The waiting hall was just about the most opulent that Belay had ever seen. He looked around at the gold trim everywhere and stared at everything. "I really can't believe all this. And look how adorable they all are!" One of the adorable ponies looked around at him and gave a wave. "Friendly too." He returned the wave.
"Belay, keep it down. We aren't even supposed to be on this planet. You know the rules." Dustin y Neil, or Dust to anyone but her family, shifted in place for what had to be the millionth time, or so it felt to her. "We need to get this all reported, ask them to stop messing with our ship, and dust-off. So get in… hey, they're different."
Both Belay and Dust were standing out a little, they were each in dark-gray, body-hugging outfits that covered their bodies from the bottoms of their hooves right up to a partial hood that kept their manes well hidden. Only their fur was visible around their faces. Belay's fur was the purest white, while his companion, Dustin, was a soft yellow. Each had the helmets of their "ship suits" hooked to one shoulder, out of the way.
Belay followed Dust's pointing and covered hoof toward the target of her surprise. "Wings and a horn? That is something special I think. Uh…" He watched as the purple pony in question walked past the huge queue to see the rulers of the country. "Guess she is something special."
"The real royal treatment, huh?" The mare's belly gave a slight rumble. "So what are we eating tonight?" Dustin lifted a hoof and rolled it in the air. "Synth steak, with some crispy as-close-as-possible-to-the-real-thing bacon? Or do you think pigs and cows talk too?" She shot a smile to Belay. Their words weren't the only ones in the hall, all the ponies surrounding them were talking, likely gossiping, or so Dust assumed.
"Ugh, don't even get me started, Dust, you know I don't like all that synth stuff. It isn't like it matters, all comes from the same nutrient vat, at the end of the meal it all goes in the same place. Besides, it isn't like you have eaten the real thing in your whole life." Belay shook her head. "Although I really have a craving for something sweet, now you mention it."
"Not going to go native on me, Bel? You remember all the rules and reg's on that, as well as I do. We have to maintain our own food stores until such time as it is confirmed that we can safely consume local produce." Dust was rattling off the short versions of the codes, since the full ones would take several hours, and a law doctorate, to understand.
Belay shook her head. "Oh fardles no, you know me though, I love new things, and you have to admit, this is a really new thing. But think about it Dust, we aren't much like we were, what if we have to eat the local food? Wait, why are you looking at me like that?"
" 'Fardles'? Really Bel? Firstly, no one uses that phrase anymore." Dust waved a hoof in the air dismissively. "Second, have you heard any of these ponies swear? Just once? I don't know how this many sentients of any species could survive more than an hour like this without one swear word or a bottle of very strong alcohol. Hey, if we are going to throw the rules and reg's away, we should totally find a bottle of their hooch, before we get whichever of them is in charge to poof us back and send us back on our way." Her gesture almost poked a pony waiting behind them, Dust pulled her hoof back down.
"Hey, what about that last planet? The one with all the worms." Belay swapped topics faster than anyone could usually follow. "Think anything will come of them?"
"You really do hope that every strange thing we find is going to one day become sentient and join the FSP. They were just worms, Belay, they have millions of years to get close to anything that has a real brain in it." Dust tossed the idea aside. "Look at this here, we finally have a sentient race, really sentient, and you start talking about worms again!" She turned fully to her friend, and regretted it. "If only the planet wasn't quite so… insistent about us matching the native species."
"You think they did it to us?" Belay flicked her snout at the ponies surrounding them, seemingly on all sides. "Lure space-travelers in, then bam, population increase!" She stopped and blanched. "What if they were all something else too? What if this is a plague and it hit the planet and… Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Because you are going nuts. Come on Bel, you have been stable all this time, even with the worm thing, don't bug out on me now." Dust lifted a hoof and rest it on her friend's shoulder. "Just calm down, I am sure there is a logical explanation for it all, and that the magical telepathic black horse will just zap us back to normal and let us go."
"About that, don't you think it is about time we got 'in character' here? Ring the doorbell? Tell them who we are, or something?" Belay looked around for one of the ponies to address. "What about him?" He pointed at a guard, who's attention turned to the pair.
"I still don't get how you can pick their gender so easily. It is hard enough…" Dust shook her head and tried to approach one of the imposing-looking soldiers. "Kiera, can you activate the translator please?"
"Of course, Dust, since you asked so nicely." Kiera's voice came from the implants in Belay and Dust's ears. "Just sub-vocalize and I will try to pitch shift it to your 'new' voice."
Dust ignored Kiera's little jab. "Excuse me, but how long is it going to be? We were invited to be here today and-"
"Sorry," the guard cut in on Dust's words, "there is a bit of an emergency, new creatures are supposed to be visiting today. Until they have come through, all business is on hold."
The words were sing-song, like the other ponies' they had heard, but both of the two oddly-dressed ponies could hear their own language echo in their ears.
"Dust, they're talking about-" Belay had a hoof pressed to his snout, silencing him.
"Well," Dust began, "what are these new creatures supposed to look like? You know, in case we see them." She wore the most honest and open smile she could.
"Tall, pink, and wearing odd clothes." The guard's brows drew down a little. He examined the odd, tight-fitting suits the two ponies wore, the strange little devices pinned to them in places, the fact the suits had no seams at all and, finally, that each had a compact bubble-helmet hanging from a clip on their shoulders.
"Well, we were tall and pink. It was a bit of a shock, but we figured it would probably be best just proceeding with the mission." Dust tossed her bright green mane. 'I have always wanted to ask this.' She drew a deep breath, "Take us to your leader!" The result was anticlimactic in the only way such a request could ever be.
"Make way!" The guard bellowed loudly, making a hole for the two strange ponies. "The visitors are here! Make way!"
"I was actually enjoying just looking around. Why'd you have to get all pushy, Dust?" Belay poked the mare in the shoulder with a covered hoof. "Does that count as kicking, here? We are really going to have to get a baseline for social interactions."
"No we don't." Kiera's voice was clear in both Belay and Dust's ears. "Because the moment I can lift my tail-fins off this rock, and you two are back to normal, we are out of here. This world should be proscribed, watched to see if these creatures reach space-travel and, if they do, invite them to the FSP."
"You love this though. Forget the rules and reg's for a minute, Kiera, and just think of what this world is." Belay turned around in a tight loop, taking in the wonder of the huge vaulted halls. "We are on a planet that is full of real magic, and-"
"I still think it is a form of gravity." Kiera cut in on Belay.
"You need to see it, Kiera. Not through these little button-cams, but I mean really see it. It is magic plain and simple. I don't know how else to explain it." Belay had to trot to catch back up. As he reached Dust and the guard, the great doors before them opened, glowing with gold magic. "See?"
Dust froze at the sight before her. Stained-glass was something she had seen before, but this was something else. "That is so beautiful…"
"Shake it off, Dust. Turn so I can see them properly." Kiera sounded a little upset over the comms. Her frustration with her crew-mates ended when Dust showed her the windows. "Okay, I'll grant those are pretty amazing. How do they do that lighting effect through them?"
"It isn't just light. That is magic." Belay took a few steps into the room, advancing on the windows. His own horn started to tingle in sympathy with the magic trickling through. "Wow…"
"I don't think I have ever been stood-up by our windows before."
The voice, translated as it was, pulled Belay and Dust's attention to a great white pony. Like the purple one, she had wings and a horn. Kiera was recording everything, not just in visible light but every spectrum the little cameras she had on Belay and Dust would give her. "M-M-Magic… look at their mane and tail…" Belay and Dust turned to look at each other.
"Have you ever heard K stutter?" Dust watched Belay shrug his pony shoulders. "Hey, Kiera, you have to translate still, please?" A little burst of annoyed static assaulted Dust, before Celestia's words followed.
"Uh, sorry, Your Highness…" Dust heard the comms repeat her words in that odd language. "We are a little unfamiliar with your language and were fascinated by those windows." She gestured with a hoof at the glass. "We know of Princess Luna," she gave a bow that she hoped would be enough, toward the dark pony, "but we would like to know how we should address… all of you."
"Smooth." Kiera gave Dust another little poke of static.
"I, am Princess Celestia. This is, as you know, Princess Luna, my sister." Celestia gestured to Luna, but then to Twilight. "And this is Princess Twilight Sparkle, formerly my student. I believe Luna said your names were Dustin y Neil, and Belay?" She looked to each as she said their names, but had the order wrong.
"Begging your pardon, but I am Dustin, and she is Belay." Dust tried to puff out her chest, but failed at it.
" 'She'?" Celestia raised the eyebrow of the only eye visible to the two visitors. "And no apologies needed, you may speak freely with us." She smiled wide, the warmth of it radiating out like pure sunshine.
"We should probably start at the start." Dust smiled up and caught a wink from Princess Luna. "You see, we are not from this world, we are… from a very long way away."
"How much of this are you going to tell them? They might not even be aware of space-travel!" Kiera's voice was sharp in Dust's ear. "You are breaking protocols!"
"Kiera, protocols broke when they grabbed you out of orbit and turned us into ponies!" Dust stomped a hoof, glaring in the direction instinct told her Kiera was. "Okay, look, trust me here, please?" A little burst of static was her only clue Kiera had heard her. "Sorry, Your Highnesses, but this is a little irregular for us. Normally, we wouldn't approach a planet that hasn't… reached out to us."
"That was well put," Belay said, muttering softly into her comms.
"I understand the reason you are here is my sister causing some problems with your vessel?" Celestia carefully worded her reply, not wanting to put any blame on Luna, even if she might have been due some.
Dust smiled, glad that her words were accepted as-is. "Yes, her at… her adjustment of our position was quite surprising. Kiera was beside herself."
"You idiot," Kiera and Belay both said, at the same time.
"Who is Kiera?" Princess Celestia looked between the two. "Luna, you said there was only two?"
"That we could feel." Luna cast her mind back to the dream, "A male named Dustin and a female named Belay."
Celestia turned back to the two ponies before her. "The full truth, please." Her tone held no threat, not a trace, but she saw both of them look up at her, startled. "You don't need to give us your full origin, but it would be nice to hear a little more about it."
Kiera's laugh came through to Dust clearly. "You started this, you finish it. Personally, I think she would have out-positioned you no matter what. I like her."
Dust grumbled something under her breath. "Your Highness, then let me offer you a hand… hoof, of friendship. We are representatives of the FSP, Federated Sentient Planets. There is three of us here, Belay, myself-"
"You are going to tell her everything." Kiera wished she could give Dust enough static to really annoy her.
"… and Kiera. The third member of our Exploration and Evaluation team is our ship." Dust tapped her comm button for emphasis. "Kiera, please say hello to the princesses."
"I apologize for not greeting you sooner, Your Highnesses, but it is not normal policy to reveal such things this early in negotiations. The reason your sister was unable to reach me, I believe, is that she works telepathically with the minds of sleeping people." Kiera spoke Equish perfectly, she had been monitoring it all morning and running it through her language synthesizers. She saw the dark pony nod mutely to her summation. "Thank you, the reason you didn't see me, then, is I don't sleep."
Celestia and Luna both looked confused, but Twilight's face lit up. "Are you a pony as well? I have tried to stay awake for a long time, but it never seemed to work."
"I am—as my two partners here were—human. But unlike their previous human selves, I am a shell-person." Kiera actually enjoyed ribbing her brawns about their recent change, even if it confounded her. "Which is something I needed to bring up. They were human, until they left my hull. It was strange, and each seemed to give off a strange radiation as they turned into the ponies you see before you. The oddest part, however, is that they… well, their genders are not what they should be."
"Huh…" Twilight tapped her chin, hijacking the interview from her former mentor. "It could be a recalculating of the physical/astral linkup matrix. If that were suddenly flooded with… you don't happen to come from somewhere there is no magic?"
"How did she…" Dust looked to Belay. "How did she work this out so fast?"
To her two partners, Kiera gave a snort. "She is likely smarter than both of you put together. I have a feeling these ponies are not exploring space for wont of ability or knowledge." She adjusted her vocals to address the princesses again. "You are correct. Of all the planets known to the FSP, this is the only one on record with this particular radiation you call 'magic.' "
Twilight's eyes went wide, her brain practically exploded with questions. Only one managed to beat the swarm to her lips, "How many 'planets' are in the FSP?"
"Oh, now who was out-played by a pony?" Dust reached up and tapped his comms button. "You in there, K? Do you tell the nice pastel horse that she is one of tens of trillions of sentients across the universe, or do I?"
"There are," Kiera gave Dust a good-sized blast of static, "a lot of planets, each with a lot of beings on them." She worked hard to keep her voice even, but not sounding like an AI.
"Twilight, I am sure they will have a moment to talk later, but first I think we need to apologize, we are asking for more than you want to give, and we have pushed questions more than once in that direction. But you must understand, I have a nation, and a planet," Celestia tasted the word, it was a little strange, "to protect."
Belay was sick of being left out. "Thank you, Your Highness, I believe both my partners need to have their ears bopped for how they have handled things so far. As Dust was saying, before giving away more information than he had any right to share, we are not meant to be on the surface, save for Princess Luna sensing us. If you would please turn us back to our human-selves, we will leave your world in peace, and ensure it stays that way."
Celestia turned to Twilight. "I was wrong, Twilight. It seems it is your turn." She gave the mare a half smile of encouragement.
Feeling excited at all the prospects of what conversing with the strange ponies might bring, Twilight looked directly to Belay. "Well, I have actually had contact with humans before, through the mirror portal. Are you from…" She trailed off at the shocked expressions on the two ponies' faces. "Uh, mirror portal? Another dimension? You aren't from there, are you?"
"Dimensional travel?" Kiera's nutrients seemed to sour on her. She kept her voice from the princesses. "This is all myth and…"
"Magic." Belay kept her voice silent, but sub-vocalized the word, making sure Kiera knew what she was saying.
"Maybe we should start over." Dustin smiled at the three Princesses. "Hi there, I am actually a male biped nearly three times as tall as I am now, can you help me and my friend return to normal so we can leave your nice world in peace?"
Celestia lifted her hoof and giggled into it softly. "I think, if we are going to start over, we should meet your third member. It seems only decent."
"I really like her." Kiera's voice startled both her brawns.