Twilight is brought to a parallel dimension full of humans who are all too familiar. Twilight journeys to learn about the humans and in exchange, teaches them about the magic of friendship.
Twilight is giving a presentation at the Canterlot Magical Conference when a dimensional portal draws her to a parallel dimension full of humans. She decides to seize on the opportunity to write the greatest letter to Celestia ever, by learning all she can about the human dimension while trying to teach them about the magic of friendship. During the information exchange she uncovers the differences between pony and human and how they lost their own elements of harmony. Meanwhile, back in Equestria, Twilight's friends attempt to recover the lost unicorn; but first they need to figure just where she is!
“And that should be the last item on the checklist,” Twilight Sparkle announced. Giving her assistant a satisfied smile, she magically rolled up the parchment and set it down on the table.
“I don’t see why you need so many things on the checklist. We’re only gonna be at Canterlot for two days,” Spike said while nursing a cramp in his writing claw. Creating the checklist had been equally as laborious as gathering everything on it.
“Spike. I’m not just going away for two days. I have been summoned by Princess Celestia to attend a magical conference. There are going to be all sorts of discussions being held on magic and its various applications. So I need to be prepared!” the lavender pony explained as she magically stacked and bound books for transport.
“Oh yeah? Then why did the princess mention there was a chili cook off as one of the main draws to this conference?” Spike said sarcastically.
“Fire spells have applications other than setting things on fire. It also happens that the Equestria Chefs’ Convention was scheduled at the same time,” she replied before smiling at her dragon companion. “Besides, I imagine you would appreciate a chance to try some experimental cuisine.”
“Uh huh!” Spike nodded excitedly while licking his lips.
“Then hurry up and help me finish packing the last of these books. We need to be at the train station by three,” she reminded him.
“Um, Twilight. Those were the last of the books. We’re all packed!” Spike pointed out to her.
Twilight looked around and realized they were indeed ready to go. “Oh, I guess you’re right. Then lets be on our way,” she said, magically placing the last stack of book into a wagon. Twilight hitched the wagon to herself and pulled it out the door as Spike closed and locked it. A note was left on the door stating, ‘Library Closed. Away at Canterlot Magical Conference.’
---
“Every engineering section has cleared us for launch.”
“Power source is stable and showing steady output.”
“Anomaly control reports no spikes in the system.”
“Computer systems are operating and processing at a stable capacity.”
“The system is ready to go.”
“Continue monitoring progress.”
Voices were heard giving status updates from different areas of the dark room. Large computer stations encompassed a low set metallic platform. Green lights emanated from the platform. The dim aura revealed people in tinted goggles and lab coats either sitting or standing at different workstations. They spoke with calm voices but displayed body language that exposed subdued excitement. After further updates, the lights came on and one scientist began to clap her hands.
“Begin the shut down sequence and reset the system!” said the female scientist. Long black hair, which had a hint of a blue streak in the light, trailed down to her waist. Her average height and slender frame could be seen under the lab coat. The paleness of her skin, due to lack of sunlight, emphasized her dedication to work. She smiled as she removed the tinted goggles. “Congratulations everybody! I’m going to give President Canterbury an update on our progress. Get everything set up for tomorrow’s full run,” she said and walked out of the laboratory. The thick metal door slid aside to allow passage and sealed automatically behind her.
She briefly walked down a plain metal lined hallway and entered her office. Picking up the telephone, she pushed a button. “This is Doctor Sparks calling from the PNVL facility. I need a direct line to President Canterbury.”
“One moment, Doctor,” replied the operator. There were a series of clicks to let her know that the encryption devices were working and the connection was made. A familiar woman’s voice soon greeted her.
“Doctor Sparks. I imagine you have good news on your project?”
“Yes, President Canterbury. Our latest test run was a success and we are ready to proceed to the next stage of the experiment!” Sparks replied to Canterbury.
“If you feel that you are ready to proceed, then you have my full support. I am looking forward to hearing the results,” the president stated, with a hint of excitement in her voice.
“President Canterbury, I believe that by tomorrow, I will have something incredible to show you.”
---
The castle of Canterlot was both regal and imposing in it’s grandeur, and it only grew larger as Twilight approached it. The wagon she had packed trailed behind her, while Spike sat atop the luggage to avoid being separated. Bustling crowds were a regular occurrence in Canterlot but, upon arrival, Twilight noticed they were larger than usual. Twilight struggled amongst the herd of ponies who were slowly migrating toward the castle’s main gate. Two imposing sentry ponies, in full armor, stood guard there and checked guest invitations. After what seemed like hours of jostling forward, Twilight finally reached the checkpoint.
“Do you have an invitation?” a stout guard pony asked.
“Right here, sir,” she exclaimed and magically produced a scroll from her wagon. Her red magical aura surrounded and unrolled the paper to allow the guard to read it.
‘I, Princess Celestia, invite my personal student, Twilight Sparkle, and her assistant, Spike the Dragon, to attend this years Magical Conference. Twilight Sparkle is to receive full access to all conference events, as well as, to all resources that she may require in preparation for her presentation.’
Princess Celestia’s royal seal was stamped at the bottom of the invitation. The guard scanned over the scroll and looked at the two guests. Twilight and Spike smiled when he nodded in approval to the other guard. “Welcome to Canterlot Castle Miss Sparkle. Please proceed to the service desk behind us. Somepony will assist you with your luggage and show you to your room.”
Twilight nodded and proceeded through, while Spike waved at the two guards. A bellhop pony trotted up to them and offered to pull the wagon. Spike hopped off and walked next to Twilight while the bellhop lead them to their room. They each looked around excitedly at the commotion of guests and servants. Ponies from across Equestria had arrived to participate in this conference.
They arrived at a guest room, in the main castle proper, where the bellhop promptly deposited the wagon. With a bow, he excused himself and hurried off to attend to other guests. Spike climbed on to one of the beds and began jumping with excitement while Twilight began to unpack their belongings. “Wow, Twilight! This is sooooooo nice! I sure hope we can get some room service. I’m starving!”
Twilight walked over to a large desk. “Why don’t you order us some food while I unpack my books. I want to be focused and ready for tomorrow,” she said and magically levitated a checklist that covered her preparation.
Spike gave a barely audible groan as he saw the checklist. “Yeah. I’ll be back with some food,“ he mumbled as he departed. Twilight nodded to her assistant. Along with the checklist, she also levitated a quill and a piece of paper at the same time. Carefully setting the items down on the desk, she read aloud the first item on the checklist ‘Write letter to Princess Celestia’.
‘Dear Princess Celestia,
Spike and I have arrived at Canterlot Castle. I can’t wait to give you my presentation tomorrow. As your student, I have not only been working on my studies on friendship, but also my magic. I believe that tomorrow I will have something incredible to show you.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle’
Twilight rolled up the brief letter and set it aside for Spike to send as soon as he returned.
---
Twilight Sparkle woke up early the next morning. She lured Spike out of his bed with some breakfast and got them started on their day. The magical summit was being held in one of the grand conference halls just a few minutes trot from the guest quarters. The royal kitchen was conveniently located a few hallways over from the conference hall. As Twilight and Spike walked, they could see ponies from all over Equestria mulling about. Some wore lab coats, others wore wizard robes, and there were several chefs mingled in. They both smiled at each other; Twilight eagerly anticipating her presentation, Spike eager to eat the food.
When they passed through the large double doors and entered the conference hall, they could see even more ponies. The roar of chatter inside from the seemingly endless sea of ponies was deafening. The presentation stage at the far end was nearly vacant, save for a few ponies who were busy setting up. Eager ponies were already explaining their presentations to small groups. As Twilight and Spike trotted past they glanced at the different charts and scrolls being displayed before a loud trumpet sounded. A sudden hush fell over the crowd as all eyes followed the noise to the main entrance. A royal guard pony entered and boomed his announcement:
“Presenting her royal majesty, Princess Celestia!”
A barely audible gasp of awe flowed through the crowd as Princess Celestia appeared in the entrance. Every pony bowed for a moment as the princess took her first steps into the great hall. She began walking down the long main aisle while whispers of her beauty and grace could be heard throughout the hall. Pony heads could be seen bobbing and weaving, over and around each other, throughout the crowd, as every pony tried to get a better look at their beloved ruler. Guard ponies assembled along the walls on each side of the hall. The royal alicorn entered the special elevated box seat and waved a hoof towards the crowd.
“Welcome everypony to the Annual Canterlot Magical Conference and Chef’s Convention! I am honored by all who have journeyed from far and near to attend. I look forward to witnessing the results of your hard work, magical research and culinary skills.”
Princess Celestia’s announcement marked the beginning of the conference. The first ponies to be presenting scurried onto the stage. Twilight and Spike approached the princess’s seat but were stopped by the guards. Celestia noticed and waved them through.
“Twilight Sparkle. Spike. How good to see you. Please, come up and join me!” greeted the Princess. Both student and assistant obliged and took their places beside the Princess.
“Princess, I can’t wait to show you my presentation. I think you’ll be amazed by what I have planned., Twilight said eagerly.
“Well, if your letter was any indication, then I am anxious to be impressed,” the alicorn replied.
“Oh, you will be,” started Twilight before she was interrupted by Spike.
“Hey, what’s in the box?” the baby dragon asked while pointing to a small white box next to Celestia.
“Oh, Spike, if you had been paying attention to my planning session you would already know,” teased the purple mare before she was interrupted again by feedback from the microphone. Celestia put a hoof to her mouth and stifled a giggle as Twilight turned from Spike to the stage.
---
Putta putta putta phhhhtttt! “Looks like you had just enough charge to get me here, but I’ll need to plug you in now if I want to have enough charge to get home tonight,” said Tiffany Sparks to her moped. She pushed her moped into her designated space in the parking garage and plugged it in. She adjusted the messenger bag strap across her chest and pulled a pair of pumps from the storage area of the moped. After slipping on the pumps, she deposited the sneakers in the storage compartment.
Tiffany walked excitedly towards the elevator where she was stopped by a security guard. She quickly fished out her identification from her bag and went through. After being stopped three more times, she felt that security may have gone a little overboard. Tiffany understood, however, why when she arrived at her lab.
“President Canterbury!?”
“Good morning, Dr. Sparks. Judging by your expression, you didn’t receive my memo that I would be personally attending today‘s events,” said President Stella Canterbury before taking a sip from her tea cup. The slender woman stood a head taller than Tiffany, wearing a lavender suit with a pale blue blouse and a golden sun shaped brooch on the collar. Stella’s pale blonde hair flowed down her back and stopped just shy of the hem of her skirt. Her face displayed a royal countenance and youthful appearance while her eyes revealed keen intellect and wisdom.
“No, I didn’t get that memo, Miss Canterbury. Honestly, I thought you would be too busy to be here,” Tiffany replied nervously.
“I have every intention of witnessing your big moment. I had to shuffle a few things to acquire just enough time to not miss you making history, Dr. Sparks,” Stella stated.
Tiffany giggled nervously and set her messenger bag down by her desk. She picked up two pairs of goggles and offered one to Stella. “In that case, let’s get started.” The older woman nodded and accepted the goggles. Tiffany donned her pair and threw on a lab coat before setting to work. Stella moved to the observation deck behind a large reinforced window. Tiffany’s team of scientists moved like clockwork; pushing buttons, flipping switches, and calling out status updates.
Stella calmly observed while continuing to sip her tea. She was soon joined by a man wearing a gray suit, light blue shirt and silver tie. He had green eyes and short black hair which contrasted against the white ear piece. “The facility is secure, Miss Canterbury.”
“Thank you, Mr. Knight. I know my visit only makes things harder, but I couldn’t disappoint my top scientist. Personally, I am excited to see this through,” she replied, allowing a brief smile to pass over her lips before taking another sip.
Knight briefly grinned before resuming his state of alertness. “I had the security teams prepare for any number of contingencies,” he stated.
“I have read your overview. I have no qualms with the measures, but you appear to be preparing for an alien invasion,” Stella replied with a bit of mirth in her voice.
“This project is going to break the boundary between science fiction and fact. We can’t be too careful,” Knight said warily.
Stella chuckled at her paranoid director of security as she continued peering through the glass to watch Tiffany and her team of scientists.
---
“…..and as you can see, the flavor of food can indeed be magically enhanced via chaos principle theories as is evident in this batch of muffins,” came the voice from the stage.
A light brown earth pony wearing a lab coat and thick glasses opened an oven and revealed a muffin pan. The oven was attached to several large sputtering devices, while hoses connected them to a large transparent bubble. The bubble housed a pony sized thundercloud with a gray cross eyed pegasus bouncing on top.
The pony giving the demonstration displayed the muffins for the audience to see. The pan then began to tremble before exploding and covering the stage in muffin crumbs. The scientist pony shook off the pile of crumbs he was now buried under. “Unfortunately, we still cannot reduce the chaos potential for the food to explode to less than ninety-nine percent.”
The audience applauded hesitantly as the stage was being cleaned. The pegasus in the bubble sobbed at the sight of the scattered muffins while the contraption was being hauled away. Meanwhile, Twilight stood and picked up the box next to Celestia. “Wish me luck, Spike. I’m up next!” she said with a wink to the little dragon. Spike smiled and returned a thumbs up to the lavender pony. “Good luck out there, Twi!” he replied enthusiastically.
“I have no doubt you will succeed, Twilight Sparkle,” the royal white alicorn assured. Twilight bowed her head slightly. “Thank you, Princess Celestia,” she replied and trotted off to the backstage area.
After several minutes, the curtains opened to reveal Twilight Sparkle standing in the middle of the stage. The box she had carried and an easel with several charts were set next to her. Twilight cleared her throat and began to speak; “Fillies, gentle colts, and esteemed ponies from across Equestria; as Princess Celestia’s pupil, I have been tasked with conducting an in-depth study into the magic of friendship. What I present to you today are the results of this study.”
Twilight held up a pointer with her hoof and tapped it against one of the charts on her easel. “Friendship has its very roots in the Elements of Harmony, which are the center of our world. Without friendship, I would have never discovered the Elements or learned how to tap into their power. What I have here is a formula I have broken down, that explains the key components.”
---
Tiffany approached the raised metal platform. The platform was encased by a solid plexiglass tube that stretched from ceiling to floor. Tiffany stopped several feet away from the enclosure and set a clear plastic box on a smaller rectangular platform. She sealed the platform with a solid metal cover that reminded her of a friend’s cake platter and cover set. Once closed, the platform sank into the floor. Upon the reappearance of the box in the center of the larger platform, Tiffany enthusiastically announced, “Genetic sample is in position. As soon as we are at full power, initiate the experiment.”
The scientists continued to work as all the machines began to hum louder. The main lights of the laboratory dimmed while the platform began to glow with green light.
“Here goes everything,” Tiffany whispered.
---
“….which brings me to my conclusion of the magical theory of friendship. Now, to enhance the actual ability to spread and maintain friendship, I have created an enchantment that will allow ponies to communicate instantaneously with their friends, even at long distances,” Twilight announced. She used her magic to open the box, revealing a clear cylindrical crystal and the tiara that represented the Element of Magic.
Twilight levitated the tiara and placed it on her head. “Now, this spell is still in development and requires a large supply of magical power to use. Until I can perfect the magical output, I require the use of the Element of Magic.”
Several ponies in the crowd gasped in awe as they saw, for the first time, the actual tiara which bore the mark of the Element of Magic. “With time I can refine this spell so everypony will be able to use it,” Twilight continued, while she magically lifted the crystal out of the box. “Imagine if you will, a world where instead of sending a letter to contact a friend, we use this enchanted crystal to communicate over long distances in real time and without sustaining a magic spell. Right now, my friends back in Ponyville have a crystal similar to this one. Using my magic as the power source, I will now connect the two crystals and talk to them.”
All the ponies present watched in fascination as Twilight began to focus her magic. The horn on her forehead began to glow maroon with power as the spell began to take form. After a few moments of concentration the crystal glowed with the same color. The faint sound of voices could be heard emanating from the crystal. The voices grew louder until the first row could hear them.
“Is this thing on?”
“Pinkie, don’ go tappin’ it. Ya might break it or somethin’.”
“Hey I think it’s doing something. You think Twilight got the spell going?”
“I do believe she has. Yes, I think it’s working. Hello? Hellooooo? Twilight, darling, is that you?”
Twlight began to smile at her success and focused harder until the crystal projected a holographic image of five ponies in the Ponyville Library. All five ponies had looks of awe and the pink one even started to wave.
“Hi there, Twilight!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie.
“Hi there, Pinkie. Can everypony hear me too?” Twilight then asked. Her horn continued to glow as it powered the spell through the crystal.
“Clear as ever, sugarcube. How’s everything over in Canterlot?” asked Applejack.
Before Twilight could reply, an excited cheer came from the audience. The loud cheer was heard by the ponies in Ponyville via the crystal. “Golly, Twilight, was that comin’ from your end? What in tarnation is goin’ on there?”
“Just a moment, Applejack,” Twilight said before she focused on the audience. “Everypony, I would like to introduce to you my friends back in Ponyville: Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. Say hello to the crowd, girls.”
Twilight shifted the crystal to face the audience. Her motion allowed her friends to see the crowd. Four ponies smiled and waved while a yellow pony squeaked and ducked out of view. The crowd greeted and cheered back. “As you can see, I have established an audio and visual long range connection between Canterlot and Ponyville. While letters are an excellent means of staying in touch, this enchantment allows ponies to see and talk to each other in real time. By being able to expand communication, we can all better expand our friendships.”
More cheers and applause followed and Twilight bowed. She looked over to the royal booth and saw Spike whistling and cheering. Princess Celestia clapped her hooves together daintily. Twilight blushed as she caught a satisfying wink and smile of approval from the regal alicorn.
It was, at that moment, when Twilight failed to notice the odd green glow that began to manifest behind her on the stage.
---
Tiffany observed her computer screen and grew anxious. This would be the determining moment. “Begin transmission of the tracking pulse. Synchronize the signal using the genetic sample to target the subject. Lock down the procedure once the target is acquired.”
---
Twilight began to feel as though the floor beneath her hooves was shaking. Her eyes went down to see what could be the cause. The audience began to take notice of the odd green glow behind her and wondered if that was part of the show. Celestia turned to face Spike with a quizzical look. His face was just as confused. “Man, I shoulda paid attention to Twilight‘s practice runs. I have no idea what the green glow is about.”
The lavender pony turned when she noticed the audience motioning at something behind her. Before her was a glowing aura that was quickly growing in intensity. Her eyes went wide and she suddenly felt a tremendous pull drawing her into it. Twilight began to dig her hooves into the floor to no avail. She continued to slide until she was no longer touching the stage.
Twilight let out a yell of surprise as she was lifted off the floor and pulled into the light. Everypony shielded their eyes from the brilliant flash. They removed their hooves from their faces once the light receded only to find nopony left on stage.
Tiffany shielded her eyes with a hand when the green light grew too intense. As programmed, the machinery immediately went into automatic cool down mode. The scientists continued their observations of the latest data from each of their stations, while the noise died down. The main light automatically switched on and flooded the room. Tiffany quickly moved towards the platform without even waiting to hear the results. Her eyes went wide and she nearly jumped in celebration upon first glance.
“SUCCESS!!!!!” she shouted happily and held her hand up to high five the nearest scientist. Other scientists let out cheers as Tiffany’s excited mood spread. Tiffany looked back at her audience to notice Stella and security chief Knight applauding vigorously. “Begin phase two and initiate safety protocols,” Tiffany announced, still grinning.
Scientists sounded off with shouts of “Phase Two!” as they pushed buttons and flipped switches. The platform in the center of the room began descending to a lower level of the laboratory. Tiffany hurried over to Stella. “Would you care to join me downstairs to watch phase two, Miss Canterbury?” she asked excitedly. The older woman shook her head. “I’m afraid I must excuse myself; the time I can spare has been exhausted. Congratulations again on your success. I look forward to learning more about today’s events,” she replied cheerfully. Tiffany smiled and nodded as the president departed.
The head scientist then faced the head of security. “Would you care for an escort down to laboratory B?” he then asked. Tiffany looked away and pretended to be deep in thought for a moment. “I don’t know. I’m not sure if being escorted by some macho security guy whose into nerdy science girls would be such a good idea.” she replied and playfully stuck her tongue out at him.
“Well, this lab is in such a rough neighborhood and we’re surrounded by all sorts of questionable characters. You can’t be too careful.” he winked.
Tiffany let out a girlish giggle as they walked together to the sub-level. They arrived in a laboratory that was partitioned by a thick glass wall. On the other side of the glass were several people wearing biohazard suits sampling the atmosphere inside the sealed platform. The team leader addressed Tiffany. “All our checks are complete. No foreign contaminants detected. Target’s life signs are stable.”
The team began to clear out as Tiffany moved towards a door next to the glass wall. “Are you sure you should just go walking in there without any form of protection?” Knight cautioned.
“What could possibly go wrong?” she asked while smiling mischievously.
The security chief raised an eyebrow and chuckled a bit. “You just recreated a scene straight out of science fiction. Anything could go wrong.”
“Well then maybe you should join me,” Tiffany teased and pushed several buttons on a keypad next to the door. Tiffany entered as the door slid aside.
---
Twilight Sparkle could barely hear the muffled sounds over the ringing in her ears. As the ringing began to subside she could hear machinery and somepony talking. Twilight could not understand what was being said just yet. When she opened her eyes the world appeared bright and out of focus. The pony’s head bobbed dizzily for a moment. Twilight shook her head to remove the last traces of drowsiness. Regaining her bearings she began taking stock of what happened.
The first thing she noticed was how cold the floor had become. It was no longer the wooden stage, but a large metallic circle that was encased in featureless glass, save for a small speaker positioned where the base of the glass met the edge of the circle. Beside her lay the Element of Magic tiara and her enchanted crystal. Looking beyond, Twilight noticed that the glass tube she was in sat in the center of a featureless glass room whose ceiling appeared to be one solid light. The floor was also featureless and appeared to be a solid slab of pure white marble, like that of the royal palace.
“Did I get teleported somewhere? Is this someplace else in the palace?” Twilight thought out loud. The strange talking she had heard earlier started up again; this time sounding much faster and more excited. “Um, hello? Is somepony talking to me?” she asked and squinted. Her eyes began to grow accustomed to the intense light and as they did she started to notice something else beyond the glass.
“Waaah-!”
Twilight yelped as she was startled to see several strange creatures lurking outside of the glass. They were tall, wore clothes, and stood on two legs. They each had hand appendages similar to Spike’s claws. They had no hair on them except on their heads. Some of them had longer hair while others had short hair. Twilight’s analytical mind couldn’t help but wonder if the different hair lengths determined their gender.
“Hello?”
“She’s trying to communicate! Bring out the pictures! Get the linguists working on her language!” Tiffany ordered. A scientist ran up carrying a large pad and easel. He set up the easel and placed the pad upon it. Tiffany immediately flipped the cover to the first page. The page showed a simple drawing of a person and a pony smiling and extending a hand and hoof out to each other in friendship. Tiffany pointed to the picture and then to herself.
“Friend.”
Twilight looked confused by the motions made by Tiffany. ‘Are they trying to communicate with me?’ she thought. The lavender unicorn sensed she was not in danger, so she stood up and looked closely through the glass at the picture. Tiffany saw that Twilight was trying to understand and she repeated herself.
“Friend.”
Realization dawned on Twilight. “Oh, you don’t speak Pony so you’re using pictures,” she remarked aloud. She smiled and mimicked Tiffany with her hoof. The pony tried to form the strange utterance with her own mouth. “Fffffr-end.”
Tiffany gasped and nodded excitedly. “Yes, friend! I am a friend! She’s understanding us!” she said and quickly flipped the page to another picture. An image of a person over a picture of Earth was shown. Tiffany pointed to the person and said, “Human.” She then pointed to the picture of Earth and said, “Earth.”
Twilight listened and put a hoof to her chin in thought. She could understand what Tiffany was trying to do but forming the words was difficult. “Hhhue-mun. Errrrf.”
Tiffany nodded again and smiled. “Yes, that’s right!” she said. The next page showed the same picture on the left with the addition of a pony standing over an image of the Earth on the right. In the center of the page was a large door. Over the door was an arrow pointing from the pony to the person. Tiffany pointed to the picture of the Earth under the person and then to herself. Twilight looked at the image and slowly nodded in realization. ‘Oh I see. So I somehow ended up here on this ‘Earth.’ That explains it.’ Tiffany then pointed to the Earth under the pony. Twilight smiled and replied, “Equestria! That’s the name of my home.”
Tiffany looked confused for a moment. ‘Wait, which word is the name of her home?’ she thought. The pony’s language was like nothing she had ever heard before. Twilight picked up on the puzzled expressions and put her hoof to her face. “Ugh, this is going to take a while.”
“Doctor Sparks! We’ve been feeding it’s language into the translation program but our results are inconclusive,” reported one of the linguists over the intercom. “Before it crashed we were getting language origins from Germanic, Mandarin, Slavic and Swahili. In just ONE sentence! Other sentences produced origins from Latin, Greek, Aramaic, and…. ancient Olmec.”
“All those languages? How is that even possible?” Tiffany replied.
“I have no idea but we just crashed the program again. This time it reported Navajo, Italian, Hangul, and Spanish!”
Twilight had no idea what the ‘humans’ were discussing. She could tell they looked upset and confused over something. Finally the pony decided to do something she should have done sooner. She concentrated until her horn began to softly glow red. The sight of the red glow caused some of the spectators to panic and duck for cover. Tiffany watched in curiosity, unable to move from her spot.
The security chief was already running in the moment the glow appeared. “Tiff, look out! You have no idea what-!”
“There. That should do it. You should be able to understand me now.”
Everybody’s eyes suddenly focused on Twilight, some with jaws dropped. The glow had ceased from Twilight’s horn and she smiled in expectation. When no one immediately responded she tilted her head slightly. “Can you hear me now?”
Tiffany, after being momentarily stunned, nodded.
“Good!”
“But how are you speaking English?” Tiffany asked.
“Oh I’m not speaking English. I simply cast a translation spell so it sounds like I’m speaking English. To me, you’re all speaking Pony,” Twilight explained.
“I hear Japanese!” said one of the scientists.
“The spell I cast allows everyone in range to hear the language they have the most affinity to within a twenty hoof radius.”
Tiffany smiled in awe. “Did you just say you cast a spell? As in, a magic spell?”
“Yeah, magic. Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of magic before.”
“Well, yes, but only in story books. It doesn’t really exist. The closest thing to magicians that we have are illusionists,” Tiffany explained. As the scientist talked she studied the little pony. Twilight Sparkle appeared to stand four feet high with her head reaching up to her chest. Tiffany was reminded of a typical pony but with a smaller and more expressive face.
Twilight put a hoof to her chin and began to think aloud. “Hm, no magic. So you must have used science to bring me here. But if you don’t have the laws of magic to contend with then you only need to consider natural physical laws. So in the absence of magical laws you humans must have developed some other physical laws to compensate which is impossible without the laws of magic; which means if the laws of magic don’t exist here then I must be in another dimension!” she concluded.
Tiffany smiled and nodded. “That’s right. I invented an inter-dimensional portal that brought you over from your dimension into ours,” she explained.
“You were able to do that without magic? How do you control things at the atomic level? What methods do you use to harmonize the molecules? I have so many questions and I don’t know where to begin! What kind of world is this? What kind of civilization do ‘humans’ have? How did you develop?” Twilight rambled on excitedly.
“I’m curious as to how she can be so nonchalant about being pulled into another dimension,” Knight wondered aloud as he listened to the pony rattle off so many questions. “It reminds me a bit of somebody else I know” he whispered playfully to Tiffany.
“Oh after traveling through time, all over Equestria to Tartarus and back you get kind of used to strange trips like this. I assume you have the means to send me back right? Of course you do! You wouldn’t just bring me here without being able to send me back. That wouldn’t make any sense!” Twilight said with a laugh.
Tiffany looked at Twilight with a nervous grin and then looked away. The pony picked up on this and tilted her head slightly. “You DO have a way to send me back. Right?”
The scientist coughed nervously for a few seconds while Twilight’s jaw dropped. Tiffany broke out into a fit of giggles. “I’m so sorry. I couldn’t help it,” she said in-between laughs. “But the look on your face was priceless!”
“Dr. Sparks, you shouldn’t tease the pony from the other dimension,” Knight murmured.
“I know but I couldn’t help it. Knowing how I would react, it just came to mind-” Tiffany said before laughing some more.
Twilight took the laughter as a good sign and let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, good. So you do have the means to send me back. I admit, you got me pretty good there. You could give Pinkie Pie a run for her money in the prank department.”
“Yes, we can send you back once the system has cooled down and re-energized. Before we do, however, I was hoping we could take the opportunity to learn about each others' worlds. I have so many questions!” Tiffany stated.
Twilight smiled and nodded. “Of course! But could you let me out of here first?”
Tiffany motioned to the scientist by the control panel for the glass chamber. He pushed a few buttons, which caused a hissing of pressure release, as the glass tube rose up to the ceiling. Twilight levitated the tiara onto her head and carried the crystal with her magic as she trotted off of the platform.
“Thank you, that’s much better. With all the excitement I completely forgot to introduce myself. My name is Twilight Sparkle,” she introduced, putting a hoof up to her chest. As she did so, one of the scientists peering through the doorway remarked, “Can a pony even move like that?”
“My name is Tiffany Sparks, the chief scientist of this facility,” she introduced, putting a hand up to her chest. “This man here is Sean Knight, the head of security. I couldn‘t help but notice you are wearing a tiara; are you a princess?”
Twilight shook her head and laughed a little. “Oh no, I’m not a princess. But I am the personal student to Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria. She rules alongside her sister, Princess Luna.”
“Oh, then why are you wearing a tiara? And what is that crystal for?” Tiffany asked curiously.
“This tiara is the symbol for the Element of Magic. I am a bearer of one of the six Elements of Harmony,” Twilight stated proudly. “And this crystal is something I was showing at the Canterlot Magical Conference,” she displayed. All the humans looked at her in confusion. “It was a convention for magic and science. You kind of teleported me during the closure of my presentation. I was using the tiara and the crystal, in conjunction with a spell, to create a long distance instant communication device.”
Sean raised an eyebrow. “It sounds like you invented a cell phone.”
Twilight looked confused. “A cell wha-?”
The man pulled out a small rectangular device with a number pad and digital screen. “This is a cellular telephone, or cell phone for short. It lets us talk to people around the world in real time,” he explained. The cell phone was enveloped in a magical aura and ripped away from his hand. Twilight stared at it in fascination.
“This is AMAZING. How did you make something like this without magic?” the purple pony inquired while studying it intently.
“I didn’t actually make it. Uh, I really don’t know how they make these things,” he admitted sheepishly.
Twilight returned the cell phone to Sean and looked at Tiffany. “First you have to tell me how you teleported me. Since you don’t have the ability to harness magic, you must have compensated somehow.”
Tiffany grinned and rubbed her hands together. “I’m so glad you asked. You see we begin with the properties of astrophysics….”
---
“Hey! What happened to the connection!?”
“Ah dunno, Pinkie. Hey Rarity, ya got any idea why we can‘t hear Twilight?” Applejack asked the white unicorn.
“Don’t look at me, darling. Twilight only showed me how to turn it ‘on’ with my magic. I really wouldn’t know what to do if something went wrong,” Rarity replied.
“Oh, do you think Twilight is okay?” Fluttershy worriedly asked.
“I’m sure she’s fine. We probably just have to hit the stupid crystal or something,” Rainbow Dash stated as she floated and brought her hoof up to strike. Rarity immediately moved the crystal away with her magic.
“Crystals are delicate, dear, you don’t just go hitting them. Really, you need to learn how to treat things more carefully,” Rarity scolded.
“Ah whatever. I still think the crystal’s already broken,” the blue pegasus said and flapped her wings in defiance. Pinkie’s tail suddenly twitched and she hopped sideways just as a burst of green fire took them all by surprise. Rainbow Dash crashed on the floor as a scroll landed beside her.
“Oh it’s a letter from Spike,” Applejack said and unrolled it. All five ponies huddled together as Applejack read the letter out loud.
“Dearest friends of Twilight Sparkle, I want to assure you that Twilight Sparkle is well. However, an odd event has occurred at the Canterlot Magical Conference which renders Princess Luna and I unable to determine her location. We urgently summon the Elements of Harmony to Canterlot. Signed, Princess Celestia.”
“Oh dear,” squeaked Fluttershy.
“Come on, ya’all. Twilight needs us! Let’s move our flanks to the train station,” Applejack called out.
“If Twilight’s missing then I’m gonna fly on ahead. See you in Canterlot!” Rainbow Dash said before running out the door and taking off. The other four ponies ran to the Ponyville train station.
“- Therefore, by tuning the harmonics I was able to compensate for any missing dimensional features. The formula explains how I calibrated the device. Current power sources are insufficient to produce the amount of energy needed without it. This limits my range but the fact you’re here more than makes up for it!” Tiffany explained. Her obvious excitement animated her movements while drawing out the formulas on a white board.
Twilight Sparkle followed along without missing a beat. She understood the basic principles, allowing her to keep up with the technical discussion, despite being unfamiliar with certain terms. Her hoof went up to her chin, eliciting more reactions from the scientists studying her physiology. “So this is how you’re able to bring beings from another dimension. I knew you had to be doing something to allow me to arrive and still use magic.”
“Originally this started out as a window into other dimensions. I could see into them without interacting. When I realized there were energies latent to other dimensions not present in ours I had to find a way to make up for this lacking element. In your case, magic would seem to be the energy field covered by this formula,” Tiffany stated and pointed to one of the unknown variables in the formula.
“That’s just brilliant! What gave you that idea?” Twilight asked while rubbing her hooves together in excitement.
Tiffany beamed proudly at Twilight’s compliment. “It was while I was peeking into your dimension actually. I noticed the magical auras the unicorns made and it hit me you may need some way to compensate for it. For all I knew, you may be unable to survive without it! And the last thing I wanted to do was bring someone over here just to have them suffocate to death.”
Twilight rubbed the back of her head with her hoof and chuckled nervously. “Yeah, wouldn’t want to do that now, would we,” she said while her eyes traveled across the floor. “So why did you decide to bring me over? Didn’t you see lots of other dimensions with your window? Why pick Equestria?”
Tiffany sighed a bit. “Unfortunately, a lot of other dimensions did not look very, er, appealing,” she said. “I found several dimensions parallel to human ones but they were either post-apocalyptic or too primitive while others had beings who didn’t appear to be friendly at all. On top of that the cost in energy limited me to only one hour of viewing a day. This is all cutting edge technology and today was our biggest breakthrough yet. I don’t even know what all the ramifications are going to be when we announce this to the world.”
“IF we decide to announce it. Remember Dr. Sparks, while this breakthrough is historic, we don’t want to just announce it without proper clearance. There are people, governments out there, who would steal and abuse this,” Sean interrupted.
“I know, I know!” Tiffany sighed in exasperation.
“We just need to let things run it’s course between legal and the State Department,” Sean concluded.
“So until then I guess no Nobel Prize for science” she lamented with a pout.
“Sorry Doctor. I need to run through some other matters. I’ll leave you and Twilight to continue your information exchange,” Sean said with a shake of his head. “By your leave Miss Sparkle.” he said with a nod and stepped out.
Twilight waited until Sean had left the room before looking back at Tiffany. “He’s kind of a stick in the mud isn’t he?” she whispered conspiratorially.
“That’s exactly what I said when we first met. He’s not so bad after you get used to him.“ Tiffany giggled. “He’s also another reason we chose your dimension to contact. After seeing some of the nastier dimensions he suggested we find one with sentient life that appeared to have a pleasant society and atmosphere. He was concerned I might bring over some horrible monster that would eat us and we couldn’t stop thereby dooming our world to destruction. When I found a dimension full of colorful talking ponies who appeared friendly I decided this would be our best bet.”
“Well you don’t have to worry about me eating any people. We ponies eat mostly grass, vegetables, flowers, plants and the like,” Twilight said with a laugh. “Actually I guess you could say our world is very peaceful. Except for maybe the occasional dragon sighting or Changeling invasion.”
“You have dragons!? That’s so cool! You have got to tell me more about your world. Why don’t we go to another room. I arranged it to be more comfortable and it has a computer set up so you can learn more about our world!” Tiffany exclaimed and pointed to the doorway.
“That sounds great! I can’t wait to see what your world has. This is going to be one of my best reports to Princess Celestia yet; making friends with beings from a whole other dimension!” the unicorn said as she was led by Tiffany.
---
The conference had continued despite Twilight’s disappearance. Celestia decided it would be better to help everyone remain calm if the presentations continued to run their course. More than a few ponies glanced nervously around until she announced that Twilight was okay despite a mishap with a teleportation spell. Some of the ponies just shrugged and carried on, gossiping and making comparisons to previous accidents during these conferences.
“Just like the big noodle explosion twenty years ago.”
“Dese conferences always have da incidents. Ya know dere was da time I singed all da hair on mah face clean off!“
“So, what do you think happened to Twilight?” Spike asked. He had just finished delivering the letter when he cast his worried face upon the princess. “Do not fear, Spike. Twilight is well, I can determine that much. However, the place she has gone to is out of touch from my magic. The only reason I can think of is that she is in a place without magic,” she concluded.
“Without magic? You mean there’s no magic there? Where in Equestria could a place like that even be?” Spike gasped, almost too loudly. Celestia motioned with her eyes towards the audience to remind him not to be so audible. Spike eep’d and covered his mouth with his hands.
“To answer your question, Spike, she is not in Equestria right now. In fact, given what I could sense from the spatial rift on the stage, this was not a magical event but one caused by science. Whether it was accidental or not I can not determine. I am confident that Twilight is fine. A moment before the rift closed I could detect Twilight alive and well on the other side,” Princess Celestia said with utmost confidence. She maintained her aura of calm and in turn was able to soothe the baby dragon by it. Celestia was familiar with crisis and remaining calm despite them. Her confidence had been forged over time but she remained cautious and summoned the other Elements of Harmony.
Spike, on the other hand, had a hard time sitting still. He tried to watch the other presentations but couldn’t help fidgeting. His motions were noticed by the alicorn and she placed a wing on his shoulder for comfort. Spike looked up and blushed as he realized what he had been doing.
---
“What a strange world. So without any magic you built cities all around your kingdom. All around the different continents of the world,” Twilight remarked as she looked at a satellite image map of Earth. Tiffany guided Twilight on the use of the computer terminal. The unicorn immediately picked up how to manipulate the mouse with her hoof which made the scientists gasp in awe.
“How is she clicking the mouse with her hoof?”
“Is-is she made of rubber?”
“Wait, did she just TYPE?”
Twilight barely noticed their remarks while she pored over different databases of information. Her fascination led her to examine events such as world population, history, nations, governments, technology, ethnicity, and even military. “Hm, maybe it’s a good thing you guys don’t have any magic. There sure are a lot of wars in your history,” she remarked.
“Well, yes, we haven’t always really gotten along unfortunately,” Tiffany sighed.
“But look at everything you’ve achieved without magic! You have machines that travel through the air, underwater, even into outer space! Now you can observe other dimensions; you humans are going to be so fascinating to tell everyone back home about,” the purple unicorn said with a hint of eagerness. “Especially this space travel stuff. That you can actually send someone to the moon is amazing. Why don‘t you have more stuff built there?”
“Well, we’re still working on it. In fact the president of this company was looking into expanding into the realm of space exploration.” the scientist explained. “There are actually a bunch of private industries working on space travel and building a base on the moon so she decided to try going a different angle. I was working on theories of spatial teleportation and moving objects around the world via matter transfer when President Canterbury approached me.”
“President who?”
“Oh, President Stella Canterbury, she’s the president of the company I work for, E-quest Corp. This is her science division where we work on projects she’s invested in. Originally she wanted to develop the means to teleport objects to the moon. I was just a graduate student looking for research grants to prove my theories…”
---
“….which I have calculated allows us to teleport matter from one point on the Earth to another,” Tiffany concluded. The woman looked out from the stage in the auditorium to a small collection of five raters sitting in the theater chairs who grumbled, nodded, and shook their heads while writing on clip boards. She stood in front of a large whiteboard which had formulas and calculations written on it. She was dressed in semi-formal attire with her dark hair cropped just above her shoulders. “You see, by addressing the neutrinos in an oscillating pattern and-”
“That is quite enough Miss Sparks. Thank you, again for your spirited presentation.”
Tiffany swallowed down her sigh as she became silent. She felt waves of defeat wash over her as she collected her notes and thanked the panel for their time. Her voice rang hollow while she struggled to collect herself upon departure. Tiffany had grown familiar with the rejecting tone in their voices. She did not allow herself to show any emotion until she had put the auditorium behind her by several paces, only then bringing a hand up to wipe her eyes. She detoured into a nearby restroom to hide herself.
The distraught woman briefly glanced to ensure the bathroom was completely unoccupied before she broke into a sob. Tiffany let a few more escape before choking down the rest into a few rough breaths and finally into a sad sigh. She reassured herself the emotion had passed and cleaned up to hide any signs of crying. Once satisfied she walked out and nearly crashed into a middle-aged man wearing a suit.
“Whoa!”
“Oh-! I’m sorry!” she quickly.
“No harm done Miss Sparks. I was simply waiting for you to get done,” he replied and began pulling out a cell phone. Tiffany looked at him in distress and shook her head.
“Ah, n-no thanks, ah, I don’t give out my number, I don’t have time to talk and I really need to get going-” she stammered before the man pulled the phone up to his ear.
“I’m not the one looking to talk to you but Miss Canterbury insists on speaking to you.”
“Miss Canterbury?”
“Miss Stella Canterbury, president of E-quest Corp,” he explained before bringing the phone up to his ear. “Yes ma’am I found her. You want me to put her on? Yes ma’am,” he said before offering the phone to Tiffany. She cautiously took the phone and put it to her ear.
“Hello?”
“Is this Tiffany Sparks, the lady who recently gave her presentation on teleportation theories?” answered an elderly but firm woman’s voice.
“Speaking.”
“I apologize if my representative startled you but it is difficult for me to walk about sometimes. Would you like to have some lunch together in five minutes? I have a room reserved and want to hear more about your thesis, that is, if you are not too busy.”
“I-I guess. Is this really-?”
“Stella Canterbury, owner and president of E-quest Corp, venture capitalism, trade, and financier. I also happen to be very keen on certain subjects pertaining to science. So please, if you can, I would truly appreciate it if you could attend,” Stella answered.
“Okay.”
The man gestured for Tiffany to follow him as she handed the phone back. They walked together briefly to the next building over on the campus. Tiffany soon entered a small conference room. There was a small buffet table with food set on it, a round table with two chairs and a whiteboard nearby. Two servers were preparing two plates with food. Seated at one of the chairs was a mature woman who smiled upon recognizing Tiffany.
“Welcome Miss Sparks. I hope you do not find this too ostentatious. I did offer lunch but I had no idea what you may enjoy. Please join me,” Stella said and motioned to the other chair. Tiffany hesitantly walked over and sat down. The servers immediately began waiting on them and set out plates with food. “Now then, Miss Sparks, I have already seen your presentation and read some of your thesis, your intellect is not in question here. What I want to know is why you have not already received some form of research grant or position in a facility.”
Stella took a bite from her dish to signal she was waiting for a reply. Tiffany was still rather speechless and confused. She looked like she was about to talk, stopped and looked down at her plate. Her silence persisted until Stella finished chewing and set her fork down. “Is it because of that piece you submitted a while back?” Stella offered. Tiffany looked into the older woman’s eyes with a hint of shock. “Of course I looked into your past works, a little background research is necessary before looking into any investment. I just found it odd I could not find anything else after that point.”
Tiffany sighed at Stella’s mention of her past article. “I’ve been blacklisted.” she said and began to shudder.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I did not mean to upset you.” Stella said concerned.
“It doesn’t make me upset,” Tiffany stated firmly and pounded her fists on the table, “it makes me angry!” Stella tilted her head and allowed her to continue. “All I did was publish a piece questioning ‘climate change’ and pointing out how inconclusive the evidence is and I get shunned from the scientific community! Science is supposed to be about the free exchange of ideas, testing and proving theories, finding answers to mysteries! Instead it gets locked up so tightly by some ‘establishment’ and any differing opinions get silenced! I‘m lucky to get anyone to listen to me at all now and I can forget about being published. I‘ve submitted my thesis five times already and everyone refuses to publish it. They tell me to ‘recheck my math‘ and submit it again. Well I‘ve done the math and then some! I‘ve been going all around the country just trying to get someone to take me seriously and its like I‘ve been excommunicated for blasphemy!”
The young woman let out an exasperated shout. She realized Stella and both servers were looking at her and composed herself. “I-I’m sorry. You didn’t need to see that.” she said meekly as familiar waves of defeat began to flow over her again.
Stella picked up her tea cup and took a light sip from it. She set the cup down with much dignity upon the table. Tiffany noted her motions were very refined and sophisticated, almost as though she were royalty. “Do you still believe you were correct in your findings?” Stella asked.
“Huh?”
“Do you still stand behind what you wrote?”
“Well, yes, I mean, not that I couldn’t be wrong but at least what I found I believe in. There’s just not enough data to prove anything yet no matter how many models and theories are put forward. At least not enough to make it a ‘fact’ we should be acting on when we still don‘t even have enough evidence to support a solution. I can’t find any real evidence that points to the root cause of the problem and all the solutions put forward we don’t know if it will even solve it! There’s just too much politics involved and it has no place in science!”
Stella nodded and sipped her tea again. “Miss Sparks, have you ever considered recanting what you wrote? Maybe even compromising your beliefs just so you could get back ‘in’ to the scientific community?”
“What?” Tiffany was surprised by the question. “Well, the idea had crossed my mind but no. No way! Unless I can get some real empirical evidence then I refuse to acknowledge something being pushed as fact when it hasn’t been proven.”
“And despite your situation you will not stop trying to receive grants or find a facility willing to work with you? If it is as you say then you have a lot going against you. Are you sure you never thought about giving up?”
“I can’t give up. I have to keep trying. I know my theory is valid I just need to find the means to get published or prove them. That’s why I’ve been traveling around the country talking to anyone who will even give me a chance. I’ve spent all my money on travel and I barely have enough to get home as it is.”
The older woman calmly nodded along while she sipped her tea. “Have you ever considered teleporting matter into space? Or rather a point in space, such as say, the Moon?”
Tiffany was confused again by the sudden shift in topic and had to think for a moment. “Uh, well, no not really. Not yet I suppose. I guess I hadn’t thought of the notion of doing such a thing. Or even why someone would want to.”
Stella smiled mischievously. “You are aware that our country’s space program has been essentially gutted, correct?” she asked. Tiffany nodded. “Currently there are several private industries, private investors and entrepreneurs who are picking up where NASA has left off. Many commercial ventures have even successfully created space craft and are working towards making space flight readily available. The notion of a Moon colony is not at all too far off.” she said with a self-contained tinge of excitement.
“I want to let you in on a little secret. I have been fascinated with space travel all my life. I once endeavored to become an astronaut but circumstances carried me in a different direction. Now I am looking to get into the space industry in a different way. Rather than carrying objects into space I thought, what if we could just teleport objects there instantly. When we do build a Moon colony how are we going to supply it? If we had a teleporter it would take moments rather than days!” Stella continued, her face lighting up.
Tiffany thought about what Stella stated. “Well, I guess that does make practical sense. We’re still a ways from such a thing even if I adjusted my theories. Then again I don’t know how the effects of space would factor in so I would have to recalculate everything and then there’s proving it. That would require engineers, planning, designs, research and development, funding - I‘m almost out of money as it is - resources that are out of my reach!” she said at a rapid pace before sighing in defeat.
“Then what would you do if I said I wanted to make this happen. I understand the investment will not yield anything just yet. However, if you are able to prove your theory and adjust it to traveling into space, then E-quest Corporation would be on the ground floor to developing the first expressway to the Moon. Forget shuttle travel, we would have the capability to send supplies, building materials, perhaps even people to the Moon, eventually even to the entire Solar System,” Stella stated proudly with a triumphant smile.
The younger woman felt somewhat overwhelmed by the ambitious proposal. “You certainly like to aim high,” she nervously said.
“That is what my competition tells me before I outpace them. You have to think big and you have to be creative. It is what separates our country from all others; the free market which allows for the ability to go out and achieve your dreams. Even if you have to fail a couple times on the way; if you never give up then anything is possible. That is why I asked you about your situation before making my offer.”
“Offer? What offer?”
“To work for me, Miss Sparks. I have a scientific research facility where I invest in new endeavors that interest me. What good is making money if not to pursue the things I want? Space travel is one of those endeavors and I want to hire you on as one of my scientists. You will still have to work in your line of expertise on some of the current projects but once you submit your plan I will have it reviewed for resource allocation. As your project grows you will receive the appropriate resources that allow it to reach the next stage of progress. Does that sound like something you would be interested in doing?”
Tiffany suddenly felt faint. She was in the throes of despair just moments ago but now she was being given the opportunity of a lifetime. She managed to stay conscious but now doubts crept into her mind. “But what if, uh, what if I’m wrong? What if my theory doesn’t work? I, I-”
“Then you will go back to your equations and try again. I was not just interviewing you for your ability and theories. I wanted to know who you are and if you were willing to strive to succeed. That you hadn’t given up despite being shut out and your willingness to stick to your principles is exactly the kind of person I want working for me. So what do you think, Miss Sparks, or should I say, Doctor Sparks? Are you willing to take my offer?”
Stella observed the stunned scientist. Tiffany deliberated in silence before leaping out of her chair.
“YES!”
Stella watched in bemusement as Tiffany began jumping around the table shouting ‘yes’ in excitement. Tiffany carried on for almost a minute before catching herself. She abruptly stopped and turned to face Stella.
“Um, I mean, yes.” she said while blushing.
---
Tiffany was still blushing while reciting that particular moment in the story to Twilight. “Since Miss Canterbury hired me I’ve been working on teleportation ever since. Instead of discovering how to teleport objects to the Moon I ended up figuring out how to observe other dimensions and transport objects into ours,” Tiffany concluded.
“So you discovered dimensional teleportation by accident?” Twilight Sparkle asked.
“Well, yes, I guess you could say that,” Tiffany said with a hint of embarrassment. “But some of Earth’s greatest discoveries were made by accident. Our project refocused on this and we progressed until we were able to reach today’s breakthrough.”
“There’s one thing still puzzling me though,” Twilight said and began perusing the formula notes. “I was going over the calibration formula in my head and the range limits involved,” the pony began.
“In her head? Just how smart is she?” muttered one of the observers.
“The formula is limiting because it requires a specific component to compensate for missing dimensional elements. What component is this?” Twilight asked.
Tiffany smiled and clapped her hands together. “It’s funny you should ask since I’ve been trying to figure out how to approach this. We were limited to using dimensions where instances of parallel existence occurred. The component we need was a genetic sample of this dimension’s being, or anchor, who is in parallel dimensional sync with the target. Since this was my project I decided to use my own.“
“Your genetic sample?”
“Yes and because I used mine this means we are in parallel dimensional sync with each other,” Tiffany explained.
“But if we’re in parallel sync with each other then,” Twilight repeated before her eyes went wide with realization, “you’re ME?”
The train ride to Canterlot was tense. Four ponies sat in a passenger car staring at the floor, out the window, and each other. Each attempt to start a conversation fizzled out quickly. Even Pinkie Pie was having a hard time starting anything up. Everyone was too worried.
“How long have we been riding?” asked Pinkie.
“About ten minutes,” replied Applejack.
“Are we there yet?” Pinkie followed up.
A collective groan was made by the other three ponies.
“That’s the third time you asked, darling,” Rarity muttered.
“Look Pinkie, we’re all concerned about what happened to Twilight an’ the princess’s letter, but havin’ ya askin’ that every couple a’ minutes ain’t helping’ none,” Applejack said.
“I-I can understand why she’s asking. I’m so worried I want to ask a million questions,” Fluttershy whispered.
“Ah know girls, an’ ahm worried too. But we ain’t gonna get anywhere drivin’ ourselves crazy with worry. Ah guess ah know now how ya’ll felt when ah sent ya a letter tellin’ ya ah wasn’t comin’ back. But ya managed ta find me an’ ah betcha we’ll manage ta find Twilight too,” Applejack said.
“You’re right dear. We really shouldn’t be so negative. After all, we don’t even know what happened in Canterlot,” Rarity said trying to be positive. “We just need to stay strong and hurry along to provide whatever assistance the Princess wants. For Twilight‘s sake.”
All four ponies nodded their heads and resumed the tense journey, impatiently counting down the miles to Canterlot. The ride was quiet for several moments when Pinkie’s voice interrupted it.
“Are we there yet?”
---
Twilight Sparkle stared at the human and began studying her more closely then before. She mentally reviewed Tiffany’s mannerisms and speech pattern for comparison. The pony smacked herself in the face for not realizing it sooner. ‘How did I not see this sooner? Parallel dimensions, a scientist, Tiffany Sparks; How obvious can it get?’ Twilight mentally berated herself.
“So this is a weird dimension where ponies are humans and you’re me. This place just got a lot stranger!” Twilight exclaimed.
“No weirder then a world full of adorable talking ponies with a pony version of myself. I just wonder how many similarities between our worlds there are,” Tiffany pondered.
“There has to be something we can study that allows us to see the parallel situations of each other’s worlds. Maybe it would help if we learned more about each other’s lives. We could see if there are any patterns to determine how our dimensions interact,” the pony theorized.
“That sounds like a good start! But how do we test our thesis?” Tiffany replied. She placed her hand to her chin just as Twilight placed a hoof to her own. They continued thinking for a few moments until they were interrupted by one of the staff scientists.
“Excuse me, Doctor Sparks, President Canterbury is on the video phone and wants to speak to you.”
Tiffany’s eyes lit up. “Oh, she must want me to give her a status update. Come on Twilight, I can’t wait for you to see her!” she said excitedly and began leading the unicorn out.
Twilight cantered next to Tiffany as she followed, still deep in thought. They were walking down the hall and into another office when the pony had an inspiration. “Wait, this ‘President Canterbury’ is no coincidence. This must be another comparison to our dimensions.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your story about how you two met, how you report to her, what her position is; it all sounds vaguely similar to how I met Princess Celestia. Minus the magical properties, it could be possible the people in your life are the dimensional anchors for the ponies in my life,” Twilight theorized.
“That makes sense. I haven’t had a chance to prove my theory aside from today and I don’t want to just go teleporting random beings without further evidence,” Tiffany replied.
“Well, I’m quite familiar with my friends so if yours are anything like mine I think I’ll be able to notice. And if this ‘President‘ Canterbury is anything like Princess Celestia I should know right away. Who knows, maybe our lives even have recordable events similar to each other,” Twilight remarked.
“An exciting proposition! I think I can present this notion to Miss Canterbury and see if she will go along with it. I may even be able to prove more theories about dimensional travel then we thought!” Tiffany giddily replied.
‘Wow, a human version of Princess Celestia. I wonder what she would be like,’ Twilight thought to herself as they approached the video teleconference room. The room was set up like a standard office meeting room with a long wooden table and eight chairs around it, six on the sides with one at each end. A television screen was fitted to the wall behind the head of the table. Cameras were mounted around the ceiling to provide multiple angles for transmission. On the screen there was a view of their approach being broadcast. Two of the technical staff members went over the cables to check the connection when everyone heard a tone from the speaker. The view on the screen split in the middle; the left side displayed Twilight and Tiffany while the other half went black.
“Hello? Doctor Sparks, are you there?” came a female voice from the speaker.
“Hello. This is Doctor Sparks, I can hear you. Is Miss Canterbury there?” Tiffany asked.
“Oh good she’s there. Yes, one second. We’re having trouble with the visual uplink,” the voice replied. A few seconds passed before she spoke again. “There we go. We can see and hear you. Are we coming through?”
Tiffany looked at the screen and frowned. She looked at one of the technicians. The tech staff started checking the cables again and tapping on the keypad of a computer. “It looks like we’re sending but not receiving. Is there a loose cable perhaps?”
“Maybe the data link not getting through?” the other technician asked while pushing cable connectors.
“Please, don’t bother fussing over it so much. It just gives me more reason for my proposal,” said the voice of Stella Canterbury. “Congratulations again Doctor Sparks for your success. I bid you welcome to our dimension Miss Twilight Sparkle,” she said in greeting to the unicorn.
Twilight was briefly puzzled. “She already knows my name?”
“Of course, dear visitor. While I could not divert certain matters from today’s course of events, I have been remaining fully aware of the situation via updates from Doctor Sparks’ staff. As such I have come to the conclusion that, if it is possible, I would like to invite you to my personal office where we can meet face to face. What is your verdict, Doctor Sparks?” Canterbury said.
It was Tiffany’s turn to look surprised now as she had not expected this proposition. She looked at Twilight and then back to the black screen. “I believe it should be safe. We cleared the atmospheric test to verify human virus and germs were not compatible with pony and vice versa. Atmospheric components were also a good match. Uh, I just didn’t expect something like this so soon and I hadn’t planned for it from a security aspect.” Tiffany nervously replied.
“No need to, Doctor. I had already run this past Mr. Knight and he is clearing your means of transportation. You should be ready to get picked up from the garage and arrive here at Canterbury Tower. We have arranged a means for Miss Sparkle to visit us discreetly.” Canterbury reassured.
“Oh, if you want, I could turn myself invisible,” Twilight offered.
“You can turn invisible?” Canterbury asked.
“I know a spell that can. Doesn’t this dimension have invisibility magi-er, technology?” she asked.
“Not quite yet,” Tiffany sighed.
“Then it is settled. Please, come by my office. I will be expecting you. See you soon,” Canterbury stated before the connection was cut.
Tiffany and Twilight looked at each other again and smiled. “It looks like we’ll get to propose our idea in person and pony,” Tiffany said.
“Oh, I can’t wait to see your city. I wonder if it’s as grand as Canterlot?” Twilight wondered aloud.
---
A blue and rainbow blur was seen bursting forth from the skies above Canterlot. In a display of aerodynamic speed and endurance Rainbow Dash swooped in with dramatic flare and landed near the gates to the Canterlot Castle. Several guards watching her arrival grew tense and held their spears tightly to challenge the unannounced visitor.
“Hah, betcha that’s a new speed record. Too bad the others had to take the train but time waits for no mare. Especially when I‘m on the job!” Rainbow Dash proudly stated and puffed up with pride. She paused when a cough caught her attention. She turned around to see three guard stallions staring at her.
“Excuse me, but do you have permission to enter the castle?” the lead sentry sternly asked while advancing to confront her.
The mare was not about to be intimidated and adjusted her stance to square off against the leader. “You bet I do! Me and my friends were summoned here by the Princess herself! We got an emergency to attend to!” Rainbow Dash replied.
“We were not informed of any special visitors or an emergency. Do you have any proof?” the stallion then asked.
“Of course I have ‘proof.’ We got a letter from the Princess summoning us!”
“Then can we see this letter?” the sentry flatly asked.
“Yeah it’s-” she began to say and reached behind her only to realize she didn’t have any satchels, bags or anything to reach for. Her face blanked as she retraced her steps and recalled who was last holding the letter. “Applejack!”
“I’m sorry, did you just call me something?”
Rainbow Dash’s face grew tense as she realized she had no letter which meant she had no proof of being summoned which meant she had no means to enter the castle. She nervously laughed and grinned half heartedly. “Ah, I mean, my friend, Applejack, has the letter. But you know what, you don’t need that letter. I-I’m sure somepony can vouch for me-!” she said and desperately began looking around for a familiar face happening to walk by; a Princess, Shining Armor, anybody? No one could be seen. She hung her head down and grumbled.
“If you do not have any proof then I cannot let you through,” the sentry said in a rehearsed tone.
The pegasus shook her head and faced the stallion again. “B-but, but, it’s on it’s way! I mean, Applejack and the others are on the train now and will bring it so you don’t have to worry about it! You can just let me in and I’ll be cleared after they arrive,” she said and waved a dismissive hoof at them.
“Without authorization I cannot allow you to enter nor can I allow you to loiter by the gate. I suggest you go to the train station and wait for your friends to arrive,” the lead sentry stated, emphasizing it was a command rather than suggestion. He stomped his front hooves in finality.
Rainbow Dash began to puff up and challenge the lead stallion when the other two guards pointed their spears at her and snorted. Rainbow’s face scrunched in frustration and she glared at the three guards while letting out her own snort. Her wings fluttered in anger for a tense second before she turned around to trot over to the train station and wait for her friends to arrive.
---
Tiffany escorted her honored guest to a secluded corner of the garage where a deluxe limousine waited for them. Tiffany had left behind her lab coat and was carrying a box under her arm containing Twilight‘s possessions. “Welcome aboard, ladies,” greeted Sean. He opened the two doors which extended outward and revealed a luxurious passenger area. Twilight had no trouble climbing in and settling on the large couch shaped seat. Tiffany sat next to Twilight on the same row while Sean sat at the other end, closing the doors behind him. The chauffer then shifted into gear and began driving.
Twilight started looking out the windows in expectation as the car navigated out of the underground garage level. Tiffany fussed over her hair and straightened out her clothes which had become slightly wrinkled from the lab coat.
“Is it secure to be traveling in a car with so many windows?” Twilight asked.
“The glass is a one way mirror so we can see out but no one can see in. President Canterbury authorized the use of it since she wanted to give you the ability to see outside. It was either use this or one of the company vans that doesn’t have windows,” Sean replied.
“I’m surprised you actually let us travel outside of the facility. I was afraid I would have to find someway to ‘charm’ you into letting me take Twilight out to see the world,” Tiffany said and winked at him. Sean just shrugged.
“You can thank Miss Canterbury for this. She wanted to see Twilight and, well, she’s the boss. We just applied some risk management and mitigated what we could. There’s always going to be a danger Twilight could be discovered but we can work within certain thresholds,” the security chief replied.
“Wow, I feel like I’m riding in Princess Celestia’s royal chariot. Can this vehicle fly too?” Twilight asked.
“No, its land based only. We still haven’t invented a ‘flying car’ just yet but we’re working on it,” Tiffany said.
“Back home we have chariots or carriages that we pull. When a cart is pulled by a pegasus they can use their wings to make it fly into the air. We also have a train that runs to the major cities of Equestria and as well as several of the outlying settlements,” Twilight informed them.
“You have pegasus in your world?” Sean asked.
“Why yes, we do. Most of the pegasi live in Cloudsdale, which is a city in the sky made of clouds. From there the pegasus ponies control and maintain the weather for all of Equestria. Some pegasus live on the ground, like my friend Fluttershy. She loves animals and prefers to stay nearby so she can take care of them,” Twilight explained.
“How do they live in the clouds and control the weather?” Sean asked in fascination.
“You mean you can’t control your weather?” Twilight asked in surprise. The two humans shook their heads.
“Predict it, somewhat, but we’re nowhere near being able to control it,” Tiffany said.
“So your weather is just like the Everfree Forest back home. That’s the only place in Equestria where everything runs on it’s own without any pony to guide it. Back home, magic is used to raise the sun and the moon, change the seasons, even guide the animals that hibernate or migrate. The pegasi of Cloudsdale schedule the weather pattern to make sure nature stays balanced. In Ponyville, we have a tradition of clearing up the weather by earth pony means. The pegasus ponies still clear the clouds and bring the migrating birds back but everything else is handled without magic. I started helping with the tradition by organizing Winter Wrap Up and helped Ponyville complete it on time,” Twilight said with a hint of pride at the end.
“But how do pegasi live in the clouds?” Sean reiterated.
“Oh, they can walk on clouds and mold them into permanent shapes. So when I say Cloudsdale is made of clouds it actually is made of clouds. Pegasi can sculpt or manipulate any cloud they want as if it were solid. It really is amazing to watch the pegasi in action. My friend Rainbow Dash loves taking naps on the clouds over Ponyville. You wouldn‘t believe it at first but she‘s the fastest pegasus in Equestria and she‘ll prove it too.”
The limousine pulled out of the garage and onto a street. There were several plain three story buildings lined up along the streets with various industrial facilities and reservoirs. They soon reached a chain link fence line that extended as far out as the eye could see. The fence joined near the street where a checkpoint controlled traffic flow. The guard nodded to the driver and the chain link fence barrier retracted to the side to allow passage. As the limousine pulled away it drove onto a single road that led out. The terrain alongside the road was a yellowed plain which stretched all around the perimeter of the facility they departed.
“The place we just left is the PNVL facility. This is where President Canterbury funds all sorts of science experiments,” Tiffany explained. “There’s actually all kinds of places like this one around the country. Some places are as large as a city and are rented out so all experiments can be performed under city simulated conditions. Right now, we’re heading to Canterbury Tower which is just outside of Oklahoma City.”
“Oh, in the state of Oklahoma! I remember this from all those maps I was looking at. And we’re in the United States of America bordered by Canada and Mexico,” Twilight quickly added.
“Yes. First we’ll be passing through the PNVL facility commons, or PoNi-ville to some of us. It’s a small suburb that was built mainly to support the employees of the facility. It’s closer than the city and more convenient when having to commute,” Tiffany explained.
“It’s also a safe distance from the facility should there be any accidents. There are many people’s families living there, along with a school, some shops, and small businesses. It grew up just like most towns do around a military base,” Sean added.
“PoNi-ville?” Twilight asked incredulously. “That’s just like the name of the town that I live in.”
“More parallels it seems. I guess we shouldn’t let ourselves be too surprised as we do our research,” Tiffany said with a smile.
Twilight nodded and looked out the window again. She could see in the distance the edges of what appeared to be the sprawl of a large city. Her eyes squinted as she tried to get a better look at what appeared to be a very impressive sight.
Stella Canterbury looked out the window of her spacious top floor office. From there she could see the city skyline stretch out to the outskirt limits. She found it relaxing to take in the grand sight, especially at night. On a clear day she could even see the PNVL facility with the help of her telescope. A large white telescope with gold trim stood next to the window, pointed out towards the city. She let out a breath and hesitantly put her eye up to the lens to see through it. No sooner did she look then she scowled and stepped back. Stella immediately closed the curtains behind her, shutting out the beautiful view.
The businesswoman walked over to her large desk; it was made of mahogany, with six drawers on each side; on the surface of the desk a blue felt protective cover, two fancy gold trimmed wooden cups filled with pens and pencils flanking a personal fountain pen set in the center with a name plate bearing her full name and motto: Stella Danielle Canterbury, “Energy and Persistence Conquer All Things.” She sat down in a large wooden swivel chair with blue cushioning and began to go over several documents for her to sign. A classical phone, more fancy than practical, sat at her right hand. The phone’s body was rounded at the bottom yet daintily tapered at the top with a large metal carrier shaped into two hooks for the receiver. The receiver’s center was a gold tinted metal with white ends.
Stella busied herself with reading every line of the form until a pleasant chime from her phone sounded out the tune of Vivaldi’s Spring Concerto from the Four Seasons. She gently lifted the receiver and put it to her ear. “Yes?”
“Miss Canterbury, your guests have arrived,” informed a male voice on the other end.
“Thank you. Send them in,” she replied and set the receiver down. She smiled as the double doors opened to allow two men and a woman followed by a lavender unicorn with a purple and fuchsia mane into her office.
---
Twilight Sparkle saw the double doors open and was met by a room which to her would have amounted to an audience chamber. The office, as it was called, had white marble floors with a wide blue carpet with golden trim running from the door to the desk in the center. Large blue curtains surrounded the farthest side of the office, covering what would have to be several large windows behind the central desk. Three large bookshelves lined the wall to the left along with several potted plants set between each shelf. She saw a smaller desk to the right for what she assumed to be for a secretary along with four wood framed couches with blue cushions. A large wooden conference table with ten chairs was set next to a wall with a large flat screen video monitor mounted.
The unicorn’s eyes went over to the woman behind the large desk in the center, standing up and walking around to meet her. The first thing Twilight picked up was the graceful manner in which she moved. The woman’s long pale blonde hair seemed to flow elegantly behind her as she approached. Twilight could see this woman was much taller than Tiffany, appearing to possess maturity and wisdom well beyond her well preserved features.
Tiffany and Sean both nodded in greeting as Stella looked at them quickly before addressing the pony. “Greetings again, Twilight Sparkle. Welcome to Canterbury Tower, the corporate headquarters of E-quest Corp. I am Stella Danielle Canterbury, president and owner,” she said.
Twilight looked up at Stella in awe. She felt as though she were in the presence of Princess Celestia and desired to bow in reverence. “Y-your highness, I am honored to meet you,” she quickly said.
Stella chuckled a little and brought her hand up to her mouth in amusement. “Oh my, so respectful,” she said and smiled while looking at Twilight, “Please, there is no need for such words. I am not of royal standing, just a very successful businesswoman who has the pleasure of meeting our first guest from another dimension.”
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean any offense,” Twilight blurted out in embarrassment, “You just reminded me of Princess Celestia.”
“In Twilight’s world, you’re a princess, Miss Canterbury,” Tiffany explained.
“Oh? Well that is a surprise. So this, ah, pony version of myself is a good ruler?” Stella asked with pleasant curiosity.
Twilight‘s eyes lit up as she spoke. “Yes, certainly! She’s the best princess ever, uh-”
“Just call me Miss Canterbury. Please, tell me about your princess,” Stella said.
“Right. Princess Celestia is a great white alicorn who rules over Equestria. Her mane and tail is a flowing cascade of blue, green, and pink and she has a sun shaped cutie mark,” Twilight began to explain.
“I beg your pardon, but what is a ‘cutie mark’?” Stella inquired.
“That’s what we call the markings on our side,” Twilight said, turning her body to show off the star shaped cutie mark on her flank. “All ponies get them when they reach a certain age and learn what their special talent is.”
“So that is what you call them. I remember noticing these ‘cutie marks’ when I was looking into your world. I could tell they had some sort of importance and they were of various styles but we still had not determined what their significance was. It was in my earlier reports during the observation phase,” Tiffany stated.
“Didn’t you coin the term ‘rump stamps’ during this phase?” Sean whispered to Tiffany.
“No that was you,” Tiffany whispered back, “I called them flank markings in the official report.”
“So all of your kind have these markings then. Now, I understand you are a unicorn and there are pegasi and regular ponies so just what type of pony is an alicorn?” Stella asked.
“Princess Celestia has the wings of a pegasus and the horn of a unicorn. She can fly and cast spells; she’s the most powerful magic user in all of Equestria and is responsible for the daily rising of the sun. She’s also my teacher and mentor. I met her on the day of try outs for Princess Celestia’s Magical School for Gifted Unicorns. During the entrance exam, my magic got out of hoof. Fortunately she was nearby and brought it under control. She made me her personal student and I’ve been learning magic from her ever since,” Twilight concluded. The unicorn then stepped closer to examine Stella. The woman noticed the motion and simply observed as she was being scrutinized. “Miss Canterbury, if you don’t mind my asking, what do you do? If you’re not a princess or rule a nation then how do you dimensionally anchor Princess Celestia?”
Stella raised her eyebrows at the question and smiled gently. “Well, I do administer over my domain which is a multi-national corporation involved in various industries, agriculture, and business ventures. The money I make from business I use to expand and invest into the corporation or fund scientific research for projects which interest me; space travel had been my main goal until Doctor Sparks‘s success gave me a new frontier to explore. I am responsible for the larger decisions of management, the overall vision and direction of this company as well as the welfare of my employees.”
“She also funds several charity initiatives locally, nationally, and globally,” Tiffany quickly added, drawing a subtle but polite rebuke from Stella.
“I believe there is more virtue in anonymous charity. There is a term which determines it is better to ‘let not the left hand know what the right hand is doing’ regarding charity,” Stella stated.
Tiffany looked down, slightly embarrassed and aware of being chastised. “Sorry, I just didn’t want Twilight to be disappointed by her princess’s dimensional anchor,” Tiffany said softly while wringing her hands together.
Twilight smiled a little at her human self, “I would have done the same thing too.”
“I believe you already were, Twilight Sparkle. Tell me, does Princess Celestia get over involved in affairs? Does she micro-manage or weigh heavily her will and decisions of state on your people?” Stella continued.
“No, never. She usually only gets personally involved in direct threats to Equestria like Nightmare Moon or Changeling invasions. Most of the smaller matters are delegated to local ponies like Ponyville’s Mayor Mare,“ Twilight explained. She then brought a hoof up to her chin as she continued to remember past events, “She’s even delegated a lot of very important tasks too. There was one time when she put me in charge of removing a sleeping dragon. His snoring caused so much smoke it would have covered all of Equestria for a hundred years if he had been allowed to sleep in that cave. Most of the time she really just lets us solve our own problems. Occasionally special circumstances draw her attention like Parasprite infestations or that time I cast the ‘Want It, Need It’ spell-”
Twilight stopped herself abruptly and covered her mouth with her hoof. The shade of red on her cheeks grew deeper in embarrassment as she remembered how out of hoof Ponyville had become on that day. She quickly dismissed the event with a wave of her hoof and a laugh before she continued on, “Anyways, the point is that she is not oppressive at all. Not like King Sombra was. Most of the time she spends it meeting with ponies, teaching about friendship, and sharing the wisdom she’s accumulated from living for over a thousand years.”
Tiffany and Sean looked at Twilight curiously over the sudden self-interruption before their eyes widened at how old Princess Celestia was. Stella smiled and let out a wistful sigh. “Oh, the wisdom such age would bring and yet I do not find myself desiring that. She indeed sounds like a fine ruler. In fact I believe she would make an excellent CEO. I typically only get involved in specific matters while my managers run the day to day details. Normally I only have to focus in creating a guidance for my company while leaving me free to pursue interests,” Stella explained before narrowing her eyes.
“Normally?” Twilight asked.
“These past several years have grown harder to do so. More so then any other time I can recall, even before my company expanded to what it is today…”
---
“…and the meeting with the official from the EPA went how well, Mary?” Stella asked. She walked next to a woman with well kept short gray hair which was tied back, wearing half moon bifocals, a white blouse, teal skirt and blazer.
“About as well as you expected, ma’am. I tried to explain how our PNVL facility is already up to code with regards to industrial chemical storage and usage regulations but she would not hear it. I showed her the Material Safety Data Sheets, our independent research, all the manufacturing delivery data we compiled and it made no difference. We do not store or use one of the chemical agents that is pre-mixed into a industrial compound we purchase from the manufacturer. There should not have to be a need to comply with the regulations for storing the agent, only the compound which is present. All the data should have explained how once the agent is mixed into the compound it is in the compound and no longer independent. We used their own regulatory guidance to try and explain this,” Mary stated, trying desperately to hide the frustration in her voice.
“And what did she say then?” Stella calmly asked.
“She said, and I am paraphrasing here, that she did not care if the chemical agent was present onsite or not, how much it would cost us to comply, or what data we bring to her. If we do not comply with the regulation she will shut us down and put us out of business,” Mary stated and huffed a little as she recalled the arrogant demeanor of the bureaucrat.
Stella chuckled a little at Mary’s indignation. She sympathized with her irritation for the bureaucracy they dealt with. Her amusement died quickly when she reached her conclusion regarding the matter, “Then we have no choice but to comply. I cannot run a business above the law. I have already had finance run the numbers and determine how to allocate the budget to comply with the regulations.”
Mary’s face turned downward in sadness, “Then we will not be expanding our business investments in the east coast?”
Stella shook her head. “It is already so expensive to operate in most of that area. Overregulation there is what forced me to establish PNVL in this state. It was either hold back growth in that area or cancel Polly’s hospital charity program,” she explained.
Mary nodded sadly, “I understand, ma’am. It’s just, there are so many people there who could have used the jobs your expansion would have created.”
“I know you came from that area, Mary, and again I am sorry. The fact that we cannot even be certain just how high the tax rate will be in a given year is making it all the harder to plan that much farther ahead,” Stella replied.
“It’s not your fault. Anyways, the representative from the construction trade unions is here, along with the members from the Senate revenue committee to seek your support,” Mary stated, putting most emotion behind her. Stella could still pick up on the underlying tone in her voice regarding the two factions and again sympathized. She had no desire to talk to either as well.
“Very well then. I will speak to the Senate committee members first. I suppose I should pay them the courtesy. I trust the union rep will not be too adverse to having to wait,” Stella said.
“No doubt he will, especially if he is in a hurry to get to the next ‘senior leadership retreat’ event they waste so much of their union dues on,” Mary humph’d in contempt.
They continued walking down the hallway of Canterbury Tower to Stella’s office where Mary opened the door, allowing Stella to enter. She saw the delegation was already seated at the conference table in her office.
“Good day ladies and gentlemen. I take it the trip from DC was a pleasant one?” Stella politely greeted as she addressed the five members of the committee. Three men and two women in formal business attire stood up and offered to shake hands in turn. They all wore visitor badges, one carried a briefcase, while others held a folder.
“Just fine, ma’am. This hasn’t been our first stop though; we’ve been going across the country trying to drum up support for the President’s efforts to generate more revenue,” explained a middle aged man.
“You mean raise taxes,” Stella corrected.
“The administration has been a solid supporter of business and free enterprise. Unfortunately, if we are to close the gap on our deficit spending then we need to find more revenue. We are just trying to appeal to business owners like yourself to aide our efforts in passing legislation in Washington,” explained the first man.
Stella took a second to read the names on each of the visitor badges: Thomas Sedgewick, Rita Lawrence, Alfred Johnson, Richard Cohen, Jessica Hamm. They all sat down at the table to begin their meeting with Stella at the head of one side, Mary taking a seat to her immediate right, and the rest taking seats at the side. Thomas, the de facto leader of this group, took the other side’s end.
“I believe your calls to ask for more revenue are going to meet a lot of resistance, especially in the House and from members of the Senate as well. Members within your own party I believe,” Stella calmly informed.
“Which is why it is critical we have your support. We’ve already spoken to several of your constituency and many have signed on. Your name would be added to a growing list of civic minded business leaders,” Thomas continued.
“I cannot find much benefit to having the tax rate raised on businesses, their owners, and the populace in general. I am afraid you may have some trouble convincing me to agree to such,” Stella replied with a hint of a smile.
“You have to understand, the President has been making calls to raise the tax rate for those who can afford to pay just a little more, not everyone. If only just the highest income earners could contribute more we could help save this economy. The revenue from raising the corporate tax rate would go a long way to aiding us in closing some of the budget gaps alone. This in turn would allow us to free up more money to invest in the business sector to help create more jobs. Creating more jobs is something we have all been focused on all these years,” Thomas stated, gesturing with his hands while he did.
“So you plan on spending the extra revenue not on paying down the deficit but on another stimulus package?” Stella asked in clarification.
“Of course. The last stimulus package did wonders in pulling our country out of the recession. We should be able to do more if we can just guarantee the revenue, push it through Congress, convince others to sign on; you would be doing wonders to help the country, and in turn yourself. The more people working and off unemployment, the more people can buy things for themselves again,” Thomas continued.
Stella’s mouth narrowed and she looked at Mary, “I believe you ran the unemployment numbers in Pennsylvania to me just the other day, didn’t you, Mary?”
“Yes ma’am. Along with several other states you were considering expansion into,” Mary replied.
“You know, every time I look at those numbers, Mr. Sedgewick, I can’t help but wonder just what good the past, three I believe, stimulus packages did. Unemployment still seems to be hovering around eight percent, even after four years. That, unfortunately, is only the number reflecting those who are still applying for unemployment benefits,” Stella said.
“Ma’am, I don’t know what data you have been looking at, but the unemployment rate has dropped several times. The economy is recovering, just very slowly. We need to continue investing to keep the recovery going,” Thomas stated. The other members of the committee had been quiet the entire time but had begun to grow somewhat concerned at Stella’s questions. Their faces even displayed a quickly hidden hint of irritation.
“I think you know which numbers I look at. They are only the same numbers the national labor bureau compiles. Your administration releases the jobs numbers and the unemployment rate but never mentions specific details, especially those concerning the Americans who have stopped looking for work or can no longer apply for unemployment benefits. Once they stop looking or cannot apply then you simply stop counting them. When you stop counting those individuals then you can say unemployment has ‘dropped’ when in fact it is closer to fourteen percent or more. Mr. Sedgewick, I was hoping for at least a little more accuracy,” Stella said.
“Look, the unemployment numbers not withstanding, the purpose is still the same. We want your support in the revenue legislation,” Thomas said.
“I don’t think I would want to sign my name to a measure that will only succeed in confiscating the hard earned wealth from more businesses and Americans,” Stella concluded, folding her hands in front of her.
“But you don’t understand; the revenue increase will not take money away from the lower income earners, only the ones who make more than a certain amount and are in the higher tax brackets. These are the people like yourself who can afford to pay more,” countered Rita, one of the younger looking members of the committee.
Stella looked at the young woman and smiled at her as though she were a granddaughter. “My dear young lady, people like myself who ‘make more’ are not affected by the earned income tax rate. My earnings come from investments and stock holdings, portfolios and such. When you have other individuals like myself claiming to want to raise taxes because my rate is lower than others it is because we are being taxed on different holdings then my manager here,” she said and motioned towards Mary, “Also, the notion that to raise such taxes would only make me ‘sacrifice’ one more lavish vacation or buying an expensive car is rather uninformed. Smaller business owners need that money in order to expand their business or invest in improvement. What you fail to inform the public, is by increasing taxes and making businesses have to pay more for their operation, the business must then charge more for their products and services. That cost is then passed down to consumers. The same goes for my business. The more I have to spend on taxes the less I have to put into another venture which creates more jobs or save a business; preventing it from closing and losing those jobs.”
“That is what we are trying to do. The stimulus alone is responsible for saving millions of jobs,” countered Richard, a young man in his late twenties.
“By investing it into the failed businesses of many of your administrations political supporters and bundlers. Even those businesses which have not failed are once again teetering on the edge of insolvency. Just like those businesses which did not learn to change their failing policies, the people you represent continue to push for the same policies which have not lifted this country’s economy. I believe the practice of doing the same action and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity,” Stella stated firmly.
“I understand that perhaps some things have not turned out quite as well as many of us have hoped. We truly thought this recession would have been completely over by now. One thing we would like to as well,” Thomas pivoted in an attempt to be diplomatic, “is to hear ideas from business leaders like yourself. We know you have concerns and we welcome such advice.”
“I have offered many ideas, but never seem to receive any response. I do not see why, we have had many examples of policies which have proven their effectiveness in the past. One such idea is to lower the tax rate across the board, reduce capital gains tax, and business tax. When we have more revenue to spend on our business we can grow the economy ourselves without the need for government interference and stimulus packages,” Stella explained cheerily.
“But then we can’t afford to run the government. How can you expect us to continue running up more deficit spending? The President has been working to reduce our deficits from the beginning of his term,” Thomas replied.
“Then you do what every normal person does and cut down your spending. There are numerous programs and departments which can be cut. I could point them out to you simply based on the reports I receive from my managers who have to interact with them. The sheer amount of programs doing the same thing is wasteful for both the government and my company,” Stella offered.
“We are always looking to reduce the waste but its going to take more than just cutting a program here or there to close the gap. More revenue is the only answer to this problem, Miss Canterbury,” Thomas countered.
“I wasn’t finished. You need to cut the entitlement spending programs which have swelled over these past decades. Rather than reduce poverty, it has only created a citizenry with the mentality that they can live comfortably without ever going to work. When people do not have any incentive to change their behavior and are instead rewarded for not working then what possible reason would they want to look for employment. The tax money you collect is instead frivolously spent and results in more people applying for your government aide programs,” Stella added.
“I find that rather heartless of you,” snapped Jessica, “there’s so many people who need those programs just to survive!”
“Some people, true, there are those who are incapable of working to support themselves,” Stella nodded, “However, the programs are created as such to be easily taken advantage of by people who are capable of working. These people then in turn continue to apply for such benefits to the point where they make more by being on welfare then actually working. Since these benefits are discontinued once they find employment there isn’t much motivation to do so. Why work for less money when you can simply get more for free?”
“You have a very skewed view of people,” Jessica replied indignantly.
“On the contrary, I believe I hold a very realistic view of human nature. It is unchanging; a force no different today than hundreds of years ago. Virtue must be taught, we are not simply born with it. After so many generations of people not being taught the virtue of hard work, it is sorely lacking. This administration continues to promote more dependency rather then independence because to try and cut these programs would be politically unpopular. In the meantime, you demonize people like myself for being wealthy and blame us for the difficult condition people are living in. I find it ironic since the wealthy people of this nation are the ones paying the greatest majority of the taxes being levied,” Stella concluded.
Thomas shook his head and shrugged to the other members, “Alright then, I think I can take the hint-”
“If I believed that, I would not be here addressing so many concerns. If cutting spending is too difficult then try loosening up the regulations so we would not have to spend so much on compliance. The extra costs on our economy just to comply with federally mandated regulations is in the billions. My finance department must set aside and allocate enough money in the budget to do so; money which could be spent, again, on job growth,” Stella quickly followed up.
“Whoa whoa, for someone having such a negative view on human nature, now suddenly you have enough faith in others that we need to roll back regulations and let businesses run wild? Regulations are needed to keep bad businesses in line so they don’t cheat people,” stated Alfred.
“There is already plenty of regulation in place as it is. Most of them coming from bureaucracies with no real understanding of how business is run or what effect they will have. If I were to try and start up a business like this one today I would never have gotten past the levels of red tape, paper work, and fees necessary. All this over regulating has done is strangle businesses from ever starting or hobble them from being able to function,” Stella countered.
“But it’s for the good of the people. We can’t just let businesses run wild and do whatever they want. We need environmental regulations and business regulations to punish those who would break the law,” Alfred reiterated.
“And you establish such regulations from your offices in Washington to enforce them across the country when the local state laws were already in place. Nor do they consider the fact that each state has different conditions which must be deal with locally. Your one size fits all federal regulations only add more bureaucracy and does nothing to help at a local level,” Stella finished.
The business woman then looked at the clock and smiled at everyone, “Gentlemen, ladies, I believe we have come to the conclusion of this meeting. Thank you all so much for coming. I look forward to future correspondence, be certain to give your constituents my regards and pass along my ideas.”
Thomas shrugged and began standing up. The others followed suit and gathered their belongings before filing out the door. They were cordial in their farewells but the mood in the room had cooled. None of the members appeared satisfied by the results, with most of them giving Stella wary glances as they left.
“So, do you think any of them learned something?” Mary asked once she was certain no one would hear her.
“Doubtful but I always hope. Now then, why don’t we make ourselves acquainted with our next guest,” Stella declared.
Mary left the office and retrieved a man in a gray business suit in the outer reception area. He advanced and offered his hand when he got within arms length.
“Miss Canterbury, I’m Leon DeGeneres, with the construction trade workers union,” the man introduced as they shook hands.
“Good day, Mr. DeGeneres,” Stella greeted. “Now then, what is it you wished to discuss?”
Leon chuckled and put his hands to his sides. “I’ll get to the point then. The union took note that in the last bid for the construction contracts at the PNVL facility, your contracting department went with all the non-union construction companies. I came here to appeal to your good senses as to how critical it is that the union is given this contract.”
“I have reviewed the terms my head of contracting established and am in full agreement. We have already drafted up the contracts, so if you came with a counter offer then I’m afraid you are too late,” Stella replied.
“Well that’s just it. You know, the union is made up of hard working Americans and in these times we could use all the work we can get to make ends meet. I am hoping you would reconsider for the sake of the workers,” Leon said.
“Unfortunately, we are past that stage now. It would not be good business to break a commitment we have already made,” Stella said.
Leon’s face hardened and he became noticeably more belligerent, “Miss Canterbury, I don’t think you understand. The union wants this work and we are prepared to take whatever steps necessary to convince you to grant us this contract. Maybe you don’t realize it but this decision could be seen very unfavorably among many influential circles.”
“Oh really?” Stella questioned, her face remaining calm.
“The union has very powerful supporters in Washington. Not to be so blunt, but we will work with lawmakers to see our members receive their fair amount due. This contract is one of those things,” Leon said.
“Ah yes, your friends in Washington, the ones whom you support with money from your membership dues. I am quite aware of that. I am also quite aware of how little regard you have for your ‘members’ whom you claim to represent. How many of them truly agree with the political views you support? Why is it that funds which are supposed to be used to aide union members in need, instead gets spent on political campaigns around the country to support certain candidates? I suppose it does help to have politicians in your back pocket so you can make threats like these. Perhaps it justifies your senior level management‘s pensions and corrupt spending,” Stella replied with a growing firmness to her voice.
“I don’t care much for the accusations you’re making Canterbury. You know, things happen when you don’t acquire the ‘quality’ workmanship of the union. You can’t guarantee the work you hired won’t be shoddy or even up to code,” Leon countered.
“Yes, I’ve long known some of the quality workmanship you espouse. I am more than aware of the many instances when your thugs have sabotaged facilities or bullied non-members and businesses who hired them, like that incident in Philadelphia not too long ago,” Stella crossed her arms and smiled, “You should know however, that I have my own security firm in full emplacement around my assets; the head of whom is a former Army special operations officer. I allocate to him a very good budget and encourage him to hire as many former military, law enforcement, and contract security operators. So many of your politicians played a part in the massive sequestration and cuts to our national defense budget which forced most of these service members to be ineligible to reenlist despite their good records of service. I believe you will find it very hard to follow through on any mischief your, ‘leadership’ if that is what such criminals can be called, decide to make. Indeed, God help whoever they send.”
Leon frowned and let out a breath. His eyes bore anger but he held his tongue. He shook his head and snarled a terse ‘Goodbye’ before turning around and stormed out of the office…
---
Stella could see the expression on Twilight’s face had grown rapt with a mix of curiosity and shock, “Oh, my apologies, Twilight. I had not realized I had run on so long. Actually I am surprised I was not interrupted sooner,” Stella quickly said.
A knock at the door resounded and drew everyone’s attention.
“Ah, there we are. I suppose she is right on time,” Stella declared.
The door opened and a woman with similar features to Stella but slightly younger, a head shorter, with long black hair, wearing a slate blue blouse and midnight blue jacket and skirt. Around her neck was a silver chain with a small crescent moon pendant. She walked in quickly but came to a sudden stop when she saw Twilight.
“Stella? Is this-?”
“Good, you made it. I wanted you to be here and share in this event,” Stella said while walking over to the newcomer, “Twilight Sparkle, I would like you to meet my younger sister, Lucy.”
“HooWEE! That trip felt like it took forever!” exclaimed Applejack as she stepped out of the passenger car. Her friends all nodded in agreement and began smiling as they saw their destination back dropped against the late afternoon sky: Canterlot Castle.
“About time guys. Sheesh, what did you do, take the scenic route?”
Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy all turned their heads and found Rainbow Dash slumped over a bench. Her expression was one of absolute boredom before she began to stretch and stand up.
“Rainbow Dash, whatever are you doing here?” asked Rarity, surprised to see the blue pegasus at the train station.
“Did you decide to come wait for us? Did you already find Twilight? Do we need to start the ‘Rainbow Dash found Twilight celebration’ party!?” Pinkie asked in her rapid fire manner. The rainbow maned pegasus just looked at Pinkie Pie and shook her head.
“No, Pinkie. I’ve been waiting for you guys this whole time; what’s it look like? I was beginning to think you were never gonna make it!” Rainbow Dash complained. She then zipped over to Applejack and poked her with a hoof, “What’s the big idea, holding on to the letter the Princess sent to us? The guards won’t even let me into the castle without it! I get all the way here just to get stuck waiting because you slowpokes had to take the train!”
Applejack and the others couldn’t help but start to chuckle a little at Rainbow’s predicament, “Ya know Dash, if ya hadn’t flown off in the first place ya wouldn’t have forgotten the letter,” the orange earth pony replied.
“Yeah but Twilight’s in trouble and we don’t even know what’s the emergency. So I HAD to hurry! Something might have changed and terrible things could be happening to Twilight right now!” Rainbow Dash countered.
“She does have a point, darling. Why don’t we hurry over to the castle? The Princess is waiting for us,” Rarity stated, rallying everyone to run in unison towards the castle.
---
Twilight Sparkle looked at Lucy and walked up to her before politely offering her hoof, “Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle,” she greeted. The nervous human looked at the pony and composed herself.
“Lucy Canterbury. A pleasure to meet you, traveler,” she replied, taking Twilight‘s hoof in her hand and shaking it.
Sean looked at Tiffany slightly puzzled, “Did she not know about today’s events?” he whispered to the scientist.
“I thought she did. I don’t see why she wouldn’t know; she’s always been deeply involved with the science department,” Tiffany quietly replied.
Lucy let go of Twilight’s hoof and looked at Stella, “Sister, why did you not tell me this phase would be conducted today?”
“You have been so busy with several projects, I wanted to surprise you,” Stella replied, smiling and watching her sister’s reaction.
“You know I don’t like surprises,” Lucy said while looking down with obvious discomfort.
“But you must admit, of all the surprises to drop upon you, this one has to be the best. Twilight Sparkle, here, is from the parallel dimension Doctor Sparks’s device has accessed. This is one of the moments you have been dreaming of for quite some time. It is a tremendous breakthrough for mankind, don’t you agree?” Stella said encouragingly.
Lucy shifted herself and pulled out one of her folders, “Which is another reason I am unsettled by your not telling me about going ahead with this phase today. I have been going over the equations while I was overseas.”
Twilight looked at Lucy with concern and then looked at Tiffany questioningly, “Miss Lucy is in charge of the scientific division and travels around the world looking into competitive R&D. She was a child prodigy in mathematics, working on quantum mechanics and astrophysics; she’s even put forward several theories of her own. Using them helped me to develop my teleportation theories. She usually works opposite hours to us in this country so she handles business affairs at night,” Tiffany explained.
“That is true, Doctor Sparks, thank you for the introduction. But it is more important I show you what I discovered,” Lucy stated and began to show Tiffany the papers from her folder, “I have been going over your formulas for compensating the energy limitations and dimensional anchoring, during my travels.”
“Your theories have always been sound, but I wanted to go over them again because I felt something was missing. I realized it just recently, while on my return flight. There is a limitation on the targeting specimen, not only dimensionally, but in person as well,” Lucy explained, pausing to look at Twilight briefly, “Or pony in this case. The problem with using a dimensional anchor to draw a parallel entity over is that the entity and the anchor then become spatially limited. As the anchor is providing the entity’s missing dimensional sustenance in the host dimension, they must remain within a certain boundary of each other’s presence. Otherwise, they shall both expire,” she quickly stated.
Sean listened and raised his eyebrows, “Now, I know I’ve been around Tiff and all the science types long enough to not be completely stupid about all this techno babble. So, if I’m hearing you right, it sounds like you just said Tiffany and Twilight have to stay near each other, or they die. Am I right on that?” he asked.
Lucy looked at the man and nodded, “You are correct in that statement, Mr. Knight. I have not been able to determine the exact distance or time it will take for the entity and anchor to expire if they are apart. However, according to the numbers I have crunched, Doctor Sparks and Twilight Sparkle must remain in close proximity at all times.”
Stella walked up to her sister and put a hand on her shoulder, “Are you certain of this, Lucy?” she asked with genuine concern.
“Unfortunately, I am most certain. This is why I was so upset when you surprised me with this. I wanted to be sure that we were prepared to do so without risking their lives,” Lucy replied.
Tiffany and Twilight busied themselves looking at the numbers in Lucy‘s file. They both read over the figures and frowned slightly. Each one began calculating in their heads while muttering to themselves for several seconds.
“I can’t believe I missed this,” they said in unison. Human and Pony then looked at each other apologetically.
“I’m so sorry, Twilight. I can’t believe I didn’t think about the danger this would cause you,” Tiffany said.
“Or you! We’ll have to be really careful then, which is too bad since I was hoping to show you my long distance teleportation spells,” Twilight lamented.
“Doctor Sparks, we should proceed to send Twilight home until the procedure can be more thoroughly proven,” Lucy said.
Tiffany looked to Lucy and then back to Twilight, “I suppose I should. It’s too much to ask of her to risk herself for our experiment. At least I knew what I was getting into when I started. She, on the other hand, was completely surprised.”
“But what about yourself? I wanted to continue learning more about your world and your kind, but I don’t want to do something that might risk your life!” Twilight retorted.
They both thought for a second before cracking a smile together, “Hey, what if we just don’t stray apart from each other? If we’re really careful, I can stay longer and you won’t have to send me home just yet,” Twilight suggested.
“Yeah! It’s not like we can’t stand each other or something. We’re both excited to learn and we’re not in any hurry. So why don’t we do that?” Tiffany replied.
“If you are certain about this, Doctor Sparks,” Stella said, looking at the young woman questioningly.
Tiffany and Twilight both nodded their heads in unison, “Yes, Miss Canterbury. Please, we would like to continue the experiment. It shouldn’t be very hard to stay together. We can do this,” Tiffany said firmly.
“Very well then. I am used to taking risks with investments; this one is a little more unusual and higher then normal. You have my permission and support, we will simply have to work around it a little,” Stella replied, approvingly.
“Sister, you put a lot of faith in her decisions. Perhaps this time we should be more cautious,” Lucy said.
“Doctor Sparks has proven herself time and again. I trust her judgment in this situation,” Stella declared.
Lucy sighed and went over her formula charts again, “Very well. Then we should take all provisions to ensure they are kept together at all times during Twilight’s visit here. I also believe you will need to consider several security matters as well.”
“Oh, that was something we wanted to discuss!” Tiffany said, suddenly remembering, “I wanted to see if Twilight could discover the dimensional parallels between our worlds, and I thought our friends would be one manner to do this. We wish to visit them and see!” she said excitedly.
Sean’s face darkened slightly and he crossed his arms, “I thought I said that would be out of the question. We’re already taking risks just to visit Miss Canterbury here as it is. From a security point of view, this will be a difficult undertaking. Aside from the travel concerns, can we really just reveal Twilight to people indiscriminately?” he stated before looking at Tiffany and cutting her off, “I know your friends are trustworthy and all, but there’s no guarantee they might not accidentally speak to the wrong person. We’re talking the highest level of proprietary information here. I would have to set up all sorts of contingencies in preparation for this; the risk mitigation alone would be a headache,” he said quickly.
“Or, I could just turn invisible, like a mentioned earlier,” Twilight suggested. Her horn began to glow and before anyone could say anything she vanished from sight.
“Incredible. Did she just use magic?” Lucy asked while looking in awe at the spot where Twilight had been standing.
“Pretty neat, huh?” Twilight said from what appeared to be nowhere. Tiffany reached out her hand to where Twilight’s body would be and felt resistance. The pony giggled a bit, “Hey, I’m still right here. So, what do you think? Still need a ton of security measures now to hide me? This certainly beats taking that back entrance we used earlier,” she declared.
Stella nodded and smiled, “Well Mr. Knight? This should go a long way towards mitigating your concerns,” she said confidently.
Sean opened his mouth as though to protest, but immediately closed it. He let out a breath and pulled his cell phone from his pocket to check the calendar, “Alright then, but I insist on escorting these two everywhere. This is still a bit reckless. I don’t know why you can’t just have your friends travel to PNVL or make a video call. If this is the direction your project is going, then we do it under my watch.”
“That sounds reasonable,” Stella conceded, “Does it not, Doctor Sparks?”
“Of course! And we’ll be careful! The best kind of research is field research, right?” Tiffany asked, gesturing to where invisible Twilight stood.
“Absolutely. We’ll be very careful. So when can we get started?” Twilight replied excitedly, reappearing.
“You may want to discuss this tonight, at your home. The afternoon is growing late, and you have other matters besides our guest to take care of,” Stella reminded.
“Oh! That’s right! In all the excitement I lost track of the time-!” Tiffany gasped in concern while bringing a hand up to her mouth.
“I’ll cover those issues and arrange a ride for you to go home. If this crazy experiment is going to go through, you may as well start planning tonight. Don’t worry about your moped either. It should be fine where it is or I’ll have it delivered,” Sean said reassuringly.
“Oh, thank you! Sorry to have to dump so much on you-” Tiffany began, before Sean smiled and waved his hand in reassurance.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m just doing my job, as usual,” he said and nodded to everyone present, “Which I better get started on right now, if I’m going to beat the rush hour. Good afternoon, Miss Canterbury, Miss Lucy, and have a good night.”
“Good night, Sean. I appreciate all your concerns,” Stella replied.
“You have my gratitude for your efforts,” Lucy stated. Sean departed quickly.
Lucy then turned to face Tiffany, “I will stay in touch if I happen to find other concerns regarding your project. Good night, Doctor Sparks.”
“Good night, Miss Lucy. And you too, Miss Canterbury. Thank you both so much,” Tiffany said.
“You have my thanks too. I promise to do everything I can to stay out of sight. I won‘t let you down!” Twilight stated.
“Then go. We will talk again about all of your findings. See you later and have a good night, my little pony,” Stella replied.
Twilight cast her invisibility spell and was out of sight. Tiffany opened the door wide to allow the unicorn to exit, but then paused to think about the action.
“Hm, it won’t do to open doors wide when no one else is going through it. We’ll have to figure out how to get around this,” Tiffany said before the door closed behind her.
Stella’s office was quiet once again and the last two occupants silently contemplated this turn of events. The business woman smiled at her younger sister, “They are quite a pair, don’t you think, Lucy?”
“Yes, and despite being so different in appearance, their mannerisms and tone of speaking are alike. It makes me wonder what our pony versions must be like,” Lucy pondered.
“You should ask Twilight when she returns then. She had much to say about my own,” Stella replied with a hint of mirth.
Lucy gave Stella a sideways glance; she knew asking what Stella learned would not reveal much. She asked, instead, about another topic, “What of our old friend, dear sister?”
Stella’s mirth was replaced with disdain, “You can see for yourself.”
Lucy sighed a little and opened the curtains to the large windows in the office. She immediately brought her face to the telescope lens and peered through. The woman recognized the view and focused on a particular building. It was a skyscraper, equal in height to Canterbury Tower. The building had several seemingly random inset perches; atop each perch were statues of gargoyles, eagles, lions, rams, and dragons. Lucy wondered if the architect had been crazy when designing the building. She then tightened the scope and looked at the top floor of the building. The top floor also had statues lining the sides, except they were a combination of the previous ones, forming a bizarre hybrid creature. She homed in on a specific window, where she saw a man standing in view.
He wore a black business suit with a white shirt and red neck tie. The suit appeared to be well tailored and customized to fit his tall, gaunt frame. His hair was a bright white and cut closely to his head. Lucy could see the man was holding a pair of binoculars and facing her direction. Before she could question whether he could see her he let go of the binoculars with one hand and waved as a broad, toothy grin stretched across his face. Her eyes went wide when she saw him mouthing out three words: ‘I see you.’
Lucy pulled back from the telescope with a grimace of disgust and closed the curtains. She looked over to her sister whose face had hardened and heard her mutter a name like it was a curse.
A middle aged woman sat a plain wooden desk typing away on a keyboard. She was conservatively dressed, wearing a gray blouse and skirt, oversize round glasses, and with dark brown hair tied in a tight bun on her head. Her desk was situated in a large waiting area beside a set of tall wooden double doors. The sound of typing echoed which made the room seem larger and more solitary. She had a bored expression while she worked, absently counting down the minutes until her day’s end. The phone’s ringing interrupted her and she paused before she answered it, quickly resuming her work as she talked.
“Dis Corporation, headquarters, president’s office, how may I help you?” she said in rehearsed tone. “Um hm. One moment sir, while I see if he is available.”
---
“I see you.”
A brief chuckle escaped his lips when he saw the curtain drawn. He felt so much joy at the quick manner in which his view had been obscured; he just wished he could see the expressions on their faces. He then noticed a tingling on the back of his neck and snapped the fingers on his left hand. The double doors to his office immediately opened, revealing an obviously surprised woman. Her hand was brought up as though she were about to knock on the door. She quickly put her hand down and entered, shaking her head in annoyance. The office was fairly large, with several windows, a tiled floor of various uncoordinated colors, and six statues four meters tall of draconequus stood by the walls. The statues lined the path approaching the desk in the middle of the office which was a painfully assembled collection of different wood and metal creating a level, yet fashionably hideous, writing surface.
Her boss, a tall, gaunt man in his late sixties, stood behind the desk and was facing out the window. He smiled and lowered the binoculars in his hand while turning to face her.
“Mr. O’quus, you have a call on line one. It’s-”
“I have it, Miss Sarah. Thank you.”
“Yes sir.”
The secretary turned around and walked back to her desk, her thoughts the whole time in agitation over her boss’s actions. Her lips silently cursed his new policy of having to enter his office to personally tell him whenever he had a call. She surmised it was just so he could continue to tease her with the door opener and camera he had installed. She never saw when it happened but it was the only way she could explain how he always seemed open the doors right when she was about to knock.
Drake pushed a button on his phone and set it to loudspeaker, “So good to hear from you again, your honor. I was hoping you were calling to tell me some good news.”
“Er, sorry, Mr. O’quus. We’ve reviewed the records and find it impossible to deliberate in favor of your constituents. The ruling we want to make is not applicable even through all the loop holes written in,” replied the voice on the phone.
“I see. Judge Patterson, didn’t I tell you to try and push back the decision for a few more months? At least until after the referendum has been voted on. Once that is accomplished you should have no trouble applying the legal course of actions we discussed,” Drake replied while setting his binoculars down on the desk.
“We’re trying but the attorney’s office is filing an injunction to have a decision made immediately. I don’t know how long we can stall them. We need some help here,” Patterson pleaded.
Drake sighed and looked at his fingernails in boredom, “I have my media organizations pushing our agenda. You will simply have to find a way to keep the case in litigation for a while longer. Have your secretary lose the file or something, you know how bureaucracy is. Things get lost all the time.”
“Sir, how certain can you be that the voters will swing in favor of the referendum being made? This past year has seen a lot of pushback against our efforts,” Patterson cautioned.
“Tis just a hiccup, your honor, you’ll see. We’ve been moving towards our goals for decades now. A few small losses won’t undo them; the influence we’ve had on this country’s culture has made people more malleable after several generations of infiltrating the education system. So, there’s still plenty of low information voters lacking the mental faculties to think for themselves. I have the media bombarding them with what we want them to hear. We just need to make one little nudge at a time. Your ruling on this case will be another such nudge,” Drake said with a cackle.
“If you say so. We can keep this motion bogged down for three more weeks before we have to find another way. I just hope the boys in DC pull through and bring it to the floor,” the man on the phone sighed.
“Why, who do you think ‘suggested’ this referendum, your honor? I have faith my friends in the Senate will follow through. I’ve been overseeing the media campaign myself.”
“And if the vote doesn’t work?”
“Well, we still have options. Our ‘non-profit’ groups and ‘charity’ organizations work very hard to promote things for ‘the good of the people’ whether they are genuine or not. We can even drown our opponents with more costly litigations which will drain their resources and time. Now, please excuse me, I have things to attend to.”
The judge bade farewell and they ended the call. Drake opened the top drawer to his desk and revealed a gray jagged rock. He picked it up and studied it; smiling, he snapped his fingers again. The doors opened and he saw his secretary standing, about to knock.
“Good night, Miss Sarah. Do drive carefully,” he said.
Sarah blinked in shock for a moment before nodding. “Ah, good night, sir.”
Drake could hear a faint giggling while the doors closed, “Did you find that amusing?” he asked.
“Hilarious!” replied the faint voice, resuming it’s laughter.
“Then I can’t wait to show you what else I have in store.”
---
“I can’t wait to show you my home! I think you’re going to really be surprised,” Tiffany whispered. She held her cell phone in her hand as cover for talking.
Twilight Sparkle was walking invisibly beside her. “Don’t tell me you live inside a giant tree library too,” she replied quietly.
“No but I have a library in my home. You can read all the books you want in there,” Tiffany replied.
They walked together through a busy hallway section before nearly being run over by a mail cart.
“Oops! My bad!”
A blonde woman wearing a white buttoned down shirt and brown slacks was looking at Tiffany apologetically. The woman seemed only able to focus one of her eyes on the scientist while the other one lazily wandered off. She blinked and returned it to normal only to have it look away again.
Tiffany shook her head and gave a half-smile, “It’s okay, Darcy. No harm done. Last mail call for today?” she asked.
“Yup!” Darcy replied, nodding, “Almost done, then its quitting time. I need to pick up Daisy from school!” she said happily.
“Well then, I won’t keep you from getting your job done. I know how excited Daisy gets waiting for you. Have a good night!” Tiffany replied with a wave.
Darcy smiled and waved before she resumed pushing her mail cart. She bumped into the invisible Twilight which caused the pony to let out a yelp in surprise. The mail worker looked around in confusion before Tiffany coughed and rubbed her arm.
“Eh heh, ah that was just me, Darcy. I uh, bumped into the wall,” Tiffany explained.
Darcy smiled and nodded, her eyes going out of focus again, “Oh, that happens to me all the time. I understand! Well, good night!”
Twilight walked closer to Tiffany before rubbing the side which had been struck, “Ouch, that was close. Is she okay?”
Tiffany smiled and shrugged, “She has a vision problem so a lot of people think she’s a little slow. She actually has a good heart and works really hard to support herself and her daughter. I haven’t talked to her for a while though. She has a friend who would pop in and out at random sometimes looking for her but I haven’t seen him lately. I’ve been meaning to ask.”
“What’s over here, Tiffany? I didn’t get to have a good look at the offices you humans use. Is it the same as pony offices?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, that area is the PNVL administrative section. We actually have quite a bit of office space dedicated to it since we require so much support. Because of all the hard work they do, I’m able to get the resources needed to do my experiments. Someone needs to file the paperwork for permits, passes and salaries. My staff doesn’t exactly work for free,” Tiffany said.
“Oh, Doctor Sparks!”
Tiffany and Twilight both turned around to see a woman with gray hair approach them.
“Manager Mary, hello. How’ve you been?” Tiffany greeted.
“Just fine, Doctor. What brings you to our side of PNVL today?” Mary asked, with a conspiratorial grin, “Maybe a little update on your latest experiment?”
“Something like that,” Tiffany replied while putting her hands up defensively, “Just keeping Miss Canterbury appraised of our progress. So, have things been busy here?”
“You could say that. Regulations may have gotten better but it feels like we’re fighting almost daily to keep the lab running. I just finished speaking to our legal department about the city’s change to the zoning region of the lab. It turned out they had made a clerical error but it seems like these happen all too often. Then just the other day some group filed a motion with the EPA stating our facility disrupted the natural migratory path of several species of endangered birds,” Mary said with a shake of her head, “Really, how some people can justify making such baseless accusations is beyond me. Some people just have no shame.”
“You’ve mentioned this before. This hasn’t been the first time, has it?” Tiffany asked.
“No, and it probably won’t be the last. Some of these environmental groups are not even about protecting the environment. When you find out who has been funding them you learn it’s just part of someone’s agenda,” Mary said. The manager then looked out at all the cubicles and desks.
“If PNVL were shut down could you imagine what would happen to the economy here? The employees who do not get reassigned somewhere else would lose their jobs. Businesses would lose their customer base and shut down. PoNiville would cease to exist.” the elder lady explained.
“Well, I don’t think the lab is going to be shut down anytime soon,” Tiffany reassured.
Twilight studied Mary before being distracted by several other people. Tiffany continued talking but what she said went unheard by the purple unicorn. One exchange was between two women; the one standing up was smiling and shifting from one foot to the other, talking excitedly, while the other sat down, looking bored and exasperated with the other.
“C’mon, Bonnie! I’m goin’ Squatchin’ this weekend! I heard there’s been sightings in the foothills not too far from here. Where’s your sense of adventure!?”
“Really Lyla, I don’t have time to waste chasing silly fantasies. Besides, I have a lot of work to do this weekend.”
“You can take a break from your online candy business for one weekend, can’t you? Its been so long since we‘ve had fun together!”
“If you spent as much time pursuing your music career as you do chasing sasquatch, you’d already be famous by now.”
“Did you bring that demo CD in, Lyla?” interrupted a third woman, “There’s one piece which would go great on my flower business’s website. I figured it would also give you some free advertising.”
“Oh, shoot! June, I‘m so sorry! I forgot it! I think I have a copy uploaded online though. Maybe I can send it directly to you,” replied Lyla.
“I hear your business has been really picking up. Did you and Rose collaborate?” asked Bonnie.
“Oh yes, she has some wonderful ideas. In fact, she was the one who suggested using Lyla’s music. Plus she has a little more experience with specialized flower types so her knowledge is such a benefit,” June said with enthusiasm.
“Well, glad to see that worked out. I still can’t believe Miss Canterbury was the one who took you aside and suggested you two work together,” Bonnie said with a hint of awe.
“I know; it just goes to show she really pays attention. She takes the notion of helping others become wealthy seriously; she says the more financially educated people there are, the better for everyone,” June replied.
“All I did was attend her business seminar and it really opened up my eyes. Getting a financial education has gotten me motivated to become financially independent and wealthy rather then just save up for retirement. With the way money keeps depreciating, all my savings won’t be worth half of what it is today by the time I retire. Besides, the work is kind of fun,” Bonnie stated.
Twilight followed the conversations passively but it was the dynamics of the people and their names which interested her. She sensed there was something familiar here but she could not put her hoof on it.
“Psst, Twilight.”
“Huh?”
“Are you still there? Lets go,” Tiffany whispered. She was looking awkward trying not to look out of place after Mary already walked off.
“Oh! Okay, right,” Twilight replied, embarrassed.
“We really do have a hard time paying attention to anything else when we’re focused, don’t we?” Tiffany stated.
Twilight stifled a laugh before following along behind Tiffany. They finally arrived downstairs in the lobby where one of the security guards directed them to a company van. They climbed aboard into the open passenger seating before departing from Canterbury Tower.
The drive was less exciting since the van had no windows. To occupy the time they began planning their next step.
“My five closest friends whom I want you to meet are a little spread out and busy. I need to call them up to see who would be available first,” Tiffany said.
“What do your friends do that keeps them so busy?”
“Well, Amanda owns an apple farm out in the country side. She’s active running the distribution of her product brand, especially when she’s not competing in the rodeo circuit. Then there’s Randy; she shouldn’t be too hard to get a hold of at this time. She always takes a break from her sports equipment franchise to train some of the local kids at the school. Felicity will be pretty easy to track down; she’s running the local nature preserve so it’s just a matter of finding when she has some free time to meet you. Polly is hard to keep up with; she’s always running around doing charity events when she’s not busy with her bakery chain and party supply outlet. Finally, there’s Rosalie whose extremely busy traveling around the world promoting her line of clothing and apparel. We may not even get a chance to catch up to her.”
Twilight listened with rapt attention. She could tell from the obvious signs these had to be her friends dimensional counterparts. Her curiosity continued to grow until another question popped up; “Tiffany, what about our, or rather, your version of my family? What are my parents and BBBFF like? Or my sister-in-law and Spike? How similar are they?”
“You call your big brother BBBFF too!? I thought it was just me!” Tiffany gasped in delight.
“Well, of course! Shining Armor is just the best big brother ever! I wish I could show him all of this too,” Twilight replied, “If only I brought a camera to take pictures. Everyone back home might not even believe me when I tell them all these things. Would I even be able to take back any of the pictures?”
“I think we can tweak the machine for something like this. It did bring you over along with the two objects closest to you at the time. I theorize you can take back anything with you which you can carry. Initially, without an anchor to focus on, I could only send stuff to random locations in your world. The data we’ve collected will help us to refine the targeting so I could transmit objects directly to you.”
“Kind of like when I send letters to Princess Celestia; we can keep in touch that way!”
The sun was setting when the van pulled into a quiet suburban neighborhood. It proceeded to wind its way down the streets before stopping at a mid-sized two story house with a front lawn and driveway leading to a garage. The van then deposited it’s occupants and departed. Tiffany began fishing through her purse for her keys when she noticed the car in the driveway.
“Oh, he’s already home,” she said aloud while she continued to lead Twilight to the door. Twilight observed everything from her invisible state as she walked up the pathway to the front door. Tiffany knocked on the door. The door quickly opened and revealed a twelve year old boy with green eyes and shaggy blonde hair, wearing a t-shirt and jeans.
“Hey there, big sis! Welcome home!” the boy quickly greeted and began looking around, “So, is the pony here? Can I see it? Does it really talk?”
“Who told you that? I was supposed to be the one to explain everything,” Tiffany said, mildly annoyed.
“Big bro told me. He figured it would be better if I knew ahead of time, so I don’t freak out when a purple pony walked in with you,” the boy explained.
“Scott, don’t call her an ‘it’ or ‘pony,’ she has a name,” Tiffany scolded while walking inside. “Why don’t you come inside and undo your invisibility,” she called back. Twilight followed in after Tiffany and closed the door behind her. She then revealed herself to everyone present.
Twilight quickly observed what was a modest living room with the typical amenities: a couple sofas arranged around a coffee table, a TV stand with a large flat screen television and some electronics, several picture frames and decorations on the wall, and a bookshelf filled with books.
“Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle,” she greeted, extending a hoof to Scott. The young boy stared at her with wide eyes.
“Whoa…. A talking pony,” he gasped in shock.
Tiffany coughed to remind someone of their manners. Scott awkwardly recovered and put out his hand.
“Uh, hi. I’m Scott. Pleased to, uh, meet you, Twilight,” the boy replied. He shook Twilight’s hoof and squeezed his hand a little to test the consistency, “Wow, are you made of marshmallow? You feel squishy but hard at the same time.”
Tiffany got visibly flustered, “Scott! Don’t be so rude!”
Scott let go of Twilight’s hoof and stepped back, “I can’t believe I’m looking at a talking pony.”
“I can’t believe I’m talking to a human version of Spike. You’re a lot bigger then him and he’s a baby dragon. Are you a baby human?” Twilight asked.
“I’m not a baby! I’m twelve years old!” the young boy huffed, “Sheesh, I guess even a pony version of Tiff is gonna treat me like a baby,” he grumbled.
Tiffany giggled a little, “Yes, I know you’re a big man now. You’ve only been trying to prove it to Rosalie for several years now.”
“He has a crush on one of your friends too? Oh, how cute! He’s just like my little Spike back home then,” Twilight chimed in. Scott’s face became a shade of red in embarrassment. He then crossed his arms and began to fume.
“Tiff! You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone I have a crush!” he protested.
“Oh Scott, I didn’t have to tell her anything. She already knows because her friend Spike has an obvious crush on someone too,” Tiffany explained.
“Well, it’s still embarrassing,” Scott replied.
Tiffany and Twilight laughed together until Scott began stomping away.
“Poor little guy. So that’s your version of Spike. In my world he’s a short purple and green baby dragon. I’ve known him since I hatched him from an egg during my magic school entrance exam. He’s my closest friend and assistant. I consider him to be family even,” Twilight said.
Tiffany smiled and pulled a picture frame from one of the tables which held a picture of a younger version of herself and a toddler version of Scott, “My parents adopted Scott when he was a just a baby. We’ve always been close and he’s been staying with me because our parents wanted him to go to the local school here,” Tiffany explained. She was then interrupted by a familiar voice before she could continue her story.
“So what did you two get Scott all worked up about?”
Twilight followed the voice to it’s origin, “Sean? What are you doing here? Are you actually staying here to do security?”
Sean walked in carrying a bundle wrapped in a blanket over his shoulder. He wore the same suit she saw him in earlier minus the jacket and shoes, “That but mainly because I live here,” he replied. He walked over to Tiffany and quickly kissed her on the lips, “You must’ve been five or ten minutes behind me. I haven’t been here long enough to do much other then to change the baby.”
“Oh, she needed a diaper change?” Tiffany cooed at the bundle which Sean handed over to her. Twilight could now see the tiny face of a baby girl peeking through the blanket wrapped around it.
“Wait, you two are married?” Twilight gasped.
Tiffany blinked and nodded, “Well, yes. I thought it was obvious. You mean, you haven‘t gotten married yet?”
The stunned pony shook her head, “No! I don’t even have a special somepony yet,” she stated and looked at the baby in Tiffany’s arms, “You two even have a baby!?”
Tiffany looked at Sean who just shrugged over Twilight’s reaction.
The purple unicorn began to grow pale and performed Princess Cadence’s relaxation technique before she began hyperventilating. She put a hoof to her chest, breathed in, extended her leg, breathed out. Her breathing settled and she was calm again.
“Would you like to see our daughter? This is what a baby human looks like,” Tiffany said, bringing her baby right up to Twilight’s face. The baby giggled and waved her arms, smacking the pony on her nose.
Twilight blinked a couple times before fainting onto the floor in a heap. Tiffany urgently crouched down while Sean rushed over to check the pony’s vitals. Scott returned to the room and saw everyone hovering around the floored unicorn.
“I had nothing to do with this!” he immediately declared before narrowing his eyes, “Hey, if she’s dead, does that mean we can dissect her?”
Both Tiffany and Sean shouted back in chorus; “SCOTT!”
"Oh my gosh, I'm so excited! I can't believe I'm in Hong Kong!"
The international flight had lasted many hours but despite the all of the time spent in the air, Tiffany found herself bright and excited. The Hong Kong International Airport was particularly busy but the crowds began to thin out as Lucy led them to a more private departure site.
"Please calm yourself, Doctor. For while I am glad to see you so enthused, I would rather you not draw so much attention to us," Lucy informed as they walked down the concourse. They made a short walk down some stairs in the private section of the airport to meet a group of two men and a woman in business suits who were waiting for them.
"Welcome back, Miss Canterbury. I trust you had a good flight?" asked the woman. She was dressed in a light gray business suit and skirt with a blue tie and had her light brown hair tied back into a conservative style.
Tiffany was so distracted by the sights that she continued walking past Lucy and bumped into one of the men in the group. She looked at him, embarrassed, "Oops, sorry about that," she said quickly.
"That's alright Doctor. I don't mind so much, especially when it's someone as cute as you," replied the man. He gave her a lighthearted smile and lowered his sunglasses, looking at her with his deep blue eyes. He wore a black business suit with matching shoes, a blue tie, and had short spiky jet black hair. Tiffany blushed a little and stepped back, surprised at the remark but not offended at the obvious flirt.
"Oh, well, thank you, I just haven't been to Hong Kong before, so I wasn't paying attention, and then I bump into you and you're calling me cute, and you're also cute, and I just -" Tiffany stopped herself short when she realized what she just said in her rambling, blushing even deeper.
The man laughs at Tiffany's clumsy response, "You're funny, Doctor. That along with being cute makes the job more fun. I'm Flint Sutton, but you can call me Flash. All my friends do," he said, introducing himself. Tiffany blushed again at Flint's shameless flirting.
"Alright, Sutton, break it up. You can hit on her when you're off duty, but right now I need you focused. You read me?" stated another man in a gray suit with dark hair.Flint quickly went to alert mode and nodded, "Of course sir. Sorry about that. Just trying to get to know the good Doctor," he replied. The second man just crossed his arms and frowned.
"That's what the dossier is for. Now get into formation while we escort Miss Canterbury and Doctor Sparks to the compound," the man ordered.The men moved around and took up positions around the three women and they all began walking together. The 'leader' of the group gave Lucy and her secretary some brief updates on security matters without getting into too much detail. Tiffany half listened before looking around at the sights and glancing at the young man who was now following her at her left.
"By the way, that's Sean Knight. He's head of the field teams here," Flint whispered to her.
"Well, he seems like a real stick in the mud," Tiffany whispered back.
"Yeah, he can be, but he's real good at what he does. He used to be in the government's global response teams and saw a lot of action, so he means well. Just don't ask him about Benghazi," informed Flint.
"What about Benghazi?" Tiffany asked without thinking.
"I can hear you two whispering," Sean then stated without looking back. Flint chuckled a little and kept on walking without missing a beat while Tiffany grumbled a little, 'He's worse than my college professors,' she thought to herself.
The group boarded a limousine and departed the terminal, heading into the city. When Tiffany and Lucy settled in she then began to go over some guidelines for their trip, "Remember Doctor Sparks, things operate a little differently here. Unfortunately, due to a log history of poor foreign affairs and international policy, US citizens are no longer seen well overseas. Simply mind your manners and you will be fine. It is rather due to your position that we have also taken extra precautions. That is what Mr. Knight and his team are for," she explained.
"What kind of precautions?" Tiffany asked.
"We handle physical security and asset protection. To put it bluntly, Doctor, you are a valuable asset of the E-quest Corporation. You have knowledge and skills that are sought after by rival corporations and foreign governments involved in the type of research you do. If they were to find a means to extract that information from you it would help advance their own research by leaps without having to invest the funds," Sean explained.
"You make it sound like I'm just some computer someone can pick up and steal," Tiffany remarked.
"Not to make you uncomfortable, but our adversaries will use whatever means available to obtain what you know. I can tell you that there's been a lot of 'chatter' specifically involving your field. We're being especially careful in our coordination with the State Department and all matters diplomatically," he replied.
"Enough, Mr. Knight.Don't scare the young woman. I understand your position but she is more inclined towards matters of science and research. I have full confidence in you and your team's abilities to keep everyone safe," reassured Lucy before she turned to face the scientist, "Now then Doctor Sparks, we have a busy schedule and will be attending a variety of science and technology forums together. Like we discussed before our departure I will need your help to clarify a subject or make note of a point of interest. As familiar as I am in various fields of research even I have my limits. A second set of ears may catch more than just one."
"Right. Are you still concerned about the other matter you mentioned?" Tiffany asked.
Lucy crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes as she looked thoughtfully out the window, "Unfortunately, I am. I continue to hear of some who are nearing your current level of research in the fields of teleportation and dimensional travel. If that is so then I want to get a better idea of how far along they may be. You have a more trained ear in hearing something pertaining to your theories than I do."
"I understand Miss Canterbury," she replied.
Tiffany resumed her sight seeing, growing more excited, as the limousine arrived at the at the E-quest Corporation's Hong Kong compound. It was an enclosed commercial area which consisted of a main branch office building, a few living quarters buildings for employees, a recreational facility, security booths and facility, a Research and Development laboratory and other smaller structures for the day to day operation of the compound. Unarmed guards greeted them at the gate and waved them through where more employees and staff could be seen working.
Lucy and Tiffany were escorted to their living quarters while they spoke about their plans for the rest of the day, "I have corporate matters to attend to Doctor. You may take the rest of the day to relax and do what you will. We will begin in two hours. My assistant will inform you of the details in twenty minutes. We will be hitting the ground running so please get settled in quickly, Doctor Sparks."
Tiffany smiled and nodded, "Thank you, Miss Canterbury!" before their paths branched off.
"Hold up," interrupted Twilight.
"Yes?" replied Tiffany.
"I thought you were going to tell me how you and Sean met and got married. Why are you starting in Hong Kong and who is this Flint guy?" the pony asked.
Tiffany was sitting on a chair at the dining table feeding her baby while Sean and Scott finished their own dinners. The woman looked down a moment and sighed. Before she could respond, Sean looked up, "I guess we could skip forward quite a bit. She doesn't need to hear the part about the attempted abduction, the car chase, the shoot out, or Flint saving our lives."
Sean stood up and walked away to put his dish in the sink. He returned and found Twilight with wide eyes before returning to the table, "Here, let me feed her so you can finish your dinner, hon," he offered.
"Thanks dear," she said before taking a bite from her plate of spaghetti. They were both quiet for a moment while Twilight stared at them in disbelief.
"A car chase? Abduction? Shoot out?" the pony said in shock.
"So do you want to hear about it? It was probably the scariest moment of my life," Tiffany offered. Twilight immediately nodded her head eagerly, "Well it started when I received an invitation to a dinner party after one of the local science forums I attended..."
"Doctor Sparks, your reports on trans-dimensional wave and pulse theory are simply incredible. I'm surprised you're not up there lecturing on this," said a middle aged Chinese man in perfect English.
"Well, I was never officially invited nor am I on any lecture circuit, Doctor Huizhong. I've been busy with my own research and there just hasn't been any time," Tiffany replied.
"That is a real shame. My colleagues and I have been most impressed that someone so young as yourself has solved a few of the mysteries we have been puzzling for most of our lives. If it is not too bold to ask, might you come by the hotel ball room and speak to some of us about your theories? We're holding a rather large post forum dinner party to thank all of our speakers for coming and would be honored if you would join us," the man invited.
Tiffany's face lit up at the opportunity to speak with academia and scientists as equals. She looked over to Lucy and grinned. The older woman shrugged, "I suppose you could, I do not require you back at the office and our schedule is clear for the rest of the afternoon. I have work to attend to and cannot stay so I will call ahead to let our limousine know and they shall return for you after it drops me off," she replied. One of their dark suited escorts handed Lucy a phone.
"Oh, thank you! I won't be long, I just want to discuss some of the theories on dimensional correspondences," she said while Lucy called ahead. After a few moments Flint and Sean arrived. Sean bore a slight scowl while Flint had a subdued smile.
"Miss Canterbury, I will see you back to the company building. Mr. Sutton here will escort Doctor Sparks in case she needs anything. After I have dropped you off I will return to pick them up," Sean explained.
"Of course, Mr. Knight. Doctor, we will see you back at the facility," replied Lucy. She departed with Sean and Tiffany watched them go until they were out of sight. Flint then stepped up to her and smiled, "I'll be your escort to this party," he said.
Tiffany blushed a little bit and giggled, "How about I call you my date?" she asked.
"I would be more than happy to be your date," Flint replied warmly.
"Thank you," Tiffany said and then turned back to her host, "Doctor Huizhong, please lead the way."
The small group talked as they walked from the presentation room to one of the hotel's ball rooms. Inside were several tables arranged with various examples of the local cuisine. A few people carried drinks on trays and offered them to the guests. There were many different men and women present of various nationalities having conversations in various circles or eating while chatting pleasantly. Tiffany was introduced to Doctor Huizhong's colleagues and they immediately began having a scientific discussion on various topics. Some spoke directly in near perfect or broken English while others required a helpful translator.
Tiffany enjoyed herself tremendously during the discussion while keeping an eye on Flint whom for the most part had little to contribute but smiled and did his best to remain interested. She noticed he glanced around the room every so often and coughed a little but just attributed it to being bored. The scientist finally excused herself from the group to try some of the food and walked off while Flint walked along with her.
"I'm so sorry, I got all caught up in talking about science and things. You must be so bored and lost listening to all of this," Tiffany apologized to Flint as soon as they were away from the group .He just chuckled and shook his head, "Its alright, Tiffany. It's kind of my job to be here with you but even if it wasn't, I'll admit, I rather like being around you," he said and then grinned a little as he looked away.
Tiffany giggled shyly and then took his hand, "Flint, can you tell me more about yourself, please? I know we just met and we haven't had a lot of opportunities to talk but I want to know more about you. When you met us at the airport I have to admit, I was a little surprised about how forward you were but I hadn't ever met someone who seemed honestly interested in me. I, well, I kind of liked that."
Flint glanced around again and smiled, "Well, sure, I'd love to hear more about you too. Stuff that goes beyond just the brilliant scientist you are and how important you are to the company, all the stuff in the dossier. I'm rather intrigued by someone as young and talented as you."
Tiffany led Flint over to a table and they sat down to talk, "So tell me more about you, where did you come from, how did you come to work for E-quest Corp, why are you so interested in me?" she asked him directly, almost like an interrogation.
"You really like to gain answers in a scientific manner, don't you?" Flint teased. Tiffany caught herself and looked at the table for a moment, "Oops, sorry. I guess I can be a little forceful when I want to know something," she replied.
"That's okay, that's okay. I find that cute about you," he began, noting a slight blush in Tiffany's cheeks as he continued, "Anyways, I'm originally from Clayton, Alabama, not a real big place. I'm twenty seven years old, have a younger brother and two parents who are still alive and married. My nickname back home was 'Flash' because I was in a hurry to leave town. I joined the Army right after high school to try and see the world, was in the Rangers for a while, had a few tours in Iraq, got picked up by Special Operations, did some work there and got out. My talents landed me a job with E-quest so here I am. You know how Canterbury's security company likes to pick up vets and stuff. I think that's everything about me in a nutshell," Flash replied.
"Well, that answers two of my questions; and the third?" Tiffany asked.
Flint paused for a moment to put his thoughts together, "I took away something from my time in the service. Not to seem morbid but I saw so many people die in my time overseas. Good men cut down in the prime of their life, women and children dying needlessly for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I had quite a few friends who had dreams and promises stolen from them because they didn't live to see them through. I realized that life is short and can end too abruptly. I decided one day I'd like to settle down and pass on those experiences, raise a family, quietly retire and live peacefully. When I saw you I thought, 'Hey here's a smart and attractive woman, why not just get to know her more and let her know I'm interested? What's the worst that can happen?' So I approached and well, we're still just starting to know each other and maybe I'll drive you nuts with some habit or personality quirk or something and we'll go our separate ways but if there was a chance, well, Lord only knows what may come of it."
Tiffany sat across from Flint at the small table and just stared at him. His frank explanation left her speechless as she processed it. She had never met a man like this before who appeared to be so honest and straightforward. She let his words sink in and smiled back, "Wow, I can't say I've ever heard anyone talk like that. Its actually refreshing. I mean, I don't know why any guy would be interested in me, I've been a bookworm most of my life. Reading, science, school, all those things have been my life really. I've been really socially awkward for most of my life so I never really thought I needed anything else until recently when I finally made some good friends. A relationship with a guy though, I mean, that just, I hadn't even thought it possible with all my work and newfound social life," she said, a little flustered while fidgeting with her hands and looking away.
"Its okay if you're not interested or if its too soon. I just figured we could spend time and do things together, get to know each other, that sort of stuff but without the awkward guesswork like in those silly romantic comedy movies. You know, the ones with the couple that's spending the whole movie wondering if he likes her, she likes him and you sit through it wanting to yell at them to just spit it out already," Flint said and then looked sheepishly down at the table, "Oh, uhm, I guess you should know, I'm not a big fan of romantic comedy chick flicks."
Tiffany giggled a little, "I guess I can overlook that if you'll tolerate me watching them from time to time," she said teasingly, "Then again I've never really spent a lot of time watching movies so you won't have to deal with that too often."
Flint began laughing too and then his eyes seemed to dawn on realization, "So does that mean you-?"
"Yes, I think I would like that. Like I said, I haven't met anyone like you before or who showed me any real interest beyond the 'naive nerd to help me cheat on tests' so," she paused for a few seconds as her face blushed brightly, "Yes I would like to get to know you and see if maybe one day..."
"Yeah, one day. I'm not afraid of that possibility," Flint said warmly.
"So what do we do now?" she then asked.
"Well, you may want to continue talking to your science friends over there. We kind of left them hanging for a bit and I'm sure you wouldn't want to appear rude. Its up to you for how long we stay after all," Flint said.
Tiffany's face grew shocked as she realized she had left Doctor Huizhong and his associates without formally excusing herself. She then stood up and invited Flint to follow along and rejoin the group discussion.
"Doctor Huizhong, I apologize for the abrupt departure. My date and I just had to go over a few things. Is the subject on dark matter effect on trans-dimensional mechanics still going on?" Tiffany asked casually. Doctor Huizhong just smiled and chuckled, "Oh, we were eagerly awaiting your return, Doctor Sparks. We were just having a round of drinks while my friend was discussing the complications of dimensional radiation and DNA when you arrived. Such a subject always needs a drink to help loosen the mind a little," he replied with a laugh when a waiter came with a tray of drinks.
"Would you care for a drink, miss?" the waiter offered. His tray only carried one glass which he offered to Tiffany.
"Oh, thank you," she said and accepted the glass before she turned to address Doctor Huizhong again, "I would love to hear theories on these subjects. The long term effects of dimensional travel will be a field of debate for quite some time, even after we complete such a feat."
Tiffany moved the glass to take a sip when she was suddenly bumped. The impact caused her to cry out and spill the drink all over herself and Flint as he held onto her to steady his balance. He looked at her and the assembled group apologetically, "Uh, so sorry everyone. I lost my balance and bumped into the Doctor here," he said before addressing Tiffany directly, "I'm sorry Doctor Sparks, I hope I didn't hurt you. Somebody must have bumped me or something. Let me help you clean that up," he offered and began to pull her away from the group.
"Doctor Sparks -!" Huizhong said before Tiffany had been dragged out of earshot.
"Uh, sorry about that! I'll be right back-!" Tiffany stammered out before she could no longer see Huizhong. She then began to realize that she was not just being pulled away from the group but towards the exit of the ball room. She looked at Flint with a slightly annoyed expression as her conversation was suddenly very rudely interrupted, "Flint, what are you doing?" she asked.
Flint's expression was no longer the friendly escort she was having a good time with; his face was alert and very serious, "We're leaving now, Doctor Sparks," he quickly stated before putting his other hand up to his ear, "Asset is mobile, we're moving to the eastern egress point, what's your ETA?"
Tiffany looked at Flint as he nodded in response to a conversation only he could hear, "Flint, what is going on? Who are you talking to?" she asked, beginning to grow nervous.
"We have a situation, Doctor. I'm removing you from this site and taking you back to E-quest. We need to hurry though, there's probably going to be a lot of trouble," her date turned bodyguard said.
"Trouble?" she repeated. Flint then began to pull her alongside him quickly in a fast walking motion as he scanned the crowded lobby. He glanced behind them just as three Asian men suddenly dashed out from the ball room. One of the men pointed at the couple and the three began to run towards them. Flint kept moving them quickly through the crowd until the three began to catch up. The trio were just about to arrive at arms length when Flint immediately spun around, pushing Tiffany behind him and grabbed the first man, smashing his foot into his knee and shattering the joint. Flint instantly shoved the injured man into the second one and grabbed the third. Flint kneed the third in the crotch and gouged his eye socket before kicking out the third man's knee joint. Flint then sent the third man into the second one just as he was recovering from the first man crashing into him, causing him to drop back down to his knees. Flint continued his assault and stomped on the first man, who was crawling on the floor, using the momentum to shift and engage the second one with a quick kick to the face, smashing his face with his foot. The strike broke the fallen man's nose allowing Flint to do more damage by smashing the man's face into the floor.
Tiffany looked at the three men groaning and crawling, incapacitated on the floor. She recognized one of the men as the waiter who had brought her a drink at the party. Flint took a second to scan the crowd for anymore chasers but didn't see any yet. He couldn't tell if anyone was an observer since he had caught the attention of everyone in the lobby now. People were talking, shocked, some were even taking pictures or filming on cameras and phones. He ran over to Tiffany and guided her to move quickly again, "We need to keep moving, Doctor, those guys weren't expecting us to react as aggressively; the next group will."
The woman was still in shock even as her body moved along at Flint's insistence. Through the haze she could hear Flint talking to someone again, "Yeah, three pursuers, from the party. Got the drop on them, probably local muscle. No weapons on them, likely the next group will."
Flint guided Tiffany to a doorway leading to the hotel parking garage. Many cars were lined up and parked, a few were meandering about either towards the exit or an open spot. They continued to move towards the exit or an open spot. They continued to move towards the stairs to make their escape and were about to take the downstairs when Flint glanced down to see more men running into the stairwell. He shook his head and redirected Tiffany towards the main road away from the stairs. They ran down the parking garage, rounding the corners as quickly as they could run. Tiffany's heart was racing as she wasn't used to sprinting so much when it suddenly leapt into her throat. A car sped towards them at full speed and Flint quickly pulled her to the side among the parked cars. The car screeched to a halt past them as several men jumped out and started running towards them. The men all carried small semi-automatic pistols. Flint was already pulling Tiffany up to her feet and forcing her to run faster but the group of six were catching up to the pair.
"Come on, Doctor! Run faster!" Flint shouted.
"I - I can't -!" Tiffany wheezed, her strength starting to give out.
Flint began moving to put himself between Tiffany and their pursuers. He could hear the men shouting encouragements to each other in Chinese: they knew they had them! Flint got ready to take as many down with him as he could when the sound of another car screeching around the corner was heard. Flint quickly moved Tiffany again, but this time the effort was driven towards keeping them running without making any effort to dodge the approaching SUV. Tiffany's eyes went wide and she started to see her life flash before her eyes when the oncoming vehicle didn't swerve at them but towards their pursuers.
The six men saw the 2012 Toyota Wish Deluxe coming and were already beginning to scatter when it approached. Two of the men, too slow to react, were knocked back by the SUV as it braked hard and slid sideways. It stopped between the assailant and their intended targets. Before any of the men could recover, Sean opened the drivers side door, brandishing a MTAR-21 compact.
Flint immediately grabbed the rear passenger side door and pushed Tiffany in before jumping in. Sean immediately withdrew and put the vehicle in gear to escape the garage, "Are you two alright?" Sean asked as he drove them out onto the city streets.
"We're fine, just a little shaken up and out of breath," Flint replied as he shifted his position to observe behind them, "If they're as determined as you think, they should have a couple pursuers enroute any second."
"Heads up, two inbound, Hondas, just like the one in the garage," Sean said.
"I see them. You brought my kit?" Flint asked.
"Am I paid to be paranoid?" Sean retorted.
Flint grinned and climbed into the backseat out of Tiffany's view. She finally found her voice and began shouting, "What is going on? Why are people chasing us!?"
Sean grunted as he swerved to move around some of the more idle traffic before he replied, "You're being targeted by a hostile entity for procurement. That party was being used as a setup to abduct you."
"By who? Why is this?"
"Don't know, could be anybody. Narrowed it down to foreign entities with an interest in your field. Whoever it is, they want what you know. You building teleporting nukes or something, Doctor?" Sean replied before braking hard and making a sharp turn.
"You heading down Garden Street or something?" Flint asked from behind the seat. Tiffany suddenly remembered him and turned her body to look on him. Flint was crouched prone with his legs stretched under the seat with a suppressed L115A3 sniper rifle. The bipod was attached to the floor for stability while he looked out a hidden gun port on the rear hatch.
"Garden is too congested right now. Hitting the side streets so hang on!" Sean yelled back before he swerved again. He ignored the traffic lights and made a sharp turn eliciting many honks from the other motorists. When Sean got a chance he took one hand off the steering wheel and grabbed a radio transmitter, "This is Knight, both asset and Rook are secured. We have two X-Rays in pursuit, enroute via Delta Nine, can we get an assist?"
"Negative, we are Foxtrot Uniform, I repeat, Foxtrot Uniform. All routes compromised," replied the voice on the other end of the radio. Sean's eyes went wide for a second and then he transmitted again.
"I copy, are any protocols available to us?"
Several moments of silence passed before the radio responded, "Initiate Zulu protocols. God speed."
