After my talk with Twilight, we both decided to come up with proposals for a mutual defense treaty between Equestria and the US. She was going to meet with the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff next week anyways to discuss potential threats to Equestria by human weaponry, and potential security threats that Equestrian malcontents could pose should they arrive on Earth.
While none of the proposals would be binding until she finally get back in touch with Equestria, they were useful in any future negotiations.
Twilight, to my amusement, attempted to use a keyboard. She tried to type with her hooves, but she ended up breaking some of keys. She was eventually able to use her magic to properly type. Seeing the keys suddenly move up and down briefly made me think of some ghost movie I saw. And she was quite the typist, putting out 300 pages of proposals.
I was up late at night, looking over the proposals on my laptop, and checking for any grammatical errors and technical mistakes. My back was bent over as I typed on the table, my eyes heavy and red-rimmed, and my breath reeked off coffee. I was so focused in my work, I barely noticed that someone had entered the room.
"Jake," I briefly pulled my eyes away from laptop, and saw Mary standing near the door. She was wearing a pink robe, and looking at me with concerned eyes. "It's two in the morning. Come to bed."
"Can't. Busy," I said, turning back to the laptop.
"Do I need to knock you out to get you to go to bed," Mary asked with annoyance. Don't worry, our relationship wasn't built off of violence. It was a rhetorical question she would ask whenever I either worked late at night or tried to go to work while sick. This time, however, I ignored the question. She was clearly surprised by that . Because the next moment, came up behind me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders.
"Honey," she said in a soothing tone. "What's wrong? Are you still worried about how all this will affect our lives? Because I'm worried-"
"No," I said. Truth is, the anxiety I had about how my life had changed faded after my talk with Twilight. Compared to what I feared now, being upset about having extra security felt ridiculously petty.
"Then what is it," she asked, sitting down on the couch next to me, and putting a warm hand on my hand. "Does this have anything to do with you telling Twilight about Aunt Rachel or Franz?" My eyes watered at that. When I told their stories to Mary, she cried like a baby.
"Well, Twilight brought up how human beings...kill each other over the most stupid reasons," I said. "And after our talk, we studied the Columbian Exchange to study and prepare for a successful First Contact..." I paused, trying to collect my emotions.
"Honey," Mary's voice said in a soothing tone. "Tell me."
"I'm afraid that a human army might wipe out ponies ," I admitted in a broken tone. Mary put a warm shoulder on me.
"Honey, you shouldn't let-,"
"Why not," I said. "I mean, I told Twilight about how Jews survived almost anything, which meant ponies might be able to survive the same thing. But, Twilight told me that the number of ponies who live in Equestria is less then the entire population of New York State," I quietly barked. "Not only that, their army, as she described it, is basically medieval."
"Medieval," she asked.
"Their highest weapon tech is wagons, spears, cannons and crossbows," I said with some disdain.
"Her magic is pretty strong," Mary said in a reassuring tone. "Remember at the base, she lifted a whole tank into the air."
"Her magic power is very rare," I barked. "Most ponies can't do anything more then what their cutie marks allow."
"And she told us that her friends have this magic power that, when they come together, can defeat evil," Mary said, trying to reassure me.
"But can that beat back bombs and rifles," I asked rhetorically. I closed my laptop, and let my face fall in my hands. "These ponies have fought wars, but they're basically medieval skirmishes. If some human army invaded, and 'the Power of Harmony' were to fail, they would effectively be easy meat. "
"Honey, I doubt that could happen," Mary said. "Twilight is the only creature who could actually reach Equestria. She could easily lock us out if she wanted to."
"Yes, but let's say she does keep portal open," I said miserably. "And in the future, more permanent ones open." I clenched my fists. "A lot of horrible things could happen. They could strike oil in Equestria, and some CIA agent would then decide that Equestria needs some 'MURICAN FREEDOM!" I said. Mary let out a small chuckle. "Or some Taliban-style nutcase could try and blow up their princesses." Mary let out an annoyed sigh.
"You're not wrong Jake, those things are a possibility," she said reluctantly. "But why are those things your problem?" I narrowed my eyes.
"Because we're the ones who found her," I barked. She rolled her eyes at me.
"Oh God," she said with a laugh, "you are so egotistical."
"Egotistical," I said with annoyance.
"Yeah! You think you're the one who will controls the fate of ponies, just because you found her eating our flowers. Jake, in the grand scheme of things, we're just the two lucky idiots who struck gold. It will be the powers that be, both here and in Equestria, that have to dig it out of the ground."
"What does that mean," I asked, confused by her metaphor.
"It means that we're not responsible for what other humans or other governments do," she said. "If some terrorist tries to blow them up, it is the fault of a terrorist. Twilight told me how every few months, some evil creature tries to take over their land. Would you blame Twilight if some evil pony tried to take over our world," she said.
"No," I said, offended by the very idea. "But, I'm still scared." Mary gave me a serious look.
"I'm a little scared too," Mary said. "But again, if shit happens, we have to accept it and move on. Again, we are not responsible for what other human beings do." She then gave me a warm smile and put her hand on my shoulder. "And besides, when it comes to the meeting between species, I think we're already off to an OK start."
"Really," I asked.
"Generations from now, when they write about the story of Equestrian-Earth relations, that story will begin with a beautiful woman and her brave, handsome husband giving a poor creature food and shelter," she said, her voice become deeper and seductive. "And that same brave husband opening up to that creature about his dark family history, despite how hard it was to do." I felt myself relax a bit, and was soon mesmerized by Mary's newfound beauty. "I don't think that Twilight could've found a better representative of the human race." Her words filled me with some confidence.
"Your right," I said, rising from the couch. The fear of pony genocide still hung within me, but I wasn't putting it all on my shoulders. "Perhaps the lady would like to be escorted back to her throne," I said in what I hoped was a suave voice.
"Perhaps," she said in a contrary tone that very playful. "If you ask me politely." With that, we walked arm and arm to bed. But nevertheless, I still felt that, even though I might be little more than a spokesman, I still had a duty to ensure peaceful relations.
When I got to the teacher's lounge the next day, I looked through the trash can, and dumped all its contents out, to the confusion of everyone else, and began rifling through the letters I had thrown away.
"Hey," I looked up and saw Homer standing over me with an annoyed look. "What are you doing? Trying to take my job," he said without a hint of irony.
"No," I said, going through the trash.
"Hey Jake," Pauleen said. "If you're hungry, I have this half-eating bagel in my trash can."
"That's nice," I said, not caring to trade barbs with Pauleen. I finally found the letter, and ran out, ignoring the angered look Homer gave me over making a mess. I ran into the corner of an empty hallway, and pulled out my phone. I looked around, only to see Roger behind me.
"This is a private phone call," I said to the suited man. He simply turned his head away from me, but still stayed near me. I let out a sigh, knowing that was the most I could get him to do. I opened the letter, mumbling with disgust over the tomato stains and old lettuce still on it, and dialed the number in the letter on my phone.
"Hello," a female voice said on the other line. "This is the offices of Amnesty International. May I ask whose calling?"
"Hello," I said. "This is Jacob Klein. I'm calling about your offer..."