The GATE

by scifipony

31 - Diplomacy

Antoinette gasped. "The purple one. She's the one, the mare that took Brother to the hospital..."

I heard a shout, "And the monster's a thief, too!", followed by a chorus of shushing. I didn't need to look back to know which old baby boomer had said that.

I stared at the little winged unicorn. Time had dilated and it seemed we'd been watching one another for a minute or more. In that time, she seemed oblivious to the "heat" she packed, but I understood full well that not only could she use all of it, and all of it simultaneously like the princess levitated the keys, but that she didn't need any of if she chose to be fierce. Nor did she seem to want to be. Her obliviousness telegraphed that much. Slowly, the word ingénue came to mind. I wasn't positive the word ingénue entirely applied, but intuition insisted it did.

The exuberant newcomer stared hard-eyed for a few moments at the source of the last outburst, then looked back into my eyes as she trotted, smiling, the short distance up to me. With horse-like body language, ears forward, she sniffed, her nostrils in what appeared to be a soft small muzzle pulsing, before she spoke.

"..."

I shrugged.

She shrugged and smiled even more widely in a totally un-horse-like manner, pointing at her gesture and mine, glancing back. She then tilted her head inquiringly, looking me in the eye.

I said, "What has happened looks bad. My father is a sheriff, kind of like those armored guys over there but with a smaller brass shield pinned to his chest—" I pointed. "—and I'm sure this shouldn't have been allowed, and I feel sorry it happened. Can you even understand anything I'm saying?"

The pony blinked her big purple eyes, then shrugged. I'd noticed that she had a stars tattoo and the Arabian had a sun tattoo, which fit oddly with what Antoinette had sad about that one controlling the sun. To keep things straight in my head, since I'd never be able to speak horse, I decided to call the purple pony Duchess Stars, the blue one Princess Moon, and the white one Queen Sun. In my mind, a duke, or in her case a duchess, seemed like someone who'd be formidable or militant. I thought of Downton Abbey.

I coughed.

I decided the shrug was coincidental. I added, "I would like to help to fix whatever happened and to help humans and equines live together peacefully."

My words stunned me because they came out in a rush without much thought. Then I realized that I had been looking for some way to make a difference with my life. Had my subconscious picked a role for me? I blinked away a tear.

I could make a difference.

I briefly bowed, then pointed at my chest and said, "Judith Brown." I pointed at the duchess.

Her mouth dropped and she chuffed two words and pointed at herself, then made horse sounds that faintly imitated my name. While I named her companions, then Antoinette and Daniel who had come to sit behind me, a golden brown pony trotted up with a basket of very red apples on her back.

Apples! How very stereotypically horsey.

"That's the one!" Antoinette said just short of shouting behind me. "She kicked Pauli."

I glanced back to see her pointing, then forward. Of all the ponies, this one looked the most earth-like. Though she greatly resembled a Shetland pony, she wore a work-stained cowboy hat and had wrangled together the voluminous blonde hair in her mane and tail with red yarn ties. In a feat of hard to follow motions, she brought the basket over her head and hat, caught its fall, and landed it with a faint bang before us.

She picked out a very red apple from the basket and offered it on an upturned hoof with a word I'm sure meant apple. I flashed on a scene in the animated Snow White where the witch gives Snow White the apple.

Kicked Pauli, huh? While wearing a cowboy hat?

When I paused like a deer in the headlights, the pony bit into the apple and offered it again.

Not poisoned.

But also, well, horse spit.

I took it nevertheless and bit off a mouthful from the other side. It wasn't overly sweet, but the taste of apple was so intense my mouth hurt as my salvia flowed freely. I nodded and smiled, realizing this was obviously her orchard and all it implied.

I hoped what she said next was If she likes apples, she can't be half rotten.

I bent and used a finger to scrawl Apple in the dirt. Suddenly the equines and I were pointing between the fruit and the word.

A small yellow pony had been hiding behind the apple purveyor's legs. This one was the size of a border collie but with legs that were more the length of a corgi's. She was jumping and speaking, until the older one shushed her and possibly scolded her. The little one turned stern in an obviously kid way, pointed at the other humans accusingly, at her apparent elder, then at her own purple and red flank tattoo as if it made a point. She then rushed off into the farmhouse faster than any earth quadruped her size had a physical right to.

I decided to call her Bows because she had a big red ribbon bow tied into her mane.

When she shot back from the house, she skidded to a stop between the duchess, Apple, and me. Bows dumped her saddlebags, which, besides a few hardbound books, included pencils (painted yellow with a pink eraser), a protractor, a triangle, a notebook, and index cards on a ring.

She opened the notebook and with a stubby pencil in her mouth, wrote letters, a single line glyph of an apple, and copied a-p-p-l-e.

I reached for another pencil, then presented an open hand as if to a regular horse. Bows nodded. I took the index cards and printed APPLE.

Bows started bouncing again, then remembered herself as the gathering herd of equines, including the princess and queen nodded and chuffed happily. She wrote on the back of the card, and hoofed it back to me. As I took it, I noticed an oddly clean (for a quadruped) frog that was fuzzy pink and looked like it formed to flattened thumbs.

It explained much.

I flashed the horse writing side at my audience and pointed at the apples. Every equine nodded.

Taking an empty card, I pointed to myself and printed in block letters, JUDITH BROWN.

Author's Note:

And that’s it, for now at least. First contact, some Inyo Valley politics, and cultural relativism, plus suspense. An exercise in cliffhangers and strict POV, which obviously left some readers impatient. Sorry, but, well, that’s called suspense.

I have a hydrologist friend that lives up in “a town of giant lakes” (Mammoth Lakes) whom I visit, and the refresher on water rights and sparse settlement in the valley, as well of a lot of hiking around and about the Eastern Sierras gathering scenic ideas, was all thanks to him. Silver Shoal’s is located outside of Bishop, California. Anywhere else would have been factually impossible, and I made that correction mid-way through publication.

I have further material that would work as an epilogue and the beginning of a book two of the story. Does anyone what to see it? I’m marking The GATE completed, but follow me or check in during the coming weeks on my user page and blog for more info.

I think I admitted it in a forum, but I got the original idea from the anime Gate. In the case of my story, the magic users are instead invaded by the non-magic users, and the invaders are dramatically less bloodthirsty or nuts. (Uh, huh, you got that right.)

Going forward: The portal cannot go away and represents to the Equestrians what politicians term a hard border. Humans invaded. The Equestrians will protect it from our side. This is Luna’s “hobby” after her “retirement” at “Silver Shoals,” together with her human protégé. Writing the next part of the story will require good knowledge of human politics and I’m not entirely sure I can adequately tell the story of how ponies may affect or mend our current society. Does any one else want to tell this story? Other than using what was written as canon, where you take it would be up to you. If any one wants me to provide character notes, world building rules, and the agendas of the characters such that they can extend (or complete) the story themselves, just ask.

If you want to read more of my stories, I suggests starting with The Enforcer and Her Blackmailers (I’m re-reading it now and considering a prequel) or the Royal Canterlot Library spotlighted story, To Bring Light to Eternal Darkness.

Comments

[Arkonfleight]

Inyo Valley

I had to look this up because it sounded like a punchline to a dirty joke.

[scifipony]

10018668
You! The story more correctly takes place in Inyo County, California, outside of Bishop.

[BestinDworld]

10018703
I would love a sequel to this by you im looking forward to it

[keroko]

Hrmmm, this ending feels unfulfilling. The POV change came so late into the story only a handful of the questions we had were answered, and it just seems to cut off at the point where we seemed to be about to get more. A couple more chapters at the very least establishing the line of thinking of the people for their actions, and perhaps a 'what next?' feel like they'd close of the story a bit better.

[FanOfMostEverything]

In my mind, a duke, or in her case a duchess, seemed like someone who'd be formidable or militant.

That is what dukedom originally meant, yes.

My words stunned me because they came out in a rush without much thought. Then I realized that I had been looking for some way to make a difference with my life. Had my subconscious picked a role for me? I blinked away a tear.

I half expect her to develop tattoos of a hand shaking a hoof on each hip.

But yeah, this does feel abrupt. Honestly, Judith finding her cutie mark feels like a microcosm of this epilogue: A sudden moment of rationality that clears up everything with little setup or follow-through. I'd love to see more of this, not least because this is far from the most satisfactory way to conclude it. It doesn't feel completely bridged from now to the moment just before the perspective swap.

Still, this has been an interesting experience. Thank you for it.

[Efadd]

"And the monster's a thief, too!"

Obligatory, but... ok, boomer.

[Black--Soul]

Time to give em the human Alphabet and numbers.

[scifipony]

10038976
Interesting play-by-play, there. Thank you for commenting. The suspense seemed unbearable for you, but suspense goes hand in hoof with the Thriller tag.

10038843

[Twilight POV:] A sudden crackling hiss broke the gathered silence. I heard a bleep, then a distorted biped voice asking a question.[...] I spotted a black amulet with a stick coming out of its top.

“Oh Neigh” and “Broader” had a walkie-talkie, as did some other human. Not sure how I could have made that clearer from an alien point of view. Perhaps by stating that the amulet’s sides looked like hardened tar (i.e., plastic) , implying no screen? You are right in there would be no cell reception. The humans may have realized that.

10038703
Did they really “shoot” first? Did you catch AJ’s part in it in 30 - Differing Points of View? Names don’t translate across the alien/human barrier well, so scan for “this golden one”... It’s clarified further in the subsequent chapter.

I wonder what will happen if humans ever actually contact aliens. I speculate it depends on how tolerant each side is.

[Black--Soul]

10039562
Amazing story. I hope for a sequel. Personaly i would like the first chapters after AJ is rescued. Twilight would in my view make it a priority. Other than that a great story.

Congrats to your 50 likes on this story by the way.

[Mocha Star]

Good story! I kinda hope for more, but regardless this was a fun read.

[Black--Soul]

10266173
Sounds correct.

[Fistfire]

was a nice read, but i want more please

[Black--Soul]

11116609
Germans would not fire first, moral high ground for the win

[Black--Soul]

11120351
At least they all walked away from this situation. It could have ended so mutch worse...

[Hawkrine]

11290759
Very good point, concise logic and an understandable argument.
Thank you for explaining your reasoning to me, I find that I agree with you. Have a great day