Three Different Endings

At the beginning of a private breakfast, Celestia fought against Daybreaker, the two personalities mentally arguing. Suddenly, the latter reminded the former about something Dan said.

"There's one thing that I don't get. If Discord is on the side of the racist ponies, then how can you humans still be fighting?"

He rolled his eyes as he wiped his mouth of the meat's juice while sipping his fruit smoothie.

"He said, and I quote, "I'm just here for the chaos." Imagine that. Only having a fighting chance because one overpowered, immature child, doesn't want playtime over too soon."

At that moment, a Noble by the name of Blueblood was entering the dining room, having stopped by the kitchen and getting oatmeal beforehoof, having memorized the staff's names.
If the trial had taught him anything, it was that those below you should be treated with common decency and respect. You never know when you might need their help.

"Greetings, Aun-tie…"

The plate on his back rattled slightly as he struggled to control his emotions, using his eye for faces and emotions to quickly determine two things:

• This wasn't the same human that had snuck Changeling spies into Canterlot and burned down/vaporized the Royal Records and Bathhouse to drive home his point, even after the Harmonious Staff passed emotional and physical judgment, and
• This soldier has gone through horrific experiences, is continually struggling to not lash out, and is searching for help. His strange weapon that looked like a significantly more advanced version of the Portable Horn from the Griffons testified to the first two.

"Auntie Celestia, Sir. May I join you for breakfast?"

Given permission with a nod, he decided to sit to his Aunt's left, right in front of the human.

"You're Prince Blueblood, right?"

"I can only assume that you're also a fan of that show, are you not?"

The man was evidently surprised at this, hiding it quickly and nodding in response.

"Yes, I am. Name's Dan, by the way. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

The rest of the meal passed in relative quiet, Blueblood learning that Dan was a professional chef, was the pride of his squad, and absolutely hated learning by reading.
Finishing quickly, he stood up and gathered his plates, politely excused himself, and dropped off his plates on the way to his office.

Celestia and Dan finished not long after, leaving the dishes to be gathered as she sent letters to the head of her private guard; her Sister, who was away running interference with the more night-based species of Equestria; and the Crystal Empire.

Going to the throne room, Celestia insisted that he wait in the private waiting room while she attended to the various petitioners, which have been pitifully few since the trial. Most have gone to her Sister's Dream Court instead, where she's had to implement orders and get certain types of help from her, anyway.

After barely 15 minutes, Daybreaker had to rescue an increasingly nervous and furious Dan from a crowd of pleading ponies who were defending him from an equally numerous number of ponies who wanted to literally rip him to shreds and piss on them.

Using the Canterlot Voice, she terrified the haters and relaxed the defenders, scattering the former. As the crowd left, she double checked on him.

"Are you alright?"

"I am, thank you."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm not going to go on a bloodthirsty rampage, if that's what you're asking… But you're not, are you?"

She shook her head and brought them to the nearest window that overlooked the courtyard. Watching his reaction, she was relieved that he wasn't angry or suspicious.

"... You want me to tell them what I told you, don't you?"

She nodded while trying to revert to Celestia for the meeting with her fellow Princess and friends.

"... Just be there with me, Your Majesty. I don't know if I can restrain myself from killing them with my bare hands."

Casting spells to give him as much silence as possible and locking the door, Blueblood dropped his disguise with a green tower of flames.
Fishing through dusty saddlebags after prying up some floorboards, he retrieved the pebble that allowed emergency contact with the current Ruler of the Hive.
Pouring Changeling magic into it, he floated it to the center of the huge room as it spun in place, faster and faster, green bolts arcing out and striking his horn. When it reached its maximum speed, it projected a fuzzy 3D hologram that slowly coalesced and sharpened into the sweaty duo of a human Chrysalis and Jason having quickly covered themselves in their bed.

"Enjoying yourselves, Your Majesties?"

They had the decency to blush and scoot apart while Chrysalis was cursing her advisors under her breath regarding this method of communication.

"What we do in our private-!"

"There's another human, a soldier, called Dan, My King. Princess Celestia has taken him under her wing."

The oxygen in the room was sucked out, leaving them silent as they wrapped their heads around the announcement. To their quiet questioning, he nodded several times, keeping eye contact.

"Keep an eye on him and make sure that he doesn't go to Ponyville without increased protection, I don't trust anyone in either place. Who do you trust, Chrysalis?"

"Other than you, dear? I can think of a couple. I'll send them."

"Good. Any more details, Vanquished?"

"He came with two weapons, I believe you called them guns, Sire. He also has knowledge of the show.
I also suspect he has come from a world where he had gone through the same situation you did here, Your Majesty, and has come for help, either purposely or accidentally."

He felt chills at the Royal Couple's freezing and subtle shaking in rage as they threw off the fine blanket and got dressed.

"Agent? You are to continually report to us about everything that happens regarding Mr. Dan. Doesn't matter how small, I want to know what he likes to eat and drink, his shoe size, even his blood type, if possible.
Also, help him however you can. If he brought weapons to defend against a pony threat, he'll need more advanced versions of them."

"If I may be so bold to guess, you'll also want to rescue him before a misguided or hateful pony tries to harm or kill him, then help him either start a new life or get revenge."

Jason pauses halfway through his shirt, finishing wearing it before staring at Blueblood.

"He gets so much as a scraped knee, I'll burn the whole country down before personally salting Canterlot and Ponyville. Return to your new assignment."

The image was sucked back into the pebble as it dropped to the floor, getting caught in his magic and replaced in the new looking saddlebags.

"... That's what I'm afraid of, Your Highness. That's what I'm afraid of."

"Ring-a-round the Rosie,
A pocket full of posies.
Ashes! Ashes!
We all fall down!"

Pinkie was hugging herself, rocking back and forth on Applejack's floor as she unnervingly sang the lullaby. Rainbow was next to her, hugging Fluttershy with one arm as she stuttered in disbelief, and patting Pinkie with the other.
Rarity was desperately drawing and designing anything and everything she could to take her mind off of what she learned. AJ was in the barn, beating the literal stuffing out of the punching bag using mixed martial arts. Sunset, on the other hand, was staring at the buzzing journal, debating whether to open it or not.

"Sugarcube, yer gonna be questioning yerself for da rest of yer life if ya don't open the darn thing. Maybe it's not that xenophobic "Princess", again."

Screwing up her courage while nodding, she opened it and read the newest entry. She quietly gasped at the beginning and end, gulping when she closed the book ten minutes later and looked at a nervous Applejack.

"Nothin' good, is it?"

Getting up, she told her to get the girls together, pack enough for a few days, and meet up in front of Principal Celestia's office.

"Maybe I can convince her to come with us. We need all the help we can get."

Gathering at their pre-arranged meeting spot, they entered into a three-way shouting match between the Principals and a crying Princess Twilight, Spike trying to get a word in.
Before anyone else could do anything, Spike yelled, a burst of emerald and yellow flame accompanying each word.

"WILL YOU PLEASE LET MY MOM TALK?!"

As his flames set off the water sprinkler, they nervously went to the Rainboom's practice room. When everyone was seated, Twilight magically drying herself and the Principals, there was an uncomfortable silence. A few seconds later, Sunset broke it.

"I can only assume that the reason for this is the new human and what he told Twilight."

Luna, who was visibly holding back, exploded.

"And this…! This…! Bi-brat, believes that giving basic decency to him makes up for-!"

"WHAT I'VE BEEN TRYING TO SAY, PRINCIPAL LUNA, IS THAT I KNOW IT WON'T!! What I want is to do better, and all this shouting is not going to help ANYONE OR ANYPONY!"

The darker principal crossed her arms and huffed, looking away from everyone else as her sister glared at her.

"And of course, my perfect sister is on her side, as-!"

"Oh, will you come off it, Luna!? There's another whole world filled with fellow humans who need help, and your only concern is that Princess Twilight gets even more browbeaten when she's already paid her fair share!
So if you don't have anything to contribute to this, I suggest you leave."

Scowling, she got up, made it to the door, looked back and forth, groaned, and pivoted back to her seat.

"... What do you need, Miss Sunset and… Princess Twilight?"

Twilight opened her backpack and took out some blueprints of the guns she was able to carefully disassemble.

"Advanced weapons that can integrate with magic. Dan gave us-."

"With the most threatening and hesitant aura I've ever felt, and I've been around other dragons and yaks."

"-his guns, called the M4 Carbine and the Beretta M9, to make blueprints from. The few griffons that stayed after the trial have agreed to help, as well as the Twin Thrones and three of the noble families, but we haven't had experience with any kind of warfare for centuries.
The Princesses haven't talked with the population, but from my Luna's examination of their dreams, they aren't ready for violence at an industrial scale.
We're also trying to keep his existence secret, excluding the most necessary contacts."

As they looked at the blueprints, an unnervingly calm smirk came to Luna's face.

"You have that look again, Lulu. Your time in the reserves and ROTC coming to mind?"

"Yes. I have contacts that owe me. Rather, they owe, 'Nightmare Moon'. She will be paying them a visit.
Tell Ms. Ravenwood to clear my schedule for the rest of the week.'

She abruptly looked up at a flinching Twilight and nervous Sunset.

'You have my help. But don't think I've forgiven you."

Twilight nodded as Luna, now NMM, stood up and strode out, expelling an aura of cold hardness and seriousness that no one had ever felt, with the exception of Celestia.
While everyone tried to shake it off, Sunset refocused on the remaining principal.

"In the meantime, I think that we need to go to Equestria to help Dan be more comfortable and trusting."

"W-why? We have the journ-."

"And look what happened after you were forced to come here. Trying to capture and judge someone because you mindlessly thought these two worlds were exactly alike.
I'm not going to let what happened after my defeat repeat again.
Are you girls with me?"

They enthusiastically agreed as they hoisted their bags, Rarity having brought three, a backpack, a purse, and a carry-on, all fabulous, of course.
As they went to the exit, Sunset glanced at Celestia questionably.

"Your Celestia has a kingdom to run. I have a school to watch. Good luck, and break a leg."

Smiling, she joined the group as they waited at the open doors for her, not noticing a purple haired girl scooting away as low and as slow as possible.
When she was sure they wouldn't notice, she ran to the library and told her fellow CMC everything she heard.

"What hogwash! They're falling for her tricks! Again!"

"Ah dunno, Scootaloo. This doesn't sound like anything she would do."

"Yeah. In Rarity's detective nove-."

"WILL YOU PLEASE SHUT UP ABOUT THOSE STUPID NOVELS!! I'M TALKING ABOUT OUR SISTERS LEAVING US FOREVER!"

"Scoots. Think about it. If they were-."

"They were packed, Sweetie Bell.
They're going to a place that changes your shape through magic, which it's also filled with. Who's to say that your mind doesn't get changed as well?!
We need to split them apart. We need to save our sisters' minds!! In fact, I got it.
When they get back, they'll most likely have a sleepover at one of your houses. They'll probably be telling each other personal and embarrassing secrets, then we'll make it look like… What? What?!"

The two Crusaders were staring at each other, unamused, then turned to a frustrated and disbelieving Scootaloo.

"Get yer mind on straight, Scoots. We're gonna see our sisters off."

"An' it's a good thing that we weren't gonna leave without tellin' our kin where we're goin'."

Her face turned white as the library doors opened behind her, the girls having amused expressions, and in the case of Rarity and Applejack, pride.

As the two groups walked together, Scootaloo was moping in the back while her adoptive big sister grinned, patting her back.

"If it's any consolation, it wouldn't have worked. Anything you did to make it look like her would've made it clear it wasn't her, since that's not how she worked.
What were you going to call it, anyway?"

"... Anon-A-Miss."

"Ehhh, I'll give it a three out of ten. Just be glad your fellow CMC stopped it before it started. You never know how horrible and out of control it would have gotten. It could have ended up destroying the school.'

She turned towards Rainbow with a doubtful expression.

'Seriously. Think your plan through, then consider if more people truly believed Sunset had returned to her bullying ways."

Rarity came in backwards and interjected her own two cents.

"Also consider that maybe people would send in secrets of their own, Darling, and that they would be serious and damaging."

Rolling her eyes, she slowly thought the plan through, expanded it as Rarity suggested, then blanched.

"I'm an idiot. Okay, okay, not an idiot, but I clearly have more maturing to do."

"And that is a very mature thing to confess, Dear! You ended a horrible plan and confessed you hadn't thought things through."

Nodding, she found they had stopped in front of the Wondercolt statue, everyone else gone except for Sunset, the CMC, and their sisters.

"Can I trust you, Squirt?"

She stood up straight and saluted her sister, Rainbow saluting back.

"You can count on me, Miss Dash!"

They relaxed and she messed up Scoot's hair.

"Aw, stop being mushy and adorable, we have a reputation to uphold, ya know?!"

Giggling, they tightly hugged each other, Scootaloo playfully pushing Dash back and Dash exaggerating her tumble with a slow yell as she "fell" through the portal.

With a wave and hat tip to the trio, AJ and Rarity also went through the portal. Scootaloo stared at the ground, wishing it would swallow-.

Sunset lightly knocked her head.

"Hello? Anyone there?"

Looking up, she unwillingly smiled, before dropping it and biting her lip.

"I-I-I'm so-."

"I've already forgiven you. Overheard the whole conversation. Like your sister implied, stay out of trouble, Scootaloo. Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, see ya later."

And she disappeared as well.

Back in the library, one Diamond Tiara was dictating as fast as she could everything she heard from Scootaloo, along with everything else she heard from the shouting match in the Principal's office.

"This is going to be the biggest breaking news in the history of, everything! Imagine: 'Diamond Tiara: The Girl Who United Mankind!' I'll be able to dictate policy, tell-!"

Abruptly, her phone was brutally smacked out of her hand, shattering against the wall and crushed underfoot.

"Absolutely. No. One."

Meanwhile, several Griffons, Fancy Pants, Dan, Daybreaker, the head of her private Guard, and a disguised Pharynx were standing around three blueprints that showed the human guns and the griffons' gun.
The latter and former were sweaty from a physical fight regarding the magical and physical properties of Dan's weapons. Daybreaker had to literally pull them apart.

"We've, whew, seen the advantages of Mr. Dan's guns and our gun. We've also seen their disadvantages. Our only problem is how to combine them in both forms while only keeping the former."

"The way I see it is that you guys haven't gotten to the point of creating a more durable material while also being easier to shape, to where you could mass produce it."

Pharynx had used a Changeling spell, taking a few mental pictures of both blueprints while he blinked as backup. At the right moment, he implemented Their Majesties' plan, boldly interrupting the griffon that started the fight.

"What if we tried to make our own version of Changeling ooze? I've encountered it, and not only is it practically indestructible when dry, it can take any shape. We just need molds for every nonmetallic part."

This spurred on a spirited discussion that began and ended with finding more Changeling ooze to analyze, which Pharynx gave a saddlebag full. Asking for his name, he refused, only stating that he was a common pony that happened to be in the right place and right time.
Leaving, he made sure to blend into a squad of Royal Guard before ducking into an alley and shapeshifting into another form that was most similar to other ponies in the area, repeating several times until the ponies who were following him were thoroughly confused and lost.

/Mission accomplished, Your Majesty.\

/Good. Rejoin your brother. He should be finishing with his assignment, as well.\

Meeting up in front of the empty lot where the Royal Bathhouse used to be, he lightly shivered at his brother's presence.

"You finished the character assassination and counterfeit orders?"

Thorax smirked ever so slightly at the destruction before them.

"They'll be tossed out and the money given to Dan by the end of the week."

He shook his head and focused on getting back to the hotel.

"Are you sure this is the right way of giving Dan everything he needs? Wealth he hasn't earned through false evidence?"

The smile he got made him shake before he clamped down on it and scowled.

"Who said it was false? I can shapeshift to some pretty convincing -."

"Not interested! Not interested! Let's get a film, food, and into our room, in that order!"

Approaching the front counter, they pretended to be their opposite personality as they got what they wanted. Getting into their room, they dropped their disguises as Pharynx tiredly flew to his bed and dropped into it, gracefully grabbing the drink and popcorn that floated over.

"So, which candy do you want to try first, Scaredy Cat?"

He looked at his neon green brother, unamused, before choosing.

"You're never going to let that go, are you?"

He gave a genuine smile before lightly giggling and shaking his head, giving half his sour candy to his curious brother.

"Thanks, Mr. Dumb and Large Muscle."

The beat of silence was ruptured by them loudly laughing till they cried, Thorax's large horns unfortunately being the wrong size to hit the mattress with.
Afterwards, he pitifully moaned as his brother gently dabbed a cold hoof towel on them and his forehead, shaking his head.

"Remind me who I am, again?"

"You're Thorax, the Brave, Bold, and Slightly Sociopathic."

"Uugggghhhh… Remind me to place,'Owner of Common Sense', at the end sometime. Once I've learned it, that is."

"I'll be glad to teach you, older bro."