Author's Notes:

Chapter 43 will be released during Ciderfest Opening Ceremonies.
Please note this will be the end of Volume 2 which means book 2 will officially be available for Pick Up and Sale.

“The problem is the myths of Area 51 are hard to dispute if no one can speak on the record about what actually happened there.”
-Annie Jacobsen

I stared in horror at the dead body, then at Quick Stitch. I felt sick, my stomach twisting like I had been here before, and was experiencing the shock of death and resurrection at the same time. I looked up at Nyota and Scopola Mina, “Any ideas on how many times he’s regenerated?”

Quick Stitch stared into the feathers on his back, examining them very closely. “Well, if I look at the feather patterns on his cloak. Based upon their age and the way they create rings of color.” He pointed out the different lines and slightly off shades of color. “I would say 47 times, but I don’t think this cloak is gonna be a completely accurate way to tell.”

My jaw dropped. I am having problems at twenty-seven! He’s got nearly twice as many and he is committing suicide and writing in blood. I stared at the pegasus, confused. Nyota held up a hoof.

“How about we wait for the box to either regenerate him or manifest something new, and watch the process ourselves?” I nodded to him and pulled out my shotgun.

“Well, I’ll search the rest of the floor again and then we will just have to sit and wait.” I moved with Scopola Mina while Nyota and Quick Stitch stayed with the body. We found the stable had braying tubes—called that because of how brays would echo inside them. You could crawl in and access electrical systems, water, and various other utilities, though the quarters were cramped, even for me.

We found Equestrian Military insignias for units I had never heard of. Many of them had a Ministry of Morale or a Stable-Tec logo under the unit marker. The water pipes were clearly pumping waters through various filters and into every single room in the Stable. I checked E.F.S., and everytime I did, I got a little less worried as only my companions showed up on it. Why don’t the creatures inside the panic room show up? I thought, realizing quickly that my reassurance was wrong; there could be more of them and they could easily be in the bray tubes!

We proceeded into the staff rooms. Each one was a studio size apartment, with a small kitchen, washroom, and a bunk bed which was covered in dust but still had the sheets on it. There were crystals plugged into the appliances, running them with magical energy as opposed to electricity. These were very similar to the types of crystals you would put into a laser rifle, except running something much lower power. I noticed something on the walls of the apartments: a white circle was painted with a dot in the center and a line diagonally slashed across it. There was also an intercom system near the door.

Every single room was designed exactly like this. Scopola Mina scratched her head. “You have all the needs of a stable? Why go through the trouble of setting up crystal energy sources too?”

I shrugged and nodded at it, “Maybe they had more ponies than they expected. Scopola Mina, try the intercom?” I suggested as we found evidence of several different colored pegasus feathers, crystal dust residue, shamanistic zebra doll totems, and even a few items that had stubbornite infused into them. This to me indicated they had unicorns, earth ponies, zebras, and pegasi down here working together.

Much of this had the appearance of leaving behind a significant amount of personal effects. Jewelry, clothing, pictures, even several journals; it was like they all just got up and left one day. “This is beyond weird,” I turned to Scopola, who pressed the intercom button.

There was a blip of a walkie talkie queuing up to speak, “Umm, hello, anyone there?” Scopola Mina called out and released the button.

A very rough, gravelly voice replied, “Hello, who is this? This channel hasn’t been active for 100 years.”

“Umm, where ya at?” Scopola Mina replied and we all listened.

“Down in the panic room, are you the ones we talked to earlier? Have you found the guard yet?”

Scopola Mina looked at me with an expression of what do I do? I made motions across my neck to cut the comm and shook my head quietly. “Umm, nope.”

“I can’t believe he is still hiding.” There was an annoyed slithering noise.

“I mean, we are quite heavily armed, he might still be unsure of us.” Scopola Mina replied.

There was a series of clicks and chitters that could only be described as alien laughter from the other side. “You are the most normal group he has likely ever encountered. I’m surprised he is hiding this long.”

I hesitated and stepped forward, “Does this guard, have umm… a black box?”

“What the hell is a black box?”

Scopola Mina whispered in my ear, “Atomic Recombulator.” I repeated what she said to the intercom.

“He just comes occasionally and pets us on the head .” There was a ragged sigh and a groan. “This despite the fact I’m twice his size and he refers to us as weird dogs. He gives us treats, too, that I think you would give one of your canine companions. It is weirdly sweet and demeaning at the same time. We are sure he is completely insane at this point.”

I groaned and nodded, “Alright, we’ll keep that in mind. Maybe this is a game to him.” We left, heading back towards the lounge, when the sound of a struggle and the crashing of a speaker made Scopola Mina and I bolt down the hall. We found Nyota holding Quick Stitch down with one hoof while he had an egg in his other. He was enraged and snarling at Quick Stitch as he held the egg out of reach.

The egg was huge, the size of my dad’s pistol and completely black with deep teal stripes down its sides. Nyota was snarling, “You protected one of the star children!”

Quick Stitch pulled back away from him, trying to get out of his grip, “Nyota!” I shouted and quickly lunged at the egg. Nyota turned surprised and did not quite move in time to avoid me snatching the egg. I placed it as gently as possible onto the nearest a couch pillow on the floor nearby. I looked at the egg and it shifted in front of me; the surface changed. It sent a chill down my spine as something completely alien or unnatural.

Quick Stitch still had the other egg. He held it close, “I found them in the basement. They’re unborn children; I am a doctor. I cannot rightfully harm them.” There was a shimmer of magical energy and then a pulse. Quick Stitch lit up like a bright beacon, and his mane suddenly flowed on its own, sparkling with energy. Nyota took a defensive posture towards him while the rest of us looked at Quick Stitch quite, off put.

“Umm… Quick Stitch, you may wanna take a look in the mirror.” I started very cautiously. Quick Stitch looked into the powered off TV and saw his mane flowing and shimmering with energy. It hadn’t changed colors, just that now it flowed with magic, even if no wind blew around us.

“That...is new.” He set down the egg and took a step back. “I did not think that their magic could mutate me.” I looked just as confused as the rest of our group. Nyota growled and shook his head.

“You have to understand: they are star children, they are inherently evil. They tried to destroy our world twice! Once in Zebrica and once with Nightmare Moon. My tribe is damned by all other zebras for siding with them. And YOU!” Nyota pointed at Quick Stitch with a renewed fury in his voice. “Did not think they could mutate you? They mutated your alicorn princess over 1200 years ago, I think they can do the same to you!”

Quick Stitch backed away and set the egg down, and I collected it. “Okay, how about we all calm down and take some logic here. Quick Stitch is still Quick Stitch, just... well, with a flowy mane now, and slightly magically radioactive.” I looked over to see a small amount of rads bleeding off of Quick Stitch that my PipBuck was registering about one every hour above normal. Nothing lethal, but it would make you tingly if you hung around too much.

Nyota growled, staring at the eggs. “Nyota, I get it. These things hurt your people. But right now, just like raiders when we first meet them, we cannot act to kill them for the sake of killing. Okay? Especially unborn children. Think about how you would feel if someone wanted to kill me and our…” I trailed off and let it sink in without speaking. Nyota very slowly deflated. He looked at me, hurt, and grit his teeth.

“That is different and not fair, and you know it.” He walked up to me, looking down with a sense of absolute rage at me. “Quick Stitch lied to us, he brought the Star Children here and he let them influence us.”

“I did not lie about anything.” Quick Stitch retorted while Scopola Mina played with his new magical radiation mutated hair.

“Lie of omission is still a lie.” Nyota replied with a snap. “You never said what you found down under The Roof and just made us assume it was nothing to be concerned about.”

“Okay, and what about saving a life? Can you honestly not say you would not have smashed the two eggs immediately upon discovering them?” Quick Stitch said, batting away Scopola Mina out of irritation.

“No, I honestly can’t. They are not supposed to be here. Ever!” Nyota snorted back, glaring at the shifting surface of the eggs.

“So that automatically means they are evil?” Quick Stitch replied, the other two of us unable to get anything to interject as they went back and forth.

“Is there someway to send them home? To get them off our world?” Nyota shot back, he was holding back his own fury only because I was holding his hoof. It was as if my touch was reminding him to stay civil.

“I don’t know, I haven’t had a chance to ask.”

“Realistically, I don’t care. These creatures, and they are creatures, are linked with a great and terrible force that led to the awakening of the most dangerous creature this planet has ever seen.” Nyota snapped at the egg with his teeth as he spoke, as if it were trying to talk to him somehow, and he was expressing dominance.

“And Discord was reawakened by three fillies arguing.” Quick Stitch pointed out, still remaining calm about the whole thing. It was almost creepy how calm and seemingly unaffected he was by Nyota’s rage.

“Yes, that is our problem of our making. Also, who?” Nyota looked a little confused.

“The owners of Stable-Tec, in their childhood, unwittingly unleashed Discord upon the land.” I finally managed to get something in. My voice, as well as facts, made Nyota go from a look of anger to confusion.

“I know of the demon mares of Stable-Tec; who is this Discord of which you speak?” Nyota replied, looking to me, then to Quick Stitch.

“Oh y’all might know him as something else, he is a spirit of chaos made manifest and just likes to play some really strange jokes on people.” Scopola Mina spoke like a Filly Scout reading from a handbook. “Like exploding chocolate milk or tutu wearing, dancing buffalo.”

“Oh! The Bringer of Destruction Through Disorder. Why didn’t you say that first?” Nyota asked looking around confused.

“Should we automatically assume all young fillies are evil?” Quick Stitch brought us back on topic.

“No, because they were born here. Nature here is made for them. However, if what happened to you outside that door is any inclination or any…” Nyota looked for his words, motioning his hooves to point down the hallway, “...way to express the danger, you had no control over yourself. You should remember that.”

“They were children who were afraid. They’re innocent.” Quick Stitch snapped, starting to get mad.

“Oh yes, they were children who were afraid, who can take your free will from you. What do you think is gonna happen when they are angry? Because I’ve heard tales of them making heads literally explode like watermelons struck by a sledgehammer, or of them forcing mothers to turn and eat their own children while their children were still alive. You just remember that!” Nyota stormed off and I looked between the two of them helplessly.

“Can I say something?” Scopola Mina asked and Nyota waited just for a moment. “The spirit, is that from our world? The one Chifundo described that possessed Corners at The Roof?”

Nyota huffed and nodded, “Yes, my eye confirmed that was one of ours, but ever since we’ve gotten here there has been the presence of something alien. Honestly, it is freaking Chifundo out, as well as making my eye see very strange visions.” With nothing else to indicate further conversation he resumed storming off.

I hesitated, not sure if I should chase him or let him cool off. Scopola Mina motioned for me to go after Nyota while she stayed with Quick Stitch and I bolted down the hall to catch Nyota. I caught a glimpse of him heading upstairs towards the first floor, where the overmare’s office and medical bay were.

Once upstairs, I activated the TAG spell on my PipBuck and used it to find him. He was in the overmare’s office and I leaned just inside the doorframe, “Nyota?” I called out cautiously, wanting to make sure I was welcome.

“Umm, come in?” He said in a confused groan, seated at the desk messing with the holographic display.

“I did not know if you wanted to be alone.” I slowly walked in and over to him. “I think the others want to go talk to the things in the panic room and work something out.”

“That’s nice, when are we leaving?” Nyota did not bother to look at me as he spoke. I could sense the seething anger still in his voice.

“As soon as possible.”

“Good, because I don’t want to be here for any longer than we must be. I will be waiting here.” He tapped his hoof impatiently on the console waiting for the lag from the hologram to catch up.

I winced at his reply and placed a hoof as softly as I could onto his shoulder. “Are you sure you want to be alone?”

“No but realistically being anywhere near Quick Stitch or those things beyond the door,” He turned to me to get his point across. “Probably a very terrible idea.”

“You may wish to explain zebras and star creatures to me,” I asked, taking a seat.

“Oh, it’s easy! My tribe made a deal with the Star Children. You notice how my stripes are swirled, while Chifundo has horizontal ones with a star splash on his back, and The Curator’s were vertical? That is how you tell the tribes apart.” He paused and took a breath. “Well, we made that deal to be more powerful and stand above all the other tribes. Then we started a war that turned the other twelve tribes of zebras against us and caused them to unite as Zebrica.”

He continued, “Ever since the rest of the tribes won that war; we were scattered to the winds. We are punished with exile for our hubris.” He pointed out of the door, “They’re evil! They sound nice, but whether they are evil by choice or accident, it doesn’t matter. Those creatures are evil. They are unnatural to our world and, to make a long story short, it is why you don’t see me hanging around too many other zebras. If you need proof, well, look outside; that is because of their evil from so long ago that we turned our resource war into a religious crusade that ended all of the world.”

“I do not think we blew up our world because of it?” I asked, looking a little confused.

“Well, most zebras would have you believe we kept the war going to the end of the world because we thought Luna was still under the influence of these creatures.” Nyota looked at me, expecting more questions. At the moment, this was a lot to take in. I nodded to him and let out a sigh. I gave him a soft kiss and released my hoof from his side.

“Well, I am going to make sure I protect the others from these creatures, and that Alguacil does not just shoot Quick Stitch on the spot,” I replied, checking my weapons to make sure they were loaded and changing my shotgun clip to all solid slugs. I was not sure what I was going to face down there, but I wanted something that could put down a bear if need be.

Nyota looked at me, his gaze softened, and he got a hint of a smile for a brief second. “That would probably be wise.” I pulled out Bodda Pett and set him next to Nyota. I left a fresh cabbage from the garden next to Bodda and smiled.

“Here, he can keep your company and hopefully make you feel less alone, okay?” I offered, and Nyota nodded. He gently petted Bodda Pett while watching the bunny eat as I left. I headed downstairs and joined the others at the entrance to the forge. Alguacil and Chifundo were still covering the door.

We headed downstairs and I walked up next to Quick Stitch. “Alright everyone, keep us covered. Stay back here. I’ll act as a shield for Quick Stitch if things go crazy.” I paused and looked at all my friends with a smile. “I am sure we will be fine.”

Slowly, we approached. I disarmed the grenade and removed the tripwire I’d left set up. Quick Stitch continued very slowly ahead and gently knocked on the door again. “Yes, who is it?” The voice from beyond the door asked.

“It is me again,” Quick Stitch replied. I stayed quiet, looking to jump between him and the door if needed.

“Oh yes, the one who made contact with our eggs,” their gravelly deep voice replied.

“They have both asked that they remain here, in your care.” Quick Stitch’s answer shocked me to the core.

Wait! They can talk? They aren’t even born yet! They can mind control you and talk! What in Tartarus!? I gripped my shotgun tighter with my hoof and put the bit trigger in my mouth preemptively.

“Oh? Did they tell you why?” Another voice, one we had not heard yet, spoke. This confirmed there were at least three of these things in there.

“I don’t think they believe it is safe to keep them with me.” Quick Stitch placed a hoof on my gun to keep it lowered.

“Oh, I assume your striped shamanists do not like our presence or their existence.” It was almost like talking to a scientist reading a report they had expected.

“I would say that is safe to assume, yes.” While Quick Stitch spoke, I moved the shotgun from my mouth and looked at him suspiciously.

“Yes, we have had dealings with them before. They have not gone very well at all.” There was a physical shuffle on the other side. “They killed our other pilot, too.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Zebras did?” I asked, pulling the bit from my mouth to talk.

“Yes, well, there were others; armed with metals and led by one of the striped kind. I believe they said something about what you call...Caesar? Have you found the guard yet?”

Quick Stitch bit his lip and I pulled the hoof away from the intercom button. “Listen, lying has gotten you in trouble already, so I suggest we just be honest with them.”

Quick Stitch nodded and pressed the button again, “He is deceased, regrettably.”

“Oh, what happened to him?” This was the return of the deeper voiced one who sounded physically larger, now that I had listened to all three of them speak.

Scopola Mina had walked up on us, “Oh, I think he shot himself.” I nearly jumped out of my skin and turned around.

There was a deep chuckle and the deep voice spoke, “I win, pay up.” There was the shuffling of metal and the sound of caps being exchanged.

I shook my head, enraged they were making light of suicide. “Hey! Wait a minute!” I pushed Quick Stitch aside and pressed the intercom button down myself. “Were you three betting on him killing himself?” I whined in protest, almost dropping ‘Sunray’ as it clattered against the metal door.

“Well, I mean, I bet he was going to hang himself, and he said he would take a lot of drugs and sleep a while. But, yes, we were.”

There was a loud laugh, “Always bet on self-inflicted gunshot wound.”

“I am gonna sock each and every one of you!” I snorted angrily, and they just laughed harder. “You should be ashamed, betting on someone’s death instead of trying to stop it.”

The laughter slowly died down. “You have to understand, we tried to stop it the first eleven times. But now we just try to make it quick, or keep him happy and comfortable.”

Now I was angry. Knowing how Corners threatened to kill herself and how much I had gotten onto Alguacil over this, “You should be better than that! He is your friend and tries to take care of you.”

“Hold on there, little pint size. He talks down to us and treats us like pets instead of friends or equals,” they said. I snarled, wanting to keep arguing, when Scopola Mina shook her head.

“Hold on there, Sunrise. He’s got stills down here and a lot of chems. I did some looking, and I think he is trying to make some anti-psychotics. If he wanted to permanently kill himself, I think he really could do it, ya know? Just throw himself into one of the forges that made them boxes and he’d be gone for good.” I looked at Scopola Mina, slowly realizing that perhaps the pegasus upstairs was killing himself for fun; knowing he could get back up. I stared at the ground, very unnerved at the possibility of someone who could commit suicide as a daily fun activity.

Is that what I will become? Someone who doesn’t care or understand death anymore? Just heartlessly looking for the next high? Pink smacked me and I shook my head loose. Hey! What was that for?

“Deal with existential crisis when it is time, deal with creatures from another freaking planet now! Ya know, priorities?” Pink said, smiling with a clipboard in hoof, which I swore she had a little blood on it from smacking me so hard. I did not want to question how a spirit like her could hit me hard enough to draw blood.

“Apologize,” I finally said to the Star Children.

“For what?”

“Being a terrible friend,” I shot back with a glare at the camera.

“I apologize for betting on the deadpool, but you two still have to pay up.”

I snapped to Quick Stitch, “No, no, they do not. Are you sure you want to leave those eggs here, because these three will be terrible parents.”

“Sunrise, my parents taught me to torture ponies with knives and fire,” Quick Stitch reminded me with the flicking of his one white, transplanted ear.

“I think we should take the eggs with us and go find Twitty, and if they are the same species then I guess you’re dad.”

“What is a Twitty?” The voice asked. I turned and explained what Twitty was in excruciating detail.

“A wild born ruler class!” There was an excited shout from the other side of the door.

“You got some explaining to do about what you just said,” I said coolly.

There was hesitating and a long sigh. “I mean, do you know what you call alicorns?”

All three of us at once answered, “Yes.”

“Well, they are very similar, and generally lead our people.”

I snapped my nose up. Something about this stank even more. I pulled Quick Stitch away. “Come on, we are leaving. They literally made no effort to save their friend and actually bet on his death. I do not care; we are taking the eggs away and, honestly, you are going to have to raise them.”

There was the sound of a klaxon blaring from the other side of the door . “Look! Hallow will be up in a little bit.”

I snarled, thinking of the deadpool as something that raiders would do. As Nyota’s tag pinged, I had already forced Quick Stitch back around the corner with Scopola Mina. Nyota had come down; he was against the doorframe, nearly invisible in the shadows as another klaxon rang out and the hydraulics of the door began to pull it open. I jumped around the corner and peered over to see these creatures coming out.

Two smaller ones, both my size and looking very much like the same frenzied creature that had come from the bowels of The Roof, came out, along with a huge one. This huge one was armored with chitin plating as thick as power armor and stood at least twice as tall as Alguacil. I could have shot him point blank with every round in my shotgun and maybe not even phased him. He had to hunch and duck just to get through the door.

Well, this is not something I was ever prepared for. Here it is, life from another planet. Quick Stitch touched me as he got away from Scopola Mina and started to round the corner.

“No, come on, Quick Stitch, we really should go.” Something deep and primal inside me told me to leave right now! Every flight instinct I had was screaming ‘Run you fool’ at the top of its lungs. Then, something happened: another set of voices in my head; voices that sounded like the aliens before me.

“We would be happy to stay here with them.” I looked up at Quick Stitch and stopped cold.

“HEY! There are already two different souls in here, we don’t need anymore! There is a party of two at a table for one already! Get outta here!” Pink’s shouting both unnerved me and helped me think more rationally about what to do.

We were now staring down three alien lifeforms, with two unborn aliens talking in my and Quick Stitch’s heads. There was not a thing I could have experienced that would have prepared me for this. Well, perhaps this is a good time to retreat.

I pulled Quick Stitch away physically. “Look, we’ll be back in a minute.” I stormed upstairs and made sure we left no one down there. “Everyone, we need a little reexamining of our situation.” I turned to the alien creatures and with as much authority as I could muster and shouted to them, “You, all of you, stay right here where the cameras can see you.”

We got upstairs and gathered in the Overmare’s office. There was a distinctive foreboding feeling, as Nyota was still fuming and seated as far away from Quick Stitch as possible. I had closed the factory door and used the Overmare’s computer to reinstate the lock on the room. At least for now, the aliens were locked down there. I turned on the camera over the monitor for the Overmare so we could watch the three Star Children and make sure they did not try to leave or escape.

“Okay, so what do we do?”

Nyota tapped his hoof, “I vote we leave right now.”

Scopola Mina shook her head. “That rad storm can’t be delayed any more, and will be here in eight hours. There is nowhere we can go without being caught in it. If anything, we should close the door and wait that out. Not to mention we can’t be sure that dragon left the area yet.”

I looked at both of them with a sigh and held up a hoof. “One second.” I went to the entrance with Alguacil and we removed the locking blocks. Then I wired my PipBuck into the Stable-Tec security panel, setting a custom password for the door and activating the sealing processes. With a great heave of machinery and the grinding of the giant cogwheel door; the stable sealed itself off from the outside world. At least this way we are protected from the storm, and if everything goes to hell the aliens are locked away down here with us.

I tested my password to make sure the door would open, then closed it again before turning to our group to have our discussion. “There, the door is sealed and we should be safe from the storm. Now; how do we handle the problem of the aliens, since we are stuck here till the storm passes?”

Scopola Mina shrugged, “I think we should just work this out.”

“Work what out? These things freak half of us out, and the one who is not freaked out has been mutated by them,” I snorted with a glare. “I really do not want to leave those eggs here, with them being parents who wager on a deadpool.”

“Wait, wait, we are not leaving the eggs here?” Nyota said with a glare. Scopola Mina and I explained how they were having fun with the pegasus’s multiple suicides and betting on how he would do it next. “Oh, well, if I was stuck in here with them for over a hundred years, I might very well off myself a couple of times, too,” Nyota replied, and I facehoofed.

“No, they had turned suicide into a game,” I replied with a groan of distaste, trying to picture what I would do for a 100 years inside a stable.

“I mean, they were just having fun because they were bored down here,” Scopola Mina pointed out. I looked to anyone else for support and got nothing at the moment. Quick Stitch was making extra effort to stay quiet.

“I have to agree with Mina here, Sunny.”

“Do you really wanna leave unborn children with something that crazy at the moment?” I snapped back.

“I have to disagree here,” Nyota nodded at them.

“Sunrise, do we know how to raise them properly, or will doctors experiment on them like property?” Chifundo asked with a glare.

“Yeah, we should put a stop to that,” Nyota said, and looked at Quick Stitch. “That, or Quick Stitch maybe could help doing the experiments, too.” Quick Stitch gave an undignified look with a huff.

“Oh, I think I put a stop to that for y’all.” Scopola Mina replied with a proud, puffed out chest.

“Either way, we do not have the knowledge for those eggs to survive. We are the worst choice of parents for whatever is in them,” Nyota replied, tapping his hoof impatiently.

“I know where to get the knowledge,” Quick Stitch finally spoke.

“Excuse me?” I turned, feeling very upset.

“There is a machine down under The Roof. If I could access it—” Nyota waved a hoof cutting Quick Stitch off.

“You’ve got some explaining to do later, but in the meantime, no. I am putting my hoof down. We leave them here with their kind and we lock them in. They have plenty of food to sustain them here, and there is no telling the harm they will do to the wasteland if they get out.” Nyota snapped and groaned, “While I would rather not stay here during the storm, we can at least all agree on that.”

“So you want me to lock them in, too?” I asked, thinking about how terrible it would be to lock someone in a prison.

“I mean, yes, just lock the door. The other people left fast and did not come back. They locked the door and apparently no one could open it.”

Alguacil snorted. “How do we know they didn’t leave ‘cause of those things?”

Nyota groaned, “Look, we have the resources and, not gonna lie, I’m not looking forward to more radiation sickness treatments again. We leave them with their own kind, or what?”

I wanted a compromise and was reminded of something I should point out to Nyota. “Nyota, hun, during the war, the screaming of ‘leave zonies with their own kind or just kill them’ was not fair. Either we take the eggs with us or we stay here and work this out.”

Nyota stamped his hoof, “Then we stay here and work this out. I don’t think you will survive exposure to the radiation storm and, honestly, what other choice do we have?”

Scopola coughed, “I can’t believe I’m agreeing with him, but I agree.”

“Fine, we work this out.”

“Besides, we have Alguacil with us, it can’t be that hard to work it out with ‘em.” Alguacil perked up at Scopola Mina’s sense of pride in him. It was almost like he wore that statement as his new badge of honor.

“Sunrise, how would you feel if someone tried to take our children from us as unfit parents. We barely know these creatures, and because of that storm we saw coming, we are stuck here with them.” Nyota turned his head back towards where we had left them and shuddered. “I’m surprised I’m saying this, but...dammit; maybe I was wrong. Whatever has us split, I need to see this through.”

“Need to see what through?”

Nyota snorted, “I had some time to think while you were all downstairs. I need to know if the stories are true, if there is no reasoning with these creatures and if they should really be exterminated. At least, know enough,” he turned to look at Quick Stitch, “To understand why my friend felt the need to lie about them to me.”

Alguacil rolled his eyes. “And ya know, Sunrise, maybe they ain’t so bad. Stables just mess creatures up.”

I pointed at Alguacil. “I really hate to agree with you, but I have to from personal experience. Stables definitely mess creatures up.”

“So maybe we can all understand why they are doing things that ain’t so nice?” Scopola Mina offered.

“Okay, yeah.” I hung my head in defeat, realizing we were not leaving now; especially when the most staunch supporter of leaving was now for staying.

“So, maybe we go down and talk to our new alien overlords?” Scopola Mina giggled with a smile. Scopola Mina lifted my head, “As some pony says, we have to be better.”

I groaned and felt my own words sting hard against me. “Not fair. Fine, I am going to go talk to Nyota first and get us both on the same page again.” I hugged Nyota and we slowly walked down the stairs towards one of the empty dormitory rooms. I locked the door behind us so the two of us could talk privately.

Nyota looked up from his pip-buck and tilted his head slightly. "There are more comfortable places to lock ourselves in," He said with a smile, trying his best to lighten the mood. At least he is trying. "Your rabbit can teleport, by the way."

"Bodda can teleport?" I turned to look at the nestled bit of fluff in between my back plates and smiled. "Interesting, but not something I'm terribly worried about right now. I wanted to say: I screwed up."

“It's not the first time, nor will it be the last, that much is true for all of us. Quick Stitch, Mina, Al, even Chifundo, we've all made our mistakes and had to live with them," he explained. “You said we should give them a chance, but then it took only a little time for you to reverse that stance. I think you are a little hormonal; but you’re right. If I took the word of rumors and ancient stories over my own eyes, I would be Alguacil.” He walked over to me with a smile on his lips. "What matters is that you know you made a mistake, and now you can do your best to correct it."

"How? We're going to have to go down there and talk to those creatures? This place freaks me out because it's not only a stable, something about this stable is just wrong. The shape, the sound, everything about it." I hung my head and wanted to cry. "I'm sorry, I've disappointed you, but I just thought of our children. If we left them with some creatures like that, corrupted by a stable and turned into making suicide a sport...I just..."

Nyota pulled me into a hug and rested his head on top of mine. "I do understand, but at the same time, you saw what their young could do. Do you really want to risk them taking over our minds and stripping us of our free will whenever they want? I don't like the idea of leaving them with people that make light of someone that's clearly deranged, but they know best how to raise them. We can't keep them. A best, they'd slow us down, and at worst? They'd get us killed."

I turned my head to pull away and look into Nyota’s eyes. "Then we find someone who can, who knows what they are doing, and we take the third option. That is our best bet right now if those three aliens are truly lost to Stable-Tec's madness." I held onto him, fighting the tears that wanted to leak out.

"I'm sorry dear, I'm so very sorry," I mumbled, hanging my head and feeling helpless in this situation.

"I cannot agree with that on principle. First? We've yet to talk to them outside of their room. Second, they were hiding in a panic room, more afraid of us than we were of them. Last of all? What they do in their free time to alleviate boredom was... distasteful at best.” He took a breath and rolled his lips over his words for a second. “They did make it clear that they had tried to stop him and help him at one point. He refused to accept the help, and went out of his way to find new and more interesting ways to kill himself that would succeed no matter their efforts."

"Yeah, and now this whole mess is in our laps. We have to make this right. I know we cannot undo the damage, but we can at least..." I finally let the tears slowly roll out and drop onto the floor, with quiet drips in the mostly silent room, "Make them be better? Right?"

"We'll need to talk to them to try and set that right, but we can try," he reached up and stroked my cheek before wiping my tears. "That's one thing that I never want to change, love: your passion to see the best possible outcome no matter what."

I nodded and held his hoof tight to my armor plated chest. Bodda Pett peeked out from the top of my mane, listening as well. "If I'm gonna talk to them, I need to understand them. Nyota, teach me about the star beings as you know them."

Nyota took a deep breath and explained, "What I know of them is that there are four primary star spirits. They're cold, malicious, and dangerous. I dare not speak their names, for to do so is to invite their attention, but I spoke with one not three days past." He shuddered and felt cold as he closed his eyes, looking like he was lost in a memory for a moment. I waited patiently, holding him a little tighter in our embrace to reassure him I was still here.

"What you need to know is that they were the entities responsible for the Night Mare's escape and also the furthering of her madness. As a culture, zebras are superstitious, but for good reason. Spirits are more common in our homeland. Where the worst spirits in Equestria may have returned once or twice, only to be banished to whatever prison the Goddesses decreed fit...”

“Generally, that would be Tartarus,” I clarified, and he nodded with a smile before he continued.

“Our homeland has no such luxury. We appease and associate with the spirits of our home, as well as anywhere in the world we happen to be, as banishing them all would be wholly impossible. The four great evils are unpredictable and dangerous. When they are not outright feared or reviled, they are at least meant to be monitored carefully and appeased with proper rituals when they threaten to rouse from their slumber."

I hesitated and listened as carefully as possible. Once Nyota finished his first explanation and I was sure he had no more, I started with my first questions. “What about their children? The creatures in that panic room, for instance? What do we expect from them?" I felt Bodda Pett getting rather shifty in my neck and mane. I pulled him from there and petted him tenderly to calm him down.

"This is where things get weird, because, until today? They were just spirits. There were no creatures born of the stars. We were alone in the universe. It is why I thought it over and, as much as I want to leave, I need to know how they are physically present.

"I can only guess that they will be decent, but wrong somehow." He put his hoof to his chin in thought for a moment before looking down to me and continuing the discussion. "Well, not wrong, but different. We keep using the word ‘eldritch’ but the idea is that they're so fundamentally different from us that the very idea of understanding is thrown out the window. There's only existential terror and violence in the future with that definition.

“So for now we must accept that they're hundreds of years old, bored out of their minds, and busily trying to figure out how to get home instead of being stuck on the blasted hellscape of a rock that we call home and are trying to fix," he finished and motioned for me to ask any other questions.

"So, if we make plans for how to get them off this world and try to figure out a way to make it possible?" I mused to him, waiting for his thoughts, but he made a motion with his hoof for me to continue. Slowly, I put together the possibilities. "It would be best that they are gone from our world and don't return, based upon your knowledge, right?" I was also trying to figure out why they were in a Stable-Tec facility and what damage it had done to them.

What experiment could Stable-Tec possibly have done to them?

“I think the question is more like, ‘what experiment did they not do?’ And how much of Stable-Tec’s advanced technology came from them and was not something we made?” Pink replied, spinning into my view in a chair with a news reporter cap and her notebook. She was scribbling notes as fast as she could and made a hoof motion to Nyota. “Pay attention! Important parts!”

"I would agree, their spirits displace the natural order of our world." He tilted his head. "I honestly doubt that they were harmed by Stable-Tec. As they said, that they were let in by the guard. If I had enough time? I might be able to find the log of their entry in the database now on my pip-buck." He poked at the new addition to his left foreleg. "Speaking of? How do you do the thing that shows hostile things to you? It would be useful to have more people able to do so."

I reached up to his PipBuck and hit a button that said ‘H.U.D.’ When the green light turned on, I turned the dial until it clicked. Finally, I moved the setting to turn on eyes-forward sparkle for him. "Green for friend, gray for neutral, red for hostile." I then moved another dial and hit a few more settings to turn on his T.A.G. system. "There you go, and if you ever wanna find somepony, take the time to use this interface to TAG them. It's how I always know where you are."

"Wow... portable terminals that can judge the disposition of others and aid in keeping you on the right track for your heading... it even monitors health... why doesn't everyone have one of these?" He looked around, as if examining his new H.U.D. in depth. "This would make life so much easier for everyone, and all it takes is a little bit of time to learn how to use it."

"Everyone in a Stable does, or did, but they get lost and are really hard to take off once they are on." I pointed at the sphere keyhole that would unlock mine. "Impossible to pick with any known lockpick. And now you see the world as I do." It was hard to believe he had not cut it on while I was explaining all its functions down in the forge. But this was more private and we were not moving, so it was easier to show him all the bits and bobs. I took the time to add myself to his TAG system as well, so he would always know where I was.

"Well... now we have a key, perhaps you could take it off once we have somewhere safe just for us." He offered while he was blinking to get used to the new overlay. "But this is how you see the world all the time?" he looks at me and smiles as my name pops up over me, "Interesting, so it knows the name of everyone you come across?"

I nodded to him, "Even those who try to hurt us, I see their names. It's why it's so hard for me to..." I trailed off, unable to finish the sentence, and I stared at Nyota, hoping he understood.

"Goddesses, love, you could have told me!" He pulled me into a tight hug. He didn’t speak for a bit and it sank in fully. I held him back, shuddering as the names of all those I’d had to kill slowly flashed before my eyes.

"Every single one?" I slowly nodded, staring at him hauntedly. He shuddered heavily at the thought, "You're a strong mare, Sunny. I would have turned to something a fair bit stronger than med-x for relief from that weight."

I didn’t feel strong, I felt like I was always holding things together only because it was always act or die. I held onto him tightly and leaned up to whisper in his ear. "I have been fighting the itch for that constantly for fear of what it will do to the...ya know?” I patted my abdomen softly. "I rely on Pink and the H.U.D. for my sanity as it is. It also helps guide me a little bit."

"Like I said, strong mare," he nuzzled into my mane with a happy whinny. “One that I can say I’m very proud of.” Those words filled me with a strength I did not expect. This was something wonderful to know: even if we disagree, we can be proud of each other. He held me close. "We've got some problems to deal with, but, regardless, I want you to know that I love you." He teasingly booped my nose as he released the hug. “That much will never fail.”

"I love you too, I just feel like I fail you or we don't always see eye to eye. Maybe seeing the world as I do will help?" I forced a broken smile, my eyes unable to look up at him right at that moment.

"Love, you don't fail me. Not always seeing eye to eye on things is normal with our upbringing.” He pointed at his stripes then at my solid coat. “You see the world as it was and could be again. I see the world we exist in now and want it to be better. We're both working towards a similar goal but have different ideas of what to do." He nipped my ear playfully and instantly broke the tension between us.

"But the beautiful thing is? Even when we disagree? We talk about it instead of trying to kill each other, and then we indulge in the sweetest of relief, sharing a bed and rest...that might also include a bridle, or burning out a silencing talisman." I blushed deeply at hearing his last words and smiled at him.

I nuzzled him back, letting him nip at my ear. "Thank you for being here for me.” We walked out of the room, hoof in hoof to go meet our friends and talk with these alien visitors.

When we came back down, the Star Children had retreated back into the panic room. Our initial panic, our irrational emotions, and any other issues we had were now in the open, and we could be aware of them. Every so often I could get a brief flash of the creatures when I felt some presence in my mind. I was already on alert for Pink, so this was something I quickly pushed back out.

“The pegasus, his name is Hollow Wing,” Quick Stitch said, looking at one of the journals we found.

“Could it be the same Hollow that shot the Overmare?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Scopola Mina was at the chemistry station working on some concoction. “Yeah, if he was off his meds. Quick Stitch says he’s got traces of antipsychotics in his blood.” She motioned to the chemistry lab as her magic worked the beakers. “Over here he was trying to make more. My guess is that if he had the wrong dose, he would go insane.”

I smiled. “At least we know that sanity here is not in ample supply.” That got even Alguacil to give a chuckle. I went up to the Overmare’s office and turned the forges on. Our alien friends were delaying meeting us further, so we were taking advantage. The forges gave us access to untold potential technology and there were plenty of excess materials lying around. Several cabinets had rolls of steel, nuts, bolts, nails, tools, and various cloth—including kevlar!—and all neatly labelled in Stable-Tec boxes.

The intercom buzzed after we started work. “Why are you still here?”

I turned and walked up to the door, knocking lightly to let them know I was at the door. There was a pause and finally the intercom sparked with, “Well?”

“Do you wanna come out and talk about the eggs? I was convinced to stay and discuss this with you.” I replied. I heard Alguacil cocking his gun behind me, along with Nyota moving to cover me at the edge of the hallway entrance. “Ya know, show us you do not actually mean any harm?”

“Umm… yes.” The deeper voice replied.

“Okay, I am going to go stand back with my friends. Come on out when you are ready.” I walked back to my friends and peered back around the corner, waiting for them to come out. The door opened and they came out again, the same as before. I felt a shrill of terror rising up in me and the walls of the stable felt like they were closing in. I reached back and gripped the first creature I could find. That was Chifundo, and I held onto his hoof for strength, to remind me that the fear was not all real.

The two smaller ones slowly walked past us and moved around the forge, investigating the changes and projects we had started on. On their sides, holstered with a leather-chitin strap, was a pistol of sorts. It looked very strange, with an oblong center shape and several rings around the length of a spike out of the end. A large ball decorated the end of the spike. They were certainly alien looking pieces of gear.

They came back to us and we stared at them as they wordlessly ignored us for a time, then moved to stand next to the larger, more armored version of themselves. They were a little more sleek than the larger creature from the room. They had onyx black chitin, with long lines of leathery teal at their joints. Their ears did not appear to have a hole of any sort, but rather several feelers that poked from them. They had hooves like us, but with small claws that extended out from them. They did not have a mane or tail or any hair as we did, but rather a very long spike at the end of a chitinous, articulated tail.

The other part that was a little disturbing was that they were uniform in dimension, size, color, and pattern. Even the larger one had the same exact pattern to her, no deviation. The bigger one was just that, three times as large; much larger than even Buttered Toast. It towered up to the point that it had to hunch over inside the hallway and to get through the doors.

I did not want to wait any longer and figured I would get the most awkward part out of the way, “So, where I am from we generally do not make betting pools on creatures committing suicide or how they will do it. Do you want to explain that one to me?”

The smaller ones paused and one of them stepped forward, “Oh, well, he genuinely has done this dozens of times. We lost count after a certain point.”

“143,” the larger one interrupted with what I could only assume was a smile for their race. I had to do a double take and wait a moment to regain my composure. I held up my hoof to stop them from speaking for a moment, and then motioned for it to continue. Gonna let them finish the story before I put in my questions or thoughts.

“That is not a number we can all verify or agree upon. The point being, he gets bored and is generally unstable.”

Scopola Mina raised her hoof and we all turned to her. I motioned for her to spit it out. “You mean when he’s off his meds.”

The alien pondered for a moment. “Meds, meds… oh the colloquialism for medication, yes?” Scopola Mina nodded enthusiastically. “I suppose you could say that. I do know this: he cannot be stopped once he decides or commits to his act of self harm. We have tried repeatedly, and it goes nowhere. He just kills himself in new and interesting ways. Was his, or rather, is his chest unharmed?”

Quick Stitch and Scopola Mina both nodded, “Umm… yes the chest was fine, he shot himself in the gut.” They all collectively made what all I could assume a sigh of relief, though it came out as a chitter and a gravely purring.

“Good, good, he will be alright, though he has never taken this long before; he must be going for a new high score.” They said the ‘high score’ part with a completely straight face. It only took a moment to sink in that his ‘high score’ was how long he could keep himself dead.

Okay, must not ever allow that to be my future. I hesitated, and the rest of the group looked silent and resolute. I released Chifundo’s hoof and stepped forward slowly, “I have a whole lot of questions but, umm… Quick Stitch?”

“Yes, Sunrise?” Quick Stitch motioned to me, as his mane still weirdly flowed without any wind.

“Umm, I do not mean to offend them, but the realization that life exists on other planets really is a bit much to take in. Can you talk to them, since you have more experience than the rest of us?” I asked, and Quick Stitch gave a nod, much to my relief.

“I can try, what do you wanna say to them?” Quick Stitch tilted his head.

“Can we talk to them about maybe getting some trade agreements to get the materials to build a ship, so they can use the forges down here to go home?” As I spoke, I knew they could hear me, but looking at and talking to Quick Stitch was easier and much more productive for me than trying to address these creatures directly.

“Can we go up to the greenhouse and eat first? We have not eaten in several days, due to the panic room food not having been restocked since the last time we were in there,” the very large one said. It had moved forward, and the smaller ones were now in a position it could easily shield them. It also looked poised to move in an instant, much like Nyota had taught me with our unarmed fighting lessons.

“I suppose yes, y’all ain’t hurt any’ne else that I’ve seen,” Alguacil replied, and took a sip of his canteen after he spoke.

Nyota nodded. “So long as they do not make any overly hostile movements I am okay with it.” I simply nodded to them both and we parted to make room for the creatures to head upstairs to the garden rooms.

Pink marveled with a big ‘wow’ on her lips. “You’ve made more progress in a day than we made with them in four years! AMAZING!” I turned to her and glared. She retreated back out of sight, screaming, “Secret Spoilers!”

Pink! When I find out what you know, I’m gonna be really disappointed that you’re keeping secrets again!

“Actually, I’m only keeping Equestrian Government secrets now. You see, Sunrise, this is as far as you’ve ever made it on your journey to find your parents.” I blinked a few times as she nodded, with a look that I could only extrapolate as her trying to be honest.

Oh, so, completely new territory now? Pink nodded again as we entered the garden.

While they ate, they talked. “Our names? This one is ‘Mountain’, in your tongue. My real name is unpronounceable, unfortunately,” the larger one explained, and then pointed to the aliens next to her. “Shrillathra is on my right, and to my left is Gisretha.”

I tilted my head, “Would it be okay if I called them Shrill and Gis for short? Not to offend, but their names are a bit of a mouthful.” The two smaller ones nodded with mouthfuls of collard greens.

“Where are you from exactly? What are you called?” Nyota leaned in inquisitively as he studied them.

“We are from a planet referred to in your tongue as the Barnard’s Star but we call it T’dosha. We have been here for nearly 191 of your years. We crashed near an area you called Las Pegasus, destroying a motel,” Shrillathra explained, and then sighed wearily. “The striped ones, zebras you call them, killed our pilot immediately upon seeing him. They said legends and orders of their Caesar dictate that all Star Children must die.” Shrillathra took another bite of food and almost immediately Gisretha picked his story up. It was unnerving, like they were timing and communicating when to speak in order to not interrupt any one individual’s meal.

“We were found by your Stable-Tec and Equestrian Military. They built a small city extension over our crash site after your people won a battle to retake the area from zebra invaders. We agreed to help your Equestrian government with technology, in exchange for helping us construct a vessel to go home. They never actually delivered on that promise, as you can see.”

I nodded. “They did not live long enough.” I was thinking about it, 191 years ago. That would put their arrival roughly one year before we started prototype deployment of power armor, laser rifles, plasma weapons. We made the first transistor based computers two years before the war ended. I paused as I kept putting together the pieces. Everything in this stable is run off of crystals and not other means of power.

“Did you help us develop weapons? Computers?” I finally brought myself to directly ask.

“Yes, we assisted with that and got part of the way to developing a version of our spacecraft power system to get us off this planet.” Shrillathra was the one speaking now, their voices were almost identical. Almost, but not entirely; something was just off enough you could tell them apart the longer they spoke.

Nyota took a moment to figure out the non-electric stove. He did not realize he had to switch on the crystal generator. Once he got the power started, he set about making a sauce and preparing the rest of us dinner. Chifundo went over to help him figure it out. “Why do they need a self-cleaning stove? You can do this by hoof?”

“Because they do not wish to clean it themselves and have it clean itself automatically,” I replied, turning to look at Nyota as he complained about the conveniences of technology from my time.

“Right, so they are just incredibly lazy,” Nyota shot back, and we all giggled, nodding at him affirmatively.

I turned back to the T’doshins. “I know you will likely get tired of our questions, but we are stuck here together.” I reached over and lightly stroked Bodda Pett to help me get over the instinctual fear of the T’doshins.

“What do you know about the recombulators?” Quick Stitch asked, and the three aliens looked at each other, as if trying to figure out what to say or who to speak up.

“We know they were made here, and they were just a theory we had. We could not implement the technology, as we lacked the ability to use your zebra shaman magic or the Equestrian magics. What all they do, we are unsure.”

Quick Stitch cleared his throat, “Well, we know they are a soul jar, but we do not understand the different versions.”

Mountain nodded and looked to the smaller Shrillathra and Gisretha to answer the question. “Well, there are several versions, like our race has classifications.”

We tilted our heads collectively and all looked very perplexed. “I’m sorry, what?”

Shrillathra nodded. “Myself and Gisretha are scientist class, and utilize masculine pronouns, Mountain here is a guardian, or what you would call a soldier, and utilizes feminine pronouns. Our deceased crew members were pilot class, utilizing masculine pronouns. And this Twitty you speak of is a leader class, utilizing masculine pronouns, but they will one day become a new breeder class, utilizing feminine pronouns when she grows old.” We all looked rather alarmed at the idea of them breeding.

“Well umm… That was a bit long winded y’all, but I think we all get it now.” Scopola Mina smiled to try to reassure them and get each of us to nod in turn.

“What does that have to do with the boxes, the recombulators?” I asked, as Nyota cursed in the background. He’d burned his hoof on the stove because he couldn’t tell if it was on or not without touching it.

“The atomic recombulators are the same setup. They are different types. Soldier class stores multiple units. There are the prototype guardian units, and the production type, referred to as ‘officer’ but they are just modified guardian ones.”

No one spoke as we all listened intently to find out exactly what they were talking about. Nyota came over to give some of the sauce he was working on to Bodda Pett. The bunny took a bit, but his face turned bright red as the spice hit his tongue, and then immediately rushed me; patting at my armored vest. I pulled out my canteen and poured water for the little rabbit while Shrillathra continued to speak. “The prototype has some defects in it, such as rogue spirits can sometimes get inside and join the entity. It is, however, virtually indestructible compared to the other two.”

Gisretha cleared his throat and sniffed the air, smelling the sauce. “That smells fantastic, what is it?”

Nyota smiled. “It’s called curry. The herbs here were perfect to make it with, and we even spiced it up with cayenne pepper.”

“We are used to raw food or nutrition bars. We are not used to sophisticated cooking techniques.” Mountain commented with a smile, taking another deep inhale as Nyota went back to stirring. I could smell rice and beans steaming over there. There was also the smell of meat, but he was keeping it in a separate pan for my sake. “Anyway, the prototype has a habit of attaching powerful spirits, as the zebra call them.”

Chifudno stared at them and tilted his head, “You mean such as the pony Pink, the one here and gone in a blink.”

“I do not know what this Pink one is, but for some reason I feel a distinct amount of fear from the green one you call Sunrise.” I heard this from Shrillathra and a small part of me smiled. Are they just as afraid of us as we are of them? “But, yes, because it requires the unit to contain what you call a soul or spirit in order to function, the more advanced version fixes this flaw, but gives up some of its durability. The prototypes were made to withstand your version of nuclear weapon detonation.”

I raised an eyebrow, and he nodded to reassure me. “Yes, it is constructed of ‘star metals’, as you call it; something you do not fully understand but we refer to it as iridium.” There was the sound of a plate dropping and clattering onto the floor. We all turned around as Nyota was touching his chest. Chifundo looked completely horrified and slowly craned his head down to his own chest. I got up and ran over to hold Nyota.

He virtually collapsed in my hooves as he felt weak. “Did I say something wrong?” Mountain asked.

“Star metal is the ultimate form of taint, it is a mortal sin to be acquaint,” Chifundo expressed as I helped Nyota take a seat and then set about serving his curry, rice, and beans to everyone else.

“So that explains why they last so long. Iridium, or star metal as it is known here, is not natural to Equus and it is harder than any alloy we know of. It also explains the spiritual cancelling properties and why Chifundo hasn’t been able to properly enter the boxes without stopping his heart.” Nyota looked slightly less pale after he took a few bites. Chifundo was still completely horrified by the revelation.

“I, umm, think that is enough for one day of revelations.” I explained and sat down, picking at my own plate. The conversation did not go very far from there. There was a lot to unpack. Alien life, aliens helping Equestria win the war, the revelations about the recombulators, the questionable fate of my father now that I had his gun; all of it was just a bit much to take in and we needed time to unpack it. “Thank you for this insight. I would ask, for now, that you three stay together and make sure there are at least two or three of us when you talk to us right now.”

The aliens all nodded and then Mountain looked up and asked, “Perhaps you should share some of your food with us, and we could ask a few of our own questions?”

I looked up from my plate and forced myself to smile. “Umm, sure.” The two smaller creatures looked like begging puppies, if you could do that without any visible eyes to look into. I nudged Nyota and he smiled.

“I mean, it is very spicy. I would advise water with it.” He got up and made each of the T’doshins a plate and passed it to them. The smaller ones took a bite and immediately reached for their water, but Mountain happily ate it, making all sorts of chittering noises. The other two did eventually resume eating, ravenously pouring water into their mouths between bites.

“This is is wonderful.”

I smiled and looked at Nyota, who came a little more back to life. “I well, the term you are looking for when referring to food is delicious, or tasty. We have a lot of ways to describe food, but those are usually the ones used to compliment the flavor of food.”

They all nodded with equal churring and chittering. It was not unlike listening to insects or beetles at night, just these were much more emotional noises, somehow. “Do you really always eat your food raw or processed into bars?” They nodded and then looked at me, slightly confused.

“Why does the one who lacks magical power lead you? Is she not inferior?” Shrillathra asked between licking the plate clean.

“You don’t need to do that, I’ll get you some more.” Nyota got up to make more plates.

“I, inferior? You mean that because I am not a unicorn, I am inferior?” I asked, abit confused. “You really do not understand our culture or differences?”

They all shook their heads. “It is not something we were really allowed to study. We always met with a mare who had a horn, who sounded very...intelligent.” There was a pause in their description. “They referred to her as Twilight.”

I stared at them and put the pieces together. “Twilight Sparkle? Leader of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences?”

“Yes, we presumed because she had a horn and the leaders of your nation had one, they were automatically superior.” Shrillathra replied with a very loud slurp of curry and rice, talking with his mouth still full.

“Some advice, please chew with your mouth closed and try not to slurp. It is rude on our planet to not do these things.” Nyota explained with a smile, he was genuinely happy they were enjoying the food. They appeared to be making a conscious effort to keep their mouths closed when they resumed eating. Mountain smiled.

“Yes, but our question?” Mountain replied, looking at the two smaller T’doshins; broadcasting to the rest of us some sense of pride.

“Well, each of us have our magic given to us by Equs. It’s all different how it manifests. Yes, the unicorns and alicorns have more obvious expressions of their power,” I explained, and then patted my armor plating. “Stubbornite is earth pony toughness fused with metal. Only earth ponies can create the alloy; we also are usually good at growing crops and finding things underground like crystals, ore, or water.” I looked around and realized there wasn’t a pegasus in our group, but Alguacil would do. I got up and extended Alguacil’s wing, which caused him to squawk.

“Just let me show them, okay?” Alguacil glared at me with a grimace and then shrugged.

“Alright, Sunrise, but I ain’t no dog and pony show; you ain’t ‘bout to make me jump through hoops.” I gave him a glare and sighed.

“Anyway, griffins and pegasi are able to fly at speeds they should never be able to achieve. They can also manipulate the weather and walk on the clouds. It is why the weather has been overcast since the end of the war. They use the clouds to protect themselves in the sky.” I explained, releasing Alguacil’s wing and walking back to the table.

“And the zebra use these spirits we cannot detect?” Mountain asked, and I nodded. “So you are like our class system, except it does not dictate your position in your society? The marks on your flanks do?”

I shook my head, “Not exactly. The marks we have come from magic as well. Not all of us get them either. Griffins do not, and zebras get something different called glyphs. They come when we complete a task of importance; they can be misinterpreted too.” I hesitated, trying to explain it.

“The marks manifest at a moment of destiny, but you must find what it means with clarity.” Chfiundo’s explanation was by far the best I had ever heard about a cutie mark.

“Pinkie Pie was supposed to make ponies laugh and throw parties, but she can also interpret laughter, and she also could use that same laughter to make sure no one was ever having fun. She knew both the good and evil side of it all,” I explained. “We choose our leaders based upon who we think is best and who demonstrates that they try to have everyone's best interests at heart. It is not a birthright. Celestia and Luna were only chosen because of their benevolence and control of the Sun and Moon; they never used that power, even during the war, for personal gain or the success of Equestria’s military.”

Mountain snorted and shook her head, “They should have committed to total war, it would have been better than the nuclear apocalypse you inflicted on yourselves.”

“Your race is categorically insane.” Shrillathra took a sip of water immediately after he spoke.

Nyota tilted his head, “Does your race not have weapons of mass destruction?”

“Yes, but we would never use them on ourselves; to do that would be pure insanity. To us, you are all completely without sanity,” Shrillathra replied.

Nyota and Chifundo both looked at each other; seeking some question for the other one to ask, then turning back to each other. Finally, Nyota nodded and turned to them, “What do you believe in?”

“Believe in?” Gisrethra tilted his head and then the other two tilted their heads in unison.

“I believe what Nyota wants a bridge in, is insight into your religion?” Chifundo explained, and even I understood that.

Mountain cleared his throat and took a deep inhale, then she began. “In the beginning, there were four, they repeatedly destroyed each other’s creation. That creation fragmented and became many new ones, smaller than the four. Eventually the four became overwhelmed with their fighting on how the creation of the universe should be. Then T’dosh, one of the fragmented, helped put those four to sleep. So that others could create.

“T’dosh gave us name, purpose, and organized our society from a bunch of nests, what you call tribes, into one. From there, we attempted to spread to the stars. Many worlds are simply not habitable for us, or they contain inhabitants already, such as yourselves. We are never meant to interact with those inhabitants.

“While we are prepared to do great violence, T’dosh taught us that such violence could wake up the four great ones. Great ones whom you will not even speak the name of for fear they wake.” This phrase caught all of our attentions. Nyota and Chifundo especially. “So we believe that T’dosh will one day be born T’doshin again, and when they are, they will lead us to a new golden age with a new revelation concerning the universe.

“But T’dosh will not return until he is absolutely needed; which would require one of the great four old ones to awake. We fear for all life if that happens. We choose to help your Equestrian government in hopes they would end the war. We saw the sorrow your leaders held because of the war. Your nobility, corrupt and desiring your money, just wanted a victory and had lost sight of the damage to your world and your society they were causing.

“But your Celestia and this Twilight Sparkle, they believed they could end the war before you resorted to your megaspells; what we could call nuclear arms. Your Luna was terrifying to meet; she was smaller, but I was certain if she wanted my destruction she would execute it mechanically and methodically.” Mountain finished and looked around the table.

Chifundo leaned back into his seat with a stunned expression, “You are not the Star Children, I never believed you could not be a villain.”

Nyota nodded, “It explains the sudden explosion in Equestrian technology. Stuff like Magical Energy rifles based upon fire spells makes sense, but less than three months later, according to the records I’ve seen, we had plasma weapons and miniaturized computers like this PipBuck.” He tapped his new PipBuck on his arm. “It’s starting to make sense how they did it and made the power armor that led to the routing of the entire Zebrican army.”

I slumped in the chair and nodded in agreement. “How do you worship or pay homage to T’dosh?” I asked very softly.

Rather than speak they began to hum and with that humming came a vibration in the air. My PipBuck radiation warning went off, 4, 6, 10, 20 rads a second. “STOP!” I called out and panted as the radiation already had hit a near dangerous level for such a sudden spike. They stopped and the radiation almost immediately dissipated. The three T’doshins looked at me with what I can only assume was confusion.

“You interrupt our worship?” Shrillathra asked, sounding almost offended.

“I am sorry, but,” I crossed the table and pointed at my PipBuck radiation count, “what you were doing is lethal to all life on this planet. You dosed us all with a radiation level that, if it had persisted, we might have a better chance of surviving exposed to the radiation storm.”

They all looked at each other, then at me, then each other again. There was some chitting between them; they were communicating in a language that I could only assume was their native one. “So, our communion with each other to reach out to our star emits radiation, yes, but we had no idea it was lethal to life on your planet.”

“Again, your species is both insane and capable of insane amounts of destruction. What possible reason could you have for all of this? It logically makes no sense,” said Shrillathra. I paused and pondered on his question.

“Do you understand love?” I asked, looking at Nyota and then at them.

“Love? Mating? Yes we understand mating, the leaders mate with the breeders until they become breeders.” I shook my head at Gisretha’s answer. He took a step back.

I thought on it and then got an idea. I dug through my pack and pulled out the memory orb from Freeda Waffles. The one she passed me of her husband’s time at that dance, before the bombs fell. “Can you use magic? Any form of magic will do, so long as it is not destructive.” They all looked at each other, confused, and then one of them glowed along his teal stripes, as the plate levitated in the air with a teal aura around it.

I nodded and placed the clear orb with the white clouds swirling inside the aura. “Use it on this, trust me. It will be fine.” Shrillathra walked near it and glowed until he started to lift the memory orb, then it dropped back to the table and he went catatonic.

Mountain immediately jumped up; looking very angry with a deep growl. I held up a hoof. “Whoa, trust me, it is okay. He is experiencing a memory from another pony. It will help him understand love. It will just take a few minutes.” Mountain shifted around nervously and I kept having to reassure her while the three minutes of memory orb played out from Freeda Waffles.

Mountain growled, “When will it—” Shrillathra shook his head as he came back.

“That was wonderfulll…” He hissed and slurred the word; it was the first real total release of emotion he had shown. His hisses and chitters were almost endless after that. Mountain also relaxed and took a seat again.

“That was...love?” Shrillathra finally asked me.

“Yes, well, a form of it. Caring for someone so deeply you would rather die than allow them an ounce of pain. Not in the way that I would imagine a guardian like Mountain does, but rather...” I trailed off for a moment, trying to find the words.

Nyota spoke up, “When you are under no obligation to do so. When you are willing to inflict pain or compromise part of what you want for the happiness of another.”

Scopola Mina smiled and joined in, “Or when you agree to travel with someone just because you enjoy their presence. Not because you have any particular care for the mission. Love can be as deep as Nyota and Sunrise. Or,” she took a breath and looked at the rest of our friends. “Friendly love, where we agree to care for one another simply because we have common friendship among each other. Like, I have no vested interest in Sunrise’s quest; it won’t benefit me. But I wouldn’t trade y’all for nothing or no pony.”

Alguacil snorted, “Or the love of a proper parent who just wants their child to succeed.” Alguacil seemed to gleam at that, like something he had never told us. I wonder if the story about his parents is just a cover.

“What was that thing they were doing? I know the movement of their legs is known as dancing, but what about how they held each other? Why did it feel warm? Why did they like it?” Shrillathra asked and chitted with excitement for the answer.

“A hug? You guys have never had a hug?” They all shook their heads.

I walked around the table, removing my body armor with Nyota’s help. “You are removing your armor? Are you saying you trust us now?”

I shook my head, “It is not that, but one of us must put aside our defenses or the other never will. Also, a proper hug is best when there are not layers of heavy artificial plating between you.” I explained, disrobing until I was down to my Stable-Suit. I slowly approached and opened my forelegs as I stood up on my back legs.

Shrillathra slowly approached and as gently as possible, I gave him a hug. His skin was clammy and slightly below room temperature to the touch. The chitin sections were oddly spongy and flexible; yet had a hardness to it when I squeezed slightly. He churred like a purring cat in my grip.

It was awkward hugging him, it was like hugging a snake in an armored lab coat. It was strange and foreign to me, but at the same time, I felt this was the first time. I slowly released him and he blinked a few times.

“That was… amazing. I feel refreshed and reassured; this is strange but amazing.” In turn, I gave each one of them a hug. They all experienced it with a sort of euphoria; as we continued to exchange. It was a moment that finally broke the tension between the two groups, which dissolved finally as we just relaxed and deflated. Nyota did not look poised to strike, even Mountain’s muscle physically relaxed and her armored chitin opened up slightly. I never thought I would do intergalactic diplomacy via hugs.

Level Up Progress - 91% of the Way to Level 13!