//------------------------------// // Communication Problems // Story: Détente // by MrZJunior //------------------------------// Détente Chapter 2 Twilight and the beige creature stared at each other in shock for a moment. Her eyes roamed over it, from the odd looking short mane on the top of its head, to its tiny eyes, and the long legs that, despite all logic, seemed to support it. She noticed that it was not in fact beige colored but merely wearing beige colored clothing head to foot. Her head only came up to the creatures chest, and she had to crane her neck in order to look it in the eyes. "H-hello," said Twilight nervously. "Welcome to Equestria, my name is Twilight Sparkle. What is yours?" Instead of responding the creature settled down on its haunches, bringing it to eye level with Twilight. It began to speak in soft tones in a language that Twilight did not recognize and slowly reached out a hand towards her. The alien creature’s fingers stoked slowly through her mane, causing Twilight to rear back in shock. ***** "Whoa there, easy, there's no need to get spooked," said Sergeant Jonson, the second engineer. The bizarre little unicorn creature that he had attempted to pet had reacted violently, rearing up on its hooves and neighing excitedly at him. "Jonson, what the hell are you doing down there?" shouted Major Valson. "Greeting the locals sir! There's a purple unicorn down here, and some more horse creatures off in the distance." There was an uncomfortable pause before Major Valson broke the silence, "purple unicorn?" "Yep, it's got a little horn and everything." "I'm coming down there, clear some room." Major Valson dropped to the ground landing in a crouch and sending his head spinning and pulsing with pain. He hissed and gripped his temples waiting for the head splitting tide to recede. As he became more lucid he became aware of a whinnying sound, looking around he spotted Jonson's unicorn. He stared at it, his mind refusing to believe that such a creature existed. It was garish purple all over, with an enormous head, short muzzle, and the biggest puppy dog eyes you have ever seen. He could have sworn that it was talking to him, and the expression on its face seemed surprisingly like pity. Major Valson stared at the bizarre creature for a moment before turning to Sergeant Jonson: "Tell me the truth, am I hallucinating? Because I really hit my head hard back there, I could still be lying on the deck peacefully bleeding." "No sir, this is very real." Major Valson gave a resigned sigh and allowed his shoulders to momentarily slump before straightening back up. When he spoke again it was with a forceful voice "all right, the rest of you get down here and start setting up a base camp, priority on the radio. Dawley, go to the tail and corral the men from the rear compartment and bring them here." ***** Twilight looked on in bewilderment as the creatures moved around her, paying her no attention beyond the occasional curious glance. She felt confused and lost, two emotions that she was not accustomed to feeling. The creatures were treating her as if she were hardly even there, as if she weren't talking to them, as if she was ... an animal. Rarity chose this moment to rush up to Twilight. "What are they, and why are they wearing those horrid jump suits?" "I don't know, but I think I know how to find out. Watch them for me," and with that Twilight teleported off with a flash of light. ***** Major Valson’s eyes nearly popped out of his sockets. He raised a shaky hand and points where the unicorn had just been standing. “Did you just see that?” Captain Dawley looks up and asks “see what?” “That unicorn, it just disappeared!” “I don’t see anything, there’s just that white one that’s been hanging around the edges of our camp.” “Yes, exactly, it disappeared in a flash of light. Like magic.” “Like magic? Sir, are you feeling all right? You should probably let me have a look at that nasty hit on your forehead.” ***** Twilight appeared in her library mere moments after leaving the field. She rushes towards the nearest bookshelf hastily pulling tomes off and then discarding them in her haste to find the proper one. Meanwhile, upstairs a baby dragon tossed and turned, trying to sleep through the noise. Finally, with a world weary sigh, he raises himself from his bed and stumbles downstairs. “Twilight, what are you doing? I need my beauty sleep,” said Spike sleepily. “Spike, something incredible has happened! A machine of some sort carrying creatures I have never seen before has crashed outside Ponyville. It all happened immediately after all that fog rolled through. Spike, take a letter.” “Wait, aliens have landed in Ponyville? And what fog are you talking about?” “The fog that rolled through just earlier, did you sleep the entire day away again?” Spike scratched his head and then shrugged noncommittally. Twilight sighed in exasperation before throwing a quill, ink pot, and parchment at him. “Here, take down this letter quickly: Dear Princess Celestia, Something incredible has happened. Ponyville was covered by a thick, impenetrable fog; this was followed shortly by a brief but disorienting sensation of falling. As the fog lifted I heard something large pass overhead, and, following the noise, I witnessed a great gleaming machine fall from the sky. Rushing up to the machine I witnessed several alien creatures get out of it. Despite my best efforts to communicate with them they did not seem to realize that I was intelligent, why, I don’t know. They seem to be mostly harmless and I will try to establish contact shortly. Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight got to the end of the book shelf without finding what she was looking for. With a scream of frustration she drops the few books that she was still holding in her aura to the ground. Looking down she spies a small blue book propping up one leg of her desk and upon pulling the volume out she finds the book she had been searching for the entire time. “Talking with Dragons: A Field Guide to Translation Spells,” Twilight read aloud. She turned to Spike and continued “this is the best book available about the practical application of translations spells. I hope I can use it to communicate with the aliens.” Twilight trotted quickly towards the door levitating the book along behind her. “Send that letter immediately,” called Twilight just before the door shut behind her. ***** In Canterlot the letter popped into existence, falling into an enormous pile of similar messages. The room was dark, the only light coming from a banked fire, even the heavy curtains were drawn, blocking out any sunlight. In front of the enormous fire place two indistinct shapes huddled together. Occasionally a wing would flutter or a horn would catch the light of the dying embers of the fire revealing the shapes to be none other than Celestia and Luna the two Alicorn Princesses of Equestria. Hushed voices can be heard from behind the door to the chamber. Somepony was having a very heated argument just outside, though nothing could be understood through the thick door. Finally some sort of agreement seemed to have been reached and, after a pregnant pause, a gentle knocking came at the door. “Princesses are you all right?” a voice called faintly through the door. Hearing these words the two alicorns shifted but neither made any move to get up. “It’s just that something has happened, we don’t know what to do, and ponies are starting to panic. Um… please?” This got a response, with one of the shadowy forms finally standing up. ***** Outside the princesses chambers Public Sector, the chief bureaucrat of the Equestrian Civil Service, huddled with a few royal guardsmen. The aura of fear and despondency was thick, nopony seemed willing to meet anypony else’s gaze. Those present had begun debating quietly whether they should open the doors, when suddenly they were flung open. Standing fully framed in the doorway was Princess Celestia, her wings were fully extended and her neck straight, she was engulfed in a near blinding radiance. Everypony felt rejuvenated, any of the stress that was plainly evident moments before washed away. The guards stood to attention and Public Sector bowed deeply as their sovereign paced slowly out into the corridor. “What has happened during my … absence?” Celestia asked, folding her wings against her body. “Your sudden departure threw the government into chaos. Orders weren’t given, goods weren’t moved, nopony seemed to be able to concentrate on anything. Everypony just stopped working and huddled together in small groups.” As she talked Public Sector watched the princesses’ face and saw the subtle tightening of her jaw and slight lines around her eyes that momentarily hinted at some deep pain, before Celestia regained her self control and her face became an impassive mask of benevolence once more. Public Sector bowed a second time, even more deeply, and said: “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep order. Things just collapsed too quickly and the panic was too general for me to organize any sort of response.” She was very surprised when she felt somepony nuzzle her and she looked up into the warm eyes of her diarch. “I am sure you did more than anypony could expect of you in the situation. But now we have work to do and I need my number one administrator on the job,” said Celestia. She strode purposefully past Public Sector, her sister following in her wake. Public Sector trotted along beside the two diarchs with the guards falling in behind. Glancing at them she could not escape the feeling that something was wrong. Neither princess had said anything about why they had fled, or why they were coming out of seclusion now. “What can you tell me about the event that preceded this?” inquired princess Celestia. “Nothing much, very little information reached us before it stopped coming altogether. However, from what I gathered it was not very serious, there were very few reports of injuries, no deaths, just a lot of frightened ponies,” said Public Sector. “We don’t know what caused the event, or what effects it has had.” Princess Celestia nodded in acknowledgement, “I need you to send somepony to my chambers to retrieve the messages there. They should be piled next to the desk. I need them to sort through the messages and give me the most important ones; I can deal with the rest later.” The small group was rapidly approaching the central sorting room, office in the castle through which much of the paperwork of the Equestrian government traveled at one point or another. Two guards rushed forwards and opened the enormous double doors, instead of the usual sound of purposefully writing quills and shuffling papers they were instead greeted by the quiet murmur of worried voices reverberating off the domed roof. The voices hushed as the two sisters strode into the room; the aura of fear and panic began to dissipate, being replaced by one of embarrassment and curiosity. After a few minutes Public Sector and the princesses reached the center of the room where her desk stood on a small dais. Climbing up and into the familiar seat she swept her gaze across the room. All the little conversations were breaking up and ponies were slinking back towards their desks. Leaning over, Celestia whispered in Public Sector’s ear. “I have complete confidence in you.” The princesses and their retinue then continued on towards the door on the other side of the chamber while Public Sector settled down to her work. ***** The radio crackled into life, “… Valson of the 32nd Bombardment Group. We have made a forced landing on a previously unknown island north of Hawaii and are in need of rescue. Repeat, this is Lieutenant Valson of the …” “This is Hawaii, Colonel Potter speaking. We read you loud and clear, we’re glad to hear from you, it seemed you might have been lost. How does your supply situation look? Over.” “All the survival equipment has been salvaged from the aircraft and the plane itself seems to have remained mostly in one piece. All cargo is secure and safe. Over.” “Good to hear. Now, what was that of an unknown island, what makes you so sure that it’s unknown? Over.” “Do you know any islands that are inhabited my miniature pastel colored horses? Over.” An uncomfortable pause follows before Colonel Potter asks incredulously: “miniature pastel colored horses?” Major Valson waited for the Colonel to continue, and when he doesn’t the Major forced down his nervousness and continued talking. “Yes sir, some of them have little horns like unicorns and some have wings like pegasi. They come in all different colors, yellow, green, and even blue. They seem very curious and intelligent; this one purple unicorn in particular kept walking through our campsite and examining everything. Over.” “… Are you high? Over.” “No sir, we have crashed on a very large island populated by multicolored mythological creatures. I don’t know what else to tell you. Over.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw the purple unicorn approaching, and as he turned to face it he froze. It was trotting quickly towards him, while behind it a book seemed to float. His face became slack and his jaw fell open. The creature pulled up in front of him and the book levitated in front of its face. A blinding purple flash seemed to emanate from the bizarre creature, and as Major Valson blinked back tears he heard a strange, and definitely feminine, voice. “Hello, can you understand me now?” He blinked his eyes and squinted, trying to see through the spots in his vision. It almost seemed as if … the unicorn was speaking. He froze his brain incapable of processing the impossible situation he found himself in. Twilight stared at the alien in confusion. “Are you all right? Oh no, I hope the spell didn’t do something weird.” The alien suddenly seemed to break from its reverie and began shouting frantically into the small black cylinder it held. “Holy shit, the horse thing just started talking!” "Wait, what horse thing?" asked Twilight. The little box that the black tube was attached to spat out some more of the aliens language. "Yes, it is really talking! Here," the alien addressed Twilight directly for the first time, "say something." It shoved the black cylinder right up in her face. Twilight took a step back "what is that? Why do you want me to talk to it?" ***** In Hawaii Colonel Potter listened as a series of distressed sounding neighs burst from the radio set. He depressed the transmitter switch and broadcast back to Major Valson. "God damn it Valson, quit bugging the wildlife and get back to work! A maritime patrol plane will be dispatched to your position soon. Out." ***** The alien looked momentarily disappointed before turning its stern gaze on Twilight.