First Contact

Thursday, September 16, 2021

"Something is not right in Equestria," Celestia said with a sigh. "Something terrible is coming, and I don't know what it is." She hated to spoil one of the two short moments each day when she could talk to her sister with work and worries, but it had to be done. It was Celestia's dinnertime, Luna's breakfast, just before sunset; that and the corresponding time right before dawn were the only times the two Princesses' schedules overlapped.

Princess Luna looked across the table at her sister. "You're still worried about this other world? I wish I could have seen it for myself all those years ago; maybe I could help better now."

"One of us had to stay and take care of Equestria. In retrospect, I should never have crossed either. It was not a good experience."

"And now you fear for your student Twilight Sparkle. I do not know her like you do, but she was nice to me when nopony else was, and I would hate to see her come to harm. Are you sure these 'humans' are really so dangerous?"

Celestia sighed again. "That's the thing; I really don't. After ruling Equestria for so long, I've developed a sort of sense of when a great danger is approaching. I sense it now, but I can't tell what exactly it is. It's maddening, not knowing what to prepare for. The only thing I can think of is humans, but Twilight's latest letter says they're good! I just don't know what to do."

"You say Twilight Sparkle is ready for your test? Should we give her Starswirl's diary now? A fourth alicorn would heighten our defenses against all manner of threats."

"No, not yet. We need Discord on our side first. He could perform the transformation spell much more easily than we could. And to reform Discord, we need the Elements of Harmony together in Equestria, which means we can't have them all distracted by this other world. The dilemma is this: if humans really are the threat I sense, we should cut off contact immediately and focus on promoting Twilight. If they're not –if they've changed since I last saw them –then we should try to build good relations, and perhaps gain a useful ally. And we have no way of knowing which is the case."

"Then, since we are equally uninformed either way, would it not be better to take the path of least effort? Namely, assume your Twilight is correct and the humans are friendly, and get to know them better? Now, sister, finish your dinner and lower the sun. Take an early rest; you deserve one. You always work too hard. I will go talk to your student and see if anything more may be learned."

۞ ۞ ۞

Twilight sat alone on one of the library's many balconies. Below her, a welcome home party raged on, soon to enter its fourth hour straight of continual Pinkie-style excitement. All her friends were there, and so were the two humans, but Twilight wasn't sure where to go. On one hoof, she was glad to be back in Equestria with all her pony friends, but on another she felt like she ought to stay with Chryasor and her sister Zai, because she was the only pony they knew.

The sun was still high in the sky, but Twilight knew it should be almost time for nightfall. That was something she wanted Chryasor to see, to show that Equestria really did work under different rules than her world. Twilight stepped back inside to see the human sitting comfortably on a table with her feet resting on the floor. Chryasor was talking and laughing with the ponies all around, while her sister was standing awkwardly on the edge of the room with a mug that had once held cider. Twilight made her way down the stairs again to the main floor of the library.

“Hey, Chryasor, Zairovsa, come with me for a minute. There's something I want you to see.”

Chryasor excused herself from the group she was talking to and motioned for Zai to come over. “Zai, tekuwøroy. Suwlsɤwznelk sigumiy ilvid goyjinekeytid þorv sliyx. And Twilight, just call me Chry, it's simpler.” The younger human glanced around for a second then just sat her empty mug down on the floor where she was, before slowly walking over to the base of the stairs. She had a rather disgusted expression on her face, though she almost smiled at Twilight as she got farther away from the main party.

“Þevor viytriy? Kiygedrøroytid, vuwþevor niviytrekiy siymuws ey uwv.”

Twilight didn't catch all of what Zai had said, but the general idea seemed to be that she was not enjoying the party. Hopefully this would cheer her up a bit. She led the way back upstairs and onto the balcony, the humans following closely behind. Once they were all outside, Twilight closed the door with a gentle magical push and addressed the guests in her best English.

“Welcome to Equestria. I hope liking you are it what you see. Now it will be a very important thing: day going to night. The Princesses's doing-thing, what different is to your place. Enjoy the wonder and peace, and love the night as the day. They should are equals. Look.” She turned around to look out over the edge of the balcony. “Any minute here, it will do.”

The two humans stepped up to the railing as well, and looked up at the sky. Then, perfectly on time for Twilight's prediction, the sun began to move. In a matter of seconds, it was lowered from almost directly above them to near the horizon, and after a few more seconds it was gone from view completely. The sky faded to near total black, but only for an instant, as it immediately began brightening again into a deep purpley blue. Stars appeared one by one, filling the heavens with tiny points of light. Then came the moon, rising up from the same point on the horizon that the sun had just vacated. A glowing silver disk, full as always, now illuminated the sky and the ground with a soft light.

“That was amazing,” Chryasor said quietly. “When you were describing it before, it all sounded so fantastical, and I wasn't sure if I really believed it. But now I've seen for myself –this world is magical.”

“Niþuntekoytid vit ilv nimbey tixrevesk?” Zai sounded annoyed. It must be hard being the only one around unable to talk to anypony else. Her sister quickly translated her previous remarks to the human language. The two of them conversed in English for a few minutes, while Twilight remained nearby, looking out over the balcony and admiring the nighttime landscape.

Just then, the moonlight seemed to brighten for a moment before a dark shadow passed in front of it. Twilight looked up in surprise, but there was nothing there, only the moon again. It still looked brighter than usual, as if it were somehow concentrating its light on the library. She heard the sound of wings flapping and turned toward the sound, and caught a fleeting glimpse of a dark tail out of the corner of her eye. There was a thud from the other end of the balcony, and she saw Chryasor gasp and take half a step back.

Twilight whirled around again, only to come face to face with Princess Luna herself. She lowered herself to her knees and bowed her head, hoping the two humans would follow her lead and do the same.

“Arise, Twilight Sparkle,” the Princess said in a rather loud voice. “I take it these are the two humans?”

“Yes, Princess,” said Twilight as she got to her hooves again. “This is Chryasor, and her sister Zairovsa.” She pointed to each of them in turn as she said their names. “What can we do for you, Princess?”

“We have –I have come on behalf of Princess Celestia to discuss this other world. It is good that these visitors are present. Can they speak to us? Are they intelligent?”

Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but Chryasor spoke first. “Yes, Princess. I can speak to ponies, but my sister has not yet learned your language well. And yes, humans generally are intelligent. We do have our share of idiots, but most are okay.”

“Hmm, I see. And you come without ill intent? Are you here in peace?” Princess Luna's voice grew louder and louder as she spoke. Chryasor stepped back and nodded her head silently. Zai was already at the far end of the balcony, watching but trying not to get involved.

“Volume, Princess! Remember, we don't shout anymore.”

“I apologize. It is still hard for us –for me –to adjust to this new style, though I am getting better. And the stress of having these show up is not making it any easier.” She continued in a softer voice. “We simply must know whether these humans pose a threat.”

“We mean you no harm,” Chryasor said, holding her hands out open in front of her. “We only wish to learn about your world, just as your student does with us.”

“My student? Nay, she is with my sister, the Princess of the Day. My own student passed away long ago, barely two decades after his birth. But he had a long, full life in between. I grew up reading his books when I was just a foal myself, then later when he was young I passed the knowledge back.”

Chryasor stood there, trying to understand. Twilight leaned over and whispered to her, “Starswirl the Bearded. A unicorn famous for inventing time travel, among other things. Don't think about it too hard.”

Luna paused for a moment, then addressed the human again. “Would thou –you –permit me to verify your intentions, through magical means?”

“Certainly, Princess. We have nothing to hide here.” Chryasor turned around. “Zai, tekuwøroy. Paludøreytid peþru div sliyx.”

Zai reluctantly walked over to stand next to her sister. She was looking around nervously, unsure of what was about to happen. Twilight stepped off to the side so she would be out of the way of Luna's spell. Once everyone was in place, the Princess lit up her horn with a blue glow. A single spark emerged from the tip and floated up to hang above the two humans' heads. It pulsed a few times and then exploded into a shower of sparkling dust, which drifted down and thoroughly coated the humans. On Chryasor it glowed a bright gold color, pure and unwavering with just the tiniest hint of purple, but on Zai it was a pale ice-blue shot through with streaks of a bilious green.

Twilight watched as Luna examined the humans. Clearly she was getting more information out of this spell than just a color, but Twilight couldn't tell what exactly she was doing. It looked like very advanced magic –any form of mind reading was beyond her abilities. Luna made a face as if thinking very hard about whatever it was she was seeing in the humans. Finally she looked at Twilight and spoke, carefully choosing each word.

“I do not believe that these two humans intend any harm to Equestria. But neither do they serve its best interests as we do. I see the potential for both great good and great evil within them. This tall one who shines gold, she is good. The other... I cannot tell. The rest of their kind may also swing either way. Continue contact with this other world, but be careful.” Princess Luna stopped for a moment, then addressed Twilight again. “I am not certain I have the authority to say this, but I would like you to expand your mission of studying the magic of friendship. Teach it to the humans. Let them be good. But above all, Twilight Sparkle, be safe. I would be sad indeed if anything were to happen to you.”

Twilight was confused by these last words. Luna's eyes went wide, as if she too could not believe what had just come out of her mouth. Surely she had meant to say her sister would be sad. After all, Twilight was Princess Celestia's student, just a pupil at her School for Gifted Unicorns; why would she be important to Princess Luna? Twilight wrote it off as just a slip of the tongue.

“Of course, Princess. Would you like weekly reports on my progress?”

“That will not be necessary. Simply carry on as you have been. You do good work for a noble cause; surely it will be rewarding.” Luna blinked once –no, was that a wink? It couldn't be. She spread her wings and flew off into the night sky. She circled the library once, began to pass in front of the moon again, and teleported out at the precise instant she was silhouetted against the glowing disk.

Twi, Chry, and Zai all stood on the balcony, trying to make sense of everything the Princess had said. Zai had the easiest job of it, since nothing made any sense to her. Chryasor seemed proud of herself, but was looking at her sister with a worried gaze.

“Well, um, you've now met Princess Luna. I have to say, that was not part of the original plan for tonight.” Twilight looked over at Zai, who was still not really paying any attention. “Chry, translate for her, would you? If she wants to learn about Equestria, she needs to learn to talk first. Sign language only gets you so far.”

“Hey Zai, yasoy daðmisk. Nitorjumey sril kørþ.” Chry got her sister's attention and prepared to translate everything Twilight said into English.

“Okay, so again, that was Luna, the Princess of the Night. She thinks you can be trusted, which is good. You're interesting, your world is interesting; I'd like to see more of it. But for now, I think we should all return to our respective homes –it's been a long day for me, and I'm sure for you as well.” She glanced back through the open door behind her. “Looks like everypony is starting to lose steam down there, even Pinkie. Let's all get some rest.”

The three filed through into the library again and went down the stairs. Twilight greeted her friends again, but did not stop to talk further. She led the humans down to her laboratory in the basement, where the portal stood like a black stain on the wall.

“Do you want me to guide you back across, or do you think you can make it on your own?” Twilight asked. The two humans conferred with each other for a moment, then Chryasor told Twilight they would be okay by themselves. After all, Zai had managed to cross with no assistance at all, and since they had both been to the Void before they knew how things worked. What to do to get to Earth, and especially what not to do. The humans stepped up to the edge, but before entering, Chryasor turned to speak again.

“Thanks so much for letting me come visit Equestria, Twilight. It's been really great, and I can't wait to see more. Come on over tomorrow or the next day, maybe bring all your friends too. We've got two entire worlds in contact here, let's not limit it to just a few of us ever crossing.”

“Good idea. I'll talk to the others and see what they think. Good night, and be safe!”

“You too,” Chryasor said with a warm smile. She took her sister's hand in her own, and together the two stepped forward and vanished from sight. Twilight lingered there for a moment longer, then made her way back up the stairs.

۞ ۞ ۞

Friday, September 17, 2021

Zai stumbled out of the portal into a brightly lit, crowded room. Clearly it was not after dark here; in fact it looked to be barely past lunchtime. Ugh, suddenly it's light again, she thought. Wasn't expecting that. Why can't it be the same time everywhere? She blinked in the bright fluorescent light and looked around. Oh no, this isn't good, no no no no no–

“Well, look who's back. Did you have a nice trip? We've been doing some very important physics while you were gone.” Dr. Ziegler's unmistakable Hungarian-accented voice sounded from across the room, as she made her way around the maze of desks to stand face to face with Zai. Okay, plan A, pretend ignorance.

“Trip? What? How long has it been?” Zai put on her best puzzled look. But the scheme was destined to fail, for her sister and travel partner was not an accomplice.

“Zai, I told you when I first found you, remember?” Chryasor interjected, unaware of Zai's plot. “You disappeared on Monday, and it should be Friday now. And hello, Dr. Ziegler. So sorry to keep walking through your workplace like this.” She slipped over to the door as unobtrusively as she could.

“It's no problem,” the director replied, before turning to Zai once again. “You, however, do have a problem. You can't just go disappearing on us like that! You, who never come late or call in sick, just gone without a trace. We were so worried –not to mention down a researcher on our first week of operation!” She took a deep breath and shook her head. “I honestly don't even know what to do with you right now. Skipping work is bad –but I can't say I wasn't tempted myself, with it right there and everything. I suppose I'll record it as you taking some vacation days. Just don't do it again. Are we clear? Good. Now find some data and start analyzing it; we've got more than we can handle already.”

Zai hung her head and walked slowly over to her desk, not saying a word. She sat down and booted up the computer in front of her, and as it was loading, she turned to her neighbor.

“Hey Second, what's been happening here? Anything good yet, any groundbreaking new discoveries in the first week?”

“Well actually... sort of yes,” the Vietnamese girl said. “We're not sure yet, but –”

“But if it's true, it would be really cool,” her twin brother interrupted.

“Well that was fast,” Zai said. “So what is it you think this great machine has found?”

The Tnguyens began speaking at the same time, each talking over the other but the two somehow managing to produce a single coherent thought between them. “So the first collisions are between lead and anti-lead nuclei, at an energy of about eighty-five teraelectronvolts. Mostly we get pretty normal stuff, you know, a big mess of quarks and gluons, assorted hadrons made up of those, some muons, some taus, even some Higgses. And most of the time, if we add up the energies of all the pieces that come flying out, we get exactly the same energy that we put in, as we should. But not always. Sometimes, there's a little bit missing.

“Missing energy is a really great sign that we're on to something. Because it's not really gone, it's just being carried away by something we can't see. There's a new particle out there. We may have just created dark matter in the lab. Of course, we don't see the missing energy every time –very little actually, barely enough to count as more than a statistical fluke. We're nowhere near the six-sigma standard for claiming a discovery yet.

“The really interesting part is the precise amount of energy that's missing from these collisions. It doesn't match what we would expect from axions, or sups and sdowns, selectrons or sneutrinos, or really anything else at all. It's not a particle we've seen before, and it's not anything in the hypothesized models. And you know what that means, right? We need a new theory to explain it. And you're a theorist –it looks like you've got work to do.”

Zai was absolutely shocked; she hadn't expected anything like this to happen, certainly not so soon. She tried to ask for more details, any guesses the others might have toward a solution, but the Tnguyens weren't done speaking.

“Oh also, Zai –probably should have said this earlier, but whatever –welcome back!”

“Thanks, you two. It is good to be back again, even if I am jetlagged and immediately thrown back into work again.” She groaned and rested her head on her hands.

“But why did you go?” First asked, his sister staying silent. “You had no idea what you might find; weren't you at all scared?”

“Of course I was,” Zai responded. “But you can't let that get in the way of curiosity! That world is something I knew nothing about, but I had the opportunity to learn. I'm a scientist; how could I resist? How did you resist?”

Zai could have sworn she heard the researcher to her other side mumble something like “some of us have some self-control...”, but when she turned to look, he was staring intently at his screen, saying nothing.

“Anyway,” Zai continued, “learning's not all I got out of that visit.” She reached into her pocket and withdrew her hand clenched around a small object. Carefully, she lifted her fingers to reveal a thick gold coin. It had words and pictures imprinted on both sides, but none of it understandable to humans. “This seems to be their currency. From the weight of it I think it might be solid gold. I'll need to test it to be sure, of course. But if it's gold, I know where to get a lot more. Ponies toss these things around like it's nothing –it takes two of these coins just for an apple pie. Granted, they make some pretty good pie there, but on Earth this could be worth several hundred francs! I want to get back there and sell them stuff before anyone else realizes the exchange rate.”

“That's pretty cool. And it shouldn't be hard to test either; just measure the density and compare it to gold. A scale and a beaker of water is all you need. And there's one other important property it has too, something you haven't mentioned.”

“Oh?” Zai was intrigued.

“It's not made of antimatter! Coming from some distant part of the universe, ponies and their stuff might have been, and then this whole place would be one big smoking crater.”

“Hmm, yeah...” Zai was envisioning the situation. “That would have been bad. I wonder... just how big an explosion would one unicorn worth of antimatter make? The energy released would be double the mass times the speed of light squared, so...” She grabbed a pencil and began writing down estimates for the various numbers involved. Half a page of calculations and a couple Google searches later, she announced, “A hundred times the largest nuclear bomb ever detonated. About one percent of one percent of the dinosaur-killing meteor.”

The Tnguyens laughed at their colleague's dedication to detail in the imaginary situation. “Come on, Zai, let's work on something real here. We'll send you the data we've been looking at.” Finally, the three physicists each turned back to their own screens and began to work.

۞ ۞ ۞

"Good afternoon! Happy Friday! Just to remind everyone, this is a special briefing and will be kept short. There will still be time for a few questions at the end. First, I have a statement from the Secretary-General on Nigeria. The Secretary-General urges all parties to work together toward a peaceful solution to this conflict, whether it be one state or several. A coherent national identity is of paramount importance for the stability of a state, and he calls for all Nigerians to focus on their similarities, not their differences. He asks that all parties respect the ceasefire of August 23rd and refrain from further hostilities.

"Next, a statement on Cataluña. The Secretary-General commends the new republic on their successful peaceful transition of power. He advises that diplomatic talks and trade with Spain should be resumed. He encourages the people of both nations to remember their shared history and heritage, and to see each other as friends once again.

"The office of the Secretary-General has also received reports from North Korea. Sources say that Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un is severely ill, but have been unable to confirm the nature of the illness. The Secretary-General wishes him a full and speedy recovery, and encourages him to open relations with the UN and its member states. We are prepared to offer aid, if he requests it.

“Finally, we come to the primary purpose of this briefing: alien contact with Earth. I'm sure you have all heard the rumors by now of a mysterious portal opening at CERN, and a purple unicorn emerging and walking the streets of Geneva. These rumors are true. I repeat, true. Our friends at CERN asked the United Nations for a linguist to help them communicate, and we have provided one. Her first report indicates that all is going well and that these aliens come in peace. The Secretary-General wishes to outline a five-point plan for dealing with continued alien contact.

“First, communication. Reliable communication must be established before anything meaningful can be done. We have faith in this first translator's efforts and we intend to have more people learn their language as well.

“Second, we must arrange a meeting of the world leaders of Earth with the equivalent among these 'ponies'. We must build trust between our races, and show each other that neither side wishes the other any harm.

“Third, we must facilitate transportation between our worlds. So far there is but a single point of entry, located in a building which has significant other purpose. If these aliens have the technology to build one portal to Earth, surely they can make others, if we ask for them.

“This brings me to the fourth point, which is trade. From what little we have seen of their abilities so far, we already know they have much to offer us, if they are willing to share it. We must show that we too have things of value, whether they be materials, services, or ideas.

“The final challenge, the hardest one, is about ourselves. We must overcome our fear of the unknown, the fear of all things different from ourselves. We must learn to see past differences not only of skin color, or body shape, or ethnic or religious affiliation, but also of species. These ponies are fundamentally different from anything we have seen before, but we must make them our friends, and we must be friends to them in return. The Secretary-General has high hopes for us. For all of us, for humanity.

“This concludes the press briefing for today. I will be taking questions for a few minutes, and I am sure you all have many; however, remember that we still know little about our new neighbors so questions on that subject may go unanswered. To those of you leaving now, I wish you all a good day, and a good weekend, and a good future!”