//------------------------------// // CH 2: Close Encounters // Story: A Mirror of Stars // by Cyberdutchman //------------------------------// The sharp and caustic aroma of ozone and burnt rubber greeted Liam as he blearily awoke. He tried to breathe in and was overtaken by a sharp cough. As he pulled his hand away from his mouth he noticed a few flecks of blood on the back of it. I've had worse, he thought blearily before his body started registering intense discomfort. "Unnnhhhhh... worst crash landing I've ever been in," he said with a groan. "It's the only one you've ever been in! So how about next time you can crash the ship and we'll see how well you do!" a matching voice called out indignantly. "Jax, I don't think you want to go there. Or do you want us to start going by your old nickname again?" Will asked from his right. "Outrage rescinded." "That's what I thought... "Rainbow Crash"," Will replied with a snicker. "Oh fuck off," Jax replied with a put-upon laugh. Liam chuckled once then stopped as his lungs complained at the effort and slowly pulled himself out of his chair, wincing repeatedly as he did so. The independent safety systems in the seat had generated enough expansion fields to hold him down on impact. The downside was he'd briefly experienced at least ten gees, maybe more, as they adjusted for the ship's jarring motion. Now his body was making its complaints about the ordeal known. He looked around blearily, squinting into the dim red light filling the bridge. "Sound off. Who's still in one piece?" he called out in between coughs. "Jax here, no issues." "Albrecht, same." "Darian, think I popped every tendon in my left elbow. Little loose on the bend." "Alphonse, I've got a dislocated eye and it's flopping all over the place. Gah, come here you little-!" "Will over here, good to go." "Jamison, and I've got some torn muscle fibers here and there. This body was due for a replacement in a week so no real surprise." "Mercer, I'm copacetic." Liam exhaled in relief until it became another small cough. He wheezed and shook his head then took in the deck again. The main display was wrecked and showed only static across the single broken sliver of screen that still worked. The breaker for the lights had been tripped in the crash and now only the emergency lights and the piercing blue glow of his brothers' eyes held complete darkness at bay. "Okay, since no one's completely down let's run a status check. Find a working station or terminal and start going down the list." Seven sets of glowing eyes turned to look at him then bobbed as they nodded. A few moments later one screen flickered to life then two and three. No others followed. "That's all we're getting from here. We'll have to check the auxiliary stations to see if any of them made it." Liam turned to face the speaker. "Alphonse, that you?" he asked, trying to tell where the specific identical voice was coming from. "Nah, it's Jamison." "Got it. Let's not worry about that for now, those should be enough." "Okay, I take it you've got a plan then?" "The start of one. Jax, Albrecht, and Mercer: take over the status and inventory. Will and I will get the others to the shop and get them fixed up as best we can. If we didn't lose the cargo bay we should have plenty of complete bodies and spares for them. As for you three, first thing you should check is if we can get off the ground again. If not... we'll need to scuttle the ship." A series of various unenthusiastic affirmatives followed. The Legion's ships were its true home and simply retiring one, let alone destroying it, was never done lightly . Another voice rang out in the crimson cloaked room before everyone dispersed. "Here's a quick question for the group: what ground did we land on? 'Cause it sure as hell isn't Pysche! In fact, I'm pretty sure our wormhole dumped us straight back somewhere on Earth if we're going by the forest we just tore through. Anyone have an explanation for how that works? We've been using gates for decades without issue!" Silence followed the question until Liam sighed and spoke up. "Not a clue Jax, but we'll worry about it after we know what shape we're in. Especially if we're going to have to deal with company anytime soon." The girls slowly made their way through the darkened orchard, each of them placing hands on shoulders and helping one another over trunks, earth and rocks, and metal plates that had been thrown out from the crash. Their unease grew steadily greater the closer they got to the road that split between the summer harvest apples and those of the fall harvest varieties. Applejack visibly tensed with every destroyed and damaged tree they encountered. As they reached the road they all slowed their pace. They were getting close enough to see the top of the hulk over the closest trees along with the pall of smoke rising over it, all lit by the faint glow of the fires that remained. "Hey, uh, maybe we should call the cops first? Stay away from it for now, you know?" Rainbow Dash said nervously. "Rainbow! There might be people hurt inside it!" Fluttershy admonished her. "People? More like a bunch of space aliens that abduct and eat people!" Fluttershy flinched and paled slightly. "We don't kno-" she said softly before Rainbow Dash cut her off. "Because that's a spaceship, right? An actual, no joking around, real life UFO? None of us have wanted to say it but what else could it be? It came out of a HOLE IN THE SKY! I don't remember hearing about anyone else having something that can do that! So who here really thinks we're going to find people in there?" Rainbow said as she gestured frantically ahead of them. Everyone stopped in their tracks as Rainbow Dash's concerns spoke to the ones they'd been pushing to the backs of their minds. "We don't know that they're hostile," Twilight said, uncertainty lurking at the edge of her words. "Yeah, but we don't know that they're not! Magic from Equestria is one thing; we've got that ourselves and Sunset and Princess Twilight made it less crazy than it was at first. But space aliens?" Rainbow Dash asked loudly. "That's a whole other ball game Twilight." "Y'all can go back if ya want. I'm meeting the folk that just destroyed my family's livelihood," Applejack said tonelessly. Her friends turned as one to face her. Her hands were balled into fists at her side and her eyes were cold and hard as she stared ahead towards the wreck. "Applejack, dear, I know this isn't how you imagined this evening going-" Rarity began. "Rarity, don't start actin' like ya know the first damn thing about what I'm feelin' right now. That orchard meant more than-... we don't make a lot, not between the all the repair work, Granny's meds, and the school costs for the three of us, and it's always tight making ends meet. Now we've lost half our farm because of that thing and might have ta sell the rest!" she said as she stabbed a finger at it. "I'm gonna find out whether whoever or whatever's inside are worth my family losin' everythin'." Rarity furrowed her brow in concern at her friend's out of character cursing and anger and softly asked, "And if they're not?" Applejack punched a fist into her other hand. A small shock wave of air spread out from the magically supercharged blow. "I get to practice my powers, just like Twilight wanted us to 'fore they showed up." Twilight recoiled in shock. "That's not- Applejack, we can't use these powers to- to-" she stammered, unable to finish her sentence. She felt a hand on her shoulder and spun around to find Sunset shaking her head softly. Twilight was about to shout at her for being so casual about AJ's intent until she noticed her friend's eyes were red with held-back tears. "She's in pain right now, looking for a way to get back at whoever she thinks is the cause of it. She's not going to listen to us. Trust me, I've been there. All we can do is be there to try to make whatever happens stay peaceful," said Sunset in a low whisper. Twilight swallowed hard. "A-And if it doesn't?" Sunset sighed as Applejack began walking into the dark in the direction of the fire lit crash, the rest of their friends glancing at one another before quickly joining her. "Then we help whoever doesn't want a fight." Liam strode down the hallway with one hand on the nearest wall. The whole ship was tilted forward and to port slightly from digging into the ground. Between the mildly unsure footing and the flickering lights the halls were an accident waiting to happen. As he turned the corner he came dangerously close to proving it when he narrowly missed running headlong into Mercer. Only the bright glow of his eyes gave enough warning to prevent the crash. "Oh jeez!" he sputtered as he hopped back quickly and almost lost it on the slanted floor. "Mercer, first the ship fails to kill me so the universe decides to throw you at me instead. What's up? Finished the checks and inventory?" The Legionnaire rolled his eyes with a snarky grin and said, "If I or anyone else really wanted you dead all we'd have to do is say they'd stopped making Reeses." Liam shuddered. "Don't go there. I still remember Dad frantically apologizing when he pulled that way back before I knew better. Some things aren't to be joked about and my sugar addiction is at the top of that list." Mercer nodded and his face became more serious. "Speaking of things to not joke about, we've got company coming. Albrecht got one of the sensor arrays on the upper hull working again and it's got seven thermals heading our way." Liam's eyes became pools of shadows in the dim emergency lights. "Well, that didn't take long. How organized do they look? If they're confident seven's enough they must have the new rounds on them." Mercer shook his head. "Zero percent organized actually since they're not military. I can say that with complete certainty. Here's the video feed from the fixed array," he said as he unclipped a tablet from the armor on his hip and handed it to him. Liam's frown switched to one of confusion as he inspected the glowing screen for a few moments. His eyebrows shot up in surprise and he handed the tablet back. "An orchard right? The rows are too even for anything else and I'm pretty sure I saw apples on the ground as well." Mercer nodded. "Yeah. Seems we managed to plow through a good chunk of it. Which brings me to our seven unknowns. They're huddled in a group and moving very cautiously towards us. Probably the family that owns the place." Liam groaned softly. "Great. As much as I love that it's not a Spestnaz or Seal team I was much happier with the idea of landing out in the middle of nowhere. You know, somewhere it would take time to get to us rather than in the middle of someone's home." Mercer rubbed the back of his head silently for a moment or two then said, "So what do we do about them? And more pertinently, what do we do if they've already called the cops or something and we have to scuttle the ship... in the middle of their orchard and right next to their house?" Liam grimaced and crossed his arms. His eyes trailed down to the floor and he stared at it without any real focus as his mind rolled over the situation. He closed his eyes and sighed then leaned into the wall of the corridor. "We can't let anyone down here get the ship. We have to assume they only reversed engineered a few things or at worst are still behind in development. That means we can't let them access the gate drive, the expansion warheads, or any of the other gear we didn't see them use. They get their hands on those and between the destruction of our fleet assets and their lead in traditional technologies we'd lose both the quantity and quality leads. I'm not about to let them gain that kind of advantage, no matter what it takes." Mercer nodded slowly. "So capture, confirm if they've notified anyone, and go from there?" Liam blew a small, exasperated raspberry and shrugged. "Yeah, that's about the shape of things. Get the guys ready, Will should be finished helping them with personal maintenance. Tasers and other stunners only, we just want to secure them. We can be pretty damn sure they don't have the new rounds so we can take whatever they throw our way." Pinkie climbed over the huge tree trunk lying across the path and stopped just before she collided with Applejack. Just ahead of them was the mound of earth pushed up against the sides of the battered craft. The single word that ran through her mind was Wow. What she said instead of that was "Ow!" as Fluttershy pulled herself over the trunk, caught the leg of her pants on a branch, and fell over onto her. "Sorry Pinkie! Oh...oh wowwwwwww," she said softly as she helped Pinkie back up. Pinkie followed Fluttershy's gaze back to the huge craft lodged into the ground, getting her first really close look at it. It was easily as long as the main hall of CHS if not longer. Despite the damage it was an obviously sleek design, with a raked blade-like protrusion from either side that split to join a large pod at the corners of the back. One of those pods was a smoking wreck, the metal peeled back and punctured all over, while the two that had hit the ground were dented and fractured. The thing's nose was slanted forward and down like the prow of an old ship or a train and had dug the thing even deeper than it might have otherwise. The edges and curves of the hull were lit with a deep blue light, the only real illumination left in the deep dark of the night as the fires had long since died away to almost nothing. All in all it was like nothing Pinkie had ever seen or imagined, and she'd imagined A LOT of things up to that point. "Oh my! Whoever they are they have a superb sense of form !" a voice called out behind her. Pinkie turned to find Rarity hopping down off the log while Sunset gave her a hand. Twilight and Rainbow Dash followed close behind. All of them were faintly lit by the blue glow of the ship, washing out every other color and forcing Pinkie to squint to be sure of who she was looking at. Rainbow Dash stepped closer to her and whistled nervously as she looked the craft over. "Whoa... that's... that's big. It kinda looked smaller when it was falling." "Y'all need more time to admire the dang thing or can we find a way inside?" "Applejack, I know you're anxious to find out why this happened but we can't rush in. It might be dangerous, like noxious fumes or-" Twilight began. Applejack wasn't listening and began walking forward almost fast enough to be jogging. Rainbow groaned and tapped Pinkie on the shoulder. "You got anything that'll blow up?" Pinkie blinked. "Well I've got my emergency balloon supplies or if you really want something that will blow up I could tell Sunset about Flash coming by Sugarcube Corner with Derpy the other-" Dash shook her head frantically. "No no, I mean, you know, things that explode when you toss them? In case we need to a distraction to get away?" A lightbulb flicked on in Pinkie's head until it overloaded and exploded in a shower of rainbow sparks. "Sure, I've got you covered Dashie. I'm never short on sprinkles or glitter." Rainbow Dash gave her a shaky thumbs up and started to turn back, paused for a moment, then turned again to shoot a questioning look at her. "Wait, were you serious? Flash and Derpy? Really?" Pinkie Pie shrugged then mimed sticking a cupcake in her eye. Rainbow blinked then shrugged in kind and motioned for Pinkie to follow her. The others were far enough ahead and being pushed fast enough by Applejack's pace that the two had to jog to catch up with them. About halfway down the length of the ship, just after the closest pod ended in a new hill that threatened to overturn the apple trees on it, there was a flat section of hull not obscured by dirt and debris. A section at the bottom had fallen outwards to reveal what would have been a loading ramp if not for the busted joints and twisted metal. Applejack stepped up to the top of the ramp and looked down the corridor beyond it. "Finally. Looks like the emergency lights are workin'. Or maybe these things just like red light, I got no clue. Y'all- Sunset?" Sunset was standing paralyzed at the base of the ramp, her eyes locked wide open. Pinkie frowned in confusion then pointed two fingers at Sunset's eyes and traced out where she was looking. She blinked in surprise when she noticed a set of letters and a word etched into a plate above the top of the open entree. L.S. Celestia "Huh. I didn't know the Principal was an alien." The others apart from Sunset all stepped back from the open doorway until they were just in front of her. "Uhhhh... that's English. So wait, does that mean it's not aliens?" Rainbow Dash got a kind of answer as the sound of metal flexing rang out from overhead followed by a huge clang rippling through the broken ramp. Pinkie spun around just in time to see a large piece of the black night quickly rise up until it crested nearly two feet above her. Two glowing circles of blue light suddenly pierced the darkness, outlining a huge hand with metal tipped fingers reaching out towards her. A number of things all happened at once after that. Rainbow Dash, already running on adrenaline and hair trigger nerves, summoned her magic and in a split second reached out and grabbed a hold of Pinkie just as she began pulling out a sprinkle shaker. She pulled Pinkie back, causing her to lose her grip on the improvised explosive confection. It flew out and away from them, glowing an ever brighter shade of pink as it did. The hand and it's owner recoiled in surprise and was about to swat it away when Rarity tossed up a crystal shield between them and it. The sudden appearance of the slice of solid magic threw the thing even more off balance, just in time for the shaker to bounce off the thing's waist and explode. A pink shockwave blossomed out, rebounding off the crystal shield and tearing the thing in two along its midriff and tossing both halves back. The lower half careened out into the dark while the upper half soared up and into the pod just above and behind it. It bounced off with a resounding boom and fell to the ground. While that was happening two more of the imposing figures stepped out of the shadows beyond the open doorway, each holding a compact weapon to their shoulder. They paused for a moment as the explosion became the center of attention and lowered their weapons slightly in shock as they saw the damage done to their companion. "Oh hell, Jax! What the fuck was that?!" The girls spun around in time to see the two new enemies begin aiming down their sights at them. Rarity twirled her arms in an arc and brought up a wall of crystals in front of them, just in time to deflect the two sets of barbs, one fired from each weapon. They bounced harmlessly off the crystal with a small ringing noise to the confusion of everyone present. Emboldened by the underwhelming attack, Applejack rushed around the wall and charged at the nearest of the glowing eyed figures while both were trying to reload. Her target took an instant to realize it didn't have time and stepped back into a fighters stance and prepared to grapple with her while the other pulled the end off its weapon and began to slot a new one on. At the last second Applejack shifted into her new magic in a flash of light, forcing the alien to close its eyes for a brief moment. It was all she needed to bring a gloved fist around into its chest with as much force as she could muster. The thing exhaled explosively as plating cracked under the blow. It went flying back into the corridor and connected with the wall at the far end, denting the metal in, then dropped to to a heap on the floor and began slowly trying to get back up. Applejack wheeled around to confront the next of the trio just in time to see a sparking flash as it pulled the trigger. She caught a brief glimpse of two barbs glinting in the dim red light right before they impacted into her shoulder. She winced as they bit in and glared back at their source. In the faint crimson light she watched it pull the trigger again and her world went dark as her body seized up. The shock caused her outfit to drop back along with her magic and she fell bodily to the floor. "Lights are coming back online! What the hell's going on down there? We've got alarms going off all over the place. Mercer? What's happened?" a voice called out from inside the ship. The interior of the craft was suddenly illuminated in a bright, warm white glow. The dark and foreboding space beyond the ramp gave way to a large loading bay of clean white walls and angular surfaces and bracing. The girls flinched and hid their eyes from the sudden glare behind their hands and arms. "Oh come on, I made it through the crash without any damage and now this? What the hell-" someone behind them yelled before cutting off with a strangled choking sound. Pinkie spun around and felt her jaw drop. The thing she'd blown up was pushing itself, or at least it's upper half, back upright against a mound of earth with its arms and hands, one of them bent slightly at the forearm. The severed section of the torso was filled with broken and burned cables and fibers that hung from it like something out of a horror movie. Jet black muscles that looked like they'd been woven flexed with spastic nervousness as it raised a hand and pointed a shaky finger at them. It's face was almost expressionless and at first Pinkie thought it was wearing something like a ski mask until she saw that it merged into the skin below the things glowing blue eyes. Those eyes however were plainly shocked and darted back and forth between each of them again and again. Its mask-like face stretched as a jaw behind it flexed wordlessly. Then it seemed to pause, the finger and its hand dropping back down to the ground lifelessly. It closed its eyes and sighed heavily. "Well... that complicates things." Pinkie's brow shot up in surprise at the perfectly normal voice coming from it. There was no hint of pain or even recognition of its current state in its tone. She felt a faint shiver creep up her spine at how unnatural it seemed. "What happe-Mercer!" Pinkie Pie turned around again at the new voice, a little queasy from the constant whiplash she was getting. Another alien had appeared from a side passage and was now helping up the one Applejack had punched into the far side of the cargo bay. It turned to bring a matching weapon up to bear and paused with a nearly identical reaction to the bisected one. "That's not poss-" "Will, I think we need to get with Liam and rethink the plan. A LOT," the half destroyed thing behind them interjected wryly. "Who are you?!" shouted Sunset suddenly at the three individuals from behind the safety of Rarity's crystal shield. "More like what are you. Who they are is a bunch of idiots who tried to pick a fight with us and got their butts handed to them," Rainbow said, her usual cockiness returning after their victory. The newest member of the group of aliens lowered its weapon to the ground and stood there, staring at them. They stared back at it and the others for nearly a minute, no one moving, until the new one began approaching them slowly and unsteadily. Fluttershy whimpered softly and Rarity glanced at her and the others for a moment before grunting and putting up a second layer of crystals between it and them. She breathed heavily with the exertion of putting up so many around them and holding them in place without any aid. The thing paused and put up its hands in a placating manner. "I'm not going to try anything. Honest. I'm sorry for how this went down, it was a huge mistake. We weren't expecting to find-... we were expecting someone else to show up. Plus it looks like A- looks like your friend is waking up." Pinkie frowned as the little voice in the back of her mind wheedled at the hamster in its wheel to get the generator spinning to turn the lightbulb on. The hamster was sleeping though and didn't want to wake up and the lightbulb still hadn't been replaced yet. She made a mental note to get someone on that. Applejack groaned from the rubberized floor and slowly rolled over onto her back, cursing softly the whole way. Her arm muscles were twitching intermittently and she reached up with her other hand to rub them. Fluttershy and Rarity rushed to her, the crystal shield dropping ahead of them. "Applejack! Are you alright?" a very distressed Rarity asked as she gingerly touched her woozy friend's head. "Uhhhhaaaa... what the hell happened?" "You took a Tazer rifle to the shoulder," the alien that had addressed them said as he walked up behind them in near complete silence. Rarity and Fluttershy jumped a little and put themselves between it and Applejack, fear carved into their faces. The thing sighed and rubbed the back of its head then squatted low with its arms lying across its armored knees. It's face, despite the lack of a clearly defined mouth, looked like it was stuck in a grimace. Pinkie noticed it had a funny looking "1" made out of three slashes carved into its chest. "The hell's a Tazer?!" Applejack said through gritted teeth. "It's a non-lethal stun weapon. For incapacitating targets. Uses a high voltage current-" "Alright, that's enough! She needs help! You said this was a mistake so can you fix it?" rebuked Fluttershy. The alien thing seemed taken aback for a few moments before it nodded. "There won't be any lasting damage. She just needs rest and maybe a dose of painkillers for any cramps that might happen, though that's unlikely." Fluttershy exhaled in relief and placed a hand on AJ's good shoulder. The rest of her friends walked over to them, giving the stranger a wide berth as they did so. They all knelt down around their prone friend and began helping her up. The strange being watched them for a bit then looked back into the ship. "Tell you what. We have a place she can rest in comfort till she's up and moving again. Why don't we take her there while the rest of us head to the bridge to meet up with the Progenitor." Rainbow Dash looked up in confusion. "The what?" The alien grimaced, again creeping everyone out slightly at the way its face moved without a defined mouth, and cast about for a second before replying. "Our... leader or spokesperson for lack of a better description. It will be easier to explain when we're all together-" "Just who and what are you?! Did someone on the other side send you?" asked Sunset again loudly, clearly in distress. "How did you get here from Equestria without the portal?" The target of her anger and confusion blinked a few times. "We're Legionnaires and we're- we're not from anywhere with that name. Why would you-" "But this ship- it's name is..." Sunset interjected. The thing stared at her dumbly for a few seconds then looked around. It's eyes shot open and it brought a hand up to its face with a loud smack. "Oh... oh yeah, this is gonna be a nightmare," it said with a quick jerking nod. "Come on, we need to get going so we can clear all this up before things get any crazier than they already are." "Wait, what do you-" Twilight began asking before jumping up and readying her magic around her outstretched hands, as the thing rose and began crossing the last couple of yards between them. It stopped suddenly and held up its hands once more. "Easy! EASY! I'm disarmed! Jeez..." "And I'm un-legged in case you'd forgotten or just missed it!" a voice called out from behind them. The girls turned and stared as the torso of the alien that had tried to jump them began clumsily walking on its hands back towards the ramp, scowling the whole time. The Legionnaire closest to them looked out into the dark and winced, placing one hand on its hip while the other was placed on its slowly shaking head. "Jax? The hell happened to you?" "The reality breaking one happened to me, that's what!" Pinkie jumped a little with surprise as the #1 alien turned to look directly at her before quickly looking at the others as well. The nagging thought was back again. She really needed that light bulb replaced. "Not surprising after what we just saw. So, you need a hand? Or maybe a foot... or two?" "That's horrible! He's in terrible shape and you're joking about it?" Fluttershy remanded it with a scowl. "Sorry, just habit. We're fans of morbid humor since its almost always ironic with us. Don't worry, he's fine. Just needs some work. Mercer, you up and about?" he ended as he looked over his shoulder at the Legionnaire AJ had punched. He was walking towards them with the other alien that had tried to shoot them, apparently unconcerned that his chest had been almost completely caved in. "Yeah, just don't ask me to sing any arias till I can get this popped back out. Thanks Alphonse," it said in a raspy voice as the previously unnamed alien picked up it's dropped Tazer rifle and handed it to him. It took the difference for Pinkie to notice that they'd all been speaking in the exact same voice. Apparently she hadn't been the only one to notice as Twilight suddenly popped up, her earlier fears replaced with nervous curiosity. "Excuse me, but you all sound completely alike and you've been talking about maintenance and repairs with each other. Are you machines? I mean, robots or A.I.?" The three looked at each other then laughed shortly. "That's a... difficult question to answer." "You know, you're all pretty terrible at answering questions," Rainbow said as she helped Applejack to her feet, her good arm draped over Dash's shoulder. "Trying to hide something?" The unnamed Legionnaire next to Mercer shook it's head. "No, we just don't know the answer to that one for sure." "How can you not-" Sunset began asking before the #1 marked Legionnaire held up a hand. "Tell you what, we'll answer anything we can in just a bit. Right now I'd like to get moving to the bridge if you're good with that? We can drop off A- your friend on the way" It paused and raised a questioning brow ridge. The girls all looked at one another. Twilight and Rainbow Dash both seemed interested, while Fluttershy and Rarity both looked uncertain. Sunset still looked shaken up but nodded, her arms hugging herself tightly. Applejack just glared at them until she winced. That made up Fluttershy and Rarity's mind for them and they nodded. Pinkie Pie nodded as well though rather more energetically than the others. This was starting to look a lot less scary and a lot more exciting! "Okay, great. I'm Will by the way." "Uhhhh... just Will?" asked Rainbow Dash? "Yeah...?" Will replied slowly. "Something wrong?" "The rest of you all have crazy sounding names; Jax, Mercer, Alphonse. I've got no idea what those are supposed to mean. Will I get but usually there's, you know, more?" Will blinked then shook his head quickly before staring at Dash. "I... how's someone supposed to respond to that?" It flicked its eyes up like it was considering something then looked back at them. "I mean, what are your names?" "Heh, I'm Rainbow Dash. Athlete supreme," Dash said cockily. "Rarity. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. I think..." she said as Jax made it to the top of the ramp paused, his sparking entrails trailing across the floor unnervingly. "I'm Fluttershy...yeeee," Fluttershy tried to say before devolving into a squeak when they all turned to look at her. They all blinked as one and seemed to shiver for a moment. "Twilight Sparkle," Twilight said as she pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil from her pants pocket and started writing in them quickly, glancing at each of the Legionnaires now and again. "Sunset Shimmer. Sorry about jumping on you earlier. I thought you might have been... someone else," Sunset said just clearly and loudly enough to not be a mumble. All of the Legionnaire's eyes had continued to grow larger and larger as the introductions went on. Now Will blinked rapidly then turned with the other three to look at- "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie! This ship looks amazing! How many parties have you had here? I bet this would be a fantastic place for them!" Will blinked and was about to reply when a loud and angry country voice cut in. "Ah'm Applejack and the farm y'all just trashed is mah family's." Will and the others winced sharply and each rubbed the back of their heads almost in unison. Pinkie wondered how they managed to do that so often. If it was a trick she needed to figure out for parties with identical siblings and pony doppelgangers. "Sorry about that. We... lost control over the end point of our jump gate. Normally it shouldn't even be possible to open one so close to a planet's surface. We didn't have a lot of time to react when we transited through." Twilight's eyes widened and her writing become even more hurried. "Can you tell us-" she stopped as Will shook his head. "No, if we're continuing this conversation it's with the Progenitor. Just makes sense so no one has to repeat anything." Twilight slouched a little in disappointment but still nodded in agreement. "You need any help there? We'll get you to a bed you can rest in," Mercer asked Applejack in his damaged voice. "Not from any of y'all. And I don't need any rest. Ah'm fine, just... let's get goin',"she replied, her upper lip twitching a bit at the corner. Mercer recoiled a little in surprise and glanced at Will. Will motioned towards the corridor he'd come from with a tilt of his head. "You all head back to the shop and get fixed up. I'll let you flip a coin for who carries Jax's ass." "Oh hardee har har. See what happens the next time you lose a limb..." Jax muttered as he limped up with the rest of them and plopped down on his opened torso, arms crossed in front of him. Will chuckled then faced the girls with a strange grin. "Okay, I guess we're all heading for the bridge. From here it's a little to the front and up a couple levels. Stick close and watch your footing. The ship's leaning enough to make walking tricky in some places," he said then began heading for the corridor opposite the one he'd come from originally. The girls all glanced at one another and as a group all followed behind, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash helping Applejack along in spite of her protests. As they made their way through one corridor after another the girls looked about in wonder, confusion, and also disappointment. While the ship was cleanly built with a very futuristic look, it also was fairly plain and any obvious technologies they saw were familiar rather than alien. Twilight in particular seemed rather let down by the lack of anything obviously beyond her understanding. "So how far away did you all-" "Sorry Twi, just gonna have to wait." "Hey, how'd you know her nickname?" Sunset asked quickly. "Huh? Oh, I uh... I didn't. Just made sense to shorten her name like that. Twilight Sparkle is a bit of a mouthful," Will replied smoothly. Pinkie however noticed him twitch slightly before he replied. She frowned and poked the mental hamster again until it rolled over and got running with a small squeaking huff of annoyance. Something about what the Legionnaires kept saying was bugging her and she needed more attention to figure it out. They remained silent as Will led them up a flight of spiral stairs situated around a central open shaft. A couple decks below them at the base of the shaft was a large disk that glowed a reddish purple hue and sparked now and then. At each floor of the ascent a large ring encircled the open shaft. "So what does-" "Later Twilight." Pinkie caught his follow mutterings with her party planning listening senses, the ones she used whenever she needed to plan a surprise party but couldn't ask anyone about it. "Rather not give into the crazy until Liam says he sees you too..." They continued in silence again, apart from a few mutterings between the girls here and there. "He's kind of freaky. ...what! Hey, don't give me that look! You can see every muscle on him! Don't tell me that isn't weird. And that face..." "I know what you mean Rainbow Dash, but you must admit they're rather impressive muscles. He'd wear a suit rather well. Actually, I wonder if they wear clothes at all? They all look alike apart from those markings." "Oh man, he's naked! That just hit me Rare! If he had junk it would be hanging out all over the place hahaha!" "Rainbow Dash! That's not appropriate or even applicable! He might not even be male, especially if he's mechanical and not biological!" "Nope, sorry Twi. That voice is way too guy to be a girl or girl-bot." "Ah'll tell ya what it is. It ain't right is what it is. It and the others. They're not natural." No one had anything to add to that so silence reigned as they continued onward. After a few more minutes they reached a heavy set of sealed doors. Will stepped to the side and palmed a panel beside the barrier. After a few moments it beeped loudly and the door began to slide apart from the center with just a slight hiss of sound. Will turned towards them and said, "Allow me to be the first to welcome you aboard the bridge of the Legion Ship Celestia. You're the first humans we've given that privilege to. Just try not to use magic until the Progenitor gets over the inevitable shock." From the depths of Pinkie's mind a precisely aimed party cannon fired a brand new bulb with pinpoint accuracy, striking dead center into its mental socket and lighting up with the brilliance of a star on steroids and at least two unnamed drugs for that extra colorful corona. "Oh! That's the thing!" Pinkie cried out suddenly as the door began to make a number of loud thunking sounds it finished opening. "What thing?" Will asked in bewilderment. "How'd you know we're human or English or that we use magic? You just dropped out of the sky from space so is there a travel agency for aliens? Ohhh! Do they have a list of all the best party spots on the planet? No wait, how about in the whole UNIVERSE???" Will's eyes shot open in horror while his jaw dropped slightly. The girls all matched his expression as each turned from Pinkie Pie to stare at the other. The moment was broken as a new, slightly shorter figure walked around a large set of equipment that blocked any direct view into the bridge. "Hey Will, that you? You all finish securing those farmers? I've been going over the data we managed to collect and I think we might be in luck with that other ship-" the figure, much more fleshy and human than Will and much less colorful than the girls, stopped mid sentence as he caught sight of both parties. The tablet computer he was holding clattered to the floor. His eyes darted back and forth rapidly and Pinkie noticed they were an unusual hue of blue with a weirdly familiar red-purple tint around the iris. He slowly turned his head towards Will, his eyes not leaving Pinkie and her friends until he'd fully faced the Legionnaire. "They're...?" Will nodded, his eyes darting back and forth between them and the young man standing in complete shock on the other side of the doorway. He seemed to nod slightly then turned his gaze back on them, a slight panic in his eyes. They all stood there for a long moment until he twitched his head and chuckled nervously. "...well, guess we don't have to blow up the ship then." "YOU WERE GOING TO BLOW UP OUR FARM?!" Applejack yelled loudly, causing everyone to flinch away from her. The yell became more feral and she charged at him with her fist cocked back, her magic already forming her outfit from the glove outwards over the rest of her.