Pathfinder 5

Chapter 20: Political Games

Equestrian Log 22

As I’ve currently figured out the correct spelling of the land into English, I’ve decided to change the log title of my logs from now on to reflect where I am. I’ve currently finished with several more experiments on the local wild life and plants (see experiment logs for full details) and after linking up with the computer back onboard the Pathfinder and using the superior processing powers on it, there is an addition to my reports.

The animals on his world while on the surface identical to Earth there is a 0.1 percent deviance on average in the DNA samples so far. The animals seem to be more intelligence from my observations at Fluttershy’s, especially a certain rabbit she has. I know it’s strange but I swear that little guy is giving me the eye sometimes.

I did have a very long talk with both rulers last night, again it was in my dreams thanks to Princess Luna’s telepathy or dream walking as she calls it. I told them of the strange similarities between our worlds and sadly they couldn’t give any answers. Apparently, there is a lot of lost knowledge on this world. There was a whole race of Alicorns here before but they all mysteriously left leaving Celestia and Luna behind as children. If this was by design or by accident they didn’t know as they were so young they barely remember that time. Personally, I can’t see why anyone would leave behind two children on purpose like that, at least that’s my hope.

I also learned that Celestia in fact does have a monkey in her garden, apparently she keeps super rare animals there and they are found in the deep jungles of this world which most ponies don’t go into. So not many of the locals have ever seen let alone heard of it unless someone specializes in rare animals.

Not only that but she has as her personal pet a damn phoenix of all things. I’m going to see if I can get images of this and with luck maybe I can bring back a feather at least for analysis. That should give the geneticist something to look forward to. Not every day you can get something that was mythological under a microscope but I’ll have to wait on that.

There are also other races on this world and some of them are linked to old mythology to Earth. There are minotaurs and griffons here, I haven’t met them yet but at the way things are going I can expect to see their representatives soon as the Princesses are most likely setting up something for me to meet other representatives of this world.

The translation matrix has gotten pretty good (see Language database Equestrian v3.2) although there are still some words and concepts that haven’t been translated yet but I’m constantly updating the file. Because of this I might be soon meeting these other representatives given I can now carry a damn conversation without sounding like a caveman. I’ll be sure to make as many notes as possible when this happens and make different reports for each race I meet. Maybe I can try to get some images and recordings if possible.

There have been some more ponies lately getting into the town, I see a lot of them looking and staring at me of course. This was all expected although I do feel a bit self-conscious at it. Sometimes I feel like a celebrity and other times an exhibit in a zoo. Although if I find anyone selling T-shirts by my ship I’ll have to put a stop to that, well maybe unless they split the profits with me. It would allow me to get some local currency to use.

I know some people back home might frown on that but hey, I grew up in a very capitalist family and I can’t keep going with just handouts from my new friends. I already feel the need to pay back some of them like Twilight for the loan and Applejack for some apples she gave me today. I’m still trying to get a sense of the economy of this world. The money is a type of small gold coins, apparently gold is plentiful enough for this. I found one apple equals a single ‘bit’ as they call it. I’m trying to keep a log of how much certain items cost but I might need some help in understanding it.

I might have to talk with Applejack about it, she’s a business person and so is Rarity so maybe between the two of them they could help me get a handle of their economy. I’ll be sure to put in a report about it for the people back home to go over it. It might help with trade if we have an idea of where to start with them after all.

Another reason for this is that I’ve done the math. If I could pay for some of the local food it will allow me to stretch out my time here a bit more. There is just a so much to cover and I have a limited time to do so with my food supplies. There is still enough fuel in Pathfinder to get to the nearest space station for refueling before getting back to the Sol system so that’s not an issue. The solar panels should help keep it up and running weeks after my food would run out even with new food stuffs.

I’ve still haven’t made much headway with the math for why the sun and moon orbit this planet. It just doesn’t make any sense, the mass of this planet is pretty similar enough to Earth so there is no way a sun would travel around it. The gravity forces alone should have sent this planet spinning out of control or into the sun or something to kill all life on this planet.

I’ve been trying to get Pathfinder to get better scans of the gravity but I’m not happy with the data. I’m going to link up with the ship and have it send out some of the probes I still have in specific areas to get a fully detailed scan. With it I can make a fully in-depth 3D model to work with. Honestly I might have to spend time on this on the travel time back home as I just don’t have the time to fully go into this with everything else I’m trying to work on.

There is one possible reason although I’m a bit hesitant to believe it. During my talk with the royal sisters last night in my dreams (which is still weird that they can do this) I asked about that and they claim they are able to control the sun and moon. Now I know they are pretty powerful but to move objects like that would require insane amounts of power. I did ask if they would allow me to see this in person and I hope to record some of this. If what they said it true then if I can figure out how they are able to do it, well it could lead to some interesting scientific discoveries.

Maybe it would lead to the missing piece we’ve been looking for artificial gravity for instance. But again I’m going to have to actually see this, as a scientist I can’t just take something at face value and I’m going to have to research this. Maybe instead of altering the mass of the sun and moon they’re changing the forces of gravity? That might be easier to pull off if I can even figure out how that’s even possible. Maybe when I put the satellites in position I’ll be able to tell exactly.

I’m going to ask if I can set up some equipment for some data gathering as well, nothing major just deep scans into the planet to help me get an idea of what the upper layer is made up of. I know the mass of the planet but not much of the makeup. I’m also hoping to start checking out some books and scanning their content into the computer. Not only should this help with the translation matrix but I hope to get some insight into their culture, history as well. Now that I’m good friends with the local librarian and my new library card I think it’s time to really give that card a workout.

End Log

-Canterlot-

In the castle there were many rooms, a grand ballroom, several kitchens, barracks for the guards but at the moment the two sisters were in one particular room. This was a special meeting room for dignitaries. It was a grand room up high in the castle with a whole set of windows that overlooked the entire city and beyond. The large circular table was in the center with large marble pillars and floors.

Banners were set up on the walls that represented all the nations that would be attending.

Luna and Celestia sat next to each other with various scrolls and papers as well as photos in front of them. Although the news was out they wanted to show that this wasn’t some kind of ludicrous story that everyone was talking about.

They waited until the large doors opened and a herald appeared.

“Presenting from the Griffon Kingdom, Ambassador Gaius.”

A griffon with a red cape walked in with a grey top of an eagle and a brown body of a lion. He held his head up high as he took a spot with his country’s flag.

“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Consort Shining Armor.”

Cadence and Shining were next to come in and take their seats to Celestia’s right.

“Ambassador Azari from the Zebra Lands.”

A male Zebra with several rings and decorations on him walked in, he had an air of calm and patience about him. Without a word he walked with a grace in his steps to his chair as he politely nodded to the two sisters before taking a seat.

“Presenting the ambassador of the Minotaur Republic, Ambassador Red Bull.”

A large minotaur walked in with a light red coat with some grey streaks in it. He walked in with a slight limp and a cane of pure wood that looked well used. He had a gold ring in his nose with the sight of a few battle scars on his shoulder as he only wore a set of pants with a sash of his rank on it.

He fell into his chair as he placed the cane next to him as his great weight was held up by his larger chair than the others.

Celestia nodded her head, “Thank you for coming.”

“A great honor as always to meet with you,” The Zebra male spoke up with a smooth voice. “Although we did wish with speak with you too.”

“Yes about this whole alien thing,” Red Bull spoke up with a deep rumbling voice. “Are these stories in the papers true?”

Luna nodded her head, “It is, we spoke with our visitor as we have prepared official documents and pictures to prove it.”

With her magic she passed the folders around to each member as they started to look through them all. There were a range of emotions playing on their faces, from shock, surprise, wonderment among others. The Griffon ambassador spoke up first as he gave the sisters a guarded look, “So just how long has this creature been in your lands?”

The sisters shared a look as both nodded at each other. “We first came aware of his ship arriving over three weeks ago.”

“Three weeks!?” The Griffon ambassador rose up from his seat. “And we’re only just learning of this now!”

“Although quite loud, his point is sound,” Azari spoke up next.

The minotaur ambassador remained quiet but he was studying the proceedings with a careful look.

“We wanted to ensure we knew what we were dealing with,” Luna told them knowing this was going to be the hard part to coming clean with them all. They had known of him for some time before going forward with the information. “We had no way to know if he was a threat or not, we didn’t even know he was on the planet until a few days after he landed.”

“So you’re telling us that Equestria has already started talks with an alien race,” the griffon said. “So any trade deals you’ve already got a head start on the rest of us.”

“We haven’t talked about any trade deals,” Celestia told him.

“So you say,” was his response as he settled back into his chair.

“I believe that they have been forthcoming.” Cadence told him.

He only scoffed at that, “They are your aunts, you can’t expect me to believe you to be impartial with them can you?”

“Be that as it may I still believe them,” Cadence told him again.

Shining Armor felt he had to say something as well given that he had served Celestia for years and was now related to her and Luna through Cadence. “I have known Celestia for years ambassador and although I haven’t known Luna as long, they are both trustworthy ponies.”

“Of that I can agree to,” Azari commented. “they normally speak well and true.”

“Thank you ambassador. “Luna nodded her thanks to him. “I will tell you that I have spoken to him in his dreams as well as my sister has as well when I took her in. I have been learning about his people and helping him to learn our language. He has only just how been able to learn enough to hold conversations among our ponies.”

“Even if that was true you still kept this from the world and our governments until some reporter put out the story.”

Celestia nodded her head, “I do admit to that, I thought it would be best if we saw how he interacted with the ponies of Ponyville.”

“We also needed time to learn as much as possible.” Luna put forth. “We thought that by learning more about him and his people we would be ready to come forth with more information.”

“Also we technically weren’t the first he contacted but it was a zebra that met him first.” Celestia was hoping that little bit of information would change their focus and also give them something else to talk about. She knew that keeping this as quiet as possible would have drawbacks but she needed to have been sure. She hated acting without knowing as much was possible and she had to accept that any negative reactions were a consequence of those actions.

The griffon ambassador quickly looked to the only other zebra in the room as she calmly shook his head.

“Of this I was not made aware, perhaps we should listen with great care.” He replied.

“It was a zebra that currently lives in the Everfree Forest.” Luna explained to them. “Her name is Zecora, a shaman that is living on the edge of the forest. She was the first to meet the alien from what we learned.”

Azari thought about it, it must have been one of his people on The Great Walk. It was a spiritual journey one took on their path to wisdom. It required one to walk the world to find a place that called out to you. You were to find this place and commune with it, to find yourself and your inner balance. Once completed the shaman would reach a higher state of being.

Looking down at the file he looked closely at the images of the being. It did seem tall from the ponies in the pictures with the alien. From the file it said that the being was male and named [David]. Apparently an explorer of his race and the ship alone was something that he had never seen before.

There were stories and legends among his people of the Sky People, also called the Star Children, Those that Came Beyond the Sky and other such names. Although none of them really said what these beings looked like oddly enough. They were said to have come very long ago in strange vessels but after that the stories varied. Some said they were the first ones on the world and formed and created it in their image. Some said they were old teachers that taught the Zebras the way of the world. Others said that they left into the Dreamscape and were never heard of again.

He would like to meet this being, even if he wasn’t the same as in the old stories, he had to wonder what such a being was like. What knowledge did he have of the stars that he could bring to them?

Celestia turned to face the minotaur ambassador. “You’ve been very quiet.”

The ambassador leaned back as he closed his eyes stroking his beard. Celestia watched and waited as she knew that to others he looked like he wasn’t sure but she knew that he was forming his thoughts up. Minotaurs were very energetic and brash in their youth but as they aged they learned patience and wisdom.

She reflected on how some of the great thinkers were elder Minotaurs, she especially loved the works of the great sage Broken Horn. Looking at the ambassador she knew him well enough, the gold ring signified someone in their culture that had reached the title of honored elder. The scars were most likely from a Harpy attack, their lands unfortunately had a problem with them and suffered from various attacks from time to time.

Finally, he opened his eyes, “I can see why you did what you did, but I can’t let it totally slide either. We will need to meet this alien ourselves.”

“Yes, I agree with that,” the griffon nodded his head.

“I have to admit I really would like a look at him in person,” Shining told them and then looked to his in-laws. “You think he could bring the ship with him?”

“Oh that might be a good idea,” Red Bull nodded with approval. “We can all meet this alien together then.”

“We can arrange something soon,” Celestia told them.

“We could make it a whole event,” Cadence offered. “Make it a gala with everyone invited.”

Luna nodded her head in agreement, “That would work out.”

“So then what can you tell us about this being?” Red Bull asked leaning back. “I know we have official documents here but I would like to hear in your own words what you found out.”

-Ponyville-

Pinkie Pie was just finishing up her shift at Sugarcube Corner as well as she was finishing up a special batch that were in the oven. She hummed happily as she rang up the last customer

Mr. and Mrs. Cake were getting ready to close up shop for the day and Pinkie went into the kitchen to check on the oven. She looked in to see that the cookies she had were done, so she pulled them out and carefully put them onto a cloth she prepared.

“Are those for somepony?” Mr. Cake asked when he came into the kitchen to see her cleaning up.

“Yup, I’m making some nice snacks for all the new ponies coming into town.” She told him as she waited for the cookies to cool. “I just wish I could make enough for everypony.”

He knew that there were a lot more ponies coming into town lately ever since that newspaper article came out. He had to admit that business had picked up with all those ponies looking for something to eat. It might get a bit busier as more word spread as well so they would most likely have to stock up a bit more for the future.

“Well just do your best.” He said knowing how well she liked to make ponies smile.

“You got it,” she smiled happily. As soon as the cookies were cooled enough she took the cloth and bundled up the cookies as she tied it off and wrapped it around her neck so that it laid on her back. Using the back entrance she left the building and went on her next destination.

She walked through the town waving and greeting everyone she met, seeing smiles always made her the happiest because to her there was nothing better than everyone happy and having a good time. Life was full of wonderful things if you took the time to find it and she wanted to show everyone just how wonderful life could be.

Eventually she made it to a small business shop in town, it had a sign with three little candies outside. Pinkie went in as the little bell rang from overhead the doorway.

“Hey Bon Bon,” Pinkie waved to the earth pony behind the counter.

“Hey there Pinkie, let me guess another order?” The mare asked.

“You know it.”

“Alright I was about to close up but I can get you your order first.” She moved to get the assorted candies as Pinkie pulled out a small bag of bits from out of her poofy mane. Bon Bon didn’t question how she kept stuff or pulled them out of it all the time. It was just one of the things she learned to live with ever since she moved here.

She gave Pinkie her candies as she put them into the makeshift sack she had.

“So going out to see the crowd again?” Bon Bon asked.

“Yep-yep,” she nodded. “With so many coming in I’ve been super-duper extra busy lately greeting all the new ponies to town.”

“Well I’m closing up for the day, mind if I come with?” she asked the party pony.

“Sure thing, the more the merrier after all.” Pinkie said to her as she waited for Bon Bon to finish up closing her store. As soon as she was done they were both on their way. It wasn’t too far to get to the ship and it wasn’t like you could miss it either. Especially not with the crowd that seemed to form around it lately.

Bon Bon wanted to get an eye on the crowd, all these ponies wasn’t making her job of keeping an eye on their guest any easier. She tried to find excuses to walk by the area so it wasn’t out of place. Lyra hadn’t noticed anything thankfully. As she scanned the crowd she looked for any that might pose any kind of threat. So far ponies were keeping a distance from the ship but it wouldn’t take long before some tried to get too close to it.

Or worst some tried to get in, the most she had to worry about was if a unicorn tried to teleport into the ship. Granted that was a high-level spell and only powerful/talented ones could pull it off but it could still happen. As they got to the ship she could hear the crowd before she could see it. Even in the afternoon there were still plenty of ponies looking around.

“Well time to start welcoming ponies, you want to come with?” Pinkie asked her with a huge smile on her face.

“I think I’d slow you down,” Bon Bon told her. “Go ahead and I’ll see you around.”

“You sure?” Pinkie looked at her with a tilt of her head.

Bon Bon wasn’t sure but when Pinkie looked at you like that it was odd, like she could see right through you. It was hard to tell sometimes when Pinkie was being her usually bubbly if slightly air headed self or surprisingly insightful. Thankfully there was one quick way to get her attention somewhere else.

“Oh look I think I see a pony or two frowning.” Bon Bon pointed to the crowd.

Pinkie gasped and looked behind her. “Where, where!?”

“I think they got into the crowd Pinkie,” she told her.

Pinkie was quickly off in search of some pony with a frown to turn outside down. Bon Bon let out a sigh as Pinkie left. It wasn’t always easy keeping her cover with that mare around but she was very good at keeping her cover. The thing about living a part for so long is that you started to believe it. Actually she liked her life now, she kind of liked the quiet life. Well quieter to be honest, she had picked out Ponyville because it was supposed to be a nice quiet place she could build her life up again.

Well given all the stuff that happens in this town ‘quiet’ wasn’t very accurate. It was more like mostly quiet with moments of excitement sprinkled in now and then. Well at least she was never bored that was for sure.

Looking around she paused seeing a couple of ponies setting up tents. Okay that was starting to worry her a bit. She walked over to one of them as it was a unicorn couple setting up.

“Hey there, what’s with the tents?” Bon Bon asked.

“Oh we’re hoping that if we stay here we’ll be able to leave with him.” The stallion said with a smile.

“Yeah, we’re hoping to see the stars in person.” The mare replied.

“Uh huh,” Bon Bon nodded.

“Fools!” one pony shouted behind them as they turned to see one with an actual tin foil hat on his head. “The aliens are coming, they came to conquer the world I just know it!”

Bon Bon sighed internally, she was wondering when the crazies would start coming out and it looked like she was starting to find some.

“Oh come on, he’s been here and done nothing bad,” the mare defended. “He’s here to bring us the wisdom of the universe to offer us to get to the stars.”

Bon Bon was really starting to get a bad feeling as she stepped in between the two of them. “Okay I’ve been here since the start and I’ll have you both know you’re both wrong. He hasn’t done anything bad since he got here. Heck a few foals went into the Everfree and he saved them from Timberwolves.” She said looking at the guy with the tinfoil hate.

“Both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were here and you’d think if anypony would know if he was evil at least one of them would have done something.”

Then she turned to the other two setting up a tent. “I’ve heard that he’s actually an explorer, he’s here for science reasons and as far as I heard he hasn’t planned on bringing anypony with him into space.”

“You don’t know that,” the mare challenged with her stallion right beside her.

“Yeah this could all be a ploy,” the tin hat said next. “I know there is something going on here and I plan to getting to the bottom of it.”

With that he went back to wherever he had been before while the couple went back to their tent.

Bon Bon sighed, she was going to have to sent a letter to the Princess today and sent it quickly. They were going to need a guard presence and soon because of more of these types showed up they might start fighting and some might get in into their heads to try something really stupid.

Next up Chapter 21: An Alien Teacher?

Author's Note

Sorry to the late update had some muse issues plus Gears 4 and Battlefield 1 came out lol.