The princesses noticed a small group of humans heading over towards them, but pausing a suitable distance away. Noting this, Twilight activated a translation crystal and motioned with a small royal wave of a hoof to come over. The group sat down and introduced themselves.

The Princesses had expected to be thrust straight into some political discussion, but it seemed the humans were just making small talk about the trip so far, if they were happy with the accommodation, how the food compared to Equestria etc. It was a refreshing change of pace for the Princesses, although one of the questions definitely caught them by surprise.

“Can I ask something, and definitely with no offence, but will we ever see the other two Princesses of Equestria?”

“I’m afraid not.” Twilight advised “Princesses Celestia and Luna cannot come into this world due to the connection they have to our Sun and Moon. It’s not that they are needed in Equestria, as each is powerful enough to control both. But we fear that there magic may interfere with the natural orbits in this universe, and given your reliance on New-tone-e-an[1]Physics it could be a disaster for this world.” Plus, human Rarity would die for a mane like Luna’s Twilight smiled inwardly

“Ah, I see. That is a shame that they can never be welcomed given it is impossible for Humans to travel to your realm, at least without needing a full spacesuit.”

“Yes, it is strange that the natural magic of Equestria is somehow poisonous to humanity.” Cadance added “It is something that both Equestria and Sunset Shimmer have tried to understand, especially as magic seems to work fine in this universe.”

Flurry looked at these strange creatures which had come over to her area and distracted the two ponies she was close to. She was obviously too young to know what jealousy actually was, but their actions had annoyed her and she started flying off in a huff. Cadance saw this out of the corner of her eye (as afterall she was always looking out for her foal) and was about to rein her in with some magic.

But another part of her wanted to see what the outcome would be. If Human’s wanted to study pegasus magic and the effects on weather, they better get used to ponies flying.

Finding herself with an unexpected moment of freedom, Flurry Heart started zooming around the room, giggling happily. Spike noticed this and looked over to the two Princesses, and noticing that they seemed happy with it went back to talking about comics with a fellow nerd he had located. He had his own series in this world now, how cool was that?

Within moments, Cadance and Twilight noticed Flurry's actions effect in the room. In Equestria it would be perfectly acceptable for a pegasus foal to be flying around inside, in the same way that Earth ponies or unicorns would run around. However, clearly a lot of the humans present seemed unnerved and even seemingly annoyed at a young child enjoying itself.

Cadance would understand if this was a formal event, or part of the meeting, but this was break time. It reminded them both of the stuck up Nobles in Canterlot, a group that has been deliberately de-powered to ensure equality for all. And it just highlighted what their own research had confirmed, that for many humans children, and often females, were to be hidden away.

Gently using her magic to slowly guide Flurry back to her, and levitating her baby onto her back, Princess Cadance stood up “Excuse us, we need to go look after our foal”

As the meeting reformed for the afternoon session on the first day, Twilight and Cadance reflected on the decision they had just made. It was likely to cause a bit of a ruckus, but there was no point delaying the inevitable. As the meeting was called to order, Cadance was given the floor. Cradling a sleeping Flurry Heart in her hooves, she began.

“Princess Twilight and I came here to review your discussion on the proposal, from your planet, to study weather magic. We came here with open minds on the matter, but clearly many of you have not.”

There was audible muttering from around the chamber, but that didn't stop Cadance, she had dealt with enough ponies in her time to be strong when required “You claim you want to study Equestria’s magic, but you clearly are not ready. The Europeans put together a joint proposal and tried to get international co-operation, but then other countries blocked this in favour of their own proposals. The only reason for this is the distrust and fear you have of each other.”

“And you clearly have different ways of treating your young in this world, as well as groups that are different. Even some of you that come from the supposed ‘Developed’ -” Cadance added a fair amount of sarcasm to this word - “world still have attitudes that are, frankly, repulsive to us. You treat people differently based on their gender, their skin colour, their choice of mates, their beliefs...any reason to treat them worse you take.”

“We cannot, in all good conscience, allow one group to study something that clearly has a risk of being weaponised, a thought that has been mentioned more than once. You may be willing to have friendship with Equestria, but not yet with each other, not even your fellow humans in the same country! And Equestria will not be the cause of further pain in this world.”

The whole chamber was growing in murmuring volume, obviously this is not what they were expecting. Cadance looked down at the foal pressed up against her body, and knew that turning Equestria’s back on the needy was not an option. “However -” Cadance said quite forcefully, capturing everybody's attention “- we cannot let the vulnerable down. Afterall they are the ones who stand to gain the most out of this. So, we have a proposal.”

Twilight’s horn lit and in a series of flashes around the chamber a stack of papers appeared in front of everybody. [2]

“In front of each of you is our proposal, translated into your native languages. Until you as a species is ready, we will not let you study our magic. However, that doesn't mean we can't use it to help you out. Our proposal is to base teams of pegasi in this world, to help manage bad weather, droughts and so forth across all the world.“

“They will need a base of operations, one where friends and family can be. And they need to be protected. We therefore propose Cloudsdale 2, a cloud city situated in international waters. This would would large exclusion zone around it where no human is allowed to enter. This will then have another exclusion zone around it, enforced by a human international force.”

“The pegasi volunteers would move around where required, but would have a whole community they can be part of back at this city, including their families. Where pegasi are based outside the city, they will be protected by a force of your choosing.”

The chamber began murmuring again, and one of the Ambassadors spoke “Are you sure your government would go for that? And what about the pegasuses, would they really volunteer to come and live here?”

Twilight spoke this time “I’d imagine the pegasi would relish the chance of showing off, and to be the heros, so we are confident that we would have volunteers. Besides, unlike all too many of you humans, to quote my friend Rainbow Dash, we would never leave someone in need ‘hangin’”

Twilight jovial tone then hardened “But make no mistake, humanity will need to protect the ponies that volunteer. If they are attacked or studied when on the job, or if any human breaches the inner exclusion zone, this will be considered a breach of the treaty. At best, it will result in a cut off of all relations.”

“At worse, it would be an act of war.” Princess Cadance added. “It's not in our nature to be aggressive, much like the equines of your world. But we also know how to defend ourselves, and our families.”

The meeting was drawn to a recess such that the documents could be read, and the ponies retired from the Chamber, knowing the humans had a lot to discuss.

“Have I made a mistake?” Cadance asked her former charge, as she played with Flurry back in their hotel suite a few hours later

Twilight was surprised “What do you mean?”

“Have I let my maternal feelings get the best of me? I mean, just because I felt uncomfortable as a mother with a foal, we reject the request?”

“I agreed with you, and it was the right decision.” Twilight reassured Cadance as Spike brought over a cup of tea for them all. And to prove the point, Twilight turned up the volume on the TV.

The media coverage of the day's events was mixed to say the least. Some coverage was on the critical side, wondering if Equestria really wanted to help or were they just playing games. However, it was a refreshing hope to the ponies to see a lot of the coverage blamed the humans rather than Equestria.

Ever since contact had been made, many people urged a greater unity in Humanity, that we had new friends to show our best side towards. Bickering over which countries got to study magic was just an example of the short-sightedness prevalent throughout humanity. As some put it the ‘aliens’ had come, not from outer space but from a parallel dimension, and we had shown just how immature as a species we are’.

A lot of the coverage was also very excited at the prospect of Equestria setting up a permanent presence in the world. Commentators were hopefully that despite the initial security measures, should things work out perhaps over time their would be more integration in our societies, maybe even living side by side.

Cadance smiled “Maybe there is hope for humans yet”

Both princesses were worried how the next day's meeting was going to go, but had been pleasantly surprised. Seemingly spurred into action, there seemed to be consensus that Equestria’s plan had merit. There was a lot of details to be sorted out regarding the security arrangements, both between countries and Equestria, but all the largest countries and the majority of remaining countries were in favour.

After a suitably long boring debate, a motion was presented to the chamber for the acceptance of the Equestrian delegates proposal. Cadance raised her voting card with a hoof and looked around. Twilight was also, rather obviously, voting for this bill and all but a hooffull of other members were doing the same.

Cadance heard the familiar tones of a mare she knew speaking Equestrian over their private communicators “As cute as it is, I think the Crystal Empire only gets to have one vote!” Confused, the alicorn looked over to Twilight, who was clearly trying to stifle a bit of laughter. Cadance then looked down to see her daughter holding up a spare piece of paper with her hoof in the exact same manner.[3]

“Huh, after my job already sweetie?” Cadance laughed, bending down slightly a kissing her daughter on the forehead “I better keep an eye out on you!”

Author's Note

[1] - Ponies have trouble with normal human names. I mean, the name has nothing to do with their personality, colour scheme or special talent. How crazy is that?
[2] - Luckily for Twilight, Google Translate had a suitable API.
[3] - Yay for politics