Chapter 14: Diplomacy
Canterlot Castle, October 15th, 12:34
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Angela Greene asked Bryan Hunsinger for confirmation.
Bryan capped the dry erase marker. “Not sure. For all I know, I could have just spelled something entirely inappropriate... or said nothing at all,” He remarked as he examined his work. “I think all we can do now is cross our fingers and pray.” Bryan looked towards the horned and winged equines. “Come on,” He said as he took one last deep breath before turning the front end of the board towards them. “We come in peace.” Right away Bryan and Angela noticed a reaction from the equines. Upon seeing the board their jaws fell open and their eyes widened.
Moments passed and the equines stood there, one of them, the shorter purple one, cocked its head to one side. Bryan’s fingers clenched onto the board tightly, Dr. Miller sighed.“I really wish I knew what they were thinking right now.”
“It almost seems as if they’re shocked,” Ms. Weaver, the council's figurehead pointed out. “Mr. Hunsinger, are you sure you didn’t write anything profane?”
Still holding the board in front of him, Bryan fired a glare at her from over his shoulder. “Of course I didn’t! I checked this at least five times before revealing it.”
Weaver shrugged. “Just making sure.”
“Shut it you two!” Angela hissed. “Something’s happening.”
From up above, a third and much darker winged equine dropped from the sky. An equine that Angela immediately recognized as the one she met from outside the ship. Its dark blue mane flowed in a non-existent breeze, similar to the white horse next to it. The familiar being descended gently, its wings flapping heavily before landing onto the soft grass, and folding them neatly back onto its sides.
Its head looked from the smaller lavender one to the taller regal looking equine. The blue equine leaned towards the other two and they began to whisper to each other. Filling the once silence atmosphere with their hushed voices.
“Angela?”
“Yes, Bryan?” she replied not taking her eyes off of the three.
“What are we going to do if they can’t respond?”
Angela sighed. This wasn’t the first time that she’d gone over this. The entire time on their trip here she, Bryan, and Ms. Weaver had been discussing how the meeting might turn out. The plan was to introduce themselves, request they go inside, discuss why they had came, answer any of the natives’ questions, and finally make a proposition. A proposition which would hopefully allow them to stay and construct a small temporary colony until further plans could progress.
However, that plan didn’t stand a chance if the equine hierarchy was unable to respond. Angela had a strong feeling that two days wasn’t enough time for them to fully examine the book she had given them and learn from it. Hell, even Bryan barely scratched the surface of that book Dr. Miller found in the cottage.
Angela bit her tongue. Even if the equines couldn’t reply. It would be better to proceed than give up. “We continue on with the plan. Even if they can’t, they sure as hell can read.” She gave him a small smile. “I guess it’s time we introduce ourselves.”
Bryan smiled in reply and nodded he flipped the board back towards himself. A thought then came to his mind and his smile widened even more. Quickly, yet precisely he uncapped the marker and began to write, occasionally referring to a well used notebook that Weaver had retrieved for him.
As Bryan worked he made a few mistakes here and there, but they were quickly resolved by a glance at the notebook and a flick of the eraser. Every now and again he’d stop when he couldn’t quite think of the correct noun or verb that needed to go into the sentence. It was quite trying to write in an entirely different language he literally just learned. Even if he was the best, learning an entirely new language was still difficult. Especially one as uncommon as this, to human culture that is.
“Are you finished?” Angela asked.
Bryan glanced down at his work, examining it carefully before he finally nodded and capped the marker. “I think so... yeah, I really think so.” Gaining confidence he grinned and twisted the board around to face the ponies. “Hope this works.”
The three ponies each raised an eyebrow at the words on the board.
Hallo. My name Breean.
Leffft es Anglla an Weafer
Beide meh es Dr. Mihler.
For a moment they just looked confused, eyeing the board and tilting their heads as if doing so could help them decipher their apparently poorly written message. Bryan gulped and held the board loosely. Suddenly a purple shimmer enveloped the board followed by a slight tug. He quirked an eyebrow at the ponies and the white one gently nodded at him. Taking that as a cue he let go of the board and watched with wide eyes as it gently drifted towards the ponies so that they could examine it further.
Miller immediately whipped out his notepad and began to jot down notes, Ms. Weaver followed suit. “Truly astounding I must say,” he muttered, “These things really do possess psionics.”
“They also possess our only form of communication.” Angela quipped as she flashed Bryan a sarcastic smile. “Way to go, Hunsinger.”
Bryan frowned and shot a look back at her before looking at the three ponies. “We could always use your back to write on.”
“Or Dr. Miller’s notepad,” Angela suggested.
“Negative, I won’t allow that,” Doug commented as he closed his notepad. “This here”–he shook the pad lightly–“will only be used for scientific advancement–look!” He suddenly pointed forward.
The ponies had apparently finished looking over the board. As the middle purple pony lowered the board into the grass, it gave the humans a perplexed look. Comparatively, the midnight blue equine wore an expression of piqued interest; while the white equine’s expression remained fairly static in the face of this revelation. Eventually, after a few moments of the two groups throwing increasingly odd looks at each other, the purple equine took action, hesitantly it raised one of its front hooves and began to wave it back and forth, almost like a person waving ‘hello’.
The four humans watched this gesture with great interest, and when it was done waving, Angela was the first to wave back, the other three humans followed right behind her. Their actions were rewarded them three soft smiles coming from the ponies.
“Oh my God.” Doug gawked. “This is beyond astounding. This is absolutely remarkable! No. Splendid, this is absolutely splendid!” The other three looked at him with raised eyebrows. “Don’t you all understand how great this is! This is literally history in the making!”
“Dr. Miller,” Ms. Weaver said, “right now is not the time for you to geek out.”
“I.. oh,.. yes. My apologies, Weaver,” Doug said with a slightly pained expression as he reigned in his composure..
Angela leaned over and tapped Bryan on the shoulder. “We got incoming.” She pointed at the levitating board floating gently towards them.
For some reason, Bryan hesitated before reaching out and plucking it from the air. An odd tingle ran up his arm as he did so. A shiver forced its way down his spine giving him goosebumps. “Th-that was odd,” He whispered to himself. Shaking his head he wiped off the board and uncapped the marker, and went to write again.
:[-]:
Central Control, October 15th, 12:37
Central Officer Jonathan Conway stood beside the hologlobe, his thoughts having drifted away momentarily while awaiting feedback. He shook his head and brought himself back to reality. He brought a hand up to the small bluetooth mic, “Delta squad, this is Central. I need a sitrep, over.”
“This is Kong, we’ve touched down just minutes ago. Everything seems clear, over.”
“Copy that, maintain a loose perimeter and make sure that none of the native population gets too close. Remember, this is a first impression so refrain from any violence unless authorized. Over.”
“I hear you, sir. Over and out.”
John took a deep breath before going back to the mic. “Baghdad, this is Central. Give me a sitrep. Over.”
“Commander Keshiner here.” William’s voice came through with a small wave of static. “VIPs are safely offboard and are communicating with the equine hierarchy. Over.”
Though William couldn’t see, John nodded. “Roger that, Commander, is everything going alright between both parties? Over.”
“This is Angela Greene.” John raised an eyebrow towards the unexpected voice. “And yes things are going absolutely perfect,” She said.
John waited for her to end her statement off, then sighed when he realized that most of the council members weren’t trained properly when it came to radio chatter. “I hear you Angela,” he replied, “Lets try and keep it that way. Any news on when you’ll be pressing the meeting further?” He pushed himself away from the globe and went towards a small set of stairs made up of three steps. He stepped down the steps and walked over to a man sitting behind a set of monitors displaying each of the soldier’s shoulder cams.
“Negative, Central, that’s what we’re working on now,” Angela said. “As of now we’ve ran into an expected obstacle.”
Again John waited a few seconds, just in case she wasn’t finished. “And what would that be?” he asked.
“So far we’ve been able to communicate via writing, however the equines appear to have no way of responding,” she explained, “Which obviously makes things much more difficult for us.”
John sighed before replying, “All I can say for now, Baghdad, is that you better find something that’ll make this meeting work. If not, we’re going to have a series of problems ahead of us.” John glanced over each of the screens, a few of them showed the meeting underway while the rest either showed a castle wall or a crowd of equine civilians watching from the sidelines.
“Copy that. Over and out.”
John rolled his eyes, now she ends it properly.
“Wow is this really all you do?” John heard Arin ask behind him.
“Yep,” John said as he leaned forward and tapped the shoulder of the man who sat behind the computer screens. “Focus in on six,” he said pointing to one of the screens. The man nodded and clicked a few keys, causing the rest of the images to disperse except for the one John requested. There it showed a clear view of the three equine leaders, or what he assumed to be the leaders.
The three of them turned to one another, forming a small triangle, and they began to speak to each other privately. John briefly looked at the desk jockey. “Magnify it,” he ordered. The man nodded his head and did as he was told, the image zoomed in closer onto the equines. John squinted his eyes and leaned in a little closer, trying his best to make out their expressions. They almost looked like they were arguing, he wasn’t quite sure.
“You know, I’ve never actually got to see this room in action–”
“Arin, ” John snapped from over his shoulder, “shut it!” He tapped the jockey and asked doubtfully, “Do these have enhanced audio?”
“I’m afraid not sir.”
John sighed. “Of course it doesn’t.” Looking back at the image he saw the three ponies break apart from one another. One of them, the tall blue one, appeared to be nervous, while the other two looked to be rather... dissatisfied with something.
“Central to Baghdad, how copy over?”
“We read you,” William said.
“What happened down there? Over,” John asked. He saw that the blue equine had closed its eyes the horn on top of its head began to glow.
“Nothing as of yet, sir,” William said, “I was just heading up to see what the hell is going-” William fell silent as static filled the comms.
“Baghdad, I’m losing you over,” John said, “What’s going on–”
Suddenly, a bloodcurdling cry flooded John’s ears, so much so that he nearly ripped the bluetooth out of his ear.
John’s eyes shot to the screen; the blue equine’s eyes were still closed, while the other two seemed horribly frightened by what was going on. He shouted, “Jesus Christ, what the hell is happening!? Who’s screaming?!” Eyes all across central control turned towards John.
“Central, this is Delta team!” Kong said, “The Commander just went down! I repeat Keshiner is down! Permission to engage!”
"What the hell is going on down there?!" John shouted again.
“Michael here, it’s that goddamn blue thing! Whatever the fuck it’s doing it’s harming Keshiner! I say we light the fucker up!”
“Bring the image back to default,” John ordered the jockey, “I need to see what’s going on!” John pressed the mic closer to his mouth. “Squads this is Central, do not engage I repeat: do not engage until I have clear visual on what is happening!”
“Sir, with all due respect–” Kong started but was immediately cut off.
“That is an order, Delta!” John exclaimed. The jockey quickly pulled the image back, allowing the rest of the other screens to appear. William was on the ground with his hands firmly planted over his ears. Lt. Michael ran over and lifted him off the ground and began to drag him towards the VTOL. All the other accompanying soldiers’ had their arms pointed at the blue equine, whose horn continued to glow.
“John, if I were–” Arin started but was stopped by John glaring at him.
“Hold that thought,” John growled and turned to the screen. “I don’t think it’s trying to kill him–”
“The fuck it is–!”
“Shut up and let me finish!” John nearly shouted, “If they really wanted to kill everyone down there they would have gone for more than one guard.”
“That’s beside the point–!” John silenced Arin with a glare.
“Not only that,” he continued, “I doubt they’d only have one of their kind take those men on.”
Arin looked at him confused and scratched the back of his head. “I don’t think I understand your logic here.”
“Trust me, Arin. I think I know what he’s going through.”
“And how could you possibly know?”
John took a deep breath, his thoughts recalling his encounter with the equine in the interrogation room. “There’s no time to explain,” He stated as he met his brother’s eyes, "I might be wrong here. but I think they're trying to communicate with us.”
:[-]:
An ear piercing screech brought William down to his knees, a flaring pain made his brain feel as if something was jabbing at it with a hot metal rod. His vision flashed a ghostly red and he forced his eyes shut. The pain quickly began to work its way down his body, soon it reached the back of his head and he cried out in agony
Through his wails, William felt someone’s hands wrap around him as they tried to drag him away. Tears welled up around the corner of his eyes, the stabbing pain had reached his throat and he began to have trouble breathing. Then he couldn’t. Why couldn’t he breathe?!
As William panicked, his screams started to become louder and nearly psychotic. His lungs had started to burn, and for some reason he felt the urge to tear his mask off. As if that was the only way to save himself from whatever was tearing itself through his skull, carving through his brain and ravaging his mind. William began to dig his fingers further below the mask, he could feel his tips nearing the edge; his gloved fingers slipping beneath the rubber on his chin. He was so fucking close, just a few more and... and then it was gone.
The piercing screech; that ear-bleeding ring had vanished. The pain that stretched down to his throat and lungs was gone and he could taste the air again. He could hear the shouts and arguments coming from his radio, his own panting. His face was drenched in pained tears. William opened his eyes and was greeted by a bright blue sky, along with a bit of shaded metal to his left. It was a piece of the VTOL rotor.
William gulped and rose up from his spot. Still confused on where he was, one moment he was going to check up on the VIPs and next thing he knew he was here. Under the dropship rotors. “How the... how did I get here?” He pushed himself up onto his feet.
“I’m telling you they’re trying to fucking kill him!” Kong’s voice echoed out of the radio.
“And I’m telling you sergeant that until we have confirmation you are to keep a close eye out!” Central’s voice echoed back.
William placed a hand over his radio. “Guys, what the fuck just happened?” He spoke nervously as he glanced around at his surroundings. Every single soldier, including the ones with the concealed firearms, had their weapons trained on the three equine leaders.
“Commander!” Michael shouted from his right. “You’re alright!”
William looked over, his mind still racing a hundred miles per hour. Why was everyone on such high alert? William didn’t respond to the lieutenant, he instead went up to the front. Clearly he was attacked or something, and he needed answers. William went over to the VIPs. “Angela, what the fuck happened?”
The woman in the grey tyvek suit looked at him worriedly, her arms were holding onto each other and she was practically shaking in her suit. “I-I don’t k-know,” She stuttered, her eyes flickered towards the equines. “Just a minute ago I saw you walking towards us, and the next you're screaming like a banshee.”
William shook his head, he was even more confused now then he was before. “I was out for a minute? What are you talk–”
“Excuse me Commander,” Bryan said, “but she’s talking about when that thing over there.” He pointed at the blue equine who seemed to be smiling sheepishly at them. “Made it’s horn glow bright and you started freaking the fuck out.”
William looked at the tall equine and raised an eyebrow, he then reached over and tapped Bryan’s arm. “Come with me.” He started walking towards the equine, Bryan glanced about nervously before falling shortly behind.
“<Your friend won’t be necessary.>” William froze in his tracks and stared at the equine. Did it just talk to him? “<Please.>” Its lips moved when it spoke to him. “<Tell your colleagues that what happened before was all a misunderstanding.>” William took a step back away from the equine; it was actually speaking to him. He could understand everything it was saying to him, but how could this be? Just minutes ago these things were speaking nothing but gibberish, but now... It was still gibberish.
Gibberish he could understand. William opened his mouth to reply, however, instead of English– “<How come I know what you’re saying?>” His own gibberish fueled language slipped out of his lips.
The equine smiled. “<Now things are just starting to get interesting.>”
William stumbled back into Bryan, shocked by what he had just said/heard. While William had seen some fucked up shit in his life, this here was immediately shot to the top of his: “Shit I had seen list”.
“Commander, what’s wrong?!” Bryan asked as he tried to step out of William’s way.
William looked at him with wide eyes. “<What do you mean what’s wrong?>” He said using the equines’ gibberish.
“Wait what?” Bryan stepped back and cocked an eyebrow upwards.
William heard the horse upfront giggle. He tried again, this time clearing his throat and thinking before speaking. “I...” He started but stopped, how was he going to explain this to them. Hey guys uh... I can talk to them now? It just doesn’t sound right, quite frankly it just doesn’t make sense. Now he’s just suddenly able to speak with them?! Despite ten minutes ago not understanding a single fucking thing that was being uttered.
“For some reason I can understand them now,” He said trying to sound as professional as possible. Which was probably one of the hardest things he’d ever done since waking up out of cryosleep.
Bryan frowned. “You’re saying you can speak to them?” He then tilted his head. “Since when?”
“Since five seconds ago,” He said having added more sarcasm than he meant to. “Y’know after I got done screaming and shit–I don’t fucking know! I can just talk to them now!”
Bryan looked back at the other VIPs like he expected them to step in and help or something. Angela scratched the back of her head, behind her the soldiers slightly lowered their weapons. However, their alerted postures remained the same, ready in case something else happened.
“Commander,” Angela piped up, “Are you sure you’re alright?”
William felt offended by this, of course he was alright why would he be lying to them? That is unless they thought he’d gone fucking nuts or something now. “Of course I’m fine!” He unintentionally snapped at her. “Trust me, please, I’m not lying. But that fucking thing just spoke to me and I understood it!”
Bryan took a few steps back and raised both of his palms. “Whoa now, Commander, just chill out.”
“William.” Angela started walking towards them. “Bryan’s right, just calm down and go take a few minutes off–”
William whirled around and glared at her. “When the fuck did you start giving me orders? I told you guys I ain’t going nuts–”
Bryan tossed his arms into the air. “We never said you were going nuts–”
“I’ll prove it then!” William turned to the blue equine, “I’ll make her greet us!”
William opened an arm out to horse and cleared his throat. “<Hello there, let me introduce myself!>” He completely changed his voice in order to sound more welcoming. “<I am Commander Keshiner of the Baghdad team.>” Oh now he was never going to get used to talking like this. William couldn’t even begin to understand how he knew what he was saying, quite frankly he didn’t know how he was making the necessary sounds, as well. The way he spoke it felt like chef making a stew, throw in a pinch of English, add a grain of Russian, finally to top it off lets add a gallon of mixed Asian languages!
It was literally a jumbled up mesh of languages that rolled off his tongue and floated off into the air. When did he learn this? He doubted even God knew. The tall blue equine smiled at him and replied, “<It is a pleasure to meet you, Commander Keshiner.>” She bowed her head to them.
William glanced back at the others. “<See what I–>” He pounded his chest and coughed into his fist. “See? I’m not crazy.” Angela and Bryan stood side by side, completely flabbergasted by what they just saw.
“You can actually speak to them?” Angela mumbled.
“Well that’s fucking fantastic!” Bryan pushed past Angela. “This is absolutely astounding–”
Angela snatched Bryan by the shoulder. “Whoa, calm down there tiger. We’re on a mission remember?” She looked at William. “Commander, if this is true–and seeing by what just happened, it is–then that means you’re going to have to take the reigns from me and Bryan here.”
William went to protest but quickly stopped himself, she was right. The only way they could communicate with them beforehand was via writing, and because of that the equines had no way of replying. And thinking on it now, a one sided conversation didn’t really seem like the smartest idea. So with that out of the way it begged the question... how the fuck was he going to play a round of diplomacy with an alien race?
William wasn’t the best conversationalist, the only person he could ever talk to cohesively with was his wife. Everyone else he was either barking orders, making fun of or having a very brief discussion. He looked nervously at the equines. Right then and there in just under a few minutes possibly the entire fate of the human race rests on his shoulders.
Well that’s just fucking great now is it?
William licked his lips and took hold of his radio. “Central, this is Commander Keshiner. Over.”
“I’m reading you, Commander, glad to hear you’re okay. Over.”
“Yeah whatever. Anyways, I guess I’ll be the one taking control of the meeting from here on out. Over.”
A brief silence past. “Negative, Commander I cannot al–”
“Now boy, you listen here,” William silenced John, “how else are you expecting us to get a response from these things?”
Another moment of silence. “Commander, I don’t quite understand what you’re saying here. Say that again over.”
William rolled his eyes. “I’ll tell you once I get back.” He switched the radio off and looked back at the others. “Well Angela, I guess you’re right. I will be taking control of things here on out, however, I need you to be my advisor for this. Bryan... you can just tag along I guess,” he said to the poor translator who was practically useless now. Bryan hung his head low and sighed.
“Well alright then.” Angela walked up alongside William the two of them were facing the blue equine, who stood next to its two compatriots waiting patiently. “First off if you haven’t introduced us, I think that’s what we should do. Secondly if we’re able to take matters indoors away from the public eye and discuss privately that’ll be better. Next off we should probably answer any questions that they have to offer, we don’t want to come off brash with our terms of agreements. We need to move in slow, kinda like a casual conversation. We don’t want to seem rude. However, if one of them brings up the reason on why we’re here that’ll be the perfect opportunity to strike them with what we want and or need.”
William looked at her and blinked. “What?”
Angela groaned and shoved Will forward. “I hate to say this, but we don’t got time. So we’re going to wing it. Have you introduced us yet?”
“Well myself,” William said pushing her hand to the side.
“That’s not good enough.” Angela rolled her eyes. “Introduce us and tell me how they respond.”
Will nodded and faced the equines. Again, he cleared his throat before hopping languages. “<My colleagues and I.>” Oh man how was he going to go about this? “<Would like to... thank you for your kind escort on our way here.>” Yep he could already feel the ship taking in water now.
“<You are quite certainly welcome, Commander Keshiner.>” The blue horse smiled at him.
“<Eh... th-thank you.>” Will bowed his head, they were certainly fucked.
“What did they say?” Angela asked.
“N-nothing as of yet.” William straightened himself out. Looking forward he saw the three leaders were negotiating with one another, speaking in a low tone so that he couldn’t hear them.
“<Eh... Commander.>” William glanced over his shoulder and saw the purple equine who stood between the two larger ones step forward. “<Would you and your colleagues be so kind as to follow us inside?>”
William gulped and nodded before turning back to Angela. She was looking at him anxiously. “What is it?” she asked.
William licked his lips. “They want us all to follow them inside.”
William was surprised to see how fast Angela’s mood flipped, a large smile came to her face and she looked back at everyone else. “Alright guys, looks like we’re off to a good start!” She looked back at William and gestured towards the equines who were already making their way to the door. “After you.”
:[-]:
“I must say, Commander,” Luna said looking back at the elongated alien that walked alongside her. “It is refreshing being able to speak to you and your kind without any boundaries.”
William chuckled lightly. “I must agree, yet... I have a question.” The two groups stopped outside the castle door and waited for the guards to open it. “How were you able to make it so that I can speak your language?”
Luna smirked and looked over at Celestia, as if she was waiting for her confirmation to continue. Celestia just nodded and allowed her sister to do so. “What I did, has a rather complicated explanation.” The large door swung open quietly and the two groups began to drift inside. “I initially intended to make it so that the creature with the board would be the one doing the talking, however, when I noticed you were approaching I had a hunch that you would be the better choice.”
William frowned. “What do you mean you had a hunch?” He asked Luna as she guided them into the central hall. William and the rest of the human’s eyes widened at the massive and unique architectural design of the castle’s interior. Large sets of pillars ran down the center of the hall alongside a red carpet which led to a large staircase that broke off into two separate stairs going off in opposing directions. The walls were decorated with stained glass windows possibly depicting separate points in history, one of those stainglass windows showed off a rather disturbingly familiar creature regarding humanity's dark past. William diverted his eyes away from said window. They continued their way down the hall before banking left and towards another corridor.
“Well I don’t want to sound rude, but from what I’ve seen of your translator’s body language, it didn’t seem like it had all its bearings together.” Luna explained. William had to do his best from trying to correct the pony on the fact that Bryan wasn’t an “it” rather than a “he”.
“So he wasn’t mentally prepared, that’s what you’re saying?” They rounded another corner and down the end of the hall William saw a large wooden door guarded by two white equine guards. “Okay I understand that, but that still doesn’t answer my question. How were you able to make it so that you and I can talk like the way we are now?”
Luna’s previous smirk grew into a smile which she flashed towards William. “Well it’s all because of magic, Commander.” William raised an eyebrow and frowned, he looked at Luna but decided to not press further on the subject. He’ll just have to come back to it later.
The two pony guards standing beside the door bowed before the three alicorns as they neared the door. They then stepped off to the side allowing a wider entrance, Luna’s horn flashed briefly and she could hear the large deadbolt coming loose before the door swung widely open, revealing a beautifully constructed throne room.
William’s jaw nearly smacked the base of his mask, and he wasn’t the only one. Behind him he could hear Angela and the others awing at the room’s beauty. To William this was the largest room he had seen in his entire life, the ceiling stretched so high and the room itself was so wide he figured that King Kong himself could use it as a bedroom. Like the main entrance hall the walls were decorated with stained glass, possibly depicting points in pony history. In the center of the room were a set of pillars along with a purple carpet that led all the way to the very end of the room. And at said end was a masterfully crafted throne that not only served as a seat, but was also a fountain. The throne looked to have been made of limestone, and etched into the seat were dozens of ornamental flourishes that danced along its edges.
Connected to both sides of the throne were two pedestals. Behind it were two blue banners, the one on the right depicted an image that almost looked like it was expressing the sea (or the ocean), whereas the left side banner showed a growing tree reaching out to the sky. (The tree of life perhaps?) And above it all was were three circles that overlayed one another, each ring bearing its own image. Day, night, and twilight. William and his party stopped in the very center of the room whilst the three pony leaders and a handful of their guards continued towards the throne.
Celestia perched herself on her throne, Twilight hopped up onto the pedestal on her left, while Luna took the one to her right. She took a deep breath and stared down at the human. “Commander William,” she said in a loud voice that echoed off the walls, “I am Princess Celestia, and this here is Princess Twilight Sparkle,” she motioned towards the purple pony with one hoof, “and my dearest sister Princess Luna.” She motioned towards Luna with the other. “The three of us rule over these lands known as Equestria, and as much as it pleases me greatly to meet you and your kind personally, I must ask you this: what brings you into my domain?”
Wow, straight to the point. William shifted from foot to foot, he was having trouble trying formulate his next sentence. Before he came up with an answer he turned towards his allies, after a brief few moments he faced her again. “We came here for your assistance.” This seemed to raise a few eyebrows. “And not only that,” he continued, “we also came to ask you all for permission.”
Celestia curled her bottom lip back and nodded her head in thought. “And what would you need assistance with?”
William took a deep breath and straightened himself out, he got this far. No need to hold back now. “You see...” He trailed off as he tried to think of a way to continue. “My species is on the verge of extinction.” This immediately garnered all three of the ruler’s attention.
Celestia’s mood changed on the snap of a finger and she looked to William with pity in her eyes. “Oh my...” Was all she said.
“However.” William looked up at her with determination. “We figured out a solution to our problem. But we require two things from all of you.”
“And what would that be?” Luna asked in Celestia’s place.
William looked at her. “We need enough land to set up a small colony, and your cooperation.”
Celestia’s mood flipped once again, she looked at William doubtfully. “I do not mean to sound rude, but how much land are we talking here?”
William gulped and hoped he played his cards correctly. “Enough to support three hundred human beings.”
Celestia nodded and leaned back in her chair. “And where do you plan to set up this colony of yours?”
“In the area in which we’ve landed,” he looked at Luna, “you know exactly where I’m talking about.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow towards Luna. “He’s talking about Bramblewood, sister. Just at the base of Mt. Neighson.”
“On which side?”
“South end.”
Celestia’s eyes widened a bit before settling. “That’s right next to Saddleston,” she mumbled. “Is there anyway you could possibly move the location in which you tend to establish this colony?”
William frowned and turned towards his colleagues. The two spoke quietly to one another for at least a minute before William turned back to Celestia. “I’m afraid not. Our ship is at least a couple thousand tons, there’s no way we can move it.”
Princess Twilight’s eyes widened when she heard how much the ship weighed. “A couple thousand tons?” She whispered.
William nodded. One of his comrades reached up from behind him and tapped him on the shoulder, he looked over at them and leaned in while the other spoke to him. William nodded his head and looked back at Celestia. “Please your”– He paused for a second– “Your highnesses, if you could find it in your deepest interests to assist my species, we can assure you it could benefit us both.”
Celestia couldn’t help herself but look at him skeptically. “Benefit us how?”
William once again glanced back at his allies. He cleared his throat and nodded his head. “We could offer you technology unlike anything you’ve ever seen!”
Both Twilight and Luna leaned in with interest. Celestia looked at Luna for confirmation. “Do you believe what he says is true, Luna? You have seen them for yourself.”
Luna pursed her lips as she tried to think back a couple days ago. “I have not seen much, sister, however, I believe I can vouch for the Commander.”
“Do you have an example you would like to share?” Twilight Sparkle suddenly asked.
William flinched at the unexpected voice and looked over at the small princess. Before he answered her William quickly spun around and began to ask his companions questions. The three Princesses leaned in further when they noticed one of the human’s in the grey suits pull out a small black object from the bag it carried on its side.
“Matter of fact, Princess...”
“Twilight.”
“Princess Twilight, thank you, I do have an example.” William raised the small black object in his hand into the air, his thumb then flexed and a blue light appeared on what they assumed to be the front end of the device.
“Is it a flashlight?” Twilight asked.
William shook his head. “No. But it could be used as one.” He started to walk towards them so that he could demonstrate how the object worked. “What I have here is a cellphone, more formally known as an iPhone. Back then almost everyone had one of these puppies.” William stopped just a couple feet from the throne and held the cellphone out towards them.
Celestia took the cellphone in her magic and levitated towards herself. “And what does this ‘cellphone’ do exactly?” She held it a few inches away from her face and tilted it around, eyeballing each and every side.
“It’s a device we use for communication, entertainment, marketing, you name it it can do it.” William smiled happily at his response.
“Can you cook with it?” Luna asked.
William bit his lip. “Well... I wouldn’t recommend it. But probably yes, you could find a way to cook with it. Better yet, with this device you could call someone... let's say uh... your local restaurant and order a pizza with it.”
Celestia grinned. “This thing is quite interesting, Commander, I could see this benefitting our society. However, I myself will stick to writing letters.” She levitated the phone back to William. “Is there anything else you would like to show us?”
William stopped momentarily in thought. “Well we do have a Condor outside if you’d like to inspect it further.”
Celestia frowned. “Condor?” She looked at Luna questioningly.
“I think he’s referring to that flying ship they flew in on.”
Celestia smiled and nodded. “Of course, now I know what you mean.” She looked at William. “Now how do you purpose this ‘Condor’ will benefit us?”
William smiled, now this was something he could answer without any help. “Well for starters I noticed that not all of you can fly because some of you don’t have wings. However, with something such as the Condor, or even something similar to it. You guys won’t even need wings anymore, think of it as a chariot that flies. It can take you and your friends anywhere.”
“Fascinating.” Twilight shifted from hoof to hoof. “How fast does it go?”
“A little over five hundred kilometers an hour.”
“Most pegasi can fly faster than that,” Twilight said.
William raised an eyebrow at this, he guessed she wasn’t lying. He did recall seeing their escorts, no living thing could go as fast as that. “But you aren’t seeing my point, Princess–”
“Oh my apologies, I do understand what you’re saying,” Twilight cut him off. “With a contraption such as your ‘Condor’ we could easily replace the pedal-copter with it. Let alone increasing the efficiency of our infrastructure by miles. Is that what you were going for?”
William stepped back, he didn’t even want to ask what the hell a “pedal-copter” was. It was probably exactly what it was called anyways. “Yes, Princess, that is exactly what I was going to say.”
Celestia repositioned herself. “Your offers are very tempting, Commander William. I’m beginning to see both our kinds working together in the future. However, is there anything else you’d like to mention, anything we should know about before proceeding?”
William looked back at his companions, their heads nodding to one another while they spoke. Beside William one of the human’s in a grey suit pulled something out of its bag, it was what appeared to be a thin, black rectangle of some sort. To Celestia’s surprise it was folded into two halves which the human in grey opened up. Like the “phone” William had shown them a thin piece of glass lit up in a bright blue light which the human began to swipe its finger across. For almost three minutes this continued on.
“Luna.” Celestia looked at her sister. “What are they discussing?”
Luna shook her head. “I don’t know, sister, I cannot speak their tongue. After my little mishap I do not wish to tamper with anypony’s mind for a long time.”
Celestia nodded. “I agree, I don’t even want to know how close we came to ruining these chances.”
Twilight poked her head out from behind Celestia and looked at Luna. “Princess Luna, I don’t ever recall you being able to manipulate one’s thoughts.”
Luna sighed and looked at the purple alicorn. “I am the Goddess of Dreams after all. I have always been able to enter the domain of one’s mind. However, this was the first time in centuries I have altered a mind. It is such a horrific spell, I do not wish to do it again. It can be highly dangerous and could severely harm someone.”
“Why did you do it then?”
“I did it in an attempt to speed things along and I nearly killed the poor stallion in the process. Now can we please get off this subject?! They are about to speak!” Luna hissed causing Twilight to flinch a little before sliding back behind Celestia.
“Your highnesses.” William turned back around to face them, his voice sounded strained. “I and my colleagues do have something we’d like to–” William turned his head and coughed, no. Gagged heavily into his arm, his companions immediately reached forward to aid him. William shot an arm out in attempt to shoo them away, he gagged harder into his arm.
“Commander, are you alright?” Celestia leaned forward in her seat.
“I-I’m fine, just something–” He heaved once more into his arm “–g-got caught in my throat that’s all...” He leaned over and fell silent for a few moments. “O-okay, I think I’m okay now.” He straightened himself. “I do apologise.”
“Oh do not apologise, you did nothing wrong.” Celestia leaned back in her throne. “We cannot fully control everything our bodies do. Would you like something to drink–”
“N-no thank you.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive. You see... we cannot take these masks off.” He tapped his own respirator.
“I was wondering what that was,” Twilight mumbled.
“How come?” Celestia asked.
“It’d kill me if I did,” He said, “The air in this environment is toxic to us; only within our ship or any air-tight sealed structures, after we vented them of course, are safe.”
“What a pity.” Luna smiled. “I was hoping I could see your face.”
“Maybe later in the future if you come to visit us you just might.”
Both of them shared a chuckle. “Anyways,” Celestia said smiling, “what were you going to say, Commander?”
William stood almost at attention. “Princess, there is something my kind and I wish to inform you of. Something very important.”
“And what is that?”
“Across this planet, spanning four continents are a series of underground vaults.”
“Vaults? Like a safe?”
William tilted his head. “Sort of but not quite. They’re fallout shelters containing more of us humans.”
Celestia’s smile vanished and she leaned forward. “What are you saying? You said there were only three hundred of you left.”
“And I thought you weren’t from this planet.” Twilight took a step forward. “How could there be underground shelters containing more of your species?”
William took a deep breath. “I mentioned that the ship that crash landed on this planet only contained three hundred of us. But as of now, right as we speak there are a total of twenty one vaults all across the globe.”
“It all makes sense now,” Luna whispered, “the maps, why everything looked exactly like our planet.” She looked at Celestia. “Sister.”
“How many humans are in these vaults?” Celestia asked.
“Each vault varies. However, most of them range up to over two hundred thousand. In total that’d make roughly over four point two million people,” William explained.
Celestia’s eyes widened and she fell back in her seat. “Oh mother...”
“Celestia.” Luna nudged her.
“And right now, your highness, while we’re speaking.” William pointed a finger down at the floor. “Just right below our feet in this very mountain, we’re standing on two hundred thousand souls.”
Luna nudged her sister again, Celestia looked at her with a shocked expression. Luna gulped. “I believe they are our forerunners.”
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YES! FUCK YES! EXPOSITION! BACKSTORY! COMMUNICATIONS! CLIFFHA-oh. Awwwww...
Just two million? You can fit that in one city, though you'd need a bunch of farmland too, I suppose.
I love how you just change your avatar every month
And the Prodigal Child returns!
Great entry as usual, Nebula. Can't wait to see whatever is under the mines, perhaps Discord is in an easy chair listening to the Ink Blots while wearing a jumpsuit. Whatever happens, I have full confidence in what you write next!
So Luna went for "I am going to rewrote your brain and give you the info" instead of "I am going to mind rape you and take it from you"
Good enough for me
Oh wow, things are real now. I LOVE IT MAN!!
I'm never a fan of the idea that pegasi can fly over 50-75 miles an hour. 500 kilometers per hour, about 310 miles an hour, isn't as bad as some examples I've seen where pegasi can almost keep up with jets, but still, that seems way faster than most pegasi are able to fly in the show.
Keep in mind this is just a personal nitpick of mine, nothing against you or the story.
There have been few instances in Celestia's long life where she felt afraid, but standing before these unknown creatures their odd weapons looked on her and her sister while beyond them their comrade writhed in agony his pained cries raining down upon all of them she saw nothing but the intent to kill in their eyes, and she was afraid.
I don't think the story properly acknowledges how traumatic that should of been. I know I would of opened fire.
Now Darky I thought you said you said you weren't gona pull this shit. Have you been lying to me pall?
The ponies really should have thought twice before throwing their woo woo at the unknown alien lifeforms... I doubt they would be dumb enough to use that spell if they knew it would make one of the aliens diplomatic party suddenly scream in blind agony. But really, It's as dumb as dragons breathing fire at the aliens as a greeting because dragons are fireproof and they automatically asume everything else must be.
Shit missed the fan, but this is why you always send expendable people (who are not afraid to die) to these first contact scenarios.
sure do hope the humans were better at making vaults then the ones in fallout 3, just throwin that out there.
You can fit that population is a city a little bit bigger than Singapore I suppose.
Farming will be a bit of a big thing I suppose.
Though, I suspect with weather control, advanced technologies and a little bit of 'magic' that should have ease up that problem...
That damn cliffhanger...Awaiting for more.
This story is indeed good but the way you make the ponies act is beyond retarded. Why would they assume that if anything works with them it will obviously work with an ALLIEN species? *facepalm* You still have many chapters left to surprise me so please do so and continue.
I can't wait until they discover just who is responsible, or partly responsible, for humanity's demise. Technically I guess Discord served his time, but still.
6116696 Well if rainbow dash can break the sound barrier (which is over a thousand kilometers an hour) she could easily keep up with a vtol going five hundred. However, I do understand why that would bother someone, as stated in the story: "Something made of flesh and blood should not be able to go that fast.)
6116223 Kill the cliffhanger! Kill it with fire!
6116742 This has been something my editors and I talked about, we've decided that reason why the soldiers did not open fire was because they were conflicted. John (the one who sits and Central command barking orders) told them not to fire because he thought they weren't trying to kill them. Keep in mind though I wasn't playing dumb in this chapter and I had a few characters shout the viewer's thoughts for instance Arin.
John: "I don't think they're trying to kill him."
Arin: "The fuck it isn't!"
And Michael: "It's that fucking blue thing, light the fucker up!"
So yeah I do acknowledge that some of you would want them dead, however, if they did open fire that'd ruin everything that happened. But what if they did shoot? Now that could make for interesting side story because that'd change the entire story if they did.
Meh the entire human race can fit into Texas, of course we would be horribly crowded
6117034 IT wasn't the fact that the Vaults in Fallout were just bad. Every single vault was a human social experiment in which the government purposely fucked up something in there just watch how'd they react.
6117148 Mainly because everything else in their world (aside from mister splooge best pony btw) can be affected by magic in some form or way. When the humans arrived Luna knew that things would go clunky and/or could lead to some problems. So she thought she should speed things up along, now she did mention that the spell "could" potentially harm someone(somepony) but did not expect it to do what it did. This can be seen by how the princesses reacted to the whole William flipping his shit for about half a minute (yes he only freaked out for about 30 seconds, and they do state this in the story.). The princesses (aside from Luna) were shocked and horrified.
Other than that, that's my answer. When almost everything in their world reacts to magic in a nonlethal way it'd just come naturally, and even if they didn't know why wouldn't they try it? That's how we humans developed in knowledge, we tried things and it just so happened to work. In this case it did work but in a very horrifying way.
Also I do plan on surprising you and everyone else in the upcoming chapters. Because shit is starting to get fun! All aboard the fun train cause now were going up the rising action towards Mt. Climax!
OH FUCK YES
6117280 That's because RD is protected by plot armor. What makes me say that?
In the show, episode Dragonshy, she kicks the fully-grown dragon in the face, and didn't so much as break a bone, despite the high speeds at which she flies. Whenever she crashes, it's usually at incredible speeds, and she hardly takes any damage.
The plot armor protects her from the sheer force and stress which she puts herself through daily, and thus enables survival of impossible G forces.
Personally, I think it's bullshit. None of the other ponies in the show can fly that fast, not counting prodigies and professionals: Lightning Dust and the Wonderbolts.
6116286 Well sometimes I just get bored looking at the same picture.
6116285 Not two million, double that.
That'd make half of the population of New York City which is about 8.4 million (correct me if I'm wrong). However, they're all across the globe so the humans are a bit spread out in order to preserve diversity.
6117535 Meh I'm just going by what the show tells us.
She could possibly have a similar bone structure as birds too, hell all pegasi might have similar bones to avians. Hollow bones that are also fused together in some areas, usually when you hear hollow you'd think they'd be weaker. However, a bird's skeleton structure is very strong and allows them to survive falls that'd usually kill most mammals. It's also what makes them so light and able to fly high and fast.
the more ya know
Like I said I do understand why people would be bothered by that, however, keep in mind we're talking a show that has magic involved in it. It's really hard to bring logic and science into something that has magic involved, trust me Dr. Who tries in some stages and it doesn't work. Nevertheless Dr. Who is still a good show, but I digress.
6117580 The structure itself is sound, but birds don't fly at subsonic speeds. Hollow bones do break easier, despite being used in a strong skeleton.
I do see your point though.
Lol they should see how much humans there were back then.
Billions
I'm about half chapter in, and it really seems unnatural to me.
So, if I got what happened right:
William suddenly begins to behave as if he is tortured at the same time as the horn of one equine begins to glow.
After half a minute it stops, as suddenly.
But now he somehow got the ability to speak alien language.
And also tries to take command of the delegation while disobeying a direct order not to.
And nobody cares.
How nobody even thought of mind control is behind me. But what really bothers me, is that everybody lets him take control.
I mean, if aliens can get a random skill inside his head, why not an idea, an order or even a set of those.
I can understand if they made him their translator instead of Bryan.
But being mindraped, showing skills he couldn't have had and trying to take command at the same time should have being highly suspicious for every human.
I don't get complaints about Pegasi physics. It clearly must involve magic ranging from getting necessary lift to additional speed to increased durability.
6117280 I always felt that Rainbow Dash, along with a few others, were the exceptions rather than the rule.
Pony-human interaction went...well...
Now I'm sad...
6118773 Did you want it to fail?
6118809 If the diplomacy failed this would turn into a TCB. Please god no.
Why are the humans giving away valuable technology for permission to live on the planet humans have been living on for thousands of years?
6117580 At the speed of sound it would be nearly impossible for a leaving being to even breathe to begin with, accelerating from 0 to (+-)1225 kmh would crush any living thing, assuming they have similar anatomy as we expect to other life forms.
6119351 Because if the ponies are not cooperative that'd cause a great set back towards the revival of the human species. It'd be a lot easier riving your race without worrying about another species trying to kick you out. Why wage war when you can easily have the same outcome but with peace.
6117715 Lazy way of getting the language barrier out of the way.
6119361 I never said it was possible and trust me I know what would happen. I even stated in the story itself that William knew it was virtually impossible for the pony escorts to be going at their speed. However, like I said before trying to add science to "magic" is pretty difficult. Even if we try and say it's because the pegasi I have bones relating to avians it still wouldn't be enough.
Holy Shit! Give me more of this amazingness!
As much as I don't like the translation spell idea, or rather, the idea of instant, permanent translation, yours is actually one of the better ones! Now I need the continuation of the story!
This chapter just really didn't sit well with me for some reason, I think its mostly the mind rape and everyone being fine with it. I mean sure they were all screaming about killing luna but as soon as he stands up everyone just doesn't care at all, almost like it never happened. I guess the other part is the Pegasi flying as fast as they did but thats just headcanon for me. Can't wait for the next cchapter though, cliffhangers always seem to pul me in.
6118809 ...maybe...
6117683 That's 'billion' with two L's.
Temp-Editor here. Mostly did grammar for the story. Still disagree with the lazy way out, especially with how well every human was taking it. As I said during editing, if it had been Shane and his people from Article 2 as the military guarding the diplomats, there would've been a blood bath by now, especially with how a lot of other human protagonists value the privacy of their mind, which apparently this universe's Luna can easily bypass and ignore. We'll see how it'll pan out though, especially since there have been hints that Equestrian magic makes humans more susceptible to the Voice.
As for the Pegasus thing, I'm chalking it up to her bluffing. A Pegasus could go up to those speeds, but she didn't mention the extensive training involved.
6120328
are you being serious?
6120953 I'll agree overall that it is indeed a cop out. I will not deny it! Like you said about the "Voice" I've been trying to develop something that'd make it less a deus ex machina and more or less something that'll actually contribute to the plot rather than have it be "Oh now we can talk to one another"
6121552 No, I'm being sillious. It's when you're serious about being silly.
6122365
ah I get it
6117372
I didn't notice that actually. I did notice that Luna didn't want to do it.
Honestly I can accept they didn't attack. They are solders after all and solders fallow orders. What bothers me more is what happens after. William stops acting like a solder. He ignores his commander, takes over tolled not to, and everyone gest lets him do it. None of that makes sense.
AHHHHH SHIT! ITS GOING TO GET REAL!!!
6122541 The reason why they let him do it is because he proves to them that he's able to speak their language (even though he doesn't know how he can speak in the first place), he basically tells Central that it's the only way. That's why everyone was okay with it because William was right, they had no better way to communicate. Their handwriting was crap (and judging how the equines acted towards it, which for the most part was confusion), and in the first contact chapter hand gestures can only get you so far.
Aside from that I hoped you enjoyed it overall.
6123057 It's gonna get super real!