Pathfinder 5

Chapter 1: Exploration

Current Location: Sector 5

System: Currently unnamed classified as system 21B, 5th Planet

Earth Year: 2258

On an unnamed planet a lone human was conducting a survey of the world although it wasn’t a particularly nice world. Mainly because the air was so full of sulfur and other toxins that taking one breath would nearly kill you, and the second breath would finish the job. The place was hot as hell to the point you would boil without protection which is why he was currently wearing a heavy suit for.

The Mark IV hazardous environmental suit was designed to withstand some of the harshest of environments, an enclosed suit that the first layer was a graphne web, a synthetic carbon material that was thin and yet as hard as diamond. It was also expensive to make, this was coupled with a powered exo-skeleton that gave increased strength and speed to the user, and this was needed to move around given all the weight.

It was all topped off with a hard shell top that made him look like some kind of futuristic knight and as the moment he was thankful for every dollar and piece of equipment that went into this.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! FUUUUUCKK!” This brave explorer was David Miller who was currently running for his life across a red rock plane of escaping gasses and rivers of magma. He was also being chased by a living tank of a creature that looked like a beetle from hell about the size of a house and faster than something that large had every right to be.

“AVI start up the Sparrow II for emergency take off!” David yelled over his com line, his breath nearly fogging the clear visor in front of him the HUD showing him various data that at the moment he really didn’t care about.

“Pre-flight check sequence started.” Came a synthetic female voice of his computer on the ship.

“Skip that damn pre-flight and start up, this is an emergency override for all safety protocols!”

“That is not advised.”

“Command override Alpha-One-Gold!” He commanded.

“Accepted, starting up now.”

“Begin calculations to get back the Pathfinder and launch when I get on!” David pulled his weapon on his hip. A small grey gun looking device that lit up green on the side with a small hum. He pointed it back at the ‘Hell Beetle’ as he was going to name it and fired. Green plasma energy shot out hitting the creature. The green energy hit against the tough armor without any effect.

“Of course, this damn thing came out of magma like it was water so of course this wouldn’t do crap.” He groaned as he pushed himself on. The suit was giving him the ability to keep ahead of the creature but the problem was that if this thing attacked his ship he would be stuck on this hellish rock. The only reason he was even down here was because of the high mineral contents that he found from his scans.

The creature roared at him.

“Yeah shut up! I know you want to eat me but you’ll have to catch me first!” He yelled back knowing it wouldn’t be able to hear him or understand him even if it could, it just made him feel a bit better. He had to think, he had to think of something that could slow this thing down. He started up the HUD on the screen of his helmet looking for anything that could help.

The only thing were gases and magma under him, wait...gases.

It would be hard and could literally blow up in his face but death was right behind him anyway. He aimed his pistol where his scanner was telling him a large pocket of gases was in front of him. He had to time this just right, he waited until he was nearly on top of it before firing at the thinnest part of the ground and jumped as far ahead as he could with the help of the exoskeleton.

The plasma opened up a vein of gas as it erupted right behind him, the beetle creature ran right into it lifting it off the ground and slamming onto its back.

“Yeah! Sucks to be you!” He yelled back as he saw his ship. It wasn’t much special it was basically a large heavily fortified flying arrowhead. “Open the hatch!”

The side hatch opened up for him as he jumped into it. The door closed behind him as he found himself in a small narrow corridor, normally this would go through a decontamination process but he overrode that protocol. The door on the open end slid open as he raced to the cockpit. He could feel the hum of the engines as he quickly sat in the pilot seat and strapped in.

“Go, go, go,go!” He told AVI.

The ion engines kicked in as the craft started to lift vertically as suddenly it lurched to the side as an impact hit the ship. He quickly grabbed the controls getting the craft level as it slowly climbed up.

“The hell was that?” He asked.

“Slight damage to wing from local life form, no hull breach detected, structural integrity still within safety limits.”

“Like I would stay here even if it wasn’t,” he muttered to himself as he kicked in the thrusters as he jumped forward and started a climb up into space. The screen in front of him showed him his optimal flight path as he started the climb.

“Fuck this planet,” He told himself as he felt the pressure on him. After what seemed to take forever he was finally free of the gravity of that world and then he finally felt himself calm down. He took a moment to take some breaths and just relaxed.

“What a day.” He sighed.

It took fifteen minutes after his small break to fly back to Pathfinder 5. The large vessel was in view, it was a long ship with thick armor platting on it, it was a designed to take a beating given you never knew what the hell you were going to run into or have run into you. If that did happen, you were too far away from anyone to help you out. There were solar panels that helped keep the batteries charged since it was nice to have another power source other than the fusion generator to rely on all the time.

The ship was grey with only a few windows on it, again just in case something slammed into it but the designers knew that the human pilot might like to look out sometime, so a few were put in place.

The large engines made up the rear of the ship as the middle of the ship was a cylinder that slowly spun around. Humans hadn’t cracked artificial gravity just yet, there was some promising research being done but it was still a few years off before being put into the testing phase unfortunately. The front of the ship was where the hangers and bridge were located. A domed smooth top with a boxy bottom at the front of the ship was where he was headed. Making a slow arc around front he could see the Pathfinder 5 logo on the front of the ship as he smiled aiming the ship to the hanger.

There were three separate hangers, one for each Sparrow. The first was an all around ship for normal planets, Sparrow II which he was piloting was heavier and more for more extreme surfaces like the planet below. The last held Sparrow III and IV, these were a more unique pair as Sparrow III was designed to land and float on water while Sparrow IV was a small submarine held inside that was used to explore the deep sea.

He actually found a world that had been mostly water so he had managed to break in both of those last two Sparrows on that world.

After the landing he got up and got to the door after shutting down the systems but found the door locked.

“AVI, what the hell?” He asked the computer.

“You came into the ship without decontamination, now the entire ship and hangar must be sterilized and quarantine procedures must be implemented.”

David knew that his override would let him get away with a lot but this was one thing that it wouldn’t let him get away with. “How long?”

“Estimated time, 4 hours.”

“Fuck,” he hissed out, well he could get started on his report at least, although he hated typing with his suit on, the gloves made it really slow.

Many hours later, after he got through the procedures and had the suit thoroughly cleaned he was in the lounge area of the ship, the more residential areas of the ship were of course in the center of the ship. He was in a clean and clear white room (like most of the ship unfortunately) as he was in just a pair of sweat pants and tank top. Lounging in a black comfy chair leaning back as music was playing looking over his report on a thin piece of plastic that had all the information on it.

The PADD (Personal Access Data Device) was based on old tech like the iPadd only this was more powerful, sturdy and well it could do things those old devices couldn’t. He dragged his hand over the surface looking over the pages that appeared.

He was the only person on this ship, that was because that was the point of the Pathfinder missions. When Earth had discovered that you could actually make a warp drive (although much different from the ancient sci-fi series that spawned the idea apparently) they at first started off with colony ships. This led to a lot of problems, mainly some systems weren’t habitable when they got there. Some of the older ships didn’t have the energy to get back and by the time a resupply ship showed up, some of the ships were more flying coffins.

There were a few accidents such as warping out into a system within an asteroid belt, one ship the engines just exploded for reasons people still didn’t know to this day. So the Pathfinder mission was created, one single ship, one pilot to map the galaxy and find safe paths and find systems worth exploring, colonizing and even mining for materials.

The galaxy was split up into eight sectors and a Pathfinder was designed for each one. After ten years the program had done very well, of course there were a few problems. The last pilot for Pathfinder 4 had warped out into the path of a comet, the ship survived thanks to the armor but the damage had been major. He had managed to jury rig the small warp drives of the probes together for one single warp back to a deep space station. He had retired after that but it was a story all the pilots still told about given the same thing could happen to any of them.

Space was a dangerous and unpredictable place and it could and would kill you any way it could if you weren’t careful. Out here in the unknown regions there was no backup and no one to help you out in time. Humanity hadn’t figured out faster than light communications so probes with a warp drive good for one use travel were used as mail couriers for the Pathfinders. They would make report on a system, download it all to one of the probes and launch it back with their next trip location back home.

The deep space stations and outposts were their only link back to Earth as warping all the way back to the home system in one go was just beyond their capabilities with how much fuel they carried. David had been a Pathfinder for the last six months and had explored five systems, a total of forty-two worlds, two dwarf planets and seven moons large enough to land on, three of which had atmospheres on them.

He loved his job, exploring space and seeing things that no other human had ever seen was more amazing than what he could put into words, despite the dangers out here. He had seen nebulas that drew his breath away, worlds where the sky was a rainbow of colors, valleys filled with large shimmering crystals as big as trees, creatures that were similar and also unlike anything he had ever seen before. Space was dangerous but it was also beautiful and full of surprises.

David looked at the PADD with a smile, even things like what happened on that world just now he could enjoy after the fact. He paused looking at the file name.

“Damn what to call that world...AVI is planet Hell taken?”

“Pathfinder 2 in the Golem system.”

“Damn it...Okay how about Inferno?”

“Pathfinder 6.”

“Bug World?”

“Pathfinder 7.”

“Seriously!?” He couldn’t believe that one had been taken already he would have to read up on that report later. “How about Tartarus?”

“That has not been used.”

“Great I’m using it now,” He typed in the name to finish his report with one last video report. “Okay on the planet I’ve designated Tartarus as stated there are some really nice mineral finds, if Earth is going to set up a mining operation it will have to be a Level 5 hazard set up, nothing below that, in fact I would go all out just in case because of how toxic the planet it.”

“On a side note for security, the local wild life is nasty, I’ve sent pictures and video of what I term the ‘Hell Beetle’, I highly recommend that you use heavy weapons to take this on. It is very territorial and hostile. Stay far away from these things because just one of these could take out a whole mining operation.”

“Personally there are other options in the system and I would save this world for last for any kind of mining.”

He finished up his report and downloaded it all to the probe ready to be sent off. Although the Pathfinders could name world’s and systems, Earth had the final say in things. Mainly because some of the Pathfinders pilots had a unique sense of humor so when worlds like Kirk’s World, the TARDIS System, planet Minas Tirith started showing up. Well some oversight was needed, although most seemed not to mind most of the names but when some tried to slip things like ‘Ass Crack Canyon’...yeah oversight was needed.

“So where to next AVI?”

“Given current fuel sources we have three more warps within range before we have to return to refuel.”

David nodded his head, “How are supplies looking?”

“At the current rate, we have enough supplies for four more months of food and water. All other supplies are within safety margins.”

David did some math in his head and he might only have enough supplies to get one more trip in and then spend the time getting back. Unless he could find local food stores to eat that is but he had to be very careful about that for obvious reasons as eating something that could kill you would suck, especially if he got some kind of nasty parasite from the local water or food if he didn’t scan it first.

So he had at least one more system to try out, “bring up the three systems.”

A small table in front of him with a round plastic surface glowed as a holographic image showed the three systems. “Anything interesting that the deep space telescopes picked up?”

That was another thing the program had, each deep space station or outpost had large space telescopes to help figure out what was out there for the Pathfinders to explore. I was based on the original Hubble Space Telescope program but these were several generations more advanced.

One of the systems enlarged on the table.

“This system had odd gravitation patterns found.”

“Odd in what way?” David learned forward.

“Unknown, observations proved inconclusive, possible error from the telescope.”

“Huh...well it has happened before,” He muttered. Personally he was hoping for something really great to stake his name to. The current pilot of Pathfinder 1, Kamala Kahn had the record for most habitable planets discovered. Frede Ulric of Pathfinder 7 had found a new rare element in one system. David wanted something big, maybe the largest planet ever seen, or some strange new stellar phenomenon. Hell every Pathfinder dreamed of finding either signs or actual intelligent life but so far humans were the only species found.

“Well let’s go then, start the calculations and put it on the list for my next spot in my report and then send out the probe.”

“Yes Commander.”

-Equestria, Ponyville-

Sitting on her small balcony with her telescope was one unicorn mare named Twilight Sparkle, she was currently looking at the stars with Spike her young dragon assistant behind her.

“It sure is a wonderful night,” She smiled looking at the different constellations.

“Looks okay to me,” Spike shrugged. “Although I thought you knew the constellations by heart.”

“Oh I do but after Princess Luna’s visit to Nightmare Night I wanted to take some time now and again to really appreciate it more,” Twilight explained to him. “I know that ponies enjoy the night more these days then back in her time but I’m not sure how much she knows about that now.”

Cities like Manehatten, Las Pegasus, Baltimare and others had a night life of their own. Ponies were up all night having fun or working and some even slept all through the day. She wondered if maybe she could make a report on the night life of Equestria and send it to Princess Luna? Well that was an idea for later, first she wanted to enjoy the night a bit more before bed.

Spike looked up at the stars, “Hey Twilight you ever wonder what’s up there?”

“I think everypony has at one point,” Twilight smiled at him looking up herself. “The universe is so vast, we have no idea how large it is and what’s out there.”

“You think one day we’ll have spaceships and stuff like in those sci-fi books?” He asked eagerly.

“Hopefully one day,” She smiled at him again. “Although I’m pretty sure that’s a long way off.”

“Yeah,” He sighed. “Still it would be cool, plus I wonder if aliens also exist.”

“Well if they did they would most likely be nothing like us.” Twilight thought about it, she saw a lot of books and some of the comics Spike read with pony-like aliens with things like just a third eye or very elongated body parts. “Unlike in popular fiction, any alien world would be totally different environment. So evolution would take on a totally different approach to how it took here.”

“So...what? Like some kind of blob creature?”

“I...guess?” She blinked at that thinking about it. “Although I’m not sure how a blob monster could build an advanced society unless they had magic like unicorns that is.”

“Or maybe something like in those H.P. Horsecraft stories.” Spike shivered.

“Spike I told you to stop reading those things, they give you nightmares,” She chided him.

“Hey they do the same to you too.” He fired back at her, he knew that after he read them and got nightmares she tried it. She hadn’t slept at all that night after she woke him up in the middle of the night crying out about large tentacles. Unfortunately this had been before Princess Luna’s return, back when they lived in Canterlot so there was no guardian for pony’s dreams like now.

“Well let’s just hope no aliens are like that,” Twilight looked back trying to avoid the small embarrassed blush on her face about that incident being seen. Looking up at the stars she wondered if there was life out there. The math said that the possibility was good but the odds of ever seeing one in her lifetime she knew was pretty much zero. Still it would be nice to dream, all the new knowledge and friendships you could have from meeting somepony new from beyond the stars.

Well it would be amazing.

Twilight sighed a little, too bad that was all fantasy.

Next up Chapter 2: One Unusual Planet

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 2: One Unusual Planet

“Commander Miller, we are ten minutes from warp exit.” AVI spoke up to David.

“On my way to the bridge,” David said walking the long corridor to the bridge. It had been four days travel time to get to the planet which was pretty good when you compare the actual distance in real space. Still even with Warp to get to Earth would take over a week of travel, no matter how fast you get it always seemed to take forever to get anywhere.

Those four days weren’t spent idle since the long term isolation of being a Pathfinder could take its toll on you. Which was why a routine helped to pass the time between planets, he would get up, eat, go for some exercise to start things off. Given what happened on the last planet he had been working on his cardio given he was going to make sure he could outrun the local life forms and off their meal plate.

There was fixing up Sparrow II, maintenance of the ship, checking everything to make sure it was running. Things like electrical, the hydroponics bay that helped him with fresh air and food. Checking that the samples from each world were still intact and nothing crazy happened. The last thing he needed was for some kind of eggs in the soil to have been missed and infect the ship or worse another planet.

The ecological protocols were there for a reason after all.

Then it was down time, thankfully each ship had nearly every little bit of human media on the planet. They wanted to make sure that the Pathfinders could relax and stay mentally fit even though mental fitness was a priority with the program.

It was why so many flunked out of the program they tested you constantly while pushing you to your limits and beyond. There were times David had wanted to just give up and quit but he kept pushing himself. The constant physical, mental testing and learning and training had been hell at times then came the big one, the isolation test.

You go to sleep and wake up suddenly in an unfamiliar place, it was a small one man station that only had one way communication, they would tell you that you were in the middle of Antarctica and had to keep the place running for two weeks. Things would go wrong and you were supposed to fix them since your life depended on it. You were also given other tasks to perform it was all basically a live simulation of being a Pathfinder. The problems would be apparently remotely triggered at random, sometimes a few things would go wrong, then other times it was all hell breaking loose.

Then came the big one, all communication died at the last two days and he had spent five extra days with systems failing and he had no idea what was going on. Turns out it had been the final test, this isolation test was the breaking point for a lot of candidates. They purposely ‘lost contact’ with you to see how you would react to unplanned experiences. Well they had opened up the station and it all turned out to have been in a wooded area right in the backyard of the space agency all along. The Antarctica thing was just to make sure no one tried to escape.

David shook his head at that memory, that had not been a fun time always wondering what was going on and why no one was communicating with him.

The door slid aside as David walked into the bridge. The metal safety barrier was up so he couldn’t see outside just yet, they would only come down once he exited warp and nothing was going to crash into the thick reinforced window. The rest of the bridge was built with only one person in mind of course, one chair sat in the middle with a half circle of controls around it.

David sat in the only chair as he looked at the flat tables around him. Suddenly holographic images sprang to life anyone who didn’t know any better would swear that they just would think that the images showed up on their own. What it really was, was the implant in his head sending a signal to the computer to turn on.

A lot of things had been invented over the last two centuries and implant tech was one of them. You would be hard pressed to find a human that didn’t have any genetic work done, bionics, cybernetics, cloned replacement parts or implants.

He had an implant in his brain to help him interface with technology as well as helping with a few mental improvements mainly to memory. It helped to expand his memory and recall given that some implants could be used for that, to help others think faster or help with certain mental disorders like dyslexia. There were laws in place to how much modifications a human could get.

His was a high end the best that the program could get to replace the civilian one he had installed when he was eighteen. Boy were his parents pissed he got that done without telling them, they most likely would have preferred him getting a tattoo at that point.

Looking around at the holographic monitors he ran his hands over the images seeing all the systems were green. There were plenty of different settings you could do, there were the older analog buttons as backups, holographic displays which he preferred, touch sensitive screens or even virtual or augmented reality systems.

He saw the countdown clock as he got everything ready.

When the counter reached zero he felt the ship lurch as they exit the warp. “Scan the system AVI.”

There was a pause as the computer did so as David turned to look at the station to his right. This was where all the data would show up.

“Error.” The computer spoke.

That was something new as it made David pause. “Error? Elaborate.”

“My scanners are not functioning properly.”

David turned to the engineering section and ran diagnostics but after checking there was nothing wrong. “AVI everything is fine, why do you think there is an error?”

“Because this system does not conform to known parameters.”

“Okay enough of this, just show me the data you do have,” David turned to the other station as the system came up. He looked at what was floating there for a full minute of silence. “That’s not possible.”

“As stated, my systems are in error.”

“Yeah-yeah-yeah,” He waved it off looking at the system. “Since when do solar systems have one planet, one moon and only one sun? Hell the sun is too small!”

He checked the scans again, then the scanners, he did every test he could think of and then redid them all again. The results just came back, a single solar system that only had one planet, a moon with the smallest sun he had ever seen. The record was just three planets but everything didn’t work out. Sure the sun was small but given the distance he didn’t see why the planet wasn’t either being pulled into the sun or shot out into space.

After two hours of trying to rack his brain around this problem the orbit data was finally ready. It didn’t help things.

“How the fuck is the sun and moon orbiting the planet!?” He shouted out after checking the data three times.

“An error in my systems is the likely cause.”

“It’s not an error, I’ve ran every single test on the systems and on the scans.” He sighed running a hand through his short dark hair. “This makes no sense, what’s the gravity of the planet?”

He was hoping that maybe the planet was somehow just super dense or something although it would have be the most dense planet ever to pull a sun, no matter how small it was, around it.

“Gravity is a 99.8% match to standard Earth gravity.”

“So much for that idea,” He swiped a window away that had been holding calculations he was doing to try and see how a planet could have that much gravity. In all this time they had slowly been moving towards the planet as he leaned back in his chair.

“Okay well if the gravity between all three is ‘normal’ than we should be able to part in one of the stable orbit right?”

He could do the match but given the quantum computer the ship had it could do it much faster. He would double check the math later of course. He waited and saw the computer making several possible flight paths they could take.

“Send a probe in first.” He told the computer as he worked with it to set up a standard probe.

After firing it he had a few hours to kill as they got closer to the planet. He needed time to think so he left the ship on autopilot as he went to a run. He ran along the length of the ship after changing into workout clothing trying to think of some kind of explanation. How did a system only have one sun, one plant with a single moon? How were they both orbiting the planet? It made no sense it literally defied all known physics.

It was both exciting and maddening because he couldn’t think how it could possibly work. There had to be another factor, something he wasn’t seeing. Maybe the probe would get something that could shed some kind of light onto this.

He had lost track of time before AVI informed him that the probe was in stable orbit. After a quick shower and change he was back on the bridge looking at the data of the probe.

“Well, at least it’s not crashing,” He muttered to himself. “Okay let’s start with full on scan, electrical, energy, magnetic, thermal, the works.”

“Scanning.” The computer replied.

David leaned back looking at the visual data from the probe. So far the readings seemed to be very Earth like, well if everything went well it could be a very unique colony world one day. Lots of water and there seemed to be a large central landmass but it was currently on the night side of the planet so he couldn’t see what it looked like with the regular cameras.

“Energy detected.” AVI’s voice suddenly broke him out of his thoughts.

“What?! What kind?” He asked trying to find the screen with that data on it.

“Electrical energy detected in several areas in high concentration.”

“Show me,” David moved a screen in front of him as the probe showed him the area. He blinked a few times before he zoomed into the area. “AVI...are those lights?”

“High possibility.”

“Okay lights...electrical lights.” David turned the camera on to different settings. When he zoomed in and looked again he noticed a design onto the ground. At first he wasn’t sure what he was looking at until it finally clicked in his head. Those ‘lines’ were streets, there were buildings around them. He kept scanning the area and all he could find were more signs of life. Buildings meant civilization, they had electricity as he found the light sources to be things like lights in the buildings, street lights and even what he had to guess were giant areas filled with light.

Looking around the planet even more he saw one of these cities lit up like Vegas, he couldn’t get too good a resolution with the probe but after spending an hour looking around he saw movement on the ground. There were people down there and the thermal scans were showing large numbers in close proximity in the cities. There were even smaller areas like villages he would guess but there was hardly enough light sources to be sure. He would have to wait until morning came and with Pathfinder 5’s more powerful equipment he could get a better idea of what he was looking at.

The more he looked the more excited he was getting.

“You know what this means?” He didn’t wait for the computer’s reply. “I’ve done it, I found life! There is other life in the universe!”

He jumped up with a cry slapping his hands together hard once. “Yeah! Every other Pathfinder can suck it!” He laughed. This was it, this was the mother load the one thing every single one of them came out here to find and he found it. He needed to get as much data as he could, every moment had to be recorded and catalogued.

He ran scan after scan, recording everything that he could, making notes on everything. By the time Pathfinder got into orbit the sun was starting to come up.

“Energy spike detected.” AVI told him.

“What, where?” David looked at the readouts as there was a massive spike coming from one of the mountains. He ran a full spectrum scan on the energy as he looked to a new station where the results were being shown. “The hell is that?”

“I am currently running through all known types of energy but this does not match anything in my database.”

“Well add that to the list of really weird shit for this planet,” David had a feeling this wasn’t going to be the last of it. “Hold on...are there two spikes?”

“Analyses suggests two sources...they are gone.”

“Well that didn’t last long,” David muttered wondering what that was. He focused the scanners of Pathfinder 5 onto that area. There was a mountain but there was also something there on the side, a closer look showed some kind of city. “Is that a castle? Awesome.”

Now that the sun was out the cameras could start to get a better look at everything. For the whole morning he looked, scanned and recorded as much data as he could. He found a railroad and actual railroad and managed to find a couple of trains the kind you wouldn’t see outside of a museum these days. There were major roads, there were signs of industry in the larger cities, ports, ships on the water that looked like old sailing ships.

There were major roads connecting all the villages and cities but most of all he could see signs of life. He saw creatures walking around and even caught some flying ones. He wasn’t sure what was a native animal life or sentient at this range. The images were too blurry to make out exactly what he was in for which meant only one thing.

He needed a closer look.

“AVI prep Sparrow I for a mission, get everything I’ll need for a full investigation.”

“Need I remind you of First Contact Protocols?”

“AVI we haven’t seen any kind of radio waves so that’s out,” He signed at that he would have loved to have just announced himself but the population looked to be a few centuries behind. The FCP was only made with a civilization or equal or greater technology in mind. “We’ll have to do this carefully, which means first land somewhere out of the way, pick a place and observe see if the natives are friendly or not.”

“Might as well dust off the First Contact package at least, who knows maybe I’ll need it for later if everything goes right. Now I have to find a place to land...”

I am making this log as a full record of everything that I will find. This is amazing, I’ve discovered a world that seems to be inhabited by intelligence life and no I’m not making this up. I will have attach all scans, images and records to these logs as prove that I didn’t go space crazy from the isolation or that I just made it all up.

I’ve been up for nearly twenty hours now and I’m starting to feel it. I need a break soon but this is just too exciting for me to stop now. I’ll take a break after I make this log as I have to load up Sparrow I for its mission soon. Where was I? Oh right, the planet does in fact have intelligent life, I’m still unsure what the native population are like but I’ll get to that later.

First they have electrical power, I’ve seen the lights from major cities that look a lot like early twentieth century buildings (give or take a few decades) but I’ve also noticed small villages and a large castle next to a mountain. This is a place that seems to have a long history so any anthropologist/historians who read this report I can guess are just drooling at the chance to look at the history of an alien civilization. I promise that if things go well I can get some examples to bring home.

They also seem to have a train system with old steam engines however I haven’t seen any kind of personal vehicles other than what I think are carts. I can’t be sure because of the range of the cameras can’t pick up that kind of fine detail from orbit.

I could have placed a probe into the atmosphere but I didn’t just yet, I’m not sure how they would react to something like that and want to keep a low profile if I can at first.

Another thing is that this system is...well it’s weird. I’ve attached all science files under the file heading: A-01. This holds all the data I’ve collected and trust me, the data is correct. I’ve run the tests more times than I can count, checked the systems so many times that the only thing I haven’t done is gone outside in a space walk and manually check and replace every single scanner and device. The data is real people.

This system is made up of just one smaller sun, a single planet and its moon but that’s not the weird thing, well it is but not the top. The weirdest is that the sun and moon are orbiting the planet and I know how that sounds and this isn’t a typo. Check the data yourself if you don’t believe me but this is happening. The gravity of the world is nearly identical to Earth so I would like all the super genius back home when you get this please...TELL ME HOW THIS IS POSSIBLE!

I can’t get it, I’ve been banging my head against the math ever since I got it and it’s driving me crazy. So unless there’s something on the planet I can find to explain this let the brain trust back home figure this out.

Now I know there is a plan for how to make first contact but I can’t do that because they have no radio. So I’ve decided to take Sparrow I down and observe more closely. I’ve been looking and found a nice out of the way spot. It looks to be a simple village next to a river and some forests. One of the forest looks like a lot of the locals use it so that’s out. The other one looks thicker and not well traveled for some reason.

I’m not sure why the locals avoid it but I’ll be prepared just in case something nasty lives there. My plan is that in the middle of the night I’m going to land there and sneak a peek at a distance. I’ve set Pathfinder 5 to launch this recording back home in case I’m not heard back within two days. I really hope this is the smart thing to do.

Well I better get some rest I got a big day ahead of me.

-Canterlot-

Luna had just finished with bringing up her night as her sister had set the sun. She could see her older sister on her own balcony as she nodded to her. Celestia smiled and nodded back as she went inside of her room to relax before going to bed. Luna had been up for a few hours now, most thought she stayed up throughout the entire night but in all honesty she actually only stayed up for half of it.

There wasn’t much to be done as most were still asleep in her night but these days she found there was a night life to Equestria. She even had subjects visit her court, although she did like to sneak a peek at those that did enjoy her night now and then. Such as those going to parties, plays and such, she smiled watching lovers in the park at night although she never stayed long in order to give them privacy.

Yes things had changed since the time she was gone.

Then of course she spent the rest of the night asleep in the dreamscape, while her body rested she roamed the dreams of her subjects and wrestled them from their nightmares. Some nights were slow and she was able to enjoy her own dreams.

The Lunar Princess looked up at her moon as it was just right and was about to leave for court when something stopped her. Something was off about her night sky so she took another look.

She narrowed her eyes looking around at what could possibly be wrong, the moon was high and the stars were shining as they always did so what was...wait...right there next to her moon.

There was a new star out tonight, you would think that to know every star would be impossible and it was, but the main starts those that shined brightly everyone new and this one was a bright new star.

“Oh I haven’t seen a new star in ages,” Luna smiled in glee. It was so rare for a star to be born or die off in her night sky that she had only seen this once before even with her own long lifespan. To see a new star in her sky was amazing, she wondered if anyone had charted or named it yet? She hoped not, the stars had all been named by the time she had become a princess so she wanted the chance to name it.

“I must get the royal astronomer at once!” She raced off hoping he was in the observatory still and not asleep. She jumped off her balcony spreading her wings as she glided away. If she had stayed and watched she might have noticed that a small light flared from the ‘star’ as it streaked across the night sky for a moment.

For what was in her night sky wasn’t a star but a three hundred and fifty meter long space ship that was reflecting the light of the sun off the metal a mirrored surfaces and that flare? Well that was a smaller ship taking off and heading towards the planet.

No one on the entire planet knew that on this night, this was the night a being from another world would visit and nothing would be the same again.

Next up Chapter 3: First Contact

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 3: First Contact

David was at the controls of Sparrow I in his flight suit, it was an enclosed white space suit just in case the ship ever got a hole in the hull and all the atmosphere started to leave. The holographic controls were being manipulated by his hands as he piloted the vessel down into the planet’s atmosphere. Unlike the Pathfinder that had gravity because of the large spinning section the Sparrows didn’t have that luxury.

So piloting from zero-gravity into gravity always felt weird to him, the gradual shift as his body gained weight and the pressure on him as he entered was something he never got used to, no matter how many times it happened. He grunted as the force hit him, even with the suit on it took a moment. He read the gauges as he followed the flight path down.

Unlike Sparrow II and III, this one was a lot easier to pilot in atmosphere since its design was slim and sleek, a long neck with wings and twin ion engines powering it. The white and silver looking ship could fly like a bird as he slowly descended down to the planet. The heat of the entry was being taken of by the outer plates as he checked them, they were good so far. Every time he got back from a planet he had to check the hull since this was the trickiest part of any exploration.

This part always seemed to take forever for him as he checked and rechecked everything on the way down. Finally after what seemed like an eternity he leveled out and he released a breath he forgot he was holding.

“Damn, never get used to that part,” He sighed as he could finally fly through the air a bit more relaxed. “Okay then, now where is that landing area?”

The HUD showed a clear path as green outlines from the ship’s scanner told him where the ground was and anything solid given that it was night it helped him to pilot by sight. He hoped that the flight wouldn’t wake anyone up, the Sparrows weren’t exactly stealth craft after all.

As he tried to keep some distance from the village the cry of the spacecraft carried on the air like a phantom in the night. To most it wouldn’t have woken from the distance but not everyone was sleeping through the noise.

In her bed in her cloud home Rainbow Dash had been having a great dream of flying with the Wonderbolts when this shrieking sound startled her awake.

“Huh? Wha?” She groggily looked around her dark room, there was Tank on the foot of her bed as usual fast asleep as she wondered what woke her up. Her mind still a bit groggy from being suddenly woken up, it took her a moment to notice the sound.

“What the hay is that?” She asked out loud getting off her nice comfy cloud bed and walking towards the window. She looked out over the night as her eyes caught something in the distance, even with her great eyesight she nearly missed it in the dark of the night. The moonlight gave her just enough to catch a glint of something moving fast in the distance.

Her ears swung around as she tried to pick up the sound and it was definitely coming from whatever that was. There was a slight glow behind it she noticed and it looked to be heading towards the Everfree Forest past Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow wasn’t sure what that was but something inside of her curiosity was quickly waking her up.

She spread out her wings flapping a few times to get them loosened up, “I don’t know what that is but I’m going to find out. Tank look after the house,” she took off as her sleeping tortoise just lie there still asleep.

On Sweet Apple Acers the Apple family were not much of heavy sleepers, when you had to rise with the rooster’s cry you didn’t get to be a light sleeper. AJ awoke with a start looking around her room at what woke her up. The sound was the first thing she noticed, it was unlike anything she had ever heard before. It sent a chill down her spine as she noticed a light in her window. Looking out she noticed something fly by.

“What in all of Equestria...” she trailed off not sure what she was seeing.

“Sis?”

AJ turned to see a sleepy Apple Bloom at her door leaning on Big Mac.

“Hey y’all.”

“What’s goin’ on?” Her brother asked as they were all woken up by the same sound.

“Not sure, there’s somethin’ out there.” AJ turned to the window again.

“Hey AJ!”

“AHH!” AJ leapt back as she was now face to face with Rainbow Dash who was right in front of her window. “Dang it Rainbow, ya scared me half out of my wits!”

“Oh sorry, but did you see what that thing was?” Dash asked her. She had passed by AJ’s home just in case something happened and caught movement in AJ’s window. So she zipped out to it as quick as possible.

“Ah saw...somethin’...” AJ wasn’t sure what she saw, it was just a light and a sound but she had no idea what either were.

“It’s heading to the Everfree, I’m going to chase it down.”

“Now hold on there!” AJ stopped her. “We can’t just go off like that, we don’t know what it is and if it’s headin’ to the Everfree maybe we should give it a little space.”

“Oh come on AJ,” Dash said back not happy about this. “We should find out what it is.”

“And then what?” the farmer replied. “Look we will look into this but ah say in the mornin’ we ask Twilight if she knows anythin’. If any pony might it’s her and then we can deal with it from there.”

“That sounds so boring though.”

“Maybe but it’s the sensible thing to do, besides it’s gone now.” Applejack smirked pointing behind Rainbow.

She turned around and it was gone from sight, Rainbow turned around to face AJ not too pleased. “You were playing me.”

“Maybe, now I suggest we get to bed and get to Twilight’s in the mornin’.”

“Fine,” Rainbow grumbled she might have been able to catch up to it but with the light and sound gone she would have to search the Everfree for it. Now she would admit to herself that at times she could be a bit impulsive but even she knew that searching that forest could be dangerous in the morning. At night that would be a lot more dangerous.

So she decided to fly on home, she was still a bit tired but now after being so wired from what just happened it would take her an hour to get to sleep at this rate.

-Morning-

David was gearing up at the moment, he had a few hours of sleep after landing in a nice open patch of the forest. He was thankful that the Sparrows could land and take off vertically as well as the normal horizontal it made landing here so much easier. He stifled a yawn, the day hadn’t broken just yet as he wanted to get out of the forest as dawn. He was also trying to get into a normal sleep cycle, it was the one major annoyance he had to do while surveying a world, each world had its own length of day and night to get used to.

Although this world seemed to have a twenty-four hour day and night like on Earth, he was used to the Zulu time that the Pathfinder kept.

Currently he was wearing a grey suit that hugged his body as it looked to be made up of tiny hexagons. The wrist held a gauntlet like device where a personal computer was located along with patches of metal on the chest, back and thighs.

“AVI check the status of the suit.” He told the computer as he linked up with the ship running through the diagnostics. The suit felt a bit warm as it booted up as he flexed a bit as it always seemed stiff whenever he first puts the thing on to him.

“System ready.”

David looked to the white hull of the ship and placed a hand on it as his hand turned the same white up to the wrist. He pulled it back as it returned to normal. “Got to love chameleon suits, alright first supplies and then armaments.”

He took a plasma pistol as it connected to the thigh part of the suit with a magnetic click. The backpack was a slim design that he double checked the contents. He had some water, some meal rations and energy bars, first aid kit. He wasn’t planning on going out for long so he wasn’t going to pack up a lot of stuff. Next on the belt he wore was placed a few cylinders, these were small smoke grenades and a couple of stun grenades.

He decided on these because if he was found and things went nasty he didn’t want to be known as the killer alien creature. He figured if he just stunned or he just escaped with no one harmed things might be salvageable. The last thing he took was the mask part of the suit, it covered up his entire head and only had a visor device built into it over his eyes.

“Okay then, time to go, wish me luck.” David said to AVI as he left the ship.

David found himself in the forest and although there was some light from the ship this place looked like some kind of haunted forest from a child’s story. He walked towards where the HUD in the visor showed him. As he walked through the forest the small sensor unit in the suit picked up small life forms here and there but thankfully they were keeping away from him.

He couldn’t shake how this place was giving him the creeps. “Okay now I think I see why the natives don’t go into this place. This has officially gotten into my top five creepy forests in the galaxy list...maybe top three...”

The visor amplified the light so he could see where he was going pretty well and by the time the sun was rising he just got to the edge of the forest. He felt relief at being out of there, he knew he was going to hate getting back to the ship at night and made plans to get back before nightfall. He paused by a tree kneeling down as his suit took on the colors of the tree and grass making him blend in to anyone that might be looking.

“Well...this is a sight,” He was currently looking at a little cottage and again he was reminded of stories his mother used to read to him when he was a little kid. “I swear if a little girl in a red hood comes looking for her grandmother, I’m done.”

It looked like he had timed things well as the front door opened up and he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He had seen creatures with wings flying about and hadn’t gotten a good look at them but now he could as the visor zoomed in from the commands of his implant.

“No fucking way...” He whispered out.

At first he thought he was seeing things but looking again here it was, a small little winged horse with yellow coat and of all things pink hair. At first he thought that maybe it was a pet but it was opening the gate to a fenced off pen and carrying a small bucket. Taking a closer look he noticed that although it was horse-like there were oddities. The head was all wrong, it was round with a muzzle and huge expressive eyes there large enough to be in the front and a bit on the side unlike an actual horse with small eyes on the side of a long face.

All that he couldn’t get over the fact he was looking at what looked like something out of Greek legends, he was looking at a damn Pegasus.

There was no other thing he could use to describe it, the mic picked up sounds coming from it and he wasn’t sure but was it humming? He was recording everything from the visor as he watched the creature and the more he watched it the more it didn’t seem like some kind of animal. It moved with a purpose that you wouldn’t see in any animal, it was hard to put into words but when you watched an animal and a person there was a difference in how they would act.

Also the hair (or was it mane?) well at any rate it was styled, there was no way that it grew out like that naturally, it was styled and brushed showing that these beings had some kind of sense of style. Just when he thought he couldn’t get shocked enough the animals started showing up and David was too shocked for words.

Chickens came out of the coop along with an assortment of birds and he actually knew some of the species. These were animals that he had seen on Earth, he noticed ducks, squirrels and a few other animals.

This just wasn’t possible!

In all the worlds he had been on he had found animals that might have been similar to some found on Earth but there was no way there could be exact matches. It defied everything science said on evolution and the odds that two worlds would have similar life forms were bad enough, throw in exact matches...he didn’t the number to express how low that was, was invented yet.

“AVI please cross reference the animals I’m recording to that of Earth.” He whispered to the comlink in the mask.

There was a pause as the computer did its work. “Match to known animals on Earth 99%.”

“Wait what’s with 1% off?”

“Animals do not act with known parameters and slight alterations in physical appearance, can not specify if internal organs match from outward scan only.”

“That’s still too close,” He muttered to himself. This planet just kept having one mystery pile on top of another. He needed to see more there had to be more to explain something on what was going on here. David slowly moved off not trying to be seen, he found a small hill and staying low got to the top of it.

Lying down he allowed the suit to take the colors of the grass to blend in as he took a look at the town. With the visor he could pick up a lot from this far away and it wouldn’t give his position away as it was non-reflective. Looking down he could see the entire village was slowly waking up as many of the creatures starting coming out.

Taking a moment he looked around, the village seemed pretty low tech. Wooden homes that looked like they would be at home on Earth a few centuries back, which was odd as he had seen more modern cities elsewhere. Looking around he also noticed that castle and the city by the mountain well turns out it was built on the damn mountain. He thought it was at the foot from the aerial images not actually on the side of the mountain.

“Seriously?” He asked himself. “Who the hell builds something like that on the side of a mountain? On the top sure, at the foot okay but on the side!? How is it not falling down with all that weight?”

There had to be a lot of engineering that went into something like that, maybe they had large support pillars that went deep into the mountain as a base and built on top of those? Well another thing to look into that he would add to the ever growing list of things to look into.

Looking back at the villagers he noticed that the horse like aliens were the locals of this world. He paused when he saw what could only be described as a unicorn.

“You...got...to...be...shitting me.” He blinked a few times but no there it was, in fact he started to notice a few others. A unicorn was the only word that fit, little horses with horns on their heads. He was starting to wish that the Pathfinders carried alcohol because he felt like he needed a drink at that moment. If he wasn’t taking evidence of this they would lock him up it he funny farm if he came back talking about little colored Pegasi and Unicorns.

Finally he found some more ‘normal’ looking little horses, sure they were colored like they were out of a child’s coloring book with mane styles that looked like something you could find on Earth but at least they didn’t have wings or horns. He noticed something else, they all had these odd little marks on. Was it a fashion thing? A clan or family crest? Or something else entirely?

They weren’t tattoos given you couldn’t tattoo fur and you couldn’t see them if they were on the skin. As he watched them he couldn’t help but notice that they acted very much like people back home. David watched as they slowly set up a market place as they came and went, some buying various things and talking with each other. He was too far to pick up any sounds but from the looks of things it was a nice little place, very friendly judging by the body and facial expressions.

He saw little ones rushing off as he followed them, he heard a bell ringing and saw them all going to this one building. It took him a moment to realize that it was a school, kind of like the old time ones you’d see in pictures from the late 19th or early 20th century maybe. He couldn’t help but smile at the sight of it all, it was all so normal when you got past their looks.

David spent a good amount of time on that little hill just watching and recording everything. It was fascination really watching a society that was so similar and yet little differences. His stomach rumbled as he pulled some water and a ration bar out of his backpack.

Up in the sky Rainbow Dash was not happy, she and AJ had gone over to Twilight’s very early on but turns out that she had no idea what they were talking about. She was going to try and research whatever it was but Rainbow felt like she should have gone after whatever that had been. She also was a little cranky because of the lack of sleep, it had taken her nearly two hours to fall back asleep and then she only got two more hours of sleep before she had to get up.

“Thunderlane, I need you and Flitter to get more clouds to the south.” Dash told the dark furred Pegasus next to the female one.

“You got it,” He said as the two flew off to get more clouds rounded up.

Dash looked to Flitter’s twin sister Cloudchaser. “So how many rain clouds do we have left? There’s supposed to be rain in three days.”

Cloudcasher thought about it, “I think we got enough for a decent shower.”

“Can you double check and get back to me? I want to be sure.”

“Sure thing,” She flew off leaving Dash alone for a moment.

The rainbow maned Pegasus signed as she finally had a moment of peace. It was a busy day and she had a headache from all the work and little sleep. Sometimes being the one in charge of the weather was a lot of work keeping on top of everything despite how she liked to goof off from time to time. When the work demanded it, she was on top of everything but she knew how to relax.

When it was simple weather and nothing too major she could get the work done half way through the day and then give everypony the rest of the day off. It was one of the reasons ponies liked working the weather here because when everypony worked hard they got to play hard as well.

Now she just wanting a nice little nap, maybe she could skip lunch and spend that hour on a nice cloud somewhere. Her thoughts were broken when her eyes caught something on the ground. There was a shinny reflecting from something that caught her attention. Looking more closely it looked to be some kind of...wrapper?

There was a bottle of some kind next to it and for a moment she thought she saw the ground move next to it.

“Okay that’s weird.” She thought that maybe her eyes were just playing tricks on her after all she wasn’t at her best. Well time to take a closer look at any rate and maybe if it was some trash that got left behind.

David wasn’t sure what to think anymore, this world was just crazy and yet so familiar it was kind of scary. He saw a flower shop and from here he thought that he could recognize a few of the flowers as the same species found on Earth. Nothing made sense and he really wanted to take a few samples back to the Sparrow and have some tests run on them. Maybe he could find some growing around the village and pick those up for study.

He noticed a very pink one that was actually hopping along looking as happy as anything could be when it suddenly stopped. David thought that it was going into some kind of seizure as everyone around it starting looking its way out of some kind of concern by the looks of it. Then the pink one suddenly stopped whatever it was doing looked around quickly. It was saying something but he couldn’t pick it up from this far away.

Everyone else just seemed to go back to whatever they were doing as the pink one raced away somewhere. David was wondering just what that had all been about when he noticed the next thing. One of the unicorns horn was glowing? He was about to try and get a better view when something happened to break his train of thought.

Thump-Thump

The sound made David freeze as his eyes widened behind the visor, something had landed right behind him. It could be one of those flying types he’d been seeing and one of them must have seen him. He wasn’t sure how but at the moment it was too late.

“Tae saccu bis?” The alien language had a slight raspy tone to it but it wasn’t harsh at least not to his ears.

Slowly he turned his head to face a blue creature with rainbow colored hair suddenly looking right at him. It’s eyes widened as the pupils shrank down as it cried out and jumped back, it cause David to yell out as he scrambled to a sitting position.

“W-What the heck are you!?” Rainbow asked the creature in front of her. She hadn’t really seen it, she had seen some kind of lump on the ground but when it moved she saw it was some kind of creature. The skin changed color as it moved and now the upper half was more visible. She had never seen anything like this before.

“Well? Out with it!” She gathered her courage tensing her body to either lunch herself at it or take to the air.

“Gradda ga hurk,” It said slowly moving its forelegs up they ended in some kind of flat things with five thing little tentacle things on each one. Kind of like the legs of a spider which was kind of a creepy thought to Rainbow.

“Uh...come again?” She tilted her head not sure what she just heard. She noticed it was speaking gently and going to something at its waist. It pulled some kind of metal cylinder and was showing it to her. “Huh, what’s that?”

It did something to it and dropped it, the next thing Rainbow knew there was a loud hissing sound as smoke suddenly shot out covering the entire area. “Hey, what’s the big idea!” she yelled out she couldn’t see anything. She unfolded her wings and shot straight up into the air as she looked down at the smoke.

“Okay where are you?” She was a little pissed now, that was a dirty trick as she looked in the smoke cloud but as it slowly faded the only thing she saw was a strange bottle and wrapper on the ground. She quickly realized it had used the smoke as cover to get away and quickly scanned the area. It had to be using the weird ability to look like the ground again making it hard to see.

Her eyes darted all over the place taking in everything and then she saw it, not the creature but a shadow moving on the ground. Using that she was just able to make out a form running right to the Everfree Forest, she had let that strange thing last night get away but she wasn’t going to let this thing get away.

“Get back here!” She shot off after the creature.

David was having a strange sense of déjà vu at the moment, him running away from a local life form once again. He heard the small creature yelling something at him and he could tell that it was not happy with him. Not that he could blame the creature but hell he really needed some distance, he wasn’t sure if they were friendly or not and this was not how he wanted to open up dialogue if it was possible.

“Figures I’d screw something up,” he muttered to himself running as fast as he could.

“Gev, Gev tu lem!”

“I have no idea what you’re saying but it’s most likely ‘stop right there’ I think...or I’m going to eat you alive if I’m really unlucky.” He was nearly at the forest now but he could hear it coming for him. It sounded like it was right on top of him so he did the only thing he could think of, he rolled to the right hoping it would take the creature by surprise, it actually worked.

Rainbow Dash was nearly on top of the thing before it just got really small and rolled like a ball. She hadn’t expected something that large to be able to contort to something that small. She overshot her target and was heading right to a tree.

“Oh no.” Rainbow managed to say before impact.

David heard a loud crash and when he came out of the roll she was shocked to see that the little blue creature had slammed through a tree and was laid up against another one.

“Oh god please don’t be dead,” He immediately felt torn between escaping and checking to make sure it was okay. If it was hurt, it was his fault and that really would mess things up for any kind of peaceful contact. Plus he felt sorry for it as well as it had been chasing him after he spooked it, so with his mind made up he quickly ran over to the Pegasus creature. “Oh man this could be bad.”

He opened the palm of his left hand as various lights came off the small scanner there as he took a deep scan of it. “AVI please tell me how hurt this creature is.”

The data sent to AVI was quickly processed as she returned her report. “No broken bones, no internal bleeding detected, slight bruising only detected on unknown female species.”

“Wait, it’s female?” David asked.

“Subject has usual mammal reproductive organs for females.”

“Well okay then,” He looked at the tree it smashed through. “Jesus these things have to have tough bodies.”

He saw that it was groaning and coming too, maybe it was time to try a diplomatic approach? He dug out his spare water bottle hoping he could smooth things over with her.

“Ouch,” Rainbow rubbed her head that had hurt. She blinked a few times and tensed up seeing the thing towering over her. “W-what do you want?”

It was holding something out to her as she tilted her head not sure what it wanted. It said something as it opened some kind of top and spilt a little out, it was water. It again was holding it out to her again.

“You, want to give me this?” She slowly reached out and took it. She sniffed it and took a gulp, it was fresh water and it was nice. “Uh...thanks?”

It was looking at her and she wasn’t sure what it was thinking, she couldn’t see any kind of expression and it was a little unnerving.

“Rinbow?”

“Fluttershy?” Dash looked to her right seeing her long time friend gently flying over.

“Are you okay? I saw you crashing into the forest,” the yellow Pegasus got closer now.

“Yeah I was chasing this creature he-where did it go!?” She just looked to her left and it was gone again, it must have taken off when her attention was on Fluttershy.

“Creature?” Fluttershy landed next to Dash looking around she didn’t see anything.

“Dang it, the thing ditched me again!” Dash looked around but it could be anywhere at this point. “Tell me you saw it.”

Her friend shook her head, “Sorry but I didn’t see anything.” She looked around but noticed something next to Dash on the ground. “Oh what are these?”

They were prints of some kind but they weren’t like any animal prints she had ever read about or seen before. Dash looked at them and noticed that they were just as weird as the spidery things at the end of its forelegs.

“Hey Flutters I think we should talk to Twilight about all of this, I mean look at what it gave me.” She showed her the bottle it was metallic with a strange writing on it.

“What does it say?” Fluttershy asked squinting her eyes trying to see anything familiar to her but it was all gibberish to her.

“No idea, maybe water since it’s filled with it.” Rainbow had no idea of what the metallic bottle said but it was as good a guess as anything else. “Well come on, it left a few other things behind and I want to get them before somepony else picks them up.”

Next up Chapter 4: Strange Enounter

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 4: Strange Encounter

David Miller was making his way through the woods as he was glad for the sunlight. He really didn’t want to go through here in the dark. His mind kept going back to what just happened and at times he felt like slapping his head at some of it. He had panicked when the...Pegasus for lack of a better term, landed next to him. His plan to remain undetected was now so far out the window he couldn’t even see it anymore.

He sighed as he made his way back to the ship maybe it wasn’t a total loss. She had seemed to have cooled off after giving her the water but when the other one was showing up he didn’t want to push his luck. He also got a nice scan of her and at least it might help him figure out what he was dealing with.

David heard different animals wondering around him but thankfully they were staying away. He also noticed that at least there did seem to be some non-Earth plants, at least they seemed to be. There was a strange patch of blue flowers he wanted to take another look at later along with some other plants. He took some visual images for comparison when he got back to double check before getting any samples.

He really wasn’t sure how to deal with everything so far, all the strange similarities to Earth was pretty unnerving. All the planets he had been on and nothing was this close to Earth, it was a statistical anomaly with how close everything was. The plants, the animals and the local sentient life forms that were something out of mythology, it was all making his head spin.

He was a trained scientist, hell he had a damn doctorate in astrophysics not to mention all the training he did just for the damn program making him a jack of all trades in several fields and all of that was screaming at him that all of this was impossible.

David just wanted to get back to the ship where everything was normal again and just slowly pick apart everything until he could start finding explanations for something. He just got to the clearing when he had to pause as there was something by his ship. Whatever it was had some kind of cloak on looking over his ship.

“I hate my life sometimes,” he muttered trying to figure out what to do. The whole point of picking this forest was because the scans showed that the locals didn’t seem to go into the forest. He pressed up against one of the trees as the camouflage kicked in.

By the ship Zecora slowly walked around it, since last night there had been something odd going on with the forest. It felt like something had sent it out of balance, the animals had been scared and she herself had been woken up by strange lights and sounds. It had taken her time to find it but it looked like she found what she had been looking for.

Ever since she had made her home here she had seen some strange thing but this was far stranger than anything she had seen in her life. It was like some kind of giant metal bird, it was obvious a vehicle of some kind like the trains that ran into Ponyville but it was so much more than a train. She wasn’t all that knowledgeable on technology but just looking at it, it was so much different than anything she had seen.

You didn’t need to be a scholar of technology to know things, all you needed to do was just open your eyes and just see the world instead of looking. What she saw was that the craftsmanship went above and beyond anything she figured could be used on this world. There were letters that were unfamiliar to her, a ramp to a closed door, strange glass up front where someone would use to look out of when moving. From the all of this and the shape she could tell it flew, how she had no idea but there was more to this craft than what she could see.

Zecora was about to try knocking on the door when she felt something, something was watching her.

When you lived in a dangerous forest like this you learned to have eyes in the back of your head, to feel the world around you and what was in it. She felt the presence near but she didn’t feel anything dangerous. There was no bloodlust or malevolent intent coming from it so she started to calmly turn around.

She looked but she couldn’t see anything but something was there.

“Please come out I mean you no harm, there is no need to be alarmed.” She gently called out to the forest.

David wasn’t sure how but this creature knew he was there although it wasn’t looking right at him it was looking in his direction. Again it spoke in that strange language although it felt different for some reason. There was a strange cadence to the words that he couldn’t put his finger on.

It sat down in front of his ship and David got the feeling it was going to wait him out.

“Fuck it...maybe I can get this right this time around.” He slowly walked out of the forest letting the camouflage melt away. He calmly walked out holding up his hands slightly up showing there was nothing in them or that he was threatening.

Zecora’s eyes widened at the creature walking out, it seemed to melt out of the forest in a way she had never seen before even among the shamans who could hide in the world with their spells. It was tall, if she had to guess her face would come up to its chest. It reminded her of a Minotaur in stature but the legs were all wrong. It was wearing something, like a full body clothing of some kind, even the face was obscure.

“Now that is something new, just what are you?” She asked him.

It said something in a language she didn’t understand as she frowned. “So a common tongue we do not share and that language seems quite rare.”

Zecora stood up as she flipped back her hood, “Zecora is my name, may you do the same?”

David paused as he felt his brain nearly shut down at the sight in front of him. It was a damn zebra, it was a damn zebra with a Mohawk, a damn zebra with a Mohawk and wearing jewelry.

“That’s it, I’m done, nope, no more!” He ran his hand over his face. He wondered if this was how insanity felt like, because it felt like the ground was trying to swallow him whole.

It was speaking again and pointed to itself and then to him. She was saying one word over and over again. He focused on that because honestly he wasn’t sure he could handle anything else at the moment.

He pointed at her, “Ze-kor-ah?”

It nodded her head and he realized it was giving its name up. He placed his hand on his chest, “David.”

“Day-vid?” It asked and he nodded his head.

He watched as the Zebra creature took a long stick it had, it looked like something out of some kind of shaman tribal thing with its design as the creature used it to start drawing. He had to pause at how she was holding the long stick it was holding it with a hoof like he would an object. He couldn’t figure out how that was working, its hoof curled around a bit that he knew normal horse like animals on Earth didn’t have a joint there.

David cocked his head as he watched what looked like houses and then a forest. Then there was a house in the forest with crud drawings of the life forms from the village in the village and what looked like itself in the forest with the house in it.

The zebra pointed to itself and then to the drawing of itself, then circled the entire forest. Then it pointed to him and then to the dirt.

“Are you asking me where I’m from?” He wasn’t sure but he felt that’s what this ‘Zecora’ was asking him. Although he wasn’t sure how at first to tell it that he was from another world. “Well, let’s try and see if this works.”

Zecora watched as he made a circle with his slender appendages. The creature then made the same images she had of the ponies and herself on the large circle. Then it made dots and a crescent moon, she finally understood that it was the world surrounded by the night sky but why was the night sky being shown? This ‘Day-vid’ creature then made a stick figure that had to be it but then something happened she wasn’t expecting.

He circled one of the stars and pointed to it.

For a moment she stood there as she was hoping she understood him correctly because if she was, he said he came from one of the stars in the night sky.

“Among my people there is only one thing you could be,” She looked at him remembering the old stories and legends. “One of the Sky people you must be.”

Her people had legends of those that lived in the sky they were the oldest stories her people had. To stand among one, to be honest she wasn’t sure she could explain how she felt. How would you feel to stand face to face among something that was only just myth, she wished she could figure out a way around this language barrier. An idea did come to kind of just the pony that might be able to help with that.

-Golden Oaks Library-

Twilight looked at the objects on the table in front of her, when Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy came in with the objects and Dash’s story she honestly wasn’t sure what to believe. Looking over the objects however revealed some strange things to her.

The metal for the canister of water was some kind of aluminum but it was a higher grade than what you could find in any store. Using her magic to scan the items she found a purity level for the metal that was beyond anything you could get outside of very expensive shops. Not only that but it was extremely well crafted you couldn’t see any seams in it, like it was poured instead of forged.

That alone was boggling to her mind, you could make something like this with magic but that was the thing. When you made something with magic there was a residue of that magic left but there was none in any of the items. Not just nothing but zero, everything on this world had some kind of magic saturation to it but these items, it was like they were made in a zero-magic environment.

That just wasn’t possible!

The canister that had held the gas was another odd thing, she didn’t recognize the metal used in it. It wasn’t steel but it was strong maybe even stronger. That and the markings on it were so strange, she had copied them all down on a both a sheet of paper and another with diagrams of the object in as much detail as she could.

The wrapper was another problem she had no idea what it was made of. The inside was shiny and reflective and but whatever it was she had never seen or heard of a material like this before.

It was all so fascinating.

“So...you got any ideas yet or what?” A very bored Rainbow Dash asked from her position on the floor. She was just lying down trying to pass the time, she thought about reading a Daring Do book in the meantime but she just didn’t feel like it. She read them all multiples times anyway and the new one was at least a year away.

“I have no idea,” Twilight admitted but then smiled. “But I intend to find out all this is just so fascinating. You said this creature was upright on two legs?”

“For the twentieth time yes,” Dash groaned.

“I’m sorry but the only thing that matches that is a Minotaur.” Twilight had looked through all the books she had on creatures of the world and nothing really fit.

“It didn’t have the same hoof prints as one,” Fluttershy spoke up as she had been quietly looking through a book herself. “I saw the print left behind and it wasn’t shaped like it, but I do think that what Rainbow saw for the upper body was right.”

“Yes what did you call them again?” Dash asked as she hadn’t seen this Iron Will fellow or had seen Fluttershy’s reaction to his ‘motivation’. She had been away in Cloudsdale visiting her folks and sending in a report for Ponyville’s weather needs for the season. Although from what she had heard, she was kind of sorry she had missed ‘New Fluttershy’, if only because she couldn’t believe the stories Rarity and Pinkie told.

“Arms, hands and fingers,” Spike said holding up a book on Minotaurs with a picture showing them.

“Yeah like that only I think it has one more of those finger things on it,” Rainbow looked at the diagram of a hand and it certainly looked like what she had seen but like she said, she was pretty sure there were five in total and not four.

“Plus no horns, it wasn’t as bulky up top, the legs were different and the face was a lot flatter,” she put in.

“Yes and this makes it all so exciting,” Twilight smiled brightly at this. “This could either be something super rare species or maybe one that has been undiscovered until this moment. Think of all of what we could learn!”

“If we can get it to talk right,” Dash sighed. “I couldn’t understand a word it was saying.”

Twilight had to think about that, “Most species share a common tongue I do know that there were translation spells but the problem with those is that you have to have a general understanding of the language for it to work.”

The whole point of the translation spell was so that someone that knew the language could share that with others, usually traders to help with negotiations since you didn’t have to go through just one individual.

Before anyone else could say anything the door the library opened up as a pink blur ran in and stopped right in front of Twilight.

“Twilight have you see the new pony?” Pinkie Pie asked quickly.

“T-that what?” Twilight was taken aback by her friend’s sudden appearance and odd question.

“There’s a new pony in town and I’ve been looking for him or her but no pony seems to have seen the new pony,” Pinkie sighed. “How can I make a welcome to Ponyville party without the new pony?”

“How did you know there’s a new pony in town?” Rainbow asked her.

“Oh that’s easy, my Pinkie Sense told me. I was just walking in town when I felt it kick in, actually it was a strange combo but I’m pretty sure part of it was about a new pony.”

“Wait it was a combo?” Twilight had learned her lesson from trying to explain the Pinkie Sense and instead just cataloged all the different senses that Pinkie had.

“Uh-huh I only ever felt like this once before when Gilda showed up that time,” Pinkie didn’t noticed the slight scowl on Rainbow’s face at the mention of that. “I didn’t know what it meant but maybe I have a Pinkie Sense for a new species I haven’t met before.”

Pinkie noticed how everyone else in the room was looking at each other suddenly.

“What? Something I said?” Pinkie asked.

“Rainbow kind of ran into something earlier today and we don’t know what it is,” Twilight told her.

Pinkie got excited by that, “Ohhhh, do you think it likes parties?”

“Perhaps I could shed some light on the subject, that is if you don’t me borrowing your intellect.”

They all looked to see Zecora by the door, Twilight was always happy to see their friend given she stayed so long in the Everfree.

“Of course please come in,” Twilight offered. “So you said you might be able to help?”

“Yes indeed for you see the stranger I did see.”

“You met that thing?” Dash asked getting excited that finally someone else had finally seen it.

Zecora recounted how she had been searching the forest and why, looking for what had disturbed it. She explained the limited communications she was able to establish, the craft it apparently went into after their ‘talk’ and of course where this being came from.

“Sky People?” Twilight had never heard of that term but there was a lot of Zebra culture that wasn’t written down as a lot of it was passed down orally.

“That is true, legends my tribe have must be a clue. From the stars he did claim of that if so long distances it must have overcame.”

“A-are you saying we have an alien in Equestria?” Spike’s eyes widened as all those comics he read about aliens came coming back to him.

“It can’t be an alien...right?” Twilight asked looking around for help on that. If this was an actual alien then, well her mind raced with all kinds of things. Although it would be amazing if it was, that was all science fiction...wasn’t it?

“Big metal spaceship,” Spike started to count off with his claws. “Strange unknown creature, talks in a way nopony can understand, weird metal objects with alien-like writing on them...”

“Oh my gosh, I just met an alien!” Rainbow shouted out. “I’m the first to meet an actual alien!”

“Didn’t you say you tried to dive bomb him?” Fluttershy put in.

That took the wind out of Dash’s sails that she had actually attacked an alien. What if it got mad or came back with disintegrators looking for revenge? What if she had just started a war?! She was about to start panicking when she remembered the water offering and maybe things weren’t as bad.

“Well I think we’re cool...maybe...probably?” Dash asked not feeling extremely confident about that.

“Oh I can’t wait to meet the alien!” Pinkie jumped up. “I get to have a welcome to Equestria party, a welcoming first alien party and welcome to Ponyville party all in one!”

“Zecora do you think you can take us to the ship?” Twilight asked her as she wanted to see firsthoofed what this ‘giant metal bird’ looked like.

“Yes but night is coming, the Everfree is no place to go walking.” She warned them.

“She’s right,” Fluttershy said. “The Everfree is a lot more active at night Twilight and there are more predators active. It’s a lot more dangerous to travel through it.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, “We already have traveled through the Everfree at night.”

“Yes and we were lucky, the first time maybe Nightmare Moon had pushed aside all the really dangerous things out of the way.

Twilight remembered her own encounter with a cockatrice, who knows how long she would have been stuck in stone before anypony had found her made her shiver slightly at the memory. Thankfully she didn’t remember actually being stone but still, nearly a full day had gone by for her in the blink of an eye for her.

Looking out her window it was getting late and finding their way would be easier in the morning plus she wanted to get the other girls together for this.

“Okay we’ll leave in the morning then, Zecora we’ll meet you at Fluttershy’s place okay?”

With that all agreed upon, Twilight asked for Pinkie and Dash to inform Rarity and Applejack as well if they wanted to come but to keep it quiet. The last thing she needed was to spook the town with talk of aliens among them.

-Canterlot-

When night had fallen Luna was ecstatic, she was at the royal observatory with her sister and the royal astronomer. She hadn’t met the pony yet but when she did she had a surprise, the blue unicorn that was in charge was none other than Night Light, the father of Twilight Sparkle. Luna wished she had known sooner but she had been catching up on everything she had missed out on, learning to talk with a normal tone and adjusting to her role as co-ruler.

In short, she had been a very busy mare since her return and hadn’t had much in the way of free time.

The observatory was located near the castle high up to avoid any light from the city below. The large dome had been constructed apparently fifty years ago and Luna wished she could have seen its construction. The place was as modern as you would expect as Night Light came out to greet the rulers and his in-laws.

“Your highnesses, welcome.” Night Light said with a bow.

“Please you don’t have to do that anymore with us,” Celestia smiled at him. “We are family now with your son married to my niece.”

“Oh right, sorry, force of habit.” He scratched the back of his head slightly embarrassed. It was something he and his wife had trouble coming to terms that they were now related by married to the two Princesses. Not to mention adjusting to having a daughter in law who was princess of an empire. Then there was Twilight and her role she had been doing lately.

Night Light turned to Luna, “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you came last night.”

“It is alright,” Luna waved it off. “One of your assistants said you were out with your wife.”

“Yes she’s been having some empty nest syndrome with both our children no longer in the capital and I wanted to take her out for a special night for the two of us.” He explained. It was true that his wife Twilight Velvet had been feeling a little empty not being able to see her children at any moment while they had all lived in Canterlot.

So he figured taking her out for a nice little romantic date would help her out of her funk, it seemed to work as she was feeling more upbeat.

“Well that’s very sweet of you,” Celestia liked to know that Twilight’s father hadn’t lost his romantic side of things even after all the years married.

Night Light coughed feeling his face warm up a bit, “I believe Princess Luna had a new star to show us.”

“Yes indeed,” Luna walked up to the open area with the others following her. “I found it last night right...there?”

She paused looking at the spot she had seen the new star but it wasn’t there anymore. That didn’t make any sense to her stars didn’t just show up and vanish like that. Sure they moved but they moved extremely slowly with the seasons and they all moved not just one.

“I-it was right there,” Luna pointed to the spot.

Celestia and Night Light looked but didn’t see anything, Celestia looked to her younger sister. “Are you sur-.” She didn’t get to finish that with the glare Luna was sending her.

“My apologies if any pony knew where it was it would be you.” Celestia forgot for a split second that this was Luna she was talking to she knew the night better any individual on the planet. “Still that is very odd it’s not there.”

“Yes I don’t see-wait! There it is!” She had seen it by the left of the moon last time but now it was to the right side of the moon. She was certain of this, it was the same intensity and there hadn’t been a star that bright in that area before now. “I...it moved!”

“Moved your highness?” Night Light asked looking at the star as he used his magic to pull out a saddle back his star charts. He found the right one as he looked at them and the night sky.

“I am sure of it,” Luna insisted.

Night Light checked a few times and that star wasn’t in any of the official documents. “It is a new star perhaps we should take a closer look at it?”

“An excellent idea,” Celestia told him as they three went back inside. She watched the pony give a few orders to the assistants as they helped to move the large telescope in the room to the correct spot. The massive structured turned as the telescope was adjusted to the right pitch. Ponies moved massive wheels that were connected to various gears as the sounds of them all working together filled the structure.

Finally it was set as Night Light went to the telescope to view through the small lens. He adjusted a few knobs on the side to get it in focus. With this powerful telescope you could make out creators in the moon. He remembered how sometimes Celestia had used it on the moon for hours on end some nights. It wasn’t hard to figure out why now looking back on it.

There, he saw something. He called out a few adjustments to the device as assistants went to work. He ordered a stop when it was dead center. He paused by what he saw, he actually pulled back.

He looked to one of the Pegasus assistants, “You there, I need you to go up there and see if there is anything on the lens for me.”

“Yes sir,” the stallion few up and soon reported that nothing was wrong.

Night Light went back to what he saw as he brought it into more focus and when he did he felt his breath catch in his throat. What he saw in the night’s sky made his blood run cold because what was up there wasn’t something he ever expected to see.

“Night Light what is the problem?” Celestia asked seeing the pony go pale. He looked at her with a shocked expression as he tried to say something but couldn’t find the words.

“May I?” Luna asked him as he nodded quickly and got out of the way. Luna took one look and gasped before jumping back. “Sister!”

Celestia was worried now as she took a look as her eyes widened, there was something up there. She could see that it was metallic and long with a cylinder body with a lot of reflective material. She wasn’t sure what they were for but the only thing she knew was that object was not of their world. Celestia pulled her head back and looked around her.

“Everypony I need your attention,” Celestia didn’t ask but commanded, she was in full ruler mode now as everyone in the room could feel the shift.

“From now on no other pony is allowed in this facility other than those here tonight,” she began. “You are all under royal order sworn to secrecy, you will tell no pony of what is going on. There will be guards placed at the entrance but you are free to come and go but you are not to talk about anything inside these walls outside of it until further notice.”

She looked to Night Light, “You are now to research this...object for as long as you can see it.”

“W-what will we tell the others?” Night Light knew that there were others that worked here and various ponies did show up like relatives and friends. They even had school children on field trips come in but thankfully there weren’t any planned until next month. “Plus won’t the guards be kind of suspicious?”

“They are here to ensure that the current upgrading to the facility goes well,” Luna stepped in seeing the confused looks on everyone that worked here. “That is the story you will tell if anypony asks what’s going on and that’s all.”

Celestia nodded her head it would be a good cover story at least for now, perhaps she could arrange some building materials to be brought to the front of the building in the morning to help sell the idea. “Night Light, we’ll have reports on everything you can give us starting tomorrow.”

“Yes your majesty,” Night Light bowed slightly as he sighed. He guessed he was going to be busy these nights, he hoped his wife didn’t mind him not being around much in the mornings.

The two sisters left the observatory and they couldn’t help but steal looks at the ‘star’ in the sky.

“How long can we keep this quiet?” Luna whispered to her as they were in the halls of the castle.

“I’m not sure but we need time to figure things out.” Celestia thought of the implications this could cause. Was what was up there hostile, was it peaceful or was it just curious and it would leave? They had no way of knowing at this point and without any kind of answers the public could panic.

“There are other observatories in the world,” Luna reminded her sister. “We’ll have to keep watch on those in our kingdom but it’s those outside of our kingdom I worry about.”

“True...” Celestia felt a headache coming on if one of the other realms found out about this. They would have to send a messenger to Cadence and Shining Armor in the Crystal Empire at least. The Diamond Dogs stayed underground so they weren’t an issue. Dragons didn’t bother with things like telescopes and the Changelings hadn’t been seen since their failed invasion.

The most she might have to worry about were Saddle Arabia, the Minotaur Republic, the Zebra Tribes had one in their capital city that might be able to see it as well. The Griffons might have one as well if they were still using it, as that kingdom had fallen on hard times lately.

They were silent as they made their way deeper into the castle seeing a few guards here and there on night duty. Both of them had their minds full of questions but there was one thing they both were thinking about. One of the biggest questions in the entire world had just been answered. The question of “are we alone in the universe?” had just been answered and neither of them knew where this answer would take them or their world.

Well things didn’t go quite as planned today, I already am finishing up the report so far for today and I just know someone back on Earth is going to tan my hide for what happened. Not exactly the best first contact scenario but I think I was able to save some of it.

Okay I’ve already going through all the video and recordings so far, putting them into different categories for now. The plants and animals are going into their own folder because at the moment I really don’t want to open that can of worms. For some reason there are animal and plants here that are found on Earth and I don’t mean they look the same. Well yeah they do look the same but the looks are way too close for comfort. I’m going to have to get more detailed scans later if I can maybe get some DNA samples from the wildlife.

Anyways the really weird thing or at least one of them is the scan of the female Pegasus. I’ve been digging through it with the help of the computer and it just seems I got more questions than answers. The DNA is very similar to equine life found on Earth but it’s also different, hence the wings of course. Even with the quantum computer going at it, it’s taking time to go through all the data so I’ll update as I go.

Originally I thought that her bones had to be pretty tough (see video marked Crash) and you’ll see why. Turns out her bones are just the same as mine how she was able to just walk off a crash like that I have no idea. Not only that, but AVI said that her wingspan shouldn’t support her size but trust me it does.

The Zebra named Ze-kor-ah (I know I spelled that wrong I’ll fix it later if I remember and can figure out how it’s spelled in their own language) seemed pretty helpful. I think I might have made peaceful contact with at least one of the locals now although why this one is living alone does make me wonder.

It’s the only Zebra type I’ve seen so far, are the others in the town shunning it? If so why? I really hope I didn’t land into some kind of alien race war or something.

At any rate the Pegasus I’ve named simply Blue for now until I get her name at some point.

I tell you when I found life this isn’t what I thought would happen, okay I’m not sure what would happen but so far all of this wasn’t even close to any of the thoughts I had. Still there is some kind of mystery to this world and I’m going to find it.

I think I need to get some sleep I’ve been going on through all the data since I got back. Worked through the entire night and I think I see the sun coming up. I just wanted to get these thoughts down before I forget them. I’ll turn in for a few hours and try and adapt to the day/night cycle of this world.

End of Log

Next up Chapter 5: Gone to see the Alien

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 5: Gone to see the Alien

In Canterlot the morning had been risen like clockwork by Celestia although normally a very good morning pony, this time the princess was not her usual morning self and it was kind of scaring some of the longer serving staff. They weren’t used to seeing their Princess with bags under her eyes and not her smiling and lovable self.

Currently Celestia was on a patio waiting for her sister to show up for breakfast. There was a nice large umbrella keeping her sun out of her eyes, she may love her sun but at the moment she didn’t want direct light into her eyes. She felt so tired that she just wanted to sleep, she had tried to sleep last night but all she did was just toss and turn.

She couldn’t get her mind to quiet down as it just kept racing with thoughts. It had been over a century since the last time she had such a horrible night’s sleep.

Rubbing her temple she heard the door open as Luna seemed to nearly drag herself in looking just as bad as Celestia.

“Does the sun have to be this bright?” Luna asked with a yawn as she fell into her chair her chin resting on the table.

“You look like you had as much sleep as I did,” Celestia commented fighting off a yawn of her own.

“Breakfast will be served soon your majesties.” A maid told them as one of the few of the castle staff off to the side. “Is there anything specific you all would like?”

“Coffee, black.” Celestia told them which shocked everyone there. They couldn’t remember in their entire time serving Celestia that she asked for coffee, she was usually a tea or juice type of drinker. It was very unexpected to say the least for the castle staff with them.

“In fact bring out the whole pot,” Luna added in.

“Yes, good idea.” Celestia rubbed her temple.

“A-at once.” The maid bowed as she left to make sure the cooks started up the coffee.

“You may all leave us,” Luna told the other servants, they all shared looks asking each other silently what to do. This went against all the usual protocols but if it was what one of their rulers asked they were supposed to do it. They all eventually nodded as they left, as soon as they were alone Luna cast a sound barrier over the two of them.

Celestia looked at the spell as the light inside seemed darker, “Did you add in a light dampening spell to it?”

“Yes, I thought it better than the umbrella.” Luna sighed feeling a bit better with it not so bright out.

“I wish I could have gotten at least a little bit of sleep with everything I have to do today,” Celestia sighed.

“I know what you mean,” Luna closed her eyes wishing she could just sleep right now but still thoughts plagued her. She was supposed to visit the public works to view plans for some improvements to the city. “If only we knew something about what’s up there. Are they just watching us or are they only curious and will leave?”

“There’s also the option that something is already here with us,” her elder sister pointed out.

That got Luna to open her eyes up looking at her sister. “Do you wish for me to never sleep again?”

Celestia managed a weak smile at that, “Sorry dear sister but it is an option we have to think about. Although that is a very distressing thought, what if some pony comes across whatever it is and starts a panic? What if it’s hostile or something so different that we can’t even being to comprehend their motives or thoughts?”

Luna groaned she really wished this hadn’t happened but it had and they had to deal with it. So far things were being kept quiet until they could get some kind of information for the population. Maybe Night Light will have learned something of value soon but Luna wasn’t sure what from just looking at it. Well at the very least maybe they could track it and see if it was just floating there or had a flight path in mind.

“I don’t know which I hate more the fact that they didn’t just come down to make contact or the fact they are being cautious.” Luna groaned resting her head back on the table with a sign. Each scenario could be for different reasons. Either they were being careful to prevent a misunderstanding or they were slowly looking their world over for conquest.

“We will have to wait and see what happened as I feel they will be the ones to make the first move,” Celestia told her sister as she had done nothing but think on it during the night. Plans upon plans she made up for any kind of possible outcome, she didn’t want to leave anything to chance.

“Still, we will have to plan in the mean time for either friendly or hostile actions.” The solar princess said as Luna was in total agreement.

-Ponyville-

Twilight moved around her home/library with a fury of activity, getting papers, books, quills and ink into her saddle bags. She was checking and rechecking everything, if this truly was an alien come to Equestria she wanted everything to go perfectly. She checked and rechecked her list of all the things she wanted to bring with her. She spent some time researching on what to bring to a possible first contact but mostly what she found in her library were just science fiction stories.

With her saddle bags she placed a box with all the items that Rainbow and Fluttershy brought to her. She would have loved to have run more tests but she figured that by giving them back might show that they could be trusted. At least she hoped that would work.

Twilight got some parchment, ink and quills, she also brought a book on languages given from what Rainbow and Zecora said the alien would most likely not speak a language but she hoped that with some luck she could start building a cipher for it.

“Spike, are you coming?” She called out.

“I’m coming,” Spike called out as he came down and Twilight had to give him a look because he came down with all things a tin foil hat on his head.

“Spike...what’s that for?” She pointed at the hat.

“Oh this?” Spike adjusted the hat. “Well I read somewhere that some aliens might be telepathic and this should help keep my thoughts to myself.”

“Spike,” Twilight groaned. “That doesn’t make any sense, first off if mind reading could happen it might be electromagnetic in origin given the brain. The tin isn’t even grounded so you would need something like a faraday cage to keep it out.” She noticed the blank look she was getting and decided to simplify it for him.

“In other words putting a piece of metal on your head wouldn’t work, in fact it might conduct any signal. You would have better luck making a helmet out of lead with rubber on the inside.”

“Oh,” Spike took off the tin hat and crushed it up before throwing it away. “Do I have time to make one of those just in case?”

A knock at her door said otherwise as Twilight went to open it to see her friends already out there. There were mixed reactions, Rainbow looked eager to get started already flapping her wings a bit harder than necessary to keep her in the air. Fluttershy looked nervous but then she was never one for change or adventure and yet she always got dragged along it seemed.

Pinkie was jumping up and down excited as usual but she also carried a saddlebag that Twilight could figure had party supplies in them. She was also balancing a try of cupcakes on her back that somehow were not falling off with every bounce.

Rarity looked a bit neutral about the whole thing, most likely because she wasn’t sure what to make of the whole experience. Applejack, well normally the farm pony would be stead fast and ready to go but she looked a bit more apprehensive about the whole thing.

“Ah good you’re all here,” Twilight said with a bright smile as she levitated Spike onto her back. “Come on we still have to meet with Zecora at the woods.”

“Oh yeah I get to see an alien space ship!” Rainbow Dash excitedly said looking forward to it.

“Are ya sure we need ta do this?” AJ asked as they made their way through the town. “Shouldn’t we brin’ in the Princesses on somethin’ like this?”

“Well we will but I just want to confirm if this is actually an alien and not something else,” Twilight was honest about those reasons. If she sent a report about an alien and it wasn’t, well she didn’t want to look foolish to her mentor like that. Plus she couldn’t resist being the first to official greet an actual alien to their world.

“You scared or something AJ?” Rainbow teased.

“If this critter is an alien there’s no tellin’ what it’s doin’ here, ah mean why Ponyville of all places?” Applejack was proud of her home but it was hardly the place to go for an alien she figured. One of the larger cities made a lot more sense to her. Plus the whole idea of an alien was just kind of creepy for her.

“Maybe it just wants to get to know us first silly,” Pinkie told her. “And there’s no better place to get to know ponies than here. That’s why I made some extra special welcoming cupcakes!”

“Well I do hope things go well,” Rarity spoke up. “Although I have been wondering what kind of fashion an alien race would have. I do hope I can see some samples.”

They continued to talk and throw out speculations on what they could find before they met up with Zecora who was waiting for them by the edge of the forest.

The team was lead through the forest by Zecora, although they didn’t seem to travel any path they made good time, almost like the forest moved out of the way for them. It was always strange going into this forest, nothing worked like it did outside and you always got this feeling like the forest itself was watching you.

No matter how many times they traveled into it the forest always made you feel a bit unwanted. Thankfully the girls had learned that the few paths that still did exist like the one to the castle of the two sisters, those were the safest paths to take. After some time they found themselves entering a clearing and all of them stopped in awe at the shinning metallic craft in front of them.

“Whoa, that’s not like a rocket ship from the comics,” Spike said from his spot on Twilight’s back.

“Oh that is so cool!” Rainbow took off quickly flying all over it as she looked at every little thing she could.

“Yay! Now we can welcome the alien!” Pinkie smiled happily as she balanced on her back a plate of her special welcoming cupcakes and took them off and placed them on the ground. She couldn’t wait to see the alien’s reaction to them, she hoped it liked them.

“It has a very elegant design,” Rarity studied it from her own place among her friends. She looked over how sleek the design was.

“It does kind of look like a bird in a way,” Fluttershy said softly looking at the wing design.

“Well shoot that thing is not somethin’ ah ever seen in mah life,” AJ looked at the craft, it wasn’t built like anything she had ever seen before although it did look well made to her or at least sturdy.

“This is what I saw, and it let me like you in awe.” Zecora spoke up and then turned to the forest. “Although I would like to stay, some things in the forest must be held at bay.”

“Are the animals agitated?” Fluttershy asked knowing how animals could get when their territory or home was disturbed.

“Yes some of the creatures are furious, to calm them I must before they get too curious.” Zecora wasn’t sure what the Sky Being would do if the wild life started to show up to the ship. So she left to calm them and maybe place some wards around that would persuade some of the hostile creatures away, at least she hoped so.

She left the mares to their work, if anyone could make friends with a being from the starts she knew that those six could.

When Zecora left the others looked at the ship not sure what to do next.

“So...should we knock or what?” Fluttershy asked a little dryly.

“Might as well start somewhere,” Twilight said as she walked up the small ramp to the metal door as she started to knock.

Inside the ship in the only bedroom on the ship was David Miller. The room wasn’t very big as space was at a premium on the Sparrow, just a simple cot with a dresser built into the bulkhead across from him. There were no windows as the door was closed and no lights encased him in pure darkness, that is until the lights slowly came on.

“Commander you need to wake up.” The computers voice called out to him in that neutral tone it had.

-Knock Knock Knock-

David groaned rolling over and pulling the sheet over his head. He felt too tired to wake up, he didn’t want to wake up. The lights were annoying and that tapping sound was even more annoying.

“Commander.”

“Go away,” David groaned.

-Knock Knock Knock-

Again there was that tapping sound.

“You need to wake up.”

“Fuck...off...” David managed to say he wasn’t in the best of moods when he didn’t get enough sleep. Well it wasn’t like AVI had any emotions to hurt at least but he was a very grumpy guy when he didn’t get enough rest.

“There are life forms outside and I believe they want in.”

“How do you know that--Knock Knock Knock-okay what is that!?” He heard it again and it was starting to piss him off.

“I believe one of them is knocking on the airlock door.”

“Oh god,” he paused trying to think. “How long was I asleep?”

“You entered delta wave cycle thirty minutes ago.”

David let out an aggravated growl, he really wished he hadn’t spent the entire damn night working. There was just too much he had discovered and instead of going to bed and working on it in the morning he just kept working. He spent so much time studying all the images he had, was trying to build a language translation with the few audio clicks he had but he needed more to work with. Then there was the scan of the blue Pegasus he was dealing with trying to figure out flight and it just kept snowballing at him until the sun came up and he decided to get some sleep.

Well that plan was shot to hell now.

-Knock Knock Knock-

Again the evil tapping sound was heard from the metal bulkhead of the ship.

Angrily he threw the sheets aside cursing up a storm as he marched to the door.

Outside Twilight knocked once more against the metal door waiting. She was starting to wonder if maybe the alien wasn’t home, maybe it was off looking around? She would have hated to miss meeting the alien herself.

“Are you sure this...creature is home darling?” Rarity asked.

“Yeah so far this is turning out to be a letdown.” Rainbow commented as she flew up to the large window trying to look in. “Oh cool this has got to be the cockpit.”

“Rainbow what are you doing?” Twilight asked her slightly annoyed.

“Just trying to see if anypony is home,” Rainbow pressed up against the glass like substance looking in. She could see a single chair and a control set up around it but not much else. The door at the back was closed so she couldn’t see any deeper which was disappointing. She really wanted to see the inside of this thing and find out how fast it could fly.

“Well is there anyone up there?” Applejack asked.

“Can’t see it, just the cockpit and that’s it.” Dash replied.

“Maybe the alien isn’t home,” Fluttershy said softly she wasn’t sure she wanted to actually meet an alien as she was kind of worried it might be scary looking.

“Oh no we couldn’t have missed the alien,” Pinkie said in a slightly panicked tone. “I brought all these welcome cupcakes to give it, they would all go to waste!”

“Well might as try one more time,” Twilight sighed as she knocked again, she was on her third and final knock when the door slid open with a hissing sound to the side. She paused as she found herself staring at something and it took her a couple of seconds to realize she was staring at a navel. Looking up she noticed the being in front of her.

It was tall and on two legs like Rainbow said but it wasn’t covered in scales but simple furless skin. There were small hairs she noticed on the skin but nothing even close to a coat. There was a dark short mane on its head that looked a little unkempt to her. It was wearing a simply set of some kind of grey trunks.

The face is what really captivated her, it was unlike anything she had ever seen before. The eyes were grey and slightly red in color but were far smaller than a pony’s, for a moment she wondered if it had poor eyesight because of it.

It didn’t have a muzzle in fact the nose and mouth seemed more separated, the mouth was a bit thin to her and the nose, it was hard to explain. It was like somepony took the top of a beak and turned it into just a nose.

Plus it seemed to have a Cutie Mark! Actually more than one which was odd for her, on the right arm there was some kind of logo like design. It was a circle with a view of space with something in front of the stars and planets that she couldn’t make out.

There seemed to be a compass like design on the leg arm and on the upper arm was what looked like some kind of tribal design. What could they all mean? Did aliens like this one get multiple Cutie Marks because they had multiple talents? She had so many questions!

“Uh...I think it’s waiting on something sugar cube,” AJ spoke up staring at the tall creature in front of her.

“Oh! Right,” She cleared her throat. “I Twilight Sparkle welcome you to Equestria in the names of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”

David looked at them all not really registering as his sleep deprived brain was barely working. “I gave at the office.” He said as he closed the door.

“W-what?” Twilight asked out loud not sure what the alien had said but just said something and then just closed the door.

“Uh...what just happened?” Spike asked as everyone looked at each other for an answer none of them could give.

“I ain’t sure.” AJ shrugged as this wasn’t the kind of thing she expected to happen.

“I think we woke him up, he looked kind of tired.” Fluttershy offered. “Maybe we should leave and come back another time?”

Twilight was just staring at the door, this couldn’t be happening. This was the first contact of an alien race and it just shut the door in her face. Did she offend him in some way? Maybe there was a specific greeting that had to be followed but she wouldn’t know what that would be. Did she blow it or was this part of some kind of complex ritual? She couldn’t send a letter to the princesses about a failure like this, what would they think about her if she just ruined possible relations like this?

Twilight nervously bit her front hoof as more and more scenarios played out in her head. She had to at least try again so she knocked once more.

David was just about to go back to his bed as its sweet siren song called to him when the knocking started again. He groaned rubbing his face with his hands, all he wanted was some sleep he could do the meet and greet another time. How was he to get some kind of sleep?

A plan slowly formed in his head and in his altered state it seemed like a good idea at the time.

David went to the hatch and opened it up to see them all again. The purple one with the horn started to say something again but he held up a hand. He was thankful she actually stopped and motioned to the bottom of the ramp. The unicorn blinked a few times before it seemed like it understood and quickly stood at the bottom of the ramp.

The others seemed to get the idea and lined up as well.

David held up his hand from a special way from an old program from Earth, a series that had stayed around even after all this time and was in the record books as one of the few longest running series of science fiction. The good old Vulcan hand salute that he remembered watching from one of those series at his uncle Henry’s as a kid. David wasn’t sure if it was one of the original series or one of the reboots or reimagining series he watched back then, it was kind of hard to tell after all this time and so many done, plus his mind felt like a fog so it was hard to think properly.

Then words from another series came to mind. “Klaatu Barada Nikto.”

Twilight blinked at odd gesture he was making a signature with his fingers, the thumb was sticking out with the singers paired two by two and split apart. Then he said those words and she got excited at a possible greeting.

She raised her hoof trying to imitate as best she could without fingers as she spoke up. “Klaatu Barada Nikto.”

But instead of smiling the creature just yelled out scaring the lot of them before running back into the ship. The ramp then pulled up and the window up front was suddenly encased in a metal shutter of some kind that extended from the sides. All of them stood there in shock uncertain what had just happened.

“Uh...what did you say?” Spike asked Twilight.

“I don’t know! Didn’t I say it exactly right?” Twilight asked the others starting to panic. She started to pace back and forth as her mind tried to come up with a reason why the alien seemed to have been scared of her. She said the words exactly so it should have been the same thing, that had to have been a greeting of some kind right?

“I don’t get it, I know I said the words right,” Twilight mumbled to herself.

“Oh-oh-oh!” Pinkie raised a hoof like she was in class. “Maybe you have to make the funny gesture as well.”

That stopped Twilight dead as her eyes widened and her pupils shrank. The creature held up the hand in a gesture, was it possible that their species talk with gestures? Could it be that the words meaning change depending on what kind of gesture she made?

Looking down at her hoof she started to worry what she had just said to him.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no, what if their language needs gestures, what if I just insulted him by not doing it?” Twilight panicked asking the others.

“Well I don’t think you insulted him,” Rainbow spoke up. “From how he ran I think you said more along he likes of you’re going to eat the flesh off his face or something.”

“Rainbow!” Rarity chastised her.

“What?” Dash shrugged, “I’m just saying that the alien freaked out from what she said.”

“What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?” Twilight’s mane slowly started to frazzle a bit as her panic attack was starting to grow.

Fluttershy walked up to her friend and gently touched her shoulder. “I think maybe we everypony needs is time to cool off. Why don’t we leave the alien alone for now and we can come back tomorrow?”

“She might be right,” AJ agreed.

“When you spook an animal it’s best to leave it alone and give it space,” Fluttershy told Twilight.

“Didn’t you kind of go crazy on the animals at the Gala?” Rainbow asked her friend.

Fluttershy blushed digging her hoof into the ground. “I learned my lesson from that time.”

“Still I think she had a point,” Rarity spoke up. “If we did scare him off we should do like Fluttershy said and give it space and time.”

“You’re right,” Twilight sighed it didn’t help her feel like less of a failure though. She took the box with all the stuff she had planned to give back and placed it on the ground near the craft. She hoped that maybe this could be used as an apology.

“Wait I want to place something in there!” Pinkie quickly opened the box and placed her cupcakes inside of it. “This way they stay safe and the alien can get them.”

“That might be a good idea,” Fluttershy told her as sometimes placing out food helped to coax out scared animals.

With that done the mares had nothing else to do but head on back home, thankfully they knew the way back as they walked slowly into the forest with Twilight looking depressed as they made their way home.

-Several Hours Later-

David felt himself waking up as his mind slowly started to kick back into gear. He groaned as he pushed himself off the bed with a yawn. He still felt tried but at least now he felt a bit more normal as he stretched out as much as he could in the cramp room.

“AVI how long have I been out?” David asked with a yawn.

“Five hours since you were last up.”

“Well that’s better than nothing,” David scratched a few places as he walked to the small bathroom. “I miss anything important?”

“No, the local life forms haven’t returned.”

“That’s good,” He said closing the door before throwing it open and jumping out. “Wait what local life forms!?”

“The ones that were knocking on the ship and you went out to meet.”

“When did I...oh god no,” He paled as he suddenly remembered what happened. “Oh god I thought that was just a weird dream. Oh fuck what the hell did I just do!?”

Without thinking he ran to the airlock and opened the door, he ran outside as he took a first step and suddenly remembered he had pulled up the ramp. His arms waved around as at the last moment he managed to grab hold of the side of the door stopping his fall. It wasn’t far off the ground but he would have eaten dirt if he had fallen.

“AVI put the ramp down again,” He called out to the ship as it did as he commanded. He quickly made his way to the ground as looked around.

“I am so fucking fired,” He moaned as the memories were coming back to him, they were a bit hazy but just what in the actual fuck had he been thinking? If his bosses back home heard about this he would be lucky to pilot a transport ship carrying cargo to the colonies.

He had just answered the door in his underwear to a bunch of aliens and pretty much told them to ‘fuck off’ because he was tired. He moaned as he ran his hands through his hair at just how screwed he was. They would tell stories for centuries on how badly he screwed up, he would be a laughing stock for generations.

It was then he noticed the small box that he was sure hadn’t been there yesterday. He could see hoof prints all around the area as he bent down and opened it up.

“Huh?” It was filled with the gear he left behind and also with what looked like cupcakes. David picked up the box as he went back inside to take a closer look. He went into the small medical room where all the first aid and medical supplies were stored in case he got injured while on a survey. He placed the cupcake onto a flat scanner as he wanted to see if it was edible.

Looking through the rest he found just the stuff he left behind like he had seen. They didn’t seem to be damaged to taken apart in fact they were in pretty good shape. Had they brought it all back to him as an offer of friendship? If so now he felt like a jerk for pulling what he did earlier, sleep deprived or not.

He waited for the results to come in from the computer and it looked like the cupcake was just that, an actual cupcake. Okay the sugar content looked a little high but nothing a good jog couldn’t hurt. He took it and bit into it. His mouth exploded with flavor as he sat back and enjoyed it.

“Oh god that’s good,” He couldn’t remember the last time he had something that tasted that good. Most of the food on the ship was preserved or vacuumed sealed to make it last longer. Oh sure there were some plants in the hydroponics bay but he had to ration those.

He looked to see there were several of the delicious deserts and he was going to have to use all his will power not to eat them all. Well...maybe one more.

After a snack he reviewed what happened from the Sparrow video logs and he face palmed his way through it.

“I can’t believe I did that,” He muttered to himself at seeing at what he did. He didn’t even remember what he had said until he saw the video. He saw them talking amongst themselves with the purple unicorn looking very distraught. He really felt sorry for that one, it had come up to him in what looked like in a welcoming manner and he did that to it.

“Do we have enough data to start building a translation program yet?” He asked the computer.

“Negative.”

“Figures as he listened to the alien language among them all. He noticed the blue Pegasus from earlier and he thought that yellow one he had seen before as well. Then there was a pure white unicorn with hair that was in no way naturally that well groomed. The orange one that looked the most like a normal little horse wore a cowboy hat of all things. It also sounded a bit different, almost like it had an accent? It was hard to tell and that might be throwing off the translation program if it did.

There was a very energetic pink one that he remembered had some kind of spaz attack in the village who apparently had given him the cupcakes.

“My ever loving thanks oh little horsy of delights, I shall name thee...Cupcake.” He joked at least until he could get names for them he had to name them something.

There was also some kind of little purple lizard thing, at first he thought it was a pet or something but it was speaking the same language and it’s mannerisms and the way it acted showed it was intelligent.

“Okay so we got little horses, unicorns, Pegasus-“

“The proper term is Pegasi.” The ship spoke up.

“Okay Pegasi, Zebras and now little reptilian creatures, damn I wonder how many other intelligent life forms are there?” It looked like this world held way more than just one possible intelligent race. That sure as hell made this whole affair a lot more important, which in turn made him feel even more like crap on what he just did.

“Oh man I can see it now,” David lamented to himself as the images of Historical Documentary starting him. “David Miller, fuck up of the century.”

He slammed his head onto the table with a sigh, he had to fix this as he racked his brain. “Okay let’s see what I got to work with.”

He looked at the video as an idea hit him, that yellow one, he had seen her home and it looked like she was friends or at least important to that group. Maybe he could use her as a proxy, but how?

David stood up as he paced up and down the corridor of the ship, he always would think when he was moving and he needed something to inspire him. He caught sight of the cupcakes and had to fight his urge to eat another one so soon. Suddenly and idea came to him as he quickly went to the small kitchen.

“AVI we should have some kind of frosting in the supplies right?” He asked sliding open the storage shelves.

“You have a very limited amount.” The computer told him.

“Okay now first things first,” He found a few of the ration packs and opened them up.

“You should not eat so many of those Commander,” The computer warmed him. “You will have to go back to the Pathfinder for more supplies much sooner.”

“I’m not going to eat them, I just need something they have,” He found what he was looking for an pulled out a cookie from the bags he pulled. The rations had a lot of stuff in them but the cookies were one of the treats in them, most likely to keep the moral of the person up. He pulled out seven as he placed them on the table and now started his hunt for the frosting.

He found it in a box for baking, not that he did much but again, it was one of those little things you did on long voyages to help break up the dull moments. It was just a tube of red but it would have to do.

“AVI pull up the images of every one of those aliens that were outside.” He called out as a screen on the wall lit up and images showed up. Using his fingers he zoomed in and took a look and it did look like they all wore unique marks. The little lizard thing didn’t so he would have to improvise with him.

“Okay, time to get started, oh and AVI print out the first level of the first contact package will you?”

“Acknowledged.”

A few hours later in her small cottage Fluttershy was currently feeding her animals, although she hummed happily along she didn’t really feel the happiness she normally got from taking care of her animal friends. She was worried about Twilight, the poor girl looked so crushed when she had left her in her library. She had tried to help cheer her up along with the others but nothing they did could help get the unicorn out of her funk.

Fluttershy sighed as she looked to her birds in their little homes in her living room. “I just don’t know what to do, Twilight was so looking forward to this.”

The birds tweeted a response.

“I know but I don’t know what to do.” She walked to the mice and gave them a piece of cheese.

Suddenly there was a knock at her door, she was wondering who it could be. Maybe it was one of her friends with word about Twilight? She hoped so as she walked over to the door.

“Who’s there?” She called out as she reached the door but paused as she was about to open it but there had been no reply. That was odd as normally someone did reply, she opened the door but there was no one there.

She blinked as she looked around but no one was around, then she noticed a box at her door step.

“Wait...isn’t that...” The box was the same one that Twilight had left with the alien.

“The alien,” She whispered as she crouched down and quickly looked around but she didn’t see anyone. She did remember how Rainbow said the alien could blend in so for all she knew it was out there watching her.

“Ohhhh, why me?” She whimpered at the thought of a strange alien creature was watching her. She gently reached the box and slowly opened it closing her eyes in case something scary popped out. When nothing did she slowly opened one eye and what she saw in there left her confused.

“Huh?” Fluttershy questioned looking at the contents.

Next up Chapter 6: Alien Message

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 6: Alien Message

David returned to the ship hoping that the box he delivered got the message through. But he could think on that later, first he had some work to go. He went to storage room to peel off his chameleon suit and stored it away. He put on his work clothes, mainly the jump suit of the Galaxy Survey Corp. It wasn’t much, just a white jumpsuit with a vest with some blue added in a few places and the Pathfinder 5 mission patch on the arm and the GSC logo on the vest.

He was thankful that the clothing allowed for a lot movement and he loved all the pockets, he could carry around anything with them. He walked the metal hallway to the machine room in the back of the ship which was right next to engineering. The door slide open as he walked in to see various boxes all sealed up. There were work stations to the side but what he needed was in one of the rows of boxes.

He looked around and found the large rectangular one with the yellow and black markings. He popped open the latch and started to pull out one of seven identical devices. They were the size of a small house cat but looked more like a metallic dragon fly with plastic rotor blades. It was light weight as he loaded it into a small slot on the wall that was nearest the outside fall of the ship. He repeated this every time until all seven devices were loaded into their births.

“Alright, AVI lock and load the Seven Dwarfs and get ready to launch them.”

“Affirmative.”

The devices were small drones used to help with surveying worlds as David watched them rise up into the ceiling. He knew that they were being loaded into the air locking system above as there would be a hatch above leading outside for them to fly out of.

David walked to the bridge and sat down in the chair as he used his implant to start up the holographic displays. “Alright give me control of Sleepy and I’ll load up the flight path for the others.”

He started working as with the other drones he was going to send them out through the forest to start with. He wanted a detail look of the area around him before sending it out to the village later, that is once he established some kind of trust with the locals. He decided to assign them sectors and slowly work their way out from the ship.

With that done he took a visor from the table and placed it on. The visor looked more like a large pair of thick sunglasses with a light coming out of them. What they actually were was a device called an Augmented Reality visor as he linked it up with his implant for better control.

“Okay link is steady, all systems are go, let them go AVI.”

The visor made him see out of the drone he called ‘Sleepy’ as with his hand movements he controlled the little craft. The ship was tracking his physical movements as it sent that info to the drone. He saw it rise out of the Sparrow I and he slowly started it on its journey. He flew over the forest going into the direction he had marked from his earlier time out. It didn’t take long for it to show up at the edge of the forest. David saw the little cottage and slowly started to fly Sleepy into one of the trees close by. David made a claw motion with his hand as it activated a series of legs to extend from it.

He very slowly moved the drone to a large enough branch, he couldn’t feel the drone hit the tree but the sensors told him it was. He slowly killed the rotors and walked the drone along. David wanted to keep the drone hidden but still have a clear line of sight with the cameras. If there was any reply he was hoping it would be from the cottage so this would let him know what their response would be.

He killed the link as he let the drone in standby mode a drone could operate for over a week on low power like that.

David pulled of the AR visor and sat back, it was a long day and he needed a break after that long walk in and out of that forest. “AVI pull up the entertainment vids, sports section.”

“What would you like to watch?”

David sighed as he thought about it. “I think hockey, what games haven’t I watched for Colony Nova Prime?”

“The next game that is listed is a home game against Mars Red Sons.”

“Ohhh, the Martians, turn that one on.” David couldn’t help but look forward to that. There had been a rivalry between his home space colony Nova Prime and the Martian team. It all happened fifty years ago when the Red Sons took out the Supernovas out of the first round playoffs on their best season in years. Then the Supernovas returned the favor next year, the two teams had hated each other since.

David sat back with his feet up as the vid screen came to life as the recorded game started to play. One of the things that all Pathfinders had was a huge library of Earth entertainment. It was needed to help keep the pilots from getting bored. The only problem was that there wasn’t anything from after his launch into the unknown regions of space. He’d have a lot of catching up to do when he got back but he would have plenty of down time for that.

So he had to watch things like sports sparingly or else he could watch a whole season in a month and then nothing else new until he got back.

David was going to enjoy this and he needed time to relax and unwind as he waited.

-Golden Oaks Library-

Twilight moaned as she was sitting at a table in the main room with her face literally in a book. She wasn’t reading the book she just had her face pressed up against the pages, her ears flat against her head as her depressing atmosphere could be felt.

Pinkie and Spike were the only ones in the library at the moment, Applejack and Rarity had to go back to work and Fluttershy had gone to feed her animals. Rainbow had gone to check on the weather team but said she would be back as soon as possible. That left Pinkie and Spike to try and get Twilight out of her funk.

“Come on Twilight, it’s not that bad,” Pinkie said to her friend. “Maybe it was all just a misunderstanding.”

Twilight just groaned into her book again.

“Man I don’t think I’ve ever seen her like this before,” Spike had seen Twilight at her best and at her worst moments. He had been helping her earlier with getting any books they had on languages based on gestures but they only had one book on the subject unfortunately and Twilight had been reading it over and over again.

“Well that’s why I’m here Spike, if there is any pony that can get her out of this it’s me,” Pinkie said pulling out a few random items from her mane. Silly goggles, a few streamers and some other random items to help her try and cheer her friend up. Pinkie always wanted to see everypony happy and smiling and having one of her friends, one of her closest friends even, not smiling was a bit painful for her to see.

The door to the library opened up as Fluttershy looked in. “Um, Twilight?”

“Hey Fluttershy come on in,” Spike told her hoping another friend might help things out. It was then that he noticed a box she had on her back, a very familiar one in fact. “Fluttershy is that the same box we left by the alien ship?”

“Oh yes, I found it outside my home.” She replied as soon as the words were finished Twilight’s head snapped up and looked over.

“Wait, what!?” The purple unicorn saw the box as she quickly used her magic to levitate off her friend.

Fluttershy gave a small yelp but let Twilight do her thing, after all this was why she came to Twilight.

Twilight levitated the box and opened it up, she had no idea what it was going to have in it. She hoped that maybe it would be some kind of communication although the last thing she expected to see were several cookies. At least they looked like cookies to her and there was red frosting with what looked like crudely drawn cutie marks on them, their cutie marks that is. There was one more with what looked like a small figure with a tail and spikes, she had to guess that was to represent Spike.

“Ohhh, the alien gave us cookies!” Pinkie took the one with her mark on it.

“We don’t know what they are yet Pinkie, they could be cookies but we have no idea what they are made from.” Twilight levitated the one with her mark on it. “I’m going to have to study these to make sure we can safely eat them.”

“Well they’re kind of stale tasting.” Pinkie said with a mouthful of cookies.

Twilight’s head snapped to her friend, her eyes wide and her mouth open. “Pinkie! I just said that I don’t know if they can be eaten, for all we know they contain something that is poisonous for us to eat!”

“Oh...well I feel fine so I guess they’re good,” Pinkie smiled. “Besides cookies are meant to be eaten.”

Twilight groaned in frustration as she lit her horn up and did a quick poison detection spell. It was something she learned after the poison joke incident to avoid dangerous plants in the future. So far her spell wasn’t detecting anything dangerous to ponies in the pastries. She took a small bite of the cookie with her mark on it testing out the taste.

Pinkie was right, it wasn’t like the fresh cookies you’d get from Sugarcube Corner. They weren’t bad at least and the frosting was tasty. “I think they have some preservatives in them.”

“Really, why?” Spike said looking at the one in his claws with his image on it not sure if he wanted to eat it or not.

“Well think about it, who knows how long it takes to get from one point to another in space,” Twilight told them. “Even if you can travel faster than light it could still take a long time to get to someplace else. You’d need to have your food last a really long time.”

How fast and how they actually did manage to go faster than light were two questions she really wanted to know. It was then she noticed that there were papers under the cookies. She pulled them out levitating the papers in front of her.

“What’s this?” She asked out loud.

“I was hoping you might know, I couldn’t make sense out of them,” Fluttershy told Twilight as she gave a small taste to the cookie with her mark on it.

Twilight looked at the paper and had to pause, this wasn’t like the kind of paper she used all her life. She squinted and took a closer look, she couldn’t see any imperfections, it was completely smooth to the touch too. She looked around and found her microscope and brought it over as she placed a sheet under it.

“Wow this is really made well,” Twilight muttered as she was starting to think on how fine it was created.

“So the paper is made well?” Pinkie asked not sure what was so important about paper.

“Yes the quality is really amazing,” Twilight then took a look at one of the papers.

It started with one dot, then two crossed lines another dot, two parallel lines and then two dots. The next line was repeated only now there were two dots, another dot and then three dots. It was repeated again but now two dots, two dots and four dots.

That was odd, it was kind of looked like it was counting up but-wait...no it couldn’t be. She looked over all the other lines one the left side of the paper.

“One plus one equals two? One plus two equals three?” Twilight scanned all the lines and it seemed to work out. One the other side there were the signs that had to mean ‘plus’ and ‘equal’ with strange symbols. Those had to be the corresponding numbers in the alien’s own language!

“It’s math!” Twilight yelled out looking at the pages and showing them to her friends. “This side is the basics and the other side are the same equations but how they write it!”

“Ohhh,” They all said as one looking at the page.

“So it gave you math homework?” Spike asked her.

“Spike this is important to start a dialogue,” Twilight clapped her hooves. She hadn’t screwed up and the alien was trying to communicate with her. Maybe it realized that she couldn’t communicate with gestures and decided to start with simple math.

She had been so worried that when Celestia found out she might have screwed up first contact with an alien, Twilight had been running various scenarios on what her punishment could have been. Everything from moving away from Ponyville to no longer being her student but now she didn’t have to worry about any of that.

“Spike can you get me the chalk board and some papers?” She asked him.

“Sure thing.”

Pinkie looked at Twilight as she noticed the smile on her friend’s face and looked to Fluttershy as she whispered to her friend. “Nice going on bringing that here, Twilight looks a lot happier now.”

“Yes she does,” Fluttershy agreed glad that Twilight was back to normal.

As the two decided to leave Twilight to her work, Twilight was eagerly going at the papers with a vengeance. She spread them out as each paper seemed to cover something different. One had the math questions in the alien language on the left side this time but on the right were what had to be words.

Taking a closer look at the alien language it looked like a lot of the parts repeated themselves. There was another page with what could be letters. There were large ones with a smaller one next to it, at the bottom was again small sentences of the alien language. Twilight puzzled it out trying to see the logic of it.

“Okay so the first page is to show how they write math, the second page...is how they write the equations in their language?” She said more to herself as Spike was gathering up everything she needed. She felt like she was on the right track but what was the third page?

“Well if that is how they write it how are we supposed to know what means what?” Spike asked her looking at the second page.

“Maybe...that’s what the third page is for?” Twilight reasoned out. Looking at the third page it looked like it might be an alphabet. But the bottom...could it be examples of their grammar?

Maybe they were examples of simple sentences in order to give examples of how their language was structured?

She would have to reason them out later but it could be correct. There were other pages as well, some were the equations on them but there were blank spots on them. It was most likely a test to see if she could fill them out or finish the equations.

Twilight grinned, she was going to show this alien that this pony had math skills.

She threw herself at the challenge as with Spike’s help she worked for over an hour on figuring out the alien puzzle. The chalkboard was used to help her keep track of what they found as she double checked her work. The math looked easy enough, it as the alien alphabet that was a bit more of a challenge for her.

She started by having the alien numbers and their words and wrote down the Equestrian counter parts, that made it easier to remember which was which. The alien language sentences were a bit more trouble, she could see numbers in them but wasn’t sure what everything else was. At best she figured it was just explaining what the math equations were.

What she found out so far was that their match was based on a base ten mathematics. They went from zero to nine before the numbers started to change.

By the end of it she figured out all the math questions so far, she rechecked her work and she nodded proud of herself.

“Okay so I think that does it.”
“So, what now?” Spike asked her.

Twilight had to think on that, what was next for them? She needed to give her answers back but did that mean going all the way into the Everfree?

Twilight started to pace as she thought about it, the alien left the box with Fluttershy for a reason. Maybe it knew where she lived? Rainbow and Fluttershy did say they met it near her place so maybe when it saw Fluttershy with their group at his ship did it figure that leaving it with her the box would be delivered to one of them that could solve it?

She paused to think on that, it made sense as why else had it left the box with her?

So if she kept following that logic then maybe if she left the box by Fluttershy’s place the alien would see it. Perhaps it was even watching for the box to be returned. There was something else though and that was, what would be her response to this? Sure she could just hand back the answers but if it was trying to build a bridge between their languages it couldn’t just be one way.

Twilight suddenly got the idea to not only send the answers but to send her own version of the test. Something that would help the alien know that not only she understood but also to help build an understanding of her culture.

“Spike get me some scrolls we got our own math homework to give to the alien,” She smiled as she paused a second as her eyes crossed over a certain section it was the children’s section of the library and another idea hit her. Maybe it was time to not only send back her own math challenge but to step it up a little.

Looking through the books she found one that parents would use to help teach young foals. Although she was a bit hesitant on just giving away a book from the library but it was for a good cause. Plus she could always ask for it back later...she hoped at least.

She took a breath, this was important moment in Equestrian history, first contact between an intelligent alien race, she could stand to lose one book.

Twilight groaned, this was going to hurt a lot more than she thought as she pulled the book and set it aside for later.

-Sparrow I-

“Oh come on!” David yelled at the holo screen. “Come on are you blind, that was a hooking!”

“Commander your stress levels are rising.”

“Thank you AVI,” David sighed annoyed. “God, a 5 to 2 game this sucks.”

He was tempted to just turn it off, it was the third period and only one minute left, the odds of a comeback was pretty much impossible at this point. He looked around for the leftover cupcakes, he felt like he needed a pick me up at the moment. He pushed off his chair but before he went far a beeping caught his attention.

With a sign he slumped back down unto his chair as he looked at what it was, it was the drone he left by the yellow Pegasus’ little cottage. Waving his hand over the screen he shut off the game as he changed his focus to the monitor.

“Well maybe something interesting is going on.” He pulled up the visual as he watched the purple one with the horn coming back. She looked around the area as David zoomed in the image he could see something he didn’t understand. Her horn suddenly glowed as the saddle bag she had glowed and opened by itself. He then watched as the box he gave back was pulled out and hovered in the air and left on the ground.

“What...the actual fuck...” His mind went blank for a moment before he shook it as he kicked it back into high gear. “AVI please tell me you got readings off of that?”

“I’m sorry Commander the drone is too far away for a proper energy reading, only a small sample was able to be collected.”

David cursed his luck, this was something that he hadn’t expected, could they all do that, or just the ones with the horns or was that one special? Again more questions were just growing and he really needed to be able to try and communicate with these creatures as it was starting to really frustrate him.

He watched as she seemed to be waiting for a bit, maybe it expected him to be waiting around? Well at any rate after ten minutes it looked like the little one was disappointed at least it seemed to be. It was odd how expressive they were, you could see the human like behaviour come through clearly. David watched her leave and he contemplated going to get the box but that was a long walk and it was getting dark.

The drones were still scanning but they had reported a lot of animal movement, including some larger ones that seemed to be getting more active.

Cracking his knuckles he pulled on the AR visor as he linked back up with Sleepy, he was going to use the claws to grip the box and sent it flying back.

After some time he managed to get the box back, he had been a little worried about the weight but thankfully Sleepy pulled it off just fine. He decided to keep the drone back and use it to send the box back when he was done with it.

Currently David was in the small workroom as he opened the box. Inside of it were papers as he pulled them out. He saw that the papers with the blank spots of the math questions were back and all filled out. Looking them over he could see that these creatures figured it out, not only that but they got everything correct.

“Well I’d call that a success,” David smiled and looked at the other sheets of paper these weren’t from him. They actually looked like they were scrolls of all things. He pulled one out and opened it up and he couldn’t help but smile.

“Smart little one aren’t you?” He had in his hands was a nearly exact copy of what he had sent but instead of human letters and numbers they had sent their own version.

“Now this is something I can work with,” He couldn’t wait to get started on that but the last item was what really got his attention. There was a book in the bottom of the box, although the fact that it looked like any book you’d find on earth was a little creepy. He picked it up and opened it up, there were simple images and what looked like a few words under each image, the images took up most of the pages.

Flipping through the book he suddenly realized what he had.

“It’s a kids book!”

“Commander?” The ships computer asked.

“AVI get ready to scan this book, we’re going to scan in every page we’re going to use this to help with building a base for their written language with this.” David felt excited the aliens were smarter than he gave them credit for. Sure he couldn’t know how each word was said but knowing sentence structure, verbs and nouns would be very helpful in figuring out their language. Plus he could use this as a way to help with the actual language later on.

“AVI I think it’s time to step it up a bit, get the next set of papers ready and can we made a simple music player of some kind with the resources we have on the Sparrow?”

“The 3D printer can made most of what we need but spare electronics are available with some modifications to them.”

“Awesome, start on the case and get the list ready. I’ll scan in the book and get started on the math questions.” David felt a bit giddy at all of this. Looks like he not only saved his ass but things were going well, now he just had to figure out ‘I come in peace, let’s be friends’ in their language.

“Looks like it’s going to be a long time, hey put some music on while I work will you?”

“What would you like?”

He thought about it, “Put something from my millennial classical period on.”

There was a pause before heavy guitar sounds filled the ship with a loud voice singing.

Give me fuel,

Give me fire,

Give me what I desire!

David bobbed his head with the beat of the song, some of the other pilots during training gave him a hard time because he liked classical stuff, especially the millennial period which was the late 20th century and early 21st century period of earth’s culture. His uncle had gotten him into it and David loved some of that old stuff, hell a lot of the current culture could be found to have roots in that period.

They still had things like Star Trek, Star Wars and companies like Disney would never seem to die. Hell they were some of the oldest companies in the world for a reason.

“Churning my direction, quench my thirst with gasoline,” David sang with the music. Sure he liked current shows, films and music but there was just something about this period that really spoke to him. Sometimes he thought he would have loved to have lived in that time, but then remembered a lot of the crap that happened in that time. Hell humanity was still stuck on Earth the entire time and were only just starting to entertain the thought of leaving the planet.

So no thank you, he liked his time period and if he did live in that time, he wouldn’t be here on an alien world trying to understand a sentient alien race.

He sat in a chair looking over the scroll with a smile as he worked out the match problems to the music.

Next up Chapter 7: Cultural Exchange

I got super inspired which is why this came out so far, also the lines like {this} I decided to use for when the characters can't understand the words but the reader can as a test to see if this works out for the story.

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 7: Cultural Exchange

David was currently working on a device in the small machine shop, on a table lay the blue plastic casing and buttons along with some electronics he was putting together. Thankfully what he was building wasn’t too complicated, hell he bet a high schooler could put this together. He double checked the electronics as he tested out the connections.

“AVI is the hard drive filled with the music from the first contact package?” David asked as he started to assemble the device.

“I’ve finished with the download it holds all of the music from the basic first contact package as well as the ones you suggested.”

“Cool,” David grabbed the adhesive as he started to glue the pieces in place. He really had to be careful as this was strong stuff and although he was wearing gloves he didn’t want to get them glued to the table. It was an hour later until he finally had finished with the device, he had woken up this day to the finished case and had started on the electronics after breakfast.

“There that should do it,” He sat back stretching out feeling his body pop in a few places. He paused as he looked at it. It was actually pretty simple, the power supply was an old fashioned electric battery that should last for about a week of none-stop play. The small holes in the side indicated the speakers on the round edges. There was a small display with a row of buttons under it with symbols that any human would know.

That was the problem however and that only humans might know what they meant.

David got up and looked for a piece of paper and a pen and marker. He had been thinking about this while making it and decided t make as basic instructions as possible. He placed the dots from the math quiz under each button to number then. Now it was his turn to try and show what each number meant.

There was a pause before with number one dot he wrote the play button and then a musical notes. Then for stop he did the same only with a circle and line through it. For each button he tried to come up with simple designs on what each button did. It wasn’t easy as he had to try and think how would an alien view the images. By the end of it he felt it was as good as things were going to get and sighed as he shrugged.

“Well I guess that’s everything,” he tested the device out playing the message and then also skipped that to listen to some music. He tested out all the buttons before powering it down. Thankfully it was small and light enough for one of the drones to take back. He got the box as he placed the math questions the alien gave him with his completed sections. He had already scanned and copied them anyway. He would have given the book back as well but there was no room with the music player.

David also grabbed the next set of math this time it was multiplication and division. He also put in a table of known elements only with images of each element given they couldn’t read the language yet. It still had the short form of single or two letters. This however had to be folded up as it was pretty big to get all those images on there.

There were a few other things in there, one was a few diagrams of the Sol system with colonies both on the ground and in space listed. There also was the star burst like pattern that showed the location of Earth’s sun using fourteen known solar pulses. The final paper held an image of two humans one was the male and female form with some graphs for size. The other was the famous image that Leonardo Da Vinci made of the human body in that circle.

Placing everything in order he placed them into the box and called up one of the drones, he wanted to keep Sleepy by the cottage as he called in Grumpy for delivery.

“So while we wait for Grumpy to show up did the drones find anything interesting?” David asked as he just wanted to kill some time.

“The drones have mapped out much of the forest, there has been some hostile attempts on the drone from the local fauna and flora.”

“Great hostile plants,” David sighed remembering an earlier planet he went to that had that same problem. “No damages then since they would have been recalled and you would have told me if one went down.”

“Correct, there is one thing that stood out.”

“Oh?” That got his attention.

“A structure was found not far from this location.”

“Let me see,” David walked to one of the panels on the wall as an image of what looked like an abandoned castle was shown from the drones point of view. “Huh...well that’s worth exploring in person, how much of this did the drones get?”

“Their primary task was collection topographical data so only rudimentary scans were taken.”

David sighed, even though AVI was an advance computer program it was still just a program and couldn’t think for itself or outside the box. Unless he ordered the computer to do something it would just follow standard protocols or programming until told otherwise.

“Alright pull Happy off that duty and assign it to me, after the delivery I’m going out there to check on that place and I want Happy as backup. That place looks old and I don’t want something to fall on me trapping me in there or just killing me.”

“Compliance.”

One of these days when he got back home he was going to hunt down however programmed the computer to say that. He has asked but the computer didn’t know, it was just a really odd thing to say and it was bugging him on why someone would program a word like that.
He heard the ship’s hatch up top open as one of the drones was lowered down.

“Time for a mail call,” David grinned.

-Outside Golden Oaks-

Two mares were currently on their way to the library this wasn’t an unusual thing as it was a public library but these two weren’t going for a book, in fact they were asked to come. A grey earth pony mare with long dark mane dressed only with a bow-tie walked alone her roommate. This was a white unicorn with electric blue mane and her ever present shades on her eyes.

They were Octavia Melody and Vinyl Scratch AKA DJ Pon-3.

“So why was it that Pinkie said we had to come here again?” Melody asked with her cultured voice to Vinyl.

“No idea Octy,” She shrugged. “Pink’s just came in said that Twilight needed some help with something music I think, she was talking kind of fast so it was hard to make out.”

Octavia sighed, “Well might as well I was trying to come up with some new music but I’ve hit a wall.”

“Oh damn that sucks when it happens,” Vinyl could sympathize as she hated it when she couldn’t think of a really cool new song to play for a party or club.

“Hey you two,” A new voice called out as both of them looked to see another mare. This was a green unicorn that Octavia knew well from having to play a few times with her.

“Hello Lyra, did you get a visit from Pinkie Pie as well?” Octavia asked her fellow musician.

“Yeah it was kind odd,” Lyra fell in step with the others. “I can’t remember Twilight ever asking for me, I thought she forgot about me to be honest.”

“Wait you knew Twilight from before or something?” Vinyl asked as this was the first she heard of it. She didn’t know Lyra as good as Octavia as she only knew the unicorn through her roommate but she seemed nice enough to Vinyl.

“We were in school together before I moved out of Canterlot to Ponyville.” She explained.

The three soon found themselves at the front door as Octavia gently opened it, it was always a bit odd on what to do with the library since
Twilight moved in since it was both a public building and her home some ponies weren’t sure on the proper way to handle it.

“Hello?” She called out as the three came in.

“Oh are you the one that Pinkie asked to meet with me?” Twilight had been looking through a few books as they came in a she marked her spot before meeting them.

“Yes, I am Octavia and this is Vinyl,” The mare stated as Lyra walked forward with a smile on her face.

“Hey Twilight long time no see,” Lyra said.

“Uh...yeah, it’s great seeing...you,” Twilight was trying to search for who this was, she did seem very familiar but she couldn’t place it.

Lyra’s smile dropped a bit as she looked at Twilight’s reaction. “Twilight...what’s my name?”

“Uh...” Twilight’s eyes darted back and forth it was on the tip of her tongue.

“Oh for Celestia’s sake,” Lyra threw her hooves up in the air. “It’s Lyra, Lyra Heartstrings! We went to school together with Lemon Hearts, Minuette, Twinkleshine and Moon Dancer!”

“Oh!” It finally clicked for Twilight as now she remembered them all. “I’m so sorry, I remember now!”

Lyra sighed, “Same old Twilight.”

“So how long have you’ve been living in Ponyville?” Twilight said trying to salvage things.

Lyra gave her a level look, “About a year before you showed up.”

“Oh...sorry,” Twilight really felt bad about all of this, not remembering her and basically ignoring her for all this time. She really wanted to make things up for her, maybe this could be a new friendship report on how to rebuild old friendships but first on to business.

“Well I’d like to talk to you after but first I needed your help.” Twilight led them into the basement of the library as they walked down the stairs. They looked around the place as none of them even knew that library even had a basement.

There were machines and equipment that none of them could place around the large room, some science equipment and spell crafting resources and all of it neatly set up. There was a chalkboard and a dozen papers pinned to one wall. As they got closer they saw numbers and letters but there were other things on the papers that they couldn’t make out.

“This is what I was hoping to get your opinion on,” Twilight showed them that on a small table was a little blue...something.
“What is it?” Octavia asked not sure what it was. It looked like something Vinyl might have but electronics wasn’t her strong point.
“It’s a music player of a sort,” Twilight told them as Vinyl got closer to take a look.

“This little thing?” The white unicorn asked rising up her shades a bit. “This thing doesn’t look like much, heck my equipment is the best sound system this side of Canterlot and that takes up a lot more space than this.”

“Well trust me this came from a lot further away than Canterlot,” Twilight took a breath. “Okay what I’m going to tell you three you have to swear to keep it secret at least for now.”

“Why?” Lyra asked not sure she liked where this was going.

“Okay this is very important and when I figured out the instructions on this and it started playing I knew I needed the opinions of experts in music,” Twilight started to explain. “So I had Pinkie get me the best musicians she knew in Ponyville.”

“You see I know of music but I’m in no ways an expert,” Twilight rounded the machine. “I need your help to help me figure out the culture behind this music.”

“Well what is? Gryphon, Minotaur, do Diamond Dogs have music?” Lyra looked at the other two for that last one. She couldn’t remember hearing any Diamond Dog music before as that race was a bit isolated from every other race. The other two mares only shrugged, they never heard if they had music either.

“It’s an unknown species,” Twilight knew it was a risk telling them but she needed professionals to help her understand the feelings and meanings behind the music. She was going to give her report to the Princesses soon and she wanted it to be thorough. Her friends weren’t experts and so her plan for Pinkie to bring her some experts.

“Unknown?” All three music mares asked at once.

“Just Pinkie Promise that you won’t tell anypony what I’m going to tell you,” Twilight begged them. “This is most likely one of the most important moments of all of Equestrian history, even the history of our entire world. I already had one mistake happen and I don’t want another so I’m begging you to please trust me on this.”

The three looked at each other, Octavia and Lyra felt a bit uncertain but Vinyl looked interested so she stepped up.

“Okay I’m in.”

Octavia sighed if her friend was in then she would be in too and stepped forward. Lyra had to think about it, this seemed really important and it was a little intimidating but part of her was curious on what this unknown race had as music. If this was some kind of old recording found of an extinct race or contact with a new one, well that might actually be pretty cool. Taking a breath she stepped forward.

All three of them recited the Pinkie Promise not to tell whatever Twilight was going to tell them.

“Okay girls this device was delivered to me earlier today by, well I guess the scientific term would be...an extra equestrian life form.”

There was a pregnant pause in the room before Lyra broke the silence. “A-are you saying that...this is alien?”

Twilight nodded her head as all three mares’ eyes enlarged even Vinyl’s and she was a hard one to surprise. Twilight started to explain things to them. “You see a few days ago we learned that an alien ship landed in the Everfree, we’ve made contact and slowly have been learning more about the alien. The alien sent me this along with some other stuff.”

The mares looked at the papers near the device on the wall and suddenly the strange script took on a whole new meaning.

“I...I think I might need to sit down,” Octavia sat on a stool nearby as she was feeling light headed.

“I might join you,” Lyra never knew Twilight to joke around, heck she was one of the most serious ponies she knew and if Twilight was saying this it had to be true.

“Wicked,” Vinyl grinned as she looked at the device with more interest. “How does this sucker work?”

“Well I found the power button here,” Twilight hit a red button before hitting one with a sideways triangle on it. “This is the play button.”

Suddenly music came from the device, a chorus of string instruments boomed to life as Octavia’s head snapped up and her ears took in the music. It flowed with a sense of power behind it as she closed her eyes and in her mind she was sitting in a grand theatre to a whole orchestra playing the piece.

The music picked up and it was like a whirlwind of music surrounding them.

“Wow that’s amazing,” Lyra blinked as she took in the music she had never heard of music like this. It was close to classical style but she had never heard of this kind of artist before in her studies.

“What do you think?” Twilight asked Octavia.

“Shhhh!” Octavia shushed them all as she took in the music still.

“Oh man we’ve lost Octavia,” Vinyl whispered to them. “She gets like this when she’s really into her music, kind of dives right into it.”

Octavia ignored them as she lost herself into the music, it was like falling into a tornado, then it was like gliding on the wings of a Pegasus in flight before going to a more upbeat version like someone was trying to describe a dance in music.

After a few minutes Twilight paused it, “There’s a lot more to that song but what do you think so far?”

Octavia sighed out, “Brilliant, whoever made this was brilliant. You said there’s more?”

“Oh yes, I think I can made a recording with a record player if you want.”

“Please, I would ever so much enjoy hearing more of that.”

Twilight nodded, “As long as you can give me your thoughts on it.” She turned and looked at a sheet she had prepared. Thankfully even though the little display was in an alien language there were numbers before each song which she could read. So she made notes on the different types of music associated with the numbers. She clicked what was apparently a skip button to get to the correct number.

“Here try this one out.”

An electronic beat started to kick things off as Vinyl got to bobbing her head with the tunes especially when the beat picked itself up.

“Oh yeah now this is my kind of music!” Vinyl shouted out as she got into the groove of the music. “This is way wicked stuff I can so see playing this at the next party. If these aliens know how to party I think we’ll get along great.”

“So they like to party from the music?” Twilight asked.

“Oh yeah, this is something you can only rock out to in a club I bet,” Vinyl was by this point swaying her body slightly to the music.

“Interesting,” Twilight paused it to Vinyl’s disappointment. “Well here is another but it’s in another language so I don’t know what he’s saying.”

“He?” Lyra asked.

“Well it sounds like a male’s voice to me,” Twilight skipped to the next song.

A soulful guitar was heard before a matching voice sang with it.

{I hurt myself today}
{To see if I still feel}
{I’ve focused on the pain}
{The only thing that’s real}
{The needle tears a hole}

“He sounds really sad,” Lyra felt her ears go back as she listened to the song, she couldn’t tell what was being said but the singer sounded like they were singing about something painful to them. A piano started to play along with the guitar at this point.

The song has a slow building point as it eventually leveled off and then picked up slowly again only a bit more powerful this time around.

“I would say that this culture has a very deep emotional tie with their music,” Octavia said hearing the sorrow in the alien voice.

“Man this is depressing, you got anything more upbeat?” Vinyl asked.

Twilight looked through her notes there was one that she marked that sounded a bit upbeat to her. “Okay let’s try this one next but I think it’s in a different language than what we’ve seen so far.”

“Really, can you tell?” Lyra had only heard the one song so far.

Twilight nodded her head, “It sounds a lot different so if this is a representation of their entire culture than they might have more than one language so I think they would put in more than just music from one part of their culture if they were trying to share their entire culture.”

Lyra thought about it and nodded, “That makes sense.”

There was a slow melody with a female singer that started up.

{Hast du etwas Zeit für mich}
{Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich}
{Von 99 Luftballons}
{Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont}
{Denkst du vielleicht g'rad an mich}
{Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich}
{Von 99 Luftballons}

“Okay that’s definitely a different language,” Octavia had a good ear for sounds and that sounded totally different than what she was hearing before.

There was a clapping sound hear in the break of the song it wasn’t like hooves clapping together but it was similar. Then the music picked up again to a very upbeat song even though they didn’t know what the person was singing it sounded very happy to them.

Lyra tried singing along but the unfamiliar words were hard to grasp but she smiled while trying some of the words were kind of fun to say.
They went through a few more songs as they gave their opinions on it, it seemed that this culture much like their own had a wide array of styles of music. Although it was hard to say how close some of them were to each other. It was difficult to pin point is some songs were older or newer than the others. Octavia suggested that the classical pieces had to be older as none of the electronic sounds were in them and would have incorporated them in some way if those had been around.

Currently a piano and electronic guitar were playing as the guitar made this soaring like melody before a smooth male voice sang out.

{Sitting here wasted and wounded at this old piano}
{Trying hard to capture the moment this morning I don't know}
{'Cause a bottle of vodka is still lodged in my head}
{And some blond gave me nightmares, think that she's still in my bed}
{As I dream about movies}
{They won't make of me when I'm dead}

The mares listened to the music, Twilight hadn’t been sure on what kind to classify it so she had asked their opinion on it. The mares started to sway in time with the song being played as they listened to the smooth vocals of the male singer.

“I feel like I should sitting with a stallion or something next to me,” Lyra blushed a bit at the imagery.

“Oh yeah this is total make out music,” Vinyl grinned.

“This is definitely a more romantic sounding song,” Octavia agreed.

Twilight took down notes, so far they had found that that the aliens seemed to have all the basic emotions that they did, which was great. The fact that they could not only convey emotions into their music but that ponies could understand it said that there was some common ground between their cultures. This excited her as it was proof that a friendship might just be possible between their races.

She looked over her notes of the music so far, they were a big help with her research in this as they picked up on things that she didn’t. It was also very interesting listening to music that no one on their world had ever heard before. She began to wonder what their art was like next.

Twilight was starting to think that maybe she could send back examples of pony art next? If she couldn’t send songs then this was the best idea, in fact there was a book on the history of Equestrian art that she could send. Once again she felt torn on sending him another book but this was important and once again she could ask for it back.

It was just that she hated not signing out the books properly ever since she took on the role as librarian for the town she had kept things well organized and made sure books were properly signed out. It was only because of such a extreme circumstance.

Oh! She could give him a library card!

She wasn’t sure how to give her own examples of music as nothing was as small and compact as the device in the room with them.

Twilight looked at the small blue device, she wasn’t sure what exactly it was made out of, it looked to be some kind of plastic but not like any she had ever seen before. Plastic was only invented a decade ago and not many ponies used it yet. She had to fight every scientific instinct she had to open it up and try to figure out how it worked but this was too important.

This was a gift and she didn’t want to break it or be unable to put it back together after words. The device was so simple looking and yet by this point it seemed to hold much more music than any record player could. How did it store the music? How did play without as far as she could tell moving parts as it was totally silent inside? How did the little screen change like it did?

She had scanned it for magic and yet again like the other objects from before, there was zero magic trace. This was forming a strange theory in her mind and that was, what if the aliens had no magic ability or were from a world that lacked any trace of a mana field? Which should have been unheard of as the mana field of their planet was where they gathered all their magical abilities.

It was impossible to think of a world without magic, even the other races had their own type of magic users. From Gryphon battle mages, to Minotaur mystics and even her friend Zecora being a shaman had her own magic. Ponies had the most magical potential but still every single being on their world in some form or another interacted with the mana field.

If they didn’t have one then these beings were truly alien in a way that she had never thought of before. Still it was something to hold off until they could establish a better way to communicate.

Twilight and the others continued listening to the alien music well into the afternoon as they enjoyed and tried to make sense of this mysterious new culture they were exposed to.

Next up Chapter 8: The Castle

List of Music in order:
Ludwig Van Beethoven’s 5th symphony in C Minor
Deadmau5 - Ghost N’ Stuff
Johnny Cash – Hurt
Nena – 99 Luftballons
Bon Jovi – Bed of Roses

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 8: The Castle

It had taken him almost an hour but David had finally reached the structure that the drones had found. He was thankful that he had traveled with the chameleon suit as he had seen a few animals that he really didn’t want to notice him. Some kind of large alligator or crocodile (he honestly wasn’t sure which as he wasn’t a zoologist) but he stayed clear of it. Something large also was in these woods although he hadn’t gotten a clear look at it but it was pretty big from the sounds of it.

He arrived in an open area to see what looked like a very old and run down castle of some kind, there was a simple rope and wooden suspension bridge in front of him over a very deep looking gap.

“Huh, natural moat I guess,” David shrugged but as he got closer noticed a set of stairs cut into the rock to his right. He paused wondering what was down there as you someone went to the effort to carve out stairs for a reason. He made a mental note to check on that later, maybe send a drone down first to make sure the thing wouldn’t give way.

“Speaking of giving way,” He muttered looking at the bridge. It had seen better days but the scans from the drone did say it should support his weight. It was the supposed to part that he really hated. “Nothing ventured...”

He cautiously made his way over the bridge, it wasn’t exactly build for someone his size and the ropes were too low to grab onto, then again if this was made by the little horse aliens could they ‘grab’ onto it? The scans from the subject he called ‘Skittles’ had shown some really odd skeletal structure, especially how the front legs had nearly a wrist like section to them able to bend their hooves in angles more like a human than a horse.

After getting over the Bridge of Nearly Certain Death as he was calling it, he soon arrived at the castle.

“Seen better days right Happy?” He commented to the drone that was hovering near him. He didn’t expect a reply as it really couldn’t, hell it had less intelligence than AVI did.

Walking up some steps he found the ancient doors already open as he walked in, the odd thing was that he didn’t even have to duck down, the doors were built way bigger than the aliens, maybe it was built by another species? Well for all he knew there could be more but he would hold off on that until later.

Walking through the place he raised the small control pad on his left forward as he started to send commands to Happy to start taking scans as he started up a log.

“This is my observation log for my exploration of the structure found by the drones. From the looks of it this is an old castle, the drone I have with me is taking scans and I’m hoping I can get an estimate of how old the structure is.”

He walked deeper in as he voiced his findings.

“It’s pretty old and abandoned, the walls are falling down in areas and there are holes in the roof. I’m honestly not sure how stable this place is but I plan on being careful.”

He noticed two large tapestries that still hung in the large open room he found himself in. He sent Happy in to get closer to them to get some pictures.

“There are two tapestries in here, they’re pretty ragged but I can still make them out. One is yellow the other blue. One appears to have the sun and the other the moon as prominent images above what looks like one of the aliens.”

He looked at them closely as something seemed off.

“I just noticed that the alien creature in each one has both a wing and a horn, I haven’t seen this type among the locals. Given the importance of showing these off as soon as you walk in I’m guessing that they could represent a ruling class.”

He thought about something else about how the sun and moon of this planet and their odd orbit.

“Added thought, what if this is linked to the sun and moon of this world? As stated in my earlier reports the orbit of the sun and moon defies all physics. Could they have noticed this and put it into their myth and legends? Maybe these two are gods associated with the sun and moon. When we break the language barrier I plan on asking about this.”

Among other things of course as he walked deeper into the castle, he found some paths were totally blocked off and so he stayed with the open areas. He found what looked like what might have been a kitchen for the place although most of the wood had rotten away, a cast iron oven was still in pretty decent shape.

Eventually he found himself in a large library which gave him pause.

“Damn...that’s a lot of books,” He picked one up as gently as he could, they were pretty old and fragile.

“I found a large library, I have no idea why such a treasure trove of knowledge would just be abandoned like this, some of the books look so delicate that I don’t want to touch them as they could fall apart. Given that the little Purple One has been giving me a few books it’s helped with building a translation matrix for their written language. I plan on taking a couple of books that look like they could survive, give they were just left here I doubt anyone will kick up a fuss and if so I’ll return them.”

He looked around and gently testing the books out and flipping through a few pages to make sure he didn’t pick something dull like a book on agriculture, he found a couple that might help. He placed them carefully in the backpack of his suit and moved on.

As he explored he kept seeing the sun and moon motif with the strange horses with the wings and horns. This had to be something very important to this race given they placed it all over the castle.

David looked around but suddenly shouted out as he felt hi foot dip unexpectedly. There was a rock on rock grinding sound as the path ahead of him suddenly opened up.

“The fuck!?” He jumped back and the hole closed up.

“Wait...what?” He looked down where he had stepped and tested the area out with his foot finding a pressure plate that when he stepped on it opened up a pitfall.

“Are you shitting me? Who the hell booby traps their own castle like this!?” He really didn’t want to think of all the poor castle staff that on their first day on the job suddenly find themselves falling down a giant hole.

After even more carefully moving through the castle now looking for anything that could suddenly fall or impale him, he eventually he found himself in what could only be a throne room. There were two thrones and again the same banners only now one was over each throne. He slowly made his way up the steps as he had Happy take a lot of images and video recordings.

David paused looking at the thrones before starting his log again.

“There are two thrones although they seem a bit bigger than what the locals I’ve seen are, maybe it’s just for show but it looks like this castle had two rulers. Most likely a king and queen if it’s like Earth history. The thrones are raised up above the floor to look down and to give importance to the rulers, this kind of mentally is very close to how some human rulers have set up their throne rooms or rooms of power.”

“I don’t know if this is a castle of a fallen kingdom, there does seem to be damage but I can’t tell if it’s from a battle or not. I’ve seen no evidence of fire and the drone hasn’t seen anything like that either. Something did happen here that caused this place to be abandoned but what I have no clue. Again when the language barrier gets broken I’ll ask for any history on this place when I can.”

David closed the log as he looked at the thrones, he looked around even though he knew he was alone as a mischievous smile grew on his face. He sat down on one of the thrones and it fit him fairly well.

“All hail the king, the court of King David Miller the First is now in session!” He called out as his voice echoed in the large room.

He just couldn’t help himself, hell if you were in a castle with thrones around and no one could catch you wouldn’t anyone try something like this?

Running his hands over the arm rest he felt something off on the right side. He looked over and there were two buttons.

“Huh...what’s this?” He pressed one of them as he suddenly felt himself go forward and down a trap door of some kind.

He really wished he could have said something cool in that moment.

“Shhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiittttttt!”

Sadly a knee jerk response was the best that he could do.

-Fluttershy’s Cabin-

“Okay girls are you all cleaned up?” Fluttershy asked as she stood in her bathroom with the three young fillies in her tub.

“I think so,” Apple Bloom said as she gently got out, followed by her two best friends Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo. The bathtub was filled with dirty and muddy water. Fluttershy smiled as she got the towels for drying them.

“Sorry we mind of made a mess while feeding the animals,” Sweetie told her. “We didn’t know that the ground got so muddy from earlier.”

“It’s alright, there wasn’t any damage and no pony got hurt. Plus you did feed all the animals.” Fluttershy told her.

“It’s just too bad that we couldn’t get our cutie marks in animal raising or feeding,” Scootaloo sighed as she felt Fluttershy gently dry her off.

“It’s alright you girls will figure it out some day,” she encouraged them.

“Well thanks for lettin’ us try,” Apple Bloom told her.

“And for letting us sleepover too,” Sweetie added in.

“It’s not a problem girls, I like having you over here.” She smiled as the three fillies were nice and clean. She left them to do their homework while she cleaned up a little in the bathroom. After that she was about to make rounds for all her animal friends since the weather team said there was going to be rain tonight.

She was just about to get to the shutters when there was a knocking at her door. She remembered the last time she heard a knock as she hesitantly opened it only to find Twilight there.

“Twilight?”

“Hey can I come in?” Twilight asked a little eager to come inside.

“Oh uh, sure.”

Twilight wasted no time as she quickly set herself up by one of Fluttershy’s windows. She was carrying a pair of binoculars with her as Twilight raised them up and looked out with them. Fluttershy cocked her head to the side wondering just what her friend was doing.

“Uh, Twilight, what are you doing?”

“I left the box out there again and I’m waiting to see how he takes it.” She replied.

“You know that the alien is a he?” the Pegasus asked.

Twilight nodded, “One of the sheets of paper he sent had pictures of two sexes of beings on them, from what we saw of him I’m pretty sure that the alien is a male.”

“Oh...I thought the alien was a female.” She replied.

“What made you think that?” Twilight asked turning to look at her interested in her thoughts.

Fluttershy turned her gaze a bit as she shuffled a hoof in front of her. “Oh well, um, it was because the alien had...nipples on his chest.”

Twilight remembered that as well, “Yeah I thought the same at first but the paper pretty much showed a few differences that I’m pretty sure he’s male.”

What she didn’t say was that when she had been right in front of him she had seen a certain bulge that most likely hid a certain part that any stallion had. She didn’t want to voice that as it was a bit embarrassing subject.

“Hey what’s Twilight doing here?” Apple Bloom asked happy to see the unicorn as she and her friends came down the stairs.

“Girls, you’re all here?” Twilight was surprised by them being here.

“We’re having a sleepover,” Scootaloo said as she looked at the binoculars. “Uh, what are those for?”

“Oh uh these, just doing some research, yes, research.” Twilight fidgeted as she could trust adults to keep a secret but these three she was a little afraid what they might do if they found out there was an alien in the woods. She cast an eager look to Fluttershy for help.

“Uh, girls did you finish your homework?” She asked them.

The three shared a look, “Most of it.” They all said as one.

“Then I think you three should finish, don’t worry when you finish I’ll get snacks ready and we can all get together.” Fluttershy smiled at them.

“Okay then,” Apple Bloom said as she and the girls went up the stairs as soon as they were out of sight they looked at each other.

“That was strange,” Sweetie whispered out.

“Yeah they’re hiding somethin’,” Bloom nodded her head as they slowly edged as close as they could to try and hear. They could just barely make out the conversation below them.

“I really hate doing that,” Fluttershy told Twilight.

“I know, same here, but we can’t let them know at least not yet.” Twilight replied. “I was able to keep Octavia, Vinyl and Lyra to keep the secret as they’re helping me out and I trust you girls of course.”

“You think you can’t trust them?”

“Well no, they’re good girls, I just don’t want to place too much on them.”

“It is kind of a big thing to think about.”

There was a pause as the young fillies shared a look, there was something going on here and it looked like it was something big as they continued to listen in.

“I know this is history making, plus think of all the things we could learn about? All the planets that he must of seen and all the scientific achievements he could tell us.” Twilight sighed at the thought of it all.

“I wonder what kind of animals he’s seen now that I think about it.”

“Most likely things nopony has ever seen before.”

“Oh! Maybe this won’t be so bad,” Fluttershy starting thinking on what kind of animals existed on other worlds.

The three fillies shared a look as they quietly snuck to one of the other rooms.

“Okay something is definitely up,” Scootaloo spoke in a hushed tone.

“Yeah, I kind of noticed Rarity kind of acting a bit odd.” Sweetie spoke up.

“Ah think mah sister is doin’ the same,” Apple Bloom thought about it. “She’s been sayin’ ta stay away from the Everfree lately. Plus there was that thing not too long ago.”

“You mean that crazy thing that happened that one night you told us about?” Scootaloo asked as Bloom nodded.

“Plus what’s all that talk about other planets and stuff?” Sweetie asked.

“You think maybe there are aliens here!?” Scootaloo asked excitedly. “Maybe we can get an alien related Cutie Marks, I bet no one has those yet!”

“A-are you sure it could be an alien?” Sweetie asked not liking where this was going.

“Well I can’t think of much else,” Scootaloo said looking out to the stairs. “Twilight’s waiting for something, how about we sneak outside and see what?”

The three shared a look there was some uncertainty but there was also a lot of curiosity. They had no way of knowing what was going on but this might be the only way to get to the bottom of it. The three silently made their way out of the room as they slowly made their way down the stairs. Twilight and Fluttershy were deep in conversation as the three made the way to the kitchen where they knew the backdoor was.

The Crusaders carefully opened the door as they made their way where they could see in the same direction as the window Twilight was looking.

“Hey what’s that box over there?” Sweetie Belle pointed to the two of them.

“That wasn’t here when we got here.” Bloom spoke up looking around. “So...now what?”

“I guess we wait?” Scootaloo shrugged as the three made themselves comfortable.

It was nearly an hour and they were super bored, they were bored to the point of thinking of going back to finish their homework when it had happened. It was a strange buzzing sound at first and then they saw it. It looked like some kind of big metal bug thing as it flew out of the Everfree. They watched with large eyes as it landed on the box as what look like legs wrapped around the box and it flew back the way it came.

“Did y’all see that!?” Apple Bloom asked them knowing they did but said it anyway.

“What was it?” Sweetie asked.

“No idea but it went into the Everfree,” Scootaloo bit her lower lip thinking it over. “Let’s chase it.”

“What!?” Her friends asked her like she had lost her mind.

“Just a little, if we can figure out where it went maybe we can find where it came from.” She explained to them. “If it’s an alien we can find a ship or something.”

“Ya know that the Everfree is dangerous right?” Bloom told her.

“Yeah but Twilight and the others go into it all the time plus if we stick to the path we should be fine, now come on or we’ll lose it.” She took off before they could stop her. The two shared a look before running after her since her going in alone was dangerous.

Sure it was dangerous for them to go in as well but maybe together things would be less dangerous.

While this was going on outside the cabin, on the inside Twilight was already taking notes on what she saw with some paper and a quill Fluttershy had lent her.

“This is amazing, I wonder what that thing was, how it was flying. I think it had rotors on it but I’m not sure. Was it some kind of golem? How was it working without some pony telling it what to do or maybe the alien can give it commands from far away?” Twilight said quickly trying to make picture of what she had just seen while it was still fresh in her mind.

Fluttershy had been happy to help but that metallic thing was kind of creepy for her. It looked like an animal but wasn’t at the same time. She paused when she realized something, it was too quiet.

“Girls?” she gently called out.

The Crusaders however were currently trying to find the flying thing with the box. They got into the woods just fine but after looking around they couldn’t find any sign of it. Which made sense when you thought how something that flew didn’t exactly leave tracks you could follow unless it flew through a punch of branches, which it apparently didn’t.

“Ah don’t think we’re goin’ ta find it.” Apple Bloom sighed looking around.

“Yeah, man this sucks,” Scootaloo sighed. “I was really looking forward to seeing something really cool.”

“Well at least we’re not lost,” Sweetie could still see the path they took to get in so it would be easy to find their way back they didn’t go too far in after all.

“Guess we should head on back before Fluttershy and Twilight realize we’re gone,” Bloom said as the three started to head back the way they came.

Scootaloo winkled her nose, “Eww did one of you fart or something?”

“Gross, no!” Sweetie told her. “Why would you-what is that smell?”

“That’s what I was asking.” The young Pegasus said.

Bloom could smell it too, it was rank and powerful musk that made her want to gag. A low growl was heard in the woods and suddenly she had a terrible idea of what it was that was close.

“Girls,” Bloom whispered to them as they looked at her. Apple Bloom looked scared as she tried not to draw attention listening for any sounds. “When ah say run, we got ta run.”

The other two shared a worried look knowing something was wrong.

Apple Bloom listened and with the snap of a twig behind them she cried out.

“Run!” She took off in the opposite direction of the sound as the girls followed her. A howl was heard behind them as the others figured out that there were timberwolves behind them. The heavy sounds of their wooden paws hit the ground behind them.

-Elsewhere in the woods-

“I’m starting to hate this place,” David grumbled to himself making his way back to the ship. It had taken him over an hour to get himself out of that death trap of a castle. He was starting to think that whoever designed that castle had something wrong with them. After getting dumped into that tunnel it had been one odd trap after another. Not to mention the moving walls, suits of armor that had scared the shit out of him when all the axes they held slammed into the ground in front of him and a lot of other things.

Thankfully he found his way back to the main hall and the drone, he sent it back on ahead of him as he walked back to the ship, once again having to cross that damn bridge as well. While on the way back, AVI informed him of the pickup from the cottage from one of the other drones but also warned him that a weather storm looked to be coming their way. He was trying to get back before the rain came and he really didn’t want to get the suit wet.

Sure it was technically water proof but when it got wet it made this slurping sound from all the hexagon shaped ‘scales’ and also it felt weird.

David really just wanted to get back, relax and try not to think how he was going to put all this in a report.

A howl got his attention which was followed by several high pitched screams.

“Now what?” He asked himself looking around. He hadn’t been paying attention and it was hard to figure out where it had come from. Suddenly from the brush came three little aliens, it was so suddenly that they literally crashed into him as all four of them sprawled onto the dirt ground.

“What in the world?” He looked at the little ones, they looked like they were kids or something. What in the world were kids doing out in this place? They took one look at him and their eyes widened as their irises shrunk down. They cried out but soon one of the last things David expected to ever see in his life came crushing through the woods.

It looked like some kind of large wolf but made entirely out of wood. Like someone took pieces of the forest and tried to make some kind of sculpture out of it, only with glowing eyes, horrible smell and vicious attitude that made it more like a living nightmare than anything else.

His training kicked in as he pulled the plasma pistol from his holster and fired at it. Green energy fired out hitting the wolf on the side. It howled in pain as wood splintered and blew apart, even some of its wooden body was scorched and a few bits were on fire.

The creature leapt back and growled at him. David managed to get to his knees and fired a few more times now aiming a bit better as the energy slammed into it causing the creature to blow apart. He stared at it for a moment.

“Just what the fuck is wrong with this world?” He breathed out as he stood up and looked at the little ones. They looked torn between wonder and wanting to run away. He was about to try and say something before several more growls were heard in the forest.

“Of course they hunt in packs,” He gritted his teeth, using his implant he set the visor to thermal vision but nothing showed up. He looked around but couldn’t see anything, he looked down at the three little ones and he could see them just fine. He looked back up and switched to another mode, everything turned grey as now he could see the creatures moving in the woods. Their eyes glowed in his visor and they were circling them trying to cut off their escape.

The little ones were talking about something he wasn’t getting as he gently knelt down. The ship wasn’t too far from here, maybe they could make it but he had to make sure they understood.
“Hey there,” He sent in a gentle tone looking at the wooden wolves. “I’m not going to hurt you, we need to go that way.”

He pointed in the direction of the ship with his free hand. He made a fast walking motion with his fingers along the ground and drew an arrow in the dirt.

Apple Bloom look at it and looked up at the strange creature, she wasn’t sure what it was but it had just blasted that timberwolf into scraps. Although knowing timberwolves it could just reform any minute, still the others in the pack seemed to be holding off for now. The creature wasn’t acting hostile to them, maybe if was on their side?

Looking at the dirt at the arrow it seemed to want them to go in a certain direction quickly, maybe it had a plan?

“Girls ah think it wants ta help us.” She told them.

“You sure?” Sweetie asked looking up at it, it was pretty big even when kneeling down.

“Well it took out that timberwolf,” she put forth. “Ah think it has a plan.”

“Well it’s better than being eaten,” Scootaloo said looking at the device it was holding. “Plus I think that’s some kind of ray gun so maybe this is the alien that Twilight was talking about.”

“So we do what it says then?” Apple Bloom asked her friends who nodded. She looked up at the creature and nodded her head and pointed a hoof towards the direction he indicated.

“Nice to know that worked.” He said and looked around, now for the hard part.

He saw the wolves were closing in so he fired his weapon in the direction they needed to go. The wolves dodged out of the way as he shouted as the little ones to run, they bolted like their tails were on fire as he was right behind them. He heard the growls and howls of the wolves behind him. He fired randomly behind him to make them think twice about getting too close.

They ran through the woods as he would yell out and point a direction and they would change course to follow it. He looked back and fired when the wolves got too close, he managed to tag a few of them now and then. Although they were keeping their distance they weren’t giving up, most likely they were waiting for them to make a mistake or to run out of energy.

Thankfully they were getting close now.

“AVI open the hatch, I’m coming in hot with some friends,” He called out to the computer. “As soon as we’re all in, shut that door as quickly as you can.”

“Affirmative.”

This was cutting it close, the damn wolves were gaining with every meter it seemed but they just broke through to the clearing. That’s when the little white unicorn stumbled, without missing a beat he scooped the little one up as it yelped in surprise but they all just kept running. The ship was in sight now and all they had to do was make it to the door.

He fired in an arc behind him hoping to give them just a bit more time but one of the damn things seemed to brave it and charged ahead.

“God damn it!” He was really getting frustrated now, his limbs hurt, his lungs felt like they were on fire but they couldn’t stop. It was right there, he could hear the bounding of the beast behind them now. Up the ramp they went and they were through the door.

“Close it!” He yelled out as the metal door quickly slip shut as something large and heavy slammed against it.

“HA! Try and get through that! Metal beats wood, mother fucker!” He looked down at the three. “Uh...you didn’t hear that bad word got it?”

David gently placed the white one down as he sunk to his butt resting as they all caught their breaths. He could hear growling and thumping against the hull.

“Commander there are hostile life forms attempting to damage the hull.” AVI told him.

He rolled his eyes as he pushed himself up, “You don’t say?”

He walked his way to the cockpit as he brought up the controls, he pulled off the mask of his suit as he sat in the chair.

“Okay enough of this,” He used the controls to give the engines a slight warm up. “Let’s give them something to think about.”

The Sparrow I’s engine roared as gust of exhaust shot out from the ship, several of the wolves were sent flying. They cautiously circled the ship unsure what they were dealing with, it didn’t smell like prey or a predator to them. Their Alpha growled at the ship but it made no move. Slowly they circled the vessel unsure what to do.

David looked at them, he figured they would get bored and move on later once they figured out they weren’t getting anything to eat. With a sigh he leaned back and turned his chair around to face the three little ones who were looking all over the cockpit in wonder. He could only chuckle at them, hell if they were kids this would most likely be the coolest thing they had ever seen.

“So...what to do with you three?” He asked himself out loud.

Next up Chapter 9: Alien Foal Sitter

I’m going to be away for about month, but I wanted to get this out before I left.

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 9: Alien Foal Sitter

The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked around with wide eyes at the ship they were in. They had been too occupied with running for their lives to really take it in but now that the timberwolves were no longer a threat, they could enjoy what they were seeing.
“This is so cool,” Scootaloo whispered out, she couldn’t believe they were in an actual alien space ship.

The other two just nodded their heads, the walls of the ship were so smooth and everything was nicely curved instead of hard edges.

They watched him work with controls that were somehow there and yet not there, they just kind of floated there and they were see through like some kind of magical illusion. He turned to face them as he said something but they couldn’t understand what he was saying. The alien seemed to sigh and think on something while the Crusaders looked around them.

“I wonder how fast this thing can fly, I mean it’s a space ship so it has to fly right?” Scootaloo asked her friends.

“Ah would think so,” Bloom said looking at the floating screens. “Ah wonder what kind of magic makes those?”

“Maybe Twilight would know,” Sweetie looked closer at them as she tried to touch one. It beeped as another voice suddenly filled the room.

“Emergency venting system offline.” AVI reported.

“Hold it,” David quickly said as he undid what the kid had pushed. The others were looking around most likely wondering where AVI’s voice was coming from. Quickly he used his implant to command all the controls to shut down as they flickered out of sight. The three moaned as one, knowing that kids would want to play around with the cool stuff he didn’t need a translation that they were disappointed.

“That was AVI,” He told them as they looked at him cocking their heads.

“AVI,” He pointed up and then spoke up. “AVI said something to the kids.”

“What would you like me to say, Commander?” The computer asked. The kids looked around as one with the wings seemed to be talking to the others.

“I think that was the ship!” Scootaloo told her friends excited.

“The ship talks?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Yeah,” her friend nodded her head. “I’ve read these sci-fi comics where sometimes the ships can talk they have...uh...artificial something.”

“Intelligence?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Yeah that!” She nodded excitedly.

David suddenly realized that he had no idea if the kids were okay from all of that, especially the white one when she fell. He snapped his fingers getting their attention and knelt down to them. He opened his palm and motioned for her to be closer. He could see her hesitation but she slowly moved forward.

“Don’t worry this won’t hurt,” He said gently as he ran a scan of her body. She tensed up as the light from the sensor in his palm of his suit covered her. It didn’t last long as he smiled at her and used the controls on his forearm. The three were surprised when suddenly an image of Sweetie Belle showed up on a small table in the room off to the side. The three gathered around as they were talking about most likely the image.

The yellow one with a bow managed to jump onto the table and gently pushed a hoof through the image. She jumped back in surprise before doing it again.

“It’s some kind of illusion ah think,” Bloom told them.

“I wonder why it did that?” Sweetie asked out loud.

“Too bad we can’t ask,” Scootaloo sighed and then looked at Sweetie. “Did it hurt?”

“No, not at all.”

Scootaloo suddenly ran over to him and jumped up and down. “Do me, do me!”

The alien seemed to laugh as he opened his strange hoof thing and the light covered her body. The alien did something to the thing on his limb and she turned around to see a copy of her now on the table.

“That’s so cool, I wonder how it works?” She wondered.

They watched as he slowly went to Bloom and pointed to his limb and then to her, she nodded her head and soon there was another copy now there. He did something and all three were now shown on the table. The alien spoke to the ship and was working on something, before any of them could wonder what the alien was up to the images on the screen changed.

Strange lines and weird writing showed up pointing to certain parts of their copies. Then their copies were suddenly skeletons as he seemed to be looking at them.

“Is...is that our skeletons?” Sweetie Belle looked at the images feeling a little uneasy.

“Yeah, ah guess that light did more than just the outside.” Apple Bloom commented.

Then suddenly the images showed their internal organs and even muscles.

“Ewwww,” All three said at once only making the alien chuckle.

“Maybe the alien is making sure we’re okay?” Apple Bloom offered. “So it’s lookin’ inside of us to make sure?”

“Neat, kind of gross but neat,” Scootaloo said.

David looked over the results and from the scans the only thing the computer could tell was no broken bones, no injuries other than being a bit tired, a slight bruise on the unicorn that didn’t look too bad, and again they were all female. Although the Pegasus seemed to have smaller wings than from all the images and the scans of ‘Skittles’ that he had, maybe they grew as they got older or some kind of mutation?
Well whatever, the first thing he had to do was how to get them home. He sighed looking out the window, it was getting dark and he wasn’t sure those wolf things were just waiting for them. Plus there was a storm moving in as well. He couldn’t just keep them here until morning, their families would be looking for them. The problem is how could he get a message out to them?

“I just wish I knew where they were from exactly,” David sighed.

“Last known location is from the cottage that Drone 3 is currently watching.”AVI told him.

David paused as he blinked. “What?”

“Last known-“

“How do you know they were there?” He asked the computer slightly on edge.

“The drone saw them arrive at the cottage and leaving it.”

David felt like he wanted to strangle his computer for telling him this now of all times. He knew that if he hadn’t asked that question the computer wouldn’t have told him. He rubbed his temples trying to ward off a headache as he got to business.

“Fine then, give me control, time to give a message.” He activated the large vid screen as he took manual control. The three girls watched as they saw an image on the screen move as the alien did something with the floating controls.

“Hey that’s Fluttershy’s cottage.” Apple Bloom said.

Sweetie Belle cocked her head. “I wonder how he got that image and how it’s moving?”

At Fluttersky’s home, two mares were starting to panic as they had looked everywhere for the girls but found no sign of them. Now the two were getting worried as there weren’t many places they could have gone.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no,” Fluttershy trotted in place wondering where to start looking. If Applejack, Rarity or Scootaloo’s parents found out she lost the kids, well she wasn’t looking forward to that.

“We’ll find them, they couldn’t have gone far,” Twilight offered.

“But it’s getting dark and it’s going to rain soon,” Fluttershy told her. She really didn’t like the idea of the three of them out there in the dark and wet. Sure they could make it to somepony’s home or one of their own but they would be drenched.

“Maybe we can search around quickly and find them.” Twilight made for the door when there was a knock at the door.

Twilight blinked, “Well...maybe that’s them?”

Fluttershy cringed, Twilight didn’t sound too convinced and she had a bad feeling, as knocks at her door usually led to only one thing lately. Twilight went to open the door and yelped as she jumped back at one of the strange metal things she had seen take the box now at the front door.

“Uh...hello?” Twilight asked it not sure if this was some kind of creature or an advance machine. It looked mechanical to her but it wasn’t like anything she had ever seen. Looking at it up close was so much different than from her binoculars.
A strange language she noticed that was the alien’s language seemed to come from somewhere on the thing.

“I wonder what he wants us to do?” Scootaloo’s voice came from the machine.

“Scootaloo!?” Twilight asked.

“Hey wait,” Now it was Apple Bloom’s voice. “Twilight, can ya hear us?”

“Oh no, are they inside of it?” Fluttershy asked from her position from hiding behind her couch.

Twilight thought about that but it didn’t make any sense. It wasn’t that large and they seemed to be watching them. “Girls...where are you?”

“Uh...we’re with the alien.” Sweetie Belle said.

“What!?” Twilight yelled out. “How are you girls with him?”

“Oh so it’s a him,” Scootaloo said next.

“Ah think we ought to tell Twilight what happened.” Apple Bloom cut in.

Twilight and Fluttershy listened in as they told them what happened. From following the strange thing with the box, to running into a pack of timberwolves, running into the alien, him saving them, the run back to the ship and how they seemed to be looking at them through the strange bug like machine in front of them.

“You girls are actually in the ship?” Twilight couldn’t help but feel extremely jealous. Actually inside of what was most likely the most technologically advanced thing on the planet, seeing all the strange and new things in there.

“Sorry,” All three said at once.

“We didn’t mean to,” Sweetie said. “But he’s been really nice.”

Twilight thought about it and this might be her way to see inside of the ship and get to know the alien on a more personal level. “Okay I’ll be right over.”

“Wait!” Fluttershy came out from behind her couch. “You can’t go out there now.”

“What, why?”

“They said timberwolves were after them,” Fluttershy began. “They are very territorial and they will most likely be hunting around that area just in case they can catch them again. They won’t move away for a few hours or so, plus there’s a storm coming in and it’s going to be night soon.”

Twilight’s eyes darted back and forth thinking about it, it was all logical but she really wanted to see inside of that ship.

“Maybe I can just teleport there and then into the ship?” She offered lamely.

Fluttershy gave her a level look, “Can you even do that?”

“Well...maybe?” Twilight sighed in defeat. “Okay no, it’s too far away for me and I have no idea what the inside of the ship even looks like to safely do that.”

“Hey the alien is doing something,” Sweetie’s voice came out of the machine suddenly.

Back on the ship David went to get a PADD and opened up a simple art program. He made a vague drawing of the ship inside of the forest with a stick figure of himself and stick figures of the kids, each one based on their coat colour. He made a night sky and showed them the image.

“Wow that’s fast,” Apple Bloom hadn’t seen how the fill tool worked so the completed image to her had been done pretty fast. Not to mention the colors were all so smooth unlike say paint or crayon.

“You think it-he’s trying to tell us something?” Scootaloo asked them.

He turned the device back to him as he made alterations to the picture. When he turned it around there was now a morning sky with the sun out, with the alien stick figure in front of them looking like he was leading them through the forest. He turned it around and when he turned it back the stick figures were now by a small house by a forest.

“Oh ah get it,” Apple Bloom looked to the floating window thing with the images of Twilight and Fluttershy on it. “Ah think he’s goin’ to take us back to Fluttershy’s in the mornin’.”

“He said that?” Twilight asked the machine.

“Well...more like he drew it,” Sweetie Belle said. “He made these pictures and that’s what it looks like.”

Twilight and Fluttershy shared a look, they didn’t want to go through the Everfree at night, in the rain with timberwolves roaming around. A flash of thunder happened as they looked outside to see the starting of the rain. It would most likely move into the Everfree in an hour and once that happened the clouds and rain could get better or worse.

Twilight sighed, although she really wanted to go get the girls and see the ship, she had to trust that this alien could take care of them. She was putting a lot of trust in him but so far he hadn’t done anything hostile and he had actively tried to communicate with them all. Maybe this would be one more step in helping to build a bridge between their races.

“Okay, you girls stay safe okay?” Twilight asked them.

“We will!” All three said together.

Then the device started to walk forward into the house, both mares jumped back as it looked around and seemed to walk with the many mechanical legs as he took an empty spot. It seemed to sit down and just sat there, as still as a rock.

“Uh...hello?” Twilight waved a hoof in front of it but it looked to be shut down. “I guess it’s been turned off?”

“Why did it come inside?” Fluttershy asked.

“Maybe in case the girls need to talk again?” Twilight sighed and looked outside. The rain was starting to come down now. “You mind if I stay
the night?”

“Oh of course not,” Fluttershy didn’t mind in fact she felt better with Twilight here with that thing inside of her home.

“Thanks...I think I need a bath,” She sighed and walked up to the bathroom.

Fluttershy looked at the alien device as it just seemed to be staring at nothing or maybe everything in her mind.

“Yeah, that’s not creepy,” She said dryly as she looked around and got a comforter and threw it over the device. “Well that’s a bit better.”

-Sparrow I-

David felt that his message got through but now the problem was what to do with three little kids. First though he needed to get out of this suit. He got up and went to the storage room and was halfway there before he noticed that he was being followed by the three little ones. He sighed as he thought of what he could do to occupy their time.

Although he quickly thought of something and quickly using the computer on his wrist locked up the engine room and workshop. He really didn’t need kids wondering around into those places. He walked into the storage room and opened the locker as he started to take the armored pieces off as he noticed the three were looking around.

He paused given that he had to change clothing sure they were an alien race that didn’t seem to wear clothing so would nudity even be a concept for them? But the problem was they were three little kids, little girls and the last thing he needed was for some kind of major misunderstanding happening and him being put onto a watch list.

“Don’t supposed you three could go outside for a bit?” He asked.

They just were looking around and David was kind of at a loss. He placed a few pieces on a workbench as he opened the locker for the gear.

He noticed the Pegasus eyeing the plasma pistol he had set down. The little one was getting too close to it as David quickly slapped a hand down on the device.

“No,” he said sharply.

The three blinked at him as Apple Bloom saw the serious look on his face, even though he was an alien the expressions he made went through any language barrier.

“Ah don’t think he wants ya to touch that Scoots.” She told her friend.

“I was just curious,” she defended herself.

“Yeah but ya saw what that thang did, might be saver to not touch it.” She replied.

David quickly pulled the power pack from the weapon and placed the devices into the locker. The last thing he needed was the little kid somehow getting a hold of his weapons. Although he wasn’t sure how they would even fire it with hooves he knew that guns and kids don’t mix. He paused at he had taken off everything he could without stripping down but the kids were still here.

He smirked as with his cortical implant he accessed the ships music files and started a song playing in the bridge. The girls heads all twisted to the sounds as they started in search of the music. David quickly shut the door as he stripped off and put on his usual clothing in record time.

The girls were back in the bridge area as they noticed the music seemed to be coming from above and around them.

“I wonder where it’s coming from exactly?” Sweetie Belle asked out loud looking around. “It’s like it’s coming out of the air or something.”

“There might be speakers or something in the ceiling?” Scootaloo asked with a shrug.

It wasn’t that much time later when David walked in and saw them climbing over everything, they looked to be trying to figure out how to get the controls up and running again as they were tapping the black surfaces of the interfaces. He had to wonder what they thought of the technology, they were very curious but not really afraid. He wasn’t sure if this was just a species trait or just them but maybe it was time to try and start to communicate a bit more with them.

He cleared his throat as he knelt down to get more to their level, they came up around him as with the Zebra he felt it was time to start with introductions.

“David,” He placed his hand on his chest. He repeated this a few times before pointing to them. The one with the bow seemed to catch on fast as she smiled and tapped herself with her hoof.

[Apple Bloom]

David did his best to repeat the words until she nodded her head when he got it correct.

[Sweetie Belle]

[Scootaloo]

He did the same as they tried to pronounce his name. Well now that the names were out of the way he needed something to help keep them occupied. He had a young niece and nephew that, at best guest, were close to their ages and those two were full of energy and could get bored. He also wished there was a way to help with the language barrier.

Then he suddenly got an idea. He quickly went to the side of the bridge where he had placed a few items and got that first book that the purple Unicorn had given him. He opened it to the image of what looked like the winged type with a word under it.

“AVI made sure you’re recording this, I’m going to see if the kids can help translate this book for us to help build a language base.”
“Acknowledged.”

He saw the kids jump at her sudden word but looked at him when he opened the book and pointed at the picture.

The Crusaders looked at the page, it was a kids book for teaching young ponies their first words. Sweetie could see that it was a simple image of a Pegasus with the name under it.

“Pegasus?” Sweetie asked.

“Pe-ge-sos,” the alien tried to mimic.

“Oh, he wants to learn to talk,” Scootaloo said.

“Peg-a-sus,” Sweetie said slowly.

The alien nodded and tried more slowly. “Peg..a..sis.”

“Almost, Pegasus,” Apple Bloom tried next.

“Pegasus.” The alien said.

“Yeah, Pegasus, like me,” Scootaloo jumped up flapping her wings quickly.

The alien nodded with a smile as he pointed to the next image, this time of an Earth Pony. So the Crusaders started to help him learn the basics for their language. David found it a bit hard to mimic the sounds just right, he most likely sounded like he had an accent to them but the kids seemed happy to help him. After about a couple of hours he was able to get some of the basics down, he also learned things like ‘yes’ and ‘no’ which were needed to have a conversation or at least to learn.

The kids he found were sharp as they were trying to pick up on a few things as well. But by now he could see they were getting a bit bored, the problem was how to continue on with this learning while making it fun for the kids. A sudden bolt of inspiration hit him as he knew the perfect thing to help.

He activated the holoprojector table as he brought up the vid library. He just hoped what he was looking for was placed. He wasn’t sure why but then maybe it was just dumped along with a bunch of other random stuff. He typed in the name and to his surprise it actually showed up, it was also fairly current.

“Huh, hard to believe but this show has been on before my grandparents were born.” He waved them over as they looked at the large floating screen. He put in a random episode and hoped this worked.

“I wonder what he’s going to show us?” Sweetie asked.

“Not sure but looks like there’s somethin’ on that screen thing,” Apple Bloom told her.

“Hey look,” Scootaloo pointed as images of some kind of street with music playing was coming on.

David used to love this as a kid and he looked to see their young eyes light up at the sights and sounds. Even his niece and nephew would watch this program and although it had been a few years he had to admit this brought back a lot of memories.

It was also one of the longest running kids shows in centuries.

The first little skit seemed to be with Cookie Monster as he was trying to resist the urge to eat the cookies. David could only chuckle at the puppet, he remembered an old documentary about this show on how the original had hand puppets. They were all animatronics these days
with much more expression, blinking eyes and the lot.

“I wonder what that thing is,” Sweetie Belle asked as the large blue furry thing seemed to be looking at cookies.

“I think it wants the cookies but is trying to stop himself, not sure why.” Scootaloo shrugged.

“Maybe it’s close to dinner time,” Apple Bloom had been given that reason for not spoiling her appetite by her sister a few times. She looked up at the alien and pointed at the creature.

He did something that stopped the image as he pointed to the disk of cookies.

[Cookies]

“Uh-huh,” Apple Bloom nodded at the word for Cookie apparently.

Then the alien ‘David’ pointed to the creature, [Cookie Monster].

She tilted her head, she got the cookie part but not what [Monster] meant. The alien seemed to be trying to search for something then he made clawing motions with his hands and growling sounds as he repeated the word and pointed to the creature.

“Oh!” Apple Bloom got it.

“What, did you figure it out?” Sweetie asked.

“Ah think it’s name is Cookie Creature.”

“Really, why?” Scootaloo asked not sure about it but the thing on the floating screen did seem to like cookies.

“Just a hunch,” Bloom said as the alien started it up again.

[Cookies!] the creature shouted out as it just devoured the cookies and the plate in a way they had only seen Pinkie Pie eat certain foods.
The three of them started laughing at it as he creature finished by licking his furry hands.

The next one was about some purple skinned one that looked kind of like the alien but spoke a bit strangely. Scootaloo pointed out that it was counting what looked like bats in some kind of castle. There was a shot of the street in the opening song with other aliens there but other creatures. One was a big yellow looking bird that towered over even the aliens.

One of the creatures was living in what looked like a trash can and seemed kind of grumpy. They figured if they lived in one of those they would be grumpy too. There was even a huge creature, it looked kind of like an elephant but all furry and no tusks.

David was thankful that they didn’t ask what that was when he showed up, he wasn’t sure how the hell he was going to try and translate the name Snuffleupagus to them.

The kids however did ask their alien friend to stop it sometimes as he tried to explain a few details, for the most part they were enjoying the program. They didn’t understand a lot of what was going on but they did seem to get the gist of it. They were enraptured by the music, the sights of the large puppet creatures. When it got to animated features their little minds were blown away.

“They can make moving pictures!” Sweetie jumped up excited at the sight of colourful drawings moving around like actual living beings.

“That’s so cool, I wonder how that works?” Scootaloo liked to draw herself like her friends but they didn’t know how they could make them move around like that.

“Must be some kind o’ magic,” Apple Bloom commented.

“Oh that would be great if I could learn how they do that,” Sweetie smiled at the thought of making moving pictures with her magic. Her magic might not be strong but maybe if she learned it she could get a Cutie Mark in that.

By the time the episode ended they were asking for more so David showed them another episode as he looked out the man window. The rain was starting to come down now and it was starting to get close to dinner time. At least for himself, he wasn’t sure what the girls ate but if they were anything like human kids, they would be hungry soon with all the activity.

Going into the galley of the ship he looked at what he had. He pulled up the data from the scans and from the teeth they had just herbivore set so that was most likely their diet. Thankfully he did have some vegetarian style meals. He figured he should eat one too, given he wasn’t sure how a species that didn’t eat meat might view eating meat. The last thing he needed was to accidentally freak the kids out.

So he got some salads made, a few sandwiches which were safe with various slices and juice. He figured the kids would know what they could eat but he did run it through AVI to make sure nothing obviously toxic was thrown in. He was actually a bit nervous about this, for all he knew their data was faulty and eating a tomato could cause an allergic reaction, but he couldn’t let them starve either.

He called out to the kids doing the best to remember how to pronounce their names.

The sounds of three little sets of hooves quickly came closer as they looked in and saw the food on the small round table.

One of their stomachs growled as David noticed that her face actually blushed in some way. He blinked at that, the fur had actually gone red on the cheeks, that would mean that the fur could change color there. That was odd, he had seen a few species of animals in his travels that did change colour like that but nothing that was so specific. He made a mental note to look into that later on.

The girls quickly started share a curved couch that half the table faced as they quickly started to divide the spoils of food before them. David watched closely as he noticed that as they made their food and ate, there was a mixture of how they did it. Sometimes they would use their mouths to manipulate things, other times they curved their front legs like how a human wrist worked. What shocked the hell out of him was when one of them somehow picked up something with one of their hooves.

David was dumbfounded when he saw Apple Bloom move a glass with her hoof like David would do with his hand. It didn’t make any sense to him how she was able to do that, it was a flat hoof, it shouldn’t be able to hold something like a hand. He shook his head as he sat down with them making his own meal.

After their meal, David ran a few more episodes for the girls while he cleaned up. After that David joined them as he saw with them helping them as best he could to understand what was going on. The kids got into it though, they sang along with the music as best they could. They apparently loved this one part with Kermit and a kid learning the alphabet and the kid kept putting in Cookie Monster while trying to sing the alphabet to Kermit’s displeasure.

It was starting to get late David noticed and maybe it was time to get the kids to bed. Hell, after that run from those wooden wolves and looking after the kids he could use a nice sleep by this point himself. The only problem was that there was only one bed. He called their names as they walked with him, a couple of them yawned as he nearly felt the urge himself. He opened the door to the living quarter as he pointed to his bed on the wall.

“Bed time kids,” He told them.

“I think it’s time for bed,” Sweetie yawned.

Scootaloo jumped up, the bed was a little higher than what a pony bed would be but it was easily reachable with a little effort. The others followed her as they settled on their positions. That was when Apple Bloom noticed that David was getting stuff out of a closet as he pulled what looked like another sheet and a single pillow.

She looked at the bed and saw that it already had a pillow and blanket so why would he need another? Then she got it, he was the only person on this ship and although they hadn’t seen it all it wasn’t all that big and maybe it only had one bedroom.

“Girls, ah think he’s givin’ up his bed for us,” Apple Bloom told them and explained her reasoning.

“So where’s he going to sleep then?” Scootaloo asked as they noticed that he was laying the items on the floor. “Oh...now I feel a bit bad, I mean he saved us from the timber wolves, made us food and showed us some cool stuff. He should get the bed.”

The others nodded, so far he had done a lot for them and here he was doing even more. They jumped down and sat in front of him.
“[David], your bed,” Apple Bloom spoke up pointing to the bed.

David looked down at them as he pointed to the bed. “You can use it.”

They only pointed back as he suddenly realized he was getting into an argument over who gets the bed. He would have laughed at that moment as arguing who is sleeping where with a group of alien kids. Then Scootaloo got behind him and started to try and push him forward with her head against the back of his legs.

“Alright, alright,” He told them as he sighed and thought about it. They were pretty adamant about him having the bed but honestly he could live with the floor. Thinking back to found a word that he had learned from them that might work.

[Share?] he asked them and pointed to the bed.

The three blinked as they looked at the bed and each other.

“What do y’all think?” Apple Bloom asked her friends.

“I’m okay with it,” Scootaloo said with a shrug.

“Yeah it might be a tight squeeze but we can all share it,” Sweetie nodded.

The three turned to face him as they nodded, he sighed and nodded his head as the three jumped onto the bed. David removed his footwear and jacket, he was leaving the pants and T-shirt one though, he wasn’t sure what was taboo in this culture but even if it was innocent, people would talk about an adult sleeping in the same bed as three little girls who barely knew each other in just his underwear.
“Hey look he’s got a Cutie Mark on his limb!” Scootaloo said pointing to the compass tattoo on David’s arm. They couldn’t see the others he had on under his shirt but they all looked at the mark.

“So aliens get Cutie Marks too? Maybe he’s an explorer or something and got it from that?” Sweetie commented.

David got onto the bed as they all tried to figure out where who would be sleeping. David ended up in the middle of course given his size as the girls looked for where they would sleep around him. David sighed as the girls started to find their spots, Sweetie Belle was by his left side her little head resting on his shoulder, Scootaloo took up a mirroring position on his right, while Apple Bloom took a spot on his chest.
He couldn’t help but smile though, they were too cute to get irritated at any slight uncomfortable positions. He just hoped that Sweetie
Belle’s horn didn’t poke him in the middle of the night or something.

“AVI, dime the lights off.”

The lights slowly turned down as darkness soon filled the room. The girls said something that he could only guess was ‘goodnight’ as he shook his head.

“Goodnight kids,” he told them as the sounds of rain patted against the hull of the ship lulling them to sleep.

Next up Chapter 10: The Request

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 10: The Request

David groaned as he slowly woke up, he tried to move but slowly became aware that there was something keeping him in place. Actually, he found it was three some things as his mind woke up. He blinked to see the three forms sleeping with him as he blinked in the darkness.

“AVI, lights at ten percent.” He said softly as the lights came on just enough to make out the kids.

He couldn’t help but grin at how cute the three looked, on his side was [Sweetie Belle] curled up with her tail tucked in, she was holding her tail like a teddy bear, [Scootaloo] was on her back, her tongue hanging out with her little legs spread out. One of her hind legs twitched slightly. He looked to his chest, yep, the last one was drooling on his chest that explained the slightly damp feeling he felt.

The problem now was that his bladder was calling and he felt hungry. He yawed as he stretched out as best he could and felt the kids shift slightly.

“Alright kids, time to get up,” He said gently to them nudging them slightly. There were a few moans and stretching as they all started to wake up. The one on his chest seemed to wake up the fastest as she spoke to the others. The unicorn mumbled something as she stretched and yawned as she woke up but looked like she wasn’t a morning person. The last one just turned and tried to snuggle into him hiding her face. Apple Bloom nudged her friend until she woke up, also not a morning person.

The three got off him and the bed as David stretched out and got to his feet, he hadn’t been able to move with all three of them on him like that but thankfully he was still able to sleep through the night. He coughed as he slowly turned the lights on to a more normal level as he went into the hall. The girls followed him as he led them to the bathroom. It wasn’t much, just a sink, a specially designed toilet that could be used in zero-gravity by pumping out all the water before takeoff and a simple shower also that could be converted for zero-gravity use.

“Oh man I could really use that,” Scootaloo said as she jumped up as her wings buzzed and letting her easily get onto the toilet.

“Hey where did [David] go?” Sweetie Belle asked noticing their alien friend wasn’t with them.

“Maybe givin’ us some privacy ah guess,” Apple Bloom shrugged.

She wasn’t far off, as soon as David has seen one of them going for the toilet he figured he would give them some time alone. Although that sucked for him as he needed to take a leak himself but he could still hold off for a little bit longer.

He waited for about five minute until he actually heard the toilet being flushed.

“Huh, guess they figured that out.” He heard three sets of hooves going around in the room and so he opened the door. He found them all looking at the shower, it was just big enough for him but all three might be able o fit inside.

[David] Sweetie said and then pointed to the shower.

“Okay I got it,” He said as he reached in and moved the simple knobs. Someone liked their bathroom designs low tech given having water spill out would mess up a lot of the ship. David tested it out and looked to the kids. They walked into it Apple Bloom having removed her bow when he wasn’t looking as the three did their best with the space.

David smiled seeing them play around a bit as he went to the wall and pulled up a small shutter where the towels were kept. He pulled out one figuring their size, one would be enough. After a short shower he helped them to dry off. Although now he had three curious little aliens talking about something while he needed to use the bathroom himself. He grinned as he went to a small control panel and logged into the system.

Soon the familiar melody of their favorite (and only) alien programming came down the hallway. The girls rushed off to the cockpit as he finally was alone. He sighed wondering if this was what parenthood was like for his parents. He was the middle child of three although he would admit he was the hellion in comparison to his older sister and younger brother.

After using the toilet, he took a shave and shower and went to his single quarter room to change. When the show was halfway through he decided to make breakfast. He hoped that the kids would like just juice, cereal and toast, he figured that was a safe bet.

He paused the episode when he came into the cockpit.

“Awwww,” Three voices said in unison looking up at him.

“Time to eat kids,” He made a motion of his hand going to his mouth a few times. One of the kids stomachs rumbled as he pointed at her and then jerked his thumb down the hallway behind him.

“Breakfast?” Scootaloo asked her friends thinking that’s what the alien was trying to say to them.

“I think so, wonder what he has?” Sweetie asked not really expecting an answer as they were led into the small kitchen area. They took their spots on the couch with the table as they looked at the meal before them. They were a bit eager to try out alien cereal, it looked like small multicolored hoops of some kind.

Each friend took a look at the other silently daring each other to try it first, it was Scootaloo that broke first and tried it. She was surprised by the sugar in it and eagerly started to down more of it. The others didn’t fall far behind. The juice was nice, they were glad to see there was some kind of jam for the toasts as they chatted. David took this time to try and learn a bit more of their language, asking for things like ‘spoon, cereal, milk, food’ and the like. The kids were eager to help him out and slowly he was building up his language base.

He was surprised when the kids offered to help him clean up, when he was their age he would have just run from the table but then again maybe they had a good upbringing. Not that his wasn’t, it was just a bit different than most people. Although he was glad that they were plastic and not breakable when a few of the glasses and bowls were dropped, after they were done he let the kids finish their program while he got dressed in his stealth suit.

David didn’t like the idea of going through that forest without it or without his plasma pistol. He checked the data from the ship and those creatures had moved off in the night. David moved to a panel and connected to the drones, he was going to have them spread out in a path towards the little cabin he was going to take the girls back to. He was not going to let anything else sneak up on them while they were on their way back.

He checked his gear over twice just to be sure, you always had to check and re-check your stuff before you leave the ship. That was something that was drilled into him during training. After he was done he went to see the girls were just finishing up the episode. They were singing along with the ending song, he was sure they had no idea what they were singing but he was impressed. They had nice harmony and they were pretty good.

“Galactic Idol here they come,” He muttered under his breath. He could just imagine what three cute little alien girls who sung like that could do for ratings.

“[Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo] time to go.” He spoke up when it was over.

The girls looked at him as he was geared up like when they had met.

“Time to go?” Sweetie asked her friends.

“Looks like it, I really wanted to see this thing fly too,” Scootaloo said a bit disappointed.

“Cheer up,” Apple Bloom said to her with a smile. “Maybe we can visit again and ask him if he can take us flyin’ later.”

Scootaloo immediately perked up at the thought of flying around in an alien space ship. The kids watched as they were led to the hatch as it opened up. They looked around for signs of timberwolves but when David just walked out without a care they figured he knew it was safe somehow. They walked beside him never really getting too far away as they tried to talk about stuff. David’s language was pretty broken but given that he didn’t even know their language it was a bit impressive.

“Where Zebra?” David asked looking around the forest to the girls.

“Zebra, ya mean Zecora?” Bloom asked him.

David nodded his head. “Yes, Zecora. She here?” He passed his hand over the forest.

“Yep she lives that a way ah think,” Apple Bloom pointed out a direction.

David nodded, he planned to have the drones search that area, he was surprised they hadn’t seen her in their search. He planned on asking if he could move his ship out of this damn forest and maybe somewhere a bit safer. If not for some reason, well he might has well get to know his neighbour a bit, now that he was sure she actually lived in this place.

“So...why are you here?” Sweetie asked him.

David got the gist of what she was asking him as he tried to think how to answer her, there was just so many holes in his knowledge of their language. “Looking.”

“Looking? Looking for what?” Scootaloo asked.

David made vague gestures, “Looking for...for...no words.” He felt a bit frustrated on how you explain looking for new worlds and new races if there were any out in space.

“It’s okay maybe Twilight can help,” Sweetie said to him as the others agreed.

-Fluttershy’s Home-

Twilight was currently helping Fluttershy out with her chores of feeding all her animals, it was only fair given that Fluttershy had let her stay after all, just as long as she didn’t have to feed the snakes. She still felt nervous around those after her disaster of trying to help with animals during Winter Wrap Up.

“Are you sure it was a good idea to cover it?” Twilight asked after feeding the squirrels as she looked at the sheet covered device.

“I’m sorry it’s just that, it’s kind of creepy to me,” Fluttershy said softly casting a worried look at the sheet. The thing hadn’t moved since it was here all night long, which was just fine with her but the device, just unnerved her. It looked like a giant bug but made of metal, it just looked unnatural to her, something that moved and then was as still as a statue later just made her nervous.

Twilight’s ears perked up as she thought she heard something, listening a bit more closely she heard voices and the sounds of others coming closer. She looked over to see that Fluttershy heard it as well. Twilight went to the door and opened it as her eyes widened. There were the girls coming back and there with them was their alien friend. She hadn’t seen him in those strange clothing but it looked a lot like how Rainbow had described when she first met him.

Twilight went out to meet them with Fluttershy a few paces behind.

“Twilight!” The girls ran up and started a whole list of things they wanted to talk about.

“We saw the alien ship!”

“It’s really cool inside!”

“He’s got magical windows all over the place!”

“The ship actually talks!”

“Hold it, calm down girls,” Twilight told them as she tried to keep in mind everything they said. She looked up at the alien as he pulled off the mask as she saw his face again. He smiled down at her and it was a friendly smile.

“Um, thank you for looking after them,” Twilight figured he didn’t understand but hoped that her meaning would be carried at any rate.

“You welcome,” He said surprising both Fluttershy and Twilight.

Twilight looked to the girls with a shocked expression silently wanting an explanation.

“We’ve been teaching him some words,” Scootaloo said as all three girls grinned.

“And we learned a few things too,” Sweetie offered.

The girls shared a look with a grin as they sang together.

[A-B-C-D-E-F- Cookie Monster] They ended the small tune with a fit of giggles as David grinned down shaking his head at a joke only the four of them knew about.

Twilight wasn’t sure what they had said or what was funny but before she could ask Fluttershy came forward to the girls.

“Are you girls hungry?” She asked them.

“No, [David] gave us breakfast,” Sweetie Belle told her as the other two nodded.

“Oh well that was nice of him,” She looked up at the tall alien as she felt a bit better knowing he took good care for the girls. They looked clean and they were well rested and the story of how he saved the girls to Fluttershy meant that he wasn’t as scary as she first thought.

She took a real good look at him, his face was a bit odd with no muzzle but she decided that it wasn’t scary at all in fact he had kind eyes she found. She took a few more steps as she smiled up at him.

“Thank you.” She told him.

He nodded his head at her with a gentle smile on his face.

Fluttershy then turned to the girls, “You three need to get to school soon and you left your homework upstairs.”

“Oh no we forgot about that!” Apple Bloom said as all three eyes widened.

“Girls before you go,” Twilight told them seriously, “you can’t tell any pony what happened.”

“Why not?” All three said at once.

“It’s...kind of a secret for now,” Twilight told them not sure their young minds could comprehend how life changing knowing that alien life existed and was already here. She needed the advice of the Princesses on how to proceed with this kind of thing. Twilight leaned down to them. “This is very important girls, just keep this secret for a little while so that we can introduce him properly to the town soon, okay?”

The girls shared a look not sure what was going on but Twilight really seemed serious. They shared a look with each other and they all nodded. Twilight was their friend and if she was serious about this then they couldn’t betray the trust she was putting in them.

“Okay we won’t say a thing,” Sweetie Belle told her.

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. With that out of the way the girls said their goodbyes to David s they rushed to get their books and left for school.

David knelt down as he looked that the dirt and figured the time was perfect to try and communicate something. He started drawing, he made a crude forest, the ship inside of it, and what he hoped would be the town off to the right. Twilight looked at the image wondering what he was doing as Fluttershy cocked her head at the drawings.

David looked at them and then down at the drawing as he pointed to the ship. He then drew a line to a place between the town and the forest as he drew a new image of the ship and erased the old one.

“Want move.” He told them.

“Want move?” Fluttershy asked Twilight.

Twilight looked at it in thought, “Move from here,” she pointed to the forest. “Move here?” She pointed to the image of the ship.
David nodded his head.
“I think he wants to move his ship from the Everfree,” Twilight thought about it and it seemed like the logical thing. Plus it would be safer for him from traveling from his ship to them. The only problem was she would need to ask the Princesses about his request. It was time to finally tell them what was going on as what he was asking couldn’t be hidden any longer.

She felt she had enough data to send to them on what was going on, but first she needed to ask them on how to handle this. Twilight using her magic erased the image she noticed the alien flinch and was looking at her oddly.

David blinked as the alien’s horn was actually glowing as somehow there was another glow on the ground as it erased his drawings. He had no idea what he was looking at or how it was working. He touched the controls on his wrist having the suits passive scanners start to take readings. This was something worth studying maybe later he could get a more detail look at, well whatever it was doing.

David looked at the drawings, it showed the house with two images of the aliens and what he guessed was himself, there was an image of the sun. Then it was changed to the moon with the image of him gone. Now it was with the sun again and his image was back.

“Come back tomorrow huh?” He sighed but he guessed that they had to talk to some higher ups about this. He looked at them and nodded as he made the sun right above the house and pointed up.
Twilight figured he was trying to say he would come back when the sun was highest, that would work out perfect as she nodded her head with a smile.

David pushed himself up as she straightened out his back it was going to be a long walk back. He felt that maybe it was time to get some introductions out of the way.

“Name [David],” he said as he placed a hand on his chest.

“Twilight,” she told him.

“Fluttershy,” the yellow Pegasus told him with a bit more confidence and then looked at Twilight. “Maybe we can invite him in for tea or something?”

Twilight immediately perked up at that as she agreed whole heartedly. She looked up at David and pointed to the home.

“Would you like to come with us?” She asked not sure how much the girls taught him but this was a perfect chance to try.

David looked at the home, he did need to retrieve the drone he left plus it would give him a good idea of how they lived their lives. Looking at the inside of a home could give him all kinds of unique insights. He nodded his head being led into the home.

-Canterlot-

Celestia was in the middle of her court, there were a few ponies that had petitioned for her audience. So far it was just the regular kind of things. Some asking for royal patronage for some kind of program or project, others asking for a decree on a law or to some amendment that was either out of date or needed to be reworded. There were a few requests that were a bit ludicrous to her or just baffling but she dealt with them as usual, over a thousand years of doing this she knew how to let someone down.

There was a small break when a letter suddenly appeared in front of her she smiled as only Spike sent mail like that to her. She took the scroll in her magic wondering what lesson Twilight had learned today. She opened it for a quick read while the next petitioner was set up.

Celestia’s face suddenly lost its smile as she read the letter, various emotions played on her face.

“You’re majesty?” An Earth Pony named Pencil Pusher asked her, he was dressed up in a fine vest that his older age wore with practice. He had been in charge of her court for nearly twenty years now and he had never seen his monarch’s face change suddenly.

“I’m sorry but something important has just come up,” Celestia stood up as every pony took notice of her now.

“Y-you’re majesty, what is so important?” Pusher asked as he fiddled with the small glasses on his face.

“I can’t say just yet,” she told him, “Cancel everything in my schedule for the day.”

“What!? B-but you have a full list of things to do today?” He couldn’t believe this, not in his living memory had she ever just cancelled everything. A few of the ponies that had been waiting for their turn had heard this and were starting to grumble at this.

Celestia’s posture stood firm as he gave them all a level look, “A matter of state has just come up, you will reschedule their appointments.” She commanded, this wasn’t the Celestia that everyone normally saw, this was their Princess now. She stood there in command as her presence seemed to subtly fill the room as every pony suddenly felt very small in her presence.

“Of course!” Pusher said quickly as he got to work writing down names and getting new dates ready.

“Pencil Pusher where is my sister due to be at this moment?” Celestia asked him.

He paused in his work thinking on the schedule for both sisters. “I believe she’s overseeing the reopening for the new orphanage that was upgraded recently.”

Celestia nodded and looked to her most senior guard in the room. “I want you to send the fastest flyer to my sister, tell her to meet me at the royal observatory as fast as she can, she will know what that means.”

“Of course Princess!” The officer saluted and went to get the guard needed.

Celestia walked determined to the observatory, she didn’t often have to use her more serious side and often times ponies tended to forget that she did have this side to her. She preferred to have her subjects at ease around her but at times like this, she needed to put on the mask of monarch. Her thoughts were like a storm in her mind, thoughts, ideas and emotions plagued her as she tried to use the time to reach her destination to put them into order.

Things had changed and she needed to act on it soon.

She was nearly to the observatory when Luna came flying down to her, her younger sister landed panting for breath.

“What happened?” Luna asked catching her breath, as she had flown here as fast as she could when the guard had found her and given her the message.

Celestia floated the letter to Luna, “I think you should read this.”

Dear Princess Celestia,
I’m not sure how to tell you this but the most amazing thing has been happening lately. I should have written to you sooner when it happened but I just wanted to understand things more before I reported this to you.

A few days ago Ponyville had reports from a few sources (one being the Apple Family) of strange sounds and lights from the sky going into the Everfree. At first we weren’t too concerned with it but then Rainbow Dash had an encounter with a strange creature. It seemed to be blending into the ground and had been watching us from a distance. There was a bit of a…well incident, apparently both were startled and Rainbow chased the creature when it ran.

However Rainbow flew into a tree and the creature seemed to actually show concern for her, even gave her some water. Rainbow came back with a few items and they were unlike anything I have seen. I’ve been making a full report on my discoveries so far and I’ll be sending them later once I got them all set up for you. But I will say that the objects were made from material that I have never seen before and written in an unknown language.

Well Zecora of all ponies showed up at my door and said she had met what she referred to the ‘Sky People’, apparently the Zebra Nation has legends of beings from the sky that used to visit our world. At any rate my friends and I tracked the creature down into the Everfree and found what could only be an Extra-Equestrian ship, it was amazing to look at, built unlike anything I have ever seen or read about.

We did try to make contact with the alien (and I do believe he is an alien) but I kind of made a mistake, there was a communication error as we don’t speak each other’s language. Thankfully he (and I am sure it’s a he, see my future notes) has been contacting me by leaving boxes by Fluttershy’s cabin. They were simple at first, math problems, general alphabet and I’ve returned in kind hoping to build trust and a bridge between us. So far I think it’s working, he actually sent me a music box of some kind that has at my count 412 songs in various languages and styles.

Things were also going well but then Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle (the Cutie Mark Crusaders that I’ve written to you about before) saw one of the machines that the alien was using to take and deliver the box we were using to communicate. They decided to try and follow it but ended up getting slightly lost in the Everfree, they were making their way back when they were attacked by a pack of timberwolves. Thankfully they ran into the alien and he defended them, he also brought them back to his ship for safety.

He sent us one of the machines and somehow the girls would see and hear us from the ship through the machine as we could hear them. Although communications between the alien and us are still a bit difficult but we were able to get that he would look after them for the night as the wolves were still in the area and a storm that was coming. The girls said that he looked out for them, feed them and even helped him with his understanding of our language.

We also had some tea with him, we were able to get a bit of a conversation going, he still has a lot to learn but we were able to find a way to communicate. He certainly had a surprised reaction to Fluttershy’s home with all the animals but he did seem to get along with the animals. I think when Fluttershy saw that he liked animals it helped to really get her to feel more at ease with him.

What he has asked though is the main reason for this letter. He’s asked to move his ship out of the Everfree and somewhere closer to Ponyville.

Given the dangers of the forest I think it’s better if he isn’t hurt or killed while on our planet in case his race comes looking for what happened to him. Also this is going to be a major event as everypony in town will see this. News will get out about this so I’m writing to you to not only inform you of everything that’s been going on, but also for your advice on how to deal with this?

Should he be allowed to move his ship and if so how is this news to be broken to the beings of our world? This has just gotten too big to handle so I’m hoping for your reply.

Your Faithful Student

Twilight Sparkle

Luna put down the letter and sighed as she looked at her sister.

“It would seem that we will have to speed up our plans.” Luna said deadpanned.

“Yes,” Celestia said simply as she had already been thinking of everything that had to happen. “We can’t keep this secret if our visitor wants to explore and he’s already made contact with several ponies.”

“It just had to be Ponyville,” Luna wondered why such a town always seemed to draw in trouble. Maybe it was because it was so close to the Everfree that this stuff kept happening. Still this letter changed a lot as she thought more in dept about the letter.

“At least the alien seems friendly but could it be just a ruse?” Luna knew she had to ask the question.

Celestia had been considering it ever since she read the letter. It was possible as they had no way of knowing the motivations behind the alien or what they valued in their culture. Still, the fact was that he didn’t have to do what he did and yet he had been. He had also been trying to gather information, covertly at first but then she would have done the same in the alien’s place.

She had been going over the events in the letter over and over and to her it would seem that the alien was genuine but you couldn’t really know until they could make a face to face meeting.

Finally Celestia spoke her mind, “So far things seem honest but we will have to look this being in the eyes to really tell. I would like to give him the benefit of the doubt.”

“But just in case...” Luna trailed off.

“Yes, just in case,” Celestia said as both sisters knew what was meant. In case this was all a trick to appear like a good individual and hide any malicious intent, they would have to be ready for it. “You think you can handle a security detachment that could keep an eye on him?”

“Of course, I’ve already had a list of guards with more unique talents for this kind of thing drawn up the first time we heard of this.” Luna said proudly. Many thought she wasn’t the ruler like her sister and although it was true she lacked that kind of experience. Yet she had been a ruler for centuries before her fall as Nightmare Moon. All it took was time to catch up to the changes and she was just the bit the ruler of this land.

Celestia nodded, “I believe we could use a couple of days before we visit.”

She laid out her thoughts to Luna as the younger sister thought about it. “That might work and it would give us a little time but what of the press? Surely news like this won’t stay in Ponyville forever.”

“No but it will take time, there would be rumors at first but it would still give us some time.” Celestia said as they were coming up to the observatory. “We can use that time as a way to help gauge how our ponies will react to the news.”

Luna blinked before she caught up, “So you mean to use Ponyville as an experiment to see how things will go. If there is a place we could pull this off that would be the place.”

Celestia nodded, “It’s a village built on the cooperation of all three tribes, a tight knit community like that would be more accepting than a few other cities.”

Luna had to agree that it would be helpful, as they entered the building she could see the ponies here were a bit more stressed. Which was obvious as they had been trying everything they could to get as much information as they could, many looked tired and slightly frazzled. There were papers all over the place a few were arguing over certain aspects thinking if they yelled loud enough then they would be proven right.

There was a large blackboard with a drawing of what had to be the ship in the sky although it was in much better detail.

They actually had to wait a few minutes before someone noticed them and suddenly the room stopped as everyone bowed to them.

“Please rise,” Celestia told them as she and her sister walked up to the board. “Now how did you all do this?”

“It took some doing,” Night Light came forward with a tired look on his face. “I had a unicorn place a few magnification spells on the lenses to increase their power.”

“A very good idea,” Luna commented as she looked at the drawing. “Have you figured anything more out.”

His ears flattened, “Not as such, we can only guess so far.”

“Perhaps we should ask him when we meet with him.” Luna comment looking at the drawing again.

“Him, him who?” he asked looking at them.

“Perhaps you should read this,” Luna told him levitating the letter to him.

Next up Chapter 11: Evening with an Alien

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 11: Evening with an Alien

David was currently in his ship going over everything he had learned as he wrote up his latest report. The computer was working on the energy readings he got from [Twilight] and her horn. It wasn’t much but so far the energy his suit had gotten was, well it was strange. It was no known form of energy, not electrical, not plasma, not fusion or anything they really had a basis for.

Just looking at the energy readings he recorded was unlike anything he had ever seen before. How was that unicorn able to generate that kind of energy? It had to be some kind of bio energy, he had seen some creatures that did things similar. There were records of animals that could generate light or electricity, hell even on Earth there were animals that could do that.

Although how the unicorn had done that was something the passive scans couldn’t tell him. The only thing they could tell him was that the unicorn was female and that the power seemed focused from the horn, which made sense with that strange purple glow it made. It also brought up a lot of insight, he had seen the little ones holding and manipulate things with a combination of their mouths and hooves but this opened up a new possibility. Did all of the unicorns have this ability? If so that would allow them to manipulate things in a superior way. If this was a unique trait he was starting to wonder what the other two types could do.

He had spent all of yesterday making a report on his findings with the kids, not to mention going over those energy scans. What was worse was something the computer had told him, the same strange and powerful energy readings that the Pathfinder had been finding every morning and night was similar to that unicorn’s ability, only much more powerful. It wasn’t a complete match but it was close and that really worried him. Was there some kind of being on his world that could generate that kind of power? Although he couldn’t get a decent scale as he was still working on the math, it was a lot of power.

We were talking a fusion reactor type of power inside of a living being.

He really needed to look into this, there was no telling what this could lead to. Yeah the fusion reactor technology had come a long way but they were still large to make. If this could lead on how to make them so much smaller it could lead to how to totally redesign every piece of technology they had.

“Commander I have run into an anomaly while working on the language translation program.” AVI spoke up.

“What is it?” He asked wondering what new mystery this planet has given him.

“While using the database on all of known Earth languages to help build the translation I came upon a similarity with certain words.”

“Wait, are you saying they have words that are similar to an Earth language?”

“Not exactly, their word for [Pegasus] after listening to the way it was said and the spelling among other similar words I found, there is a slight relation to the word Πήγασος.”

David shook his head, “Wait what language was that? That didn’t sound like anything I heard before.”

“It is in fact a dead language which was why I hadn’t found it until now. That is the ancient Greek word for Pegasus.”

He was silent a moment, “They speak ancient Greek?”

“Again that is incorrect, their language does seem to have similarities but the most likely explanation is that it is over a few thousand years removed from it. As time goes on languages change and evolve over time for various reasons. This could be the result of being separated for such a long time left on its own without known outside forces changing it.”

He was about to tell the computer that it was impossible that there was a link to Earth but then he remembered all the strange things this world had that Earth did. All the similar plants and animals just couldn’t be ignored and if there was some long forgotten link to Earth that would explain it but what was it? How could they have any kind of link at all given how far they were from each other? Again there were just too many questions.

“AVI using this new information could you speed up the translation program?”

“Most likely it will speed it up but there isn’t much in my database on Ancient Greek languages, it is a dead language. I only have the most basic information on it like with all languages in the case the First Contact Protocols were needed.”

“Well glad they did that much at least,” David sighed as he ran his hands through his hair. Here he was thinking that he had been the first human to discover alien life and he had just landed himself into what looked like the biggest mystery in history. He really needed that language barrier broken and soon, there were too many questions that he needed to get to the bottom of.

-Ponyville-

Twilight was currently in the mayor’s office having given her an official letter from Celestia. Twilight was glad that her mentor had gotten back so quickly. Not only did she give her a reply but also a royal message to be given to the mayor who was currently reading it.

The mare adjusted her glasses as she read the message over for a third time, it was just so hard to believe that at first she thought it was some kind of joke or prank. But there was the royal seal and Twilight wasn’t the type to try something like this. If it had been any other pony she would have doubted this but even then it was all just so hard to believe.

Mayor Mare looked up at Twilight, “This is all true?”

Twilight nodded, “Yes in fact I’m going to meet him in a few hours to tell him the news.”

“Oh my, this is just, I mean,” she got up as she started to pace. “Not only are we going to have to prepare an area for him but the Princesses are coming to greet him tomorrow!”

“I know which is why we need to pick a spot that I can lead him to as I know how big the ship is, while you deal with everything else.” Twilight told her.

“Yes, yes I think I have a town map somewhere here,” The mayor went to a filing cabinet as she pulled out a land survey that showed who owned what property. She laid it onto the table as the two went to work. Twilight wasn’t sure how the craft took off and landed but since it had landed in a clearing it was stood to reason it had the ability to fly vertically, at least she hoped so.

Between the two of them they picked out a spot that wasn’t on any property and also it wasn’t too far or too close to the town.

“This should do it,” Mayor Mare did a double check and everything looked fine for her. “So now that we picked out a spot what’s next?”

“Well I plan on meeting him and help him to find this spot,” Twilight also hoped that she could get a look at the ship.

“Alright I better get things ready on this end. Oh this is so exciting, I’ll have to get everything ready for the Princesses, ready the town, I’ll have to make a quick town meeting. Are you sure they couldn’t give us a bit more time?” She asked Twilight.

“I’m not sure but I’m afraid that if we put it off he might fly off, the Everfree isn’t exactly a welcoming place to stay.” Twilight told her.

The mayor had to conceive that point, the only one she knew that could live in that place was Zecora after all. She sighed as she could see how much work was ahead of her, she was going to have to get Pinkie to help set things up provided that mare could tone it down a little. Not to mention she would have to find someone to help organize but there was a pony in mind for that. All those little things that needed to be done, she did have to do one thing first.

“Do...do you suppose I could meet him?” She asked.

“I don’t see why not, can you meet me in Fluttershy’s in a couple of hours.” Twilight agreed.

“Great I can get started on the work,” Mayor Mare immediately got to work as she had a lot of ponies to get in touch with and start on everything.

Twilight went back to the library, she got a saddle bag not to mention supplies. She had a plan on seeing his ship and if she was lucky she was planning on taking lots of notes. She told Spike what to expect and after rechecking she left for Fluttershy’s cabin. By the time she got there Fluttershy was outside waiting for her.

They greeted each other as soon a galloping sound was heard they both looked to see the mayor rushing up. She caught up as she started breathing heavy trying to catch her breath. “Sorry...I’m...not used...to running.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Fluttershy asked her.

“Just give a mare a moment,” the Mayor took a few more breaths. She had no idea she was so out of shape, this is what happens when you are an office working for your career. She was going to have to start jogging or something in the morning.

“I’m not late am I?” She asked looking around. “I got caught up in the preparations and nearly lost track of time.”

“No you’re not late, he hasn’t arrived yet,” Twilight assured her.

“Oh good,” Mayor Mare sighed starting to feel a bit better. They didn’t have to wait long as something started to come out of the forest.

The three looked to see something but they couldn’t tell what at first, it was like a shimmering sight of something moving. Then just as suddenly the shimmering image bleed away until the alien in his strange suit was standing there. He waved to them as he walked up, reaching up and took the mask off revealing his face.

“Oh my goodness,” The Mayor breathed, she couldn’t believe she was seeing an actual alien but he certainly did seem other worldly. Nothing about him was what you would expect someone from her world to be. The face was too flat, the eyes too small and he was so tall, he was as tall as Princess Celestia herself.

He stopped in front of them and then he smiled and it was just so familiar, it was just as expressive as any pony smile. The Mayor looked up at him and she couldn’t help but smile back, she felt nervous being in front of him like this but also exhilarated.

“Hello [David],” Twilight spoke up first greeting him.

“Hello...Twilight,” his words were heavily accented but the words were easy to make out.

Twilight gestured to the mayor, “Mayor Mare.”

The Mayor nodded her head, “Greetings and I must say welcome to Ponyville Mr...uh, what was his name again?” She looked to Twilight for help.

“It’s [David] although I’m not sure he understood all of what you said,” Twilight told her. “He’s still learning our language.”

“Oh of course,” Mayor Mare hadn’t thought of that but it looked like the sentiment of her words seemed to have gotten to him at least. “Well although I have so many questions and things I would like to say I really do have to get back, there’s just so much I have to get ready.”

She looked to David and nodded her head, “Nice meeting you.”

David watched the grey haired one leave and guessed the alien just wanted a quick word, he did notice that the alien wore glasses and had some kind of clothing around the neck. It was an odd combination but if they had eye wear like that it was a good indication of their medical ability. They looked well made and not what you would expect from how the town looked like something out of a medieval village. Then again the lights from the actual cities he had seen in orbit told him that this world was further ahead than what the town looked like as well.

He noticed that [Twilight] was drawing something into the dirt again, he also noticed she had what looked like saddle bags on her filled with things he couldn’t get a look at. He looked at the drawings as it showed what he guessed was him and her walking back to his ship. Huh, well that was odd, then she did the sun-moon-sun cycle they had set up for meaning ‘one day’. Then she placed herself, him and his ship, in that order, and drew a line from the forest to the town.

He cocked his head as she drew the ship image with her and him next to it in the town but now she drew two more images. They looked like the usual aliens but for some reason she drew them larger. Then he noticed something else, they had wings and horns. The only time he had seen that was in that abandoned castle. Next she drew out many other aliens only smaller and all of them behind the two larger ones.

What did that mean? He stared at it for a moment as Twilight tried to explain, she pointed to the two large images and said something. It took him a moment to realise that she said two words for each but it was the same word. One was something [Celestia] and the other the same word with [Luna] being the difference. But what was that first word? Did they have the same name? No, that didn’t seem to fit.

He knelt down and looked at the image, it looked like her little avatar was introducing him to the two in front. Did these two have some kind of high rank? Wait! Rank, maybe that first word was some kind of rank or title. Okay so looking back on it all, she wanted to come back with him and tomorrow she would lead him to some place. That place is where he was going to meet with two important looking aliens.

David wasn’t sure how well he could communicate with them as he didn’t even have a working understanding of the language at the moment. Then he noticed her and the bags she had, she had been the one that had been helping him learn so maybe like with the kids, she would help fill in some blanks. Well it was worth a shot and honestly he was really interesting in getting some deeper scans of her and whatever the hell that purple energy thing she did was.

David stood up and nodded as [Twilight] seemed to squeal in excitement as she actually clapped her hooves together. David had to admit it was just adorable how she acted, she reminded him a little of this woman back at Galactic Survey Corp HQ, she was one of the researchers that loved going through all the data that the Pathfinders came back with. What was her name again? Amanda that was is, looking at this little purple unicorn for some reasons brought back memories of that girl.

Mainly because Amanda had been a huge nerd and he was kind of getting that vibe from the alien in front of him. She was saying something to the yellow one named [Fluttershy] if he remembered. He really needed to help translate what those names meant at some point. So with apparently all things settled they made their way back to his ship with his new travelling companion with him.

Twilight was so excited that she could hardly contain herself as they made their way through the woods. It seemed to take forever to get to his ship but when they finally entered the small clearing she got her second look at the ship. It was still amazing to look at, the pure engineering that had to go into this vessel, it was like a work of art to Twilight.

He led her up the small ramp as they entered a small room, she looked around and it looked pretty sterile. The door behind her closed and then the one in front opened up. She thought that maybe it was some kind of air lock, it made sense. She looked into the long hallway and marveled at how smooth everything looked.

“Wow...I can’t believe I’m on an actual alien ship.” She could hardly contain herself as she started looking around the whole place.

David chuckled at how excited she looked and looking at it from her point of view he could see why. Stepping onto an alien spaceship was pretty cool. He let her go wonder as he went to put away the chameleon suit and gear and get back into his normal clothing. He had kept the more dangerous places locked up anyway. The last thing he needed was some curious alien looking through his engine room and exposing the damn fusion core, that would be really nasty.

Twilight was in awe with how the ship was built, she could tell that this race were master builders. Everything fit in just perfectly and she doubted her own people could make something like this. She found a door and it opened for her when she came close to it. She took a step back as it closed, so she took a step forward and it opened again.

“Fascinating,” Twilight looked at the door as she walked through. “I wonder how it works?”

The room looked to be a bedroom of some kind. Everything looked to be a very simple design, she wondered if that was a design choice of their people or maybe it was just because space was limited. She continued on with her searching, she found the bathroom next, and then she came to the kitchen area. Moving on she found a door that led to a small room. Looking around she noticed two tables with various machines around. They were either secured to the table or against the walls for the most part.

There was a single chair against one of the tables she could see something on the table. She got into the chair and took a good look. There were small circular petri dishes, at first she thought they were made of glass but looking closer it was more of a clear material like before. She saw various test tubes as well and all seemed to be filled with dirt, grass, plant samples.

She looked at the device next to them, it looking kind of familiar in shape as she saw what looked like something to look through. It was dark so she looked around the device and found a button. Pressing it caused the device to light up and a humming sound. Something lit up and she looked through the small viewer again.

“It’s a microscope!” She squealed as she saw something in a sample dish, it was so very clear. It took her a moment but she figured out how to increase the magnification, the device was very simple design once you knew what it was for. It was way more powerful than any microscope she had used before and it was so clear.

“It’s a lab,” She pulled away and looked around as now things were starting to become clear what she was looking at. She couldn’t wait to see if he would let her use this, there was no telling the kinds of things she could learn or experiment with if she had access to all of this.

She pressed the button again as it turned off and she replaced it, she would get back to this later.

Twilight continued on until she came to a door that didn’t open. She paused as she tried to open it by backing up and stepping forward again. Nothing happened, she tilted her head, maybe it was broken? Looking around the door there was a small black rectangle, it was shinny and a little reflective. She touched it with her hoof reaching up a little to get it as a red light showed up when she touched it.

She heard someone coming up behind her and saw David walking towards her.

“[David], is this locked?” she asked him.

“Door, no.” He said simply and waved his finger at her. He pointed to the door now, “Danger.”

“Oh okay,” Although she was curious she didn’t want to push her luck so far. Besides once they got a better understanding of their languages she could ask in detail why it was dangerous. She guessed that he learned ‘danger’ from the CMC she internally smirked.

He led her to the front of the ship as she looked over the various controls, there really were floating glowing controls. She quickly looked them over but didn’t touch anything, no matter how much she wanted to. There were words in [David’s] language and numbers. She tried to work out a few as she had been trying to learn some of the language from their exercises they’re been giving each other.

She frowned as she could only make out a few simple words here or there, things like ‘the’, ‘at’, some numbers and a few other things.

David was glad she wasn’t touching anything he nearly wanted to lock down the controls again like with the kids. He sat down at the small work station that looked like a round table as he brought up a few holographic images.

Twilight noticed this and walked over taking an empty chair. She took off her saddle bags as she watched as he used his hands to manipulate the images. He brought a three dimensional triangle and moved it towards her.

“You try.” He said.

She smiled as she reached out with her front hoof, she couldn’t really feel anything although there was a reaction to the image. It moved from her touch as she reached out with both and found she could stretch it and change its size depending on how she moved it.

“This is amazing and kind of fun,” Twilight giggled as she paused after a minute seeing him watch her. “This is a test of some kind?”

David smiled as he knew the word [test] in that sentence and figured that she must have figured out what he was doing. She sure was a smart one, this was a training program that let kids play and learn how to use interactive displays.

“Test, yes.” He nodded his head and then brought up several shapes and with a hole to match each one.

Twilight rolled her eyes as she easily put the shapes into their holes. She gave him a smirk and David raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, so little miss purple smart wanted a challenge huh?” He grinned s he raised the challenge level.

Now there were shapes but the holes were all slightly different. Twilight took her first shape and paused as she checked every hole. It didn’t fit into any of them as she thought at first that maybe something as wrong but one look at how he was watching her told her otherwise.

“Okay so there’s a way around this,” She thought out loud as she held the shape as she was deep in thought. Then she altered the shape on accident but when she looked down and saw that it kept the shape. She experimented by altering the shape just enough to fit one of the holes. It fit in as she grinned at him and quickly went to work.

David made note of how quick she caught on, he really wanted to give her a full on intelligence test but he would have to modify it if it could. Things like history would be a wash and any science related questions would have to wait to make sure their units of measurement and various little things like that match up.

Twilight looked to her saddle bags and used her magic to get out some scroll and a quill. She made some quick notes.

David looked at the glowing and he really needed a better look at this. “AVI can you use the internal scanners to get a better look at that strange energy she’s using?”

“I will attempt to.” The computer said.

Twilight jumped in her chair looking around, “Hello, is anypony else here?”

“AVI.” David said and pointed up at the ship.

Twilight’s eyes searched and then she remembered something the kids said about the ship talking. “So the ship does talk.” She looked up and smiled. “Hello, I’m Twilight Sparkle, how are you?”

There was a pause as she waited for a reply but frowned when nothing came.

“I think she wants you to introduce yourself AVI.” David told his computer.

“Welcome [Twilight Sparkle] I am the Artificial Virtual Intelligence program for the Galaxy Survey Corp Pathfinder 5 exploration vessel, designation GSC-A150-P5.”

“Uh...” Twilight trailed off not getting what the ship had just said.

“AVI.” David told her with a smile.

“AVI, right.” Twilight nodded her head as he was giving her a simpler way of knowing what to call the ship.

They got back to trading lessons as Twilight started to help him with his Equestrian language skills, first she tried to figure out how much he knew. He couldn’t make full sentences but using simple words he could get his point across, that is if he knew the words. So she tried to teach him various new words that he could use.

David in turn taught her words that equated to that in his own language, she wrote down everything and although he could read a few words from the letters he could tell she had better penmen ship than he did. He was actually a little jealous of how clean her writing was.

Her books were more picture books as he stepped up making words associated with the images. It always helped him to have something to look at when learning a new word. Plus he thanked God for the implant he had in his head. Although most people had them, he had his old one upgraded thanks to the GSC. With AVI working on a translation program to download into it, it also helped him remember everything he learned. Some people said it was ‘cheating’ but to hell with that, without that this would take so much longer.

Although the scary thing was that his guest seemed to be picking up certain words just as fast. She would try every now and then to speak in his language and she got it right more often than not. The more he got to know this [Twilight] the more he really wondered just how intelligent she was. Was she the norm for their kind or did he luck out and get a genius among their people?

He couldn’t tell from the kids so he would have to try and get to know the other adults around here, at least he assumed she was an adult.

Twilight was having so much fun, she loved learning and teaching was just as great. She was picking up a whole new language that wasn’t even spoken on her world and learning about a civilization that no pony had ever heard of before. She was taking lots of notes since she wondered if she could make a research paper on the subject.

Despite the language barrier she found him nice company he was just as eager to learn as she was. She missed having that in her life, sure she loved her friends more than anything, but it would be nice to have someone she could talk to about subjects she liked a bit more often. As soon as she learned enough she wanted to try and see if he had any kind of science or history books or whatever the equivalent to books were on this ship.

They spent their time learning about each other as much as possible, David showed her the same programming that the CMC had seen which captured her attention. She realized that it was a program to help youths to learn but it was all done in an entertaining way. She wondered if he could bring this to Cheerilee, maybe her students would like to see this.

They took a few breaks as he showed her the ship and spent time in his lab, he showed her some of the equipment and what it did. They broke for supper, something simple really and he was in mind not to have anything meat related just in case. He needed a way to breach that subject and soon as he only had so many vegetarian only meals on board.

They worked together late into the night as both were just so eager to learn as much from the other as they could. Eventually though they both were started to feel tired and they did have a big day tomorrow.

“Time bed,” David yawned as he told her.

Twilight giggled as she corrected him, “Bed time.”

“Ah, bed time,” He nodded as he got up as Twilight followed him when they got to their location. She paused as she realized that they only had the one bed. She fidgeted wondering what they were going to do.

“Share?” He asked her pointing to the bed.

“O-oh,” Twilight blushed a bit thinking maybe this was natural for their species. She didn’t want to risk offending him after all. She nodded her head as she got into the bunk as she noticed him taking off some of his clothing but not all of it. That gave her pause, was their kind always wearing clothing? What about baths and showers? Well they had to do that, it’s not like they wore clothing for that right? She did get a look at him as he just had on pants and a simple shirt with now sleeves.

David caught her looking and wondering why she was staring, then again he was an alien so maybe she was just curious. Well the kids seemed okay with sharing a bed so he figured that maybe it was a culture thing to do? Besides he really didn’t want to try and argue the point, he lost the last time.

She didn’t seem to mind as she did jump right onto the bed, so with a shrug he got in next to her. Even though she was bigger than the three kids she only took up half the room. They ended up sleeping back to back as they settled in. He had started to notice that he kept expecting that horse like smell from them but oddly enough it wasn’t there. He could make something out but it wasn’t that musky animal smell, then again given that they were intelligent and they had their own hair styles, meant they most likely had some kind of hygiene.

He settled in for the night as he once again had the lights dimmed by the ship.

“Good night,” he told her in their language.

“Good night [David]” Twilight replied as she tried to get comfortable. It wasn’t the bed, it was nice and the pillow was large enough for both of them. It was just that she was sharing a bed with someone else. She hadn’t slept with someone since she was a filly with her parents or even with her brother a couple of times when she had been scared in the night and their parents had been out.

She tried to tell herself that it was nothing, just two reasonable adults sharing a bed. There was nothing about it that she was just being silly. Still, his back was against hers and she could feel the heat of his body and how it moved with every breath. She tried not to think about it plus she was just so tired and it was a big day tomorrow. They were going to move the ship and she couldn’t wait to see how it moved in the air.

Eventually she drifted off to sleep as she dreamt of the stars and all the things she was going to learn about them.

Next up Chapter 12: Meeting the Princesses

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 12: Meeting the Princesses

David tried to move as she slowly came awake before he realized that he couldn’t move again. The dark was nearly complete but he could make out that he was on his back and something was cuddled up against him. He raised the lights slightly and he wasn’t surprised to see who it was. She was cuddled up to him breathing softly.

He had to admit that she did look kind of cute sleeping like that. He reached up and ran a hand through her hair, or was is called a mane? It was hard to tell as it was stylized like hair. It certainly felt more like hair. His fingers found the back of her ear causing her to moan slightly. He paused not sure if she was awake or what he was doing to her. He tried it again and she sighed as she smiled and snuggled him more closely.

“Huh, guess you liked that,” He removed his hand as he wasn’t sure if it was appropriate or not to do that. He shook her slightly. “Time to get up.”

She moaned but didn’t get up, apparently she was a bit of a heavy sleeper.

David sighed looking up wondering how to get her up, he smirked as an idea came to him. It was time to see if she was ticklish. His fingers went to her sides as he started a search and soon she started to react. She snorted and suddenly she burst out laughing, what he didn’t expect was her flailing hoof to hit him right in the face.

“AH!” His head went back as he fell out of his bunk and landed on the floor. “Fuck!” He cried out when he hit the ground.

Twilight suddenly looked around as her brain started to catch up to her. She had felt herself striking something and in the low light she knew she wasn’t in her bedroom. A groan from below caused her to look over the side of the bed and saw [David] holding the side of his face.

“Oh no,” she got down next to him. “Are you okay? I’m sorry I don’t know what happened!”

“Okay, I at fault,” David said in his broken Equestrian. “Tried to wake, learn lesson.”

Twilight still felt guilty about it plus what if he had some kind of mark on his face when he met the Princesses? She took a look and saw a nasty red mark on his cheek. Her ears fell flat against her head as she saw it. She gently touched his face as she bit her lip.

“Let me try something okay, please?” She asked him.

David nodded his head not sure exactly what she had planned but he saw her horn light up. Then he felt something against the pain in his cheek, it was a tingling sensation and the pain was slowly fading. Then just like that the pain was gone, he reached up and touched the skin and it felt a bit tender but otherwise it felt fine.

“Oh good it worked,” Twilight sighed to herself. She wasn’t sure that healing spell would actually work. Healing spells weren’t exactly her specialty after all. Plus it was a basic one at that, thankfully it should make sure that there would be no mark on his face that she would have to explain.

David got up and looked at the mirror to see that his face looked okay, it was a little tender but you’d think getting hit in the face by a hoof would have done more. Had she done something to him? He knew that they would move objects with their horns so far but was that only scratching the surface? Just what else could they do?

He was going to have to give himself a full medical scan just to be sure. He left the room as a worried Twilight followed him into a room that he had said something about it being a ‘healing’ room. Maybe it was called something else but it was a small room that didn’t seem to have much in it when he showed it to her.

“Uh…what are we doing in here?” She asked him.

“Looking.” He told her and then pointed at his face. “Use this, look deeper.”

Twilight blinked not sure how this room could do that when she watched him touch something into a control panel in the wall. Then that’s when the walls opened up, one side slid away showing secured devices, packages and other things. She noticed something odd though, there were red crosses on white surfaces and another one. Twin snakes wrapped around a single rod with wings on it, it was a caduceus, the universal symbol for medicine. It was also known as the Rod of Asclepius after an ancient story of a special pony of healing.

How was it possible that the same symbols that were used on her world were used by him? Have they been watching them or was there a deeper meaning to all of this.

A humming sound got her attention as she looked that the other wall had pulled away to show something that looked like his bed only inside of the wall behind a screen. He pulled the screen away as he slipped in. He spoke to the ship, she only knew a few of them but then a light washed over him. It only lasted a moment before he slipped back out. He went to the flat screen against the wall as Twilight looked to see a recreation of his face on it.

She watched with wide eyes as the details were amazing and then the skin disappeared showing the muscle tissue and then even the bone. There were words and results but she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. That machine had taken images not only outside but inside of his body, only magic could really do something like that.

Sure they had x-ray machines but nothing like this. The computing power alone would have to be so much further than what they had here today.

David looked at the data and from what the computer was telling him he was somehow recovering from a bruise to the face that should be a week old. Okay that was a little freaky for him but it also very intriguing as well. So she had somehow sped up the recovering of his body. Well this was going into his next report, hell he was going to have to make a whole report just about this.

“Are you okay?” Twilight asked him hoping that he was, she was sure the spell worked but then again she didn’t know anything about his biology she realized. She could have missed something that the spell wouldn’t have fixed up.

David nodded his head, “Yes, good.”

His stomach growled a bit as he smiled at her, “Time to eat.”

Then he heard another and looked down at Twilight who was blushing. “Yeah time to eat,” he chuckled as they left the medical room.

While he started breakfast she went to the bathroom for a quick shower and freshen up. She checked and rechecked herself in the mirror, normally she didn’t care much on her appearance but this was an important day. Both Luna and Celestia would be there to meet them and for a moment like this she wanted to make sure everything went well.

Breakfast went well and David took his turn to wash up as Twilight offered to clean up. After a quick shower and shave he found himself a change in clothing before getting Twilight to meet with him up in the cockpit. Although he only had the one chair that was secured to the floor, he wasn’t planning on any crazy flying. Still he would have felt better if Twilight had a decent place to sit with at least one safety belt. He had to made due with one of the spare chairs next to the holographic workstation.

Normally he would put them away and secure them but he placed it next to his pilot’s chair. She sat down at it while he went through his pre-flight checklist.

Twilight watched in silence as he seemed to be working at the center controls of the ship.

The way his hands and fingers danced along the controls, it was obvious to her that he was checking out the systems, what systems exactly she had no idea but there did seem to be some kind of order to it all. She hoped that she could get the chance to know what he was doing in more detail later. She could hear the ship humming to life like a dragon slowly waking up.

Twilight could barely contain her excitement as she felt the ship slowly lifting up.

“Shinning would love this,” She muttered to herself her older brother loved sci-fi stories and comics and when he would find out about an actual alien and an alien ship, he was going to hit the roof.

She watched as the forest trees slowly moved out of sight and they were above the Everfree. His hands went to the floating energy controls as he manipulated them with easy movements as the ship slowly moved forward. She got the feeling that he was being extra careful since she was here. His chair seemed to have straps on it that would keep the pilot in the chair while hers didn’t.

Maybe she could make one and he could take her into space?

Her eyes widened at that thought, to actually see space. Sure Princess Luna technically was the only one to do it but being put into the Moon wasn’t the same thing as trying to explore space. Her mind raced at the possibilities of what was out there. She watched as they sailed over the forest and Ponyville came into view. She looked and soon saw a large crowd just outside of the town.

“Over there,” She pointed out the window. David nodded as he moved the ship towards that direction.

-Ponyville-

In an open area just outside of the town the population of Ponyville were quickly making preparations, the Pegasi were clearing the skies, Pinkie and the Cakes had food out as well as Pinkie’s usual party decorations. She had made a huge banner that read “Welcome to Equestria and welcome Princess Celestia and Princess Luna” written on it. A lot of the population was waiting as an area had been marked off so no one would go into it.

Mayor Mare had been scrambling to get everything ready, she had everypony in their places, she had the musicians ready to play the anthem and everything seemed to be going well. She still felt nervous, not only were the two Princesses coming here but this would be a moment that would be recorded in their history forever. She felt giddy with excitement and also felt butterflies in her stomach from worry.

It was an odd sensation of two opposing feelings as she looked out over the area. She could see various emotions across the faces of her fellow ponies. Some were obviously nervous, some were eager especially the children as they were all excited and she could hear a few asking questions that their parents would have no way of answering. Some Pegasi had moved some of the clouds off and were sitting on them away from the area either for safety or for better seats.

The Mayor tried to mentally go through her head what might happen, a speech she had done just in case it was needed, when the royals were arriving but she found it hard to concentrate. She sighed as she remembered how things had gone at the town meeting yesterday.

-Flashback to Town Hall, Yesterday-

The Mayor was pacing behind the large curtain as she could hear everypony behind it, by the sounds of it most of the population was here. She took a deep breath as what she was about to tell her ponies was something that would be life changing. Taking a moment she checked the time and it was time for the meeting. She walked through the curtains to the podium as the crowd saw her and slowly started to quiet down.

She cleared her throat as she looked at the notes she placed in front of her but looking at them she wasn’t sure what she had planned to say would be enough. She looked out over the crowd as it suddenly hit her what she was about to tell them would change everything for them.

“First off I would like to thank you all for coming,” Mayor Mare said with a smile. “We have a lot to do as the Princesses are both coming to Ponyville tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow!?” Cried out several individuals.

“We have to start baking!” Mrs. Cake cried out suddenly realizing they were going to be busy tonight.

“But we have cloudy skies for tomorrow!” Someone from the weather team said next knowing this was going to play hell with their weather schedule. Every time you had to change the weather you had to balance it out down the line or else things could get nasty.

Various other voices were heard saying various things as the Mayor clapped her hoof onto the podium getting all their attention.

“Please everypony I know this is last minute but they are coming here to meet with a visiting…dignitary.” She had paused on how to explain him and this seemed like the most appropriate way. Plus in a way he was a visiting dignitary of a whole new culture.

“Why’s a dignitary coming here?” Someone from the audience asked.

“Well he’s been here already for a little while,” The Mayor started to explain. “He’s been in the Everfree and he’s asked if he could move his…transportation closer to the town.”

She could see various other questions coming and decided that she couldn’t avoid dancing around the topic. She took another breath before she called to order and when everyone was listening she spoke up again.

“You see this is a very special dignitary, he comes from a land very far away, from a place none of us have ever heard about.”

“There’s such a place?” Someone asked. “Is this a land from beyond the ocean?”

Although much of their continent was mapped there were still undiscovered areas across the ocean but they were far away and hard to get to. So there were many places on their world that were still undiscovered.

“Much further,” Mayor Mare told them. “You see this individual has crossed the stars themselves to come to our world. Yes, from the looks I see some of you understand, this dignitary is actually not of our world, he’s an alien from another world.”

That sent everybody talking at once asking all kinds of questions, she felt overwhelmed as she tried to calm everyone down and get some kind of order back to the meeting.

“Please, everypony, there is nothing to be worried about!” She cried out.

“We’re all going to get probed!”

“The horror! The horror!”

“Is this an invasion? Are they going to take over our minds or bodies!?”

“What does it look like?”

“Is it all weird and gross looking?”

“How many are there?”

“Everypony please!” The mayor cried out. “I can answer some of your questions.”

Finally slowly everyone started to calm down as she took that moment to try and lightened the fear in the room. “Now as far as I know there is only one, he’s tall and walks on two legs, he’s a bit odd but he’s not some hideous monster either. Miss Twilight is with him right now and I don’t think she would trust being alone with him if he was untrustworthy.”

“He’s not a bad alien!” Apple Bloom spoke up at that moment. “He’s really nice.”

“Yeah plus he’s got all these cool things.” Scootaloo spoke up after her.

“Yeah [David] is a nice alien,” Sweetie Belle said finally.

The Mayor blinked and looked at the three of them. “How do you know his name? I never said it, in fact I only just learned it today.”

“Uh oh,” Sweetie said as the three suddenly realized everyone was looking at them especially Applejack and Rarity.

“Somethin’ y’all wanna tell us?” AJ asked them.

“Um…Twilight asked us to keep it secret,” Bloom replied.

“Ah think she would understand,” AJ told her as she was not letting this go.

The three Crusaders looked at each other before giving a very abridged version of what happened when they were at Fluttershy’s for a sleepover together. The two older sisters were a bit concerned that not only they had gotten into trouble and didn’t tell them, but that Twilight had asked them not to.

“We are goin’ to have some words when we get back home later.” AJ told her sister.

“And I suspect we’ll have a talk with Twilight when we can,” Rarity sighed. “Honestly she should have known better than to keep this from us. I know she wanted to keep this quiet but still she should have told us.”

“Well he sounds nice to me,” Lyra Heartstrings spoke up next. “plus the music they have is nice.”

“Yes he obviously comes from a cultured society.” Octavia spoke up.

“Wait how would you know about their music?” Bon Bon asked her best friend her eyes narrowed.

“Uh..well…you see…” Lyra’s eyes shifted back and forth trying to think of a way to explain it.

“You knew about this as well, the both of you!?” Bon Bon asked them both.

“And me,” Vinyl spoke up without a care. “Twilight asked us to listen to some alien tunes she got from him and some were pretty cool.”

“Okay is there anyone here that doesn’t know about the alien before now?” The Mayor asked looking around. Most of the town raise a foreleg which made her feel a bit better but she was the mayor damn it, she should be told these things. She felt a headache coming on as she pushed forward, she had a lot to get done.

-Present-

The Mayor was brought out of her thoughts from the sounds of various ponies excitement as she looked up to see one of the golden royal carriages being carried by a team of royal guard Pegasi while being flanked by another squad of the same soldiers. She quickly made her way to where the chariot landed. She bowed as everyone else in the area did as the two sisters walked among them.

“Please rise everypony,” Celestia said softly to them all.

“Your majesties it’s an honor to have you both here today,” Mayor Mare told them.

“This is a historic day, we wouldn’t miss this for anything,” Luna replied.

They were soon joined by others, those that bore the Elements, the CMC and Spike the dragon all approached them. No one else would ever normally dare approach the royal sisters so easily but all of them had personally met the princesses in various ways. Spike had been around the castle with Twilight for so long that Celestia was a well known friend to him. To the girls they had also met the rulers multiple times and being the ones that had helped save Equestria including helping to return Luna back to her usual normal form.

“I’m glad to see you all well,” Luna said seeing them all.

“How are you all?” Celestia asked them.

“I can’t wait for the super party I have planned to welcome the first alien to all of Equestria!” Pinkie bounced full of energy, more so than normal.

“I certainly am eager,” Rarity spoke up. “I took some time to think it over and I hope he can show me what kind of fashions his culture has, why just the thought of seeing never before seen designs I have to admit has my imagination going.”

“Ah need ta thank him for looking out for my sisters and her friends apparently,” Applejack said next.

“He seemed nice at tea,” Fluttershy put her thoughts into it. “He was nice to my animals and I wonder what kind of animals he’s seen so far.”

“Oh yeah if he’s been to other worlds than he must have seen a lot of cool animals!” Scootaloo thought about it and wondered if he had seen any cool monsters or anything in space.

“So he seems like a nice alien?” Luna asked them hoping to get some kind of insight into their visitor from the stars.

“Yeah he was really nice to us,” Sweetie told her.

There was a sudden sound as it got everyone’s attention, all the ponies looked to the source as something in the distance glared from the sunlight hitting it. It came from the Everfree as it got closer the noise got louder. The Apple family and Rainbow knew that sound, they had heard it that same night with the strange light. Now that it was within view everyone saw the alien craft. It flew through the air by some unknown means as it flew like a bird.

It made a slow circle around the landing area that had been marked off with ropes to show where the area was and to keep others from being in the area.

“This is really happening,” Luna breathed out softly seeing the vessel that was flying towards them.

“Yes, yes it is,” Celestia spoke back just as softly as they watched the vessel come to a complete stop as it just hovered there in midair.

The ship slowly started to descend as the grass below it billowed in a powerful wind that seemed to come from the ship. Strange leg like devices lowered from the bottom of the ship as he neared the ground as it slowly landed. It sank down a little as the weight settled, the roaring of the engines slowly started to fade. There was a moment of silence as everyone waiting with anticipation for what was going to happen next.

Slowly a ramp came out of the side of the ship as a door opened. There was Twilight at the entrance as she looked round. She wasn’t surprised to see the entire town out for this but it was still a bit daunting to see everyone so focused on her.

Twilight looked behind her as she nodded to David as she went out first. Princess Celestia and Luna came forward to meet with her. Twilight bowed before them as they nodded their heads. It was then that the Princesses saw the form in the doorway.

Celestia and Luna both looked with wide eyes at the tall figure standing there, he was just as Twilight had described but even with that description seeing him in person didn’t do her report justice. He walked down the ramp as the sisters could already hear various ponies reactions, Celestia noticed that a few of her guard twitched but didn’t make a move. That was good, she picked out those that knew how to remain calm under pressure and would not go against their training.

Celestia had to admit it was unique to see someone that was at her eye level, he was about as tall as she was, the face was a bit odd but just as expressive as any pony’s but it was the eyes that got her attention. Although they were smaller than pony eyes, they were just as expressive.

As David made his way down he saw a lot of the locals were gathered around, he had seen them while piloting but now on the ground with them he could see their expressions. There were a lot of them and for a moment he put himself into their position. How would he act seeing an alien for the first time if he was back home? He had to admit he had grown used to the idea by this point but this had to be one of those days they would look back on and would be telling the story of where they were the day the alien came.

He could see a lot of white aliens in armor that kind of looked like Roman legionnaire armor for some reasons. They seemed to have swords and spears, which thankfully were not pointed at him, but that was odd that they were still using them. They had electricity but they didn’t have at least gun powder? Then again he wasn’t sure how they would use it unless they strapped canons to themselves.

He saw [Twilight] in front of two larger and very important looking aliens. The white one was as tall as he was and the blue one was a bit smaller. It was odd how their hair and tails seemed to move on their own. They also seemed to be dressed a bit fancier than the others. Then he noticed that on top of their heads were crowns or at least what looked like crowns to him.

So far this world had a lot of parallels with Earth and its culture, there was that castle he had explored, that one he could see on that mountain with that city in the distance so crowns meant royalty. He took a good look at them and noticed something, they had horns and wings. He quickly looked around but so far there was no one else with both of those. He remembered those tapestries in that old castle with a winged and horned alien, one white and another blue.

What this some kind of royal blood line or maybe a caste system? So what was he meeting? After spending time with [Twilight] he got the feeling that both of them were female, they certainly had a female kind of build to them. If so that meant that he was meeting with what? Was this a mother and daughter? A queen with the princess along with her or maybe they were of two separate kingdoms?

He had to stop that line of thought as he ended up in front of them both, he did his best to bow before the two of them bending at the waist, he certainly hoped he didn’t have to do it exactly like how Twilight had done it, he wasn’t built for it.

They did seem pleased when he straightened back up so he guessed he passed, once social faux pas avoided apparently.

“I am Princess Celestia.” The elder sister spoke up.

Luna took her turn for introductions, “I am Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria. What may we call you?”

David wasn’t sure what the word [Princess] was but from the fact both used it to him it might be a title of some kind. He got their names and he guessed they wanted his in return. “I am Commander David Miller but you can just call me David.”

He smiled easily at them relaxing his body hoping to convey that he was here peacefully. It seemed to work because he could see a little tension go out of them as they smiled in return.

“Ah damn it,” He muttered to himself. “Why the hell couldn’t I have remembered to say ‘take me to your leader’ to someone? I just wasted a golden opportunity because I think they’re right here too.”

He thought about what to do next, he wanted to show that he was friendly and open up some kind of dialogue. With a mental shrug he decided to just keep it simple he could get into more detail once he had a better grasp of the alien language.

He stuck out his hand towards them and said one simple word he had learned that felt appropriate.

“Friends?” He asked them.

Celestia smirked at the simple question but she didn’t sense any kind of malice out of him, although his features were odd they weren’t so alien that she couldn’t tell his emotions on his face. She saw the outstretched hand and figured he was going for a hoofshake, or well handshake if she remembered the Minotaur version of it. She reached out as his hand gently grasped her hoof as they shook.

“Yes, I believe we could be friends.” She said with a smile.

Next up Chapter 13: Welcome Party

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 13: Welcome Party

David had to admit that so far things were going well, after the handshake it seemed some of the tension was let out but a lot of the aliens did seem to be wary of him not that he could blame them. David tapped the controls on his gauntlet to lock up Sparrow I, he didn’t want anyone curious to get inside.

Although as he tapped the controls it really wasn’t much of a ‘gauntlet’ it was just called that because it kind of looked like it. It was mainly just a thin dark material ended just before his elbow as the fingers were cut away. There was a small scanner in the palm with the thin reflective material on his forearm was where the simple computer was. He also had a small utility pouch hooked to his waist on his right. It just held a small PADD with a small holoprojector, he honestly had no idea what to bring to this but he felt they might come in handy later on.

The PADD he could use to help with some translating but the holoprojector was there for some fun as well.

Suddenly music started up as a flag was raised he looked to see a string band playing. He paused looking at the musicians he really didn’t know how some of them were playing. There was a grey coated one with dark hair playing what looked like a cello of all things. Just how was it playing the strings and holding the rod with hooves?

He shook his head as he looked on, the flag was a light blue field with stars around the edges. In the center was a sun and moon with two of the aliens circling them. One was white and the other blue as they both had horns and wings. He cast another look at [Celestia] and [Luna], where they related to the images on the flag? If they were part of some royal bloodline it might make sense.

The music faded as what he guessed was their anthem stopped playing.

Twilight looked up at him. “Please, this way.”

David nodded as Twilight led the way with everyone else.

Now that he was in the town it was odd how old fashioned it was given the rest of the planet but there were places like that with humans. Either back on Earth there were the ‘Low-Techs’ the ones that liked to live a more simple life. Plus there were a couple of colony worlds that had people like that as well, some were like that just because it took time to build up some worlds, others well they had their own reasons.

Looking around he could see what looked like signs of electricity but there were no power lines or an equivalent of something like that in sight. He really needed to start making notes on all the things he needed to look into. They were leading him through the town as he tried to smile and wave hoping to make himself less threatening or scary.

David suddenly noticed that there were some of the flying types that looked to be actually sitting on the clouds. He wanted to dismiss it but given everything else he had seen so far he was just going to add that little thing to the very long list of things to get to the bottom of eventually.

He noticed a couple of curious kids in the crowd, he waved at one as it quickly hid behind what he could only assume was the parent. He sighed at that and shrugged before walking along, the aliens in his group were all talking but he could only catch bits and pieces. It was a little frustrating but he just tried to piece together was they were saying. You never know the phrase ‘let’s go dissect the alien’ might show up.

“So Twi, when were ya goin’ to tell us that them Crusaders got into trouble in tha Everfree?” AJ asked her friend giving her leveled look.

Twilight’s eyes widened as her ears fell back. “I-I’m so sorry Applejack and you too Rarity. I know it was wrong but I was just trying to keep things quiet until the Princesses were told what was going on.”

“You still should have trusted us,” Rarity told her. “What if something had happened to them?”

Twilight really hadn’t thought it through at the time but looking back, she really should have said something. She just got so caught up in things and when that happened she knew that she got blinders on and certain things just didn’t occur to her. She knew that she was learning about friendship and here she was learning a lesson about taking her friend’s feelings into account.

“You’re both right,” Twilight sighed lowing her head. “I shouldn’t have gotten caught up in things and forgot to let you know what was going on. I didn’t mean to but I did and I apologize to the both of you. I promise I won’t do anything like that again.”

Applejack could tell that Twilight was honest and it wasn’t like her little sister and friends were hurt. So as long as Twilight learned her lesson she could forgive her friend.

“Well alright Ah accept but don’t let that happen again, ya hear?”

“Yes, please don’t make a habit of that darling,” Rarity told Twilight in agreement.

Twilight looked at her friends with a grateful expression on her face. “Thank you both and I promise not to do anything like that again.”

Celestia had tried not to overhear but sometimes you couldn’t help but hear things. She smiled a little seeing Twilight’s growth, it would seem that she was going to get a new friendship report on this event later on. He took a glance at the alien walking beside her, he was looking around taking everything in. He was trying to make nice with the populace, smiling and waving although some weren’t as receptive it would seem.

It was a little disheartening but she did notice a few things, some of the children would wave back and even some of the adults. There were some faces that were looking on in wonderment and she had to admit. Deep down she too felt that wonderment, here she was walking beside someone that traveled the very stars themselves. She wanted to ask him so many things but she controlled herself, she hadn’t been ruler for all this time without learning to control her impulses, well most of them at least.

David had to admit the place seemed to have a quaint charm to it, he wasn’t sure where they were going but soon he found himself in an open area. There were tables set up and a banner, he looked at it but the only word he could make out was their word for ‘welcome’ on it. Well with the balloons, decorations and the food on the long tables it looked like they were throwing a party.

He paused at the site of the building everything was in front of.

“Good god…this place has a gingerbread house,” He looked at the building and he wanted to go up and see if it was really made out of gingerbread, given everything else he had seen so far he wouldn’t put it past this crazy world. Although he doubted it was, how in the world would they keep it from going stale for starters? Still…he planned when no one was looking to take a closer look if only to sate his own curiosity.

“Hi there!” Pinkie bounced up in front of David. “I’m Pinkie Pie and I hope you enjoy this party, I made it just for you!”

David nodded his head to the pink one he remembered from the ship, she certainly was an energetic one that was for sure. Even his niece and nephew on a sugar rush together only came close to it.

“Oh I almost forgot,” She quickly dashed to one of the tables as she came back with a tray of cupcakes on it. “I hope you liked the last ones so I made more.”

David looked at the cupcakes as he picked one up. He looked down at the pink one with a raised eye brow. “You make?”

“Yep,” Pinkie smiled up at him. “I make them at Surgarcube Corner, oh I can’t wait for you to see what else we baked there. I bet there are a lot of yummy things that you’ll find there.”

David caught a few words in that, it didn’t help that she spoke pretty quickly. He took a bite and good god was it good. It helped that he hadn’t had fresh bakery goods since he left the Earth system. Even then he was sure this was one of the best baked goods he had in a long time. Looking down at the pink alien he couldn’t help but feel he would like this one.

“Good.” He told her which brought a huge smile to her face.

David was lead to a seat at a long table, there was a large spread of food on it and some drinks. He saw tea, punch but nothing alcoholic but then he had been dry for a long time at any rate. He noticed that there were no meat based products which made sense if they were a herbivore species like the scans he had made of them so far told him.

He had the large white one next to him and the smaller darker one on the other side. He thought their names were [Celestia] and [Luna] and they seemed to be the big shots around here. [Twilight] was across from him as well as the others he remembered on that day they visited. He saw the one with the rainbow mane there. There was [Fluttershy] with her, he saw the orange one with the cowboy hat, the pink one and pure white one. There was also the little lizard guy as well sitting next to the white one.

Various others were sitting around, the ones in the armor took up positions. They were really stiff and kind of reminded him of Marines or those guards in red with the silly hats in England, the ones that guarded King Charles IV, royal guardsmen or something he thought.

Eying the soldiers up a little he got the idea that royal guards did seem to fit them.

David picked up what looked like a sandwich as he ran a quick scan over it and looked at the read out on his forearm. He furrowed his brow at something as he picked off the top to take a closer look. He picked out what looked like a flower. The scanner had found a daisy inside of the sandwich, okay that was a new one. He knew that some flowers were editable but some were toxic to humans. Looking at the readout he was thankful that daisies, while they might not taste good, were not poisonous to humans.

“Twilight can you enlighten us as to what he’s doing?” Luna asked looking at what he had done.

“Well I know that light is some kind of scanning like with the simple scan spell, although from what I can tell it’s not actually magical. At least I’m not sensing any magic at all from when he uses it.” Twilight explained.

“He’s most likely trying to figure out if the food is safe to eat,” Celestia commented. “I have to wonder if daisies are deadly for his kind given he’s picking them off.”

“Oh no I didn’t even think of that!” Twilight looked to David. “Is is safe to eat [David]?”

“Safe?” He asked using the unfamiliar word.

Twilight thought about it, “Is good to eat, not bad?” She had to use simpler terms at the moment he was learning fast but it was still a struggle for him with unfamiliar words.

David nodded his head as he tried to explain. He held up the daisy, “Good but not good.”

“Huh?” Twilight tilted her head.

“Good for you but not good to eat?” Celestia asked trying her hoof at translating.

David nodded his head, “Yes, [humans] no eat…this.”

“What was that word, [humans]?” Luna asked Twilight hoping she would know.

“Oh I believe that’s the name of his species,” Twilight explained to them. “I learned it from when we were trying to learn each others languages in his ship.”

“So big guy,” Rainbow said to him. “We’re cool right?” She saw the look on his face. “You know from before, when I kind of chased you when we first met? When I flew at you.” She motioned with her front hooves trying to mime what happened that day.

“Cool?” David asked.

“You know cool, like good.” Rainbow told him.

“Oh,” David nodded his head. “Yes, we cool.”

“Awesome,” Rainbow smiled happy that everything turned out fine. She had been kind of worried about this for a few days but thankfully he didn’t seem to hold a grudge. “So how fast can your ship go?”

“Really, y’all have an alien and tha first thing you ask is how fast his ship can go?” AJ smirked at her.

“Hey it goes from star to star, that’s got to mean it goes fast.” Rainbow defended herself.

“How fast ship?” David asked as he saw Rainbow nod her head. He looked up trying to think of how to explain as he took a bite out of his sandwich. “What word for…” He snapped his fingers and pointed at his ear.

“Uh…ear?” Rainbow pointed at her ear.

David shook his head, “No not..ear…what ear does.”

“Listens?” Pinkie asked. “This is a fun game.”

David snapped his fingers, then he tapped the table, then clapped his hands. He hoped that would help get the idea.

“Oh I believe he’s trying for the word sound,” Luna perked up. “Sound.” She repeated to David and mimicked a few sounds of herself.

“Ah sound, thanks.” David smiled at her. “It can break sound.”

Twilight perked up now getting it, “Oh you mean break the sound barrier?”

David nodded and then held up five fingers.

“It can go five times the speed of sound, wait that can’t be right.” Twilight blinked. “Although that’s fast it can’t possibly travel to others stars. [David] how can your ship go from star to star?”

“Star to star? Can’t,” He shook his head. "[Sparrow] is small ship, can’t go far.”

“But then how did you get here?” Twilight asked him.

Celestia and Luna shared a look as they had a feeling they knew what that large ship in orbit was now. It was obviously the ‘mother ship’ that allowed him to travel but would he give out that kind of information. Both sisters waited to see how this would turn out to see how much information he would freely give.

David pulled out the PADD and placed it on the table so everyone could see it. He pulled up an image of the Sparrow I as he pointed at it. “Sparrow I.”

“Wait you said the word ‘one’ in that, are there more and what does [sparrow] mean?” Twilight asked him.

He pulled up an image of an actually sparrow and pointed at it.

“Oh it’s a sparrow,” Fluttershy said seeing the bird.

“Wait, its named Sparrow One?” Luna asked him as he nodded.

They all watched as he showed them images of other vessels, a larger and thicker looking one he called [Sparrow II] and then two more as he named them as well. Then he finally showed them an image that both she and her sister knew full well. This was the one that was currently in the skies.

[Pathfinder Five] he called it. "That how, this takes me to other stars."

“That looks pretty big,” AJ said seeing it.

“It is,” Celestia said getting everyone’s attention. “We noticed this in the skies not long ago.” She tapped the image and then pointed to roughly where it should be in the sky and looked right at David. It took a moment but he seemed to get the idea.

He nodded at her and pulled up an image of the ship’s location. There was the planet and moon with a small circle showing the location of Pathfinder Five.

“How many others are there?” Luna asked him hoping he understood.

“Me,” He told her. “No others, I…not know word…I look for safe way from star to star for others.”

“Safe way from star to star?” Rarity asked wondering what he meant. “It must be dangerous traveling from world to world.”

“So he’s like a scout,” Applejack thought out loud. “Lookin’ ta find the safe ways to travel for his kin.”

“I believe there were ponies like that in the distant past,” Celestia said thinking back, she had to think back to some of her earliest memories. “When we were young, some parts of Equestria were still unmapped. Some explorers had to go out to map the land and find safe routes for travel.”

“So he must be the equivalent,” Luna vaguely remembered those stories.

“Oh so he’s like a super space explorer.” Pinkie jumped up in her chair. “Hey how many worlds have you gone to?”

This was actually a question they were all curious about. David finished his punch and looked at her. “Forty-two and many moons.”

“Forty-two worlds!?” Everyone said at once.

David nodded and then he tapped the controls on the PADD as he pulled up the images from his travels that he had taken. He noticed that everyone was crowding around as some were hard to see. He paused in what he was doing and pulled out the portable holographic projector. Everyone watched him as he set it up and he linked it to the PADD.

David smiled as he watched them all and then pushed one last button. Suddenly several flat screens came to life floating in a circle. There were many reactions even from around others there were curious and looking at their able. It seemed that he was drawing a crowd, well time to show off some of the cool places he’d been to.

Up on the screens the same image showed up, the first was himself standing in front of a mountain range it could have been any place with the exception of a few things. The grass was purple in color and the sky was various shades of orange. It wasn’t even sunrise or sunset, the sky was just orange instead of blue.

“Wow look at that, it’s like when Discord was running around.” Pinkie laughed and pointed.

“An actual alien world,” Twilight’s eyes widened at the sight.

The image changed to pictures of more strange landscapes, a canyon with curved jagged walls full of crystals. Rarity marveled at the sight of them wondering what kind of accessories she could make of such things. Spike just licked his lips wondering if alien gems tasted any different than the ones on his world. Then came a lake of purple water with large strange creatures drinking from it.

“Oh my look at those, I’ve never seen anything like them,” Fluttershy gushed at the sight of new creatures.

“Well they most likely are from another planet there,” Applejack smirked at her. “Ah reckon that he’s seen more animals on other worlds than you can shake a stick at.”

“Oh I wonder if he’ll tell me all about them, you know, when we can talk better that is.” She said hopefully.

“This is so cool,” Rainbow marveled at the sight, there were some funky stuff this alien had seen. Looking at him again she felt like he was like the Daring Do of space, but you know, just not as cool as her fictional hero. It was still pretty close though as she looked back thinking of all the places you could explore, entire worlds that no pony had ever been too were out there. To fly in skies that no Pegasus had ever flown in before made her dream about going to such a world to explore it herself.

Applejack saw some strange looking plants and it took her a moment to realize that they were trees. They were just really skinny and the branches covered the trunk like how an umbrella looked. It was only the fruit growing on them that made her realize that it was some kind of fruit bearing tree. It made her wonder if there were any kind of alien fruit that were similar to apples?

There was an image of what had to be David again only this time he was wearing a thick suit of some kind, the face could barely be seen through the visor. The background didn’t look too hospitable either, black and grey smoke was all around the place, there was no growth of any kind. It looked like a wasteland of some kind.

“Why is he wearing such a garish thing?” Rarity said looking at the suit.

Twilight looked to David and pointed out the suit.

David nodded his head, “Needed that, there can’t…what is word, not wind but…” He breathed in a few times deeply to show them.

“Oh is the air bad there?” Twilight asked him.

“Ah so air is word, yes, air very bad.” He explained as best he could since he didn’t know their world for sulfur, that planet was lousy with the stuff.

Then he pulled up an image of a skyline but this got Celestia’s attention the most as she looked at it with wide eyes.

“Oh my,” She simply said as there were two suns in the sky.

“So there are worlds with more than one sun!” Twilight grinned at the image. “There was always a theory that it could be possible but it was only a theory until now, oh I wish I had something to note all this down with.”

“I must admit that is a sight, oh don’t pout Luna,” Celestia noticed her younger sister’s reaction to the sight of it.

“I do not pout,” Luna muttered looking away.

David noticed the exchange as well, the blue one had her cheeks puffed out and looked slightly annoyed at the image. He did noticed that she and the larger one did have a sun and moon motif going on. Maybe it was something special to each of their cultures or beliefs? At any rate it seemed Luna didn’t like how that world had two suns. Well he knew what would cheer her up as he pulled up a new image. This was a night shot of the sky and it showed three moons of various sizes and slightly different colors.

“Huzah!” Luna shouted in triumph, “Behold, a world with three moons dear sister!”

“It’s not a competition,” Celestia muttered to herself.

Everyone else giggled at the antics of the royal sisters, it was a rare sight to see them acting like actual sisters. Next came something none of them expected, underwater shots of below a strange alien sea or ocean. Sea life that none of them had ever seen before floating about.

“Now ah wonder how in tarnation he got those images underwater?” AJ commented.

“Must be some kind of underwater camera?” Rarity offered.

“It could be possible,” Twilight nodded although she wasn’t sure how, the camera would have to be water tight at the least.

The alien slide show continued on, they asked him questions and he answered as best he could. He continued to try some of the foods, Twilight made a mental note on the ones he didn’t eat. So far it was pretty much the same things they ate only no flower and no hay for some reason. Either it wasn’t good for him or maybe he couldn’t digest those foods. It made sense, after all there were most likely things she couldn’t eat that he did. She would have to get him to the town doctor if possible, if only so they had a basic understanding of what was normal for him. That is if he allowed it, she didn’t see why not, he had done pretty much the same with several of them so far with that scanning technology he had.

“You know maybe we should get some music going,” Pinkie thought out loud. “This is a party after all and we’re nearly done with the food.”

“Oh how about I go get that music box he gave me?” Twilight perked up at the thought. “We can ask him about some of the music as well. I’ll go and get it.”

Twilight disappeared in a flash of magic although everyone knew about the spell and had seen Twilight done it many times now. There was one person that hadn’t seen that happen yet.

“What the fuck!? What the hell happened to her!?” David jumped out of his chair pointing at the spot Twilight had been.

Everyone tensed up, a few jumped in their seats, some of those gathered around drew back scared that the alien either was agitated about something or was angry about something. Celestia and Luna had to look at the guards to let them know to stand down when they heard the armor of the guards locked up as they went immediately into a defensive posture.

Twilight popped back with the device smiling to herself. “Here we go I have it right-what is going on?”

“He kind of freaked out when you teleported Twi,” Rainbow told her.

“What?” Twilight blinked at her and looked at David to see his shocked expression.

David pointed at her trying to make sense of what he had just seem. One moment she had been there saying something about music and going someplace, then there had been a flash, she had been gone, then another flash and she was back. With the music device he had made for her as well.

“W-what?” He asked her.

“I don’t think he has seen teleportation before,” Celestia said seeing his expression. She hoped she could calm him down as she gently spoke to him. “It’s alright, Twilight is fine, we call it a teleportation spell.”

She spoke the last few words carefully to him as he looked at her. Celestia used her magic to take an orange and placed it on the table. “Twilight.” She pointed at it and then it disappeared and reappeared a foot away. David jumped but soon his shock turned to a look Twilight often got when she saw something that got her interests. David held up his scanner as he started to scan the orange and kept it going.

He looked at Celestia. “Again?”

Celestia smiled and nodded and teleported the orange again. David looked at the data he was seeing but the computer was having a hard time trying to figure out what had just happened. It wasn’t something in the parameters that it was programmed for. David was going to have to go through the data himself later but then he looked at Celestia.

“How?” He asked her.

Celestia tried to think of something, even if he knew their language it would be hard to explain. It was a very advanced spell that few unicorns were able to master. She noticed a paper napkin and floated it towards them. She took a small baby carrot and made two marks on the napkin with her magic.

“We are here,” She placed the little carrot on one dot then she folded the napkin so both dots were lined up and she pushed the carrot through so that when she reopened it, the carrot was on the other site. “Now we are here.”

“Mother of god they can fold space naturally,” David muttered as he knew the theory of space folding. If humanity hadn’t cracked the warp drive then space folding was the only other option they had, well there were wormholes but they had no idea how to make something like that, even in theory. But these little alien horses had the ability, or at least the unicorns did, of folding space to basically teleport themselves without having to break themselves down at the atomic level.

If they could learn how they did it and replicate it, hell what would be faster warp drive or space folding? He wasn’t sure at the moment but there were a wide range of possibilities. Things like maybe even faster than light communication, something humanity had been struggling with how to create.

Twilight looked at him as he was deep in thought. [David?]

He snapped out of his thoughts, “Sorry, talk later about that?”

“Sure thing,” Twilight nodded as she got the music player ready. “Now how about we change the topic? I have some questions about some of the music.”

Next up Chapter 14: Getting to know Ponyville

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 14: Getting to know Ponyville

David had to admit these alien horses were very friendly, well for the most part. It seemed mostly everyone present was getting more used to him but he did see several still keeping their distance from him. Well at any rate as soon as the music from the device he built started going they were joined by many more aliens.

The little trio were happily listening in with them all, he was surprised when four others joined them. A green unicorn that called herself [Lyra] with apparently her friend [Bon Bon]. The other two were an odd pair, for some reason he thought of the phrase ‘odd couple’ when he looked at them, most likely because they were polar opposites of each other.

It was explained to him that the three of them had been helping Twilight with trying to understand the music. It made sense to David to get the opinion of experts, in fact he hoped to get some samples of their music to bring back as well.

The grey one named Octavia seemed really interested in the more classical stuff, she had played several pieces by Beethoven from the device.

“If you may, I was wondering if you could tell me about this composer?” Octavia asked him.

David nodded his head, “Name is [Beethoven], one of best. Had to make music when…uh…” He paused when he tried to think of the words needed. He looked around and saw a pie and pointed at that.

“What word for that?”

“Pie?” She asked him.

David paused at the word, “Pie, like her?” He pointed to Pinkie Pie.

“Yep, pie like me Pinky Pie,” Pinkie handed it to him. “Here you go Mr. Alien.”

“His name is [David],” Twilight chided her friend.

David took the pie and cut it in half, “What word for fifty-fifty?”

“Fifty-fifty?” Applejack looked at the pie cut in half. “Ya mean half?”

“Half is word?” He got a group of nods. “Okay he made music while half in life, ears no work no more.”

“Ears no wor-you mean he became deaf!?” Octavia asked him with eyes wide.

“If deaf mean ears no longer work for sound, yes. He lost use of ears half through life.” He tried to explain to them. He looked up the information on his device to see some of the music he had made when he was deaf. He found one and started to play Symphony No. 9.

“This he made when deaf.”

Octavia just stood there her eyes widened as the music played. To think that this alien musician had made such music while not being able to hear, she felt a great many emotions. The genius of this mind to make such music and the tragedy of never being able to actually hear the music being played. If she ever went deaf, she wasn’t sure what she would do. Going deaf was one of the worst fates a musician could ever have happen to them.

Her cutie mark wasn’t just a symbol of her special talent, music was her life and joy. She loved music with every fiber of her being so to lose that would be devastating to her. Yet here was a musician from across time and space that had this happen to them and not only didn’t stop them from making music it was still such a beautiful piece. She had heard this piece from before, Twilight had given her recordings of the songs she had chosen to study more in depth, but now this music had such a deeper meaning to her now.

“Like this music?” David asked her seeing her.

This snapped her out of her thoughts and nodded. “Yes thank you, oh my forgive my rudeness I never introduced myself. I am Octavia.”

“Nice to meet you,” David said in the standard greeting that he was starting to get a lot of experience in using now.

David decided to cut himself a piece of pie after making sure it was safe. Honestly so far he had found flowers, oats, hay and even grass in one of the dishes. Nothing that would kill him but he doubted it would be something he could stomach and throwing up might be a major incident. He took a taste of the pie and good god was it good.

“What pie this is?” He asked as best he could.

“That there is some apple pie from my family.” AJ said proudly.

“Apple-pie,” He said slowly as something clicked in his head. “What is apple?”

“This here hon,” Applejack showed him an apple.

David thought about it for a moment. “Apple-pie, apple…Apple-jack?” He asked and then looked to Apple Bloom. “Apple-Bloom.”

“Yep we’re named after apples,” she told him with a nod.

“Huh,” He put that away. So far he figured out that two of the aliens were named after food. One seemed to have an apple theme going on and [Pinkie] had what sounded like a last name that translated to ‘pie’. Did all their names translate like that or was it just a rare thing to come across? Maybe it was like how some human names like Smith, Carpenter, were names that described what that family did originally when family names were invented.

Maybe it was like that here, he did noticed that [Applejack] did have apples on her side although [Apple Bloom] along with her friends didn’t have a mark yet. He had to wonder just what those were.

He pointed at Applejack and then at Apple Bloom, “Family?”

AJ nodded her head, “Yup.”

He had learned the family names from one of those kids books and took a shot in the dark. “Daughter?” He pointed to Apple Bloom.

AJ spike out her juice she had been drinking as Rainbow Dash snickered. AJ looked back at David and shook her head. “No, she’s mah sister.”

“Oh, understand now,” He nodded his head.

“Do y’all have family?” Apple Bloom asked him as this got some attention around the table.

David nodded his head as he stop the slide show, a few of the aliens groaned in protest but it was time to change things up a little. He pulled up his personal files and found some images. He threw up a new image to the holoprojector as this time it was a family photo. They were all dressed up in fine clothing as this had been taken a few years ago before David had started his training.

He stood there along with everyone else. His father and mother were at the center, both looking prim and proper, his father always had this slight stern look on his face but hell he ran a whole company so he had to carry a lot on his shoulders. His hair was grayed around the edges with small black glasses, he could have gotten his eyes fixed but he preferred his smart glasses. His mother although just as old as his father had aged gracefully, she had her arm linked in his and looked like a duchess of a household.

They were very much a power couple back home but despite their serious looks they did have a softer side for their family.

His younger brother, who looked more like his mother than his father stood there looking a little glum. Robert was a hard worker but always had the worst luck, it kind of led him to think that he was cursed in life. Which was most likely why his father was going to leave the family business to his older sister who was pretty much running things these days?

His sister Samatha was wearing a power suit with her long blonde hair tied up in a bun looked the part of an executive and yet still held herself in a feminine charm. Her husband stood next to her proudly, he was an okay sort although he David thought he could stand to lighten up sometimes. Sitting below his sister and brother-in-law were her two children. The little terrors looking like angels, if only because they were bribed with ice cream after if they behaved.

His niece and nephew were only nine and ten and both full of life, he figured they got that from Samatha since she had been a tomboy growing up.

The final person in the picture who David stood next to was his Uncle Harry, his father’s younger brother. He had a thick beard with some gray showing a little in it, he had a large frame. He was always the one that played Santa Clause every year and he pulled it off greatly, even the attitude. His uncle was just a fun loving man, he felt he and Pinkie would get along great.

“This my family,” David told them and pointed them out. “That father and that mother.”

“Oh my what an elegant dress she has,” Rarity seeing alien fashion they were much better dressed in this image than David was now in her opinion. She was going to have to ask him later if she could see more.

“He looks kind of scary,” Fluttershy looked at David’s father.

“Kind of reminds me of the principle I had in Cloudsdale,” Rainbow said offhand.

“That my small brother,” He pointed to Robert and then to his sister. “Big sister and…uh…” He wasn’t sure what to called married. “They husband and wife.”

“Oh you mean they’re married,” Twilight explained to him. “Are those their children, your niece and nephew?”

“Yes they are, that is, what word for brother of father?” He asked her.

“Uncle.”

“Yes, uncle.” He finished explaining.

Pinkie saw that the food was mostly gone at least the main dishes and she could see that some ponies were a little weary of him still. She didn’t understand why, to her he was a nice alien they should be nice to him back. Well if there was one thing she had to do it was to show everypony that he was a good alien and what better way to do that then to get them to start playing?

She hopped over to David and pulled him out of his chair. “Come on, this is a party and it’s time to have some fun.”

“Pinkie where are you taking him?” Twilight asked her friend a little flustered he just up and took him like that.

“To play some games silly, come let’s try pin the tail on the pony first!” Pinkie led him away.

Bon Bon shook her head at the sight, Pinkie never let a party get boring as she continued on with the alien. Truth be told she had seen a lot of scary things in her life but honestly, this alien wasn’t all that scary to her. Sure he was a bit odd looking but once you get used to it, it wasn’t that bad. She noticed Lyra was obsessed with the alien music box talking to the other ponies in town who were music lovers.

There was a small crowd around the device as the music filled the air, she had to admit even though she didn’t know what was being said some of the music was actually nice. Although there had been that loud one that set her teeth on edge, looking around she then noticed something odd.

She couldn’t help it but when he eyes rested on Princess Celestia, she looked right at her. Then the princess’ eyes meaningfully looked to the left. Bon Bon saw she was looking at a set of homes close together as the Princess seemed to make an excuse and started walking in that direction. Luna followed suit and Bon Bon got a feeling that she was supposed to go that way as well.

Bon Bon looked at Lyra, “Hey I’m going to see what’s at the snack table.”

“Okay, see if they got any cupcakes left will you?” Lyra asked her turning her attention back to the alien music machine.

Bon Bon nodded and walked off, she caste a quick look but everypony was glued to the alien, his picture machine or the music box. She then quickly made her way down an alleyway and made a turn. She silently walked on until she turned a corner and found herself in front of both princesses waiting in the middle of the alleyway. She bowed to them both.

“Rise,” Celestia said with a small smile. “How are things Sweetie Drop?”

“I go by Bon Bon now your majesty and they’re going great.” She replied.

“Ah yes, I am sorry for the inconvenience for your relocation.” The monarch said a little sad knowing all the members of that monster tasked force had to go into hiding and change their lives on her orders.

Celestia turned to her sister. “Luna, this is, or was Special Agent Sweetie Drops, she used to work with a special anti-monster task force I had created awhile back.”

“I never heard of this,” Luna looked at her sister with narrowed eyes. She was still catching up on a few things after her time away but you would think something like this her sister would have told her.

“I have to close it down a couple of years before you returned.” Celestia explained to her younger sister. “The group was used to find and subdue monsters that were causing trouble. Unfortunately somehow there was a breakout. Many of the monsters were recaptured but several of the worst got loose and still remain free. I had to shut down the project after that.”

She turned to Bon Bon, “I know you’re not an agent anymore so I will not give you an order but I do have a request for you if you want to accept it.”

Bon Bon knew that she had a new mission but although she did enjoy her ‘retirement’ to Ponyville, a part of her did kind of miss some of the action. Plus she had joined that squad to help all of Equestria, if Celestia needed her again there really wasn’t much choice in her mind.

“What do you need done your majesty?”

Celestia smiled down at her. “I need you keep an eye on our new alien guest. I want reports on anything you find that might lead to anything dangerous. If he is not sincere with us and if he means any harm to our world. Also if he is in fact a peaceful envoy then it is your duty to make sure nothing happens to him.”

Bon Bon nodded her head, this was an espionage mission and also a security detail all in one. It might prove a bit challenging but she was always up for a challenge.

“I will make reports on anything I find Princess, is there isn’t anything else I better get back before Lyra starts to wonders where I’ve gone.” She bowed to the both of them before going back the way she came.

The Princesses made their own way back to the party using a different route. Luna looked at her sister as she made sure no one was around. “So are we spying on him or protecting him?”

“Both.” She simply said. “I do want to believe he is peaceful but this is too big to leave to chance, plus if he is a peaceful envoy and something were to happen to him, how would his people feel about that?”

Luna took a moment and realized that they might not take it very well at all depending on their culture. They still didn’t know much about this [human] species. If they were hiding something like plans to invade then they should know, if they were peaceful and some radical thought to kidnap or harm the alien for their own purposes, then it could lead to war at the worst. It was a prudent precaution as she looked at her sister.

She was always the more patience than herself, always ready to play the long game. Maybe that was why Luna could rarely beat her as chess. Luna was a more in the moment kind of thing but this monster task force was interesting. Perhaps she should start looking into the possibility of restarting such a program, just in case mind you. The Elements wouldn’t be here forever and they would need insurance for later.

They returned to the party and thankfully their quick absence wasn’t noticed, the guards had given them a curious look but they kept to their orders to stay at their stations. It was good that they were so well disciplined as the royal sisters looked on. Apparently the alien visitor was attempting to place a tail on a picture of a pony while blindfolded. He missed completely placing it on the head to the amusement to those watching.

Celestia had to admit that if it was an act it would have to be a very good one, she didn’t sense any malice out of him but she had to play it safe despite what her instincts told her. She mentally sighed knowing that as soon as they got back she and Luna would have a lot of work ahead of them.

They rejoined the table without a word slipping back into the group as if nothing had happened. No one really questions a Princess after all.

David had to admit for the past hour he had been playing various games that his new pink sugar high friend kept pulling him into. She switched it up with various aliens joining in, he got to meet a few more of the residents. Although when Pinkie had pushed three with flower marks they all just kind of fainted. One was screaming out about something he didn’t know yet, he had actually started to panic before he noticed no one else was giving their reactions much thought.

There was one huge red guy that apparently was the brother to Applejack and Apple Bloom, although try as he might the large red one he learned was called Mac or was it Big Mac? Well he didn’t say much. He had seen a white one that looked to be the kind that took steroids, there were professional bodybuilders that only had muscles like that guy. Hell he didn’t catch the name but at first he thought the guy was one of the wingless ones until he noticed two very tiny wings.

There was no way that large guy could fly with those was there?

Then after all that he somehow got roped into playing with the kids, not that he minded. The trio apparently were trying to talk the other kids into giving him a chance and that he wasn’t all that scary. Somehow he ended up giving the kids ‘rides’, currently he had Apple Bloom on his left shoulder, Sweetie Belle on his other shoulder and Scootaloo riding on his head.

“This is not what a pony ride is,” David muttered to himself as he wondered if he should call them alien ponies instead of alien horses? They did seem a bit small for the most part, hell the only one that looked like an actual horse was Celestia but even then she wasn’t as big as an actual horse.

“Onward!” Scootaloo said thrusting a foreleg out as David gently walked forward. He was being careful that the kids didn’t fall.

There were other kids that were jumping around him asking for rides now and he got the feeling he was going to have to give them all rides eventually. Hell if he was a kid and didn’t get a special ride he knew he would have been disappointed.

So here he was giving little alien children rides, currently he had a little grey one with a horn and man was she happy.

“Wow this is amazing, look mommy I can fly in the air just like you!” Dinky cried happily to her mother.

David saw a similar grey female waving back to her, she kind of had a wonky eye but she seemed okay with her daughter with the big strange alien. He noticed that she had wings, but the daughter had a horn though. Part of him wanted to compare the DNA to see if they were actually biologically related, the kid could be adopted but then maybe the father was a horned type? Could that happen? Have one parent of each and with a roll of the dice you could end up with either type?

He didn’t see a lot of the ones with both wings and horns so that had to work like that right? Damn it he wasn’t a geneticist but again another thing for the ever growing list of things to look into.

By the time he had given every kid their own ride he was getting tired, they didn’t weigh much but doing it again and again was starting to sap his strength as he sat down on the grass as the kids jumped around him asking him all kinds of things. It was hard to focus on just one plus with all of them talking at once it was really hard to try and figure out what they were all asking.

Suddenly Pinkie seemed to appear out of nowhere and shouted “Pony pile on the alien!”

“Huh?” David only got a few words of that but suddenly all the kids around him cried out as they all tackled him. He was buried under a pile of cute little alien horses. Thankfully they were being careful so he tried to get himself out of the pile of bodies. That is until Scootaloo ended up on his chest.

“Surrender to the power of Ponyville!” She said pointing at him.

David raised an eyebrow at that but suddenly got an idea, his older sister as a kid would do this thing as well and he knew the same way out. “Nope, you surrender.”

Before Scootaloo could say anything more his hands quickly reached her sides as his fingers found their mark. Scootaloo instantly broke into uncontrolled laughter as his tickling found its mark. The kids saw this and started to give him some room as he rolled over to his side so he could get some more leverage.

“Give?” He asked her.

Scootaloo tried to put up a front but his fingers were just too powerful eventually she broke.

“I give-I give!” She laughed.

David stood up in victory and then looked at the pack of kids with Pinkie as he got an evil grin on his face as he flexed his fingers. [So you wanted to dog pile me huh? Time for revenge I think.]

Pinkie was the first to react, “Oh no the alien has turned into a tickle monster, run for the hills!”

The kids playfully shrieked as David gave chase, his next victim was Sweetie Belle as he captured her. After she gave up he looked around for another kid, a dark Pegasus tried to fly away but David managed to catch him in midair. Although it seemed the kids that could fly only flew so far, not out of reach but enough to make it interesting and making him have to work for it.

Apple Bloom ended up being a tough one to catch, she could really move on the ground but eventually he managed to catch the little one.

While the girls watched the fun and games a familiar face walked up to the table.

“It would seem that the fun has started, it is nice to see that he is so bighearted.” Zecora said to the six mares and princesses.

“Zecora, I’m so glad you could come. I guess Pinkie managed to get an invite to you.” Twilight said to the zebra.

“I admit I have no idea how, an invite in my home I found anyhow.” Zecora explained. “It is good to see the Sky People return, of this my people have yearned.”

“Sky People?” Rarity asked curious about the name.

Zecora nodded, “Many names in many stories, but all said that from the sky and stars they came from in our histories.”

“Wait there are stories of beings from the stars?” Luna asked the zebra who nodded her head.

“Perhaps you could tell us more,” Celestia asked her. “We would like to hear these stories.”

David had run down a lot of the kids and he found a couple of things out. Kids were ticklish no matter what the species and trying to run down a bunch of kids with four legs was tiring. But there was still one left that he needed to get, the instigator.

David was catching his breath sitting back down on the grass as there were a few kids looking like it might be nap time soon for them. He saw one sleeping on the back of what he could only assume was the kid’s parent. He noticed his target was bouncing her way towards him.

“That was super fun Mr. [David] Alien, so what’s next?” Pinkie asked him. He whispered something that she didn’t catch and moved in closer. “Sorry what was that?”

[Time for revenge] He said as he grinned and quickly grabbed her and Pinkie was quickly at his mercy. Pinkie shrieked out as she fell onto her back giggling and laughing as he tickled her.

“I give, I give, Uncle!” Pinkie shouted out.

David stopped as he fell back onto his butt resting as Pinkie took a moment to stop her laughing. She got back onto her feet smiling at him. She liked him, he knew how to have fun. She got up and rested next to him and nuzzled his side.

David smiled as he placed a hand on her head between her ears, her mane was really soft and fluffy. He gently rubbed her hands rubbed one of the sides of her ears. Pinkie’s eyes widened at the contact as she moaned and tried to move her head to get him to hit that spot again.

“Ohhh that feels really good.” Pinkie grinned.

“You okay?” David said stopping wondering if he was doing something inappropriate.

“Awwww, don’t stop keep going,” She nuzzled her head into his hand.

David shrugged and remembered how Twilight acted and this time he gently rubbed her ear. She tilted her head into his hand and moaned happily.

“Pinkie what are you doing?” Rarity asked as she was coming over to ask him more about his clothing when she came upon the scene.

“Oh this feels really good, you got to try it,” Pinkie told her happily.

Rarity rolled her eyes, “Pinkie darling that doesn’t seem very lady like and I don’t see the point of doing that.”

Pinkie made a face and then pointed at her and looked to David. “Do it to her too!”

“What!?” Rarity took a step back.

“Oh come on don’t be such a scaredy cat, just give it a try, please.” Pinkie asked her.

Rarity sighed and rolled her eyes, when Pinkie got like this she didn’t let anything go. “Fine I’ll give it a shot.”

She moved next to their guest as she flung her mane away. “I honestly don’t see what the poi-ohhhh!”

David got the feeling that this might become a thing, he guessed with a race with hooves instead of fingers didn’t get the finer spots normally.

“Oh my this is divine,” Rarity sighed happily. “I must say I don’t think anypony has ever reached that area before now.”

“I know right,” Pinkie said happily.

“Girls I think he could use a break,” Twilight came over seeing what was going on, mainly because of how tired David seemed to be. Running after all those kids looked like it tired him out as she came over with a drink levitating a cup along with her. She offered it to him which he gladly took it.

He stopped scratching the ears as Rarity looked at him, “Oh thank you that was simply a very, interesting experience [David].”

David nodded as he took a drink, looking around he had to admit as a first contacts could go this was most likely the most fun someone could have at it. He smiled looking around, now that he was out and about he couldn’t wait to get to know them all better. He could only imagine what tomorrow was going to bring.

Next up Chapter 15: Exploring Ponyville

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 15: Exploring Ponyville

It was morning in Ponyville, you would think that it was any other morning in the town as the sun rose up. The early risers were slowly waking up, those that had to open up shops or start the work day while others slept in a little. You would never know that the town held the most exotic and literally alien creature and ship on the entire planet. Yet there in an open field just outside of the town the rays of the sun made the large metal ship gleam.

Rainbow Dash taking a morning fly to loosen herself up for the day saw it as she flew through the skies from her home. She couldn’t believe it was still there, it seemed like a dream but there it was. She grinned as she did a few tricks wondering what it would be like to go into space to go higher than any pony had ever gone before.

She continued to fly as her mind went to thoughts of strange alien worlds and exploring such places she had seen last night.

Elsewhere in the town in the library Spike was trying to sleep in, the party had gone on a little late and he was still a little tired. The non-stop sound of hooves walking on the wooden floor was making that a bit hard to do unfortunately for the small dragon. He pulled the bed sheet down and looked to see Twilight with saddle bags and a check list muttering to herself.

“Twilight, what are you doing up so early?” He rubbed an eye.

“Oh Spike, morning,” She grinned at him happily. “I got up early to get everything ready for the big day.”

“Big day?” he repeated.

“Yep, I’m going to show [David] around Ponyville today, I figured he could use a guide,” She happily checked her list. Today she planned on showing him Sweet Apple Acres, the school, Rarity’s Carousel Boutique, maybe a stop at Sugarcube Corner, oh plus at the party she got in touch with a few of the residential doctors to see if they could look at him. They needed a baseline comparison in case he ever got sick or injured while here. She hoped to take detailed notes as all of her notes could be used in future studies of [humans].

Twilight finished rechecking her check list as she put on her saddle bags. “Well I’m off, take care of the things Spike.” Although she knew she didn’t need to tell him that, he was the perfect assistant for her but she liked to remind him sometimes. She disappeared in a flash of a teleport as Spike just shrugged and went back to bed.

The library wasn’t supposed to open for a few more hours anyway and even then it was rare for anyone to show up when they just opened. So he could get in a little more sleep.

Across Ponyville in an alien ship, David was dead to the world. He was so tired when he got back to the ship that he could only make some notes as not to forget certain things in his next report before hitting his bed. He was out like a light when he hit the pillow. It was strange as he had been dreaming about the day he left.

-Dreamscape-

David suited up in the locker room as he put his clothing in the box next to him. That would be the last time he would see his old clothes as they would be put into storage on his trip out there. He grinned as he felt a sense of giddy anticipation. All the hard work had finally paid off, he had made it into the Pathfinder program, passed every test and challenge thrown at him and here he was about to leave for the Great Unknown as it was sometimes called.

He finished dressing up in the Pathfinder uniform as he left it to see someone waiting for him. Leaving against the wall with a Pathfinder Program Mission Command patch was a dark skinned man with short hair that was still mostly black but had some grey starting to sink in.

“Well look at you, ready to go where no one has gone before?” He asked with a smile.

David rolled his eyes, “How old is that line now Charles?”

Charles Stewart shrugged his shoulders, “No idea, older than my parents that’s for sure.” He kicked himself off the wall. “Come on I’ll walk you to the ceremony.”

“Do we really have to do this?” David sighed as they walked the clean white halls of the circular tube like structure. “I never liked this kind of crap, can’t I just get in and launch?”

Charles gave him a dirty look, “It’s traditional, plus I didn’t bust my ass getting you and the others ready in training for you to skip out and have me deal with the media asking where you are.”

“You busted your ass?” David smirked. “Oh so that was you running with us with those heavy packs on every day? Or the sleep deprivation exercise or how can I forget the vomit comet ride?”

“I did all those when I was a Pathfinder on Five’s first mission, so don’t give me no shit about how hard it was, I paid my dues.” He clapped him on the back. “You better take care of that old ship of mine, Pathfinder Five saw me to a lot of places and you better bring that lady back home in one piece.”

“Fuck man does your wife know of your little love affair with a ship?” David smirked at him.

He only got a punch in the arm for that one as they made their way to a set of large doors. “You ready for this? When I had to do my mission it was only for three months, you’re going on a lot longer this time.”

David nodded. “Hell yeah, I can’t wait to see what’s out there.”

Charles paused before he opened the doors, “On your psych profile you put that as the same reason but I’ve always wondered. Why are you so interested in going out there?”

David looked at him and he didn’t really have to think about it. “You know I was born and raised on one of the space colonies, Nova Prime right? Well we got artificial skyline that goes from day to night but it wasn’t until I saw the actual stars from a viewing port that actually looked outside. There I was as a kid looking out at the real stars and I was thinking what else it out there?”

“We’re already on our way to being everywhere in our own solar system, we got a few colonies being built on worlds you and the others have found. But there has to be more out there, when I looked at those stars as a kid I saw endless possibilities. There is just so much out there that we haven’t seen or found out yet.”

“And you want to go out there and find it,” Charles grinned and nodded. “I know that feeling, the wonder lust, the urge to explore and just get out there and seize everything with your own hands. To see alien worlds and creatures first hand. To be someplace totally new and to step on alien soil for the first time and see worlds we’ve only imagined.”

David nodded his head, “Yeah, ever since that day I’ve wanted to explore space.”

Charles pressed a button as the door opened. “Well you got your wish.”

As the door opened there was a podium at the end of the large room as it was filled with people. Mostly officials and reporters and members of the Pathfinder mission. He could see his family up front, although he knew his parents preferred him going into the family business they didn’t stop him from doing this. The crowd were already filling the hall with talk and it only got worse when he showed up as floating cameras came in to get good shots of him.

“Really wish I could skip this,” David muttered but then he thought he caught something, something that didn’t belong. He saw in the crowd a familiar blue alien looking at him but that didn’t make sense. When did he meet an alien and why did she seem familiar? How did he know it was a she? He noticed that she finally noticed him looking at her as she did something and everything stopped.

“What the fuck?” He turned around to see nothing moving. “The hell is going on here?”

“Oh I can understand you,” Luna said walking forward. “I wasn’t sure if we could communicate in the dreamscape but I’m thankful it’s working.”

“Wait you’re talking English now?” David suddenly realized that this wasn’t real, he had already been here before. “Dreamscape, you mean I’m dreaming?”

“Yes,” Luna nodded her head coming up to him. “I saw a new dreamer that I haven’t seen before, I was surprised it was you.”

“Hold on, if I’m dreaming how the hell are we’re talking, aren’t you a dream?”

Luna shook her head, “I am Princess of the Night, as such I have the ability to go into dreams. Normally I look over the dreams of my subjects and ensure they have nice dreams and if they are having nightmares then I vanquish such things for them.”

“You’re telepathic?” David asked her.

“Not as such, no.” Luna admitted. “I can only enter dreams.”

“Great so an anti-Freddy Krueger.” David rubbed his temples not sure if this was really happening or not.

“What’s a Freddie Kruger?” Luna asked him.

“You got films, you know movies?” He asked her as she chocked a head to the side. “Moving pictures with sounds that you record and play back?”

“We have magic spell that can do that but to my knowledge our cameras only take single still images.” Luna thought about it she wasn’t totally up on all the technology but she felt she would have heard about moving pictures.

David blinked, “Did you just say ‘magic’?”

Luna looked at him, “Yes it’s how we’re talking now, you saw it yourself with Twilight teleporting. All ponies have some form of magic in them, from Earth Ponies, to Pegasi and unicorns.”

David wasn’t sure how to handle that, it didn’t make any sense was she telling him that they actually believe in magic? No he refused to believe that, there had to be another more scientific explanation. Maybe they only called it ‘magic’ back when they could use it but just didn’t update the language for it with science. He had so much he wanted to talk to her about but the world started to shimmer.

“I’m sorry but it looks like you’re waking up,” Luna told him.

“Damn it not now,” David looked around. “wait can you get back here if I’m dreaming again?”

Luna nodded her head.

“Okay good because I got a lot of questions and this can so help with the translations to have actual word for word translation-“

-Sparrow I-

“Translation!” David muttered as he woke up looking around. “God fucking damn it!”

He wasn’t sure what woke him up but if that dream had been real he really needed to get back to sleeping. He already had words for direct translations now, things like Princess, night, ponies, etc. He really needed to get those words to AVI for the translation matrix. For some reason most of the dream faded but when he was talking to that Princess (now he knew her title at least) it was still as clear as day.

A familiar tapping sound was heard against the hull.

He sighed and pulled up a camera shot of the outside hatch to see a familiar face.

“So you’re name is Twilight huh, well I need to teach you to get over here at a proper hour.” He pulled on some pants and a t-shirt and went to the hatch. He opened it to see Twilight there looking more chipper than should be legal for someone at this hour.

She started to speak but he held up a hand. “One hour please?” He said in her language.

Twilight paused because looking at his appearance and suddenly realized she must have woken him up. She hadn’t accounted for him being asleep. “Oh I’m so sorry I thought you would be up, I-I’ll wait then.”

David nodded his head as he closed the door and went to work. First a quick shower as he told his computer the new translated words. That would help cut down on the time it would take for the computer to translate everything. He had a quick breakfast after a change and he met with Twilight with ten minutes to spare.

“So, what now?” He asked her.

Twilight could only smile broadly as she led the way. They talked on their way there although David didn’t bring up the Princess visiting him in his dream, at least not after he had a longer talk with her tonight. At least he hoped that hadn’t been some strange dream. He also stayed away from the ‘magic’ thing until he could talk about that a bit more as well.

But the conversation was helping him with their language at least, he knew he must have a horrible accent but with every new word and new grammar rule brought him a step closer to a better way to communicate with them.

He found that they had arrived at what looked like a farm, there are rows upon rows of apple trees. He could only smile as he got a feeling who ran this place. A hard slamming sound was heard as Twilight led him in the direction. There was the large red alien (or maybe he should start calling them ‘ponies’ now?) with a bunch of baskets with apples in them. He was wondering how in the world beings with no hands picked apples?

His question was soon answered as he moved to another tree as he just kicked the damn trunk and apples feel off the tree into prepared baskets. Okay that shouldn’t be possible, he did the math quickly in his head and those trunks had to be super strong because in order for that to work the amount of force would most likely break the tree. They looked like just regular apple trees though. While Twilight asked him something he took a quick scan of the tree.

He sent the data back to the Sparrow for analysis so he could look at it later.

Twilight led him to the large red barn as an old looking pony in a rocking chair was on the porch.

“Hey there Twilight, y’all here to see AJ?” Granny Smith asked her and then she looked at the tall being next to her. “Now what in tarnation is this big fella?”

“Oh this is [David] a new friend, he’s from very far away,” Twilight suggested.

“Huh so is that this alien I keep hearin’ about?” Granny looked him over. “Well ah never thought ah live to see tha day when ah’d meet some alien, nice to meet cha Mr. Alien.”

David nodded his head at her.

“Well AJ is back with tha chickens.” Granny Smith told them as she got back to rocking.

“Okay then,” Twilight was amazed she took it so well but then again that old mare never really got anything get to her. With a mental shrug she led her friend to the back of the barn where the chicken coop was. There was AJ with a basket of feed behind the chicken fence.

She noticed the two of them as she waved at them while the basket she carried in her mouth she set down. “Howdy y’all, what brings ya by?”

“I was showing him around Ponyville,” Twilight motioned to David. “I thought this would be a good place to start.”

“Well ah hope ya don’t mind me working ah got plenty of chores ta get done.” AJ picked up her basket as she walked into the chicken coop.

David and Twilight took a look around as Twilight gave him words for certain items or animals that they saw. She wanted to help him to get a better understanding of their language. David of course had the computer on his gauntlet recording everything just so he didn’t miss anything.

He was surprised when a cow of all things walked up to the fence.

“Pardon me Applejack but the girls and I are wondering if you can move up the milking time today, some of the girls are feeling a little too bloated.” The cow spoke which made David pause. He watched the cow holding a conversation with the two aliens he knew. He was so surprised he wasn’t paying attention to what they were saying until the cow left.

“Great…looks like I won’t be getting hamburgers or a nice steak anytime soon,” He muttered to himself. He saw a pigpen with some pigs there, so he walked over to the fence.

“So…hi, you talk too?” He asked them but they only just stared blankly up at him before rolling back into the mud. Well at least he knew the pigs didn’t talk so that was something. He really was going to have to spend some time figuring out which were the sentient beings and which were just animals. He sighed to himself as he would have to keep an eye out.

Last thing he needed to do was treat some sentient being like an animal, he quickly looked around. Or in this case talking to animals like they were people, he slipped back to the others in case they asked why he was talking to pigs.

Spending time at the farm was a unique experience for David, he had never been on a farm before. Sure it smelled but given that he and all recruits had to scrub the incinerator with toothbrushes where the trash got burned in training, it wasn’t all that bad.

Applejack seemed a like a nice down to earth type, he really hoped to get to talking with her later as he felt he could really get along with this alien farmer. Plus he was interested in seeing how their farming methods were similar or different from their own. He was going to have to come back there later once the translations got better. After about an hour Twilight said it was time to move on. David said his goodbyes to the farmer as they continued on back to the town.

Twilight led him down what looked like a main road back to town as he noticed more Pegasi moving clouds, he pointed this out to Twilight and asked what they were doing.

“Oh, they’re moving the clouds, I think it’s supposed to be a cloudy day and then clear skies tomorrow.” Twilight explained to him.

David looked back up as he watched them. “You make it sunny or not?”

“Yes we control the weather,” Twilight paused thinking about it. Why was he so surprised by that, then she remembered all those worlds he had seen. “In your travels have you or your people found any other intelligent species? You know others that talk?”

David shook his head, “You first.”

Twilight’s mind went racing, something had bothered her about those images last night but she wasn’t sure why. Now she knew what it was, there had been no other species that were intelligent in them. But if that was the case then how did everything work? Who took control of the weather or moved the sun and moon on those worlds, on his world?

She thought about her next question, “So how does it work on your world?”

“Weather does what it wants.” He shrugged.

Twilight couldn’t believe it, did that meant that the entire universe operated like the Everfree? It was a unique place on this world but she hadn’t thought of it being normal and the rest of her world being unique. In fiction about space flight there were usually some alien beings that did everything they did. There were those that had the universe like the Everfree but those were in the minority.

“So, everywhere is like that?” Twilight asked him.

David looked at her curiously and nodded. He wasn’t sure why the strange question or her odd reaction. She got very quiet suddenly and the rest of the way was kind of silent for him. Something was eating away at her but whatever it was it seemed to pass as she looked up and pointed out the building in front of him.

“Oh we’re here,” Twilight pointed out to him. “Welcome to Rarity’s Carousel Boutique.”

David looked at the place it certainly was interesting to say the least. It was like someone meshed a building together with a carousel. There were windows that had mannequins with fancy looking dresses in it. The whole place looked like a play set for a young girl brought to life with how brightly colored it was.

Twilight knocked on the door as Rarity called them in, they both walked in and David looked around. This obviously was some kind of tailoring shop. There were half completed dresses and some suits, completed ones as well. They all looked pretty well made, he had no idea what [Rarity] did before now but apparently she made fine clothing. Although he hadn’t seen many with clothing on so he was wondering how she stayed in business.

“Welcome both of you, I was hoping to see you again [David],” Rarity used her magic to pull him to the center of the story onto a small pedestal. “Now I have to ask do you wear that suit all the time? Don’t you have any other clothing?”

David looked down at his uniform. “Clothing official, normal clothing back home.”

“Oh it’s a uniform then,” Rarity looked it over she could see how well made it was. The sticking was so uniform that it had to be machine made. She knew that some ponies like to use the sewing machines, she only used them now and again as she preferred to use her magic as it allowed her a type of control a machine couldn't always give her. She also found the material very interesting as she wasn't sure what it was made of exactly.

“Do you mind if I get a sample of your clothing at some time darling?” Rarity asked him. “I’m interesting to see how it was made.”

David shrugged it was a synthetic fiber last time he checked, it was supposed to help with being resistant to small flames, electrical burns, heat, cold and was rip and tare resistant. He didn’t see a problem with her taking a look although he might have to come back later as he didn’t feel like leaving a jacket behind. “Sure, later can drop something here.”

“Oh wonderful, oh and do you have any images I can use on [human] fashion?”

“Fashion?” David wasn’t familiar with that word.

“Oh you know clothing and what ponies-er, your species wares.” She pointed to her clothing line.

David nodded his head, there were some images he could print out for her to look through.

“Excellent, now since you only have your work clothing would you care for a suit of your own?” Rarity asked him.

“Really, why would he need a suit?” Twilight asked her friend.

“Well what if he has to meet with the Princesses again in a more official capacity? What if he has to go to Canterlot or meet with other leaders?” Rarity asked her friend.

Twilight hadn’t thought of that, there would come a day soon that would happen. Plus when the press gets a hold of things there would be interviews, photos and who knows what else was in store. Not to mention there were all kinds of scientists, anthropologists, historians and all kinds of educated ponies would want to talk to him.

Him being here would get around soon enough, with ponies coming and going, rumors would spread soon.

“I think you have a point,” Twilight said as she started a whole new mental list of things to look out for.

Rarity smiled as she got some measuring tape turning to David. “Oh good and I do so love a challenge. You don’t mind do you?”

David shrugged and let her do it, after all he was kind of curious how she was going to do this. He didn’t catch everything but he got that she wanted to make a good suit for him to make a good impression. That was actually a good idea for him, when the First Contact Protocols didn’t include things like official meetings or meeting reporters and who knew what else.

He allowed her to go to work measuring him the glow from her horn seemed to allow her to have a lot of fine control as she manipulated him, the tape and some pieces of cloth all at once. He had to wonder what kind of concentration she had to have for all of that. It was kind of impressive actually eventually she let him go as apparently she went to get some sketches going.

Twilight started talking to her but David took this moment to look closer at the dresses. One had a lot of gems on it. They almost looked real he did a quick scan of the dress and looked at the readout on his wrist. He nearly choked on his own saliva at the results, those gems were real. Hell even though his family was wealthy the amount this dress would cost in human society would be insane. This dress would cost the same as a new home.

He looked around and there were a lot of dresses with precious gems on them, either she only made them for the wealthy or gems like this were very common here. Well if that was true they had at least something to trade with.

Next up seemed to be the gingerbread house from yesterday, Twilight led him to the front door but he paused for a moment. He quickly ran a hand over the surface, okay so it wasn’t actually made of gingerbread it only looked to be. Well he could finally cross on mystery off his list of things. When he got inside he was kind of surprised by the height of the ceilings in this town. He would have figured that they would be lower.

Then he remembered how big the two Princesses were (at least he was assuming that was what Celestia was as she had the same title in their language) and he thought that maybe the reason was because they were so tall. If you had rulers that were that big you would want them to be comfortable just in case they ever showed up.

He saw the tall orange and shorter slightly plump aliens from yesterday who were looking after some of the food and drinks. Looking around he got the feeling they ran this place.

“Hi ya Mr. David Alien!”

David let out a surprised shout as Pinkie seemed to come out of nowhere. “Don’t do that.”

He placed a hand over his heart feeling his pulse slowly getting back to normal.

“Pinkie you really shouldn’t surprise individuals like that,” Twilight told her.

“But everypony loves a surprise,” she defended herself before jumping up and down facing David. “So are you all here for something to eat?”

“I think a couple of muffins would be nice,” She looked up at David. “You want to eat something?”

David shrugged with a nod, he could go for a snack. He watched as they got a couple of muffins as he noticed her paying with a few small coins. They looked like gold to him, he asked to see one for a moment to run a scan. It was gold alright, not only that but it was gold through and through.

In human history gold coins weren’t always solid gold, they had a core that was another metal. It was a way some old kingdoms would do to stretch their gold reserves and make more coins, it was the reason why traders got to weighing them in order to tell how much gold they actually had and how much they were actually worth.

The coin had a sun on one side and a moon on the other, again the sun and moon seemed to be a very important part of their culture.

Twilight got a small bag for the muffins and David turned to leave but stopped suddenly as he felt something grabbing onto his leg holding him.

[The hell!?] David stopped and looked down to see what looked like a really small child, maybe even a new born of some kind holding onto his leg looking up at him smiling. [Damn aren’t you the cutest thing I’ve seen so far, what are you doing on the floor?]

“Oh dear,” Mrs. Cake came around to pick up her son. “Pound Cake you shouldn’t grab onto customers like that. Now where is your sister?”

“Pumpkin is playing with her blocks over here dear,” her husband told her.

“Now come over here and play with your sister,” she told her little boy carrying him off to a corner. They really should have set up the playpen for them today.

David watched them and for a moment he was wondering how the two were the parents, they didn’t have wings or horns and yet by the looks of it one of the kids had wings and the other one had a horn. Then again he had no idea how genetics worked here, maybe it skipped generations or something?

At any rate Twilight let him to the park as they sat down on a bench together to enjoy the afternoon together. David looked around and it was really peaceful here, sure he got looks but it seemed the town was slowly getting used to him. That was odd for him but it seemed these people were very easy going once the shot wore off. It was almost like they were used to strange things going on around this place.

The muffins were pretty good as well. After they finished they were back on the road seeing the town.

David was next led to a building with a medical symbol on it, again he was reminded of how two races on two supposedly alien worlds could come up with the same symbol with the same meaning? They walked inside with a white female working behind the desk. She had one a little nurse hat which pretty much told him what she did here. He was able to see that the same mark on her hat was on her as well. He really needed to figure out what those marks were, maybe if he had another dream talk with that Princess he could figure it out.

Nurse Redheart looked up to see Twilight with the alien that everyone in town was talking about. She had seen him at the party of course but she honestly had no idea how to approach him or what to say. Looking up at him she had to admit that he seemed nice, at least he wasn’t some scary creature like in some books on the subject.

“Oh Nurse Redheart are the doctors in for that special checkup?” Twilight asked her.

That snapped the mare out of her thoughts as she shook her head and looked down at the paperwork on her desk to double check. “Oh yes, I was told to expect a special patient today, I take it that’s you two then.”

“Yes I got in touch with Doctor Feelgood last night at the party and we got to talking. He said to come on by today so he could take a look at [David] here.” Twilight explained to her.

“Alright, please follow me then,” She smiled at both of them as they walked to a room.

David looked down at Twilight. “So here for them to look at me?”

Twilight nodded, “Yes, just to make sure we know what’s normal for you.”

They ended a small examination room, David looked around and it looked like something you’d see in a medical room from the late twentieth or early twenty first century. Everything looked similar to what you would see in a human hospital of that era. There were two ponies in the room waiting for them.

The first was a dark orange coat male with a mane of brown hair wearing a doctor’s jacket. The next one was a female with a pale yellow coat and light blue mane with some silver in it. Twilight knew Doctor Feelgood but the other she hadn’t expected, she was Mane Goodall the town’s veterinarian.

“Uh…Doctor Feelgood why is the town veterinarian here?” Then she looked to Miss Goodall, “No offense of course! I just wasn’t expecting you was all.”

“Oh no worries honestly I’m not sure what I can do here myself,” the vet admitted.

“I thought she could help in some regard,” Doctor Feelgood told her. “After all this is a new species, honestly I’m only an expert in pony physiology so I had hoped any blanks could be filled by her.”

“So then, shall we start I’m a little interested to see how this goes.” Goodall said.

David went with the doctors, although he was wondering why the mark the female had was the head of a dog, cat and bird. They took his blood pressure, checked his reflexes, they had something he had to blow into the check his lung strength. All in all it reminded him a lot of the physicals he took for the program. Then of course the needles came out, now he didn’t really have an issue with needles but that didn’t mean he didn’t like them.

“If you don’t want to give a blood sample I will understand,” The doctor told him.

“It okay, just be careful,” David rolled up a sleeve he was thankful the doctor was a unicorn as he uses that glowing horn to manipulate things. He didn’t want to find out first hand just how in the hell a non-unicorn would draw blood.

The doc was pretty good, a little sting and that was all as he drew in some flood. The female asked him to open his mouth so he did so as she got a good look at his teeth. He didn’t think she was a dentist but it was hard to say what kind of medical training their doctors got. They could be jack of all trades in medicine for all he knew.

“Huh, judging from his teeth I would say he’s an omnivore.” Goodall spoke up after studying his teeth. “He’s got molars, fangs and the front teeth are for meat eating.”

“Really?” Twilight looked up at the notes she had been making. Although she had asked the doctors to give her a copy of their findings so she could put together a report for the princesses. She looked at David as she hadn’t seen him eat any meat.

“You eat meat?” She asked him.

“Meat?” He asked her not knowing what that word meant.

“Oh let me try something,” the doctor looked and got an old kids chart about food groups. It was used for omnivore species like griffons. It was also most likely the only one in Ponyville as there hadn’t been any griffons living here permanently in years.

“This is meat,” He pointed to the cartoon image of several meat products.

“Oh, yes,” David scratched the back of his head. “Didn’t eat that here, not sure if others would like. No others do, have some on ship but that’s all.”

“Is it a part of your normal diet?” He saw the confused look and thought about making is simpler. “You eat meat normally?”

He nodded his head.

“Ah, well if it’s on your ship, please do. I don’t want you to get sick from ignoring your normal diet.” He explained with a smile.

“Not a problem?” David asked the doctor.

“There are others that do eat meat, not ponies mind you but griffons do,” again the blank look at the word ‘griffon’ so he opened the book to the image of a griffon and pointed at it. “This is a griffon.”

David’s eyebrows rose up, if he was getting this not only where there other races on this planet but it looked like a god damn griffon. Just what was up with his world?

“So you can eat meat but maybe keep it to the ship just in case, some ponies can get sick at the sight of it.” He explained to David.

“Got it,” he nodded.

“Well then that takes care of a lot of issues although there is one thing,” He was a bit hesitant on this last one looking up at David sitting on the bed. “I don’t suppose you would allow for a full physical exam?”

“Full physical?” He asked.

“Yes, if you would like I can send both mares outside now if you are more comfortable?” The doc wasn’t sure about any social norms for their race so he tried to figure out what would be best.

“Why would we want to leave?” Twilight asked confused.

The vet however knew where this was going, “I think I got enough done, I better go now.”

Twilight watched her leave a bit confused at first until the Doctor coughed into his hoof.

“Uh, Miss Sparkle I was going to ask him to remove his clothing for a detailed look at his physical body.”

“Oh!” Twilight blushed now fully getting it as she put her notes away.

The doctor looked at David, “That is only if you want to.”

David sighed, he should have guessed at this but at least they were asking nicely. He did feel a little weirded out, but then again they all walked around with either little to no clothing. Hell the few that did wear any kind of clothing like the doctors or the nurse it was just things like a hat, a doctor’s jacket or something like that. He hadn’t even seen anyone wearing pants, which now that he thought about it maybe for them going without clothing would be natural with their fur.

Maybe there was no real taboo on nudity and the doc was only trying to see if he was comfortable with it? Maybe it was the moment that counted, if you were in the bathroom or getting a physical like now it was just considered polite not to walk in on someone? It seemed like that might be it but he would have to ask later about that.

So he guess he should get this over with, at some point he knew there would be a long list of scientists that would just love to poke and prod him, he knew there were ones back home that would do the same after all. So maybe it was best to get it out of the way now with aliens he trusted instead of some strangers looking at him like a science project. That way he could just say ‘hey look I already went through this, look at that guy’s notes if you want to know’ and he wouldn’t have to do it again.

He shrugged his shoulders and nodded as he took started to take off his shirt to put it next to his jacket when he noticed Twilight still in the room. She was just looking at him and he looked back, David cleared his throat which seemed to snap the girl out of it.

“Oh! Right, sorry, yes I can get some of my notes done, er, well organized at least, let me know if there are any issues doctor,” Twilight said quickly as she left the room as quickly as possible without trying to see like she was rushing herself.

David smirked and shook his head as he got right down to his underwear.

Doctor Feelgood took notes on his musculature as well as a crude diagram of what he was seeing. Sadly he wasn’t much of an artist but he tried his best to replicate what he saw. Although what was odd was that the alien had nipples on his chest. Was it a female of the species? That led to all sorts of questions but he guessed it was best to ask.

“So…are you a male or female of your race?” He asked as best he could.

“Male.”

“Oh, well that’s…that’s unique,” He muttered that last bit. Ponies and most equine races didn’t have nipples on them for the males. Perhaps he would ask Goodall a few questions if there were some animals that had them that were male. It might help to know what kind of animal that his race evolved from. Now there was a question!

“So if you don’t mind me asking, what kind of animal did your kind evolve from?”

“Not know word ‘evolve’ yet,” he replied.

“Oh uh, oh!” he found and old evolution chart although sadly there wasn’t much there. It was a great mystery to science how ponies actually evolved. They had found the bones of a few horses and the bodies of what could have been something between that and ponies but it was strange. All other animals there was some evidence of a slow process but here, it seemed they evolved in a giant leap forward. It didn’t make sense, some said it was magic others, well there were other theories like aliens.

That gave him pause looking at the alien here but he dismissed that notion, he didn’t seem to know about anything on their world.

He showed him the chart as David looked at it, he got it, he was asking what humans evolved from. He didn’t know the word for primate, monkey or anything like that. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t seen anything like that around here. Not in Fluttershy’s cabin, not in that animal book he looked through with her learning the names of animals when he had tea after getting the kids back.

David quickly looked through his stuff to pull out his gauntlet and pulled up an image of a chimpanzee and showed it to the doctor.

“Well that’s different, I can’t say I ever saw anything like it.” He told him.

David pulled more images of the various primates but the doctor had never seen any of them. So there were no primates on this world at all? To him that was very bizarre, it seemed every other animal seemed to be here but then again with the amount of species on Earth it was impossible to say that. Maybe they were just really rare or something? He would have to look into that later, maybe see if Fluttershy knew anything later.

“Can you get those images to Goodall later?” He asked his patient. “I think she would have a much better understanding.”

“Goodall other doctor?” David jerked his thumb behind him to the door.

“Yes that’s her,” the doctor had one last thing. “Now if you don’t mind could you remove the last of your garments?”

David looked at the doc for a moment. [I swear if you say turn your head and cough I’m fucking out of here.]

“Excuse me?” he asked not sure what the alien had just said to him. The alien just waved it off with a sigh as he pulled down the last garment. The doctor took a look and he had to admit he knew it was an alien but he wasn’t sure just how much more alien his patient could have gotten until now.

“Well…that’s different,” He mused at the sheathless member just hanging there out in the open like that. “No wonder you wear clothing all the time, with the lack of fur and, well that just hanging out.”

David looked down confused not sure why the doctor was looking at his crotch like that. [What, you never seen a dick before?]

Next up Chapter 16: What is this magic thing?

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 16: What is this magic thing?

Luna was in the dreamscape as she usually was in the night, so far it wasn’t too busy on this plane. A few nightmares here and there which were easy to vanquish, it wasn’t too long ago that her presence in dreams used to make her subjects weary of her. The shadow of Nightmare Moon had been heavily on her when she first returned but through hard work she had started to show them that she was no longer that monster used to frighten foals at night.

It did her heart good to see them actually grateful for her work as things had changed a lot since her return.

Looking through the dream worlds with what looked like infinite doorways each one used to travel to a different dream she didn’t sense anymore nightmares. Well now that she had caught up it was now time to go into the human’s dream. She could sense his dream now as she moved towards the door to his dreams. She had told her sister of what happened and they both agreed for Luna to keep in contact when she could.

It would both be informative and also it might help in his understanding of their language. Although how exactly was beyond Luna at the moment but she decided to help out in some way. She opened the door and soon found herself standing on a field. It looked like a normal park you’d see anywhere, that is until she noticed something that shocked her.

She looked in the distance to her left and right and saw that the world was curved upwards. Looking above her she noticed the world curved like a giant circle. It was actually making her feel a sense of vertigo. Just how was this possible, were there planets like this? Wait what was that? It looked to be a large rectangular section that was open. She squinted and it looked like the giant openings were covered in some kind of glass or similar material. There seemed to be giant mirrors just outside, just what was she seeing?

“So am I dreaming you or are you in my dream?”

Luna turned to see the alien visitor to their world dressed in blue pants of some kind with a shirt with long sleeves on it. “In a way, both.”

David was quiet for a moment, “If you say there is no spoon I’m waking up.”

“I…don’t understand.” Luna was confused and for a moment thought that the dream was making him speak random words.

“Sorry, old line from an old film, well actually it was a remake of a really old film I never saw the original.” He shrugged.

“Well be that as it may,” Luna presented her hoof to him. “Now that we can speak properly we should have proper introductions. I am Princess Luna co-ruler of Equestria along with my elder sister Princess Celestia.”

David shook her hoof. “Well I’m David Miller, commander of Pathfinder 5.”

“Ah, so that’s the name of the giant ship that’s near my moon.” Luna told him now knowing its name.

David raised an eyebrow at the ‘her moon’ part but didn’t say anything. If they laid claim to the moon who was he to say anything, hell for all he knew she might just be hers.

“So is Equestria the name of the planet or something?”

“It is the name of the country you are now in,” Luna corrected him. “We call the planet Equus.”

That sounded Latin to him or something close to it, he made a note to look that up to see if it was or not. It wouldn’t be the first instance of this showing up after all, not after learning about the Pegasus link.

Luna looked around her as she took in the dream world they were both in. “If you don’t mind me asking a question now, where are we? It looks almost like a normal world but the land and sky are bent together in a ring.

“This is what’s called an O’Neill type colony or an O’Neill cylinder,” David explained to her. “It’s a giant cylinder in space that’s actually turning. The spin gives it gravity on the outer shell where we are now. The center has a zero gravity area, they actually built some places there to take advantage of it as well.”

“Zero gravity?” Luna asked him.

David grinned, “Maybe it’s best to show you, let me see if I got this down.”

Luna found the dream changed as they were in a large room with various bars, boxes and other things connected to the edges of the room. She was about to ask a question when her sudden movement caused her to start floating away.

“W-what is this!?” Luna tried to correct herself as she started tumbling. She tried using her wings but they weren’t giving her the reaction she wanted and it only seemed to make things worse.

David laughed as he pushed himself off with a grace that years or practice in this kind of environment had given him. “This is zero gravity, you basically just float around. Try to calm down and make very slow movements you don’t actually need much force.”

Luna tried and after a little experimentation she found herself only making a slow tumble, she managed to reach for one of the bars to steady herself as she watched David move around using the protruding materials to help guide him along. Looking down at her bar she realized it was covering in a foam like substance that would absorb impact.

“This is actually a play area,” David told her now ‘standing’ on the ceiling looking at her. “People usually bring kids in to play, it’s great for tourists as well as for kids who grow up in space colonies to learn how to handle a zero-g environment. Plus it’s just fun.”

“Fun you say,” Luna pushed off gently as she now tried to make small movements. Now that she was over her shock she could see the fun in this. It was like flying but without all the effort. She felt herself floating as she soon started to use the materials in the room to get around. She found herself smiling after a few minutes of this, yes she could see the fun in this.

“Looks like someone is having some fun,” David grinned at her.

“Although I can fly this is a lot easier although I keep trying to use flying techniques to get around,” Luna frowned at that. “It’s causing me some difficulty.”

“I can only imagine,” David shrugged. “Can’t fly myself like you apparently can, so anything else you want to see?”

If only he knew, Luna thought to herself there were all kinds of things she wanted to ask but dream time moved at a different pace than real time. There was no telling when he could wake up as well so she would have to think carefully.

“So you say this is a colony in space that’s just a giant tube?” Luna asked him as she really wanted to confirm that.

David thought for a moment as his eyes lit up, “Oh I think I got a memory we can share.”

The world shifted and she soon found herself and David standing with a small crowd. David looked around and was surprised to see a younger version of him there talking to some old friends of his.

“Damn I look like a kid,” He shook his head and then looked at his hair. It was in small spikes with green and blue hair dye. “What was I thinking with that hair?”

Luna said nothing but tried not to smile at his uncomfortable look at himself, personally she found the color a little nice on him. She looked out a large window to see that they were moving.

“This is a starliner,” David told her as he moved next to her by the window. “It’s a civilian craft people use to move around in system. This was the day I left home to study in Geneva, you’ll see the colony coming up soon I think.”

Luna continued to watch at the colony came into view, it looked so massive from the outside. It was as he said a giant metal cylinder in space with sections split off to reflect light into the colony. To think that they could build such things, it was amazing to see.

“Well I hope you don’t mind but I got a few questions myself,” David spoke up after letting her get a good look.

“Yes that is only fair,” Luna admitted as her horn glowed and suddenly everything changed. They were now sitting in a room with a bed in the shape of a crescent moon, in fact there were a lot of moon themed images around the room. There was an open balcony where the moonlight came in, giving the place a soft light.

“Okay I know this isn’t one of mine,” David told her looking around.

“Correct this is my room in the castle,” Luna said as she let the way to a table she sat at. David joined with her, the chair was a little on the small side but not too bad thankfully.

“Okay I have a ton of questions, what’s with the whole moon and sun thing you and the other one have going, what’s with the marks I keep seeing mostly everyone have on them and lastly what’s with the glowing horns?”

Luna had to chuckle at that, “Well you certainly don’t like to waste time, something I can agree with. Well let’s see, my sister and myself are the two rulers of Equestria and our marks are linked to our roles. The cutie marks you see are the special talents a pony has, they show up when they have found their talent.”

“Wait they just show up?” David asked her not sure how the hell that worked.

“Yes, my sister and I have the ability to raise and lower the sun and the moon.”

“What!?” David nearly stood up at that. “You mean to say that you literally are moving celestial bodies?”

“Yes, how else would it work?” Luna asked him cocking her head. “Before my sister and I were born it took seven of the most powerful unicorns alive working together to do that.”

David’s mouth opened and closed a few times, he had seen the reports from Pathfinder about the strong energy every time the sun and moon switched places but he didn’t think someone was physically responsible for it. She had to be pulling his leg or outright lying right? Then again he saw them moving clouds and sitting on them like they were solid, they seemed to control the weather and could teleport as well. Just what else could they do, well he would play along at least for now but he was going to have to see this in person before he made any kind of report on it.

So with his mind made up he decided on asking her how this was possible in the most calm and respectable manner.

“Hoooooowwww!?” Okay not his best moment.

“Magic of course,” Luna explained to him. “All ponies have unique magic to each tribe, you see the Pegasi have-“

David held up a hand suddenly cutting her off. “Wait when you say magic what do you actually mean?”

“Well magic of course,” Luna told him confused. “The manipulation of mana, either inside of your body or the manipulation of the mana field of the world itself. Alicorns and unicorns can control it in ways like you’ve seen with Twilight Sparkle’s teleportation and her other magic, whiles Pegasi and Earth Ponies have their own unique ways of using magic.”

“So you’re saying that all this is because of magic?” David asked her as she nodded.

He was starting to rethink just how advanced this race was if they still believed in something like magic. He rubbed his head feeling a headache coming on, maybe it was he thought before and they just never updated the word from some ancient word or something. Still he refused to just accept ‘magic’ as an answer there had to be a scientific explanation for it. They could manipulate some kind of energy that much was obvious.

“Are you alright?” Luna asked him. “You seem to have a lot of trouble with the concept of magic for some reason, surely you’re people must have your own magic to create everything I’ve seen so far.”

“Well Princess,” He sighed not sure how to tell her exactly without offending. “We don’t believe in magic.”

“What!?” Luna reeled back almost like she had been slapped.

“Well it’s just that we don’t believe in it because we’ve never actually seen magic at least not real magic,” he started to explain to her. “We go stage magicians and stuff but that’s all just tricks or it’s only found in stories. Everything we have is from just science.”

“Oh…that is…I’m at a loss,” Luna had never heard of this. There was magic everywhere on their world and yet these people had none of it? She wasn’t sure what that said about her own people as well. A world without magic was unthinkable to her and yet their people not only thrived but were traveling the stars.

Were all the miracles of magic actually holding back progress? It was a horrid thought to Luna and one she wouldn’t have thought twice on the matter but here and now, seeing what she had seen in his dreams. The seed of doubt had been planted in her mind and once it took root she was afraid of what might grow from it.

Thankfully David decided to speak up so she had something else to focus on.

“Okay I’m not sure exactly what it is but I’m pretty sure there has to be a reasonable scientific explanation for it,” he said.

“Well of course, it’s magic,” Luna said with confidence. “It is after all one of the major fields of science.”

David had to chew his inner lip in order to stop himself from saying something along the line of ‘magic is not science’ into her face. Although he thought for a moment that if he listened very closely, he could hear the sum total of Earth’s scientists throughout history rolling in their graves at her statement.

“Yeah I’m going to have to research that.” David said slowly.

“Well then it’s good you are friends with Twilight Sparkle,” Luna smiled. “She not only is a very powerful unicorn in the field of magic and is very gifted in magic as well, but apparently she also has a very scientific mind if my sister’s accounts of her are accurate. Which they should be, she was Celestia’s student.”

“Wait Twilight was the student to your sister, one of the co-rulers?” David asked for clarification.

“Correct,” Luna nodded. “I…wasn’t around for it, but I heard how she studied under my sister for years. My sister only takes those she feels show special talents or could grow to have amazing talents. She likes to nurture and watch ponies grow to their full potential.”

“Okay,” David blinked and then thought of something. “Hold on why is she in that little town in the middle of nowhere then?”

“Oh that, she’s there to learn the magic of friendship,” She said as though it was the most natural thing in the world to say.

“Riiiiiight.” David tried not to judge, it was an alien culture after all maybe they just really prized friendship. That made him pause, was that really a bad thing? Not really as far as he could tell and it made him think of humanity for a moment and what it said about them if he was starting to scoff at that idea.

“Okay so talk to her about this got it,” David said looking around the place. “So this is your room huh, you have a habit of bringing strange men back to your place in the middle of the night?”

Luna’s irises shrunk down, “W-what!? N-no that wouldn’t be, I mean, I’ve never, my sister would never let me hear, this isn’t what it looks like!”

David held up his hands he had to admit she looked kind of cute when she panicked like that. Then again all of these aliens had a natural cuteness to them. “Easy there Princess just a joke.”

“A yes humor, I’m not really that good at it,” She felt a bit embarrassed at her reaction. Normally others wouldn’t even dare to joke at her expense like this but although he did use her title, he seemed less formal to her. It was like how Twilight and her friends treated her, more like a normal pony which was refreshing after so long. Although that didn’t mean she would simply let that slid either.

“You are aware I control dreams and could make some very disturbing ones for you?” She asked him with a straight face.

David paused as he couldn’t get a read on her, “Right…don’t mess with the dream princess, got it.”

She did let herself smile a bit as they both relaxed.

“So how long have you two been ruling?” David shrugged figuring getting some background would be nice. “I mean you both are still Princesses and now Queens?”

“We don’t use the title of Queen,” Luna told him. “There was an incident long ago with a wicked queen and it left ponies hesitant about a new one. So when my sister and I took the thrones we didn’t use that title, over time it just kind of stuck with us.”

“As for when we were given the titles,” Luna looked up as she mentally did the math. “I believe it’s been about One thousand, four hundred and twenty…two maybe three years. I could be off it’s been a very long time after all.”

“Wait what!? You’re over a thousand years old?” David looked at her but she didn’t seem all that old then again he had no idea what a year was here or even how old they lived.

“Correct.” She said simply.

“Okay are all your species this long lived or are the years just really different?” David asked.

“Only my sister and myself are ageless, we aren’t immortal as we can die, well in theory we’ve never tested that for obvious reasons,” Luna shrugged. “It’s a complicated story, Alicorns like us are rare there is one other Cadence but she’ll have a normal life span as do all our other subjects as she wasn’t born an Alicorn.”

“As for the year, I can’t say but we have about three hundred and fifty days per year.” She finished.

David shook his head, the year thing was a little off but it was pretty close to how many days Earth had but that wasn’t what was interesting him. “Okay I feel some background is needed, you can just become this ‘Alicorn’ thing you and your sister are but without the immortality?”

“Yes, it is a complicated story.” Luna told him honestly.

David looked around as she sat back in his chair, “Well I got all night how about you? I think it’s story time.

-Canterlot Castle-

It was midday and Celestia was currently in her study sitting at a large table as she was going through a lot of scrolls and paperwork. She was working on how to break the news to the press when the time came. So far Twilight reported that their new friend was fitting in well in Ponyville so far. This was good, although it was only a matter of time before word got out and that was why she was here now trying to prepare some statements for the questions she knew others would have.

Thankfully Luna’s dream walking with the alien was helping to get a look into the lives of this [human] species. Learning more about them would help their understanding of him, so far it seemed like he was on an exploration mission when he came upon their world.

Although from what Twilight had said in her last report not only were they the first intelligent species they had found but apparently the rest of the known galaxy operated much like the Everfree Forest did. There were theories about it but to hear it in person, well this would certainly put the science community on their heads. It looked like the Everfree Universal theory would have to be looked more closely from now on.

Celestia looked at the scroll in front of her as she crossed out what she had written and tried to reword it. This was going to be her speech on the existence of alien life and she needed it to instill a sense of calm while making it memorable. After all this was something she knew would be written down in the history books and when you lived as long as she did, you got to see how things were remembered.

It took her over a hundred years to erase any mention of that incident with herself, Luna and the Griffon and Minotaur ambassadors over a thousand years ago. She and Luna swore to never speak of that incident again and let it be forgotten by history.

A knock at her door as one of her guards opened it up. “Your Highness, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Consort Shining Armor are here to see you.”

Celestia’s smiled and started to feel the weight of everything starting to lift a bit off her shoulders. “Excellent, please let them in.”

The guard bowed before her adopted niece and husband entered, the door being shut behind them.

“Cadence, it’s so good to see you,” Celestia got up and hugged the younger princess close.

“It’s good to see you too Auntie,” Cadence always liked how warm and affectionate Celestia was and how warm her hugs were, even as a filly.

“It’s good to see you again your Majesty,” Shining said with a slight bow to his head.

Celestia giggled, “Please Shining you can call me Celestia, we are family now after all.”

“Oh right,” He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “I’m still getting used to that, old habits from my guard days are hard to stop.”

“I’ll say,” Cadence smirked looking at him. “You still get up early and insist on going for morning exercises every day, I have to basically bribe him to stay in bed.”

“Oh? What kind of bribery works?” Celestia asked and then regretted it as she saw the blushing looks on them and remembered that they were still newlyweds. Now things had gotten a little awkward as she really didn’t want to know of Cadence’s sex life. Celestia coughed into her hoof trying to think of a way to change the subject.

“Well then, I’m glad you both could come on such short notice.” The Sun Princess said getting the conversation back on track.

“Well your letter made it seem it was very important,” Cadence was a little worried on what was so urgent. “It’s not some terrible plot, creature or another enemy coming back is it?”

“Are my sister and her friends needed?” Shining asked knowing how well her little sister and her friends were at saving the day. They were fast becoming national heroes, back when he was Captain of the Guard he had been thinking of trying to see if an honorary rank could be given to them or at the very least if they could be put into the royal reserve forces.

“No it’s nothing like that,” Celestia went back to the table and motioned for them to join her. When they sat down she took a breath to tell them. “What I am about to tell you is something that everypony will hear about soon and I need your help in keeping everypony calm.”

“This sure sounds like it’s terrible,” Shining said not liking the sound of this already.

“It’s not terrible but it is news that will change, well everything,” Celestia started from the top. “Not long ago your father and his team at the Royal Observatory found something floating next to the moon.”

“My dad?” Shining blinked as he hadn’t heard anything from his dad at all, he was actually a little concerned as he was going to visit his parents as they normally wrote a couple times a month to him and Cadence.

Celestia nodded, “Yes. As it turned out…it is a ship from another race.”

“Another race?” Cadence’s voice waivered a little as she hoped her aunt meant a race of their world but a ship in the sky, next to the moon? There was no technology that could do that, at least not to her knowledge and as a Princess of Canterlot and now the Crystal Empire she knew all kinds of things that most ponies weren’t meant to know about.

Celestia continued, “We were following it as it seems to be in a stable place but before we could get anywhere apparently the occupant had already landed in a much smaller craft…near Ponyville.”

“A-are you saying…there’s an actual ALIEN in Ponyville!?” Cadence reared back her eyes widened.

Celestia sighed and nodded, “His name is [David], odd sounding I know, but he is learning our language from Twilight. He’s an explorer that found our world and thankfully is making peaceful contact. Myself and Luna met him in person and he does seem like a nice and friendly fellow, Luna is talking to him in his dreams as apparently they can talk normally there and it’s helping him get direct translations to help him understand our language. At least that’s what Luna told me he said, I have to see if he’s been improving through Twilight later.”

“I…I don’t know what to say, this is all just so…” Cadence suddenly felt very small or maybe that the world had just gotten too big all of a sudden. Actual life from another world, it was hard to wrap her mind around it but she knew this wasn’t one of her aunt’s jokes, it wasn’t her style.

She just sat there for a moment as her mind tried to grab hold of everything that was passing through it. The Crystal Empire was still catching up for all the lost time and now this, it would be a lot to take in for her people.

“Uh…Shining Armor?” Celestia asked noticing how quiet the new prince consort had been.

Suddenly he rushed up into Celestia’s personal space with a near manic look on him. “What does he look like, are there more, can I see his ship, does he have any weapons, how many legs does he have, how tall, what color is his coat?”

Celestia was taken aback she had never once seen him like this, not in all the years he had served her.

Cadence stifled a giggle, “Sorry, Shinny is pretty into science fiction.”

“You know I love things like Smash Fortune, Star Trot, Thunderponies, Buck Stallion, and others. You know how much I’ve always wanted to meet a real life alien and go into space.” Shining told her.

“He does?” Celestia asked she had never known that about her former Captain of the Guard. Just when you know somepony but then again she supposed that she never really knew him outside of his duties.

“When I was a child I wanted to go out into space,” Shining said a little embarrassed.

“Why did you stop?” Celestia asked a little amused but also now a bit interested to learn a bit more about him.

He scratched the back of his head, “Well I learned that we couldn’t go into space I was kind of crushed, but it did lead me into going into the guard later so I guess it was all good in the end.”

Cadence nuzzled him, “Oh don’t worry, now that there is an alien maybe if you ask really nice he’ll take you up for a trip?”

“You really think so?” Shining’s eyes filled with hope of completing a childhood dream of his.

“We’ll have to see,” Celestia had to admit the idea did hold an appeal. “At any rate we’ll have to let our subjects know soon, not to mention I’ve already called upon all the ambassadors for a meeting as well.”

“And we should also be there to represent the Crystal Empire.” Cadence nodded.

The political status of the empire did kind of fall into a grey area at the moment. While it had been its own government it had also been very tightly aligned with Equestria. Then when the empire had disappeared, Celestia and Luna had annexed the territory. They mainly took it to ensure that no one else tried to take the land until the day the empire returned. Not that any would really want it being in a frozen wasteland but they were being cautious just in case. The Yaks for instance might have tried to expand their territory into that area as they were the closest country.

The fact that Cadence was the adopted niece of Celestia and Luna also muddied the waters. As technically she was still third in line to the Equestrian throne, was born an Equestrian citizen and was a princess of Equestria before taking over the Crystal Empire. Even if her ancestor had been apparently related to the former Princess that Sombra had overthrown, her status was very complicated.

“What about this alien, actually what’s his name again?” Shining asked as calling him ‘the alien’ was kind of rude as he did have a name.

[David] Celestia offered.

“Right that,” it would take some practice to say the unfamiliar word. “Does this [Da-y-vid] have any security?”

“I have an agent in place watching over things,” Celestia admitted that much but she wouldn’t compromise the identity of said pony even in their company. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust them, but she felt that Bon Bon as she was calling herself now, would prefer it.

“Plus your sister and friends are there as well,” Cadence offered knowing they had a way of dealing with trouble, although trouble did also seem to find them as well she thought.

Shining smiled and nodded at that point, “Yeah although she is my little sister, I have to admit she’s really done a lot. The whole family is brought of her accomplishments and her friends as well.”

Celestia nodded as she looked at the paperwork with a sigh, “Well now that that is out of the way, I don’t suppose you two could help me out with another problem.”

Cadence only giggled as she took a pile, “I don’t see why not, I do run my own kingdom now so all those lessons you taught me about government and paperwork come in very handy.”

Shining shrugged, “I’m no stranger to paperwork although I do admit I thought when I become a prince, even through marriage, it would have been the last I would have seen of it.”

“I fear paperwork will outlive even me,” Celestia muttered as they got to work.

Next up chapter 17: News getting around

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 17: News getting around

The train to Ponyville ran a few times a day, once in the morning and again in the afternoon. It carried many individuals from various places, either just passing through or visitors from the big cities. One such pony was an Earth Pony with dark green fur and black mane, he wore a vest with a few pockets with a camera around his neck. To top it all off he had a light brown hat with a Press Card showing on the side.

He was News Flash and his editor told him to come to Ponyville because of some strange rumors going around Canterlot. For the past few days there were stories about a strange ship and an actual alien in Ponyville. Now normally this wasn’t the kind of stuff that the Canterlot Times went for, but there was something strange about the stories.

They were all just too similar, they all came from people who had been either from or just visiting Ponyville. News Flash had been investigating a popular store that was rumored to have been using fake sugar in their cakes to cut costs when he overheard the story. At first he didn’t think much about it, but then he heard more and more rumors of the same story. It was just too much of a coincidence for him, and then he made a mistake. He had joked to his editor about the rumors and his editor decided to send him to Ponyville to check it out.

So here he was wasting a whole day on this so called story.

As he stared out the window as the scenery passed him by he was trying to think of what else he would write about? Maybe about small town life or something? He had heard how Ponyville also usually something going on but would it be something that Canterlot would want to read about? If he knew anything about fashion maybe he could have interviewed Rarity, her clothing from what he heard about was all the rage.

Maybe an interview with all the Elements of Harmony? That held possibilities, they were getting pretty famous with their heroics and adventures after all and Twilight Sparkle was the student of Celestia. He swayed his head side to side thinking that over, it might work. Honestly he wasn’t sure why others hadn’t tried it before.

“Next stop, Ponyville!” a voice called out.

News Flash stretched out as he waited for the train to stop, he wasn’t in any hurry to he let most of the passengers off before he got up from his spot. Walking out of the train onto the platform he looked around. It seemed like a nice quiet place looking around, so he started walking. First thing he needed to do was to find the busiest spot and start asking questions.

He sighed knowing he was going to get a lot of strange looks asking about ‘aliens’ but maybe he could just ask if anyone saw anything strange?

Looking around the town he found a large central area with stalls set up for the day, perfect a market was just the place he was looking for. Plus he wouldn’t mind to see if they had anything to snack on. He wondered around looking at the stalls. They had something for everyone it seemed, now he just needed a place to start.

He only just started walking when a commotion from behind got his attention.

“Look out!” A young voice cried out as he and several others jumped out of the way.

News Flash had to blink at the sight of it, it looked like some kind of homemade bobsled made of wood but on wheels instead. It held three young ponies in it as they came to a halt not that far away. He had seen some strange sights but this was starting to get up there on his list. His curiosity led him to take a closer look at the three. They seemed to be a young Earth Pony, Pegasus and Unicorn.

“That was totally awesome!” the Pegasus yelled out as she jumped out of the contraption along with her friends.

“I feel sick,” the unicorn said looking a little green.

“Ah’m just thankful we didn’t hit no pony.” The last one commented as the sled shook and fell apart. “Well at least it lasted long enough for us.”

“You think it worked?” Again the Pegasus asked as they all checked their flanks but then looked disappointed.

News Flash had to know just what would possess young fillies to try something like that or why no one else seemed shocked by it.

“Excuse me girls, can you tell me what you were doing?” News asked them.

“We were trying to get our bobsledding cutie marks,” the Unicorn told him looking a bit better.

“It’s spring,” News said more as a statement of fact.

“Yeah that’s why we put wheels on it, we didn’t want to wait until winter showed up to try.” The Pegasus filly said as though it was the most logical thing in the world.

“Hey mister are y’all new around here,” the one with the accent asked him. “Ah don’t remember ya bein’ here before.”

“Well you’d be right,” he nodded to her. “My name is News Flash, I’m a reporter for the Canterlot Times.”

“Oh my sister reads that all the time,” the white one told him.

“Well then she has good taste then,” he grinned and then looked at them. “I’m actually here on a story.”

“What story?” All three asked at once.

He paused not sure what to say but they were just kids they would believe anything he said even the strange truth of it all. With a mental shrug he decided to go with what his editor sent him here to get. “I’m actually here because there were rumors of an alien in the town.” He joked.

“Oh you mean [David],” the Pegasus told him.

News Flash stood there not sure if they were joking with him or not. “Excuse me what did you say miss…”

“Oh I’ Scootaloo, this is Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo introduced herself and her friends to him. “And yeah we know exactly who you mean.”

“You do.” He said flatly.

“Yeah his ship is in that direction,” Sweetie told him pointing him in a certain direction.

He really wasn’t sure what to make of all of this, either they were having him on or, no. He refused to believe that aliens were here and no one outside of this town knew about it. Yet looking at the kids they seemed to be totally honest about it.

“We can show ya if ya want,” Apple Bloom offered him.

“Uh, okay then.” It wasn’t like he had any real leads and if it was a joke when then no harm done. They started to lead him through the town so he decided to get some information while they walked.

“So what can you tell me about this alien?” He asked them.

“Well he’s pretty tall,” Sweetie said first.

“Yeah he was staring Princess Celestia in the eye I think,” Scootaloo commented.

“Wait, are you telling me the Princess was here?” He asked to make sure he heard that right.

“Both of them were,” Apple Bloom corrected him. “We had this big old party and they were here the entire time.”

News Flash suddenly was starting to think this whole thing over, if both of the Royal Sisters were here and they knew and didn’t tell anyone. Well that was a huge scoop, but maybe the facts were wrong. Maybe it wasn’t an actual alien but some kind of new race? To a child it might seem like an alien and maybe that’s how the rumor got started? Still something inside of him told him he was on to something big.

They soon left the town as he listened in on the girls telling him about his green ray gun and how he saved them from timberwolves. Well he was only half listening really, honesty it sounded like their childish minds running away with them. It was why you could never really trust the source of children they tended to blow up a story.

They started to climb a small hill that the girls said dipped down and they would be able to see the ship then. He wasn’t sure what he was going to see but he could see the top now.

As they got to the top of the small hill he froze in place as he could now see that there really was something there. It was very large about the length of the train he had been on, minus a few of the cars. It was much wider with wings and very obviously metal from how it gleamed in the sunlight.

He had never seen anything like it before and he was seriously starting to rethink that story about aliens. He no longer felt hungry as his mouth was dry as he slowly went closer.

“See, this is his space ship,” Scootaloo said to him. “It makes this really loud sound when it flies too.”

He supposed that it could fly made sense to him after all how else did it get here? The kids led him closer to the ship as he could see more clearly that it was definitely not of this world. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before. The metal was so smooth and well made he wasn’t sure what it was made out of. It didn’t look like steel exactly but then he wasn’t a metallurgist, he was a reporter and every reporter instinct inside of him was screaming at him to start taking pictures.

He quickly took the camera from around his neck and took a few photos of the ship, if only so others back at work would believe him. Heck he was here and he still wasn’t totally believing what he was seeing.

“So this alien, any chance I could meet him?” He asked the kids.

-Sparrow I-

David was seated in the command chair going over some data as he tried to explain what he was doing with apparently his new ‘co-pilot’ Twilight. She had pulled over the chair by the table to sit next to him. He had to admit he usually only had to say something once before she got it, a few times he had to repeat things and she was making notes. Which was why he wasn’t telling her anything like how to start the engines or how to fly, he didn’t want to run the risk of her wanting to try her skills out.

He also was also doing this because he had been asking Twilight to help him understand this…magic thing. He really needed to come up with a better term for it than that.

“Okay so this is for power,” He told her in English. It was simpler for him and she wanted to improve her English as well.

“Power, got it. Make more or less?” She asked with a bit of an accent but she was doing well.

“Yep,” He nodded as he had an idea. “Hey, want to have some fun?”

“Fun?” she parroted.

“Yep this,” He pulled up a new window as he started a few commands. “Want to take a drone for a spin?”

“What is drone?” Twilight asked him not sure on the word.

David smiled as he powered on the one he called Grumpy as he went through the usual procedures. Once the drone was ready he launched it as he got it flying. Twilight watched as the image in front of her moved, she could see the outside of the ship as the view slowly changed. Then she saw a view of the cockpit from the outside and she looked up to see the bug like device from before.

“Ohhhh, so that drone,” Twilight nodded her head. So he could see what it saw and controlled it from here with the glowing controls.

The drone was sent flying over Ponyville taking images and video for later references. It flew up to the clouds as a few Pegasi were given a scare.

One such Pegasus was Cloud Chaser, she was just out for a simply fly going to meet up with her twin sister later when the strangest sound caught her attention. Looking around she wanted to see where it was coming from. She turned her head and what looked to be coming at her was some kind of scary looking giant bug monster.

Now she liked to think she was a bit braver than her younger sister (by five minutes) but even she had her limits. Her irises shrank down as she screamed and flew off.

“Oh my gosh, what is that thing!?” She yelled out flying through a cloud only to run into another pony sleeping there.

One moment Rainbow Dash had been off taking a nice nap the next she was violently woken up and soon found herself tangled up with another pony and falling.

“W-what? Hey what’s going on!?” Dash demanded.

“It’s some kind of monster!” Chaser yelled out as the two mares managed to untangle themselves and pulled up before a painful crash into the ground.

“Monster?” Dash asked her.

Cloud Chaser looked around and pointed, “There!”

Rainbow looked and saw some kind of metallic looking…thing just flying around. “I go this!”

Rainbow flew off quickly leaving Cloud Chaser behind, which was just fine with her. The mare quickly left for the home she shared with her sister. She planned to go inside, get her sister, lock the doors and just wait it out. That usually was the best plan for when crazy things happened here but giant metal bugs?

“That crazy old gipsy pony was right!” She cried out flying as fast as she could.

Dash wasn’t sure what that thing was, she had an idea that maybe it belonged to [David] but she had to be sure. It did sure look like some kind of bug, she wondered how fast it could go? She managed to get in front of it and hovered there.

“Alright hold it, what’s the big idea huh?” Dash asked eyeing the thing.

The drone stopped as it hovered in front of her for a moment, there was a bit of a tensed silence between the two until suddenly the drone dove down quickly.

“Hey, get back here!” Dash yelled out as she gave chase.

The drone zoomed over the village taking odd turns around buildings trying to break Rainbow’s line of sight. Although she was fast, she soon found that she had to be careful, taking a corner at too fast a speed would slam her right into a building. She kept up though, despite its maneuvers yet still couldn’t quite get close enough to grab it. She had no plan on what to do with it if she did catch it but all she was thinking about was just catching it.

The drone went lower and dived between two buildings as Rainbow took the corner but stopped. It wasn’t there. She landed and looked around, she didn’t hear it and she wasn’t that far behind it to lose sight, at least she didn’t think so. She slowly moved ahead until her head was poking out the other side and looked around.

“Hey, anypony seen some big metal looking bug thing fly by?” She asked, she only got strange looks.

Before she said anything more the sound of the ‘bug’ was heard behind her as she quickly looked back.

The drone had latched itself to the wall high up in the hopes that Rainbow would have flown below it, the gamble paid off and now it was on its way back to the skies after taking a turn to break Rainbow’s line of sight again.

“Oh it is on now!” Rainbow snorted as she flew straight up this time, she wasn’t going to play its game anymore. This time she was changing the game in her favor as she now had an eagle eye view of all of Ponyville. Scanning the area she quickly found her target flying towards Rarity’s place. She quickly dove at it increasing speed as she tried to angle her approach to get it from behind where it couldn’t see her.

What Rainbow didn’t know was that the drones were equipped with multiple cameras, including one behind for when it had to back up in tight spots. This camera picked up on Rainbow and just when she was about to reach it, it suddenly went straight up.

Rainbow’s eyes widened at the move but it was already too late, she was going too fast to stop as she flew right through one of Rarity’s windows. There was a crash as she went through the window and into Rarity’s shop floor. She slammed into a mannequin as the dress on it got tangled up in her legs as it and her went into a tumbling roll along the ground.

“Ow…that hurt,” Rainbow moaned as she shook her head. As crashes went, well she had worse, any crash you could walk away from was good in her opinion.

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity’s very angry voice called out snapping the rainbow maned mare’s attention.

She looked over to see a very irate unicorn looking at her with a seething glare.

“Oh…uh…hi?” Dash waved weakly.

“There had better be a good explanation for why you ruined one of my windows and one of my dresses.”

Rainbow looked to see what she was tangled up in, “Oops, sorry I was cashing this, well thing and it pulled a fast one on me.”

Rarity gave her a level glare.

“Seriously I was!” Rainbow untangled her hooves from the remains of the dress. “It’s most likely still outside but it could be getting away!”

“And what am I going to do with all of this?” Rarity asked her looking at the mess. Bits of glass were all over her floor.

“Uh…I’ll…pay for it.” Rainbow winced inside although she wasn’t hurting for bits it wasn’t like she was rolling in money being the head of the town’s weather patrol. The only reason she had such a huge three story home was because cloud buildings were cheap to make. Most of the money went into just for the cloud construction Pegasi to build it. Heck all the stuff she put into her home was most likely worth more collectively than her home.

But still, the window and a dress, that was going to hurt her wallet.

Rarity sighed but then she got an idea, “Very well I’ll allow you to pay for the window.”

“Good got to go,” Dash said quickly as she suddenly felt her tail being pulled on. She looked to see a blue glow engulfing it.

“And what about this mess?” Rarity asked.

“Oh come on it’s getting away and you can clean this up a lot faster than I could with your magic.” Dash implored her.

“Be that as it may, you still made a mess.”

“Look if you let me go I’ll owe you a favor.”

That got Rarity’s attention as an idea was forming. “Any favor?”

“Yeah, yeah, just let me go and I’ll do anything!”

Rarity released her friend with a smirk on her face, “Very well have fun with, whatever you were doing.”

“Great, thanks!” Rainbow said quickly before shooting off through the broken window.

Rarity sighed looking at the mess and started to levitate all the pieces together. Thankfully Ponyville had a top notch repair team, given how much damage this town took in a year it was a booming business. She would have to talk to them about this but the idea of her favor with Rainbow Dash did lighten the mood.

Looking at one of her dresses she had to muse, “Now I wonder what would be the best fabric to use with my new model.” She grinned. She knew Rainbow hated to model for dress making let alone wearing them. So Rarity was going to make sure that tomboy Pegasus will have to sit still for a whole new dress soon.

Rainbow Dash flew into the sky and quickly looked around, it couldn’t have gotten too far could it? It didn’t seem faster than her but it was still kind of fast. Narrowing her eyes she thought she caught sight of something and looking at it more closely she saw it. She flew at it with enough force to make a large gust of wind follow after her.

Rainbow saw that it was heading to Sweet Apple Acres for some reason but now that it was on open territory she could catch up. It seemed to see her as it started making a bee line for one of the barns on the property. Rainbow wasn’t sure what it planned to do but she was going to catch it before it could do it.

The drone made a quick dive as he went for the opened door on the top floor, it was large enough for it to fit through and as soon as it did it stopped and again went straight up. Only this time the drone nearly hit the ceiling and a few of the support beams. It wobbled a little as it tried to straighten out as a rainbow streak flew in and then into the hay stacks that were stored in the building.

Rainbow’s head came out of the stack looking like a demented scarecrow with hay coming out of her fur and mane in several places. She spat out the few in her mouth as the drone tried to get away but not this time. She rushed it and managed to latch onto its back, the device wobbled from the sudden extra weight as the motors tried to kick in more power.

“Alright I got you now,” Rainbow smiled but then she frowned. She caught it but what was she going to do with it.

She tapped it with her front hoof, “Hey anypony home or what?”

“Or what.” Came a voice from the ‘bug’ that startled her.

“You can talk?”

“Heavy, can’t fly, will crash,” Came the halted voice from it.

“Not another crash,” she moaned as she took a moment to think it over before letting go. Instead of flying off it seemed to fall to the ground. Well not ‘fall’ as so much and float onto it. It landed on its legs as it seemed to slump down.

Rainbow wasn’t sure what was going on so she landed in front of it. “Hey, you okay?”

“Damage.”

“Damage, where?” Rainbow looked at it but it didn’t look damaged. She was actually afraid there that she might have done something to it.

“Everything…going…dark.” The voice was getting weaker as it started to get quiet.

“Wait what!? No! Not dark, everything is not going dark!” Rainbow said looking frantically at it trying to see if there was anything wrong with it or what she could do.

“There is a light…”

“No, don’t go into the light damn it!” Rainbow was nearing her wits end as she tried to think of who could help her.

“Will I dream?” it asked her than started singing in some kind of language. [Daisy…Daisy give me your heart to do…]

“W-what, wait I don’t understand,”

There was silent for a moment until a burst of laughter could be heard.

“Rainbow it’s okay,” Now it was Twilight’s voice coming out of the machine. “Apparently [David] thought he was being funny.”

“Was too funny,” the voice said as now Rainbow realized it was his voice.

“So what this was all a prank?” Dash asked looking as it started to get back up again.

“Yes, was just making fun, oh, having fun.” He corrected himself.

Dash was silent for a moment before grinning, “Okay I’m big enough to admit when I got pranked, but you do realize that I will get you back for this.”

There was some noise coming from the device as Twilight’s voice was heard again. “Sorry, we have to cut this short, somepony is at the ship. He said it this device will come back on its own.”

“Right well good luck with that but could you tell him if he’s going to be flying these things around try not to scare any more ponies? I think he gave Cloud Chaser a heart attack.”

“I will, honestly I told him not to do it.” Twilight responded before the drone went to autopilot back to the ship.

Back on the small scout vessel David had been notified that there was someone at the door. He got up after making the drone come back on autopilot thankful for a little fun. Twilight was good company don’t get him wrong but she really needed to let loose a bit more. She was a little too uptight some times. He also got a lot of great flight data from Rainbow Dash apparently, she was a lot faster than she looked and he got the feeling she could only go faster.

Maybe if he asked her real nice he could get her to perform for him? She did seem to like being the center of attention from what he been seeing the past few days he had moved into town. Still he got the feeling he was going to have to be on watch for her retaliation at some point.

Opening the door he could see the three familiar faces looking up at him with smiles on their faces but they were with someone he didn’t know. Although from the way he was semi-dressed and the camera he had a feeling he knew. He saw the card sticking out of his hat, although reading was harder than talking to them at the moment, the simple word he was able to translate.

Although he had to admit, the look on his face, how his eyes bulged out and irises shrank down. It was very comical and the open mouth just hanging open even more so.

“Hello,” he said simply as Twilight walked up beside him in their language.

“Uh…hello?” He replied back.

Twilight came walking up next to him and looked out, “What’s going on?”

“Oh uh, I’m News Flash from the Canterlot Times and…well I was wondering…could I get an interview?” He asked hesitantly. He felt like a green reporter all over again, he had interviewed starts and celebrities, hell he had once did a piece on Princess Celestia herself at a charity event but here he was tripping over his own tongue again.

The first reporter to hopefully get an interview with the first actual alien and he felt like such a fool.

The alien seemed to mull it over and he bent down to share a hushed conversation with who he noticed was Twilight Sparkle herself. He had seen her at the royal wedding of her brother and Princess Cadence when he had covered the event. Too bad that piece had gotten bumped to the Changeling invasion story instead.

“Okay,” David told him and he pointed to Twilight, “Need her though, still learning much.”

“That is if it’s okay.” Twilight asked him.

“Oh of course, please do!” He said happily, he was so going to get an award for this piece.

Next up Chapter 18: The News Flash Report

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 18: The News Flash Report

Visitor from the Stars by News Flash

To all my readers old and new, I have written stories for years. I have written about corruption, the famous, the poor, major events, and all other manner of stories. I have tried to write this article several times because in all honesty, this will most likely be one of my greatest moments I’ve written about. One of the greatest questions in existence has finally been answered.

Are we alone in the universe?

Yes our world is home to many races but I have met a special individual that is not from our world.

That’s right, we have been visited by an actual alien being from the stars. I know that you are all skeptical, I was too when I heard the stories. Following a lead to Ponyville I found that the stories were true. The picture seen with this article is of the alien being known as [David] and his ship. (Pictured right)

You can see him along with one Twilight Sparkle who helped me with this interview as he was still learning our language. I have to admit that it was hard to know where to start with this article. I supposed I’ll start with the ship. It a word it was amazing, it was like nothing else I’ve ever seen before. The outside was built in such a way that it was hard to tell how it was put together. The inside was even more amazing with controls that floated in the air like a magical image only interactive. The ship even talked with apparently an intelligent computer. Everything about it is so well made and made beyond anything I believe our world can make.

We talked in what looked to be the cockpit of the ship as I got to know him. So here I was sitting with an actual alien being. There were and still are so many more questions I wanted to ask and I wasn’t sure where to start. So I asked him to tell me his story, why was he here and what where his plans?

It turns out that he is an explorer of his race, they send out explorers to find safe paths to other systems and also to explore a little of the planets they find in order for the rest of his race to know where to start looking for resources or places to set up colonies. I was shown various images of the planets he had seen. So many alien worlds, skies that were not blue, worlds that had more than one sun or even more than one moon, they were the images that normally I would expect to see in sci-fi novels.

But here I was looking at worlds that are out there among the stars. I can’t describe what that moment felt like, it was like some pony had opened a doorway to the heavens and I was given a brief look at what was out there. He showed me images of his world a place called Earth. Yes, Earth as in Earth Pony. It is an odd coincident that apparently they had only just been able to translate the word for his world into our language. Of course he explained there were other words such as one called [Terra] but every pony just calls it Earth apparently although the word in their language is [Earth].

Still as we talked I got the sense that this being was here on friendly terms, he seemed just as curious about us as we were about him.

Now I know what some of you might be thinking, how can something like this happen under the government’s notice? Well it hasn’t.

Apparently both Princesses were here to greet our alien visitor, but I have to ask why haven’t they told us about this? They didn’t seem to be hiding the alien but they weren’t telling us about it as well. Where they hoping to keep this quiet for some time or did they just want to ensure that our guest wasn’t swarmed with ponies trying to get a look at him or ask him questions. Honestly I can see that second one happening, I just know all my fellow reporters at the release of this will want to interview him as well.

I really hope that this article at least forces an official response because this is a major event and I believe that an official word from our Princesses might help calm the more excitable of our fellow ponies.

Although many will fear this great unknown but we shouldn’t fear it we should embrace it. He is here now and this is an amazing time, ponies for years will ask where were you when you learned we weren’t alone in the universe? When were you when the alien landed? What did you do when you learned about it? Personally I’m excited for this, we are living in a time when history will be written about this moment. This is the day when everything changes and I have no idea where this will take our world but I look forward to it and writing about it.

-Canterlot Throne Room-

Celestia finished reading the article, she knew it was only a matter of time before the news got out. It looked like that prepared statement she had finished earlier would have to go out today. Currently she was waiting for Luna to finish her own copy as her sister was next to her reading the same article.

“I don’t like how this reporter seemed to insinuate we’re keeping secrets.” Luna finally spoke up.

“Well we were,” Celestia said with a shrug.

“I know but it’s the insinuation that I don’t like, he should have just come out and say it,” Luna put away the paper. Reporters was something she had to get used to, plus something called the ‘paparazzi’ when she returned. She did like reading about things not from some kind of official report but some of the more gossip types of articles she didn’t care for.

Celestia took a moment to think on her plans for this, “If I’m not mistaken there is going to be a lot of ponies coming here asking about this.”

“Nobles as well as others from the higher class, government officials as well. I can see ministers of defense, foreign policy, Science and Technology, Magic and Trade just off the top of my head.”

“Plus all the ambassadors.” Luna chimed in.

“We are going to be busy,” Celestia was thankful that Cadence was here to help out with all of this. “So do you want the ambassadors or the Ministers?”

Luna thought about it for a moment, “I’ll handle the ambassadors. I don’t like a few of those Ministers and I think the feeling is mutual.”

“Is this about Minister DeMoney’s party?” She asked.

“I wasn’t even invited,” Luna seethed at the memory of the slight.

“It was your first year back it could have been an oversight.” Celestia offered although she too didn’t like the fact her little sister hadn’t been invited. Luna was just as much a ruler as she was and deserved the same respect.

Luna huffed as she turned her head, she wasn’t one to forgive a slight lightly.

Celestia tried to change the subject, “So how are the meetings with our alien friend going in his dreams?”

Although Luna knew what her elder sister was doing, this was actually a more interesting subject for her so she went along with it. “It’s going very well actually. There is so much to see, the giant colonies they’ve built in space, their home world, the few colonies they’ve made in space plus all the worlds he’s visited. There is just so much out there.”

Even though she was the Princess of the Night and controlled the moon, she had never really thought about the stars in the night sky. They were beyond her control and although she knew each and every constellation like the back of her hoof, seeing some of those stars up close and personal and the worlds they had was an eye opening experience.

If she wasn’t needed here she was very tempted to explore the stars herself. Perhaps one day she could but that was a long way off. Thankfully she had time to wait for that day to happen.

Celestia sighed, “Must be nice to see all that, I don’t suppose you would consider inviting me into one of these dreams sometime?”

Although Celestia couldn’t dream walk like Luna, she did know that her younger sister could pull others into dreams.

Luna made a show to think about it, “I don’t know, I do so enjoy the time I have with him and I don’t want to crowd his mind.”

“Luna,” Celestia pouted at her. Normally she had to keep up the appearance of a ruler but with just her sister here she could just be herself. Besides after hearing all the things she had been seeing in his mind she was very curious herself to see them. Just the descriptions Luna gave here were mind boggling.

Entire habitats built in space, buildings that go into the clouds and beyond, machines that can be implanted into the body or even replace limbs, ships that travel constantly from their colonized worlds to stations and back again? That was only the tip of the iceberg, when you lived as long as she and her sister did, things could get a bit stagnant.

Granted she had watched her ponies create new forms of art, literature, media and inventions but it was a slow progress at times. Seeing all sorts of wonders for the first time, it would be like when they were both young and the world was fresh and new to them.

“Fine,” Luna relented from teasing her any further. “Tonight I’ll grab you from your dream and we’ll visit together.”

“Thank you Luna,” She smiled as there was a knock on the front doors to the hall.

“Enter,” Celestia called out as the door opened by her guards and several ministers came into the room. Behind them was a lot of ponies all shouting out questions as the guards tried to keep some sort of order present.

“I think I’ll go visit the ambassadors now,” Luna commented. “Be brave sister.”

Celestia let out a small sigh as she sat up straight and regal looking as she put on her ‘game face’ of Princess of the Sun. Just by the looks of things it was going to be a long day for her. She hoped Luna had better luck with her own meetings.

-Sparrow I –

If someone were to look at David at this moment you would think he was sleeping as he was in the pilot seat with it reclined back. What in reality was happening was that he was interfacing with his implant to the ships computer. The headrest had an interface for implants as it was currently linking up with the latest in the translation matrix.

Unfortunately because of the limits of the human body and technology this was a slow process to do. It took time for the information to be basically injected into a brain. Despite all their advancements the human brain was still a very complex piece of biological machinery. If you tried to force too much information too quickly you ran some major health risks. In the early days there had been experiments to see how much could safely be put into a brain, plus there were always stories of people hacking their own implants to remove the safeties to push the boundaries.

These usually led to things like brain damage, seizures, a nasty medical problem called neural collapse which causes the nervous system to start shutting down and of course some just got their brains fried to either a vegetable or just plain old death.

So that was why he had spent the last six hours in the chair as the matrix was slowly and safely put into his mind. He had been doing this periodically with every update the computer could make to it and it was making things so much easier to talk with the natives. Having Princess Luna giving him direct translations was a huge help. The only problem was staying still for the whole process, so he made audio logs on his discoveries, called up a virtual screen over head to start on figuring out the math of this solar system and why it wasn’t adding up.

He really didn’t want to put ‘magic’ as the X factor but he was running out of options at this point.

That was another thing, this whole magic thing was just a hard pill to swallow. He was a man of science and there had to be a scientific explanation behind it all. Sure he admitted that the natives had abilities that on the surface flew in the face of both reason and all the science he knew but there had to be more to it.

From what Twilight explained there was some serous math behind it, once he got a bit more familiar with their sciences and language he was going to have a long sit down with her as she explained it in more detail. At the moment he was going to classify it as Psycho-Kenetic Energy, why?

Honestly just because it sounded cool.

Hell he found it, he could name it whatever the hell he wanted to. At least until the people back home could figure out either a better term for it or just agreed to keep the name.

So with this P.K.E. as he was also naming it, he was hard at work trying to get the sensors to be adjusted in order to study this phenomenon. Thankfully he had a lot of data by this point but although Twilight said that this…magic…was everywhere the scanners could only detect it when it was in a large enough quantity for some reason.

One example had been when he asked Rainbow Dash to get a cloud so he could take a closer look at how a Pegasus did it. She brought one down to him and even stood on it like it was solid. David tried putting his hand on the cloud but it just went through. That was another thing, the cloud remained a cloud even at ground level. So he scanned it but the result wasn’t very illuminating. He could detect a slight energy reading but not in the detail he wanted.

When he tried to get a scan of Earth Pony ‘magic’ well, that didn’t show up at all. It was only the Unicorns and he guessed the Alicorns that drew the most of this energy in the amount that his equipment could pick up. At least for the moment, he was not going to give up on this just yet.

“Download complete.” The computer told him as the chair slowly rose up.

David groaned as he rubbed his head feeling the slight pounding there. Long downloads like that were common to give you headaches unfortunately. He got up and went to get some simple painkillers from the medical room. Nothing powerful just some simple over the counter stuff, after downing that he looked at the time. He had spent a lot of the afternoon doing the download but there was still some time left in the day.

He got some of his gear, mainly his scanner glove, a couple of tools in a small pouch that he connected to his belt and clipped a small empty pouch to the other one. He grabbed a few of the books he had been loaned as well as a small empty pouch just in case he needed to carry something back with him. With everything set he was on his way.

David walked down the ramp and could already see some of the Ponies still looking at his ship. Some were trying not to be obvious about it but he could tell they were still looking. The door closed behind him as the last thing he needed was some curious individual getting it in their heads to look inside the alien ship and touch all the interesting bits.

That last part was the reason why he had AVI lock out most of the controls except for the bare basics like door controls whenever someone else was on board. Having a certain set of curious kids or a curious unicorn in one instance mess with his controls was enough for him to put that safety check in place.

He walked through the lush grassy field waving to anybody that gave him a warm greeting. He was surprised by how quickly they were getting to be friendlier with him. Either he picked the right place to land or maybe it was something about their race that made them like that. If it was the latter then this whole first contact should go fairly well as well as any future contact.

David made his way when he heard a sound of wings flapping in his direction. He looked up in time to see Rainbow Dash landing next to him.

“Hey there [David], what’s up?” She asked him.

“Just going to return books to Twilight,” He explained.

Dash blinked a moment, “Wow, you’re getting a lot better at talking.”

“Thanks, just finished hours of, well I think you could call it ‘studying’ but I don’t know the right word.” He shrugged as certain words he just hadn’t come across yet, so saying ‘downloading’ was a bit out of the way for the moment.

“No wonder you and Twi get along, you’re both nerds.” He grinned at him letting him know she was just kidding around.

“Yeah well nerds rule.”

“Yeah right, jocks rule.” She fired back.

“Well kind of bit of both I am,” He mentally winced at that sentence. It didn’t found right but at least he wasn’t searching for words the entire time. A few more downloads and he should be pretty close to normal speech with them.

“Yeah you do seem kind of fit, at least I think you are. Kind of hard to tell with all the clothing on and that, well you know. You’re an alien and junk.” She shrugged as they continued to walk on together.

David then looked down at himself, although he was pretty fit he had been so busy lately that he hadn’t done any exercises. “Actually I might start to go running in the morning. Been busy lately and let slack off.”

Dash perked up at that, “Oh? Well if you want you can join me and AJ. We usually get together for some running a few days a week to keep in shape. She’s one the few that can keep up with me after all. We were going to go for a run tomorrow morning when the sun came up so if you want you can meet us at her place.”

David thought it over and he was interested to see how fast they could run, “Sound good, meet there.”

“Awesome I’ll go tell AJ then, see ya around,” and with that she flew off in a streak of colors towards the farm.

David walked on as he came to what he had learned was the not only Twilight and Spike’s home but the town library. It was a literally tree that was turned into a building, which was odd and not just because of how they had done it, but that it was the only building in town that was like that. It was like someone had made this as some kind of experiment years ago and just left it alone after one try. It had windows all over the place at varying levels so from the outside you couldn’t really tell how many floors it had inside, plus what looked like a telescope poking out and a small patio by one of the higher windows.

There was a simple sign out front as he went to the only door. He tried the doorknob as it opened so he guessed the place was still on working hours or did she even lock up because she kept the place open? He mentally shrugged as he had to duck down a bit to enter, thankfully the inside was a lot taller than he was so he could move around comfortably.

“Anypony home?” He called out as he really wondered about that word. He didn’t know what he had been saying at first but now it felt weird saying ‘anypony’ instead of ‘anybody’. He had been just mimicking things before but now he was noticing a lot of things that were like play on words or puns compared to his language. At either rate he was sure that the people back home who were going to study this alien language would have some theories on that.

There was a quick muffled call came out followed by quickly running hooves but they seemed to be coming from below. He jumped when a trap door in the floor opened up and Twilight came excitedly out of what apparently was a basement.

[David !] she happily said his name. “I wasn’t sure you were coming today, you said something about doing some work so I wasn’t sure how long it would be.”

“Yeah took while but now over,” he placed down the books. “Return these.”

“Oh good I can put them back,” She magically took the books and put them in their places. “Actually if you’re going to take more books I have something for you.”

“What?” He asked wondering what she had planned she looked really giddy about something.

“Just wait,” she went to a drawer and pulled something out. “I made this especially for you.”

She levitated a small rectangular piece of paper as he took he plucked it from the air as it got close enough. He looked it over, he could read some of the words by this point although it had his name spelled out in both the alien language and his own.

“It’s your very own library card!” She said excited as she sat down and threw up her front hooves in excitement.

David had to grin at how excited she got at such simple things, she really was possibly the biggest nerd he had ever met but she was also very adorable and she was extremely helpful in everything. So he smiled at her as he put the card into one of his pockets.

“Thanks, so what doing down there?” He asked her.

“Oh, I was organizing my notes on our interactions, plus all my observations so far, not to mention my work on your language. Oh that reminds me,” she cleared her throat as she started to say something in English. [How am doing with talk? Am I do better?]

“Not bad,” he nodded impressed by her talent in learning English. Again he couldn’t help but wonder if she had an implant she would have been fluent by now, in time she most likely would be able to talk in English no problem. She had this nearly freakish ability to nearly memorize something at first look. Hell that was a natural talent he wished he had, school would have been so much easier back in the day.

“How close?” She asked him.

“Think you meant to say,” he switched to English. [How am I doing with talking? Am I doing better?]

“Oh okay,” She said as she got this slight look of concentration on her face.

David had a feeling that she had taken that simple line of dialogue and had locked it away in the vault he guessed her mind was. “So where Spike?”

“Down here,” the dragon’s voice called out from below.

David looked down the hatch as he could see a larger area under the tree and just make out Spike among a lot of machines and notes. “How are you?”

“Oh you know Twilight has me helping her out, oh Twilight?” He called up.

“Yes?”

“Did you want the notes on his ship with the technology pile or do you want them separate?”

Twilight thought about it, “Keep it separate for now Spike. I may need to start putting all the technology notes into subcategories.”

“Got it.”

“Mind if I take a look?” David asked her.

Twilight perked up at that,” Yes please I would love your insight.”

She led the way down the stairs as he followed. He had to maneuver himself a little to get through the hatch part as there wasn’t much clearance between the stairs and the hatch. After a few stairs he could slowly start to stand up a bit as he got closer to the floor. When he got there he finally got a good look at things.

There were some roots here and there but not as much as you would expect being under a large tree. There were some books in shelves but what caught his attention were the large machines that looked like some of it was put together from odd parts. The other half looked to be straight out of some old sci-fi films, like something from the ancient black and white days with overly large parts that you couldn’t exactly tell what it was supposed to do.

Although this did help him get a slight insight to the level of technology that they had, they obviously had some kind of computing technology but it had to be very primitive. The rest of the room held all kinds of papers, pictures and drawings. He could see papers he had first sent her in one portion of the place and another area held drawings of his ship with notes around the images.

He had to admit it was like walking into the lab of a mad scientist that was also a conspiracy nut, all be it one that was highly organized. For a brief moment David was wondering if Twilight was just really organized or had a form of OCD.

David moved to one of the desks as he looked through the notes, he could read some of it but it was like trying to read something with only ever other word making sense. He could muddle the meaning of some of it but some words were just a complete mystery to him.

“I might need some help with this,” David had to admit to her.

“Oh right, it’s easier for you to talk Equestrian than reading it huh?”

He nodded his head, “Still learning but still lot to learn.”

“Yeah but I know with Twilight’s help you’ll get it in no time,” Spike offered. “She helps me all the time with some of the larger words she has me write out.”

“Actually I had few things to talk about,” David found a place on a very sturdy table to sit down. “Was hoping to run experiments on what you call magic and set up devices to help look around.”

“Look around, like those flying machines?” She asked remembering the drones.

“Not exactly, look into planet to see what made of,” he was hoping to start a geological survey of the planet. The scanners could only go so far after all when they were on the surface. The special equipment he had was for deep surveys so he was hoping to find out more about the makeup of the planet.

“Oh that shouldn’t be too much of a problem,” Twilight nodded her head.

“Great, just one other problem.”

“What’s that?”

“Noticed that you have small coins, uh…bits was word?”

“Yes bits,” she nodded.

“Okay well I was thinking of getting fresh food and other items but would need to pay for them.” He had been thinking on this and had done the math with the computer. If he got some fresh food he would be able to extend his stay on the planet without having to dig into his food stores which while there was still plenty off, it was a limited supply.

“Oh well I can lend you some money it shouldn’t be a problem,” Twilight wasn’t really the type that needed lots of it, she had saved plenty as Celestia’s student after all. She also made a small amount as librarian for the town, although that last one she only agreed to take the minimum pay as she would have done it for free but the mayor insisted as that’s just how things were done before the last librarian had retired a few years before Twilight came to town.

David thought about it at first but he was never one for charity. His father although rich never spoiled his children by giving them everything they needed. He raised them to earn what they wanted and he had to agree with his father’s way of thinking. He knew plenty of rich kids that were spoiled rotten, he never could get along with people like that.

It was one of the reasons he avoided going into the family business, he hated that superficial world.

“Is there way to earn it, or maybe trade?” He asked her as he really hoped he didn’t start something like with the Native Americans trading away land and such for shiny things or worse, weapons. He would have to talk with the Princesses on that one, from what he saw these people didn’t need weapons.

“Maybe, there should be something you can trade for it, plus I’m sure my friends would have some ideas.”

“Maybe he could help me and Rarity with her gem collecting?” Spike offered. “He said he could look into the ground, well maybe he could use that to help speed things up?”

Twilight’s eyes lit up as she picked up Spike, “That’s a great idea, see, this is why you’re my number one assistant.”

Spike beamed at the praise just glad to help out really.

David couldn’t help but smile at the two of them, it was really hard to pin down their relationship. He didn’t know their full story but apparently they had been together for a long time. They were obviously very close that mush he could tell. He got off his spot as he dusted himself off and looked at the piles of papers.

“Good, so where start?” He asked her.

Next up Chapter 19: My Day with Ponies

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 19: My Day with Ponies

David was up early this morning thanks to the alarm he had set up, it was time to get in some physical exercise in and he was supposed to meet up with two of his new alien pony friends at the apple farm. Thankfully the ship while having a limited wardrobe did have clothing for different climates. He pulled out a pair of shorts, a T-shirt and was thankfully he had a decent pair of shoes for running. He really didn’t think going back to Pathfinder for his workout clothing would be worth all the work to get up there and back.

While not wanting to have a large breakfast he did put some fruit in a blender for a small quick smoothie before the run so he would at least have some fuel in the tank. This was not only an opportunity to get to know two of the residents a bit more but also check out their physical abilities. The fun he had with Rainbow Dash and one of his drones had given him some inside into how well a Pegasus flew. Now it was time to see how well they ran.

Although if they were anything like actual horses they should be fast, thankfully humans were one of the most enduring species on their planet. Sure most animals could be faster than a human but a human could wear down most animals if they were in shape.

Picking up a small water bottle that he strapped to his small belt he started a few warm up exercises to loosen up a bit. With that done he left the ship, it was still pretty early the morning sun was just starting to come out as he made a light job in the direction of the farm. It wasn’t hard to find, the place was huge and it was in the direction of that creepy forest he had landed in. The place was actually pretty beautiful as he made his way there.

It reminded him of some of the more scenic places back on Earth or even one of the larger parks on the space colonies. There were some worlds that he had explored that were beautiful but this world being so close to what you could find in the Sol system, well it strangely felt very much like he was back home.

Meanwhile at the Apple farm two mares were out front stretching up as they were getting ready for an early morning run. AJ with her ever present hat was working out her back legs as Rainbow was jogging in place a little in order to warm herself up.

“So ya said he wanted ta join us today?” AJ asked her friend.

“Yep, said he wanted to keep in shape,” she replied. “I think all her book stuff he and Twilight have been doing has been keeping him from working out.”

“Well as long as he can keep up ah don’t mind,” she finished her stretching at that moment. “Actually I’m might curious how he does with those long legs of his.”

“Yeah I wonder how he stays up all the time on just two,” Rainbow snickered and then looked at her friend. “So you’re not freaked out about an alien with us? I mean when we were talking about those strange lights and sounds and someone brought up aliens you seemed a little scared about it.”

AJ paused as she looked away, “It’s nothin’, just kept thinkin’ of all those stories Granny used to tell about aliens takin’ ponies in the middle of the night when ah was a filly.”

“Oh yeah those stories about the Grey Ponies,” Rainbow told her remembering all those stories others claimed to be abducted by strange grey alien ponies. “But you’re fine now?”

“After what he did fer Apple Bloom as her friends, he’s all right in my book.” AJ told her. “Heck anypony that does something like that to help out some fillies deserves a chance and he’s not bad company from the party.”

“Oh yeah he’s cool,” Rainbow nodded. “Even if he is a bit of a book worm like Twilight, oh hey here he comes.”

Both mares looked to see David jogging their way over to them, he waved with a smile as they waved back. He slowed down to a stop in front of them feeling a bit refreshed but he still was ready for a lot more.

“Good morning you two.” David said to them.

“Mornin’ looks like y’all are ready for a run,” AJ said warmly to him.

David nodded his head. “Just go easy at the start, I don’t know how fast you two can go.”

“Oh don’t worry big guy, we’ll take it nice and slow at the start,” Rainbow nudged AJ in the shoulder playfully as the farm mare gave a chuckle.

He really hoped they didn’t take off at a neck break pace or something. The three of them started off with a light jog as they ran around the perimeter of the farm. All they did was follow the white fencing that the Apple family had set up around their property. David kept his breathing as even as he could, getting into a rhythm going with the girls.

The two of them were easily keeping up with him and it wasn’t too long before Rainbow pulled a head a little, this caused AJ to catch up with her. David had to shift it up a gear to keep up with them but he could already tell that they were fast. Once again Rainbow would get a little competitive and AJ was all too happy to keep up with the Pegasus.

David ended up pushing himself to his max speed limit keeping up with them, well he did want a workout and apparently he was going to get one. He felt his legs starting to burn as his lungs struggled to keep his body supplied with oxygen as this high pace. They ended up going around the fence but then they went into an opened gate. They ran through a path between the rows upon rows of apple trees.

He had to admit that the apple farm was a very nice place and it was amazing that Applejack and her family worked it themselves.

Humans had simple drones to help with the farming but they were doing it old school here. Granted there were farms that still worked it without drone assistance from what little he knew about farming. It wasn’t exactly his field of expertise after all but he was impressed that they worked this much land.

They ended up at the farm and took the main road to the front gate to where they started off. Rainbow took off like a rocket as AJ kept up with her, David just kept his pace not even trying to keep up with those two.

Both ponies got to the gate thirty seconds before him as both mares stopped in their tracks. At first he was worried they stopped because of him but they seemed to be doing cool down exercises so they were finished apparently. While fast he was used to much longer runs, maybe they had speed but it seemed he could run them into the ground long distance.

That helped a little with his bruised male ego as being beaten by two alien women but in all honestly it wasn’t that big of a bruise.

As AJ and Rainbow were doing their cool down exercises they had noticed that they had lost their partner.

“Ah think we went a bit too fast for him,” AJ commented.

“Guess his kind just don’t have pony speed,” Rainbow said proud to outdo the alien, mainly because now she could brag about not only being the fastest in all of Equestria but maybe in all of space too.

David arrived back down at his own pace now as he got his breathing back under a more manageable rate which helped him out a bit more. He saw the two of them and raised an eyebrow.

“That’s it?” He challenged them.

“You still got some energy in you partner?” AJ asked him taking a closer look and although he looked a little tired he did seem like he could keep going. Maybe their kind had more in the endurance department or something?

David nodded, “Usually I run for longer.”

“Longer?” Rainbow asked him. “How much longer?”

“Not sure about how you measure distance yet…but at least from here back to the ship if not more.” He clarified.

“Huh, well you certainly can go all day long,” AJ chuckled. “But ah got my chores to do and ah can’t do them if ah’m all tuckered out.”

“Well I’m going to go on, no way am I going to let him out do me,” She looked up at David as she started to jog in place. “I’m up to still go with you pal.”

David smiled and nodded, “Okay, let’s go.”

AJ had a feeling that Rainbow might regret that as she watched them jog off again although now it seemed Rainbow at least had the smarts to keep his pace and not set her own. AJ swung herself back to the farm it was a long day like usual but then again she loved the work on her farm and couldn’t think of a better way to spend the day sometimes.

Rainbow and David continued on back to the ship, although she put up a good front, Rainbow was really starting to feel her body starting to protest the long trip. Running wasn’t as easy as flying given she had her Pegasus magic to help with that, plus you could glide while in the air. She was wondering if she flew more than actually walked anywhere given how her legs were starting to scream out at her to stop. Then again she knew that she had a weakness when it came to long distance flying so a weakness with long distance running wasn’t much of a stretch either.

Still he kept pace with him, it was strange how he had to work to keep up with their speed but at this slow speed he could just keep going forever. He wasn’t even breathing as hard as she was at the moment and it slightly irritated her.

Eventually they made it back to the ship and Rainbow was glad for it, she had put everything she had and then some but somehow she was able to keep going. She was thankful for when they finally reached his ship, she nearly fell down onto the grass but she didn’t want to look weak in front of him.

She wasn’t however above panting for breath.

David grinned seeing her like that, she acted all tough but he could see her legs shaking slightly. He knew someone like that during the Pathfinder training always toughing it out. As he started to stretch himself out he noticed that a lot more of the aliens were around the hill looking down at his ship. Some were pointing at him and talking but he just ignored it. He figured this would happen sooner or later and in time things would calm down. At least he hoped that it would calm down eventually.

He certainly hoped that it wouldn’t get too crazy at least or else he might have to ask the Princesses to set up a perimeter with guards if things were getting rowdy. He really didn’t want some over eager types to start messing with his ship and couldn’t fly he might run into trouble getting off the planet. He hadn’t finished the safety inspection after the repairs on Sparrow II so that was out in case he missed something and an accident happened. Sparrow III was an option too but it was pretty big and bulky and he wasn’t confident in a remote flight with it. Its shape and mass made it so that a human pilot was best to fly it.

David finished up with his stretching after cooling down, he learned that was important so that the muscles didn’t get all tensed up the next day. He noticed Rainbow doing similar although it was kind of interesting to see a four legged being with wings stretch out.

He also noticed that she looked pretty drained.

“Want some water?” He asked her.

“Yeah I could use some.” She nodded her head.

“Come on in,” He said going up the ramp to the door. [mi casa es su casa]

“Huh?”

“Just a saying,” He explained as the door opened. “It means, let me think…in your language my home is your home.”

“Oh cool,” Rainbow went up the ramp as she tried to play it nice and cool while on the inside she was giddy. She hadn’t been inside the ship yet and she really wanted to look around. First the water though.

As she walked inside she couldn’t help but look around, the smooth walls and the row of lights overhead that seemed to go all the way down the hallway. The walls were a combination of cool grays and blues. Dash looked around not sure where to head on first but David was going somewhere so she followed him.

He got her a small bottle of water from what looked like a small kitchen area. She was thankful for the cool water as she downed it. The cool liquid really hit the spot for her as she started to feel a bit more energized.

“Oh man I needed that,” She said and then sniffed the air. The scent of herself and him was starting to get a bit noticeable in the confined space as both of them had worked up a sweat. “Uh…you got a shower in here I can borrow or should I just go home for one?”

“This way,” He smiled and led her down the hallway to a small room.

Rainbow could tell it was a bathroom as it was pretty similar, just scaled up a bit for his size she figured. There was no bathtub but the large rectangular part did look like a shower.

“I’ll give you some privacy.” He told her.

“Thanks,” She called back to him as he closed the door from the other side. Rainbow hovered a bit looking at everything. It was all metallic and looked pretty clean. She looked at the sink but didn’t see anything to turn for water just two buttons. She pressed one as water came out of the faucet. The button was lit up and there seemed to be a gauge of some kind.

Touching it experimentally she found with the tip of her hoof she could control the glowing gauge somehow.

“Huh, I wonder what’s the point of that?” She muttered as she tested the water and found it freezing. She looked at it and tried to lower the round gauge and tested the water again. It was still cold but not as much.

“Ohhhh, it controls the temperature.” The pressed the button and it turned off with the water. “Cool.”

She guessed the other button was for heat, well with her little experiment done she went to the shower. She saw the shower head after moving aside the door as it slide to the left and saw a shower head with a tube connecting it so it looked like the head was movable. She saw the same button only this time there was just the one.

She pressed it an saw the water come on and the light gauge again, the water was okay but soon found it heated up slightly. While she was tempted to play around with it she really wanted to get wet and it felt good enough for her. She stepped in and let the water run over her body. She moaned as the water got rid of the grime out of her coat and wings, fluttering her wings slightly to get the water as the more hard to reach spots inside of them.

Rainbow could see some bottles but didn’t want to try them, she had no idea which was soap and which was shampoo and honestly she had no idea if it would make her coat all stick out. While she didn’t mind a messy appearance she wouldn’t like going around looking like she got struck by lightning the entire day.

After a refreshing shower she turned it off and let the water fall off a bit. She opened the door to the shower and looked around but she didn’t see any towels. Frowning she was about to call out when the door to the bathroom suddenly opened and David was there with a couple of towers.

“Sorry I forgot to replace the towels from yesterday.” He said.

Rainbow blushed as she slammed closed the door. “What are you doing!? You never enter the bathroom with a mare in it!” She yelled at him.

David paused not sure what just happened. “Uh…okay…but why? You’re not any different than outside.”

“It’s a privacy thing!” She yelled out at him. “You don’t just enter a bathroom with somepony you hardly know! Only ponies you’re close and comfortable with you can do that!”

“Oh! Sorry,” He placed the towels down as he honestly hadn’t thought about it. He guessed it was just a cultural thing they had, they went around basically ‘naked’ the entire time so he figured it wasn’t a big thing but maybe there were moments of privacy that were just more intimate. Granted if she had been human he wouldn’t have just walked in but he had seen her not wear a stick of clothing so again, he figured it would have been fine to get in if she was just showering.

He quickly closed the door and made a note to put this into his findings about their culture as well as to always knock before going into a bathroom or if someone was in their room.

After a few minutes Rainbow came out with a towel around her head and body as soon as she saw him she blushed a bit.

“Again I’m very sorry,” David told her.

“Yeah I get it you’re an alien, but don’t let it happen again,” She told him angrily.

He quickly nodded his head. “Can I make it up to you?”

She thought about it, “Well after you get cleaned up you can show me the ship, and never mention this ever again.”

“Deal.” He told her.

-Another Time-

David felt the soft bed under him and the thin sheet that covered his lower half. He was still in that place where you felt half asleep but yet somewhat awake. Then he felt the bare arm of a woman wrapping itself around him started to pull him out of his near dream state. He felt her warm bare flesh against his back as she shifted up against him.

“What time is it?” He asked her.

“Still pretty early,” her soft voice said to him. “But if you want, we could just spend the day here.”

Oh man he was tempted with that, but there was something he had to do today that he couldn’t be late for. “Linda, as much as I would love that, and trust me I really want to. You know I got the interview today for the Pathfinder Program.”

There was a pause there a little longer than he liked.

“Do you have to pick that, you can do anything else. You know my father could get you a pilot’s job if you really want to fly.”

“It’s not just about flying Linda, if it was I could just fly one of my family’s transports.” David checked the time, he had a few hours to kill by the looks of it. “I want to get out there, I want to see the universe.”

She shifted away from him and he could feel her move away slightly. “If you get in that’s over a year of training and another six months or longer in space.”

“We talked about this,” he sighed. “I can still call you up even though I can’t leave during the training and I will be back.”

He was getting a bit tired of this talk with her, hell they had full on arguments about it. She didn’t want him to leave but this was literally once in a lifetime chance and he had to take it. He had dreamed of this and wanted to do this but she didn’t want to be physically separated for over a year. He shifted over and buried himself into her side as he wrapped an arm around her.

That’s when he noticed something was wrong, he didn’t remember having this much hair, plus was her back all hairy? Her torso felt odd as well as he ran his hand slightly, when she gasped he got a face full of feathers of all things.

“What the fuck!?” David pulled back and somehow managed to get out of his bed without falling as he threw the sheet away. He paused at the sight of at first what he thought was a white horse in his bed but the shocked look on the familiar yet alien face was another surprise for him.

“Well I hope that you’re ready for-AHH!” Luna had suddenly appeared out of nowhere as the younger Princess reared back at the sight in front of her.

David’s mind slowly caught up to the fact that he wasn’t back in his old apartment, Linda wasn’t there anymore and he was dreaming again only how he had both royals in his head apparently. He also noticed that the two were staring at him with wide eyes as he looked down to see his nakedness.

“Of for fuck’s sake!” He quickly took a pillow to cover himself. “Why the fuck are you in bed with me?!”

“I don’t know!” Celestia defended herself as she got off the bed pulling her wings back to her side and trying to regain her composure. “I was dreaming about being on a beach and the next thing I know I has here and…well…” She blushed at the memory of his arm around her barrel and his hand caressing her underside. David ran his free hand not holding the pillow, to his face and groaned slightly into it.

He couldn’t believe it, okay sure it was all a dream but he had just felt up one of the rulers of this planet. What the hell kind of crazy Captain Kirk like thing was going on here? Both he and Celestia quickly turned to face Luna, first the Rainbow incident and now this.

“Uh…it was a total accident,” she told them both. “I thought it would be faster to just pull my sister from her dream and into yours, I didn’t know how she would have appeared or what you were dreaming about.” She bit her bottom lip slightly when finished sorry that this had happened.

“Okay first,” David said looking at her sternly. “No more blindly going into my dreams like that.”

“Or pulling others in, in the same manner,” Celestia added in.

“Yeah that too,” David nodded. “Second thing, can you two turn around or something while I get dressed.”

“This is a dream,” Luna told him. “If you wish clothing just think it, in fact you are dressed now.”

David blinked and looked down and was surprised to find himself fully dressed. Dream logic, go figure as he slightly pulled away the pillow to check he wasn’t unzipped or something and threw it onto the bed when he found nothing more embarrassing was showing.

“Okay final thing, we never ever speak of this again, we take this to our graves,” then he thought about it. “Well okay at least wait until I’m long dead you two will most likely outlive me anyway.”

“Agreed,” Celestia told him.

“I will not tell a soul,” Luna offered.

There was an awkward silence between the three of them and he really wanted a distraction from having just flashed two royals and had gotten to basically second base with one of them. He looked around the place, it looked just like he remembered it from when he lived here with Linda. It brought back a mixture of emotions from him, how long had it been since she left him?

About a year now it seemed.

“Is this your home?” Celestia asked looking around clearly trying to change the subject.

He was thankful for her trying to refocus their thoughts onto something else.

“It was,” David told her looking around the bedroom as he went to door and opened it. “Better view is out there in the living room.”

The pony princesses walked through the door as David walked behind them he paused to take a look at the bed behind him. He suppressed a sigh at the memory of that dream, that had been one of the last moments he had with Linda. He kept in touch with her during his training but within six months into his training he got a message from her.

It didn’t matter what was said in her message only that she wouldn’t be in his life anymore.

He closed the door to the bedroom like he had metaphorically closed the door on that part of his life awhile ago.

Celestia and Luna walked into an open area with metal table with a glass top with matching styled chairs. There was a living area with black leather couches but what caught their attention was the view. They walked to the large window as they looked out at the human city before them. There were tall shining buildings that reflected the light of the sun, streets that were filling with people with strange vehicles both on the ground and flying in patterns in the air.

The buildings were just towering in ways that both Princesses couldn’t fathom how they were built. They were taller than any building that was built on their world, in styles that were foreign to them. There were basic rectangular buildings but there were others that had unique designs to them. There was a tower that twisted around for instance which ended in a pointed tip.

Celestia looked out in awe at the engineering marvels she was looking at. It had been a long time since she saw the world like this. With fresh eyes and full of wonder again, it had been centuries since she last felt like this.

Looking out she could only wonder just how many lived in this city, it was far larger than any city she could think of and she was only seeing one part of it.

“How many humans are there?” Celestia asked still gazing out the window.

“Kind of hard to say for certain,” David told her. “A few billion on Earth, a few million on space colonies and then hundreds of thousands on various planetary colonies…so we’re spread out a bit.”

Celestia’s mind started to spin at the numbers that had to be out there. There were more of these humans than the entire population of her entire planet. She took a breath as she centered herself, “Well I see there will be another thing we’ll have to discuss in the morning with the representatives.”

“Joy,” Luna had already set up a meeting with all of the ambassadors and the morning was going to be a very long close door meeting.

“So there are other countries?” David hadn’t been able to ask that question or at least not in a way that he felt comfortable in their language.

“Yes,” Luna answered. “We have a meeting with Saddle Arabia, the Griffon Kingdom, the Minotaurs, the Zebras.”

“Wait did you said griffons and minotaurs?” David held up a hand at that. “As in part bird and part cat? And the other guys are large that look like me but mixed in with a bull?”

Both Luna and Celestia shared a look between each other before turning back to him as Celestia asked him how he knew that.

David sat down on the couch, it was yet another strange thing he had seen on this world. He had kept it from the others because he was still investigating it but he really could use some kind of help with this. Looking at the two rulers he contemplated telling them or keeping quiet but he could see that they knew he had something to tell them. If he kept it to himself it would sew a seed of mistrust and their relationship was still too young to start lying outright.

Running a hand through his hair he made a choice and he really hoped it was the right one.

“Okay I’m going to level with the two of you and honestly I could also use your advice on how to handle this information.”

Both rulers could see that something was weighing on him as they walked up to sit across from him.

“I take it that this is something troubling?” Celestia asked him.

“Well…depends on how you look on it,” David admitted. “Honestly I’m not sure but okay here’s the thing. This planet is just one giant ball of weirdness.”

“Thank you for your critique of our home,” Luna said in a deadpan way giving him a leveled look.

“Hold on it’s not what you think,” He quickly. “You see my people have legends and myths of things like Pegasi, Unicorns, dragons, griffons and hell even Alicorns apparently are all part of our history. I had to look up alicorn as I hadn’t heard of it before but it was there. Not only that, but your world is filled with plants and animals that are also found on Earth.”

That shocked the two princesses.

“You mean similar?” Luna asked hoping he was exaggerating.

“I mean exact so far,” David explained. “Thanks to Fluttershy I got some hair or feather samples from her animals and with some strange genetic drift that I haven’t explained yet, they are nearly a one hundred percent a match. The same with the trees, plants and hell even the damn grass is similar to what was found in a place called Europe on Earth.”

“Now I’ve been to all kinds of planets, moons. I’ve read up on a lot of other discoveries of other words before my mission, during and I looked through the database to double check just in case recently after looking at all of this. There is nothing that my people have found that is remotely similar to this. Maybe similar plants and animals evolve given the right conditions but this close and this many? The odds are so insane that you have better luck getting struck my lighting, twice, on a clear sunny day.”

The two sisters weren’t sure what to do with this revelation unsure what to think of it.

“Are you telling us that there is a link between our two worlds?” Celestia finally asked.

“It looks that way,” David nodded. “I was hoping you would have some answers for that.”

Both sisters shared a look again as they tried to think of something between them but both were coming up dry.

Celestia looked at him as she thought back as far as she could. “I’m sorry but I can’t tell you what we don’t know. This revelation is…I’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea.”

“It is a very big revelation.” Luna agreed.

“Tell me about it, so there are no records?” David asked them both. “No histories, or even legends that might explain it?”

Celestia sighed as she thought about it. “There was the Great Library but it was lost before even Luna and myself were even born.”

“The Great Library?” David asked leaning in.

Celestia nodded, “It was supposedly made long before the forming of Equestria and was supposed to hold all the combined knowledge of our world. It was said to have been built by the Alicorn race that is before they left.”

“Left?” David was a bit confused as he thought they were alicorns.

Luna now took over, “Before Equestria there were many more alicorns but for some reason they all left. Only my sister and I remained behind as children, we have no idea whatever became of them, where they left or why they left and we were left behind.”

“Throughout time a few ponies have ascended into alicorn status,” Celestia continued. “But they are not natural born ones. There hasn’t been a natural born alicorn birth since Equestria was created.”

“Wait your people can become like you?” David asked them.

Celestia nodded, “Yes there have been those that ascend into an alicorn but as not fully born ones they don’t have our extended life span and age normally.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, just how old are you two?” He got the feeling that there was some age there and the old tapestries in that castle kept coming back to him. The images of a white and blue alicorn on a sun and moon, he had thought that it was just some ancestral thing but now he was thinking they were the damn models for them.

“It’s not polite to ask a mare her age you know,” Celestia smirked at him before getting serious again. “My sister and I are around thirteen hundred years old, give or take a few decades.”

“It honestly gets a bit difficult to keep track sometimes,” Luna shrugged as when you lived as long as they had the years kind of blurred together sometimes. Plus honestly, who would want to try to blow out a cake with that many candles on it?

He let out a low whistle although he had no real proof he didn’t get the idea they were lying. With human medicine being the way it was the human life span was a hundred and twenty but they blew that out of the water. “Well you certainly both don’t look it.”

Celestia smiled politely at him although it was nice to hear from time to time. They both be long lived but it did feel nice to feel young sometimes.

David sighed and leaned back against the couch. “Well that sucks about this library and stuff, I was hoping for something more to help me make sense of all of this.”

“We’re sorry but a lot of the history from that time has been lost,” Luna told him honestly. “We have slowly recovered some things over time but there is just so much lost that we may never get it back.”

“Well I guess now we have to wonder what to do with this little bit of information,” David looked at them seriously. “I mean how everyone would take it.”

Celestia had to admit that she too was worried about it, some of her ponies could be a little prone to overreaction.

“I believe that for the time being we should keep this to ourselves,” Celestia said eventually. “We don’t have any kind of answers just yet and there must be a clue somewhere. I can discreetly have a team put together for a research project and see what they can find. Even with all the lost history there might be something hidden away in some book somewhere long forgotten.”

“The Canterlot archives is very vast,” Luna put in thinking of the large rooms where her sister had put in many books over the past thousand years. “Perhaps there is something that was missed or misplaced over time?”

Celestia nodded, “Another possibility.”

“Well looks like we got a mystery on our hands, er…hooves in your case.” David stood up as he looked out the window. “There are a lot of mysteries about your world and somehow there is a link between our worlds. I’ll have to secure my computers, Twilight is a curious one and is eager to look through my data banks.”

“Maybe I can seal away certain parts just in case.” He added.

“That might be very prudent my student has always loved knowledge.” Celestia smiled.

“Well now that that is out of the way,” David looked at the two of them. “How shall we spend the rest of the night? I know, how about you tell me about the other races on this world, I get the feeling I’m going to need to know about them.”

“You are correct about that,” Celestia nodded. “Although there are some races that are more isolated like Diamond Dogs and Dragons but we’ll get them in time. I believe we’ll start with the ones we have relations with.”

Luna hid a smirk, her elder sister was getting into her ‘teacher’ mode, Celestia did so love to teach and apparently she had taken this alien as a new student.

Next up Chapter 20: Political Games

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 20: Political Games

Equestrian Log 22

As I’ve currently figured out the correct spelling of the land into English, I’ve decided to change the log title of my logs from now on to reflect where I am. I’ve currently finished with several more experiments on the local wild life and plants (see experiment logs for full details) and after linking up with the computer back onboard the Pathfinder and using the superior processing powers on it, there is an addition to my reports.

The animals on his world while on the surface identical to Earth there is a 0.1 percent deviance on average in the DNA samples so far. The animals seem to be more intelligence from my observations at Fluttershy’s, especially a certain rabbit she has. I know it’s strange but I swear that little guy is giving me the eye sometimes.

I did have a very long talk with both rulers last night, again it was in my dreams thanks to Princess Luna’s telepathy or dream walking as she calls it. I told them of the strange similarities between our worlds and sadly they couldn’t give any answers. Apparently, there is a lot of lost knowledge on this world. There was a whole race of Alicorns here before but they all mysteriously left leaving Celestia and Luna behind as children. If this was by design or by accident they didn’t know as they were so young they barely remember that time. Personally, I can’t see why anyone would leave behind two children on purpose like that, at least that’s my hope.

I also learned that Celestia in fact does have a monkey in her garden, apparently she keeps super rare animals there and they are found in the deep jungles of this world which most ponies don’t go into. So not many of the locals have ever seen let alone heard of it unless someone specializes in rare animals.

Not only that but she has as her personal pet a damn phoenix of all things. I’m going to see if I can get images of this and with luck maybe I can bring back a feather at least for analysis. That should give the geneticist something to look forward to. Not every day you can get something that was mythological under a microscope but I’ll have to wait on that.

There are also other races on this world and some of them are linked to old mythology to Earth. There are minotaurs and griffons here, I haven’t met them yet but at the way things are going I can expect to see their representatives soon as the Princesses are most likely setting up something for me to meet other representatives of this world.

The translation matrix has gotten pretty good (see Language database Equestrian v3.2) although there are still some words and concepts that haven’t been translated yet but I’m constantly updating the file. Because of this I might be soon meeting these other representatives given I can now carry a damn conversation without sounding like a caveman. I’ll be sure to make as many notes as possible when this happens and make different reports for each race I meet. Maybe I can try to get some images and recordings if possible.

There have been some more ponies lately getting into the town, I see a lot of them looking and staring at me of course. This was all expected although I do feel a bit self-conscious at it. Sometimes I feel like a celebrity and other times an exhibit in a zoo. Although if I find anyone selling T-shirts by my ship I’ll have to put a stop to that, well maybe unless they split the profits with me. It would allow me to get some local currency to use.

I know some people back home might frown on that but hey, I grew up in a very capitalist family and I can’t keep going with just handouts from my new friends. I already feel the need to pay back some of them like Twilight for the loan and Applejack for some apples she gave me today. I’m still trying to get a sense of the economy of this world. The money is a type of small gold coins, apparently gold is plentiful enough for this. I found one apple equals a single ‘bit’ as they call it. I’m trying to keep a log of how much certain items cost but I might need some help in understanding it.

I might have to talk with Applejack about it, she’s a business person and so is Rarity so maybe between the two of them they could help me get a handle of their economy. I’ll be sure to put in a report about it for the people back home to go over it. It might help with trade if we have an idea of where to start with them after all.

Another reason for this is that I’ve done the math. If I could pay for some of the local food it will allow me to stretch out my time here a bit more. There is just a so much to cover and I have a limited time to do so with my food supplies. There is still enough fuel in Pathfinder to get to the nearest space station for refueling before getting back to the Sol system so that’s not an issue. The solar panels should help keep it up and running weeks after my food would run out even with new food stuffs.

I’ve still haven’t made much headway with the math for why the sun and moon orbit this planet. It just doesn’t make any sense, the mass of this planet is pretty similar enough to Earth so there is no way a sun would travel around it. The gravity forces alone should have sent this planet spinning out of control or into the sun or something to kill all life on this planet.

I’ve been trying to get Pathfinder to get better scans of the gravity but I’m not happy with the data. I’m going to link up with the ship and have it send out some of the probes I still have in specific areas to get a fully detailed scan. With it I can make a fully in-depth 3D model to work with. Honestly I might have to spend time on this on the travel time back home as I just don’t have the time to fully go into this with everything else I’m trying to work on.

There is one possible reason although I’m a bit hesitant to believe it. During my talk with the royal sisters last night in my dreams (which is still weird that they can do this) I asked about that and they claim they are able to control the sun and moon. Now I know they are pretty powerful but to move objects like that would require insane amounts of power. I did ask if they would allow me to see this in person and I hope to record some of this. If what they said it true then if I can figure out how they are able to do it, well it could lead to some interesting scientific discoveries.

Maybe it would lead to the missing piece we’ve been looking for artificial gravity for instance. But again I’m going to have to actually see this, as a scientist I can’t just take something at face value and I’m going to have to research this. Maybe instead of altering the mass of the sun and moon they’re changing the forces of gravity? That might be easier to pull off if I can even figure out how that’s even possible. Maybe when I put the satellites in position I’ll be able to tell exactly.

I’m going to ask if I can set up some equipment for some data gathering as well, nothing major just deep scans into the planet to help me get an idea of what the upper layer is made up of. I know the mass of the planet but not much of the makeup. I’m also hoping to start checking out some books and scanning their content into the computer. Not only should this help with the translation matrix but I hope to get some insight into their culture, history as well. Now that I’m good friends with the local librarian and my new library card I think it’s time to really give that card a workout.

End Log

-Canterlot-

In the castle there were many rooms, a grand ballroom, several kitchens, barracks for the guards but at the moment the two sisters were in one particular room. This was a special meeting room for dignitaries. It was a grand room up high in the castle with a whole set of windows that overlooked the entire city and beyond. The large circular table was in the center with large marble pillars and floors.

Banners were set up on the walls that represented all the nations that would be attending.

Luna and Celestia sat next to each other with various scrolls and papers as well as photos in front of them. Although the news was out they wanted to show that this wasn’t some kind of ludicrous story that everyone was talking about.

They waited until the large doors opened and a herald appeared.

“Presenting from the Griffon Kingdom, Ambassador Gaius.”

A griffon with a red cape walked in with a grey top of an eagle and a brown body of a lion. He held his head up high as he took a spot with his country’s flag.

“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Consort Shining Armor.”

Cadence and Shining were next to come in and take their seats to Celestia’s right.

“Ambassador Azari from the Zebra Lands.”

A male Zebra with several rings and decorations on him walked in, he had an air of calm and patience about him. Without a word he walked with a grace in his steps to his chair as he politely nodded to the two sisters before taking a seat.

“Presenting the ambassador of the Minotaur Republic, Ambassador Red Bull.”

A large minotaur walked in with a light red coat with some grey streaks in it. He walked in with a slight limp and a cane of pure wood that looked well used. He had a gold ring in his nose with the sight of a few battle scars on his shoulder as he only wore a set of pants with a sash of his rank on it.

He fell into his chair as he placed the cane next to him as his great weight was held up by his larger chair than the others.

Celestia nodded her head, “Thank you for coming.”

“A great honor as always to meet with you,” The Zebra male spoke up with a smooth voice. “Although we did wish with speak with you too.”

“Yes about this whole alien thing,” Red Bull spoke up with a deep rumbling voice. “Are these stories in the papers true?”

Luna nodded her head, “It is, we spoke with our visitor as we have prepared official documents and pictures to prove it.”

With her magic she passed the folders around to each member as they started to look through them all. There were a range of emotions playing on their faces, from shock, surprise, wonderment among others. The Griffon ambassador spoke up first as he gave the sisters a guarded look, “So just how long has this creature been in your lands?”

The sisters shared a look as both nodded at each other. “We first came aware of his ship arriving over three weeks ago.”

“Three weeks!?” The Griffon ambassador rose up from his seat. “And we’re only just learning of this now!”

“Although quite loud, his point is sound,” Azari spoke up next.

The minotaur ambassador remained quiet but he was studying the proceedings with a careful look.

“We wanted to ensure we knew what we were dealing with,” Luna told them knowing this was going to be the hard part to coming clean with them all. They had known of him for some time before going forward with the information. “We had no way to know if he was a threat or not, we didn’t even know he was on the planet until a few days after he landed.”

“So you’re telling us that Equestria has already started talks with an alien race,” the griffon said. “So any trade deals you’ve already got a head start on the rest of us.”

“We haven’t talked about any trade deals,” Celestia told him.

“So you say,” was his response as he settled back into his chair.

“I believe that they have been forthcoming.” Cadence told him.

He only scoffed at that, “They are your aunts, you can’t expect me to believe you to be impartial with them can you?”

“Be that as it may I still believe them,” Cadence told him again.

Shining Armor felt he had to say something as well given that he had served Celestia for years and was now related to her and Luna through Cadence. “I have known Celestia for years ambassador and although I haven’t known Luna as long, they are both trustworthy ponies.”

“Of that I can agree to,” Azari commented. “they normally speak well and true.”

“Thank you ambassador. “Luna nodded her thanks to him. “I will tell you that I have spoken to him in his dreams as well as my sister has as well when I took her in. I have been learning about his people and helping him to learn our language. He has only just how been able to learn enough to hold conversations among our ponies.”

“Even if that was true you still kept this from the world and our governments until some reporter put out the story.”

Celestia nodded her head, “I do admit to that, I thought it would be best if we saw how he interacted with the ponies of Ponyville.”

“We also needed time to learn as much as possible.” Luna put forth. “We thought that by learning more about him and his people we would be ready to come forth with more information.”

“Also we technically weren’t the first he contacted but it was a zebra that met him first.” Celestia was hoping that little bit of information would change their focus and also give them something else to talk about. She knew that keeping this as quiet as possible would have drawbacks but she needed to have been sure. She hated acting without knowing as much was possible and she had to accept that any negative reactions were a consequence of those actions.

The griffon ambassador quickly looked to the only other zebra in the room as she calmly shook his head.

“Of this I was not made aware, perhaps we should listen with great care.” He replied.

“It was a zebra that currently lives in the Everfree Forest.” Luna explained to them. “Her name is Zecora, a shaman that is living on the edge of the forest. She was the first to meet the alien from what we learned.”

Azari thought about it, it must have been one of his people on The Great Walk. It was a spiritual journey one took on their path to wisdom. It required one to walk the world to find a place that called out to you. You were to find this place and commune with it, to find yourself and your inner balance. Once completed the shaman would reach a higher state of being.

Looking down at the file he looked closely at the images of the being. It did seem tall from the ponies in the pictures with the alien. From the file it said that the being was male and named [David]. Apparently an explorer of his race and the ship alone was something that he had never seen before.

There were stories and legends among his people of the Sky People, also called the Star Children, Those that Came Beyond the Sky and other such names. Although none of them really said what these beings looked like oddly enough. They were said to have come very long ago in strange vessels but after that the stories varied. Some said they were the first ones on the world and formed and created it in their image. Some said they were old teachers that taught the Zebras the way of the world. Others said that they left into the Dreamscape and were never heard of again.

He would like to meet this being, even if he wasn’t the same as in the old stories, he had to wonder what such a being was like. What knowledge did he have of the stars that he could bring to them?

Celestia turned to face the minotaur ambassador. “You’ve been very quiet.”

The ambassador leaned back as he closed his eyes stroking his beard. Celestia watched and waited as she knew that to others he looked like he wasn’t sure but she knew that he was forming his thoughts up. Minotaurs were very energetic and brash in their youth but as they aged they learned patience and wisdom.

She reflected on how some of the great thinkers were elder Minotaurs, she especially loved the works of the great sage Broken Horn. Looking at the ambassador she knew him well enough, the gold ring signified someone in their culture that had reached the title of honored elder. The scars were most likely from a Harpy attack, their lands unfortunately had a problem with them and suffered from various attacks from time to time.

Finally, he opened his eyes, “I can see why you did what you did, but I can’t let it totally slide either. We will need to meet this alien ourselves.”

“Yes, I agree with that,” the griffon nodded his head.

“I have to admit I really would like a look at him in person,” Shining told them and then looked to his in-laws. “You think he could bring the ship with him?”

“Oh that might be a good idea,” Red Bull nodded with approval. “We can all meet this alien together then.”

“We can arrange something soon,” Celestia told them.

“We could make it a whole event,” Cadence offered. “Make it a gala with everyone invited.”

Luna nodded her head in agreement, “That would work out.”

“So then what can you tell us about this being?” Red Bull asked leaning back. “I know we have official documents here but I would like to hear in your own words what you found out.”

-Ponyville-

Pinkie Pie was just finishing up her shift at Sugarcube Corner as well as she was finishing up a special batch that were in the oven. She hummed happily as she rang up the last customer

Mr. and Mrs. Cake were getting ready to close up shop for the day and Pinkie went into the kitchen to check on the oven. She looked in to see that the cookies she had were done, so she pulled them out and carefully put them onto a cloth she prepared.

“Are those for somepony?” Mr. Cake asked when he came into the kitchen to see her cleaning up.

“Yup, I’m making some nice snacks for all the new ponies coming into town.” She told him as she waited for the cookies to cool. “I just wish I could make enough for everypony.”

He knew that there were a lot more ponies coming into town lately ever since that newspaper article came out. He had to admit that business had picked up with all those ponies looking for something to eat. It might get a bit busier as more word spread as well so they would most likely have to stock up a bit more for the future.

“Well just do your best.” He said knowing how well she liked to make ponies smile.

“You got it,” she smiled happily. As soon as the cookies were cooled enough she took the cloth and bundled up the cookies as she tied it off and wrapped it around her neck so that it laid on her back. Using the back entrance she left the building and went on her next destination.

She walked through the town waving and greeting everyone she met, seeing smiles always made her the happiest because to her there was nothing better than everyone happy and having a good time. Life was full of wonderful things if you took the time to find it and she wanted to show everyone just how wonderful life could be.

Eventually she made it to a small business shop in town, it had a sign with three little candies outside. Pinkie went in as the little bell rang from overhead the doorway.

“Hey Bon Bon,” Pinkie waved to the earth pony behind the counter.

“Hey there Pinkie, let me guess another order?” The mare asked.

“You know it.”

“Alright I was about to close up but I can get you your order first.” She moved to get the assorted candies as Pinkie pulled out a small bag of bits from out of her poofy mane. Bon Bon didn’t question how she kept stuff or pulled them out of it all the time. It was just one of the things she learned to live with ever since she moved here.

She gave Pinkie her candies as she put them into the makeshift sack she had.

“So going out to see the crowd again?” Bon Bon asked.

“Yep-yep,” she nodded. “With so many coming in I’ve been super-duper extra busy lately greeting all the new ponies to town.”

“Well I’m closing up for the day, mind if I come with?” she asked the party pony.

“Sure thing, the more the merrier after all.” Pinkie said to her as she waited for Bon Bon to finish up closing her store. As soon as she was done they were both on their way. It wasn’t too far to get to the ship and it wasn’t like you could miss it either. Especially not with the crowd that seemed to form around it lately.

Bon Bon wanted to get an eye on the crowd, all these ponies wasn’t making her job of keeping an eye on their guest any easier. She tried to find excuses to walk by the area so it wasn’t out of place. Lyra hadn’t noticed anything thankfully. As she scanned the crowd she looked for any that might pose any kind of threat. So far ponies were keeping a distance from the ship but it wouldn’t take long before some tried to get too close to it.

Or worst some tried to get in, the most she had to worry about was if a unicorn tried to teleport into the ship. Granted that was a high-level spell and only powerful/talented ones could pull it off but it could still happen. As they got to the ship she could hear the crowd before she could see it. Even in the afternoon there were still plenty of ponies looking around.

“Well time to start welcoming ponies, you want to come with?” Pinkie asked her with a huge smile on her face.

“I think I’d slow you down,” Bon Bon told her. “Go ahead and I’ll see you around.”

“You sure?” Pinkie looked at her with a tilt of her head.

Bon Bon wasn’t sure but when Pinkie looked at you like that it was odd, like she could see right through you. It was hard to tell sometimes when Pinkie was being her usually bubbly if slightly air headed self or surprisingly insightful. Thankfully there was one quick way to get her attention somewhere else.

“Oh look I think I see a pony or two frowning.” Bon Bon pointed to the crowd.

Pinkie gasped and looked behind her. “Where, where!?”

“I think they got into the crowd Pinkie,” she told her.

Pinkie was quickly off in search of some pony with a frown to turn outside down. Bon Bon let out a sigh as Pinkie left. It wasn’t always easy keeping her cover with that mare around but she was very good at keeping her cover. The thing about living a part for so long is that you started to believe it. Actually she liked her life now, she kind of liked the quiet life. Well quieter to be honest, she had picked out Ponyville because it was supposed to be a nice quiet place she could build her life up again.

Well given all the stuff that happens in this town ‘quiet’ wasn’t very accurate. It was more like mostly quiet with moments of excitement sprinkled in now and then. Well at least she was never bored that was for sure.

Looking around she paused seeing a couple of ponies setting up tents. Okay that was starting to worry her a bit. She walked over to one of them as it was a unicorn couple setting up.

“Hey there, what’s with the tents?” Bon Bon asked.

“Oh we’re hoping that if we stay here we’ll be able to leave with him.” The stallion said with a smile.

“Yeah, we’re hoping to see the stars in person.” The mare replied.

“Uh huh,” Bon Bon nodded.

“Fools!” one pony shouted behind them as they turned to see one with an actual tin foil hat on his head. “The aliens are coming, they came to conquer the world I just know it!”

Bon Bon sighed internally, she was wondering when the crazies would start coming out and it looked like she was starting to find some.

“Oh come on, he’s been here and done nothing bad,” the mare defended. “He’s here to bring us the wisdom of the universe to offer us to get to the stars.”

Bon Bon was really starting to get a bad feeling as she stepped in between the two of them. “Okay I’ve been here since the start and I’ll have you both know you’re both wrong. He hasn’t done anything bad since he got here. Heck a few foals went into the Everfree and he saved them from Timberwolves.” She said looking at the guy with the tinfoil hate.

“Both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were here and you’d think if anypony would know if he was evil at least one of them would have done something.”

Then she turned to the other two setting up a tent. “I’ve heard that he’s actually an explorer, he’s here for science reasons and as far as I heard he hasn’t planned on bringing anypony with him into space.”

“You don’t know that,” the mare challenged with her stallion right beside her.

“Yeah this could all be a ploy,” the tin hat said next. “I know there is something going on here and I plan to getting to the bottom of it.”

With that he went back to wherever he had been before while the couple went back to their tent.

Bon Bon sighed, she was going to have to sent a letter to the Princess today and sent it quickly. They were going to need a guard presence and soon because of more of these types showed up they might start fighting and some might get in into their heads to try something really stupid.

Next up Chapter 21: An Alien Teacher?

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 21: An Alien Teacher?

David woke up inside of Sparrow I like usual, nothing out of the norm for him. He got up, stretched out a bit, had AVI put on some music as he got into his daily routine. Shower, shave although looking at the mirror he could use a haircut soon. Too bad the auto-barber was back on board Pathfinder 5. He had breakfast and changed into his usual work clothing. He sighed looking at the small hamper. He was going to have to do the laundry soon.

That was something you never thought about with space travel. You never see in sci-fi shows of people just doing mundane stuff like that. There was a small combination washer/dryer on board the small ship in case he needed it. There was no telling what could happen to you after all, he had fallen into, had creature spit unknown substances and had some things he really didn’t want to think about fall unto him.

After all was said and done he was ready to start another new day on alien pony world. He was looking over some information when he walked into the cockpit.

“Eeep!”

David paused and looked up sharply hearing a muted yelp of some kind and he thought he caught some movement in the corner of his eye. Stepping forward he moved toward the window and looked out. He could see the group outside the ship was larger again. Just then a face popped down in front of him from above the view.

“Eeeep!” said voice said again as he wasn’t sure but it looked like a Pegasus was on the roof of the ship. He could hear the hard hoofs walking around.

“Okay this is getting fucking ridiculous.” David could stand being looked at, he could stand the circus out there but walking around his ship was too far. He was personally responsible for this and if they messed something up and he didn’t know about it when he left the planet that could be bad.

He hit a button as the window turned into a darker color, now they wouldn’t be able to see in but he could still see out. He also hit the intercom to the outside.

“Attention this ship is property of the GSC and is foreign soil,” He honestly wasn’t sure about the legality of that last part but it made sense to him. “Any damage to this vessel will also be charged to anyone that damages it. Keep in mind this ship costs one million bits.”

Again he had no idea what the actual value would be of his ship in their currency but he just picked an insanely large amount that would make even the most die hard fanatic a second thought of having to pay for damages.

He heard a few sounds from above and saw a few pegasi fly off.

“AVI are there anymore life forms on the ship?”

“Not at this time.”

“Good, AVI if they try it again, polarize the hull plating to the minimum effect that is usually set for light animals.”

“Acknowledged.”

Although they didn’t have energy shield technology human ships could add an electromagnetic field around the hull. It helped to deal with small items slamming into the ship, sure they had thick hulls but even they could get damaged by something the size of a gulf ball hitting it at speeds that were like being shot out of a railgun.

Plus David had used this often enough to discouraged animals from messing with the Sparrows while on missions. The last thing you needed was some large animals trying to hump your spaceship (yes that did happen but thankfully that was another Pathfinder and not him).

So now if one of the locals tried to step on his ship again they would get a small shock, like getting hit with a static shock really.

Yes it might be a bit much but this was a state of the art ship and if anything was damaged and he missed it that could be very dangerous. The last thing he needed was when he tried to return to Pathfinder 5 and something that had been damaged caused him to lose control or worst blow up. Okay sure that last one was a worst-case scenario but it was still a valid fear.

David looked out the window and sighed. How in the world was he going to get through that crowd?

While David was trying to figure that out Twilight was at her library going through some of her most recent notes. She was currently looking at her translations of the [human] language into her own. It was pretty fascinating stuff and the moment she got a good hold of it she couldn’t wait to start tackling their literature. Her eyes just lit up at the idea of reading books that no pony else on their world had ever seen before.

All that knowledge, all the new stories, histories, science, it all just made her feel giddy at the prospect of it. She hadn’t felt this way since she first got access to the Canterlot Library.

“Hey Twilight,” Spike’s voice called out from below. “You got a visitor.”

“Coming,” Twilight placed carefully made sure her papers were in order before leaving them.

She went down from her room and into the main library that was public to everyone to see Spike with Cheerilee waiting for her. This wasn’t exactly a surprise as the teacher usually came for certain book to help with teaching the kids.

“Cheerilee, what can I do for you?” Twilight asked.

“Well before school starts today I was hoping to see if I could get [David] to talk with the kids this afternoon.” She explained.

“Oh that’s a wonderful idea, do you mind if I sit in?” Twilight grinned at her.

“Just try and stop her,” Spike said under his breath with a grin as he went back to dusting the selves.

“I don’t mind at all,” Cheerilee said.

“Great, but why are you here, I’m pretty sure he would have said yes as he understands enough of our language to understand you.” Twilight said.

“I went to his ship but there are just a lot of ponies outside and I hadn’t seen him outside yet either. In fact I couldn’t get anywhere near the ship.”

Twilight was starting to get a bit worried hearing about this, she knew that ponies were coming to town but it sounded like things were starting to get a little too much. “I’ll go and see him myself and see if we can come later today.”

“Okay, thanks and I hope you two can make it and I’m sure it will be a big surprise for the kids.” The teacher smiled.

Twilight watched her leave as she looked to Spike. “Spike I think we need to see things for ourselves. We might need to send a letter to the Princess if things are getting too intense around his ship.”

“You think things will get crazy enough for her to get involved?” Spike asked as he put down the duster.

“I hope not but we should be prepared just in case,” Twilight told him as the two left.

As they walked through the town they could tell it was a bit busier than normal, the streets were a bit more filled and the early morning shops serving breakfast and other morning services were already getting packed. They saw the crowd before they saw the ship, Twilight couldn’t believe that it had gotten so big.

“Oh boy,” Spike said looking around.

“Yeah this is getting a bit much,” Twilight bit her lip as she looked around. There were ponies with camping sets and some with signs of various things written on them. Some were ponies begging to go with him to others denouncing him as an alien overlord.

“Spike hang on to me, we’re going the most direct route.” She told the young dragon as he hoped onto her back.

In a flash Twilight was gone and reappeared inside of the ship.

[Jesus Christ!] David jumped at the sudden intrusion and saw Twilight and Spike now in the cockpit with him. [Don’t do that! Give a guy a fucking heart attack why don’t you.]

“Sorry,” Twilight said although she didn’t get all of what he said but she got the gist of it. “Are you okay?”

David took a moment to get his mind into their language. “Okay although had to get rid of some of visitors on top of my ship.”

“Oh no they didn’t,” Twilight didn’t like the sound of this at all. She could understand the attraction but could ponies really be that inconsiderate?

“Yeah they did.”

Twilight felt a headache coming on as she sighed, “I’m sorry about that, I’ll have to talk to the mayor and the princess about all of this.”

“Thanks, but I guess you two are here for a reason?” David asked. “Not that I don’t mind of course.”

“Oh right!” Twilight suddenly remembered as she told him what Cheerilee had asked.

David thought about it for a moment, “I don’t see why not, it might be fun.”

“Great, I can take you to the library from here if you want.” She offered.

He figured it might be good to lay low for a bit until the afternoon maybe everyone outside the ship might calm down if it looked like he wasn’t coming out for the day. He suddenly got an idea, “Before we go I got to get a few things.”

“Sure thing we can wait here,” she told him as he went to gather something. She looked at Spike who had been kind of quiet lately and saw him looking around the place with wide eyes. She smirked seeing his reaction and she honestly couldn’t blame him. She got giddy every time she stepped hoof inside of this ship.

“Pretty amazing isn’t it Spike?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, this is so much better than any of my comics.” He replied looking around at everything. He had no idea what any of it did but it looked impressive to him. He could see a few buttons but mostly the controls looked to be those floating glowing images. He really wanted to touch one but for all he knew that might fire the weapons systems or something. Well he assumed the ship had weapons, all space ships seemed to have them after all.

David returned shortly with a backpack that had some stuff he planned to show the kids later on plus maybe a few other things. He checked the computer on the glove of his left hand, he was going to get some readings from this teleportation, something he had been meaning to try out for awhile now.

“Well I’m ready when you are,” David smirked. [Bream me up Scotty.]

“What?” Twilight asked.

“Cultural reference, maybe I’ll show you sometime.” He explained.

Twilight got next to him as she had to concentrate for this one, teleporting herself and Spike wasn’t too bad but doing that with David given his size and mass and going even further to the library. Well this was going to take a bit more power and concentration.

For David, he had the scanner on the small computer on his glove active as he waited. He saw her horn light up and then it happened. If he were to describe it, it was like feeling yourself being pulled but almost like you were being pulled in every direction and yet no direction at all. There was this bright flash and then when he looked around he was suddenly in the middle of the library.

He wasn’t sure what he was expecting but he was kind of hoping for a bit more. With a shrug he looked at the device.

[What the fuck is this shit?] he glared at the small computer as the screen showed him something he really didn’t’ want to see.

-Error 320-

“Is something wrong?” Spike asked.

“Hold on,” David told him as he quickly brought up the manual for the device and look up what an ‘Error 320’ was. He quickly looked it up and found that it was the computer having a run time error because it was over worked with too much data.

[Well that’s disappointing,] David sighed and he looked at the two of them. “I was trying to record what happened but my device couldn’t handle it.”

“Oh really?” Twilight had been interested in his equipment especially that glove that he always wore with the controls on it. “Maybe we can work on that while we wait for the afternoon.”

Spike jumped off her back knowing where this was going, “Well I got some dusting to do, you two have fun with that stuff.”

-Ponyville School-

It was a normal day for the students in Cheerilee’s class, the morning classes seemed normal, recess was fun and they had just finished with lunch when Cheerilee had left the room. The students were talking amongst themselves about everything and anything that kids usually talked about. When their teacher walked in she had on a smile on her face as she got their attention.

“Okay everypony we have a special treat for all of you,” she told them as now all the students now had their full attention to her. “I have a special guest for you all.”

The children started talking amongst themselves quickly all of them guessing on who it was.

“Come on in,” she called out to the hallway.

First came in Twilight carrying a saddlebag with some papers and ink for today. Then right behind her David walked in. He just barely managed to get in under the doorframe as he saw the various reactions on the kids. Most seemed to look at him with wide eyes, he noticed a few did seem nervous but he noticed three little familiar faces.

[David!] Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo cried out happily seeing him.

“Hey girls,” he smiled at them.

“I asked him to come talk to you kids since I bet you all have questions to ask him.” Cheerilee said as Twilight went to the back of the class as she got out her papers and quills ready.

David had to stop himself from smirking at the sight, she looked so eager like a natural student. He bet she was the top of her class in school.

“Well I also brought something to help,” David had been carrying his backpack as he took it off and pulled out a device. “This is similar to what I brought to the party but better.”

He placed the device which looked like a sphere cut in half with a larger ring around it. He hit a couple of buttons as it powered on and he placed it on Cheerilee’s desk. Lifting up his ever-present glove he linked it up to the device.

David looked at all the kids, “Now what this is going to do is make an illusion that will help me give you an image of what I’m talking about. I always found it better to see something along with what I’m learning.”

There was a light that enveloped the room as David checked the read outs. “Okay everything seems good.”

“I don’t notice anything.” Cheerilee said looking around her classroom.

“It was just taking a look at the room and getting everything ready,” David explained as he decided to start out slow. “I think this class could use a new look.”

With a few key strokes the room suddenly changed, the walls now had new wallpaper and the floor had changed into tiles. There were a lot of voices as everyone was startled at the change to the room.

“Don’t worry it’s just an illusion,” David explained to them. He changed the room again to now looking like some kind of ballroom. “This is something we can use to redecorate homes. Not everyone uses it but it’s a simple way of doing it without all the work.”

A colt raised a hoof, “Does this mean if I use it something like this I don’t have to clean my room?”

David smirked, “Unfortunately no. You might put everything into a pile and hide it but it will still be there. Plus mothers would know, trust me on this one.”

“Awww,” He looked dejected at the thought of an easy fix. Not that David could blame him after all.

“Even though you can’t see your teacher’s desk,” David pointed to where the desk and device used to be which looked like an empty space now. “Trust me it’s still there.”

He moved to pick up the device and show them unfortunately he forgot to make a mental note of how close he was to the desk. As he took a few steps towards it he hit his shin right along the edge of the thick wooden desk.

[Oww! God fucking damn it!] he cursed rubbing his shin.

“Are y’all okay?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Yes, just give me a minute,” David said rubbing his shin. He just had to connect with the edge and it was against his shin bone too. The worst way he could have hit the desk and he just had to pull it off. At least he had been going at an easy pace but damn did that hurt.

“What does [god fucking damn it] mean?” One of the kids randomly asked.

David froze for a second seeing all those little and very impressionable faces looking at him. He also noticed Twilight and Cheerilee giving him very focused looks.

“Uh, well it has various meanings depending on the context, plus you said it wrong.” Davie flat out lied, he wasn’t going to be the one that taught the first alien children alien curse words after all. “The way you said it, translated means my feet stink.”

The kids giggled at that as David quickly went to bring something up to distract them. He noticed that Twilight and Cheerilee didn’t seem to be convinced by his ‘explanation’ of what he had said. In fact he was pretty sure Twilight had learned enough English to know he was flat out lying.

David quickly brought up some mission logs and decided to show the kids some of his own adventures in space. The room was suddenly a strange orange world with a thick gaseous atmosphere.

“This was one of the planets I found,” David explained to them. “In fact there I am.”

He pointed as the kids all looked from their seats to see David in his heavy duty environmental suit looking around the strange plants.

“Why are you wearing that suit?” Scootaloo asked.

“The air is different than here or my own world,” he started to explain but paused. He didn’t have the translations for certain scientific terms at the moment to trying to explain the makeup of the atmosphere was a bit of a problem. He mentally shrugged, they were kids so he might as well not get too complicated with them.

“The air is made up of stuff that neither of us can breathe so I wear the suit which is air tight and has its own air.”

“Now space is really cool but you should know it’s also a bit dangerous.” David told them.

“Why?” a young filly with glasses and a strange lisp asked next.

“Well there is no air at all in space so if there is a hole in the ship, well bad things happens.” David didn’t want to mentally scar them with what violent decompression or exposure to space can do to a living being. “Also on every world there are dangers there because you have no idea what to expect.”

“There can be dangerous creatures or like what you’re about to see…plants.”

They all looked to the image of David as he was looking at a pile of large yellow leaves when what looked like a tentacle shot out and wrapped around his arm. The kids gasped and jumped at the sight, thankfully there was no audio for this as David remembering curing up a storm when this had happened.

“The plant I found apparently shoots that out and wraps around its prey, it has small thorns that dig into the prey as well. Thankfully my suit was kept it from going all the way through.”

“How did you get out?” a blue colt asked quickly looking at the scene.

“Just watch,” David told them as the image of him pulled the plasma pistol and shoot off the appendage at the root. “Unfortunately, it still kept on my arm, I had to go all the way back to the ship in order to get the tools I needed to pry it off and then I had to fix my suit.”

“So as you can see space travel lets you see all kinds of things but you have to be careful, that’s why the program I’m a part of exist. To search the galaxy and explore, find worlds, find dangers, find safe paths for travel.” David finished.

The kids took all that in as David then smiled at them. “So...any questions?”

“What does your planet look like!”

“Is it true you live in space?”

“How fast is your ship?”

“Can we take a ride on your ship?”

“What’s the biggest alien creature you’ve seen?”

“Okay hold it,” David waved his hands at all the questions. “Oh boy where to start.”

He snapped his fingers as he brought up the controls as the entire classroom went dark as a light suddenly came overhead. He had brought up a scale image of the Sol system. “How about we start with this and move on?”

He brought it closer to the kids as some tried to reach up as their hooves would go through the holograms giggling at it.

“Here we have where my people come from, this is [Earth] or as it’s translated in your language, Earth.” Said planet enlarged as the kids could see it. He went into the basics of Earth, showing them things like the pyramids, some of the main cities, various locations that he thought the kids might like.

He then pulled back to have the entire solar system and had the kids ask him questions about what they could see. One kid pointed to Mars as he brought it up showing the red landscape with a huge dome with a city inside of it.

“This is Mars City, the first ever city built on another planet. The dome is to protect the city as we’re currently…uh…Twilight if I say [terraform] do you have an idea of what that means?”

Twilight thought about it but shook her head.

“Okay…well the planet’s air is bad like I showed you on that one world but we’re currently changing it.”

“Like how a Pegasus controls the weather?” one of the students asked.

“Maybe…well it’s a slow process and it will take us a hundred years to get it to the point where we might not need domes anymore.” David tried his best to explain.

He decided it was time to get into something maybe a bit more fun as he started to bring up some human sports. A few were those made for zero or low gravity environments, racing done both on the surface of a planet or even in a few areas in space. He was showing them a basketball game when one of the kids had a question.

“How come that one is wearing metal on their leg?”

David looked at the image and it took him a second to realize what the kid had been looking at. “Oh that’s not on his leg, that is his leg. That [BJ Barlow], he lost his leg in an accident and had a metal replacement done.”

“You can make robot limbs?!” One of the kids gapped.

“Among organs too, in fact if you do lose something you can get this or…well I’m not sure what you call it but there is a way to make a copy of organic material.”

“Do you mean clone?” Twilight asked from the back taking a moment from her notes at this point.

David looked at the mini-computer on his glove and checked the dictionary there to be sure. From the definition, it did look like the correct word. “I believe so, yes that should be the word for it.”

“If you can make clone body parts why would you want something like that?” Twilight asked looking at the player with the white painted artificial limb.

“Well in his case he couldn’t wait,” David went on to explain. “You see it can take six months to a year to make a clone part, while a mechanical one takes much less time. As a player he wanted back as athletes have a limited time in their profession and making a new limb, and then getting used to it. Well he could have been out for over a year.”

“So can you make grown up clones?” a young colt asked.

“No,” David said sharply. “It’s illegal to make full body clones.”

“Why?” The kid asked innocently enough.

Now he was in a pinch, he really didn’t want to bring up the infamous Prometheus Corp who had been offering cloned parts only to have been exposed to growing fully and living human clones and then killing them and cutting them up for parts. It was the stuff of nightmares and then there was the other nail in the coffin for full clones. When some dictator got their hands on a few resources and tried to make a clone army.

It didn’t work out and when he was shut down and the clone army thing came to light, well the outcry was massive. After that full human cloning was banned with a full-on life sentence of ninety years. The problem was he really didn’t want to show them any of those images, they were too young and honestly, he didn’t want to show them some of the worse that humanity had done.

Yes he knew it would come out sooner or later but he wanted to make sure they saw the more positive side of his people first.

“It’s complicated but basically for time, bad people did some bad things and abused that technology. So it was banned for very good reasons. I could go into it but honestly it’s a long history as we would use up the rest of our time.”

They seemed satisfied with that, and he was grateful for it. He decided to try and switch topics to something a bit more safe.

They started to get into the other planets of the solar system by this point. He showed them Jupiter and its moon Europa where water was mined there for the space colonies and Mars terraforming project. They pointed to some of the space colonies as he went through what some of them but then one kid pointed to one particular station.

“How come that one looks a little different?” one kid pointed out.

“Oh that’s the Great Library.” David said.

“What?” Twilight’s eyes snapped up as she looked up from her notes she had been taking.

“Yeah this here was created a while ago,” David pulled up the image. It was a strange station that was nearly a sphere. “It holds pretty much all the knowledge of my people. Some people thought it best that in case something happened there would always be something that would hold the total knowledge of my people for all time. Kind of like a giant library and time capsule put together.”

“It holds copies of every book, every document, every public blueprint, pretty much everything you can think of and it’s constantly being updated. There are even living quarters, hotels, and homes for the people that work and live there.”

“So it’s like how Miss Twilight lives in the library?” one kid asked.

“Yeah like that only a few million times larger with a lot more people.” David nodded. “There are people there that live there for years as they work on research projects or researching a thesis. You can always find historians, scientists and archeologist there.”

David paused as he noticed something odd with Twilight. “Uh…Twilight, you okay?”

Twilight was standing still, everything she had been holding with her magic was now on the floor as she was just staring off into space.

“Twilight? Hey Twilight!” There was no reaction as both David and Cheerilee walked up to the unicorn.

Cheerilee waved her hoof in front of the mare’s face and then nudged her but there was no reaction.

“Oh no I think I broke her,” David wasn’t even sure the girl was blinking, it was actually getting a little creepy looking. He tried to think what could break her out of it.

“Oh no Twilight look, they’re burning all the books in your library!” He pointed out a window but the mare only had an eye twitch from it. “Well so much for that idea.”

“Is she going to be okay?” One of the students asked.

“Okay I have one last idea, this is an ancient technique of my people.” David explained to them. “It might work but I’m not sure at this point.”

He placed a finger into his mouth getting it nice and wet and then proceeded to take it out and then put it into one of her ears only to swirl it around. That’s right, David Miller the first to find alien life had just given the first ever Wet Willy to another alien life form.

The reaction was immediate as Twilight’s eyes shrunk and then she jumped away from him.

“EWWWWW! Gross! Gross!” she yelled out over the laughter of the kids. She tried to rub the inside of her ear but her hoof was a bit too big. Looking around she quickly levitated a tissue box to help her clean out her ear.

“Sorry Twilight you were kind of gone on us and it was starting to get scary.” He explained and only got a dirty look in response.

“Okay…time to continue on.” David went back up to the front to avoid until she cooled off. And yeah maybe because he was a little scared of her, hey she had a long horn on her head that she could stab him with, hooves that he knew for a fact hurt and there was no telling what she could do with him with her ‘magic’ either. He’d have to make it up to her later he guessed.

Thankfully the rest of the afternoon with the kids went by quickly and when the bell rang they were actually disappointed that it was over.

“Don’t worry maybe we can do this again,” Cheerilee said and looked at David.

“Sure I don’t mind.” He was met with the cheers of kids as they all started to pack up and go do whatever kids did after school was let out. David was happy to see them off, it had been pretty fun all things considered. He noticed Twilight and Cheerilee talking with each other before Twilight left. He shrugged his shoulders not sure what they were talking about as he packed up his own equipment.

He just finished putting the holoprojector away when he turned to be facing the teacher.

“I have to thank you for this, the children loved it.”

“Aw it’s nothing, they were great kids and honestly I enjoyed it myself.”

She smiled up at him. “That’s great however as their teacher I do have a responsibility to not only them but in the trust of their parents.”

“O-kay,” David wasn’t sure where this was going but he got the feeling he wasn’t going to like it. Warning signs were starting to come up but he suddenly noticed that she had him almost pinned with her in front and her desk behind him.

“Now I may be only a teacher in a small town and I may not know much about the galaxy but I do know cursing when I hear it.” She said still smiling but her eyes didn’t hold the smile.

“Uh…okay sorry about that but can you blame me? I just know I’m going to bruise from that.”

“Yes but still as adults we have to set an example for the children,” she looked up at him still not moving and suddenly he had flash backs to several of his old teachers who had given him such looks in the past.

She continued on, “Now since you did this in my classroom it comes to me to find a way to deal with discipline and as a responsible adult can you agree that behavior like that can’t go unpunished correct?”

For a moment, he got an image of her with a riding crop and black leather as he quickly pushed that image out of his head. Personally, he blamed an old high school crush on this really hot teacher back then who always wore these leather boots as the source of that image when she said ‘punishment’.

“What did you have in mind?”

She walked over to the chalkboard and came back with a piece of chalk.

“You’re going to write something for me, on all the boards.”

“Uh…I can’t write in your language so,” he tried to bluff his way out.

“Oh don’t worry,” she said sweetly at him. “I’ll teach you.”

There was a pause as he looked down at this mini-horse alien. There was no way in hell this was happening to him, just no.

“Oh come on it was an accident.”

No change.

“I’m a representative of an alien race and you’re really going to make me do this?”

She just stared at him.

“There is no way you can make me do this you know.”

She only just smiled a bit more at him.

“I’m like twice your size.”

-An hour Later-

Twilight had finally come back, she had gone to make sure of a few things she wanted to surprise David with. She had thought about what to do about ponies messing with his ship while he had been in the library with her and she had gone out to do something about it. It had actually started before they had left the library as Twilight had gone to see the mayor and then her friends to help out.

She had gone to check on the progress and everything seemed ready. She walked back into the classroom and had to pause, on every blackboard were written the same thing over and over again. The letters were a bit crude but did seem to get a bit better as they went on.

There at the end was David making the last few lines with a very sour look on his face with Cheerilee sitting on her chair watching him with a smile on her face.

Every single line read the same thing in Equestrian: “I will not curse in front of children.”

Next up Chapter 22: Party in Canterlot

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 22: Party in Canterlot

Twilight looked up at the tall person beside her as she rolled her eyes.

“Oh please it couldn’t have been that bad.” She tells him.

David still rubbing his wrist gave her a sour look. “If I get [carpel tunnel syndrome] I’m blaming you.”

“Wait if you get what?” She only got the word ‘tunnel’ out of that.

“It’s something that can happen to our wrists.” He told her as they continued on walking back to his ship. He signed, who in their right mind even had people do that these days in school? Seriously? Writing on the board like that?

“Honestly, do kids still have to do that kind of stuff? We outgrew that kind of thing at school over a century ago.” David muttered flexing his hand, he just knew his hand was going to have a cramp in it for a time.

“Well now you know why Cheerilee has never had any issues with her parent teacher meetings,” Twilight told him.

“Yeah no kidding,” He sighed. “So what exactly were you doing while I was slowly destroying my wrist in there?”

“My friends and I came up with something to help keep ponies from your ship,” Twilight told him as they got closer to the area where he had landed the Sparrow I.

David could see the crowd of ponies and as soon as he showed up ponies would point and all attention was on him. David just shrugged it off, he knew it aliens showed up in the Earth system the same thing would happen. When they got closer he saw that there had been a fence put up around the ship, there was even enough space between the fence and the ship to walk around without hitting anything.

There was a sign up as well as David tried to translate it. “What’s that sign say? Something about off limits, mayor’s order and a few other things I’m not getting.”

“Oh well you see I went to the mayor and after talking with her she agreed that ponies just going all over your ship wasn’t a good thing to happen. So she came up with a town order that says unless ponies are invited they are not allowed past the fence.” Twilight said proudly.

“How did you pull all this off so quickly?” David asked her.

“I had a lot of help,” Twilight gestured ahead as David saw a group of ponies around his ship.

“Howdy there,” Applejack waved with the group. She was with her brother, the CMC, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Spike, Pinkie and even some others like Lyra, Bon Bon, Octavia and Vinyl.

“Wow.” David said looking at them all.

“You made a lot of friends here and we all wanted to help,” Twilight explained.

“Yep, and I even got the weather team to help keep an eye on things so nopony tries to fly over it,” Rainbow told him. “Although you might have to pose to some pictures or something for a few of them.”

David shrugged, “Fair enough, don’t suppose the rest of you wanted something in return?”

“On no,” Rarity waved her hoof. “I was happy to help as was everypony else.”

“Well I wouldn’t mind listening to more music,” Lyra commented as Octavia shifted her eyes slightly.

Vinyl nodded her head although it was hard for David to know if she was nodding in agreement or to the music she was listening to.

“Don’t worry about it,” David told them. “If you want more music I can arrange that, just tell me what you might like and I can get around to it. After all, cultural exchange is part of the mission.”

Suddenly Spike belched out a small flame that turned into a scroll.

“What is it Spike?” Twilight asked him as he opened it up.

“Uh…looks like the Princesses are holding something for David up in Canterlot.” Spike handed it over to Twilight as she read it.

Her eyes widened as she read it twice over. “Oh.”

“What is it?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight looked up at David, “In two days they were hoping you could come to Canterlot to meet with the ambassadors and them.”

David knew this was coming he was just thankful by this point he had gotten enough of the language down to actually talk in a more official way. He looked to Rarity, “So that suit you were making…”

“Oh I can have that done by tonight,” she assured him.

“It also says to bring ourselves as well as Zecora. Apparently the Zebracan ambassador wants to meet with her as well.” Twilight told him.

“Well looks like we’re going to be busy,” Applejack commented.

-Two Days Later-

The girls were all gathered outside of David’s ship, he was going to take them to Canterlot in his ship. It was actually David’s idea as he wanted to make an impression. The girls were all in dresses that they had used for the Gala. Rarity had wanted to make something new but even just two days notice was pushing it for her.

Plus she had to get Zecora something to wear as well. Said Zebra was wearing light dress of various greens that looked like she was wrapped up in the forest itself. Her mane was down like at Nightmare Night as she stared at the ramp.

“You comin’?” AJ asked her as she took her first step onto the ramp.

“While I am surprised that I was called to come, this is something that I wonder if must be done.”

“Huh?” AJ tilted her head not sure what she was talking about. Sometimes it could be a little hard to understand their zebra friend with her rhyming.

“Um, are you scared of flying?” Fluttershy asked coming up from behind.

“On the ground I feel secure, up above, of that I am not so sure.” She had never been in the air before and she was a little hesitant about doing it now. “I feel that if zebras were meant to fly, they would have wings like the pegasi.”

“Oh don’t sweat it,” Rainbow Dash came up next. “Trust me, if there is one thing I know it’s flying and you’re a lot safer up in the air given there is hardly anything up there. All you got to worry about are things like wind, gravity and maybe birds or something also flying.”

“Yeah come on,” Pinkie bounced ahead of them and into the doorway. “Oh wow it’s all shiny in here.”

“Don’t worry,” Twilight told the zebra shaman. “He’s told me that he’s an excellent pilot and we’ll all be here with you.”

Zecora took a breath and slowly stepped up onto the ramp as she walked inside. Given that most of them haven’t seen the inside of the ship they were all looking around at the smooth metallic surfaces, the lights and all the alien technology.

“Oh yeah this place is awesome isn’t it?” Rainbow smirked at them. “Yeah the first time I saw it it was something too.”

AJ gave her friend a look, “Don’t go actin’ all high and mighty, y’all only been inside like once. Twi’s gotten in here a lot more than ya.”

“Yeah well,” Rainbow tried to come up with a retort. “I still know more about the ship than the rest of you. That’s his room, that’s the bathroom,” she pointed with her hoof to every door in the hallway. “That’s the nerd room.”

“Nerd room?” Rarity asked with a confused look.

“Yeah it’s full of nerd stuff, like Twilight’s basement.” That got the majority of them nodding in understanding.

“It’s a science lab Rainbow,” Twilight told her slightly annoyed, “come on David should be ready by now.”

She led the way to the cockpit as David was already in the pilot’s seat working on the controls. He had been going through the pre-flight checklist making sure everything was good to go, even if it was just an atmospheric flight it always paid to check everything just in case.

“Ohhh, look at all the colorful floating glowing things,” Pinkie looked at the holographic controls. “What does this do?”

“Ship self-destruct, don’t touch it or we all die,” David said only half paying attention to her.

“What!?” They all cried out as Pinkie slowly moved away from the glowing buttons.

“H’s just kidding, right?” Twilight asked him.

David gave her a short silent look before talking. “Sure.”

“No seriously.” Twilight wasn’t enjoying the joke.

“Okay,” he said with a shrug but still it sounded like he was only humoring her.

[David!] She huffed at him.

That broke a smirk, “Okay it’s not but it could have been so please don’t touch anything.” He looked at them all seeing them all relax a bit more. He wanted to stress on how pushing buttons that you didn’t know what they did, was a very bad thing to do. Hell it wasn’t like he had a self-destruct anyway. This was an exploration ship not a military one.

Well he could overload the reactor and that would make the ship explode, but he felt they didn’t need to know that. Some of them looked nervous enough as is.

“So,” David decided to change the subject. “I’m nearly done here, where’s this escort we were supposed to be getting?”

When David had asked about taking the ship to the castle (he still wondered how those messages Spike sent and got even worked) he was told they would have an escort there to show him where to land. It was also to make sure no one got in the way either.

“They should be arriving anytime now,” Twilight told him.

They didn’t have to wait long before three streaks in the sky could be seen, David watched as the three pegasi in skin tight uniforms with lighting bolt designs on them came swooping down and hovered just in front of them.

“You got the Wonderbolts to escort us!” Dash yelled out.

“Oh so those are the Wonderbolts you keep talking about,” David commented. “well they seem to be waiting for us so everyone find a place to sit, I would have made chairs but I didn’t have the time for it.”

[Commander this is highly unadvisable] the computer told him. [This ship was not designed for more than one person to fly and the safety regulations about this are quite clear]

[AVI…override all that, I’ll take the heat if command wants to bitch at me for this.] David told the computer as he started up the engines.

“What was that about?” Fluttershy asked looking around trying to see where the voice had come from as were the others who hadn’t heard the computer before.

“Just telling the computer whose boss,” David said looking over the controls. Everything looked green across the board so he started the warm up. The core started up as everyone heard the humming of the engine starting to come to life.

“Now try and sit still everyone,” David told them. “I’m going to go as gently as I can but there might still be a rough ride at times.”

David waited for the engines to fully charge up and then slowly rose the ship straight up in the air. He pulled up the landing gear as he slowly moved towards the Wonderbolts. They flew off as David kept the ship at their pace. He looked behind him to his passengers.

Twilight looked eagerly around her watching how he was flying as well as Rainbow Dash but curious how he was controlling the ship. Rarity was looking at little nervous as was Zecora who was fidgeting around on her spot slightly. Fluttershy did look a bit nervous but not as bad, he chalked that up to being a Pegasus and although she didn’t seem to fly as much as Rainbow, she looked to feel more comfortable in the air than the others.

Applejack was looking out the front window as they flew by and Pinkie was…wait.

“Where did Pinkie go?” David hadn’t even seen her leave and suddenly everyone looked around.

[AVI where’s the pink one?] David asked the computer.

[She is in the kitchen]

“Can someone tell me why Pinkie is in the kitchen?” David asked them.

“Oh dear she must be thinking of baking something.” Fluttershy commented.

Rarity gasped. “Not in that dress she’s not!” Rarity rose up and marched to the open doorway. “Pinkamena Diane Pie you better not get that dressed covered in food before we reach Canterlot!”

“So, how come Spike didn’t come?” David asked trying to pass the time as they had some time before they reached their destination.

“Oh I offered but honestly Spike doesn’t really like these kinds of events,” Twilight told him. “He finds them pretty boring and last time I took him to one of these events at the castle, this was before I moved to Ponyville. He fell asleep and I had to leave early to carry him back home to bed.”

David shrugged, that was fair enough for him. His parents dragged him to all kinds of parties like that and he hated them too. The only reason he was doing this was it was too important not to do it.

-Canterlot-

Out on the castle grounds a large area had been cleared away, the sisters had gotten the measurements of how large an area that the ship needed but finding one close by turned out to be a chore. There had been one area on the grounds near the gardens but it had to be cleared away. The few trees, statues and odds and ends had to be quickly removed and anything lose was taken away as not to fly off or get in the way.

By the entrance to the castle stood a small procession of guards as well as the royal sisters, they were joined by their niece Cadence and her husband Shining Armor. All four of them were dressed up as the guests were already arriving by the main entrance to the castle up front and filling in the large hall where everyone would be waiting.

Shining tugged on his royal red uniform, although he wasn’t Captain of the Guard in Canterlot anymore he still held the rank in the Crystal Empire until a new one could be trained. Not only that but the Empire didn’t really have updated dress uniforms. So until they could come up with a design he was wearing his old one until then.

“You really shouldn’t get so anxious before a big meeting.” Cadence smiled at him her own gown was a very elegant dress that went with her coat and hair with some gold trim thrown in as well.

“I’m not anxious.” Shining commented.

“You’ve never had trouble with that uniform and you always fidget with it when you’re anxious,” she giggled.

He signed, “Can you blame me? We’re going to meet an actual alien from space, I’ve dreamed about that as a kid.”

Shining had always been taken in by science fiction stories as far bad as he could remember. He loved all those old space cowboy comics, Smash Fortune toys and everything associated with it. He remembered before Twilight being born and before his cutie mark he had wanted to go into space.

He had grown up but that dream never truly went away, he knew that their level of magic and technology wouldn’t allow space travel but that didn’t mean he didn’t like looking up at the stars at night and imagine. What most didn’t know was that he had gotten Twilight her telescope as a gift and he had fond memories of laying with her under the stars as he explained the different constellations with her.

So here he was now, long thought that his dream of space was long gone only to have it come back in full force.

“It is a momentous occasion,” Luna nodded while wearing an elegant gown of dark blues and black with small silver studs making it look like stars on it.

Celestia smiled and nodded as she stood as serene as ever in her own gown of gold and white like the morning sun come out. Her ears perked up as she thought she heard something. Looking around she noticed a few of the others were picking it up as the sound got louder.

“I believe that should be them,” Celestia smiled as they didn’t have to wait long.

There in the sky the sun light reflecting off of the metal ship it flew towards them. It flew through the air under some unknown power moving through the sky without a care. The Wonderbolts flew in a circle around the landing area to show where the ship could land. It stopped in the air, seemingly to hover there as it slowly lowered itself onto the ground.

Everyone moved away to give it room as great gusts of wind blew out from the force of the lower propulsion system hit the ground. The landing gear came down and soon the ship came to a rest as the engines slowly started to die off as though the alien ship was letting out a great sigh.

Shining Armor couldn’t take his eyes off the ship the entire time, in all the science fiction books, comics, and other items he had never seen such a design. It was so birdlike and yet had this elegant yet practical design to it all.

They didn’t have to wait long before the side of the ship opened up and a small ramp came out. Although Cadence and Shining had seen pictures, seeing something in person was just different. There he stood walking down in a suit that was all black with some kind of gold trim to it. The only thing he could describe it was kind of futuristic looking with swatches of shapes made out of the clothing making a unique design.

Cadence could only blink looking at him, she saw the photos but seeing him in persona and how tall he was wasn’t something she was used to. The only beings on this planet that could rival her aunt’s height were usually Minotaurs but this alien being didn’t seem to have the slight ruggedness they held. He was slimmer and moved with a little more grace than them.

“Shining, Cadence!” Twilight’s delighted voice pulled him from his thoughts as his little sister ran up and hugged the two of them.

“Hey there Twily,” He said hugging his sister.

“It’s so good to see you again,” Cadence said hugging her as well.

“We’re all glad you could all come,” Celestia said to the entire group and then her eyes landed on David. “You of course being the guest of honor.”

“Yeah, let’s just hope we don’t have a diplomatic incident and I’ll call it all good.” He joked and then looked at the two ponies that Twilight was pulling out of the hug. “So who are these two?”

“Oh! Let me introduce Princess Mi Amore Cadenza,” Twilight pointed to her old foal sitter.

“Please just call me Cadence,” She extended her hoof as David took it in hand and gently shook it.

“Nice to meet you.” David told her. She seemed very nice although he couldn’t help but keep thinking he just met the Barbie version of a princess alien pony at the moment.

“She’s also my sister-in-law,” Twilight told him as she pointed to the white stallion next to her. “This is her husband and my big brother, Shining Armor.”

He looked at him, he honestly didn’t see much in the way of a family resemblance between them. He looked to be pretty buff for a regular male too, the only other one that was bigger was maybe Applejack’s brother and that white one he had seen around Ponyville that looked to be on steroids, that is if they even had something like that on this world.

He reached out as Shining just kind of looked at his hand but soon he quickly reached out and got this huge smile on his face.

“You have no idea how much this means to me,” Shining told him with a huge smile on his face that was like a pure fanboy kind of smile. “I’ve dreamed of something like this.”

“Space fan huh?” David asked letting go.

“You have no idea, I mean there’s just so much I want to ask,” Shining was getting more excited as he talked and started to ask questions in rapid fire manner. “I mean, what kind of fuel do you use, how fast can you travel in space, what kind of planets are out there?”

“Okay, now I see the resemblance,” David blinked.

The siblings cocked their heads to the side in the exact same manner at the exact same time and spoke together. “What do you mean?”

Cadence had to turn her head and place a hoof to her muzzle in order to stifle a giggle at the sight of the two of them in that moment.

“Well then I believe that we should all go in,” Luna spoke up getting everyone’s attention. “We don’t want to keep everypony waiting.”

“Just let me lock up first,” David pressed the small controls on the device on his left hand as the ship’s ramp pulled back up and the door closed up.

“You don’t trust us?” Luna asked him.

“You yes, others not so much,” he told her.

“Ah the incident in Ponyville,” Celestia nodded her head in understanding.

“We all tried to all help out with that incident,” Rarity said speaking up for the first time.

“Yep, we all pitched in to help” Applejack explained further. “Built ourselves a bit of a coral for his ship. Rainbow got some fellas to help out with keeping the skies over it clear.”

Celestia had remember Twilight sending a letter about it but also from Sweetie Drops about some of the incidents. She had spent the last few days on gathering up some special guards for a mission and it was time to send them out.

She stepped forward towards David, “Yes I will send a guard detachment to Ponyville tonight. By the time you get back they should already be there when you get back. They’ll ensure that no pony else will bother you or your ship. In fact there will be guards here as well.”

With a nod to of her head to the guards stationed around the area they snapped to attention and took up guard positions around his ship.

“What about teleportation?” David asked her, that was the one thing he had a worry about.

Celestia thought about that problem. “We could put on a shield that prevents it but that kind of magic requires a constant casting.”

David sighed guessing that he should have known there wouldn’t be an easy fix to it. He really didn’t want to have some poor guy stuck casting a constant spell onto his ship. He had no idea how hard that was but by the tone of her voice it would be kind of difficult.

“Well no worries,” David told her and then looked to Twilight. “I’m sure between her help we could come up with something. Maybe I can generate something that can block that, we’ll have to see though.”

Twilight’s eyes lit up at the prospect of a new experiment with both magic and alien technology and science. Already her mind was a storm of ideas coming and going on how to solve the problem.

Celestia nodded her head, “Very well but I do believe it’s time to get inside.”

“Oh yes we don’t want the natives to get restless,” David saw the blank looks he was getting and sighed. “Never mind, cultural joke I guess.”

He was led through a large set of doors, on the flight in he had to admit that this place was pretty amazing. It was like some kind of castle you’d expect out of a human fantasy world but made in real life. Human castles tended to be built for practical and defense in mind. This however was very much more ascetically pleasing to the eye. The doors were the largest ones he had seen so far on this planet and when he got inside to the pure white walls, polished floor and the huge ceiling he was wondering if she built this place to host dragons.

From what he heard they were supposed to be the biggest sentient lifeforms on this planet after all. Although he wasn’t sure this was built with them in mind, maybe it was just built this big to be really impressive to people.

He saw the huge doors at the end of the hallway with the sounds of music and a lot of voices behind it.

“So I guess this is the big moment.” David said feeling a little nervous. He was going to be meeting a lot of representatives of this world and he suddenly realized his actions here could have long lasting results, for good or bad. He took a breath and steadied himself, sure he wasn’t a diplomate but so far he had done well enough.

A couple of guards snapped to attention as a pony in some kind of fancy getup stood a bit taller. The doors opened from the guards as the fancy one walked out first.

“Attention all!” his voice carried.

Now David got what that guy was, he was those old-fashioned announcers like he’d seen in those old movies about medieval times.

“Their Royal Highnesses Princess Celestia of the Sun, Princess Luna of the Moon.”

Celestia and Luna moved out into the crowd to a large amount of applause.

“Princess of the Crystal Empire Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Consort Shining Armor!”

The two married ponies went out to applause as well although not as large as it was for the first two.

“The Elements of Harmony!”

“Wait, the what?” David muttered to see to his surprise that everyone minus Zecora walked out. He blinked not sure what this meant, were his friends a bit something more than just regular ponies? He thought that they just got invited because he was close to them and to Twilight. He figured Twilight got invited being Celestia’s student but now, he was going to have to ask about this Elements of Harmony thing later.

Zecora was called out next as David adjusted his suit a bit waiting for his turn.

“And presenting the first visitor from the stars…” there was a pause as David got the feeling the poor guy was trying to remember how to pronounce his name.

[Day-vid Mel-ear!]

David had to stop himself from groaning, he should have known there might be a problem with his name. He really was going to have to figure out how to translate his name into their language at some point.

He walked through the doors not sure what to expect when he got into the room.

Next up Chapter 23: The Big Night (Part1)

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 23: The Big Night (Part1)

David looked around at all the faces looking at him, there were various expressions and he wasn’t sure what to do. A quick look around and he could see how the room was huge, flawless marble floors, tables filled with all kinds of foods. He saw a small stage with a small group of ponies playing instruments. He thought he saw Octavia but it was hard to tell from across the room.

He noticed that everyone here was dressed up, which was odd to see. He had gotten used to them all just going around with little to no clothing on all the time. He guessed they only used clothing like this for major occasions.

David knew that he had to do something by this point but he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to say something or not. He just placed his palm over his heart and bowed to everyone there. It was one of the old-style greetings he remembered that some people used in high society. Or was that from a movie?

It better not had been from a movie.

Thankfully Celestia moved to his side as she smiled warmly at everyone in the room.

“Everypony this is [David Miller], I formally introduce him to all of you and our world.” She started. “He has come from so very far away, we had often wondered if we were all alone in the universe and now we know we are not.”

“I want everypony here to show him the friendship our country is known for as we all get to know one another.” She bowed her head slightly as they moved off together as the band started up a small waltz of some kind.

“Nicely done,” David whispered to her.

“A thousand years of experience,” She whispered back with a wink.

He forgot about that, she didn’t really act like someone that old. Well maybe sometimes he caught a hint of something but she seemed more motherly than anything. Maybe with a bit of an impish side as well thrown in. He followed her lead as he could already seeing the entire place was glued to his every movement.

Hell, he couldn’t blame them an actual alien being was walking in front of them. As long as there wasn’t someone selling tickets he was okay with them looking. The group came to another group and he could already tell these must be leaders of other countries, mainly because they weren’t the alien ponies he had seen.

Two of them looked right out of the Greek myths of minotaurs and griffons, like perfectly out of those stories. The griffon was a little bigger than your average pony but the minotaur, now he was large. David felt the guy had at least a few inches on him with his red hairy body with lines of grey here and there. The guy looked like he could bench press a full on human and David hoped he wasn’t going to find that out first hand.

The other was another zebra like Zecora only he was pretty sure this one was male, he had gotten better at telling the different from ponies and they looked similar enough to take a good guess.

Celestia started off the introductions, “May I present ambassadors Gaius of the Griffon Kingdom, Azari of the Zebra Lands and Red Bull of the Minotaur Republic.”

David had to fight the smile on his face, the translation in his head about the last ambassador’s name into English had a very funny coincidence to an old energy drink. He only knew about it because he had a university friend that tried to make the drink himself from the old formula. The results had been…interesting to say the least.

David gave a small bow to them all, “I great you all on behave of my people.”

They all bowed in response as it was the minotaur that came up first and extended his hand. David took it although instead of a handshake he took David’s wrist in hand. David mirrored him following the big guy’s lead.

“Excellent to meet you in person, I have to say it’s nice to meet another bipedal species,” he laughed before slapping David on the shoulder.

David swayed from the impact but thankfully caught himself from tumbling over, the guy had a lot of strength in those arms.

“Yes I have noticed that in this world,” David grinned back. “I only met one other so far that only stood on two legs.” He referenced Spike although he doubted the guy knew him personally.

“Well it’s nice to meet another bipedal race then, I look forward to getting to know your people.” He spoke.

David nodded his head, “Oh I’m sure there will be plenty to learn from everyone.” He looked around at those gathered. “So are you all the representatives of this world?” David asked.

“Not entirely,” Celestia admitted.

“There are a few more isolated races,” Luna told him as they had explained a little about it.

“I think you told me about a few, Diamond Dogs being one of them, right?” He asked. He noticed a few shifts and some not too pleasant looks from the other ambassadors. Apparently, this race was not well liked if he was reading them correctly.

Celestia nodded. “That is one of them. Recently we have reopened diplomatic ties with Saddle Arabia thankfully,” Celestia put in. “The last two sultans had been very firm in an isolationist agenda but the new one has opened the borders and shown signs of wanting closer ties with other countries.”

“Yes the new trade agreements are in talks,” Red Bull nodded in agreement. It was always nice to have new trading partners and Saddle Arabia did have some resources that his own people could trade for.

“We already have a trade mission on the way there as well,” the griffon added in.

“I guess a fractured world must seem odd to you,” Shining Armor spoke up. “I take it your race must have overcome that kind of stuff.”

David just burst out laughing for a moment.

“W-what did I say?” Shining said looking around.

“Sorry-sorry,” David said getting back under control. “Trust me we got several different governments. We’re not so ‘united’ as you might think, we never have been.”

“Oh,” Shining placed his ears back looking embarrassed. “Sorry I just thought that any race that could travel the stars would be you know, more like a single power or something.”

“While that would be nice, human history says otherwise,” David sighed. “We’re a very diverse species.”

“So what are these other governments then?” Gaius asked rubbing the side of his beak wondering how many other powers they would have to deal with and maybe put up into a bidding war in the future.

“Let’s see a little back history is needed,” David tried to ignore the way Twilight’s eyes just lit up as she looked like she really wanted something to write this down with. “When humans started going into space we realized that it was a very expensive and costly thing. Even the most powerful nations had trouble getting it done by themselves so soon alliances were made. These eventually become huge nations over time.”

“Now the major players would be the [Pacific] Alliance or just Alliance for short. Then the [European] Union, sorry there’s no translation for some of these names. The Federated Commonwealth, Sun Empire, [Russian] Consortium, United [Arab] Kingdoms. Then there are the smaller independent colonies or powers.”

“So who might you represent, of those that are present?” Azari asked him.

“Well the Pathfinder Program is part of the [Galactic] Survey Corp which if a multi-national organization under the [Galactic] Defense Force or GDF.”

“GDF?” Cadence asked next rolling the name around in her mouth. “Why is that?”

“Well again a little backstory here,” He was starting to get thirsty but suddenly found Pinkie ready with a cup of what looked like punch. “When did you…”

“You looked thirsty,” She explained with a smile.

David nodded as he hadn’t even noticed she had left but took a drink, it wasn’t bad. “Now where was I…oh yeah. Well when we first started exploring companies and nations were jumping at claiming whatever they could, it was a mess. Some fights broke out but nothing major. Then someone had the idea to make an organization that would be funded by everyone and they would be impartial.”

“Sounds reasonable.” Celestia nodded her head.

“Yeah but no one really took the GDF seriously until the [Freeman] Incident.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Rainbow Dash said getting a bit more into the story now that he said that. She could feel with the way he said it that something major had happened.

David grinned at her, “Well you don’t go throwing the word ‘incident’ around unless something big happened. Basically, two powers laid claim to the same large asteroid. It was full of minerals so it was a huge payday for whoever could get it.”

“Now see the Alliance had laid a documented claim but the Consortium thinks that as long as you have people on the ground it’s yours.”

“I can see where the problem is coming in,” Luna sighed.

“Yeah both said they had legitimate claims, the Consortium started setting up a mining operation while the Alliance came in their ships to get rid of them, which of course meant the Consortium sent their own ships. To say that things were getting tense was an understatement.”

In fact, it was the closest to all-out war in space that human history had come to so far and to those living in a space colony where getting the hull breached by weapons fire was one of the worst fears for those that lived there.

“So what happened?” AJ asked as everyone was very into the story now.

“Well the GDF was called in to negotiate, the Captain of the small fleet named [Freeman] well he knew that both sides were too stubborn to back down but a war was something he had to stop. So he came up with a plan. He managed to convince them to allow him to send his own people down to ensure the safety of the miners. He said that if his people were down there the Alliance might think twice about shooting but told the Alliance it would help with the removal process.”

“Somehow his people managed to rig a small explosion and made it look like a disaster happened. They were very sure to do it in an area where no people lived as well. So under the disguise of an emergency incident he evacuated the station of everyone. Then when everyone was off, he fired everything he had and blew up the asteroid.”

“He what!?” Several voices said at once.

David grinned, “Yeah his thinking was, no asteroid no more fighting.”

“Somehow, I get the feeling not everyone felt that way,” Red Bull said but he too was grinning as he stroked his beard at the unique way this human had solved the problem. His people did like those that thought outside the box.

“Oh yeah he was court martialed and kicked out of the GDF but you know what? He didn’t care, he made this famous speech during his hearing about how sometimes you have to do what’s necessary to keep the peace and the only true compromise was when both parties weren’t happy and that he’d do it all again to prevent anymore loss of life.”

“There were governments wanting his head but honestly they could yell all they wanted but it was up to the GDF to punish him so they just fired him and left it at that.”

“Really?” Shining saw the point but in all honesty if that had been a Royal Guard they might have gotten a lot more than just that.

“Well the thing is the GDF knew that they had to do something to him but they also agreed with his choice because it saved lives.”

“Politics,” Celestia said realizing what had happened.

“Yep that’s the reason, they had to do it but they gave him the lightest sentence they could without causing international outrage. The thing is after that governments were a bit more eager to listen to the GDF just in case there was another [Freeman] in command.”

Dash burst out laughing at that, “Oh man that’s great.”

“Great?” Twilight said shocked. “He blew up an asteroid!”

“Yeah but it sounds like he made sure no pony got hurt.” Pinky put in.

David saw what was coming and quickly stepped in, “Hold it, please. My own people have been arguing over this for over seventy years since it happened, please don’t let this go into other cultures. We have a hard-enough time with it in my own.”

“Well that was certainly entertaining,” Celestia started to take the conversation into another direction.

While this was going on many of those in attendance were mingling and of course the conversation everyone was talking about was of course the alien in the room. The nobles looked with interests as something like this was unprecedented. No one was sure what to make of this but the fact that all the royalty and the ambassadors were in one group together, well that spoke that this alien was very important.

The guards there were lucky enough to get posted to the inside of the hall despite their training couldn’t resist a glance now and then. Servants and staff weren’t sure if they were supposed to offer him anything or let him come to them.

Among the guests many were in attendance, the upper crust of Canterlot, guests of theirs as well as certain celebrities with some journalists here and there. One group of mares not far away were a group of fashion models, they were with their own dates but the males were off networking and so the females got together to gossip. There was always something good going on at these kinds of events of course.

“He’s very tall,” A light yellow Pegasus said looking over at David.

“I don’t know Sunny,” a friend named Lime Green, whose mane matched her name. “He’s not as tall as a minotaur.”

A blue unicorn with a deep red mane looked at David holding a drink with her magic. “Hmmm.”

“What is it Desire?” Sunny asked.

“I think there’s something to work with,” Desire smirked.

“Oh please tell me you’re not thinking of rutting with an alien,” Lime sighed. “Honestly have you no shame?”

“Of course but there’s nothing to be shameful of this,” she simply said. “I wonder what those hands of his will feel like.”

“His what?” Sunny asked.

“The things at the end of his arms, minotaurs have them,” Desire explained. “I once dated one for a week, he was very energetic and his hands felt amazing but honestly he was a bit too loud and he couldn’t stop talking with his mouth open, that was a deal breaker.”

Sunny looked at David and shrugged, “His face is a little too flat for me.”

“I’m not sure I’d like someone that big,” Lime admitted.

“Ladies you have no idea what you might be missing out on,” she took another sip of her glass. “You know I think I might just try my luck with Mr. Alien sometime tonight.”

Lime blinked and gave a chuckle, “oh so you want to be the first mare to ride something from out of this world?”

“Oh I so hope it’s out of this world.” Desire laughed as the other two joined in.

“Where’s Fleur?” Desire said looking around. “She’s usually very into this.”

“Where else?” Sunny asked and pointed to Fleur Dis Lee who was with Fancy Pants.

“They are still together?” Lime was surprised by that. “I guess it might be getting serious between those two.”

Desire smirked as she swirled her glass a little, “Well their ‘tastes’ are very similar if you remember their special parties.”

All three mares giggled at that.

Back with David he had been getting to know the ambassadors after his little story on human history. It seemed this world had a lot of diversity to it but so far whenever he asked how far back their written history went it went as far back as the Ponies. This wasn’t helpful as there were so many mysteries to this world that he wanted an answer to.

“I believe it’s time for my sister and I to preform our duties,” Celestia broke in as she and Luna started to walk towards a huge set of glass doors.

“What’s going on?” David asked.

“Oh they’re going to lower the sun and raise the moon,” Twilight told him.

David remembered being told about this but this was something he had to see for himself. “I’ll be right back.”

He quickly left the group as he caught up to the two princesses.

“I take it you wish to watch,” Celestia said with a knowing smile.

“And take readings with his if you don’t mind,” He held up the gloved device on his left hand.

“I don’t see why not,” Luna spoke up. “Although what that device will tell you I’m not sure.”

“I am interested in what your technology has to say myself,” Celestia said.

The three of them went to the doorway as it opened for them as they walked out into a large garden area. David got the scanner on his device ready as he watched the sister take places next to each other. Their horns glowed as suddenly David saw the sun lowering at a rapid pace, the moon wasn’t far behind it either.

Quickly he took a scan of the two of them as he watched it happen in front of him. This shouldn’t be physically possible but then again, this planet had a way of making the impossible happen. He was sure there were going to be a lot of scientist pulling their hair out trying to explain how these two were pretty much going against what all known science said wasn’t possible.

By the end of it the day had gone and night had come just like that.

David looked down at the device and glared at it, like it had personally insulted him in some way.

“Is something wrong?” Luna asked seeing the look on his face.

“My device couldn’t get any decent readings, it was overloaded with information again,” he sighed. If he wanted to get an accurate reading of some of their more powerful abilities it seemed he would have to make it himself or wait until he got back to Earth and they could sent more specialized equipment.

He looked around the garden as he saw the many statues. “Mind if I look around?”

“Of course feel free,” Celestia pointed to a large hedge, “I’d stay out of the hedge maze in case you got lost.”

“Yeah good advice,” He planned to stay in view of the doors so he could get back easily. The place was lit by lamps as the servants went around lighting them either with magic or small candles on very long sticks.

David wanted a little alone time to think on what he just witnessed. He was just trying to wrap his head around it, he didn’t really fully believe it until now but damn, they moved the sun and moon. He walked around the garden as his mind tried to make sense of how that was possible. Moving two celestial objects like that, that fast should have had consequences.

But since his time here he had looked at the readings from Pathfinder and so far the planet wasn’t tearing itself apart. The only thing he could think of was that they were somehow altering the gravity of the sun, moon and planet. The only problem was how in the known universe did you do something like that? If humanity could figure that little trick out it might allow them to develop artificial gravity, one of the things they had been looking for.

It would mean stations and ships that needed gravity wouldn’t have to be designed around having a spinning axis. It could lead into a whole new era of space design.

He stopped as he came to a strange statue, it looked like a Chinese dragon that was put into a blander with a bunch of other animals. It looked to be in a pose like it was warding something off.

“The hell is this supposed to be?” He wondered out loud. He couldn’t think of anything in mythology that looked like that. He took a picture for later research with the glove and saw a plaque under it.

“Let’s see…The Dra…Dragon? No that’s not right..Draq…wow that’s a hard word.” David typed it into the device in his glove but apparently there was no direct translation for it yet. There was something else. “Ghost of-no wait I think that’s spirit. Spirit of Chaos? And the name is…conflict? That’s can’t be right either.”

Speaking the language had gotten easier but reading was a bit trickier at times.

“Oh wait it’s discord, so it’s something I can’t pronounce the Spirit of Chaos, Discord.”

David looked up at the statue and for some reason it was giving him the creeps. There was just something about it that almost made him feel it was watching him somehow.

“Okay I think I’ll go back into the party now, bye creepy statue.” David took a few steps back and walked away and yet he couldn’t get that feeling like something was looking at him. That feeling you get at the back of your neck when you’re alone but feel like you’re not.

Looking back at the statue David decided he was being silly but something deep inside was crawling around under his skin. Something almost primal was itching at him from the deeps of his mind. He shook his head and went back into the party leaving the statue behind in his mind.

David walked back into the large room and noticed that everyone he knew seemed to have split off from each other. He looked around to see any familiar faces to walk towards, thankfully he didn’t have to look far as someone found him first.

[David] Twilight spoke up and quickly meeting up with him. “I saw you leave with the princesses to look at the lowering of the sun and rising of the moon but when you didn’t come back I was starting to get a little worried.”

He only smiled down at her, she really did seem to worry a lot. “What could possibly happen at a party with guards everywhere?”

Twilight paused, “Well, you never know what could happen.”

He only gave a small chuckle as he got next to her. “Well I’m here now, let’s see what the others are up to.”

“Good idea, I think I saw Rarity and Pinkie over there,” Twilight pointed as they started in that direction.

They didn’t get far as David bumped into someone in the crowded room. “Sorry about that.”

The pony turned around as David took a look at her, she was a blue unicorn with red hair that went and covered one eye, she was taller than Twilight with a slimmer build as well. She looked up at him in surprise but then smiled.

“Oh no worries, you know I was actually thinking of a way to talk to you.” She said.

“Oh?” David knew others would want to talk to him and given he was here basically representing his entire species, he should do his best to make a good impression.

“Oh yes,” she held out a hoof as David took it with a polite shake. “I’m Desire, Sultry Desire.”

David was pretty sure she was giving him a look that would have the males of her kind weak in the knees. David had to admit her eyes were very deep and what a name, seriously what kind of parent names you kid that? Then again with all the different ponies he had been meeting and all their names he really shouldn’t be surprised by this point.

“Nice to meet you,” David said politely.

“And it’s very nice to meet you,” She said to him looking up and down with a smile. Then she noticed Twilight standing next to him. “Oh I didn’t know you had a date with you.”

“I-we’re not-he’s not my date!” Twilight said flustered.

“Oh?” Sultry smiled at this as she looked back to David. “Well then maybe we can talk later when you’re alone, I’m sure there are so many interesting things we could learn about each other.”

She walked by him as she dragged her tail against his side as she left. David watched her leave and he was pretty sure she was putting a bit of sway into her hips. The tail thing was a little weird but he was pretty sure she was putting on a show for him.

He honestly wasn’t sure how he felt about it.

“Twilight is there a reason why she did that with her tail?” He wanted to know if something was significant about it.

“Oh uh…well…you know,” Twilight didn’t really want to get into an embarrassing subject as she blushed.

“No I don’t, alien remember?”

“It’s a sign of, well, that somepony is interested in somepony else.” She shifted uncomfortably.

“Interested as in…”

Twilight said something he couldn’t hear.

“I didn’t hear that.”

“Sexual.” She said a bit louder.

“Oh,” So he was right about that mare. Okay so it was a bit flattering but honestly he wasn’t really going to open that can of worms. He really wasn’t going to go all Captain Kirk on this planet either. Yes they were an intelligent species and he had gotten to know them, even made some friends.

But it would take a bit more time to even start to think of them in that kind of way.

“Are you okay with that?” Twilight asked him.

“It’s…different,” He told her shifting bit himself. “Never had an alien make a…well we call it [pass] but I’m not sure what it would be in your language.”

Twilight ran her hoof in a circle looking at her front hooves. “She was really pretty.”

David shrugged, “If you say so, I’m honestly not sure what you think is pretty or ugly in your society I just know what I like.”

“Oh?” Twilight’s ears perked up a bit.

David got a sense that this conversation might go somewhere he wasn’t prepared for yet, she looked a little too hopeful on that response and he thought maybe he should change the subject for now.

“So about Pinkie and Rarity?”

“Oh right!” Twilight had completely forgotten about them as she continued to lead the way.

Next up Chapter 24: The big night Part 2

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 24: The big night Part 2

David was led towards Pinkie and Rarity by Twilight, Pinkie was attacking a table of pastries while Rarity was talking with a group of unicorns. There was a particular air about this group, they all were holding themselves a bit stiffly.

“Oh [David] so good of you to join us,” Rarity said seeing him and Twilight approach. “I was just telling them a few stories about you.”

“I deny everything.” David said with a smirk. Thankfully the joke went over with some light chuckles.

“Well I wanted to introduce to you to some of Canterlot’s elite,” Rarity pointed to a male white unicorn with a tux and a monocle. Next to him was a mare that reminded David of a mini-Celestia minus the hair and wings.

“This is Fancy Pants,” Rarity began. “He’s a good friend I met not too long ago and his mare companion is Fleur Dis Lee one of Equestria’s most notable models.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” Fancy held out a hoof that David took and shook.

“Oui, it’s a pleasure,” Fleur said next holding her hoof out but with a slight bend to it.

David figured it looked a bit like how some high-class women would bend their wrist while extending a hand. He took a shot in the dark and gently grabbed it as he bent down to draw her hoof to his lips. Pulling up he saw that from her expressing it was the correct choice.

“It is nice to see manners are universal,” She smiled up at him.

David could tell she had some kind of accent plus one of the words she said didn’t translate at all. Apparently, there was more than one language on this planet. Something he’d had to ask Twilight about later but first there was something nagging him that he had to ask.

“I hope this isn’t too forward of me asking,” he said trying to sound polite given his question. “but are you related to Celestia in some way? You look a lot like a smaller version of her.”

“Oh monsieur, I could be so lucky,” she waved it off with a hoof but appeared pleased by the comparison. “Princess Celestia is the panicle of beauty and being compared to her is a compliment.”

David raised an eyebrow at that as he thought about it. She certainly was different than every other of her subjects he met, plus he couldn’t help she had this calming aura about her. “So, what about Luna then? Or that other one I just met…Cadance was it?”

“You do make a point,” Fancy adjusted his monocle with his magic for a moment. “Princess Cadance has a following of her own, mainly the more younger ponies. Princess Luna ever since her return has been growing in popularity as well. I believe it’s just that since we’ve had Princess Celestia for so long it’s almost traditional at this point.”

“I see,” David nodded his head.

“I must ask did you bring that suit with you?” Fleur asked as she had been eyeing his suit since he came to them. “It’s style is very unique, is that the fashion of your people?”

“Fashion yes but you have to look to Rarity as she’s the one that made this.”

Rarity waved it off although she was secretly very pleased hoping to make an impression here could be very useful in the future. “He was very kind to show me the styles his people wore and I only did my best to try and create it as he showed me.”

“Well it is very well made but then I’ve heard of your talents and I see they are not exaggerated.” Fleur smiled at her.

Rarity was very pleased to hear this, if Fleur had been hearing good things then perhaps she might be getting some new business in the future.

She was about to say something more but then Pinkie suddenly came up next to her holding a few snacks from one of the tables. “Oh you guys have to try this, they finally got some decent food here unlike last time.”

“Oh [David] try this,” She quickly moved up to David and had a small cupcake in her hoof.

David generously took it and tried it, he hadn’t eaten since lunch so a little snack would be nice. He enjoyed the pastry, when you spent months on a ship with rations and only whatever food you could grow, things like this were a luxury.

“Not bad,” he proclaimed.

“I know right,” Pinkie then got a look in her eyes as she nuzzled her head against his side. “Soooo, how about using your special alien powers.”

“My what?” He asked confused as everyone was now curious as to what Pinkie was talking about.

“You know, your wiggly things.”

“Oh,” David finally got it as he scratched her ear.

“Ohhh yeah that’s the spot,” Pinkie sighed as she enjoyed the sensation.

“Pinky I don’t think that’s very appropriate now,” Twilight warned her feeling a bit embarrassed by her friend’s antics among all these ponies. Rarity was looking worryingly around as well.

“But it feels so good,” Pinkie told them. “You all have to try it.”

David wasn’t sure anyone would take it up on it but he was surprised when Fleur walked up to him.

“May I?” She asked looking very interested.

“Alright I got two of them,” He reached out with his free hand as he gently started to tough behind her ear. The reaction was immediate as she gasped and then sighed in contentment.

“Ohhhh, Fancy, you need to try this,” she cooed at the stallion.

“Well if nopony minds,” He adjusted his monocle as Rarity’s jaw hit the floor. She had no idea that Fancy would just go into this without a pause.

Pinkie made room as he took her spot and again it seemed the human’s touch had a magic of its own as now Fancy felt the pleasure centers he didn’t even knew he had firing off.

“Oh my word that is something,” He breathed.

By now David could see that many of Fancy’s friends were looking on with a hint of eagerness to try it out as well. Now he didn’t want to be rude but on the other hand he really didn’t want to spend all night doing this. He suddenly felt his stomach tell him that the cupcake that Pinkie had given him wasn’t enough to fill it, which gave him a perfect out.

“Well as much as I would like to continue,” David pulled his hands away. “But I think I’ll go and hunt down some food if you don’t mind.”

“Oh how rude of us,” Fancy said pulling away as he composed himself. “We shouldn’t keep you from having a meal.”

“Thanks for understanding,” David was glad he was, he had a good feeling about this guy.

Looking around he tried to spot the food tables, being one of the tallest people in the room was helpful at times. He noticed a line up at one of the long tables.

“Well if you’ll excuse me I think I see where to get something to eat.” He told the small group.

“Please come by again,” Fleur smiled at him. “I would so like to ask what else those darling little things can do.”

This earned giggles from the mares of her group as Rarity and Twilight both looked slightly mortified. Pinkie was just bouncing happily as if what was said didn’t register, then again David found it hard to read the pink pony at times. There was just no telling what went through her head.

“If you don’t mind I think I’ll go with you,” Twilight walked to his side. “I could use something to eat.”

Plus she wasn’t exactly comfortable with the crowd Rarity was traveling with, it wasn’t that she didn’t like anyone there it was just that she felt awkward and out of place. Maybe that was one of the reasons she had spent a lot of time in the library or at least part of it? She hadn’t really thought about it until she moved to Ponyville and learned about friendships.

They found a large buffet table as Twilight looked around eagerly. She hadn’t realized until seeing all the food how hungry she had gotten. She picked up a plate and started to fill it with some food. When she had her plate half-filled she noticed that David was looking around the table but he seemed a bit disappointed.

“Something wrong?” She asked.

David shrugged, “Just hoping for something other than the usual food.”

Twilight tilted her head until she suddenly remembered that he as an omnivore. He needed the protein that was found in meat, she knew that he had it on his ship but he didn’t really get the chance to eat it in Ponyville as there weren’t many places that offered that kind of food.

She really wanted him to enjoy himself as she looked around and thought of something.

“If you want you could try the table for the griffon ambassador,” she offered. “I know he has his own table usually set up at these events.”

“You sure that’s okay?” He asked.

“It should be, they usually make more food than needed at these kinds of events from what I heard from the staff from time to time.”

David shrugged, if she said it was okay he didn’t mind. Hell, at this point he was eager to get some much-needed protein. He had only the rations which weren’t exactly fresh, plus he was kind of curious what the races like griffons did eat. It was hard to tell at times what was a smart animal and what was an intelligent one.

“Well I’m going to see for myself, you want to come along?”

Twilight thought about it, she had nothing against meat eaters but she never felt comfortable around cooked meat. It always made her stomach lurch at the smell sometimes so she kept her distance. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Okay then,” David walked with the plate he had of the food from the table they had been at and moved to where Twilight pointed him towards. He found the table nestled into a corner that had no one else around. It seemed that the ponies didn’t much care for cooked meat and liked to keep their distance.

He was looking over the table as his mouth watered at the smell, it looked and smelt pretty good. He hadn’t had fresh meat since he started this journey but first things were first. He took his time to scan each plate to make sure nothing was toxic. After all this was for the griffon ambassador and he had no idea what griffons ate.

From the results he got everything looked like it wouldn’t poison him, now he just had to choose what to try out.

“I didn’t know you were a fellow omnivore,” the voice of ambassador Gaius came from behind.

David looked behind him, he had been so focused he hadn’t heard him come up from behind.

“I hope you don’t mind, I haven’t had a full meal for a while.”

Gaius gave a small grunt, “Oh yes I know how that is. Equestria is a very welcoming country but it can be hard for visiting griffons to find a decent place to eat. I had to bring my own chef and cooking staff.”

David looked back at the food, “You have any suggestions?”

Gaius looked over the table and picked out a cooked meat slice that had some strange dots inside the meat. “Try this.”

David graciously accepted and plating his plate down he found a knife amongst the silverware at the table and cut a manageable slice to eat. He tried it out, it was a bit on the tender side but it wasn’t bad.

“Not bad, so what is this?” He was curious as he took another bite.

“Oh that’s a slice of hydra tail, a very tasty meat in my country,” He explained taking his own slice. “Although getting it can be tricky as the beasts aren’t exactly docile.”

David paused in his next bite, “Hydra? Like the multi-headed serpent?”

He remembered seeing a picture of one in a children’s book he had translated but he thought it was just a myth they had in common at the time.

“Actually it’s more of a lizard than serpent,” Gaius corrected.

David took another bite and he had to admit it wasn’t bad. He was a bit disappointed he couldn’t say that ‘it tasted like chicken’. Still it wasn’t too bad and took another bite.

“Not bad,” David told him. “Kind of has a bit of an aftertaste, might need some sauce.”

Gaius rubbed his beak, “Depends, I’m not one for spicy sauces. At any rate I could be interested in the kinds of food your people have. It could be an interesting trade opportunity for the future.”

David paused as he tried to think quickly, he was pretty sure if he said the wrong animal things might get nasty. Cows were sentient on this planet and he wasn’t sure what else.

“Depends on which area of the known galaxy you’re in,” David quickly explained. “There are the usual items in the home system but transporting them across to the colonies can be expensive. So we’ve found animal species on those worlds that are safe to eat. Those might be easier to get and less expensive as there is less travel time.”

Thankfully the ambassador seemed to like that idea, David sighed internally although he knew that the truth would come out eventually. He just really wanted to make sure that since this was such a fragile point of contact with these people, he wanted to have a strong base with them all.

He talked and ate with the griffon learning more about their culture. Apparently, they were once a proud military people but had seemed to move towards a more capitalist style of living. David only got that last bit as the ambassador seemed to ask a lot of questions like ‘how much’ and ‘what does that cost’ to give him an idea of it. He would have to make to note on the griffons that any future negotiations with them to watch your purse as it were.

He heard Twilight call his name as he made his excuse to leave, he was filled and he was curious as why Twilight seemed to anxious at the moment. He walked up to his purple unicorn friend who was nearly vibrating in excitement.

“What’s up?”

“Oh [David] you have to come, Princess Celestia wants you to meet with two very important ponies.” She nearly squealed.

David went with her to see what she was so excited about, when they got to Celestia she was talking with a unicorn with a light peach coat with his mane tied back into an actual pony tail. David had to almost bite his tongue from smirking in case he had to explain the joke. The other was an earth pony that was a bit older with a grey streak in his brown mane and wore small spectacles.

Both were dressed up for the event of course but they seemed to carry themselves like this was what they normally wore.

“Ah [David] good to see you,” Celestia noticed him first as she started the introductions. “This is the Minister Quill.” She pointed to the Earth pony who nodded his head in return. “He’s the minister of Science.”

“So good to meet you,” He had a deep professor type of voice to David’s ear. “I must say you have everyone in every science and magic department in an uproar. So many theories going back and forth, I have hope you would come visit soon. If only because I fear some of the more…passionate ones might come to blows soon.”

David knew how scientists could be when conflicting data happened, he had seen some very heated arguments over someone’s theory or paper during his training.

“I’ll see what I can do about that.” David told him interested to see just what level of science they had first hand. This might help him see the height of their scientific abilities first hand.

“And this is Professor Peach,” Celestia introduced the other gentleman and again because of the name to an old earth game he had to keep a smile from his face.

“Good to see you,” David said.

“Likewise, and I must say that I’m looking forward to working with you.” Peach smiled at him.

David took a moment as he was suddenly very confused, “Work with me?”

“Why yes there’s a lot to be done,” he replied. “There’s the biology that we must record, the diets, the history and culture is another thing I’m sure others will want to have. Then there is testing samples that we’ll need for further understanding in case of sickness or to see if your cells have any ability to hold mana. This whole thing the Princess told me about your culture having no magic is staggering to say the least.”

“Well I’ve already gotten a good part of that underway with Twilight here,” David gestured.

The mare nearly jumped at the chance to get into the conversation. “Oh yes I’ve been keeping detailed records on everything! I’ve even been using a method of yours I’ve read about when dealing with other species on Equestria as a blue print.”

“But then as Equestria’s foremost expert in science I don’t need to tell you that,” She smiled at him feeling little butterflies in her stomach with actually talking with him. She had attended a few of his lectures but never got the opportunity to actually talk with him before.

Looking at her reaction David now got it, he was a big fish in the science community and her being well, her. This must be like a scientist meeting with Einstein, Newton or the creator of the warp engine Maxwell.

The Professor’s face lost a bit of it’s good nature as he looked at Twilight for the first time. He looked like a professor whose lecture had just been interrupted.

“And you are Twilight Sparkle correct?” He asked.

“This is Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Celestia told him. “She’s my personal student and keeper of the element of magic, she was introduced along with her friends.”

“Oh yes so you’re heard of me?” She asked with a huge smile on her face.

“Only because you were introduced tonight,” He said flatly.

“O-oh,” Twilight’s face fell at that.

He regarded Twilight again. “Although I do admit as the Princess’ personal student does make her a cut above the rest, however she isn’t exactly qualified to be an expert in this field. She has no doctorate, no history of working in the scientific field professionally and I would know as I make it my business to know everypony of value.”

“Now Professor,” The minister started to say to try and steer him away from going on. He knew that the professor could be a hooful at times but he was one of the greatest minds of this generation for a reason.

“Further more I can’t count on the findings of someone whose scientific achievements are unknown if any. I know nothing of her, her work or anything else so how could I trust that?” Professor Peach stated bluntly. “No, we’ll have to do everything over again from scratch if only to make sure nothing was overlooked and done correctly.”

Twilight wilted a bit but it was Celestia that spoke up in defense of Twilight.

“Professor I can assure you that Twilight is one of the most brilliant ponies I have ever met in my long life.” She told him. “If she wasn’t capable I wouldn’t have been comfortable with all the work she’s done.”

“I appreciate you defending her your highness but forgive me if I think you might be a bit biased.” He replied evenly to her.

“Excuse me?” Celestia said in an even tone that took David by surprise. He had never heard her use a tone of voice other than what might be called motherly and kind.

“I will concede that she must be quite a learned pony but I ask you this? What has she mastered? Has she focused her studies on history, magic, science, what application of them? Did she spend the years everypony else does to earn the right to call themselves a doctor, professor or teacher?”

Celestia knew full well that Twilight had taken in almost every aspect of knowledge she could get her hoofs on but by being her own personal student did mean that Twilight did skip over certain steps that other academics had to do. Twilight technically had no specialty in any field, she was basically a jack of all trades.

The Professor looked to Twilight. “Although you are Celestia’s personal student do you think it’s right to step over others who have worked so hard to get where they are? Every other pony I know didn’t have everything given to them and had to work at it.”

“B-but I did work hard,” Twilight felt her confidence leaving her looking at the stallion who had been one of her heroes in the scientific community look at her in such a way.

“And she did,” Celestia told him. “I never favored her because of her status, she earned the right to be my student from all her hard work and skills.”

David was taken a bit aback from all of this, he had thought that the entire race was pretty good but apparently there were rotten apples anywhere if you looked hard enough. Glancing at Twilight he could see the mare was pretty crushed while Celestia looked like she might actually lose her temper on the professor. The poor minister looked to be caught in the middle and wanted to find a rock to hide under.

So, David thought it was time to step in. “No.”

That got everyone’s attention as they looked him puzzled.

“No?” Celestia asked. “No, what?”

“No to working with him,” He pointed at the professor who did a double take. “I say who I work with and I’m doing just fine with Twilight.”

“Now see here,” The professor stood up tall. “I am one of Equestria’s leading ponies of science, we have facilities here that are top of the line and could handle any research given to it. We could do so much more than in that small town you are currently in.”

“Again, no.” David placed a hand on Twilight’s back making the young mare look up at him. “She’s been working with me, learning about my species, history and even learning my language. Can you say the same?”

“You know I can’t, I-“

“Which makes her,” David cut him off. “More of an expert dealing with aliens than you are, wouldn’t you say?”

“So, if you want anything to do with me, you’ll do it under her guidance.” He emphasized Twilight there. “Come on Twilight I need to get a drink and I think you do to.”

He led her away leaving a sputtering Professor Peach trying to say something. Celestia had to hide the smile she wanted to have. “I can have copies of all of Twilight’s work that she has been sending to me to you, if you want.”

The minister seeing the Professor nearly seething in anger decided to speak for him. “You may send it to my offices your highness as I’m sure there will be those that will enjoy such reports.”

“I can’t believe you did that,” Twilight said as the two of them were out of ear shot. “He’s Professor Peach, he literally wrote the book on practical use of magical condensers.”

“He’s an [asshole],” he simply replied.

Twilight didn’t get the word but understood the context. “You didn’t have to do that you know.”

“He was wrong about you and I don’t like seeing my friends being talked to like that.”

Twilight perked up at that, “So we’re friends?”

David hadn’t really thought about it but after everything, yeah she and the others were friends by this point. He liked hanging out with them, talking with them, going for morning runs with AJ and Rainbow, the kids in town were fun to be with and curious as well. He found that this wasn’t just a first contact mission with aliens, he had found some friends among them.

“Yeah, you and the others are friends in my book.” He told her.

That made Twilight smile again, “I’m pretty sure we all think the same way too.”

They were in the middle of the ballroom when music started to play up, suddenly they looked around to see pony couples were getting together to start a slow dance. Those that weren’t dancing were slowly making their way out of area to give room.

“Oh I think we should go over there, I think I see Fluttershy and Applejack.” Twilight told him starting to walk in that direction.

“You know what, I think I would like a dance,” David said which stopped Twilight in her tracks.

“You do?”

“I do,” he walked up to her. “Care to show me how?”

“I, well I’ve never, I mean, I never really danced with somepony else before…”

“You know the theory?”

“Oh yes!” She smiled again. “I read a few books on the subject, in fact I was-“

She was silenced from him as he placed a finger to her muzzle. “No time for a lecture, just show me.”

“Um…okay,” she thought about it for a second as he as taller than her. She stood up on her hind legs as she used her front ones. She had to modify the holding a bit, she lifted her hoof to him as he gently took it in his hand. She placed her other free front leg on his chest as his arm wrapped around her barrel to stabilize her.

“So now we just kind of move to the music? Oh and I think you’re supposed to lead.”

David nodded as he just went with a simple sway with the music, he noticed that Twilight took some time to get into the same rhythm but after a minute she seemed to get it. She turned her head and let it rest against his chest as he tried not to step on her hoofs or the skirt of her dress.

He found it wasn’t all too different than dancing with a human girl, well a slightly shorter one that is. He noticed a few looking at them but he just ignored them, he wanted to make her feel a bit better and he figured this would work out.

Twilight smiled as she gave a small sigh of contentment, it was a little strange and new for her but she felt that she liked it. The feeling of him against her was nice and with her head against his chest she could hear his gentle breathing and the beating of his heart. She lost herself in the moment just enjoying it.

Across the room Cadence caught sight of them as she tilted her head slightly as she studied her sister in law and their alien friend. A slow smile spread across her muzzle as she watched them intently.

“So who is it this time?” Shining Armor asked his wife.

“What?” She looked at him quickly brought out of her thoughts.

“You got that look on your face again.”

“What look?”

“The ‘I see someone newly in love’ look you get sometimes. I’ve seen it enough times when we’re out walking and you see a young couple.”

“I wasn’t aware I had a look,” She honestly didn’t but then no one knew her like her husband did. One of the many reasons she loved him of course.

“Oh yeah you got that look, so who is it?” Shining tried to scan the room to see who it could be.

Cadence decided that maybe now was not the time for an older brother to find out that her young sister was falling for somepony. “I don’t think it’s full on love.” She wanted to add a ‘yet’ to that statement. “Just the seed being planted.”

She took his hoof in hers and led him to a different section of the dance floor. “Now how about a dance? We haven’t had one together since our wedding after all.”

“Who am I to deny my wife?” He smiled at her as they walked into the group of dancers.

Next up Chapter 25: The Big Night Part 3

Sorry for the long wait, had to recharge and figure out which events go where and I had to rewrite certain scenes as I wasn’t happy with them.

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 25: The big night Part 3

The dance went smoothly for David and he felt Twilight had done a good job of teaching him. After the song ended, they broke apart and went to get some refreshments. Twilight needed a break so David went around seeing who else he could find. He got into a few conversations with ponies curious about him and his people and so he answered them in the best ways he could. David also found some drinks that apparently had some alcohol in it.

It wasn’t as strong as what he expected, at best guess about the same as a beer but what he found did have a bit of a slight kick once you swallowed. After months without a drink, he felt he could take a couple. It felt a bit normal, almost like he was back home at some party.

Of course, he had to mentally translate everything but he was getting better at it and it was feeling more normal being in a room with aliens. Most likely, because he felt they were so much like humans in their actions, you would think aliens would be actually more ‘alien’ in their nature.

It was about a half hour later that he suddenly felt his arm being jerked quickly to the side as he was in mid conversation with a group asking him about some of the worlds he was in.

He looked to see it was Rainbow of all ponies.

“There you are, I’ve been looking for you!” she said as she was pulling him quickly towards a direction of her choosing. He soon found himself brought to a small group of pegasi in blue clothing that looked like a type of flight suit. There were three of them, a blue male, and two females.

“See I told ya I could get him over here,” Dash said proudly to the group.

“Wow you weren’t kidding,” the yellow female said impressed looking up at David.

“So is anyone going to introduce me?” David asked with a smirk.

“Oh right, [David] these are the Wonderbolts the most awesome flyers of all time.” Dash told him.

“Ah right, I remember you talking about them,” David did as it was one of Dash’s favorite subjects. Seeing them in person now he was kind of curious how well they did fly. It would certainly make for some interesting data if he could get to record it.

“Well I’m Spitfire,” the yellow one said. “I’m captain of the Wonderbolts, these are two of the top flyers we have, Soarin and Fleetfoot.”

The two nodded when their name was called so he could tell which was which.

“I just want to say that this is incredible,” Soarin happily said to David. “A real-life alien, this is the kind of thing ponies will talk about for like, forever!”

“Guess you really did know an alien,” Fleetfoot said to Dash. “I just figured you were all talk.”

“Of course I know him,” Dash said smugly wrapping one of her wings around David and pulling him close to her. “we’re totally best buds and everything.”

David raised an eyebrow at this as although he did consider her a friend he got the feeling she was also using him to get closer to the Wonderbolts. Well he could see why though, she had talked about them a lot and he knew all too well her desire to join them. Still a part of him felt the need to poke some fun at her for using him like this.

The little devil on his shoulder seemed to be whispering an idea into his head as he gently placed one of his hands behind her head and softly stroked her there. He noticed Dash stiffen up in surprise and before she could say anything he jumped in.

“Friends? Is that all we are considering all the warm nights we spent together?” David gave a huge dramatic sigh. “It must be a cultural thing then.”

“Wait-what!?” Dash pulled away and again David wondered how they blushed like that with their fur covered bodies.

Both Spitfire and Soarin had their jaws dropped in surprise while Fleetfoot looked at the two of them.

“Damn,” the mare said with a grin.

“No it’s not true! We never did anything like that!” Dash panicked. “I would never do that!”

“Oh so I’m not good looking enough is what you’re saying?” David tried to show and expression of being ‘hurt’ to make sure the others got it. He wasn’t sure if they would be able to pick up on human body language after all.

“Of course you are-I mean no, I mean…argh!” Dash rubbed her hooves against her head trying to think of a way to get out of this without daggering herself deeper.

David burst out laughing, “Okay-okay. Sorry I just had to mess with you there.”

Dash gave him a glare with puffed up cheeks maybe it was intimidating for another pony but to David she just looked adorable. Oh yeah he could tell she was already mentally vowing to get even with him one day. He had already heard of a few prank stories from his time with Twilight as he got her to tell him about life here and her friends.

“So you two didn’t have sex?” Fleetfoot asked looking disappointed. “Damn it, I really wanted to know what the big guy here was packing.”

David did a double take onto the mare as Soarin winced and Spitfire face hoofed at the comment.

“Why do I take you anywhere?” Spitfire muttered under her breath.

“Well ah got ta say that Dash could have used a little takin’ down a peg,” a familiar voice came from behind David and Dash as everyone looked to see AJ walking towards them.

“Saw that?” David asked.

“Yep,” She said with a grin to Dash. “Was about to join y’all when ah saw Dash here getting all full of herself.”

“Hey!” the rainbow Pegasus said in defense.

“It’s you!”

Everyone jumped at the shout as Soarin quickly came right up to AJ. “I remember you, you were that mare selling those awesome pies at the Galla.”

“Sucks you remember?”

“Of course that pie was one of the best pies I ever ate,” Soarin looked around. “Please tell me you’re selling more. I can’t find them anywhere else ever since that night.”

“Sorry surgar cube ah ain’t sellin’ any tonight,” Applejack saw the crushed look on his face. “Ah do sell them all the time in Ponyville so if you’re ever in that area you can just come on by anytime. After all you were the only one that bought one that night.”

“Oh you got yourself a total deal.” Soarin licked his lips. He could still remember the taste of that pie and now that he knew where to find them, he was going to make plans to stop by Ponyville next time he was flying close to the place.

David once again heard that little devil on his shoulder, maybe he could make it up to Dash in a way. After all, a little playfulness never hurt right? Maybe it was the drinks, he didn’t have that many right? Well at any rate the words left his mouth before his brain caught up with them.

“So you’re saying you like her pie then?” David asked him placing a bit of emphasis on the pie part.

“You have no idea.” The stallion replied.

“Ah’ll say you really went to town on it,” AJ laughed at the memory of him attacking the pie on the ground.

David’s mouth twitched, this might be a bit too easy but now he couldn’t stop himself.

“Sloppy eater is he?” He asked AJ.

“He seemed very eager to eat mah pie that’s for darn sure.”

“So, is apple flavored pie your favorite?”David asked him trying to keep a straight face.

“Oh it’s up there.”

David really was struggling not to laugh at this point and the others could see there was something going on with the alien. Only Dash felt like there was something going on, her prank sense was tingling as she poked him in the leg and made a ‘come down here’ motion with her hoof.

“What the hay is going on?” She whispered to him.

He whispered back something into her ear not sure how good pony hearing actually was. Dash’s eyes widened suddenly as the meaning of ‘pie’ was a euphemism and what it meant in human culture. She suddenly rethought of the entire conversation and had to place a hoof on her mouth from stopping herself from laughing out loud.

“What’s goin’ on?” AJ had a bad feeling something was going on here and she didn’t like the look Dash was giving her.

“Oh don’t worry about it,” Dash waved it off as she got a grin on her face. “So that was nice of you to offer him more of your pie later on.”

“Well why not? If someone enjoys mah pie then ah’ll let them have it anytime.” She said proudly.

Both Dash and David were struggling to keep it under control.

“So I take it you’re going to take her up on the offer?” Dash asked Soarin.

“Heck yeah, I would be insane to ignore an offer like that,” he licked his lips.

Dash nearly burst at that as a small laugh just managed to escape. It caused David to start coughing as he didn’t think he could keep it down for much longer. He had to get out of here before he lost it completely.

“Well it was nice to meet you both but I think I see someone I want to talk to,” David made a quick exit.

“Y-yeah me too,” Rainbow snickered before following him through the crowd.

“What in tarn nation was that all about?” Applejack wondered out loud seeing them leave like that.

“From the sounds of it they were making it sound like Soarn was eating you out and you offering it to him.” Fleetfoot said with a neutral expression and then looked at her teammate. “You know you could do a lot worse than her, might as well give it a shot.”

“W-w-what!?” Soarn looked at Fleetfoot and then to AJ as he suddenly blushed.

“They were saying WHAT!?” AJ bellowed. “Ah’m goin’ to find those two varmints and hog tie’em!”

“Oh kinky,” Fleet looked to Soarin. “You sure you don’t want a piece of that, sounds like she could be fun.”

“Alright that’s enough,” Spitfire dragged her teammate off muttering more about never able to take this mare anywhere. That left Soarin and AJ alone together as they both looked at one another. Both couldn’t meet each other in the eye.

“S-sorry about her, she’s…well she’s always been like that,” Soarin knew that Fleetfoot had a very unique personality.

“Ah’m sorry about mah friends,” She glared in the direction of where they went off to. Oh yes, she was gearing up for some payback on those two later. After she calmed down and thought about how to get even that is. Maybe she could ask Pinkie for some advice as she was just as into pranks as Dash and apparently David where.

Both David and Rainbow were now in a corner by themselves laughing their asses off. David knew he would have to make it up to AJ later but once things got rolling he just couldn’t stop. He was currently pressing himself up against the wall of a pillar he was on with Rainbow leaning on him.

“Oh that was good,” Rainbow took a breath. “She’s going to be so pissed but that was totally awesome.”

“I nearly lost it a few times there,” David admitted.

“You nearly lost it? I think if I held it in any longer Rarity would kill me by ruining her dress if I actually pissed myself laughing.” She took a breath and looked back the at the crowd. “You know she’s going to be pissed when she finds out. I think I heard her yelling.”

David winced. “Would saying that we’re sorry help?”

“Give her some time to cool off but in the mean time I say we split up and keep low for a bit,” Rainbow chuckled. “Still that was one of the funniest things in a while.”

“Totally worth it.” David grinned at her as Dash slipped away. David looked around he was by a pillar and by walking around a little he was hidden from view. He leaned up against it taking a moment. Boy it had been a long time she he had joked around like that. That was one of the things about being a Pathfinder, the long moments alone.

Not everyone could pull it off, you had to be “mentally flexible” as they said. The serious ones that were all rules and regulations were the ones that ended up cracking first in the training because they had no mental flexibility. They didn’t bend they just broke, maybe that was one of the reasons people said Pathfinders were half daredevil and half insane.

He was just taking a moment to rest up before going back into the party when a familiar someone walked around the pillar.

“I thought I saw you sneaking back here,” Sultry Desire said walking up to him with a grin on her face.

“I’m kind of hard to miss,” David smiled at her, he remembered that this was the one that Twilight said had made a pass at him. He suddenly felt a little on guard now. She wouldn’t try anything, right? Maybe she had been joking before or something, after all he was an alien who would want to be attracted to that?

He immediately tried not to think about all the aliens in human fiction that people found sexy at that moment.

She licked her lips as she was in front of him looking up. “Yes you are hard to miss, so I saw somepony fly out of here pretty fast. Didn’t know you were hiding for some naughty fun.”

“What Rainbow? No we’re not like that, we just needed a moment away,” David felt like karma had suddenly caught up to him.

“Oh you’re not together?” She grinned at him. “Good.”

She suddenly got on her hind legs and had her front ones on his shoulders, she was tall enough to be facing him and he could smell the same drinks on her breath as he had been drinking before. Only he suspected she might have had a few more.

“Uh…didn’t you come here with someone?” He asked hoping she had.

“Oh I was just eye candy for him, he’s off talking boring things with some old ponies. I prefer a little more excitement, how about you?” She whispered that bit into his ear.

“I’m not so sure,” David was mentally screaming now. What was he going to do? He didn’t want to make a scene and he was hoping someone would find them.

“Oh please? I can be very pleasurable, you could say that I can fulfill any desire you have,” She gently took David’s ear lobe into her mouth biting down on it just enough as she ran her tongue over it and god help him, she gave one of the most erotic moans he had ever heard.

David despite everything felt a shiver running through his spine and knew he had to get away.

“So what do you think now?” She asked him with obviously lust filled eyes.

“I think we should find a quieter place?” He asked her. He planned that as soon as he could he was going to ditch her.

“Oh you read my mind,” she got off him and walked to a doorway swaying her hips and tail as she did so. David gulped as he followed to the door and saw a hallway filled with doors, perfect. If he could just manage to sneak away at the right moment.

“You know I think a lot of ponies like to sneak off at these parties, you never know who you might run into.” She told him and then paused not hearing anything behind her. She looked back and was surprised to see the hallway empty.

She frowned but then got a wicked grin. “Are we playing Hunter and Prey? Oh I’ve never been the hunter before.”

David leaned against the door, he had gotten through the first one he found as quickly and as quietly as possible. He felt his heart hammering in his ears as he tried to listen to the hallway outside for signs that she was on her way back. He hoped the door was locked and just as he went to check something caught his attention, he wasn’t alone in this room.

“Oh Fancy!” a moan came behind him.

David quickly turned around and there was a sight that would be burned into his mind. He was in some kind of small sitting room, maybe it was for guest to wait for an audience. Honestly he didn’t know or care because two of Rarity’s friends where here. Fleur had her front on top of a table with her dress pulled up to her waist. Behind her was Fancy Pants that if he actually wore pants David would have caught him with them literally down.

He was obviously mounting the mare and both were too into their passion to notice him, that is until David yelped.

[Oh fuck me!] David said startled. “Sorry! I didn’t know this room was taken!”

“OH!” Fleur blushed at the sudden person watching. “Fancy you did not lock the door.”

“Well I know how much you love the thrill of being caught my dear,” Fancy shrugged.

She grinned back at him, “You know me so well.”

“I-I’ll just leave you two alone,” David quickly turned around, he no longer cared if Sultry Desire was still in the hallway he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

Fleur looked at him with a cocked head, “Fancy you remember that thing we talked about? What do you think of him?”

“That would be interesting,” Fancy looked at David. “You wouldn’t happen to like to join us would you? Fleur has always wanted to have two stallions at the same time and we’ve been looking for somepony unique for the role.”

David couldn’t think his luck could get any more worst. It seemed like the god that had cursed Cain, had taken out Sodom and Gomorrah, and the plagues of Egypt had suddenly came out of retirement to deal with him and his joke on AJ.

‘You really do play hardball,’ He mentally thought out to whatever force was punishing him.

“I’m not sure if we’re physically compatible,” David quickly threw out what was most likely a valid statement. He had no idea although from the brief glance he got of what Fancy was packing it didn’t look like it might physically be any problem. Plus that was yet another image he wished he could just scrub from his brain.

“Oh poo, well you could always do that ear thing on both of use while we finish.” Fleur grinned.

“Yes indeed, we’ve been using our magic to simulate it but we haven’t gotten it just right,” Fancy shivered at the thought of it.

“I really need to go, another time!” David quickly said before leaving. The last thing he heard was the two of them starting up again.

David walked as quickly as he could back to the ballroom, he didn’t see Sultry so at least that was a plus. This place was getting out of hand, where all ponies like this? I didn’t seem so, maybe it was Unicorns in general? Maybe it was the city or maybe he had just the luck to meet up with three of the freakiest people here?

He didn’t know but he felt better as soon as he got back into the ballroom but he really didn’t want to be alone. There was no telling what else he might walk into without someone there. Looking around the edges of the party, he saw someone that he felt comfortable with and quickly went over to her.

“Fluttershy!” David quickly said to the mare who jumped in surprised and shrunk in a bit into herself.

She saw it was David and she relaxed a bit more. “Oh it’s you, you startled me.”

“Sorry-sorry,” David looked around. “I’ve just had a couple of rough experiences.”

Fluttershy looked up at him a little concerned, “Are you okay? What happened?”

David looked around and bent down to her, “Okay I’m not really all that familiar with your ways so I’m not sure if this is a cultural thing or not but, okay first, I had this mare interested in me.”

“Interested?” She tilted her head.

David tried searching for the right words, some things were a bit hard to translate sometimes. “As in sexually.”

Fluttershy blushed as she looked down and started to make small circles with her front hoof into the floor. “Oh…oh my.”

“So is that normal?” David asked her and saw the confused look. “What I mean is, I’m an alien I don’t look like anything on this planet really so how could anyone, well you know.”

“If I’m being honest,” she started to say. “You aren’t really that strange, I mean sure you are different but there are plenty of mixed relationship couples.”

David hadn’t known that, he hadn’t really seen any but then with a place like Ponyville it was kind of a small sampling. Looking at it now, since the world had multiple sentient races it would stand to reason at least some of them would mix together eventually. “Okay granted but what about that other thing? You know, the whole joining in part?”

Now Fluttershy blushed deeply, “Oh well that, um…well, I’m not exactly experienced but I think that it might, you know, just have been them? I don’t think that’s how relationships usually are.”

“Ah okay,” so from the looks of things he guessed those two were just really open sexually. Well there were people like that among his own kind although he had never known any personally. At least not to his knowledge but still, that was something he wasn’t going to put into any mission reports.

David just sighed, “Well thanks for clearing that up.”

-Sparrow I –

The ship was silent, the lights off as it was in standby mode waiting for the return of the Commander or any orders given. The computer was currently running several programs such as improvements to the translation matrix, compiling data, rechecking system status and many other programs.

So when in the hallway a light suddenly appeared and extra mass was detected the ship’s internal systems started a simple look into what caused it. Internal cameras came online as the ships computer caught what looked like one of the local life forms.

Normally the ship would activate countermeasures and inform the commander to prevent alien life forms to cause damage. But there was an error in its programming.

Directive 412: Local life form detected, all local life form that is not of Earth system origins should be removed and ship sterilized.

Error

Directive 510: Commander has given clearance to sentient life forms to have access to ship

Error: system stalemate detected

AVI was a virtual intelligence and because of this it couldn’t act on its own, with the stalemate it had to wait for something that could break it.

The figure was wearing a hood and the horn was glowing making a small light as it looked around. Slowly it went to the hallway and then found itself to the door to the engine room. This door was locked as David while giving basic access to his alien friends he made sure several key systems were still locked out. The engine room being one of them so when the pony tried to open the door first by the touch pad it was locked out.

Then when the pony tried to force the door open AVI finally had something that could break the stalemate.

Directive 110: Attempt at security breach detected

Stalemate resolved, alert status engaged

The lights suddenly came on as all the doors shut themselves. The pony jumped up as it looked around to see if there was someone there.

“Attention,” the computer spoke in the alien language. “You are attempting to access protected systems. Please stay where you are while I inform my [Commander].”

The pony didn’t wait as it teleported out of the ship just as quickly as it had shown up. With the pony gone the ship sent an alert to the Commander and awaited further orders.

Next up Chapter 26: Security Breach

Pathfinder 5

Chapter 26: Security Breach

Celestia’s mood at the moment was a mix of things, everything had been going well at the party. That is, until their alien friend had arrived up to her not looking too happy. He had explained that his ship gave him an alert that somepony had gotten into his ship without permission. This wouldn’t stand of course which was why she, her sister, the elements, were outside his ship with extra guards.

She has asked Shining Armor to talk with the guards about anything they saw while they waited. [David] had given strict instructions no one was allowed on until he looked through his ship. The night was getting late and at least the party was winding down so their disappearance might not be too noticeable. Still, she couldn’t believe someone would try something like this, in the castle grounds no less.

When Shining came back he said that none of the guards had seen or heard anything out of the ordinary.

It was at that point that [David] came out of the ship and pointed to herself and Luna.

“You and you, we need to talk inside and no one else.” He left through the doorway just as quickly as he came.

Celestia noticed Twilight looking disappointed at not being called, most likely because of her close friendship with their alien friend she was feeling left out. Celestia gentle used her wing to give her a slight brush of her mane.

“This is an official offense against him,” She assured her. “Therefore this an official talk between him and the leaders responsible for the security.”

Twilight nodded her head in understanding as Celestia and Luna made their way into the ship. It was the first time they had been inside and the smooth metal walls, the lights and everything spoke of how ‘alien’ the ship was. Yet she couldn’t also feel all the small similarities in styles as well. He led them to the cockpit as it was one of the few areas large enough for both sisters to be in as the hallway was a bit narrow.

David pulled did something with the machines and on a small table an image appeared. It was of the hallway they had been inside of showing a pony with a hood teleporting in. The sisters watched in detail trying to clean who this intruder was but neither of them could tell. The face was hidden as was the Cutie Mark.

“Now I’m going to say this once just so I can say later that I asked,” he sat back on the pilot’s chair. “Did either of you order this?”

“No,” Celestia stated honestly with full authority.

“No we did not,” Luna glared at the image of the pony. “Although I would like to find out who did.”
He was silent a few moments before speaking. “Okay I’ll believe you. I can’t based that on anything more than just my gut feeling but after all the talks we’ve had in my dreams I figured I got to know you both well enough.”

He got up to look at the image, “Now what I would like to know is who this pony is. From the looks of the video that I’ve watched a few times now, it’s obviously a male from the muzzle.”

“I conquer,” Celestia looked at the image also. “His coat is green and his magic aura is orange.”

“How many unicorns can teleport like this?” David asked although he knew Twilight said it was rare he wanted their opinions on record as the ship recorded everything that went on.

“Only the most gifted,” Celestia sighed in disappointment that a unicorn with such talent would try something like this. It was a shame that one of her ponies had misused their magic along with shame that her security didn’t catch it.

“Okay but how?” He asked them a bit confused. “I thought you needed line of sight for this?”

Celestia smirked, “I see Twilight has been teaching you well.”

“While normally they would,” Luna spoke up. “It is not always the case. If the practitioner is skilled enough they can make a blind teleport. It’s risky but if they know the area or if they have a location spell to help guide them it can be done. Some have even done so by locking onto the location of some pony they know and using them as a guide to their location.”

“Well I don’t remember letting any green male unicorns around and they wouldn’t know the layout of the ship.” David signed and then turned around to face the windows. He paused as something hit him as he looked at the window and then back behind him.

“What is it?” Celestia asked him.

He went to the doorway and then looked out the window, “How much line of sight would someone need? Like say could they do it by looking through a window?”

Celestia and Luna looked at him and then to the window then outside the window. Both of them understood that if some pony had been outside at the right angle they could use the line of sight teleportation if they judged the distance correctly. Outside facing the ship was a wall with windows, the guards were between the ship and the wall but the sisters didn’t see any guards on the wall.

“I believe dear sister we may have been too lax with our security.” Luna frowned.

“I agree,” her sister nodded. “Either they could have been on the ramparts above the wall or used one of the windows since I believe the guards have a roaming patrol and not a stationary one there if I remember correctly.”

Which she was sure she was, both sisters held very good memories which was very helpful given their long life spans.

“So how many green unicorns males are there that could pull something like this off?” he asked. “It can’t be that long of a list.”

“We can start looking for suspects based on this, plus the color of his aura should also limit the list.” Luna then thought of something. “I hope it’s not one of our guards.”

Celestia looked like she wanted to protest, the guards were some of the most loyal ponies she could think of but there were always an exception. All it took was one bad choice since she knew her ponies weren’t saints it was possible, no matter how much it hurt her to think it.

“Okay while I’ll leave that to you two, how are we going to prevent this from happening again?”

“There is a barrier spell that can be placed on your ship,” Luna told him but then she told him the downside. “However, it has a limited time based on the caster. My sister and I, could put one that can last for a full day without having to be recharged.”

David saw where this was going. “But since I’m returning to Ponyville that’s going to be a problem. Could Twilight do the spell?”

“Yes but at her current power it would last only half a day at the most.” Celestia had the deepest understanding of Twilight’s limits as a unicorn. She was confident that Twilight was one of the greatest magic users of her time but there was a limit to that power.

David sighed looking up at the ceiling thinking on it. “Well it’s better than nothing but maybe with her help we can work on something.”

“You have an idea?” Luna cocked her head to the side.

“More like the beginnings of one,” David stifled a yawn. “I’ll have to think on it and run it by her later. At the moment it’s getting late and I think I should stay here tonight.”

Both sisters nodded in agreement, they had planned for him to rest in one of the many rooms in the castle but after tonight it would be better if someone was here. They made plans with David to increase the guard and do the spell on his ship as well. David thanked them as they left the ship.

“Princesses?” Twilight asked as soon as they left the ramp.

Celestia sighed, she knew that she could trust these six and the looks of worry on their faces was plain to see. “Some pony teleported into his ship and set off an alarm.”

“What!?” Twilight’s eyes widened at that, who would try something like that?

“Do we know who this jerk is?” Rainbow was up for a fight after hearing that.

“Not at the moment,” Luna told her. “But we will be searching with the evidence we have.”

“In the meantime you should all get to bed,” Celestia told them. “He has agreed to stay in his ship for the night. We have rooms for you all and in the morning we can continue on from there as I believe you all going back to Ponyville will help in making sure who did this can’t do it again so soon after.”

While that was going on David had already peeled his jacket off and was doing the buttons on his shirt trying to think of what to do next. Someone tried to get into his ship, had gotten into his ship actually. If only he knew how exactly their teleportation worked maybe he could make up a counter measure for it. It was bothering him, mainly because he had come to see them all as a very nice race and maybe even something humans could learn from.

But it turns out people are people even if they are alien ponies.

It was also bothering him that they didn’t know who exactly did this. If this was a movie he would have suspected someone he met at the party. The other races were out unless they had agents working for them. So maybe he couldn’t rule them out totally but they were low on the list at the moment.

David tried to remember but he couldn’t place a green unicorn that stood out in his memory. There were the Minister and that Professor guy but they weren’t green. Could they have change their colors? Even if they did how could they prove it? It’s not like they had DNA profiles like Earth did. He paused taking off his shirt suddenly.

“They don’t have DNA abilities but I do,” He quickly went to the small science lab looking for a matter scooper. It was basically a special handheld vacuum cleaner like device but it was used to take lose samples of materials. Things like dirt, air particles, spores but it could also pick up hair follicles.

“AVI I need you to scan the hallway for any hairs left by any of the local alien life.”

“Working…”

It was a few minutes before the computer replied back.

“I have found several traces in the hallway.”

David pulled out a visor for augmented reality and set it to the ships computer. “Send the areas to the visor.”

When he went into the hallway the computer showed him with blue outlines of areas in the hallway. Getting started he ran the matter scooper into the floor of those areas carefully. It took some time but by the end of it he was pretty sure he had enough to work with. Going back into the science lab he pulled out the container on the scooper and put it into a machine with a matching slot.

“AVI I want you to take the hairs and compile the DNA of them.”

“This will take twenty hours to complete.”

David sighed he knew it would take some time, even with its computing power the computer would take time to sort them out. Plus just how many of them had been in his ship by this point? The computer would have to match each one, thankfully he had some of the DNA of his new friends already in the system.

“Guess there’s nothing more to do then just sleep and wait for the results.” He signed hoping he could get some sleep. He was just so wound up at the moment he knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

-Next Morning-

Twilight yawned as she made her way into private dinning room of the Princesses. She had been tossing and turning all night unable to really get a decent night’s sleep. She kept worrying about things and in her head all she could think about were how many more horrible things could happen. They sometimes ended with David flying off back into space and never coming back.

She sat in a random chair finding herself sitting between Rarity and Pinkie Pie as plates of food were levitated onto the large table. Looking around she saw that all her friends were there, Celestia but not Luna. Shining and Cadence were also here looking further she saw that Rarity was talking to Zecora, Twilight blinked she hadn’t seen her since the party.

“So my dear you say you were with that handsome Zebra ambassador, all night long?” Rarity grinned at their stripped friend smelling possibly good gossip.

“It was a very good time to spend with someone of my kind,” She told the pony. It had been a very long time since she had seen her people, she liked her life but there were times when she missed her home and conversing with other zebras.

Rarity moved a little closer to whisper to her, “He was a fine looking stallion at that too.”

Zecora didn’t say anything although he slight blush on her cheeks told the unicorn all she needed to know.

“I still can’t believe this happened,” Shining Armor said after hearing the full story of what happened last night. “I hope the new captain of the guard is taking this very seriously.”

“Unfortunately we don’t have a new captain at the moment,” Celestia sighed. “We’re still in the process of trying to find a replacement since you left. It’s between Ironhoof and Rear Guard.”

Shining thought about it as both had been under his command once, “Ironhoof is pretty by the book but Rear Guard can think outside the box. It’s a touch choice all right.”

“Are there any leads so far?” Cadence asked her adoptive aunt.

She shook her head, “Not as yet, the guards didn’t notice anypony acting strangely but we’re still trying to see if we can find trace amounts of the magic user as sometimes with powerful spells there is a residual trace that can be left behind such as with a teleport spell.”

“Well that’s at least something,” Twilight sighed.

“You really don’t look so good,” Fluttershy looked worried at her friend.

“I was tossing all night in bed,” She yawned again. “I just hope [David] doesn’t just leave because of this.”

“I don’t think he’d just leave like that,” Applejack spoke up. “Although that was a pretty might break in his trust in Equestria.”

“I still can’t believe some meaning would do something like that,” Pinkie crossed her front legs over her crest. “Someone is not going to get a party from me anytime soon.”

“I think a hoof up the backside is more appropriate,” Dash muttered.

“Whoever did this, justice will be served,” Celestia commented in a more serious and regal tone. They were right that this was a break in the trust on the side of Equestria. As their princess she was holding herself responsible for her ponies actions.

The breakfast with everyone was not a happy affair as there was a heavy cloud over them all. David was finishing his own breakfast as he had been up early. He too had a rough night’s sleep since there was nothing worse than actually knowing someone could just enter your room at any time. He at least got a decent amount of sleep but there was still the issue of what to do.

He had finished his morning routine and was making sure no one else had gotten in during the night. Although AVI’s records didn’t show anything he took a quick look just in case. This whole thing with ‘magic’ didn’t sit well with him as there was no telling what the limits were. Maybe they could go invisible or mask themselves to the recording devices.

He shook his head, he was going to drive himself crazy with this kind of thinking.

When the others got here he decided to work with Twilight to know what exactly could be used and come up with counters to it. He sighed, he really hoped this was an isolated incident since when he got home and made reports having a way to deal with security issues like this would go a way to helping smooth things over. He knew that his people would send a delegation here when they could so having a way to ensure the privacy of the delegates would be welcomed.

“AVI hold off on making any updates until I say so.” David ordered the computer.

“Is there any reason why Commander?”

“I want to make sure we have some defenses ready for teleportation just in case,” he paused to think about it. “Are you sure there isn’t anything on the sensors that can help us with it?”

“Negative Commander. My sensors are not tuned to scan for the unique energy that the local life forms use.”

David opened up a terminal and started looking through the materials he had on board. “We have several scientific scanners correct?”

“Correct, it is in the standard payload.”

“Well we could grab anything from Pathfinder itself if we need something more specific…hold on,” David pulled up a few different devices. He might be able to help with that issue of not being able to properly scan the special energy signature. He had the scans had had so far gathered although the more in-depth ones like with the teleportation caused an error to show up.

With these devices he could make a make shift device that could scan for it, well maybe scan for it. He would have to research this with AVI’s database and Twilight’s help but maybe it was possible.

“Commander I am detecting the life forms that you have granted access to the ship approaching.”

David looked to see Celestia leading the way with his new alien friends.

“Well open up the pod bay door HAL.” David said.

“Commander?”

David pinched the bridge of his nose just once he would like for that to work. “Just…open the hatch for them.”

He could hear the door opening as the sounds of many hooves on the ramp through the open doorway. It didn’t take long for this cockpit to be nearly filled with colorful alien horse people. He noticed that while Celestia was here her sister wasn’t.

“Hey where’s Luna?” He asked looking to see if she was mixed in with the group and he just couldn’t see her, which shouldn’t have been possible because she was larger than the average pony.

“The night is more my sister’s time and she needed to sleep after what happened.” Celestia commented. “She did mention that if you wish she’ll continue to see you in your dreams if allowed.”

David paused at that, she hadn’t really asked permission and he kind of should have asked her if only for security reasons. He guessed this was a small gesture on their part of his ship being violated while he was at the party. He nodded his head with a smile to let her know there weren’t any hard feelings. At least not towards her and her people, just those responsible.

“Sure it will be nice to continue our night time talks,” David agreed.

Celestia smiled and nodded as she made her leave, it was a little awkward for her getting out, some of the others had to make room as she left but it was still manageable.

As soon as she left Twilight rushed forward looking slightly panicked, her mane wasn’t a neat and tidy as he was used to seeing and he was pretty sure her eyes looked tired. Poor girl must not have gotten a lot of sleep last night.

“I am so sorry about what happened!” She urgently told him. “If I had known something like this would have happened I wouldn’t have suggested this.”

“So you can see the future?”

“W-well no.”

“Do you see everything going on around you and then some?”

“I think there’s a spell for that.”

David blinked before waving that away. “Regardless Twilight you couldn’t have known, no one could have known what was going on so stop trying to think you’re somehow responsible.”

“B-but-“

“No, no buts, you girls agree on this?” He asked her friends.

“Yeah there’s no way you would have known some jerk would have done this,” Rainbow said first.

“Ah recon that there would be no way in telling there was some slimy sidewinder operating in the castle Twilight.” AJ agreed nodding her head.

“Yes we’re with you and you shouldn’t blame yourself for things beyond your control.” Rarity told her placing a hoof on her friends shoulder.

The rest agreed and Twilight seeing the support of her friends smiled for the first time since last night. “Thank you, all of you. I just hated the thought of somepony doing this and possibly destroying all the trust we’ve been building up between us and [David] that…well…”

“What you thought I would just take off?” David raised an eyebrow.

Twilight looked a little bashful as she looked down and one of her front hoofs made little circles in the floor of the ship. “Maybe a little.”

David shook his head in amusement, “Twilight this is a major event in both our worlds, there are going to be missteps and problems that show up but I wouldn’t be here if I just gave up at the first sign of trouble.”

“Really?”

“Promise.”

“Pinkie Promise!” Pinky jumped up gleefully.

David looked at her not sure if he heard that right, “Say again?”

“Pinkie Promise I said,” She replied.

“I think he means what do you mean,” Fluttershy offered.

“It’s like this,” Pinkie made the motions along with the saying. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

As David translated that it was oddly similar to an Earth saying kids had only with needles and dying. “Okay then, I cross my heart-“

“Do the actions!” Pinkie told him.

“Seriously?”

“She takes it very seriously,” Dash told him and then flew up to whisper into his ear. “And whatever you do don’t ever break one because you wouldn’t like Pinkie when someone breaks a pinkie promise.”

For some reasons the way she put it didn’t exactly put David at ease. Just what in the hell was this little pink pony going to do if he ever broke that? He decided to not find out plus this was a promise that he would be able to keep anyway. So with a sigh he made the actions along with the promise feeling a little bit like a fool doing it in front of so many but he got through it.

“Okay so now that the drama is taken care of let’s say we get out of here?” David swung his chair around as everyone took seating positions on the floor. He started up the pre-flight check and then warm ups. Twilight studied his actions, although she had seen him do this last time she wanted to make sure she remembered it correctly.

Sparrow I gently lifted off as David smoothly raised the ship straight up. Thankfully Celestia seemed to get the area cleared on the ground and in the sky. He could see various guards flying about and seemed to be keeping the civilian traffic from flying in the way. A team flew in front of the ship as he guessed that was an escort to show him the way they cleared for his ship.

Slowly he moved the ship following them. As soon as they were clear of the city the guards broke off and David could give the ship a bit more speed.

“Come on couldn’t you take this thing even faster?” Dash asked.

“I don’t have seats for all of you so no,” He replied. “Plus I don’t know what’s below us and sonic booms can be nasty for things like windows.”

The flight was pretty smooth as David easily found the same landing location as last time, it helped that the nav computer had the placed marked. Technically the ship could fly itself there but protocol was that a human had to pilot if able. A computer no matter how advanced could still glitch out at the worst times.

David smoothly brought them to a stop over the landing area and brought the ship straight down. He was so glad that most ships could do vertical maneuvers, having long stretches of flat space to take off and land took up way too much space in his mind.

“Last stop Ponyville,” David smiled as the ship hit the ground as he started to turn off the engines. “Just give the ship a moment to power down before I open the hatch.”

“Well it was certainly an eventual evening,” Rarity said. “Although I might have to make a few extra dresses for us all in case we ever get another last minute offer for such an event.”

“But we got fancy dresses already,” Rainbow complained.

“You can’t just wear the same thing to an event like that, it just isn’t done,” she replied.

“So Twilight can I ask your help with something?” David asked as they waited for the engines to cool off.

“Of course what is it?”

“Well I need a way to protect my ship,” he explained. “I think I need to start running some experiments with seeing if I can get my technology to interact more with your…abilities.”

Twilight’s eyes lit up as a huge smile got on her face. “YES! I-I mean, of course I would love to help you with this.”

David had a feeling she would get excited over such a project. Now he just hoped she could keep her excitement in check, they had a lot of work ahead of them.

Next up chapter 27: Experiments in Science and Magic