“The world is still reeling from Hasbro’s press conference...”

“Many are demanding answers, and some are even suggesting rather outlandish explanations...”

“I’m telling you it's all just holograms! It’s just another way for the liberals to push the transhumanist ideology!”

Jason studied the man on screen closely, turning to look at Jeffrey. “How the hell did Alex Jones get back on TV?” He turned back to the screen, stroking his beard. “Did Glenn Beck get back on TV too?”

Jeffrey promptly snatched the remote from him and turned off the TV. The two men shared a tense moment, both staring at the other. Jason rolled his eyes, shifting so his feet were on the couch.

“You just left me there!” Jeffrey snapped, tossing the remote onto the recliner. After pulling his houdini act, Jason had sequestered himself in a hotel room, leaving Jeffrey to deal with the mess. “You told me you were going to introduce Chrysalis, not Twilight Fucking Sparkle!”

Jason held up a finger, cutting off the rest of Jeffrey’s angry tirade. “I left to make things dramatic. It’s not like I disappeared on you, you knew this is where I was staying.” Jason closed his eyes, scratching his beard. “As for Chrysalis, as much as I love my wife, we all agreed that she’s kinda obscure to people outside of the fandom. Plus, putting up the Princess of Friendship as our mascot seemed like a good idea.”

Jeffrey dropped down into the recliner, an exaggerated sigh escaping his lips. Taking a page from his long abandoned yoga class, he performed a breathing exercise. It made him feel better, though it didn’t put his mind at ease.

“Okay, then, why the week?” he questioned, locking eyes with Jason.

“Gives them time to think up actual questions,” Jason replied. He certainly was the most nonchalant person Jeffrey had met. It was as much infuriating as it was endearing. “And, it has the added bonus of pissing a bunch of people off, which is always fun.”

Jeffrey studied Jason for a moment. “And you’re supposed to be a king?”

“Prince,” Jason corrected. “I’m a prince. And no, I’m not all that into formality or shit like that. That’s Caddy, Luna and Sunbutt’s thing. Everyone knows better than to come to my court with bullshit. Chrysalis doesn’t have time for petty nonsense.”

“I couldn’t tell...” Jeffrey grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Will you at least tell me who's going with you to the press conference? Please?”

Jason held up a soothing hand. “Alright, alright. I promise, I’m not gonna pull anything else. It’ll be Luna, Twilight, Gilda, Chrysalis, and myself.”

“Gilda?” Jeffrey raised his eyebrow. “Wasn’t she some tertiary character or something?” With Jason’s mind blowing revelations, Jeffrey had pored over the show, wanting to be as prepared as possible.

Jason shook his head. “Yeah, don’t say that to her face. That’ll just piss her off. And then you’ll piss Dash off, and it’ll be a thing. It’s really not worth it.”

“Ponies are so high maintenance.” Chrysalis trotted in from the bedroom. She laid on the couch with Jason, laying her head down on his chest. “Half of their problems are over the stupidest things. Like that time Weighted Scales got pissy when those foals got mud on his shirt.”

Jeffrey thought for a moment. Given his knowledge of the subject matter, pony names almost always reflected their lot in life. Ergo, Weighted Scales was probably someone wealthy. “That seems like a reasonable thing to take to someone. Maybe not royalty but, you know.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “We live in the Everfree, Jeffrey, there’s only so much we can do to tame the forest. It gets muddy, and young ones like to play in mud. If that idiot wanted to look ‘fancy’,” she said rather mockingly, “after a storm, it’s his own damn fault.”

Personally, Jeffrey couldn’t see why anyone would like Chrysalis, let alone marry her. Sure, she had that ‘queen bitch’ thing going on, and some people liked that, but in person she made him want to scream.

“Anyway Jeff,” Jason got the other man’s attention. “After the conference, a few other people are going to be joining us.” Reaching into his pocket, Jason retrieved a small pouch. He tossed it over to Jeffrey, who blinked in surprise. “I’ll need you to make some reservations.”

Curious, Jeffrey opened the pouch. He froze, staring down at a bag full of gold coins. “Jason... that's a lot of gold.”

“Maybe here.” Jason waved him off. “Stuff’s as common as tin back home. It’s the gems that are important.”

Dismissing it as more weirdness, Jeffrey placed the quite heavy bag into his jacket pocket. “Er, right. I might as well reserve the whole damn hotel for you.” As unorthodox as it was, he doubted the hotel would reject getting paid in gold.

“You do that,” Chrysalis agreed, buzzing her wings. “Don’t worry about security, we can do that ourselves.”

“Right...” Jeffrey cleared his throat. “I’ll be heading out then. I have a conference to set up.” Making his way over to the door, he paused. “How did you do that thing with the ice?”

Jason smirked, scratching Chrysalis’s ear. “Magic.”

The auditorium was packed to capacity, filled with reporters and their support teams. A hum of excitement hovered over the crowd. The faint chants of protesters was barely audible over the mutterings of those in attendance.

After a few more moments of tense silence, Jason stepped on stage. For the occasion, he had forgone his preferred look, instead wearing a formal outfit consisting of green and black. A black necklace hung around his neck, inlaid with emeralds, a similar crown resting on his head.

Stepping up to the podium, he cleared his throat. “Well, I see everyone's here. Had a good week I hope? I know the conspiracy idiots did.” Straightening up, he gazed out at the crowd. “Now, allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Jason Hughes, crown prince of Equestria, one of the ruling heptarchy.”

This sent up a murmur through the crowd. Jason ignored it, and continued on. “I would like to introduce a few of my fellow rulers.” He turned, holding his arm out behind him. “Princess Luna, Princess Twilight, Empress Gilda and my wife, Empress Chrysalis.”

Said royals appeared in a flash of pinkish light, complete with their own thrones. Luna appeared to be unchanged, except for a scar under her eye. Gilda was clad in ceremonial armor, and appeared a little uneasy. Chrysalis was as different as Twilight was. The holes in her legs were gone, and her crooked horn straightened.

“Now, let’s be clear on a few things.” Jason took the microphone, taking a seat in an empty throne next to Chrysalis. “We are not invading. Equestria doesn’t go to war lightly, and I doubt we could get our subjects to do it for conquest. It just wouldn’t happen.”

Twilight grabbed the other microphones in her magic, passing them out to the others. “I personally assure you all that we come in friendship, and nothing else.”

“Princess,” one reporter asked, raising her hand. “Why wait until now to make contact?”

Twilight smiled, not bothered by the sudden question. “Well, we had to get things in order first. It took a while to fine tune the portal between Earth and Equestria. Sure, Jason could just teleport us all here but, we agreed we wanted something more reliable before we arrived.”

“Aye,” Luna agreed. “You humans are as jumpy as ponies are. Only, you reach for weapons before running to safety.”

The conference continued like this, with the royals explaining their reasons for coming and a little about Equestria. The reporters took in every word, and the whole world watched in fascination.

Up on the second floor, intently watching the stage was a short, teenage girl. She stood at 5’4”, wearing a tank top that barely contained her rather generous breasts and a pair of shorts. Black hair rested on her head, reaching down to her shoulders. A few strands fell into bright red eyes, which she quickly brushed away. A familiar weight on her shoulder got her attention.

“Doesn’t look like anyone’s up to any trouble,” came the voice of her ever faithful companion. “If anybody is gonna try something, they haven’t started yet.”

Glancing over her shoulder, she was greeted by the sight of a pale gray, weasel like creature. It was bipedal, sporting a crown and collar of bright pink feathers. Two of these feathers grew from its ears and another two acted like a pair of tails. At the center of its forehead rested a yellow oval.

“Yeah, but, the conference just started.” Reaching down to the bag at her feet, the girl offered the weasel an enigma berry. Once he had taken it, she grabbed another for herself. “I hope someone tries something.” She took a bite of the berry, savoring the strange flavor. “I want to show off a bit.”

The weasel rolled his eyes. “Remember, your dad said to use False Swipes. Humans are squishier than ponies.”

“I know that, Chill,” the girl huffed indignantly. “I’m not gonna use Hyper Beam on anyone.” Glancing towards the side, she muttered. “Damn squishy people.”

The weasel poked her cheek, gesturing to the other side of the room. “I think Freya’s trying to get your attention.”

Blinking, the girl glanced across, seeing a girl of similar looks waving over at her. She waved back, adding a thumbs up. The other girl nodded, moving off out of sight.

“Bet she’s a bored as I am,” she commented, tossing the remains of the berry into the nearby trash can. “How do guards put up with all this boredom?”

“Money. Patriotism. Loyalty. Things like that.” Chill jumped off her shoulder, stretching out. “Come on, Rita, we gotta get back to our patrol.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.” Rita grabbed her bag off the floor, following after Chill. The pair walked through the building, looking for anyone suspicious. Not that there were a lot of people around. Almost everyone in the building was in the auditorium or peeking in from the doors. Sure there were staff, but, they appeared to just be doing their jobs.

Rita almost gave up hope of anything happening when she caught sight of a group of men standing around one of the bathrooms. Nudging Chill, she carefully made her way over. They spoke quietly, in a language neither of them understood.

“Would it kill them to say anything in English?” Rita complained in a harsh whisper. Not wanting to arouse suspicion, she pulled out her phone, tapping away at it. She shot Freya a quick text, letting her sister know she might have found something. Gazing back at the men, she caught another guy walking out of the bathroom.

He greeted his friends, zipping his fly. Rita started to look away, until she caught sight of a gun sticking out of his pants. Feeling a slight rush of adrenaline kick in, she gave the group another once over. They weren’t dressed like security, and she didn't think the place would let their guards carry their guns like that.

“Looks like we got some trouble,” she whispered down to Chill. Cracking her knuckles, Rita stepped up to the men, clearing her throat. “So, they just let people carry guns now huh?” Catching them off guard, Rita flicked her wrists, making white energy blades grow over her fingers.

Lunging forward, she slashed the closest man across the face, her claws drawing blood. Wheeling around, Rita leaped at the next man, tackling him to the floor. Drawing her arms back, she clawed him across the face before rolling off him.

“Get her!” one of them shouted in a thick accent, drawing his gun. He fired off a few shots, sending Rita scrambling behind a pillar. “She’s one of the freaks. Don’t let her out of your sight!”

“Oi! I am not a freak!” Rita growl. “Gee thanks dad.” Rita closed her eyes, letting out a long breath. Her body glowed a light pink as she used Calm Mind, focusing her abilities. She cringed, hearing more bullets pepper the other side of the pillar. “Rita, only use False Swipe. We don’t want you killing anyone,” Rita mocked, recalling her father's insistence.

“Your dad doesn’t want to leave a bad impression,” Chill reprimanded, darting over to her. Looking up at her, he twitched his ears. “Come on, Rita. You have like sixty moves at your disposal, and you can’t take down a buncha mooks?”

“I can take them down just fine!” Rita clenched her fists, going over possibilities in her mind. “Aha!” she snapped her fingers, a big grin on her face. “Got it!” Focusing again, she winced as a bit of energy left her, forming into a strange little floating doll. She pushed it out into the open, letting it take the focus of the bullets. Rolling around the other side of the pillar, Rita flung her hands out, sending ghostly purple chains.

They wrapped around the men, who suddenly couldn’t use their guns anymore.”Yes!” Rita fist pumped, grinning cockily at the group. “There goes your toys.” She resummoned her claws, bouncing on her feet. “Looks like it’s just fists now.”

“She’s some kind of monster!”

Rita frowned, putting her hands on her hips. “Do I look like a monster to you?” She paused for a moment. “Well, I mean, technically Pokemon is short for Pocket Monsters...”

“Now is not the time for a tangent,” Chill scolded, dashing to the over side of the group, getting into an aggressive stance. “We should let Freya know we got these guys.”

“Right.” Keeping her eyes on her prey, she pulled her phone back out. Tapping a few buttons, she called up her sister. “Hey Frey, Chill and I got a buncha guys over here, had guns and everything.”

“I got a few guys too,” Freya’s voice informed, “Cocooned them to the ceiling.”

Rita stuck her tongue out. Her siblings had cocooned her in her sleep before. It was hilarious to them, but not to her. Not when she had to spend hours getting the damn gunk out of her hair. “Think you could come and get these guys? We don’t exactly have any rope over here.”

“Yeah, I’ll be over in a sec.”

“Awesome!” Rita ended the call, dropping the phone down her cleavage. “So! Before my sister gets here and wraps you losers up, you wanna spill your secrets?” She looked between them, noting their silence. “No? Come on guys, you’re not gonna get away, you might as well talk.”

“Doesn’t look like they’re gonna talk,” Chill tsked, shaking his head. “Your dad isn’t going to be happy when he finds out they tried to crash the conference.” Scratching his chin, Chill thought for a moment. “Bet Freya could scare them into talking.”

“Yeah, leave it to Freya to make a buncha grown dudes piss their pants,” Rita giggled, crossing her arms.

It took Freya a few minutes to arrive. By now, she had dropped her disguise. She still walked on two legs, but skin had been replaced by chitin, and a jagged horn rose from her forehead. Several of the men shouted in their native tongue, stepping back in fear.

Freya ignored their shouts, rounding them up with red magic. “You didn’t get shot did you?”

Rita shock her head. “Nah, just used Substitute.”

Freya nodded. She placed the men against the wave, proceeding to cocoon them. She ignored their panicked shouts, sealing them inside red, gooey sacks.

“Wait!” the last guy in line shouted, squirming in Freya’s magical grip. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know!”

Freya leaned down, looking into his eyes. “Nah, I already got what I wanted out of the other guys. Tough luck buddy.” Before he could go back to shouting, she covered his mouth. Once they were all sealed, she stepped over to Rita. She waved her hand, applying a dose of Cure to her.

“Ah~” Rita stretched out. “Much better!” Grinning at Freya, she brushed her thumb along her nose. “Thanks Freya, I’d have had to knock all those dudes out.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Freya smiled down at her, patting Rita’s head. “I gotta look out for my little sister.”

Rita huffed, pushing Freya’s hand away. “You’re only a year older than me. Don’t get all high and mighty.”

The trio stood quietly, taking in the damaged pillar.

“Dad’s gonna be pissed isn’t he?” Rita asked, kicking at a spent bullet casing.

“Oh yeah.” Freya nodded. “Dad’s gonna be so pissed these idiots showed up.” Red flames consumed her, and she redonned her disguise. “We should get out of here. The cops are going to get here soon, and we don’t want to be found out.”

“Right.” Rita scooped up her bag, letting Chill resume his spot on her shoulder. Following after Freya, the two of them left their prisoners to their fate.

Jason stepped into his hotel room, sighing to himself. The last day and a half had been a whirlwind of insanity. He had cancelled the conference halfway through once the gunshots had gone off. After that, he spent most of his time with the police. Lots of questions about who subdued the gunmen... and cocooned them to the walls. Jason had merely said he had his own security, and left it at that. It wasn’t like they could use fingerprints.

“That took forever...” He tossed his jacket onto the couch and kicked his shoes off haphazardly. Dropping onto a chair, a long sigh escaped his lips. “Alright. Meeting time.”

On cue, Twilight, Chrysalis and Luna trotted out of the bedrooms. They took positions around the room, with Twilight closing the blinds, and Luna casting a soundproofing spell. Once they were certain of their privacy, they began their discussion.

“What did you find out from the police?” Twilight asked, gazing across at Jason. She had dispensed with her regalia, laying on the loveseat.

Jason put his feet up on the table, leaning back in his chair. “Not a whole lot. Apparently, we pissed off a ton of groups. Religious people think we’re whatever bad thing is in their religion, and other people just don’t like us.”

Luna frowned. “You did say that would happen. Have the police figured out which group those would be attackers belong to?”

“Cops didn’t get a lot out of them.” Jason scratched his beard, working through what he had managed to get from the police. “They speak Ukrainian. Which is not something I speak. Not that they’d let me talk to them.”

Chrysalis buzzed her wings. “I think I can solve that, dear. Give me a few days, I’ll get something out of them.”

“Not gonna ask Chrissy, you just do your thing,” Jason agreed. “What we have to think about is, with that much security, how did they get guns in in the first place?”

Twilight adjusted her wings. “Do you suspect something?”

Jason twiddled his thumbs. “Maybe I should have a talk with the president...”

Luna snorted, stamping her hoof. “Jason. I understand your desire to show your strength, but, just appearing in a world leader’s office is not going to do us any favors.” She gestured to Chrysalis. “We should tread carefully. More so than we planned.”

“I agree with Luna,” Twilight added.

Chrysalis hummed, resting her hand on her head. “As much as I like you showing off, I’d like to get things done for once.”

Jason sighed, throwing his hands up. “Fine, fine. Chrissy can handle it.” He rose up, cracking his back. “I’m gonna get a beer, you all just chat about whatever.”

The mares watched him walk out into the kitchen, already beginning to discuss their next course of action.