Prologue
If you asked five different ponies the same question, you’d get five different answers.
“How is the diplomatic visit to Earth going?”
- Per Diem, the head of the Palace’s Diplomatic Office, would say that the trip was a wild success - in just two weeks, Equestria had been recognized by over one hundred of Earth’s nations, and the safety of the interdimensional portal had been assured by bilateral agreements with both NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
- Stamped Passport, the head of the Palace’s Travel Office, would say that the trip could have gone better. He was still reaming out members of his staff for the reservation screwup in New York City - half the delegation had been forced to stay in the hotel across the street as a result, and he was not going to let anypony make that mistake again.
- Tempered Steel, the head of the Princess’ personal guard detail, would say that how the trip was going was irrelevant - but she would rather the Princess have stayed in Canterlot. The human world had a variety of threats that her detail was unfamiliar with, to say the least. Privately, she was grateful for the help offered by the Secret Service, even if she was embarrassed that she’d had to ask.
- Cyrus Vance, the U.S. Secretary of State, was privately and publicly delighted at how the visit had gone. Princess Celestia had politely listened to Zbigniew Brzezinski’s plan to exclude the Soviets from Equestria’s diplomatic outreach programs, and then just as politely told him to get out of her sight. With Cyrus’ help, she’d then walked away from the negotiating table with a neutrality agreement signed by both the US and the USSR. Honestly, the Equestrians could have done anything short of joining the Warsaw Pact and Cyrus wouldn’t have cared - the apoplectic expression on the National Security Advisor’s face was well worth it. The fact that the ponies had willingly gone along with the State Department’s position of normalizing relations with the Soviets was just an added bonus.
5. Princess Celestia, on the other hoof…