//------------------------------//
// Ambassadors and Elements 
// Story: Greene Fields under Red Lights 
// by Europa 
//------------------------------//






Twilight Sparkle


"So, um, Twilight," began the pegasus next to her. "Where exactly is this creature?"

"It's in the castle," she said. "The ambassadors are supposed to arrive later in the afternoon, so we should be able to squeeze in a few hours of study on the alien."

"Just, um, please just remember that's it's a living being, like you or me. I mean, if you could... ? Please?" Fluttershy said, steadily growing quieter as she spoke.

Twilight nodded. "Of course I will. I promise you, I won't go overboard." Suddenly, the unicorn beamed. "But, I mean, imagine it! A creature from an alien world, Fluttershy! Do you know what this means?! There may be countless other worlds out there with life! I mean, if there's one alien world, who's to say there aren't two? Or ten? Or a hundred? Or billions?! Just think of all the scientific advances some of them have made! The studies they have into magic theory! Billions, Fluttershy!"

Suddenly, Twilight froze, her body stiffening up as they approached the castle. Her pupils shrunk to pinpricks.

"Um, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked nervously. "Are you... are you okay?"

"But... if there are billions of them... then some of them have to be malicious, don't they?" she whispered to herself. "There might be an intergalactic empire based on the foundations of fear and hatred, and we aren't even aware of it because we are as ants to them!"

"Well, ants are nice..."

"What if they decide not to look where they're stepping? What if they slip their hooves and annihilate the planet?! Oh Celestia! What if this creature's just a scout?! What if they decide to invade us like in those horrible, horrible science fiction novels and, and, and..."

"Twilight?" the pegasus squeaked, her friend shaking and trembling. Thinking fast, she threw her hooves around her neck. "Twilight, Twilight calm down, please. If that's okay, I mean - "

"The breathing exercise!" the panicked mare shouted, now fully hyperventilating. "Fluttershy, how did Cadance's breathing exercise go?! I can't remember!"

"Shh, shh. Calm down, Twilight," she said soothingly, both of them ignoring the ponies around them giving odd looks. "It's okay. They aren't going to invade us. Elizabeth's here alone. Shh, shh."

Eventually, Twilight managed to calm down, her breathing returning to normal. Fluttershy let go of her neck. "Right. Right. Thank you. Let's keep going."

The two mares continued trotting into the castle grounds. None of the guards gave them trouble, largely in part due to them recognizing Twilight. Of course, they had to get stopped for a changeling revealing check, but other than that everything went smoothly.

Once inside the main hall, they were greeted by a surprisingly woozy-looking Solar Guard. He looked identical to all the others, courtesy of an illusory enchantment, but that didn't cover the slight shaking of the pegasus's hoofsteps or the way his eyes had trouble staying on Twilight Sparkle.

"Miss Sparkle," he greeted. "It is good you made it. I assume you understand why you are here?"

"Princess Luna wanted to see me about studying the alien creature," she said. "I got her note last night."

"Excellent," he said, his eye wandering to Twilight's left to settle on Fluttershy, then to her right, then back to her. "If you'll follow me, I'll lead you to the Evolved."

"Thank you. Are you, um, alright?"

He shook his head, though it didn't seem to cause any improvement. "I'm fine. I had a run in with the alien when she first arrived, and apparently she did some sort of 'memory transfer' on me so she could know Equestrian, and - "

"Memory transfer?" Twilight asked, intrigued. "The alien can perform a memory transfer? That is incredibly high-level magic! Think of all the things we could learn from them! Think of - "

"Um, Twilight?" Fluttershy timidly interjected. "Maybe you could, well, ask her yourself? Well, if she wants to answer, of course."

Twilight nodded. "Right, right. I'm sorry, um..."

"Unbreakable Shield, miss. Follow me." Unbreakable Shield turned around and, from the main hall, started towards a seemingly random corridor that Twilight knew led to the guest chambers. She couldn't help but notice the wobble in Unbreakable Shield's step, but the rest of her formidable mind was elsewhere.

Mind magic was very difficult. The memory spell she'd performed on her friends to free them from Discord was no simple matter; she had to find her memories, taper out the thoughts she'd had personally leaving just the events, and find 'empty space' in her friends to put it. The way Unbreakable Shield had trouble focusing led her to believe that this 'Elizabeth Greene' (As Luna's letter called her, and what kind of name was that? Didn't mean anything.) was either unskilled with mental magic, used a different variant due to being an offworlder, or was, at the time, too panicked for safety measures.

"So Fluttershy, what do you think you can talk to the alien about?" Twilight heard, in the background, somepony arguing with the guards about 'seeing the alien' and a 'conspiracy' and 'open your eyes you blind foals'.

"Well, um. I know my special talent is working with animals, and oh I know it's wrong to think of her that way, but, um, from what Luna said in your letter, well, she's very hurt. And confused. And hurt. And aliens are technically animals, even if they are, um, uh, self aware. So, I thought, oh dear..."

"I understand," she said as they continued to walk. Abruptly, Unbreakable Shield stopped, and turned around to him. The slightly goofy grin that'd been on his face was gone. Twilight licked her lips, and noticed the air was a little dry.

"Her room is the second on the left," he said. "Do be wary, though. She's... not all there, if you know what I mean."

"That's a very rude thing to say, um, if I can say that."

"Fluttershy has a point. What's neurotic to us may be perfectly normal for an alien. Celestia's sake, griffons and ponies have such differences in their nature, and we at least share a planet. In any case..."

"... I should get back to my patrol. Good evening to you, Miss Sparkle, Miss Fluttershy," he said, walking back the way they'd come.

"Eep!"

"Okay. Checklist. Checklist." Twilight closed her eyes, bracing herself with her first encounter with an alien. She needed to go over what scant little she knew, including and mostly limited to:

One: The alien, an 'Elizabeth Greene', was female.

Two: It was bipedal and carnivorous, though not aggressive unless touched without permission.

Three:It had some sort of electric attack.

Four:It was symbiotic with a virus, though it seemed mostly harmless.

Five:She used to be something called a 'human' (Whatever that was) and refered to them as Similars. It was believed her infection with the virus turned her into an 'Evolved'.

Alright, she had that down. There was likely so much more she didn't know, but Princess Luna had been scarce when it came to details in her letter. She already had her plan of attack, and her route of questions. The first thing she'd done upon reading the Night Goddess's letter was what any sane pony would do when given the chance to converse with and study the first alien to ever visit Equus: she made lists, and had brought them with her; her saddle bags had quite a bulge.

She approached the appropriate door, licking her lips from the unusual dryness in the air. There was a servant right outside, a unicorn controlling a broom with her magic, sweeping up dust.

"Oh my," Fluttershy said, her sympathy overriding her crippling anxiety. "Are you alright?"

She nodded, and Twilight saw that her green eyes were bloodshot. She had a wobble in her steps, but unlike Unbreakable Shield, for whom it seemed to be a lack of balance, she just didn't seem to have the strength to stay on all fours correctly.

"Thank you for the concern miss." She interrupted herself with a cough. "I'm fine, just a bug. It's going around the castle, so I wouldn't shake hooves with anypony for a while." Twilight frowned. Might this have something to do with the alien's symbiotic virus?

"Oh, why are you working if you're sick?" Fluttershy asked. "Shouldn't you be resting?"

She scoffed, coughing again. "Please. I get enough of that from Their Majesties and the guards. I'm fine, somepony's gotta do this."

"Oh, alright. But please, please don't work yourself too hard. It would be awful if you never got better."

The sick unicorn nodded, the broom still operating in a halo of orange magic. "Thank you, Miss Fluttershy." 

Fluttershy froze, blushing as she realized the servant knew her name, even as she continued past them.

Twilight couldn't help but smile. "It seems our reputation precedes us. Well, let's go. Science awaits!" 

Twilight manipulated her magic around the door to push it in, trotting forwards and expecting to walk in on a two-legged alien deep in learning about Equestrian norms, sitting on a castle guest bed. Instead, a most curious noise tore from her's and Fluttershy's throats.

"AHH!"

What she found inside was instead something out of a horror book. The only part of the suite that had been untouched were the windows looking down upon Canterlot. Everything else had been engulfed in a thick mesh of fleshy red and white tendrils, so thick that Twilight could not see beneath them in any spot. They clung to the bed, to the floors, the vanity mirror, the walls, even the ceiling. With unmitigated horror Twilight realized she was standing on the mesh. The webbing beneath her hooves was hot like stones under the summer sun, and it was squirming back and forth like it was alive. She took in a breath to replace the air she'd lost screaming, and realized that the air here was impossibly dry, a sharp contrast to the organic look of the mesh.

Suddenly, Fluttershy was next to her, trembling like a leaf in an Everfree storm.

Sitting on what used to be a bed was the alien. Even with the knowledge she had, Twilight was wholly unprepared for its appearance.

She was tall and lanky, nothing like the few bipedal species Equus had. Most of her body was covered in a skin-tight gray suit with straps and tubes hanging from it in seemingly random spots; around her wrists, her waist, the upper left arm. The suit went up the short, stocky neck, and ended in a ring just beneath her head.

There was very little skin exposed, but what little there was was almost entirely devoid of fur, colored a pale tan that bordered on white. The arms ended in strangely shaped five-fingered hands, with pathetically tiny claws at the end of each admittedly-nimble looking finger. One hand was tracing rings on the nest that used to be a bed, sending tiny pulses through the nearest tendrils, as if the alien was stirring water.

Its head was strange. She had some equine features, but that was pushing it: a mouth, eyes, and ears. Her nostrils were located on the underside of her sharp, pointy muzzle, which was entirely separate from her mouth! Her ears were rounded and on the very sides of her head, unnervingly motionless. Her mane was a ragged mess of red, like somepony had taken a weed-whacker to it. Her eyes, slammed shut, were very, very small.

It was then that Twilight realized, even though both Fluttershy and her (Mostly her) had screamed, the alien didn't so much as acknowledge their existence. She let out a breath she wasn't aware she'd been holding.

"It's ok, Fluttershy. I think it's sleeping."

The Evolved's eyes snapped open, making Twilight leap back with a shriek.

Her eyes were, again, very small, and the pupils blacker than night. The sclera dominated the eyes, but Twilight Sparkle could still see that her eyes were a pale green. It wasn't pale like somepony had mixed white and green paint together. It was as if somepony had taken the most brilliant emerald in all the land and covered it in centuries worth of dust. Elizabeth Greene fixed Twilight in a stare with all the intensity of Fluttershy's own, and she froze up. She was a carnivore. Twilight was an herbivore. She was a predator, and Twilight was the prey.

Elizabeth Greene leaped from her sitting position to standing on her hind legs - no, just legs, a non-petrified part of Twilight's mind noted - right in front of the bed. She radiated aggression. And it wasn't that Twilight could interpret the alien's body language well enough to tell that; she literally emitted the urge to cause violence, but... tempered with something else. Something she'd felt often when she was a foal in the care of her parents, of her mother.

"H-Hello," Twilight stammered. Vaguely, she noticed Fluttershy was frozen like a statue, blue eyes wide.

Elizabeth stopped, staring down - so high! - at Twilight. Slowly, her frown morphed to a tense smile, and the aura of aggression faded.

"Hello," she said, her mouth revealing a strange missmatch of incisors, canines, and molars, not at all the fang-filled mouth Twilight had expected. Twilight shivered, because her voice, even after her lips stopped moving, echoed several times, the repeats sounding eerily like buzzing insects.

"M-My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is my friend Fluttershy," she said, gesturing to the near-fainting pegasus.

"Ambassadors?" she asked, the echoes not abating for a moment.

Twilight shook her head. "A-Actually, I'm Princess Celestia's personal student and Element of Magic, and Fluttershy here is the Element of Kindness - "

"Elements rocks," she rasped in her heavily accented Equestrian. "Sisters use."

Twilight took a moment to decipher her speech. "W-Well, that used to be the case, but after Nightmare Moon the elements unbound themselves from Celestia and Luna. Me and my friends are the new Bearers."

"Nightmare Moon?" she asked curiously, tilting her head. "What is a Nightmare Moon?"

Twilight shook her head. "Um, that's a story for another time. Long story short, Luna turned into Nightmare Moon, but changed back. She did some... questionable things during that time."

Greene frowned, but then returned to her neutral look. She walked past Twilight and knelt to Fluttershy's level. "Hello," she greeted.

"U-Um, hello, Miss Greene. H-How're you liking Equestria so far?"

She tilted her head back and smiled. "Good. Colorful. No similars." She smiled. "Like you." Twilight breathed out a sigh of relief. That confirmed that Elizabeth Greene was not in fact, a heartless monster. Otherwise it was impossible to not like Fluttershy.

"Oh! Um... eep!" Fluttershy bolted, placing Twilight between herself and Elizabeth. 

Twilight gave the towering Evolved a nervous grin. She felt so cornered, and she was beginning to sweat through her coat just by the raw heat Elizabeth radiated. Not even Celestia was so burning hot. "So, now that we have the introductions done, I was thinking we may get down to business? I have a lot of questions for you, regarding your world," Twilight said, pulling out a quill and Checklist 32-B. She eyed the overgrown bed. "If it's not too much to ask, may I clear a spot on the bed? That webbing... scares me."

"No need," she said. Before Twilight could do anything with her magic, Greene knelt and placed one hand to the webbing on the floor. After a moment the mesh, with a wet slithering sound, retreated off the bed, looking as if nopony had touched it. Greene rose and looked at her. "Good?"

"R-Right. Thank you, Elizabeth." Twilight flopped down on the toasty-warm bed, levitating the list and quill before her.

Fluttershy also joined her, wiggling into a comfortable position and closing the door - whose back was also overgrown - behind her. "Are you alright, Miss Greene? You look sad. I mean, that's only if you want to say. I-If you don't, that's perfectly understandable."

Greene sighed, flexing her fingers. "Spread my blessing to your kind. Something... something wrong with it. Broken." She shook briefly. "Can't find out what's wrong."

"Well, maybe you can talk to Twilight about it? She's really, um, really smart. If you don't mind me saying, Twilight. If anypony can help you figure it out, it's her."

"Right. So, Elizabeth, I have several questions for you. Um, let's start with the easy ones. Full name, please?"

She considered this for a moment, like she barely remembered her own name. "Elizabeth Anne Greene," she whispered.

"Alright. Species? Former species, if applicable?"

"Evolved. Formerly Similar."

"Do the 'Similars' call themselves such?"

"... no. Humans."

"Great! Now, how did you come to Equestria?"

"Don't know. Was in cold curse prison. Then it became so bright, and then I was here." Fluttershy gasped at the mention of a 'prison'.

Twilight frowned. That didn't help much, but it was a start. "Where was this prison located?"

Greene shivered. "Nowhere. Everywhere. Outside of time and space, inside my wayward child."

Twilight stopped writing. "A prison... inside your child?"

She nodded. "Took my blessing, made it a curse. Made it his curse. He cursed me, and trapped me in his prison."

"For how long?"

"Don't know. No time there... long time though. Too long."

"Alright. So, beyond yourself and humans, what other races were there?"

"None. Just animals," she rasped.

Twilight paused. "Nothing else? At all? Just you and humans?"

"Correct," she murmured.

"Wow," Fluttershy whispered. Twilight agreed with her. She tried to imagine what it would be like. Tried to imagine a world without griffons, without zebras, without cows and dragons and changelings. A world populated only by ponies. She couldn't do it.

"Well, can you tell me the magical level of humans? Considering that the evolved, there... um... aren't many of you?"

"No magic," she said. "None on world. Different here."

This was even harder for Twilight to imagine. A world with no magic, where her talent was useless. Where clouds could not be manipulated, the sun and moon would be required by the law of nothing-else-working to rise and set on their own. Without levitation, without accelerated plant growth. A world... like the Everfree. A planet sized Everfree devoid of all magic.

Once more, she couldn't imagine it. How would anything get done? As much as it pained her to deviate from the checklist, she asked just that.

"Had... had technology." She frowned, rubbing a spot on her forearms. "They were good at burning and shaping. Especially shaping. Took their cold cold world of wood and dirt and made it a cold cold world of metal and glass." She shook her head. "Changed nothing."

"I... see. But then, how did you perform a memory transfer? That's magic."

"Not for me," she said simply, and that was that.

Twilight continued, going through her questions and writing down Elizabeth's answers, sometimes changing them when her terminology became slightly... odd. She learned what she could, yet so much of it was missing. Elizabeth wasn't nearly the font of knowledge she'd wished for. She didn't know much about humans other than they were physically pathetic compared to her, had advanced technology, and were skilled terraformers. 

She painted them in a bad light, one filled with war and suffering and hatred, but Twilight wondered if there was more to them than Elizabeth let on, more than Greene knew. Whenever she asked about Elizabeth herself, she clammed up. Twilight might've been social inept on most occasions, but even she could tell a touchy-as-hay subject when it slapped her in the face.

Far too quickly for Twilight's taste, Elizabeth Greene grew tired of the questions. "Too much. Like a scientist," she spat.

"Um, it is for science," she said.

Greene's eyes narrowed, and Twilight could once again feel the waves of fury rolling off of her. "Scientists bad."

"T-That's not true! Without science, we would never know as much about magic as we do now. There'd be so many things we don't know, so many problems we couldn't - "

"Bad!" she shouted, her echoes rising in intensity. "Bad bad bad!"

Twilight scrambled back, her ears flattening on her head. "S-S-Sorry," she squeaked, closing her eyes. Instinct told her to fear. She had antagonized a predator. When she opened her eyes back up, she was treated to a most unusual sight. Fluttershy was soothing the alien, speaking in the tone she reserved for her animals. It seemed to be working, because Greene's emotion bleed was gone, her eyes had ceased to be narrow, and she seemed all around relaxed.

" - to make you angry. I'm sure she's very sorry. Now, you don't have to answer any more questions if you don't want. If you like, I could help you get caught up on Equestrian History? Nightmare Moon is very important to know about."

"Yes. Thank you, Fluttershy." Greene bowed her head, then fixed Twilight with a look out of one eye. "Go," she rasped to her. With a start, Twilight noticed that the red and white tendrils had begun growing over the bed again. They reached her before she could react, and she squeaked as they squeezed beneath her to continue their movement.

Twilight hastily nodded and vacated the premises, grimacing when her hooves squished on the fleshy floor. Once outside, she took several deep breaths of refreshingly humid air, thanking the royal sisters she'd remember to bring her stuff with her. Most importantly, her precious notes. She made her way to find Princess Luna swiftly, and it only took her a few questions directed towards the guard to find the appropriate balcony.

The Nightbringer was sitting on her haunches, eyes closed in meditation and wings extended to their full length.

Twilight coughed nervously. "Your Majesty?"

With a suddenness that startled Twilight, Luna turned around, wings settling to her sides. Her eyes were bloodshot and tired, clearly indicative of how 'early' she'd gotten up. "Twilight Sparkle, our dear friend! Hast thou interrogated Elizabeth Greene?"

"Well, I wouldn't say 'interrogated' so much as 'timidly questioned', Pri - " Twilight caught herself, remembering how Luna wished her to be informal with her. " - Luna. She's a predator. She really, really scares me, even when she isn't trying to."

Luna nodded, "Indeed, she hath a presence. Let's start with her abilities. Hast thou gleaned any information regarding them?"

"She speaks of being able to 'bless' others, though she seems to be worried about that for some reason. She can also control this organic mesh in her room by touching it, ordering it to, to expand and recede. I theorize it drains moisture from the air; her guest room was very dry. It leads me to believe she's originally from a desert."

Luna nodded. "Indeed, she hath engulfed her bed in such webbing. She claims it to be warm."

The unicorn blinked. "Um, just her bed? Her entire room was completely ensnared. The only part that was even recognizable were the windows."

Luna blinked. "Oh. That is... an interesting development, we suppose. What else hast thou gleaned? We know of her strength and electric discharge capabilities."

"She can leak emotions," Twilight said without hesitation. "She transferred aggression into me before realizing I wasn't hostile."

Luna's eyes widened. "Most odd. It appears her mind magic extends beyond memory transfers; we had not even noticed such an emotional leak." She placed a hoof to her chin. "She either did not perform it, or it occurs without her say and we art simply immune to it. Her blessing also failed to take hold of us."

"Luna, what exactly is her 'blessing'? I mean, she claims she can do all that she does without magic, but - "

"True. The blessing she spreads is more likely than not a viral infection, the same one she is symbiotic with. It appears to be harmless. She did not infect thou, did she?"

"I - I don't think so, Luna."

The alicorn's horn glowed for a moment. "She did not. Alright. What hast thou learned about her home world, and her former species?"

"Well, apparently these 'humans', before her kind existed, are the only sentient species on their planet. They have no magic and are physically weak, forcing them to make up for it with advanced technology." Twilight pulled out her notes on the matter and began reading over it. "She really, really has a grudge against them. She claims that they constantly war among themselves, waste their machines on burning and hurting, and hold no value in family. That last one bothered her the most, strangely enough."

"Dost thou believe humans art truly so wicked?"

Twilight shrugged. "I don't know. She quickly grew tired of my questions. Claimed they were too scientific, and that scientists were bad. Then I left. I feel like she's leaving out a lot about humans. Not on purpose, I don't think, but I believe there's a lot about her former species that simply doesn't register for her."

"Yet another sign of emotional trauma," Luna mused. She nodded. "Very well, that shall conclude thy investigations for the day, and we shalt send for thee when we wish for thou to continue. The ambassadors shall be arriving shortly at any rate. Where is Elizabeth now?"

"She's in her room with Fluttershy, I think. Learning about - " Twilight caught herself before a Catastrophically Awkward Moment could ensue. " - Equestrian History." 

Luna's brow elevated itself. "Gentle Fluttershy is here as well? What for?"

"Taking care of Elizabeth. She feels she can help her with the trauma you mentioned. And Spike is watching her animals, so all should be well." A cold chill instantly ran down Twilight's spine as her words registered. 

All should be well.

She'd just doomed her number one assistant, hadn't she?

"We shall commend her for her initiative. For now, thou knows where thy room is. We assume Fluttershy shall bunk with thee?"

Twilight shrugged. "Possibly, but knowing her, she might just move in with Elizabeth. New animal, very hurt inside, you understand."

She smiled. "Thy friend truly doth have a heart of purest gold." Luna's left ear flicked. "Take care of thyself, friend Twilight. We must be off to join our sister in greeting the ambassadors."

Twilight dipped her head as Luna's wings flared out. With a gust of wind she took to the air, circling around to the front of the palace.

Twilight Sparkle sighed.

This was going to be a most interesting research project.


***-_***_-***-_***_-***-_***_-***



Greene


Elizabeth sat on a roof, looking down the castle courtyard as the ambassadors finally filed in. Celestia and Luna, with both day and night guards next to their respective leaders, stood side by side. The arrival of the ambassadors was slow. She had time to muse, and so she mused.

The two new equines were a curiosity. Twilight Sparkle was... threatening. She made Elizabeth feel like she was in a corner, like she was in the Cold Dark Place again with all her pointless questions-questions-questions that never seemed to cease. What purpose could there be to asking so many questions, about the Similars no less? The Similars had nothing to offer! Their technology was second to magic that could lift the sun and the moon so why would the equines even care? It made no sense! Especially with - even though they had no way of knowing - her Blessing slowly spreading among them.

"Make way for Tearwing!" shouted an equine. Greene's keen eyes made out three figures flying through the air. They weren't pegasi, she could tell that much. As they flew closer, Elizabeth could make out more details.

Those must've been griffons. They had the upper bodies of crows - or some kind of bird, she only remembered crows - and the lower bodies of felines. The two on the side had white plumage and golden fur, with sharp talons, razored claws, and armor on their heads patterned white, gray, and pale blue.

They settled. The middle one had jet black plumage, but the fur color was the same as what were evidently guards. He - certainly a he, Elizabeth was starting to gain skill in alien gender identi... identi... noticing - carried himself with grace, and though he was too far for her to make out eye color she could still see that they were much more predatory eyes than that of equines.

A fellow flesh eater if she'd ever seen one.

"Greetings, Ambassador Tearwing of the Griffon Kingdoms," Celestia said, her voice clear to Greene's hearing. "I hope your flight was a pleasant one?"

Tearwing and his guards folded their wings away. "Very much so, though we had a headwind leaving and arriving. Where is this alien your missive spoke of?"

"All in due time, ambassador," Luna said. "Let us wait for the others first; our guest shall undoubtedly have many questions to ask and answer, and it would do well for her not to repeat herself." 

Elizabeth's throat tightened. More questions? She should've stayed with Fluttershy. That female... mare... female was ever so kind to her, even moreso than Celestia and Luna had been. Elizabeth didn't quite understand why but there was just something about that pegasus, something that made her feel like she understood and would listen and not ask questions instead, unlike that scientist unicorn friend of hers. She'd been so patient explaining the history of Nightmare Moon to her, and of how she and her friends came to acquire the Elements of Harmony. 

She would've liked to stay with her forever, but she needed to meet these ambassadors. They were from different lands, different species. If there was such a view difference between Similars and equines, who knew what other information she could get from them?

She focused back on the arrivals when the next ones came. The griffon ambassador and his guards had taken up place before Celestia and Luna, who still towered over all like the gods they were.

From a carriage colored alternating gray and dark gray, pulled by black and white earth ponies, the next ambassador arrived. She was a female equine, but seemed quite different. Elizabeth realized that this was a zebra, an equine similar to the ponies. This one had eyes so bright that, even in the distance, the Evolved could make out their maroon tint. She had the mark of an exploding dust cloud on her hind legs, a black mane cropped backwards in a single line, and multiple pieces of silver jewelry. Greene felt the metal had some significance, but had no idea what. She realized she missed this one's introduction.

The zebra bowed before both Celestia and Luna. "Greetings to you, sisters one and two. Judging by Tearwing here, we must wait for the others to have the alien's ear?"

"Greetings to thou as well, Ambassador Sokara. Thou art correct in thy assumptions. Sister, remind us. Who art we waiting for?"

"Ambassador Tungsten Mind of the minotaurs, and Ambassador Fiamma of the dragons. I hear she's taking control of her daughter for this meeting."

Sokara's eyes seemed to narrow, but Elizabeth wasn't sure. "The dragon would do well to come in person. Manipulating her offspring is bound to eventually cause some situation to worsen."

Tearwing shook his head. "Relax, Sokara. Fiamma's been assuming control of willing participants for ten times longer than both of us have lived, combined. She knows what she's doing."

"Well," she said, sounding sly. "If you say it, it must be true. Please, forgive my insult, it was most undue."

"Hmmph."

The equine herald that had announced Tearwing and presumably Sokara raised his voice again. "Presenting Ambassador Tungsten Mind of the Minotaurian Republic!"

Elizabeth Greene's grip on the castle roof she sat on tightened dangerously. Tungsten Mind arrived in a mechanical contraption that looked far, far too identical to something the Similars would've made. Lined with brass tubes, parts belching smoke, moving under its own power. Arriving, pausing shortly, and then driving off while its passenger leaped out, vanishing into the streets of Canterlot without anymore pause.

Tungsten Mind was tall, very tall, Elizabeth realized. Muscled as well, through his dark gray fur. He wore a suit instead of the armor and jewelry the previous two ambassadors did. He also had fingers, something Elizabeth had noted there was a severe lack of on this planet. He had horns, and eyes that Elizabeth couldn't make out.

"Well then," he said in a booming voice. "Hello there Princess Luna, Princess Celestia. Looking as radiant as ever!" He turned to Sokara, gave a curt hello, and then looked towards Tearwing. "You still owe me fifty dorans."

"Yes yes, I'll get them to you after we've spoken with the alien being from another planet."

Elizabeth's mind turned from the political jibber-jabber of the ambassadors to relevant worries. Her Blessing... there was something wrong with her Blessing. Not taking hold of Luna, she could understand. But the seeds she had sown upon the regular equines... something was dreadfully wrong. It had gotten to a certain point in their bodies, very sluggishly at that, and then just... stopped. No matter how hard she coaxed them, they didn't begin the transition to being her children, never even got the slightest ability to Listen. She didn't Bless the new equines for that reason; she had to figure out what was wrong-wrong-wrong before moving on to them. If something was wrong with her Blessing, if being devoured by her Wayward Child had broken it somehow...

... she didn't dare try to imagine that.

But that was impossible! She knew what her son's Curse felt like, and she knew very well what her Blessing felt like. Her gift hadn't changed a bit! So why wasn't it freeing the equines from their misery like it was supposed to?!

The sound of flapping wings brought her out of her sad-thoughts. She looked up at the almost-setting sun to see a figure approaching. It too had wings, but they weren't feathered like the others. It looked more like the wings of Luna's night guards. As it continued, Elizabeth realized it was a reptilian figure, with red scales. The underbelly was a brilliant blue, like the noon sky, matching the webbing of its large wings and the fins down its neck, which ran all the way to its barbed tail. With a resonating thud, the being that had to be Fiamma landed, her glowing yellow eyes instantly drawing Elizabeth's attention. They reminded her so much of her Strange Child.

Fiamma was tall, a time and a half Celestia's height when sitting.

"Ah, Fiamma. I see you're helping Ember stretch her wings. How has she been, may I ask?"

The dragon placed claws to her underbelly. "Quite fine, my thanks for asking, Celestia." She looked at the other alicorn. "Oh, dear Luna! It's been so long! We simply must catch up sometime. I haven't written as much as I should. But first, to business!"

"Indeed," said Tearwing. "We are all here, where is this alien creature you claim has appeared within your borders.

"Last we checked," Luna said. "She was in the guest room we appointed her. Apologies to thee, Tearwing. Unless thou wishes to take it up with the alien, we must find thee another room."

The griffon groaned. "Oh wonderful. Wonderful! Please tell me it hasn't broken anything."

"Thou shalt have to ask her that. In anycase, let us go find her."

Elizabeth suddenly realized that was her time. She had kept the ambassadors, those poor broken individuals, waiting long enough. Who knew? Maybe one of them knew why her Blessing wasn't working as it should've. She gathered strength in her legs, adjusted her angle, calculated the distance. She drew on knowledge from Before that had been amplified by her Blessing, and leaped into the air in a thought-out arc. She noticed the eyes of all figures be drawn to her at the apex of her jump, and then she began to descend, towards right in front and between Celestia and Luna.

As she landed she knelt down, slamming her right fist into the ground with a slam. A small burst of air surged away from her, and the stone beneath her rippled and warped in a perfect circle, cracking like glass. She drew herself up, looking at the griffon, zebra, minotaur, and dragon with her best smile that for some reason made them back off.

"The time for waiting," she said, instantly making each of them freeze. "Is over."