::> Search query: Human Augmentation Crisis

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    Human Augmentation Crisis: During the early 31st century, Humankind was flourishing. Multiple breakthroughs in medical nano-technology had allowed for the removal of every disease that affected them. Limbs could be rebuilt or replaced by mechanical variants.

    Corporations like 'Bio-Augtech' and 'Life Central' were leading this race. With trillions of credits, they provided the majority of the augmentation services that Humans required.

    But how far can you alter your body before it becomes too much?

    The blue aura encompassing the scroll abruptly vanished, allowing gravity to pull on the parchment, drawing it down onto the marble floor. Princess Luna remained frozen still, her pupils reduced to a fraction of their original size. She mentally reviewed the contents of the letter several times.

    “Vector... Ship... Interstellar... Humans... Meeting...”

    No, it still did not make much sense to her.

    She slowly summoned her magic once again to bring the scroll up to eye level. With another quick glance over its contents, Luna was sure she was not imagining things.

    Her efforts to uncover the mystery had been for naught. Twilight Sparkle, her sister’s “Faithful Student”, appeared to have done so purely out of luck, and now the unicorn was claiming that she had been visited by three extraterrestrials.

    In front of her, Celestia remained placidly sitting on one of the many cushions that she possessed, sipping her now nearly empty cup of tea. Luna’s jaw hung loosely while she did her best to try to formulate words, only managing to get a nearly inaudible whimper out of her mouth.

    Celestia noticed the reaction of her younger sister. She finished her cup of tea with a final sip and then gave her sister a stern look. “Perhaps you are wondering if this letter is truly from Twilight Sparkle herself, and yes, it is.”

    Luna’s mind reeled back once again, her thoughts finally beginning to unclog.

    “W-What...” she trailed off. Her eyes narrowed while she glared at Celestia. “How can thou be so impassive!? Do you not comprehend what hath been written upon thy parchment!?” she exclaimed, her tone almost rising into the ‘Royal Canterlot Voice’.

    “Luna—”

    “Not only does it appear to be no more than a mere jest! If the content holds true, then the very safety of Equestria might be compromised!” She stood up, letting out an angry snort.

    “Luna!”

    “We hast the remains of four creatures that may very well be members of the ‘Humans’ that were mentioned by thy student! How shalt we explain!? Perhaps they are here to avenge their fallen comrades!”

    “LUNA!”

    “And they calleth us ‘Mommy’!”

    Silence fell upon the room. Luna looked down at the floor and returned to a sitting position, hiding her blush. Meanwhile, the elder sister sighed, “I was hoping that you would not panic...”

    “I’m... I’m sorry, I should not have... ‘slipped’.”

    “It’s alright.” The white Alicorn levitated a quill and a roll of paper from a nearby desk. “I’m going to send her a letter asking for confirmation. Mmm, I should be able to adjust my schedule to have an hour or two available this evening. How about you, sister?”

    Luna perked up. “You’re going through with this!?”

    “Well of course, I am in no position to deny their request.”

    “But what if they are here to cause harm?”

    “In case they are, we will be prepared... How tall were the skeletons you found?”

    “Well, assuming that they stand on two legs, a couple of them were about nine hooflengths tall, one was almost seven, and the smaller one was three, maybe four.”

    “It will be quite a challenge to muster up a good number of guards, considering their height. But then again, these ‘Humans’ may be a completely different species from what you found.” Celestia then began scribbling on the paper.

    Luna watched as her sister furled the parchment, and then gave it a single touch with the tip of her horn, causing it to be consumed by yellow flames. Afterwards, the remaining ashes flew out of one of the room’s many windows, as if carried by a ghostly breeze.

    The younger sister sat quietly for a few seconds. A smile spread across her face, and her sibling watched her expectantly. “Alright,” she said. “I can make space for eight o’clock this evening, how about you?”

    “Yes, eight o’clock sounds perfect.” The Princess of the sun replied.

    Luna got up on all fours. “I will go and inform the guard.” She began to walk towards the door.

    “Oh, one more thing.”

    “Yes?”

    “Make sure our... Guest, is prepared.”

    “I will do my best, sister.” Luna then pushed the door to Celestia’s bedchambers open, and walked back out into the large hallway.

    Sitting in front a table inside the barn of Sweet Apple Acres were three figures that appeared to be too big for the single piece of furniture. These were “Humans”, as they referred to themselves. Surrounding them was a group of six ponies and three fillies, all of them watching the armored figures warily, recoiling at each sudden movement the Humans made.

    The tallest and bulkiest human, Atlas, was looking at the small dragon the Ponies referred to as “Spike”, who exhaled a flame into a small scroll. The whole group watched as the letter burned into ashes that were soon carried away by a non-existent draft of wind. Atlas looked back down at the little lizard that had set fire to it, raising an eyebrow.

    “Why did you do that?” he asked.

    Spike puffed out his chest in pride. “Well, since I was hatched with magic, my fire's always been sorta special. Twilight says I've got some 'Magic-fire' thingamajig—”

    “'Magic-infused fire',” the lavender unicorn interrupted.

    “Yeah that,” Spike continued. “After a while, I figured out—”

    “WE figured out.” Twilight cut in again.

    “Fine.” He rolled his eyes. “We figured that we could send letters to the Princess using it; it's much faster than actually using the mail.”

    “Huh, I thought you just wanted to set it on fire.” Atlas said, “Had forgotten about your... 'Magic'...”

    “Oh!” Twilight piped up. “Speaking of which, what kind of magic do you have? How do you use it? What makes the Vector stay afloat?” With each question, she began to speak with increasing speed.

    “Whoa, one question at a time, please.” Atlas said, gesturing for her to calm down.

    “Oops, hehe,” Twilight giggled. “I'm getting a bit excited, sorry... So uhm, how does your magic work? I don’t see any horns or anything similar.” she asked.

    “We don't have magic,” the man answered. He watched as the unicorn froze for a few seconds, then shook her head.

    “Oh, stop it!” she giggled. “Seriously though, I don't see a horn or anything, so how are you able to use magic?”

    “We don't, really,” he stated once again, his expression showing complete seriousness. “The shield you saw when your friend tried to attack me, the Vector, none of those things work with magic.”

    “Well how do they work then?” Her voice began to rise in volume. “It has to be magic! There's no other way!” She looked up at him, pouting.

    An orange hoof gently pulled Twilight away from him, and then wrapped itself around her neck.

    “Sorry,” Applejack said, grinning awkwardly. “Ya’ll gotta excuse Twilight here. She can get mighty excited about some things.”

    Spike snorted. “Yeah, she can't control it. The idea of not knowing how something works is terrifying to her.”

    “No it's not!” she retorted.

    Everyone in the barn stared at her in silence, even Fluttershy, who had taken to hiding behind a bale of hay, peered out of her hiding spot to look at her.

    Rarity stepped up to her, covering her grin with one of her hooves. “Deary, do you remember the time you tried to explain the 'Pinkie Sense'?”

    Twilight's ears flopped down, and she blushed out of embarrassment. “Well... okay fine, I may go overboard sometimes.”

    “Sometimes?” Rainbow Dash scoffed. All of the ponies, including Twilight, engaged in a fit of giggles. Atlas and Torres smiled at them, while Mac sat silently, hands resting on his knees.

    “Hey,” Pinkie said, walking up to the android. “Why haven't you taken your mask off?”

    Mac looked down at her, and to the surprise of many, the pink pony showed no signs of being intimidated by his burning stare.

    Torres shuffled uncomfortably on her seat. “He uhm, he's really ugly! Yeah...” Atlas looked at her with an unamused expression.

    “Should I take my mask off as well?” asked Mac.

    “If you want to...” Fluttershy said. She squeaked and hid behind her mane as she received several surprised looks upon finding her in front of the table instead of hiding behind the bale of hay.

    Mac shrugged, and moved his hands up to his head.

    Atlas looked over at him. “Mac, wait—”

    With an audible click, Mac's faceplate came loose, and he gently slid it off.

    All of the Ponies gasped. Fluttershy ran and hid behind the bale of hay again, while the rest of them simply stared at him, their bodies refusing to move.

    A metallic skull was presented to them, covered by a layer of thin, tendon-like tissue that in turn was held in place by several rivets. The lower half of the face looked as if it had been ripped apart by an enraged beast, leaving only a few tendons preventing Mac’s jaw from falling, and two dark holes in the place in which the nose was supposed to be. A pair of inexpressive eyes stared coldly at the group, with pupils that glowed with a dim hue of blue.

    “Is something wrong?” he asked. All of the ponies recoiled as his eyes scanned over them in an almost mechanical motion.

    “O-Oh my Celestia. You did not lie when you said he was ugly...” Rarity said, receiving a light kick from Applejack, who grinned awkwardly at her while gesturing towards Mac.

    “Mac, put your mask back on,” Atlas said.

    “As you wish.” He complied and grabbed his mask, placing it over his face. Another click could be heard as it was locked in place. Some of the ponies sighed as Mac’s face was once again hidden behind the metallic faceplate. The barn then fell silent while Pinkie Pie walked up to him.

    “Did something happen to you?” she asked, concern filling her voice.

    “Pinkie!” the other mares shouted.

    “I'm just asking!”

    “No,” Torres doubted herself for a moment, but decided to speak anyways. “He's... he's what we call an 'Android'.”

    “'Android'?” Twilight asked. Before any of the Humans could answer, her eyes went wide with realization. “Oh! I get it, it's sort of like how we have Pegasus, Earth and Unicorn Ponies, isn't it? You have different types of Humans!” She grinned and rubbed her forehooves together.

    “Uhm, not exactly,” Atlas said, growing more uncomfortable as he noticed Twilight's grin fade away.

    “Ugh, screw it,” Torres muttered, placing her arms on the table. “An android is a machine, built to resemble Humans, and to work for Humans,” she stated.

    “Whoa, hold yer horses there,” Applejack said, walking closer to Mac and examining him. “Ya'll mean that he's a machine that thinks, and can talk and feel and all that?”

    “Kind of like a golem?” Twilight asked.

    “Golem? No... I mean...” Atlas shook his head. “Listen, it's really complicated. We could be talking about this all day. What's important is that he's not going to harm any of you, and neither are we, so could we talk about something else and maybe...” He eyed one of the apple pies at the center of the table, “maybe eat something?”

    The ponies shared worried looks before going back to their respective seats. Rarity walked over to Fluttershy's hiding place and began trying to convince her to come out and join the rest of the group.

    Twilight, meanwhile, sat back down next to Atlas, who handed over a slice of apple pie to Mac. The android stared at it for a moment before giving a nod to Atlas. The man then brought the pie to his mouth and took a bite out of it, smiling at the taste.

    Next to her were the three crusaders, sitting right next to each other in silence, looking like they were about to doze off. They had not slept at all last night, in fact, nopony could; having the Vector hovering above them prevented them from any sort of relaxation.

    She felt a hoof prod her side, and she turned her gaze to discover Rarity, who gestured for her to come closer. Once they were far enough from the table, the white unicorn leaned in and began whispering, “Twilight, don't you think that perhaps we may be being a little too... open with them?”

    “What? Rarity, how can you say that?” Twilight retorted, “We are the first Ponies to ever meet a Human!”

    “Ssshh! Keep it quiet!” Rarity whispered harshly. “And that's exactly what you should be worried about. Nopony has ever even heard of them. Why, do not tell me you actually believe what they're saying!”

    “Well... I'll admit it's pretty far fetched. But I mean, look at them!” Twilight discreetly pointed a hoof at the massive figure of Atlas, who was busy chomping down on a slice of pie. “Look at the complexity of their armor! ...Actually, why do they wear armor anyways?”

    “You see, Twilight? Something is not quite right!”

    “But... there's so much we could learn from them!”

    “Darling, I understand that.” Rarity replied. “Listen, I propose this: we should try to find out why exactly they're here, before telling them anything else.”

    “Don't you think that if they wanted to do anything, they would have done so already?” Twilight asked, cautiously looking over the group.

    “...You make a valid point.”

    The two mares stood in silence, awkwardly shuffling their hooves. Twilight looked at Atlas and could not help but shudder; the man was truly enormous, so big that he almost did not fit through the barn door.

    A loud burp interrupted all conversations. All eyes turned to Spike, who walked up to Twilight holding a scroll in his claw. The mare's horn lit up as the scroll was taken away from the dragon's grasp. She unfurled it in front of herself and read it aloud.

    “My Dear Student, Twilight Sparkle.

    Before anything, I would like to remind you that I will most certainly always have time for you, even now. In fact, I enjoy it.

    Now, on to the matter at hoof. To say that I was surprised would be an understatement. You have to realize that what you mentioned to me in your previous letter was... somewhat hard to believe. Nevertheless, you have my absolute confidence.

    Please, do tell your guests that they are welcome in the land of Equestria, and that a more formal meeting at the Royal Palace can surely be scheduled today. Both my sister and I can re-adjust our agenda for a meeting this evening. More specifically, we should be able to have a few free hours once I lower the sun and she raises the moon.

    Do your guests agree with this arrangement? Shall I send a chariot your way? If so, to where, exactly?

    Also, I would like to request that you and your friends come to the castle as well.

    Please, reply as soon as you can.

    Your Beloved Teacher, Princess Celestia.”

    Having finished reading the letter, Twilight lowered the parchment to discover that the eyes of all three Humans were locked onto her. She smiled sheepishly, shrinking a small bit under their combined gaze.

    Atlas, with both of his hands upon his knees and halfway turned towards her, was the first to speak.

    “When she lowers the sun...” he said, his somewhat gruff demeanor ever present. “Got it.”

    Twilight smiled, her confidence building up. “Alright!” She said, fetching a blank piece of paper from her saddlebags. “So, chariot?”

    The big man shook his head. “Won't be necessary, just tell her that we'll be there on time.”

    “Right then.” She telekinetically took hold of a nearby quill and began rapidly scribbling on the paper. She felt herself about to break out in a cold sweat as the gaze of the three foreigners did not break from her, something they had also done when she wrote the first letter. They almost looked curious. Almost.

    She finished writing and was about to roll up the paper, but stopped. She regained a hold of the quill as fast as she could, hoping that no one would notice, and set upon hastily writing a few last lines into the letter.

    Atlas observed the unicorn with a stern expression. He raised an eyebrow as the purple pony started adding a few extra lines into the letter while bearing an extremely wide smile on her face.

    Twilight finished her frantic scribbling and rolled up the letter, not even bothering to stamp a seal on it before floating it over to her assistant. Spike took the letter out of her magic grasp. He regarded her with a quizzical look, but said nothing. He shrugged not too long after, and blew a stream of green fire that consumed the paper in less than a second. It turned into a silver mist that swiveled around and promptly left the barn, carried out through one of the windows by the same magical wind.

    Atlas, Torres and Mac broke their stare away from Twilight to watch as the mist danced through the air and out of the barn. She breathed a sigh of relief and gingerly trotted up to Atlas' side again. The man had eaten several plates of apple pie by now. “No wonder,” she said to herself. “A whole pie is smaller than his hand...”

    The barn was silent. The ponies had more or less huddled together on one side of the table, while the Humans kept silent on the other side. Mac was looking towards the front door of the barn, never breaking his stare. Torres seemed to notice that; she turned to him and rose and eyebrow.

    “Mac?” She asked. “Something wrong?”

    The 'Android' gave one quick nod. “Yes.” He replied, bluntly.

    “Well then,” Torres leaned in closer. “What is it?”

    “Chatter. Footsteps... 'hoofsteps', more exactly, and many of them, if my motion tracker is correct.” He stood up and walked closer to the door. “They are getting closer. I also detect yelling... there are too many voices to tell any of them apart.”

    Twilight and the rest of her friends stood up and edged closer to the door as well. Everyone was silent, the ponies' ears flickered as they tried to pick up the sounds coming from the outside. It was getting closer; the many voices growing louder. Applejack crept towards the big barn door and pushed it slightly, peering outside.

    Not long after she did, the cowmare abruptly turned around, her eyes wide.

    “Uhhm... I think we got a problem,” she said. The remaining five mares took a step forward, eyeing her with concern.

    Twilight gulped. “Are they...?”

    Applejack looked at the ground and pawed at it. “Eh... pitchforks n' torches...”

    “W-what?” The ponies reared their necks back in surprise. The Humans meanwhile, looked at each other, eyebrows raised. But other than that, they showed no other display of shock. Without saying a single word, Atlas and Torres grasped their faceplates and placed them back into their original positions, a loud click reaching the ponies’ ears as the pieces of armor locked in place.

    Twilight took numerous deep breaths and closed her eyes, trying to calm down in order to formulate some sort of plan. Her sleep deprivation, though, was getting in the way of that.

    “Alright, I think I know what we have to—” She turned around to meet Atlas, who was standing up, towering over her.  “—do...”

    The man sighed, looking down at the ponies. “Don't worry, we sort of expected this to happen, anyways.”

    “You did?” Pinkie asked, looking up at him curiously. “What're you gonna do, then?”

    Fluttershy yelped and flew up to meet Atlas' eye level. “Oh please, don't hurt anypony!” she pleaded.

    “No,” Atlas replied, “we're not doing anything like that. We're just gonna leave.”

    “Leave!?” Twilight trotted up to him and stood on her hind legs, balancing herself by placing her forelegs on Atlas. “Y-You can't leave! I have so many questions! Why, we just barely started getting to know each other! There is so much!” She looked up at him, her neck aching. “And the Princess... I-...” she trailed off, the inexpressive orange slit of Atlas' mask staring down at her.

    He sighed and shook his head. “Don't worry. Tell your Princess that we'll be at her castle once the sun sets.”

    Upon finishing his statement, he and his two companions walked up to the barn door. The cacophony of voices and hoofsteps had gotten much louder, and a range of loud questions, insults, and threats could be heard. The Humans paid no mind to that; Atlas casually pushed the door open, allowing the sunlight of the late afternoon to flood into the barn.

    Twilight and her friends shielded their eyes, having been in the dimly lit barn for too long. The ruckus of the mob died out soon after the door was opened, there were no more insults and threats being thrown into the air anymore.

    Once their eyes adjusted to the brightness, the six mares and the three fillies took in the scene before them.

    Atlas was standing in front of a crowd of ponies, with Mac and Torres taking position at his sides, much like they always did. The ponies were looking wide-eyed at them, those closest to the three had shrunk away in fear. What looked like the majority of the adult population of Ponyville were holding an assortment of pitchforks, torches, and other tools in their mouths, the few unicorns among the crowd obviously opting to use their magic instead.

    “Classic,” said Mac.

    “T-There they are!” one of the Ponies called out, “The monsters!” The mob began to rebuild their courage. Those in the front lines regained their confident stance. “Where did you take those fillies!?” another one exclaimed. Several others yelled the same question.

    “They probably ate them!”

    “We don't want you here!!!”

    The crowd waved their improvised weapons menacingly at the Humans. It was hard to tell from behind the masks, but the three looked rather unimpressed.

    Apple Bloom peered out from behind her sister's legs. “Sis? What's goin' on?”

    Applejack and the other mares turned to look at three fillies, all of them giving confused looks in return. Before any of them could say anything, the mob interrupted them.

    “They're still alive!”

    “And they have other ponies with them, too!”

    “Save them!”

    The mob of Ponies started their slow advance onto the Humans. The three looked at each other, uncertain as to what to do.

    “Hey!” Rarity shouted. “Everypony, stop this nonsense!”

    Rainbow Dash flew overhead of the Humans. “You don't know what you're doing!” she yelled back at the crowd.

    The Ponyvillians did not halt their advance. A few of them even began to haul rocks at the three armored figures. One of the unicorns threw a rather large rock at Torres. Before it could even get close to her, Atlas moved his arm and caught the rock with his hand.

    “I can defend myself, y'know?”

    “Sure.” Atlas clenched his hand and pulverized the rock into dust. He then turned to address the ponies behind him. “Listen: I'm sorry, but we gotta go, now.” He nodded at his two companions, and two hatches on his back opened, the same happening with Mac. Torres, on the other hoof, unfurled her wings to their full length.

    Atlas stomped the ground, assuming what seemed to be a defensive stance. The resulting quake stunned the advance of the mob. “Thanks for the pie, by the way,” he said. “Oh and also, stand back a little bit.”

    The mares and the fillies did as he said, taking a few precautionary steps backwards. Atlas moved one of his legs forward.

    “Punch it.”

    There was a loud explosion as two flames erupted from the hatches on his back. Torres and Mac did the same, although with considerably less noise. Almost instantly, they were lifted off of the ground, leaving a cloud of dust all around the spot in which they had been standing. Every single pony that happened to be nearby engaged into a fit of coughs. The pegasi took to the air to avoid the dust, from where they could see a faint trail of smoke left by the Human's departure.

    Twilight's coughing eventually ceased. She glanced around to find her friends, three fillies, and a crowd of ponies, all equally confused. She could see a trail of smoke leading from Sweet Apple Acres to somewhere near Ponyville.

    She walked over to her friends to make sure they were fine. Indeed they were, although their manes had been ruffled by the whole event, and Applejack’s hat had been blown away.

    “My mane!” Rarity cried. “My beautiful mane!”

    “Oh boy!” Pinkie giggled. “Did they seriously just explode!?”

    “I don't think so, Pinkie.” Rainbow flew around them, casting her gaze towards Ponyville. “Guys, look!” She pointed a hoof to an odd contraption taking off from the village and heading towards the massive 'starship' at a ridiculous speed. A cone shaped itself around it as it accelerated, and promptly disappeared. A distant boom could be heard a few seconds later.

    Twilight looked up to see a dumbstruck Rainbow Dash. “Uhm... Dash?”

    The pegasus rapidly shook her head. “Well, mine's cooler!”

    Twilight chuckled at her friend's statement. “...But wasn't Rainbow Dash supposed to be the only one who could break the sound barrier?” Her chain of thought was interrupted as Fluttershy landed in front of the crowd of Ponies that had forced the Humans to leave. She scowled at them, making them shuffle uncomfortably.

    “How dare you!?” she yelled. “Is this how you show hospitality!? Huh!?”

    Applejack, having placed her hat back atop her head, joined her by her side, wearing a scowl of her own. “Ah understand that yer all scared, hay, I'm scared too! But ya'll did not have to act like that!”

    Rarity walked up as well. “And we even told you that we were fine! But did you listen? Noooo! And you even went as far as to attack them!”

    Twilight felt something boil inside of her. She frowned and joined her friends. “They were representatives of an entire civilization!” she yelled out, her voice getting considerably louder with each word, “I mean, they had magic that I don't even understand! And I've been studying magic for my entire life!” She took in a deep breath. “AND THEN YOU WENT AHEAD AND BUCKED THEM RIGHT OUT!”

    The crowd of Ponies backed away from her. “You saw one of them turn a rock into dust like it was nothing! And hay, they flew away with a bucking explosion!” Her face was now almost burning red as she drew in another breath.

    “What if they took this as a gesture of hostility!? You may have even started another war! DON'T YOU THINK WE HAVE ENOUGH WITH JUST ONE!?”

    The eyes of the Ponies all went wide. Twilight simply kept staring at them, panting hard.

    “...S-Sis?” Apple Bloom asked, causing all of the mare's eyes to turn to see her and the two other fillies looking at them with concern. “What's goin' on? Is somethin' wrong?”

    Applejack trotted over to them. “No! N-No, it's fine. Everything's fine.”

    “...War?” Scootaloo mumbled.

    “You said there was a war going on...?” Sweetie asked.

    Twilight's expression dropped from anger to regret. She slapped her own mouth shut with her hoof. “Oh, nononono...” She backed away from the crowd. “Oh Celestia, what have I done?”

    Her desperation rose as she recalled what had just happened, and slapped herself again. “I... No... No.” She used her magic to levitate a scroll and quill out of her saddlebags from inside the barn.

    Luna cantered through the hallways of the Canterlot Palace. By her side was a unicorn stallion clad in a shining set of golden armor.

    “Your majesty,” he addressed her. “I'm sorry, but we do not have enough guards for this! Almost all of the officers are either on their recruitment trips or preparing for the military camp! All we have to spare right now are the rookies, and with the amount you've requested, half the Palace will be left unguarded!”

    Luna stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face the stallion. “Colonel Duty Driven, I am well aware of how many forces we have as of now, and I am also aware that we do not have any veterans available. In fact, I myself aided General Strong Helm while doing the plans for the training camps, and therefore I can be certain that should we leave the less... vital parts of the palace unguarded, we may have more than enough guards for this.”

    The Colonel bowed. “I'm sorry, your Majesty. I should have never doubted you.”

    Luna nodded. “It is most understandable.” She then resumed her steady trot down the hallways of the Palace. The windows along the corridor's walls allowed the inside of the Palace to be washed over by the light of a sun that looked not too far from setting over the horizon.

    She stopped right in front of a set of large, golden doors. Her sister's private chambers. “Colonel, thou art dismissed.” Upon hearing her, the stallion immediately bowed and trotted away, leaving the Princess alone.

    Using her magic, she pushed open the golden doors and entered Celestia's room. Inside was the usual assortment of exotic furniture, expensive silk curtains, and carpets. Sitting quietly on one of the latter, near the room's fireplace was Celestia. Next to her were cushions, stacks of paperwork and the likes. She was sipping on a cup of tea while she read through a scroll when she heard her door open. She turned to meet Luna, who cantered closer to her and smiled.

    “Oh, Luna, I was wondering when you would come by.”

    Luna sat down next to Celestia. “Well... the Royal Guard can be quite stubborn.”

    The Princess of the Sun smiled, setting her cup of tea on a nearby dish. “Mhm? Oh, but I doubt they can resist your charms for too long”

    “Sister, I have no charms.”

    “You do, but you just don't realize.”

    “... Liar.”

    Celestia giggled and smiled once again. “So I take it we are ready for this night's meeting?”

    “Very much so, although we will have to be accompanied by a set of rather inexperienced guards... I can hardly blame them though, with all of what's going on.” Luna eyed the scroll that Celestia had been reading. “Pray tell, is that one of Twilight Sparkle's letters?”

    “Ah, yes.” Celestia levitated the scroll up to Luna. “I received it while I was with General Cutting Edge.” Luna took the scroll off of her sister's magical grip. “It must have been a good ten minutes ago.”

    Dear Princess Celestia

    I'm happy to announce to you that yes, they have agreed on the time you have set for the meeting. And no, the chariot won't be necessary (At least, they don't need it, but I suppose my friends and I could use it).

    I also have to say that... I've been having second thoughts about this. Every time I ask them about their culture they simply avoid going into details. They also seem to be extremely adept at magic, though they constantly deny that, and even state that they don't use magic at all. It's... very odd.

    Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle.

    PS: I know that I may seem like I'm being a little judgmental but, you should see them. They have the most complex armor that I've ever seen, I mean, the eyes glow! And they have what they call an 'Android', which they defined as a machine that they built, like a golem of sorts. It has to be magic, how else would this ship of theirs keep itself from falling? And why are they wearing armor?

    I'm going tohave to cut this short, I think they'restartingto doubt about me andtheyesof the'Android' are socold.

    Luna set the scroll down and was about to say something, but her attention was caught by a silver mist that slipped in from one of the windows and materialized into a scroll right in front of her sister.

    Celestia unfurled the scroll and held it up, her eyes carefully reading through it. Her eyes widened just a bit as she reached the end. Without a single word, she levitated the scroll up to Luna, who took it herself and began to read it.

    Dear Princess Celestia.

    Before you read any further, I'd like you to know that I'm sorry.

    Not long after I sent the last letter to you, our meeting was interrupted by the rest of Ponyville. They were holding pitchforks and torches, and shouting threats at the Humans. They thought they were some sort of monsters that had been keeping us trapped, but they refused to listen. They started attacking them, throwing rocks, etc. The Humans saw no choice but to leave, though they said they would still go to the meeting with you anyways.

    I'm... worried. The Humans said they had been expecting us to do something like that, and they genuinely looked... unimpressed. I'm not sure of what happened next, there was an explosion, and then they were gone... But thankfully nopony was hurt.

    Well, what I'm worried about is that they may have left with a bad opinion of us... I don't want them to think that we, you know, hate them... because they may hate us back...

    We're sorry, Princess.

    Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle.