"And that's how my AC's generator uses heat collectors to gather heat given out from the generator itself, giving it a perpetual energy source," Leos stopped finally. It had been only three hours since his entrance into the throne room for questioning, and the rulers of the nation just simply sat there, surprised to no extent. It started with the subject of humans and their structure, then to humanity, electricity, machines, music, military, crime, authorities, and so on. The princesses were overcome with curiosity the more he explained.
About an hour in, the group of six Leos saw frequently entered and just listened. Except for the blue pegasus tackling him to the floor upon the assumption that the alien was attacking the two most important figures in pony society. Leos gave no resistance, and merely commented that he smelled a hint of daisies in her breath, confusing her enough for her to be pried off with a levitation spell. After getting back up and righting himself back where he was, even fixing the carpet that had been shifted slightly, he noticed the purple one with a compass rose cutie mark carrying plenty of writing utensils and scrolls. Upon sight of these, Leos offered to tell the princesses about pencils, pens, and computers. He was like a talking encyclopedia.
Everypony was silent upon hearing "perpetual energy source", except for a bouncy pink one who eagerly offered Leos the best cupcake he ever had blurting out "What's a perpetual energy source?" in her usual fast talking pace. He explained the notion of energy generated on its own, with the help of Twilight Sparkle, whom Princess Celestia introduced to Klein along with the rest of the five. An interesting lot.
Meanwhile, the new "statue" outside that had "appeared literally overnight" was gathering attention from the local news reporters and cameraponies. All were saying things along the lines of "mysterious addition" and "possible secret weapon". Of course, nopony is allowed to nonchalantly waltz right into the castle garden to take a peek, but it was still large enough to be seen and rouse suspicion. Already a few have been stopped from seeing it, even the most clever of thieves.
The room fell silent as everyone tried to think of anything else to learn from this well informed newcomer. Or at least until multiple instances of hungry stomachs' growling filled the room, reminding all in attendance that nobody, not even the guards, had eaten since daybreak. That was when Princess Celestia lead everyone to the royal dining hall, which made Leos question why many things had the "royal" prefix to them in the castle. It was so trivial that even both the royal princesses could not answer that no matter how hard they thought, so Celestia joked about it and moved on.
In the dining hall that almost equaled the throne room in size and majesty, everybody was served and everybody ate. Except for Leos, who insisted that he could not eat the food, which was all flower sandwiches and the like, for he lacks the ability to digest flora. He then went on to announce that his natural diet consisted of meat, vegetables and fruits, unfortunately scaring Fluttershy to a considerable degree. Understandable, knowing that the Raven is still an unknown species and eats meat, leading most to believe he eats ponies as well. Oddly enough, the princesses questioned the qualities of meat and its cooking process, though neglected to give any for fear of disorder.
"Meat is a delicate food item to cook with," Leos started, "Certain types of meat must be cooked thoroughly to kill off bacteria that can kill us, like fish, others cook very quickly, like certain types and cuts of beef from a cow." This garnered an angry glare from the orange farm pony. Fluttershy was huddling in a corner furthest from the omnivore, which was nearly impossible with him being in the center seat, whilst slowly eating her floral sandwich. Twilight was taking notes on a piece of paper she retrieved from somewhere only she would know, seeing as she never moved from her place at the table.
"And before you say anything that pertains to any regret or remorse of killing a sentient being for food," he stated in a slightly quieter tone, not wanting to scar the shy pony any more than he has already, "these animals are not intelligent enough for speech or even screaming. As horrible as this sounds, it's been our natural diet for an immeasurable amount of time. The Great Destruction wiped out many valuable sources of knowledge, so we can't really find out how long we've existed. Pity. We were so great back then."
A unicorn waiter, whose coat was nearly impossible to see due to the amount of objects on him, levitated a saucer onto the table in front of Klein and lifted the silver dome top covering a slice of steamy apple pie. How the inside filling refused to fall out at this heat escaped the Raven's mind. He turned to the waiter standing next to him and lowered his head. "Thank you. Much appreciated." The waiter gave a bow and trotted off. The Raven turned back to the table, meeting the gaze of seven surprised eyes.
"What?" he lifted his arms in a questioning gesture, "Never seen an alien with a sense of manners?"
"We don't meet aliens that often. In fact, you're the first," Celestia subtly joked in a half-serious tone, taking a bite of her salad.
"I bet you were surprised when we first met," he took a sip from his half-empty glass of water.
"Of course we were," both Luna and Celestia spoke simultaneously. "Our first alien declares non-hostility. We only fantasized ones that arrive and destroy everything, but you, we had no idea what to do with you," Celestia chuckled briefly.
Leos laughed, "Well, truth be told, I didn't know what to do either. I'm just here on a trip for I don't know how lon-"
A wave of energy interrupted Leos mid-sentence and washed over the attendants from the direction of a nearby large window overlooking the land of Equestria. All averted their full attention to the source of the wave only to see a large, pink object similar to Leos' armored core falling from the sky. It landed in the exact same place the Raven did: In the Whitetail Woods.
Leos Klein wasted no time in reacting as he got up from his seat and ran for the nearest exit into the statue garden. All the others followed suit, Celestia ordering the guards to get the carriages ready as fast as possible in the same area. Klein was already out of sight, having turned many corners and outrunning even the seasoned farmpony in his rush to his AC. Streaks of gold flew past the window as they left.
Leos had found his way outside with little difficulty followed by the six ponies that he barely knew. Passing by many stone figures and seeking out the only black object in the vicinity, he climbed up swiftly and pressed a hidden release button on the back of the core. He was forced to wait anxiously for the cockpit to show like the ponies and princesses awaiting their carriages in a similar manner. The steam dissipated, and the black cockpit box revealed itself finally. He hastily threw himself into the seat and strapped the safety belts around him.
He looked up to the company before pressing the green button, "When we get there, I'll handle the situation. No exceptions." He hit the button before anyone could respond, the black box slowly receding into the mainframe. Everything inside lit up with a plethora of different colors, the center panel lined with four switches on the left showed a blue screen intruded by the words "Standby". He hastily flipped the switches starting from the lowest one, a row of white boxes replaced with red counterparts with each switch activated. The cockpit lit up even more upon the last being activated, finally showing the viewport as the eye came alight.
He reversed his movements from overnight and righted is Hi-Laser rifle to its standard position, then used his boosters to lift off the platform rather than jumping in fear of damaging it. Once in the air, he strafed left and gradually turned in the direction of his unofficial mission into the countryside and more importantly, the woods where the unknown person landed. Multiple blips appeared on his radar as red circles, there being too many to count. The two princesses appeared on both the left and right ends of his three-screened view and HUD, looking back and giving a quick wink before returning to their flight.
He pushed too far forward on his boost speed handle that it unexpectedly clicked, followed by a loud whine and an unexpected boost of speed that left the others behind a large distance away. Leos appreciated this burst of speed despite the fact that it thrust him into his seat, and was quickly closing in on the site faster than before. Blurs sped past him and his flying armored core as the speedometer quickly yearned for 412km/h and the ever lush greenery he bore down upon grew with closed distance.
Soon enough, within a short time, Leos was already almost above the new armored core, dubbed by the 'operator' inside his own. Yanking back on the boost lever, the overboost came to a stop and the large black machine landed in front of the pink AC. All the others followed shortly. Time slowed to a standstill as the two giants stood face to face, glaring daggers at with their red eyes as if silently challenging the other to a duel of the masses.
The pink opposite was similar in shape to Leos' but held no similarities past that. The legs were bent slightly backward and lacked pink armor at the joint, showing only gray steel. The legs were slim and angled, unlike Leos' "Rabbit's Foot", which were straight and bulky. The sleek and thin core retained more pink and cradled the head in the crevice of the parting of armor. The arms were also very thin with a bit of an extension at the elbow, the right arm holding a dark gray block and held by an extension similar to Leos' weapon. The head lacked antennae and the whole frame itself did not contain any objects on the back of the core, unlike the latter's laser cannon and "missiles" he called them.
A light breeze shook the trees and instilled even more the element of stalemate in slow motion. That image died off swiftly when a blue object was pointed at the pink foreigner's head, held by none other than a black arm property of Klein's own armored core.
Inside the black AC, Leos had found the other pilot's transmitter channel with ease, and as he prepared to speak, he raised his KARASAWA Laser rifle at the other's pink head.
"Who are you?"