//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: Alien encounters. 
// Story: Through The Starry Sky 
// by Valtyra 
//------------------------------//

Star and Celestia took the elevator up to the deck which held the bridge and walked out, receiving stunned stares and ponies bowing. Soon enough, the whole floor was bowing and Celestia had a smile on her face as she realised things might get better.

The two passed a pair of guards patrolling and they stopped, mouths hanging open before their training kicked in they fell behind the Princess.

"Ma'am, are you alright?" One of the guards asked, receiving a glare from his partner for the question.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" The Princess answered, the corners of her mouth turning up. "Do I look unwell?"

"Of course not, Princess." The guard replied. "You look radiant, as usual."

Star looked up at the Princess, moving out of the way for some ponies that had stopped to look at Celestia, "How did you come back to us?"

"That doesn't matter, all that matters is that I am back." Celestia didn't take her eyes off the far end of the hall where the doors to the bridge sat closed.

"Celestia, am I sensing a little bit of tension?" The tetra whispered, so not to distract Celestia too much. "If you'd like, I can remove it?"

"No, this is my mess and I'll sort it out." She replied, giving a silent an almost invisible shake of her head.

The four ponies stopped in front of the bridge and Celestia turned to her Guards-ponies. "Stay here, no pony comes in unless they work here," she ordered, receiving a salute.

She opened the door with her magic and walked in with Star Charmer in tow. The bridge carried on as if no pony had entered until one of the ponies on the navigation controls spotted her, gasped, got out of her seat and bowed.

The captain looked over and frowned, "What are you doi-" her followed to where she was bowing and saw Celestia, "M-my Princess!"

He jumped out his seat and ran over, prostrating himself at her hooves, "It's a miracle!"

"Please, Fog. It's no miracle." Celestia raised his head up with a flicker of magic and gazed down at his wide eyes, "I'm immortal, remember."

"But-"

He was cut off by the Princess placing her bare hoof on his lips, "Please, Fog. Leave it at that."

Fog found it hard to stop the blush forming on his face and nodded. The Princess retracted her hoof and looked about, finding all of the ponies bowing and uttering praises to Luna for bringing her sister back.

"Another immortal?"

"Yes, my sister." Celestia rose all of them with her magic and seeing all of them gaze at her with wonder opened her wings, "I promise not leave you again, my little ponies."

The ponies on the bridge ran over and hugged the Princess, who had fallen to her knees to receive her ponies. She closed her eyes and pulled Star close, nuzzling her.

Star's face ran red as she wrapped her legs around the Princess's neck, "I missed you!" She started shaking and was held by Celestia leg as it rubbed her back.

"Shh," She cooed, "I'm not leaving."

~~~

"Princess," Taylor said from behind the Princess. She thanked the guards and walked into Celestia's chambers. Looking around, she walked up to Celestia who was looking out of the window towards the wreckage of the ship.

"Sit," Celestia ordered. She had been told to keep her regalia off forth time being and instead had a simple robe around her body to keep the scar from affecting anyone else. She turned around and saw Taylor sitting in the seat opposite, looking nervous.

"I take it you know why you're here?" Taylor shook her head, "Well... I want to apologising doe putting you under such stress."

Taylor sat still as a statue while she heard this, her mind processing this information. She slowly opened her mouth and said, "I let you down..." then she dropped her head down and into her waiting hooves.

"No, you didn't. Believe me, ponies have let me down before... You didn't." Celestia sat down and sighed, "We had no idea what we were going into. I could hear your voice while I was in that light, you did everything you could..."

"Why would you lie to her?" The alien asked, confused.

"Because it's the right thing to do." "I have nothing but praise for you; while you could have said no and not come with us, you didn't and looked out for us. Thank you." as Celestia finished, Taylor's head rose and she looked at the Princess with teary eyes.

"Y-you’re too kind..."

Celestia smirked, "I can't let one of my best commanders retire, now can I?"

~~~

Celestia was sat sipping some green tea in the library, she liked the peace and quiet compared to the hustle around her room or the bridge.

She locked the door with a silent spell and said, "You can come out."

A brown aura fizzled out of her horn, making her shiver as an even smaller headache passed through her head once more and faded. "Must it hurt every time?"

"Apologies," the alien spoke as the aura compressed itself into its correct body shape: a hexacosichoron. "It will lessen as you get used to me entering you."

The Princess nodded, "Okay." she sipped her tea and sighed, "I was wracking my brain to think of a name for you."

"I saw, and? I'm highly intrigued to hear what name an organic would think could suit me?"

Celestia rose her eyebrow at the wording but said nothing about it. Instead she placed the cup down and looked at the alien, "I couldn't think of a normal name suiting you, but seeing as you are  possibly   the last of your species..." she emphasised "Possibly in such a way that she hoped he/she/it wouldn't be offended and carried on, "I saw it fitting to name you simply Tetra. It could be something one would name their foal on my planet, maybe a bit unusual, but possible."

The glow from Tetra rose from a dim spark to a small sun once again and it flew around Celestia, "I is simple, yet describes me perfectly. I like it." In a split second, Tetra pulled its aura out and wrapped it around Celestia's horn eliciting a yelp as she felt warm and hugged.

Celestia closed her eyes and smiled, "I could get used to this..."

"Impossible, the sensations are sent directly to your brain." Tetra said, its glow dimming.

"It's an expression."

"Oh right, apologies." 

As the sensation wore off, Celestia opened her eyes and looked up at Tetra, "I have to ask, how you know our language? I'm the odds of our two species having the same is something astronomical."

"Ah, a good question. I took the information directly from your head as I was waking up."

Celestia looked shocked, "Did you take anything else?!"

"Nothing private, only some mannerisms which are useless in this form." Tetra bobbed and floated closer, "I assure you."

Celestia sighed and nodded, "Alright, I'll have to believe you." She thought for a second before choosing to ask, "Why were you in that sealed room?"

"You mean the sanctum. It's the first room on the ships to be built, think of it as our bridge." Tetra floated around the room, looking at all of the books, "I was sealed in because of the battle," Its voice deepened with hatred, "when the invaders found us, I was sealed up as the prime candidate. I was the summon of the emperors and that meant I had to be kept safe." It sighed, "Seems kind of pointless now."

"What do you mean summon?" The Princess asked, intrigued.

"I guess it would be like your... foals?" It wasn't exactly a question but Tetra didn't know if Equestrians used the common terms. "I was summoned several thousand years before."

"You're immortal too?"

"In a way. My vessel doesn't break down like organics, it gets more complex. The longer I exist, the more my body changes. Most of my race don't live past three hundred thousand." Tetra floated down and over to Celestia, "I was to inherit the throne and rule, I guess I did..."

Celestia's mouth hung open, "T-three hundred... thousand !" Her mind shut down, unable to comprehend anything living that long. She couldn't imagine her species living that long.

"Did I say something wrong?"

~~~

After that little discussion in the library, Tetra went back into Celestia's mind and the two of them travelled to the Flag Bridge to talk to the commanders and Fog about Tetra.

She had just arrived on deck when the doors to the elevator opened. The princess walked out and down the hall. "I'm not sure about this..." She said, turning around.

"Do not worry, they cannot do anything to me. My shell is impervious to all but pure energy."

"It's not that I'm worried about." Celestia stopped and moved to the side of the hallway. Looking out of the window, she saw the remains of the vessels and gazed at them, ignoring the spontaneous hugging she received after the event on the bridge got out and heard by the crew. "Not every pony is so excited about meeting an alien."

"Why not? There aren't a lot of friendly species out in this universe. I would have thought it would be nice... And it is."

"You're the first species we'll have come across."

"Do not worry, it will be alright."

Celestia couldn't help but have her spirits uplifted by Tetra’s confidence and nodded her head. She waited for the pony currently wrapped around her leg to stop nuzzling her and slowly moved her leg out of her grasp; slowly walking to the flag bridge.

She walked passed two guards at the doors and nodded. Their magic pushing the doors aside and letting her through.

She looked around and saw Taylor, Fog and a few other ponies talking next to a whiteboard. Fog saw the Princess and shush every pony else.

"Princess, so good to see you. What do we owe the pleasure?"

Giving the other ponies a look, the Princess turned to Fog and asked. "I have something... Someone to show you."

The ponies in the room looked confused before Celestia walked over to a spacious part of the room and her horn lit up.

The brown aura flowed out of her horn and coalesced into Tetra. This time, the Princess didn't feel anything and smiled.

"Every pony, I'd like you to meet Tetra. She saved me from death."

All of the pony's eyes in the room widened and they shook. "Is that an a-a-alien?" Fog shouted and pointed a hoof.

"Indeed, a pleasure to meet you." Tetra said, bobbing.

The ponies in the room stood statue still and it went silent. Celestia coughed and looked between the ponies and saw varying degrees of fear.

"Don't worry, Tetra's not here to hurt any pony," she said reassuringly and walked over to Fog. "Are you alright?" She asked, brushing a wing down his back soothingly.

He blinked and looked up to her, then nodded. "This is... Wow..."

One of the commanders in the back spoke up, "Thank you for saving the Princess!"

Celestia could actually feel Tetra's attention on her and she said, "Go with it, it'll help them to like you."

"The pleasure was mine."

"So Tetra?" Fog saw it, "What are you...?"

The next hour was every pony asking questions about her race and how she saved the princess's life, which the pair refused to answer or didn't know.

~~~

The next few days were a blur to the pair. Celestia and Tetra had to fill out mountains of paperwork which had somehow already been on board, attend commander meetings and arrange broadcasting events for the crew on Tetra's appearance.

Overall, Celestia was exhausted. She meandered into her bedroom and fell sideways onto the bed.

"Are you okay?" Tetra asked, floating over. "Shall I retrieve assistance?"

"No," Celestia groaned as she lifted her head. "I'm just tired. It's been too long since I've actually done anything useful... my country kind of runs itself, for the most part."

"I would have had to rule several systems. It's semi-automated though, as we inherited it from our creators when they passed on."

Celestia laid her head back down and smiled, "They sound wonderful..."

"They were. Do you want me to show you?"

"Show me, like a vision?"

"Something like that." Tetra floated close and held out her aura of magic close to Celestia. "Let me show you."

Celestia looked to the magic and back to Tetra. "Will it hurt?" She asked, a bit nervous.

"Not unless you fight it."

Celestia swallowed and nodded, a trail of her own magic intertwining with Tetra's. She closed her eyes and said, "Do it."

A blinding light from within Celestia's eyelids caused her to shake and struggle, feeling her eyes burn before the light faded and she was left with a mild stinging.

The first thing she noticed is that she couldn't move her legs. This worried her, before her vision cleared up, revealing a blurry mess of images that made it hard to look at.

The second thing was that she couldn't move at all, not even her eyes. She was beginning to have a mild panic attack and a voice entered her head, "Do not worry, Princess. This is my memory, the first to be precise."

"The first?" She asked, feeling weird to talk without moving her mouth. "Is this where you got summoned?"

"Yes, it is. What you would call parents are just in front of us."

Celestia's vision cleared even further and she could clearly make out two shapes in front of her; one being an almost exactly copy of Tetra and the other one being a slightly more complex version.

Tetra let out a sort of whimper and it took Celestia to realise it was from the present one and not the memory. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"I will be okay, thank you."

From what she could see, the memory was in some sort of chamber. The floors were made of an intricate design that gave Celestia a headache to look at. There weren’t any walls, only pillars that travelled upwards past her vision.

The two beings floated forwards and moved their auras over Tetra in some sort of embrace before they floated away. The Tetra in the memory followed them through an archway and out into the blue light.

Celestia gasped as she saw the city. It was sitting inside a massive crater that could easily swallow Equestria whole and spilled out over the side into one of the canyons that ran past.

The ground was a dull brown color with splashes of green that streaked through the city at random intervals. Celestia marvelled at the sheer height of the buildings that stretched higher than Canterlot highest peaks and way, way past the cloud layer.

The sun in the sky took up at least half of the horizon and gave off a dull blue shine that made everything permanently darkened. Celestia found herself trying to shield her eyes even though she had no eyes.

"It's beautiful..." she said.

"It was. Until they  came."

The memory fast forwarded in a haze until it stopped. Tetra was talking with some other beings in one of the cities courtyards. It was quite low in the city and a dark shadow was cast over the main area. Hanging gardens were strewn all over the buildings, giving them much needed color.

"Back then, it was peaceful, no one passed on..."

A red laser passed through one of the buildings, slicing it in half with a deep crack. The top fell sideways with a screech as metal slid against metal and shattered from the heat.

More lasers passed around Tetra as building after building fell filling the sky with smoke, blotting out the blue sun.

Cries were heard from fleeting beings as they realised their home was being invaded and torched.

Tetra flew off as fast as possible towards the palace, stopping only to see it burning like the rest of the city. By the time the automated defences had activated, the tallest buildings bad been dropped.

"They didn't talk, only try and exterminate us." Celestia heard a whimper, "This went on for centuries and we fought back... barely."

"We developed better ships and upgraded technology that our creators left us, but at our heart we are a peaceful race."

"That's why there weren’t any guns on your ships..."

"Yeah, we used out magic to simply teleport them away... If we wouldn't kill them, we'd outlive them and their race."

The memory came to an end and Celestia was pulled back into her own body and gritted her teeth against a barrage of senses. Her whole body had the feeling of pins and needles and nowhere was quite as bad as her horn, which made her stomach churn.

"I'm guessing you've never share memories with someone?"

"N-no..." She groaned, sitting up. "No I haven't."

"It gets easier. I found it surprising at how easy I could interface with your race as compared with some others."

"There's other species?" Celestia asked, shocked.

"You didn't think it was just you me and the invaders, did you?" Tetra tilted to the side and laughed, "There are countless in this galaxy alone, some more advanced than others; some equine races as well, though none like you." There was a pause, "You are quite literally one of a kind, Princess."

Celestia felt a small blush appear and looked away, "T-thanks... Anyway. It's should be time to jump, do you want to say goodbye to your fleet?"

Tetra bobbed and chuckled, "We jumped half an hour ago and I already have."

"But you talked with me..."

"I transferred all of my memory instantly and then talked to you out here. The equine brain is faster than most... It usually take minutes for a memory..." Tetra muttered on about memory speeds and different species as Celestia fell back onto her pillow.