A prim and properly dressed new princess of Equestria stepped through the large, ornate doors of the throne room. "I'm here, Princess!" she called, struggling in her metal horseshoes. She hated dressing "royally" as the "royal fashion consultants" put it. Why not just make the prisoners in the dungeons wear this? Torture would be more merciful than being gussied up like this. "You sent for me, right?" she confirmed, struggling to take normal steps in the uncomfortably stiff shoes.
Princess Celestia, seated high up on her throne, put down the scroll she had been reading and stepped down onto the throne room floor. "Yes, thank you for coming on such short notice, Twilight," she said gratefully, gesturing towards the guards. They nodded, bowed, and backed out of the throne room, closing the doors behind them.
Twilight immediately shed her royal garments, tossing a rather creepily smiling cane to the side, "Oh, thank Celestia!" she said without thinking, then immediately blushed when she remembered whose company she was in, "er-I-I mean-"
"It's alright, Twilight," Celestia said with a smile, "I hate those royal garments too," and she kicked off her shoes with a chuckle.
Twilight was surprised; it wasn't like the princess to be so informal. Then again, since she was technically a princess too, maybe they were on more equal hoofing now. Being almost equals with Celestia was going to take some getting used to. "So what did you need, Princess? You weren't exactly clear in your letter," she said, pulling out the letter in question.
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle, it read, I request that you come to Canterlot castle for audience with me as soon as possible. This is one of your new duties as a princess. Yours truly, Princess Celestia
"I know," Celestia conceded, "But this is a very secretive duty; I can only tell you face to face." she walked over to the ornate stained glass windows and closed them, drawing back the thick curtains with her teeth, then the rest of them with her magic. When she was absolutely sure nopony could possibly see into the room, she walked back over to Twilight and leaned in close, "Have you ever noticed that the gender ratios in Equestria are...skewed?" she asked seriously.
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.
"I mean," Celestia clarified, "Five out of every six ponies is a mare!" she whispered.
Twilight rose her brow questioningly, though now that it was brought to her attention, she could actually pull up examples. She'd never thought about it before, but the strikingly few amount of stallions in Ponyville was actually quite odd, "Huh," she said, "I guess I never thought about that."
"But that's not all," Celestia continued, "Remember when I sent you to Earth to fetch the crown back?" Twilight nodded, "I had another reason for sending you, specifically. I wanted you to see the world the way it was, before..." she trailed off.
"Before what?"
Celestia looked into Twilight's eyes, "Twilight, my student, we're fighting a war. Against the humans."
Twilight almost thought Celestia was joking. Humans were no threat-at least, the humans she had seen. Certainly not enough of a threat for a full scale war. But the look in Celestia's eyes was anything but joking; she was serious. "What do you mean, a war?" she asked, "That's not possible!"
"It is possible," Celestia reprimanded, "Two thirds of all stallions in Equestria are fighting right now, even more are dead. This is a war of worlds, Twilight, and the humans started it."
"No, no, that can't be possible! How come I never knew about this?" Twilight demanded.
"Nopony knows," Celestia said, "Everypony who does is sworn to secrecy. If the masses knew we were fighting a race of highly advanced aliens bent on conquering our planet, do you know what sort of riots would break out?"
"Conquering our planet?" Twilight repeated incredulously.
Celestia nodded somberly, "But, the war will end. Soon." she stood and walked towards the doors.
Twilight scrambled to her hooves and followed the princess, "What do you mean? How?"
Princess Celestia looked down at her student and smiled, "You'll end it, my pupil."
Discord sat across from the strange creature from another world. He knew all about the war, probably more so than the princesses knew. Warzones were the sepulchers of chaos, and thusly, the playthings of disharmony. Discord could even be denounced as the purveyor of war, but he would do no such thing, he would merely enjoy the natural chaos of ponies fighting other ponies.
And it was quite enjoyable, but this, this was his favorite part of war. He sat across from the prisoner, legs up on the table, hands folded across his chest, smirking. A strange, foreign creature in a strange, foreign land, gah! the potential for chaos was palpable!
But, as he heard the faint clicking of hooves on stone far off in the corridors of the castle, he ought to get started on planting the seeds of chaos. And all chaos starts with a doubt.
For the first time in the-oh, how long had it been-half an hour of sitting across from the prisoner in silence, he moved. He lifted his lion's paw and opened it, revealing a small, glass container. He put it on the table and allowed the prisoner to look at it.
He tilted his head this way and that, looking into the container. Inside was a small, brown insect. Finally, he shrugged, "What is it?"
"It's a cricket," said Discord, and nothing more. The prisoner's eyes wandered back to the small cricket, hopping madly in futility to escape the prison of the container.
"Did you know," Discord said, "If all crickets were to...disappear," he snapped his claw, "just like that, off of your precious 'Planet Earth'...within fifty years, all life would vanish."
The prisoner looked from Discord, to the cricket, and back again.
"Did you also know," Discord added, "If all humans were to disappear," he snapped his claw again, "just like that...within fifty years, all life would flourish."
The prisoner, the human, looked back at the cricket, a strange new light in his eyes. Discord recognized it, and he smirked. It was doubt.
The doors opened wide behind him, and Celestia's voice rang out into the small room, "Discord! What are you doing here?"
"Oh, nothing much," Discord said, stretching nonchalantly, "Just playing a bit of good-cop-bad-cop, just a bit of fun."
"Leave," Celestia demanded, gesturing to the door for emphasis.
"Oh, 'Tia, you really are a bore," Discord teased, but he stood nevertheless, casually strolling out of the interrogation room.
Celestia closed the door heavily, narrowly missing the purple princess that had walked in behind her, "Shouldn't even know this room exists," she muttered, then turned to the prisoner, "Prisoner, what is your name?"
Twilight eyed the 'prisoner'. It was obviously a human, wearing a thin camouflage coat over a white shirt, and camouflage pants. His hands were cuffed to a bar in the table in front of him. He looked up at Celestia with a steely gaze, and responded tautly, "Edgar."
"Edgar," Celestia greeted, then put a hoof on Twilight's shoulders, "This is Princess Twilight Sparkle. She represents ponykind, and extends a gesture of peace to you and your kind."
"I do?"
