Celestia descended towards court with a concerned expression on her face. It was a thoughtful musing that was normally absent until she heard something worth heavy consideration. It defied her usual pattern enough that her guards considered it as they walked.

It was not their job to ask, they reminded themselves. It was their job to guard.

"Morning, Sister." Luna was walking sleepily, looking ready to retire.

"Luna, wait..." Celestia glanced down a hallway before turning to her sister. "Have you a moment?"

Luna felt the urge to give a bitter remark about being tired, it played over her face as her mind swam through what she could see. That tone of voice... "What is bothering you?"

"I played another of their games."

Luna rolled her eyes. "That is hardly worthy of concern."

"I disagree, it is one meant to simulate the rise and fall of entire civilizations, modeled after their own." She moved in closed to Luna, leaning in to speak into her little sister's ears. "The humans are winning without war, good on them, but we are doing it wrong, all wrong."

Luna blinked softly at that, recoiling slightly. Some of the fatigue in her features lifted with concern as sharpness returned to her eyes. "What is it we're doing that's 'wrong'? We've made it this far."

"We have, and we may, but we've done little to hedge our bets. If a nation were to declare it were displeased with our people, what could we do, besides bid for peace and hope that was enough?"

"We would gladly fight for you, and Equestria, Your Highness," an especially bold guard spoke proudly, also revealing he was not a pony-shaped bit of furniture.

Celestia smiled gently at that. "And I would rather you didn't have to." She did not vocalize her concern that her guards, loved as they were by her, couldn't really do much in the wars that could come. "I propose we cement our friendships."

"Hmm?" Luna lifted an ear before it seemed to come to her, eyes widening a little. "You mean to enter a defensive pact, as the Yaks had called upon us."

"Exactly that. In this case, I should imagine the humans will do far more defending than we could hope to do. It is in our favor that they see us in a good light. We are 'cute' in their eyes."

Luna rolled her eyes softly. "Tell that to the human I sniped that one time. He said most unkind things..."

"Luna, focus."

"Yes, yes." She held up a hoof lightly. "You mentioned the humans are 'winning' the war. What war?"

"I said they are winning without a war. Their culture is spreading. You are proof of that. Tell me, how many games did you play, of any kind, before being exposed to theirs?"

Luna opened her mouth, just to close it again. A frown began to form as she realized the truth of it. "You play their games too," she spat back defensively.

"All the more proof of my claims. They are pressing a cultural victory; though I admit, as victories go, it is a very harmonious one, and I don't think I would be that upset to be defeated that way. It speaks well of them that they are pursuing it instead of one of the other options."

Luna shook her head. "You will need to inform me, later, after sleep, what these victories are. For now, you have my blessing, Sister. If the humans would lend their military to chase away any other nation, and they don't ask too much for it, then that sounds good."

Rason rose smoothly and strode across his office with a hand out. "Welcome. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The pony set her hoof into the offered hand, accepting the human style of shake. "An honor to meet you and be here. I am Twilight Sparkle, and I will be acting as ambassador for Equestria today."

"Miss Sparkle, your reputation precedes you," Rason said in complimenting tones. "It was through your action that many lives were saved, and resources besides. You were a key player in bringing a fruitless war to an end." He gestured towards his work desk. "Come, have a seat. Drink?"

"No, but thanks for offering." She hopped up onto an offered seat and perched on her haunches, watching him. "It is fascinating, your government. I've read about it. I would think the constant changing of leadership would create chaos, but you've basically always had a smooth transition of power. That speaks well of your people."

Rason took his seat as he gestured towards the bay windows. "America is very proud of its democracy--"

"--Republic," corrected Twilight, looking quite proud.

"Technically true, but we are also a democracy, just not a direct one," Rason allowed with a wry smile. "But I imagine you didn't come to argue that."

"Oh, no! No no. I assure not." The president began to beep as a collection of papers appeared beside Twilight's head. "I wanted to propose a treaty, on behalf of Equestria."

Rason extended a hand and the papers landed on them lightly, assuming their real weight the moment he drew them back to browse over. "For the sake of conversation, what's the summary of this?"

"We would like to solidify our friendships." She brought together her fore hooves gently. "America, Equestria, Seaquestria, Yakyakistan, and the Dragons all share friendly and formal relationships. While we appreciate being simply 'friends', things are evolving, and being formal and precise in definitions is important."

"Is this a formal declaration that we see each other in a positive fashion?" Twilight coming to visit to do just that felt a bit unlikely. "Or...?"

"It starts there." She reached to tap the edge of the papers. "But does not end there. It formalizes some things we've learned are common practices, where you're from, such as extradition policies, copyright enforcement and compliance, and agreement to follow the Geneva conventions." She suddenly leaned in, putting a hoof up to her face with a conspiratorial whisper, "You have no idea how much the dragons were confused at the very notion that someone would make rules about fighting a war. But we got them to sign on."

"You organized this, that quickly?" He hadn't heard a single peep from any intelligence branch about the countries meeting and discussing it. Though the web of intelligence across the new world was still forming, it still felt like a great oversight.

Twilight put a hoof to her chest. "As soon as Princess Celestia asked me, I went directly to work. Don't get me wrong, the hum--American government system you have works well for you, there are advantages to short command chains at times. What Celestia decides is the start and end of things, and we trust that she will lead us well, and she has. I'm getting distracted." She tapped her chin softly. "Right, yes, this was done fairly quickly."

"Is that all? Not to imply that what you've said so far is a small thing." He was already considering the effects of what they had promised. Extradition agreements were an important thing, though he imagined it went both ways. Copyright agreements meant local creators could make and sell things in their agreeing countries with far less fear of copies emerging, especially as the rest of the world rushed to catch up with American technology, and they would, he felt certain.

"There are a few other things." She lifted her shoulders as if being asked a petty little thing. "I doubt it'll ever come up, but there is a formal defense clause, in the event that any party of the friendship is attacked." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "The dragons were quite insistent they didn't need defending, but signed on, saying they'd pound whoever was bothering their buds." She chuckled softly, smiling as if it were nothing. "Can you imagine? Either way, all standard formal friendship things. You know I'd be trying to defuse any trouble that came up, so I really doubt we'll ever really need need that."

Rason knew better. "This will have to go in front of congress. Even as president, I am not authorized to simply sign this and send you on your way. Once I sign it, it is law, and laws are enforced by the president. Creating them involves the House and the Senate. I will have a copy sent to them and read it myself. You are, of course, welcome to stay while we deliberate." He reached for the intercom. "See that Ambassador Sparkle is situated comfortably and get her some proper identification."

"On it, Sir," came the reply the moment he released the button.

Twilight reached a wing into a pocket and drew out a card. "But I have ID?"

"It doesn't say you are an ambassador," corrected Rason. "Does your treaty include consulates?"

"I knew I was forgetting something," squeaked Twilight. "Page 12."

Rason flipped to it, and there it was, an agreement for each party to set aside some land for all other parties to have a formal embassy established, with provisions for smaller consulates when countries are large and spread enough to warrant it. It also went over the sending of ambassadors, and how one might be ejected from their hosting country, and the acknowledgement of diplomatic immunities.

"You've been studying us." He set the papers down for the moment.

"Pardon me for saying it, but you make it hard at times to not study you." Twilight sat up tall. "I assume you see nothing immediately out of place?"

"Nothing yet, but I, and others, need to read it thoroughly."

With soft polite words, the meeting was over. America had to decide if it would enter the new coalition.

"The economy is recovering." A box appeared beside the reporter, showing a sharply rising line. "Unemployment is dropping fast." Another box appeared below the first with an almost mirror line, dropping hard. "America is officially in a boom and people are getting back to work. Moods are high and approval ratings of the President and congress are rising swiftly."

But he couldn't keep viewers with nothing but good news. "In a violent conflict far off the shore of Florida, two coast guard were killed securing a boat from international pirates. The surviving pirates were caught and imprisoned, and there were no casualties among the crew of the attacked ship, allowing it to continue to its destination." He tapped his papers on his desk. "Calls to increase the budget of the coast guard are clashing with others to use the navy for the task, with no foreign seas to patrol."

"Alaska has formally absorbed the land granted to it by the neighboring countries of Yakyakistan and Equestria."

A new box appeared, showing the governer of Alaska standing beside Cadance and Prince Rutherford. "We appreciate the brotherly commitment you've both shown."

"We not brothers, but good enough." Prince Rutherford nodded with 'sage' agreement.

Cadance dipped her head lightly. "A pleasure. I hope that your people can find happiness."

The video stopped. "With the veto of the president unchallenged, new legislation formally acknowledging the new size of Alaska has been signed into law, making Alaska's #1 crown for the largest state even more unlikely to ever be challenged."

"In other news, satellites; we have more of them. With greater understanding of how little things like 'gravity' and what space actually is, successive trips have begun to populate the skies. In related news, the Internet is expanding. With permission and agreement from Equestria, lines are being created beneath the ocean. Seaquestrian workers and human engineers willing to work in 'mermaid' mode are accelerating the work considerably, but it is still predicted that the sheer length of the work to take time."

"Technology giant, Google, has stepped into the gaming industry."

A new window appeared, showing a man speaking into a microphone. "The way we see it, we lost a lot of talent in that sphere when we were casually thrown off of Earth. That's a real shame. People need games, good games. We hope to help fill in that hole."

"Microsoft released a statement assuring that it was wholly prepared to continue producing games, to say nothing of the American studios of other companies, including but not limited to Nintendo, Sony, and others."

Author's Notes:

Let us return to the turning of the wheels. The action resumes.

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