//------------------------------//
// Beginnings  
// Story: Encounters 
// by Dai Kirai 
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        President Margarette Tow was sitting back at her desk in the Oval Office; a small smile gracing her face. The negotiations hadn’t gone as well as it could have, but she had still gained more than was lost, a lot more. She had pushed a little hard on a few topics, like assisting with the construction of the Embassy; but that had shown her how intelligent the Royal Princesses were and how far they were willing to bend; necessary if this relationship was to last. The loss of placing the bugs was a minor loss, more of a backup plan if things went for the worst. But that’s what ‘Backdoor’ is for, President Tow consoled herself.
        The loss of Area 51 wasn’t even a setback. With the detonation of the Alcubierre drive seven months ago, that area was considered a poor spot for scientific research. The facility had been mostly deactivated due to every country knowing about the top secret research facility, which made it rather tricky to run clandestine tests. Besides, the United States would still maintain control of the Area 51 facility, just not most of the salt flat. Even after all these months of testing, almost nothing had been discovered about the anomaly other than the fact that it worked as a gateway.
        The gems received out of the loss of the salt flat more than made up any potential loss they could have meant. It gave the United States first and so far exclusive access to magical artifacts that could help humanity as a whole. Thank God they don’t trust us enough to give us potential weaponized ones. The President thought to herself. Access to the gems would be able to cut off any objections that Senator Brent might have to the deal, and the fact that they weren’t weapons meant he couldn’t use them for his own separate gains. Those will go straight to Research and Development in the new research facility up in Alaska. All because they thought they were forcing my pick of Ambassadors.
        The truth was that Anthony Marcus had been on her short list of candidates anyway, and as President it was purely her call. The fact that he wasn’t connected to politics in any way would help maintain the impartiality of his office. It also didn’t hurt that in order to attempt to manipulate him someone would have to go to Equestria to talk to him; and she could control, with some exceptions, who could get there. But he was currently their expert on ponies and they respected him; which would go a long way into helping relations. Besides, The president thought to herself, happy at the turn of events; his wife is a very useful asset.

        A small human figure climbed through the second story window, the Virginia woods could be seen outside the window. The figure was small and five foot six inches and she was wearing dot matrix forest camouflage with a small black bag across her back and a pistol holster along the small of her back. She didn’t wear a mask, either she would succeed and there would be no proof, or she wouldn’t and it didn’t matter. Her skin was light cream and jet black hair tied back in a bun. Her black boots made no sound as she traversed along the floor to the room’s only door. 
        The room was a small office; the type that could be seen in any building in the country, with just a small desk, a computer, and some filing cabinets. Aiko had bribed someone on the inside to leave the window open for her this whole week. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him but she didn’t trust him. She had used the woods to get close to the building and then scaled the wall to get in. 
        This building belonged to a group of radicals that were trying to run their own private army. The problem was that they didn’t care who they hit and one of their recent attacks in Algeria had killed several US citizens; which was when they were put on the CIA’s radar. Her job was to take out this facility; they already had all the Intel they had needed from this location, so she could have a field day. 
        Aiko opened the door and looked out into a plain white hallway with a curve to her left and a door to her right. Why do these building always look the same, white drywall or stucco, always. Some days this job gets repetitive. The CIA operative went to the left, keeping her profile small and a lookout for any potential risks. When she got to the corner, a quick peek showed that no one was there. There was a door farther along the wall she was leaning against and another turn farther ahead that lead to a stairwell. 
        The camouflaged agent moved to the door and opened it quickly to get the drop on anyone there. It was an empty storage facility; just like her map had stated, and just the room that she needed. The room was small and she covered its ten feet of space quickly. After getting to the far wall she ducked down and pulled a small box out of her bag. The small box was a homemade bomb and this particular wall was loadbearing; once it was gone, so would the whole building. The bomb was even custom made to replicate that of the IRA; another organization they had managed to piss off. That should keep them occupied for a while. She mussed to herself, and she set the timer for five and a half minutes. The bomb would go off after three minutes, that way they couldn’t properly evacuate the building or disarm the device. 
        Aiko moved over to the final turn before the stairwell, she had yet to find anybody here. Guess my informant wasn’t lying when he said they don’t like to work on the weekends. Hope he isn’t here when the bomb goes off. Oh well, if so I can just find a new one, not like these people will be a problem much longer. She mused, now all she had to do was get out and the easiest way to do that was through the front door.
        Aiko descended the stairs quietly and opened the door into what looked like some sort of training room with melee weapons spread along the walls. But, there was something else there, more appropriately, someone. She stepped out of the doorway and saw two men, one on either side of her and both about five feet away. They were both about six foot tall and were wearing karategi, traditional clothing used in karate. The one on the left was holding a katana in a downward angle with both hands to keep its length hidden. Why do people like going with a katana? Can’t they used something more creative like a kukri or a kalis? She inwardly moaned. The other was holding a bowie knife in a downward grip. 
        They both moved towards her. As the one with a katana moved towards her, he moved it up past his right shoulder to above his head. The other one meanwhile switched his grip to the normal heaven style to increase his range. Aiko grinned and stepped towards the guy with a katana. He helicoptered the sword above his head once; she recognized that style, kashima shinryu. Just like Aiko was expecting, he brought the sword in a downward diagonal strike across his right shoulder. But the sword never made it. She stepped into his swinging arc and used her left hand to grip his that were holding the sword and used her right palm to strike his jaw then quickly wrapped her arm around the back of his neck. 
        Aiko was now controlling her attacker’s momentum and still had another target coming up behind her. She shifted her weight, spinning her captive to her left; sword under her control. As the CIA operative spun; she noticed that her other attacker had just gotten within range and the sword angled directly at his eyes. He didn’t see the razor-sharp blade until it was too late to move out of its way. But at the last moment, Aiko twisted her captive’s hands, causing the blunt edge to hit and knocking him out cold. 
        With the last of her momentum; Aiko flung her captive to the ground and pulled the pistol out of its holster. The man landed on his back with a pistol pointed straight at his face. Anyone that knew guns would be able to tell it was a FiveseveN, a pistol that could penetrate police body armor, let alone an unprotected human’s head. “Lose the sword or lose your head.” She threatened, she preferred not to have to kill anyone face to face; it was a sign of prestige to her. 
        The man let go of his sword and she kicked it away. “Now if you alert anyone, I will come back.” All the guy did was nod and lied down. 
        Aiko took this opportunity to make sure he wouldn’t be informing anyone of her appearance and kicked him in the small of his back; right in the kidneys. Almost instantly her victim curled up into the fetal position. 
        Aiko exited the room which led out into another corridor, but this one had a glass doorway at one end. This time she ran, forgoing silence for speed. It was 50 feet to the exit and she only had about two minutes left. She felt a sharp pain in her right shoulder followed a moment later by the report of a gunshot. Aiko rolled so as to not lose her momentum and heard two more shots ring out. As she regained her footing and began running again the Field operative raised her right arm behind her to fire blindly, hoping to keep whoever shot her in cover. One of these days I need to get some armor, but it’s too restricting. Maybe when they get that reactive graphene armor working. She concluded, a little tired of being shot, even if it was just a part of the job. 
        As Aiko neared the door, she positioned her gun in front of her; ignoring the screaming of her shoulder, and fired six rounds into the door, ruining its integrity when combined with the two from her current attacker. She then fired a few more rounds behind herself and used her left shoulder to slam into glass and made her exit. She hit the ground with her left shoulder and turned it into another roll to get back on her feet, her right shoulder facing the shattered glass doorway. Aiko got back to her feet and headed straight for the woods. 
        Not knowing if she would be facing any more opposition; Aiko swapped out for a fresh magazine, knowing her current one only had four rounds left. Twenty rounds always go quick. She muttered darkly, but the extended magazine didn’t work well with the rubber baton rounds that she preferred. Or was it the fact that it’s bulkier? The extended magazine did make it harder to hide.
        Aiko had her gun ready as she made her way through the woods. Less than a minute left. About thirty feet in, she noticed a familiar ferret faced man stepping around from behind a pine tree. “Hello Francis.” She spat, hating her handler and his ‘perfect’ timing. “And what do I owe this pleasure?”
        Francis was slightly overweight with sandy white hair, pale skin and no neck. He said too cheerfully, “You have a new mission. You are to proceed to Area 51 immediately.”
        Aiko just stared at him as her mind processed that information. “I can’t, my husband returns today. If I’m not there before he gets back.” She let the threat linger in the air. He had been her cover for most of the past decade and allowed her to freely enter and exit the Japanese archipelago. While she had started out as an MP, she was quickly recruited by Military Intelligence and within five years by the CIS’s SAD program. But no one would look twice at the Japanese wife of a foreign translator.
        The grin on Francis’ face disturbed her, it said he knew something that he refused to say. “That’s been taken care of.”
        Aiko knew her handler, and he wouldn’t just give out information. “Fine.” She tried to keep from huffing. “What is the mission and what will my cover be?” She grated.
        Francis’ face turned a shade of white she hadn’t seen before. “I don’t know.” The confusion on his face was clear. “I don’t have the clearance. This comes directly from the Director and you are to use your standard cover ID.” He looked pallid.
        As the timer on Aiko’s watch hit zero, a speaker near the base began to sound. “Mission Accomplished.” It stated, as if nothing had happened. 
        Aiko then turned her attention back to the man in front of her. “That reminds me.” She stated, letting the anger seep into her voice. “How did those two men know where I would be exiting from?”
        “Oh. That?” Francis asked innocently. “I told them of course. Training just isn’t the same if you don’t push yourself.” He tried to contain the satisfaction he got by throwing monkey wrenches into other people’s plans.
        Aiko walked past him; headed back to the training station so she could get her shoulder looked at. “Well.” She intoned; making her next statement sound over sweet and polite. “You might want to tell that to your two people in there. One has a concussion and the other will be peeing blood for a week.”         

        Twilight was sitting in the middle of the Ponyville libraries floor with several books floating around her head, all surrounded by a purple aura of magic. She would read some of one and if she didn’t find what she wanted would toss the book onto the floor and go on to the next one. “No.” A blue bound book went flying. “Not here either.” An orange bound book joins its blue friend on the floor. “Maybe I should just start simple.” Twilight resigned; letting the rest of the books drop to the floor. She then proceeded to pick up a quill in her aura and started scribbling in a notepad at her feet. She spoke to herself while writing. “Stay out of the Everfree Forest!” 
        Twilight was working on her lesson plan for all incoming visitors from Earth. It had been decided that every human needed a basics on life in Equestria. She would include wildlife, basic language, standards of conduct, and so on. Anthony was working on a similar plan for all Equestrians entering Earth. This had been Rarity’s idea; she had jumped on the role of Ambassador with a vengeance, and she felt it would make things easier on both sides. These guides would be compulsory to both sides, and tests would be given that could deny one’s rights outside of Embassy property. 
        Another process that was being set up was that each entrant would get a thorough medical screening by professionals from both sides of the portal. The idea was that it would familiarize both sides with the health requirements of the other. In case of emergency it would also allow each side to provide emergency medical treatment for the other. Both sides were wanting as big of a safety margin as they could get. 

        Rarity was running through her boutique, making sure everything was ready. “Oooohhh!” She squealed; wanting the chance to leave already. “Just think of all the designs they must have, a species that always wears clothing. The fashions must be so unique!” Not knowing how much time she would have for her dressmaking, she would plan on a lot.
        “Sweetie dahling, have you seen my measuring tape?” Rarity called out to her little sister somewhere in the boutique. 
        “No.” A small squeaky voice replied. 
        Rarity let her sister’s grumpiness be what it was. Sweetie was upset that their parents wanted her to see the new world; as it was a great opportunity. This also meant she wouldn’t be able to see her two best friends, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, for quite a while. Rarity would make sure her little sister came back once in a while so she could still go crusading with her friends to figure out what their special talents were. 
        
Celestia was lying down in her bed, having already passed the ruling of Equestria over to her sister for the night with the setting of the sun. No matter what she did though, she couldn’t get the recent events off of her mind. 
        It didn’t help that both sides had already lost citizens in the creation of the portal that connected the two worlds. Or, that first contact with a species was always rough, she remembered first contact with griffons. Luna didn’t trust the humans, but Her sister always was pragmatic, more so after being saved by the Elements of Harmony. Celestia also realized that the humans were just trying to protect themselves like she and her sister were for their precious ponies. 
        As Celestia fell asleep that night, one thought kept floating through her head; I just hope that by working together, we can avoid a repeat of history.