//------------------------------//
// Arrival 
// Story: Encounters 
// by Dai Kirai 
//------------------------------//

        The area in front of the void was clear as Malp had moved himself over to the far wall that morning; which was weird because Twilight had been trying to talk to it for the past two days without any luck, not even sure if it was awake or asleep at that time. Trying to talk with Malp went along with  Celestia’s suggestion to build up a rapport with it had been unsuccessful. The purple pony had prioritized the conversation so high due to the creatures coming through earlier than planned. She had tried to set up the meeting for a week from the initial encounter but all Malp would say was that the meeting would be “four eight hours” and it was only after a little talking did they figure out it had meant forty-eight hours.
        So, Twilight was sitting about fifteen feet in front of the void waiting for a visit by whatever creatures had sent Malp. She was sitting there next to one of her best friends, the fashionista designer, Rarity. Rarity’s indigo mane was coiffed with extra care and her coat brushed to a pearlescent white and her bluish grey eyeliner had been put on with extra care to match her azure eyes and her best fake eyelashes, she was set to dazzle whatever dignitaries decided to exit the void. Oooh, I hope they have some manners and aren’t like those horrid diamond dogs, the seamstress thought, remembering when they had kidnapped her and forced her to mine gems for them. It took forever to get all of that dirt out of my coat!
        Celestia had told Twilight to pick one of her friends as a dignitary to meet the coming creatures, as a sign of respect having two Equestrian heroes to meet the newcomers. Rarity had been the obvious choice; Pinkie being Pinkie was not one to give a good first impression and might actually scare them; Applejack was hard enough to understand for a pony that grew up speaking Equestrian and these creatures probably couldn’t, not to mention that her manners left something to be desired; Fluttershy, while nice and polite would be too scared to talk to them or even could out from behind her mane, especially if they looked scary; and Rainbow Dash would likely try to show off or challenge them to a race if she could; Rarity was polite and diplomatic and would give a decent impression, at least she could hold her tongue if she had too. Mystic was originally supposed to be here with her but he felt it wasn’t a good idea for both researches to be there when the creatures came through just in case they were hostile. Twilight thought he was scared because the evidence indicated that they were magic resistant and it even scared her a little, and she had faced down the god of chaos just under a year ago.
        So Twilight sat, and nervously waited. What if they are mechanical like Malp? She fretted, her obsessive compulsive scholarly side taking hold of her. Celestia couldn’t stay saying she needed to look into something about these creatures. What the hay could that be? And where is that consultant that Celestia had said would he here? What was she? Oh yes, a xenobiologist. Well that should prove useful; I only wish I knew who this mystery pony was. The lavender mare was so lost in thought and worry, again, that she barely felt the hoof nudge her right shoulder. She nearly screamed at being shaken from her thoughts and was very glad that she didn’t. Celestia had wanted to make sure everything was secure and had ordered several of her personal guards to protect the lab for as long as the creatures were viewed as a possible threat. And Twilight knew there were about twenty of them just outside the door, just waiting for any notice that something had gone wrong.
        Twilight looked over at an apologetic Rarity and then to where she was pointing at, Malp. The little black box sitting on the tuning fork, that Twilight believed was its eyes, was moving and settled the clear circular spot directly on the two waiting unicorns. The machination remained quiet and still which Twilight knew from experience it could do for days at a time. Is it getting ready for the arrival? She pondered, realizing there was less than five minutes before she could finally see what these beings looked like.
        Out of the corner of her eyes she spotted movement by the void, the surface of the large opaque circle had gone from pond still to rippling at multiple locations around its surface. She really wanted to charge up a defensive spell just in case in didn’t actually come in peace, but Celestia had warned that they may be able to detect magic with their technology and if they could they might view it as a hostile or aggressive action, especially if she started charging it just before their dignitary team was to arrive. 
Oh No! she started to look around the room, realizing she forgot something and looking for anything that could be quickly used to solve the problem. There was no step in front of the void. It hadn’t been a problem with Malp, it seemed to have been designed with problems like that in mind, but any living creature she knew of would take that one foot drop rather badly, especially if they had a step on their side. She wanted to move, but she was representing the princess and had to maintain the proper decorum, especially if they were watching her through Malp. That was the only thing that made sense, and it would explain why it took so long to get responses from it, messages always took time to travel to their destination. 
Out of the ripple at the bottom of the void Twilight saw what looked like a shiny black hoof emerged and set itself down on the floor of the research facility, with the front of the hoof being a lot longer than that of the average pony’s. Then, several feet above the hoof she saw a black mane start to come through. It IS a quadruped! This didn’t really surprise her as most life she was familiar with walked around, or could walk around, on four legs. She was excited that the life coming through wasn’t too dissimilar from what she expected. Maybe it’s just from a different evolutionary path, not able to stand the anticipation anymore, Twilight started to fidget.
That was when Twilight noticed that the movements were off, the front leg should be moving forward. Instead it was staying stationary while the head continued to come through followed by two more appendages at its sides. ARMS! It was in fact a biped. Such a discovery! The first extra-equestrian life to be discovered is a biped! She stopped dead. Focus! FOCUS! It could still be a threat, it was still an unknown. The lavender mare berated herself. Then she started to worry about how magic would affect it.
As the creature finished exiting the void, it moved forward and Twilight could finally get a good look at it, and she felt very underdressed. The creature stood at about six foot tall, just tall enough to look her mentor in the eyes, and it was fully clothed. Not the fully clothed a pony would have thought of with just a tie or a collar. This was full-on Gala style clothing, the only skin or fur that the mare could see was on its hands and its head. The clothing was mostly black with the only white piece being the shirt under his jacket. The suit looked similar to what a stallion would wear on very formal occasions with a jacket with a lapel or collar and a dark blue necktie. The jacket and trousers had small gray vertical stripes and the shoes were a polished black. Its four appendages seemed to be of equal length with the arms ending in hands, but unlike the hands she was used to seeing on creatures they had no claws on them. It really did look like a less muscular minotaur with longer legs, and less fur. From what she could tell it only kept fur on top of its head and a little on its hands. The creature’s skin seemed so bland, being a creamish olive color; Twilight was used to seeing more color in a creature. And the face just seemed so strange; she wondered how it could see out of such small eyes and both so far forward on its head. That would leave it with major blind spots and how could it detect anything with such small ears? And while the rest of the head seemed to be in the right places, everything just seemed so small on its head. 
The strange creature moved forward about five feet, balancing on its two long legs, keeping its arms at its side the whole time. “Hello.” It stated. “My name Anthony Marcus. In peace come.” Well, Twilight thought, at least it sounds better than what Malp would say, this at least sounds like it comes out of something alive. 
Before Twilight could test her theory about the time it would take it to translate a sentence, Rarity stepped forward to introduce herself. “Hello there Anthony Marcus, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am the lady Rarity and this is my friend Twilight Sparkle. Are you the entirety of the diplomatic envoy?” She stated it in her most regal voice, ever the proper lady. 
That is a good question; would they not send more than just one? Or at least send some guards with it. Although we still don’t know what Malp can do, maybe that’s its job. Twilight wondered, waiting for the new being to respond.
After a few seconds of him looking stunned, Twilight thought it was due to the overly complicated words her friends had used, the creature responded. “No. Two more.” As if on cue, two more of the creatures started to come through the void, they were both similar in height and build to the first one, but their suits were just black and they fit slightly looser and they had no ties. They flanked the first creature. The one on the left had a reddish-brown mane and blue eyes while the one on the right had a yellowish mane and grey eyes. They both seemed to have a base skin color of cream but they seemed to be more towards the brown side, as if they spent too much time in the sun without fur.
Finally a color I can recognize, nopony has grey eyes. Twilight couldn’t believe they all looked so much alike. 
The first creature seemed to notice that its companions had arrived and introduced them. “This one” the first creature said pointing to the yellowish-maned one “Avery Anwar.” It then pointed at the other one “This Victor Sizemore. We come learn.”
“Psst,” Twilight can hear her friend trying to talk to her. “Do you see their clothing? Why didn’t you tell me this was such a formal event?” The fashion pony sounded half panicked, afraid she wasn’t showing her best for such regal dignitaries. They may look similar to Diamond Dogs, but they dress much nicer. And are clean. She thought.
“You really think I knew about this and didn’t tell you?” Her friend responded “Besides, you look great. Now, what can you tell me about their clothing?” Twilight was hoping her friend could contribute some useful information. Where is that expert? 
“Well, yes.” Rarity laughs slightly. “I do look fabulous. But the fabric appears woven. And look at the weave, it’s so much nicer on the one in the middle, he must be the leader. And the clothing on the other two is loose.”
“Is that strange?” Twilight was glad she had her friend with her, she knew next to nothing about clothing and at least this way she wasn’t going in blind.
“Well, it could just be that they don’t rank high enough to afford clothing that is perfectly fitted to them.”
“Or?” Twilight could tell there was a but there, something being left unsaid.
“Or, it could be to hide a weapon, probably something like a knife.” Rarity hadn’t wanted to voice those thoughts.
Twilight sighed. “Of course they are probably armed. This is a strange planet and they sent a machine to make sure it was safe for them to come. Would you expect an Equestrian dignitary to do any less?”
“Well no.” Rarity conceded “But do you have any idea what they are?”
“Judging from the looks of them I would have to say monkeys.” Twilight judged, “They are clearly primates. The only problem is that all primates that have ever encountered could never be civil enough to form a proper society.”
Twilight barely got this belief out before she heard a gasp coming from the shocked Rarity. Oh the scandal if these dignitaries were to understand what was just said.
At the same time Twilight hears a sharp laugh by the door. A familiar laugh. Oh buck me, Twilight thinks, not her. She won’t turn around to acknowledge the intrusion.
The new voice decided to speak up and correct the uniformed pony. “They are clearly related to apes and not monkeys, any basic scientist should know the difference. I would have expected Princess Celestia’s personal student to know better.” The voice came out haughty and arrogant, like that of two foal-hood rivals that now argue using their knowledge to insult each other. “Actually look at them. The differences are more pronounced than those between a pony and a zebra.” Twilight could hear the clopping sound getting closer and the words getting louder, the newcomer was approaching her from the doorway. “Ignoring the fact that they are walking upright and using tools. They have no tails whatsoever and their clothing doesn’t leave enough room for one even if they did. They have a rounded nasal passage, not slits; they use their eyes over their noses. Large cranium size when compared to the rest of their body; which makes sense if they are tool users, and advanced ones at that. If you want I can go on, there are quite a few more I could go over.” Twilight could practically feel the smile radiating off of her tormentors face. 
Twilight turned her head to side to see the intruder, a mint green unicorn mare with cyan-grey and white mane and a lyre for a cutie mark. “Thank you for the clarification Lyra.” Twilight deadpanned, rather not having to have seen this pony again. “By the way, you’re late.” Twilight mustered all the enthusiasm she could, which was none.
Lyra’s eyes flashed with anger for a second before she got her emotions back under control. “Do you have any idea where I was or what I was doing? I was out in the wilds, beyond the borders of Equestria, studying changelings. After their attack on Canterlot it was decided that they needed to be studied to better find a defense or any indication when they might attack again. Do you have any idea how long it took to get set up near their hive without being spotted? Three months of work lost, just when I was starting to gather valuable information. The letter from Celestia nearly gave away my position. I had to fight my way out of there, not all of us can teleport. Maybe if you had set up the meeting for when you were supposed to-“
Lyra’s rant was broken by the soft coughing of Rarity who was trying to get the fighting mares’ attention. “Do you think this is the best time for your bickering? We do have foreign dignitaries after all.” She stated never letting her regal façade drop.
Lyra looked at Twilight and nodded her head imperceptibly and in a much calmer tone asked “So, what was so important.”