First Contact

Sunday, September 19, 2021

Two days later:

Chryasor walked up the driveway and into her house, a thick stack of mail in her hand. It was just after five in the afternoon, though at this time of year it wouldn't get dark for an hour or two yet. She shut the door behind her and tossed the papers onto the table to deal with later. As the envelopes slid across the smooth surface, one caught her eye: a plain white one with none of the usual markings of some company's bill, and with the address written by hand. She quickly pulled it out of the pile, ignoring the rest, and looked at it more closely. The return address said simply “Phaedriel Arisaema, Eastern woodlands, United States” –not enough for the postal service to go on, had they been unable to deliver it to Chryasor. She eagerly tore open the envelope and pulled out the single sheet of paper inside. These letters didn't come nearly as often as she would have liked, but even this little bit of contact was precious. She sat down and began to read.

“Dear sister,

“They're doing it again. Those damned bureaucrats and contractors are coming for my land again, going to build houses on it. This is the third time now in as many years. It looks like I'll be migrating south for the winter a little early this year –by the time this letter reaches you, I'll probably be halfway there. You know my winter mailbox.

“Anyway, apart from being evicted from yet another very nice forest, things are going fairly well for me. I've been healthy, and the weather out here is comfortable. Rivehne is growing up to be a proper hawk now –you remember that little red-tail chick I found, right?

“How's everything with you? Still traveling the world? I don't know how you put up with all those people you have to work with. If I was in your job I'm sure I would have strangled one of those shortsighted, self-serving politicians by now. But if you can get along with them, and that's what you're happy doing, then good for you. Write back soon.

“With love from your BSBFF, Phaedriel.”

Chryasor slowly placed the letter back on the table and sat for a minute, contemplating how to respond. She was continually amazed at her older sister's willingness and ability to forgo all the comforts of modern life, even though she had been doing it for years now. Chryasor had no idea what she did out there in the wilderness, but she always seemed fairly happy in her letters. Maybe she's got the right idea, Chryasor thought. Life sucks sometimes. Getting away from it all sounds nice...

Every time a letter arrived, she always ended up wondering if maybe she should go join Phaedriel, at least for a little while. It was so tempting to just run away from all the problems of civilization. But every time, she stopped herself. Running away was not the answer. Or was it... No, she had to stay and play her part in society. Especially now, with ponies coming to Earth and Chryasor as the only human who could talk to them. She had a duty to complete. The whole world –no, both worlds –were depending on her, and she couldn't leave them.

But speaking of ponies... A sudden realization came over her. I bet Phae would like Equestria. The culture I saw is so different, so much more... harmonious. So unlike what we grew up in, what drove her to leave it all behind. She could understand why Phaedriel had done it, even if no one else seemed to. The temptation was always there for her as well. And she doesn't have a place to go back to next summer anymore either. I wonder if she's heard the news about the other world yet.

Now Chryasor knew what she wanted to say in her return letter. Phaedriel probably hadn't ventured into town for a newspaper in months, so she wouldn't know anything about ponies. I need to tell her about Equestria, Chryasor thought. She ought to meet Sunset. Or Dusk, or Twilight, or whatever her name is. Now that she was learning more how the pony language worked, she was starting to have doubts about her initial translation of the name. Maybe Twilight would be a better translation. Twilight Shimmer? Maybe. Twilight Shine? Sounds awkward. Twilight Sparkle? That has a nice ring to it. I hope I've got it right this time...

Chryasor sat the letter down on the table and got up to locate some blank paper and a pen. A minute later, she sat down again with the materials and began to write a response. After a few lines, she discarded that draft and started again, only to scrap the second attempt as well. She knew what she wanted to say, but couldn't quite express it properly. Starting off with “Have you heard the news” was no good; that would imply that she didn't care about Phaedriel's problems and only wanted to show her own stuff. Starting with a response to the living arrangement situation was better since it led into suggesting Equestria as a new home, but then Chryasor wouldn't be able to talk about anything else in her letter without some awkward transitions. And yet beginning with another topic clearly would not do either, since a subject of such prime importance as the other world should not be relegated to the back, like an afterthought.

She sighed heavily and crumpled up another sheet of paper. She wished she could talk to her sister in person, but there was no way that was going to happen. They lived on different continents, and Phaedriel didn't have the technology to do a video call. She didn't even have a phone to call or text. If only there were some other way to contact her... I wish I could just teleport over to America for a while then back again. I should ask Zai about that. I know I've heard her mention teleportation in serious scientific context before. There's no way I could actually fly there and back; I have to stay near Twilight and keep teaching her English.

Chryasor sighed again and leaned forward to rest her head on the table. Now she wanted to talk to both her sisters again, and was unlikely to get either. But wait... maybe there was another way. A way to not only talk to Zai and Phae, but to get them speaking to each other again too. Zai is going to hate me for this, she thought. And here she thought being the youngest sibling would get easier...

She pulled out her phone and scrolled through the list of contacts. Some friends from work, a few friends from college she still kept in touch with, one more coworker, a couple diplomats she'd gotten friendly with on recent travels... she skimmed past them all. All the way down to the very end, where a single name was listed under Z. A few quick taps on the screen brought up Zai's contact information, ready for a call at any time. She took a moment to consider how best to say what she wanted, then pressed the glowing phone icon on the screen. It rang only twice before being picked up on the other end.

“Hello, Chry. What is it?”

“Hey. Just calling to see how you were doing, and all that.” There was a pause before the younger sister answered again; Chryasor hoped she hadn't become suspicious already.

“Everything's fine with me. I've been doing a lot of math lately for work; we've made this new thing and no one knows what it is and I'm trying to explain it.”

Chryasor laughed. “Sounds a lot like my work these days too. Except I can talk to the new thing that's suddenly appeared. You're adjusting okay to being back?”

“Yeah, I'm fine. It's good to have normal food again, and internet service, and human bathrooms. And being able to walk through doors without being afraid of hitting my head every time.”

“Oh, come on, no complaining about the doors. You at least fit without having to bend over. Aside from that I thought it was pretty nice over there.”

“Nah, if I had to travel I'd rather go somewhere else.”

“Well then, you're in luck!” Chryasor seized the opportunity to change the subject. “You get to go somewhere else now!” She could practically see the confusion and horror on her sister's face right now.

“Um... what? Are you... I can't go traveling around again. I mean, vacations are nice every once in a while, but not now. I'm in enough trouble at work already from last week. I can't leave again to go somewhere with you.”

The poor girl still had no idea what was really in store for her. It was time for Chry to tell her what she actually wanted. “Oh, you're not going somewhere with me... You're going somewhere without me. Specifically, you're going to America, to go find Phaedriel and bring her here.”

“What? No way! I already said I can't go anywhere now, and I certainly don't want to go see her!”

Chryasor has anticipated this kind of response, and she was prepared. “But what if you could go somewhere now? Your boss seems nice; I'm sure I could convince her to let you go. Besides, you can do math anywhere. I'll even buy the plane tickets for you –or rather, I'll have them bought for you. I may not be a high-profile diplomat or anything, but I still work at the UN. I can pull a few strings and get it covered as a necessary work expense.” After all, since the ultimate goal was to get Phae to Equestria, it wouldn't be too hard to make up some stuff about the other world for the reimbursement application. She sat down at her computer and started looking up plane tickets.

“Well, if you want Phae here so badly, why not go yourself? I'm sure she'd much rather see you show up than me.”

“Nope, sorry, my work actually does require me to be here. And really, you two need to talk to each other again eventually. It will be good for you.”

“Pfft, good for me?” Zai sounded thoroughly disgusted. “I've managed just fine for the last six years. I don't need her. I don't want to go.”

“How bad could it possibly be? You two are not that different. You never were –the odd one out in our family was always me. The only one with no talent for math, the one who takes after our grandparents instead of either of our parents, the one who tried to reason through disagreements instead of running for the wooden swords. Remember how well you and Phaedriel got along as kids? You could have that again, if you only gave her a chance.”

“A chance for what? What could we possibly still have to talk about? And why do you want her here so badly? Don't you write to each other? How do you know she'll even want to come? Look, I really don't think this is a good idea.”

“Believe it or not, Zai, but I'm not trying to torment you. I'm trying to help, both you and Phae. I want her to come here because this is where the only portal to Equestria is. She would be happier over there, I think, and you both would be better off if you acknowledged each other's existence. Maybe you could even try to be friends again. You know what friends are, right?”

“What? Of course I know what friends are.”

“Just making sure, since you don't seem to have any. I don't mean people you talk to at work and think are nice, I mean people you hang out with outside of work. People to just call up at random times and go do stuff with.”

“Well, there's... um, I mean... I talk to–”

“Yeah, I thought so. So, how does a flight tomorrow at nine twenty sound?”

“Ugh, fine. I hope you know what you're doing here.” Zai began to lower the phone, but Chryasor could hear her mutter to herself before the line went dead. “I can't believe I'm doing this...”

۞ ۞ ۞

Monday, September 20, 2021

The next morning:

I hate long flights, Zai thought as she walked through the Atlanta airport toward the baggage claim. At least Customs didn’t give me any problems. It helps to still be a US citizen –though I’ll be officially Swiss in another couple years. Hopefully I’ll never have to come back to this insane country after this visit. A single terrorist attack twenty years ago, and the security nuts freak out and never recover. Zai arrived at the carousel to find it empty, luggage not yet unloaded and sent to the claim area. She checked her watch impatiently, only to find it six hours ahead of the proper time. She set it back, noticing that the local time was barely an hour after the local time she had left Geneva.

I had forgotten how things don’t run on time around here. They need a good dose of Germanic culture. If they’d put me in charge I bet I could fix this country up in no time. Let’s see, we just need to have me as President, make the entire Congress resign for fresh, less crazy replacements, and maybe have Supreme Court justices retire at 65 instead of serving for life. That sounds like a good start anyway. Only one problem: I’d probably hate running a country.

Finally Zai was able to claim her one suitcase and head out to the car rental area. She pulled out her phone and loaded the maps app, making sure she had the proper address typed in. All Chryasor had been able to provide as to the location of Phaedriel’s winter home was her winter mailbox address and the words “near the water”. Zai was going to have to rely on her phone’s GPS capabilities, which thankfully did not require internet access to work. She made sure to pre-load a large section of the map in case she lost service later.

She approached the counter and asked for the cheapest rental car available. Size didn’t matter, and she hoped to only need it for one day. If everything went according to plan, there wouldn’t be any problems here. Of course, things going according to plan would require first having a plan… She could come up with something during the drive. Zai followed the agent out to the parking lot, where she was shown a small white car. It was six years old and American-made, so it ran on gasoline only –not electric like most of Europe had switched to, not even a hybrid.

A few minutes later, after some minimal paperwork, Zai was on her way, driving east out of the city. The directions were simple so far: just follow Interstate 20 until reaching Madison. It was about an hour drive, longer than Zai was used to but not terrible. It’s strange not being able to see mountains in the distance anywhere, she thought. Oh, there’s a sign for Oconee National Forest; I guess that’s probably where I’m going. She exited the interstate onto a smaller road, and passed through the middle of Madison without stopping. After another few miles she came to a bridge, the official entrance to the national forest.

Zai parked at the visitor center but did not go in. Instead, she simply picked a direction and started walking in a straight line away from civilization. Impossible to get lost this way –all I have to do to get back is turn around. Or just follow the edge of the lake back. Let’s hope Phae is actually around here… Zai quickly got out of sight of the road, surrounded by trees whose leaves were just beginning to turn orange and red.

Am I still going in a straight line? she wondered. It was impossible to tell, since there were no recognizable landmarks anywhere around. Just trees stretching as far as the eye could see, all looking the same. The sounds of human life faded into the distance, being replaced by birdsong and the rustle of leaves. She had forgotten to check the time when she started walking, so she had no idea how long she had been out there, no idea how far she might have come.

Zai stopped for a moment to rest her feet. She leaned up against a big tree and looked all around. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Suddenly, she heard a loud thunk, and looked up in surprise to find an arrow embedded in the tree barely six inches above her head. As she was standing there in shock, she felt a sharp prick of pain in her neck, followed by a spreading numbness. Her eyelids felt heavy. She struggled to stay awake and upright a little longer, tried to raise a hand to her neck, and finally collapsed to the ground.

Zai awoke with another sharp pain to the neck. She slowly sat upright, noting with pleasure that she seemed to not be tied up or restrained in any way. That was good; one instance of being captured and held after trespassing somewhere was enough. A figure stepped into view, speaking with a familiar voice.

“What are you doing here?” It sounded more like an accusation than a question. From the emphasis it was clear that she wanted to know why it was Zai in particular who she had caught trespassing in her territory. She reached out and pulled the arrow out of the tree above Zai's head, and tucked it back into the leather quiver she wore across her back. Zai opened her mouth to respond, but she was cut off before she could speak.

“Never mind, I can guess. Chryasor sent you, didn't she? You'd never come here unless you were looking for me, and you'd never look unless you wanted something from me or if she made you come. And we established long ago that we wanted no part of each others' lives.”

Zai sighed heavily and got to her feet. “You haven't changed a bit. Well, not in terms of personality anyway. Your appearance is another matter.” She grimaced and subconsciously brushed her own hair back into a neater arrangement.

“Never mind that. What does our sister want? I hope she's got something important and isn't just trying to make us talk to each other for no reason.”

“Well, if you'd let me talk, I would have told you already. Anyway, the other day Chry got a letter from you, and–”

“And her response is sending you? What did I say to deserve this?”

“Phae...” The younger sister facepalmed and sighed again. “Just hear me out. I guarantee that you will like what I have to say.” She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at her sister. “Can you listen to me for once without interrupting with what you anticipate I'm about to say?”

“I suppose I can try... This had better be good.”

“Oh, it will be. Anyway, Chry got your letter about you losing another summer home. She thinks –I'm not so sure about it –that she has found you the perfect place to live year-round.” She could tell Phaedriel was skeptical, but there was no interruption. “Have you seen the news recently? As in, within the last week?”

“Of course I haven't. I sent that letter three weeks ago and I've been hiking south ever since. I just arrived here two days ago. What's going on out there that could possibly affect me?”

“Aliens, that's what. We've made contact, and when I say 'we' I don't just mean humanity, I mean literally myself and Chryasor. One of them has been to our world, and we've both been to theirs –though I wasn't exactly invited like Chry was.” Phaedriel was getting impatient now; Zai had to hurry up her story. “Anyway, Chry thinks you should go live in this other world.”

“Does she now? I don’t suppose you’d happen to be carrying a spaceship with you, would you? Oh, that’s right, I already looked at what you have there. Not a single rocket.”

“You searched me? What was that you shot me with?”

“Just a sleep dart. The arrow was a distraction –it made you look up and expose your neck for the second shot.”

“A distraction?!” Zai practically shouted at her sister. “You could have killed me with that!”

Phaedriel only smiled, unfazed by the outburst. “Of course I could have. But I decided not to. Do you honestly think my aim is that bad, that I would miss a target by several inches?”

Zai’s anger slowly turned to amazement. Could she really be that good? Maybe she is… But I need to get us back on topic here. “Anyway,” she said, “you’re correct in noticing that I did not in fact bring a spaceship with me. That’s because we don’t need one.”

“Really? Maybe you have something interesting after all. Alright, tell me then. How do you plan to get me to this other world, and why should I go?”

“Okay. So, first, how to get there. There’s a magic portal. No, seriously, that’s what it is. The Earth end of it is in Geneva, so you’ll have to get to there first. But that’s not hard to do.”

“Not hard maybe, but certainly very unpleasant. You’d better have something really good to balance that out.”

“And that leads us to why you would want to go. First, of course, there aren’t any humans over there. Instead there are little rainbow-colored ponies. Second, very near the portal there is a forest, bigger than this one, which I’m sure you’d like. Chry thinks you might actually want to live in town, but I have no such delusions. Um, let’s see… no one there speaks English, so if you don’t want to talk to anyone you have an excuse not to. And they control the weather so you’ll never be surprised by it. But I think the main selling point for you is never having to deal with humans again.”

“Hmm, that does sound tempting… as long as these pony-aliens are actually better.” Phaedriel stood, one hand on her chin, contemplating the options. “Let me think about it for a bit. While I’m doing that, you can go locate my passport, in case I do decide to go with you. You’re lucky it’s around here and not up north somewhere.” She pointed off into the distance. “Walk that way about a quarter mile and you’ll see a giant tree split in two. In the middle I’ve left a little shovel. Take that, then turn right and go until you see a red rock. You’ll know it when you see it. Move that rock and there will be a box underneath with some important stuff in it. I’ll meet you there when I’ve decided.”

“Seriously? You’re going to…” Zai sighed and shook her head. “Fine. If it’s the only way to get a decision…” She started walking in the direction Phaedriel had indicated. She’s being deliberately annoying now, she thought. Back to normal I suppose. There was that brief moment of civility when we were talking, but it’s gone now. Oh well, let's just do what she wants and get out of here.

It was not very far at all to the split tree Phaedriel had mentioned. Zai found a little hand trowel tucked inside the opening, the kind used for gardening. Maybe that meant it would be a small job. Or maybe it would be difficult and Phae just wanted to watch her struggle. Zai took the trowel and headed off toward where the box was supposed to be. This part turned out to be quite a bit longer, which was probably why Phae had neglected to mention the distance earlier.

After a good half hour of walking, Zai finally saw a distinctive reddish rock sticking out of the ground. And there was another detail Phaedriel had so conveniently omitted: it was a rather large rock, and oddly shaped. It was oblong and sticking out of the ground at an angle, like a giant spear thrown into the earth. This is definitely too big for me to pick up and move, Zai thought. But maybe I can just tip it over. Let’s see, assuming uniform density throughout, the center of gravity should be around… here. She placed a hand on the stone and pushed, but it didn’t move at all.

Looks like I need this tiny shovel after all. She began digging around the base of the rock, stopping every minute or so to give it another push. Eventually, after she had moved a large amount of earth and was thoroughly drenched in sweat, the rock started to shift. Just a little more, and it finally toppled. Zai poked the trowel into the ground where the rock had been, and heard the clink of metal on metal. Well, she wasn’t lying about this being the spot, that’s good. But how did she get this set up in the first place? She’ll probably never tell…

Zai excavated the small metal box and examined it. It was locked. “Why can’t anything ever be simple?” Zai muttered aloud.

“Because,” said a voice from behind her, “what fun is there in making things simple?”

Zai turned around to see her sister standing there with a smug look on her face. “How long have you been here?” she demanded. “You could have been helping.”

“I’ve been here this whole time. It certainly took you long enough to get that rock out of the way. You are going to put that back again, right?”

“What? Of course not! Just give me the key to this thing so we can leave already.”

“Key? I don’t have the key. Why would I need one, when I have these?” Phaedriel produced a pair of thin metal rods from some hidden pocket in her obviously self-made clothing. “Give me the box. You can… I don’t know. Just stay out of the way while I pack everything.”

Zai handed over the box and watched as Phae picked the lock. “So this means you’re really coming?” I don’t know whether this is good or bad. It will make Chry happy, but it means I’ll be stuck on a plane with her for six or seven hours straight. But maybe she’ll be less of an asshole if she’s dependent on me for getting her to the other world.

“Of course I'm coming. I knew I wanted to go as soon as you mentioned it. I don't care what these ponies are like; they can't possibly be worse than humans." Phaedriel pulled out a dirty blue booklet from the box. "Here we go, one dirty but valid and unexpired US passport in my name. I suppose I should take the birth certificate and social security card as well. Everything I need to take with me I have on me right now.”

“Everything? Chry mentioned you had a pet now; is that right?”

“Oh yeah, Rivehne. I found her as a chick and was raising her myself, but she’s not actually very tame. She’ll be fine here. Plenty of mice and squirrels around to eat. Anyway, let’s get going, get this travel through human-land over with so I can live in peace again.”

۞ ۞ ۞

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

"Phaedriel? Is that you? Oh, you've changed so much since I last saw you! It's so good to finally see you here!" Chryasor called to her across the airport lobby.

Phaedriel was standing still with her arms clutched tightly around her, looking quickly all around and scanning for potential dangers. At Zai's urging she walked over to the middle sister's side, but became no less jumpy than before. "Get me out of here," she hissed in a low voice. "I can't take any more of this. Where is this other world you promised?"

"It's not far," Chryasor reassured her. "Can you manage one little car ride?"

"Not far at all," Zai said. "Just at the heart of all progress in high-energy physics for the past sixty years, right on top of the biggest machine ever made."

Chryasor glared at her younger sister. "You're not making this any easier, are you? Go pick up the luggage while I take Phae out to the car. I parked close by, just in the A5 section."

The two sisters walked out through the sliding glass doors, Phaedriel tightly holding onto Chryasor's hand. She was still looking around constantly, jumping at every sound. Luckily, they did not have to board one of the crowded, noisy trams to get out to the farther parking lots. Before long they arrived at Chryasor's car, a light blue Honda Druid, 2018 model.

A few minutes later, Zai walked up with the suitcase, and they all got into the car. There was a moment of awkward silence, finally broken when Chryasor spoke up. “So Phae, I’d love to hear more about your time out in the woods. But first, there’s one thing I’ve been wondering ever since I saw you arrive. What in the world did you do to your hair?! It used to be brown, and wavy, and almost as long as mine, and now… it’s shorter. And straighter. And silver! I mean, I’ve heard of natural plant dyes, but…”

“Oh, yes, much more silv than it used to be. What? Does English still not work like that? What a silly language. And I didn’t dye it with anything." Phaedriel watched the looks of confusion grow on her sisters’ faces. “I electroplated it. Electroless deposition of nickel, to be exact. Doesn’t require a power source, and works on nonmetallic surfaces. The perfect way to get a nice permanent silver color."

“But why? Wouldn't dyeing it be easier?"

“Yeah, but if I dyed it, it would just grow out brown again. And it would still get dirty every few days, and the dye would fade and wash out. Now I don't have those problems. The chemicals did something to the cells up there so it doesn’t grow any more –and it also hardly ever breaks or falls out. And it doesn’t get oily all the time. I love permanent solutions –I solve a problem and it stays solved. Anything less isn't a real fix at all."

Now Zai piped up with her own questions. "How did you get the materials? And know what to do?"

“Oh come on, just because I didn't stay in school doesn't mean I wasn't paying attention while I was there. And I do have money, you know. Probably more than you do." Phaedriel felt quite confident in asserting this, as the three of them had all inherited equal amounts and she had never spent any on a house or apartment like her sisters had. Most of it was just sitting in various bank accounts and the stock market, passively collecting interest as the years went by.

“So, how was the flight? You two managed to sit next to each other for seven hours and you’re both still in one piece, I see.”

Zai spoke up to answer. “It was pretty uneventful actually. I got some math done. Phae slept through the whole thing.”

“Impressive; I can never sleep on planes very well. And I’m the one who really needs that skill.”

“She kind of cheated though. She used a sleep-potion dart on herself. I have no idea how she got it through security.”

“Oh, it wasn’t hard,” Phaedriel said. “Anything attached to your sides, below your arms, can fool the detectors. It shows up as black on a black background on their screens. And the poison bottle is less than three ounces. That’s another important skill you should learn, how to get stuff past security checkpoints. Especially if you plan on visiting me, since I’m sure eventually there will be a lot of security around this magic portal thing.”

“Yeah, good point I suppose,” Chryasor replied. “And speaking of portals, we’re just about here. Before you go through I want to teach you a few basic words, so you’re not completely lost. You’ll need to know ‘my name is’; that’s ‘il nefrawtu ilvik viytriy’. You’ll come out into the home of a pony named Suwlsɤwznelk, which translates to Twilight. The word for ‘forest’ should be ‘oyagom’; I’ve never actually heard it used but it would follow the patterns I’ve noticed.”

“Is that how you get so good at languages so fast? You just make things up and hope they’re right?”

“Basically, yeah. Speak with confidence, even if you have no idea if you’re right. This one in particular isn’t very hard either, not like some of the Earth languages I've studied. Oh, and here we are. It's in that building right over there."

Phaedriel got out of the car and kicked off the shoes she had been made to wear while traveling. She collected all her stuff from out of Zai's suitcase and the three sisters began walking toward the building. Upon entering, Zai went immediately to her usual desk and got out a notebook and pencil. Phaedriel saw the portal hanging there in midair and walked over to it, but she didn't want to just jump through without confirming with Chry that that really was how it was supposed to go. But Chryasor had started talking to one of the other people there, something about getting her own access key to the building. Phaedriel wished they would hurry up; it was very uncomfortable having so many people staring at her.

After what seemed like a long time, Chryasor finally came over to the edge of the portal. “Ready?” she asked. Phae nodded. “Then take my hand. The crossing isn’t as simple as you might hope. I’ll lead you through.” The sisters held hands, and together stepped forward into the darkness.