"Ordis?"

"Yes, Excalibur?"

"I have never seen a planet like this before. How can this be?" Excalibur said, his breath stolen at the sight of the verdant, unspoiled world before him and his team. Patches of white suggesting snow, a large desert, and above all, vast stretches of green showed a world untouched by the Orokin and their technology.

"I do not know,Excalibur." Ordis replied. "The Tau system was still largely unexplored even in the days of the Orokin. This planet is in pristine condition, and it is inhabited. A perfect place to begin our efforts."

"Inhabited?" Volt Prime asked, as she approached, accompanied by the rest of the team. "There is sapient life here?"

"Indeed." Ordis replied. "Sapient life on a scale so large, my scans have not yet finished cataloging all possible lifeforms. I cannot seem to identify what you may encounter, as our technology is based on the lifeforms of the Origin System."

"However, I would recommend you deploy on your Railjack and investigate on the ground, starting from this location."

The navigation hologram appeared, and zoomed in on a large city, surrounded by snow, and adorned with a tall spire. It glistened like a gemstone, even through the hologram.

"Then that's where we'll start." Rhino Prime said, retrieving his Corinth Prime shotgun and chambering a shell. "Should we expect trouble?"

"No." Excalibur replied. "I doubt we will face hostilities, but if we do…we must be prepared. Remember what the Lotus has taught us. We only fight unless we must."

"Right." Rhino Prime replied. "You almost had me there, Umbra."

Excalibur rolled his optics, knowing how Rhino Prime's Operator could be so very straightforward, and yet so…reckless at times. To have him be more passive was a welcome sight.

"Cephalon Cy has our heading secured and a landing zone identified." Zephyr Prime chimed in. "We should go."

"Agreed," said Oberon Prime. "It is time to see what this world has to offer."

"Then let's get moving!" Rhino laughed as he headed for the Railjack's docking port. The other Tenno soon followed, after retrieving their weapons of choice. Excalibur sheathed his blade, the Skiajati, and took the Nataruk Bow off of a mount he had made for it. The bow, gifted to the Operator by the Shadow Stalker, was one of the finest weapons in his arsenal, and though he had not mastered it, Excalibur knew it was close to achieving that personal goal.
As they boarded the Railjack, which soon descended towards the planet with Excalibur at the controls, the vastness of space soon gave way to an atmosphere, then clouds, then falling snow. The Tenno admired the icy landscape, which was pristine, unlike some of the other ice moons they had been on back in Origin. Most of those were occupied by the Grineer, Corpus, or in some rare cases, the Infested.

"Where are we landing, Cy?" Excalibur asked.

"Just outside the city, at this plaza here." Cephalon Cy replied. "My calculations lead me to believe the locals will not take kindly to a fully-armed Railjack landing in their midst so suddenly."

"Tread lightly, Tenno."

"Understood." Volt said as she prepared her Braton Prime assault rifle, the other Tenno followed suit with their own weapons, minus Excalibur, who guided the Railjack to the marked landing zone.

"I'll keep the engine running." Cy replied. "Be careful."

"Aren't we always?" Zephyr joked as the docking ramp lowered. From the main viewport, Excalibur could see the locals, which appeared to be multi-colored quadruped equines, had formed a crowd around the Railjack. Some of the equines wore pastel blue armor, and were equipped with spears and shields. Excalibur noted some had a horn, others had a set of wings, but in the front of the crowd…a pink-colored equine, a female by the looks of it, had both.

She stood next to an ivory-coated male wearing his own set of armor, and six other females. A small, lizard-like being stood on the back of another winged and horned equine, who stood next to the first.

As Excalibur took the point position, he gave a quiet huff.

"For Origin?" Volt Prime suggested.

"No. For us." Excalibur shrugged, and they descended to a myriad of shocked gasps and whispers from the crowd. The armored ones came forward in a protective, half-moon formation around the nine in front, including the two horned-and-winged ones. Excalibur reasoned they were the leadership of this race, and judging by how the others were staring at them both…

…his assumption was likely correct. Excalibur stepped forward, hands in a passive stance, and looked down at them silently. The other Tenno were quiet, not sure how he planned to proceed.

"Hello?" one of the equines, the second horned and winged one, asked. "Can…can you understand me?"

Excalibur tilted his head in curiosity, as he could understand them. When he realized they were waiting for him to respond, he nodded.

"Okay…that's good to know." the other horned and winged one sighed. "My name is Princess Cadance, I am a pony of Equestria, and the Alicorn of Love, Ruler of the Crystal Empire. My husband is Prince Shining Armor, his sister and my sister-in law, Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Magic. There others are the Elements of Harmony, and Spike the dragon, a Hero of the Empire."

"Who are you?"

Excalibur stepped forward, with the others following his lead, and he bowed respectfully before speaking.

"Tenno."

A ripple of shock and disbelief flowed through the crowd, and Shining Armor approached, not sure of what they were speaking, or what the term "Tenno" meant.

"Is that your name?" he asked. "Or a title?"

"It is what we are." Excalibur replied. "We are Tenno of the Origin System. I am known as Excalibur Umbra. This is Volt, Rhino, Zephyr, and Trinity Prime. We are here in peace, searching for a beacon from a lost civilization."

"You mean this?" Twilight Sparkle asked, producing the artifact that contained the map they had seen in Celestia's office. Excalibur took it from her, and upon scanning it, asked Ordis what it was.

"This is an Orokin Navigational Index." Ordis replied. "It was used on colony ships such as the Zariman Ten Zero in order to register the ship's location, status, and if needed, broadcast a distress signal back to Origin. To see one intact and present here raises a great many questions."

"Indeed." Excalibur replied, attaching the Index to his waist. "My team and I are more than willing to answer whatever questions you all may have…but we request that it be in private, and away from this crowd. We do not mean any offense, for it is what we are used to."

"We understand, Excalibur." Shining Armor replied. "We'll take you to the Palace, but be warned, should trouble arise, we will defend ourselves.."

"As you wish. And we would expect nothing less." Volt replied. As the Tenno followed the nine Equestrians to the central spire, the crowd parted to allow them safe passage. Their eyes showed fear, but there was also curiosity, wonder, admiration.

"They seem intrigued by our presence." Zephyr said, sending scans and video feed through his Warframe back to Ordis.

"Who wouldn't be?" Rhino replied. "I doubt they've seen Orokin technology before that Index. Which leads me to ask…how'd they find it?"

"I'm not sure myself." Oberon noted. "There's no sign of a colony ship here, and if there was, we would have detected it via our scans earlier."

"We'll deal with that later." Excalibur replied. "For now, let us see what the Equestrians ask of us, and what we can ask of them. We are here in peace, as we have said to them. We must not go back on our word."

"For all we know…there could be danger here that we do not see yet."

Author's Note

Update!

Next chapter - A first contact discussion, and a one-on-one meeting with an Element Bearer and a Tenno. Celestia and Luna also receive word of the Tenno's arrival...