//------------------------------// // The garden of zen // Story: No sounds in space // by The Psychopath //------------------------------// Twilight nervously drew on the paper that Pinkie Pie had somehow pulled out of her mane, along with a quill and ink. Nopony had said anything since the little fight, but it was no longer because of confusion, but the fear of the unknown. After all, they didn't know the mindset of these creatures, where they're from, or how they would react to any sudden movements. After a short moment of drawing something with levitation, the lavender alicorn took a good peek at her art. It was a crude drawing of stick figures. The masterpiece depicted a pony bringing the bipeds in a place with bushes and trees...but not much else. Pinkie Pie looked over Twilight's shoulder and stifled a chuckle, making the unicorn blush and puff up her mouth in embarrassment and frustration. The red quickly turned to white when the alicorn walked towards the giants, the paper trembling in the air. She was just an arm's length away from the tall one expelling frost from said arms, and with one last look at the drawing, she levitated the paper closer to the biped and gave a nervous smile at it. The fourth biped leaned to the side to get a better look at what was happening. Everypony, except maybe Pinkie Pie seeing how she had somehow gotten more paper and ink from her mane, were expecting this 'leader' to violently snatch the paper from Twilight's magic and read it, but it simply lifted its arm, with hand outstretched, and gently grabbed said object. The observers were gladly surprised that their initial assumptions were wrong, but the biped had trouble understanding the message and showed the sheet to its comrades. It took a while, but they finally understood the message, much to Twilight's relief. The biped knelt down and returned the paper to the pony, then the four spread apart to let the alicorn walk between them. The pony looked back at Celestia, who nodded in acknowledgement, and let Twilight do what she had to. Pinkie Pie followed with her typical bounce and took the others with her while the four bipeds followed the lavender alicorn. Before they left, though, the fourth biped took the enormous capsule and slung it over its shoulder for transport. Their travel through the hallways was met with shock and fear by the staff and guests of the castle, but the four tenno seemed rather intrigued by the environnement they were in. "Hey. Look. They like the castle." Pinkie whispered to Rarity. "I guess so, but I find it strange how they act. I hope that pony from Neighpon comes soon. Who knows what is going through their minds." Sometime later, the whole group reached the garden where Fluttershy seemed to be conversing with some squirrels. "Why, no, Mr. Squirrel. I haven't seen your friends. What? No. I haven't seen them nearby. Maybe if you told me what they look like." "H...Hello, Fluttershy." Twilight spoke nervously. "Oh. Hello Twilight. Are you done talkiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" Fluttershy squeaked. The pegasus caught sight of the four tenno standing her friend and jumped five feet into the air without flapping her wings. "Wh-wh-who--" "I don't know, Fluttershy. I need you to watch over them until a teacher from Neighpon comes to Canterlot. We haven't received news about his or her arrival yet, though." Twilight rubbed her head. "Are they going to...hurt anypony?" "Not that we've noticed...except those griffons." Rarity wondered aloud. "Heh. I don't really think Fluttershy will have much trouble with watching over her animals." Rainbow Dash said. "Why? Oh. Oh my." Fluttershy answered. The four tenno were apparently very interested in nature and its creatures. The frost prime had stood on one foot and was meditating in this position. Several birds perched themselves on him meanwhile. The Volt was experimenting the effects of static electricity on the squirrels who decided to come close to him. The Teech wanted to see more of what the plant life had to offer, and was observing a nearby flower patch with bees flying around said flowers. As for the Nekros, he had spotted the corpse of a deceased bunny that had long since passed away. Rarity caught glimpse of this and slowly walked towards the crouched tenno. "Oh. This is a shame. Fluttershy, perhaps a proper burial would be in measure." "Yes. I don't like it, but that's how life is. I'll try and find a good spot to put the poor little bunny. I'll--" Fluttershy had grown accustomed to death of animals due to her living through several occasions of critters she would rescue be too far gone to be saved. She didn't stop because she caught a glimpse of the decaying body, but more because the Nekros raised a hand above the corpse and channeled several strains of its serpentine, orange energy around its body and place a bit around the corpse, which slowly rose up because of the energy, then gently lowered back down onto the floor, clumsily moving about as much as the decayed tendons allowed it. The vanilla pegasus began to tear up as she saw the biped move the body like a puppet with its right hand. Rarity backed away in abject horror to the sight while Applejack and Rainbow Dash just stared at the revolting display of power. Twilight, however, was staring at the event with widened eyes: "These creatures know necromancy?! If they're already that advanced in magical abilities, I'm afraid we might be in contact with an extremely magically advanced species. It didn't even seem to concentrate at all on doing that either. Perhaps these are Archmages?" "Oy! Dats black magic dat is! Ah'm takin' you under arrest for usage of forbidden magics!" yelled a random patrolling guard. "No! Wait! You can't stop them!" Twilight said as she bounced in front of the guard. "Stand aside, missy. Ah think ah can deal wif sum metal biped thingy." The guard lift a spear with his right foreleg and took one step towards the still crouched Nekros with obvious intentions. There was literally no time to blink that the Nekros already had its ether reaper underneath the pony's throat. Trembling, the earth pony looked to see that this 'metal biped' was still crouched, although one leg was on the ground, and its body was twisted to the left, leaving the blade to be sticking behind it. Normally, this position would not allow proper movement and wouldn't be more than a taunting threat, but something told this stallion that the creature before him held a skill unknown to even the supreme commander. He slowly dropped the spear and began to back away. "Ah'll...Ah'll just get on wif mah business then, sirs." he said before sprinting off. Just as the guard did this, the rabbit body comically fell to the ground with a little flopping noise. The Nekros walked back towards its meditating leader and started to look around, analyzing the surroundings while Rainbow Dash landed next to Twilight and whispered in her ear: "I think he's the scariest of the four." "Okay...Now what do we do with them...and where's Pinkie Pie?" Twilight said. "HAPPY WELCOME PAR--" Pinkie had burst out from the bushes with her typical party cannon and confetti. The problem is, she wasn't expecting such a reaction as nopony had demonstrated such things. The minute she blasted out of the bushes with confetti and cannon blast, said giant party popper had been cut into three and she was pinned against a tree by Volt and its arm-wielded glaive. The others were aiming their weapons at her as well. The pink pony was looking at the glaive blade with a nervous smile. "Woah woah! It's okay! Let go of her!" Twilight shouted as she ran in front of the Vol to push him away. The tenno acknowledged and backed away, the glaive shrinking back into its resting position on the volt's arm. Rarity and Applejack helped Pinkie Pie back up. "Ya okay, Pinkie Pie? We told ya not to do anythin' with 'em." "I couldn't help it...and that was AWESOME! Did you see how fast they moved! They were like ninjas! Oh! Speaking of Neighpon-" "You didn't say anything about Neighpon..." Rainbow Dash sighed. The pink pony pulled an enormous bag of sand out from nowhere and held it to the frost prime. The tenno grabbed it and put it on the floor. It gently grasped its dragon nikana then let go. A piece of the bags top slid off as if cut. "Wow. They REALLY know how to fight with a sword." Rainbow Dash remarked. The prime put the sand in its hands and let it slide through his fingers to feel the texture. It nodded and thanked the pony by bowing. Although it quickly turned to Twilight and showed her the bag. "Yes...It's a nice bag." she said. The Teech went to the prime and put a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to turn around. The two clearly began to have a conversation, although of what subject, the ponies did not know. Finally, the prime turned back towards Twilight, pulled out its sword, then slammed it into the ground, causing the ponies to hop back in fear. "It looks like..it's drawing something." Rarity noticed."Huh. He draws rather efficiently." The drawing in the ground showed the four tenno meditating in front of a zen garden. Much to Twilight's added frustration and jealousy, the biped had drawn exquisitely. Thinking of a solution, the mare finally recalled that there was a rather large area in the maze with a pond that would be perfect for them to create a zen garden and meditate while everything is assessed, from the griffins to the arrival of these creatures. The lavender alicorn caught glimpse of Fluttershy coming back from around the corner of the maze's bush wall. She had apparently gone out of sight to bury the rabbit body. "Applejack, go get Fluttershy." the alicorn asked her friend. "What fer?" "To get her to lead the creatures into the middle of the maze. She could even help them get accustomed to this place, at least, until they return home." "Okay. Hey, Fluttershy." Applejack yelled. "Twilight, I don't meant to be annoying or anything, but have you noticed that the big one has kept that...container over its shoulder since we left the throne room." "...Huh. You're right. It might be very important, although I don't see how." Fluttershy nervously poked Twilight on the should, prompting the alicorn to turn around. "I finished burying the bunny, but Applejack said you wanted me to help them into the maze? I can't do that." "Why not? Is it because of what that one did with the bunny?" "Yes." "It might just be a culture thing, sweetie. After all, we don't know what they're like." Rarity interjected. "That's...true." "And they've shown that they don't want to hurt the animals, so that's also a good thing." Twilight added. "I...Okay. I'll help them inside. We have to go to the pond?" "Yes." "Oh. Okay." "Don't worry. Rainbow Dash will go to the Supreme Commander and ask for patrols. I have to go to the princesses to talk about the griffins and how we're going to treat these treaty problems. Pinkie seems to like them already, so I guess she'll be with you while you walk these things in there." Fluttershy nodded with a gentle smile, then turned to face the bipeds, who were looking at her as well. To this little pony, they seemed like giants, and she felt herself shrinking more and more under their gaze until Pinkie Pie stepped in. "Hey, Fluttershy! Let me introduce you!" "Um, I don't think--" "It'll be fine! You get to talk to them while we walk in the maze." "She heard that?" Twilight thought to herself. "What do we do, Twilight?" Rarity asked. "I don't know. You can visit Canterlot, if you want." "That sounds like an excellent idea. I can look at all the latest fashions and get some new bows for Opal." "And ah can look fer some new workin' boots and some new pie pans fer Granny Smith." Applejack said with confidence. "What are these things?!" a griffon yelled. "Don't touch them! They'll eat you!" another shouted. A griffin village was being assaulted by strange creatures coming from the nearby forest, as said village was near the base of the mountains. There were bizarre, orange particles flying through the air in curves almost everywhere, and strange patches of fleshy orange and gray growths had 'climbed' the mountainside after somehow absorbing a large portion of the forest, as shown by bizarre tissue-like masses covering large portions of tree branches like enormous spider webs. Bizarre, twisted creatures had begun pouring out of it and were infecting the city as they moved on. A few of the griffin militia stationed there had tried evacuating as many civilians as they could, but barely a sixth had evacuated that the rest were assaulted by the creatures. Countless of these things were coming, and more after that. 'What are these things?! We have to go! The rest are lost!" "We can't just leave! There are still some here that are alive!" "GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!" the griffin yelled wile shaking his companion."They're lost! We gotta go!" "Then you go! I'm staying here." "I...I...fine! Stay here if you want. I'm leaving." "COWARD!" The griffin watched the other militia griffon fly away in cowardice, leaving his weapon behind, but the one remaining did not fear the invaders, that is, until a large figure slowly began to raise itself from behind the mountain slope. At first, it looked like a semi-halo of silver with a few bars growing out of it and pointing upwards, then what looked like a head began to show itself. The head was rather gray, save for the many green veins heading down long tentacles ending in bright, pulsating green ends. Thanks to its hunched over appearance, the griffin could make out that its skin was a dark hade of teal, and the further it rose up, the further the griffin could see just how true this was...for limbs. The arms were long enough to drag across the ground, and although the front side shown was gray, the back was teal as well. The stomach of this creature was of a metallic silver and covered in glowing green dots randomly strewn across said anatomy. The legs were black, but progressively turned to teal and bent at the knees, where they ended in narrow flipper-like feet. The creature, as a whole, glowed a bright neon green from the tentacles, the tips of the bars in its semi-halo on its back, and the dots on it, and it seemed to be perpetually excreting a green mist that was killing what little plant life had grown on the slope. "What is that thing? It must be the leader. If I can kill it, the others will become uncoordinated and give us the time to evacuate the survivors. Let's do this!" With courage, the militia griffin flew over the tide of invading creatures and, sword in claw, sliced through the tentacle head of the tall creature, who remained in place after the strike. The attacking griffin turned around in mid-air and yelled: "Yes! Got it. Now the others should be...They're still running forward. Why?" "We are your flesh. Your future. Your pinnacle of evolution. Why do you refuse us so?" spoke a strange voice. "Who is it? Who said that?!" the griffin shouted as he began to panic and swing his sword around. "Become one with us." "What? AAAHHHH!" The griffin's scream was heard across the kingdom that day, and the survivors who managed to flee the town despite the invasion and spreading infection managed to warn everyone about the incoming threat. Whatever the tenno and grineer had brought with them, it held an ill perceived future for the Griffin Kingdom.