//------------------------------//
// VI: Peaceful Relations 
// Story: The Mountain Among the Stars 
// by Johnjohns 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 6: Peaceful Relations










Royal Palace, Canterlot, Equestria




“It is a pleasure to meet you, Princess Luna,” said Cole with a light smile. “I thank you for allowing us to visit your home.”

“It wasn’t up to me,” she replied. “My sister here carries the most authority in this palace. It was her decision to request this meeting, not mine. However…” she said, glancing at Cole’s soldiers. “That is not to say that I am not happy you are all here. I for one am quite interested to hear your story.”

“As I am yours,” replied the Admiral. He looked around the room as there was another awkward silence. “Pardon me asking, but is there someplace we can sit and talk?”

“Why yes,” said Celestia. “I was just about to send one of the palace staff to make sure that this morning’s breakfast is ready to be served. We have prepared a large assortment of foods, hopefully at least one of which will be to your liking. I apologize, but we simply didn’t know what foods you and your people enjoy. ” 

“That is quite alright,” said Cole. “We really don’t want to cause too much trouble. It really wasn't necessary to have a meal prepared for us. I can assure you that we are quite alright with-”

“Well of course it is necessary,” she interrupted. “You are our guests. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Besides, we both know that great stories cannot be told on an empty stomach.”

Cole smiled. “Why I suppose that you are right,” he said.

“Excellent,” said Celestia, turning to one of her guards. “Axel, alert the kitchen staff to have the dining hall prepared for our guests.”

The stallion bowed his head. “Yes, Princess,” he said, before turning and galloping out of the cavernous room. Cole watched him run out, and then turned his attention back to the princess.

“He has potential to become a great soldier,” said the Admiral.

“Pardon?” asked Celestia with a puzzled look. “Who are you speaking of?”

“Your guard, Axel,” said Cole. “He is a good guard. He doesn’t question orders. He just follows them. That is one of the most important factors that makes a good soldier have the potential of becoming great. There is no sign of disloyalty in his eyes.” he looked to Shining Armor. “But surely you already recognize this.”

Shining Armor grunted. “All of the guards under my command have gone through years of intense military training,” he said. “The Princess only receives the best to be her personal escort. They are the very definition of loyal.”

“But how many of them have combat experience?” asked Cole. Shining Armor was silent. “For some, it takes experiencing deadly conflict first, before they reveal their true colors. Sometimes the best training that is offered isn’t enough to determine if a soldier is fit for battle. Others, you can tell right away on how they are going to turn out. Like Axel.”

“Are you deeming my soldiers unfit for duty?” asked Shining Armor, cocking his head to the side with an angry frown.

“Not at all,” said Cole, staring at the Captain intently. “I am only telling you this because I know what war can do to people. How it shapes their personalities. Some end up going crazy, but for others it gives them an opportunity to become part of something far larger than they are. Only when experiencing dangerous situations first hand, does a soldier truly become great.”

Shining Armor stared long and hard at Cole. He didn’t know what to think. At first he didn’t like Cole in the slightest, but he was finally starting to understand the human. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Cole was right. None of his soldiers had ever experienced true combat, and it had been many years since he himself had been in a fight. There hadn’t been a recorded war in Equestrian history in over a millennia, and the largest conflict that he had experienced was the changeling incursion in Canterlot, during his wedding. Even that however, was several years in the past, and the uprising lasted no longer than a couple of hours anyway, during which there was hardly any actual fighting. The invasion by the changeling queen had been rapid, and the royal defense force had practically no time to prepare to defend the city from the hostile army. Shining himself hadn’t even been given the opportunity to fight. Instead he had found himself mentally paralyzed within Queen Chrysalis’s mind-altering spell.

The memories of his past failure brought a sudden anger to the Captain’s  seemingly calm persona. The Queen had fooled him right into her trap, and she had snagged him up as a trophy, like how a spider snatches an unsuspecting insect within its web. While he was being forced to go up against his friends, his family, his princess and his fiancé, the ponies in the city were having their emotions devoured mercilessly. Thousands of Equines were being drained of any and all happiness, and the changelings consumed that happiness as their form of sustenance, literally living off of the misery of others. He had been helpless to stop the atrocity. In the end, it was the mental fortitude of his fiancé that ended up saving him and everypony else in the city. Ever since that day, he had promised himself to never fail the princess again. So far, he had never really been given the chance to live up to his oath. Then Cole arrived, and unintentionally reminded him of that promise, suddenly sparking a forgotten emotion within his heart; a feeling that he hadn’t felt in a very long time.

Shining Armor nodded at Cole, expressing that he understood the man. Cole acknowledged the stallion with his own nod.

“Well,” said Celestia, glancing between the two of them. “If we are all ready, we can proceed to the dining hall.”

“Yes,” said Cole, turning to her. “We are ready.”

“Captain,” she said, turning to face him. “Lead the way, please.”

“Of course, your highness,” he said, giving Cole a final glance before heading to the front of the group.

Celestia walked alongside the human admiral as they left the throne room, and entered one of the side hallways, which ran the length of the palace, and wrapped around to the other side. The corridor was wide, with enough space to easily allow ten people to walk side-by-side. Cole looked up and noticed the ornate chandeliers hanging from the arched ceiling. After a few moments of walking, they turned to the left, and headed into a large stairwell with marble steps, leading up to the next floor and down below the surface. Shining Armor led them up the first set of shallow steps to a wide landing, and then up a second set of steps, which all the way to the second floor of the palace. The second level was no less impressive than the first.

“This is a beautiful palace,” said Cole, gazing around at the architecture. “It must be wonderful to live here.”

“It is,” she said. “Although I must say that the interior hasn’t always looked this way. The palace has gone through many makeovers during its existence. Out of the many interior design themes that this castle has through, I would have to say that this is definitely my favorite.”

Cole looked at her with a puzzled expression. “Does the interior of the palace get changed often?” he asked. 

“No, not that often,” she said. “The last makeover took place just over thirty years ago.”

Cole widened his eyes. Celestia turned to him, confused as to why he was looking at her in such a strange way. Suddenly it dawned upon her.

“Oh,” she said with faraway stare. “I am sorry. I haven’t told you.”

“Pardon me asking, your highness,” said Cole. “But how old are you?”

Celestia let out a sigh. “I am just over over ten-thousand years old,” she said. Cole’s mouth hung slightly open. Celestia gestured to Princess Luna. “My younger sister was born just two years after I was.”

Cole was silent for a moment. "Do- do all ponies live that long?" he asked.

Celestia sighed. "No. Not all of us. Not most of us. It's difficult to..." she sighed again. "I shall explain later. We should go sit and eat before the afternoon cometh." Celestia turned from Cole and walked to the front of the group of ponies as they traveled down the corridor. No one spoke for the rest of the trip.

As they approached the doors to the main dining room, Cole noticed them suddenly become covered in a shimmering, golden field of light. As the bands of energy wrapped themselves about the frame, the doors opened. Cole and his men stopped walking to watch the display. To Cole’s displeasure, the two Princesses walked into the room, without comment.  Cole and his men hesitated for a few moments out of confusion and amazement, before following the ponies inside. Inside was a long wooden table that could easily seat over thirty people. The right side wall was covered with tall windows that looked down upon the main courtyard below. Sitting in the center, down below, was the pelican, around which, guards walked nervously.

The ramp was closed for a number of reasons, mainly for the pilot’s safety and the security of the vehicle. Cole wondered how the pilot was holding up. It would likely be several hours that the man would have to wait before he would get a break. Cole simply wasn’t comfortable with leaving the pelican unattended just yet. There was still plenty that he didn’t know about the equines. However, he found himself quickly beginning to trust them, especially princess Celestia. There was something about the way in which she spoke that had a soothing effect upon his upset nerves, and so far he had never sensed any lack of honesty from her. Cole noticed that Shining Armor might have a slight dislike of him, but he knew a loyal soldier when he saw one, and he had no worries that the stallion would disobey his ruler, or do anything too radical.

Princess Luna was the difficult one. No matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t able to read her. While it was true that he saw faint expressions of happiness and curiosity from her, he couldn’t properly judge her personality. It was as if she was always wearing a mask to obscure herself from others. Most of the time he had seen her, she had been walking around with a cold stare that seemed to pierce right through him. The only logical explanation was that she was hiding her feelings from him, and that likely meant that she was keeping a secret; something that she didn’t want to express in front of others, not just him. Whether it was for a personal reason, or another, Cole was certainly interested in finding out more on Celestia’s sister. He hoped that they would get the chance to speak with one another at some point during his stay, if only to ease his curiosity.

Cole’s thoughts suddenly jumped back to the question that was on his mind. “Excuse me, your highness?” began Cole, gesturing to the doors, which now began to close on their own as well. “But how is it that...” he paused, suddenly noticing that the Princess’s horn was glowing as well. Celestia turned to him.

“What is it?” she asked with a warm smile.

“It’s nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “My question has already been answered.”

“Your question?” she asked, puzzled. Cole stared at her horn. “Oh. You were wondering how I was causing the doors to move seemingly on their own, yes?” Cole nodded. Celestia continued. “I apologize. It is just so unusual to be around those who haven't witnessed unicorn power before.”

“You have... telekinetic abilities?” asked Cole.

“More or less,” she said. “Although our power is far less limited, and much more complex than simple telekinesis. We prefer to use the term, magic.”

“Magic,” stated Cole. “As in magic magic?”

“Yes,” she said. “I know of no other kind.”

Cole chuckled. “I apologize, myself, Princess,” he said. “But where I come from, magic is nonexistent. It is merely a myth on our worlds; a simple fairy-tale for children to enjoy, nothing more.”

Celestia frowned. “Wow,” she said, unimpressed, yet intrigued. “That seems like an interesting, but less efficient way of life. I never really thought of what this planet would be like if there was no such thing as magic.” she paused, lost in her chain of thought.  She looked back at him. “Seriously? No magic?”

“If magic exists from where we come from, then we certainly don’t recognize it,” he said. “Instead, our abilities as humans come solely from the technologies that we have created through science. The reason as to why I am so baffled about this place is that much of what I have seen defies the very laws of seemingly universal physics.” he smiled. “I just don’t know what to make of this planet. There is only one word that I can think of to describe this place.” 

“Hmm,” hummed Celestia, with a curious look. “And what would that one word be?”

Cole never got the chance to reply, as suddenly a small door on the left side of the room opened. Celestia turned around, and Cole looked past her. A mare wearing a tall white hat, and pristine white-colored apron walked into the room. 

“Your Highness,” she said with a polite bow. The mare suddenly noticed the six humans standing before her, and froze in place.

Celestia looked at her with concern. “Yes?” asked the Princess. “What is it?”

“Oh,” she said, snapping her attention back to the princess. “I apologize, Princess. The royal breakfast feast is ready to be served.”

“Thank you,” replied Celestia. “Do not be afraid. They mean us no harm.”

“It is nice to meet you,” said Cole, trying his best to be polite in the strange situation. The mare took a step back, glancing nervously to the princess.

“You may introduce yourself,” said Celestia. “After all, they may be staying here for a while, and you will need to familiarize yourself with our guests.

“My name is Preston Cole,” said the Admiral. “But you can just call me Cole. Most people find that easier.”

“Nice- nice to m-meet you, Cole,” she said sheepishly. “I’m Madrigal. Head chef of the royal palace.”

“Madrigal,” said Cole with a smile. “That is a wonderful name. Like the form of musical composition, yes?”

“I- I don’t follow,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

Cole smiled. “That is quite alright,” he said. “I was just wondering if you had heard of it.”

There was a long pause.

“I suppose that it is time we sit now,” said the Princess. “Madrigal, you may bring out the feast.”

“Certainly, your Highness,” she said, quickly shooting a commanding glance into the kitchen. Several unicorns levitating large metal trays walked into the room, and began to set the dishes of food upon the table. 

As they worked, the princess turned towards her guards. “Guards, you may leave us,” she said. “Shining Armor, you stay.” The stallions bowed out of respect, and walked towards the door. Two stopped and turned around to guard the inside of the room, while the rest of them walked out into the hallway.

“Should I have my men wait outside, as well?” asked Cole.

“Oh goodness, no,” said Celestia. “Just because they are soldiers doesn’t mean that they should be treated as such. You six are our guests. Please, take a seat, all of you. Be comfortable.”

Scott turned to Cole. “Sir?” he asked.

Cole nodded towards the table. “It’s alright, sergeant,” he said. “Consider this as some early R&R.”

Scott smiled. “Thank you sir,” he said, before motioning to his squad to sit down. “Excuse me, Captain?” asked Scott. Shining Armor looked over at him. 

“Yes?” asked the guard stallion.

“Is it alright if we remove our weapons, so that we may sit down?” asked the ODST. “It’s kind of uncomfortable trying to sit and eat with rifles on our backs.”

Shining Armor stared at him. “Yes you may,” he said. “Leave them with those two guards over there.” he motioned towards the pair standing by the door.

Scott and his team walked over, and slowly drew their rifles off of their backs. Almost immediately the unicorn guards snatched the weapons out of their hands, within their telekinetic grasps. The guards walked over to a chest in the far corner of the room and deposited them within the container.

The feeling was strange for Scott. Never once in his life did he think that he would ever be caught unarmed in the presence of aliens. While the fact that they spoke English, and that they were not hostile was amazing in its own respect, being without a rifle made Scott feel uneasy. His weapon was a part of him, almost like a third arm. Even though that that arm was one-hundred percent artificial and fired armor-piercing bullets, it still felt that a natural bond had been broken.

John looked over at him. “Weird, huh?” he asked. “Not having a gun?”

“Yeah,” said Scott. “It isn’t pleasant, but I think that we will all get over it.” he walked back over to the table. “At least I hope so.” John nodded in agreement before taking a seat next to Scott, who sat next to the Admiral. Directly across from them, situated on the opposite side of the table, sat Princess Celestia. She was flanked by Luna on her right, and the Captain on her left.

Scott adjusted himself in his seat, and looked down, realizing that they were sitting upon elevated cushions instead of chairs. It was comfortable, and it made sense. Cole assumed that it would be rather difficult for a pony to sit in a normal chair. The mental image of the princess falling out of a wooden chair suddenly popped into his mind, and he had to struggle not to smirk at the thought.

“Well,” said Princess Celestia. “Since we are all now seated, I believe it is time to eat. Please, help yourselves.” she frowned. “Like I said, I apologize if these foods are not to your liking. I tried to have the widest selection available. If you are carnivores, which I assume you are, I must apologize now. We ponies do not eat meat.”

“That is perfectly alright,” said Cole, looking at the table of food. Before his were countless trays of breads, pastries, preserves, grains, vegetables and fruits. Almost everything on the table looked familiar. Apples, lettuce, carrots, grapes, bananas... everything was here. It was really starting to seem as though this planet was Earth’s long-lost cousin, except that instead people had been replaced by a sentient race of talking equines. A question suddenly formed in his mind. “Your Highness?” he asked. “Would you mind if I ask you something?”

“Certainly, not,” she said. “What is it that you wish to know?”

He paused. “Does the word Earth mean anything to you?” he asked. 

She stared at him for a moment with a meditative expression. “It is not one that I am consciously aware of,” she replied. “Why? What does it mean?”

“It is the name of our home planet,” he said with a smile, before looking down at his plate. “It’s just that everything on this world is so similar to ours. For example,” he said, pointing at one of the apples. “Is that an apple?”

“Yes,” said the Princess. “How did you know that?”

“There are apples where I come from as well,” said Cole. “Just like these carrots, or those grapes, or that bowl of oats. You all speak one of the most common languages used by humans. The planet itself looks a lot like Earth.” he shook his head, trying to express his disbelief. “It’s as if our two worlds used to be the same, and then we somehow split up, but I know that isn’t true…” he said in an exasperated voice, looking around the table at everyone, who simply stared at him with confused expression. He stopped himself, bowed his head, and softened his voice. “I am sorry. This is just so overwhelming. Just yesterday I was wondering if what my eyes were seeing, was real and…” he looked back up at her. “Would you mind if I take a walk out in the hallway? I just need a minute.”

“Of course not,” she said with a polite nod. “Go right on ahead.”

“Would you like me to go with you, Sir?” asked Scott, with concern, as he started to stand. 

“No,” said Cole sternly. “I’m alright. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Scott sat back down, watching his admiral open the door and walk out. Celestia turned to him.

“You humans have Carrots, too?” she asked. Scott nodded at her.

Cole paced back and forth outside the door, trying to calm himself down. In over fifty years of serving in the military, he had never once felt so confused and overwhelmed at the same point. He was in a world, that given all of its characteristics shouldn’t even exist in the first place, but yet it did. He realized that the initial shock of meeting the Princesses still lingered in his body. Cole suddenly stopped himself outside the door. He stared out into space, and went into a cold sweat as his heart rate increased. His hands shook, and his knees threatened to buckle out from underneath him. Cole suddenly remembered something that his mother said to him a very long time ago. Masked behind his military life, an old memory from his childhood began to reconstruct itself within his head. It was as if the arrival upon this familiar alien world had caused the re-emergence of this memory, and Cole grasped it, not letting it go.







March 12, 2481/Wallace Fujikawa Elementary School, Mark Twain, Missouri


Preston Cole sat in an uncomfortable chair, in a silent office. Before him, sitting behind a large metal desk, was the Vice Principal of the school. The man with glasses typed away on a holographic keypad that was linked to a computer screen on his desk. Although Cole could not see what he was working on, he knew it wasn’t likely anything that would help his cause. Behind the Vice Principal, were medium-sized square windows that overlooked the school parking lot. Outside, many of the vehicles in the lot had left for the day, and there was a considerable amount of vacant parking spaces. In one corner of the room, was a United Earth Government flag, with hung limply from its tall, brass pole. Large picture frames on the back wall contained the images of the school’s previous managers of curriculum. They seemed to stare down upon Cole with disappointment. Cole however, paid them no heed. They meant nothing to him, nor did their cold stares have any effect on his persona. He knew that he was being honest, even if his superiors didn’t think so.

The door behind him opened slowly and quietly, and he could hear the sound of soft footsteps entering the room. He didn’t turn around to look, as he knew there was only one possible person who would come into the office.

The Vice Principal looked away from his computer screen. “Hello, Mrs. Cole,” he said. “Thank you so much for stopping by on such short notice.”

“It is of no trouble,” she replied, taking a seat next to Cole. Cole gave her a slight glance, and then returned his gaze to the floor. “What is it? Has Preston done something wrong?”

“That is the issue,” said the man behind the desk as he folded his arms upon the desk. “We are not sure.”

“What?” she asked. “What do you mean that you are not sure?”

“Cole passed his pre-algebra final exam,” replied the man. “However, not only did he pass it. He aced it. Completely. He achieved a perfect score.”

Cole’s mother turned to look down at him with a smile. “That’s wonderful,” she said enthusiastically. She suddenly met the man’s gaze, which was anything but excited. Her voice grew cold. “But there is more to it, isn’t there?” she asked.

He removed the glasses from his face, and ran his fingers along the sides of his nose. “No one has ever achieved a perfect score on this exam,” he said. “This leads us to carry some suspicion.”

“Suspicion of what?” she asked with a frown. “That my son cheated on his test?”

“That may be the case,” he said with a sigh. “I certainly wish to believe that he has passed this test in an honest manner, but-”

“Is it true?” she asked, suddenly facing Cole. “Did you cheat on your exam?”

The young boy said nothing, and continued to stare down at his feet. His mother frowned, and turned back to the Vice Principal. “Are you sure?” she asked. 

“No,” he said. “Not at all. We have no physical evidence to prove that he did in fact cheat.”

“Then why is he sitting in your office?” she asked

“Because I wanted to speak to you on how you wish to go about handling this situation,” he said. “Since we have nothing to prove if he cheated or did not, I am offering him the chance to retake the test, while being heavily supervised, of course.”

“I still don’t see why he has to retake the test if there is no evidence against him,” she said.

“This is to maintain fairness for our other students,” he replied. “He knows as well as I do, the policy this school has on cheating, and if he refuses to retake the exam, he is in danger of facing serious academic penalties. We cannot give one student special privileges.”

“I’ll take it,” said Cole suddenly. The two adults turned to him. “I’ll take the test again, and I will get a one-hundred on it, again.”

The Vice Principal stared at him for a moment before speaking. “Alright,” he said. “Is it alright if Preston stays after school tomorrow, to retake the exam?”

“Why, of course,” she said. “Do you have an estimate on how long it will take him to complete it?”

“If he replicates the test perfectly, then it shouldn’t take him any longer than forty-five minutes,” said the man. “This is if he can replicate it.” he stared down at Cole, who looked back up at him with determined eyes. “I will see you again tomorrow, Preston.”

Young Cole nodded to the man, and stood up as his mother got out of her seat.

“Thank you once again for coming,” said the Vice Principal. “By the way, Mrs. Cole…” She turned to him one last time. “If you or your family ever need anything, please just let the school board know. We will be happy to-”

“We are fine,” she said with a glare. “Thanks for asking, but we don’t need any help.” she looked down at her son. “Let’s go Preston.”

Cole gave the man one last glance, before following his mother out of the office. They took the elevator in the hallway down to the ground floor, and walked down the hallway to the main entrance. The corridors were empty, without a single person traversing their polished linoleum flooring. The silence was further emphasized by the lack of conversation between Cole and his mother. Neither of them said anything. Both of them simple staring straight ahead.

The silence lasted until they reached the family pickup truck, parked just outside the main entrance. It was an old, beat-up vehicle. Weathered, and rusted, the truck seemed as though it had existed since the beginning of time itself. The old beige paint job was still noticeable one most of the vehicle, while the rest now bore the color of oxidized steel. 

Cole’s mother climbed into the driver’s seat, and Cole hopped into the passenger seat, and fastened his seatbelt. His mother didn’t bother to buckle herself in, and started the car right away. Unlike most modern-day cars, the truck could not drive itself. Instead his mother took hold of the steering wheel, and drove the vehicle out of the parking lot manually. Once they were on the street, and heading away from the center of town, his mother let out a long exhale. Cole glanced over at her, but quickly looked away as his mother began to speak.

“Cole,” she said. “I need you to be honest with me. You always have been in the past.” she looked away from the road, at her son. “Did you cheat on the test?”

Cole was silent for a moment. “No,” he said.

“Damnit, Preston! I need you to tell me the truth!” she said with a raised voice.

“I am telling the truth,” he replied with a menacing stare. “I did not cheat. I would never cheat on anything.”

His mother sighed. “Then why does the school board think that you did?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe it’s because I am the first person to ever get a perfect score on it. They probably thought that no one would ever pull it off.” he turned back to look straight ahead. “I just can’t wait to shut them up with another perfect test.”

His mother smiled, and let out a small giggle. “Your math scores have always impressed me, Preston,” she said. “You are a very intelligent boy, more so than your father and I could ever hope to be.” she sighed. “And I know that you may not like working at home, on the farm. But it’s just because we need your help. Times are hard as of late, Preston. Your father simply isn’t making as much money as he used to. Larger, industrial dairy farms have been stealing away massive amounts of business from small, family-run farms such as our own. That, combined with the insurrection, isn’t causing the economy to be in the greatest shape at the moment. That is why we need you, and all of your brothers and sisters chipping in as much as possible.”

“How do you know that I don’t like working on the farm?” he asked. “What if I do like it?”

She glanced over at him. “Whether you do, or you don’t, it doesn’t matter,” she said. “You will get your chance to pursue your dreams, soon enough.” she sighed. “We all have a role that we need to play in the universe. It’s just up to us to figure out what we can do to help.”






“So, Scott is it?” asked Celestia.

“Yes, your highness,” he replied. 

“Now, Scott,” she said. “While your Admiral is away, would you mind sharing as to why your ship came here?”

The doors opened suddenly.

“We came here because we were forced to,” said Admiral Cole, walking back in the room. Everyone turned to him in surprise. “Eighteen years ago the human race came in contact with an alien alliance known as the Covenant.”

Scott widened his eyes. He did not expect his admiral to be so suddenly open to sharing information about humanity’s past, after being so seemingly overwhelmed. The other four soldiers adjusted uncomfortably in their seats as Cole continued to speak.

“We tried to make peace with them,” said Cole, sitting down in his seat. Celestia and Luna watched him with curious eyes, intently listening to his words. “We tried, but the Covenant had different plans. They attacked, and slaughtered our people without mercy. Their fury came so suddenly, and violently, that we didn’t know what to do at first.” he paused. “Eventually we learned of the reasons behind their actions. They were waging a genocidal holy war on humanity. They saw us as an infestation, an obstacle to their religious beliefs that had to been cleansed in order for them to attain a higher state of existence.” he stared hard at Celestia. “We fought back as hard as we could, but they had larger numbers than we did, and their technology was far superior to ours. We tried to hold our ground, but we were unable to stop them completely. One by one, our worlds were destroyed by the Covenant, while we only achieved minor, scattered victories against them.”

“You said worlds,” said Princess Luna, speaking for the first time in quite a while. “You had more than one?”

“Yes,” said Cole. “Humanity had established many colonies in the star systems that were close to our home planet.”

“Where is your home planet of Earth?” asked Celestia. “Is it far from here?”

“Earth is located in a system called-” he paused, stopping himself. Celestia looked at him in confusion. Scott stared at his admiral with wide eyes, cringing at the near-leak of classified information. The fact that Cole had almost broken his own protocol shocked Scott.

“Called what?” Celestia asked with a puzzled expression.

Cole sighed. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have brought it up. It is against protocol for me to disclose Earth’s location. That is to keep it safe from the Covenant, who are searching for it, with the full intention of destroying our home.” he looked at Princess Luna intently. “I cannot allow that to happen. As much as I believe that you and your people are of no threat to humanity, I cannot take any risks.”

Celestia nodded. “I understand,” she said, letting out a deep lungful of air. “Wow. I had no idea that humanity was fighting a war for survival.” she paused, staring intently into his eyes. Cole could tell how pained she was to hear the news. “I am so sorry to hear this.”

“I am too,” said Cole. “But being sorry cannot change the past. Only our actions now can help change the future.” he smiled at her. “Hopefully it is a bright future. Anyway, we came to this system, right after we had won a great victory against the Covenant.”

“What happened?” asked Princess Luna.

“I had led a massive fleet of warships to attack a covenant fleet, two days ago, in a star system only a few light years from this one,” he said.

“Two days ago?” asked Celestia with surprise. “Then I assume that the human race has achieved the capabilities of rapid intergalactic travel, yes?”

“Yes,” said Cole. “About two hundred years ago, two very remarkable individuals invented the Slipspace Drive. A specialized engine that would allow us to bombard a particular area of space with enough energy to cause a rift in the fabric of reality. A wormhole, as you might say. With this device we were able to send our ships distances that we previously thought were impossible. That is how we established our colonies, and inevitably met the Covenant.”

“Fascinating,” said Celestia. “And you say that the Covenant are more advanced?”

Cole nodded. “That is correct,” he said with an awkward chuckle. “It’s funny, but we used to think that we were pretty high up on the technological scale. Once we went to war with the Covenant, it was kind of like a giant slap in the face.” he sighed. “It just goes to prove the lifelong lesson, that there is always someone bigger than you are.”

“Very true,” said Celestia. “Anyway, back to what you were saying about the most recent battle you fought in.”

“Yes,” said Cole. “Anyway, I gave the order for our fleet to engage the Covenant forces. Both of our sides fought hard, but our ships were nowhere near as powerful as the Covenant’, and. we were losing vessels at a much higher rate than our enemy was.” he paused, looking down at the table. “Who knows? Perhaps none of us would have made it out of there if the insurrectionists didn’t show up.”

“Insurrectionists?” asked Celestia. “Who are they?”

Cole let out a deep breath. “Wow,” he said. “There is so much to explain in order for this to make sense to you. Unfortunately, much of what I would like to tell you is classified, so I am going to have to tell you some things to you with only bare details. There are also some things which I do not have the privilege to talk about whatsoever.”

“It’s alright,” said the white princess. “We have plenty of time, and I am eager to learn. Remember, we still need to tell you about ourselves. Take your time. No rush. And please eat. Surely you must be hungry.”

Cole looked down at the food before him, before selecting a few tasty-looking pastries, and putting them on his plate. “Perhaps-” began Cole. “Perhaps it would be best if you went first. What happened during the battle doesn’t matter now. After all, I am sure that we would all like to get on a more... peaceful topic of conversation.”

“Alright,” said Princess Celestia, who took a sip of her tea. “What do you want to know?”

“Just start from wherever you feel comfortable to begin,” he said. “Perhaps in this manner, we will be able to realize even more similarities between our two peoples.” He lifted his head up as he suddenly thought of a question to ask. “Oh, here’s something. What is the name of this planet?”

“Well,” began the Princess. “The various races and countries that inhabit this world all refer to the planet by different names. However, if you wish to know the Equestrian terminology, we call the world Equis.”

“You said various other races,” said Cole. “I know that there are different kinds of ponies that live here, but I haven’t had much of a chance to see them all. Are there more than Unicorns and Pegasi?”

“As far as ponies go, no,” she said. “And my sister and I are some of the few remaining Alicorns that inhabit this planet. However, there are many other beings that live in Equestria, and the rest of the world.”

“Like who?” asked Cole.

“Well,” she said. “There are Zebras and Bison, Dragons, Minotours, Serpents, Rams, Deer, Goats, Griffins-”

“And all of them are sentient?” asked Cole. 

“If by sentient you mean that they are intelligent, and can speak, then yes,” she said. “Does this surprise you?”

“Yes and no,” he said, debating on whether or not to mention that every being she had listed either didn’t exist, or were simply dumb animals back on earth. In the end, he decided against it. “Not for the reason that they are intelligent, but for the fact that there is so much intelligent life on this planet.”

“Yes,” replied the Princess with a smile. “We are very blessed to have such a diverse populace. As you have found out first hand, everyone is welcome in Equestria. As long as they vow to do their part in maintaining the balance of harmony, then I have no quarrels or discriminatory thoughts against them.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Cole.

“By what?”

“You said maintaining the balance of harmony,” said Cole, cocking his head to the side. “And I believe that you said that once to me in the past, when we communicated on the radio. What do you mean by, harmony?”

“Well,” said Celestia. “Everything on this world is connected. Every living being, every forest, every mountain. We all share the same bond. It is what holds the fabric of our reality together. It is what maintains the balance of life on Equis. But like everything, just like your Covenant, there are those who wish to destroy that which we hold most dear in our hearts. The country of Equestria was formed for the sole reason of unifying the entire world through peace and love.” she paused, taking another long sip of her tea. “A very long time ago, I took an oath to protect the very foundations of harmony from those who wish only to see it lost under the shroud of chaos. For the most part we have been successful. There have been several times in the past, where the balance of everything on this continent had been placed in jeopardy. And we all have made mistakes which have had grave consequences.” she said, looking at her sister. “But the important thing is that we learned from those mistakes, and we overcame the obstacles that were placed in our way. Harmony has existed in this region, for the most part unchallenged, for tens of thousands of years now.” she paused as her smile faded. “That is not to say that the whole world is like this. There are many countries where harmony is entirely absent; areas where chaos has free reign over the land. Other countries are just finally embracing the power that harmony can provide to them.” she smiled at Cole. “And when we learn that someone else is interested in peace, we do our very best to help.”

Cole was silent for a moment. “Now does this magic have anything to do with the harmonic balance that you speak of?” he asked.

“Oh very much so,” she replied. “Magic and harmony go hand in hand, hoof in hoof. One cannot exist without the other. In a way, harmony provides us all with a little bit of magic in our hearts. It is up to us to discover that power within us. That is how we all learn of the ultimate purpose in our lives. That is what the cutie mark symbolizes. It represents our talents, our destinies, and everything that we are meant to do.”

“Cutie mark?” asked Scott, speaking for the first time in quite a while. 

“Yes,” said Celestia, getting up from her seat, and turning her side toward them. On either of her hips was the image of a golden sun, which seemed to give off its own light. “You may have noticed when you arrived that everypony you saw had some sort of mark on their flank. Those are our cutie marks. When a pony finally discovers what they are meant to do in life, to maintain the balance of harmony, a symbol appears on their hip. It usually occurs at an early age, ranging anywhere from six to ten years of age, although the earliest it has ever happened was at birth. That however, has not happened again in a very long time.”

“Who was it?” asked Cole. “Who was born with their cutie mark?”

“Many were,” said Celestia. “Yet few of them remain alive to this day. My sister was the last pony to be born with her cutie mark. The same happened to me, and every to other alicorn. Well… not every alicorn”

Cole nodded his head, starting to understand all of the information that was being thrown at him so suddenly. It seemed as though the alicorns were almost like gods compared to the other ponies. They were extremely powerful, lived for a very long time, and two of them ruled over the land of Equestria, maintaining a seemingly strong and peaceful governmental system. However they did it, they seemed to accomplish it in a very successful way.

“What does yours mean,” he asked. “Your cutie mark?”

“It symbolizes the duty that I was given, and what I must do in order to do my part in keeping harmony safe,” she said. “On every waking day, it is my duty to raise the sun into the sky, on this side of the world. Thus, every evening, it is my job to let the sun settle to the other half of the world, and allow it to shed its radiance to the many others who share this amazing planet with us. That includes regions dominated by chaos. When the sun is lowered, my sister here raises the moon to light up the night sky.” she paused. “Just because there are those who do not openly embrace harmony, does not mean that we shouldn’t try our hardest to be kind to them. If I were to only illuminate this side of the world and not share the sunlight with the rest, then I would be behaving no better than those who wish harm upon us.”

“Do to others only what you would do to yourselves,” said Cole quietly.

“Yes,” said Celestia. “Yes indeed. Who said that?”

Cole smiled. “There were many men and women who said the same thing, but in different ways,” he said. “It has pretty much been a universal rule to live by since the beginning of human history. The golden rule, as some like to call it.”

“I like it,” said Celestia. “Very much so.”

Cole took a bite of one of his pastries and chewed t in silence. It was very good, the sweet dough complemented perfectly by the raspberry preserve filling. The one thing that the meal lacked was a cup of hot coffee, so Cole was forced to settle for a cup of tea, which he poured from a large ceramic teapot. Upon seeing him take the first true bites of his breakfast, everyone else at the table began to select foods for themselves. Admittedly, the two princesses helped themselves to a far smaller helping than that of Cole’s ODSTs. Shining Armor didn’t eat anything whatsoever, and simply gazed out one of the far windows, but allowed his head to be turned just enough that he could keep a wary eye on the six humans.

They all ate in silence for quite some time. No one tried to bring up any more conversation, however the lingering effects of what Princess Celestia had said stayed with Cole. He repeated her words over and over again in his head, trying to make sense of it all. This perfect little world that the ponies lived in was built upon a magical foundation of magic and harmony. Cole almost smirked. That sentence alone would be enough to make anyone laugh. He suddenly thought of what it would be like to explain everything he had seen, once he got back home. He tried to picture the look on Admiral Parangosky’s face if he were to tell her that he visited a world where the sun and the moon were moved by the magic of two alicorn princesses, instead of gravity. It was a comforting thought, and there would certainly be many stories which he would like to tell, but due to the likely interest that ONI would have on the subject, he would most likely be unable to tell anyone for a long time, due to restrictions.

A part of him didn’t want to go home. As strange as it was for him, he was beginning to like being on this planet, and being surrounded by these ponies who had treated him and his men so kindly, without any promise of something in return. If he were to go back home, there was only one thing that awaited him. More war. Cole sighed. He was tired of fighting just as much as he was tired of the military. He was tired of the life that he was currently living. He wanted more, and for the first time in his life, that dream seemed just within his grasp. Who knows? Maybe he could settle down in a comfortable little house in the countryside. He could start his own small farm, and sell his crops for just enough to live a comfortable life. He could get back to a simple lifestyle, like the one he used to know when he was a child.

He stared down at his plate. As much as he dreamed that such a life could be possible for him once more, he knew that it likely wouldn’t happen. It was a selfish thought in the first place. There were over a thousand souls aboard his ship. Those people had families who they still were able to return home to. Children, wives, husbands; people who would miss them if they were to disappear. Perhaps they already knew. It was certainly a possibility that the UNSC had already informed the many families of the loss of their loved ones, when the Everest was “destroyed” during the battle. Though they certainly wouldn’t be expecting their family members to come home, Cole could not allow himself to prevent his crew from seeing their families again. They would have to go home at some point, likely soon, but maybe someday he would be able to live out his dream.

When they were finished eating, and had waited a decent amount of time for their meal to digest, several members of the kitchen staff began to clear the grand dining table. Cole wiped his mouth with a napkin.

“Thank you for the wonderful meal,” said Cole. “I must say, there are a lot of similarities between the foods our two peoples enjoy, specifically the pastries.”

“You liked them?” asked Celestia with surprise. “That’s wonderful! I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to provide any enjoyable food for you all. You have no idea how comforting it is for me to hear that. I don’t know why, but for some reason, that was once of the things that I was stressing over the most.”

“Well,” he said with a large smile. “Now you know.”

“That I do,” she said, watching as the final few dishes were cleared from the table. “I was thinking; perhaps you would like to see the palace gardens? It has been quite some time now since I have had the chance to walk through them.”

“I saw them as we walked in,” said Cole. “I would love to. Do they wrap all the way around the palace?”

“All the way around,” replied Celestia. “The landscapers wanted to keep a natural feel to the structure, and I felt the exact same way. It is never good to get too far from nature, if it can be helped. We have been cooped up inside for quite a while now.”

“I know the feeling,” said Cole. “I must say, it has been a long time since I have gotten much time outdoors. Most of the time, I’m stuck inside of my ship, twenty-four seven. War keeps you busy, and it is about time that I stop fighting for a change.”

Shining Armor opened the door using his magic. “After you, Princess,” he said.

“Thank you, Shining Armor,” she said. “Follow me, everyone. This way.”

The captain followed the two Princesses out of the room, and Cole followed him, along with his soldiers. Scott looked back to the chest, in which his squad’s weapons were secured. He thought for a moment about asking for them back, but something stopped him. Instead he smiled, and decided to forget that the weapons even existed.

“Are you coming, Sergeant?” Cole asked.

Scott turned to him. “Yes, sir,” he said with a big grin. They stepped out into the hallway, and proceeded to walk to the left, and down the stairs they came up from.

“At some point,” began Celestia. “I would like to give you all a full tour of the palace.”

“I would enjoy that,” said Cole. “I am not sure how my superiors would look at it, but perhaps later on you could come aboard my ship. Although I must say, while it is large, it is nowhere near as elegant at this place.”

Celestia smiled. “I can assure you, Admiral Cole, that while we do live in a very nice palace, my sister and I are far from being hoity-toity.” she glanced over to Shining Armor. “That is the word that ponies use these days to describe somepony of extreme elegance and wealth, yes?”

He shrugged. “I can’t say, Princess Celestia,” he said.

Alright, alright,” said Cole. “Just giving you the heads-up. I don’t mean to be rude, but let’s just say that some of the crew might be rather surprised to see you on the ship. Because of this, I am not sure how much I will able to show you.”

“Why is that?” asked the solar princess. 

“Well,” said Cole, with a small chuckle. “Not that many people onboard know about you at all. Many don’t even know that I left the ship. Unfortunately, that’s how we operate in the UNSC. The command system is very structured. If information is deemed to be potentially dangerous in the hands of lower-ranking soldiers, or civilians, then it is deemed classified.  Only those with a high enough rank have access to that kind information. Although I doubt that we will be able to keep all of this a secret from them for too much longer, I am trying to handle this in a way that won’t cause an uproar from my crewmembers.” he paused. “You do understand my point?”

“Certainly,” she said. “As much of a supporter that I am for equal distribution of knowledge, I fully understand why you must be cautious.” she sighed, staring down at the floor. “That reminds me; since there were likely many ponies who saw you arrive in the city this morning, I will have to present an announcement to the public, soon.” she looked back to him. “Perhaps you could stand by my side during the speech. I am sure that it would do a great deal of good for them to see a human in person, rather than me just describing them.”

“Sure,” he replied. “Absolutely. In fact, I would like to speak to them myself, if you would allow it.”

“Perhaps that is a good idea,” she said. “Although they will likely be very shocked when they hear you speak for the first time. Just that fact that you speak the same language as we do might be all that it takes to keep them from overeating. It is much easier to relate to somepony, or someone, who you can have a conversation with.” she took a deep breath. “But before we get to that, let us at least get some time to walk off our morning meals.”

Celestia continued down the hallway, followed by Shining Armor. Princess Luna fell behind the two, and walked alongside Cole, casting unreadable glances at him from time to time. Cole looked over at her, causing her to look away again. It was very awkward behavior. 

Shining Armor kept walking forward, but looked back often to keep an eye on the other Princess. They strode past the main entrance in the throne room, but did not exit that way. Instead, they walked to the far end of the main hallway, and left the building through a small door that led right out into the gardens.

As soon as Cole stepped past the threshold, he felt an immediate temperature difference on his skin. While it was comfortably cool inside, the outside was far warmer. The sun was close now to being perfectly centered at the height of the sky. In just an hour or so it would be mid-day, and for some reason Cole got the feeling that there would be a lot to get done.

He let the sunlight wash the shadow off his arms, and allowed his skin to embrace the shimmering rays that filtered down through some of the tall spruce trees that stood alongside the palace wall. He let his boots fall onto the gravel pathway with a crunch. Looking ahead, he saw that the path they stood upon, wove through several groups of small trees, and tall stalks of flowers, until it darted out of sight around a large boulder, which sat upon a large plot of sand. Here and there, gardeners trimmed the bushes with steel clippers, and watered the flowers with fresh water that came from long green hoses. The scene was very much like what one would see at the homes of rich people, or historical palaces, back on Earth. During his early military years, Cole had received the opportunity during some scheduled leave, to visit the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina. The ancient building is still recognized as one of the most beautiful homes in the North American continent, even by modern standards. Canterlot Palace was no less beautiful, and seemed even larger than the building on Earth, although there was far less area outside of the Palace, than the home boasted. The Palace was in the middle of a city after-all, so that restricted its size, and the size of the gardens. However, while size is important, the beauty of the palace made up for it.

“This is amazing,” said Cole. He looked down the path at the boulder, which the gravel road seemed to hug. “I must ask. Why is that boulder there?”

“Oh that?” asked Celestia. “That stone has been sitting there for over a thousand years. “During the time when the city was being expanded, that stone broke free from the top of the mountain, due to the vibrations caused by the blasting, that the excavation ponies of the time were performing.” she pointed up past the tree line, and towards the peak of the mountain high above, on which the city clung to. “It rolled down the slope, bounced off, and landed right where it is now. One of the construction ponies who was working on the palace was scared to death when it landed right next to him, crushing a newly placed statue. It was soon after that we decided to let it remain in the place of the destroyed artwork, rather than haul it off. It has been a part of Canterlot history ever since.”

“Huh,” said Cole. “It makes the place seem even more connected to the mountain that it was built upon.”

“And it symbolizes our willingness to accept change,” said Celestia. “Instead of having it removed, and placing another statue where it sat, we embraced it, and allowed it to stay.”

Cole smiled as the party walked around the large stone. Brain reached out and ran his palm along its smooth surface.

“Trooper!” said Cole, raising his voice. Brain instantly turned to him. Cole shook his head, scolding the soldier.

“No no,” said Celestia. “There is no need for you to reprimand him. It is just a rock, after all.” she winked at Brian, who looked back and forth between her and Cole shamefully. Celestia once again started to lead the group down the path. Cole motioned for Brian to keep up.

Before they could make it much further down the path, the group was interrupted by the sound of hoof beats approaching from behind. Cole turned around to see a guard running up to them at full gallop, only for him to stop running as soon as the Princess turned around. She looked at him with a questioning gaze.

“Princess,” he said, regaining his composure. “There is something important that I have to tell you.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“It’s your student,” said the guard. “She is here with her friends, and they are demanding that they be given entrance to the palace grounds.”

Celestia stood still, however she was not surprised. She had assumed that Twilight would come to Canterlot as soon as she knew the truth about what was going on.

“Well, then,” she said. “What are you waiting for? Let her in.”

He gave the Princess a nervous look, and then glanced over at Princess Luna who looked down at him with a blank expression. “Are you sure, Princess?” he asked. “That might be a little difficult to do. There is already quite a large buildup of ponies outside the main gate, who are demanding to speak with you. More are showing up every minute. They want to know about the strange object that landed here.” he looked over at Cole and the ODSTs.

“So it has already begun,” said Celestia quietly, before turning her attention back to the guard. “Yes. Let Twilight Sparkle and her friends enter, and inform the public that I will address them shortly.”

“Right away, Princess,” he said, before galloping off the way he came.

“I apologize,” she said. “But it seems that our lovely walk in the gardens will have to be postponed until a later date.” she took a single step after the guard. “For now, it seems that there are some anxious ponies out there who need answers.”

“Are you going to give it to them?” asked Luna. “Tell them everything, I mean.”

“No, not everything,” replied Celestia. “But I will tell them everything that they need to know, at the moment.” she turned to Admiral Cole. “And you will speak to them, yes?”

“I will do whatever needs to be done in order to prevent any issues from arising,” said Cole. “I know for a fact that both of us want everything to run smoothly. I am happy to help in any way that I can.”

“Then let us waste no more time,” she said, starting to walk back the way they had come from. “Let’s go. But before we get around to that, I want you to meet my most prized pupil. I am sure that she really wants to meet you.” she smiled. “Just be prepared; she asks a lot of questions. Knowledge is like a drug to her.”

“Don’t worry,” said Cole with a light chuckle. “I know a few who are just like that.”

They walked back down the path, until they came to the door they had come from. Instead of entering however, they just walked alongside the palace wall, until they came to the courtyard. The pelican still sat in the center of the stone yard, looking totally out-of-place in this environment. When they were halfway across the courtyard, Celestia saw six figures approaching rapidly from the main gate. They kept up the pace until the lead, purple figure saw the spaceship. Twilight Sparkle stopped in her tracks and stared with an agape mouth at the vehicle. The other five figures huddled around her.

“Twilight Sparkle!” shouted the princess. The purple pony turned to face the sound of the voice, and saw Princess Celestia surrounded by the aliens. “Please, come over here! There is someone that I want you to meet!”

The six ponies walked towards the other group slowly. As they got closer, Cole could see the nervous expressions spread across all of their faces. The purple pony who walked in front, was a unicorn, along with another white one who walked in the back of the cluster. There was a regular orange pony with a blonde mane, and a pink pony with a pink mane. A yellow pegasus with a pink mane peeked out from behind a cyan-colored pony with wings and a prismatic-colored mane and tail. If this happened to be a dream, then it was certainly the most bizarre mental journey that Cole had ever experienced. 

“Twilight!” exclaimed Shining Armor, as he ran over to the unicorn. Cole was taken aback by the stallion’s sudden action towards the mare. The two hugged each other in a warm embrace. “How are you doing?” he asked. “It has been so long since I have seen you.”

“It’s good to see you too, Big Brother,” she said, but with a worried look in her eyes. Now everything made sense to Cole. Twilight stared past her brother, and at Cole.

“Twilight,” asked Shining Armor, tilting his head back with concern. “Is everything alright?”

“I’ll tell you in a moment,” she said, breaking away from her brother’s grip.

"Twilight," began the Princess. "This is Admiral Cole. Admiral Cole, this is my most prized student, Twilight Sparkle, and these are her friends, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash."

"H- hello," she sputtered, walking cautiously towards him. "Nice- nice to meet you.”

“And you as well, Twilight Sparkle,” he said. He looked around to the others. “Hello, all.” 
They all smiled at him nervously.

The small purple unicorn turned quickly back to her Princess. “I am sorry, Princess,” she said, glancing nervous at the tall aliens. “But there has been an issue at the main gate. The guards are not allowing Spike to pass. They said that only we could come in, and not Spike.” 

Celestia frowned. “Did they now?” she asked angrily, before lowering her head. “I am sorry, Twilight. I don’t know how many times I need to tell them that Spike is allowed to enter as long as you are. Let us sort out this matter right now. Come along.”

“Oh,” began Twilight. “Thank you very much, Princess. I just didn’t want Spike to think that we had forgotten him. The crowd of ponies in front of the palace is so large that I thought we wouldn’t be able to get inside in the first place. We almost didn’t when that first guard stopped us from approaching.”

“How large is the crowd?” asked Celestia. 

“The line goes all the way down the street,” replied the unicorn, glancing back at the six aliens who were following. “They are all demanding that they be given answers as to what’s going on.”

“I will take care of that momentary,” said Celestia. “But for now, let us get your little dragon friend out of that dangerous mob.”







Canterlot Train Station-Twenty Minutes Earlier


Twilight was thrown awake from her dreamless sleep when the train pulled into the station with a hiss of steam. The transport finished its deceleration, and came to a halt alongside the stone platform.

“We have arrived in Canterlot,” said the train conductor, over a loudspeaker. “All ponies onboard for this stop, please exit the train at this time.”

Twilight sparkle opened her eyes as everypony around her started getting out of their seats. Suddenly, she remembered her reason for coming to the city, and she sat up with a start.

“Oh, well there you are, sugarcube,” said Applejack. “Didja get a good nap in? You were knocked out for the whole ride. We tried everything we could to wake ya’ll up when we were getting close to the city, but y'all just kept on sleeping away.”

“Yeah,” said Rainbow, hovering in the aisle. “What’s the big deal? I even burped in your ear, and all you did was grumble something to yourself, roll over, and start to snore. Are you on any sleeping medications or something?”

Twilight sighed. “No,” she said. “I am not. I was just really tired. That’s all.” She suddenly looked up at the rainbow manned pegasus. “Wait. Was I seriously snoring?”

“Ha, no,” said Rainbow, who began to hover down the aisle, and towards the exit. “I was just trying to wake you up for good. You will have plenty of time to sleep later, but we have got aliens to meet.”

“Rainbow!” exclaimed Twilight, doing her best to express her disapproval in a hushed tone. “Not so loud!”

“Oh right,” replied the pegasus, throwing a hoof over her mouth, several seconds too late. Several ponies glanced over at her. “My bad.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Where are the others?” she asked.

“They got off the train through the door, at the other end of the aisle,” said Rainbow. “I think that Rarity is getting her things unpacked right now, and loaded onto a carriage.”

Twilight got onto her feet, strapped on her saddlebag, pulling the strap tight with her mouth. She tilted he head to both sides, releasing two confined cracks from her spine, thus relieving some of the discomfort in her neck. The unicorn walked towards the exit, and carefully climbed down the metal steps. With a solid, concrete sound, her hooves met the pavement as she had once again stepped out into the afternoon air. It had gotten significantly warmer outside, since earlier this morning. It wasn’t too hot; it was just right. It was the perfect type of atmosphere for a comfortable day.

Looking to her right, she spotted the other three elements of harmony. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were conversing, while Rarity observed several stallions remove her luggage from the train, and transfer the cases onto one of the many chariots that were parked on the platform. Spike stood next to her, scrutinizing the stallions intently, with his claws upon his hips. Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash walked over to the other three.

“Are we renting chariots?” asked Twilight.

“Well of course we are,” replied the white unicorn. “Well, at least I am. It would be simply too much for me or any one of us to lug all of these suitcases up to the palace, on our own. I figured that if I would be riding in a chariot, then you all would want to as well, thus I rented three.”

“Three chariots?” asked Twilight with surprise. “Rarity, how much did this cost?”

“Oh, never mind the price, darling,” replied Rarity. “This is only me being courteous to my friends. You wouldn’t deny me that privilege, would you?”

“Well,” said Twilight, not wishing to hurt her friend’s feelings. “No, I wouldn’t-”

“Then let that be the end of it,” said Rarity as the last of her suitcases were loaded into the back of Rarity’s chariot. “Since I only got three, there will have to be two to a chariot. Rainbow, you can ride with me if you would like.”

The cyan pegasus backed away, with almost a disgusted look. “Uh,” she began, awkwardly. “That’s alright, Rarity. I would prefer to fly.”

“Oh,” said Rarity, with a bit of a devilish smirk. “Well it looks like I will be riding by myself.” she looked down at Spike. “Unless you want to ride with me, Spike.”

“Nah,” he said. “But I will ride in the back, to keep an eye on all of your things. Don’t want anypony snatching one of your suitcases, do we?”

“Oh, how very thoughtful of you, Spike,” said the unicorn with a pleased smile. “What an excellent idea.” Spike hopped onto the back, resting his clawed feet on one of the large containers.

Twilight climbed into an empty chariot, and sat down. “Whoever wants to ride with me, feel free to do so,” she said, leaning her head back.

“Oh, I’ll ride with you, Twilight!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie, who flew into the seat next to her.

“Well, sugarcube,” Applejack said to Fluttershy. “Looks like we will be riding together.”

The timid pegasus smiled. “Sounds good, Applejack,” she whispered. The two climbed into the last of the three chariots.

Once they were all settled, three stallions walked over, and attached their saddles to the vehicles, hitching themselves in.

“Where to, ladies?” asked the lead stallion, who pulled Rarity’s chariot.

“Canterlot palace, if you would, please,” said Twilight.

The driver looked back at her, raising an eyebrow. “You do know that the road around the main gate to the palace is clogged with ponies, right? he asked. “Traffic is very bad over there. Why do you want to go the palace in the first place? We won’t even be able to get up to the gates.”

“Just get us as close as you can,” said the purple unicorn. “I am the Princess’s personal protégé. She will let us past the gates.”

The stallion shrugged. “Very well,” he said. “Whatever you say, ma’am. Alright, guys,” he said glancing to the other two drivers. “We are going to the palace. Let’s do everything we can to make sure our customers get there quickly, and comfortably.”

The other stallions nodded, and the next moment they were off, trotting quickly down the platform, down a ramp, and onto the main boulevard that headed right into the heart of the city, and to the Princess’s home.

They passed by many buildings, some of which housed small businesses, others, office spaces for larger corporations. The main road that they travelled on was mostly flat, as the city had been built upon and almost entirely level foundation. There weren't even any cracked pieces of masonry in the brick road. Instead, the colorful interlocking stone pieces formed an elaborate pattern of circles and squares, and continued in this fashion for the entire length of the street.

As they drew closer to the palace, more and more vendors started springing up on the sides of the street. Merchants sold all kinds of product, ranging from things like jewelry, to pottery and food. The smell of freshly baked sweets drew Twilight’s attention to a nearby bakery. It smelled good, but she forced herself to look away. They were on a mission. Nothing was more important than getting to the palace as soon as possible.

As the three chariots drew within a block of the palace, the stallions driving them slowed down to a trot. Before them, was a sea of distressed equines. The crowds extended all the way down the road, for a block and a half, before splashing up against the exterior walls of the castle. 

“This is as far as we are going to get,” said the stallion. “Are you sure that you can get inside?”

“I am fairly certain,” replied Twilight. “Although I do not know the exact circumstances of what’s going on inside.” she hopped down from the chariot, staring at the wall of shouting ponies before her.

“We will wait here,” said the stallion. “Once you get inside, make sure to send some of the Princess’s royal guard to come fetch the luggage.”

“Sure thing,” said the unicorn. 

The other four ponies, as well as Spike, climbed down, and stood next to her. Rainbow soared down from the sky, and landed next to the unicorn.

“Sheesh,” said Rainbow Dash. “These ponies certainly do know how to cause a ruckus. I’m surprised that the Princess hasn’t done anything yet.”

“She could be busy right now, Rainbow,” said Twilight. “If I am right, then I am sure that she has a lot of things to deal with.”

“Whatever she is doing,” said Rainbow. “She better let us inside. There’s no way that we came this far to be turned around at the front gate.”

That’s just something that we have to accept as a possibility,” she said, before turning to face the rest of the group. “Are you girls ready?” she asked, glancing down at the young dragon. “Spike?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” he said. The five mares nodded in agreement.

Twilight gulped, and approached the sea of bodies that stood in her way. With an initial push, she passed into the crowd. Her friends followed close behind, while Spike held onto her tail. She accidentally stepped on the hoof of a mare, which recoiled away as the owner yelped with pain.

“Sorry,” she said to the mare, who gave Twilight a dirty look. “Excuse me, everypony. Pardon me. Coming through.”

Ponies gave her annoyed glances as she forcefully pressed through the mob, making slow progress. It took them all quite some time to get close to the gate. The entire experience was anything but pleasant. The whole time they were pressed flank to flank with over a hundred other ponies, who all wanted to speak to the Princess as much as Twilight did.

She took an early lead ahead of her friends and when Twilight finally reached the gate, she was stopped by a guard, who stood directly in front of the entrance.

“Hold it right there,” he said. “Nopony is allowed within the palace at this time.”

“I am aware of this,” said Twilight, brushing her mane out of her eyes. “I am Twilight Sparkle, and I am here with my friends.  Would you please inform Princess Celestia that we are here? I do greatly need to speak with her.”

The stallion in armor looked down at her once again, getting a better look from beyond his helmet. He went pale. “The element of Magic,” he said, suddenly recognizing her. “The other elements are here as well?”

“Yes,” she said. “And we would prefer if we didn’t have to wait outside in this crowd any longer.”

“One moment,” he said. “I just need to check this in with the Princess.” he turned to one of the other guards behind him, saying something inaudible over the cacophony of voices. The second stallion nodded, and passed through the gate.

“I just sent my private to go and notify the princess that you have arrived,” he said. As soon as he did, the other five mares finished pushing their way up to the gate, and gathered next to Twilight. They were out of breath, and clearly unhappy about the extraneous trek that just took them fifteen minutes.

“Oh, my,” said Rarity as she brushed her mane away from her face. She looked at Twilight, then at the royal guard, then back to Twilight again. “What’s the problem? Are we not allowed in?”

“Princess Celestia is being notified of our arrival as we speak,” said Twilight, trying to pear through the steel gate. “It shouldn’t take long. I know the princess. She will not delay.”

“Well, I hope that you are right,” said Rarity. “I don’t know how much longer I can stand being in this congested herd of ponies. Besides, I think that everypony here is getting more and more anxious by the minute.”

It was true. More and more ponies were shouting at the guards. Twilight could practically smell the tension in the air. Who knows what would happen if the princess didn't come out soon. Twilight didn’t want to wait around to find out.

“Where is the Princess?” shouted one.

“Why won’t she speak to us?” asked another with pure anger.

Twilight could feel her blood pressure rise. At first she wasn’t comfortable, but she was beginning to grow fearful of the ponies around her. Goddesses forbid that they would decide to break into the palace grounds, and trample her in the process.

“Twilight,” began Spike, who still held a firm grip on her twin-colored tail. “Why is everypony acting so upset? Why are they yelling?”

The unicorn gulped. “They are just concerned, is all,” she said, trying to keep the young dragon from becoming frightened. “They all just want to see the princess.”

“We demand answers!” shouted a stallion. “Where is the Princess?”

“Are they going to be able to?” Spike asked. “Isn’t that what we are trying to do?”

“Yes they will,” said Twilight, occasionally glancing over her shoulder to make sure that her friends were still nearby. “They just need to wait their turns. The Princess will see everypony.”

“But we aren’t waiting our turns,” said Spike, giving her a questioning look. “We just cut the line.”

Twilight looked down at him. His statement had caught her completely off guard. “Our situation is a little bit different,” she said, looking back up at the gate, which still remained closed.

“But why?” he asked “If we are all trying to get in there for the same reason, then why do we get to go first?”

Twilight started to answer him, but stopped as one of the gates opened again, and the same guard came out. He nodded to his commanding officer

“Alright, you and your friends are allowed to pass,” he said, stepping aside to allow the six ponies access to the entrance.

Twilight stepped forward. “Thank you,” she said.

“Everypony!” shouted the lead stallion. “Please stay calm. The Princess will address you all in a moment. Just wait a few more minutes!”

As Twilight an Spike stepped up to the gate, the guard held one hood out

“Hold up,” said the guard, looking down, and behind her. “Who’s that?”

Twilight looked back as well. “Oh, that’s Spike,” said Twilight. “He’s my assistant.”

The stallion brought his head back, and grunted. “The Princess didn’t mention anything about dragons,” he said. “She said to only allow you and your friends to enter.”

“But Spike is my friend,” she said. “Celestia knows that. Celestia knows who he is.”

The guard shook his head. “Sorry,” he said. “Until I have confirmation from the Princess herself, I cannot allow the dragon to enter.”

“Wha- what?” the purple dragon asked, strengthening his grip upon Twilight’s tail. “What does he mean, Twilight?”

“Sir, I can assure you that Princess Celestia has no issues with Spike coming inside with us,” said Twilight, quickly trying to come up with a way to gain the young dragon, access. “She was the one who gave him to me, please, trust me.”

“Unfortunately,” he said. “Things are kind of crazy right now, as you can tell. I can’t take any unnecessary risks.”

“But he’s not a risk!” exclaimed Twilight. “He’s a child!”

“You can either enter, and go get direct permission from the Princess,” he said. “Or you can all turn around and walk away. There is no debating this.”

The violet unicorn glared at him with burning eyes, their fires fueled with rage. She turned back to the dragon. “Listen to me, Spike,” she said. “I’m going to go inside for just a few minutes, and then I will be back out to come get you. I need you to stay right here.”

Spike shook his head in protest. “But I don’t want to stay here by myself,” he said. “I don’t like it out here.”

“I know,” she said. “But I need you to do this for me, just this one time. I need to go talk to the Princesses. It’s the only way that I will be able to get you inside.”

He sighed. “Alright,” he said, relaxing is grip on her tail. “Just don’t be gone too long, please?”

“I won’t,” she said with an encouraging smile. “I promise. Just wait right there.”

With that, she turned around and proceeded to trot through the gates, with her five other friends following her. The cast-iron barrier closed shut behind them, and suddenly Spike was standing alone, among hundreds of other ponies.

“Why do they get to go inside!” one pony roared at the top of his lungs. “What makes them more important than us?”

“Yeah!” shouted another. “What’s the big deal?”

The few guards who stood outside adjusted their position, as more and more anger was direct towards them. Spike pressed himself against the outer wall, as he tried to get away from the crowd. The ponies came closer, but the guards stood still, facing the ocean of ponies with determination. That was until somepony threw the rock.

It came from the back of the crowd. It was a small, insignificant stone, which flew through the air at a fast velocity and struck one of the guards alongside the head. He recoiled away as it bounced off of his golden helmet, and fell to the ground. For two whole seconds, everypony was silent. Then a second onslaught of thrown objects rocketed towards the royal guards. More stones, bottles, bricks, and even some fresh produce were hurled at the stallions, causing them to back away as they were all struck by multiple items of ill-intent.

Spike crouched down against the wall, as the barrage of missiles kept coming nonstop, hitting the guards, and the wall behind them. Glass bottles shattered, and bricks cracked into dust as they collided with the barrier. The guards tried to dodge the objects, but were mostly unsuccessful. After a minute of nonstop abuse, the lead guard gave the order to his soldiers to draw their swords.

The crowd back away with fear, from the now armed guards, pushing and shoving one another to get away from the razor-sharp blades. The soldiers stepped up and formed a half-circle perimeter around the gate, glaring at the mob in front of them. This didn’t cause the objects to cease being thrown, however. The crowd simply back up, and kept throwing things.

“Private!” shouted the lead guard. “Go inside and alert the Captain that we have a little riot going on out here. Tell him to send more guards, quick!” he turned back to face the crowd. “That’s it everypony! Get back, get back! Step away from the gates!”

One of the guards suddenly turned his head away from the swarm, and saw Spike.

“Hey, you!” he shouted, pointing his sword at the young dragon. “Get away from the wall!”

“But… but,” began Spike. “I was told to stay here and-”

“I said, back away!” he ordered, taking a step towards the innocent purple dragon.

Spike fell down as he tried to walk backwards. The guard made another approach towards him, and Spike decided to scramble away towards the crowd. As he backed away, the outraged ponies met him, as the group slowly began to make another push to the gate. Heavy, blunt objects were still being thrown at the stallions, but they held their ground, focused on not letting anypony get past them.

Spike looked around. The crowd has completely surrounded him now and all he could see were the stomping of hooves, in every direction. Ponies pushed and shoved, entirely unaware of Spike, who stood below them. One of the equines suddenly staggered forward, running into the dragon, and knocking him to the ground. Spike lifted his face off of the street just in time to see the ponies at the front of the crowd rush towards the gate with a frenzied charge. The others followed him, and soon everypony was running past him. Spike tried to stand up, but another pony slammed into him, then another, and another, and suddenly he found himself being pressed against the street, as several ponies fell on top of him.

Spike struggled to breath, barely able to draw in enough oxygen into his lungs, to keep himself from falling unconscious. His vision danced with the images of flailing hooves, as he was slowly crushed underneath the pile of colorful bodies.






As Cole followed Princess Celestia and the others towards the main gate, several guards rushed by, heading in the same direction.

“Soldier,” said Celestia. One of the stallions turned towards her. “What's going on?”

“There’s a riot going on, out front, your Highness,” he replied. “We are on our way to put a stop to it, right now.”

“A riot?” asked Celestia, quickening her pace.

“No…” whispered Twilight with fear. “Spike is still out there.”

Celestia gazed down at her student with horror, before starting to run. “Hurry up, everyone!” she shouted, as she sprinted towards the gate behind the guards. “Come with me!”

Cole and his guards broke into a jog after the ponies, as his aged body prevented him from matching the Princess’s speed. Scott and his squad stayed with their admiral, and let the others run ahead.

Celestia made it to the gate within seconds, with Shining Armor right at her hooves. She climbed up an angle of narrow steps, to the top of the wall that overlooked the gate. Several ponies already stood at the top, armed with loaded crossbows, which were being aimed over the edge. Celestia peered over, and what she saw, horrified her. A massive swarm of ponies, her ponies, were practically laying siege to the front gate. Objects were being thrown, and ponies were charging the entrance, and fighting with the guards, who bucked and punched them away, not wishing to use their weapons. She couldn’t see the little dragon amongst the fray. All she saw were hundreds of panicked ponies.

“Enough!” Princess Celestia roared at the top of her lungs. Everypony instantly stopped yelling, and looked up at her. Those who were engaged in mid-fight backed away from their opposing combatant. Those who were on the ground stood, and brushed themselves off. Everypony seemed to step away from one another.

Celestia glared down upon them with the furious rage of the sun, her eyes burning themselves into the minds of the ponies below her.

“Where is Spike?” she growled. Everypony looked up at her in confusion. “The young dragon who was standing down there! Where is he?”

The ponies shot nervous glances to one another as they were questioned by the Princess. They all shrugged.

Suddenly, out from the front of the mob, crawled a small, purple figure. The ponies around him looked down and backed away. He was wheezing, and coughing as he dragged himself away from the crowd.

“Spike!” shouted Twilight, who ran down the steps and out of the front gate. When she got there, she kneeled down beside him, and picked him up in her hooves.

“I’m alright,” he said, with a final cough as he gripped onto her shoulder with one claw. “I’m alright.”

Celestia continued to glare down at the ponies. “Is this how we act?” she asked aloud. “Is this how we choose to behave when we are afraid?”

The ponies looked down at the ground. Some kicked at the stones in the street. None could look their Princess in the eye.

“When even a sliver of doubt is put into our hearts, is this what we become?” she asked, her eyes now sad. She no longer felt anger, but mere disappointment. “Do we simply dump the principles that we all hold dear, down the drain? Because of what? Because you are unsure of what you all may have seen arrive in the city this morning?” she paused, and let out a sigh. “Is anypony severely hurt? Please speak up.”

None of them replied, and the guards all began to sheath their swords. Celestia looked at them.

“Thank you all for choosing not you use your weapons,” she said. “And thank you for displaying proper judgment, and acting on the situation in the least violent manner.” she looked back at the rest of the ponies. “You are all very lucky that my guards decided not to fight. Many of you would have gotten hurt, if they did.” she paused, and bowed her head. “You should all be thankful.”

Down in the street, Twilight Sparkle hugged Spike, as he wept into her shoulder.

“They just kept falling on top of me,” he sputtered. “I was stuck, and I couldn’t breathe.”

“I know,” she said, gently nuzzling his cheek with her own. “I am so sorry that this happened to you.” she gave him a light kiss on his forehead. “But I promise to never leave you alone again. Next time, I will stay with you.”

“When the changelings invades, you all acted much stronger than you have just now,” said Celestia with a stare. “Why now, does all of your spiritual fortitude crumble? You have all experienced far more horrifying events in the past. There is absolutely no reason to behave this way now. After everything that we have all been through, do you all really think that I would leave you all in the dark?

The ponies looked up at her, with wide expressions of guilt and sadness plastered upon their faces.

“Now I understand that you all have a lot of questions,” said Celestia, to the crowd. “But that provides no justification for this kind of horrendous behavior.” she sighed. “Do you all want to know what’s going on? Because if so, I will tell you.”

The ponies looked back up at her with puzzled expressions.

“We have been visited,” said Celestia. “By beings from a world, not of our own.” The ponies before her looked up with awe as Admiral Cole stepped up to stand next to her. He held a calm and friendly expression, and said nothing.

“This is Admiral Cole,” said Celestia, gesturing towards the man. “He is a human. They come from a planet, far away from here. What you saw this morning was the spaceship they came in.” she paused for a moment to let the information to sink in. “Now I know that this may come as quite of a shock to some of you, but I want you all to remain calm, and not act the same way that you just did. The humans are a peaceful people, and they mean us no harm. Admiral Cole here, is a very friendly man, and he really wants to learn about us.”

“How?” asked one of the ponies from the crowd. “How do you know that they are nice?”

Celestia smiled. “Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

“Hello, everyone,” said Cole, waving his hand at the ponies before him. The crowd gasped. “Yes, I can speak your language; just as you all can speak mine. What Princess Celestia has said is true. We come in peace.” he looked out across the crowd. “I came here in a spaceship, along with many others, and I am very interested to meet you all, and to learn as much as I can about your culture.” he paused. “I also have the intention of forming a strong friendship between our two peoples.”

“As do we,” said Celestia. “I know that you all have many questions, and they will all be answered in due time, but for now we just need to trust one another. Can we all find it in our hearts to welcome these remarkable individuals into our lives?”

There was a long moment of silence, but slowly, ponies one by one began to nod their heads in approval.

“There is still much that Admiral Cole and I must discuss,” said the Princess. “We really must get back to business. We have not had much time to talk much so far, so I am unable to answer many of your questions. Next time, I will tell you everything that you may wish to know, but for now, please clear away from the gates, and free the street so that traffic may get by. Go on with your lives. Forget that any of this violence has ever happened, and go home. I will inform you all when there is more to talk about.”

With that, Celestia turned away from the wall. Admiral Cole and Princess Luna followed her back down the steps. When they reached the bottom, Celestia let out a deep breath.

“I would say that you handled that well,” said Princess Luna. “Given the current circumstances, that is.”

“Same,” said Cole. “You really have a way with your subjects. They listen to you, and they respect you. I must say, that on Earth, there haven’t been many who could do such a thing. The majority of leaders throughout human history have all had tragic flaws that corrupted their characters, and caused them to lose popularity amongst the civilian population, in the end.”

“You use that word a lot,” said Celestia. “Civilian. Is that how leaders on Earth usually refer to their citizens?”

“No,” said Cole. “It’s just an old military habit. I apologize.”

“Don’t,” she said. “I take no offense from your words.”

Twilight suddenly came back through the gate, with Spike sitting upon her back. She walked up to the group, and looked at Cole.

“Are you alright, Spike?” asked Princess Celestia. “I am so sorry for what happened out there.”

“It’s alright,” he replied. “I’m okay now. Just a little winded, is all.”

“So you are really from another planet,” said Twilight, staring at Cole. He looked down at her. “I never thought that I would get the chance to meet someone like you.”

“Unfortunately, I can’t say the same,” said Cole. “The human race has been unlucky enough to have already met several others. None of them as polite as you are, though.”

Twilight smiled at that. “Then I’m guessing that you have many stories to tell,” she said. “And I bet that you have already discussed many with my Princess.”

“That is true,” said Celestia. “However, we have all the time that we need. I will not let anything get in the way of this meeting. We will catch you up on everything, Twilight.”

“Great,” replied the unicorn. “I have plenty of stories to tell of my own, as well.”

“I look forward to hearing about them,” said Cole. “This experience so far has been extremely inspirational for me.”

“Inspirational?” asked Celestia. “How so?”

Cole smiled. “I am not sure yet,” he said. “I just have a feeling that only good things are going to become of this. There was several second gap, during which no one spoke.

“Anyway,” said Twilight. “I am sorry that we haven't really had much of a formal introduction. Sorry, my mind was kind of focused on other things.” she gestured up at Spike.

“I understand,” said Cole, giving Spike a warm smile. “So, you name is Spike, is it?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Whatzit to ya?”

Cole put his hands up. “Nothing to me. I just want to know what to call you.”

“Yes,” said Twilight, glaring up at the fragon. “Spike, please be polite.”

“But, Twilight, you told me to never talk to strangers,” said the dragon.

“Boy’s got a point,” said Cole. “It is never good to fully trust someone you don’t yet know. A very wise practice.”

Spike had no reply for what Cole said, and simply looked back at the man, surprised by his answer. Finally, a smile spread across his face. Cole smiled back, before his gaze suddenly fell upon the pelican which still sat in the courtyard. He suddenly remembered the pilot.

“Oh, shoot,” he said. “I apologize, Princess, but would you mind if I let my pilot come out of the ship, and join us. He has been cooped up in there for hours.”

“You left one of you men inside?” she asked with shock. Cole nodded. “Well of course I don’t mind! You can’t just leave a man to wait inside of a stuffy ship all day.” she said with a horrified tone. “Yes, please, go get him. Let him use the restroom for goodness sakes!”

“Our soldiers are trained to be able to handle long amounts of time in utter solitude,” said Cole. “He’s fine, but I appreciate you letting him come out. I now have complete confidence that your people aren’t going to try and attack us. That’s why I left him there in the first place; just in case we needed to leave quickly.”

“You are always prepared for the worst, aren’t you?” she asked. “I guess people tend to get like that, after all the hardships your people have gone through.”

“It is an unfortunate fact of our lifestyle,” said Cole. “I try to do everything in my power, at all times, to keep my crew safe from harm. If that means taking extra precautions that may not even be necessary, then so be it.”

She nodded. “I am sure Shining Armor can agree with you on that,” she said.

“If you care about your soldiers as much as I care about my Princess, then I know exactly how you feel,” said the stallion, speaking for the first time in over an hour. He then did something that he had never done before. He smiled at the human. Cole nodded in return.

Cole walked over to the transport, with the Princess Celestia close behind him. He knocked on the rear hatch. “Pilot?” he called, out loud. “Pilot, it’s alright. You can come out now. There is no need to wait in there any longer.”

The door hissed, and Cole backed away as the ramp opened, and lowered itself down to the ground. The pilot walked forward, and saluted.

“Good to see you again, sir,” he said. “I was considering coming out to help when I saw you all running towards the gate, but then I thought that you would probably have wanted me to remain here. I am sorry if I was wrong.”

“Not at all,” said Cole. “Everything turned out to be under control.” he turned towards the Princess. “Pilot, this is Princess Celestia. Princess Celestia, this is...” he paused, fumbling for the name. 

“Private-First Class, Anderson,” he said, completing the Admiral’s sentence. “I’m just the chauffeur, Your Highness. Nowhere near as important as Admiral Cole here, or Scott and his team.”

“Don’t say that,” said the Princess. “I look upon my personal drivers with the greatest of respect. Your work is very crucial to your Admiral’s work. If you weren’t around, who would have driven them down here to visit?”

“Well,” said Anderson. “There are plenty of other pilots, back on our ship, but I appreciate the compliment.”

“You are welcome,” said Celestia. “Don’t you forget that.” she smiled. “Anyway, come along with us. Be our guest. I am sure that there is a lot that you would wish to see.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” he said.

The rest of the day continued on without incident. Cole and Celestia filled Twilight and her friends in on what she had missed, as they resumed their walk through the palace gardens. Both sides took turns telling one another about the adventures they have experienced.

“So let me get this straight,” said Cole. “Fluttershy got the dragon to depart from the mountain by convincing it that its smoke was harming others, thus guilting it into leaving?”

“Yes she did,” said Twilight. “Didn’t you Fluttershy? We owe a lot to her for being the hero of that day.”

The timid yellow pegasus smiled. “Oh, it was nothing, really,” she said, turning her head away from Cole.

“Wow,” said the Admiral. “How I wish that problems were that easy to solve, back where I come from. Humans sometimes have a tendency to do the wrong thing, and think right by it. As you can imagine, it is difficult to get someone to apologize if they believe that what they have done is good.”

“I know all too well,” said Celestia. “As great as everything that you have heard, seems, you now know firsthand that everypony isn’t perfect. Crime isn’t nonexistent here, but it is certainly less prevalent than the good things that make up this land. It isn’t often that a serious crime is committed here, but when it does happen, we handle it with the utmost tact. I am sure that the crime and punishment system works similar from where you hail from.”

“Are there prisons in Equestria?” asked Cole.

“We have numerous correctional facilities scattered throughout this country, yes,” she said. “Our largest is Gordstine Maximum Security Prison, but only ponies who have committed the most atrocious of crimes are sent there. If one gets any worse than that, then they are sent off to Tartarus, but that world is usually where evil monsters of chaos are sent to be punished, not ponies.”

“Tartarus?” asked Cole, feeling only slightly surprised. “Like the underworld?”

“Yes,” said Celestia. “Let me guess. Tartarus is the subject of myth in human cultures, as well.”

Cole nodded. “So much of what you have told me exists in the imaginations of people, back on Earth,” he said. “I am truly beginning to wonder if our pasts were once connected. How else would we know about dragons, and griffons, and speak the same language, and have the same foods and plants as you do?” he shook his head. “There is no way that this could be a coincidence. There is simply too much in common between us.”

“Perhaps we will eventually discover the truth,” said Celestia. “Maybe fate has had it that we were destined to meet one another, today.” she paused and gave Cole a warm smile. “This may be the first step that will teach us the reasons as to why were are so alike.”

“I hope so,” said Cole. “But forgotten pasts have the tendency to surprise.” he sighed. “I don’t know. I just have a strange feeling that if we find out, that we will learn more about ourselves, than what is good for us. Some things are meant to remain in mystery.”

Celestia nodded. “Only time will tell,” she said, as they neared the end of the garden path, on the opposite side of the palace.

The day waned on as the sun slowly moved across the sky, and descended upon the western horizon. They enjoyed a quiet supper around six o’clock, during which they talked more about Equestrian history. Agreeing to keep the subject on a happy note, Cole and Celestia decided to not talk much more about the Human-Covenant war. Cole enjoyed a bowl of hot, herbal soup, while Scott and his squad chose to eat bread and cheese. Madrigal served the group one of the many fine wines that was fermented locally, and Cole thought the drink was one of the best he had ever had the opportunity to try. It was a joyous evening, during which the two different groups grew even fonder of each other. Cole had a side conversation about military tactics with Shining Armor, during which he talked about some of the many successful maneuvers he had performed in the past, in order to gain an edge over the Covenant.

Cole’s men seemed to be enjoying their newest mission, quite well. Scott had completely forgotten about the initial objective of the mission, since it was now quite obvious that the Equestrians were non-hostile. He now felt comfortable with considering his stay in Canterlot as some well-deserved R&R, instead of a serious mission. He had been surprised the Admiral Cole had allowed him and his team to accompany the man throughout the entire day, instead of being told to stay put and wait for orders. He had learned so much more than he ever thought he would, about an alien race. During his entire military career so far, Scott had never been exposed to nearly as much information about the Covenant, as he was finding out now, about ponies. It was by far, one of the best experiences of his life.

When they were all finished eating, Celestia turned to Cole. “It will be dark soon,” she said. “Will you all be staying overnight? I would like it very much if you would.”

Cole hesitated. “I will have to notify my lieutenant, who I left in charge of my ship,” he said. “But I think that that would be possible.”

“Oh, wonderful,” she replied. “I will have Shining Armor show you all to your rooms.”

Scott raised an eyebrow. “We get our own rooms?” he asked.

“Well of course,” said Princess Celestia. “Where else would you sleep?”

Scott hesitated, before turning to the Admiral. He wasn’t used to being offered a room of his own. “Sir, my squad and I can stay in one location, outside your room, if you wish us to,” he said.

“No no,” said Cole. “That isn’t necessary. You can all sleep in your own privacy tonight, but don’t you think that I will be going out of my way to get you all personal living spaces, back on the Everest.”

“No,” said the First-Sergeant. “Of course not, sir.”

Celestia smiled at the two gentlemen. “Captain,” she began. “Please escort Admiral Cole and his men to the guest bedrooms, as well as Twilight and her friends. Show them around, and allow them to bring in any supplies that they need to, from their ship.”

“Are we staying too?” asked Twilight Sparkle. 

“Of course you are, Twilight,” said the Princess. “Why wouldn’t you? I know that you don’t want to miss any of this, so I am sure that you would want to stay.”

“Gee,” said Twilight, blushing. “Thanks, Princess. Can I stay in my old room?”

“Of course,” replied Celestia with a nod. “Now, did you six come here with anything?”

“The luggage has already been brought in,” said Rarity. “I had some of the guards see to getting that done.”

“Oh, well, great,” said Celestia. “One less thing that needs to be done. I need to go take care of a few things with Princess Luna, for now. I will speak to you all in a little bit.” she turned away from them, and proceeded down the hallway, in the opposite direction. Princess Luna followed her out of sight.

“If you will all follow me,” said Shining Armor. “The guest bedrooms are this way.”

Cole nodded. “Lead the way, my friend.”

Shining Armor raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing as he began to lead them down the hallway. Cole was happy to have Shining Armor as a guide, lest he were to get lost in the palace. They rounded a corner, and found themselves in a hallway, with twelve doors on both sides.

“Here they are,” said the guard, who walked over to one of the doors. He used his telekinetic abilities to reach into a small compartment in his armor, and produced a ring of steel keys from within. Levitating one of the lock-opening devices over, he inserted it into the keyhole, and twisted the object to the right. The lock disengaged with a pop, and he pushed the door open with one hoof. “Sis, you can stay in your room. Your friends can choose which rooms they all want on this side of the hallway. Cole, you and your men get the other side.”

“What about me?” asked Spike.

“You can pick whatever one you want,” said Shining Armor with a wink. “I’ll let you decide.”

With amazing speed, Shining Armor caused the master-key to fly to all of the locks, one after another. In less than a minute, all of the doors were unlocked, and standing open.

Cole stepped into one of the empty rooms. Inside was a large, queen-sized bed with a decorative curtain that surrounded it. A small, mahogany nightstand stood silently next to the bed. On the other side of the room, a large picture frame hung from the wall, displaying a painting of Canterlot, from a distant angle. On the far wall, were two windows. Cole stepped up to one of them, and peered out. Below him was part of the gardens, and straight ahead, he could see beyond the perimeter wall, and out into the city.

“Do you find the room to be of your liking?” came a female voice, from the doorway. Cole turned around. One of the royal maids stood before him.

“Yes,” said Cole. “It is just fine. Thank you for asking.”

The mare nodded to him. “Just let one of us know if you need anything,” she said.

“I will,” replied Cole. “Thank you.”

As the pony turned away, Scott Jeffries walked up to the doorway, stopping to let the mare pass.

“Sir.”

“What is it, Sergeant?” asked Cole.

“The boys and I were wondering if it would be alright if we could go retrieve our gear from the pelican,” he said politely. “If that is alright with you, sir.”

“Yes of course,” said Cole. “Get whatever you need, now. I am not sure whether we will be confined to our rooms for the night, or not.”

“Yes, sir,” replied the ODST as he turned away from the room. “Thank you sir.”

“Oh, Sergent?” called Cole before Scott cold get away. The soldier turned back to the admiral. “Can you grab my backpack, as well? It should be above where I sat, during the ride.”

Scott nodded. “Of course, Sir. No problem.”

About five minutes later, Scott returned with Cole’s backpack, which the admiral had packed before the trip. When Scott left for the last time, Cole closed the door to his bedroom, and unzipped the bag. He took out his datapad, and sat down on the bed, activating the device at he did so. He entered his identification number, and the tablet unlocked for him, giving him access to its functions. He tapped a green icon on the screen, and suddenly, a forward view of the Everest’s bridge appeared on the screen. Before him, sitting in his chair, sat McMahon, who was engaged in a heated game of Solitaire.

“Lieutenant McMahon,” said Cole. “How is everything holding up?”

The man practically flew out of the seat at the sound of the Admiral's voice. The holographic cards before him winked out of existence, and he stood up, raising one arm in salute. Cole’s face was projected upon the bridge’s forward view screens, for the Lieutenant to see.

“Excellent timing, Sir,” said Maya’s voice, which suddenly came through Cole’s datapad. McMahon couldn’t hear her. Cole simply smiled at her comment.

“Everything is going fine up here, Sir,” said McMahon, his face glowing red. “Nothing worthwhile to report.”

“What about Ramirez?” asked Cole. “How is he doing?”

“Oh, Joseph,” began the Lieutenant. “He’s doing just fine. Fosco and he had a little chat, a few hours ago. He’s really sorry for acting the way he did before. I think that he wants to apologize to you, as soon as you get back.”

Cole nodded. “I see,” he said. “Thank you for telling me this. I will talk to Ramirez as soon as I get the chance. I want him to know that there are no hard feelings between us.”

“He is really looking forward to it,” said McMahon. “Anyway, how are things down there? Is everything going all right?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” said Cole with a huge smile. “I just wanted to let you know that we will be staying here overnight, so I need you to look after Everest for a little while longer.” he chuckled. “We have learned so much about them, and let’s just say that we aren’t as unlike each other as we once thought.”

“Really, now?” asked McMahon. “How so?”

“It’s,” began Cole. “It’s very complicated. There is far too much that I need to tell you, and I don’t want to do it unless we are speaking face to face.”

“I understand,” said McMahon. “Any idea how much longer you are going to stay down there? I’ll admit Sir; acting in your place isn’t the easiest. Some of the deck hands aren’t the most faithful when it comes to my leadership. It’s a bit stressful trying to maintain their confidence in me.”

“Are any of them acting out of line?” asked Cole.

“No, sir,” said McMahon. “I would have taken care of any disrespect the proper way by now, if there was any. No, I just think that they miss you, Sir.”

Cole was silent for a few moments. “I’ll check in with you again, in the morning,” he said. “Cole out.”

“”Good Night, Sir,” said McMahon. “And good luck.”

The image of his lieutenant winked out of existence before Cole’s eyes, and the screen returned to the dashboard view.  He sat there, looking at the screen for a few moments, not moving. 

There was a quiet knock at the door, and Cole stood up to go answer it. Upon opening the door, he found Princess Celestia standing outside. “Oh, good to see you again, your Highness,” he said.

“And you, Admiral Cole,” she said, looking past him, and into the room. “I trust that you find your personal chambers to be an adequate dwelling place.”

“Yes,” said Cole. “The room is most satisfactory. Far better than my personal sleeping chambers onboard the Everest.”

“Well, that is excellent to hear,” she said. “I always try to make sure that my guests are comfortable, and if that means paying for top of the line accommodations, then so be it.”

There was a pause in which neither of them spoke.

“Anyway,” she began. “Are you busy at the moment?”

“Busy?” he asked, looking back over at his belongings, which sat upon the bed. He looked back to her. “No, I am not busy.”

“Excellent,” she said. “Why don’t you take a walk with me? I want to show you something.”

Cole looked at her with curiosity, but decided not to say anything. He nodded.

“This way,” she said, walking away from the doorway.

Cole followed her out, and closed the door behind him. They walked side by side down the hallway until Celestia led them to a thick, painted steel door at the far corner. Using her magic, she pushed the door open, revealing a tight, spiral staircase, which ascended upwards beyond view.

“These are the stairs that lead up to the south-western tower,” she said. “I hope that you don’t mind stairs. It is a bit of a climb.”

“Hey,” said Cole. “As soon as I saw that it didn’t involve ladders, I was fine with it. Hate those darn things”

The Princess giggled. “And how would us ponies be able to climb ladders?” she asked. “There is a reason in which that method of ascension is not commonly used in our culture.” she indicated to one of her hooves.

“Right,” he said. “Forgot about that. I can’t say that much about our culture though.”

The two began to climb the shallow steps, as they spiraled upwards towards one of the highest points of the palace. The sound of Celestia’s hooves echoed off of the stone plates which she walked upon, and continuously bounced around in the cylindrical shaft of a room.

It wasn’t too long of a climb, however it was tiresome. After two whole minutes, the two reached the top, just as Cole was about to get a cramp in his side. They stepped onto a solid platform, and Celestia opened another door. When they walked past the threshold, Cole suddenly found himself receiving a feeling of vertigo. Before him, stretching out in almost every direction was the Equestrian countryside. The sun to the west was just beginning to nudge up against the blue mountains on the horizon, as the rounded pillars of stone began to slice into the reddish-golden sphere, like a knife cutting an orange in two.

He turned to his left. In the near distance was the small town which they had flown over upon their arrival. Cole remembered Twilight say something about it being called Ponyville. It was a suiting name for the place. Beyond the village was a massive forest of green, which seemed to cover the entire Southern edge of the world. He looked down, just past the city’s edge, at Canterlot Falls. Seemingly unlimited amounts of water still flowed from the snowy mountain peak, down the mountain, and into the valley below the city.

Cole looked over at Celestia, who was watching the sun with a strange intensity.

“The sun always sets upon the Unicorn Mountains,” she said. “That is a fact that will never change, even though I could if I did wish it.”

“The sun moves from East to West,” said Cole. “I never really imagined what it would be like if it moved in an opposite direction, or a completely different one for that matter.” he looked over at her. “And you have the power to change that?”

She nodded. “Indeed I do,” she said. “However such an alteration would greatly damage the world. Much of the results would be catastrophic those that live here. The ice caps would melt and shift to the eastern and western sides of Equis. Parts of the world would flood, while others would suddenly rise up out of the oceans. Ecosystems would be destroyed and created, all at the same time. Our very way of life would change entirely, from something that seems so simple. Just by the act moving of something that we only see in the sky.”

“Amazing,” he said. “There are those on Earth who would kill for such a power.” he glanced over at her. “But here, what you do is normal, just like I am sure you would be equally surprised by what goes on, where I come from.”

“Like what?” she asked.

“Well,” he began. “To begin with, no one moves the sun or the moon, on Earth, or around any other planet for that matter. Instead of the Sun and Moon revolving around the Earth, the Earth revolves around the sun. The gravitational processes go on entirely independent of what us humans want to happen.” he paused, looking out onto the horizon. The sun was now halfway behind the mountain range. “Sometimes the simplest actions can have the greatest consequences. That is why some things are never meant to change.”

“You mind contains a lot of wisdom, Admiral Cole,” she said. “I can easily see why you were chosen to be a leader. You have a natural authoritative vibe that many only dream of achieving. Even though I have not many any other humans, beyond Scott and his soldiers, I can tell that they trust you. I assume that most everyone else one your ship does as well.” 

“Thanks,” said Cole, with a half-smile. “Although I must admit, that wasn’t always the case.”

“No?” she asked. “What changed?”

“There have been several times where I have been the center of bad attention, of my superiors,” he said. “I have been accused of being involved in a sex scandal, which I had nothing to do with. I was married to a high-ranking leader of the Colonial Insurrection, which got me accused of committing treason, and just recently I was demoted from full-admiral to vice-admiral. Not to mention all the bad attention I have received about my two heart attacks and my liver failure.” he paused, and let out a sigh. Celestia watched him with a worried look in her eyes.  “After all that happened, people questioned whether my health was in a good enough condition to make me a dependable leader. Lucky for them, they didn’t have a choice. They needed me more than what the risks presented.”

“Do you feel that your ability to persevere through all of those hardships has made others even more confident in your abilities as a leader?” she asked.

“It’s hard to say,” he replied. “Everyone back home thinks that we are dead. That we sacrificed ourselves in order to defeat an impossible number of Covenant forces.”

“Do you think that it is possible that they know you are still alive?” she asked.

“It’s possible,” he said. “Although I highly doubt that anyone will do enough research to fill in the gaps. At least not for a while. Our government has far bigger issues to deal with, than to spend time trying to figure out what really happened to me.”

“There was a time when something similar happened to me,” said the Princess.

“Yeah?” asked Cole with a chuckle. “I apologize, Your Highness, but you don’t really act like someone who has cheated death in their lifetime.”

She smiled. “I haven’t told you about this yet,” she said. “While it is true that I have never faked my own death, there was a time when I seemingly disappeared from the world for a long time.”

Cole cocked his head to the side as his smile faded. “What happened?” he asked.

She sighed. “A very unfortunate series of events,” she said quietly. “A long time ago, well over a thousand years, my younger sister sought to overthrow me from the world, and extinguish my power.”

“Princess Luna?” he asked. “But she doesn’t seem to be the kind of pony who would do such a thing.”

“Times have changed,” said Celestia, stretching out her wings. Cole backed away to avoid colliding with her wide wingspan. “Much is different from how things used to be. My sister and I don’t try to forget the events that nearly tore the world apart. We simply wanted to put the past behind us, and start anew. I can assure you that Princess Luna isn’t the same pony who she used to be. There is far less sadness and despair in her heart now, although she never allows herself to truly forget all the pain which she caused so long ago.”

“Why did she try to overthrow you?” asked Cole.

Celestia sighed again, and brought her wings back into her sides. “Because she was jealous,” said the Princess. “As you know, my sister was given the power to move the moon, and I the sun.”

“Right,” said Cole.

“And you also know that typically, people sleep at night, and are active during the day.”

“Yes.”

“My sister wasn’t always happy about that,” said Celestia, who turned her head to face Cole. “She was upset that ponies seemed to enjoy the day more so than they did the night. She wanted ponies to stay awake during the evening hours, and embrace the moon, just as much as they did the sun.” she laughed to herself. “It all seems so trivial when you think of it that way, doesn’t it?”

“I must admit,” said Cole. “It wouldn’t be my number one reason to go up against one of my brothers or sisters.”

“But pointless or not, the events still occurred,” she said. “Her anger against me gave her immense amounts of strength; so much that during our very first conflict, she won. I was defeated for a short period of time.” she paused. “When I awoke from my daze, I realized that she could have easily killed me, but something stopped her from doing so. It was then that I also realized that there was still good in her, and if I had any hope of fixing all of her wrongdoings, and writing what was wrong with the world, that I was going to need some help.”

Cole continued to watch her as she told the story.

“So, I set out to gather anypony that was left. Anypony who still had the willpower to fight against Nightmare Moon,” she said.

“Nightmare Moon?” asked Cole.

“Twas what my sister called herself during her reign of terror,” replied Celestia. “Some very wary ponies still call her that until this very day, although she doesn’t appreciate such a title any longer.” She returned her gaze to the horizon.  “Anyway, I flew around the world, forming a resistance army, as well as discovering ancient powers that I had lost very long ago. It was during this time that the ponies who had lost almost all hope, thought that I had abandoned them. Many thought that Luna had killed me in battle, and that there was no possibility that things would return to normal.” she paused. Cole saw her eyes moisten as she spoke. “There were many who took their own lives, in order to escape the fear, and the pain, and the suffering.” she let out a long sigh as her eyes continued to follow the sun on its waning decent. “But those who refused to give into their temptation, and chose to instead persevere, were welcomed when the light finally returned to the world.”

“You came back, and restored harmony to Equestria,” said Cole, his gaze falling upon the distant mountain range. “Then what?”

“I did what had to be done,” said Celestia. “Luna was stopped, not because she gave in, but because she refused to. I was forced to banish her from the world, leaving her to dwell in a cryptic state of solitude, upon the moon. It was there that she was forced to stay for a thousand years, a very merciful amount of years given the lifetime of an alicorn.” she adjusted her stance on the platform. “It was from that point forward that Equestria has been mostly kept safe from the creeping darkness.”

“Ponies rediscovered the strength to resist the evil that was trying to overcome them,” said Cole. “I think that is what we need the most. Hope is far from being upon a stable foundation, for us.” he sighed. “Sometimes I wonder if we even have a chance of making it through this war. Right now we are just trying to hold out as long as we can. Make em hurt as much as we possibly can before we go, you know?”

“Listen, Cole,” she said, deciding not to include his military title as she addressed him. “It is hard for me to imagine all of the hardships that you have come from, but if there is one thing that I have learned in my life, is that people never truly lose all hope. There are always those who choose to exist, rather than be consumed by their fears. There is always hope.”

“I try to tell myself that as much as I can,” he said. “I do my best to be optimistic. We just have lost so much. So many billions of lives.” he lowered his head. “But I end up doubting myself.” he looked over at her. “How can we win against an enemy that only knows hate? The Covenant has no more compassion towards a child, than they would toward me.” she paused. “How can we possibly win? Hope is all but existent, now.”

“What would it take to bring hope to your people?” asked Celestia.

Cole smiled. “I am not sure,” he said. “But I think that I am starting to figure it out.” he looked long into her eyes. “Maybe a little bit of magic.”

Celestia smiled back at him, and then turned to watch as the sun finally set beyond the mountains. Cole stood next to her. The heavenly sphere was gone for the remainder of the day, and the moon began to rise in the east. The silence of the reddened sky brought a soothing calmness to his heart. He wondered how long it had been since his last sunset, and he realized that he couldn’t remember. A sun never sets in space. It either is present, or it isn’t.

He smiled as a thought suddenly sprung into his head. “By the way, Princess?” asked Cole. “I have been meaning to ask you something.”

“What would that something be, Cole?” she asked.

“How is it that the sun moves across the sky all day on its own, and you only come out here to lower it at night?” he asked.

She smiled at him. “I am always moving the sun,” she said. “I have never stopped doing so in my life.”

“But why come out here, then?” he asked. “Why climb all the way up this tower?”

“Because,” Celestia said, as a sudden evening breeze began to blow through her flowing, prismatic mane. “Just like many others, I too enjoy watching the sunset.”