Twilight Sparkle: Element of Harmony Bearer, personal protege to Princess Celestia and sometimes referred to as an egghead by her friends. That last part was moreover just a little personal tidbit, but true all the same. All these things amounted to a unicorn of considerable prowess in many a fields of the arcane and science studies communities. So, it wasn’t uncommon for her to travel to Canterlot, the foremost Equestrian capital of magical/scientific innovations, to support prominent various new studies. Although, this particular ride aboard the Friendship Express had the unicorn quite nervous and excited. ‘Nervouscited’ as her friend, Pinkie Pie, would say. She had been summoned by none other than her mentor for something that was unusual, to say the least.

In the meantime, she still had about twenty minutes before she arrived at Canterlot Station. So, to steady her nerves and pass some time, she dug through her overburdened saddle bags for one particular piece of parchment that had been carefully rolled up. This letter was very special, as it had come from Princess Celestia herself. This also wasn’t too uncommon for the purple unicorn to share correspondences with the co-ruler of Equestria; she was her mentor after all. This letter was not like her others though. It had even been sealed with a spell, so that only the recipient could open it. That recipient was Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight unfurled the letter for the fourth time since she boarded the train. She could practically recite the letter by heart, with how many times she read it since the day before, but the contents always left her reeling.

My Faithful Student

Twilight Sparkle,

I apologize greatly that this letter is not just a well greeting. Be that as it may, I still wish to bid you a wonderful evening. Your last letter about your friends, Rainbow Dash and Applejack’s new ‘Iron Pony’, competition was both inspiring and had both my sister and I in fits of laughter. Though before you continue reading this letter, it is with the utmost importance that you keep the contents of it to yourself. That includes not divulging any of this to Spike, if he so happens to be peeking over your withers right now.

Even if she was alone on a train bound for Canterlot, Twilight couldn’t help taking a glance over her withers for the sometimes very nosy dragon that liked to sneak glances at her private mail. Twilight may have raised him, but he was more akin to a troublemaking, little brother at times. With the reflex out of the way, Twilight returned to reading her letter in peace.

If you are now without any onlookers, good. I am sorry if this letter does not answer all of the questions that you will surely have, but we cannot risk too much information being made public. What I am about to tell you is a matter of national security and may change the way we interpret the mechanics of our universe. Many ponies, like myself, have gazed upon the open skies, whether in the day or night, and wondered if there was another world out there with intelligent life, such as our own. No more than a week ago, a being from one such world has made contact with ours. He is unlike anything we have ever seen before and has shown a great deal of understanding and intuition. Unfortunately, his arrival was not without its complications. It had taken us a while to understand him and the fact that he had been sent to our world by accident. He was never meant to come here in the first place and adamantly seeks a method home.

Unfortunately, without knowledge of where exactly his home is or a method to travel with, I fear we would be unable to help him. That is why I am calling upon you, my most faithful student. You have proven time and time again how intuitive and resourceful you are in the face of adversity. This is why I would like for you to come to Canterlot to meet this being, known as a ‘human’, and help him in his endeavour of finding his way home. Not only that, but also to get to know him and understand him for yourself. For as much as we have come to learn about him, there are still many a things I can see that he has to offer and vice versa.

I know this is a lot to take in and ask of you, but I can think of no pony that I am more confident in to complete this task. I will await your arrival at Castle Canterlot in the following day and wish you safe travels.

Your Mentor,

Princess Celestia

The first time she read that letter, Twilight thought she was dreaming. A being from another world? It was the scientific discovery of the century. No, the millennium. The mere thought of being one of the first ponies to meet this ‘human’ made her giddy to the point where she almost couldn’t sleep the night before. That and all the preparations she had made in anticipation for meeting said alien didn’t help her sleep schedule.

Twilight carefully rolled the letter back up and replaced it into her saddlebags while also pulling out another roll of parchment. Her ‘List-of-things-needed-to-study-an-alien’ list. Going down the list, for the third time that day, she checked off each item from saddlebags.

‘Several rolls of blank parchment for notes; check. List of questions to ask the alien; check. Extra quills to take notes with; check. Ink pots; check. Medical examination kit; check. Reference textbooks on prominent interstellar theorems; check. Equestrian customs and courtesies, a reference guide; check. Flash cards on study topics assigned from Princess Celestia; check.’

Just as Twilight finished her checklist, the train’s whistle blew to signify their arrival in Canterlot. She quickly stashed her belongings back into her bags to be ready for her departure to the castle.

--o0o--

It had been awhile since her last visit to Canterlot, but the purple unicorn navigated the streets as if she’d known them her entire life. The looming visage of the castle in the distance served as her beacon as she wove between crowds of Canterlot residents.

“Twilight?”

The mare whose’s name was called looked about the semi-busy streets to find the source of the familiar voice. As it so happened, the source of the caller was just on the opposite side of the road waving back at her.

“Mother! Father!”

Twilight lightly galloped up to her smiling parents as they welcomed their daughter with open embraces. After a quick hug and nuzzle from both of them, Twilight backed up to properly speak with them.

“What are you doing in Canterlot, sweetie?” Twilight Velvet, her mother, asked.

Twilight flinched. As much as she would love to tell her parents that she was on her way to a highly confidential assignment she was tasked with from the princess herself to act as an ambassador to an alien being from another world, she had been sworn to secrecy. Luckily, she was spared the interrogation when her father, Nightlight, cut in.

“Honey, why don’t we move out of the street before hounding our daughter on the time she hasn’t spent with us? We were on our way to brunch, Twilight. Care to join us? Your mother and I found this spectacular outdoor cafe down the street from here last week.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Twilight spoke, “but I kinda needed to be somewhere for an, um, appointment.”

Of course, her stomach had other plans as it made its protests known after missing out on the breakfast that Spike had made that very morning. Twilight’s parents both gave their daughter a knowing smile.

“Twi, you didn’t skip breakfast to be at this ‘appointment’, again?” Twilight’s father asked smartly.

Twilight blushed as she had been called out on one of her bad habits. Both her parents chuckled at their daughter’s expense before sweetening the deal even further.

“Why don’t you come sit down with us at the cafe?” Twilight’s mother said, “They have banana nut muffins.”

Of course her mother had to play on her weakness for banana nut muffins. Thinking it over, Twilight was never one to deny time with her family, nor her favorite snack. Plus, Princess Celestia never did say what time she was to arrive at the castle. Then again, she would never disappoint her mentor by not being as punctual as possible...maybe she could have one muffin with her parents, then get back to her assignment within an hour, tops.

Giving her parents a quick nod, the three ponies made for the cafe down the street to enjoy a simple mid-morning brunch. Twilight had to admit that the cafe did indeed have its charm. Most of the patrons sat at the outside tables, eating and chatting with friends and colleagues. Luckily, Twilight and her parents were able to snag one of the last outdoor tables to enjoy the pleasant weather.

Once seated, a pony in the cafe’s uniform took their order and left them to fill their orders. In the meantime, Twilight and her parents caught each other up on each others lives since their last get together. Nightlight’s lectures on history at the Canterlot Higher Education Academy were going smoothly with this semester’s students. Some still needed to apply themselves better like his dear daughter, but promises of bright futures were seen in each of his students nonetheless. Twilight’s mother, who was an independent editor for novels, was just about done with her latest work for an up and coming author before she began on a ‘secret’ project. This was just a codeword that Twilight had grown to loathe whenever her mother started editing for an author that Twilight had interest in. Her mother would never tell her which one she was working on, which frustrated the purple unicorn to no end no matter how much she begged for so much as a peek at the synopsis.

Just as Twilight finished telling her folks about her time during Ponyville’s ‘Harvest Day Parade’, their orders had been brought out for them to enjoy. Twilight’s nostrils flared as the scent of a hearty banana and walnut muffin hit her senses. Though before she could savor her first bite, her mother asked the question that was on both her parents’ minds.

“So, what is it that brings you back to Canterlot, Twilight?” Twilight Velvet asked as she took a sip of her coffee.

Twilight’s magical grasp on her food nearly slipped as she forgot to come up with a viable excuse for her unexpected arrival.

“I just, um, have an appointment. That’s all,” Twilight said and stuffed a sizeable piece of the muffin in her mouth to buy some more time.

Nightlight arched his eyebrow and gained a devious grin, “Does this ‘appointment’ include a visit to our lovely daughter’s coltfriend by any chance?”

Twilight instantly regretted taking such a big bite out of the muffin, as she immediately started choking on the piece while a dark blush crossed her face. Twilight’s mother helped her daughter take a few sips of water to ease her pain and patted her back.

“Dad!” Twilight choked out.

Her father just chuckled as her mother continued to help Twilight through her coughing fit. The apparent scene was enough of a commotion to draw the attention of the surrounding patrons, further embarrassing the Sparkle family as a whole.

“Nightlight, stop embarrassing your family while we are out in public,” Twilight’s mother glared at her husband, “Honestly, it’s a wonder we don’t get kicked out from every venue we visit.”

With a warm smile, Nightlight leaned over to lay down his patented get-out-of-the-doghouse card, “Oh, Velvet, isn’t that the part of my charm that drove you crazy for me?”

“No, I believe it was the part where you apologized to your daughter,” Twilight Velvet gave her own smirk behind a dangerous glare.

With his plan foiled, Nightlight apologized quickly and returned to his meal. Velvet, on the other hoof, leaned in a little closer to speak quietly with her daughter.

“So, are you here to meet with a coltfriend?”

“Mom!”

Twilight was lucky to avoid a repeat performance of her earlier endeavour, but she blushed even more profusely.

“What? Your father and I are just wondering when we can expect to meet the lucky stallion that catches our beautiful daughter’s attention.”

“Perhaps she is just waiting for a prince to sweep her off her hooves,” Nightlight added with a chuckle, “, You know, just because your brother married a princess doesn’t mean you have to compete with him. Although your mother and I would then have all our grandfoals be royalty to look forward to.”

Twilight slammed one of her forehooves down on the table before rapidly responding, “I am perfectly happy with my life right now, and I will find a coltfriend when I am good and ready! And I am not here to meet with some stallion!”

She never knew why her parents, especially her father, loved to mortify her everytime she came for a visit. It was like all parents did was come up with ways to embarrass their children. Why couldn’t they just understand that she was a simple mare with simple needs? Which did not include plans with a stallion anytime in the near future.

“Then can we ask what this crucial ‘appointment’ is about that brought you to Canterlot?” Twilight’s mother asked.

“Uh...” It was at this point that Twilight forgot one important thing. To come up with an excuse for her unexpected arrival to Equestria’s capital. She continued to nervously hum to herself in a vain effort to put off the question. She needed to think of something fast and believable. Something her parents wouldn’t suspect as out of the ordinary. Then, it hit her.

“I was called to study some new energy matrices that are to be used for magitech!”

It was a total lie. Magitech, or technology that runs off of magical energies, was something that she had been looking into since the first week of its proposed theorem, and that was when she was still at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Magic may have been a part of everyday life for everypony, but the fine tuned manipulation of unicorn magic made industries rather limited. So, as a proof of concept, the first ever device to be powered by a source of magic besides a unicorn was a simple lightbulb. Soon, the whole concept exploded into a revolution of inventions to provide simple yet effective products for ponies to use. Ice boxes became refrigerators. Candles were becoming outdated by lamps and other lighting fixtures. Wood burning stoves could be replaced with a stove that had plates that heated on their own with the flick of a switch. Entire cities soon found themselves thrust into a new age of technology in just nearly a decade.

Of course, all of this was a mote point as Twilight had once been asked to help study the complex matrices of new magitech and improve a few of them nearly three months ago. Not to mention that she never told her family about that time as she was also in the midst of an astrology kick she went on in the follow weeks. Her only hope was that her lie would dissuade her parents from digging for more details.

“Oh? It must be very important if our little Twilight was asked to come aid in this,” Nightlight said.

Twilight could already see that her parents were about to start digging. Luckily, she noticed that her plate was now devoid of any muffin left and provided her with the perfect excuse.

Looking at a nearby clock tower, Twilight hastily stood up, “Look at the time! I’m sorry I can’t stay and talk some more, but I really need to make it to this appointment. Love you both, bye!”

Her hasty retreat was cut short when she noticed she could not feel the weight of her saddlebags on her back. With a quick flick of her magic, her saddlebags found their way upon her, and a few bits were dropped on the table to pay for her meal. Twilight’s parents watched as their daughter dashed off down the street with all the haste of a foal looking to avoid some rather nosy parents. Twilight Velvet and Nightlight both smiled at their daughter’s antics and continued to enjoy their own food until Nightlight got another smirk on his face.

“Ten bits says she is going to see some colt.”

Twilight Velvet merely rolled her eyes, “If she is, I hope he at least has more decency than you at the brunch table.”

--o0o--

It didn’t take Twilight long to get back on track, and in short order, she was given consent to enter the castle grounds by the gate pony guards. Now, she was making her way through the labyrinth like hallways of the castle to the dining chamber, the place she was directed to where she would find the princesses and their ‘guest’. Although the guards she was given directions from seemed quite uninterested in this ’guest’. Though how could they be? There was a real, live alien sitting right in their capital! How could anypony not be interested in this? A chance at a cultural and intellectual exchange of immense magnitude.

Twilight then realized something. She had brought her guide on Equestrian customs and courtesies as a refresher for herself in anticipation for her introduction. What if her greeting is considered an insult to this alien? What if she causes some interplanetary incident just by not shaking with the right hoof? Did ‘humans’ even shake hooves, or whatever appendages they have? If she did not handle this just right, she could end up offending Equestria’s first interplanetary ally by saying ‘hello’ improperly. She would be scorned for the rest of her life as the mare that failed to make peaceful relations with an alien race. She would be expelled from every scientific community in Equestria. She would no longer be allowed to call herself Princess Celestia’s prized pupil.

Twilight was so busy running through all the possibilities of her first encounter with the human that she didn’t even realize that she was now standing just outside the dining chamber.

“Oh no, I can’t talk to the human like this!” Twilight hissed while she paced frantically in front of the dining chamber, “I have to readjust my greeting, but what do I say? ‘Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle’. No, too informal. ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you’. No, too impersonal. ‘Greetings from the land of Equestria’. Argh, why does this have to be so complicated?!”

Twilight’s ears twitched as she heard the voice of her dear mentor from behind the dining chamber’s door.

“I suppose it’s about time that we meet the pony I have entrusted to aid your endeavour, no?”

‘Shoot, was that suppose to be my que? I didn’t plan for this! No, I’m not ready, but I have to make my entrance now!’

With no more time ponder, Twilight pushed the doors open to the dining chamber. She trotted in with a level head and issued a courteous bow to both the Equestrian diarchs and the alien known as a human.

“Hello and welcome to Twilight Sparkle, my name is Equestria!”

…smooth like silk.