//------------------------------// // Recursive Recompense // Story: My Little Teelo: Masquerade // by Ardwolf //------------------------------// In which we contemplate the age old conundrum of which came first, the chicken or the egg. “We must say, sister, that We had forgotten just how skilled Dame Butter Cream has become,” Luna said, eyeing her empty plate in case she had somehow overlooked a single crumb. “We must consider some way to express Our delight to her.” “Told you,” Celestia said complacently. “Be that as it may, sister, it is time to turn our attention to aiding friend Rosalyn.” Luna visibly gathered her composure and their dishes were surrounded by a pale blue aura and set aside. A sheet of parchment settled in front of the two alicorns who sat side by side. Rosalyn peered at the intricate symbols that filled the page from across the table. They made no sense to her, especially since they were upside down from her point of view. “This is a copy of the spell matrix embedded in Rosalyn Parker’s ruby, sister.” Luna said. “Clearly it is a translocation spell as you can see however there are several unique elements I do not recognize. This one, for example, should indicate the medium to serve as conduit, but it is not spás idir, which makes little sense.” “No, that’s slat crochta, Luna,” Celestia said, studying the page. “Ah! Yes, now I see,” Luna said nodding. “Since this spell is meant to pierce the Veil slat crochta would make sense. I was misled by thinking only in terms of standard teleportation.” “What’s slat crotch-ta?” Rosalyn asked in curiosity. “Slat crochta,” Celestia corrected gently. “Literally translated it means hanging rod, but that’s just a poetic rendering. Slat crochta is, well, you can think of it as a different kind of space. Just as tables and ponies must have space in which to exist the Veil must have a place to exist as well. When a unicorn teleports they do not cover the space between two points, they instead slip in a different direction that lies outside the space you can perceive. That direction, that non-place is called spás idir, literally space between. But in coming here you did not move spás idir, you moved slat crochta. Consider a compass. It is a flat circle that has north, south, and so on. Spás idir and slat crochta would be the equivalent of up and down.” “Technically incorrect, of course, but an apt analogy for the lay pony,” Luna said, nodding. “Rosalyn Parker, translocation is one of the most advanced subjects in magic, as is anything touching upon the Veil. Even most unicorns never learn the magic and theory behind teleportation, and to Our knowledge, none has ever delved into magics that can safely pierce the Veil.” “Save Epona, sister,” Celestia noted. “Epona was a capaill, sister, not a pony,” Luna said with twinkle in her eye. “And even she required—” Luna’s eyes widened and she breathed a short sharp series of words that made Celestia raise her eyebrows. “Luna?” The white alicorn asked, “what is it?” “We have been stupid, my sister,” Luna said, her voice sharp with self-recrimination. “It has been right in front of us ever since Lady Teelo was brought here by Nightmare Discord! We have been blinded by our own knowledge!” “What do you mean?” Celestia asked, confused. “The Bridge of Days, sister! What does it do? Where does it go? What is it made of?” Luna’s words were forceful. “And from whom did Epona gain the knowledge to create it?” Celestia’s eyes widened as she realized what Luna was driving at. ooOoo The new campsite was three hours away from the old one. Stormwind was unhappy they were a mere five miles from the old campsite, but navigating the narrow trail in the dark had slowed them lest a wagon careen off a cliff in a careless moment. The entire escape had been spent travelling up one single mountain and back down its other side. Søyle was unhappy that the caravan was exposed on three sides. Their meager shelter was simply the base of a steep slope, but she had to admit further progress wasn’t feasible given the rough terrain and the cumbersome cargo wagons containing their vital supplies. Emma was unhappy that the camp didn’t look like it was concealed at all despite Iridescent Myth’s assurances to the contrary. She couldn’t see even the slightest shimmer to mark the edges of the illusion. When she asked Teelo if she could see anything the queen’s less than reassuring answer had been a simple no. When she added that Crush couldn’t detect anything either Emma had shivered. Teelo wasn’t happy simply because her imagination was working overtime. Given everything that Duisternis had thrown at them so far she was amazed no one had been badly injured or killed. She knew their luck would run out before they reached Hejm. ooOoo Given the possibility they’d have to run at a moment’s notice the ponies didn’t pitch any tents. or light any fires either, meaning the two girls had to depend on their bedrolls alone to keep warm. The night was surprisingly brisk, with a sharp wind to keep things extra chilly. Heavy Hoof and Stormwind had arranged alternating short watches to keep their troops as rested as possible. Neither commander was happy with the situation, but they’d done the best they could with what they had. Both sent silent prayers to the Sisters that it would be enough. Two hours later a massive silhouette swept silently over the camp. None of the sentries noticed it, and it vanished without changing course. ooOoo “So this Bridge of Days connects your world to mine?” Rosalyn asked to break the silence. “Who is Epona? Why is it so important who taught her to make the Bridge?” “Forgive me, Rosalyn,” Celestia said as she shook her head to clear it. “Epona was a capaill, a magical horse from your world. It was she that opened the way from your world to ours. As for the last part of your question, it appears the creature or group that taught Epona how to create the Bridge of Days still exists.” “Which means,” Luna said grimly, “the situation is far more complicated than we ever suspected. It appears there are more actors yet to take the stage, sister.” “Agreed,” Celestia nodded, eyes narrowed as she studied the parchment. “Have you noticed the targeting runes, Luna?” Luna studied the parchment. “I do not recognize them, sister, although the elements seem familiar. This one indicates the target is a creature, not a location. And this symbol group represents the beacon, it appears the creature radiates—” Luna’s head jerked up in recognition. “Alicorn magic,” she breathed. “The target is an alicorn. And that particular thaumic frequency—it is Our own. This spell targets Us.” “Indeed,” Celestia nodded, “which would have made this spell worse than useless for the last thousand years.” “Since We were sealed in the moon,” Luna said, her eyes narrowing. “But now that We have returned it may once again be used freely. And since all that is needed to target another alicorn is the correct thaumic frequency…” “I, Twilight Sparkle, and Cadence can all be targeted,” Celestia agreed. “That is very worrying, Luna—especially after Tišina.” “Agreed,” Luna said grimly. “And let us not forget that vile hybrid detained in our dungeon. This ruby comes from Equestria, but there is no telling when the spell was implanted in the stone. It may have been a thousand years ago—or yesterday.” “The stone was one of the ones we gave Evelyn Lewis,” Celestia noted. “Indeed, sister. The only real question is when the spell was implanted in the gem—and whether it was done on Equis or Rosalyn’s world.” ooOoo Agent Merriweather finished entering his report into the database and clicked Save. Sitting back in his chair the man rubbed his temples wearily and turned back to the machine to initiate travel arrangements. It was already late at night, edging dangerously close to early in the morning. He groaned when he saw his flight was leaving in less than an hour, and would take two and a half hours to reach Kansas City. “Just great, that means I’m not gonna get any sleep,” he grumbled as he shut down his computer and rushed out the door to catch his flight. ooOoo “Honey, your phone is ringing,” a woman’s sleepy voice prodded her husband awake, who then dutifully stumbled out of bed and grabbed the device, noting it was a priority alert. Quietly he slipped out of the room as his wife sank back into slumber. From experience he doubted she’d remember having been woken at all. Once safely in his study the man opened the report and studied it, the contents driving all thoughts of sleep from his mind as adrenaline kicked in. He went to a wall safe and hurriedly pulled out a box, then dug a moment and lifted out the false bottom. He pulled a dull silvery crystal from underneath it and placed the crystal at a precise location on his phone. He dialed a number from memory. The other end rang several times before an oddly androgynous voice answered with a single word. “Yes?” “We have a hit, a ruby. An agent is en route.” The man said briefly. “Where?” “Kansas City,” he read the address aloud. “Thank you.” Then the line went dead. Carefully returning the crystal to its hiding place and closing the safe, he hit a different number, one committed to speed dial. “It’s one o’clock in the freaking morning,” the woman’s voice on the other end said with an edge of cold complaint. “This had better be worth it, whoever you are.” “Morning to you too, Holly,” the man said with an involuntary grin. “It’s Boone. We got a hit on the Silverlight project. You get to brief Lion Jack. So rise and shine!” “Oh for the love of…” she groaned. “Why the hell don’t these things happen during office hours?” “That’s why they pay you the big bucks. The report’s been forwarded to your email, so have fun. I am going back to bed.” “Oh no, that’s not happening. This is a full court press. Get your coonskin cap in the office, now,” the woman growled. “If I’ve got to wake up the Secretary of the Treasury and talk about fairy stories then you are going to be right there with me in the lion’s den. You realize this is going right to the top, right?” “Yeah, but at least we lowly assistant secretaries will be safely out of the line of fire,” Boone replied cheerfully. “Ugh. How can you be so cheerful in the middle of the night? Have you even gone to bed yet?” Holly sounded disgusted. “Yep, you’d be amazed how much better than a cup of coffee that report is. This is the big one, Holly.” “That’s what I’m afraid of, Boone,” she said soberly. “Get in as soon as you can. Oh, and stop for donuts. You know how much the lion needs his sugar this early in the morning.” “Yeah, don’t need to remind me,” Boone said. “See you in twenty, thirty tops.” ooOoo It was the vibration that woke the slumbering man who had just finished an 18 hour day monitoring twelve different crises. For a moment he was confused, wondering what had awoken him. When the vibrations in his pajama top’s pocket came again he closed his eyes and gave a deep sigh, wondering why in the world he’d wanted this job. To avoid waking his wife he slid clumsily out of bed and found his slippers in the dark after a few fumbling attempts. Now awake enough to make his way out of the bedroom he plucked his Blackberry from its nest and answered. “Hello?” he asked stifling a yawn. “Mr. President, we have an extraordinarily sensitive situation,” The voice of his chief of staff said in a tone that set President Bend’s pulse racing. “Dennis, what do you mean by ‘extraordinarily’ sensitive?” He asked. “Did the Iranians threaten to nuke Israel again?” “I said sensitive, Mr. President, not it’s Monday,” the other man replied drily, letting a bit of humor leak into his voice. “I wouldn’t have woken you if it weren’t—astoundingly unprecedented. Meet us in the Oval Office, not the Situation Room. Make sure to bring your game face because you’re gonna need it. I’ll bring the coffee.” “You know what we call your coffee, Dennis,” “Yes, yes, that joke wasn’t funny the first time I heard it,” the other man said easily. “But trust me you’ll definitely want to drink The Menace when you hear about this one.” “Ok, let me get dressed. How big is the Mob going to be this time?” “Just the two of us, Admiral Spears, Jack Leon, and one of his people named Holly Eire,” came the reply. “Wait, why are the NSA and the Treasury waking me up? It’s not like a new terrorist funding source can’t wait a few hours.” “Trust me, Zelig, this isn’t about terrorist funding sources,” his Chief of Staff assured him. “This is much, much, bigger.” ooOoo Did the windigo lie to me? Thunder wondered as he scanned the terrain below. He was well past the place the undead spirit had told him about. The dragon banked and glided back the way he had come, this time looking for caverns or other hidden places the ponies might have used. He almost missed the faint whiff of pony that came from the base of a steep slope that looked no different from any other he’d seen tonight. They are being clever, these ponies, he thought with a dark chuckle. They cast an illusion to hide their camp from sight. Probably a silence spell as well. But they forgot to mask their scent. That is a mistake that will cost them dearly. The dragon already knew which way the ponies were headed, so he went looking for a good spot to land, content to let the ponies come to him. They would be in for a most unpleasant surprise… ooOoo “Wait a minute”, Rosalyn interjected. “Why would someone want a spell that would bring them straight to you?” “There are many possible reasons,” Luna answered. “We can envision circumstances where it would be very useful indeed—if We gave it to a trusted agent. However, finding this spell in the hooves of a stranger…” Rosalyn paled as she realized the implications. “Your Highness, my coming here was a complete accident. I didn’t do it deliberately, I swear!” “We know that, Rosalyn,” Celestia said soothingly to the panicked woman. “But right now there are those who plot against us and if this spell fell into the wrong hooves it could bring disaster to the world. I’m afraid we’re going to have to confiscate your ruby. Rest assured we’ll give you a new one of equal value before we send you home.” “Thank you, Your Highness,” Rosalyn said, slumping in relief. “Without something to show the Treasury agent I’d be in serious trouble.” “As for that,” Celestia nodded at the parchment in front of them, “I trust you’ll make sure it’s kept safe, Luna?” “Of course,” The blue alicorn snorted, rolling the parchment into a tube and tucking it under her wing. “And the ruby as well, sister. Speaking of which, we should summon Onyx Treasure so we can send Rosalyn back to her home.” “Agreed,” Celestia’s horn glowed golden for a moment. Seconds later a yellow earth pony with green mane and tail trotted into the room. “Yes, Your Highnesses? Would you like more cake?” The pony asked with a smile. “No thank you, Lemon Lime,” Celestia said with a smile. “But would you be kind enough to have Onyx Treasure meet with us here? Have him bring a selection of his best rubies, please.” “Of course, Your Highness.” Lemon Lime bowed and left. Rosalyn couldn’t help but notice the pony’s flank had a colorful tattoo of yes, a lemon and a lime. Curiosity led her to blurt out a question before it occurred to her it might be rude. “Um, what’s with all the tattoos on ponies’ hips?” “They aren’t tattoos, they’re actually cutie marks,” Celestia replied with a smile. “When a pony discovers his or her special talent—I believe humans would say calling—their cutie mark magically appears.” “So Lemon Lime’s special talent is…fruit?” Rosalyn asked in confusion. Luna chuckled as Celestia shook her head with a warm smile. “Cutie marks can be literal, but generally aren’t,” the white alicorn said gently. “In Lemon Lime’s case her specialty is creating beverages. My favorite is one she makes with sparkling water mixed with juices from limes and lemons. Creating that particular drink as a filly is what made her mark appear.” “Oh, I see. That’s—actually kind of amazing. Are there ponies that never get a cutie mark?” “It does happen,” Celestia admitted, “but it’s extremely rare. Ponies who never gain their mark are almost always generalists, somewhat skilled in many areas but seldom excelling at any one thing. Although there have been a few geniuses who lacked a mark who were skilled at everything.” Celestia smiled in fond remembrance. “There was a famous earth pony from several hundred years ago that lacked a cutie mark. His name was Broad Curio. As I recall he was a master of many different crafts, everything from glassblowing to carpentry to baking. He overcame great adversity and by the time he passed on was one of the wealthiest and most respected ponies of his time.” “Many of the blank flanks are less fortunate, sister.” Luna said in a serious tone. “I’ve never cared for that term,” Celestia said with a frown. “It is so foalish and unwarranted. Too many ponies look down on those without their cutie marks and there is simply no reason for it.” “Speaking of ponies looking down on others, who was that unicorn in the throne room when I showed up? He seemed really insulted to be in the same room with me. All I did was try to catch my balance. I just touched his back. Was he really a prince?” “Ah, Blueblood,” Luna sighed. “We do apologize for our nephew, Rosalyn Parker. Alas, too many of the nobility have lost the graciousness that marks a true noble. He is a prime example of that unfortunate state of affairs.” “But if he’s a prince and you two are princesses, doesn’t that mean he’s equal in rank to you?” The human asked in confusion. “What does he rule?” “Equestrian governance works somewhat differently than other species,” Celestia said tactfully as Luna tried to suppress a snort of amusement. “You may have noticed that some ponies have a horn while others have wings, and many, like Lemon Lime, have neither.” “And the two of you have both,” Rosalyn noted. Celestia nodded. “Exactly. My sister and I are alicorns, meaning we embody the traits of all three tribes. There are only two other alicorns in all of Equestria, and they too are princesses. Prince Blueblood does not rule anything—” “Thank the stars,” Luna muttered quietly. Celestia ignored the comment and continued. “—his title descends from the days when the tribes still had separate rulers. While he sits on the council and has considerable political influence he doesn’t actually rule so much as help make laws.” “So your council is more like our Congress and you two are like our president, I guess,” Rosalyn commented. “Are kingdoms common here?” “Yes,” Celestia said, nodding, “almost every country on Equis is ruled by a prince, princess, king, or queen. The one exception that comes to mind are dragons. They are too fiercely individualistic to tolerate an absolute ruler. They have a council but it serves more as an advisory body than a ruling one. On the other hoof the diamond dog packs call their leaders boss instead of king, but it’s the same role.” “Most countries on Earth are democracies these days,” Rosalyn volunteered. “A few are still ruled by royalty and some…” she hesitated. “Well, some are dictatorships. They tend to be the trouble makers.” “What is a dictatorship?” Luna asked with interest. “How does it differ from a monarchy—or in Equestria’s case, a diarchy?” “Triarchy, sister.” Celestia said with a smile. “Twilight is now an Equestrian ruler as well” “We stand corrected, in sooth,” Luna said, nodding. “But Twilight Sparkle has only recently come into her power. Old habits die hard, my sister. Pardon our aside, Rosalyn. Pray continue.” “Well, in practical terms there isn’t much difference between a king and a dictator,” Rosalyn said after a moment’s thought. “At least with an absolute monarchy, I mean. They both have absolute authority. I think the main difference is a dictator seizes power from whatever government already existed. A king or queen takes over from their own parents in an authorized transfer. Now that I think about it I guess a lot of kings are descended from dictators. So, I guess, dictators are the seed from which a monarchy grows?” “Our subjects chose us to be their rulers,” Luna said with a slight frown, “at the founding of Equestria, more than a thousand years ago.” Rosalyn blinked. “They chose you? As in, you personally?” “Yes,” Luna nodded, wondering at the confusion on the human’s face. “You’re a thousand years old?” She asked, blinking. “Actually, we’re a little over twelve hundred,” Celestia said, understanding why Rosalyn was confused. “Alicorns don’t age, you see.” “So you’re immortal?” Rosalyn asked, confusion turning to astonishment. Celestia shrugged. “Who can say? I haven’t aged a day since I became an alicorn, nor has my sister. Whether or not we will eventually grow old and die like other ponies I simply don’t know.” “Wow,” Rosalyn breathed. “And you’ve ruled Equestria for a thousand years?” “Yes,” Celestia nodded. “We’ve ruled ever since the three tribes united to defend against the windigos and formed Equestria.” “You have wendigos?” Rosalyn raised her eyebrows. “How?” Celestia blinked. “I don’t understand your question. They’ve always existed.” “Well, if I remember my mythology correctly, a wendigo is a human who survived starvation by eating another human, usually a family member. As punishment the spirits cursed them to become monsters, constantly ravenous for human flesh, yet forever starving, never able to satisfy their hunger no matter how much they eat. Horses don’t eat meat, so how could a horse suffer a curse for being cannibalistic?” “These creatures exist on thy world?” Luna asked, appalled. “Oh no, they’re only myths. Historians think the stories were created to reinforce the taboo against cannibalism.” Rosalyn said hastily. “That’s why I don’t understand how they could possibly exist here.” “On Equis,” Celestia explained, “windigos are undead spirits. They do not consume flesh, but rather the emotions of anger and hate. The more conflict that exists, the more windigos are summoned. Each one is capable of creating great cold in a large area so you can imagine what would happen when a herd of these creatures appears.” “Great ice storms arose and buried the pony lands in ice,” Luna said somberly. “I was there. I remember cliffs of ice a mile in height, crushing everything before them. Many perished, and more than a few of the slain rose again to join the ranks of the windigos. They were dark times. Ponykind nearly vanished from the face of Equis. Not even the reign of Discord was so terrible.” “How could you fight something like that?” Rosalyn asked. “In the end, the only ponies left were the ones who did not believe in the innate superiority of their own tribe, they fled south and abandoned their earlier settlements. The three rulers all had advisors, and those three formed a close friendship. After those three were attacked by windigos their friendship was absorbed, just as the windigos normally ate hate and anger. It turns out friendship is an emotion windigos crave, much as ponies crave sugar. “But unfortunately for windigos friendship is highly toxic to them, and destroyed both their magic and their ethereal bodies.” Celestia said. “Once the three spread the word and other ponies cultivated their own friends the windigos were finished. Ever since that time ponies have cultivated Harmony, to fight the return of the ice and the windigos.” “That isn’t just a myth? It actually happened?” Rosalyn asked. Celestia nodded. “I understand that in your world magic is so rare that no one believes it exists. So I can sympathize with how hard it is for you to believe in it. But I assure you magic is quite real, and on Equis it can bring both great peril and equally great reward.” Just then a knock sounded. “Enter,” Luna said in a loud voice. The door opened, revealing a black pony with a rich golden mane and tail. Rosalyn noted his cutie mark was a scattering of gemstones of various shapes and colors. “You wished to see me, Your Highness?” He asked, bowing. “A pleasure to see you, Onyx. My apologies for rousing you from your rest,” Celestia apologized. “Rosalyn Parker, may I introduce Onyx Treasure, the Royal Court Assessor. Onyx Treasure, may I introduce Rosalyn Parker, a jewel trader from Lady Teagan’s world.” “Good evening, Rosalyn Parker,” the dark earth pony nodded his head. “I assume the reason the Princess had me bring our finest rubies was to arrange for a trade?” “Not exactly, my little pony,” Celestia said smoothly. “Rosalyn brought us a ruby containing a dangerous spell matrix. For everyone’s safety we had to confiscate her gem, so we would like to give her another in exchange. I immediately thought of you. Your expertise in judging jewel quality is second to none.” “Ah,” he made a pleased sound. “Of course, Your Highness. May I see the stone she brought so I know which rubies to suggest?” Celestia shook her head regretfully. “I am afraid not, it’s far too dangerous. Why don’t you show us the stones you brought?” Without further demur the earth pony unpacked his saddlebag and laid out a black velvet cloth on the table in front of Rosalyn, who was fascinated by the fact he could do it with hooves. She was even more astonished when he rapidly and precisely laid out a dozen large rubies. Her quick eyeball estimate said the rubies ranged from two carets all the way up to a 30 carat monster that Rosalyn bet compared favorably to the fabled Sunrise Ruby. The earth pony hoofed her a large loupe which she accepted without tearing her eyes away from the treasure laid out before her. Reverently she bent over the first stone and began her meticulous inspection. Fifteen minutes later, after a lovingly prolonged inspection of each and every stone, ending with the largest ruby, she straightened up and sat the loop down with silent gentleness. Taking a deep breath and exhaling it slowly she turned to Onyx Treasure. “Sir, may I say what a pleasure it was to see these stones? I—there are no words. It was a complete privilege to be able to view them, and in my professional opinion they are the finest collection I have ever encountered. You have my deepest respect.” Onyx looked nonplussed for a moment, then turned solemn and bowed slightly to her. “I am happy that you can truly appreciate the stones for their own sake, madam.” He said. “I had thought only earth ponies could listen to the stones when they sang.” “You can feel them resonate in your soul, can’t you?” She asked, eyes returning to the flawless collection of pigeon blood stones. “I grieve for the ones who never will.” “Truly, you do understand,” Onyx smiled and turned to contemplate the stones himself. Luna and Celestia exchanged a bemused glance. Rosalyn shook herself. “As lovely as this has been we should return to business. The stone I need to replace is a flawless three and quarter caret pigeon blood. Which of your collection most closely matches that?” “Hmm, this stone is three and a half carets. The rest are either smaller or more than a caret larger. I’m not sure what hue pigeon blood is, madam. We never use such terms in Equestria.” Onyx said stiffly. “Oh, um, well this stone’s color seems rich enough and only a quarter caret difference won’t be an issue, I can always fudge my records. It will do nicely, sir. Thank you very much, for showing me this collection. It was truly a delight.” “I’m happy to find someone who can honor the stones properly,” He said with a bow. “Your Highnesses, thank you for allowing me to meet Rosalyn, she has a rare gift.” He yawned. “But if you’ll excuse me, my bed is calling. I am not as young as I once was.” “Of course, thank you Onyx. Sleep well my little pony,” Celestia said with a smile. “I shall indeed. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, good night.” And with that he quickly but carefully gathered his collection and display cloth and disappeared out the door. “Well, shall We see thee safely home, Rosalyn Parker?” Luna said brightly. “I’d really appreciate that, Your Highness,” the human said with a genuine smile. “It’s been a very memorable night and I’ve got an early day tomorrow.” “Oh, Rosalyn?” Celestia asked suddenly. “Yes, Your Highness?” “It would probably be best if you kept this visit our little secret,” the white alicorn said, turning serious. “Not many humans know that Equestria is a real place. I’ve been advised it’s probably better that way.” “Not a problem, trust me! If I told anybody about you they’d think I was crazy. After all, nobody on Earth believes in magic.” Rosalyn grinned. “Well, then, have a safe trip and enjoy your ruby,” Celestia replied. “Art thou ready, Rosalyn Parker?” Luna asked, horn starting to glow softly. “Yes, Your Highness.” She stood up and slipped the ruby into her pocket. “What do I need to do?” “Simply stand still and close thy eyes,” Luna advised her. “There may be a slight jerk upon thy return, but thou shouldst not worry, it will not be strong enough to overset thee. Still, brace thyself.” Rosalyn crouched slightly, trying to balance herself for a push in any direction. Suddenly there was a blue flash she could see through her closed eyelids and a burst of rainbow light. Something shoved her firmly, but thanks to her being braced all she needed to do was put one foot quickly behind her to recover her balance. When she opened her eyes she was relieved to find herself back in her shop, exactly where she’d been standing just before her unexpected adventure. ooOoo Earth, Wednesday night, June 1, 2013 3:02 AM Eastern Standard Time “Good morning, Mr. President,” Admiral Spears nodded. President Bend settled behind his desk with a grunt and cautiously accepted the cup of coffee his chief of staff passed him, along with a chocolate donut. “Breakfast of champions”, the president noted wryly. Dennis Mitchell grinned and settled back with another cup of his infamous coffee. President Bend noted the others had wisely refused the offer. “So, what’s this all about?” The president asked with a yawn. “What’s so important about a new terrorist funding source that we have to discuss it privately at three o’clock in the morning in the Oval Office?” “Mr. President, I am invoking the powers of the Espionage Act of 1917 and wish to remind the people in this room that revelation of anything I’m about to say will be treated as treason. This information is classified as Core Secret, and normally only accessible to myself as director of the NSA and those who have a proven need to know. Today, I acknowledge that all individuals in this room have a legitimate need to know that has not hitherto existed and caution them that keeping this information is quite literally a matter of national survival, perhaps world survival. The only thing that has protected the United States to date is the fact this information is not available to the general public. I must stress this state of affairs must continue.” “Ok, David, you have my attention,” The president said staring hard at the other man. “Just what the hell have you dropped us into this time?” His voice was low and his eyes narrowed but everyone in the room winced. Unperturbed, Admiral Spears met the gaze of everyone else, leaving the president for last. “There is no way to say this that won’t sound like it came from the National Enquirer,” he said gravely, “but I will do my best. As some of you already know, what I am about to reveal has been gathered over the last two hundred years from both our own efforts and—” he hesitated, “—the aid of certain non-hostiles who most emphatically cannot be considered allies as they are indifferent to our interests—or indeed our very existence.” The President found his eyebrows creeping upward, but he held his tongue, intrigued. He could tell the other man was stalling, trying not to say whatever he needed to. And that wasn’t like the Admiral at all. President Bend had always found Admiral Spears to be unflinching. “The NSA has incontrovertible evidence that Earth has been and currently still is host to sentient non-human life forms.” The sentence just hung there as the admiral stared at the president. “This is not conjecture, Mr. President. I have personally spoken with one such—individual. The NSA has literal tons of paper and computer documentation compiled over our country’s entire history about these creatures. You can imagine my shock when I was briefed by my predecessor General Sanders on this issue. “Further, these life forms have considerable expertise in and knowledge of exotic physics not yet discovered by humans. They can manipulate the laws of physics in ways our scientists swear is impossible but they consider trivial. Their technologies are so advanced they appear to be literal magic to us.” “So you’re saying Earth has a colony of little green men?” President Bend said in disbelief. “Mr. President, I wish it were little green men,” Admiral Spears said grimly. “Little green men wouldn’t be nearly as big a problem. Let me stress to you the magnitude of the situation. These are not aliens from a world circling another star that happened to come and settle on Earth. The truth is there are hundreds of different races of these beings, and they have existed alongside humans for our entire history. It’s only been in the last few hundred years that nearly all of them migrated away from Earth.” “So what’s the problem?” President Bend asked in confusion. “If they were still here I’d be concerned, but if they left why worry? Are they coming back? Where did they go?” “They aren’t coming back—at least en masse,” Admiral Spears demurred. “Individuals do come back for their own reasons but generally don’t stay very long. A few still live here, but as far as we can tell there are no more than a few hundred of them scattered across the world, many in areas where humans don’t live. As for where the rest of them are now, well, I suppose you could say they’re in other dimensions, although our scientists say that’s complete nonsense. I’m not a mathematician, but apparently there are alternate universes that these races can access. Different races went to different universes. The occasional traveler seems to use Earth as a kind of airport nexus between the various universes. Most of the time they’re only passing through.” “Universes? Plural?” President Bend asked, blinking. “How many universes are we talking here?” “We thought there were five,” Admiral Spears said calmly. “Six if you count Earth’s universe. Tonight we discovered evidence of a seventh.” “Then why the sudden panic?” President Bend asked curiously. “As mind-bending as this is it’s not like any of its new.” “The hundreds of other sentient races that moved on never interact with Earth. At all. There is no trade between them and humans, no communication, no visits, nothing. As far as we can tell the ones who do pass through only deal with the ones who stayed behind and never with humans themselves.” “Even the very few individuals who have occasionally deigned to deal with us keep such contacts to a bare minimum, almost always limited to verbal interaction. Given the power and volatility of the creatures in question it has always been in our best interest to never push the issue.” “Let sleeping dogs lie?” The president asked. Admiral Spears nodded. “Exactly. I cannot stress how dangerous it would be should they decide to move against us. We would literally have no defense against them. Given the nature of a few of them we might not even know they had acted at all.” “What do you mean?” President Bend asked in concern. “We have some evidence that they have capabilities in memory manipulation, stealth, and remote influence of emotion.” “Meaning what?” President Bend asked uneasily, having a sneaking hunch what the Admiral was hinting at. “Meaning they could pretty much manipulate anyone in the government at will, to do anything they wanted them to.” Admiral Spears said flatly. “I don’t have to elaborate how terrifying that scenario is, do I?” “No. My God,” The President grabbed his coffee and drained it. “Refill,” he growled to his Chief of Staff even as he felt the overload of caffeine hit him like a truck. “You said the others never deal with humans, right?” President Bend asked as his brain lurched into high gear. “This new universe is different? They interact with humans?” Admiral Spears nodded. “We got a message from one of the more benign individuals who stayed on Earth. He warned us about the new universe and gave us instructions on how to create a device that could detect materials from other universes. Apparently materials from another universe have certain properties that can be detected by the way they reflect a certain wavelength of light. He also gave us a sampling of objects from each of the universes we know about. I brought it with me. Jack brought one of the new devices.” He nodded to the Secretary of the Treasury, who picked up what looked like an ordinary desk lamp and put it on the president’s desk. “If you could plug that in, Mr. President?” he requested. Grunting the president leaned over and plugged the lamp into the concealed plug strip inside the desk. Secretary Leon then rose and dimmed the lights until the office was lit only by the French windows behind the president’s desk. “Now turn on that lamp, if you would, sir,” Secretary Leon requested as he returned to his seat. When the President did Admiral Spears leaned over the desk and put five small objects on the desk. “When our contact gave me these objects he emphasized they have no special abilities of any kind, they’re just bric-a-brac he collected on a whim as he traveled. The only thing that makes them extraordinary is that each one comes from one of the different known universes. Aside from that they’re little more than paperweights.” The president stared at the objects in fascination. They looked like the contents of someone’s junk drawer. One was a statue of an ugly gnome-like creature the size of his thumb made from a dull green stone. Another was, as far as he could tell, just a smooth gray pebble, the third was a tarnished silver ring with some kind of Celtic knot-work engraved on it, the fourth a small box of dark wood that might have been big enough to hold a few pennies, while the last was a cheap looking letter opener made from bronze with a the face of a comical troll on the pommel. As Admiral Spears had said, they were just trinkets. It looked like stuff you’d find at a Renaissance Fair. However. Each object seemed to have a colored shadow, one that slowly grew and faded over about a minute as he watched. The pebble’s shadow seemed to waver along the edges, a vaguely unsettling red, like a guttering fire, while the letter opener’s shadow was sharp-edged but faded blue. The ring was actually glowing with a pale yellow light instead of casting a shadow, the glow growing slightly brighter over the minute and then slowly fading away. “The lamp produces a very specific wavelength of light that is the median value of moonlight,” The Admiral said quietly. “The more the object contains of the exotic power the other races harness, the faster the light pulses. The more abilities it’s been given the brighter the light and the further it stretches above the desk’s surface. As you can see these objects have next to nothing, the only reason they’re reacting to the lamp at all is because they are made of materials native to the universe they come from. Something about their makeup makes the light interact strangely with them.” “What about this new universe? Do we have an object from it?” The President asked, still watching the fascinating light show the trinkets were putting out. “Yes and no, Mr. President. The object in question is a three caret ruby, reportedly worth approximately two hundred thousand dollars. It was sold to a jewel trader in Kansas City by a private investigator, who said it was given to her in payment for services rendered. The trader tested the jewel under a lamp like this one, which we sold to every jewel trader in the United States on advice from our contact.” “Who is this contact?” The President asked, finally raising his eyes to look at Admiral Spears, who shrugged. “He calls himself Faust, no last name. In public he appears to be a very thin blond teenager, maybe sixteen years old, with green eyes and shoulder length golden yellow hair. The one time I met him face to face he dropped his glamour, as he called it, revealing what I assume is his true appearance, approximately six feet in height, with straight white hair down to his waist, red eyes with bright blue sclera, and ears that would turn Mr. Spock green with envy. His facial structure was much more triangular, with extremely exaggerated cheekbones and an excessively pointed chin. You’d never mistake him for a human being.” “So these non-humans can disguise themselves as human?” The President frowned. “That’s not good. Can you imagine one of them as a terrorist?” “Yes, yes I can,” Admiral Spears said grimly. “Which is why it is extremely important we honor the status quo. Not only do they have perfect stealth, individually they are also walking weapons of mass destruction, each and every one. Ever seen the Avengers movie, Mr. President?” President Bend winced. “Point taken. At least tell me they can only appear at certain places on Earth,” he requested. Admiral Spears shook his head. “I wish I could. The truth is we simply don’t know. Maybe they have to use specific locations or maybe they don’t. If I had to guess I’d bet some need fixed points and others don’t. It might depend on the universe involved, or the individual’s power, or maybe some arcane mumbo-jumbo involving the position of the stars and the time of year. There are lots of legends pointing to each of those. Take your pick.” “I am not feeling all warm and fuzzy here, David,” the president growled. “Welcome to my world,” Admiral Spears retorted. “The big worry about this new universe is they seem to be dealing with humans directly, unlike all the others. The one thing we do know about the non-humans on earth right now is they don’t seem to exist in official records. Faust, for example, has no birth certificate, educational history, no record of employment or domicile. The few people who do know him don’t seem to care enough to ask. It’s the same for the very few others that have even minimal contact with humans. As for most of them, they seem to live in the wilderness and people just don’t encounter them.” “Mind control?” The president asked uneasily. “Probably,” The Admiral shrugged. “Nothing too huge, just a little nudge anytime somebody gets too curious. That seems to fit in with what little we know about them. The ones who are still here don’t go out of their way to cause trouble. They seem content to be left alone. Given their mind altering abilities there’s simply no need for them to do anything more to defend themselves. “Which brings me to the new universe. The reason we know this new universe is dealing with humans is we have a full history on the private investigator who sold the ruby. Birth records, educational history, work history, even her concealed carry permit. Not a damn thing missing or out of place. As far as we can tell she’s completely human. I’ve got a team trying to dig into her case histories, I should know more in a few days.” “What about the jewel trader?” The president asked. Admiral Spears turned to the Secretary of the Treasury who in turn looked at the woman. “I’m Holly Eire, Mr. President, Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis. According to the report filed by our field agent he was contacted around 10:30 PM Washington time by Rosalyn Parker, a jewel trader in Kansas City. Ms. Parker said she had tested a ruby just sold to her under the silver lamp and that the ruby had reacted.” She paused. “You saw how ordinary objects from another universe reacted—minute long pulses showing dim colored shadows. However, this ruby reacted very differently. It had a pulse rate of once per second, and there was no shadow, the ruby itself emitted little rainbows that faded from one spot only to erupt in another. Not a single colored shadow, but an actual rainbow erupting into the air from the stone itself.” “Meaning the stone had some special ability?” The president guessed. Holly nodded. “Not only a special ability, an exceptionally strong one. According to Faust’s documentation a reaction like that is only produced by legendary items that contain, and I quote, ‘levels of power humans should not mess with under any circumstances’, unquote. Even more unsettling is that a rainbow spectrum is not listed as one of the possible colors for the known universes.” “Do you have any conjectures as to why it’s a rainbow of colors?” The President asked her. She shook her head. “Nothing concrete, although one possibility might be the stone has components from multiple universes. Given we’re talking about a ruby instead of a manufactured object that seems unlikely. Best guess is either the stone was empowered in different known universes or we’re dealing with a new universe altogether. Given that Faust warned us about a new universe, that’s the most likely explanation.” “How trustworthy is this Faust character?” The President asked Admiral Spears. The Admiral shrugged again. “Everything he’s told us before panned out. You have to understand, Mr. President, I’ve only dealt with Faust on three occasions during my time running the NSA, a grand total of about an hour. He seems to have a whimsical personality, everything amuses him. Records indicate he seldom contacts us more than two or three times in a decade. Oh, and I guess I should mention he’s been dealing with the United States government for about a hundred and fifty years, give or take.” “He’d be pretty old by now, don’t you think?” The President asked drily. “Or are we dealing with a group using the same disguise?” “No way to tell given how minimal the contacts with Faust have been. A group isn’t unlikely, but legends say these non-humans don’t die of old age. He might really be that old—or older, for all we know.” “You don’t seem to know very much about these aliens at all,” The president said with a sigh. “No slight to your abilities, Admiral.” “None taken. Compared to what we have on these guys our information on Al-Queda looks like the Encyclopedia Britannica. And as I said we have tons of paper and computer records on them. All of it amounting to ‘reply hazy, try again’. Don’t laugh. We even tried magic 8 balls and Ouija boards out of sheer frustration. The really scary part is that’s exactly the response we get from them every single time. I wish I was kidding.” The President absorbed that silently. “So what do we know about the aliens of this new universe?” He finally asked. “They deal with humans in the Kansas City area and pay in extremely high-quality gemstones,” Admiral Spears said promptly. “And?” President Bend prodded after a moment. The admiral shrugged. “Reply hazy, ask again later. Seriously, we’ve known about the ruby for less than a day. Give me a week and I’ll at least know who the PI’s clients are. I must stress the potential extreme lethality of these non-humans. We need to move exceptionally carefully. Piss one of them off and we may not like them when they’re angry, if you get my drift.” “Any other good news you’d like to share, Admiral?” The President asked tiredly. “Werewolves in London? Vampires living in Transylvania, maybe?” “Well, if the legends about these creatures can be trusted we at least have a collective name for them,” The Admiral said with a wry smile. “And that would be?” The President asked, taking the bait. “Fae.”