Starlight Glimmer:
My apartment now is bustling with life. Normally, I am more of a reclusive mare, trying to keep to myself and my close friends, but now, the entire school staff is here! Trixie is eagerly jotting down some notes on how to aid Twilight, and everypony else is keeping to themselves for the moment. I don’t know enough about Maud Pie, but I feel somewhat fulfilled that basically everypony on this room is either friends or friendly with Noah. His Friendship Studies are going swimmingly! I’m so proud of him.
“Hey, Trixie, where’s your human friend?” Bon Bon asks the showmare, wondering where Rebecca is right now. Since Noah brought his sister to Equestria with him, those two have been inseparable, and it’s quite bizarre for them to be apart for long periods of time. Trixie sighs, and drags her front hooves over her face in mental anguish. “Trixie had to leave her rider back at Twilight’s castle. She’s dealing with the human government representatives and the fiasco Neighsay caused. She’s a good press worker!”
To be honest, I am not surprised by this development. Rebecca has proven herself to be an excellent public relations official with regard to human-pony interactions. Somecreature’s gotta do it, right? It doesn’t matter, anyway. Right before Lyra, Bon Bon, and Trixie came, Noah and I found a very important piece of information in a previous civil suit.
“So, I have something I need to show Princess Twilight.” I say, bringing the attention of all who are present. Twilight nods. “So, let me see, let me see!” She’s quite eager to see what I found. I smile, and my horn lights up. All eyes turn towards my mahogany desk, where a medium sized tome begins to levitate in the air with my signature magical embrace. It quickly flips open, and levitates towards my teacher. The page that it opens on discusses a legal case a few years before the Elements of Harmony, discussing Friendship statutes. Everycreature in the room quickly surrounded Twilight, and looked at the page.
Braeburn V. Orange:
Abstract: The plaintiff Braeburn filed suit in the Appleloosa court, claiming that the Orange family disciminated against him based on his family lineage. The court ruled 5-4 that Braeburn’s constitutional right to unconditional Friendship was bring infringed on baseless prejudice. Superior Justice Book Binder said in the majority ruling: “Princess Celestia enshrined Friendship for all her citizens, and discrimination based on lineage is against the core values of our land. Braeburn should be able to purchase orange crops without restriction.”
Luna chuckles. I take it she’s never seen this legal case before, since it was before her banishment ended. “This is quite humorous, Twilight. Did thou knoweth about this?” Luna asks. Twilight smiles, and realizes that this case could be the very tool we need to defeat Neighsay’s baseless Hoofibustering.
“Did this case get appealed by the Oranges?” Twilight asks me. Noah nods, and continues where I left off. “It did, but the Supreme Court in Canterlot upheld the Appleoosa court’s ruling. I’m suprised that Neighsay didn’t do his homework, or the rest of his caucus, for that matter!” He says, quite smug with himself. Maud and Trixie are totally confused by this, but Luna quietly explains it to them.
“Hold up, if this court case says that Friendship is unconditional, did it specify WHO this right is enshrined to?” Lyra asks, quickly grabbing the legal code from Twilight, and scanning it for herself. Bon Bon might be a teacher, but dense texts aren’t in her wheelhouse, so she let her marefriend comb through the text on her own.
I smile, and let everycreature in on my idea.
“It doesn’t specify. That’s how we’re going to win. We’re going to MAKE it seem like this includes all creatures, even those from Earth. It’s brilliant! If Noah hadn’t found this case, and I hadn’t come up with this plan, we’d be dead on arrival!” I exclaim, giving Noah a high five. Twilight is quite pleased with me. I’d take it she would take credit for this. I don’t care. Friendship is important to me, but Justice is my mandate, and Friendship is hers!
“Wait wait wait…who’s tesitfying, exactly?” Maud Pie asks us. Twilight Sparkle raises her hoof. “I’m going to deal with Neighsay. Maybe Starlight if she gets subpoenaed, but everypony else is on the support staff. Does that work?” The purple alicorn asks. Everycreature nods their heads in agreement. Still, Princess Luna is fidgeting with her front hooves, eyeing a scroll that she placed on the table when she arrived. She pipes up with her two bits.
“This makes sense, dear Twilight. However, we still didn’t cover the most important part. Our sister gave us this scroll, and we’d assume thou hath the capacity to comprehend its contents better than anypony, er…creature here. Would analyzing this scroll be possible?”
Twilight’s magical signature grabs the ancient looking scroll, sealed with the emblem of the Two Sisters. Quickly donning her reading glasses, she prys the contents of the scroll, looking at whatever ancient text might be written there. In her typical erudite fashion, it takes Twilight Sparkle no more than a few brief moments to read everything on the scroll.
“Holy Celestia…” She whispers, quickly pawing off the scroll back to me.
“What does it say, Twilight?” Trixie pipes in, seemingly more focused now with the topic at hoof than before.
Twilight’s face breaks out into a smirk: “Noah’s not the first human to come here.”
***
Noah:
Wait, WHAT?! I’m not the first human to come here? I don’t get it! Everyone here, even Celestia, said I was the first human to come here. What aren’t they telling me, or anyone, for that matter! Starlight looks at me and laughs. “You’re joking, right Twi?” My marefriend asks, before reading the scroll for herself. Her maw drops wide open, and she’s in shock and awe.
“This is just as surprising to us as it is to thee, Starlight. We truly didn’t know this tidbit of information.” Luna says, quite puzzled by this damning piece of information. “Come, constellation of ours, read the scroll for thyself, and tell us what we could learn from the perspective of Man!” Aw, I love how she calls me a constellation. Everypony chuckles, even Maud. Luna smiles, and quickly pats me on the head with her hoof. “Come, child. Read it to us.” Luna asks, beckoning me to grab the scroll for myself.
I cast my own spell, with a similar signature of Starlight’s. The warm, magical energy gravitates the papyrus towards me, and eventually the scroll falls into my hands. Starlight looks at me eagerly, and gives me the “you can do it” look. “Don’t forget to cast the Universal Translation Spell, Noah! I taught it to you recently, remember?” Starlight reminds me. That’s right. The scroll is in Ponish. I quickly cast the Universal Translation Spell, and the contents of the scroll translate themselves into English.
“So, Noah, what does it say?” Lyra asks me. I begin to read:
“To my little ponies reading this many aeons from now,
My name is Total Eclipse, but my subjects calls me Fausticorn. I am a very happy and content ruler. I just gave birth to twin foals, Celestia and Luna. Right now, the kingdom is in good hooves, since we just peacefully dealt with the Windigos a fortnight ago. Exactly seven days ago, my life, and possibly the kingdom itself changed forever. I lost someone very dear to me. I still don’t know how it happened, but one day, I was doing my rounds over the skies of Equestria. I had just raised the sun for a new day, and I saw something odd. Crwaled up in a fetal position on a grassy knoll was a very strange creature.
I had never seen anything like it! The poor thing had no fur to keep it warm, and it was probably a child! The youngster looked no older than a foal who had just got their Cutie Mark. Being a kind mare, I quickly landed on the knoll, and went to investigate the situation.
After slow, careful communication, I learned that the creature was a female, and her name was Athena. She claims to be part of a race called “man”, but the females are known as “woman”. I had never seen anything like it! Considering that I had never seen a “woman” before, I kindly asked the youngster how she managed to find herself here, all by herself. She told me that she was sent away from her home, because she was different. She doesn’t know how she got here, but she arrived the night before.
I felt a strong urge to at least provide rudimentary care for the child. I told the child she could stay for a short while in my castle. She was very pleased to hear that. I began to fly towards the castle, but the child stayed put. I asked her why she didn’t follow me, and she said it was because humans cannot fly.
The human was a bit audacious, and quickly scrambled up my body and placed herself atop me. I was horrified by this. I am a deity, for crying out loud. I expressed concern, but “Athena” told me that “man” does this with their animals for travel, and her people treated them kindly. Being somewhat of an open minded mare, I entertained the idea, and allowed myself to carry her to my home.
This proved to be a very successful endeavor, as the movements of my body, the flapping of my wings, and the comfort of my mane seemed to provide the child with joy. She laughed, she giggled, and she cheered for me. I felt like I provided the young one with some happiness.
Athena lived with me for six years before tragedy struck. The Windigos came back to my realm, and they preyed on the moth vulnerable. At this point, I had grown close with the child, and even began to teach her magic. My daughters were still very young, so I got to know all three of them quite well. Athena had proven herself to be quite versatile in the art of healing magic, and I’d wager if she was a pony, her cutie mark would have something to do with healing and providing aid.
Athena made me a special outfit called a “saddle”, which made both of us more comfortable while I carried her. It looks rather fashionable! She equipped me with this outfit, which comprises the saddle itself, a silly rope I need to wear in my mouth, and a place for the girl to place her center of gravity. The outfit is a bit silly, but I grew accustomed to it, since she needed me to go from point a to point b. We rode into battle against the Windigos, aided by my prized pupil Starswirl the Bearded.
We fought long and hard, but the Windigos unleashed a powerful icy pulsar at Athena, which mortally wounded her. I was heartbroken, and I felt like I lost my own foal, even though I only knew her for six short years. After I provided for her burial, I asked my pupil Starswirl to trace where Athena came from. He did some due diligence, and found her realm, which was another world, distant leagues away from Equestria!
While he didn’t determine how she managed to get here, we both decided allowing unfettered access to this planet, as beneficial as it might be to its children, was too dangerous. I had lost the child. I cast a very powerful spell on the planet Equus, preventing any accidental quantum transfers from Athena’s planet. However, there is a key caveat in the spell.
If there ever comes a time where “man” is in need of the bond that I made with Athena, Equestria herself will find a way to bring the magic of friendship to them, whatever it takes. It could be tomorrow, or it could be in tens of thousands of years! All I know is that my love for that girl…my daughter. Could potentially save another “man”’s life.
If you have found this scroll, dear pony, the time is nigh. Take up the mantle of your first ruler, and befriend “man” before it is too late!”
When I had finished reading this scroll from Total Eclipse, who I assume was the first ever Equestrian monarch, the entire room went quiet. As the expression goes, you could hear a pin drop!
“...Wait, how do we not remember this human child Athena? If she lived in our mother’s home with us for six years, why do we not remember her at all?” Luna asks anycreature willing to listen. Twilight seems to know the answer, but is not entirely sure.
“I’d wager the spell Total Eclipse cast all those millenia ago wiped your memories. It must have been very powerful magic!” Twilight concludes. This answer seems to have satisfied Luna’s query, but I am now in a bit of an existential crisis. What conditions were met that triggered the revocation of a millennia old spell, preventing humans from coming to this world?!
Starlight sees the look of worry on my face, and gives me a cheery smile. “Hey, don’t pout, kid.” She reassures me. Trixie, on the other hand, was freaking out, afraid of something really bad potentially happening.
“Uhh, everypony? Aren’t you all worried that the revocation of Total’s spell means that either humanity or ponykind is in imminent danger?” Trixie, the Great and Cowardly says. Lyra and Bon Bon aren’t buying it.
“Trixie, calm down. If you listened to what Noah read to us, you’d know that the spell being undone means that progress has been made. Ponykind and humanity need each other now, and I’d wager the other creatures on Equus need the humans, too. Having more friends is always a good thing!” Bon Bon explains. Twilight couldn’t happen to agree more.
“Bon Bon is right, Trixie. Noah’s arrival means that Friendship, true Friendship, is mere hoofsteps away! I need to go tell Princess Celestia! This could make or break the case in the Bridle!”
Starlight grins, very pleased with herself. “Now we have a smoking gun! We have the legal prcedent in Braeburn V. Orange, and we have this journal entry from the first Equestrian monarch. Neighsay is going to cower in his hooves! He’s got NO chance!”
Maud Pie can’t help but smile at this whole situation. “Huh. humans have been here before. Hay, Fausticorn invented riding, and Chairpony Glimmer over here co-opted it!” She chuckles to herself. My marefriend ignored the snide comment, and quickly read and reread the document that I presented to the group.
Twilight’s horn lights up, and she begins to send off UniPhone frequencies. I take it she’s talking to Princess Celestia? Not surprised. “Glimmer, you HAVE to teach me how to use that thing. I can use magic, so why can’t I use this?” I ask quietly. Starlight takes a minute to think over my proposition, before shushing me. “Later, Noah. Now, we need to get our bucking act together to save my…our school!”
***
Twilight Sparkle
Sweet merciful horseshoes… This is a HUGE discovery! How didn’t I piece this together weeks ago when the Cutie Map alerted me to Noah’s condition, or even with Anastasia just showing up here! Maybe Princess Celestia knows? I mean, if Luna doesn’t know, what are the chances Celestia does? My head is racing all over the place…
“This is nuts, NUTS! I tell you. Imagine how many poor humans could have been saved over…wait, how old is this document? Can you do some magical dating on this?” Maud asks. I quickly zap the document with my magic, and the answer appears in front of us all: 480 BCE.
“Holy crap. The name Athena makes sense now.” Noah says, quickly casting a spell of his own, showing a world map of his planet.
“The poor kid came from Ancient Greece! Pegasi existed in human mythology at the time, although they weren’t proven to be real on Earth. No wonder Athena had no qualms talking to Fausticorn!”
Ancient Greece? I’ll need to check up on that later. Sounds interesting, if we’re being honest! Luna looks at me carefully, before looking at the document again. Something seems to be troubling her.
“Twilight. We have a query. Doth thou thinketh our sister knows about our mother’s exploits, or will she be just as surprised as we were mere moments ago?” This is actually a really good question, and I am not totally sure how to properly respond. I might as well try, right?
“Uh…well I just UniPhoned her while Noah over here was having an existential crisis. I’d take it she’ll have an answer for us soon enough, right?”
“Yeah, she probably will. I remember back at school she was very quick to help us when we had questions for her.” Lyra chimes, reassuring the more skepitcal among us about Princess Celestia’s punctuality. In my experience, she gets back to me within minutes!
Noah looks at me for a minute, before he poses a question of his own: “Hey, Princess Twilight. Is this Neighsay guy intelligent. Do you think he’ll come up with his own arguments on how to prevent the school from opening? How are we going to counter them if he has them?” Oh, horseapples! I didn’t even think of that! “I got this, kid. Trust me. I know how to deal with the Canterlot Elite. Most of them are jerks, anyway.” Starlight says, making her human partner chuckle. They exchange a silly look, before high fiving.
As soon as those two were done goofing off, my horn and the horn of every unicorn/alicorn in the room (and Noah’s hands) began to glow in their respective magical signatures. This could be one of two different things. It could either be the Cutie Map calling them, or a powerful magical source arriving near us. It’s probably the latter, because the Cutie Map usually summons ponies by triggering a nerve reflex in the Cutie Mark itself.
Noah turns his head behind him to look out the window, and sees Princess Celestia gliding down towards Starlight’s flat. She gracefully lands in front of the door, and lets herself in. “Sorry for the delay, everycreature. I flew here as fast as I could. Now, what the hay was in that scroll? I assume it was important, because it was just floating in the Castle of the Two Sisters ever since Noah first got here.”
Wait, she doesn’t know?! Oh boy, this is going to take a while; especially considering that her mother is the mare who met the first human in Equestria, not my student Starlight Glimmer! I can only imagine how well this is going to play out…
“Do you want the short version or the long version, Princess?” Starlight asks. We all chuckle, but Celestia quickly puts on a more serious tone. “I want this school to open as much as all of you. Can this information help with our case against Neighsay?” Celestia asks. She sits down on the sofa next to her sister, and picks up the scroll for herself.
After a few minutes of careful reading, Princess Celestia loses all the blood in her face, and goes pale. “...Mother found the first human!”
I sincerely hope this information will make our case in the Bridle, and not ruin our chances. I don’t know how it will play out, and it could honestly go either way! Still, humans were in Equestria 3 millennia ago! That’s crazy!