"I was in the African savannas studying giraffe migration patterns when they called me over the telephone. I said, "I do not know why you called me! I am just a simple researcher!" And they say, "No, you are the best in the field! Large animal anatomy!" "But then I ask: "What do you need to know?" They say: "It is not that; it is a big opportunity! Very much so." Well, I am not very busy watching the big tall giraffes. So I accept. Did not know that it was in famous Portal-gate! And even bigger surprise! Dragon! Just like in books Mama read to me when I was but a little baby. It is alive, but very hurt. Mean monster, I am told, and very dangerous. Anyways, they tell me to look after it. Study it. And I try - it is very big! I do big animal like horse, not giant animal! Ha ha ha!...
Alexander Ilyich, Large Animal Researcher
-Noah-
It was cold.
Why was it so cold?
Noah groaned as he rubbed his eyes, his back arching as he stretched his muscles. The bright, pristine whiteness of his surroundings threw him off for a second, the walls and bed unfamiliar yet strangely identifiable. Wherever he was, he wasn't familiar with it.
He blinked as he stared at the white ceiling tiles. A curtain surrounded his bed, the blue sheets hanging on a metal loop just above his head. He was in a hospital. But why?
The memories of the battle suddenly popped up in his head, his recollection of events vague and indiscernible. There was a dragon, they had shot at it, and then the car exploded...? What happened next?
The door suddenly swung open with a click as Noah tried desperately to recall his last few memories. He turned his head towards the exit, the motion slow and lethargic as if he was too tired to move a single muscle. Leah's shoes squeaked as she calmly entered the room, Andrew following suit with an expression of relief on his face.
"H-Hey," Noah croaked out. He coughed, the phlegm in his throat clearing as he pulled himself up into a sitting position. A dull, numb pain ran up his back as he tried to wiggle himself upright, and he winced as his body suddenly pained him with a thousand aches and sores.
"Woah, big guy! Slow down, you're hurt!"
"Leah's right," Andrew said. "The doctors told us you got injured pretty badly."
"Ugh...how bad?"
"Well, you had a piece of metal go through your thigh and into your lower back, plus a bunch of burns and cuts. And a broken nose, too," stated Leah.
"That probably explains why I have such a headache," Noah sighed. "Where is this?"
"The medical ward. You were lucky, there were a few injured who didn't get to have a bed like you did! And, well..."
"Well," interjected Andrew, "you could have gotten off...a lot, lot worse."
"What do you mean?"
"They told us that three people died during the attack."
Noah closed his eyes and let out a breath before speaking again. "That..."
"We know."
"How long have I been out?"
"Three days."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah."
"Wow." Noah slowly sunk back into the bed and beneath the covers. The air conditioning softly hummed as he rested, and he suddenly realized that the cool air blowing out from the metal vent was what made him so cold. "I really don't know what to say."
"Aren't you curious about what happened during those three days?" Leah asked.
"Not really, but...fill me in, I guess. Take your time," he added. Noah listened as he lied there under the soft hospital bedsheets, his attention purely focused on Leah and Andrew as they took turns explaining what had happened during the past few days. He nodded as Leah told him about how the dragon was still breathing, but under study and control and severely injured. About how just the day prior, the injured natives were sent back to their camp as a peace offering, to show that humanity had no ill intentions.
"Or so they say," Andrew sighed. "Lotsa land and resources on the other side, I would wager, and everybody knows how much our species needs them. You might be doing a lot more work in the future than you think, Noah."
"Don't you have any optimism, Andrew? Look, Noah just woke up, can we talk about something cheerier?"
"It's fine," interjected Noah. "But I am curious...what's going to happen now?"
"Noah, do you remember how we're supposed to be part of the greeting party for the natives if they do decide to contact us? Well, ever since the five little ponies got sent back, Leah and I are supposed to be ready to go do that at any minute. It's the same with you, although I'm assuming they'll wait until you're healed up."
"Do you think that's going to happen, Andrew?"
"Well, I don't think the ponies can just ignore us."
"Fair point."
"I just hope that, well...things don't go wrong. Just thinking about it makes me nervous. I mean, we'll be making history! If we mess up, the history books will remember us as 'the three people who totally screwed up first contact between humanity and another species'."
"It'll be okay," Leah assured Andrew as she rested her hand on his shoulder. "We'll be alright."
"I dunno," he replied. "I guess I'll try..."
"When am I gonna be out of bed and moving around?" Noah asked. He slowly pulled his arms out of the covers and rubbed his eyes, sending sparks of light dancing across his vision.
"Two more days," Andrew responded. "That's what the doctor told me, anyways."
Noah groaned quietly as his arms flopped onto the mattress. His fingers began fiddling with the bedside remote, tracing the buttons and testing what they did. "So," he replied, "is there anything else you had to tell me?"
"Nothing important. Just something about, like, the group of soldiers you were supposed to assist and your new assignment."
"Okay, that - wait, what?"
"Oh, you didn't know? That exploration team is apparently now a 'active assignment group', whatever that's supposed to mean. I wasn't told much, but I think that means you'll be doing a much broader range of things than before."
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier, Leah?!" Noah quickly sat up out of his bed and tried to throw his legs over the bed's railings, the still-numb limbs unresponsive to his will. A million white-hot pinpricks agonizingly stabbed through his thighs, sending him into a wincing fit as his two friends rushed to help him back under the pristine, unstained covers.
"Calm down! Jeez," Leah sighed as she pushed the pillow back under his back. "I didn't know you were going to be that excited about it."
"Ow, son of a...Well, I...well, first things first, I'm sick of doing sentry duty. Secondly, the exploration team was obsolete from the get go because of the drones. We didn't do much, so eventually we just got reassigned to regular work. What else did they say?"
"Basically, if you're not watching the facility and the job needs someone with a gun, they'll call you."
"Ah." Noah turned his head and stared at the wall, the beige wallpaper bland and depressing. "That's a big list of things, then."
"Yeah..."
The low hum of the air conditioning boomed over the deep, rumbling buzz of the facility's background ambience.
"...by the way, where's my phone?"
-Twilight-
Twilight struggled to sit still as she waited outside the medical tent, the purple pony rocking from side to side in a constant, rhythmic teeter-totter. The cold midday air sent a shiver down her back, one that was quickly chased away by the warm glow of the noon sun. She wondered if her friends would be cold as well; after all, the tent wasn't very well heated. Because the wood-burning stoves were dirty and sooty, they weren't installed in the medical tent in order to ensure cleanliness. Twilight just hoped that the thick, cotton sheets were warm enough to keep Applejack and Rainbow Dash comfortable.
The alicorn had been waiting just outside the entire morning, from sunrise to noon. The medics shooed her out of the tent as soon as she opened the flap, each pony annoyedly lecturing Twilight on the importance of proper rest before booting her out the door. One of them was kind enough to tell her that her friends seemed to be completely fine, just in a deep state of sleep. The other three ponies were fine, too - though their abdomens were wrapped with bandages from their wounds when the captives mysteriously materialized out of thin air, the old wounds that had dug deep into their bodies were healing unbelievably well. If everything went well, the doctor explained, the ponies would wake up at around lunchtime.
There was no doubt that her friends would do well and recover quickly, Twilight knew that. But how? Their return itself was a mystery. Suddenly appearing out of thin air, their location revealed by a burning blue torch, the ponies were quickly recovered out of the black, unfolded boxes they lay on and rushed to the medical tent in the middle of the night. And that wasn't all; the injured Night Guard members (presumed living by some, dead by most) were also returned to Equestrian custody, their injuries mended through means unbeknownst to ponykind. How did they not die? Luna had said the aliens mortally wounded her ponies, but they were still alive and well (though with a few scars). And how did they materialize without anypony noticing?
What was the meaning of all this?
"Princess?" a voice suddenly called out from behind.
Twilight's ears perked up, and she turned towards the medic as he poked his head out of the tent. "Yes?" she eagerly asked.
"Your friends are in a stable condition. They're conscious, but they're still a little bit drowsy and might not feel too well. You can come in and speak with them, but please do keep in mind-"
"Rainbow Dash!!! Applejack!!!"
Twilight sprung through the tent flap and pushed the doctor aside. She ran towards the back of the tent, her hooves cautiously bounding through the narrow aisles between the cots. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were lying in bed, the two mares talking quietly to each other with a look of curiosity on their faces.
"Applejack! Dash!" Twilight yelled as she briskly trotted towards them. The pegasus and earth pony turned their heads, then smiled as their friend pulled them together for one big group hug.
"Howdy, Twi."
"What's up, egghead?"
"Good to see you, girls."
The three ponies broke apart, each mare with a big, goofy grin on their face. Twilight pulled a stool up from the corner of the tent and sat down, eager to reconnect from her friends after several weeks of separation.
"What have ya been up to, Sugarcube?" Applejack asked.
"Well, I...oh my gosh, it's such a long story. I don't know where to begin."
"We got all day, Twilight! Tell us," exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she leaned forward towards Twilight.
"I...where do I start?"
"Fill us in, Twi. What happened after, well...that night?"
"I don't know if I can tell you, Applejack. This is, well...really kinda secret stuff. Luna doesn't want me to just tell anypony about what's happening."
"Princess Luna? Wait, Twilight, you can't not tell us now! Come on, spill the beans!"
"I...no, you girls go first," Twilight sighed.
"Sure thing. Well, you know how we were sleeping and all that. We wake up, there's a buncha loud, ear-bangin noises, and Dash and I can't hear nothin. One of the big'uns kinda makes us stay in the back room, we wait. All of a sudden, a whole buncha them aliens come in, kinda mean-like and stuff. I...huh, I don't quite 'member what happens next. You do, Dash?"
"No...huh. That's weird!"
"Is that...it?"
"Yep! All I remember, though, is that we were, like, taking super long naps for a while," Dash continued.
"Wait, Rainbow dash, what's that supposed to mean?" Twilight asked.
"I dunno, just...I knew we were asleep, but...it's weird. It's hard to describe it, Twi, but...yeah."
"Okay then...Well, do you need to know anything? Being away for weeks on end must have disoriented you two quite a bit."
"First you tell us you can't say anything, then you ask us if we want to know anything? Gee, Twilight, you sure are funny," teased Dash with a jab of her hoof.
Twilight simply rolled her eyes. "Applejack, anything?"
"How long has it been, exactly?"
"I..don't know. Maybe two weeks?" Twilight responded as she tapped her chin with her hoof.
"Alright. Where are we?"
"We're-that is, um, we're in Luna's camp. We're supposed to be watching the aliens."
"An entire camp? Wow. What happened?"
"Oh, that...I shouldn't have said-"
"Princess!" a medic shouted at Twilight. "Luna wants you outside!"
"Oh, why now?" Twilight sighed as she stood up from her chair and pushed it to the side. "I really hope it isn't much."
"We can wait, Twi. Just go do whatcha need to do, Sugarcube."
"See ya, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash called out as Twilight cantered over to the exit. Twilight could hear Luna muttering to someone behind the canvas tarp wall, the conversation clearly a back-and-forth debate between her and some unknown pony. She pushed the flap to the side, blinking as the midday sun temporarily blinded her with its white, radiant glow.
"...but what I'm saying is that we can't determine the exact details of the wounds at this stage of healing. Like you've said, these wounds are completely different from what anypony in Equestria has encountered. And these wounds are definitely healed in a totally incompatible way as well."
"But surely you can glean some more information?"
"Look, any further examination is going to potentially affect their recovery. Who knows what will happen? Maybe their treatment causes severe hemophilia while the patient recovers, and they might die the moment we cut them open with a scalpel."
"You know that's not true."
"Maybe not, but my point still stands. We need to wait a while. Maybe we can ask them what their treatment process was like when they're awake and well. For now, though, we'll just have to wait and see what happens next."
"Very well, then. But please, try your best to find out more about their injuries, Doctor. Ah," Luna said as she noticed Twilight standing in front of her, "Twilight. Doctor, could you please give us some privacy?"
"Of course, Princess," the stallion nodded as he entered the tent.
Twilight watched the gray-coated pony walk through the entrance, then turned her attention to Luna as he disappeared into the tent. "Princess," she greeted Luna, "you called for me?"
"Yes. Twilight, let me get straight to the point. You know why our ponies were returned, right?"
Twilight nodded. "They wanted to be friends with us?"
"There's much more to it than that, Twilight Sparkle. Do you know what we've done to them?"
"I...what do you mean?"
Luna sighed, shaking her head as she continued. "My first meeting with the visitors involved getting attacked, Twilight. That is nowhere near a good first impression. But, as you can see, my stallions and your friends are here with us, healthy and well."
"Yes...go on..."
"The olive branch has been extended towards us. Deliverance has come. However you may think of this, there are two facts at play here. Number one: they have the ability to eradicate this camp and the entirety of the Equestrian continent. I do not doubt the former, and I do not doubt the latter. Number two: they aren't here to do so. If they were, those three Night Guard would have been dead and dissected."
"What are you trying to tell me, Luna?"
The dark blue alicorn leaned forward and rested her hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "They are giving us a shot at friendship. Friendship is good. We have to return this favor."
"But how?" Twilight asked.
"I was thinking about this the other night," Luna explained, "while reading over your notes. You remembered a lot, and I'm impressed. But they were mostly over their language, right?"
"Yes..."
Luna nodded. The straps on the sides of her bags magically flipped open, and Luna's horn glowed as she rooted through the pouches and dividers. "Twilight," she said as she produced a gemstone from her saddlebags, "you do know what this is, right?"
She stared at the flat, hoof-sized multicolored crystal before shrugging her shoulders. "It could be anything," the pony stated.
"This is a high-density, two hundred thousand word language matrix crystal. You haven't seen one in your studies before, and I doubt most ponies ever will. Equestrian is the lingua franca of our entire continent, and there is little remaining to decipher in our world except for millennia-old ruins and dialectical differences. Now, however, we actually have a use for these old, dusty gridded gems."
"I see, Princess Luna."
"I've already inscribed some of the vocabulary from your rewritten notes into the first few hundred spaces. I don't have the context for these words neither their pronunciations, and as such the connections between concepts is quite weak. Additionally, your memory of the notes you originally took might not have been the most accurate. There is one pony in Equestria who knows this language better than everypony else...you, of course."
Luna paused to consider her next choice of words before continuing. "Normaly, I would bring a pony your age into politics slowly and cautiously. Nation-level diplomacy shouldn't rest on the shoulders of anypony under a century old. But...the circumstances are much different from what I would have preferred. Twilight, are you willing to conduct first contact with the aliens?"
"I...I-"
"Before we continue," Luna interrupted as Twilight tried to come up with a response, "I want you to decipher this."
"Huh?"
Luna pulled out a flat, white piece of paper coated in a shiny, clear wrapping from her bags and held it in front of Twilight. "We found one of these with each of our returned ponies, and I think you can guess what it means."
Twilight nodded. "A sun, then a moon, then a sun, then a moon, then a sun. An arrow with a clock under it, meaning that in two days... when the sun is highest, maybe?...a pony and an alien will...meet?! Luna, is this what I think it's saying?"
"What else could it mean?"
"Three ponies will move to their encampment, from the west. They will cycle - no, exchange information, I believe. Broken sword - no violence or aggression."
"So? Are you up to it?"
The future of ponykind - no, all of Equestria - would depend on her actions. In just two days, she would be making history as one of the most important pony in millennia. Could she do it?
"...I'm in."