> An Unexpected Change in Course
>  by Ganein
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1. The Beginning of Change
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was late at night with the moon shining high in the night sky and almost everypony was asleep at this time of night, but among the few who were awake at this hour was the unicorn Twilight Sparkle, currently engrossed in book about the theories of the origin of magic with only a lamp shining on the book being the only other source of light to read by. As avid a reader as she was, Twilight knew that if she had started that book earlier in the day, she might have been finished with it by now. Letting out a yawn, she realized how tired she was and turned to see her dragon companion Spike fast asleep in his bed next to her own. "I think I'll hit the hay. As much as I want to keep reading, I think I'll pick up where I left off tomorrow-" Twilight said before letting out another yawn, "besides, it's not like that book is going anywhere". With that said, the lavender mare placed a bookmark where she had left off in the book and turned off the lamp before looking briefly into the night sky, smiling at the moon before making her way over to her bed and with her right hand, slid the sheets back and hopped into bed. Had she stood at the window sill for a few moments longer, she would've saw something that was truly out of the ordinary.



In low orbit above the newly discovered planet, a rather large and well armored ship was running scan after scan on the planet. "Well? How does she fare for a colony Ensign?" A deep, slightly robotic in tone voice asked one of the men sitting in front of the console that was displaying data that the scans were picking up. Several taps on a keyboard brought up the results of the most recent atmospheric and geological scans and displayed it on-screen. 
"Captain,  the land mass we're over now is surprisingly dense in mineral and gem deposits, not to mention that the soil itself appears to be good for agriculture. The atmosphere scans also detect higher than normal level of oxygen due to the abundance of trees. As far as it looks sir, this planet has more than enough for us to finally have a place we can call home. The only down side this planet has over the others we've come across that there is no sign of any fossil fuels for us to jumpstart the colony," the ensign responded to his commanding officer.
"Well that's a shame, but we should send these reports in just in case he wants to call this planet our new-" the officer was saying before he was suddenly cut off by another voice from the side of him.  
"Captain! The planet is inhabited!" One of the science officers cried out as he pulled up a picture of what appeared to be a very ornate castle that had been built into the side of a mountain as well as several more pictures of different cities and villages onto a large holographic screen in the center of the control room. Once all of the pictures were on screen, another scan was run over the various structures and to everyone's surprise, the bio-signs were not only positive, but the cases of the castle as well as the large cities had unexpectedly high numbers of life signs.
"Incredible! This is almost like every other civilization, but without the pollution and destruction that normally should have occurred," exclaimed the Captain. "Men, complete the remaining scans, and pack it up for transmission. I think we've finally found our new home."



On Canterlot's observation platform sat Princess Luna, taking a break from dream walking through young colt's and filly's nightmares to look at the stars above through a telescope. It wasn't until the telescope was brought past the moon that she noticed something out of the ordinary. A tiny black speck was highlighted by the moon's glow, but within moments, another, much larger objected appeared out of nowhere and obscured the first object she saw. "I must be seeing things," said Princess Luna to herself before pulling away from the telescope and rubbed her eyes for a few seconds. Once her vision had cleared again, she looked back into the telescope and within moments found where she had spotted the strange object was, only now, there were several dozen smaller ones not too far from the one she had earlier saw appear out of nowhere, only these smaller ones were firing various colored beams of light at the larger object. 



On board the Black Heart's flagship and only capital ship, The Armageddon, a man wearing a brown trench coat draped over his shoulders, black sweater with a set of titanium plated body armor underneath, black cotton pants with a belt hiding an emergency plasma pistol within his coat, heavy leather boots that, in the right one, hid a small survival knife and a small block of an extremely powerful high explosive in the left,  as well as black fingerless gloves on his hand, sighed heavily.  At first glance he appeared to be a normal human, but the only visible evidence that he was something else were the metallic joints of his fingers. "Are we ever going to find a place we can call home."  Michael Naral stated absent-mindedly as he sat in his chair on the bridge, reviewing the survey reports that were coming in on a holographic screen around his chair. Every report was disappointing however, as each planet always had some critical flaw that would greatly inhibit or outright prevent the establishment of a colony such as an acidic atmosphere, or despite appearing to have solid land masses, only had a mushy surface like one would find after a heavy downpour. Letting out another heavy sigh, he was about to close the report logs from the recent survey missions he had sent out when all of a sudden, the final report came in with a small beep indicating its late arrival.
Not expecting anything special from this report, Michael Naral almost absent mindedly sent it to be stored in the databanks on board before he noticed the size of the report compared to the others. Figuring that he may as well look at the report since the crew of that mission managed to do a complete survey as opposed to the partial ones that were filled out, and what had come back, astonished him.  A planet, not only with a strong atmosphere, but fertile soil and more than enough minerals for them to start a colony of their own. "Navigator, get us to these coordinates as fast as possible. If what the report says is correct, after countless years of searching, we may finally have found a home," Michael Naral said out loud and sent the coordinates enclosed within the survey report to the navigator.
"Aye sir," said the Navigator. "Coordinates received and entered. Ready to jump on your mark sir." 
"Thank you," Michael Naral said before reaching up to his left ear and began to transmit his voice throughout the entire ship. "This is Admiral Michael Naral. All hands, prepare for phase jump. I repeat, this is Admiral Michael Naral. All hands prepare for phase jump." Within minutes of the announcement, every compartment of the huge ship was prepared for the jump. Looking over to the Navigator, he nodded before speaking. "Mark."
The moment that was said, the ship lurched forth as if it was being stretched out like a piece of dough in a bakery. Everyone's vision blurred from the effect and within minutes, they had arrived at their destination. While a vast majority of the crewmen and women on board the Armageddon had experienced countless phase jumps before, some still got sick from the feeling of performing them. Even Michael Naral himself was not immune to the sickening effects of them, though at the worst he had a serious case of nausea and a headache. Despite the ill effects from the recent jump, Michael performed a quick scan of the planet and what had come back matched what the report had said, causing the cyborg to smile; something that was extremely rare of him to do nowadays.
Standing up from the seat he was in, trench coat still around his shoulders, Michael Naral placed his left hand up to his left ear and began to transmit his voice throughout the ship once more. "Ladies and gentlemen! After surviving countless hardships and many years passing, I am proud to announce that we had finally found a planet to call our own. Begin launching supplies, equipment and personnel down to the surface of the planet." 
Before anyone could move to prepare the things needed to start a colony, an explosion and a massive shockwave rocked the ship, throwing many people off of their feet. "What the hell was that?!" Michael exclaimed as he looked up from his position down on the floor and slowly got onto his hands and knees.
"Sir! A large number of vessels have just de-cloaked on our starboard side! They are opening fire again!" Cried out one of the crewman before another explosion was heard, only this time it happened at the bridge of the ship. Screams of pain and agony were heard as shrapnel flew into the unfortunate souls who were closest to the blast, ending some of them before they could even make a sound and fires started burning across several decks. 
Realizing that this was one battle he couldn't fight and win or escape from since the phase drives had just begun cooling down, he chose to take the only other option available. "Navigator! Take us down to the planet's surface! It is our only hope!" Cried Michael Naral as yet another blast and shockwave rocked the ship. Without responding to her commanding officer, the Navigator nodded began to guide the massive ship down to the planet looking frantically through the various scans for a place flat enough that would allow for such a landing.
> 2. The survivors meet the natives (Part One)
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	As she gazed up through the telescope, Princess Luna was in awe about what was happening far up above the lands of Equestria as the largest of the objects she saw seemed to be growing in size while at the same time, could tell that whatever that thing was, was in grave trouble. Despite how badly she wanted to help...whatever that was that was getting larger, she didn't know how it would react to her approach and just sat on her flanks and watch what was unfolding. Once the large object had entered the atmosphere proper, she saw that it had begun to glow bright red, but as she turned to look a little further up, so too were the smaller objects which continued to fire upon the large object.



Knowing that this move could very well spell the end of everyone within his guild, Michael Naral was willing to take that risk as opposed to a guaranteed death if they had chose to fight it out. Normally such numbers against the Armageddon would be little trouble for the massive battleship, but it had been a few decades since her last over-haul and the crew had been doing everything possible to keep the ship space worthy, let alone combat capable until a colony could be founded. A majority of her weapons and turrets had to have parts scavenged from them to keep the most critical parts of the ship operational; namely the life support and jump drives. As the ship entered the atmosphere, Michael Naral had hoped that what were probably assassins would cease their attack, but with the help of a camera at the stern of the ship sunk that hope as the ships behind him began to glow with the atmospheric entry.
"Whoever hired these guys must really want us dead" stated Michael in a calm voice. Though he appeared calm and collected as he normally would, inside he was panicking just like everyone else as another blast rocked the vessel.
"Admiral! The reactor room was just hit! There is a hull breach and the primary reactor core has now begun to overload!" exclaimed one of the surviving crewmen on the bridge as he looked back at his leader, knowing that death would be imminent.
Realizing just how much more dangerous the situation has become, but at the same time the luck that they would have to have to pull this off and live, Michael Naral looked back to the ensign that had informed him. 
"Jettison that reactor core! If we're lucky, the blast of the core will take all of them out!"
"But sir-" started the ensign, realizing that such a move could very well destroy themselves as well as their pursuers.
"Just do it!" cried out the Admiral as he grasped onto the chair he had been sitting in moments ago.
Without any more objections, the Ensign nodded to Michael Naral and began the process of jettisoning the overloading reactor core. Within moments, the reactor had been shot up out of it's chamber and began to fly back towards their pursuers. Knowing that his could have been the final moments of his extremely long life, Michael closed his eyes and silently prayed for those who were aboard his ship and still alive, to survive and start a new life on this new world.



Back at Canterlot Castle, Luna couldn't help wondering what had caused this fight as she was now watching the object descend with her naked eyes, but before she could get too deep into her thoughts; a blinding flash that was followed rather quickly by an almost deafening boom and massive shockwave blew poor Luna off of her hooves and slammed her body up against the ivory colored tower, causing the alicorn to let out a loud yelp of pain. The shockwave had did more damage than just harming Princess Luna. All of the  windows throughout Ponyville, Canterlot, and Cloudsdale shattered as if someone had thrown a large rock at them with the intent to break them and windows as far away as the Crystal Empire rattled as if a small earthquake had happened. Lights everywhere flicked on as ponies everywhere woke to the noise that was caused and wondered what it was. Many of them stepped outside and looked around confused as to what had caused such a racket at this time of night. It wasn't until a couple moments later that ponies in every village, town and city spotted a glowing object falling from the sky and knew that such a thing wasn't planned by the pegasi at the weather factory. Many young colts and fillies huddled close to their parents, scared of what was going to happen, and while they tried not to show it, the parents themselves feared that it may have been the end of the world for them and that not even the Princesses Luna and Celestia would be able to save them from this fate.
Woken up from her slumber by the sound of a large amount of glass shattering, a white alicorn with a flowing, multi-colored mane and tail leapt onto her hooves and looked outside to see her chamber's now glassless window to see what was wrong. It didn't take for Princess Celestia to spot the falling object and after opening her window, began to fly up to the observation platform so she could get a better look as to what it was. Upon touching down on the platform, she saw her sister Luna slumped over by one of the walls and a large crack in the wall above where  she was. "Lulu!" Celestia cried out as she hurried over to her sister's side and knelt down next to her. "Lulu, are you alright dear sister?" she asked as she tried to wrap her arms around her fallen sibling. Luna almost instantly let out another cry in agony when Celestia's hand brush up against her wings and ribs, which quickly recoiled back. Worried about the condition her sister was in and the fact that she more than likely couldn't stop such an object from falling on her own, the princess of the sun closed her eyes and waited for what would seem like the end.
In Ponyville, a slumbering Twilight Sparkle and her companion Spike were quickly and rudely awoken by the roar of the blast as well as the shattering of all of her windows and even shook her home a little.  "What the hay was that?!" exclaimed Twilight and she practically jumped out of bed to see what was happening. Upon looking outside, she saw many other ponies wondering the same thing, and some of them had even stepped outside of their home to look around. Before she could leave her place at the window, an awake Spike hurried to Twilight's side. 
"What's going on Twilight? What's with the noise?" asked Spike as he climbed up to window sill to look outside.
"I don't know Spike, but we're going to find out," Twilight said to her faithful dragon companion as she picked him up and stepped outside. As she looked around, the lavender unicorn felt a tapping on her shoulder and turned to Spike who had tapped her. Without saying a word, she looked up to where he was pointing and her mouth opened wide with pure shock at seeing what she assumed to be a meteor on a collision course with Equestria.



Back in the command room of the Armageddon, Michael Naral felt the shockwave from the overloading reactor detonating and had realized that the massive shockwave had blown the ship off of its landing course and sent it into a wild spinning freefall which quickly caused the remaining crew to fall unconscious . Parts of the outside such as turrets that had been scavenged from and a few of the sensor antennas were snapping off like twigs in a tornado as just minutes into the spin, the ship impacted the ground; leaving a huge crater, but the momentum of the ship kept it moving on its side, causing even more external damage. As thick and heavy plates of armor, turrets and even a few hanger doors were being damaged and even ripped off, the ship eventually came to a stop from the slide and luckily landing right side up.	
Several long, agonizing minutes had passed before Michael Naral came too and shook his head, trying to get himself together, which was a bad idea. An intense headache began to pulse through his entire skull and the nausea he felt from the phase jump earlier didn't bode well for him. Within a moment of shaking his head, he placed his right hand up to his mouth in a futile attempt to hold back what was coming. The contents of his stomach had come up and out of his mouth, one mouthful after another. Despite his stomach practically turning itself inside-out, Michael Naral was more worried about the surviving crew of the crash landing than his own well-being. As he tried to transmit his voice throughout the ship, he still felt quite ill but did his best to hide it. 
"Ugh...This is Michael Naral, all stations give me a damage and casualty report. I repeat, this is Michael Naral, all stations give me a damage and casualty report," he said before finally looking up and seeing the carnage that laid before him. It was obvious at first to see just how many on the bridge had died due to being the one of the first places not only hit by enemy fire, but from the impact as well. Several bodies had been splattered upon the walls and consoles to the point that if it wasn't for the dog tags within the entrails, they would be unidentifiable. Turning to the right he saw more unfortunate souls that had died as well. Some through decapitation, and others through being impaled through some vital organs. With a sigh and with no reports or responses coming in, he figured he must be the only survivor of the crash and decided to find a way out of the ship, noticing that his trench coat had slipped off and the rest of  his clothing as well as his face was covered in blood of his deceased crewmen and women. 
I sure as hell hope I'm wrong about being the only survivor, he thought to himself with a heavy sigh. Still feeling quite sick and the sights of his former crewmen and women not helping his condition, Michael Naral slowly and unsteadily got up onto his two feet and with a little stumbling, made it out of the bridge and into a hallway that, while appeared to be better at first, was anything but when he got further in. Fires were burning out of control and consuming the bodies of those that had died as well as whatever had been shook loose due to the impact, not to mention the cables that sparked and hung from the ceiling.  Softly shaking his head again, and continuing down a clear hallway, he came across an elevator shaft and looked up and down for where the car was. Squinting his eyes a little, Michael Naral could make out the shape of the car in the shaft and ran a quick bio-scan to see if there were any survivors or bodies in it. As luck would have it, the car was empty and was holding its position at what he assumed to be roughly at some point in the middle decks of the wrecked ship. Taking a breath, he stepped off of the ledge and fell down the shaft and with a loud crunch, landed on and crushed the car. What happened next is something he didn't predict would happen; the emergency brakes on the car that held it in place when there was no power gave way from the force of the landing, sending the elevator car and cyborg on top plummeting down to the bottom of the shaft.
Well...that's one way to get down to the bottom floors of the ship, Michael Naral thought to himself as he rested on the twisted heap of the now useless elevator car. Standing up as his body pulled up some of the scrap that had broken off of the car and with a little effort, forced the elevator shaft door to open and looked into the room he was looking at. If my memory serves correctly and judging from how far I fell, I should be near one of the hanger bays, he thought as he climbed up out of the shaft and almost collapsed as he felt small thump not far from him. Fuck, I hope that reactor explosion really did kill off all of the pursuers. Otherwise there is going to be some serious hell to pay. With that, Michael Naral prepared himself for combat and looked at his right arm. With a soft, malicious smile, his arm began to swell as the fore-limb was changed from within thanks to the nano-bots flowing through what would one could call his blood, from a normal arm, to a powerful plasma cannon. Once he now had his plasma cannon ready, he resumed his way towards the hanger, leaning up against the wall with each step he took and eager to take revenge for his ship and comrades.



"Hurry men, we need to find any and every survivor and ensure the Admiral's safety as well!" cried out the Captain of the survey ship once it had landed close to one of the hanger bays the crashed Armageddon.  Once the bay door on the survey ship opened, the few men and women on board were carrying cutting tools of various kinds and began to cut open the hanger bay doors. As the cutting was underway, the captain sighed. "Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would ever happen," he said to himself, and scratched his head.



Surprised as to what had just happened, Twilight Sparkle and Spike were speechless until they heard a pair of familiar voices and turned to see them.
"Twilight, if you're out then I'm assuming you saw whatever the hay that was," said one of her friend's Applejack as she hurried over to her friend's side with a few drops of sweat appearing on her brow. Twilight guessed that she had either been in the middle of her morning chores, or had run to her home straight from her own in Sweet Apple Acres.
"Yeah, what was that?" asked Rainbow Dash as she flew in next to Applejack before yawning a little, a sign that whatever that noise was had woken the pegasus up from her sleep.
"I don't know girls, but I intend to find out. Lets get the others and meet up here." With that, the three ponies split up to get the other three and within the span of ten minutes, everyone had met up at the Golden Oak library. 
"Okay everyone's here. Let's go check out what had crashed over there," Twilight Sparkle said as she pointed over to a plume of smoke on the horizon. 
> 3. The survivors meet the natives (Part two)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	With Twilight Sparkle and her six friends as well as Spike walking along a dirt road with her pegasi friends flying rather close to them, intent to find out whatever was at the crash site not far from the outskirts of Ponyville. As the plume of smoke grew larger and climbed higher into the night sky, thoughts of whatever they could possibly find began to run through the pony's heads. Despite the time it took the six mares and dragon to travel as close as they could to the crash site by following the dirt road, none of them said a word; their minds too preoccupied with what they could potentially find there. Upon noticing that whatever it was that had landed was deep in White Tail Woods, Twilight Sparkle and her friends looked at each other before nodding and steadily followed the road and entered the forest with the moon now roughly two thirds of the way across the night sky. Once they had lost sight of the green fields that were behind them, the six ponies jumped at a distant, but terrifying sound that only seemed to grow louder.
"Uhh...girls, do any of you know what that sound is?" asked Twilight in a strained tone as she began to look around nervously, hoping that whatever was making that sound could be reasoned with.
"Ah never heard anything like it Twi, and I sure as sugar hope I don't hear anything like it again." Applejack responded as she too was looking for the source of the sound.
"I just hope that whatever we find won't be hideous to look at darling." Rarity chimed in as she kept pace with her friends while Spike hurried in front of and looked back to her.
"Don't worry Rarity, I'll protect you from any beasts that try to harm you," said the baby dragon as he puffed his chest out and lightly thumped it, trying to show off for white unicorn.
"Thank you Spike," replied Rarity and gently rubbed the baby dragon's head which caused him to blush a little and chuckle.
"Eh, it can't be that scary if it's just making the same sound over and over again," said Rainbow Dash casually, despite the sight of her tail twitching in fear a little. The others just looked up at the boisterous pegasus and glared at her, knowing that all of them were scared to some extent.
"I just hope that whatever it is, is friendly," whispered Fluttershy as she made sure to stay extra close with the group while making sure to look at every shadow that moved.
"Do you think whatever it is likes parties? I sure hope so because I plan on giving them a party when we get back to Ponyville!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie in her usual hyper-active way.



Outside of the Armageddon, the Captain of the survey ship as well as a few combat trained troops stood a little ways back from the hanger door as the sound of metal blades cutting metal plates echoed throughout the woods. Not knowing if their flagship had been boarded and destroyed from the inside, or if nothing but a gruesome horror show awaited them, they made sure to stay vigilant should the ship be infiltrated. With a wide range of emotions boiling within not only the Captain, but the rest of his men, it would only take one proverbial spark to set off the powder keg.



Inside of the fallen ship, Michael Naral heard the familiar sound of metal blades cutting metal place and shuddered while he steadily moved forward by leaning up against the walls of the hallway, hating the sound as it reminded him too much of being cut open by a group of some sick and immoral scientists experiments when his body was more...fleshy. Fuck, not again Michael thought as he leaned over and held back what remained in his stomach as some of the memories of his ancient past came back to haunt him, but it was a losing battle. Turning his head away to minimize the splashing of his own vomit onto his body, he finally and undesirably emptied the last of the food within his stomach, which quickly growled to be fed. Upon feeling well enough to keep moving, the cyborg kept his heavy plasma cannon at the ready and within moments, found the hangers. Stepping inside, he saw numerous bodies as well as countless unidentified remains before seeing the sparks fly at the hanger doors to the outside. 



Once they had the object that had crashed into White Tail Woods in their sights, Twilight Sparkle and her friends all gasped in shock at the size of whatever it was that had landed. Being the brave one as usual, Rainbow Dash began to fly closer to the object until she felt something pull at her tail until she was back in the group of her friends.	
"Rainbow, try to stay with us. We don't know what this thing is capable of," Twilight said with worry to the cyan-colored pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail.
"Yeah, yeah. I don't see how something like that can be dangerous," Rainbow Dash said as she and the others moved into the brush and circled around the object. It wasn't until they saw some strange hairless creatures doing something to the larger object, as well as what was making that noise that the mares made sure to keep themselves hidden within the thick foliage. Just off to the side they even spotted a much smaller metallic object and some of the mares wondered if that was where these strange creatures came from 
"What are those things? They don't look like ponies," stated Applejack as she squinted to try and look at the hairless beings.
"They don't look dangerous to me. I say we take them out!" Rainbow Dash said. Though before she could even begin to charge at the hairless creatures, her body was enveloped in a lavender color of energy and pulled down onto the ground.
"I don't know what they are. I've never seen any thing about these creatures, even in all of my books back home or in the Royal Canterlot Library," voiced Twilight, trying to be quiet enough so the creatures didn't hear her.
"Whatever they are, they have a horrid fashion sense," Rarity responded. Wondering if even she could fix those fashion disasters.



Panting heavily as he unsteadily walk over to where the hole was being cut out, Michael Naral leaned up against the door and banged on it in a specific pattern to see just who it was. Everyone that had served in the guild was taught patterns to make if they were separated and needed to know if others nearby were friendly while also learning the pattern to use to confirm if they were friendly. Feeling unusually weak, he continued to bang on the door in the same pattern. Waiting a few moments in between for a response before banging the same pattern out again. Much to his delight, a pattern he recognized was banged back and turned to see closer that where the cut was being made was the body of a poor soul that appeared to have died from blunt-force trauma to the head as there was blood leaking from his head in various places.  The moment the blades were withdrawn, the cut-out section fell outward instead of inward. Causing some of the men outside to yelp in surprise. Just after the disc that had been cut out fell, the body of the man he saw had his intestines fall out of his body and ship while a deep gash in his neck from the blades caused his head to tear off when his body hit the ground.



Once the six mares saw what had happened, all of them quickly let out a blood-curling scream in near unison. Almost instantly, every one of the creatures pulled out a strange object and pointed it in their direction before what they thought was the leader of the creatures began to speak in a language that none of them recognized. Though they didn't understand what was said, they did know that they wanted them to reveal themselves. Looking at all of her friends with worry obviously in her eyes, Twilight nodded and stood up before stepping out of the bushes and was quickly followed by her friends. Upon seeing what had emerged from the brush, the creatures began to look at each other in amazement and confusion.
"What do you think they want with us Twi? I really don't like the looks of them," Applejack whispered to the group before seeing another one of those things come out from the hole that they had made in the larger object, only this one landed on his belly and seemed to be very tired. 



When he heard the screaming, Michael Naral, wondered what, or who made that noise. While he normally would've been able to get through the hole that was made, a heavy wave of fatigue as well as sadness washed over him, causing him to move slower and more clumsily than he would. Even going so far as to slip on some of the fresh blood and synthetic oil that was spilt on the hanger floor. The realization that not only had he lost his home that he had traveled the starts with for several centuries, but almost all of the people he had come to enjoy being around were now dead and that he, was the one at fault for what happened to them. Struggling with the last of his remaining energy, he lifted himself up to the hole and pulled himself through, but before he could pull his feet through, he spent the last of his energy and collapsed onto the ground. The last thing he remembered before blacking out was hearing his name and rank being called out.
> 4. Trouble with communications
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Admiral! Admiral Michael Naral! Hold on! We're here for you!" cried out the Captain of the survey ship as he ran over to his commander's side after he had holstered his standard issue plasma pistol. The Captain as well as some of the men that had cut open the doors to one of the Armageddon's hangers kneeled down next to their leader and began to inspect him for any possible injury. Since they didn't expect to find him so fast, the man-portable scanning equipment the survey crew could use to more accurately check for any damage to their leader's cybernetic or organic systems was still aboard the survey ship.
"You men, go get the scanning equipment from the ship and calibrate it for use on cyborgs before bringing it here and start treating him," the Captain said before turning back to the men still watching...whatever it was those things were that had snuck up on them and walked to their sides.
"Watch these things closely. They might try to communicate with us in some way, but if any of them try to act hostile or run away, you may stun them. The last thing we want is to sleep under a hornets nest". With that, the Captain patted the men's shoulders and boarded the survey ship and approached some of the remaining crew still working the sensors.
"Begin a bio-scan on the Armageddon for any survivors and notify me the moment it finishes. If there are any survivors, time will be of the essence." Once the scans are underway, the Captain sat down in his chair on the bridge of the survey ship and began to look at the crew roster to see if any of the personnel on board was currently or formerly a cyberneticist as a just incase the Admiral was damaged or hurt in any way. He was known for making strange precautions like that from time to time even when there were no cyborgs to be dispatched for that mission.



Back outside of the ship, Twilight and her friends were held up by the men that continued to hold them at...whatever they were holding and really wanted to know what was going on. As they stood in place, they heard the creatures over by the one that had climbed out of the larger metallic object call out loudly and the fancy-to-all-but-Rarity creature that had gone into the smaller object came running out. Once at their side, the creature that came running took his hat off and threw it onto the ground. It was at this point that the six mares and dragon could sense something was very wrong here, especially when the three creatures were struggling and failing to lift the one that had crawled outside.
"I think that creature that crawled out is badly hurt girls. Should we try and see if they'll let us help them and prove that we aren't a threat?" Twilight Sparkle asked her friends as she looked away from the creatures keeping them where they were.
"Oh sure Twilight. I bet they'll just let us walk right up and lift one of their own and carry him where they want him to be," Rainbow Dash said sarcastically and rolling her eyes at the idiocy of Twilight's idea.
"Actually ah think she's on to something Rainbow. I mean look, it seems that even with more of those...things are trying to lift the one that came out of that metal box but can't. Maybe if we were to help them out, we could help move him where they want him." Applejack said softly to her friends before she looked at them and saw them nod in agreement.



"Uhh, Captain. You may want to come over here. I think these beings are trying to communicate with us," one of the men watching them said, but kept his focus on them just in case.
"Damn it, what now?!" cried out the Captain as he practically stormed over to the man that had called him over. It wasn't until he looked and observed what the six native creatures were doing for a few moments and began to think of the things that they were trying to tell them. It looked like the creatures were trying to lift something even though nothing was there, but when he thought that, it clicked in his head. "Men, as crazy as this may sound, I think these natives want to help us," the Captain said before turning back to the Admiral and saw that even with his help, the cyborg's body would not move. Turning back to the native creatures, he motion for them to follow him and much to his surprise, they understood what they wanted him to do and led them over to where their leader was.
"Alright men, make some room for these beings. I believe they wish to help us move Michael," the Captain said and the men that were attempting to lift Naral moved as together as tightly as possible and let the natives help life. Now that there was a tight circle humans and these native beings, the Captain stood away from the circle to get a better look.
"Okay now. One!  Two! Three! LIFT!" cried out the Captain and everyone in the circle began to struggle to lift up the heavy cyborg. Much to everyone's surprise, the body of the cyborg began to rise up off of the ground.  Making sure that everyone had a firm hold on Michael Naral, the Captain steadily guided everyone over to the ramp up and into the Survey ship. There were many grunts and groans as both the natives and creatures carried the heavy body, even more so when they began to walk up the ramp and into the small ship itself, but eventually got the unconscious Michael Naral inside and laid him down onto what appeared to be a strange bench with a glass cylinder attached to it. Within moments, the glass cylinder closed around the being they carried and a dim blue light began to pass over it repeatedly.



"Jeez, was is this fella made out of? He's heavier than a wagon carrying most of the Apple family," Applejack said before taking off her Stetson hat and wiping her brow of the small beads of sweat that had formed during that brief moment of work.
"I don't know AJ, but it seems that these things are thankful for us helping them," Twilight stated softly as she had noticed the fancier one had approached them carefully and extended a hand out slowly and decided to do the same for it. She was rather surprised when it had grasped her hand and shook it softly a couple of times before letting go.
"I'm more concerned about what he was covered in. I mean, what is this sticky stuff?" a disgusted Rarity replied as she looked at her hands before the rest of her friends did and noticed that they too had the same residue on their hands as well.
Taking a quick sniff at the stuff she had on her hands before quickly turning her nose up at it, Pinkie Pie stuck her tongue out in disgust as well.  "Whatever it is, it sure isn't a new type of frosting," the pink mare deadpanned.
"Say Twilight, why didn't you use your magic to help lift that thing up? I'm certain that it would've been a lot less stressful and much easier for everyone here," Rainbow Dash spoke up as she turned to her lavender friend.
"I would have Rainbow, but I have no idea how these things would react to me using it. For all I know, they could think I was trying to harm this one," Twilight explained as she turned and looked down at the creature they had helped bring into this strange metal beast. Upon closer inspection of the creature she had helped bring in as well as the various ones around her and her friends, they appeared to have a somewhat similar appearance to each other as well as themselves, but they didn't have the muzzles her kind were known for and the only place that they seemed to have fur was on the top of their heads. As several more questions raced through her head, Twilight Sparkle let out a soft yawn and had just remembered that it was rather late at night when they were awoken and the moon was almost ready to set by the time they had gotten here. It wasn't long until she had seen her five other friends and her dragon companion yawn as well and while she didn't know what time it was exactly, Twilight was certain that it would that the sun would be on the rise if they had left these creatures and made their way home right now. 
"Girls, should we try and get back home or should we try to see if these beings would let us stay with them for the remainder of the night?" the lavender unicorn asked as she turned to her friends, wanting their opinions before making a decision. She was feeling a little tired herself, but there shouldn't be anything dangerous within White Tail Woods. Not to mention that when she and her friends looked outside of the metal beast's windows, they could just barely see the bright orange and reds on the horizon, an indication that it would soon be time for Celestia to raise it.
"Actually Twilight, Big Mac should be up by now bucking trees, and ah should probably be heading back home to help. Maybe later we could check up on our visitors here to see if they are still doing okay" Applejack said as she lifted up her stetson hat and turned to leave.
"Yeah, and I've got weather patrol duty this morning. Though I should be able to come with you at around noon" Rainbow Dash mentioned and quickly flew out of the metal beast, surprising most of the strange creatures that were out there as she passed.
"I really should return to feed my animals since I'm up, and if I finish fast enough, maybe I'll be able to come with you as well Twilight." Fluttershy whispered just loud enough for her remaining friends to hear her and true to her namesake, stepped out of the metal beast and fluttered back home.
"And I have to make sure Sweetie Belle doesn't try to burn my boutique trying to make breakfast for herself. You'd be amazed at how she could burn things which shouldn't even catch fire when it comes to cooking." Rarity spoke up and with as much grace as she normally had, left Pinkie Pie and Twilight behind. 
"I should also go back and help the cakes get ready for the morning rush, but I'll be sure to keep our new friends in mind while I come up with a party for them. Maybe you can come up with a spell that will help us understand them Twilight." Pinkie Pie exclaimed before bouncing her way out of the metal beast as well.
Before Twilight could follow after her friends a surprisingly powerful wave of fatigue crashed over her body and gave a loud yawn which caught the attention of a few of the creatures. Seeing one of them approach her made her a little wary since she was now alone, but the creature had motioned to her that it would lead her to a place where she could sleep for a short while. With a smile at the generous creature, she followed it to what appeared to be some strange room filled with beds, though before she could question why there were so many here, she found herself on one of the beds with her head on a pillow and fell asleep almost instantly.



The captain of the survey ship returned from overseeing the dispatch of the rescue teams and had noticed that the lavender female appeared to be asleep and just before he could question the nearest person, he quickly realized that they may have forgotten one critical rule that the admiral had in place and approached the lieutenant. "Lieutenant, did we shut off the medical nano-bot dispersal system before opening the hatch?" The Lieutenant turned to look at his captain and was about to respond when an alert that nano-bots had contaminated foreign organic flesh. Upon the alert going off, the captain tore his hat off, threw it onto the ground and began to stomp on it while letting stream after stream of expletives.