1. The Spark

Deep in a vast abyss of chaos and surging energy, a spark flashed into existence. This was one of an uncountable sparks which came into existence that moment, and usually, such a spark would fade as fast as it had formed, but this spark was accompanied by five others. These sparks were close enough to light other sparks as they died, which in turn lit other sparks. For many generations this colony of sparks drifted through the void, occasionally encountering other similar colonies, merging with some and being brought to the brink of destruction by others. Slowly and intermittently the colony grew, becoming larger and more complex, until, after innumerable iterations, it had become comparably vast, and at last a solitary thought passed through it.

***

At 11:34 PM, Twilight Sparkle was rudely awoken from peaceful dreams by a loud knocking at the door. Brushing the silvery dust from her face, she rolled out of bed and onto the cold, crystal floor. Rubbing her head as she added ‘buy carpets’ to her mental to-do list, she stumbled toward the door.

Pulling the door open, Twilight was surprised to see a pegasus stallion wearing the golden metal armour of Celestia’s guards. He produced a letter and handed it to Twilight.

“Message from Princess Celestia,” he said, with the disinterested, almost mechanical tone of somepony who was likely unhappy to be sent out at this hour. He flew away before Twilight could respond.

Somewhat more lucid after this odd encounter, Twilight blinked the sleep from her eyes, opened the letter and read:

Princess Twilight Sparkle,

I apologise for interrupting you at this hour, but there is an urgent matter which requires the attention of all the princesses of Equestria. I must ask that you come to Canterlot at once. I will explain the situation when you arrive. It’s an official matter, so you should dress appropriately. I have sent this letter by courier, as it is highly classified information which Spike must not be made aware of, so ensure you are not seen.

Princess Celestia

Twilight didn’t know what to think about this. Why could be important enough to demand the attention of all the princesses in the middle of the night, and why was it so secret that nopony could know where she was going? Could Equestria be on the verge of war? She’d certainly never heard anything about that! Although, there had been some minor disputes over trade with Saddle Arabia, but that surely wasn’t enough to start considering conflict, was it?

She realised that she was letting overthinking get the better of her and cleared these troubled thoughts from her head. Whatever it was, she needed to remain calm. She returned to her bedroom, donned the element of magic, cast an invisibility spell, and flew off into the night.

***

Twilight was met by Celestia at the palace gates.

“Twilight, you’re here,” she said in hushed tones, “please, come inside, Cadence is already here.”

Inside the palace throne room, Luna and Cadence were excitedly discussing something, but became silent as Twilight and Celestia entered.

“So, what is this all about?” asked Twilight.

“Well, Twilight,” began Celestia, “we have made contact with, well, aliens.”

***

Discord was sleeping in the crawlspace of somepony in Manehattan when he was suddenly awoken by a strange feeling. Looking around, he saw only darkness, which was to be expected, so he illuminated the area. He could not see anything out of the ordinary. Well, nothing that could be responsible for this strange sensation, and he was in no position to judge strangers. Testing this sensation, he teleported to the skies above Appaloosa. There was no change, besides a sort of different… direction, he supposed. Feeling hungry, he decided that, whatever it was, it could wait until after… a very early breakfast, that’s what he’d consider it. It was after drinking a lemonade of glass that he remembered the last time he had felt this sensation, and the realisation made him drop the lemonade, which shattered on the ground before turning into rainbow-coloured string.

“No, it can’t be. Not again.”

Discord closed his eyes and concentrated on the sensation. Thinking about it, it was like a feeling of connection, of union with another being. It was as if he was detecting himself, somewhere far away. After a while he thought he could discern a location, and, his face heavy with concern, soared into the sky.

***

“Aliens!?” shrieked Twilight, “here, now?”

“We were surprised as well,” answered Celestia. “We received a radio transmission from their spaceship, and they’re sending an ambassador to speak with us.

“They will be teleporting into this room to stay undetected by the public,” interrupted Luna, “that way, we can release this information and avoid any… unfortunate assumptions.”

“And we can avoid excessive panic in case they turn out the be hostile,” Celestia finished.

“I can’t believe this is happening!” exclaimed Twilight, her expression of shock still in place, “the only time aliens have been encountered before was during that incident.”

Celestia’s face fell. “Thank you again for forgiving my actions that day. I still don’t understand what happened to me.”

“Celestia, you and I both know that you weren’t in control that day. Whatever it was that made you do those things, you can hardly be called responsible.” Twilight smiled, hoping to cheer the elder alicorn up.

This was interrupted by Luna, who said, “The ambassador is scheduled to arrive in ten minutes, on the metal plate in the centre of the room. That way they can lock onto an object, preventing any unfortunate accidents.” Twilight shuddered at the thought of teleportation accidents. There was a reason that particular brand of magic was only taught to highly experienced unicorns, and only used in dire circumstances or carefully planned situations. She remembered the time she had first attempted to teleport. She had just been a filly at the time, and it was a very close call. Still, those feathers had only merged into her skin, and the wounds had to healed pretty fast.

Twilight's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by an unfamiliar voice.

“Hello, I’m the Doctor.”

Author's Note:

*Cue opening credits*

After a long self-imposed exile, I'm back, and have a whole lot of reading to catch up on.

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