Chapter 4. Twilight the Ambassador (part 2)
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"Ah can't say much about the visitors durin' the first days. But Ah can say that the UNSC and the CAR, they were good people. Bein' the Element of Honesty, Ah knew right away that Ah could trust 'em. 'Specially Vasquez. But that's another thing entirely..." - Applejack, on the First Meetings

"Say what you will about the Equestrians, but from Pony to Griffon, Diamond Dog to Dragon, they have a strength and determination seldom seen even among the Three Races. When their world was ravaged around them, they didn't break or bow before the onslaught. They stood strong, and fought back..." - N'tho Vaddum

"...Now, it was at this time that he noticed this 'girl scout' was a giant serpent from the Paleolithic era. Then the wind blew off its hat, and it turned out to be none other than the 'Loch Ness Monster'. So mah grandpa shouted, 'Goddamn, Loch Ness Monster, ah ain't gonna give you no tree fiddy! We work hard fo' our money 'round here!'"

Applejack busted up laughing. Vasquez smiled, proud that one of his classic stories was still funny. Even N'tho and Cassius gave a curtesy smile, having heard it many times before.

The Apple family and UNSC-CAR team were getting along swimmingly. While Big Mac and Granny Smith kept the troops occupied, AJ and the three amigos had been "negotiating". Negotiating, leading to friendly discussion, and then to storytelling.

"Whoo-ee!" The orange pony exclaimed, "That sure was a side-splitter. Did that really happen?"

"No," Alan answered, "But it was funny, wasn't it?" He took out a cloth from his pocket, and began cleaning his rifle. "Truth is, most of his funniest stories were either completely made up, or stuff he picked up from others."

"Yeah," Applejack confided, "Ah'm pretty sure most of Granny Smith's stories are made up too. Old folks tend to have rickety memories."

"The bumblebees are in the oven, dear!" The old matriarch called, confusing her alien audience. Big Mac merely shook his head knowingly. AJ lowered her hat with an embarrassed smile. Cassius and Vasquez exchanged a look.

Probably. Alan returned, and gave a shrug. It was a rare disease in their time, but everyone still knew what it was. Curiously, in the postwar years, when military tech was opened for civilian use, one of the biggest sellers was AI conversion. Nowadays, when people's bodies began failing, it wasn't uncommon for the rich to have their brains used to make new smart AIs, to operate a space station or starship or whathaveyou. The fact that the AIs only lasted about 9 years didn't seem to register to most.

Applejack looked briefly across the farm, and saw four familiar shapes coming their way. There was Gilda, Spike, Applebloom and... Trixie? The mare was instantly confused and concerned. "Pardon me, fellas," She excused herself, "Ah've got ta talk to some of my friends for a bit."

" Ma'am." Vasquez nodded. The pony took her leave, and the three leaders watched her go. After a moment, the Sanghelli and Jiralhanae looked away, but noticed that their friend had not.

"Are you sure?" N'tho countered, "Because it seemed like you were staring at that tattoo on her posterior."

"Ah was only lookin' 'cause its an interesting design. 'Sides, why would they mark their behinds like that anyway? It grabs your attention."

While Vasquez tried to defend himself, Applejack confronted the newcomers. "Hey," She demanded, "Where's Twilight?"

"She's with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash and the other aliens!" Applebloom declared. The unicorn and the griffon looked around to see if anyone heard outside of the group. Fortunately, all the visitors were preoccupied with their own things.

"We're sorry, AJ," Trixie apologized, "But we may have left you out of the loop."

Trixie, Gilda and Spike then gave the abbreviated version of everything that had happened over the past two days, up to Fluttershy's arrival. At the end, AJ merely asked, "So, yuh think these aliens might be like the one yuh found in the forest?"

"Definitely." Trixie said, "Even without ruling out the other groups, these 'humans' look like the Chief the most. So, if anything, we're the most qualified to talk to these guys."

"All the same," Gilda added, "We should be careful with these guys. We don't know what weaponry they have, or how aggressive they are."

"Aw, shoot," AJ demurred, "Ah've been talking to these fellas for hours, and they wouldn't hurt a fly."

As she said that, there was the sound of weapon discharging, and a green orb of energy flew between their faces before splashing onto a tree. The group turned in time to see one of the "Elites" roar at a "Grunt", and kick it a good three feet. The the blue-skinned midget yelped like an abused puppy, and quickly reholstered his plasma pistol.

The new arrivals gave the farm pony a glare. Applejack returned with a "don't blame me" look. The Uggnoy shouted out an apology, -something about a "weapons malfunction"-and returned to his squad. "What was that about not hurting flies?" Spike deadpanned.

"Let's just go talk to whoever's in charge before things head south." AJ led the motley crew back to her new friends, as the three squad leaders wrapped their little "discussion".

"...What's up with you guys, comin' up with crazy ideas like that? Insinuating that Ah was 'ogling' her, like some kinda creeper? Why Ah should-" Vasquez was chastising the aliens. "Alan," Cassius interrupted, "They're coming back."

Alan turned, and seeing the aliens approaching he quickly got back to his seat around the hastily assembled table.

"Guys," Applejack started as they approached the table, "Let me introduce mah friends here. This 'ere is mah sister Applebloom, that's Twilight's assistant Spike, the griffon over there is Gilda, and this unicorn is Twilight's associate, Trixie Lulamoon. Girls, this is Sergeant Alan Vasquez, Squad Master N'tho 'Vaddum and Captian Cassius. They are representatives of the United Nations Space Command and the Combined Allied Republics."

Everyone exchanged greetings, and afterwards Vasquez interrupted, "Beggin' yur pardon, Ms. Applejack, but what happened to Twilight Sparkle? You said that she represented these 'Princesses', and we would be talkin' wit' her."

"Unfortunately," Trixie explained (and lied), "Twilight Sparkle had a previous engagement in Canterlot, and had to leave early this morning. However, I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, am authorized to negotiate on her behalf, and on behalf of the Royal Sisters and Equestria."

Applejack rolled her eyes. While Trixie had shown tremendous improvement on herself, she still had moments when the old Trixie would pop up. Whenever she had to take care of anything important, like get some supplies for Twilight or scare away an insurance salesman, she would bring up her old title and her stage persona would come out. She wasn't nearly as bad as she used to be, but sometimes her habit of falling into third person speech was a little bit weird and annoying.

"...We," N'tho began, "We're on a routine expedition, exploring the outer edges of the galaxy-"

His friends looked at him liked he kicked a dog over a bridge. "Don't give me that look!" He snapped, "They'll figure it out soon enough anyways. Ah may not be a diplomat, but Ah'm not goin' to start our first contact with another race on a lie."

The Sanghelli sighed and face palmed, mystified at the human's ignorance to negotiation. Cassius leaned forward and confirmed, "Yes, we are looking for someone. A hero among the humans and our kind as well. We tracked him down to this world, but we weren't anticipating meeting any kind of... Local intelligence."

"This hero," Trixie mused, her horn suddenly glowing, "He wouldn't happen to look like this, would he?"

Out of a pocket on her saddle, a scroll wrapped in a blue aura floated out and landed on the table in front of them. The scroll opened up, and an artistic rendition of a Spartan in a cryo pod was drawn onto it.

The space around the table became silent, with only the distant chatter of the other troops disturbing the scene. Spike was the first one to speak.

"Whoa," He declared, standing on tip-toes to get a better view. "What's that thing?"

"'Sierra-117'," Gilda recited, "'Master Chief Petty Officer'. Does that ring any bells, guys?"

The soldiers took a moment to gather their thoughts, and Alan asked them, "Where did you find him?"

Trixie and Gilda barely managed to hold in their surprise. Him? As in their was someone inside the armor? That definitely didn't sound good, especially since the pod and the armor hadn't been touched since it was sealed away in a vault. Even with the pod turned to stone for storage, it had been unplugged for most of a day. There was no telling if the individual was still alive.

Of course, they weren't going to reveal all the facts to them. If there was one thing Luna had taught them about negotiating, it was to keep whatever secret you had until it was useful to reveal it. So, without acknowledging anything, they continued.

"His ship crashed onto our world. Part of it landed in the Everfree Forest, where we were able to retireve it. It was turned to stone for safekeeping, but we will be more than happy to undo that spell and give him back to you."

"That," Vasquez said, "That would be great. Whenever you- Wait a minute, what do you mean 'turned to stone?"

"Exactly what I said," Trixie replied, "The Princesses used magic to turn the Chief into stone to keep him stable, and will be able to turn him back to normal when we're ready to return him."

The soldiers couldn't believe their ears. The Master Chief, hero of the galaxy, could still be living? And they were going to be the ones to bring him back? This mission had gone from a recovery op, to a first contact, to a rescue mission, all in the span of two days.

"That," N'tho informed them, "Would actually be very helpful. If you'd be so kind..."
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About two hours later, a letter teleported itself onto Princess Celestia's desk. She heard it land on the oak furniture, and after wrapping up a a conversation with a few ministers, she turned her attention to the magical parchment. She thought it would be from Twilight, either sending a friendship report or a useless warning about the Extra-Equestrians.

As I'm sure you are aware, Equestria is being visited by otherworldly visitors, three of them landing around Ponyville. As of right now, contact and relations have been established with two such groups, the "Citadel Council" and the "UNSC-CAR". The Citadel people have been dealt with easily enough, only asking for a place to land. Negotiations with them was a snap.
However, the UNSC-CAR are a little bit more... Complicated. These are indeed the aliens who came for the Chief, and are quite eager to bring him back to their worlds. If at all possible, it would be highly recommended to unfreeze him and give him over. We might be able to obtain all kinds of super advanced technology.
Furthermore, the representatives have negotiated with the Apple family to obtain several acres of land to build a few "facilities" (which is probably code for some kind of base). In exchange, they have given us several gifts and concessions, including this medical substance called "biofoam", and a few "nightvision" helmets.
We would certainly like to hear your ruling on this. Please write back to us as soon as possible.

"The Great and Powerful" Trixie Lulamoon, Gilda of Ravenpoint, Applejack and Spike

The Princess smiled, knowing that the diplomacy classes she taught Trixie and Gilda finally worked out. While Twilight was her most avaricious and knowledgeable pupil, Trixie to her political and business classes like a duck to water. At times, she seemed to know and understand their principles far better than even her most senior advisors, a feat in itself.

Celestia chuckled to herself, realizing that Adam was right... Again. "Better not tell him," She told herself, "Last thing he needs is to have a bigger ego." She kept smiling as she began setting up preparations for a long-distance communication spell. The time for telling the other kingdoms was fast approaching...
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1 hour later

Back in Ponyville, Applejack and Vasquez were chatting next to a Pelican, one of the first to come back down. As soon as it was confirmed with the captains, various shuttles and flying vehicles came down, dropping several large buildings and components onto the two vacant fields purchased from the farm. It was rather stunning, how quickly the humans and ex-Covenant were constructing these makeshift bases. The CAR base even looked like it was being formed from light, solidified into a heavy-duty plastic- at least to AJ's mind.

Looking around the farm-turned-military base, the place was abuzz with activity. Spike was talking with N'tho, both discussing the difference between an Elite and a dragon (apparently they look very much alike, from a distance). Trixie and Gilda were having teleconference with the captains of the Judgement and the Road, working out a few more details on the terms and conditions. Cassius and Big Mac were having a strength competition, with Applebloom judging. Cassius punched a tree with a might roar, and half the apples came down. Big Mac bucked his, and all the apples and leaves came off, much to Applebloom's cheers and the Brute's chagrin.

"Hey," The pony started, "Ah want to thank you for being honest with us earlier. Ah can imagine you're goin' to pay for it later."

"It's fine," He shrugged, "Ah'm not an ONI agent, or a high-ranking officer, but Ah know it pays to be upfront with people sometimes. You'd think we'd learn our lessons from the last war."

AJ sat down, sensing a story coming around. Alan gazed out upon the horizon, and explained.

"A few years ago, before Ah was born, mah people and those of mah friends were drawn into a war, one which lasted an entire generation. Billions of people died on both sides, including mah parents. It only ended when both sides realized that their leaders, the Prophets, had tricked them. They told the Sanghelli and Jiralhanae and all others that humanity was a cosmic blight that had to be extinguished, even at the cost of entire planets. In reality, the Prophets knew that humanity was the chosen race of the same beings they worshipped, and ordered our extinction so that they wouldn't lose their power."

"In the end, both humanity and most of the alien races joined together, and quarantined the Prophets and their followers to a distant part of our galaxy. It may be some time before we can all be on perfect terms, but Ah know Ah can trust mah friends over there, and missions like this just go to show that its possible for us to forgive and move on."

Applejack nodded in understanding. Although she couldn't wrap her mind around the concept of billions dying in a war- and, honestly, could anypony really picture it- but she could feel the sincerity in his voice, the genuineness of his tale.

"If you don't mind me askin', miss Applejack," The soldier inquired, " But where did you git that hat? It's very similar to one I had once."

"This ol' thing," she said as she took off her Stetson, "This used to be mah dad's hat. He gave it to me before he and my ma... Moved away." The last part of that statement was ever-so-slightly tinged with sadness, an old scar from her past. The soldier name merely nodded in understanding.

"What about your helmet?" She returned, changing the subject. "Did someone give that to you?"

Vasquez laughed. "Oh no," He chuckled, tapping his helmet with its orange visor and HUD. "This is something they give everyone when they enlist. Its still special, though. I fought in over thirty different battles, on seven different worlds, with this thing. Saved my life more times than I can count."

They stood silent for a moment, holding their headware. Then he asked casually, almost nonchalantly, "Wanna switch?" Applejack looked down at her hat, then at the helmet, and back again. Why not? She thought to herself, You can trust this guy, can't you? Out of all the folks that you were talkin' to, this fella stands out.

So, with a smile, she answered, "Sure, just for a moment." With a quick exchange, Alan was back in his cowboy days, and AJ was an "honorary" UNSC trooper. The pony was surprised that a) everything didn't look orange, and b) the imaginary/holographic words seem to know all kinds of things, from where north was to how many aliens and ponies were around her.

"Like you could go fightin' on the frontlines right now." He chuckled. "Me, Ah probably look ridiculous." While his helmet managed to fit on the pony's head almost perfectly, the hat was just a little too small on him, and ended up just barely resting on the top of his head.

"Oh, it's not that bad," She chuckled, "It actually looks good on you. Which is sayin' somethin', 'cause it doesn't look good on anypony but me."

Before the conversation could continue, Spike had ran over to them, and said, "Applejack, we're heading back to Ponyville. Trixie wants you to come along as well."

"Alright. Ah reckon it's goin' to be an important meeting." She turned back to the human. "I'll see you later. Keep your boys out of trouble, you hear me?"

"Yes, ma'am. See you then." With a nod and a minor salute, AJ and her friends trotted out of Sweet Apple Acres. Vasquez returned his attention to organizing the troops as the bases were being constructed, as Celestia's sun began to dip for the horizon...

Peace and Isolation

by McKnight93

Ch.4.2- Country Negotiations