"Great Celestia, Pinkie!" Twilight exclaimed. "This must be the most incredible find in the past thousand years of Equestrian history."
"Whoopie-doopie!" Pinkie responded, almost sending the occupants of the sphere on a rollercoaster ride. "We discovered a whole new kind of bug."
"They're not bugs," Twilight informed her three friends, "They're humans."
"They're what?!?" Applejack double-checked as she trotted up behind Twilight.
"Humans." She repeated.
"Wait," Rainbow Dash interrupted, "You've read about these... humans?"
"Only as a myth." She answered. "The descriptions were sufficient for me to identify them but they were always thought of as a simple old pony tale; hardly anypony knows about the old tales these days, even the literacy teachers in Canterlot."
"There're seriously old tales about lit'le critters tha' ride in balls?" Applejack asked.
"Not exactly." Twilight replied. "The myth says they're actually about as tall as Princess Celestia on average and they have a natural tendency to selfishness and innovation. I'm not too clear on the details of their society in that myth but I think there was something about strong speciesism."
"Whoa, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash reacted. "Spesha-what?"
"Speciesism." She answered. "The belief that some kinds are better than others just because those kinds are different."
"Oh." Said Applejack as a thought crept up on her. "Like how it was with... Zecora." Her eyes fell onto her hoofs.
"Sort of," Said Twilight, "Only much stronger."
---
Harry and Angela were dumbfounded. They had been looking out at the shifting scene of Pinkie's body for long enough that terror was being replaced by confusion and curiosity. Not a single sound emanating from the giant equines' mouths passed into their own airspace thanks to the pod's airtight seal. However Pinkie Pie's excitable attitude meant that they would regularly experience a serious amount of turbulence that made it difficult to keep their feet. After the last surge of tumbling Harry could now see Twilight's neck out the other window, making him attempt to rationalise the whole situation.
"What the $&£*(^% ^£() are these monsters?!?" Angela blurted out.
"All I can figure at the moment," Harry deduced, "Is that we're on some alien planet populated by very tall and strong beings that come in as many colours as jelly beans. Presumably this planet has a significantly lower gravitational pull than Earth so such creatures can exist. This would also explain the lack of injury we have experienced."
"Okay, professor," Angela responed, "Now what the $&£* do we do?"
"I guess there's nothing we can do," He answered, "Except wait. Wait to be rescued. Wait and see what these... things will do."
---
"Uh, Twi?" Applejack inquired. "Whatch'ya intend t'do with these... humans?"
"I've been giving that a good deal of thought," She answered, "And, as I see it, the following will have to be done: One, these humans must be kept under observation, for their good as much as ensuring that they make no trouble. Two, I must inform Princess Celestia of this remarkable find, then she could give us a sage decision on what we should ultimately do with them. Three, I must do research in the hopes of discovering why they're so much smaller than they are said to be in the myth."
"Hey, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie interjected. "Can I keep them? Even just one of them? Please, please, please!"
"Hold on there, nelly." Said Applejack as she held Pinkie Pie back, causing her to drop the sphere. The tumbling inside was very rough for the occupants but Twilight's hoof intervened and made it little worse than a combination of a rollercoaster ride and travelling on a bus with standing room only. "Twiligh' said they gotta be kept observed. Now, no offense t'ya, but I doubt you could always keep yer eye on them."
"Oh Applejack," She replied, "I'm not stupid enough to shove them into my eyes. Anyway Twilight would still have to stop observing them if she's gonna do research and inform the princess."
"Wow!" Rainbow Dash declared. "That's awfully perceptive for yer, Pinkie."
"I'm sorry girls," Twilight spoke up, "But I can't determine whether letting Pinkie look after even just one of them would be a good move. 100 percent observation is not strictly necessary as any of us could probably place them in a secure environment while other things take precedence."
"Well," Rainbow Dash mentioned, "I'd be happy to take'em for safe-keeping but I don't know if they can stand on clouds."
"And I don' think I could look after'em," Applejack put in her two bits' worth, "We've got quite enough on our plates as 'tis."
"Do you think we could at least pay 'em a visit now and then?" Pinkie asked.
"Seems to be the most prudent option yet." Twilight commented. "Okay girls, leave it with me." With that she levitated (or telekinetically lifted) the pod and began walking back home when she paused. "Oh, one more thing. I'd appreciate it if we kept this quiet for a while. I'm sure some other ponies will learn of this but I'd rather let Princess Celestia be the first to know." They nodded in reasonable understanding as Twilight departed.
"Well," Applejack remarked, "If that's all I'll jus' get back to ma work."
---
From the window facing Twilight Harry and Angela couldn't see her horn but her forehead, upper eyelids and some hints of her eyeballs and the hairs hanging from her mane were in clear sight; the scale was breathtaking but Harry was too preoccupied with attempting to logically deduce why they were being held level with this being's forehead.
"Why doesn't it carry us at chest height?" He muttered. "What kind of anatomical form would make it easier to carry something just above where its nose is likely to be?"
"Whatever." Angela moaned. "Right now I don't think I $&£*(&^ care what it's gonna €&£(*% do."
---
"Just a few minor injuries, captain." Dr Rabett reported as he re-entered the cabin. "I've administered first aid; they should be right as rain in a few days."
"Thank you, doctor." Capt Hewlett answered. "Systems status, Mr Knowles?"
"Emergency battery power sufficient for habitation for another four days, ten if we can breathe the atmosphere and a month if water recycling can be taken offline. Fusion reactor has undergone emergency shutdown, restart circuitry seems to be fried, so the ion drive cannot be operated. Warp drive totalled, no antimatter available."
"And the Horus wasn't built for planetary take-off." Capt Hewlett remarked. "I guess we must inform the passengers; it looks like we've got to modify our schedule." He chose his words in such a careful way, using a couple of euphemisms but stressing them in such a way so the other three knew what he meant.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Hewlett declared as he stood at the front of the cabin, "I regret to inform that we have apparently crash-landed on a newly discovered planet. The good news is this planet seems to strongly resemble Earth in terms of its... conditions. The bad news is that this ship cannot take-off again. I ask you all to remain calm and I'm sure, if we all put our heads together, we can find a way to a) cope with the situation and b) to get back home." Nervous muttering arose from the remaining seven passengers. "Doctor, see if you can scan the planet's atmosphere for unknown microbes. Specifically determining if any of them are pathogenic."
"It will take some reprogramming of the spectroscope but I'll see what we can come up with." Dr Rabett responded.
---
By the time Twilight reached the library Harry had been able to observe some circumstantial aspects of the world's civilisation. Out of the window opposite Twilight he could clearly see buildings that suggested a late-medieval/Tudor society, which both fascinated and unsettled him; however every time Twilight passed in sight of another pony he would be looking through the window in front of her forehead. Angela, on the other hand, sat sulkingly in the middle of the pod sparing the odd nervous glance out of the window at Twilight. Now, as Twilight ferried them over the threshold of her home, they both got a better look at her. They watched as her great purple eyes past the window before seeing her muzzle loom before them, bewildering Harry as to what kind of creature would have such a face structure. Considering the difference in proportion between her eyes and muzzle he believed that her kind evolved in an environment with very little dust and was primarily nocturnal. When they were floating around the level of her collar they had seen her neck and shoulder but were still none the wiser as to her true genus.
Harry could clearly recognise the interior as a library but the overall wooden decor seemed rather fanciful, almost impractical by his sensibilities.
As Twilight went up the stairs she called out. "Spike! Are you around?" There came a quick pitter-patter from below and behind her, causing her to pause just as the pod was levitated just above the ceiling of the main room. The door to the basement opened and Spike stuck his head out.
"Hey, Twilight!" He answered. "I was just filing some scrolls."
"Good lad." She replied. "I'm gonna have a special project going on in the spare room, so I'd appreciate it if you treated it as off-limits." Spike flinched slightly but quickly settled.
"Sure thing, as long as you don't leave your books in there when you're through with them. It would be awkward to go looking for something you wanted if it was somewhere I wasn't allowed."
"No worries, Spike." Twilight giggled. "We can set up an In and Out arrangement by the door." With that she carried on up the stairs.
Harry thought of the next floor as being nothing more than an extension of the library as the bedroom remained out of sight from the pod's window. As Twilight ferried them towards a discreet-looking door both he and Angela became rather nervous, like a paratrooper going on his first mission after all his training (i.e. knowing what was likely to happen all along but only really feeling the dread at the last minute). Neither of them knew what Twilight's intentions were as she opened the door. The space beyond was dim, little light seemed to be entering that room. For her finds the low light was an ominous portent.