Of Friendships and Warships

Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Applejack were lying in in Twilight’s castle in Ponyville. Celestia and Luna were wandering about the castle. A knock was heard from the large double doors that was the entrance, prompting all the ponies to go straight to the door. The only one to even consider answering it was Twilight, who opened the door with her magic; revealing that a white pony with golden armor was the one knocking.

“Princess Twilight, the mirror you requested to be retrieved has been retrieved,” the guard said.

“Thank you,” Twilight said back, “Just put it in the library.”

“Looks like no one got around to destroying it,” Luna said, while the group walked the map room.

“Just as I’d hoped,” Twilight replied, “With I think I can find a way to save them, though I might never know for certain.” Twilight opened the doors to the map room with her magic as they approached. Once all eight ponies had entered, she closed the doors. “Spike, are you here?” Twilight asked when she heard snoring from small throne next to one of the six thrones that surrounded a large circular map. The question had awoken a purple dragon from his slumber.

“Yes, Twilight?” the dragon asked, “Do you need anything? Snacks?”

“No,” Twilight replied, “But I told you we’d be talking the Princesses, Spike.”

“Oh, yeah, right. I forgot,” Spike said trying to hide from Twilight.

“Why don’t you go read one of your comics?” Twilight asked the dragon.

“Sure!” he said excitedly as he scrambled up and ran out of the room, closing the door behind him.

“Now that that is out of the way,” Twilight said, “What is it that you wanted to talk about?” Celestia and Luna went to stand between thrones while the rest took seats in the thrones with their cutie marks on them.

“We wanted to talk out this ship you said arrived here,” Luna said with concern, “And what happened involving them, what they did.”

“Well, they first arrived by accident,” Rarity started telling the Princesses, “And nearly scared everything off when they did arrive. They nearly scared poor Fluttershy to death in particular.”

“At first there were only three massive ones,” Rainbow said with a shudder, “They looked like robots, too.”

“They came in this big loud vehicle, which we saw plenty of while on their ship,” Fluttershy added, “They named it after an animal.”

“The next group came in a flying machine,” Applejack continued, “They did not have so much armor on.”

“Did they ever say anything about fighting a war?” Celestia asked.

“Yes, they did,” Twilight said, “They didn’t know the outcome, but they were fighting a war.”

“Perhaps they ran away from it?” Luna thought out loud.

“They did not seem to have run away from it,” Applejack said, “They wanted to get back to their war, not bother us.”

“That is why they came down here, in the first place,” Twilight added, “They gave me something that might have what they found down here on it.”

“What did they find?” Celestia asked.

“Some kind of advanced research facility,” Rainbow replied, “They brought us to one, for some reason.”

“Oh, those,” Celestia said, “I thought we had destroyed those. What the people there were researching could have destroyed Equestria, I had to do something about it.”

“Glad to see some good might have come from them, though,” Luna said with a sigh of relieve, “I thought they would have been long forgotten.”

“You knew?” Twilight asked, almost yelling.

“We thought you’d never find them, and we were right,” Celestia said, “For a while anyway.” A knock was heard at the door. “Who is that?” Celestia asked as she walked over and opened the door, seeing Cadence and Shining Armor there. “Well, Luna and I should head back to Canterlot. Oversee repairs and what not,” she said turning to Luna.

“Spike and Zecora filled us in on some details,” Cadence spoke once Celestia and Luna left the room, “I’m just glad you okay!”

“Zecora?” Twilight asked, “I thought she was up there with us.”

“She mentioned being sent down early,” Shining said, “She wouldn’t tell us why. I don’t think she even knows why.”

“Hey, we should go to Sugar Cube Corner!” Pinkie said randomly.

“I think that is a wonderful idea,” Cadence agreed.

“Okay, then. Not like we have a reason to sit around the map,” Twilight said, “Let’s go.” The eight ponies left the map room and started walking to the front door, crossing paths with Spike on the way. “Spike, want to join us?” Twilight asked as they passed.

“Naw, I’m good,” Spike replied, “Still got chores to finish up here.” Spike went back to what he was doing as the ponies left castle.

=== ===

Far above the surface, a flat purple ring with blackness that covered the stars appeared. Out of it drifted a long blocky object with many blinking lights, and a white logo that read ‘UNSC’ on both sides. Its appearance did not go unnoticed.

On the ground, Luna was looking through a telescope at this object. Celestia flew up to the tower that Luna was in.

“The damage to the city was surprisingly minor, the worst of it was wall that had been knocked down and hall that something exploded in,” Celestia said relieved it wasn’t any worse, “Luna, what are you looking at?”

“Yes, something just appeared over Equstria,” Luna said with worry clearly showing in her voice, “It has markings that mark it as UNSC, the faction they said that ship was from.”

“We know they’d return,” Celestia said, “Better sooner than later. They should certainly believe we didn’t destroy their ship.”

“I’m concerned that they won’t believe us telling them we didn’t,” Luna said.

“I doubt they could blame us, we don’t have any ships like theirs,” Celestia tried to comfort Luna, “They might just pass over. They might not think we’re worth bothering, even. No need to get all worked up.”

=== ===

“…and that’s when I jumped on her head!” Pinkie finished telling her story to the rest of the group. Just as she finished her story, a draconequus popped in right next to her. “Discord, what are you doing here?” she asked.

“I just figured it drop in,” Discord said as an arm dropped from ceiling, which he then picked up and reattached. “I don’t think we’ve ever met in person, Armor Shining, or is Shining Armor,” Discord said detaching his arm and hold out to Shining Armor.

“You must be Discord,” Shining Armor said flatly.

“Well that’s quite observant of you,” Discord said while wearing a mysteriously conjured trench coat, after which it ceased to exist just as mysteriously.

“Discord, did you do this on purpose?” Twilight asked, “Because the timing is awfully convenient.”

“Well, since you said my timing is convenient,” Discord said with a laugh, “Though I doubt you would understand what just arrived.” On que, Discord teleported the mysterious probe into his hand; showing it to be very small, about the size of a large cat.

“Where did that come from?” Twilight and Rainbow said simultaneously.

“Just from orbit, I don’t know where it came from,” Discord said matter-of-factly.

“DISCORD!” Twilight yelled.

=== ===

In a dark room, a human with dark hair was watching a monitor that was showing the what the probe’s cameras were pointing at; which right now, was Twilight. A door opened, letting light from the corridor in along with a tall man with a gray uniform. The person watching the monitor swiveled his chair to face the man who just entered.

“Captain Alexander Richardson, UNSC Into Light, reporting as ordered, sir,” the man who entered said.

“You see that?” the seated person said who continued when Richardson nodded, “Telemetry from the probe. Something or someone teleported it, and it found the Spirit of Fire’s black box. Ship’s gone, but the wreckage is still there. Your orders are to find if there are any survivors, and make contact with the natives there.”

“Do we have a translation package?” Richardson asked.

“By the time you get there, it’ll be ready.”

=== ===

“That probe is gone,” Luna said to Celestia searching the whole sky for it.

“I told you they would leave us alone, Luna,” Celestia reminded her.

“It didn’t disappear the way it came, though,” Luna said.

“Discord?” Celestia asked.

=== ===

“Now would you stop, you seem to have attracted outside attention,” Discord said interrupting Twilight’s rant. “And they are not coming for revenge, too!” Discord finished imitating Pinkie.

“Don’t just try to…” Twilight began saying until Spike burst in with a scroll. “It’s from Celestia!” Twilight said excitedly as she grabbed to scroll.

“What is it about?” Cadence asked trying to look over Twilight’s shoulder to see the contents.

“Just asking if Discord has the probe,” Twilight replied, stressing ‘Discord.’

“Fine, I’ll put it back,” Discord said defeatedly.

“The damage is done, draconequus,” Shining said.

“Don’t be so closed-minded, Captain of the Guard,” Discord said.

=== ===

“Captain on deck,” a marine guard said as Richardson entered the bridge of his Autumn-class heavy cruiser.

“Are we ready for slipspace?” Richardson asked the pilot as he took the command chair.

“Yes, sir,” the ship’s AI said, a hologram appearing the nearby pedestal.

“Then take us out, Atlas,” Richardson ordered the AI.

“ETA to destination is five hours,” the AI said as the ship entered slipspace. “Just so you know, Captain, ONI got us that translation package faster than they predicted. They say that because whoever is around the probe continued talking made it easier.”

“Anything else?” Richardson asked, knowing ONI would have pulled something together.

“The purple pegacorn,” Atlas said putting an image of Twilight from the probe onto the screen in the front of the bridge, “is named Twilight.”

“Anything else?” Richardson asked again.

“The pegacorn is female,” Atlas replied.

“I’m not even going to ask how they determined that,” Richardson said.

“I determined that, actually,” Atlas pointed out, “You should know how I did, you are a mammal.”

“Does anyone know why we got an AI that thinks it’s a scientist?” Richardson asked of anyone who knew the answer.

“You’ve asked that five times in total, sir,” Atlas said.

“Get off my bridge, Atlas,” Richardson said exasperatedly.

=== ===

Applejack had just gotten back to her farm when the sun started to sink below the horizon. It took a few minutes to reach the door of her family’s house. She entered to find five ponies waiting for her.

“You were gone for a long time, sis,” Apple Bloom said, “We were wondering if you were coming back soon.”

“Had some things I had to get done,” Applejack said, “Long story, and I don’t want to tell it again.”

“Was it about those from the spirit of fire that visited us,” Apple Bloom asked loudly.

“Yes, and they won’t ever be coming back,” Applejack said with a bit of sadness in her voice, “They’re gone, now.”

“So, maybe their people won’t be coming,” an elderly pony said.

“No, Granny Smith. Their people are coming,” Applejack said, “Sooner rather than later, Discord took one of their probes.”

“So can we talk to them when they come back?” Apple Boom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle asked all at once.

“Nope,” Big Mac said.

“They might not be interested in talking to you,” Applejack said.

=== ===

Twilight’s friends had each gone to their own homes by the time she, Spike, Shining Armor, and Cadence had reached her castle. “Are you going to stay here for the night?” Twilight asked her brother.

“Yes, we thought we would,” Shining Armor said, “More for your sake, than ours. We’ll go in the morning.” The four entered the castle and Twilight nearly jumped when she saw the probe.

“I forgot I asked Discord to leave it here,” Twilight said when her companions looked at her oddly.

=== ===

The UNSC Into Light exited slipspace near the debris field. “Pelican squadron, pick through the wreckage. If you find anything important, you know what to do,” Richardson said over the ship’s intercom. Turning his attention to the screen in the front of the bridge, he saw that Atlas relayed the feed from the probes camera to it. The first thing Richardson noticed probe was in a different building that looked like it was made from crystal. The first thing everyone else on the bridge noticed was the purple pegacorn’s rear was facing the camera. The second thing Richardson noticed was the translation package worked. “Well, now we know the translation works. Atlas, show the scans of the planet.”

“Changing display before everyone starts drooling over her...” Atlas began.

“It is imperative that you not finish that sentence, Atlas,” Richardson interrupted.

“You drool in your sleep, too, you know, Captain,” the AI taunted before finally switching the display to a scan of the planet.

“When we’re done, I’m requesting a new AI,” Richardson muttered.

“Oh, I am so offended,” the AI said, “That you would do both those things. I heard you.”

“Where is the beacon from the probe, show it,” Richardson ordered to get back to work. The zoomed in on an area within the northern hemisphere of the planet.

“According to the planets tilt, it is summer in the northern hemisphere,” the AI said.

“I want a team down there in ten minutes,” Richardson ordered.

“Perhaps we should bring a few up here,” Atlas suggested.

“We are not bringing any of them up here unless it is necessary, and you can’t disobey that order,” Richardson said running out of patience for the AI.

“Fireteam Zulu reports ready from deployment, Captain,” Atlas notified.

“Have Pelican 666 standing by,” Richardson told the AI.

“You sure you want Parker to take them down?” the AI asked.

“Stop doubting me, AI,” Richardson told the AI.

“Pelican 542, to Into Light. We found a wrecked Pelican floating around out here,” the Pelican’s pilot reported over the commlink.

“Who killed it?” Atlas asked.

“Unknown, it’s a mess. Designation, Foxtrot 247,” the pilot reported.

“Not one of ours, must have been from the Spirit,” Richardson reasoned.

=== ===

The Spirit of Fire was floating in a void of nothingness. All the boarders had mysteriously vanished, but that didn’t change that fact that the ship was gone. The crew of the old ship started regaining consciousness.

=== ===

“All Pelicans report no black box, the wreckage here does not amount to one ship,” Atlas notified Richardson a few minutes later. “Also, Pelican 666 is ready for launch.”

“Tell 666 to launch,” Richardson ordered, “As for the wreckage, if the ship hasn’t been destroyed; then where is it?”

“I have no idea. I recommend finding whoever took the probe,” Atlas answered, “But then again, easier said than done.”

“Tell Zulu their secondary objective is to find out who made the Spirit vanish,” Richardson ordered the AI.

“Done. We should notify command about this,” Atlas said.

=== ===

“Just got an update from that operation, Lord Hood,” an assistant said “The debris field they found does not amount to the whole Spirit of Fire. They believe something made it vanish.”

“Tell them to find out what happened, and retrieve the ship,” Hood ordered.

==== ===

Cutter slowly got up, and looked out of the bridge. There were no stars to be seen, and the two changelings had disappeared. He couldn’t recall what had happened before hand, but it was obvious something happened. He heard footsteps heading to the bridge, and assumed they had lost the ship. The source of the footsteps revealed himself within the minute as Major Sheppard.

“Captain, what happened? Where are we?” the marine asked, “I got them off the ship as you ordered, but I thought I was going to die until a few minutes after the lifeboat launched.”

“You know just as much as I do, Major,” Cutter said, “Anyone other than the crew aboard the ship?”

“As far as I can tell, there are no hostiles aboard the ship. Really strange, too. We might actually be dead right now, though. I’ll search the ship, see if anyone else can figure this out.”

=== ===

Pelican 666 entered the planets atmosphere and decelerated. Within minutes, it arrived at the crystalline castle that the probe was inside. “Touch down in one mike, ping us for dust off when you’re ready,” the dropship’s crew chief said, opening the rear hatch as the dropship made its approach. The next minute, Zulu had disembarked from the dropship leaving to take off into the night sky.

“The best place to start is the crystalline structure, so might as well,” the squad leader, a light-haired marine, said before knocking on the door to see if anyone was home. The purple pegacorn from their briefing before deployment answered the door.

“Who is it?” she asked as she opened the door with her eyes half shut.

“Major Patrick Josephson, UNSC Marine Corp. You have UNSC property,” he replied matter-of-factly.

“UNSC!” the purple pegacorn exclaimed while jumping in surprise.

“Are you aware of the Spirit of Fire’s whereabouts?” he asked.

“I thought they were destroyed, though I never saw that happen,” she answered quickly, “Are you from there, too?”

“Negative, we’re from the UNSC Into Light; an Autumn-class heavy cruiser,” Josephson replied while pointing out the rest of the squad.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle, come in,” she said, “Did you win the war?” The squad entered the castle, and Josephson went to the probe and input the deactivation code.

“We did, with the help the Elites,” the Major replied, “I’ve deactivated the probe, so Atlas can’t use the camera on it.”

“The probe has a camera?” Twilight asked surprised because she saw no part the could be a camera, “What did it see.”

“Everything,” another marine replied, “Even behind.”

“Just so you know,” Twilight began, “We don’t have a nudity taboo, that wouldn’t have been a problem.”

“So, Evans just got more information out of her than the probe?” a third marine commented.

“Stow it, Corporal,” Josephson said, “I apologize for Corporal Davis’ comment, not good for a first contact situation.”

“At least its better than the last,” the marine named Evans added.

“Too true,” Josephson acknowledged, “That war they told you about, was our first contact with other beings.”

“How could it have gotten that bad?” Twilight asked quickly.

“You do have a lot of questions, don’t you,” Josephson started, “It got that bad because of a misunderstanding. The war lasted 28 years, and the final battle took place outside the galaxy.”

“That is quite far away,” Twilight was barely able to say anything.

“Twilight, who are you talking to?” a pink furred pegacorn asked as she entered.

“Major Patrick Josephson, ma’am,” Josephson replied.

“You came for the probe, didn’t you?” she asked before noticing the probe with horror, “Wait, what happened to the probe? There lights on the last I saw it!”

“I turned it off,” Josephson replied matter-of-factly, “Our AI was using to look at Twilight’s parts whenever she was in front of the camera.”

“Why would he do that?” the pink pegacorn asked very concerned for Twilight.

“Be glad he had only one camera,” Evans replied, “He is always spying on the crew, for “research purposes.””

“Before I forget to tell you, my name is Mi Amore Cadenza; just Cadence is fine, though,” she said then turned and walked off.

“Your AI sounds like a – know what, I can’t think of the word,” Twilight commented.

“Atlas is a real jerk, but he does good work; some of time, that is,” the marine named Davis said.

“Atlas is the name of your AI?” Twilight inquired curiously.

“Yes, and you don’t want to meet him,” Josephson said.

“In the morning you should talk with Celestia,” Twilight suggested.

“Captain, in the morning send a squad to make contact with the country’s leadership, we’ve secured the probe and proceeding to find whoever took the Spirit of Fire,” Josephson said over commlink to Richardson. “Twilight, do you know who could possibly have taken the Spirit of Fire?”

“Know I do not,” she said hanging her head, but raised her head a few moments later, “I have a few spare rooms you can take for the night. I know you don’t have any bits so you won’t be able to stay at the inn.”

“Thanks for the offer, but we have to get the probe back up there. We’ll be back,” Josephson told her.

=== ===

Pelican 666 docked with the heavy cruiser, releasing the precious cargo of one probe in the hangar before moving off to unload the troops. Richardson met the dropship to debrief the squad in person, though he normally left that for the AI.

“Captain, though we have recovered the probe, we are no closer to finding out anything about the Spirit of Fire. Permission to go back down to search in the morning?” Josephson reported talking swiftly.

“Permission granted. Now, is there any knowledge we can use,” Richardson said to quickly get back on topic.

“They don’t have a nudity taboo, but that isn’t very useful,” Davis reported.

“Captain said useful knowledge, Davis,” Evans rebuked.

“They have some sort of telekinesis, at least the ones with horns, I recommend not engaging them,” Josephson reported.

“How’d a civilization not develop a nudity taboo?” Atlas chimed in.

“Atlas, you are not part of this debriefing,” Richardson said, facepalming.

“You have always left briefings and debriefings to me, so what changed to make you do this one yourself?” the AI asked.

“This is too important to leave to you, Atlas,” Richardson said with annoyance.

“That is not a good enough reason, so let me do it,” Atlas said.

“Hey, Atlas, I turned the probe off, I doubt you’ll want to talk to me,” Josephson told the AI in an attempt to drive it off, that failed anyways.

“I turned the camera back on,” the AI came back.

“I should have just shot the camera, you know,” Davis tried taunting.

“I should have spaced you when I had the chance, Davis,” the AI countered, prompting Davis to shudder.

=== ===

Several hours later, two Pelicans left the heavy cruiser heading to different destinations. One was heading down to the capital, Canterlot; and the other was heading towards Ponyville.

In Canterlot, two alicorns were in a tall stone tower with a telescope in it.

“That large ship just launched two smaller ones,” Luna observed, “One is heading this way.”

“Really?” Celestia asked.

“Yes, they look like to small ship the spirit of fire would send use,” Luna continued, “But thet’re different. Curvier.”

“And why would the spirit of fire send use different small ships than normal?” Celestia asked.

“I do not know,” Luna replied, as that was the only answer she could think of.

=== ===

Twilight, Cadence and Shining Armor were near the Ponyville trainstation when they noticed a dark shape rapidly approaching the town. Rainbow Dash, who was lying on a cloud above the three of them, also noticed it. Thinking the town was in danger, the rainbow maned Pegasus flew to the mysterious object in an attempt to stop it. As she approached the object, she recognized it as a Pelican; but it was too different to be from where she thought it was from.

“Parker, watch it, in bound!” Parker’s co-pilot warned him, though Parker had already maneuvered to avoid the collision. Parker brought the dropship to a stop near the purple pony he saw the previous night, and the crew chief opened the rear hatch.

“Everyone out,” Josephson ordered the marines inside.

“You again?” Twilight said with shock after the Pelican had left.

“You know him?” Shining inquired.

“He stopped by last night, about the probe,” Twilight answered.

“You told him about the probe?!” Shining yelled with a mixture of anger and fear at and for his sister.

“No, I did not tell him. He knew about it before that,” Twilight said defensively.

“I was briefed about it before coming down the first time, and I’m familiar with that model,” Josephson explained. “Now, is there any being that could take a ship?”

“Discord did that,” Shining replied quickly.

“Where do we find Discord?” Josephson asked, but only got confused looks from the ponies.

“You might want to ask Fluttershy, but she might not talk to you,” Twilight suggested, “She lives in a cottage near the Everfree Forest; that would be the forest we’re near.”

“Thanks for your help, we’ll head there without further delay,” Evans remarked.