Chapter 13 - Hic sunt leones
In the moments following the sudden appearance of the armored creature in the room, Princess Celestia had the opportunity to get a good look at the appearance of their unexpected guest. For a brief moment she thought it could be some breed of Earth Dragon, but she quickly put aside the theory when she noticed the differences, aside for the lack of a tail.
The body was slim yet muscular, evidently evolved to be fast and agile, with long arms ending in tetradactyl hands with two thumbs, and powerful digitigrade legs, each one ending with what appeared to be a pair of big hooves, which matched perfectly with the strange footprints they had found in the town of Greenville.
The armor that the creature wore had a strange, almost alien design, with sleek surfaces dotted with small blue lights whose purpose was completely unknown, while lines of blue light adorned the edges of the pauldrons and the helmet.
The creature shifted its head to look at the ponies in the room, apparently to see their reactions, then it took a step back.
“Don’t move!” Steel Shield yelled, snapping from the state of trance generated by the completely unexpected situation. The stallion extracted his pistol with lightning speed and was aiming it at the intruder, while at the same time he readied his horn to fire a combat spell. A few steps behind the Captain, his attendant too extracted her sidearm, but judging by her unsteady grip on the pistol as well her expression, the mare was obviously scared. “You’re guilty of espionage and have infiltrated in the Royal Palace. Get on your knees with your hands behind your head!”
As expected, the creature didn’t seemed enticed by the idea of being arrested, so it tensed its body and emitted a low growl, getting ready to fight.
Princess Celestia decided to act before the situation could escalate. Her horn glowed with golden light as she casted a spell and a moment later the intruder found itself trapped inside a dome of energy matching the color of her magic.
The creature studied the energy shield for a moment and tested it with a couple of knocks, before punching its surface, but the only result was a series of small concentric waves around the impact site.
Celestia conceded herself a little satisfied smile. It was a simple low-level force field, one that required only a small fraction of her powers, but it seemed to work perfectly. The princess took a few steps toward the energy dome. The movement didn’t pass unnoticed to the creature, who turned its head toward her in a way that reminded the ponies of a raptor.
“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you, but I need answers. We’ve found traces your people’s activity in the town of Greenville. What were you doing there?”
The creature cocked its head slightly, but remained silent. It simply kept staring at the princess, studying her, before shifting its gaze upward, to her horn.
“It’s a waste of time, your majesty. I doubt this beast can understand us,” the captain said as he got closer to the dome, only to take a hurried step back when the creature snarled aggressively at him.
“It seems like our guest took offense of your words, Captain,” Twilight Sparkle commented dryly, observing the display with a hidden hint of amusement.
Taking a moment to recompose himself, the stallion addressed his narrowed gaze to the young alicorn. “Well, it doesn’t change the fact that this thing is an intruder.”
“Hey, what is it doing now?” Pinkie Pie asked as the creature grabbed an oddly shaped device from its hip. The design may have been completely unknown, but Celestia easily recognized the device as some kind of weapon by the pistol-grip. The pistol emitted a loud humming sound for a couple of seconds, before firing a globe of green energy against the force field. Due to the color of the energy projectile, Celestia briefly associated the weapon to the ones used by the changelings, but when the globe hit the force field, making it start to flicker erratically, she realized that it was something completely different. Something far worse.
‘Plasma,’ she realized not without a little amount of shock as she felt the superheated ionized ball of gas interact with her magic, in a way that was at the same time similar yet different to her bond with the sun.
No wasting time, the creature raised a leg and delivered a powerful kick against the force field, shattering it like it was made of glass.
Celestia was quick to recover and readied her horn to summon another force field, one stronger than the last one. The intruder, however, noticed the golden glow surrounding her horn and reacted, aiming the strange energy weapon her. Or more precisely, to her horn.
The green plasma bolt crossed the distance between them in a blink and grazed the tip of her horn, causing an explosion of pain in the head of the princess of the Sun.
“Celestia!” Twilight screamed, worried as she rushed to her former mentor, who had fallen on her knees and had now a hand pressed to a temple.
“I’m fine Twilight,” the elder alicorn hissed, trying without much success to ignore the pulsing headache. Cracking open an eye, she dared to take a look to her horn, only to see the last third of her horn blackened. ‘Not as bad as what Chrysalis did during the wedding, but it’s still unpleasant.’
She winced when her ears were assaulted by a new loud noise, similar to a hammer banged repeatedly against a hard surface or a series of thunders. Her brain took several moments to recognize the real nature of the sound. The two Solar Guards were firing their pistols.
The Zealot had just fired an overcharged plasma bolt to prevent the alicorn from using her powers and generate another force field, when the Captain and the other guard had opened fire, forcing Tarya to take cover behind one of the columns that adorned the sides of the throne room. Her shields could withstand without problem an assault rifle firing an entire magazine, but she was more concerned about the energy beams that the Captain fired with his horn.
‘Of all the planes in the galaxy, we had to end up on the one where the inhabitants have a Spartan Laser mounted on the head,’ she thought frustrated as she heard one of the energy beams rip a chunk of marble from the column.
Luckily, the alicorn known as Twilight Sparkle had not yet taken part to the fight, to which the Zealot could only be thankful. According to the readings of her scanners during the brief confrontation with Celestia, alicorns were able to summon levels of energy much higher than the rest of the population, thus she was inclined to believe that the young princess would have been a formidable foe. Daring to take a quick peek, she saw that the purple mare and her friends were fussing over princess Celestia, ensuring that she was fine and helping her back on her hooves.
It was only now that Tarya realized with horror the full entity of her actions.
‘I’ve just shot at one of the leaders of this planet. ... I so screwed up.’
On Sanghelios, as well its colonies, the penalty for an act like that against a kaidon was decapitation, usually by the hand of the kaidon himself if he survived the attack. So far the ponies had showed many similarities with the humans, but Tarya felt this was the worst way to see if they also had some element in common with her own kind.
Rolling out of cover, the Zealot raised her pistol and fired a couple of loose shots over the heads of the two Guards. The globes of plasma flew over the ponies, missing them entirely as she had planned, but they did their job as a diversion.
By the time the ponies realized that she wasn’t really attacking them, the Zealot had already covered half of the distance that separated her from the doors.
“Zhar! My cover is burned! We must leave, now!” Tarya shouted by radio as she made a beeline for the exit.
She was almost within reach of the handles when the decorated double doors opened, welcoming her with the unpleasant sight of a team of Solar Guards. The four ponies in the front row were equipped with halberds with glowing blades, while the six behind had rifles with bayonets. The soldiers in golden armor were clearly surprised by her appearance, but after a couple of seconds of confusion, they quickly recovered and aimed their weapons at her. One of the halberd-wielding guards tried to slash the blade of his halberd across her chest, but the Zealot avoided the worst of the attack with a hasty backward jump. Instinct kicked in and Tarya raised her pistol, pointing it to the guards. The soldiers faltered briefly, but held their position.
“You have no escape. Drop your weapon and surrender, now!” The Solar Guard Captain ordered behind her.
‘Not a chance,’ she thought, barely sparing the stallion a quick glance before returning her attention back to the guards blocking her only escape route. She didn’t have much time left, in the background she could hear the sound of more guards coming from the nearby corridors, alerted from the ruckus.
‘Alright, maybe if I manage to parry their blades using my sword, I should be able to-’
“Dash, no!” the orange mare with the odd accent exclaimed suddenly, interrupting her planning.
The next moment Tarya felt a smaller body slam against her with the force of a bullet, sending both of them to the ground.
Before any of her friends could react, Rainbow Dash took to the air and dive bombed against the armored creature with the speed of a lightning. The element of surprise combined with her speed seemed to work, the pegasus managed to knock the intruder off balance, but they had barely touched the floor when things took an unexpected turn. With an impressive display of martial discipline and physical prowess, the creature used the pegasus’ attack against her, transforming the fall into a roll and grabbing the much smaller opponent in the process.
By the time Rainbow Dash realized what was happening, she found out that her opponent had used its left arm to trap the pegasus in a headlock. Panicking, she tried to pry open with her hands the steely grip of the creature, only to freeze when she noticed with the corner of her eye that the creature was using its free hand to point its pistol to her head.
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight yelled in panic at the sight of one of her best friends being held as a hostage. The young princess and the rest of her friends took a few steps forward, but the creature reacted by pushing the energy weapon closer to Rainbow Dash’s head. The message was clear: try anything and your friend is dead.
“Nopony moves!” Celestia ordered before the guards or one of the Bearers could do something that could unnerve the intruder. Just one wrong move, and Rainbow Dash would die. With her magic temporarily unavailable and Twilight on the verge of a panic attack, her options were limited. ‘Oh Luna, where are you, sister?’
“Please, don’t hurt Dashie,” Pinkie Pie pleaded with teary eyes. Her usually poofy many had now completely deflated like an empty balloon.
The creature stared at the Element of Laughter in the eyes, then looked down to its hostage. Rainbow Dash had grabbed its arm with both her hands, not so much as to try to escape, as she had realized that her captor was much stronger than her, but rather to ease her neck and shoulder of the weight of her body, given that her legs were dangling in the air a few inches from the floor. After a few tense moments, the creature did something that shocked all those present. Maintaining its grip on the cerulean pegasus, it lowered its body slightly, allowing her hooves to touch the marble floor. Rainbow Dash allowed herself to take a small breath of relief; she was still in a very dangerous situation, the creature could still easily end her life either by shooting her or simply increasing its grip around her head, but at least she could now breath more easily.
That little act of kindness gave Celestia a spark of hope. A crazy idea started forming in her mind. It was risky, but maybe there was a way to come out from this situation in a peaceful way.
‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained.’
“Everypony. Stand down.” Celestia’s voice was calm, controlled, but it still resonated clearly through the entire throne room. She slowly raised her empty hands and took a couple of cautious steps forward. The creature noticed her action and aimed its pistol to her, looking nervously to her horn.
“Princess!”
“Don’t worry, Twilight. I know what I’m doing,” Celestia said, never breaking eye contact with the creature. ‘At least, that’s what I hope.’
The warrior has had plenty of occasions to use its weapon, but as she quickly rethought about the events of the past few minutes, she noticed that its first reaction when Twilight had disabled its invisibility device was to run away, using violence only as last resort and always trying to cause as little damage as possible.
“It’s alright,” she said, this time addressing to the figure in purple armor standing in front of her. “I’m disarmed and I mean you no harm. I only want to speak.”
The princess spoke with a calm and controlled tone, as if she was trying to approach a dangerous animal without provoking it. In a way, the situation was similar, but with the huge difference that the creature in front of her was evidently a sapient being.
“I know you can understand me.” It wasn’t much of a question, but rather a statement. “I want to solve this situation without further violence, but I need you cooperation.”
The creature stared silently at the Princess, before glancing left and right, in the direction of the guards.
Celestia caught the message. Like any good negotiator, she knew that trust was an essential factor in establishing a dialogue between factions.
“Guards, lower your weapons and take a few steps back.”
“But your highness-”
“Do as I said.”
Many of the Solar Guards exchanged nervous glances, torn between their loyalty to the Princess and their duty to protect her, but they all end to obeying, although with different levels of reluctance.
With the guards no longer in firing position and more distant, Celestia gave the warrior a little encouraging nod. ‘Your turn now.’
The intruder seemed to hesitate a moment, but it lowered the arm holding the weapon to its side, although without putting it away. It was a small step, but it was still a start.
“There. Isn’t it better?” The alicorn said with a little smile. “Now, I need you to release her.”
The creature remained silent, then motioned with its head behind it, toward the doors.
‘Ah, I see.’ Celestia frowned a bit, then shook her head slowly. “I’m afraid we can’t allow you to leave just like that. But I guess you already knew it, right?”
The shoulders of the creature slumped a bit, as if it was saying ‘It was worth a try.’
“I know that you probably don’t like it, but if we want to come out of this situation in a non-violent way, I need you to release my subject, and come with us. We have many questions and you have some explanations to give us regarding you and your people’s actions.”
‘She’s right, but this is not how it should have happened,’ Tarya thought darkly. ‘This was supposed to be a simple recon, not a first contact mission.’ The plan was to gather as much information as possible about the ponies and then contact them using the encrypted frequency that they had discovered the previous day, but all of sudden Tarya found herself playing the part of the diplomat, a role that she had never desired to do, and worst of all while she had one of the locals as prisoner.
Her escape plan didn’t involve taking a hostage, but when the pegasus had attacked her, her body had reacted automatically. Luckily Tarya had never lost control of her actions, otherwise she doubted the mare currently trapped between her left arm and her breastplate would still be alive.
“You’d better listen to the princess, big guy,” the pegasus, Rainbow Dash if she remembered correctly, said to the Sangheili with her scratchy voice.
The Zealot was about to point out that she was a female too, but stopped, still unsure if she should speak. The ponies already knew that she could understand their language, but if she spoke there was the chance that things would only turn more complicated. She highly doubted they would believe that in another sector of the galaxy there was another alien species that talked their same language, especially when the most logical conclusion was that the Sangheili had spied on them long enough to learn their tongue.
‘Urgh, dammit!’ she thought, frustrated. ‘Zhar is going to kill me! And if the rumors about him are true, not in the figurative way. Well, one problem at a time. I’ll deal with the Commando later. For now, let’s try to not turn this meeting in Harvest 2.0.’
With slow, careful movements, Tarya finally strapped her pistol to the magnetic plate on her hip and loosened her grip on the pegasus mare a bit, causing expressions of relief to appear on the faces of princess Twilight and her friends.
The Zealot shifted her stance a bit and took a calming breath, preparing to address princess Celestia, only to widen her eyes in surprise when she saw, behind the white alicorn, the Captain of the Solar Guard firing a combat spell at her.
‘Demon’s blood!’ she thought, outraged. The Sangheili threw Rainbow Dash to the ground and raised her left arm, summoning a diamond shaped energy shield. The beam bounced on the hard light surface and darted upward, right toward one of the big crystal chandeliers adorning the ceiling.
‘Oh, you have got to be kidding me.’
Warned of the imminent danger by her unusual premonitory abilities, Pinkie Pie grabbed both Rarity and Fluttershy by their shoulders and pulled them back. Unfortunately in the haste she didn’t get a good grip on the pegasus mare, who tripped and fell on her bottom with a surprised yelp.
“Fluttershy!” Rarity screamed.
The yellow mare raised her gaze and saw with horror the energy beam cut the chain holding the chandelier right above her. She closed her eyes in fear and covered her head with her hands, but she knew it was the end.
“Shuwe-mo!” (1) a powerful voice with a distinctively feminine tone barked just a moment before she was shoved aside by something big. Fluttershy landed safely in Applejack’s strong arms and it was with shock that she and her friends saw that the same being that had shot Princess Celestia and used Rainbow Dash as hostage was now standing where she was a moment before.
“No!” she screamed with anguish as she watched the heavy chandelier crash on her unexpected saviour, burying her under the combined weight of broken crystal and metal frame.
Reacting fast, Twilight used her magic to lift the destroyed chandelier.
The creature was on all fours, body shaking and breathing heavily, the shields of its armor glowing erratically with occasional sparks. The mysterious warrior raised its head and gave a brief thankful nod to the purple alicorn.
“Are you- are you alright?” Twilight asked nervously.
As for a clue, the energy shields collapsed with a loud cracking sound. The creature emitted a weak groan and collapsed heavily on the ground, losing consciousness.
While Fluttershy’s friend fussed over her to make sure she was fine, with Pinkie smothering the pegasus with her ample chest, Captain Steel Shield took a few steps toward the unconscious figure on the floor, keeping his pistol aimed at its head, when suddenly a magenta light enveloped the firearm and snatched it from his hand.
“What are you doing, princess?” The stallion demanded, barely holding back his irritation.
“I’m just preventing you from doing something else stupid,” she said sternly, using her magic to remove from the floating pistol both the magazine and the bullet already loaded in the firing chamber. “What in Tartarus names was that for? The princess had the situation under control, but with your actions not only did you waste her work, but you put my friends in danger!”
“That thing is a threat, we can’t take any risks! And I was waiting for an opening as to not risk hitting miss Dash.”
“What about Fluttershy, then?” Twilight asked, furrowing her brows.
“It’s that thing’s fault that the chandelier fell!”
“Which would have never happened if you hadn’t shot in first place!”
“None of this would have happened if your friend wouldn’t have tried to play the part of the hero!”
“Hey, I was just trying to help!” The cyan pegasus said defensively.
Without warning, Applejack slapped Rainbow Dash’s nape.
“Ouch! What the heck, AJ! What was that for?” she exclaimed in surprise, massaging the offended area.
“Ya know what was it for, ya featherbrain!”
“Don’t tell me you agree with him!” the pegasus asked with a sense of betrayal.
The farmer pointed a finger to the Captain without actually looking at him. “Ah’m not sidin’ with that trigger-happy idiot-”
“Hey!”
“- Ah’m angry with ya ‘cause what ya did was plain stupid! Ya worried us sick! What were ya thinkin’?!”
“That thing had just shot the princess and was probably going to go rampaging through the castle! I had to do something!”
“Oh, and yer great plan worked fer shure!” the apple farmer replied sarcastically, crossing her strong arms.
“Alright, I acted on impulse, but-”
“That's yer problem, Dash! Ya never think!”
“Oh, that's rich coming from you!”
“ENOUGH!” Celestia’s voiced boomed through the throne room like thunder, silencing everyone. “I will not tolerate seeing you quarreling like foals, especially in a moment of crisis like this. We have bigger issues at the moment.”
“You mean like the big scary guy in power armor lying unconscious on the floor?” Pinkie Pie asked casually, pointing with a thumb to the armored figure. “What? I was just asking,” she said to the multitude of deadpanning.
Ignoring the antics of the pink mare, Celestia turned toward Steel Shield and looked at him with a scowl similar to that of an upset mother. “Captain, we will discuss your actions later in private.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the stallion responded snapping to attention without even trying to protest.
“The same goes for you, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia added, turning her attention to the pegasus.
“Yes, princess,” she responded, mimicking the Captain.
Celestia nodded, satisfied. A thin stream of smoke rose from the tip of her horn as her magic repaired the damages of the plasma bolt. It was a process that would require a couple hours at least, but they could already see the horn starting to turn back to white from the base toward the tip at a slow yet steady pace. “Now, let’s try to find out something more about our guest.”
“Be careful, princess,” Rarity said with concern as the white alicorn knelt beside the body of the intruder to study it more closely.
“Is she fine?” Fluttershy asked, worriedly looking at the armored figure on the floor, causing several sets of eyes to look at her.
“She?” Rainbow Dash asked, raising a brow.
“I- I just know it,” Fluttershy said, looking down and fidgeting nervously with her long hair. There were far too many ponies looking at her for her liking.
Being well aware of the special empathic abilities of the pegasus, Celestia didn’t question her. However, Fluttershy’s words caused a dark thought to occur to her. ‘If this is really a female, then I’m afraid to find out what the males of her species are like.’
Celestia put her head closer to the helmet of the creature, tilting her ears to listen better. “I can hear her breath. It’s weak, but constant,” she said, causing Fluttershy to sigh in relief.
At a closer inspection, the princess noticed a small tube that connected the back of the helmet with the armor. Celestia grabbed it with her elegant yet strong fingers and carefully pulled it. The moment the tube came off with a faint hiss, the glowing eyes of the helmet turned off.
With her hands slightly trembling in trepidation, Celestia grabbed the helmet and slowly removed it, revealing the face of the creature. Having lived for a very long time, there were very few things that could surprise the elder alicorn anymore, and yet, when her eyes fell on the visage of the creature, she wasn’t able to withhold a little gasp of shock. ‘What in the name of the Maker are you?’
The head was long and reptilian in nature, covered by leathery skin with some scales located in certain areas. This was where the loose similarities with a dragon ended. The mouth didn’t have a bottom, instead it was split in four separated jaws, each one laced with rows of sharp teeth, while the eyes were covered by a single horizontal eyelid.
Overall, the creature had a decisively fearsome appearance.
Celestia’s gaze shifted to the armor she wore; it seemed to be made of some kind of ceramic material, probably mixed with other elements to make it stronger. Celestia gave up to her curiosity and touched the chestplate with her hand. As expected, the armor was too thick to feel anything underneath it. Biting her lower lip, she checked the muscular neck of the creature with a finger. Not knowing her anatomy, it took her a few moments, but in the end she was able to feel the pulses caused by the heartbeat of the creature. There was something strange, though.
“Twilight? I need your help.”
Her former student, who was scribbling on a notepad all the details she could gather from a first look, was at her side in a moment. “How can I help, Celestia?”
“I need you to cast a spell to amplify the sound of her heartbeat.” She would have done it herself, but until her magic healed her horn completely, she was temporarily unable to cast spells.
The younger mare nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating on her task. Her horn was enveloped by a magenta light, but as the seconds passed nothing seemed to happen. Twilight seemed surprised and furrowed her brows as she increased her efforts.
“Is something wrong, Twilight?” Celestia asked. The spell was relatively easy to cast and the fact that an individual as magically gifted as Twilight was taking so long to perform it was unusual.
“It’s strange,” Twilight mumbled. “The spell is having trouble interacting with her body. Her natural levels of magic are incredibly low, almost nonexistent. Uh, maybe if I use more mana…”
The light surrounding her horn glowed brighter and a couple seconds later they could hear a new sound in the air.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
It was definitely a heartbeat, but anypony could tell that something was wrong.
“Four beats? Is that an echo?” Applejack asked, confused.
“No. It’s not an echo,” Fluttershy said softly. “She has two hearts.”
“A binary circulation system?” Twilight exclaimed wide eyed. “But- How-?”
“With all due respect, your highness, this is neither the moment nor the right place to investigate the physiology of this creature,” Captain Steel Shield said, his hand subtly placed on the hilt of his sword for any eventuality. “For all we know, it may wake up at any moment.”
Celestia had to agree with the stallion. “You are right, Captain. Bring in a stretcher to carry her and prepare a containment cell. We have no idea of what she’s able to do.”
The guard to which she had addressed nodded and transmitted her order using his helmet radio.
The minutes that followed passed relatively quietly, the guards would stay mostly silent, aside for the occasional exchange of words spoken lowly and the clanging sound of the metal plates of their armors as they shifted on their posts. The main source of noise was the furious scribble of Twilight’s pen on the paper of her notebook as she kept writing notes and drawing sketches of the creature.
“So, what do you think she is?” Rainbow Dash asked to no one in particular while hovering a few feet in the air. Those who knew her could easily tell she was still wary after her recent hostage experience by her nervous gaze and the fact that the pegasus seemed to maintain a certain distance from the creature.
“I honestly have no idea, Dash,” Twilight said, putting aside her writing material. “I’ve never read about anything like her during my studies.”
“And neither I nor my sister have ever seen her kind during our lives,” Celestia said. Despite Steel Shield’s insistence, she had refused to leave the throne room to be examined by the royal physician until the creature had been taken care of.
“Maybe she’s an alien from outer space!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed with her usual childish enthusiasm.
“Pinkie, dear, don’t you think yours is a risky assumption?” Rarity said skeptically. “I mean, really? An alien?”
“Well, duh! What didya expected? A little hairless green pony with big eyes, a cute trumpet as nose, and funny antennas on the head? I mean, look at her! The cool armor, the flashy pistol that was all PHEW PHEW, and finally that strange language.”
Steel Shield scoffed. “Please. Aliens are just a myth.”
“Well, myths are often based on true facts. I mean, ponies thought that Nightmare Moon was a myth too, but now Princess Luna is in this castle,” Pinkie said, looking smugly as the stallion failed to find a way to rebut.
A few minutes later, four unicorn guards wearing the uniform of the Medical Corps came in the room carrying a wheeled stretcher big enough to easily carry an alicorn without problems. One of them, a green stallion with brown mane and squared glasses, took a double take when he saw the creature. “Wow, they told us it was a big girl, but I didn’t think this big,” he joked with a whistle of surprise.
“Enough talking, get busy!” Steel Shield ordered.
“Yes sir!”
Using their magic, the four guards levitated the mysterious warrior from the floor and deposited her on the stretcher. The contraption gave a weak groan of protest for the weight, but the steel alloy held. The guards then proceeded with the next step, fastening restraints made of a magically enhanced material around the arms, the legs, and the torso of the creature to prevent her escape in case she woke up before they reached the cell.
Fluttershy observed the entire scene with a conflicted expression.
“Are you alright, dear?” Rarity asked, looking at the pegasus with concern. The poor girl must have been still distraught from her near death experience.
“She saved me,” the meek mare said. “She could have let me die, but she saved me.” She turned toward her friends. “Why did she?”
None of her friends had an answer. The pegasus was not the only one who didn’t know what to think of the entire situation.
“I don’t know, Fluttershy,” Celestia said, gently putting a hand on the shoulder of the smaller mare to reassure her. “But I’m positive we’ll find it out when she’ll wake up. If you want, you may even be the one to ask her.”
The pink maned mare seemed unsure.
“Dun’ worry, Shy. Ya don’t have ta do it if yer not comfortable,” Applejack said.
“But if you want to do it, we’ll always be beside you,” Twilight assured her, before her eyes started sparkling. “Oh, there are so many thing that we may ask her!” she exclaimed, excited like a filly at Heart’s Warm Eve at the perspective of having a conversation with what was apparently a member of an unknown technologically advanced race. “Imagine all the things that we could learn!”
“Why am I not surprised to hear you say something like that?” Rainbow Dash asked sarcastically, smirking when the alicorn looked at her with an annoyed expression.
She was about to rebut, but stopped. “Urgh. Who’s breathing on my neck?” Twilight asked suddenly, feeling an annoying stream of warm air on her nape.
“Uh, Twilight? There’s nopony behind you,” Applejack said, confused.
The blood of the young alicorn froze.