“You mean today? Like right now?” Rigdon pondered, his mind still trying to fathom what just happened. He couldn’t believe that the Princess of this kingdom would want to meet him! Then again, he was a new species in a foreign nation, so it isn’t that far-fetched that she would want to meet him. Possibly, it was just to make sure that he wasn’t here to cause any instability.

Twilight gave an enthusiastic nod, still giddy about this entire thing. Sure, she’s been around Celestia for a long time, but that still doesn’t make it less of an occasion! Twilight slowly calmed down, but the peace didn’t last. That enthusiasm was quickly converted over to nervousness. Twilight’s ears folded back, a worried expression crossing her face as a couple of papers appeared in front of her.

“Oh Celestia, what if we’re not ready? Everypony is going to be staring at us!” She stamped her hooves back and forth before she quickly turned her attention to Rigdon, a small groan escaping her muzzle. Rigdon could feel his body stiffen as he was engulfed in Twilight’s aura. His shirt and pants were slowly unwrinkled, now looking at least slightly more presentable than he did look like a few moments before.

“There,” Twilight let out an audible sigh. “That’s better.” She trotted into the next room, lifting up her travel bag with her magic, which stylishly had that same tattoo that was on her flank, then fitted it onto her back. Opening them with her magic, she quickly stuffed the papers into them, along with a couple of essentials in case anything happened. It was better to be prepared than sorry. Twilight walked over to the door, opening it with her magic and flipping the ‘Open’ sign to ‘Closed’. She then looked back, a determined look on her expression.

“If we go now, we’ll be ten minutes ahead of the train to Canterlot,” She told Rigdon. Rigdon, on the contrary, was as still as a statue, arms folded tightly against his chest. For someone with such a tidy library, Twilight seems to get pretty disorganized under pressure.

“Look, Twilight, there’s no need to rush. Just take it slow—It’s not a big deal.” He took a couple of steps forward. He might as well have killed the Queen Of England by saying those words. Twilight shot him a knowing glare, clearly offended by his blasphemous words.

“Not a big deal?! Are you crazy!” Twilight’s voice grew louder as she finally turned around to face him. “This is Celestia we’re talking about! I can’t let her down.” She shook her head before turning to walk out of the Library. Rigdon shook his head solemnly as he followed after her. The moment he went outside, he groaned and shielded his eyes with his arm. ‘God damn, it almost hurts to look at these colors.’

He took in a deep breath of air, quickly letting it fall out of his lips after a few moments. ‘The air is so clean here…’ His eyes wandered around, soon finding its place up in the sky. He watched the clouds drift against nature’s lazy river; The sky. It looked like it was alive with how vibrant it was. He watched a pony that seemed to be dressed in some Mailperson’s outfit fly across the sky, a canvas bag on their right side. While he was busy gawking at his surroundings, Twilight had grown a bit impatient at his lack of urgency and had resorted to dragging him along with her magic.

“Woah, woah! Hold your horses, Twilight. I’m coming.” He quickly called out to her. This caught her attention. She did a complete one-eighty, a concerned look and slight blush now dominating her face.

“Rigdon! Watch your language! There are fillies around,” She huffed in a hushed tone. Rigdon put on a puzzled expression. What could he have possibly said to have been a bad word? Unaware of the terrible pun of a bad word, he would repeat it again.

“What? I just said to hold your horses.” He gave a small shrug of his arms. Twilight reached her hoof forward and slapped him on his knee, causing him to yelp in pain. He quickly gripped the abused knee in question. “Augh! The hell!” He would call out angrily

“That! Whoreses! Don’t say that in public!” Twilight turned back around and continued her journey. Rigdon followed pursuit, his mind slowly picking the pieces apart. The way she had put emphasis on whore in whoreses finally clicked with him. His face recoiled in cringe before he spoke up.

“That’s a stupid fucking pun…” Rigdon murmured out as he continued to drag himself forward. He continued to look from side to side, his eyes dotting from building to building. One that caught his eye would be the one that Twilight had said was ‘Sugarcube Corner’. He doesn’t know how that thing stands—It looks like it’s literally made out of candy.

Twilight walked up the steps to the boarding area, opening her travel pack and pulling out a couple of.. Wait, is that gold? He’s seen some weird currency in his life, but straight gold has to take the cake. The conductor-pony took the bits and slid two tickets over, of which she took in her magic. They both walked up past the paying area and waited for the train.

Rigdon tilted his head down and to the left ever so slightly, getting Twilight in his crosshairs as he began to pelt her with more questions. “Hey, Twilight,” He called out to her. “How common is gold here?” Twilight looked up towards him.

“Well, it’s one of the most common metals in Equus. It’s used in a lot of constructions as a strengthening agent, not to mention as a form of currency,” She answered him. “Why do you ask?”

“No reason… Just curious.” He pulled his head back up so he was looking forward. His body would begin to rumble softly as the train whistle roared in the distance. In his personal opinion, he did always prefer trains over cars. After all, in a train, he could stare out at nature whenever he wanted. Of course, he could do that in a car too, but that’s going to land him in jail because he’ll probably end up hitting a couple of people while doing it.

The wheels on the train came to a screeching halt, sparks occasionally flying off from them. The hunk of metal let out a loud PSHT of air when it finally stopped, the doors slowly
opening. The Conductor-Pony walked out of the train. What he wore could be described as the attire of a late 1800’s British Train Conductor. Well, he did fancy those uniforms anyways. The Conductor-Pony looked over to Twilight, promptly asking for the tickets, of which she nodded, opened her bag, and flew over to him.

With a hole puncher suspended in his magic, he quickly punched one hole into her ticket, then one into Rigdon’s. He then levitated the tickets back to Twilight, the blue magic fading as it was replaced with Twilight’s purple aura. Lifting his hoof up, he tipped his hat a bit before moving off to the side. Twilight slowly trotted in, Rigdon following her in tow. The Conductor-Pony gave him a glare, which Rigdon happily returned. Once stepping on, he followed Twilight to their seats. The ceiling was slightly lower than a normal train, but he should keep in mind that this was made for ponies, not bipedal, bald apes.

He sat down across from Twilight, gently pushing his back up against the soft cushions. His head slowly cocked to the left as he watched the scenery of the station disappear as the train started to life. After a couple minutes, a light green colored mare with a cart walked by, still holding up to that 1800’s english standard of clothing. She even had a slight English accent to boot!

“Snacks? Refreshments?” She would offer to them both. Twilight asked for a cup of tea, while Rigdon took a bag of small peanuts and bottled water. Once supplying them both with their concessions, she moved to the other patrons in the car. Rigdon shuffled the back in between his hands. He ripped the bag open, a couple of peanuts flying onto his pants. He let out a couple of mumbles as he cursed the elusive nuts.

He brought the bag up, filling his mouth with as many nuts that he could fit. Well, at least he had a good chipmunk impression. Twilight closed her eyes, bringing the tea up to her lips. She gave a couple blows of soft air before gulping down some of the liquid. Swallowing the nuts, he opted for the show that was happening outside. A small smile appeared on his face as a couple of memories popped into his mind.

“Y’know, this reminds me of what one of my friends did back home. Well, it was kind of my fault as well, but that’s besides the point,” He started off. He looked back to Twilight, and found the mare Staring at him with the utmost attention. “His name was Mark. He was a hard fellow, but that guy knew how to have a laugh.” He let out a small chuckle.

“So anyways, me and him jumped a fence one day to get his lady friend something special for Valentines. Course, with how much of a coward I was back then, I opposed that idea. Of course, he was a good persuader,” Rigdon trailed off. “Course we forgot that the guy that owned the farm had a mean ass dog. Now that was a dog you didn’t want to fuck with.” Twilight lifted her drink, not interrupting as she took a silent sip.

“Once we got a flower from one of the blooming apple trees and got down, the guy came out and saw us. Of course, he released that hell spawn of a pet at us. Needless to say, we hauled our asses back to that fence,” Rigdon paused for a moment as he recounted the events. He lifted his water, taking a sip before choking on said water from laughing. Twilight became concerned, but he reassured her. “I’m fine! Just got caught off guard.” He put the water down onto the seat.

“So I’m already over the fence and on the other side, right? Mark wasn’t really that best at physical activity, so I’m trying to help him over so he doesn’t get murdered. Right before I get him over, that thing gets to him first!” He would clamp his hands together, simulating the jaws of the dog. “I’m holding onto him for dear life, until we both hear a rip. He comes flying over and falls onto the ground.” He would make an airplane landing with his hand. “He gets up and turns around… There’s a gigantic hole on his ass where the dog bit! The thing ripped his pants off!” Rigdon now had a gigantic smile from ear to ear. Twilight had let out a small laugh, but quickly suppressed it with her cup.

“But the best part is that he dropped the damn flower when getting over! Now he had to go home with nothing for his girlfriend, and with his left ass cheek exposed to the world! You can only imagine what his mom gave him when he got back home. We ended up calling him Boy cheek wonder in our friend group!” Rigdon couldn’t hold it in anymore. He let out a small snort before letting out a full blown bellow of laughter. Twilight, after choking on her tea multiple times, finally laughed along with him. She lifts her hoof up, gently wiping the tears from her eyes as she gently places the tea cup down, her aura disappearing.

Twilight looked up to him, a grin still gracing her muzzle. “Well, since we’ve got a bit before we reach Canterlot, I guess I can share a few stories of my own,” She humored him. “This wasn’t that long ago. This is about one of my friends, Zecora, but that wasn’t always the case…”

———————————————————————————————————————————————————

Rigdon was laughing his ass off. He couldn’t just stop laughing! His arms clutched his side as the tears flowed from his eyes. This was ten times better than the stuff he had back at the movies! This would make a great comedy! “Oh god. No more, no more! Whahaha!” He continued to howl out with laughter. Twilight was no better in this situation. If there weren't any seats in the way, he would be rolling on the floor.

Rigdon slowly calmed down, his laughter slowly falling into small chuckles, Twilight quickly following his example. The screeching of the train sounded the whistle that they had made it to their destination. At the sound, Twilight quickly shot up from her seat, looking over at Rigdon. He slowly stood up, grunting as he stretched a bit. He followed her out, his eyes now graced with Canterlot. Well, despite the fact that this place was named after Camelot, he loved the medieval-style architecture that the buildings possessed. The walkways were populated with all kinds of ponies! Tourists… The upper class and their usual crazy expenses… even a couple of what he would assume to be foreigners, roamed!

He followed Twilight through the winding roads, a couple of carriages passing by. He stared as it went past. Rigdon wasn’t really expecting to see a pony pulling other ponies around in Carriages. ‘Now that’s just putting a hat on a hat’. All of this was quite the culture shock to him—but it was more of the fact that it was startlingly similar to human culture. From the holidays to the people—everything was just eerily close in nature.

With how much Rigdon was lost in his thoughts, he didn’t even notice that they had reached the castle. He looked up, his mouth falling wide open. He was at a loss for words. Twilight reached up to him, pushing his jaw back into place. She then trotted in. The moment Rigdon walked in, he was blasted with the beauty of the interior. All the colors just blended together so nicely and popped! Occasionally, he would even see some ponies dressed up in armor. He could only assume that this was something similar to the King’s Guard.

His heart was practically jumping out of his chest, screaming to turn back. Reaching up, he would calm himself by gently hitting his fist against his chest. This was going to be fine! Sure, it’s not an everyday thing to go see a Royal, but he has Twilight! If anything, he can just use her as cover if anything goes wrong. A large door laid in front of them, two guard ponies standing at either end. When Twilight got close, they pushed open the doors, revealing the large throne room in front of him. A red carpet led to the actual throne, which seemed to be built into a small set of stairs.

Rigdon looked around, admiring the pillars and banners that were sprawled around the room. Though, the one thing that did catch his eye, were the stained glass on the wall which told its stories. He stopped moving as he examined the glass. What he saw seemed to be a caricature of Twilight, along with five other mares, firing lasers at another one. ‘So these are the friends she told me about. I hope I can meet them soon.’ He gave a small smile before looking forward.

His attention was now captured by the large mare sitting on the throne. Her coat was a pearly white, her multicolored mane flowing in some unforeseen wind. Unlike all other ponies he’s seen up to this point, she seemed to have wings and a horn. A soft, motherly smile seemed to grace her face as Rigdon and Twilight made their approach.

“Twilight! It is good to see you again,” Celestia would call out. Her voice was that of butter! “I assume that this is Rigdon?” She questioned as her gaze slowly fell onto him. Twilight leaned forward onto her front legs, closing her eyes and resting her head down.

“Yes, Princess Celestia,” Twilight looked over to Rigdon, who was just standing there. Twilight reached over, gently hitting his leg, which caused him to jump. He looked over, to find a stern face looking right back at him. Taking the hint, he quickly got on one knee. This earned a small giggle from Celestia. She lifted a hoof to her mouth, attempting to suppress her laughter.

“Please, Twilight, there is no need for the formalities. After all, Rigdon is our guest, isn’t that right?” She questioned as she kept her eyes on the human. Twilight and Rigdon slowly stood up from their positions. Celestia let her head lower a little bit. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Rigdon.”

“The pleasure is all mine, Princess,” He replied to her. Well, if he ever gets back home, he can now boast that a Princess was glad to meet him! But he’ll probably be thrown in an insane asylum if he says he’s met a Princess pony with wings, horns, and who could talk. Celestia gracefully pulled her head up, her gaze moving off to her star pupil. Twilight stiffened as she stared at Celestia.

“Twilight, I do have a request for you,” She started off. “Instead of writing a friendship lesson this week, could you introduce Rigdon to everypony when you get back to Ponyville? I am certain he would love to make friends with others.” She offered. Twilight looked like she was going to be burst from excitement from being assigned a personal request from Celestia. She gave a quick nod.

“Yes, Princess Celestia. I won’t let you down.” Twilight leaned forward once more, giving a quick bow. Rigdon found himself in the sights of the ruler of Equestria once again.

“Rigdon, I hope you enjoy your stay with Twilight. I’m certain you will become a great friend with my little ponies.” She quickly said back to him. Rigdon gave a compliant nod. He usually wasn’t good with friendship, but he was going to at least try! After all, his mother said that if you don’t try, you’ll never know if it’ll work out or not.

Twilight turned around and began to walk away. Rigdon looked to his side, to see her walking away. Turning back to Celestia, he gave one last bow and a wave before joining Twilight’s side. Celestia gave another laugh at his actions.

“So, when am I going to meet everybody, Twilight?” Rigdon looked over to her. “Everypony,” Twilight corrected him. “Potato Po-tato, it means the same thing.” He looked forward. They both walked up to the station. With the train being there already, they quickly got on with no fuss.

“Would tomorrow be good? It’s getting a bit late,” He questioned Twilight. She gave a quick nod before sitting down, Rigdon taking his usual spot across from her. He turned to the window, once again watching the scenery fly by. The sun was slowly setting, causing a vibrant orange and pink to descend across the sky.

“Hey, Twi-” He looked over, only to find her slumped against the wall, fast asleep. He stared at her, scoffing softly and shaking his head. Looking back to the window, he quickly placed his head against it. Slowly, his eyelids fell down, signaling Rigdon falling asleep.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————

Mark huffed and puffed, his arms pumping back and forth as he ran down the hall. Yelling rang out through the building, along with loud THWAPS which caused the yelling to abruptly stop. He looked to the rooms of the secret projects, finding those who were once working on them, were now trying their best to destroy them. Alarms blared out as a handful of guards ran past him, heading off to above ground to defend.

The building shook as a thunderous booming grew louder. What sounded like jets could be heard flying by. Mark ran into the doors for Project Lazarus, quickly grabbing a nearby axe. Joe was commanding others to gather papers together and burn them. Mark walked over to a couple of machines, raising the axe over his head before slamming it down onto the electronics.

He quickly moved onto other electronics, repeating the same motions. The gunfire only grew louder as voices continued to cry out in anguish. Now, only Lazarus itself was left. Mark walked forward, using his axe to rip through a couple of wires. A loud thump was heard as the doors were busted down. A handful of assault troops moved in, equipped with the Ak-s variant of the Ak-47. Everyone could only process what just happened for a moment, before the deafening sound of gunfire rang through the room. People cried as the bullets ripped through their targets, a fresh coating of red covering the walls in splotches.

Shooting his hands up, Mark covered his throat. A bullet had ripped through his throat. He could feel the life drain from him as blood poured onto his hands and down his neck. He slowly fell to his knees. A couple shared some choice words, followed by laughing. They were mocking him.

“Fuck you, you Marxist pieces of shit…” He coughed out, some blood spilling onto the ground. Talking once more, one of the soldiers nodded. He lifted a bayonet from his side and fixed it onto the end of his rifle. He yelled some profanities as he rushed forward, stabbing the knife into Mark. As soon as he had struck him, he ripped his gun back, causing blood to fall all over the ground.

The life left Mark’s body as he fell to the ground, a pool of blood forming where he was. A couple of soldiers ripped down an American flag that was hanging on the left wall. They began to stab their bayonets at it, still laughing. Others began to set up a base of operation. A flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was pinned up to replace the spot the American flag once occupied. An officer walked into the office, the dawdling soldiers quickly standing at attention. One soldier walked up, saluted, then gave a brief synopsis on everything, including some files he was able to translate.

The officer gave a solemn nod as he looked towards the portal. He stayed silent as he examined Lazarus. Grabbing a nearby radio, spoke something into it before placing it down. He yelled a couple of words at the soldiers before turning and walking out, his escorts quickly following as he did so. The doors to Project Lazarus shut as he left. A devilish grin appeared on his face as he thought one thing, “Mother Russia has won this war.”

Author's Note

Well, It seems as if the Soviets have gotten their hands on some classified technology!

Hopefully this doesn't have some unforeseen consequences in the future.