Smolder had been kept busy with more than just political requirements. In the many days prior to legalizing the Equestrians’ presence and right to trade, the dragoness met with the representatives of many companies. Some desired to sell their goods to a new market, while others were more interested in finding out what Equus had to offer. Several lucrative agreements were drawn up and Smolder passed them on to Flim and Flam for vetting.
The twin unicorns were glad for the challenge of dealing with the complexities of an entirely new commercial law system. Their work within the Equestrian government had become a little too effective. No one dared nowadays to try to game the system with those two looking over their shoulders constantly, waiting to gleefully pounce on any hint of malfeasance. The brothers were getting bored and Mark reckoned that was not a desirable condition. As a result, Flim and Flam had spent the last five years poring over Australian legal codes, business law rulings, and even pending parliamentary legislation.
Several of the agreements were sent back to Smolder to have aspects either clarified or renegotiated. When everyone was finally satisfied, they were set aside until parliament finally passed the legislation that enabled the Equestrians to formally sign them as legal contracts. As expected, Mark kept very busy finalizing the deals the following day, but he was ecstatic with what they had achieved so far.
On the date that the official ceremony was to be held in Canberra, all stops were pulled out to make the occasion spectacular. After all, the whole world would be watching. A motorcade was arranged from the temporary Equestrian embassy to Parliament House where Prince Mark Wells, Princess Trixie, and Smolder would ceremoniously sign the treaty between the two countries. Naturally, security was high and traffic was blocked in key areas. Royal Guards flanked the path to the front gate where Australian police took over. The royals, the ambassador, and their personal guards climbed into the vehicles provided and the motorcade commenced.
They had only been driving for about five minutes when a large truck driven at high speed burst through the barrier at an intersection. Screams of fear from the onlookers turned to gasps of shock as the heavy vehicle came to an abrupt halt as it smashed into an invisible wall. Before anyone else could react, Crimson Boulder and Penumbra practically exploded out of their cars, leaving behind Shining Armor who kept up his shield around the VIPs. Crimson ripped off the crumpled driver’s door like it was made of tissue paper and hauled out the dazed and bleeding man. The stallion threw him away from the truck and onto the asphalt and placed a hoof on his back. With the man immobilized, Crimson scanned him for weapons before shouting, “Clear!”
Meanwhile, Penumbra dealt with the passenger, who despite being battered, was alert enough to wave a pistol through an open window in the batpony’s direction. She easily dodged the first two shots before getting close enough to throw her foreleg inside the cab. Her hoof connected with the man’s face, smashing his nose and shattering his cheekbone. She swept her leg down to disarm him before dragging him out through the window and onto the ground. Upon securing the would-be murderer, she shouted, “Clear!” just as the police converged on her and Crimson.
Under normal circumstances, everyone involved would be detained for questioning while the scene was cleared up. This was far from normal though, and the motorcade recommenced almost immediately, but not before listening to screams of “Death to the infidels!” from the driver who had recovered lucidity even as he was being hauled away.
“Have enough fun?” Mark asked Penumbra.
“Nah. They need a better class of assassin,” she replied. “Way too easy.”
“At least it isn’t as boring as you said this would be,” the alicorn pointed out.
“True. I suppose it would be too much to hope for a suicide squad to attack us in Parliament House?”
“I don’t think that’s likely,” Mark replied, wondering what their driver was making of their conversation.
As Penumbra feared, the event was dull despite the glitz and impressive speeches. She had to fall back on her Royal Guard training to remain stoically alert during the ceremony, even when Trixie livened up her address with some amazing illusions.
The return to the embassy was unremarkable, and only a message from the Australian Federal Police asking for an interview with Crimson Boulder and Penumbra awaited them. Mark sent a reply saying that the two would be available the next morning. He was pleased that the world saw that ponies were not just cute aliens but a force to be reckoned with.
The tall man frowned as he watched the news replay the attempted assassination. His pencil wrote out demonstrated capabilities and feasible countermeasures. Then he started ranking the countermeasures by ease of implementation, probability of effectiveness, and amount of forewarning the prey would have. He was going to have to be very careful about picking the time and place for offing his target if the same fate was not going to happen to him.
In an ultra-secure meeting room in a top-secret American facility, the Head of Operations slammed down the last of the reports that he had been reviewing. He looked up at the people gathered around the table and frowned. “All I have got from all of this is that something stopped a fast-moving multi-ton truck somehow in its tracks. I could have learned that just by watching the six o’clock news! Technology that can do that can’t have been slipped under a coat! And yet not one of you can provide me with an explanation of how the Equestrians did it.” He shot a glare at one person who started to reply. “And the first to say magic is going to be booted so hard, they won’t land until next Tuesday! Those creatures are hiding something – something that is an existential threat to the security of the United States. Redouble your efforts to find how they did that and all the other physics-defying feats, and don’t come back until you do!”
“I can’t find the girl.”
Kalchik glared at the private investigator. “What do you mean ‘can’t find’? Latisha Tyson is Yolanda Martine’s best friend. There’s no way that there wouldn’t be a trail a mile wide leading to her!”
The P.I. frowned. “Ostensibly, there is. I found out that she moved to Texas to take up a position at the Dragonlands Reptile Sanctuary, and I managed to… acquire their phone number. However, the receptionist informed me that their employees could not take personal calls while on duty, and only people on the emergency contacts list were exceptions. They agreed to take a message asking for her to call me, but she never did, unsurprisingly. I asked a female colleague to try, but with the same result.”
“So – go there yourself! I’m paying all your expenses, after all.”
“I know, and that’s what I planned to do, but no amount of searching gave me anything except a single website that had some generic reptile rescue and rehabilitation information. It did not even list an address beyond saying it was located in Texas. A search of the public records at the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation plus every county government website comes up empty. As far as I can tell, it does not exist.”
Kalchik fumed. Both young women had apparently disappeared from the face of the Earth as well as the Martine’s son, and that probably meant that they were in Equestria which was currently out of his reach. He thought for a while before addressing the investigator once more. “Forget Tyson – she’s another dead end. Go back to trying to find where the Martines live. I don’t care how long it takes.”
The P.I. nodded. “Will do.” He got up from his seat and left the office.
Kalchik swept the papers off his desk in a fit of pique before slumping back in his chair. The Martines were clever, but sooner or later, he knew that they would slip up. They could not spend all their time in another world and that would be their downfall.
Mark flopped onto the sofa with a sigh of relief. Rarity joined him and pulled the stallion into a comforting hug.
“Thanks, Rares,” Mark said. “As much as formal ceremonies are part of the job, they don’t get any less tiring and tedious when dealing with humans.”
“Not to mention, darling, that you’ve been putting lots of extra hours into the formal treaty between our worlds. As you have needed to point out to me on occasion, you have to step back and take it easy for a change.”
Trixie said with a flat expression, “And your wives are missing your attention in the bedroom due to your late nights.”
Despite knowing the peril of annoying his senior wife, Mark shook his head. “I’m sorry, ladies, but it will only be for a couple more days while I deal with the deluge of work that will come in now that we’re 100% open for business.” He held up a hoof to forestall argument. “There are some things that only a triarch can deal with at this point, and because this is my project, that means me. I’ll turn over everything to Smolder and her team just as soon as I can. Believe me, I want to get back on a regular schedule too.”
“The Great and Patient Trixie gives you until the end of the week, Dowser.”
Mark knew an ultimatum when he heard one. “Gotcha, love. Frankly, I’ll be looking forward to it.” He turned his attention to his daughters who were stationed in front of a computer screen as always. “How are the news channels treating the incident?”
Allura giggled. “They must have replayed the truck smash incident from a dozen different angles every hour. The actual formal ceremony barely rated a quarter of the time.”
Lacewing added, “Same thing internationally although a few of the nations are putting more emphasis on the significance of Australia being the formal gateway between our worlds.”
Mark nodded. “That’s not unexpected. Equestria may have to offer some assistance to Australia’s national security due to that, but that’s just one of the many things to be addressed in the future.”
“Speaking of security,” Allura said, “We’ve tracked more attempts to find Latisha Tyson. Of course, they failed.”
Lacewing grinned. “I doubt that Mr. Kalchik has the resources to find Latisha at her workplace in the Dragonlands. She loves her job as the director of the clinic there, and she’s already submitted several research papers to Canterlot University for her doctorate. She won’t be visiting Earth too often.”
“No, she won’t,” agreed Mark. “However, Kalchik will continue to be a thorn in our sides. However, Penny, Rosa, and I have come up with an idea that might convince him to finally give it a rest.”
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