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My Little Pony: Equedia Episode 1: A new arrival part 1.

The sun blanketed the magical land of Equestria in it's splendid warmth as life seemed to return to normal after the confrontation with Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow. Just six moons is all it took for everything to get back on pace and the work of spreading friendship to reach past the borders of Equestria once more. Princess Twilight should have found comfort and joy in the peaceful state of her kingdom and their ever tightening alliances, yet something continued to eat at the back of her mind. It was nothing more than a feeling, not of unease but a feeling that caused unease. Try as she might, she could find no evidence of this feeling having any source. She could feel the urge to obsess about the matter, however as the new ruler of Equestria, she could not allow herself to do such a thing. She sighed softly to herself as she turned from the balcony in her new royal suite to prepare for the arrival of her friends that morning.

The new living arrangements were still odd to her and she knew it would take quite sometime more to adjust to the suite that her mentor once owned for more than a thousand years now being hers. Perhaps that had something to do with her strange feeling. She shook her head to clear her mind of the nagging sensation as her horn glowed whilst her magic took hold of the knob to open the door, revealing spike fluttering just outside with one claw raised to knock. "Spike! You startled me!"

"Hey Twilight! Sorry about that," the purple dragon rubbed that back of his head, "You seem really jumpy lately. Still got the new leader jitters?"

The purple alicorn heaved a soft sigh, "I'm sorry Spike, I'm still kind of adjusting to all of this and that strange sensation is back. I wish it made any sense, but I can't think of any reason for it." Twilight shook her head as she began to walk down the hall toward the throne room, "I can't even explain what I'm feeling to anypony else. they'll think I'm going crazy, not really a good thing for a new ruler."

"Maybe our friends can think of some reason for it, they're here by the way. I left them in the throne room to come get you." Spike offered as he fluttered along to keep up with Twilight and her nervous pace. A sure sign that the sensation had truly struck a nerve. The dragon cautiously poked the heavy subject hanging in the air, "So, you really want to analyze this and dive into books to see if you can find anything at all that might be causing it, don't you?"

Twilight heaved a groaning sigh, "Yes! Sweet Celestia, yes! I can't stand this, I have to figure out what it is! it's driving me crazy!" The alicorn felt her expression fall for a moment as she realized she had raised her voice and drew concerned looks from the guard ponies at the door to the throne room. She gave a nervous smile and equally nervous laugh, "Sorry."

"Everything alright Princess?" The stone gray pegasus kept his brow raised as he examined the princess. She knew he was judging her behavior, but he would never say a word to her. It was just not proper protocol.

Twilight blushed lightly as she shook her head, "Uh, no. I've just been fighting with butterflies in my stomach, I mean six moths seems like a long time, but ruling Equestria is an enormous responsibility. I don't know if I'll ever clear these."

"Right," there was a hint of skepticism in his voice, "The council of friendship has arrived, Princess. They await you now, shall we announce a delay?"

The purple alicorn shook her head so firmly that she nearly unsettled her crown, "No! No, that won't be necessary, Strong Wing. If anything, they're the only ponies that can really help me put this to rest."

The guard pony nodded and opened the door for Spike and Twilight to proceed into the throne room. The alicorn scarcely made it three steps within before her ears were greeted with the shrill cry of a very familiar voice, "Twilight! Oh my gosh, it's sooo good to see you! Ponyville is just so different without you! We totally got the town all fixed up and everything else is back to normal again! Well, back to normal except that you're not there and your castle is totally empty and collecting dust! Oh, except the map! Gallus and Ocellus got called away to Griffonstone! That was really recent and they aren't back yet!"

The flood of words came complete with a pink streak that attached to her with hooves wrapped tightly about her neck in a bit of a too enthusiastic embrace that caused Twilight to struggle to speak, "Nice to see you too Pinkie.. air!"

"For Pete's sake Pinkie Pie! We're all excited, but you can't go crushin' the life outa Twilight like that," Applejack all but grunted as she attempted to pry the pink earth pony from Twilight's shoulders.

The pink earth pony released her grip on the princess to tumble back a bit from their friend's efforts to dislodge her, "Eheh, sorry Twilight, I'm just so happy to see you again!"

"It's okay Pinkie, really. If a little tight squeeze from a friend is the most difficult part of my day, then it's a really good day," despite her words, Twilight all but gasped for the sweet oxygen that she had lost during the overly enthusiastic embrace.

Rarity gave a soft sigh as she righted Twilight's crown with her magic, "Honestly Pinkie Pie, you could do with learning some restraint. It simply won't do to go pouncing on Twilight now that she's the ruler of Equestria. If her guards had seen you, they might have thought you were attempting to attack her!"

The pastel yellow pegasus of the group approached the purple alicorn with a concerned expression, "You don't look so well Twilight, have you been getting enough sleep?"

"Well, you see.." The purple mare rubbed her left foreleg against her right as she struggled with what she could possibly say. She could not just blurt out that some strange sensation was keeping her awake at nights and making her skin crawl during every second of every day. She had to lead them into it before she would feel comfortable bringing it up.

Spike, on the other hoof, had no such qualms about pipping up with the true explanation, "Are you kidding? She keeps waking up and looking through her suite trying to find the cause of some strange sensation she's been feeling. She seems fine with everything else, but this 'sensation' what ever it is, has been driving her crazy! And you know Twilight, there's a problem and she needs to research it, but she can't. So that's just making it like a thousand times worse."

"Spike!" Twilight was about to scold her number one assistant, when she realized the energy in the room had shifted dramatically. All five of the other mares seemed to shuffle about nervously, Even Rainbow Dash had landed from her usual constant flying and hovering about. "You all felt it too?"

Fluttershy nodded slowly as Applejack piped up, "You mean the sensation that makes your skin crawl like something just ain't right?"

"Like you should be looking over your shoulder for somepony or something completely uncool?" Dash added her inquiry to the pile of evidence with less of her usual bravado.

Rarity shivered at the talk of the sensation as she confessed as well, "Like something is just wrong in the air, something that shouldn't be there. Like, like.."

Strong Wing opened the door to the throne room, interrupting Rarity's thought, "Princess Twilight, you have another visitor. She wishes to keep her surprise, but she insists you won't mind."

Twilight sighed to herself as yet another surprise was not what she needed, "Send them in, may as well see who would wish to surprise me anyway."

The guard pony nodded firmly before he stepped back to allow the taller, midnight blue alicorn to enter the throne room she once shared with her sister. All six mares stared at her in shock until the door closed behind the former princess, "Twilight Sparkle, I believe the description you are searching for to describe your sensation is, 'like somepony is watching you'."

"Yes! But, Princess Luna, what are you- how did you know what we were discussing," The younger mare stumbled over her own words as she tried to ask everything she wished to know in one compressed sentence.

Luna shook her head, "Not Princess anymore, just Luna. You should really stand further back in the throne room to discuss sensitive matters as this sensation, that door is not as sound proof as you think."

"Right, thanks for the advice on that. I'm glad you're here, with this situation having popped up on us, I really do appreciate it. I do have to ask, why are you here exactly?" Twilight moved forward to exchange a polite bow with Luna.

Before the former princess could speak, Rainbow Dash chimed in, "Yeah, aren't you supposed to be retired and living it up in Silver Shoals?"

"Rainbow!" the princess cried out with scolding shock.

The soft blue pegasus throws her hooves wide as she turns to her now royal friend, "What?"

"It's quite alright Twilight, I really should be relaxing back home. But Celestia and I have been feeling the sensation of being watched as well and we discussed the matter between us resulting in the decision that I would be the one to come report this to you," Luna offered her assurances with a smile, that quickly faded as she gave her explanation.

Twilight felt a chill dance along her spine as Rarity voiced the thought she was sure they all had, "My goodness, this sounds like it may be a wide spread problem. What should we do, Twilight dear?"

"I-I'm not sure. We don't even know what this is or if it's wide spread," She knit her brow for a moment as she considered what information they had already, "We do know that it is effecting ponies who either have, or have been a part of great power use. We haven't heard from any other average ponies on the matter. We also don't know if other powerful ponies are feeling the effects either. We also have no idea if any other creatures are feeling this sensation. We need more information before we can take any further action."

Fluttershy tapped a hoof against her chin, "Oh well, none of the animals at the sanctuary have mentioned any feeling like they have been being watched. They aren't acting any differently either."

"Right, so we know ponies are effected and not animals. We need more information about this. Unfortunately I'm swamped with royal duties and can't investigate anything myself. I'm going to have to rely on you to quietly investigate. This can't spread to regular citizens of Equestria, but we need to know if the average pony is feeling it. For that matter, you may as well speak to the pillars as well. It may simply be that those of us who have come in contact with great sources of power are feeling this." Twilight took a long slow breath before she turned her eyes to Luna, "Princ- I mean, Luna, I would really like to ask your help in this investigation in a very specific way."

The elder alicorn hesitated for a moment before she finally asked, "What specific way do you need my help in this? I will remind you that I'm not a princess anymore so there are things I can't do any longer."

"I understand, but something tells me that you still have the ability I wish to take advantage of," the younger alicorn took a breath and closed her eyes a moment, "I need you to take up the old duty you once performed and look into ponies dreams. Specifically for anything that, in your opinion, suggests that they are experiencing this sensation. It's honestly the quietest way we can survey the average citizen of Equestria. You can even look in on the creature students of the school of friendship. That should tell us if they feel it as well."

Luna stared at Twilight for a moment with wide eyes, "That was unexpected, though a very wise choice considering the resources before you. It will be difficult to force myself to rest during the day once more so I may perform this task, but I think it's possible, at the very least I must try. For you and for Equestria."

"Thank you, so very much. I'm really sorry I have to call on you like this, but I really have to do everything I can to protect Equestria," Twilight gave a soft sigh as she turned her eyes toward the purple dragon hovering near her as always, "That brings me to you, Spike."

The dragon blinked at the princess, "Me, but, what can I do?" "Well, nothing out of the ordinary to be honest," Twilight gave an awkward expression as she smiled at her number one assistant, "I have to ask, do you trust Gabby enough to keep this whole thing a secret if you were to ask her about this possible sensation?"

Spike responded without hesitation, "Of course! If I tell her it's important to keep things between us , she'll keep it a secret."

"It's settled then. I'll keep Equestria running, and you will go with the others back to Ponyville to get in contact with Gabby while Princess.. errr... Luna rests for tonight," She looked about at all her friends, "If you can return here tomorrow afternoon, that would be wonderful."

Rainbow Dash scoffed, "No sweat! We'll have this done by this afternoon, be back and tell you what we know and be back for dinner!"

"Rainbow! For Pete's sake, this is serious, we got to go and be thorough on this one. Even if we could do all this that fast, Princess, er former princess Luna can't go make everypony sleep to go checkin' their dreams," Applejack reined in the runaway ego of her pegasus friend. The orange earth pony gave a sheepish smile to Luna, "Sorrry erm, what do we call ya' now, sugarcube?"

The midnight blue alicorn drew herself up with dignity, "Luna is fine. I admit, it is strange not to hear my name preceded by 'princess'. It is also strange to have to force myself to sleep in time to catch the dreams of other ponies."

"The only thing we're missing now is somepony to research like I used to over such problems. I just can't ignore my duties long enough to dive into the archives," Twilight mused with a tone of regret.

Spike waved a claw to brush off the concern, "Hey no sweat, we're going to Ponyville. There's another pony we can include that is just as much of a book worm as you are , Twilight. I'll just stop by the school and ask Sunburst to research this sensation. We got to get going though if we're gonna have time to do any of this."

"Spiky- I mean Spike is right darling, don't you fret, we shall take care of every little detail," Rarity assured the princess as the group all came together for one last parting embrace and offer their own assurances.

As she watched her friends depart on their fact finding mission, Twilight felt a knot of worry and concern twisting in her belly. Was this how Celestia felt every time she sent Twilight on a mission to protect Equestria while she was trapped under her royal duties? As if she had read her mind, Luna spoke up, "Even when I watched you all dash off at my sister's behest, I always felt uncomfortable wondering what would become of you. Despite all your successes, and my confidence in you. The waiting is always the worst part, but it gives way to the return. Those always melted that ball of ice in my belly in an instant."

"You worried about us when we went on Celestia's tasks," Twilight asked with a touch of shock.

Luna nodded slowly, "Of course, despite my odd schedule, you and your friends were the closest to friends I had, aside from Tia. If you had been hurt, or worse," The elder alicorn allowed the thought to trail off, "Did you keep the staff that Celestia and I had on duty during our reign?"

"Yes, I saw no reason to change anything there." Twilight replied with a less focused tone than she had intended. This situation left so much on her mind and yet she had so much there to begin with.

Luna turned to walk toward the familiar halls of her past, "I shall speak with the porter myself then, she will understand the situation. You should right on time to be swarmed with self important nobles demanding privileges and special exception to the laws and bylaws of our great nation. They may have been nice up until now, but you should start seeing them attempt to cash in on the favors they feel they have built up. Think of them as more skilled and more dangerous than Flim and Flam. They have built financial empires on those silver tongues and crooked hoof shakes after all."

"Thanks for the warning, I'll try to keep an eye on the requests and ideas presented in court gatherings. You go and get your rest," Twilight ended their conversation with a parting nod, which Luna returned in kind before fading into the corridors of the palace.

Luna had been correct about the nobles and their plastic smiles affixed to the most loaded of offers that drew weight in all but demanding relaxation of regulations to gain ground on their competition. It was all Twilight could do to fend off their heavy pressuring speeches and maintain Equestrian law. Her struggle was made all the much more difficult by the nagging worry for her friends and their quiet mission to uncover the source of that odd sensation they all felt. Spike was concerned when she barely touched her supper. The situation only became worse for the princess when she attempted to sleep. True sleep was very difficult to come by, and when she did finally fall to slumber, her dreams felt it necessary to manifest her worries and fears as a formless and relentless beast. The behemoth never came into sight, but she could hear it crushing the ground and anything in it's way as it pursued her relentlessly. Just when she was cornered by a cliff, Luna appeared and struck down the shadowy beast with one mighty blast of her ample alicorn magic.

"Luna! I'm so glad to see you! I've never had nightmares like this before," Twilight rushed toward the dream image of the elder alicorn only to stop dead in her tracks.

The former princess was panting in ragged breaths as she struggled to regain some energy in her form. She did not speak for a moment until she managed to restore some reserve to function on properly, "Twilight Sparkle, I have never seen anything like this. Every pony I have visited in the dreamscape has been in a dream about some unknown force coming after them or stalking them relentlessly. I have been running myself ragged to dispel the specters. I fear I am not even half through my night. Forgive me in advance for my weary state come morning."

"Of course, I'm sorry to ask this of you. Thank you so much for the help with this problem. Now we know it's huge. I'm going to try and get some rest to wake up in the morning. Hopefully the girls will have more for us to go on," Twilight took control of her own dream again and dispelled the cliff blocking her path to reveal a perfect quiet Ponyville from her long past days when her bond with her friends had just begun, "Luna, be careful, don't over work yourself after such a long break."

Luna nodded as she opened the path out of Twilight's dream, "I shall try to be safe as I can."

Twilight struggled to wake after her supposed rest that turned out to be anything but restful and rejuvenating. Spike, blessed Spike, had a good strong tea waiting for her when she emerged from her suite. The very same suite that had been Celestia's home for more than one thousand years. That thought stung all the more as she realized there was no longer a sagely mentor to seek advice from with the strange new situation before her and Equestria.

"Man Twilight, you look rough. Bad night's rest?" the purple dragon asked with his usual brutal honesty.

Twilight heaved a heavy sigh as she levitated her tea to her muzzle for a sip before she replied, "All this mess has given me nightmares. Luna was there to help banish it, but I just couldn't get back to a deep sleep after that. She was so worn out by the time she reached me. I feel bad for asking her to do that for us."

"Yeah I seen what she looked like this morning when she came out for breakfast. You'd think she was hoof wrestling all of Yakyakistan all night," Spike showed some signs of sympathy in his voice as he shared the scene before Twilight had risen from her slumber.

The princess nearly leaped out of her skin, "What! Luna is already up? Oh my gosh, how long did you let me sleep? Is she still up?"

"Yes, only an hour, and yes, the others arrived about five or ten minutes ago so they have been talking while I get you up to join them in the dining room," The purple dragon shot down every concern with a smooth confidence that only he could maintain in the face of the alicorn's Twilighting.

The purple mare nearly spat her tea as the news hit her, "They're here? I need to get down there!"

As Twilight charged out the door, Spike sighed and walked over to her night stand where he collected the amulet for raising the sun and moon. The purple dragon counted backward to himself as he moved to the balcony doors and opened them, holding out the amulet as he reached the last few numbers. "Five, four, three, two, one.."

Twilight suddenly flashed into existence right next to him with a sheepish grin, "Right.. the sun."

~ ~ ~

In a place that nopony could ever imagine, a white robbed figure stood in a very dimly lit room. Their hood up to conceal their face from the armed humans clad in shining steel armor as they stand guard on either side. Six in total, one on either side with a hand on the hilt of their swords whilst their shields stayed ready to defect any potential attack. Two pike-men on each side of the robbed figure stood ready to assist their brother's in arms. Ahead of that group stood two very large gryphons clad in rather heavy plate armor, dwarfing the hulking men as they were clearly ready to take the brunt of a potential attack. The entire entourage stood before a stone ring with heavy amounts of arcane power humming all around them. A strange reptilian woman at the very back of the room working at some sort of arcane console cleared her long slender throat as she turned her narrow snout and head up to look at the robbed figure directly, "Archmage Kreitz, it appears as though our cloaked scrying has been detected."

"Truly? That is quite unexpected and bothersome," In the dim light, the face under that hood remained hidden as that soft gentle voice sneaked from within those shadows. The archmage flexed her large snow white feathered wings as her leonine tail gave a lazy sweep to betray her active mind, "Is the detection minor or are the scans common knowledge?"

The rather serpentine head of the reptile nodded, her eyes looking quite enormous for the size of her head, "Common knowledge among the dominant species, technically. By what we have detected is that they have a sensation of being watched, but they don't know why. There is a threat of mass hysteria if this continues. Do we stop scrying or proceed to contact?"

The archmage took a deep breath and gives a heavy sigh, her soft pale pink scaled hand clutched tightly about her staff, a single smooth shaft of pearl with a rather massive white feather trailing from a white leather strand, "Both, however, we are going to make light contact in this case. Knock, so to speak."

~ ~ ~

Twilight found herself met with a much larger gathering of ponies and a draconequus than she had expected. The royal table was surrounded by her friends and the pillars themselves, Discord she had expected, there was no chance he would miss a situation like this. What she had not expected was to see Celestia seated at the table again. Even Thorax had made an appearance.

"I assume you all heard about the sensation and came to offer your input," The young princess opened the conversation with the most obvious question to get everypony on the same page.

Thorax spoke up, "Um, no! I actually came to see if you knew anything about this strange sensation of being watched. I guess my question was answered." The changeling king gave a touch of an awkward smile as he rubbed the back of his neck with a single hoof.

"Okay, so we know it effects changelings then, and reaches that far but what else do we know?" Twilight asked, forgetting herself and offering a sheepish smile and wave to Thorax after she spoke.

Starlight Glimmer cleared her throat, "Well, all of my students have been coming to Trixie about a similar problem, all except for Silverstream, Yona, and Smolder. So it seems it doesn't effect hippogriff, yaks, or dragons."

"You could have just asked you know," Spike huffed as he settled at the table to have an after breakfast snack, "Gabby said she wasn't feeling anything like this either, so add griffins to that list of creatures unaffected."

Twilight pinned her ears back, "Sorry Spike, we still just see you as no different than us, to a fault at times." The young monarch turned her attention back to her guests and the subject at hoof, "I'm glad to have the pillar's support in this matter, please tell me you recognize this at least a little. This complete lack of information is just terrifying."

An elder unicorn, taller than average with a long curly white beard stood from his seat to address the younger princess, "Sadly, none of us have any recollection of such a sensation spreading through Equestria. Stygian has failed to find any information in his old materials as well. I'm sorry Princess."

"Thank you, StarswirlI, I guess it was too much to hope it was something you defeated in the past. It's another long shot, but Celestia, have you encountered anything like this in your thousand years of sole rule," the purple mare turned her attention to the larger white alicorn to her left.

Celestia shook her head gently with a lost expression, "No, this is entirely new to me as well. I will stay and help as I can in this time however, for the good of Equestria."

"Thank you so much. I know I'm supposed to be taking care of Equestria now, but having the experience and wisdom to fall back on when something so strange and new as this falls upon us," Twilight heaved a heavy sigh, "If only we could find any lead to go on."

Everypony in the room turned their eyes to Discord, causing the lord of chaos to look hurt, "What? Why are you looking at me? I don't know what's going on, all I can say is that there has been a lot of magic I don't recognize spreading all over Equestria. I have no clue what it is doing, other than causing low levels of chaos on such a grand scale it matches my work in Ponyville. I'm impressed and a touch jealous of the low effort."

"Sorry Discord, we just hoped maybe you knew what was going on, you do seem to know about things ponies have missed or forgotten in times like this," Twilight offered a small smile that quickly faded under the gravity of the situation.

Luna, who looked as though she had been dragged by a single hoof through all of Equestria, spoke up, "He is correct, it is spread all over Equestria, I helped those I could with the nightmares it caused, but it is literally the whole of our nation that has been affected. I feel remorse for those I could not get to that had to face their nightmares alone."

"My word, I did not foresee our advanced scrying to cause this much of a calamity. I am truly sorry for these side effects, we have never had them happen before now," A soft sweet voice seemed to come from nowhere, causing everypony to look about for the source until Discord pointed at what appeared to be a small glowing blue white ball hovering behind Luna.

Twilight trotted around the table to approach the glowing ball, "Your scrying? Who.. what are you? What have you been doing to Equestria?"

The pillars and the elements all gathered round the tiny glowing ball, along with the two former princesses. All her friends created a formidable ring around the object as they stood with Twilight. There seemed to be a touch of concern tinting that voice as she spoke once more, "I am Shadow Anabelle Kreitz. Archmage and royal mage of Chiersaldohl, as well as head mistress of Central Arcane Academy, chairperson of the council of Vyrekai, and magic instructor, or mistress if you will, to one of the most talented young mages I have heard of. Most importantly, I am an explorer and particular fan of new cultures and magics. I am of an avian species known as the gryph, though we are not the dominant species of the world I represent-"

"Wait! Avian?" Rainbow Dash shoved her way into the conversation as she hovered closer to the glowing ball and even bringing one eye very close to it, "I've never seen any bird that looks like a tiny glowing ball. Just what kind of game are you playing here?"

The sigh was quite audible before the alleged hen on the other side spoke again, "What you are seeing is not my body, it is just an extremely tiny gate, or as you likely refer to it in your current magical development, a 'portal', just large enough for me to project my voice through with a spell. As for what we have done to Equestria, we have just observed it. The side effect of the sensation you seem to be investigating, is some sort of passive detection of our scrying spells that let us view and get a distant feel for your home so we may assess if it is safe to step foot on your world, both for us as well as yourselves. We generally do not make such contact as this before taking a direct assessment of a people in person, but given the chaos we seem to have inadvertently caused, I felt it best to give you the courtesy of asking permission to enter your world and study your culture and magic."

"So this sensation you have been giving us has all just been a side effect of some passive ability to sense your scrying spells, which you say has never happened before," Starswirl asked as he stared directly at the tiny portal. Twilight looked to the two elder alicorn for some sign of what she should do. This was something entirely new to her and to Equestria. So many variables that could make the situation both a wonderful opportunity and a terrible event.

Shadow, as she introduced herself to be, held real remorse in her voice as she replied, "Yes, that is correct. We generally try our best to have zero impact on new worlds we discover, but this time we have had a heavy impact in creating a crisis. We have never had these spells detected in more than a thousand years, and never have we seen spell detection manifest like this. The only course we have had to address the situation we have caused is to reveal ourselves as we have and help assure that the sensations will stop and they are not harmful or threatening."

"What assurance do we truly have that says you aren't harmful or threatening? All we have is a voice coming through a tiny portal making extraordinary claims. How do we know you aren't just a bunch of centaur like Tirek waiting to steal our magic and use it to conquer us?" Twilight retorted rather quickly, finding a hint of panic in herself as her mind raced for the correct answer to this strange situation before her.

Celestia stepped up beside her former student and now ruler of her home to gently brush a soothing wing over her back, "Twilight, caution is important, but getting too aggressive can turn a first encounter into an incident. You're a calm and rational pony, Equestria needs you to channel your logic now, I, no we believe in you. We trust that the decision you make will be for the best."

"If you prefer to see that I am what I say I am, I can expand the portal for you and you can see myself and the portal guards on the other side. Mind you, they are soldiers, we needed to be ready in the event that we encountered a hostile people that might threaten the civilians of our world," their unseen observer offered gently, the tone of her voice carrying an almost motherly quality to it.

The purple alicorn took a deep breath and considered her options and what she could possibly do. At last she drew herself up and stared directly at the tiny portal, "I'm the ruler of Equestria now, but I'm still the princess of friendship. I'm not sure if it's a good idea, but as the princess of friendship, I have to try and make new friends, especially when there's a chance it'll be good for Equestria. So come on over and join us for breakfast and we'll discuss letting you come study our culture and sharing yours with us. Face to face in a more friendly atmosphere."

"That sounds like a wonderful way to begin contact. Certainly better than skulking around in the wilds and observing from a distance. Allow me to set up my return conditions so I may close the gate behind me," She sounded quite pleased with the offer.

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief as there seemed to be pause from their pending guest, "Well, I think this is going well so far. I wonder what they eat, do you think pony food will work?"

"Twilight, are you certain this is a wise decision? I know we trusted you enough to give the rule of Equestria over to you, but this has never happened before. We don't know what these people really want with us," Celestia voiced her doubts about the unseen explorers that would soon be entering their world.

Luna nodded her agreement with her sister's position, "It's true, this could just be their way of convincing us to let them in so they may cross the threshold and attack."

"They're right you know," Discord nearly purred in Twilight's ear as he hovered behind her head, nearly on her back. His head changed to that of Tirek as he continued, "You remember how a certain foe of ours pretended to befriend me until he could steal my power right?"

Twilight took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment as she took in every bit of sound advice before giving her reply, "That is all true, but we have guards and we have all of you for a reason. We can't ignore the possibility that we may be making a powerful new friend with amazing magic we can perhaps learn for ourselves. I am the princess of friendship, the ruler of Equestria, and I will make friends for the sake of my subjects. Luna, you have always been shrewd and observant about where a threat may come from. I hate to press you back into service after retiring, but I kind of like the idea of you watching my shadow to make sure nopony is hiding in it. At least while we meet these new creatures."

"You need not ask, I am happy to serve once again. I just hope it is not for more than a cautionary measure in the end of this venture," The midnight blue alicorn made her feelings known before standing firm behind Twilight.

Applejack seemed as though she were about to speak but she was cut off by the mysterious voice of Shadow as she presumably returned, "My deepest apologies about that delay, I had to set my identifying markers for the return trip. I am ready to expand the gate and step through if you are prepared to receive me."

"Ready as we'll ever be, since we don't have the ability to scan you right back," Twilight gave a nod to Celestia and Starswirl, summoning her friends and the Pillars of Equestria to gather behind her, just in case

There was a moment of silence before at last the blue white dot began to expand and widen into a more proper portal, revealing the darkened room where the two armored gryphons stood easily towering twice as tall as any griffin anypony present had seen in their lives. The light shined off the polished steel plates covering their bodies in a clear sacrifice of flight for unparalleled protection. Behind them, some strange two legged creatures, just as well armored and seeming to lack almost any sort of hair stepped aside to form an alley way of guards down to where a very slender white robed figure stood. A pair of white, angelic wings rest half spread behind her back as she began to walk toward the portal. A white furred leonine tail sway with every step, showing off the silky state of the long furred tuft at the tip.

"Twilight Sparkle I presume," the robed avian asked as she walked toward the gathered ponies and draconequus, the tap of her staff in her head accompanying her every step. Her face was still hidden by her hood, leaving just the hooked tip of her beak showing through the shadows beneath, "It is such a pleasure to finally meet you in person."

The princess fixated on that staff, expecting the single sooth shaft of pearl to be the magical focus for the being before her, "Shadow Kreitz? The pleasure is ours to welcome the first visitor from beyond our world."

Shadow raised her staff a touch and turned it sideways as she approached the gate, magic flowing through the hen and causing the massive white feather tied to the staff to flutter as though it were much smaller before the entire ensemble became a white silk sash, "Hopefully we can strike a friendly relation and see you entering my own world in return," Shadow tied the sash about her waist as she spoke and stepped through the gate to fully enter Equestria, "The sharing of cultures and magic is always a wonderful thing between friendly worlds."

"That would be an amazing endeavor, the amount of magic at work in that room was astounding, and doing things we never thought possible," Starswirl agreed with a jovial tone that matched the smile that plastered his muzzle.

Shadow raised her pale pink scaled hands to her hood to pull it back and reveal a rather sleek falcon like face with no ears that Twilight could see among the well groomed snow white plumage, "We are quite advanced in the science of arcane energy and spell craft. But that room has to be the most secure place in all the multiverse for the obvious reasons. You could likely sense the wards reacting to the presence of your own power in preparation to repel any attempted invasion," The avian's vibrant blue eyes held a true almost child like joy at speaking of magic with a peer, though her face held little more than what seemed to be a serene stoic smile, "What magical knowledge I can share with you is limited by your own advancement as a society. I can not hand you the keys to arcane physics and wish you luck."

"Yes, well I suppose there are some problems to be found if you were to do so," Starswirl's smile faded, but Twilight could see the shrewd light in his eyes as he was already feeling out this new alien avian.

Those blue eyes closed as Shadow picked up on the change in mood, "Much of this is what we need to discuss about the potential of having a special research agent come study your world."

"Well, we can begin that discussion right away, as you can see this is the royal dinning hall. I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle, the ruler of Equestria and these are my friends and the Pillars of Equestria, the modern and past defenders of our lands, The former princesses that used to rule Equestria, the Lord of Chaos himself, Discord, and King Thorax, ruler of our changeling allies," after a moment of more direct greeting everypony, creature, and personification of chaos was seated to attend the meal already spread out on the table in a small feast of pancakes and fruit, "So, now that we are all acquainted, maybe you can tell us what you want to learn from us that requires you to actually be here after such a long term scanning that almost threw our kingdom into a panic."

The avian and Twilight had elected to sit across from one another at the center of the table, much different than the princess sitting at the head as normal but she wished to give her guest the respect of eye contact whilst they spoke, "Yes, we have learned a bit via those scrying scans, but there is so much more about culture and regional variants on that culture that one truly must be among the people of any given place to learn and understand." Shadow used her fork to pierce a strawberry and bring it to her beak to chew. Twilight pondered just how she was managing such a process as well as her response. Her eyes drifted between rarity to the left of the bipedal creature, who seemed quite fascinated with her wings and luxurious tail tuft, then to the right where Luna sat, simply watching the purple alicorn.

"So you want one of your people to come live among ponies to learn about us. That raises a few questions; For starters, how are they supposed to live a pony life when they are all like you or those enormous griffins? That would stick out like a sore thumb and probably make ponies nervous again. Second, when do we get to do the same, have somepony go and research your world and see what you're all about," The young princess pressed the avian , drawing a slight smile from Luna.

Shadow shook her head, "We would want an agent to live among your people to conduct these studies, however we would not be able to allow the same in return."

"Whoa! Hold it, wait just one minute," Rainbow Dash nearly exploded with her once restrained agitation, "You just want to come here to our world, get everypony all freaked out, ask to just study us like some kind of lab rats, and you're not even going to share anything in return? What kind of deal is that?"

Starswirl nodded his head in with a rather distrustful stare at their alien guest , "As perhaps undiplomatic as her response was, I must agree with Miss Rainbow Dash. You present a desire to learn and a desire to view our spell craft, but nothing is offered in return after a terrible crisis nearly resulted from your spying. You seek so much knowledge and offer nothing, who in their right mind would accept such an offer?"

"Let me explain. It is not a single world I represent, but many hundreds in an alliance spanning many universes, or realms as we call them. The multiversal neighborhood is a dangerous one, with tyrants of many stripes seeking to add to their territory. Making you known to that community is exposing you to them. We need to know if you are the kind of society that can put up a strong enough fight to fend off world conquering genocidal threats or if we would have to constantly protect you. Part of learning your culture would be assessing that, as well as fully assessing your arcane advancement to know what arcane secrets I can share with you. It is inevitable that the one being who discovers the next level in spell craft will be unquestionably more capable in spell craft than any other around them. That always goes to their head and it is true as they say; Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Now it is possible that a group of magic users, or a very clever magic user using less advanced magic by one level of advancement or so can overcome this individual. That can not be said if I were to deliver all my secrets behind my spell craft and push one being or a small group of beings to what is, currently, the highest advancement in arcane physics and spell theory we have encountered. I doubt this whole world could topple such a tyrant, not without paying a rather heavy price," Shadow's expression never changed from that serene smile, much like Celestia who was next to Twilight at her right.

"This is a spectacular story and you do have sound reasons for withholding your arcane knowledge, but what proof do we have that these dangers exist? Your room was impressive and well protected, but that could just be a front, the spearhead of an invading force," Luna added her thoughts to the conversation with a cool tone as her teal eyes shifted to the white clad avian next to her.

Discord took it upon himself to teleport right behind Shadow to speak directly to where he thought her ear may be beneath her feathers, "You know she's right, how easy would it be to weave a tale of terrible threats that can destroy the world while you lull us all into letting you close before. Skaleeek!" As he made the odd noise, the draconequus drew his finger form his griffon claw across his neck, which caused his head to topple into his lion's paw.

"The proof is in my actions. If I were attempting to strike at you, I would have reason to lie, however I am not, and have thus surrendered a powerful advantage to put myself at a sever disadvantage. As a conquering invasion force, we could have wanted no better situation than we had not two hours ago. Your people were frightened of their own shadow, your soldiers unnerved and on shaky morale. We had a direct entry into your palace from which a small strike team could have easily eliminated or captured all of the champions of this land. Yet, a single diplomat has arrived with no guard, no weapons, and the only way home is to wait on red tape to confirm my identity. There is no help to save me from you, although I admit that I am not entirely helpless. I am still at a tremendous disadvantage. I have conceded the high ground to you as a show of faith," the avian rest her hands neatly folded together upon the table before her to await the judgment of her statements while Twilight looked her firmly serene expression thoughtfully.

Applejack rubbed the back of her head, "Shoot, this is a real humdinger of a pickle. Everything looks like she's tellin' the truth, but she could just be tryin' to get closer to Twi'. I want to believe her and welcome her, but can we?

"She's telling the truth, there's no other explanation for what she's done so far," Flash Magnus spoke up firmly stomping his hoof down on the table, "Getting close to twilight for an assassination attempt in her current position is pointless. She can't get home to get away, and the palace will be on lock down and swarming with guards in minutes after such an attack. Even if she could call her forces here after the event, they lose the element of surprise. They get a hard fight instead of a sweeping route. They had the perfect chance to attack us and they didn't, they came to talk. Maybe it's just the old soldier in me talking, but isn't that the insight you're all missing to make a decision here?"

Twilight cleared her throat as she stood and spread her wings for emphasis, "Thank you all for your insight and thank you, Shadow, for telling us so much about your people and your intentions. But the decision is mine to make as the princess of Friendship and the ruler of Equestria. We have a great opportunity before us, though I admit it is a gamble, but from the evidence it seems we can either make a powerful group of friends, or be left alone by those who would be more trouble than they would prevent. This study is important to take place for the opportunity or the protection it would provide. So I , Princess Twilight Sparkle, say that we shall allow your agent to conduct these studies and assessments. I look forward to meeting them, and to seeing just how you intend to hide them among the ponies of Equestria."

"Oh hiding is easy, we have enough spell knowledge to turn a being into another species, so they will look and feel just like any other pony you have about your lands. But I must disappoint you in telling you that there is nothing to look forward to. You have already met the agent that will be conducting the research mission. I shall be the agent in question. I thank you, so very much for this opportunity to break the norm of my own duties and experience a new culture. We will need to discuss where I shall be making a temporary home for myself to conduct these studies. It needs to be a sort of melting pot though, not a large city. Such cities are all the same across every culture we have ever encountered. Whilst you consider where you want me, I can slip home and gather some precious materials to trade for local currency so I may pay my own way." Shadow allowed the small serene smile to grow into a genuinely joyous shining smile with a warmth that touched her blue eyes.

As Twilight stood and extended her hoof to seal their deal with a shake of hand and hoof, she too sported a wide smile, "I know exactly where to have you conduct these studies."

.. To be continued.