Celestia considered her options as she stepped out of the wheeled machine once the male biped had opened the door and beckoned for her. She could try running, but she may not get far, as she did not know what these people were capable of.
She nervously approached the metal door of the stone structure that the female was holding open for her. Inside was a white painted corridor with what looked like rectangular electric lights worked into the ceiling. There were no paintings along the walls, or any sort of artwork anywhere in sight. This was clearly a building made just for utility.
Suddenly, another biped rounded a corner into the hallway, and stopped to stare at Celestia. Saying something she could not recognize, she looked him up and down. He was definitely older than the other two, as his short mane was turning grey in areas, and he was slightly wider than the other two.
“He must be in charge of this place.” thought Celestia, as she observed the group conversing. She was well familiarized with military conduct, and the inflections in speech, and postures they were giving indicated that they were not too far different than her own royal guards.
The older person stepped towards Celestia, then pointed at himself with one of his digits.
“Donavan.” he said, still pointing at himself. The he pointed to the other male. “Rowe,” he then pointed to the female, “Mulroney.”
Celestia recognized what he was doing from the centuries of experience with dealing with foreign politicians. “Clearly they are introducing themselves. I suppose I should do the same.” Celestia thought as she pointed to her own chest with a hoof.
“Celestia.” she stated, noting that the bipeds seemed mildly put off by the degree of flexibility of her foreleg. This was certainly going to be an interesting day for the Princess.
“Maybe several if I can’t get back to the gateway soon…”
Twilight Sparkle was still in her palace with Princess Luna. She had just finished telling the lunar diarch all she knew of the world that she way, and what Celestia’s plans were when she went through.
“It is just like my sister to want to trust others. Going alone and weakened just goes to show how much faith she has put into this new race, even before they are understood.” said Princess Luna, looking pensive.
“She should have been back by now,” said Twilight, “are you going to go look for her?”
“As much as we would love to be the one to seek out our sister, we cannot.”
Twilight was shocked. Princess Luna didn’t care enough about her own sister to try to find her?
“But Princess, she’s your sister, and Equestria needs her!”
“Dear Twilight, you misunderstand. Our sister must be found, yes. But you must be the one to find her. I must remain here and ensure that nopony realize she is missing before you bring her back.”
“Are you sure you can keep a secret like that?” asked Twilight incredulously. “I mean, ponies are a talkative race. I’m sure word will get out sooner or later.”
“Yes Twilight, we believe that you are correct. However, I don’t expect this venture to take more than a few days. I believe I can keep the information contained until then. As for you, I will lend you a company of my finest night guards to aid you in your search.”
Twilight considered for a moment before asking, “Can my friends come with me too?”
Luna thought for a moment, then said, “We don’t see why not, but they would all have to give up their magic before venturing forth. Do you think they would be willing to do that?”
“I know my friends would do whatever it takes to help me, even if Princess Celestia wasn’t in danger.” replied Twilight, confidently.
“Then you should go and ask them. In the meantime, I believe I know a way to more efficiently store magic for later use, so that you can keep both your and my sister’s magic here before your journey.”
Thanking the lunar princess for her help, Twilight left to go find her friends.
“So chief, who was this expert you called? Will he be coming here?” asked James, looking over at his boss.
“I can’t remember what his name was, it was something foreign. As for when he was coming, he lives right here in town, and should be over within ten minutes.” Chief Donavan replied, still looking at the four legged alien, who had taken to observing everything inside the room they were all in. “He’s got a PhD in biology, and he graduated from CCSU.”
“Wow, so this guy might be able to help? Even considering that this creature is clearly an alien-“ began Judith before James cut her off.
“We don’t know if it’s an alien. All we know is that she seems to be female, intelligent enough to have a language, and appeared in that cavern underneath the freeway.”
Suddenly, the quadruped looked up, and said something. Quickly realizing that she wasn’t being understood, she began to show her teeth slightly apart, and began bobbing her head slightly over the nearby table.
“Uh sir,” James began, “I think she wants something.”
“Clearly.” Chief Donavan replied, “Maybe she’s thirsty? Judith, could you please go get some water?”
“Yes sir.” Judith said, and walked off towards the small kitchen in the break room of the police station.
After Judith returned with a cup of water, and placed it on the table, Celestia had an annoyed expression, and made the head motion again.
“I should be writing all this down. Judith, do you have a notepad I can borrow?” asked James, looking at Celestia with interest. “I’m sure that this expert who’s coming over would love any additional information we can provide.”
“Sure thing, James. Just look in the top drawer of my desk.” said Judith.
James went into his partner’s office, and opened her desk. Sure enough there was the notepad, and a couple of pens as well. James took the notepad, and decided to borrow a pen as well, and returned to his partner, beginning to write down what he had seen thus far.
When Celestia saw what James was doing, she instantly pointed at him, and made the head motion again.
“What does she want?” thought James as he began to write down what he saw. “She didn’t point at me until I returned with the notepad. Unless…”
Acting on a hunch, James held the pen and notepad out at arm’s length, and pointed to them. Celestia pointed her hoof clearly at the notepad and pen.
“Sir, she want’s these.” James said to the chief.
“Give them to her, James, let’s see where this goes.” Replied Chief Donavan.
As James placed the pen and notepad on the table in front of Celestia, the intercom sparked to life, and the voice of the secretary at the front desk was heard over the speaker.
“Pardon the interruption, Chief Donavan, but someone named Dr. Changpu has arrived, and claims that you invited him here for his help.” came the scratched up voice of the secretary.
“Perfect. He’s right on time. Send him in.”