Chapter 3, Part 3

Two hours Later,

Celestia sat on her throne again in the castle with Luna at her side. Normally, this time would be filled with her hearing the concerns of citizens, listening to the advice of her ministers and advisors, or otherwise making decisions pertain to the affairs of the Equestrian state. However, she was instead resting, powering through throbbing pain that coursed through her body. Never, in her over a millennium long life had she performed such labouring magic. She was simply glad that the spell worked and that Equestria was safe.

Suddenly, one of the messengers from the Royal Palaces telegraph office hurried in.

“Your majesty, we have received an urgent communication from Manehattan,” said the youthful Earth Pony.”

Celestia immediately sat at attention. “What is it?!” she inquired.

“According to the telegram from the Mayor of Manehattan, Mistral Glory, there has been contact with group of humans who have arrived on boat. According to her report they are from a country known as the United States of America and they come in peace.”

Celestia relaxed. She had been expecting that this would come to pass sooner or later. When she had selected this world as the destination of the Equestrian continent, she knew that there was a sizeable and advanced human population. Indeed, that was one of the reasons why she had chosen this planet over others similar to it as the destination of the Equestrian race and the others that resided. She wanted to forge a close relationship with another race that had been relegated in the minds of most ponies as being nothing more than fictitious creatures from fantasy novels.

Turning to her sister besides her, Celestia said, “Dearest Luna, please transcribe what I am about to say.” Normally, Celestia wouldn’t use her sister as a secretary to dictate notes to. However, according to her doctors, she wouldn’t be able to utilize her horn for at least several days do to the extreme pain that came from using it. The universe traversing spell had really taken a toll on her.

“Hello, human traveler. My name is Princess Celestia. As the head of state of Equestria (the country that you have made contact with) I would like to cordially invite you to my palace in order to establish diplomatic relations between your country, which I’m told is called the United States of America, as well as explain how our land came to suddenly exist in your world. May Peace and Friendship bless our two nations, Her Majesty, Princess Celestia of Equestria.”

Luna floated the finished letter over to the waiting messenger, who took it with his mouth and swiftly rushed back to the Telegraph office, presumably to send the letter back to Manehattan, the epicenter of the two world’s collision.

The Princess of the Night turned to her older sister, “are you sure that it’s wise to invite them here to our court, Tia? After all, according to the ancient legends, the humans were a group of warlike barbarians who hunted and killed other animals. That’s why they were struck down by the gods long before either of us lived.”

Celestia responded, “That could very well be the case for the humans in this world as well. However, dear sister, it would be unfair to make such an assumption about a civilization we know nothing about. Furthermore, there is no avoiding having to deal with them. They know we exist and vice-versa. We might as well try to make the most out of this scenario.”

Luna nodded her head in agreement. “Besides,” she added, “if this world is too dangerous for ponykind then we could always perform the spell again and travel to another more hospitable planet-”

“No,” responded the Equestrian ruler, her voice unusually stern.

“Pardon, dearest sister?”

“I said no. We will never perform that spell again. It’s not that I’m afraid of the pain associated with it. I would eagerly accept any suffering for the survival and well-being of my subjects. It’s just the things that I saw there… let’s just say that you’re lucky not to have seen them.”

“Tia, if you need to talk about-”

“No!” said the Solar Princess, turning away from her sister.

Luna pausing for a moment to determine whether or not to press her sister on the issue, continued. “Tia, I’m always here for you. One of the things that I missed most while I was on the Moon for a thousand years was not being able to love and care for my favorite sister.”

“I’m your only sister.”

“Exactly. That’s why you’re the best. By default,” joked Luna. This banter drew a slight chuckle from Celestia.

Continuing, Luna said, “I’ll always be here for you. It just pains me to know that you’re suffering internally. Starswirl the Bearded once said that the hardest wounds to diagnose and heal are the ones that are hidden by the patient.”

“Do you really want to know?” asked Celestia.

“If you think that it will help you feel better, then absolutely.”

Celestia, turned ashen faced, to her sister. She said, “While I was leading the spell, as we passed through the void between our now abandoned and doomed world and this new home for ours I saw the single worst thing imaginable. I saw all at once thousands of destroyed worlds that had tried to make the same inter-dimensional journey as we did. I saw the perpetual hell that they were trapped in, forever trapped in between different existences, the lifeforms on these planets and worlds frozen for all of eternity.”

“There they were other scientists, princesses, magicians, who had failed in the very endeavor that I was leading. The sight seemed to last forever. Even when, I closed my eyes, I couldn’t escape these horrid images. I knew that I was gradually losing my power, my composure, even my sanity. I struggled to hold onto the spell for as long as I could. Just as I was about to lose control and doom our world to the same fate as these frozen worlds, we made it.”

“That’s a good thing that we made it. Right?” asked Luna.

“You’re right, Luna. However, I do know that if I were to try that spell again, there is a significant chance that I will fail and condemn everypony, including you my dearest sister to a perpetual prison from which there will be no escape. There is no fate that can be worse than that. We will accept our fate on this new home planet regardless of it contains for us and our peoples.”

Author's Notes:

Author's Note: President Truman's reaction will be in next update.