Vendor of the Black Market

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10 MINUTES BEFORE BLACKJACK'S ARRIVAL TO PONYVILLE

In the dining lounge of the Canterlot castle, occupied by two certain alicorns, Princess Celestia and Luna were conversating over some tea. Mostly casual discussion, which broke away from their required behavior to give the population of Equestria outside of the Royal Palace.
During the middle of a shared laugh between the two sisters, a member of the Crystaline guard, clad in his usual cyan uniform, entered the the room.

"Excuse me Princesses, I hope I'm not interrupting anything," the guard said, feeling like he came in a but too sudden, but keeping his stoic bearing.

"Oh of course, not," Celestia assured, "What seems to be the problem, Captain?"

There was a large amount of sweat building up on the stallion's body, indicating that used a teleportation spell for too long a distance.
"Your highness, Prince Shining Armor spotted a strange mechanical being coming from within the Crystal mountains," he reported, fully capturing the attention of the two rulers.

"We destroyed it, but it also managed to deliver this." he continued, holding up what seemed to resemble a stone or bronze tablet, except made of a strong glass, the words printed on instead of etched.

Celestia levitated the tablet over to the dining table with her magic, allowing Luna to take a good look at what it read.

SOS:

My men and I are trapped within a cave. The weather is too harsh to move down the mountain, but I have sent a GI-unit to deliver this note. The rest of us can't survive in harsh conditions, as we're currently snowed in, and I feel our time is running out. We've lit green flares to indicate our location, and we request immense help.

-Captain David "Prophet" Wilkes
Luna, finished with reading a few seconds before Celsestia, looked back up at the guard.

"Is there anything else, Captain?"

"Yes. The royal guard from Ponyville have informed me of a disturbance within the Everfree forest, almost like a meteor crash."

"I will report it to Princess Twilight, head back to the Crystal Empire and help whoever sent this distress call," Celestia ordered without moving her eyes away from the message.

"Of course, your highness," the guard responded, focusing on, then leaving through a teleportation spell.

After a small window of silence, Luna spoke up again. "What do you think we're dealing with here, Tia?" she asked while Celestia was writing a letter to Princess Twilight.

"Not sure, but it sounds almost like humans."