//------------------------------// // Meeting with Royalty // Story: Interdimensional Transfusion // by The card holder //------------------------------// Twilight reappeared near the middle of town. She looked around frantically for the human, but saw no signs of him in the immediate area. Looking up, she saw a familiar rainbow tail sticking out from a low-flying cloud. “Rainbow!” she yelled. The pegasus on the cloud woke up with a start, nearly falling off. “What the hay, Twilight! I was in the middle of my mid-day nap!” Rainbow said, aggravated at this interruption of her peaceful slumber. “Scout’s heading into town! And he might cause a scene, which would get the attention of Princess Celestia, and-” “Wait, are you doing that thing where you overreact to something again?” “What?! No! This is serious, Rainbow! I need you to help me find him!” “Oh, alright.” Rainbow Dash stretched her wings before taking off into the sky, searching for any telltale signs of the human. Within seconds, she saw something. “He’s over by the library!” she shouted down to Twilight. “Stop him! Hopefully he hasn’t drawn any attention to himself yet!” “Got it!” Rainbow aimed herself before swooping down to tackle the Scout. Moments before impact, he turned to face her. “Gah, what the hell-” He was cut short as the pony slammed into him, managing to knock the two of them through a window into the library. The Scout recovered first, and made a run for the door, but Twilight teleported in and slammed the door shut and covered the window with an overturned table. “What do you think you’re doing?!” she scolded the Scout. “If anypony sees you, then they’ll go into a panic!” “What did ya want me t’ do, just stand there while Lyre-” “Lyra!” “Yeah, whatever, she cries over somethin’ one o’ my teammates did?” “Well I didn’t think you’d just run off like that!” “She’s right, you know,” the Spy chimed in. “That was a rather brash and stupid decision.” “I had my reasons,” the Scout replied to both of them. “...I sure did miss a lot, didn’t I?” Rainbow spoke up. “That doesn’t matter! What if you were found out, Scout? What do you think would happen then?” “...nothin’?” “No! Everypony would freak out, and then the princess would have to come down here, and then she’ll banish you, or worse, and then I’ll get in trouble, and-” The Scout saw his chance to shift the blame off of himself. “Wait, so you only did this so you wouldn’t get in trouble?” This caught the unicorn off guard. “What!? I- No, I stopped you because-” “Because you would have been the one blamed if I, in fact, was seen as a threat, right?” “I...” Twilight’s expression fell. “Yes.” Just then, the sound of a chariot landing outside followed by a loud fanfare of trumpets filling the air. Twilight’s pupils narrowed to pin pricks. “I forgot that the princess would arrive today to look at what I found out with Lyra! Oh nononononono-” She ran around the library, searching desperately for something to hide the Scout with. Soon, she found something that could work. “Yes, a transformation spell,” she thought out loud, pointing her horn at the human. “I’ll just turn you into a pony, then she’ll never know!” Now it was the Scout’s turn for his pupils to dilate. “Uh, that doesn’t sound like a good idea...” Twilight didn’t hear him. “Yes, it’s foolproof! Now just hold still...” Her horn began to light up, and the Scout started to step away from the unicorn. “I- I’m gonna go, now.” “Rainbow, hold him!” While Rainbow was worried for her friend’s mental state, she still obeyed, tackling the Scout to the ground and holding him still. “Let me go, ya rainbow freak!” “I’m the freak? You’re the one who can jump twice!” Any further arguments were halted as a beam shot from Twilight’s horn into the Scout. At first, nothing happened, but then he yelled in pain as his skeleton started to rearrange itself. Rainbow let go and floated over to Twilight’s side, a look of confusion and horror on her face. After what seemed like forever (but was really only 2 seconds), all the glowing and pain stopped. When the Scout opened his eyes, he saw both of the ponies looking at him, surprised. He pointed a hand at Twilight. “What the hell was that abo-” Then he saw that it wasn’t a hand he was pointing. Yelling in surprise, he picked himself up to see that he was now, in fact, a pony. Thankfully, he still had his hat, but that was small comfort. “GAH! CHANGE ME BACK, CHANGE ME BACK!” The Scout awkwardly tried to walk on four legs, only falling repeatedly as a result. “But now the princess won’t know you’re a human now! This plan is foolproof!” “I don’t care! Just change me back now! I ain’t meant to be a pony!” “Ahem.” All three of them jumped at the new voice. They all turned to see Princess Celestia standing in the doorway, an unamused look on her face. The Scout was the first to say something. “Don’t look at me, I’m slightly less handsome!” the Scout shouted in remorse, turning away from Celestia. Twilight looked nervously between the newly-transformed pony and the princess. “H- How long were you standing there, Princess?” she asked. “Long enough,” Celestia replied, her voice that of a disappointed school teacher. “Twilight, what did you do?” “I... uh...” She looked at both Rainbow Dash, who shrugged in cluelessness, and the Scout, who had gotten the hang of using his back legs to painfully slide along the ground as a form of locomotion. “...would you believe me if I said nothing?” Celestia just kept staring at her student, completely unamused. “Right, uh...” “My hands!” Scout yelled with loss from across the room, after trying to pick up a book with his new appendages. “My beautiful hands!” Twilight’s ears fell. “You already know, don’t you?” “Yes, Twilight, I do.” The princess’s horn began glowing, and the Scout was lifted off the ground. The glow brightened intensely, and when it died away, the Scout was back to his human self. When he noticed this, he began to shout with joy. “Thank you, weird princess horse!” No one said a word, until Celestia cleared her throat. “Twilight, mind telling me what’s going on?” “So this man...” “Spy.” “Right, the Spy, was the human here a few weeks ago?” “Yep.” “And you were both hired, along with seven others like you, to protect this company from robots?” “Uh-huh.” Celestia chose her words carefully- she didn’t want to reveal that she knew this human’s employer on a personal level. “Do they know you’re here?” “My team, or the company?” “The company.” “Nope.” In her mind, Celestia weighed her options. She could tell Saxton that another of his mercs was here, and send him back, but the way he said he was tired of the constant fighting made her think that maybe it wouldn’t hurt to keep this man in Equestria, even if he does have a history of violence. The Scout, meanwhile, was congratulating himself on his ability to tell lies. Well, it was only one lie, and it was one he used before, but his ego needed feeding, anyway. Twilight was watching the two talk with rapt attention. She knew that whatever happened, she would be responsible. She ignored the fact that the Scout could easily be lying, or that she wouldn’t be held responsible at all. Rainbow sat nearby, asleep in a chair. “Well, Scout, I must say that you do seem to be the dangerous type...” Twilight held her breath. “... but you also seem to be kind at heart, even if you are rather... arrogant.” “It ain’t arrogance if you’re just that good!” “... right. Twilight?” The unicorn jumped at the sound of her name. “Y- Yes, Princess?” “Make sure that Scout gets acquainted here in Ponyville.” Celestia added in a whisper, “I’m sure you and the other Elements could help him learn to be nicer, as well.” With that, the princess headed outside and got back into her chariot. She said one last farewell, and the pegasus guards pulling it took off for Canterlot. Once she was out of sight, Twilight let out a huge sigh of relief. “Did ya really have t’ change me into a pony, though?” Twilight shook her head sheepishly. “Sorry about that.” “Eh, I’ve been through worse. Tell me, ya ever been covered in piss, then set on fire, then hit with a knife dat makes you bleed at the same time?” Twilight’s both disgusted and horrified face was all the answer he needed. “Didn’t think so.” Rainbow waking up with a loud yawn got both of their attention. “W- Wha? She’s gone already? How long was I out?” “Two hours,” Twilight answered. “Well, Imma go back home then,” the Scout said. He was about to take another sip of his energy drink, to make the trip faster for him, but was interrupted by Rainbow Dash. “Hey, what’s that?” “Just one o’ my favorite drinks in the world.” “It can’t be that good.” “Really? Here.” He tossed an unopened can to the pegasus, who barely caught it in her hooves. “Take a sip.” Popping the tab with her teeth, she did so, just as the Scout did the same. At first, nothing happened. “Bleh, that tastes like-” And then the drink took effect, Dash’s eyes widening. While only a few ponies (and one human) knew what really happened, all of them knew that on that day, numerous sonic rainbooms were heard and seen across the sky in a span of only eight seconds.