When Celestia had received the letter from a frantic Twilight Sparkle - that a dragon and a mysterious minotaur-like being had taken over the small hamlet of Tacktown - at first, the mare had been terrified. Dragons were greedy, troublesome beasts, and Tacktown itself was quite poor, the villagers having struggled through many a harsh winter there due to poor soil for growing crops and medicinal herbs. What could the foul beast and its mysterious ally possibly want with such a small, poor place. Sick with a combination of worry and terror, the Princess of the Sun donned her ancient battle armor, summoned a thousand of her finest Royal Guard, and called together Twilight and the other Elements of Harmony; wanting to rout the dragon and its mysterious ally swiftly, she pulled out all the stops. Then, with a mass-transport spell, she took all to Tacktown, fully prepared for anything... Except for what she actually found there.
She'd expected to see a Hamlet struggling to meet the demands of a cruel lord, the faces of its ponies wrought with suffering. What she actually saw, however... were happy ponies, tending fields and gardens green with life and the largest, most bountiful crops she'd ever seen. She'd expected to see shabby buildings of poor construction, now burned and hear the weeping of distraught ponies as the dragon rent their flesh. What she actually saw, however... were her ponies and the ape-like being directing the dragon as it carefully lifted a load of roof beams with its mighty jaws, assisted by ponies via a complex system of pulleys and ropes; once raised high enough there was a great cheer as construction pegasi lightened the dragon's load and began to assemble them fast assisted by golden-metal machines she'd never seen before in her life! Beyond that she could see other, already assembled buildings, clean, sturdy and strong; many were made of thick, solid wood and thatch whilst others were made of a strange though beautiful golden metal.
The center of the town, once a horrible muck-pit - part swamp, part dangerous sinkhole - was now filled in; a proper town square. Within it, wooden market stalls and a community garden shared space--but the thing that was at the very center of the square made her jaw drop. Hovering in the air - without magic assistance - roughly six meters above the ground, was some kind of giant crystal. Just with her sight, the Sun Princess judged that it measured sixty-one meters tall, had a twenty five meter radius... and weighed almost six-hundred tons! Wrapped around the circumference of the central part of the crystal was an enormous band made of what she thought was pure gold! The crystal glowed with cyan light so brilliant that it made a visible radius on the ground; within its aura, pony elders rested and foals played whilst adults watched or slept deeply, bathed within the great crystal's light.
Celestia could feel no malevolence from it; in fact, as they moved closer to it, several of her guards couldn't help letting out sighs of relief--and she herself felt some tension within ease; the mysterious light from the crystal seemed to be rejuvenating her. Upon moving closer still, at last she caught sight of the mysterious minotaur-like being--and her breath froze in her throat with disbelief. She'd expected to see a foul monster treating her ponies like slaves as he demanded tribute. Instead... Dark brown hair, done up in a peculiar braid, framed a kind, though time-weathered face with hazel eyes, a very small nose and lips drawn up in a smile. Hands with five fingers - attached to pink-skinned arms, dusted with a light coating of fur - gently cradled a sleeping filly against his body, which was clothed in some kind of amazing teal robe covered with runic designs; beneath that was some kind of golden-bronze armor.
Together, he and Tacktown's elderly unicorn Mayor strolled through the town - the mayor easily keeping up with him despite his age, some kind of golden slate floating before him as he jotted notes with an oddly shaped quill - as pony and alien discussed a wide range of topics; it was clear both were performing an inspection of Tacktown or perhaps discussing plans for expansion. Celestia heard snippets of talk about irrigation, crop rotation, plans for buildings to be built, plans for buildings to come down... it was dizzying and went near over her head! Soon however, Mayor Hearth Stone and the minotaur-like being noticed her. Hearth Stone gasped softly and slowly bowed, whilst his new friend, the alien, strode up to her and her retinue. Very carefully, so as not to dislodge the filly sleeping in the crook of his arm, he gave her a slight bow, then held out a hand to her in greeting as he softly intoned, "Khassar de Templari. I am David Boucher.
"As an Ambassador for the Protoss Conclave - an organization of the six elders who represent all of the protoss inhabitants of the planet Aiur - I bring greetings on behalf of the people of our planet. We step out of our solar system into the universe seeking only peace and friendship, to teach if we are called upon, to be taught if we are fortunate. We know full well that our planet and all its inhabitants are but a small part of the immense universe that surrounds us and it is with humility and hope that we take this step--beginning with your world, Equus, and its people. En Taro Adun." As Mayor Hearth Stone rose to his hooves, Celestia sent away her armor and then - feeling somewhat overwhelmed, her eyes misting with tears - she moved forward to shake his hand and nuzzle him. It was an historic occasion that day as First Contact was made; a bemused dragon looked on as a sorrowful Twilight Sparkle apologized--and then began prancing, recording everything with magical occularum and dictating quill as she realized what was happening.
The dragon - dragoness, as it turned out - was named Ieesha, and she was as far removed from 'cruel' dragons as a dragon could get. She was, instead, a "gentle giant" - humble, and amazingly kind instead of arrogant and haughty like the beasts Celestia had known. Indeed, once it was revealed to her that the white alicorn mare was royalty, Ieesha's eyes widened visibly; then the golden-bronze dragoness performed a kneeling bow so deep that her forehead touched the ground--and then, a moment later Celestia struggled to contain raucous laughter as the poor dragon was charged and 'pony-piled' by a herd of foals. The alicorn mare finally lost it as Ieesha gave her a humorous look of long-suffering, then groaned theatrically and 'fell' to the ground on her side. When they'd 'brought her down' the foals all cheered--and then proceeded to climb all over her as Celestia looked on, her jaw dropped, stunned by what she was witnessing! "She loves children of all kinds," David said as he looked on, bemused. "We can't have children of our own, thus, 'all the worlds' are hers..."