Tui: Trapped*

"So what are you telling me here Aloh?" The Shas'o asked. Poking into the other Tau's armour. Aloh wasn't really sure himself, they had woken up on a world that clearly wasn't T'ros, let alone had the capabilities to get the Tau home.

"Well commander. It would appear that us twelve have woken up in armour and holding arms, on an unfamiliar alien planet covered in talking, colourful horses, ponies, and apparently dragons too." Aloh replied finally. "We have no Orca's to get us off this planet to get home." He added, Var looked to the other Tau who were still content with reading the horse lore.

"So, Shas'vre." The commander replied, something similar to hatred dripping from his voice. The purple horse looked genuinely scared, either for the sergeant or scared of the bulking figures of the Tau before her. "What is it you suggest?" Var added finally, his voice lowering a little. He wasn't exactly happy with what he and the squad now face, but he wasn't about to upset their hosts.

"I suggest we wait for the reply from this planet's Aun and possibly met him, or more likely, she. And explain what has happened and see if we can expect aid." Aloh replied quickly. One thing he had noticed from the various life signs he was picking up around the town that most appeared to be female, it was hard to tell since a lot had clumped up together outside of the tree the Tau reside in.

"And if she gives no aid, given the fact this planet doesn't seem capable of interstellar flight just yet, thinking logically we may be truly stuck here." Var replied, then looking down at Twilight he said. "When will we expect a reply from your Aun?" As if on cue the small dragon burped a flame and a rolled up piece of parchment appeared in the air. A few Tau looked up from their books but otherwise were unfazed. Var smiled at that, they may be relaxing and looking bored, but as soon as something they deem a threat walks through those wooden doors of the library, no amount of horses will be able to protect it from the amount of plasma fire they would unleash.

"Well, what does it say Spike?" Twilight asked impatiently. Spike unrolled it and coughed.

"Dear Twilight, thank you for warning me of these aliens, but you really should have told me sooner. I request that you and your new, friends, come to Canterlot straight away so we may discuss things properly. You may bring a few of your friends, but if these aliens look as dangerous as you described then I wouldn't recommend it. Yours sincerely, Princess Celestia." Spike read and handed the parchment to Twilight, who read it again and nodded. Looking to Aloh and Var who were staring at Spike still.

"Well you heard her, we are off to Canterlot. The train station isn't too far off." Twilight said after a moment of awkward staring. She paused when she reached the door, none of the Tau had moved, either still reading or looking to Var for orders. "Oh and erm, try to not to break anything." She added and left, being greeted by around half of the town asking various questions, whilst she answered them, Var looked to Aloh, who looked to Spike, who shrugged.

"Alright then, Shas' on me!" Var ordered, there were a few grunts as Tau put their books down and Var face palmed. "We are going on a train, bring a damn book with you." He added, a few quiet cheers and everyone picked them up and placed a palm on the page, then closed the book and grabbed any weapons laying around, putting helmets back on, they made a line. Var looked to his helmet still laying on the floor of the library and ignored it, hopefully they would come back here to get it.

"Follow Twi'Light. No, just Twilight. Follow the purple horse and don't break anything." Var ordered and the group moved out after Twilight who was slowly pushing her way through the crowd, who doubled their efforts to see the Tau as they left the building. Most had to crouch down to avoid the low door. As they walked a small Tau caught up with Var who was staying close to Twilight, gently pushing through the swarm of horses. He had a blue strip down his helmet and on the icon of the Tau home world on his shoulder pad, his armour was thinner and the Tau only had a small side arm as a weapon, showing off the fact this was a Water Caste Member.

"What is it Por'el?" Var asked, not giving the other Tau a second glance.

"Well commander, since we are meeting with this planets Aun, mayhaps it is in everybody's best interest that I do the talking. I am the only real diplomat here. Sir." The Water Caste Tau replied, his voice was a lot more educated sounding than Var's, lighter too.

"How did you manage to get to this peaceful world with us Por'el?" Var replied, meaning to be offensive.

"I would prefer it if you called me by my name, commander." The Tau replied.

"I will when you do Por'el." Was all Var said, Twilight thankfully intervened.

"You keep saying Aun whenever talking about the princess. What does it mean?" She asked, Var smiled and thought of an answer before Por'el Valar did.

"For us, it means Ethereal, or Celestial the leaders of our race." Var replied, quickly. The water caste member made an annoyed sound and wondered back to the squad, who were still deep in their books. All but Aloh and Tyrion.

"Celestial eh?" Twilight asked, the commander nodded. "Fitting." She added.

"So this Princess of yours? What is she like?" Var asked, looking to his squad for a second.

"Celestia? Oh she is great, friendly, wise, smart-" She was cut off by Var.

"I mean, how will she be like towards. Us?" Var asked. Twilight paused and nodded.

"Oh right, well you don't seem like you want to hurt us. If i put in a good word the best that can happen is she will let you stay in Equestria, asking occasional jobs and the like."

"And the worst?" Var asked, raising an eyebrow muscle.

"Well, she won't harm you or your friends, if that's what you mean. She might, if worried for pony-kind's safety, send you to the moon." Twilight replied. Wise and Friendly, sure. Var shrugged.

"Could be worse. We could survive for a while, food and liquid would be an issue though." He replied.

"You could survive on the moon?" Twilight asked, somewhat confused, Var looked at her. If this Aun is certain not to harm us, why did Twilight sound confused by the fact we could survive on the moon, following that logic, it would mean we couldn't, hence. Die. Var waved an arm at that thought and answered Twilight's question.

"Our helmets produce oxygen for us, also expelling any, unneeded waste. That said, we would starve before emergency oxygen ran out." Var explained, not that anyone could open a ration pack in the depths of space anyway.

"They produce oxygen? What kind of magic is that? I must study them when we return to Ponyville." Twilight said, somewhat excited.

"It's not magic, it's science. We Tau don't have any magic, those that do, are usually our enemies." Var replied. Twilight nodded and slowed her pace, in front of the group was a small building with a rather long train sitting on the tracks, waiting.

"That is nowhere near tall enough for us." One warrior commented, another replied with: "We could sit on the top, although I'm sure someone will find something wrong with that." Var face palmed.

"I'm afraid my squad members are correct, we couldn't fit in that." He pointed out, Twilight smiled.

"Can't you sit down?" She asked. Another face palm from Var if you please. The team managed to fit into one carriage, emptying it of ponies almost instantly. Each fire warrior sat, with their helmets almost touching the roof of the carriage. They instantly started reading again. Var looked at the twelve Tau around him and noticed Twilight looking at him.

"What?" He asked. She smiled.

"You are pretty proud of your friends aren't you?" She asked, a few Tau put their books down to this, Var looked away and just stared at Twilight.

"What does that mean?" He asked. She smiled deeper and a few Tau lent in to the conversation.

"I've seen my brother have that look so many times when he around guardsponies he has trained. It’s pride don't deny it." Twilight replied.

"I'm not your brother though." Var replied, and looked out the window before anything else was said, just then, the train began to move. The purple horse didn't say anything and despite the smiles of the other Tau, they didn't push the subject either.

Author's Note

So now you have all met Por'El Valar, one of the last major members of the team, there will be a few others but so far those introduced are the main characters among the team. If I can get round to painting them I will do a photo shoot of the 13 of them, but no promises.

Hope you are enjoying this!

Side note: Last exam was finished today :D