An Unexpected Change in Course

"Admiral! Admiral Michael Naral! Hold on! We're here for you!" cried out the Captain of the survey ship as he ran over to his commander's side after he had holstered his standard issue plasma pistol. The Captain as well as some of the men that had cut open the doors to one of the Armageddon's hangers kneeled down next to their leader and began to inspect him for any possible injury. Since they didn't expect to find him so fast, the man-portable scanning equipment the survey crew could use to more accurately check for any damage to their leader's cybernetic or organic systems was still aboard the survey ship.

"You men, go get the scanning equipment from the ship and calibrate it for use on cyborgs before bringing it here and start treating him," the Captain said before turning back to the men still watching...whatever it was those things were that had snuck up on them and walked to their sides.

"Watch these things closely. They might try to communicate with us in some way, but if any of them try to act hostile or run away, you may stun them. The last thing we want is to sleep under a hornets nest". With that, the Captain patted the men's shoulders and boarded the survey ship and approached some of the remaining crew still working the sensors.

"Begin a bio-scan on the Armageddon for any survivors and notify me the moment it finishes. If there are any survivors, time will be of the essence." Once the scans are underway, the Captain sat down in his chair on the bridge of the survey ship and began to look at the crew roster to see if any of the personnel on board was currently or formerly a cyberneticist as a just incase the Admiral was damaged or hurt in any way. He was known for making strange precautions like that from time to time even when there were no cyborgs to be dispatched for that mission.

Back outside of the ship, Twilight and her friends were held up by the men that continued to hold them at...whatever they were holding and really wanted to know what was going on. As they stood in place, they heard the creatures over by the one that had climbed out of the larger metallic object call out loudly and the fancy-to-all-but-Rarity creature that had gone into the smaller object came running out. Once at their side, the creature that came running took his hat off and threw it onto the ground. It was at this point that the six mares and dragon could sense something was very wrong here, especially when the three creatures were struggling and failing to lift the one that had crawled outside.

"I think that creature that crawled out is badly hurt girls. Should we try and see if they'll let us help them and prove that we aren't a threat?" Twilight Sparkle asked her friends as she looked away from the creatures keeping them where they were.

"Oh sure Twilight. I bet they'll just let us walk right up and lift one of their own and carry him where they want him to be," Rainbow Dash said sarcastically and rolling her eyes at the idiocy of Twilight's idea.

"Actually ah think she's on to something Rainbow. I mean look, it seems that even with more of those...things are trying to lift the one that came out of that metal box but can't. Maybe if we were to help them out, we could help move him where they want him." Applejack said softly to her friends before she looked at them and saw them nod in agreement.

"Uhh, Captain. You may want to come over here. I think these beings are trying to communicate with us," one of the men watching them said, but kept his focus on them just in case.

"Damn it, what now?!" cried out the Captain as he practically stormed over to the man that had called him over. It wasn't until he looked and observed what the six native creatures were doing for a few moments and began to think of the things that they were trying to tell them. It looked like the creatures were trying to lift something even though nothing was there, but when he thought that, it clicked in his head. "Men, as crazy as this may sound, I think these natives want to help us," the Captain said before turning back to the Admiral and saw that even with his help, the cyborg's body would not move. Turning back to the native creatures, he motion for them to follow him and much to his surprise, they understood what they wanted him to do and led them over to where their leader was.

"Alright men, make some room for these beings. I believe they wish to help us move Michael," the Captain said and the men that were attempting to lift Naral moved as together as tightly as possible and let the natives help life. Now that there was a tight circle humans and these native beings, the Captain stood away from the circle to get a better look.

"Okay now. One! Two! Three! LIFT!" cried out the Captain and everyone in the circle began to struggle to lift up the heavy cyborg. Much to everyone's surprise, the body of the cyborg began to rise up off of the ground. Making sure that everyone had a firm hold on Michael Naral, the Captain steadily guided everyone over to the ramp up and into the Survey ship. There were many grunts and groans as both the natives and creatures carried the heavy body, even more so when they began to walk up the ramp and into the small ship itself, but eventually got the unconscious Michael Naral inside and laid him down onto what appeared to be a strange bench with a glass cylinder attached to it. Within moments, the glass cylinder closed around the being they carried and a dim blue light began to pass over it repeatedly.

"Jeez, was is this fella made out of? He's heavier than a wagon carrying most of the Apple family," Applejack said before taking off her Stetson hat and wiping her brow of the small beads of sweat that had formed during that brief moment of work.

"I don't know AJ, but it seems that these things are thankful for us helping them," Twilight stated softly as she had noticed the fancier one had approached them carefully and extended a hand out slowly and decided to do the same for it. She was rather surprised when it had grasped her hand and shook it softly a couple of times before letting go.

"I'm more concerned about what he was covered in. I mean, what is this sticky stuff?" a disgusted Rarity replied as she looked at her hands before the rest of her friends did and noticed that they too had the same residue on their hands as well.

Taking a quick sniff at the stuff she had on her hands before quickly turning her nose up at it, Pinkie Pie stuck her tongue out in disgust as well. "Whatever it is, it sure isn't a new type of frosting," the pink mare deadpanned.

"Say Twilight, why didn't you use your magic to help lift that thing up? I'm certain that it would've been a lot less stressful and much easier for everyone here," Rainbow Dash spoke up as she turned to her lavender friend.

"I would have Rainbow, but I have no idea how these things would react to me using it. For all I know, they could think I was trying to harm this one," Twilight explained as she turned and looked down at the creature they had helped bring into this strange metal beast. Upon closer inspection of the creature she had helped bring in as well as the various ones around her and her friends, they appeared to have a somewhat similar appearance to each other as well as themselves, but they didn't have the muzzles her kind were known for and the only place that they seemed to have fur was on the top of their heads. As several more questions raced through her head, Twilight Sparkle let out a soft yawn and had just remembered that it was rather late at night when they were awoken and the moon was almost ready to set by the time they had gotten here. It wasn't long until she had seen her five other friends and her dragon companion yawn as well and while she didn't know what time it was exactly, Twilight was certain that it would that the sun would be on the rise if they had left these creatures and made their way home right now.

"Girls, should we try and get back home or should we try to see if these beings would let us stay with them for the remainder of the night?" the lavender unicorn asked as she turned to her friends, wanting their opinions before making a decision. She was feeling a little tired herself, but there shouldn't be anything dangerous within White Tail Woods. Not to mention that when she and her friends looked outside of the metal beast's windows, they could just barely see the bright orange and reds on the horizon, an indication that it would soon be time for Celestia to raise it.

"Actually Twilight, Big Mac should be up by now bucking trees, and ah should probably be heading back home to help. Maybe later we could check up on our visitors here to see if they are still doing okay" Applejack said as she lifted up her stetson hat and turned to leave.

"Yeah, and I've got weather patrol duty this morning. Though I should be able to come with you at around noon" Rainbow Dash mentioned and quickly flew out of the metal beast, surprising most of the strange creatures that were out there as she passed.

"I really should return to feed my animals since I'm up, and if I finish fast enough, maybe I'll be able to come with you as well Twilight." Fluttershy whispered just loud enough for her remaining friends to hear her and true to her namesake, stepped out of the metal beast and fluttered back home.

"And I have to make sure Sweetie Belle doesn't try to burn my boutique trying to make breakfast for herself. You'd be amazed at how she could burn things which shouldn't even catch fire when it comes to cooking." Rarity spoke up and with as much grace as she normally had, left Pinkie Pie and Twilight behind.

"I should also go back and help the cakes get ready for the morning rush, but I'll be sure to keep our new friends in mind while I come up with a party for them. Maybe you can come up with a spell that will help us understand them Twilight." Pinkie Pie exclaimed before bouncing her way out of the metal beast as well.

Before Twilight could follow after her friends a surprisingly powerful wave of fatigue crashed over her body and gave a loud yawn which caught the attention of a few of the creatures. Seeing one of them approach her made her a little wary since she was now alone, but the creature had motioned to her that it would lead her to a place where she could sleep for a short while. With a smile at the generous creature, she followed it to what appeared to be some strange room filled with beds, though before she could question why there were so many here, she found herself on one of the beds with her head on a pillow and fell asleep almost instantly.

The captain of the survey ship returned from overseeing the dispatch of the rescue teams and had noticed that the lavender female appeared to be asleep and just before he could question the nearest person, he quickly realized that they may have forgotten one critical rule that the admiral had in place and approached the lieutenant. "Lieutenant, did we shut off the medical nano-bot dispersal system before opening the hatch?" The Lieutenant turned to look at his captain and was about to respond when an alert that nano-bots had contaminated foreign organic flesh. Upon the alert going off, the captain tore his hat off, threw it onto the ground and began to stomp on it while letting stream after stream of expletives.