The Commander stood with his arms crossed while the others gathered around the Council Table, his gaze traveling over the excited members of each fleet as they chatted amongst themselves. The Admiral and the two Fifth Fleet hunters had returned from the Ancient Forest with something very unusual, two somethings to be precise, and now it fell to him and the other members of leadership to find a solution to their new situation.
A single raised hand was enough to silence the chatter before him, his voice carrying clearly to those gathered, “It has come to my attention that the team we sent to the Ancient Forest found something unusual near the Great Jagras’ den.” His gaze landed on the Handler and her partner in the front row, “Report what you saw and explain your reasoning for returning with the two creatures we currently have in one of the bunkhouses.”
“Sir!” The Handler replied, “We encountered the creatures near to the Great Jagras’ den after hearing a distressed cry coming from the area. We investigated the disturbance and found both creatures sitting in a small crater just inside the boundary of the forest. A pack of Jagras had surrounded them and seemed intent on killing the pair. It was then that, well…the bigger one asked us for help.”
This caused a chorus of mutters to pass through the gathered hunters, several moments passing before the Commander’s raised hand was able to quell the confused chatter, “Explain what you meant by ‘asked you for help’.”
“It was exactly that, sir,” the Handler continued, “it, I mean, she, spoke to us and begged us to help her and her offspring. It was like some kind of dream, but reality.”
The Commander nodded, turning to the Chief Ecologist on his left, the wizened Wyverian seated upon his trusty stool with a series of large tomes strewn about his squat form, “And what can you tell us about these creatures? Have we ever encountered a monster that could talk to humans?”
“While monsters all over the world show varying levels of intelligence,” the Chief Ecologist stated after turning several pages in his current tome, “none in our records have ever shown the ability to converse with humans or Felyne assistants. Even the Elder Dragons, with all of their power and supposed wisdom, given the ages that they are purported to live up to, have never shown that skill.”
“So, what exactly does that mean?” The question had come from the Provisions Manager on the Commander’s right, the dark-haired woman standing beside her fellow researchers as she continued, “Are we dealing with some new kind of intelligent monster?”
“We won’t know for sure until our guest wakes up and we can confirm that for ourselves.” The Commander replied, “In the meantime, we’ll send more teams into the Ancient Forest to see if any other evidence can be gathered concerning the pink beam of energy that erupted from within the area, and to keep any monsters that are already natives from getting too out of hand.”
“What should we do, sir?” The Handler asked, an eager gleam in her eyes.
“For now, stay here in Astera and monitor the creatures you and the Admiral brought back.” The Commander glanced over his shoulder at the much larger man beside him, “Since we don’t know what kind of threat they could pose to the base, or what connection they have to the energy beam witnessed earlier, I believe we should have a strong hunter team on standby, just in case.”
The Admiral chuckled, “From what I’ve seen they don’t seem like much of a threat, but caution has always been the motto of the Commission, so I agree with the Commander’s idea.” He glanced at the Handler and her partner with a knowing look in his eye, “Something tells me we’re going to have quite a few surprises in store, and it would be smart of us to have the best hunters on the job.”
The Commander nodded, “Then it’s settled. While the rest of the Fifth Fleet investigates the remainder of the Ancient Forest, the core team members of Astera and you two will remain behind to see what we can learn about our new discovery. We don’t know what we might uncover once they wake up, but I need everyone on their toes in case things get out of hand. Any questions?” A collection of shaking heads was his reply, “Alright then, you have your assignments. Dismissed!”
Cadence awoke feeling much better than she had before. Her body no longer felt like it had gone through five rounds with an Ursa Major and lost. For a moment, she snuggled into the sheets that covered her body, humming slightly in comfort as she tried to remember the crazy dream she had been having. Something about a surge and her newborn foal?
A soft tap on the end of her muzzle made her giggle, her eyes fluttering open as she spoke, “S-Shining, that tickles.” Her giggles cut off suddenly as she spotted the face of a foal in front of her, not that of her husband as she had expected.
Her body jolted upright in an instant, her gaze taking in the wooden walls and swinging hammocks that hang between the posts of several double beds, the soft sounds of waves lapping on a nearby shore and the scent of salt wafting through the air. Her wings flared as her eyes grew wider and wider with each passing moment, the strangeness around her and the alicorn foal that was crawling up to snuggle against her exposed belly proving to be too much for her mind to handle all at once.
“I-It wasn’t a dream.” She realized in an instant, “I really did have a magic surge while giving birth.” She glanced down as her foal began to feed, her wings folding slowly as she got her panic under control, “Okay, so what happened to the forest? And those giant lizards?”
Faint memories of tall beings surrounding her as she lost consciousness came to mind, her eyes widening in realization as she glanced around the space she had awoken in, “This is a bunk room.” Her voice was a whisper as she folded her wings protectively around herself and her nursing foal, “So those things from before must have brought us here. But why?”
Cadence flinched as a door opened at the top of a small set of stairs opposite the bunk she sat upon, revealing a tall creature that was somewhat familiar to her. Its small eyes widened as its lips pulled back to reveal a set of sharp teeth, Cadence’s fear spiking as she realized that the creature in front of her was a carnivore!
“Oh great!” Cadence’s ears perked as the creature cried out in a distinctly feminine tone, “We were starting to think that you were going to actually need healing items before you would wake up!” The being walked forward quickly on two long legs into the room, followed by what looked like a walking suite of armor.
Fear spiked in the pink princess as she spotted the absolutely massive sword strapped to the armored creature’s back, and she curled protectively around her foal as she leveled her horn at the approaching creatures.
“S-Stay back!” She cried, her voice cracking as the creatures paused near the base of the steps, “I-I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to!”
The smaller of the two creatures glanced over its shoulder at the hulking armored being behind it, “Wow, I never thought I’d see the day that a monster was more scared of us than we are of it.”
“Monster?!” Cadence cried, “I’ll have you know that I have never done anything in my life to be called a monster!” Sparks flew from the tip of her horn as her emotions flared, but nothing more, although she noticed that the creatures had taken a step back at her outburst.
“Easy, easy.” The unarmored creature spoke slowly while making a downward motion with its forelimbs, “we aren’t going to hurt you.”
“Then why did you call me a monster?” Cadence demanded, “And furthermore, why am I here?”
“I think I can answer those questions,” A powerful voice spoke up as the door opened again, revealing a dark-skinned creature with a shortly cut mane and beard of silver fur, “if you would be kind enough to answer some of mine.”
Cadence gulped as the two creatures from before saluted and stepped aside for the newcomer, her fear rising as the moderately armored being stepped up and crossed its forelegs before her.
“To start, creatures that live in this land that are not part of the sapient races are called monsters.” Cadence’s fear faded slightly when the new creature did nothing save for talk, her curiosity rising as she processed the new information being shared, “Most of them are only as intelligent as the average wild animal, with a select few being able to form basic skills like tool use and simple strategy when faced with the unknown. We refer to them as monsters not because they are bad or evil, but because of the power and danger that is often expressed by their existence when compared to the comparatively weaker sapient civilizations.”
Cadence slowly folded her wings back against her sides, her eyes wide as she tried to form a response to all this new information, “So, you weren’t calling me a monster because you thought I had done something wrong?”
A soft sound that seemed to be a chuckle rang through the small space as the being shook his head, “No. It is simply because we have never encountered your kind before, and made an assumption based on the data we had available.”
“So, what exactly do you want with me?” Cadence glanced between the three larger beings, her attention clinging to the sword strapped to the heavily armored one’s back, “Am I your prisoner?”
A shake of the older being’s head made her sigh with relief, “The Commission’s sole purpose is to study and catalog the creatures and ecology of the New World. We are a group of researchers, hunters, and scientists. If you are willing to cooperate with us, we would be more than willing to assist you in return, should you require it.”
Cadence considered the being’s words for a moment, her foal turning around and babbling happily up at the smaller female before them as she crawled forward towards the edge of the bunk. Cadence quickly reached out and picked up her daughter with her forelegs before she could fall off the bed, her words following an exasperated sigh as she met the gaze of the silver-maned creature.
“I’ll do what I can to answer your questions.” She spoke with all of the royal bearing she could muster as she gathered what little of her courage remained after the shocks she had been subjected to, “I only ask that you treat my daughter and I with kindness while we figure out what is going on.”
A nod was her reply, the older being turning towards the younger duo as he spoke, “Make sure our guest is comfortable while she recovers. I’m assigning you two as her guides and guardians while she is in Astera.”
“Astera?” Cadence asked.
“It is the base of operations of the Commission in the New World.” Was her reply, “You are currently in one of our hunter bunkrooms, but we can see if any other accommodations would be better should you need it.”
“Oh, umm, this is okay, I don’t mind.” Cadence felt completely out of her depth, it was all too much at once! “Umm, could I ask another question?”
“Go right ahead.” The aged being said calmly.
“Umm, what exactly are you?” Cadence felt foolish for not knowing but she had never seen creatures like these before.
“We are humans.” He stated bluntly, “We make up the majority of the Commission’s staff along with Wyverians and Felynes, a pair of other races that work alongside us in our work.”
“Oh, I understand.” She really didn’t, but she felt it would be better to pretend until she had more to go on, “I’m Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but I prefer to be called Cadence if you don’t mind. I’m an alicorn, a rare kind of pony.”
A silver eyebrow rose quickly at her words, “Princess? Well, Cadence, we’ll do what we can to make your stay a pleasant one while we conduct our investigation.”
“Investigation?” Things just kept getting more and more out of Cadence’s depth, “Do you mean me?”
“Partly, but there was also a large disturbance in the nearby Ancient Forest that led us to finding you and the little one being attacked by that pack of Jagras.” He paused for a moment as he gestured to the other beings in the room, “These two helped to rescue you and got you back to Astera along with the Admiral.”
Cadence’s head was starting to spin from all the new things she was hearing, “I guess I owe you a thank you for saving our lives.” She glanced at the smiling face of the female and nodded, “If there is anything I can do to repay your kindness, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Oh, it was nothing.” The smile on her face only seemed to grow as the female slapped an open paw on the shoulder of her companion, “we were just doing our part to make sense of everything that was going on. No harm, no foul.”
“We’ll leave you to rest for now.” The elder human interjected as he turned and motioned with a foreleg for the others to follow, “It has been a long day for everyone, and I imagine you need some time to think things through. We’ll come back in the morning and see what can be done to clarify things on both sides. Goodnight, princess.”
With that, the trio departed, the wooden door closing with a soft squeak and leaving Cadence alone in the bunkroom with her daughter still held close to her barrel by both hooves. The filly squirmed for a moment until Cadence set her down next to her belly, trying and failing to put together all of the new things she had heard from the…What were they called, humans? She shook her head as she laid back down and curled around her daughter, sheltering her with a wing as she kicked the sheets back up and over their bodies. It had gotten darker in the bunkroom as the light faded between the cracks of the wood plank walls, and a large yawn cracked her jaw wide before she could stop it.
“I guess we’ll see what happens in the morning.” She muttered to herself as she took one last look around the strange place she had found herself in, “I hope Shining and everypony else finds me soon. This is all just too much for me.”
Her sleep was fitful at best that night, and the morning dawn came far too soon for her liking, her eyes opening with great difficulty as she heard a knock on the door across the room. She forced her exhausted body to respond as she lifted her still-groggy daughter onto her back between her wings, stepping down from the bunk as she did her best not to stumble.
“Well, time to see what crazy adventure we’ve found ourselves in, little one.” She muttered to herself as she climbed the steps to answer the door, “That reminds me, I need a name for you.” She shrugged as she set the idea aside for the moment, “I’ll get to it later.”
Her horn lit with a soft blue glow as she opened the door before her, taking her first look at the new place she had found herself in, “Yes? Can I help you?”
The Palico on the other side of the door only had a moment to let out a happy meow in greeting before her eyes widened in shock and an ear-shattering squeal echoed through Astera. A pink and white missile barreled into the hapless Felyne as the door closed behind them with a thunderous crack, the ball of fur and feathers tumbling down the steps and nearly knocking over several humans that had been standing in the way. Needless to say, Cadence’s adventures in the New World were certainly off to a crazy start, as evidently her newborn daughter was a cat lover.