The One Chapter Where Things Happen
Lieutenant Samuel Harrison let out an aggravated sigh that his Death Mask camouflaged as he headed up to the Kodiak. It had been a very long day – on the absolute cusp of victory they had been rocketed to another planet, and had somehow managed to beat the odds in regards to “breathable atmosphere”, “intelligent life”, and “the language barrier.”
Yet there were still many more things they had yet to beat the odds on. The Vanguard took cold comfort in the fact that this would probably be the easiest day on this planet. The hardest was yet to come. He preferred not to focus on it.
Hitman joined up on their flanks as the Alephs headed up, noting that Martilus was waiting with two of the aliens – the yellow one that had retreated from the battle earlier, and the orange one that had been fighting. Sam decided to key in as they approached. “Reminding you once again – this is a First Contact situation. No real protocols or guidelines, but this is an official order – all of you, on your best behavior. We have no contact with our superiors, so fucking this up is going to get you a fate only marginally worse than if we’d had backup.”
“One could argue death is a better fate than being a galactic laughingstock,” mused Yelena, but nobody else spoke as they approached. Stopping in front of the Kodiak and the bodies, Martilus stood up, the other two aliens following.
The two groups stared each other down. The air was filled with an aggressive awkwardness, nobody really knowing what to say or do. Applejack scratched at her head underneath her hat. Barx stood back with a grin crossing his face, amused endlessly by how nobody seemed to be taking the initiative.
Twilight twitched quietly in her unconscious stupor.
Martilus eventually decided stepped forwards. He stared down Sam, who responded in kind. The “eyes” on the Death Mask now seemed to carry with them an air of judgement.
“I’m sorry, sir,” he began, thoroughly cowed, but refusing to bow.
“We left behind active signals and evidence of our presence, Mart. And judging by the skills and abilities they displayed they would have found us before long. All you did was speed up the process.” Sam extended a hand, and the turian gladly shook. “Now, mind introducing us to the friends you decided to make?”
“With pleasure, Sir. The extra pleasure that comes from disobeying orders.” Martilus grinned – something that was likely lost on the ponies – as he turned around. “Of course, there’s a little more fun to be had if I let them introduce themselves – after all, they can talk. That, and speaking for them… might be kinda offensive.”
“Funny. I feel more confused than anything else,” weighed in Applejack. Sam, at this point, had entered the quiet tranquility that came from “deciding to stop giving a shit about anything”. With that in mind, he decided to be the voice of the squad, and stepped forwards. “Well. You’ve taken casualties, and we’re hopelessly lost. I wish we could have met under better circumstances, but we’re going to have to take it like this for now. Lieutenant Samuel Harrison. Leader of Aleph Squad, and… I guess, unofficial representative of the human race.” He extended a hand. “You two?”
“Applejack” and “Fluttershy” greeted him as both of them shook his hand. Fluttershy looked and behaved… well, not timid. It was the first word he wanted to ascribe, but considering she had shouted down a creature three times her size, timid was not something he wanted to call her. He settled on demure – clearly she believed in “speak softly and carry a big stick.” It was fortunate she had decided to go first, too – as Applejack’s hoof somehow shook with enough force to whiplash his arm around, and after a moment of holding on simply for pride, he fell back, simply not able to take it.
Applejack fell forwards in peals of laughter, and Barx snickered. “God damn, sir. Always figured you a pussy, but I never guessed I’d need to add “weakling” to that list.”
Sam rolled his eyes and got up. “Well, why don’t you try it, then?”
Barx nodded and stepped forwards. Applejack only came up to four feet tall; Barx was still twice as large even when he kneeled down. To Applejack, he looked like pure threat; predatory eyes, a wide mouth clearly full of razor-sharp teeth, and reptilian, wrinkled skin.
The krogan put a three-fingered hand forwards. “Whaddya say. Shake?”
Applejack shook. Barx had the tightest grip of anypony she’d ever shook hooves with, almost to the point of pain, but she held on. Eventually, Barx released and turned back to Sam. “See? Weakling.”
“Well, at least I’m not insubordinate.” Sam’s barb was brushed off with yet another quip from Barx; “How could you be? You can’t be insubordinate to yourself.”
As… scary as Barx looked, Applejack couldn’t help but root for the twelve-hoof tall krogan champion. “You tell ‘im!” she shouted, egging on the krogan warrior.
Dari folded her arms. “Please, Ms. Applejack, don’t. The last thing he needs is motivation to keep going.”
Barx seemed to back down at that, muttering “Party pooper” as the quarian stepped up. “Dari’Nava vas Tonbay. Don’t mind the suit and mask, I need it to live. Long story.” Fortunately, Applejack had gotten the sense that maybe she should tone it down a bit, and the proceeding greetings went without effort, Yelena and Hitman being introduced.
“So. Y’all’re soldiers, right?” asked Applejack.
“Yes,” answered Sam. “Very special soldiers. The correct term would be ‘commandoes’, I suppose. We don’t fight on the front lines with everyone else, we’re really closer to a mix of a soldier and a spy. Each of us takes on a different job when it comes to fighting.”
Applejack nodded in understanding, but before she could pose another question, Twilight began coughing. Both her and Fluttershy headed over to check over her, and Aleph Squad kept their distance as she returned to consciousness.
Twilight looked around as the world slowly started to filter back into clarity. She saw the faces of her friends and it put her immediately at ease. “Ugh… Celestia, I feel terrible.”
“I know, Twilight. You didn’t have to cover for me-“ Twilight shushed Applejack with a foreleg. “Applejack, you’re my friend. And so is Rainbow Dash. Speaking of… where…”
Martilus stepped in at that moment. “Fluttershy shouted down a manticore, ordered it to take her to get cured of her poison, and then met aliens.”
As Twilight stared at the alien, she reared up to discover five more aliens standing there in various states of awkwardness and armor. She made a conscious decision not to faint. Questions began bubbling up within her mind, hundreds upon thousands of questions, but given that the last thing she remembered was being bowled over by a manticore, she decided she could ask them later, on her own time. Preferably inside a nice castle, where no manticores would ram her like out-of-control trains.
Twilight rolled over and forced herself to her hooves. She was a Princess of Friendship now – she had far, far more important duties to take care of rather than ask a hundred questions to an alien that might get exasperated at her endless thirst for knowledge. She represented Equestria in its own right, and while she was still conscious and capable of clear thought she would be introducing the aliens.
Twilight stepped forwards, attaining the sudden air of dignity that she didn’t all that much like. “Which one of you is your leader?”
Sam stepped forwards. “That’d be me, miss…”
“Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship. You?”
“Samuel Harrison, Aleph Squad leader.”
Things continued like this for quite some time. Twilight went through all of the boring formalities and Sam played along, as the rest of their intrepid crew began to wake up and realize they were sharing ground with aliens. Rarity very nearly fainted again. Pinkie had immediately personally introduced herself to each one of Aleph Squad’s members, with reactions ranging from bemusement to total surprise.
Of course, eventually, the elephant in the room had to be addressed; it simply wouldn’t go away otherwise. As the members of the squad mingled, Twilight fretted.
Sam noted this as his focus left Dari, who was trying to comfort the pony named Rarity - the poor woman(?) had gone into hysterics upon learning that her leg was broken, and was apparently in a great deal of pain. Dari was trying to shush and comfort her, but sadly, medi-gel really couldn't do much for a broken leg - and the group's supply of anesthetic was extremely low.
Leaving Dari to the task and making an idle note to give her a metaphorical pat on the back for her display of compassion, he approached Twilight. "Hey. You don't look very good. Penny for your thoughts?"
Twilight stared at him in a strange matter. "...that sounds like a saying..."
"It is, yeah. What's on your mind?"
Twilight took a breath in, then back out. “It’s Rainbow Dash. The manticore hasn’t been back for a while – I hope she hasn’t…”
The implication that all of their efforts had been for nothing lingered in the air for only a second before, with a whoosh and a thud, the manticore slammed onto the ground. It gently deposited a healthy-looking – if unconscious – Rainbow Dash onto the ground in front of them.
“Excuse me, Mr. Manticore?” The manticore turned to look at Fluttershy. “Could you please give us a ride across the ravine?” The manticore nodded feverishly, with worry clear in its eyes – it feared what would come if it did not follow orders.
Fluttershy turned towards the assembled group. “Do all of you have your things?”
Sam raised his hand. “Give us a moment.” He turned to face his squad. “Oi. Barx, Dari, both of you go cannibalize the Kodiak’s med kit. We’re gonna be leaving this thing behind.”
Martilus raised the medkit. “You mean this? I already got it when I was tending to them. Used a bit of gauze for Rarity’s leg and some medi-gel on their wounds, but nothing too major.”
“Medi-gel?” wondered Twilight. “So that’s what this sticky stuff in my cuts is.”
“Yeah. Sealed your wound until you can get to a doctor’s,” exposited Martilus. The turian became somewhat sheepish immediately after. “Of course… it kind of needs an ultrasonic frequency to “let go”, and, uh…”
“Oh, don’t worry. When a unicorn casts a spell, their horn vibrates at frequencies beyond our range of hearing - and most likely beyond most of yours, too,” assuaged Twilight. “Between me, Rarity, and a given nurse at the hospital, we should be able to get all the medi-gel off. I’m honestly more worried about what we’ll do when we get back to Ponyville than my injuries.”
“You have a place to stay, right?” inquired Sam.
“Certainly.”
Sam thought for a moment. “Get us there and in one piece and then go see to your injuries. We’ll be here when you all get back.”
“They’re not life-threatening,” responded Twilight. “There are a few things that I have to do, yes – like informing Princesses Celestia and Luna of your existence – but it doesn’t look like we’re off that bad-“
“Not off that bad?” came a very cultured voice. Rarity stood up, streaks still running down her face from where tears had matted her fur. "Not off that bad?" She approached, all of her fear and pain converting for a moment into anger. "Twilight, my leg is broken! Do you even realize how much it hurts right now? Because it hurts! It huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurts!" She jostled her leg wrong, and her face scrunched up, before she let out a cry of pain and laid down again.
Twilight stared down at the cowed Rarity and promptly ate her words. "Uh... whoops, um... sorry Rarity, yeah, we can... we can go back. We should go back. Right now, in fact."
Sam nodded. “Sounds pretty good. Last question, though; who gets to go first?”
After a good minute’s worth of debate the twelve assembled came to the conclusion that the Elements should get to go first in order of injury. This meant Rarity was the first across, screeching all the way because of bad interactions between a manticore that didn’t quite know how to give a comfortable ride and a broken foreleg. Everyone else had around the same reactions – screams, whoops, and shouts either of fright or joy came from most, with the exception of Fluttershy and Hitman, who quite simply did not react at all to the strange method of gap-crossing.
After the last person was across (Sam complained that he’d pulled a muscle), Fluttershy turned towards the manticore. “Alright, Mr. Manticore. You’ve done a lot for us. But I think it’s time you leave.”
The manticore was off before any of them could react, running howling in terror into the forest.
“Remind me to never get on her bad side,” Barx commented.
“Eh,” shrugged Twilight. “That doesn’t usually happen. So long as you don’t go around ripping people apart, you and Fluttershy will get along fine.”
“Hm,” snorted Barx. “If you say so. I’m still gonna be a little leery.”
Fluttershy sighed. “Well, I don’t suppose I can stop you.”
Rarity, in the meanwhile, looked out into the Everfree. "Uh... Twilight, dear? Please tell me we're not going to walk all the way through the forest?" Twilight turned back and merely gave her an apologetic look. Rarity fell onto her haunches. "But... but my leg is brokeeeeeeeeen! I shan't be able to make it all the way without feeling pain in every little step I-"
Sam looked over to Barx as Rarity continued melodramatizing about her current situation. "Hey, Barx. Ever wanted to carry a new kind of alien?"
"You're asking me to carry her, aren't you?" deciphered Barx.
"Asking? No," corrected Sam. "Ordering? That's an order, soldier."
Barx nodded and headed over to Rarity, interrupting her whining with a slightly softer than usual hand on her back. "Hey, Rarity. Want a ride back to town?
Rarity turned back to the krogan before her. The thing looked like it was muscle piled on top of more muscle - it could probably wrestle Bulk Biceps to a standstill. And it was offering to carry her.
"Yes," responded Rarity. "That... would be nice."
The walk continued for a few minutes in silence. It wasn't quite blissful, considering the fact that the men and women (and geth) of Aleph had a lot on their plates to think about, but being able to hear nothing but the sounds of the forest around them was relaxing, for a change.
Of course, it couldn't last forever, and just as it seemed it had worn out its welcome, the attention of most everyone assembled was attracted by riotous coughing.
Rainbow Dash was currently being carried on Twilight’s back, as an alternative to walking herself, considering her rather unconscious condition. She sputtered for a few more seconds, then, breathing clearly, opened her eyes. Aliens entered her view, walking along with her friends.
Were this any other situation she would be ecstatic. As of right now, however, she felt like she had gone ten rounds with an Ursa Major, and there was a very literal pain in her flank. She remembered the details of her poisoning, but strangely, she felt no pain – at least, besides her ass. Deciding that she had been cured of her poison, she attempted to poke Twilight – it came off as a very, very weak flop of her right foreleg at her.
Twilight turned back. “Welcome back, Rainbow. Are you feeling okay?”
“No,” deadpanned the mare. “Are the aliens with us?”
“Yep,” responded Sam.
“Cool.” Rainbow Dash shifted on Twilight’s back and seemed to return to sleep.
For a few moments, the trail was blissfully quiet.
“Rude,” shot Barx.
At Barx’s little jibe, however, Rainbow Dash decided to speak up. “Hey, nerd, I’m still awake. Just turned over. More comfortable here.”
Barx stared at Rainbow Dash. Not noticing, the sky-blue mare continued to aggressively give no fucks about the current situation. Of course, however, something niggled at the pegasus’s mind, and eventually she felt she had to speak up.
“Uh… so who are these aliens, anyways?”
Twilight smirked. “I think I’ll leave it to them to introduce themselves.” She turned to Sam, who was giving her an absolutely mirthful look.
“…I’ve already had to introduce everyone here four separate times already. Not that I won't do it again if I have to, but... it's kinda starting to get old. Like one of those "socials" they make us go to every year.”
“Well,” began Twilight, “I could easily take care of the rest of the introductions to Ponyville… if, of course, you were to humor me and introduce yourself to the ‘fastest pegasus alive’.”
Sam bit his lip as he thought about the prospect, before he relented. As tired as he was, he decided that all formalities were going to go out the window. “Okay. I’m going to be really off-the-cuff, though. I gotta get some manner of amusement out of this.” He looked towards Rainbow Dash. "That okay with you?"
"Cutting right through the shit?" Dash smiled. "Yep. Perfectly fine." He turned back to Aleph Squad, who were all staring at him with various looks of curiosity. “Anyone mind if I introduce you guys? I've been doing this all day, may as well not stop now."
The soldiers he commanded glanced among each other, then gave various noncommittal grunts and shrugs. Hitman was the only one that verbally responded, with a curt "No".
With permission given, Sam set himself to the task. “Alright. As most of you are cleanly aware, we’ve sort of been fighting a war for the past little while. This is basically shore leave – even if it’s weird. I’m going to be informally introducing Aleph Squad – the most hardcore team of asskickers you’re likely to meet.” Rainbow Dash shuffled over, turning to watch the aliens.
“May as well start with me – you know, gotta wedge that ego firmly into place. Samuel Harrison, human. Aleph One – I’m the leader. My role is Vanguard – hit them close and hit them hard. I’d give you a short description of myself, but really, I’d probably just say dumb shit like “I am the greatest human being that ever lived”, “literal god given physical form”, and stuff like that, but you don’t want to hear that. Not when there’s far more interesting people around.”
“What he means to say,” Martilus added, “is that he makes cheap shots. Cheap shots at everyone. Never to offend – he knows where the line is. He’s pretty chill, unless you’re getting shot at. Well, usually pretty chill, anyways.”
“Heh,” commented Rainbow Dash. “So long as you can take it as good as you give it I’ll like you.”
“Believe me, I can. And this guy here,” said Sam, building on Martilus’s words, “is the littlest shit you’ll ever meet. Martilus Hinfax. He’s a turian – read: “horrible, spiky monster come to destroy us all”. He’s a pretty cool guy, really. Calm, steadfast, always playing nice, a good worker, too. He’s Aleph Six, and his role is Sentinel. He stands out in the middle of the fight, gets hit by ten people at once, and the sees to them with a very, very big gun.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Madam.” Martilus curtsied, and Rainbow laughed. “Wow. You two are a class act.”
“You should see ‘em when they’re drunk,” muttered Barx.
“I bet they’d be a laugh riot!” laughed Dash. The rest of the Elements felt relieved – it seemed that Dash had gone unfazed by her poisoning.
“Well, Barx is definitely one to talk. Aleph Two is the biggest and strongest out of all of us here – he’s a krogan.” Sam didn’t seem to be addressing the comment about how fun he was when he was drunk. “Abrasive? Yes. Good people? Yes. Do you want to stand in his way? Hell no. This guy’s got redundant copies of every organ in his body, and forcing him to use one might put him into a blood rage so violent that other krogan have been known to gnash past brain death. Which means he does well in his job of Soldier – shoot anything that moves.”
Dash stared for a few moments. “Gnarly. Glad you’re with us, then.”
“You should be,” agreed Barx, smiling and showing off rows of teeth. To any other pony (read; Fluttershy) it would be somewhat scary. To Dash, it was downright fascinating. Sam, of course, decided to take that moment to keep speaking. “More seriously, though, as scary as he is, Barx is decent. He’s just got a bit of anger issues, and difficulty expressing himself. Give him time.”
“Hey, Barx. We should hoof wrestle sometime.”
Barx’s grin never left his face. “Hoof wrestling? If it’s anything like arm wrestling, I’m in. Might wanna wait until you’re healed up, though. Not as fun beating an opponent that can’t properly fight back.”
“Funny,” remarked Dari. “The way your friend Dash is speaking, she seems like she’d fit right in as Aleph Seven.”
“Where do I sign?” asked Dash.
“I’m afraid we have no method of recruitment at the moment,” continued Sam, “but believe me – you get badass enough and we’ll make you an honorary N. Eitherwhats, this is Dari’Nava vas Tonbay. She’s a quarian. The upside is that she is smoking hot.”
Dari slapped Sam.
“The downside is that her immune system is compromised – it’s a really long and historical tale, but long story short if she isn’t wearing that environmental suit 24/7 she’ll die of… basically anything you take for granted.” Sam rubbed the side of his cheek. “Doesn’t stop her, though. She’s a master mechanic – give her enough materials and she’ll have something useful built up with blueprints in the dirt. Aleph Four is the squad’s Engineer – she spends time fixing stuff, giving us all of our quality of life goodies, and throwing fireballs, lightning bolts, and freeze rays at people like ye olden wizards.”
Rainbow Dash was entranced. “Whoa. You guys are awesome.”
“Yep.” Sam was clearly where he wanted to be – right in the spotlight, with nothing to worry about but his next sentence. “Which brings us to our next member – the actual space mage.” That got Twilight’s attention, and she turned around to stare at Yelena. “Meet Yelena Nasari. She’s an asari – long-lived, capable of mind melding with others for practical and… recreational needs… and a natural biotic. What that means is she has a material in her that lets her manipulate gravity. So she can do all sorts of fun things. Like throw a ball of force at you. Or a singularity. Or a ball of twisting, shearing gravity.” At this praise, Yelena merely smiled mildly and raised a hand to wave, something Dash returned. “She’s humble, nice, generally not willing to get involved in protracted fights off-duty. But don’t take that for meekness. She’ll flay you alive with one look.”
“I won’t actually flay you alive, just so you know,” assuaged Yelena. “He’s just decided to be a dick.”
“I could make a pun out of that, but I don’t feel like getting slapped twice in the same day.” Sam turned to their last member, the machine that fearlessly walked alongside them. “This is Hitman. Don’t mind him much… he’s a geth. Essentially, a robot.”
“While inaccurate, I feel it would not be prudent to correct you, Harrison-Vanguard,” stated Hitman.
“…see? He’s not really all that social, but it’s not for lack of trying, he just doesn’t know. I’m sure he’ll get the hang of it. I… I can’t really think of much to say about him, but really, he’s nice if you just want to have a conversation. Dude can hold one on basically anything you can think of.”
“Even the Wonderbolts?” Dash figured they probably didn’t know, but couldn’t help to ask anyways.
“Not a clue who or what those are, but yes. He will.”
Dash’s eyes grew wide. “You don’t know who the Wonderbolts are?” Twilight quickly stepped in (metaphorically speaking, anyways), shushing Dash. “You’ll have a long time to regale him with tales of the Wonderbolts later.”
“I’m almost done anyways. Aleph Five’s job is Infiltrator – he stays way back from the field with a big gun and a nice scope on it. He doesn’t usually venture up close, but he’s no slouch there either. He has the precision of a machine, mostly because he is one.”
Hitman did not respond until Sam elbowed him. The platform-turned-individual turned to Dash and waved rather statically, something Dash sniggered at before waving back. “Alright. You feel like doing a play-by-play of all your friends, or are you too dead tired?”
“Dead,” responded Dash. “I would, but I feel like Tank in the winter.” A moment’s silence ensued, before Dash quietly explained, “uh… Tank’s my pet tortoise. He hibernates." A moment passed where nobody said anything, and Dash decided it would be better to keep going as if nothing had happened. "Now. The Wonderbolts? They’re something else. They’re the best flight team in existence! They do all sorts of crazy stunts and awesome stuff, and they’re just… so… amazing!” Despite the fact that she looked like she had been cold-cocked not a minute prior Dash’s fangirling was not lost on any of the members of Aleph Squad.
“I wonder if she has a crush on the lead?” wondered Dari.
“Probably,” agreed Martilus.
Dash continued on, speaking of the Wonderbolts, their tales of valor, and the fact that she was on the reserves. The Alephs quietly listened in, not really feeling the need to respond. As the forest grew lighter, they felt at ease in that moment.
And as always, something told Sam to savor the moment.
After a few more minutes of walking (and Rainbow Dash dumping enough information on the Wonderbolts for even Hitman to feel intimately acquainted despite having had zero prior experience with them,) they came to the edge of the forest, and walked out into actual sunlight.
Aleph Squad, almost as one, squinted in the bright light. They had become used to the dark mood lighting of the Everfree Forest, so to be out here in the open, where it was clear and vibrant… it really was something else. Of course, their gawking at the verdant environment was not lost on the Elements that were there with them.
“Come on,” spurred Twilight. “You’ll have a lot of time to look at the grass when we’re in the castle.”
“No grass grows inside castles,” stated Hitman.
“You never know,” jabbed Yelena. “It might be something they do. Never assume.”
“Affirmative” was the only response Yelena got.
They continued on down the trail. The Elements were relieved to be out of danger. Aleph Squad was relieved to no longer have to fight. Of course, all good things came to an eventual end, and this was no exception as Sam looked over the crew gathered.
“Uh… question. All of you are injured in some way and we’re scary aliens. What’s preventing the townspeople from turning on us the second we walk in?”
“Easy,” interrupted Rarity, still moaning in pain from her leg. Despite her earlier hysterical fit, however, she had improved significantly, and seemed relatively calm about the situation now that she was going to get to go to the hospital “You’re walking with the Elements of Harmony. As I’m sure you’re no doubt aware, we are quite the sight around these parts. If they see you with us, they’ll probably assume you were helping us fight things - even if it’s not exactly the right assumption to make – and go about their day.” She jolted, and grumbled quietly about "that hospital better come soon".
Sam stared at Rarity, as he worked it out in his mind. Eventually he decided that both of the two parties assembled - Aleph Squad and the Elements of Harmony (he made a note to ask later) - were putting blind faith into each other anyways. “Well, it’s not like we aren’t already putting blind faith into each other’s hands slash hooves, so you know what? I’ll go with that.”
As they approached the town, they noted its quaint look. Well, “quaint” was doing it a favor. It looked downright primitive – thatched-roof houses – though some parts did stand out. Like the house that seemed to be made of gingerbread, bringing nothing to the resident human’s mind but fairy tales. Or the house that appeared to actually be made of modern construction materials. Or the castle that seemed to hang off the side of a mountain.
Or the closer castle made of crystals they were heading towards, located directly next to Ponyville.
The Alephs, as one, gawked. It wasn’t immediately obvious exactly what the castle they were standing in front of was made of, but it didn’t need to be immediately obvious, considering it was bright, shiny, sharp, and didn’t seem like an actual building at all. It seemed more like the sort of mirage a half-deluded man would spy in the middle of a desert shortly before his dehydration finished whatever stranded him in the desert started.
Twilight merely giggled, a blush covering her face as she looked over the awestruck aliens she was in charge of shepherding. “Yep. That’s… that’s my castle,” she confirmed. “Let’s… let’s get moving, okay? You’ll get a lot of time to s-“
“Yeah, yeah, lotta time to stare,” shot Barx. “I’ve already taken a picture. I’ll stare as long as I like. In the meanwhile, purplesmart’s got a point. We should probably keep hoofing it so these ladies can go get fixed.” The krogan set out ahead, and Aleph Squad followed suit.
The rest of the journey was relatively silent. Everyone was able to compose their thoughts – some were darker than others. Pinkie had begun planning the ‘Welcome to Ponyville, Aliens’ party. Twilight was drafting up the letter she’d send to Celestia. Both Dari and Martilus were wondering if they’d live to see the next month. Hitman was futilely trying to contact the geth collective with every way he knew how to, but the geth encountered nothing. Not even a lack of signal. Not even junk signal left over from primitive era transmissions.
Nothing but the cosmic microwave background and the platform’s own lightspeed thoughts.
Eventually, however, they arrived at the castle. Twilight magicked the door open, and stood aside. “Alright. I just need to explain to Spike, my assistant, what’s going on, and then I’ll let you all stay at the castle.” Twilight promptly leaned into the door. “SPIKE! COME HERE!”
A faint “Coming!” could be heard, and then a small lizard that looked sort of like a crossbreed between a salarian and a krogan – a baby dragon – toddled out.
Spike stared at the aliens for a few moments, trying to comprehend what he was seeing.
“Spike,” began Twilight, “we have visitors. Please try to make sure they don’t break anything.”
Aleph Squad watched as Spike’s eyes grew wide. Spike himself was having the time of his life. He’d always wondered if there were aliens out there; sometimes it was because he was out stargazing with Twilight, looking into the seemingly-verdant fields of light, and sometimes it was because he was reading a comic book where Dirk Stronghooves had to fight off the alien menace to save Equestria... the twelfth that month. The question, however, had now just been answered, and it was the largest “yes” that could ever have been devised as an answer.
“Uh…” Martilus cocked his head and turned to Twilight. “Is it normal for him to salivate like that?”
“No… not really,” answered Twilight, also unsure as to what was going on with Spike. She eventually opted to grip on the very still dragon with her telekinesis and give a good shake, which snapped Spike out of his reverie.
“Oh! Uh… right! I won’t let you down, Twilight!” Spike snapped into a salute faster than most Royal Guardsponies, and promptly invited Aleph Squad indoors. After a few shared looks the battle-weary troops of Aleph decided that a tour from Spike was probably about as good as it was going to get, and so they shuffled into the castle in single file, with one exception.
The Elements watched as, one after the other, Aleph Squad filed into the house. Looking at each other, Twilight sighed. For the seventieth time since she moved here, Twilight Sparkle and her friends had managed to make new friends, avoid total disaster, and survive an insane battle they really had no part getting involved in. Now, they could finally rest.
“Uh, Twilight?" asked Rarity. "You did say that we were going to go to the hospital directly after dropping them off, right Twilight?" Barx was still standing outside, still carrying the mare. "You did say, yeah," he concurred.
Twilight laughed awkwardly at the realization. “Uh… yeah. That… That may be the best. Hand her here, would ya?"
Barx nodded and gingerly extended her out, and Twilight telekinetically moved her to her back. With a barely perceptible nod the krogan shuffled off into the castle, as Twilight and company struck out for health care.
Aleph Squad looked around as they entered. The interior of the castle was just as magnificent as the outside. It was also pristine and clean, to the point where they could see dust and soot - some of it no doubt from Earth - falling onto the floors and dirtying them. The scene was ethereal - like they had died and entered the afterlife. All sans Hitman felt they didn't quite belong there - Hitman itself was too busy looking around and archiving the architecture.
In the meanwhile, however, Spike was desperately trying to think of what to say. Twilight had found and retrieved aliens – this above all else was something he could not mess up. It was roughly equivalent to a date with Rarity. He momentarily considered making it more important, but given that one thing was a once-in-a-lifetime event, and the other was a date with Rarity, he decided it was significantly less important overall.
As seemed to be the default in these situations, Sam eventually decided to take control, heading up to Spike. He leaned down, still significantly larger than the lizard he was kneeling in front of, and decided to introduce himself. “So you’re Spike, huh?”
Spike nodded, still somewhat dumbfounded.
“Nice name. Name’s Sam.” He extended his hand, and Spike gripped it carefully in his claws and shook it. “My friends here are Barx, Yelena, Dari, Hitman, and Martilus, in no particular order,” he said, pointing to each of them as he indicated them with a hand.
Spike drunk the information like a thirsty soldier from a canteen. “Cool! So, what are all of you?” He turned to address Aleph Squad themselves.
“Human.” “Asari.” “Krogan.” “Turian.” “Quarian.” “Geth.”
Spike observed them. “Cool! So, like, you all look pretty similar. Barx, right?” The krogan nodded. “Are you like the Earth Pony equivalent of a human?”
Nobody quite knew how to react to that. Each member of Aleph Squad exchanged furtive glances, while Barx merely laughed. A lot. When he was finished, the krogan headed up. “No, it’s not like that. We’re all different species.” Spike quirked an eyebrow, responding with a confused “But Pegasi and Earth Ponies are different species, too.”
“Not subspecies,” interjected Dari. “We’re all different species. Me and Martilus actually have a different biological makeup from everyone else present. And Hitman isn’t even alive in the technical sense.”
“I am a synthetic being. I was not born in nature, but was instead constructed by Creator-Dari’Nava’s species,” supplied Hitman. Slowly, Spike began to get the differences between them. Then his lizard brain finally picked up on the exact connotations of what he had said earlier.
“Oh Celestia, did… was I just racist?”
“Yep,” answered Barx.
Spike stared at the twelve-foot-tall krogan in fear. “…are… a-are you gonna eat me?”
“Nope,” answered Barx.
“Whew!” went Spike, swiping a sudden onset of flopsweat off of his head. “Was… was the whole ‘eat me’ thing racist, too?”
“Yep”, answered Barx.
“Spike, could you please just give us a tour of the place already?” intervened Sam, quite clearly seeing where this was going and wanting no part in it. “As amusing as it is to watch you and Barx be… well, you and Barx, I’d much rather figure out where important places like the washrooms or the beds are located.”
That seemed to snap Spike out of his feedback loop. “Of course!” The adolescent drake stepped aside and gestured down the hallway. “Now, if you’ll just follow me…”
“…the washrooms are right here,” finished Spike.
The seven gathered had traversed approximately half the castle to reach the washrooms. When nobody moved, least of all Sam, Spike asked, “Wait, so none of you have to go right now?”
After a chorus of negatives, Spike gave a seemingly overexaggerated sigh of relief. “Oh, thank Celestia!” He quickly ran into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
Nobody present in Aleph Squad was any less confused than they were when they had entered. “This cannot be the only set of washrooms,” piped up Hitman from the rear. “Considering the size of the building, it would be inefficient.”
“I’m siding with Hitman,” stated Dari. “You’d need to be an idiot to design this building and not put washrooms…" She paused for a moment, bringing her hand up to the underside of her envirosuit's helmet. "Actually, considering the material they used, you’d just need to be an idiot to design this building and think any aspect of it was a good idea.”
The door opened as Spike exited the washroom. “I… I don’t really hate the castle that much. It’s no Golden Oaks Library, sure, but… yeah, it is kinda overdramatic.”
“And of the washrooms?” pressed Dari.
Spike laughed. “Yeah, of course this isn’t the only set of washrooms. This is, like, one set. I’m not sure how many there are exactly, but I’d guess… about ten.”
Sam nodded. “Eh. I suppose we’ll find them later. Anywhere we’ll be actually staying?”
“…wow…”
“Magnificent!”
“Eh. Could be worse.”
Reactions to the guest suite of Twilight Sparkle’s crystal castle were mixed. It was indeed a beautiful room – it came with the territory of being in a castle that was glitterier than most diamond stores. Even so, considering the bed had a blanket that was somehow shiny without either having gems embedded into it or being made of an uncomfortable material, and that one of the windows was stained glass designed just so that the sunlight that filtered through would be converted into a prismatic display of every color in the rainbow, it definitely stood out amongst the rest of the rooms, which consisted of “Twilight’s bedroom” and “Spike’s bedroom”.
“…so like I was saying,” continued Spike, “this is the only guest room we actually have. And it only has one bed, and I’m pretty sure it’ll only fit two of you.”
Sam snorted. “To be honest I have slept on surfaces far harder than this crystal. So has everyone else.”
“Geth do not sleep,” stated Hitman.
“What Sam means to say,” continued Martilus, “is that “not enough beds” isn’t a problem. The spirits know we’ve dealt with that enough.”
“In that case, I might as well show you the best room in this place,” continued Spike. The little dragon seemed almost excited.
“The kitchen!”
Spike turned towards Aleph Squad and threw both of his arms out in joy. He was promptly surprised when nobody actually had any good reaction. They merely stood there awkwardly.
“…do you guys not eat, or…” began Spike.
Hitman looked towards its squadmates, then moved forth. “Creator-Dari’Nava and Hinfax-Sentinel have differing biological makeup. This renders them incapable of consuming food that Soldier-Barx, Leader-Harrison, and Adept-Nasani can, and vice versa. Reaction ranges from zero nutritional value to anaphylactic shock and death.”
Spike blinked as he stared at the geth platform, its ceaselessly glowing blue eye offering little purchase from the grim fact it had just delivered.
“Hitman…” began Martilus, but the geth quickly cut him off. “Hinfax-Sentinel, the fact was pertinent.”
“This does not mean it was appropriate to bring up,” countered Yelena. “Though I don’t suppose we could have avoided it very long, given the situation.”
“It’s okay,” went Spike. “Twilight’s pretty smart, and she’s well-versed in magic. She’ll be able to help you out with that, I don’t doubt it!” The positivity the dragon expressed shocked everyone – even Barx raised an eyebrow. “Until then, I guess I should take you to the last room in the house, so we can finish off this tour!”
Six seats, each with an emblem that had matched the strange markings on their host’s asses nobody had brought up out of politeness.
A central table – that when Spike waved his claws over it, brought up a holographic map of Equestria.
A massive chandelier-like ceiling fixture, each shard containing an inscribed memory of previous experiences.
The official name for the room was the Hall of Friendship, but to each member of Aleph Squad it felt more like a war room. This wasn’t a place where you gathered to have tea and catch up (though that wouldn’t stop you from using it that way) – this was a place where you strategized over coffee and tried to outfox the most tenacious enemy in recorded history.
Hitman silently took a picture of the map of Equestria as everyone stared at the holotable.
Barx very much approved. After a short look-around he smiled. “This room. I like this room. It is a very nice room.”
Spike blinked, knowing far better than to question the supermassive mountain of armor and teeth that was eight times his size. Yelena, in the meanwhile, looked at each of the scenes imprinted in the crystal. After a second, however, she stopped, turning sharply away. “It… It feels far too personal to look at these.”
“Nobody’s asking you to,” deadpanned Dari’Nava, who was busy inspecting the craftsmanship of the chairs, for reasons unknown to anyone else.
As Aleph Squad looked over the room, each focusing on a different part of it, the doors to the Hall of Friendship swung open, and the Elements of Harmony entered. All attention turned to them – they were banged up, but most of them merely had bandages or stitches over cuts and packs of ice pressed up to bruises. The worst off was Rarity, whose right foreleg was in a splint to keep it off the ground and a cast to allow it to heal - but besides that, she looked proud and dignified, a step above her former appearance. They were bruised and battered, but they were alive.
“Oh Celestia, Rarity!” Spike immediately ran over to the mare, immediately concerned over her physical condition. The fervent devotion he showed in that moment did not go unnoticed by Aleph Squad – some took as much comfort as they could from it, others laughed, and as usual, Hitman observed the organics and their strange and silly practices.
“Oh, Spike, don’t worry, it…” Rarity grunted as Spike poked her leg a little too hard. “It’s not hurting that badly. Why, in about six weeks it’ll be like I was never actually hurt!”
“Is there anything I can do to help, Rarity?”
Rarity thought for a moment. “Well… one hoof is going to make it terribly difficult to operate the sewing machine… maybe you could help me with my business? Sweetie Belle will be there, too, but an extra set of hooves will surely help out!”
“Yes, ma’am, Rarity ma’am!” Spike saluted, and if nothing else, the lovesick lizard’s antics managed to eke out a smile from everyone except Barx, who wasn’t really into that sort of thing, and Hitman, who was physically incapable of smiling.
Twilight took the opportunity to head up to Sam, who kneeled down to get more onto her level as a matter of respect. Twilight cleared her throat. “Alright. Samuel, I am aware that you and your squad are hopelessly lost. I can temporarily offer you a place to stay and get on your feet here.”
“Temporarily?” asked Sam.
“Temporarily,” nodded Twilight. “No matter what you do, I will have to inform Princesses Celestia and Luna of your arrival here, and you will need to meet with them to discuss further actions in regards to your stay here. This isn’t something you can contest.”
“Noted,” acknowledged Sam. Twilight turned to Spike, who was walking away from Rarity with a dazed smile on his face. “Spike! Take a letter, if you would.”
“Sure thing!” Spike ran off, the light taps of the dragon’s feet on the crystal floor somehow elevating above the din of thirteen beings being stuck in the same room. Within a minute or so Spike had returned with a scroll and a quill – something that attracted the attention of the Alephs; they didn’t even have paper yet.
Twilight cleared her throat. “Princesses Celestia and Luna, it has been a while since I have reported to you on anything, Friendship Report or not, but I have urgent news that requires your utmost attention. Today, after seeing a metal brick fall from the sky and getting into a battle with a manticore, me and my friends discovered six alien beings who claim to be from other worlds. They appear to be soldiers, but are peaceable and are getting along fine with everypony else. While I have granted them temporary authority to stay in Ponyville because they lack anywhere else to go, I urgently request that you come to my castle as soon as possible to vet them for possible integration into Equestrian society, as it appears they have nowhere else to go. Your former student, Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight waited for a few moments as Spike quickly and efficiently transcribed the letter. Rolling it up and adding a nice ribbon, the dragon took a breath larger than he was, and blew out. To moderate surprise, a stream of green balefire burst forth from his maw, incinerating the letter. The green ashes rose out, and travelled out through an open window towards the massive castle in the distance.
Hitman's head flapped for a few moments before the geth responded with a curious "Query: Why has Spike incinerated the letter he wrote?"
"Dragon fax!" said Twilight. "He's sending it to Princess Celestia herself."
"...how does that even work?" wondered Dari'Nava out loud. Unfortunately for her, Twilight heard what she was thinking - and she got the gleam in her eye that the rest of the Elements recognized immediately as "Maximum Overdork". Without any other form of warning she immediately launched into a massive stream of magical technobabble that isn't worth transcription, primarily because nobody else in the room could decipher what she was going on about.
Of course, however, as Dari'Nava attempted to parse some meaning out of the inane gobbledygook Twilight was spouting, she got an idea. From the sounds of it, this "Twilight" persona was smart. Very smart. And magic was a thing that apparently had a massive amount of uses. It was what humans called a Hail Mary - but then again, when she considered their rations and her options, a blind shot in the dark was the only option left.
That, and Spike had already brought up the possibility.
Beats dying in a ditch, the mechanic darkly thought. She walked forwards as Twilight continued to explain an ancillary concept, and poked her in the forehead.
Twilight stopped speaking, and stared at her.
"...you're smart, right?" asked Dari.
Twilight blinked. "Um... yes?"
"Then maybe you could help us with a tiny little very big problem that we're going to face really soon."
Twilight, to Dari’s relief and expectations, had dropped the issue entirely. She was now focused on the quarian before her with laserlike precision, something Dari hoped she would be able to see in far more people than the being she was talking to. “You need help? Me and my friends can help! What’s the nature of your emergency!” If nothing else, Twilight was indeed very enthusiastic to help out a new friend, and Dari planned to leverage that.
“To explain this in the simplest terms I can, me and Martilus have… significantly different biology from the rest of our cohort. We cannot eat the same foods they can, and the same goes for them. At best we derive no nutritional value. At worst, we go into anaphylactic shock and die. So being marooned on an alien planet? Not exactly the most excellent state of affairs.”
Twilight nodded, having produced a small notepad, scribbling into it with the quill Spike was holding ten seconds ago.
“Now, Twilight, you are a very smart… uh… I’m going to go with “woman”, h-“
“Mare,” she corrected.
Dari took a moment to internalize the fact she was being corrected on her grammar in the middle of essentially pleading for her life, then continued. “…a smart mare. Is there any way you’d be able to help us out?”
Twilight thought for a moment. “Well, first I’d need blood samples to compare. From you, one of your other squadmates, and… I’ll say myself. I’d need to check them for… what, exactly?”
“DNA sequence,” answered Dari. “People like Sam have a different protein sequence from people like me. I’m not sure what yours is, but none of us can safely eat until we know for sure. That… and we don’t have very many rations left, anyways. We weren’t planning to get stranded. But then again, who does?”
Twilight took a moment to meditate on that fact. Her eyes and pupils widened immediately when she realized the prospect before her. If she didn’t get to work, then the new arrivals would starve to death just after reaching safety. “Alright, I can help! I might lose one or two days of sleep, but your lives are at stake! Just hold out your arm…”
Before Dari could point out it wasn’t really feasible to take a sample from her, Martilus stepped forwards. He looked to Spike. “Spike, get me a knife.”
Spike looked at him as though he had lost his mind. “Please don’t tell me you plan to-“
“A little pain now for our lives later. I’m not going to do anything rash, but she needs a blood sample, and unless she has ultrasterilized instruments then she’ll cause Dari to get sick – maybe even die. If I get a knife, I can cut one of my soft parts a little, you can take the blood on the blade.”
Spike looked over to Twilight, who looked just as uneasy as the drake did over the prospect, before the violet mare regained her composure. “You heard him, Spike,” she ordered, with a slight tinge of regret in her voice. “Grab a knife.”
“Y-yes, Twilight,” responded Spike, and the tyke promptly left to grab a knife. The air had soured with awkwardness yet again, as multiple different bodies shuffled around in an attempt to alleviate the darkness that had suddenly filled the air. Eventually, Spike returned with a fairly heft knife in his hands; Martilus picked it up, positioned it at a soft area on his neck, and nicked himself, grunting as the blade ran across his skin and drew blood. The objective complete, Martilus handed the knife to Twilight, who magically gripped it.
“There you go,” smiled Martilus. “There’s your blood sample.”
Despite holding it in a telekinetic grip that wasn’t exactly tangible the same way a limb was, Twilight held the slightly blue-tinged knife from her as though it were a cursed artifact of doom, looking over the rest of Aleph Squad. “Alright… if one of you could volunteer, I’ll be able to get a less invasive blood sample. With syringes. That will barely hurt, and won’t leave any lasting scars.”
Sam looked between the members of the team - none of whom seemed to be stepping forwards. “Guess that means me, then.”
“I’d do it, but I’m not sure if a needle’d be able to get past me,” commented Barx. “Thick skin.”
Sam didn't really pay attention to that, as he stood in front of Twilight. “Alright, Twilight, don’t poke me all the way through, that won’t get you anything.” Twilight giggled a little. “Yeah, yeah. I know that. I know how to use a syringe.”
Despite smirking at that, Sam felt the statement “I know how to use a syringe” did not at all inspire confidence in her ability to wield a syringe. With a pop that startled some, Twilight teleported off to lands unknown.
Barx scratched his head. “Wait, why didn’t she just teleport us-“ Before he could finish, Twilight teleported back in, carrying twin syringes, and a set of cotton swabs. “Alright. Unless you’re willing to take off that armor of yours, I’ll need to withdraw the blood sample from your neck.”
“Well, it’d be the first time a sharp object punched through my neck, then,” quipped Sam. “Make it fast.”
Twilight nodded. “Don’t worry, it’ll be a quick and painless procedure. Really, I’ve got it down to an art. In fact…” She held the syringe, slightly filled with blood. “I’m already done.”
Sam felt the side of his neck. There was a slight bump from where the syringe had entered it, but it barely hurt. She had performed the operation with mechanical precision and extreme speed – when most doctors said it’d be “over before you knew it”, they were liars, but with Doctor Sparkle, Ph. D, that was an absolute guarantee. Almost as quickly, Twilight swapped and stabbed herself in the foreleg, withdrawing blood before removing the syringe. “Alright… the difficult part will be performing the magical analysis of this. It… may take a while. I’ll probably have the results by tomorrow.”
Dari stepped forwards. “If you don’t mind, Twilight, I’d like to see how I can help out.” Twilight smiled. “Of course you can! Come with me, we’ll head to the laboratory.” The two of them headed off, leaving eleven more people looking around and wondering what to do.
Sam, still nursing his injection site, looked over the team. “Well… this place only has one guest room.” He turned his attention over to the remainder of the gathered Elements. “Any of you got anywhere else for us to stay?” He couldn’t make out the individual affirmations each of them gave, but got the message anyways. It took him only a moment to figure that it would probably be better for Aleph to split up.
He turned around to face the rest of his squad. “Alright. We’ve had a rough day. We’re probably going to have a rougher tomorrow. It’d behoove you all to get some rest. Problem is, there’s only one guest room here, for some reason, so it looks like we’re going to need to split. We all know where to meet up. Start picking.”
Before Sam could turn around Rainbow Dash had already laid a hoof on his arm. “You. You’re mine,” she claimed, in a voice that was more than a little creepy.
Sam took a moment to process that, and then nodded. “Sure. Where do you live?”
“In the clouds, duh!” she responded, as if Sam was an idiot for not knowing that pegasi lived in the clouds.
“…but I don’t have weather manipulation magic. You take me up and I’ll just fall through the clouds like they don’t exist.”
For a moment, Dash decided to try and call for Twilight, but figured that since she was doing something really important, it might not be the best idea to bother her. The pegasus looked back to Sam, cerulean eyes scrutinizing him. "So where are you gonna stay?"
"Iunno," he shrugged. "I'll figure something out.” He looked back to the rest of the Alephs. “You guys made your decisions yet?”
Martilus looked over to Applejack. “You said you run an apple orchard, right?”
“I sure do!” replied Applejack.
“Mind if I stay over?” requested the avian alien. “Considering you work on a farm I’m more than willing to offer my services for room and board.” Applejack stepped forwards, and the two shook – a significantly calmer handshake, seeing as how Martilus’s arm wasn’t being flung about like a wacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tube man.
Yelena, in the meanwhile, approached Fluttershy and leaned down. “Fluttershy, you said you had spare space, right?”
“Oh, of course you can stay at my house!” She immediately retreated slightly. “That is, of course, if you don’t mind the animals…”
“Animals?” Yelena quirked an eyebrow. This wasn’t something she had expected at all.
“Oh, yes,” responded Fluttershy. “I take care of animals near the Everfree at my home. I have so many animal friends… they’ll love to see you! But it’s not for everypony, it can get quite loud at times.” Yelena shrugged. “Well, it could definitely be worse. Thank you for the hospitality.” She bowed to Fluttershy, an act that made the pegasus smile.
Hitman looked over the two that were left. The geth had a choice between Pinkie Pie or Rarity. Of course, as soon as the platform had begun thinking about it, Pinkie had shot over. “Hitman, right? Wanna stay at my place?” She fluttered her eyelids in an attempt to woo the synthetic, something that appeared to work, though not for the reasons she expected it to.
Hitman, being a geth, didn’t fall prey to Pinkie’s attempt to woo it. One of Hitman’s missions, though, had been to study organics. Pinkie Pie was confusing even beyond the norm for organics, who weren’t entirely logical in their thought processes and decision-making. It seemed almost as though she knew something that everyone else didn’t – something that significantly influenced how she operated. The geth found the prospect interesting – and Pinkie seemed sociable anyways; partnering with her would give the geth a further boost to its attempts to study the organics the collective would likely be living with, given enough time.
Hitman’s response was immediate; “You are the best possible candidate for continued observation and learning about organics.” The geth extended a hand, something it knew to somehow be a universal gesture of friendliness. “Offer accepted.” Pinkie shook it with such rapid force the geth became almost painfully aware of its structural limits, before she began dragging the geth off. It was too early to tell whether or not Hitman would regret the decision it had just made, but the geth resolved to see it through.
Barx shrugged in response to Sam’s question. “Eh. I’ll be fine with going it alone.”
Rarity, of course, looked at how everyone else had already partnered up. “Oh, really?” she drawled. “Nobody wants to stay with Rarity Belle? Of course, I suppose fashion isn’t your strong point…”
Sam looked over to Barx. Then to Rarity. Then to Barx. Then to Rarity. He continued doing this about twelve times before Rainbow Dash lightly shook him, asking “Dude, are you alright?” with a concerned look on her face.
The smile she got confirmed that Sam was indeed nowhere near alright. “Well, Barx… you get to stay with Rarity, then. Official orders.”
Barx turned his head ever-so-slowly to stare at his commanding officer. “What?”
“You heard me,” confirmed Sam. “You get to bunk with Rarity.”
The mare in question almost raised her hoof, but remembered that then she'd be standing on two legs - something she could certainly do, but not something she wanted to do right now. Rarity merely remained resolute. "Well... I suppose I did ask for an alien to stay with.
Barx growled. It sounded fairly aggressive, but anyone who knew the krogan like Sam did knew that it was just the krogan equivalent of an annoyed grunt. Rainbow Dash, however, most certainly did not, and decided that if Sam stayed any longer he risked being castrated and/or disemboweled, and potentially both, so she immediately stepped between Sam and his tetchy squadmate. “Oh, would you look at the time, it’s let’s leave o’clock!” With that half-baked one-liner out of the way Dash hooked her forelegs through Sam’s arms and soared out of the castle, the confused screams of a human being and the whoosh she made as she passed through the air being the only sounds that fell upon the ears of the pissed off krogan and the injured pony.
Rarity and Barx both turned to look at each other. Rarity suddenly felt a lot smaller, but she knew that Barx was a sapient being, and thus, reasonable. He didn't have to stay at her house, and if she phrased it properly...
“Well, I'm well aware that your superior ordered you to stay, but... I'd rather not burden you. If you don't want to stay, I can cover for you.“
Barx shrugged. “Yeah, fashion’s not really my thing. I'll take up your offer, then.”
Rarity nodded, vividly imagining herself wiping flopsweat off her brow with a handkerchief. "Alright, then. By the way, where are you going to disappear to?"
"Probably back into the Everfree, to be honest." Barx smiled. "Reminds me of home."
Yelena looked over to the two, and decided to throw Rarity a bone. “I suppose if there’s nothing else for us to do, we should all disperse?”
Most everyone seemed to agree with that sentiment – the alternative was going to help Twilight and Dari, and there was no sense in going down there if you would be able to get a nice bed to sleep in instead of the desk you were sitting on. With significantly less fanfare than Rainbow Dash’s dynamic exit, the members of Aleph Squad left, mentally preparing themselves for their first night on an alien world – and the ones to come.
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check this line “Uh, Twilight?" asked Rarity. "You did say that we were going to go to the hospital directly after
6021704: Shit, how'd I miss that?
Thanks for the correction, man. Now half the story will only be italic where it should be.
Oh dear, I've gone and done it again :c
Italics mishap Alert!!
6022734: Just scanned the story, didn't see it.
If you're talking about the same thing jmlop0 pointed out, I've fixed that.
Otherwise, let me know where it is and I'll fix it quick.
This stuff is bound to happen when you abuse italics as much as I do.
Well the story is going fairly well at the moment, one thing to watch out for only one person talks in a paragraph you keep to this rule most times but sometimes you do have more than one person in them. Try to watch out for that in the future.
Although you have one of the characters say they had no rations but in an earlier chapter you said they had enough for a week or so. So which is it? They have to have something one them if only military grade rations for a couple of days. Sometimes you do kind of fly through things like introductions and stuff, it feels a little unnatural but I guess you don't want to bog the story down by too much of it at the same time.
6022819: Whoops.
Okay, that's fixed.
6022838: And that discrepancy has also been fixed. To be fair, I figured the whole "Omake" thing would give away that this wasn't necessarily canon to the story.
6022939: Aw, shit. My worst enemy: plot holes.
Alright. As of this comment it's too early in the morning, but later on I'll figure out the discrepancy. Thanks for poking me about this.
6024020 Eh you could just change the line to "we only brought a few days worth of food with us" to fix it I guess.
you sir have captured my attention and are holding tight, a feat easily achieved, now seriously the story has been good so far and i am eager for the next chapter
6024465: Like I said. I'm a lazy git, I'll get to it later. That being said, it will be fixed today (May the 27th of 2015).
6024741: Oh cool, now I won't have to comitt honorabu sudoku alone! :D
6024852: Thanks for the praise. I'm not perfect - I never will be - but I'm good enough.
6025013 no one is ever perfect at writing stories hell im not great with my one, still working on the first chapter, but if you need help with proofreading and seeing if it makes sense and all that im willing to help out
6022939: Following up, I don't think I ever actually specified how much food they had. I did find one mention of "a week's worth of stuff" in Castle Crashers, but that related entirely to the Kodiak's backup power and not their food supply.
Of course, I might be (and most likely am) wrong, so if you find the line I'll fix it.
6025839 Well there was a line of "And with that, the knowledge truly sank in for Martilus; they were stranded on an alien planet with little food" in the second chapter, you didn't say how much but I thought it was a week for some reason maybe got that confused with the power supply? But I noticed in the new chapter there was a line (not sure if I missed it or if that was edited) about them having rations so it should work now.
Although one new question I was wondering about, how come her Castle has only one guest room? You'd think a castle would have plenty of rooms. Also wondering how everyone else will react to aliens as you said the ponies wouldn't freak out with them together but there would have to be some various reactions eventually we see. Also is this before the films when Twilight went to the human world or are you going with that the films never happened?
6025963: Yeah, I figure the rations problem is pretty well done.
As for the guest room thing... well, I'm just gonna play it by ear. Admittedly a castle should have more than one guest room, but maybe she hasn't explored it much.
I think I may go with 'Equestria Girls happened, but besides the fact that Sam is a human it won't be showing up much'. I didn't think much about that.