Chapter Eight: First Contacts

UEF, Cybran, and Aeon Coalition  base

  "Commander Errens, we have two contacts. One is over where the unknown aircraft had landed, and one is walking up to the base. It appears like one of the Equines. What do you think we should do?" Selena asked. Errens though for a moment, before he spoke.

  "I shall go greet the equine. I want a small group of Obsidians to head out to the unknown contact. Send some other crew members to set up communications with whatever landed." Errens ordered. Selena sent a blip, showing her acknowledgement, and a small squad of three Obsidian, along with an armoured transport carrying the negotiators, drove off to the East. Errens looked back to where the Equine was coming from, sighed, and began to march his ACU forward.

Somewhere in the badlands.

  Princess Luna and her small guard force felt the ACU before they saw it, which was suprising, considering it was so massive. The Princess and her Lunar guard halted, feeling the ground treble under they're hooves, when a massive machine walked out from the distance. Luna's teeth began to chatter as the ACU  marched forward. The Lunar Guard were terrified. Though they had seen some nasty stuff, they knew for a fact that they could not, no matter what, defeat this engine of destruction.  The ACU stopped a mile away, almost glaring down upon them.  Suddenely, a loud voice, rivaling that of even the Royal Canterlot Voice, boomed across the desert.

  "You may come over to the ACU. I will be waiting for you at the feet of it. Bring only two of your guards. The rest are to wait there." The voice ordered. Luna gulped, then chose her two best guards of the group, then walked towards the ACU.

  When they arrived, they were met by a bipedal creature, as tall as Celestia. He nodded when they walked up to him.

  "So, I take it that you are a negotiator? To negotiate peace between our two races?" The creature, a male by the sound of his voice, asked.

  "As a matter of fact, I am. I am Princess Luna, Co-ruler of Equestria, and I welcome you to our planet. So, where shall we discuss the peace?" Luna replied, analyzing him.

  "Follow me." He said, and climbed into the foot of the ACU. The guards and Princess looked at eachother, then walked inside.

  They had been led up flights of stairs to what appeared to be a conference room. The man sat, and gestured for the others to do the same. They sat, though the chairs were uncomfortable for them. There was a moment of silence before the man spoke.

  "Right, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Sargeant  Errens of the United Earth Federation, and commander of  Seraphim Hunt Group #55.  We came to this world hunting down a alien species called the Seraphim,  who's goal is to make my species extinct. If we did not find one, we would at least set up a command center  to make for protection of the planet if a threat appeared.  Though we have not located any Seraphim forces on this planet, we have noticed shuttles landing in a forest far away from here. Our radar dubbed them "unknown units" and we are even now scouting to see what they are. We hope we do not disturb your people, as we do not want to have to fight on any front. My terms for peace are the ability for our forces to roam freely across the planet, so we can set up proper defence near cities in case of attack.  I will now hear your terms." Errens told Luna. Luna thought for a minute before speaking.

  "While it does seem you come here to do us no harm, we cannot be fully trustworthy of you. We request that you give us control of some of your technology, so we do not get attacked and easily crushed of you cannot defend us properly or if you turn on us." Luna told him, and  he thought for a moment. Well, it's not like we are giving them all our technology... I suppose we could give them some UEF tech, perhaps an SACU." He thought to himself, not knowing that Luna could read his mind. After a few moments of thought, he finally spoke.

   "I suppose we could give you SOME of our technology, as a form of trust. I will give you one Support Armoured Command Unit, or SACU. That should be all you will need." He told her.

  "Just one? Surely that is an insufficient  number, seeing that you have so many forces from what I hear." Luna replied.

  "Well, an SACU has the ability to construct a base on the fly. It has the potential to make an  All by itself. Whoever uses it will have to be trained in its use, so i will send an instruction manual or something.  If that is all, I shall send you on your way. An SACU will be teleported to your capitol by tomorrow. I thank you for your time." Errens replied, standing up and holding his hand out. Luna smiled, and placed her hoof in it. They shook hand/hoof, and Errens led them out of the ACU.

  Once Luna was outside of the machine, she let out a sigh of relief.

   "That went much better than expected. I'm glad we can to an agreement." Luna said to the guards as they walked back to the other guards.

  "Indeed, your highness. I do not think we could win against a machine like that. Anyways, let us head back to Canterlot." One of them replied, looking over to the guardsponies  they left behind. Said ponies were trying to beat the heat, and had set up a sort of beach like area.  They were all sitting under parasols, with beach towels as well. Luna wondered where they had managed to get that out here, or how they managed to bring it along. She cast  The thought aside and trotted over to them.

  "Let us return to Canterlot, my guards. We must tell my sister about our agreement with the aliens." She declared, and they quickly disassembled they're little camp Before they all began walking back.

Meanwhile....

÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷

Everfree Forest, Imperium Forward Operating  Base. Time:  6:45 PM

  As the Astartes and Twilight returned to the camp, multiple thoughts raced through Twilight's head, much like The Running of The Leaves. She looked up at the warrior, feeling tiny. She only went up to about his knee in height, and she could tell that, if he wanted to, he could easily crush her skull in an instant. As they walked into the clearing, Twilight saw alot more of the creatures around than earlier. People were walking around, setting up a multitude  of devices around the area.  She spotted a couple of  men who were more machine than flesh in red cloaks mumbling next to a machine. She looked up at her escort.

  "So, what exactly are you?" She asked, and he glanced down at her.

  "I am  a Space Marine  of the Blood Angels Chapter, protector of mankind, and destroyer of the Emperor's  enemies." He answered calmly, and they continued in silence. When they walked up to the building, another of the Astartes was waiting for them.

"Brother, you are dismissed." The marine said, and Twilight's  escort saluted before walking back to the clearing. The Astartes captain looked down upon her.

  "You are Twilight Sparkle, correct?" He asked. She could only nod. "I am Captain Meridion  of the Blood Angels Chapter. Please, come inside so we may Talk." Meridion asked, gesturing for her to go In side the building. She gulped before nodding again and slowly trotting inside. Meridion brought her to the interrogation  room and sat down. Twilight followed suite.

  "Now then, Ms. Sparkle, I would like to know about your species.  First of all, who are your rulers?" Meridion began, folding his hands together. Twilight took a moment before she could find her voice.

  "My species is led by four Alicorns, me being one of them.  I would like to ask you some questions as well, so perhaps we could do one of those 'I ask a question, you answer, then ask me a question, and  so forth?" Twilight answered, trying to be as diplomatic  as possible.

  "Very well, but I will not share any classified information. And that counts as your first question. Now then, what is your military like?" Meridion answered, leaning back in his seat.

  "As of now, we only have the Royal  and Night  guards, who are armed with spears. Why are you here?" Twilight asked, trying to get as much info as possible.

  "We were en route to the Baal system, but a warp stor took us off course, leaving is stranded here. What are you exactly?" Meridion replied, seeing the hunger for knowledge in Twilight's  eyes.

  "My race are what  are called ponies, and we are a very peaceful species. We give nothing but trust and friendship to guests To our country. Also, who do you work for?" Twilight asked, very curious. Meridion sighed.

  "I serve the God-Emperor  of Mankind. He is our ruler, who, while his body is dead, his soul continues to guide humanity through the accursed warp. He is the reason why humanity is not enslaved to the deamon gods of Chaos. Where is your capitol city?" Meridion  answered,  making a symbol of the Aquila on his chest, which confused Twilight to no end.

  " the Capitol of Equestria is Canterlot, and that is where my peoples rulers, Celestia and Luna, reside. What are Space Marines?" Twilight replied, looking at Meridion's armour. He chuckled.

  "Space Marines are the pinnacle of The Emperor's   genetic experimentation. We are the bane of the Emperor's  foes, and we live only to serve." He answered, feeling pride well in his chest. And they continied like that, one asking a question, and the other answering before launching his or her own. As they spoke, a man suddenely burst in.

"Noble Astartes!  Some sort of craft just landed outside of the forest! It looks manmade, but we have not seen it before!" The man said, and Meridion stood up.

  "Forgive me Twilight. I must go to see what the fuss is about. You are free to leave." Meridion  told Twilight. She nodded, then ran out the door. Meridion looked to the soldier.

  "Now then, show me where this craft landed." He ordered.