Bridging Ages, Bridging Worlds

by BlueDWarrior

CH 2: Bridging the Gaps

=== BABW: A New Beginning ===

=== Chapter 2: Bridging the Gaps ===

= [ March 19, 2080 (roughly 9:45 AM EST) – Washington D.C., USA ] =

"President Aguillar, President Aguillar, the transport to Edwards Air Force Base will be ready to go in about 15 minutes. Estimated trip time should be 6 hours barring unforeseen atmospheric conditions,” an aide spoke into the President’s ear, as he walked alongside her in the West Wing of the White House, heading outside toward the Intra-Dome Transport.

President Melinda Aguillar, only the third female and second Hispanic President in the United States’ history. A woman of strong principle, who, in what most regarded as a complete fluke of turnout, managed to win office in an era of rank cronyism in the political ranks. Her poll numbers were stuck in seeming neutral and her proposals left in the lurch of the legislature where many were either too apathetic about her reforms to care, or just plain hated that someone not of the ‘club’ was holding the highest office.

Her mind was being pulled in several directions already, and now every military base on the Pacific Coast of the Americas was on high alert due to a giant column of what appeared to be pure energy just sitting not 120 or so miles off the coast of Los Angeles. Not only that, but the Internet, as it was want to do, was already ablaze with rumor about the nature of said column of energy.

As her primary aides boarded the helicopter-like intra-Dome transport, they continued to discuss what exactly had just happened almost two hours ago. “Probes are reporting an intense unknown radiation within the circumference of the column of energy, however…”

“However what?” Aguillar quizzed.

“There appears to be no abnormal energy readings outside of the circumference. Furthermore, when we send in machines to penetrate said circumference, they appear simply to pass through to the exact opposite point on the circle. It is as if the space now circumscribed inside does not exist in our plane of reality,” the aide concluded.

“I would like to know how that works…” Aguillar mused aloud as she watched footage of a drone boat simply passing through the rather lovely looking but still odd column of light. “I can only assume since the probes cannot actually stop inside of the circumference, the mention of energy is an educated guess, yes?”

“Yes, we cannot prove anything definitively except through observations from the outside,” the aide responded. “Although, personally, I am still trying to figure out how we are seeing those land and townscapes through the column. It is as if a movie is being projected onto the outside of a cylinder.”

Aguillar rubbed her temples, trying to figure out how exactly she was going to officially respond to this incident.

“And what of the Airman that first observed this phenomenon?”

“He is currently being debriefed. This was his last day of active service, hell of a way to walk out the door huh?”

“Indeed. Did he report any physical injury?”

“Some mild queasiness as the column was forming, but overall we cannot detect any kind of radiation poisoning or similar ailments.”

“Good. Keep him away from any media and block all communications that you can. I don’t want his story leaking out if we can at all help it.”

“Yes, Madame President.”

As the intra-Dome Transport landed at Andrews Air Force base, the President and her aides quickly rushed to Air Force One, a large flying-wedge like plane, dodging the press questions all the way.

I hate dodging questions, especially when I have to literally dodge the people asking them… but until we talk to that Airman I am NOT putting anything on the record officially. I can only hope the rumor-mill doesn’t get too far out ahead of us, Aguillar thought as she verbally deflected the questions being shouted over her plane’s engines.

= [ Approx. 1:00 PM PST – Los Angeles AFB, USA ] =

The briefing room was very large and spacious. The commanders of the base sat along one side of the large table/holo-projector. The President, Chief of Staff, and Secretary of Defense sat along the other side along with aides and recording drones. All along the walls were various displays: maps displaying where all the current hotspots were, where aid missions had to be conducted, and ominously, at least they thought, a indigo-blue dot 115 mi west-and-south of Los Angeles, the location of the anomaly. Airman First-Class Ethan Hartford, the man who first saw said anomaly, was sitting in a what otherwise would have been a very comfortable chair; though made uncomfortable, as it seemed every important person in the world was staring at him right now.

"Let us begin," President Aguillar started, her brown hair already starting to gray from the stress and pollution the last 3 years in office. "Now, Airman First Class Ethan Hartford, you have been credited with being the first living entity to make visual contact with the anomaly. You have already been checked by medical staff and are showing no signs of any kind of radiation poisoning we can detect. This is consistent with your plane's AI, 'Sally' I believe you named 'her', detecting no discernable change in radiation outside of the perimeter of the anomaly. Also, as you know, the only recording device that produced clear discernable pictures of the inside of the perimeter was the color chemical camera installed. We have reviewed these photos already, and frankly we are absolutely gobsmacked by what we see. Therefore we wanted a firsthand account of what you witnessed."

Ethan hyperventilated a bit, knowing what he was about to say now would very well go down in all history. After calming his nerves a bit, he began to recount what he had witnessed personally. "Well, as you tell from my flight data, I first pulled into a circular holding pattern after observing a strange patch of perfectly still water in the ocean exactly where the pillar, I mean anomaly, stands now. At that point, I saw a deep indigo outline extend into a virtually infinite 'screen' going upward to the atmosphere and downward to the ocean floor. This screen, I believe the best way I could describe it would be like an aurora, but instead of bright colors, it was like the very night sky decided that mid-morning was a good time to appear. At that point I could see the images of a landscape appear; as I believe your photographs would bear out. This landscape seemed, I do not know how to describe this but I will try, both natural and unnatural. It seemed partially constructed and not, and the colors seemed almost like a painting; whether oil, digital, or water I cannot really tell. If I recall correctly, I remember initially calling it a 'storybook', like I was looking at illustrations or an animation made for children."

"So, if we put all of this together, it's almost as if God or something just decided Los Angeles needed a TV Break and decided to show old children's cartoons on giant supernatural projector,” Secretary of Defense Richardson chimed in. A cynical Caucasian man of 65, he was someone who had seen far too many people die, and was now charged with getting from day to day without the whole world catching on fire.

"As snide as that remark sounds, Secretary Richardson, honestly I cannot come up with a better explanation,” Master Sergeant Thomas chimed in, wondering if his subordinate was going to be thrown in the brig or committed for going stark-raving loony, which would have been a total shame seeing as he only had until midnight before he got his discharge and stipend.

"I am glad I saw the pictures before we had this briefing, otherwise I would have thought this entire base had suddenly come down with a mass delusion. I may be a cynic, but when I see something in black and white, or in Technicolor as it were, with my own eyes, I can’t exactly go around denying it,” Secretary Richardson responded, seemingly going against every cynical and jaded bone in his body.

"Honestly, Secretary Richardson, I wouldn't have expected to hear that from you. Usually the old-grizzled war vets are the last to come around in strange situations like this,” President Aguillar said jokingly, trying to break some of the tension.

"Like I said Madame President, I may be cynical, but even I have to believe my lying eyes here,” Secretary Richardson replied.

= [ 5:00 PM CST – Nouvelle Baton Rouge, USA ] =

“So what do you think that crazy boyfriend of mine got himself into now?” Natasha sighed, as Andre looked at her and Kyoko at the corners of his primary monitor on his computer terminal setup.

“There is no telling, this is a hell of an incident to have to deal with on your last day on the job,” Andre mused in response, reclining a bit in his chair.

“You do have to admit though, that odd column is very pretty. It’s like a little slice of a clear night sky during the day time,” Kyoko added as she munched on a green apple.

“True enough, thought I don’t think anyone has seen skies that clear and pure of color for quite some time,” Natasha wondered aloud. The other two nodded sagely in agreement.

“You know when I first heard the news I thought it was some kind of practical joke. But now the entire internet is practically on fire,” Andre thought aloud as he shared links to the popular non-Dome forums.

“You think it’s aliens? It’d be sooo cool if it were aliens!” Kyoko thought aloud, sounding more like a 12 than a 20-year old as she did, her eyes practically alight.

“Ok seriously, who’d come way out to a planet like this? I mean we’re out on the edge of a galaxy. Surely aliens would have something better to do that to create a column of light in the middle of one of our oceans,” Natasha replied, dismissing the thought out of hand.

“I don’t know why anyone or anything would do something like that, so I can’t rule anything out, myself,” Andre concluded, straddling the fence as he usually did.

“Anyway, did you hear from your man when the higher-ups were finally going to process him out?” Andre asked of the blonde Russian to one side of his screen.

“They are saying they want to keep him on base for at least twenty-four hours to ensure that he wasn’t exposed to some kind unknown radiation, so I guess he’ll be here in Boston by Friday,” Natasha answered, looking coyer as she did.

“Oh? It seems like you can’t wait for that~!” Kyoko mused with a teasing tone.

Natasha giggled and replied. “No, no I can’t. It has been quite some time since we were together.”

“Well I wish you two the best of luck in your future endeavors,” Andre replied.

As the three of them continued on, they were finally joined by their fourth, as Ethan logged into the video chat.

“I swear, if I have to talk to one more reporter I am going to walk right through the gates and into the Pacific,” Ethan groaned as he sat down as his apartment terminal.

“It seems like you’ve been making the rounds already. It’s only been a couple of hours since President Aguillar’s initial statement,” Andre mentioned as he looked at the clock.

“Yeah, and I’m going to be stuck here until tomorrow evening at least. Ugh, I wanted to grab my cash card and hit the first cross-country train to Boston. At least the weekday fares are cheaper than weekends, so I can save a couple of dollars,” Ethan thought as the tension in his body started to slowly fade away.

“And I seriously cannot wait until you get here~,” Natasha replied with a sultry tone, batting her eyelashes through the camera at Ethan.

“Seriously, not in front of the others,” Ethan himself replied with feigned embarrassment.

“Oh come on, they’re grownups, they’ll be fine,” Natasha dismissed, as Andre and Kyoko chuckled on the side.

“Our little Midori-hime believes that it was aliens that were responsible for that little display going on in the Pacific,” Natasha chuckled as Kyoko fumed a bit. If there was anything that annoyed her it was others thinking he was off-kilter any more than anyone else in that day and Internet age.

Ethan sighed as he recalled the visions of the definitely well-constructed city and townscapes interspersed through all the landscapes. “Midori Hana might not be too far off from that…”

“Wait what?” Natasha asked in stunned surprise, as Kyoko and Andre stared right into the camera at the Hispanic pilot.

Ethan felt a familiar pang of nervousness as he rubbed his head and tried to formulate the most minimally crazy-sounding explanation he could. “Ok, um. Well while I was flying around the column; I could see it of course, through the glass panel in the cockpit. And… well I saw city and townscapes that went along with the seemingly crafted landscapes that are in all the public photos.”

“WHAT?!” all three shouted in unison.

“I know, I… I tried to explain the same thing to the higher-ups. And they reacted the exact same way. They probably have pictures of it too, but good God they aren’t going to release anything like that until they could completely sort it out.”

“I… I don’t… I can’t even…” Andre stammered.

“Wow that was just a suggestion in passing, I wasn’t even really being serious,” Kyoko thought aloud.

“That is a bridge too far for me…” Natasha grumbled.

“I guess whenever what made that column decides to want to fess up, we’ll know more,” Ethan concluded.

= [ 2:00 AM PST – Los Angeles AFB, USA ] =

It was late into the night, or early into the morning on the Air Force base, as President Aguillar and her husband slept on in a well-guarded suite in the commanders lodging ‘house’. So she slept, quite peacefully, until her dreams were interrupted by a visitor: an apparition of white, cloaked in many pastel pinks, turquoises, and lavenders.

Madame President Melinda Aguillar, I am a projection of one of the rulers from the world behind the Aurora that appeared near this military installation today. I wish to address your people and inform them of our existence at a later date. Hopefully this can expand into a real dialogue with your many nations. A letter detailing the date of my arrival shall be delivered to once you rise, the white apparition told the President, who then, quite understandably, immediately catapulted awake.

"Just what in the hell was that?” Aguillar thought aloud as she rubbed her eyes open, groaning all the while. “I have to stop taking those sedatives before I go to sleep, the doctors keep telling me they mess with my head.”

She then looked down and noticed a scroll of faded yellow-gold lying in her lap on top of her bed covers. Suddenly the flash went off in her head, as she scrambled and opened the scroll, to see the letter written in perfect English, with a handwriting that could only be considered divine.

"This communiqué comes directly from one of the rulers of the beings that live beyond the Aurora Barrier. We have observed that your military and science divisions have already noticed our barrier, and we therefore feel it is comfortable to initiate dialogue with you and your people. We do understand you are not the ruler of your entire global population; however, we feel it is in our interest to appear in order to explain who exactly you are dealing with. Therefore we request a formal gathering of global dignitaries at your place of residence in six (6) days at noon of your residence's time. If you accept, then I will send similar communiqués to the other major global leaders, as best we can estimate, in order to prevent any misunderstandings or scheduling conflicts. However, if you refuse my request, then I shall simply appear without warning at a time and place of my choosing, and leave you and your world's governments to deal with the aftermath. I trust you to make an amicable decision."

Sincerely:
Princess Celestia, Avatar of the Sun
Co-Ruler of the Realm of Equestria

P.S.: We would not advise having any human attempt to penetrate the Aurora, especially in any type of vehicle. The results may not be very, how one could say, pleasant.

Princess Luna, Avatar of the Moon
Co-Ruler of the Realm of Equestria

= [ March 22, 2080 – Washington D.C., USA ] =

It had been two nights since President Aguillar had been visited by the apparition of Celestia. Not wanting to set off any alarm bells to anyone else, she told absolutely no one of the vision she had those nights ago, nor of the decision she was to make overnight tonight. In the end she figured (A) no one would believe her and/or (B) they’d try and commit her for being over-stressed and starting to hallucinate. Plus she had to gauge for herself whether the thoughts were even real; though another note or three in the last forty-eight hours told her apparition was very much real and very much tied to a living being somewhere beyond that shifting column of aurora-like light.

So the time of decision came, and as she slept, two small lights, one gold and one cerulean-azure, floated in the corner of her personal bedroom; the time of her ultimate decision regarding the previous days’ matters had come.

~~~!!~~~

Melinda found herself in a rather sparsely furnished conference room, nothing but a rather ornate pendulum clock with a stylized sun and crescent moon as remarkable sights within the probably 15’-on-each-side square room. As she sat down to the wood-grain table, she could notice a white-and-gold colored humanoid figure approaching her. Rather than feel nervous, and possibly give a very poor impression of herself and humanity, Melinda sat stoically, internally examining the slightly glowing white feminine ghost.

It would be hard to conduct negotiations if you did not have a human-like figure to focus on… my apologies… the ghost ‘said’, her voice somehow resounding slightly all through the dreamscape. Within short order said ghost began to coalesce into a very discernable human figure. She had coffee-brown skin and a very smooth visage, much like someone born or descended from those born on the Indian subcontinent. She had a figure commiserate with a woman of ‘above-average genetics’ (one could say) in her mid-to-late thirties. She wore a white business suit with metallic-gold fringes, and a mark of her stylized Sun over her left breast-pocket, right over her heart. Melinda though, was taken aback by two particular details on the now very human figure sitting across the table from her: one, her hair seemed to have living color, constantly shifting between the long tracks and sections of pink, lavender, and aquamarine; and two, her eyes spoke of a great many more years that her outward appearance did not.

After a few moments to contemplate the person her opposite at the table, Melinda began to speak. “Yes, it is much easier to negotiate with an actual face.”

The dark-skinned woman chuckled a bit before she introduced herself. “You may simply refer to me as Celeste Apollonius, this should be a form that you would be most comfortable conversing with, correct?”

What do you mean most comfortable form? Then again, assuming she’s real, she would be an extra-terrestrial. A talking starfish would be a lot harder to talk to than a starfish-guised-as-a-human, Melinda thought to herself as she answered aloud. “Yes, I am far more comfortable this way.”

The two of them looked at each other, Melinda marveling at the contradiction of Celeste’s inward age and outward youth, and Celeste gauging Melinda to be a far-more-than-competent leader at the current date, but hamstrung by her own internal conflicts and external forces attempting to deny her vision.

Melinda broke the silence with a heavy sigh, as she gathered herself to give the answer to the question she was asked those two nights ago. The last forty-eight hours’ worth of internal deliberation, geopolitical reasoning, and just personal faith that the being she was talking to was benevolent and not malevolent were all now going to culminate in the simple answer she was about to give.

And so she gave it.

“I accept the time frame for your visit in the Rose Garden. Though I would like to make a hopefully minor request of you,” Melinda started, as a list was made manifest within the dreamscape, much to the surprise of both Celeste and Melinda herself.

She must have an exceptionally strong will to affect the dreamscape without being told she could do it first. I wonder just how deep her will runs, Celeste thought to herself as she looked over the list, noting the mechanical yet consistent smoothness of the paper.

“If I am reading this list correctly, these are leaders of other Earth nations as well as, apparently local businesses you want I or my sister to contact and, smooth things over with, correct?” Celeste thought aloud as she read the rather long sheet of paper.

“Correct, Ms. Apollonius, the top of the list are the major nations that I would like for you to contact, in order to ensure that they do not perceive me as having finally ‘cracked’ under the pressure of this job. The latter businesses is just simply to ensure that they perform the job, as some are not exactly trusting of work orders outside of the usual clientele. I do have appearances to keep up, you know,” Melinda responded.

You cannot even begin to fathom how relevant that sentiment is to me… Celeste thought to herself as she agreed to contact the list of foreign heads-of-state and local business owners.

After reading and contemplating the list of requested contacts, Celeste breathed an easy sigh and looked at Melinda once again. “Yes, this is a reasonable request of me. I will require one week, there are things I have to prepare and sort out on my end, as well as needing to contact these leaders you have listed on this document. Hopefully no incidents will occur in these seven or so days that would require further alteration of the schedule.”

With the agreement set, Melinda and Celeste rose out of their chairs to shake hands, and congratulate each other on coming to terms.

Before the dreamscape was dispelled though, Celeste gave Melinda one final warning. “When I arrive in a week’s time, try not to be too surprised. Trust me; it will look far better for your photographers if it appeared that you knew exactly what was going to happen.”

With that, the dreamscape dissolved, and Melinda awakened.

~~~!!~~~

Melinda slowly reawakened this time, finding a new scroll on her nightstand, this time the parchment in indigo and midnight-blue. After briefly marveling at how the ink was apparently either white or turned white on the paper, she read the short note of the ‘sister’ Celeste spoke of.

We thank you for your clear and concise answer. The contacts you request should begin by nightfall tomorrow. We hope that the path being forged starting this day, is the first step in a long and prosperous road for not only both of our nations, but both of our worlds. Also, We would like to thank you for making our decision of where to appear that much easier.

Sincerely,
Princess Luna

“I hope the decision I made is the right one indeed,” President Aguillar mused softly to herself, as she folded up the dark parchment and laid it gently inside her nightstand drawer.

~= Boston, USA =~

“It really has been too long since we were last together, in the flesh,” Natasha chuckled as she lay in Ethan’s arms, their bodies still damp from the previous hour-or-so worth of activities.

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that jazz,” Ethan mused, which got another giggle and kiss out of his blonde girlfriend.

Natasha sighed as she nestled herself in closer to Ethan’s body. “It’s nice to see you are still in good spirits after the delay.”

“I could have encountered worse out there. I dunno, something about that whole column of light just screams ‘eye of the storm’,” Ethan replied, as he began contemplating things more deeply.

“So what are we going to do with ourselves going forward?”

“Not sure, I guess I can try and parlay all my flight experience into something, but who knows with the way the Domes treat outsiders. Not sure being some twit’s private pilot is a good use of my skills.”

“True enough, but we will have to find something; if for no other reason than not having you at home all the time getting bored while I’m not around.”

“Listen, if the night after a separation is going to be like that, I dunno if I can deny looking forward to that.”

Ethan leaned in as he gave his last statement, and after a brief silence, the both of them giggled as Natasha laid her head across his near-side shoulder.

“But you know what I am driving at, right Ethan?”

“Yeah, it might be fun to not have any responsibilities for a couple of months, but that can quickly turn into outright boredom.”

As they listened to the simulated ticking from Natasha’s alarm clock, they looked out through the now un-blocked window and up at the Dome-filtered sky over Boston; wondering just what the near and far future would hold in store for them.

= [ March 29, ???? – Canterlot, Equestria ] =

~= Nearly 9:30 AM Canterlot Local Time =~

Princess Celestia, the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and Spike all stood near the Shrine of Harmony, a living monument to the harmony and balance of the world they inhabited. Unfortunately, the stress of the impending visit to an alien world was starting to take their toll on a certain purple dragon and a certain mulberry unicorn. Spike seemed to be bearing it better than Twilight Sparkle though, as he was merely fidgeting in his black tuxedo as a ten-year old boy would.

Twilight however, seemed like a nervous wreck waiting to be unleashed upon the wider world, her nerves becoming evident to all around her. It was in stark and vast contrast to Princess Celestia though, who seemed to embody the very calm and harmony that the entire sub-space and enclosed Shrine was monument to.

“Okay, okay, this will be fine. We will be fine, just fine. Rainbow, how much time do we have left until we’re ready to go?” Twilight asked, her mane starting to fray by a few strands.

“About an hour and thirty minutes give or take…” Rainbow Dash replied curtly, not quite picking up on Twilight’s non-verbal cues.

The fact that only 90 minutes (or so) remained until their departure only served to tweak the Bearer of Magic further. “90 minutes, okay, just 90 minutes, then… OH CELESTIA I CAN’T DO IT!!”

The shouting though was cut short by enough water to fill a fair-sized bucket being dumped squarely on the head and shoulders of the nervous unicorn, courtesy of one indigo Princess of the Night, whom had seen it to see her sister off to the new world they had (re)discovered.

“We would greatly appreciate it if you would follow Our Sister’s lead and show calm and grace in the face of this assuredly stressful and uncertain time,” Luna chided gently as Twilight shook the water out her coat and mane.

“I… I’m sorry. But it’s just so… I have so many questions… and we will be on their turf. I mean what if it turns into a mob scene, or what if they believe we are some kind of product of one of their media companies and therefore not to be treated seriously at all?” Twilight pleaded, trying to get Luna and Celestia to see things her way (and justify her incredible anxiety).

Princess Luna was not having any of it, though. “Please do not give Us a reason to douse you again, fair Bearer of Magic…”

Twilight shrunk back a bit, as Rarity hoofed her a towel to dry the rest of the water out her mane. A few deep breathing exercises later, and she was able to focus on a slightly more pressing personal problem, mainly the fact that she now smelled of wet coat.

“Rarity, you wouldn’t happen to have any perfume in that travelling case of yours, would you?”

Rarity chuckled loudly. “Do I have any perfume in that traveling case, you ask?”

And with a flash of cornflower-blue magic, a rather oversized suitcase appeared next to Rarity. A few clicks later, the case popped open, and there were bottles and bottles of perfume and cologne, in all manners of scents for seemingly every occasion.

“Do you have anything in mind?” Rarity asked, batting her eyes and hoping Twilight would say ‘no’ so she could spend the next half-hour trying out everything in her perfume section on her.

Unfortunately for the fashionista, Twilight would not oblige her. “Oh um… I… hey you have the lavender-scent I always use. That’ll be perfect!”

Rarity sighed at the fact her little scheme was cut-off before it even started, but composed herself and levitated the purplish bottle over to her friend.

“In any case, has our host completed the arrangements she wanted us to agree to a week ago?” Luna asked of Celestia, turning the discussion back to the topic at hand.

“Indeed she did. Due to our, advance work, you could say, she had a far easier time than usual convincing all the dignitaries and leaders to show up. Then again, we are the first alien intelligence they will have contact with, I would imagine as many people as possible would want to be there live for when it happens,” Celestia responded, as she stared into the large pool near the shrine.

She gathered her thoughts, as she looked into the calm water, reflecting her divine-like visage back at her. I most certainly pray to whatever I can pray to that we do not run into complications. First impressions are vitally important, and I hope everyone involved can keep confusion and rumor-mongering down to a minimum.

As she continued to look into the pool, her mind drifted to another unrelated thought. I wonder, had my circumstances not been what they were, could I have become some kind of model. Oh well, I will just have to settle for Avatar of the Sun and Princess of Equestria, I guess…

Celestia chuckled briefly as she indulged her vanity for a few moments while Luna looked on, mildly confused as to what her older sister was thinking.

--!!--

“So what exactly are ya’ll in for over there?” Applejack asked offhandedly as the clock drew to half an hour before departure.

"Unless something truly catastrophic happens, then this is merely to be a prelude to further contact, and hopefully negotiations. The plan is that, while I operate as the public face of our contact, Luna will gather as many noble and knowledgeable minds as she can. It is basic, hopefully, two-pronged diplomacy and relationship building,” Celestia responded, attempting to be as vague as possible as to not overwhelm anyone with details that might be rendered moot in short order.

“I can’t help but think that it’d be fitting that you would be the public face, Princess Celestia, and dear Princess Luna would be working behind the curtains,” Rarity mused aloud, getting a chuckle and a nod from the lunar Princess.

“It’s too bad that we couldn’t come. I’d love to throw the humans a ‘Hi We’re Your New Neighbors’ party. But there can be time for that later, right?” Pinkie Pie chirped, as she internally discarded and drew up new and ever varying plans for a big meet-and-greet.

“While I’d think holding a big Pinkie Pie-style party would be coming on too strong, sometimes a celebration is the best way to smooth out an ill will,” Rainbow Dash added, knowing how forward Pinkie could be when making a new friend or few dozen.

“Yes the time for more informal celebrations would be at a later date. First we must establish we are not a larger threat to their order, at least not in the way they would think an alien species would be,” Celestia contemplated aloud, as she was still internally revising her brief speech.

“I just hope they don’t take what you or the rest of us have to say too badly. I know our appearing out of nowhere would startle them, and… well… it’s easy to start acting out of fear when startled,” Fluttershy worried, as she could remember some of the sociological documentaries she watched, and feeling quite queasy at how simple misunderstandings could breakdown into armed conflict (or worse).

Rarity sighed as she trotted over to Fluttershy and patted on her back and shoulder. “I told you that watching too many of those violent documentaries would make you overly nervous, humans aren’t simply barbarians, as simple a conclusion those outside of these walls may draw once we increase general contact.”

Fluttershy simply shook her head as she responded. “It’s not that, necessarily. I… I thought I needed to brace myself for all the bad humans had done, and could still do. I wouldn’t make a good animal caretaker if I just ignored how Nature operated in the Everfree and other unmanaged areas. It wouldn’t be fair to me or to humanity if I just ignored one half of their history for the other half.”

A genuinely sophisticated worldview; she will make an excellent diplomat if she ever wanted to go into politics full-time… Princess Celestia thought as she could feel the time tick down to fifteen minutes until departure.

“It’s nice to see that the little trick Rainbow Dash stumbled into is being used for more than consuming their fictional media,” Princess Luna stated jokingly as mussed Rainbow Dash’s mane a bit.

“Hey, you can find about a lot about somebody just by knowing what kind of stuff they like to read or watch in their downtime,” Rainbow pouted in response.

Twilight huffed a soft snort herself at Luna’s statement as she trotted over to Rainbow Dash. “I’m still surprised that you were the first one to figure it out. Usually information diving is my line of work.” Rainbow Dash blushed a bit at the assertion that she was more of an ‘egghead’ as she put it than she let on.

Sometimes we’re still the little fillies we were so many years ago, Princess Luna thought as she watched Twilight tease Rainbow a little more.

In a sense that is reassuring. The type of creatures we are, it’s hard to remember that we were once immature children, Princess Celestia added telepathically.

You know the others think we’re still immature children… but that’s because of our, well somewhat unique circumstances, Luna mentioned, with a bit of a faraway look none of the mortals there could pick up on.

In a sense we are, then again… there always seems to be someone higher on the totem pole, as it were. Just the nature of the Universe, I would wager, Celestia thought, as she nuzzled Luna.

--!!--

After a bit more teasing to and fro between herself and Dash, Twilight trotted off to another small reflecting pool, looking down at herself as she prepared, now only ten minutes or so away, for her departure with Spike and Princess Celestia. She looked down at her visage in the water and began to think, not just of the future political fights that were sure to come with integration both-ways of an alien species, but of something else more… esoteric one could say.

That same voice, that voice that helped me forge the new connection between the worlds; it keeps speaking of some Power to me. She says that our magic is somehow incomplete, or at least, it is like trying to perform a play without half the script.

Twilight calmed herself as she thought again to the visions. An elderly woman’s voice compelling her to seek out the beings that contained, she could only assume, something regarding a lost power on Earth. She wanted to so badly to know what this mysterious voice was, and why it was contacting her and not necessarily Princess Celestia and Luna. At the same time, she thought, perhaps that voice was contacting the Princesses, and that was the subtle driving force of all these machinations that were to begin today.

So many questions, and so few apparent answers.

Twilight sighed as she thought a final thought before rejoining the cluster around the Shrine of Harmony. I should have figured that this entire endeavor wouldn’t be as simple as geopolitical wrangling between two separate species.

= [ March 29, 2080 – Washington D.C., USA ] =

~= 11:50 AM EST =~

“Ten minutes people, ten minutes before showtime and I will NOT have our first impression to aliens be a bad one!” Aguillar’s Chief of Staff, Irving Porcher, shouted as the aides scrambled behind the cameras to ensure that all of the food was properly labeled and set apart, as well as the electronic and print signage being in the proper place. The only heads up that mysterious ‘ghost’ and the subsequent missives from the government liaisons would give were that: A) minimal meat products were to be served, and (B) that they needed to be as processed as little as possible, aside from standard cooking procedures. Aside from that, they were to be treated as any other foreign dignitary.

That last little bit did not calm any of the nerves of those behind the cameras or offering their punditry from the various studios. Thankfully for all involved, the world leaders in front of the cameras were a lot calmer. President Aguillar was the calmest, as her husband Michael and her two children, Reginald and Rosa, both seemed to chafe at the crushing media pressure being applied to such a momentous occasion. Nevertheless, they too remained as calm as a sixteen year old young man and a twelve year old young lady could manage.

Just a few minutes left until first official contact. Just what exactly are you Celeste? It’s rather difficult to remain calm while I have no idea what I’m in for… President Aguillar thought as she chatted briefly with the Russian and Chinese Federation presidents. And I am sure some of the more prominent business leaders weren’t too pleased with being left out of this little grand gathering. Oh well, what is done is done now. This is something that needs to be conducted strictly through official channels.

As the conversation drifted off and the family separated to the side of the arranged seating, Melinda took a few moments to look up at the Dome above her head. At least it is mostly clear, so the color filter should work better than normal. I hate the fact that we have to put on such ‘airs’, but we are what we are. It seemed like she understood as much anyway.

~= Nouvelle Baton Rouge, USA -- 10:53 AM CST =~

“Boy, just look at all of them in one place,” Andre mused aloud as he, Kyoko, Ethan, and Natasha were all watching the pundit class yammer on about what the speech coming might contain, and the exact nature of the ‘surprise’ to be sprung upon the world.

“You know, it’s funny to watch people blindly speculating on what our visitors will be and what they might look like. Especially since they saw fit to announce their visit in advance,” Natasha thought aloud as she sat next to Ethan at a table in her Boston apartment.

“Usually how it works in the movies is that they come out of the clear blue talking about being taken to that nation’s leader. Perhaps they read up on that somehow and wanted to avoid being too cliché?” Ethan joked, seeing as there was no sense getting completely bent out of shape for this most momentous of occasions.

“In any case, they are smart enough to contact your President and everyone else in such a way, that they all are peaceably assembled in one place,” Kyoko noted as she nodded sagely from her own terminal room.

“True enough, I guess we will know if we are dealing with benevolent or malevolent aliens. Just hope they don’t look too weird, and have everyone freaking out more than they would otherwise,” Andre concluded as the time ticked away to 1 PM

~= Washington D.C. -- 12:00 PM EST =~

Madame President, my associates and I are currently in transit to your location. We will remain hidden until you finish your opening remarks; all you need to do is mentally give the signal and we will appear. I do request you not take up too much time however - mostly because my adjutant and student might be reduced to a quivering wreck if we delay any further, Celestia said telepathically to President Aguillar.

Said Princess, hyper-ventilating Twilight, and somewhat nervous Spike were in a magical bubble floating high above the Domes of Washington D.C., entirely invisible to any detection by mankind's machinery.

Well, it’s high noon, time to see if I we all just made a decision that will save or damn us all… President Aguillar thought to herself as she strode to the lectern with all the gravitas and seriousness such a momentous occasion called for.

Standing behind the Presidential Seal, the American, and the UN Flags; Aguillar could feel all cameras trained on her, as the entire crowd in the Rose Garden fell as silent as one could in such an urban place.

She took a deep breath, and began speaking, hoping and praying she was not giving the last broadcast of a human government.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Citizens of America and Her Territories, and all other inhabitants of our blue Earth; Mankind has always proceeded in its existence with the idea that it was the only sentient being that existed within a space where we could communicate with it. The Artificial Intelligences we have developed was borne out of this idea that we believed, that if we could consult with intelligence not our own, we would gain further insight into our true natures. However, this has proven to be less than the full reality of the situation, to say the least. Since AIs still derive from our own experiences, they, therefore, share some of our own biases, whether we realize or not. As such, we still continued to search for some sign that something other than ourselves of equivalent intelligence existed and that we might communicate with it.

"That is, until ten days ago, when the anomaly now commonly known as the Aurora Barrier appeared off the coast of one of the world's most Historic and populous cities, Los Angeles. This barrier is seemingly impenetrable by our advanced technology; yet to those brave enough to view at it with their own eyes live and in the flesh, it gives us glimpses into a world few could scarcely imagine. It is a world picturesque; all manners of landforms, biomes, and colors appear to those who dare peer through the Aurora. This gave rise question with no definite answer, 'Is this some natural phenomenon, or a contrivance of some media company with far too much money to burn.' I am here to tell the world, the Aurora Barrier is not produced by anything human."

Gasps immediately escaped from the audience... however, the world leaders knew better, they had all received advanced warning.

She then continued, "So then the question can then immediately be asked: 'How can you prove that the Aurora Barrier was erected by a force not human?' I could answer that, but I'm afraid that some would still find my words fully unbelievable. Therefore, in order to cast aside all doubt, I humbly request that the Guest of Honor for this event to appear before you."

That's your cue, Celeste, Aguillar quickly fired off the psychic message.

Thank you. Now my little Pony and Dragon, I do believe it is time for us to officially open the curtain on this grand production of ours, Celestia replied, as suddenly a bright sphere with an aurora much like her mane, and fringed in the gold of her magic, appeared above the dome.

Wait what... Pony... Dragon... the hell could that have meant... Aguillar thought to herself to some mild degree of shock.

Everyone looked around for a few moments, wondering what was supposed to happen. Some expected a spaceship to float down; a few still thought the entire setup was some kind of elaborate hoax. Those thoughts persisted until a glowing sphere that looked similar to the Aurora Barrier when it was displaying the lighter pastel colors floated down past the physical Dome, as if it weren’t there. The entire crowd, nay, the entire world immediately fell silent; as if all of ‘wired’ society had suddenly been stricken dumb at the same time. The orb lowered to ground level, and dissipated slowly once it touched down.

Three figures were slowly revealed to the rest of the world, as if a curtain was being drawn upward. The first figure that was completely revealed was a small dragon, about 2 feet tall. Quite unassuming in its form: amethyst purple scaly skin, lime green ear ridges with emerald green spinal plates, and large, vivid green eyes. On top of all of this, he wore a black formal suit, although not covering his lower body, trying to do such and leave room for his large, thick alligator like tail would have been far too much trouble. Spike was the very image of a young, precocious child; assuming humanity evolved from Technicolor lizards and not ancient apes. One could have wondered why it was bothering to wear any clothes at all, but anyone that was in any position to ask was too awestruck to formulate words let alone complete thoughts.

The second figure to be revealed was that of an equine, 3 feet tall to the shoulder roughly. She did not perfectly resemble a comparative Earth horse of her size though, appearing more as a cartoonish rendition of one instead. Her legs thicker than a normal horse, face far more rounded, and a mane that seemed more like a human's head of hair, separated by a rounded unicorn's horn. The greatest deviation, much like the dragon, was her coloring: various shades of purple and magenta, and the marking on each of her flanks of an exploding 6-pointed star. This figure began to get the crowd more talkative, mentioning how she seemed like a living toy.

The final figure to appear in full was similar to the purple equine before, except taller and more slender, closer to the true proportions of a horse; as she stood at about a height where her face was roughly even to an average human male’s. The figure had a coat white as the driven snow, and her mane a living gradient of pink, aqua, and lavender. Her eyes burned with intelligence that an extremely long life affords you, yet they retained the compassion of a mother and matriarch. Everything about her affectation screamed "Leader": the gold ornaments and armor all over her body, the crown atop her head, the wings and sharp horn, combining the aesthetics of two mythical horses, the Pegasus and the Unicorn. Everything about her visage silently screamed that she was a figure to be treated as royalty, if not like a deity taken physical form.

The three of them stood there, all the still-shot photographers opposite of them stood too scared to snap photos for fear of setting them to stampeding; or worse yet, blasting them halfway across the street with some unknown technology or magic. The images being broadcast everywhere by television and internet-streaming camera brought the normal hustle and bustle of everyday life to a grinding halt. Cars and other personal transport stopped dead where they stood, when they could (and in some cases, where they couldn’t). Trains and airplanes that weren’t already being ‘driven’ by AI were immediately put on autopilot, while everyone stared at the image on their screen or the image displayed in their mind through the neural implants.

This living freeze-frame went on for a good 2 or 3 minutes; everyone was frozen in place staring at the 3 storybook creatures until President Aguillar managed to break loose from her stupor long enough to direct Celestia to the lectern. Silently sensing the cue, Celestia then walked toward the lectern, her horn glowing in order to lower it to a position where the cameras could get a good look of her face and neck as she spoke. She inwardly thanked her previous research into basic television speech-giving optics, as it would not look very regal to have one’s face blocked because the lectern and microphone were set too high. Twilight Sparkle quickly took up position to her right, hoping the cameras, and most of the others there, would be too captivated by Celestia to bother with her. Spike calmly walked and stood to Celestia's left, wondering if those food-production machines the others had talked about on and off could produce other materials like gemstones.

Celestia then began to speak, maintaining a regal air while making sure not to speak too loudly and allow the mechanical amplifiers and recorders to do their job. "Good Day, Denizens of the Planet Earth. My name is Princess Celestia, Avatar of the Sun, Princess and co-rule of the Land Behind the Aurora Barrier. My visit here is brief, for this is merely an introduction for myself and my kind. Firstly, I wish to clarify just whom I represent. I, along with my sister, rule the Kingdom of Equestria, the land that is most directly connected to the Aurora Barrier, that I am sure that some of you have caught glimpses of already. Said kingdom is populated by beings much like my student and adjutant Twilight Sparkle to my right..."

Twilight Sparkle shivered as she could feel the cameras all focus on her for a brief moment.

"... and by other creatures sure as her assistant here, Spike, a juvenile dragon..."

Spike blanched at being reminded of his incredibly young age by dragon standards.

"… as well as many others that, for the sake of brevity, I will discuss at a later date. Our Worlds are currently, in a sense, neighbors now; a link having recently been forged in order to allow us passage in order to interact and study your culture and people. Do not fear, this process will not affect your world physically in terms of the orbit around your Sun or the orbit of the Moon around your planet, for our realm exists in a parallel dimension. At a later date, I will more thoroughly address your people. I look forward to this date, as should all whom can hear my voice or listen to the after-the-fact-recordings, as I believe the news that I will bring will be of great interest to all of your people, regardless of their status or class. In any case, my travelling party and I shall remain here for a brief period in order to answer some general questions, and be entertained as the esteemed guests of this nation's President and her colleagues. Before I conclude my remarks though, I would like to make a request of your media. We would greatly appreciate that you refer to my species as simply 'Ponies', the same term that is generally used for small horses in English."

After the photographers were reasonably sure that Celestia was done speaking at the lectern, flashbulbs went off in rapid succession, and file footage was being archived in every place imaginable. Already the headlines were being written all over the Internet and every newswire service: "They have Arrived. And They Are Ponies?!" Meanwhile, in a certain corner of the internet, four viewers were busy trying to pick all of their jaws up off the floor.

~= Nouvelle Baton Rouge – roughly 11:20 AM CST =~

“THEY ARE SO ADORABLE~!!” Kyoko squealed after the four of them in the video-chat had finally regained the capacity for human speech.

“Adorable is… one way to describe them…” Andre thought aloud as he was trying to rationalize how something that would look like a living cartoon would be A) living and B) not in a cartoon.

“Did the world just suddenly stop working a few minutes ago? Because I’m trying to figure out how what we just saw was actually real and not some kind of extremely overly-elaborate hoax. I am dead serious about that!” Natasha wondered aloud, in a state of combined disbelief and shock.

“Honestly, it makes quite a bit of sense. I did say I saw city and landscapes that seemed to be carved or arranged with a ‘storybook’ aesthetic. I guess it’d make all the sense in the world that whatever lived there would also share that storybook aesthetic,” Ethan reasoned aloud, while attempting to remain as logical and dispassionate as he possibly could, given what he and the rest of his circle had just seen.

“I know, but… seriously… they looked like living Animatronic puppets. And a horse’s mane definitely shouldn’t look like a self-contained light show. If they are real and they are magic, Celestia must have something crazy coursing through her veins,” Natasha griped, as her brain had basically given up trying to deny what she had just saw, and was now trying to find some sensible way to accept it.

“I would so buy plush dolls designed like them~! They’d look perfect in my room, especially that cute little dragon!” Kyoko continued to exclaim, the other three swearing they could see the stars in her eyes as she did.

“Getting back to more salient points -- despite how weird they looked, that Princess Celestia carried herself with an incredible regal air. As if she had been sitting on the throne for far longer than any human has,” Andre explained, as his brain had finally righted itself.

“Really? Horses only live for like, 30 years. Then again, these are aliens that look like horses, who’s to say they don’t live a lot longer? Ugh, this is so… so…” Natasha stammered at the end, fishing for the right English word for it.

“Confusing, upsetting, just plain weird?” Ethan rattled off as he tried to help his girlfriend in her diction.

“Confusing would be the right word. It’s not even upsetting really, it’s, it’s just so hard to get my head around,” Natasha complained as Ethan patted her on the back.

“Judging from how the message boards and news-site comment threads have exploded in the last few minutes, it’d be a sure bet you aren’t the only one confused by what we just saw,” Andre pointed out, as he shared the links that he had just been bombarded with from other people.

Kyoko oohed and aahed at just how many thousands of messages had been piled up in such a short time already. “You are not kidding, are you? Seems like we have way more questions than answers.”

~= Kyoto, Japan – roughly 2:00 AM JST =~

“It is strange, how you have decided to meet with us in person, Tsuki-no-hime. Your sister apparently saw fit to show herself at that media gathering in Washington, I would have expected you to have joined her there,” a Japanese man in his mid-fifties stated with a dry humorous tone, as if he found everything amusing to some small extent.

“I assure you, sir. We will make Our public appearance before long. However, the task We have been charged with has to be of the utmost secret,” Princess Luna stated, as she sat on the cushion before the tea table.

“I see, so that is why you had to contact us in the dead of night. Then again, your status as your Moon’s Princess would imply this is a trademark of yours, in a sense,” the man’s wife replied, as she sat opposite Luna at the table, besides her husband. “Also, that royal We, I believe it is called in English, sounds rather stifling.”

“If you accept this project, and should we become more familiar, then We believe that Our speech towards you all shall mirror said closeness in relationship,” Luna responded, inwardly grousing about how ponies and apparently people just couldn’t accept how she spoke normally.

“I see, intentionally creating distance in your personal references, in order to maintain emotional distance. Something practitioners of our native language are quite familiar with. You’d probably enjoy learning it,” the wife responded, as she poured more tea in each of the three cups.

<As you were saying, doctors?> Luna replied in pitch perfect Japanese.

<Full of surprises, aren’t we? How very interesting, Princess of the Moon.> the man responded, with a devious glint in his eyes, as the moon reflected off of his glasses.

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[The REAL Mister Pkmn]

Pandemonium ensues.