The tale I here weave is wrought of the tapestries of two realities which I own not. Hasbro and Games Workshop, whose most excellent tales of the world of Equestria, and of the grim darkness of the far future, have provided the inspiration and the threads to be woven.

Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, stood in front of a large mirror, to which were attached a large variety of magical devices, and, bizarrely, a book with Princess Celestia’s cutie mark on it that she had emplaced as they arrived. She had already outlined the device’s basic function and had begun on the details. The other bearers of the Elements of Harmony had tuned out and gotten to work on packing their supplies, having last heard the exact same explanation when she had first constructed the apparatus to allow her to travel at will between Equestria and the parallel world in which Sunset Shimmer lived.

“Twilight, what is this big favor that Princess Celestia is asking of you? The one for which you’ve invited the rest of us?” Starlight Glimmer interrupted when Twilight paused for breath, eying the portal curiously, certain that she could identify which bits did what at about a third of the way through her mentor’s explanation.

“Oh, sorry, I guess I did get so worked up explaining the principles behind this that I forgot to let everypony know why we’re going through the portal. Princess Celestia has asked me, as the Princess of Friendship, to help with a friendship problem a friend of hers has… in a different reality,” she answered, finishing with an excited grin.

“Ah, so that would be why you didn’t use the book that links Equestria to Canterlot High, darling?” Rarity asked. She had noticed that the book that was currently connected to the portal was far older than the one through which Princess Celestia, and later Twilight, had communicated with Sunset Shimmer.

“Exactly! Princess Celestia’s friend lives in a reality separate from both Equestria and the world CHS is in. This friend is the leader of a huge empire with a lot of enemies that make angry Yaks look as noncombative as Fluttershy,” at which the pony in question uttered a soft, “oh my…”, “and is skilled with both magic and science. The details she was willing to share were kind of sparse, actually, but the friendship problem is that he has a lot of sons and they don’t get along, and he’s worried that if nothing is done about it, they could end up destroying his empire. Especially since each of them apparently leads a legion of several thousand soldiers. He’s supposed to be giving us more information when we arrive, and time to adjust… If the portal functions exactly the same as the one to Canterlot High, we should come out the other side in appropriate forms for that reality, with appropriate clothing. It’s not exactly comfortable, but it doesn’t hurt, at least.”

“Oh this is gonna be soooo fun! I get to make lots of new friends!” Pinkie Pie said as Twilight wound down her briefing, quite literally bouncing up and down in excitement.

“Ya may wanna tone it down a might, Pinkie. Some of this fella’s sons might be like Cranky,” Applejack said.

“Yeah, they’re probably some crazy-skilled warriors if they’re leading soldiers and their enemies really are as bad as what Twilight said. They might not be okay with your usual super-hyper-in-your-face-ness...stuff,” Rainbow Dash trailed off at her lack of ability to adequately describe the party pony’s usual state of being.

“I wonder if I get to be a human this time or if the portal’s going to make me a dog again…” Spike wondered aloud. Before anyone could reply, the portal flared to life, activated from the other side.

“Time to go, everypony.”

Twilight Sparkle went through first, striding confidently, Spike at her side. The now-familiar feeling of mirror-portal travel hit harder than during her trips to Canterlot High, and the transit took far longer. “This must be pretty similar to what cider feels when somepony drinks it…” she found herself thinking before a sudden flash of non-existent colours deafened her with the taste of great bell ringing and the smell of being slapped across her whole body. Shaking her head an eternal instant later, she groaned and blinked up at the great vaulted ceiling of the large room she had landed in.

“Oh, thank Celestia somepony put down mattresses…” she heard someone saying in a slurred voice, before realizing that she was the one speaking. Wincing, she unsteadily rose to her feet, to find her friends doing the same and having far less success at it.

The first thing that struck her was that unlike the world in which CHS existed, the human colour palette was apparently far more limited here. Her friends’ manes kept their vibrant natures as human hair, but their skin ranged from dark brown to a few shades lighter than peach. Spike was standing and stretching, not a dog this time, but a human shorter and younger-looking than the forms the ponies had taken, with spiky hair the same green colour as his usual form’s spines.

The second thing that struck her was the clothing the magic involved had decided was “appropriate”. Like her outfit at Canterlot High, her clothes fit perfectly and were customized to incorporate her cutie mark into their design, but everypony’s clothes were just so… severe and drab by comparison. Her own clothes mostly consisted of a simple high-necked blouse with a calf-length skirt and practical boots. Rainbow Dash was wearing a jumpsuit of drab green and a jacket identical to the one she was given on joining the Wonderbolts, and boots that Twilight could tell were built to allow speed while withstanding great amounts of punishment. Rarity was gifted with an opulent dark blue dress that managed to convey a sense of wealth and taste without being too flashy, a necklace with three diamond-cut sapphires around her neck and very fancy shoes. Applejack, seemingly immune to this odd dimension’s fashion sense, wore a plaid shirt and denim trousers, and hard-wearing boots along with her ever-present hat. Pinkie Pie was staring down at her clothes in bewilderment, her dress a muted grey except for the bright balloons embroidered into it. Fluttershy’s deep green dress was elegant enough to hint that she had once been a famous model, however little she had liked it. Starlight Glimmer wore a knee-length skirt, a blouse, and a severe jacket that matched the skirt. And Spike had a short-sleeved tunic and simple pants.

The third thing that struck her was the view from the room’s window. Her jaw dropped as she gazed down upon the planet Ullanor, and past it to the star it orbited. Starlight noticed her expression and followed her gaze. “Oh my… Twilight, does that view mean what I think it means? Are we … are we in space?”

“I...I… there are NO WORDS,” Twilight managed to say, gazing awestruck out of the window.

The door opened as the new arrivals gathered around the window to stare at the most amazing view any of them had ever seen. They turned to find two men entering. The first was pale-skinned, frail-looking man with grey hair, simple grey robes, and a staff with a flaming double-headed eagle as its headpiece. The second stood taller by nature, and taller still in the armour he wore. The golden panoply looked thick enough to stop a full-grown dragon’s flame, almost-gaudily ornate with single- and double-headed eagles worked into the breastplate, pauldron, and greaves, a human face on one knee-plate, with laurels and vines scroll-worked into the surface anywhere that didn’t already look fancy enough. The gauntlet of the left arm was oversized, the fingers worked into long cruelly-hooked talons. Sheathed at his side was a massive sword with a scabbard and hilt every bit as ornate as the armour. His bare, tanned face was framed by long, straight black hair, the high cheekbones and patrician nose giving him a naturally stern countenance, and his dark eyes smoldered with the intensity of his drive to better humanity. And yet, the faint ghost of a smile softened it.

“Greetings, children. I am the Emperor of Mankind. I currently claim no name beyond my title, though Celestia and Luna know me by a millennia-old alias I once had, Merlin. This,” he paused, knowing that Celestia’s influence on their world would cause them to place more value on the words he planned to use than any of the other man’s official titles, “is my best friend, Malcador.”

Twilight gave a formal curtsey that Canterlot High’s Rarity had taught her, “Hello, sir. I am Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, Princess of Friendship. These are my friends, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Starlight Glimmer, and Spike.”

There was a thump from behind Twilight and she looked back. Everypony but Spike (who gave a practiced bow) had imitated her curtsey, and most of them had managed it slowly and carefully, even Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie hadn’t bothered with slow or careful, and had ended up on her face. Twilight barely managed to restrain herself from facehoofing...face-handing...whatever humans called that gesture, and turned to see the Emperor of Mankind genuinely smiling as he moved forward to offer his right hand to help Pinkie back up. She grinned squeakily and thanked him.

“Your new forms are going to take some time to get used to. I’ve set up this room as a place you can spend a couple of days doing so before venturing out into the rest of the station. Also, the cogitator terminals on the walls have information about my sons, and the history of our reality. I would recommend using them to learn while you get used to moving about on two legs. I believe from what Celestia has told me about her previous adventures through the mirror in Equestria that Twilight can help you with the basics of using them. If you need anything, use the comm terminal. The kitchen staff have been informed that you have problems with meat, so you should not have to worry about that, at least.”

Author's Note

A bit of an omake, taking place right before the Emperor and Malcador entered the room:

“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

“What might that be, old friend?”

“Making sure our guests arrive in a room with a window, giving them a chance to get acclimated, and then walking in for introductions.”

“As they would have said back when you were designing mobile telephones in the third millennium, ‘Well, duh.’ I want their first experience in our reality to be one of wonder.”

“Heh. I still can’t believe they let me get away with what was basically tax evasion. Or with wearing that bloody turtleneck sweater. And don’t you change the subject on me, old man. So, you want to have their jaws on the floor *before* you show off that armour?”

“It is a ruler’s prerogative to meet foreign dignitaries in his most impressive clothing.”

“And you’ve never gotten around to having a decent tailor make you suitable clothing out of actual cloth…”

“And who picked the design of your staff of office? The one you’re carrying right now?”

“... Dammit. You win.”