Two
The two guards stood, stunned. They had both been assigned to protect Princess Twilight Sparkle, but, as soon as they reached the library, the door was pulled open and a tell-tale lavender blur sped out. What exactly was going on?
"Maybe the Princess had some shopping to do?" One of them offered sheepishly.
"I... honestly do not know... Should we wait for her return, or follow her?"
"It would probably be wise for us to try and track her."
"Agreed."
The two golden-shod ponies began to follow the hoofsteps, around the tree-library, and into the Everfree forest. When the pair reached the edge, they both halted, quizzical expressions on both of their faces. They exchanged glances and shrugged.
"Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be...interesting?"
"Probably because it will."
The thick, heavy phalanx of leaves parted as the two guards pushed onward, in search of their Princess. After about ten or fifteen minutes, the two came to a scene: Fluttershy's cottage.
"Is that...blood?"
"...it is..."
There was a gaping hole in the side of the cottage, signs of struggle, and something else.
One of the guards opted to investigate that very thing and found an empty cartridge.
"What is this?"
The other guard approached the first and gave it a sniff.
"Whew! Smells like sulfur."
"What would this have to do with sulfur?"
"Not sure, but keep it, in case we need evidence."
"What about the blood?"
"It is...thinner than pony blood. Perhaps it belongs to one of the aliens?"
"Does that mean that they are hostile."
"More than likely, but don't jump to any conclusions. For all we know, Princess Twilight decided to rescue this alien from a Timberwolf or something, but arrived too late to save him from a wound."
"Where did they go?"
"Well, only one way to find out. This way!"
Commander Stromm was in something of a trance. He sat in his chair, in his ship's bridge, and was, quite frankly, boiling. He was not displeased with his men, nor with the location that they had landed, nor with the natives. He was displeased with the history of the Helghast people.
Under a greedy leader, they had invaded Vekta, entirely unprovoked. They had started this war. But then Stromm's anger shifted toward the ISA. They had every right to fight back, which they did, but what they did was too much. They slaughtered Helghast troops, and drove them off of the planet, but they did not stop there, no. They invaded his planet and then exiled the Helghasts, civilians and all, and left them to die.
Once more, his anger shifted towards the Helghasts. They had been dragged around by the ear, forced to work, and cruel, selfish leadership led to the nuclear annihilation of an entire city. Millions of innocent men, women and children burned in the flames. Any surviving Helghast that were left was now here. Yes, Stromm was angry at both his old leaders, and at the men of the ISA, but all he wanted was to be left alone, to build a new life here with his people, and co-exist with the natives, who apparently spoke his language. How convienient. He wanted to forget the past, forget the wars, forget the ISA, and, most of all, forget his mistakes.
The Commander was torn from his thoughts as the buzzer to the bridge sounded. He was all alone inside, seeking a secluded spot to mentally vilify in peace, but they had found him. At first he was irritated, but then he remembered that the two newly-promoted Specialists were escorting a pair of the natives to meet him under peaceful terms, and he became excited.
Stromm stood and made sure that he was at least presentable, he was meeting an alien race after all, it would be wise to make a good first impressions and called out, "Enter."
There was a hiss and clang as the thick door pulled itself up. Stromm tasted blood in an attempt to keep form laughing. He had been expecting somewhat humanoid creatures, or even tendrils and slime, or even tusks, but not...bright, technicolored...ponies?
"Hello!" The one on the left, a purple one with a horn and wings.
"Uh-uh-um, Greetings, Miss...?"
"My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle," By the progress of the Stars, "and I am here to personally welcome you to Equestria."
Good Scolar f*cking Visari.
"I am glad. My name is Commander Stromm, the leader of the Helghast people."
"Is that what you call yourselves?"
"That is more the name of our political party, our race belongs to one called humanity. It is somewhat complicated, as our bodies are different than that of other 'humans', but we still fall under the same category. I really all depends on who you ask...?"
Stromm trailed off a bit. Notebook? The unicorn, Princess Twilight, had somehow pulled a notebook out from somewhere and was furiously jotting down notes.
Noticing Stromm's glowing eye-lenses directed towards here, she asked, "You don't mind, do you? I'm a bit of what you might call a scholar."
Stromm lifted up a hand and answered, "No, not all, I was just wondering...where in the name of stars did you get that notebook from?"
"What, this old thing? I only bought it from a store...what?"
Stromm shook his head and sat into his chair, motioning for his guest to sit on the chair. She ignored the chair and lay on the floor.
"Never mind. Any thing else that you would like to know?"
"Well, I was-"
"Wait, hold on."
Stromm looked over Twilight's soldier over to look at Specialist Sycth, who was limping.
"Was I misinformed?"
"Misinformed about...what, sir?"
"I thought that you were bringing two."
"Well..."
Zyve answered, "We did, but she's...shy."
"Shy," Stromm deadpanned.
"Well...yes."
Twilight spoke up, saying, "You'll have to excuse her."
Stromm shrugged and settled back down into his chair.
"Alright, my apologies, please continue."
"What is your race's scientific name?"
"Homo Sapiens Sapiens.
"Uh huh...can you tell me why you are here?"
Stromm looked at the two Specialists standing by the door, then back to Twilight.
"How much time do you have?"
"There is always time for science!"
Stromm chuckled.
"Make yourself comfortable; we'll be here for a while. You two are excused."
Zyve and Sycth both nodded and went to try and talk to Fluttershy.
"It all began several years ago when one of my people's old leaders, who shall not named, invaded another human colony, unprovoked..."
Twilight couldn't restrain her tears. She was able to control the urge to sob, but one tear from each eye, it was inescapable. It was such a tragic story, and it caused conflicting feelings.
"So that's why you're here, isn't it?"
"Yes. I only wish for peace for all of my people, for yours, and for the ISA."
"So...this ISA...if they were to find you here, what do you believe would happen?"
"I only pray that they do not. They are determined to wipe all of us out, to be rid of us completely, and I do not blame them, but they are going to the extreme. If they found us here, I do not think that they will be interesting in peace."
Twilight was silent.
"But do not worry: we traveled far. If they find us here, it will probably be when they are looking for more planets to assimilate, and, by that time, they will more than likely be more willing to leave us alone."
"I can only hope so."
"So...you said earlier that you were 'Princess' Twilight Sparkle. If that word means the same as I know it, that means that you are royalty?"
The lavender mare sniffed and attempted to wipe away her tears, then smiled.
"Yes, that is true."
"Does that mean that you have a kind and queen as well?"
"Actually, no."
"No?"
There are four Princesses, and we all share power."
"Oh?"
"Yes. There is myself, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadence."
"But why no kings or queens?"
"By all rights, we are technically queens, but Celestia and Luna decided to call the Alicorn rulers 'Princesses' rather than 'queens' so that we would be more approachable, and so that we may seem less intimidating."
"So that you appear more humble?"
"Yes, that would be a better way to word it."
Twilight's eyes widened.
"Oh no."
"What is it?"
"Princess Celestia, she sent troops to protect me from you guys before we knew that you were friendly. Well, before Fluttershy and I did."
"And?"
"Well, they probably know that I'm missing, and I'm assuming you noticed that that one of your soldiers was limping?"
"Sycth? Yes."
"We had a bit of a...misunderstanding. I used my magic to heal it, but..."
"I don't see the big deal if Sycth forgave you."
"He did! What I'm trying to say is that we left some signs of violence."
Stromm finally put two and two together.
"Lord Saturn..."
"Exactly."
The two unicorn guards stood, amazed. Of course, they knew that there had been an alien landing, that's entire reason that they were there, but they actually got a good look at the aliens and their technology, they were...hesitant to jump to the rescue.
"Should we send for the Princess and her troops?"
"Seems like the best idea to me. Go."
"Alrigh-"
"Wait!"
"What is it?"
"Look!"
With a hiss and a bout of steam, the ramp on the bottom of the nearest space-faring vehicle began to descend and five figures walked out. Two they recognized, Princess Twilight and the Element of Kindness, but the other three were just more aliens. Except for one....
Instead of the helmet that most of the others seemed to wear, he wore a cap, and he had a cape. His boots were larger too.
"A general? Leader?"
"I don't know, but let's see what happens. I do not so any restraints..."
Twilight called out with a magically-amplified voice that visually startled almost every single one of the Helghasts, including Commander Stromm. Both of the guards snickered.
"If you are out there, anyone who has come to rescue me, know that I am unharmed! There was an unnecessary skirmish during first contact, but we have forgiven one another and are peaceful with one another!"
"Bullshit?"
"Not sure..."
"I repeat: Fluttershy and I are unharmed, and these visitors are peaceful!"
"Bullshit?"
"Shhhh!"
"Is there anypony out there! I am fine."
"Bullshit?"
"Gah...I don't know."
The unicorn guard thought for a moment, his golden-shod hoof perched on his chin, a spear grasped in his other.
"Ah! I'll use my magic to send out a hologram."
"Okay, do it. Let's see what's really going on."
After concentrating for a few moments, a blue aura enveloped the guard's horn and a near-perfect version of him lept to life.
"Gooood, goood..."
The hologram walked out of the underbrush and waved.
The two real guards tensed, waiting for an attack on the hologram. Nothing happened.
"You!" Twilight called.
"Can you make it seem as if your voice is coming from the fake you if you speak."
"Yes, I think so."
"Do it."
The fake guard strolled forward, close to Twilight.
Twilight no longer had to use her voice.
"Why hello th-...wait."
"What?" Stromm asked.
Twilight chuckled.
"Just my guards being careful: this is fake, a decoy, hologram."
Stromm chuckled and nodded. These ponies seemed quite a bit more technologically advanced than first impressions would say...
Twilight called out with an amplified voice again, startling only a few of the Helghasts this time.
"I promise you! You will be fine!"
The two guards finally shrugged, what the hay?, and emerged from their hiding spot.
"Ah, there they are," Twilight said, motioning to the approaching guards.
Stromm was confused. Okay, amplified voices, holograms...but metal armor and spears?
The two guards were let through the camp gate and cautiously approached the five individuals.
"Hello! Captain Strong, Private Iron, good to see you again."
Fluttershy, who had remained silent up until now, decided to speak.
"Umm..you know, I'm pretty sure they're...nice. I mean, they did try to eat Angel Bunny, but..."
She stopped and eeped as soon as she noticed that all attention was on her. She blushed and shrunk away.
Iron and Strong exchanged glances and shrugged. Seemed legit.
Three hours later, Stromm, Twilight, Luna, Celestia, Cadence, Shining Armor, the rest of the Mane Six, Iron Mind, Strong Will, Zyve and Sycth, whom no one why they tagged along, and a couple of other guards all stood in the conference room. The Helghasts told their story again, causing many of the ponies to hold back tears again, and told their intentions.
Naturally, Princess Celestia was welcoming, and was willing to let them be there, but Luna was mistrusting. After some convincing, more talking, and some banter, Celestia agreed to give Commander Stromm a large chunk of land, namely, all of The Everfree forest, excluding Zecora's hut and the old ruins. They also received Rambling Rock Ridge. That was more than enough for the time being. When the Helghast population grows to exceed that, Princess Celestia agreed to help find land in the Lost World. There were peace treaties as well. All seemed fine. But, the damaged ships that the Helghasts drove to their new planet left a trail of debris floating space, unbeknownst to them. At that exact moment, a large ISA fleet was working on tracking them down, and getting rid of all of them, once and for all.
Armeen Kabar was amazed. After half of his ten-year life being spent on a stuffy ship filled with angry troops and other, equally filthy children, he was finally clean again. Not only clean, but he was also full. Not only clean and full, but he had managed to make friends with some of the locals.
After the new leader, Storm or something, and the Princesses of this place became friends, he and other people were allowed to mingle with the aliens that already lived here. They were ponies. He thought that that seemed really girly, but, as it turns out, they all make really good friends. Especially the three that he just found. He was a super-tough boy, but, deep inside, he still thought that they were really cute.
He met them one day when he woke up to cheering outside of the refugee ship in which he slept. His mother, the only family whom he had left, made him get up, get dressed, and come outside. Commander Storm, oh, it was Stromm, was outside. He told everyone in a really loud voice that they had made peace with the natives, and that they were free to do what they wanted, within common sense restrictions. With his Mother's permission, he had decided to explore a really close town, Ponyville.
He was the only person there, but the ponies there were really nice. It was kind of strange, he was really expecting to be yelled at or something. Instead, everything was really nice. So, with his hands in his pockets, he strolled down the cobblestone streets.
He passed a girly-looking bakery and saw a pink pony inside through a window. She had a really sad look on her face and was saying something about how there were far too many new-comers to throw parties all for. Then she got a real happy look and said something about one giant party and bolted off.
Armeen smiled and kept on walking. The buildings look old, like something from the Knight's time. The ponies here weren't like peasants or anything though.
The young Helghast boy was pondering his new life when he was tackled from the side, very heavily. He fell into a large puddle of mud. He hit his head on the stone and let loose a loud "Ouch!"
He rubbed his head, scrunching his eyes shut.
"What was that for!?"
He opened his eyes and saw three tiny little ponies with equally dazed looks on thier faces piled on top of him. One was white, with puffy hair and a tail, the other one was yellow and red with a really big bow in her hair, and the other one had purple hair and a kind of brown coat.
They all scrambled off of each other and the white one immediately started apologizing, saying, "Oh, I'm sorry, we didn't see you there. We were all kind of bumped off course and kind of ran into you, I guess."
Armeen snorted and inspected all of them further. The purple-brown one spoke up, "Hey, you're one of those aliens, aren't 'cha?"
"Well, to me, you're the aliens, but I guess since I'm here on your planet, I could be an alien. Yeah."
The one with the bow got a smile and said, with an accent not unlike his old aunt's, "Well welcome tah Ponyville. I'm Applebloom, this here is Scootaloo, and this is Sweetie Belle," she said, gesturing to the other two.
Armeen nodded and said, "My name's Armeen."
The boy looked over their shoulders curiously and back to them, "What were ya doing, anyway?"
"We were trying'a get our cutie marks!" said Applebloom.
"Cutie Marks?"
Sounded sissy.
"Yeah! It's when somepony discovers their super-special talent and it shows up on their flanks," explained Scootaloo excitedly, as she flashed her blank flank at Armeen.
"What's that you got on yer face? Or is that your actual face?" asked Applebloom.
"Oh, this?" Armeen asked, gesturing to his gas mask, "It's a mask. The air here is poisonous for us humans, I need to wear it or else I'll get sick.
"Oh..."
After a few seconds of silence, Sweetie Belle asked, "Umm...do you guys get Cutie Marks?"
"Nah, not really."
"Oh, well do you know what your talent is yet?"
"Not really, I'm only ten."
All three of them lit up, gasping, and exclaimed, "Us too!"
Applebloom asked Armeen something about wanting to join their crusaders club. Thinking that is sounded like fun, he agreed, and they all went off in search of new adventure.
Stromm was glad to get some time off. He decided to walk around the nearby town called Ponyville. The name was quite juvenile, but also very descriptive.
He rounded a corner just in time to see one of his people, a small boy, run off with three smaller ponies, probably around the same age. He smiled under his mask. Things were going unnaturally well.
The trooper had drawn a map of the town when commanded, and Stromm now pulled it from under his coat and surveyed it. He decided to drop in on Princess Twilight, who, for some reason, lived here in Ponyville rather than Canterlot. It appeared as if she was also a librian. Stromm had read everything on his ship, multiple times, and was in search of new reading material. Of course, in the sate to save lives, not many books were grabbed, and not a single one was digital. He hardly ever had any free time either. But that's not the point, he needed more to read. Stromm, aside from leading his people and slaughtering the ISA, loved to read. It was one of his favorite past-times. He had read almost every book that he could get his hands on, be it nonfiction, fiction, romance, tragedy, science fiction, political writings, or anything else. He also wanted a clearer understanding of the locals and thier culture, and and self-respecting library had some books on their own people. Or ponies. Whatever.
The large Helghast man found the library, a tree of all things, and was about to knock on the door that he undoubtedly would have to stoop through, when it opened all on its own. Twilight stood there.
"Oh! Hello Mr. Stromm, I was just on my way to see you."
"Oh?" he asked, stepping back.
"Yes, I wanted to inform you that I developed a new spell-"
"Forgive the interruption, but...spell?"
Twilight got a weird look on her face.
"Yes...spell."
"As in...magic spell?"
"Why of course!"
That explains quite a bit, actually.
"Why do you ask?"
"It doesn't matter anymore. So why am I being inform of this 'spell'?"
The Alicorn smiled again and answered, "The land that Princess Celestia so graciously gave you, I think that I might be able to make it so you may breathe the air there without your masks."
"That would be convient on multiple levels, your majesty."
"Well, now that I have that out of the way, the trip to your camp is useless. What are you here for?"
"Ah, yes, that's right. I actually came here for a book."
Stromm was amused at that. The leader of a new nation coming to check out a book from the librarian/scholar/princess/scientist/writer of the area.
"Of course! Come in!"
His expectations confirmed, Stromm ducked low and into the tree.
"Any specific books that you are looking for?"
Under his mask, Stromm got the smirk of the greatest idea ever.
"Could you...hold on for just one moment?"
"Um...sure?"
Commander Stromm opened up his comm and ordered, "I want a dozen heavy troopers here, on the double. Tell them to leave their weapons, but bring their armor."
"Have you decided?"
Stromm looked up and said, with a smile, "All of them."