//------------------------------// // Neptune // Story: Détente // by MrZJunior //------------------------------// "All of you go over there, I need to talk with our new friend,” said Major Valson. Lieutenant Dawley snapped to attention. "Yes sir! All of you come on!" He led the remaining airmen off towards the other side of camp. ***** Twilight Sparkle barely contained her excitement. She practically vibrated with un asked questions. However, she knew that it was impolite to start interrogating somepony without being properly introduced first. The alien watched the others retreat to a safe distance before turning around and kneeling down in front of her. "Hello, I'm Major Anders Valson, who might you be?" ***** Rainbow Dash flew lazily back towards Ponyville. With nopony to show off to and no training scheduled she didn't bother pushing herself. However, as she flew over the hills that ring the town she spied a tall, thick column of black smoke wafting over the plains. None of the smoke seemed to originate in the town, instead coming from a field not too far outside the town limits. As she came in lower she saw brief flashes of brilliance coming from within the smoke cloud. Something shiny was hiding under there. As she came in lower she could make out more details through the smoke. She now saw that there was an enormous shining metallic object sitting in one of the fallow fields that ringed the town. She saw something move near the front of the structure and she dove through the smoke to investigate. She landed gently on the curving back of the thing and crept towards the edge, what she saw near took her breath away. Nearly two dozen gangly brown creatures were moving boxes around. They were tall, thin, and entirely foreign looking. "Oh my gosh," said Rainbow Dash under her breath. "Aliens! Just like in Daring Doo and the Saucer Mares! And this must be their space ship!" She drew back from the edge, preparing to fly away and warn the town. However, before she could do so she heard a familiar voice. Looking down she spotted Twilight talking a mile a minute at one of the creatures. It had a slack look on its face, clearly overwhelmed by the purple unicorns barrage of questions. "I’d better get her out of there before something happens,” said Rainbow Dash under her breath. She leapt to her hooves and propelled herself at full speed right between the pair shouting "don't worry Twilight, I'll save you!" She landed with full force, her hooves dragging two furrows through the earth, scattering dust and pebbles. She dropped into a crouch and said “quick Twillight, lets get out of here!” ***** The instant Major Valson introduced himself the strange creature shot its hoof forward, gently tapping his outstretched hand. "Hi, I'm Twilight Sparkle, it is very nice to meet you,” said the purple creature. Major Valson opened his mouth to reply but she just kept on talking. “So what sort of creature are you? I don’t think I have ever read about anything like you. You sort of look like a tiny minotaur except you don’t have any hooves. You don’t have hooves do you?” “Uh.” “Because they would have to be the strangest looking hooves ever to fit in those funny foot clothes things,” she said, looking at his feet. “So what is this thing? Obviously it’s some sort of giant flying machine, why else would it have fallen out of the sky? It must be some sort of advanced airship, the large cylindrical part is obviously the gas envelope. These nacelles must be the engines, I’ve never seen any so large before. What do you power them with?” The strange little creature continued to babble on, not giving Major Valson any opening to answer her questions, or ask any of his own. "Wait miss! Where are you going?" shouted Major Valson. Suddenly the creature came to a halt underneath one of the bombers large engines. Major Valson watched in horror as the creatures horn began to glow brightly, while the propeller on the engine was gripped in a similar glow and began to turn slowly. “You shouldn’t play with that, we were having some trouble with those earlier and I would rather that they not catch fire because some funny horse thing decided to play with it.” “Funny horse thing?” said the creature. “Now what in Tartarus is that supposed to mean? I haven’t been going around calling you a deformed minotaur have I? I have been careful in my choice of words and I would ask that you do the same.” At that moment Major Valson heard someone shouting, and a rainbow colored blur landed right in front of him. Another of the horse creatures had somehow landed in front of him, but unlike the friendly purple one this creature seemed much more aggressive. It’s ears were flat against it’s head and it was crouched down, almost as if it might spring at him. "Run Twilight, I’ll hold it off!” “What are you talking about?” “Aw, to Tartarus with it!” The rainbow creature launched itself at the purple one and tried to grab her about the barrel; she didn’t want to leave and put up such a struggle that they end up crashing to the ground. Spotting an opportunity Major Valson jumps in, "my crew and I appear to be a little bit lost, where exactly are we? This island, or whatever it is, doesn't appear on any of our charts?" "Well, to answer your question you are in the land of Equestria. The realm incorporates the entire known world including the island of Equestria itself and the small outlying islands, extending all the way up to the great fog barrier that marks the end of the known world, or at least it did until you fell out of the sky." Major Valson smiled weakly and straightened his tie. "What do you mean by that?" he asked. "Well, the full extent of our knowledge of the world used to end about 10.34 miles off the shore of our island." Twilight perked before asking "you must be part of a scientific expedition, are you from another island through the fog? Your society must be incredibly advance to be able to produce something so big and technically complex." "Well, I don't know anything about any fog, but we were on a routine flight when our craft experienced a severe mechanical failure that forced us to crash on this previously undiscovered island. We did see some sort of bizarre fog formation before we crashed, but that's it. So what was that about 10.34? It seems a little odd that you would know the exact distance." "What?" asked Twilight, tilting her head to the side. "Oh, um, I guess the translation spell must also convert measurements, I must admit that I did not study it very much before using it." "Ah, I was wondering ... " "Ugh, would you eggheads stop talking about that stuff and get to the important stuff?," shouted the angry Rainbow Dash. Seeing that she had both of their attentions she pointed at the airplane and said "how fast does this thing go?" ***** The P-2 Neptune flew towards the radio beacon put out by the downed bomber. In the middle distance the crew could see a large landmass where there shouldn't be one. Most bizarre of all, the coastline and more distant mountains appeared to be stuck in winter. What could be seen of the coastline was ringed in ice, and snow clung to the harsh mountains despite being well within the tropics. Lieutenant Rigby was down in the navigator's compartment pouring over charts with his navigator. They had been over the calculations time and time again, but there was no mistake, the large island that they could see out of the Plexiglas nose was not supposed to be there. CLICK went Petty Officer Third Class Steffens's ever present Rolleiflex camera. As soon as the new land had come into view he had climbed down into the nose of the plane and started taking pictures. He had already shot several rolls worth of pictures; as he rolled up and unloaded this latest batch of shots Lieutenant Rigby turned towards him. "You're going to run out of film if you keep using it like that," he said. Steffens looked sheepish as he replied, "yeah, it's just really exciting is all, being the first person to photograph such a strange and new place." Lieutenant Rigby looked over Steffens shoulder at the rapidly approaching coastline and said "I have a feeling that you will get more than your share of strangeness before this mission is over." At that moment the plane hit a rough patch of air, shaking as if in a bad patch of turbulence. The crew watched in confusion as the thermometer dropped precipitously from the relatively balmy 10 degrees Fahrenheit to a positively frigid -70. The vibrations stopped as suddenly as they had started. The plane flew on smoothly, no indication that anything untoward had happened besides the sudden change in the weather indicators. ***** Honey Mane, one of Public Sector's assistants, was going through the pile of letters in the Princesses' office. Most letters went into what she called the "when we get around to it" pile while a select few were deemed important enough to be placed in the "really should consider looking at this" pile. She rubbed her tired eyes with her fetlocks before picking another letter out of the pile. She rolled her eyes and gave a short sigh when she saw it was from Twilight Sparkle. Even if she was Princess Celestia's personal assistant she ought to know better than to send them letters at a time like this. Unfastening the seal with her teeth and uncurling the letter under her hooves she proceeded to skim it. Her eyes widened as she reread it, more carefully this second time. "Several alien creatures" she mouthed silently to herself, before snatching the parchment up in her mouth and pelted out the door. She ran down the corridor, shoving a unicorn out of her way, causing him to drop the bundle of papers he was holding in his magic aura. Honey Mane ran on, heedless of the stallions shouts of distress as he chased after the scrolls that had gone rolling down the corridor. His voice quickly faded as Honey Mane skidded around one corner after another before emerging into the cavernous central sorting office. She slowed as she approached Public Sector's desk, allowing her to catch her breath. Coming to a halt in front of the large, round desk Honey Mane reached up and placed the letter in front of Public Sector, who glanced down at it with one raised eyebrow. "What is this?" "A letter (gasp) from Twilight Sparkle." "Yes, well, she sends letters all the time, what's so special about this one?" Honey Mane gestured at the letter with her hoof. "Read it." Sighing Public Sector adjusted her glasses and began to read. Her expression changed from exasperation to confusion to horror. "Are you sure this is genuine?" "It was on the pile of letters like all the others. I suppose there's no way to be certain that it isn't a joke, but would Twilight joke about something so important?" "You're probably right, and there isn't any way for us to determine whether it was actually written by Twilight. However, news of this magnitude must be brought to the attention of the princesses at once." With that Public Sector made a gesture with her hoof, motioning over an earth pony guard. "Take Honey Mane here to see the princesses directly, do not allow her to be stopped or slowed, the note she is carrying is of the utmost importance." The guard saluted before turning and trotting off briskly, leaving Honey Mane to catch up. He lead her through one of the arches leading out of the office and down a monumental corridor lined with white marble columns and carpeted in a deep red shag. This led them very quickly into the palace section of the castle where things such as the throne room, great hall, and other more familiar rooms were located. They quickly arrived at the enormous double doors that guarded the entrance to the throne room. Currently the doors stood ajar, just wide enough to let a small stream of ponies into and out of the chamber. Honey Mane recognized many of her colleagues entering and exiting bearing documents, undoubtedly related to the recent bizarre weather phenomena. Her escort motioned for her to stay where she was standing and trotted up to the pegasus who was guarding the crack in the doors. They talked in hushed tones for a few moments before the pegasus stepped aside and motioned her into the chamber with his wing. Honey Mane had only ever been in the throne room a few times before. She came here once as a filly for a school trip, and once when she was sworn in as an Equestrian civil servant. Every time she was impressed anew with the stained glass windows depicting the heroes of Equestria. The design of the room naturally funneled her eyes down towards the end where the great golden throne sat. Honey Mane had always felt that it was a little bit overdone, like the artist who created it had tried for regal but pushed it too far and ended up with tacky. Not that she would ever say any of this aloud. Honey Mane continued to stare at the throne, averting her eyes from the pony that sat upon it. The guard who had been her escort all this way motioned her to stay where she was while he walked up to the throne. He exchanged words with a unicorn servant dressed in a well tailored morning coat who was standing at the bottom of the ramp which ascended to the throne. The servant bowed slightly to the guard before walking up to the throne. A brief whispered conversation followed between him and an unseen pony. However, even though she averted her eyes from the second converser, Honey Mane recognized the gentle tone and pleasant demeanor. "Honey Mane, please come up here," said the same voice from before. Honey Mane tensed up, and moved hesitantly towards the ramp. "There is no reason to be afraid my little pony," said the voice. Honey Mane felt a tingle of magic encompass the tip of her jaw and felt her head being gently tipped back and suddenly she was looking into the eyes of Princess Celestia. She had never been this close to the solar diarch before. Her legs began to quiver and she gulped down a knot in her throat. Princess Celestia smiled at her and said "you have a very important message for me, I would like to see it." Honey Mane's ears perked up at the mention of her duty, and she quickly crossed the little remaining distance and held her head up, waiting for the princess to take the letter out of her mouth. Honey Mane nervously looked around the dais. A small desk had been placed in front of Princess Celestia's throne, though why she had it was unclear, since she seemed to hold any document in her magic. Honey Mane shifted her hooves and cast her gaze around the room. On her right was a stained glass window representing the spheres of the universe. Each of the crystal spheres that held the heavens was picked out in leaded glass, with each of the planets represented by a brilliantly gleaming gem. The glass that the moon and sun had been made out of was treated by some sort of magical process, causing them to gleam brightly, even during the daytime. "Hm," said Princess Celestia, snapping Honey Mane's attention back on the princess. Her brow was furrowed, and her previously sunny demeanor had disappeared. Honey Mane watched in horror as the Princess reread the letter, the creases in her face becoming deeper with each line. "Honey Mane, would you please wait here, I will have need of you latter," Celestia’s voice retained its gentleness but now had an edge to it. She then turned to the unicorn, "Chives, would you please summon Shining Armor?" ***** The Neptune had been flying over the new island for a while now. After crossing the frozen mountains, they had started encountering more temperate climates, and with them signs of civilization. At first there had only been isolated towns, crammed down in the bottom of mountainous valleys, or perched on the tops of mountains surrounded by terraced fields. They reminded Lieutenant Rigby of pictures he had seen somewhere of the Incan cities of South America. As the mountains became less rugged they began seeing more familiar looking towns, looking for all the world like towns in the Swiss Alps. As they left the mountains villages became more numerous, but detail receded with the ground. They had begun flying over a region of rolling green hills; as far as the eye could see there were small villages and tilled fields. In the far distance there was a tall, isolated mountain with something on its side which caught the light every so often. ***** "Yes, sir ... no, sir ... I don't know, sir," said Lieutenant Rigby. Steffens was still crouching in the nose of the aircraft taking pictures. As he advance the film, he felt the gentle resistance which signaled that he had reached the end of this roll of film. Luckily, he had more. He had gone to the photography supply store earlier that week to pick up a bulk order of film, hoping it would last him through the next nine or so months, or, if he was lucky, the rest of the year. From the look of things, however, this one trip would eat up his entire supply. Having reloaded his camera Steffens took aim at another village they were passing over. He rapidly operated the shutter, snapping five pictures in quick succession. "That's right sir, photographs," said Lieutenant Rigby, looking pointedly at Steffens, who gave a thumbs up sign to indicate everything was going according to plan. "We will have plenty to show you when we get back, sir." "Ten miles to the target," called out the navigator. Lieutenant Rigby gave him a nod before turning back to the radio. "Sir, we are approaching the probable site of the downed aircraft ... yes, understood, Neptune 141 out." ***** "So,” said Twilight, tapping her fore hooves together. “What exactly were you doing flying over Equestria?” “Um, we weren’t, or at least we didn’t intend to,” said Major Valson, eyeing Rainbow Dash, who was leaning against one of the engine cowlings. Her seeming nonchalant attitude was betrayed only by the occasional suspicious glances she would direct towards the Major. “So are you from another island? Ponies have always wondered what lay beyond the fog, but any attempt to penetrate it has failed. That must be the purpose of your super advanced airship: to fly over the fog and bypass it. So what is your island like? It must be some sort of high tech utopia to be able to produce such a machine.” Major Valson Smirked. “I wouldn’t quite go that far, but yeah, I like it. So, how is it that we can understand each other?” “Oh, it’s just a simple magic spell that … what’s that?” One of the Twilights ears had cocked as she listened to “Um, what do you mean?” “There’s some sort of whirring noise.” At this point the chromatic one had gotten up and was searching the sky. Major Valson spotted a black speck on the horizon and pointed at it just as the rainbow colored pegasus took off. ***** The rescue airplane flew low over the landscape. Steffens felt as if he could almost reach out and touch the undulating hills. He had a bizarre sense of déjà-vu as they flew over what looked like an apple farm, complete with large red barn. "Did you see that?" asked the navigator. "Yeah, looks just like a farm back home," replied Steffens. "Strangest thing ever." "No, I meant that rainbow streak that passed by the window just a moment ago." Steffens head snapped up from his camera, "a rainbow streak? Where did you see it? I want to get a picture of that." "It was right out there," said the navigator, pointing out the window above his desk. "I don't see anything," said Steffens, looking out the window. "It was only there for a moment." "Steffens, get up here on the double! And bring your camera," shouted Lieutenant Rigby. Steffens turned around and scrambled through the hatch up to the cockpit. "Yes, sir?" "Look out there," said Lieutenant Rigby, gesturing out a window at the wing. Steffens leaned over, looked out and almost tripped over himself as he recoiled in shock. On the wing was a strange cyan lump with rainbow highlights. As he watched the lump moved, revealing itself to be a bizarrely colored creature. It seemed to be poking at the cowling on the port engine, though what it hoped to accomplish was unclear. "How did it get here?" asked Steffens. "Look, it's got wings, it must have flown here somehow." said Lieutenant Rigby. "That seems unlikely, how could it catch up to us?" "I don't know, but how else could it have gotten on to our wing?" Steffens shrugged and turned back to the window. "Son of a ... sir, look." The creature had placed its hooves on the window and pressed its snout right up against the glass. Steffens backed up and said "sir, the creature seems to be making funny faces at us." "Yep, looks to be that way." The creature seemed to take this as its cue to fall over laughing and clutching its stomach. Lieutenant Rigby pushed Steffens toward the window. "Pictures, now!" Steffens raised his camera and snapped a picture of the creature laughing, which looked up at that moment. It quickly raised itself up to its hooves and began mugging for the camera. First it turned towards the window in a three quarters view, giving those inside a big grin, then it crouched down low as if were about to leap off the wing and spread its own wings, giving an almost predatory grin. Finally, it stood up on its hind legs and flexed its fore legs, almost as if it were showing off its muscles. It was at that moment that one of its back hooves slipped and the creature went tumbling over the edge of the wing, legs flailing. "Oh my god!" shouted Steffens, jumping forward and pressing his nose against the glass. "Where did it go? Is it dead?" "I don't know," said Lieutenant Rigby. "It flew up here, so maybe it will be fine?" "Maybe." "Sir, we're approaching the site of the downed aircraft," called the navigator. "Understood," said Major Valson. Turning to Petty officer third class Steffens he said "Get to your station." "Yes sir!" said Steffens crisply before turning and descending to the aircraft's nose. He returned to his perch in the nose section, this time strapping himself into the nose observers station and put on his headset. Spread out below him was a small town, surrounded by fields. In one of the far fields a familiar shape sat, glistening in the sun. ***** Major Valson stood up and looked towards where Rainbow Dash had disappeared to. He heard a familiar sound, one that had been conspicuously absent in his time here in Equestria. He hadn't realized how much he had missed the sound of an airplane engine. He shielded his eyes against the glare of the sun and saw a Navy P-2 Neptune patrol aircraft coming in over the hills. He quickly ran back to his men at the campsite.