A Foul Light Shines

by Karazor

Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Twilight Sparkle stood at the edge of Ponyville, her friends arranged alongside her, and tried to contain her nervous excitement as they waited for the arrival of visitors from another world.

It had been three days since the nightmare at the Cooldown party. The town had mostly recovered; ponies were a resilient folk, and most had been simply frightened and horrified, not injured. Even those unicorns who had been worst stricken by the creature that had taken Hammer N’ Tongs didn’t seem to have been permanently traumatized; indeed, most maintained that they couldn’t remember a thing about the incident, claiming that all they remembered was the party going well, then suddenly finding themselves outside the barn with dreadful headaches.

They’d held a memorial ceremony for both Hammer N’ Tongs and Fair Deal the next day, and though most of the town’s inhabitants had cried, they hadn’t seemed like the horrific incident had affected them as much as Twilight would have expected. An uncharitable portion of the unicorn’s mind wondered if Princess Luna might have slightly altered their memories, just enough that it would remove the worst of their trauma.

If so, she certainly hadn’t done the same thing for any of Twilight’s friends.

Pinkie Pie and Applejack seemed to have been least affected by the daemon. Pinkie especially had returned to her normal, bubbly self almost immediately, though the fact that she’d been unconscious during most of the monster’s worst actions had probably helped. Applejack seemed more or less all right too; the phlegmatic farmpony didn’t tend to get worked up about much, and knowing the creature had been dealt with seemed to be enough for her. Rarity was fine as well, having missed the entire incident.

That had left three ponies who were still working dealing with it, in various ways.

Twilight privately suspected that, of the three, she was handling the trauma best. She’d kept her composure throughout the entire thing without too much trouble, probably aided by the fact that the weapon she’d used against the thing that had taken the blacksmith’s body had been her magic, which she only rarely used on other ponies. Further, since she’d been more than a little angry and frightened at the time, she’d half-expected a degree of violence to happen when she’d employed her magic against Hammer. The level of violence that ensued had shocked her, but not really the fact that it had happened. In the end, Twilight had suffered a few really bad dreams, but by now she was largely over it.

The two pegasi were another story. Fluttershy, always somewhat timid by nature, had been far more so over the last three days. She’d barely spoken to her friends since enduring the daemon’s verbal flaying, but at least she hadn’t confined herself to her house as Twilight had worried she might. She’d been involved in planning the reception for the aliens, contributing when she could, and she’d stayed close to Rarity most of the time. The two had always been close, and now the designer was giving the kindhearted pegasus a shoulder to lean on. Twilight had come across the two talking quietly a few times, and had seen Rarity comforting Fluttershy when the latter had broken into tears the day after the attack. Fluttershy had shown considerable improvement in the time that had followed, and though she was still visibly nervous about meeting the aliens today, her core of quiet strength seemed to have returned, so Twilight wasn’t too terribly worried about her.

That left Rainbow Dash. The athlete had been the only one to actually touch the creature, had been the one to finally deliver the deathblow to the daemon inhabiting Hammer’s body, and as a result had seemed to have been the worst affected of the six. Twilight had thought Rainbow had been handling the situation well enough, despite her sudden, explosive bout of rage when Princess Luna had explained the night’s events, until Rarity had pulled her aside shortly after the Princess’s departure and quietly told her about the pegasus’s breakdown in front of her shop.

Warned that Rainbow might be trying to hide the extent of her distress, Twilight had kept a close eye on the racer for the remainder of the evening, and she’d seen several signs that worried her. Ordinarily a fairly tactile individual, Rainbow seemed to be making concerted efforts not to touch anypony, even by accident, and more than once the unicorn saw her standing where she thought nopony could see her, her ears back and eyes squeezed shut, visibly fighting to hold on to her composure. Not wanting to leave Rainbow alone for the night, Twilight had talked to Applejack, and the orange earth pony mare had convinced the athlete to stay overnight at Sweet Apple Acres.

The cyan pegasus had been haggard the next morning when Twilight saw her, sporting deep bags under her eyes, though she’d continued to act chipper and confident. Applejack had privately told her that Rainbow had suffered horrendous nightmares and barely slept, waking up screaming two, possibly three times.

Beginning to realize the severity of her multicolored friend’s problems, Twilight had made absolutely sure to build time into her schedule that day for a long talk. She’d had Pinkie Pie and Applejack once again planning a celebration, though she’d asked Rarity to ride herd on them. Since this would be a more diplomatically-oriented event, Twilight figured that the designer would be the perfect choice to add a bit of style to the proceedings. (And possibly restrain Pinkie, if such a thing was even possible) Twilight had just barely managed to snag Rainbow as the latter was about to take off to schedule the weather for the next week. She’d quietly asked the pegasus how she was holding up, confessing that she herself was having… problems dealing with her role in Hammer’s fate.

Rainbow had initially brushed her off, insisting that despite her appearance she was fine, thanks, and could Twilight please just leave her alone so she could make sure her weather crew was ready for when the aliens got here? But Twilight hadn’t backed down, and had refused to let the pegasus leave, and Rainbow had finally relented.

“I… ya know, I’ve been in fights before.” The athlete had admitted at last. “But this one… it was different.” She shook her head. “I’ve always thought of myself a- as a good pony, ya know? I mean, yeah, I can be kind of a jerk, and maybe I’m a little too aggressive sometimes, but I’ve never done anything bad. Last night was… it was the first time I’ve ever really, seriously hurt somepony. I mean, yeah, there’ve been bruises, black eyes, bloody noses, a couplea broken ribs that one time but that was totally an accident ‘cause he zigged when I thought he was gonna zag, but never… like that.” She’d swallowed hard, head low and ears back, and Twilight had remained quiet, giving the pegasus the space she needed to talk. “Yeah, I know what the Princess said, that it wasn’t really Hammer. But man, did it ever look like him, at least at first. And when I saw his body after I shoved him away from you, aw man…” Rainbow had angrily swiped a tear away from her eye, “This shouldn’t bother me, but it does!” She’d ground her teeth. “I thought I was over it. I really did. When the Princess told us what that thing wearing Hammer’s face was, and why it burned when I touched it, I thought I’d be okay! But… argh!” Rainbow had shaken her head violently, flinging drops of salt water out of her eyes where they’d been gathering. “Stupid tears, stop it. Argh. I just can’t get it out of my head that I killed Hammer, even though I know I didn’t. And every time I touch somepony, I get this sorta flash of Hammer… no dangit it wasn’t Hammer!” The pegasus had ground her teeth and thumped her head with a forehoof, evidently trying to knock the idea out of her skull. She’d kept on doing it, too, each strike hitting harder, until a dismayed Twilight stepped up and blocked the athlete’s forehoof with her own. Rainbow flinched at the contact.

“Rainbow Dash, stop it. Hurting yourself isn’t going to help anyone. Please, I do want you to tell me what’s bothering you so I can try to help, but you should not be punishing yourself for the way you’re feeling. That is not healthy and it needs to stop, right now.” Twilight had kept her voice firm, though she’d known her worry was probably showing. She hadn’t realized that Rainbow’s mental state had been this bad, and she hadn’t been entirely sure how to handle it.

Rainbow had nodded wearily. “Yeah, I getcha. Okay, no more of that.” She’d heaved a sigh, head hanging. “But you saw it. That flinch. I’m… every time somepony touches me, I see that thing burning, except instead of it, I see you. Or Rarity. Or Pinkie, A.J., Fluttershy… It’s driving me crazy and I can’t make it stop!” She’d ground her teeth again, eyes tightly shut.

Twilight had paused, thinking hard, listening to Rainbow’s harsh breathing. “Okay, Rainbow,” She’d finally said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were quite this upset. So here’s what we’re going to do.” The pegasus had watched her warily as she’d raised a hoof and laid it gently against her cyan-coated lower shoulder. Rainbow had shied away, but Twilight had moved to maintain the contact, and left her forehoof resting against the athlete’s shoulder. “Okay. See, your head knows nothing bad is going to happen, but your heart is convinced that it is. So first we’ve got to convince your heart that your head is right.” Twilight had lowered her hoof to the ground, but before Rainbow could sag in relief, she’d said, “Okay, now you put your hoof on my shoulder, just like I did for you.” Rainbow had tensed up again, about to refuse, but Twilight shook her head and interrupted. “I know it’s hard, Rainbow, but you have to. Don’t be silly, I’ll be fine, and if you let this fear win now it will never go away. So are you going to let it win, or are you going to fight back?” Rainbow’s head had come up, and her expression firmed, exactly as Twilight had been hoping it would. Rainbow rarely refused a challenge. It made her easy to manipulate at times, though Twilight was glad about it in this circumstance.

Bracing herself, Rainbow Dash had extended a forehoof, gingerly laying it against Twilight’s shoulder. It had taken a visible effort of will for the pegasus to do so, and she’d closed her eyes with a slight shiver as her hoof touched the unicorn, but the relief on her face when nothing happened had been easily visible.

“There, you see? Everything’s all right.” Twilight had smiled, meeting the athlete’s exhausted rose-colored eyes when she’d reopened them. “That’s step one. I want you to keep doing that; make yourself touch somepony every few minutes. Do you think you can do that?”

“Uh…” Rainbow’s response had been hesitant, but she’d nodded slowly. “Okay, I get why you want me to do that. I’ll try. It’ll be hard, but I’ll try.”

“Great!” Twilight had given her friend a relieved grin, which the pegasus returned. “Second thing; I think it would be better for you to try not to dwell on what’s bothering you. Instead, why don’t you tell me something that makes you happy, or something you’re excited about? When’s the next Wonderbolts airshow, for example?”

Rainbow had blinked, as though the question hadn’t even occurred to her. “Actually, Twilight, I’m kinda looking forward to meeting those aliens Luna was talking about. I’ve been thinking about it since she mentioned ‘em.”

“What, really?” The answer had taken Twilight by surprise. “I didn’t realize you were that interested in them.”

“Oh, yeah, totally.” Rainbow had flashed a quick grin. “I’ve always liked hanging with non-ponies, finding out how they think, y’know? It’s interesting. Plus, we’re talking about things that have never talked to ponies before, and that wander around stars! Who knows what kind of awesome stuff they’ve seen!” The pegasus’s face had gotten a dreamy look. “And how many ponies have gotten to talk to aliens, huh? Like, none! We’ll totally be going down in history!” Excited animation had been creeping back into Rainbow’s voice and manner as she spoke, and Twilight had realized her friend really was enthusiastic about the prospect of meeting aliens. And when the unicorn thought about it, it made perfect sense. Between Gilda and the buffalo, Rainbow had made friends among at least two sapient species that were normally hostile towards ponies. That fact was even odder when Twilight considered the fact that the pegasus had very few pony friends; indeed, before befriending Twilight herself, Rainbow hadn’t seemed to have any pony friends. From what the academic had heard, Rainbow had had a cordial relationship with Applejack, but hadn’t hung out with the farmer much before Twilight had moved into town, and the lavender unicorn couldn’t think of anyone else that the pegasus normally spent time with. She and Pinkie were good friends now, but it hadn’t been that long ago that Rainbow actively avoided the cheerful pink mare. It made Twilight wonder why Rainbow had been so quick to befriend her when she’d first arrived; maybe because she herself had been a bit odd? It was an interesting question, but it hadn’t really pertained to the immediate issue, so Twilight had pushed it aside, focusing instead on the present.

The academic had offered to help Rainbow with the scheduling she’d been planning to do, an offer that was gratefully accepted. The two had spent the next few hours working out a new rotation for the pegasus weather crew; Rainbow had wanted to try to add a night shift, to ensure that the weather was pleasant in the early morning. The two had managed to juggle schedules, leaving Rainbow’s second-in-command running the night shift. The athlete’s chief subordinate was a mare named Gray Nimbus, a levelheaded individual about ten years older than Rainbow Dash, who’d proven in the past to be reliable and dependable, though not excessively imaginative. She’d agreed to oversee night operations, leaving Rainbow free to help Twilight with the aliens.

Their planning done, Twilight had made sure Rainbow wasn’t left alone. She’d convinced the pegasus to spend that night at the library, and she’d had a quiet word with their other friends to ensure somepony was always around, and the athlete seemed to be doing much better, though Twilight knew she was still sleeping uneasily. She’d only woken Twilight up screaming once, which was an improvement over the previous night, at least.

Rainbow had been the most excited of the six when they’d finally gotten word from Manehattan that the aliens had landed. The pegasus had been a bit disappointed that the big city had gotten the first visit, but the letter they’d received from the city council assured them that the aliens had been directed toward Ponyville at the first opportunity. Apparently, they’d been slightly offended not to be met by the Princess’s representative, and the more senior aliens had returned to their ship. The ones that had remained had been told that the Princess’s representative could be found in Ponyville, as Celestia had commanded, and according to the Manehattan council’s correspondence, they’d be landing in the early afternoon.

The whole day had been a whirlwind of preparation. Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity had been busting their flanks getting the celebration prepared, and there were banners and flags everywhere, Twilight had been frantically reading up on what books she could find on diplomatic protocol (which wasn’t much) and Rainbow Dash had been zooming back and forth helping out her weather crew. Fluttershy had helped where she could, mostly trying to stay out from underhoof.

And now they all stood at the edge of town, wearing the fanciest clothes they could get on such short notice, ready for the aliens to land.

“Hey, Twilight,” Rainbow asked in an excited undertone, “Did those letters from Manehattan say how they got down? They come from up in the sky, right? Do they have wings?” The pegasus was fidgeting, spreading and folding her own wings in a nervous tic she displayed sometimes. She’d refused to deck herself out in as much fancy clothing as most of the others had, contenting herself with her gold laurel wreath from the Best Young Fliers’ contest and a fairly modest jeweled pectoral plate reminiscent of Celestia’s guards’ uniform.

“No wings, Rainbow,” Twilight answered, “They’ve got some kind of flying vehicle. From the description, it seems to use fire for propulsion almost like a firework, so we need to keep everyone back when they come in to land.”

“So they fly in, like, a giant fireworks rocket? That’s so cool!” The excitement and enthusiasm in Rainbow’s voice was good to hear, Twilight thought.

“I wunner how they keep it from explodin’.” Applejack mused. “Don’t seem too safe to be flyin’ around in somethin’ that might decide t’ blow up on ya.”

“Maybe it’s just the best way to fly without wings,” Rainbow shot back. “Or maybe it works waaaaay up high and nothing else does. I flew way up there once, where you can see the horizon curve; it got all cold and hard to breathe, and my wings lost lift.”

“That’s actually a very good point,” Twilight mused. “If the ‘ship’ that Princess Luna was talking about is up in space, then they’d need a way to travel that didn’t depend on air. I wonder how exactly it works. Oh, I’m so curious!”

“Applejack,” Rarity said, her tone slightly acid, “darling, you could have at least let me make you a fancier hat. Even Rainbow Dash got dressed up, and here you are, looking like nothing special’s going on!”

“I told you before, Rarity, that kinda thing just ain’t me. I still got my Gala getup an’ I was gonna wear it, but you were the one that said it wouldn’t be the right thing!” The farmpony retorted, irritated.

“That was for a party, Applejack. It was far too festive; this occasion calls for more gravitas!” Rarity exclaimed, sounding like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’m fine like I am.”

“Oh, honestly.” Rarity exclaimed in exasperation.

The budding argument was cut off, as Rainbow Dash, staring intently into the sky, pointed with a forehoof and exclaimed, “I think I see it!”

The crowd erupted in an excited buzz of conversation, everypony gazing off into the clear blue sky, trying to spot the incoming aliens. Twilight squinted, unable to see anything in the direction Rainbow had indicated, and surreptitiously brought up a lensing spell. The magnification effect revealed two shapes, tiny with distance but gleaming in the sunlight.

“I see it too, Rainbow.” Twilight said, dismissing the spell before anypony noticed. Rainbow flew up a short distance, doing little loops in the air out of sheer excitement. Twilight felt like an assassin of joy as she called up to the enthusiastic pegasus, “Rainbow! It’s probably safer for everypony to stay on the ground!”

Dash drifted back to the ground, chagrined. “Sorry, Twilight.”

“Aw, it’s okay, Dashie!” Pinkie Pie was bouncing in place, “If I could fly I’d be flying! Flying and floating and whoosh! I love meeting new ponies, even when they’re not ponies, and these are the newest of new since they’ve never even been to Equestria before!”

“My thoughts exactly, Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow grinned at the bubbly pink earth pony.

Twilight ignored the conversation, focusing on the sky. She could see the two dots now, still tiny with distance but growing rapidly. Much quicker than she had expected.

“Wow, they’re uh… coming in pretty fast.” Dash observed, next to her, suddenly sounding a bit worried. “Really fast, actually. And they’re big.” She glanced nervously at Twilight. “Um, how fast can they slow down?”

“They came in fairly slowly when they landed in Manehattan,” Twilight answered. The two shapes had grown, and she could easily make out the profile of both. One was boxy and slab-sided, and colored a dark shade of red, though gold gleamed from various places. The other was smaller and sleeker, with a wing profile that looked remarkably like that of an eagle. It was a deep sapphire blue, and shone with reflected light. “The local pegasi were able to fly around them. I hope nothing’s wrong.”

Dash cocked her head, measuring the vehicles’ speed with a practiced eye. “I don’t think anyone but me or a couple of the faster Wonderbolts could keep up with that.” She observed frankly. Her cyan-feathered wings fanned nervously. “And I seriously don’t think I’d be able to catch either of those if they’re falling. I’m awesome, but those things look like metal buildings; even the little one’s gonna weigh a lot more than I can handle. Like, tons. Maybe we should think about getting everypony clear.” The pegasus glanced over her shoulder at the assembled crowd.

As she said that, though, both vehicles pulled their noses up in an impressively well-synchronized maneuver, jets of white flame blazing on their ventral surfaces and wing roots. A few seconds later, the incredible, continuous thunder they produced reached the ponies’ ears.

Rainbow Dash’s only comment was an awestruck, “Woah.” Even Applejack gave an impressed grunt.

Twilight looked over her shoulder at the crowd, who were all gazing in awe at the immense metal forms approaching the town. “Okay, everypony! Remember what I said earlier, these are going to be really loud, so everyone be ready!” That was why she’d left Spike at home in the library. Much as she’d like to have him here, she didn’t want to risk damaging the baby dragon’s hearing. The letters from Manehattan had warned that the human vehicles were almost deafening when they came in to land.

And indeed they were. Twilight laid her ears back in an effort to reduce the volume when the two vehicles were still a fair distance away, and the noise increased exponentially as the distance dropped. By the time the human conveyances drifted to a stop and eased down into the empty grass, coming to rest on insect-like piston legs that unfolded from their bellies, the noise was more a physical presence than a mere sound, the vibrations thrumming in Twilight’s chest and buzzing against her horn. The heat from the fire blasting out of the vehicles’ ventral surfaces had been pretty intense, too, and the lavender unicorn noted a few small fires around the base of the two vehicles when the white flames that propelled them finally died down, and they rested in front of the crowd of Ponyville residents, metal bodies emitting sharp clicks as they cooled.

Twilight glanced around quickly, checking on her friends. To her left, Rainbow Dash was struggling to maintain the serious mien that Rarity had suggested she adopt. While her face was admirably grave, her eyes shone with excitement, and her feathers rustled as her wings moved restlessly. On the other side of the cyan pegasus, Applejack sported an expression of mild interest, gazing at the huge metal shapes with one eyebrow cocked. To Twilight’s right, her other three friends were decked out much like Twilight herself, sporting ornate capes, headdresses and saddles. Rarity stood directly to her right, chin raised, with a haughty look on her face. Pinkie Pie was bouncing energetically in place next to her, though less than Twilight would have expected. The lavender unicorn fought back a smile as she noticed that Rarity (without breaking her haughty façade) had moved one of her rear hooves, standing on Pinkie’s frizzy pink tail and pinning it to the ground, preventing the enthusiastic mare from bouncing as high as she normally would. Fluttershy stood a few paces back, half-hiding behind Pinkie Pie.

Satisfied that her friends were where they needed to be, Twilight took a couple of moments to assess the vehicles sitting before her. The larger one was one of the two that the Manehattan council had described; boxy and slab-sided, its dark red paint overlaid with intricate gold inlays. It sported gilded gear and cogwheel icons everywhere in all manner of differing shapes and sizes. The second vehicle was not the enormous gray thing that the letters had spoken of; instead, this was much smaller and sleeker. (Though it was still huge) Its intense deep-blue hull was inlaid with silver, sporting a recurrent motif of two rearing heraldic beasts that Twilight didn’t recognize facing one another, each with one forelimb extended and grasping an eagle-winged staff that stood between them. Eagle wings seemed to be quite popular with the beings that had decorated the vehicle; they were everywhere, much like the gear icons that covered the larger one. In addition to the heraldic symbol and the unlikely-to-be-accidental shape of the vehicle’s wings, the academic spotted a two-headed eagle that appeared in numerous places, and another icon that looked like some creature’s skull framed by eagle wings. Twilight wasn’t entirely sure what to think about that symbol.

Twilight heard Rainbow Dash stifling snickers beside her. She gave the pegasus an inquiring look, and Rainbow pointed a cyan forehoof at the smaller vehicle. “Ha ha, it looks like Nimbus put on a few pounds! And, like, joined a rock band or something!”

The vehicle’s blue and silver color scheme actually did look like a metallic version of Rainbow’s second-in-command’s coat and mane. Twilight suspected that Rainbow was a bit disappointed that the older pegasus wasn’t around; she’d switched her schedule to oversee the night shifts. Dash loved to tease her slightly stodgy subordinate. The lavender unicorn made a mental note to tell Gray Nimbus to be thankful she’d been elsewhere; it was likely Rainbow would have forgotten about the joke by the time she saw Nimbus again, but if the older mare had been here it would likely have been weeks before she heard the end of this.

Before Twilight could respond to Rainbow’s observation, her thoughts were interrupted by a loud hiss emitting from the two vehicles. In near-unison, ramps lowered in the front of each vehicle, looking unsettlingly like mouths opening. They even sported pistons in place of ropes of saliva, and Twilight had an uncomfortable flashback to her confrontation with a hydra some time ago. There was silence for a moment, finally broken by a sound reminiscent of heavy, synchronized drumming.

The ten humans whose footsteps were responsible for producing the sound advanced down the ramp of the smaller vehicle in two columns of five, and Twilight had to admit that they presented an impressive sight. They stood upright on their hind limbs, straight and tall, looming nearly as tall as Celestia herself. Each was fully clothed, with no hint of skin or hair showing beneath their wrapping of cloth and heavy, thick-looking armor. Even their faces were masked, hidden behind tinted goggles, helmets, and oddly-shaped rigid face coverings. They marched down the ramp as though controlled by a single mind, feet striking the metal surface in perfect unison with a heavy, slamming tread, long arms purposefully supporting odd, boxlike implements with tube-shaped protrusions that they carried in their long-fingered hands. To her right, Twilight heard Fluttershy squeak slightly, probably startled by the rolling concussive noise of the creatures’ marching. As each pair reached the base of the ramp, they took right-angle turns, marching away from each other until all ten had formed a line parallel to the end of the ramp, at which point they slammed to a halt, and as one turned to face the crowd of ponies in front of them. Their maneuver accomplished, they stood perfectly still and ramrod straight.

The humans’ entrance had clearly been intended to awe and impress, and Twilight had to admit that it had worked. It had been a remarkable demonstration of perfectly coordinated movement, even better in a lot of ways than anything she’d seen from Celestia’s guards. In fact, it had more closely resembled a simplified, ground-bound version of something the Wonderbolts might have done, and a quick glance at Rainbow Dash showed that the pegasus had probably noted the similarity. She was grinning widely, rose-colored eyes sparkling with excitement. She seemed to be trying to fight the grin back, in an effort to paste her serious expression back on, but Twilight was just as happy to see that her friend seemed to be losing that battle. It was good to see that kind of glee in Rainbow’s face again.

Twilight found herself mentally comparing the humans’ appearance with various things she was familiar with. They were built superficially like Spike, if the baby dragon had been stretched out to about three times his normal height. Their limbs seemed much longer in proportion to their bodies, though, and they looked like they might be leaner under their encasing armor. That armor was another curious thing; she mentally compared it with the armor she’d seen on the Royal Guards. The Guards’ armor was fairly lightweight, though strong for its comparative thinness, and gleamed with polish at all times. The Guards considered it the height of slackness and a sign of disrespect to the Princess to let one’s armor show anything less than a pure gleaming reflection of the sun, as she’d been told once in a conversation with their commander back in Canterlot. This armor was dull-colored and nonreflective, but uniformly so, giving the impression that it wasn’t supposed to be shiny. It looked much thicker than the Guards’ armor, as well, and heavy besides. It also covered a lot more of the wearer’s body, and Twilight wasn’t sure if it reduced the wearers’ mobility or not; she’d have to see more of the humans’ method of movement before she could judge whether these guards had any difficulty moving. It sure didn’t look like it was hampering them much, though.

“Hmph. A bit drab, if you ask me. Those uniforms could use a little bit more flair.” Rarity commented, next to her.

She expected to see the human dignitaries leave their vehicle behind the guards, but the next motion she saw didn’t come from the sleek blue-and-silver vehicle. More clanging footfalls, only one set that was far more metallic-sounding than the guards’, rang from the hatch of the second, larger red-and-gold vehicle. The shape that emerged from its hatch was more than slightly frightening, and Twilight heard several gasps behind her. Where the guards stood a bit under twice an adult pony’s height, this figure stood almost two and a half times as tall as Twilight did, and was swathed head-to-foot in a hooded robe of the same dark crimson as the vehicle it was exiting that obscured its exact shape. The sheer size of the figure wasn’t what made it frightening, though. Projecting from its back were almost a dozen jointed metal limbs and gleaming metallic tentacles, most terminating in large crablike claws or clusters of needle-looking shapes and odd instruments. The limbs shifted slightly as the human (if it was a human; it looked nothing at all like the guards) moved, just enough to make it obvious that they were moving of their own volition and not simply swaying with the movement of the one they were attached to. Resting on its shoulder was something that looked like a massively scaled up version of the boxy things the guards were carrying, and the cylinder protruding from its end was correspondingly larger. The unicorn wondered anew what the boxy things were… some kind of tool, maybe? Whatever they were, they sure seemed to have a lot of the things.

Twilight couldn’t see the giant figure’s face. The deep hood it wore cast heavy shadows, and all the unicorn could make out was the green gleam of reflected light, coming from three points on its face that more or less corresponded to where she thought its eyes should be, two on one side of its face and one on the other. Do they have three eyes? She mused, the Manehattan council didn’t mention anything like that! The figure walked calmly to the end of its ramp and stood there silently, stock-still save for the continued languid waving of the metallic limbs on its back, hands tucked into the sleeves of its long red robe. Twilight hoped the rest of the humans she was supposed to meet were slightly less… intimidating.

Her attention was drawn from the frightening multi-limbed figure back to the blue-and-silver vehicle as her peripheral vision spotted movement inside it. Five more figures emerged, lacking the disciplined unity of the guards that had preceded them, but making up for it with amazingly ornate clothing. The one in front was clearly the leader, and was decked out in robes and capes of the same blue and silver as the vehicle he emerged from, including an outer cape that appeared to be made of molten silver, so brilliantly did it shine. Twilight was interested to note that he only had two eyes in his almost flat, bizarrely hairless face, and wondered why there were three gleams underneath the giant figure’s hood. (Perhaps that one was a different species after all? It didn’t really resemble any of the other humans in anything but its upright posture.) The leader had a dark mane with no forelock that fell to his shoulders, but no sign of hair beyond that, and she couldn’t see any sign of a tail. Its limbs did indeed look leaner in comparison to its body than Spike’s did, as she’d suspected the guards looked without their armor. It exuded an attitude of calm authority, though Twilight though she detected a slight hint of anxiety under its serene expression.

The two directly behind the leader were a study in contrasts. To his right walked a shorter, slenderer individual, with light hair where the leader’s was dark. His eyes darted about, clearly assessing the assembled ponies, though for what, she had no idea. For some reason, the human gave her a gentle attack of the creeps, so she moved her attention to the one standing next to it.

The human to the leader’s left was even taller than the leader, (though still smaller than the crimson-robed giant) and looked enormous, fully encased in armor very like that worn by the guards at the ramp. It didn’t carry one of the box implements that the guards seemed to be proudly supporting, but it moved with an easy confidence, and the slightly more decorated armor it wore suggested that it might be the leader of the guards.

The two in the back were much less impressive. Each carried a stick in one hand, but one seemed to carry it more as a mark of office than as a support. That one was as tall as the guard leader, and its uncovered head was entirely hairless. It looked straight ahead, not focusing on any of the ponies, and had a grim expression on its face. The second was hunched, leaning on the staff it carried as though it needed the stick to keep balance on its two legs, its face hidden behind the hood of a simple brown robe. That last one seemed almost to want to be overlooked; its plain robe was almost unnoticeable beside the glittering finery of its companions, and its hunched posture and hidden face made it look like it was trying to hide in plain sight. Twilight wondered if it might possibly be an elder. Perhaps it was the one that was actually in charge?

“Well, that’s more like it,” Rarity observed, clearly impressed by the humans’ sartorial splendor.

The group reached the base of the ramp, advancing a bit past it so the line of guards stood behind them, and stopped. Silence reigned, even Pinkie Pie seeming to hold her breath as the ponies waited to see what the humans were going to do. The leader turned toward the other vehicle, making a small gesture toward the hulking multilimbed figure that stood there. The giant didn’t seem to move, but a cluster of small flying objects buzzed out of the shadowed interior of the red-and-gold vehicle. They were ivory-colored orbs, about head-sized, and they appeared to be covered in metallic filaments and components and glowing red lights. Several of the things flew over to take station hovering at the shoulders of the important-looking humans, and four more hovered in a cluster above the metal-limbed giant.

One of the objects buzzed over to hover in front of Twilight, and she caught her breath as she realized they were, in fact, exactly head-sized. This would be because they were, in fact, skulls.

It was an oddly round and short-faced skull, by pony standards, sporting sharper teeth than any pony ever had, but it was clearly the skull of a member of the same species that stood at the base of the vehicle’s ramp. It leered at her with its exposed teeth, empty eye sockets filled with a crimson glow from the lights within, metal wires and tubes protruding from various locations, and the open mouth was filled with some form of fine mesh. Um. Well. That’s… macabre. The unicorn thought, fighting the urge to step back from the thing. Hmm… is this thing magic? I don’t feel any. Weird. And creepy. Near as she could tell, the flying skull things were totally inert… which was obviously not the case, as the thing buzzed around her before taking station at her shoulder, much like the others hovered at the humans’ side. Oh well, that could wait.

The flying skull simply hovered in next to her, doing nothing, while the short, slender human stepped forward to address her. He spoke in a language she couldn’t understand at all, but half a heartbeat after he began speaking, a metallic voice issued from the grill in the skull’s teeth.

“Am I addressing the representative of this world’s ruler?”

Twilight blinked, looking back and forth between the skull beside her and the human who’d spoken. Oh, is it some kind of translating device?

Evidently recognizing her confusion, the human made a dismissive gesture, saying, “The servo-skull is translating my speech into a form you can understand. Pay it no mind; it is simply a tool. Now, am I addressing the representative of this world’s ruler?”

Twilight pushed the dozens of questions she wanted to ask to the back of her mind. Instead, she smiled at the light-maned human, and said, “Yes, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and I’ve been appointed by the Princesses to speak to you on their behalf!” She’d been rehearsing her opening words all morning, and was pleased that she was able to articulate them so smoothly and with no problems. In a mirror of what had happened when the human spoke, the skull that hovered at his shoulder translated her speech for him.

Of course, then the human just had to toss a wrench in her plans. “May I see your credentials, then?”

Twilight balked, taken completely by surprise. “Cred…?”

She was interrupted midword by Rarity, who cut in smoothly. “We would be happy to present the Lady Twilight’s credentials, once we know whom we address, mister…?”

“Oh, but of course!” The human exclaimed. The duality of the conversation was slightly confusing; the human would speak, and a half-second after he started speaking in his incomprehensible language the skull-thing would start talking in perfect, unaccented, uninflected Modern Equestrian. It was difficult to know what to focus on. The human gave an elaborate, flourishing bow that Twilight was amazed didn’t send him stumbling off of his feet. Clearly, the bipeds had much better balance than she would have expected. “I have the honor of being Seneschal Aleron Tangro, head of household for the illustrious Rogue Trader Parseon Anderocus, master of the starship Lux Foedis and lord of the Anderocus dynasty and trade fleet.” He made an elegant gesture, indicating the tall, dark-haired human that led the party. “Indeed, my master has chosen to personally grace your world with his glorious presence, so highly does he value your esteem.” The leader, who was evidently this ‘Parseon Anderocus’ individual, inclined his head slightly to affirm the seneschal’s statement, the serene expression on his face showing nothing of his thoughts.

“Oh, my!” Rarity exclaimed. “We hadn’t expected to welcome such an illustrious personage right away! Do please forgive us, we had expected to deal with lackeys first.” The designer observed in a dismissive tone, waving a forehoof vaguely, and Tangro’s face twitched, clearly unsure whether or not the white unicorn had just referred to him as a lackey. “If you gentlecol… er, gentlefolk will give us a few moments, we would be happy to fetch Lady Twilight’s credentials, so that you can examine them.” She gave Tangro a winning smile, bright blue eyes guileless.

The light-maned human gave Rarity a suspicious look for just long enough to make it clear she was supposed to notice it, before turning to the dark-maned leader and receiving another calm nod. Tangro turned back to the pony delegation. “My glorious master, the Rogue Trader Parseon Anderocus, has graciously consented to wait here, that you may retrieve the necessary documents. Please don’t be too long.” The last statement carried a slight edge of warning. Twilight had to listen to the human’s actual voice when he spoke to catch his intonation; the translation from the creepy flying skulls was devoid of expression, so she had to pay attention to how he spoke even though she couldn’t understand his language.

Rarity bowed gracefully, acknowledging the human’s words. She turned, pausing for a moment to whisper in Twilight’s ear, “come along, darling,” and headed for the library. As she passed Applejack, she hissed to the farmer, “Try to keep Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash from doing anything embarrassing!”

“Try to… what? How? Rarity…!” Applejack started to turn to follow them, but checked herself. Twilight caught a glimpse of the orange earth pony glaring surreptitiously after them as the two unicorns went behind a building. The flying skull that had been hovering near Twilight drifted casually over to hover next to the farmer.

“Um, Rarity? Where are we going? I don’t have any ‘credentials’ to get!”

The white mare let out a sigh. “I know that, darling. I think they’re just trying to put us a bit off-balance; I feel more like I’m starting a rather tense business negotiation with a tough client instead of meeting with diplomats. Maybe it’s the same thing, I admit I’ve never been a diplomat before.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry to have to drag you away like that, but I think they were trying to put you on the defensive, so I just had to seize the initiative back.”

“Oh, um, it’s alright, but now we’re going to have to come back with something, aren’t we?” Twilight had read up on diplomacy, but she hadn’t been able to find very many sources. She didn’t even know what diplomatic credentials from the Princesses would look like!

“I’m sure we can find something that looks official in that library of yours, Twilight!” Rarity answered. “If they can’t speak our language, I doubt they can read our writing.”

“Oh, that’s a good point.” Twilight pondered for a moment. “But I don’t even know what kind of documents they’re looking for!”

“I doubt they do either, dear.” Rarity said, kindly. “The only way they could have seen Equestrian diplomatic papers is if they’d been to the borders, and didn’t you say they’d only been to Manehattan and here?”

“Well, as far as I know…”

“Exactly!” The designer smiled triumphantly. “So as long as we find, or make, something that looks impressive, that should work just fine, shouldn’t it? Well, impressive I think I can provide!” They’d almost reached the library, and Rarity continued. “Let’s be quick, Twilight, I don’t want to leave them alone with Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash for any longer than we absolutely have to; that’s a recipe for a complete disaster.”

Twilight snickered, but it was more true than she’d like to admit. Rainbow was certainly enthusiastic and excited about meeting the new arrivals, but the one who’d spoken to them had an air about him that suggested he was almost eager to take offense, and the cyan pegasus often didn’t even notice when she was being rude. And Pinkie Pie… was Pinkie Pie. Anyone who wasn’t used to her was likely to at least be seriously confused by her. Hopefully Applejack would be able to keep the two in check.

Comments

Leaving Pinkie, Rainbow and Fluttershy with the aliens is not going to give any problems at all.
No problems at all.

[Forderz]

The perfect storm.

Decades from now, historians will look at this moment as the one where peace and harmony were forever shattered between ponies and humans. They will wonder how anyone could be so foolish as to leave Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, with only Fluttershy to watch over them, as the sole representatives for Equestria.