Helena climbed the last cliffside, doing so by leaping upwards as soon as she got a foothold on a crevice. She was close to her destination and would need to make a decision: head for her ship and investigate the strange ripples around herself, or change direction and infiltrate a nearby town. The stealthy approach would be challenging if the locals were unaffected by the phenomenon surrounding Helena, and the wildlife she’d encountered so far appeared normal.
The ascending path across the hills leveled out, and she made her way through grassy fields on the outskirts of a dense forest. It was out in the open when she felt it again. Time slowed to a crawl, and she instantly turned in the direction of the potential threat.
She had to enhance her vision to precisely see what it was, but at the edge of the forest, on a small slope, she saw two brown ears and silver hair sticking out of the bushes. It was clear she was being observed by something more intelligent than a mere beast.
Whatever it was, Helena managed to startle it with her quick reactions, and it moved away from its hiding place by reflex—revealing the face of a brown coated mare.
The mare was quick-witted enough to dive behind the brush again, but Helena had seen enough. It wasn’t the first time she’d encountered strange life forms in the galaxy, but each one she’d met had proven to be a disappointment.
It was an undisputed fact that there existed no other intelligent life in the galaxy besides humans. Each time she had encountered anything resembling intelligent life, she had found out that it had been nothing but a facade, humans biologically engineered to resemble another species or attempts to uplift primitive animals into a higher state of being. But no matter how advanced the mimicry, they could never truly abandon their human origin. To call such creatures sapient aliens was disingenuous.
Was this the real reason this world had been hidden away? Were the inhabitants simply colonists who wanted nothing else but to live their lives as small horses separate from the rest of the galaxy?
The mare neighed something incomprehensible, and four more ponies joined her. The first was a pegasus hovering in the air, followed by two ponies equipped with golden armor and spears, and lastly a unicorn. By their gawking, Helena assumed they’d never seen a human before.
The unicorn and pegasus came to a silent agreement, and the latter made ready to fly away, but Helena wasn't prepared for her presence to be revealed to the world just yet. Before any of the ponies could react, she accelerated towards the group of equines. It didn’t take long for her to close the distance, and right before she reached the slope, she made a powerful leap upwards in the direction of the retreating pegasus.
She soared through the tree branches and caught up with him above the treetops. Bright green eyes widened when the stallion realized what was happening, but it was too late for him to change direction. She caught him mid-air by placing her left arm around his barrel, effectively pressing his body against her chest in such a way that it avoided potential harm to his wings. The other hand she placed softly against his neck, and time slowed to a complete stop.
Helena studied the pegasus in their frozen, aerial embrace, but there was little to learn from observing what was on the surface. Time dilated to such a state made it impossible to move her eyes, but there were other things she could do. She sent a small electric current from her fingers into the stallion's system. The process was lightning-fast and allowed her a detailed reading of his biology.
What the results showed, however, was astonishing.
There wasn’t a single trace of human influence or interference within the pony. She sent another to confirm, and the results were the same. There was something unknown hidden within him, concentrated near the wings and the marks on his flank, but Helena didn’t register it as human in origin.
For three million years, she’d waited for this moment. Memories of countless worlds, along with the disappointments she’d experienced, flooded her mind all at once. So much wasted time and effort. The ponies had somehow developed sapience without human interference, even though this entire solar system must have been created by human hand.
She needed to find who was responsible.
Time resumed to normal, and gravity took hold of them. Helena sent a final electric spike from her fingers into the center point of the stallion’s brain, making his eyes roll back as he lost consciousness. The ponies below were still staring over the grassy field when she landed, but quickly turned and gasped at seeing their comrade passed out in her arms.
She needed answers.
Helena placed the pegasus gently down on the ground, then looked up at the rest of the ponies, standing just a few yards away. Their ears laid flat, and their eyes darted between her and the pegasus. The two wearing armor pointed spears unsteadily in her direction, while the unicorn said something unintelligible. She responded with a fluid motion towards the leftmost guard, dilating time to a tenth of normal in the process.
The guard desperately tried to keep her at bay with his spear, but it was a futile gesture. All it took was for her to extend an index finger to nudge the spear aside, allowing her to step in and put the other hand on the unarmored parts of his neck. There was no need to verify further what she already knew, so she sent him to sleep without pausing her step.
The remaining guard and the brown mare backed away to stand, side by side, in front of the unicorn. The silver-haired mare lacked any visible weaponry, but the way she crouched and held her head low made it evident she was ready to pounce.
Time automatically slowed further for Helena, and it took her a while to comprehend why. Something triggered her emergency responses, though it couldn’t possibly be the ponies armed with primitive weapons. Eventually, she found the source to be the unicorn, or more specifically, the unicorn's horn.
The unicorn was attacking her with a bright, teal beam, though the energy had only traveled from the horn by a few inches when Helena suspended time. The trajectory of the beam indicated that it was aimed at her left shoulder, and a quick turn would be enough to avoid it.
Fascinated by the ponies’ abilities, Helena chose not to.
She intercepted the strange beam with her right hand, fully aware that it might be strong enough to pierce her palm. Instead, the teal glow latched itself onto her skin, then quickly spread up the sleeves of her dress. There was a strange, hidden weight behind it, almost as if the glow were designed to hold her in place.
What trickery is this?
Before she could apply a countermeasure, the glow became erratic. There was an almost invisible line of light connecting her arm and the unicorn horn, and it began to twist and turn until it completely dispersed. Whatever happened, the unicorn was struck by some kind of feedback loop, and her head swirled in the air as if she’d been punched.
The two normal ponies turned their heads around to see what happened, and before they could realize their mistake, Helena moved in between them, putting a hand on each of their necks. She walked past them as they collapsed behind her.
Only the unicorn remained standing, and the mare was too occupied with massaging her forehead to even register Helena's approach.
“Is Her Majesty displeased with the carrot soup?” the steward asked, eyeing the half-full bowl on Celestia’s table. “I can have the chef prepare something else.”
All the chairs in the royal dining room were empty, except for the one Celestia occupied at the very center. Every one of her advisors who usually joined her for supper were out trying to keep order in the cities and countryside. The palace was running on a skeleton crew, with most of the guards and servants relocated to keep Twilight’s campsite functioning. Celestia wished she could be out there with them, actively working to solve the crisis, but the country needed assurances that their rulers were safe and in control at the center of the nation.
“Your Majesty?”
“Oh, I apologize,” Celestia said, and flinched away from the parchment next to her plate. “The soup is fine. I’ll finish it later.”
The steward grimaced at the parchment on the table but refrained from scolding her for bringing work to the dining room. If she’d done something similar a week prior, the staff would have been more vocal in their protests.
“What about Princess Luna?” the steward asked, and glanced over at Luna’s empty chair. “Should I send it to her bedchambers again?”
Celestia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “If Luna isn’t here in fifteen minutes, you may send it to her room.”
“Understood, Your Majesty,” he said, accompanied by a short bow.
She watched the stallion leave through the servant’s entrance, then returned her attention to the parchment on the table. It’d been sent from Twilight via dragon fire a few hours ago and highlighted the need for more royal guards to aid in the exploration of the crashed alien ship. Celestia would have to deny the request; there were simply no more guards to send. She trusted her former apprentice would make due with the resources she’d been given.
Ignoring the rest of her soup, Celestia leaned back in her chair until her head touched the backrest. Today, reports had finally come in from her ambassadors in distant lands, and they’d only confirmed her worst fears. No matter how far away the nation, they’d all experienced the same cataclysmic meteors and were now entirely occupied with maintaining their law and order. The news that aliens crashed landed in Equestria had only exasperated the situation abroad.
Most foreboding of all was the disappearance of Discord. The draconequus had left her a note, stuck to a wall in her bedchambers, telling her in frantic writing that he was going into hiding. She had attempted to contact him several times, but even the summoning spell failed to locate his presence.
The only ally she could count on was the Crystal Empire, and Prince Shining Armor had promised to personally lead a company of crystal guards to help ease the pressure.
“Good evening, Sister,” Luna said, in a mild tone as she walked through the main entrance.
Celestia slowly returned to her original position in the chair and took careful note of her sister’s appearance. Luna wore more makeup than usual, and would likely pass as a model on her way to an audition. It didn’t fool Celestia. She knew what hid behind the wall of cosmetics.
“Good evening, Luna,” Celestia said, and motioned to the seat next to her. “I’m glad to see you’re looking better tonight.”
“Thank you,” Luna replied, neutrally, and took her seat at the table without meeting her sister’s eyes. “I intend to resume my duties.”
“Our ponies will rest easier knowing you watch over them.” Celestia knew a systematic and business-like approach was the best way to help Luna recover from her depression, and that she should gradually open up to her over the coming days. “Fancy Pants reports that the area around Vanhoover could use some extra soothing.”
“I will see to it,” Luna said and looked around the room for the steward.
Celestia realized that Luna must have forgotten to ask the guard outside to notify the kitchen. To avoid an awkward pause, she instead took the initiative to buy some time for the steward to come in and check up on them.
“Keeper is sending us a device that will help us—”
She was interrupted by a swirl of green smoke above her head, signaling that Twilight was sending her another letter. The scroll materialized in the air and landed dangerously close to the soup bowl. This wasn’t the time for their scheduled reports, meaning something significant must have happened.
Luna understood as much and moved closer to Celestia so that they could both read. The letter was brief. A patrol had vanished without a trace, along with Starlight Glimmer.
“Does there exist anything in those wood that could have done this?” Luna asked.
Celestia knew that the wildlife in the area was sparse, and no animals there could even remotely threaten an entire squad. “None.”
“Aliens, then?”
“We do not know that yet,” Celestia said, and opened the main door with her magic, causing the two guards posted outside to peer in. “Summon Stonewielder to the dining hall, then inform the kitchen that we will need more servings of carrot soup.”
The guard on the left saluted and went to it.
“It is not yet time to raise the moon,” Celestia noted. “But I believe you’re needed in the dream realm.”
Luna studied the empty wine glass on her table, before opening her eyes fully for the first time since entering the room.
“If Starlight Glimmer is out there, asleep, I will find her.”
The cave on the edge of the cliff was a suitable location for what Helena had in mind. It was large enough for her to stand upright, and numerous holes in the ceiling provided adequate lighting.
The five ponies she’d encountered laid unconscious in a row, with their armor and spears stacked neatly at the entrance. Carrying them here in a timely fashion had been a challenge, and she’d several times cursed her decision of wearing a dress to a potentially hostile world.
She moved to the start of the line and looked down at the brown mare with silver hair. It was the pony that had spotted her in the field; starting with her would be good enough. Helena gently picked up and moved the sleeping pony to a stone outline that functioned as an acceptable bench. Sitting down, she placed the mare so that her barrel laid on Helena's lap, while the head rested upon her left arm.
With her right hand, she stroked its neck in a slow, tender motion. Fingers danced from spot to spot, administering small shocks to the pony’s system. Stressed muscles in the mare's body began to relax, while her internal organs were stimulated to function at peak efficiency. The mare began to breathe more steadily, and let out a content murmur.
“Wake up, little one,” Helena said, softly into her ear.
The mare opened her eyes halfway and neighed quietly in response.
“What is your name?” Helena asked, before sending another small current to specific parts of the mare's brain.
The pony’s eyes fell until they were almost closed, and the mare replied with a short sentence in her native tongue. Helena continued to ask generic questions and made sure to keep the mare under hypnosis, while taking careful note of each response.
She continued the process for almost half an hour until a pained expression appeared on the mare’s face. Not wanting to cause the pony any discomfort, Helena sent a final shock from her finger and returned the mare to a deep slumber.
Helena returned the snoring pony to the row, decided on who to take next, then returned to her makeshift bench with the pegasus stallion in her arms.
“Hello, handsome,” she said, jokingly to herself.
The sleeping stallion cooed in response to her fingers stroking the fur on his neck. Helena initiated the second phase of her plan, and felt her throat shift and churn as it audibly changed its form to mimic that of the equines. Her mind kept a perfect record of how the mare had responded to specific tones of voice, then repeated aloud a few select phrases of their language with her altered vocal cords.
The half-sleeping stallion responded differently depending on what she asked, and each word he uttered was another piece of the puzzle for her mind to arrange into a functioning language. It didn’t take long for her to have enough information to start an almost coherent conversation. Both ponies she questioned were employed in a military organization of sorts, and it wasn’t hard to glean information about their basic roles.
“Home?” she asked, in what she believed was the correct equine term.
“Cloudsdale,” the stallion answered, with his eyes closed. The pegasus had begun to shift uncomfortably in her embrace and reflexively tried to extend his wings despite her efforts to keep him calm. She decided that the pony had had enough for now, and sent him to a deeper sleep, then replaced him with one of the two stallions who had worn the golden armor.
“What’s your name?” she asked, in the neighs of their language. The pony seemed to enjoy her contact.
“Pebble,” the pony murmured and took the opportunity to snuggle deeper into her embrace.
She continued questioning him by alternating the words she’d already learned. The process was swift, but not fast enough for her to able to ask the question that truly mattered. She needed to know if humans were living here, undisguised or not.
“Where do your gods reside?” she finally asked, again uncertain if the words she used were correct.
She had encountered similar situations before when failed colonies diminished into primitive feudal societies. There were those who traveled between the stars and took advantage by shaping such worlds into their own private fiefdoms. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d brought down a spacefarer pretending to be an immortal god.
“Celestia,” the stallion said, still squirming around in Helena's lap. She’d heard that name before during her interrogation.
“Where does she live?”
The stallion nuzzled Helena's hand before answering. “Canterlot.”
Helena didn’t know the location of Canterlot, or how to ask for directions just yet, but she now knew where to hunt for the final piece. She continued with learning the ponies' language from both of the guard stallions until they also showed signs of distress. The remaining pony, and most interesting by far, was the unicorn with a purple and teal mane.
Her ability to project a dense beam of particles from her horn was odd, even by Helena’s standards, though she had her theories on what it might be. But her long travels had taught her not to draw any conclusions when encountering strange phenomena. The ponies referred to it as magic, which would serve as an acceptable word until she could accurately identify it.
She studied the shape of the horn in particular. The ponies all shared the strange magic, though it seemed different depending on what unique features the pony possessed. There was one exception to this rule: the amount of magic in the marked area around their flank was, so far, always equal.
“Now, what secrets do you hide?” Helena tried to say it in her native tongue, but the vocal cords she was currently using were ill-fitted for human language, and her words came out as a garbled mess.
Luna traveled in her incorporeal form through the dream realm, searching for the door that led to Starlight Glimmer’s subconsciousness. It was fortunate that she visited Starlight’s dream a month prior when she had that silly dispute with her sister, as it wasn’t clear at first if Starlight was asleep or not.
At this hour there were only a few doors present in the hallway of dreams. But even before Luna reached Starlight’s, she sensed that her door differed from the rest. There were several ways for a pony to fall asleep, and yet Starlight’s slumber was neither caused by fatigue, trauma, or magic.
When Luna faced the door, she found nothing visually wrong and pushed it open without hesitation. She was instantly transported to the inside of someone’s living room and found Starlight Glimmer sitting next to the wizard, Sunburst. They were sharing a large blanket, and both were engrossed in a book on a short, round table. There was also a lit hearth, and from the windows, heavy snowflakes blocked her view of the outside.
It wasn't the kind of dream she expected from someone potentially kidnapped by aliens. The bright smile Starlight gave Sunburst, as she leaned her head against his, would typically be heartwarming, but Luna was hardly in the mood to admire the fancies of young love.
She instead turned away from the pair and found the door leading out of the house. There were ominous trails of thick smoke emanating from between the cracks, and Luna recognized it as recent memories that Starlight’s pleasant dream was suppressing. She checked the window next to the door first but saw only a distant, white landscape. The door creaked when she pushed it open, and suddenly she was standing on a green field amidst a wet forest.
Next to her were three ponies of the royal guard, and the ones armed with spears held them lowered against something behind her. She turned to where the threat was coming from, and barely had time to register a creature dressed in white. The guards near Luna stepped forward to intercept, but the thing moved like a viper, dancing effortlessly between them until it appeared in front of her, bending its upper torso to look Luna straight in the eyes. Its deep blue eyes peered right through her soul, and in her panic, she tried to trap the creature in her magic.
Luna opened her eyes and stared up at a ceiling, not knowing why she was on the floor of the dream house. She slowly rose up and took a minute to calm her breath. What she’d witnessed hadn’t been real, but a reflection of the reality Starlight must have faced. The aliens were here, and she needed to inform her sister immediately.
“Sunburst?” a voice called.
Luna turned to find Starlight Glimmer sitting alone at the table. There was barely any light coming from the hearth, and a blanket on the floor now occupied the spot where Sunburst had been. Starlight was frenetically turning the pages of the book, but Luna could see all the pages were blank.
“You must listen to me,” Luna said, quickly galloping to Starlight’s side. “Something is manipulating you to—”
“No, where are you?” Starlight interrupted, while her eyes darted around in panic. All the windows then burst open, and chilly air and snow soared through.
Something was affecting the dream state, and Luna knew she had little time left.
“Starlight, I can make you wake up in a perfectly lucid state. Focus on Twilight’s campsite in your mind and do a long range teleportation as soon as possible. Can you do this?”
Starlight's ears laid flat against her head, and she barely seemed aware of what was happening around her, but eventually nodded.
Luna charged her horn, and the dream ended.
Starlight let out a gasp, and instantly realized the danger she was in. Laying right next to her was the guard mare from the patrol, and they’d been taken to the inside of a cave. The hair at the back of her neck stood on end as she realized the alien was somewhere nearby, and it knew she was awake. She quickly closed her eyes and focused on her bed at the campsite, then gave her horn everything she got.
The world flashed around her.
Starlight was suddenly hanging up in the air, looking down at the Twilight’s camp several yards below. She let out a high-pitched shriek, which lasted until she crashed into one of the tents, smashing right through the canvas and landing with a loud thud atop of a bed.
”Ouch,” she said, her voice muffled by the cushion planted against her face.
Helena stood with her hand outstretched towards where the unicorn had vanished. She had been about to leave the cave and was convinced the ponies would stay asleep for at least half a local cycle. Then something happened that placed her under full alert.
She had witnessed the entire process in slow motion: the magic had dematerialized the whole unicorn in a heartbeat, and she had followed the stream of particles as they traveled through the rocky ceiling at an incredible speed.
Teleportation was something she’d witnessed many times before, but the level of technology required was a rarity in the galaxy, and even those with the necessary knowledge only used it sparingly. The risk in the teleportation act was mostly negligible to the user, but the process was dangerous because it could be easily tampered with by outside influences.
Helena had never endangered her life in such a way, and only those who lived short lives would risk losing themselves for such a temporary gain. It mattered not in the end. She knew the location of her quarry and doubted Celestia would attempt to flee in such a manner.
“Starlight!” Twilight yelled as she galloped into the medical tent. It was the largest pavilion they possessed and served as a field hospital, but despite its size, it was crowded with the multitude of royal guards recovering from the minor injuries they’d received when exploring the crashed spaceship.
She found Starlight next to one of the doctors, who examined her chest with a stethoscope. Every personnel and patient in the room had turned their heads at her loud entrance, but she ignored them and ran straight to Starlight’s bed.
“I’m alright, Twilight,” Starlight said and waved her hoof dismissively, but the doctor who was checking her snorted skeptically.
“Heart rate is normal, and she appears fine, but I want to keep her here on a twenty-four-hour observation.” The doctor was an older stallion who Twilight knew brokered no argument when it came to patient care.
“Of course,” Twilight said, and took Starlight’s hoof in her own. “What happened out there?”
“Well, we found the alien,” Starlight said while struggling to retrieve her limb. “It attacked and held us captive in some cave.”
“They exist,” Twilight exclaimed, barely taking note at how everyone in the tent instantly stopped what they’d been doing. “And they attacked you?”
Royal guards and hospital personnel moved in closer to listen to the conversation, crowding the area around the two. A few of the nurses held hooves against their mouths, while most of the guards wore a somber expression.
“Luna saved me,” Starlight said, and tried to jump off the bed, but the doctor firmly placed a hoof on her shoulder. “We need to alert the princesses.”
“Yes, of course, they need to know about this,” Twilight said, excitedly, and only now noticed the circle of ponies around her. “But first, you need to tell me everything.”
“No, you don’t understand.” Starlight had to take a few deep breaths before she continued. “You must listen to me, that thing placed me in some sort of dream state and interrogated me. It was all hazy, but I can remember how it kept asking me the same questions over and over.”
“What was it?” Twilight asked.
“It wanted to know about Celestia, and I remember telling it the direction to Canterlot.”
Celestia stood outside on the plateau behind the throne room, her horn lit and reaching for the sun. When her magic finally connected, she suggested the sun alter its position. The sun accepted and began its descent towards the horizon.
Luna wasn’t with her this time and instead raised the moon from her bedchamber balcony. Celestia had only nodded when Luna informed her of what she saw in the dream world, and she’d had read the scroll from Twilight, warning that the alien was likely coming for her.
Celestia looked up at the shield surrounding Canterlot. Without the aid of Shining Armor's talent, it needed four unicorns on rotation to keep it active. Stonewielder would likely give her some strongly worded protests for what she did next, as she extended her wings to their fullest and took off into the air.
It didn’t take long for her to reach the top of the barrier, and a quick spell opened a hole large enough for her to fly through. The ascent continued until she was near the peak of the mountain, and at that moment, the sun passed the horizon. She looked up at the night sky, but all that greeted her were meteors lazily drifting in front of a dark void.
Celestia turned her attention toward the ground and saw the blue shield engulfing Ponyville. She hadn’t dared to have any of the barriers lowered, at least not until the meteor sightings had finally ceased.
She continued to soar higher until the wind and cold air became unpleasant, but it was a sufficient altitude for what she had in mind. The cloudless night that allowed her to see far into the distance, and from her elevated position, she could see the Smokey Mountains where the alien ship had crash-landed.
There was a prosperous mining town called Copperhill at the southern base of the mountain range. Most of the nation's copper and zinc came from its rich mines, and the wealth it created prompted many of the leading aristocrats to build lavish estates in the region. The town would be in the alien's path if they were coming for her, and she was relieved to see a tiny blue speck in the distance; thankfully, the shield around it was still active.
Stonewielder had ordered flyers to be sent and warn the town of potential danger, but it would take many hours for even a wonderbolt to reach it. Twilight’s camp was much closer to Copperhill, but all of the pegasi there were out searching for the missing patrol.
Celestia hovered in the air for a few more minutes and was about to return to the palace when something caught her attention. The shield around the mining town was changing its colors, from blue to black, as if corruption was quickly spreading over its surface.
Before long, the shield flickered out in a flash of light.
The muscles in her wings ached; in the back of her mind, she prepared a variety of spells. But instead of unleashing them, she allowed herself to breathe at a more steady pace and began her descent towards the palace. Celestia knew hasty action would only lead to disaster, and they needed to think things through as they had done with the Tirek incident.
It wasn’t the first time she’d been the target of some foreign power, but this was more unsettling than ever before. She had always been quick to identify each foe’s weakness: insanity, greed, or overconfidence. Now, something genuinely unknown was coming for her. If Keeper’s hypothesis was correct, it was a highly advanced species that had existed far longer than ponykind.
She landed back on the plateau and walked calmly into the backdoor leading to the throne room.
In truth, Celestia felt much like a mouse living inside the walls of a house, cowering in the nooks and crannies from the mythical giants living on the other side.