Rest in Peace

Luna watched the strange equine take off into the night, blending into the night sky within seconds. Everything about her interaction with the creature left her with questions that she did not have answers to. How did it levitate the parchment? Why did it have a shield? Why did it come here? What did it want?

"I think that's the first interaction with an alien race we've had since the Spider that didn't end with a gunfight," her Ghost mused. "Are you sure it understood us?"

"You saw the drawing. It wants to talk to us, but we don't speak the same language. It wanted to bring us to someone who could maybe understand," Luna said, sitting back down and preparing to smoke the remainder of the hydra meat. It wasn't that bad. Definitely had a strong aftertaste, but it went down fine and it hadn't poisoned her yet.

"So why did you counter offer? If we were going to meet someone who could possibly understand, wouldn't we want to go meet them?" her Ghost asked.

"Simple. Negotiations. Proving my intelligence. If I accepted first thing, I'd be in unfamiliar territory and surrounded by potential hostiles. My offer let them keep the three-on-one number advantage, but I have the territory advantage. This forest is hostile, and that creature knows it. She accepted the counter offer because it's fair to both of us, rather than slanted in either party's favor," Luna explained.

"But it's always slanted in our favor," her Ghost said. "If you die I can just bring you back!"

"We're on a completely alien world with its own life and rules. What if that mountain city happens to be in a Darkness Zone and I can't come back? Or what if you're captured or, Traveler forbid, killed?" Luna said sternly. "This forest is the only area we can guarantee is not a Darkness Zone, and that's another reason for my counter offer. I can safely die here."

Her Ghost remained silent.

"We have to assume everything is a threat here," Luna murmured. "Just like in the Dreaming City... Everything, including me."

"Luna..."

Luna had already shifted her focus back to smoking the hydra meat to preserve it. It took until dawn, and after that, she let herself sleep.

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Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,

We write you in these young hours of the morning to inform you of the fruits of our investigation into the dead hydra you found. The contents of this letter and its subject matter are as of yet classified to the general public. We have found the creature responsible, and you were correct to believe it not be a pony. The creature we found is not of our world, but is indeed an intelligent, sentient life form.

We established contact with the being, and discovered evidence that it had indeed slain the hydra. When we attempted to communicate with language, we failed.

Celestia and I shall be arriving at your Golden Oaks Library at eighteen hundred hours. Upon our arrival, we wish you to accompany us to meet with the being and assist in possibly finding a translation spell, or, should such an endeavor fail, assist in exchanging language between us.

Enclosed is a copy of what we believe to be its alphabet and name, as compared to our own and my name; and a copy of the 'written' arrangements made for official first contact. We hope these items assist you in this mission, should you choose to accept it.

Signed,
~Princess Luna

Twilight read the letter with her coffee, eye twitching as she felt her brain start itching. First contact, was not a phrase she'd ever expected to read outside of fiction novels, and yet, it was right there in Luna's own writing. She'd dreamed about how exciting contact with an alien would be, having read hundreds if not thousands of sci-fi novels on that premise. But she'd also read just as many on how easily that could go horribly wrong. And now that it was happening, she found herself quite understandably anxious.

And so, Twilight began searching through the library for anything and everything that might help with her new task. She pulled every book on translation magic she could find and began sorting them by relevance. Then she remembered the possibility that every language would fail to be understandable, and began also gathering picture books for young foals just learning to read, sorting those by difficulty level.

"What are you doing this early in the morning?" came the sleepy voice of Spike. "The sun isn't even up yet."

Twilight yelped and jumped like a startled cat, somehow clinging to the ceiling for a moment before gravity caught on to her shenanigans and pulled her back to the floor with a dull thud.

"Spiiike! Don't do that!" Twilight groaned as she got back to her hooves.

"Sorry," he said quickly. "But seriously, what's with the books for foals? And also translation spells?"

"Can't tell you, Princess secret stuff," Twilight said, hoping he wouldn't push the issue.

"Alright," he said. "I don't need to know why you need these books. But I can still help. What do you need?"

Twilight turned and smiled to him. "I need the simplest possible books in Equestrian we have. Can you narrow it down to four?"

"Easy," the young dragon replied with a sharp salute. "Let me grab us some breakfast first."

The day went relatively quickly after that, with the both of them engrossed in their tasks. Interruptions rarely plagued Twilight when she was immersed in her studies, as Ponyville didn't have nearly as many avid readers as Canterlot did. Thus, the recently ascended alicorn was able to hyperfocus on whatever grabbed her attention without feeling guilty about having to be on duty. After a few hours, Twilight and Spike had managed to narrow down which books she needed, and packed them into her saddlebags. Once finished, and after a tasty lunch, they put back all of the unused books into their places on the shelves and cleaned the place up.

The pair of them finished by four in the afternoon. It was at this point that Twilight remembered that she wouldn't be home to put Spike to bed. With a soft curse under her breath, she informed Spike that she was headed out for a few minutes, and with that, she made her way towards her friend's home.

As usual, Ponyville was fairly mellow at this time of day. The market was slowing down in preparation for the five o'clock closing time, and most of the last minute shoppers were already there. The few ponies out in the main roads were either headed to the market or home from it. On her way she greeted the mailmare, who was finishing off the last of her deliveries for the day. As she turned the corner, she smelled the sweets from Sugarcube Corner fill the air, making her mouth water as it always did. Upon a light rumble from her stomach, she made a note to make a stop there on the way home.

She made it to Rarity's and entered with a knock.

"Rarity! Twilight's here!" Sweetie called as Twilight came in. "Hiya Twilight!"

"Hi Sweetie. Thanks for calling Rarity," Twilight replied.

The unicorn in question entered from a curtained off room. Judging by the tape measure around her neck and the red glassed on her friend's muzzle, Twilight figured she was either working on a new line, or was neck deep in an order. "Twilight, darling! What brings you in?" she asked. "No, don't tell me, you need a dress for a date?"

Twilight giggled at her friend's joke. "No, no dates for the foreseeable future. I actually need to ask a favor."

"I'd be delighted to have Spike over for the night," Rarity replied. "The Crusaders are actually having a sleepover here tonight, and having him around as the voice of reason would be a great help."

Twilight shot her friend a questioning look.

"Twilight, if you didn't come to me for assistance with romance, the only other thing you'd ask as a favor is to watch Spike," Rarity said, causing Twilight to blush a little from embarrassment.

"Thank you," Twilight said. "I'll send him over by six."

"Of course, darling!" she approached Twilight. In a low whisper, she added, "But if I find out you're getting him out of the house for a date or anything of the sort, I'm going to set you up with somepony."

Twilight nervously took a step back. "I can assure you it's not that," she said. "Anyway, I need to head back and get ready."

"I'm serious about setting you up, Twilight, darling," Rarity said with a wave and a smile. "Do take care!"

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The princesses arrived perfectly on time, knocking on her door at precisely six in the evening. Twilight opened the door and invited them inside, glad she'd taken the time to clean the library earlier after her research. Both princesses made their way to a table in the middle of the library, where they sat down and waited for Twilight to join them. Once she did, Luna began.

"Good evening, young Twilight," the Lunar Princess started. "Before we venture into the Everfree to meet the Being, we must fill you in on the details we have."

"Of course," Twilight said as Luna set out some papers, including the two that she'd received in her initial letter.

"Let us start from the beginning. Before you contacted us, we encountered the Being in the Dreamscape. During its nightmare, we discovered that they are a warrior of some kind, and have killed others of its kind. When we sought to comfort the Being, it raised its weapon and ejected us from the Dreamscape. Such a thing has never happened before," Luna informed. "If its nightmare was more memory than dream, then we have reason to believe the Being is capable of transforming, and is extremely violent in its alternate form. For this reason, and due to your letter, I contacted the Being myself last night."

"We found the Being near a fresh crater where it had set up camp. The glow of its fire gave us its location, here." Luna punctuated her point by marking a point on a map of the area. "Only four miles from the bog. Not an easy trek, especially in that terrain, but doable. At first, the Being was quite cautious, keeping their weapon in hand when we first met, and they were especially frightened of magic. We offered them an apple as a peace offering, and a test of its dietary habits. At this point, we discovered a strange object in their possession. I have drawn it here." She set forth the drawing of the object, which Twilight looked over carefully.

"We are lucky that it responded positively. In exchange, it offered us cooked meat of the hydra you found. We believe it was also testing our dietary habits. We politely declined and ate an apple instead," Luna continued. "At this point, we were able to use magic for the first time, and they seemed quite surprised. We believe they may come from a culture where magic is incredibly rare, and they may have been surprised to find another magic-user. At this point, we wrote out the alphabet and our name, and we believe they have done the same with its own writing utensil."

"Since my banishment, many languages the world over have changed quite significantly. My translation spells are beyond outdated. This is where you come in, young Twilight Sparkle. From what Tia has told me, you are one of the most brilliant minds of this generation. What say you in response to our letter?" Luna finished.

"I accept. I'd be more than happy to help any way I can," Twilight replied.

Luna smiled. "Very well."

The three left the library and took to the air. Twilight, though not as strong a flier as the other princesses, was able to keep up. Luna then pointed out the small column of smoke that signaled the Being's camp, and tilted towards it. As Luna led the way, Celestia hung back with her beloved student.

"Are you nervous?" the Solar Princess asked.

"Yeah, I really am," Twilight said. "This is history in the making, and everything hinges on our interactions with this being..."

"It's okay to be nervous, Twilight," Celestia said, a dim, weak smile on her face. "I am too."

Twilight felt time around her freeze as she got a rare glimpse of her mentor beneath the mask of royalty.

"I'm sure things will turn out okay," Twilight said, offering her own weak smile to Celestia.

"I have full confidence in you, my faithful student," Celestia replied.

Together, they all descended towards the campsite, landing in the clearing, where the Being was waiting for them. Twilight's brain went into overdrive as she took in every detail she could, trying to make sense of the situation as quickly as possible. The clearing was a perfect triangle, and all of the stumps showed no evidence of being chopped or cut in any way. The crater in the center had a long furrow behind it, leading her to believe that the metal object in the crater had significant forward velocity when it hit the ground.

The Being waved a hand in the air, much the way a pony would to greet someone who had just entered their field of view. They beckoned the three of them over towards the fire, a few fresh logs placed around it as seating. As they approached, the Being took a seat on one of the logs. Over the fire was a metal grate that Twilight assumed was for cooking.

Luna sat down at the fire, setting her saddlebags down. From them, she produced an assortment of vegetables and a loaf of bread, setting them on one of the unnaturally flat stumps. Then, she retrieved some parchment and ink, setting most of it on the stump with the food. The calm with which Luna was approaching the situation reassured Twilight, settling her nerves a bit.

Luna proceeded to draw a series of pictures. First was of the four of them cooking and eating together around the fire. Next was Twilight using her magic next to a pair of letters, one Equestrian and one of the Being's. After that was a split in the series. On the left showing a frown on Twilight's face, then Twilight next to a chalkboard with the Being sitting on a log. On the right, Twilight smiling, and all four of them speaking.

"Are you sure they'll understand that?" Celestia asked softly.

"They understood the first enough to negotiate. We'll see if this gets through. If not, we'll try again," Luna said, floating the parchment over to the Being.

——————————

Luna looked over the paper that the local equines had given to her, deciphering the drawings and deducing the meaning they intended to convey. Her Ghost floated over her shoulder, looking it over as well.

"Alright, cool. Food first, then they're gonna do that weird thing with their horns. If they're successful then we'll be able to talk to each other, but if not they plan to teach me their language," Luna translated aloud.

"How did you get all of that?" her Ghost asked. "It's just pictures!"

"What do you think that rune over lost sectors means?" Luna quipped. "It means protected secret. If words are unreliable, pictures are communication's next best thing."

Her Ghost sighed, shaking his shell at her.

She handed the paper back to her guests and nodded, earning a relieved smile. Luna set to work cooking, pulling a few choice vegetables from the bunch and placing them on the rack to roast over the open flame. From there, she added a few thin slices of hydra meat to warm up. The equines then placed their own share of veggies over the fire.

"Nothing quite like a campfire dinner to bring people together," Luna mused.

For a moment, all way peaceful as all parties waited for their delicious goodies to finish cooking. Luna looked up at the sky, admiring the way the evening sun made the clouds turn bright pink and the sky a brilliant fiery orange. She waited for the moment that the sun set over the horizon, and left the world in the first stages of twilight. But that moment didn't seem to come. She shrugged and returned her attention to the equines.

The white one and the midnight one both lit their horns in an odd aura and within seconds, the world was envelopped in the cooling embrace of twilight. The pair's horns then faded back to normal, leaving Luna and her Ghost very confused.

"Those two have some incredible power at their disposal. I've never felt any energy quite like that, and we've seen some weird stuff," her Ghost said in a low voice. "Are you sure we're safe here?"

"No, but it's the safest place we have," Luna replied, also having felt an odd disturbance in the atmosphere around her. The energy felt like Light, Solar blazing from the white equine and Void whispering from the midnight one. "Do you think they have the ability to wield Light?"

"No, that was different on a fundamental level," the Ghost said.

"Well, let's just play along for now," Luna sighed.

A moment later, everyone began picking their food from the rack, piling their vegetables onto slices of bread. Luna, however, added her cut of hydra meat. As she bit into the sandwich, she smiled and hummed in satisfaction. Real bread was hard to come by in the city, as was meat. Hunters often could find meat by hunting local fauna, but in the interest of preserving some of the endangered species like deer, they would forego meat in favor of other sources of protein.

"Blesséd be bread," Luna hummed softly. "Every culture can be defined by food, art, and war. And what a wonderful first impression bread makes indeed."

The three equines seemed to watch her quite intently as they ate, remaining quiet, ears perked in her direction. It was at this point that Luna took a moment to take in the details of the situation.

Of the three creatures before her, all three had both wings and a horn, and could tap some unknown energy that felt quite similar to Light. The midnight one bore an onyx black tiara and neck-piece, and did not have the rings or amulet it had last time. Their mane and tail held the night sky, and seemed to flow in a breeze that didn't exist. On their flank was a darkened splotch with the image of a crescent moon. Of the three, they seemed the most confident with the current situation. Not having names to call them seemed a little annoying and confusing, so she opted to call this one Midnight.

The white one had a similar golden tiara and neck-piece as Midnight, along with the mark of a sun on their flank. As with midnight, their mane seemed to flow in an aetherial wind, holding the morning sky. They were the largest of the three by a small margin, with Midnight being a close second. Of the three of them, this one seemed the most guarded and cautious. They seemed tense and stiff, eyes constantly watching her every move. This one she decided to nickname Dawn.

The third bore a golden tiara with a six-pointed starburst shaped gemstone set in it, and had a similarly shaped mark on their flank. Their mane was straight midnight blue, with a single pink streak, and unlike the others, did not flow in the intangible breeze. This one seemed to hold only curiosity in their gaze. She could feel a strong desire to learn and understand from them, much like a Warlock. The sparkle in their eyes reminded her of Rose, from her own fireteam. She figured Sparkle would be an appropriate nickname.

After they finished their meal, a howl echoed through the forest, making the equines look around anxiously, save for Midnight. Luna, on the other hand, merely sighed in annoyance, standing up and raising the Ace from her hip and training it against the dark. One by one, more of the wooden wolves from the previous two nights filtered into the clearing. They snarled and growled in low, threatening tones, and the equines only grew more restless as their numbers were revealed. Ten, twenty, thirty, fifty, a hundred of the wooden creatures filtered out from the tangled underbrush, with even more remaining in the shadows beyond. Luna smiled a wicked smile and flicked the safety off on the Ace.

"I had a feeling I'd have to fight tonight," Luna mused to herself. "Ghost, standby for resurrection."

"As always," he replied.

One of the wolves charged forward, earning a swift shot from her hand cannon, ending its life with a single hit to the head. The explosion of its body taking down two more. Luna started stepping back and forth in a measured tempo she'd honed over the decades. Some steps were punctuated with shots, others the sound of the explosion, some with only the flutter of her cape as she dodged and weaved through the hordes.

During a dip in the fighting, she reached out for her Light and stretched it with both hands, setting the Ward of Dawn, a bubble of Void Light, around the equines. When one of the wolves tried to enter the bubble, it yelped and clamped its eyes shut, blinded by the Light. In a fluid motion, she tapped Sparkle to grab her attention, then kicked the wolf out of the bubble. Sparkle nodded in understanding.

With her guests now safely in the bubble, Luna turned her focus back to the wolves, the crowd having not seemed to dip in number at all.

"I wish I could clear them all at once," she growled as she began her dance of death once more.

Build up your Light, O kin mine!

Luna kept up her waltz, shooting down dozens of the wolves, her Ward protecting the equines well enough, but beginning to dim. She needed a way to end it all at once. The only person she could think of that could keep up with this kind of horde was Mae with her Arc Blades, but unfortunately she wasn't here to help.

Take the Shield, O kin mine!

She reached out for her Light once more, taking the Sentinel Shield in her hand and letting the Void Light strengthen her tiring muscles. Instinct took over, and she raised the disc of Light.

The voice of Riven spoke from her lips, "O pathetic hordes of the unworthy dark, I sentence you all to rest eternal in the black between stars and cast your screams into the abyss! May you learn this judgement to be merciful and just! Light Sacrifice!"