I looked at myself in the mirror one last time before beginning my day. A face not a day over thirty peered back at me, only the quiet wisdom of an ancient man within my bluish-gray eyes betrayed my true age. I was olive skinned with light brown, curly hair and a well groomed handlebar mustache, I gave a nod in satisfaction at my appearance before turning away from the mirror. Long ago I had been dressed and groomed by a swarm of servants, but these days I much preferred the simple pleasures in maintaining my own looks.

I stepped out of my bathroom and looked at the grandfather clock on the back wall of my living quarters. Nearly 1 in the afternoon. I gave a sigh before shrugging on a red cloak made of silk woven with strands of ruby, and placing a simple golden band with a single crystal embedded within it upon my head. The crystal gave off a soft red glow, and almost appeared molten. A gift from the Quenni people some four hundred years prior as a thank you for saving their homeworld from the Abyssals. They made it to look like the red giant star within the center of their home system. I wore it now not just due to its beauty, but also as a reminder to the Imperial Court today of my status as the upholder of the Pax Imperialis. The member states of my Imperium were getting bold in their accusations towards one another, and I feared soon yet another series of wars would plague us if I failed to play my cards right. But that was no matter for right now.

After ensuring the circlet fit well on my head, I strapped on the last item of my imperial regalia. A simple longsword made of steel in a black leather scabbard, with the only adornment being the feathers laser etched into the blade. Another gift from one long ago, long enough to make my memory fuzzy on the details of why it was important to me. A sign I would need to read my journals again later. With one final glance at the clock, I made my way out to the balcony. The view was pleasant as always, the three orbital rings of Terra barely visible in high orbit as the sun sat high in sky. The Imperial Lunar Memorial Gardens stretched for hundreds of miles in each direction, enshrouding the palace complex in a level greenery not seen anywhere else on the ecumenopolis that Terra now was. Looking to my right, I found whom I was looking for.

"Good afternoon Blade Parks. How is your wife doing?" I asked a tall man with dark skin and hazel eyes of about 40. He was dressed in the ceremonial armor of the Household Guard, plate armor with no helmet and a long cloak similar to mine whilst he was wielding a large spear. But the psionic implants visible on the side of his head betrayed the fact he was more than just for show. Indeed, the same was installed on me, albeit a far more expensive model that was almost hidden aside from the two little bumps behind my left ear.

"Doctors say she'll be fine, just cancer. A week or two and she'll be right as rain," replied Parks in what I recognized as some derivation of a Southern United States accent, although few today would know what "South" I referred to.

"Good to hear. And you're positive on not wanting a week or two off? It's paid you know," I pressed. Not giving him a moment to get a word in, I continued, "While you are amongst my finest, I doubt I will find a way to die if you spend time with her. Ruled for 600 some odd years before you were even born."

"That may be so Your Imperial Majesty, but I get a strange feeling you'll have need of help in the coming weeks. And us Psions always trust our gut," he stated, in a tone leaving little room for argument. I sighed in resignation, knowing no words beyond an outright command would get him to budge. And even then I got the feeling I would have needed to use the Imperial Voice on him, which is unpleasant for all parties.

"Well then, let us be on our way. Set the transporter to put us in the throne room. I want to end by one in the morning," I commanded. The nice thing about ruling the entire galaxy was that I got to set my own hours. I had always enjoyed the cool of the night over the heat of the day. Hence the late start.

"Primed and ready to go, just step on when you're ready," Parks said after inputing a series of commands into a holographic keyboard next to a now glowing circle on the balcony. A moment later, I stepped onto the platform and felt the slight tingling sensation I had grown used to when using one of these circles. However it was soon replaced by extreme nausea, and a sudden splitting headache. I barely had time to register what was going on before the pain spiked and I blacked out, my consciousness tumbling through the void along with my disassembled particles.

---------- Twilight Sparkle ----------

Twilight stood around a circle of glowing arcane runes as she ran a series of experiments in her laboratory in the basement of her library. The idea of a teleportation circle permanently linking two areas to enable even those not gifted in magic to teleport intrigued her greatly. Her excitement only grew with the idea of the Princess praising her for completing another spell.

Her thoughts regarding her mentor were interrupted as suddenly a new swell of power flowed into the circle. Her eyes widened as the runes glowed brighter, before she cringed and covered her ears as a loud crack and a bright flash of white light emanated throughout the room. When she looked up, she nearly screamed.

... Okay she did scream. Very loudly in fact. But who could blame her? On the floor before her lay an unconscious figure, vaguely resembling a hairless ape. It wore finery that surpassed even the clothes Rarity made for the Gala. She never even made the other circle that was supposed to connect to this one! This was just a dry run to make sure it wouldn't explode!

Though she supposed her dry run did indeed do exactly that.

She began to pace, right as Spike ran down the stairs, ready to wield a push broom as a quarter staff in his claws.
"Twilight! Are you okay?!" Spike shouted before settling his eyes on the creature on the floor in the middle of the room. "What in Equestria is that?" he asked, more confused than concerned now as he looked back to Twilight.

"I... I'm not sure Spike. I was experimenting with those teleportation circles I was talking about when... this creature appeared. I've never seen mention of such a being anywhere in the Royal Canterlot Archives or here! Spike, we could be seeing an entirely new spe-," Twilight started rambling excitedly, only to be cut off by Spike giving a loud gasp and pointing behind her. Turning around, her eyes widened in horror as the figure began to stir.

---------- Lux Aeternus ----------

I began to open up my eyes with a groan, spots clouding my vision. I was going to have to have a serious talk with the engineers about doing routine maintenance checks on all palace transporters. Luckily I managed to reassemble into my regular body, I was fairly certain, but that was close. Finally my vision began to clear up and I looked around where I ended up. It appeared to be some kind of rudimentary science lab inside a cinderblock building, probably a basement of some kind. I felt the tingling sensation that indicated the nanites in my bloodstream were doing minor repairs on my body's internals.

It was then that I looked over and saw two creatures I had never seen outside of old picture books. One was a purple unicorn, and the other was a miniscule version of a Western European dragon without wings. The way they stared agape was almost insulting, but then I thought about how I would feel if the ruler of the Milky Way just appeared in my living room randomly. I began to pull up to my full height, which made me nearly twice as tall as the creature before me, while saying, "Good day to you, I am Imperator Lux Aeternus. Would you be so kind as to tell me your names and where we are at the moment? Court is very soon and I need to secure transport back to the palace as soon as possible." Again, they simply stared before finally the purple one cocked her head and approached me, babbling in some language I didn't understand.

Great. Just my luck the translator implant would act up. At least, that's what I thought until I saw a notification in the periphery of my vision stating the language was unknown within Imperial records and would require a picture dictionary or some other form of medium with which to begin deciphering the new language. Thus either the translator is still broken or... I am on a planet not yet contacted by the Imperium. The latter of which is a terrifying thought.

I finally held up my hand which stopped the purple one's speech, and mimed opening and reading a book. At first she looked at me in confusion before the light of recognition showed in her eyes. A couple words were said to the dragon-like creature, who then scuttled away up the stairs. Moments later, he returned with a book in hand. Then the purple unicorn levitated it to me.

That stopped me in my tracks. I sensed her psionics as she moved the book up to my now outstretched hands, and yet she bore none of the signs of having any implants. And her horn seemed to glow as she moved the object. Recovering from the momentary shock, I picked up the book and began rapidly flipping through the thick, hand bound tome. Not that I could read it of course, but it gave the translation AI some reference material to begin tinkering with. The AI began the grueling work of decrypting an unknown language, while I set the book on the desk. I then mimed the motion of reshelving the book. Once again the winged unicorn was quick to understand, and nodded towards the stairs before beginning to walk. With a brief glance towards the blackened floor where I appeared, I followed her up the stairs and out of the basement.

Her home was quite interesting. Bookshelves soared high up towards the ceiling, and the entire structure was made of wood. Excellent idea for a library, I thought sarcastically. Ample natural light poured in through the windows, and another set of stairs sat across from me, presumably leading up to her living quarters. Frankly, it felt quite cozy.

Relaxing somewhat, I decided to take off my heavy cloak and set it on a wooden peg on the wall. I only realized my mistake when I felt the unicorns psionics begin to charge up. I turned and saw her looking with concern at the once-concealed sword I had hanging at my hip. I quickly raised my hands above my head, though I prepared to throw up a shield with my own psionics just in case. To my great relief, she simply removed the scabbard from the straps going across my waist and chest using magic, before setting it aside. The little dragon went and sat on my blade, giving me a suspicious glare. After a tense moment, the unicorn nodded towards the bookcases and I started walking over. I haven't made a diplomatic slip that bad in years, perhaps peace has started to dull my edge a bit. Either way, I began to sort through bookshelf after bookshelf while the other two watched me with interest. Finally, I found what I needed. A section dedicated to children's books. I rapidly skimmed through as many picture books as I could, before moving up to early chapter books for elementary schoolers. Since only the AI needed to scan them, I worked incredibly quickly and got through a few dozen books in only half an hour or so.

After feeling satisfied with my accumulated data, I turned and saw the purple unicorn reading a book of her own while the dragon continued to watch me intently with its arms crossed. Odd, how trusting these creatures are. No attempts to bind me, and the only time they ever seemed hostile was when I had a weapon. Regardless, their disposition is beneficial to me. Perhaps I could even convince them to help in getting my feet back on Terra.

Finally, I heard a ding resound within my mind as another pop-up appeared informing me that the AI had finished translating all the content I had fed it, and was merely needing some verbal data to finish translating completely. I flicked my wrist, and a notebook along with a pen appeared in my hand as I retrieved them from my personal pocket dimension. Handy little thing, useless in terms of getting me back home but at least any items I kept within it would be available to me. Some of my more outspoken servants call me paranoid for keeping essentially a survival kit in my pocket dimension, but who was laughing now? Using my newfound knowledge of her written language, I began to write. It was a simple message, asking her to say a number of words and phrases out loud. I cleared my throat and presented the completed note. She looked up from her book at me, then took the note in her hands before her eyes once again widened in utter shock. Finally, after a moment, she began to repeat the written phrases out loud. Soon the AI alerted me that the final phase was complete, and it could at least translate their spoken language. The wonders of 30th century technology, and centuries of alien language data.

I began to speak, although the implant partially seized control of my vocal chords and mouth to make the noises necessary for their language. It was always an odd sensation. Untranslated it sounded like whinnies and neighs, which I suppose made sense considering the physical resemblance to the horses of Terra.

"Hello, and thanks for bearing with me for a minute; I simply had to translate your speech into mine. I am Eternal Light," I said, allowing it to translate the meaning of my name into her tongue. I doubt her vocal chords could pronounce Lux Aeternus if left untranslated. Much less my actual name, whatever it was. Can hardly remember these days.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle!" she then inhaled a large breath before continuing, "How did you learn the basics of our language so quickly, where are you from, what species are you, do you like books, because I like books, why did you have a sword-"

I stopped her tirade of questions by holding out my hand.

"Woah there Miss Sparkle, slow down. I need time to answer."

Twilight took a deep breath before plopping herself onto a pillow on the floor. She bid me to do the same. While I settled onto the floor she grabbed a piece of paper and a... quill. Odd, while her lab may have not been advanced by intragalactic spacefarer standards, with that level of equipment they certainly should have had at a minimum fountain pens. Perhaps it was more a matter of Twilight's preference.

"I... apologize for getting carried away. Just excited to find a new, intelligent species is all!" she said with a bright smile. Her smile and large eyes combined with my general wariness fading made me realize something. Her species, whatever it was, was positively cute. The eye to head ratio, combined with being small and fluffy was an absolutely diabolical combination. These creatures could easily have trillions wrapped around their fingers. Hooves. Whatever.

"It is quite alright, not every day you meet some strange alien species that spontaneously appears in your home," I replied with a slight smile of my own. Before she can begin barraging me with questions, I continue, "While I understand your curiosity, I know nothing of your people. To keep it fair, for each question you ask, I get to ask one of my own."

"Yes, of course. That sounds reasonable to me. Before I begin, does your species drink tea and would you like a cup?"

"We do, seems putting dried leaves in hot water is some kind of universal constant amongst creatures. I'll take whatever you have on hand."

"Spike! Can you get our guest some tea?" Twilight shouted at the small dragon, waking him up after he dozed off atop my sword.

"Wuh- I mean, sure Twilight," Spike responded with a yawn, before walking through a door in the back of the library. Twilight turned back to me.

"So first off, what does your kind call themselves?" She asks, quill at the ready in her psionic grip.

"I am a human, and I ask the same question of you."

"My species are known as ponies, though we have 3 subspecies. Unicorns, like me, Pegasi who have wings, and Earth ponies who have neither. Well, there are also alicorns but they . . ."

Our exchange continued as such for many hours. The tea Spike brewed for us was pleasant and reminiscent of ginseng. I answered many questions, though I often answered in half truths. I learned that the country I was in was known as Equestria, and was primarily home to ponies ruled over by two princesses. It was odd to me that neither claimed the title of queen, but Twilight said the title had some bad connotations amongst ponies, and I didn't press further. Most strangely though, the psionics were natural to all creatures of this land, although how it manifested varied between species. She also explained the odd markings on her flank, which apparently were called 'cutie marks.' They were symbols that represented a pony's special talent. Quite bizarre. When she continued to comment that these princesses known as Celestia and Luna had cutie marks of the sun and moon, and raised said celestial bodies for day and night, I began to harbor a theory. But one I would have to test at a later date.

She also was hiding something from me when I asked how I appeared here. She was a poor liar, but I couldn't exactly force my host into giving up information. Though I did the same, as while I was open regarding some of our technology and the concept of interplanetary travel, as well as my status within my country, I left out equally as much. As far as she was concerned, mankind had only colonized a few other planets outside of the Sol system. Best she not know we likely dominated the galaxy that surrounded her kind. If I was still in the Milky Way...

I also would have kept my title of Emperor a secret as well, but my clothing and general manner more than gave that away. She seemed to take it well though, giving an apology for the lodgings and my welcome. I was simply happy she offered her home to some mysterious otherworldly ruler from the stars. I also lied regarding my age. Well, not technically. I was biologically about 29. The same could not be said for my mind though. She seemed to not question it, however. As the sun began to set, we concluded our conversation. She said she would contact the princesses regarding my arrival, which I was completely fine with. Perhaps they could even prove useful. She also mentioned eventually introducing me to her friends within the town, which was known as Ponyville. One hell of a lazy name if you asked me, though I had also signed off on naming a colony New Terra some centuries ago, making me a hypocrite.

"So, what do your kind eat anyways? I'm sure you're hungry!" she said as she stretched up from her pillow.

"I'm omnivorous, I can eat both meat and vegetables. Though given your teeth I assume your kind are herbivores," I replied. She seemed to take the whole eating meat thing well. She did mention other species aside from ponies and dragons, likely there were carnivores amongst them.

"Correct! So then, would a salad be fine?"

"Absolutely, I could go for something lighter anyways. That whole transporter mishap has my stomach still in knots," I reply with a slight chuckle.

"Ah! In that case, let's eat out on the balcony. It's night so most likely nopony else will catch sight of you, and some fresh air may do your stomach some good."

I gave her another smile and a nod, before making my way up the stairs. The balcony was connected to the public section of the library, so I managed to find it and settle in comfortably. With almost no light pollution, I gazed at the stars set in the sky. Eventually I pulled out a copy of the star charts I kept within my pocket dimension to figure out where I was, but at the moment I was content to do simple stargazing. It reminded me of Earth. Before the rings, before the planet became a city. Before the Abyssals shattered our own beloved moon in their thrice-damned invasions. Speaking of, odd that the translation chose to call the Princess of the Night 'Luna' rather than just 'Moon,' but I figure it was simply trying to represent her name perhaps being more antiquated.

"Princess Luna did a wonderful job crafting this sky tonight indeed," Twilight suddenly murmured next to me. I hadn't even noticed her appear. She set down a bowl of of salad and a fork, along with a glass of water in front of me. I bowed my head and prayed over my meal before digging in.

The salad was one of the best things I've eaten. To be honest, most of what I eat nowadays is genetically modified to hell and back, pumped full of a trillion chemicals, and shipped several thousand light years to end up at my table. While such isn't harmful and bears many benefits in terms of supporting a huge population, it definitely affects flavor. Twilight allowed me to eat in silence, which I appreciated greatly. Eventually, I finished my meal and down the glass of water, setting my dishes aside for now.

"What was that you did before eating, Light?" Twilight asked me. It was clear she had been wanting to ask that question since I began devouring my salad.

"A human ritual. Specifically a prayer to the creator of all things to make sure what I'm eating won't to kill me," I replied.

"I see. Is that a common practice amongst your people?"

"Not anymore, it was common some centuries ago. I'm amongst the few who continues the tradition. Perhaps even the last one."

Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but instead let out a loud yawn. This prompted a giggle out of me. A giggle. I never giggle. I chortle, chuckle, and very rarely laugh, but never giggle. This world must have an odd affect on all its inhabitants. Maybe it's like that one pleasure world where the atmosphere contains mind-altering chemicals. I hoped not.

"Well Twilight, seems it's about time for bed for you. I'm a bit of a night owl so I'll be up awhile longer," I said as she stifled her yawn.

"Sounds good to me, spare bedroom has its door open and is right next to the upstairs bathroom. Can't miss it. Have a good night, Light," she said as headed back inside.

"Sleep well."

The night dragged on as I was left in solitude. Tomorrow I needed to make a good impression. Hopefully from there I could negotiate their help to get home. Even if not, eventually someone would find me. Transporters usually left an energy trail of sorts that could be traced to find me. Just a matter of how long, and whether or not my Imperium could hold itself together long enough under my Privy Council to find me.

Out of curiousity I once again did the flicking motion with my wrist, this time summoning a small metal cube. I place it on the ground and gave two quick taps. Holographic star charts blinked to life above the cube, and I began attempting to decipher my position within the galaxy, with the aid of the shackled AI in my head. I proved unsuccessful this night, and would have to continue tomorrow. My internal clock registered it to be about 4 in the morning, which is usually when I fell asleep. What was unusual though, is that this planet's rotation seemed almost the exact same as Earth's. The moon was in the exact position I'd expect it to be back home during the fall at this hour. While in the grand scheme of the cosmos this could simply be an interesting coincidence, perhaps it could be something more.

Either way though, it was late and I was tired. I retired to my new room and curled up on a bed slightly too small, before the usual nightmares took me.

Author's Note

And so it begins! I've never written with non-original characters before, so pardon me while I try to find the correct "voice" for each pony in these early chapters.

Constructive criticism is especially welcome in these early chapters where characterization is key, especially for ones either original to my tale or underdeveloped in the original show.

I hope you all will enjoy future chapters in this tale, I have quite a doozy planned for this one.