//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 - First Contact 
// Story: Flight of the Golden Eagle - A New World 
// by Acacia Sgt 
//------------------------------//

Mountain Base

The light of dawn began to shine between the trees, signaling to the pegasi the start of a new day. They rose from their slumber, and began preparations, packing up and donning their armor.

“Remember, everypony, we’ll fly around the mountain, and descend once near the forest edge to just above the tree cover, and keep that altitude,” Wing Shield said, already clad in his armor, as the pegasi moved around him.

“Any last questions?”

“Sir, will we touch land?” One of the pegasi asked.

“I’ll touch land, but the rest of you should stay in the air,” Wing Shield replied.

“Will we have our weapons at hoof, captain?” Thundershock asked.

Wing Shield paused to think.

While neither Keen Eyes and I saw, they are bound to be carrying weapons, even if for protection. I should do the same. Our armor would already give away we are soldiers, but we must avoid making them think we are approaching them with hostile intentions.

“A few of you will carry your weapons,” he finally said, looking back at the pegasi.

Just then, two pegasi stood before him. They were Thunderbolt and Scud. Unlike the others, they weren’t clad in armor, only carrying saddlebags instead.

“We’re ready, captain,” Thunderbolt said.

“We’ll inform the princesses and be back before you know it,” Scud added.

“We are counting on you to report this, so make haste,” Wing Shield said.

“We’ll do, sir.”

Both pegasi saluted before spreading their wings. Thunderbolt looked over to Thundershock.

“Be careful,” he told him.

“Don’t worry about me brother, I can take care of myself,” Thundershock said.

“I’ll take responsibility for whatever happens, Thunderbolt,” Wing Shield reassured.

“Hopefully there will be no need for that,” Thunderbolt replied before facing back to Thundershock.

“I mean it Thundershock. Let the captain deal with what happens, and don’t disobey him.”

“Come on, Thunderbolt, let’s not waste time,” Scud said.

“Fine. Let’s be on our way,” Thunderbolt.

And with that, both he and Scud took flight. They elevated past the tree line, and speed off quickly out of sight.

Thundershock let out a sigh.

“It’s not like I would actually do it,” he said.

“Well, what else can you expect from him,” Wing Shield said.

“He’s your brother, and he won’t be there to keep an eye on you,” he then chuckled. “Besides, we know he would still warn you even if he had stayed.”

“Well, I say he over worries,” Thundershock said before walking off.

Almost soon after, another pegasi walked up to Wing Shield and saluted.

“Preparations are done, sir,” he said.

It is time, Wing Shield turned to face him.

“Understood, tell everypony to take to the air, we depart now.”





Beach

At the human camp, the sun was only barely peeking over the mountain when it began to stir. The atmosphere was mainly calm as its occupants were mostly having breakfast, though others were either keeping watch or surveying the nearby area. And like in the previous day, another meeting was happening aboard the ship.

“So how long we will stay before heading back?” Lemaur asked.

“I would not advice for more than a few days,” the captain said.

“Unless they can be replenished in this land, supplies will only barely last for the return voyage. That, or we find fish to be more common now that we are close to shore.”

“Personally, I think we should be back by Easter,” Álvarez spoke.

“For that we would have to go back almost right away,” Austin pointed out.

“We are that close?” Álvarez was surprised to hear that.

“Did you forget? We departed in the early days of Lent,” Austin said.

“In any case, I would not want to miss out the opportunity to learn more of this land,” Lemaur said.

“It would be a shame to wait. The return voyage, the time debating of going back, then the voyage back itself. If I may, not all of us have to return.”

There was a pause as the thought sank in.

“Leave some behind? We have not yet learned enough of this place to know if it would be safe to do such thing,” Guerrero said.

“I concur,” Austin said.

“It would be at best a month before another ship sails back here. Should anything happen, there would be little to nothing that could be done about it.”

“It would be a risk to take,” the captain spoke up.

“But perhaps a day or two can be dedicated to determine that.”

“I would advise against staying long either way,” Álvarez said.

“We need to report back as soon as possible, and verify at least that whatever happened months ago has not happened again during our absence.”

A sense of dread filled the room.

“I’d rather not think about that,” Lemaur said.

“And I would not be wrong to say that I am speaking for everybody here.”

“Well, we cannot ignore that possibility,” Álvarez pointed out.

“Both are right,” Guerrero said.

“But for now, let us focus on our current course of action.”

A silent unanimous agreement followed.





North of the human camp

The pegasi had finished flying around the mountain, the land below them still filled with trees, and the ocean within sight in the far-off distance. It was only a matter of time, though, as the forest’s edge was now within their sights. As per Wing Shield’s orders, they had started to descend, all but Keen Eyes.

They flew in formation, with Wing Shield at the front, flanked by two others, one of which was Thundershock. They, like a few others at the front, carried their spears in a fore hoof, standing upwards if slightly tilted forward. Other than that, everypony were carrying their own things, placed either in saddlebags hanging at their sides, or by the pegasi in the back, carrying bigger bags in conjunction.

The pegasi were making their way south, between the mountains to their east, and the ocean to their west. The trees were soon now behind them, replaced by grassland as they kept their flight south.





Beach

As midday approached, activity at the camp had subsided compared to early morning. The meeting in the captain’s quarters continued, the watchmen remained at their posts, some mingled around camp, while others engaged in conversation.

The two north watchmen were no different, dutifully at their post. One was tending to his firearm, but the other had his eyes forward.

And that’s when he saw it.

Various dots began to appear in the northern sky. He could’ve easily dismissed them as a flock of birds, if it wasn’t that they began to get bigger, and take a more defined shape.

“Y-you need to see this…” he barely mouthed to his companion.

“Finally saw something?” The second man removed his gaze from his rifle.

“You interrupted me just for some bir…”

But a prolonged gaze at them had proven him wrong.

But they were no longer the only ones. Various men had also taken noticed and were only staring as well, provoking the rest to slowly follow suit. Shocked expressions began to overtake the camp, but one man had found enough willpower to ran to the ship.





They’ve noticed us, Wing Shield thought, watching the distant figures stop their movements. Even if he couldn’t tell et with his eyes, he knew they had stopped moving because they were aware of their presence.

“Slow down, everypony,” he ordered.





“This is getting us nowhere,” Austin said.

“The day could pass by with us debating and it would be a day lost.”

“I agree,” Guerrero said.

“It would be up to them to decide if to stay or not. But one thing is going to be certain: if the majority do not decide on staying, then everybody will leave. It would be a risk to leave so few behind on unknown land.”

He turned to face Lemaur.

“Would that be acceptable?”

“Yes,” Lemaur simply answered.

Just then without warning, the door suddenly swung open.

“What’s the meaning of this!?” The Captain demanded of the man at the doorway.

“Outside… it… they… you won’t… believe this…”

The man was barely articulate, speaking in the middle of panting and shock, before finally collapsing on the floor.

The men looked at each other before making their way outside.





When the men made it outside, the atmosphere was quiet. And it was not hard to see why once they reached the edge of the deck.

And they too were not prepared for what they saw.

“Those are…” Álvarez began, but found himself unable to continue.

“… horses…” Austin tried, but he too would speak no more.

“… with wings,” Guerrero found himself finishing the statement.

And perhaps because of that, the statement came out sounding more incredulous than it seemed.

“That is unbelievable. Those are creatures from myth!” Lemaur protested.

“And yet, it cannot be our eyes are all lying,” the Captain said.

“Just look at the men.”

For indeed, looking over at them, the men were all but looking directly at the equines. Some could even be seen backing away from them. Others were murmuring between themselves.

The equines, for their parted, simply stared, flapping their wings to stay hovering in place, but nothing else for the most part.

“This is absurd,” Lemaur continued.

“It should not be possible.”

“Gentlemen, are we going to still dwell on that, and not on the fact they are clad in armor?” Austin pointed out.

Which indeed it was.

“War horses?” Álvarez asked.

“But where are the riders?” Lemaur added.

“Wait, aren’t some of them, in their hooves… carrying spears!?”

This surprised them more.

“This is not normal. Just what is this place?” Austin asked, but none could answer.

They didn’t know what to do, but they knew something had to happen. Just then, Guerrero moved towards the ramp.

“Sir?” Álvarez asked.

“You are not really thinking on…?” 

“I am going to get to the bottom of this,” Guerrero said.

“But sir, these creatures… they…”

Álvarez tried, but could not finish that statement.

“They are not doing anything but stare, it seems,” Austin noted.

“I would still advice to keep our distance, but it doesn’t look like we are in any apparent danger.”

“We should try to get the men to focus and be ready for anything. Not that many are currently armed, but anything is better than letting them be overtaken by the strangeness of the situation,” the Captain said.





“Um, Captain, what should we do now?” Thundershock whispered.

Wing Shield assessed the situation, now that he had a better view of these creatures.

They were peculiar. They stood on their hind legs and upright. Of course, he had seen some animals, and even some ponies, do this before. But for these creatures it seems it was the norm. The only creature he could compare it with was Discord, who had seemed to prefer moving around that way.

They all wore clothes, with no exception. It looked like they had seen better days, but that could be excused due to their voyage across the sea. It was hard to tell with the clothes, but it didn’t seem like they had coats, though their skins came in various tones, and their manes were short.

Just then, he saw a few more emerging from their vessel. In comparison, these had a different look. He could tell from their appearance and clothes. Their leaders?

One of them was not following the others. In fact, it was walking towards them.

“Sir?”

Thundershock once again tried to get his attention.

“It’s time,” Wing Shield merely said.

“Remain alert.”

Wing Shield descended and touched land. With a slow trot, he began to approach the creature.





“What is he doing?”

“Has he gone crazy?”

“Should we follow?”

The men couldn’t believe what Guerrero was doing. Approaching those… horse things… on his own. They didn’t fail to note one of them was now moving towards him.

They didn't fail to notice Lemaur and the others approaching them.

“Sir, what do we do?” They asked.

“Stay on guard, but for now, just watch,” Lemaur answered.





For Guerrero, these equines were full of surprises. Beyond the wings, beyond the armor… another peculiar thing about them was their colors. Never before could he have foretold that he would ever see horses in colors such as blue, or green, or purple. And yet here they were, and in other colors than those.

Also, now that he could see closely, especially with the one that was approaching him, these horses did not seem… big enough. He could almost say they were more the size of ponies, but even these looked smaller still.

And there was also their behavior. They seemed like too smart for mere animals. On the other hand, perhaps they were simply well trained. Perhaps soon they’ll find the owner of these equines, and have the answers they were seeking in this strange land.





And thus, man and pony slowly approached each other. Both sides could only stare, as these events transpired. It was a heavy atmosphere that blanketed the area.

They were close now, and soon came to a stop. They only stared each other, neither daring to make the first move.

And no one would know at the time, but it would be a day that history will never forget.