Derpy flew high in the sky, a content smile on her face. That day was special. She did not normally have wingmates as she delivered things. She also did not normally deliver ponies. Those were related, she was certain, but the how of it was beyond her caring. She was going to deliver Princess Celestia to the nice humans and they would talk.

"Have you tried their cookies?" She asked as they went. "They're pretty good and really sweet! Their coffee's nice too, has a real kick to it."

"Have the humans been kind to you?" Celestia was flying right at her side, eyes forward, scanning the ground ahead of them.

"The first time they were scared of me. That was silly. As if I would hurt a fly... on purpose." She laughed nervously, perfectly aware of her clumsiness. "But the second time they were super nice. I feel like we're friends now." She gestured towards Celestia with a dangling hoof. "I'll introduce you to them so you can skip the whole scared part."

"You only need inform them of my name. I will do the rest." She hiked a brow softly. "Can you speak their language?"

"Only a tiny little bit..."

"Remind me after this is done." Celestia fell quiet, her attention fully on their flight.

"Reporting in, Sir." The soldier saluted sharply. Two other soldiers stood next to him, one at either side.

His commanding officer looked him over critically. "You went missing ages ago, Stevenson. We thought you were KIA, and here you are, wearing... what is that?" He reached to pluck at the shoulder's top. "Feels not quite like anything I can... identify. Was your mission a success?"

"Negative, Sir." Stevenson's teeth set faintly. "I was captured, but resisted all interrogation. I never admitted to even knowing their language, Sir."

"Is that so?" The commander tapped a finger against his own thigh. "Did you know the president was captured?"

"What?! We--"

"Relax, he's back, but they aren't letting him be president right now. Do you know why?"

"I do not, Sir. Was he injured?"

"Might have been." He gestured in the vague direction of Anchorage. "They're testing him for brainwashing, however you go about that. The enemy is--"

"--magic, Sir."

"Ah, I suppose you were in a situation to be aware of this fact. So, tell me, why should you get more faith than the Commander in Chief."

"Because he didn't make it through boot camp, Sir. Ready for duty, Sir." He saluted sharply, meeting the gaze of his challenging officer.

The officer patted him on the shoulder. "An excellent point. Tell me what you saw."

The base was on alert. Two blips were coming in fast. Visual confirmation was easy to get that they were both ponies. One of them, they all knew. The mailpony was welcome. The other was far larger, with great wings that carried her easily. She had a horn, which meant magic. The briefing had been very clear about that.

Still, no guns were directed at them when they touched down on the strip. Derpy skid and slid with a soft 'whee'. Celestia landed with a little clip-clop, coming to a far more refined stop.

The major emerged to meet them, though he was far from alone. Many of the soldiers posted at the base had their attention focused on their guests, watching and ready to react.

"Hello," he greeted as he came into range to speak without shouting. "Thank you for prompt response."

"I promised," assure Derpy with a smile.

Celestia nodded to Derpy. "You may go." Her head turned back to the human that approached. "(Major?)"

"(You speak English?)" His surprise was not hidden. "(Yes. I am the commanding officer here. Major Abbott, and you are?)"

She inclined her head faintly forward. "(Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria. Let us talk.)"

He had expected Princess Cadance, but got a different princess. Equestria was the name of the pony nation and princess was as high as their ranks went, which put Celestia at the top of the pony hierarchy. He couldn't have gotten a more important pony. "(That is why we're here,)" he agreed, trying to sound calm and welcoming. "(This way.)"

"(Wait. I must show you something first.)" Her voice was even and calm.

He did not like it. "(What would that be?)"

She pointed up at the sun. "(You are a people of mechanisms and concrete things, are you not? You make things. You make things that unmake things. I feel this must be displayed to be appreciated.)"

He glanced at the burning ball in the sky. He was not liking where this was going. "(We're here for a peaceful talk. Let's not ruin that.)"

"(No harm will befall anyone today, should that attitude persist.)" She smiled faintly. Her hoof moved a little to the left and the sun casually followed it, her horn glowing brightly. She moved the hoof back and it casually resumed its location. "(My name is not in vain. I keep our sun in motion. I am also no fool. You have the means to hurt or kill a great number of my subjects. We are frighteningly aware of this fact.)"

Where was she... headed? She did just move the entire damn sun, that much he knew. That was frightening on levels he didn't quite have words for. "(Are you... threatening us?)"

"(A promise. This must stop, or I am certain as surely as the sun is warm that both sides will be damaged far beyond any easy repair, if there is anything left afterwards.)"

The alien was preaching mutually assured destruction. It had been a fact of life on Earth for some time. For just a brief moment, they had escaped that ghost. There were no nuclear weapons to be used against them, except, apparently... one.

And it was a hell of a nuke. The sun was nothing but a constant fusion reactor, the biggest nuclear reaction within sight of half the world at any given time. Even moving it wrongly could cause untold destruction. "(Allow me to speak theoretically.)"

"(Granted,)" she allowed, rolling a hoof without the sun following its motions.

"(Why would killing you not solve this issue?)"

She raised a brow. "(The sun would set once more, never to rise. The world would be plunged into darkness everlasting. The rituals to revive it by means of a circle of unicorns has been long neglected, and you are busy killing those as well. Humans may not rule this world alone.)" Her stance relaxed a little. "(But they don't have to. Can we stop this?)"

He wasn't sure how much he believed that... But that was a hell of a risk. There was one way to test it... "(Would you be willing to not raise the sun? If we saw you performing no magic when sunrise should happen, that would confirm your words.)"

"(A brief delay shouldn't harm things.)" She examined him intently. "(But that is not for some time. We should speak of other things. You have my sister. I would like to secure her return.)"

"(She isn't here, but I am not permitted to say where, if I even know.)" He hiked a brow at her. "(Forcing it out of me would be a good way to show bad faith, however.)"

She smiled gently. "(Allow me to apologize. My display was not one of hostility, not directly. I want this to stop. I will not use magic to force you or any other person. That is not my way.)"

No, her way involved moving the sun. That was... better? He saw her backside was decorated with a big cheery sun to make her station clear. "(Yes, well, once we have that confirmed, we can report it to other people who can make a decision. I only command the people who work here.)" He gestured vaguely across the base. "(While you are the leader of your people; I don't share that high of a title.)"

"(Thank you.)" He looked mildly confused by her sudden kind words. "(For not harming her.)" She looked in the direction Derpy had flown off in. "(She has not one mean bone in her body, but I am certain there was a temptation...)"

"(The mail pony? She's practically a mascot.)"

"(Mascot? I don't know that word.)"

"(A symbol for something.)" He walked past her, a display of trust, towards one of the planes. "(Let me show you.)" Celestia followed after him to see what he meant. He gestured at a painted decal on the side of a jet of Derpy racing alongside it. "(This is the plane she caught up with, how we first met her. Can all flying ponies fly that fast?)"

It wasn't a lifelike drawing, crude and cartoonish, with an almost childlike simplicity, but who it was seemed quite clear, along with its meaning. Celestia smiled at it. Perhaps humans and ponies could get past their differences, with care and time... "(Only a few. I would not have thought she was one of them, but she can become quite determined at times. She is a special pony.)"

Abbott indicated one of the buildings. "(Let's go inside. No reason for us to wait here in the cold.)"

They retired to the officer's lounge, where they could speak further on what made humans and ponies different and alike.

"That's it." She inclined her head towards the pony's factory, her fingers tightening around the pistol she wielded. "We get in there, we get out. Focus on the weapons."

"Is there a reason you're going over this again?" complained a short bipedal pig that wielded an equally short, if sharp, dagger. "Let's do this!"

"Yeah!" echoed the others of their small group. They advanced on the factory with a focus. The guards were armed with spears and wearing gleaming armor.

It was a shame pony armor left their necks so vulnerable. They did what the human never managed, spilling pony blood across the tiles and stomping over the fallen bodies.

"Stop right there!" squeaked a stallion, barely a wisp of one, surely no guard, but he held a pistol in his jaws, shaking as it was. "Not one step closer."

"You should have already shot," chastised the cat, taking a quick shot. The pony fired as well, but the shot was wide by quite some margin in his frightened quivering.

The pony slumped to the ground, his pistol slipping from his numb jaw. He whimpered and cried, holding his shot shoulder.

"Aw, I missed..." She gestured with her gun forward. "Keep moving." And so they did, but not before she could put a bullet in the pony's head on the way past. "No need for witnesses."

They took everything they saw that looked like it could cause more pain, and plenty of ammunition to work it all, chortling and laughing as they did so.

Running across a locked door, the feline scowled. "Big guy, make this door vanish."

"My favorite magic trick." The hulking bear slapped his paws together before rushing the door, throwing his entire bulk against it without a hint of hesitation. The door caved inwards, smashed to pieces under the terrific impact.

Two loud pops came from the same room, almost lost with the sound of the failing door.

The bear roared in pain, rushing at one of the two ponies that had shot him. He brought down sharp claws on one of them, but before he could close the distance, another shot rang off his thick skull. It didn't penetrate, but it didn't have to. He hissed like a broken rattle, collapsing to the ground, dizzy.

Flim and Flam were not going down without a fight.

"Excellent shot, brother dear."

"Focus, brother mine. They're still here." Flim ducked under a desk, his gun still ready to fire around it at a moment's notice. "Go away, or we'll keep firing."

Flam took cover as well, hiding behind another desk. "We have other weapons. Come to think of it..." He grabbed one of their prototype grenades. "Let's test it, shall we?"

"Lovely idea! You may have the honor."

Author's Notes:

Celestia and human diplomacy begins!

The formerly-captured soldier reports in. What will his debriefing reveal to his superiors?