…Time Elapsed Since Return to Earth: 04:07:35:57…58…59…
The last four days had been rather eventful at the Gateway Project, although Shadow had stayed out of the way for the majority of it. While scientists and security personnel ran around in every direction, he had been holed up in the charging room with his siblings, reading a new book series that Kelly had suggested he take a look at. So far, he’d gone through the first three books of the ten-book series and had become enthralled with the characters as they journeyed through parts unknown. Using his processors to create almost movie-like imagery to go with the story was no problem at all, but he had discovered that doing so took up a large part of his memory unless he deleted the video as soon as he had created it. It was slightly annoying to be forced to remove the information from his memory, but it made things better in some ways because it made it possible to re-read the books and still enjoy them the second time around.
Shadow had been pondering the issue of his rapidly filling memory storage and had asked Dr. Kelly if she could come up with a solution to the problem before they returned to Equis. She had stated that it would be at the bottom of her to-do list, but that she would make an effort to at least look into it before they departed. So far, she hadn’t come up with anything, although the talks that they had during what little free time she could acquire were enlightening to say the least. Shadow learned much about the human species and the worlds that they called home, even discovering the status of some of the worlds he had gone to in past missions and how they had developed since he had first scouted them out. It was fulfilling to know that he had played a part in expanding the human race’s influence, but it also made him realize that other than the Gateway Project and the uninhabited worlds he had seen, he had never been able to see the world and the people that called it home. Of course, up until his trip to Equis he lacked the capacity to care about such things, but the knowledge that he was essentially a textbook shut-in for the entirety of his existence still grated on his processors while he was alone.
And yet, he realized that now he could do things for himself, that he could make friends and discover new things if he so desired. Of course, his mission to establish relations between the ponies and humans took top priority, but after that, who was to say he couldn’t go to those past mission worlds and see how things had progressed? The idea was a tantalizing one, and a desire that motivated Shadow to do his very best concerning the coming interactions between the ponies and humans.
Shadow left the charging room for the first time since Agent K had been removed from the facility, his paws clicking against the hard floors as he ventured into one of the briefing rooms. Shadow had never been inside one of them before, given his missions used to be downloaded directly into his CPU while he charged, and was thus rather surprised that there wasn’t much to the room other than a projector and a collection of folding chairs.
Dr. Kelly was present already, as were two of the security personnel, the captain among them as he and his subordinate talked about something in the corner of the room. There was also a young man seated in one of the chairs, his short brown hair partly hidden under a large tan cowboy hat while his torso was covered by a similarly colored duster. He didn’t look to be more than thirty if Shadow was any judge of age, although his bright green eyes were sharp and attentive as they locked onto the approaching mech.
“It would seem your resident wolf has joined us at last.” The young man’s voice was a fair bit deeper than Shadow expected, given his tall and lanky build, “Remind me again why that mechanical hound is joining us on this mission?”
“Because Shadow was the one who initially made first contact with the natives and translated their language into ours.” Kelly replied as she powered up the projector, “Besides, the natives seem to have made connections with our scout and so we would be fools to keep him behind when we journey onto their land ourselves.”
Shadow took a seat next to the cowboy and glanced up at him, “It is a pleasure to meet you. I look forward to working with you on the coming mission. What is your task on the team if you don’t mind me asking?”
The cowboy glanced at Dr. Kelly for a moment, “Inquisitive for a robot, isn’t he?” He turned his attention back to Shadow, “Well, I’m the linguist Dr. Scott called in so we can talk to the natives without having to rely totally on you for translation. From what I’ve been able to gather from your matrix, their language isn’t all that difficult to learn, so long as you take the time to understand the phonetics. I’m a bit of a natural when it comes to learning new languages, so I’ve been acting as a translator for most of my adult life after getting out of school.” He held out his hand, a smile on his face as he added, “Name’s Henry Wilcox, but you can call me Will if you like.”
Shadow shook the offered hand with a paw, “Shadow. A pleasure to meet you Will.”
“Alright everyone, gather ‘round.” Kelly called out as a title screen popped up on the projector, “we’re going to get things ready so that way once the last member of our team arrives, we can get things rolling. I want to get this mission started as soon as possible, so pay attention because this is going to be one of the defining moments in human history. We only get one shot at this, so focus on doing your jobs and we’ll get through this without a scratch.”
Will chuckled softly as the security guards walked over and sat down on Shadow’s left, leaning over to whisper behind a hand, “Famous last words if I ever heard them.”
Kelly sent the linguist a short glare before turning her attention to the door behind them. It slid open with a soft hiss and her lips parted in a smile as she spoke, “Welcome to our little mission debrief Ambassador Lang. We were just waiting for you to arrive.”
Shadow glanced over his shoulder and saw that the aforementioned ambassador was a short man of Asian descent, his black hair combed back and his dark brown eyes partly covered by a set of thin glasses. He wore a black suit with matching shoes and pants, his tie a deep navy blue to contrast his white undershirt. All and all he certainly looked the important part, although his aloof manner set Shadow’s nerves on edge as he walked into the room.
“I was informed that you had come into contact with an alien race.” His voice was crisp and precise as he sat down on Will’s right, “I take it you are going to cover some of the important details before we go galivanting off into the unknown?”
Dr. Kelly nodded, “That is correct, Ambassador, but first I wanted to go over who will be working with us out in the field, given this is going to be an extended trip for all of us. I’m sorry to say that we still haven’t been able to open a portal for more than a few minutes without a secondary station on the other end to help power the jump, so until we can acquire permission to build a second gate on Equis, we’re going to have to rely on the biweekly schedule that we can reasonably keep to with just a single gate. Don’t worry,” she forestalled any protest as both the ambassador and Will raised their voices to object, “I’ve already planned for that and have acquired the necessary items we will need for such an extended journey. Luckily, the natives of Equis seem to have a similar taste to humans when it comes to food, at least from what Shadow was able to log before returning to base, so packing two weeks of food and water won’t be necessary.”
That seemed to calm the majority of the humans down, if their heart rates were any indicator of their mood, although Shadow could still pick up some nervous energy coming from the ambassador. Could be he wasn’t thinking of being stuck on another planet for two weeks when he signed up for the job.
With everyone now paying her their full attention, Dr. Scott lowered the lights and pointed to the screen with a laser pointer as an image of the Princesses appeared, “First of all, we’re going to cover who it is we will be dealing with when it comes to the natives of Equis. While Shadow was there, he met with the rulers of the local nation, and we were able to get a translation of their names thanks to his efforts to communicate with them. In their own language, they are known as Kalian Ferrostali and Kalian Grestio. Kalian is the local term for Princess according to Shadow’s translation matrix, and their names are Celestia and Luna respectively once we carry them over to English.”
Her pointer hovered over Celestia as she continued, “Celestia is the elder of the two sisters, and they rule the nation of Equestria together. Celestia holds court during the day while Luna does the same at night, ensuring that the nation always has a figure they can turn to in the government if an emergency should arise. From what we can tell from their history, both of the sisters are over a thousand years old, although Luna was absent from the throne for a large majority of that time, due to a coup that she attempted to enact over her sister when they were much younger. They seem to be on good terms even after such events, but don’t bring it up unless they choose to, the last thing we need is to piss off beings that have been around since man created the crossbow.”
“And you’re sure it’s not just some conjecture of the locals that has led them to believe that they are as old as you say?” Ambassador Lang asked as he inspected the image in closer detail, “How can we be sure that it isn’t just a family name or tradition that has been passed down for centuries while the rest of the public believes their rulers are immortal?”
Dr. Kelly shrugged, “We don’t, but that is part of the reason we are going ourselves. History books and local belief can only take us so far, so that is why we must go ourselves in order to validate what has been given to us by Shadow following his mission.” She glanced at Will as the cowboy raised his hand, “Yes Mister Wilcox?”
“So let me get this straight,” he said as he leaned back in his chair, “we’re going to be visiting a nation on an alien world that is ruled by two pastel-colored horse princesses that have supposedly lived for more than a thousand years? And you expect us to believe that this is real? I’d have a harder time believing we had discovered that the Star Trek universe actually existed and that we’d all been just watching some dimensional gateway for however many years.” He glanced at the others with a disbelieving expression, “You can’t seriously be taking this junk as fact, can you?”
While Dr. Kelly ground her teeth in frustration, Ambassador Lang replied in a calm but serious tone, “Mr. Wilcox, was it? Remind me again why you are part of the team selected to go on this mission?”
Will turned towards the shorter man and replied without hesitation, “I’m the resident polyglot. I’ve already gone over the language matrix that the hound over here brought back from his supposed mission, but now I’m starting to wonder if we’ve all been called here just to be made fools of. I mean, you can’t look at that image and think it’s real. It’s like some kid colored in a little girl’s picture book and then added in some detail to make it look real.”
“The aesthetics of the local life is none of your concern, Mister Wilcox,” Lang countered, “the way they talk is your number one priority. And seeing as we have the machine that created the translation matrix in the first place sitting right here, I gather that your services are redundant for the sake of necessity should we split up. While it would be inconvenient to rely on the scout for all of the translations, it would not be outside the realm of possibility. Therefore, if you truly feel that this is a waste of your time, you can take that door behind you and leave right now. No one will stop you if you don’t wish to continue.”
Will opened his mouth to retort, his legs already straightening, but paused as he got a good look at the rest of the team. None of them were begging him to stay, and none of them were telling him to go. They simply watched and waited for his answer as he opened and closed his mouth several times.
With a gusty sigh, he sat down again and crossed his leg over the other, “Fine, I’ll play your little game, but I’m going to be the first one to say I told you so when this all turns out to be a big joke.”
Dr. Scott let out a sigh of her own as she clicked to the next slide, this time showing a trio of images. Shadow recognized them as pictures of Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Twilight Sparkle from his various interactions with the mares. Will let out another snort of contempt but otherwise remained silent as Dr. Kelly continued her lecture.
“The locals of Equestria are a rather diverse group, separated into three sub-species or tribes, as they prefer to call it, where each have their own unique abilities. They are collectively known as Loksi, or ponies in our language, while each of the sub-types has a unique moniker to match their physical differences.” She highlighted the image of Rainbow as she hovered over Ponyville Square, “The winged ones are called Salso, pegasi for those that are not familiar with the language and have been reported to have the ability to manipulate the local weather on an individual scale.” She paused as Will snickered again but continued anyway as she moved over to the image of Twilight, “From what Shadow was able to piece together, there is an energy field that covers the entirety of the planet, which all of the pony tribes can use to a certain degree. The Oricalesi, or unicorns, seem to have the most direct control over this energy field, going so far as to study it as another form of science that can match and even surpass the technology we have today. The Forma-Loksi, coincidentally translated into earth pony, are by far the strongest and most physically adept members of their species, at least on the ground. They can also reportedly use minor horticultural manipulation simply by being in the general vicinity of whatever plant they wish to grow. They can make fruit ripen out of season and can even make the plants around them grow faster and stronger than normal if the land is plentiful enough.”
Dr. Kelly paused as she glanced at the others, “We are dealing with a race of beings that can bend the laws of reality at a whim and yet somehow have not breached the orbital plane. As far as Shadow was able to learn, they simply have had no desire to expand beyond their home planet and have even allowed several other sapient races to grow into nations of their own around the globe.” She clicked to an image of the species textbook that Shadow had read through on his second night in Equestria, highlighting several sketches of gryphons, dragons and other intelligent creatures, “In total, there are at least five intelligent races on the planet of Equis, each with their own traditions and nations that they hold sovereignty over. We will be dealing with the ponies first, given they were the ones that Shadow first encountered, but we will hopefully be able to talk to all of them as time moves on.”
Kelly clicked off the projector and turned back to the rest of the group, “Any questions?”
There was a chorus of negatives as everyone began to stand, “Oh, one more thing before we get started.” Everyone sat once again as Dr. Kelly pointed to herself, “I would like to introduce you to all of the members of our team, given we’ll be working with one another for the foreseeable future. My name is Dr. Kelly Scott, and I’m head of the CW field team and data collection for the Gateway Project. My main objective is to ensure that Shadow continues to function at peak performance while we are gone, so I’ll be bringing my tools along with some other specific parts that might need replacement.”
She indicated Will with a hand, and he sighed before tipping his hat to the others, “Name’s Henry Wilcox, and apparently I’m going to act as translator when the mutt over here isn’t doing it for me.”
He huffed as he pulled his hat over his eyes, muttering under his breath as Ambassador Lang took his cue, “My full name is Shen Lang, but I would prefer if you referred to me by my last name. It is a courtesy in my homeland to use the surname of your fellows unless you are very close. I am currently the acting representative of the United Earth Nations and will be the authority behind any treaties or agreements that come about because of this adventure.”
Shadow directed his attention to the two guards as the commander cleared his throat behind his faceplate, “My name is Captain Samuel Goodwill, and I will be your protective escort along with my lieutenant, Trisha Bellwood. We will not be interacting with the locals unless absolutely necessary, given that your protection is our top priority.”
Dr. Kelly turned her attention to Shadow, who nodded as he stood up and walked up to the front of the room, “My name is Shadow, formerly known as CW04, and I will be your direct contact with the locals of Equis, given that they know me and have developed a level of trust that you lack for the time being. My hope is that in time we will not need to have a translator or point of contact in order for relations to move forward, but as of right now, I am the only product of humanity that they have experience with. I implore you to put your best foot forward and be prepared for next to no respect for personal space. Ponies are a very physically-oriented species and will try to initiate contact of some sort when they wish to get your attention or interact with you in some way. It is not meant as a threat but is how they interact with each other and with other species. A fair warning to all of you, there will be lots of hugs from a lot of ponies. Prepare yourself.”
There was a round of chuckles as the humans stood from their seats, the security guards forming up at the door while Dr. Kelly and Ambassador Lang talked with each other for a moment. Will seemed to be aloof as usual but Shadow could tell that he was getting excited because of his increased heart rate. Now that the mission parameters had been gone over, there was only one thing left to do. Gear up and head for the portal gate.
It took roughly fifteen minutes after they left the briefing room for all of the humans to gather the necessary gear, although even then it was in rather short order that they all stepped into the larger disinfectant chamber adjacent to the portal room. Ambassador Lang had switched his suit for a more appropriate set of hiking clothing after finding out where exactly they were landing and followed closely behind the security guards as they led the way into the portal room itself.
The other scientists that operated the huge device were already stationed behind their screens and signaled to Dr. Kelly that the portal was going to be powering up soon. She signaled back with a simple thumbs up and turned her attention to the portal gate, her step slightly bouncy with anticipation as she walked up the steps to the forming wormhole.
She turned around and faced the others as Shadow stepped up beside her, “Well, here we go. First steps into a new world and first steps to establishing relations with the natives of Equis. Any final thoughts before we depart?”
There were none, so with a final nod to the operating crew, Dr. Kelly stepped through the gate and into the grassy clearing Shadow had come to know, her steps halting short as she took a deep breath of the fresh Equis air.
The others stepped through and the wormhole closed behind them with a slight pop, leaving them alone in the wilderness on a distant planet as Shadow stepped up to take the lead.
“The Everfree is not a place we want to hang around in, so I suggest we get moving.” He turned his attention to the woods before them as he activated his scout, sending the falcon up into the air to scan for threats to the team as they made their way through the forest, “Stay close, and don’t step off the trail unless I tell you too. This is a land that holds many surprises if you aren’t careful.”
With that sobering thought, the group headed out, following Shadow through the trees as the guards held their weapons at the ready. The soft hum of charged magnetics stilled the other life around them into silence, leaving them in relative peace as they travelled through the dark woods. Very little light penetrated the canopy, but that was no issue for Shadow or the highly sophisticated tech of the guards, leaving the others stumbling around in the dark as Ambassador Lang’s foot found yet another tree root.
Thankfully, the ambassador was saved from hitting his face on the forest floor by the quick actions of the lieutenant on his left, grabbing him around the arm and hoisting him back to his feet before he had a chance to get more than a quarter of the way to the dirt.
“Oh,” Lang sputtered as he realized he wasn’t about to hit leaf litter with his face, “thank you, miss. That would have been a bit awkward to explain why my face was bleeding during a diplomatic mission.”
“Don’t mention it.” The lieutenant replied, her faceplate impassive to the outside observer as she stood back and allowed the ambassador to move forward once again.
It took them several hours of walking to reach the edge of the Everfree, and by that time only Shadow and the captain were still in perfect spirits. Shadow had no muscles to tire out, while the captain seemed to just be made of tougher metal than the rest of the humans. Even his lieutenant, who had the same supporting exoskeleton as the captain, was hanging slightly behind the group and muttering curses under her breath as the leaves and branches around them kept getting caught in her armor.
Yet it was all worth it, because as soon as they exited the forest and entered the plains beyond, Shadow could hear several of the humans take in awed breaths as they beheld Ponyville and the lands surrounding it for the very first time. Had he possessed the ability to do so, Shadow would have beamed at the excited murmurs that came from the humans as they slowly stepped into the open, their eyes wandering over every little detail of the landscape while Shadow remained on overwatch.
After giving them a few minutes to take it all in, Shadow walked up to Dr. Kelly’s side and asked, “Are we ready to continue? The Ponies will need some time to adjust to your presence before we can conduct any form of negotiations.”
Kelly and Lang nodded their agreement, leaving Will to simply shrug as they marched towards the small town, the security detail forming up on either side of the civilian members of the team while Shadow took point. Given he was the one who the ponies knew, it made sense if he was the one that led the others into the town itself.
Now the only thing left to find out, was how exactly the ponies were going to react to seeing their first humans up close.