//------------------------------// // S.M.I.L.E. for the camera // Story: A Friend from the Stars // by AntiBronyBenSwolo //------------------------------// Cosmica tossed and turned and rolled around until she came to and woke up, hoping she had not been taken prisoner or anything, as she did wake up in a large dark room. Instead, she found herself in a large green sleeping bag with a big, fluffy, white pillow, and snuggling on a toy cow. Cosmica's memory went black for a few seconds but remembered what happened before; She remembered Twilight cast a sleeping spell on everypony, including herself, so they could discuss Cosmica's...something. It was all so fast before the spell was cast. As she slowly recovered, she found her new pony friends all taken care of, put into comfortable and colorful sleeping bags. Cosmica's vision became clearer as she went for the door to examine more of where she was taken. Also, the door slowly opened on its own, revealing Lyra waiting just outside. "Hey, you're finally awake," Lyra whispered, trying not to wake the sleeping ponies behind Cosmica. "How long were we out?" Cosmica whispered as she rubbed her eye. "You've been out for...I'd say an hour and thirty minutes," Lyra explained as she slowly opened the door to let Cosmica out, and closed it back up to let Twilight and the others sleep some more. "So...it's just me you guys wanted to talk to? Am I in trouble or anything?" Cosmica asked as Lyra walked down the halls with her. The halls were a pristine white with glass windows revealing tons of weird alien technologies monitored by funky-looking scientists. "Yeah, that's all we needed to do. And don't worry, Cosmica. You're not in trouble. If anything, Twilight is the one in trouble for figuring us out," Lyra explained as she took Cosmica to a chrome white door, revealing a rather large meeting room with a slender meeting table surrounded by up to 12 chairs, a vase of vastly colored roses and plates of baked goods at each side of the vase, and a large television hung from the ceiling for presentations. "Bon Bon will be here in a moment with the Chief. Do you need Bon Bon and me to accompany you for this, or...?" Lyra offered as she decided to take a seat. "Uh, yeah. I'm just so nervous about all of this is all," Cosmica expressed as Lyra sat down beside her. "Hey. S.M.I.L.E.'s not a place for you to worry. It's kind of in the name, after all," Lyra said, nudging her to lift her spirits. Just then, Bon Bon came through the door with a rather tall stallion by her side. He had a dark brown coat, a shaved mane, a small beard, and wore the same suit and shades as Lyra and Bon Bon. "Sir, the alien as you requested," Bon Bon said, as she sat down next to Lyra. Cosmica got up from her seat and got a closer look at "the Chief" while he took a good look at Cosmica's alien features. "Ah. Welcome to S.M.I.L.E. Headquarters. Can I help you with something?" The large agent asked as he sat in the large seat in the middle of the table, and gestured Cosmica to sit next to him. "Yes. My name is Cosmica Emerald. At least, it's my pony name, anyway. I've tried translating my alien name into your language with no result, so Twilight came up with the name for me. She's real nice, you know." Cosmica explained as the Chief kicked his hind legs up onto the meeting table, took a cookie from one of the two plates, and took a bite out of it. "Yeah, I figured. You can call me Fresh Prince. As you can see, I run things here at S.M.I.L.E." Fresh Prince explained as he took another bite out of his cookie. He seemed out of place, with a chill and calm demeanor, compared to Lyra and Bon Bon, who acted almost soldier-like compared to him. "Uh...right...So, is there anything you wanted to speak with me about, sir?" Cosmica asked as politely as she can so she doesn't anger him, though it doesn't look like you can anger this guy. "Yeah. Plenty of things, actually. It's been a while since we've seen another one of your kind around here," Fresh Prince commented, catching Cosmica off guard. "I...beg your pardon? My species didn't partake in intergalactic exploration or anything like that. My planet didn't know about your planet until I discovered it," Cosmica explained as Fresh Prince chuckled. "Ah, looks like you Cloptrians kept it a secret too after all," Fresh Prince laughed as if talking to some old friends. "I...I don't...what?" Cosmica asked as her world view was most likely shattered by this revelation. "Alright, let me fill you in on a couple of things here, Cosmica, since you're not exactly in the loop yourself" Fresh Prince explained as the lights dimmed and the TV monitor went off showing an old black and white film. The film showed a flying saucer and a group of explorers that looked almost exactly like Cosmica, except with a bit more armor, and they seemed broken and bruised. They landed in the grassy plains of Equestria, where they met with a group of S.M.I.L.E. Agents, except wearing black fedoras as well. "Please have pity on us. We are simple freedom fighters in a civil war and are in need of food, supplies, and weapons in order to liberate our homeworld," One of the aliens pleaded as two of the agents looked at each other and nodded. A third agent came in carrying crates of food, medical kits, sleeping bags, and loaded them onto the alien spacecraft. "Before you go, we would like to know what to call you guys, in case you come back. I think we could benefit off of becoming friends, you and I," One of the agents, a younger Fresh Prince, suggested as the aliens got their new gear aboard their craft. "We have tried translating our language into yours with varying results. Unfortunately, our species name was too difficult to translate. The closest we ever got was Cloptrians, but that's about it," The lead alien advised as the young Fresh Prince smiled as a result. "Then we'll look out to the stars for you, Cloptrians. Good luck out there," The younger Fresh Prince wished as the spaceship closed itself off and launched itself back into the night sky and the video ended. Cosmica couldn't believe it. Her species actually did make it that far into Equestria, buy nopony from her home knew. She felt her entire view of the universe shatter before her eyes. "And just as your ship entered our planet's orbit, we thought you guys were trying to contact us saying you were ready to be friends with us. Though you very much confused us when you abducted Princess Twilight," Fresh Prince said as Cosmica sat in her chair speechless. Lyra and Bon Bon didn't quite like how Cosmica was handling the situation. "No. Wait a minute. This...it can't be real. As far as I knew, there was no civil war," Cosmica argued, almost begging for that video to be false. Fresh Prince was confused by Cosmica's claim and turned to Lyra and Bon Bon. "Could you...tell us a bit more about what your home was like? On Yuredues?" Fresh Prince asked, catching Cosmica off guard once more. If he knew Yuredues by name, then he must be telling the truth. Trying her best not to cry, Cosmica thought it'd be best to explain it the best she could. "Well...Yuredues is an aquatic planet, surrounded by beautiful oceans and seas painting the planet in shades of blue and green. The locals, the Cloptrians, as you call them, are an aquatic species that take pride in their artistic design and construction. We don't take pride in space exploration or warmongering conquests. We only took pride in our home. We made such beautiful buildings, a regular dumpy apartment would look like a marble statue to you. But we often had to work with canisters of saltwater that nullified our emotions as to not distract us from working on our buildings. My canisters were broken, and I was exiled as a result, soon finding my way here. I don't remember anything about a civil war though. It was much too peaceful for that," Cosmica explained as Fresh Prince looked back at Lyra and Bon Bon with a lot of worries on all three agent's faces. "So...the only logical conclusion is that those funky freedom fighters didn't make it," Fresh Prince sighed as Cosmica sniffled and let a tear drip from her face. Fresh Prince patted her on the back and comforted her. "Cosmica!" Twilight said, as Cosmica leaped into Twilight and just let it all out. Twilight comforted and held Cosmica tight as she cried while giving Fresh Prince a deadly stare. "What did you do to her?" Twilight snarled as Fresh Prince grabbed another cookie. "I didn't do anything. Cosmica just learned some hard truths that she didn't even know," Fresh Prince confessed as he ate the cookie. Cosmica and Twilight held each other closely as Twilight hushed her saddened alien friend. "Hey, I know what'll cheer you up," Fresh Prince said with a cheeky smirk on his face as Cosmica and Twilight turned to the secret agent. Just then, Twilight and Cosmica followed Lyra, Bon Bon, and Fresh Prince down the maze-like halls of S.M.I.L.E. Headquarters, where Fresh Prince opened the doors and revealed Cosmica's ship parked in a safe and secure place. "Oh, great...You, uh...took care of Cosmica's ship for us," Twilight said as Fresh Prince led the two in the ship. "Yeah, we took the liberty of making some special modifications for you while you were asleep. We cleaned it out, put that little skunk of yours in the kennel for the time being--" Fresh Prince recapped as Cosmica gasped. "Oh my gosh! I forgot all about Potato! Is he OK?" Cosmica asked as Fresh Prince sighed. "He sprayed three of our top scientists before we lured him into what's basically a daycare for the little guy. We'll put him back on the ship when you're ready to leave. Oh, you're gonna love this!" Fresh Prince as he gestured Cosmica to speak into the computer, while it sprung back to life. "Computer, Status report!" Cosmica ordered in her alien language. "Ships hull integrity at a staggering 170% with local modifications given," The computer responded in the same alien language. "Now Computer, switch to basic," Fresh Prince commanded as the computer started changing colors. "Language switched to basic," The computer replied, no longer in its alien language. Cosmica gasped like a child opening a present. "Aha! Now that's hot! That's hot!" Fresh Prince complimented himself, awaiting Cosmica's thoughts on the situation. "This will make translating a whole lot easier! Thank you so much!" Cosmica answered as Fresh continued his encouraging laughter. "Now wait just a minute! Just because you explained a couple of things to Cosmica and upgraded her ship doesn't excuse the fact that S.M.I.L.E. has been operating under Celestia's nose, and now my nose! I demand answers of my own here!" Twilight said as Fresh Prince shrugged off the Princess's dissapointment. "And now you're putting our mission of protecting you and Equestria at risk by simply knowing we exist, your highness! And I can't exactly erase your memories, because I'll have to mind wipe the others, and Cosmica's learned way too much about herself that...I don't think we should erase. For her own good, I mean," Fresh Prince explained as Twilight understood the predicament she put herself in. "Then...why not wipe the memories of only myself and the Elements, and leave Cosmica's memories alone?" Twilight asked as Fresh Prince came up with an idea. "Because wiping your memories and not Cosmica's would mean she stays locked up with us while you forget she even exists. And Cosmica's not the kind of pony that would want to be stuck in one place for too long. But we also need to keep in touch with her," Fresh Prince countered once more as Twilight thought it over. "How about we take a page out of your book, Princess?" Fresh Prince said, causing Twilight's ears to perk up. "How about Cosmica writes friendship letters to us about her time on our planet, tells us a bit about her homeworld while she's at it, one copy of these letters will be sent to you, and the other will be sent to S.M.I.L.E., it's a win-win situation," Fresh Prince offered as the idea swirled in Twilight's head. On one hoof, she did not trust S.M.I.L.E. for keeping itself a secret for so long. But on the other hoof, it would give Cosmica a similar experience to the one Twilight, and later the other elements had with Celestia. "I'll play your game. But no funny business!" Twilight warned as she shook Fresh Prince's hoof. "I wouldn't dream of it," Fresh Prince obliged as Twilight nodded at their deal. "Alright, load the rest of the ponies up and get them home where they belong," Fresh Prince commanded as Lyra took the command. "Sir, the other five ponies are still asleep," Lyra pointed out, catching Fresh Prince off guard. "Oh...uh...wait until they wake up then?" Fresh Prince suggested as Twilight waited in the ship for her friends. Cosmica was about to follow suit but stopped by something. "Hold on. There's something else you need before you go," Lyra informed Cosmica as she went over back to the cyan agent. "You left this back in the room when you woke up. We meant to let you keep it as a gift from us," Lyra said as she handed Cosmica the toy cow she was sleeping with. Cosmica had no idea why, but she was very much touched by this, almost on the verge of tears again. "Thank you so much," Cosmica replied as she accepted the toy cow, and headed back to the spaceship.