A Kindred Spirit

When I stepped off the train, I seriously did not expect a row of guardsmen to be standing there waiting for me and the Elements.

"What's this all about?" I queried Twilight in a whisper, being the prime suspect to ask on affairs of visiting royalty.

"I'm not sure," she replied, "but there's my brother!"

As Twilight galloped to Shining Armor and wrapped him in a huge embrace, he said softly, rather embarrassed, "It's good to see you Twilight, but I'm here on official business."

Twilight backed up a bit and stammered, "Oh, umm, of course!" She began to blush softly.

The approximately 5 foot tall Shining strode forward past a rank of his totally impassive guards, and extended a hoof.

"Greetings. My name is Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard."

I grasped the proffered hoof and shook it firmly. A faint smile appeared on his lips.

"As you probably already know, Twilight here is my younger sister. My guards and I are here to escort you to the palace."

He leaned in close to my ear and said, "More of a formality than anything, but we have orders." He backed up a bit.

"Now, if you'll follow me..."

If you asked me for one word to describe Canterlot, it would be expensive. The shops, the restaurants, the street- all phenomenally expensive-looking. I felt out of place here; I was no high-society schmoozer with oodles of cash; I was a junior in high school, who would grow up to be a working-class man who said what he thought. I much preferred the dusty dirt streets of Ponyville, where honest ponies made honest livings instead of living off the family fortune and going to dull dinner parties.

"Bit fancy, isn't it?" Applejack spoke quietly to me. "I like our humble farm better'n this fancy place."

"I agree, Applejack." She smiled at this and stepped back into a comfortable place in the procession.

None too soon, we arrived at the palace gates, which were cast open by the guards at the sight of their esteemed leader. I continued to follow Shining through the gates to the soft lawns of Canterlot Castle. At least there was some grass now.

Shining led us up into the palace through a monstrous set of doors, down a hallway, and to another equally monstrous set of doors, whereupon all his guards, save his second-in-command, lined up along the walls in a well-choreographed motion.

The stationed door guards, obviously Celestia's by the coloring of their armor, swung apart their enormous charges.

As Shining and his second led the Elements, that group of ponies seasoned in this thing, and the totally unprepared me forward, the first thing I saw in the extravagant room was Princess Celestia.

She held a regal air about herself as of the moment; her warm-colored lengthy mane and tail sparkled in her own personal magic wind that blew only for, and only over, her. Her giant, regal wings were surprisingly similar to Faust's portrayal of them. She positively radiated an essence of power, but also, a hospitable and soft warmth; her face held an expression that foretold many years of wisdom, but betrayed none of them, for she was physically at an eternal prime, and her golden royal regalia glittered with the light of the evening sun. She was beautiful.

So absorbed was I in the solar princess that I almost did not notice the halting of Shining and his adjundant. Shining proceeded to turn to stand on our group's right flank, and his second on our left.

For a moment, silence prevailed. Celestia looked directly into my eyes, penetrating everything, transcending all boundaries. It was as if she was looking into my mind, into my very thoughts, and into my soul; from the extreme aura of power she carried, she probably was. She smiled warmly, seeming to have finished her examination, and the intimidating and penetrating gaze she had been giving me before dissolved, along with my apprehension and unrest, like sand flowing through the gaps between human fingers. I bowed.

She spoke. "Good evening, Elements of Harmony, and human." Her strong, fluid, motherly voice carried an amiable tone as her eyes traveled smoothly over all the Elements before returning to me. Her mouth formed a soft smile. "I assume you know why I have invited you here today?"

"I believe so, Your Majesty," I said, using my most respectful and least accented tone. She was a pony I wanted to make happy; her warm smile made me feel like the sun was warming me from the inside out.

"Please, go on."

"Have you done so to establish good relations between my kind and yours, and ensure the safety and well-being of your subjects?" I expanded carefully.

"Yes, that is true," she began with a growing smile on her face, "but I also invited you here so I could meet you."

I was thunderstruck.  "Your Majesty, I'm not sure I understand. With all due respect towards your intentions, I'm a little confused as to why a powerful leader like yourself would want to meet an average working-class human such as myself."

Celestia looked a little hurt at this, surprisingly, and my spirits fell to see it. But I assume she understood my intentions, for she replied, "I want to know you because I care about the well-being of everypony, not just those whom are my subjects. I want to make sure you are happy and healthy. In short, I care." She ended with a warm, motherly smile.

"I'm sorry, Princess, but I have never met royalty, and in our world they are not the most understanding people," I explained.

"How so?" asked the solar princess inquisitively.

"Well, they're a bit... snobbish, and... stuffy."

Celestia giggled. "Sounds like a lot of the nobles here."

I put the rest out there. "When monarchs had power a long time ago, they could be quite cruel and harsh. I know that you are none of these things, Princess, but it still weighs on my mind."

Celestia seemed grim. "I understand. But, please, tell me, how does your government work?"

I smiled. "Well, Princess, there are hundreds of separate countries, but I'll spare you with the two main types. There are Democratic Republics," I looked down and scowled, "and then there's communism."

Celestia picked up on my distate. "Please explain. Democratic republic first, please."

"It's a very big system, so I'll try to keep it short and sweet. In a democratic republic, the citizens elect representatives to a state government, and the federal government. The federal government makes decisions on the creation of laws, foreign policy, and interstate trade. The state government makes decisions that the federal government has not specified. States are usually all different sizes; in my country we have 50, and the population is scattered unevenly all over. I came from the state with the second most number of representatives, and we generally prefer a small federal government. The smaller states with higher population density generally prefer a larger federal government. There was actually a civil war fought on the fact that the southern states had lost their voice in government. Many people incorrectly think that it was over slavery, but it wasn't. I'm not saying that slavery is a good thing, but I honestly think it was for a worthy cause, but the south lost. Anyway, I'm getting off topic."

"That's alright, I can see you are passionate in your views. It's an interesting concept. But please, explain to me communism."

"Okay. Well, think of a democratic republic, and make it where only one group controls everything in government. The government does not listen to it's people, and the people have no guaranteed rights. It's not a good system; the government abuses their power too often."

"I see. I understand your kind fears having one small group in power, but I assume that is because many abuse their responsibilities. Now, please tell me..."

To my awe, Celestia began to descend from her throne. Soon, she was standing right next to me, and she continued, "Do you fear me?" She must be 7' 6'; I rose only to the base of her neck. I looked into myself. "Well... no. No. I don't. You are a great leader, and you have not abused your power or led your ponies wrong. I can't. I have no reason to fear you."

She donned a heartfelt, warm smile. "Thank you. I'm glad you feel that way. Now, please, follow me outside. My sister and I are going to end the day and bring forth the night."

As Celestia led a deeply thinking me to the realm of her sister's dwelling within the great castle, the six ponies that were not of military role that followed us could barely contain the urge to giggle at my behavior. I was in total wonderment of Celestia's behavior towards me; it was like I was a friend to her, not someone who was far beneath her, as I was.

"You don't have to keep calling me "Your Majesty", "Your Highness", or even "Princess". You may just call me Celestia. I want to get to know you better, and I hope that I may become your friend."

I was deeply humbled that the princess would want me to speak to her as a friend. I guess it showed, because she glanced at me and laughed a little.

"You act so dumbfounded! Really, because I'm a princess, I can't make friends with ponies? Don't be silly!"

"No, Your Highness, I didn't mean that at all-"

She just started laughing harder. This set off all the Elements into a giggling fit. I just wanted to hide now.

Celestia recovered upon seeing my expression. "I'm sorry. The expression on your face was priceless. It was like I had suddenly given you a million bits! You really don't have to be so formal. Just relax, talk to me like you would any other friend."

Celestia's words had some sort of power behind them; I felt a soft warm feeling enter me and I began to relax. I could only assume this had something to do with the aura that seemed to enshroud the solar princess.

The strings having been loosened, my accent had apparently lost its flattened state as I said, "Thank you, --Celestia." I caught myself. That same warm smile filled me up again. "You're welcome. Thank you for being so adaptable."

We arrived at a great stone plinth with the symbol of a sun and moon on it. As we did so, Princess Luna appeared.

Her bright blue irises shone like ice, offsetting the deep midnight blue coat she possessed. Her gently flowing mane and tail rippled in her own magic breeze; they shone with the light on the night sky and all the stars it held. Her silver regalia shone in high contrast to her mane, coat, and tail, but struck a chord with her eyes, which were staring deeply into mine. Our eyes were level, so she must have been a little over 6'.  Her gaze had locked my eyes into hers; they were as deep as an ocean, and I felt that I would fall in. Her gaze was the same as the one I had received from Celestia earlier; penetrating into my very soul. I threw down all the barriers I was naturally constructing, and let her probe the depths of my consciousness. All of a sudden, the deep stare was broken, and she smiled. She had an enigmatic beauty surrounding her; Celestia had a bright, obvious beauty about her; Luna's was more subtle.

"Hello," she spoke softly. If Celestia's voice had been warm, strong, and motherly, Luna's was cool, silky, and fluid without parallel. "Good evening, Princess." I bowed deep. She spoke in her voice of silk, "Rise, human. I am under the impression that thou art acquainted with my dear sister?"

Middle-English. Or Middle-Equestrian. Whatever. I had forgotten for a moment Luna's imprisonment in the moon; it seemed she had dropped the "royal we;" for this I was thankful. The royal we would have bothered the to no end.

I rose and answered her question. I don't know how I knew it, but I saw something in her face that said something was troubling her.

"Princess? If I may be so bold?" Even if Celestia had asked me to drop the formality, Luna had not. Therefore, I wanted to be respectful.

"Feel free."

"Something seems to be troubling you; are you alright?"

As I said this, her composure broke for some reason, and before I knew it I had the head of a weeping princess over my shoulder and my arms around her neck, her chest set against mine. Somehow, I felt all of her pain; the loneliness, the rejection. I was stunned; my mind could not compute this situation, and neither could any of the 6 Elements. As we all stood frozen, so did Celestia; but, as all of us held a stunned expression, Celestia held one of deep concern.

"I'm sorry!" Luna eked out. "I'm so stressed right now, and all I want is a friend."

"Princess, if that's what you want of me, I'll be glad to be your friend."

She slowly backed up and started to recompose herself. "Really? You... you'd do that for me?"

"Of course. It'd be an honor to be someone for you to call a friend."

Again, to my surprise, she wrapped me in what I could only assume was an embrace...