"People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little."- Rousseau

The train sped straight to the capital city like there was no tomorrow. There were no passengers aboard the ship other than the Mane 6, Shadow and Spike. It was completely understandable however, as if anypony wanted to risk their lives being on the same vehicle with the humans. Shadow even deduced that the only reason why the train was moving so quickly was to get them out as fast as possible.

As Rarity applied lipstick onto herself, the train hit a bump, causing her to misplace the cosmetic on the wrong sides of her face.

"Ugh, must the train move so quickly? I got lipstick in places where it shouldn't be." complained Rarity. Pinkie Pie proceeded to pop up next to her and clean the smudge with a tissue she balanced on her hooves.

Applejack was putting on her dress with the aid of Fluttershy. "Ah still don' trust Shadow in front of the princesses."

Rainbow Dash gave a laugh. "Come on! Like they can do anything to Celestia. Besides, they got a lot of pressure on them not to mess up this meeting."

"You do know they can hear you right?" squeaked Fluttershy.

Suddenly there was a knock on the compartment door. "It's Shadow, let us in." said a mechanical voice from behind. There was no distinction amongst the voices of each member.

"Heavens no!" shrieked Rarity. "We're putting on dresses!"

Half a second later, the door came flying forwards as Overwatch kicked it down.

The commandos entered the room hastily, much to the embarrassment of Fluttershy and Rarity who tried 'covering up.'

Scarecrow shot a finger at the mares. "Okay first, you're ponies, we've seen you naked all the time. Second, when law enforcement gives you a warrant that we're coming in, you better be prepared to let us come in."

The atmosphere was dead silent until all members of Shadow gave a small laugh.

"Just messing you." chuckled Scarecrow.

"Ya didn' give us a warnin' though." beamed Applejack.

"What do you mean? We told Spike when we'd be coming in." assured X-ray.

"Wait, where is Spike?" noticed Scorch.

Suddenly, Twilight nonchalantly entered the room while levitating Spike who clearly just had too much to eat.

"Okay, that is the last time I let you help yourself to the buffet." scolded Twilight.

The dragon lazily flexed his claw in the air.

"Sorry about that." apologized the purple mare as she laid down Spike. "So, are you 4 excited or what?"

"I guess so." shrugged X-ray. "Although we're gonna be under a lot of pressure considering we know there's a war back on the colonies and that something horrible is bound to happen."

"By the way, what's with the dresses?" asked Scorch. Shadow also noticed Twilight's mane style was different. It was much more regal and polished.

Twilight looked over her royal outfit, the same one worn during the coronation. "I'm supposed to wear this dress during formal events. Do you like it?" The alicorn gave a twirl.

The masked soldiers didn't want to be rude. "Yeah."

The lie detector went off, causing the 4 black clad humans to blush underneath.

"I am just so nervouscited!" cheered Pinkie Pie. "Just think, after we meet the other princesses, there's gonna be food, dancing and-"

Overwatch shut the pink mare up by placing a hand over her muzzle.

"How many times do must you be reminded?" muttered Scarecrow. "Festivals, plus 23rd, equals someone dying."

"Relax, there won't be any parties." insisted Twilight. "Just a dinner with Celestia and maybe a quick tour of the castle."

Rainbow Dash glared at Shadow's black recon armor. "You know, you're going to look pretty out of place like that."

"We're counter terrorists, not party goers." defended X-ray as he flexed his shades.

"Shouldn't you still have some sense of class when dressing for royalty?" questioned Rarity as she admired her own reflection in a mirror.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but we're on an alien world with various assassins ambushing us unpredictably." beamed Scarecrow. "We have to be prepared at all times."

"Can't you just store you store your guns somewhere else? I get nervous when you have them around." pleaded Fluttershy.

"Disarming us will be viewed as a threat." growled Overwatch.

"And another thing." snapped Twilight. "Right now we're going to be meeting the rulers of Equestria, so be sure to be on your best behavior. Celestia and the other princesses are some of the nicest ponies ever. They don't deserve your snakiness and you do NOT want them on humanity's bad side."

"Intimidating her is not our intention as long as she accepts cooperation." defended Scarecrow.

Pinkie Pie looked at the humans with puppy eyes. "Pinkie promise me you won't say anything mean to Celestia and Luna while we're having fun."

"We don't make promises we know we can't keep." responded X-ray.

"Ya might want watch your language though. Canterlot is pretty uptight." warned Applejack.

"A lot of ponies there like Fancy Pants and Hoity Troity are pretty influential, you don't want to get on there wrong sides." nodded Rainbow Dash.

Scorch sighed. "Great, we're going to the city of rich assholes."

"I bet they abuse the proletariat to shit." added X-ray.

"Language!" screeched Twilight.

"So what's the schedule?" inquired Scorch.

"Well, while you guys were solving science or something, we pretty much planned the whole thing out." skipped Pinkie Pie in her regal dress.

"First we'll disembark and me and the girl's will put put our things away." began Twilight. "Then I'll meet up with the rest of the princesses, get ready a speech, and then you come in."

"Sounds simple enough." shook the demo man.

"How many ponies are there going to be in Canterlot?" asked X-ray.

"Well it's not everyday ponies hear about alien lifeforms!" exclaimed Rarity. "I'd say thousands of ponies from all over the nation are going to be flocking over to get a glimpse of you."

As the train neared the city, the cries of ponies and music became audible.

"You do remember that I'm sociophobic and that we're not supposed to be in large crowds right?" inquired Scarecrow.

"Relax you don't actually have to interact with everypony." snickered Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Pinkie. "You can just cloak and hide in the.....shadows." The party pony laughed at her own joke.

"According to the schedule, you'll be introduced by 1:30. All you need to do is simply walk in when I announce you." informed Twilight.

----------------

Soon the train was coming to a stop.

Shadow looked outside the curtains and took a full glimpse of the city of Canterlot. Humanity had built amazing cities like Rigel City, New Athens and the realizing the myth of Atlantis, but Canterlot was impressive. The way it was built into the mountain would require genius architects. The spires, the towers and waterfall that ran through the city was breathtaking. Even if it was animated, it would belong to a cartoon of the upmost quality.

However, Shadow's gazing of the city ended with them noticing an important fact.

Scarecrow turned to his wrist computer. "Blackjack, are you getting this?"

The ship radioed him from beyond. "We read you loud and clear Shadow."

"This city's architecture is Medieval. It has a definite resemblance to Camelot from Arthurian legends."

"You honestly couldn't decipher that from the city's name? I mean Camelot, Canterlot, come the fuck on." teased the man operating from the radio.

X-ray placed a finger on his bandanna. "Guys, it's already evidenced that the Pony equivalent of the renaissance lasted for a few thousand years and is still in process. What about the equivalent of the dark ages?"

"Good point." agreed Scorch. "My theory though is that they've surpassed such a time, but for how long is the question."

Finally, the train entered the grounds of the city and stopped right next to the station. Shadow had noticed that the entire platform had a much more ancient tone to the relatively 20th century station in Ponyville.

What had caught Shadow's attention was the massive amount of reporters wearing 20th century fedoras and suits who were giving off fast paced announcements of the arrival of aliens, followed by haughty business ponies that would have been the spawn of the industrial revolution. Furthermore, it seemed the town comprised mostly of unicorns as opposed to Ponyville which was relatively mixed.

"Twilight, these crowds make the ones in Ponyville diminutive." groaned Scarecrow as the voices of reporters grew louder.

The alicorn took a deep breath. "The 4 of you can cloak for now. I'll instruct you as we move on."

Meanwhile, Scorch in a stroke of infinite bad luck, had forgotten a frag grenade he left on the seats. The demo fan failed to notice a certain ignorant dragon staring at the explosive before picking it up in a state of curiosity.

-----------

The numerous ponies crowded against the train, eager to see the princess as well as the aliens. The noble ponies simply arrived to discuss possible economic deals with the aliens, the reporters battled each other to get their story published first and many out of place nerds were drooling.

The door of the vehicle opened and the crowd was silenced.

Twilight Sparkle came out of train elegantly, having been taught poise by Rarity.

With nopony noticing that she was missing her crown, everypony in the vicinity bowed respectfully to their ruler. The moment after, the rest of the dress wearing Mane 6 exited the train as well.

Suddenly, the crowd stopped bowing and many reporters started bombarding Twilight with questions:

"Your highness, are you sure we can trust these aliens?"

"For how long have you met these Xenos?"

"What magic are they capable of?"

"Where do they even come from?"

"Will this be the start of a space faring Equestrian race?"

Twilight politely used her telekinesis to grasp a microphone towards her. "Good day my fellow subjects, it is with my pleasure to announce the arrival of the human race in Equestria."

The crowd gave series of mummers and whispers, although it was concern, not excitement like it was in Ponyville.

"The humans right now do not seek company and wish to remain isolated." explained the alicorn.

The Mane 6 attempted to move on forward to the castle, but reporters kept stopping them in their tracks. Twilight had to constantly explain that information about the human race would be leaked after it was reported to the other princesses.

Shadow kept their hands on their rifles firmly. They weren't going to hesitate to use force to disperse crowds. All the while they paid attention to how much different Canterlot felt than Ponyville. For starters, it had a more aristocratic tone, the ponies were much more wealthier, all the shops sold luxury items and the prices for anything would have driven a common pony insane. What was despicable though was the sight of a noble pony yelling at a pair of city workers. It seemed Equestria had quite a gap between rich and poor.

"This place needs a marxist reformation." muttered X-ray on local coms.

The crowd continued to surround the Mane 6 until-

"HALT!" yelled a young, but commanding voice.

Shadow turned their heads forward to see a group of Big Macintosh sized stallions, who were probably the least intimidating guards they had ever seen.

For starters, each one of the stallions wore a ridiculous set of ancient Roman-eque armor. It was clear to Shadow and to the humans watching their feed that Equestria was thousands of years behind in the war complex. The blank expressions of the pony guards were, in a childish sense; retarded.

Leading those stallions was a white coated and blue maned stallion with purple ceremonial armor. He continued to address the crowd.

"The princess and her companions are to be escorted to the royal hall privately. If you wish to speak to her, you will have to relocate to the castle."

The reporters gave sighs of disappointment. The large crowd mechanically trotted past the Mane 6 and guards without even looking back. In 5 minutes, there was complete silence.

The leader looked at Twilight and gave a smile. "How're you doing Twily?"

'Twiliy?' thought the cloaked humans.

"I'm doing fine Shining Armor." answered Twilight calmly.

To Shadow's confusion, the purple alicorn embraced the leader, now known as Shining Armor in an affectionate hug.

"It's great to see you BBBFF." greeted Twilight.

Scarecrow spoke on local coms. "BBBFF?"

"Big Brother Best Friend Forever." radioed X-ray. "Didn't your little sister call you that?"

"No."

Twilight and her brother unglued. Shining Armor turned to face the rest of the elements and Spike. "Has Twilight been treating you well?"

The other mares and Spike (who was playing with the explosive) gave remarks of flattery.

"So aliens huh?" began Shining Armor. "I heard their pretty tough."

"Well not as tough as the pony who stopped the changing invasion." teased Twilight.

Suddenly, there were a series of disembodied mechanical laughs that died down before the royal guards could notice.

"What are you here for anyway?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Aren't you supposed to be with your wife in the castle?"

"I'm here as Captain of the Royal Guard, not Prince of the Crystal Empire." answered Shining Armor.

"So ah take it dat your gonna escort us to the palace?" inquired Applejack.

Shining Armor nodded. "We're also here to carry any baggage you might have to your rooms."

"Don't be a silly filly!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie. "The train station is taking care of that. To make their job easier, I didn't pack anything!"

The guards almost lost their stern expressions. They clearly were more vulnerable than Overwatch.

Shining Armor looked around nervously. "Anyway, where are the aliens?"

"Why, they're cloaked. That's their word for turning invisible." responded Rarity. "They despise company and attention."

"We're supposed to make sure that the aliens don't give you trouble. To do that we need to be able to see them." said the captain of the royal guard.

"Shadow, can you uncloak?" asked Fluttershy's soft voice.

The 4 humans materialized in front of the royal guard. The non animated appearances gave the guards ponies a mind fuck and staggered them for a few solid minutes.

Shining Armor steadied his helmet as he tried to comprehend the appearances of the humans.

"W-what are y-you?" he stammered.

"Humans." blankly answered Overwatch.

The captain knitted his eyebrows. "So you're the aliens I take it."

"Really? What gave you that clue?" remarked Scorch. "Was it our bi-pedal appearances? Or the fact that we don't look like cartoon characters?"

"Are you military?" questioned Shining Armor.

"Affirmative." answered Scarecrow. "My callsign is Scarecrow. Leader of Shadow squad, subdivision of the 23rd, United Terran Federation armed forces."

The guards looked more and more ready to attack the humans head on.

The other members of Shadow introduced themselves.

"Alright, I don't want any trouble form you 4 here in Canterlot! You'll have to deal with me and my guards before you can touch anypony." glared the captain.

X-ray was unintimidated. Without switching to his radio to local, he signaled the Blackjack. "Command, permission to smack some sense into these rejects."

Shining Armor's eyes widened.

Twilight's mouth dropped. "What are you-"

"Granted X-ray." radioed the frigate.

X-ray looked up at the captain. "No offense sir, you look like a respectable person and all, but whose brilliant idea was it to make you captain?"

The guards took this as a threat and (attempted to) raised their spears at the human.

Scorch laughed. "Do you even realize what weapons you're using?"

"Spears." hissed Shining Armor. "Don't you humans use them in your guard?"

"We used to. Until we switched to less primitive alternatives." mocked X-ray.

"Do you have any idea that those spears are fucking useless against us?" questioned Scorch.

Scarecrow attempted to slap Scorch to shut him up but the demo man side stepped the blow.

"You're not wearing any armor." noted Shining.

"Appearances deceive you." trivialized Overwatch. The sniper unsheathed his combat knife and attempted to stab himself, only for the blade to bounce off his barrier.

The guards were mesmerized. The mane 6 knew what Shadow was trying to do.

"Don't try to surprise me." shook Shining Armor. "That's like the energy shield I can form with my magic!"

Shining Armor's horn lit up and the electromagnetic energy stored within his horn spread and solidified to form a transparent, animated, pink barrier around him.

Scarecrow rolled his eyes and used the back of his shotgun to break the shield, much to the guard's surprise.

Shining Armor was distraught. "How did you-"

"Here's a tip. Net your energy in a hexagonal structure. The strength of the shape will reinforce the barrier." interrupted Scarecrow.

X-ray folded his arms. "Speaking of armor, you're blacksmith needs to be laid down immediately. A single rail bullet from a pistol could break through 9 sets of that golden armor."

"Shining Armor, I wouldn't recommend talking back." suggested Rarity.

The captain ignored her. "Bullets? What are those things you're carrying anyway?"

"Guns." responded Scorch. "Efficient and much more humane than those slow killing pieces of metal. A gun uses magnetic fields to accelerate a projectile known as a bullet at hypersonic speeds with a Lorenz force. Think bow and arrow, but stronger and faster."

"Furthermore, you seem awfully young to be leader of an entire armed forces." pointed X-ray. "Most human generals are well past the mid point of their life."

"That's because Shining is talented and rose ranks faster than any other guard in history." defended Twilight.

The other guards gave nods of agreement.

"You must have some combat experience." complimented Scorch.

"Equestria hasn't seen war for thousands of years." informed Fluttershy from behind.

Scarecrow smirked under his mask. "That's probably a good thing. You'd get your flank, kicked no offense. We've fought Griffins, Hydras and Dragons. They were admirably vigorous for Epona's standards."

"Hey the guards are mighty tough. Thy can handle themselves." countered Applejack.

"Please, what drove ponies to use spears anyway?" questioned X-ray. "Surely a captain such as yourself would notice that weapons like that are meant for hands." X-ray gave his fingers a twirl.

"I don't suppose you know how to utilize them." challenged Shining Armor.

Overwatch abruptly snatched the spear from the captain's hand with extremely fast reflexes. Turning around, the sniper with all his might threw the spear at rapid speeds, and killed a bird flying in the sky effortlessly.

The guards dropped their stern expressions to utter disbelief.

Fluttershy almost burst into tears had Pinkie Pie and Applejack not comforted her.

"I get it. You're trying to intimidate me." realized Shining Armor.

"Gentlecolts, let's not get hasty." said Rainbow Dash.

"Well you're job is to protect your people." noted Scarecrow. "And we're just pointing out that with spears like that, you'll do a horrible fucking job."

Shining Armor brushed the swear off and turned to a pegasus guard. "We'll need more troops. Go see if you can find any reinforcements."

The pegasus guard nodded and took off.

"Send all the guards you like. It won't be enough to finish one of us." hissed Scorch.

Shining snapped. "I don't care how tough you are-"

X-ray silenced him with a flick of his index finer. "We've been trained to take out armies of humans. Energy shielded, gauss wielding, vehicle equipped, combat experienced humans."

Overwatch crossed his arms. "Even if you do take us out, what's to say the rest of humanity won't retaliate? You might be able to perform magic, but what use will it be useless against starships, kill SATS, interceptors, tanks, combat drones and if the universe has no mercy for you, jaegers?"

"I do not know what any of those tools for war are." replied Shinning Armor.

"If you don't mess with us, you won't ever have to." pointed Scarecrow.

The squad simply made a move for the castle at a very slow pace in order to allow the Mane 6 and the royal guard to take lead.

The guards were afraid, and the Federation wouldn't have it any other way.

--------------

The royal hall was crowded with ponies from the highest prestige. Celestia wasn't one for elitism, but she knew how much of an influence the wealthy could have in Equestria's relationship with the Xenos.

There were still a few honest ponies within the crowd like the family members of the Mane 6 (minus Applejack's who were still working and seemed to decline any subject that had to do with Shadow) and cosmology enthusiasts like Comet Tail.

The 3 alicorns had already gracefully stepped into the hall, each one wearing a royal gown. They didn't want to come off as unremarkable to the humans.

With the flare of trumpets from solar, lunar and crystal guards, the door opened to reveal a set of startled solar guards led by Shining Armor in a 4 x 4 position. The captain of the royal guard winked to his wife as he led the troops.

Finally, Twilight Sparkle Materialized in the throne room, with everypony bowing on sight.

The same guard Twilight bumped into announced her appearance. "Her highness, princess Twilight Sparkle!"

The ponies in the crowd gave a cheer although many onlookers stopped upon seeing that she wasn't wearing her crown.

"The Elements of Harmony everypony!" cheered the guard known as Flash Sentry.

The rest of the Mane 6 entered the hall and gave a modest nod. Rarity in particular wasn't trying to show off, but wanted the fashion moguls in the crowd to notice her dress.

Twilight curiously trotted to the 4 thrones stationed at the end of the room. Each throne was engraved with a pattern and trim that matched the attributes of each alicorn. Luna's was blue and littered with stars, Cadance's was pink with hearts, Celestia's was white with streaks that resembled sun rays and Twilight's was purple was a star pattern that resembled her cutie mark.

The princess of magic escalated the stairs to her fellow princesses and turned to the ponies in the throne room.

"Today marks a special day." announced Twilight. "The day where Ponykind realizes it is not alone."

The crowd gave a cheer. No one had noticed the rest of the mane 6 looking awfully nervous.

"While there have been hardships on the road to diplomacy, I am faithful that we can finally accept the friendship of a race beyond our very star system once and for all." exclaimed the purple alicorn.

The ponies applauded their princess.

"We have many things to learn from the human race. Culture, technology and so much more. We also must take up a burden to teach these aliens the aspects that make life in Equestria so great. Such an honor is escalated that throughout the time they have spent in space, the humans can honestly say that we simple ponies will be the first intelligent life forms they have ever met."

Twilight turned to Celestia and the other alicorns. "By your words princesses."

Celestia nodded. "Let the two races finally meet. Humans, you may reveal yourself!"

--------------

All the while Shadow had been cloaked behind the door prepping to reveal themselves. Scarecrow was relaying final orders.

"X-ray cloak and send your drone to a position where we can listen on the entire castle. Overwatch, keep your eyes peeled for any far range assassins." The sniper had become sensitive to movements from far away distances.

"Scorch, trying not to burn anything and keep a lookout for anything suspicious in the crowd."

"Humans, you may reveal yourself!" called out the solar alicorn from behind the two doors.

Shadow unholstered their weapons on their magnetic plates. Scarecrow took a deep breath and opened the door.

--------------

The ponies were confused at first, the door had opened, but there was no one on the other side.

Shadow walked in a few steps into the throne room and when they were sure everything was alright, uncloaked.

Having not seen any glimpse of the realistic humans before, the crowd, even the princesses themselves (minus Twilight), received a painful migraine.

Shadow simply waited until the ponies could sink in their appearances and start seeing straight.

X-ray looked at the time on his watch. "3...2...1"

As predicted the ponies finally calmed down and took a proper look at the humans. As they did so, they kept muttering things to their partners, often talking at the same time.

"What is that?"

"By Celestia, their huge!"

"Why do they look so off?"

"Are they wearing a mask?"

"Is it just me, or do these things only walk on two hooves?"

The humans simply ignored the statements and fixed their attention on the alicorns. They were certainly much more unique than the other ponies. Their appearances were much taller, slimmer and swan like. The Manes of Celestia and Luna were ethereal as well. Celestia's glowed green, pink and blue while Luna's mane resembled the night sky. Similar to Trixie when she had turned into an alicorn after absorbing too much power. Rather than their eyes filling with aggression however, they were filled with friendliness and wisdom.

The alicorns in turn, stared at the approaching humans. Everything about them was alien. Their choice of outfits, the way they walked on two legs, their weapons and even the way they appeared out of context in an animated planet made them cringe. Nevertheless, they attempted to keep their smiles for the sake of their subjects.

Even though Shadow had not uttered a word to the alicorns, the princesses knew their traits would be at odds with theirs. Luna herself had faced many nightmares of many ponies. Being the princess of the night meant that (through inception) she would help ponies face their nightmares. No nightmare however, could face Shadow straight on without littering away like a helpless puppy.

Cadance started breathing heavily. As she looked at the humans, horrible visions started playing in her minds of Shadow mercilessly assaulting innocent ponies and admiring a burning Canterlot. Overwatch in particular had grabbed the attention of Cadance. She was the alicorn of love, and she sensed no love in the sniper. While this was simply due to Overwatch lacking a sex drive, Cadance thought it meant something more horrific. The pink alicorn used her technique to calm herself as the humans approached.

Celestia remained the most vigilant. While she would remain strong throughout the ordeal in order not to come off as weak minded to a whole race, a part of her felt that the humans would bring an end to ponykind if she dared challenge them.

Music continued to play until Shadow finally approached the base of the steps on the throne room. The squad desperately wanted to point out how ridiculous the alicorns looked sitting on a chair meant for bi-peds. The Mane 6 minus Twilight respectfully bowed towards the rulers behind Shadow.

Nonchalantly, the squad elevated the stairs and faced the alicorns. The difference in hight causing a sense of disbelief amongst the noble ponies.

Luna and Cadance were 5 ft at most. Celestia herself was tall at 6ft 1, but the humans, even X-ray, towered her. The hightt of Celestia was a symbol of her superiority amongst the equestrians. Now she was being dwarfed by massive, black clad bi peds.

The squad remained unconvinced of the alicorn's greatness. Scarecrow's mechanical voice startled everypony in the room. "Good day your majesties, it is an honor to be representing our race to ponykind."

Celestia smiled and spoke with her motherly voice. "It is an honor to meet the human race as well."

Scarecrow and the rest of Shadow stretched out their arms and revealed their hands to the princesses.

The mass in the room took a curious look at Shadow's appendages as they gave their fingers a twirl. The princesses looked nervously at hand, believing the humans to be making a hostile gesture.

The squad noticed the alicorns staring nervously at them with a fake grin as if they were waiting for something to happen.

"Well, aren't you going to shake our hands?" asked X-ray glacially.

"You're what?" inquired Luna.

"These." pointed Scorch as he raised his gloved hands.

Rarity gave Shadow a venomous whisper. "You're supposed to bow."

The squad's expressions underneath their mask turned hostile.

"Excuse me?" inquired Overwatch loudly.

The aristocratic ponies gave faint whispers due Shadow's refusal to bow. Certainly they should have known that this was the proper way to address royalty and deities. To not do so was heresy.

"Normally, it is customary for a pony to bow when meeting royalty to show respect." explained Luna with a giggle.

Scarecrow couldn't believe what he was being pressured to do. "That's funny, because to humans, bowing symbolizes superiority and fear while a hand shake symbolizes friendship."

Celestia gave an audible laugh. "My, I can see how different are cultures are already."

The counter terrorists proceeded to awkwardly shake the hand of each princess. The alicorns took a while to get used to the sensation of fingers wrapping around their hooves like a squid's tentacles wrapping around its prey.

"As I was saying," continued Scarecrow. "It is an honor to be meeting the other rulers of Equestria. We have already met Twilight, and she has done a considerable job hosting us."

The purple alicorn blushed.

"I look forward to learning more about your race and teaching you about ours."

Celestia nodded. "You may introduce yourselves in the manner you do to your superiors normally."

"As in the way we introduce ourselves formally to commanding officers?" checked Scorch.

"Why of course." chuckled Luna.

The eyes of the commandos widened. "Are you sure about that?" asked X-ray.

"Certainly, why would that be such a bad thing?" asked Cadance with a smile.

Scarecrow exhaled. "You asked for it." he warned.

"We are Shadow squad, subdivision of the 23rd counter terrorist division. United Terran Federation."

The public responded nervously to the phrases 'shadow squad' and 'counter terrorism'.

The masked leader of Shadow continued to address the squad in the manner the princesses asked for. "We have been active for 4 years, have participated in 834 operations, scouted 3 planets, have gained 50 + commendations each and have a grand total of 1.28 million confirmed kills."

The herd of ponies exploded with hysteria at the last statement. Many mares fainted and even the princesses themselves were startled. All of them had shocked expressions. Never had they met some one who had killed, yet alone in a number that high. The humans needed a lesson in harmony immediately.

"They're afraid of you." radioed Commander Sarah from the Blackjack. "The feds request you to keep going."

The Mane 6 backed away a little. They didn't exactly have a favorable view of Shadow. Now, they didn't know what to think.

Overwatch shot a fist in the air to silence the ponies.

"For legal reasons, we're afraid we can not tell you our real names." informed Scarecrow. "Forgive us, but you'll have to go by our call signs.

The princesses gave nods of understanding. They were incapable of saying no at the moment.

"I'm Colonel Scarecrow. Leader of Shadow. At your service." introduced the commando.

"Lieutenant X-ray, intelligence officer."

"Lieutenant Scorch, demolitions."

Scorch pointed a finger at the sniper. "This is Major Overwatch, squad marksman. He doesn't talk. Much."

The princesses gave an honest laugh.

Celestia revealed herself first. "I am princess Celestia. Alicorn of the sun."

"I am princess Luna, alicorn of the night."

X-ray raised an eyebrow. "Did you know that the moon of our home planet is named Luna as well?"

The blue alicorn blushed in flattery.

Cadance used her technique to calm herself. "I princess Mi Amore Cadenza. I'm the alicorn of love and leader of the Crystal Empire."

"In the language of Italian, your name translates to 'my love Cadance'." noted Scorch.

"I thought it was just gibberish." replied the pink alicorn.

"And of course you know me." grinned Twilight.

"So tell us, what brings humanity here to our humble world?" chanted Celestia.

"The appearance of intelligent life on Epona was surprise to us all." began Scorch. "The human race, as you probably guessed lives, on multiple worlds. Sometimes we find barren worlds for us to manipulate with our vast technologies, other times, like now, we find worlds that are already habitable."

X-ray stole the spotlight. "Due to our efficiency and ability to handle isolation, 23rd units such as Shadow are sent to explore these kinds of worlds. For reasons unknown to us, there was a distortion barrier that prevented our starships from analyzing this planet above. We had to view it manually."

Scarecrow took the lead. "After a few...difficulties, we ran into Twilight and her friends and that's when we realized that intelligent life existed beyond our world. That's when plans changed. Now we're on full diplomacy."

"How was you're stay at Ponyville?" asked Cadance.

"Unorthodox. I'll leave it at that." beamed X-ray.

"It is quite a surprise that you speak Equestrian." smiled Luna.

"The pony race and humanity shares more in common than they think." trivialized Scorch.

The multitude of ponies didn't seem to grasp the concept firmly.

"We're serious!" insisted Scarecrow. "Our cultures are similar and whatever your species invented and went through, we already did so!"

"I'm afraid I don't follow." replied Celestia.

"Will discuss it another time in that case." sighed X-ray. The squad was disappointed.

"I do not mean to be rude, but may I ask about your appearances?" proposed Luna.

"Go ahead." assured Overwatch, startling everypony by speaking.

"It is not my intention to insult you, but why must you wear such a peculiar mask? I can not see any of your faces."

"That's kind of the point your majesty." informed Scarecrow. "The units of the 23rd are required to cover their faces to conceal their identify. We mean no hostility towards you, it's just what protocol requires. Our masks also filter out harmful gases and infections."

'I wouldn't be surprised if you wore them to scare everypony. They're horrifying.' thought Luna.

"Also, why is your appearance so alien?" inquired Cadance.

X-ray faced the pink alicorn. "If by alien, you mean non animated, I would like to point out to the everypony in this room that the universe is built like us. The planet of Epona, is a cartoon."

"What is a...cartoon?" asked Luna.

Scarecrow had to admit, her accent that resembled ancient England was cute. "Basically what you are. Monotone colors and smooth, textureless designs."

"Speaking of your appearances, you humans are undoubtedly tall." complimented Celestia.

"We're taller than most humans." informed Scorch. "Humans on average, are around 3 inches or so shorter then X-ray."

The solar goddess laughed. "It's quite funny. I'm so used to looking down on so many creatures."

"Well, you're going to have to get used to looking up to us." teased Scarecrow.

"As for your voice, you all sound similar. By similar, I mean robotic." cringed Cadance.

The mass ponies nodded to this statement. The voice of the humans sounded completely inorganic.

"That's because we're speaking through a mic under our bandannas." explained X-ray who rubbed his chin under his mask. "This mask distorts our voice in order to remain anonymous. Rest assured though, we're flesh and blood.

"Moving on to other matters, will the rest of humanity make an appearance soon?" questioned Celestia.

"We're what you could call an advance team." answered X-ray. "Our government has yet to inform the public of extraterrestrial lifeforms. Until the situation is clear and our government officials can be prepared, you're stuck with us."

"Not to put any pressure on you or anything, but right now, we are broadcasting every moment of our time on this planet." brought up Scarecrow.

"What do you mean by...'broadcast'?" inquired Cadance.

"Basically, whatever we see, the humans on the starship orbiting this planet can see it too." explained Shadow's commander.

"Say Twilight, I think everypony has noticed this, but where is your crown?" asked Luna.

"And aren't you 5 supposed to be wearing your elements as well?" pointed Cadance to the Mane 6.

The herd gathered in the hall began to make remarks of concern. It was not like the Mane 6 to forget such an important requirement.

Twilight's ears dropped. "About that, I don't know how to say this-"

Scarecrow cut her off. "Forgive us your majesties. When we arrived in the Everfree Forest, the ponies were eager to send us to Ponyville as soon as possible. Twilight attempted to use teleportation, but it failed. Instead, the elements insisted that they use the artifacts to amplify the power of the spell. When they put on the elements, everything was going fine. Unfortunately, the elements seized to obey the ponies and attacked us with a life draining attack."

The crowd started to panic. They knew where this was heading.

Celestia's eyes widened. "The elements are used for peace they would never-"

Scarecrow interrupted Celestia. "My friends were dying. Twilight and the others attempted to shut off the artifacts before they wiped us out, but failed. I was the least affected. With the reminder of my strength, I snatched to the elements, threw them aside......and destroyed them with an explosive."

The ponies gave shrieks of horror and agony. Equestria had relied on the elements for so long and were thought to be unbeatable. This news was too much for them to handle.

"If you have to blame anypony for the destruction of the elements, blame us." muttered Scorch.

"I...don't know what to say to that." blurted Luna. "If you destroyed the elements, then you're above the might of harmony itself."

The mass continued to gave panicked remarks. Reporters wasted no time writing down the shocking news.

After 5 minutes of hysteria, Overwatch had enough of the panicking. He raised his PDR into the air and discharged a magnetically powered bullet.

The noise was loud enough to silence the town.

The alicorns stared nervously at the weapon.

"What is that?" inquired Cadance.

Scarecrow was getting tired of explaining his weapon. "It's a gun, the weapon we humans use to defend ourselves. Long story short, it uses magnets to accelerate a projectile. Universe willing, we won't have to use it."

"We know how important the elements are to the pony kind." yelled X-ray, amplifying his microphone to a more audible, but still mechanical tone. "Understand, that as long as we're here, we won't let any harm come to Equestria."

"The Elements of Harmony meant more to us then protection. They were the symbol of the values of our kind." nearly cried Celestia. Reporters continued to document the information with some running out the hall to tell the news.

Scarecrow exhaled heavily. "I am sorry your majesty, but I will not regret my decision. Ever. My friends were dying and I did what I had to do to save them."

The Alicorn of the sun nodded slowly. "I understand Colonel-"

"Just call me Scarecrow."

"I understand Scarecrow, I just wish it didn't have to come to this." whispered Celestia. Luna placed a wing to comfort the frightened Cadance.

The news was for too much for Ponykind to handle. With more than a million kills and being the perpetrators of the Element's destruction, Shadow was clearly a force that would give Discord a run for his bits.

"Let us not focus on such events!" exclaimed X-ray. "This should be a time for diplomacy and progress, not sorrow."

"You're right." calmed Celestia. "We can not change the past and what happened, happened. Just thank the heavens you are alright."

The squad nodded despite their atheism.

"We have prepared quite a feast for you humans." announced Luna enthusiastically.

Scorch grinned under his mask. "We appreciate your generosity ma'am, but we-"

Suddenly there was a rumble in the demo man's stomach. The rest of Shadow felt it too.

Celestia raised an eyebrow."You were saying?"

"I was about to say that we can't eat since we're drugged to go on days without food, but I guess the drugs have worn off."

"If that is the case, we may proceed to feast if you wish." offered Celestia.

"That would be lovely, your majesty." nodded Scarecrow.

"You can just refer to us by our title and names." assured Cadance.

The alicorns rose form their seats as music played and shook the hands of the humans. Each princess was still unsure, and very much frightened of Shadow. They seemed like good people at heart, but their definition of good didn't fall into the traditional sense.

The reporters continued to take pictures of the humans shaking the hands of the princesses. Much to the surprise of the journalists, whenever they printed a picture of Shadow, the counter terrorists did not show up on the picture, but rather showed as a black blur.

The aristocrats in the crowd were unsure if Shadow were the right humans to address to expand their businesses. The families of the Mane 6 on the other hoof, worried for the safety of their children.

The leaders of Equestria directed the humans to dining room of the castle, accompanied by guards who shrugged off the reporters and various on lookers.

As a guard closed the door behind the group, creating a pitch of silence.

The Mane 6 stood nervously behind their princesses. The alicorns took an expectant look at Shadow. The 4 humans stared back at the alicorns, when a venomous glare underneath their masks as if they were ready to pull out their weapons any moment.

It was going to be an interesting day.

Author's Notes:

Please make a list for everything you want Shadow to discuss with the alicorns. The next segment will be a series of mini chapters.

As you can see, Shadow intends to use fear throughout the entire ordeal. Fear is the most powerful emotion (in my opinion) and if the humans are going to be meeting Extraterrestrial life, what better way to get their own interests completed by having other races unable to intimidate them?

For those of you saying that a million plus kill count is unreasonable, note that Scarecrow could have easily turned off his lie detector to intimidate the princesses.