Chapter 5, Part 2

Twilight and Starlight Glimmer sat in Celestia’s throne room, waiting on the Princess to arrive. According to the aide that had escorted them to the room, Celestia was running a few minutes meeting and greeting the ambassador from Peru, apparently one of the human countries on a continent known as South America.

Twilight had spent the past couple of months largely in Canterlot, helping the Princes handle the introduction of ponykind into the human world. She hadn’t been able to see much of her former enemy turned pupil during that time, instead having to resort to conducting their “Friendship Lessons” via letters. Twilight trusted Starlight, especially after she had saved the kingdom several months earlier from Queen Chrysalis. But she couldn’t help but feel that they were growing distant, something that she desperately sought to avoid. Fortunately, Celestia’s invitation to Starlight Glimmer had enabled the two to catch up on how things are in Ponyville.

According to Starlight, almost everyone had returned to business as usual shortly after the discovery of human kind. The foals were probably the group that remained the most excited about the transformative nature of the event, their childlike curiosity driving them to both wonder and worry about the question of humankind's intentions towards Equestria.

Amongst Twilight’s inner circle of friends there were a variety of reactions, ranging from curiosity to concern. Rarity of course was desperate to get her hooves on human fashion, curiosity driving her (figuratively) mad. Fluttershy was curious about what kind of animals existed in this world, while of course being the frighty pants about the situation that she tended to be. Rainbow Dash still getting oriented to the changed sky, with clouds in this world no longer serving as firm places to land on and take cat naps. Fortunately for Cloudsdale, they still retained the capacity to produce solid clouds and manipulate the weather that came from them, something that greatly impressed the human visitors to Equestria. Applejack on the other hand was less at ease with the entire situation, the Element of Honesty remaining convinced “that something wasn’t right about the humans.” Surprisingly, Pinkie Pie was the one that took the situation the calmest, going so far as to claim in a letter to Twilight that she had already been to this dimension several times when she had “broken the fourth wall.” Whatever that meant was beyond Twilight.

Starlight Glimmer and Spike had been holding up pretty well for themselves. The latter, Twilight’s adopted brother was probably the person she missed the most during the previous month. Hopefully in a few months, she would be able to return to Ponyville for a little bit of R&R with Spike, thought the Princess of Friendship to herself. Starlight had been keeping him company, something that Twilight appreciated.

“It’s a marvelous castle. Even better than I imagined,” said Starlight.

“Wait! You’ve never been to the Canterlot Castle?” asked Twilight, shocked at the fact that in the nearly one year she had mentored Starlight she had never accompanied her to Celestia’s home.

“Nope. I just love the coloring of the walls. There’s just something about it that is really beautiful. That and the tapestries around here are gorgeous,” said Starlight.

Before Twilight could respond, a familiar voice spoke up from behind them.

“I’m pleased that you like the place,” cooed the voice of Princess Celestia.

Immediately, Twilight and Starlight Glimmer turned around and bowed to the Equestrian ruler.

“There’s no need for that. We’re all friends here,” responded Celestia signalling to her friends to rise from their bow.

“I’m honoured to be here, Your Majesty,” said Starlight. “I received your letter and I would like to let you know that I’m ready to do whatever you want me to do for Equestria.”

“I’m glad you’re enthusiastic about your first mission on behalf of my government,” replied Celestia.

“What exactly do you have in mind for us,” asked Twilight, curious as to what adventure Celestia was going to send them on.

“As you are well aware Twilight, I didn’t appoint an ambassador to any of the ‘Big Three Allied Powers.’”

“It seems as though you read my mind,” replied Twilight jokingly.

“There is a method to my madness,” replied Celestia. “I didn’t fill those positions with members of Equestrian society because I wanted to ensure that I had the best and most trustworthy individuals to report back to me about these apparently extremely important nations.”

Pausing, Celestia continued, “In particular, I wanted Princess Luna, Starlight, and you Twilight to respectively journey to the United States, Soviet Union, and the British Empire. I believe that my mission of integrating Equestria into this new world will rely on us being on good terms with these powers. Of course you all will be accompanied by an aide to provide you with assistance during your travels and to educate you about your target country during your journey.”

“Do you accept your missions?” asked the albino ruler.

“Yes, your majesty,” replied Starlight and Twilight at the same time.

“Good. Your ship leaves tomorrow evening for your countries. YOu will be gone for approximately one month. I want you two to take this assignment seriously. You represent Equestria on your journey to peoples who have never seen a talking pony before. Additionally, my diplomatic and geopolitical decisions will be largely based on your recommendations and reports.”

“We won’t let you down,” replied Twilight, ever the eager servant of Celestia.