Canterlot, Equestria. 6:39 am 25/12/1000 AN
Princess Celestia sat in her throne room, on her throne, with a bowl of oatmeal and a slice of pie. Day court wasn't due to open for another two and a bit hours, so she had some time to herself, and just like always it was spent thinking about her sister. Not in the usual way though, no. Celestia was thinking about one of Twilights letters from last night. It had described a very odd phenomenon she had spotted through a telescope, which had been pointed at the location of the bright star she had seen a few minutes prior. Twilight had said she saw an object, indescribably large, that had taken up an orbit around the moon. The same moon her sister was located. It was obviously an error by her student, a bit of lense flare perhaps. That was the only logical explanation, though part of her wandered to other places. Extraterrestrial places.
It was all mumbo jumbo anyway, Twilight had made a miscalculation or had spotted something that wasn't really there due to how tired she was. That was it. No aliens. No experiments. No wars. Just a moon with a very lonely alicorn in desperate need of her sister. Celestia sighed a sad sigh. Why even bother. It's not like the nobles actually ca- *CRACK*.
The sound of the sound barrier being broken caused her to snap up in surprise. What could even go that speed? Surely not a pegasus, no pegasus was that fast. There was a moment of silence, maybe it was just a thunderclap. There might be a storm rollin- *CRACK* *WHOOSH*.
Celestia jumped out of her throne and ran towards one of the many windows that lined the room. Outside she could here screams and confused shouting, but there was nothing out of the ordinary visible. Unless...
She ran across to the other side of the hall and looked out of a window, bingo. There, on the slowly brightening horizon a huge circular rainbow could be seen, spreading across the sky. The unmistakeable mark of a sonic rainboom. What frightened her even more though, was the quickly approaching black shape that created it.
"GUARDS," yelled Celestia. This was no time to dawdle, Equestria could be under threat. Several gold clad solar guards appeared seemingly out of nowhere. "Lock down the castle, there's danger ahoof."
The guards saluted. "Yes, your majesty."
She snuck a sneak peak out of the window, the shape was gone. There was a frantic clip clop of somepony running behind her, Celestia turned to the out of breath face of her commander, who was attempting to raise his hoof into a salute.
"Princess! I have just received word of a large flying... Thing, over the castle gardens. Should we secure the position."
"No commander, let me handle this."
Before he could object, Celestia teleported to the garden. There was already a small battalion of guards there, all staring up at the huge purple... Creature, that was floating overhead. Was it some kind of dragon? It didn't matter, if it tried anything, she would turn it to ash before you could even utter the words 'sponge cake'. She wasn't in the mood.
"State you intent, creature!" She yelled, above its loud roars.
Mathew's P.O.V
The Lich was currently hovering over the Canterlot castle gardens, where Luna said they would get the most attention. The princess hadn't shown up yet, just a lot of guards clad in golden armour. Then there was a flash of light below them, and a very regal looking pony materialised. Her hair flowed infinitely, in the non existent wind, an aurora of pastel colours glowing in the morning sunlight. He looked over at Luna who was spinning in the co pilots chair.
"Is that her, she looks quite royal." He said
Luna peered over the control panel and out of the window. Celestia was standing down there, her eyes locked firmly with the window at the front of the ship.
"Yes that's her, that's my sister."
"Okay, let's get down there then." Replied Mathew.
Celestia's P.O.V
The creature had ignored all her warnings, it wasn't responding to anything she asked it. If it didn't adhere to her demands then it was going to learn exactly why you don't mess with the Princess of the sun. She was about to yell again when the metal beasts roars grew more high pitched, and it began to descend. She stepped back to give it room. A small set of mechanical legs unfolded, touching the ground with the upmost precision. It's roars were now whines, slowly fading away, until they were gone completely. There was a pair of long doors on its side, one above the other. The lower one began to open as a ramp descended, hitting the cobbles of the garden path with a dull thunk.
Heavy steps could be heard echoing inside. Celestia felt the guards around her freeze up, this could be bad. A large bipedal creature exited though the doors, it's blue armour glistened with complex designs and embroidery. It had a helmet under its arm, it's dull claws wrapped firmly around its metallic surface. The creature stopped at the top of the ramp, observing the scene before it. It's eyes fell on her.
"State your business, beast!" Yelled one of the guards.
The creature glared at him before stepping to the side to reveal... Celestia's knees went weak. Standing at the top of the ramp was her little sister, looking the same as she had all those years ago. Luna smiled weakly.
"Long time no see, sister."
Celestia didn't answer as she ran at Luna, who met her at the base of the ramp in the largest hug ever seen by another living being.
Mathew's P.O.V
Mathew exhaled, for a moment he thought they were going to fight, and he was going to have to pick a side. Luckily they were to busy hugging to fight, which works out nicely. His ghost appeared next to him.
"You know, we did a good thing today." He said
"That we did sparky, that we did."
The sisters broke their embrace and stared into each others eyes, neither wanting to apart from the other. Celestia spoke first.
"I've missed you so much, I thought I would never see you again, I thought... You would never come home."
"Neither did I, Tia." Replied Luna, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks.
"How in Equestria did you get back, did the spell fail?"
Luna didn't answer, she slowly turned around before pointing a hoof in Mathew's direction, all the guards as well as Celestia herself stared straight at him. Mathew stared back, a nervous smile forced onto his lips. He slowly raised a hand and waved awkwardly. Celestia approached, a neutral expression on her face. She ascended the ramp until she was facing Mathew, who was at eye level with her. This was getting tense, her expression was so unplaceable, Mathew had no idea what she was going to do.
Celestia moved forward and Mathew braced himself, expecting a blow. Instead he found a soft feathery sensation spreading around his body. Celestia broke the hug and smiled at him.
"Thank you. Thank you for bringing my sister home to me." She said, in a smooth voice.
"It's cool princess, I was just doing my job."
Celestia raised her eyebrows. She hadn't expected him to be so informal, and she was glad he was. Maybe this was an opportunity get to know somepony who didn't know her as the ruler of Equestria, somepony she could actually connect with. Then she remembered her rule, he would only be taken away anyway. Could she at least try? At least to find out more about the odd creature that stood before her.
"Just call me Celestia, it's the least I can do."
"Uh, sure. It's lovely to meet you Celestia, I'm Mathew Ausland." He offered his hand, which she shook readily.
"The pleasures all mine, may I ask that we continue this discussion inside. It's rather crowded, don't you think?"
Mathew smiled. "That would be nice... Oh and before I forget."
He rapped on the side of the Lich and one of the Sentinels from earlier appeared. The golden one.
"Can you guard the ship while I'm gone, we don't want anyone to get hurt."
The aggressor beeped. "Lethal force unauthorised, correct."
"That is correct. Also, do you two have names. Its going to get confusing eventually."
The Sentinel whirred in confusion. "I am unit #6,789,908. The other unit assigned to this mission is unit #6,956,864. Those are the only identification tags we were given."
Mathew thought for a minute. "Okay your called Gold, and you mates called silver. Got it?"
"Inputs accepted, we will guard here until further instructions." Gold floated back inside and the door shut behind him sealing them out
Mathew turned back to a very stunned Celestia and an equally bamboozled battalion of guards.
"So are we going inside or what? He asked.
Celestia snapped out of her trance. "Yes, let's... Let's go..." She turned to her guards. "You may return to your posts, I will organise a summate to deal with the situation soon."
"Yes, your majesty." They replied in unison.
Mutters of excitement could be heard among their ranks as they filed out of the courtyard and back towards the castle. Celestia descended the ramp and draped a wing over Luna who was standing quietly, stroking the short lawn with her hoof. As they turned to leave Mathew noticed the strange marks on their flanks. Celestia had one of the sun, while Luna had a corresponding moon. He made a mental note to ask about them later as he jogged to catch up. He slowed to a stroll when he was close, walking up to the base of the castle steps.
The place was huge, maybe not as large as hanger L2, but it was extremely elegant. There was a large painted white arch at the top of the stairs, which they passed under and through the massive front doors. The inside was beautiful, crystal chandlers hung from the ceiling, reflecting warped shapes onto the pure white of the walls. Many paintings hung from the walls, showing everything from battles to photos of banquets of cakes. They continued down the long passage until they came to a set of ornate doors. A pair of royal guards stood at attention, but flinched when they saw them approach. Interestingly I wasn't just Mathew they were staring at. The guards eyes darted back and forth between the guardian and Luna, who was still draped under her sisters wing.
"Tell the nobles that due to an unforeseen turn of events, day court will be closed this morning." Said Celestia, ignoring their fearful expressions.
"Y-yes, y-your highness."
Mathew snorted, he wasn't that terrifying to pastel horses was he? They passed the guards and Celestia pushed open the doors with her magic. They entered a long hallway lined with stain glass windows. Every window displayed a different event, each just as confusing as the last. At the far end of the room was a raised platform with a golden throne on top. Celestia and Luna walked up the steps and onto the platform, while Mathew stood at the base. He felt really uncomfortable, like he was on trial. Celestia stared at him silently, a hard expression etched onto her face.
"Mathew Ausland, I am happy to welcome you to Equestria. She said in an authoritative tone. "I owe you a great debt, and I know that I may never be able to repay it, but there is something I must ask you. It may seem rather silly, seeming as you've pretty much already made your character clear to me."
Mathew knew what she was going to ask him, and he knew why she had to ask it.
"Are you a danger to my little ponies." Asked Celestia
Luna gasped, how could she ask that. Was her sister really that suspicious.
"No Celestia, I'm not. It would go against everything I stand for." He replied
She dropped the intense glare, replacing it instead with a warm smile.
"I'm sorry for that Mathew, but the safety of my ponies comes first."
"Don't worry Celestia, I get it. My people probably would have asked worse."
Celestia smiled, he wasn't intimidated by her.
"So, where do you come from. I haven't seen anything like you before."
"My species came from the planet earth, which is thousands of light years away. I arrived in a large starship yesterday."
Celestia thought back to the letter Twilight had sent her, about the disturbances near the moon.
"Did you arrive near the moon?" She asked
"Yeah actually, did you see it?"
"My student saw your arrival through a telescope last night and informed me, I thought she was seeing things because of how tired she was. Evidently not."
There was a bleep and Mathews ghost materialised. "I just informed Exuberant of our arrival, I didn't receive a response though, weird."
Celestia jumped in surprise. "What is that!"
Mathew laughed before he explained the concept of his ghost to her. Celestia listened intently, drinking in every detail. He told her all about the Traveler and the many abilities that it brought. The conversation brought them on to the topic of pony abities or 'Magic', as they called it. Unicorns could manipulate the flow of magic better than the other races, who had less direct abilities. The magic could be used to perform a variety of spells, some that both he and his ghost couldn't believe.
"Did you just say you can move the sun! You must be joking." Said ghost,
"It's no joke I assure you, I'm just as surprised to hear your sun moves without magic."
Mathew raised his eyebrows at the sun horse before him.
"Allow me to demonstrate."
She walked over to the window and her horn began to glow with golden energy. Then low and behold the stars orbit reversed, moving backwards across the sky. Ghost was frantically running calculations to try and logically explain the phenomenal display, Mathew just watched in awe. That was cool. Mathew then showed them some of his own abilities, bending his light into various weapons and shapes. Fun fact, most guardians can do this. The only reason sunbreaker Titans form hammers is because it's the most effective use of the light they have, the same can be said for gunslingers and nightstalkers. Needless to say Celestia found the little show both interesting and mildly entertaining.
The mood was spoiled by Mathew having to explain his predicament to her.
"I can't even begin to imagine what you went through, but I promise that no harm will come to you while you are in Equestria. It's about as peaceful as you can get."
Mathew smiled, that was nice to know.
"I will have to request a summate with the other nations to inform them of both your arrival and Luna's return, it may take a while for the dignitaries to arrive so you are welcome to stay here."
"Thank you Celestia. For what it's worth, I don't think I could have ended up anywhere better."
It's funny, he'd been here for less than twenty four hours and he'd already made friends with a countries rulers, gained the title of first man on the moon and was on his way to becoming a delegate for humanity. Things could only go uphill from here.