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Baron Marcone's first impression of Princess Celestia's crack negotiating team was that they were very young.
He was no expert, of course, on evaluating the age of magical talking ponies from the depths of the NeverNever, but in the course of setting up these meetings, he'd had recourse to speak to the Princess herself, and her long, elegant lines spoke of a maturity that her chosen ambassadors seemed to lack.
Far be it from him to underestimate the young, however. Even if he'd ever been so inclined, these would have quite rapidly taught him otherwise.
The shiny white one, with the meticulously coiffed mane, who reminded him more than anything of Dresden's vampire boyfriend, turned to her leader and said, "Don't take the deal. I still don't trust him."
The one on the left, with the short-cropped, multicolored mane, bared her teeth in a vicious-looking smile and said, "We could always let Fluttershy have a go at him."
"Now, now, ponies," said their purple-furred leader, setting her hooves on the table-top with a decisive 'tock' sound. "I wouldn't go that far. After all, the Princess sent us here. She must think he has something to offer Equestria. My question now is what Mr. Marcone thinks we have to offer him. I've read over your business records, Mr. Marcone, and apple imports don't seem to be quite your cup of tea. Or have you figured out how to turn them into an addictive drug?" She gave him a bright-eyed and completely insincere inquisitive look.
Marcone nodded politely at the bowl of bright red apples on the conference table. "Believe me, Ms. ... Sparkle, if I knew of a way to distill the goodness of your produce in a way my people could appreciate, it would be the top of my priority list."
"Oooh, I'm blushing and they're not even my apples," muttered the rainbow-maned pony sotto voce, and Sparkle quelled her with a look. "Flattery is unnecessary, Mr. Marcone, we are aware of our own value."
Marcone did his best to look trustworthy. "I want exactly what I'm asking for, Ms. Sparkle, Ms. Dash, Ms. Rarity: sanctuary. I find myself with responsibility for some children who need a place of comparative safety where they can heal, learn, and be hidden from authorities in my own world. Your land seemed to be a suitable possibility."
Sparkle folded her hooves over the table and leaned her chin on them, her spiral horn tilting toward Marcone in a way he tried not to read as threatening. "You are aware that it is impossible for people of your sort to survive in our land without a transformation to make them better-fitted?"
"Very well aware," Marcone said, extending his claws where his paws were folded on the table in near-echo of hers; they squeaked eerily against the tabletop. The amulets provided by courtesy of the Princess, allowing them to venture safetly beyond the borders of Equestria, were supposed to have provided them with physical forms adapted to the requirements of this eddy of the NeverNever. Gard and Hendricks had both turned into hefty-looking equines that somehow carried the spirit of their human bodies; Marcone, for reasons no-one had quite been willing to explain, had instead turned into a tiger. With wings. "Unless these amulets were meant to some sort of joke on the part of your Princess."
Dash muttered something that Marcone couldn't quite catch, and Rarity reached behind Sparkle to thwap her quellingly on the haunch, then said something into Sparkle's ear.
Sparkle nodded and turned back to Marcone. "You understand, Mr. Marcone, we are well aware of the seriousness of such transformations to your people. I've read through all of your Unseelie Accords and the laws of the human White Council regarding the use of magic, and they all condemn transformation of humans as dangerous and potentially harmful. I'm surprised that you would suggest subjecting already damaged children to such an ordeal." She tilted her head at him.
Marcone bared his teeth at her; they were much, much pointier than hers, and she visibly suppressed the impulse to flinch back. The sanctuary request was, in fact, meant only as an opening gambit - he was quite interested in a more general alliance with Celestia, who seemed to be one of the few entities in the NeverNever who was both on an equal power level with the Faerie Queens and on relatively good terms with them - but it would also be quite convenient to have such a sanctuary available. "I understood that vulnerable human children had previously visited Equestria without transforming, and returned much the better for it."
"Ah," Sparkle said. "Yes, we have similar stories here. However, that was when we were... under different management."
"We do?" asked Dash.
"Well, obviously," she said. "Haven't you ever read Dream Valley: A History? Oh, never mind. But that was a very long time ago, Mr. Marcone, if it happened at all."
"A very long time ago?" he repeated slowly. "It was less than three decades ago. Molly is barely out of college. I interviewed her last month."
Sparkle blinked at him. "It was over a thousand years ago, before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna returned and ended the Great Hiatus."
Marcone turned to Gard, eyes narrowed. "You told me that there wouldn't be any dangerous time differentials involved."
"There aren't," she said, setting all eight of her pony-legs firmly against the floor. "However, the entropy gradient between our two universes leaves the potential for temporal volatility, and until recently, an irregularity in Equestria's internal calendrical balance created a major inequality, which is probably the cause of the acceleration effect. But since the power of Night and Winter has been recently restored here, the world is now moving essentially in sync with your Earth. You will age more slowly here due to the reduced overall entropy but your internal time-sense should remain more-or-less accurate in terms of duration on Earth."
Sparkle was staring at her wide-eyed. "That's fascinating! So the reason we've had more visitors lately is that Princess Luna is back?"
"I'm not an expert," Gard told her. "If you're interested in temporal theory, though, there's an expert who lives in your village who might be willing to take on an apprentice. I believe he's currently going by Dr. Whooves."
Sparkle blinked. "Him? He's some kind of scientist? But he's--"
"Twilight!" Rarity hissed. "Stay on topic. Science later."
"Right," Twilight said, and shook her head, ruffling the pink stripe in her fringe. "Whatever may have happened before Princess Celestia's reign is irrelevant, I'm afraid, Mr. Marcone. Equestria as it stands has been made physically unwelcoming to people of your sort, and I suspect for good reason. From what I have read of your world, it's easy to understand why you might want a sanctuary here, but but I'm not sure Equestria would benefit from being exposed in return. We may be innocent compared to you, Baron, but don't assume we are naive."
Marcone tapped his claws against the table, one by one: screech, screech, screech. "I'm not intending to deceive, Ms. Sparkle. Earth can be a terrible place, especially in comparison to your own, and I have been in the middle of a lot of the most terrible of it. But it is also a world that I believe has equally wonderful things in it, which even you might think are worthwhile." He looked in to her eyes. "If it would help you to decide, may I extend an invitation for you and your team to come visit me at home, and see for yourselves? Perhaps you could also meet some of the children I'm trying to help."
Sparkle sat back heavily, apparently surprised. "I'd-- have to get authorization from the Princess."
Dash snorted in derision. Sparkle glared at her. "What?" she said, spreading her hooves innocently. "You've known the Princess even longer than we have. What do you bet--"
"Mr. Marcone," Rarity said sweetly, interrupting her, "Would you say that there are any lessons about friendship that might be learned on a visit to your home? Or perhaps Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, or Mag--"
"Ah--" Marcone began, somewhat wrongfooted by their response, and surprised by his own instinctual response of an emphatic yes to that question. Dash was muttering something indistinct about trolls until Sparkle shouted "Stop it!" over them all.
Everybody stared at her, even Gard. Sparkle cupped her hooves against each other and blushed slightly. "Um. Shall we adjourn for lunch and private conference and come back in, say, an hour?"
****
Some time later:
Harry Dresden sauntered in to Johnny Marcone's headquarters and ignored the look on Gard's face as she waved him by. He'd finally come to terms with the fact that, having made the Baron of Chicago, he might as well -- um, not finishing that sentence. Anyway, he was just getting used to how nice it was to have access to a much wider range of resources when he really needed it, and Marcone had seemed optimistic about being able to provide long-term protection for the group of changelings he was currently sheltering in his back-up hideout.
The good mood lasted until he stepped through door and realized Marcone wasn't alone. "John," he said, "...why are there a bunch of talking ponies in your office?"