Chapter 2: A New "Friend"

Chapter 2

****************************************************************************************************************

UNIT ACTIVATION INITIATED
AWAITING ACCESS KEY AUTHORIZATION...

PRELOADED ACCESS KEY DETECTED
AUTHORIZATION ACCEPTED

****************************************************************************************************************

RUNNING SYSTEMS DIAGNOSTICS

Outer Shell Integrity: Un-ruptured
Inner Systems Integrity: Intact
Memory Drive Status: Zero (0) Corrupted Files Found

Internal Power Cells Levels....................................................... 95%
Reserve Power Cell Levels.......................................................100%

DIAGNOSTICS COMPLETE
UNIT STATUS: GREEN

****************************************************************************************************************

RELEASING RESTRICTIVE SOFTWARE LIMITERS

Unit is now free to proceed
Have a nice day
;D

****************************************************************************************************************

Luna stepped forward toward the large alien creature that stood before them with her wings spread and her head held high. "Greetings," she began in a loud, strong voice, without using the notorious Royal Canterlot Voice. "We are Princess Luna of the sovereign state of Equestria. We welcome thy arrival and hope that thou has come in peace."

The creature stood there silent. It was a tall, bipedal species of relatively slim build, especially around the midsection. It stood unswaying in what appeared to be a heavy, metal exoskeleton which probably served as protective armor. It shared the color palette of the rest of the interior of the ship, a dark gray color with lighter gray accents and a few white spots. The most interesting of its characteristics was a necklace that it wore around what was undoubtedly its very narrow neck. It consisted of many small rectangular pieces that hung loosely from their ends that were threaded onto the black string that kept it all together. It reminded Twilight of a tribal style ceremonial piece that she had once seen in a museum and may have even offered a little insight to the alien's own culture.

Luna stared on at the creature in silence, waiting for a response. She really didn't know exactly what to do about this either. She may have been a princess, but she wasn't exactly the most experienced of ponies when it came to communicating to an alien race that probably didn't even understand her. She was the princess though, and this meant that the responsibility fell on her. She opened her mouth to say something else, but was startled when the tall alien took a step towards them.

The alien's metallic foot clanked lightly against the ground as his joints made a faint buzzing noise. His step forward was responded to by a step back from both Luna and Twilight, and Spike. The alien approached the small party and Luna prepared herself for anything, but found herself stepping aside only seconds later as the creature walked passed them.

He or she, nopony was really sure what its gender was, stopped when it reached the front of the ship and began to fiddle with some switches and buttons. There was no result, which it responded to by ripping a small panel from one of the walls. It then reached inside and started messing with a series of multicolored wires. After nothing happened yet again, the alien gave up and looked in the direction of the ponies who just stood and stared.

"What system is this?" the alien asked in a voice that was surprisingly normal with the exception of a slight distortion that made him sound like his voice was coming through a radio.

Luna, Twilight, and Spike's eyes all widened at the sudden question. "You actually speak Equestrian," Luna said in surprise. "I was somehow expecting a language barrier, but your tongue is fluent."

"We're speaking English," the alien said in his inorganic voice. "What system is this?"

Everyone just stood and stared, as if he had never asked them a question. Luna finally rid herself of her shock and answered with a question of her own. "What do you mean by, what system is this?"

"What system is this, as in where in the universe are we. What star are we currently orbiting?"

Luna wasn't really prepared for such a question, but she answered to the best of her ability. "And we call our world Equis," she added after explaining a minimal amount. It was hard to tell whether or not the alien fully understood the information she had just given him thanks to his helmet that hid all facial expressions. She doubted that she would even be able to read any of his expressions even if she could see his face.

The helmet he wore was a very plane rectangular shape with what appeared to be a small telescope attached to the left side, facing forward. There was also a small lens, not even half the size of a bit, in the front that sat more towards the right side. Twilight couldn't help but wonder how exactly he saw through such a small hole, but with the way he moved about the room it was obvious to her that the alien had no problems seeing where he was going.

Instead of saying anything else, the alien rose from its kneeling position and walked passed the group again, only stopping when it reached another console. He began pressing several buttons with no result, before slamming a frustrated fist down, causing a loud thud to echo through the chamber. He turned back to the ponies who were visually startled. "I'm not familiar with this location and the ship's navigational systems are down. I'm going to need to make repairs and figure out where I am. Unfortunately, I lack the means to accomplish both of these tasks. I may require your assistance." Without even waiting for a response, he walked passed the group, opened the door from which the ponies had entered, and stepped outside into the open air.

"Sweet mother of Celestia!" one of the guards who stood by the door yelled as he noticed the large metal alien. Every pony within a twenty foot radius immediately took off running to a safe distance. They all looked on in horror as they realized that Princess Luna was nowhere to be seen. They all feared the worst.

Fortunately, only mere seconds after the alien exited the craft, Luna appeared in the doorway along with Twilight and Spike, all of whom were unharmed to everypony's relief.

The tall alien, who now stood several feet from his ship looked around casually, observing, scanning, taking in everything around him. A crowd was quickly accumulating, but he paid them no mind. Instead he turned back to his ship, walking in the general direction of the princess.

"Halt!" a single guard who had not yet run off yelled defiantly to the alien creature before him. He held out his spear bravely, but his body shook nervously and his breathing was heavy and uneasy. The shadow that the much larger creature cast did not help to boost his confidence.

The alien stopped and looked at the guard. "Do you really think a spear will stop me?" he asked in a blunt but not threatening voice.

When the guard only complied by making a motion with his weapon as if trying to make the alien retreat, he grabbed the spear by the razor sharp end and yanked it from the guard's grasp. He then proceeded to bend the spear into a V shape before twisting and reshaping the spear into a corkscrew like object. This motion was done without struggle and so fluently that it immediately became apparent that this creature's strength was unparalleled, despite its slim build and thin limbs.

The alien dropped the now deformed spear which made high pitched clinging noises as it hit the ground. Instead of continuing by ripping apart the guard, who was now visibly scared out of his mind, the alien walked passed him and began to look over his ship.

Luna proceeded from the ship to where the alien now stood, but not before informing her guard that his attempt to defend her was valiant and that he should go get some rest.

"For what reasons have you come to our world?" Luna asked, this time speaking much more casually. "I assume they are much more than to scare my escorts out of their wits."

"That information is confidential," the alien responded. "Even if I did tell you, I wouldn't expect you to understand." His words were blunt, but not unkind. He had a very "to the point" way of speaking that left out a lot of emotional tones.

"And why exactly is that?" Luna challenged.

"Your guards are all wearing plate armor and using spears. This tells me that the technological level of your species is not high enough to understand. Unless that is all ceremonial. Then you might have a chance."

Luna didn't offer a response to this. Her guards, despite never seeing real combat, were brave and honorable ponies. Equestria had always done its best to provide them with the best equipment available and trained them to be arguably the best warriors of their world. This alien may have not thought much of them, but she herself had always been quite proud of her guards. She tried to not give it much more thought.

Luna turned back to the alien who seemed to be observing a badly damaged piece of his ship. "May I at least know to whom we are speaking to?" she asked.

Without breaking concentration on his current task, the alien answered. "My designation is DA-10-10, but I have more commonly been referred to as Daxx."

"Designation?" Twilight questioned after having remained quiet and observing for sometime. "Why do you need a designation? Don't you just have a regular name?"

"No," Daxx answered. "Upon the completion of my construction I was simply taken off the assembly line and given a designation. I was then put into service."

"Construction? Assembly line?" Twilight gasped as a sudden realization hit her. "You're a robot."

"And you're a colorful talking horse of some kind with a printing on your rear end," Daxx pointed out. "I don't know what's stranger, you or the plant life on Praesidium 4."

"Um... you've lost me," Twilight indicated.

"Good," Daxx responded. He rose from the squatting position that he was in and looked around at the crowd that had amassed. He began to walk towards them. As he did this, each pony stepped aside, creating a path for him.

Luna, Twilight, and Spike followed Daxx in close pursuit. "Wait," Luna called out. "Where do you think you are going?"

Daxx made no indication of slowing down as he marched on through the quickly thinning crowd. "I see you have set up a camp," he answered, still marching on. "After scanning the area, I found that several pieces were missing from the fuselage and that they were not scattered around the wreckage." He stopped and turned to face Luna, squatting down until his head was at eye level with the alicorn of the night. "You took them."

Luna swallowed a lump in her throat. Her worst fears were being realized. She did not know how an alien would react to their efforts at scavenging technology from the ship. She was about to find out though. "Yes," Luna admitted, "but I assure you that we only scavenged what had already fallen off your ship during impact. It was strictly forbidden that the ship itself was stripped until we had an idea of who was responsible for the craft."

Daxx didn't offer any kind of reply, instead he simply rose again and began walking off toward the camp, giving no clue as to how he felt about the situation.

"So you are not upset at how we handled all of this?" Luna questioned.

"No," Daxx answered.

Upon entering the camp, Daxx received nothing but blank stares of bewilderment from the ponies that he passed. Eventually, he made his way to a large tent with an open front. There was a small team of ponies examining a large metal device the size of an average stallion. Daxx entered, causing each pony to jump back away from the table and huddle up against the fabric walls and back into the corners of the tent. Each stared at Daxx just as all the others had.

"Fear not," Luna said. "He comes in peace." She looked up at Daxx who was now examining the large object on the table. "You do come in peace, correct?"

"Correct," Daxx answered. He stood silent for a few more seconds as he observed the large, damaged piece of his ship. "There are pieces missing. Where is the rest of it?"

"Most likely at the next tent over," Luna answered. "This science team was tasked with dismantling what we recovered and figuring out how they work. The individual pieces were sent to another team for further study."

Yet again, before Luna was able to finish a sentence, Daxx walked off. When he entered the next tent, everypony reacted in a similar way as before. Eventually, after hitting just about every tent and making his presence known to everypony, Daxx had accumulated a large collection of pieces and parts, which he kept in a large tub that he picked up along the way.

"Don't you want to take the rest of it?" Twilight asked after noticing that he had left a substantial amount of scrap behind.

"The rest is too badly damaged to be used," Daxx answered.

"Is this everything that you need to make the proper repairs?" Luna asked. He had gathered quite an amount of what looked like junk, but it didn't seem like nearly enough to fix a spaceship, especially one in the condition that his was in.

"No," Daxx answered. "Is there anymore? I will need as much as I can get."

"Yes," Luna answered. "There is more in my personal tent, but you can't... Hold on wait!" Luna chased after Daxx as he walked off without letting her finish... again. This was becoming quite irritating for the alicorn who was beginning to feel as if she were being dragged.

Some of Luna's guards, one that had begun to follow the group out of fear that Daxx would try something, attempted to bring the robot to a halt, but only found themselves being literally dragged by Daxx's legs without effort. The ponies who guarded the entry to Luna's tent even tried to stop his progress, but failed when they were toppled like bowling pins.

Luna and Twilight ran to the large blue tent in which Daxx had disappeared. Upon entering, they found that several guards were cautiously surrounding Daxx, who casually sifted through an assortment of metal objects.

"Princess!" one of the guards called out. "Thank the heavens you're alright. This creature insists that he knows you. Is this true?"

"Yes," Luna assured her guard. "His name is Daxx and he is only trying to find a means of repairing his ship. We are cooperating with him for the moment." After dismissing her guards, she turned to Daxx. "How did you even know that this was my tent?" she asked.

Daxx stopped what he was doing and looked at Luna as if she had somehow shattered his concentration into a million pieces. He was silent for a moment, before finally finding an answer. "It matches your butt." He then returned to his task.

Luna blushed before looking at her flank. She then looked around at the tent that surrounded her. "I suppose it does, doesn't it?" she said after a moment of thought.

"What exactly is it that you are looking for?" Twilight asked curiously while also trying to ignore the borderline rude comment that Daxx just made. "I'm sure we could help you with anything that you need."

"Unlikely," Daxx dismissed Twilight's offer. "So far, you have displayed little evidence that suggests you understand even the slightest about what I'm working with."

"Well," Luna began with a slight tone of annoyance in her voice, "maybe if you would stop taking off and dragging us around all the time, we would be able to talk and get a clue as to what in Equestria is going on here!" She sounded almost angry as the annoyance grew.

"Point taken," Daxx said, not even looking away from the metal he was sifting through. "What do you want know?"

Luna sighed to calm herself. "Why exactly did you crash here? What caused it?"

Daxx stopped for a moment and turned to Luna, giving her his undivided attention. "The craft that I arrived in was being carried by a much larger ship, the USS Javelin. It was an advanced battle cruiser with a long range warp drive and deflector shields. After being ambushed deep within enemy occupied space, a random jump was made in order to evade pursuit. I have no knowledge of what happened after that. I was put into power save mode after making the jump. It is possible that the shuttle I was aboard drifted into space from the hangar bay due to the heavy damage that was sustained during battle. Seeing as there is not enough intact salvage to repair said shuttle, it would be best to repair the distress beacon and call for help. A second shuttle could then be sent down to retrieve me. Until then, I am stranded here."

Luna thought about this for a moment. She didn't like it she finally concluded. She didn't like it one bit. Here before her was an alien with technology eons ahead of their own and from the sound of it, she guessed that they were at war. She didn't like the idea of a military group literally dropping into Equestria. Heavens knew what they would do.

"What would happen if you were successfully rescued?" Luna asked cautiously. "What would your allies do here?"

"We would move on, most likely. It wouldn't be smart to stay in one spot for too long."

"Why not?" Twilight asked. "Are you afraid you are being followed by those you are in conflict with?"

"Yes," Daxx answered, "and it is imperative that we are not caught."

"Why?" Luna asked.

"Classified," Daxx responded.

Luna sighed before looking to Twilight and the little dragon who still nervously clutched her leg. She looked back to Daxx who was now going through the metal objects on the table again. She could tell that this was only going to get harder thanks to him withholding information, and it worried her very much. She was very, very worried.