//------------------------------//
// First Contact 
// Story: The Worst Gamble 
// by Salocin 
//------------------------------//

There was once tranquillity in this city. This capital, the city of Canterlot, was nearly abandoned at one point. The war had taken its toll, but now, as Changeling bombers became rarer and rarer, victory drew closer, and some soldiers even returned for a visit to their families a quiet sense of hope had seemingly returned. The bright lights of the city shone once more, visible from as far as the churning weapons manufactorums of Cloudbury and the once idyllic town of Ponyville. And with it being early morning in Canterlot, even as the capital and beating heart of Equestria, the city was unusually quiet.

But the rumblings of tanks and lorries disrupted the serene and cool morning, all heading towards the Central Square of Canterlot, where far below, a dark, wedge-shaped structure—an intrusive object—had descended to the ground. Pony soldiers jumped from their lorries and tanks, assembled, all pointing towards the object in question. The square had turned from a place of tranquillity to one of tension.

Citizens, awakened by the commotion outside, had also taken to look down from their windows towards the park. And then, for a moment, there was silence. This thing, seemingly made out of a metal-like material—origin unknown—just stood there, emitting merely a low hum. It had wings much like the aircraft used by the air force, yet much more robust while also possessing two tail fins. On what might be considered its hull, there were intricate and complex carvings depicting unrecognisable shapes and objects. From this distance, it was too hard for pony eyes to properly analyse the patterns engraved on this pure metal. Long continuous lines and well-rounded wings made for a sleek design that could inspire the imaginations of Equestrian writers for centuries to come.

With the last soldiers and tanks having taken up positions from which they had the upper hand over whoever might leave, there was silence for quite a while. Little stirred, and sweat ran down the uniforms of a few ponies. Platoon Commander Comet Trail, likewise, was nervous. This was a situation no amount of training could have prepared her for. Things... coming from space? Who would have thought that?

Any further thoughts on the matter, however, dispersed as a member of the Royal Guard, visibly exhausted and quite sweaty from having run all the way from the palace, gave her a letter. And it had the royal seal! She opened it immediately and just nodded silently before putting it into one of the pockets adorning her military uniform.

"Hold fire and stay alert."

Another sixty seconds passed, yet that singular minute felt like an eternity. Comet Trail toyed with the thought of sending someone to check whether it could be some kind of bomb, but before she could dwell further on that, the 4.5-metre-wide and 3-metre-tall backdoor opened.

The ponies at the ready tensed up, and the General eagerly anticipated what kind of life form might leave this craft. And as both expected and feared, what emerged was not a pony, nor changeling, nor griffon, but something entirely alien in origin.

It was a tall, sickly pale figure. Instead of trotting on four legs, it only used two, while having two more extremities with four odd sticks of meat protruding from them.

As this figure moved quietly through the grass and towards the ponies, soldiers in awe made a corridor for it to walk towards the palace. It was as though everyone was in a trance - a state of seduction - simply by looking at the tall, feminine figure. Even the Platoon Commander had to pull herself together.

This thing... whatever it was... had something about it that made everyone act like they were under a spell and sedated, or perhaps it was the sheer awe of seeing an alien life form walking towards the Royal Palace.

Oh, wait, it was walking towards the Royal Palace? Comet Trail snapped out of it and realised that - peaceful or not - this being was well on its way to the Princess now, and if the Canterlot garrison was this easily caught off-guard, then the pitiful Royal Guards stood no chance!

As she walked towards the pale lady, she called out, "By order of the Princess, stop! Identify yourself and state your intentions!"

With this equine finally catching the attention of the alien, she... or it... turned towards the Thestral and asked in a soft, yet monotone voice, "If you have any authority, then please bring me to your leader."

The Princess looked out onto the horizon. The sun was about to rise in a few hours time. And shortly after that, she would receive her morning news, as compiled by the Secretary of the Royal Palace, Dotted Line. She wondered how things were looking elsewhere. Did such a vessel also cast a shadow over other capitals? Versalipolis, the capital of the hated enemy, Griffenheim, the heart and centre of the Griffonian Empire, Karthin, the embattled "Eternal City," Mount Aris, Vermillion, Hjortland, Rijekograd, Nimbus, and countless others? What about them? If these things came from above, then surely Equestria would not be an exception.

Celestia wouldn't dwell for too long on those questions, though. There was some sweat on her furry brow, and her bones felt like jelly. She might be a millennia-old alicorn, but in the end, she was just a pony underneath the white fur, shiny jewels, golden crown, and peytral. Yet, all the years of experience could not help her imagine what would come from outer space. And not like anyone was here to advise or support her on the issue. Her sister was leading the war effort from the recently-liberated Acornage, Prince Blueblood was leading the Olenian campaign, the Elements were all scattered across Equestria, the Pillars were helping with relief efforts and Discord? Well, Discord was, as always, Discord, staying out of it.

"Yes," she sighed and knew that she had to solve this alone. Before dedicating more time to preparing herself, a guard called for her, "My liege, the delegation is here!"

"Tell them I'll be with them shortly!" Celestia called out.

"Yes, Your Majesty," the gold-clad white pony replied before leaving her sight of the field. One last time, she looked out of her window, towards the quaint town of Ponyville.

"Hopefully, she gets my letter in due time," she thought before turning her flank to the open window and heading for the door. It did not take long for her to arrive at the gala, where usually she expected nobles and governors. But this night was to be different, and so would this diplomatic meeting.

And once the two-meter-tall figure finally came into view, she couldn't help but gulp. It was well and truly now clear that this... creature was truly alien. In all her years, she had never seen a being that could walk on two legs. As she tried to go through the information relayed to her earlier by guards, she remembered that the one she was encroaching upon could speak Equestrian fluently.

"I bid you welcome to the Royal Castle."

"Princess Celestia, it is an honour to meet you," said the voluptuous figure in what looked to be a quite regal yet slightly revealing dress. If a pony were to wear something like this in her times, oh how many would have screamed "obscenity!" But her black dress was not at all the most distracting feature of her appearance, but rather the quite alien features. She had two eyes, a visible nose, but hair as black as the night itself. Even while she was speaking, the thousand-year-old Princess had trouble adjusting to the circumstances.

"L-Likewise. I believe you are the first diplomat we've... ever received from outer space."

"We know. I am aware that this is a first for you and your race. But your reputation precedes you, and I'm sure we can come to an equitable agreement for both of our races."

"I am sure we can. I'll find us a more fitting place to talk about this than the gala."

"Sure. Please lead the way."

The walk to the room in which the meeting would be conducted was marked by an eerie quiet. Neither said anything. The alien expected the Princess to say something, but so did the Princess. And so, this silence continued until they were all but seated and ready to begin, the humanoid having surprisingly no issue sitting on a couch specifically made for ponies and the like.

"So, who are you? And what do you want from us?"

"I'm a Admiral visiting this fine world as a representative of the Sylanian Empire. I will explain my intentions shortly."

"And I suppose you don’t need an introduction from me?" asked the Princess rhetorically but in a way that did not come across as rude, she believed.

"No. We know enough about you and your sister for this meeting."

"Now, I believe it is time I show you why I have arrived at your humble castle."

"Humble?" she quipped, almost like it was a personal insult against her.

"Yes, humble. I don't question that it must have taken your race quite an effort. It's aesthetically pleasing, of course, but a castle, palace, whatever one might call it, of this size, would be reserved for minor nobility back where I come from," explained the Admiral quite calmly.

She stuttered slightly as she asked: "If... how... how big is your largest one then?"

"I don't know the exact numbers, but it's around 20 kilometres in length and 30 kilometres at its tallest point." Any derision about her boastful behaviour was overshadowed by the numbers stated.

"What... and this is no joke?" The co-ruler of Equestria asked in shock. She had no reason to doubt those numbers, were it not for their extreme verticality. A kilometre-large castle? Is that even physically possible? She had to ask what this Empire was as slowly all second thoughts about them coming from this world vanished. But could she even take their words at face value? Maybe the alien was just boasting ridiculously? Her eyes widened. Countless questions clogged her thought processes and clouded the alicorn's judgment and glued her hooves to the wooden floor.

"No jokes. Only the truth, Princess. After all, diplomats don't lie to rulers; at least from where I hail from."

"Then, I believe this question has been overdue. Where do you hail from, Seheset?"

"Let me present to you, Princess... a star map." With a warm smile, mostly of pride, the pale alien female put a circular grey device on the table with a hole at the top. One that began to glow. His smile grew wider as light was emitted.

He opened something indescribable to Celestia's eyes. It was like a three-dimensional television, yet with a resolution that looked indistinguishable from reality, emitted from a small pad that the outsider put onto the low-lying coffee table. For a moment, it portrayed a thin disk of luminous stuff and countless dots. And then the vision zoomed in upon a relatively small area of the disk, now turned into a thick band. Suddenly, hundreds of dots became visible. They all glowed in different spectra of light: yellow, red, blue, white, and a few even black.

"These are all the worlds that our people inhabit. The ancient and new dependencies on the Crown Her Holy Majesty. We are an interstellar society with a history going back before even the time of the Irassians. Recorded history began around 802,301 cycles ago with the Empress uniting our race 798,199 cycles ago. Since then, we have spread our wings across the galaxy. Empires rose and fell, but ours remained constant. The stars are in reach, to you now too, and all those which you can see in the night sky are ours."

"You are indeed from the space above!"

"Quite. We hail from a world not too dissimilar to your own. It lacks that vibrant colouration though," she wryly commented.

"That glowing point in the centre... it's your home." Celestia asked with a sense of wonder as she pointed with her right hoof towards one particularly bright dot in the middle of the projection.

"It's beautiful. That's the throneworld. Our place of origin which since then has become a single city."

"I... don't understand? You can visit other stars? And you have done so with many? And your world has become one city? How?"

"We own them. Our empire comprises around 370 member worlds and 11,890 minor colonies, some of which are more important than others. Each one of those can be imagined as orbiting around a single or even several stars. And yes, it has, as we and most interstellar civilizations call it, become an ecumenopolis millennia ago."

"Does every star have someone like me to raise them?" This question caught the Admiral off-guard. She was lost in thought for a moment before calmly explaining to her the basics of astronomy, something so minor that every Sylanian learns during their first Initiation.

"No. Stars function independently, and planets orbit in every single case around them. But your star system is an anomaly."

"I...? I... I'm sorry, but..." For a moment, Princess Celestia lost all and any composure. So many things were on her mind right now, but in addition to that, the possibility that HER planet was the exception in a night sky of thousands of stars? This all was too much to handle, even for a thousand-year-old alicorn, and her ancient bones trembled at the thought.

"Hm, quite the personal topic, it seems. I suppose we can explain it at a later point. Perhaps you can tell me something about your duties, way of ruling, and just the general day-to-day issues a Princess faces."

"Why would you want to hear it from me, Mrs. Seheset? I thought your people knew everything about us already."

"Oh yes, we do. Orbital mapping will do that. But while information is one of the most powerful tools one can have at their disposal, it is stale, neutral, and lacks the subjectivity of those who are directly involved. I merely want to know how your peculiar type of civilization functions from the point of view of one of its leaders," the Admiral explained while sitting there, calmly and with only limited movements while she spoke.

"I'm afraid I'll have to refuse. Why don't you instead tell me about your people and your culture? It would only be fair," Celestia asked with an inoffensive yet quite surprising initiative. The diplomat seemed relatively unfazed by the lightly passive-aggressive tone she began to exhibit with her words. The eyes of the Sylanian temporarily widened before she opened up further.

"I see. Well, I'll gladly do that."

"As mentioned previously, we all serve the Empress. She is the direct descendant of our God Tamesa and rules our Empire since its very founding. Every major decision has to be approved by her." It didn't take long for the Princess to connect the dots. If all decisions are, in the end, approved by this self-proclaimed Empress, then she is at fault for her coming down and talking to her in such a manner. However, her facial reactions were subtle, if not even there at all.

"Meaning that this... first contact was also approved by her."

"Indeed. And due to her masterful rule that has given us peace, security, prosperity, and freedom for millennia, we venerate her. Some planets have shrines with billions flocking to them, while others keep their gratefulness reserved. Every Sylanian can choose however they want to express their gratefulness to Her Holy Majesty."

"So your Empress is an object of worship." she figured aloud. The way this female diplomat was talking,... it had an awful lot of similarities to the likes of some Severyanian guests she had received before the revolution that would create Stalliongrad - the Severyanian Soviet Socialist Republic. Tzar here, royalty there but rarely if ever did a mention of the common pony come about. Celestia could only theorize but so far they were not creating the impression of being anything like Equestria.

"Yes. Does she not deserve all the praise in the universe for her actions?"

"Questionable..." the ruler of Equestria whispered under her breath.

"Culture and traditions differ only slightly from planet to planet. Like your civilization and many others in the galaxy, we Sylanians tend to enjoy music, dances, food and hundred other things. We have a holiday for the end of every year, New Year, depending on the circumstances of each planet, but also Unification Day where we celebrate the unification of our homeworld."

"In addition, I believe it's also important to mention that our quality of life exceeds that of your subject races by roughly 1500 cycles, thanks to easy access to medical technology that can easily heal someone who has lost most of their body or can stop ageing at an early age. I, for instance, am several hundred years old. Unlike most primitive civilizations we encounter, such as yours, we have superseded the concept of death. While the physical body can decay after a while, the consciousness of every individual can, if chosen, be brought into an artificial world of their choosing, where each and every desire can be satisfied until the very heat death of the universe itself."

The concept baffled the alicorn, in more ways than one. Wondering how that would even be possible with machines she scratched her chin. Unless of course, they used magic for it, but then again, at some point any sufficiently advanced technology will seem like magic. There was so little she knew yet and couldn't stop to ask questions, "I see... so you have created an afterlife?"

"Quite correct. Alternatively, we can also imprison rogue elements of society who will then be turned into an upstanding individual that contributes to society."

"What? So... so let me get this correctly. You imprison people you consider criminals in an afterlife where they are essentially brainwashed?" Celestia intended to confirm with a question that was entirely devoid of euphemisms. Her fascination had died at that point.

"If you want to call it that. It's not different from the prison systems found across your civilization, only with the caveat that ours doesn't take years but rather just a few minutes," Admiral Seheset stated with a subtle smugness, as though she found the Princess's struggles in this conversation funny.

"I don't even know what to say. I-I don't believe you. It sounds fantastical."

The diplomat was, of course, entirely aware that what she referred to as fantastical was, in reality, more of a synonym for "dystopian" or "impossible," but she couldn't blame this ruler. She was quite ignorant, much like the people she ruled over, and would need to be shown or rather convinced to cooperate. "It is quite fantastic, yes. But sapient beings such as you and me have the grim trait of becoming easily used to things."

The Princess, ignoring his mind games and attempting to refer to what she feared they were planning, instead dug deeper: "You mentioned other 'primitive worlds' you have visited. What was your conduct on them?"

"That depends entirely on the situation. In most cases, we leave them alone until they reach the space age."

"And then?"

"We either integrate them or intervene to protect Sylanian interests." Celestia frowned. She knew that integration had different meanings for both of them. Yet worse, she now knew they were prone to intervening when it suited them, something that she sadly heard all too often about over the centuries.

"Protecting interests - such a terrible excuse. It seems you are more similar to 'primitives' than you'd like to believe."

"And what did non-intervention bring you, Princess? Why didn't you support the nation of Olenia when it was overrun? Or yourself attack the greatest internal threats to your realm: Tirek, Discord, Sombra? Our experience from observing over a hundred primitive planets over the millennia tells us that neutrality only works if you're willing to fight for it." This diplomat! Oh, Celestia had the displeasure of speaking with quite a few bad apples, but the audacity of this alien! It almost made her feel guilty. But she knew that if she truly went ahead to have 'defended' her land by their definition, she might as well have it burn in the ambitions of Chrysalis, and it would not look any less devastated.

"Oh, we are quite willing to defend our Equestrian independence from any threat," using the opportunity that was granted to her, she used this chance to assert Equestrian fighting spirit. Her eyes were filled with the fire of determination.

"We know. Which is why I am here to negotiate."

"Negotiate what?!" Celestia cracked, with the Princess being visibly stressed. And yet, the diplomat was as calm, as cold, and almost emotionless as at any other point during this conversation.

„You are fighting a war and against the Changelings no less. A force that has had supremacist ambitions for decades with the end goal of enslaving your people. And just now you have begun to bring the fight to their people. Let’s just say your soldiers are not exactly following friendship and harmony while on tour.“ What was he on, she thought? The alicorn calmed again before, towards the end of Seheset‘s sentence she felt uncharacteristically… ashamed. What was she doing with her? Why was she, the embodiment of calmness and wisdom so tensed up and… fearful? She became defensive. 

"I am not proud of the actions some of my little ponies take. War can do terrible things to someone. The blood, the gore, the loss. But I am not, and so you should know too, dedicated to punishing any war criminals."

"Indeed. A terrible loss of so many promising ponies, some of whom would have grown up to become renowned scientists, bureaucrats, administrators... engineers."

"Comparatively, of course, your country has been quite peaceful, pacifist, some might even say. All the while in Griffonia, many empires rose and fell in a never-ending cycle of war, order, chaos, and war. And that’s not even mentioning Zebrica."

"We have been following the values of harmonism and the magic of friendship for millennia. What is your point, alien?"

"And this war has proven that while it can adapt to the times, it can easily become outdated," the diplomat continued, beginning to poke holes in her ideology.

"Peace and friendship are not negotiable. Queen Chrysalis threatened my ponies, and I protected them. For friendship and harmony."

"Exactly. I love harmony too. You see, the ideologies of our civilizations are... compatible." Sounding almost patronizing, the diplomat's tone shifted to being simply sickening. There were few if any, words in the Equestrian language that could describe the way the Admiral could shift her tone and way of speaking, and if there were, she was not knowledgeable of them. The Princess couldn't help but feel disgusted towards this comparison.

"I don’t think so," Celestia answered with a tinge of anger in her voice.

"We are ruled by an Empress in a way you might call absolutist but is not too unlike your own rule. She has ensured the Empire is run smoothly and with wisdom for countless millennia. The long and happy lives of the citizenry are protected by a press ready to suppress any misinformation and the largest military in galactic history, with several million ships ready to be mobilized at any time and countless billions ready to fight for their Empress." She reiterated before coming to a conclusion the Princess wished to forget.

"I’d say our two civilizations are not so different after all, technological disparity aside," Seheset concluded with a wide smile.

"No. They're nothing alike. In fact, what you have just told me sounds more like the vision of... someone I’m glad will never arise."

"Princess, I know who you are talking of," the alien said with a consoling voice, but her facade made the Princess only more furious.

"You don't!" she lashed out at her with an apparent rise in her tone.

"Anyhow, I am happy to tell you that your hated enemy has been eradicated," Seheset suddenly said out of the blue. Which hated enemy? Did these aliens not even know the basics of conversation and a smooth transition between topics? Celestia frowned before becoming genuinely intrigued.

"What?" she asked.

"I implore you to take a look at Versalipolis," the Admiral advised before showing a video, projected once more onto the screen, that showed a charred and burning city. Few things stood upright still, as though it had been subjected to month-long strategic bombardment. The only thing that reminded her that this was a city she was looking at was the layout of roads and a large ruined structure in the centre that was clearly discernible.

"I only see ruins..." Celestia backed away, her face turning from intrigue into pure shock, fear, and much more.

"Indeed. They are your most vile enemy, are they not? And they have refused the ultimatum we sent them a few hours ago," Admiral Seheset uttered with the most confident of expressions.

"I-..."

"Are you not overjoyed at the Hegemony having been defeated?" she asked, genuinely wondering why the Princess was not elated or even feeling joyous.

"I- I would have! But not like this! You monsters!" Celestia's eyes were clearly filled with fear and contempt. But mostly fear. Her heart raced like it never had before, and her bones felt truly like jelly. She openly called them out for what they thought they were.

"Might I remind you of the Manehatten Project? I doubt you'd have held back once you had developed the bomb," the diplomat retorted.

"H-how? That is top-secret information!" she wondered openly, with her confusion and fear only rising. How? How did they know? How could they know? It was literally impossible for them to send spies to its facilities! Wasn't it?

"You planned to bomb the city. We have done so for you. Had we not interfered, the Changelings would have eventually met defeat, though at a far later date. And as we speak, there is one ship for every major capital, as you see outside the window." The diplomat walked toward the window that looked upon the white city of Canterlot, now fully alit in the crimson light of dawn and its spirit oppressed by the black object above. She even pointed at it with a sneer on her lips while mentioning their worldwide presence.

"You are invading," Celestia stated with horror, her worst fears realized and on full display. But upon this accusation, the Admiral's face did not show any changes, hints of guilt or regret but rather, she turned around to look the shaken Princess in the eyes and corrected her with a subtle smile, "I prefer enlightening."