Interstellar

by William Cipher

Rating: teen
Tags: Main 6, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Adventure, Princess Celestia
Length: 4552

An alien pony arrives in Equestria, begging Princess Celestia to do the impossible: reignite the magic of her homeworld's star. And naturally, to make matters worse, the ship to her there has lost the rest of its crew.

They had it all wrong when it came to stars.

As far as the pony world was concerned, their sun was the only one of its kind, and the lights dotting the night were simply something else. However, when an alien pony arrives in Equestria, begging Princess Celestia to reignite the magic that powers her own star, this assumption was broken. Their sun was just one of many, the only difference being that not all stars have a Princess Celestia to power and control them, or a Princess Luna to drive away their warmth at night.

Unfortunately, Princess Celestia isn't even sure she can pull off such a feat, and to make matters worse: the alien's ship meant to take her to do the job has lost most of its crew, victims of a mysterious foe lingering in the shadows. Not to worry, though: nothing the Mane Six and a few other select ponies can't handle, right? Now if only they can figure out how to use a hyperdrive...

Inspired by the beautiful music of Hans Zimmer from the movie, well, Interstellar.

Published 2015-07-20 19:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-07-20 19:40:02 UTC

Chapter I: A Bucket of ET

“P-Please… help me. S-Star--”

Those four words were the only thing the alien managed to mutter. Though perhaps ‘mutter’ wouldn’t be the right word, as the pony-shaped entity didn’t quite have a mouth. Instead, it seemed to use its entire gelatinous and peculiarly pony-shaped body to vibrate in order to create an eerie, resonant voice for itself. Unfortunately, before it could say anything further, a split second afterwards, the transparent being collapsed into what could be best described as a mass of goop, further stunning the already awestruck group that had gathered in the middle of Ponyville.

“Oh my gosh!” Fluttershy squeaked, rushing towards it. “What happened to the poor thing?”

She moved a hoof out as if about to prod it.

“Fluttershy, wait!” Rainbow Dash shouted, beaming to her side. “Don’t touch it, it could be some kind of trick!”

“It asked us for help, though!” Fluttershy argued. “We have to do something.”

A second later, she found Twilight and the rest of her friends by her side as well.

“But we don’t know what this thing is made of,” Twilight spoke in earnest. “For all we know, it could be toxic! Touching it could kill you!”

The group surrounding them began to back away, murmuring warily to one another.

“Toxic!?” Pinkie giggled. “It just looks like a pile of jello to me! Really mushy jello, that is.”

Rarity threw her a look. “Pinkie, this really isn’t the time for jokes…”

“Why not? I’m just trying to lighten the mood!”

“I think what she means to say is that we don’t know if it’s dead or not,” Applejack said bluntly.

Pinkie’s hair practically deflated at that. “O-Oh,” she whispered. “I’m sorry… I didn’t think that-”

“It’s okay, dear,” Rarity said soothingly, before throwing Applejack a glare. “Very tactful, Applejack.”

“Hey, I’m just trying not to sugarcoat it,” Applejack grunted. “Don’t matter, though, either way we’re gonna have to do something with it.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, hovering nearby with her arms folded. “Bleh, why do we even care? I say good riddance if you ask me!”

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy cried. “That’s so mean!”

“Indeed! Honestly, how can you be so cold?!” Rarity snapped.

“Cold?!” Rainbow growled. “You wanna talk about cold? Cold is showing up out of nowhere in a gigantic, half-of-Ponyville-sized spaceship, parking it right over our heads and scaring the crap out of everypony, and then floating down to us like nothing even happened!” She then gestured to a number of pegasi among the group nearby, all with various injuries: burn marks, sprained wings, cuts and bruises, you name it. A number of nurses from the local hospital were earnestly trying to treat them, but they insisted in staying put to watch the scene. “You see? A lot of pegasi got hurt when that thing dropped out of the sky. Its ship made one heck of a downdraft!”

Indeed, the ship had practically tore a hole in the heavens when it dropped to its present position: hovering in eerie, ethereal silence over Ponyville, nearly touching the top of town hall with its underside. It was an odd, though not entirely unfamiliar looking thing; blueish gray with two bands of bright lights wrapping around its mid and bottom section. In fact, it was close to what many Equestrian science fiction addicts would imagine an alien spacecraft look like, save for its shape. It resembled some sort of deep sea creature, though that seemed fitting for an alien that appeared to be made out of a liquid.

“Rainbow, I don’t think the alien - well, I’m 90% sure it’s an alien - meant to hurt anypony,” Twilight explained. “She probably just didn’t know what to expect when she came here.”

“Oh, so it’s a’ she’ now?” Rainbow said skeptically. “What, cus it had eyelashes? See-through eyelashes?! How do we know it even has a gender?!”

“Exactly! We don’t know anything,” Twilight said, growing increasingly exasperated.

Rainbow huffed. “Please, I’ve read enough science fiction books to know that some aliens can change their shape.”

“Those are science fiction books!” Twilight argued.

Rainbow gave her a blank look. “Right, cus we don’t know of any creatures that can shapeshift?”

“W-Well, uh-” Twilight stuttered. “Good point… But still, your paranoia isn’t helping the situation.”

“Hey!” she barked. “Someone’s gotta bring up the worst case scenario, and that pony might as well be me!”

“We… don’t exactly know what this thing’s intentions are, Twi,” Applejack nodded.

“Exactly!” Rainbow carried on. “This thing probably just chose to look like a pony so she could butter us up for her invasion!” She then pointed at the ship. “I’m telling you, in like five minutes, a thousand of em’ are going to come screaming out of that ship and haul us to the spice mines! That’s the way it always is. ‘We come in peace! Shoot to kill!’ Then it’s game over, man! Game over!”

“Rainbow, enough already!” Fluttershy growled, stunning Rainbow (and the rest of the usually meek pony’s friends) into silence. “She asked us for help, and we’re going to give it to her! We just need to figure out how... If I can’t touch her…”

“I could levitate her,” Twilight offered.

Rarity raised a hoof. “But dearests, where would we take it? I’m not expert on… erm, aliens, but how would we even know how to help treat its…”

“Condition?” Fluttershy said softly. “I-I don’t know…”

“Well, whatever we do, I don’t think we should keep ‘her’ here,” Applejack said, glancing at the increasingly worried-looking crowd.

“Yeah, she’s seriously scaring the bejeebers out of everypony!” Pinkie said, her normal jovial tone returning.

“Gee, I wonder why?” Rainbow grumbled, glancing at the hovering ship above.

“Rainbow…” Fluttershy sighed, frowning at her.

Rainbow glanced away from her. “Alright, alright… I’ll try and keep it cool… but when this thing starts making trouble…”

“Rainbow,” Rarity said blankly. “It’s a puddle.”

“An alien puddle!” Pinkie giggled.

Just then, there was a murmur in the crowd in, the sound of hooves scurrying as a pathway was formed from the direction of Twilight’s castle. Spike quickly dashed through it, an earnest look on his face and a golden scroll in his claws. “Scuse me, comin’ through! Pardon- HEY! That was my foot! Yeah, it’s okay. Hey, Twilight! Twilight!”

“Spike?” Twilight chuckled. “So… all it took was an alien spaceship to show up to get you out of bed?”

“Yeah, yeah, hardy har har,” he moaned. “Wish you would have bothered to wake me up. Not often something this cool happens in town! Well, unless we’re being invaded or something. That wouldn’t be cool... “ He paused for a second, looking worried. “Er, we’re not being invaded, right?”

“We might be!” Rainbow Dash said frantically.

“We don’t know yet,” Twilight groaned, shooting her a warning glare. “From Princess Celestia, Spike?”

“You bet,” Spike said, panting slightly and holding the scroll out for her. “Holy crap, I need more exercise.”

She quickly levitated it from his grip, unraveling it. Her eyes dotted back and forth as she read it rapidly, before pausing with a shocked look on her.

“Well, what does it say?!” Pinkie beamed. “Are we gonna have a First Contact party?”

“Er, um kind of,” Twilight said, clearing her throat and reading aloud: “Help will be in Ponyville within the hour. Wonderbolts, night and day guard, all regular military forces in the Canterlot region, and my sister. Don’t worry, it’s just a precaution. We will handle this as peacefully as possible. Meet you soon.

P.S. Luna is very cranky. Please have somepony make coffee for her.”

“Was that the whole message?” Rarity blinked.

Twilight shook her head incredulously. “Yeah, she looks like she speed-wrote this.”

Applejack chuckled slightly. “Wow, she didn’t even bother to address it.”

“Hehe,” Pinkie giggled. “And she woke Luna up at noon. Uh oh.”

“Yeah,” Twilight said, simpering. “Spike?”

“On it!” he saluted. “Moonbucks Nightslayer Heavy Roast with vanilla creamer comin’ right up!” He then leaned towards Rarity. “Not the first time I’ve had to deal with a tired princess.”

“Mmm, the Canterlot Summit?”

“Yuh huh,” he sighed, turning about and starting his walk back to Twilight’s castle. “I’ll be back! Don’t cause an interstellar war or whatever without me, please!”

Applejack smirked at Rainbow. “So long as we can keep you under control.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she muttered, folding her arms again. “I told you: I won’t throw any punches unless they do it first.” She then smirked. “Besides, with the Wonderbolts coming, the aliens’ will be too chicken to try anything.”

“Alien,” Rarity sighed. “We only know about one of them.”

Fluttershy then glanced at the mound of alien goop worriedly. “Which we need to focus on, don’t we? We can’t just wait for Princess Celestia to arrive...”

“Yeah, but don’t worry, Fluttershy,” Twilight said, a twinkle of determination in her eyes. “I think I know what to do. But first…” Twilight blushed in embarrassment. “We’re going to need a bucket.”

Applejack’s eyes widened. “Woah there! I’m all about bein’ pragmatic and all that good stuff, but doesn’t it just seem a little… wrong keeping her in a bucket?”

--

“I can’t believe we’re keepin’ her in a bucket…” Applejack muttered, glancing down at the bucketed pool of blue goop sitting on a nearby table. “I don’t care if you’re an evil invader or what not, I’m so, so sorry about this…”

“Why?” Pinkie said, bouncing nearby. “It could be super comfortably cozy for her!”

“Oi, I need silence please,” an accented, brown Earth Pony called from nearby, glancing at a small vial of bluish liquid in front of his goggled eyes. “Need to concentrate.”

“Oops, sorry,” Pinkie giggled softly.

Her and the rest of their friends were gathered in the lab/house hybrid of the town’s resident mad scientist, Dr. Whooves, a place filled with awe-inspiring devices and futuristic gadgets only dwarfed by the spacecraft floating above their heads. The vial sat upon a triple-beam balance on one of Dr. Whooves’ work tables, rocking back and forth ever so lightly.

“Quite alright, just triple-checking this measurement…” Dr. Whooves said. “Annnnd there we are - .002 margin of error! I think we have all the numbers right. It appears its chemical composition is fairly close to ours, though with a few unknown elements thrown in there. I don’t think those are anything to worry about, however.”

“Nice!” Twilight smiled at him, standing next to him and wearing a white lab coat that matched his own. “Thanks again for letting us use your lab, Dr. Whooves. I’d use my own but…” She glanced away from him. “Well, you know.”

“No worries whatsoever, my dear princess,” he said, shaking his head dismissively. “In fact, I find this quite exciting! Not every day one gets to examine an alien life form, after all, eh?”

“So it is an alien then, huh?” Applejack said.

“And… not toxic?” Fluttershy said hopefully.

“Yes and yes,” Dr. Whooves nodded, pouring the vial of liquid into a petri dish, placing it under a microscope and glancing through it. “Honestly, never seen anything like this. Quite marvelous really. Definitely alien - the cell structure and chemical composition is radically different from even a changeling’s.”

“We didn’t hurt it by taking that sample, did we?” Fluttershy whispered.

Rainbow Dash groaned nearby. “Do we even know if it’s still alive?”

“Oh, definitely alive!” Dr. Whooves grinned. “Believe me, may be different life form, but these cells are active! Don’t think we hurt it - no sign of that. Like taking a light skin sample, I’d assume.”

“Um, Dr. Whooves,” Rarity said politely. “This just may be my OCD talking, but it seems like you’re not using complete sentences anymore.”

He blinked. “Didn’t notice. No matter, don’t want to waste time!” he grinned, continuing to gaze through his microscope.

“Huh, why didn’t I think of that?” Twilight puzzled. “That would save a lot of time!”

“Please don’t start doing that,” Rainbow sighed. “You two will sound like this one alien donkey guy from Ass Effect.”

“Ooo, you read that comic, too?!” Pinkie beamed. “Did you read the third edition?! It was so awesome! And that ending… amazing! The philosophical messages were sooo perplexing and braaaain twisting!”

Rainbow turned to her… slowly, a look of utter incredulity on her face. “Pinkie… please never talk about that ending again.”

“Oki doki loki!” she shrugged. “I’m Commander Pinkie Pie and I’m totally not talking about the best ending on the Citadel!”

Rainbow face-hoofed. “Kill me…”

Rarity leaned towards Applejack. “Any idea what they’re talking about?”

“Must be some form of geek code,” she shrugged.

Rarity brought a hoof to her chin. “Intriguing, communication through metaphor… Twilight, dearest, have you ever heard of this type of thing?”

“Yeah, sure, why not,” she said absentmindedly, her attention almost completely focused on a tiny, glowing, golden crystal she was levitating towards the petri dish. “Anything changing, Dr. Whooves?”

“Most certainly,” he said, breathless. “These cells are reacting to the Sun Crystal’s natural arcane magic in a way that I’ve never seen before. In fact, I think they might be absorbing it...” He suddenly gasped, flinging his excited gaze at Twilight. “Wait a minute, I have seen this type of thing before!”

“You have?!” Twilight said, sharing in his exciting.

“Well, don’t keep us waiting, Doc,” Applejack said.

Rainbow smirked. “Yeah, the sooner we know about our new alien overlords the better.”

“Rainbow!” Rarity and Fluttershy groaned.

“What? I was kidding that time!” she huffed. “Well, kind of.”

“I’ve seen this in Mana Flowers!” Dr. Whooves announced. “The very same kind that can be ground up into potions to charge up a unicorn’s spell power. They absorb a specific type of arcane magic only generated by the sun! Great wiggering stallions, I think this creature’s solar powered!”

Applejack raised her eyebrows. “Are you saying this thing’s a plant?”

“Mmm, kind of, sort of… not really,” Dr. Whooves said, waving a hoof about. “Mmm, I dunno, maybe? Too many unknowns right now. Need to study further. Honestly, all living beings absorb that type of magic to some extent, but not at this level.”

“But we do know it needs a certain type of magic made by the sun,” Fluttershy pondered. “Maybe that’s what’s wrong with it? It’s malnourished?”

“She did say ‘star’ before she got went all gak-mode,” Pinkie pointed out, before gasping in excitement. “Wait, maybe that’s the key?! Oh my gosh, if we end up saving her maybe it’ll mean I’ll have my first alien friend! That’d be so awesome! In that case we’re gonna need a party, a party with CUPCAKES! EPIC SPACE CUPCAKES!” She then glanced towards Dr. Whooves. “I wonder what kind of cupcakes an alien would like?”

He raised his eyebrows. “... Why are you asking me this?”

“Oh, I think you know why,” Pinkie said, winking at him.

The doctor merely blinked back in confusion.

“I think that may be it,” Twilight said, now glancing through the microscope herself. “The sample certainly seems to be absorbing magic… I might be crazy saying this, but the cells are starting to look a little more... healthy? They’re certainly more energetic… Is that normal?”

“For this creature, I’d assume so. They certainly seem to look as if they’re of a gelatinous material,” Dr. Whooves nodded.

Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Realllly now? I can totally see why you’re a doctor, Doc.”

“I know, isn’t he a genius?!” Pinkie beamed.

Rainbow Dash glanced at her blankly.

“The best I could compare the cells to is a jellyfish’s, actually,” Dr. Whooves explained. “Though they seem to behave in a much more fluidic manner. Quite fascinating… the strangest thing about this is it seems its whole form is like this. In its live state, there didn’t seem to be any visible organs that I could see, and mind you: it was and still is transparent. Perhaps it doesn’t need any for basic survival: a complex form of a basic organism…”

“Aren’t we getting a little off track here?” Applejack grumbled. “Shouldn’t we uh… get her out in the sun again?”

“Oh, yes, sorry,” Dr. Whooves nodded. “You lot take the specimen-”

“It’s a ‘she’, Doc,” Applejack corrected.

“Right, yes, yes,” he continued, slightly annoyed as he returned to his microscope. “Go ahead and take her outside. I’ll stay in here with the sample.”

“Alright, I think that’s the best plan,” Twilight said determinedly, lifting the alien’s bucket with her magic. “Come on, girls! Let’s get our new friend a tan!”

“Ooo! Now that sounds like a good way to build some bridges,” Rarity smiled. “I may just join her!”

Fluttershy smiled. “I’m sure she’d like that!”

“Still don’t know if it’s a her…” Rainbow said under her breath. With a commotion of chatter, the group made their way towards the exit… levitating a metal bucket filled with an alien lifeform with them, much to Rainbow’s chagrin. “In fact, don’t know what sex it is, don’t really know what it’s made of, don’t know if putting it in the sun will hurt it, not help it, don’t know if this will even cure it, and don’t know if it’s gonna kill us all if it does,” she grumbled. “Yet we’re totally BFFs already!”

“Ya’ know I can hear you, right?” Applejack smirked.

Rainbow nodded. “Yup.”

“... Eh, at least you’re honest,” she shrugged.

“Thanks again, Dr. Whooves!” Twilight called as they reached the door.

“Any time, my dear!” he called, waving to her nonchalantly. As the door to his lab/house closed, he grinned to the sample almost manically. “Alright, my friend! LET THE TRULY EPIC SCIENTIFIC SCIENCING BEGIN! ALLONS-Y!”

--

“Pardon me, excuse me, comin’ through. Nothing to see here, just a… uh… bucket full of an alien lifeform,” Twilight moaned, trying to sedate the crowd that was now following her, as well as their nagging questions.

“Alien gak!” Pinkie corrected, giggling.

“Yes, alien… gak,” Twilight sighed.

“Princess Twilight! What’s going on? Are we being invaded?”

“What should we do? Should we prepare a welcoming basket?”

“Sounds like a great idea, Mrs. Cake!”

“Is that flying ship just going to stay there? It’s blocking the sunlight for my beautiful flowers!”

“Woah, are they here to give us super sci fi technology, Princess Twilight?”

“Shoot, the alien didn’t happen to be biped, did it? Just wondering. Didn’t get a chance to see it…”

“It wasn’t a human, Lyra! The alien’s in the bucket, didn’t you hear?”

“Daw…”

“Wait, why is the alien in that bucket? Shouldn’t there be some kind of autopsy going on?”

“You’ve been watching too many movies, Cranky.”

“Heh, I’ll watch anything with you, sweetheart.”

“Awww, such a romantic.”

“Speaking of movies, any idea if these aliens built the Zebrican Pyramids?! I’ve been trying to figure out who built em’ for years!”

“Oh no! What if enslave us and take us through their portal to build more pyramids for them like in that one movie?!”

“Oh, that’s just ridiculous... T-That is ridiculous, right, Princess Twilight?”

“Everyone!” Twilight said breathlessly. “Please, just try to be calm! We’ll have things sorted out soon. We don’t know anything about the aliens. If they wanted to hurt us, they would have already. Just stay indoors for now.”

“And uh…” Applejack continued for her. “Try not to throw any rocks at the ship or whatever.”

The crowd halted in their following them.

“Eh, I guess that’s the smart idea.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

With that, the crowd began to disperse…

“Bye everyone! Don’t worry, we’re totally having a First Contact party later! My Pinkie-promise!” Pinkie waved.

“Wait, hang on! We wanna help!” a tiny voice called.

Well, most of the crowd.

Applejack glanced at Rarity, a pained look on her. “When it rains…”

Rarity, however, was way ahead of her. “Sweetie Belle?! What in the world are you and your little crusader friends doing out of school? This is not the time to be running about town.”

“Oh, the other parents came to pick most of the other kids up,” Apple Bloom explained cheerfully. “And Big Mac came to give Ms. Cheerilee a hoof handling things.”

“Did he?” Applejack glanced at them skeptically. “And why didn’t they take you three home?”

“Er, well…” Scootaloo said, raising a hoof while grinning sheepishly.

Sweetie cleared her throat. “You see, they tried to but uh…”

“We sort of kind of… uh… accidentally um… lost them,” Apple Bloom finished.

“Yup! Can you believe it?” Scootaloo said innocently.

Applejack and Rarity gave each other a look, then turned their annoyed attention back at the crusaders. “No.”

“Oh come on!” Apple Bloom whined. “There’s a big ET ship thingy floating over town! That doesn’t just happen every day, ya’ know.”

Sweetie Belle nodded eagerly. “Yeah, and the alien asked for help! What if she needs help phoning home or something?”

“What does ‘phoning home’ even mean, though?” Scootaloo questioned.

“Beats me,” Sweetie Belle shrugged. “I just heard it in a movie once.”

Applejack groaned incredulously. “Ugh, sorry Twilight, but I really gotta get these rugrats home.”

“Me as well,” Rarity said, narrowing her eyes at a simpering Sweetie Belle.

“Aw, come on, you two,” Rainbow Dash smiled, glancing at Rarity and Applejack as she ruffled a happy Scootaloo’s mane. “Why not cut em’ a little slack?”

“Us?!” Applejack spat. “Just ten minutes ago you were saying the aliens were here to pull off some sort of crazy invasion!”

“Quite the contradiction, dearest,” Rarity nodded.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Like I said before, I was just trying to keep the worst-case scenario on our minds.”

“Well, you definitely we’re doing a good job at that,” Fluttershy grumbled in an uncharacteristically snarky manner.

Rainbow shrugged it off. “Somepony’s gotta be that guy! I know what role I’m supposed to play, hmph! Besides, I think they’ll be safer with us than in town at the moment.”

Applejack nodded her head back and forth. “Well, that’s true, I guess.”

Indeed, the group was now on the edge of town, making their way out of the shadow of the spaceship and climbing a sun-baked hill.

“Yup! Plus, it’ll get us a chance to fulfill our destinies!” Sweetie squealed excitedly.

Scootaloo nodded eagerly. “Yup! And we’ve totally thought it out this time!”

Applejack raised her eyebrows, shaking her head. “Well, let’s hear it, then. ‘Cutie Mark Crusader…’”

“First Contact Negotiators!” they beamed in unison.

Rarity and Applejack deadpanned. “What?”

“We’d be the first in history!” Apple Bloom grinned. “Er, I think, that is!”

Sweetie raised a hoof. “Unless the stories of Oddswell are true, of course.”

“And we’d totally be good at it!” Scootaloo continued. “Apple Bloom would bring the common sense, Sweetie Belle the book smarts, and me?”

“The pizzaaaaaz,” Sweetie winked.

“Daaaarn right.”

“And we’d all bring our adorable nature!” they chimed.

Sweetie nodded rapidly. “They’ll make friends with us whether they want to our not.”

“Nopony, alien, or otherwise, can withstand our cuteness,” Scootaloo said.

“Resistance is futile! Power down your defenses and prepare to be assimilated… with hugs!”

The three made an epic pose, determination saturating their faces, as Twilight and her friends paused, dumbstruck.

Applejack shook her head, chuckling. “Sometimes I think you three rehearse your new crusading announcements.”

“It was Sweetie’s idea,” Scootaloo blushed, glancing away from a bemused Rainbow Dash.

“Hey! You wanted to do it too!”

Scootaloo glared at her. “Shush!”

“Alright, alright!” Applejack finally gave in. “If it’s okay with Rarity, you three can stick around and watch!”

“As long as you’re discreet,” Rarity sighed in defeat. “I suppose it’ll be alright.”

“YEEEEES!” the trio shouted gleefully, breaking into a dance.

“Daw, they really are adorable,” Pinkie mused.

“And very much the opposite of discreet,” Rarity moaned.

They immediately paused at that, grew silent, and lined up as if at the ready, making zipping motions across their mouths.

“Much better, cadets,” Rainbow Dash said sarcastically, before nodding towards Twilight. “So yeah… are we gonna do whatever it is you want to do?”

“Mhm, I just need to..” she paused, glancing at a particular spot on the grassy hill. “Well, I guess that spot is as good as any. Here goes nothing…”

With that, she slowly levitated the bucket to a patch of grass, and carefully poured the gelatinous, blue liquid onto it. The group stood in silence for a moment, watching in awe as…

“Yup, absolutely nothing’s happened,” Rainbow sighed.

Twilight furrowed her brow, trotting to the mass of goo and examining it. “Hm, maybe we just need to give it some time. Maybe we could bring Dr. Whooves out here with some lab equipment?”

“Er, Twilight, I don’t think we’re going to be able to do that…” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Huh? Why not?” Twilight said, turning back to her friends, who were now turned away from her themselves, glancing towards Ponyville. Twilight’s eyes widened at the sight before them. “Woah.”

‘Woah’ was right. Marching, flying, or rolling towards the town was an Equestrian military force the size of that none of the group had ever seen before. There had to be over two thousand land troops surrounding the town, every unicorn among them aiming a magically-charged horn inward, with pegasi flying above them and forming a virtual dome over the alien vessel. Supporting them were a number of airships, all training mana cannons at the alien vessel, as well as standard mana artillery on the ground. They could hear the shouts of officers ordering troops and civilians alike around, though none of them could hear what they were saying.

“Wonderbolts ahoy!” Rainbow Dash grinned proudly, pointing at a formation of them flying in the perimeter. She then face-hoofed herself for some reason. “Aw hell. I’m an idiot. Spitfire’s going to chew me up for not suiting up by now.”

“That’s true,” Applejack nodded. “I keep forgetting you’re technically in the military now.”

“Well, I’m in the reserves,” Rainbow Dash explained. “But in a situation like this, we’d probably get mobilized. Though seriously, I didn’t even think we even had this many troops. And just what the heck are those things?!”

“Mana tanks,” Twilight said, glancing at a column of the odd, metallic things rolling towards town and taking formation near the standard magitek artillery. “Looks like my work with Senator War Hawk paid off. I never thought they’d get past the prototype stage…”

“Yet they work like a charm,” a new, familiar voice chimed. “A little too well, actually, for my tastes.”

A flapping of wings could be heard behind them, then two heavy thuds. The group turned towards it, gazing upon the royal princesses, uncharacteristically suited in blue and yellow battle armor, and with an even more unusual look of tension on their faces.

“Woah! So are we for realzy expecting a war?” Pinkie said, a slight hint of worry in her voice.

“Awww yeah!” Rainbow laughed. “Two princesses suited up and ready to kick flank! I’m loving it!”

“Not quite, my friend,” Princess Celestia smiled. “But time has taught me that when dealing with first contact with new species, you can never be too prepared.”

“However, speaking of expectations,” a very tired-looking Princess Luna yawned, a near-desperate look in her eyes. “Do you have my coffee? This is going to be a loooong day…”