"In the absence of information, we jump to the worst conclusions."

Myra Kassim.

Celestia stood on the balcony connected to her personal chambers; she stayed there unmoving, her long flowing mane catching the light from her sun. Her face was firm, her lips drawn tight as she stared outward with glassy eyes.

The city of Canterlot lay below, its sparkling roads and pristine buildings making it look like a meticulously constructed model. Built upon the side of a mountain, it was a feat of engineering, a monument to all that her little ponies were capable of. It was the very heart and soul of Equestria, a gleaming beacon of hope and friendship to all who saw it.

As she gazed out over the city, she found herself wandering back to when the changelings attacked. The normally beautiful city was soon embroiled in chaos; ponies ran for their lives in the streets as Canterlot burned around them.

She thought back to when she had been struck down by Chrysalis, the incident forever burned into her memory; In that instance, she had failed to protect her subjects. Although Cadence and Shining Armor were able to save the day with their love, she would be lying if there wasn't a moment where she thought the future was uncertain.

And that was only one example of when Equestria was in danger. There was the time when the Crystal Empire and Sombra returned. The time that Tirek tried to steal the magic from the other alicorns and her. When the Storm King's army invaded. Or when she had no choice but to banish her sister to the moon.

Those all served as difficult and frightening times throughout her life; events where she had to make the hardest of choices or where she was powerless to do anything to help her ponies.

But the threat that now lurked on the horizon had the potential to be the greatest danger they had ever faced; she had never been more afraid of what the future might hold.

As she found herself lost in thought, a knock at the door pulled her out of the deep recesses of her mind. Turning around, she watched the door open up, as a guard stepped halfway through.

"The other world leaders are ready for you, princess," spoke the guard.

Celestia gave a nod of acknowledgment. "Okay, I'm coming, thank you," she replied, upon which the guard backed out of the room and closed the door.

Now on her own once again, she quickly turned her gaze back out over Canterlot. She thought of her subjects and how they happily went about their lives, oblivious to what was coming. Maybe she didn't know what the future had in store, but if there was one thing she was certain of, it was that she would do anything to protect her little ponies.

With one final glance at Canterlot, she turned on her hooves and left her room. She made her way through the grand halls, passing guards and servants as she crossed from one part of the palace to another.

Turning down a corridor, she approached a large open set of double doors, through which was the conference room. Stepping through, she was presented with a moderate space compared to the rest of the palace; where elsewhere you might be able to find statues, paintings, or chandeliers, the only features here were a window and wall sconces for lighting, as well as a long table in the middle.

Seated around the table were the world leaders of Equus, who were all here at her urgent request: There was Dragon Lord Ember. King Thorax of the Changelings. Queen Novo of the Hippogriffs. Chief Thunderhooves of the Buffalo. King Iron Skull, of the minotaur. Queen Nora of Saddle Arabia. And Omari, the Zebra Chieftain.

And Peregrine, the new king of the griffins. There were questions as to his legitimacy, as he just seemed to pop up one day as if he had randomly declared himself king. However he seemed to know what he was doing so far, so no creature really worried about it that much.

There was also the ever-silent Rain Shine, the leader of the kirin. With her was Autumn Blaze, who was accompanying her to act as a verbal aid to speak on her behalf.

As well as Rex, the new high-pack leader of the Diamond Dogs. Due to challengers constantly seeking and taking the throne, their government hasn't always been the most stable. However, Rex had managed to hold on to the position for some time.

And there was the addition of Tempest Shadow. She had taken the role of leader of the Storm Empire and was working to improve its relations with the other nations.

And last but not least there were the other alicorns, plus Shining Armor. They all sat at one end of the table, with an open seat next to Luna that had been reserved for Celestia.

"Having a human at home makes life so much easier," Celestia overheard Ember saying to Thorax as she approached. "I can make it do whatever I want and it won't object under the fear of being toasted. You should really consider getting one."

"Come on, Ember, I've already told you this," Thorax replied. "Changelings don't keep humans as slaves; we were practically slaves ourselves under Chrysalis, why would we want to propagate that?"

Stepping up to the table, it wasn't long before all eyes turned on Celestia at her arrival. "Thank you all for being here," she said once she'd sat down and gotten herself comfortable. "Now I'm sure you're all wondering just why you're here?"

Thorax was the first to respond. "Yes, I believe that's what we're all thinking."

"The reason you're here," Celestia began, "is because there was recently an incident between a group of guards and some strange humans," as she spoke, Twilight took a large stack of folders and began passing them out to the world leaders with her magic; most of them received one, except for Cadence and Shining Armor, who had already been briefed on the situation. "If you want to know the finer details you can check the folder in front of you. But the basics that you need to know, is that these humans wielded deadly weapons, which Twilight likened to be miniature cannons."

"This is quite alarming," said Queen Novo as she leafed through the folder.

"I must say I agree." Nodded Queen Nora as she, too, looked through the folder. "Where on Equus could the humans have gotten such deadly weapons?"

"And therein lies the situation," spoke Luna.

Celestia inhaled through her nostrils, steadying herself for what she was about to say. "I assume that you've all heard the legend the humans have?"

Ember folded her arms. "Yeah, I've heard the myth. The humans have a nonsense belief that they came from another world, right?"

"Ha. Human world! Preposterous!" laughed Prince Rutherford.

"Isn't it interesting, though?" Thorax put a hoof to his chin, cocking his head as his eyes seemed to stare into the distance. "If it were true, then that would mean the humans are actually extraterrestrials. Isn't that food for thought?" he pondered aloud.

Celestia watched and listened as the various world leaders spoke with certainty that Earth wasn't real. As they talked, she found herself envying them; she wished she could go back to the other day when she was still in ignorant bliss and didn't know of the dire threat on the horizon. And while she didn't want to rob them of that same ignorance, this had to be discussed.

"Now, if I may continue," Celestia said, recapturing everycreature's attention. "After the incident, the sole surviving human was brought into Canterlot, and on him, we found not just the strange weapons, but also other objects as well. If you'll turn your attention to Twilight, she'll explain it to you," she indicated with her head to the young alicorn.

Upon Celestia's prompting, all eyes in the room turned toward Twilight. "So," she started, "as Celestia said, the human had things that are entirely unknown to us, such as this object right here." She levitated up the flat item from before, everycreature's eyes going wide as they saw it.

"My, what in the world is that?" Asked Chieftain Omari as he gazed at the object.

"We took this off the human," answered Twilight, "and after some examinations, I found it to be capable of so many incredible things: it can play music, take detailed pictures, and you can use it to take notes or set alarms. I also found this one thing that I'm pretty sure is some kind of game; I've been messing with this thing called Angry Birds, and it's actually pretty fun. You see, there are these little birds, and they had their eggs stolen by bad green pigs, and so they set out to rescue them, using a giant slingshot which they use to-"

"Twilight," Celestia spoke up, interrupting the lavender alicorn as she began rambling and getting off track. "Are you sure that this is on topic for the situation at hoof?"

Twilight's cheeks took on a rosy hue. "Sorry about that," she apologized. "So as I was saying, not only is this object capable of all the things I mentioned previously, but it can also take pictures that move! And in one of these moving pictures, we uncovered something alarming!"

Igniting her horn, she projected an image of the object's front onto the wall for everycreature to see. Navigating to the moving pictures, she started the one that they had been summoned here for.

Celestia watched the moving picture with all the others, all their eyes practically bulging out of their heads; they could hardly believe what they were seeing, no doubt in awe at what they were witnessing. But she knew that awe was deceptive, as it would soon give way to a horrible truth.

The moving picture continued to play, with everycreature giving it their full attention. Soon, the moment Celestia was dreading came, and when it did, its impact on the room wasn't hard to notice; everyone seemed to freeze, becoming deathly still as they processed what they just heard. Several tense seconds passed, with none of the world leaders daring to utter even a whisper.

Finally, the deafening silence was broken when King Iron Skull spoke. "Please confirm that this is all just some kind of practical joke!" His expression was firm and rock solid, however, the fearful look in his eyes betrayed him.

"Yes, please do!" Chieftain Omari agreed.

Celestia wished she could say that, that she could tell them it was a ruse, but unfortunately, it was the truth. "I'm sorry to say that this is one hundred percent real," Celestia spoke with a shake of her head.

After Celestia spoke, Shining Armor then cut in with some words of his own. "In the wake of the attack, we sent a party out to try and find where the Humans came from, and they found this," Shining Armor passed out photos to everyone at the table; it showed the image of a portal, which took the form of a purple, stary cloud. "The human we captured mentioned how they arrived through a doorway, and this corroborates his story."

"Do we have any idea what the Humans were up to?" Autumn Blaze asked on behalf of Rain Shine

"We currently believe they were acting as a scouting party for a larger invasion force," put forth Cadence.

"This is reinforced by the fact that another group of Humans recently came through the portal," Shining Armor added. "Our forces were quick to engage theirs, but we think they were looking for the initial search party, giving more credence to the prospect that they're planning to attack," he spoke with certainty.

"What's our course of action?" asked Queen Novo.

King Iron Skull slammed a fist down, making the entire table rattle and shake. "We must strike!" he bellowed, earning nods of approval from several of those present.

Prince Rutherford stomped his hooves. "Yes! We strike at Humans!"

"They are vile beasts, and if they are not dealt with they will overrun us!" said Chief Thunderhooves, snorting steam out his nostrils.

"We need to attack the Humans first before they have a chance to attack us!" said King Peregrine.

"What do we know about them?" High-Pack Leader Rex asked, his voice gravelly.

Luna shook her head in response. "Not much, unfortunately,"

"One thing that's safe to assume," Twilight spoke. "Is that if these objects are any indication, then the Humans of Earth are far more advanced than we are."

"If that's the case, then I assume our best bet is a surprise attack?" speculated Tempest Shadow.

Twilight nodded. "Yes, that's exactly what we were thinking. We don't know the things the Humans of Earth are capable of. So we believe a surprise attack is the best option for an initial assault, which might give us a chance at gaining the upper hoof."

"Wait, hold on! Are we sure about this?" Thorax interjected, causing everyone to pause as they turned to regard him. "Look, I understand the need for caution, but shouldn't we at least attempt diplomacy? I mean, what if they don't want to fight; we'd be starting a war that could have been avoided. What if this is all just a big misunderstanding?"

Shining Armor shot up from his seat, striking the table as he reacted to Thorax's words. "A misunderstanding! They murdered several innocent ponies, how in the world could that be considered a misunderstanding?"

"Are we sure that's what actually happened?" Thorax rebutted. "Because according to the debriefing I was given, it seems that your guards engaged the humans first. And it also says that one of the Humans reportedly tried to defuse the situation."

"It was obviously some kind of trick," replied Shining.

Thorax was about to speak, but before he could Shining Armor cut him off. "Have you ever been in the same room as a Human before? Well I've dealt with them all my life, and they are not your friends! I can't tell you how many attempted rebellions and uprisings I've helped put down! Humans are bloodthirsty monsters, and if they aren't kept in check, they'll slit your throat the first chance they get!"

Celestia was quick to reach out and place a comforting hoof on Shining's shoulder, trying to calm him down before he got too heated. "What, Shining is trying to say," Celestia took over for him, "is that Humans can be extremely dangerous and tend to resort to violence. I know that you mean well, but trying to reason with them is unrealistic; we wouldn't be planning this unless there was no other option."

Thorax nodded. "If you say so, princess. So I take it the consensus is to attack?"

Celestia took a moment to respond, mentally psyching herself up for what she was about to say. "Yes," she said at last. "We are going to attack!"

"The only question now," Luna says, "is who will fight alongside us?"

"You can count on the Hippogriffs," said Queen Novo.

"The same can be said for the Dragons," said Ember.

"We are in," said High-Pack Leader Rex.

"Us too," spoke King Iron Skull.

The next to speak was Queen Nora."We don't have much in the way of a military, but you can count on us for aid and supplies."

Chieftain Omari nodded. "What Queen Nora said, we can offer supplies for the war effort."

"Yaks will help! Yaks will crush humans!" exclaimed Prince Rutherford.

"The Griffins will help," said King Peregrine.

"The Kirin will help in any way they can," Autumn Blaze spoke for Rain Shine.

"The Storm Empire will be more than ready to fight at your side," said Tempest Shadow.

"The Buffalo are not ones for violence, but when our lands are threatened, we will defend them - and we will stand with you in doing so," said Chief Thunderhooves.

"I can't say I'm crazy about this, but you can count on the help of the Changelings," said Thorax.

"And I know this doesn't need to be said," Cadence began, "but the Crystal Empire will stand at Equestria's side."

"Then it's settled," says Celestia, "we're going to war." The word left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"When do we make our move?" asked Queen Novo.

"We must strike as soon as possible," says Celestia. "Equestria will spearhead the initial assault while you return to your lands and prepare. A word of caution though, while I doubt we can keep them in the dark forever, do your best to keep this information away from the Humans. If they learn that Earth is real, it will surely embolden them, and that isn't something we need right now."

And with that, the meeting came to an end. Getting up from their seats, the world leaders bade their farewell as they made their exit.

"Thank you for having me," Chief Thunderhooves said to Celestia on his way out. "Hopefully the next time we meet, it is in celebration of a successful first attack."

"So do I," Celestia said to herself once he was gone.

Author's Note

Hmm, I don't know, Shining, it sounded like Thorax had a pretty solid argument to me. What about you all, did you think they should have paid Thorax's idea more attention?

I had originally been planning to delve into the reason why Shining feels the way he does about humans, but I couldn't find a way to make it come up naturally here. So, I decided to save it for the next chapter.

Same thing with the rest of the Main 6 BTW, I couldn't fit them in.