Parabellum of Freedom

“All conflict can be traced back to someone’s feelings getting hurt, don’t you think?” - Liane Moriarty - Big Little Lies

The armies of Equestria and her alies marched upon the last human stronghold on Earth. The war had been long and hard, but at last, they were at their enemy's doorstep. Ponies and the other allied races fought humans in the streets, locked in bloody combat.

The city was dark and filthy, with the air smelling of tar, and the buildings looking like they were made out of dirty stone somehow imbued with evil; this place was a stark contrast to Canterlot, whose streets were so clean you could say they were paved with gold.

Celestia fought her way through the streets, donned in golden armor as she tore through humans that would see her kneel, striking them down with her sword. A contingent of her finest guards flanked her on either side, providing backup.

Looming ominously in front of them, a dark castle rested in the very center of the city. Its walls and spires were as black as night, towering above them forebodingly. This was their destination, for within that ever present structure, was the greatest threat pony kind and it's allies had ever faced - the king of the humans.

As they fought towards the castle, they were ambushed, human soldiers jumping out of the alleyways and attacking them.

An Earth pony bucked a human in the chest, a sickening crunch coming from the point of contact as it crumpled limply to the ground. The Earth pony quickly grabbed the fallen human's sword, using it to run another one through. Pulling the blade free, the Earth pony was about to strike down a third human, but he was quickly blindsided from the back.

Twisting onto his back, the pony found a human soldier standing above him with a snarl on his face. "You will all fall before the glory of Earth!" the human said, raising a sword above his head as he was about to bring it down upon the pony. The guard's expression remained firm, a defiance exuding from him even in the face of his own end.

Just as the human was about to end him, an arrow came from out of nowhere and embedded itself in the human's skull. The human stumbled forward a bit, before finally crashing down, dead. Looking towards where the arrow came from, the Earth pony found that a pegasus mare had saved him.

"You allright?" the pegasus asked as he got to his hooves.

"Yeah, thanks," the Earth pony replied, giving her a grateful nod.

Elsewhere, Celestia tore her way through the humans, felling the king's soldiers with ease; the humans toppled like toys before her, failing pathetically as they perished to her might.

"With me, my ponies!" Celestia shouted, her golden armor gleaming brilliantly. "We march on the castle!" Wild roars went up around her as she and the rest of her forces pressed onwards.

As Celestia and her guards approached the castle from the ground, they were given air support by pegasi, dragons, griffins, changelings, and hippogriffs, who attacked the city from the sky. Buildings burned all around them, smoke floating into the air as they fought.

Soon, Celestia and the guards were at the castle, where they smashed their way through and entered. They carefully made their way down the castle's halls, which were built out of dark stone, like everything else in the city. They fought through more of the king's soldiers, who were desperately trying to stop their advance, but to no avail.

Finally, they found themselves at the throne room, which was made entirely with black marble. And sitting atop a throne of obsidian, was the king of the humans.

The king was dressed in a black suit of armor, while a cloak of black velvet flowed from his shoulders. And atop his head was a crown of silver, a symbol of his power.

Surrounding the king was his crown guard. They wore silver armor and fearsome skull masks, while brandishing large axes.

Her guards by her side, Celestia slowly approached the king, never taking her eyes off him.

The king leaned forward, a sickening smile spreading across his bearded face. "Why hello, Celestia, have you come to surrender?"

"Never!" Celestia replies, taking a battle stance. "We will never bow to you!"

At her words, the king got up out of his throne. "I'm going to enjoy this," he smirked, drawing a sword that glowed a dark purple.

With that, Celestia and the king charged at each other, an undeniable fury etched upon their faces. The two collided, their clash echoing like thunder throughout the throne room. They found themselves locked in a grapple, each of them trying to overpower the other.

Breaking away from the king, Celestia fired a couple of magic bolts at him. But the king quickly rolled out of the way, before swiftly lunging at her with his sword. She jumped out of the way as fast as she could, but not before he managed to score a thin cut on her exposed neck.

They continued to fight, with each of them occasionally getting the upper hoof/hand only to lose it a moment later. To anyone watching them fight, it would be seen as quite the spectacle; they fought with a kind of grace, like they were two partners in a dance.

As Celestia fought the king, her soldiers engaged the kings guard, fighting valiantly.

The king took another swing with his sword at Celestia, but she managed to bring up her own to block it. Raising her blade, she brought it down against the king, who blocked it as well. Celestia swung at the king again and again, not letting up as she kept him on the defensive.

The king's eyes started going wide, his fingers gripping his blade tightly as he tried to keep up with Celestia; His breathing quickened, sweat starting to build on his brow.

Celestia kept up her assault, which soon proved to be too much for the king when she used her sword to deftly disarm him of his weapon. The king's blade flew away from him, his face pale as he watched it clatter on the floor. In one last move, he desperately lunged for his weapon, but before he could reach it, Celestia spun on her hooves and bucked him hard, sending him crashing into his throne. Celestia promptly conjured transparent chains around him, thus ending the fight.

Upon seeing their king defeated, his crown guard lost all their resolve, dropping their weapons and raising their hands in surrender.

Approaching the king, Celestia levitated his crown off his head, before walking to the balcony. She stepped up to the railing and looked out over the city, where her ponies and the other races continued to fight. Using the canterlot voice, she spoke to the whole city, causing all to stop and listen.

Up above, the clouds parted, and a glorious beam of light shined down on Celestia. "This war is over!" She declared triumphantly, raising up the fallen king's crown for them all to see.

At this, all the allied races began to cheer, their voices joining together and filling the streets. Meanwhile, the human soldiers despaired and sank to their knees in defeat, their once glorious empire, now no more.

And for the ponies and other races, their future now seemed brighter than ever. They had been through hardships, but they had come out on top, just like they always knew they would.

Twilight sighed in content as she closed the book, fully satisfied with the story she had just read. Titled 'The Legend of Earth' Twilight'd had it on her radar for awhile, and had finally been prompted to get around to it after all the recent talk about the fabled human homeworld.

And honestly she was glad she had. While the plot had been somewhat predictable, and she felt the main villain felt a bit flat, she found it to be fairly entertaining despite its flaws. And it was a book she would definitely recommend to others.

Getting up from where she sat, she stretched out her limbs, feeling relief as the tension left her muscles. Grabbing the book, she walked it back to the shelf, while also warding off the remaining stiffness in her legs.

Putting the book back where it belonged, the next thing she elected on was to head outside; she'd been inside reading for quite some time, so she was overdue for some sunlight and fresh air.

Exiting the castle, Twilight took a deep breath, letting the fresh air fill her nostrils and lungs. Walking down the path away from her home, she smiled as she felt the warm sunlight upon her coat, enjoying its heat. A gust of summer wind blew past her, delivering the sent of fresh pine needles and pollinating flowers, making her heart flutter with longing.

It was so nice out, she thought she might go for a walk through Ponyville, and just enjoy the day. And so off she went, trotting through the village with a warm smile upon her face.

As she moved through town, she found herself appreciating how it looked nothing like the world depicted in the book; The human lands were rundown and disgusting, having been neglected and defiled by its masters.

Twilight walked down the roads of Ponyville, smiling at the rays of sunlight that accentuated the beauty of the town; it was effortlessly pristine, with a serenity that penetrated the very air itself.

That serenity, however, was soon dispelled when her ears picked up the sound of discontent. Following the noise, she found herself approaching the town square, where she was able to identify the source of the disturbance.

In the middle of the square was a group of ponies who were protesting against the use of human slaves. They had gathered a fairly large crowd, most of whom didn't care what they were hearing, if all the boos and hisses was any indication.

Leading the protest was Bonbon, who stood beside a sign which read free the humans. "The war with the humans was thousands of years ago," she spoke through a loudspeaker. "The humans today are innocent, and shouldn't be punished for their ancestor's actions."

"Shut up!"

"You're crazy!"

"The humans will always be slaves!"

"Let Lyra get a human already!"

Twilight's brow furrowed, she recognized that voice. Turning her head in the direction of the speaker, she spotted the prismatic mane its owner was known for.

"I won't let Lyra anywhere near a human!" Bonbon declared immediately, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "I won't let her lay a hoof on them, especially not the children!"

Twilight worked her way through the crowd, squeezing past ponies as she made her way toward her friend. Approaching Rainbow Dash, Twilight tapped her hoof on Dash's shoulder. "Hey, Rainbow," she said, getting her attention.

"Oh, hey Twilight," Rainbow greeted upon seeing her. "Come, let's talk over there," she indicated with her head toward a less populated part of the square; The two extracted themselves from the crowd, heading to a more open spot to speak.

"So, how you doing, Twi?" Rainbow asked once they had some space to themselves.

"I'm good," replied Twilight. "I just finished reading 'The Legend of Earth' and was just out getting some sun."

"Ohh. I love that book," Rainbow exclaimed. "It's five hundred awesome pages of ponies and other creatures kicking human ass!"

Twilight nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I thought it was enjoyable."

"Just wait until you read the sequel," she told Twilight. "It turns out that there's a second human world known as Sitnalta, that has some very powerful magic."

"I'll be sure to check it out," Twilight said.

"Twilight!" Came a new a new voice, interrupting the two friends. Turning to the new speaker, Twilight found Spike running up to them: he made his way across the square, coming to a stop right in front of the two. He seemed panting heavily, and he held a piece of paper in his claws.

"Twilight..." he repeated, before bending over to rest on his knees as he took several steadying breaths. "Celestia has requested your presence in Canterlot... she says it's urgent," he said, giving her the paper.

Taking the offered item, Twilight looked it over, her eyes going wide as she read it. Twilight looked at Rainbow withban apologetic look on her face. "I'm sorry, Rainbow, I'm needed in Canterlot."

Rainbow shrugged her shoulders. "It's okay, Twilight, don't sweat it. Make sure to read that book okay," she said in parting. She then unfurled her wings and began to flap them, buffeting Twilight and Spike with bursts of wind as she took off into the sky.

"I'll see you back at the castle, Spike," Twilight said to the drake, who nodded as she gave the paper back to him. Twilight then left her assistant and the crowd behind as she set off on her way for Canterlot.

Arriving at the palace, Twilight was immediately met by Celestia, who came out to welcome her at the doors. After the two princesses greeted each other, they then retreated inside the palace. They moved through the fancy ornate corridors, grand tapestries and paintings on the walls.

"So, princess" Twilight began, as they moved through the fancy ornate corridors, grand tapestries and paintings on the walls. "Just why am I here exactly, what's so urgent?"

Celestia walked on Twilight's right side, her mane flowing majestically as they moved down the halls. "Yes, that..." her lips pressed into a thin line. "Well, first off, I should warn you that this isn't a happy story. But there was a recent disturbance in which a contingent of guards encountered some particularly dangerous humans."

"What happened?"

"The guards faced off against the humans," Celestia answered. "But while they eventually subdued them, the guards lost nearly half of their number in the process."

Twilight gasped at that. "How many of them were there?" She pictured a horde of humans, each wielding deadly weapons as they charged at the guards.

Celestia paused, her face draining of color. "That's just the thing, Twilight, there were only three of them."

Twilight's hooves became rooted to the marble floor, as if they had turned into magnets. Her eyes snapped wide open, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks as she processed Celestia's words. "There-there were only three humans!" she exclaimed, struggling to keep her lower jaw from hanging freely. "How is that possible!"

"These were no ordinary humans," Celestia replied, continuing down the hall. "They wielded strange weapons, which from the descriptions of the guards, seemed to spit thunder and mow them down with ease."

"What happened to the humans?" Twilight asked, her voice warbling.

"Two of them were killed," Celestia answered, "while the third was captured and brought here to Canterlot. Your brother and his family happened to be in town at the time, so we offered him the task of interrogating, which he gladly accepted," she said.

When Twilight heard that a deadly human that murdered several guards was in Canterlot, she found it it be unnerving; while she had full faith in the guards and the princess, and she was far from helpless herself, it was still off-putting to say the least. However, learning that Shinging Armor was here helped put her at ease, and help reassure her that everything would be okay.

"He's interrogating the prisoner now, and we're currently on our way to join him," Celestia said as they turned down a corner.

Heading through a doorway, they made their way down a flight of stairs. The walls around them started to go from ornate to dull grey stone, as a soft musty smell started to permeate the air.

"Did you have anything to do with the attack on the Crystal Empire!" Twilight heard the voice of her brother, booming through the halls as they neared. Approaching his position, they found him interrogating the human, who was chained up in a cell.

The human was pretty dinged up, with nasty welts and bruises all over his body. He was also garbed in strange, earthen toned clothing, which seemed to be designed for combat.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the human shook his head.

But Shining wasn't having it, as he continued to press on. "What were you and your rebel friends doing out there; what was your target?"

"I'm not a rebel," replied the human.

In response, Shining Armor promptly smacked the human across the face; blood and spittle flew from his mouth, as he was forced to take it, unable to resist.

"Liar!" Shining exclaimed, nostrils flaring as his eyes narrowed at the human.

"I'm not... a liar," the human wheezed, a strand of bloody spit stil hanging onto his lip and chin. "I keep telling you, there's been some kind of mistake, I'm not who you think I am. I'm from somewhere else; we discovered this strange anomaly near my home, and when we went through we wound up here. All these things you're talking about, I have no idea what they are."

"And I keep telling you," Shining responded, "that I'm not falling for that nonsense!"

Celestia cleared her throat, causing Shining Armor to pause in his interrogation of the human as he turned toward her.

"My princess," Shining greeted, bowing his head in respect as he approached her.

"Oh, come on now, Shining Armor," Celestia chided, her lips forming a soft smile. "We're family, there's no need for that!"

"Maybe," Shining Armor replied, "but you more than deserve it."

Celestia's pearlescent cheeks became flooded with red. "I understand what Cadence sees in you, you're quite the charmer."

Shining gave a smile of his own. "Thank you, princess."

Shining than turned his attention to Twilight. "So, she brought you in too huh?"

Twilight nodded her head. "Yeah, this whole thing really seems to have ruffled her feathers, but after hearing what happened I don't blame her."

"I wish we could have visited each other under better circumstances," Shining said, looking at the dungeon with a frown. "Not down here as we try to interrogate this guy."

"I get what you mean, but than again, we do seem to meet like that quite a bit,"

"Heh, true," Shining Armor chuckled.

As they talked, Twilight found her gaze wander over to the prisoner. "You know, when I found out the human was here, it unsettled me at first, but when I learned you were here as well, it helped put me at ease. But seeing the human here like this, all beaten up and immobilized, makes me wonder what I was so worried about - if anything, I almost pity him."

"He might be subdued now, but don't let his current state deceive you; I might not have been there myself, but from everything I heard, this human is nothing short of a monster."

"Have you made any progress in the human's interrogation?" Celestia spoke up after a moment, her gaze settled firmly on the prisoner.

Shining shook his head. "I'm sorry, Celestia, the human has remained tight liped; I'll break him yet though, it's only a matter of time."

"I'm happy to hear that," Celestia said with a nod, "Just keep trying."

As Shining went back to interrogating the human, Twilight turned her gaze toward Celestia, her brow hiking up. "So, princess, why exactly am I here; Shining Armor has everything covered with the prisoner, so why did you bring me in?"

"Yes of course, follow me Twilight," Celestia spoke with a nod.

With the sound of hooves echoing on stone, Twilight trailed after princess Celestia. Stepping past a couple guards, they entered a new room, one filled with shelves and cabinets of all kinds of equipment.

"This is the palace lockup," Celestia explained as they walked into the room. "Whenever a prisoner is brought in, anything they have on their person is taken here."

"That's what I figured this place was," Twilight said as she examined a leather dagger sheath that was practically falling apart. "I memorized the entire layout of the palace years ago."

Celestia cast a sly look at Twilight. "Of course you did."

Twilight continued to examine the various kinds of items on the shelves. She saw weapons ranging from short swords to crossbows. A clown costume she could only assume a criminal used for a heist. A sack of gleaming, glittering jewels. And a glass bottle filled with a strange viscous liquid that glowed an ethereal purple.

As she looked around, her gaze was drawn to a nearby table in the center of the lockup; atop it were four items unlike anything she had ever seen before.

"We took these items off the human when he was brought in," Celestia explained as Twilight approached the table. "We have no idea what they are, and I thought you'd like the chance to study them."

Fireworks seemed to explode in Twilight's eyes. "Yes, I would love that. Thank you, princess," Twilight nodded her head enthusiastically.

Celestia smiled. "I wish you luck," she said, before a shadow seemed to settle over her face. "However, I urge you to use extreme caution towards those two objects," she indicated at two items on the table. One was large and bulky, having a long tube with an opening on one end. The second item was a fair bit smaller, with a more compact and sleek design- like the first one, it also had a small opening at the front. "Those are the strange weapons the guards say killed so many of their own, so please be careful."

Twilight looked at the weapons, coming to the realization she was in the same room as such deadly objects. She became dejected from the world, her heart seeming to stop as an icy chill took hold of her. "T-thank you for the warning," Twilight nodded her head in gratitude, a slight uneasiness in her tone. "I'll be careful, I promise."

"That's all I wanted to hear," Celestia replied, sounding relieved. "I'll leave you to it then," she said, before turning and walking out of the room.

With Celestia gone, Twilight turned her attention back to the table; With the exception of the guards outside, she now found herself alone with the strange objects taken from the human.

Beginning her examination, she chose to start with the smaller weapon; with a shimmering glow, she took hold of it with her magic. Looking it over, she found it to be very well made, with a quality of design that was quite unlike anything she had seen before. It's surface was covered in grooves and ridges, whether they were served a purpose or were purely decorative, she had no idea. Next, she peered down the strange hole, trying to see if she could make anything out.

On the underside of the object was a small loop, which had a strange piece sticking out within it. Starting to fiddle with it, she found that it was movable, leaving her to come to the conclusion that it was a lever.

Out of curiosity, she pulled on it.

BANG!!!

Before she realized what was happening, the weapon discharged. A scream tore it's way up through Twilight's throat, not that she heard it, due to the loud ringing present in her ears. It felt like she had been struck by lightning, her senses getting overwhelmed as she collapsed to the ground.

"Princess Twilight!" cried one of the guards, throwing the door open as they both burst into the room. "We heard a loud noise, are you alright?"

In response, Twilight gave a weak nod, her knees visibly shaking as she got to her hooves. "Yes, I'm alright," she said as she rubbed her ears, which were still ringing. "Just a little... surprised..."

The guards started examining the room. "What happened?" one of them asked Twilight.

Without responding, Twilight started searching for the weapon, finding it on the ground after she'd dropped it in fright. Picking it up again, she discovered that the little hole was emitting a small amount of steam, indicating it'd just gotten very hot.

Setting the weapon down, she looked in the direction she'd had it pointed; on the wall opposite her, she spotted an odd indentation that wasn't there before. Crossing the room, Twilight inspected the hole and the area around it, soon finding the perpetrator to be a small pebble, laying on the ground below.

Picking up the object, she found out that it wasn't a pebble, but rather a small metallic cylinder. She looked at it curiously, before taking it back over to the table. She set it down beside the weapon, examining them side by side. She didn't need to be a genius to deduce that the cylinder had been ejected from it, propelling it to deadly speeds.

The guards were still in the room, watching curiously as Twilight worked; not that she payed them any heed, too engrossed in her work to worry about them.

Picking the weapon back up, she resumed examining it, this time making sure to keep the small hole pointed away from the guards and herself. As she fiddled around with it, she ended up pressing a button, which in turn made the bottom of the weapon pop free. Her lips formed a small "o", her eye's widening at this new development. Tentatively, she slid out the bottom piece, discovering that it housed more of those small cylinders.

"Interesting," said Twilight, examining the now exposed inner workings of the weapon. As she investigated the hidden compartment full of the small cylinders, she found her gaze wandering over to its bulkier counterpart. "I wonder..." Twilight pursed her lips, setting both pieces of the object down.

Shifting her focus to the other weapon, she took hold of it with her magic. Searching it over, she began to check for anything that could be removed, eventually finding success when she managed to detach a curved piece. Emptying it out, she found that just like the smaller object, this one also contained those same tiny cylinders.

With this discovery, she was able to deduce that these strange weapons must function like miniature cannons. And if that was the case, whoever created them must have cutting edge equipment to be able to make such a thing.

Putting the weapons aside, she next turned her attention on the third item. It was shaped like a brick, with a long thin piece sticking out at the top. It was also covered in various knobs and buttons, which just screamed to be pushed - which is exactly what she did. Pressing one of them, her ears twitched when a strange warbling sounded started emitting from the object. Cocking her head in confusion, she tried fiddling with it more, only to be met with that same noise.

Finally, Twilight gave her head a firm shake, setting the object down as she decided to try and take it apart later.

And with that, she was left with the final item.

Picking it up with her magic, she took in its flat shape, and shiny black surface. On the back of the object, she took note of several small circles on the upper-left side, as well as three little buttons on the side; interacting with them, two seemed to do nothing, but upon pressing the third, the black surface lit up, being replaced with the image of a beach.

Twilight's jaw went slack, her eyes growing wide at the sudden change. Almost as if on its own, she found her hoof gravitating towards the image; Upon touching the picture, she drew her hoof across it, which left her even more dumbfounded when it changed from a beach to the top of a hill at sunset.

"What kind of magic is this?" Twilight wondered aloud, gazing at the newly changed image.

Aside from the picture altering itself, something else that changed was that several little icons popped up all over the surface of the object. Most meant nothing to her, however there was one she recognized, being that of a camera.

Touching the symbol, she was amazed when the background changed yet again, this time showing an image of the room she was in. In the bottom center was a red circle, and when she pressed it, a snapshot of the lockup was captured. Twilight marveled at how sharp the picture was; it was nothing like the ones she had seen before - it was so lifelike. The image remained for a moment, before it eventually shrank and disappeared.

Wanting to take another picture, she searched for a subject, before she remembered she wasn't the only one in the room. "Smile," she said, her gaze falling on the guards as she pointed the camera at them. They did as instructed, giving Twilight a apprehensive grin.

Twilight snapped the picture, once again in awe at its quality. Just like the first, the new image also disappeared, however, this time she noticed how it reappeared in a small circle in the lower corner. Pursing her lips, she touched a hoof to it, and was delighted when the picture became big again. Swiping at the image, she found that she could view other photos that'd been taken.

She browsed through the wide assortment of images, finding it clear that the human liked to take a lot of them. She saw a picture that showed a young human child standing next to a sandcastle. In another one, it showed the human they had in custody, the child, and two other humans. They were standing in front of a statue of a man holding the hand of a bipedal mouse, with a large castle in the background.

As she looked at the pictures, an odd discrepancy she noticed was that some of them had a strange sideways triangle. Out of curiosity, she touched one of them, and when she did, the image started to move! She felt her mind go into overload, her jaw going slack as her eyes seemed to bulge out of their sockets.

"Blow out the candles buddy," came the voice of the human from earlier. The moving picture was focused on the child from earlier, who by the look of things was celebrating his birthday. As the moving picture played, Twilight was in awe at it the whole time; it was like looking through a window, it felt so alive.

Wanting to see more, she continued browsing through the pictures, trying to find ones that moved. She was soon successful, when she found one featuring the human in custody, along with the child she guessed was his. The two were sat on a couch, looking at a globe of the world.

"Where do we live, Max?" the prisoner asked of his son, gesturing to the globe.

"Here," Max replied, pointing to an island chain. "We live in Hawaii."

Twilight squinted her eyes, she didn't recognize the island present in the moving picture. Could there be a second human nation out there that they hadn't found? It would certainly explain all the strange equipment, and how the human insisted he came from somewhere else.

"Now, where do grandma and grandpa live?"

"They live over here, in California," Max pointed to the mainland.

Wait! Hold on, this didn't make any sense. Twilight raised a brow, her head cocking to the side as she stared at the object in confusion. Now that she was getting a good look at it, she realized that the globe in the image was all wrong; she was familiar with the world map and its continents, but the landmass here didn't match up with the geography of Equus at all.

"Now what country do we live in?" the prisoner asked from the moving picture.

"America!" Max replied happily and eagerly.

"And what's our world called?"

At the kids words, Twilight went rigid, her ears sticking up as her fur stood on edge. Her legs started shaking, her nerves becoming like jelly as she struggled to stay upright. She didn't want to believe it, did she just hear what she thought she heard?

She numbly lifted a hoof to the moving picture, trying to get it to go back, and hopefully discover she just misheard it. After messing with it for a moment, she successfully got it to skip back a few seconds when she touched a small arrow. However, she was met with despair when the same word was spoken.

Her mane becoming frazzled, she swung her heard to the guards, before rushing at them with the object. "You!" she cried, her pupils dilating. "Did you hear that!" she said, holding the object in the guards faces.

"Yes, we did, princess," one of the guards replied.

Twilight's chest started to rise and fall rapidly. "I-I need to-I need to find prin-princess C-Celestia, I- n-now!"

With that, Twilight tore out of the lockup, the object trailing behind in her magic. Making her way out of the dungeons, she galloped down the halls at top speed, her hoofsteps echoing throughout the castle. With every step, she found herself desperate to reach Celestia and Luna and inform them of the dire revelation she just discovered.

Approaching the throne room, she wordlessly threw the large doors open. "Princesses! I need to talk with you urgently!" Twilight cried as she entered, finding Celestia and Luna in a meeting with a noble.

"I'm sorry about the interruption, princesses, but this is of the utmost impor-" she began before she was cut off.

The noble shifted his attention to Twilight, his nose held in a holier-than-thou manner as he looked at her with squinted eyes. "Who do you think you are child! You may not just barge in here and-"

Twilight didn't bother addressing or even looking at the noble, instead cutting him off as she picked him up in her magic. From there she practically and unceremoniously chucked him out the door, before slamming it shut again.

"Now, as I was saying," Twilight continued, once she was no longer being interrupted. "I'm sorry about barging in here unannounced, but what I have to say is of the utmost importance!"

"What's going on," Celestia spoke, giving her attention to Twilight.

"Okay, so I was toying around with the objects confiscated from the human, right," Twilight started pacing back and forth as she spoke, her body visibly shaking. "Well when I got to the last item, I found it to be capable of a multitude of things, such as it being able to take pictures that move!"

Luna furrowed her brow. "A moving...picture...? Whatever do you mean, Twilight?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like," Twilight replied, "a picture that moves! Imagine it like being able to watch a play wherever and whenever you want, with it being like they're right there in front of you; like somepony took a picture of you, but instead of just capturing your image, they also catch you movements and words.

Anyway, I found a bunch of these moving pictures on the object, and one of them contained an alarming revelation. It showed the human we have in the dungeon, as well as his apparent offspring, and they were looking at a globe of the world. Now at first I thought they came from an unknown island chain, but then I realized the landmass on it was all wrong. And when the human asked his kid what the world was called, he said...this."

Getting the moving picture to play again, she put it at the right part, before showing it to Celestia and Luna.

And what's our world called?" the human asked.

"Earth!" the boy said, "we live on planet Earth!"

Upon showing them the moving picture, Celestia and Luna shared a silent look between them; the color drained from their faces, and the muscles in their necks grew visibly tense.

"The human said he came from somewhere else, this is what he meant," Twilight said, recalling the human's words from earlier.

Luna looked to her sister, who had started walking toward one of the throne rooms many windows. "Sister, what should we do?"

Celestia didn't respond, instead opting to gaze out the window at Canterlot and Equestria beyond. After a moment, she turned to face them. Her eyes were wide open and unblinking, like a little filly who couldn't sleep, thinking there was a monster in the room.

"Summon the other world leaders for an emergency council meeting," Celestia said, a tone of urgency in her voice.

And what she said next, was something they all now knew to be true, but had been dreading to hear it aloud.

"Earth is real!"