Carefully Tamed Chaos

by Xewleer

Filly's First Contact

Twilight Sparkle was being lectured by her mother. She had been Celestia's student for six months yet and her mother still did not cease warning her against this or that. "Do not insult the humans! They are dangerous! Do not talk to much! Let Princess Celestia choose what to talk about. Keep your chin up!" Her mother used her magic to straighten a small and lacy hat that was the fashion for young fillies at this time.

She finally arrived at the door to Celestia's evening tea room. The sun was several hours from setting, and Celestia always used the early evening to meet with dignitaries. This particular dignitary was an Admiral named Bela Pellon. He had recently arrived to pick up and update several treaties between the Empire of Man and the commonwealth member Terra Equestria. Twilight knew dimly the blood soaked history of humanity. They were chaotic, and only trustworthy insomuch as an individual's word was good.

Celestia had assured her that Admiral Pellon was one of the good ones. He was an ally, and had been one of the backers of Terra Equestria's commonwealth status. Still, she was intimidated. Her mother gently pushed her forward as a guard began to open the door. Her mother quickly disappeared before she could be seen. Twilight went in alone.

Admiral Pellon was dressed in perfect military style. His epaulettes were perfectly arrayed. His medals shined as if new, though several were over forty years old. His pants held no improper crease. His jacket was straight lined and fit him like the immaculate white glove he wore on his hand. He had a saucer and cup of tea half way to his mouth. His grey eyes sparkled at Twilight, more keen than his age suggested.

Twilight was having problems staying calm. This was a learning experience, and she loved learning more than anything else. Celestia had taught her a quick calming method. Examine her surroundings. The room was spacious, but dominated by the table and seats. Celestia lounged on a chaise lounge and the captain sat straightly in a pure white wicker chair. The walls were lined with art pieces of sky and flowers. Two great bay windows, open to the cool evening breeze, allowed both inhabitants good views of the evening sky. Despite the military nature of Pellon, his nature seemed to fit in the surroundings perfectly.

It took a second longer, but Twilight noticed the light blue paint and the white molding. Several small, but detailed statues lined the top of a chiffarobe. White doilies covered every piece of furniture that needed them. The table held light pastries and a ceramic white teapot. The tea cups were of the same make, but with gold leaf lips and intricate purple handles. Celestia looked at her kindly, then cleared her throat.

"Admiral Pellon, this is my student, Twilight Sparkle." She took a sip of her tea as Admiral Pellon stood. He took a step forward and bent his knee, and with a twitch of his back, his eyes were at the same level as Twilight Sparkle. He kindly doffed his hat to her. She was intimidated by his eyes. They were strange, ridges and bumps and even slight changes in color. His grey eyes were not wild. Twilight would later write in her journal of his eyes as "perfectly tamed chaos, master of himself yet I could tell he had shed blood in anger."

"Nice to meet you Miss. Sparkle. I've always enjoyed Equestria, and I'm glad I'm meeting such a promising young filly as yourself." Twilight took one involuntary step back. Admiral Pellon reached backwards towards the table. Celestia smiled then levitated a cookie with heavy icing and baked apple slices into his hand. Pellon handed it to her, drawing her out. He wasn't an admiral for nothing.

Soon, Twilight Sparkle was happily burbling, in a sugar rush, about the merger of the magical sciences of Equestria and the logic sciences of the Empire. She was in the middle of talking about propulsion systems and Pony designed star ships when Pellon brought out his fob watch. It was an intricate art work, and it ran so precisely that he ran it against the atomic clock on his ship. "Twilight, would you like to see my ship?" She nearly jumped out of her chair with glee.

They walked onto a balcony. He took out his watch again and double checked his own count. In a few seconds, a star rose quickly out of the west. As it got closer, the star became a very tiny triangle. As Twilight watched, several small points of light became visible surrounding it and darting in and out. Many were left behind and spread out as far as Twilight Sparkle could see.

"The Dauntless it is one of the greatest and oldest ships of the Imperial Space Navy. When the Emperor, Marcus Corelinus, -may he live forever- goes out to inspect his empire, he has my ship take the place of honor. I can tell you that it is formidable, even compared to the newer Dreadnought and Frigate fleets that seem the new fashion. Right now we are upgrading your satellite network. It was a little dated. We've expanded so quickly that planets like Equestria, that do so well, are overlooked for this sort of thing." He hummed a little to himself as he appraised. Twilight was again enamored.

The Dauntless was a Star Destroyer Class Imperial Capital Ship. She knew it was named after some sort of Empire movie, but didn't know the particulars. It was an acute triangle with two hangar bays and bulges for engines. It was designed to be part carrier, part defense fleet and all weapons platform. She knew that this was a dangerous ship, but did not fear it, not like she did Pellon, for all his sugar confectioneries.

"Sadly, I'm going back to Earth. I'm getting old and there's a retirement age. Due to my good health, I will take a place on the emperor's -may he rule forever!- war council and advise him to the best of my ability. It's sad to go but I had a good run and I made friends." He nearly said 'and enemies' but then he realized that Equestrian had no real word for it, and he didn't want to explain enemy to a child.

Twilight listened sympathetically. He was about to tell her about earth when his communicator rang. He sighed and read the message. "Princess Celestia, I'm afraid we must finish our work soon. Twilight, it was a pleasure meeting you, and if you are ever on Earth, you will find my home, a friendly place." Twilight nodded and did the Equestrian equivalent of a curtsey, before galloping off to tell her mother about the first human she had met.

"To be young." Celestia teleported them both into her study. It was cluttered. Scrolls lay in piles and papers were on every non-sittable surface. A fire, magically powered and shielded from the very flammable room, roared to life at their arrival. "To be young and magic and immortal." He grumbled. He leaned on a bookshelf while his brain processed the split second of being in two places at once.

Celestia snorted. "The weight of responsibility grows greater. I am compelled to teach Twilight Sparkle everything I know. She has an inquisitive mind, should she be called upon..."

Without meaning too, Admiral Pellon interrupted. "Yes, but no social skills. She has no friends, and thus no social network to rely upon. No one succeeds alone. I didn't." He snorted and sat down on the one human chair as Celestia magically shuffled through her papers. "She needs to learn to make allies, to have authority without demanding it..." He brought out a pen and began to mark on the papers presented.

Celestia tactfully nodded in agreement. "Pellon, I have told you of my dream of a peaceful empire. That all species live in harmony." Pellon nearly said something, but closed his mouth and continued working. "It's a dream, I know. But I think that, with the right prodding, a good emperor, one not consumed with conquering and to conquer, could turn everything around and usher in a golden age for us all."

"And you hope that Twilight could help?"

Celestia did the pony equivalent of a shrug, then lay down on some very large pillows. "I don't know. I hope so. That she be the right pony in the right place at the right time." She closed her eyes. "You humans are so different from us... so dominating. I can't do anything but protect my people. It's a hard thing to play your games by your rules."

"I sympathize. I will be sure to speak for you and your people before the Emperor- may he rule forever! You ponies are special, some sort of blessing from God, I'm sure, to curb the blood lust of our people." He finished signing the papers and placed it in a nearby satchel. He got up to leave. He saluted her. "Things will get worse. The heir is not... good. Well. We'll deal with that when it comes time for it. I will drop this off at the embassy, then return to my ship. Princess Celestia, take care."

She got up and bowed in return to his salute. "And you take care, Admiral Pellon, you are a good man."

Pellon smiled and left briskly, in true military fashion, back straight and shoulders back. He cut a heroic figure. A shuttle took him to his ship, and, once they had finished with the satellite network, he disappeared into the black abyss.