Two years after the Equestrian races reach the stars, they find themselves abruptly running into their nearest neighbors: humanity.
It's been two years since the races of Equuis have reached out to the stars. Two years since the first jumpship, Seabound, first hopped between planets.
Now, while running a VIP around on a tour of the Six Worlds they've claimed, the Seabound has the luck (no matter how cursed it might seem) of meeting the nearest galactic neighbors. The same neighbors whose jumpship crashed from the sky years ago, who ponies and griffons copied the technology of to reach the stars: humanity.
It was a phenomenon known as a "Diaspora", a population scattering from the smaller state that held its point of origin. It wasn't common with the various Equestrian races, true. Ponies held to a herd mentality, and weren't overly imperialistic. Imperialism was generally thought of by ponies as a griffin trait, part of their innate greed. This was, of course, patently false. Griffins tended to gravitate to gold (and, to a lesser extent, other precious metals) more than anything else. Conquest wasn't their thing, mining was.
Then the The Crash had come; the massive ship falling to the surface of Equuis. Twenty years of development. The heavens, once reserved for the Princesses of Night and Day, were open to every pony, and not long after, every race on the planet.
Then came the Seabound, and everything changed again.
The peoples of Equuis were no longer restrained by their own system; the whole of the galaxy was there. Suddenly, trained unicorn pilots were in high demand to move jumpships whose hulls had yet to be laid down to join Seabound and Epona. Ponies were scattered over a half-a-dozen worlds. Griffons had formed mining guilds, pulling apart rocks for resources and confounding the pony-backed merchant houses to no end.
This last point was bringing a smile to the face of Twilight Sparkle as she sat in the darkened chambers of Seabound's piloting section. Prince Blueblood was a jerk, yes, and known as one of the most inflexible merchants in the Six Worlds. He was also currently involved in negotiations with representatives from the Griffon Guilds regarding access to what minerals they were digging up from the system's asteroids.
Twilight wasn't at all sure about what the griffons were saying, but Blueblood's infuriated shouts were loud enough for the outer hull to be vibrating, so much so she could hear him through the spot where the hulls were locked together. Most of what she'd heard wouldn't be repeatable in any sort of polite company, and showed remarkable verbal dexterity in Blueblood's cursing. He hadn't repeated himself once.
Her amusement was broken by the door to the compartment hissing open. Twilight raised a hoof and touched the dimmed display, muting the audio feed. "Twi? You in here?" The twang of the distinctive accent gave its owner away easily.
"Come on in, Applejack."
The goldenrod pony trotted in with Twi's usual meal, and the violet unicorn found herself salivating at the mixed scent of a hayburger and tea. "You know, you could come and join us in the galley. Wouldn't hurt nobody."
"This close to an asteroid field?" Twilight countered.
"How many corrections have you made?" Applejack asked, an insistent tone edging into her voice.
"Nine," Twi replied airily, levitating her cup over to the sofa she was sprawled across to take a sip. Applejack set the plate down in its usual spot, then sighed.
"Okay, I give you the asteroid field. And fair warning that Pinkie is planning a 'Twilight's left the control deck' party for when we're finally clear," AJ said, looking at her friend. The violet pony laughed, setting her cup down.
"Yeah, I'm no fan of being cooped up in here either. It shouldn't be a problem at our next stop," Twilight said, and sighed in what sounded like satisfaction. "Because at our next stop, our guest-" she grated the word out with no small irritation- "will be gone. And I can get out of this room without worrying about anything smashing into the hull or that stuck-up...something or other complaining that the pilot has left her post!"
"Something we all look forward to," Applejack replied. "Particularly that complaining. Be good for a girl to get out from time to time." Twilight nodded, digging hungrily into the hayburger her friend had brought her. For a moment, they sat without speaking. It wasn't silent, really, not with Twilight's messily devouring her lunch.
Twilight, for her part, was ruminating on the trickle of data Seabound's organic computer system gave her while she ate; numbers of pilots being trained, trade agreements and the like.
"So," Applejack asked when Twilight was swallowing a random bite, "You're recording most of Blueblood's ranting at the griffons?" That question brought Twilight back to her unpleasant VIP.
"Yes," Twilight said, steadfastly forcing herself to refrain from ranting about said aristocrat.
"Good. Rate this trip's been going, we're gonna need the entertainment."
Twilight nodded. Her friend had raised a point, and she made a mental note to speak to Celestia about getting something to keep them entertained-
The thought stopped abruptly as Seabound nudged Twilight's mind. Twilight, in turn, slid back in tune with the ship, gazing out it's sensors and cameras. For that first instant, nothing was there. Then she saw it, a flux in the fields just beyond reality, the source of the magics many of the Equuian peoples touched, but few actively manipulated.
She recognized that flux, that twist, and yet it was distinctly different. Twilight was vaguely aware of making a shushing motion to Applejack with her hoof. As she watched, the world twisted and with a flicker of light it appeared.
Another jumpship. It didn't take a lot of math to figure out it wasn't Equestrian; they had precisely two and another fifteen months minimum before the third would leave the yard.
Seabound flicked out a query at it; the reply returned; and Twilight blinked in shock as the reply was followed by a comms laser.
"Unidentified jumpship, this is the Trinity Jumpship Tout Mes Dépassés. We request identification and point of origin."
Twilight pulled out of the system and glanced at Applejack. "Uhhhhh..." she replied nervously.
-----
INTERNAL MEMORANDUM - NOT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE! Equestrian Stellar Alliance
To: Celestia and Luna From: Equuis System Control Clearance: Top Secret (EYES ONLY)
FLASH TRAFFIC - PRIORITY 1 - MESSAGE BEGINS:
JUMPSHIP SEABOUND HAS MADE CONTACT WITH UNIDENTIFIED JUMPSHIP 19:17:50 CANTERLOT STANDARD TIME. SHIP IS LIKELY HUMAN; HAS IDENTIFIED AS BELONGING TO "TRINITY" MENTIONED IN DOCUMENT FRAGMENTS; COMMUNICATION OPENED.
OpNet Record 1490 - Recorded 25.10.2122 17:33:09 (Video) Psi Order Proxy Emergency Meeting - Trinity Command (Luna)
A. Cassel (Orgotek): Pastel colored ponies. Pastel colored ponies.
O. Herzog (ISRA): You keep repeating that as though it will somehow become a joke.
R. Bue Li (Ministry): He's hoping it is.
Cassel: Hey! No-
Bue Li: I'm not. It's all over your face.
Cassel: Oh.
Bue Li: And you're thinking it so loud I'm surprised everyone else can't hear it.
(Snickers and quiet laughter from the rest of the assembled proxies)
Cassel: Oh.
Herzog: If we could get back on track?
S. Larssen (Legions): He's thinking what most of us have been thinking since we got the news. That this is some huge elaborate prank on your part.
Herzog: My sense of humor really needs to stop preceding me.
G. Del Fuego (NORCA): Mathieu, could you help him with that?
M. Zweidler (Order): He refuses to let me.
Herzog: Please!
Larssen: Continue the briefing, Otha.
Herzog: On the fifteenth of October, at approximately 9:13 hours Lunar Standard, the jumpship Tout Mes Dépassés arrived in an unexplored system which ISRA clairvoyants had sensed activity in, possibly Chromatics. Upon arrival, an unknown jumpship was detected and hailed.
Larssen: Is that standard procedure?
Herzog: Yes; when faced with vessels of unknown designs, the jumpships are required to open communications before taking any hostile action. And this vessel didn't resemble any known non-human starship. When communications open, they were confronted with what looked like a goldenrod minature horse and a small purple unicorn.
Cassel: Ponies and unicorns.
Zweidler: I agree. It's not believable.
Bue Li: That was the point Otha contacted me, because he didn't believe it either.
Del Fuego: He had them telepathically scanned?
Bue Li: By four different telepaths, myself included.
Cassel: So this really isn't a joke?
Bue Li: I'm afraid not, Alex.
Cassel: Dammit.
Del Fuego: What do we know about them?
Herzog: That they're relatively new to interstellar travel and spaceflight as a whole. That aside from the two we've seen, apparently there's a third variant. Pegasi were mentioned.
Cassel: Peg- What is this? Some kid's cartoon?
Zweidler: Yes, Alex. You're living in a kid's cartoon. In a few weeks, you'll have a unicorn assistant, and the two of you will travel the stars fighting threats to both our species.
Larssen: Did Mathieu just make a joke?
Del Fuego: I think he did.
Zweidler: What do we know of the system?
Herzog: There's activity there and we made first contact.
B. Atwan (Upeo wa Macho): Precious little. Since recontact, my order's exploration missions have dwindled in the face of renewed hostilities. One inhabitable world, lot of minable rocks, Saturnian-type gas giant with several liquid moons, according to our abrupt first contact mission.
Larssen: They weren't hostile at all?
Herzog: No. In fact-
-PLAYBACK PAUSED- ----- Ten days, eight hours and twenty minutes earlier...
"Uhhhh..."
Interstellar travel normally adjusted one to odd and unusual sights. Interstellar war, like the one between humanity and the Chromatics, tended to deaden any surprise that popped up. Thus, it took a major curveball from whatever fate guided people.
Life hadn't so much thrown Jennifer Uhl a curveball as it had pitched the ball in an entirely different direction and it had curved back to smack her in the side of the head.
She'd followed the dictated protocol for "Contact, Ship, Unknown Type". And now she was staring at a goldenrod pony wearing a cowboy hat and a purple unicorn on the communications display. Both of whom were echoing her confusion and disbelief.
Finally, she shook herself and did the only thing she could think of. "Gabriel," she said into her chin mic. "Would you come up to the control compartment? Now?" The last word was edged with a bit of demand. It had also barely left her lips when the sudden breeze of displaced air signaled the teleporter's arrival.
"Something wrong?" Garbiel Rosen asked, crossing to the command couch and crouching down.
Jennifer gestured to the screen. Gabriel crouched down, looked, then turned to her. "Jenn, is this a joke?"
"Hey!" the goldenrod pony snapped. The two humans looked at the screen, then back at each other.
"Apparently not," Gabriel said flatly.
"Hello?" Jenn asked, still sounding very much unsure of herself.
"Hi!" the unicorn replied. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and this is Applejack-"
"Howdy."
"-and we're in system so a VIP can enter negotiations with the local branch of the Giffon Mining Guilds."
"Griffon Mining Guilds." Jenn replied, enunciating each word slowly and separately. It was clear on her face that she was trying to take all this in and failing.
"They dig with their beaks?" Gabriel asked, preceding to ignore the glare Jennifer sent his way. The larger man brushed a dreadlock out of his face and grinned.
"Oh, no, they haven't done that in centuries." Twilight replied. "Mostly asteroid mining."
"Griffons mining asteroids." Jenn repeated. Gabriel sighed, but was still grinning.
"Hold, please. I have to put our pilot back together." He reached out and touched a key, interrupting the signal. "Come on, Jenn, pull it together."
"Ponies, unicorns, and griffons, Gabe. Ponies, unicorns, and griffons. How are you able to deal with this?" Jenn asked, voice rising in pitch and volume at a rapid, panicked rate.
"Bend like the reed, kid. Flexible."
"Don't give me that!" Jenn screeched.
Gabriel stared at her for a long moment, then pressed the button for the shipwide. "Doctor Kesslar, Code Yellow in Ward C-2. Repeat, Doctor Kesslar to Ward C-2. Code Yellow."
"I am NOT having a breakdown!" Jenn continued at the same pitch and volume.
"Of course you're not," Gabriel replied. "Let's just get that seat back, okay?" -----
"I don't think they're coming back, Twi," Applejack said flatly.
"They asked us to hold," Twilight rebuked her friend gently. Applejack sighed, and turned back to the screen. They'd been staring at Tout Mes Dépassés' hold screen for almost 45 minutes. So it was much to her surprise and Twilight's delight when the screen flicked back and the huge dark man reappeared.
"Sorry about that. Jenn's having a bit of a lie-down right now," he said evenly, though his words carried enough amusement that his true opinion was obvious.
"We're living in a kid's cartoon!" Jenn wailed, flailing one arm behind him.
"Hush, Jenny," another human replied. She leaned in, red maned and clearly surpressing a smile, and firmly pushed Jenn's arm back down. "You need to relax."
"But Doc!" Jenny whined in a tone Rarity would've been proud of.
"No buts."
"Reminds me of Granny Smith," Applejack muttered to Twilight out of the side of her mouth. Twilight jabbed a hoof in her mouth to stifle her sudden giggle. To the earth pony's surprise, the two creatures- humans, she reminded herself- both allowed themselves brief laughs.
"Everyone needs to be mothered once in a while," the Doc said, not looking at the camera.
"Anyways," Gabe said, grinning like a kid on Hearth's Warming Morning, "I guess this is first contact."
"I guess so." Twilight fell silent for a long moment. "So, do we exchange ambassadors now, or what?"
"I think," Gabe said after another lengthy pause, "We need to talk to our superiors about this."
"Yes! Good idea! Good idea!" Twilight agreed, drooping slightly in relief. It was good, in her mind, to know first contact protocol wasn't something either race was overly familiar with. "But where are we going to meet after?"
"When and if, probably back here for now. Only place we both know and it's not our respective homeworld." Gabe paused. "This...isn't your homeworld, right?"
"No! No, no, it's not," Twilight replied quickly. Applejack thought it sounded a little insincere, but Gabe shrugged it off. Apparently nerves weren't confined to one race. 'Of course they're not. Look at their pilot!' her mind tutt'd at that line of thinking.
"Sounds good," Applejack said, carefully easing Twilight back. "So, we'll see you when we see you."
"Right," Gabe said, screen going dead.
AJ allowed herself a sigh, then hit the PA. "Blueblood, to the conference room please?" ----
"This really is inconvienent, you know." Blueblood said, walking flanked by AJ and Rarity. "I have one more stop to negotiate rights for my trading house-"
"The Epona will be along in a couple weeks," Rarity said between grit teeth locked in a rictus that could barely be called a smile.
"I shall be sure to complain to Auntie about how the commoners have been treating me."
"She's gonna be more'n a mite distracted." Applejack wasn't smiling at all, and her voice made it obvious she was gritting her teeth, too. God, but for all the stallions to be stuck travelling the stars with, they had to deal with Blueblood and his bloated ego.
"I paid good money for this!"
"Princeton. Lawrence. Blueblood." Rarity said in a tone that made it very clear she was done with his attitude. "You can be quiet and leave via shuttle, or continue speaking and leave via an escape pod."
For the first time the entire trip, Applejack and Blueblood found themselves in agreement. Rarity was melodramatic, but apparently they'd just found out she could be angered.
"I...apologize." Blueblood said after a moment. "You deserve better than to be vented at."
"Well," Rarity said with a snort, "He can be humble."
"Yes, but ponies expect a snob. A good act to keep ponies from underestimating me, don't you agree?" Blueblood trotted off towards the small craft hangar, leaving a surprised pair of mares in his wake. -------
Canterlot, 25 10th 1222 (Regency Unified Calandar) - Ten days after contact
"I don't quite believe it." Luna admitted at long last, her magic gently placing the paper on the table.
"It was going to happen eventually," Celestia replied. "We knew they were out there."
"Humans. Psion humans." Shining Armor shook his head. "It's like we're living in a cartoon all of a sudden. Humans show up, and next thing we know we've got mixed crews off fighting aliens because we've joined in some...big...alliance..." The white unicorn trailed off. "What?"
Princess Cadance spared her husband a loving, if mildly exasperated, smile. Luna's mouth was opening and closing, not sure if she found the support useful or not. Celestia herself was stifling a giggle.
Shining Armor grinned sheepishly.
"So, what do we do?" Cadance asked after everyone had settled.
"Twilight is enthusiastically recommending we open diplomatic relations," Celestia said.
"She'd probably do it even if you said no," Shining returned, shrugging. "She gets enthusiastic. You know that."
"I do. So, the question we've got to answer, then is do we open diplomatic relations?" Celestia asked. ------
-PLAYBACK RESUMED-
Herzog: They were completely peaceful. In fact, they rather seem out of place.
Del Fuego: You can't see?
Herzog: No. None of us can; it's like a blind spot.
Cassiel: The UN is going to want a recommendation.
Atwan: Why not?
Larssen: Because they're some Aberrant's pet project?
Del Fuego: Anyone asked our benefactors about this?
Herzog: They've been remarkably tight-lipped about it. They really don't wish to discuss it.
Del Fuego: I see.
Cassiel: So what are we going to tell them?
Atwan: I'm in favor.
Herzog: As am I. A peaceful contact of equals would be nice.
Zweidler: Against.
Bue Li: Against.
Larssen: Abstain. I don't give a damn either way.
Bue Li: Guissepe?
Del Fuego: I vote in favor.
Cassiel: As do I. That's two against, one abstain, and four in favor. I'll send our recommendation to Trinity and the UN: We open relations with our new neighbors.
-PLAYBACK ENDS-
---
Fr: M.A. Mercer To: UN Security Council - General Release - All Delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen, as you are no doubt aware, we have encountered yet another alien race. The Proxies recommend opening relations. Having reviewed what is known, at this time the Æon Trinity backs this recommendation.
On another note, I will be taking a temporary leave of absence, and will return no later than 8 November of this year. Leave any messages with my office, and please seal all eyes-only material. The staff will be unable to reach me while I am away, so Cooper will be the one to direct you to the proper individuals for situations requiring prompt response.