the best experience when it came to beaming down to planets, the last time he beamed down was to collect an artefact but suddenly an Epic showed up out of nowhere and scared him stiff. To this day he still thinks it's his fault that they failed the mission "Why? What are you so worried about... why don't you stay here and I'll go talk to them?" Morbus reasoned, tryiing his best to get his partner to accept his offer "Umm... *sigh* ok then, if you really want to this, just try not to get hurt..." Nibon finally gave in to his partners request and walked over to the monitor It took about an hour to calibrate the transportation beam, and another hour to get morbus in gear and ready for what ever situation he might find himself in "Ok, I'm ready let's do this!" Morbus said as he stepped into the beam chamber and closed his eyes "I'll talk to you when your down there..." Nibon pressed the beam button lightly and sent Morbus towards the planet in the form of an ionised beam of matter "This is Morbus to control do you read me control?" Morbus asked as he shook off the initial feeling of being beamed down to the planets surface Even after 10 years of being a captain and I still haven't gotten used to it Even though Morbus was a very experienced captain, and a trained planetary explorer he still hasn't gotten used to the feeling of getting beamed down from his ship "This Is control I read you loud and clear, what is the status of the atmosphere?" Nibon tweaked the radio frequency of his communicator so that he had no static interruption "Atmosphere readings suggest that the air is breathable and it also confirms that it is indeed a T3 atmosphere" Morbus looked at the many meters on his suit trying to make out whether the atmosphere would sustain him "Do not risk taking of your helmet, proceed to taking exploratory data, you have 5 hours standard galactic time, according to protocol" Nibon said as he tracked Morbus using the positioning system on the ship and which was connected to Morbus' suit "Ok control, Morbus out" Morbus tucked his communicator back into his left wrist slot and began walking around the planets surface, the first thing he noticed was that the gravity of the planet was a little bit less than his home planets gravity "Well I guess I should take geographical samples..." Morbus bent down and used the portable scanner on his suit to scan the ground beneath him. The readings on his suit told him that the ground was very fertile and didn't show any trace of artificial chemical or pollution. "Hmmm... I wonder if they have any forms of technology yet?" Morbus thought to himself after seeing how untouched and clean the earth below him was. He then walked over to a near by stream and filled a vial of water... Wow this has to be the cleanest fresh water iv'e ever seen... Morbus said as he put the vile into the centrifuge and checked the readings. "There sure is alot of trees here, I wonder if they are edible to the locals" Morbus thought as he scraped some bark off of one of the near by trees. His suit said otherwise, the trees apparently showed traces of Astatine, a very toxic substance to his race. "Ok so maybe what's poisonous to us won't be poisonous to them?" He thought as he stepped away from the trees He then walked towards the end of the tree line and noticed a pathway towards what looked like a settlement... "Well I guess it's time to try and make first contact with the locals..." He said as he walked towards the small settlement. It didn't take Morbus long to find the settlement and fly to it, he was able to maintain a stealthy profile even as he approached the settlements borders I hope their friendly... Morbus thought as he looked at the architecture. Judging form the material the buildings were made from and the overall design of the buildings he was able to conclude that the race that occupied this planet was still way behind, technologically anyway. Since Morbus knew about the importance of the first impressions he decided that it would be best to look for some of the more learned beings of the race. While he was thinking about the hierarchy of the race another thought sprung to mind... What will their culture be like, and more so their food... well they are herbivores He thought as he approached the settlements main path Twilight had just woken up form a good nights sleep, she woke up feeling very calm and relaxed... only to jump into panic as she saw what was on her desk... an unfinished research paper. Noticing the unfinished paper she immediately got out of bad and trotted straight to her desk to resume work on coming up with the name for the project she was tasked with. After about an hour of thinking and alot of crumpled scrolls she was interrupted by spike, who was in the middle of waking up. "*yawn* Twilight... you up?" Spike asked groggily before looking at her bed for confirmation, then around the room to find out if she was there, and sure enough he saw her at her desk writing down Celestia knows what. "Twilight? Did you stay up all night just finishing that project? Do you want some breakfast at least?" Spike got out of his bed and walked up to Twilight. Once he saw what she was writing he got very confused... "Introduction, Evolution, Second Phase, Planting,... Twilight what is this stuff?" Spike asked as he stared at the gibberish on the paper "Spike this is important, go make some breakfast..." Twilight said before writing down even more words, only to cross them out again.. "Ok... but try not to stay up all night doing these things Twilight, it can't be healthy for you." Spike said as he walked down the stairs to the kitchen It's a miracle Twilight has no signs of sleep deprivation, wait did she sleep last night or not? Spike was not one to question Twilight but that didn't mean he didn't care about her. Spike turned on the burner to the stove and placed a pot over it. "Hmm... we need to get new magic canisters" Spike said as he checked the meters that showed how much fuel was left in the stove "SPIKE!" Spike cringed slightly at the volume of Twilights voice, but he turned down the burner to a low flame and began walking back up the stairs "Yes Twilight?" Spike asked as he entered Twilights room. Twilight had not been cleaning out her room much in the past few days, it was usually his job to clean anyway, but he found it odd that Twilight had been out of the house so much lately. Maybe I should ask her where she's been... maybe later Spike said as he walked over to Twilight and pulled up a chair next to her "Spike, I have to rename project First Contact but I just can't decide what, and I also havetostartworkingonetheactualprojectandIneedyourhelp!!" Twilight said as she looked at Spike waiting for and answer "What?!" Spike sat beside Twilight in a confused daze, he was used to Twilights speedy rants... but this time his brain broke "Ugh! Never mind, could you just call of the rest of our friends into the dinning room?" Twilight said before looking back at the scroll in front of her A realization dawned on Spike... "Oh my gosh, I left breakfast unattended!!" Spikes worries were confirmed when the smell of burning hay fries filled the room. Spike immediately left Twilights room and made a break for the kitchen, but it already to late... the hay fries he had been cooking had already been burned and rendered inedible *sniff* *sniff* "Hmm... that's peculiar, I don't smell anything... well I hope Spike made enough breakfast for all of us" Twilight was a princess, this was true, but she still couldn't smell the distinct aroma of burning food. Twilight hadn't cooked since she was a little filly, and the only things she could cook were fried mushrooms, a few salads, and caramel apples. "Well back to work, I guess..." Twilight said as she walked back to her desk and sat down. Twilight spent a good 20 minutes writing down possible names until she decided that she should look in the files for the project for inspiration. That's when she saw the many pictures of plant life form planet Equus, some of the plants she saw intrigued her... They used a form of spore as a fuel? That's a bit weird, but I guess if it works then why not use it... She thought to herself as she read the file. ...The machine that project First Contact used was powered by a form of spore from a plant found in Hoofrica. The plants scientific name was based of off it's ability to blend in with it's surrondings, Laccaria laccata. The locals of Hoofrica know the plant as 'The Deciever'... Twilight read on and decided... "If it was a spore that fuelled the first project, then it's only natural that I name the project after them..." Twilight levitated a new scroll to her desk and wrote two words on the top... 'Project Spore' As Morbus walked along the path to the alien settlement he calibrated his translator to 'read mode' which allowed him to match the language of the creatures to one he understood, to hopefully get passed the language barrier. He saw the first structure on the path... It was a quaint hut that looked a bit small but was very well built, the walls were made of a form of cobble stone, and the roof looked like it was some sort of plant matter. The entire structure sported a bright yellow colour, and the landscape around it was very well kept. Morbus also noticed that there were several pens containing different animals all around the house Well here goes nothing... Morbus walked up to the door of the small house and tapped it lightly with his talon. He waited for a good 5 minutes with no reply, so he tried to open the door... and, to his surprise, it opened. The room was dimly lit but enough daylight was getting in through the windows that he could see everything. He walked inside slowly and made sure that he made no noise as he scanned every object and creature in the room. Even though Morbus didn't find any sentient life in the room he did notice a lot of non-sentient animals crawling all over the place. "They have beast masters here?" Morbus thought as he quietly strode through the room. He finally came to the end of his scanning spree when his eyes met a set of stairs. Should I?... Morbus thought as he debated whether he should go up stairs without permission. He knew that if he was caught his first impression would be that of a thief so he decided against it. Suddenly he heard a small gasp outside but pushed it off as his paranoia Morbus made his way towards the door and quietly exited the cottage and walked back onto the path but before he could take two steps, he saw something out of the corner of his eyes... Spike had just finished remaking breakfast and was now in the process of getting everypony else downstairs. It was pretty easy convince Fluttershy and Applejack, for both of them knew the importance of breakfast, but Rainbow had been very stuborn... mostly due to the fact that she preferred to sleep until half the day was gone before she actually got up. Rarity had been especially tricky because he had a hard time keeping his cool around her. Discord actually wasn't that resistant and was glad to go downstairs for breakfast. Spike was currently walking over to Twilights room... "Twilight? I made breakfast again, do you wanna come down and eat?" Spike said as he gently pushed the door open "Just a minute Spike I finanlly named the project, I have to write down the important stuff from the files..." Twilight said without looking away form her desk "Ok Twi but try to show up before all of our friends finish this time, please?" Spike said slightly regretting his almost caretaker like position at the castle Spike just simply closed the door not even trying again, because he knew that when Twilight was caught up in her studies she wouldn't budge no matter who was asking. Spike calmly walked down the stairs to the main living room and walked over to the dining hall, he pushed open the door and slowly walked over to the dining table. "Where's Twilight?" Rarity asked as she sipped her tea "She said she needs a few minutes, but she will be joining us I assure you" Spike said as he took a few rubies form the nearby plate "Jeez sometimes I wonder who takes care of who, I mean Spike cooks, cleans, and makes sure Twilight gets enough sleep! I mean who does that?" Rainbow said as she hovered over her chair "Rainbow you know it's impolite to fly while your eating right?" Pinkie said with a mouth full of hayckaes. "Well looks who's calling the kettle black..." Discord mumbled under his breath while he blew on his coffee. Discord wasn't really a morning type, and was usually quite grumpy in the early hours "Well maybe she has a good reason for not being able to do all those things, you know with her being a scholar and all... I mean if that's what you guys think" Fluttershy said as she tried her best to defend Twilight "Well it would be nice to have some help every once in a while... thanks by the way " Spike said as he took a haycake with a sapphire topping while looking at Applejack "I just hope that she actually makes it to breakfast." Applejack said as she bit into an apple pie. Even though Applejack knew that Spike was going to make breakfast she insisted that she would help by making another course "I see you're already eating..." Twilight said as she walked into the dining hall and pulled up a chair right next to Discord and Rarity "Oh hello Twilight, I didn't see you come in" Rarity said as she looked watched Twilight levitate a plate and utensils to the place mat in front of her "Well I said that I would be in time for breakfast?" Twilight said as she levitated a haycake and a slice of apple pie to her plate and a bottle of maple syrup to her side "You did manage to finish whatever you were doing right?" Spike said, doubtful that Twilight would actually put her studies on hold. "Not really I actually wanted to ask you guys a few questions while we were having breakfast" Twilight said as she used her horn to lift a quill and a note pad to her side, while also layering her haycake with a good helping of maple syrup At the mention of being asked questions at breakfast made all her friends roll their eyes and let out an aggravated sigh. Twilight didn't usually as her friends to answer questions for her studies during meal times but she deemed that this topic needed special attention... Breakfast went by relatively fast while Twilights friends tried to finish their food as quickly as possible as to avoid answering to many question at such an early hour "Oh my, I actually forgot to do something back at my cottage umm... if you could just excuse me for a few minutes, I have to feed my animals breakfast" Fluttershy said as she recalled that her animals hadn't been fed yet due to the fact that she had slept over at the castle "Oh sure Flutttershy go ahead" Twilight said while half ignoring her. Fluttershy didn't hesitate and quickly ran out of the castle and began her journey towards her cottage. As she approached her house however, she noticed that the door was slightly ajar and decided to sneak towards her house. Fluttershy may has had encounters with animals from the Everfree before but none of them actually went into her house, so she concluded that this animal may be a very curious one or a very intelligent one. I hope it's friendly... She thought as she slowly pushed the door open, making sure that it didn't creak. What she saw made her jump back and let out a small squeal, the creature she saw looked nothing like anything she had ever seen... instead of feathers, fur, or scales she saw a metallic skin and what looked like glass on it's head. The only features she could make out was that it had talons like one of her birds and had arms with those same talons. She also saw that it had blinking lights all over itself and was shooting what looked like a sheet of light at every one of her animals Fluttershy heard hoofsteps moving closer to the door and she quickly made a bolt for the nearest bush opposite her door. She observed the creature exit and push what looked like buttons on it's skin. She suddenly slipped on a twig but she was quick to recover, but she quickly saw that she didn't recover fast enough. The creature turned it's head until the glass was directed in her general direction... "Hello? Is anyone there?" Morbus said as he looked towards where he though he saw the movement come from. He didn't receive a reply so he walked over to the bushes and looked around. Morbus looked hard into the shrubbery until he saw something odd... Is that leaf pink?! Morbus thought as he moved his talon towards the oddly coloured bush. That's when he received quite a shock, the leaf moved... he quickly jumped back and charged his plasma pulser "Hello?! Who are you?" Morbus said as he looked at the bush and waited for something to come out... It can talk? at least I think it just spoke? Fluttershy thought to herself as she observed that awkward coordination in the tweets that it exhibited Ok Fluttershy it's just another animal, all you have to do is befriend it... She thought as she observed it's startled movement and concluded that it had seen her move "Umm... hello? I'm Fluttershy what's your name?" Fluttershy said quite softly, The creature seemed to respond by looking at it's wrist and suddenly a sheet of light came out and displayed an array of weird looking characters and symbols Maybe it didn't her me? she thought to herself as she gathered the courage to walk out of her hiding place and confront the creature directly... Ok here goes nothing... Fluttershy thought as she slowly walked out of her hiding spot "What? was all Mobus could say at the reading on his suit, which suggested that the language that the creature in the bush had just spoken was an exact match to one of the languages that he already knew 'Equinese'. The language 'Equinese' was thought to be a dead language and thus he was mocked for studying it back at AST (Advanced Space Training). Suddenly he noticed that the creature had moved out of it's hiding place and was now standing only a few feet away form him. To Morbus this moment was momentous as he could communicate with an alien race up close and didn't even have to use his translator. "Umm... My name is Fluttershy, who are you? Umm... if you don't mind me asking, please don't hurt me" Fluttershy said as she hid herself behind her mane Morbus quickly regained his composure and answered as best he could... "I am Morbus... umm... Captain 18001 of the fleet Andromeda 3, representing the Birdie Empire" He said as he recalled the standard galactic greeting, he then re-debated the choice of taking of his helmet. Morbus' mind was made up, since the atmosphere was T3 and Nibon wouldn't know whether or not he took of his helmet... he twisted the valve of the helmet, which caused Fluttershy to jump back a bit, then he slowly took of his helmet and then inhaled deeply. The air is so fresh here... Morbus thought as he breathed in the sweet smelling air "*Ahem* Umm... could you take me to one of your scholars?" Morbus tried to sound as friendly as he could, and to his amazement it seemed to work. Fluttershy motioned for him to follow her and trotted back to the settlement "Come with me I can show you one of our most intelligent ponies..." Fluttershy said meekly as she thought of how Twilight would react to having an unexpected visit...especially form a creature that was intelligent and seemed to come form another place altogether. She also noticed that the creat- Morbus was wearing some sort of suit and his skin was actually feathery in nature, she was thankful to see that his real face isn't that of a glass panel. Along with this she observed that Morbus' eyes and beak were very eagle like and indicated that he may be a omnivore... or worse, a carnivore. "Thank you so much umm... Fluttershy right?" Morbus said as he recalled the 'pony's' name. Morbus wasn't one for memorizing anything but since this moment was incredibly crucial he forced his mind to remember every detail he saw. It has wings... like me... they look exactly like mine!.. only smaller Morbus said as he observed a pair of wings on either of Fluttershys sides The two went to 'Ponyville', as Morbus was told was the settlement name, he was met with a few awkward stares form more of the locals and a few of them waved a Fluttershy and even him. By the way that Fluttershy reacted to the gesture he concluded that it was a gesture of kindness and probably greeting. Their journey was full of idle discussion which resulted them getting to know each other a bit more. "Well were here..." Fluttershy said as she stopped at the door of the crystal castle "I don't mean to be rude, but are we going to be meeting r-royalty?" Morbus asked while terrified by the thought of making the wrong move and completely ruining the integrity of his image and discrediting his empire. This is why he wanted to get to know the locals first, he didn't expect for there to be an incredibly important political figure all the way in an outlying settlement. "Oh no Twilight is a princess but she doesn't like to be treated like one, but if you want to know, it's polite to bow to royalty here." Fluttershy said as she pushed the doors open and revealed the big entrance hall and throne room. Fluttershy had grown to trust this new creature and didn't hesitate to try to help him in any way she could. Oh my god, I hope that this 'princess' is forgiving and understanding Morbus thought as he imagined all sorts of senarios in which everything goes horribly wrong. "Twilight! Twilight!" Fluttershy called as she burst into the dining hall, causing all of the ponies within to flinch and Twilight to jump out of her seat "What is it Fluttershy?! Is there something wrong?" Twilight said as she stared at her friend with a worried look on face. Fluttershy always panicked, this was true, but Twilight noticed that she also had a hint of excitement in her voice when she was calling her name. At this point all of the others had taken this opportunity to bolt out of the room and trot quietly up the stairs. Twilight noticed this but she was to occupied with Fluttershy to say or do anything about it "Well? tell me what is it?" Twilight said as she waited for Fluttershy to regain her breath. Twilight was completely unaware that what would happen next would push her project ahead a few thousand years... "Umm...Twilight there was this thing outsidemyhouseandIpanickedand-and-andIthinkit'sanalienandit'soutsiderightnow!!" Fluttershy said in her regular voice and her fastest ranting tone ever. "Woah wait what?! Fluttershy are you saying that you met an alien and he's outside right now!?!?!" Twilight said using the bits and pieces of what she understood and put 2 and 2 together. "Yes and I kinda-sorta lead him here coz he wanted to talk -to somepony that was very intelligent... please don't hate me." "Wait he think that I'm very intelligent?" Twilight said no quite understanding what her friend had said. She then concluded that she would go meet this new creature up close, she knew of the importance of first impression Twilight levitated her crown towards her and put it on If he thinks that I'm royalty then I must act like such Twilight thought as she slowly pushed open the door of the dining hall but her composure completely faded into amazement when she saw the creature in front of her... "Oh my Celestia..." was all Twilight could say before fainting... Author's Note That was quite an interesting first encounter, right? I wonder what will happen next? Diplomatic RelationsNibon walked along the bridge of his ship and argued with himself endlessly... It's been about four hours... why hasn't he reported back yet... Nibon thought thinking about what could've happened to his partner while he was on the surface. Nibon had always feared interacting with other alien races face-to-face, Morbus had always told him that it was an irrational fear but he could never overcome it. What if his communication line is broken, what if he got captured... or what if he's dead!!! Nibon said as he sprinted to the ships main console and opened the tracking device. The monitor showed three separate windows, one showing Morbus' location, one showing his vital signs, and another showing his suit condition. "Well he seems fine... wait why are his helmet visuals down?!" Nibon said as he looked over Morbus' suit condition and noticed that the helmet cam was turned off. I swear if he took his helmet off... well he seems fine... b-but that's still no excuse, he could've been killed Nibon said with genuine concern. Nibon wasn't one to take risks, he liked doing things exactly by the book and didn't like it when Morbus went... anywhere on his own especially on missions. "Talbet! get me a suit I'm going down there!" Nibon said while he prepared the beam chamber and gathered his courage. Talbet, a smaller Biride with multi-coloured feather and a longer tail, was currently monitoring the ships health and energy levels while keeping track of the air pressure inside every room. "Sir?! You can't be serious?! The captain told you to stay here, did he not?" Talbet said as he looked up, stunned as to what he just heard. Secretly, Talbet always wanted to have his own ship but he could never pass the final exam to be a captain, and no matter how much help he got or how hard he tried he simply couldn't get an above 90% average. "Talbet, I know that you're not qualified to captain a ship... but Morbus is my friend and I can't just leave him on his own, especially if he's on a planet with a possibly hostile race!" Nibon said while he put on his jump suit and grabbed a pulse blaster. "Sir, I know that you care for the captain but sometimes you can be a bit overprotective... you have to just calm down and try contacting him first, I'm sure that he'll pick up a call from a friend." Nibon was right, Talbet wasn't a qualified captain and should even be working in the bridge but Morbus hand picked him, and by using his legendary performance rating, he was able to get him on board. "Ok... pull up a commsat uplink... I'm going to patch through to his holographic screen" Nibon knew that he could get very overprotective over Morbus sometimes, but he always thought that it would be his fault if anything happened. "Sir, the link is ready I'm patching the call now... this will take a little while" Talbet knew how much Nibon cared for Morbus but he also knows that Morbus is a free-spirit and doesn't like to conform to the standards like Nibon. Talbet hoped that one day he could also make a name for himself... even if it meant doing what Morbus was doing right now... Morbus sat on a chair in the main hall of the castle and patiently waited until he could see this princess... "I wonder what's taking so long?" Morbus wondered as he looked at his watch and realised that he had already spent three hours on the surface and only had two more to make a good impression before he would have to go back to the ship due to intergalactic law. Morbus' attention was caught by the giant door at the other end of the room beginning to open and a purple pony with open wings and a horn stepped through, with what looked like a piece of regalia oh her head. Morbus had only begun to stand up when the purple pony fell to the floor and had seemed to faint. "Twilight! Twilight! Oh my gosh... what do I do whatdoIdo Fluttershy said as she looked around and panicked over her friends' fainted body. Morbus, after observing this, quickly ran over towards Fluttershy and who he assumed to be Twilight and began to scan her body. "Is she going to be ok?!" Fluttershy said as she looked over to Morbus who was currently looking at Twilights vitals vitals and atmospheric requirements. "Yeah, I think she's going to be fine... but it looks like she fainted" Morbus said as he observed Twilights slow heartbeat and slow breaths "But we should probably get her somewhere flat so I can do a full body scan" Morbus said as he turned of his canner and began to tweak the beam controls. Morbus began to use his suits beam to lift Twilight off of the ground and on to the bench that he had been sitting on. "Can we do anything?" Fluttershy said as she looked at Twilights passed out body. "Why in fact yes..." Morbus said as he pushed a button on his suit which mad a mask and a box pop out of his suits container which was located on his back. The mask was attached to the box by a small cord and had the label Atmospheric Revival Unit, or ARU for short. "What's that?" Fluttershy said as she observed Morbus positioning the mask on to Twilight's muzzle. Fluttershy couldn't make out what the symbols on the box or the mask meant but she had seen that type of equipment before; the Ponyville hospital. "It's an Atmospheric Revival Unit..." Morbus said as he turned the small box on and adjusted a few of the knobs on it's side, until the meter reading Oxygen was at 21% and the nitrogen meter at 78% "What are you doing?" Fluttershy said as she watched Morbus adjust some of the knobs on the small box. Fluttershy had been studying Taxonomy and Biochemistry, so she knew that this device was used for regulating the composition of the atmosphere that the patient was inhaling. Fluttershy wasn't really that open with her friends about what she had been studying, she thought that it was boastful to tell others about the fact that she a doctorate in medicine and a masters degree in chemistry, yet besides these accomplishments she still panics when she sees somepony faint, get hurt, or bleed. Suddenly the door to the dining hall opened and revealed four other ponies with confused faces staring at the scene before them. "Who are you? and what have you done with Twilight?!" a mare with a rainbow mane and tail said as she flew foreward and charged at Morbus. Morbus wasn't inexperienced with these types of scenarios and had experience when dealing with them. Morbus was quick to react to the pony's sudden outburst and used his jump jets to leap out of the way. "Rainbow! don't be so brash!" a Marshmallow coloured pony seemingly held Rainbow Dash from charging at Morbus again with her horn. Morbus watched as he saw the Marshmallow pony's horn light up and an aura surround it. The aura also appeared around Rainbow Dashs' tail and seemingly hold her back. "What's going on here?!" Twilight said as she sat up on the bench that she was lying on. Twilight saw the creature from before being assaulted by Rainbow Dash who was being held back by Rarity. The room fell into a dead silence and the only sound that could be heard was the several heartbeats of the beings in the room and ambient sound of Rarity's magic. Twilight motioned for Rarity to drop Rainbow Dash, which she took a bit literally causing Rainbow to face plant onto the floor. Twilight then began to recompose herself as she got up and started trotting towards the new creature, everypony in the room could tell she was nervous due to the amount of sweat visible on her face. "Now, I presume you are intelligent correct?" Twilight said in a half inquisitive and a half annoyed tone as she paced around the new creature. Twilight saw that the creature was wearing some form of armour, but she couldn't place whether or not it could be used for war or whether is was actually dangerous. "Yes I am intelligent, your highness, I am Morbus Captain 180-, wait how do I know I can trust you?" Morbus didn't like the idea of talking back to the authority but with the way Rainbow Dash had reacted he couldn't take any chances. Twilight finished pacing around the creature and looked over to Fluttershy, who was cowering underneath the bench she had been lying on. "You trust her right?" Twilight said as she pointed to Fluttershy. Twilight knew that the whole first impressions thing was out the window, but she needed to be sure that this wasn't some agent of darkness. "Yes... Yes I do but that still doesn't mean that I can trust you... why don't you tell me your name first?" Even though Morbus could aromatically pair a name with a person, or in this case an alien, using his AST he still liked to be formally introduced before he started using their names, he learned that it creeped them out. "Then why don't you tell her?" Twilight said motioning for Fluttershy to come to her side. "Umm... actually he did tell me, when we met... earlier" Fluttershy tried to say but it didn't looke like Twilights heard her. Twilight looked at Fluttershy and made her glare more intense. "Fluttershy we both know that you talked to him before and he seems to trust you so will you just come up here?!" Twilight said in a more intense voice, that she would have never used on Fluttershy had it not been for the circumstances. Fluttershy timidly repositioned her self into a position in which her belly was parallel to the floor and she used one swift buck against the wall to slide out of her hiding place, shocking everyone with the ninja-like methods she had used to get out of the tight spot. Fluttershy then pushed up using her abdomen muscles and caught herself mid-air with her wings. The whole room was silent once more, but this time all of the ponies jaws had dropped and their eyes were glued to Fluttershy. "Did I do something wrong?" Fluttershy said with a worried look on her face and her eyes to the floor. Fluttershy didn't want to admit it but she and Rarity hadn't been completely honest with everyone... "No it's fine... sorry for being so harsh... I just need to know if IT is good or not" Twilight said to Fluttershy while indirectly insulting the creature that stood beside her. Fluttershy then bolted with way too much speed for a pegasus on her hooves, she then looked at Twilight and whispered slowly into her ear. " Don't call HIM an IT ok? Fluttershy said with a calm tone and a soft voice before stepping away from Twilight while her regular meek smile returned to her face. "Umm... *gulp* O-ok then Mr. umm... I'm sorry I didn't quite get your name..." Twilight said while sweating bullets Ok before I was just worried, but now I fear for my life Morbus thought as he looked at Twilights terrified face. "I am Morbus, Captain 18001 of the fleet A-Andromeda 3, representing the Birdie Empire" Morbus said with a slight stutter in his voice. Morbus didn't really like his exposing his true identity, but when surrounded by an alien race you don't really have much of a choice. "Ok m-my turn I guess, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Ponyville and the element of Friendship" Twilight said with whatever composure she had left. "See, we can all be friends here... I'll leave you two here to talk and me and the rest of the girls will just wait outside, right girls?" Fluttershy didn't like showing this side of herself, especially with such an important guest in her presence, but since the situation didn't seem to be getting any better she had too intervene. "U-uh yeah o'course, c'mon girls lets go and tidy up in the dining room." Applejack said as she helped Fluttershy push the rest of their friends into the dining room. After Fluttershy and Applejack had pushed all of their friends into the dining room Twilight and Morbus were left alone in the main hall, not really sure what to do now. What did Princess Celestia do when a diplomat form Saddle Arabia come to Canterlot? Twilight thought as she stared at Morbus. Twilight didn't know much about being a princes but she did remember some things from when she was tasked to accompany Princess Celestia when Luna couldn't do it. What did Nibon do when we first made contact with the Wurbbles? Morbus thought as he stared at Twilight. Morbus wasn't really used to diplomatic relations, he was trained for combat and captaining a ship. "So... umm... should we talk elsewhere?" Twilight asked in an attempt to break the ice. "Ok then... umm... where do you want to talk?" Morbus said before looking at the dining room door to make sure that Fluttershy wasn't watching them. "How about the balcony? I do need some fresh air" Twilight said, starting to relax a bit. Twilight wasn't sure what had happened that made Fluttershy snap like that, but she would try to never do whatever it was again...once she finds out what 'whatever it was' is. "Ok then, lead the way... I guess?" Morbus said as he picked his helmet up form the floor and packed up the small ARU and packed it back up into the container on his back. The two made small talk while they walked to balcony in an attempt to get to know each other a bit more. Once they had gotten to the balcony they saw something strange... "Umm... were you expecting someone Twilight?" Morbus said as he looked at the neatly prepared table-for-two, with an assortment of foods drinks and an assortment of utensils laid out beside two plates, opposite each other. He also noticed two chairs facing each other, where he assumed that they would be talking; however these things weren't what he found weird, beside these things there stood a creature with mismatched parts form the different creatures that they had also found on the planet. "Discord? what are you doing here? And where were you when the others started fighting?" Twilight asked in an unbelieving tone, she had not seen Discord since breakfast, and here he was... dressed in a waiters outfit and holding up a service tray "Well I heard that we were to expect a visitor so I prepared a lace for you two to sit down and have a nice morning tea while talking about... whatever it was you said you wanted to talk about" Discord said while he pushed both Morbus and Twilight to their respective seats. "Bu-wha? How did you know we would go to the balcony?" Twilight liked that Discord helped alot around the castle but she still found his methods weird and sometimes creepy. "Oh come now Twilight, don't you think you have other matters to attend to other than questioning me?" before Twilight could retort Discord had already taken his leave and left the two alone. Twilight and Morbus talked for about 30 minutes and they had gotten to know each other quite well and Twilight was amazed at how advanced the technology on his was. "...And this is the scan feature, it allows me to instantly record and catalogue any animal or anything it hits" Morbus said as he pointed to the tiny scanner on his wrist. "Wow, so you just press this and whatever the beam hits will be instantly saved in the memory thingy?" Twilight asked as she admired the sheer level of innovation that Morbus' race exhibited in their spacesuits. "That's not the half of the tech on this suit, and you haven't even seen the ship yet!" Morbus said enthusiastically. "Wait you have a ship?!" Twilight said, this was the first time Morbus had ever mentioned a ship, but she did find it logical... I mean how else would Morbus have gotten to this planet. "Why yes I-" Morbus cut himself off remembering that any details about his ship are supposed to be kept secret. Even though Morbus trusted Twilight, he still had to abide by the Captains Code. "What is it? Is something wrong?" Twilight asked slowly, wondering why he suddenly cut himself off. It was at that moment that Morbus' communicator started blinking... "Oh my, it's Nibon... I should probably go answer this" Morbus said as he got up and walked towards the opposite side of the balcony. He hadn't realised that 4 hours had passed and he hadn't called or even sent a signal back to the ship. "Ok then I'll just wait here." Twilight continued to sip her tea and look at the helmet in front of her, Wondering what the world looked like form inside the yellow lens. Twilight looked over to Morbus and saw that he was busy talking into his wrist, and what she assumed to be some form of communications link. Since she saw that Morbus was preoccupied, she decided that trying on Morbus' helmet would be completely harmless. "Wow..." was all that Twilight could say as she put the helmet onto her head, It had taken some effort to fit it on due to her horn but she was fine nonetheless. The helmet displayed various forms of information and data relating to Twilights surroundings, and even though she couldn't really understand what the readings were, she marvelled at them nonetheless. Twilight was taken by surprise, however, when the helmet started to play a sort of sound, it sounded like a series of tweets and chirps. At first Twilight disregarded the sounds and pushed them off as some form of ambient noise form outside, it wasn't until she looked back at Morbus and saw that the chirping noises were in sync with his beak movements, she also noticed that the helmet had displayed another meter which looked like a vocal pattern. Twilight wasn't able to decipher much, but she could understand bits and pieces of whatever Morbus and whoever was on the other end were talking about. "...So how do we *chirp* *tweet* maybe it could *chirp* *tweet**crow*" Morbus said in a different tongue. "You actually had to do *tweet**tweet**tweet* but if it is necessary maybe I can" another voice replied. Twilight wasn't sure why she was hearing this, or if she should even be eaves dropping on Morbus' call. "I'll explain everything later but now *chirp* *chirp* bring down the ship" Morbus said with authority in his voice. "Ok then I'll land the ship, but where do you want it? also remember we shouldn't *chirp* *tweet* everything ok?" the voice on the other end seemed to be unsure of what to do, but he seemed to comply with whatever Morbus wanted him to do. Twilight had already stopped listening in when she heard that an alien ship was going to land on their planet. "I have to tell the others... and the Princesses... I wonder what they'll think... Elsewhere in the galaxy... "Systems check, crew check, ship check, we have a go for launch" a robotic voice said into a headset. The voice belonged to a Grox commander by the name of Velocity34 E-7, he was quite large compared to the others of his race and he was wearing a decorated military outfit. "Ok commander we are a go for launch, target at E-35-7-8432-9" Another robotic voice said while he strapped himself into the cockpit and turned on the edges, he also yelled something to the back of the ship. "Scout team ready? You are too collect data of the planet and report back immediately... there's no telling how powerful this race is yet, but they're sitting on a spice gold mine" Terminal said with conviction, he gave his final salute and with it the command to launch. The mission was under way... Author's Note Ok, even I wasn't expecting that... I wanted this chapter to be a bit slower than this but that's how the cookie crumbles I guess... PrologueGem Shard, a stallion unicorn with a pristine white coat and a groomed blue mane with a sound wave for a cutie mark, was a researcher for the Canterlot Advanced Technology program and he along with his partner were about to make a breakthrough that could change their lives and possibly all of Equestria... "Is it finished?" Gem Shard asked his partner Soul Gem, an ordinary looking unicorn mare with a lean body with a blue coat and a light blue mane which was, as always, messy and with a wrench for a cutie mark, for the tenth time that day. "Almost." Soul Gem said as she turned to look at his partner "Be patient, it takes awhile to make a receiver this powerful." she said before turning back to the machine that they were working on. Gem Shard walked up to Soul Gem's side and looked over her shoulder to see what she was doing. "Are all the antenna extensions really necessary?" he asked a he pointed to a few of the larger antenna segments.Walking across the room he also observed some of the oddly stacked black boxes "I mean the translators are a bit too big don't you think?" Gem Shard said gesturing to the large metal box that looked like it could be big enough for a pony. "Yes yes, now please give the translator to me so I can attach it to the receiver" Soul Gem said with a bit of annoyance in her voice. Gem Shard quickly pushed the box over to the table where Soul Gem was working "Hmmm... for a box that big it is quite light" he said as he made one last push not wanting to waste his magic on something he deemed to be this tedious. He may be smart but he sure is strong. Soul Gem thought to herself looking over her partner before returning to her work. The machine itself was simple, a deep wave receiver that was meant to catch interstellar transmissions in the hopes that they would prove themselves to not be alone in the vast reaches of space. The inner workings though, were a whole other story; the entire thing can on a 12-cell energy crystal array which was the most efficient thing that their division could get their hands on with the meager funding given to them. The main body had 3 essential parts: The main receiver which was dedicated to receiving and storing any inbound or intercepted messages About an hour had passed when Soul Gem finally finished the receiver. "It's done Shard!" she called towards the pantry of their research station and waited half expecting to be pushed to the other wall by her partner, but when no reply came she decided to go to the pantry and check on Gem Shard. As she walked away from their machine she couldn't help but notice how messy the room had gotten over the passed few weeks, several machine parts littered the floor, the paint on the wall had started to chip due to the changing climate, blueprints were everywhere, and worst of all she noticed that they were out of clean lab coats. "This place need to get cleaned up really bad... meh I'll make Shard do it tomorrow" she mumbled casually. As she walked along the narrow hallway leading towards the pantry she could smell smoke coming from her destination and quickly hastened toward the room and as she entered she could only say these words... "What in Tartarus did you do here?!" It had only been an hour since Gem Shard left for the pantry and already he had failed to make the cupcakes he wanted, burned half of their baking supplies, used the last of their firewood to heat the oven, and also managed to cover himself in batter. "Maybe this time it will work" he said hoping that his fourth and final batch of cupcakes ended up on the table and not in the trash like the other three. "Ok everything seems fine" he said to himself as he saw the cupcakes slowly rising in the oven. "It's done Shard" Gem Shard thought that he heard his partner say something but decided to ignore it. "I hope that's not important" Shard said to himself as he continued to watch the cupcakes that he so wanted to eat, but the cupcakes had other ideas, they started rise much quicker than Gem Shard wanted and eventually popped. Gem Shard disappointed by the cupcakes flopped on the floor just as the door opened. "What in Tartarus did you do here?!" Soul Gem said with obvious anger in her words. After Soul Gem berated Gem Shard for using all the baking supplies they had and for making the pantry smell like a fire pit she and Gem Shard cleaned up the pantry as best they could. "That's the last time I leave you alone in the pantry" Soul gem said to her partner, Gem Shard looked down and mumbled to himself "This is the only time you left me alone in the pantry" quite sarcastically. The two then proceeded back to the main research lab only to receive the shock of their lives... The light on the receiver that indicated a message was blinking. "Oh Celestia I can't believe it!" Gem shard said as his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "We have a signal already? I just finished building the thing!" Soul Gem said in disbelief. The two just stood there for a full ten seconds before Gem Shard ran forward and pressed the play button. "Well what does it say?" Soul Gem said while still shocked that their machine was able to pick up a signal just moments after it's completion. "Shh!!" Gem Shard hissed at her for possibly interrupting the message. While Gem Shard waited patiently for the message to go through the translator Soul Gem grabbed a quill and scroll on the desk behind them. "-DAY MAYDAY!!" the speaker boomed suddenly coming to life, causing the Gem Shard to step back form the Machine. *static* "-ELP I'M HIT!! GOING DOWN!!! I REPEAT GOING DOWN!!" The two researchers that had previously been waiting for the message to continue now looked at each other, both with shock in their eyes *static* "THIS IS BATTLESHIP FOXTROT 4 CRASH LANDING IN SECTOR 2 4 3 7 6 0 8... If anyone hears thi-" that was all they heard follows by a loud explosion. Gem Shard was too in shock to actually react to the sudden direness of the message. While Soul Gem used her quick thinking to jot down the numbers on the scroll he had been suspending in her magic field this whole time somehow managing no to lose focus. *static* "Message terminated" the machine said leaving the room in complete silence Soul Gem had already started writing a report to princess Celestia about their recent findings and the grave message that their machine had managed to pick up. Gem Shard on the other hand just stood there pondering his next move. "Aren't you going to add something to this report?" Soul Gem said briefly looking up from the scroll to ask her partner. Gem was snapped back to reality with this realization, 7 years of research had finally paid off. "It worked..." he managed to say though it came out very soft. "It worked!! Gem Shard said with tears welling in his eyes and a goofy looking grin on his face. Soul Gem only looked at him with a confident smile and said "I knew it would" What happened next took Soul Gem completely by surprise. Gem Shard ran up to Soul Gem and gave her the most passionate hug that he could give whispering"we did it" softly into her ears which caused Soul Gem to blush profusely all through out the hug but she still managed to hug Shard back A few minutes later Gem Shard had officially calmed down and started helping Soul Gem on the report to Princess Celestia. Dear Princess Celestia I am happy to inform you of our recent success at the Canterlot laboratories Advanced Technology division, project First Contact is a success... well almost, we have recently constructed a working receiver and have been able to pick up a message. Currently we are not sure what the message means but we can assure you that we are trying our best to understand it, we also are starting work on a working transmitter that will hopefully allow us to have a two-way connection and allow us to have a better understanding of these beings. We are hoping for your quick response and a confirmation to push our research to the next level. Sincerely, Soul Gem and Gem Shard Gem Shard then rolled a ribbon around the scroll and sealed it with the golden canterlot seal then left it out in the mailbox for the mail-mare to pick up. "I hope she gets it and replies soon, we really need that research fund." Soul Gem said to herself before re-entering the lab It had only been a day since Soul Gem and Gem Shard had sent their letter to the princess and yet still no reply came... "Dear sister hath thou been troubled of late?" Luna asked Celestia, who had been pacing the Canterlot Castle hall for quite some time now. "It's nothing Luna..." Celestia said making an attempt to hide her face for fear that her sister would see the truth, but she failed to hide the scroll which was in her hoof the entire time. "Then what is thou reading?" Luna asked while her eyes slowly drifted towards the scroll in her sisters hoof. she began to read the scroll while Celestia pondered her response what she saw amazed her. "Sister thou should have told me sooner this is most excellent news!!" Luna said ignoring the fact that Celestia had no idea that she was reading the scroll "Luna I don't think you fully understand what this means" Celestia said looking at her sister with heavy eyes and a grave expression on her face "What is the problem sister I hath always thought that you wanted to find other life in the universe that surroundeth us... so why now, when we are so close to the discovery of such life do you begin to feel upset?" Luna asked her sister, who was now on her haunches and immersed in deep thought. "It's just..." Celestia attempted to divulge more of what she truly felt about the situation but alas her mind had failed to form her feelings into words. "It's just that i'm...i'm worried about this new discovery...I have been thinking of it and after I got over the initial shock of the fact that we are not alone in the universe i got to thinking... how will these other-worlders be like, will they as compassionate as us? Will they distrust us? Will they try to destroy us? I just... i'm not sure if we should carry out this project..." Celestia said with anxiety in her voice alongside obvious doubt. "Give it a chance dear sister you have put much in the ways of money along with the time of our little ponies into this project and it would be a real shame to just tell the scientists at Canterlot labs that their work was for nothing would it not?" Luna asked making it very clear that she wouldn't let her sister drop the project completely... at least not without a fight. "I just don't know sister i don't feel like this is the right thing to do... I mean how would this benefit our race anyway? how would this help advance our own society? I just don't think that this is what our resources should be devoted to." Celestia said still looking quite phased at the fact that she had received a letter telling her that they had picked up a transmission from outer space. "Then if that is indeed how you feel then why did thou devote such vast quantities of our resources into the project in the first place?" Luna said with conviction determined to change her sisters mind "NO!!" Celestia said quite unexpectedly "Sorry it's just that you have such high hopes for this and I don't think you see the full picture of what could happen if the race we have managed to contact has any malicious intent... I don't think that I can handle feeling responsible if something happened to my little ponies because of this..." Celestia said sounding quite serious, also managing to scare her sister. "Sister...I-I I just wanted to help and give a suggestion I had not meant it like that..." Luna said feeling very scared at her sisters sudden outburst. "I'm sorry sister but I am not willing to take this risk...I still remember...Project D-" Celestia said as she rose and started walking to the door intent on shutting down project First Contact. "No... it's ok you don't have to say it..."Luna said over her sobbing cries just as Celestia walked out the door, tears fresh in her eyes For Gem Shard and Soul Gem it was an ordinary day, save for the fact that they had not gotten a yes to continue research nor did they receive any funding that indicated they could do so "Did you check the mail yet Soul" Gem Shard asked with a smile that bordered near insanity and eyes that would have bore into anypony elses soul all while he waited patiently for his breakfast "Yes I did Shard...Twice" Soul Gem said feeling a bit annoyed at the statement due to the fact she was trying to cook "Oh... ok just checking" Shard said with a casual tone, then began to gorge himself on his food just as the plate was set in front of him "You know you could thank me once in a while, right?" Soul Gem said to Gem Shard in a joking manner with a smirk on her face. "Ok ok thanks for the wonderful meal Soul, though seriously where did you learn to cook like that?" Shard managed to say over his stuffed mouth which currently contained vegetarian omelette, pancakes, and a lettuce leaf. "Well my mom always let me cook with her when I was little so I learned quite alot" she said proudly also remembering the fact that Shard couldn't cook even if his life depended on it *knock* *knock* *knock* "I wonder who that could be?" Soul Gem inquired to herself and her partner "I'll get it!" Gem Shard said almost whimsically as he walked over to the battered door and slowly opened it only to nearly faint after who he saw on the other side. "Hello my little ponies I regre-" she tried to say before she was cut off by Gem Shard "ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh" Gem Shard said faster than Clestia could hear Celestia walked over to the table where Soul Gem was still sitting and asked her calmly "Is he always like this?" she asked Soul Gem calmly trying to ignore the fact that Gem Shard was bouncing near the doorway "Only around celebrities" Soul Gem said rolling her eyes at Shards obvious star struck state "Wow I never thought scientist considered me a celebrity" Celestia said whilst blushing "But that is not what I am here for, I am sorry to inform you that your project has been cancelled..." Celestia said with a sudden and unexpected change in voice "WHAT?!" Soul Gem and Gem Shard both simultaneously said with both surprise, anger, and anguish in their voices Author's Note This is my FIRST try at a legitimate story so praise and constructive criticism are both highly appreciated. If you have any suggestions please feel free to comment them and I will take them into consideration. I leave this chapter to your judgement and i am not sorry for leaving it in suspense... I look forward to your support and dread your disapproval. Also a very special thanks to Sectoids story: Intergalactic I recommend that you Check out his story too, for his is the story that inspired me
Project First ContactAuthor's Note Hi guys thanks for the support in this story and points to the guys who can guys what project d is. Anyway here is your chapter and as always please leave a comment and suggestion and a like if you feel that the story deserves it Project First Contact It was a regular day in Ponyville for Twilight Sparkle except that she and her friends were invited to the Grand Galloping Gala...again. With memories of the first one beginning to resurface, she did not want to go but alas the princess herself had deemed her presence mandatory thus requiring her to go. Two of her friends agreed to go with her as moral support but the rest had stayed behind for fear of what may happen to them should they go to the Gala once more. Twilight along with Rarity and Applejack, the two daring souls who had agreed to go with Twilight on her trip, were currently being wished a farewell and good luck by the rest of their friends, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy as they boarded the train to Canterlot. "Thanks for coming with me girls, it really means alot to me especially after what happened last time" Twilight said to Applejack and Rarity as they all took their seats. all of them slightly cringing at memories form last years Gala. "Oh t'aint nothin' Twi, after all what're friends for?" Applejack said as she attempted to brighten the mood "Applejack is absolutely right Twilight it is our obligation as friends to accompany you to where ever you go, even if that means going back to that dreadful Gala." Rarity stated backing up Applejack "If that is true then why did the others stay behind?" Twilight said in a slightly depressed manner as she put her bag below her seat "I mean I would understand if Fluttershy wouldn't want to go but Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were who I thought would want to go again. I mean I know that Rainbow Dash would love to see the Wonder Bolts again and Pinkie did have fun last year so what so different now? is it because i'm a princess? "Well dear I think that Pinkie is still a bit traumatized by last years Gala, you know being so embarrassed and all, so i'm not really surprised that she didn't come but rainbow is the real mystery" Rarity said trying to think about how Pinkie could be feeling right now it is quite odd that she would miss a party, even if it was the Gala Rarity thought to herself. "I bet Dash just chickened out" Applejack mumbled under her breath Rarity catching the comment Applejack had made felt the need to defend her friends honour "Applejack! how could you say such things about our friend, and behind her back no less!" Rarity bemused "I didn't mean nothin' Rare it's just that it ain't like Dash to just leave us like that, I mean she is the Element of Loyalty" Applejack said trying to redeem herself from the snide comment she had just made about her friend "Girls can we not have an argument here, were not even in Canterlot yet" Twilight said while pointing to the looming city of Canterlot off in the near distance "Ok" Applejack and Rarity said almost at the same time. An awkward silence ensued shortly after "So what're ya gonna do at the Gala Twi, I mean i'm sure that you can find something to do other than greeting the nobles an' all" Applejack stated after about 30 seconds of silence "Yes Twilight do tell, and if you do have plans could I possibly join you?" Rarity said hoping to at least get some excitement out of the Gala that didn't involve wrecking the event. "Well the princess didn't really say what I was supposed to there other than to be there so..." Twilight suddenly paused to think of what she could do there "I guess we could go to the library, if you're up for it" Twilight said with a weak but visible smile on her face "I suppose it's better than just sitting around with a bunch of stuck up, rich, and snobby nobles" Rarity said with a hint of doubt but it was enough to convince Twilight that Rarity wanted to go. Applejack slightly snickered at the comment that Rarity made but she sure not let Twilight or Rarity hear her. The rest of the train ride went by without incident mostly due to the fact that they were seated in the royalty section of the train and no other royalty was riding with them. As they got of the train however, they were surprised to be greeted by an entourage of royal guardsponies. "Hey Twili, over here!" Shining Armor said running over to Twilight with a big grin on his face. As he ran by each of the eight guards saluted him. "Shining Armor?! your here?" Twilight said in shock just before Shining Armor wrapped both of his hooves around her in a tight hug, which she returned half in shock and half in gratefulness that her brother had been sent to meet her. "Yeah Twi, the princess said for me to bring you strait to Canterlot Castle because she wants you to help with the preparations for the Gala tonight" Shining Armor said with a crisp tone in his voice almost as if he was giving orders but Twilight elected to ignore it "Princess Luna also told me that she wanted to see you after the ball was over but she didn't mention why" Shining stated quite blankly while bringing a hoof to the bottom of his chin in a thinking manner. "I will be sure to attend both meetings and also attend the main event, though may I ask why Celestia would want me to help her with preparations?" Twilight asked snapping her brother out of his trance. "Oh yes... well Princess Celestia said that the ball could use a younger generations touch and seeing as last years ball was very boring I think she's right." Shining Armor said remembering last years Gala. "Sir we have to move" one of the Guardsponies stated looking at Shining Armor "Oh yes well lets go" Shining Armor said in reply. He then turned to Twilight and her group "Twilight, Rarity and Applejack please board the carriage" he said pointing to the near by royal carriage which was silver and looked like it had been polished five times before they got to use it, it also bore the mark of the sun indicating that it belonged to Celstia's devision of the guard. It was hooked up to two earth pony guards which looked quite buff, the first had a white coat, brown mane, and a barely visible cutie mark of a wheel. The second of the two stallions was a bit less buff than the other, he had a light brown coat, a white mane and the cutie mark of a lance. The trio of mares trotted up to the carriage and quickly sat themselves down on the soft cushions of the royal carriage while the guards closed the door and assumed their positions around the carriage. "Move out!" Shining Armor said with force behind his voice as he took the lead, and with that command they were on their way to the castle. "What do you have planned for the preparations Twilight?" Rarity asked in an attempt to make conversation Twilight suddenly felt a surge of shock course through very being, suddenly remembering that she had done no planning what so ever in terms of the preparations. "Oh no..." Twilight said with a squeaky and barely audible voice "Hmm? What was that darling I didn't quite hear you?" Rarity said thinking she heard Twilight say something Twilight, who was now in shock said simply "[size=1.5em}"THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!!!!" her shout reached the outside carriage causing the two earth ponies to lose their balance a bit before quickly regaining it and slowing their pace so one of the guards outside could check on their passengers. Rarity's reaction was not so grateful, she had been covering her ears with her hooves and was curled up in the corner of the seat up until the sudden lurch in the carriage caused by the two ponies pulling it. Rarity was now lying on the floor with outstretched hooves and her face planted on the ground Applejack on the other hoof was handling the situation quite well and was currently laughing at Rarities position. "Hahahaha oh Celestia you should see your self right now! Hahahahah" Applejack said with no remorse. Suddenly the door burst open to reveal a white unicorn guard who quickly asked "Is everything alright here your highness?" the guard asked with genuine concern. He was slightly amused by the situation the mares were in but he didn't show it. "Oh it's nothin' ta be concerned about sir" Applejack said to the guards pony barely able to contain her laughter. The guards pony then closed the door and gave the all clear signal for the rest of the team to move out "Well I never thought that, in my state, one of my friends would opt to laugh instead of helping me" Rarity said as she attempted to get back onto her seat while pouting towards Applejack. Applejack had already resumed her bout of laughter knowing that the guards pony was gone and completely ignoring Rarities remark While the other mares bickered Twilight had begun too write her preparation plans on a scroll that she had packed along with quills, ink, a few snacks, and about 9 more scrolls. "We are approaching the castle, please remain seated and try not write." a guard said through an open window looking at Twilight. The carriage ride from then on was filled with argument after argument by Rarity and Applejack due to Twilights lack of intervention. For the rest of the carriage ride Twilight had been so focused on her planning to even care about what was happening around her, that is until she felt someone tapping her shoulder. "We have arrived your highness" the guard said to Twilight after getting her attention " Very well then" Twilight replied before proceeding to separate Applejack and Rarity. The trio walked into the castle and began thier trek towards the central ball room where the Gala was to be held, and once they had entered the room they were greeted by a familiar face. "Hello my little ponies, I trust you had a great ride?" Celestia asked the three ponies who had already begun to bow. "Well ta be honest yer' majesty we didn't really see eye to eye the whole trip so it was kinda uncomfortable" Applejack said gesturing to herself and then at Rarity "I have to agree with Applejack on this one we didn't really have the best ride going here..." "I-it's nothing really Princess the ride was alright" Twilight said trying not to give Celestia a hard time. The ride was kinda unsatisfactory Twilight thought to herself debating whether she should say what she fealt "Oh come now it can't be all bad right?" Celestia said to Rarity and Applejack as she motioned for them to sit at one of the many table that had already been brought out for tonight's celebration. After a brief explanation of what had transpired on the train and the carriage they started talking about Twilights preparation plans which she had hastily prepared during the carriage ride. The whole talk went by smoothly despite the argument that Applejack and Rarity had about who was feeling more uncomfortable but overall it didn't take more than a quarter of an hour, afterwards the trio went up to their respective room and spent most of the afternoon there. While Celestia and Luna along with most of the castle staff were downstairs making Twilights plans into a reality. "I wonder if this years gala will be different... I just wish I was also down there with them helping them with the preparations" Twilight said softly to herself whilst lying on her bed. I could always go to the library to wait she thought to herself right before getting up and heading off to the Library. As Twilight walked towards the Library she began to ponder on what books to read while she waited for the preparations to be completed. As she reached the Library she had made her decision "I wonder if they have any new books?" she said to herself as she pushed the Library door open and walked over to the Librarians desk "How can I help you your highness?" the librarian said with a happy tone in her voice looking up from her filing cards "I was wondering, do you have any new books?" Twilight said hoping that she wouldn't have to go back to lying idle by on her bed. "Why yes miss Sparkle we do indeed have a new addition to the assortment of books called 'Equestrian Myth's and Legends' the book is called 'Extraequestrials' and I think that you might enjoy it, I know that you like the more science oriented books" The librarian said as she pointed Twilight in the direction of the 'New Arrivals' section of the library . "I wonder what Twilight and Applejack are up too" Rarity said to herself as got up from her bed and went to the vanity set in her room and began to brush her mane. "Maybe Twilight is at the library...I should go check" Rarity stated simply, right before walking out her door and going to the library where she hoped to find Twilight Rarity began trotting towards the library in hopes of ending her boredom sooner. As she walked to the door she began to question her methods of 'ending her boredom' because for all she knew twilight would be wrapped up in some super advanced science-y book that she couldn't hope to understand. As she opened the door the Librarian quickly looked up to her and opened her mouth to greet her new customer however she was interrupted even before she could speak "Umm... excuse me but have you seen Twilight Sparkle anywhere?" Rarity asked the librarian before she had the chance to speak hoping to get a quick answer. "Yes, in fact she's sitting over there absorbed in a book called the 'Extraequestrials' and it doesn't look like she'll be finished any time soon" the librarian said pointing over to where Twilight was sitting. "Thank you very much, oh and if I may ask, What is the book about?" Rarity said knowing Twilight would want to talk about her newest interest, and she would most likely talk about it with her so it wouldn't hurt to at least have a little understanding on the subject. "If I remember correctly it is about the possibilities of other races existing in the universe besides us, It's finest record is that of project First Contact which features an actual alien message. I don't remember when the project was held though... sorry" The librarian said trying to remember every detail from when she had first skimmed the book. "Thank you so much" Rarity said before walking towards Twilights table awaiting the extreme lecture that would come next "Oh Rarity so Glad you could make it I was wondering when you would get here?" Twilight said barely looking up from her new book "You never mentioned to me that you were going to the library?" Rarity replied in slight befuddlement "Oh sorry I thought you knew, oh wait... sorry for not mentioning it on the carriage ride either." Twilight said in a calm voice suddenly recalling that she had not set a time frame for their activity. "Oh it's fine dear really" Rarity said looking at the book that Twilight was holding hoping that she could grasp a better understanding of the subject at hand. She immediately regretted that she hadn't grabbed a copy for herself. "Do you want me to explain it to you?" Twilight said with a huge smile wanting to test her own knowledge on the subject "Well..." Rarity hesitated silently debating her choices: 1. Reject and say that i'll just grab my own copy 2. Run away 3. Accept my fate "Ok fine but could you make it simple so I can understand?" Rarity said as she chose her option and silently wished that she had made the right choice. "Ok then here look at the book we'll read it together" Twilight said as she pulled Rarity in closer and opened the book wide enough so that they could both read comfortably. "The theory of other races first started with the 'Hoofwell (Roswell) Sightings'" Twlight said pointing towards the blurry picture of what seemed to be a thin blimp. Rarity squinted but she failed to see anything off-putting about the image. "It then grew stronger after another sighting right here in Canterlot" Twilight said now pointing to a less blurry picture of what seemed to be a ball-like object floating over the Castle" Twilight elaborated a bit more on the subject but Rarity got bored after the second statement and decided to skim the book instead of actually reading it. "Umm... Twilight what's that? If you don't mind me asking" Rarity inquired pointing to an odd looking machine that had a big bowl-like things on top "Hmm... i'm not sure" Twilight said as she began to read the text that was beside the photo. As Twilight was reading she go more and more interested but the first thing that struck her was that it had an audio file included within the page "Hey look Rarity a pre-recorded sound matrix, lets see if i can power it up with my magic" Twilight said looking at the book and hoping that the matrix wasn't corrupted The matrix suddenly activated.. and then deactivated again much to Twilights dismay "I'm going to go ask the librarian what's wrong do you want to come?" Twilight asked Rarity motioning for her to come along "Of course Twilight, this whole alien thing just got a lot more interesting after all" Rarity said looking at Twilight gleefully before moving out of her char and began to follow suit. "Can I help you?" The librarian asked shocked to see Twilight there with the white mare that she had seen before. She had expected that the white mare would come alone due to the fact that Twilight never leaves her books. "Yes umm... The matrix in this book seems to be corrupted do you know how to fix it? I have no experience with sound matrices" Twilight said as she handed the book over to the librarian "Hmm... yes well I can tell you that the Matrix it not broken it's just that we have a feild in this library preventing any sound related spell so that the building remains as quiet as possible" The librarian said much to Twilights dismay. "However you can borrow the book and then use the matrix outside the library" The librarian said levitating a stamp next to the book offering to let her borrow it "Oh yes please!!" Twilight said happily The librarian then stamped the book and gave it to Twilight who took the stamped book strait out the library intent on getting to her room and listening to the recording Rarity who wanted to leave politely gave the librarian her name and then asked for hers "My name is Diamond Gem but you can just call me Diamond" The librarian said before saying good bye to Rarity and resuming her work While she was waiting for Rarity in her room Twilight read that the recording was an actual translation of an alien message. The two mares met once again in Twilights room, ready to hear the recording on the book. "Come one play it i can't hold in the suspense any longer Twilight" Rarity said quite impatiently "Ok, Just give me a second" Twilight then readied herself and then released a bolt of magic strait to the page on the book. The sound Matrix absorbed the magic and began playing it's message. This is project First Contact audio recording 3 "-DAY MAYDAY!!" *static* "-ELP I'M HIT!! GOING DOWN!!! I REPEAT GOING DOWN!!" *static* "THIS IS BATTLESHIP FOXTROT 4 CRASH LANDING IN SECTOR 2 4 3 7 6 0 8... If anyone hears thi-" Twilight and Rarity stood beside each other and looked at each other both with puzzled and scared faces. They could only say one word... "WHAT?!"
The Reboot of Project First Contact The Reboot of Project First Contact Twilight jumped back, reeling from the strange message. Rarity mimicked Twilights actions, both mares were in alot of shock after what they had heard. The sound matrix had already shut down leaving the room in complete silence. "Umm... did I just hear that right?" Twilight said still reeling form shock at what the message said "Oh my" Rarity said looking at Twilight with the same she shocked expression on her face. "Do you know what this means?!" Twilight said suddenly in a very excited state. Rarity, who had only begun to recover from the shock of the message, was now trying to comprehend what Twilight would say next. "What exactly does it mean?" Rarity said as she pondered on the message, putting a hoof to her chin. "It means that we have to find out who sent this and if their are more of his kind still out there!" Twilight stated as she hurriedly packed her things. "But Twilight this book was printed 50 years ago how do you know if this message will even lead to anything?" Rarity said looking at the books print marking. It's quite odd that it took 50 years for Caterlot Castles library to obtain this book...I wonder if there's anything special about it... Raity thought silently to herself. "Rarity the message and the book itself indicate that we may not be alone in the universe I can't just push this aside. Even if the message is 50 years old it doesn't mean that the race that sent it is extinct" Twilight said with conviction in her tone as she continued to pack "Can we at least finish the Gala and your... meeting with Princess Luna like you promised before we go chasing 'UFOs'" Rarity said hoping to get Twilight to at least keep her promises to the princesses... and extend her stay at Canterlot Twilight suddenly stopped packing and looked back at Rarity "Oh yeah that must've slipped my mind..." Twilight said, feeling a bit embarrassed, "Hey wait a second... where's Applejack?" Twilight suddenly noticed that their friend wasn't with them when they heard the message or even at the library. The two mares then walked out to the hall way and looked towards Applejacks room. "It doesn't look like it's been opened... did she step out?" Rarity suggested as she stared quizzically at the door "Lets go and see" Twilight said as she motioned for Rarity to follow her to Applejacks room. The two mares leaned in close to the door of their friends room and put their ears against it. "Do you hear anything?" Twilight asked Rarity, failing to hear anything herself "Why yes dear, I hear that Applejack is lying on the left side of her bed facing the left wall, sleeping under a blanket and snoring quite loudly if I may add" Rarity stated using skills that the Canterlot elite guard couldn't hope to replicate. Twilight looked at Rarity in disbelief seeing as her friend just described Applejacks current state right down to the volume of her snoring and her position on the bed, she then looked on the door for any possible means of confirming what her friend had just said. It only took Twilight a few second to notice the small keyhole right under the doorknob, she then proceeded to look through it to confirm or disprove Rarity's previous statement. "Wow, you are completely right... but how did you... but then that would mean that... wah?!" was all Twilight could say to Rarity trying to determine how Rarity could have perfectly predicted the position and the state that Applejack was in just by the sound coming form the room, which she couldn't even hear. "It's simple dear Applejacks snoring could have only been made if where were actually asleep this means that she had to be on the bed however her snoring sounded muffled which means that she must've had some sort of cloth on her, namely a blanket because what other cloth would a pony keep on their beds hmm? I was able to tell which side she was on due to the fact that the snoring sounded ambient and not direct which meant that it had to have bounced of off the walls, which then means that she was sleeping on the far side off the bed facing the other way as us. I figured out the volume of her snoring simply because I wouldn't be able to hear her snores form under the blanket if she wasn't snoring loudly enough for her voice to go through the blanket and echo of the walls" Rarity said quite calmly like she was Sherlock Hooves himself. "Wow... Rarity I had no idea that you had that much deductive skill... is this what it takes to be an expert gossiper? or did you train somewhere else?" Twilight asked in massive admiration of her friends skills. "Well-uh... Twilight i'm glad your asked, I got these skills from uh... Fluttershy... we kinda eavesdropped alot back when we were still I high school so we honed our skills, but even today Fluttershy is still better than me at gossip... even if she won't admit it." Rarity said trying to make up a quick excuse. "...Just when you think you know a mare, they go out and surprise you... huh, do you think you could teach me some of those techniques?" Twilight said hoping that she could learn at least a few of those skills "Uhh... I-I I don't th-think I could teach you that much..." Rarity said trying to dodge the question knowing that she isn't allowed to reveal anything about the training she had received, or where she received it "Oh... ok then i'll be sure to ask Fluttershy when we get back" Twilight said in a disappointed tone quickly losing her enthusiasm about learning the skills that her friend had just exhibited A quick glance at the clock told Twilight that they only had 20 minutes before the Gala would start "Umm.. I think we should prepare for the Gala" Twilight told Rarity while pointing to the clock Rarity just gasped at the time she had left before she quickly ran to her room to prepare herself for the upcoming event. "I should probably prepare myself" Twilight muttered to herself before retiring to her own room to do the same thing that rarity was doing... sort of the same thing. Rarity stepped into the bath tub that was filled with warm water. She felt herself relax as she submerged most of her body in the water, however the sensation was short lived due to the amount she had. Rarity quickly washed herself with the soap and shampoo provided for her, making sure too wash every last bit of her coat, mane, and tail until they literally sparkled. She stepped out of her bath and quickly dried herself off before trotting towards her vanity set. Rarity sighed as she levitated her hair brush, perfumes, and her curling iron to her side and began to style herself to her regular look. *knock* *knock* *knock* Rarity thought that she heard something but she decided to ignore it knowing that she was pressed for time as it is She then went to her bag and took out her Gala dress from last year but it didn't look quite the same it had been restyled and now had alot more gems on it that last time. Rarity put the dress on and glanced at the clock "Five minutes to spare... I wonder how the other two are doing" she then went outside to check on Twilight. Rarity approached the door to Twilights room and knocked twice, but when no reply came she thought to herself Maybe Twilight already went to the ball room Rarity then proceeded to go to the ball room in hopes of finding her friend... Twilight had stepped into the shower of her room and she began to clean herself just enough to get all the dirt out of her mane and her coat, she wasn't one for the fancy conditioner that the Canterlot room baths always had but her mane had another opinion and began to curl up even when wet, Twilight had taken notice of this and snorted as she grabbed the conditioner and began to distribute it among the strands of her mane. After about 10 minutes of bathing Twilight stepped out, satisfied that her mane and tail looked properly groomed. Twilight then stepped towards her dresser and levitated the hair brush which she then used to brush her mane. She then went to her bag and grabbed her dress from the bag she had brought and slipped it on. "Hmmm... ten minutes to spare, I wonder how the others are doing she said to herself before going out the door to check on Rarity. She was puzzled when the mare didn't answer her door. Maybe she went to the ball room early... Twilight thought before proceeding to the ball room herself Applejack had just awoke from her long nap and glanced at the clock on top of her dresser "Fifteen minutes til' the Gala hmmm... I got time" She said groggily before going towards her own shower and stepping inside it turning the nob so that only cold water came out. As the water ran down her mane and tail she shivered at the temparature, but she was used to it... after all it has always been like that at the farm. After the cold bath, she stepped out and dried herself of and slipped into her dress, she wasn't one for mane styling or perfumes and her ponytails had kept her mane and tail in the right place...even after her bath. Applejack, now in her dress walked towards the door Even if it's the Gala an Apple is never late she said to herself before giving a the clock a quick glance "12 minutes to spare huh... I wonder what Twi and Rarity are up to..." She said to herself before opening the door of her room and stepping outside. Applejack could hear muffled sounds of water coming form Rarity's room indicating that she was probably bathing, but nothing coming form Twilights. She then decided to go to the ball room early, thinking that Twilight would be there. AJ sat down at one of the many tables and looked around for Twilight, but when she couldn't see hide nor hair of the lavender mare so she decided that she would just wait at the table until one of her friends showed up. Suddenly a waiter walked to the table that Applejack was sitting. The waiter was a mare, unicorn with a white grey-ish coat, a black mane that was styled to look formal, she also had a silver tray for a cutie mark. The waiter was dressed in the standard Canterlot uniform complete with a bow tie and hooficuffs at the end of each sleeve "May I take your order madame?" the waiter said with a thick Canterlot accent in her voice while levitating up a pen and a notepad. "I thought the Gala doesn't start for another 10 minutes or so" Applejack said to the waiter confused as to why he would take someponies order ten minutes before the actual event "If you are early then you will be rewarded for your punctuality so we pay special attention to those ponies who show up earlier than the specified time, so would you like to order" the waiter blankly stated "Now may I take your order? or would you rather wait for the Gala?" the waiter said in a very soothing tone. "Thank you kindly but I think I would very like if I ordered the same time as everypony else" Applejack said calmly, not wanting to receive special treatment... even if she deserved it. "Very well then i shall leave you with the menu..." the waiter then handed Applejack a formal looking menu. Applejack picked up the menu and began to look through the dishes that they offered. Applejack had been looking through her menu for about 3 minutes but she still couldn't decide what she should have The rose petals look nice but they're only a side dish, I would have the parsnips if it weren't for my allergy, and i'm not even sure of what i'm gonna dri- Applejacks train of thought stopped cold in it's tracks as she heard a familiar voice sitting at the table across form her... "Twi?" Applejack said to herself as she recognized the pony that the aforementioned voice belonged too. She then looked over her own menu and saw Twilight talking with the same waiter that had attended to her Applejack waited patiently for the waiter to finish taking Twilights order before calling to her "Hey Twi when did'ja get here?" Applejack asked Twilight before getting up from her chair and approaching the table that Twilight was sitting at. "Oh hey Applejack I only got here a few minutes ago how about you, I didn't see you when I came in" Twilight said to Applejack trying to spark a conversation...and succeeding "I got here five minutes ago... I think" Applejack said, unsure of the actual time she got to her seat. The two mares talked for about 2 minutes before being interrupted by Rarities sudden appearance "Am I late?" Rarity asked jokingly "Oh didn't see you there Rare" Applejack said while motioning for rarity to sit down on the last chair that was around their table... Twilight had arrived at the ball room and began to look for Rarity but when the Alabaster unicorn could not be found she seated herself down at the table...right across the one that Applejack was seated in. She had only been sitting for about 3 minutes before she was approached by the same waiter that gave Applejack the menu "May I take your order madame?" the waiter said while levitating a quill and a notepad "Oh yes please, I would like a... umm... Mushroom soup topped with parsley, a side of rose petals, and hmm... an orange juice. Twilight said, recalling what food they served at the Gala. The waiter quickly jotted down Twilights order and trotted towards the kitchen to deliver the message Twilight was now left alone and had nothing to do, but she did notice something oddly familiar about the mare on the table opposite hers... until Applejacks head popped out the side and she quickly recognized her "Hey Twi when did'ja get here?" Applejack asked Twilight before getting up from her chair and approaching the table that Twilight was sitting at. "Oh hey Applejack I only got here a few minutes ago how about you, I didn't see you when I came in" Twilight said to Applejack trying to spark a conversation...and succeeding "I got here five minutes ago... I think" Applejack said, unsure of the actual time she got to her seat. The two mares talked for about 2 minutes before being interrupted by Rarities sudden appearance "Am I late?" Rarity asked jokingly "Oh didn't see you there Rare" Applejack said while motioning for rarity to sit down on the last chair that was around their table... Rarity had just arrived at the ball room and began to look for her friends, it didn't take long before her trained eye spotted her two friends at the table next to the window. She trotted over and and said "Am I late?" Rarity asked jokingly "Oh didn't see you there Rare" Applejack said while motioning for rarity to sit down on the last chair that was around their table... It was a little passed seven when the Gala finally came to an end, Rarity, and Applejack were not really all that tired so they decided to take a walk in the Canterlot Gardens "Well I would say that that went better than last years Gala" Rarity said to companion while they were walking through the gardens "Well I still got bored outta my wits so I have to disagree Rare" Applejack said to Rarity "I Wonder how Twilight's doing... do you think she's ok all by herself?" Rarity asked Applejack in a worried tone. The two mares came to a stop at the main gate to the castle and quickly turned around, none of them wanting to go outside at night. "I'm sure she's fine Rarity what's the worst Princess Luna can do?" Applejack said with confidence in her voice, even though her first encounter with Princess Luna had been quite off-putting she was quick to trust a friend of her friends. "Oh you're probably right... It's just that I don't get why Twilight gets to do these things and I don't... I mean, I know she's a Princess and all but I am still an Element of Harmony... why don't I get invited to the Gala, or get called by the Princesses, or even just a letter, that would be nice. Rarity was now hanging her head, but not in shame... in sadness. "I-I I never thought you felt that way Rare... but if you feel like you wanna be noticed then why didn'tcha go with Twilight?" Applejack asked her now disheartened friend "I tried to go with her but Princess Luna said that it was a private thing and wanted to be alone with Twilight" Rarity looked to Applejack for comfort and support... and a shoulder to cry on... "There there, it's ok Rare i'm sure the princesses will notice you... someday, maybe not today or tomorrow... but someday" Applejack let Rarity cry on her shoulder while she comforted her. "So I bet thou art questioning why I wanted to us be alone, yes?" Princess Luna asked Twilight while they sat don on Lunas bed "No princess i completely understand... It's something important right?" Twilight asked with a sheepish grin on her face. In truth she wanted to know what was so important that she had to be alone with her to discuss it. "Well Twilight I am sure you know of the new book that arrived at the Canterlot library today?" Luna had a sly grin on her face while asking this question "How did you... were you watching me?" Twilights grin quickly disappeared and was replaced by a suspecting glare. "No need for suspicion Twilight, I can assure you I had not known until now, for I have been reading your mind while we were walking here. "You can do that?!... ummm... how much do you know" Twilight was now blushing heavily at the thought that Princess Luna might know about her night time... rituals "Oh do not worry about your... secrets, Twilight Sparkle for I know very well to stay away from those regions of the mind...I have seen many a monster... but there are worse things... and many of those things lurk within those regions..." Luna said in a foreboding tone "Ummm... well yes, anyway what did you want to talk about?" Twilight said trying to rub off the fear that Lunas words had induced "Oh yes the new book I trust that you know what it is about correct?" Luna stated with a slight smile on her face "Yes I do it's... hey wait a second, if you knew about the book only now then how is it that you told me about our meeting at noon?" Twilight pondered as she brought a hoof to her chin Maybe the Princess has some sort of power to see the future... no, that's impossible nopony has been able to do that since... well... never. So if it wasn't seeing the future then ho- Twilights thoughts were cut short by the sound of Luna clearing her throat "Princess Sparkle since you have exhibited interest in the Extraequestrial field of study I will allow you access to one of it's greatest accomplishments..." Princess Luna said as she fiddled with a key that she held in her hoof Twilight looked at the key and gasped "What is it!! Its it a key to the pictures of sighting 4-6-7-0 or is it a key to the lost records of the alien specimen which evolved into poison joke? Or maybe it's the key to the files of project First Contact?!" Twilight said with glee as she imagined every possible thing that the key could unlock "Twilight, this key unlocks the most valuable piece of equipment that the researcher of project First Contact had... Their intergalactic receiver... I have tried to find where their team hid this machine but i had found no further clues as to its location" Luna said with a grave tone as she levitated the key to Twilight "I want you and your friends to retake this 50 year old project and make it a success, however you're friends will not just be completing this project... I am tasking you to take it to the next level therefore I will be renaming the project... I shall leave you to decide what name the project will bear" Luna said as she handed Twilight the key "P-P- Princess i'm not sure I can do that especially if you couldn't" Twilight said as she held the key in her shaking hooves "I trust that you can Twilight, not just because you are a fellow alicorn but also because you have something that never had... The Magic of Friendship" Luna said to Twilight before ending their meeting quite abruptly by exiting the room Twilight, who was still in shock went to the balcony of Lunas bedroom for some fresh air, she held the key tightly in her hooves while she carefully examined it. Hmm... it doesn't look like any key i've seen before, the engravings on it look like they are from ancient Equestria... but that would make no sense seeing as project First contact ended only 50 years ago. Twilight also noticed that the key had...10 teeth?! that's a bit much, whoever wanted the machine kept safe he wanted it bad althou- her thoughts were cut short as she heard soft sounds of sobbing and quickly looked towards where they were originating... she was very surprised to see Rarity in Applejacks arms She quickly tucked the key under her wing and went back into the room, ran back into the hallway, she then bolted down the main star case and out the door. "Rarity *pant* why are you *pant* crying?" Twilight was trying to catch her breath after running form a balcony to the front door... that's when realization hit her hard... Wait i could have just flown down... Horseapples She thought to herself before plucking the key out of her wing. "Leave her be Twi' I think we best not talk about it..." Applejack said looking at Twilight with tired eyes "No no it's *sob* ok i'm quite alright now..." Rarity said as she broke away from Applejack wipping the rest of her tears away. She then turned to Twilight so that she could explain to Twilight what had just happened "Well you see Twilight *gulp* I kind of feel left out and unnoticed what with you always getting called to this and that and invited to Galas and all" Rarity said to Twilight as she brush herself off and regained her poise. "I-I never thought of it like that Rarity I didn't think that all this was a privilege you wanted" Twilight said looking back at previous events and realised that Rarity, the pony that always wanted to be part of the Canterlot society had to watch her friend go to Royal meetings and balls alike while she stayed in Ponyville ... unnoticed "I'm so sorry Rarity i promise that I will make sure to try my best to include you in ANYTHING I get invited to" Twilight said while laying a reassuring hoof on Rarities shoulder "*yawn* Can we talk about this tomorrow?" Applejack said sleepily "Why of course Applejack... it is already 9:00 anyway... a bit early but I could use my beauty sleep" Rarity said whilst looking at the Canterlot clock tower "Well girls have I got a story for you in the morning..." Twilight said holding up the key she had received Author's Note Sorry for making you guys wait for this chapter, my internet was down yesterday so I couldn't upload it... so to make it up to you all I made this chapter longer than any other in this story...currently. I am also sorry for the slow pace of the story line but I promise it will get alot quicker I the next chapter... no spoilers though TEE HEE P.S. If you find any errors (not just spelling) please so not hesitate to tell me because i didn't exactly proof read this... also the proof reader I had for my other project kinda bailed on me (Kamen Writter)
Project SporeAuthor's Note Sorry this chapter took so long but school resumed and the first days of the new school year are always the hardest... you know assignments and stuff like that. But anyway I'll let you read on...(man that took long to write) Project Spore Twilight was still in her room in Canterlot and had just finished packing her things. She thought herself ready to face the challenge of completing project First Contact, but she had also realised that it was her job to rename the project... and also expand it Do I have to rename the project? She thought to herself s she put the final scroll back into her bag and clipped it closed. Twilight proceeded to cross off the last item in her check list Twilight didn't bring much supplies to Canterlot, she just took her 'travel-ready' bag "Hmm... am I missing something?" she brought a check list up to her face a second time and gave it a look over and when everything was in order she went out of her room and walked over to Rarity, who was waiting a the entrance to Applejacks room. "Did you get everything darling, I would hate for you to have something behind" Rarity said as she gestured to Twilights suit case. "I don't think I forgot anything I even double checked..." Twilight said before she opened her suit case and began to thoroughly check it's contents, making sure that everything she owned was there As Twilight was checking her things with Rarity the door to Applejacks room swung open and Applejack stepped out with a large bag which looked quite bloated... "Well I'm about ready to go what 'bout you two?" Applejack said before she grasped her suit case tightly between her teeth Did I over-prepare... I mean maybe the anti-Manticore spray was a bit much... nah nonsense Appleajack always made sure that she was ready for any type of emergency when she travelled, even for those very specific emergencies... "Well almost ready I was actually going to go the library one last time before we left so it's ok if you two go ahead" Rarity said much to Twilight and Applejacks surprise "Rare are you sure you're ok... you're startin' to sound like Twilight" Applejack looked at Rarity with a puzzled expression Twilight looked up from her suitcase checking and asked Rarity "Why are you going to go to the library? Is there a book you would like to borrow?" "Well yes and no, you see Twilight I want to buy the book that played the message from yesterday" Rarity said to both Twilight and Applejack "Do you want some company? Twilight suggested as she checked of the last item in her list...for the third time... "Well if it sits well with you then I will greatly appreciate some companionship" Rarity stated looking at Twilight for reassurance "Oh it's completely fine by me how about you Applejack?" Twilight said to Applejack then looked to Rarity motioning her in a questioning manner as if asking 'Are you ready to go?' "Wait just a apple pickin minute?! What're you two talking about, what's this message?!" Applejack had put down her suit case and was now looking at both Rarity and Twilight in confusion and frustration as she tried to wrap her head around all this. "What ever do you mean?... oh...oh ok I get it... Well Applejack..." Rarity said while motioning to a near by bench. While Rarity explained to Applejack what had happened when she and Twilight found the book that had relayed the message Applejack showed an array of facial expressions, but the one that stood out the most was the one she showed when Rariy said the last line... "...The message itself was and SOS simply saying that he needed help... and by the sound of it... help didn't reach him in time" Applejack had a grave frown on her face "Applejack, there was nothing you could have done, it happened 50 years ago" Rarity said as she wrapped up her story and saw how sad her friend was after hearing it "So when you and Twilight triggered that matrix thingy the message played and it said that who ever sent it needed help?" Applejack, who was a bit less teary-eyed, pondered on the new information that she had received I wonder what happened to that poor sap Applejack thought woefully as she attempted to visualize what he saw as his last sight "Wow... I wonder what happened to him..." Applejack looked at Rarity with pity in her eyes, Applejack was always one to pity and sympathize with ponies who had experienced unfortunate events... even if they died, or aren't ponies at all. "So Applejack do you want to come with us to the library?" Twilight asked, hoping that her friend would find this topic as interesting as she and Rarity did "Nah you two go ahead... I don't do that sciency stuff Twi'... I'll just wait at the train station, catch'a there" Applejack said before picking up her saddlebags before going towards the exit of the main lobby "Well Rarity I guess that it's just you and me" Twilight said, she understood that Applejack was a simple mare and didn't want to be burdened with having to wrap her head around the complexities of another race and the implications that would arise with the subject. "Well okay dear... I was kind of looking forward to having Applejack with us at the library..." Rarity turned her attention from the door which Applejack had left through to her own saddlebags. "We had better get going then we don't want to keep poor Applejack waiting..." Rarity said as she calmly levitated her saddlebags to her back and strapped them on "Let's go then!" Twilight said in a gleeful tone, she didn't seem to notice the slightly depressed tone in Rarity's voice "Okay then" Rarity followed Twilight to the Canterlot library as they approached the door Rarity got her old Library card from her bags. She sighed at the sight, the card looked old and worn as if it hadn't been used in years. Rarity reminisced to the last time she had bought a book. "I haven't done this in a while" Rarity whispered to herself before following Twilight to the main desk "...I would like to buy this one please" Twilight put the 'Extraequestrials' book on the desk and put 250 bits next to it. The librarian took the book and stamped it, she then put it in a paper bag. She counted the bits before she poured them all in the drawer of the cashiers desk and turned on the movement matrix which printed the receipt. "Thank you for purchasing this book, now I need your library card so I can stamp that too" The librarian said realizing that she had only stamped the book "Oh sorry I hadn't-" Before Twilight could finish, a library card...Rarity's to be exact. "Here you go dear you can stamp mine" Rarity said as she waited for her card to be stamped "Ok then ma'am" The librarian picked up the stamp and took the card out of it's casing and stamped it, confirming the purchase. She then put the card back in its case and handed it to Rarity "Thanks Rarity, I didn't know that you had a Canterlot library card" Twilight said as she looked at the tattered card as Rarity put it back in her saddlebags "...Wait why did you even bring your library card? You didn't buy any books last time we were here?" Twilight asked Rarity seeing as the fashionista didn't usually buy books "It has a certain sentimental value Twilight, I like to have it around whenever I'm at Canterlot" Rarity walked up to Twilights side and trotted along side her as they walked towards the exit of the library "Well I guess we go to the train station to meet up with Applejack" Twilight said to Rarity in a peppy voice "And go home..." Rarity added realizing that she had left Sweetie Belle and Opal essence alone for two days... "I wonder if what this book says is true... I mean it's fascinating and all but I want a project that I can actually finish" Twilight said as she took the key that Luna gave her out of her pocket "What's that?" Rarity said as she tried to get a glimpse of what Twilight was holding in her hooves. It looked like it was shining "I'll explain on thee train... i want Applejack to hear this too" Twilight tucked the key back into her wing and continued trotting towards the train station. "Well ok then..." Rarity accepted the fact that she had to wait a little while but she couldn't shake the feeling that this had something to do with Twilights meeting with the Lunar princess Twilight and Rarity filled there trip from the castle to the train station with small talk and idle conversation. Rarity tried to squeeze a little information about the object Twilight had, but all she could be sure of was that the object was a key... to something. Their trip ended right next to the train station buffet where they saw Applejack, who was eating a daffodil sandwich and drinking a simple apple shake. "Hello Applejack we're back!" Rarity called out to her friend form the doorway, making sure that only Applejack and Twilight heard it. "Howdy girls, did'ja get your book Rare?" Applejack motioned to the two chairs that she had set on the other side of the table "Well yes, we did the book I wanted but I think Twilight has something to say that's way more interesting than that" Rarity looked over to Twilight expectingly "Umm.. well yes I do" Twilight brought out the key from her wing before saying anything else "Is that a key?" Applejack asked Twilight while leaning over to Rarity and whispering something along the lines of 'Is she serious with this?' "Princess Luna gave this to me last night... but that's not all she gave me, she also told me that I was to take on a project that has been uncompleted for about 50 years. The project is actually the highlight of the book Rarity bought" Twilight took out the book that she and Rarity had bought and turned the page to the beginning of project First Contact "Wow, Twilight this is a grand honour... Princess Luna trusts you with information that has been lying dormant for 50 years..." Rarity said to Twilight feeling both jealous and proud for her friend "I know it's a huge privilege but I have no idea hoe I'm going to go about doing this project, I can't even name it..." Twilight hung her head in shame and in grief "Twi' did the Princess say that you had to work on this project alone?" Applejack said remembering when she refused the help of her friends and what it had done to her "No...wait she said that she wanted me too get help from all of you... if she believes that our friendships can help me with this project... then I guess I have to believe too!!" Twilight suddenly felt very uplifted and pulled the book of the table and put it in her saddle bag "Girls were going home! I need the rest of out friends to know about this... " Twilight immediately jumped out of her seat and began trotting to the train stations loading deck and hopped on to the first train to Ponyville that left at 12:00 "I think we should follow her" Applejack told Rarity,who was currently in shock due to Twilights sudden display of determination "Yes indeed we must..." Rarity managed to say before she grabbed her bags and trotted alongside Applejack towards the train that Twilight had boarded That mare is really serious when it comes to friendship... Rarity thought silently as she stepped on the to train On the train ride Twilight maintained a steely eyed gaze, determination plastered hard on her face. The train made it's final stop at the Ponyville station and Twilight and her friends all got off the train and were greeted by all their other friends "Welcome back you guys!!" Rainbow Dash flew over to Twilight and hugged her tightly "Hehe I missed you too Rainbow..." Twilight returned Rainbows hug but quickly broke out of it "Omygoshomygoshomygoshyouhavetotellmeeverythingthathappedenedtoyou!!!!!" Pinkie Pie skipped over to Rarity and nearly made her deaf "Pinkie, calm down I'll tell you everything that I can remember..." Rarity cringed at Pinkies sudden outburst "I think we should go somewhere else to talk...ummm... if that's ok with all of you" Fluttershy softly addressed the whole group "Fluttershy has a point, I don't think that the train station is a good place to have an extended conversation...especially from Twilight, how about we go to the castle...or we could try Sugarcube Corner?" Rarity considered what options her friends had that wouldn't result in Twilight getting mobbed by other ponies, due to her new Princess stature "It's not a castle Rarity it's just... ok maybe it is a castle" Twilight didn't like being thought of as higher then anypony, even if she is an alicorn and a princess "Ooo sorry girls, while you were away the Cakes started renovating Sugarcube Corner so we can't enter... you know for safety reasons" Pinkie didn't like the fact that she couldn't get into her own room but she understood why the Cakes wanted to remodel. With only 6 tables inside Sugarcube Corner they couldn't house that many ponies at a single time and that wasn't very good for business. "Wait if you couldn't get in to Sugarcube Corner then where'dya sleep?" Applejack wasn't the smartest tool in the shed but she could put two and two together "Oh I slept at Fluttershy's house while you were all away" Pinkie didn't really like having to sleep in somepony else's house but since Fluttershy offered so quickly she couldn't refuse "We had a great time together" Fluttershy like having friends over at her house so naturally when her friend was in need of lodging she was the first to offer "Well then I guess we have no choice, to the castle!" Twilight and her friends trotted off towards the newly 'built' castle. The trip didn't lasted a little while, since they started from the train station. "I wonder if Discord's alright?" Fluttershy mused to herself remembering that she had left Discord alone in the castle As Twilight and her friends approached the castle door Discord appeared in front of then in his classic entrance "Ah welcome back Twilight, Fluttershy told me that you were coming back today so I took the liberty of readying the castle for your return "Thanks Discord... but you didn't go overboard right?" Discord had gained most of the ponies trust but Twilight still questioned his methods "Oh don't worry Twilight her let me get the door" Discord pushed the grandiose door open and revealed that the crystal castle was shinier than ever "Wow Discord you really cleaned the whole place?!" Twilight knew that Discord had been reformed but she never thought that he would do this "Well not exactly the whole place... I wasn't able to get into any of your rooms... I could just use teleportation but I didn't want to intrude on your privacy... I did get into Rainbows room though, she really like the Wonderbolts" Discord smiled when as he remembered what he saw in Rainbows room "If you touched anything there I will personally turn you back into STONE!!" Rainbow said as she rushed up to check on her belongings "If you didn't want me to clean your room then you shouldn't have left the door unlocked..." Discord said blankly to rainbow as she rushed up the stairs "Well then... at any rate I think Discord actually did a good job of cleaning the castle..." Rarity said as she gave the room a look over "I'll say... this room looks more spotless than Rarity" Pinkie said as she pointed to Rarity who was checking the floor for any traces of dust "Girls!... and Discord I guess... I have something important to tell you..." Twilight lifted the key up high in the air and motioned for all of them to sit at the meeting table. She tucked the key away and went to sit herself down when she realised that Rainbow wasn't with them or sitting at the table. "Oh I swear if he touched anything..." Rainbow dash ran up the stairs and through the hall until she found her room The room it self was completely spotless, save for a few scattered papers. Rainbow went to investigate further and began scrutinizing every inch of her room "Huh... every thing seems to be where it was... how did he do all this in two days" Rainbow Dash had little time to wonder because shortly before she had checked the last crack in her room... "Rainbow!!" Rainbow dash was sure that she heard her name being called form downstairs so she quickly ran out the door and down the stairs to see who had called her "Rainbow!!" Twilight called at the top of her lungs for a third time but it seemed to be of no avail, where ever rainbow may have gone she seemed to have become deaf "Give her some time Twilight she was worried when I told her that I had cleaned her room so I suppose that she wanted to make sure I didn't change anything... I don't blame her... I would have done the same in her situation..." Discord, even if he is the spirit of chaos he still has feelings... and he can't stop blaming himself for betraying his friends when Tirek tried to take away Equestria's magic "Rainbow!!" Twilight called again and was relieved when she heard hoof steps at the top of the stairs indicating that her friend finally heard her and was coming down "S-Sorry Twi I didn't hear you I was just making sure that HE didn't touch anything in my room" Rainbow dash gave extra emphasis when referencing Discord, she was indeed convinced that he was reformed but she still didn't trust him around her personal belongings "Rainbow you have to learn to trust Discord sooner or later... I mean we've been living together for the past two months and he hasn't done anything to chaotic" Twilight tried to remember when Discord pulled his last harmful prank but failed since she has gotten to know and has gotten to trust the draconequus, even though he tried to send Ponyville into complete chaos "Rainbow Dash I don't blame you for not trusting me, you have valid reason... but honestly I have changed for the better..." Even if Discord didn't like Rainbow Dash, he had come to sort-of befriend her since she was so close to his reformer... Fluttershy "This is not what I called you her for Rainbow, I have urgent matter that need to be attended to and I would appreciate it if you and discord would join us..." Twilight pointed a hoof towards the table where all their other friends were sitting and looking at them expectingly "Ok Twi but what's so important that you need all of us to be here?" Rainbow Dash had never seen Twilight this serious about anything, and this is Twilight were talking about so that's saying something "Yes Twilight, You have never called an audience like this in... ever actually... I am so grateful that I am invited" Discord wasn't the one for seriousness but he could deal with it, if only for a few hours... but as much as possible he stayed away form serious conversation "I'll explain everything once were all seated down" Twilight walked towards the table and took her seat, she then motioned for Discord to sit beside her and Rainbow to take her seat. Discord didn't have a throne made for him, so he improvised... using his powers he made a chaos throne appear next to Twilight and took his seat in it "Ok here it is..." Twilight brought out the key form where she had ticked it and pushed it to the centre of the table for everypony to see "Ummm... care to explain why this key is so important?" Rainbow said impatiently as she cocked her head upon seeing the piece of metal "Yes Twilight, I fail to see the importance of this key... even if I went with you when you got it..." Rarity remembered Twilight telling and showing her and Applejack the key that princess Luna had given her and was supposed to take a project that had been dormant for 50 years... however she couldn't find any link between the key and the project that Twilight had gotten "Well, Princess Luna gave me this key and said that it was supposed to help me find something left behind by the original researchers form project First Contact, but I have no idea how it's supposed to do that" Twilight levitated the key up and spun it slowly so that everyone could see both sides "I do sense and awful lot of magical residue on this key Twilight, perhaps it was a matrix at some point... but it's to deteriorated for me to tell what kind of matrix it was, or what purpose it served..." Discord was very well versed in the field of magic, after all it is kind of his bread and butter, but even with this knowledge he still couldn't find out what was so special about the key "Maybe it was a device used to track a location... but that wouldn't make sense because, why would someone put a tracking matrix on a key?!" Rarity reasoned out loud with herself and managed to catch the attention of Twilight "It could be a possibility, it would explain all the extra teeth the key has..." Twilight said as she handed the key to Rarity for closer inspection "Ooo I have an idea! Why don't we charge it up and see if the matrix still works!" Pinkie suddenly blurted out remembering what Discord said about there being a matrix on the key at one point "Ain't that bit risky seeing as this matrix could, you know be a trap... I'm just sayin' that what if this thing blows up right her right now?" Applejack put a hoof to her chin questioning Pinkie's idea "I would have sensed an offensive matrix such as a combustion matrix, because they last longer than any other matrix out there" Discord had some vague knowledge on how matrices work and when they dissolve into non-existence "I think we should give Pinkies idea a shot I mean what's the worst that could happen if Discord says that it can't be offensive or dangerous?" Rainbow said now knowing that they can rest easy knowing that the key would be the death of them all "Ok then I'll prep the safety precautions... Twilight excused her self form the impromptu meeting and began to take metal sheeting form her basement and began to construct a small bunker in the library with Discords help Once complete Twilight called all of her other friends into the makeshift bunker and levitated the key towards them untli it was about 3 feet form the bunker "I hope this works... Discord are you ready?" Twilight turned to Discord, who was focusing on the key trying to repair the broken matrix "A-Almost Twilight hold off a bit longer I need to make sure that the matrix is stable..." Discord hadn't used this spell in a few thousand years because he had never needed to stabilize and repair a matrix before... he usually had to break or de-stabilize them "Now Twilight!" Discord shouted as the matrix finally came into view and was operational Twilight concentrated a good portion of her magic into a single bolt of magic and sent it towards the hovering key. The matrix immediately absorbed the magic and began spinning. The key suddenly stopped and slowly drifted to the floor and began to etch carvings into the crystalline floor "What's it doing Twi?" Rainbow watched as the key twisted and turned until the key just stopped at what looked like the end of a map "I think that the matrix was programmed to depict and image by portraying it on the nearest surface... but why did the pony who wanted to convey the message put the matrix on a key?!" Discord said, as he recharged his magic deposits, and wondered if the key served some other purpose "Should we be seeing something?" Rarity said as she looked at the weird imprint on the floor "I think it's a map of some sort..." Twilight used her new wings to hover over the floor and get a better view of the drawing. She noticed that the matrix was programmed to use the keys current location as a starting point, seeing as the key had drawn an almost exact replica of Ponyville only that it looked alot older. The Ponyville depicted in the engraving was incomplete, It was missing Sugarcube Corner, and Carousel Boutique but Twilight was sure it was Ponyville because no other town had a tree in it "If I'm correct, the map should be leading us towards.. the Ponyville town hall?" Twilight shook her head trying to see if her calculations were wrong. After much scrutiny she finally gave up and came to the conclusion that the map indeed lead to the town hall. "I guess we should go to the town hall?" Rainbow suggested since the map ended there, and the key was lying on the icon of the building itself "To the town hall!!!" Discord said with conviction as he pointed towards the door. Twilight quickly picked up the key and then motioned for all her friends to come with her. The trip to the twin hall didn't last very long, due to the fact that Twilights new castle was only a a few blocks away. *Knock* *Knock* *Knock* Twilight hit her hoof against the grand doors of the town hall and waited. Twilight knows that the town hall is a public building, but she thought it polite that she would knock first "Hello?" Ponyville's mayor opened the door and was shocked to see Twilight standing there "Oh my.. P-Princess Twilight you didn't tell me you were coming! I haven't had the time to prepare..." Mayor Mare quickly bowed her head upon seeing Twilight "You don't have to bow Mayor, I thought we established that?" Twilight didn't like being treated like she was important even though she is. "Sorry Princess but it has become a habit... oh where are my manners, please come in" Mayor Mare stepped aside and let Twilight and the rest of her friends inside the main lobby of the town hall "O-Oh Mr. Discord your here too" at the first sight of the draconequus the mayor had started to sweat "Please mayor, there is no need to fear me anymore..." Discords voice sounded almost like he was pleading The mayor simply walked away form discord and went to Twilight, who was currently behind the central desk looking through the towns documents "Is there something that you're looking for your highness?" the mayor walked over to the desk and looked at the documents that Twilight was holding and noticed that all the documents were dated back fifty years ago What would the Princess be looking for from fifty years ago? Mayor Mare tried to recall if anything significant happened fifty years ago "Umm... mayor do you know if anyone brought anything here fifty years ago?" Twilight didn't even look up form the document she was skimming "Hmm... I can't be sure of that, I wasn't the mayor fifty years ago... but everything that's borough her is always put through the records in the stock room until claimed, but if the object isn't claimed then it stays in the storage room" Mayor mare was familiar about how the shipping system worked in Ponyville, but she couldn't remember all of the entries... especially if they were recorded 50 years ago "Aha! here it is!!" Twilight levitated the document up high so that the rest of her friends could see it. The document itself was fairly simple and wasn't really secured, it wasn't even labled classified. "Well what're you waitn' for! Open it up!" Applejack said as Twilight looked at the document without doing anything Twilight opened the document, the file inside read... Project First Contact The entirety of this project is for research purposes only. The personal information of the ponies within this file is strictly classified and will not be revealed Project First Contact, Proprietors: Soul Gem, Gem Shard Purpose: To establish contact with an extraequestrial race Royal Correspondent: Princess Luna Co-signer: Princess Miamoree Cadenza Location: Canterlot Laboratories, Fringe Science Department, Advanced Technology Division Date Started: December 7, 1962 Date Ended: March 5, 1969 Progress(Final): Stage one Research notes: Following the last entry on the file was an enclosed envelope... but what Twilight and her friends found strange was the envelope had been locked shut... literally "Who locks an envelope?!" Rainbow Dash shouted out completely dumbfounded as to why somepony would lock an envelope "Aha! Twilight maybe that's where this mysterious key goes!" Rarity looked at the lock and deduced that the only key that would fit would have to have ten teeth, and the only key with ten teeth is the key is the key that Twilight has "Your right Rarity!" Twilight quickly pulled out the key form under her wing and tried to push it into the lock on the envelope but the key didn't seem to fit, so she tried to force the key inside... "Come on!!" Twilight finally got the key inside the rusty lock and then and when she turned it, sure enough all the envelopes contents poured out onto the floor "Girls... I think we found the project..." Twilight began looked at the mess on the floor and noticed something odd Who were these scientists? Twilight silently thought to herself as she held up a picture of two ponies dressed in lab coats hugging each other Twilight and her friends began to sort and look through the many files that had been crammed forcefully into one envelope. They searched for about an hour strait before Twilight finally found something of interest "Girls come here, I think I found something" Twilight help up a piece of metal that had a note attached to it. She unfolded the note and read it aloud Dear reader If you are reading this then that means you found the key that we left behind, it also means that you have enough interest in this project to continue it. The piece of metal that this note is attached to is the final piece of stage two of project First Contact, the transmitter. If you are able to activate the transmitter then you will also find the receiver... once you have found both pieces then you will be able to pick up and send intergalactic signals. This project has cost us 7 years of our lives and we couldn't just end it like that, so we hid the two machines somewhere in a small own named Ponyville, hopefully you can finish what we started. If the coordinated on this paper are correct then it should lead you to the two machines X= 578.77 Y=235.96 Z=88.74 "Wow whoever worked on this project really wanted it done..." Rarity said after she heard the last part of the note "Wait a minute I recognize those coordinates... That's my basement..." Twilight said with confusion. Twilight had lived in the library for nearly 4 years before it got blown up and replaced with the crystal castle. "Hold on, if they put that there 50 years ago then wouldn't that mean that they were blown up by Tirek?" Fluttershy said softly. Even if she was quiet, it didn't mean she isn't smart "Hahaha that's where your wrong dear Fluttershy, Twilights basement lies well underground so it couldn't have been affected by the explosion." Discord reasoned out quiet happily Suddenly Twilight realised that it was almost 11:00 and then her body confirmed the clocks time... *yawn* Twilight's yaw started a whole chain reaction of yawns from the other five ponies...and Discord "Girls maybe we should continue this tomorrow?" Discord asked the group before rubbing his eyes, It's true that gods don't need sleep, but they still feel the need to sleep and the relief it provides. "For once Discord's actually right... I do feel a bit tired" Rainbow said before yawning again "Girls we have to finish this! we've come so far!" as much as Twilight wanted to stay and work on the project, her body had other plans... those plans mostly involved the soft warm sheets of her bed. "C'mon Twi' it's not like the envelopes goin' anywhere, heck I'm pretty sure that the Mayor will you bring it home... hey wait a minute, where's the Mayor? Applejack suddenly noticed the absence of the beige pony. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind if we just took this one file back to the castle, for one night" Twilight said hoping that they wouldn't have to go find Mayor Mare. Discord was feeling very sleepy so he decied that he would just take the files and teleport himself and the six ponies back to the castle for some sleep... and that's exactly what he did "DISCORD!!!" Twilight yelled at Discord, but she didn't have any energy to fully reprimand him so she just snatched the files from his hand and walked over to her room The other ponies on the other hand were actually thankful that he had done that... mostly due to the fact that they were dead tired "Thanks Dissy" Pinkie Pie whispered into his ear before she walked up to her own room. After Pinkie Pie the rest quickly followed, with one thought on their minds: SLEEP. Discord didn't even want to walk up to his room, so he simply teleported himself there But there was one pony who didn't want to sleep, and that was Twilight. I don't know what to do with the project, I don't know how to work with the files that I have, heck I don't even have a name for the project yet! Twilight slammed her head against the desk and began to drift to sleep No! I have to at least name the project... but what do I name it Twilight then lifted her head and looked at the folder one last time before finally succumbing to unconsciousness... the last word she saw was spore... Right above the orbit of Equus was a spaceship that looked like a horseshoe, It seemed to be scanning the planets surface. "What do the readings show Morbus?" a creature with two wings a short body structure and a beak walked up to another one of his kind and looked at the readings on the monitor "Hmmm... a T3 planet... maybe we could colonize this planet..." The creature wondered before he went to the tool selection station and pressed the colonization button, but before he could launch a colony pack a claw stopped him "Not Nibon, look" Morbus pointed his talon towards the main monitor, it displayed several icons dotting the surface of the planet, indicating that a sentient race was able to build cities and communities on the planet. "The planet has a sentient species? What is the nature of it's inhabitants?" Nibon dragged an object across the screen until it reached one of the cities. The icon began to enlarge until it displayed the basic skeletal structure and anatomy of a pony within it "I have not seen a skeletal structure like that in my entire life... It looks like the spine moves across the entire expanse of the body... I seems to have for legs and no hands... very peculiar" Morbus said as he scrutinized the pony skeletal system "Morbus look at this, it says that the species on this planet has a lot of variations... but from what i can tell it has 3 main variations look.." Nibon pointed to another window on the monitor and pointed to the pictures One of the pictures displayed a unicorns skeletal and muscular systems, another picture displayed a pegasi's Skeletal and muscular anatomy, and a third picture displayed an earth pony's anatomy. "Why is their so much variation within the species... are you sure these are all the same species?" Morbus asked Nibon while still looking at the monitor "Yes they all have the same central skeletal structure" Nibon pointed pushed a button with his claw which caused the three skeletal portraits to overlap, and sure enough the central skeletons lined up perfectly. "Maybe we could communicate with this race and elevate them to the next level of society?" Morbus asked Nibon while looking at the sentience scanner on the monitor "We can try... I'll bring the ship over one of the cities and then maybe we can try contacting them..." Nibon said before he walked over to another monitor and dragged his claw across the screen, causing the ship to move foreward. I just hope this goes better than last time Morbus thought to himself
The Collision of Two WorldsThe citizens of Ponyville are going about their lives peacefully, completely oblivious to the alien spacecraft hovering above them... "Nibon please be careful to stay out of the planets orbit this time, we can't risk getting seen" Morbus tweaked a lever on the dashboard of the main ship control panel which caused the ships engines to slowly come to a stop "Relax Morby, last time was an accident... trust me it won't happen again" Nibon said as he flipped on the ships cloaking device on, just to be extra careful "I'm just worried that's all..." Morbus said as he prepared the transportation beam. Their ship was originally meant for the colonization and the tearraformation of planets, however... recently Morbus and Nibon decided that they would take on the universe as captains and not just a simple division ship. They traversed the universe looking for planets to colonize and to expand their empire, but Nibon had also purchased many other tools and weapons, that would make the ship a little more prepared and adaptable. "So are we ready?" Morbus said as he opened the socialization window in the monitor. Morbus' claw hovered over and icon that looked like a monument. "Wait a sec, what if this race turns out to be violent and aggressive?" Nibon reasoned as he recalled what had happened the last time they tried to elevate a race Seriously though, it's not like Spode is real or anything Even though the Birdie Empire is a large and flourishing one, they still fear the followers of Spode, mostly due to the fact that it takes 12 of their ships to match up to one of the 'Spodes Followers' ships. "C'mon relax I mean they don't look harmful, well maybe the one with the horn could be a little dangerous, but seriously I don't think that they would, or even could hurt anyone" Morbus said as he gave the anatomy of the skeletal scans another look over "We don't even know what they are yet, let alone their history, or their racial behaviour... but I do know for a fact that they're all herbivores..." Nibon had recognized the jaw structure that the scans showed, it was distinctly herbivorous. Nibon wasn't one for learning, he barely knew what to do in terms of terraforming a planet, but he did know what each body part did and what kind of body parts could be found on an animal. Nibon had been working in a research laboratory before being recruited for the fleet, even if he had no piloting experience, Morbus had insisted that his skills could be put to use in the terraformation of planets and how to stabilize their T scores Morbus closed the Window on the monitor and looked Nibon in the eye "I always wanted to try communicating with an alien race... face-to-face..." Morbus had always dreamed of meeting a new race and actually talking to them and teaching them how to build and use ships, but he never got to do that since he became a space pilot right around the time that the new technology called the "Monolith" was born "You can't be serious... right?" Nibon didn't like the idea of putting they're lives at stake by actually beaming themselves down and communicating with another race, that wasn't declared space worthy "I totally serious, but I have a plan... instead of going to the top figures of this race lets start small and you know meet with the 'locals' "I'm still not so sure about this, I mean we would be putting our lives at stake by going down there..." Nibon hadn't had the best experience when it came to beaming down to planets, the last time he beamed down was to collect an artefact but suddenly an Epic showed up out of nowhere and scared him stiff. To this day he still thinks it's his fault that they failed the mission "Why? What are you so worried about... why don't you stay here and I'll go talk to them?" Morbus reasoned, tryiing his best to get his partner to accept his offer "Umm... *sigh* ok then, if you really want to this, just try not to get hurt..." Nibon finally gave in to his partners request and walked over to the monitor It took about an hour to calibrate the transportation beam, and another hour to get morbus in gear and ready for what ever situation he might find himself in "Ok, I'm ready let's do this!" Morbus said as he stepped into the beam chamber and closed his eyes "I'll talk to you when your down there..." Nibon pressed the beam button lightly and sent Morbus towards the planet in the form of an ionised beam of matter "This is Morbus to control do you read me control?" Morbus asked as he shook off the initial feeling of being beamed down to the planets surface Even after 10 years of being a captain and I still haven't gotten used to it Even though Morbus was a very experienced captain, and a trained planetary explorer he still hasn't gotten used to the feeling of getting beamed down from his ship "This Is control I read you loud and clear, what is the status of the atmosphere?" Nibon tweaked the radio frequency of his communicator so that he had no static interruption "Atmosphere readings suggest that the air is breathable and it also confirms that it is indeed a T3 atmosphere" Morbus looked at the many meters on his suit trying to make out whether the atmosphere would sustain him "Do not risk taking of your helmet, proceed to taking exploratory data, you have 5 hours standard galactic time, according to protocol" Nibon said as he tracked Morbus using the positioning system on the ship and which was connected to Morbus' suit "Ok control, Morbus out" Morbus tucked his communicator back into his left wrist slot and began walking around the planets surface, the first thing he noticed was that the gravity of the planet was a little bit less than his home planets gravity "Well I guess I should take geographical samples..." Morbus bent down and used the portable scanner on his suit to scan the ground beneath him. The readings on his suit told him that the ground was very fertile and didn't show any trace of artificial chemical or pollution. "Hmmm... I wonder if they have any forms of technology yet?" Morbus thought to himself after seeing how untouched and clean the earth below him was. He then walked over to a near by stream and filled a vial of water... Wow this has to be the cleanest fresh water iv'e ever seen... Morbus said as he put the vile into the centrifuge and checked the readings. "There sure is alot of trees here, I wonder if they are edible to the locals" Morbus thought as he scraped some bark off of one of the near by trees. His suit said otherwise, the trees apparently showed traces of Astatine, a very toxic substance to his race. "Ok so maybe what's poisonous to us won't be poisonous to them?" He thought as he stepped away from the trees He then walked towards the end of the tree line and noticed a pathway towards what looked like a settlement... "Well I guess it's time to try and make first contact with the locals..." He said as he walked towards the small settlement. It didn't take Morbus long to find the settlement and fly to it, he was able to maintain a stealthy profile even as he approached the settlements borders I hope their friendly... Morbus thought as he looked at the architecture. Judging form the material the buildings were made from and the overall design of the buildings he was able to conclude that the race that occupied this planet was still way behind, technologically anyway. Since Morbus knew about the importance of the first impressions he decided that it would be best to look for some of the more learned beings of the race. While he was thinking about the hierarchy of the race another thought sprung to mind... What will their culture be like, and more so their food... well they are herbivores He thought as he approached the settlements main path Twilight had just woken up form a good nights sleep, she woke up feeling very calm and relaxed... only to jump into panic as she saw what was on her desk... an unfinished research paper. Noticing the unfinished paper she immediately got out of bad and trotted straight to her desk to resume work on coming up with the name for the project she was tasked with. After about an hour of thinking and alot of crumpled scrolls she was interrupted by spike, who was in the middle of waking up. "*yawn* Twilight... you up?" Spike asked groggily before looking at her bed for confirmation, then around the room to find out if she was there, and sure enough he saw her at her desk writing down Celestia knows what. "Twilight? Did you stay up all night just finishing that project? Do you want some breakfast at least?" Spike got out of his bed and walked up to Twilight. Once he saw what she was writing he got very confused... "Introduction, Evolution, Second Phase, Planting,... Twilight what is this stuff?" Spike asked as he stared at the gibberish on the paper "Spike this is important, go make some breakfast..." Twilight said before writing down even more words, only to cross them out again.. "Ok... but try not to stay up all night doing these things Twilight, it can't be healthy for you." Spike said as he walked down the stairs to the kitchen It's a miracle Twilight has no signs of sleep deprivation, wait did she sleep last night or not? Spike was not one to question Twilight but that didn't mean he didn't care about her. Spike turned on the burner to the stove and placed a pot over it. "Hmm... we need to get new magic canisters" Spike said as he checked the meters that showed how much fuel was left in the stove "SPIKE!" Spike cringed slightly at the volume of Twilights voice, but he turned down the burner to a low flame and began walking back up the stairs "Yes Twilight?" Spike asked as he entered Twilights room. Twilight had not been cleaning out her room much in the past few days, it was usually his job to clean anyway, but he found it odd that Twilight had been out of the house so much lately. Maybe I should ask her where she's been... maybe later Spike said as he walked over to Twilight and pulled up a chair next to her "Spike, I have to rename project First Contact but I just can't decide what, and I also havetostartworkingonetheactualprojectandIneedyourhelp!!" Twilight said as she looked at Spike waiting for and answer "What?!" Spike sat beside Twilight in a confused daze, he was used to Twilights speedy rants... but this time his brain broke "Ugh! Never mind, could you just call of the rest of our friends into the dinning room?" Twilight said before looking back at the scroll in front of her A realization dawned on Spike... "Oh my gosh, I left breakfast unattended!!" Spikes worries were confirmed when the smell of burning hay fries filled the room. Spike immediately left Twilights room and made a break for the kitchen, but it already to late... the hay fries he had been cooking had already been burned and rendered inedible *sniff* *sniff* "Hmm... that's peculiar, I don't smell anything... well I hope Spike made enough breakfast for all of us" Twilight was a princess, this was true, but she still couldn't smell the distinct aroma of burning food. Twilight hadn't cooked since she was a little filly, and the only things she could cook were fried mushrooms, a few salads, and caramel apples. "Well back to work, I guess..." Twilight said as she walked back to her desk and sat down. Twilight spent a good 20 minutes writing down possible names until she decided that she should look in the files for the project for inspiration. That's when she saw the many pictures of plant life form planet Equus, some of the plants she saw intrigued her... They used a form of spore as a fuel? That's a bit weird, but I guess if it works then why not use it... She thought to herself as she read the file. ...The machine that project First Contact used was powered by a form of spore from a plant found in Hoofrica. The plants scientific name was based of off it's ability to blend in with it's surrondings, Laccaria laccata. The locals of Hoofrica know the plant as 'The Deciever'... Twilight read on and decided... "If it was a spore that fuelled the first project, then it's only natural that I name the project after them..." Twilight levitated a new scroll to her desk and wrote two words on the top... 'Project Spore' As Morbus walked along the path to the alien settlement he calibrated his translator to 'read mode' which allowed him to match the language of the creatures to one he understood, to hopefully get passed the language barrier. He saw the first structure on the path... It was a quaint hut that looked a bit small but was very well built, the walls were made of a form of cobble stone, and the roof looked like it was some sort of plant matter. The entire structure sported a bright yellow colour, and the landscape around it was very well kept. Morbus also noticed that there were several pens containing different animals all around the house Well here goes nothing... Morbus walked up to the door of the small house and tapped it lightly with his talon. He waited for a good 5 minutes with no reply, so he tried to open the door... and, to his surprise, it opened. The room was dimly lit but enough daylight was getting in through the windows that he could see everything. He walked inside slowly and made sure that he made no noise as he scanned every object and creature in the room. Even though Morbus didn't find any sentient life in the room he did notice a lot of non-sentient animals crawling all over the place. "They have beast masters here?" Morbus thought as he quietly strode through the room. He finally came to the end of his scanning spree when his eyes met a set of stairs. Should I?... Morbus thought as he debated whether he should go up stairs without permission. He knew that if he was caught his first impression would be that of a thief so he decided against it. Suddenly he heard a small gasp outside but pushed it off as his paranoia Morbus made his way towards the door and quietly exited the cottage and walked back onto the path but before he could take two steps, he saw something out of the corner of his eyes... Spike had just finished remaking breakfast and was now in the process of getting everypony else downstairs. It was pretty easy convince Fluttershy and Applejack, for both of them knew the importance of breakfast, but Rainbow had been very stuborn... mostly due to the fact that she preferred to sleep until half the day was gone before she actually got up. Rarity had been especially tricky because he had a hard time keeping his cool around her. Discord actually wasn't that resistant and was glad to go downstairs for breakfast. Spike was currently walking over to Twilights room... "Twilight? I made breakfast again, do you wanna come down and eat?" Spike said as he gently pushed the door open "Just a minute Spike I finanlly named the project, I have to write down the important stuff from the files..." Twilight said without looking away form her desk "Ok Twi but try to show up before all of our friends finish this time, please?" Spike said slightly regretting his almost caretaker like position at the castle Spike just simply closed the door not even trying again, because he knew that when Twilight was caught up in her studies she wouldn't budge no matter who was asking. Spike calmly walked down the stairs to the main living room and walked over to the dining hall, he pushed open the door and slowly walked over to the dining table. "Where's Twilight?" Rarity asked as she sipped her tea "She said she needs a few minutes, but she will be joining us I assure you" Spike said as he took a few rubies form the nearby plate "Jeez sometimes I wonder who takes care of who, I mean Spike cooks, cleans, and makes sure Twilight gets enough sleep! I mean who does that?" Rainbow said as she hovered over her chair "Rainbow you know it's impolite to fly while your eating right?" Pinkie said with a mouth full of hayckaes. "Well looks who's calling the kettle black..." Discord mumbled under his breath while he blew on his coffee. Discord wasn't really a morning type, and was usually quite grumpy in the early hours "Well maybe she has a good reason for not being able to do all those things, you know with her being a scholar and all... I mean if that's what you guys think" Fluttershy said as she tried her best to defend Twilight "Well it would be nice to have some help every once in a while... thanks by the way " Spike said as he took a haycake with a sapphire topping while looking at Applejack "I just hope that she actually makes it to breakfast." Applejack said as she bit into an apple pie. Even though Applejack knew that Spike was going to make breakfast she insisted that she would help by making another course "I see you're already eating..." Twilight said as she walked into the dining hall and pulled up a chair right next to Discord and Rarity "Oh hello Twilight, I didn't see you come in" Rarity said as she looked watched Twilight levitate a plate and utensils to the place mat in front of her "Well I said that I would be in time for breakfast?" Twilight said as she levitated a haycake and a slice of apple pie to her plate and a bottle of maple syrup to her side "You did manage to finish whatever you were doing right?" Spike said, doubtful that Twilight would actually put her studies on hold. "Not really I actually wanted to ask you guys a few questions while we were having breakfast" Twilight said as she used her horn to lift a quill and a note pad to her side, while also layering her haycake with a good helping of maple syrup At the mention of being asked questions at breakfast made all her friends roll their eyes and let out an aggravated sigh. Twilight didn't usually as her friends to answer questions for her studies during meal times but she deemed that this topic needed special attention... Breakfast went by relatively fast while Twilights friends tried to finish their food as quickly as possible as to avoid answering to many question at such an early hour "Oh my, I actually forgot to do something back at my cottage umm... if you could just excuse me for a few minutes, I have to feed my animals breakfast" Fluttershy said as she recalled that her animals hadn't been fed yet due to the fact that she had slept over at the castle "Oh sure Flutttershy go ahead" Twilight said while half ignoring her. Fluttershy didn't hesitate and quickly ran out of the castle and began her journey towards her cottage. As she approached her house however, she noticed that the door was slightly ajar and decided to sneak towards her house. Fluttershy may has had encounters with animals from the Everfree before but none of them actually went into her house, so she concluded that this animal may be a very curious one or a very intelligent one. I hope it's friendly... She thought as she slowly pushed the door open, making sure that it didn't creak. What she saw made her jump back and let out a small squeal, the creature she saw looked nothing like anything she had ever seen... instead of feathers, fur, or scales she saw a metallic skin and what looked like glass on it's head. The only features she could make out was that it had talons like one of her birds and had arms with those same talons. She also saw that it had blinking lights all over itself and was shooting what looked like a sheet of light at every one of her animals Fluttershy heard hoofsteps moving closer to the door and she quickly made a bolt for the nearest bush opposite her door. She observed the creature exit and push what looked like buttons on it's skin. She suddenly slipped on a twig but she was quick to recover, but she quickly saw that she didn't recover fast enough. The creature turned it's head until the glass was directed in her general direction... "Hello? Is anyone there?" Morbus said as he looked towards where he though he saw the movement come from. He didn't receive a reply so he walked over to the bushes and looked around. Morbus looked hard into the shrubbery until he saw something odd... Is that leaf pink?! Morbus thought as he moved his talon towards the oddly coloured bush. That's when he received quite a shock, the leaf moved... he quickly jumped back and charged his plasma pulser "Hello?! Who are you?" Morbus said as he looked at the bush and waited for something to come out... It can talk? at least I think it just spoke? Fluttershy thought to herself as she observed that awkward coordination in the tweets that it exhibited Ok Fluttershy it's just another animal, all you have to do is befriend it... She thought as she observed it's startled movement and concluded that it had seen her move "Umm... hello? I'm Fluttershy what's your name?" Fluttershy said quite softly, The creature seemed to respond by looking at it's wrist and suddenly a sheet of light came out and displayed an array of weird looking characters and symbols Maybe it didn't her me? she thought to herself as she gathered the courage to walk out of her hiding place and confront the creature directly... Ok here goes nothing... Fluttershy thought as she slowly walked out of her hiding spot "What? was all Mobus could say at the reading on his suit, which suggested that the language that the creature in the bush had just spoken was an exact match to one of the languages that he already knew 'Equinese'. The language 'Equinese' was thought to be a dead language and thus he was mocked for studying it back at AST (Advanced Space Training). Suddenly he noticed that the creature had moved out of it's hiding place and was now standing only a few feet away form him. To Morbus this moment was momentous as he could communicate with an alien race up close and didn't even have to use his translator. "Umm... My name is Fluttershy, who are you? Umm... if you don't mind me asking, please don't hurt me" Fluttershy said as she hid herself behind her mane Morbus quickly regained his composure and answered as best he could... "I am Morbus... umm... Captain 18001 of the fleet Andromeda 3, representing the Birdie Empire" He said as he recalled the standard galactic greeting, he then re-debated the choice of taking of his helmet. Morbus' mind was made up, since the atmosphere was T3 and Nibon wouldn't know whether or not he took of his helmet... he twisted the valve of the helmet, which caused Fluttershy to jump back a bit, then he slowly took of his helmet and then inhaled deeply. The air is so fresh here... Morbus thought as he breathed in the sweet smelling air "*Ahem* Umm... could you take me to one of your scholars?" Morbus tried to sound as friendly as he could, and to his amazement it seemed to work. Fluttershy motioned for him to follow her and trotted back to the settlement "Come with me I can show you one of our most intelligent ponies..." Fluttershy said meekly as she thought of how Twilight would react to having an unexpected visit...especially form a creature that was intelligent and seemed to come form another place altogether. She also noticed that the creat- Morbus was wearing some sort of suit and his skin was actually feathery in nature, she was thankful to see that his real face isn't that of a glass panel. Along with this she observed that Morbus' eyes and beak were very eagle like and indicated that he may be a omnivore... or worse, a carnivore. "Thank you so much umm... Fluttershy right?" Morbus said as he recalled the 'pony's' name. Morbus wasn't one for memorizing anything but since this moment was incredibly crucial he forced his mind to remember every detail he saw. It has wings... like me... they look exactly like mine!.. only smaller Morbus said as he observed a pair of wings on either of Fluttershys sides The two went to 'Ponyville', as Morbus was told was the settlement name, he was met with a few awkward stares form more of the locals and a few of them waved a Fluttershy and even him. By the way that Fluttershy reacted to the gesture he concluded that it was a gesture of kindness and probably greeting. Their journey was full of idle discussion which resulted them getting to know each other a bit more. "Well were here..." Fluttershy said as she stopped at the door of the crystal castle "I don't mean to be rude, but are we going to be meeting r-royalty?" Morbus asked while terrified by the thought of making the wrong move and completely ruining the integrity of his image and discrediting his empire. This is why he wanted to get to know the locals first, he didn't expect for there to be an incredibly important political figure all the way in an outlying settlement. "Oh no Twilight is a princess but she doesn't like to be treated like one, but if you want to know, it's polite to bow to royalty here." Fluttershy said as she pushed the doors open and revealed the big entrance hall and throne room. Fluttershy had grown to trust this new creature and didn't hesitate to try to help him in any way she could. Oh my god, I hope that this 'princess' is forgiving and understanding Morbus thought as he imagined all sorts of senarios in which everything goes horribly wrong. "Twilight! Twilight!" Fluttershy called as she burst into the dining hall, causing all of the ponies within to flinch and Twilight to jump out of her seat "What is it Fluttershy?! Is there something wrong?" Twilight said as she stared at her friend with a worried look on face. Fluttershy always panicked, this was true, but Twilight noticed that she also had a hint of excitement in her voice when she was calling her name. At this point all of the others had taken this opportunity to bolt out of the room and trot quietly up the stairs. Twilight noticed this but she was to occupied with Fluttershy to say or do anything about it "Well? tell me what is it?" Twilight said as she waited for Fluttershy to regain her breath. Twilight was completely unaware that what would happen next would push her project ahead a few thousand years... "Umm...Twilight there was this thing outsidemyhouseandIpanickedand-and-andIthinkit'sanalienandit'soutsiderightnow!!" Fluttershy said in her regular voice and her fastest ranting tone ever. "Woah wait what?! Fluttershy are you saying that you met an alien and he's outside right now!?!?!" Twilight said using the bits and pieces of what she understood and put 2 and 2 together. "Yes and I kinda-sorta lead him here coz he wanted to talk -to somepony that was very intelligent... please don't hate me." "Wait he think that I'm very intelligent?" Twilight said no quite understanding what her friend had said. She then concluded that she would go meet this new creature up close, she knew of the importance of first impression Twilight levitated her crown towards her and put it on If he thinks that I'm royalty then I must act like such Twilight thought as she slowly pushed open the door of the dining hall but her composure completely faded into amazement when she saw the creature in front of her... "Oh my Celestia..." was all Twilight could say before fainting... Author's Note That was quite an interesting first encounter, right? I wonder what will happen next?
Diplomatic RelationsNibon walked along the bridge of his ship and argued with himself endlessly... It's been about four hours... why hasn't he reported back yet... Nibon thought thinking about what could've happened to his partner while he was on the surface. Nibon had always feared interacting with other alien races face-to-face, Morbus had always told him that it was an irrational fear but he could never overcome it. What if his communication line is broken, what if he got captured... or what if he's dead!!! Nibon said as he sprinted to the ships main console and opened the tracking device. The monitor showed three separate windows, one showing Morbus' location, one showing his vital signs, and another showing his suit condition. "Well he seems fine... wait why are his helmet visuals down?!" Nibon said as he looked over Morbus' suit condition and noticed that the helmet cam was turned off. I swear if he took his helmet off... well he seems fine... b-but that's still no excuse, he could've been killed Nibon said with genuine concern. Nibon wasn't one to take risks, he liked doing things exactly by the book and didn't like it when Morbus went... anywhere on his own especially on missions. "Talbet! get me a suit I'm going down there!" Nibon said while he prepared the beam chamber and gathered his courage. Talbet, a smaller Biride with multi-coloured feather and a longer tail, was currently monitoring the ships health and energy levels while keeping track of the air pressure inside every room. "Sir?! You can't be serious?! The captain told you to stay here, did he not?" Talbet said as he looked up, stunned as to what he just heard. Secretly, Talbet always wanted to have his own ship but he could never pass the final exam to be a captain, and no matter how much help he got or how hard he tried he simply couldn't get an above 90% average. "Talbet, I know that you're not qualified to captain a ship... but Morbus is my friend and I can't just leave him on his own, especially if he's on a planet with a possibly hostile race!" Nibon said while he put on his jump suit and grabbed a pulse blaster. "Sir, I know that you care for the captain but sometimes you can be a bit overprotective... you have to just calm down and try contacting him first, I'm sure that he'll pick up a call from a friend." Nibon was right, Talbet wasn't a qualified captain and should even be working in the bridge but Morbus hand picked him, and by using his legendary performance rating, he was able to get him on board. "Ok... pull up a commsat uplink... I'm going to patch through to his holographic screen" Nibon knew that he could get very overprotective over Morbus sometimes, but he always thought that it would be his fault if anything happened. "Sir, the link is ready I'm patching the call now... this will take a little while" Talbet knew how much Nibon cared for Morbus but he also knows that Morbus is a free-spirit and doesn't like to conform to the standards like Nibon. Talbet hoped that one day he could also make a name for himself... even if it meant doing what Morbus was doing right now... Morbus sat on a chair in the main hall of the castle and patiently waited until he could see this princess... "I wonder what's taking so long?" Morbus wondered as he looked at his watch and realised that he had already spent three hours on the surface and only had two more to make a good impression before he would have to go back to the ship due to intergalactic law. Morbus' attention was caught by the giant door at the other end of the room beginning to open and a purple pony with open wings and a horn stepped through, with what looked like a piece of regalia oh her head. Morbus had only begun to stand up when the purple pony fell to the floor and had seemed to faint. "Twilight! Twilight! Oh my gosh... what do I do whatdoIdo Fluttershy said as she looked around and panicked over her friends' fainted body. Morbus, after observing this, quickly ran over towards Fluttershy and who he assumed to be Twilight and began to scan her body. "Is she going to be ok?!" Fluttershy said as she looked over to Morbus who was currently looking at Twilights vitals vitals and atmospheric requirements. "Yeah, I think she's going to be fine... but it looks like she fainted" Morbus said as he observed Twilights slow heartbeat and slow breaths "But we should probably get her somewhere flat so I can do a full body scan" Morbus said as he turned of his canner and began to tweak the beam controls. Morbus began to use his suits beam to lift Twilight off of the ground and on to the bench that he had been sitting on. "Can we do anything?" Fluttershy said as she looked at Twilights passed out body. "Why in fact yes..." Morbus said as he pushed a button on his suit which mad a mask and a box pop out of his suits container which was located on his back. The mask was attached to the box by a small cord and had the label Atmospheric Revival Unit, or ARU for short. "What's that?" Fluttershy said as she observed Morbus positioning the mask on to Twilight's muzzle. Fluttershy couldn't make out what the symbols on the box or the mask meant but she had seen that type of equipment before; the Ponyville hospital. "It's an Atmospheric Revival Unit..." Morbus said as he turned the small box on and adjusted a few of the knobs on it's side, until the meter reading Oxygen was at 21% and the nitrogen meter at 78% "What are you doing?" Fluttershy said as she watched Morbus adjust some of the knobs on the small box. Fluttershy had been studying Taxonomy and Biochemistry, so she knew that this device was used for regulating the composition of the atmosphere that the patient was inhaling. Fluttershy wasn't really that open with her friends about what she had been studying, she thought that it was boastful to tell others about the fact that she a doctorate in medicine and a masters degree in chemistry, yet besides these accomplishments she still panics when she sees somepony faint, get hurt, or bleed. Suddenly the door to the dining hall opened and revealed four other ponies with confused faces staring at the scene before them. "Who are you? and what have you done with Twilight?!" a mare with a rainbow mane and tail said as she flew foreward and charged at Morbus. Morbus wasn't inexperienced with these types of scenarios and had experience when dealing with them. Morbus was quick to react to the pony's sudden outburst and used his jump jets to leap out of the way. "Rainbow! don't be so brash!" a Marshmallow coloured pony seemingly held Rainbow Dash from charging at Morbus again with her horn. Morbus watched as he saw the Marshmallow pony's horn light up and an aura surround it. The aura also appeared around Rainbow Dashs' tail and seemingly hold her back. "What's going on here?!" Twilight said as she sat up on the bench that she was lying on. Twilight saw the creature from before being assaulted by Rainbow Dash who was being held back by Rarity. The room fell into a dead silence and the only sound that could be heard was the several heartbeats of the beings in the room and ambient sound of Rarity's magic. Twilight motioned for Rarity to drop Rainbow Dash, which she took a bit literally causing Rainbow to face plant onto the floor. Twilight then began to recompose herself as she got up and started trotting towards the new creature, everypony in the room could tell she was nervous due to the amount of sweat visible on her face. "Now, I presume you are intelligent correct?" Twilight said in a half inquisitive and a half annoyed tone as she paced around the new creature. Twilight saw that the creature was wearing some form of armour, but she couldn't place whether or not it could be used for war or whether is was actually dangerous. "Yes I am intelligent, your highness, I am Morbus Captain 180-, wait how do I know I can trust you?" Morbus didn't like the idea of talking back to the authority but with the way Rainbow Dash had reacted he couldn't take any chances. Twilight finished pacing around the creature and looked over to Fluttershy, who was cowering underneath the bench she had been lying on. "You trust her right?" Twilight said as she pointed to Fluttershy. Twilight knew that the whole first impressions thing was out the window, but she needed to be sure that this wasn't some agent of darkness. "Yes... Yes I do but that still doesn't mean that I can trust you... why don't you tell me your name first?" Even though Morbus could aromatically pair a name with a person, or in this case an alien, using his AST he still liked to be formally introduced before he started using their names, he learned that it creeped them out. "Then why don't you tell her?" Twilight said motioning for Fluttershy to come to her side. "Umm... actually he did tell me, when we met... earlier" Fluttershy tried to say but it didn't looke like Twilights heard her. Twilight looked at Fluttershy and made her glare more intense. "Fluttershy we both know that you talked to him before and he seems to trust you so will you just come up here?!" Twilight said in a more intense voice, that she would have never used on Fluttershy had it not been for the circumstances. Fluttershy timidly repositioned her self into a position in which her belly was parallel to the floor and she used one swift buck against the wall to slide out of her hiding place, shocking everyone with the ninja-like methods she had used to get out of the tight spot. Fluttershy then pushed up using her abdomen muscles and caught herself mid-air with her wings. The whole room was silent once more, but this time all of the ponies jaws had dropped and their eyes were glued to Fluttershy. "Did I do something wrong?" Fluttershy said with a worried look on her face and her eyes to the floor. Fluttershy didn't want to admit it but she and Rarity hadn't been completely honest with everyone... "No it's fine... sorry for being so harsh... I just need to know if IT is good or not" Twilight said to Fluttershy while indirectly insulting the creature that stood beside her. Fluttershy then bolted with way too much speed for a pegasus on her hooves, she then looked at Twilight and whispered slowly into her ear. " Don't call HIM an IT ok? Fluttershy said with a calm tone and a soft voice before stepping away from Twilight while her regular meek smile returned to her face. "Umm... *gulp* O-ok then Mr. umm... I'm sorry I didn't quite get your name..." Twilight said while sweating bullets Ok before I was just worried, but now I fear for my life Morbus thought as he looked at Twilights terrified face. "I am Morbus, Captain 18001 of the fleet A-Andromeda 3, representing the Birdie Empire" Morbus said with a slight stutter in his voice. Morbus didn't really like his exposing his true identity, but when surrounded by an alien race you don't really have much of a choice. "Ok m-my turn I guess, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Ponyville and the element of Friendship" Twilight said with whatever composure she had left. "See, we can all be friends here... I'll leave you two here to talk and me and the rest of the girls will just wait outside, right girls?" Fluttershy didn't like showing this side of herself, especially with such an important guest in her presence, but since the situation didn't seem to be getting any better she had too intervene. "U-uh yeah o'course, c'mon girls lets go and tidy up in the dining room." Applejack said as she helped Fluttershy push the rest of their friends into the dining room. After Fluttershy and Applejack had pushed all of their friends into the dining room Twilight and Morbus were left alone in the main hall, not really sure what to do now. What did Princess Celestia do when a diplomat form Saddle Arabia come to Canterlot? Twilight thought as she stared at Morbus. Twilight didn't know much about being a princes but she did remember some things from when she was tasked to accompany Princess Celestia when Luna couldn't do it. What did Nibon do when we first made contact with the Wurbbles? Morbus thought as he stared at Twilight. Morbus wasn't really used to diplomatic relations, he was trained for combat and captaining a ship. "So... umm... should we talk elsewhere?" Twilight asked in an attempt to break the ice. "Ok then... umm... where do you want to talk?" Morbus said before looking at the dining room door to make sure that Fluttershy wasn't watching them. "How about the balcony? I do need some fresh air" Twilight said, starting to relax a bit. Twilight wasn't sure what had happened that made Fluttershy snap like that, but she would try to never do whatever it was again...once she finds out what 'whatever it was' is. "Ok then, lead the way... I guess?" Morbus said as he picked his helmet up form the floor and packed up the small ARU and packed it back up into the container on his back. The two made small talk while they walked to balcony in an attempt to get to know each other a bit more. Once they had gotten to the balcony they saw something strange... "Umm... were you expecting someone Twilight?" Morbus said as he looked at the neatly prepared table-for-two, with an assortment of foods drinks and an assortment of utensils laid out beside two plates, opposite each other. He also noticed two chairs facing each other, where he assumed that they would be talking; however these things weren't what he found weird, beside these things there stood a creature with mismatched parts form the different creatures that they had also found on the planet. "Discord? what are you doing here? And where were you when the others started fighting?" Twilight asked in an unbelieving tone, she had not seen Discord since breakfast, and here he was... dressed in a waiters outfit and holding up a service tray "Well I heard that we were to expect a visitor so I prepared a lace for you two to sit down and have a nice morning tea while talking about... whatever it was you said you wanted to talk about" Discord said while he pushed both Morbus and Twilight to their respective seats. "Bu-wha? How did you know we would go to the balcony?" Twilight liked that Discord helped alot around the castle but she still found his methods weird and sometimes creepy. "Oh come now Twilight, don't you think you have other matters to attend to other than questioning me?" before Twilight could retort Discord had already taken his leave and left the two alone. Twilight and Morbus talked for about 30 minutes and they had gotten to know each other quite well and Twilight was amazed at how advanced the technology on his was. "...And this is the scan feature, it allows me to instantly record and catalogue any animal or anything it hits" Morbus said as he pointed to the tiny scanner on his wrist. "Wow, so you just press this and whatever the beam hits will be instantly saved in the memory thingy?" Twilight asked as she admired the sheer level of innovation that Morbus' race exhibited in their spacesuits. "That's not the half of the tech on this suit, and you haven't even seen the ship yet!" Morbus said enthusiastically. "Wait you have a ship?!" Twilight said, this was the first time Morbus had ever mentioned a ship, but she did find it logical... I mean how else would Morbus have gotten to this planet. "Why yes I-" Morbus cut himself off remembering that any details about his ship are supposed to be kept secret. Even though Morbus trusted Twilight, he still had to abide by the Captains Code. "What is it? Is something wrong?" Twilight asked slowly, wondering why he suddenly cut himself off. It was at that moment that Morbus' communicator started blinking... "Oh my, it's Nibon... I should probably go answer this" Morbus said as he got up and walked towards the opposite side of the balcony. He hadn't realised that 4 hours had passed and he hadn't called or even sent a signal back to the ship. "Ok then I'll just wait here." Twilight continued to sip her tea and look at the helmet in front of her, Wondering what the world looked like form inside the yellow lens. Twilight looked over to Morbus and saw that he was busy talking into his wrist, and what she assumed to be some form of communications link. Since she saw that Morbus was preoccupied, she decided that trying on Morbus' helmet would be completely harmless. "Wow..." was all that Twilight could say as she put the helmet onto her head, It had taken some effort to fit it on due to her horn but she was fine nonetheless. The helmet displayed various forms of information and data relating to Twilights surroundings, and even though she couldn't really understand what the readings were, she marvelled at them nonetheless. Twilight was taken by surprise, however, when the helmet started to play a sort of sound, it sounded like a series of tweets and chirps. At first Twilight disregarded the sounds and pushed them off as some form of ambient noise form outside, it wasn't until she looked back at Morbus and saw that the chirping noises were in sync with his beak movements, she also noticed that the helmet had displayed another meter which looked like a vocal pattern. Twilight wasn't able to decipher much, but she could understand bits and pieces of whatever Morbus and whoever was on the other end were talking about. "...So how do we *chirp* *tweet* maybe it could *chirp* *tweet**crow*" Morbus said in a different tongue. "You actually had to do *tweet**tweet**tweet* but if it is necessary maybe I can" another voice replied. Twilight wasn't sure why she was hearing this, or if she should even be eaves dropping on Morbus' call. "I'll explain everything later but now *chirp* *chirp* bring down the ship" Morbus said with authority in his voice. "Ok then I'll land the ship, but where do you want it? also remember we shouldn't *chirp* *tweet* everything ok?" the voice on the other end seemed to be unsure of what to do, but he seemed to comply with whatever Morbus wanted him to do. Twilight had already stopped listening in when she heard that an alien ship was going to land on their planet. "I have to tell the others... and the Princesses... I wonder what they'll think... Elsewhere in the galaxy... "Systems check, crew check, ship check, we have a go for launch" a robotic voice said into a headset. The voice belonged to a Grox commander by the name of Velocity34 E-7, he was quite large compared to the others of his race and he was wearing a decorated military outfit. "Ok commander we are a go for launch, target at E-35-7-8432-9" Another robotic voice said while he strapped himself into the cockpit and turned on the edges, he also yelled something to the back of the ship. "Scout team ready? You are too collect data of the planet and report back immediately... there's no telling how powerful this race is yet, but they're sitting on a spice gold mine" Terminal said with conviction, he gave his final salute and with it the command to launch. The mission was under way... Author's Note Ok, even I wasn't expecting that... I wanted this chapter to be a bit slower than this but that's how the cookie crumbles I guess...
PrologueGem Shard, a stallion unicorn with a pristine white coat and a groomed blue mane with a sound wave for a cutie mark, was a researcher for the Canterlot Advanced Technology program and he along with his partner were about to make a breakthrough that could change their lives and possibly all of Equestria... "Is it finished?" Gem Shard asked his partner Soul Gem, an ordinary looking unicorn mare with a lean body with a blue coat and a light blue mane which was, as always, messy and with a wrench for a cutie mark, for the tenth time that day. "Almost." Soul Gem said as she turned to look at his partner "Be patient, it takes awhile to make a receiver this powerful." she said before turning back to the machine that they were working on. Gem Shard walked up to Soul Gem's side and looked over her shoulder to see what she was doing. "Are all the antenna extensions really necessary?" he asked a he pointed to a few of the larger antenna segments.Walking across the room he also observed some of the oddly stacked black boxes "I mean the translators are a bit too big don't you think?" Gem Shard said gesturing to the large metal box that looked like it could be big enough for a pony. "Yes yes, now please give the translator to me so I can attach it to the receiver" Soul Gem said with a bit of annoyance in her voice. Gem Shard quickly pushed the box over to the table where Soul Gem was working "Hmmm... for a box that big it is quite light" he said as he made one last push not wanting to waste his magic on something he deemed to be this tedious. He may be smart but he sure is strong. Soul Gem thought to herself looking over her partner before returning to her work. The machine itself was simple, a deep wave receiver that was meant to catch interstellar transmissions in the hopes that they would prove themselves to not be alone in the vast reaches of space. The inner workings though, were a whole other story; the entire thing can on a 12-cell energy crystal array which was the most efficient thing that their division could get their hands on with the meager funding given to them. The main body had 3 essential parts: The main receiver which was dedicated to receiving and storing any inbound or intercepted messages About an hour had passed when Soul Gem finally finished the receiver. "It's done Shard!" she called towards the pantry of their research station and waited half expecting to be pushed to the other wall by her partner, but when no reply came she decided to go to the pantry and check on Gem Shard. As she walked away from their machine she couldn't help but notice how messy the room had gotten over the passed few weeks, several machine parts littered the floor, the paint on the wall had started to chip due to the changing climate, blueprints were everywhere, and worst of all she noticed that they were out of clean lab coats. "This place need to get cleaned up really bad... meh I'll make Shard do it tomorrow" she mumbled casually. As she walked along the narrow hallway leading towards the pantry she could smell smoke coming from her destination and quickly hastened toward the room and as she entered she could only say these words... "What in Tartarus did you do here?!" It had only been an hour since Gem Shard left for the pantry and already he had failed to make the cupcakes he wanted, burned half of their baking supplies, used the last of their firewood to heat the oven, and also managed to cover himself in batter. "Maybe this time it will work" he said hoping that his fourth and final batch of cupcakes ended up on the table and not in the trash like the other three. "Ok everything seems fine" he said to himself as he saw the cupcakes slowly rising in the oven. "It's done Shard" Gem Shard thought that he heard his partner say something but decided to ignore it. "I hope that's not important" Shard said to himself as he continued to watch the cupcakes that he so wanted to eat, but the cupcakes had other ideas, they started rise much quicker than Gem Shard wanted and eventually popped. Gem Shard disappointed by the cupcakes flopped on the floor just as the door opened. "What in Tartarus did you do here?!" Soul Gem said with obvious anger in her words. After Soul Gem berated Gem Shard for using all the baking supplies they had and for making the pantry smell like a fire pit she and Gem Shard cleaned up the pantry as best they could. "That's the last time I leave you alone in the pantry" Soul gem said to her partner, Gem Shard looked down and mumbled to himself "This is the only time you left me alone in the pantry" quite sarcastically. The two then proceeded back to the main research lab only to receive the shock of their lives... The light on the receiver that indicated a message was blinking. "Oh Celestia I can't believe it!" Gem shard said as his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "We have a signal already? I just finished building the thing!" Soul Gem said in disbelief. The two just stood there for a full ten seconds before Gem Shard ran forward and pressed the play button. "Well what does it say?" Soul Gem said while still shocked that their machine was able to pick up a signal just moments after it's completion. "Shh!!" Gem Shard hissed at her for possibly interrupting the message. While Gem Shard waited patiently for the message to go through the translator Soul Gem grabbed a quill and scroll on the desk behind them. "-DAY MAYDAY!!" the speaker boomed suddenly coming to life, causing the Gem Shard to step back form the Machine. *static* "-ELP I'M HIT!! GOING DOWN!!! I REPEAT GOING DOWN!!" The two researchers that had previously been waiting for the message to continue now looked at each other, both with shock in their eyes *static* "THIS IS BATTLESHIP FOXTROT 4 CRASH LANDING IN SECTOR 2 4 3 7 6 0 8... If anyone hears thi-" that was all they heard follows by a loud explosion. Gem Shard was too in shock to actually react to the sudden direness of the message. While Soul Gem used her quick thinking to jot down the numbers on the scroll he had been suspending in her magic field this whole time somehow managing no to lose focus. *static* "Message terminated" the machine said leaving the room in complete silence Soul Gem had already started writing a report to princess Celestia about their recent findings and the grave message that their machine had managed to pick up. Gem Shard on the other hand just stood there pondering his next move. "Aren't you going to add something to this report?" Soul Gem said briefly looking up from the scroll to ask her partner. Gem was snapped back to reality with this realization, 7 years of research had finally paid off. "It worked..." he managed to say though it came out very soft. "It worked!! Gem Shard said with tears welling in his eyes and a goofy looking grin on his face. Soul Gem only looked at him with a confident smile and said "I knew it would" What happened next took Soul Gem completely by surprise. Gem Shard ran up to Soul Gem and gave her the most passionate hug that he could give whispering"we did it" softly into her ears which caused Soul Gem to blush profusely all through out the hug but she still managed to hug Shard back A few minutes later Gem Shard had officially calmed down and started helping Soul Gem on the report to Princess Celestia. Dear Princess Celestia I am happy to inform you of our recent success at the Canterlot laboratories Advanced Technology division, project First Contact is a success... well almost, we have recently constructed a working receiver and have been able to pick up a message. Currently we are not sure what the message means but we can assure you that we are trying our best to understand it, we also are starting work on a working transmitter that will hopefully allow us to have a two-way connection and allow us to have a better understanding of these beings. We are hoping for your quick response and a confirmation to push our research to the next level. Sincerely, Soul Gem and Gem Shard Gem Shard then rolled a ribbon around the scroll and sealed it with the golden canterlot seal then left it out in the mailbox for the mail-mare to pick up. "I hope she gets it and replies soon, we really need that research fund." Soul Gem said to herself before re-entering the lab It had only been a day since Soul Gem and Gem Shard had sent their letter to the princess and yet still no reply came... "Dear sister hath thou been troubled of late?" Luna asked Celestia, who had been pacing the Canterlot Castle hall for quite some time now. "It's nothing Luna..." Celestia said making an attempt to hide her face for fear that her sister would see the truth, but she failed to hide the scroll which was in her hoof the entire time. "Then what is thou reading?" Luna asked while her eyes slowly drifted towards the scroll in her sisters hoof. she began to read the scroll while Celestia pondered her response what she saw amazed her. "Sister thou should have told me sooner this is most excellent news!!" Luna said ignoring the fact that Celestia had no idea that she was reading the scroll "Luna I don't think you fully understand what this means" Celestia said looking at her sister with heavy eyes and a grave expression on her face "What is the problem sister I hath always thought that you wanted to find other life in the universe that surroundeth us... so why now, when we are so close to the discovery of such life do you begin to feel upset?" Luna asked her sister, who was now on her haunches and immersed in deep thought. "It's just..." Celestia attempted to divulge more of what she truly felt about the situation but alas her mind had failed to form her feelings into words. "It's just that i'm...i'm worried about this new discovery...I have been thinking of it and after I got over the initial shock of the fact that we are not alone in the universe i got to thinking... how will these other-worlders be like, will they as compassionate as us? Will they distrust us? Will they try to destroy us? I just... i'm not sure if we should carry out this project..." Celestia said with anxiety in her voice alongside obvious doubt. "Give it a chance dear sister you have put much in the ways of money along with the time of our little ponies into this project and it would be a real shame to just tell the scientists at Canterlot labs that their work was for nothing would it not?" Luna asked making it very clear that she wouldn't let her sister drop the project completely... at least not without a fight. "I just don't know sister i don't feel like this is the right thing to do... I mean how would this benefit our race anyway? how would this help advance our own society? I just don't think that this is what our resources should be devoted to." Celestia said still looking quite phased at the fact that she had received a letter telling her that they had picked up a transmission from outer space. "Then if that is indeed how you feel then why did thou devote such vast quantities of our resources into the project in the first place?" Luna said with conviction determined to change her sisters mind "NO!!" Celestia said quite unexpectedly "Sorry it's just that you have such high hopes for this and I don't think you see the full picture of what could happen if the race we have managed to contact has any malicious intent... I don't think that I can handle feeling responsible if something happened to my little ponies because of this..." Celestia said sounding quite serious, also managing to scare her sister. "Sister...I-I I just wanted to help and give a suggestion I had not meant it like that..." Luna said feeling very scared at her sisters sudden outburst. "I'm sorry sister but I am not willing to take this risk...I still remember...Project D-" Celestia said as she rose and started walking to the door intent on shutting down project First Contact. "No... it's ok you don't have to say it..."Luna said over her sobbing cries just as Celestia walked out the door, tears fresh in her eyes For Gem Shard and Soul Gem it was an ordinary day, save for the fact that they had not gotten a yes to continue research nor did they receive any funding that indicated they could do so "Did you check the mail yet Soul" Gem Shard asked with a smile that bordered near insanity and eyes that would have bore into anypony elses soul all while he waited patiently for his breakfast "Yes I did Shard...Twice" Soul Gem said feeling a bit annoyed at the statement due to the fact she was trying to cook "Oh... ok just checking" Shard said with a casual tone, then began to gorge himself on his food just as the plate was set in front of him "You know you could thank me once in a while, right?" Soul Gem said to Gem Shard in a joking manner with a smirk on her face. "Ok ok thanks for the wonderful meal Soul, though seriously where did you learn to cook like that?" Shard managed to say over his stuffed mouth which currently contained vegetarian omelette, pancakes, and a lettuce leaf. "Well my mom always let me cook with her when I was little so I learned quite alot" she said proudly also remembering the fact that Shard couldn't cook even if his life depended on it *knock* *knock* *knock* "I wonder who that could be?" Soul Gem inquired to herself and her partner "I'll get it!" Gem Shard said almost whimsically as he walked over to the battered door and slowly opened it only to nearly faint after who he saw on the other side. "Hello my little ponies I regre-" she tried to say before she was cut off by Gem Shard "ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh" Gem Shard said faster than Clestia could hear Celestia walked over to the table where Soul Gem was still sitting and asked her calmly "Is he always like this?" she asked Soul Gem calmly trying to ignore the fact that Gem Shard was bouncing near the doorway "Only around celebrities" Soul Gem said rolling her eyes at Shards obvious star struck state "Wow I never thought scientist considered me a celebrity" Celestia said whilst blushing "But that is not what I am here for, I am sorry to inform you that your project has been cancelled..." Celestia said with a sudden and unexpected change in voice "WHAT?!" Soul Gem and Gem Shard both simultaneously said with both surprise, anger, and anguish in their voices Author's Note This is my FIRST try at a legitimate story so praise and constructive criticism are both highly appreciated. If you have any suggestions please feel free to comment them and I will take them into consideration. I leave this chapter to your judgement and i am not sorry for leaving it in suspense... I look forward to your support and dread your disapproval. Also a very special thanks to Sectoids story: Intergalactic I recommend that you Check out his story too, for his is the story that inspired me
