Shoryu

The Zea of Worlds

Cloaks crew

... Is sitting out for a bit to travel.

---

@evanist

The forest 'consuming' the ship was primarily comprised or streams of vines spreading over the ship, seeking any hole or grip they could find to pull at or dig into, it wasn't hard at all to heavily engulf the ship with the mass producable things... of course, they were also quite fragile, and the cutting lasers easily shredded them in droves.

However, the ship was thoroughly surrounded by forest, if they couldn't maintain a steady cover all around, the vines would inevitably try to move in again from a different angle, rather a relentless thing, even if not particularly 'fast'

...

Less 'easy' to cut through were the roots working their way closer, partially under-ground and much thicker and more substantial than the vines, they were also ripe with magical energy and tended to regenerate visibly when sliced.

Perhaps more relevant still, was the presence of sickly green eyes hiding around within the clearing's edge, coupled with the stink of rot that spread on the wind with ease.

---

Changeling Crew And Some Shadowbolts

---

@thedman

The changeling cocked his head sharply at nearly the first piece of information that the Specialist provided <Whu... Humans?!... Isn't that fancy? There's some 'very' old nigh discredited myths involving that word, heheh. Being real is going to blow some minds.> He did another of those buzzy chuckles as he glanced out the shattered window for a moment, it could only 'barely' be seen with the dimmed lighting of the Eclipse, but he was glancing at the minimal twinkle of brighter stars. <The stars though... hooph, quite a thing...>

He paused then to wander his eyes up to the ceiling and tap a claw against his chin a little, clearly thinking deeper on something... <If you're that big a deal though, I should warn you about the local authorities. You crashed in a Territory known as Equestria, Ruled primarily by the ponies. They're generally very friendly if you don't threaten them, but they're very easy to turn xenophobic.> He pointed a claw out the window for a moment, though made no indication that Lee should actually move to look <The eclipse out there is their doing, it's a standard sign of crisis and nation-wide notification that their leaders are addressing it immediately... you're likely to meet them soon enough.>

He certainly noted that this human had mentioned a 'failed invasion', and quickly addressed the possibility <It's good that you don't intend hostilities though, that on it's own should be enough for them, and I don't wish to influence your view of them over-much when experience is infinitely less biased, but I can tell you that they are considerably more impressive than your weapon there, and highly protective of their more mortal subjects.> He smiled then and shrugged <That said, I'm sure they'd be willing to help you with repairs however they can, if it's even possible, given the vast difference in technology.>

That smile broadened just slightly <And honestly, if you ever do get to leave again, We'd certainly not mind tagging along... It's rather rough here for my kind, though it's only partly our own fault, it's mostly fate having a giggle and the afformentioned xenophobic reactions... regardless of that though, we could at least 'try' to translate between yourself and the Equestrians... they rather lack this particular mode of bridging language gaps.>

---

Luna's intervention

---

@hellotraveler

The 'Nightmare' Arrived rather quickly, drifting in on the wing as she witnessed the bright projection and... a lone strangely dressed bat-pony trying to flee from her guard creature... only to quickly return for the device that it had dropped in the midst of the light.

Once she was in the right position she snapped her wings closed and simply dropped, landing with a hefty 'CHKTHUD!', shamelessly within the light herself and seemingly unphased by it, though it did create the most unusual contrast on her form, as one side lit up brightly to show off the arrays of purples and the blue, and the other less so to demonstrate the sparkly galactic motif of her mane and tail, combined with those glowing eyes.

Of course, the intensity of the light all but ensured there'd be no shadows, likely leaving her lacking such powers as well, but she didn't seem to care as she sauntered slowly towards him "You have some very unfortunate timing little bat. There is far too much trouble going on right now for your intrusion to be taken as a mere coincidence." She kept her casual and calm pace as she kept a close watch on his motions. "What is it that brings you here? Speak quickly, because my patience wears thinner with every interruption that arrives."

---

@double@Rune_alchemist

This strange being... it made what sounded like some kind of mirthful announcement before starting to... 'dance', or all things... Horrifyingly, this one was reminding her more and more of the Pink one with every action.

...

Then there was an ominous crack and it plastered itself against the floor, reminding her what happens when other ponies try to 'be' the pink one and fail... she did her best to with-hold a snicker at the alien's expense, it would have been horribly rude!

It was not long before the other alien appeared and... kicked it?! Heavens, that was rude, or was it just part of their dynamic? One could not safely assume without any insight, and for the moment it seemed something ore important came up... The other one was beckoning them to follow... into the ship...

Horrible betrayal possibilities aside, she was certain she could handle it if a 'threat' came of this, but better yet, they were pretty much inviting her to have a look at the insides of their vessel and see what it was like, something that was easily acceptable as a sign of... at least tolerance, if not trust. She followed along with a steady pace, easily making the assumption that this second creature was taking her away to be treated for whatever injury she had just incurred on herself.

She paid thorough attention to the inside of the ship of course, though it was more about observing for potential threats than admiring it's aesthetics... that could come later, and once the second stranger had settled it's companion on the table and-She restrained her expression as she watched what she assumed was their own form of magic, though she refrained from more invasive study, incase it would have triggered some nastier reaction, something she assumed wouldn't be an issue with a hopefully recognized spell from Astral to provide some form of translation.

It was admittedly an impressive display, perhaps especially to one who wasn't used to seeing feats of magic on display.

She noted the second one preparing to leave the room, and turned her attention to the unconcious first... Perhaps she could-Only to be interrupted by Astral calling out to the second, and turning to look his way.I am sure they are simply going to retrieve something to treat their friend here." Then she looked to the second alien with a small smile "Though, Would be helpful to gain translation experience."

That thought though, it gave her an interesting idea, and she moved over to settle next to Astral, her own magic seeming to radiate slightly as if trying to ease the strain of what was clearly a considerable drain on him. "Though on that note, I shall see if the unconcious one dreams, If so, I can interact with it, and perhaps, out here, we can co-opt that interaction into refining the translation circle to better handle such alien languages?"

---

@Rune_alchemist

Speaking of said unconscious alien, Luna was already subtly probing for their dreaming self... it was actually remarkably easy to find, a simple confirmation that they were indeed a dreaming species, though it would generally take additional effort to infiltrate the dreams of a wholly alien species such as this, the proximity eased that process considerably.

Of course, first Luna needed to see what was going on in said dream, though she did nothing to conceal her presence, going in blind was often not the best idea.

---

@Lugia
[Sorry if this parts a little... eh... Some issues the other day made me lose it and need to rewrite, and the second try is never as good as the first TxT]

Luna stared a bit uncertainly at Trevor's altered form... "Your backpack is being kept by one of my subordinates, you can worry about that later." Then she let out a small snort "And please, a 'demonic' punishment would have involved impaling you, hooking each limb hard enough the joints would tear, then flaying you alive and grafting another creatures flesh in place of your skin... Lucky for you, every demonic 'threat' is sealed behind the gates of tartarus, locked in their own little prison dimension." She glanced off to the side, seemingly noting something that wasn't there, perhaps one of her 'others', but quickly returned her focus to him. "Also, do not pretend you need me to coddle you in your new form, unintentional as this 'specific' one may have been... you are 'perfectly' capable of reaching to check either of those locations yourself."

She shook her head firmly then "And walking on all fours is hardly a challenge, you have 'four' points of support afterall, rather than 'two'. Focus on how to move each leg, and walk. you can worry about the instinctive patterns of smooth locomotion later, or more advanced manuevers, later." She started to wander around him then, patiently examining the different angles... "Luckily, you are not a carbon copy, as the original that you seem to have turned into is a mare, and has her own mark... hopefully, you lack her raw power, less for the idea of posing a threat, and more that you would be likely to kill 'yourself' accidentally with it."

The Zea of Worlds

Cloaks crew

---

@evanist

The big golem just shrugged, even though he was out of sight, and the cat thing called back one last thing "Heh, well then, I hope you find something 'else' tall enough to see over the trees, you actually stand a 'chance' of seeing 'somewhere to looking! heeeheheh. HSSH! HEY!" "dont. Be. Rude." That was before they mentioned drones, but the group was already out of their ear-shot by then anyway...

Something to consider though, was that if they stayed standing still too long while there, some might start to notice vines trying to crawl up their legs...

Otherwise, it'd be roughly a minute later before something started to tick in their ears, something messing with one of the communicators it seemed, tapping at it roughly it seemed, and a sounds of some unknown language inundated with musical sounds not unlike a bass horn, could be heard on the other side of it...

Of course, that was suddenly drowned out by something else... someone from the ship shouting about 'the forest trying to eat the ship'...

---

Changeling Crew And Some Shadowbolts

---

@thedman

The creature speaking to Specialist Lee on the bridge appeared quite joyed by him actually responding, even more so by the confirmation he would inform the others that they were not a threat... he could not completely assume that it would perfectly counter the possibility of them being a threat, but even at it's 'least' it was a step towards solidifying a peaceful relation. <You're quite welcome. That queen may not have been near peak, but in a hive the Queen still holds the majority of power, She could certainly have destroyed much within here... I have never seen a weapon that could pierce a queen's armor so easily either, even a weakened one.> Then he did something perhaps quite odd, standing himself back up, and delivering a short bow, then quickly straightened back up and added <and I thank you in-return. Given the arrival we witnessed, it was clear you did not come here on purpose, and it is good to know you're not in a hurry to wage war.>

The other pair finished applying their treatments to the unconscious crewman, and split up then, one of them went to the once they'd cocooned more thoroughly, proceeding to drag it near the unconscious one where it's horn began to glow the same pink as it's eyes, a similar glow manifesting over the heads of it's two 'patients', slowly moving down and stopping near the necks. The other returned to the conscious pair, horn glowing as well, though this one matched it's 'blue', and focused on individual patches of that goo it had applied.

<I will let you recover, but I should leave with the basics about our species... as they say, Knowledge breeds understanding, and understanding a great counter for fear.> There was a very buggy chuckle that followed. <We are called Changelings, We primarily live off of the energy other sapient's produce through emotions, particularly the positive ones... Different hives have different ideas of how best to gather it, and 'some', like this one, tend to starve because of their inferior overly aggressive methods. Your... giant vessel most likely disturbed their hiding place, and they sensed 'you' here as quick sources of food. These also tend to be the hive's with a Queen that exercises tighter control through the hive-link, with a very short temper, and by extension with the least chance to choose a better way... My hive is quite small, with no 'Queen' per se, though I sortof lead it myself... Without the queen, the leftovers of the hive are essentially aimless... We will try to salvage what we can of them, but long-term starvation tends to break things that we can't afford to fix.>

---

Luna's intervention

---

@double@hellotraveler@Rune_alchemist@Lugia

Luna too was often vexxed by the pink one, but it was liable she understood more about the reality defying mare than most others did... she was also familiar with the affect that she could have on others, and was quite understanding of the unicorn's predicament, she especially tended to have a most powerful effect on intellectuals... It was no surprise that she had rendered Astral some degree of temporary madness, the pink one exudes madness afterall, and she was very patient with his slow return to reality.

A return that thankfully coincided with their renewed encounter with alien life, and led to finally hearing his opinions and experience thus far, limited as it was, every ounce was invaluable. "Thank you for your input Astral, it is good to know 'anything' ahead of time, and confirmation that they are at the very least, not quick to turn hostile eases my worries considerably." She noted quite easily that while Astral asked about the translation ring again, one of the aliens made a circular motion which... honestly, could have reffered to anything, but since they had specifically looked to Astral first, it was easy to assume they were requesting the circle itself, though this one removed themselves shortly after, assumedly at the behest of the one they'd arrived with. And I do believe casting the circle yourself will work quite well... My attention is already divided in several places to manage this crisis.

Almost on cue-

---

The bat certainly knew how to sneak, he clearly no amateur and had certain natural advantages as well, not to mention the aliens out there were not likely used to such a creature stalking them... maybe, supposedly, who knows with aliens, right?

Alas, there were also creatures in this world entirely unfamiliar to his place of origin, where such things were, as far as the waking world, extinct, or simply confined to the realms of dreams... something that had also been ordered to guard the place that the strange bat had just trespassed upon.

This one looked like the Batly ponies that the mistress commanded, but it was not one of hers, this was clear, it smelled and 'felt' so different from their presence, dressed strangely, armed with something unusual, and most of all-TRESSPASSING!

It was sudden that the darkness of the castle's entrance lit up, becoming like a twinkling night-sky once more and something vaguely pony shaped 'grew' out of it... This time it elected to use a much more simplistic approach... 'call mommy'... Alas, for such a creature this meant a very different thing than a pony would expect.

That entailed the air being split suddenly by something that could best be called the shriek of the damned, and it's great starry maw shred open once more, revealing the bright whiteness within and casting it forth upon the tresspasser, bathing the area in bright light immediately... It knew of the power mistress' bat minions had, this deserter would not escape before she arrived!

Something that 'may' register, is that if this were all 'fake' as he'd come to think it 'had' to be, then this 'fake' light shouldn't be able to deter the use of his power... It wasn't fake...

---

Back at the ship, the shriek could easily be heard in the distance, and though this time the shadowy mass wasn't grand enough to be seen from so far, the bright light being emitted in the area certainly was, especially amidst the eclipse's 'mild' lighting, and Luna's attention was immediately drawn that way... "Case in point... I have not been gone five minutes and already another has trespassed in the castle." She released an exasperated sigh at this "'Another' Division, I shall have to see to this one as well."

At that moment, as if to tell the world that 'pinkie pie' was not the only one who could defy reality, the princess seemed to 'step out of herself'... quite literally, a second Nightmarish Luna simply walked out of her mid-turn and took flight towards the castle without another word... a Third actually walked out in the other direction, and carried off the 'bag of dead dragon'. "Mmmm, That should help, now 'I' can focus more here, and my others may focus else-where." She looked back down to Astral while awaiting his casting. "As for your questions, it is undoubtable that Cadence and Shining armor have already been informed, and if not then messages are on the way. A more official correspondence will inevitably follow when my sister and I have time to personally communicate in more detail, and indeed we will all be involved with these interactions. Your colleagues will surely hear of it at 'least', if not of your direct involvement in first contact with alien life, and if you happen to be indisposed in the long-term, there will be no issues." A little smirk followed then "I'm 'sure' you're eager for a long term indisposition to come to pass, hmhm."

---

One of Luna's... clones, it could be said, carried the bag off into the woods a fair distance... it would likely be a mere matter of time before it began to try reforming on it's own, afterall, it was a fireproof bag, not a magic suppression bag.

"I see you continue to have unusual dreams, but it won't be for much longer." Her voice range through his dream-realm for a moment before the sensation of 'anything' started to disrupt the sleeping state, and her magic began going to work... not that he could really see it of course, being technically dead... but the sensations of returning to a physical existence would steadily fade into reality, and... show him a rather more 'shocked' looking night mare standing over him. "Okay... well... 'This' was not the outcome that we had intended..."

---

From her own side, Luna had simply cast a similar spell to what she used to forcibly reincarnate her sister's phoenix when it was misbehaving, or had recently traumatized 'another' ignorant subject by making them think they'd murdered the princess's prized pet, and combined with something of an 'ironic metamorphosis' spells... It was a simple thing, she'd done it before, it was a common tool to punish speciest criminals... of course, nobody is perfect, and she did not factor in the element of 'interdimensionally inconsistent biology' nor latent magics of another word, and... well, there were unknown factors, okay?!

She had intended to give him a more equine form to try and fight his equiphobic instincts, but she did not expect 'this' Equine form to be the actual result... and she rather hoped it was 'only' the form...

The Zea of Worlds

Cloaks crew

---

@evanist

There wasn't much to tell about the pod other than it had clearly been all but devoured by the forest... It was entirely possible that their friend had been flown away... perhaps even prefferable, if the forest was being aggressive like that. The pod was devoid of supplies as well, so either they took it with them, or it was looted in their absence...

The big golem of course... had not even stopped moving, he had an objective and he was advancing towards it, period, the flighty little critters splitting ways already wouldn't stop him. "All. must. seek. their own... Captain. will. find. you. or find. way. to mountain. as well. Objective. is. clear."

The feline critter on his back hissed irritably and two-cented himself "What he's 'trying' to say is, run off aimlessly in the forest looking for someone you don't even have a base direction to follow if you want, we're going where we know our objective is going to find us, one way or the other... Maybe the cap'n'll find ya wanderin around and lend a hand, claw, or tentacle himself, heheh."

---

Changeling Crew And Some Shadowbolts

---

@thedman

As the two creatures investigating the injured came to the one that was clearly 'dead' they paused and looked to the one that had actually been fighting, and for a few moments they chittered, buzzed, and hissed something back and forth, before one of them leaned down to bite down on the back of the neck of the dead one... it wasn't the least bit clear as to 'why' though... A few moments later it pulled back and began spitting up that green goo, starting to a steady process of spreading it, then spitting more, then spreading it more, as if cocooning the corpse.

The other one quickly returned to the one that was subtly breathing and went about repeating the process of treatment it had given to the conscious ones, systematically removing one injury's source and covering it with the goo before moving to the next injury, and in the cases of more severe injuries made sure to press it as closed as it could before doing so... logically speaking, it shouldn't be hard to infer that the goo was supposed to have some kind of medical use, though the precise properties remained unclear, but the unconcious crewman's breathing began to ease at least.

Meanwhile, the one that had initiated contact turned a fanged smile towards the specialist and nodded himself <That's good! I didn't think there'd be any among you creatures that could be reached by a hive-link, nevermind with-stand a queen's Blitz. That's some impressive fortitude, even if it clearly took a lot out of you.> It didn't take a mind-reader to recognize signs of exhaustion... he tried not to let it bleed into his mental projections, but he was exstatic at both this fact, and the simple encounter of something he could communicate with! It was a perfect oppurtunity to position himself, and by extension his kin, in an indispensable position that the Equestrian's couldn't afford to eject them from without causing potential problems with these incredibly dangerous aliens!

<More importantly, I can tell important things before your friends that can slaughter a horde mistake my kin for more of the rabid ones... With their Queen eliminated, they are no longer a threat, and we don't suffer the desperate madness.> On a side note, he and the sergeant both might start to hear a change in the comms, with the queen gone it seemed that every instance of panicked crewmen on the ship also ceased, many who'd become incoherent reporting in that they were fine, everything had just suddenly 'returned to normal' it seemed.

---

The creatures from the ship in question had simply watched at first as the survivors swarmed around the jewel they'd thrown... obviously the aliens wouldn't know what was going on, but it was a jewel full of stored emotions, a simple bait feast as far as they were concerned, but one their desperation wouldn't allow them to deny.

One of those on the boat stood up on it's edge and seemed to shout something at them, obviously it wasn't clear what, but the sharper edge to it's sounds didn't paint a 'happy' picture. Whatever it was saying seemed to cow the survivors and they quickly started digging where they were, doing their level best to vanish under-ground as quickly as possible... the rest that 'hadn't' come their way? They were still busy destroying what was left of eachother, and those on the ship didn't make a move to get anywhere near interacting with them.

Much closer though, the trio of strangely garbed quadrupeds tensed up slightly when one of the big metal things approached them, but quickly softened when it stopped and made some kind of gesture... indeed, something that was easily interpreted as non-hostile, and they started to converse amongst themselves, an array of low squawks and whispered tones passing before the one in the middle of the stack waved a hoof in the marine's general direction, as if directing the griffon in some way, which seemed to make an odd roll of it's head before raising a talon in a similar gesture... it was a lot more hand-shaped than a bird's talon would normally be, then it made some kind of shrugging gesture, as if it didn't quite get it... They couldn't communicate well at the moment, but they could at least express a disinterest in aggression for now.

It was a strange creature in their eyes, the one that opened his head... helmet? They hadn't actually seen any such intergrated covering that 'opened' instead of needing full removal, but that gesture was also clear enough, and each one in turn reached up to push up their own masks... the two smaller ones both appeared to have clearly smaller more equine like muzzles, the larger one darker gray fur color, and the smaller one hot bloody pink... while the other was certainly confirmed as a griffon, a very thick one, with deep green feathers, and enough beak that looked like it could very well pick apart the less armored portions of a marine's armor... maybe, it was hard to tell how tough it was, at least with just seeing it.

---

Luna's intervention

---

@lugia@Double@Rune_Alchemist@HelloTraveler

Luna's expression did soften somewhat as this creature went on and on, as well as introducing himself... "Hmmm, I can respect your maturity in accepting whatever... solution, I could conjure." Then a coy smirk arrose "And in 'my' world, I am the warden of dreams, I watch over my subject's dreams, protect them from living nightmares and dream monsters, and in the case of our enemies, 'invade' them to teach them a lesson." She even playfully poked her tongue out at his 'joke'.

She shook her head then and with a twinkle of her horn pulled him back to standing "You are no subject of mine, bowing is not a requirement of showing respect." she took a step back then and with a flourish of magic swept away the nightmare imagery, leaving a much smaller 'luna' standing there eyeing him up. "'I' am Princess Luna, though given some of your history I suspect you already have an inclination of that. I am... many things, Warden of Dreams, Misstress of shadows, Goddess of the moon, The First Reaper... heavens the titles that's stack up over the millenia... but in a simplified form, I am the younger diarch of Equestria, the more likely of us to simply split you in two to solve the problem 'permanently', and the moon and stars dance to my whim... Keep yourself out of trouble, and you'll have none from me... well, no 'more' than is already pending at least. This is quite a troublesome event that has come to our world."

She perked up then and seemed to glance off to the side "Mmmm, I must focus on the 'group' of aliens I am meeting, but I will see to your return to the waking world shortly... preferably when doing so will not appear as though I have taken one of my own hostage. I shall leave a link here as well so that we may to 'some' degree communicate once you are awakened again, though it will only be rudimentary, neither of us wants a lasting 'deeper' connection beyond surface thoughts." With that she suddenly vanished in a puff, leaving him along in his own mind again... One might wonder, 'what' did she mean by looking like she'd taken one of her own hostage?

---

Luna almost seemed to come out of a trance, where she'd been waiting for Astral to say 'something' to her, yet he seemed to have been struck dumb by her presence, or perhaps he was simply too busy thinking to notice?... she could only assume, and that was not quite as demanding at the moment as the collection of strange creatures she now found herself approaching in pursuit of the prancy mirthful one... she had certainly been interesting to observe in action as they progressed... they might not understand eachother's speech, but she could tell from her behavior that she must've been a 'playful' sort... it disturbed her how much it reminded her of the pink one...

The sheer contrast between her and the other alien she led them to reminded her even more of that implication, she actually gave this new creature a slight smile and a shrug, as if this was nothing exactly 'new' in terms of behavior... Though she did take a moment to look between them before speaking "Thou art quite strange, looking as if you expect to understand my words at any moment, hmhm." Still that voice came as little more than a dark ethereal orchestral... She was curious though, this new one didn't seem nearly as intensely reactant to her appearance, neither her size nor the ethereal nebulae of her mane... was this one simply used to unusual experiences? or did it perhaps trust the other one enough not to lead a threat back to them?

---

To a certain batty visitor, it certainly was not quite the 'princess' that he'd been familiar with hearing about, though the cues were undeniable, the moon-themed mark on her flank, the starry nebulous mane and tail, the whole 'alicorn' thing that didn't properly resemble the knock offs of his own world... But she was taller than the stories, darker and thicker as well. One would hardly expect her to be unaware of being watched, particularly in such a dangerous situation, perhaps more confirmed when several of the stars in the back of her mane lit up a brighter blue, almost seeming to form the illusion of eyes observing the forest around her, though otherwise there was nothing to hint at a reaction...

The Zea of Worlds

Cloaks crew

---

@evanist

The big golem thing kept moving as it listened to them chatter amongst themselves... "Follow. If. You. Wish... Otherwise... Stay. Out. Of. Way." His pace picked up a little, still backwards though "However. Mountain. Near. High. Vantage. Spot. Pods." He kept his eyes on them for a few moments more as he passed some trees a dozen meters away, which given the thickness of this forest was already enough to nearly lose sight of him. they had a bit of catching up to do since they'd stopped to talk to eachother before following, when the one on his back called out "Hey! Mud brain! Watch where you're goin!"

There was a clank a moment later and he turned out of view for a moment, before his voice called out a single word "Oh... Pod." Almost at the same time the sounds of gun-fire in the distance ceased, the timing almost like the world was conspiring to create an ominous scene.

What strange timing... it appeared that something had created a small clearing that he'd wandered back into, and a quick look would reveal something... 'like' an escape pod... it looked like it'd had to have been there a long time though, it was absolutely 'over-grown' by plants, vines and roots alike grew around and through it, panels ripped away through relentless plant-growth... Luckily, it 'was' wide-open, as if someone had left it on purpose, instead of appearing torn open... they of course were nowhere to be seen, though any equipment in the pod remained.

---

Changeling Crew And Some Shadowbolts

---

@thedman

The Specialist might learn sooner than expected that they weren't just not savage, but intelligent enough to infer some unusual possibilities... demonstrated as it looked away from the injured crew-men, which the other pair had moved on from and started to investigate the pair that hadn't moved since ariving.

It's eyes fell on the specialist sitting against the wall, it's eyes appeared to be solid for a moment, before that solid green retracted, revealing similarly colored slitted irises, not unlike the Queen's, but devoid of the aggression or madness it had displays. The queen's psychic storm had also been intense enough to wipe away any evidence that this creature had a psychic potential of it's own... except of course for the fact it had 'used' that attack at all, something that would've been inefficient at best against anything that had not given 'it' reason to believe he did... so he decided to take a gamble.

His eyes flashed for a moment alongside his horn as he stared, and attempted to prod this being as he normally would a hive-mate... it would be a tremendous contrast to the Queen's reaction, as it was far more relaxed, tentative... 'asking' even, and the message was simple <Can you understand this?... nod if so.> The strange bipedal thing had just with-stood a queen's flood, He wouldn't assume he had the strength to actually reply yet even if he 'does' have the ability.

---

Back outside, the horde of creatures were scattering more and more, some 'literally' scattering on the wing, without a queen to force them onward they simply shut down and faded away, much like the numerous corpses from the weapons fire. Other's continued scrabbling at what little scraps their fallen might have, and other's still tried desperately clawing their way towards the only remaining option for survival, the ship that they knew nothing more about than that it felt like there were healthier changelings on it, and emotion storage.

If the marine's thought to finish them off, they might find a momentary, and quite possibly unintentional obstacle in doing so, as the massive griffon lumbered in-between them and the ship, though it was hardly a frightful sight to a bunch of marines, It was 'barely' taller than one marine in his power armor, granted, going through him suddenly might prompt a defensive reaction from him or something else, such as the smaller hoove'd creature with wings that landed ontop of it's head, dressed in identical armor but clearly 'not' a griffon, and barely even 'knee high' on power armor... sounds came from them, the big one moving a bit in line with some deep bassline squawk, and the smaller one something akin to some kind of violin, quickly joined by the flutey sounds of the tiny one that buzzed over to land on the smaller one's head...

For many this would easily be seen as a comically silly 'totem' pose, though the exasperated sounding sighs of the larger pair hinted in the universal language of 'tolerating things' that it was not meant that way... Meanwhile, the ship's shields rose once more, just incase these visitors elected to target them... particularly when similar creatures became visible peeking over the edge of the ship's deck-railing... oddly, they also threw something over-board, a small red crystal thing with a dull glow to it, and as soon as it hit the ground the nearest 'survivors' of the massacre swarmed over it like locusts.

---

Luna's intervention

---

@lugia@Double@Rune_Alchemist

Luna rather suddenly jerked in place, before anything else could be addressed, her attention snapped to the west where... it seemed a storm of energy had manifested from nowhere, it wasn't clear precisely how far, or how much, because it only lasted seconds before vanishing into thin air, taking with it the strange creature she had been interacting with, though a quick check revealed to her that her shadowbolts were still present and intact, leading to a sigh of relief before returning her attention to those nearer.

...

The strange alien seemed to have handled it's encounter with the pink one well... She didn't dare consider the possibility of it being 'like' the pink one, the horrors they could reap together... She still didn't understand a bit of what it was trying to say, but the 'physical' communication was obvious, 'follow me', and given the direction matching Astral's own she assumed it was going to lead them back to the ship as well. She glanced back to the shadowbolts present and gave a motion of her head, prompting both to go air-borne, likely keeping watch on the area around them.

She began calmly following along, though leaning lower to speak to Astral "Did you observe much about them while you were present? Any additional information could be of assistance."... Interestingly, a glow, matched by her horn, engulfed the sack of ashes she was carrying as well, though it may not seem important to anyone else.

---

While else-where, a portion of her attention manifested in the dream-realm, finding that indeed the pile of ashes was... 'alive' still, reminding her a bit of ancient pranks that her sister's pet phoenix would play upon her once upon a time... these thoughts irritated her slightly, those were horribly annoying when they were new, but she found ways to get back at the horrid little bird.

More importantly, it seemed her observer had quite some information for her...

...

Heavens, it was crazy too wasn't it? shouting at shadows in it's dreams? Imagining things staring at him from the darkness? Rambling on and on at nothing without even waiting for a reason to prove he wasn't talking to himself? Though it was interesting that this being had the ability to influence their own dream-scape in such a way, yet possessed no apparent 'power' in the dream-realm as whole... That said, it 'was' an enlightening story, and all but proved that it was from another world, much like she could assume from the crashed vessels and their crews... perhaps more disturbing though, there was some kind of 'marketing advertisement' based on 'them'... it was hardly accurate, but that was irrelevant to her in the scheme of things.

Quite suddenly her voice sounded off in his dreamscape and broke the pending silence "I am honestly 'most' offended by the insultingly childish portrayal those 'toys' provide, than by electing to greet me with your 'fist'." She manifested slowly into his sight, anything but 'friendly' though, there was a stark frown somehow visible despite her dark colors, and a certain heat in her eyes. "however, none of that excuses a vicious, blinding hatred of some creature you have never met, leading to you flying into a blind murderous rage at the sight of a creature with 'equine shape'... annoyance is not a worthy excuse for brutality, and that feral beast's actions have nothing to do with an entirely different species."

She cleared her throat then and exerted her own power over the dream-space to replay the scene of his arrival at the castle, re-creating the actual scene of the shadowy creature in question actually being 'in' and around the castle, while the implied 'defending robot' was outside. 'What you 'did' was attack the castle's defender that was attempting to scare off the actual intruders, one of my old pets that had been assigned to it's security while I was away... what you 'did' was see a big shadowy creature and assume it had to be the aggressor." Something about this particular quality of events caused her to steam a little, perhaps a sore subject? "More worrying however, was your reaction both to it's reaction to your attack, and after I pacified you... The fight I can forgive, nonsensical as it is to assume a creature you can't understand wants a fight because it looks aggressive, without actually making an attack first... but you demonstrated first a shameless disregard for attacking ponies simply because you perceived that you weren't harming them, imagine if you had run into another than myself first? But after you defeat? a dream-scape of unparalleled brutality, including a rather offensively pitiful version of myself?"

Her eyes narrowed then "I can sympathize with you having 'reasons', I'm sure it's 'completely' normal in your culture to try to kill things with a passing similarity to something you found annoying as a child. But the fact of the matter is, you present a clear and undeniable threat to the well-being of any average pony you may come across, and I cannot allow that threat to go unaddressed. And given your reactions, I cannot simply take your word that you won't 'snap' suddenly, especially with how instantaneous it was upon your arrival... plus, it is simply unhealthy to harbor such a weakness as a berserk trigger tied to a specific species, I shall simply have to ensure you 'get over it'... Being a 'hero', I hope you can appreciate the necessity of actions when 'you' have become the threat yourself." She was curious how he would react, particularly considering that she had 'not' clarified exactly what she was going to 'do' about that threat... though as an aside, she despised people who called themselves 'heroes', it usually meant they were suicidally bold, tended to assume they were right on a whim without second guessing themselves, and tended to have a bit of a holier than thou opinion of themselves, all of which tended to cause more trouble than they solved.

The Zea of Worlds

---

@thedman

Indeed, the little thing meant no harm to the Goliath, and could certainly be looked into later... though in the mean-time he was seriously pondering what to do now, the bugs were getting annihilated, but until they were 'dealt with' completely he couldn't really hope to investigate anything himself without potentially inviting retribution, he was impatient, but not stupid, though it could have been funny to make them attack eachother trying to hit him... it still left him with the dilemma of busying himself in the mean-time...

Almost on cue the next wave of missiles were launched and another bundle of behemoths were left with missing pieces of splattered parts, bits of chitin scattered in such volume that most of the marines would likely have pieces bouncing harmlessly off of their armor... And like that, it hit him... not the literal chitin bits, the idea!

"Ah! Of course! I can help, duh! That should get them to let me pick one of these toys apart!" Granted, their defensive perimeter was quite effective it seemed, and that meant he could potentially get mistaken for one of the threats if he returned to the air... that just left one option!

He pranced up to all fours once more before splaying his wings and... jeez, it almost looked like he was 'dancing' ontop of that mech, were it not for the distortion appearing around his wings and the thrust of air that followed his wing beats... it didn't really make much of a spectacle, but a discerning eye may catch on to the timing of his motions coinciding with one of the swarming creatures losing some control of their flight path and veering away from the cluster of marines.

That aside though, they were being minced easily by the gauss weaponry, both the turrets and the marine's weapons... granted, the shots tended to pierce clean through with too much ease, causing somewhat lesser damage, and yet, these things couldn't even compare to 'zerglings' for durability. A Couple of the clean holes were often enough to leave them unable to functionally fly, and once ground-bound they were easy targets for a couple more shots.

...

That said, once it became clear universally that there was in-fact a greater threat than the ship's guns, or rather, a physically smaller threat that was too low for said guns to cover effectively, it seemed as if the same idea swept through the masses of bug things, and almost as one their paths shifted to pour onto the marines... they were either sub-sapient, or maddened, as they seemed to hold no concern for the hail of bullets that now tended to go through one target and hit another... Whether or not the swarm could even 'harm' the marines even with a proper dog piling was up for guessing, and yet something seemed to decide to lend a hand anyway.

With the swarm's attention diverted to the immediate and considerable threat of the smaller metal bipeds carrying strange rapidfire small cannons, the ship was free to drop it's shield and return what fire it could... in a literal sense, a variety of colors soared through the air, carefully aimed to go 'over' the marines in every case, and give quite a show, even if the aim was seemingly random at that distance.

Colorful bolts of fiery energy decorated the air in waves of a dozen or so, helping to lower the flight level of the swarm, as while the gauss rounds would rip right through them, history dictated that being struct by arcane fire could prove deadly in it's own way, and would easily spread to other members of the swarm if they got too close... which they 'would' while burning alive and panicking. It seemed instinct forced the creatures lower, some to the ground, as they tried to charge these alien things.

---

It might well have been an impressive feat to weather that assault at all, even more so to simply get back up and level one's weapon before even taking a moment to catch his breath... but what was truly impressive was, either through luck, skill, or timing, the effectiveness of that shot...

With similar timing, the interloper had skittered himself away from the advancing queen, seemingly cowering against the wall for a moment, though his eyes had drifted to notice the strange biped leveling what he could only assume was a weapon at her, and with a quick little bit of planning he spat at her... something that made her snarl with rage and prepare to strike him.

Only for him to whirl about and try to kick her with both hind-legs, something she easily reared up to avoid, just in-time for the shot to fire, and for a Twenty-Five millimeter shell to bust clean through the chitin of her side, only to find enough resistance form this particular creature to trigger it's detonation, 'clearing out' the other side of her and throwing what was left to the ground in a smear of it's own blood.

For a moment that interloper stopped and stared in shock at the damage, and back at the weapon that had done it... hoo boy, if they had something that'd tear into a queen like that.

A noise drew his attention back to the remains though, to spot them twitching suspicious, still trying to 'move'... given the damage that had been done, there was really only one thing to do, and he quickly leapt over to bite down on the neck with a sharp crunch, one that was immediately followed by it going still, a mercy kill most likely?... of course, it would conveniently conceal him draining the horded emotions that she contained, or other elements of the draining process.

He quickly pulled off a few moments later and spat out a gob of mess and then... proceeded to sit down, and let things progress as they would for a bit... And of course giving a bit of time to better observe the 'helpers', which one might note were not full of holes as the one's who'd been attacking were.

Speaking of which...

---

Back outside the ship, the reaction was timed flawlessly with the specialist's shot, The swarm of creatures collectively keeled over, screeching and hissing and flailing as if something horrific had happened, some even taking to attacking eachother instead.

*Boodeep!* "Sergeant. It appears that the creature that attacked the bridge fulfilled a roll similar to a Zerg Queen. I have confirmed that the swarm's sudden rabid madness coincides precisely with the moment that Specialist Lee struck the one in the bridge." *Beep* "Seismic disturbances have ceased, and psionic activity has vanished outside of the ship" *Bleep* "One Alien Psionic source remains on the bridge, however, it appears to have intervened in defense of the injured bridge-crew, and two similar creatures are covering their wounds."

---

Captain Cloak's Crew

---

@evanist

Something worth noting, was that they were just close enough to the mountain to hear the rapid pattering of weapon's fire, though what 'exactly' the source was, was unclear.

They were smaller than expected, almost adorably little things, but only one of them cared about that and the other two either wouldn't, or couldn't, express such interest. Though they continued their steady pace towards said mountain, backwards, the big one spoke up. "Survivors?... Good... Have. not. seen. 'pods'. or. tiny. feather. creatures... We. search. too. Captain. Tall. Red. Can't. Miss. Follow. Combat. Sound.

---

@nevikr1

Given the lack of anything happening around him, The tall red figured assumed perhaps it was just a forest critter he'd heard, and picked up his pace to continue on towards the sounds of action in the distance.

---

The Responders

---

@wanderingdragon@rangingwolf

Amber was absolutely oblivious to the strange creatures musings, simply continuing to mercilessly cling to the boy's arm and flutter around wantonly, trying to gnaw another carrot out of his hand...

At least, until said 'other carrot' was hovered infront of his muzzle... he couldn't actually see it at the moment due to his masking being askew from making room to bite the last one, but he could smell it, he could taaasssteeee iiiit!...

He shot 'down' so quickly to snatch the second carrot that one might fear he's crash head-first into the ground and hurt himself, yet even in his current state at the last moment his wings snapped into a curve that pulled him up into a skidding slide, already sitting and eagerly chewing on the carrot, which slowly dissapeared into his mouth... like a timer... ticking down till the next demand for a snack...

...

Of course, this also meant he'd released Escotto in mid-air, and seemed completely oblivious to the sudden return of gravity to his previous victim...

Meanwhile, Ruby, with her boss moving off to join the Asari for... whatever it was going to be, considered the use of a little information about her oddly behaving companion, and quickly singe-doodled a few things...

One was an arrow pointing towards the distracted Stallion, another was a picture of a quadruped surrounded by lightning, and the last was a caricature of his muzzle with spinny eyes to imply being loopy.

---

Co-op with Ranging

hidered for convenience

From the looks of it the equinoids had accepted the proposition of a meld. This would be a first for Linass, not many could say that they initiated first contact with a species. Even fewer could say that they were the first to meld with unknown species. But for the sake of diplomacy they had no other options. As the leader of the quadruped aliens finished his drawing, Linass took a quick look at it. She was unsure what the extra additions made to Elijah's drawing were supposed to mean but she would likely find out within the next few minutes. Once the equinoid was in front of her, she took a steadying breath before she sat down Cross legged Linass met the alien's eyes. Once she had permission she started her meld. A quiet "Embrace Eternity" could be heard before her eyes turned Black as she touched her head to aliens.

Said lead quadruped calmly moved closer, inside there was some tumultuous distrust, but he also trusted in his patron's ability to defend him were this to turn out to be a trap, so he leaned in when she seemed... prepared, however strange it was to see those eyes go black, something that was often a bad sign in Equestria.

Perhaps unexpected to those viewing from with-out, they both slumped more than expected upon making the connection, slipping over eachother's shoulders for balance, likely more unconcious than they were supposed to be... though familiar qualities of the melding would still be seen.

---

On their side though, the world had gone dark, slowly illuminating to form something akin to a night-scape, albeit barely visible, and nearby, between, was standing something that resembled this 'night-scape' in the shape of an equine much larger than 'he' was, bright enough compared to the rest of the area that it stood out, and nearly featurely save for it's darker eyes...

Otherwise, it seems there was invisible solid ground to stand on, and both were present unscatched, though the equine was missing his armor and suit now, revealing him more clearly as a nearly white furred pegasus with a firey mane and tail, and bright ice blue eyes. She might not be familiar with quadrupedal species like his, but there was well trained muscle tone under that fur, something that in most species was a clear indicator of intense training.

Of course, 'he' was looking at the thing to the side, and eventually spoke in a tone perhaps younger and less authoritative than one would expect of a leader. "Welp... that was what I was afraid of..."

Once the meld had started, Linass found herself in a darkened landscape. Instead of her armor she defaulted to what she normally wore.
In front of her stood the quadruped alien. Though unlike in the waking world where he was clothed. Here he wore nothing. Since the Asari are considered the masters of the mind she knew the feeling when a third party was there. For now though she would ignore the presence and continue on with first contact.

Now that they had now become effectively one being she understood him clearly when he spoke. "I'm glad that the meld was successful and we can understand each other, let us ignore the third party for now. Let's instead focus on the sharing of our language."

Said Equine seemed to be... 'mildly' startled by hearing her, or rather, by 'understanding' her so clearly, head snapping to the side to stare at her with some surprise at first, though it quickly mellowed out as things became more clear, and he quickly replied "Ignoring them is not a bad idea, but I should inform you that it is a dream guardian serving my patron, It protects us and informs her when something tries to tamper with our minds... It's lack of aggression is evidence enough that this 'Meld' is harmless, though it is also why we have been pulled into a dream-scape. of course, 'she' will likely be joining us soon."

Linass nodded her head. "Ah so that is what the last part of the message meant. It was confusing to say the least." Pausing for a moment as she gathered her thought. "Honestly a lot of this is unknown to me. Normally during a meld its two people. Unless its a three way meld of course. But mind guardians? Unheard of from where we from." A smirk appeared on her face. "And as to why this is benign. Well it is how we reproduce among my species. But do not fret. I will not become with child to do so would involve a lot more work. This was just the fastest way for us to give you our language, well at least mine."

Onyx nodded as well "Indeed, that's what it meant, it would've taken a little long to draw a proper depiction instead... and I suspect that protection is the source of this unknown portion." There was an inevitable blush though, when 'reproduction' had been mentioned, but he calmed down quickly when she clarified it away. "Ohhh, I see... I've never actually heard of something that bred through mental contact like that."

Linass gave another smile. "You most likely have never heard of it since my race are the only ones that can do it. To skip the biology when we meld to reproduce we can choose what genes to give to our offspring." Waving her hand. "But lets skip all that, that is neither here nor there."

He nodded softly to acknowledge the idea of moving on from the subject, interesting as it 'could' be, they had more important matters to discuss, both of them moving closer to sit a few feet from eachother, and with a smile he agreed. "indeed, bridging the language barrier will be vital before we part, at least to some degree. one of my greatest concerns so far has been the lack of effective communication leading to an eventually aggressive resolution." He stopped there before he got too rambly, and let her continue on uninterupted.

Once she sat herself on the 'ground' she looked at the alien. "Does all of your species come in such colors?" She somewhat blurted out. "Apologies for that. For being almost six hundred years old I still act like a maiden at times. Let's start over. My name is Linass T'Kaana and I'm a Asari. My other three companions are Ghalo Sangeral, he the one with four eyes and he is a Batarian. The large one is Jorgal Valak and he is a Krogan. Then Finally the one that leads us is Elijah Messener, he's the one with the single glowing eye and he is a Human. The other human found our ship so I do not know who he is except that his name is Escotto. What about yourself?" Linass said turning the question to him with a serene smile.

Her introductions of her companions was quick, and he attached names to each of the creatures he remembered seeing... a small snicker and a grin crossing his lip "Escotto... that must be the one that tried to give me a carrot and got Tackled by Amber in response... poor thing, Amber's 'voracious' after using a lot of energy, heheh... and yes, we come in 'all' the colors... all of them." He'd been taking the time mentioning that to process something else she had mentioned though.

"Yes Escotto. From my understanding of Human biology. He is very young, not even a adult." She shook her head. "It is obvious the child has never thought that his actions do have consequences. Despite him not being a part of our group we offer our humblest apologies for his transgressions." A short bow of her head followed suite.

He chuckled then and waved his hoof "it's alright, I know, the young will do foolish things... honestly, I'm older than I certainly look, for good reason, and I still do foolish things... heheh, if you never do 'anything' foolish, then life just feels too serious!... heheh, considering that our forest has been threatening to kill you, we can 'at least' let that go anyway, especially given the potential consequences of riling up the Everfree forest, hoo!... besides, it was funny seeing Amber buzzing around with him" A small smirk joined her then "And I don't know his language anyway, unless you're speaking 'human' at least.

A small chuckle followed "Although i'm unsure of how well it will translate, we'll have to adapt to some degree, I don't think we have the proper biological structure to speak eachother's languages fluently, but it will still be a boon to understand eachother.. . plus, this offer an oppurtunity for me to clearly share some important information about out world, heheh, which you're clearly not from."

Another laugh graced past her. " Yes the young will do such things. Luckily I'm three hundred years too old for such nonsense. And no we are not speaking the 'human' language. I speak a variant of the Asari language known simply as Illium standard. But several of our people speak it so you shan't be waning on conversation. Yes it will be very vital for you to at least understand 'one' of the many languages spoken by the crew of the Verrikan. "

"as for language, it is going to be simple at least for us. We have a tool that is simply called an omni-tool they work as translators. Once we have your language we can program our omni-tools and probably make a few simple omni-tools for you to use. Though they will not be connected to the extra or have any combat functions they will at least allow you to communicate with us." She said bringing up a mental image of a omni-tool

It was a fascinating piece of technology that she demonstrated, though as far as his eyes could guess it might as well be conjuration magic for all it's appearances... he certainly didn't know what an 'extranet' was, and he had no need of it's combat abilities. "That sounds incredibly useful! Though I imagine it's going to take a bit of time to... 'program' them. I'd be willing enough to supply my language for it, though it may require some additional examples, some ponies speak in different ways, or with unusual accents."

Linass gave Onyx a look. "Young one, programing this omni-tool will be child's play. As for the accents it shouldn't be that difficult. The omni-tool is a very simple machine." She said with a smile, though paused for a moment. "Although, The potential consequences of riling up the Everfree forest? I believe our ship could handle it. Child, nothing short of a bullet traveling at almost the speed of light would hope to penetrate its armor." She said in a condescending tone.

His knowing smirk hinted at something she was underestimating about the forest though, and he brought the subject back for a moment. "However, One of the greatest rules around here for centuries has been not to piss off 'or' underestimate the forest... there's... 'something' there, the princesses either don't know, or are keeping it hidden for good reason so the forest can protect 'other' secret, but it empowers the forest and it's creatures in strange ways... for instance, this." He waved a hoof to the side and an image appeared.. it seemed he knew a thing or two about dream imagery at least. "Is a cockatrice." it was a really goofy looking creature, like someone had fuzed a chicken with a lizard in a wholely unnatural way. "It can turn it's victims to stone, though I suppose it's possible that with your strange armor, it's inability to actually 'see' your body's may prevent this." He paused to tap his chin... then seemed to realize something "Oh, i'm rambling, and we may not have too long, my apologies!"

He cleared his throat "To be more immediately relevent, what has been attacking you so far are called timber-wolves, quite literally 'made of timber', the big one is a bit more complicated, most just call it a king timberwolf, but magically speaking it's more like a 'forest vein', the crystal at it's core that allows it to manifest such size with stability is some kind of living thing from inside the forest... now, I say 'vein', because that is among the smaller sizes of them. It hasn't been seen in mine or a dozen generations, but my patron has shared imagery and memories from the last time a forest 'heart' was enraged..." There was a rush of color behind him, 'far' behind him, and something akin to an entirely forest come to life in the shape of a wolf appeared... this one was much larger than the ship. "Destroying the vein could likely have awoken something much worse... And I'm not sure if it needs to penetrate your armor in order to simply crush it, or if it endures, then burying it in the ground that will crumble around it from the force."

A pleasant smile returned then "Luckily, the forest is neither mindless nor rabid, and it knows 'we' don't intend it harm as long as it stays in it's own territory, and likewise, the vein surviving and our presence makes it question if the threat it perceived in you may have been poorly assumed... at least, that's my guess, I've never interacted with it personally." He dispelled the titanic image then.

When onyx brought the image of the cockatrice, she cocked her head at it. "How can one such creature turn a person to stone? That is not scientifically possible....Though if what you say is true when can just polarize our armor so they cannot see our faces." From what she could tell he seemed rushed for some reason. Perhaps it had something to do with his 'patron' showing up. "Magic? I don't want to sound condescending but magic is not real." She said at the mention of the king timberwolf. "Besides for the most part those beings were easy to kill. Though we will switch our ammunition to something different instead of incendiary." At the mention of the forest 'heart' waking and it crushing the ships armor, she gave a kind laugh. " I do not believe something other than another starship could destroy the ship. Though having it buried in the ground that would be somewhat of a challenge for us. Now that we have made our mark against this entity in the forest, do you believe it will attempt to make a move against us? Or have we quelled it for now?" She asked.

Her next question brought him a little chuckle, and he shrugged "there is some contention for how, but there is some form of magic production behind their eyes that produces a stone transmutation curse of sorts. It doesn't spread to trees and plants or anyone but it's target, so it's theorized to bet a specific abnormality based about turning 'flesh' to stone." However, her disbelief in magic caused him to grin delightedly. "And yet, our whole world has lived magic for longer than history has been recorded, perhaps it could be something other than what you understand to be a 'magic that doesn't exist'... Alas, we used out wings to generate fire and lightning only minutes ago, though I understand it more thoroughly than that, it certainly happened. I have seen many examples, too many to list now, hmhm."

A quizzical look passed her face. "Curses? Magic. I still do not believe it. I trust in science, no offense. But it isn't plausible. I mean even our biotics are easily explained." Disbelief lacing her voice.

He followed with a shake of his head though "I don't think it will have the time to make a move against you, shortly before this 'meld' I spotted Princess Celestia approaching the gorge behind the ship, She will likely be present by the time we awaken and convincing it to back down. It doesn't mean something feral from the forest might not attack eventually, Hydra, Manticore, maybe a local Dragon... with all the disruption these crashes have caused, I just hope it hasn't woken an ursa." He grinned a little though "And timberwolves are easy to break, but the magic saturating them makes them reconstruct rapidly when not destroyed, and allows their pieces to be used to build a bigger one by a forest vein... And yet, all you need to run them off, is loud high-pitched noises... I can only assume those weapons of yours didn't do so because the forest emboldened them to deal with a perceived 'threat'."

Shortly after he voiced those delayed thoughts "Although... humans... There's no confirmation of it not being merely half-baked crackpot theories, but there are quite ancient mentions of the word, extremely few mind you, but that is enough to fascinate those obsessed with 'maybes' and 'unknowns'... You should warn your leader then, about a minty green mare in the nearby town, she is... fanatical, about the idea of humans existing, and may potentially become... hrm... 'awkwardly interested' in him... and his hands... I don't quite understand it personally, but to each their own."

At the mention of humans being in their mythos and nonexistent an eyebrow rose. "That is very odd that you do have mention of them in your mythos. Since my crew does not like Escotto we ask of you not to tell him when we wake. It would be fitting punishment." A laugh escaped her.

After that he cleared his throat, straightening himself in an almost militaristically refined manner, though he maintained the smile, his tone came a bit more officially "I will keep in mind your companions, as for me, I go by Onyx Wing, for... Military reasons, I can't share my real name. I lead a team of Shadowbolts, which essentially operates as an unlisted high-tier threat management force serving the night Princess directly... She is the one who will likely be arriving soon, she keeps a close eye on external forces interacting with, or trying to, our minds, her sister will be arriving shortly to calm the forest as well. My Current companions go by Amber wing, the one currently gnawing on the human boy, and Ruby wing, the one who'd been singeing the images into the stone. The rest of my team spread out to other crash sites to try and get them under-control." He relaxed slightly then "That aside, it is a pleasure to meet you properly 'Linass T'Kaana', I hope this can all be concluded peacefully."

The theoretical eyebrow rose once again. "Military eh? Makes sense. A lot of our crew were prior military. Let us get a formal introduction in then." Standing up she gave a elegant bow. "We are The White Company. We are a small band of mercenaries. From pirates to Warlords to slavers. No target is too difficult for us. " Sitting back down she continued on. " Am I correct in understanding that you guys are considered your planets special forces then?"

"Although, You serve your Princesses? Why not the King and Queen?" She paused. "Nonetheless it seems we have a lot to learn about this planet. But once it again it is a pleasure to make all of your acquaintances and we hope that this can all be concluded peacefully as well. As well, For these other beasts you mentioned do they have any special quirks such as the timberwolf? And am I to assume that it'll be fine to defend ourselves against these beasts?" Linass asked.

He noted her 'formal' introduction and broadened his smile, his patron would likely approve of that "Actually, technically speaking, we are more like you in that respect, the Shadowbolts are 'officially' a mercenary organization that takes on less 'publically acceptable' jobs, or to read a bit more into that, carry out duties that either the leadership cannot be publically involved in, or are seen as too extreme for the standard guard or military forces." He raised a hoof to cough into with a playful smirk "our nation has not known war in centuries so... they're abit out of practice... we're the answer for things that are too far out of their current levels of experience." Then a small shake of his head "although, not this 'planet's' per se, but our nation's at least, and we're it's 'aerial' special forces, the less official ones, there are others for less airborne specialties. From a rogue Ursa to a disaster level hurricane, we're the ones to fix it, and our speed often sees us sent after most 'sudden' emergencies."

"Ah so black ops then." She said with a knowing smile. Then turned to confusion at the mention of there being no war for centuries. "How is that possible, without war stagnation happens. And thats not a good thing." She paused letting him continue. "What do you mean other species? Like other sentients? Athames Azure! This planet is full of wonders." She said.

Her greater disbelief at the idea of 'no war' brought a fresh chuckle "I guess you're from somewhere more heavy in conflict... though I should clarify, 'no war' doesn't mean there haven't been lesser skirmishes, threats on the loose, or violent encounters. There has just been no direct nation versus nation conflicts in many generations. There's still rogue monsters, heavens, the nearby town next to this forest is attacked 'weekly', like a bloody schedule. There's also the occasional 'ancient evil' that likes to come back... There was a reality warping mad-creature a few years back, then an invasion by bug creatures, an ancient tyrant escaped his prison, then a giant centaur thing that ate magic, and we don't even talk about when the 'smooze' returned... Heh, it's an exciting time we live in these days!" Then he perked up even more "And yes! other sapient species, though you'll likely find ours the most hospitable once they get to know you, and more skittish 'before' they do. There also Griffons, the minotaurs, the zebras, the crystal ponies, thestrals, changelings, dragons, centaurs, gargoyles, oh the list goes on."

She gave a hearty chuckle. " I wouldn't say heavy conflict. We haven't had a true war in a good while. The last open conflict was the 'First Contact War' as the humans called it. Though it only lasted a few months. But our various governments constantly have military operations going against pirates, slavers and their like. Thats in the Council Space. From where we operate out of is called the Terminus Systems basically lawless lands that are owned by Warlords, Pirates, Slavers and their like. Though mind you some of the Warlords are decent. But its like choosing a lesser evil over a greater evil."

As Onyx finished his list of the most recent 'conflicts' she once again shook her head in disbelief. " It almost sounds like some sort of fantasy book from what you are telling me. I almost don't want to believe it." Linass's eye almost 'popped' out one could say at all the sentients Onyx listed. "Athame's ass! Hold on, you're telling me your planet has ten different species of sentient life!? Our scientists would go crazy over this place." She laughed.

Then suddenly his smile became quite mirthful "Oh yes, there are 'quite' a few, however 'the princesses' are actually a subject i'd hoped we'd get to soon, given their eminent arrival. I imagine like our neighboring nations and other species, your's may have different structures from our own, and for good reason. It could take ages to be 'thorough', but i'll lay out the basics, and I don't even need imagery, heheh, you'll likely meet both of them soon enough."

"Princesses Celestia and Luna, are our highest Diarchs, they actually choose to use 'princess' instead of queen, or empress, or goddess, depending on how fanatical who you ask might be, as a show of being closer to their subjects... it seems silly to me that they would need do it such a way, but back then ponies were... simpler, superstitious, paranoid of power, and many other issues. To compact it into as few words as possible, though you may hear different versions or embellishments depending on the source, they are the immortal sisters, they united our species and founded the nation thousands of years ago, they guide the movement of the sun and moon around our world, and have lead the nation since it's inception. Celestia over-sees the day, the sun, and more often than not diplomacy and defense. While Luna over-sees the night and the moon, dreams, and usually military matters... The eclipse that rose in the sky shortly before this 'melding' is an ancient sign both of crisis, and to let the public know that they're personally seeing to it... Luna, by the way, is the shadowbolt's patron, and she will be joining us here before long."

He returned to a calm smile then, and just incase she got worked up over his description of them, he elected to clarify "You don't need to worry about any 'superiority complexes' or potentially deadly offense at benign things.... immortality, I hear, is very lonely and boring, interacting casually is among their preferences outside of exceedingly formal settings, though Luna will certainly seem quite 'imperious'." He paused to whisper teasingly "She likes to look the part of a nightmare when prepared for combat." Then returned to normal. "She will appreciate casual interaction when you're not an enemy." That he felt the need to mention it at all, hinted that reactions or assumptions had happened enough in the past to warrant it.

Linass decided not to comment on their form of government for she had no place to. She just nodded her head politely. " Good there are no royalty where we are from. Plus we are considered 'scum' from our home as well. So we only planned on acting casually. As for long age. Just ask any Asari or Krogan it gets quite tiresome after a thousand years. And how does one look like a nightmare anyway?" She asked.

He'd seemed to have skipped right over her mention of being 'centuries' old, and the specific language she mentioned, and while one might wonder why, they wouldn't wonder long.

"Like this?" That wasn't 'his' voice this time, it was something else, womanly, rich, powerful, one might very well associate it with a disney villain's tone of casual disdain for lesser beings, if it weren't for the slightly mirthful tone and playful inflection... of course, the source made itself known quickly, fading into being
, accompanied by the sensation of an exceedingly old and powerful mind slipping into the dream-scape, though it was up for guesses if it became involved with the melding or simply the scape that they were seeing in... It was also very tall, more than her krogan friend, if by a small margin. Remarkably darkly
furred, armored, with a mane and tail that looked to be made of the galaxy itself, and eyes that glowed like stars... And a mouth full of fangs

"It is pleasant to find at least 'one' potential crysis was already being resolved peacefully before I had to step in." She quieted for a moment to glance between them "I can only assume the calm interaction I see is confirmation that there is no threat here." Her tone lightened up considerably at least, but her presence remained somewhat over-bearing, even if it wasn't clear if this was purposeful or natural.

Linass felt another being enter the meld, but she did not feel how ancient and powerful it was, since for the Asari once they entered a meld there was no differentiating of ones age or 'power'. The other being that entered the 'meld' was a tall equinoid of unknown phenotype. This one though had wings and a horn. How peculiar! This one was wearing what would be considered ancient armor among the species of the her world same with the weapon. Though they looked very well crafted. "Aye what crysis there was; was easily averted by the help of your 'mercenaries'" She said with a graceful laugh. "And yes there is no threat currently, I initiated a meld with Onyx here, with his permission mind you. So we could share our languages to better communicate in the waking world." She said with a smile.

This alien's reaction to her... or, rather, the calmness and familiarity with which she addressed a complete stranger and in-fact alien, it was... unusual to her, but it brought a smile "Fascinating... With inference from the report I received, and the way you can remain so casual and open, you and your allies must be used to meeting new species... Though your dismissal of magic as imaginary is somewhat concerning, given that your ship was preserved by a mass wave of solar magic before you crashed." She shook her head slightly and her wings shrugged "Nevermind, that is irrelevant, if no threat is posed, then I shall relax." And like that the 'nightmare' melted away, leaving a noticeably smaller and more... 'adorable' mare standing there, barely taller than the stallion she initiated the meld with.

The voice that came now was both refined, but younger and lighter in tone, if still very 'official'. "Now then, I can answer some of those questions I heard while observing, since I interupted them." After a short clearing of her throat. "There are actually 'dozens' of sapient species on this world, there are others living on my moon as well, and more still in the prison plane of Tartarus. Our's is among the most advanced however, and those that Onyx mentioned are the other with the greatest semblance of civilization on a 'nation' scale. Many others are single tribes, or large villages instead kingdoms... though there 'are' others farther beyond that few encounter due to distance."

"As for those 'beasts'... Yes, you are free to defend yourselves as you like, it would be unfair to expect you to disarm in the face of a threat, though if they flee it will be best you don't pursue, it could just as easily be a lure for a trap. As for special qualities... Dragons are either massive and solitary, and thus extremely durable, or smaller and traveling in groups with a remarkable disdain for, hrm, 'lesser species' that they have yet to grow out of... Manticores are not too difficult alone, large flesh and blood, but their stinger's are highly poisonous and they often hunt in packs, they are also quite intelligent for an 'animal'... Hydra's are roughly the size of a barn, 'before' you factor in the necks that are longer than their bodies, Five heads, each capable independantly of spew acids or anything else they've consumed, and removing one head will not sufficiently hinder them... they 'are' however, quite stupid and prone to tying themselves up."

---

@Lugia@Rune_Alchemist@ninja@double

The pair of smaller quadrupeds had simply been following along behind the larger dark one as she addressed the other aliens that were present, as well as Astral... at least, until her captive suddenly burst into flames and scattered around her.

She of course had been patiently listening to his explanation, and just about the time he finished her 'passenger' burst into flames. She

jumped at this and quickly vanished from view in a puff of that familiar dark cloud, of course anticipating an attack, and quickly reformed a short distance away, quite ready to resume the fight... only to find an inert pile of ashes there and-not quite inert actually, there was a sense of... 'dreaming' coming from it, wonderful, so this wasn't even a normal 'dragon', it had to be hard to kill too.

Alas, she still had some other things to deal with at the moment, so rather than interfering more immediately, she directed one of her observers to peek in on these 'dreams', while she took some time to light her horn and gather up the ashes in her magic, while similarly summoning a seemingly innocuous trash-bag to contain it all in... a fire-proof durability enchanted one of course, a common item to find when one lives with things that tend to spontaneously immolate or tear things.

Once that was secured, for the moment, she returned her attention to Astral, for all the world looking unphased by bagging up a combusted criminal... she'd taken note of how he was quite respectful, talkative, and straight to the point, perhaps to a degree that she, like her sister, was quite familiar with and had long since perfected disinterest in the groveling portion... though she was pleased he seemed a bit less ready to plaster his face into the dirt at a moments notice. "Indeed it seems not... ours do not tend to affect the weather nor electrocute themselves to heal either. But I have this one under control, as for you..."

She pondered her reaction to his information, quickly, logically... "This information will prove quite useful, and save us some trouble, as well your dedication to your craft is commendable, though the potential risk of a meteorite is considerable, you are either quite skilled, or somewhat foolish to rush off without assistance to ensure your safety... That said, your initiative may prove invaluable as well, I must assume that your continued health implies they lacked a hostile intent, and that you've had some success communicating if you're certain of the circle's use, even if only partial... It would be prudent to have you direct me to this vessel however, it is possible they may come for a fight if they think their companion is in danger, and I believe-"

She went stone still suddenly, widening her eyes a bit and straightening up... something she would not admit publically about her position as immortal royalty, it had left her unused to casual contact outside of her family or close friends, the sudden sensation of something in her mane led her to turn her gaze back and find that rather voluminous mane subjected to the alien's touch, nuzzling it, rubbing it, brushing it... it sent a shiver into her scalp and down through her spine.

It may or may not be a foreign experience for her, that mane flowed like water to the eye, and with a close inspection there appeared to be only that, it was like gazing into the blackness of space with no protection yet no harm... to the touch though, it was an anomaly, like hair floating in water it slid off instead of clinging, yet it somehow combined with the sensation of grasping at nothing, water flowing around her fingers, and something like a cloud wrapping around her contact... It was as if it existed in several states combined, or perhaps it was an illusion of the grandest quality...

Either way, it was more common to her than a strange alien plastering their face into her mane, though it did not seem to be threatening so she... 'tolerated it'... if barely. "Why does this remind me of 'The Pink one'?"

As if, and quite possibly literally, on cue "You called?!" A familiar high pitched eternally playful voice sounded out from... within her mane? To the ebon it may have almost sounded like carnival music... why? how? who the fuck knows, the pink one commeth, and reality trembles in her wake!

All the more clear as she suddenly produced herself from within that nebulous mane, latching onto the Ebon's face and giggling madly "I knew there were new ponies out here! but you're not a pony are you? Even better! new not pony friends to make! Oh high mister no-fun!" Though other's may have made it sound like an insult, she sounded as innocently playful even saying that...

Alas, she descended, as oft was the case, into unintelligable rambling for a few seconds before vanishing back into the ether within Luna's mane, pulling Shael partially back into it before contact vanished entirely as soon as she couldn't see her anymore, prompting the mare to turn back towards Astral with a low snort... "Shall we simply pretend that did not happen and progress to ensuring our... 'visitors' are not rallying for a rescue?"

---

@hellotraveler

The forest in this area was dead-silent, though vines and roots could be seen encroaching on the crash-site and the trench it left behind, a different distance plume of smoke could be seen, and the mountain in the distance had many flashes coming from it... Of course, more important was the thing before it.

It was certainly quite a sight, a vessel of design so foreign no creature on this planet could ever have seen one, most could only guess at the functions of it various pieces. There was also a great deal of activity around it, it's crew obviously on high alert and skittering about the crash site to ensure it's safety and check the damages...

It was a pot-luck whether or not they might notice the one watching them from afar, but there was always the option of approaching for a closer look...

The Zea of Worlds

---

@lugia@double@Rune_Alchemist
[This was collaborated in PMs with Lugia]

She had been fairly certain that she made it clear with the imagery that if he continued his aggression and made himself a threat to the smaller ponies she'd crush him, but for whatever reason, whether he just wanted a fight, was utterly mad, or misinterpreted her display, it confused her enough thinking about it that his strike landed perfectly, square in the jaw, forcing her head up... a few inches before it stopped, if he was watching he could see her neck flexing to resist the force of it and turn her muzzle down a bit so that he could see...

A bit of blood made itself known leaking from her lips before her tongue, far from 'equine' in it's almost reptilian style, glowing blue even, snapped out to lick over her lips and clean it up... then her jaws parted, revealing horrifying rows of razor sharp teeth that had no business fitting in her mouth like that, giving him a horrifyingly gleeful bloody grin. Suddenly, she pivoting in place, jerking her muzzle free of his strike and letting her wing shoot out 'lightning fast' as well, albeit much closer than his charge had been, and if he dodged her spin would put her in the perfect position for a double-buck to the rear with considerably longer range than her wing had, the force of which caused a tremor in the ground and cracks in the stone where here fore-legs were supporting her weight, and a rush of wind to follow it.

"HA! Gotcha!" Trevor shouted as his uppercut worked just as 'planned'... of course, at that moment, the horselike thing revealed an absolutely draconic set of teeth and a similar tongue. Considering what he saw, before, Trevor was almost certain this was some sort of illusion, or something, and she was trying to intimidate him with that... and, just after her grin her wings shot out, and she spun around, which caused Trevor to use this time to sidestep and grapple her, tossing her to the ground... of course, what came next, Trevor didn't expect, even though he probably should have. The thing kicked him square in the face, sending him back, and even causing the loss of a couple teeth. If he hadn't already claimed ice as his mortal enemy, blunt force would have been that, due to his avian bones. "Hey... not bad," he commented, trying to make it seem like it didn't do much, though, the slight slur in his speech gave away the fact that the kick did, indeed hurt.

After being donkey-kicked by a creature much stronger than a donkey, Trevor used his lightning magic to heal him... and to save it up for a thunderstorm, which would start right after he was healed up. Trevor had absolutely NO idea whether the thing was strong to, or weak to electricity, but it was at least worth a try, given that the rain in the area quite literally dampened any fiery plans he might have had.

His reaction time was impressive, certainly, but the sensation of a connected buck and the inevitable feeling of blood on her hooves from the damage was both satisfying and gave her useful information about how durable his body was, similarly to how his demonstration of self electrocution allowed him to regenerate the damage... so clearly she was either going to have to force him into surrender, unconciousness, or a more permanent state of silence.

By the time he'd finished healing she'd righted herself and turned back, standing tall with something of an imperious glare on her muzzle, though the satisfied smirk told how unphased she was by a proper fight. She waited a moment and watched as he seemed to 'charge' something, an eyebrow raised and she simply stared as nothing happened... She did 'not' assume that it was nothing, it was never nothing unless the opponent was a 'fool'... she was proven right with the sensation of magic surging down at her, she spread her hooves and snapped her wings outs... wings that sparked lightly, something attracted the bolts to them, seeming to curve in mid-air as they struck her wings directly, visibly arcing through and into her body before dispersing into the ground, cooking the grass or water near her hooves, but aside from going stiff and a little twitch here or there she didn't seem too put out by it, her expression didn't even change from a calm smirk... "An impressive voltage..."
.
Which widened slightly, he'd escalated it from a physical confrontation to a magical one now didn't he? Her eyes flashed bright blue for a moment, and her horn lit up with that tell-tale starry aura... then the air began to grow colder, the clouds that had come both from before to put out the fires, and now to facilitate the lightning, began to freeze and dissipate before turning turning into a rain of hail... thousands of tiny ice-balls being directed at her scaley opponent in waves of varied size, each one 'just' cold enough to freeze, but warm enough to shatter on impact and spray it's impact zone with tiny cold shards... first rule of fighting dragons with magic, chill them out.

The horse smiled when the lightning bolts started hitting her... and they seemed to do nothing, with her just grounding it out with her wings and the dirt under her. She said... something that he couldn't understand and then it grew colder around him... he had to act fast if he didn't want to freeze to death, and, while he REALLY didn't want to do this in what he thought was a fair and friendly fight, Trevor flew up a little bit, and performed his flame drill attack, both to keep the hail and cold away from him, AND to damage his opponent, though, he was SPECIFICALLY aiming for a non-fatal area, and he didn't want to permanently cripple her, either, so he wasn't aiming for her wings. Once that was done, he found the entire world spinning around him... yup, that move packs a punch, but BOY does it make it hard to do things afterwards... he just started throwing punches everywhere after that, hoping that she was around here, somewhere. Of course, without his fiery shield around him, he started getting hit with hail, and the colder temperatures, though, he'd occasionally breathe fire to TRY to mitigate that.

Trevor... HATED it when he got motion sickness, and by now, he almost felt ready to puke, but there was NO way he was going to give up after that. After taking a break, and healing himself with another jolt of energizing lightning magic, he looked around to find his opponent, and then flew up to her, just to pick her up again... though, this time, he took her up into the air, only to try to slam her down... of course, he knew she had wings, so he'd have to 'aid' her decent with a gravity-aided kick to the back... of course, again, he didn't WANT to use this move, but he figured that she could take him going all out, by now, so he wasn't TOO worried.

She actually chuckled a little as he at first avoided the hail by spinning and burning, not a bad idea, but she knew from experience that she could keep this up well until he'd frozen to death... Then he launched at her from the air while he was still spinning, She wasn't sure if he could even 'see' through the fire, and counted on that as she dispersed 'herself' to mist before he landed, refforming quickly on the other side of him to watch him wobble around dizzily for a moment... She'd stopped though...

...

This was turning out dissapointingly... That first strike had made her consider that he was capable of doing damage and being an entertaining fight while she was fulfilling her duty of suppressing his threat... and yet, he appeared to be petering out quickly... she stared quietly for a moment as he shocked himself again to straighten out his dizzy state, then he came for her again... honestly, her heart wasn't in it anymore, but she 'was' kindof impressed that he'd managed to lift her into the air, that was a 'LOT' of mare to be hefty around then dragging back to the ground... thing was, this time when he went to kick her towards the ground, she burst into that purple mist again, something which clung to his out-stretched legs like glue before jerking him down as well and sending him into the ground before moving about to hove in the air...

Well, Trevor didn't think he'd ever see THAT ability... as he was trying to slam her on the ground, she just sort of... poofed. She disappeared, causing him to have to slow down before he, himself crashed into the ground without someone to soften the landing. "Aw, now that's no fun, teleporting around like that, can't you just fight normally? Hmph," Trevor then decided to try to use his thunderstorm move, again, just to try to reveal where she was, but... it didn't happen. It would appear as if Trevor has run himself out of magic in the middle of this fight, and that was NOT going to go well for him... of course, just as one last thing, he waited for her to reappear, and once he spotted her, dashed at her, full speed, grappled her, once again... and then just PUMMELED her for a while, mainly out of spite. Once he grew tired of that, he backed away, and tried to search for some sort of healing item that'll heal up his magic, once again...

Of course, him digging through his bag left him WIDE OPEN for any sort of attacks that someone might be planning, especially after taking a pummeling, not that Trevor had much of a choice... without his magic, he can't heal himself with energize, and without magic, he'd be limited to his most basic attacks of each type... of course, that pummel took up the last of his magic resources, but, it was, in his opinion, probably a 'good' parting gift.

She simply watched from... somewhere... it'd be hard to describe to one who hadn't experienced it, but he seemed to be looking for another chance to get at her... so she elected to conjured herself... or, a dummy version, somthing he went for immediately... heavens, the poor thing must have no clue what he was actually doing, he just battered it for a while before retreating to search through his bag for something... this was the perfect oppurtunity, and all she did was... 'manifest'.

She solidified in the air above him, four legs spread out and wings closed, and 'dropped'... Doesn't sound very fancy... but that was literal 'tons' of horse that crashed down ontop of him suddenly, and topping it off was that she was even heavier than she looked, likely some sort of density effect to her body... either way, it resulted in him being buried in the dirt beneath her, the ground cracking from the impact, and a sensation mixing pain and frigid chill from coming in prolonged contact with her body, not to mention the ground shaking the intense landing.

Moments later she picked herself up, used her wings to brush off the loose dust and dirt, and then in a glow like writhing night-mass peeled him out of the indention in the ground, logically removed the bag he'd been fishing through, presumably for some kind of weapon, and tossed it over her shoulder in a specific direction, where it was quickly caught in mid-air by the bat-winged quadruped... After slinging it on their shoulder they seemed to proceed to squirm comically in the air, as if gushing over the night-mare.

After a few moments more she positioned him in the ground, laid out, legs and arms bound by quickly conjured stone-cuffs, enchanted to provide 'just' enough chill to render most dragons lethargic without actually endangering their health... Then turned about to address the two closer ponies, quietly enough for none to hear it, before they nodded and zipped off into the sky.

She then proceeded to heft the dragon thing onto her back, using her wings to pin him in place, and quickly addressed the shadowy apparition in some voice tone that seemed to defy language norms for any known time-period... It receded, and she turned to-Find that there was another pony present, one who hadn't been sent here. For a moment her eyes narrowed on him... As experienced royalty she was 'expected' to know prominent figures around the nation, at the 'least' by name, but she did not keep track of any who were not permanently in canterlot, or of 'personal' interest.

"Astral Gleam? What are you doing down 'here'? Every instance I have heard of you places you in the Crystal Empire, much too far to have arrived here so quickly..." Her tone hinted at suspicion beyond just 'being where he shouldn't', perhaps she thought he was a changeling impersonating someone who couldn't possibly be here already... It wasn't inherently accusatory, but she was keeping the possibilities in mind.

---

@rune_alchemist@double
The whole display may have been quite exciting to such a foreign visitor, a display of power, speed, of sound routing of a disruptive ruffian! It was over rather quickly though.

Who knew if it would stay as interesting when the tall nebulous equine's features settled on 'her'... it's eyes widened a bit upon noticing her... this creature that had revealed itself had the look of something night-born, it could simply be assumptive of her, but the coloration... She also noted the strange bipedal machine nearby, both of which were terribly out of place here.

Regardless, she quickly looked back to the pony with a short "And 'what' are 'these' creatures?" Though to a foreign ear it merely sounded akin to a dark orchestra playing through one's voice.

---

@evanist
The sudden shriek by one of the 'following critters' caused the bundle of creatures to stop, the big one slowly turned it's body so that it could look behind itself at the noise... It's expression seemed to be permanent blank disinterest, but one could guess as to whether it was 'made' that way or if he felt that little interest.

The other two reacted a bit more noticeably, the feline thing stretching at it's sappy trappings to try and get a better view while it's eyes zeroed in right on some of the creatures hiding in the trees. While the automaton's head spun around as if on a 360 joint to stare backwards, metallic 'facial parts' clinking into a new position that appeared to suggest curiosity.

"I-say. That-sown-ded like a whip... or will."
"Stupid, it's those things I said were following us, they smell even more foreign than this forest!" He whispered something low enough not to be heard from a distance.

The clay thing's expression changed in such a minute way it would take a truly sharp eye to catch the tiniest eye-brow raise. "No. Such. thing... Will. just. ask... pussy. tactics. waste. time." As the giant was turning there was a hissy scrabbling on his back "Oh yer a nice one to be talkin about wasting time, yer slow like mud already!"

He seemed to go ignored as the big one looked in the general direction the feline thing had been looking, who still glared over that broad shoulder... Then his voice sounded out with more bass, if that was possible, as he spoke louder "Are. you. survivors? or stalkers?" Interestingly enough, he maintained a slow but steady pace towards the mountain even now, simply walking backwards.

---

@rangingwolf[@wanderingblackdragon]

It seemed to add further satisfaction to the lead quadruped's expression when the alien's leader seemed to be agitated by this strange biped's odd and mildly insulting behavior, otherwise he paid the boy no mind... though Amber's persistent lack of extracting more carrots from the strange creature's carrot dispenser was starting to cause him to spark a little here and there, not painfully, but it added an odd tingle to his contact.

They weren't aware of whether they fully interpreted the images properly, but they figured 'something' out at least as they spent a while talking amongst themselves, adding more chance for observation... on both sides actually, for one, the quadrupeds weren't even phased by the Eclipse that had manifested in the sky, something that historically would send more primitive species into a panic with how quickly it appeared.

He'd surely noted the aggressive stance of one in the back and return of what must've been a weapon when signaled by their superior. The reactions to them revealing their faces told tiny stories of their own, as it seemed the tall blue one was oddly exuberant about seeing them. He wasn't sure what to make of the big one's reaction, but their leader's 'wonder' was evident in tone, even if his words were as good as gibberish.

"Well, at the very least we can report that they aren't 'looking' for a fight, and that they can understand basic image communication." He watched closely as the leader used a stick to doodle his own bit, though at first he was considering a 'no' because the image looked like he was asking about fire, the demonstration-

At first is caused him to tense up, his wings flaring a few inches as an instinctive reaction to a potential threat, but the lack of aggression quickly cooled it down as the question became more apparently... and he simply nodded to his companion, who returned to doodling next to Elijah's image.

It was hopefully simple and clear enough, she drew a more definitive example of the ball he's formed, emphasizing it's spherical shape and darking a portion to differentiate it's coloring, with a familiar 'not equal' mathematics symbol connected to a clearer doodle of 'fire', to insinuate that it's not the same as fire. Then followed with a short arrow pointing to a similar doodle just before, with an equal symbol and a check-mark, for it being 'okay' as long as the first statement was true.

The drawings that followed from the alien's though were a bit... disconcerting, it wasn't perfectly clear what it meant, but it was undeniably involving some kind of mental connection that, one could assume, would lead to better communication. It caused an obviously worried expression in the one who'd been doing the doodling as she looked back to her superior... he seemed pensive on the matter for a few moments, before stepping forward himself, there appeared to be some protests from his companion, but he shrugged them off with some sort of reply that calmed her...

He did however, light up his own feather and add a little bit to the drawing of their connected minds, a line that passed over the the front of 'his' side of the connection, as if shielding his side of it, and drew a second short line to a hastily doodled image of the moon with an eye 'watching' the exchange... It was considerably easier than trying to draw his patron clearly, and he hoped it got the message across that 'something' was watching over them...

Perhaps quite boldly then he moved over to make himself available to the blue one that he assumed the drawing referred to.

The Zea of Worlds

Captain Cloak's Crew

[HR]
@Evanist

As the avali party started to make their way into the forest, they may or may not notice the ship experiencing a number of vines trying to crawl up it's surface from all sides, it was quite obvious yet that it wasn't just made so from the crash, but they were definitely moving.

Otherwise, the large creature they were following, or trying to pass around in order to search for one of their pods, didn't seem to react to their presence... although, it wouldn't be too hard to hear one of the bipeds on it's back hissing irritably. "Hsssss!... This is so wrong! How did we get sap on us anyway? and the 'captain' escaped it? and something is following us, 'I'm' supposed to be the stalker!-MrrlllSSSSH!!! I can't believe i'm glued to your back, this is going to 'ruin' my fur!"

"Not. Problem. No. Attack. No. worry. Shut. up. or. be. useful." The gravely voice clearly came from the big one that was lumbering along... they didn't sound like they had a plan for where they were going, but considering they were heading towards a mountain that had clearly had a big ship crashed on it, it was likely they just weren't talking about it...

With a close look, it became apparently 'what' they were... 'one' was a huge humanoid, a titan of a 'man' that appeared to be literally sculpted from living clay, lumbering along with slow diliberate movements, and adorned only in very plain pants.

On his back was some kind of feline looking creature, guessing from what little was visible beyond it's thoroughly covering over-coat and other bits of clothing, with it's tail absolutely furiously lashing about in agitation. The other was a brassy looking humanoid made of metal, perhaps easily identified as some form of automaton, dressed in a suit.

They were both 'glued' to the big one's back it seemed, thick wads and strands of a sticky light brown substance were allover them with no clear reason 'why' or 'how' it had happened, they weren't even scraped up...

---

[@nevikr]

The creature he was following was pretty obvious, being all red, though once he got closer it was a bit more clear, buckles and belts ever-where, long sleeves, fashionable embellishments, a wide hat... whatever it was, it was 'thoroughly' covered and concealed by it's clothing, and was designed to be so.

Interestingly, there was an odd energy that only his magic sense could see, though it was 'barely' visible, as if it was just on the very edge of what the spell had been designed to detect. whatever it was, it wafted out of every open space it could, the wrists of it's sleeves and gloves, the ankles of it's boots and pants, between the buttons, but especially from the collar where it's face was concealed.

It didn't 'seem' to react to his presence there, invisibility or not, not 'directly' anyway, but it did turn around to investigate behind it as if it had heard something... firey red/orange eyes could be seen glowing under the hat and scanning the surroundings for a moment before it turned back and continued walking, of course, near the closest crash site as well, it was likely investigating the most recent craterous explosion that had been heard.

---

Shadow Bolts

---

@Rune_Alchemist@Ninja@lugia

The creature didn't seem to pursue Shael any farther than the castle's grounds, seemingly having put all of it's focus on the more aggressive threat that had made itself known... At least until the shadows started to dissipate, the swirling night-mass vanishing in puffs of mist and the 'nightmares' along with it, though the Conjured Beryllius remained in and outside of the Castle itself, with the original creature still standing in it's door-ways...

More importantly, with the shadows dispelled it became apparent what was going on beyond it... It didn't become 'night' again, but rather the sun continued moving these last few moments until it was behind the moon, forming a controlled eclipse that dimmed the lighting on Equestria without making it too dark to see easily. It was an ancient signal for a 'state of emergency' and though it hadn't been seen in centuries, it was common knowledge in schooling, aside from just being an intimidating display, it ensured both princess's celestial bodies were in the sky, nearby, and able to be drawn on if needed, not to mention the strange magical synergy that accompanied it.

Case in point, now that the darkness had been expelled there were new creatures standing there, well, one was standing, the others were flying, those being strange hooved quadrupeds with long beak-like masks on, though one had feathered wings and the other leather wings, otherwise details about them were unclear, save that the feathered one appeared to be dripping water... and there were clouds and puddles scattered around the area.

Considerably more demanding was the larger one, standing nearly two feet taller than the dragon, It was a dark equine, pitch black, with a mane and tail of nebulous night-sky with firey 'dawn' on it's edges and and eclipse patterned light in it's eyes... if the original creature weren't still standing separate by the door, it might be questionable if it had just changed it's appearance, but 'it' was avoiding stepping into the sun-light for now, and in-fact had seemingly locked itself into a motionless prostration behind the new arrivals.

This one wore armor of a darker lavender, alongside an expression of calm authority... to a certain magically aware Ebon, this one may radiate a far greater volume of that familiar night-themed magical power than the Fear abusing guard-creature in the castle, "I have been informed that you have something of an 'aggression issue' when it comes to my subjects." She was aware of the probability of it being unable to understand her, and augmented her speech with simple image displays, a remarkably detailed charicature of the dragon appeared on the ground before her, a conjured image, it swung at the shadow image of several ponies that disspated harmlessly when struck, and was quickly followed by another similar image, except instead of shadow images it was images of actual ponies, complete with blood and claws in them, and imposing a grand red X over the scene. "Since you have not struck anything but imaginary clones, I will give you a chance to curb this issue."

She spoke with an intense authority, and even if he couldn't understand her words, there was a sense of uncompromising authority in the dark, orchestra like tones that emanated from her speech. "If you confirm yourself as a 'threat'." She conjured an image of him in an obviously predatory position over smaller ponies... Then proceeded to stomp the image herself, a motion that shook the ground far more intensely than her size implied it should, followed by simply narrowing her eyes as if to dare him to cross her...

Otherwise, she paid little mind to the robot or the other creature that seemed to be a source of magic nearby...

---

@Rangingwolf[@WanderingBlackDragon]

The hiss actually caused a bit of a twitch in the two quadrupeds that seemed coherent, the one in the lead raised a fore-leg a little... body language was another option for interpretation, but if they hadn't encountered anything as expressive as them that was likely to be a new field as well... similar could be said for the other side, though this world had 'sortof' bipeds, in diamond dogs and minotaurs, their physical structures were so wildly different it couldn't be assumed to translate accurately.

Either way, they calmed quickly when they realized it was just the removal of... 'armor'? It was quite a thing to see actually, they were obviously vastly different species, it wasn't hard at all to figure that out... it was an easy guess to imply they were a group of aliens working together, though they couldn't guess to what degree or why.

What they could infer was that each spoke a different language but somehow understood eachother, given the wildly different examples of speech that each one presented, leading the leader to run at the under-side of his head for a moment... He glanced back and made a motion with his head... the one half-lucid on the ground didn't react, but the still standing one nodded and reached up a hoof to raise their helmet, and the one in the lead followed suit.

... or at least, they'd been about to... then a carrot was poking at his mask... he knew, that one of his companions was staring dumbfounded through their mask at the audacity of this creature!... he however, knew something else was coming, and leapt to the side away from him in an instant, and 'why' became clear!

His half concious companion who'd been practically struck dumb by 'whatever' had zeroed in on the carrot and with speed fit for a Jet-engine fired off at Escotto's hand, his mask slipping up just enough to see a blue furred muzzle peeking under it, gaping wide almost in slow motion as it shouted "NNnnnoooommmmffff!!!!" before clamping down on the carrot with a thunderous 'clack' that vanished the entire thing, and came so close that it nipped the end of Escotto's finger-nail!

It didn't stop there, he latched onto the boy's arm and began to hungrily lick his fingers and hand in search of more carrot!... of course, 'he' wasn't aware at the moment of the effects that a couple hundred pounds of pony latching onto someone's arm mid-flight could do, like drag them into the ground and such.

Oddly, this display was only met with a dismissive roll of their eyes... or masks, from the other two, before they returned to the initial plan of reciprocating removing their masks.

They weren't nearly as fancy, and simply stretched on a fastener before sliding up to cling to the top of their heads, revealing much smaller muzzles beneath, fur, manes, and expressiveness on a level rarely seen in other species. Remarkably large eyes, flexible expressions that were quite obvious even with just two to look at, and and even evidence of gender dimorphism [I think that's the word for it XD], at least if the shorter, softer muzzle and longer eyelashes on the second one are a hint, compared to the broader thicker shape of the lead... either way, nothing had any business being that cute...

...Somewhere amidst this, Amber Wing had nearly dragged Escotto to the ground with his weight before flapping his wing to pull up while still latched onto him, instinctively dragging them back up right.

They still couldn't understand eachother yet, but... they could at least 'see' their mouths moving now. "Well, this is a step in the right direction, but we need to cross the language barrier to make sure they won't use any more fire around here." He looked pretty though for a long moment, even rubbing at his chin as he looked around... it 'might' have appeared that he might be ignoring the request to meet leadership, but he was just seeking inspiration... He actually spotted something familiar and firey dropping into the far end of the gorge that caused him to perk up, raise his hoof, and glance back to his second "I've got it, Ruby, the feather!"

"Gotcha boss!" She then proceeded to give them a rude gesture that could potentially be interpreted in any society that has apposable digits, but to then was known as 'flipping the middle feather'. Which earned her a swat in the head with his wing. "heheh-ow!-hehehehh, okay okay, hardass, heheh. I thought it was funny.""Meeee, toooo..." She stepped forward then before extending her wing and... igniting it... Or more specifically, something built up heat enough to ignite the air in contact with the largest pinion.

Amidst this Amber had continued flapping his wings, kindof dragging escotto by his arm as if trying to take off with him, but only causing himself to drop lower and flap back up again, all while still nibbling on his hand "More. more. more! gimme more! Hungry hungry hungry hungry pony!"

She then proceeded to singe doodles into the stone in-front of her while he rattled off an explanation, even if they couldn't understand, practice and experience was one of the most certain ways to permanently cross a language barrier, in time. "Alright, I dunno what you said yet, but we've got to get this through before 'anything' else. Do. not. use. fire. on the forest! or it's creatures!"

While he spoke, she quickly doodled some poor stick figure bipeds, with wolves and trees, and fire... In the first image, the bipeds used fire on the wolves, in the second the trees made big sound waves and a bigger wolf came out combined with vines and roots from the trees. In the third image it showed the bipeds breadking the core thingy that had been tossed into the gorge, and with an arrow to the next image, which she doodled much larger... It had a poor charicature of their ship and 'tiny' bipeds, along with a much 'bigger' wolf monster about to step on them... with a mountain doodled nearby for reference. And next to that she added a larger depiction of 'fire', with a bit X scorched over it. She then added one more little doodle, of the forest cowering... or perhaps bowing, and an example of the 'the sun' doodled above it.

It might not be easy to explain 'clearly', but hopefully it was clear enough that 'fire' would lead to a steadily escalating threat.

---

@thedman

The ships guns were making short work of the flying swarmers, there were just so many of them that it was only widdling down the swarm, and the fewer of them there were, the harder it would get for the guns to target the small things... still, there were pierces of them scattered allover the hull and ground in various states of disintegration. A couple of the bigger ones had managed to be eaten up by the guns before they could get below their range of motion and seemed to be holding on a bit better despite being full of holes, but were rendered impotent in terms of threat.

Some distance away the flying ship came down for it's forced landing... a glow emanated from the ring in it's center to cushion the landing so it wouldn't shatter said ring, and soon released the ship itself to rest on the stone, where the shield grew brighter in respond to the entirely predictable diversion of some of the swarm to pile onto the shield...

The marine's had something else to focus on however, and while the ship had been opening, something in the air slowed to watch as the crashed forces piled out to join the fight... information gathering was key, and it was quite a show to see how they fought. The swarming changelings were easily minced by... whatever they called those, they fired like cannons, but tiny and rapid, and the big ones... heavens, what 'was' it that they threw at those behemoths?!

Some might question firing anti-air missiles at targets that weren't flying, but as it happened they were plenty big enough to hit anyway, and it was astoundingly effect! Big and tough looking as they were, the missiles that sprayed them easily penetrated what armor they had, and the explosions dispersed huge chunks of the creatures, easily leaving the first several in pieces, or missing enough to be crippled... there were certainly more though, roughly half a dozen remained, and the arrival of a greater threat certainly deterred them from the ship, which one might note had visible caving in the armor from the behemoth's impacts.

Now though, the remaining numbers turned to charge the big metal things that had just splattered them.

Amidst this, something small from up in the air had zipped around far out of their firing angle, and using it's tiny size snuck up on the goliaths quite rapidly and... landed on one of them, right next to it's right weapon platform, staying safely out of it's line as it watched it in action... If one got a look at it, it'd look like a very large bird with four legs, far smaller than the big griffon that was fighting a behemoth, but wearing a similar beak shaped mask, and mumbling tiny flute like sounds oh. my. goodness! I can only get so wet! such marvels of weaponry! I MUST pick you apart and find out what makes you tick! oh, oh, but, nono jade, nono, no taking apart the strange alien machinery while it's fighting, that's mean and dangerous, but ohhhhh! I must find out what causes such DAMAGE! EEEEHEEEHEHEHEEEE!" It was practically prancing in place on the goliath's hull at this point, seemingly forgetting about the fighting entirely.

More importantly, the landed ship's shield changed properties, seemingly frying the swarmers attached to it, or repelling them at least as many flew off of it like a cloud of gnats, and in the next moment it dropped and re-raised, but not before launching several small green beams from it's deck towards the crashed ship...

The adjutant chimed in immediately *BWOOP!* "Warning, Sergeant, it appears that the unknown ship contains creatures visually similar to those attacking the ship! Though they appear to be under attack by the swarm as-"*BBWOOP!*"Warning! Secondary psionic wave-form detected approaching the bridge! It... has engaged the previous attacker and have already injured eachother."

---

back on the bridge!

It was quite a sight, though they had surely seen more horrifying creatures in the zerg before, being caught without armor or better weaponry with the non-combat crew had it's own issues...

Nevertheless, connecting with it's mind may not have been the best idea Specialist Lee had ever had, though he couldn't be blamed for ignorance of 'what' he was dealing with...

It was like a hurricane of psychic activity, one big one directing thousands of smaller ones of numbers he could witness dwindling even now, voices going back and forth were a constant, and above it all echoed the biggest in mid speech <-Will consume you all for the blood you have-FOOL!> It had barely been seconds before it caught on to his presence, and concealed or not it looked right at him, a noticeable snarl on it's face and an instant later a thousand voices were screaming through the connection he'd opened, it didn't seem interested in 'reading' so much as destroying the potential threat that could interact with it on that level!

With the voices every creature in the room seemed to multiply a dozen times over and flood the air while surging towards Lee, it was a sea of horrors with that big one's vicious glare at it's center, swirling around him, and flooding images of horrible mutilations rought upon him alongside the deafening screeches piling on into the connection... they didn't know who or what he was though, or if perhaps he 'had' the mental fortitude to resist something like this.

It didn't matter though, he only needed to last a couple of seconds it seemed, as the two concious crewmen opening fire distracted it considerably, without the central force behind it, while the assault continued it dimmed, slowed, became transparent in comparison, the screeching lowered enough to hear the sound of the guns...

It's shell was being rapidly cracked and broken away by the bullets pelting it, green blood could be seen leaking out, but it wasn't going to take it lying down, it's horn lit up and a sensation of intense psionic power could be felt for a moment before a visible wave surged towards to injured men...

Something interfered though, several smaller ones made themselves known, through the same hole as the big one entered, differently colored but there was no time to worry about that, two dropped down immediately on either side of the injured crewmen and light their horns, while the third soared right over with it's momentum... collectively, a counter-force pushed the psionic wave downinto the floor, though it caused their guns to be dragged to the floor with considerable force, it kept it from hitting them directly, and the third one pierced right through the wave to collide with the big one, though it hardly stumbled, it's glowing horn directed numerous shards of glass into it's wounded shell, and one 'big' one right into it's left eye.

The psionic flood directed at Specialist Lee died instantly there as it's attention was ripped violently to another threat, just intime for him to see a similar wave of force blast the attacker off of it and into a wall hard enough to leave it noticeably dented, it's strange insectoid speech had turned into furious screeching as it prowled it's way towards the seemingly downed assailant...

He'd also get to see the other two, one with pink secondary colors, and the other light blue, using their own projected force to 'carefully' keep the injured men pinned in place while they... extracted the glass shards? and covered over the wounds with some kind of goop colored similarly to themselves. The pinned men looked horridly frightened of this situation, but they didn't appear to be brutally murdering them like one would expect.

The Zea of Worlds

The Changeling Crew

---

@thedman

"Hrm, we have a problem."
"Yeah I can tell, whatever they hit us with might not have torn us up, but it managed to hit something important didn't it?"
"Er... yes, they punctured a few of the transfer lines, we're venting stored energy like a sieve, and at least one struck the engine itself, we're not sure how deep the damage is yet, but it's misbehaving already."
"Great... Alright, seal the punctures, whatever way it takes, I don't care if we build up some pressure risks, we can't let it all just leak out. Start powering down nonessential modules to spare what we can, and take us in for a landing, we don't have much of a choice if we want to get things fixed up, preferably before we crash 'un'willingly. Pop off a lightning ball at minimum charge too, we should be able to manage that before we power down the cannon. I want 'some' kind of show for the shadowbolts that shows we attacked the rabid ones too."
"That's... we're discarding the veil entirely then?"
"Not much choice, their shots would've revealed us eventually anyway, and we can't hide so well from the shadowbolts, even if we escape this scenario entirely somehow... I'm sure it helps that they seem to have caught on we weren't hostile and focused on the other targets."
"Aye, looks like life is about to get 'really' exciting again."

Back in the ship, those strange creatures that had been failing to claw their way through the marine's armor tended to crack when they hit the floor and... deteriorate, before their eyes. They seemed to shrivel up and rapidly develop additional holes, quickly resembling the gray things that had been crawling through the walls, only to begin falling apart within moments.

The adjutant reacted quickly *Beep!* "Command acknowledged, priority targets shifted, acquiring targets." It blinked on a screen in it's commander's visor, sufficiently out of the way of his primary view, demonstrating what it was attacking... The sky in view was littered with small buzzing quadrupeds similar to those disintegrating on the floor at the moment, though they weren't quite as thick as a swarm of zerg tended to get *Beep!* "Primary target positions too low for full effective fire, targeting secondary threats with remaining turrets." The small ones were easily minced whenever struck by the larger turrets, though they were far smaller targets than the guns were meant to hit. Two on the correct side of the ship were unloading on a variety of much larger creatures with obvious resemblance, they were still dwarfed by an ultralisk's incredible mass, but they somehow contained enough strength to jostle the ship. Unfortunately very few were in a position to be fired upon by the upper guns.

*Beep* "It appears that several of the smaller unknown signatures are engaging our enemy." The video feed showed something not quite as large land in a blur that left it's target broken, then showed something impossibly resembling a creature from utterly 'ancient' human mythology, a griffon tearing into the next nearest behemoth, although it was well concealed by a bodysuit, mask, and armor, something that should give a clear idea of civilization of 'some' kind existing here. The air-space of the video-feed also occasionally revealed much smaller creatures zipping by too fast for a clear picture, but flying bodies tended to fall in their wake.

*beep* "Warning! Unknown ship had discharged it's weapon again." Another feed opened to show the ship itself, though there was smoke drifting out of holes in a 'wooden' hull, and it was clearly listing towards the ground... Still, there was what looked like a ball of electricity soaring away from it, and into the air-space over the ship... It didn't actually seem to be aimed 'at' the ship this time, and instead cast bolts of lightning into nearby targets, sending fried swarmers falling out of the sky... a clearly limited capacity existed though, as it dwindled in size before vanishing entirely.

Something else of note in the video feed, there was only 'one' type of creature crawling over the hull, the small fragile little monsters, there wasn't a single instance of the more horrific monstrosities that had been pouring through the walls. Alas, there wasn't long to observe this fact, as the Adjutant piped in again *Beep!* "Sergeant! Many of the large creatures are too low for the turret's Firing angles. Recommend immediate direct intervention by ground forces. The small aliens have not demonstrated the capability of damaging our armor thus far."

For Specialist Lee though, his attempt to 'vanish' might have brought a more unusual reaction than expected... Upon his disappearance every creature in the room froze in place, not a single one so much as twitched, it was a horridly creepy thing that left the bridge looking like it had been decorated with the images of horrors... Undoubtedly it creeped the fuck out of the bridge-crew that remained there...

Unfortunately that didn't last long, the adjutant chimed in for someone other than the sergeant for the first time *Bweeoop!* "Warning, Specialist Lee, Unknown Psionic wave-form nearing the bridge at high speeds." Though it sent the same warning to the sergeant as well, and provided him a third video feed of the bridge, which he might note appeared to be devoid of threats at the moment.

A moment later a beam of energy blasted through the window of the bridge and struck the deck, it appears something 'could' damage the ship here, though rather than an explosion it only left a sizzling and incredible heat wafting into the air as it melted a piece of the deck, and out of the landing point crawled... something. It was another instance of a larger version of the creatures the Sergeant had encountered, It was as tall as a human standing up, quadrupedal, but very lithe, almost sickly thin, it had a much longer horn than the others that was coated in a thick green glow and emanating psionic energy freely. It also behaved a lot less feral than the little ones did, moving it's mouth in a fashion that seemed to indicate speech, though all it produced was a horrid wasp like buzzing noise.

It was also worth noting that the alarms had exploded into activity with the presence of actual damage to the ship, and oddly the undulating red lights of the alarm seemed to cause the still frozen creatures to haze in and out of clear view.

---

The responders

---

@rune_alchemist@lugia@Ninja

It was important to remember, that there was a large volume of chasm surrounding the plateau on which the castle was stationed, though it was quite possible to find the obviously deliberately crafted ramp-surface that would lead down to the bottom of the chasm and up the other side, it would likely take far too long to make it back up without being caught in a vulnerable position... that said, going down 'would' give a chance of reaching a more suitable ground to fight, or evade, on, or perhaps a suitable place to hide.

As it turns out, blowing fire and going berzerk on something that one knows very little clear information on, isn't always the best course of action... Granted, it 'did' draw it's attention from the retreating ebon, the fire hardly seemed to do more than irritate the giant creature, though it did release an ethereal ground rumbling growl, it was quickly drowned out by the piercing screech of the 'environment', as if the forest itself raged at the continued use of 'fire' against it.

Interestingly, the thing he was attacking prevented the forest from striking out and potentially ruining the whole plateau.

"This one's fear, or was it hatred... for 'equines'?... it is a threat to my charges and will not be permitted to run loose!"

It was lucky that it was such a simple subject to work with as well, he could put forth a far more effective action without having to worry about conjuring something deific... All the easier as this rabid intruder had thrown itself 'into' the mire of darkness to claw wildly at an ethereal being with no physical body to claw apart.

Amidst the darkness would suddenly start coming flashes of color, solid 'bodies' being impacted by the flailing dragon, and more importantly, things trying to cling to him, by the dozens, colorful horrors from unreality had begun to swarm out of the shadowy mass around him, frightful rictus grins on their muzzles, they just giggled and relentlessly tried to shower him in affection... and worst of all, they didn't just cleave or burn when struck, something made them resist the ambient fires or the sharpness of claws.

Somewhere in the middle of all of this was a strange high-pitched sound that grew steadily closer
'eeeeeeEEEEEE

EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

'
Before it suddenly cut off with the sound of wind suddenly wooshing by... it wasn't particularly visible in all the shadowy mess he'd thrown himself into amidst that blind murderous rage, but something had also caused it to start raining inside the bubble of shadow to start piddling out the fires, hopefully before they could spread further.

---

@evanist

The forest around the ship was 'incredibly' thick, if anyone climbed up on the ship a bit or if they could get the sensors working well enough, it would be easy to find the other crash-sights, neverminding the smoke plumes rising above them... though, once one was in the forest itself, even with the sun rising unnaturally fast, there was very little light visible through the canopy and spotting distance objects was all but impossible without some way to move the trees, or to climb above them.

That said, sounds could still be heard, something in the distance was shooting something very rapidly, clearly evidence that something with guns still functioning was somewhere. There was also the ever present sound of angry wolves in some distant point in the forest, not entirely clear as to 'where' though.

Given the adorable size of these poor souls, the forest probably looked that much larger and more imposing... as might the creature that lumbered by in view, if far enough not to notice them yet. It was humanoid, twice their height and... appeared to be ridden by a couple of smaller creatures in odd clothing. none of them noticed the avali in the distance entering the forest.

---

@nevikr1

Alas, even for a native, the forest was a harrowing experience, difficult to see things in a distance, even with a map it could be a challege given that the forest tended to shift about every once in a while, vague directions were still manageable and that was all one needed in order to find land-marks, such as the more recently crashed ship that even he may have gotten to hear on his way to the forest, though all of the same signals could be heard for both new-comers just as well.

Something that only a native would recognize though, the sun rapidly rising to join the moon in the sky, certainly visible from that clearing, was a clear signal something serious was going on, and the princesses were preparing to act on it...

He might also spot a strange figure walking along in the distance, though in this forest 'in the distance' was a lot closer than one would normally expect, something taller than he was by quite a margin, bipedal, and dressed in red, heading off to the south somewhere, quickly likely towards one of the sources of noise.

---

@Rangingwolf@wanderingdragon

It was quite a show for some, all that fire... They maintained the repeating circular pattern a few dozen more rotations before curving up and into the sky, now that the fire had been intensified enough to last a while and push back the forest's approach, with the stone beneath it heated enough that the roots wouldn't risk pushing through...

One could certainly be forgiven for thinking they saw three in the air at the moment, the heat-distortion around the pair of them was intense enough to create blurs around them, though they hadn't been up there for more than a couple of moments before the fireball was tossed sky-ward to get their attention...

One of them quickly re-acted by aiming themselves towards it and giving a strong beat of their wings, hitting the projectile with a gust that would aim it away from the forest, before following the other towards the ground, though now with a lot less fire allover them, the pair of them landed with visible steam wafting off of them...

The actual third had actually been on the ground already, in the middle of the smokey mess leftover from the lightning bolt landing, and was soon seen stumbling drunkenly out of it, almost cartoonishly wobbling over to the other two.

They were probably an unusual sight, perhaps not 'strange' though, to such a varied collection of aliens though.

A trio of quadrupeds of somewhat varied height, though the on in the middle was the tallest, and the only visible details that weren't identical were colored tails and wing feathers poking out, and otherwise they were identical, clad in tight suits mixing black and purple gold trim, quite obviously armored in the same ways, and completed with a long aerodynamic mask not unlike ancient plague-doctor styles.

The tall one stepped forward a bit, while the one stumbling around actually flopped over onto their belly, earning a roll of the head from the lead, who quickly pretended it didn't happen "You're all quite mad aren't you? Using fire against the Everfree, though I imagine you're as ignorant as you are out of place here aren't you?" He had a feeling they couldn't understand him either way, but he seemed interested in trying anyway.

To them his musical voice almost sounded a bit jazzy, if middling in tone
"Heh, I'm not that big a fool even at my worst times."
"Heeeee... orangey... fire... farts... heeeheeee..." This one they'd heard before, yet even without recognizing their words, the sound was slurred and goofy, and shortly followed by the second one in the back using a wing to snap out and swat the other one on the head, with enough speed to create a small breeze, and only seemed to get maddened giggled out of him.

The lead seemed unphased by whatever had been said and continued on "Although throwing it over the cliff was a big unnecesary, not that it matters, it's still out of reach of the forest, and that makes it something of a bargaining chip."

The Zea of Worlds

oh silly me, I didn't realize the discord link had died out XD here discord.gg/5bp8eq this one should work for both of you.
@lugia@evanist

Also, D'awwwww, The fluffy space raptors have appeared!
I had a chat with the group since we're getting quite a meaty cast so far, and they seem open enough to you joining in XD The writing seems a bit 'rushed', like you were in a hurry to get it out and could've improved it some with more time taken. I'll admit, the personality sounds a bit cookie cutter [The 'sweet-heart unless you piss her off' kind dealy] That's not necessarily bad though ;3, I always stress that people should play a character that is fun for 'them', it's just something that was noted.

As for the background, 'closer' is probably a better idea, since currently IC everyone is in the same 'zone' so to speak, that being the everfree forest. The ships have already crashed [in different parts or edges of the forest] and angry critters are raising a fuss, It'll probably chill out soon so that a bit of 'getting to know eachother' can happen and a bit of plot advancement can commence.

Basically, overall, it's not bad, good enough to get started with IC[I mean, a couple of my CSes are basically 'classified' excuses to fill it out later as things are revealed IC] ;3 but it can benefit from some elaboration in various areas

I think this'll be truly the last person to join the cast for now xD It's possible that there'll be space for more people later in the RP, but it's going to be a while, heheh.

The Zea of Worlds

The Changeling Crew

---

@thedman

Oh what an exciting day this must have been!... somebody ceased the care about that the moment chunks of metal starts blowing clean through his ship.

"I know we expected those to be weapons, But wow! There's some punch in those things!" He closely monitored the actual effects of the shells that pierced the hull... "Hooo! The penetration power on these things!" Luckily, aside from missing more than hitting since they couldn't see the ship they were shooting at or that it wasn't as wide as the signature it was producing, it seemed they were designed for targets with a lot more 'metal' and armor than his poor wooden air-ship, they often punched clean through with minimal actual damage, but the volume of shots, and the occasional one that found something just durable enough to explode, told him they wouldn't last long even then. "We don't have time to finish charging, fire what we can and throw up the shields as soon as it's away, Deflection calibration."

There was a deep *THRRRooouuuummm~* as the ship's lone weapon fired it's special pay-load and he witnessed a spear like wad of condensed changeling magic, pocked with many different colors, soar towards the ship... Something pinged him though, from his second "Yer dukeness! We're detecting some kind of psychic building up inside the wreck that doesn't mater the rabid ones attacking it. It's no threat to us right now, but I thought you oughta know." Well that was a curiosity wasn't it?! It brought a smirk to his lips "Well, whataya know? they might just be more capable of dealing with them than I thought." It was a moment more before the sea-green glow of the shields tinted his view of the world below... and the sudden prevalence of explosions made it difficult to see through it all.

The shells found a far more durable target target now, though the shield itself was only moderate, the field around it aided in deflecting the trajectory enough so that the explosions, though suddenly countless in number and doubtless more accurate, didn't make it to the hull of the ship itself.

---

@thedman

Specialist Lee was in for an interesting experience, indeed the bullets did nothing, they seemed to go right through the things, they reacted like their bodies opened holes for the rounds to go through harmlessly before closing back up behind them.

However, as the psychic lash crossed the distance to it's target, the horrid creature seemed to disintegrate well ahead of it's contact, progressively turning to dust and vanishing entirely... 'along' with the hole it had been clawing through the debris, similar could be said for several other nearby creatures, though they seemed to only partially vanish due to the attack targeting something else...

unfortunately, it got their 'direct' attention, something came to perceive him as a threat and began focusing it's effort... or... 'their' efforts? It'd be hard to guess how effective it might be given that the individual pressures were neglible, but dozens of psionic forces began focusing their attention solely on him, causing the creatures pouring in to seemingly multiply out of numerous fresh holes in the walls, even the ventilation, regardless if it was too small. it might be strange to the others on the bridge that they were suddenly utterly ignored, but how would Mister Lee handle it?

---

@thedman

The adjutant was slowed a but by attempts to discover what was causing the crew to panic so easily, there were actually a great many things it had to focus on in this conflict, not the least of which- *Warning Siren* "Warning! Sergeant! The concealed signature has decloaked and discharged an unknown energy weapon on the ship, defensive fire ineffective, Impact in 5, The signature...4,has raised shields...3...2...!" It was a long few seconds until the ball of energy finally landed and... The ship seemed to be unaffected...

In-fact, in the vehicle bay, the sergeant and his men could see as it harmlessly passed through the hull, evaporating the creatures that had been clawing their way in and leaving a trail in it's wake, it was hardly even the size of a beach-ball, but the creatures it passed near evaporated wherever it was nearby... then it reached the ground beneath the ship and finally detonated, sending a wave of dull blue-green light radiating out from the point of impact that similarly evaporated the creatures in the vehicle bay entirely... it hadn't cleared the ship entirely, horror-ridden reports still came in from many parties, but those nearer to the vehicle bay reported that the creatures had all vanished... along with the holes they had crawled out of.

Indeed, the vehicle bay itself looked to be unscathed now, the walls were all intact and there were no more of the horrors or the holes they had ripped in the hull... although, there were countless bullet-holes now decorating the vehicle bay...

Perhaps of more importance, there now appeared to be something much more physical attached to the shoulder of his armor, hissing angrily and gnawing at the visor of his helmet... It was smaller than the horrors had been, with a faded gray body full of holes, some bleeding green-slime like fresh bullet wounds. This one was clearly alive unlike the strange crawling beasts, with featureless blue eyes staring into his helmet, and slavering over him hungrily. It was not the only one either, there were a couple dozen of them scattered around the marines and goliaths, each one trying almost desperately to get as close to those inside the suits as they could, and each one pitifully ineffective at so much as scratching the armor... Honestly, the things sounded like dying hornets, buzzing and growling angrily but doing little.

With the 'threat' of the ship's weapon firing on them passed, the adjutant pinged once more *Beep* "It appears these creatures are capable of cloaking from visual sensors and-" *Bwwooop!* "Warning, Unknown Psionic Wave-length detected in reaction to Specialist Lee's Psionic Counter-attack." *Beep* "Unknown Psionic Wave-form detected approaching the ship, It appears to be targeting the Bridge." *Bwooop!* "Warning, Unknown life-forms detected in the ship's air-space numbering in the hundreds... matching those left in the vehicle bay... They have been engaged by additional unknown life-forms." *Bwooop!* "Warning! Larger Seismic disturbance detected!"

The ship was suddenly rocked a bit by something that actually 'did' slam into the hull from the outside, how it had enough strength to affect it should be questionable, but -*Beep* "Source determined, Larger variants of unknown life-form are attempting to dislodge the ship from the mountain... One has been engaged by another unknown life-form of considerable size." It was starting to sound like a proper battle had broken out on the outside of the ship in the mere moments after the disruptive blast had landed.

---

The Responders

---

@rangingwolf@wanderingdragon

It was quite an onslaught! There were bits of wood both clean or burning flying this way and that from the destructive force of the mercenary's defense meeting the forest's unyielding fury, the night became filled with the terrifying sound of burning timber-wolves the likes of which only the oldest Equestrian's could remember hearing before.

The beast that had only moments before returned to it's charge lurched and howled in tremor inducing fury as half of it's muzzle was engulfed in flames, it didn't let this stop it's charge, even if it had more trouble coordinating it's motions half blinded, as long as it had legs it wasn't stopping, even with the additional blasts of flame coated it's front side and countless peppering bursts of incendiary ammo started new fires here and there and there. It didn't quite register what was going on when it had been slowed down, but the grenades that struck caused it to stumble and have to re-assert it's path... that was, until the flare struck, chunks of burning wood were sent flying the beast finally lost it's footing entirely, the ground shaking violently as many tons of wood and plant matter slammed into the ground and tumbled over itself to a stop, and once it slowed it revealed the missing portions that lost one of it's legs and the broad portions that were missing from it's mass...

it revealed something deeper inside of it that glowed a bright sickly green, a stony object roughly the side of a person and pulsing steadily, though view of it was partially obscured by the smoke and fire still spreading over it's wooden pieces, and was suddenly more thoroughly obscured by the sudden whirl-wind surging into place over it... something that would normally suffocate a flame more than feed it, with the volume of air movement refusing it feed, but the nature of the fire that burned it combined it's volume allowed it to gain more air from the whirlwind's circulation rather than losing it, quickly inviting a new ethereal howl that didn't quite fit the one it had made before...

It was about this point where what appeared at first to be a living lightning bolt blistered past the group of bipeds that had dodged the wolf's charge, it zipped back around a few times all in a remarkably short time before it became slow enough to see and... some kind of winged quadruped in a strange suit became clearly visible as the blur faded, electricity noticeably crackling between it's various limbs, and made lots of noises at them. " AAHAHAHHAHAH! You poor buggers have no idea what you're actually doing do you?! An impressive effort either way, and 'thank' you for making it so much more exciting! but you should stop making it angrier before you make my 'boss' mad, heeeehehehhehe... Oh! and look at that!"

It suddenly pointed to the side, indicating for a bare moment where the forest's countless vines had been circumventing the desctructive nature of the clash and had started spreading along the ship's hull and were trying to push it further so that it would fall off of the cliff. "Heeeeheheh, better handle that fast!" Almost on cue the forest itself seemed to release another distance shriek of fury and the tree-line came alive again... this time, with a vastly more voluminous array of vines and roots trying to close the distance.

Alas, they'd likely only be able to hear a spree of high pitched excitable flute-like noises that just barely matched it's mouth motions... Then it was gone in a flash, the streak of light bolting back up into the sky... Those who tried to follow it to look up would be able to see something else above the battlefield, though it was small and distant, it looked oddly bright and fiery... Those well versed in earth's 'ancient' history, might actually recognize that for some reason it had been wearing a mask reminiscent of plague doctors from an era nearly forgotten in the space-faring future.

"Wasn't it just terribly nice of them to give us a head-start on the tornado?"
"Don't get cocky Ruby... But yes, it is astoundingly lucky timing on their part, as they appear to have only just 'really' pissed it off, hopefully Amber's distraction kept them from capitalizing on it's core being exposed... now focus!"
"Aye!"

Amidst the whirlwind that was growing hotter with the expanding flames, there was a sound not unlike a wooden explosion and a flash of green-light, and the burning chunks of the beast were sent flying loose into the whirlwind to be blown away, while an eruption of vines surged out of the obscured core, snapping out to snatch up whatever debris it could, the trees the tornado had ripped up, the bits of smaller timber wolves, dislodged rocks or broken stone... The damage done had been quite extreme and whatever this thing really 'was' didn't like being exposed.

It's silhouette in the whirlwind seemed to grow quickly as it dragged more pieces from the ground or that the whirlwind itself had picked up, and within moments had rebuilt enough to poke it's head out... Though now that wolfish muzzle had been augmented with something extra, though half of it was still wood and had escaped the burning to some degree enough to simply be replaced with more, other portions were replaced by big chunks of stone that made it look comically deformed in comparison to the wood... It couldn't manipulate the stone as well, and it was quite clear enough in the presence of those vines smothering the stone into place, and the far slower more ponderous pace of the one replaced leg that was now more stony as it reached out of the windy funnel...

That was about the time one might've begun to wonder why the wind wasn't being disrupted by the creature's addition of stone and size, perhaps it was the mysterious power of Qi that neither the natives or other visitors would understand... it may also have something to do with the two more streaks that had come ddown to join the tornado in it's rotations, though these had an appearance more akin to fire-balls with wings, taking up opposing sides of the tornado and maintaining a seemingly impossibly steep turning radius that spilled ever growing volumes of heat into the air, which was inevitably sucked into the funnel and soon grew to a volume that supported the fire pouring off of the 2 sources, and quickly it snowballed in intensity, spreading fire through-out the funnel and freshly engulfing the massive wolf creature, which howled anew as fire surrounded it.

This fire had the one thing that the Mercenary's fires didn't, though they had numerous advantages, instant ignition, plasmatic levels of heat, range, ease of use, all kinds of things, there was 'one' feature it lacked. Persistent production, though the fire would spread, it did not self-propagate in the way this was... Nobody could hold it against them, it wasn't like they knew that such a flammable creature in a world where fire could be conjured on a whim would've developed 'some' way to survive just being thoroughly set on fire, this attempt made sure there was a constant source of fire adding to the burn that was tearing away at it.

It wasn't long before the vines were burned away in enough volume that the rocky bits began rolling out of the tornado... It wasn't as fast to burn logs and whole trees, or blown them apart, but what tried to lumber out of the whirling wall of fire was essentially charcoal that refused to burn fully...

Finally that familiar thunder-clap returned as a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky right through the center of the Tornado, causing an explosion of wind that dispersed the fire broadly enough that it only released a wave of heat on those nearby, and the twin bundles of fire suddenly broke from the funnel, and in the next moment bits of burned wood soared through the air amidst a cloud of ash, while the big glowing core was sent flying off towards the ship. The twin fire-balls streaked off in the opposite direction, splitting off in opposite directions once more when they passed the perimeter of the crash-side and formed a semi-circle with their trailing fire that seemed to cause the forest's assault to recoil... The sources of the fire could be seen making quick U-turns at either end and doubling back to refresh the firewall.

---

@Rune_Alchemist@ninja

Most locals would have fled in an instant at the sight of such a creature, just incase it were a potential threat better handled by one of their rulers... Naturally, a visitor might not have this instinct, given that they were in a foreign land anyway.

It didn't matter much either way, he didn't attack at first, staring at it with an odd curiosity at it's initial reaction, did it recognize him and rightly fear/revere the danger he posed to it?

...

No, that couldn't be, the fear vanished, replaced with... curiosity? 'mirth'? Was this thing mocking him? It was making many unfamiliar noises at him, some of which seemed to resemble laughter...

His face contorted into a sharp frown... He would have none of this... He would show that all intruders should know fear!

In the next moment the blackness inside the castle erupted out through it's various holes... he didn't understand what had caused this damage, but retribution would be swift coming...

He also noted that the sun had begun to rise in the distance, quite rapidly, with the moon still high, a well known ancient sign of threat... He would fulfill his duties as always and 'deal' with the intruders!

His own shadow had blotted out what light came from the moon and the rising sun, driving the chasm surrounded land into a psuedo darkness, lit only by the countless stars dotting the black... and of course the moon that now seemed to loom closer by the moment... to say nothing of the far larger creature of night that now accompanied him, pouring out of the castle's damaged walls was a much greater mass off starry night-sky that loomed above even the castle itself.

It did not screech so much as send tremors through the air and ground around and beneath it... ground that did seem to actually be getting shredded and bunched up by it's massive touch...

There 'was' something else to be heard.... though it was a very distant sound, a kindof low ringing 'eeeeeeee' that seemed to be coming from somewhere unseen...

He however preened silently, surely ripping a great horror from her past would instill the fear he was tasked with, even if it was incomplete.

---

Something odd had to be at work... the night was quickly beginning to appear brighter, 'dawn' was breaking far faster than should be natural, though the actual sun-light was a ways off, the sky was taking on the colors of morning and the darkness of the environment was growing steadily brighter by the moment.