The sight I saw when we walked into that room took my breath away five times over. The throne room itself was able to do that at least twice. The very first thing I noticed was the stain-glass windows. Each of them seemed to show some kind of picture of a historic event. One showed a portrait of two alicorns, one white and one navy blue, beating a monster that looked exactly like the statue in the garden. Another one showed six VERY familiar smaller ponies beating a different version of the dark blue winged unicorn. The third showed the same six ponies beating the snake monster again. If I wasn’t mistaken, I’d say that Twilight and her friends… were Equestria’s protectors… That thought threw me for so many loops that I thought I had a case of vertigo because of it. I forgot about my amazement at the rest of the extravagant throne room simply because of the windows.

“Those windows… the pictures on ‘em… A-are you…?” was all I could say to Twilight.

“Heh… yeah, that’s what I meant about my friends and I being the wielders of the Elements of Harmony,” she modestly said. “We’ve saved Equestria from three great evils to this point.”

“…My Goodness…” I was completely astounded. I stood there in a daze before an unfamiliar voice that sounded even more regal than Cadence’s awoke me.

“Well, hello there!” said the voice in a friendly tone. I looked up and lost my breath another three times when I laid my eyes on the magnificent being before me sitting on her throne. She was stunning! Her long, effervescent multicolored mane and tail flowing as if a gentle breeze was lifting it, her gold tiara and horseshoes, her alabaster body, equipped with a Cutie Mark of what seemed to be the sun… Everything I saw in this Princess struck me speechless as my jaw dropped. It almost dislocated when she got up and walked towards us. She was at least twice my size, her horn was at least three times the size of Twilight’s, and when she flared her wings to stretch them, each one of them seemed to be ten of a pegasus’s wings put into one. “You must be the guest my most faithful student was telling me about.” She bowed to me, which shocked me even more. “I am Princess Celestia. Nice to meet you. What, may I ask, is your name, kind sir?” I froze in such a state of amazement that I just flat-out gawked at her.

“Um… Ty? You alright there?” I heard Spike ask. I said nothing. “Ty?”

“Ty!” shouted Twilight. I still said nothing. What woke me up was a hoof swiftly making its way across my face. “Snap out of it!”

“AH! Oh! Umm I-I’m sorry! I’m Ponder Memoir,” I shakily said, rubbing my cheek. “And yes, uh… I-I’m the guest Twilight brought h-here, Your Highness, Ms. Princess Celestia…”

“Simply ‘Celestia’ will do just fine,” she informed with a cute little laugh. “I see Twilight has told you of me?”

‘Y-yes… Please, forgive my nervousness… Meetin’ you an’ discoverin’ exactly HOW important Twilight is… it’s jus’ a lot t’ take in…”

“What do you mean by how ‘important’ I am?” Twilight asked.

“Well… Even though you told me about a lot of it before, I learned first-hoof for confirmation that you’re Celestia’s niece-in-law, your brother’s the captain of the Royal Guard, your sister-in-law’s a princess herself, and you an’ your friends are Equestrian heroes… that’s what I mean…”

“Wow, you’ve learned a lot about me… yes, all of that is true… but one thing I didn’t realize myself… was that Princess Celestia is now my aunt!” she excitedly proclaimed. Celestia chuckled again.

“Hm, yes, that IS true, isn’t it?” the sun goddess rhetorically asked. “But that’s enough about us…” she continued in a more serious tone, standing back up. “What about you… Ty?”

“Oh! Right… I’m from a universe that is similar t’ this one in terms of how ponies interact with one another amongst other similarities, but at the same time, completely different. Like how there’s no such thing as pegasi or unicorns, my world is far beyond this one in terms o' technological advances due t’ lack of the existence o’ magic, and that there is no clear answer as t’ the existence of a supreme overseer like yourself… I’ss also worthy of note that not everybody in my world is quite as friendly as most o’ the ponies here in Equestria... or at least, in Ponyville. Can't say too much about Canterlot...”

“Oh, my… Did you take a tour of the city?"

"I did. And with all due respect, Canterlot residents are a tough crowd to please, Your Majesty."

"I see... I must ask that you forgive them. The citizens of Canterlot simply aren't very used to new visitors. That aside, this world of yours sounds quite peculiar… but I feel that there is one more thing that you’re not telling me…”

“Really…? Oh! Twi has a notebook that ha—!”

“No, I know about the notebook… there’s something else you’re hiding…” she stared at me, studying me like some kind of animal. Her stare was unsettling to say the least. I didn’t want to tell her about me being human, for fear of her reaction. Her horn suddenly lit up with a golden aura as I froze in fear.

“Princess? What are you going to do to him??” Twilight asked, panicked by her mentor’s action.

“Do not worry my student. I simply wish to scan his anatomy…” she said as her horn cast a similar golden aura over me. I felt a barrage of tingling sensations all over me as Celestia highlighted me in her glow. She closed her eyes and focused for a few seconds before she took a deep breath and ended her spell. The expression on her face communicated that she was a little less than pleased with her discovery. “I sense that there was a spell placed on you... one that allows you to maintain your current form,” she deduced to the collective shock of me, Twilight and Spike. She turned toward her protegé. “Is there something you know about this?”

“Y-yes…” Twilight admitted. “You see, he’s not actually a pony like us… He’s what’s called a ‘human.’ He is part of the dominant species in his world, where ponies like us don’t exist. I transformed him into a pony just in case everypony who saw him in his human form would panic. I took precautionary measures mainly because I remembered how everypony treated Zecora when she first arrived in Ponyville…” Celestia's mood seemed to darken a little more at that confession.

"I... don't think I like how things are goin' right now... She seems... a little mad..."

“...I see. Which reminds me… what was it about ‘Magic Intergalactic Travel’ you were talking about in your letter to me?”

“Oh yes! It was just an idea swimming around in my head recently, but I wanted to document the spell I used, seeing as I have it memorized now, so that other unicorns strong enough to use it would be able to traverse to Ty’s world and interact with humans themselves.”

“I see… while that does seem like an interesting idea, please respect and understand that I cannot allow you to bring that thought into action,” the Princess denied in a suddenly serious tone. That shocked everyone again.

“What??” Twilight said, seeming to be hurt by Celestia’s rejection. “If I may ask, why?”

“It is too dangerous. We don’t know everything that goes on in Ty’s world. For all any of us know, somepony could bring in a human that would cause severe damage to the ponies here.” She raised an excellent point there.

"Okay... Well, will there be some research done on it by ponies other than myself so precautionary measures are taken?"

"I am... uncertain," the Solar Monarch curtly replied.

“*sigh* Fair enough,” Twilight plainly said, seeming to brush off the ambiguity of her mentor's answer.

“It also brings a burden on my heart to tell you that I cannot allow the information you’ve acquired about the alternate universe via the notebook to be distributed in any way. That being said, I will need you to give me the book.” I was coming back to reality as my amazement at the Princess and her castle was wearing off and being replaced with soul-crushing remorse as I looked at Twilight. She looked absolutely devastated. Her jaw was dropped as her eyes were wide and wavering. I felt horrible for her.

“Y-yes, Princess… I understand,” Twilight responded as she looked down, melancholy about her aspirations being torn apart by none other than her own mentor.

“Two more things…” Celestia said. “…it is with utmost sorrow… that I ask you to return Ty to his original form and then send him back to his world immediately after this meeting is over.” That was the kicker. Twilight gasped in pain as if someone had struck her across the face. I was upset by that order as well, but I couldn’t bear to see her in such agony, so I looked down in shame, clenching my teeth in anger. “I…” the Princess faltered there. “I… will also have to request that you never return to Ty’s world again after you take him back… In fact, I hereby forbid you to use or mention that spell again once the deed is done…” To say Twilight was upset about that would be a severe understatement. She broke down and began to weep right there. I was getting increasingly angry at Celestia’s outlandish requests. I found the courage to look back up at my distraught comrade. There were no signs of her previously good mood to be seen.

“T-Twilight…” was all I could choke out from my own sadness. She didn’t even look at me. She magically lifted the notebook out of her saddlebag. Her magic fizzled out from lack of focus as she dropped it in front of Celestia.

“Twilight… I know you’re upset about this, but I assure you… this is for the be—!” the Princess tried to inform.

“WHY!? Why are you banishing him!?” she screamed through her tears as she looked up at her aunt-in-law. Her outburst was beyond alarming for all of us. The despair in that unicorn’s face was heartbreaking.

“I’m not banishing him. I am simply taking precautionary measures,” Celestia answered calmly.

“Precautionary measures? What kinds of precautionary measures involve unjustly banishing someone from Equestria— no, this entire WORLD with no feasible basis!?” the royal mare was hesitant to answer. “You even said it yourself that you don’t want him back here! I assure you, he hasn't done anything wrong! He’s been the sweetest, kindest, most understanding pony in both our worlds to me! Yet here you are, telling me to send him back to his world and to never go back there myself! Worse, you’re even planning to destroy all of my notes…! Everything I'd worked for in the past few days... Every memorable experience I'd had... All in the name of friendship..."

"Twilight, I implore you to to consider your words. I--!"

"I can’t just pretend this never happened! Why are you doing this to me? To him? There isn't a single, sensible transgression that either of us has committed that should give you a reason to banish him!” Her words were getting to me… Yes, she was upset at the Princess for her orders, but…

“Twilight Sparkle, what has gotten into you?!” Celesia finally shot back in a scolding tone, appalled by Twilight’s wrathful outburst. “You have never spoken back to me with such disrespect in your life! Do you not understand the enormous amount of consequences that could stem from allowing such unmitigated breaches of our dimensional barriers!? Would you rather launch this entire country into a state of peril on the grounds that this spell be cast without supervision!?"

"No! But I... I..." Twilight could find nothing to say as she stared at the ground, crestfallen. Celestia took a deep breath to calm herself before continuing.

"Tell me, what is so important about him that you’re acting outside of yourself like this?” she asked.

“It’s because... he's my friend... And yet you're telling me to get rid of him and cover up all the traces of his being here... of all the time he and I have spent together... of our feel..." she tearfully replied before seeming to abruptly cut herself off, her radiant devastation beginning to take her over. "He hasn't done anything wrong, Princess... I don't understand... I…! I…” Twilight faltered on her words and froze. She then swiftly turned around and bolted out of the throne room, weeping openly along the way. I was fighting back my own sympathetic tears as I stared at the ground, furious. If I still had my hands, I SWEAR they’d be bleeding from their palms from how tightly I imagined myself clenching them into fists.

“Spike… go an’ comfort Twilight…” I calmly, yet shakily instructed the dragon, who was still standing there, appalled. “I’d… like to have a word with Celestia…”

“…O-on it,” Spike obliged as he ran out of the throne room after his grieving surrogate mother. I waited until he was out of earshot to finally convey my feelings to the Princess.

“Y’know… with all due respect… That was some real fucked up shit you jus’ pulled there, Princess…” I said, still trying to remain calm, although the waviness in my voice betrayed it. I couldn’t even look at her, so I stared back at the ground. I wanted to avoid such profanity in this world, especially in front of the Goddess of the Sun but my emotions got the best of me here.

“I… I am not familiar with some of the terms you used, but I’ll assume they were not very friendly…” Celestia somberly said, to my surprise. It still did nothing to soothe my anger at her for what she did to Twilight.

“No… they weren’t… and for that, I hafta apologize. But why…? Why would you jus’ go an’ crush that girl’s hopes like that?” My tone became cold and contemptuous. “She wanted t’ make you proud… t’ expand her knowledge an’ everyone else’s… t’ go beyond what you assigned her t’ do… an’ you jus’ MERCILESSLY tore that away from her like—!”

“SILENCE!” Celestia shouted, fed up with my berating. I got quiet instantly, but the noise I heard after I quieted down shocked me… I heard Princess Celestia herself actually weeping. That was enough to coax me into looking up at the alicorn. She was looking at me like she’d just lost someone special to her. Her sharp magenta eyes had tears flowing freely from them, a look of regret evident on her face. “Do you think it didn’t hurt for me to break the heart of my most faithful student and niece? That I’d just tell her that she was disallowed from traveling to your universe again with no justifiable reasons? Believe me, Ty… I wouldn’t do this without a valid motive.”

“No… Goin’ by what Twilight said about you before we came in here, which is lookin’ REAL ironic right now… I don’t suppose a leader like yourself would be so cruel… but I haven’t heard a reason other than basically ‘inhabitants in my world could be dangerous…’ in which case, you have a point. My world is very unequal in terms o’ the various dispositions o’ the humans there… there are areas in it where everyone is welcomed with open arms no matter what… then there’s areas that have been ravaged by an’ riddled with things like disease, poverty, prejudice, and/or blatant, unjustified hatred. I don't know much about this world, but I can assume at least some o' those same things happen here, too, no?"

"Indeed those issues do exist in this world," Celestia confirmed.

"So neither of our worlds is perfect. For that, I don’t blame you for shuttin’ Twi down on the M.I.T. thing… but what I don’t understand is why I’m bein’ punished. Why you want me to go home an’ never return. Or why Twi is unable to visit me again…”

“*sigh* When I was out in the far east to settle that trade dispute, I found out that it was started because someone from one of the countries had brought in a guest from the other country. That guest turned out to have ulterior motives in the form of planning to cause both countries to collapse in on themselves by tricking their leaders into shutting down trade routes with each other and making them go to war with each other. He figured that if he rounded up a fair enough amount of rebels and waited until both countries were low on resources due to lack of sufficient trading and dramatically increased deficit spending, he and his troops would stage a coup d’état and take over both countries… He would’ve gotten away with it, too, had he not made the fatal mistake of trusting a spy that I sent after I got word of him and his suspicious activities.”

“Tha’ss unfortunate an’ all, but what does that have t’ do with me or Twi?”

“My point is that Twilight could have seriously injured herself by going into an entirely unfamiliar world with no way to navigate. She could have also jeopardized Equestria’s safety by bringing you here. You could have been just like that stallion, simply gaining the trust of an unsuspecting ally in order to carry out a sinister deed against this world.”

“So you’re accusin’ me o’ bein’ some kinda criminal on the basis o' somebody else's deeds?”

“No. What I’m saying is that, by allowing her to distribute this information, someone could wind up targeting her and tricking her-- or ANYPONY capable of performing this spell-- into bringing them into your world and causing mass destruction there. Or, say if I allowed her to document the spell along with the information you gave her; what’s to stop one malevolent individual from using it to bring a denizen of your world here to do something harmful?"

"...A decent enough point, I guess..." I reluctantly agreed, not finding much ground to stand on against someone who's, as I've been informed, has been leader of this world for a very long time.

"I must look out for the interests and safety of the population and the country before I look into the personal interests of those closest to me. Twilight, though I love her dearly, is no exception...” She raised such strong points. I found myself unable to argue against them because, although I believed her to be acting paranoid, she was in fact the leader and overseer of Equestria..

“I… I understand, Your Highness… You are completely right about everything… but why are you forcin’ me t’ go back so soon an' without the possibility of return?”

“I can’t risk you giving away information that would cause uproar... Even by accident.”

"You can't trust me t' keep my mouth shut, is wat you're tryna say?"

"Not necessarily... It's the sheer amount of magic that needed to be channeled into you, between this trans-dimensional spell and the one currently masking you as a pony, that presents some worrisome circumstances. Canterlot in particular is still currently recovering from an attack by foreign invaders who were able to masquerade as ponies. The context of your presence here, with no offenses intended, does not seem too different..."

“I… I see your point,” I disdainfully admitted before chuckling a little. “I’ss funny, too… because this reminds me of a quote I heard before… ‘It is impossible for a leader to be loving AND just, at the same time.’”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, if you were rulin’ because you loved everyone, you’d find that deliverin’ justice where i’ss needed would be unbelievably hard t’ do if not impossible, which would severely impact your decision-makin’ skills. However, if you were rulin’ for the sake of justice, you would find yourself unable t’ love anyone because the rules an’ necessary enforcement OF those rules wouldn’t allow it. I realize now that you’re kind of an exception t’ that rule. Sure, you love all the ponies in Equestria… I’ll guess ESPECIALLY Twilight. But even then, like you said, you do wha’ss best for the country as a whole before you look at the interests of one or a few… An’ for that, I can respect you… You look out for everyone, yet you still find time t’ cherish the population, especially those you’re close to… An’ though it will be hard for Twi an’ me… We can find a way t’ forgive you for your decisions because in the end… We know you know you’re makin’ the right ones…” I calmed all the way down and held up a hoof to the royal mare.

“Your words are wise, human… thank you. And please, give Twilight Sparkle my condolences,” Celestia said, now seemingly calm as she reached out a hoof to touch mine. I pulled my hoof away. “Is it not a hoof-shake you are requesting?”

“Exactly. Because I want a hug.” She looked at me with confusion. “Aw, come on. Surely, you ain’t too ‘just’ for a hug… I promise you I ain’t gonna bite.” She smiled and complied as she lowered her neck, allowing me to gently wrap my forelegs around her. She even returned the hug with one fore hoof. I’ll admit that I did it as a way to get a feel of that mane of hers… it was just too tempting to pass up! It felt softer than anything I’d ever touched before… like living teddy bears whose fur tickled and swayed in accordance to my embrace. It felt… magical. Celestia was also pleasantly warm like morning sunlight. She smelled like a mixture of exotic fruits mixed with a most pleasing fragrance of perfume… “Hey, can I ask you a favor before I go?” I asked as we separated.

“What might that be?”

“That… I get to say goodbye to Twilight’s friends before I change back t’ my human self… It’s rude t’ leave without a proper goodbye, y’know…?”

“Hmm… very well… so long as no one other than Twilight and Spike see you in your human form,” she gracefully permitted. I smiled and nodded in agreement before turning around and going to find and console Twilight.

“Thank you, Princess Celestia… An’ though we won’t ever see each other again, I will say that i’ss been an honor t’ meet you.”

“Likewise… Farewell… Tyshawn,” she gladly responded as I walked out the door. A second after the door closed behind me, I froze as I had an epiphany.

“How the hell did she know my name??”