“This is your final warning! Drop to the ground or we will resort to aggressive force!”

The armor-clad horses that formed a phalanx base line at the bottom of the hill shouted thrice their warning to Canderous from afar. He felt as if he had no pulse, no signal of distress, but only pure fear for what he saw. An entire army of the four-legged beings had established a camp at the edge of the forest. They had the whole setup. Legions of guards, militaristic field tents, a medical center, and even what appeared to be a mess hall. He quickly scanned the crowd for any signs of a leader-like figure. After a few rushed seconds went by, he found the two most obvious out of the bunch. A pearly white coated horse with wings and a horn, along with its opposite, the only difference being the color of the coat and the strange transfigural mane that they both seemed to share. Both horses poised themselves in the same way that the armored ones had done, heads low to the ground and back arched as if they were about to pounce.

“That’s it! You’ve had your warning!” At those words, the guards slowly started moving towards him, one leg in front of the other. Canderous had to act fast. As quick as a flash, he swept his hand down to his belt and reached for the gun in his holster.

He patted his side pockets. Still nothing. Fearing the worst, he frantically searched the area in front of him for any sign of his only method of protection. He looked down to the ground and rejoiced when he found his weapon...ten feet in front of him and buried in the dirt.

He could try running back the way he came, but that would only lead him to a dangerous and inevitable capture, for the armored guards boasted wings on their sides that poked out through sizable openings in the armor plates.

“Well, I can either fight or die trying. And since I’m running out of options here...”

The guards were steadily closing in on him, their necks craned downward and their brows furrowed, ready to subdue Canderous at a moment’s notice. They were only a few meters away from his weapon, but they seemed to have not noticed it yet, giving him a small ray of hope in his survival.

Slowly but surely, he and stopped and positioned his legs and feet accordingly as he readied himself for his next move. The guards had not noticed and made no effort in trying to stop him. He bent his back downward and prepared to pounce onto his weapon, which, with some luck, he could then use to put a few non-lethal shots in the guard’s legs, buying him some time to escape through the forest thicket behind him.

The guards halted their advance and looked on with shock at the treeline. Canderous turned and saw Bendak running toward up to his backside, followed by a large squadron of heavily armed and armored foot soldiers.

“Nord! We-” Bendak ceased his hardened, raspy words through his breath when he looked on with awe at the surprisingly familiar mass of creatures ahead of him. The guards suddenly snapped back to attention and restarted their approach.

Bendak put on a look of seriousness as he stood firm in place and huffed aggressively through his nose. He then raised his right arm high into the air and motioned his hand towards the advancing wall of hoof and golden steel. The marines immediately moved in front of Canderous and placed one leg behind the other, keeping their backs straight. Some of the marines crouched onto their knees and put the stock of their loaded rifles up to their shoulders. The other soldiers stood behind them, creating a two-ply wall of heavy carbide armor and marine bulk.

Canderous was shocked at Bendak’s sudden willingness to fire upon the only other sentient species on the planet. He looked back over to the encampment of horses. The white and dark leader figures looked shaken, but they held their ground. The guards looked even more shaken, but even through their quivers of fear, they managed to hold their ground as well. Every other horse in the camp had either ran for cover, or stood still with shock.

“Bendak! What in the hell are you doing?!” Canderous shouted to the sergeant at this side.

“How would we know if these things are hostile? They may be the only other sentient species on the planet! If we kill them, all that we’ve worked for will have been for nothing!”

“Do you see their faces Nord? Look at them! They may not have any weapons, none that we know of at least, but they sure as hell don’t look to happy to see us!”

“Do you really want to kill what may be our only hope of surviving on this planet?!”

Bendak ignored Canderous’s last remark. Instead, he raised his right arm back up into the air, keeping a thick scowl of determination on his face. The marines aimed down the iron sights of their rifles, taking aim and prepping to fire on Bendak’s command.

Bendak immediately lowered his arm and angrily gleamed at Canderous, his levels of anger rising to new heights.

Both men continued to stare each other down. Canderous wanted to punch the sergeant square in the jaw. Bendak clenched his fists, giving off a clear sign of his fierce anger.

“P-p-princess!” Fluttershy squeaked out from behind the royal equines tail along with the other girls. “W-w-what are those things?”

Princess Celestia glanced over her shoulder to find that Fluttershy, along with her other friends were huddled together in a small circle, fearing for their lives. She took great pity on them and did what she could to calm their nerves.

“Stay calm girls, just stay calm and everything will be ok. We have no idea as to what sort of species that those two creatures are, nor do we know as to what their intentions are, or why they were chasing that reporter, but rest assured that Luna and I will do everything in our power to protect you all from harm.”

“Do you think they came from...up there?” Twilight asked while pointing towards the metal monolith hovering above them, its front face still emitting the eerie feeling of fear and evil.

The two alien-like creatures continued to argue amongst themselves, shouting out verbal swears and threats between each other. One of them even raised an arm in an attempt to hit the other, and from the look of the thick, strange armor plates that it wore, it would have been painful.

Nopony in the camp dared to move a muscle, not even the guards. It was both awkward and frightening to have to stand there, shaking in your hooves while you watched two possibly-hostile alien creatures argue amongst each other.

Suddenly, like a banshee’s wail, a third voice rose up from the alien’s thicket of anger. It was not gruff and scared like the voices of the first two. This voice sounded more shrill and high pitched.

A third alien stepped out into the sunlight from the forest exit. This alien’s body was slender and well-formed, much thinner than the other two. It had a long black mane drooping downward from its head, and its face only bore a scowl of anger and annoyance. It looked to its left, then looked to its right. It then turned and looked out towards the camp, observing it with eyes squinted.

Celestia turned her head to meet Luna’s slightly frightened eyes. She was scared, and worried. Celestia had similar feelings of fear and worry.

“Stay calm Luna.” Celestia turned her gaze back to the third alien figure, who was still scrutinizing the camp grounds from afar. “We will get through this. We just have to keep watching to see what their next move will be.”

Luna perked up and nodded her head in acknowledgment. “Right.” She then returned to her original stance.

“Thane? How did you-” Bendak was cut off when Thane raised her right arm in the air, sealing Bendak’s lips. After lowering it back down, she turned to the marines and motioned to them.

The marines looked confused at first, giving each other a raised eyebrow while shrugging their shoulders.

This time the marines did as they were told, mostly out of fear. They lowered their weapons and stood upright. Thane huffed through her nose and sneered at the marines. She then turned to Canderous and grabbed his jacket collar, pulling him towards her face. Her facial expression immediately softened.

“Nord...” she started softly, “You are the forward scout. The first to dive into any action...” Thane then released Canderous and instead grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him towards the camp. She then leaned in close to his ear and calmly whispered. “Make peace with this race. We are the Federation. It’s what we do.”

Thane gave Canderous a light shove towards the camp. Canderous gulped down a large lump in his throat. He then raised both arms high into the air, palms open, to show that he had nothing to hide. After taking a deep breath, he started walking forward.

“What is it doing?” Luna hastily asked. “Is it giving up? Can we apprehend it, maybe send the royal guards to detain it?”

“No Luna. The others are backing off, but that one is...moving towards us, both arms raised as if it is surrendering...”

“Good!” Luna exclaimed, “This will be the perfect opportunity to find out what they want and why they are here!”

“I said, halt!” The guards were getting restless and hostile. They lowered their heads and prepared to attack the approaching alien. Celestia had feared this. If the guards attack the alien, then their actions may lead to the start of a war, and by the looks of the tough armor and strangely figured armaments in the hands of its comrades -not to mention the black monolith floating high above the ground, in which Celestia presumed that it belonged to them- it would not be a pretty one.

“Stop!” Celestia yelled with a sweeping hoof through the air. The guards turned back to acknowledge her call. The alien also stopped moving, but it kept it’s surprised gaze pointed towards Celestia.

“Get back.” she commanded. The guards did as they were told. Celestia then took a step forward and formed her face into one of seriousness. “Stay back. I shall deal with this creature, myself.” Celestia turned her head behind her back and bade away the still-shaking mares.

“Girls, get behind Luna. I shall meet in the middle with this being, and provide my best attempts as to discover what it is and why it is here.” Celestia explained.

Twilight looked as if she was about to protest, but instead decided to keep her mouth shut and instead joined the other girls behind Luna’s flowing tail.

Celestia poised herself upright, preparing herself for the first contact scenario between herself and the strange species of which she could only describe as sentient, aggressive apes. Once she gathered her senses, she took a step forward, then another until she started off on a slow pace towards the middle of the research camp, thoughts high and both positive and negative outcomes racing through her head. One bad outcome made her quiver for a moment. She made a mental note to keep close to the guards nearby should anything go wrong.

‘Keep calm Nord, keep calm. You have an entire defender squadron backing you up...far away from you. Nice work Bendak.’

Canderous and the white horse were only a few meters away from each other, both advancing towards each other at a safe and steady snail’s pace. Canderous stumbled at one point, causing the nearby guards to flinch and ready themselves for a charge, but the white horse reached a leg out to them and they returned to their normal position.

Finally, after much anticipation, the two indifferent figures met in the middle with one another. Canderous slowly lowered his arms to his sides and bowed to the white figure before him, whom also bowed at the same time that Canderous did.

The white horse lifted a single front leg and reached out to Canderous and spoke.

“I am Princess Celestia. High ruler of the land of Equestria and equine of the sun.”

Canderous’s eyes went wide when he heard the mysterious creature speak words, and in galactic basic no less. Slowly and steadily, he too raised his hand and, with utmost care, he gripped the horse’s soft cloven hoof, causing it to shudder for a moment. The hoof was warm and had a feel like that of a child’s plush toy. Seeing as to how the white one introduced itself at first contact, Canderous only thought of it right to introduce himself as well. He cleared his throat and began to speak.

“I am Canderous Nord. Forward scout of the Gallente Federation Navy, ensigned to the Iron Giant, under the command of captain Markus Aran.

He swallowed hard after he spilled the beans about who he was to a completely unknown alien species of sentient horses. He was starting to regret his decision.

The white horse retracted its hoof and lowered its haunches to the ground to sit down. It was nearly as tall as he, only a few inches or so below nominal height for an average human.

“Canderous, the arrival of your species on the planet has disturbed me greatly. I must know why you are here and what your intentions are. Please, you must understand that this must be done. I fear for the lives of the citizens of Equestria, and they fear for their own lives as well.”

Canderous nodded in acknowledgement and began to ponder for a moment. When it came to discovering a new species, first impressions are everything. Peaceful diplomacy had to be made with this strange species. They have a government, for the being known as Celestia referred herself as a princess. They clearly have some motive of defence, however pathetic it may have looked compared to the highly advanced and very dangerous technologies of the Federation, but they had the advantage of numbers.

For security reasons, the Iron Giant needed a certain number of personnel onboard to keep it in the sky, so only a few platoons of soldiers were sent to act as guard detail for the outpost. The Iron Giant itself could house up to twenty-five thousand crew members and military personnel, but the outpost could only house and contain up to eight hundred, not all of which were marines.

“I cannot give you what you request here. However, you, along with your legionaries, may come to our outpost location within the forest thicket behind us. We will provide safety and security for both you and whoever else you may bring along.”

“You have my sole word as a proud member of the Federation that absolutely no harm will come to you or any of your people. You saw what I was trying to prevent just a few minutes ago right? I would rather die than watch a recently discovered species get slaughtered. My friend there, Bendak, was only trying to protect the Federation and its assets, standard protocol.” Canderous chuckled for a moment at his last remark.

The white horse now known as Celestia turned away to think for a moment. Celestia rose from the ground and nodded at Canderous.

Canderous turned around and pointed in the direction of the linear dirt pathway. “Straight down that road. No twists or turns, just a single file pathway.”

The white one took in a deep breath through the nose and exhaled before speaking. “Two hours, if you know how long that is. I will travel down that path with my personal guard, along with my sister and my personal proteges, to this outpost of yours and formally meet with this captain Aran of yours to ensure that we, along with your species, come to a peaceful, non-violent conclusion as to where we stand.”

“Then with those words in mind, I shall deliver your response to my captain. I look forward to your arrival.”

Canderous and Celestia shook hands and hooves and bowed to one another before each returned their respective original positions.

As soon as Canderous got close to Bendak, Thane jumped in front of him and put a fist to his chest.

“What did it say? I heard it talking!” she angrily said while shaking Canderous by his shirt collar.

“Two hours...” Canderous started, “it will arrive at the outpost in two hours to discuss diplomatic relations between us and they. She will bring along the legions of guards that you see behind me, along with her sister and a few special guests.”

Thane furrowed her brow suspiciously. She released her grip on Canderous’s neck and stepped back, arms crossed. “Is that all?”

“Pretty much. We have to get back and prep the outpost for their arrival, make sure that the marine boys don’t go apeshit when they see an entire legion of armored horses walk right up to our front door.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Who knows how long this is gonna take to explain to the captain?” Thane added in.

Bendak nodded in acknowledgment, “Right.” He then turned sharply and planted both arms at his sides, feet pointing straight ahead. He then raised his right arm and formed it into an ‘L’ shape.

“High team!” The defender squadron snapped to attention at Bendak’s rough, vigorously commanding words. “Form up, out!” The entire squadron turned around on a dime and held their heads high. Bendak motioned a hand towards the forest path, whereupon every marine began to stomp forward in an orderly, symmetrical pattern, their metallic boots slamming into the ground with such force that each step sounded like that of a far off crack of thunder. Thane turned and walked alongside Bendak, eventually disappearing into the treeline. Before Canderous took off to follow them. He turned back and saw that the armored guards were still holding their positions, eyes glared forward, determined not to leave until Canderous had done so first.

“C’mon Nord.” It was Thane, who sounded much more calm than before, “Captain’s gonna wanna hear about what you found.” She tightened her grip on his collar and eventually released it. She pulled her hand back slowly and clasped her other hand to it, holding both to her chest, not even bothering to keep one hand on the pistol at her side like she usually did when she was angry. Canderous decided to ignore and pressed onward towards the camp.

As soon as the returning party reached the open gap of the front gate, Canderous was given a hero’s welcome. Marines and officers patted him on the back and even offered him their flasks of whiskey, which he passed.

Titas and Vadik ran up to the much-praised triumvirate of soldiers and fist-bumped each one of them, except for Thane, who just stood there silently and gave both Titas and Vadik a mean stare. They backed away immediately.

“Enough!” Canderous raised his voice while the two men bantered on with questions. “I must speak with the captain first.”

The captain walked up from behind Canderous and patted him on the back. He then went around to his front and stood as straight and as erect as he could.

“Canderous, Bendak has told me that you have encountered some...interesting things out there. Care to tell?” The captain asked.

“Why not here? You’re gonna be battered with eager questions for the rest of the day anyway.” The captain took a moment to raise his head and look out onto the sea of marines in shining armor that gleamed in the mid-day sun.

Canderous poised himself and drew in a few long breaths before exhaling. He began to speak.

“There was a new species. A species of...well, horses, that could not only talk, but could defend themselves -even though their methods of defense are meager at best-.”

The captain raised an eyebrow and a few marines in the crowd began to utter skeptical words amongst each other. Titas was scratching his chin in confusion and Titas was furiously jotting down notes on a holo-tablet.

“It’s true sir.” Thane spoke up. “Saw everything with my own two eyes. This species also seems to know about complex construction as well as government matters, which was a huge surprise. They definitely know about tactical planning, on account of the stupidly massive number of armored guards they possessed.”

“Don’t worry sir. These things looked like that they just slapped a few golden metal plates onto their shoulders, and without any weapons, I don’t see how they could ever hope to defend themselves from anything, much less pose a threat to us.” Thane explained.

“Yes. Their leader, a female -or so I believe- known as Celestia, has requested that she, along with her sister and proteges, set up diplomatic relations with us. She fears that we may be a hostile race, on account of the Iron Giant’s sudden appearance in their eyes once the fog cleared away earlier this morning. She worries for the lives of her subjects and she wants to put nothing at risk. So I had to do something to...make sure that peace is established.”

The captain raised his eyebrow again and leaned in closer to Canderous, who took a few steps back he felt that most of his personal space was being wasted.

“They’re coming to our outpost, in approximately one hour.” The captain’s eyes went wide and a fierce wave of talk and gossip spread among the gathered crowd of soldiers. “I invited Celestia to speak with you. She will arrive with however many armored guards she wishes to bring, along with her sister and proteges of course as mentioned earlier.”

At those words, the crowd exploded into a thunderstorm of rapid debates and furious conversations. Some marines swore, while others cursed.

The captain quickly raised his right and swept it across the face of the crowd. “Silence! All of you!” he yelled. The crowd instantly became quiet and the captain turned back to Canderous.

“Canderous, this was entirely unexpected, as we are nowhere near prepared to deal with a first contact situation with another species, a sentient species no less!” The captain yelled. He closed his eyes and drew out a short breath through his nose, exhaling slowly.

“However though, you did manage to establish peaceful starter relations with this species, and without aggressive conflict. You are the first ever human being to successfully negotiate a peaceful accord on your own, and for that, the Federation thanks you.” The captain’s words drew out a few agreeable words of notion from the now calmed crowd. The captain then reached out his palm and gripped Canderous’s own. They both shook hands before the captain pulled away and placed on hand on Canderous’s left shoulder.

“So, it is with great pleasure, that I, Markus Aran, captain of one of the finest and most powerful ships in the Federation Navy, honor you with the prestigious title of...ambassador. Ambassador of humanity!” The captain’s loud and powerful words threw the crowd into a cheering frenzy, clapping hands and fierce roars of pride and celebration echoing off the walls of the outpost.

“Silence all!” The crowd fell quiet at the captain’s next words. He then shifted his arm and pointed at Bendak. “All defender and standby squads, you will report to Bendak directly from now until diplomacy has been resolved between us and they. Engineers with Titas, survey officers with Vadik. Canderous, Thane, you’re with me. We have a few things to discuss...”

“Girls, are you alright? How are you feeling?” Celestia asked the girls as they trailed behind her through the forest, dozens of armored guards at both sides as well as the front and the rear.

“F-fine...I suppose.” said Twilight as she continued to stick close to her shaking friends while keeping her eyes glued to the dim sky above, staring at the monstrous object hovering above them. The other girls said nothing.

Suddenly, the advancing movement of the armored legion came to a halt. The north wall of guards began to step back, getting closer to both Celestia and Luna.

“Your majesties. We have arrived.” whispered the voice of the closest guard pony.

Celestia, Luna and the others turned their heads skyward to gawk at the awe-inspiring defensive perimeter of solid steel walls. They looked to the left. The wall curved into a circular form. They looked to the right. Same circular bend. They took special notice to the strategically placed metal towers positioned close to the front gate, which was also formed from thick steel. The walls were so high in fact, that it was nearly impossible to tell whether or not there were alien personnel behind the thick panels.

The awkward silence was broken when the sounds of boots stomping on metal hit the air. Everypony looked to the front to see that a very large creature, clad in armor and in similar form to the one that Celestia spoke to some time ago, came over the side railing of the wall. Its arms were behind its back and the head and face were covered with a thick red helmet that looked similar to a common gas mask.. It raised its right arm and balled its fists. On that signal, a small line up of armed and armored guards rose up from behind the cover of the wall railing. Each of them held a long, studded pipe-like object that gleamed with a silvery light from the sun’s reflection whenever they moved.

On the words of the creature with its arm held high, the entire line up of soldiers stood to attention with heads held high, snapping their arms into position while keeping the pipes they held at their sides, ready to be drawn out at a moment’s notice. Celestia and Luna cringed. Fluttershy yelped silently.

The original alien lowered its arm and brought its hands up to head and gripped the red helmet tightly. With a quick snap to the left, the helmet came off, revealing the questionable look of a dirty and violent figure.

“I am Sergeant Bendak, forward ensign of the Federation Navy supercarrier, the Iron Giant. State your business here.” proclaimed the creature.

Celestia and Luna turned to each other and nodded their heads in acknowledgment, then Celestia turned back to the walls before them. She opened her mouth to speak, but a nearby guard pony clad in shining white armor stepped forward and slammed his hoof into the ground to state his authority in the royal meeting.

"Her royal highness, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, have arrived to negotiate peace with your species. We go where we please!" The guard stamped his hoof again to exert his words with greater force. The unmasked alien high on the walls lowered its hand and sneered at the guard, who then sneered back. Fearing brutal conflict, Celestia moved a leg out in front of the guard and silently ordered him to stand back.

"My captain of the guard speaks the truth. I have spoken with the one called Canderous earlier. He stated that we come here to form ties with the leader of your race. We are here for peace, not for violence."

The alien turned to a nearby soldier and nodded his head. He then raised his arm and lightly swept it to his right, then his left, causing all of the soldiers to reform into a standby position, keeping the pipes they held at their shoulders.

Suddenly, the front gate to the outpost fell to the ground and out walked a small escort of very heavily armored soldiers. These soldiers looked as if they wore entire train engines for body armor and their black and grey helmets resembled a painted bucket with elaborate tattoo designs etched onto the sides. They stomped forward within a fixed distance from one another and stood still and erect once they reached a spot within ten feet of the princesses. They poised their thickly plated arms at their sides and turned around on a dime to face the vacant entryway of the front gate.

"You will be escorted inside by my heavy troopers. Bring only those who you think you may need to make this negotiation a simple and nonviolent joint meeting. Keep in mind that you are entering a Federation controlled base of operations. Any aggressive actions taken against any personnel within will be met with equal or greater responsive force."

"Ready when you are." Spoke the gruff and somewhat annoyed voice of one of the hunkering bulks of steel nearest Celestia.

"Good." The soldier turned and jerked his head off to the right, signalling his fellow soldiers to begin their march.

Twilight peeked out from behind the cover of her mentor's tail and cautiously glanced at walls as the group passed by them, into the alien camp. A nearby foot soldier turned its head and followed the group's forward movement with its own eyes. No living creature in the camp spoke. No noise could be heard anywhere, save the occasional chirp of a forest crickets. She could feel the cold stare of alien eyes all around her, and by the way that her friends began to bunch together, she could tell that they felt the same. The soldiers lined the inner walls, each one posed in an exact position relative to the opposite from across the dirt yard, legs close together and shielded heads held high.

Not wanting to look at the daunting figures anymore, she leaned her head out to the left and looked ahead. She spotted a very large covered tent, similar to the tents reserved for royalty often used at mass gatherings, the only difference being that this tent boasted only a grey and brown color mix instead of the vibrant hues and tapestries of the norm. She took special notice to the three near-identical alien beings standing at the tent’s entrance.

One of the aliens wore nothing more than a simple coat and dark pants, with a pair of dark grey boots to match the jacket.

Another one of the aliens bore a suit of pitch black plated armor with a dark green outline. It wore no helmet, so it was easy to take note of the creatures defining features that separated it from the other two. Its hair was long and black and its body was slim and well-formed. The long hair and slender form made Twilight place a guess on it as to say that this alien was a female.

Last but not least, was the third and final being. This one stood in between the other two and boasted a suit of leisure of the highest quality. Gold and silver medals hung from small pins on the front pocket of its long and dark overcoat. A short brim hat adorned with gold trim was positioned towards the back of its head, and it to gleamed with a silver medal pinned to the right side.

"Hold!" shouted the memorable voice of Bendak, who had somehow appeared off to the side without Celestia noticing. On his command, the advancing heavy troopers came to halt only a few feet away from the tent. Bendak nodded and motioned with his hand for the troops to follow him.

Celestia, Luna, and the elements were now staring face to face with the three alien figures. The one known as Canderous was among them. A drawn out thread of silence expanded between the two sides.

The middle figure looked to Celestia, then to Luna, bowing slightly to each of them.

Twilight and the other girls knew that this moment was going to come. One by one, they each moved out into view from behind Celestia's tail. Fluttershy squealed and ran for cover behind Rainbow Dash.

"Good, very good." The middle figure stepped forward and reached out to Celestia with its hand. Celestia lifted one of her front hooves and shook hands and hooves just like she did with Canderous earlier that day. They each pulled back from the shake and bowed to each other.

The middle figure swung its left hand off to its left side and spoke calmly. “Celestia, I would like to introduce you to Thane...” The figure retracted its left hand and swung its right hand out to its right side, “and Canderous Nord. Forward scout of the Federation Navy and currently the ambassador of humanity. A rank worthy for the one who managed to establish peaceful first contact relations with an unknown lifeform.”

“Hello again, Princess Celestia.” said Canderous as he reached out his arm and shook hands and hooves with the white mare.

“Hello again to you as well, Canderous.” said Celestia as she retracted her leg back and brought it down to her side.

“Excuse me. Man and pony. Two completely different, sentient species brought to meeting. As ambassador -even though I would prefer to use that title lightly-, I believe that it is important that we start off by formally introducing our species to each other.”

“I agree.” said Thane, “To an extent of course. Like hell I’m telling these things anything about me.” said Thane with a huff in her voice.

“A formal introduction sounds fine.” said Celestia, who then turned her head and lowered her neck to meet the girl’s faces. She uttered a few words to each of them. One by one, they filed out from behind Celestia’s tail, heads low to ground in an attempt to avoid eye contact.

“Girls, there is nothing to be afraid of...as far I know, right?” Celestia turned back to face Canderous in hopes for a nerve-calming answer.

“I can assure you Celestia. No harm will come to your species. As I have done so before, I give you my solemn word as a Federation official.” said Canderous.

Celestia and Luna released a short, pent up sigh. “Thank you Canderous.” said Celestia, who then turned and looked at the girls.

“Girls...” Celestia started, “There is nothing to be afraid of. Please, introduce yourselves.”

Twilight Sparkle, even with her strange fear of a new and interesting species, was the first to step forward, her purple hooves dragging behind her. She slowly lifted her head and composed herself to speak. She made her introduction brief and simple.

“Twilight Sparkle,” her name caused the eyebrows of all three alien leaders to raise in confusion, “Personnel student of Princess Celestia, high ruler of Equestria.” She stepped back into line once she was finished, but she did not lower her head. Instead, she kept it up once she saw the smiling, proud expression on her mentor’s face, which completely wiped the thoughts of her fears from memory. This made the other girls raise their heads from the low ground and smile when they too got a look at the encouraging expression. It looked as if the girls were eager to introduce themselves to the somewhat friendly ape-like beings. Rainbow Dash was the next pony to step forward.

“Rainbow Dash!” she loudly proclaimed with her hooves poised at her sides, “Fastest young flier in all of Equestria!”

Rainbow Dash’s introduction made Canderous and Thane chuckle. Even the captain decided to join in. Applejack was next.

“Applejack.” she said her name with a swift tip of her Stetson hat, “Proud co-owner of Sweet Apple Acres alongside mah’ granny, mah’ brother, and mah’...sister...”

Applejack’s furrowed her brow and bared her teeth. The thought of her still lost little sister crept back into mind like an angry cat about to pounce onto its owner.

“Mah’...sister! What’d ya’ll do with her! Answer me this instant!” She yelled.

The sudden outburst made Canderous step back a few inches. Even some of the nearby marines brought their weapons down to their plated chests. Immediately spying the danger, Celestia placed a cloven hoof onto Applejack’s shoulder in an attempt to calm her down, which failed when she pushed her away and moved a few steps forward. The ready and waiting marines mirrored her every move with high caution.

“Ah’ said, answer me!” She yelled again. Canderous choked down a lump of forced bravery and stepped forward.

“What do you mean Applejack?” Canderous stepped forward and calmly asked the angry mare.

“Don’ chu’ play dumb with me now!” Applejack yelled, “Ah’ was told that mah’ little sis went into this particular part of the forest and never came out! Seein’ as to how you’re the only other things brave enough to get this close to the forest edge, the disappearance of mah’ little sister is weighed down pretty hard on you.”

Thane looked off to the side and pondered for a moment. Before long, her eyes went wide and her jaw hung outward by a small length. “Ooooh! I think I know who you’re talking about.” She started, “Last night, a small creature, well two small creatures, penetrated our outpost perimeter alarm grid. The first to come through, was a small, furry hound, about ye’ high.” Thane lowered herself to the ground to simulate the dog’s height. “The second thing to come through was...well, a pony, a very small pony in fact. Red bow in the top mane, tan coat, eyes as big as saucers, crying like a leaky faucet. Sound familiar?”

Thane raised herself from off of the ground and stood up straight, arms crossed. “The Federation takes no prisoners, nonviolent ones that is. Anyway, we tried to scare it off, but it didn’t work. We were prepared to head outside and try and coax it away with floodlights, but then, a green smoke just came out of nowhere, and before we knew it, both the hound, and the...pony, were gone. We found dog tracks soon after that, but those only led back down the path from which it came from. We have no idea where your sister went.”

“With this knowledge in mind, we can search the borders of the forest for Applejack’s sister. I can’t imagine a little filly venturing out to far into the forest. Thank you Thane.” said Celestia.

Applejack slowly fell back into line, head down low in a sulk for fear of her sister’s whereabouts. Fluttershy comforted her friend by patting her on the back while Rarity and Pinkie Pie introduced themselves. Fluttershy, not surprisingly enough, was the last to introduce herself. She did so in a mellow, nearly inaudible tone of voice as usual. When she finished, she stepped back into line.

“Thank you girls.” Celestia whispered to her right side. The girls nodded back in reply.

“Please...” Canderous interrupted, “Call me Canderous.” The captain raised an eyebrow in his direction. “I don’t mean to denounce the grand title of ambassador sir, but since we’re the only other humans on this planet-”

“Humans?” Celestia suddenly inserted herself into the conversation, “Is that the name of...what you are? Humans?”

“We call ourselves Federation officials, but if you are referring to the name of our species, then you would be correct, humans.” Canderous gestured off to his side with his hand to emphasize.

“...right. Canderous,” Luna started again, “Why has your species come to our planet?”

“E-excuse me, but mind if we take this conversation elsewhere?” said the captain while gestured one of his hands behind him. “Explaining ourselves is going to take some time.”

Luna nervously looked at her sister, as did Twilight and her friends. Celestia reassured them with a smile and a single nod of her head.

“As both I, and Canderous have stated to you before, no harm will come to you, or your species. In fact, just to ease your nerves, you may bring anyone of your subjects along with you while my men stay away.” Celestia and Luna smiled and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Glad to hear that we’re upholding the peaceful traits of the Federation. Please, through here...” Canderous commented as he lead Celestia, Luna, and the other girls through the open tent flaps with Thane and the captain in tow.

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This chapter. This chapter right here has got to have been the hardest chapter that I have ever had to write. Took me forever to formally plan every day of my life from March 5th up to now, just to find time to write. It was agonizing, but well worth it.

Of course, this chapter would have come out much later if it weren’t for Jonsey, my right hand man and favorite editor. You never cease to amaze me.

Thanks for reading!

Sins of New Eden

by Hivemind

Part 13: First Contact