Solace of the Phoenix: A New World

(A MLP/Letter to a Phoenix Crossover)

For Anatoli Mikhailovich Artyunov, It had been some odd two months...

Two Months ago, a mysterious portal different to any other he had seen in his life had appeared, then again, to the casual observer, he was only 35...

Anatoli however, wanted to leave his own world, it was something odd to be said, but he needed to do so, not that anyone could know, or would, however, when a program to immigrate to the world on the other side began, he was among the first volunteers...

You see, the mysterious world on the other side of the portal, was this really strange land known as Equestria, inhabited by intelligent equines (among other species) this made it funny to him, it remembered him of an old toy line that had been scrapped so long ago...

he made his way to the Airport, then to the plane, He had to go to Switzerland... it reminded him of the countless accidents he had heard of on such Hadron Colliders... not that anyone knew how much he did...

Slowly, as the car left him in what was now the main portal between the universes, and he stepped into the building that was set up as a de-facto consulate, he wondered... could it be?

A Few Days Later

Anatoli was now on a train, a part of him thinking of the trains back in the era of the Czars, dreaming about traveling in the Siberian Steppes in a certain trip, a rather ill-fated trip at that...

It took a few days for the train to reach it's destination: The city of Canterlot, the capital of this land, ruled by two... Alicorns wasn't it? He stood up, and walked out, it was a nice sunny day, but this still puzzled him...

''Mister... Artyunov, the Princess wishes to meet you''

He turned to see a guard pony, one of those called Earth Ponies, letting the pronunciation-butchering at his surname go -not that anyone had got it right since he left Russia- he looked at him... it was a him right? anyway, he looked at him and nodded

''but... why would the Princess be interested in me?'' Honestly he had no idea why, he tried to not to draw attention after all

He however, knew better than to reject such an offer... it was not as if he had not dealt with royalty before, he simply asked the pony to wait for him to pick up his few belongings, and then they parted, heading up to the castle... And then he realized that it had been a long time since he actually walked so much...

At arriving, the sight was truly awe-inspiring, it was larger than any castle, nay, than any structure -maybe except for those monstrosities in Taiwan and Dubai that had just finished construction- he had ever seen. The castle was a massive towering structure, reminiscing of a fantasy castle that seemed to be carved out from the mountain rather than built, or at least so it seemed for him.

The guards hushed him inside, and he was told to wait on a large room, this room was surely bigger than his old apartment, that was something he was sure of...

He was finally sent inside and told that neither princess was available yet... However someone was supposed to show him around. It was a small pony, seemingly female. Although he was sure that it would do well to learn how did the locals refer to this... A mare was it? She led him around, and he now truly realized how big this castle actually was. It was still the largest building he had ever seen.

Right now, he was on a balcony with a breathtaking view of the valley and the city below. It reminded him vaguely of some valleys on his home world, the Alpine valleys more exactly except that those had not as many pastel colours as the ones he now could see. He could also see that the sky was almost perfectly clear, a few clouds here and there, and the sun kept shining.

Only now he remembered that the princesses had the power to control them, or at least that was what he was told; Then again, he had heard before of beings who could control the rotation of a planet or the orbit of a natural satellite...

Of course, when you are much older than what you look like, you tend to know more than you're supposed to...

His thoughts were interrupted by another pony, seemingly a... stallion? then again, in his long years he had never really known that much about horses...

''Excuse me... the Princess is ready to recieve you''

With that he nodded, following the stallion towards another large hall which he soon realized, was the throne room. The guards introduced him and he slowly moved forward, bowing before reaching the end of the room. He had been in the presence of monarchs so many times that doing this was not really that unsettling, even if it was to an alien equine princess... Alright, that did made it somewhat unsettling

''It is a Honor meeting you Your Highness'' He managed to say, to that she just looked at him

''There is no need to be so formal with that Mr. Artyunov'' She replied, had he been looking at her, he would have noticed that curiosity in her gaze, not every day did the Princesses received a visitor from another world

He nodded and stood up while containing a chuckle, it seemed that even royalty had a problem with his surname... maybe this time he should not have hid in his Siberian hideout.

''And, I am intrigued that you wished to see me''

As She looked at him the guards slowly departed from the throne room. Before he could do or say much else he found himself alone with the Alicorn and now he had a better view of her, she was larger than most ponies he had seen in this lands, even larger than many horses he had seen before -then again, he did not know much about such creatures- he could see a slight swan-like form in her pose. He had to admit that she was majestic, and she really did have that regal air that so many monarchs he had met before lacked...

She looked at him, motioning for him to sit down, which he did slowly

''I want to know more about your world''

This was definitely the last thing he was expecting, the seemingly 35-year old Russian gave her a surprised look. Why wouldn't she ask the people at the embassies that were popping out, both official and not? almost as if on cue, she continued

''I thought it might be better, that it would not be from someone in a government, so I picked you, from the people that were trying to immigrate to Equestria... I assume you have no qualms with it''

He nodded, this, this was just so odd, he looked at her

''Well, in that case, I will do my best Your Highness'' He said, looking at her before a small bow

''Please, call me Celestia, and as I said, please don't be so formal'' she said. He looked up to see a very slight smile on her face -gentle was perhaps the right word to describe it- and a slightly curious look.

The sudden fact that a royal was asking him to address her by her first name however, was the strange part... This was just more confusing by the second, then again, it had been this confusing for a while already and he had been through worse...

Author's Note

So, as you heard it, a rather odd crossover with a not-so-famous Sci-Fi work... now some ''parochial notices''

1. This will be two or at most three chapters long
   
2. If my use of suspensive dots is excessive, please let me know, really.
   
3. I think anyone who has read the short story will know who Mr. Artyunov really is... so no spoilers here, however, the first to guess gets virtual cookies
   
4. It is my first MLP fic, so if Celestia (or any other character that might appear later) is OOC, please tell me.

and finally, thank you for lending some of your time to read this little oddity I am writing