Worlds Apart

by Goldfur

Setting The Scene

Ivana thrust her iPad under her father’s nose as he was eating breakfast. “Look, Dad! I was right all this time!” She scrolled through the headlines and pulled up images. “There! That’s Prince Mark Wells, and that’s his wife Princess Trixie.”

The half-awake man scowled at his daughter. “Have you not learned anything, child? Your fantasies have gone too far this time. You think I don’t know about generative AI?”

But the young woman wasn’t paying attention. She snatched up the remote control for the huge television set mounted on the wall and turned it on. To her total lack of surprise, a special breaking news report was ongoing with scenes from the First Contact in Alice Springs in central Australia. Pundits were breaking down the event and offering their analyses. Ivana stabbed her finger at the screen as more of the odd beings were shown.

“That dragon is Smolder and the griffon in armor next to her is Gallus. The pony with bat wings is Penumbra, Mark’s other wife. I don’t know who the unicorn is but do I really need to name every one of those damn ponies that I have been telling you are real for years?” She slammed her hands down on the dining room table. “They’re pretending to visit Earth for the first time but I know better. We need to do somethi—”

“Shut up, girl!” Anatoly Kalchik snarled. His attention was focused on the green one who was presently speaking. He knew that voice. His scowl deepened. He had been deceived and his daughter ridiculed. No one made a fool of him and did not live to regret it. He pushed aside the remainder of his meal, got up, and headed out of the room. Pulling his cell phone from his pocket, he dialed a contact. When he was answered, he said, “Boris – change of plans. We have to pay a visit to somebody who needs to learn the consequences of crossing the Kalchiks.”

The “FOR SALE” sign and the obviously empty house told Kalchik that Phillipe Martine and his daughter were no longer resident there. It also showed the man that they had anticipated him turning up upon learning the news.

“No matter – we know where he works, and we will find the girl.”

Unfortunately for Kalchik, the security at Harmonic Composites was ready for him, and he was not allowed access. Demands to talk with the Martines fell on deaf ears and intimidation failed utterly. He made arrangements to have the plant watched and his quarry followed to wherever they now resided. Then he made some more phone calls to start tracing the whereabouts of the Martines’ daughter.

At dinner that evening with the Wells Herd in Canterlot, the Martine family members were all present, and they were the topic of conversation.

“How are you settling into your new digs?” Mark asked.

Phil Martine replied, “We moved the last of our stuff into the palace suite a few hours ago. Rosa is still fussing over the layout though.”

The griffoness glared at her husband. “What works for mi pequeño marido unicornio does not always suit his much larger wife!”

Phil grinned. “I told you we wouldn’t need much of that furniture here.”

“My suite is great!” Yolanda declared. “I’ve got tons of room if you want to get rid of anything I might need.”

Rosa nodded. “I suppose you and Verdant could use a head-start now that you’ve decided to settle here rather than Earth. When you give us grandchildren, it will be handy.”

“Mom! We aren’t even married yet!”

“And when are you going to propose? You know it’s the mares who do it here.”

“When I think we’re ready,” Yolanda replied defiantly. She turned to her coltfriend. “Right, Verdant?”

Mark’s batpony son blushed. “Umm… I’m ready when you are, Yoyo.”

While his daughter was lost for words, Phil chuckled and said, “I think we’d better send some furniture to the apartment we’re going to rent on the other side of town from our old house. We still need a legal residence to socialize with people outside of business, even if we actually live here and commute to work by portal. Good thing that Miguel got that hoofball scholarship so that we could make the move.”

“Vanhoover Polytechnic has the best team in the Coastal League! It’s what I always dreamed of!” their teenage unicorn son enthused.

Rosa frowned at him. “I only agreed on the condition that you keep up your grades on your Earth-based studies. We didn’t hire a tutor for nothing.”

“Yeah, yeah, Mom. Still worth it.”

Chrysalis said, “With your move here, that will make the job of my ‘ling agents a lot easier to keep you safe. I already have had one report of Mr. Kalchik visiting your former home and office. I have no doubt that he will not give up easily.”

“I didn’t think that it would take Ivana long to stir him up,” Penumbra commented.

“The man has a long memory,” Mark agreed. “So, keep alert for shenanigans.”

The Australian Prime Minister and his wife woke early to prepare for a direct flight from Canberra to Alice Springs. Although the appointed return was a little vague, he was confident that they could be in place to greet their visitors well before time.

The PM spent the flight being updated on the interdimensional incident. The public’s reactions, the local response, the deployment of federal resources, and everything else that his various department heads had felt desirable in the face of a unique situation. And, of course, he had to write a speech. He barely had a moment to relax before the RAAF flight touched down at the airport in Alice Springs. A car was waiting for them, as were several military vehicles. Hope for the best but prepare in case events went sour. They were quickly en route to the portal site.

Princess Trixie raised an eyebrow at the last headline she had read aloud from the laptop in front of her. She looked up at her husband. “As headmare of Herd Lulamoon, I hereby decree that you are not adding her as your seventh wife!”

Mark merely rolled his eyes and did not deign to give that a response. Instead, he turned his attention to his daughters who had been monitoring the contact site. “How goes it, ladies?”

Allura replied, “As expected, there’s a military turn-out. Nothing major – it appears to be precautionary rather than aggressive.”

Lacewing giggled. “Yes – they’re wary of the demon harbingers of doom!”

Allura gave her bond Companion a firm nudge. “Be serious, Lacy.”

“Aw, c’mon Ally – you have to admit some of those headlines are way over the top.”

Mark said, “Wait until the crackpots start turning up in droves. Then you’ll really know the meaning of bizarre.”

Shining Armor put down his coffee. “By that time, I hope we’ll have relocated to a much more secure area.”

Mark nodded. “Yeah, but I think the Australian soldiers will keep the crazies away from us until then.”

“Speaking of,” Allura interjected, “it looks like the Prime Minister is arriving with his escort.” She frowned in concentration, a hoof held to her ear to focus on the audio being relayed to her earbud. “Yep, it’s him. He’s pretty early.”

Mark looked back to Shining. “Are you ready?”

“I’m fortified with coffee and my mana power pack is fully charged. Judging by the drain I put on it last time, I’m good for at least an hour and a half, probably a lot more depending on the size and strength of the shields I’ll need to create. Oh, and as we discussed earlier, unlike last time, my shield will be fully transparent.”

Mark nodded. Only alicorns had the huge reserves needed to tide them over in the mana-poor universe in which Earth resided. Any other visitor from Equus would need similar mana batteries if they wished to use a lot of magic over there. He turned his attention to the others at the table.

Smolder said, “Gallus and I are ready.”

Twilight Sparkle said, “I’m eager to meet some new friends.”

“Give Trixie’s regards to the Prime Minister and his wife.” The policy of always keeping one Triarch safe in Equestria meant that Mark’s spouse had to stay behind while the Princess of Friendship did her thing. “Remember that you promised Trixie that you would not extend your visit beyond my Night Court session.”

The biggest disadvantage to Mark’s strategy of making First Contact in such a remote area was the time difference. Although there was always a slight drifting due to the different temporal rates of their respective universes, right now, 10:00 AM in Alice Springs was almost 7:00 PM in Canterlot. Smolder had indicated that she was indifferent to the schedule that would see her working well into the evenings. Mark’s nights weren’t going to be much better until he got to the point where he could delegate tasks and go back to his normal routine.

Mark waited another ten minutes to allow the Prime Minister to be briefed and get into position, then let him sweat a little longer so that the Equestrians’ arrival was not too coincidental. At last, he said, “Everyone got their emergency portal gems? Good. It’s time.”

Twilight nodded and activated the portal. She left it in charge of her changeling science colleague, Crispberry, before taking her place beside Mark. She then cast the invisibility spell on Shining once more and he stepped through the portal to establish the protective shield.

Smolder and Gallus took their place next, and when the Royal Guards, Dusty Dreams and Bright Beam, took their place behind them, Mark looked over to Chrysalis. “Are we good to go?”

“My agents report nothing of concern.”

Allura added, “Ken says they’re ready for you.”

Mark nodded and stepped through the portal, Twilight by his side.

The Prime Minister was getting antsy. Intellectually, he realized that it was not possible to synchronize this kind of thing, but events of this nature were normally orchestrated to the minute. The wait was killing him. He had reached the point of wondering if this was a cosmic joke on the part of the aliens who intended to leave him dangling when the portal finally came with a burst of light and sound. It was with great relief that he watched two creatures that he had been informed were called alicorns step out into the floodlights, followed quickly by a dragon and a griffon. Three guards were the last to emerge but he only recognized the white unicorn when the stallion stepped from between the others and telekinetically retrieved the beacon. He identified Prince Wells from the recordings shown to him, but not the purple one. He might have to adjust his speech for later.

Australian soldiers filed up to form a guard of honor before the Prime Minister approached the gateway with his wife by his side. They were closely followed by the highest-ranking member of the Australian Army. The aliens moved forward to meet them at the head of the guard of honor, smiles on their faces. The humans did not notice passing through the shield that had been adjusted to allow them entry.

The PM stopped about six feet from the visitors and returned their smiles. “On behalf of the peoples of Earth, I welcome you to our world. I am Anthony Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia, the country in which you arrived, and this is my wife, Elena. I’d also like to introduce Lieutenant General Stuart, Head of the Australian Army.”

Mark spoke up. “Thank you for your welcome, Mr. Gillard. I am Prince Mark Wells, and this is Princess Twilight Sparkle. Together with my wife, Princess Trixie who is not here today, we are the Triarchs of Equestria. To my right is Lady Smolder, Duchess of Canterlot and our appointed ambassador to your world. With her is her husband, First Lieutenant Gallus of the Equestrian Royal Guard. And to my left is Prince Shining Armor of the Crystal Principality who is serving as our Chief of Security.”

Twilight said, “In my role as Princess of Friendship, I extend greetings and well wishes on behalf of all the races of Equestria. Lieutenant General Stuart – I am happy to say that you will have little need to interact with us.”

“I am pleased to hear that, Your Highness,” Stuart replied gravely.

Gillard said, “We have arranged a reception for you, if you care to join us?”

“It would be our pleasure, Mr. Gillard,” Mark replied. “Guards Bright Beam and Dusty Dreams will remain to watch the portal.”

“One moment, please,” Twilight said. She spread her wings and took the air to gasps of amazement and delight from the spectators. She came to a hover about ten yards off the ground in clear view of everyone. The air shimmered slightly around her, evidence of the otherwise unseen magic shield. Then, with the benefit of the Royal Canterlot Voice, she addressed the crowd.

“I am Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, and I thank everyone who came today to witness the beginning of a wondrous new era for both our worlds. On behalf of all Equestria, I wish you and all your loved ones much joy and Harmony!”

Twilight landed and smiled at the PM. “We can proceed now.”

Gillard blinked for a moment before he found his voice. “May I ask how you can possibly fly? I’m no expert on aerodynamics, but your wings look far too small in comparison to your body size, and you flapped much too slowly to get lift.”

Twilight smiled indulgently. “Flight magic, of course.”

“There’s no such thing as magic.”

“In our home world, every creature needs magic to thrive,” the alicorn replied before frowning. “Although, come to think of it, mana seems to be in extremely short supply here. Why is that?” She looked at the PM with an air of innocent curiosity despite knowing the answer.

Gillard shook his head. “It would seem that we have even more to talk about than I’d originally thought. Perhaps we can discuss it further later. Shall we go?”

Mark nodded to Shining who dropped his shield to standby mode. The green alicorn headed down between the line of honor guards with the PM alongside him and everyone else falling in behind them – Elena with Twilight, Stuart with Smolder, and Shining Armor bringing up the rear. The Equestrians waved to the spectators as they were led to a row of Commonwealth of Australia vehicles.

The PM said, “We did not know exactly how many or even what species to expect. I hope you will find these acceptable.”

Mark chuckled. “No need to worry. Believe me, we’ve encountered far worse than this in our explorations. These will do nicely.”

Twilight, Smolder, and Gallus climbed into one car while Mark and Shining took a second. The Prime Minister and his wife were in a third and they led the way under heavy police escort to the hastily prepared venue where Mark knew a heavy media presence would watch and hear everything that happened. He smiled with satisfaction. Earth would soon learn what he had been planning for so many years. If everything went well, two worlds would be better for it.