Twilight Sparkle's Journal

21 June

I don't even know where to begin. So much has happened in so little time. Normally I would be ecstatic over so many new discoveries, but not when it almost leads to a war. I suppose I should start with the moment my friends and I sailed off from Baltimare. As the Princess of Friendship, it is my mission to spread the magic of friendship to all of Equestria. But I began to wonder; why only Equestria?

We ponies have admittedly become rather self-centered as of late. We seem to have forgotten that there is a whole world out there with different cultures and people. The Griffons, the Donkeys, the Zebras, the Dragons, and so on. These kingdoms are all unique in their own ways with their own trials. Why should they be denied the same harmony we have? Well, mostly have. We still have our squabbles of course but I digress. So I have made the decision to sail all over the world, to learn of the many cultures that these kingdoms hold, and to bring about a new era of friendship not just for us ponies but for all. I wish to bring unity.

What I did not expect was literally discovering a whole new race altogether. We were trapped in a storm, lost at sea. It was my fault, I chose to go through unknown waters to find new routes to the other kingdoms. It was a miracle that we managed to find land. Getting there was not easy as we had to avoid whirlpools and jagged rocks but we were able to find a small path that led to a cave. Once we were inside, we set down the anchor.

Upon setting foot on the ground, we immediately noticed strange wall paintings lining the cave around us. They were clearly ancient but what they were depicting? That was another matter entirely. The style was like none I have ever seen, not even in history books or archeological sites. But what I could not forget was how haunting the images were. It showed people running as this dark entity or force of nature left everything in ruin. Its eyes had demonic symbols that I can not describe.

Those images were bad enough but it was nothing compared to the shock we had after. This land was mostly jungle and there was no sign of civilization. Or so we thought. An arrow came flying from the tree line and I narrowly avoided it. We immediately took cover and heard yelling. It was in a completely foreign language, one I could not understand. I tried to find a way to communicate that we meant no harm but to no avail. Rainbow Dash then quickly warned me that our attackers were trying to flank us, so I had Applejack topple a few trees while I blasted a magic beam. Rainbow dove fast and was able to hold one of them down. We finally got a good look at what it was.

Now I have seen many strange creatures. But never one like this. He was bipedal, just like us, but had no fur and had no muzzle. We honestly had no idea what to make of this being. All we knew was that he was sapient and was clearly hostile. We heard more were coming to our position so we ran back into the jungle. We returned to our ship and managed to escape. It took us several days but we were able to safely return to Equestria where we told Princess Celestia of this new discovery.

After that, we tried to establish some form of relations with these beings. It turned out this mysterious land was an entirely new continent, somehow hidden all this time. It was called Pangaea and its inhabitants were known as Humans. Our first attempt at reaching out to these new people was, for lack of better words, completely unsuccessful. It was clear the new race was not as developed as we were causing many ponies to see them as 'savage' or 'primitive'. Of course, this only worsened our efforts as the Humans were not treated with respect. It did not help that the Humans were very suspicious and defensive, though considering how we must of been entirely alien to them, I can't really blame them. It got so out of control that there was a sudden battle in the North of the continent. An actual battle, with actual bloodshed.

I knew that this would only lead to more unnecessary death so I quickly implored Princess Celestia to call back the entire endeavor. And now we are here. The experience showed me something very important. Equestria has gotten far too self-absorbed that it has been losing its connection with the rest of the world. Had we been more patient and more willing to learn of the Humans, we may have been able to calm their hostilities. As it stands, we are not allowed back in Pangaea.

It has been three weeks since we came back. I refuse to have such an disaster happen ever again. I now know that the only way to have ponies see the benefits of opening our doors to other cultures is to expose them to it. So I announced that I will have my personal guard consist of capable soldiers from all kingdoms and be of all races. Princess Celestia has said that it was time that I had my own knights, being a fellow royal. I let this news be known to the public a few days after the Pangaea incident. It worked up quite the stir. So many believed that I would be in more danger, that there was no way non-ponies would even bother to properly protect royalty that was not theirs. What they fail to realize is that by becoming my knights, these men and women already view me as their Princess and, like any knight, swore an oath to be by my side. With that, I remain firm with my decision. I admit I am nervous about what will happen but I hope that doing this will show how better we are by working together and allow harmony to bloom all across the globe.