Brief Encounter

Chapter 4

Brief Encounter

The long sound of silence was all that could be heard inside of the pod as all the Martians were either knocked out or still under the effects of Banjee's strong red weed. After his quick actions for piloting the ship and landing it on the planet in one piece after Tonker went under the effects of red weed, there was no doubt that Torno, the spy Martian, should deserve a medal for his actions, though King Abanazer being such the prick he is wouldn't even think about that ever.

Right now getting a medal was the least of their concerns, the force of the impact had been much stronger than expected, mainly as Mars' gravity had been much weaker than on Earth, but of course little do they know that they are not on Earth.

From the pilot controls, Torno was slowly and surely starting waking up from being knocked out, however, it was only thanks to a voice waking them up that became more and more clearer. He didn't know who it was, but it did seem familiar.

"Do you read, over?" Came the voice again.

Torno groaned as rubbed his head and half opened his black eyes. First thing he could see was that the front window was all covered in Mud and dirt, the first sign to show that they had landed. He cocked an eye over at the year chart showing that it was the 24th August 1898, the date when they left Mars. The clock showed that it was two in the morning Earth time.

"DO YOU READ?" Boomed the voice again, making Torno jump in fright.

Looking over to his left, there on a small green hologram was the King himself looking cross at him for some reason.

"S-Sir!" Torno stuttered saluting Abanazer.

"At last, someone responds!" replied Abanazer seeming to breath a sigh of ease. "I've been trying to contact you for the last five minutes, what's been going on?"

The spy bit his bottom beak trying to think of something. He couldn't say that the whole crew had been drugged and narrowly causing the mission to be an almighty fuck up. "My lord," he began. "We have landed successfully on Earth!'

The King rubbed his two tentacles with excitement. "Excellent! The portal worked wonders, now the others can follow closely behind." Then he noticed that the captain or any other Martian on board hadn't responded to him. "But wait, what are the others doing?"

A small shiver went up Torno's back. He quickly looked back seeing his comrades, though by a miracle, they all seem to be waking up slowly. "My lord," He began. "While the entry through the atmosphere went without any problems, but the force of the collision...with it having a stronger gravity than on Mars knocked us all out on impact."

The King sighed shaken his head in disappointment at the thought of it. "There's always a catch, isn't there?" He paused briefly before continuing. "Now then dear Torno, when Wacko wakes up, I want you to tell them that you'll need to take the surrounding area under Martian control so that all over Pods will follow behind…safely."

Torno raised an eyebrow of how the King said 'safely' with some vile ring in it, like he was expecting them to die pretty soon. Then again, this whole thing did seem like a suicide mission. Nevertheless, he gave the Martian King a quick salute and a 'sir!'

The King put on a smug smirk. "Very good my spy. Remember, this whole invasion must be done ASAP." And with that, the hologram image vanished leaving the interior of the ship in semi-darkness.

"Oh, my head…" Came a voice from behind Torno. Turning round he could see that Wacko had awoken though was still rubbing his head. He then noticed at the others looking similar to what he was but Torno being the only one looking fine after the whole trip. "What happened?"

Torno rubbed his tentacles together. "Good news, sir. We've landed on Earth!"

Wacko's eyes widened in amazement then shook his large head showing a much-relived expression on his face. "Oh Torno, you magnificent bastard!" He then turned to look at his other teammates. "You hear that guys? We're here!"

The crew, still feeling a bit worse for wear, did some cheering and some applauded shaking one another's tentacles, like a human handshake in Martian terms. "Way to go for us!" Ajax piped in giving out tentacle pump, while in the process punching Banjee in the face by accident. Then again it was his fault that they nearly ruined the mission before take off so he did kind of deserved it.

"And one other thing," Torno added. "The King was just on there saying that we have to capture the surrounding area to allow the others to follow behind."

Wacko nodded, digesting the information. "Oh right then, "he said before turning to look at the other Martians. "Right team, we gotta get those Fighting machines assembled in a short time, Torno and Tonker will open the hatch door to allow the air to come in. Now let's get going! Go, go, go!"

Without anything to say, the Martians unfasten their safety belts and shuffled along, still feeling a bit groggy, to the cargo area where the parts for the machines were kept in. Tonker had now come out of his red weed hangover, but had just picked up the captian's message to let the air come in. Just then, Abaztard moved over to join his fellow spy at the controls. He placed a friendly tentacle around Torno's back.

"Well done, comrade," Abaztard congratulated. "Told you all those years of practice on trying different machines was worth it for this moment.

Torno nodded at his friend's words. "Yeah…" Just then, Tonker sitting nearby them interrupted the pair.

"Alright then," Tonker began, rubbing his eyes. "Let there be air…" And after clicking a few buttons, a click and a loud hissing followed indicating that the air was now coming through. All Martians in the craft had to stop and breath in this new other worldly atmosphere, and oh! The sweetness of this new cleaner air was a far contrast to the weak and dusty air of Mars.

Now it was maybe some wonder of why the lid of the craft won't just open up quick, the reason for this is that as it would slowly open, the air would come in quite slowly and would allow for the Martians to get use to, had it opened too quickly, the sudden change of oxygen would've caused them to die.

Once the lid was opening up, the three Martians headed over to help out their fellow Martians to help with the assembly process of the machines, the machines that would cause so many calamities to Equestria.

XXX

As Celestia raised the sun that morning just like any other day, something was different nearby Ponyville. It was something that Equestria had never seen anything like it. A giant silver like bullet was sitting in a crater on the outskirts of the Everfree forest. Not to mention that with it looking so otherworldly and shiny, it contrasted with everything in its surroundings.

Early on during the early hours of the morning when the cylinder like object crashed landed, Rainbow Dash and Applejack came to see what was going on. They had returned to their friends looking too shocked at what they had seen. It didn't really worry them at whatever it could be, but it had now only just sunk in to the two ponies at what it really was.

Something not of this world.

When they did return to the others, the two of them couldn't quite explain in words to them, other than it being a large crater in the ground, they both seemed unsure to tell what was in the great hole. So the two friends left Fluttershy's home to head back to their respectable homes to try and calm down and get back on their hooves. What made the others worried was to see Rainbow Dash seemly looking uncertain of what ever it must've been made the other ponies fearful. None of them wanted to go to the site and see whatever it was, it was still dark after all.

By the time daylight had come, the group of friends left to head back to their homes, none of them feeling brave enough to head over to the site. When Twilight headed back to her library (with Spike in tow) she couldn't help but find it strange that after that loud noise last night, everypony seemed to treat this day just like any other.

From the train station came the sound of various trains coming and going from Ponyville, young colts and fillies heading on their way to school and all other ponies doing their own jobs like they had done like always. Everything just seemed so safe and tranquil. That is when Twilight and Spike passed by some ponies having conversations with one another that were talking about the sonic boom last night that woke everypony up.

"Do you think we'll go to the site and see what it is?" Spike asked Twilight as they neared their home.

Twilight thought about it. True, there was part of her wanting to see what was there, yet the other was really not sure. "…We'll need to ask Celestia, she'll know what to do."

Spike nodded. Little did either of them know that they would find out sooner or later of what was going on.

XXX

By the time it had gotten to half past three in the afternoon, the day had been uneventful. Twilight had written a letter to Celestia about what had happened. It did seem somewhat strange that Twilight was not sending a friendship report to her. Still, this was something of an unusual event in Equestrian circles so she really couldn't say much about it.

Suddenly right out of the blue, the door slammed opened causing not only Twilight to snap out of her thoughts, but for Spike, who was on top of a ladder putting a book away, to fall off to hit the floor. "Ow! What gives?" He said rubbing his back.

Looking over to see who was at the door, Twilight and Spike saw that it was Rainbow Dash, panting heavily. "Guys, c'mon they're all on their way to the crater!"

Twilight walked up to the blue Pegasus rolling her eyes. "Look Dash, you should remember to kn—wait, what did you say?"

"Everypony in town is heading to the site!" Rainbow Dash replied moving her way out of the doorframe showing a large queue of earth and unicorn ponies moving steadily out of town with Pegasus ponies flying overhead.

Twilight and Spike look on stunned at what they were seeing, then looked at each other wondering at what they were seeing. "How'd this happen?" Spike asked Rainbow Dash.

The asked pony put on a sly grin. "Well, it seems a certain pony is putting on a welcoming party to these new ponies…" She said the word 'ponies' with some uncertainty, like she wasn't sure if it wasn't ponies they were going welcome.

Twilight though seemed more surprise than uncertain with the thought of their being a welcoming party. "So then, let me take a wild guess here, Pinkie invited nearly all of Ponyville to come?"

"Your right there," Rainbow Dash replied. "Though her own curiosity must've gotten the best of her to go there."

"Sounds like her alright," Spike chuckled before looking at Twilight. "So are we going then?"

The purple unicorn looked at the large crowd heading to the location. With this being said of the amount of ponies going, it seemed that it was safe for everypony to come. Then again Pinkie Pie would throw a party regardless whatever the circumstances.

With a smile and a small relaxed sigh, Twilight finally responded. "Alright then…off we go then!"

With smiles from Rainbow Dash and Spike, the two were about to leave when suddenly Twilight remembered something.

"Wait!" Twilight said, stopping Rainbow Dash and Spike leaving. She looked towards Rainbow Dash. "Dash…tell us, what was it last night that you and AJ saw that you couldn't speak about?"

Dash's face suddenly dropped. She knew she'd have to tell what was going on, though she was somewhat surprise that Pinkie hadn't come by to tell Twilight and Spike about this great party or even what was in that crater. She let shaky sigh before starting. "…Alright then. Well, remember last night when we saw that green light that seem to come from the sky?"

"Of course," Twilight replied, remembering that strange occurrence.

Dash looked away before continuing. "Well…nah, I can't say it…"

"C'mon!" Spike scoffed crossing his arms. "Just let it all out!"

Rainbow Dash looked back at the pair again, biting her bottom lip. "Well…me and Applejack saw this…big silver cylinder thing, the size of a house. When we were there, the top began unscrewing. Somepony or something's in there!"

A long silence followed as the others stared in amazement. This was nothing like anything they would've heard before. The only thing that was going through the Mare and Dragon's heads was the idea of what Dash had been saying to them. "A…a cylinder?" Spike said finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah, "Dash nodded. "Pretty crazy don't you think?"

The violet Unicorn then walked passed Rainbow Dash staring at the crowd of ponies still heading towards the location of the…cylinder thing that lay. "...Alright then you two," Twilight spoke. "Let's go." And with that, they headed off to see what all the fuss was about.

XXX

Despite there being a major crowd of ponies, the crowd moved along steadily and rather quickly, no doubt all wanting to see what was on the outskirts of the forest. Above them, the other Pegasus ponies, including Rainbow Dash, flew overhead while Twilight and Spike had to walk, not that they didn't mind however, they knew that despite all the waiting, whatever it was would be worth it.

As the large crowd of ponies moved away from Ponyville, Twilight and Spike noticed that the queue seemed to curve at bit more to the left behind a row of thick bushes, in indication of how close they were to the Everfree forest (why they are they, I really haven't a clue!) As each Pony rounded the corner, each one gasped staring at the sight. Finally Twilight and Spike went round the corner, they themselves gasping at what lay before them.

True to Rainbow Dash's words, there sitting in a large crater, was the giant silver cylinder with the top of it unscrewing slowly. Though that wasn't the only thing that caught their eye. All around the site, the place had been turned into a huge party with many activates on one side, food and drink on the other and a large banner in pink writing saying 'WELCOME TO EQUESTRIA!'

Of course, there were no prizes at guessing who had set this all up, and no prizes who seem to greet them out of nowhere.

"Hi!" Pinkie greeted happily as always popping out of nowhere it would seem, causing Twilight and Spike to jump back in surprise. "So glad you could make it! Can't wait to give them a great welcome!"

"Them?" Asked Twilight, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, them in that silvery…thing!" Pinkie replied looking back at the giant object.

Twilight shook her head. "Wait a minute, how do you know that there are ponies in there or even…anything else in there?"

Pinkie Pie paused, thinking about what Twilight said. "…Mmm, doesn't that seem like something that Horse G Wells wrote in a book once?" (You'll get it later…)

"Beside, I have a good feeling about this!" And she bounced off to the other end of the party before the two friends could work out what she'd just said.

Spike slid off Twilight's back, his eyes staring up and down at the cylinder. "I can never understand Pinkie at times," he muttered to Twilight before he himself walked over to the edge of the crater to have a closer look.

The Mare rolled her eyes to herself, but only briefly so she could look up again. Much like the others who were looking up the top of the cylinder, they remained hypnotized by the unscrewing. By this point however, the top looked quite loose and seemed on the verge of falling off. On the edge of the crater, a few young colts and fillies were happily dangling their hooves over the edge enjoying themselves, until their parents/older siblings told them to get back, and it was just as well they did.

Five minutes later, the lid finally fell off, hitting the bottom of the hole with a hollow clunk.

Everypony stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the top of the now lid-less cylinder with a few strands of warm mist coming out slowly from the top. A deadly silence followed, the only sound was, incredibly, coming from the inside of the cylinder.

"Here they come!" Pinkie Pie whispered to a nearby Mare excitedly, she could barely keep her excitement to herself.

Many ponies there all expected a Pony to emerge, maybe something slightly different about them, but not much.

From the top, a long thick brownish tentacle rose slowly from the top, it's skin being that of a rough texture. A few gasps emerge from not only the site of one tentacle, but also that of another that rose out, both grabbing the sides of the top. Three others did the same, grabbing the back.

Ponies looked back at one another wondering what they were seeing. Finally, slowly coming out, two large shiny black eyes appeared, as he went up further the thing, which we know as a Martian, more features emerge with it having a grey beak and what seemed like…shaving foam and a razor in one tentacle that came up. The Martian in question was Abaztard who had been having a shave.

Screams from many Ponies followed causing the poor Martian to fall backwards into the craft. "Oh fucking hell!" He cried as he crash landed on Banjee. All other Martians inside stared at what had happened.

"What's going on?" Asked Wacko as he looked up.

The spy Martian seemed to have had the fright of his life as he clutched his chest where his heart was, not even caring for Banjee stuck underneath.

"Hey! Get off!" Cried out Banjee, which thankfully Abaztard did after hearing him.

"What'd you see?" Asked the captain again.

Abaztard looked over to Wacko. "I've…just seen a field of…colors…!" He himself couldn't quite understand of what he had just witnessed.

"Let me see," Wacko said suddenly as he climbed up the side ladder to the top, Banjee and fellow spy Torno following behind.

"Hang on!" Abaztard cried out as he started following them too.

As the reached the top, both Martian and pony gasped at each other. Wacko scanned the crowd. Nothing but strange looking…ponies? He didn't do much history on the other animals on Earth, so this was all new to him.

"Why were they having a barbecue here?" Torno whispered as he saw the party decorations all out, of course if they could read the text on the banner (sadly they couldn't) it would make sense.

"Who would be stupid to have one on this damn location?" Abaztard scoffed.

From one side of the party, Rarity could be heard saying 'What ugly brutes!' repeatedly. The four Martians on top looked over at the white unicorn,

"Who you calling ugly?" Snapped Wacko.

This caused Rarity to faint and many ponies started screaming and ram for their lives away from the party, with Pegasus ponies flying far away as possible. Fortunately for Rarity when she fainted, Spike had been with her and caught her while in the process nearly getting crushed by her. Without any help, Spike had to drag the Mare away; he didn't want to look back at those…things. He didn't care if all this dragging would mess up her smooth fur-hide; the main thing was to get her to safety.

"Spike!" Shouted a familiar voice. Looking up, the voice belonged to Twilight, who was rushing over to help Spike out. "Let's get back to Ponyville!" And she levitated Rarity up with her magic. Soon enough, they were now running with the crowd away from the now abandon party.

By the time the Ponies had left, silence fell all over, as the Martians on top looked at each over. None of them could explain what had happened. It was only then when Torno finally broke the silence.

"Guys…I don't think we're on Earth."