Worlds Apart

by Goldfur

Construction

The reception went much as Mark expected for something thrown together at short notice. They held it at the Alice Springs Convention Centre, also as anticipated. He ensured that no event was scheduled for their planned appearance date for that reason. Given the very brief preparation time, what had been put together impressed him. On the other hoof, this would not be an extended business convention. Mark was there to meet with the Prime Minister and whichever members of his government he had brought along. Besides introductions, they would make preliminary arrangements to set up a formal embassy in Canberra which is where Smolder would be doing most of her work with the humans before expanding to various other nations.

Of course, it was also an opportunity for the Press to get a closer look at the visitors and report to the world about the intentions of the Equestrians, and what they were like. The PM had initially suggested limiting the number allowed into the convention room, but Mark insisted that as many as could be squeezed in be admitted. This was a media event as much as a formal meeting.

The entourage was offered snacks and drinks, although the caterers did not know what the aliens could safely consume. Mark made a show of casting a spell to check its safety and declared everything to be healthy for ponies, despite already knowing that it would be. He sincerely doubted that anyone conspired to poison them yet. It did give him the opportunity to pull a prank though.

As the PM took a drink of water, Mark asked, “Will we get to meet your other wives in Canberra?”

Anthony Gillard choked on his drink and water squirted from his nose.

Inwardly, Mark congratulated himself on his timing. Penny would be pleased. Outwardly, he looked on solicitously. “Are you okay, Mr. Gillard? I only asked because I know someone in your position would surely have several in your herd. It’s understandable that only one could accompany you on short notice though.”

When the PM regained his composure, he explained that humans were generally monogamous. Mark nodded and replied that monogamy was acceptable too, but his tone said that he found it to be a little strange, explaining why having multiple wives was common among ponies. His ulterior motive was to precondition the humans to cultural differences such as that.

Twilight held a brief demonstration of magic to convince their hosts that it was indeed real and capable of extraordinary feats. Of course, merely lifting glasses with their hooves was enough to boggle some of the watchers. Shining Armor’s ability to produce force fields of varying size and capabilities impressed everyone, but Mark insisted that his co-ruler limit her presentation to flashy but inconsequential magic. He did not want Earth to know how overwhelmingly powerful she was, not to mention keeping several techniques secret.

“Well, that didn’t take long,” Celestia declared after reading the headlines the next day, a stack of Terran newspapers to her side. “I don’t believe that even I managed to have two holy wars invoked upon me simultaneously during my reign.”

Mark shrugged. “Earth is full of religious nutcases. I would have been more surprised if nobody said anything. Most of those humans are nothing but talk though. We just have to keep a lookout for the odd one that takes it to the extreme. It’s no accident that I did not want to reveal ourselves in America. Lots less risk starting off here.”

“So, what happens next?” Penumbra asked.

“The government of Australia will try to find us a suitable site to build our embassy, and of course, to be able to keep a close eye on us alien ponies, dragons, and so forth. They may be eager to do business, but they aren’t going to have blind faith in us immediately. Once they’ve decided on a spot, they will plant the beacon we gave them, and we’ll come visit soon after. In the meantime, we’ll check in daily at the Alice Springs site.”

“Trixie foresees many businesses visiting Alice Springs well before the official embassy is up and running,” Mark’s wife said confidently.

The green alicorn nodded. “And one of those businesses will be Harmonic Composites. By coincidence, they have an employee on the spot. How lucky is that?” he asked with a grin and a wink at the kirin seated across the table from him.

Ken chuckled as he exchanged a knowing grin with his wife who had flown up to Alice Springs to join him. “I’ll make them an offer they can’t refuse!”

Celestia said, “Knowing bureaucracy as I do, I suspect it will take a while for the Australians to settle on a place for the embassy.”

Mark replied, “That’s fine. It gives an excuse to set up a ‘temporary’ office in Alice. I did get to meet the mayor of the city and he offered to find us a suitable site. He might not realize that we intend to make it a permanent hub for our Earth operations, but he definitely senses an opportunity.”

“Oh, absolutely, darling,” Rarity said. “An isolated town like Alice Springs mostly relies on tourism for growth. Not only would an Equestrian enclave cater to that, but he can practically smell the business potential.”

Smolder waved a portfolio in the air with a smirk. “And I’ve already prepared an irresistible offer. We’ll be building there long before Canberra makes up its collective mind.”

The talks with the mayor went very productively. With a clearer view of what the Equestrians intended, he tasked his underlings to assess a few potential sites and put together a preliminary report on each for Smolder to appraise. One place stood out for its proximity to the main highway and services while still being located far enough away from residential and preserved areas to allow for a lot of future expansion. There was some negotiation for the initial construction on the site with Mark insisting on an Equestrian crew putting up the first temporary building. The permanent structures would be built by locals, although the firm contracted to do the job would get permission to hire Equestrian labor if desired. Mark suspected it would.

Ponyville Reconstruction Enterprises was legendary for its ability to undo the damage incurred by various disasters visited upon the town in a ridiculously short amount of time. With the huge boom in growth due to Harmonic Composites, the School of Friendship, and various other associated businesses, the company had not only prospered but grown along with Ponyville. Mark hired P.R.E. to erect the Equestrian’s temporary office as soon as permission was granted. Its design closely matched the Harmonic Composites buildings in the United States – a few desks in private suites attached to a warehouse with a portal, plus the associated facilities.

To say that the mayor was shocked that it was ready to move in within two days was an understatement. Smolder assured him that it met Equestrian standards, exceeding requirements for temporary premises. She also informed him that the structure would be torn down once the larger permanent facility was built. She led inspectors through their on-site review, complete with an extended interview with the earth pony foreman, Thorough Groundwork. She knew that it would pass due to the firm having a copy of the Australian National Construction Code beforehand. Certain adaptations had to be explained to the inspectors, but it would have been too suspicious if everything looked exactly like Australian practices.

The notoriety of having Earth’s first interdimensional business cut through a lot of bureaucracy. Power and water were connected as soon as the Certificate of Occupancy was issued. Smolder signed a contract with Telstra to supply communications services. The local company, Red Centre Technology Partners dropped off PCs and network gear the day the power was turned on. The Equestrians made a point of needing to familiarize themselves with the foreign equipment, hiring a human to teach them how the Terran computers worked. In fact, she was Ken’s wife, Mariko Hayashi who had “met” Smolder during her husband’s business meeting with the dragon. Having a tutor on site allowed the Equestrians to not appear already familiar with PCs and business software.

All this was financed with gold from the Royal Treasury. Australia’s major banks fell over themselves trying to get in on the ground floor, and they eagerly exchanged gold for Australian dollars. And so, to no one’s surprise, Equestrian Foreign Enterprises was ready to begin business well before the politicians passed legislation to legitimize their operations. Smolder had patiently supplied parliament with all requested information from her temporary office in Canberra during the construction in Alice Springs. Even the most cynical of the politicians could foresee the enormous commercial and political gains from this pact, and only the reluctance of the opposition party to hand the incumbent party a gigantic boost to their status slowed down the process. When Smolder requested separate meetings with each major party “to understand and appreciate the views of all Australians,” the slowdowns magically disappeared. Mark cheekily pointed to this as a demonstration that Equestrians could indeed bring their magic to Earth. Meanwhile, every authority turned a blind eye to what was happening in Central Australia because it was technically illegal for the Equestrians to even be there, let alone signing contracts and building facilities.

At last, parliament passed legislation that legalized commercial and political ties between the two nations, and a formal ceremony was announced. This time, it would be done with full pomp and protocol and thus would take a few days to prepare.

Elsewhere, other people had different plans.

In a quiet back alley, a tall man dressed in camo pants and a black hoodie ambled up to a weedy-looking man leaning against the hood of an old Ford Falcon. He said, “Got a package for me?”

The shorter man nodded and opened the trunk of the old gas-guzzler.

The taller man whistled. “That’s a big gun.”

“Uh-huh. When I was a kid, my classmate said his dad used it to take down elephants. I doubt it’s been fired since then, so you’ll have to service it and get ammo if you need more than twelve rounds.”

“Nah, that should be enough to get the point across. I’m glad your friend was so accommodating.”

“… So, are you gonna buy it or not?”

“Yeah, yeah, fine. Why did the price go up to fifteen hundred?”

“You get to keep the car.”

“Five hundred for this pile of rust?” After a short silence, the taller man handed over a wad of bills in return for the keys. “You know what? Since it runs, that’s a bargain any way you slice it. Is the title in the glovebox?”

“Sure would have been nice if it was. Pleasure doing business with you.”