[IC] Mass Effect: The Equestrian Equation

[Shoryu]

It was so sudden... The Equestrian's had been examining from afar this enormous metal device that had appeared in the system, no-one felt safe getting especially close to it yet... then it just suddenly came to life and half a dozen unknown ships suddenly 'appeared' near it in a burst of energy as if teleported over a great distance. Most of them remained near the device, while only 2 began to approach Equuis, all manner of scanning attempts beyond obvious and undoubtedly picking up incredible concentrations of this 'new energy source' that saturated it's very atmosphere.

There was no small ammount of panic as word spread quickly upon their arrival in the system, yet it seemed, as often was the case, Celestia was ready for this event, almost as if she'd expected it. Naturally, every free moment went into preparing to encounter the approaching aliens... that they were making their way to the largest planet instead of turning on one of the smaller settles closer to the relay spoke volumes for potential lack of hostilities... Still, Defenses were ready, it was impossible to miss the ammoutn of energy being charged in the planet-side cannons, without shooting, the universally known signal for 'behave yourselves'.

Once the ship reached a feasible range of the planet a message would be recieved... granted, nobody knows if mana-tech communications are even compatible with raw technology, though if it was recieved properly they'd get only audio. It was in a language likely foreign to any species there, but the general tone seemed a mix of both Cautious Warning and Amicable Invitation, soon joined by detection of the planetary guns, not powering down, but shifting their aim away from a specific zone of approach, a perhaps less universally known 'invitation to land something'.

__________________

As soon as the ships approaching the planet had been detected, royal summons were sent to a large number of individuals, Mainly high ranking personell, other leaders who were more likely to communicate from afar than to come in person, and those who had been slated to crew The Equestrian's own deep space vessel... If 'The Galaxy' was going to come to them first, then this would be their best chance to get a taste of those who populated it 'before' the lack of knowledge could put their lives at risk.

There was a small speech given by Celestia about this turning point in space exploration, before details were shared about her intention to have Princess Twilight be their primary diplomatic envoy, something that apparently had been discussed amongst the various leaders in the past. This was followed by expectable warnings of patience since their languages may not be immediately compatible, typical motherly speaking out against jumping to conclusions of judging their customs too harshly, and of course mention that once communication was established they'd certainly be negotiating methods of cooperation in exploration of the galaxy... not to mention potential colonization rights beyond the current system, but anything 'businessy' could be saved for when peaceful relations were established.

Overall, to anyone who'd thought about 'first contact' before hand, it was a speech that was totally expectable, some even tuned most of it out in favor of 'conversing' in their own form of Privacy, Vastu among them. Since there was a 'representative' of his hive present already he could easily review everything being said through the hive link later, it wasn't like she'd address him personally afterall, so he stuck to the hive-mind while 'looking' attentive and simply reviewed the gathered information for himself.

[Warning =D Interpretation of how a hive mind works may not translate gramatically clean to text]
<<So, instead of going out there ourselves, it seems the 'aliens' came to us first?>
<It appears that way><Yes><Strange ones too><They are all metal and no mana><Detectors sense many life-forms inside them too><They do not seem to possess any 'active' mana><I wonder how they 'taste'><testing that would be counter-productive to our goals!><But i like exotic!><Well we're not allowed to->
<SILENCE! If one of them attacks you then you can find out, otherwise, we will not be the ones jeapoardizing out alliances by starting a war! Regardless whether or not we could win.>
<Apologies my king...>
<Well, It's bound to be interesting either way, yes? I'm more interested in examining their technology... It appears purely mechanical in nature from afar, perhaps it can be used to expand our own development>
<That is a possibility!><A Liekly-hood even><Provided it turns out to be compatible><Even if not we could still learn something from it><Very true><Even failures can be used for future success afterall.>
<*Various ramblings persisted for what may seem to some like ages, then suddenly*>
<Vastu, It's time to 'wake up', Her speech is closing>
<Really? That was shorter than I'd expected! Usually it drones on for ages, she must be taking it serious enough to ignore the nobles wanting 'flair'... oh well, I'm off!>>

Quite suddenly the unusually developed changeling perked up physically, realizing with a mild self disdain that he'd started to slump and mayhave hinted that he wasn't listening, and quickly found that the rest of those summoned were starting to fire out, or march in some cases. After only a moment of looking he spotted Princess Twilight, not hard now that she'd grown into her rank, Separating from the other Princesses and following the group, deciding the simplest way to ensure he 'arrived on time' was to follow 'her' through the halls... It was comically easy to do so as well, even after all the time she'd tried getting everyone comfortable with her beyond just being 'princess' Most ponies still tried to give her a respectfully wide berth in crowded hallways, though there were a couple of stares as some ponies noticed a changeling following closely behind her.

Vastu found his eyes wandering the halls of canterlot as he followed her through them, The inside had barely changed from centuries ago, beautiful marble construction of various types, trimmed with gold and remarkably 'few' but still present jewels of different types. Guards decked out in ceremonial golden decorated armor still wandered about or waited by restricted areas, though now it was almost certainly armor augmented with high quality defensive magic. and of course the stained glass displays that spanned the walls of the greatest halls, telling stories of achievements long past, the most recent depicting the greatest mile-stones in mana-technological advancement lately.

He was distracted enough that it surprised him when Twilight suddenly slowed her pace and looked back to him with that mysterious knowing smile that every princess knew how to make and spoke a simple line to Vastu "Make sure you thoroughly review everything you missed while we're on the way." His mind suddenly 'blanked' for a moment as he stared at her dumbly in response, his hooves still carrying him along near her, and a moment later she giggled softly "Trust me, I know the 'This is boring i'll get the cliff-notes from somepony else later' look... I've seen it on a hundred different ponies, and even a normal 'drone' gives subtle visual ques to differentiate between paying attention and 'tuning out', you were certainly more noticeable."

Vastu chuckled a bit to this "Heh, one more reminder not to underestimate you in 'anything' princess."

She made another sudden shift to a serious expression as she added on "That's right! And I'm going to quiz you on it later. so make sure you take it seriously!" The 'quizzing' idea got his attention a lot less than the tone she used to mention it, one can practically 'feel' when a princess is being 'deadly serious' and how seriously she spoke of a 'quiz' sent a shiver down his spine!

'Geez, Note to self, make sure you never tune out one of 'twilight's' speeches...'
<<heheh, I could have told you 'that' Vastu... She once threw a book at me for doing that, 'me'.>
<Oh shut up your majesty, you could be hit by a Hover Cart and stop it in place! that hardly counts!>>
Vastu huffed a little as he mumbled out a quiet "Yes ma'am." and jumped right into reviewing the information gathered in the hive mind while still following subconciously, earning a mirthful little giggle from her.

[This is where i'm cutting off to avoid making everyone wait longer, but i'll go ahead and get to preparing the next half, I'll just edit if nobody posts by the time i finish it, but don't let that hold you back from posting if something comes to mind ^.^]

[Draconilian]

Multiple ships rocketed through the Relay Network, at the head of them, prepared for any military response, was the ship of Spectre Lehra'Tak. It wasn't especially heavily armed, but they didn't expect much resistance from such a young race, if any resistance at all. Behind that ship appeared multiple ships containing various First Contact Specialists.

"This isn't my idea of an exciting first assignment," The Spectre grumbled to nobody in particular. "Maybe we should fire off a couple of warning shots, make this interesting."

"I sincerely hope you are joking." The Sangheili spun his chair around. "How do you Asari always manage to sneak up like that? Of course I was joking." But he wasn't really. Nearly anything would be more exciting than waiting to get this new species language translated. The Asari diplomat, of course, would be having nothing of it. Not to mention he could be forever punished for destroying the possibility of a new race joining the galactic community.

"We have arrived in their system though, current scans show they are not aiming at us, but we have been detected, we should be alright to land. Lehr I would like to take you down with me for first contact on their planet. Regardless of your in jest comments, keep your wits about you, they could very well be hostile."

"Roger," The Sangheili mumbled and went to grab his gear before they landed.

[Shoryu]

It wasn't long before other's joined in following Twilight on her way out of the castle, afterall, Celestia had left out the useful little detail of exactly 'where' they should all meet up, perhaps on purpose, naturally instigating a group of mixed individuals stalking Twilight to 'her' destination.

It wasn't until they actually left the Castle that Vastu finished his 'reviewing', as far as he was concerned at least, and returned to his observations of their surroundings.

Now, while the inside of the castle had maintained the look of 'the old times', everything about Canterlot beyond was the exact opposite, aside from still looking glued to side of a mountain, something that many would consider an overwhelming structural vulnerability, but the glimmer in the air hinted at an incredible powerful defensive shield that would keep such a weakness from being exploited.

It still bore a similar layout to old canterlot, but nearly everything had been rebuilt or reinforced in some way or another, and while nearly everything bore some form of metallic structuring to it now, Canterlot's 'high class' expectations had pushed many to ensure that even with the metallic focus is stayed 'appealing'. Someponies had made their living off of devising imaginative ways to shape and style the metal to look fancy without weakening it's integrity, resulting in everything from standard buildings with polished colorful appearances, to other structures that appeared as complex objects turned into structures that gleamed in the sun-light, even one that looked to be made entirely out of 'nets' of shiny materials.

This was inner canterlot of course, grand advancements in mana-science have lead to some incredible feats.

Outer Canterlot could be described as a collection of technological construction, from the actual 'wall' that is clearly just for show, to the 'floaters' that gravitate around it, small city-like structures on tremendous circular hovering foundation, roughly half a dozen connected by teleporters and air transit.

not unlike this

But more 'canterloty' XD

<<Hmph, It's too bright for my tastes...>
<Yes, Too bright><Hive structures are much more efficient><Easily repaired or replaced too><More appealing><Why use metal when Structurally advanced Chitin is even more durable?><There's a reason they wanted so much of 'our' methods used on their fancy long range ship.><Our own are way more efficient!><But we are allies, must share><Yes, Improve eachother><We've advanced thanks to their help just as much.>>

It suddenly Occurred to Vastu... Once he was in space, he wouldn't be able to listen to a legion of responses like this anymore... compared to Hundreds of thousands in communication, half a dozen was going to feel lonely, even as the center of those minds, even with ponies along to talk to 'Man... that's a depressing thought... Why did this come up so suddenly?' He found himself actually more 'annoyed' than sad, annoyed that he was so suddenly distracted by something he thought he'd gotten over already, it took no small amount of training to prepare a changeling for anytime they wouldn't be able to connect the main hive-mind.

His internal complaints were cut off suddenly as Twilight's path lead the group 'in' to a building, passing through a large Iris like door to the interior of a domed structure, several miniature towers with mana crystals floating atop them, all linked together by a complex magical array on the ground... He grumbled internally 'Damn... Mass teleport...' he didn't particularly like it, he'd gotten past vomiting everytime he was zipped from point A to Point B, but it still sent a wave of nausea into the link.

Of course, Twilight led the group quietly into the center of the array, then waited a moment... and quite suddenly in the next moment with barely noticeable magic distortions they found themselves in a different dome, denoted mainly through a variation of colors and the shape of the array... all very complicated stuff that most wouldn't even bother trying to learn about, much less 'understand'.

Beyond the receiving dome was a small city-like zone that would better be labeled as a populated Launch pad, Consisting of a massive reinforced flat area surrounded by smaller buildings that houses materials and staff to deal with everything from simple repairs and refueling to out-right construction of new ships. The main expanse was a tremendous flat surface with patterned lights that could easily park one of the small floating cities, they had to work on em 'somewhere' right?, surrounded by a ring of buildings ranging from simple housing or storage space to Teleporter domes and Warehouses that held larger materials and vehicles.

There were a number of things immediately obvious as the group was lead out of the receiving dome. [feel free to add in your own pertaining to your characters =3]

'someone' clearly had advance notice that the group would be arriving at this particular place, as a number of things were prepared and waiting for them, not the least of which included at least one of every species present as a representative, several constructs of various types, and a veritable sea of on-lookers that were keeping a grand distance from the first contact party... some might have wanted to run them off, but ultimately it was felt they would give a greater example of good intentions if what appeared to be unarmed civilians were present to observe... and if they were en-dangered, all the more reason to not hold back in defense.

For Vastu, the first to notice was a very familiar golem-esque Mana-tech Construct, differentiating from the standard model By having a darker blue coating, along with seemingly more threatening red 'eye-lights' allover it's face plate. It still had the Lunar Emblem on it's chest, though it's flanks were adorned with a stylized Red eye bearing a green lightning bolt for it's pupil. On it's back sat a Custom and Deliciously high powered 'M.A.C.'[Mana-powered Auto Cannon], The stock model used an Artillery level of weapon but he felt that was a bit excessive for everything 'he' might need it for.

Within moments he'd buzzed right over to it and gotten right into a typical once over to ensure nothing had been messed up while it was moved, clearly losing focus on the rest of the situation... He also found his 'personal equipment' in a sack hanging from the base of the gun, not the healthiest thing to a long weapon like that, but whatever, and was soon busying himself stuffing into his Disruption suit.

Elsewhere Princess Twilight was joined by what was clearly some type of 'personal assistance construct', an impressively high quality Pegasus model whose wings were formed of solidified mana emissions, essentially letting them be use for both defense and melee, in addition to other unknown features that can only be imagined of a Princesses assistant.

More importantly, perhaps, was the large purple dragon with which she exchanged greetings, hardly 'full sized' yet, but easily several times 'her' size regardless, yes he was anything but the stereotypical aggressive... Just about everyone has heard of spike of course.

They carried on a fairly private conversation for a while, giving the others present time to go through whatever had been brought for them and to settle for a moment... After a couple of minutes though she'd seem to just suddenly 'be' ontop of spike's muzzle, putting her at a considerably raised vantage point to from which to address everyone present.

[warning, I SUCK AT SPEECHES TnT if you can come up with a more 'twilight' speech, by all means, feel free to share it XD]

She gave a sharp whistle suddenly to make sure she got everyone's attention "Alright Everypony, and every'one'... This is a once in a life time occasion, to be the first to greet visitors from beyond our system! We're all here to make history today, for better or worse... It's very likely that our communication methods will be considerably different, so I'll need our translators to be especially active and everyone else 'patient' while we try to carry out the miracle of translating a whole language in 'minutes'." There was a group of changelings who suddenly looked especially attentive, no small feat considering they lookd mostly like normal drones save for being different colors, and spread out around the group of individuals.

"I realize that some of us are quite imposing, but we want to make this as peaceful a contact as possible... That said, the potential for the opposite cannot be ignore, so stay on your hooves and keep a sharp eye on them... We are also aware of the potential for unrelated threats to have followed them here, so just about everywhere in equestria and beyond is going to be on high alert just in-case, so we are free to focus fully on this encounter... I'll do most of the talking while the translators are at work, or who knows, maybe they'll already have a faster method of translation!... Now, everyone get ready, if everything has been calculated correctly, they should be arriving soon!"

[KiltmanBagz]

Among the many who were gathered for the first encounter of alien, non Equis life forms was Equis's very own highly advanced artificial intelligences. the Spectral Ether Equestrian Constructs. SEECs. There wes a good few dozen of them spread about in various stations. They took the shapes many ponies of different shapes and breeds and sizes. SEECs were a wonder of equestrian science, made to be technician golems in the harshness of space they found that heir utility as technicians and interceptors of hostile tech and magic was invaluable in countless situations. Each one made of a set of floating orbs that projected a ethereal construct as their body. While they did not need these to perform their primary functions here the advanced AIs were self away and more often than not preferred to resemble and stand among their creators.

They had two primary objectives here. They were to use their advanced AI's and hi processing powers to run encryption and deciphering programs on every bit of language spoken. The goal to get a working understanding of their language as quickly as possible. They were excellent data and analysis tools, each one here was firing up a different form of translator .Communication was key, and the sooner proper communication was established the less like hood something would go terrible wrong. Neither side had done anything to really be called specious...yet. But history showed that sometimes the foes of equestria would march right through its doors in the guise of a friend.

Then there was the secondary function the group of AI had prepared for this meeting. Defense. The same generates in their varied cores that made them solid bodies rather than projected holograms were also able to produce some potent shields. Even strong still if they temporarily give up form of their bodies projections and revert to a loose collection of floating orbs. With the group of A class SEECs gathered here working together to produce shielding, all top of the line in one way or another, it could likely withstand most forms of known attack. But they were dealing with the unknown now. Nothing was certain. That's what Seeker thought at least, and the few AI's who were nerves enough to join her in wireless conversation agreed.

Similar to the Hive mind of a changeling, it was quite an simple task for multiple SEECs to link their communicate to one another thorough wireless networks. Though it seemed only the younger ones were engaging in that information sharing at the moment. Perhaps the more developed seeks were better focused at the task at hand. The young AI's seemed to need the comfort of one another's company.

Seeker, probable the youngest SEEC here, only with two space tours under her belt she was still in the first steps of actualization. She had decided her gender, her appearance, and was starting to develop quit the personality. Among one of the newer, higher-lined models present. The AIs' were all in full projected form, their translucent, glowing bodies standing out among crowd. Seeker's projected form was that of a Minty green earth pony, her main flowing and blue, her eyes a shining lavender. She was still attempting to process if this was positive or negative. Contact with another race from another world was truly fascinating. But if they came in war, She was honestly not sure of the Equstrian race's chances. They clearly had control of that one object they had found deep in the Equis solar system. It was impossible to tell where or how they arrived exactly in this system, but they knew that odd device was involved. There was all the reason to believe they would be millennia ahead in technology or magic. Assuming they had the latter of course.

---

Captain Silver Lining stood among the ranks of the military ready for the first contact. occasionally barking a command to infantry under his command. Most of his squad had been but on crowd detail, ready to defend and usher the civilians away if things went poorly with this first contact. Princess Twilight was far more optimistic than most of his men or fellow officers were. Hell, she was more so than even him personally and as his cutie mark suggested He was good at finding the good in bad situations.

Perhaps it was simply thinking with his military trained mind but he was positive that one way or another this would go wrong. Perhaps it was because there were so many ways it could go wrong. The complete lack of a common language would make a mutual understating tense.

There was also the trouble of cultural differences, conflicts had begun in the ancient past due to petty differences in two nations culture and way of thinking.

There was also the popular theory among the more paranoid soldiers that this was the same kind of first contact that less advanced cultures in history got from an exploratory race. The natives that encountered Christerhoof Columbus hadn't gotten off so well, contact of foreign explorers was often the first step in total civilization collapse, Who was to say they'd fare any better.

It was the job of Silver as well as the other commanding officers to keep everypony focused rather than wasting their energy on useless conjecture...but it was also their job to keep such outcomes in mind. The defense of the princess was a priority. He looked around to pick out other notable captains present, they were all in their full and best combat armor.

[Strudel]

Dither stood towards the back of the crowd, watching patiently as Princess Twilight and her small group of followers arrived. She had been one of the first to arrive but had steadily retreated as more and more ponies had arrived. It seemed it would still be a little while before any of their ‘guests’ actually arrived so Dither passed the time admiring her surroundings. It was a nice day and the light reflected brightly off some of the more metallic buildings. Part of her missed living in Canterlot, Fillydelphia was far more industrious and lacked the elegance of the capital.

“I do hope you are paying attention Ms Byte” Came a slightly robotic voice from her fore hoof.

Dither lifted the hoof and fixed the device attached to it with a flat expression.

“Of course I am Talos” she mumbled with a roll of her eyes “Nothings happened yet and I’m tired. I didn’t get any sleep last night, I worked a 12 hour shift yesterday then got sent straight here without any down time… Not that I’m not hugely grateful of course!” She quickly added.

“Of course Ms Byte” came the monotone reply “It was my simple intention to ensure you remained alert. It would be unwise to allow your mind to wander under the current circumstances. Your father had to pull a number of strings in order for you to be here”

“Uh huh” she yawned in response “I’m just here to observe, you’re the one who needs to run as many non-invasive scans and tests as possible. These aliens are likely to be far more advanced than us and I just know Quest-Tec won’t be the only company hoping to gain advances from their technology”

“Indeed Ms Byte” The screen on the device changed to a live feed of the crowd from a near by camera “I have already identified members of five competitor companies in the crowd. I must say, they look far more professional than yourself”

Five members of the crowd on the screen were outlined and text detailing their names and employers appeared alongside them.

Dither huffed and quickly tried to brush her mane into a less messy state with magic.
“Maybe if I hadn’t just worked a 12 hour shift and been teleported hundreds of miles..”

“I must disagree Ms Byte. Having been operational for exactly 157 days, 5 hours, 23 minutes and 32 seconds I am yet to observe you adhere to company policy regarding dress code once”

“Whatever” Dither mumbled looking back to the front of the crowd “Oh hey, I think Twilights going to make a speech. It must be nearly time”

[Draconilian]

"It seems the natives have prepared a landing ceremony for us. They are quadruped, fairly small in stature, but appear relatively advanced, with a number of technologies we cannot identify as existing anywhere else in galactic history." The Asari diplomat swiped through some more info on the datapad "They are spread throughout the system, but this is their homeworld, hmm, current surface scans and recon systems seem to indicate a monarchy, one that has evidently lasted an incredibly long time. Hmmm, Monarchy's tend to be troublesome systems of government. Regardless, we will know who to open diplomacy with. Lehr, keep your wits about you, they are a peaceful race, but their military doesn't seem to be one to scoff at. All intel indicates a friendly welcome, but betrayal always looks like that. Any questions before we land?"

Of the group of three crammed into the tiny landing shuttle, the two being addressed were completely lacking in inquiries, the Asari had covered everything in solid detail. "Okay, then, let's land this thing. I assume you have some idea of how to communicate?"

"Unfortunately, no, first contact is always like this, we have some systems in place to prevent total miscommunication, but we shall just have to go with some universal signals, so holster your damned guns already."

The Sangheili and his partner clad in full exosuit armor shrugged and put their weapons away, neither seemed willing to talk on the way down.

The shuttle streaked across the Equestrian sky, auto-piloting towards the most clear ground, where a group of natives had clearly prepared some sort of landing/welcoming ceremony. The landing gear deployed with a hiss, and the rectangular craft set down on the ground, with the native Equestrians backing up, some were apprehensive, some eager, some suspicious, and a handful with what appeared to be weapons.

"Remember, no sudden movements," The diplomat gave as a last word of advice as she stepped out of the shuttle, Spectre and guard in tow right behind her.

[Shoryu]

A notification was shared via various communication mediums, from whispering into ears to direct messages received by AI's, the moment the larger ship in orbit produced a far smaller one clearly set to land on the planet...

Upon hearing about this specifically Twilight was unsure if it was a good or bad sign... 'Hmmm, their sending a 'small' craft, most likely meaning only a few individuals... It could as much be a sign of non-hostility as an attempt to avoid risking more than a few while keeping the 'big one' in a position to be dangerous under the right circumstances... not that I'd specifically want to have that enormous thing down 'here' where all the big guns would be closer... they 'probably' have big guns, if their traveling space on a level above our-selves they 'must' have big guns!... Blast! I'm getting myself full of worry again, how does Celestia do this all the time? It can't possibly just 'get easy'...'

Twilight had been distracted in thought so thoroughly she didn't notice the shuttle closing in until several of those nearby spoke up in various states of wonder about the oddly shaped thing, and her attention immediately snapped up to it. 'wow... It really 'is' small, and i'm not finding any magic fields... I could shoot it down with 'basic' magic... if this hints at the big one not having anything like that either... Ugh! STOP THAT! Time to be serious!'

Meanwhile, Vastu had his eyes trained on the approaching shuttle since the moment it became visible, studying it as thoroughly as he could from a distance 'Hmmm, sparsely armed at best... very small... if that 'amount' of armor isn't some kind of special material then they are either stupid or too trusting... I'm going to assume it's something unique... the shape seems like it'd be good for forward deflection at least... I wonder how effective it is as ramming into things... hmm, it lands and flies pretty smoothly, the propulsion layout doesn't seem all that effective from first glance, but surely there's something i don't know about it... hmmm, opens from the sides, doesn't seem to be much room inside...-'

<Holy shit...>

The local hive links were all abuzz with deafening chatter as numerous eyes came across the 'creatures' stepping out of the shuttle.

The biggest question naturally was <What the hell 'are' they?>

One of the creatures appeared to be well armored but with enough exposed to identify that it was some strange form of seemingly hairless alien with a split jaw, it's arms exposed, and it's golden armor gleaming in the sun-light.

Another one looked like... 'what is that, some kind of construct? that's a 'lot' of metal to cover one creature in! it's got to be powered if it's able to move all of that, or genetically enhance...'

The last one seemed 'special', let because she wasn't covered in armor, and more because she seemed to have an air of authority about her, it wasn't hard to assume that she was their 'diplomat' in this situation... It just stood out even more than she was hairless, blue, and seemed to have groomed tentacles for hair... or were those solid? 'ohhhh, the potential Genetics that can be learned about from them!'

<calm yourself! It's time.>

Vastu straightened up suddenly as he saw twilight beginning to move forth, keeping her pace even, graceful, and peacefully slow... being a polite way of saying 'not making any sudden moves while still trying to give off the air of a 'princess' as was expected of her.

She stopped a few meters away from the 'visitors' and began to speak "Greetings, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle. I welcome you to Equestria and Hope that we can quickly form a peaceful friendship with eachother! I would ask 'your' names as well?" Already her mind was burning through dozens of alternative methods of communication that she could try resorting to if translation simply took too long on both sides... She wasn't going to hold her breath, but spoke as though she'd expect to be understood already.

_______________________________________________________

To the visiting diplomat, and her guardians, the sight before them was one of a kind in the galaxy despite it's already vast array of species and events.

Before them was arrayed roughly 100 or so individuals, most of which were Shorter equines of unique appearance that reached roughly chest height at best, some with horns or wings, and only a couple among them and the larger lavender one in the front reached proper eye level. Speaking of which, this one clearly stood out as 'special', being taller than the rest by a noticeable margin, had both wings and a horn, a mane and tail that softly blew in a breeze that was 'not' present, and wore a set of hoof-shoes and decorative adornments of various valuable materials... not that they could tell she detested the 'royal regalia'. This particular one was also flanked by 2 other equines not quite her size, armored and glowing a bit with an ever present 'protection' and the look of readiness that one could only display as an experienced protector, and of course there was an obvious construct with her that may or may not have been designed to look like it was wearing a butler suit.

More importantly, and though it was not of an as yet familiar nature, she seemed to radiate an aura of energy that emanated from some an incredible form of power within that a skilled biotic may be able to pick up on.

However, it was also clear that this was not a single species world, as beyond these equines were numerous other creatures, a couple dozen clearly insectoid creatures that stared at them with a single minded style of focus, some different types of equine-like constructs of physical and seemingly immaterial matter, and even what could clearly be analyzed as 'griffons' if one knew that old earth lore enough to remember. Still there were even more, a couple of equines with reptilian like traits [implying kirin], and others with hints of a bat to their appearance, along with some creatures that resembled other human legends like minotaurs or chimera, and staying in the back was indeed a dragon, albeit not of a titanic variety it was certainly unmistakeable both in appearance and in that it was purposely keeping it's distance from the front of the group.

Past them was a veritable legion of Equines at a much greater 'safer' distance, interspersed with clearly armored varieties and various other species.

Then there was, the vast circle of the land pad surrounded by structures of varied but overall 'non towering' sizes that they could see further back, there weren't many 'defenses' present but the huge ship shattering cannons could still be seen, and beyond that?

Forests in one direction, plains in another, most low areas were obscured by the circle of buildings, but farther in the distance it was easy to make out a spike like mountain that rose into high into the sky, with a gravity defying city attached to it's side, with smaller city like objects completely ignoring physics by floating in a pattern around the larger one.

Before much longer the larger equine started to approach, the construct staying by her side while the guard's kept only a very small distance behind her on either side. She spoke, though it was expect-ably unintelligible, her general tone was clearly smooth and intelligent, carrying a hint of practiced authority, and most importantly, sounding friendly and curious.