Unexpected twist of the four unwelcome guestsby SaffronChaptersChapter 1 Crash landingChapter 2 DiscoveryChapter 3 A meetingChapter 4 Introductions Chapter 1 Crash landingForty days of traveling, heading for the Arch facility in hyperspace. The small research vessel shaking after an improvised explosive went off in engine area, the explosion having knocked them out of hyperspace. The pilot thinking there was no hope, until seeing a planet on his radar. As Mark tried to gain control of the ships failing AI he only had one option. "Jack give me control disable auto pilot and put the remaining engines that are working in reverse at thirty percent." Mark commanded. "Disabling Auto pilot. Back up engines online." The A.I. replied. "Shit, Jack give me a status report!" Mark said. "Life support at fifty percent. Multiple fires on Deck one and two. Main engines offline. Secondary engines offline. Backup engines working at fifty percent. Backup engines coolant system offline." The A.I. replied. "Jack how far away are we from that planet on radar?" Mark asked. "About ten thousand miles. We will arrive in about three minutes." The A.I. replied. "Wait three minutes! Put backup engines at eighty percent reverse!" Mark commanded. "At this rate your engines will stop working in two minutes. Do you still wish to put them in reverse at eighty percent?"The A.I. asked. "Yes!" Mark yelled. Mark the pilot of the ship watched as the planet slowly got closer. He noticed something odd on the surface of the planet. It was green, a forrest maybe. Yes, it was a forest, but how could this be most of the galaxy was mapped out. That included this region, unless his navigation system was malfunctioning. There shouldn't be any planets out here. "Jack is the navigation system malfunctioning?" Mark asked. "Navigation system errors are present." The A.I. replied. "Ok, Jack send out a distress signal." Mark said. "Error. Communications array offline. Internal and external transmitters damaged." The A.I. replied. "For fucks sake can this get any worse!?" Mark said angrily. "Escape pods 1-10 malfunctioning. Fires are present in shuttle area." The A.I. said. "Can you put those fires out?!" Mark asked. "Activating sprinklers." The A.I. replied. "How much time do we have before..." Mark couldn't finish his sentence before the A.I. cut him off. "Backup engines one and two are overheating. Powering down" The A.I. said. "Jack System override 8 protocol 2. Restart engines!" Mark said. "System cannot be overridden shutting down engines." The A.I. said. "For fucks sake... Shit, Jack how long until impact?" Mark asked. "Approximately forty five seconds." The A.I. said. "Jack how long before we enter the planet's atmosphere?" Mark asked. "Approximately twenty seconds." The A.I. replied. "Jack transfer all files regarding the artifact to my helmet. Then delete the rest, and alert all personnel to prepare for a crash landing." Mark said. "Transferring all files." The A.I. replied. "Good." Mark said. "Attention all personnel prepare for a crash landing this is not a drill." The A.I. announced over the speakers. "Hey you here that James, sounds like we should buckle up." Rostislav said sarcastically. "Rostislav sometimes I really hate you." said James. "The feeling is mutual. Now sit down and buckle up. I have a feeling we are going to have a bumpy ride." Rostislav said. "Bumpy, that's an understatement more like a crashy ride." James said nervously. "Don't worry about the details. We'll be fine. After all we are in the most structurally safe part of the ship." Rostislav said. "That makes me feel so much better." James said sarcastically. "Impact in thirty seconds." The A.I. announced over the speakers. "Any last words James?" Rostislav said with a laugh. "Yes actually, why did I think this job was going to be easy?" James said. "You know we never get easy jobs. I'm surprised you thought this one was going to be different." Rostislav said. As the ship hit the atmosphere the aft of the ship was tore off falling somewhere on the unknown planet. "Jack what was that?" Mark asked. "The engine room has been lost." The A.I. said. "What do you mean lost?" Mark asked. "The engine room has been disconnected from the ship." The A.I. said. "Shit, deploy emergency parachutes!" Mark yelled. "The emergency parachutes were disconnected from the ship." The A.I. said. "What? Where were they located? I thought all ships had port and aft parachutes!?" Mark asked. "This model was built with only aft parachutes. Impact with the surface in ten seconds." The A.I. said. "Shit, pull up, pull up!" Mark screamed. As the ship hit the ground it tore apart killing most of the crew instantly. The cargo they had on board scattered across the open field they had landed near. The ship slid across the surface creating a fiery scar in the undisturbed land. Not too far away was a griffin who saw the burning metal contraption falling from the sky. Then he saw a bright flash and heard loud explosion. The ground shaking from the explosion made him fall out of the tree he was laying in. The sight he had just witness before him was the most breathtaking thing he had ever seen, and he wanted to know what it was. He was only about thirty minutes away by air. So he decided to go and investigate the object that had fallen from the sky. As he flew through the air he noticed a few griffin soldiers heading to the crash site as well. Seeing this he flew faster to try and beat the soldiers to the site, because they would most likely block the area off to the public. The griffin wasn't really into government conspiracies except when it came to aliens. If this was an alien craft of some sort they would try to cover it up and hide the ship. Another thought hit him, if he were to be caught near the crash site he would most likely be detained and questioned. It would be worth knowing if aliens were real, but was it worth his life to find out? He pushed his thoughts to the back of his head flying faster to the now smoking crater he could barely make out. If he was lucky he could beat the soldiers and get out of their before they noticed him. "Hey you, stop!" A guard called out. Unless he got caught before he made it to the crash site. He was almost there. Meanwhile near Ponyville a rainbow haired mare noticed an object falling from the sky. It was burning bright in the mid day light. She followed it with her eyes across the sky, watching the object land somewhere in the Everfree forest. "I got to go tell Twilight Sparkle about this!" Rainbow dash said to herself. Then the rainbow Pegasus dashed off to the library where she would find her friend, and tell her about the mysterious object that landed in the forest. As she was heading back to Ponyville she heard a loud bang. Her curiosity got the best of her and she headed off in the other direction towards the object that had just fallen. She flew fast to see what had caused the noise and in seconds she was at the spot where the object crashed. She saw a smoldering metal box that looked as if was torn off from something bigger. She got closer and as she did a terrible smell crossed her path. It was like nothing she has ever smelled. Burnt corpses lay inside of the box and a few outside lay strewn about. The sight of the corpses' making her lose her lunch. She went up to one of the still smoking bodies to see if it was still breathing. When Dash nudged the body's right shoulder it crumbled and fell off the body. She went to check another but it seemed as if they were all dead. There were no survivors it looked like, just dead creatures. Seeing this she flew off to tell some pony, any pony what had happened. She flew for what felt like hours. After a few minutes she reached Ponyville and headed to the library. She saw Twilight and Applejack exiting the library as she arrived. Landing, Dash rushed over to Twilight to inform her of the mysterious object and the dead creatures scattered around it. "Twilight, Applejack I need your help. Something just fell out of the sky and I think some pony might be hurt." Rainbow dash said frantically. "Hold on there sugar cube. What fell outta the sky?" Applejack asked. "Yeah and who is hurt?" Twilight asked. "I dunno one minute I was just lying on a cloud taking a nap. Then I woke and saw this thing falling from the sky. I was heading over to tell you about it, but before I could head over I heard a loud noise over where it landed and I went over to check it out. When I got th th there w were..." Rainbow Dash couldn't finish, she began crying remembering the burnt corpses. "Whoa calm down Dashie. What did you see?" Twilight asked. "Th they were all dead!" Rainbow dash was able to say. "Dead!? Who is dead?" Applejack said nervously. "The things, I think they were aliens. " Rainbow Dash said. "Aliens? Are you sure about that? That seems very unlikely." Twilight said. "Come with me ill show you, but we should bring a nurse or a doctor." Rainbow Dash said. Chapter 2 DiscoveryA few minutes had passed and the captain slowly picked his head off of the ships dashboard. It took him a few moments to realize what had happened. With the sudden realization that he had just landed, well crash landed on an alien planet that may be inhabited by a race he had no knowledge of. He decided it would be best to round up all of the survivors on the ship and establish a perimeter around the ship. “Jack are the intercoms still functional?” Mark asked. “Yes.” The A.I. said “Good, I need to make an announcement.” Mark said. “Powering intercoms, battery reserve low. The ship will run out of power in ten hours twenty minutes. Intercoms ready to use.” The A.I. said. “Attention all personnel, please make your way to the artifact storage area. We need to regroup and come up with a plan. From what I have seen this planet is most likely to be inhabited. I do not know where we are, but we are definitely in an unexplored region of space. So we need to be prepared for anything. We will do a sweep of the ship to search for any injured so if you cannot make it to the storage area we will not leave you.” Mark said over the intercom. “Jack how many survivors are there, I need to know how many survivors there are.” Mark said. “Currently there are four heat signatures including yours.” The A.I. said. “What do you mean only for check again!” Mark yelled. “There are only four consistent heat signatures, the rest are slowly dropping indicating multiple deaths.” The A.I. said “Fuck my head is killing me, Jack transfer yourself into my A.I. storage space in my helmet. I have a feeling you might come in handy later.” “Transferring Jack to personal storage unit.” The A.I. said. A few minutes passed as the to soldiers waited silently. Waiting for someone or anyone to come along. Time seemed to move slower as the soldiers waited, but in reality instead of it taking hours they were only there for five minutes. “We can't just sit here! Someone might need our help!” James said angrily. “Well you heard the captain we should stay here. Listen this is an order from a superior officer, we can’t go. Besides he said that in ten minutes when everyone gets here we will go looking for the injured.” Rostislav said calmly. “By the time the captain and the others get here it might be too late, you know as well as I this ‘crash’ was a hard splashdown. Not a light crash. There might be only us and the captain left!” “Don’t be so dramatic there is going to be more survivors than just us.” Rostislav said. “I have been in several crash landings before and you were with me. You should know as well as me that this was most likely the worst yet.” James said. “Well James you're right there were almost no survivors.” Mark said from around the corner. “Captain.” They both saluted. “Who no need to be so formal with protocol. After all we need to find someone.” Mark said “Yes sir. How many survivors are there?” James said. “Four including us. The rear of the ship was tore off when we entered the atmosphere. That is what most likely killed a majority of the crew and scientist. “Shit, what condition is the rest of the ship in?” Rostislav asked. “Well getting here was tricky. There was a fire that I had to get passed and a few corridors that were blocked by rubble.” Mark said. “So, not so good.” Rostislav said. “Wait you said there were four survivors including us. Where would this other person be?” James asked. “Well he or she is in the main research wing of the ship. We need to get the survivor and the artifact then we need to get out of this ship.” Mark said. “Well he was in the main research wing.” James said. “What do you mean he was in the main research wing?” Mark asked “Well why don't you ask him, he is right behind you.” Rostislav said. “Holy hell captain, you really banged my lab up.” The scientist said. “Chang, im surprised you survived and it looks like you brought the artifact with you.” Mark said. “Yeah well I know how you think Mark, the mission is top priority always.” Chang said. “Well its true and lets all get one thing clear, I am still your captain so dont call me Mark. Now lets get out of here.” Mark said. The griffin panicked and dove down into some nearby bushes trying to avoid being found. He knew it would only be a matter of time before he would be found. The griffin decided that he was going to risk it, actually risk everything and fly straight to the thing that crashed. He slowly got up and spread his wings and then took off. He flapped his wings hard and fast picking up speed, dodging the trees. He could see the thing through the clearing He was almost there. All of a sudden he felt a sharp pain in his left wing, an arrow hit him. The impact causing him to fall. "Stop now, or we will be forced to terminate you." A soldier said. The griffin didn't listen he started to sprint towards the object, he was so close. He was almost there. The griffin ran passed some invisible barrier and when he looked behind him he saw an arrow coming straight at him, but the were stopped by the barrier he had just passed. When the griffin turned around he saw something so strange and terrifying, he had no time to react to what was about to happen. "Holy shit! What the fuck is that!" James yelled. "I dunno and I don't want to find out. Kill it." Rostislav said. “Wait!” Chang said. It was too late the soldiers each took a shot. The griffin didn't have time to react his chest being shot twice. The griffin fell to the ground, and as the griffin lay there he said one thing. “I never said my name…” The griffin said with his dying breath. With that the griffin died, being silenced forever. The four strangers that killed him to only wonder what his name was. “Shit, did it just talk?!” James said. “I think they are the locals, and we just killed one of them, and it looks like there are more of those… um creatures.” Mark said. “Those creatures seem to be griffins captain.” The A.I. said. “Griffins?” James said. “A griffin is a mythical creature with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion.” Chang said. “Wait… Did it just say somethi….” It dawned on mark that creature they just killed spoke, and there was a griffin heading back into the forrest. He just realized the soldiers most likely killed a civilian of an alien planet that was not part of the Galactic Alliance. The penalty for a crime like that was life imprisonment, even if you were associated with the crime. Twilight looked on at the large object in disbelief. She couldn’t understand what she was seeing. Well couldn’t rationalize it. This couldn’t be possible real aliens, well crispy and burned aliens. She scoped out the metal structure from a short distance and then decided to get closer to it. She studied one of the charred bodies, disgusted at what she saw. She went to touch it, when she did a piece of the shoulder she touched broke off. Seeing this she reeled back. “Rainbow since you are the fastest I need you to go get spike. I have a letter to write.” Twilight said. With that Rainbow flew off. Speeding through the sky towards Ponyville. “Twilight what do ya suppose those uh burnt critters are?” Applejack said. “I’m not certain Applejack” Twilight said disheartened. She was certain that the creature before her was not in any of her books in her library. ‘Furthermore it seemed like this was Equestria’s first contact with aliens. One that would, with the recent destruction of the ship and the death of the crew, not be in favor for Equestria if they were to come by only to find what little of one of their ships remained’ Twilight thought. What if the aliens think that we somehow destroyed it, and seek retribution for their dead. Oh, what if it was a civilian transport or a military class spacecraft, would that see this as an act of aggression towards them?’ Twilight panicked. Applejack, seeing that her friend was going to freak out at any moment, spoke up. “Are ya ok Twi?” Applejack said cautiously, she had never seen Twilight so distressed except when she failed to write a letter to Princess Celestia that one time. “No! What if this craft was a civilian ship that belongs to an advanced race of beings that would see this as an act of war?! What if they think we did this?! Or what if this was an invasion attempt that ended up going wrong! What if...” Twilight was interrupted by Applejack. “Don’t worry so much Twi. What if this thing crashed here accidentally?” Applejack said in an attempt to reassure her friend. “But we don’t know that!” Twilight yelled. “And thats just it Twi we don't know what happened.” Applejack said slightly worried. “Thats what worries me the most.” Twilight said with a sigh. As the four humans stood there in silence for a bit longer to grasp what had just occurred not a few minutes before. “Shit, man this is totally not good. The Alliance will have our asses for this.” said a panicked James. “Chill dude, chill it’s going to be fine.” Said Rostislav in effort to calm his partner down a bit. Although he knew that getting out of this mess was slim if not impossible, but he figure that if they hid the body and everyone agreed not to…. wait there was still Jack and one definitely couldn’t modify his programming or delete some of his memory without an Alliance official looking into why an A.I. was missing a few bits of its memory or had a modified base code. “Um… guys not to be whiny bitch or anything, but there are more of these griffins heading towards us. I mean when they see the body and all, don’t you think we should prepare for their arrival?” Chang said in a worried tone. “Changs right we need to roll out the welcome mat, James get the tea, Chang get the table and chairs, Rostislav get the body out of sight and dispose of it, burn it if you must I am going to go and greet our house guests we are going to invite them in for some tea.” Barked the captain. “Yes, sir.” Came the reply from the remainder of the crew as they set about their assigned tasks. Rainbow Dash was back at the library when she saw a bright flash of light. When she opened her eyes she saw Twilight sparkle. Seeing her made her slightly annoyed as she could have done gone to the library instead of her. “Twilight, sometimes you annoy me.” Rainbow dash said. “Lets worry about that rainbow. Spike! I need you to take a letter please.” Twilight said. “Ok im ready.” The little dragon said. Dear Princess Celestia, Today Rainbow Dash has found a crashed alien ship in the Everfree. Well, I am assuming that it is as but there is no confirmation of such. When we got there, all we found was twisted metal and burnt corpses of unknown creatures scattered about the immediate area. So far there are no survivors from the crash and nothing that seems to be salvageable except for whatever metal that was used to build the ship. Also of note was the fact that not all of the ship seems to be present only a small portion of it, which greatly concerns me. What if one of the other nations gets the rest of the ship and whether or not there were survivors. Also I should note that when I scanned the the remains of the ship with my magic I was not able to detect and sort of magic at all, which should be impossible for anypony to build any sort of spacecraft without magic. I mean how could you not use magic, its necessary for any kind of feat like that! Plus not only did the ship not have magic but the bodies as well. Life without magic just is not possible, magic gives life to everything as well as the ability to think. I am not certain what to think of this. I mean the existence of aliens was thought to be impossible, but here is an alien ship. It was thought that life without magic was not possible, the bodies at the crash site say otherwise. Its like everything we ever thought that was right gets tossed out the window, how do we know what's right anymore? Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. With that Twilight ended her letter nodding to Spike. The letter burst into a green flame and disappeared. Chapter 3 A meetingA bright flash of green flame appeared in front of Celestia turning into a scroll. Celestia picked it up in her magic and began to read it. She did a double take thinking she misread something, she didn’t. She then picked up a quill, ink and a scroll. Dear Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student. This matter is to be dealt with immediately. Do not let anyone near the wreckage of the ship. I am sending Captain Shining Armor, Lieutenant Dusk Lance, and Lieutenant Silver Sword. This may be first contact with another race and I do not want anyone to panic. If what you say is true I will send a ‘cleanup crew’ to deal with the ship. For now Twilight Sparkle get your friends and the Elements of Harmony together, we need to be prepared for anything. Signed, Princess Celestia. Once Celestia finished the letter she sent it off to Spike with her magic. She decided to call a meeting with Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, and high ranking military officials. Celestia then began to prepare for the best and worst case scenario, best as being the aliens want to co-exist and the worst the aliens wanting to kill them all. They had much to discuss. Around three hours before... The griffin commander was not a happy griffin today. First there was patrol which he disliked a great deal, then there was the routine check to make sure the griffin military was up to standards, and now there was this fire ball from the sky that he had to deal with. Yes, he was not a happy griffin at the moment. ‘I didn’t even get my cup of coffee this morning.’ the griffin commander thought. He was halfway to the crash from the nearby outpost when he saw a civilian heading towards it. This was something he could not allow. He turned to one of his sergeants and ordered him to detain the civilian that was heading towards the crash site. “Yes sir.” Said the griffin sergeant on the commander’s right, and took off to detain the civilian. Half an hour later the griffin commander landed about two hundred and fifty meters from the crash where the griffin guards had already set up till he got there. “Status report.” Yelled the commander who could tell that the crash was not natural at all, if anything it looked like it was some sort of sci-fi ship from space if looks were to be believed. “Unknown object with unknown origins, mostly made of metal and does not look to be functional at the moment also there is some sort of barrier around the wreckage, sir.” Came one of the guards. “What kind of barrier?” Came the commanders’ reply. “Unknown, sir.” Replied the guard. “Ok then gather some troops and…” the commander never finished that sentence when three loud sounds came from the direction of the ship. “What was that?” Panicked one of the griffin guards. “I don’t know.” Came another guard. “SIR.” Yelled the sergeant the commander sent out to detain the civilian from before. “What is it sergeant, do you have the civilian?” Was the commanders’ reply. “No, the civilian made it to the wreck before I could get him. However, when I got there, I saw four strange creatures, two are in some kind of battle armor I have never seen before and carried a strange looking item. The other two are unarmored and had nothing on them of interest, sir.” Was the sergeants’ answer. “Interesting, but what of the civilian?” The commander questioned. “I did not see the civilian when I got there, sir.” The sergeant said with disappointment at having failed to catch the civilian. “I see, we will discuss this failure later. Now then everyone gear up and wait outside we are going to head over to the wreck in five minutes, move.” The commander ordered. Five minutes later... The commander along with seven griffin guards and his two sergeants left the makeshift camp they had set up and headed over to the wreck to confront these creatures. Although he did not like the fact he knew so little about what he was getting into, however someone had to go and take care of this, and that someone was him. As the commander was nearing the wreck, about seventy five meters ahead was one of the unarmored creatures. When the commander and the guards got closer it waved to them and further surprised him when it spoke their language without blunders of any sort. “Welcome griffins, we just got the tea ready would you care to join us.” Mark informed the griffin commander with a wide grin. ‘This is going to be hilarious.’ Mark thought chuckling internally. Back at Canterlot Castle... Celestia was nervous about the meeting that was about to take place any moment now. Unlike all the other meetings that were held, this one was the most important meeting that she had called in recent times. This was not about politics with neighboring nations, or the economy, or even state affairs. No, this was a meeting about first contact with an alien race that is obviously, according to her student, significantly more advanced than Equestria and all of the other races on Equis. She and her sister along with the other officials need to decide how first contact with aliens is to proceed. Celestia sighed. This could be the beginning of a new age or our end. It all depends on how well contact with them goes. Celestia hoped that they were peaceful and would be willing to live side by side with her little ponies. However, if they were hostile she was not sure about their chances of survival against them. Who knows what kind of weapons they have or how big their army is. Even if they were peaceful would they even share any of their knowledge with Equestria or anything other than peaceful relations. Celestia did not know. Celestia entered the royal conference room, seeing her sister and her niece as well as the other high ranking military officials already gathered in the room and seated. Celestia cleared her throat. “I am assuming you all are wondering why I called you all here.” A course of yes’s from all those present was their response. Celestia took a deep breath before speaking. “You are gathered here because of a recent problem has arisen. We are now faced with the most important decision of our time. My faithful student has just informed me that an alien space craft has crashed in the Everfree forest. We are now presented with a first contact situation with beings from beyond the stars whom are incredibly more advanced than we are. I am asking you all for how we should proceed.” A deafening silence filled the room before one of the military officials spoke. “Do you know what we are dealing with?” General Golden Shield asked. “No, I do not know what we are dealing with General Golden Shield.” Celestia said dejectedly at the fact that she was as much in dark as everypony else. “So, how do you know these are aliens then? Have you seen them?” Commander Emerald Light asked. “No I haven’t, but if what Twilight said is accurate then we will need a plan.” Celestia said. “Plan for what a, possible attack or declaration of war? We have an army we can fight off a few aliens.” High chief Burning star said. “You don't know that Star, they could have an army even larger than ours.” General Golden shield said. “We don’t even know if there are aliens.” Commander Emerald Light said. “Well there are millions of planets in space the chances of other races on different planets is great.” Commander Blazing Spear said. “I agree with Spear, the chances another race existing is great.” Cadance said. “Don't be so foalish, aliens aren't real!” Emerald light said with venom in her tone. “Enough, I did not call this meeting to argue over the possible existence or non-existence of an alien race!” Celestia said with a slightly raised voice. Celestia said with a slightly raised voice. “I called it for a plan to deal with them if they are hostile or friendly.So any suggestions?” Celestia said calmly. With that the room goes silent, all of them thinking of ways they could handle the situation.After a few moments of silence it is broken by Blazing Spear. “Well what do you know about them Celestia?” Blazing spear asked. “Not more than what I told you.” Celestia said. “We could offer them something.” Luna said. “Yeah, like a peace offering.” Cadance said. “What would we give them?” Burning Star asked. “Well what do we have that they might want?” Blazing Spear asked. “We do have crystals, gems, and gold. Do you think they would like that?” Cadance asked. “That could work.” Celestia said. “What if they think we are a rich country and try to take everything from seeing what we offer them. We should give them something more practical.” Blazing Spear said. “Wait a second. Did you inform any of the other kingdoms?” Emerald Light asked. “Not yet, I will wait till I get a full report from Shining Armour. I do not want to panic another nation with a possible misunderstanding.” Celestia said. “Well, has Twilight spoken to any of the aliens?” Emerald Light asked. When Emerald asked that question Celestia froze. She knew there were no survivors, but there could be more. Thats the thing though there could be more. She didn’t know if there were anymore. “They were all dead.” Celestia said cooly. Everypony looked at her, in stunned silence. Chapter 4 Introductions Chapter 4 Introductions “What do you mean they were all dead?” Blazing Spear spoke cautiously. “Exactly that commander, they did not survive the crash.” Replied Celestia coolly. “So… we actually have their spacecraft and the bodies.” Questioned Emerald Light. “Yes we have the bodies; however from Twilight’s report it would appear that we only have a small section of the spacecraft, but not the whole ship.” Responded Celestia. “What do you mean, are you saying that another nation could have the rest of it, finding who knows what on board be it weapons or other tech that would put them at a significant advantage if they can reverse engineer it.” Was Golden Shields remark. “Well then, while I am still not convinced that they are aliens till I see what was found, I think that we should keep this a secret and see if we can’t get anything out of the wreck that is still salvageable and we should send somepony to spy on the other nations. See if any have the remaining sections of the craft.” Emerald Light stated. “No Emerald, We will not be spying on our allies or any of the other nations for that matter, we will not stoop to such lows as spying.” Was Luna’s sharp reply. “I agree with the Princess, spying would only add to our problems, we have enough problems to deal with already without the other nations in uproar over this new situation.” Commented Burning Star. “What did survive the crash on our section of the craft, Celestia.” Blazing Spear asked hoping that there was something that made it through the crash. “From what was stated in Twilight’s letter, the only thing that seems to have survived was the metal that makes up the craft.” responded Celestia. “Well we should figure out where the other part of the ship landed. We should also tell the other nations about this once we know for sure it is an alien craft.” Blazing Spear said. “I agree, we need to inform the other nations. If we tell other nations about this we could gain more trust.” Burning Star said. “I think I have decided how to handle this. We will inform the other nations once we figure out what this new race is capable of, and if another nation claims to have found the other half we will also tell the other leaders.” Celestia said. Meanwhile in ponyville… Twilight waits near the craft for her brother. After she read Celestia’s letter she had Rainbow gather the Elements of harmony and her friends. As she waits her friends come. All of them except Rainbow Dash look confused and horrified. “What the buck is that?!” Applejack asked. “I think it may be an alien space ship.” Twilight said. “How is that even possible?” Rarity asked. “I don’t know, but given the vastness of space it would be possible for another planet to have life.” Twilight said. “What did the princess say?” Rarity asked. “She is sending my brother and two soldiers two evaluate the ship. She also told me to keep other ponies away from it. So this is what I need you to do. Make sure no one else comes over to investigate.” Twilight said. Twilight gave each of her friends a position to look for any ponies that may wander near the crash site. It was relatively quiet nopony came close to the forest. It took about an hour for shining to reach the site. When he reached the forest Applejack and Pinkie Pie showed Shining and the two lieutenants to the crash site. When they got there their jaws dropped. They stood there just looking at the ship. Until Twilight got their attention. “Shining, I’m so glad to see you.” Twilight said enthusiastically. “Twilight, I uh… I can’t believe what I’m seeing.” Shining Armour said like he was dazed. “Captain, we must inform the princess. The sooner she knows the sooner we can clean this place up.” One of the guards said. “What do you mean? I already told the princess.” Twilight said. “She sent us to make sure this was true.” Shining said. Twilight was slightly mad at that. The princess didn’t believe her. Why didn’t the princess trust her enough to believe this? “Am I not trust worthy enough for her?!” Twilight said angrily. “No it’s not that, she just needed to be sure that this was real, and not something that wasn’t.” Shining said. “That’s what I was saying!” Twilight yelled. “Oh, then I guess she doesn't trust you.” Shining said. After Shining Armour said that Twilight lost it. She teleported back to her tree to think, leaving the rest at the crash site. Shining Armour took notes on the craft and the lieutenants went inside and brought some of the equipment out of the ship. They did not know that they went into the armory and took weapons. Shining Armour finished up his notes and teleported the objects his subordinates had found in craft to Canterlot to be analyzed. After that he and his troops went to the train station in Ponyville and headed back to Canterlot. Meanwhile in the Griffin kingdom- Commander Klirmor was never so shocked in his whole life. The creature had spoken in fluent Equish somehow, not only that but… wait tea… it can’t be serious can it. Tea. Here. Now. In a burning wreck no less. Klirmor could not wrap his head around the audacity this creature had, to be suggesting that they and him and his guards have tea. It was almost as if Discord had entered his mind and started turning everything upside down. He was also sure that his fellow griffins were just as confuzzled as he was about this whole situation. This had to be a dream, because there was no way any of this could be happening. It was too mad, too insane of an idea to have been reality. Private Fraun was just staring at the creature like it lost its mind, or if she lost her mind actually, because it seemed to be completely serious about the tea party… thing it was inviting us to. I can imagine what the others are thinking, probably something on the lines of ‘what the feather’ or even ‘this has to be a dream that is being run by Discord himself.’ I can relate, my own thoughts are just as chaotic as theirs are. Well at least it… That was when the creature spoke again. “Crumpets anyone?” It asked in a completely innocent tone like it didn’t realize just how insane this scene looked. Everyone just stared at the baked good that it had just held out. Where it got the food from was anyone’s best guess. At that every griffin fainted from the absurdity of the whole situation. All except one. Every griffins last thought was that if this was Discord then he was probably laughing his ass off right about now. “Eh, they must not like crumpets. Shame really, they are quite good for being flour and yeast.” said the strange being. “Well you just gonna stand there and stare at the food or are you going to eat one.” The being said with some mirth in its voice. Private Glen was staring at the scene before her. Everything about it made about as much sense as the draconequus himself. She could only stare even as her comrades fainted, laying there even though the creature was in front of them. Though she could understand why they fainted, the absurdity of all of this was, in their opinion, orchestrated by Discord for giggles. Even if said draconequus was not present currently. Glen looked up at the creature that was just standing there with a small smile on its face as if this was all planned. “What is your name, miss.” It spoke, shaking the young griffin from her thoughts. “Private Glen.” Was the uneasy response Mark got. ‘Well, at least she told me her name and rank.’ “Hello private Glen, my name is captain Mark pleased to meet you. Also if I may inquire, who are your associates?” Mark spoke to the nervous griffin. ‘Captain!?’ thought Glen worryingly. ‘So this creature is a part of whatever military its race has, and a captain no less! Oh, the life of a lowly private, why are we cursed with bad luck. At Least it is not offended that I am not acting professionally considering that I am on duty thankfully. I don’t think I would win if I had to fight the creature off in my current state if it were to attack. Hold on, it asked a question. Oh, what was it again, it asked for the names of my comrades, right I should probably answer it.’ Glen cleared her throat to answer the creatures question. “The one up front is commander Klirmor, the leader. The one to his left is sergeant Prigum, the other one on his right is sergeant Tryger. The one next to me is private Fraun, the other four are privates Kronas, Jericho, Anders, Merious, and Corporal Venieer.” Glen stated as she pointed to each giffin as she said there name and rank. “Well then, now that is over with, would you mind helping me move them into the ship, there is no reason to let them just lay there while we go enjoy some tea now is there?” Mark questioned Glen. “I… well… no, I suppose not but why tea?” Glen said unsure if this creature is going to take anything seriously. “Because, well ok, we are doing for kicks and giggles here, lighten the mood you know and so that you would be too busy questioning your sanity to attack us, all the while we have some tea. Yes I was serious about the tea part, can’t have a conversation without some refreshments ya know.” Marks said hoping to get the griffin out of her trance like state. All Glen could do was stare in shock at the creature. ‘It planned that whole thing so that we would be too distracted to do anything, all the while being completely serious about what it said.’ Glen will admit that it was a brilliant plan that most certainly worked; they had been too busy trying to wrap their heads around the situation that it did not have do anything. Then Glen narrowed her eyes at the creature. “Why should I do that?” Glen was certainly suspicious of its intentions now. “Well, do you just want to leave them out here or do you want to get them inside, it is a bit cold out here. Also you want to do your job; we just want to talk so that we can avoid a conflict here.” Mark replied coolly. It did have a point with that, she was out numbered with everyone else taking a nap, not to mention that she could not go back without the others especially her commander for fear of getting punished for failure. It was her first day to… “Fine.” Was all Glen said. “Fantastic.” The creature clapped. “Pick up one of your fellow griffins and follow me to the dining area.” It said enthusiastically. Glen did as it asked and pick up Fraun and carried her into the interior of the wreck. ‘Let’s hope I am not making a grave mistake listening to this creature.’ Glen thought as she made her way through the corridor.
Chapter 1 Crash landingForty days of traveling, heading for the Arch facility in hyperspace. The small research vessel shaking after an improvised explosive went off in engine area, the explosion having knocked them out of hyperspace. The pilot thinking there was no hope, until seeing a planet on his radar. As Mark tried to gain control of the ships failing AI he only had one option. "Jack give me control disable auto pilot and put the remaining engines that are working in reverse at thirty percent." Mark commanded. "Disabling Auto pilot. Back up engines online." The A.I. replied. "Shit, Jack give me a status report!" Mark said. "Life support at fifty percent. Multiple fires on Deck one and two. Main engines offline. Secondary engines offline. Backup engines working at fifty percent. Backup engines coolant system offline." The A.I. replied. "Jack how far away are we from that planet on radar?" Mark asked. "About ten thousand miles. We will arrive in about three minutes." The A.I. replied. "Wait three minutes! Put backup engines at eighty percent reverse!" Mark commanded. "At this rate your engines will stop working in two minutes. Do you still wish to put them in reverse at eighty percent?"The A.I. asked. "Yes!" Mark yelled. Mark the pilot of the ship watched as the planet slowly got closer. He noticed something odd on the surface of the planet. It was green, a forrest maybe. Yes, it was a forest, but how could this be most of the galaxy was mapped out. That included this region, unless his navigation system was malfunctioning. There shouldn't be any planets out here. "Jack is the navigation system malfunctioning?" Mark asked. "Navigation system errors are present." The A.I. replied. "Ok, Jack send out a distress signal." Mark said. "Error. Communications array offline. Internal and external transmitters damaged." The A.I. replied. "For fucks sake can this get any worse!?" Mark said angrily. "Escape pods 1-10 malfunctioning. Fires are present in shuttle area." The A.I. said. "Can you put those fires out?!" Mark asked. "Activating sprinklers." The A.I. replied. "How much time do we have before..." Mark couldn't finish his sentence before the A.I. cut him off. "Backup engines one and two are overheating. Powering down" The A.I. said. "Jack System override 8 protocol 2. Restart engines!" Mark said. "System cannot be overridden shutting down engines." The A.I. said. "For fucks sake... Shit, Jack how long until impact?" Mark asked. "Approximately forty five seconds." The A.I. said. "Jack how long before we enter the planet's atmosphere?" Mark asked. "Approximately twenty seconds." The A.I. replied. "Jack transfer all files regarding the artifact to my helmet. Then delete the rest, and alert all personnel to prepare for a crash landing." Mark said. "Transferring all files." The A.I. replied. "Good." Mark said. "Attention all personnel prepare for a crash landing this is not a drill." The A.I. announced over the speakers. "Hey you here that James, sounds like we should buckle up." Rostislav said sarcastically. "Rostislav sometimes I really hate you." said James. "The feeling is mutual. Now sit down and buckle up. I have a feeling we are going to have a bumpy ride." Rostislav said. "Bumpy, that's an understatement more like a crashy ride." James said nervously. "Don't worry about the details. We'll be fine. After all we are in the most structurally safe part of the ship." Rostislav said. "That makes me feel so much better." James said sarcastically. "Impact in thirty seconds." The A.I. announced over the speakers. "Any last words James?" Rostislav said with a laugh. "Yes actually, why did I think this job was going to be easy?" James said. "You know we never get easy jobs. I'm surprised you thought this one was going to be different." Rostislav said. As the ship hit the atmosphere the aft of the ship was tore off falling somewhere on the unknown planet. "Jack what was that?" Mark asked. "The engine room has been lost." The A.I. said. "What do you mean lost?" Mark asked. "The engine room has been disconnected from the ship." The A.I. said. "Shit, deploy emergency parachutes!" Mark yelled. "The emergency parachutes were disconnected from the ship." The A.I. said. "What? Where were they located? I thought all ships had port and aft parachutes!?" Mark asked. "This model was built with only aft parachutes. Impact with the surface in ten seconds." The A.I. said. "Shit, pull up, pull up!" Mark screamed. As the ship hit the ground it tore apart killing most of the crew instantly. The cargo they had on board scattered across the open field they had landed near. The ship slid across the surface creating a fiery scar in the undisturbed land. Not too far away was a griffin who saw the burning metal contraption falling from the sky. Then he saw a bright flash and heard loud explosion. The ground shaking from the explosion made him fall out of the tree he was laying in. The sight he had just witness before him was the most breathtaking thing he had ever seen, and he wanted to know what it was. He was only about thirty minutes away by air. So he decided to go and investigate the object that had fallen from the sky. As he flew through the air he noticed a few griffin soldiers heading to the crash site as well. Seeing this he flew faster to try and beat the soldiers to the site, because they would most likely block the area off to the public. The griffin wasn't really into government conspiracies except when it came to aliens. If this was an alien craft of some sort they would try to cover it up and hide the ship. Another thought hit him, if he were to be caught near the crash site he would most likely be detained and questioned. It would be worth knowing if aliens were real, but was it worth his life to find out? He pushed his thoughts to the back of his head flying faster to the now smoking crater he could barely make out. If he was lucky he could beat the soldiers and get out of their before they noticed him. "Hey you, stop!" A guard called out. Unless he got caught before he made it to the crash site. He was almost there. Meanwhile near Ponyville a rainbow haired mare noticed an object falling from the sky. It was burning bright in the mid day light. She followed it with her eyes across the sky, watching the object land somewhere in the Everfree forest. "I got to go tell Twilight Sparkle about this!" Rainbow dash said to herself. Then the rainbow Pegasus dashed off to the library where she would find her friend, and tell her about the mysterious object that landed in the forest. As she was heading back to Ponyville she heard a loud bang. Her curiosity got the best of her and she headed off in the other direction towards the object that had just fallen. She flew fast to see what had caused the noise and in seconds she was at the spot where the object crashed. She saw a smoldering metal box that looked as if was torn off from something bigger. She got closer and as she did a terrible smell crossed her path. It was like nothing she has ever smelled. Burnt corpses lay inside of the box and a few outside lay strewn about. The sight of the corpses' making her lose her lunch. She went up to one of the still smoking bodies to see if it was still breathing. When Dash nudged the body's right shoulder it crumbled and fell off the body. She went to check another but it seemed as if they were all dead. There were no survivors it looked like, just dead creatures. Seeing this she flew off to tell some pony, any pony what had happened. She flew for what felt like hours. After a few minutes she reached Ponyville and headed to the library. She saw Twilight and Applejack exiting the library as she arrived. Landing, Dash rushed over to Twilight to inform her of the mysterious object and the dead creatures scattered around it. "Twilight, Applejack I need your help. Something just fell out of the sky and I think some pony might be hurt." Rainbow dash said frantically. "Hold on there sugar cube. What fell outta the sky?" Applejack asked. "Yeah and who is hurt?" Twilight asked. "I dunno one minute I was just lying on a cloud taking a nap. Then I woke and saw this thing falling from the sky. I was heading over to tell you about it, but before I could head over I heard a loud noise over where it landed and I went over to check it out. When I got th th there w were..." Rainbow Dash couldn't finish, she began crying remembering the burnt corpses. "Whoa calm down Dashie. What did you see?" Twilight asked. "Th they were all dead!" Rainbow dash was able to say. "Dead!? Who is dead?" Applejack said nervously. "The things, I think they were aliens. " Rainbow Dash said. "Aliens? Are you sure about that? That seems very unlikely." Twilight said. "Come with me ill show you, but we should bring a nurse or a doctor." Rainbow Dash said.
Chapter 2 DiscoveryA few minutes had passed and the captain slowly picked his head off of the ships dashboard. It took him a few moments to realize what had happened. With the sudden realization that he had just landed, well crash landed on an alien planet that may be inhabited by a race he had no knowledge of. He decided it would be best to round up all of the survivors on the ship and establish a perimeter around the ship. “Jack are the intercoms still functional?” Mark asked. “Yes.” The A.I. said “Good, I need to make an announcement.” Mark said. “Powering intercoms, battery reserve low. The ship will run out of power in ten hours twenty minutes. Intercoms ready to use.” The A.I. said. “Attention all personnel, please make your way to the artifact storage area. We need to regroup and come up with a plan. From what I have seen this planet is most likely to be inhabited. I do not know where we are, but we are definitely in an unexplored region of space. So we need to be prepared for anything. We will do a sweep of the ship to search for any injured so if you cannot make it to the storage area we will not leave you.” Mark said over the intercom. “Jack how many survivors are there, I need to know how many survivors there are.” Mark said. “Currently there are four heat signatures including yours.” The A.I. said. “What do you mean only for check again!” Mark yelled. “There are only four consistent heat signatures, the rest are slowly dropping indicating multiple deaths.” The A.I. said “Fuck my head is killing me, Jack transfer yourself into my A.I. storage space in my helmet. I have a feeling you might come in handy later.” “Transferring Jack to personal storage unit.” The A.I. said. A few minutes passed as the to soldiers waited silently. Waiting for someone or anyone to come along. Time seemed to move slower as the soldiers waited, but in reality instead of it taking hours they were only there for five minutes. “We can't just sit here! Someone might need our help!” James said angrily. “Well you heard the captain we should stay here. Listen this is an order from a superior officer, we can’t go. Besides he said that in ten minutes when everyone gets here we will go looking for the injured.” Rostislav said calmly. “By the time the captain and the others get here it might be too late, you know as well as I this ‘crash’ was a hard splashdown. Not a light crash. There might be only us and the captain left!” “Don’t be so dramatic there is going to be more survivors than just us.” Rostislav said. “I have been in several crash landings before and you were with me. You should know as well as me that this was most likely the worst yet.” James said. “Well James you're right there were almost no survivors.” Mark said from around the corner. “Captain.” They both saluted. “Who no need to be so formal with protocol. After all we need to find someone.” Mark said “Yes sir. How many survivors are there?” James said. “Four including us. The rear of the ship was tore off when we entered the atmosphere. That is what most likely killed a majority of the crew and scientist. “Shit, what condition is the rest of the ship in?” Rostislav asked. “Well getting here was tricky. There was a fire that I had to get passed and a few corridors that were blocked by rubble.” Mark said. “So, not so good.” Rostislav said. “Wait you said there were four survivors including us. Where would this other person be?” James asked. “Well he or she is in the main research wing of the ship. We need to get the survivor and the artifact then we need to get out of this ship.” Mark said. “Well he was in the main research wing.” James said. “What do you mean he was in the main research wing?” Mark asked “Well why don't you ask him, he is right behind you.” Rostislav said. “Holy hell captain, you really banged my lab up.” The scientist said. “Chang, im surprised you survived and it looks like you brought the artifact with you.” Mark said. “Yeah well I know how you think Mark, the mission is top priority always.” Chang said. “Well its true and lets all get one thing clear, I am still your captain so dont call me Mark. Now lets get out of here.” Mark said. The griffin panicked and dove down into some nearby bushes trying to avoid being found. He knew it would only be a matter of time before he would be found. The griffin decided that he was going to risk it, actually risk everything and fly straight to the thing that crashed. He slowly got up and spread his wings and then took off. He flapped his wings hard and fast picking up speed, dodging the trees. He could see the thing through the clearing He was almost there. All of a sudden he felt a sharp pain in his left wing, an arrow hit him. The impact causing him to fall. "Stop now, or we will be forced to terminate you." A soldier said. The griffin didn't listen he started to sprint towards the object, he was so close. He was almost there. The griffin ran passed some invisible barrier and when he looked behind him he saw an arrow coming straight at him, but the were stopped by the barrier he had just passed. When the griffin turned around he saw something so strange and terrifying, he had no time to react to what was about to happen. "Holy shit! What the fuck is that!" James yelled. "I dunno and I don't want to find out. Kill it." Rostislav said. “Wait!” Chang said. It was too late the soldiers each took a shot. The griffin didn't have time to react his chest being shot twice. The griffin fell to the ground, and as the griffin lay there he said one thing. “I never said my name…” The griffin said with his dying breath. With that the griffin died, being silenced forever. The four strangers that killed him to only wonder what his name was. “Shit, did it just talk?!” James said. “I think they are the locals, and we just killed one of them, and it looks like there are more of those… um creatures.” Mark said. “Those creatures seem to be griffins captain.” The A.I. said. “Griffins?” James said. “A griffin is a mythical creature with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion.” Chang said. “Wait… Did it just say somethi….” It dawned on mark that creature they just killed spoke, and there was a griffin heading back into the forrest. He just realized the soldiers most likely killed a civilian of an alien planet that was not part of the Galactic Alliance. The penalty for a crime like that was life imprisonment, even if you were associated with the crime. Twilight looked on at the large object in disbelief. She couldn’t understand what she was seeing. Well couldn’t rationalize it. This couldn’t be possible real aliens, well crispy and burned aliens. She scoped out the metal structure from a short distance and then decided to get closer to it. She studied one of the charred bodies, disgusted at what she saw. She went to touch it, when she did a piece of the shoulder she touched broke off. Seeing this she reeled back. “Rainbow since you are the fastest I need you to go get spike. I have a letter to write.” Twilight said. With that Rainbow flew off. Speeding through the sky towards Ponyville. “Twilight what do ya suppose those uh burnt critters are?” Applejack said. “I’m not certain Applejack” Twilight said disheartened. She was certain that the creature before her was not in any of her books in her library. ‘Furthermore it seemed like this was Equestria’s first contact with aliens. One that would, with the recent destruction of the ship and the death of the crew, not be in favor for Equestria if they were to come by only to find what little of one of their ships remained’ Twilight thought. What if the aliens think that we somehow destroyed it, and seek retribution for their dead. Oh, what if it was a civilian transport or a military class spacecraft, would that see this as an act of aggression towards them?’ Twilight panicked. Applejack, seeing that her friend was going to freak out at any moment, spoke up. “Are ya ok Twi?” Applejack said cautiously, she had never seen Twilight so distressed except when she failed to write a letter to Princess Celestia that one time. “No! What if this craft was a civilian ship that belongs to an advanced race of beings that would see this as an act of war?! What if they think we did this?! Or what if this was an invasion attempt that ended up going wrong! What if...” Twilight was interrupted by Applejack. “Don’t worry so much Twi. What if this thing crashed here accidentally?” Applejack said in an attempt to reassure her friend. “But we don’t know that!” Twilight yelled. “And thats just it Twi we don't know what happened.” Applejack said slightly worried. “Thats what worries me the most.” Twilight said with a sigh. As the four humans stood there in silence for a bit longer to grasp what had just occurred not a few minutes before. “Shit, man this is totally not good. The Alliance will have our asses for this.” said a panicked James. “Chill dude, chill it’s going to be fine.” Said Rostislav in effort to calm his partner down a bit. Although he knew that getting out of this mess was slim if not impossible, but he figure that if they hid the body and everyone agreed not to…. wait there was still Jack and one definitely couldn’t modify his programming or delete some of his memory without an Alliance official looking into why an A.I. was missing a few bits of its memory or had a modified base code. “Um… guys not to be whiny bitch or anything, but there are more of these griffins heading towards us. I mean when they see the body and all, don’t you think we should prepare for their arrival?” Chang said in a worried tone. “Changs right we need to roll out the welcome mat, James get the tea, Chang get the table and chairs, Rostislav get the body out of sight and dispose of it, burn it if you must I am going to go and greet our house guests we are going to invite them in for some tea.” Barked the captain. “Yes, sir.” Came the reply from the remainder of the crew as they set about their assigned tasks. Rainbow Dash was back at the library when she saw a bright flash of light. When she opened her eyes she saw Twilight sparkle. Seeing her made her slightly annoyed as she could have done gone to the library instead of her. “Twilight, sometimes you annoy me.” Rainbow dash said. “Lets worry about that rainbow. Spike! I need you to take a letter please.” Twilight said. “Ok im ready.” The little dragon said. Dear Princess Celestia, Today Rainbow Dash has found a crashed alien ship in the Everfree. Well, I am assuming that it is as but there is no confirmation of such. When we got there, all we found was twisted metal and burnt corpses of unknown creatures scattered about the immediate area. So far there are no survivors from the crash and nothing that seems to be salvageable except for whatever metal that was used to build the ship. Also of note was the fact that not all of the ship seems to be present only a small portion of it, which greatly concerns me. What if one of the other nations gets the rest of the ship and whether or not there were survivors. Also I should note that when I scanned the the remains of the ship with my magic I was not able to detect and sort of magic at all, which should be impossible for anypony to build any sort of spacecraft without magic. I mean how could you not use magic, its necessary for any kind of feat like that! Plus not only did the ship not have magic but the bodies as well. Life without magic just is not possible, magic gives life to everything as well as the ability to think. I am not certain what to think of this. I mean the existence of aliens was thought to be impossible, but here is an alien ship. It was thought that life without magic was not possible, the bodies at the crash site say otherwise. Its like everything we ever thought that was right gets tossed out the window, how do we know what's right anymore? Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. With that Twilight ended her letter nodding to Spike. The letter burst into a green flame and disappeared.
Chapter 3 A meetingA bright flash of green flame appeared in front of Celestia turning into a scroll. Celestia picked it up in her magic and began to read it. She did a double take thinking she misread something, she didn’t. She then picked up a quill, ink and a scroll. Dear Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student. This matter is to be dealt with immediately. Do not let anyone near the wreckage of the ship. I am sending Captain Shining Armor, Lieutenant Dusk Lance, and Lieutenant Silver Sword. This may be first contact with another race and I do not want anyone to panic. If what you say is true I will send a ‘cleanup crew’ to deal with the ship. For now Twilight Sparkle get your friends and the Elements of Harmony together, we need to be prepared for anything. Signed, Princess Celestia. Once Celestia finished the letter she sent it off to Spike with her magic. She decided to call a meeting with Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, and high ranking military officials. Celestia then began to prepare for the best and worst case scenario, best as being the aliens want to co-exist and the worst the aliens wanting to kill them all. They had much to discuss. Around three hours before... The griffin commander was not a happy griffin today. First there was patrol which he disliked a great deal, then there was the routine check to make sure the griffin military was up to standards, and now there was this fire ball from the sky that he had to deal with. Yes, he was not a happy griffin at the moment. ‘I didn’t even get my cup of coffee this morning.’ the griffin commander thought. He was halfway to the crash from the nearby outpost when he saw a civilian heading towards it. This was something he could not allow. He turned to one of his sergeants and ordered him to detain the civilian that was heading towards the crash site. “Yes sir.” Said the griffin sergeant on the commander’s right, and took off to detain the civilian. Half an hour later the griffin commander landed about two hundred and fifty meters from the crash where the griffin guards had already set up till he got there. “Status report.” Yelled the commander who could tell that the crash was not natural at all, if anything it looked like it was some sort of sci-fi ship from space if looks were to be believed. “Unknown object with unknown origins, mostly made of metal and does not look to be functional at the moment also there is some sort of barrier around the wreckage, sir.” Came one of the guards. “What kind of barrier?” Came the commanders’ reply. “Unknown, sir.” Replied the guard. “Ok then gather some troops and…” the commander never finished that sentence when three loud sounds came from the direction of the ship. “What was that?” Panicked one of the griffin guards. “I don’t know.” Came another guard. “SIR.” Yelled the sergeant the commander sent out to detain the civilian from before. “What is it sergeant, do you have the civilian?” Was the commanders’ reply. “No, the civilian made it to the wreck before I could get him. However, when I got there, I saw four strange creatures, two are in some kind of battle armor I have never seen before and carried a strange looking item. The other two are unarmored and had nothing on them of interest, sir.” Was the sergeants’ answer. “Interesting, but what of the civilian?” The commander questioned. “I did not see the civilian when I got there, sir.” The sergeant said with disappointment at having failed to catch the civilian. “I see, we will discuss this failure later. Now then everyone gear up and wait outside we are going to head over to the wreck in five minutes, move.” The commander ordered. Five minutes later... The commander along with seven griffin guards and his two sergeants left the makeshift camp they had set up and headed over to the wreck to confront these creatures. Although he did not like the fact he knew so little about what he was getting into, however someone had to go and take care of this, and that someone was him. As the commander was nearing the wreck, about seventy five meters ahead was one of the unarmored creatures. When the commander and the guards got closer it waved to them and further surprised him when it spoke their language without blunders of any sort. “Welcome griffins, we just got the tea ready would you care to join us.” Mark informed the griffin commander with a wide grin. ‘This is going to be hilarious.’ Mark thought chuckling internally. Back at Canterlot Castle... Celestia was nervous about the meeting that was about to take place any moment now. Unlike all the other meetings that were held, this one was the most important meeting that she had called in recent times. This was not about politics with neighboring nations, or the economy, or even state affairs. No, this was a meeting about first contact with an alien race that is obviously, according to her student, significantly more advanced than Equestria and all of the other races on Equis. She and her sister along with the other officials need to decide how first contact with aliens is to proceed. Celestia sighed. This could be the beginning of a new age or our end. It all depends on how well contact with them goes. Celestia hoped that they were peaceful and would be willing to live side by side with her little ponies. However, if they were hostile she was not sure about their chances of survival against them. Who knows what kind of weapons they have or how big their army is. Even if they were peaceful would they even share any of their knowledge with Equestria or anything other than peaceful relations. Celestia did not know. Celestia entered the royal conference room, seeing her sister and her niece as well as the other high ranking military officials already gathered in the room and seated. Celestia cleared her throat. “I am assuming you all are wondering why I called you all here.” A course of yes’s from all those present was their response. Celestia took a deep breath before speaking. “You are gathered here because of a recent problem has arisen. We are now faced with the most important decision of our time. My faithful student has just informed me that an alien space craft has crashed in the Everfree forest. We are now presented with a first contact situation with beings from beyond the stars whom are incredibly more advanced than we are. I am asking you all for how we should proceed.” A deafening silence filled the room before one of the military officials spoke. “Do you know what we are dealing with?” General Golden Shield asked. “No, I do not know what we are dealing with General Golden Shield.” Celestia said dejectedly at the fact that she was as much in dark as everypony else. “So, how do you know these are aliens then? Have you seen them?” Commander Emerald Light asked. “No I haven’t, but if what Twilight said is accurate then we will need a plan.” Celestia said. “Plan for what a, possible attack or declaration of war? We have an army we can fight off a few aliens.” High chief Burning star said. “You don't know that Star, they could have an army even larger than ours.” General Golden shield said. “We don’t even know if there are aliens.” Commander Emerald Light said. “Well there are millions of planets in space the chances of other races on different planets is great.” Commander Blazing Spear said. “I agree with Spear, the chances another race existing is great.” Cadance said. “Don't be so foalish, aliens aren't real!” Emerald light said with venom in her tone. “Enough, I did not call this meeting to argue over the possible existence or non-existence of an alien race!” Celestia said with a slightly raised voice. Celestia said with a slightly raised voice. “I called it for a plan to deal with them if they are hostile or friendly.So any suggestions?” Celestia said calmly. With that the room goes silent, all of them thinking of ways they could handle the situation.After a few moments of silence it is broken by Blazing Spear. “Well what do you know about them Celestia?” Blazing spear asked. “Not more than what I told you.” Celestia said. “We could offer them something.” Luna said. “Yeah, like a peace offering.” Cadance said. “What would we give them?” Burning Star asked. “Well what do we have that they might want?” Blazing Spear asked. “We do have crystals, gems, and gold. Do you think they would like that?” Cadance asked. “That could work.” Celestia said. “What if they think we are a rich country and try to take everything from seeing what we offer them. We should give them something more practical.” Blazing Spear said. “Wait a second. Did you inform any of the other kingdoms?” Emerald Light asked. “Not yet, I will wait till I get a full report from Shining Armour. I do not want to panic another nation with a possible misunderstanding.” Celestia said. “Well, has Twilight spoken to any of the aliens?” Emerald Light asked. When Emerald asked that question Celestia froze. She knew there were no survivors, but there could be more. Thats the thing though there could be more. She didn’t know if there were anymore. “They were all dead.” Celestia said cooly. Everypony looked at her, in stunned silence.
Chapter 4 Introductions Chapter 4 Introductions “What do you mean they were all dead?” Blazing Spear spoke cautiously. “Exactly that commander, they did not survive the crash.” Replied Celestia coolly. “So… we actually have their spacecraft and the bodies.” Questioned Emerald Light. “Yes we have the bodies; however from Twilight’s report it would appear that we only have a small section of the spacecraft, but not the whole ship.” Responded Celestia. “What do you mean, are you saying that another nation could have the rest of it, finding who knows what on board be it weapons or other tech that would put them at a significant advantage if they can reverse engineer it.” Was Golden Shields remark. “Well then, while I am still not convinced that they are aliens till I see what was found, I think that we should keep this a secret and see if we can’t get anything out of the wreck that is still salvageable and we should send somepony to spy on the other nations. See if any have the remaining sections of the craft.” Emerald Light stated. “No Emerald, We will not be spying on our allies or any of the other nations for that matter, we will not stoop to such lows as spying.” Was Luna’s sharp reply. “I agree with the Princess, spying would only add to our problems, we have enough problems to deal with already without the other nations in uproar over this new situation.” Commented Burning Star. “What did survive the crash on our section of the craft, Celestia.” Blazing Spear asked hoping that there was something that made it through the crash. “From what was stated in Twilight’s letter, the only thing that seems to have survived was the metal that makes up the craft.” responded Celestia. “Well we should figure out where the other part of the ship landed. We should also tell the other nations about this once we know for sure it is an alien craft.” Blazing Spear said. “I agree, we need to inform the other nations. If we tell other nations about this we could gain more trust.” Burning Star said. “I think I have decided how to handle this. We will inform the other nations once we figure out what this new race is capable of, and if another nation claims to have found the other half we will also tell the other leaders.” Celestia said. Meanwhile in ponyville… Twilight waits near the craft for her brother. After she read Celestia’s letter she had Rainbow gather the Elements of harmony and her friends. As she waits her friends come. All of them except Rainbow Dash look confused and horrified. “What the buck is that?!” Applejack asked. “I think it may be an alien space ship.” Twilight said. “How is that even possible?” Rarity asked. “I don’t know, but given the vastness of space it would be possible for another planet to have life.” Twilight said. “What did the princess say?” Rarity asked. “She is sending my brother and two soldiers two evaluate the ship. She also told me to keep other ponies away from it. So this is what I need you to do. Make sure no one else comes over to investigate.” Twilight said. Twilight gave each of her friends a position to look for any ponies that may wander near the crash site. It was relatively quiet nopony came close to the forest. It took about an hour for shining to reach the site. When he reached the forest Applejack and Pinkie Pie showed Shining and the two lieutenants to the crash site. When they got there their jaws dropped. They stood there just looking at the ship. Until Twilight got their attention. “Shining, I’m so glad to see you.” Twilight said enthusiastically. “Twilight, I uh… I can’t believe what I’m seeing.” Shining Armour said like he was dazed. “Captain, we must inform the princess. The sooner she knows the sooner we can clean this place up.” One of the guards said. “What do you mean? I already told the princess.” Twilight said. “She sent us to make sure this was true.” Shining said. Twilight was slightly mad at that. The princess didn’t believe her. Why didn’t the princess trust her enough to believe this? “Am I not trust worthy enough for her?!” Twilight said angrily. “No it’s not that, she just needed to be sure that this was real, and not something that wasn’t.” Shining said. “That’s what I was saying!” Twilight yelled. “Oh, then I guess she doesn't trust you.” Shining said. After Shining Armour said that Twilight lost it. She teleported back to her tree to think, leaving the rest at the crash site. Shining Armour took notes on the craft and the lieutenants went inside and brought some of the equipment out of the ship. They did not know that they went into the armory and took weapons. Shining Armour finished up his notes and teleported the objects his subordinates had found in craft to Canterlot to be analyzed. After that he and his troops went to the train station in Ponyville and headed back to Canterlot. Meanwhile in the Griffin kingdom- Commander Klirmor was never so shocked in his whole life. The creature had spoken in fluent Equish somehow, not only that but… wait tea… it can’t be serious can it. Tea. Here. Now. In a burning wreck no less. Klirmor could not wrap his head around the audacity this creature had, to be suggesting that they and him and his guards have tea. It was almost as if Discord had entered his mind and started turning everything upside down. He was also sure that his fellow griffins were just as confuzzled as he was about this whole situation. This had to be a dream, because there was no way any of this could be happening. It was too mad, too insane of an idea to have been reality. Private Fraun was just staring at the creature like it lost its mind, or if she lost her mind actually, because it seemed to be completely serious about the tea party… thing it was inviting us to. I can imagine what the others are thinking, probably something on the lines of ‘what the feather’ or even ‘this has to be a dream that is being run by Discord himself.’ I can relate, my own thoughts are just as chaotic as theirs are. Well at least it… That was when the creature spoke again. “Crumpets anyone?” It asked in a completely innocent tone like it didn’t realize just how insane this scene looked. Everyone just stared at the baked good that it had just held out. Where it got the food from was anyone’s best guess. At that every griffin fainted from the absurdity of the whole situation. All except one. Every griffins last thought was that if this was Discord then he was probably laughing his ass off right about now. “Eh, they must not like crumpets. Shame really, they are quite good for being flour and yeast.” said the strange being. “Well you just gonna stand there and stare at the food or are you going to eat one.” The being said with some mirth in its voice. Private Glen was staring at the scene before her. Everything about it made about as much sense as the draconequus himself. She could only stare even as her comrades fainted, laying there even though the creature was in front of them. Though she could understand why they fainted, the absurdity of all of this was, in their opinion, orchestrated by Discord for giggles. Even if said draconequus was not present currently. Glen looked up at the creature that was just standing there with a small smile on its face as if this was all planned. “What is your name, miss.” It spoke, shaking the young griffin from her thoughts. “Private Glen.” Was the uneasy response Mark got. ‘Well, at least she told me her name and rank.’ “Hello private Glen, my name is captain Mark pleased to meet you. Also if I may inquire, who are your associates?” Mark spoke to the nervous griffin. ‘Captain!?’ thought Glen worryingly. ‘So this creature is a part of whatever military its race has, and a captain no less! Oh, the life of a lowly private, why are we cursed with bad luck. At Least it is not offended that I am not acting professionally considering that I am on duty thankfully. I don’t think I would win if I had to fight the creature off in my current state if it were to attack. Hold on, it asked a question. Oh, what was it again, it asked for the names of my comrades, right I should probably answer it.’ Glen cleared her throat to answer the creatures question. “The one up front is commander Klirmor, the leader. The one to his left is sergeant Prigum, the other one on his right is sergeant Tryger. The one next to me is private Fraun, the other four are privates Kronas, Jericho, Anders, Merious, and Corporal Venieer.” Glen stated as she pointed to each giffin as she said there name and rank. “Well then, now that is over with, would you mind helping me move them into the ship, there is no reason to let them just lay there while we go enjoy some tea now is there?” Mark questioned Glen. “I… well… no, I suppose not but why tea?” Glen said unsure if this creature is going to take anything seriously. “Because, well ok, we are doing for kicks and giggles here, lighten the mood you know and so that you would be too busy questioning your sanity to attack us, all the while we have some tea. Yes I was serious about the tea part, can’t have a conversation without some refreshments ya know.” Marks said hoping to get the griffin out of her trance like state. All Glen could do was stare in shock at the creature. ‘It planned that whole thing so that we would be too distracted to do anything, all the while being completely serious about what it said.’ Glen will admit that it was a brilliant plan that most certainly worked; they had been too busy trying to wrap their heads around the situation that it did not have do anything. Then Glen narrowed her eyes at the creature. “Why should I do that?” Glen was certainly suspicious of its intentions now. “Well, do you just want to leave them out here or do you want to get them inside, it is a bit cold out here. Also you want to do your job; we just want to talk so that we can avoid a conflict here.” Mark replied coolly. It did have a point with that, she was out numbered with everyone else taking a nap, not to mention that she could not go back without the others especially her commander for fear of getting punished for failure. It was her first day to… “Fine.” Was all Glen said. “Fantastic.” The creature clapped. “Pick up one of your fellow griffins and follow me to the dining area.” It said enthusiastically. Glen did as it asked and pick up Fraun and carried her into the interior of the wreck. ‘Let’s hope I am not making a grave mistake listening to this creature.’ Glen thought as she made her way through the corridor.
