First Contact

Monday, September 27, 2021

"Hello, Ms. Xlevrata. And you too... Twilight, you said?" A heavyset, bespectacled man leaned across the conference table and shook a hand or hoof of each of his guests. The sharply-dressed woman sitting next to him did the same. In a corner of the room, a bored guard leaned against the wall. "Before we begin in earnest, however, if I may ask a question?"

"One hundred ninety-seven centimeters," Chryasor said, answering the man's question before he could even ask it. "And no, I don't play basketball."

"Oh." The man looked flustered. "I'm sorry, you must get that a lot." Chryasor nodded, with a pained smile on her face. "Well then, shall we begin?"

The man and woman simultaneously reached down into briefcases sitting by their feet and each pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. "So, as you know, you're here because we want to evaluate your performance over the last couple weeks. The reports you've sent in indicated that you were having considerable success, but there are some concerns we would like to address as well. First, however, your progress on the language."

"Well..." Chryasor said, "I have definitely had success with the language. I can speak the pony language well enough to communicate, and I have taught Twilight some English as well. Isn't that right, Twilight?"

The pony looked over at her human friend, seemingly startled out of a daydream. "Um... yes," she said. "I can... English talk. A little. It is more hard than Equestrian. You have..." She turned to Chryasor. "Susegjutid?"

"Signs? No, probably 'rules' would be better there."

"Rules. You have rules but not follow them. The your language is strange."

The woman across the table scribbled furiously on her pad of paper. "Not bad," she mumbled to herself in German. "The talking horses are creepy as hell, but she's done a good job." Finally looking up, she addressed Chryasor. "Quite impressive actually, for only two weeks and no outside help. I knew there was a reason the higher-ups called for you specifically. So, there are some questions we're supposed to ask, since until now we haven't really had much contact with the aliens."

She reached into her briefcase again and took out a sheet of paper with a list of printed questions. "First," she said, looking at Twilight, "what is your name or designation, and what is your mission here on Earth?"

"My name is Twilight Sparkle. I not had a mission, but after I came she gave I one."

"She? Ms. Xlevrata here?"

"No, my... leader? Tohitu div kørsuwlun."

"The Princess of the Night," Chryasor explained. "They have a dual monarchy and one of them gave Twilight a mission. I was there but didn't understand all the words at the time."

The two reviewers wrote all this down. "So why are you here? What did she tell you?"

To... do what I do in Equestria. To make... friendness. But there is no magic."

"Friendship? So you come in peace?" The humans looked confused, but relieved. That poor guard by the door especially; he had been listening in on the entire conversation and was glad to hear there would not be any conflict.

"Okay, on to the second question." It was the man's turn now. "How much do you know about humans? Have your kind been studying us? Relatedly, what drew your people to Earth rather than somewhere else?"

Twilight didn't answer for a moment as she tried to puzzle through the English words. Finally she just asked Chryasor, who translated the questions easily. "I know very little of humans," Twilight replied. "I came here... nerelelkurb?"

"Intend to, gerund form, without... By accident." It was not a word Chryasor had heard used before but the meaning could be figured out simply enough from existing patterns.

"Ah, I remember now. Thank you. I came by accident here. I left Equestria and there was many worlds. Not ending sight of worlds. Yours had a light, and I followed it."

"So you weren't intending to come to Earth? Well, it's good that you're here. This is the first time humans have ever met another intelligent species. And you just happened to land in Geneva too, where to closest thing we have to a world government is located."

"This is where the light was. It shines in the place between the worlds." The two humans were very interested now. Chryasor could see the words "CALL CERN" written on the man's paper in big capital letters.

"Well, this makes a lot of our required questions kind of irrelevant, if you weren't originally intending to come to Earth. There are still a few though, I think." He marked a few bullet points on his sheet and showed it to his partner. The woman took a quick glance at it and proceeded with the interview.

"Where is the planet you come from? How far away from this one?"

Twilight was unsure how to answer. Could a distance even be defined? She had traveled to the wrong side of the stars, beyond anything she or anypony else had ever experienced before. And Equestria's stars were supposed to be infinitely far away, impossible to fly up to. Finally, not having any better answer, she just said, "I not know."

The humans seemed disappointed. "So how does the portal work then? Are your people willing to share the technology?"

"I show you all, if we be in Equestria. It is magic." Twilight closed her eyes for a moment and lit up her horn, trying to sense any magic around. "There is not enough here. You not can make one. Maybe with time. It grows."

The interviewers' next question was directed to Chryasor. "What is this 'magic' she keeps talking about? There's no such thing as magic. Why did you teach her that word when there's got to be some other explanation?"

"Actually... in her world it really exists. I've seen it. Force fields, levitation, the whole deal. And I don't think it's just fancy technology either. Things just don't work the same way over there."

The woman's eyes narrowed with skepticism. "We'll investigate this more later. But this brings us to the second reason for our meeting here: you haven't exactly been following the instructions you were given. If I recall, you were supposed to learn how to communicate with the aliens and that was all. From Geneva. You and no one else, since the department was unable to provide a full team at the time. However, you yourself reported that you traveled to the alien planet –and not only that, but others have been there too!"

Now the other interviewer jumped in with his own commentary. "Do you have any idea how much of a problem this is?" he asked. "The United Nations has this whole long list of protocols to follow in case we ever made contact with aliens, and you've broken a hell of a lot of them. You said you met their... Princess of the Night, or whatever. Sort of negates the whole 'our leaders talk to their leaders first' thing, now doesn't it? You were supposed to act as translator for Secretary-General Torres, Presidents Sanders and Putin, and all the rest, not be the visiting diplomat yourself! You need clearance for that sort of thing.

"And you let this Zairovsa Elviria person through too. While our scientists do need to talk to their scientists, that comes later. Much later. Probably after we've figured out they don't want to kill us all, not before. At least she's out now; we don't want random civilians running around in the way of sensitive operations."

He paused to catch his breath and Chryasor finally was able to get a word of her own in. "But sir," she interjected, "she went through without my knowledge. I was doing my job perfectly well at the time. I crossed over as well because I was invited to by Twilight here, and as soon as I did, I found Zai and escorted her back. Do you really think it's good foreign policy, after showing a visitor around our planet, to be so impolite as to refuse an offer to go see theirs?"

"Zai? Do you know this person?" the man asked, seemingly ignoring most of what Chryasor had just said to fixate on that tiny part. He looked incredulously at her over the top of his glasses.

"Well I would certainly hope so, since she's my little sister. I've known her since the day she was born."

"Oh, that just makes this whole mess even worse," the woman sighed. She was anxiously tapping her pen against the table. "They're going to think you have a conflict of interest and want you reassigned somewhere else. Personally, I think you've done such an amazing job with the language that they can overlook some of this other stuff, but remember we only make a recommendation –the final decision of what happens next is up to them."

"I don't think they'll be able to ignore this one though," the man said, holding up a document Chryasor found rather familiar. "This is a reimbursement request for two plane tickets. It's titled 'Equestrian Immigration Initiative'. I don't recall there being anything like this."

Chryasor was amazed. "People actually read those? I always thought it was just some guy with a rubber stamp approving everything.”

"People read them when they come from you," the man explained, "because right now you're important. Other requests not so much. So would you care to explain what this is? No such project was ever authorized."

"Of course it wasn't authorized. It's an initiative. I took the initiative to do some good in the world, without wading through years of red tape first. The 'project' consisted of relocating a certain individual to Equestria. That's it; it's done now. The project is complete. No need to worry about it anymore."

This elicited a chuckle from the other humans. "Nice try," the woman said, "but we're going to need a bit more than that. Who was this person you sent to Equestria, and why?"

"And why did you think you could do something like this? You had to know that would be against the rules."

Chryasor took a moment to think of a good answer. "The person's name is Phaedriel Arisaema. I have known her a long time, and she poses no threat to anything the UN or anyone else wishes to do. She was dissatisfied with human life, so I helped her escape it. I assure you, she has no desire whatsoever to get in your way." That would have to be good enough. No need to mention the fact that they were related; that would only make it worse. Having chosen different last names made it easy to deny.

The reviewers scribbled more words down on their pads of paper. "Would you excuse us for a moment?" They got up and left the room, shutting the door behind them and leaving Chryasor and Twilight alone with each other and the silent guard. Chryasor took the time to fill Twilight in on all that had just been said, in case she hadn't been able to follow all the English. She listened carefully and tried to make out what the reviewers were saying outside, but only caught fragments of the conversation.

“So what do you think? There’s good and there’s bad here. If we say…”

“...the only one. Can we afford… now?”

“The world leaders will be all over us… impatient… Already we’ve seen…”

“...good reason too. What about…”

“...could be… idea. We still need… eventually… agree?”
Finally the door opened again and the two humans returned.

"We have a decision," the man said ominously. "The following is what we will send to the committee as our recommendation. We believe this is the best course of action, and that the committee will agree." He looked over at the woman, cueing her to start reading off what they had come up with.

"First: it is recognized that Chryasor Xlevrata has successfully completed her assignment of learning to communicate with the aliens. We find her level of competence with their language impressive. However, we feel obligated to also note the existence of numerous breaches of protocol in relation to unauthorized crossings of the border between our worlds. In light of both these things, we recommend that Ms. Xlevrata cease all contact with the ponies and their world, and instead teach the Equestrian language to others, who will then serve as the translators we need."

Chryasor could only stand there, shocked into silence. No more contact with any ponies? She had started to get rather attached to this little unicorn and would hate to never be able to see her again. But what could she do? She could always appeal any decision they made, but it was unlikely to change anything. And anything she did to protest could damage her reputation and her chances for advancement. She opened her mouth to thank the reviewers for not saying anything really bad about her and to accept her new assignment, but Twilight spoke first.

"No," the pony said. "You may not this. Chryasor is a friend my. I do not leave my friends." She stepped closer to Chryasor, putting herself between the unfamiliar humans and the one she knew.

"Twilight, I must go with them," Chryasor said. "There is nothing we can do." Addressing the other humans, she said, "I realize I did things I should not have, and I thank you both for your leniency. I look forward to teaching people how to talk to these wonderful ponies." She started walking over toward the others and the door, but suddenly felt a strange force pulling her back. Her entire body was engulfed in a pink glow, and she stumbled backward a step.

"Twilight," she said, "I am going to miss you. I really am. But you have to let me go." She continued in Equestrian so the others would not understand. "If I don't go then I will be in serious trouble. But if I accept it peacefully, I have a chance to redeem myself and maybe they will let me come back. These people need me too. I will be okay. Our friendship will be okay."

The reviewers looked a little impatient now, but thankfully not too suspicious of whatever Chryasor might have just said. "Ready to go?" the man asked, pulling open the door. "You can expect a formal email with everything by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. We will have someone escort Twilight here back home. Hey, what's she doing?"

Chryasor turned around to see the unicorn's horn glowing, brighter than she had ever seen it before. "I don't know," she said. "Suwlsɤwznelk, ¿þevor uwmrekoy?" But the pony didn't respond. She looked like she was concentrating extremely hard on something. Chryasor began to feel tingly all over, the sensation growing stronger and stronger. "What the hell?" Suddenly, there was a flash of pink light all around her, and for an instant it felt like she was submerged in some icy fluid, flowing past at an incredible rate.

She opened her eyes after the pink flash to find a very different room around her. It was full of desks and computers and people working. And people stopping work to turn around and see what that loud bang and flash of pink light was. Chryasor didn’t even have a chance to say hello to her sister before a translucent pink film appeared over her and she was carried backward into the library basement beyond the portal.

۞ ۞ ۞

Zai stared at the math-filled paper in front of her in frustration. Nothing made any sense anymore. All she was trying to do was come up with a theory of how magic worked –that couldn't be too hard, could it? Somehow those ponies were able to lift and manipulate objects without touching them, and even create wormholes through space, all without any sort of visible technology. It all just seemed impossible. And yet it couldn't be, because Zai had seen it firsthand. She picked up her pencil again and looked over her work, not knowing that in the Canterlot Royal Library there was an entire wing devoted to magic theory that still didn't have a complete answer.

Come on, Zai, you can do this, she thought to herself. This is just like your PhD thesis material. Non-gravitational interactions among dark matter particles. Forces beyond the normal four we're used to. I should go back and reread my own work and see if any of it could apply here. Might as well try some simple explanations before getting into the crazy stuff though. Think back to the beginning. It's freshman year at MIT, I'm in intro physics learning about electromagnetism. The force is a constant times the product of the charges over the square of the distance. If magic does the same, I understand it. I don't understand it, so it must do something weird instead. What if it's the cube of the distance? Then.... I don't know, but I could work it out. What if there are just more than two charges? What if there are infinitely many?

She started writing down all the magic effects she had seen so far, to try to look for patterns or ways of explaining things in terms of familiar processes. There was levitation, which resulted in both the horn and the object glowing. And there was the portal creation which she hadn't seen, and the portal locking which she had seen one side of. Levitation was clearly the simplest of those. Suppose there was an invisible beam connecting horn and target, something that worked sort of like light but wasn't. That somehow exerts an upward force... but where is the equal and opposite reaction force? The glow meant that whatever magic particle is involved had to have some electric charge, so at least Zai knew something.

Maybe her theory could use some inspiration from reality. “Hey First, how's the SWITCH data coming today? Still chasing down that missing bit of energy you saw before?”

“No,” First sighed. He waved a hand at his computer screen, where several complicated data plots were showing. “See for yourself. The thing's gone crazy. It's supposed to be the Survey of Weak Interaction in Top and CHarm quarks, right? Studying the decay paths of heavy baryons. But it just doesn't make any sense anymore. It's violating conservation laws all over the place.”

“Well that's good, isn't it? It means there's new physics out there. And if there's stuff we can't explain, then that keeps me in a job because somebody has to figure out how to explain it. Who knows, maybe this will be the penguin.”

“The what?” First tried to puzzle out what Zai could possibly mean.

“Oh, sorry, I forgot that wasn't standard usage. It's an acronym –because, you know, physicists just love to make everything an acronym. I had to follow the tradition. It stands for the Final, spelled with a PH, Experiment to Know, ignore the K, Grand Unification In Nature. You know, the experiment that finally gives us the last piece of the puzzle.”

"That's, um... That's definitely a name only you would come up with."

"Hey, it's not as bad as ALFALFA, the Arecibo Legacy Fast Arecibo L-band Feed Array. They used the name of their observatory twice in the same acronym.”

"Okay yeah, that's just silly. But anyway, I'm not sure these readings mean anything beyond the fact that the detector might be broken. It's been like this ever since that thing–" He pointed over his shoulder at the portal. "–had its little whatever with the two purple horse aliens and we started being able to see through it." He rolled his eyes. "I swear, I thought looking at that portal was bad enough before, when it was just black. Every morning when I walked through the front door, I would end up staring into the abyss, and it would stare back into me just like Nietzsche said. Now I just stare into someone's house. But that manages to be even worse, because no matter where I stand in this room, when I look at it I see the other side from the same angle. It really just messes with your head, you know?"

Zai nodded. "Yeah, it seems to be three-dimensional on this side and two-dimensional over there. No clue how that works. I wonder what it looks like from the other side now –would you see out in every direction at once? That would look pretty weird." She smiled widely. "I might have to go find out..."

"Oh, no no no no, I know that look. That's the look you get when you're about to do something you shouldn't." He held up his hands in a cautioning manner and spoke slowly, as if to a child. "It is okay to not act on every impulse that goes through your mind. Really. You don't have to. How about, instead of that, you take a look at this and tell me what the hell is going on.”

Zai let out a dramatic sigh. “But... but science! Observation! Experiment! Alright, fine, what have you got?”

“What we've got is... very weird. New particles, lots of them. One has the same charge as the electron but the mass is like seventeen electron masses. Then there's something that looks like a scalar boson but it's not just a Higgs. And a whole collection of others I haven't identified yet. And you know what we're not seeing? Bottom and strange quarks, the ones these top and charm quarks are supposed to turn into.”

“Wow, yeah, that is weird. Are these supposed to move that way in a magnetic field?”

“Nope. I'd say they're monopoles, but those don't exist.”

“Well, they're not supposed to exist. Maybe they do anyway?” Zai picked up her pencil and twirled it through her fingers. “It would mess up two of the Maxwell equations but probably wouldn't have too much real effect, right? Let's see, if we–” She broke off suddenly as an exclamation was heard across the room.

"Oh, shit!" Zai and First both looked over toward the sudden sound. Was that Hannah? I think that's the first time I've ever heard her swear. I wonder what's going on over there. But there was no need to wonder long. "Everyone, come look at this!"

Zai dropped her pencil and made her way over to where the commotion was. Several other people were also converging on that spot, but just as many were content to just listen from their usual desks. It was a good thing Dr. Ziegler was tolerant of people taking breaks from working at random times to do other things. After all, letting one's mind rest for a few minutes could easily restore productivity and more than make up for time lost.

Hannah's screen seemed to be showing a news article. That was fairly normal; she was always interested in what was going on in the world. More so than many of the other scientists here anyway, who were often rather isolated from the mundane existence around them. Who cared which team had won the World Cup, or what the latest celebrity gossip was? Who cared even what parties controlled the Federal Assembly, as long as they didn't decrease science funding?

But as Zai got closer she could read the headline on the screen, and it was definitely something to care about. "United States President assassinated!" it screamed in big bold letters. Oh shit, indeed, Zai thought. He was one of the good ones, too. I don't live there anymore but it's still important who's in charge. She leaned over to read the text of the article.

“President Sanders of the United States was assassinated today during his visit to Paris, France for the G17 climate summit,” it read. “Eyewitnesses report that a bearded man in white robes jumped out in front of the President's car, forcing it to stop. The man did not produce any weapon, but rather shouted at the vehicle and set himself on fire. No reports indicate what exactly the man was saying, but one witness has asserted that it was Arabic. While the driver was attempting to turn the car around, a single gunshot entered the front windshield and struck President Sanders in the chest, killing him instantly. Police are attempting to track down the shooter.”

Zai skimmed over the rest. Hmm, no ID found on the distraction guy. He must have dental records somewhere though. They're still working on the ballistics, what kind of gun was used and from where. Whoever did this was clearly a professional. I hope they catch him. Or her or them, I suppose. She motioned for Hannah to scroll down and noticed some new information at the bottom of the page.

“Update (10:40 am): Three members of the French parliament have been found dead in their offices. All three appear to have been suicide, however further investigation is ongoing.
Update 2 (2:15 pm, 8:15 am local): On her way to the Capitol building to take the oath of office, Vice President Warren's vehicle was struck head-on by another car. She has been transported to the nearest hospital and is in intensive care. The other driver was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities are investigating whether this could be connected to the attack on President Sanders earlier today.”

Wow, it gets worse. There's no way this is just coincidence, not this many deaths. But who's behind it? It has to be a country for something like this, not a lone person. The US has made a lot of enemies with its blundering foreign policy. Most recently Russia; the proxy war in Syria ended badly for both powers, with the various groups they supported joining together against foreign influence. But never mind that, what's going to happen next? How does this affect me? There's no denying this is bad, but can I make anything good come of it? I'm sure it's already too late to do anything in the markets.

Oh well, at least we're pretty isolated from the fallout here. Switzerland is great for staying out of things. I guess I should get back to work... Zai sat back down at her desk and returned to staring at her calculations. Magic really shouldn't be this hard to figure out. There must be rules to it somehow. Then an idea struck her: the ponies would certainly know. They had scientists too. And more importantly, they must have textbooks somewhere –probably in that library right next door. She eyed the portal, trying not to look too suspicious. Knowledge is power, she thought. Of course, knowledge is good for its own sake too, but power is nice. I just have to find a way to get it.

۞ ۞ ۞

Phaedriel awoke with a start. Where am I? she wondered momentarily. Oh right, in this pony's house. That really happened. Well, the sun's up; I should get up too and stop intruding on this poor pony. I'm sure she has much better things to do than have me around.

She moved to push off the light blanket but felt an odd resistance, something holding her arm to her body above the elbow. Using her arm as well as she could, she inched the blanket down until she could see the problem: a pale yellow foreleg, most likely attached to a pale yellow pony laying behind her. What? What's she doing here? Phaedriel thought frantically. Why am I being hugged? No no no, I am against the hugging! I need to get out of here!

She struggled to free herself but every movement only seemed to make the yellow pony hold on tighter. All Phaedriel managed to accomplish was to roll onto her back and push the covers off the top half of her body. I need to get some clothes back on before she wakes up. Still no idea why she's even here either. I thought she was going to be downstairs or something. Oh, this is not good.

Phaedriel looked over at the pony still sleeping peacefully by her side. She contemplated trying to gently pick up the hoof and slip out without disturbing anything, but she never got the chance. Just then, Fluttershy shifted her weight and threw a hind leg over Phaedriel's waist. Well shit, I'm not getting out of this, am I? And the situation only got worse when the sleeping pony decided that Phaedriel's naked breast would make an excellent pillow.

Okay, um... really not too comfortable with this... I'm naked and there's a pony laying on me and I really wasn't expecting this to happen. The sun is up and I'm trapped inside this building. But let's try to look on the bright side here. Is there a bright side? Um... I don't actually have anything that needs to be done today, and it's a soft, comfy bed. Pretty soft pony fur too, almost like a cat. Hmm, that's actually a good comparison; she's pinning me in place just like my kitty Ginger used to when I was little.

Well, it looks like I'm being snuggled whether I want to be or not. Might as well try to enjoy it, I suppose. Just pretend she's a giant yellow and pink cat... Phaedriel rolled onto her other side and placed one arm over the pony's body. She buried her face in the flowing pink mane, closing her eyes and trying to fall back asleep. It was difficult to make herself relax, since she was used to getting up so early, but the warmth and feathery softness helped. Maybe this isn't so bad after all, she thought. I haven't shared a bed with another intelligent being in... how many years? I don't know, a lot. Might even be coming up on ten now since that half a year I spent in college.

Phaedriel lay there for a while, half-awake, pondering events she hadn't thought about for almost a decade. Once upon a time, she had been a freshman student at the University of Chicago, trying to decide whether she should major in chemistry or psychology. It was her first time living away from home for more than a couple days, and so for the first time she had had the chance to fully explore more aspects of her identity. She had had one good friend there: a girl named Lynn Kirsche, interested in the same sorts of subjects as Phaedriel, and a member of the school's orchestra, and an enthusiastic political activist.

They became very close during their first few months there, and gradually each began to realize that maybe they wanted to be more than just friends. Phaedriel had never dated anyone before –having always been told that boys were her only option, she hadn't thought she was interested in relationships at all. Eventually she and Lynn paired up, and with a little reshuffling of roommate assignments they moved in together. But sadly, it did not last long.

For all this coincided with the beginning of Phaedriel's first wave of depression and cynicism. Lynn's political involvement made Phaedriel realize just how broken the world really was –she had heard bits and pieces before, but seeing the issues firsthand was quite a revelation. All the protests taught Phaedriel only one thing: that resistance was futile. The corporations always won. No matter how hard one tried, it was impossible to make any real difference.

So what was the point in even trying? Why stick around if everything you do will surely fail, if none of your effort matters? Phaedriel decided that she just couldn't take any more of this, so one day she just gathered up some basic supplies, made a quick stop at a camping store on her way out of town, and walked off without a backward glance. Lynn had refused to come with her, so apart from occasional correspondence with her sister Chry, she had been alone ever since. Until the last few days.

Suddenly her peaceful life had been disrupted by a surprise visit from her other sister, the one who embraced the system of the world and loved all the things Phaedriel had sworn to leave behind. The one who had caused the death of their mother just by being born, the reason why Phaedriel's earliest memories were marred by sadness. Nothing good could come of them being around each other. But the chain of events that had brought them back together had just as quickly separated them again, and sent Phaedriel into this other world where, with luck, she would never have to deal with humanity again.

No humanity, only ponies. Like the pony right here in her arms. Her mind's wandering had finally reached a conclusion, returning to the present moment. And so, thinking done for a while, she gently slipped back to sleep.