Beyond the door of the TARDIS, rows upon rows of books are seen.

"Or..." the Doctor began. "At least the inside of the castle."

Jay slowly walks from the ship, and immediately notices an hourglass in the center of the room. The rest of them follow, looking around the room, some in awe and others in utter boredom.

Heather is the first to speak up, mumbling; "Wow, another library... Where's the pool in this one..?"

Aurora rolled his eyes, sighing. "This is the Starswirl the Bearded wing. He is one of the greatest unicorns known to ponykind."

"And what's with this thing..?" Amber asked as she walked towards the hourglass, knocking on it lightly.

"That..." said the Doctor as he rushed over to pull her away. "Is not to touch! Stay away."

Heather then walked over to Jay, knocked him over and grabbed his walking stick. She slowly went to the hourglass, raised the cane in the air and began to swing down.

"No!" yelled Phase as he tackled her to the ground. "Don't. Touch!"

The girl tried to squirm out of the pony's grip as Amber grabbed Jay's cane, helping him to his feet.

Aurora pulled Phase off of Heather, growling. "Damnit, Phase... You know how Princess Twilight is about violence in the lib-"

"Keep your voices down, we're in a library!" yelled Twilight angrily.

Heather looked at the purple alicorn as she stood. "Uhm... You're yelling too."

"I am not!" the princess yelled louder in retort.

Luna walked to her from the TARDIS, putting a hoof on her back. "Yes, Twi... You are."

Twilight looked around at the others, all silent, then lowered her head in slight embarrassment as her face became a faint red. "Oh..." came the simple, quiet reply.

Luna chuckled, removing her hoof and motioning to the five bipedal beings. She waved at them, smiling. "This is Amber, Mike, Jay, Dawn and... Heather..." she revealed their names in order of appearance.

Twilight nodded, walking towards them, looking up and down each one. She raised her hoof and poked at the decently sized mound on Heather's chest. "What is..?"

The girl pushed her away, blushing a dark red. "Do NOT touch those."

Twilight resumed inspection, commenting on each human's appearance. She then looked at Jay, motioning towards his walking stick. "Are you... Injured?"

At this, he nodded. He watched as she poked at his legs and he hardly moved at all. She hit them, and they immediately gave way. He fell to the ground and chuckled.

Twilight gasps, catching his walking stick with her magic before it can hit the ground. She looked at it closely. "So, this is the only support for your legs..?"

Jay nodded as he was helped up by Mike and Dawn. "Yep... I mean, I'm working on walking again, but progress is slow..."

Twilight gave him his cane back, and nodded. "Hm, interesting. Well, now that you're here, I guess it's time to go meet the princess!"

Luna looked at her, rolling her eyes. "She's not the only one anymore remember? To them she will be the third of four, Twi... There's you, me, Cadance..."

"Oh... Right..." she responded slowly.

Dawn looked up, smiling. "We are to meet another member of royalty..?"

Twilight nodded, spreading her wings and grouping the humans up. She began to trot towards the door, guiding them.

As they followed, Luna explained the big sights of Equestria.

"Right outside of the castle is the Canterlot Express. There, you can take trains to anywhere you'd like. Every half hour, there are trains going to and from Ponyville. And today, there is travel to the Crystal Empire and Manehattan. In Ponyville, there's a lot to do. There's a library, an inn, a few food places, and..."

Luna went quiet for a moment, then took a breath. "The Everfree Forest. However, I do advise you to stay away. There are many beasts who have never seen humans before. They may see you as hostile..."

The majority of the group nodded as they listened. Then, a male voice spoke up. "Okay, this might seem like a stupid question, but I need to ask..." Mike began, looking around. "Is there any way I could get a burger..?"

"Well, we have hay burgers!" said Twilight happily, chuckling.

"Hay burgers..?" asked Jay, raising a brow.

"Twi..." started the Doctor. He then whispered something in her ear, and she gasped.

"WHAT?!" came her immediate response. "YOU EAT ANIMALS?!"

Dawn spoke up, shrugging. "Well... They do. I do not."

Twilight smiled, patting Dawn's back with here front hoof. "Phew! Good!"

"As for the rest of us..." began Heather, smirking as she sees the pony's horror. "We eat animals all the time! Cows, pigs, and whatever else Chef puts together. You know, there might even be a bit of horse meat in there..."

At this, Twilight screamed and flew up to the ceiling. "What?! NO!"

"Yes..." Heather replied as she snickered.

After a few minutes of silence, aside from quiet, overhead whimpers, Luna and Twilight had gotten them to the door to the throne room.

Twilight turned to them and grinned. "Are you guys ready? You're about to meet the most amazing, most important pony in all of Equestria!"

Luna looks at Twilight, frowns, sighs and stays quiet.

Quickly, Twilight Sparkle burst the doors open, and flew into the middle of the throne room, barren of all life. The group walk in after her, and they all look around.

"Wow," began Heather, obviously fed-up. "What a leader you have!"

Aurora pushed her to the ground with her forehoof. "Shut it, girl..."

"No..." said Heather as she helped herself to her feet.

"Would you want to be cooped up in here? Just sitting on that chair for hours on end unless you have the off-chance to do something else? Were I in the same position, I'd wish to wander as well," Aurora argued as he walked back into the hallway.

"Well," Jay began, looking around. "Where do you think she might be?"

"Possibly in the gardens? That's where she goes to relax, if I remember correctly." explained the Doctor.

"Then lead the way," said Mike quickly, rubbing the back of his head.

Aurora turned and walked back out the doors the group originally came through before calling to them, "Got a few more corridors and a flight of stairs or two to the main room. The sooner we get going, the better."

Phase was the first to follow after in a small gallop. He turned his head to address the group behind, "Besides, don't you want to start exploring as soon as you can? A whole new world, surely it sparks your interests?"

"To some of us." Jay said humbly, nodding. "But to others, we wish to stay as close to the castle as possible. Treat this as what this is. A sort of diplomatic mission."

"Diplomatic?" asked the Doctor, tilting his head. "Were we not to choose a group of adolescents? Diplomacy was definitely not the first thing on my mind..."

"Any mission involving one or more from another dimension should be seen as diplomatic..." Jay replied with a light chuckle, looking around.

"He's correct..." Aurora began to explain as they walked. "Princess Celestia did want me to gather them to discuss diplomacy. I did not quite understand how it would work until I met this group. A few among them truly would be able to fulfill her wishes."

"What do you mean by that?" Dawn asked, seeming a bit puzzled at how it was stated.

"Ah, perhaps that was worded wrong," the Doctor began to explain. "If the Princesses wanted you here for some sort of political reason, it is most likely because you are the most diverse of the small groups we could find."

"Maybe," Aurora starts, "but rather than speculate the reason for gathering them we could just get them to Princess Celestia and let her explain her intentions."

"Well then, let's get to it!" Jay enthusiastically states, tapping his cane twice on the ground. "Take us to her, and let us see what we can do."

For the next few minutes they walked on in silence until they entered the ballroom. Once there, Aurora started heading towards the door before stopping halfway and turning to face everyone else. Amber is the first to step into the extravagant room, behind Aurora, her eyes wide in awe. Heather in turn leans against the door frame, rolling her eyes at Amber. Dawn is the next to walk in, closely followed by Mike. Jay then makes his way to the front of the group. Twilight, the Doctor, and changeling Jay make their way over next, the Doctor taking a seat.

Phase makes his way past Aurora and over to the garden door, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go see the pr-" He promptly gets cut off by a wing and Luna's magic.

"Use your ears idiot," Aurora hisses. Through the doors a light, soothing melody can be heard. "Never interrupt a performance. I don't care what the occasion is. Well... there is one that I can think of, but this is certainly not it."

"Okay, I get it... can you let go now, Luna? Please?" Phase replied before the magical grip held on him was released and Aurora returned to his previous stance. After being released he sat down and let the melody play out to its end. As the piece reached its final note Phase and the Doctor stood up and Aurora went to open the door.

He first looked to the mare closest to him. She wore a grey coat, a straight black mane with the thinnest grey streaks running throughout. Her eyes an amethyst and her cutie mark being a light purple treble clef. Fastened around her neck is a bowtie in pink. "Beautiful as always, Octavia," Aurora complimented.

"Oh, thank you. We haven't met, have we miss..?" Octavia asked.

"Aurora Dawn, and no, I haven't had that pleasure until now. I do, however, try my best to keep up with the arts. I don't miss a performance if I can help it. Duty calls, however. Speaking of, if you'll excuse me," Aurora replied before walking up to a taller mare. Her coat was alabaster and her mane a flowing concoction of light shades of turquoise, cerulean, and pink. "We've retrieved a small, diverse group as you have requested, princess."

From the doorway, Heather walks in, unable to disguise an obvious laugh. "You're the one in charge here? What, did they base it on whoever has the brightest colors or something?"

Aurora rolls his eyes and looks to Celestia who simply looks at Heather with a slight interest. Seeing that no reply was coming Aurora decided to reply in Celestia's stead. "You do realise that her sister, Princess Luna, is ruling right alongside her and she's on the darker side of the color spectrum, correct?"

Jay walked up behind Heather, the sound of his cane tapping against the floor, drawing the attention of Celestia. "Don't mind her, your majesty. She's just a bit sour..," Jay finished, quietly.

Celestia smiles lightly before replying, "She's perfectly fine. With the differences between our worlds I can understand whatever skepticism any of you might have. I've asked you here in order to see how your species would interact with our world. To see if a bridging between worlds may be possible, and if so, whether or not it would be beneficial for us both to do so.

"What exactly it is that I want you to do is to simply go out and explore. Perhaps make a friend or two. Have some fun. I'm certain my sister has already explained this on your way here, but the trains are open to you for the duration of your stay. Ponyville is a destination that has grown in renown as of late and thusly has trains going to and from quite often. It's a simple little town and arguably one of the friendliest places in Equestria. This, however, certainly doesn't mean that it lacks a taste for adventure.

"Today, directly from Canterlot there will be trains heading towards the Crystal Empire and Manehattan. The Crystal Empire, ruled over by my niece, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, as well as her husband, Prince Shining Armour, has only just recently resurfaced after nearly a millennium. As per it's name, almost every structure is made of crystal. It's quite a sight to behold.

"Manehattan, It's a bustling city of enterprise. It may not be the most lavish city in the country, or even the easiest to live in, but it is easily one of the largest, especially when it comes to business. Some of the most well-known ponies in Equestria, chances are, come from and/or reside there.

"Finally, of course, if you just want to explore Canterlot, that is fine as well. Once the day comes to an end we have rooms set up for you here, should you wish to rest. For now, I just ask that you go out and be yourselves." Celestia finished before looking to Twilight, then Aurora, and finally back to the group. "Twilight will accompany whomever wishes to make their way to Ponyville. It is her home at the moment. Aurora will also escort all of you to the train station, just in case."

After Celestia finished, Aurora walked to the door and looked to the group. "Right this way, please."

Author's Note

Okay... so this chapter took absolutely forever to get out, slightly over 14 months, and I apologise for that. When I started this... it's a collaboration with a friend in New Jersey. I was there for two years, but moved shortly after the story was started. We now live 600+ miles apart and he doesn't have a mic to use for Skype, so we have been getting it written here and there through... text messaging. So, here's chapter two, and we are hoping that after this chapter our output will increase significantly for the characters will now actually begin to do things. I apologise again for anyone who had been interested before and figured me "dead".