The girls decide to listen in on alien transmissions. But will they like what they hear? This is a bit of a random one off that suddenly popped into my head when I was looking at the features page. If they could tune in to human music, why not military transmissions? I realize that the story is not very coherent, but it was a good distraction.

Humanity has fallen.

After only a year of plague, savagery, and drought, the temple of humankind could sustain itself no longer and the world was plunged into the darkness of extinction.

But it was not the end, not truly. Far below the dirt and abandonment, humanity lingered. It was here, within sprawling concrete and steel, that the last remnants of mankind remained, locked away from a changing world.

It is here that two men awoke. It was here that a revolution began. And it is here that the fate of humanity will be decided. Because, here, there is no turning back. Here, there is only one direction to tread:

Forward.

Humanity has grown to control most of the Sol system, and looks to distant stars for further expansion options. When probes discover an uncannily-earthlike planet at a vast distance, the Solar Government takes on a project larger than any before it.

A colony ship, carrying over seven thousand people, the Eclipse is constructed. Thanks to its translight engine, it is capable of making the journey within two decades. The expedition is launched with high hopes, its crew made up of the best and brightest, setting out to prove that the vastness of space was no longer an insurmountable obstacle, that landing on distant worlds full of life was no longer just a pipe dream.

What happens when this colony ship's crew arrives at their destination would forever change humanity's outlook on the rest of the universe, as well as what could be deemed possible. Supernatural beings, energies unexplainable, and most importantly, sapient organisms all populate this mysterious, fertile world. In all of its extensive preparations, is the Eclipse versatile enough to tackle the task assigned to it? Or, more importantly, is its crew?

Featured on Equestria Daily 1/1/2013.

Pre-read by Stringtheory and Milo. Proofread by Erumpet and Demetrius. Thanks! Contains some hard and some soft sci-fi elements.

The humans have travelled to Equestria to share their knowledge with the ponies. However, what the human scholars bring with them quickly turns out to be a bit much for the simple-minded locals.

King Sombra’s dark influence was obliterated by the Crystal Heart, and the villain is well and truly dead. But when he attempts to steal the afterlife of an innocent victim, a human spirit is left hurtling towards Equestria, where this unfortunate soul is revived into the only vessel available: the reconstituted body of King Sombra himself.

Thus, a cheerfully oblivious alien is crammed into the form of the most evil and malicious being Equestria has ever known. Not that Shining Armor and Cadence know this, of course. As far as they are concerned, the King is back and he’s lost his fricking mind.

Click here for the TV Tropes page!

While moving to her new home, Zecora find the strangest creature - a large, nigh-hairless talking monkey-thing. Seeing how it lacks basic knowledge on surviving in the wild (and that it's quite tall and probably good at manual labour) she decides to adopt it as her assistant. Hopefully, she won't come to regret her decision.

"We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes."
— Paul Laurence Dunbar

It started as a normal Equestrian morning, but doesn't it always? The princesses are frightened, and in Ponyville, a creature from a forgotten race walks into town. His kind hasn't been seen in over a thousand years, but even then he's still far from what he appears to be.

Arc 1: The First Day

Author's Note: Hey guys! This is my first story, so constructive criticism is more than welcome. I'll take this moment to say that I own nothing but my main character, the plot, and a few surprises which will appear later. All other characters and linked music are NOT mine. A word on music. At times I might offer two links to a song. The first is the OFFICIAL version, the second is the closest approximation to how I feel it is sung in the story. Just warning you, because I know some people hate covers. This story is rated teen for occasional language, implied sex, and gruesome imagery (mostly late in the story and in flashbacks). Now with technical out of the way, I wish you all happy reading, and I hope you have fun.

Edit: Bug the writer! He writes faster when you do.

Luna flew about the sky, guarding the night over Equestria, noticed something unfamiliar in the sky, something that looked Alien. She had used her power of the night to draw this object down from orbit for a second look. It was a Structure Composed of a Gold metal, hexagonal main body, with a thin, large bowl shape at the top. In the center of the bowl, a small radio antenna lie. There were also longer antennas on the sides, 3 of them to be exact. The other side had a Small, golden truss beam, with several radio instruments on it. On one of the sides, like a Large, golden disk with several alien markings on the front. Luna flew it back to the main Canterlot castle and informed her sister for a closer inspection.

Note: I do not own any videos or images in this story. I only wrote it.
The side of the spacecraft was labelled "Voyager"

Image borrowed without permission from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record

Voyager 1, a space probe sent out into the vastness of space. Attached to it is a golden record, containing the sciences, the music, the images, and the feelings of a small and distant world, called Earth. It is a message, put into a bottle, and thrown into the vast cosmic ocean. In case any advanced civilization intercepts the probe, they can learn of humanity's achievements. But with space being so vast, it's hard to imagine an alien civilization finding the bottle. But if it is...

Pulled into a strange world where myth and legends are real. Unable to communicate to the native creatures here, or even able to move for that matter... How is a human supposed to adapt to this strange world, or even manage to keep his sanity when he is encased in stone.