//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: The Arrival // Story: Princess exchange program // by godzillafanboy //------------------------------// One hour after the departure While enjoying the trip to Neighon, Rainbow Dash looks out the window of the train and notices something that was off about their situation, mainly that they were flying in the air, yet in a train, a vehicle for the ground. "Hey guys, has anypony looked out the window?" asked Rainbow dash, immediately everypony else looked out the window and saw what Dash was talking about, everypony (minus Discord) started to panic, they all seemed to think that this train was taking them to the land of the dead. Suddenly a black earth pony stallion dressed like a ninja came in and noticed this, "Why are you all freaking out?" asked said stallion to which all the mares and Spike responded with, "We're at least a mile in the air in a train, who wouldn't freak out," to which Discord raised his claw. The ninja stallion came around everypony and started trying to calm their nerves. "We're using a train that was designed to be able to travel by land, air, or the sands of time," hearing the last one Twilight then asked, "What do you mean sands of time?" "I mean that this train is also a 'time machine' and thus is able to travel through time to anytime that is allowed, now who would like some candy, and to be friends with Yuuto?" To this Pinkie jumped up and practically ripped the basket of candy from his hooves. "DENEB! I've told you to stop trying to buy me friends with candy!" said Yuuto, the green earth pony who was acting as the conductor for the train. Yuuto then jumped on top of Deneb and put him in a Sharpshooter Leg Lock. Discord seemed to be enjoying the show along with the little bit of candy he could get away from Pinkie Pie. Yuuto then explained that they would be in Neighon in thirty minutes in case any of the mares needed to use restroom for anything before they arrived, such as putting on make-up. Rarity then made a mad dash to the bathroom carrying a handbag to "put her face on" with. The others had a chuckle at this comment, except Pinkie who was too busy chowing down on more candy from the bottom of the basket. Half an hour later The train had pulled into Neighon, all the mares, Spike, and Discord disembarked, after separating Pinkie from Deneb asking for recipes for some of the more bizarre candies that had been in the basket. Neighon is an archipelago nation so there were many islands, with many cities on each island, the train had dropped them off on the main island which housed the capital of the nation. Once everypony was disembarked the train started to move to it's next destination, and the former passengers were then met by a green unicorn stallion with purple mane and tail. "Welcome to Neighon, Princess Twilight Sparkle, My name is Mitsuzane Kureshima, I'm to escort you and your friends to the palace of the emperor," to which Twilight and company thanked him for helping to lead them to where they needed to go. While they passed through the city Twilight noticed that there was an abundance of earth ponies, but not many unicorns or pegasi out. "Um, not to be rude, but why aren't there many unicorns or pegasus ponies?" asked Twilight she got a response from Mitsuzane in the form of "You'll need to see the emperor about that, we don't really talk about things such as that out in the open." When they entered the castle, they were met by the emperor and five other ponies, one was a pink unicorn mare with slightly lighter mane and tail, with a bow and arrow for a cutie mark, one was a white unicorn stallion with black mane and tail, with a single streak of silver going through both, with a cutie mark of a notepad filled with scientific formulas, one was a red earth pony stallion with darker red mane and tail wearing a bowler hat, and a dollar symbol for a cutie mark, another was a white pegasus stallion with black mane and tail with a cantelope on a shield for a cutie mark, and the final one was a yellow pegasus stallion with white mane and tail with a spear for a cutie mark. "Welcome to Neighon Princess Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Spike, and Discord" said the emperor of Neighon, Kouta Kazuraba. "It's an honor to be here, I hope you don't mind us being here," said Twilight to which Kouta replied, "Not at all, it was my idea for this program, I always wanted to try it with another country so my daughter could go out and see the world rather then be cooped up in the castle her whole life, as well as the added bonus of being in a good relationship with one of the more well known countries out there." "I'm glad that you met my little brother, Mitsuzane," said the white pegasus, "My name is Takatora Kureshima, his highness' general." "Yoko Minato" said the only mare alongside the emperor, "secretary of the emperor." "Sid" said the red earth pony, "treasurer of Neighon." "Ryoma Sengoku" said the white unicorn, "head scientist." "And this is Kaito Kumon, who will be your bodyguard while Micchy shows you around the various locations of Neighon" said the emperor pointing a hoof to the yellow pegasus stallion. "Your majesty, I do have one question for you," said Twilight, "why does there seem to not be many unicorns or pegasi in the city?" "Well, Ms. Sparkle, the answer to that is really quite simple, there aren't many unicorns or pegasis in the city, and even less that actually come outside of their houses much," said the emperor, "the reasons why is that we're actually going through a population deflation, most of our youths are stuck inside their houses studying or outside working jobs, and not meeting their special someponies, thus no new foals for that family, I've been trying to make it easier for them to do so, but haven't had much luck." "Before you get any ideas Kazuraba, you should at least let them have dinner and rest, they had a long journey here," said Kaito, speaking for the first time since they got to the castle, "they should also know that if I'm guarding them, I'll also be teaching them to guard themselves and will begin lessons at 6 A.M."