Artex stood with his entire family and waited for the final clearances to be finished. The previous week had flown by with few significant developments other than Congress finally agreeing on allowing the families of those involved in the debacle of the D.H.S. to immigrate to New Humansville from Earth if they chose to do so. Artex had taken the time to go back to his old apartment and collect his personal belongings. He remembered there being some news about some kind of an uproar in China, but such things hardly concerned him at the moment. They were about to make history.

Artex stood with his family in front of the portal to New Humansville. All would be going. John, Chrissy, and their two children had been the first who had chosen to go to New Humansville despite Colonel Holiday all but begging them to stay.

The Colonel maintained his stern demeanor as he waited for the all-clear, but to Artex it was obvious that the man was upset about the situation, though there was no anger to his eyes, only sadness. Artex guessed it was because John had chosen to forever leave the country he had served for nearly two decades.

An aid trudged down the stairs from the Command Center with a sheaf of paper held in his left hand, "It went through, sir. They are cleared to go. Their paperwork is official."

Colonel Holiday turned to the gathered people and sighed, "You have eighteen hours to vacate the planet. Your possessions have been cataloged and will go through with you with one exception: no electronics. All phones, laptops, and other electrical hardware stay here. Regarding those of you who own firearms, those are cleared to go with you since New Humansville already has firearms of their own. Those of you who served with the armed forces have already signed paperwork and sworn oaths not to reveal any military secrets with anyone you meet in New Humansville or beyond. And finally, should any of you wish to rescind your decision, I have the paperwork here with me."

The Colonel stepped back from the portal and nodded to the surrounding Marines, "Let them through."

The Marines moved away from the portal, revealing the waiting C.W.G., Mayor, Chris, and Artex' herd on the far side. Mayor De La Crus bowed her head and spread her arms wide in open invitation. For a moment, nobody moved. The reality of traveling to a different world was finally hitting them. Finally, John Vacca took the first steps toward the portal, leading his son in his right hand and carrying his sea bag in the other. He was followed by his wife and daughter as they stepped through the portal and became the first Humans to voluntarily settle in New Humansville from Earth.

Seeing their example, Artex' brother, Brian P. followed behind them. He carried a bag in his right hand and his original AK-47 automatic rifle and ammo in its box with his left. Artex' herd welcomed him with friendly words and smiles.

After that, Artex' sister and her family went next. Each of them carried their own possessions and wasted no time, except for Zoe, who was too little to do otherwise. The herd likewise welcomed them, and of course, Zoe immediately ran up and hugged Razor Wit. The pregnant mare smiled down at the little tyke and sat down and wrapped her foreleg around her.

Others followed. The next person waiting to go was Danielle. She had her rolling suitcase, rifle, and pistol all packed and ready, but she stared through the portal with uncertainty at Razor Wit's bulging belly. She turned and hugged Artex, carefully watching the reactions from the herd. The other mares all looked unsure about the situation, but none of them appeared angry. They whispered to each other, but everyone was smiling. Danielle finished out the hug by kissing Artex on the lips, "I'll see you on the other side."

Artex held her and hugged her tightly, "I'll be with all of you tomorrow. Do try to get along with them."

Artex let her out of the hug and Danielle walked through the portal, entering New Humansville as a citizen waiting to be registered. Artex watched as Razor Wit slowly approached Danielle. The two of them stared at one another for a few moments before they spoke to one another briefly. Razor's horn lit up and levitated Danielle's suitcase away from the portal.

Watching the scene, Artex felt a lump in his throat. There was sure to be a tense time before everyone was settled. A sturdy hand landed on his shoulder as his Father patted him in a friendly manner, "It will be okay, Dan." Artex turned and immediately hugged his Father, "I know, Dad." He said.

Donald patted him on back and picked up his own suitcase. Artex helped bring his parent's possessions through the portal, including his Father's immense collection of firearms and ammo. His Mother carried only her rolling suitcase and a duffel bag.

Feeling the need to be useful, Artex began helping move the rest of the transients' belongings through the portal, including, to his great surprise, his cat Max, in a pet carrier. He had left his cat in the apartment so he could go and retrieve him later. The other shocking things he picked up and passed through the portal were his uncle Mike's M-14 rifle from Vietnam in its case and his great uncle Edd's original Colt 1911 and shadow box from when he fought at Bastogne with the 101st Airborne during WWII. Nevertheless, Artex kept his mouth shut about the historical treasures sent with his loved ones. They would stay in the family for as long as possible.

Artex finished and waved at his family and herd as they began gathering their belongings. Though Artex felt like a heel when he saw Suey pulling a cart loaded with their things and realized he had completely neglected to tell anyone in the family about her. That fact was further cemented as he noticed the transients collectively staring at the Great Pig.

Turning his attention away and seeing Colonel Holiday standing back, Artex approached the man. The Colonel was dry-eyed, but his eyes bore a certain red, glassy appearance to them as he watched the people leave their world behind. Artex stopped right in front of the man and cleared his throat, "This isn't a failure on your part, Colonel. Don't beat yourself up over it."

Colonel Holiday turned his eyes to Artex and glared intensely at the man, "You've got it wrong, Mr. Emissary. For military service men... men who dedicated their lives to serving their country, to decide that country is no longer worth staying in? No. It's a failure on us all." He turned and strode away briskly.

**********

That afternoon, Artex, Luna, and Vaiawa received word that the people from New Humansville would be able to visit their families on Earth, but only within the Complex, and under guard from C.W.G. and Marine joint forces. It was far from ideal, but Congress had decided that the people from New Humansville were too much of a threat to be let loose on Earth.

That evening, Dequan proved true to his word and brought a hefty bundle of movies on blu-ray disks, to Artex' room. Feeling festive and excited, Artex asked Dequan to retrieve pizza, sodas, beer, popcorn, and ice-cream. While Dequan was doing that, Artex went and invited Luna and Vaiawa to share a movie night.

Luna and Vaiawa were eager to finally see a Human movie in its original format and quickly agreed to join in. Out of courtesy, Artex invited Harrison and the other bodyguards to join them. Like the true professional he was, Harrison politely declined. Dequan, on the other hand was more than happy to accept the invitation.

The four souls sat down in front of the 64-inch television screen with the coffee tables in front of them stuffed to the gills with fattening food. Artex selected Captain America as the first film of the night then settled between his friend and love to watch the epic awesomeness that is Steve Rodgers.

Roughly two hours later, Vaiawa and Luna were lying in place with their eyes bulging and their jaws hanging open while Artex was doing his level best not to jump up and down and scream for joy as the ending scene involving Nick Fury finished.

Luna slowly turned her head toward Artex, "Tia told me about your Second World War... how much of what we just watched was fiction?"

"Most of it." Dequan replied, "The war was real, the uniforms of the American soldiers were realistic, and that's about it. Hydra never existed, energy weapons are still not a common thing even today, and even though German scientists had an Uber Soldat program, nobody ever made anyone like Captain America." Dequan smiled, glancing back at the screen, "Still an awesome movie though."

Artex laughed openly, "A DAMN good movie!" He paused and drew a deep breath, "Well we need to get some sleep. We're visiting New Humansville tomorrow and I want an early start."

Artex stretched and began cleaning up, shooing everyone else out of the apartment when they offered to help. After he had everything put away, he quickly showered then went to bed. He usually showered in the mornings, but he wanted to not waste any time the following day.

**********

The next day, Artex awoke and showered again without thinking. His habit was well established. He dressed quickly and wolfed down a breakfast of cold pizza and flat cola, the breakfast of bachelors the world over. Feeling mostly disgusting at the poor quality of the food, he exited his apartment, "Morning Harrison." He greeted jovially, "I'm heading home today. Do you guys have any plans while I'm gone?" Artex asked while heading down the hallway.

Harrison fell in beside him, "We're going to do some research and establish understandings with local businesses regarding future outings for you and the two Queens, sir."

Artex nodded, "Hmm, makes sense. When you see Dequan, can you ask him to draw up a rough draft of schedules for interviews, please?" Harrison nodded. Artex stopped and knocked on Vaiawa's door, "Vaiawa? You awake yet?"

Vaiawa opened the door with a tired expression, "I am, though I'm feeling out of sorts."

Artex picked up on what she did not say, "Ah, need an emotional 'pick-me-up'?" At her nod, Artex gently placed his hand on the back of her neck. Though there was almost nothing to see, Vaiawa took a deep breath and seemed to almost change color to a deeper black. Her skin took on a slight shine and when she opened her eyes, they shone with renewed energy.

Artex dropped his hand and smiled at her, "Better?"

Vaiawa hummed pleasantly, "Yes, much better. There is little ambient love in this building. Surprisingly enough, Colonel Holliday and the President have a great deal of it. It does not saturate the area though. The emotion which is the thickest is duty." She stepped out and closed the door behind herself, "Let us proceed to Luna's room. I am eager to be home again."

Upon knocking on the door, Luna opened it and Artex had to stifle a shout of surprise. Luna looked as though she had not slept a wink, "Geeze Luna, did you get any rest at all?"

Luna blinked owlishly and sighed, her lips flapping as the air passed them, "Very little. The dreams of those within this city alone are dark enough to keep me in suspense all night. Tel'aran'rhiod was filled with horror scenarios almost beyond my comprehension." She turned to her bodyguards, "By the way, there is a Human Trafficking holding house three blocks to the East. They received eight young girls and women yesterday. The building is a warehouse used to store air conditioning units. There are twelve men whom are aware of what is going on and two of them are pedophiles who took advantage of the girls yesterday when they came in." Luna yawned again, "An unnamed mysterious individual dealt with the issue late last night. The men and women responsible for those crimes have been left tied up and the incriminating paperwork has been stapled to their backs. They will not wake up for another nine hours and the warehouse is expecting no deliveries today."

At seeing the open mouths of her bodyguards Luna snorted and prodded the closest one as if trying to get him to move, "Come now, those girls have suffered enough, inform local authorities about the 'anonymous tip' please. I wish to return to Equestria."

**********

A few minutes later, the three diplomats were standing in front of the portal waiting for Colonel Holliday to let them pass. Luna had just finished recounting the story of the Human Trafficking holding house to the Colonel. Holliday was on the phone with local Police about the issue. After a moment he hung up his mobile phone, "The situation will be dealt with soon. In the future, do NOT do that again." he said emphatically.

Luna's eyes narrowed, "And why not? Those poor girls were suffering profoundly and there was no reason to stand by and watch."

"Because there are proper channels to go through for due process. The local Police can fudge a few things this time, but it will be pushing their capabilities to the max, not to mention the moral and ethical implications and violations in doing so. We don't yet know whether or not we can fully trust you and hair-brained stunts like that do not help whatsoever. What you did last night is called vigilante justice and were you not a diplomat, I would have you arrested for a laundry list of crimes. There is a process to follow and you did not follow it. What gives you the right to go snooping around in people's minds anyway? I have to report this to the President and I don't know how it will end." Colonel Holliday rubbed the bridge of his nose, "If you're right, IF, then those scumbags deserve the worst that anyone can do to them, but proper procedures have to be followed. You should know better, Queen Luna. Laws are in place to protect the innocent and punish the guilty."

Luna quirked an eyebrow, "And if the guilty are too clever to be convicted? If your vaunted system keeps failing them and allowing these crimes and worse to keep occurring?"

"Then we wait until we have sufficient evidence to convict them..." the Colonel began, only to be interrupted by Luna, "Meanwhile, more innocents suffer because the system fails them! You would speak very differently if one of those girls was your daughter! You do not trust us to do what is right, THAT is the real reason you balk at my results!" Luna interjected harshly. She took several breaths, "You fear what you do not understand." she said, calming herself, "There is wisdom in that, however we are not an enemy."

Colonel Holliday ground his teeth, "Our system is what we have, and if you want to stay a diplomat, you will follow the laws."

Artex suddenly spoke up, "What if, say, the perpetrators had a mysterious attack of conscience and voluntarily turned themselves in?"

Colonel Holliday glared at Artex, "IF that happened, their actions would be on them, and there had better not be so much as a hint that any of you were involved." He clenched his eyes shut and groaned, "Now, I'm going to pretend we never had this conversation. Are we clear?"

Luna smiled deviously, "What conversation, Colonel? We only just arrived and I thought you were going to give us clearance to go home. Is there something we need to discuss?"

Colonel Holliday stared at Luna too evenly, "I certainly hope not." He then walked toward the stairs, "Wait here while I double check that you have clearance to leave."

**********

Within ten minutes Luna, Vaiawa, and Artex stepped through the portal and back into New Humansville. The C.W.G. Officers guarding the portal greeted them with words and waves, but did little else. The Officers had a job to do and they were going to stick to it. Luna smiled as she breathed in the fresher air, "Ahh, good to be home." She looked to Artex and Vaiawa, "We will meet back here tomorrow evening." Without another word, she lit up her horn and vanished.

Artex turned to Vaiawa, "Come on, let's see how everyone is settling in." Vaiawa stepped forward and began trotting toward their home on the outskirts of New Humansville. Artex followed behind her.

They waved to the citizens as they passed them. Everyone was happy to see them, and it was good to be home.

Author's Notes:

This is the first of two chapters I have away to my editor. The other should be done here before too long.