Hey. Real quick talk before the meeting resumes.

I pulled my attention away from the colorful crowd of laughing and/or embarrassed politicians, putting my fingers to the bridge of my nose to hide my lack of focus behind a guise of consternation. It was mostly real, there was no need to fake the emotion after Carina lewdly generalized our relationship for everyone.

I thought I would be able to help a bit here but it looks like my info is... outdated? Not the right term but I don't know how else to explain. What I can tell you is none of the leaders have any ill intentions, or are otherwise sociopathic if they have any plans to screw Equestria over that I can't sense. Some of the groupies in the minotaur side are anti-pony and one of the deer seems to eyeing your neck. Its definitely not a fetish thing though, the rest are drooling at your antlers and more obvious targets. Good luck!

So much for not being able to help, that immensely helpful. The lack of malevolent world leaders I mean, not being a sex idol... Well I guess that could be helpful, provided I got over my own hangups with the idea. I shook my head to clear my thoughts as the room quited down finally. Really it was just the minotaurs laughing still, everyone else had fallen silent already moments ago. Now it was time to get to the meat of things.

"If we are all calm now-" I barely let the snort from someone I couldn't see delay me. "I believe we have some talking to do. Would anyone be willing to share what they already know about the situation, so that I may fill in the blanks for you all?" I was pretty sure I knew more of what had happened on the moon and the Access Ark, but I didn't want to fall into the pitfall of believing I knew everything of what was going on. I was taken out of the game early on afterall. It was the old zebra mare who took initiative and called for attention with a shake of her jewelry-clad hoof.

"I cannot speak for all of us, but the first warning my people could see was the moon stopping in place. I imagine others here would tell you it was the lack of the moon to take the suns place as it moved under their horizon. Come morning, the sun began to rise on our side, but the moon had yet to fall. And worse, the sunshine illuminated the moons hidden assailent. We could see it before, barely, as a sort of presence in the night sky but now we could see it unobstructed. It had five legs and was monstrously large compared to the tiny moon it was trying to crush. It has since fallen still, but it is still there, as is the moon. I assume that it is being held in place. The sun continued on its path, passing behind the locked bodies in the sky, though it has also since fallen still. That was... mere minutes before we started this meeting." Okay, so Celestia kept the sun moving even while she was shielding the moon with Luna, and the moon and the Access Ark are visible during the day so long as you're on the right side of the globe. Celestia entering her little healing coma must of been when the sun stopped earlier too. To my surprise, there was more. A couple different groups began talking over eachother, and it scrambled whatever they were saying enough that all I could tell was that they were all trying to bring up the same subject. The big minotaur cut them off by tossing a biscuit at the head of a well dressed donkey and then turned away from their affronted looks to speak to me himself.

"What the gentlemen were trying to say is that a few of our lands have had strange visitors. I believe the dragons called them 'big metal eggs?'" He stopped for a moment to glance at Ember, but the dragoness was ignoring us and glaring at Carina. Who was making baby faces back at her. "...Right. Anyway, these 'eggs' fell outta the sky and smashed into the ground. Nothing of value got damaged on our side of things. Not yet anyway, but the Princesses will likely have demands for help or 'reparations' from some of us at the table by the end of the week. Even though I keep telling them that Celestia wasn't responsible for them." The big guy definitely has it out for that donkey. Said ass just loudly slurped at his drink and pretended that he wasn't sweating profusely under the giants glare. The deer took the chance to finish the story, though I had a feeling I already knew the end. Their leader was a large white stag, but he remained silent as one of his officials (a much smaller doe) spoke for him. I tried to ignore where his eyes were looking. It wasn't my antlers. Damn it.

"More important than the 'eggs' themselves, were the creatures they... 'hatched?'" Apparently they weren't as comfortable with the egg analogy. "A wide variety of strange and diverse creatures have started wandering our lands, and we don't know what to do with them. We shouldn't have issues housing them, but if they are the ones responsible for the attack on the moon..." At that the short deer shrugged her shoulders before falling silent. It was a fair assumption, even though I knew better. The eggs they were all talking about were definitely escape pods of a sort, which meant that the workers of the Access Ark were scattered across the planet. Likely many Waddle-Dees and Waddle-Doos, the latter being the one-eyed laser-vision toating cousins of the former, as well as any number of mechanical equivalents and who knows what else.

"Thank you," I paused just for a moment, waiting to see if anyone else wanted to jump in. "I would like to start by stating that the creatures you have encountered are innocent in this case. To clarify, they do come from the Access Ark, which is what attacked the moon, but they were not complicit in this act. The Access Ark," I was having to bulldoze through the conversation at that moment, as more than a few were beginning to raise their voices. "Is little more than a giant boat made for traversing the space beyond our planet. It comes from its own world with its own people, and we may be seeing more of them in the future. The problem, the reason it was seen trying to destroy the moon, was because of who was at the helm at that moment. It was possessed by an evil spirit, who used the Ark to attack and threaten not just us down on Equis, but the passengers already on board as well. Princess Luna was the first to notice, and her and her sister both were responsible for keeping the moon safe during that time. The original owner of the panet-sized ship as well as an acquaintance of hers were the ones to regain control and expel the evil spirit from the Ark, with minimal help from myself. The Princesses should be awake before the sun and moon staying still becomes a problem, but should that not be the case I will make my own attempt to move the celestial bodies, though I warn you it may be a much rougher transition between day and night." I can do that, right?

Uh... You could use a portal to teleport the planet to your Dream and take it back out in a different position relative to the sun?

Good enough.

"Is there anything I have missed? Or anything that I myself have the authority to discuss with you at this meeting? I may be here in the Princesses place but I cannot truly speak for them or make promises on their behalf." The donkey slumped in response to that, which the minotaur seemed to find amusing, but it seemed that everyone was content for the moment to discuss among themselves what they learned. At least for the moment. I have to say, this whole process went by much smoother than I thought. I kind of expected a lot more angry yelling and accusatory statements, and I felt a little stupid for assuming the worst case scenario.

This 'Elfilis' creature was a god damn genius. Zetra has been to more of these meetings than anyone else besides the Equestrian Princess, and she knew rather intimately just how tense and stressful they tend to be. They could be gathering to discuss the price of lumber and it would end with a fistfight between the current Minotaur Lord and whichever dragon that old grump Torch sent in his place.

The last meeting was particularly bad, leaving the ancient Zebra Shaman to hide her disgust behind a cup of tea as the Donkey President (unfortunately and appropriately named Duncan Ass) tried to incite a witch hunt for ponies across the globe. The only reprieve was that Ember had begun attending the meetings by this time, because despite being Torch's 'miracle daughter' she was much more tame and reasonable than any other dragon to ever grace these halls. She was a miracle alright, it just didn't have anything to do with her father's ~~impotency~~ celibacy.

Zetra was fully prepared for this meeting to be a repeat of the last, only instead of accusing Celestia of the strange anomaly that is the stagnating weather, Duncan would be accusing both her and her recently returned sister of who knows what in regards to the attack on the moon. But even in the face of Ember's intial skepticism, Elfilis and his 'changeling' concubine had managed to cut the usual tension. They took the wind out of the sails of the usual aggressors with so little effort it almost seemed natural. Even Minos was trying to keep the relaxed air of the throne room intact!

That old bull usually locked horns with anyone who tried to lead the discussion but now he was acting like he was at one his more tame parties, more cordial and well behaved as she had ever seen him. Only time will tell if he was just trying to make a good first impression, but what a good first impression it was. It actually looked like he was making King Aspen jealous, the white deer glaring holes into the minotaurs skull as he held a conversation with Elfilis about whatever inane thing he wanted to know.

The White King of the Woods usually had more than a few alternative goals in mind when attending, now it seems that all he wants is a chance to bed the Princesse's new representative... Though Zetra won't deny that Elfilis would look good in more stripes. He probably wouldn't be interested in an old hag like her, she was a few centuries too old to pursue any stallions but she did have some grandchildren who have come of age recently. Elfilis is already sleeping with two princesses of different kingdoms, one more shouldn't hurt. Speaking of...

"You are named Carina, correct?" The pink changeling very much jumped in place as Zetra appeared behind her, but otherwise didn't react as she turned to greet the old Zebra.

"Yes...? You move surprisingly quickly." Zetra smiled but chose not to answer the unasked question, even as Elfilis turned an eye to her and listened in on them.

"Thank you, I try to remain spry in my old age. I must ask, where have your people come from? When we all agreed to come here, we did not expect to learn more than what pertained to our recent woes, and yet here you are." Carina have her a strange look, the gears churning behind her eyes moving much smoother than initial impressions led the Shaman Supreme to believe.

"Why are you asking me personally like this, instead of making it a point of the meeting?" And she even asked poignant questions, which said good things about her character in the eyes of the zebra.

"I believe that if you had wanted to put your people in the eyes of the world, that you would have taken the chance to do so already. We have already discussed the most immediate concerns, and while our problems may not be solved quite yet we are well past the point that would have been appropriate to make your stance on the world known." The machinery between Carina's ears continued to run, Zetra waiting silently for her answer.

"My people... have recently allied to Equestria. The greater community is not our immediate concern. Once things between my people and the ponies of this country settle, then we shall see if the world beyond our borders has anything to offer us or if we otherwise have anything we wish to offer the outside world."

"Hmm... An unconventional answer, but I approve for whatever that may be worth to you. If it isn't too much to ask, what is it you believe your people could want, or could otherwise give to us?" Zetra was enjoying this conversation for what it was worth. Not many spoke so cautiously to her, but many also looked down on her for her age. Perhaps-

"Violent sex." What. "Like, really rough life-changing sex. Changelings like that kind of thing, it's actually part of our growth cycle." This... huh. Maybe her crass introduction was not as planned as she first believed.

"You were just waiting to drop that on me weren't you?" The wide smile Carina gave was as mischievous as it was genuine.

"Yup! Though part of it is because I know Elfy is listening in, and I haven't had any way to make him own up to scaring the crap out me recently. This is a good start." The site of Elfilis barely keeping himself together as he tried to continue talking to the room as a whole was an admittedly amusing one...

"You know, I do have a few daughters and granddaughters looking to have children of their own." Zetra blinked and found herself back at her original spot at the table, with Carina smiling at her and Elfilis doing his level best to ignore her. Jokes on him though, everyone could see his arrousal try to make an appearance as he rushed to end the meeting. Minos was disappointed to have his potential drinking buddy run out on him so suddenly, and King Aspen was giving Zetra a look that seemed stuck between thankful and envious, but this was definitely going in the list of her best memories. The next couple centuries were shaping up to be good ones.

Author's Note

This took so long becuase I kept flipping back and forth on how much impact I wanted the introduction of the wider world to have on the future of the story. I eventually decided to just get some character traits established so I have something to work off of later. Some of the events I have outlined could take place just about anywhere so I feel it would be good for variety to push them into other countries and have Elfilis experience new things.