Thankfully, the initial conversation didn't take too long. Marie briefly described what an inkling was, Celestia told them where they were, and Marie told them that it was just ink spreading into the surrounding wilderness, and that it was harmless. This, however, led to a new line of conversation.

"So, you can... shapeshift?"

"Yes."

"And then... swim in your... ink?"

Marie tried her best to not groan at Twilight's questions. "Yes."

"Could you... demonstrate?"

Wordlessly, Marie looked back at Callie, who looked back at Agent 3. He rolled his eyes, before aiming his weapon off to the side, and firing a short burst. It covered the ground in a patch of green ink, which he started walking towards. Once he reached it, he jumped into the air, where he rapidly shifted into a squid. Once he hit the ink on the ground, he splashed into it, making it look as if he had just vanished.

Twilight watched in awe, and even Celestia was impressed.

After a few seconds, a goopy form emerged from the ink, turning back into Agent 3, who wore a bored expression on his face.

With the brief example done, conversation then turned onto the ponies. Namely, what Twilight had done with her horn earlier. She had given a short explanation of magic, and also said that she had cast a translation spell, usually reserved for diplomatic meetings and such. It wasn't permanent, but it generally lasted long enough.

This allowed Celestia to segue into another topic. "So, may I ask who exactly is in charge, here?"

The three inklings looked at each other. "...not really anyone, now that I think about it," Callie said.

Marie nodded. "Yeah, whenever there was something important to decide on, we pretty much just took votes from everyone."

Celestia was slightly taken aback. This society was a full democracy? Sure, she was no stranger to the idea, but in all her years she had never heard of one being fully and successfully enacted.

Suddenly, a pair of devices in Callie and Marie's pockets started to make noise, causing them to take them out and see what it was. Once they saw, their eyes widened.

"Uh, sorry, but we have to go now," Marie said, somewhat quickly.

"Nice meeting you and everything!" Callie added, before the two of them ran over to the grate leading into the city, and turned into squids, disappearing in a brief splash of ink.

Agent 3 looked between the now-gone squids and the confused ponies, before shrugging and waving goodbye. Then he too vanished into the city.

Twilight and Celestia just tilted their heads in confusion, and looked up at the underside of the city. "So, should we go in there?" Twilight finally asked.

Celestia thought over it. "Maybe not quite yet. Let's give them some time to adjust."

Nodding, Twilight followed her into the air, heading back to the castle. These were strange times they lived in, but then again, every day is strange in Equestria.

After a quick outfit change, Callie and Marie were once again ready for television. However, this time was a first in that they would have to be a little bit more serious.

Outside their studio, they could see several dozen inklings and jellyfish talking to each other, no doubt wondering what in the world just happened. Hopefully, this next broadcast would shed some light on the situation for them.

The cameraman started counting down, and the two got into position. They didn't have any pictures for the upcoming story yet, but hopefully the effect would be the same.

Then that familiar opening tune played, and it was showtime.

"Hold onto your tentacles..." Callie started.

"...it's Inkopolis news time!" Marie finished.

With the intro out of he way, it was time to get down to business. "So, you're all probably wondering what just happened," Callie said.

"I know I am!" Marie remarked.

"Well, apparently something went wrong in one of our labs, and the whole city ended up getting teleported somewhere completely different."

"That's certainly not fresh."

"We're not quite sure who the locals here are, but hopefully they'll prove to be friendly."

"So, just stay calm through this, we'll be fine."

"Oh, and for obvious reasons, turf wars will be postponed until further notice."

"That's the worst news so far!"

"Until next time..."

As the two did their catchphrase, they surveyed the crowd. Though there was some grumbling about the postponed turf wars, it seemed that they were now going about their business, not a hint of panic to be seen anywhere.

Once the cameras were off, Callie and Marie walked over to their usual table. "So, when do you think those... 'ponies' will start visiting us?" Marie asked.

Callie put a hand to her chin in thought. "I'd say about a week or two."

"I just hope gramps doesn't declare war on them or something."

Callie started laughing, then winced when she realized Marie was right. "Yeah, we should keep an eye on him."

Meanwhile, the team of scientists that (accidentally) caused this whole mess was now excited. This was likely a chance to meet a whole new species, never before seen by inkling kind!

After all, surely nothing bad could come of it.

Right?

Probably not.