//------------------------------//
// Negotiations 
// Story: Strange Bedfellows 
// by BRBrony9 
//------------------------------//

The Hydraxian Stormtroopers lowered their weapons cautiously. Strange things unnerved them as much as any regular Guardsman, despite their more rigorous training, and as strange things went, this was right up there. A bunch of talking horses with armour, guns and swords had met them at their landing zone, and now their Captain was parlaying with them. The Ministorum Preachers that accompanied the landing party were deep in conversation with each other. Surely there was some heresy to be found here somewhere?

Captain Soren was no less bemused. Had they looked like anything else, he would have had few qualms about having them declared Xenos Horrificus and wiped from the face of the planet. But…they were horses. Horses, and similar ungulates, were not alien- they were native to thousand of Imperial worlds, including Holy Terra. The fact that these horses could talk…well, that was a quirk of nature that it would take sharper minds than his to puzzle out, and the fact that they could speak Gothic just confused him further. And some of them had wings, for the Emperor’s sake!
Standing in front of him now was one of those horses. It referred to itself as ‘Lieutenant Muzzle Flash,’ an odd name if ever he heard one. A strange coincidence, too, that the horses shared at least one rank with the structure of both the Imperial Guard and the Imperial Navy. He had absurd visions of humans leaving this world in millennia long since passed, but leaving their pack animals behind.

This horse came up to his chest, although the horn jutting out from its forehead reached his neck. It wore burnished golden armour that would not have looked entirely out of place on some distinguished hero of the Imperium, were it not shaped to fit a horse rather than a human. The top of its helmet was decorated with a feathery blue quiff. 
‘Are you the leader of this place?’ Soren asked the horse. 
‘No,’ came the reply. ‘I am a platoon leader in the Equestrian Royal Guard. We protect this land from all threats, foreign and domestic,’ it said, emphasising the word ‘foreign.’ More coincidences, Soren thought. It seemed that the military structure of these horses shared more than just a passing similarity with that of humans- Lieutenants commanded platoons in the Imperial Guard, too.
‘So you are the military?’ he asked.
‘We are one branch of the military, yes, and we also act in a policing role,’ the horse spoke Low Gothic comfortably, as if it had been speaking it from childhood. 

‘May we meet with and speak to your leaders? Diplomatic discussions are best conducted with the politicians,’ Soren said. The horse looked concerned for a moment.
‘I…that kind of decision is not up to me. Why do you wish to meet with the Princess?’
‘We wish to extend the possibility of diplomatic relations between the Imperium of Man and the…what is the name of your nation?’
Equestria,’ the horse said, an unmistakable note of pride in its voice. 
‘Between the Imperium and Equestria,’ Soren said. ‘Is yours the only nation on this planet?’
The horse shook its head. 
‘No, but we are the most powerful.’ 

Power is relative, Soren thought to himself, picturing the warfleet in orbit that these creatures obviously knew nothing of. 
‘Then we made planetfall fortuitously,’ he said. The horse’s expression looked blank. 
‘Planetfall?’ Soren nodded.
‘Where did you come from, and what are you? We know nothing of your kind,’ it asked.
‘We are humans, and we came from beyond the stars,’ Soren explained with an unnecessary gesture toward the heavens. The horse looked suitably shocked, he thought. 
‘But…how is that possible?’ it asked. 
‘To explain it all would take far too long,’ Soren said. ‘Suffice it to say that we have the technology. There are untold billions of us across the galaxy, including above your planet.’ The horse looked hardly convinced, but it changed the subject anyway.
‘I will speak to my superior officer and see what we can do about arranging an audience with the Princess,’ it said.
‘This Princess of yours,’ Soren asked. ‘Is she also a horse?’
‘Oh, we’re not horses,’ it replied. ‘We’re ponies.’ Soren knew little about animals, but he did know that a pony was just a small horse. He wanted to correct the creature, but something told him that arguing linguistic and biological semantics with a talking pony on an alien world thousands of lightyears from home might have just been the final tipping point towards insanity.   



‘I can’t see! Get your head out of the way, Pinkie!’ Spike sighed in exasperation. The view from the bushes was limited, but the six Elements and Spike were able to see the strange scene unfolding before them. The Royal Guard squad had lain down their weapons but, instead of being taken prisoner as Twilight had expected, their leader was in conversation with, she assumed, the leader of these creatures. 
‘What are those guys?’ Rainbow Dash asked from her perch on a branch above them. ‘They stand like Diamond Dogs, but they don’t have any fur or anything!’  
‘They look like those things that Lyra is always talking about! You know, uhh…hoo-mens!’ Pinkie said excitedly. Rainbow scoffed.
‘Pinkie, you know she’s just making all that stuff up, right? There’s no such thing as humans.’ Normally Twilight would have agreed with her polychromatic friend, but Pinkie had a point…they did look remarkably like ‘humans.’ Her mind had been working furiously ever since she first saw the flyers overhead. Surely it could not be a coincidence that she had seen something in the sky the night before, and now these things had appeared, things that nopony had ever seen before? Muzzle Flash had seemed adamant that the aircraft had not belonged to any faction known to ponykind, and now, seeing these unusual creatures, Twilight was more than happy to agree with him. They were not of this world. Which meant they were aliens, which meant they had come from another planet, which meant they had come here for some specific purpose…
Twilight couldn’t help her tail twitching nervously.

‘So…they are…aliens?’ Captain Steel Rain asked incredulously. Muzzle Flash nodded. He had retreated to the edge of the meadow to confer with his company commander. The humans remained clustered around their flyers.
‘That’s what they said, sir. That they are from beyond the stars.’ The senior of the two officers looked lost for words.
‘But…how did they get here?’ he asked finally. ‘More importantly, why did they come?’ Muzzle Flash remembered Soren’s words clearly.
‘He said, if we so will it, they come in peace.’ Steel Rain’s gun-metal grey coat seemed to bristle at the subtly implied threat. 
‘They want to extend diplomatic relations between us and something called the Imperium,’ Muzzle Flash continued, ‘which I assume is the name of their nation. They want to speak to the Princess.’ 
‘If they come in peace, why do they all have guns?’ the Captain questioned. ‘I don’t like this. If they came from space who says there aren’t more of them up there right now? What if they decide to invade?’ 
‘From what he said it sounded like he was leaving that decision up to us, sir,’ Muzzle Flash spoke again. 
‘So if we refuse to open diplomatic relations, or whatever other demands these creatures might have, they’re going to invade us?’ Steel Rain said, unconsciously touching the pommel of his sword with a hoof. 
‘I don’t know, sir, but that’s what he seemed to be implying, deliberately or not,’ Muzzle Flash said.  ‘If they are willing to invade us anyway then I can’t see the harm in letting the Princess open diplomatic relations with them.’ Steel Rain was about to speak again, but he was interrupted by a shout from the humans.
‘Pony! We have a problem here.’



Muzzle Flash and Steel Rain trotted out into the meadow, where the human soldiers were still forming a perimeter around their flyers. Captain Soren was standing at the base of one of their ramps. Next to him was another human with a bulky backpack. A wire ran from it with something bulky at the end that Soren held in his hoof…hand, Muzzle Flash corrected himself. He seemed to be speaking into it.
‘Repeat your last transmission,’ he said. There was a crackle from the thing in his hand, and then a voice.
‘Captain, we have three unidentified aircraft on Auspex,’ it said, ‘coming in from the north. We are still experiencing heavy interference and we didn’t pick them up until they were only five miles out. Requesting intercept orders.’ Soren looked at the two ponies.
‘Our pilots are tracking three aircraft that are heading straight for us,’ he said. ‘Would this be your doing?’ The two ponies exchanged glances. 
‘When you landed here we sent for reinforcements,’ Steel Rain spoke.  ‘That will be them, and they will consider you hostile.’ The human grunted.
‘If you wish to pursue the diplomatic option, I would advise you to call them off now,’ he said. ‘We will not fire unprovoked, but our aircraft will defend themselves if attacked.’
‘We have no way of contacting them directly,’ Muzzle Flash said, casting a glance at the thing in Soren’s hand. ‘We would have to send a messenger.’ The human stared directly at him.
‘So do it,’ he said. ‘Or we will send them an entirely different kind of message.’



Shining Armour peered over the railing, his cerulean mane blowing in the stiff breeze that washed over the deck. Below them, Equestria sped by.
He was aboard the EAS Celestia, the lead airship of the Royalty-Class. It was flanked on either side by two of the newer City-Class craft, the EAS Stalliongrad and the EAS Baltimare. As Commander of the Royal Guard, Shining remembered all too well sitting in on the military budget meetings a few years back when the General of the Air Corps, Super Cruise,  had ranted on and on about the Navy building their own ships named Celestia and Luna.
The Airship Command was first with those names, he had said, and should be the first and only!
Shining would have preferred to be on the EAS Cadence, named for his wife. But that was not really important, and thinking about being on Cadence was making him think about something entirely unrelated, though not exactly unpleasant.      

The Celestia was the flagship of the Airship Command, and its home port was Canterlot itself. As befitted such a name, the Celestia was the largest, most heavily armed and well defended airship in the fleet. All Royalty-Class airships had armoured gasbags not far shy of a thousand feet long, a gondola length of around half that, a crew of six hundred, three gun decks with twenty-four guns apiece, twenty anti-air guns and space in the hold for a battalion of infantry. The EAS Celestia differed from the others of its class by being equipped with a huge bombardment cannon that ran the full length of its lower gun deck and sprouted from the armoured prow like the horn of its namesake. It had only flown into battle once, against the Griffon Kingdom, but, as the hapless Griffons discovered, once was enough to prove its combat potential.  

Shining was still nervous, however.
When a Pegasus had arrived from Ponyville, warning of strange, unidentified flyers circling over and landing near the town, Shining had immediately decided he would lead the reinforcing Guard battalion himself, out of concern for his troops, but also out of concern for his sister. The Celestia and its escorts, preparing for a training sortie, had been loaded up with the Royal Guard’s quick reaction force and scrambled to meet the threat.
Now they were but a mere ten miles from the town. He could see it appearing ahead, but from this distance Ponyville looked as peaceful as ever. The Celestia’s Captain, Aces High, stood next to him on the command deck of his airship. Crewponies scanned the skies for the strange flyers, but the low cloud interfered with their observations. 

‘Everything looks just dandy down there, Commander,’ Aces High said, following Shining’s gaze. ‘Whatever this is, I know we can handle it.’ Shining appreciated the concern. He knew Aces High was aware that his sister lived in Ponyville.
‘Will your stallions be dropping in, or should I set her down?’ the Pegasus was referring to the  insertion methods for troops being carried by airship- it could land, or it could hover at low altitude and they could rappel down over the sides. 
‘I think you’d better keep her in the air, Captain,’ Shining responded, mindful of the supposed aerial threat and knowing that an airship on the ground was an easy target. 
‘I was hoping you’d say that,’ Aces High said. ‘I don’t think there’s anywhere clear enough around Ponyville for me to land this beast anyway.’ He chuckled. Shining was about to join in when there was a shout.
‘Incoming, off the port bow!’ He snapped round to look. He could see nothing, but the lookouts at the bow obviously 	could.
‘It’s a Pegasus, sir!’ came the call. 

The lookout was right. A Pegasus in the uniform of the Air Corps who had obviously flown some distance landed on the deck, puffing and panting with exhaustion. Shining and Aces High listened to his wild-eyed story. He spoke of strange, mechanical flyers, firing magical beams that punched right through the shields of the EAS Manehattan, which, besides himself, he assumed to be lost with all hooves.
Shining felt a great pain stab through his chest when he heard those words. The Manehattan’s Captain, Starburst, was one of his closest friends. 
‘Are…are you sure?’ he asked. The Pegasus was obviously distraught by what had happened to him.
‘Captain Starburst gave me the orders himself. He said I was to fly to Canterlot and tell them what happened. I made it out ok, but when I looked back…’ he could hardly finish his sentence.
‘When I looked back, it…it was burning.’ Beside him, Aces High turned away in disgust. A fire on board was the greatest fear of all airship crew, and he had already seen too many of his friends die in that most terrible of ways, in accidents as well as in combat. 
Putting a friendly hoof on the shoulder of the sole survivor, Shining ran through his mind the possibility of someone having survived such a disaster. He could see little hope.
‘Incoming!’ the cry went up again from the bow lookouts. ‘Off the starboard bow!’ Shining turned to look.


Two distant dots were dropping rapidly out of the cloud layer and streaking towards them. 
‘Battle stations!’ cried Aces High. ‘Raise our shields!’ Ponies scrambled to their stations.
‘That must be them,’ Shining muttered, still picturing in his mind’s eye the final demise of the Manehattan and his friend.
‘By Celestia, look how fast they move!’ Aces High exclaimed. He was not exaggerating. Shining could see that they had already closed much of the gap between them and the airship flotilla.
‘Take aim!’ Aces High ordered. Though Shining did not know much about aerial combat, it seemed to him that the targets would already have reached them before the guns could track them. 
Sure enough, the gunners were still traversing their weapons when the flyers were suddenly on them, rocking from side to side, shooting past the starboard side of the Baltimare, which was flying right wing to the Celestia. Their passage was completely silent. Shining was momentarily puzzled by this, until a sudden almighty roar filled the air as the flyers leapt away astern. They must be outrunning their own sound, he thought, like a sonic rainboom. 
Taking the small telescope that his sister had given him for his birthday from his belt, Shining Armour took a closer look at the flyers that were now a considerable distance away. They were turning sharply, and he knew instinctively they were not from any nation he knew about. They flew a full, rapid circle around the airships before turning towards them again from the starboard bow once more. Now that he was looking at it head-on, he could clearly see the lead flyer was waggling its wings and flashing various lights that were just about visible in the dull sky.
‘Take aim!’ Aces High ordered again. Although he knew nothing of air combat, Shining did know about air-ground cooperation and search and rescue, and he recognised a signal when he saw one.
‘Wait!’ he shouted. ‘They’re trying to communicate with us!’ 



‘Are you sure?’ Aces High asked, his hoof raised ready to be swept down as the signal to open fire.
‘Yes! it’s trying to signal to us. It’s using a similar technique to the one we use to communicate with Pegasi search and rescue teams.’ 
‘Hold your fire!’ the Captain roared. Signal flags quickly flashed his orders to the other airships, and the two flyers swept past unmolested. 
‘Sir!’ the lookout called again. ‘Another Pegasus!’ Coming towards them from Ponyville as fast as his wings could flap was another Pegasus, this one in the uniform of the Royal Guard. 
He touched down on the deck and, seeing Shining Armour, saluted.
‘Commander!’ he began. ‘Whatever you do, don’t shoot at those things!’ He gestured towards the flyers. ‘If you do then the whole town is at risk.’  He explained to the two senior officers what had happened in Ponyville.

‘Aliens?’ Shining asked again, still disbelieving what he had just been told.
‘That’s what they said, sir. From beyond the stars.’ He shook his head.
‘That’s crazy. How could they have come from space?’ Shining said, though deep down he already knew that it must be true. No such species had ever been encountered on the planet before, and it had been explored well enough by now to all but ensure there could be no as-yet undiscovered species lurking somewhere. 

‘You say they want to speak to the Princess?’ Aces high asked. The guardspony replied swiftly.
‘That’s what they said, sir. They want to start diplomatic negotiations with us.’ The two officers exchanged a glance. 
‘Alright. If they want us to stay clear of the town, then Captain, I ask that you drop me off here. You,’ Shining said, indicating the guardspony, ‘will lead me to them. I will offer them passage to Canterlot, but on our terms, not theirs.’ Aces High pondered for a moment.
‘Very well, Commander. We will hold position here until you return. Good luck down there.’ They shook hooves, and Shining descended the stairs to the main deck.
‘Lower the rope!’ he said to a crewpony. The Celestia descended gently to a safe height above the rolling fields north of Ponyville, one of the rappelling ropes dangling from its side. With a signal from the crewpony, and a salute to the Captain, Shining Armour hauled himself over the side, and began his descent to the ground below.


‘Well,’ Captain Soren said, ‘it seems your message has got through. My pilots tell me your aircraft are holding station north of the town.’
Muzzle Flash found himself breathing a deep sigh of relief at the news. The last thing he wanted was to give these aliens an excuse to start attacking Ponyville. 
‘Alright then. Now that things are settled down, perhaps you can answer a few more questions,’ Captain Steel Rain said. 
‘In a moment, perhaps,’ the human said, ‘but first I must speak to my superiors. If you will excuse me.’ He strode away and up the ramp into one of the flyers, leaving the two pony officers staring after him, and surrounded by fifty hellguns. Steel Rain turned to his Lieutenant.
‘This is madness! What are we supposed to do? We can’t just let them trot straight into the palace. What if they try to kill the Princess? Or take her hostage?’ 
‘If they wanted to kill the Princess, sir, I don’t think they would have bothered with all this introduction,’ Muzzle Flash responded. 
‘I still don’t trust them, damn it!’ the Captain swore. 
‘Neither do I, sir, but what choice do we have?’ Muzzle Flash said. ‘If they speak the truth, then they will invade if we refuse them.’ 
‘And if they are lying,’ his Captain growled, ‘then we might just be inviting them to murder the Princess.’

‘My Lord,’ Captain Soren spoke into the long-range vox set in the cockpit of the shuttle. The static was intense, but he could hear the reply.
‘Captain! How goes your landing?’ The voice of Lord-Admiral Marcos was unmistakable.  
‘My Lord, we have made a successful landing. We have encountered the…native life-forms,’ he said, unsure as to how to explain them to the Admiral. 
‘Ah! Not humans, I take it?’ the Admiral asked. 
‘No sir, not humans,’ Soren said. ‘They are…they are horses, My Lord.’ There was silence for a few seconds, save for the crackle of static.
‘Did I hear you right, Captain? Did you say horses?’ 
‘Yes, My Lord. They appear to be functionally identical to the ponies found on many Imperial worlds, with…several important exceptions.’
‘Oh? What exceptions? Don’t tell me they can talk!’ the Admiral chuckled to himself, obviously not expecting the response that followed.
‘Actually, My Lord, yes. They can speak, and what is more, sir, they speak Gothic.’ More silence followed. 
‘If you are lying I will have your blood for this!’ the Admiral warned, disbelief in his tone.
‘You have my solemn word, My Lord. I am speaking nothing but the truth.’



‘What’s happenin’ now?’ Applejack asked. 
‘The…human has gone back inside his airship,’ Twilight replied. ‘I don’t know what he’s doing. The guardsponies are still standing there.’ Rainbow Dash moaned in annoyance.
‘Why is nothing happening? They’re just talking! It’s like being in a town meeting.’ The rainbow Pegasus spread her wings in frustration. ‘Everypony’s talking, but nothing is getting done!’ 
‘Just wait, Rainbow,’ Twilight said. ‘If they really are aliens, then this is the first contact our two species have ever had. We can’t just rush into things. It takes time, otherwise…who knows what might happen?’ 
‘Aliens! I still can’t believe it! Who knew they really existed, huh? I wonder where they’re from? I wonder what their names are? Ooh! I wonder if they like parties!’ The pastel pink party pony bounced on the spot, as full of excited energy as ever. 
‘I wonder if they will appreciate good fashion sense?’ Rarity joined in. ‘Perhaps I can make some wonderful dresses for them!’ 
‘And I wonder what the hay you girls are doing out here!’ A familiar voice distracted them from the scene in the meadow.

‘Big brother!’ Twilight gasped. Shining Armour approached them from behind, his purple and gold armour catching the dappled rays of sunlight that were piercing through a gap in the clouds. A Pegasus guardspony hovered behind. Twilight trotted over to embrace her brother. 
‘Twiley, what are you doing out here?’ he asked, his voice thick with concern. ‘You should be somewhere safe! Didn’t the sirens sound?’ 
‘They did, but we saw those flying things. It’s not a coincidence that I saw something last night, and…’
‘Whoa, whoa. What did you see last night?’ Shining Armour asked.  She explained. 
‘Then…what the Pegasus said was true,’ he said. ‘These creatures….they really are aliens?’ His sister nodded.
‘That’s what it looks like.’ He whistled in amazement. ‘Well, I’d better get moving. I want you girls to stay here, and don’t move until I come back. That means you too, Spike.’ Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but her big brother cut her off.
‘Promise me, Twiley. We don’t know anything about these aliens. I don’t want my sister and her friends getting hurt just because they were curious.’ She could tell that her brother was deadly serious.
‘Alright…I promise. We’ll stay right here,’ she said. He smiled down at her. 
‘Good,’ he said. ‘Wish me luck,’ and with that, he was gone.



‘Sir!’ The shout alerted Captain Soren to yet another development outside. 
‘If you will forgive me, My Lord, something is happening here. I should attend to my men.’ The vox-link to the fleet continued to crackle, static from some unknown source invading the transmissions like a virus.
‘Of course, Captain. Let me know the moment there are any further developments. I should tell you that the other first-contact team has made contact with a different species...they report that they look similar to the Griffons of ancient Terran mythology. It would seem this world is full of surprises. I will be holding discussions with my advisors on the best course of action here. In the meantime, Captain, proceed with your diplomatic mission to this Princess of theirs.’
‘Yes, My Lord. Landing party out.’ Soren left the shuttle, emerging to see that bright sunlight was now bathing the meadow. The golden armour of the ponies glinted, but Soren could see another of the strange creatures was trotting purposefully across the field toward him. This one had armour that was mostly purple, trimmed with gold and with a much more elaborate quiff on its helmet that matched the colours of its tail. It had a sword hanging at its side, but, unlike the others, no gun. 
A high-ranking officer, Soren surmised; another similarity with the Imperium, where purple often denoted high military or administrative rank. The Lord-Admiral himself possessed purple highlights on his uniform. 

The new arrival approached Soren as he descended from the shuttle. 
‘You are the senior officer here?’ It asked him. 
‘I am indeed. Captain Soren, 4th Hydraxian Regiment, Imperial Guard. And you are?’
‘Commander Shining Armour, Chief of the Equestrian Royal Guard.’ Now we’re getting somewhere, Soren thought. Finally someone with authority. 
‘What is your purpose here?’ the pony asked. Soren was getting tired of repeating himself.
‘We come in peace in the name of the Emperor,’ he said.
‘What Emperor might that be?’ it asked him.
‘The God-Emperor of Mankind,’ he replied, finding himself slightly insulted by the ponies’ lack of awareness, before realising there was no way they could know of the divine light of the Emperor.

No Imperial vessel had visited this planet, so far as the Crusade’s records knew, and these ponies clearly had no spacefaring capability of their own. This planet had been isolated for far too long, and now they were finally bringing the Emperor’s Truth to the inhabitants. Whether they would accept it, however, remained to be seen. Soren knew of a vanishingly small number of cases where Xenos species that posed no threat to the Imperium were left alone and lived in a state of uneasy truce with humanity, but such an event was vanishingly rare. But there was still that word nagging at him- Xenos. Were these aliens, or were they horses? An entirely different species, or a genetic aberration? The Ordo Xenos would need to investigate that further. Soren was convinced that, if he played his cards right when meeting this Princess, this world could be spared the bloodshed that had consumed so much of the galaxy. Something inside him recoiled at the thought of the kind of destruction the Imperium could bring being unleashed on this place. Must be because it reminds me of home, he thought to himself. 

The pony interrupted his reverie by speaking again.
‘You wish to speak to the Princess?’ it asked him. 
‘That is correct. We want to start diplomatic relations with your nation.’ The pony looked away briefly, then returned its gaze to Soren.
‘You may do so, but you must do so on our terms. You may bring two others of your kind with you. You will come unarmed. You will permit one of our military airships to land here,’ it gestured to the wide open meadow behind the shuttles, 	‘and you will travel to the palace on board it. Do you accept these terms?’ Soren could sense the pony would not budge on the issue.
‘Very well,’ he said. ‘I agree to your terms. Take me to your Princess.’