//------------------------------// // Arrival and meetings // Story: The Royal Stranding // by The_Equestrian_Emperor //------------------------------// "Luna, pack your things, we're leaving," Princess Celestia called. Where they were leaving, that was classified, only revealed to people especially close to the Princesses, and the Princesses themselves, of course. Luna looked at her things. She decided she was going to pack her pillow (don't ask), a couple of her books, and... and... whatever. She didn't know what else she wanted, so she just closed the suitcase. Usually she went around Equestria, maybe around Equus' but she doesn't remember the last time she went to another dimension for diplomatic cases. She was pretty nervous. Her sister said it was important, and that this dimension was a force to be reckoned with, so she went along. Her sister also described that the inhabitants look vaguely like Twilight's friends back in Canterlot High. Good. So maybe it means they're peaceful? Probably was her guess, but she couldn't assume. Not here. Anyway, she called down to Celestia, "I'm ready!". Downstairs, Celestia took a deep breath. She was nervous about this as well. She saw Luna walk down from the staircase and enter the room where the portal sat. She didn't remember when it was created, but she did know she tripped into it. Typical. "Are you ready Luna?" she asked. "Y-yes." Luna answered. Celestia went first. Then it was her turn. She took a deep breath. This was the moment she was waiting for. She took a shaky hoof forward. It went into the portal. Then she entered completely. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ *Gasp*. That was NOT enough to sum up what she saw. There were so many... what where they? She asked her sister, "What are those... animals?" she asked. "Those, are Humans." Celestia answered. Ok then, there were so many... Humans. One walked up to her and said a bunch of words she could not understand. "Um, hi?" she said. "You can talk?" it said in what seemed to be a deeply accented tone. "Are you the thing coming for the meeting here?" "Um, yes. We're here for the - mmmph!" she said. She was blocked by her sister clamping her hoof on her mouth. "Sorry to bother you, but I really must be going, heh heh." she said. Then she faced Luna and whispered, "This is not the place we are supposed to have our first meeting!" She then pointed her hoof at a large building surrounded by paved areas and whispered, "That's where we'll get our ride to the place." "Can't we use our wings, or maybe our magic?" Luna asked. "No, because magic doesn't work here. Neither do wings." Celestia answered. "Makes sense." Luna said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The plane leaving for USA will be departing shortly. "That's our... uh, transport!" Luna exclaimed. "Quick, we can't miss it." She hurried into the boarding area. Thankfully they had a private jet, so they could have a peaceful flight without bother. Hopefully. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 12 hours later... *Wakes up* "This is SO boring," Luna groaned. "Sure, it's comfortable, but it's taking so long. Sister, how much longer do we have to wait?". She was answered by the speakers. "We will be arriving at Washington Dulles International Airport shortly. The estimated time to arrival is 10 minutes." "See, we're almost there. Now stop your inferior groaning." Celestia said, "And by the way, groaning won't make it any faster." Luna frowned at the ending statement. She wasn't groaning now, after all... ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ "Welcome to Washington! Now I know this isn't the place where you're scheduled to have a meeting, but you will be driven to the meeting room shortly." the guide said. Luna whimpered softly at the knowledge of more waiting. "Now I know you all would like to be brought there as quick as possible, so we arranged a room for you to wait. Though I assure you, your ride will come shortly. I will see to your requests here and at the meeting." Luna then spoke up, saying, "I'd like a drink please." The guide nodded and headed towards the bar. Meanwhile, Luna asked, "How did they know of us?" Celestia said, "Well you know how I tripped into the portal, right?" Luna nodded. "Well, the portal appears somewhere random all the time, and I had the luck to end up what seemed like a large gathering of these... Humans. I tried to teleport, but found out it didn't work. Meanwhile they were whispering to each other, and one of them told me to follow it. So I did. And it led me to a chair in the center of the room. I sat down, and then they told me that they would each like me to go to their countries and have a private meeting with each of them, after some whispering and chatting, of course. They told me to go back and prepare for the meetings, and they'd be ready. They gave me the "airplane" ticket that let us go on the "insufferably boring" transport machine. They said they would give a new one every time we went to one of the meetings. Then I headed back, and you know the rest." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ After the meeting... "This is... good. The leaders decided that we they would remain neutral, however they said they want a limited amount of immigrants and do not want any affairs with Equestria... yet." Luna said. "I hope it stays that way. I doubt anypony would want to leave anyway." Celestia nodded in agreement. "They also gave us this ticket, and said we are to go to the airport and board another airplane. This better be quick."