//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: First Contact-Trouble and Misunderstandings // Story: From a Dying World to New Lands // by Electrician //------------------------------// Chapter 7: First Contact-Trouble and Misunderstandings Perspective: Mike Britowski Location:??? Date:??? When Jonathon stumbled upon those injured creatures, they probably reminded him of his son. This time though, the three can be saved. Maybe he sees helping them as doing for them what he could not do for his son, a step in the long road to self-forgiveness. Or I could be completely wrong. I mean, that’s a possibility too. “Hey guys,” I heard Edgar greet from beside me, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Glad to see you all made it back in one piece!” “Not funny,” deadpanned Jonathon. He addressed the aliens around him. “Sorry for the mess; let’s just say the trip over here wasn’t all smooth-sailing.” “So Jon,” I said. “Care to introduce us to your new friends?” A mischievous grin spread across his face. “No,” he replied. He walked over to the table with the bag on it and very carefully set the white alien down on it “ I think I’ll let them do it.”. He looked to the three sets of eyes with hopeful stares and smirked. “Girls, if you would.” The yellow one stepped up. “Mah name’s Applebloom!” The orange one buzzed her wings and hovered slightly off the ground. “I’m Scootaloo!” The white one carefully sat up. “And I’m Sweetie Belle!” “And we’re…” ‘Why did Eddy and Jon plug their ears?’ “…THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!!!” Oh my god! A grenade went off, a building collapsed, a jet engine started right next to my ears. Something incredibly loud just happened at the same time they were speaking, because surely that auditory onslaught I just received couldn’t have come from those three small children in front of me. My brain refused to believe it! Letting the ringing in my ears stop, I decided to answer their introduction. “Well Applebloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle; that was uh…quite the introduction. My name is Mike, and that over there is Edgar. Edgar, say hello…Edgar?” “WHAT!?” “I said say hi to our guests!” “YOU WANT GOODBYE TO OUR PESTS!? THAT DOESN’T EVEN MAKE ANY SENSE!” “NO, I SAID-YOU KNOW WHAT? JUST GO LIE DOWN!!” “OK!” While I was a good dozen yards away from ‘Ground Zero’, poor unfortunate Edgar had been standing right next to the cutie mark crusaders when they introduced themselves. Can’t blame him for his hearing loss; here’s hoping it’s temporary. “Getting back on topic,” I said, still occasionally rubbing my ear. “I would like to look over your injury Sweetie Belle.” She carefully extended the injured limb out so I could examine it better. Thankfully, it wasn’t a life-threatening wound, but it was deep enough that I could tell it wasn’t going to close on its own. It was still slowly oozing blood, and it had stained a good portion of the hem of her white dress. Whoever takes care of her will not be happy when they see that. “Oh man. Jonathon, this one is going to need stitches.” I felt her tense; probably shouldn’t have said that out loud…I’m an idiot… “It’s alright,” I said trying to calm her back down. “I’m not going to do them, I’ll clean the cut, wrap it up, and Jon here will take you girls into town to get fixed up. You’ll only need a few anyway; the cut’s not that deep.” “It’s starting to hurt quite a bit though,” Sweetie replied. “That’s because you’re not terrified or excited right now, so the adrenaline is wearing off. At least, that’s what I think is happening; I’m not familiar with uh…your species’ anatomy. As an offhand question, what is your species? Also, where are we, if you happen to know by chance?” “I got this,” said Jonathon before any of the three could reply. “Let’s see how much I paid attention, eh girls? Feel free to correct me when I’m wrong.” In the time it took to clean and dress the wound, Jonathon gave both Edgar (who had come back with only slight ear-ringing) and me a quick rundown of our situation. Apparently, we’re in this place called “Equestria”. The dominant species in town and in surrounding areas are “ponies”, though they look nothing like any pony on Earth; more like an anthropomorphic one, if anything. This means they all use equine terms (filly/colt rather than boy/girl, mane rather than hair, etc.). There are other species, though their homelands are further out. There are apparently three types of ponies: Earth, Unicorn, and Pegasus. Interestingly enough, the three ponies we met represented all types. A fourth rare type ruled over the land, called an “Alicorn”…or something. The town at the foothills was called (amusingly enough) “Ponyville”. Haha, get it?…the puns…they burn. Finally, the forest Jon and Eddy were in was called the “Everfree”. I guess that’s enough info, for now anyways. “There you go, all wrapped up,” I said cheerfully. “Fantastic, now take them to town,” replied Eddy flatly. “Oh, you’re actually taking them.” Eddy looked around, before pulling me to a corner and whispering. “What!?” “They’re probably more comfortable with someone who was there to protect them.” “Jon did that!” “But who was the one holding the gun on the return trip, making sure everyone was safe, hmm? Jon was carrying Sweetie Belle, so that leaves you.” “…I hate you.” We broke our conversation and looked to see that Applebloom and Scootaloo were already following Jonathon to the garage, while he carried Sweetie Belle once again. “So, how’re we getting back into town?” asked Scootaloo. “We don’t hafta walk all the way back, do we?” Applebloom inquired as well. Jonathon chuckled. “You three managed to walk all the way here, and now you complain about the walk back? I still don’t know why you wandered so far from town in the first place. But anyways, no, we won’t be walking back. See, we humans have a much faster way of getting around…” Perspective: Eddy Culivin Location: Ponyville Outskirts, Equestria Date:??? The room erupted into a bunch of noise as the girls rapid-fired their questions all at once, asking about the ‘strange white carriage’ in the middle of the room. Apparently, they had ‘never seen such a unique one before’, and asked things like ‘isn’t it heavy?’ and ‘who’s pulling it?’ What was interesting about the ordeal was the fact that in order to explain the concept of a car to them, we had to tell them it was like a carriage, but had a machine in it that pulled it along. They might be ignorant of course, but this could be an insight to their level of technology. Another really good indicator was their tremendous amount of knowledge on the use of a seat-belt. “*sigh* ok, now just slide that piece of metal with the hole in it into the thing with the big red button…yes that one…no, now it’s backwards…good, now sit tight. *Slam!*” ‘Never thought I’d have to explain how to use a freaking seat-belt!’ Just when I had finally started relaxing about the fact that we were interacting with aliens, we’re visiting a whole damn town full of them! This can’t end well, but I don’t have much of a choice in the matter anyways, so I may as well make this easy on myself and strap myself in without complaint. “What’s this belt thingy for?” asked Scootaloo as Jon and I climbed into the front seats. “It keeps you from flying out the windshield and dying if we crash,” I replied casually. “EDDY!” hissed Jonathon. “What? It’s the truth!” “You could have phrased that a little nicer you know.” “And you could be driving already. Now start the truck.” “You’re impossible,” he breathed out. He turned around and addressed the ponies. “The vehicle has many safety features; one of them is the seat-belt you’re all wearing. You’ll be alright, I promise. Now, I’ll be starting the truck and it’s going to make some weird noises. Don’t be alarmed. You remember that machine called the ‘engine’ we were talking about?” They nodded. “I’m going to start it up now.” With a quick crank, the engine came to life. I looked back to see if they pissed themselves when the engine started. ‘Nope, but they are a lot less talkative all of a sudden. Maybe this trip won’t suck as much as I thought it would.’ Pulling out of the garage, we found a small dirt road a little ways from the house that can be seen leading into town, so we followed it. It wasn’t a paved road, but it was somewhat smooth, pretty good for a dirt road. The three in the back were glued to the windows, all traces of previous fear or reservation gone, watching as the ‘carriage’ did indeed pull itself along. “Wow.” (Behold, technology) “This is so awesome, we’re going really fast!” (We’re only doing around 45mph) “It’s so smooth compared to any carriage I’ve ridden in.” (The miracles of suspension) “What’s this?” “What does this do?” “How is it so cold in here?” (Etcetera) The little comments like that kept on coming as we approached town, so that prediction of this trip not sucking was false after all. Jon and I did our best to answer any questions along the way. As the town came into focus, I got my first up-close look at it. Thatched roofs, wood buildings, no smog, no obvious signs of any machinery, and no power generation plants of any kind, or power lines. It had that whole ‘Colonial Era’ thing going on. Yep, we arrived in a wonderful little town…not. It was at this point that I realized something: what if their hospitals are just as outdated? I mean I wasn’t thrilled about helping these pony strangers, but I didn’t want them to contract some infection from poor sanitary conditions and die. Hopefully, medical tech has progressed faster than everything else here. Applebloom and Scootaloo were giving directions to the hospital as Jon drove. As we entered the town, Jonathon slowed us down to 20mph. Good thing too, the town was packed…notice how I said ‘was’. As soon as the growling white beast with glowing white/yellow eyes entered town, everyone bolted. I have to admit though, it was hilarious! While Jon and the others weren’t as amused, I was over here chuckling away. “Oh God, this is too great!” I said. “Look at that one, hiding under the flower stand. We can still see you! Jon Jon, honk the horn. Come on man, do it!” “How about we don’t draw any more attention to us, eh? How’s that sound?” he replied irritably. ‘Well, that’s no fun’. All was calm at the little white hospital. Suddenly, the peaceful tranquility was shattered as a ferocious white beast with glowing eyes sped down the path leading towards the building. The beast was moving faster than anything on foot was supposed to, the hungry, growling monster intent on reaching its destination. It came to a stop mere feet from the entrance, the terrifying creature still growling softly. With a final roar, the beast quieted down, its eyes ceasing to glow. It was asleep, waiting for its master to awaken it once again. Jonathon withdrew the keys from the white pickup’s ignition, the keys jingling as he transferred them to his pocket. “Well, here we are,” he remarked cheerfully. ‘Well here we are indeed…’ I can honestly say I wasn’t looking forward to this. Given the town’s reaction, it’ll only be a matter of time before we get chased with torches and pitchforks for being ‘demons’. I can see it already… “Yo guys, we made it to the hospital,” I called into the radio. “Who’re you talkin’ to?” asked Apple before the radio sounded in reply. “That’s *BANG! BANG!* great.” *static…cut* “Is…something going on over there?” “NO! I mean no, we’re…fine, just fine listen I gotta go.” “Spoke kinda fast there eh Edgar? Edgar? Hello? *Sigh* God damnit…” “How did you do that?” asked Scootaloo. “Is it more awesome human tech?” “Uh, yea kid,” I dismissed. “That’s what it is.” I turned to Jonathon, who was equally puzzled by the strange radio chatter heard moments ago. “What was that about?” he asked. “Beats me,” I responded, shrugging. “The sooner we get in there though, the sooner we can go home and find out.” We slid out of the truck and helped our passengers disembark, Jonathon once again taking Sweetie. “Thanks,” came her meager reply. Jonathon merely smiled. ‘I wish I could be as chill about this whole thing as he is.’ Currently, I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my chest, and my hands were clammy and resting by the concealed 910. My palm was pressed lightly against my pocket so that in an emergency, I would merely slide my hand up and grab the pistol. “Let’s get this over with,” I said, pushing the door in. Imagine my surprise when I was greeted with a modern hospital, from layout to tech (mostly). The place was single colored, like the rest of the hospital. It smelled like disinfectant, the whole place looking very sterile. Overhead, tubes resembling fluorescent lights shined, though the tube itself seemed to be a long solid crystal rather than an actual tube of glass. ‘I don’t get how they work considering I didn’t see any infrastructure that would carry in electricity…interesting.’ Nurses in the traditional white dresses and red crosses walked about, some carrying syringes and medication. ‘Huh, I guess some things are universal.’ In fact the only giveaways that this wasn’t a human hospital were the lack of A/C, no computer on the front desk and those weird lights. Oh, and that the entire staff consisted of alien ponies. Did I forget to mention that? I heard someone gasp and a clipboard dropping and spun around. It appears we’ve been noticed. The nightmare continued to get worse as everyone else investigated the noise. We suddenly had everyone’s attention; a situation I had been hoping to avoid. ‘Get in, drop off, get out. How did such a simple plan get screwed over!?’ The place went ghostly quiet as the occupants of the hospital looked over us. There were a mix of emotions in the room, each easily detectable thanks to the ponies’ large eyes and moveable ears. Fear, shock, wonder, surprise; hell, there was even a pink pony in the back that was bouncing excitedly, though for what reason remains a mystery to me. Not that I cared though. ‘As much fun as having this staring contest is, I’ve got things to do!’ *Ahem!* “Look, I like staring at unusual things as much as the next guy, but in case anyone hasn’t noticed, we’ve got an injured filly here,” I announced, emphasizing the last point. “You know, an injury that maybe a hospital can fix?” This seemed to snap one of them out of their daze. She walked over, cautiously I might add, and relieved Jonathon of Sweetie. She then quickly disappeared through some double doors, the room so quiet we heard the footsteps as she walked away. ‘Great, now what?’ I didn’t like the fact that we were outnumbered, and wanted nothing more than to just leave. Would it be suspicious if I just ran? Probably, but I didn’t really care. My fingers were drumming nervously on the side of my pocket. “Applejack? What’re you doin’ over here?” asked Applebloom, finally shattering the silence that prevailed over the room. I followed her gaze to a group of five mares, including the crazy pink one. Looks like we’re meeting with the locals, whether I want to or not. I looked up. ‘*Sigh* I wonder what Edgar and Mike are up to…’ Perspective: Edgar Worthington Location: Ponyville Outskirts, Equestria Date:??? 3 minutes ago “What the fuck is that!?” I cried out, pointing to several holes now forming in the ground in front of our house. Furry arms were extending out of said holes as they widened, whatever was digging them intent on reaching the surface. “Mike, we have a problem!” I shouted down the hall. “Already on it!” the voice bellowed from the open door to Mike’s room. Seconds later, Mike emerged with two full vests and the Sig 556 and XM17-E4. The vests were nowhere near military spec; they only provided a place to hold mags and nothing more. We’d need to be careful. Mike slid me the Sig and the respective vest, and we both quickly dawned our gear and hid behind a window facing the front. I peered out. Dog…alien…things everywhere! There must have been at least 50 or so, fortunately all lightly armored and armed with melee weapons. “Attention hairless apes!” came this squeaky, high-pitched voice from outside. “We the Diamond Dogs demand you return the ponies you stole from us! Surrender and your punishment shall be lenient!” I stole a glance from the window and saw that this tiny little Diamond Dog, the equivalent of a Chihuahua, was at our front door. I looked over at Mike. “These must be the goons Eddy told us about; the ones that attacked those fillies. How do we approach this?” “We give a warning first,” he said, and tilted his head over the side of the window, careful not to reveal too much. “Listen, I don’t know how it works in Equestria, but where we’re from, what you’re doing is called trespassing. If we feel threatened, we have the right to defend ourselves and our property. Please don’t make us do that. We don’t have any ponies, now leave!” “LIES! We won’t be swayed by empty threats! This is your last warning; surrender, or we’ll take you by force!” Mike shrugged his shoulders, before heading to the front door. “What are you doing?” I whispered. He smiled deviously and replied. “What else? I’m giving them our answer.” He then flung the door open, much to the little dog’s surprise. “HOW THIS FOR AN EMPTY THREAT!?!” he shouted, and punted the little fucker clean off the porch. He then raised his rifle and fired upwards, tearing up the trees above their heads, so I took the example and followed suit. The incredibly confused dogs scattered, their whole plan of attack shattered. Then again, I’d be running too if I were them; encountering an enemy with such effective ranged weapons. They quickly tunneled into the dirt, suffering no real losses (we weren’t really aiming; it was an intimidation act after all). “That was rather…anticlimactic,” Mike noted. “Yea, but let’s just count our blessings and move o-”. Suddenly the floor started vibrating, scratching noises being heard underneath. “Are they trying to dig under the house!?” I exclaimed. “They won’t get far unless they can tunnel through a solid concrete foundation,” Mike said. “What worries me is what they’ll do when they fail.” As if in response to Mike question, several holes started opening up, but at different points around the house. They were surrounding us! “Damnit, we just escaped one invasion, we don’t need another one right now!” I shouted to no one in particular. Mike took a position by one of the broken barricades in the front, while I set up in the office near the front as well. Any dogs coming through the back would be bottle-necked down the entryway. As soon as they showed any part of their bodies, we let them have it. Ideally, they wouldn’t have even made it out of the holes, but nothing’s usually ideal. As they worked to overrun us, we slowed their progress by continually pelting them with lead. *Click*. Without missing a beat I withdrew my sidearm and fired away. “Yo guys, we made it to the hospital,” Eddy reported via Walkie-Talkie. I didn’t even bother to stop firing to reply. “That’s *BANG! BANG!* great.” “Is…something going on over there?” “NO! I mean no, we’re…”. Before I could finish that thought, one of the damaged window barriers that we had boarded up with wood splintered apart, a mess of grey fur and metal following closely behind. “…Fine, just fine listen I gotta go.” I dropped the radio on the floor and kicked it off to the side, reloading my rifle as I did so. Off in the distance, the still-functioning radio could be heard. “Spoke kinda fast there eh Edgar?”…“Edgar?”…“Hello?” Jumping right to avoid getting clubbed, I fired into the packed-together group of five, quickly dropping all of them. Mike was having similar luck dispatching the dogs. See, unlike the Infected, the dogs can be shot anywhere. Their weapons couldn’t cut through the brick walls, meaning they were confined to natural bottlenecks like windows and doors (most of which were still reinforced). Combine all that with the fact that there are much fewer of them than there were Infected meant that we were able to drive them back, even with a few broken defenses. The last of the dogs, the ones that didn’t do the smart thing and run anyways, were taken care of, leaving the area in an eerie silence as the gunfire halted. As the adrenaline faded, and some form of cognitive thought returned though, the reality of what we just did set in. We were supposed to have scared them off, not…well, this! ‘What have we done?’ Perspective: Mike Britowski Location: Ponyville Outskirts, Equestria Date:??? “Hell yea! Keep running ya bastards!” I shouted. The feeling of successfully repelling an attack is hard to top, and this was no different. I walked towards Edgar, noticing how quiet everything was, the sounds of my footsteps clearly heard echoing in the entryway. “Great shooting Edgar, we did it.” No reply drifted from the corner Edgar was in. “Edgar? Buddy, you alright?” Standing by the destroyed window barriers was Edgar, covered in dirt (among other things) but otherwise in one piece. His weapon lay on the ground, forgotten in the rubble as he continued staring out the window with an unblinking stare. “You alright?” I asked once again. I looked out the window as well, seeing the cause of his shock. The once beautiful green hillside was littered with the dead; the hill stained the color of conflict, crimson. “W…what …what have we done?” It was barely above a whisper, but Edgar wasn’t done there. “We…we killed them. We just massacred a large number of an alien species; a species that didn’t stand a chance against our weapons. What have we done!?” He grabbed his hair and looked down, probably to avoid looking at the macabre scene outside the window. “We tried to warn them Edgar. Hell, we kicked their messenger in front of them and shot at them. After all that, jumping into the fray was all on them.” “No, we…we could have, should have done something more. There had to have been a better way! This…this wasn’t how I wanted it to pan out.” “You think I wanted this as well?” “I know I know.” “Edgar, look. The only other alternative was to let them capture us. You don’t know what they would have done to us, and couldn’t guarantee our survival. It was us or them, and we made our choice. We have fought for our lives for too long to just lie down and die now!” “I KNOW…….I know…it’s just…FUCK man! We haven’t been on this world for 5 God-damn hours and there’s already like 30 bodies out there! What would the ponies think of us if they saw this? What would those children think!?” “I…I guess I-” “Didn’t think it through, and neither did I! I’m just so…tired of the killing, tired of the fighting, tired of all of it! Why…why can’t we go somewhere and not have to shoot something? Why does it always have to be us OR them? Why can’t we both live for once?” Edgar had buried his face in his hands, and was silently crying. The whole time, he was whispering ‘so tired…so tired’ over and over. I was never much of a good comforter, but I guess a hand on the shoulder and saying something was better than nothing. “I would love it if we could stop, if every bad thing that ever happened or is happening to us would just stop. Life isn’t fair though, and all we can do is pick ourselves back up when life gets us down and keep moving. It’s what we’ve always done, and it’s what we’ll have to do this time as well.” I looked once more out the window as Edgar slowly straightened out, once again looking out as well. “Should…we bury the bodies?” I asked. ”Unless you plan to dig that many graves, then no. I think laying them out side by side and burning them would be more dignified than a rotting pile of bodies. They may not have been very nice, but they were loyal and brave; they deserve a little dignity.” I set my weapon down on a nearby table and headed for the front entrance. I cocked my head over my shoulder. “Well…shall we get going then?” Perspective: Eddy Culivin Location: Town Hospital, Ponyville, Equestria Date:??? ‘I wonder what Edgar and Mike are up to…well, whatever it is, it’s probably a lot nicer and safer than this crap.’ I looked back down as the conversation between Applebloom and ‘Applejack’ (I believe was her name) continued. “Dash had a bit of a flyin’ accident, an we swung on by ta visit. But never mind that sugarcube, what happened to y’all? Y’all look terrible!” “Was…was that Sweetie Belle that was taken in there?” The white mare asked quietly, but with total shock registered on her face. I observed the four mares as they exchanged information with each ot-‘wait…four?’ Another headcount quickly confirmed the missing member. ‘OH GOD, the crazy pink one’s missing! Where is she!?’ Yea, this isn’t happening. I reached into my pocket. I had just gripped the pistol when of course.. “HIYA!” a frilly high voice said as my world turned pink. I wish I could say I handled that sudden appearance with dignity and grace, and I could say that…but it’d be a flat-out lie. With a startled yelp, I stumbled backwards, and as is such with our luck, I tripped and fell on my ass. A clacking sound made by a heavy metal object hitting the tile echoed throughout the room, followed by sliding as the pistol skittered away from me. ‘Well…fuck.’ I looked up at the pink death’s assistant herself, totally convinced she did that on purpose to disarm me. What would she do now?... “Hi, my name’s Pinkamina Diane Pie, but all my friends call me Pinkie, you should totally do that too! You guys must be new here. You have to be because I know everyone in town, but I don’t know you guys. Also you don’t look like ponies, what are you? *GASP* OOH OOH, are you guys aliens!? That’s super-duper cool! I have to throw a Welcome to Ponyville AND Welcome to Equestria Party. It’ll be so fun! They’ll be cake and ribbons and cake and games and cake-” The barrage of words finally ceased when someone shoved their orange-furred hand in her mouth. Imagine listening to that whole monologue…at 5X normal talking speed, and in that annoying high-pitched voice too! I looked over to thank my savior, only to realize my ‘savior’ was glaring daggers at me as she dragged the pink one (‘Pinkie’ I think) away. “Y’all better start talkin’; what in the hay ha-“ “WHAT DID YOU RUFFIANS DO TO MY SISTER!?!?” the white mare screamed/interrupted. “Calm down, we’re the good guys here, honestly!” pleaded Jonathon. It didn’t seem like there would be reasoning with her however, not with us at least. Propelled by an aura of pure righteous fury, she started toward us, more specifically Jon. “I’LL DESTROY YOU!” she screeched again. Eyes quickly scanning the room, I confirmed that my situation hadn’t miraculously changed; that damned pistol was still out of sight. ‘Where the hell’s the stupid thing when you need it!?’ “Come on lady, we’re the ones who saved your sister in the first place!” I pleaded as I scooted back. “Wait Rarity don’t, they did save us!” cried Applebloom as she tugged on “Rarity’s” dress. To my immense relief, the demon clad in purple and white stopped and slowly looked at the two children trying to stop her from devouring our souls. “W-what?” she asked, barely above a whisper. “We…sorta…kinda…skipped school to go to the Everfree,” said Scootaloo. “WHAT!?” both Applejack and Rarity cried out. “We wanted our Monster-hunter cutie marks, but we were trapped by Diamond Dogs instead,” explained Applebloom. “Ugh, those unrefined savages again?” inquired Rarity, clearly not happy with these ‘Diamond Dogs’. Wonder if she’s had a bad experience with them before. I know we have. “Yea, but then they came out of nowhere!” exclaimed Scootaloo. “They were like ‘leave’, and the Diamond Dogs were like ‘never!’. But then Jon took out this weird stick-thingy and went ‘POW!’ and injured one of them without even touching it! It was so cool! They took us to their house and helped Sweetie. Then we got to ride in this totally sick pony-less carriage, that was even cooler!” Rarity stood there for a little bit, before returning her gaze to us, still having that blank look. I didn’t flinch…not even a little bit. Her mouth opened a few times, but nothing came out before she closed it again. After an eternity (probably only a couple of minutes but hey, it was a tense situation!), she finally spoke. “I…I apologize for…err, jumping to conclusions, I sincerely do hope you can forgive my rude behavior,” she said. I took this opportunity to slowly stand back up. “It’s alright, no harm done,” replied Jonathon. Meanwhile, I was looking over the three mares with a cautious glance, in case one comes out of no-‘not this crap again, another one’s missing!!’ “Hey, I don’t mean to interrupt this ‘lovely’ conversation, but your group’s missing people and it’s making me uncomfortable,” I said. The mares quickly looked around. “Well, ah know where Pinkie’s off to, but that’s uh secret. It’s a tradition round these parts; you’ll know soon enough,” said Applejack with a grin. Then the grin vanished. “But, where in tarnation is Twilight?” A white-clad nurse with a red cross stitched to her cap, and ‘Redheart’ stitched to her uniform slowly approached. “If you’re referring to Ms. Sparkle, she left a little while ago shouting ‘it worked’ over and over again. I’m…sorry if that’s not much help.” “Thank you ma’am,” I said. Nurse Redheart then walked over specifically towards me. ‘crap.’ “Um, I uh…believe this is yours,” she said while withdrawing a-‘HOLY SHIT!!’ I quickly sidestepped to avoid her pointing the business end towards me. Carefully, I relieved her of the pistol, pocket-holstering it once again. ‘Well, that’s enough aliens for today. I’m getting the hell outta here.’ “Jon come on, we’re…well, aren’t you the social one today?” “They’re really nice peop-err, ponies. I was just explaining to Fluttershy what we are. Once they stop fearing us, ponies seem to be very curious, especially Fluttershy over here. Other sentient life man, this is so exciting!” “Yes I’m bursting with joy, now let’s go.” “Yeesh fine, I’m going.” He turned to the remaining mares. “I’m sorry, but I have to go.” “Take care y’all, an one again I’m awful sorry bout the mix up,” said Applejack. “It’s no problem, really. Bye everyone!” “Goodbye!” We headed for the door…only to be stopped when they were flung open by the purple mare (‘Twilight’ I believe, or ‘Ms. Sparkle. Her name is Twilight Sparkle?). She was breathing heavily, but somehow still smiling. A…what appeared to be a scroll was clenched in her left hand. She looked at us. “The princess will be here soon!” ‘Oh fuck me! We’re meeting royalty!?’