Smolder had been kept busy with more than just political requirements. In the many days prior to legalizing the Equestrians’ presence and right to trade, the dragoness met with the representatives of many companies. Some desired to sell their goods to a new market, while others were more interested in finding out what Equus had to offer. Several lucrative agreements were drawn up and Smolder passed them on to Flim and Flam for vetting.
The twin unicorns were glad for the challenge of dealing with the complexities of an entirely new commercial law system. Their work within the Equestrian government had become a little too effective. No one dared nowadays to try to game the system with those two looking over their shoulders constantly, waiting to gleefully pounce on any hint of malfeasance. The brothers were getting bored and Mark reckoned that was not a desirable condition. As a result, Flim and Flam had spent the last five years poring over Australian legal codes, business law rulings, and even pending parliamentary legislation.
Several of the agreements were sent back to Smolder to have aspects either clarified or renegotiated. When everyone was finally satisfied, they were set aside until parliament finally passed the legislation that enabled the Equestrians to formally sign them as legal contracts. As expected, Mark kept very busy finalizing the deals the following day, but he was ecstatic with what they had achieved so far.
On the date that the official ceremony was to be held in Canberra, all stops were pulled out to make the occasion spectacular. After all, the whole world would be watching. A motorcade was arranged from the temporary Equestrian embassy to Parliament House where Prince Mark Wells, Princess Trixie, and Smolder would ceremoniously sign the treaty between the two countries. Naturally, security was high and traffic was blocked in key areas. Royal Guards flanked the path to the front gate where Australian police took over. The royals, the ambassador, and their personal guards climbed into the vehicles provided and the motorcade commenced.
They had only been driving for about five minutes when a large truck driven at high speed burst through the barrier at an intersection. Screams of fear from the onlookers turned to gasps of shock as the heavy vehicle came to an abrupt halt as it smashed into an invisible wall. Before anyone else could react, Crimson Boulder and Penumbra practically exploded out of their cars, leaving behind Shining Armor who kept up his shield around the VIPs. Crimson ripped off the crumpled driver’s door like it was made of tissue paper and hauled out the dazed and bleeding man. The stallion threw him away from the truck and onto the asphalt and placed a hoof on his back. With the man immobilized, Crimson scanned him for weapons before shouting, “Clear!”
Meanwhile, Penumbra dealt with the passenger, who despite being battered, was alert enough to wave a pistol through an open window in the batpony’s direction. She easily dodged the first two shots before getting close enough to throw her foreleg inside the cab. Her hoof connected with the man’s face, smashing his nose and shattering his cheekbone. She swept her leg down to disarm him before dragging him out through the window and onto the ground. Upon securing the would-be murderer, she shouted, “Clear!” just as the police converged on her and Crimson.
Under normal circumstances, everyone involved would be detained for questioning while the scene was cleared up. This was far from normal though, and the motorcade recommenced almost immediately, but not before listening to screams of “Death to the infidels!” from the driver who had recovered lucidity even as he was being hauled away.
“Have enough fun?” Mark asked Penumbra.
“Nah. They need a better class of assassin,” she replied. “Way too easy.”
“At least it isn’t as boring as you said this would be,” the alicorn pointed out.
“True. I suppose it would be too much to hope for a suicide squad to attack us in Parliament House?”
“I don’t think that’s likely,” Mark replied, wondering what their driver was making of their conversation.
As Penumbra feared, the event was dull despite the glitz and impressive speeches. She had to fall back on her Royal Guard training to remain stoically alert during the ceremony, even when Trixie livened up her address with some amazing illusions.
The return to the embassy was unremarkable, and only a message from the Australian Federal Police asking for an interview with Crimson Boulder and Penumbra awaited them. Mark sent a reply saying that the two would be available the next morning. He was pleased that the world saw that ponies were not just cute aliens but a force to be reckoned with.
The tall man frowned as he watched the news replay the attempted assassination. His pencil wrote out demonstrated capabilities and feasible countermeasures. Then he started ranking the countermeasures by ease of implementation, probability of effectiveness, and amount of forewarning the prey would have. He was going to have to be very careful about picking the time and place for offing his target if the same fate was not going to happen to him.
In an ultra-secure meeting room in a top-secret American facility, the Head of Operations slammed down the last of the reports that he had been reviewing. He looked up at the people gathered around the table and frowned. “All I have got from all of this is that something stopped a fast-moving multi-ton truck somehow in its tracks. I could have learned that just by watching the six o’clock news! Technology that can do that can’t have been slipped under a coat! And yet not one of you can provide me with an explanation of how the Equestrians did it.” He shot a glare at one person who started to reply. “And the first to say magic is going to be booted so hard, they won’t land until next Tuesday! Those creatures are hiding something – something that is an existential threat to the security of the United States. Redouble your efforts to find how they did that and all the other physics-defying feats, and don’t come back until you do!”
“I can’t find the girl.”
Kalchik glared at the private investigator. “What do you mean ‘can’t find’? Latisha Tyson is Yolanda Martine’s best friend. There’s no way that there wouldn’t be a trail a mile wide leading to her!”
The P.I. frowned. “Ostensibly, there is. I found out that she moved to Texas to take up a position at the Dragonlands Reptile Sanctuary, and I managed to… acquire their phone number. However, the receptionist informed me that their employees could not take personal calls while on duty, and only people on the emergency contacts list were exceptions. They agreed to take a message asking for her to call me, but she never did, unsurprisingly. I asked a female colleague to try, but with the same result.”
“So – go there yourself! I’m paying all your expenses, after all.”
“I know, and that’s what I planned to do, but no amount of searching gave me anything except a single website that had some generic reptile rescue and rehabilitation information. It did not even list an address beyond saying it was located in Texas. A search of the public records at the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation plus every county government website comes up empty. As far as I can tell, it does not exist.”
Kalchik fumed. Both young women had apparently disappeared from the face of the Earth as well as the Martine’s son, and that probably meant that they were in Equestria which was currently out of his reach. He thought for a while before addressing the investigator once more. “Forget Tyson – she’s another dead end. Go back to trying to find where the Martines live. I don’t care how long it takes.”
The P.I. nodded. “Will do.” He got up from his seat and left the office.
Kalchik swept the papers off his desk in a fit of pique before slumping back in his chair. The Martines were clever, but sooner or later, he knew that they would slip up. They could not spend all their time in another world and that would be their downfall.
Mark flopped onto the sofa with a sigh of relief. Rarity joined him and pulled the stallion into a comforting hug.
“Thanks, Rares,” Mark said. “As much as formal ceremonies are part of the job, they don’t get any less tiring and tedious when dealing with humans.”
“Not to mention, darling, that you’ve been putting lots of extra hours into the formal treaty between our worlds. As you have needed to point out to me on occasion, you have to step back and take it easy for a change.”
Trixie said with a flat expression, “And your wives are missing your attention in the bedroom due to your late nights.”
Despite knowing the peril of annoying his senior wife, Mark shook his head. “I’m sorry, ladies, but it will only be for a couple more days while I deal with the deluge of work that will come in now that we’re 100% open for business.” He held up a hoof to forestall argument. “There are some things that only a triarch can deal with at this point, and because this is my project, that means me. I’ll turn over everything to Smolder and her team just as soon as I can. Believe me, I want to get back on a regular schedule too.”
“The Great and Patient Trixie gives you until the end of the week, Dowser.”
Mark knew an ultimatum when he heard one. “Gotcha, love. Frankly, I’ll be looking forward to it.” He turned his attention to his daughters who were stationed in front of a computer screen as always. “How are the news channels treating the incident?”
Allura giggled. “They must have replayed the truck smash incident from a dozen different angles every hour. The actual formal ceremony barely rated a quarter of the time.”
Lacewing added, “Same thing internationally although a few of the nations are putting more emphasis on the significance of Australia being the formal gateway between our worlds.”
Mark nodded. “That’s not unexpected. Equestria may have to offer some assistance to Australia’s national security due to that, but that’s just one of the many things to be addressed in the future.”
“Speaking of security,” Allura said, “We’ve tracked more attempts to find Latisha Tyson. Of course, they failed.”
Lacewing grinned. “I doubt that Mr. Kalchik has the resources to find Latisha at her workplace in the Dragonlands. She loves her job as the director of the clinic there, and she’s already submitted several research papers to Canterlot University for her doctorate. She won’t be visiting Earth too often.”
“No, she won’t,” agreed Mark. “However, Kalchik will continue to be a thorn in our sides. However, Penny, Rosa, and I have come up with an idea that might convince him to finally give it a rest.”
# # # # # # # # #
Shut up Mansley.
Unfortunately being a US citizen, I would have told my government to take a chill pill and show a little faith and some understanding, but it's also America... So yeah that won't happen.
Kalchik is gonna learn the hard way when Murphy come knocking on his door.
I am very curious of what Mark, Penny and Rose have in store for Kalchik to finally give up. Anyways great chapter, keep up the awesome work.
I wonder if any of the Earth-side humans have looked at the accents of these Equestrians? In particular, Mark Wells is probably speaking English with an American accent. Not sure how the portal magic affects the native Equestrians.
If Kalchik wishes to find his daughter in the dragonlands, why not let him?
Even well equipped hazredous wastes exploration groups fall victim to natural disasters.
Torch being fed a hundred tons of cabbages before going for a soak in his favourite active caldera is still a natural disaster.
As for the truck, the technology is OLD. the prototype was shown at CES over a decade ago, the fully comprehensive better than Star Trek replicator designs were demonstrated and proved a couple years ago.
Its takes less than a billion dollars and less than a Gigawatt. So of course noone wants to spend that kind of money, ebcause as soon as it was hinted that a nuke proof forcefield was working, every ballistic warhead on the planet would launch before they become uselss. As written about in a Golden Age story where it turns out that Earth is an aliens experiment.
*a note appears on the desk of the Head of Ops in that top-secret American facility*
Copy sent to all USA government workers, up to and including the President.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -Arthur C. Clarke
But in our case, it's not tech. It's our biology. But since you are so worried about us, maybe we'll just leave the USA out of deals with Equestria. Which would be a shame. Princess Twilight Sparkle was very interested in seeing your Libraries. Do you know any other leader that you can make happy with just books?
So, whichever of you is actually in charge of snooping on us, STOP!
Spymaster of Equestria
Typical American gavourment, if they are not in lead of someone than they are hostile behind closed doors in their eyes
I wonder if someone tries a air attack, one can rent private planes and Helicopters, some Thestral and Pegasus are going to absolutely dominate in the air
I wonder if Russia is playing it safe by offering trade for food and health goods, something every nation want and would value. Or Japanese asking for cultural goods like pictures comics etc etc.
Maybe Germany asking for cook books and fashion items?
Anyway very entertaining chapter.
I loved how Flim and Flam already started kicking over human trading hagler that think the alien species gullible
Of course it's religious nutcases trying to pull something, I wonder when a professional nutcase is coming after them?
Kalchiks are fuming and I can only smile at it
Wonder what they have planned to end their bullshit? Some semi lucrative business opportunities?
What is he making his money anyway? SOFTDRINKS and POPCORN or is he a MCDonalds kind of King?
I wonder who will be the first to ask for the science that is magic, biological stasis and cleaning of wounds via magic would be worth billions for medical purposes alone!
Trixie is not amused, I wonder if she might drag out Mark Wells from earth to Equestria under camera view comically through the air for neglecting his husband duties, only for Mark to shrug mid air and say into a camera:
"Can't say no to their need for some loving, see you in three days when I managed it out of my bedroom"
With a reporter wishing him good luck and advice to stay hydrated
11789928
Like a peaceful coexistence, nothing that a firearm lobbyists would fear more!
11789951
I hope he tries to hire someone for industry espionage and get a restraining order or something
11789981
Did you forget the Stargate1 chapter from a previous story? They have translation necklace for bridge that problem until they learn to speak any language
11790031
THAT would be absolutely hilarious 👍
Should be fun
Anyone that can stop a multi-ton truck without visible tech in a random spot either set it up beforehand or it was truly random. In the case of the later if they wanted to be a threat you wouldn't have to worry about it
Does it ever occur to you another species will have a covenant with God entirely their own and would be different then yours?
Sorry Penumbra... you got nothing on Englands psychotic hat
11790074
A armed society is a polite society my adorable little smurf. Gun makers in this country need no lobbyists
Man forged steel out of rage. Never forget what how sheer malice motivates and ponies should remember that
11789981
Frqnkly his name is a give away. I am surprised noone has connected him to the beleived late Mark Wells
Kalchik = wannabe Bratva Don.
So we've got an assassin that is planing much more but will hopefully still fail, a US government that needs to chill, and an angry rich dude who still needs to give it a rest already. Sounds like we will be in for a few exciting chapters.
11790469
America gavourments leader will always be like it, because only these kind of figurehead are allowed. They are not put into place because they are competent, rather than they are easy to bend towards the will of their benefactor.
A presidential campaign cost literally millions of $
11790465
Just one of many, once he is off the table, million others will replace him in time.
11790293
You forget something, Mark Wells meet his alternative reality selfs already:
Griffon, Unicorn, Antro Pony.
Since he literally comes from another universe as stated before hand he can explain his name away easyer than one could argue against it.
He literally can invide them all to Earth just to mess with the Earth population.
Further Mark Wells fit rather well into pony society name range.
In other words: It's extreamly unlikely that human Mark Wells and the leader of a nation from another dimension are one and the same.
Even if they have a dossier into his old self, Mark Wells has over years changed so mutch he is practically a entire different individual.
11790227
Hate can be a great motivational thing to follow, but it's need someone to basically dedicate himself to it.
For example:
This video is the best Starwars dogfight video in current existence and shows how extreamly mercilessly people can be towards one another, yet it also shows that the outcome is rather clearly.
Any sane pilot would have retreated [Imperial], after getting basically trashed, if not the first time than by the third time.
These kind of people just have a death wish and hope to drag other alongside with them.
They are the 1% of the 1% under the already fanatical individuals
11790483
but this is his birth universe a connection will be made
11790486
First off, you failed to fandom, show me the real fan animation
Also Star Wars is bad philosophy. I'll spare the vast majority of my issues, but to summarize, the Jedi religion was stupid and they were dopes for believing it, the ideals of the Sith are by no way inherently evil, #kreiadidnothingwrong
:
Wrong. A hundred percent wrong. They, simply put, are us. Or more specifically, as we could easily be. Mostly we would have self destructed long before that point, but we could all easily be just as bad, if not worse.
11790773
I can make connections everywhere, but it would be a conspiracy theory at best.
Also he is from America, why there for not connect to the American gavourment out of familiarity?
Proving it, what would it change anyway?
We as a reader knowing, but they don't.
BUT even IF they know it to be true or suspect it, WHAT EXACTLY would it change?
Would America demand subservience or something?
What is your point to this information, like what do you expect to change?
He literally worked his ass from refuge into royalty, showed to the reader that a decent gavourment is possible if corruption and their business are cut off hard.
So... what if Mark Wells is a former human being born in America, having literally ascend into a higher being?
Immortal towards time... Take that Bibel fanatical believers ✌
Unlike human beliefs, the Equestrian can proof theirs is real:
- Moving sun and moon, something we set our time time zones for on earth.
- Peacefully co existance with other races, while some people still are critical about shit like skin color on earth.
- Literally a dimensions spanning trading system of economics and science as well magical. Magic fueled technology is quite the stepping stone.
Humanity has nothing comparing in success to it.
Space travel technology at best, but how long until Mark Wells triarchy will top that by... I don't know...
maybe build a resort and science facility on the moon?
I think that would be more impressive than setting up a flag on its surface
11790837
I think your definition of fan animation is a bit to narrow. I know that drawn animation and it pretty awesome, though it isn't as detailed as my example.
I mean the drawn animation looks awesome and tells a short and impressive story. But nothing in depth.
All we have is basically a test screening that shows why Starwars is for everyone, but it lacks the depth that made me love Starwars.
Both videos on their own look amazing, but one shows me a overview story about the hardship both side suffer, while the other gets into the ugly yet beautiful detailed life of soldiers in a war that was so cruel as to make upstanding citizens to rebels fighting to their death to get aome semblance of freedom and hope for a better tomorrow.
And last point, I literally linked to the real full length video, while you choice the music animation that isn't even using the sounds of the original video where you where there gun shooting etc.
Slightly hypocritical don't you think?
The Jedi are far from flawless, but the Shit are far from being realistic, unless 'murder your opposition in cold blood' is realistic in the long run.
Might make right, is pretty brittle in the long run
11790854
Yeah, but people at least acknowledge the siths flaws. As I said, Kreia had the right idea all along.
Sabaton makes all things better. No exceptions
And there is but one thing that makes Sabaton, and its name is Halford.
Starting to re-reading previous stories and I am rather surprised how many views but few comments the chapters have
Excellent storylines, lovely art collection over the chapters and hole stories all together.
Wonder what the American president would be?
- Greedy dragon?
- Stubborn Yak?
- Military guided Griffon?
- Hot tempered Kirin?
- Cruel Yeti?
- Maybe a hate filled Umbrum?
11790864
Neat! Didn't see that song, its a specific and pretty good one. Thanks
11790842
but I have a feeling it's going to bite him in the flank someway
11790894
A zebra who ends up being like dinosaur marshmallow oatmeal. Great in theory but ends up disappointing
I wonder if what the Kalchiks are planning, I see the more losing anything than making profit in being a thorn in the triarchy side.
Maybe Equestria should colonized the Earth moon, just to show how it is done
Imagen Earthponys making the Moon surface with Unicorn atmosphere shield a viable living space
11790914
Something like that?
camo.fimfiction.net/FMEaTQFUeEn0P9apc4t-XaBmOG9R1P_ZbN-vC-gXbO4?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.chzbgr.com%2Ffull%2F8978850816%2FhAA2F01B1%2F
Flower mare is American gavourment holding Mark Wells great origin in view because it's a big thing.
While Mark Wells as the nurse is not going for any bullshit.
I really don't see anything American gavourment can do with this information unless they try to get at him with his friends the Martines, what would be a huge desaster for the human morality rather than the ponies anything.
11791094
we have seen what the real american government is willign to do. and i am not sayign just them. anyone in this world learns that can cause trouble for him
It may be funny to troll humanity with similiar products.
You know something like a item they considered selling to earth like 'Red Minotaur', its so powerful it almost let someone grow wings.
The joke would be about the product 'Red Bull'.
Maybe Barcadi would have a Thestral instead of a normal bat. Among other kind of productes, I can see a lot of fun like that.
Or movies and songs being similiar towards another.
A map of Equestria with its city names for example would be entertaining with its pony puns.
Copyright law fun for the Flim and Flam brothers for years to come
11791213
In theory yes, but realistic it is simply not profitable for someone to alienate Mark Wells. Equestrias and other dimensions exotic markets are to lucrative to do anything but play nice.
Any kind of material, knowledge and food problems could be addressed by playing it nice and slow.
Billions of $/€/£/¥ are to be made by default!
11791241
there are alot of idiots in humanity
Haha good old US of A.