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// Chapter 3: First Contact and A Firearms Demostration 
// Story: The First Five 
// by Epimetheus 
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In her library, Twilight Sparkle was entertaining a guest. Applejack had come over to retrieve a book on carpentry for her brother, but had decided to stay for a few minutes. The two were sitting in the kitchen, discussing the events of the day, which hadn’t been much.
“So you found Rainbow in a tree, napping and were able to get her to join Fluttershy in evicting an eagle from your grandfather’s old maple tree orchard?” Twilight was a little surprised that Rainbow was able to be convinced to go on such an, as she would put it, less than awesome errand.
“Yup, but just between you and me sugarcube, Ah told her that it was either that or helping Applebloom get her cutie mark.” Applejack snickered as she said it, Twilight smiled, as Rainbow Dash’s willingness to help Fluttershy finally made sense. The Cutie Mark Crusaders, while having good intentions, were a little hard to handle for most ponies. 
“Do ya hear that?” Applejack had perked up her ears, listening carefully. Twilight followed suit and could hear a faint, continuous noise. 
“Yes, but I can’t tell where it’s coming from.” Looking around for its source, Twilight and Applejack got up from the table and walked into the main room of the library, where the voice was a little louder. The two stood in the center of the room as the noise grew steadily louder. 
“I think it’s coming from outside.” Applejack walked over to the door and opened it, and poked her head around it to see outside. Before she could react, a multicolored blur shot through the door, snagging her stenson and knocked her off her hooves. She heard a large crash and the screaming became discernable.
“TWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGHHHHHTTTTTT!” Rainbow was screaming, the crash not having stopped her voice. Looking over at the source, Applejack saw that Rainbow Dash had collided with Twilight, who had remained in the center of the room while Applejack opened the door. The two were buried under a pile of books, parts of each sticking out. The first thing that she noticed was that Rainbow had knocked Twilight flat on her back, and that she was standing over her. The second was that Rainbow’s tail was sticking out of her stenson. Closing the door, she could hear Rainbow speaking faster than she had been flying. 
“FluttershyandIwereoutintheorchardandwesawacreature.Itwasincrediblytall,hadfuronitsheadsonlyandstrangecolorsonitsbody.Ithinkitspottedus,butIhidFluttershyandcamehereasfastasIcould,butweneedtohurry.Ineedyoutotellmewhatthethingis.FluttershyhasneverseenanythinglikeitandneitherhaveI.” Her voice was obviously panicked, and barely comprehensible. Twilight’s voice emerged from the books, cutting of Rainbow’s words.
“Rainbow, I can’t understand you. I need you to calm down, help me get out of these books and tell me what happened.” Once Rainbow stopped, she took in an incredibly deep breath, and backed out of the books and extended a hoof to help Twilight up. Applejack approached the two and retrieved her stenson from Rainbow’s back, who barely noticed. Finally back on all four legs, Twilight asked “Ok, tell us what happened, but slower this time.”
“Fluttershy and I were out in the orchard and we saw a creature. It was incredibly tall, had fur on its head only and strange colors on its body. I think it spotted us, but I hid Fluttershy and came here as fast as I could, but we need to hurry. I need you to tell me what the thing is. Fluttershy has never seen anything like it and neither have I.” Her voice was just as panicked, but she was still as incomprehensible as before. A creature with fur on its head only and had strange colors on its body, Twilight thought, she’d never heard of such a creature. Before she could ask a question though, Applejack stepped forward.
“Am Ah hearing you right sugarcube? You sayin there’s a creature in ma orchard?” Her voice was full of doubt.
“No, it’s on the hill by the stream. There are four strange tents there too. There was one that was as tall as Big Mac and that reached the middle of its upper body. We should get back there as fast as possible.” She was already heading towards the door before Twilight could stop her. 
“If what you’re saying is true, we need to let somepony know. I’m going to send a quick letter to Princess Celestia telling her and then we’ll go.” Her voice was calm and collected, her face showing signs of worry. Begrudgingly, Rainbow stayed, but she was antsy the entire time Twilight wrote, pacing around the library. Applejack had tried calm here, but she was ignored.
“Spike, I need you to send a letter.” Twilight called. Her assistant had slept through everything, and he emerged from the bedroom with sleep still in his eyes. He paid no attention to the mess of books and walked up to Twilight, took the letter and sent it on its way with his magical fire. He was halfway back up the stairs as Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash.
We can go now, I just thou...” Before she could finish, there was a blinding flash of white light, and in the middle of the library stood an alicorn with a mane that flowed in a non-existent breeze. Her face was full of concern. The three ponies looked at her, mouths hanging in shock. Before any of them could say a word, Celestia spoke in a voice that emulated the concern she was expressing. 
“Your letter has raised some concerns and I thought it best if I accompanied you.” Before any of them could respond, there was another blinding white flash and they were no longer in the library. Blinking, the three ponies realized they were surrounded by apple trees, and large hills. Standing there, they could see out over what had been the orchard. Currently though, the trees were no longer in rows, enough growing sporadically to hide the ones that were. Celestia was standing between them and the orchard, looking out over it. 
“Which way Rainbow Dash?” She didn’t look at her as she spoke.
“Um…” she stared out over the orchard before pointing off into the distance. “That way. That’s where the thing is.”
“Very well then. Let’s get going.” With that, Celestia began to walk in the direction Rainbow had indicated. The others followed, unsure of what to say. Rainbow was becoming jittery again, have recovered from the sudden teleportation. Twilight was watching her mentor and teacher with slight concern, who was able to hide whatever she was feeling from her student, and Applejack did her best to look slightly less nervous by watching the trees. Walking briskly in silence for a minute, Celestia was the first to speak, her voice devoid of emotion.
“There’s nothing else here but the trees. Do you pull up the weeds and bushes Applejack?” Slightly surprised by the question, Applejack hesitated before answering. 
“No ma’am. Ma grandpa had a unicorn cast a spell that stopped the other plants from growing. He was a little obsessive over his trees.” Seeming satisfied with the answer, Celestia nodded and continued to look ahead. Rainbow pointed them in a new direction and they saw the edge of the forest approach.
“Where’s Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, looking up in the nearby trees. “Are you sure this is the spot?” Applejack joined her looking from the ground as Rainbow Dash flew up to check at tree level. 
“I swear this is the place. Where could she have gone? You don’t think the creature could have gotten her do you?!” She looked around in panic. 
“Wait, did yall hear that?” Applejack held a hoof up to her ear, looking towards a dense cluster of trees. 
Straining there ears, the four heard a muffled hiccup. Rainbow flew straight into the cluster, whispering loudly.
“Fluttershy? Is that you?” 
A small squeak was heard and she emerged triumphal with Fluttershy in her fore hooves. The yellow pegasus was covered in green leaves and sticks, looking slightly less worse for wear. Her captor proceeded to hug her tightly as she spoke.
“I thought it had taken you!” 
“No,” the yellow pegasus replied quietly “I retreated to the trees here and pretended to be one.” 
“Wait, you mean you didn’t put these leaves all over yourself?” Twilight asked confused as she removed the leaves and sticks with her magic.
“No, I just found them on me when Rainbow pulled me out of here.” Her voice showed no concern over what she’d just said. The three ponies looked at their friend in mild confusion before Rainbow set her down and landed beside her. 
“We should get back to the Princess…” Twilight said slowly, turning around to look for her.
“I’m over here.” Her voice said nonchalantly “Just follow my voice.”
Again confused, the four did so and were surprised when they found themselves in a slightly pink dome on the edge of the forest, with the princess sitting in the middle, watching the tents on the hill.
Looking up at the dome, Twilight asked “Where’d this come from? It wasn’t here a minute ago.” 
Without looking at her student, Celestia answered.
“It’s a desensory dome, no one on the outside will be able to hear, smell or see us unless we want them to. We’ll be able to watch the creature without it noticing, but with the number of tents there, I’d say there are more.” The four ponies looked up in shock.
“Wait, there are MORE of those things?” Rainbow said loudly.
“I suspect so. You wouldn’t go camping in four tents by yourself would you?” Her voice had become slightly motherly as she looked down at the technicolor pegasus. Nodding in agreement, Rainbow turned her attention towards the tents, watching them with suspicious eyes.

Up in the camp, Thomas looked over his shoulder, looking through the tent behind him as he did. 
“You ok?” Taylor asked, sitting across him, doing her best to relax while she read a book Thomas had lent her. Thomas had been unnaturally quiet since she’d woken up and Marcus had gone in to take another nap before dinner. He’d kept turning to watch the forest. Looking back at his friend Thomas responded.
“Yeah… It’s nothing.” With that, he looked down at the map in his lap, he’d been retracing their hike in the hopes of finding something, anything that would help explain. 
“Ok.” Taylor responded with a shrug before returning to the book. Thomas starred through the map as he had the tent. He’d had the uncanny feeling they were being watched, and it wasn’t going away. 

The sun was beginning to set before they were all up and Thomas started a fire. Dinner consisted of a few cans of soup they’d brought with them and some protein bars. The food was eaten in silence, everyone thinking about the odd day and hoping they’d wake up tomorrow in their previous camp. After dinner was gone and more wood added to the fire, Megan pulled out her fiddle. It had a relaxing effect not only on her, but the others as well, something that felt like home in this strange place. She played a slow, sweet tune, something that raised the spirits of everyone around the fire. 

“I know that sound.” The orange earth pony straightened and forgot the slight pangs of hunger in her stomach. It was the sound of a fiddle being played. And it was coming from the camp. The others in the dome listened to the tune, and relaxed slightly. It was sweet and slow, nothing terrifying like they’d imagined would emerge from the camp. Celestia herself swayed a little with the tune.

Once she finished, Megan moved to put the fiddle back in its case, but before she could, Thomas spoke up. 
“Do you know ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia’?” He showed no emotion in his voice or face as he asked her.
“Yes, I do.” Megan nodded.
“Would you mind playing it? I’ll provide the lyrics.” Megan wasn’t the only one surprised, the other girls around the fire looked up with slight surprise. Marcus on the other hand, smiled knowingly. Thomas had an amazing singing voice, he remembered. And if he felt like singing, that meant that he was beginning to relax.
“Sure, just try to keep up.” Megan taunted.
“Play your fiddle fiddler.” Thomas responded in an equally mocking voice, a slight smile coming to his face. And so she did.

The ponies and alicorn in the dome had relaxed during the lull, but when they heard the second tune, they returned their full attention towards it. But it was different, it was faster and happier, like someone was playing for a crowd to dance to. But it was accompanied by something else, slower but just as energetic. It was singing, and they could understand it. They sat there, all of them, even Celestia herself, dumbstruck by this development. Not only were these creatures with fur limited to their heads and strange colors on their bodies intelligent, they spoke Equestrian. Recovering, Twilight listened to the words and found them just as interesting. Somepony named Johnny was dueling somepony called the Devil with fiddles. Odd names she thought. But then she heard something that sent a chill up her spine. The Devil wanted Johnny’s soul, and was betting a golden fiddle for it. Looking over at her mentor, she saw the same look of worry. If these creatures could make songs about how someone was foolish enough to bet their soul for gold, that meant that not only did these creatures have something similar to Discord, who else would want somepony’s soul, they were also arrogant enough to not only bet with it, but to write a song about it. 
Applejack on the other hand, was smiling slightly. The tune was catchy and she soon found herself humming along with it. If the creatures could play the fiddle she thought, they can’t be all bad. Looking over at Rainbow, she saw that her friend had fallen asleep between the lull, and was resting her head on Fluttershy’s back, who was curled up in a tight ball, also asleep. Smiling at her friends, Applejack laid on her side and shut her eyes, listening to the music as she fell asleep.

“I didn’t know you could sing so well Thomas!” The group was clapping as the two finished their song, nodding their heads in a sitting bow. Taylor was clapping the fastest and grinning from ear to ear as she spoke. 
“I rarely do, but I must admit I rather enjoy it.” Thomas acknowledged with a smile. “But I think the praise goes to Megan here for playing so well.” She blushed at the praise, putting her fiddle away. The group nodded in agreement, Marcus whistling shrilly. After the clapping died down, the five realized how relaxing that performance had been. The stress of the day, coupled with their full bellies, caused all but Megan to begin to nod off. 
“Why don’t you four get some sleep, I’ll keep an eye out tonight.” She wasn’t tired at the moment helped her friends into their tents. 
“Wake me up at 2:00 ok? You shouldn’t stay up all night.” Thomas yawned.
“Me too, I’ll help keep him awake.” Marcus said, his eyes fighting to stay open as he did.
“I will. Night.” Megan didn’t wait for the two to respond before she zipped the flap up and walked back towards her seat by the fire, and began to read the book Taylor had left.

Twilight woke to Rainbow nudging her stomach with her hoof. “What?” she asked with sleep in her eyes. The sun had barely risen, and looking over at Celestia, she realized that the alicorn could do the task, quite literally, in her sleep, signified by her glowing horn.
“I want to get a look at the camp.” Her voice was serious and she started to walk towards the edge of the forest and the dome.
“Are you insane!?” Twilight said in a whisper, not wanting to wake any of those sleeping. Rainbow didn’t answer, but instead continued to walk. Seeing the look in her eye, one of the utmost determination that only appeared when her friend was about to perform a trick that had caused her to crash before, Twilight realized that there was no arguing with Rainbow. She grudgingly caught up to her friend, already outside the dome and in the grass that was as tall as her back, leaving her neck and head exposed. The two walked in silence, traversing the grass slowly. From their angle, they couldn’t see the head watch them over the tent.

“Thomas, are those what you saw yesterday?” Marcus asked his friend in a whisper. The two were crouching in front a storage tent, their heads barely over the peak. They were watching what appeared to be a purple unicorn and the Technicolor peacock in the form of a horse. Both were in utter shock. The last thing they expected to see were vibrantly colored horses, let alone a unicorn. The two watched them for a minute, the horses making slow progress towards the hill due to the grass being almost as tall as them. Grabbing a rifle and a pistol from the tent, Marcus holstered the pistol and gave the rifle to Thomas. 
“If I need your help, I’ll shout your name, ok? Don’t fire unless I do.” His voice was firm.
“And what the hell do you think you’re gonna do?” Thomas’s voice was slightly angry. 
“I’m going to meet them.” With that, Marcus walked around the tent, exposing himself and walked towards the two. Grumbling, Thomas stayed low and lay prone with his body blocked by the tent, only his head and rifle exposed. He watched through the scope. 

“I think we’ve been spotted.” Twilight whispered to Rainbow, who was also staring at the creature walking down the hill towards him. As he approached, Twilight was able to see just why her friend had been terrified. The creature was hooves taller than them, the center of its torso level with the base of their ears. It walked on two legs, she saw them before they disappeared in the grass, which only reached its stomach. It was massive, the body like a barrel and with huge arms. It wore clothing as well, the pants were brown and the shirt camo, like what one wore when they wanted to be hidden in the woods. The fur on its head was a short brown and aside from that, it looked hairless. She looked at her companion out of the corner of her eye, and saw that she showed no sense of fear or awe, only determination. They met halfway between the camp and the forest, the two ponies looking up into the cold blue eyes of the creature. It looked back at them, its hands by its sides. 
They starred at each other for what seemed like an eternity before the creature spoke. 
“My name is Marcus, who are you two?” The voice was calm and collected, no emotion seeping through.

Back at the dome, Celestia stirred to see that two ponies were missing. She looked around the dome before something caught her eye in the field. A look of slight horror crossed her face, but she quickly recovered and woke up Applejack and Fluttershy.
“I need you to remain calm. Look out towards the field.”
As soon as they did, the two ponies became stiff with terror.

“I’m Rainbow Dash and this is Twilight Sparkle.” The cyan pegasus told the creature. It wasn’t the one se saw earlier. It was colored differently and eyes didn’t reflect the light. If it was surprised the two could speak, the creature didn’t show it. Instead it responded in the same calm voice. 
“Nice to meet you. I don’t mean to be rude, but what are you?” Slightly surprised at the question, Twilight answered.
“We’re ponies, the question is; what in Equestria are you?” She did her best to control her fear, but a little was able get through. The creature looked at her in confusion.
“You’re a unicorn, not a pony, and she’s got wings.” It pointed at Dash. “And I’m a human being.”
“I’m sorry, I’ve never heard of that word before. You’re hyuman?” Twilight asked in confusion. That word didn’t exist in Equestria she told herself.
“Yes, and what do you mean? How are you able to talk, let alone speak English?”
“All ponies can and I think the proper question is able to speak Equestrian?” Before the creature could respond, Rainbow Dash pointed at the creatures hip with her hoof.
“What’s that on your waist?” The thing was attached to its hip and was triangular brown cloth. 
“It’s a pistol. You don’t have these here?” The creature retrieved the ‘pistol’, a metal L, and held it in its hand. Shaking her head, Twilight responded with a flat “No.”
“What’s it do?” inquired Rainbow.
“It shoots a bullet.” The creature looked a little uncomfortable with the line of questioning. 
“What? Show us.” Her voice was commanding, unnerving Twilight.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea right now. I don’t usually engage in gunplay when I first meet someone.” 
“Show us.”
“Okay, but you should take a step back.” The creature warned. Twilight took a few steps, while Rainbow took only one, never taking her eyes off the pistol. The creature raised its hands, pointed the pistol towards the forest, away from the dome and jerked slightly. 
BOOM!
The noise caused Twilight to instinctively grab the pistol with her magic as Rainbow tackled the creature and tried to pin it. The height of the creature made it easy to knock over and she’d been too fast for it to respond in time. The thing fell over with a thud before struggling with the pegasus.
Up on the hill, the gunshot had woken up the girls, who were struggling out of the tent, while Celestia, Applejack and Fluttershy rushed from the dome. Thomas remained calm and instinctively told the girls to calm down, everything was ok. They slowed down slightly, not struggling to open the flap as much. Thomas focused on the scene below; three new horses, an orange one who looked normal, minus the Stetson it had on its head, the pink and yellow ‘bird’, which turned out to be a pegasus and what looked like, of all things, an alicorn, with a multicolored mane. He turned back to Marcus, who was struggling with the multicolored pegasus, while the purple unicorn held the gun in magic emerging from her horn. Marcus hadn’t called for him, but he was getting uneasy. Before he could react, Marcus flipped the pegasus, and looked up at him and shook his head. Thomas relaxed, but watched carefully.
Rainbow Dash, for the first time in her life, was terrified. The creature, using its superior strength, had flipped and pinned her. It wasn’t even looking at her, shaking its head at the hill. Its legs held her wings to the ground, the pressure causing searing pain, and its… not hooves, where grasping her fore hooves and keeping them from moving. Her hind legs couldn’t do anything and Twilight wasn’t helping. Rainbow began to hyperventilate in fear, looking up at her captor with wide eyes. He looked back down at her and to her terror, smiled. It began to speak.
“I am not going to hurt you. I need you to relax, or you’ll pass out. Ok?” She began to hiccup as she tried to slow her breathing. 
“Good, now; I’m going to let go of your hooves, and slowly get up. I need you to slowly get up and remain calm.” With that, it let go, splayed its not hooves and took the pressure off her wings. She reflexively puller her wings back to her body and starred at the creature. It moved away from her and she rolled onto her hooves and slowly stood up. Before she could react, she saw Applejack leap up towards the creature, who was this time prepared for her, moving its upper ‘legs’ towards its torso, in a defensive measure, not trying to grab or dodge her. But suddenly, the orange earth pony was enveloped in magic, halting her leap. She looked behind her and saw that Celestia had grabbed Applejack a split second before she could tackle the creature. Celestia looked towards Twilight, still holding Applejack, and said “Put that thing down now.” Her voice was commanding, but concerned. Twilight complied, setting the pistol gently on the ground. She turned her attention to the creature, who was obviously impressed at the magic holding the horse in the air. 
“I would like to apologize for these two,” she motioned towards Rainbow and Applejack “they can be a little jumpy.” The creature nodded and chuckled at the unintended pun. Before it could answer, voices could be heard from the camp, and three figures were seen running down the hill towards the group. One, with a brilliant red mane, was wearing a shirt that went down almost to its knees, another had an equally long brown mane and wore loose pants with a shirt, and the third wore similar clothes, but its mane was auburn. All three had panicked looks on their faces. 
“Girls, it’s ok!” The creature called “There’s no need to panic. Nobody is hurt.”
“THEN WHY THE HELL DOES THOMAS HAVE A HUNTING RIFLE POINTED IN THIS DIRECTION!?” The red haired creature screamed back in anger.
“THOMAS,” the original creature called “Get down here and leave the rifle.” A fifth creature stood up from the camp, with a long, slender object, and laid it next to the tent before walking down cautiously. The eyes reflected the suns early morning light. Once everyone was there and Applejack was released, the creatures sat down, the one in the shirt kneeling, and faced the ponies, who knelt down as well, the grass having been trampled down in the struggle. 
“Now,” said the first creature “lets try this again.”