We begin with Twilight, now accompanied by Rainbow Dash…

Rainbow and I had teleported to the entrance of Sweet Apple Acres and walked in to see a large red stallion with a yoke around his neck, a short, somewhat unkempt golden brown mane and tail and a Cutie Mark of the inside of a large green apple, alone in the forest of apple trees, bucking apples in the afternoon sunset.

“Hey, Big Mac!” Rainbow and I greeted as we approached the large red stallion.

“Howdy,” he simply replied as he wiped some sweat off of his forehead after halting his progress.

“Everything good?” asked Rainbow.

“Eeyup.”

“Hard at work?”

“Eeyup.”

“Grrreat…”

“Eeyup.”

“…Soooo… Is Applejack here?” Rainbow asked after a short moment of silence.

“Ee-nope.” He stoically responded in his usual monotone.

“Well, where is she?”

“Sellin’ apples in town.”

“Oh.”

“Eeyup.” We were getting nowhere fast. Big Macintosh never was the conversational type. He was always a hard worker, as well as a stallion of few words. He seemed to hardly ever say much more than his renditions of “yes” and “no” unless the topic interested him.

“…Do you have any rope that we can borrow?” I asked, hoping for an at least slightly more wordy response.

“Eeyup. Why?” he asked, which shocked both me and Rainbow Dash.

“We um… we need it for a trip to Canterlot.” He stared at me with the tiniest hint of confusion as he raised his eyebrows ever so slightly.

“Mind explainin’ how rope’s gonna help ya in Canterlot?” he asked again.

“Oh, well you see, I’m scheduled to meet Princess Celestia today, but she doesn’t have a way to get me there, and Rainbow Dash offered to fly me there herself. But we don’t know if she’s able to hold my weight along with hers, so we need some rope to tie us together so she doesn’t wind up dropping me.”

“Why don’tcha jus’ use yer magic t’ get there?”

“Trust me, I would’ve, but I haven’t perfected the spell necessary to teleport me there yet. Instead, I’ll be using a spell that temporarily makes me light enough so that Rainbow’s flight isn’t hindered by me.” We sat in silence after I explained my situation, the red work stallion eyeing the pegasus and me quizzically while keeping his usual straight face.

“…Hang on,” he finally answered as he began to gallop towards the barn.

“…How did you DO that??” Rainbow Dash whispered to me in surprise.

“Do what?” I asked.

“Get Big Mac to talk.”

“Well, he never seemed to be the kind of pony to be very interested in idle chatter. According to Cheerilee, he only ever says more than a couple words if the topic pertains to him in any way. Otherwise, he just likes to keep things simple. Despite how big he is, he's actually pretty shy.”

“What?? How would Cheerilee know anything about him?”

“Apparently, they um… dated at one point. Or at least, they went on a friendly date together one time after Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle corrected their mistake of tricking her and Big Mac into drinking a love poison that made them fall in love with each other. She told me that the fillies’ attempt to force them together, while incredibly irresponsible and misguided, piqued her interest in Big Mac. The date they went on after they were cured was to 'test the waters,' so to speak. I’m not entirely sure as to how they’ve connected since then. I haven’t spoken to Cheerilee to find out.” Rainbow just gawked at me like she’d seen a ghost or something.

"Seriously? Even HE has ponies who like him??" my fellow mare growled in frustration. "I swear, if I hear about ONE more pony that isn't me getting a date, I'm gonna--!"

“Whelp... here ya go, ladies,” Big Mac said, interrupting Dash's tirade as he approached us with a coiled-up rope in his mouth. He unfurled the rope to reveal it to be an adequate length for Rainbow and I.

“Thanks, Big Mac,” I replied. “Buuut, could you do us one more little favor?”

“Eeyup,” he answered, already realizing what I was going to ask him as he moved to pick up one end of the rope to wrap it firmly around my waist and then tie it tight. He soon moved onto Rainbow, who flared her wings so as not to have them tied down. After Big Macintosh bound us together with the rope, I cast the spell on myself. Instantaneously, I began to rise into the air. Gravity no longer held any sort of control over me. Of course, my drift was halted by the rope tethering me to my friend. “Be safe now, y'all,” the red stallion added with a short wave as he went back to work on apple bucking.

“Thanks,” I responded.

“And AWAY, WE GO!” Rainbow shouted as she took a readied stance. A wave of fear instantly hit me harder than a grand piano that fell out of an airborne moving truck.

“…Oh dear, sweet Celestia, no…”

“Rainbow Dash, WaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!” Before I knew it, she impulsively rocketed into the air with her trademark polychromatic trail (as well as me) following closely behind her, seeming to completely forget that she had a passenger on board. I swear, if I were able to look back, I’d probably see a trail of the colors of my mane and tail, we were flying so speedily. I’d never been so terrified in my life…

Jumping back into the human world…

I was just TWO streets away from my house when I noticed a sudden barrage of flashing red, white, and blue lights turn on behind me, accompanied by a couple of warning sirens.

“Ah, Motha...FFFFucker...!”

I pulled over to the side of the road, both sides of which were covered with forestation. I sat and waited for the inevitable as I went through the motions of rolling down my window, pulling out my license and registration, and placing my hands firmly on the steering wheel. Not a moment too soon afterwards, a police officer wearing shades despite it being dusk walked up to the side of my car and shined a flash light in my eyes.

“This can NOT be happenin’ right now…!”

“Good evening, sir,” greeted the police officer, whom I was none too pleased to see.

“Evening, officer,” I responded with a false sense of calm.

“License and registration, please,” the officer requested. I didn’t hesitate to give her my documents. “Have you been drinking tonight, sir?”

“No I have not.”

“Are you aware of the speed you were going?”

“I’m sorry t' say I am not.”

“Oh, well allow me to inform you that you were doing sixty in a forty-five mile zone. There any reason you were speeding?”

“If I told you, you’d think I was crazy.”

“I’m sure I’ve heard ‘em all. Try me,” the cop dared as she handed me back my papers.

“Well ma’am, to be perfectly honest, I spent a good amount o’ my afternoon tryna get away from three dipshit My Little Pony fans who wouldn’t leave me alone. I ran and ran and ran, got into my car, and drove as quickly as I could from the city to here.”

“My Little Pony fans, huh? You must mean ‘bronies.’ One of ‘em wouldn’t have happened to be wearing a Rainbow Dash hoodie, would they?” My goodness, even cops knew about this show? What the hell did I miss? And just what in the hell was a “brony?”

“Uh, yeah… why?” I asked with extreme uncertainty.

“That’s my nephew. He and his friends like to hang around in the city. I’ll be sure to give him a talking-to when I’m done here. But as for you, I’m gonna have to give you a speeding ticket.” I reserved any sarcastic remarks I’d thought up in that moment to prevent the proverbial shit from hitting the fan. She scribbled a few things on the ticket, ripped it out of the notebook she was holding, and handed it to me.

“Two hundred fifty dollars!?” I couldn’t withhold my outrage at the pricy punishment I was dealt after reading the document. “Please, officer, this is my first offense!” I begged. “It wouldn’t be too much trouble t' gimme some leeway, would it?”

“I am,” the officer shot back. “I’m allowing that remark you made about my nephew being a dipshit slide.”

“*sigh* that son of a bitch… This is him and his dumbass friends’ fault…” I was frustrated beyond belief, to the point where I was thinking irrationally as a coping mechanism for my current situation. I was aware that this was partially Twilight’s fault for sending the letter at the wrong time, the three pony fans’— I mean “bronies’” fault for chasing me down like they did, but mostly my fault for speeding all the way home as if they were still chasing me. However, it felt better to blame them.

“Well, that’s all the business we have here. Drive safe. Oh, and you should REALLY check out My Little Pony sometime. They say it’s a kids’ show but even I find it charming and hilarious,” the officer said as she walked back to her car and pulled off in front of me.

“*sigh* Oh man, this day has been jus’ the worst…” I muttered as I drove the rest of two streets. I made it home safely, but swiftly and practically raced into my house, up to my room and crashed unceremoniously on my bed.

“Oh, man does it feel good t’ be home… I’m ‘bout t’ pass out up in here…” I tiredly said to myself as I stretched. However, rest could wait for just a few minutes as I remembered Twilight’s letter. I climbed back to my feet to turn on a light before I sat down and carefully opened up the letter to read it:

Dear Ty,

Currently, I’m not entirely sure if this has gotten to you or not. Consider this another experiment of mine. In the case that this letter DID get to you, you’re probably wondering how I managed to do so. I'll have to explain that to you if I get the chance. I’d just like to let you know that I miss you already. Like, REALLY miss you. I haven’t missed anyone this much since my big brother after I moved to Ponyville, and I hardly understand why. What’s worse is that there is the lingering possibility that I may not be able to see you again.

In any case, I really wish you were here. At this point, I’m waiting for a response from Princess Celestia, and there’s been nothing but distractions and delays all day. I understand that this isn’t the best news to relay to you, but I assure you, I will not let you down. I’ve got all of my argument points practically etched into my brain, but I still can’t shake off the air of timidity I’ve been feeling. Not only is it because it’s my first time challenging a direct order from Princess Celestia, it’s also because… you aren’t physically here to encourage me or help me… to comfort me… to kiss me… I admit that other than the outside distractions, I’ve been getting sidetracked thinking about you and what I would do if I wasn’t able to convince her to let you come back, as well as what we would do if she did reconsider and allow your presence here or at least allowed me to use the spell to see you.

I feel as though I’m rambling at this point, so I’ll keep it short. I miss you so much right now, and I’m still not feeling one hundred percent on this, but I want you to know that I will try my hardest to change Princess Celestia’s mind so that we WILL see one another again. Have faith in me.

Love,

Twilight Sparkle

I set the letter down and began to register the contents of it. It suddenly hit me that my chances of seeing the little unicorn again were fairly uncertain. I still had faith that she would succeed, but she brought up a point I’d all but neglected until now:

"What if she WASN’T able to convince the princess? What would she do? What would I do??" We were worlds—no, UNIVERSES apart. Yet, we bonded like we’d always lived in the same world, almost completely disregarding our physical differences. We shared many different things in our short time together; laughs, adventures, experiences, and so on…

I couldn’t even begin to fathom what would happen if they were all abruptly ended before we were able to allow our friendship to flourish. I wasn’t too lonely a human being, knowing I had friends and family that cared for me. But Twilight… I felt like she’d become my closest friend in a record amount of time. It may or may not have been simple spur-of-the-moment thinking brought on by her message, but I was certain of one thing: I couldn’t stand the thought of losing her simply because of my species and plane of existence. In a few days, she’d shown me more than anyone in my world ever has in years. Losing her would devastate me. Whether she and her universe was a cartoon or if it actually existed, but a cartoon in this world that was strikingly similar to the actual Equestria was conveniently created or whatever the case was stopped mattering in the least to me anymore. All I cared about was seeing MY little pony once again...

“Twi… I miss you just as much as you do me…” I felt a lump growing in my throat as I somberly, yet anxiously mused. “There’s no way in either of our worlds that Celestia wouldn’t change her mind… is there…?”

I turned the light back off and set the letter on my dresser before lying back down on my bed to collect my thoughts. I soon found myself quickly losing a sudden battle against my weariness from the long, unfortunately eventful day that was coupled with the fact that I’d gotten much less sleep than normal at the beginning of it. It didn’t take long for me to succumb to the sleepiness and slip from consciousness…

As for Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle…

“RAINBOW DASH!!” I screamed in aggregate terror as I clung to the rope for dear life. “COULD YOU PLEASE SLOW DOWN!!?”

“WHY??” she screamed back. “THE SOONER WE GET THERE, THE BETTER! BESIDES, WE’RE TIED TOGETHER! YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT FALLING! OR DRIFTING AWAY, IN THIS CASE!” she was flying as if she were in a race that guaranteed her a spot on the Wonderbolts if she won.

“YEAH, BUT I STILL HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT—!” *POOF* The pegasus guided me right through a cloud that burst into mist on impact. We were tethered together by the rope that was tied firmly around each of our midsections. The weight-reducing spell I’d performed on myself had the same side effect as when I used it on Spike, which meant I was rising into the air like a balloon, but being held steady by the rope that bound me to the blue pegasus. “RAINBOW!!” I shouted, now soaking wet, freezing AND soaring though the sky at an alarming pace. I could only hope I didn’t get sick because of this…

“What? We’re here now,” she replied, not looking back at me as we hovered over the glorious mountainside city.

“Yeah, that’s great, but—! WHOA!” I was interrupted as Rainbow Dash hastily zoomed towards the city, landing us right at the front door of the castle. As soon as I realized where we were, I was quick to reverse the balloon spell and plant my hooves firmly on the ground.

"O sweet gravity, how little I’ve appreciated your loving hold..."

“Yeah, we’re NEVER doing this again…” I complained.

“Oh come on, Twi! It wasn’t THAT bad, was it?” asked the oblivious rainbow-maned mare.

“Look at me,” I snippily answered. She turned to see my drenched, shivering form, my mane matted firmly against my body and face, and my tail feeling five pounds heavier. She began to giggle at my misfortune, even though it was her fault.

“Oops… sorry about that… here, lemme dry you off,” she offered as she readied herself to give me a spin cycle.

“NO!” I apprehensively rejected her offer for fear of what would happen to my hair. Last time she dried me off, my hair wound up looking worse than Ty in his pony form after I zapped him for laughing at Spike. “I’ll air dry if that’s alright. You remember what happened LAST time you dried me off, right?”

“Uh… Oh yeah…”

"Let's go now," I impatiently ordered. She complied, continuing her laughter as we approached the door and were allowed inside of the castle by the guards. Rainbow Dash and I wasted no time untying the rope and trotting our way into the extravagant foyer of the castle. However, before we made our way up to the throne room door, I began to have second thoughts regarding Rainbow’s presence during the discussion. She didn’t know about humans, and I was afraid that bringing her here would jeopardize my chances of winning the princess over.

“Rainbow… Why don’t you wait out here?” I asked, not trying to sound rude.

“What? And NOT help you to try and get Ty back? What kind of friend would I be to ditch you at a time like this? Besides, I didn’t come all the way here with you just to sit on the sidelines. I want to help you.”

“I understand that, but I need to do this alone.”

“Give me ONE good reason why!” she demanded.

“Because… because…” I had no legitimate reason for her not to be there other than the fact that I was going to fight for a human’s right to visit Equestria. But I wasn’t sure if telling her was the right thing to do at this point. I went silent.

“Listen, Twi… if you’re feeling nervous, then it’s only necessary that I go with you. I don’t know what’s got you so shaken up all of a sudden that you don’t want me in there with you, but I’m your friend. I’ll stick by you through thick and thin," she let me know. Dash's assurance of her willingness to help me sent me into a state of deep thought for a few moments. I couldn't stop her at this point... it wouldn't be right. She DID come all this way just to assist me with this most pressing concern... But then, she had no idea what she was getting herself into... I scrutinized exactly how I'd handle giving the pegasus a role in this discussion... and soon, I'd made up my mind.

“…Thank you, Rainbow Dash…” I finally said, now sure of what to do with her. “I guess it’s only fair that you know what you’re getting into, though. What I’m going to tell you, you must promise me that it won’t leak to anypony else, okay?”

“You have my word. What is it?”

“Here goes nothing…”

“*sigh* As you know, Ty’s from an alternate universe.”

“Yeah?”

“Well… he’s also not a pony.” Her eyes went wide.

“What? What do you mean, ‘not a pony?’ He looked like any run-of-the-mill Earth pony I’ve ever seen.”

“That’s because I transformed him into one. The truth is… he’s actually part of a race in his world known as ‘humans.’” Rainbow stared at me, her magenta-shaded eyes as large as dinner plates. She seemed to be dumbfounded by the information I’d just relayed to her. “Princess Celestia found it out herself when we came to visit her yesterday. She subsequently banned him from this world and told me to never go back to his world for a reason she claims to be ‘for the safety of Equestria,’ for which she used that crisis in the East as an explanation."

"Wha...??"

"What’s wrong is that I think she cast a mind reading spell on him without his or even my knowledge at the time once she found out about him being a human. I came here not only to get her to overturn her decisions, but also to dig into her reasoning for making such harsh judgments. That’s the gist of it…”

“…Wow… Well, if he didn’t do anything wrong, then I don’t see any problem in joining you in changing Celestia’s mind. I don’t know nearly as much as you do, but I’ll add in what I can. But we’ve sat here horsing around long enough, don’tcha think?”

“I was more afraid of how you’d react to finding out that Ty wasn’t actually a pony and that you’d be helping me defend someone not only from a different universe, but also of a species that doesn’t exist in this world than me being nervous..."

"Well... the only thing I find weird is that you're apparently dating him... But I'm sure you have your reasons. Plus, if he's as cool as you made him out to be even though he's not a pony, then there's no reason I shouldn't be able to help..." she assured with a warm grin.

"...Thank you for that, Rainbow Dash...” I couldn't help but smile back at my friend.

"No problem. Now let's go rescue ourselves a human..." With that, we cantered our way up the stairs leading to the throne room. I took a deep breath as I felt my heart begin to thump in my chest like a drum. I swallowed the massive lump in my throat as the guards allowed us access. Rainbow and I walked into the throne room almost immediately. I glanced at her to see she wasn’t really showing any signs of anxiety. She maintained her normally cool attitude towards the coming debate. What I wouldn’t have given to remain as calm and collected as she seemed to be.

“Good afternoon, Twilight. Rainbow Dash,” Princess Celestia greeted from her throne.

“Good afternoon, Your Highness,” Rainbow and I greeted in unison as we respectfully bowed before her.

“You may rise, my little ponies. I understand you wish to speak with me, Twilight?” she asked as she approached us.

“Y-yes. I want… to talk about Ty’s banishment.”

“I see…” the princess took a tone of what sounded like worry. “What is it you have to say on the matter?”

“Well… I… I…” already, I was choking…

“Come on, Twilight! You can do this! You've gotten this far… You CAN’T let him down!” With that thought, I decided to wing it.

“I have to say I disagree with your decision,” I finally gathered up the courage to blurt out. “I’ve thought about it thoroughly after discussing your stipulations with him and I cannot find a valid reason to agree with you.”

“Twilight… You have to understand that my decision was for our fair country’s safety.”

“I do, Your Highness, and you know I’m usually behind your decisions one hundred percent. However, this particular decision, I cannot find any reason to justify. The way I see it, an innocent visitor was wrongfully exiled from our land for a suspicion that may not have been true.”

“Suspicion? I don’t see how removing a potential threat to our safety is equal to suspicion, my most faithful student.”

“Princess, do you honestly think he could've harbored any sense of malice toward us?” I unintentionally raised my voice. "I'm confident that, considering how much time I spent with him, he's a good pony."

“That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have developed any malevolent intentions had I allowed him to stay or allowed for you to continue bringing him between dimensions without any supervision.”

“With all due respect, that isn’t a very fair reason, Princess. That actually equates to suspicion. Whether he would have done any harm to Equestria and its citizens or not, we won’t know because we never got a chance to get to know him.”

“That is exactly my point, my student. I eliminated a potential threat before it got a chance to become a threat.” She walked me into a wall on that one. I wasn’t going to be deceived into forfeiting, though.

“As you know, Ty has spent a total of two days here. He spent the entirety of both those days with me, and not once has he shown any intention to cause harm to anypony. In fact, he’s quickly been able to befriend Rainbow Dash here, as well as all of my other friends. I must also inform you that I myself have spent roughly the same amount of time with him in his universe. When we’d first met, he was actually more afraid of me than I was of him because we were unfamiliar to each other in more ways than one. His most surprising concern when we'd met pertained to my ability to utilize magic; an ability that, to my understanding, a human does not possess under any circumstance. As time went on however, he and I built a friendship much like the friendships I’d built since you sent me to live in Ponyville.”

“That is similar to what the pony in the East said about her traitorous ex-companion.” That rebuttal threw me off guard for a second, but I knew that this was the chance to finally get some insight.

“If you please, would you mind elaborating?”

“The two ponies shared a very strong friendship, despite being on opposite sides of the border that separated their homelands. At one point, the trusting pony began to illicitly sneak her companion in and out of her country simply so they could enjoy some quality time with one another and with friends. As it soon turned out, the stallion was using her in order to get close enough to government officials in her country to begin an uproar that caused the trade dispute I was called in to settle. He had already sabotaged the trust of the other country in his own, but had no way to do so in the other one without the help of a unicorn mare.”

“I see. But it pains me for you to consider me so gullible as to allow such blatant ulterior motives to victimize me. I wouldn’t be here right now if I didn’t trust him, which brings me to this: Why exactly IS this situation so important? Why is it that you feel that the unfortunate series of events that unfolded there holds relevance to me and Ty?” Silence enveloped the room almost immediately.

“Twilight, I do not see you as ‘gullible…’ you are far from it. You’ve learned to be critical and you’ve demonstrated that you cannot be easily fooled. However, nopony is immune to the effects of love.” Love…? Such a strong word she used… I knew I LIKED Ty, but… “Love is blind. It fills a pony with unprecedented joy and ecstasy and there isn’t one pony in this world that isn’t capable of love… However, this same feeling can, and has proven to cloud a pony’s sense of judgment. As for the unicorn in the east, she allowed her love for the stallion to overshadow her thinking, which disallowed her from scrutinizing and finding out about the stallion’s motives herself until it was too late.”

“So you’re saying I’m only here for the sake of love?” I asked. I wasn’t sure about how to attack that point, because it conflicted with me in some ways. “I… I won’t deny it as a reason, but… even so, you don’t know that much about him to tell me he could be using me. If he was, I’d be able to pick up on it. I’m no foal. I’m your most faithful student. There’s a whole different reason I’m here as well. Aside from my friendship with Ty, I have to argue that you chose to get rid of him because he was human. I feel that goes strictly against your teachings of love and tolerance. Considering you haven’t seen a human before, why exactly are you holding such a strict position on keeping him away from here?” Another moment of silence passed; this one longer than the last.

“*sigh* I was hoping I wouldn’t have to tell you this, but I see I don’t have a choice… You see, my most faithful student, I know more about humans than you think. In fact… that stallion in the East…?” I was quick to acknowledge her implication, but I was completely flabbergasted by it.

“Are you saying…? But how…? I thought I was the only one…”

“It is true, Twilight. You are NOT the first pony to learn that spell. This other unicorn revealed that she’d learned it before you did; in fact, she learned it over a month ago and had been trying to perfect it in secret for over a year before that point. Once she'd felt confident that she'd mastered her new spell, she visited the other universe and found a human there. However, she informed me that she hadn't spent nearly as much time with him in the alternate universe as they spent in this one. In addition, her spell proved to be somewhat unstable and somehow malfunctioned during the journey back here. When the two came back, they found themselves separated, being transported to opposite sides of her country’s international border."

"Unbelievable...!" I muttered, aghast at Celestia's story.

"Indeed it may seem so... She also told me she used a similar transformation spell on him that turned him into a pony at his request before they made the trip here. The only difference was that the transformation spell she used on him was permanent. Before she did so, she questioned him on why he was so intent on never returning to his own world. He reasoned that everyone in that universe is malevolent and anyone brought here from that world would have some motive to bring harm to this world. He told her that he was different and he didn’t want to live with those negative influences anymore. It is similar to what Ty told me when he was in your position. However, Ty insisted that not everyone in his world is evil, but there are varying degrees of such dispositions there. As for this human-turned-stallion, he was quick to find a friend in a powerful government official and used him to gain influence in that nation’s government, while at the same time having the mare that brought him here sneak him over the border for private visits.”

“Wow…” I was mind-blown at this revelation. There was ACTUALLY another human that existed in Equestria. I couldn’t wrap my head around how another pony could have discovered the universal travel spell before I did. But, I still had a point to make, and Celestia opened the door for me on it. “I see… but I'd like to point out that you should have figured out he wasn't a malevolent being... even when you read his mind.”

“What??” Celestia was taken aback by my discovery. “H-how did you know?”

“He told me you called him by his name before he walked out of here last time. From that, I deduced that you must have cast a mind-reading spell on him right after you scanned the magic around him to find out he was a human in disguise. I told him you were just messing with him so he wouldn’t be upset, but you violated his privacy. Even if you did so as a precautionary measure for Equestria’s safety, I cannot agree with casting such a spell. However, that brings about this next question: Even after you peeked into his subconscious, did you manage to find anything resembling an ulterior motive within him?”

"I didn't peek that far into his mind. I only wanted to find out how he managed to become a pony and what his real name was. I had little reason to investigate further, as I already have a testimony on the nature of humans given to me by one of them," my mentor confessed.

"Really now...? Well, Your Highness, I am 100% confident that Ty harbors no evil intent whatsoever. I should know from personal experience. To say you can't take my word for it would mean you couldn't trust me."

“I understand your sentiment completely, Twilight, and I do trust you. As much as it pains me to admit it, it's Ty that I currently can't bring myself to trust. I didn’t want to take the risk of him revealing his true origins to anypony. Given what I’ve heard and learned about humans thanks to the two that found their way here, they seem to be very dangerous creatures to themselves in their world. I don’t want those same dangers lurking about in this one, too. As I informed you, the first human to come here nearly started a war between two countries in an attempt to gain control over both of them. Aside from that, I also don’t want to risk you getting hurt in the other universe or repeating the same mistake that the other unicorn made in trusting too strongly in a human she’d barely known. I would never be able to live it down if something were to happen to you. I haven’t experienced first-hoof what Ty’s universe is truly like, but given what I’d heard from him and the two ponies in the east, I could only assume that it was extremely dangerous.”

“But Ty ISN’T dangerous. He showed you himself that he wasn’t dangerous. I could even write you an extensive report on how I know it as fact that he wouldn't bring harm to our world. Why? Why did you still choose to get rid of him? It doesn’t add up…” I was eager to hear her answer for this.

“*sigh* Truthfully, I admit that I am… afraid. I do not know what to expect of humans and I... I suppose I allowed one bad human to ruin my perception on the rest, even when you brought one in that showed no discernible signs of wickedness..." She went briefly quiet, seeming to contemplate her words. "Maybe I should've reconsidered when he stood up to me after you departed last time..." Hearing that last statement surprised me.

"He stood up to her? For me? Wow... He told me he simply agreed with her..."

"If you don't mind me asking... What exactly went on after I left?" I asked with extreme curiosity.

"He was visibly hurt by my decree as well and voiced his concerns quite eloquently. He and I had a short discussion about the ethics of your newest spell and the potential dangers it could pose to both of our worlds. Eventually, he managed to accept my standpoint as me being considerate of Equestria's safety rather than apprehensive about the nature of humans. Now that it comes to mind, he... he even found it in him to hug me goodbye before he left..."

"A HUG, too??? Wow, I guess I must've gotten through to him on the 'love and tolerance' philosophy..."

"Now that I recall the events that transpired yesterday in better detail, I feel my judgments have hurt my most faithful student and her friend. I apologize. I now realize that I... may not have made the best choice.” Just when I thought she would cease to surprise me, Celestia exceeded my expectations yet again. I saw her sharp lavender eyes wavering with guilt... That hurt to see, but I knew it meant that I must've gotten through to her. Here she was, the most powerful and most knowledgeable pony in existence, truly showing that although she’d learned much in her time, she still had room to grow herself. For that, I actually respected her more than ever.

“I… I understand your standpoint, Princess Celestia, but I know what I’m doing. And I know Ty well enough that he wouldn’t be capable of performing any dastardly deeds like that other human did. In fact, he even told me that he chose not to pursue his arguments against your choices because he respected your position as Princess of the Sun and co-ruler of Equestria too highly to contest your judgment. If he did have any ulterior motives to carry out, however, I’d be able to stop him.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash finally spoke up. “I haven’t spent nearly as much time around him as Twilight, but even I could see he wouldn’t try anything fishy. If anything, we’re probably more of a danger to him than he is to any of us. But then again, I’ve only seen him as a pony. I have no idea what he’s capable of as a human, but I’m positive he wouldn’t try to hurt us. I mean, when we first met, he accidentally um… uh…” she scratched her head as she looked around the room for an acceptable choice of words.

“Encroached upon your personal space,” I added for her to avoid discomfort.

“Yeah, that,” Rainbow agreed, regaining her focus. “I got really angry at him, and then I sorta took some of it out on Twi when she tried to defend him… But you know what he did after that?”

“What?” asked the princess, taking an interest in Rainbow’s story.

“He called me back down as I flew away. I went back only to yell at him some more, but he stopped me from yelling and apologized. He… he even offered me to buck him right in the face if I didn’t accept his apology.” She let out a lighthearted chuckle. “Since then, I haven’t been able to talk to him much, but when we did talk, he proved to be a really great guy.”

“I see… How about your other friends? What do they think of him?” Celestia asked.

“He managed to get Fluttershy to talk to him almost immediately after she bumped into him,” I began. “Before that, he greeted Rarity with great manners; to the point where she thought he was my special somepony.”

“Pinkie Pie and Applejack seemed to like him, too,” Rainbow Dash interjected. “We had a picnic yesterday and we all laughed and joked and told stories about each other and ourselves. He cheered them up when they felt down and in return, they practically squeezed the life out of him by hugging him.”

“And before we came to see you yesterday, I allowed him to explore the castle alone with Spike for a bit. When he said his goodbyes, Spike mentioned something about it being nice to receive some advice from another male... which, now that I think about it, is probably the reason he and Rarity are spending some time together as we speak. He also met Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. I actually spent time alone with Cadence to see what she thought about him. She told me that he was really nice and that she sensed almost right away that he had… strong, but conflicting feelings… for me.” I felt myself blushing as I admitted that. “In the time I allowed him to separate from me, he met and quickly befriended Shining Armor.”

“…I see…” the princess audibly muttered.

“Yes, and the type of friendship we’ve formed with him, in a lot of ways, felt no different from the friendships I’d formed with everypony else. Particularly, he’s… he’s shown me a very special kind of friendship… one I’d been wanting to learn about, but avoiding for a long time now… Anyway, even if he were to accidentally let out that he was from an alternate universe, nopony here would know what he was talking about. Sure, they may ask questions, but Ty has proven that he knows how to keep it simple enough that he wouldn’t reveal anything too alarming.”

“I… I understand. However, there is still the issue that you needed to transform him into a pony for him to fit in here. How would the citizens of Ponyville react if they were to see him in his true form?”

“An excellent question, but we’ve dealt with a situation of that sort before with Zecora. Yes, some may run away from him and hide from him; that, I would only expect. But given how friendly he’s been to everypony he’s met in Ponyville, especially at Pinkie Pie’s welcome party, I doubt their reactions would be as extreme…"

"Unless, of course, they mistake him for a Changeling, no?" She had raised an excellent point there.

"True... However, I trust the spell I used to transform him last time would work very well in that no discernible hitches would arise from its use," I confidently assured. "Still... I think the choice should be his in terms of what he would like to do… in the case that he is allowed back here, that is...”

“I see…” was all the princess responded with.

The room went silent once more, the air feeling tense and suspenseful for me. My heart was pounding against my chest like it was going to burst. I instinctively held my breath as Rainbow Dash and I eagerly waited for Princess Celestia’s decision…