*chhk!*
Is… Is it on? It’s showing a red light. Really? I thought green lights meant ‘on’. Okay, you know more about this stuff than I do.
Ah… Hello, my name is William Williams… What? No, that really is my name… For your information, I had wonderful parents!
Ah… Sorry Ma’am. I’ll, uh, try and keep this more professional.
Ahem. Anyway, I am the seventh and current Ambassador of Humanity for the parallel world of Equus and its inhabitants. The year is 2048… Uh, by Earth’s, I mean, Terra’s calendar. Um… I’ve been informed that it is custom for each new Ambassador to record a video log concerning the history of our embassy in Equus for the reference of future Ambassadors.
So, uh, without further ado: It began with Canada’s government receiving its first R&D laboratory in Ontario in 2016, specifically for the research and development for new technologies of the Canadian people. During an experiment involving utilizing a newly discovered type of energy, our scientists… punched a hole in the space-time continuum, creating a stable portal to another world.
Ah… To be fair, the credit does not entirely belong to us. As it turns out, the ‘energy’ we utilized was… magic. Or, rather, the magical energy of Equus that the natives refer to as mana. From what Princess Celestia has told us, the mana came to our world due to a recent series of numerous interdimensional activities from their end. Needless to say, the ponies of Equestria have had access to interdimensional portals long before us.
But we were the first ones to create a stable, permanently open portal.
I imagine that is a… bit of an achievement.
Even if it was an accident.
Uh… I’ll skip the bits where the world’s governments were deciding what to do with the portal. It was mostly an argument between stepping through it or shooting a missile through it with neither side really gaining ground.
It eventually became a moot point when a denizen of the other world came to our side.
As it is, the portal materialized on a small island north of the capital city of Griffonia. Naturally, a griffon scout was ordered to investigate the other side of the portal.
As we were a species raised in a culture of alien invasion stories, we assumed hostilities at first and captured the griffon for study.
Naturally, this only served to enrage the Griffonian Meritocracy (Yes, they somehow managed to create a formal, and rather effective, government based solely around meritocracy. Our greatest economic and government specialists are still trying to wrap their brains around that.)
In all honesty, humans and griffons would have gone to war over this offense had it not been for the quick mediation of Princess Celestia. The griffons highly respected Celestia and, honestly, we were so shocked at seeing a pegasus-unicorn with such well-practiced political rhetoric skills that we were pretty much stunned into drawing up a peaceful resolution to our conflict with the griffons.
Interesting side-note, in the years that have passed since then, the griffon and human governments have developed quite the symbiotic relationship. I would argue that we are on better terms with the griffons, politically speaking, than any other nation in Equus.
And, well, the rest is history. With permission from the Griffonian Meritocracy (as it was still their island), we established a proper embassy building on the other side of the portal.
Over time, a small ‘colony’ town would grow around the embassy building that we would come to call ‘New Ontario’.
In the years since, this embassy has been the focal point of all of our diplomatic dealings with the people of Equus.
And now, as Ambassador, it is my turn to oversee those dealings.
Book 1: The Changeling Civil War
Chapter 1: Meeting the Escorts
William’s Codex of the Two Worlds: Terra and Equus
As the natives of both world’s refer to their planets as ‘Earth’, it has become common practice by both us and the natives of the other world to refer to the two worlds as ‘Terra’ and ‘Equus’ when discussing both. I cannot begin to say where the names originally came from. I imagine, like many words and phrases, somebody somewhere said it and it caught on.
Will leaned back on his chair as he looked over what he wrote. The video log and its purpose got him thinking of other things he could do to prepare any future Ambassadors for this position. Without sugar-coating it, Equus was a very dangerous planet. The mere existence of magic made it both hazardous and unpredictable to the humans who were used to a much more mundane life back on Earth.
No… Terra. Have to call it Terra while on the other side.
More than that, his job as Ambassador meant he would be travelling a lot throughout Equus. He gulped as he remembered that no less than two of his predecessors meet the end of their careers at the end of their lives.
That was what this codex was for. Whenever Will thought of something that the next Ambassador, or really anyhuman (Will chuckled at this adopted Equus custom of incorporating species name to ‘anyone’) who travelled to Equus, would find helpful to understand their new environment.
Will, however, was born and raised in New Ontario. He knew more about Equus than most humans, yet this wasn’t a requirement to be Humanity’s Ambassador. As such, the next Ambassador might be a bit lost on some of the… eccentricities of the other world.
After some musing over what else to add, the door to Will’s office slid up as a young griffon walked in.
“Mr. Ambassador?” She said. “The Director is waiting for you.”
Will gave a nod to the griffon. Any human from Terra would be a bit disconcerted by the large hybrid of our planet’s two most deadly predators. But in truth, griffons were quite the common sight in New Ontario.
After the lingering hostilities from humans imprisoning their scout died down, many griffons became curious about their ‘new neighbors’.
Seeing an opportunity to learn more about this world from its own natives, humanity essentially invited any griffons who were willing to live in their growing town.
What started as a way to gain intel eventually became an essential tool for building trust with the Meritocracy. Both species found they actually had much in common and the growing number of interracial friendships (and more) steadily rebuilt the prospective bridges that came so close to burning down.
“Is this about my first assignment?” Will asked.
The griffon lady nodded. “Yes sir. The Director is to give you a debriefing. Then, you are to be introduced to your Escorts.”
Will nodded, a proverbial light-bulb appearing over his head. He just thought of a new entry for his codex. “Thank you miss… I’m sorry ma’am; I don’t think I caught your name?” He said, offering the griffon his hand.
The griffon smiled as she accepted the hand/clawshake. “Tanya.”
“Tanya. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” Will said, giving Tanya a friendly smile.
Will liked griffons. The rest of Equus tended to have the unfair assumption that griffons were violent brutes.
But that was just their hardy and proud nature. Many humans in New Ontario knew that if you got to know a griffon properly, you would find them to be a noble and honest kind.
The two ended their handshake as Will gestured to his computer. “Tell the Director I will be with her shortly. I just have to type something up real quick.”
Tanya nodded. “Will do sir.”
With that, she left Will back to his work. Will returned to his computer and brought up a new entry for his codex.
William’s Codex of the Two Worlds: The Escorts
The Escorts are a highly respected private security firm stationed at New Ontario. Made up of members of nearly every race in Equus (and quite a few humans), the Escorts make their living protecting travelling humans from the more hazardous creatures of Equus. As the Ambassador of Humanity makes many frequent journeys across the world, the Escorts are frequently hired by the ‘New Ontario Embassy’ for their unique talents.
‘I wonder who we got.’ Will idly wondered. The Escorts had a bit of a reputation for its members to be quite eccentric in their methods of protection. Which is just as well, as the standard human tactic of ‘shoot a gun’ would simply not work against many of the creatures of Equus.
Will logged off and made his way to the Director’s office. The Director was, in many ways, the de facto leader of New Ontario. In the plainest terms, she was a combination of a town mayor and the Embassy’s direct link to the United Nations back on Terra.
And one of her duties was selecting which political occurrences happening in Equus are ones the Embassy should be sticking their noses into.
As was tradition for new Ambassadors, Will knew he would have an easy assignment waiting for him. Just something to get his toes wet and make the higher-ups more comfortable with letting him essentially be the ‘Voice of Humanity’.
He passed by a number of humans and griffons, all walking with purpose to wherever they needed to be, until he found himself outside the Director’s office.
Knocking on the door, Will heard a deep, yet clearly feminine, voice with a slight French accent called from within. “Enter.” She said curtly.
Will opened the door and stepped through. As always, looking at the Director made Will think he woke up in a military camp as opposed to a political embassy.
The Director had all the hallmarks of a military woman. Short hair, well-toned muscles, a stern face and a commanding voice and posture.
Will was certain she served for a few terms before coming through the portal. If she did, she never said as much.
The Director, named Joan LaFours, motioned for Will to sit in the chair opposite his desk.
“Let’s get the pretense out of the way and get right to point, shall we?” LaFours said. Will nodded as LaFours opened a program on her computer that showed a slideshow of images on the side-wall.
“How much do you know about changelings?” LaFours asked.
Will cleared his throat before speaking. “About as much as any human. An insectoid species living in the underground caverns of what the Equestrians call the ‘Deadmare’s Wasteland’. They’re vampiric-empaths, feeding off other species’ ‘love’ for sustenance.”
LaFours nodded. “Glad to see you did your homework. But you don’t need to know about their biology. Tell me about their government.” LaFours leaned just a bit closer. “As well as their more… recent history.”
Will nodded as he started to understand where the Director was going with this. The less handholding an Ambassador would need for the politics of the other species, the bigger chance they had to maneuver those politics for humanity's benefit.
“The changelings have little in the ways of a formal government. The best way to describe their political structure is like a hive. A single ‘Queen’ Changeling governs the lives of all changelings under her. The only major difference between changelings and Terran insects such as, say, ants are that individual changelings are of their own mind and are capable of making their own decisions, separate from their Queen.” Will recited from memory. Now came the easy part.
The changelings ‘recent history’, as LaFours called it, made quite a few ripples. Nearly every other nation in Equus was well aware of the major change in power within the Changeling Hive.
Even those in New Ontario.
“A few years ago, the former Changeling Queen, Chrysalis, was forcibly removed from her throne in a coup attempt by one of the Queen-in-Trainings, Chitin.” Will said. Apparently, changelings breed and train certain members of the hive for the role of Queen should anything happen to the current Queen. “Chitin blamed Chrysalis for making Changelings the enemy of Equestria, destroying their fragile system of infiltration with her large-scale invasion of the Equestrian capital of Canterlot.”
LaFours nodded, gesturing for Will to continue. “In the end, Chitin managed to gain enough support to take the throne from Chrysalis, who was then exiled from the hive. Queen Chitin then worked with the Equestrian Monarchy in order to form a non-aggression pact. Under this pact, changelings would be allowed to re-enter Equestria and integrate with pony society in order to gain the ‘love energy’ that sustains them.”
LaFours gave what was probably the smallest smile in existence as she nodded. “I’m glad you know all of this. It will make going forward much simpler.”
LaFours sat in her chair before pulling a file out from her desk. “Let me get straight to the point.” She said, handing a copy of the file to Will. “The Changeling Hive is in the middle of a civil war.”
This, needless to say, shocked Will as he perused the contents of the folder. He saw images of Queen Chitin, Chrysalis, and an emblem that looked like a stylized changeling’s head being split open while another changeling crawled out from the open skull.
“That symbol represents Chrysalis’ army of rebels.” LaFours said. “Chitin’s coup for the throne didn’t exactly sit well with all of the changelings. The few who were still loyal to Chrysalis joined her exile and helped her grow an army with some of the Wasteland’s other inhabitants. Now Chrysalis is taking that army to the Hive in an attempt to take back her throne.”
“And if she succeeds…” Will began, still looking over the folder. “The pact the Hive made with Equestria will be all but forgotten.”
“And Chrysalis will no doubt attempt to attack Equestria once more.” LaFours said. “At least, that’s what Celestia and Chitin believe and it’s why they approached us for aid.”
Will looked up, surprised. “They have?”
LaFours nodded. “We made absolutely no secret about the size of our military. We easily outnumber every other nation in Equus in terms of soldiers at least 2-to-1. Chitin needs those numbers right now. And if she loses her civil war with Chrysalis, Celestia will need them to protect Equestria. They want us to sign-up an alliance with the two of them. Basically, supply them with human soldiers and weapons.”
LaFours got up from her chair and walked to other side, leaning against the edge. “This is very important to us. Equestria, quite frankly, is the most influential country in Equus and everybody knows it. We get it good with the Monarchy; it will be a major leg-up for humanity on this side of the portal.”
Will nodded. “So what exactly is my assignment?”
LaFours picked up another folder, this one containing passports and other such papers that would allow Will to get through the necessary channels to meet with the Princess. “As this is your first assignment, there is really no way for you to screw this up. No matter what happens, you are going to accept the offer of an alliance. We need this too much to refuse and Celestia’s a good enough sport to not screw us over. Your only job is to sweeten the deal for us as much as you can.”
A no-lose situation. No matter what, Celestia and Chitin would get their soldiers and humanity would get some much needed pull with the ‘Center of Equus’ as it were. The whole ‘sweeten the deal’ bit was a nice touch too. Give the new guy an assignment he can’t fail, but see how he can improve his initial parameters.
Will nodded. “Understood ma’am.”
LaFours returned the nod. “Good. Now, since we are talking about a rebel army and a civil war, it’s only natural to assume there will be some degree of danger involved. I hired two members of the Escorts in order to keep you safe until the negotiation is over.”
LaFours walked over to her door, holding it open for the two of them. “Let’s go meet them, shall we?”
The Escorts were waiting for Will and LaFours within the Embassy’s garage. Will saw that the Escorts had sent a griffon with white feathers and a bluish-black coat along with a young-looking Chinese human.
The two Escorts were busy stuffing boxes into an armored truck, no doubt provisions and other necessities for the trip. Will was a little startled when he saw the human telekinetically lift one of the heavier boxes on board.
Will turned to LaFours. “They sent a Wizard?” He whispered to the Director.
LaFours smiled. “I asked for one.” she whispered back.
Will had another light-bulb moment as he put the idea for a new codex entry away for now.
William’s Codex of the Two Worlds: Wizards
Although magic is a common force in Equus, those who can consciously manipulate magic remain a select few. Of course, there are the entire pony sub-species of Unicorns. But beyond them, the practical utilization of magic is available to a small number of each species. Human’s included. It is so far not known what causes humans to develop magic powers but it is documented that only those born and raised in Equus can exhibit such powers. So far, no human magic-user (dubbed ‘Wizards’) have displayed any form of magic beyond simple telekinesis, but it is rare to find a Wizard who really cares as they usually have too much fun with telekinesis itself.
With this mental addition to his codex put away for later, Will was greeted by the two Escorts as they noticed him and the Director coming to meet them.
The human offered his hand to Will first. “Pleased to meet you Mr. Ambassador. My name is Tai Jun; this lovely turkey-bird next to me is Kaitlyn.” Tai said, getting an elbow from the ‘turkey-bird’ in question.
“How are you doing today Ambassador?” Kaitlyn asked, offering her own claw.
“Fine, thank you.” Will said, accepting her claw with a friendly shake. “And, please, call me Will.”
“Will do, Will.” Tai said before giving a slight chuckle.
Kaitlyn rolled her eyes before turning to Tai. “I need to grab a few more things before we can leave. Go ahead and get the truck ready. I should be back soon.”
“Don’t take too long.” Tai said, giving a smirk to the griffon.
Kaitlyn smiled, despite herself, and gave Tai a quick peck on the cheek before leaving.
LaFours turned to follow Kaitlyn out of the garage. “Ambassador, I leave you in the Escort’s capable hands. Good luck.” She said before returning to her office.
Will and Tai were left alone as Tai went to get the truck started as Kaitlyn instructed. As he did so, Will took notice of the apparent mechanical apparatus on Tai’s back. Knowing of the Escort’s reputation, Will was certain it was some kind of bizarre weapon. Perhaps something that utilized Tai’s telekinesis.
Wishing to break the ice with his new bodyguard, Will cleared his throat to get Tai’s attention.
“So, I couldn’t help but notice that little display of affection back there.” Will said. “Are you and Kaitlyn…?”
Tai gave a quiet chuckle. “What’s the old saying? ‘Once you get a beak, everything else is weak’?”
Will couldn’t help but burst out laughing at that. “I gotta say…” He said between laughs. “I’ve never heard that one before.”
Tai laughed a little himself. “It became my brother’s favorite saying after I introduced her to the family.”
“I hope you know…” Will began. “I have nothing against, you know, what you two have. In fact, I approve of relationships like yours.”
Tai raised an eyebrow at this. “For real?”
Will nodded. “Absolutely. I am of the belief that we need to integrate ourselves more with the rest of Equus, we’re far too isolated from the rest of the world. Romantic relationships like yours and Kaitlyn’s are just a natural part of that integration.”
Tai gave Will an incredulous look. “Huh. I wish more humans thought like you, Will.” He said before turning his attention back to the truck’s dashboard. “Or at least my parents.”
“They don’t approve?” Will asked.
Tai gave a sad smile. “Let’s just say they would rather cook her into a Christmas dinner than call her their daughter-in-law.”
Will was honestly surprised at this. “Daughter-in-law? So you two are…”
Tai shook his head. “Nah. At least, not yet.” He leaned in closer to Will before whispering. “I’m planning on asking her after this assignment. Don’t tell her.”
Will smiled before making a gesture of zipping his mouth close. The two waited in silence for Kaitlyn to return before curiosity took hold of Will.
“I am a little confused about one thing though.” Will said.
“What’s that?” Tai said, playing with his telekinesis on various things lying around the garage.
“Griffons are supposed to have incredibly sharp beaks, correct?” Will said, watching Tai make a sparkplug do loop-de-loops in the air.
“Razor-sharp.” Tai clarified. “I once saw her bite through a tree log as thick as my arm.”
Tai noticed Will giving him an incredibly confused look.
“We were drunk. It was a dare.”
“Ah.”
Will rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s just… well… how do you…”
Tai raised an eyebrow as Will tried to find the right words.
“How do you kiss that?” Will finally said.
The question, needless to say, surprised Tai. Will saw him actually twist his face in deep thought as he tried to come up with a proper response. Finally, he gave a slight nod as he figured out the best possible answer.
“I practice with a steak knife.” He said with a cheeky grin.
