Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity rode with Princess Celestia while the two humans, Fluttershy, and after a bit of arguing, an embarrassed and subdued Rainbow Dash rode with Princess Luna, and the shadowcat flew alongside the procession.

Twilight always enjoyed any opportunity to be with her former mentor, but the leader of Equestria was rather surely and withdrawn for most of the flight. Normally, such an attitude was to be expected from Luna, especially as it was very late into the nighttime ruler's sleep cycle. So it came as a bit of a shock to see it in Celestia.

"Is anything wrong, Princess Celestia?" Twilight ventured to ask after she couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Twilight," Celestia replied. "I'm just very disappointed with the damage done back there. Fortunately, the drive coils themselves have not been adversely affected, abused as they were by the humans linking their warp tunnel to them notwithstanding. But the control system is completely ruined!"

"What's so special about those ancient rings, if they've not been used for thousands of years?" Twilight asked.

"Actually, they have never stopped being used," Celestia admitted after taking several moments to consider.

"Really?!?" Twilight asked, astonished. "But I've always been told you've not used the castle since your fight with Nightmare Moon." Twilight was a bit puzzled. It looked as though that Celestia's horn was slightly glowing, but it could've just been a trick of the lighting.

"They are part of a network of such drive coils set up about the planet," Celestia replied. "Even though the damage to the castle was extensive and forced me to abandon living there, the drives are part of the Equestria system's propulsion and could not be moved. The network is balanced to propel our entire star system to areas of space where we can find the most abundant sources of magic."

"H-how can that be—?" Twilight began, but Celestia turned her head and glared at her, interrupting what Twilight was going to ask.

"You are not to speak of this to anypony!" Celestia whispered. "Luna and I will have to depart to where the other warp coils are located and see if we can find replacement crystals for the main control panel here. As we had discussed a few years ago when those other humans from that starship that had visited us, we came to this world at a time so long ago that the true story of Hearth's Warming Eve has degenerated beyond legend and nearly into myth."

It was only then that Twilight noticed that the others on the chariot were actively engaged in their own conversation and she couldn't hear them. Celestia had surrounded the two of them with a silence spell!

"Those coils are part of that ancient technology, which we still use to find regions of space-time filled with the source of magic, upon which we live," Celestia explained to her…

Luna had a disturbing puzzle she tried putting together, and the oddest piece of that puzzled stood next to her. However, as much as she wished to address him, she was reluctant to try, fearful that she would either look foalish for thinking there was more than there really was, or worse, be really stupid for revealing too much before it was the proper time.

'I'm worried, too,' Nightmare Moon said, unexpectantly breaking into her thoughts. 'This creature, there is something about him. He seems to know too much and yet says far too little!'

'Agreed,' Luna replied, surprised by the conciliatory tone taken by her alter-ego. 'If only I could recall where I heard his name before, it might lead me to know what path to pursue the answers.'

'Indeed,' Nightmare Moon responded.

'The humans don't look dangerous,' Luna fumed. 'True, they are taller than most of our subjects, but obviously much lighter build. By all rights, these shadowcats should be of greater concern. Those creatures are obviously predatory, bigger and stronger looking than even griffons, and according to the Element of Magic, they apparently have some powerful and unknown type of magic of their own. The human mare's body language clearly shows she's terrified of them. And yet the stallion seems perfectly calm about those creatures.'

'Yes, overly-familiar, in fact, Nightmare Moon acknowledged. You saw how they engaged each other in that board game while we and our sister examined the star drive components. Those are not the actions of total strangers, nor of individuals in a hierarchical society, but of equals!'

'However, the human stallion had to explain the rules of the game to the shadowcat,' Luna pointed out.

'Very odd, indeed!' Nightmare Moon agreed.

Rainbow Dash wasn't happy.

She had a hard time trying to stay interested in the environment, since they were flying—only she wasn't flying! She was standing on this stupid chariot, and she was bored. It wasn't a good combination, especially as they were flying—only she wasn't flying! Of course she liked being with Princess Luna; the nighttime princess was known for practical jokes. But while hers were very subtle, the results were always spectacular. Except with Rainbow standing here when they were all flying put the azure pegasus off from striking up a conversation with the nighttime princess—only she wasn't flying! And Dash was impressed by the shadowcat flying alongside them; the creatures had some cool moves—and wow!—could they fly fast! Even cooler was their ability to change their colors. But Rainbow had to stay standing in this stupid chariot—and she wasn't flying! And then there were these stupid two-legged, stupid tall, stupid monstrosities, stupidly standing next to her as they flew—only she wasn't flying! Primarily because this stupidest one of the stupid two-legged, stupid tall, stupid monstrosity stupidly standing next to her and stupidly keeping his stupid eyes on her stupidly opened his big stupid mouth and. Stupidly. Said. She. Stupidly. Shouldn't. Stupidly. Be. Stupidly. Flying! AND SHE WASN'T FLYING!!

"What th' bronk're YER LOOKING AT?!?" Rainbow Dash yelled at the stupid human, startling everyone else on the chariot, including Luna. Except the stupid monstrosity was too stupid to be startled!

"Your mane," the stupid human stupidly and calmly replied. "At first I thought they were just simply colored stripes, but I noticed how the colors shift depending on the lighting and direction I'm looking at it."

"So?" Rainbow Dash demanded, ready to start bucking this stupid non-winged stupid two-legs off this stupid chariot—just say the wrong thing, bub! And anything you say WILL be the wro—

"Your hair's prismatic! That's so cool!" the human answered.

"Wut?" Rainbow asked, blinking in surprise.

"It's just like the refraction grating of a CD," the human went on.

"What's a Sea-Dee?" she asked, again, suddenly suspicious.

"I've noticed it, too," Panthera said from Rainbow's other side. "It's somewhat similar to what we can do with our fur. This is an example of a diffraction grating," she said, projecting a rectangular bar before Rainbow Dash that also had a rainbow effect on every side, the colors shifting as it rotated in her view.

"Well—it is why they call me Rainbow Dash," she said, flustered that the human hadn't taken the cue that she had been in the mood to fight. But how could she fight someone who honestly realized just how cool she was?

"It's very pretty," the human said, grinning. "And I really like the red!"

"Heh!" Rainbow nervously laughed, and feeling as though she were blushing. "Thanks!"

Well—maybe—he wasn't quite so stupid after all, she thought…

"…And when they finished their heated discussion, the female concluded that he's still a terrorist, which he wasn't denying," Twilight finished her own report to Celestia.

"Interesting," Celestia surely muttered. "If what you say is accurate, then it would appear the male is very careful not to tell the entire truth and yet not lie when doing so. Bad enough that such a creature would be able to evade my spells for detecting deceptions. But what is very odd is that he doesn't register at all, neither truth nor lie! I find him very frustrating."

The trip to Ponyville only took about thirty minutes, but a great deal of that was just rising to altitude before the passage over the Everfree Forest and then coming in to land by the Crystal Tree Castle. All too soon, it was over and her report to Celestia had to stop there.

Unfortunately, for Twilight, she had to oversee the transfer of the books and scrolls to the new library, so she had to take her leave of Princess Celestia. Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity all had four days' worth of work waiting for them back at their respective homes. Only Rainbow Dash and the humans were to continue on, but they had to transfer to Celestia's chariot as Luna needed to return to Canterlot as soon as possible in order to be ready for her duties tonight.

"Oh, hi Twilight!" Spike called as he opened to door to the castle to see what all the commotion was about, but by then the, the Diarchs of Equestria had already left Ponyville on diverging paths. "You guys were certainly gone long enough!"

"Hi, Spike!" Twilight said, in between directing the spare guards which stacks of books to start with. "Sorry about that. We got caught by a really bad storm in the Everfree, and just got out of there this morning. It was a bit of an adventure, and I'll tell you all ab—"

"Princess Twilight! Princess Twilight!" a voice called for her and they turned to see a pale-green unicorn galloping up as fast as she could. Twilight recognized Lyra Heartstrings before she momentarily disappeared from view in the culvert before the final rise to the castle.

"Oh, what could be the emergency?" Twilight wondered.

"Princss—ssess—!" Lyra spoke as she gasped for breath rushing up from the final climb.

"Easy, Lyra!" Twilight said, hoping the emergency that drove the mare to run all this way wasn't going to cause her to collapse. "What seems to be the problem?"

"W—were—were th-those humans riding with Princess Celestia?" Lyra asked, catching her breath.

I should've known! she thought, facehoofing.

"We will stop by Cloudsdale," Celestia explained to Trevar and Scott. "They have the facilities to evaluate how Rainbow Dash was affected by the altitude. I will defer to them as to whether she can fly again and how soon."

"With luck, they'll find she's in flight-shape in no time," Trevar said, gently laying a foreleg on the blue pegasus.

"Hey! I thought you were the one tryin' ta make sure I never get to fly again!" Rainbow Dash protested, shaking off his touch.

"Not at all," Trevar replied, squatting down to face her eye-to-eye. "I'm just very concerned that you pushed yourself too hard and got injured in the process. Life is the most precious thing. You went chasing after Pardus, thinking he had stolen something from us. What you didn't know is that it was something we were trying to get rid of. It would've killed everyone if we had held on to it. But even if it was something valuable, it's not worth putting your own life at risk."

"Well—when you put it that way—" Rainbow said, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. For some reason, the sight made both humans blink in evident surprise.

"The shadowcats said you had stopped breathing, after all," Trevar continued. "I can imagine you were looking a bit blue up there for a time." Celestia blinked in surprise and looked over at them. At that moment, the human male began snorting at his own joke.

"That's not funny!" Rainbow Dash yelled after another few moments.

"Heh! Do it again!" Panthera laughed as she flew alongside.

"Okay! Okay! You got me," Rainbow muttered, embarrassed. "But, really! That was worse than some of Pinkie Pie's puns!"

The human chuckled as he tapped the pegasus' nose with one of those strange boney tentacles at the end of a forehoof before rising backup from the squatting position and looked for their destination.

"A cloud city?" he asked, seeing the feature they were approaching.

"Cloudsdale," Celestia corrected him. "Cloudcity is a smaller pegasus community floating above the western coast."

"Uhhh—yeah," the human said, uncertainly.

"I realize your kind probably doesn't fly," Celestia said. "I will provide you both a cloudwalking spell so that you can travel about freely without fear of falling." Both humans looked rather uncomfortable at the idea, but didn't object as they underwent the procedure.

The rest of the flight was uneventful, and they soon landed before the city's main gates, displaying the immense columns and ornaments showing the pride the pegasi took in their capitol city. The humans were surprised at how Celestia simply walked off the chariot and didn't use her wings to levitate. The shadowcat also seemed uneasy about standing there, and even looked as though she would fall through the cloud surface for a moment.

"Com'on! You guys will like this! I grew up here. I can't wait to show you around!" Rainbow Dash said, also walking off the chariot. The humans looked at each other, clearly not feeling secure about the idea.

"Ladies, first!" the male finally said, gesturing in a manner that was so—pony-like.

"Thanks a lot!" Lieutenant Scott snapped back, clearly upset with him for some reason. But as her feet touched the cloud surface, she didn't fall through.

"Wow! This is so weird!" she exclaimed.

"Oo-oo-kay," Trevar nervously muttered as he stepped off the chariot. And promptly disappeared.

"SHI-I-I-I-I-i-i-i-i-i-i—!" they could all hear him scream, the volume quickly fading.

Celestia and Rainbow both gasped in surprise. They each rushed to help him, but then ran into a little problem—their innate magic, coupled with the strength of the magic put into the city, didn't let them dive down through the cloud!

"Oh, futa!" the shadowcat suddenly exclaimed and dove through the surface.

A few minutes later, she rose up from the cloud with her wings slowly flapping and the human male riding her. His face was a noticeably paler color than it was before.

"I'm afraid your spell missed one!" Trevar darkly muttered.

"I—I—I d-don't understand! That spell has never failed to work before!" Celestia exclaimed in horror.

"Is it still under warranty?" Trevar asked and the female human suddenly had a coughing fit.

"I'm so sorry!" Celestia apologized profusely. "I'm completely at a loss for what when wrong! I should try again—"

"No, don't bother," Trevar tiredly said. "Panthera has offered to carry me for the entire time we're up here."

"Please—!" Celestia continued to offer her aid, but Panthera interrupted this time, finally folding her wings down.

"It is no bother for me to carry him," she said. "I find—I rather like this creature, and his presence on my back is—quite enjoyable. Honestly, I have no objection to letting him ride me. Shall we proceed with the reason we came here? I'm sure that Rainbow Dash would like to be confirmed to be fit to fly again as soon as possible."

"Of—of course," Celestia absently said, still in shock over how her casting the cloudwalker spell had failed.

Twilight Sparkle was so very disturbed by the conversation she had had with Princess Celestia that when she stepped into the throne room, she was surprised by finding herself suddenly floating in the middle of the chamber. She blinked and only then noticed the entire space was filled with several floating objects: herself, the six thrones, a drowsing Discord, several potted plants, a terrified bunny. She also saw that Spike had elected to not walk in with her; the precocious dragon was standing at the door, chortling at her.

She used her wings to push herself back to the floor before loudly clearing her throat. The sleeping Discord opened his eyes at the noise and looked about, looking for the source of the sound.

"Oh! Hello, Twilight, my dear!" the draconequus happily exclaimed when he finally spotted her. "Welcome back! We missed you around here!" Discord waited for a response, and after a few moments only then noticed the set of her ears and expression before he paid attention to what was going on around them. His face suddenly took on a sheepish expression before he snapped the digits of his lion paw and the floating objects returned to their rightful places.

"Sorry, if I had known you were coming, I would've cleaned up," he grinned.

Twilight hummed. She wasn't really irritated by the mess in the place. If she had been paying attention to her surroundings, she would've certainly noticed the chaos in the throne room before she had stepped inside. This was Discord, after all. He was a lot like Pinkie Pie in many respects. Totally random. Both uncomfortable with normalcy. Loving to share that randomness with others, but at least willing to hold back from forcing it upon everypony…well…that is to say, Discord was willing to show restraint.

"It had been so long! Whatever must've happened to you?" the draconequus inquired as Spike finally felt it safe to join them.

"Well," Twilight began with a sigh…

"Trevar, you should be able to stand in here," Celestia said as they entered the chambers reserved for her visits to the pegasus city. The human and feline both looked at each other. The human's expression was very much like a pony's would be if he were feeling extreme trepidation. The shadowcat's, however, was completely unreadable.

With him clearly holding on tight to the shadowcat, Trevar trusted her at least enough to try it. His foot did find purchase on the floor that had been long ago magically solidified for non-flyers and furnishings. Soon, he was walking with some confidence in the room.

"Would you like some tea?" Celestia inquired as they took their seats.

"That would be nice, thank you," Lieutenant Scott replied. Trevar and Panthera likewise agreed to have some.

A pegasus servant provided each of them with a cup, and bowl for Panthera and left the large tea pot filled with the boiling water and blend that Celestia favored. After everything was set up, Celestia thanked the pony and dismissed her from the room.

"I hope you'll especially like this, Panthera," she giggled. The shadowcat's nose flared catching the scent waffling from the brew.

"Catnip! Nice touch! Thank you!" the creature chuckled.

Celestia used her magic to pour the tea for them and she studied them as they sampled it. The human mare gingerly took her sips of the very warm drink, while the shadowcat eagerly lapped up the contents of her bowl. The human stallion, however, sniffed at the drink before setting his cup down on the saucer before him. Celestia, of course, politely sipped hers before speaking.

"Mister Trevar, do you not like your tea?" she inquired.

"It smells delicious," Trevar said. "But I have to wait for it to cool down. My tongue is very sensitive to hot foods and spices. My wife calls me Nekojita—it means 'Cat Tongue', in her native language."

Panthera glared at him with her ears laid back. The shadowcat had clearly just finished off the boiling-hot beverage without any hesitation. Trevar merely snickered back at the shadowcat before picking up the cup and taking a very careful sip, even more careful than Lieutenant Scott had done. He set it back down as he closed his eyes.

Suddenly, Trevar began laughing.

"What do you find so funny?" Celestia asked.

"It-it's s-so ironic!" Trevar said, trying to control his amusement. "Your tea: it's a blend of eleuthero, peppermint, cinnamon, ginger, chamomile, lemongrass, licorice, catnip, tilia flowers, lemon, and soy. There's a mix just like that back on my world. It's sold under the brand name 'Tension Tamer'!"

"Oh, God!" Lieutenant Scott suddenly whispered in evident horror.

"That is indeed—interesting," Celestia muttered, curious as to the reason for the human mare's adverse reaction.

"The company that sells this is called 'Celestial Seasonings'," Trevar finished just as Lieutenant Scott cringed at the words.

Celestia laughed, clearly understanding now.

"And this blend, it is popular?" she inquired.

"Pretty much," Trevar replied. "One of many different blends they sell. They all do quite well, back home."

"It's incredible! How can you possibly tell all that?" Lieutenant Scott asked. "No human can possibly get all of that from just a sip!" Trevar just shrugged his shoulders and smiled at her.

His magic must be extremely refined to be able to analyze this mix, Celestia thought. Even she was hard pressed to identify all the ingredients at times after the brewing, and she had to really focus her magic to do so. "That is indeed impressive," she told him. "You accurately listed off most all of the ingredients, and in order of their concentration!"

"You can do all that, and yet, you chose to be a terrorist!" Lieutenant Scott muttered.

"Vigilante, as I had previously explained," Trevar said, evidently correcting her.

Well! This conversation has certainly become very interesting! Celestia thought, taking another sip.

"Hmm, that's very odd," Discord muttered at the conclusion of Twilight's story. "I felt the warp tunnel and the storm, of course—they made for a very pleasant dream—but these creatures you say you met? How strange. Those shadowcats sound familiar, but I'm sure there aren't any around here, and I only feel one human in Cloudsdale. Are you certain you counted them correctly? I've noticed how you oftentimes forget to carry the one when you're counting binary."

Twilight scowled at the creature of chaos, never really able to tell if he's just teasing or being insulting.

"And so that's how I ended up at your base," Trevar finished. He finally picked up his cup of tea, and finding it sufficiently cooled to his satisfaction, quickly drank it all down.

"Oh, this is excellent tea! Thank you!" he said to Celestia, saluting her with his cup.

"It's because I have certain—skills and abilities—," he said, resuming his argument with Lieutenant Scott, "that makes me a wanted man in the first place! Such abilities that I have lets me leave your people with the impression that I was one of your government operatives come to help fix that little warp tunnel problem of yours, and all without having told anyone a single lie!"

"You had them lie for you!" she shouted.

"The person your colonel spoke with never ever said I was from the NSA," Trevar countered. "I gave no instructions for him to do it. In fact, I do believe the words he actually said were the 'Natural Mining Contingency', which is the company I work for. But—with all the static that was no doubt on the line—well," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Anyhow, I and my associates simply know when to keep our mouths shut and when to tell you something that needed to be said, and even more importantly, to know the difference! The rest was completely your own assumptions filling in the gaps!"

"Somehow, you broke into a secure phone!" Lieutenant Scott accused.

"Your point?" Trevar asked, shrugging his shoulders. Scott blinked in surprise. Celestia could tell she was expecting Trevar to reject the accusation.

"With your permission?" Trevar asked Celestia as he reached for the tea pot, to which the alicorn nodded.

"Your so-called 'secure' communications are a joke!" Trevar said to Scott as he refilled his cup and set it down to cool. "There are at least half a dozen ways to achieve what my comrade did, although the one used was perhaps crude when compared to the other means available. There just wasn't time to select a better option, given the mess you had on your hands. The only thing that matters is that the warp tunnel was shut down and both planets are safe with no lasting damage. That you and everyone at your base are about to lose your lives achieving such a goal is a small price to pay, don't you think?"

Lieutenant Scott was evidently shocked speechless, appearing to have no argument against the results.

"Well, that certainly clears up a lot of mysteries," she finally grumbled.

"Perhaps. All except for two," Trevar quietly muttered, looking down. Celestia couldn't be sure of properly reading his expressions, but if she had to guess, his now was of a haunted look. It REALY was difficult not having the ability to sense any degree of truthfulness of this creature. The only gauge she had to go by about Trevar was through Lieutenant Scott's honest reactions to what he said. Of course, that presented her with a major problem!

"Princess Celestia!" Lieutenant Scott suddenly spoke up. "As the only true and actual representative of my government, I'm making a formal request that you restrain this individual and aid me in turning him over to our authorities as soon as arrangements can be made."

"I would not have made that request, if I were you, Lieutenant," Trevar looking up at her.

"And why is that?" Scott demanded.

"Well, seeing as how you are the US government's only true and actual representative, by bringing that nuke here to destroy a warp drive unit that's still considered quite a valuable asset of this planet's government, you've committed an unprovoked act of war against Equestria as well as the attempted extinction-level genocide of both planets! Now, while it's true that I am a wanted felon on our world, I am not a fugitive onthis one. But consider this: by our mutually supportive testimony, I just got through saving everyone's butts from your misguided efforts to kill every living thing on two planets! Including Celestia's, who happens to be this world's government! All of which makes me something of an unwitting hero here. So you might want to reconsider making such a request."

"I'm afraid it's too late for her to do that!" Celestia said in a hard voice. "GUARDS!"

Several armored pegasi burst into the room at her summons. "Yes, Your Highness!" the captain responded.

"Take that one into custody!" Celestia ordered, indicating Scott. "The charge is attempted murder of every living being on Equus! She will face trial at once!"

"There is that other matter to consider," Trevar spoke up over Scott's protest.

"And what would that be? Something that can mitigate the magnitude of her crime?" Celestia demanded.

"Actually, yes," Trevar replied. "Since the only means by which she could achieve that attempt at mass murder has been neutralized by both the warp tunnel being shut down and the nuke destroyed, she's completely harmless to you, your people, or to your world."

"There is still her intent, whether she was aware of the damage it would cause, or not—" Celestia argued, but Trevar interrupted.

"True. But need I remind you that in a couple months or so, she will be dead, no matter what?" Trevar pointed out. "As will all of the people at her base who had been there since the start of the crisis," he added in the silence that followed his announcement.

Celestia sadly hung her head.

"She's already serving out a death sentence," Trevar said. "But physically, she's harmless. If it pleases you, I think some sort of supervised probation would be sufficient."

"And your people coming won't arrive before then?" Celestia asked.

"A few days, on either side of the estimate of her expiration, at best," Trevar acknowledged with a shrug. "It wouldn't do any good for her to go with me when my ship gets here. She will definitely be dead within a week on the trip back. If it's your wish, I can have my people stay to wait for her to expire before removing us from your world. I would like to take her body back for whatever type of funeral arrangements she wishes."

"I see…" Celestia said, considering. The pegasi guards still stood, awaiting orders whether to go ahead and take the human mare into custody. "Very well, I authorize supervised probation for the human female. We will furnish you both a room at Canterlot castle. You, Melisa Scott, are free to explore the castle and city of Canterlot, but you will remain under escort at all times and will respect a curfew to return to your quarters no later than three hours after sunset."

"They will be separate quarters, I presume?" Scott asked. Celestia looked at her questioningly. "We are not a mated pair, after all!"

"Of course," Celestia nodded.

"But then can I at least request that Mr. Trevar also be under supervised probation?" Scott pressed. Celestia blinked at her. "He is, by his own admission, a criminal on my world. I advise you to take extreme caution while he is on yours."

"I have no objection," Trevar said, shrugging as his picked up his tea to drink. "It's to be expected." Celestia did find her inability to read the human stallion to be frustrating. Still, his own reaction, or rather the lack of any, surprised both Celestia and the human mare.

"Thank you, Captain. That will be all," Celestia finally nodded to the pegasus, dismissing him and his team.

"Of course, Your Highness," the stallion said bowing before the troops marched out. But before they could close the doors behind them, they were burst open again as an excited Rainbow Dash zipped in and did a loop before landing before her, still trailing her signature rainbow behind her.

"They said I'm cleared for flying, Princess—Urk!" the azure pegasus suddenly exclaimed as her legs buckled under her. She nervously looked back at the human stallion who was holding his foreleg up, with those bony tentacles suggesting he was holding her.

"I said that it had to be Princess Celestia who could clear you for flying!" Trevar growled.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Very well, Rainbow Dash," Celestia chuckled. "Then I clear you for flying!"

With a gesture from the human stallion, Rainbow instantly shot up into the middle of the room, looking surprised, and nearly fell to the floor again before she got her wings to working to keep her up when the human evidently released her.

"HEY!" the pegasus yelled, whirling in midair on the human. "That's NOT funny!"

"Do it again!" the Shadowcat said to Trevar.

"I'm so-o-o-o getting back at you!" Rainbow Dash growled.

"Yeah?" Trevar snickered. "Oh, by the way, did you just call her 'Princess Urk'?" Both Equestrians blinked in stunned shock.

"Wha—a—a? I NEVER!" the blue pegasus exclaimed when she was able to speak again.

As Trevar raised up his palm, Rainbow Dash flinched, but grew curious when an image formed above his palm. It showed a miniature version of the room and its occupants when the blue mare had burst into the space.

"They said I'm cleared for flying, Princess—Urk!" the miniature pony exclaimed as it clearly showed her reaction to being telekinetically grabbed. Then the image vanished. Rainbow Dash was livid and trembling with anger.

"Y-you—you CAUSED THAT TO HAPPEN!" she screamed over Celestia's quiet giggles. "I'm—I'm—I'm—GRRRRRR!" she finished with an inarticulate growl before zipping out of the chambers.

"Heh! I like her, she's silly! Well, that's two of us on her shit list. You wanna have a go at her, too, Panthera?" Trevar asked.

"This will be fun," Panthera said, grinning.

"And what of you and your brother?" Celestia then soberly asked Panthera. "Can we negotiate with you for how your people interact with Equestrians?"

"I can only speak for Pardus, and he for me, because we allow it of each other," Panthera said. "We cannot speak for any other shadowcat. But I can attest that neither Pardus nor I will seek to harm any of your subjects or allow them to be harmed if we are in a situation that allows us to intervene."

"Thank you very much for your assurance," Celestia said, standing up. They all took that as the cue to likewise stand. "With Rainbow Dash restored to flight status, I believe our business here is concluded."

"If you will allow me, I think I can help you with the cloudwalking," Panthera told Trevar.

"Uh—really?" the human stallion asked, nervously looking at the shadowcat.