Chapter Three: Terran-972

F T L***VALIANT *STARChapter Three: Terran-972

A hushed silence fell over the ponies assembled in the field as they all stared at the mysterious craft before them. Twilight had hastily left the guards with the spaceship fragment, rushing out into the cold with Raindrops to get a glimpse of the returning alien craft. A light haze of rain filled the air, slowly dampening their coats as they stood expectantly, watching the mysterious ship float over the town before coming to rest in a small field just outside. "T-Twilight, are you sure this is a good idea?" whispered Raindrops, shuffling nervously from hoof to hoof. The librarian nodded, fixated on the spaceship before them.

"Hey, it's opening!" said a nearby stallion, awestruck. He was right! Twilight grinned from ear to ear, reminded of the few science fictions she'd indulged in on a day off. Maybe they were here to conduct diplomacy this time, rather than recover the remnants of their crashed ship. But what if they were here to collect them...

"Actually, maybe this isn't such a good idea," Twilight whispered fearfully, backing away from the ship. It made sense, she realised. They'd originally come to collect their comrade, and now they were back to reclaim the ship! At least she wasn't in the library with the ship fragment, like Spike was. Twilight's heart dropped as she realised Spike was fast asleep and not stood next to her. "Spike!" she cried, galloping out of the field with the fear of all in her heart. Raindrops simply stood in confusion, staring at Twilight as she swiftly departed, as did many of the ponies assembled. Most of them had expected Twilight to make the first introduction.

A sudden hiss of air caught their attention once more, and soon enough every pony in the field was completely fixated on the alien ship. This was a once-in-a-lifetime event, and they were some of the few ponies to lay eyes on the small, white shuttle. A faint green glow could be seen through the front of the ship, which some of the more daring ponies began to whisper about. Was it one of the aliens? A mysterious piece of technology? The metal walls of the spacecraft began to slide sideways, retracting into the ship itself!

A mysterious figure emerged from the craft, stepping down onto the grass and looking around. Raindrops gasped along with the rest of the crowd, trying to comprehend its odd features. It was much taller than a pony, clad in some kind of black carapace that extended onto its face. Well, Raindrops hoped it was just clothing. The creature's small eyes raked over the assembled ponies, a strange look flashing across its face. 'Is it confused?' she thought, trying to smile at it. All she could manage was a blank, awestruck, wide-eyed expression as her mind tried to comprehend the sheer absurdity of the thing in front of them. It turned around and looked at its craft, shouting something incomprehensible. Even its voice was strange. A few ponies giggled nervously, quickly silenced by their peers. Raindrops waited, watching the creature to see if it really was as intelligent as Twilight had theorised.

*  *  *

"Emily? They're doing that goddamn wide-eyed thing again!" Alan said loudly, turning to see if she was stood behind him. The imposing, formal figure he'd tried to pass off had seemingly failed, and some of the ponies were making strange noises. Perhaps it was laughter, or maybe some kind of secret 'kill' command. He really didn't want to have to kill something today.

"Captain, sometimes I wonder as to your perception. They're just staring at something that's burnt through their atmosphere, shattered their knowledge of the universe and they're probably worried about the weird bipedal creature that's currently shouting at nothing. Give them one of the SFD headsets so they can communicate with us, ok?"

"I guess that'd help, yeah..." Alan ducked back into the ship, grabbing one of the futuristic headsets from a rack. He had no idea how he'd get one onto an equine's head, but he was planning on dealing with that later. As he stepped back out of the ship, one pony was trotting forward. Highly unusual. Alan smiled awkwardly at the pony, watching its eye movements carefully. Now that he considered it, their teeth were pretty large. Perfect for eating humans...

He sighed with relief as the pony nervously returned his smile, looking absurd in the process. A smiling pony. He was going to have to document this later. It looked fairly docile, staring at him with those large, serene blue eyes. "Uh, anything on the atmosphere Emily? It might help if I take my respirator off for a few minutes while I try and convince these ponies I'm not here to eat them." He kept his eyes on the strange creature before him, initiating a small contest of wills. He had to hand it to that pony, she was pretty determined to keep Alan's gaze.

"Ok, there are some strange foreign bodies in the air, but nothing coming up as worrying. Just standard stuff for a Terran planet, I guess. You should be fine to take off your oxygen mask. I'm removing mine as we speak," Emily replied, accompanied by the sound of the straps being removed from around her head. Alan hesitated for a few seconds, waiting for Emily to approach from behind him. No movement came. "You can handle this bit on your own, captain," she chuckled over the headset, watching the scene on the screens.

He swore under his breath before turning back to the small creature before him. She was one of the freaky ones, a horse with wings. He wasn't sure if they were functional or just useless, so he disregarded them for the moment. 'Ok, how the hell am I going to do this?' he thought, holding an SFD headset in his hand If he tried to place it straight onto her, she might panic and attack him. Slow it was, then. "Uh, easy pony, good pony..." he said reassuringly, hoping the tones would relax the mare as he reached out, offering the headset to her. She tilted her head in confusion, face etched with fear and nerves.

Alan motioned to his own ears, hoping the resemblance would be clear enough to her. He wasn't going to sit and play charades with her for hours on end, in any case. He'd rather receive a good kick in the ribs. Thankfully she slowly complied; tilting her head as he tenderly placed the set on her ears. The other ponies in the field looked at her in concern, fear, happiness and awe. "It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you," he said, smiling as he did so. She replied with a sentence or two, lips moving rapidly as she tried to make her point clear.

"Just watching the translation program run now. It's found a few root words, so it should be done structuring their language in a few seconds, captain," Emily whispered over the mic, captivated by the scene as well. "Aaaand... we're done. Go ahead and say something Alan!" The fact that she'd used his name was unusual, but all was forgotten as he tried to create a sentence worthy of greeting a new, sentient race with.

"Uh... can you hear me?" he said, trying to look confident and imposing. He made a mental note to study the Federation guidelines for greeting new species again at some point. The crowd in the field looked on expectantly as the mare spoke again, but all that could be heard were a series of incomprehensible sounds. "Emily, did you remember to load the language onto the database?"

"Oh, no I didn't. One second then, it'll be online soon," Emily said nervously, aware that Alan would give her a reprimanding when they got back aboard the Star. As the language began to make its way through to the SFD database, Alan could begin to understand the mare's sentences.

"Please don't eat us, please don't eat us, please don't eat us!" the mare mumbled over and over again, looking at Alan pleadingly.

"We're not here to eat you. We are explorers, travellers of the stars. We wish only for peace and understanding between ourselves and those we encounter," Alan assured her, maintaining eye contact and his steady smile. 'Well, peace and understanding between anyone who isn't a rebel or pirate, anyway.' He smiled as Emily gave her approval over the mic, getting ready to exit the ship as well.

"S-so... what d-do you want from us?" she whispered, looking up at him with disbelief. She was shaking with nerves, and he felt pity for her. Why had the other ponies left her to come forward rather than sending someone more... confident? 'Maybe they're all this meek,' he thought, trying not to scare her.

"We wish to talk with you and your people, to learn more about your race and planet. In return, we can offer both trade and information as you desire, to a certain extent. We certainly do not have hostile intentions here. Please, if there is anything you wish to ask, do so. We want to be as helpful and tr..." Alan trailed off as the crowd began to murmur in shock, looking behind him. Finally, Emily had decided to show her face.

"Greetings, representative of Terran 972. We are the crew of the Federation ship 'Valiant Star,' and we desire to promote friendly relations between our people and yours." The graceful, elegant being walked past Alan, extending her hand to the equine mare. Her soft green glow shimmered through the wet mist, casting beautiful lights across the field. The entire field went silent as she spoke, despite the fact they couldn't understand any of it. Alan remembered that when the universal translator was disabled, a Zoltan sounded like a wind chime swinging gently in the breeze, their tones reminiscent of the peaceful, melodious noises made.

"I... uh... thank you," the pony whispered in awe, looking up at Emily. Alan was completely forgotten now, so he busied himself in raising communications with the Valiant Star. Her de-orbit would certainly be more spectacular than the shuttle's, so he hoped it wouldn't be for a few more hours. Having the ship come down as dawn broke would certainly captivate the ponies surrounding them.

"Am I correct in assuming you are the nominated representative of your people?"

"N-no. I'm Raindrops, I j-just live in town. Twilight was going t-to come and watch, b-but she left when you arrived." Emily looked down at Raindrops with concern, considering her next move. Now that the introductions were underway, she needed to speak to a pony representing their race as a whole. As pleasant as it was talking with a citizen, these introductions would likely form the basis of any future relations.

"That's absolutely fine, Raindrops. Thank you for finding the strength to talk with us. Now, where can we speak with Twilight?" Raindrops smiled weakly, pointing a hoof at a nearby shrub with a lavender horn poking out of the top.

*  *  *

"So you're not here to kill all of us, then? That's... good to know. I'm sorry about running away like that; I guess I panicked a bit!" Twilight said sheepishly, now wearing an SFD headset. They were all seated in the library around a large table she'd teleported in from a nearby cafe, and a ring of guards had formed a defensive ring around the building while they conferred. Raindrops had snuck in behind Twilight while she was talking to the guards, and although Twilight had initially disapproved, she'd allowed Raindrops to watch. She'd sent Spike to Rarity's though, just so he wouldn't intrude on the meeting. He'd probably prefer a few hours with her rather than negotiating with aliens, anyway.

"That's entirely understandable, Twilight. Now, as the non FTL-capable race here, Federation regulations dictate that you are permitted to take the leading role within this introduction, if you choose. We will happily answer any questions you choose to ask us, short of those aimed towards technologically aiding your society. Interstellar travel is something you must learn on your own." Emily smiled wryly at Alan, watching him control the Valiant Star's flight path from his SFD. "Captain, are you going to join in?"

He looked up innocently, quickly lowering his arm below the table and turning his SFD off, minus the headset. He could live without fiddling with the ship's course for a few minutes. "Of course. So, shall we get our personal introductions out of the way? My name is Alan Davies, and I'm the captain and pilot of the Federation vessel, the Valiant Star."

"My name is Emily, the Valiant Star's FTL engine technician," Emily affirmed after him, checking her own SFD for a moment to check on the engines aboard the ship. As friendly as she was with Liu Jun, she didn't trust anyone being alone with her engines.

Twilight looked curiously at them, tapping her headset. "Those are strange names. Strange for me, anyway. I'm sure they're perfectly fine for you!" she said, laughing. Alan smiled at Emily. She would almost certainly complicate matters now.

"Actually, that's just my name in Esperanto, the common language of the Federation when we're not using the universal translator. My actual name is," Emily made an incomprehensible sound, not unlike the wind chimes he'd thought of earlier. "You're Twilight, correct?"

Twilight looked at them with pride. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic and student to Princess Celestia, the ruler of Equestria, our country!"

"Element of Magic? Princess Celestia? Please could you elaborate?" Alan said bluntly, earning a glare of disapproval from Emily. He shuffled in his wooden seat, avoiding eye contact with Emily. Her disapproving glares were pretty brutal, to say the least.

"Y-you don't have magic where you're from? I guess... wow! Sorry, it just struck me that I'm talking to real aliens! We have so much to talk about, and to learn, and to study about each other! I have to make sure Princess Celestia knows you're here!" Alan cleared his throat, looking at Twilight sternly. "Oh right, sorry, I got a bit carried away there, heh. If I explain the Elements of Harmony and Princess Celestia, will you explain who the Federation are, and what FTL means?" Both Alan and Emily nodded in unison after spending a few seconds considering the value of the information they'd be imparting.

Twilight stifled a giggle of excitement, desperately trying to focus. "The Elements of Harmony represent the six elements of friendship! When the six elements are combined, they restore the balance of peace and order in our country. We only use them in times of crisis though, like when Nightmare Moon returned... anyway, the elements are wielded by myself and my friends, who also represent the elements they bear, which are honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty and magic!" Alan deadpanned at Twilight for a few seconds, before composing himself.

"So you have a... weapon powered by friendship?"

"Nonono, it doesn't hurt anypony! They are magical artefacts with the power to temporarily banish or imprison those that demand it, such as Nightmare Moon, the spirit of disharmony. Oh, while we're talking about the Princesses, I guess I'd better explain them!" Twilight laughed nervously, looking over at Raindrops to make sure she was still awake. Contrary to what she'd pictured, the pegasus was still gazing keenly at the two aliens. "Princess Celestia is an alicorn and the co-ruler of our country, along with Princess Luna. Princess Celestia raises the sun at dawn, and Princess Luna brings out the moon at dusk! Princess Celestia is also my mentor, and I make reports for her to read, to make sure that I'm keeping up with my studies. I'm actually studying friendship itself at the moment! Well, not since the spaceship crashed, that is..."

"Raises... the sun. Okay..." Alan muttered under his breath. Luckily Twilight was too distracted to notice. "We'll need to take a look at the crashed ship again, Twilight. But we can spend a few days in town, if you're willing. We need to take on more oxygen and food, anyway. I guess we can come to those subjects at a later time. So, I guess it's my turn to answer your questions. Let's see... the Federation is a union of planets and races with the goal of unifying the sentient races of the galaxy under a single banner, promoting enhanced economic, social, military and technological progression."

Twilight nodded eagerly, obviously storing and analysing every word he said. Emily piped up from next to him, happy to answer the next question. "Faster than light travel is what allows us to travel between different solar systems and sectors! In deep space, the Federation maintains a series of platforms that act as a guide for ships using FTL travel. Think of the beacons like small moons, floating in space."

The librarian paled, looking at Emily in disbelief. "You... you made your own moons? But... Princess Luna..." Emily winced, looking at Alan for support.

"There are still a lot of things we don't know about your race, Twilight. I'm not entirely sure why some of you have horns or wings, or why they work the way they do. They break many of the rules of physics as we know them. It's possible that your Princesses do have some influence over celestial bodies, but these powers are not far-reaching. On Earth, my homeworld, the sun and moon rise on their own." Twilight looked shell-shocked, trying to comprehend how a planet could have a complete absence of magic, and how the sun and moon could rise without the help of the Princesses! "How about I explain some of the more fundamental things we have learnt through space travel?"

Twilight was enthralled by the offer. "I want to know everything," she whispered, as Raindrops nodded eagerly beside her.

“Oh, one more thing. What’s with the horn? And with Raindrop’s wings?” Alan asked curiously, trying to settle the nagging feeling of uncertainty about them. He was sure he’d seen creatures like them somewhere before, on a different planet.

“Oh! That’s right, you’re aliens!” She giggled, trying to think of a suitable way of describing the various pony races. “Ok, um, first of all, there are unicorns. We have horns,” she tapped the appendage on her forehead, “ and we have an innate skill with magic! Then there’s the pegasi, who have wings and can use their weather magic to interact with the weather, like walking on clouds. Finally, there’s the earth ponies, who are talented at agriculture and more… physical tasks.” Twilight paused for a second, remembering something. “Oh yeah, and then there’s the alicorns! They’re a mixture of all three pony races, and they lead our country!”

Alan considered this for a few seconds. “Wow, that’s a lot of racial diversity for such a young race. Anyway, how about I tell you about space and space travel?”

*  *  *

Meanwhile, aboard the Valiant Star, things had taken a turn for the worse. An hour or two after the shuttle's departure, the reactor had begun to lose power. Sara and Liu Jun had spent all of their time since trying to use their combined knowledge to find a fix, before they completely lost power. The ship's impulse engines were one of the few things keeping them in a steady orbit, and they couldn't afford to lose them. The room they were both sat in was growing gradually darker as the lights began to fade.

"Liu, any progress?" Sara asked nervously, monitoring the reactor's status on the room's computer. Floor panels were stacked neatly in the corner, removed to provide access to both the ship's battery and compact cold fusion reactor. It was a relief, having an Engi working on the system, but Sara was still concerned for the wellbeing of the ship. If Emily got back and found her engines were offline...

"Probability of fixing reactor before de-orbit is zero. Liu Jun may be able to restore half power, enough for engines, basic shield, life support and subsystems.. Reactor requires overhaul. Liu Jun finished," the Engi muttered, hauling herself from the hole in the floor.

"Hey, where're you going? We need to get this fixed before Alan contacts us!" Sara reached out, trying to stop the Engi from walking out of the room. Liu Jun simply shrugged her off, continuing out of the door.

"Liu Jun requires coffee."

"But... you don't even eat! How're you even going to drink that coffee?"

"Liu Jun does not care, Liu Jun wants coffee. Liu Jun will return in four minutes and fifty-three seconds," she stated, walking out of the door. Sara sighed.

"Brilliant," she muttered, kicking a hammer across the floor. They'd spent nearly an hour now crawling around under the shield bay's flooring, checking the numerous failsafes and fuse boxes dotted around in the maintenance crawlspaces. "I'm probably gonna have to put all these panels back. Why couldn't the reactor be in Liu's weapons bay, so she had to deal with this?" Sara sighed, walking over to her computer console.

As she leant over to punch some commands into the terminal, she caught her reflection in a small mirror she kept nearby. Her mousey brown hair fell messily around her shoulders, the tips singed by fires from previous fights. Aside from some lubricant oil smeared on her cheek, she looked relatively well-presentable. That might come in handy if they had to make an appearance to the natives. "Ship? Status on shields?" A message flashed up on the screen; they were down to stage one shielding, the bare minimum required to disrupt ionic bombardments and basic lasers. They'd be able to deorbit safely with only stage one, thankfully.

A buzz from the ship's intercom snapped her to her senses. "How's it going up there? We're almost done with the initial introductions, so I want you to be ready to deorbit within the next hour or so. The Equestrian representative has offered to take us on a brief tour of the town, but I want you to bring the ship down as dawn breaks. The shields hitting the atmosphere should make a pretty light show for all these ponies, and it might help our stance down here. The ponies are still pretty nervous about us. I've marked the landing zone on the ship's computer, so follow those instructions. Gotta head off, we're setting off now. Let me know if you run into any problems."

"Actually, ca-" Sara was cut off as Alan disconnected from the network. "Damn it..." she muttered, sending a message to his SFD with a picture of the ship's reactor output. That ought to get his attention. Now, she had the excellent job of trying to deorbit a spaceship without losing control during the descent, especially as they had low power and no autopilot. Even though they still had engines and shields, there were still other dangers to the ship's wellbeing. It still wasn't clear as to whether there were unknown chemical compounds in the atmosphere of the planet, and these could potentially prove threatening to the ship. The shields had a very precise spectrum at which they operated, and they only disrupted energy weapons and ionic threats. If they deorbited while being bombarded by particles slipping through this protective net, they could risk damaging the delicate armour plating on the outside of the ship.

She sighed, thinking about the task ahead of her. She'd been sent the co-ordinates of the landing site, and she had a working knowledge of navigating the ship, but she'd always had complete control of the engines and the shields. If something went wrong this time, it certainly wouldn't be as safe as it had been when Alan was teaching her. Still, she had confidence in her abilities. The co-ordinates were very specific, so Alan was obviously trying to land on a very specific spot. "You sly bastard," she muttered, realising he wanted her to land the Valiant Star atop the landing shuttle to save the trouble of getting both of them back into orbit, and then carrying out risky docking manoeuvres. So, the task of landing the ship fell squarely on her shoulders. With this in mind, she set the shields onto their highest possible setting and strode out of the room, heading towards the front of the ship.

The corridor to the cockpit was eerily quiet, devoid of the usual sounds of crew running around or things exploding, as they often did. Only the gentle hum of the life support and the metallic sounds of her boots could be heard as she crossed the ship, suddenly feeling very exposed despite the cramped corridor around her. "Liu? You there?" she called, feeling nervous. Sara increased her pace, almost jogging as she drew closer to the cockpit's two automated doors. 'What's wrong with me? I'm never usually this jumpy,' she thought, looking around again.

Sara walked into the small room, sitting down in the pilot's chair. The screens around her lit up, making her feel as if she'd just been personally welcomed into the room by those little flashing error messages... "Oh shit." She hit the button for the ship wide intercom, frantically shouting, "Liu! Get your mechanical ass down to weapons! I've got two warheads that have just lit up as armed!"

A few seconds passed before a reply came through. "Impossible. Liu Jun disables warhead fuzes. Check system."

Sara swore, flicking a set of switches above her head to adjust the ship's angle of entry, keying in a new set of co-ordinates. "Just do it!" She no longer cared about Alan's 'wow them at dawn' idea; she wanted to get the ship on the ground as quickly as possible. They would need to 'slingshot' the ship once or twice before landing, using the gravity assist to slow them down to a suitable entry speed. It'd take them an hour anyway, so Alan wouldn't realise anything was amiss until they were on the ground. Hopefully.

*  *  *

"...and this is Sweet Apple Acres, where the Apple family grow, well, apples! Applejack, the element of honesty, lives here. You'll probably meet her later on, I guess." Twilight yawned, raising a hoof to stifle another. The sun was beginning to rise and the sky was gradually turning a striking pink, shot through with bands of soft blues and oranges. A few clouds dotted the sky, but it was a perfect backdrop for the deorbiting of the Valiant Star. He hoped, anyway.

"Very interesting. I imagine the produce is enjoyed by the populace, then? Captain, we may have to enquire about purchasing some of these. They look delicious!" Emily said happily, looking around. Twilight smiled proudly, though exhaustion was clear on her face.

"Maybe it'd be best if you got some sleep soon, Twilight. There will be plenty of time later for discussion! You look like you've been awake for days." Alan looked at Twilight with concern. The mare they'd met first, Raindrops, had grudgingly listened to Twilight's advice and had gone to sleep in the library. They'd spent at least three quarters of an hour wandering around the town, looking at the various sights and buildings. He'd acted interested in what Twilight was pointing out, but he'd been busy making notes on their technological progression. 'Wouldn't hurt to have some data on their civilisation,' he reasoned, nodding and agreeing every time Twilight finished a sentence. She cast him a few odd looks, but Emily had covered for him.

"But... there's so much to talk about! And so much to see! But... I guess you're right. Do you need to sleep as well? I-I'm sorry if I've kept you awake all th-"

"Twilight, it's perfectly fine. Yes, we do require sleep just as you do. There is only one member of our crew, my co-worker, who doesn't require sleep. Technicalities aside, I believe Alan has something to show you," Emily said kindly, looking over to Alan, who was busy keying in some figures to his SFD.

"Ah, yes. The ship we landed in was only an exploration vessel, one we use for small missions. Our larger ship, the Valiant Star, is currently entering the atmosphere. Her entry is going to be quite spectacular, as particles in the atmosphere collide with her shields." He paused for a second, looking up into the sky. As he expected, a distant speck of light was moving gradually closer towards them, beginning to shimmer with a vast spectrum of colours.

"Oh Celestia..." Twilight whispered, watching the beautiful ball of light soar through the heavens above, contrasting against the magnificent hues of the dawn sky. A few ponies tending the orchards and farms around them cut short their furtive glances at the aliens to watch the amazing sight unfold. Alan smirked, imagining the same response in the town behind them.

Emily gasped sharply from next to him. "A-Alan, have you checked your messages from the ship?" He shook his head in confusion. "The Star's lost reactor power and the latest message says they might not be able to keep the guidance engines online! If they're using the gliders, they might have to execute an emergency landing!" Twilight was still watching the sky beside them, completely oblivious to the drama unfolding next to her.

"Ah shit... well, I still get a fireworks display!" He laughed weakly, melting under Emily's glare of disapproval. "I'll see if I can do anything from here."

"I don't think you'll have time, Alan."

"What?" he replied confusedly, before noticing the glowing metal ship hurtling towards them. “Oh.”