Chapter 9: Sunlight

Twilight stood on her veranda and gazed out across Ponyville. The sun hung low in the sky, soon it would be dark. She breathed deeply, the late afternoon air a salve to the growing anxiety in her heart.

Equestria had been visited by many creatures since the time she had come to Ponyville, both friend and foe. But this time, she felt, things were different. Even though they were friendly, these humans marked a change, something fundamental was being forever altered. She couldn't quite put a hoof on it, but a shudder ran up her spine as she she stood alone on the large platform so high in the air.

The silent shadow of a creeping, unseen evil cast across the land made her shiver inside, and sparked the seeds of a fear she had never felt before.

The sound of soft wing beats approaching broke her trance.

"Twilight. Are you okay? You look like you saw a ghost."
Twilight smiled and turned to Celestia's softly powerful voice. "Celestia! Thank you for coming so quickly."

Princess Celestia stepped gently towards Twilight, folding her great white wings as she walked. Her glittering, multicolored pastel mane streamed from her elegantly formed head, a self-luminescent flow accentuated perfectly by the golden highlights of her hoofshoes and neck-piece.

"I departed as soon as I received your message, Twilight. What is amiss? I feel your tension from here."

"A serious problem. We have visitors from another world."

Celestia's eyes narrowed, and her nostrils flared slightly. "Are they of hostile intent?"

"No, I don't think so. But there are other things out there that seem to be very dangerous. Well, the visitors are in the dining room, it might be best if they helped explain."

"Indeed." Celestia nodded, and followed Twilight inside the castle.

The distance down the hallways was not long, and they traversed the path in seconds. Celestia started to ask a question as they approached the door. "Twilight, when you said visitors from another world, did you mean..."

They passed into Twilight's dining room, and Celestia's eyes bugged out when she saw the humans and their gear talking animatedly with the Equestrians around the large table.

Twilight cleared her throat. "Allow me to present Princess Celestia."

The humans stood up quickly at Twilight's announcement. Marky scrambled to his feet as well.

"A pleasure to meet you, Princess." Chris stepped forward and bowed, unsure of what else to do. "My name is Christopher Lance."

Celestia blinked and recovered her composure instantly.

"A pleasure to meet you as well." She also performed a slight bow, acknowledging them courteously while maintaining her habitual bearing as primary Princess of Equestria. "I have heard you traveled from a distant land."

"Well that is true enough, in a way." Chris took a moment to introduce the other strangers, including Marky.

Celestia looked quizzically at Marky. She took a breath to ask another question just as Spike and Rarity appeared in the doorway, pushing a cart with plates and a large serving tray on top. The tray was piled high with golden brown triangle-cut sandwiches.

"Food coming through!" Spike called out enthusiastically. "Oh, I'm sorry Princess Celestia, I didn't see you there!"

Celestia gracefully sidestepped the barreling cart and got a strong whiff of the hot sandwiches. The smell was savory and enticing, and it reminded her of the uneaten dinner she had left behind to answer Twilight's emergency message. Her stomach growled a little.

Spike smiled up at her. "I heard you were coming and I, er, WE made extra. Rarity helped me." He purred a little on Rarity's name.

"Thank you Spike. And Rarity." Celestia's gratefulness sounded more eager than she had intended, but nopony seemed to notice. "Well, perhaps we should sit down before it gets cold? And maybe you can share your tale as we eat."

Twilight and Celestia sat next to each other, and Rarity set the plates out. Soon there were sandwiches all around.

"Thith ith a prethy amathing sandwith," McAllister said, his mouth partially full.

"Have some manners!" Hamilton hissed. "Stop eating like a hors... um, like an animal."
Rainbow Dash was cramming her food into her mouth like there was no tomorrow. "E an't eat like a orse I etin like orse!" she choked out while chewing vigorously.

"Rainbow Dash! Where are YOUR manners???" Rarity huffed, appalled.

Rainbow Dash stopped chomping her second sandwich and gasped for breath. "I was hungry!"

"Me too!" McAllister joined in.

Celestia laughed like a tinkling bell. "You ponies never fail to bring a smile to my face." Her demeanor became serious as she looked at the humans. "But I really must hear the full story of how you got here."

Chris leaned forward in his chair. "Without going too much into the details, we created a rupture between our world and, somewhere else..." He proceeded to tell her their story, with a few interjections from the others at the table.

When he finished, Chris sat back in his chair. "And that's the gist of it."

Celestia took a napkin and daintily brushed some crumbs from her mouth, then she leaned back in her chair as well. "I believe we should go and assess the situation in Everfree Forest as soon as possible." She looked out the window. "It's getting dark, and I don't like the thought of those police officers standing out there by themselves tonight. I am going to organize a strike force from the Equestrian military at Canterlot. I don't think we should wait until morning."

"You're going now?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, I believe I can return to Canterlot and be back with forces within the hour. We can meet at the police blockade." Celestia glanced at Marky. "I am also interested in your story. Hopefully we may talk more about it later. I'm sure you understand that I must deal with this issue at hand first."

Marky nodded and smiled. "It does not impact the current situation. Anytime you want, I am willing to tell you anything you ask."

"Thank you. Well then, I must leave now. I shall return soon," Celestia said, as she stood up.

The group walked with Celestia to the castle balcony, where she leapt off into the night sky and flew towards the distant castle up on the mountain.

"Now that's MY kind of princess," Marky said softly, watching her fly.

Twilight eyeballed him curiously.

"I, uh, mean, not that you aren't a great princess. I mean, you are definitely my kind of princess too..." Marky dragged a hoof across his face. "That didn't come out the way I wanted."

Twilight laughed amiably. "I'm flattered."

Sanchez glanced at his watch. "She said about an hour."

Just then, Chris's HUD popped up a message notification. "Hold on a sec guys, getting comm traffic." He acknowledged and saw a text message.

Jeffrey Peterson: Hard line transmitter setup complete, recommend send text, transfer rate sucks. I'm still Earth-side. Dropped a fiber optic line through the Gate but still have heavy packet loss. Doc Hardy and comm team working on it.

Chris made a spreading motion in the air, and a holographic keyboard appeared, projected from his wristband. He typed a message back.

• Christopher Lance: We have encountered a sentient species. Seem very friendly. Negotiating assistance.

A few moments passed, then another message popped up.

• Jeffrey Peterson: Send a picture!
  
• Christopher Lance: Hold on a few minutes.

Chris pulled a tablet phone out of his pocket and looked around the balcony at all the ponies and humans talking to each other. Apparently the excitement of making new friends surpassed the solemnity of the circumstances, because there was nothing but smiling and joking coming from everyone present. Smiling himself, he held up the phone.

"Uh, guys? Can we get a group photo?"

"Sure why not?"

Everyone started clustering together at one end of the balcony. Chris tried to join the laughing group, and realized he couldn't stretch his arm far enough out to get all of them in the frame, no matter how close they squashed together.

"Who would have thought I'd be wishing for a selfie stick on humanity's first real off-world mission?" he quipped.

"Well technically the moon landing was humanity's first off-world..." McAllister began.

"Shut up, spoilsport," Chris said with a grin.

"I can take the photo!" Spike grabbed the phone and started walking away.

"Let me take it," Twilight said, tugging on the phone with her telekinesis. "Come get in the picture, Spike!"

Spike let the phone go in midair, then squeezed up in front and smiled.

Twilight spun it around in front of them, squinting with concentration while trying to line the photo up. "Where do I press this thing..."

The flash went off.

"Oh! I see. Ooops. Okay, everyone say "First Contact!"

The group squished closer together and smiled widely while Twilight snapped the picture.