Is it because we have fingers like theirs?

by lazerbear7

The Beginning

Author's Note:

So this is the first chapter of this thing I'm trying, also my first pony fanfic, so any reviews and advice would be helpful! Thanks!

A crackling voice broke out from all six of the earpieces that sat around the somewhat cramped cabin of the Skyranger, which was still screaming towards its destination faster than even sound itself.

“Your destination is getting close. We’re setting you down in a sparsely populated area near the border of Russia. The crashed alien craft went down close by, and you can expect some heavy resistance. Your mission, as always, is to sweep the area, and make sure that all contacts are eliminated. Understood?”

A series of clicks from the soldier’s audio feed signaled that they had all understood the message, and the six looked around at one another.

Louis Moore, a robust and somewhat abrasive man from America, smiled and looked around, his eyes lingering on Zoe Robinson, one of the few people he hadn’t talked with yet. It was their first mission together, and apart from a few awkward conversations that always seemed to be cut off by a variety of things, one of which had been this very mission.

His eyes traced her figure first, admiring the way she looked in the white Archangel armor. It somehow mixed well with her messy red hair. Standard uniform regulations required that hair be shorter than shoulder length, but he could imagine it in the long ponytail that she said she’d had before coming in. There was a part of him that felt nervous, but he attributed that to the fact that she had a sniper rifle strapped to her back that was probably the most dangerous rifle that had been ever made.

He had never been much for reading, but he recalled that Dr. Vahlen’s report had been distributed to all soldiers regarding plasma weaponry, and it had emphasized the amount of power that elerium was capable of generating.

Suddenly his own heavy laser gun didn’t feel all that impressive. He knew that feeling would disappear once he was blasting away at a target, but suddenly he felt a little nervous. Maybe there was a reason their conversations always got interrupted. Maybe asking her about the Australian drop bear wasn’t the best idea.

He shot a scowl over at the man across with him, the only other American soldier in the barracks. Sam Freeman had told him that Australian drop bears were real, and that they were some of the most dangerous predators in Australia. Still though, what the man lacked in casual honesty, he more than made up for in dependability on the battlefield. His plasma rifle wasn’t nearly as damaging or as accurate as Zoe’s sniper, but the man’s willingness to charge to his allies’ side, even when it was dangerous, was something that Louis had learned to appreciate. And his smoke grenades and medical kit didn’t hurt either.

He saw Miles O’Brian trying to catch his eye, and smiled. The man was Irish. Very, very Irish. Louis was fairly sure that he had even seen the man sneak a few drinks from a flask every now and again, but he was never too sure. He had the same model of heavy laser that Louis used, albeit with a few more scuffs and scratches on its sides. He had an unfortunate way of getting into sticky situations, and getting caught by an astounding amount of fire. It was never really even his own fault, fate just seemed to have some kind of vendetta against him. He often joked that, if there was a God, then he was obviously jealous.

When he saw that he had gotten Louis’s attention, he smiled and nodded his head in Zoe’s direction, a sly smile on his face. His eyebrows waggled and he seemed to be encouraging him to talk to her. Louis had told him of his desires to get to know her a little better, and now it was clear he thought he was helping. His scruffy curly hair bounced as it hung down, almost blocking his view. He didn’t have an issue seeing through it though, at least that was what he said.

He sighed, and turned to the side again. It was stupid to be so nervous. They were all in this together, and they were in a dropship heading towards a crashed alien vessel. Things were calm, but they all knew that something could go horribly wrong. Even though it had only been a small craft, their lives were going to be in just as much danger as they had ever been. They’d lost friends before, and Louis wasn’t going to go out without trying this one little thing.

Emily Turner watched the man’s inner monologue with a smile. When he started talking to the sniper, it was even better. She nudged Kato Diallo with an elbow, and pointed discreetly.

The large man smiled, and leaned in close to whisper. His deep voice almost seemed to vibrate her eardrum, and his thick accent took half a second to process.

“I told you they’d get together. Kato knows, and not because I’m psychic.”

Emily gave a small chuckle. Kato was indeed psychic, one of the few operatives that had been found to have the gift. That was one of the reasons that few of the other troops ever talked to him. It was a shame, but they didn’t know what they were missing.

Emily didn’t mind his psychic abilities. One of her best friends in the barracks, a Londoner like her, as slim as the chances were, had also been a psychic. That was until a thin man had caught her in the neck with a lucky shot.

She tried not to think about it.

She knew that psychics weren’t any more or less dangerous than a normal person. At least, so long as one was in their good graces. Humans were entirely new to the world of psychic powers, and inadvertently lashing out with them was far on the horizon for any human, not just those who’d had their potential unlocked.

It wasn’t too far from her own genetic modifications, really. Many soldiers got gene mods, but most didn’t like to talk about it too much. It was a simple fact of service that to save humanity, you had to give up a little of your own. It wasn’t a modification born from alien DNA either, which spared her some of the prejudice. She was the owner of adaptive bone marrow, which gave her powerful regenerative capabilities, but she tried to keep from thinking about it too much.

His armor was the first of its kind, a psychically reactive material that would enhance his potential even further, pushing him to the limits of what humans were currently capable of. The jet black, thick, and nearly skin-tight suit was a stark contrast to her own much larger armor.

It was the third of its kind made, and was the first foray of humanity into the field of powered armor. An elerium generator inside guaranteed that no matter what she was doing, the suit would practically outlive her. This fitted her just right, because she had demonstrated just how wiling she was to get up close and personal with any alien. Her alloy cannon had a few things scribbled on its side, names of comrades, numbers of kills, and maybe a few smiley faces. She had intended it to be a joke, like how bombs used to have phrases painted on them, but it had only really succeeded in making most of the others think she was insane. A theory that might’ve had more proof than she would like to admit, considering her combat style.

She sighed. Maybe that was why she had a rough time making friends among the soldiers. Regardless, she was more than a little enthusiastic about killing aliens.

A few more minutes passed, idle chatter passing between every squad member. Louis managed to start up a fairly lively conversation with Zoe, and the others got to exchange a few words too.

After most of the talking died down, the voice of their commander came over the communication channel again.

“Alright people, you’re coming in for a landing. Stay ready out there, we never know When we might be surprised.”

They could hear the landing gear unfold from the bottom of the Skyranger, and felt as the cabin seemed to jump when it touched down. Their expressions faded as their minds slid into the hardened and practiced squad of killers they’d all trained to become.

They stood, drawing their weapons and turning towards the door in an almost mechanical fashion. Every single one of them knew what they were doing. The ramp lowered to the ground, letting fresh air rush in from what had been a slanted wall moments before.

The acrid smell of smoke was heavy in the air as the squad started to disembark. Their eyes scanned the nearby environment for any sign of contacts, and the fading daylight cast their shadows back into the craft like a trail behind them.

Pillars of smoke not too far away billowed into the sky, and the shattered trunks of trees that had been knocked down laid strewn about. The area they were in was wet, with large puddles having already formed near where some of the trees had fallen, as well as by some of the taller stumps. A moment of tense silence settled over the small group as they looked for anything immediate.

A light breeze blew the leaves of trees and ferns, but those were the only things that moved. Emily spoke in a hushed but clear voice, and they all heard it echoed through their communications channel.

“All clear. Zoe, get some height and cover us. Sam, Kato, you two cover our sides. Everyone else, stay close.”

Given their general formation orders, the troops complied, Louis and Kato splitting off to opposite sides, crouching behind fallen trees, eyes still peeled for any enemy contact. Zoe took the few short seconds to activate the powerful thrusters in her armor, lifting her off the ground. She maneuvered easily in the armor, and soon was fifteen meters high.

There was still no sign of the enemy, so Emily’s voice came again.

“Move up. Stay in cover, we still don’t know what we’re dealing with.”

All except for Zoe moved forward, taking whatever cover they could get. A small hill stood between the squad and their target, and several small fires fed by what small pieces had been knocked free of the flora. There were larger stumps at the top, twice any one of their height, and the group knew those would make far better cover than any of the surrounding landscape.

They continued to move up, running from cover to cover, scanning for targets, and repeating. Perhaps it wasn’t the fastest way to approach, but it was necessary.

Emily was the first to reach the higher ground, her shoulder slamming into the thick trunk, scraping off more than a few large clusters of bark. A small smile crossed her face again when she saw that it hadn’t left so much as a single smudge.

Then she looked up. Movement immediately caught her eye, and two humanoid figures turned to look at her. The blue business suits and tall, wiry frames were unmistakable. The two figures were what had been deemed “thin men”. The attempt of the invaders to mimic human features was certainly impressive, but they still looked just a different enough to enter into the uncanny valley.

She shouted out instantly, already hearing the footsteps of her comrades approaching behind her, and brought her alloy cannon to her shoulder.

“I have contact!”

She didn’t hesitate in pulling the trigger, and the gun jumped back in her hands. A thick green wad of superheated plasma was blasted from the end of her weapon, sizzling and spitting as it approached its target.

Thin men were somewhat infamous among all soldiers for their quick reaction time, and a wide range of movement. This made them difficult to hit, especially with a weapon like hers. The alloy cannon was designed for close range, and they were at least twenty meters away.

The shot was inaccurate, and splashed against a small pile of rocks behind the thin men. The rock disintegrated, crumbling into nothing, and both thin men shot her a snake-like scowl before turning and running towards the nearest cover they could find.

Louis hit a tree close by hers in mostly the same way she had, and leveled out his heavy laser gun, already pointing in the direction Emily had shot. He managed to get a visual on the two, started to fire at the closest. A volley of red beams streaked through the air, simply appearing and disappearing nearly faster than the eye could see, and the majority of the shots hit the alien across the chest, burning through its human clothes and scorching the flesh underneath.

The creature dropped into the mud, and in one last attempt to defend the crash, vented all of the vile poison that they normally were able to spit over large distances. It hit the ground in front of it, then expanded out in a sickly green cloud, obscuring the body.

The remaining thin man was able to get behind a partially burning tree stump, and ducked behind it before Louis could switch targets. The muzzle of Louis’s weapon was red hot, and he would have to give it a moment to cool off. Emily’s gun wouldn’t be much use at a distance like this, but she had to make sure that the thin man kept his head down. Physically a thin man was strong, but it wasn’t durable. They relied on maneuverability rather than armor. This was a perfect position to keep it pinned, and let the others flank it.

Before any flanking could happen, a sharp crack echoed out from behind, and a bright green bolt of plasma struck in the perfect center of the alien’s chest. Its body spasmed similarly to the first, spewing its toxin around it, but to no avail.

Zoe’s voice came over their ear pieces, and she sounded excited.

“Yeah, nailed it!”

Emily and Louis both smiled, and Miles joined them, looking out from behind a third tree. Without talking to him specifically, Emily spoke again, taking a deep breath, calming herself.

“Opposition eliminated. Moving up.”

She glanced to the sides, verifying that Kato and Sam were still on their flanks. Kato was still fairly close, and was trying to get some view of what had happened. Emily was about to tell him it had only been a pair of thin men, but before she could, Sam’s voice exploded in her ear, accompanied by a burst of static.

“Floaters! They don’t look too-“ There was the crack of plasma from somewhere to the left. “-Gah! Going to need help here!”
Emily, Louis, and Miles all Charged in that direction, temporarily ignoring the need for cover. They had to reach their teammate quickly, before he got hurt. If he hadn’t already.

It was only a few steps before Sam became visible again, crouching behind a waist-high rock, with green plasma bolts flying past, hitting the ground around him. He was pinned, with no chance to fire back. They still couldn’t see his attackers, but the angle of the attacks made it clear where they would be.

They were slightly above him, on an elevated formation of bare rock. The floater that was firing at Sam was hovering half a meter off the ground, and the rest of its kin hovered about three meters off the ground to either side.

Jagged rock formations sticking out of the mossy grey ground provided some cover for Miles and Louis, but Emily didn’t stop. Instead she broke out into a full-on sprint, several tons of powered armor barreling towards the aliens.

Floaters weren’t like thin men. They were vicious and bloodthirsty, seeming to be consumed by rage constantly. They looked like they might’ve been humanoid once, but no longer were. Their entire lower body had been removed, and replaced by high powered jets. Most of their organs had also been removed, and replaced with more efficient cybernetic versions. They tended to move quickly and jerkily, and were arguably even more dangerous than thin men. The reptilian thin men were cold and calculating, but floaters were far more energetic in their murder.

Even knowing all this, Emily continued to plow towards them, undaunted.

The two that weren’t entirely fixated on Sam turned to face the newcomers, lifting their weapons and roaring, taking a few shots. Emily bowed her head and kept running, knowing that if she could just get close enough and strike fast, the three would hardly be an issue at all.
Her armor could handle it, she was sure, but it wasn’t going to feel good. Her eyes locked on the floater’s gun, and as it discharged, it was like time slowed down.

She didn’t do any cognizant thinking about what it was her body did, it simply reacted on its own. Her left shoulder pulled back and her torso rotated just a few minor degrees. It was enough to make the next step awkward, but as she blinked and time seemed to resume a bright streak of green flew worryingly close to her chest. It would’ve hit her otherwise.

The other floater’s shot was less accurate, and hit the ground next to her foot, causing her to flinch slightly but nothing more.
In the second that their firing paused, she met the top of the small hill and, without stopping, brought her alloy cannon to her shoulder again. Now it was in its element, and would do everything it was intended to do.

Shards of alien alloy coated in thick plasma exploded out, practically shredding the floater apart. What few parts of its body that were still flesh melted away, and the advanced power cells that fueled the rest exploded, sending blood and metal flying.

Emily still wasn’t done, though. The middle floater still fired at Sam, but she saw its eyes flick sideways at her, angry. The far floater was already about to fire again, and hitting her would be no challenge at this distance, even if she was still moving.

Her feet dug into the ground, and her torso pivoted so that she might be able to quickly blast the floater before it got a shot off. Aiming on the run was no easy task though, and when she fired a second time, she found that it was a much less perfect shot than her first.

The floater still suffered damage, but it was only a glancing hit. The floater’s mostly mechanical arm was blown back, and from the way it suddenly dove towards the ground injury-first, its propulsion had also taken some damage.

The first floater was quickly becoming aware of its own dire situation, and decided that fleeing would be its best option. It gave a sudden burst of speed, and went spiraling off in the opposite direction. It made it about ten meters before slamming to an abrupt halt, and switching direction. Its arm stretched out, catching a large tree trunk, and it swung itself behind it, jets scraping against the ground briefly.
Emily didn’t worry about that, though. Not yet, anyway. The injured floater was still moving around, screeching and flailing like it was cursing her.

Emily tried to shoot it before it could do anything else, but its working arm lifted its weapon, and it spat a hot wad of plasma in her direction. The creature was likely in too much pain to aim properly, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be lucky.

There was no time to react this time. The green bolt hit Emily between her armpit and ribs, causing a quite painful jerk back.
That was definitely going to leave a mark, both on the armor and on her body. It hadn’t been enough to break anything, but another hit like that would have far harsher consequences.

Sam was now free to look up from what remained of his cover, and saw the floater still flailing, and was about to take a shot when the high-pitch hiss of lasers rang out, and countless bright red beams cut through the twilight about a meter above his head. The first barrage missed its target, hitting worryingly close to Emily.

“Damn! Adjusting aim!”

Half a second later, another volley spewed forward. This time he met his mark, and a series of searing burns appeared under the intense red light, causing the floater to give one final jerk before dying.

Before the second hail of lasers had even finished, Sam was vaulting over the remains of his log, sprinting towards Emily. He could see that she was examining the damage she’d taken, and with a hostile still active, she couldn’t just be standing out in the open like that.

“Emily, get down!”

As he got closer to the crest of the hill, he could see the glow of the floater’s gun peeking out from behind a stump, and without breaking pace, he tackled Emily off her feet. Her powered armor made it incredibly difficult, but with his whole weight in his shoulder, he was able to topple her behind another fallen log.

As soon as he hit her, she realized her mistake, and scooted closer to the log. It wasn’t a second too soon, either, because the floater’s shot glanced off the top of the log, taking a large chunk of bark with it.

Sam poked his head up and looked. He expected the floater to be preparing another shot, but instead, it was looking to the side. Sam followed its gaze and saw Kato, his hand outstretched from behind a tree and a bizarre dark purple glow emitting from his eyes and palm, reaching towards the floater.

Sam knew what was happening. Kato was psychic, and he was making use of those abilities to help his friend. Still, that didn’t mean that he was perfectly alright with psychics. He tried to maintain on open mind about the whole thing, but it simply freaked him out that some humans had powers like that, and that the vast majority of those rare individuals were unaware of their own abilities.

He’d heard talk from a few of the doctors about association, and decided that it probably the case. He’d seen lots of aliens use powers like that, the squat little sectoids and the much more imposing ethereals were also innately psychic. They were very dangerous, and had caused plenty of grief. Their abilities had killed plenty of troops before, and Sam had seen a few.

Kato was a good guy from the few times he’d talked to him, but that psychic shit was freaky.

Still, though, he couldn’t deny its effectivity. The floater put a hard metal hand to its head, squeezing as though trying to claw some parasite from its skull, then dropped down a few inches as its jets cut out then flared back to life.

There was definitely something different about the way the thing moved. It lacked the brutal and angry undertones that floaters always had. There wasn’t much time to take in the difference though, as it brought its plasma rifle up, pressed the barrel against the bottom of its chin, and fired.

The jets below its ribs suddenly jumped into high power all at once, and its limp body flew a few meters into the air before the jets cut out entirely, and the corpse flopped back to the ground.

It couldn’t be denied that they were powerful, though.

Kato’s voice came over the communications, and his deep voice entered the ears of the whole squad.

“All contacts down. Enemy craft in sight.”

Sam stood up a little more, and looked around. No more aliens seemed to be around, and the silvery gleam of the flying saucer’s sides gleamed into his eyes.

It was there alright, and it seemed like most of the fire was on the opposite side. That was good, because it meant that getting in was going to be all that much easier. The light blue glowing door was slightly off-kilter, but boarding the craft would still be easy to do. They had to get into position, though, and for that, they had to get closer.

Emily picked herself up, berating herself for such a rookie mistake. She’d gotten too comfortable. It wasn’t going to happen again.

She vaulted over the log, and ran towards the saucer. The rest of her team followed, keeping up the formation the whole way. Her shoulder hit the alloy side, and it bore the impact much better than the tree had. Neither one showed any sign of damage. It was a good thing to build a ship out of. It certainly didn’t make them easy to shoot down.

“Get ready to breach! Louis, get over here. I want you next to me. Everyone else, fall in. Zoe, get up here. The way is clear.”

She hardly needed to say it, it was obvious that a breach was about to occur. Louis hit the wall across from her, a concerned look on his face.

“Are you alright? You took a hit, but I couldn’t really see if it was bad.”

She lifted her arm and turned slightly, displaying the new damage. The refined alloy was melted slightly, but not enough to impact performance at all. It would be easier for future blows to that area to get through, though.

Louis gave a low whistle.

“It’s not easy to dent up titan armor like that. You sure you’re alright? I mean, you’ve got to be hurting, right?”

She let out a breath, trying to feel if any bone shifted or not. She probably was hurting, she simply felt too pumped up on adrenaline to notice right now. Whatever kind of damage it had done, it hadn’t caused her body to regenerate, so it couldn’t be too bad. The only response she could give was a small noncommittal shrug before the others arrived close by.

The five fell silent, listening and watching for Zoe to arrive. They didn’t have to wait long, she hadn’t been too far from the ship. Her white armor was very distinctive against the red sky and dull rock. It wasn’t even twenty seconds before she had her rifle leveled at the door and spoke confidently.

“Okay, ready to go.”

Their group had aligned so they would all have a shot at anything inside. There were multiple rooms, they knew, but it wouldn’t be the first time that aliens had simply crowded inside their crashed vessel. There was no question that they would be hunted, and they wouldn’t stand much of a chance if they tried to make their way to a more populated area.

And now that Emily thought about it, there was something suspicious about the small number of contacts they’d had. Perhaps it was simply because it was a small ship, but there had to be something else. There had to be a trap that she just wasn’t seeing.

She made a signal to ensure that everyone was ready, then pushed a hand gently against the glowing solid light of the door. It collapsed under her fingers, as she had to assume it had been designed to do.

The way the ships were designed, it would be difficult to accidentally open it up. The door itself was about bug enough for two people to walk through at once. There was a collective intake of breath as the interior of the saucer became visible, and every finger twitched on a trigger for a tense second.

The first area was completely clear. Not a single movement or noise aroused suspicion, all that could be heard was the low hum of the ship’s engines. Emily moved around the corner and into the craft itself. Louis moved at the same time, and the two walked almost shoulder to shoulder, weapons ready.

The small hallway split in two directions, one to the left, and one to the right. Amber was familiar enough with the design. In the center of the craft, there would be the technology they used to guide their ships. There was also usually some kind of authority. That meant more powerful creatures, which meant that it was going to be all the more risky to go in.

There was no choice, though. All in all, things weren’t going too badly. She’d taken a hit, but damage was mostly superficial. At least to the armor. She still wasn’t sure of her own condition, but it hardly mattered. They were so close to finishing out the mission, she couldn’t hang out towards the back. They needed her at the front, especially with such a dangerous situation approaching. They would be in close-quarters, and she was the best equipped for that kind of scenario.

The rest of her team followed behind her, filing through the door two at a time, and taking positions behind whatever they could in the rather barren halls of the vessel.

It was colder in here than it had been outside somehow, even though the hull of the ship had no doubt been breached. Fires even licked at the opposite walls, and still it was cold, almost refreshingly so. The squad of six moved up, taking care to avoid making much noise. If there was anything in that command room, they were going to need the element of surprise on their side.

As they came closer to the next room, they started to tense again. Anything could be behind the door, and they knew what at least the structure was going to be.

Elerium generators were housed at this portion of the ship, and beyond that would be the command. There were two generators on the ship, and brief tactical scan once the craft had been shot down had indicated that at least one of them was damaged. To what degree, they could not tell.

Once again, the squad got into position, and Emily opened the door.

A green glow met their faces, but it wasn’t the harsh brightness of plasma. Instead it was the soft light of a generator, pulsing slightly as it generated tremendous amounts of power. No force on earth could crank out as much energy as this single generator, even every power facility put together. Until the organization had reverse engineered the technology, as they had tried to do with everything the outsiders brought with them. Many mysteries still baffled humanity, but they had unlocked at least enough to give themselves a fighting chance.
It appeared to be functioning perfectly, and there was no hostile presence in the room. Emily motioned for them to move up, and they did.
They set up the same as the last two times, taking every precaution they could with their cover and gear, making sure that everything was adequate for what was about to happen. It would be a rush, that much was guaranteed.

Emily reached out with her off-hand, and noticed that it was shaking. She didn’t know if it was a result of the hit she’d taken, or just her nerves. Something was definitely off about this, but pinning down what was simply impossible.

She bit down her doubts, and pushed on the door. There was no time for it now.

She was able to pull herself back around the edge of the doorway quickly, but Louis was not as lucky. A volley of green cascaded towards them, and one particular bolt struck Louis in the center of the shoulder. It dropped from the impact, and it looked like the muscles in it went limp. It was hard to tell through his carapace armor, though, and she didn’t hear him say anything other than giving off a low grunt.

The rest of the plasma bolts hit the smooth metal, sizzling as its heat dissipated. It didn’t do enough damage to break anything, but the light reflecting off it was warped.

Emily tried to pull herself back as much as she could, making it as hard as possible to be hit. The others did the same, and she could just make out the voices of her partners shouting out the kinds of aliens they saw.

“I saw thin men!”

“Three thin men!”

“Sectoids!”

The cascade of voices was too fast, and she couldn’t catch everything that was said until a half second after the chatter across the earpiece started to stop, then Kato’s voice was easily heard.

“There is an ethereal in there.”

That was by far the worst news. A situation like this was already dangerous enough without an ethereal involved. She remembered seeing other operatives get mind controlled, forced to turn against their friends and serve the enemy.

She’d been spared the experience so far, but not everyone here had been so lucky.

It wasn’t going to happen again. If they could all focus fire on that ethereal, it would go down without too much of a fight. Then the rest of the aliens would be much easier to handle.

They just needed a good moment to fire.

A stray plasma bolt caught her attention, and she followed it with her eyes. It struck the elerium generator, which started to pulsate faster.

Emily’s eyes widened, and she could tell that the others in her squad did too. Maybe the aliens had just made a grave error, maybe it was going to be nothing. She wondered what was about to happen, just a brief moment before everything flashed white.

That was life in XCOM, and she assumed hers to be over.

---

The sun was setting over Ponyville, and most of its inhabitants were starting to head inside. Nighttime walks were not common.
That still didn’t stop the mint green unicorn from pushing aimlessly forward. It was the best way she could think of to manage her thoughts. She wished that somepony would listen to her, but no. It was always the same story when she tried to talk about humans. Blank stares or hasty retreats. Not even Bonbon took her seriously.

She sighed. Why did she always get brushed off? There was too much proof to keep calling humans legends, or at least too many coincidences. She’d seen old anatomical drawings of humans, and it seemed like they would be better at using pony tools than ponies were. It was the hands. Detailed depictions of a humans hand were rarer than even full anatomical drawings, but they were able to do so much. The five fingered design would allow for so much more use than plain old hooves. And the way they stood on two legs would give them so much more mobility.

Her eyes drifted over to the castle Princess Twilight lived in on the edge of the town. They’d talked to each other a few times before, mostly when Lyra had been looking for new information on humans, but she’d quickly stopped after Twilight started to get her those uncomfortable, shifty glances. That, and she had been told to stop asking to see Spike’s claws.

She couldn’t really try and see her now, could she? She’d known Twilight since back in Canterlot, but she had always been wrapped up in her studies, so they had never spoken much.

Lyra sighed. Most of the people she had opened up to about this fascination called her “obsessed” or at least something to that effect. It was horrible to have an interest treated like that. All she wanted to do was to learn more about them, and figure out why they were gone.
Although there were other times, like when she dreamed of being human. She could never recall enough detail, but those were her favorite dreams. Those were the days that she stayed in bed until noon, hoping to recapture the feeling. It never worked though, and she just had to shuffle out of her bedroom feeling sad and hungry.

She took a few more steps, then slowed to a halt. Maybe she should go and talk to Twilight again. She had to have gotten a lot more books since becoming a princess and getting her own castle, maybe there was more information about humans there.

She had just started to step towards the castle when a voice from somewhere behind her made her jump.

“Oh, you wouldn’t want to go to that prude, would you? I mean, “Princess of Friendship”? It just leaves a bad taste in your mouth, doesn’t it?”

She turned her head to find who was talking, but saw only the empty road. A few lights were still on in Ponyville, and the sun was almost totally gone now. Stars were even starting to poke their light through the remaining orange glow of the sunset.

A snapping sound came from the direction of the castle, and her head jerked to find its source.

“Focus now, if you would. You aren’t really going to boring old Twilight to find out about your lifelong obse- I mean, passion, are you?”

She could recognize the voice now.

“D-Dis-“

A sudden slithering feeling in her ear made her stop, and wave a hoof at her ear like she was trying to fend off some beast. One eye cracked open hesitantly, and she found that this wasn’t too far from the truth. The spirit of chaos itself was snaking his way out of her skull.
Her body wouldn’t respond when she tried to run, and all she could do was watch until the draconequus had emerged fully. He then stood, facing the direction of Twilight’s castle, and stretched out his limbs.

“Discord…”

Her voice came out as little more than a peep, but Discord turned to look at her as though she had shouted it.

“Who, little old me? Why, I’m flattered you’d notice me, Ms. Lyre Hearthsings. Tell me, what is your secret to being such a wonderful and popular pony?”

Lyra’s jaw hung open limply, and she could only stutter a response.

“W-what? I-“

Discord floated closer to her, long snakelike body suspended off the ground, and his chin resting on the backs of his arms.

“Fascinating, truly, I wish I possessed even half of the majesty you did. If you ask me, Celestia should’ve picked you as the new Princess.”

She struggled to find a response, mind still trying to process the situation. Her voice spat out the only thing she could say with certainty was appropriate, and almost instantly regretted it.

“What do you want, Discord?”

Discord’s goat like face fell for a moment, and he simply stared at Lyra before giving a melodramatic sigh.

“Oh, I suppose you just want to hear my offer, don’t you? No time for my little games, my fun, only got the patience for yourself. I get it. Don’t let me stop you on your way to a better life.”

He crossed his arms and turned away again, a disappointed look on his face.

“No, I-“

In a bright flash of light, Discord disappeared. Then before Lyra could even think about where he had gone, another flash of light directly in front of her face made her rear up on her hind legs, lose her balance, and fall to her back.

After blinking most of the blurriness away, she looked back up to find Discord looming over her, and a piece of old looking parchment hovering between them. He rose an eyebrow, as though Lyra’s reaction was strange, then disappeared again, and reappeared behind her, where he started to lift her up off the ground and back to her hooves.

“You know, you could stand to work on your interpersonal communication, Lyre. I’m starting to feel like you don’t want to talk to me.”
She had to consciously keep from rolling her eyes.

The initial shock of the encounter was starting to wear off, and she was growing more and more suspicious of Discord’s intent. She was about to ask him what it was that he wanted again, but she remembered the parchment. She hadn’t gotten a good look at the thing, but now was a fine time to do so.

The fading light made it difficult to read, but she summoned a spark of magic through her horn, and the soft green glow made the writing much easier to see.

To her surprise, it looked like a contract. Not with small print and organized sections either, like most were nowadays, but a more regal, almost more official looking document. The words were written in long, fine strokes, and the whole thing would’ve taken hours even for a unicorn to write. It was safe to assume, then, that it wasn’t Discord’s original work.

She started to read, but before she could get more than a few words in, Discord slithered between her legs and put his head between her and the document again.

“So, Lyre, I think we could help each other out. You see, we’re both interested in those horrible little monsters called humans, aren’t we?”

Lyra felt her mouth drop open again, but closed it this time after a few seconds.

“They’re just so good at stirring up chaos, which I think is just what Equestria needs. Things have been so soul-crushingly boring around here that a visit from a few of these guys might be the only way to spice things up.”

Lyra rose an eyebrow again.

“Why don’t you just make it rain chocolate milk again? You seemed to like that.”

Discord laughed and waved a paw like she was being ridiculous.

“Oh, no, dear me, no. That’s old material, I’ve been craving something more original. I think humans are more than enough to shake up this obnoxiously stable kingdom that Celestia has built.”

“So what’s with the paper?” She tried to look past him for a second, then looked back at him. “And weren’t you supposed to be reformed or something?”

Discord reached back and took the paper, holding it out to Lyra for her to read.

“The contract is a simple measure to make sure that Celestia doesn’t blame me for the humans being here. It states that bringing them here was your idea, and that you are responsible for any destruction that they might cause. And about that other comment; I might be reformed, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten my roots as chaos itself.”

Lyra shook her head, going over the first part of what Discord had said.

“Wait, what do you mean I’ll be responsible? Humans aren’t that destructive, are they? I mean, I’ve never read anything about them destroying anything before. They aren’t dangerous, right? No more than ponies?”

Discord gave a mirthful chuckle, shaking his head with a wide smile.

“You are hopeless, Lyre. But nevertheless, you really should hurry things up. I’m a busy guy, and this opportunity isn’t going to be open for long. If you’ve ever wanted to talk to a real live human before, I’d suggest you sign the paper fast.”

Lyra’s eyes widened. Seeing a human would be a dream come true, but could she trust Discord? The answer to that was simple: no. But did she want to see and talk to a real human? That answer was even simpler.

The sound of Discord’s claws clicking on a large clock snapped her back to reality, and she bit her lip. She would never get an opportunity like this again. She couldn’t live the rest of her life knowing that she’s passed something like this up. She would never forgive herself.

“Give me a pen.”

Discord snapped his fingers, and an expensive looking brass pen came into existence in front of her. She focused on it, and her magic enveloped it, making it move with her thoughts.

L-y-r-

She was finally going to see a human. This was more than she ever could have hoped for. It was so sudden, too. What would they talk about? Would it be as interested in ponies as she was in them?

-a H-e-a-

It would finally give her to proof she needed to convince people like Twilight and Bonbon that humans were, and had always been real. She could finally dispel the doubts, and know that she had been right all along.

-r-t-s-t-

Discord’s words nagged at her mind, but she brushed them off as best she could. That was how Discord worked, messing with ponies. She couldn’t let him cause any doubt. That was what he was trying to do. Just messing with her.

-r-i-n-g-

Did this paper mean that Celestia knew about humans? Not necessarily, she supposed. Discord definitely did, but that was obvious. Celestia was thousands of years old, maybe she had even seen them.

-s

As soon as the last letter was finished, the contract exploded in a flash, and Discord laughed, loud enough to wake everyone from Ponyville to Canterlot.

Lyra watched as he soared up into the sky, then seemed to cast some kind of spell. Whatever it was, she didn’t recognize it, but her heart started to skip, and a smile crossed her face as well. Tears even started to form in the corners of her eyes. She could hardly believe that she really about to meet a real, live human.

What looked like some kind of portal opened where Discord was casting his magic, and she watched as something metallic started to come through. She stared, confused. That wasn’t a human. Was it some kind of house? Or ship? It didn’t look like it would either fly or float very well.

The thing was wider than an average house in Ponyville, but only looked to be one story tall. The last rays of sunlight seemed to bounce off its edges as it fell through the portal, then started to careen down towards the ground. It was only about fifty feet in the air, but Lyra could tell that it was easily going to make a crater. If she judged its trajectory right, it was going to go down right in the middle of Ponyville, by the town hall.

She galloped after it, fighting the urge to whoop and cheer as she got closer. She was going to meet real live humans.