The Art of Friendship

How am I here? This is not possible. This must be a near death hallucination

That was the single thought in the Grand Admiral's mind as he first looked at the creatures around him. He should have been dead, he was certain of it, the wound he had sustained was fatal. It punctured, from his educated guess, a major blood vessel: Causing him to bleed out in moments.

So how am I still living? And what are these creatures?

After introducing himself and expressing his curiosity, he looked down at his own body once more, noting the total absence of the blood that had once stained his uniform shortly before his death. He studied the way it was made, noting how it seemed shaped for this new, strange body. It seemed to match that of these creatures, so obviously he was now one of them.

The question was: Why?

Why was he not dead? Why was he here?

These were questions he sought the answers to. He was brought out of his musings by the winged and horned lavender creature responding.

"Grand... Admiral... Thrawn?" Twilight repeated, the words slowly rolling off of her tongue. "You are in Equestria, on Sweet Apple Acres, in Ponyville. What... What do you mean by the Imperial Armada?" She asked.

"The Armada of the Galactic Empire. The one of which I currently command. On what planet is this Equestria located? What sector?" The pony, Thrawn, asked.

"I... I don't know what you are talking about. You're on Equis, but I don't know anything about sectors or empires..." Twilight replied.

Thrawn scowled, which made Twilight very nervous and she lost her voice, before his expression softened.

"You are not space-faring, then, this... complicates matters." He murmured. He began to circle her, while Twilight nervously followed him with her eyes.

"Your body language. You are tense, strained, alert. You fear me, which indicates you are unfamiliar with me and my appearance, meaning you have yet to make any contact with those not from your world." He stated accurately, which made Twilight's fur on the back of her neck stand up, and her ears fold back.

"Yes, I can read you quite well, but only because you allow me to do so by exposing your emotions so openly. An instinct, I suppose, in the face of possible danger. You have no need to fear me, I do not desire to harm you, I merely desire to be taken to your leadership as soon as possible." The Earth Pony stated.

Twilight heard Starlight speak up. "She... She is our leadership! She's a princess!"

Thrawn turned his head to study Starlight, who went quiet, before turning to Twilight.

"My mistake, your highness, you should have told me." With that, Thrawn gave a polite bow, stunning Twilight even further.

She finally found her voice long enough to say. "It's... Just Twilight, Admiral. Twilight Sparkle."

Thrawn looked up. "Very well, Twilight Sparkle. Tell me, what happened to your guard?"

Twilight smiled nervously. "I... Don't have any guards."

"No guards for your royalty? Are you aware how easily your ruler could be assassinated or abducted by extremists?" Thrawn turned to the others once more, who went quiet in shock.

"Assassiwhat now?" Applebloom finally asked.

"Killed. Executed. Murdered. Your princess is vulnerable to all of these terms." Thrawn replied.

"Admiral, nopony has ever been assassinated in all of Equestrian History." Twilight spoke up.

Thrawn turned to her. "Nopony?"

Twilight shook her head. "No a single one."

"Do you not mean noone?" Thrawn asked.

"No one? I... Don't think I understand." Twilight replied anxiously.

Thrawn paused, blinking once, before speaking up again.

"What is the name of your species?" He asked.

"Ponies. We are called Ponies." Twilight replied.

Of course. Their species name has found it's way into their vocabulary. Similar to the Gand. The Chiss-turned-Pony thought as the wheels in his head turned. Eventually he came to a realization.

I need to learn more, this Twilight Sparkle should provide a good amount of knowledge to me, perhaps enough to form a plan to leave this world and rejoin the Empire. He thought. A seconds later he chose to ask Twilight one question.

"Twilight Sparkle, may we return to your residence? I desire to learn more of you... Ponies..."