The sound of trotting hooves and thumping feet fills the echoey hallways of Canterlot Castle as me and the rest of the expedition team are led to the princesses throne room by the golden armored guard pony. We turn down a new hallway and at the end is a large golden door with two more ponies standing guard. “The diplomats have arrived to meet their majesties.“ The pony leading us calls out, and the other royal guards open the door for us. As we enter the room we immediately spot the two three lage golden thrones. In the middle sits Her Solar Majesty, Princess Celestia. On her right sits her sister, The Mare of the Night, Princess Luna.

“Your majesties,” the guard calls out needling before the princess, followed by most of the group, with the exception of two guys who don’t seem to get the message nearly as fast. “Sorry to show up unannounced, but I have brought the diplomats from the human world you called for.”

“So, these are the ponies ‘America’ sent to investigate our lands.” Luna says, leaning forward in her throne to get a better look.

“People, dear sister.” Celestia corrects.

“People. Right, sorry.” Luna says. Luna glances down and notices one of the quill cases jutting out of one of our luggage bags. “Ugh, it was bad enough they wanted to place their people in our land, but then they made us give them a way to communicate between realms, I swear those people have no shame.”

I glance at the object of her majesty's dislike and let out a small sigh. “Allow me to apologize on behalf of our country your majesty, the government is just cautious of new lands and ponies, a trait I’m sure even you can see merit in. Please let me assure you that we bear you no ill will and if you’d like we can grant you copies of all our letters that we send back to our handlers. Also please forgive me for speaking out of turn, your majesties.”

“No need to apologize, human.” Princess Celestia assures. “I’m sure you all have your reasons for wanting to communicate in private, so I won’t ask you to grant us copies of your letters, however if you do find something of interest or worry please let me know. As far as the quills go, I think my sister is being a bit over dramatic.”

“Over dramatic?” Luna calls out, offended. “I had to pluck out one of my one feathers for those barbarians.”

“And I gave them fourteen, you don’t have to get so worked up.”

“They didn’t ask you to give them one of your primaries, you know how personal of a request that is. Like I said before they’re all shameless.”

“Very well, but can we please get back to the matter at hoof.”

“Yes, yes, very well”

“Thank you.” Celestia offers, before continuing. “As I’ve been made aware, all of you were given a separate destination to reside in for the foreseeable future. Is that correct?”

“Yes your majesty.” The big guy with the beard says, standing up to speak. “My name is Mark Hanson., I’m the quote unquote leader of this team, according to the people back at the holding base. They told me to act as the team's voice while we were in your presence and to answer any questions you may have.”

“Well, I’m glad to see that the government at least thought this far ahead.” Celestia quips, a not so subtle hint of sarcasm in her voice. “Oh, please forgive me, I meant no offense by that, my tongue was faster than my brain there for a second.”

“Think nothing of it, your majesty.“ He assures. “I also wanted to inform you that as the designated “leader”, I was given bits of information that the others weren’t allowed to know, at least not before the commencement of the mission. One of these insights was how the Quills work, once you sign your name at the bottom the letter is sent to whoever’s name is written at the top, this can be anyone or anypony. For the quill to work you also need to have a picture of who you are sending it to in your mind. I was instructed to have everyone address their letters to doctor Alice Planner, a scientist back on earth.”

“I’m well aware of how the quills work, I enchanted them after all.”

“Right, your majesty. Well, I was never instructed to have anyone withhold information from you, so if you want we can still send you a copy of every letter, it wouldn’t be much trouble.”

“There’s no need, as I said, I am sure you have your reasons.” Celestia reminds. “Anyway, getting back on track. We weren’t informed of your arrival so I’m afraid we’ll need a night to get all the transportation and guards in order. If you’d like, you can use one of the empty guard barracks rooms.”

“That would be perfect, your majesty, thank you for your hospitality.”

“You are very welcome, now if you follow razor thin here,” Celestia gestures over to the guard that escorted us here. “He will show you to your quarters.”

“Then we’ll be off your highnesses.” The leader, before turning and following the stallion with the rest of the team behind him.

“Actually,” Celestia says as we begin to leave. “I’d like to speak with that one for a moment.” Celestia raises her hoof and points at me.

“Me your majesty?” I ask, turning around and dropping back onto my knee.

“Yes, the rest of you can go.” and with that order, the others walk out and close the door.

“Do you require my presence, sister?” Luna Questions.

“No, you may retire as well, I know you don’t like staying up during the mid day hours.”

“Well then, good day sister.” Luna trots over to the doors and exits the room.

“Now then, down to business.” Celestia’s aura changes in an instant. She appears less official and welcoming, more focused and cautious. “The other quill boxes I saw were gold, but that one in your pocket appears to be black. Am I to assume it’s my sister's feather in that box?”

“Yes your majesty, would you like me to return it?” I ask, not wanting to cause a conflict only after just arriving.

“No!.” celestia shouts, much to my surprise. “Ehem, the truth is the government didn’t ask for one of Luna’s primaries. They just asked for fifteen feathers with that mailing enchant. The reason I used one of Luna’s like that, was so I could add a second enchant. You see, a normal feather can only have one enchant, but a primary has enough power for two, but I knew if one of the feathers was one of my primaries they’d get suspicious. So I asked Luna for one of hers and told the government that her power was weaker than mine and that I needed to use one of her primaries to put the enchantment on it. But please don't tell Luna.”

“Wait, so this thing has two enchants?”

“That is correct.”

“What kind of enchant?”

“That, I’m afraid I can not tell you. You see, the reason I put a second enchant on it was so I could run an experiment. One where the results will change if you know exactly what it is.”

“And you trust me knowing all this because…?”

“At first I was going to keep it to myself, but after that politeness earlier coupled with the fact that you have no loyalties to your government I felt I could trust you.”

“What makes you think I have no loyalties to the government?”

“That’s exactly what, you always refer to them as something completely separate from yourself. You keep saying thegovernment, not my orourgovernment. You don’t like being associated with them. My only question is, do you hate the government or your country?”

Author's Note

A/N
just wanted to once again thank anyone who's still reading and keeping up with the story. this one had me stumped for a while and couldn't figure out how to end it, but I'm glad I did.

Also please leave a like if enjoy, I'm a little bummed out that only 50% of people like this.