Dear Flash Beats,
I am writing to inform you that I thought over your situation and requests. I would not be able to live with a clean conscience if I had the chance to save an entire race but did not do all I could. So I went about sending messages to the other leaders of the world. Most feel that adding another race to Equis will not affect them so they are indifferent. Others agree with me saying they wouldn't feel right condemning a race to their end by ignoring their pleas for help.
That being said I have procured an island from the Griffins approximately seventy miles off the coast of Equestria. It is about one hundred square miles in total with a smaller island nearby, almost three square miles. Being one of the races that sympathized with you I managed to get them extremely cheap. However they would only let me have them if I put it under your names. So, as of now you are the owner of two islands in the Peaceful Ocean and your friends are co-owners.
It will take a few days for the few griffins that live there currently to move out, but you will soon be able to see your island. I have sent a carriage to pick you and your friends up so we can discuss more in depth in person.
From one ruler to another,
Princess Celestia
How Celestia had managed all this in just a few hours boggled me. I had left Sugarcube Corner, picked up my friends, and made my way back to camp. We had just finished up lunch when a Royal Guard pegasus delivered a letter from Celestia. I asked the guard how long we had before the carriage arrived. She replied by gesturing behind her, and sure enough there was a large golden carriage with two more guard pegasi strapped to the front. So I gathered my still slightly hung over crew and we were swiftly taken away to canterlot. The flight wasn’t all that long, maybe two hours but boy was it rough. Plains were so much better.
We touched down with what I later assumed was a smooth landing but at the time I was sure the wheels had snapped off and we were sliding out of control. Yet, when we opened the doors, everyone looked as if nothing had gone awry so I guess that was normal? Who knows. We were whisked away by guards to the castle where we were lead to a large conference room. There was an ovular table that could easily fit twenty people in the center of the room with seven chairs on one side of the table and five on the other side. We went to sit on the side with five chairs because there were five of us but the maids in the room shook their heads and pointed us towards the side with seven. We sat down and before we could ask too many questions, Luna and Celestia came in followed by a Diamond Dog, a Thestral, a Yak, Cadence, and a griffin. Celestia and Luna sat on our side while the others went to the other side of the table and sat down.
“Greetings everyone.” Celestia said directed to our group. “Thank you for coming on such short notice.”
“Not like we have much else to do.” Nyjill said before I elbowed him from where I was sitting.
“It's an honor to be here Princess.” I said nodding my head. “From what I learned from the letter we are already greatly indebted to you. And if my guess is correct these fine folks are the ones that would like to know more about us and what to expect from our race.”
“Right you are Flash.” Luna said. “These are the dignitaries that responded to my sister's letters. They are interested in the survival and continuance of the Human race.”
“And because we are discussing humans, I think it would be appropriate to be in your natural forms. Would you mind?” Celestia asked the group.
“Yes please.” Atom said excitedly. “Give me hands again.”
“I suppose that’s reasonable.” I said hesitantly. “But if we could change in private, it’s taboo to be naked in front of others for humans. Baring a select few, and that varies from person to person.”
“Not to worry.” Celestia said. “The spell to change you back will also fabricate the same clothes that you were wearing when you changed the first time.”
“I was wondering where those went.” Griffin said.
“Does this also mean we will be using our original names as well?” Blue asked.
“Yes, that would be preferable.” Luna said.
“O boy, this is going to get confusing. Well I guess we will introduce ourselves twice, and in my case three times.” I said looking to Celestia. “I assume they know how we were transformed and that we did not choose our races correct?” Celestia nodded. “OK good.”
“Hello all, My name is Flash Beats, the unicorn.” I said before dropping my disguise. “Or more accurately I am actually a Changeling.”
Celestia charged her horn and zapped me. The change back was much quicker than the change to changeling the first time. So, after some bright lights I was in my human form again sitting in the chair.
“And originally, I am Shawn the Human.” I said. The change from Changeling to Human got much more of a reaction than changing to a Changeling did. So I guess Celestia did explain the spell to them.
“My name is Atom Split, the Unicorn.” Atom said before getting blasted. “I was formally known as Camden.”
“I’m Blue the Diamond Dog.” Blue said before getting a magic blast to the...everything. “And now I am Cody.”
“Griffin the griffin.” Griffin said simply before changing back. “Matthew.”
“My name is Nyjill Moon the Thestral .” Nyjill said before zapification. “But my real name is Nick.”
Celestia looked confused for a moment and looked to me.
“Nick?” She said. “I thought he was Nyjill.”
“Well technically his name is Nick…” I said scratching my head. “But we all call him Nyjill.”
“Fine.” Nyjill said sighing. “I’m Nyjill.”
“Well I guess it's time for us to introduce ourselves.” Cadence said. “My name is Cadence. I rule over the Crystal Empire.”
“Hello.” The griffin spoke next. “I am King Highfether, Ruler of the Griffin Kingdoms.”
“My name Big Tom.” The not so large Diamond Dog said. “I big deal in dog region. Dogs not nited like others. But my word law among dogs.”
“Yak Ironclad.” The yak said. “I rule over Yaks.”
“I am Silver Eclipse.” The Thestral said. “I am the ruler of Silverton, the largest colony of Thestrals on Equis. And no, I did not name it.”
“And you already know Luna and I.” Celestia said. “Co-rulers of Equestria.”
“It’s an honor to meet with all of you.” I said. “We will do our best to inform you on our race and whatever else you might want to know.”
“First why don't you tell us about yourselves.” Cadence suggested.
“Alright.” I said getting comfortable in my chair. “It all started when I met Cody in fifth grade…”
I recounted our entire story like I had told Celestia. Except this time I didn't edit out the internet, cell phones, plains, and other such technological advances. I had to stop many times to explain what some things were. As a group we explained everything. But we did better than, “We all had tiny things in our pockets that could tell us anything we wanted to know, in full detail but we used it to look at pictures of cats, and to argue over what we thought was right, in inappropriate places, like youtube comments.”
“And then we came through the portal.” I finally finished. Having to explain every other word made our tale at least three hours long.
“Well I find most of my questions answered.” Cadence said after a brief moment of silence. “You humans were very advanced. And all without magic.”
“Humans are a lazy bunch that will do anything to not do anything.” Matthew said. “We invented so much because we didn't want to do anything. It's pretty ironic when you think about it.”
“But once the zombies came our only focus was on survival.” I said further explaining. “So we kind of backtracked in terms of advancement. We no longer use airplanes and rarely use cars. Our phones still turn on but the internet has gone down, along with any cellphone providers.”
“But with the people we had we were still able to progress science even further to open up the portal.” Camden added.
“Human behavior goes like this.” Cody explained. “We put all our effort into surviving at first. Then once we have the hang of that we will start to change our way of lives until we aren’t just surviving but living. Then we will start to improve our way of life until we thrive. And ultimately someone does something dumb and the cycle restarts.”
“What could cause a restart?” Celestia said.
“Thermonuclear warfare.” Camden deadpanned.
“Zombies.” I added in.
“Moving to another world.” Nyjill said.
“As of yet, our group has just been surviving.” I said trying to steer clear of what Camden said. Hopefully they just think it's a fancy name for war. “But with an island the cycle will no doubt start again.”
“What is it that Camden said?” Highfether said. It got a nod of interest from the others.
“Well…” I started hesitantly. “With our advancement in technology came an advancement in war. Eventually we made a cylindrical projectile that could travel halfway across the Earth and destroy whole cities and condemn them and the area around them uninhabitable for about fifty years.”
Silence.
“However!” I continued. “Humans only developed all this because of how often we fought each other. Nations against nations, and a few times the entire world kinda fought.”
More silence and wide eyes.
“Look, humanity has a dark past but since the apocalypse people of all nations worked together to fight a common enemy.” I added. “And I want to be completely honest with you so I’m telling you everything. But do you not have a dark past as well Celestia? For us it’s at least our ancestors that did the fighting or, more recently, leaders that condemned us to fight. For you, it was you! We have changed as a people like you have as a person.”
I got a little defensive and may have thrown Celestia under the proverbial bus. But I felt like i was just diggin humanity into a hole and I needed something to drag us out. Her past made a nice ladder.
“What you say is true.” Celestia said calmly. Way more calmly than I would have if someone dissed me like that. “I have done things in my past that I am not proud of. And I understand what you say about war. Not every citizen wants to fight but the leader decides that for them sometimes. With what your people have been through I wouldn't doubt they have changed. Why waste time and resources on fighting when you are fighting for your lives.”
“You dangerous.” Big Tom said. “I think I might change mind on you coming here.”
“Don't be rash now.” Silver Eclipse said. “Did you not hear what Celestia said? They may have fought in the past but the people alive now were raised in a different environment.”
“It’s not as if your history is clean dog.” Highfether said. “Your people are raiders and force others into slavery!”
“Not my dogs.” Big Tom said angrily. “I not in control of all dogs.”
“So how can you say what you did about them?” Cadence chimed in. “These five here are just victims of circumstance.”
“Let's take a vote shall we?” Celestia asked. “I personally say they are welcome to come here.”
“I agree with my sister” Luna said. “They were a dangerous bunch but I have faith that people can change.”
“I say they should be allowed in Equis.” Cadence said. “And I will go so far as offer whatever aid I can to them in their future endeavor.”
“I am on fence.” Big Tom said. “Not sure if we can trust.”
“I’m sure they will make a fine addition to our Equis.” Silver Eclipse said.
“Yak like!” Ironclad said. “They fight like Yak, relatable.”
“Well that's a yes from everyone but the Diamond Dogs. I say that is enough to say they stay. Any objections?”
“The only objection would be from Tom and he already stated it so let's just welcome them to Equis and get it over with.” Highfether said. “I have recently sold Equestria a large island and smaller satellite island. And according to all the paperwork you five are the owners. You will be able to move there within the week.”
“Wait so we’re in?” Nyjill asked slightly stunned. “You all are welcoming humanity onto Equis?”
“It would seem so.” Celestia said smiling. “Your people have a home to come to once the portal opens again.”
“Holy shit we did it.” I said quietly to myself. "GG us."
“Congrats.” Luna said into my ear, sufficiently scaring the crap outta me.