Stargate - Alpha Team

by Phi

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Crossover, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 12457

Galactic War. The Mane 6 feel invoked to help end this Disharmony.

A team of ponies from Earth comes to Equestria in search for something. Twilight is delighted by the idea of traveling to other planets, but also learns that many of those planets are enslaved by immortal rulers who are worshiped as gods. The Mane 6 join the ponies from Earth to put an end to this tyranny and war.

I would want to put the dark-tag away, but war happens and ponies die. So: rated teen

canon usage:
MLP: everything until halfway through Season 3's finale. Twilight is no princess nor has wings nor was transported away after finishing the spell.
Stargate: none. No humans and no ponyfied characters, but a completely ponyfied planet Earth

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-02-17 03:53:22 UTC

Prologue

Davis knew that sound. It's the very subtle sound of metal scratching over metal with too little lubricant solvent. As an engineer he knew that sound all too well and it was a sound he would usually not allow. But he also could assume this machine to be more than a thousand years old, and that without sounding insane.

The sound came from the machines opening mechanism. Out of a ring-shaped opening came light, it's source appeared to be of glass but it was certainly not your usual lightbulb. Before he had time to examine it, five rings flew out of it. Each one made a “whush”-sound, like doors in old science fiction movies. A quick look at the compass on his hoof told him there were no magnets were involved in the rings levitation.

After hovering about a second in the air they all emitted a blinding light, first targeting the ground, then moving up as if to scan him. Well... they probably is a scanners and served as the borders of the device. Five very advanced 360 degree scanners, he imagined the accuracy to of them to be amazing. Barely containing his engeneergasm about supreme extraterrestrial technology he knew he would never have the pleasure to examine this machine, the wooden crate he was sitting on will make sure of it.

The scanners light has forced Davis to close his eyes for a moment and when he opened them up he was on a counter piece to the machine he had just been on. It looked exactly the same and even was in the same state, the rings of this one were in the air too and just starting to float back down into the main part. Why would they have been there? The rings on this side wouldn't have scanned anything... unless it swaps the matter.

The rings had brought Davis to a large, beautifully decorated room which had a throne not far from away. It would obviously have been a throne room if it weren't for the windows showing a view of the planets curvature. He already figured that the rings will sent him to a spaceship. Their plan had actually relied on the rings sending him to one. Building an entrance in the control room? Who comes up with something like that?

There were a number of ponies in the room, most wore the same style of armor as the warriors sent on the planet. But these armors were lighter and didn't look like they could protect from bullets of usual firepower. Only through luck, the element of surprise and superior numbers had they been able to overwhelm the warriors. A few servants stood near the throne and upon the throne sat a mare. She wore a simple but stunning looking gown in white with golden accessories, as well as a small tiara with an pink crystal embedded into it. The coat color of ponies from Earth was usually white to black over brown. Hers was a light pink.

She stood up from the throne, Showing fear wouldn't go well with the cover of being a god. But there was no hint of fear in her beautiful features, she was even amused that someone found the courage to stand up to her. “Hi there, hot stuff. My name is Don Sinclair Davis, what's yours?” She did not respond, of course not, she can't show of to her slaves she was incapable of something as a language. As she walked towards him and he noticed that a pink coat wasn't her most extraordinary feature: She had wings.

A smile adorned her as she read his expression and what he was looking at, so she decided to put on a show for him. She expanded her wings to her full span a flapped them twice. Her wingspan wouldn't be enough for anything her size to fly. Tertapods evolved on Earth around 375 million years ago, Equidae around 54 million years and Equus ferus sapien around 200 thousand years ago. There cannot have been a Hexapod which evolved exactly the same, it's even another Subkingdom of Animalia.

Davis could only come up with two logical explanation: They possess a technology to implant complete bones and muscles, as well as connecting them to the nervous system or can completely rewrite DNA. The later means one had to have his DNA changed while only being a fertilized egg. Or was the offspring of such, but having powerful children as a ruler means they might stand up to you. And if you are immortal, having children is like endlessly spawning competition.

According to their information there were only a small number of these “gods” and with what he gathered just now it was highly likely that they all crawled out of test-tubes. The immortality might have been a side effect of that procedure. After thousand of years the civilization died and left them alone with all this technology. They may have a sad background but he was only speculating wildly around.

Davis returned her smile, though not for socializing purposes, but for coming to think about family. It seems natural that, if you know you are about to die, you think about family. The thought wasn't even on purpose, the train of thought had just lead to them. It is said your life flashes before you die but he was not thinking back, he was thinking forward. He was thinking about the life he was going to miss. Making sure that they will have a life was more important than watching over them.

“This,” Davis pointed at the 'radioactive hazard' warning sign on the wooden crate, “is a present for you, my lady. You are going to be so surprised, it'll literally blow your mind.” He made no attempt at hiding it and she was able to hear his sarcasm, even though she did not understand the words. Her smile faded, shifted into an frown and stopped in her movement towards him.

The tip of her right wing started glowing golden. No, scratch that. The air around it started glowing. How could anything interact with air to make it emit light? Neon has a yellow to red emission spectrum but there can't be enough in this air for it to glow. And she would get her wing singed if the Neon would actually be hot enough to emit light. Why would they bother to make a light show? It has to be some kind of side effect...

Davis didn't come to think any farther as he was engulfed in the same glow and lifted up from the ground. He didn't feel anything, neither was there pressure coming from any direction, which would explain his floating and he still felt gravity effecting his vestibular system nor was there any warmth that would come from glowing Neon if there would be some.

She flicked her wing and he flew across the room, smashing into a pillar and then unceremoniously on the ground. He just lay there for a few seconds without being able to form a clear thought. The first thing that came to his mind was the realization he didn't feel anymore pain, he also remembered that there were several snaps when he crashed into the pillar. How practical, he had never been in an nuclear explosion before, but feeling no pain would probably come in handy. Always think positive.

The mare has already turned her attention toward the crate, checking for traps. A guards was standing right in front of him now, raising a blade only to be stopped by one word of the mare. Multitasking, only computers and mares can do that. He was grateful to be able to see if she can recognize the presents nature before her impending doom. Davis mimicked her »stop«-command to the guard. “Ya hear that, pal,” he added, “I would better do what she says. Has a temper, that one.”

She opened the crate carefully and revealed the nuclear warhead. It's interface showed a timer slowly counting down. Now that is going to be interesting. Can she figure out a countdown in symbols she never saw before? Schwarzenegger was able to do so in Predator.

The realization came as the ten jumped down one, with nineteen seconds to go. She shrieked back from it, but seemed at ease quite instantly after. Looking to Davis she made an expression of faked surprise and smiled evil. She loudly spoke something in their language to the ponies in the room while pointing at the bomb, earning a few shocked faces. But then she tapped two times onto the transport-ring-plattform and called out something again. Now some of the guards were laughing. Yes, they are thinking they could dispose of the bomb. He kind of wanted to join their laughter. Time was valuable and actually doing so would tell them it might not work.

She sat down to have both her forelegs free. Once again she showed of to him, this time one of her bracelets. She wanted him to understand, but why? Up until now Davis had been able to come up with something for anything. But a mares mind exceeds his knowledge. She pressed a ruby crystal on it the bracelet, but nothing happened.

Five seconds to go, now what? He returned her smile, but she had already given up on smiling. She pressed the crystal again and again with the same result or rather the same lack of result. She realized the counterpart on the planet had to be destroyed. Yes, now panic for today ends your reign. She shouted something at him. My dear, there is nothing you can do anymore.

One Second. Epic last words, “Yippie ki-yeah, motherf...”

End of Prologue -

Equestria

Equestria, Kingdom of Equestria, Canterlot Region, Ponyville, Public Library

The little baby dragon picked up another sheet of paper and stacked it on those he already picked up. It showed the same symbol with the same technical analysis of it. »Twilight? Why are you analyzing your cutiemark? Aren’t you a little old to get excited about it? I mean you had your cutiemark for... What? 10 years? I should know, it’s my birthday. Hatchday, actually. But that kinda sounds lame, doesn’t it?«

»Spike, come here for a second.« Doing as he was ordered to Spike walked towards Twilight. The purple mare was in her usual study-position. Pillow underneath, big book in front, three feathers and inkwells next to and papers for notes all around her. She seemed to be working on a translation as the book was written in Ancient Equestrian. Not »old« Equestrian, but the ancient one. The kind that was written before Celestia guided the sun across the sky. »Spike, look at that symbol.«

»Yeah, it’s your cutiemark, alright.«

»Yes, I analyzed it thoroughly and it has the same size, the same angles, the same everything. Why would someone have drawn my EXACT cutiemark into some kind of religious book.«

»As a symbol of the Elements of Harmony, Twilight. You know«

»But the book was written five thousand years ago!«

»Oh.«

Earth, USA, Colorado Springs, Chyenne Mountain, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)

The conference room got its lights dimmed. Col. Crowns could only wonder what rid Dr. Davis to quit sticking his head into the book they had retrieved from P2X-575 and call in a conference. P2X-575, stupid name for a planet if you ask him. But as nopony can come up with real names for planets they simply stick to the... naming system of whatever. He was sure the naming system had a name too, but that was something for the lab geeks.

Up until now Crowns thought of Dr. Davis as rather useless. That guy was only part of the Stargate-program because his family own the Stargate as they have bought it as a seemingly decorative artifact about a century ago, but the Stargate was way more than pretty to look at. Punch in the right coordinates and the Stargate builds a connection to another Stargate at the target coordinates, making instant travel possible even though the target might me on the other side of the galaxy.

Ten years ago his father got it to work after he experimented on it for years. The poor bastard then died on the very first mission through the gate. The project had then been canceled as “too dangerous”, but a year ago under new presidency it has been warmed up. A change you can believe in! We go to space and totally not make war with the first aliens we meet, because nuking one of their gods is totally not considered a faux pas when making first contact.

Dr. Davis certainly had his PhD for a reason but he just punched in some numbers in a computer. The system needs those ponies, but... let’s just say Crowns doesn’t like them. It’s mostly their attitude, of being smarter than others. Sure, they are educated, doesn’t mean they are smart or nice.

He hooked up a notebook to the conference rooms projector. “Okay, while I think it was still somewhat blasphemous to steal what appears to be a bible out of an temple.” The image displayed was a page from said book. “Even if those gods are just some ponies who like to be prayed to. I have started to translate the text. I am not finished, but I found something of interest. This symbol...” He focused on a symbol at the top right of the page. It was a big six-pointed pink star in front of an smaller white one. He could only see the tips of smaller one as almost all of it was blocked. Around it were a set of five white stars, also six-pointed.

“This symbol represents, what I believe, the weapons which were used by the gods a few thousand years ago to defeat the serpent,” he refocused on a being that defied proper naming. “It’s head is somewhat like a pony but it has different horns, and limbs. Goat horn and deer antler, bird- and bat-wing. Limbs are from a goat, lion, lizard and eagle. It’s tail is of a snake. Interestingly the chinese mythological dragon, a ‘lóng’, has a snake-like body and elements of other animals.

Equestria, Kingdom of Equestria, Canterlot Region, Ponyville, Public Library

»Of course it is difficult to translate as nopony speaks this language anymore, Spike. Here for example: It says they are stored at Everfree – and then in parenthesis another set of symbols. I guess it should mean the Everfree Castle too. It’s a set of five symbols and Everfree castle had five syllables. But those symbols look absolutely not like the rest of the writing. They are precise, not like the rest of the hoofwriting. But I’m sure it says six ponies had used the – it’s only one word, I suspect its the name of the Elements of Harmony – as a weapon against Discord. But the Elements of Harmony were used by Princess Celestia and Luna.«

»She could have had help, you know.«

»But why wouldn’t she have said anything... and my cutiemark too... It’s just. Spike! Take a letter.«

Happy with his boss being able to form a rational decision Spike dropped the used papers and ran to get new ones. When Spike returned Twilight was standing at the window, looking out of the window.

»Spike, I changed my mind. Pack my bags, I’m heading out to Everfree castle. I have to gather some information.«

Earth, USA, Colorado Springs, Chyenne Mountain, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)

“It says right here these weapons are stored at the castle ‘Everfree.’ They names it so because of their victory, for no longer being enslaved. Great irony in there, for they are doing the exact same thing now. Anyway, err... they abandoned the castle for it was too damaged by the fight against this chaos-god AND nopony would dare to enter the castle. So I think their weapons might still be there. And are unprotected. There is a set of five Stargate symbols after ‘Everfree castle’.

From what the weapons are its like a riddle what the sixth symbol is. But as it only can be one of 36 symbols, all we need to do is calculate 36 coordinates and how they change over five thousand years and try to dial up every one of them."

Equestria, Kingdom of Equestria, Everfree Forest, Everfree Castle

several hours later...

The ancient Everfree Castle, the very center of Everfree Forest. The first time Twilight had been here she had been on a mission and had no time to actually take in the scenery and analyze it. She could imagine the Castle to have been beautiful at its glory and even though centuries... no, millennia had passed it still stood high.

It had been way too foggy to see the bottom of the ravine around the castle. Now at clear day Twilight could see that there was no river down there. A river would have easily been able to erode a ravine like this, but if there wasn’t any water it must have been the result of an gigantic earthquake. An earthquake big enough to tear a scar into the landscape. Everfree Forest might be an uninhabitable place but there were hardly ever any earthquakes. Twilight shivered at the thought that came into her mind. The earthquake had been caused by heavy magic. Magic which would have been raging during a fight wit Discord. Twilight did not know much about battle.

The both times she and her friends had to use the Elements of Harmony they kinda caught their opponents off guard. Discord was convinced until the very last moment that the Elements would not work. Maybe because he had known the original bearers of the Elements. And Nightmare Moon thought of the Elements as laughable. When Twilight thought about that fact it appeared very strange. Luna had used the Elements herself. Why would she or her alter ego not know about the Elements true power? Also Luna should have recognized Twilights cutiemark as the symbol of the Elements of Harmony.

The only possibility Twilight could think of was that Luna had been lied to too, and she had been kept away during the incident with Discord to not speak with the elementbearers when the topic was up... by Celestia.

And Celestia herself, should have recognized Twilights cutiemark too, maybe Celestia had no relation to the Elements herself. Or she had, and the only reason she had took Twilight as her personal student was because of this symbol...

This... this has to become an conspiracy. So much things suddenly don’t make sense anymore. No! Keep it together Twilight! It all has to make sense. Search for information about the original elementbearers! Then send a letter to Princess Celestia to meet and everything will make sense. It has to, because... it wouldn’t make sense if it wouldn’t make sense, right? And if Celestia had actually been lying to Twilight her entire life, she should better have a good reason to have done so. BUT it will be something silly. Just a minor misunderstanding, yes! Deep breaths, Twilight, deep breaths.

Twilight ventured into the castle. She decided to first get an overview and make a map, before systematically searching every room. What was it exactly she was searching for? Any kind of information would do. Nopony has ever searched the castle as far as she knew. Except for herself and her friends, but at that time they weren’t there to investigate the castle itself. And honestly Twilight had paid no attention to writings on the walls their first time around, as they have found what appeared to have been the Elements pretty quick.

Who knows what these writings may hold? Some insight into Equestrian history? The castle has been build before Discords fall and before history had started to be recorded properly. These walls might hold some earthshaking cultural heritage. Wait, earthshaking?

An earthquake! She heard sounds coming from the far end of the corridor. Had Twilight set off some kind of magical trap? She ran toward the device uttering both sound and quake was a big ring. One after another it’s corners started glowing. A countdown? A countdown with that low amount of time doesn’t make sense. Countdowns are for ponies to get ready for something. This one was ridiculously short, but no amount of time would have prepared her for what came next.

The inside of the ring started giving out some blue material-like energy from every angle. Within less than a second this energy had connected in the center and filled out the whole ring. Instantly a massive amount of it burst 25 feet out of the ring. In a smooth motion and over the time of a few seconds the energy retreated back into the now established surface. Then nothing happened anymore and it remained in this state. It somewhat resembles a pool of water if it would be upright.

Curiosity won over fear and Twilight walked up to it. Whatever it is, it certainly was no water. It was probably a bad idea but Twilight felt the impulse to touch it. She raised a hoof and decided it was a really bad idea, so she picked up a nearby piece of rock and raised it up to eye level. Yeah, that would be safer. Slowly levitating the rock towards the surface...

A mechanic arm reached out of the pool. It almost scared Twilight out of her wits. She screamed shortly and ran for cover.

Earth, USA, Colorado Springs, Chyenne Mountain, NORAD, Stargate Reconnaissance, command room

“Looks good so far. Chevron Six locked in and Chevron Seven is in holding.” This is the furthest they have come so far. Dr. Erik Davis has spent the last few hours calculating star movement. They have tried eight coordinates so far without the Stargate accepting them. Until now, at least. had accepted the coordinates. “Chevron Seven is encoded. Wormhole successfully established. Get a MALP ready.” Master Sergeant Harriman commanded the last sentence over the intercom into the gateroom. He turned around towards Davis and General Jacoby. “I felt seismic activity, I think we have to renew the dampeners.”

MSgt. Harriman was sensitive when it comes to earthquakes, making him the perfect pony for the job at the gate. If there would be regular earthquakes with the same hypocenter inside Chyenne Mountain, the general population would get suspicious on what is going on in there. A year ago they got the go-ahead on using the Stargate, and figuring out on how to minimize the gate’s seismic activity was one of the first goals to keep it a secret. The dampener they were using was far from perfect and had to be renewed on a regular basis.

“Retrieve MALP telemetry. Atmospheric conditions... pretty much all in the perfect center of life supporting range. Temperature 18°C/60°F. Air humidity low. Visual... main screen.” Said main screen started showing live video feed from P2S-4C3. It looked like the interior of an old castle, while it was indeed very old and a part of the ceiling had collapsed the castle was certainly not a ruin.

“What was that?”

“What?”

Something had moved, Erik was sure of it. “There was something... Harriman, can you replay the video from the start on screen two, please?”

“Of course.”

Within just a few seconds he managed to do just that. Commanding the MALP a new recording, ending and transferring the old one and start playing it. It showed a purple unicorn mare quickly hiding behind pillar. “An unicorn,” General Jacoby stated, usually this would have already confirmed the planet to be in enemy hoofs, but... “She seems panicked.”

“General, I don’t think she knows what is going on. If this would be a planet under the rule of a god the Stargate would be guarded with more than a single mare, that hides when the Stargate is activated. It said that Everfree Castle had been abandoned, maybe the whole planet had been abandoned and the developed on their own. We have found stand alone pony-civilizations, there speaks nothing against unicorn-civilizations like that too. The MALP has two-way communication, right? General, I’d like to try to talk to her.”

General Jacoby nodded. “Permission granted.”

Erik took a seat next to MSgt. Harriman who prepared a microphone.

“What to you plan to say Dr. Davis?”

“Though question. I planned on starting with: ›Hello, friend.‹ A simple greeting and ›friend‹, friend or relative, something like that. I’m not sure, but someone you usually act nice with.”

“I trust your judgment.”

“Thank you, general.”

Equestria, Kingdom of Equestria, Everfree Forest, Everfree Castle

»Hello, friend.« The machine that came out of the strange pool talked to her! Maybe it hasn’t see Twilight and she could just hide? »I no harm, I knowledge you place.« The way it talked was very strange. It sounded like a stallion but every word was spoken slow with a pause between them. She needed a few seconds to understand what it had meant. It knows where she was? It hadn’t been a good hiding place to begin with so Twilight stepped out, facing the machine.

The first question coming to her mind was: »Are you an artificial intelligence?« The device paused for a little while.

»Little knowledge you language. Apology. I friend, no fear, I no harm.« The voice seemed friendly and Twilight believed it when it said not to mean harm. And it doesn’t speak equestrian well....

She had to form her questions differently. Moving on to her next question: »What is your purpose, your mission, your reason to be here?« She hoped forming her questions in many forms would bear the most fruit with... it.

»I traveler, I search knowledge. This Everfree?«

»Yes, this is Everfree Castle, it is in the Everfree Forest.«

»Everfree you home?«

»No, you can say I’m a traveler too. I came here to Everfree Castle to search for lost equestrian history, to acquire knowledge.« Twilight got a feeling it thought about what to say or ask next, just like her. It decided to continue talking.

»You friend?«

»I guess...« It probably wouldn’t understand that, so she reformed her answer using words she knew it would understand. »Yes, I am a friend.«

»You am a friend. I am a happy.« Its attempt on using grammar made her smile. She also noticed that it is talking a lot faster now.

»No. I mean, yes. I am a friend. The phrasing is ›I am a friend‹ and ›I am happy‹ as well as ›You are a friend‹ and ›You are happy‹. Do you understand?«

»I acquire knowledge. I am happy. No ›a‹ word happy.«

»You are a very eager learner, aren’t you?«

»I am a very eager learner. Haha.« It had just reused her phrasing with an ›I am‹ instead of ›You are‹. Twilight wondered if it understood what it had just said, but more importantly it had laughed shortly. It certainly wasn’t just a machine.

»I am Twilight Sparkle.« She pointed at herself. »My name is Twilight Sparkle.«

It repeated. »You are Twilight Sparkle. I am Erik Davis. My name is Erik Davis.«

It has a name, a strange one, but it was a name. Twilight couldn’t continue to think about him as an »it« anymore. »So, you are a traveler. Where do you come from? Where is your home?«

»I home planet... My home planet name is ‘Earth’.«

What? »You... you come from another planet?«

»Yes, You: This planet is not you home. This planet Everfree? You: yes. No truth?« He thought she was from another planet too.

»Sure, I said this wasn’t my home, but I meant the castle. I live on this planet. Err... easy language. This is my home planet ›Equestria‹, my home is a village, town outside the forest.« She pointed outside the window. »I traveled from Ponyville, the village to Everfree, the castle. You traveled from ‘Earth’, the planet to Equestria, the planet. How?«

»You no travel other planets?« He made it sound so casual.

»No, how?«

»I allowance come Ponyville?«

»Yes, of course.«

...

Did I just allow an alien species to come to their village?

Earth, USA, Colorado Springs, Chyenne Mountain, NORAD, Stargate Reconnaissance, command room

“General, I’d like to go through the gate myself. I feel like I kinda bonded with our dear ›Twilight Sparkle‹ and a diplomatic relations with their folk. The concept of space travel seems completely fictional to her. Both kinds, the Stargate and spaceships. Those ponies might have been isolated from the gods from the point in time where they actually rose to power. Since err...” Erik put out his notebook where he had copied to paragraphs from the book. “Since they abandoned not just the Everfree Castle, but the whole planet, this civilization probably developed on their own. Just like ours. And I cannot express just how valuable an alliance with an unicorn civilization might be. Background information about their ‘magic’-thing. Or even just learn the language. Twilight appears like a scholar, eager to learn but also to teach. I suggest...”

“Dr. Davis, enough.” General Jacoby interrupted him, and in a military base you do what the general does. “Col. Crowns, your opinion.”

Col. Crowns wasn’t stupid, but his job was to be paranoid. If there is one expert on Stargate reconnaissance it would be him, he lead SG-3 within a year 20 missions through the gate. He also holds the record for having visited the most planets together with Major Maceman and Dr. Novik. “There are enough risks. The most obvious one would be she leading us right into an ambush if we go to this village. Never take a suggestion from a suspect, but Dr. Davis suggested it himself. There was nothing in her eyes before she agreed, so she might be a good actress or actually didn’t think about how she would be rewarded and serve her god if she rats us out.” The colonel looked straight at Erik. “Doc seems pretty convinced, I think we should go on a leap of faith here. As he said: we have a lot to gain. And we have already taken bigger risks. General Jacoby, I’d like to go myself and take SG-3 with me. We have retrieved that biblething that lead the Doc to this planet, this is our mission.”

“I agree. You take SG-5 with you too, to secure the gate. Dr. Davis and SG-3 you are on a diplomatic mission to the ponies on... ›Equestria‹, right? Your primary objective is to gather intelligence if they are actually isolated from the gods and if they are friendly at all. Secondary you try to find out if they are willing to share their knowledge on their language, if they are willing to trade and on intelligence on the weapons against this chaos-god.”

Equestria, Kingdom of Equestria, Everfree Forest, Everfree Castle

»You place Everfree. I come Everfree.« He’s coming? He’s not already here? »‘Stargate’, I come my ‘Earth’ planet ‘Stargate’ your planet Equestria.« ‘Stargate’? The big watery ring-thingy? Apparently yes, as soon after ponies appeared out of it. Eight ponies stepped through this portal. They all wore the same brownish green uniforms which covered almost their entire body. The only difference between the uniforms, aside from size, was a symbol on their shoulders. The symbol of three of them looked somewhat like two crescents connected atop each other (3). Four of them had a right angle connected to an crescent beneath it (5). And the one who stepped through the portal first had no symbol on his shoulder.

Six stallions and two mares, all earth ponies as far as Twilight could tell from their uniforms. She highly doubt a pegasi would completely engulf their wings in clothing they couldn’t immediately discard. All of them were muscular, ranged from athletic to heavily muscled. The one without symbol said »Hello, Twilight Sparkle,« and stepped forward to her. He had a light brown coat, a darker moderately long mane and was the least muscular one of them. Twilight couldn’t help but shy away a little at his approach, making him stop immediately. »No fear, please. We friends. I am Erik Davis.« She looked over to the machine, then back at him. »I home, speech here.«

»Okay...«

Then he spoke something to his comrades she couldn’t understand, she could only assume it was their language. “Guys, you should introduce yourself.  Point at yourself and say ›My name is...‹ and your name.” He obviously told them to introduce themselves. And also how to phrase it... She figured the others are not capable of Equestrian language.

The bulkiest of them started: »My name is ‘Colonel’ Michael Crowns.« He was dark brown coated and had a short cut and an even darker, almost black mane. He was about Big McIntoshs size, if not even bigger, but he lacks Macs can’t-hurt-a-fly appearance.

The next pony to speak up was considerably shorter. »My name is ‘Major’ Arthur Maceman, ‘at your service’« He had added something in his own language and made a small bow to her. Black coat and dark gray mane of the same style as Colonel Michael Crowns.

The last one of the three ponies with the  double crescent symbol on their shoulders was a light gray mare with a red mane. Her manestyle was somewhat similar to Twilights. »I am ‘Major’ Caroline Novik.« The mare seem to at least have little knowledge of equestrian language, as she had chosen the phrasing ›I am‹ instead of ›My name is‹.

“Col. Crowns to SGC.” The bulky pony had spoken up again. He talked in their language but he had just said his own name again, only missing out the middle part. Who was he talking to? “We have safely arrived at P2S-4C3 a.k.a. ›Equestria‹ and haven’t been ambushed yet.” His hoof pressed against a device strapped to his chest. It appeared as if he talked to it. “Standard procedure: If we don’t report back within 24 hours switch off our GDO codes. Over.”

What was really strange was that the device responded. “Understood colonel. Anything you want to add before we shut down the Stargate? Over.”

“Nah, not really, general. Col. Crowns over and out.”

“SGC over and out.”

The watery thing in the ring dissolved, it happened way to suddenly for Twilight to be actually surprised. They simply continued to introduce themselves. The ponies with the other symbol on their shoulders are named ‘Colonel’ William Altman, ‘Major’ James Anderson, ‘Major’ Janet Baker and ‘Doctor’ Paul Langford.

Twilight figured she too should introduced herself again. So far she only had done so to Erik Davis via that machine. »I’m Twilight Sparkle. It is an honor to meet you.« She bowed shortly too, just like... the black-coated pony, major... something, she had already forgotten his name. She just hoped a bow means the same in their culture as it did in Equestria.

Four of them were called major and two colonel. »Major, Colonel, Doctor. Those are not names, right?«

Erik Davis nodded. »’Major, Colonel, Doctor.’ No names, err... guard hierarchy.« Guard hierarchy? So those were military ranks... and they are military ponies. But it made sense as she thought about it. It appeared obvious that a civilization wouldn’t sent regular ponies to other planets. Traveling to other planets, what a strange concept anyway. Other planets... just how many other planets? Everything she observes spawns so many questions, but this she had to ask now.

»How many planets do you travel to?«

»I show. ‘Need to show you our numbers first.« Erik Davis sat down on his haunches and rose both his forelegs. He showed her what was strapped onto his right foreleg and snapped it open with his left one. It was a grappler, that had served in its closed form as a regular horseshoe. It’s an amazing piece of technology easy to understand, probably easy to handle and it opens so much doors on how to handle simple things and in succession create more advanced pieces of technology. He demonstrated how it can move for a while, then he used it to open a strange closure of one of the many pockets on his uniform.

Out of it he pulled a notebook and placed it between them. He opened it on one of the very first pages, which showed a matrix of symbols in a pattern. Pointing at the first one he said “zero” and shook his head, for the second symbol he said “one” and tapped his grappler once at the floor next to the book. He continued the pattern increasing the number of taps on the floor each time by one. »Those are numbers. You... you are showing me your number system to show me then how many planets you have been on. And... you have no idea what I am saying. I have an idea.«

Twilight used her magic to put her own notebook out of her saddlebags along with an inkwell and a feather. Erik Davis watched her doing so and commented: »Magic.«

She looked at him with confusion. »Yes... magic? What about magic?«

He pointed at her horn. »I knowledge magic,« then made a wavy gesture, »no knowledge« he tapped the notebook, »how magic.«

»You want to know how magic works? I can tell you everything theoretical about it, but you are no unicorn...« She looked at the other ponies. »You are all no unicorns. There are no unicorns on your planet, are there? No pegasi either, I guess.« As he didn’t respond, she just continued what she planned.

Turning her notebook to an empty page Twilight started writing down the numbers of the equestrian system. She spoke them aloud and tapped with her hoof according to the value of the number. “Oh, oh that’s great.” Whatever he said, he seemed excited about it. He immediately turned his own notebook to the first empty page and copied what she had written already. Additionally he put their respective symbol and a set of other symbols she assumed were phonetics on how to pronounce them. It was very strange to her that the number system of the ponies from the planet ‘Earth’ is based on the single number ten and not on two numbers.

Colonel Michael Crowns fake-coughed to get their attention. “Don’t want to ruin your fun, but... Davis, ask her to get us to the village she mentioned. ›Ponyville‹ was it?”

“I’m learning here the very basics of their mathematics. Math is the base of every technology. This is intensively valuable...”

“Yeah, fun. For you at least. ›Ponyville‹ now, fun later.”

“Okay... Twilight Sparkle. ›travel to Ponyville, please‹?”

P2S-4C3 (Equestria), Everfree Forest

SG-5 stayed back at the Castle like they have agreed to. Twilight Sparkle had wondered why they were not coming with them to Ponyville but Erik had kinda failed to communicate it properly, even though he had learned more about Equestrian language today than in the previous year. Now they were making their way through a forest that could easily serve as a set for a horror movie.

“Twilight Sparkle, I never quite answered your question.” They have kinda agreed to talk a lot in both their languages to learn the respective other.  »You searched knowledge how many planets we travel. I four. Most is Col. Crowns nineteen. We no long time travel other planets.«

»Oh, okay. So this is very new to you?«

»New, yes. How learn how to travel planets? Only do to learn.«

»I mean it’s something you can never be prepared for and have to figure it out while actually doing so. Wait. How had you knowledge about Equestrian language in the first place?«

»Equestrian speech many planets.« Twilight Sparkle only stared at Erik. She seemed to be thinking hard, it was easy to guess what she was asking next. Why would they speak Equestrian?

»There are other planets where ponies speak Equestrian. Then why is your knowledge about Equestrian language so limited?«

Erik knew exactly what the reason was, but she was almost childishly naïve, how could he tell her? Straight forward is always a good solution. »Other planets ponies are no friends.« He looked to the ground in shame, war was no fun thing. Nodding towards his companions he just told her: »Military« Her expression went dark, but she didn’t respond.

Suddenly something pink ran straight at them. »Twilight, Twilight!« It appeared to be a mare but she moved way to fast in the thicket. »I was so worried, you alone in the Everfree forest.«

»Pinkie...« It was in fact a pink mare, and she was standing right in front of Erik now, her face maybe five inches away from his.

»But look you are not alone.«

“What is this?” She moved on to Col. Crowns who had already released the safety on his weapon and tried to get a straight aim. “We are not under attack, right?”

»Uhh... what to you have there?« The mare examined Crowns’ machine gun. It was on the outside of his right forehoof and triggers with the same mechanism as Erik’ grappler works.

“Don’t shoot.”

“She hasn’t given me a reason to do so yet. And I’ve seen better ambushes.”

»Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie.«

»Pinkie, Stop!« Twilight Sparkle seems to have realized that the MG on Crowns hoof was some kind of weapon and thankfully was able to make the pink mare retreat. »You are making them uncomfortable.« She coughed to clear her throat and raised her voice. »Everyone, this is Pinkie Pie, she is a friend of mine. Pinkie, those are travelers from... far away. I’m taking them to Ponyville.« Davis agreed on Twilight Sparkles decision on not telling the pink mare right away from just where they came from. »Pinkie, what are you doing here?«

»Uhh... Something told me to come here?«

Twilight seemed confused and tired asking. »Your Pin...?«

»No, Spike did! He said you were going to Everfree Castle all alone because you think there is some big conspiracy going on and we wanted to be supportive.«

»That’s nice of you. Wait, ›we‹?«

“More incoming.”

»Pinkie, where did ya ran off to?«

»Pinkie, I swear, if you are hiding as a mean to prank us, I will leave you here in the Everfree.«

»Rainbow, Applejack! We are over here!«

“If it is one it is probably the worst ambush ever, Colonel?”

“Agreed.” Col. Crowns lowered his weapon, but neither switched off safety nor rested on the hoof. Paranoia keeps you alive on other planets.

The additional voices came from an orange earth pony and a cyan pegasus, both were mares. »Hey, who are those?«

“I have never seen a pegasus mare before.”

“There goes out theory about pegasi were normal ponies enhanced by technical means.”

“Nah, they are bred.”

The pegasus gloated about the attention she got. »I know I’m pretty awesome. What are you mumbling about?«

»Rainbow, they speak in their own language and hardly speak Equestrian, they are travelers. I’ll explain back in Ponyville.«

Dear Princess Celestia

Twilight went crazy again. This time over some old book she found somewhere, I don’t know where. It showed her cutiemark for some reason. She said she wanted to talk to you but then went into the Everfree forest. I’m worried. Please come.

Spike

Equestria, Kingdom of Equestria, Canterlot Region, Ponyville, Public Library

Celestia was impressed by the young Dragons ability to brew tea, he has improved a lot since moving to Ponyville three years ago, just like Twilight.

»This is very good tea, Spike. Thank you kindly for your hospitality.«

»Sheesh, Princess. Twilight always thanks me for tea but I think she is only being nice. Do you really think it’s good?«

»Yes. Dragonfire has its own special kind of magic, you should know that. Food cooked with it, or in this case water for tea brewed with it, is always... special. And believe me when I say yours is the good kind of special.«

They heard the library door open and several hoofsteps coming in. »Spike, I’m back. Can you make some tea? I brought friends... Actually, many friends, so a lot of tea, please.« They heard her adding, »make yourselves comfortable.«

»We already have a guest, so some tea is already ready.« Spike chuckled. Celestia smiled too at the dragons scheme to shock her student.

Twilight walked into the kitchen, looking only towards the sink where Spike was just filling a pot with water.

»Twilight Sparkle!« Twilights head sprang around towards the kitchen table. »Hello, my faithful student.« Twilight only stared at her. »Oh, I’m fine thank you. How are you doing?«

Twilight blinked twice, it seemed as if she had decided that she wasn’t imagining her mentor standing in front of her. »P-Princess...«

»I’m sorry, Twilight. I shouldn’t tease you.«

»Princess Celestia err... hi. Don’t get this wrong, I’m happy to see you, but what are you doing here?«

»Spike told me he was concerned about how you took in the information inside of a certain book you have acquired recently.«

»Yes, uhm... good, I guess. I err...« Twilight was looking around, trying to find a way on how to tell her something. Celestia knows this look, students often are in this kind of state. But Twilight has always been a model student, she always knew how to express her answers properly. She seemed to caught herself again, took a deep breath first and spoke slowly: »Princess... There are ponies from a planet called ‘Earth’ in the libraries main room.«

Celestia stared at her student. She felt her legs getting weak and her heart beating harder. The symptoms of a foal, when somepony is about to find out its lies. Ponies from other planets... this is far worse than anything she could have prepared for Twilight finding out. »Then... we shouldn’t keep our guests waiting, right?«

Nopony should come to Equestria... But ‘Earth’ sounded so foreign. It may be possible that the planet is autarkic... but how would they then know how to reach Equestria? Celestia didn’t know how the rings work, but she knew for a fact that randomly choosing coordinates and reaching another ring was next to impossible. No, it wasn’t a coincidence those ponies are here. They have chosen to come to Equestria.

Celestia entered the main room. Besides the five elementbearers four other ponies were looking at her. These four ponies had facial features she had never seen before. She shouldn’t wonder about this, a few thousand years of evolution and natural selection on another planet do that do a ponykind.

The four gazed upon Celestia. She could read fear from them, as well as stress, the kind of stress that makes your heart beat faster to run or handle oneself in a fight. What concerned her was all of them making the same gesture. They put their left hoof on a device strapped on their right hoof and did what she thought was flipping a switch. Those devices ended in a pipe facing wherever the hoof pointed at. Miniature cannons... If she would raise a shield now it would show her preparing for a fight and that would be bad. Better hope they were civilized.

»I am Princess Celestia, the representative ruler of this planet and co-ruler of the Kingdom of Equestria. I am pleased to meet you.« The elementbearers seemed intrigued about her saying she was the ruler of the ›planet‹. It was obvious to everypony who she was, so why would she need to introduce herself?

»Princess,« Twilight had left the kitchen too, »they do not speak our Equestrian,« she looked over to one of them, »at least not well to have a real conversation.«

They do not speak Equeatrian? But all ponies of the planets that had been... No, she already assumed them to be autarkic. Considering this, them having their own language wasn’t strange at all. She had communicated with beings who hadn’t had a ponies tongue before, so: »This should not be a problem.«

Celestia ignited her horn and immediately gained three cannons pointed at her. “Don’t!” the fourth pony shouted. As they all are earth ponies, the concept of magic might be strange for them and they had every right to be afraid of magic. Though the command of one of them put her at ease to finish her spell. »Now we can talk.«

P2S-4C3 (Equestria), Ponyville, Library

Erik could understand what the tall winged unicorn had said. The only word she had used he had actually known was ›we‹, but now it seems as if every word was completely obvious. As if the language wasn’t foreign at all. From the expression his companions made they experienced the same. “Wha... What did you do?” he asked in English, but something told him she could understand him perfectly too.

»I cast a spell which makes you understand the intention of my words. It effects everypony in the room so you are free to talk in your own language, we will understand you.«

“You messed with our brains?” Col. Crowns seemed slightly upset.

»Watch your language with the Princess!«

»It’s quite okay, Rainbow Dash. I am in fact guilty of messing with brains, though I can promise it has no side effects. Only... you might learn the language the other speaks in the process. We should start from the beginning again. So, I am Princess Celestia, the representative ruler of this planet and co-ruler of the Kingdom of Equestria.« The “princess” rules the land? Weird.

Celestias coat was flawlessly white and her multicolored mane seemed to defy gravity. It was light blue and green, dark blue and pink. But the thing about her wasn’t her mane but the fact that she was way taller than a regular pony and had both, a horn and a pair of wings. All in all she looked very regal, even... godly. A mark on her flank showed the sun.

Princess Celestia lowered her head slightly. Erik could only interpret this gesture as a small bow. Enough to be recognized, but so small a princess could perform it without losing pride. »Who are you and why have you come to Equestria? This is a peaceful planet. As trust has to run both ways. Girls, I would like to you to introduce yourself, please.«

»Princess, didya say planet?«

»Indeed I did, Applejack. You see, these ponies have traveled a long way to get to us. An ancient device has transported them here. I would have noticed if they would have arrived in a spacecraft. This comes sudden to you girls, but at the moment you simply have to accept the fact. There is nothing anyone can do about it, so for now we introduce ourselves to our galactic neighbors.«

For one pony or just a small group of ponies telling them something like this comes rather easy and is pretty fast accepted. Sadly a big group of ponies like the entire civilization of Earth could never handle such a thing. From conmen selling trips through the gate to nations fighting over it’s control. It’s not like the rest of the world would simply let it be in American, much less Uncle Sam’s hooves. Not to mention panic when comes to light what had already happened: A war against several enemies with advanced technology and hundredfold more troops.

Twilight cleared her throat. »My name is Twilight Sparkle. I own this library, the Ponyville Public Library.« Twilight was an unicorn mare. Her coat was pale purple and her mane was dark blue. She kept it semi-long in a straight style and had a violet and rose streak in it. Her eyes are a deep violet. Now that she had put off her saddlebags Erik could clearly see the mark on her haunches.

Ponies on some planets had these symbols, he knew that, but so far Erik had never had the chance to ask one what they represent. Twilights symbol looked exactly alike the symbol of the weapons he had found in the book from P2X-575. For now he thought it would be best not to bring weapons up when they claim to be peaceful and just get to know each other.

»The name’s Rainbow Dash, I’m the head of Ponyvilles weather team.« Davis didn’t know what she meant with weather team, but as far as their intelligence goes pegasi were capable of manipulating clouds. But they wouldn’t... Ponies on Earth would certainly manipulate the weather if they could, so weatherteams aren’t weird at all. Rainbow Dash had a cyan coat and wore her mane in all colors of the rainbow. Her overall manestyle was careless, but no streak interfered with another and it certainly sees shampoo regularly. Her eyecolor was magenta and her mark was a cloud with an three colored lightning bolt coming out of it. She seemed rather careless about the fact to have just met ponies from another planet.

»I’m Applejack. I work at my families Apple Orchard, ›Sweet Apple Acres‹« Applejacks color scheme was way more           natural for Earth-standarts. Her orange could pass as light brown and she wore her blonde mane and tail in a classical ponytail. Although she spoke good-natured, her green eyes were narrowed slightly, revealing her suspiciousness of them. The mark on her haunches showed three apples.

»My name is Rarity. I am a seamstress and own the ›Carousel Boutique‹, though I make my own dresses, so I am a humble fashion designer too.« Rarity was an white unicorn with a moderate indigo mane. Not counting Celesias flowing mane, Rarity had the mane which had probably taken the most attention this morning. As were her azure eyes who had been treated with eye shadow and they were locked onto the uniforms. Erik could only guess she was professionally judging them. Three light blue diamonds could be seen on her haunches.

»I’m Pinkie Pie. I already forest myself in the introduction! Anyway, I work as ›SugarCubeCorner‹ at a confectioner.« Erik was very certain she tried to trick the spell, but he could understand her perfectly. Judging from his companions looks, they haven’t heard anything wrong. Only Pinkie Pies eyes betrayed with a cyan color her complete pinkness, given even her name indicates ›pink‹. Well... maybe her puffy mane could be considered raspberry, but was still some form of pink. She seemed almost like a xenophile, easy to embrace the unknown. The mark on her haunches was three balloons.

The last mare looked really overwhelmed by the whole situation. Erik could completely understand why she took a little time. She was a light golden coated pegasi with very long straight pink mane. She took a deep breath and started speaking. »I’m Fluttershy,« her voice died down and her mane came in handy. It was generously curved so it wont touch the ground , but in this case she could easily hide behind it. After another breath she finished her introduction. »I’m a vetetarian, I... I take care of animals...« Her mark showed three pink butterflies.

“Our turn then. I am Doctor Erik Davis. Doctor is not part of my actual name, it’s an academic degree. I’ve got mine at Caltech, for Astrophysics and Engineering. I work at the Stargate Center as an adviser.” Davis, felt them studying him. He was fairly certain he wasn’t bad looking and blames his... failure with women on never actually trying something. He had the universe to explore, there is not much time for anything else. Light brown coat and a darker brown mane, he kept it long, for a stallion at least. He never really cared much about his looks. What will they think of him? He certainly was the least muscled of the three stallions, even though he was... fairly fast when running away if it comes to fighting on other planets. Oh god... seven mares are checking him out. And he utterly missed returning the favor as he was too busy remembering their names. Distraction... “Colonel?”

The colonel hesitated to give somepony information but he nodded. “I am Colonel Michael Crowns from the U.S. Air Force. Stationed at Cheyenne Mountain in the StargateCenter. I’m the leader of SG-3.” He pointed at the other two ponies. Crowns had certainly no problem being looked at, he was muscular, quite bulky actually... He had a dark brown coat and a very dark brown mane in military style.

“Major Arthur Maceman. U.S. Air Force, StargateCenter, SG-3 under Col. Crowns.” Nothing ever seems to rattle the black stallions cool. His mane was dark gray and also militarized.

“I am Major Caroline Novik. U.S. Air Force, StargateCenter and SG-3, also under Col. Crowns. But I have like Dr. Davis a PhD in astrophysiks. I am the technical adviser specifically too SG-3.” Major Novik had a light gray coat and a a red mane. She wore it straight and probably as long as the military allowed her to.

Now they knew that their guests were all military, but their expressions were seemingly indifferent to that fact. They, or most of them were still just blown away from the fact that somepony came visit from another planet.

»Tea is ready!« An additional voice came from the kitchen. It was clearly male. Erik could see a cart with a lot of silverware being pushed in by somepony small behind it. The... thing pushing the cart turned out to be a... dragon? Erik looked over to the others. Of the natives nopony seemed surprised.

»Thank you, Spike.«

»No problem.« Spike looked intrigued at their guests but didn’t say anything more. He placed cups of tea in front of everypony and started pouring the tea. Let’s just act as if tea-serving-dragons are completely normal.

“Oh, ah... May I?” They had tea. So why not share? Erik pulled out a thermos flask. “We can share.” This didn’t seem right. Oh god... “We are not refusing your hospitality, we want to show some of our own.” He opened his flask and smelled it first, then gestured into the crowd.

Twilight Sparkle took his offer and noticed that it was steaming. »It’s still hot?« She seemed confused.

“Of course you drink tea hot.” But that wasn’t what she meant. They walked about two hours through the forest, the tea should be could in normal flasks. “Science,” he pointed at the thermos.

In return of her taking his tea he, of course, took some of theirs. Erik was no avid tea-drinker, he usually sticks to the stuff he knows when it comes to food and beverages, but he could tell the tea was good. They socialized on an alien planet with aliens and the ruler of said planet while drinking tea. But he couldn’t help wonder about their servant. “Are dragons common in Equestria?”

»In the kingdom? Very rare. On the planet? Well, on a planetary scale they are also quite rare. Maybe a few thousands.« So no slave-like treatment with population-control and everything. »Spike, he can be considered an experiment on socializing with them. He is a full member of our society, don’t get me wrong.«

Satisfied with the answer Erik jumped right to the next one: “About those marks on your haunches. We have seen them on ponies before. Not everypony seems to have them but the ponies on your planets to. Can we ask what they are about? Or is this some sort of uhmm.. intimitate thing, because it’s positioning... you know.”

»Oh, it’s not at all.« The princess looked back at her own mark. Then she smiled at the other mares reactions, as they awkwardly were made aware of the fact that their flanks had been checked out at least once. »They weren’t designed with a name though on Equestria it is common to call them cutiemarks. It has been a powerful spell cast to show someponies special talent.« The sun? Balloons? Diamonds?  She added, »figuratively, of course.«

Erik couldn’t help but think of... “A caste system?”

»You make it sound negative?«

“I’m sorry. It’s not my position to judge your...”

»Haha, it’s quite alright.« She actually laughed. »Everypony... and every dragon or other kind of sentient being has free will. You can consider the spell... stuck on ponies. And their offspring of that matter, today the spell has spread all over the planet. I am honestly not surprised that ponies on other planets have them, nor am I that someponies do not have them.«

»That’s why cutiemarks can’t be forced or changed.« Twilight Sparkle stared at Celestia. Erik, knew that look: She had just figured out something valuable of their own culture. »There’s already a spell in work. A spell so powerful...« she paused shortly, »it annihilates every interference with it. Who cast that spell?«

Celestia looked down. Erik could tell she was thinking hard. »I don’t know. The spell predates me. Though I remember ponies not having them. But I think it is quite likely that the spell originally intended to make a caste system, like Doctor Erik Davis suspected.«

“The spell is genetic? How is that possible? I don’t know anything about how magic works but this seems implausible.”

»How it works? It just does. Cutiemarks are very implausible. How would a spell know what our ›special talent‹ is, or how it changes our coat color in this very specific pattern. And please note that those are only symbolic, a realistic image can be saved and stored easily but how can this spell make up a symbol. A symbol needs to be designed, but how? Lots of ponies have spent years of their lives studying this one single spell. Without results. Nopony on Equestria knows. I too have long stopped wondering about them.«

“Okay... And what if somepony would get a very specific symbol. A symbol that is proven to have been designed at some point. We actually came here to search for what that symbol represents.”

»My cutiemark.« Twilight had used her magic to float a book in the middle of their circle. Erik recognized it as a copy of that bible when she opened it on the page showing her cutiemark.

Celestia stared at the book. »This symbol...« She closed her eyes. »It represents the Elements of Harmony. The spell knew way before you ever had the chance to come in contact to anything related to the elements. And I knew what it meant the moment I saw it appear on your flank. That is the reason I took you as my protegee, because I knew. Why I didn’t tell you? Were I supposed to tell a little filly that it might be her destiny to face ancient evils? No. I kept an eye on you. I gave you always exactly the information you needed to succeed.« She mercilessly told Twilight how her life had been manipulated. The princess seemed to be on a good go. »And not just you, Twilight. The others were harder to find. I put them in charge of different areas of the Summer Sun Celebration. I knew you wouldn’t ‘go and make friends’, but I made sure you met them at least once. I deliberately sent you only two galatickets. I also gave you seemingly impossible tasks for anypony else in your situation but you always succeeded.«

“Waitwaitwaitwait... So you have been pretty manipulative, but very matriarchic, always having the best in mind. But err... these Elements of Harmony. They ARE the Elements? How... what?”

»They represent them. The six use the power of the elements, channeling it. Magic depends on the emotional state of its user. Imagine the Elements power of that power when six ponies combine their inherent magic in perfect harmony.«

»That’s how they work... It’s like a magic link Shining Armor and Cadence used. Its incredibly hard for two ponies to be in harmony... No wonder the elements are so powerful. Speaking of the Elements... Princess, the historybooks say you wielded the elements to banish Luna...«

»It’s a lie.« Wow... that was quick. »I created it in case she returned and I wouldn’t be able to tell anypony what to do. I figured the most obvious thing to do is look up how she... ‘had been defeated’ the first time. But can we talk about something else? I keep secrets for a reason. And I would like to keep some of them.«

“Your past is yours and yours alone... But I have a question about you, princess. It’s okay, you don’t need to answer it yourself.” Erik knew this question was evil, but so far everything had pointed in that direction. “Is Celestia a god?”

»Of course she is a god. She is immortal, moves the sun across the sky and always knows what to do... Even if it is manipulating us to get what she wants. But as she wants only the right things, like Equestrias safety or us learning about something concerning galatickets. But I don’t think it’s my position to...«

»Stop it!« Interrupting somepony seemed quite out of character for the princess. »Dr. Erik Davis.... I believe you had somepony in mind when asking that question.«

“You do not seem to be one of them, but you also seem to have somepony in mind.”

»Yes... Look around.« She gestured out the window. »I helped creating the peace on this planet. I pretty much set up the entire system Equestria runs on and I never claimed to be a god. But blind faith made things so easy... Falling for worshipment is easy too and at some point I couldn’t resist and you could accurately describe me as a tyrant... Please believe me when I say that they only had good intentions.«

“It got to the heads of others. They enjoy it.” Time for truth. “Their worshipers are merely slaves to them. And they conquer all planets they find. They enslave the ponies on those planets or kill them. Good intentions my ass. There is nothing good about any of this.”

Erik doesn’t really need to look away from Celestia to know what the expressions of the six mares were. He could hear gasping and a »WHAT?«, but he kept his eyes on Celestia. Her expression got darker. Anger and... disappointment?

“The only reason Earth has escaped their greedy hooves is because we secured our Stargate. But more because they fight each other for territory. They outgun and outnumber us.” She was definitively angry. “You on the other hoof, you have technology. If you could only help...”

»No.«

“You only need to teach us on how you...”

»NO!«

»Princess! We need to help them! Not only them, we need to help the ponies in the entire galaxy. Princess, you know those... these... uhmm... who pose as gods.«

»Twilight, I have dedicated my life making Equestria live in piece. Making my little ponies go to war without wartime-technology against an enemy they never known even existed? Should I start fighting for territory like them? I have hardly any experience in battle. But the experience I do have tells me there is always a terrible price to pay. We have no chance of winning even a single battle.«

»Princess...«

“No, she is right, Twilight Sparkle.” Col. Crowns piped up the first time. “We face the same problem with the difference that they don’t think of us as any kind of threat. But Equestria might be one considering you have unicorns. If you act aggressive now you face almost immediate annihilation. We use the Stargate to search for advanced technology to be able to defend ourselves, and for potential allies. But of course the first friendly civilization we find has the exact same problem as we do. Princess Celestia, I can understand you. But you have information about them...”

»I do not. Their personalities have changed. As has their understanding of magic and technology. I haven’t met anyone of them in more than seventhousand years. Our planets have probably different orbiting periods but believe me when I say this is a very long time. All I can tell you is that there are four of them. We were six, but I don’t count and another one died a little while ago.«

“Four... Well that’s at least something. We have one down...”

»You have one down? You killed one of them?« Celestia seemed very surprised, also sad that we had killed somepony who was once her friend.

And Col. Crowns right on told her. “Yes, eleven of our years ago we managed to sent a thermonuclear weapon, a very powerful bomb on one of their ships. It was an act of defense, kill them before they kill us. I...” He realized Celestia was hurt. “We... kinda had to. I guess I’m sorry for your loss, but I’m happy to be alive.”

Celestia didn’t respond at first but then managed a quiet. »Who was it?«

“She was called Aurora.”

»Aurora...« Celestia actually looked like she was at the verge of crying.

»Aurora? The Aurora? The Heart of Equestria?« Twilight Sparkle seemed baffeled. Aurora seemed like a well-known name in Equestrian History. Well, she was even dubbed ›the Heart of Equestria‹. Erik didn’t know what that could imply but it sounded impressive.

»Yes, that Aurora.« Celestia forced herself to smile and turned to the  »I guess I am thankful that I now know, what happened to my friends when they decided they wanted to see the universe... But I have to ask you to go now and never return, you understand?«

What a neat change of topic. Col. Crowns looked to Erik and shook his head. Both know very well that she was right. There wasn’t really much to talk about. She wont help them and is incapable of giving any useful information. “We understand. But our nations can still trade. Medicine or...”

»No. Equestria doesn’t know about any of this and I would like to keep it that way. Girls I can’t force you to keep quiet about everything you just heard but you know firsthand how unsettling this information can be. The less know about it the better. Now... lets end this.«

She ignited her horn and a flash later Erik wasn’t comfortably sitting in the reading corner of the library anymore. The scenery had changed to dusty ruins. Major Anderson and Dr. Langford were staring at them. They had been teleported. If Erik wouldn’t know about ponies regularly going through wormholes he would have said it is impossible. But here he stood. He looked around to the SG-3 team who had experienced the same phenomena.

From the far end of the corridor Col. Altman and Major Baker startet run towards them, while taking cover behind the pillars there. “It’s okay, no need to ready your weapons.” It was good that Col. Crowns immediately commanded them not to do so, SG-5 seemed quite ready. Magic was still very overwhelming for everypony. Even five of the mares who had teleported with them seemed to be dizzy. “These are Princess Celestia, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. And of course you remember Twilight Sparkle.”

“Col. Crowns, you are back already. We didn’t expect you reporting back for a few hours, nor you bringing company.”

“Yeah, things escalated pretty quick. We are going home and the Princess here insists we go quickly.” He then walked over to the DHD and faced Princess Celestia again. “So... princess. If you wouldn’t mind.”

»You... oh, of course. Girls, you too please.« Celestia turned around so Col. Crowns could punch in Earth’s coordinates into the device they’ve expertly named ‘Dial Home Device’. The didn’t realize what was going on. “Colonel Michael Crowns will perform the means to reach their planet. It’s only understandable that he doesn’t want us to know how it is done.” They had no idea what was going on but did as they were told, even though you could clearly see that they, especially Twilight Sparkle, wanted to know how it was done.

Col. Crowns dialed Earth and the Stargate’s glyph ring started moving. Davis had seen the process a lot of time but they, with the exception of Celestia, had never. Now they were forced to just listen to it. The sound of metal scraping over metal when the ring moved. The fizzing when a chevron locked in. It was kind of cute observing how they adjusted their ears to hear as much about it as possible. The seventh chevron locked in and unstable wormhole-matter shot out of the Stargate with an “kawoosh”

“You can turn around now.” And so they did. “Pretty isn’t it?” Col. Crowns was right, the event horizon indeed looked stunning. It catches and reflects light in a pretty way. Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia looked fascinated too, even though they had already seen it before. “Stargate Center, this is Col. Crowns.” He spoke over his radio again.

»What exactly is it?« Investigative as Erik got to know her, Twilight asked.

“The Stargate created a topological shortcut through space. We call the blue wavy-thing the event horizon, everything that passes can’t turn back. Unless of course you make another one from the other side, but the thing itself only goes one way. It’s a lot like the teleportation Princess Celestia just cast.”

»Okay...« Twilight looked sad. She would never experience the Stargate. Her princess had made sure of it, traveling to other planets was completely off-limits for her if she follows Celestia... Twilight suddenly opened her eyes wide. Something just got to her.

“Col. Crowns, this is MSgt. Harriman. We didn’t expect a report for another two hours. You don’t sound like you ran into any trouble.”

“No, we met the local authorities and they have made it clear they wont help us so we return empty handed.”

»No!« Twilight had a strange expression on her face.

»Twilight?«

She seemed determined. »They came here to search for the Elements of Harmony and they have found them! And I for one want to help them.«

»Twilight, Equestria will not...«

»Not Equestria, but me!« She took a deep breath. »I will help them, I am coming with them.«

“What?”

»What?«

“What?”

“What?”

Four ponies expressed their disbelieve over what they have just heard. But it came even better. »And I am coming too.«

»Rainbow.« Twilight seemed touched.

Applejack looked around to study the others expressions and stated: »We all are. We are the Elements of Harmony and we cannot stand for the decision to look away if something is ugly. We go with them.«

Col. Crowns radioed MSgt. Harriman again. “Scratch that, we do not return empty handed but bring a little something with us.”