Canterlot Palace

“Hahuhahahahehehehe”*gasp*”HAHAhahahaha…”

Rainbow dash had been going on like this for a full minute, every pony else was either looking at her or still looking at the stallion with looks of shock on their faces. It wasn’t until the end of a third minute that the laughing Pegasus finally ended her cackling.
“Hehehe-aaahhh… that’s rich, you honestly expect us to believe your some visitor from outer space? That has got to be the FUNIEST thing I have ever heard.”

The stallion gave a small chuckle in response before speaking up. “Of course not Dashy. When I say ‘alien’ that doesn’t necessarily mean extraterrestrial.”

This only seemed to confuse her. “Extraterr-what now?”

He gestured to Twilight turning Dash and a few other’s attention to her. Understanding what this meant she gained an annoyed expression before explaining. “If something is extraterrestrial, it means it’s from outer space.”

“So he’s saying he’s not from space?” inquired the cyan mare.

“Indeed Ms. Dash, the term ‘alien’ simply refers to something that is in an environment it is not accustomed to. I could just be a pony from outside Equestria for all you know.”

It was at this point Luna decided to speak up. “But you’re not, are you.” She said, more of a statement than a question.

“What do you mean Luna?” Celestia said, looking to her sister.

“His aura, it is strange, not right.” Said Luna, her discerning gaze never leaving him.

Rainbow dash sighed from her spot above the group before throwing up her hooves in exasperation. “Why can’t anyone speak equish around here?!”

Luna sighed before looking to the rest of his group. “As the princess of the night it is our-my duty to protect the dreams of all of our little ponies. This gives us-me a deeper connection the spirit of others since… I have to connect to their spirits in order to see their dreams. Over the years I have developed the ability to see the aura produced by those around me. Each one a different color or shape, but all-in-all they always had the same general feel to them. Even Sambra when we faced him was normal, more potent sure, corrupted by dark magic definitely, but still it had that same feeling. Him though… He is different.” At this point she turned back to the mysterious stallion, her face making it very clear that she did not believe this was “a good kind of different.”

The stallion chuckled again before addressing his audience with a fake pout. “Oh princess! You wound me! Or at least you would have, if you were wrong.”

Twilight blanched at his words. “So you are from space?!”

He chuckled again (that was really starting to annoy her) before speaking. “Oh no, I can assure you I have not come from the stars. But to say I’m otherworldly would not be incorrect.”

Celestia sighed. “He’s almost as bad as Starswirl…” she mumbled, shaking her head.

“Why thank you.” He said teasingly.

“Enough games, explain yourself!” said Luna, finally losing her temper.

He smiled. “Oh come now, it can’t be that difficult to figure out. Try thinking about it using the plains of existence as a reference point, these being time and space. I came from another world so me traveling here through space makes sense. However, I have already said this is incorrect. So what about time? Sure, I would be out of place and an alien in a time that was not my own, but if I was from another time, I would still be of this world. So neither one works by themselves, and even together it doesn’t make sense because, again, even if I’m from another point in time and space, that still means I would have to be from somewhere in this universe, and since I’m not from anywhere else in the universe, and I’m not from here…” He trailed off, gesturing to twilight in hopes she might be able to finish the explanation.

The purple mare took on a contemplative expression before speaking. “Well… that would mean that you’d have to be from another universe, but the universe makes up everything in this reality, so in order to be from another universe, you’d also have to be from… another… reality-” Her eyes widened when she realized what he was saying.

Pinky Pie decided to speak up at this point, a broad smile on her face. “Oh, I get it! You’re from a different dimension that’s similar to the one Twilight went to except it’s not parallel to ours anditsfilledwithwarandcrimeandotherbadstuffandyouhavethisthingthatletsyouseewhatwevebeenuptoandwehaveareallybigfanbase-” she was cut off by a hoof placed in her mouth by twilight.

“Pinky, I don’t know half of what you said, but I KNOW there is no possible way that any of that could be anywhere near-” Only for her to be cut off as well.

“Correct.” He stated matter of factly.

Twilight whipped her head around, a baffled expression on her face. “Wha?”

“It’s just as I said, pinky pie is absolutely, 100%, without a doubt… correct”

Her eye twitched again as she turned to pinky who looked really happy at her apparent victory. “YAY... what did I get correct?”

Everyone present, baring the stallion, Pinky Pie, and Princess Celestia, face hoofed.

Twilight managed to get over her exasperation rather quickly but could still feel her developing head ache quite well “So you’re from the same mirror dimension as Sunset Shimmer?”

“You really must learn to listen to your friends better Twilight, pinky already answered that question.” He said giving twilight a look of faux disappointment.

She went to reply before suddenly she was interrupted by some wicked laughter, everyone was confused for a second before the stallion spoke up “Ah, Discord, you’re late.”

Everyone looked to the stallion, once again shocked by the knowledge he seemed to possess. Discord took this moment to materialize himself next to the group still chuckling slightly. “Hehe… oh man, he’s got you girls wrapped around his hooves.”

Celestia stepped toward Discord a look of confusion on her face. “Discord? What are you doing here, I thought we agreed that it would be best if you don’t show yourself in front of the public?”

“I invited him.” The stallion replied for him.

“What do you mean you invited him?! Most ponies don’t know discord is free, and besides that, we have yet to develop a way to contact discord in the first place!” said twilight. She swore this pony was going to give her an aneurism.

“I mean what I said Twilight, cause a little mayhem and it’s a simple matter to summon the being of chaos.”

“THAT- is a really good point…” said twilight, slightly blushing in embarrassment for not having thought of that herself. “But that doesn’t explain how you knew about him!”

“In due time Twilight, although again, pinky already answered that.” He said turning to the front door expectantly.

She growled again before noticing where he was looking. “What is he up to now?” she said mostly to herself.

She jumped when she herd discord, who was lounging lazily in the air behind her, reply to her comment. “Well, if I had to guess, I’d say he’s waiting for the last guests to arrive.”

Every pony having heard this looked to discord in confusion before turning to the door.

After a minute or two of waiting, what sounded like frantic hoof steps galloping down the hall could be heard from the door. It got louder and louder before eventually the door burst open revealing two very unexpected ponies.

“Cadence? Shining armor?! What are you two doing here? I thought you were in the Chrystal empire.” said twilight unsure whether she was more exited or confused.

Shining armor stepped forward before replying. “We got a message stating that the princesses had urgent information for us in Canterlot, we used that 'magic circle' thing, they included to teleport halfway, then, after getting most of the way here, we teleported to the castle entrance before running here as fast as possible. So, what did you need to talk to us about princesses?”

Before anyone could reply the stallion cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “I’d like to point out that never in my letter did I say it was from the princesses.”

This caused everyone to look to him in shock, except discord who was just floating there chuckling.

“Well, now that everyone’s here, I believe it’s about time I introduce myself.” This made everyone present, baring cadence and shining who were moving to sit next to the rest of the group, look to him expectantly wondering if he really was finally going to reveal his true identity.

Somehow he had materialized an old, wooden, podium out of nowhere which he sat behind, resting his fore hooves on it before clearing his throat and taking on a very solemn expression. “Hello… my name… is David Alexanders… and I’m an Alien.”

No one knew how, and apparently no one cared, but somehow some old metal folding chares had materialized out of nowhere as well, and each of those assembled had been placed in one in a semicircle around the podium. Everyone present looked up to him and gave a murmur of “Hi David.”

Before this ridiculousness could go on. Twilight stood up, knocking over her chair in the proses, and yelled “that’s it!” before firing a spell at the podium, blasting it to splinters, When the dust settled, so to speak, David was standing there with a face that could freeze fire, a fact everyone but twilight seemed to notice. “If you don’t get serious and give us a straight answer, I’ll-”

She was cut off by David whose happy tone was gone, replaced by one that perfectly matched his new expression. “You’ll what?” he said, the question clearly being rhetorical. “You’ll hurt me? Arrest me? Kill me?” everyone flinched at the “k” word, not used to such a thing being brought up commonly. “Twilight you don’t have the resolve to attack me, let alone the power or strength to succeed even if you did. Your week Twilight, all of you element bearers are.” He turned to the rest of the group, nearly brushing his nose across twilight’s own since she had moved forward in her outburst, and he had done the same each second after since he started talking, only stopping once he was a few millimeters away from her face. “You have survived up to now based on pure luck! If you were ever to face an enemy who knew your weakness your lives would be over before you know it.”

Finally rainbow dash had had enough of the insults. “That’s it! Nobody calls me week! And nobody insults MY FRIENDS!” she flew faster than most ponies possibly could, headed straight for the fool who would dare talk bad about those she cared about.

Just before she made contact, h swept his body to the left to where his body was perpendicular with hers. She zipped passed him at high speed and was going to try and put some distance between him and herself but before she could even get a foot away, she felt something grab her tail. She gave a yelp as she was pulled backwards, the force of having her tail yanked on causing pain to shoot up her spine. She felt herself elevate a bit as she watched the world flip before being slammed back-first onto the marble floor knocking the wind out of her. As she struggled trying to catch her breath and reorient herself, she felt a hoof rest on her collar bone followed by the tip being pressed against her throat.

No one could believe what they saw. In the span of only a few seconds, rainbow had charged this strange new pony who was apparently named David, only for him to dodge her and catch her tail with his BARE HOOF in an impressive display of strength and reflexes which should be near IMOSSIBLE, before flinging her over his shoulder, slamming her on the ground in the process, before quickly sliding his hoof into place on her throat.

Before anyone could process what had just happened David spoke up. “I could kill you right now rainbow dash, just a little pressure, just enough to crush your wind pipe and you’d sit here squirming under me until finally you’d suffocate from lack of oxygen. Or, if I wanted to make your death painful, I could collapse your ribs, crushing your heart and lungs under the weight of my hooves. So many choices…” at this point he removed his hoof from her throat. Twilight took this opportunity to teleport to rainbow dash before teleporting out again with her. Rainbow dash was on the ground coughing while all other ponies looked to the stallion in either horror or anger. Even discord looked displeased.

Shining armor stepped forward this time, his face locked into neutral expression with a clear undertone of hatred. “I don’t know who you think you are, but what you just did was assault, not to mention you threatened her life, I suggest you leave now before I’m forced to take action.”

David chuckled before pointing a hoof at rainbow dash “if you arrest me you’ll have to arrest her too, I may have used excessive force, but she attacked first, I was merely defending myself.”

Shining ground his teeth in agitation, mostly because he knew that this “David” character was right, he couldn’t go after one without going after the other. It was against his oath as a guard.

They all stood there in silence, all eyes on the pony who had caused so much trouble, none of the looks he was getting were good.

After a minute or two of this David gave out a deep sigh before scratching the back of his head. “Well, this isn’t going as good as I had hoped.”

“How good did you expect this to go?! First you attack applejack, then you hurt Rainbow dash! What were you expecting?” said twilight, snapping at him with as much anger as she could muster.

He sighed again before replying “thanks for bringing that up twilight, I really need to take care of that.” She looked confused for a second before her look shifted to that of surprise, along with the faces of a few others present as once again he seemed to just walk into a shadow. He looked as if he was walking down a flight of stairs with his front half sinking into what was originally his own shadow before being followed by his rear. Once he was all the way threw, the large blob of dark space that was his shadow shrank smaller and smaller until it disappeared all together everyone was wondering where he had gone when they suddenly heard applejack scream. All eyes turned to find him coming out of her shadow. Before anyone could react to try to protect the farm pony from this dangerous stallion he swiftly collapsed his front hooves, brought them in front of him, and went into a deep bow in front of the orange farm pony.

Everyone sat there confused while applejack, who was far from over her first encounter with the stallion, looked like she was afraid he might kill her any moment. They just sat there in silence for a few seconds slowly apple jack calmed down little by little only to flinch a bit once he began to speak. “Applejack, owner of Sweet Apple Acers, and bearer of the element of honesty… I’m sorry.” This threw everyone for a loop, of all the things he could have done none of them expected this. “I was not aware of my ability when I first met you, if I had known showing my eyes to you would do that to you I never would have done It.” his tone remained neutral throughout his apology leaving applejack and everyone quiet.
It was silent for a few seconds before applejack gave her response. “I-I…I accept your apology.” All her friends and Luna looked to her in surprise, while Celestia had a curious look on her face and discord just looked entertained. “I don’t completely trust you, but I can tell your being honest, so I accept.” David stood up with a small smile on his face. “I AM upset about you harming rainbow dash though, based on what happened back at the barn I’m fairly certain you could have stopped her in a much safer way than you did.”

He sighed again “you’re right, I could have-” He turned to said blue Pegasus, “-and I am sorry for hurting you, but what happened just now is proof enough that I’m right. All’s it takes is an enemy taking out ONE of you and that leaves the power of the element useless, and as things stand, that wouldn’t be a difficult task.” He shifted his attention to Celestia “I understand you want to let them live normal care free lives, but the fact of the matter is that these six mares ARE your most powerful, and reliable, defense against any threat to Equestria. Defensive measures MUST be taken.”

Rainbow dash huffed before commenting. “Please, like we need some stuffy military types watching our every move.”

To everyone’s, except David’s, surprise twilight was the one to speak up. “No Dash, as much as I hate to say it, he’s right. He took you down like you were nothing, not to mention what happened in the barn. And that’s ONE guy, what if we faced an army of ponies that were JUST as strong and skilled as him? What if an enemy were able to infiltrate Ponyville and get one of us alone… I don’t know what I would do if I lost any of you girls.” Tears welled in her eyes threatening to spill over as she sat there sniffling trying to push the thought of a world without one of her friends from her mind. She was in this state for only a few seconds before she felt the warmth of another body pressed against her followed shortly by another, and another, and another. By the time she looked up to see what was going on she found that she was surrounded on all sides by her teary eyed friends hugging her in a warm embrace.

“Don’t you worry sugar cube,” said apple jack. “We aint going anywhere.”

The flood gates finally broke as twilight began to cry feeling lucky to have friends like them.

Discord watched the touching moment while pointing down his throat making gagging noises, Luna had a few tears of her own, Celestia had a serene proud smile, but she had noticed something no one else had, as she watched she had taken a moment to glance to her left where “David” had taken up position after appearing behind applejack, what she saw made her curious. There was David as he had been before but his face had changed from his hard determination back to a smile, but this one was not the confident happy one he had had when he first got here. This one was small, content, but beyond that it seemed almost… melancholy, it had a deep sadness to it and, from what she could tell, a bit of envy. She gained a thoughtful look before giving a small nod resolving something within her before looking back to her student and her friends with her previous smile.

The hug session continued for a few minutes before all the girls calmed down and separated giving each other meaningful looks as they did. As everything finished calming down David cleared his throat to get every ones attention before speaking up. “So now that that’s all cleared up, I think it’s about time we get down to business, for starters, my unexplained knowledge…”

Author's Note

again sorry for the amount of time it took to get this out, for a long time, I couldn't find the flash-drive that this was on, as well as other crap IRL. any way, here you go, let's hope luck is on my side in the future so this doesn't happen again.