A notification was shared via various communication mediums, from whispering into ears to direct messages received by AI's, the moment the larger ship in orbit produced a far smaller one clearly set to land on the planet... Upon hearing about this specifically Twilight was unsure if it was a good or bad sign... [I]'Hmmm, their sending a 'small' craft, most likely meaning only a few individuals... It could as much be a sign of non-hostility as an attempt to avoid risking more than a few while keeping the 'big one' in a position to be dangerous under the right circumstances... not that I'd specifically want to have that enormous thing down 'here' where all the big guns would be closer... they 'probably' have big guns, if their traveling space on a level above our-selves they 'must' have big guns!... Blast! I'm getting myself full of worry again, how does Celestia do this all the time? It can't possibly just 'get easy'...'[/I] Twilight had been distracted in thought so thoroughly she didn't notice the shuttle closing in until several of those nearby spoke up in various states of wonder about the oddly shaped thing, and her attention immediately snapped up to it. [I]'wow... It really 'is' small, and i'm not finding any magic fields... I could shoot it down with 'basic' magic... if this hints at the big one not having anything like that either... Ugh! STOP THAT! Time to be serious!'[/I] Meanwhile, Vastu had his eyes trained on the approaching shuttle since the moment it became visible, studying it as thoroughly as he could from a distance [I]'Hmmm, sparsely armed at best... very small... if that 'amount' of armor isn't some kind of special material then they are either stupid or too trusting... I'm going to assume it's something unique... the shape seems like it'd be good for forward deflection at least... I wonder how effective it is as ramming into things... hmm, it lands and flies pretty smoothly, the propulsion layout doesn't seem all that effective from first glance, but surely there's something i don't know about it... hmmm, opens from the sides, doesn't seem to be much room inside...-'[/I] The local hive links were all abuzz with deafening chatter as numerous eyes came across the 'creatures' stepping out of the shuttle. The biggest question naturally was One of the creatures appeared to be well armored but with enough exposed to identify that it was some strange form of seemingly hairless alien with a split jaw, it's arms exposed, and it's golden armor gleaming in the sun-light. Another one looked like... [I]'what is that, some kind of construct? that's a 'lot' of metal to cover one creature in! it's got to be powered if it's able to move all of that, or genetically enhance...'[/I] The last one seemed 'special', let because she wasn't covered in armor, and more because she seemed to have an air of authority about her, it wasn't hard to assume that she was their 'diplomat' in this situation... It just stood out even more than she was hairless, blue, and seemed to have groomed tentacles for hair... or were those solid? [I]'ohhhh, the potential Genetics that can be learned about from them!'[/I] Vastu straightened up suddenly as he saw twilight beginning to move forth, keeping her pace even, graceful, and peacefully slow... being a polite way of saying 'not making any sudden moves while still trying to give off the air of a 'princess' as was expected of her. She stopped a few meters away from the 'visitors' and began to speak "Greetings, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle. I welcome you to Equestria and Hope that we can quickly form a peaceful friendship with eachother! I would ask 'your' names as well?" Already her mind was burning through dozens of alternative methods of communication that she could try resorting to if translation simply took too long on both sides... She wasn't going to hold her breath, but spoke as though she'd expect to be understood already. _______________________________________________________ To the visiting diplomat, and her guardians, the sight before them was one of a kind in the galaxy despite it's already vast array of species and events. Before them was arrayed roughly 100 or so individuals, most of which were Shorter equines of unique appearance that reached roughly chest height at best, some with horns or wings, and only a couple among them and the larger lavender one in the front reached proper eye level. Speaking of which, this one clearly stood out as 'special', being taller than the rest by a noticeable margin, had both wings and a horn, a mane and tail that softly blew in a breeze that was 'not' present, and wore a set of hoof-shoes and decorative adornments of various valuable materials... not that they could tell she detested the 'royal regalia'. This particular one was also flanked by 2 other equines not quite her size, armored and glowing a bit with an ever present 'protection' and the look of readiness that one could only display as an experienced protector, and of course there was an obvious construct with her that may or may not have been designed to look like it was wearing a butler suit. More importantly, and though it was not of an as yet familiar nature, she seemed to radiate an aura of energy that emanated from some an incredible form of power within that a skilled biotic may be able to pick up on. However, it was also clear that this was not a single species world, as beyond these equines were numerous other creatures, a couple dozen clearly insectoid creatures that stared at them with a single minded style of focus, some different types of equine-like constructs of physical and seemingly immaterial matter, and even what could clearly be analyzed as 'griffons' if one knew that old earth lore enough to remember. Still there were even more, a couple of equines with reptilian like traits [implying kirin], and others with hints of a bat to their appearance, along with some creatures that resembled other human legends like minotaurs or chimera, and staying in the back was indeed a dragon, albeit not of a titanic variety it was certainly unmistakeable both in appearance and in that it was purposely keeping it's distance from the front of the group. Past them was a veritable legion of Equines at a much greater 'safer' distance, interspersed with clearly armored varieties and various other species. Then there was, the vast circle of the land pad surrounded by structures of varied but overall 'non towering' sizes that they could see further back, there weren't many 'defenses' present but the huge ship shattering cannons could still be seen, and beyond that? Forests in one direction, plains in another, most low areas were obscured by the circle of buildings, but farther in the distance it was easy to make out a spike like mountain that rose into high into the sky, with a gravity defying city attached to it's side, with smaller city like objects completely ignoring physics by floating in a pattern around the larger one. Before much longer the larger equine started to approach, the construct staying by her side while the guard's kept only a very small distance behind her on either side. She spoke, though it was expect-ably unintelligible, her general tone was clearly smooth and intelligent, carrying a hint of practiced authority, and most importantly, sounding friendly and curious.