Luna drifted though the darkness. The magical sleep she had induced on the pony had the side effect of being a dreamless sleep, but such a thing actually made it far more interesting for her to visit during the night.

Without dreams spewing forth from the subconscious, the rest of a pony’s mind was left bare. Fragments of memories littered the darkness, everything from still framed photos, to constantly repeating videos not more than a few seconds long, to films that could be watched for days on end without even a fraction of it being seen twice.

Luna was hesitant to intrude, knowing full well that she could stumble upon a more private section of this pony’s life if she wasn’t careful. However, intrude she did, enjoying screenplays and first person movies of everything from pranks that were played on others, pranks that were experienced, reading books, actually watching a movie through the stranger’s eyes, and (Luna’s favorite) several video gaming successes and/or blunders.

She learned who this pony was, and also that he wasn’t really a pony at all.

‘How strange,’ Luna thought, watching as the player character in Mass Effect was gunned down. ‘He’s even younger than Sister and I placed him.’ She listened to the memory, smiling as he fell silent, the controller in his hands squeaking slightly from the pressure he was exerting on it.

“Where'd that banshee come from!? I’d already mowed down two of those mother--” He fell silent again, stewing in his rage. She heard him sigh when she felt the world around her begin to give way under the weight of a rising consciousness.

Eyes opening, Luna looked around her bedroom, a smile creeping up on her face. “He’s awake…”

Celestia observed Luna and the maid enter the throne room at the same time, likely to deliver similar--if not the same--news.

The maid--Feather Duster, Celestia believed--bowed. “Princess, the stallion you brought in is awake. However, he is quite skittish, almost as if he were in shock. I recommend being extremely gentle if you were to speak to him.”

Celestia nodded, glancing at her sister for confirmation. Luna smiled and nodded, confirming the maid’s report. Celestia sighed, hiding a smile at the excuse to leave the day court early. She rose, addressing the nobles in the crowd. “I’m afraid that any further complaints and requests shall wait until tomorrow. Please, return home. I have important business to take care of.”

Most of the nobles grumbled their discontent, as was expected of the pompous lot. A few, namely the few who had ever had contact with one or more of the elements of harmony long enough to get to know them (read: Fancypants, Hoity Toity, Photo Finish and absolutely no-bucking-pony else) simply bowed and left while the other end of the spectrum (read: Blueblood) were even louder than the rest.

Celestia couldn't avoid rolling her eyes as the self-glorified unicorn ranted about not getting his turn. Fortunately for him that family beatings would do nothing to help her public image, even if he asked for it so often and so loudly.

Luna trotted over to her sister. “And you are sure that he is related to us?”

Celestia shrugged, beginning to consider changing some of the family records in the Canterlot archive. She let her eyes wander to the great windows in the throne room. Despite not having the decorative and historical nature of the stained-glass windows in the hall of the elements of harmony, they were still breathtaking to behold. She looked out the nearest one, taking in every detail of the city below. Ponies going about their lives, blissfully unaware that Equestria was becoming ground zero for any number of disasters.

Ever since the return of Luna from her banishment as the evil Nightmare Moon, The land had slowly been suffocating on an ever increasing tide of creatures, natural disasters, and even battle. The recent changeling invasion of Canterlot may have been the most famous, but it was far from the only. The first of these was the battle of Appleloosa, when the native buffalo and the settler ponies broke out into a skirmish. That fight was stopped by the intervention of the element bearers, but several similar battles have waged across Equestria.

Celestia turned her head, noticing the now vacant throne room. Her sister stood by the door, patiently waiting for the solar princes to finish her musings.

Celestia sighed, moving to accompany her sister to their ‘guest’.

Feather Duster trotted down the hallway, her silver mane catching the sunlight shining through the windows. Reaching a flight of stairs, she spread her wings to quickly ascend to the top rather than walk up.

As she walked and flew to her destination, she couldn’t help but reflect. She had been tasked to act as the newcomer’s assistant by the princesses themselves.

The hairs in her dark blue coat stood on end at that thought.

She was still new to the castle, having only begun her current job a short time ago. She couldn’t understand why the princesses would already give her an individual task, much less when it involved a pony they had deemed to be treated as a special guest.

She soon reached the room he was staying in. She slowly opened the door, letting it creak loudly enough to alert the pony inside the room to her presence.

She stuck her head inside, just far enough to see the pony glance at her, before returning his gaze to a book that was laying in front of him.

Feather Duster glanced at the book, making a light ‘hmph’ as she recognized it. “The first of the Daring Do series. Don’t see many ponies who appreciate a good adventure story.”

The grey and brown pony frowned. “Right…Ponies.” He glanced around at his accommodations.

The room was mostly bare, with a bed, a few furnishings and a small nightstand with several random books on top of it. Feather Duster followed his gaze to a window, where a beautiful view of the Equestrian countryside could be seen, interrupted only by the small village of Ponyville, not too far off in the distance. “Anyway, I thought it prudent to tell you that the princesses will be visiting you soon. You might want to take this opportunity to prepare yourself.”

Of all the things she could have said, it seemed that Feather Duster hit the mark for what would rile him up the most. The pony’s mane all but stood on end now, his entire body beginning to tremble.

Feather Duster sighed. He was about the same age as herself, but he seemed to be so much more affected by nervousness.

Feather Duster took one last glance about the small room before she decided to leave. As she closed the door behind her, she heard a barley audible “goodbye…” from the room.

She smiled to herself. “I’m sure he’ll be just fine.”

“This is bad, this is bad, this is oh so very, very bad.” A good figurative phrase would be that he was creating a rut in the floor from his pacing.

The pony glanced down, surprised to find that there was indeed a small rut in the solid stone.

“Ah!” He quickly jumped out the rut, shaking his head several times. When he looked again, the rut was gone, leaving the floor completely smooth.

He heard laughter come from the door. Raising his head he found the princesses standing in the doorway, one wearing a grin, the other, an expression of stone.

Luna covered her mouth with a hoof as Celestia rolled her eyes, a small smile slowly beginning to stretch her lips as well. Shaking her head lightly, the lunar princess approached the pony. “If you wouldn't mind, it would behoove Celestia and I to learn just who--or what--you are. Your cooperation would not go unrewarded in this matter.”

The pony gulped, gaze wandering everywhere except to the two princesses’ own.

Luna, sensing his discomfort, gently placed a hoof on his shoulder. “Firstly: we would like to know your name.” She said this more out of politeness as she already knew this pony’s name, as well as his age.

The pony managed to bring his eyes to match hers, his trembling dying down, but not disappearing. He opened his mouth but paused for a moment, unsure of what to say. “…Eclipse.”

Luna’s smile faded, his false answer catching her off guard. “And what of your world? What’s it like where you are from?” This time, her question was genuine. She hadn't taken time to study up on his home before he awoke.

Eclipse’s nervousness returned tenfold. “You really don’t want to know.”

Celestia’s ears pricked at this. “Oh? And just why not?”

“Look, it’s not like…Equestria." Eclipse replied, gritting his teeth. "Trust me. Just, leave it alone.”

Luna retracted her hoof from Eclipse’s shoulder, her smile completely gone by now. “And just what is the problem?”

Eclipse sighed, finally realizing that there was no getting out of this. “This world. It’s a place of equality, happiness. Peace is a constant here under normal circumstances. Take that, add in a whole bunch of ‘is not’s’ and you have where I’m from. It's not all bad, just not nearly as good. Humans are like that."

Celestia stopped listening to give herself a moment to think.

An idea entered her head. A horrible, stupid, potentially insane idea. One that just might work. She had glanced into other universes before, but lacked the ability to travel to them…so far, at least. This was one of the universes she watched closely, if it was indeed the same universe and not an alternate version of it.

Earth, humans, the fires that blazed inside them all. The planet they lived on was violent, raucous and diverse beyond imagining. It was one of few worlds which could create life from death, capable of turning the wastelands left by a volcanic eruption green again. It could also take a rainforest teeming with life and turn it into a desert.

It’s inhabitants were no different. ‘Humans…’ Celestia mused. ‘A bit on the chaotic side, but they can just as easily cultivate life as destroy it.’

She would need to be careful. He would need molding. Training. Above all else, he would need to be willing. Still, he wasn't going anywhere. And he certainly had the power requirements, if he could learn to control it. It just might work.

“Eclipse…” Celestia began, her unsure expression fading into a grin. Luna seemed to guess at what her sister was thinking. Probably not though, as the only other time Celestia pulled a move this outlandish was in the pair’s desperate battle against Discord, when he still ruled. “I have a proposition for you.”