//------------------------------// // Power Play // Story: Worlds Apart // by Goldfur //------------------------------// “I have a lead on the Martines.” “About fucking time,” Anatoly Kalchik snarled. “What have you got?” “They’re holding a staff party at their home,” the private investigator replied. “I overheard two women from Harmonic Composites discussing celebrating the big contract the company had scored with the Equestrians.” “Ha! Not hard if you’re in cahoots with them. Go on.” “Aside from irrelevant subjects such as what they planned to wear to the party, I did get the date – this Saturday – but not the time nor the address. However, I’ll be able to tail one and get an associate to tail the other. With your approval, I’ll hire a third to watch for anyone going directly from their workplace since Harmonic Composites started weekend shifts.” “Granted. Hire more at your discretion. I’ve been waiting for this break for too damn long to waste it.” The private investigator nodded. “I know where those two live, so it’ll be a simple matter of staking out their homes early and following when they leave for the Martines.” Kalchik smirked. “Sounds perfect. Once you’ve confirmed the address and that the Martines are definitely there, I want you to call and inform me. Then you can leave. If everything works out, then our business will be done and you’ll get that promised bonus.” “I’ll let you know if any further information comes to light in the meantime,” the P.I. said. “Good. You know what to do. Now, get lost!” Kalchik said with a dismissive wave of his hand. Sophia Alderson looked in the mirror and nodded, satisfied with her appearance. She grabbed her purse and car keys and headed to the garage. Shortly, her Toyota Camry was en route to the Martines’ party, oblivious to the black Honda Civic following several car lengths behind. Her GPS guided her to the address that she had been given and found that parking was already at a premium. Unsurprisingly, many people had arrived before her, but a woman was not ready until the final touches were done. Nevertheless, it was a short walk to the house. Music at a pleasant level drifted out the windows, as well as light from the open curtains. The hosts of the party promptly answered the doorbell. They welcomed her with smiles, their faces illuminated by the front porch lamp. The occupant of the black car parked illegally in the driveway opposite the house also smiled. His camera zoom clearly identified his objectives. He took a couple of photos and sent them in a text message to Kalchik, along with the address. He quickly received a reply: “Got it. Go and leave the rest to me.” The P.I. sent a one-word group text to the rest of his team (“Done”) and was happy to depart the scene. He did not want to know what was going to happen. He had done his bit and he was going to be handsomely rewarded, and that was all he cared about. About fifteen minutes later, two cars rolled up and disgorged several burly men in hoodies. Kalchik emerged into the midst of the group, obscuring him from possible nosy neighbors and security cameras. They moved as a whole to the door where they paused. “Why don’t you knock, Boris?” Kalchik said with a smirk. The huge man nodded before body-slamming the poor door which practically flew off its hinges. The group then hustled inside to the screams of some of the occupants of the house. Guns were drawn from concealment and were waved threateningly. Boris fired a shot into the ceiling and Kalchik shouted for everyone to shut up. Then he spotted his quarries and gestured toward them. “You two – come here. I’ve been waiting too long to have a little talk with you.” A voice behind him said, “Ah, Mr. Kalchik – I see you got our invitation.” The man whirled around and recognized who had spoken. He snarled. “This must be my lucky day. I have something for you, boy.” His arm swung out to pistol-whip Mark Wells, only to have his hand pass through Mark’s head as if it was not there. Mark grinned. “Oops. That won’t work. You see, I’m not human; I’m a pony. Trixie, love?” A moment later, an illusion dropped, revealing that every person in that room bar two was a pony of some kind. Kalchik looked down at the green alicorn who stood well below the head height of his illusory self. “Want to try that again?” Mark asked with a smile mocking the man for believing him to be human. The alicorn wanted Kalchik to think that he had always been a pony in disguise. With a snarl, Kalchik tried to aim the gun. However, his movement was abruptly halted as he found himself paralyzed. A magic glow surrounded his weapon which was removed from his grasp and floated into Mark’s hoof. He yelled, “What are you waiting for? Shoot the bastard!” However, nothing happened. As Mark casually walked away from him, Kalchik found that he could move again. Glancing behind him, he saw that every one of his goons was on the floor and unconscious. “As I said earlier,” Mark spoke up once more, “you got our invitation to the party and arrived promptly. That was considerate of you. You see, we want to have a chat with you too that doesn’t involve public indiscretions or murderous intentions. Since you were already doing your best to find Phil and Rosa, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get you to come to us without revealing our presence.” Kalchik frowned. “Are you telling me that this whole party was a ruse just to get me here?” Phil Martine nodded. “We were fully aware of your private investigator’s efforts to find us. We were quite prepared to ignore you and let things slide until you started interfering with Harmonic Composites’ operations. You truly are a vindictive man.” “No one messes with me or my daughter!” Kalchik spat. “You haven’t seen the half of what I can do to you yet!” Rosa Martine shook her head and scoffed. “You don’t realize how badly you have screwed up. Eres un gran idiota!” Mark said, “All you seem to understand is displays of power, so we’ve arranged a little demonstration. Congratulations! You are going to be one of the lucky few to visit Equestria.” “You’re going to kidnap me?” He laughed humorlessly. “What do you think the American government will think of that?” Mark looked over to the Martines. “It’s funny how you Americans seem to think your nationality makes you more special than any other.” Phil shrugged. “No argument.” Mark turned back to Kalchik, this time with a frown. “All we have ever wanted was peaceful trade with Earth. It’s people like you that threaten that goal, so I’m going to convince you why that’s not a good idea. Follow me.” Three ponies, all Royal Guards, herded the protesting man into an adjacent room. A mirror sat in the middle of the floor surrounded by esoteric machinery which lit up when Mark touched a button on the control panel. It was all for show, of course, but the Equestrians intended to maintain the fiction with everyone, Kalchik included. “Step on through,” Mark instructed. Kalchik glared at him. “So I will smash face-first into it and look like a fool like you did with my daughter?” Mark chuckled. “While that was a genuine mirror, the machinery hidden behind it was turned off. This one is active. Sergeant Clover, please demonstrate.” The pegasus stallion walked up to the mirror and stepped through. “Your turn, Mr. Kalchik,” Mark said with a genial smile. Despite the confirmation, Kalchik hesitated before following the pony. However, he met no resistance and stepped out into the Canterlot training grounds. Looking around, he realized that it was filled with hundreds of heavily armed and armored ponies, griffons, and several other species. Many of the winged ones were airborne, but every single one of them were focused on the portal… no, on him! And they did not look happy. Clover pulled him away from the portal to allow others to follow. Only then did he notice some humans to one side, all dressed for the party that he had crashed. By the smirks on their faces, he guessed that they had all been lures; only one of which the P.I. had detected. Mark soon joined Kalchik, as did the Martines, his bodyguard Penumbra, and a few of the Royal guards. Unknown to the man, Trixie stayed behind to use her power to cover up the removal of the goons by the remaining guards while maintaining the illusion of the party continuing. In fact, no neighbor had seen or heard anything beyond two cars with tinted windows parking near the house. Prince Mark waited for the party-goers to return to Earth before he faced Kalchik. This time, his expression was completely serious. “When we last met, you denigrated me for being, as you supposed, an insignificant African prince despite being informed that I ruled a nation on another world.” He deliberately omitted the fact that two mares co-ruled with him because he knew he was dealing with a patriarchal type that considered females as being lesser. “Your prejudice made you fail to see that you are not in the position of power that you presumed yourself to be in. Even counting the illegal enterprises that we have uncovered, your business is still trivial compared to Equestria’s. Your wealth is insignificant; my ambassador ate a diamond worth tens of millions of dollars in your world for lunch, and there are plenty more where that came from. You command a pack of thugs – I have an army!” Mark swept a hoof around, indicating the gathered soldiers and Royal Guards. “These are a mere fraction of those at my beck and call. Any one of them could take on several of your goons at once. However, using the heavies is only one of the ways you like to attack people. You made the mistake of screwing around with Harmonic Composites, and by doing so, you not only attacked me but also my dear friends, Phil and Rosa Martine. So, now you’ve made this very personal. You forced my hooves, so I have to ensure that you’re neutralized. Neither you nor your daughter will be allowed to hinder either the goodwill between our worlds, or the fair commerce we are building.” While Kalchik was many deplorable things, he was not a coward. Although his present position was intimidating, he nevertheless glared defiantly back at the alicorn. “You will leave Ivana out of this, you filthy animal! Don’t you dare harm her!” Mark smirked. “We don’t harm anybody without good reason, and we haven’t done so now. Your daughter will not be causing us trouble though.” He looked to one side and addressed someone there. “Right, Ivana?” Kalchik jerked his head in that direction as a bronze dragoness walked forward. She spoke up. “That’s right, Your Highness,” she said with her head bowed respectfully. “I… Ivana?” Kalchik choked out. The dragoness looked at him. “Yes, it’s me, Daddy. I told you that I turned into a dragon when I entered Equestria. I got my pearl back, see?” She opened the talons on her right paw to reveal the huge pearl. Despite the change in timbre due to her different body, Kalchik still recognized her voice. “You’ve got your pearl and you’ve proved your story – come back with me.” She shook her head. “I can’t. I’m not allowed.” “Not allowed?” Kalchik turned on Mark and roared, “How dare you hold my daughter hostage!” Mark shook his head. “I have done no such thing. She made a deal to get her pearl back and remaining on Equus is part of it.” “You don’t have the authority to hold her to that!” Another voice joined the conversation. “That is debatable, but even if he doesn’t, I do.” Kalchik looked around and then up at the blue dragon that towered over him, his retort dying in his throat as she leaned down with a terrifying toothy grin on her maw and wisps of smoke leaking from her nostrils. “I am Dragonlord Ember and Ivana is now one of my subjects of her own volition. By my command, she will remain in Equestria until I see fit to allow her to return to Earth. If she still wants to by then.” “Don’t you dare harm her,” Kalchik said with a lot less fervor than previously. “Are you threatening me, puny human?” She puffed a breath of red-hot air in his face, singeing his hair and eyebrows. “You mean nothing to me, but I will see to it that your daughter learns to be worthy of being called a dragon.” Ember then turned and strode away, saying, “Come, Ivana Goldclaw.” “Yes, Dragonlord. Bye, Daddy.” Ivana obediently followed Ember out of the training grounds. Mark stepped back to address Kalchik once more. “As you have just seen, Ivana is in good hands, even if they are dragon talons. We just have to deal with you now.” “Are you going to keep me here too?” “No. Not only are you very unwelcome here, but your disappearance would cause problems. You will return to Earth and go on with your normal legal business. But don’t believe for a moment that you won’t be watched like a hawk. And you will never know who to trust if you choose to think otherwise.” Mark gestured and several undisguised Canterlot changelings came forward, startling Kalchik who had never seen their kind. Mark continued, “You will never know if someone is who you think they are. They could be your maid…” A changeling changed into the woman. “Your suit is back from the dry cleaner, sir,” she said in Ekaterina’s accented tones. “They could be your secretary…” Another changeling assumed that form. “There’s a message for you, Mr. Kalchik,” she said in an unmistakable voice. “They could even be Boris.” A third changeling became the spitting image of the stony-faced man who silently nodded. Kalchik gaped. Even if he figured out that someone was a doppelganger, he could never guarantee that another was not looking over his shoulder or at the other end of a phone call. He was out of options, and all he could do was seethe and glare malevolently at the alicorn. However, Mark was not quite done yet. He reared up, getting in Kalchik’s face. In a dangerous tone, he said, “But if despite all that you ever piss me off again…” He whirled around and loosed a mighty thunderbolt at a dummy tied up to a pole in the center of the grounds. It practically exploded and the remnants burned fiercely. Mark turned back. “…remember that I need neither a gun nor a hitman.” Kalchik barely heard Mark’s words as his ears were still ringing from the thunderclap. He did manage to piss himself though. Mark looked down and nodded. “I see you understand.” He returned to all fours and gestured toward the portal. “Go home, Mr. Kalchik. I never want to hear about you again.” The man stumbled toward the mirror but Mark had one more thing to add. “Oh, and we’ll be sending you the bill for the damage that you did to the Air B&B we rented for the party. Do pay promptly!” # # # # # # # # #