Luke watched as the other guests began to leave the museum. It had been a tiring but enjoyable day; the two ponies in particular had had almost no end to questions, questions he was all too happy to answer. They had gone over the High and Late Medieval eras, and there would be a Renaissance era tour on Wednesday.
It's not about the numbers of people who listen, he reminded himself as many of his guests seemed bored. It's about somebody listening at all.
As six o' clock rolled around, Luke walked toward the Museum doors, accompanied by Red and Quill. Both ponies had willingly gone through the entire day's worth of tours without missing a beat (the exception being lunchtime), and, despite the often terrible parts of history had gotten through it without their overall positive attitude being all that diminished.
"That was a productive day," Red said, and her husband eagerly nodded in agreement. She turned to Luke. "We've done extensive work on Equestrian history, but not of that of Earth... at least, not until today. And even though it was a brief look, I think we've got a lot of material to work with."
"Might I ask what you intend to do with that knowledge?" Luke asked.
"We're hoping to help relationships between our world and this one," Quill replied. "It's our most profound hope that, through our work, my wife and I may help our worlds grow closer together, and that both humans and ponies may live together in peace."
"I doubt the more violent or destructive things you've learned today - and there are many - will help."
"But that's just the thing," Red interjected. "Ponies aren't all saints either. Some like to think that way, but we've had wars, have quarreled, and have done terrible things too. That show of yours only shows the more acceptable things about Equestria."
"Indeed," Quill said. "More... adult things are left out, in the interest of children, for whom the show was made. Obviously, reproduction, but also warfare. The pre-Equestria pegasi are depicted as warriors for good reason; they made war. Some had honorable ideals even when fighting, others did not. And, in the leadup to modern Equestria, things such as bosses taking advantage of workers and revolts against such oppression happened about as much in our country as in yours."
"So how much accuracy is in the show, by your estimate?" Luke asked.
"Only so much," Red answered. "The last two seasons largely did not happen; Princesses Celestia and Luna are still on the throne as equal diarchs, and neither has shown the slightest interest in stepping down. And, while efforts have been made to expand the ideals of friendship and harmony, a school for it hasn't even been planned for, much less put into place."
"The first two seasons were the most accurate," Quill said. "After that, there's less truth, and more things either given short thrift, exaggerated, or ignored completely. Not to mention that it's a cartoon; things like bodies being flattened only to immediately recover don't happen."
"I'd say the accuracy is between 58-68 percent," Red put in. "That's not to say that there is no accuracy; our diarchs do raise the sun and moon, for example, and friendship is heavily important to us. But as Princess Celestia wrote to Twilight when the latter was still a unicorn, you can't learn friendship from books and study. You have to experience it in order to know it."
"Not to mention that other nations are much bigger than they are made to be," Quilled added. "Do you really think that Equestria is so small as the common map of it makes it out to be? Of course not!"
"Alright, I apologize if my questions have upset you."
"Not at all," Red added, raising a shod hoof. "In fact, it's part of the reason we're here; to correct misinterpretations and conceptions that one world has of the other."
"Might I ask if this is a government project? It sounds as though it would be something that your monarchs would like done."
"Nope," Red said immediately and confidently. "We're doing it on our own, with our own money. We're hoping to get a sponsorship from the University of Canterlot, but that's not yet come through."
"I see." Luke rubbed his chin (he realized that he would have to shave soon). "Might I also ask why your name is 'Red Guard,' when you're not in the Guard?"
"Well, for one thing, names don't always imply jobs," Red responded. "For another, my parents admired the guard and hoped that me or one of my siblings would join, hence the name itself. Finally, I got my cutie mark while helping a group excavate an ancient battleground."
"I got mine while writing a thesis for the University of Baltimare," Quill said, nodding. "It took up so many pages that I decided to make it a book. Unfortunately, nopony other than my professors seemed interested for the time being, but I hold out hope for future sales, especially if this visit to your world is successful."
"I hope it's may one day be a success, if that means anything."
"Thank you."
"We'll write it together," Red agreed. "And we'll be successful together." After her husband had nodded, she turned back to Luke. "Our shared love is history; besides the love we have for each other otherwise, it's really helped us to bond."
Luke gave them a good-natured grin. "Not the worst thing to bond over; you rarely run out of things to study, especially now that there are two worlds in two different dimensions."
"Even that's debated," Red replied. "Are we in a different universe, or is it the same universe? Are the portals between two different worlds in separate dimensions, or the same dimension, thousands of light-years apart?"
"I suppose that's a difficult question; it certainly establishes faster-than-light travel, in a sense. It also helps if the laws of physics are the same."
"Our scientific laws don't differ from yours," Quill put in. "Although our scientists are still unsure how our sun is it's current size - the answer "magic" only goes so far - we have the same understandings of the laws of thermodynamics and motion as humans, among other things; that's a major support for the "same universe" theory. It's mainly magic that is different, and many theorize that magic is local to our planet, at least in the sense of magic that we have."
Luke tried not to show his worries about magic, but it must have shown somewhere, because Red cut in. "Don't worry about our kind of magic; it's not obtained by pacts with demons or spirits. And all magic requires energy from the unicorn casting the spell; if they don't have enough energy, they can't cast."
"And need to find the nearest restaurant," Quill put in. "Speaking of which..."
This was followed by a loud belly rumble.
"May I suggest the Applebees in town?" Luke said. "It's not too far."
"Thanks," Red replied, smiling. "We're grateful. Can we agree to meet again, for the sake of our project?"
"I have no objections. I would advise meeting here next Sunday, around 2 PM, if there is no objection?"
"None in the world. Thanks again, so much!"
As the two ponies trotted away, Luke sighed. It had been a while since anyone locally had shown so much interest in history, and this parting felt mildly sorrowful.
Then again, I'll be meeting them again fairly soon. In the meantime, I should go home and check on my guests.
---------------------------------------------------
Aurora opened her eyes reluctantly, letting out a yawn. She took a look at the windows; from the near-lack of night from them, she guessed it was getting close to dusk. In other words, it was time for thestrals to wake up.
She yawned again, and sat up. Her husband was quiet, and more... peaceful? than she had seen him in a long time, which said a lot. She wondered why, but decided not to wake him.
Bright was still asleep as well. He was gently snoring on the blow-up bed, ears occasionally twitching.
Aurora softly got out of bed, quietly opened the door, walked out, and closed it again. It was time for breakfast. Some eggs would be nice, though she wouldn't mind a little ham or bacon. Not that she blamed Luke for the lack of the ingredients; humans and ponies alike had different tastes.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Luke opened the door of his house, a bag of groceries in his hand, and walked to the kitchen. The thestrals were already there, eating their breakfast, with Aurora serving some sliced apples to her son.
"Evening," Aurora said cheerfully as he walked in.
"Evening. You started a bit early; it's still light outside."
"What is dusk for you is the equivalent of dawn for us," Aurora said, shrugging. "Anyway, care for anything?"
"Not yet," Luke replied, "though I thank you for offering."
"Don't. It's your house."
Luke quickly put all the groceries where they belonged, then turned for the couch, resting on it and rubbing his head.
"Rough day at work?"
"No; it was nice actually, but tiring."
"What did you do?"
"I led people on tours of the museum, stretching from the early medieval to the early Renaissance. A lot of walking, a lot of talking. I just need to rest a little."
"Walking around and talking aren't work; you want to know what work is, go join the army," Shadow said contemptuously.
"Shadow!" his wife admonished.
"What? It's not like he was working in the fields or anything. He'd never make the army."
"Not all ponies or humans need to join the military in order to get tired from working all day! I'm sure our postmare was quite happy to go home after stamping and sorting out parcels all day!"
"Hmph."
"Don't mind him, dear," Aurora said sympathetically to Luke. "Being cooped up and having been on the streets too long has made him... well... Anyway, I hope it was a fulfilling day."
Luke noticed the change of direction the conversation had taken, but decided it was none of his business to pursue it. "Yeah. History is an underrated subject; through it, you discover an entire world you never suspected existed. Knowing the impact of men like Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther are stunning, along with many kings and lords and other exemplary men and women." He paused. "What eras are Equestrian time split into? I know there's a medieval era for you guys, but otherwise..."
Aurora bit into a buttered Sweet Hawaiian bun and let herself swallow it before answering. "Yeah, we had a sort of medieval age, with knights and feudalism. That was when a lot of the "big nobility," i.e. nobility whose families still exist today, came to be. Of course, we thestrals weren't present for the end of that era, because Princess Luna was banished and we went into exile, so I'm not so sure how much I can tell ya."
"If it's no trouble, please tell me all you can."
"No trouble." Aurora finished off the bun. "From what I know, we had a period similar to your Renaissance, though it was less, er, troubled from what I hear."
"Yeah, fighting a thirty year-long war would count as trouble," Luke said, to which Aurora nodded.
"We had a lot less fighting than you guys did; tensions and relations with other nations gradually fell away to a certain degree, at least in the eyes of a common pony, which is why the existence of zebras, griffons, hippogriffs and more are big surprises to some village ponies. Some would call Equestria an isolationist society - I've heard the accusations, from here and from other species - but it was mostly our Princess and her foreign ministers, along with the nobility, who had contact with the outside world."
"Ah. A partial isolation, more based on access to the ruler than deliberate policy."
"Sort of. Princess Celestia did try to keep those she could educated about the outside world. And that was successful... in big cities. But villages, well... they're villages. Not exactly centers of learning, home to a big part of the population, and also home to a lot of superstitions."
"Like Nightmare Night."
"Exactly what I was thinking." Aurora stared at the ceiling for a moment. "Even the records of Princess Luna's existence were largely forgotten by the time her corruption returned her here and she was purified by the Elements. It wasn't deliberate-"
"The story the sunrisers tell all the time-"
"-but it had been a thousand years," Aurora finished, ignoring her husband's interruption. "Most ponies forgot about Princess Luna and only remembered what the corruption turned her into. No wonder she wanted to cancel the 'holiday,'" she said, wiggling her front hooves to make air-quotes, "of Nightmare Night. That she let, and still lets, the common ponies celebrate it is more due to her grace than it is to any other factor. I have no doubt Princess Celestia, though perhaps disapproving, would have supported her sister if she had banned it. Anyway, back to history," she said with a smile. "Ponies made new technologies, discovered more spells, and explored, though only limited colonization. Most ponies who were born as Equestrian subjects didn't want to move anywhere else. There are, of course, ponies in tribes and smaller nations outside of Equestria, but I don't know a whole lot about 'em, other than occasional bouts of fighting and tomb robbing."
"As much a disgrace in your world as to the Egyptian pyramids here," Luke said ruefully.
"Not all the time; some ancient temples, shrines, and tombs for rulers had really dangerous stuff in them. The kind of objects that modern magic can't make sense out of, the kind of things that act erratically when you try to interact with them. It was good to remove the dangerous stuff out, but those old priests and kings laid out a lot of deadly booby traps; you either had to be part of their organization, a descendant of the ruler who was 'in the know,' or a veteran tomb raider to get through 'em with fur, head and hooves still attached."
"So Daring Do is actually respected rather than disliked for taking ancient artifacts?"
"Yep. Like I said, dangerous stuff, and sometimes dangerous cults or traps guarding them. Sometimes both. Anyway, we moved on to industry, though it didn't catch on as much as it did here until recently; most ponies preferred the hoof-made crafts or homemade food over what you could get from a factory. Most still do, really. But the reality of other civilizations with better tech has given those industrialists among us a real drive to make more."
"As I suppose is to be expected." Luke thought for a moment. "Colonization... how much did Equestria do? You said there was limited colonization, meaning some happened."
"Yep. Most were private ventures, though, not government sponsored. A hundred or so adventurous ponies crowding aboard one or two ships and sailing the eastern seas to found a settlement. Sometimes they found gold and other precious metals and gems, more often they had to farm crops. A few settlements were founded in griffon lands, several in Zebrica, and one short-lived colony was founded in the Dragon Lands... I don't think I need to tell you why it was short lived."
"No indeed," Luke said grimly, imagining a dragon attacking a town full of wooden buildings. "Did thestrals, during the exile period, attempt to colonize in order to escape Equestria?"
"Now that you mention it, there was one expedition. It succeeded, in making a colony to the far south of Zebrica, on the coast of a jungle. It's still there, and still inhabited, but most thestrals wanted to stay in familiar lands, even if we were in exile. Most chose to try to civilize caves and abandoned mines rather than leave Equestria."
"Presumably meaning trying to build cities underground."
"Yep." She looked away. "By and large, we succeeded... kind of. Bat City is actually a result of one such effort, though largely due to Princess Celestia's intervention. Still, being away in caves and thought to be evil servants to a mad demon alicorn was... hard."
"I can imagine."
"I doubt it," Shadow muttered. Aurora looked at him, but the stallion appeared to have said his piece for the time being.
"What's the thestral colony called, and is it loyal to the Princesses now, or independent?"
"It's called Leatherwing," Aurora said, with an amused look on her face. "Not the most thoughtful of names, though I guess they wanted to distinguish themselves from other ponies, especially the pegasi. And it did pledge loyalty to Equestria after Princess Luna's return, though from what I heard there was a lot of debate; the thestrals there were willing to pledge loyalty to Princess Luna but not to her sister."
"How did they resolve the dispute?"
"They... did and didn't. Last I heard, they agreed to pledge their fealty to Equestria... but only through Princess Luna."
"Isn't that... illegal?"
Aurora's mouth twitched a bit. "The thestrals there aren't fond of Princess Celestia, given how she, from the viewpoints of the thestral colonists, failed to protect us. Technically... it probably is illegal. I think negotiations are still ongoing so that the colony can be legalized and be part of Equestria proper, though there's the subtle threat of law from both Princesses, including our Princess Luna, to move things along."
"So I guess they'll accept something that is legal in the end."
"No doubt, though they'll debate giving fealty to the Sun Princess up to the point they can't do it anymore; those colonists were the most radical of those who hated their persecutors, and they taught that prejudice to their kids, and so on and so forth."
"I see... sort of. Doesn't that prejudice still stand?"
"If you've paid any attention to Shadow, you'd know the answer to that question."
Shadow frowned, but said nothing.
"I thought he was more interested in not being a human slave."
"He is indeed interested in not becoming one," Aurora replied, to a vicious nod by her husband, "nor letting me or our son become one. Earth horses and ponies... it would be like you guys coming to Equestria and finding non-sapient humans, and naturally, many Equestrian ponies don't like the idea of being forced to haul carts and be forced into carrying humans on their backs." She paused. "Not that ponies are entirely against pulling carts or allowing humans or other creatures to ride on their backs; it's the idea of being forced to that's really feared. I doubt pulling carts is going to vanish anytime soon, even if cars and trucks end up being sold to Equestrians; it's just easier in many cases to just hitch yourself to a cart and pull your stuff to the market than it is to learn all the gizmos and gadgets of a car, have to gas it up, and drive it. We'd have to entirely change our traffic rules."
"Which will probably happen soon."
"No doubt. But ponies tend to be conservative about the old ways. Comfort in tradition."
"Indeed."
Aurora thought for a moment, hoof on her chin. "Not to sound rude, but staying in this house all the time, as much as we're grateful to you for letting us stay here, is kind of..."
"Boring?"
"I was going to say it's giving us cabin fever, but yeah. Could we accompany you to the museum tomorrow?"
Luke was surprised, as was Shadow. "Um... wouldn't that mess up your sleep schedule? The museum closes at 8, and my shift ends at 6. You'd have to come during the day, and isn't sunlight problematic for you?"
"You're right," Aurora said, thumping the table with her hoof. "I'd forgotten about that. We need pony-sized sunglasses, and we don't have them. I doubt they sell them up here."
"Not much of a problem," Luke countered. "I can buy them on eBay or Amazon, and have them shipped here."
"Wouldn't that take time? Also, even if you ordered them, how would they know the precise size needed unless we were present?"
"I suppose that's a legitimate concern." Why didn't I think of that?
"Is there an eye doctor we could go to?"
"There is," Luke replied. "But it would require you go during the day, and I don't know how much experience they have with ponies." Likely none, he thought to himself.
"That's better than nothing," Aurora answered. "We need to be able to get out of this house from time to time."
"We're thestrals," Shadow interrupted. "Night stalkers. We don't go out during the day time."
"And yet we've had to just to try to get jobs," Aurora countered. "Not to mention that none of the schools we've tried have night courses. Bright would have to wait until college to go to school after moonrise, and you know that that's too long. Besides, who would accept a pony with only the first few grades under their belt?"
"It's not natural!"
"On the contrary, it is. It's not like we die or burn up in sunlight, our eyes just need protection. Besides, what would you have us do?"
"Something other than this. Our heritage as Thestrals is tied up in the night itself! We're nocturnal!"
"And yet we now live in a country that does not have night schools for children, and whose people sleep when it gets dark and hard for them to see." Aurora sighed. "I'm sorry, Shadow. I love the night as much as any thestral. But if we're really moving here, we have to accept the rules of the country. Besides, it's not like we can't resume night living anytime convenience allows it."
"I won't have our son raised to despise the night!"
"Like he could, with you for a father! Come on, Shadow, Bright's never going to lose that love of the night you fear us losing so much. Our heritage is something near and dear to us, and I agree with you that we should not abandon it. What I'm saying is, we need to send our child to school or else he has no future outside of menial labor. Being the proud warrior you once were, I doubt you want that."
"No, but-"
"No buts. Our Slugger needs a school and a social life. Or would you rather we stay here and have cabin fever all the time?"
Shadow then did something with his lips that Luke couldn't make out; it was like he was speaking, but Luke couldn't hear anything. But after several seconds of this, Aurora burst out laughing.
"Move out and force another host - assuming we get another - to sleep during the day and rise at night? Do you even hear what you just said? No. I say we're good. And we need our son to be educated; short, sweet, to the point. As well as anything moral to get out of the house."
Shadow did that thing with his mouth again. Luke strained to listen, but the thestral didn't seem to be making a sound, despite the eager movement of his lips.
"Yes, I'm sure we can go out at night sometimes. But I'll say this one last time; we need our son to go to school, no school accepts anything at night that would become a formal education, so he has to go to school during the day like all the other children. It stinks, but it's the way things are here. And if we're really going to become citizens of this country, we need to accept its laws."
Shadow growled in a furious way and crossed his forelegs, but his head drooped in a manner that bespoke of reluctant acceptance.
"W-what was Shadow doing there?" Luke asked.
"What, dear?"
"The... thing. With his mouth. Like he was speaking, but not speaking."
"Oh, that. We thestrals can hear at a much, much higher pitch than humans, and we've developed... not a language, really, but a sort of code, that only we can hear. We use that for silent communication."
"Thanks for spilling all our species' secrets."
"You're welcome," Aurora deadpanned, which caused Shadow to look up in outrage. "But seriously, calm down. It's not like other countries' intelligence services wouldn't know that already. If you're worried this guy is a spy, stop worrying."
Shadow sighed.
"Sorry about that," Aurora apologized to Luke. "He loves thestral heritage, in case you didn't notice."
"Wayon, lo," Luke replied. "Comme j'aime le mien."
Aurora raised her eyebrows. "I got that you love your heritage, but what was that first bit? And why the P- I mean, French?"
"My memeres were raised in a community here that spoke - speaks - French as its first language," Luke answered. "So some of it rubbed off on me."
"So your grannies spoke French. What about their kids?"
"Well, Mom and Dad grew up having to speak English because, well, you don't get far in a country where you don't speak the primary language. They kept parts of it. Wayon, sounding like the French 'non' with the almost silent-n at the end, means, roughly, 'aw, come on.' There's other stuff I could say, but a lot of it's bad words, soooooo..."
Aurora laughed. "Yeah, no. Anyway, do you think we - I mean, me, Shadow, and Bright - could take a walk or a flight outside tonight?"
"Not very late in the evening, so I can still be awake to let you back in. No problem."
"Thank you. It'll feel good to throw off the cabin fever for a while."
Luke decided to turn on the TV, and flipped to the news.
"Mind turning it to Earth-Equestria News?" Aurora asked. "I still like hearing of the old country."
"They have a channel too? I thought they were only an online news source."
"Well, they started that way. Now they have a channel, or so the newspapers a few days ago said. You know, before we were welcomed here."
"Where did you get-"
"Garbage."
"Oh."
Luke flipped through the channels, and eventually found that the channel did exist.
"-ith the new model," a tan earth pony stallion sitting at a table was saying. "Now, before the next part of our program, we'd like to thank our generous sponsor, South Equestria Industries, who have given us the chance to start our channel last week."
"Mainly a mining and farming conglomerate," Aurora explained.
"Now, onto our scheduled program," the pony onscreen continued; the name, "Parallel" appeared briefly under him. "Since the portals were opened a few years ago, pony and humankind have been working together peaceably. But a considerable minority of the population have been asking questions: namely, things like, 'What do the humans really want?' and 'Will they disturb the peace of our blessed land?' Here with me to answer questions like this are my friends, Anne Schmidt, from the US, and Rockstar, of the Equestrian band 'Raining Sunlight.'"
The screen expanded to include a human woman and a bay earth pony stallion with brown hooves, mane and tail, wearing a cowboy hat on his head, each sitting in a chair next to one another.
"So, Anne," Parallel began, "What do you say to those who fear this connection between two worlds?"
"I think that those fears arise from legitimate concerns," Anne replied. "There's been wars, famines, genocides, and nukes. And it's not so easy to live in many countries today, even if we discuss economical issues. But denying these things would only make it worse once it got out to Equestrian society as a whole. We have to be honest and admit these issues in order to talk about them; otherwise, this fear would have a much sharper point than it does in reality."
"Gotta say," Rockstar said, with a mild southern voice, "ah have no complaints since this exchange of tech and ideas began. I love my new axe; fun ta shred them awesome notes when our band gits together."
"Might have been better to explain that an 'axe' is an electric guitar first, Rock," Parallel said, "as well as explaining that 'shred' means to play that same guitar really fast."
Rockstar laughed. "Sorry, got the band on the brain."
"No complaints about that in and of itself," Parallel said, smiling a bit at that.
Rock slowly calmed down. "But seriously, it's all been fine. Earth ain't an easy place ta live - weather's wild, leaves fall on their own, an' dangerous wild animals here an' there. But it's not like there ain't no improvement; war ain't somethin' most humans'r keen on, an' nukes and genocides an' all them bad things that ponies point at, today's humans mostly hate those things. Things may'a been bad in tha past - ain't perfect even now - but even then they weren't all hateful and monsters, and today the wors' a pony can expect is ta get mobbed by little girls tryin' ta pet 'em and hug 'em and 'brush 'em. Not the wors' 'terrorism' ah've seen."
Parallel burst out laughing. "No, I suppose not. The Element Bearers certainly had a mob on them when they first entered a city, but it was anything but a hostile one."
"Careful," Anne teased. "Princess Twilight might shut us down if we expose that gaffe too much."
Parallel laughed even harder. "I still remember the headlines," he said, wiping a tear from his eye. "'Miniature Terrorists Attack Diplomats.' They made it out to be this awful, violent assault on the Element Bearers. I loved the looks on the newsponies' faces when the Princesses revealed what really happened."
"That aside," Anne said, trying to smother a grin, "there are still people on either side of the portals that think that the other has hostile plans. It's not just ponies; some humans think there are plans by secretly dark, autocratic princesses to enslave or change the human race. So neither side is entirely faultless, given how we point at each other."
"I suppose they aren't," Parallel agreed, nodding. "What do you guys say about the Oil Deal? The one where the US agreed to help us build oil wells in exchange for between five to ten percent of said oil?"
"Not exactly meme-busting," Anne answered. "The US has been accused of doing a lot of stuff in recent years for oil alone. But given the low rate of just five percent - not to mention the help given - and given the aid both countries have given each other in the recent Joint Space Exploration Deal, I think that it's more than fair. Give and take."
"Yep," Rockstar put in. "Puttin' ponies on tha moon - our moon, that is, the one over our planet - has been a dream in Equestria since dirt. So far, neither side has broken any part o' that deal, and doesn't look like they will."
"If Princess Luna lets ponies land on the moon, that's going to be a real... I don't know, a really big change," Aurora noted. "Most thestrals would likely give at least one of their wings to visit the moon."
For once, there was no argument from Shadow. The stallion nodded in agreement.
"Of course, to be fair, we need to have the opposing point of view discussed," Parallel said. "To do that, we will be talking with two other ponies, ponies with the opposite view, namely that humans should either stay out of Equestria entirely or that we need much sterner safeguards. Here to do that are Rose Petal and Octagon."
Two smaller pictures appeared near Parallel's head. One was a red earth pony mare, the other an orange unicorn stallion.
"Rose Petal, you've heard the arguments by Anne and Rock; what are your views on the situation?"
"Glad you asked, Parallel; these deals seem like an inside job to me. Why would another country, of aggressive creatures, offer to build things like oil well and a space industry? Surely there has to be some ulterior motive. They aren't based on friendship and harmony, like ponies are."
Anne frowned; Rock simply affected to have a surprised face.
"Furthermore, they're running out of their own supply of oil on their planet; why should we be surprised that they're looking for it here? How long until this US comes up with a plan for invasion to get our oil, and our gems, come to that?"
"Given that Anne mentioned a meme about that, I guess that can be argued. Anne?"
"I find that ludicrous," Anne replied, sounding irritated, though she managed to speak a bit more quietly and calmly after that first statement. "Sure, we don't have harmony and friendship as ideologies, but we don't need to. We have harmony just by being with family for important things, by working together in a small business, by sharing in what our children do. And humans, of any country, can make friends as readily as ponies."
"Maybe," Rose Petal replied, "but I find history to be a good indicator of what's possible."
"No kidding," Anne answered. "And history shows us that good change is possible, such as equal rights being given to previously oppressed groups, including the rights to vote and to fair trials, along with scientific research into that very same oil issue you've mentioned. If humans have problems, we work to find answers to solve those problems, like finding an alternate fuel source that isn't weak or intermittent. With Equestrian help and magic, and with Earth giving tech in exchange, what's wrong?"
"Mainly that a species with a history of aggression is suddenly using peace. It just smacks of treachery to me."
"Says the pony who is colored almost blood-red."
"That... that has nothing to do with this! It's illogical that a species that is so violent in its history is just allowed in!"
"You mean like griffons, yaks, and hippogriffs? You mean they don't have violent histories?"
"Well, they do, but not on the scale of humanity."
"Give a yak leader a nuke. See if he doesn't set it off after five minutes, just to see what happens. If he doesn't do that, then I might be able to take your argument seriously. Not to mention, I've been to Hearthswarming pageants before, and the pegasi are all depicted as a warrior people. What else does a warrior culture do but fight and conquer, killing their enemies while they're at it? And those pageants clearly state that the three tribes were going to fight each other until the windigoes and the three friends - I forget their names - came along."
"Um, yeah, the pegasi were warriors. Key word, were. Now they're as peaceful as the rest of us.
"Try telling that to Spitfire and the Wonderbolts."
"Hey! Every country needs somepony to defend it from outside threats!"
"And in saying that, you admit you have a military that is ready to fight, die, and kill in defense of its homeland. Nothing new on Earth."
"I think we may be straying a bit," Parallel said. "Octagon, what's your perspective?"
"I think we need more safeguards," the stallion replied. "We need to stop being naïve when negotiating. Our non-alicorn leaders are all too confident and believe too much in this alliance of convenience. We know that humanity has a checkered past, to say the least. If they've really changed, or are at least becoming less violent, we need to make sure that that's the case, and not just assume that it's going to work."
"Gotta say, guys," Parallel said, "for a ponies from a country that embraces friendship, I'm a little disappointed."
"And that's the problem with you guys, Parallel, you and all the ponies who work at Equestria-Earth news. You're too naïve, too accepting. I won't deny that our country was founded on friendship, but do we really trust former bullies as friends all at once? Don't we have to wait to see some kind of positive change, and guard ourselves well before we commit to being friends with them? This feels like Equestria just dove in without checking the depth of the water first, and we all know what happens if we dive headfirst into too shallow a body of water."
Parallel looked surprised at the criticism, but then recovered. "Okay, so what further safeguards can we have that would still allow for a positive relationship, in your opinion?"
"Well, first, we need to increase security. No one with a criminal history whatsoever gets in. We also don't let armed citizens in, not even ones who fear criminal activity against them; leave your guns at home. Also, we need more Guards at the portals. We need better mental evaluation, like Princess Luna's dream spells, and more of them. Also, we shouldn't just allow individuals to go outside the portal administration without a guide to keep them out of trouble. Those are just some of the minimal safeguards that we need."
"'Those who trade freedom for security deserve neither and will lose both,'" Anne quoted. "I also note that it seems hypocritical to judge us when you guys have faults of your own. That whole speech was basically, 'I don't trust them, and I'm not befriending them until they give up their rights and their way of thought.' No, not all humans are altruistic good guys, and I'd be lying if I said they were."
"Not ta mention ah've been on good terms with most humans ah've met," Rockstar added. "Ain't perfect, like ah said, but nopony's perfect."
"The worshippers of Princess Celestia want to know your location," Anne joked.
Rockstar and Parallel laughed. "Well," the newspony said, "I hope we can all agree to disagree on the human subject, at the very least. I do have one more guest in this particular session. A guest star, if you will."
"Oh? Who?" Rose Petal asked.
"Me."
An image of Princess Twilight appeared onscreen. She was without any royal garments, but it was clear that she was considered royalty; Parallel bowed his head for a second, and the other ponies followed suit. Anne did not, but there were no complaints by anyone.
"Your highness," Parallel said with respect.
"Oh please, just call me Twilight," the princess replied. "I'm not used to all that royalty stuff."
"I mean, we can try," the newspony said, to the amusement of Twilight and Anne. "So, how much have you heard?"
"I've been listening to the entire discussion," she said. "I've made my position clear in numerous situations, and I'm going to restate it here; I support our alliance with the human nations. I've made human friends; I've lived in the US for a year just to see how their lives work. What I've seen is a mixture of bad acts and actors intermingled with a high goodwill among the population. Yes, they can do evil. So can we; Tempest Shadow was part of the Storm King invasion, and let me remind you, she was - is - a pony. And humans, like ponies, can do good as well as evil. Even Equestria isn't perfect; the free will of individuals allows them to make good or bad decisions in either world. I'm happy to stand by the Crown's decision in this matter."
"Please excuse me, your highness," Rose Petal interrupted, "but that sounds like whoever is advising the Crown is giving you bad advice."
Twilight laughed. "That sounds so much like the excuses of human rebellions against royal authority between the fifteen and seventeen hundreds; 'the king has evil councilors making him do all these bad things, get rid of them.'" Twilight stopped using her false voice and grew serious. "Honestly, do you really think we'd let ourselves be manipulated so easily? Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are both happy with the alliance, and there are plenty of examples of ordinary friendships between humans and ponies already; this very media outlet is proof of it. I don't see an issue, so long as we remain careful. Besides, we have unicorns scan the memories of humans who enter our country; what more could you want for security?"
The two dissenting ponies were quiet for a moment, which allowed Twilight to continue. "We're taking all precautions, and we're aware of the risks. Trust me, more safeguards are in play than we're letting on. And by and large - there are exceptions - our trust has has been rewarded. Our nation is made safer by new weaponry. Our industry and trade have increased. Poverty is declining, though I doubt any society will succeed in eradicating it entirely. And we make new friends every day."
"Planning to be the first pony on the moon?" Parallel asked. "Since you love science and all."
Twilight giggled. "I do love it, but I think we'll be leaving it to our ENF friends, such as Shooting Star, who have been specifically training at NASA for this. Besides, Princess Luna has first dibs on being first to the surface of the moon, it being her responsibility. I think the ENF has got this."
"Equestria; New Frontiers," Parallel said, nodding. "Good name for our space program. Maybe unlike the humans, we'll discover alien life."
"Not on Equestria's moon. It's as dead as Earth's."
"Boo! Spoilers!" Parallel said teasingly, to which the alicorn laughed.
Rose Petal took the chance to speak up. "What about all the jobs that are obsoleted by human technology? What about all the carting businesses and railroads and flatboats and airship industries and so on? How many ponies are going to go out of business because of those?"
To this, Twilight sighed. "I admit you have a point there. A lot of old businesses will become obsolete over the years to come. But I think Equestria would have eventually discovered these technologies on its own; we've just gotten a big boost now. These jobs would have become obsolete either way. But that's not to say that this means long-term unemployment for Equestria. If, say, your job as a wagoneer becomes out of date, there are ways to continue in the profession via using new technology; cars and trucks, though admittedly their designs will have to be altered so ponies can drive them, a process already underway. Diesels and electric engines on railroads simply replace their older steam-powered counterparts. Steam and diesel-powered ships replace flatboats. Telegraph and radio replace me having to use Spike to belch messages to Princess Celestia. It's true that there's going to be discomfort during the transitional phase; traditional arms and armor manufacturers for the Royal Guard and EUP overall have already felt it. But the outcome is a nation with better capacity for the country for everypony. So it does stink that some ponies will be out of a job for a while, and that's terrible. But where one door closes, another opens. If we can realize what these opened doors, metaphorical or otherwise, are, then we can alleviate the impact of the new technologies. And new occupations can open up; Earth-Equestria News, along with other tv stations, is one such occasion. Ponies can get their news in their living rooms, and the media isn't limited to how much ink or paper we have available."
"And what of the dangers of such new technologies?" Octagon asked. "We can't discount that. Even this space adventure isn't certain; the humans had two big shuttles explode, after all. Who's to say that won't happen here? And what about other dangers? Motorized vehicles move much faster than ponies on the ground, and can hardly stop as fast; there's a high danger of damage or death."
"True, at least to an extent. But it's not like we aren't aware of these problems; you've made that clear by your knowledge of, and reference to, the Challenger and Columbia disasters. Yes, these new techs are, or can be, dangerous. However, that's why we have precautions. Factory workers in a cake factory don't stick their forelegs into a hot oven or into sharp objects. There are indeed safeguards. Furthermore, we have an entire new world available to us now that has made mistakes and experienced these disasters. That can tell us a lot. As if that wasn't enough, we can rely on magic as well as technology; I can tell you that magic isn't going out of business, at least not pony magic. One of our innovations for the moon expedition is to seal the bolts on the shuttles by magically flash-heating them for a few seconds, so they meld into the material, and then cooling them just as fast. We also have a jelly-like substance around the living quarters for the craft, which will give it better stability and protection. Finally, we have a very intricate system of both magical and technological warning systems in case something goes awry. We're doing similar things with other technologies we've been studying and importing. I can't deny that there will be accidents, but that's nothing new; when we first built airships, there were crashes and failures, and the number of railroad accidents spiked as locomotives became faster. Other than the weapons we've been importing, there's about as much danger from Earth tech as with any technology that we ourselves have built or improved upon so far."
"That's good to know, Princess," Parallel said. "But it looks like the time for this show is just about up. Our thanks to all those who participated in our show tonight, and we'll see you all on Parallel Hour tomorrow." He waved at the screen
"D-blasted right our Princess is first to the moon," Shadow growled. "It belongs to her, and her alone. Any other pony who gets to walk on it is only able to do so because of her grace."
"Nopony is arguing with you, dear."
Shadow sighed, finished eating, and got down to all fours. Aurora sighed as well. Bright also finished eating.
"May we go out now?" Aurora asked.
"Yes." Luke got up and opened the door. All three thestrals headed outside. The mother and her foal looked happy; the father...
I hope he does cool down sometime. It feels so... down for him to be all grumpy and upset at everything.