We sit in a Starbucks in the New York Exchange watching people hurry to and fro across the busy concourse. Beside me is Svetlana, a severe looking woman with a large, beak-like nose and a ropy scar that runs down her face and neck before disappearing beneath her fur-lined jacket. Despite the fact it is twenty degrees out and sunny, she shows no sign of overheating and, indeed, has a large cup of black coffee before her.
“So, it's a story you want?” Svet says, drumming her fingers on the table. It makes a very metallic rattle and I realise that her left arm is robotic. “How about I tell you how I lost my wing in a battle to the death with a forty foot long dragon?”
“Well, I’d prefer a true story.”
“Ha!” She slaps the table. “About time someone called me on that. Let me tell you, that dragon’s been getting bigger for years and people still eat it up.” She rolls her eyes. Well, eye. One sits dead in its socket, clearly a glass replica. “Honestly, people still believe gryphons are barbarians from beyond the frontiers of Equestria, or something. Morons.”
“Let's be fair, I would have believed a twenty foot dragon,” I reply, smiling. “But if you don’t want to say–”
“I don’t.”
“–then I won’t force you.” I tap my pen against my notebook. “So, why Earth?”
There’s a mechanical whine as Svetlana crosses her arms across her chest. “What’s it to you?” she demands, glowering at me.
“About the cost of a coffee,” I shoot straight back.
“Urgh, fine, that gets you at least half a story.” She purses her lips, glowering off into the middle distance. “Earth? Well, Earth isn’t Equestria. That’s what makes it great. You know where you stand with humanity, they’re a simple bunch who know what they want and then get it. There’s no namby-pamby waltzing around agonising over friendship and feelings. They see, they strike, they get. It’s all about being a predator, not prey. I never thought I’d find that outside of Gryphon Stone.”
“It sounds like you’re a convert.”
“Hell yeah,” Svetlana says, beaming. “This is New York, home of capitalism. Where Wall Street rules the world. Peace and love? Nah. Try, how much for an hour? That’s why this place is great. I came to New York with nothing but a gold bit smuggled in my crop. Five years on and I’ve got a swanky apartment, eat steak every night and have a dozen people running at my beck and call. Back in Equestria I was a charity case, a cripple. I literally had filly scouts knocking on my door to see if there was anything I needed done around the house. Here.” Her eye sparkles. “Here I have it all.”
I frown. “So, what is it that you do?”
“Imports and exports,” she says, with a blasé toss of the head. A moment later she fixes me with a piercing glare. “And don’t think that means smuggling, I’ve got a lawyer to stick on people who make that kind of insinuation. I’m a legitimate businesswoman.”
There is not a trace of irony in her voice, which I consider to be a remarkable achievement. “So, you ship across the portal?”
“Yep, all sorts of things. Of course the damn governments on both sides have a list of rules as long as my arm stopping all the good stuff getting through, like gold and gems, but we've snuck all sorts of stuff through the legal cracks. It was my boys that got the first lump of platinum through the portal, and half the book was written to keep us from making a killing in arbitrage.”
She grimaces. “They don't let us get away with that kind of fast talking these days, though, so we have to play within the rules. Takes all the fun out of it, but hell, we’re still making a killing. Humans can't get enough of enchanted gadgets, even if it's just a little fire starting spell. Likewise ponies go crazy for anything electronic. We sell so many iPads I’m looking into making our own knockoff. Turns out ‘PonyPad’ is trademarked by some games developer already, but I’m sure I can pay some soft-livered creative type to come up with something.”
“It sounds like you’ve found your niche.”
“Hell yeah.“ Svetlana beams. “I’ve got money. I’ve got my arm back.” She hefts the bionic limb. “And I’ve got respect.”
“And,” I begin, hesitantly. “You still travel to Equestria?”
Her face falls. “More than I’d like. I have to dump the arm of course, the disguise spell freaks out when I go through wearing it, which is a pain in the ass. I must yell at Sparkle next time she tries to dress me down actually, and get her to fix that.”
“Nothing you miss?” I ask, trying to affect an innocent air.
“Oh, don’t even start with that shit,” Svetlana snaps, glowering at me. “You’re asking me about my wings. Well, guess what, this–” She points at the scar. “–didn’t just cost me a foreleg. Now the ponies, they’re all about the sympathy. When I tell them about the forty foot dragon, they tell me how sorry they are for my loss and how terrible it must be. Bunch of fucking whiners. They’ve got all this magic, they’ve got immortals, but I’m not a pony so they don’t know how to fix a fucking thing. They did nothing!”
Svetlana’s hand hits the table with a bang and I leap in surprise. A leonine growl escapes her throat. “So no, Miss Sandy, I don’t miss anything about Equestria. There’s no dreams of open skies or silver lined clouds waiting for me. On Earth I may still be a cripple, but humans don’t let themselves be defined by their injuries. I’m happy.”
“Are you?” The woman’s voice is soft and melodious but it is her presence that draws the eye. She’s unnaturally tall, with waist length blond hair and is wearing a light grey business suit that seems to shine under the florescent lights. She is radiant, in a very literal sense. Just being in her presence seems to brighten the world and I can feel the heat and life pouring from her in soft waves.
Her name is Celestia.
“Oh shit,” Svetlana mutters. “Look, I didn’t mean–”
“I don’t care. Leave.” Celestia silences her with a word. Svetlana is gone before I can even blink, not even pausing to take her coffee. Celestia sits in the vacant chair.
“Hello, Sandy. It is good to see you again.” If she is indeed glad to see me, it does not show on her face which is fixed in a serene smile.
“Wish I could say the same,” I reply, closing my notebook and setting it on the table between us. “I seem to recall threats of fiery death if I ever showed my face again.”
Celestia blanches. “Yes, that was a little rash of me.”
“Eh, it was a long time ago,” I say, glancing around to see if there’s any cover I can duck into to avoid immolation. Alas, there is not. “I’m over it.”
“You don’t have to be afraid, Sandy,” Celestia says, spreading open her hands. “I bare you no ill will and this is neutral ground. You are safe.”
“Fine...” I say, at long last. “You found me quickly. I thought I’d have at least another hour before Twilight figured out what had happened.”
“She surprises even me sometimes.” Celestia’s smile is warm and the world shines along with her. “Of course, you did stop to interview someone, which helped.”
I shrug. “It’s a weakness of mine. I’m writing a book, you see.”
“Still?”
“It’s not the kind of book you ever finish writing. There’s always more stories out there, more than you ever imagined.”
Celestia winces. “Sandy, I know we last left off on a poor note.”
“You promised to consume me in fires so hot that even a phoenix would perish,” I cut in. “It left an impression.”
“In my defence, you threatened Equestria.”
I roll my eyes. “No. I said, ‘if you carry on as you are the sun will never again rise on your little nation’. Given Luna’s little incident occurred just twenty years later I can’t say I was wrong.”
“Ah.” She lets out a tiny sigh. “In that case you have my apologies, again. I was... overprotective of my little ponies in those days.”
“That implies that you aren’t now,” I say, shaking my head. “Then again, I guess the sun isn’t known for its changing ways. Perhaps if you’d listened to your sister now and again Equestria wouldn’t have grown so stagnant.”
“Peaceful,” Celestia corrects.
I shrug. “Same difference. I gave you every opportunity to see what was over the horizon. To explore beyond the little empire you called Equestria. You turned me down, and look what happened.”
A frown mars Celestia’s serene look. “We found Harmony.”
“Heh. Funny, I thought it was only when you started fighting the monsters rather than just sealing them away that Equestria began to bloom. Or maybe that was just because Twilight has a little more nerve than old Star Swirl. She actually thought to explore my mirror.”
“Your mirror almost killed Star Swirl,” Celestia shoots back.
“Almost. Roads are dangerous things, Celestia, but well worth travelling. Then again, Star Swirl never could appreciate something he didn’t have a hoof in building.”
She tuts and shakes her head, as if chiding a child. “You haven’t changed at all, have you, Sandy? Our little ponies are far more precious than you can imagine, to risk them so lightly is–”
“I think we’ve had this argument before,” I cut in, holding up a hand. “It's no more interesting this time around. If you’re going to do nothing but make veiled threats, then I have better ways to spend my time.”
For just an instant the gentle warmth of Celestia’s aura goes white hot, but she takes a deep breath and forced it down. “As you wish, Sandy. But–” She holds up a finger. “–If you are not going to work with Equestria, then you must promise not to work against us.”
“I just collect stories, Tia,” I say, scowling. “You don’t have anything to fear from me.”
“And if you decide to, yet again, reveal Equestria to another world?”
“Ha!” It takes me a moment, and a severe glare, to realise that Celestia is serious. “Oh, you really think I had anything to do with that? No, I just made the mirror. The path your little ponies took was entirely up to them. Perhaps they’re more adventurous than you like to think.”
She sighs. “Sandy. When I checked last your portal stood on a little island just off of Europe, not in an American school.”
“Eh, so I moved things around a little,” I say, shrugging. “I wasn’t the one who pushed their student through. I wasn’t the one who drew attention to Equestria. I wasn’t the one who built the Exchanges.”
“But you carved the road,” Celestia cut in, arching an eyebrow at me. “Paraphrasing, ‘I didn’t pull the trigger, but I still killed her’. You have no idea of the harm you could have wrought by your actions, Sandy.”
“Maybe not, but I knew full well what would have happened if I stood still. You have no idea of the good that has come, and will come, from all this.” I slide my notebook across the table and smile. “Perhaps you’d like to see.”
Celestia makes no move to take it. “You had no right.”
“Nor do you.” I stand. “So are we done here? I’ve got a flight to San Francisco booked in a couple of hours.”
“I... yes, I suppose we are.” Celestia sighs. “Before you go. I want you to know that you can come home if you wish.”
I roll my eyes. “I live on the road, Celestia. There’s too much to see to tie yourself down to one place.”
“The last time you said that you made the mirror portal,” she points out. “Please don’t make another, Equestria has barely survived meeting humanity.”
“Oh Celestia,” I say, chuckling. “Whatever makes you think I only made one mirror?”
Her eyes go wide and she leaps to her feet. But, too late. I was already long gone.