"Sorry to burst your bubble kid," Robert sighed, "but we have to talk about trading before we just give them everything."
Celestia sat back and half-rolled her eyes, sighing over the fact that she was already going into a conversation about politics.
"Okay, that seems fair" Fujiwara agreed, his respect for Robert growing. He turned to Celestia, "How about this, in return for me teaching the technology and mathematics of my world, you can teach me about that magic that you're able to do."
"Fair enough," Celestia turned to Fujiwara and smileed.
Robert spoke up, "I'd like to learn more about your culture... I'm not sure why... I guess I just find the subject of alien culture interesting..."
"Very well," Celestia nodded, "And in return you will tell us about your culture."
Robert nodded, "...But I guess we should leave the worst parts out..."
Celestia tilted her head at this and looked at Robert skeptically.
Fujiwara gave the same skeptical look to Robert. "No, we shouldn't hide anything from them, and they shouldn't hide anything from us. If we really want to learn the truth about each other, we can't do so by hiding the things we don't like about ourselves."
Celestia smiled, impressed, "well said Fujiwara."
Robert stared at Celestia for a second, a look of fear in his eyes. Then he scooted over to Fujiwara and whispered harshly, "Are you really sure you want to tell this cute horse thing about the worst of humanity. I mean, the perversion, the violence, the unfairness!?"
Fujiwara turned to Robert and whispered, "Yes, I do want to tell the 'cute horse thing' about the worst of humanity. Besides, that should be put in perspective with all the good humans do! Not every person is out to do something horrible and break the law!"
Robert raised his voice a bit, "Are you serious!? Once she knows how bad humans can be, she'll seal us away somewhere until she can send us back. She already saw us fighting, why would she assume we were the good guys?"
Celestia craned her neck, trying to hear what they were saying. She was a little annoyed about being left out of the conversation. Sighing, she looked up at the sun and the shadows it cast through her window, noting that she had about ten or twenty minutes before she had to leave.
"That's ridiculous," Fujiwara whispered back loudly. Celestia turned back now that she could hear what they were saying. "Judging us based on the worst of our species and on what we did after falling through a portal into another world would be the worst, and most judgmental thing a leader could do!"
"No," Robert starting talking instead of whispering, "it wouldn't be horrible at all! Actually, it would probably be one of the most sane things she could do if she cares about the safety of her subjects! What do you think would happen if humans came over in mass!?" Robert threw his arms out, opening his coat. Fujiwara notices a gray metallic object hidden in his pocket. He paused for a second, then chose to ignore it.
"Even if humans did come over," Fujawara started, on the verge of shouting, "this place would just be like another country. After the first group of curious people came over and investigated, there would be the regular immigration laws for anything wanting to come in and out of here. This isn't the 1600s, there are world laws now that are enforced, and humans have a lot to gain from ponies, it wouldn't make sense for them to-"
"Oh!?" Robert smirked, now actually shouting, "Don't you know about all of the fishing that goes on in your countries!? Several species are already almost extinct because of your country fishing so much!"
"Actually," Fujiwara looked off to the side, "I remember this from an elective I took recently. It's called..." Fujiwara tried to think of the translation, " 'the tragedy of the commons'. Cod in the north pacific ocean was pushed near extinction due to over-fishing. We have laws now to protect against that sort of thing once we realized what was happening. "
So, Celestia made a mental note, Humans are carnivorous... or at least omnivorous
"And are those laws being followed!?" Robert asked, "I still see stories on the discovery channel about how Japanese fishing boats are still hunting near extinct species."
"I haven't heard of any such news," Fujiwara stated, "So I can't really argue with you about that. But still, there is way too much we could learn from an alien species to allow keeping information from each other. Besides, aren't you assuming that they haven't had any tragedies of their own!?" At this, he pointed at Robert accusingly.
At the mention of tragedies, Celestia looked down. A picture of her sister overlaid her slightly watery vision... Oh how she wished to see her again.
Robert scoffed at Fujiwara's optimism, "You know what!?" He shouted, "Maybe they didn't! We are on an alien planet, you know! It's possible they don't even have a concept of death, and wouldn't know when they were killing us or playing with us!"
Celestia was jolted out of her thoughts when she heard his comment. She gave him shoked look, then spoke up, trying to clear things up "Actually, me and my sister are the only 'immortal'-"
"There!" Fujiwara shouted back at Robert, "a species that doesn't have any concept of death wouldn't have any reason to know the word 'immortal'!"
"You know what!?" Robert sat back, "You're right! So then they will understand how horrible humans can truly be!"
Celestia sighed, sat back, and had some tea and cake. As long as they weren't hitting each other, it was fine. Besides, this kind of thing happened occasionally in parliament.
"You're still on about that!?" Fujiwara yelled, exasperated, "The people who commit the horrible crimes that you hear about in the news are by far in the minority! The only reason you hear about them in the news so much is because their crimes are horrible. But that gives you a... lopsided view of what the world is actually like... " Suddenly, Fujiwara threw his arms out," There are 7 billion people on earth! The people who do the things you're talking about probably number in the thousands or hundreds of thousands at the most!" To accentuate his point, he held his index finger and his thumb close together when he mentioned "hundreds of thousands".
Celestia spat out her tea, 7 billion!? What!? Did I hear that right?
"Okay," Robert took a few breaths to calm himself, "let's say you're right. That the people who do all the damage in the world are in the minority. Then doesn't that make it worse? If there are humans so terrible that they can do that much damage to the world and the people around them!? Take that Momar kadaffi guy who ruled over Libya. His own people revolted because they were starving! And how did a crazy person get into power like that in the first place!?"
Celestia deflated a bit, this "kadaffi" guy sounded terrible. Then again, she couldn't say her race was any better when she remembered Sombra. She wondered how he came into power as well.
"And you know what let the people finally revolt and start gaining their rights!?" Fujiwara asked, slamming his hand on the table. For once, he was thankful for electives, "Social Media, and the internet! The reason people were able to start gaining their rights back were because they were able to talk about their problems! Besides, why do you think these ponies are any different!? Is it because they're cuddly or-" Fujiwara stopped, noticing that he was just arguing for the sake of arguing, "You know what..." He turned to Celestia, and became a bit ashamed when he noticed her giving him a bored look, "eh... You probably heard everything we said-"
"Mhmm." Celestia nodded, then sat up, attentive.
Fujiwara composed himself, "well... um... Have ponies had any similar... tragedies to what we just talked about?"
Celestia sighed and looked down for a second before answering him, "There have been a few tragedies, albiet small in number compared to what you talked about... But if I heard right, it wouldn't be right to compare a species numbering in less than a million to a species numbering in a few billion..." She paused for a second to think about the numbers, "Anyway, there has been at least one leader like that 'kadaffi' po- human you mentioned, he went by the name of Sombra... he took over the entire Crystal Empire by force and abused his citizens, eventually forcing me and my sister to fight him." She didn't mention that her sister at one time could also be considered a cruel ruler... Despite the nine hundred and ninety nine years separating this moment and that one, there was still too much pain whenever the thought was brought up...
Celestia looked outside through the dimmed windows and smiled, "I have to leave soon to help at my school for gifted unicorns... Promise me that you won't attack each other"
Fujiwara and Robert gave Celestia a blank stare. Robert's said something like 'Really?' While Fujiwara looked like he was processing something.
Robert slumped back in his chair and sighed, appalled. "Well," he muttered, "I guess cute horses can be as bad as humans sometimes."
Ignoring Robert, Fujiwara jumped up, "Wait, did you say school? For gifted unicorns?" His eyes were filled with hope.
"Why yes," Celestia smiled, "I did."
"Can I come?" Fujiwara asked, hope practically spilling out of his eyes.
Celestia held a hoof to her chin. "Hmm..."
"On three conditions," She started.
"Yes!?" Fujiwara was practically shaking with anticipation.
"First, Robert must come as well; I think it'd be best not to leave him alone in an alien world." She looked over at him.
"I'm fine, trust me," Robert deadpanned.
"Two," Celestia continued, ignoring him, "The two of you must not fight."
Fujiwara and Robert looked at each other for a second, then looked back at Celestia.
"And three," She glared at both of them, "No swearing. I may not know what some of your words mean, but I can tell how they're used."
Robert looked down at the floor, hiding a smirk, "Damn."