PONYVILLE

3:15PM

Twilight, Aaron, and Applejack began approaching the main entryway to Ponyville in a casual way, of course with Aaron currently accompanying them, the attention they may receive may take a strain on making a normal approach. Aaron himself was still having doubts about this, but he felt like he had no other choice.

He did owe his life to Twilight for saving him back in the Everfree Forest from vicious Timberwolves, he just wished he could find some way to repay her for her deeds considering they kind of had a bit of a rough start when they first met. Who he really did owe was  Applejack for the destruction of some of her families hard-grown corn crop.

She was currently still a bit miffed at him for not taking responsibility of his action of landing the Pelican more conveniently while still conscious, but of course Aaron couldn’t help it. He kept telling her over and over again that it was a simple mistake and that he’ll find a way to fix it, but Applejack refused to believe him. She was as stubborn as an ox; of course that’s how most of her entire family was.

As the trio came into sight, the fellow townsponies gazed at them with normal expressions, but they quickly shifted when the saw a seven-foot armored bipedal creature tagging along with them who was no one but Aaron carrying his helmet with his left hand while holding his M395 in the other.

If they didn’t see one of their princesses with a confident smile on her face with a strange alien in tow, their might've been full blown panic like Applejack stated. But since Twilight seemed calm and collected, that meant that there was nothing to worry about or be afraid of. Uncertainty did remain among them through. Whatever this creature was, it definitely was not a pony, or any other being that Equestria and the rest of Equis had. It was in fact, an alien from outer space.

Aaron did his best to make himself look friendly by making eye contact and smiling the best he could with as many as the townsponies as he could. He didn’t want to look like a thug or anything. He wanted to reassure everypony that he meant no harm, along with passing the vibe that he wasn’t comfortable with his own presence either.

Finally a townspony by the name of Roseluck decided to speak up.

“Um..Princess Twilight,” she began.

“You can just call me Twilight when I’m here in Ponyville, remember?” Twilight interjected with an amused smile.

“Right, sorry,” Roseluck said with an embarrassed chuckle. Apparently her nervousness made her forget that she didn’t have to call Twilight a princess when she was in town working as the local librarian. “I was wondering who your new friend is?”

“Oh you mean Aaron?” Twilight asked turning toward him. “He’s just a guest of mine.”

“Nice to meet you,” Aaron said extending his hand.

Roseluck backed up a bit which made Aaron gently pull back his hand. Either she was freaked out that the alien knew perfect Equestrian, or that the closer he got, he seemed to gain more height.

“But what is he though, and where did he come from?”

“Well as far as we know, he crash landed from somewhere in outer space,” Twilight began.

“Which happened tah be mah cornfield,” Applejack added with disgust in her voice.

“How many times do I have to say I’m sorry?” Aaron sighed with annoyance.

“How about fer every kernel ya fried,” Applejack retorted harshly.

“Applejack, Aaron, enough!” Twilight intervened before a fight could start up.

Applejack just huffed and turned her head away while Aaron just stared at her with a bit of disdain.

“As I was saying before,” Twilight continued. “Aaron here apparently is currently shipwrecked on our planet, and I plan on helping him get found by his compatriots; wherever they might be that is.”

“You still haven’t answered my question about what he is,” Roseluck reminded. “Surely you’ve read books about what his species are.”

Twilight closed her eyes as she hesitated for a moment. She wouldn’t know the kind of reaction she’ll get, but for one particular townspony, the word was best left unuttered. Of course Twilight didn’t know.

“I believe that Aaron may be….a human,”

“A HUMAN?!” came the shout of a known mare voice from somewhere.

Before Aaron knew it, he was tackled and surprisingly knocked down on to his back by a magical mint colored blur.

“Oof!” Aaron cried as he landed hard on the ground. When his vision cleared, he saw  a super excited unicorn pony with a light cyan mane with a white streak in it. Her eye color was a sunglow yellow, and on her flank was a symbol that looked like some kind of lyre.

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” the excited mare exclaimed. “I knew they were real! I just knew it! And some ponies say I was crazy!”

“And you are?” Aaron asked, but the mare didn’t properly answer the question.

“And it knows Equestrian too! This is so amazing! Please say something else!”

“Uh,” Aaron began, but was interrupted.

“Can you please get of that thing, Lyra before you get hurt?” asked another mare’s voice.

Lyra turned around to look at her worried marefriend, Sweetie Drops. Sweetie Drops had a beige colored coat with a pigment blue mane with a pink streak. Her eyes were cerulean blue and the symbol on her flank represented three wrapped candies. Aaron had no idea that these symbols were called cutie-marks.

Sweetie Drops knew of Lyra’s eccentric obsessions with the mythical humans, but didn’t think much about it. Now that a human is actually in everypony’s presence, her concern grew deeply for her marefriend’s safety. She didn’t know if it was friendly or not.

“Relax Sweets I’m alright. Its not going to hurt me...right?” Lyra asked now looking a little bit worried into Aaron’s confused face.

“Well...no I wasn’t,” Aaron replied. “But can you please get off me, and not tackle me again?”

Lyra blushed and let out some kind of unknown but kind of adorable *squee* sound as she gave an embarrassed smile.

“Sorry about that,” she said and got off Aaron so he could return to his feet showing of his seven foot stature that made him look like a giant to everypony who had the designated height of four feet, or maybe a little more than that.

“It’s perfectly alright,” Aaron said as he brushed himself off. “At least you seem to be the only one here who seems really excited to meet an alien like me.”

“Heheheheh,” Lyra giggled obviously flattered before Sweetie Drops dragged her by her tail.

“C’meh, leths go,” Sweetie Drops said. Her voice distorted by Lyra’s tail in her mouth. Lyra surprisingly didn’t fight back. She just let her bossy marefriend carelessly drag her away leaving Aaron, Twilight, and everypony else to wonder what the hay just happened? It was obvious to Aaron through that he had a groupie; but he wasn’t exactly sure how he felt about it.

“Well that was...uh….interesting,” Aaron managed to say.

“Um...yeah it was, wasn’t it?” Twilight replied with a nervous chuckle. “C’mon, let’s get you inside. I believe that both of us don’t really need this attention.”

Twilight turned to address everypony who were still looking at them.

“Please return to your normal activities. There’s nothing more to see here,” Twilight said, but the ponies didn’t do what they were told. Twilight had no other choice but to use the O-word, which she hated because it made her feel bad.

“That’s a royal order.”

It’s then that the townsponies did what they were told. This impressed Aaron.

“You really are a princess, huh?” he asked smiling.

“Yeah, but I really hate to boss ponies around. It was never my intention to become a princess in the first place. I always considered becoming more of a scholar, or scientist. Perhaps a scholar scientist to be more precise,” Twilight explained.

“You might make a good captain for an army instead,” Aaron commented making Twilight form a little blush.

You could say Aaron had a charm about him that flattered girls, but unfortunately he never considered to find official and intimate relationships with them. Either because he never had time because of his service as a Spartan; or because during his early years on the farm, he worried that his family would disapprove of any girl he hooked up with, especially his father who may intend on scaring her off so Aaron wouldn’t be able to court her any further.

“My older brother is captain of the royal guard,” Twilight stated.

“Well I bet he’s proud of you, along with the rest of your family,” Aaron said making Twilight increase her blush a little more. She decided to move things along before this got anymore awkward.

“Gee thanks, but come along now. Who knows how long it will take before Lyra decides to fight off Sweetie Drops before she can tackle you again, even if she said she wouldn’t,” Twilight warned.

With that, Aaron wasn’t hesitant to quickly follow Twilight inside her home which was the Golden Oaks Library.

When Aaron entered Twilight’s library home, he was rather impressed with the interior’s architecture which mostly was tree bark obviously because Twilight’s home was infact a tree. What puzzled him was how such a thing was constructed? He decided not to ask Twilight because he didn’t want to become invasive. Plus he had a lot of things to keep from her as well about what he does for the UNSC, yet its quite obvious to Twilight that he's some kind of soldier.

As Aaron looked around examining the shelves lined up with books, and the decor that added more life to the place; he spotted a small purple reptilian creature with small green scales lining the back of its head and tail. It appeared to be sleeping right next to a bucket of water and a mop.

For a quick second Aaron thought it was a Kig-Yar, or Jackal in formal terms. Thankfully Aaron didn’t raise his weapon which would probably alarm and infuriate Twilight. It was bad enough he already had a farm mare pissed off at him, so there was no need at add a brainiac one to the list. Plus Aaron knew that Jackals didn’t have tails, and were a little more taller and slender than what this thing had.

“Um Twilight, what is that?” Aaron asked keeping his voice quiet because he didn’t want to disturb the slumbering being. He was already aware that this planet was dominated by highly intelligent diverse species of equines, but the presence of a second non-pony creature really threw him off.

Twilight looked over to what Aaron was referring too. She just smiled.

“Oh that’s Spike,” she replied. “He’s a baby dragon, and my number one assistant who helps me around the library. Yet as you may have already noticed, he sometimes works himself to exhaustion.”

Aaron smiled as well. In a way, Spike sort of reminded him of lazy Unggoy that were dumb enough to fall asleep on their patrols, which made infiltrating Covenant camps slightly more easier and efficient. Sometimes he and his fellow Spartan team members would have a small friendly contest of who could assassinate the most sleeping little gas-sucking jerks in a minute or so. That’s another thing that Twilight did not need to know of course. Not the merciless killing part, but referring Spike to Twilight’s own personal Grunt; and the killing part should not be mentioned to her either.

Twilight gently trotted over to Spike to wake him up.

“Spike, time to wake up sleepyhead. There’s someone here I wish to introduce to you,” Twilight softly said, which in a way sounded motherly to Aaron’s confusion. She couldn’t possibly be a mother to a dragon, could she?

Spike groaned annoyed from his sudden disturbance.

“Can’t I just have a few more minutes?” he asked groggily.

“You can go back to sleep once you’ve met Aaron,”

“Aaron? Who’s Aaron?” Spike asked rubbing his eyes. He couldn’t tell if to be intrigued, or suspicious.

“I am,” said an unfamiliar male voice.

With his vision finally clear, Spike turned his head toward the source of the voice. When he got a clear and good look at Aaron, he jumped back with a startled yelp which made Twilight and Aaron both flinch. Aaron couldn’t be sure if he truly was enjoying the various reactions he has been receiving.

“It’s okay Spike,” Twilight reassured. “Don’t you remember seeing these beings when we went after my stolen crown? I became one, but you somehow became a dog.”

Spike easily recalled the moment that he and Twilight ventured into an alternate realm when Twilight’s crown was stolen by Celestia’s former student, Sunset Shimmer, so she could take over Equestria, and overthrow Celestia and the other princesses.

“Of course I do Twilight, but how come he didn’t turn into a pony when entering our world through the portal when it’s not supposed to be opened yet?” Spike asked curiously.

“Actually, he fell out of the sky,” Twilight corrected.

“Oh,” Spike said, still a little confused. “Can he talk though?”

“Of course I can, who couldn’t?” Aaron cut in.

“Sorry, it was a dumb question,” Spike said rubbing the back of his head embarrassed. Plus Aaron already made it apparent when he said as clear as day, "I am."

“Well now that we’ve all exchanged pleasantries, would you like some tea, Aaron? You must be thirsty,” Twilight offered.

Aaron thought for a bit.

There was no strict diet forbidding tea in the UNSC because it was practically just water with a different color and had a zing of flavor to it, so what harm could it do? Plus he didn’t want to be rude. Twilight was very hospitable, and he should greatly accept it.

“Sure. I would love some,” Aaron said.

Twilight then turned to Applejack who still didn’t look to happy along with Winona who let out a low growl every time Aaron glanced at her. Just like her master, Winona disapproved of Aaron’s actions, and didn’t trust him one bit.

“Would you like some tea too, Applejack?” Twilight asked keeping a positive face and tone.

“Ah’m fine Twi, but thanks anyway,” Applejack replied indifferently. “Ah should probably head back to the farm to tell ‘em we’re okay. They’re probably worried sick by now. Ah’ll see ya later sugarcube. C’mon Winona, lets go.”

With that Applejack and her dog left Twilight and Aaron alone with their concern. When the coast seemed clear, Aaron turned to Twilight.

“Forgive me for asking this, Twilight, and I know I’m probably wrong; but is she always like that?”

“Oh no. Not at all,” Twilight replied shaking her head and giving Aaron his tea. “Applejack is very nice and trustworthy, she’s also very honest and not afraid to speak her mind.”

“I think I’ve already noticed,” Aaron sheepishly said and took a sip. The tea was surprisingly delicious. It also tasted regular, too.

“Well she does kind of have the right to be upset with you. I mean her family has been slaving over the same old crop for generations now. I would be angry too if all my hardwork was suddenly ruined by an unknown stranger. Oh, no offense,” Twilight blushed.

“None taken,” Aaron reassured with a smile. “What I want to know is if she’ll ever forgive me?”

“I’m sure she’ll come around eventually. I bet if her family gets the fee paid for the property damage, I’m sure she’ll have no choice but to thank and forgive you, along with the rest of her family.”

“I just wonder how much I have to owe her?” Aaron asked even though he was probably not going to like the answer.

Twilight put a hoof under her chin as she went into her deep thinking process.

“Judging from the amount of miles and area covered during the crash, I would have to say you owe two-thousand and eight-hundred bits.”

A look of shock and disbelievement overcame Aaron’s face. He knew it would be bad, but with the big amounts of money soldiers make in the UNSC, it shouldn’t be much of a problem. The UNSC did have to find Equis through to initiate the trade fee. What threw Aaron off through was the word bits instead of dollars. He just thought it was their way of saying dollars, but he needed to be sure.

“I assume bits are a fancy word for dollars right?” he asked.

A look of confusion went on to Twilight’s face. Not a good sign.

“No, its always been bits for centuries now. We’ve never heard of these so-called dollars that you speak of,” she explained.

“What are bits then?”

“A quick moment please,” Twilight replied and quickly flew up to her room leaving her teacup. In about several seconds, she flew back down now carrying her saddlebag. She then pulled out to what looked like some kind of golden coin from one of the pockets.

“This is a bit,” she said. “Crafted from the finest gold in all of Equestria. Each one of these bits has the value of one.”

“So that means that the UNSC has to find a way to obtain over two-thousand of these golden coins?” Aaron asked. Confidence low in his voice.

“Pretty much,” Twilight shrugged. “Of course I’m interested in these dollars that your species use.”

Aaron explained to Twilight that dollars were paper pieces dyed in a greenish hue, and had illustrations of his countries founding fathers on the front, and congressional buildings or undecipherable symbols imprinted on the back. He also explained that the dollar designs varied from different countries. He of course followed the Cole Protocol and did not mention his homeworld of Earth, or any other human populated world. Twilight was after all still a mysterious and strange alien, but luckily friendly. He hoped anyway.

“Very intriguing,” Twilight said when he was done explaining. She had both hooves under her chin indicating that she listened to every word. “Your ways aren't really that different from ours at all.”

“You could say that, yeah,” Aaron said with a smile and shrug.

Just then, a knocking came at Twilight’s door.

“Who is it?” Twilight called.

“It’s us darling,” replied the voice of Rarity behind the door.

“Aren’t you going to let us in?” added the voice of Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow Dash, that’s very rude of you,” Rarity scolded.

“Sorry,” Rainbow sighed annoyed.

“Just a moment please!” Twilight called with a hint of panic in her voice. She then turned to Aaron in desperation. “You better hide for now, I don’t know how they're going to react if they see you.”

“What?” Aaron asked, confused by Twilight’s sudden change in demeanor.

“Please just do it. Trust me, I know what I’m doing,” Twilight pleaded, sounding even more frantic.

“Who are you talking too? Is somepony in there with you?” Rarity asked.

“Ooh! Maybe she’s having some kind of private party!” Pinkie’s voice chimed in. She then sounded disappointed. “But why didn’t she invite me, and the rest of us? More specifically, me?”

“I’m sure it’s private for a good reason, if you get my drift,” Rainbow added. Unknown to Twilight, Rainbow winked as she said this along with a mischievous grin.

“Oh...m..my,” the voice of Fluttershy squeaked. “W..we probably shouldn’t be here then.”

“Calm yourself Fluttershy dear, I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. It’s not even that time of year yet,” Rarity stated. “So uncouth, Rainbow.”

“Hey, it could happen,” Rainbow excused.

“Really I’m fine girls. Nothing interesting happening here,” Twilight lied. “I’ll be right there!”

She turned to Aaron again.

“Please just do it!” she begged.

“That’s it! I’m going to bust down this door in five seconds if you won’t open it or tell us what the hay is going on!” Rainbow threatened.

“Um...don’t you think that’s a bit mean though?” Fluttershy asked.

“No! Twilight’s hiding something and we need to find out what it is! If it’s a stallion she’s never told us about, now is the time that she will tell us!” Rainbow proclaimed. “Five!”

“Rainbow, this isn’t necessary,” Rarity said.

“Four!”

“GO!” Twilight yelled to Aaron who immediately shot up the stairs without a second of hesitation.

“Three!”

“Rainbow please get ahold of yourself,” Rarity pleaded.

“Two!”

“I’m coming to the door right now,” Twilight called.

“ONE!” Rainbow called not hearing what Twilight said, or refusing to believe her.

In a hint of panic, Twilight used her magic to make her door rapidly fly open before Rainbow could touch it. The result was a cyan blur with a rainbow trail racing through the lower level of Twilight’s home, and colliding with a bookshelf on the other side of the room.

Rainbow’s body was at first spread out like a bug squashed against a hard surface, then she gently slid down where she landed on her back with her eyes closed, and she began snoring as if she was sleeping soundly.

She had just knocked herself out silly, and once again put herself under the unofficial nickname of Rainbow Crash.

Fluttershy immediately came to her friends’ aid by quickly flying outside to grab a cloud big enough to act as a bed. She then molded it into a comfortable shape that would make it more comfortable to lie on. She even used a small portion of it to make a pillow.

She then picked up Rainbow and placed her on the cloud bed making sure her head was placed correctly and comfortably on the cloud pillow. Fluttershy then flew outside one last time to grab another cloud to act as a blanket.

She gently placed it over Rainbow’s body and tucked her in leaving only the head exposed. That ought to make her more comfortable until she came to.

The friends just stared at Fluttershy, making her give off an embarrassed *squee*. She really didn’t like to have a lot of attention on her, even if it was her friends.

“Okay now that we got that out of the way, what’s going on here, Twilight? We clearly heard somepony in here with you,” Rarity said.

“If you’re having a party, why didn’t you tell me about it? I would've lighten things up a bit,” Pinkie said, then looked around the room. “This doesn’t look like an area for a party at all. No offense.”

“I wasn’t having a party girls, well maybe it was some kind of a party, a tea one to be exact,” Twilight rambled drawing more suspicion from her friends. she then tried turning the question on them in hopes of changing the subject.

“So what brings you here? I thought you guys would still be in Canterlot helping Celestia out with Luna, and the decor for the Gala.” she asked.

“Well apparently Rainbow Dash finally decided to help us out with the decor even if she was a bit hesitant at first, but we finally got through to her,” Rarity explained. “As for the princess, her bad dreams have abruptly stopped a bit soon after you and Applejack left when that meteor was on a collision course with Sweet Apple Acres. Speaking of which, where is Applejack anyway?” she asked, looking around the room while the rest followed suit.

“Not to worry, she went back home safe and sound to check in on her family. They're also safe as well and in one piece,” Twilight reassured. “Now back on Canterlot. You said that Luna’s dream just stopped, just like that? How?”

“We have no idea, but she was fast asleep right before I could give her the tea I promised.” Fluttershy explained.

“Same with my quilt,” Rarity added sounding a bit disappointed. “I stitched diamonds in to resemble the stars in the night sky.”

“She didn’t even take a nibble of the cake I made for her,” Pinkie added with her ears drooping a bit.

“Well, at least that’s a good sign, it stopped so Luna can finally get some sleep. What puzzles me though is why it had to be after the meteor entered our atmosphere?” Twilight wondered.

“It’s a mystery darling, plus did you and Applejack find out if it truly was some sort of hideous space rock?” Rarity asked.

“Well...yes we did, but I should probably tell you it was no meteor,” Twilight admitted.

Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie raised a brow in curiosity while Rainbow was still in an unconscious nap.

“What are you talking about?” Rarity asked. “It had the characteristic of one.”

“Yes, but when we found it in Applejack’s cornfield; look this may sound a bit crazy, but it was some sort of spaceship definitely not acquainted with our own planet,” Twilight explained.

“W..what do you mean by that?” stammered Fluttershy who was clearly becoming scared.

“It’s okay Fluttershy, I’m pretty sure she’s just trying to pull our legs,” Rarity reassured the frightened pegasus.

“I knew you would think I’m crazy,” Twilight sighed defeated.

“Oh no dear, not at all,” Rarity lied the best way she could. “We just never really heard you talk this way in a long time. Perhaps we should let Cadence know about this.”

“Yes, you do,” Twilight protested clearly not buying Rarity’s fib. “Maybe we should just forget about what I said.”

“Hey girls, look at me!” Pinkie suddenly interjected.

When all three of them turned to face Pinkie, they were all shocked at what they saw. Twilight became more flustered however.

On top of Pinkie’s head and only covering her eyes was Aaron’s helmet! He accidently left it in Twilight’s living room along with his M395 DMR in plain sight, with possibly the safety off!

“Um...Pinkie dear, what is that horrendous thing on your head?” Rarity asked.

“I don’t know,” Pinkie replied. “I found it on one of Twilight’s tables. You should see what it’s like in here. There’s pretty electronic lights in here. It’s like seeing what a robot sees!”

Pinkie then started walking and talking as if she was artificially made pony.

“I-am-the-P-Pie 9000. Must-bake-delicious-cup-cakes-for-hun-gry-tum-mies.”

Pinkie then broke out in hysterical laughter at herself for her impression, while the others just watched with concern.

“Please take that off your head! Who knows where that has been, or what it belongs to,” Fluttershy whimpered.

“Plus it might mess up your mane,” Rarity bluntly said even though she already knew Pinkie’s mane was always a curly and frizzy mess. Like Fluttershy, she worried the strange device could be dangerous to herself, and everypony around.

“Oh don’t be silly girls, look it even comes with a prop,” Pinkie said and pulled Aaron’s M395 from somewhere off screen. Pinkie Logic has struck again.

“Pinkie! Put that down! You’re likely to hurt somepony!” Twilight gasped and tried to take the rifle away from Pinkie by grabbing it with her magic.

“Hey! I found it first, so let go!” Pinkie cried and struggled to keep her hooves on it.

Rarity then ignited her horn and used her magic to assist Twilight.

“Do what Twilight says dear,” Rarity said.

“Never!” Pinkie growled and kept her grip on the rifle dangerously close to the trigger.

The struggle continued for a few moments as the three mares got into a three-way tug of war over the M395.

Fluttershy stayed clear out of the way whimpering at the sight of conflict between her three friends, while Rainbow was still not fazed by the ruckus.

The fight ended when the tip of Pinkie’s hoof accidently pressed down on the trigger. Since the safety was off as predicted, their conflict abruptly ended when the rifle shot off a round into the ceiling with an ear-splitting, BANG!

Four events then happened simultaneously.

Rainbow shot up fully awake looking around frantically, but still dazed. Fluttershy screamed and dove under Twilight’s couch shaking, and began to cry. The three feuding mares dropped the weapon in their startlement. Finally a sound of heavy footsteps came running down the stairs, and into the room where Twilight and the friends were.

It’s then that they all saw Aaron standing before them with a look of surprise and confusion, along with a little anger painted on his face.

“What the fuck is going on down here?!” he demanded.