Samus was currently descending through the planet's atmosphere. From all the observations and scans made by her and Adam they determined that the planet had not been touched by the machines of people foreign to its earth. Also a strange unidentifiable energy was interfering with some of the ship's smaller electronics. Aside from that, the landing would probably go smoothly.
"60 seconds til we enter optimal airspace to begin searching for a landing zone to abandon ship," reported Adam.
Samus cringed at the word abandon. Not that she ever experienced being left for the unknown, but the thought of losing Adam again tugged at her heartstrings.
"Surely you don't mean completely abandon right?," asked Samus hopefully. "The electronic interference on this planet will probably keep them at bay for a while right?"
"Yes, I do mean completely abandon," responded Adam in his robotic voice. "This isn't Aether where all signals are completely blocked. Sure the tracking signal will be weakened but it won't be completely gone."
The once legendary bounty hunter sighed. She knew the A.I. was right. There's no way the Federation was going to let a weak signal be of any hindrance to their goal.
"Is this truly the end? I only reunited with him a short while ago and now here I have to give him up again. Though he won't be completely gone this time."
"Samus, I've detected a suitable landing zone in an opening in the forest below us. I'm piloting the ship there now," announced the computer.
Samus didn't respond. Her mind was busy formulating her next course of action, but mainly it was also trying to accept the fact that Adam wouldn't be with her for much longer.
The golden sun slowly rose into the sky. It's rays of yellow light pushing the darkness of night to the other side of the planet to give the other side's inhabitants rest. Also, the actions of the star awoke a refreshed Ponyville. Ponies were beginning to rise from their slumber and cast off the warm blankets in exchange for nourishment. At Fluttershy's cottage things weren't as peaceful and drowsy.
Fluttershy was huddling in a protected corner of her tree home, shaking at the events of last night.
"No,no,no,no... nothing landed in the Everfree Forest and walked out no,no,no,no,no! Such things don't happen!," Fluttershy told herself quietly. "The only things that travel in and out of the Everfree Forest are ponies!"
Logic would not win over her fearful personality.
"But that... that... that thing did! Oh dear Celestia please let my animal friends be safe."
A soft thumping noise started to make it's way closer to her location. With a squeak of fright the light yellow pegasus curled into a ball. The thumps drew closer until they ceased at what sounded to be about a meter away. After a few seconds Fluttershy opened one of her eyes a smidgen to see a rather annoyed Angel Bunny with his arms crossed.
"Oh, it was only you," the animal loving pegasus said with relief. "I thought it was that thing that walked out of the forest last night."
The bunny rolled it's eyes in disbelief. He knew that creatures do no simply walk out of the forest.
"You don't believe me?," Fluttershy asked curiously. "Didn't you hear that loud roar last night?"
Angel shook his head. He also pulled out a pair of earplugs and put them in his ears and pretended to sleep. This habit he and the other animals started when the Cutie Mark Crusaders spent the night at the cottage.
"Wha...?"
That was all Fluttershy could say before she succumbed to the delicious folds of sleep that had slowly piled up on her. Angel face palmed and put a blanket over the sleeping pegasus. It appeared that he was going to have to feed himself and all the others.
Applejack isn't crazy, blind, or one to hallucinate but she swore she saw something in the orchard 30 seconds ago.
"I'll be a rotten apple fritter if Ah didn't see somethin' over this part of the farm," she quietly told herself as she went to inspect the row of trees.
The apple farmer slowly walked through the rows of trees, searching the soft ground for hoof prints. She didn't see any but there were some disturbing impressions that sunk rather deep in the moist earth. They were deeper than even the prints of Big Macintosh and no pony in Ponyville has that kind of weight. Goosebumps began rise up all over Applejack's body, sweat slowly formed under her coat, and the feeling of being watched pervaded the farmer's mind. It was nearly broad daylight and yet the tan pony was unnerved and on edge.
"Celestia have mercy on me for being such a coward but dang it if there isn't something creepy runnin' around the farm."
Applejack continued to follow the mysterious impressions a ways till they abruptly ended. Applejack observed the rather large amount of leaves that were disturbed off the tree where the holes stopped. She gulped and slowly looked up into the canopy of the apple tree. Fortune had it that nothing was perched on any of the tree's branches. With a sigh of relief the apple growing pony trotted back hurriedly to her duties.
Samus hated playing hide and seek with the creature but she didn't know how the entity would react. Years of experience have taught her to always be vigilant, even when the situation appears harmless. She activated her Scan Visor and attempted to learn more about the quadruped. Not much information came up besides it's common name, pony, and that compared to other equines in the known galaxy, it has higher brain functions, that are on par with a human.
"Interesting. That explains the structure which can be assumed to be a barn. There's probably more than that one walking around here somewhere so I need to tread carefully if I want to keep the situation green."
Deeming the situation safe, Samus dropped from her perch with a mezzo forte thump into the brown earth. The former bounty hunter began to slowly back track the pony's path. As she slowly progressed through the fruit tree forest, there was a sudden roar similar to that of an engine, albeit not as offending to the ears. Before the armored woman could take cover, a rainbow shot through the sky above at a magnificent speed in the direction of the barn.
This ought to be fun. Now I have to avoid drones. If these... ponies have super sonic drones then why don't they have space craft? At any rate stealth is going to be a lot more difficult. Ugh, I hate not knowing friend or foe.
Once again Samus began backtracking the path, now using the trees as cover.