//------------------------------// // Ch. 3 Disaster // Story: Widening the Lenses: Equestria Rising // by Treasurehunter20 //------------------------------// Ch. 3 Disaster Location: Portland, Oregon Date & Time: December 10th, 2016   10:30 am Sarah was panicking about her son Robbie who sent a distress call 15 minutes ago just before his radio cut out. She managed to get a hold of her husband, telling him that Robbie is in trouble. Now she was pacing back and forth in her office with panic as she waits for help to arrive. It wasn’t long until a police officer rang the doorbell, the sound of the bell bringing Sarah back to her senses for a moment. At the door the officer and his partner stood in Portland police uniforms with somewhat tired look on their faces. “Morning ma’am, we received a call about a missing child case. Were you the one who called us?” asked the first officer. “Yes, come in please.” Sarah said, standing aside and directing officers to the family room. “Would you like something to drink?” “Thanks but no, we're on a tight schedule since we're a little under staffed right now. Could you tell us what happened to your son?” the second officer asked, sitting down on the couch. “Robbie, well I was in my home office reading some files a colleague sent me when I received a call over the CB radio from my son. He said something weird was happening then said help before the radio cut out.” Sarah answered, sitting in a chair next to the couch. “Okay, do you know where your son was at the time?” “Yes, he was in the nearby forest collecting plant samples and such for his lab.” “His lab?” “Yes lab, he has a small lab/workshop in the garage.” “And how old is your son now?” “he’s 12 years old.” “twelve!?! Why would you let a 12 year old run around a forest unsupervised let alone have a lab?!” “You do know that you're talking about my son here. And besides he's a genius that they can't measure the I.Q. of despite the efforts of psychologists.” “Oh, I think I heard about that in the news a few years ago. I shouldn’t judge your parenting methods but I can't understand why you let him go alone. Anyways do you have a picture of him to help the search.” “Yes, just a minute,” Sarah said as she went to dig out an old photo album. She came back quickly with Robbie’s most recent school picture. “Here you go. This was taken just a few months ago.” “Thanks, we'll go gather a search party and be back shortly.” … Meanwhile about thirty minutes or so ago in the nearby forest. Robbie Vahlen was walking down a small trail that is mostly used by animals. It was cold and wet out thanks to it being winter but the area doesn’t experience snow because of the ocean about 50 miles away bringing somewhat warm air to the area. Looking towards the ground Robbie noticed a set of animal tracks that looked a little off but thought nothing about it as he continued on deeper into the forest. He already collected many samples of plants, a few rock and soil samples, and a few pictures of animals and was thinking about going home but he wanted to just go a little further in than he done in the past. Walking around the bend of the trail, Robbie saw a couple of weird plants and crystals mixed among them. The plants had a dark blue stem with blue leaves and a light blue flower on top. Knowing that the plants could be toxic but still wanting a sample anyways, he took a sample bag and carefully put an entire plant in it while making sure not to touch the plant. With the plant safely stowed, Robbie also reached for a crystal as well but just as he grabbed the crystal, a spark jumped the gap and raced up his arm shocking him. He jumped back holding his hand in pain while inspecting his fingers for damage. Once satisfied that there's no damage he grabbed the crystal again a little more cautiously this time. When the crystal did not shock him this time, Robbie thought it was weird as he also stowed the crystal in his bag. Soon he continued on his way until he came to a strange clearing, where at the center of the clearing stood a crystal that is as large as a man with many smaller crystals of different sizes around it. Okay time to call mom, thought Robbie as he pull out his out his radio. Turning on the radio Robbie spoke into the microphone, “Mom, you there?” his voice had edge of panic to it. “Mom, something weird is happening out here.” A growl sounded behind him. “Please help.” and with that said he dropped the radio on to the ground. Turning very slowly around, he came face to face with a humongous wolf. But this wolf was strange, first off it was closer in size to a grizzly bear. Second this wolf was not made of flesh and blood, but rather dead wood and moss which made perfect camouflage in the forest if it weren't for the eyes that glowed a bright green light. And thirdly, the way this wolf moved makes you think nothing but the wind is blowing through the trees until it growls or howls nearby. The timber wolf stalk ever closer from the edge of the clearing as Robbie slowly step away from it. The fear was evident on his face as the wolf continued to growl at him showing off splinter like teeth. His foot hit and trip over his fallen radio giving the wolf the chance to pounce on it's prey, the wolf leapt at him going for his face and throat. He only had enough time to bring his arm up to protect his face before the beast hit him, knocking Robbie off his feet onto his back. It was a painful landing as Robbie’s bag dug into his back and as the wolf chomped down on his left arm. While the wolf was tearing up his arm, Robbie frantically reached out for something with his right hand, anything that he could use as a weapon to dislodge the wolf from his arm. Finally, his fingers wrapped around a decent size rock that he then brought up and whacked the wolf's head several times with all the force he could muster. It was enough to cause the wolf to let go, a little dazed from attack which was then followed up by an awkward punch to the snout from Robbie’s bleeding left arm. This caused the wolf to back up a step shaking it's head in surprise. Robbie tried to roll onto his belly so his backpack could provide some protection, but with the wolf still on top of him regaining it's wits he had to find a different strategy quick. He still has the stone in his hand and his knees is almost directly right beneath the wolf's jaw. The wolf had recovered by this point and was about to lunge forward jaw open to try to rip out Robbie’s throat. Robbie brought up his legs and knee the jaw shut before he threw the stone at beast’s head which was a hit followed by a double kick that just managed to get the wolf off of him. The wolf decided to circle around the boy as he rolled over onto his belly, exhaustion on Robbie’s face clear for the world to see. He has to end this soon or he’ll die a gruesome death, well he might still die even if he survives the fight. Robbie grabbed a long broken crystal near his right hand and turned at the last moment when the wolf leapt at him again, ignoring the major shock through his body while doing so. The crystal went through it's wooden head like a knife through butter killing the beast. Robbie backed up pulling his arm out of the thing’s mouth not fully comprehending what he had done and unaware of all the injuries he sustained from the fight. Now that he no longer needs to fight for his life, he passes out from exhaustion. … Some hours later. Sarah cautiously walked along a forest trail calling out Robbie’s name every so often while her group kept an eye open for the young boy. Her group consisted of four others that volunteer for the search party, each were worried for the boy’s well being. Since the police didn't have the manpower to do a search of the forest, many people volunteer to help despite the cold wet weather. The volunteers work out a system where teams of five will follow each of the four trails that ran through this forest calling out Robbie’s name. Each team had a designated person that had a two-way radio, another for the survival pack that all groups were required to carry, and three volunteers who carried anything else deemed necessary which so happen to be a thermal imaging camera and one of the modified Geiger counter that can detect the strange radiation. The trail was rough but bearable for Sarah since she often had to hike to dig sites during her career. This trail needed some maintenance as there was some fallen trees blocking the path as well as some plants growing in the middle of it too. At one point they came to a fork in the trail, one path was clear and obviously part of the parks system but the other path was little more than a game trail. As a matter of fact, it wasn't even on the map. “I feel like we should go this way.” Sarah said pointing at the unmarked path. “It’s possible that Robbie went down that path but what makes you feel like it's the right one?” the park ranger asked. “First off, I know what my son was doing when he called for help. And second, I see footprints in the mud leading that way that looks like my son's.” Sarah said in a hostile way. There was a look of disbelief on everyone's faces as those words sunk in. The park ranger decided to take a closer look at the alternative path. “Alright, so far your theory holds merit. But we'll need to hurry because look over at this.” he said pointing out a new track that looks like a wolf's but is as big as a grizzly bear paw. “Let me call in our plan and location, then we'll go.” he said going off to side to do just that. Everyone was uneasy about what they might find at the end but nobody wanted to turn back as they cautiously follow the trail of prints deeper into the forest. After about forty minutes, the group came across evidence of Robbie stopping to take samples of a strange blue plant that they never seen before. “awe, pretty.” one of the group said as she approach the flower to pick it. “don't touch that flower!” exclaimed the ranger. “We don't know if it's harmful or not. I've never seen it before in my 20 years of being a Park Ranger.” “Oh, okay.” The group continued on keeping an eye on the ground for anymore of the flowers. They came around a bend in the path and stop right in their tracks as they couldn't understand what they were seeing. Before them was a clearing filled with many multicolored crystals that seem to glow. But that wasn’t what got their attention, what got their attention was the grizzly size wolf that was made of wood and moss and had a long crystal sticking through it's head. Sarah was the first to break out of stupor when she noticed Robbie laying limp on the ground near the beast’s head in a slowly growing puddle of blood. “Oh my god.” she gasped as she rushed to Robbie’s side. “Please be alive, please be alright.” she begged trying feel for a pulse. Feeling a weak pulse she sigh, “He’s alive. He is alive, but just barely.” in relief. That was all the group needed to break into action. The ranger called over the radio saying that the boy was found and needed immediate medical attention. The three others surrounded the injured boy to assess the extent of the injuries and to stop the bleeding. Sarah became so emotional that the ranger had to drag her away from the boy as they waited for help. Fifteen minutes later they all heard the telltale sounds of a helicopter approaching. The radio flared to life, “team B, we need you to send up a flare. Over” “Copy that,” the ranger said into the radio before popping a flare up. The helicopter quickly zeroed in on their location after that. “the trees are too close so we can't land, we're going to lower the basket.” Sarah grabbed the radio from the ranger and said, “let me join you up there.” “No can do. We only got room for one maybe two people.” “please this is my son here, please let me come.” she pleaded into the radio. There was a pause, no doubt that the crew were debating the request. Finally the answer came, “Alright, we'll let you can come, but you have to listen to us.” By that time the basket has touched the ground and the volunteers were already securing Robbie into it. Robbie was slowly raised to the hovering aircraft and he disappear from view inside. The basket came back down and Sarah hopped in almost as soon as it was low enough to do so. A thought made itself apparent, what were the radiation levels in the clearing? She thought that such a beast like a large wooden wolf could not exist naturally and if her theory is true, that wolf is a magical creature. Once she's in the chopper the winch operator handed her a set of headphones. “Wear this!” he yelled over the noise of the craft, and she followed his instructions. “Good, now we can hear each other. Please sit down in that chair.” he said pointing to a seat. “Sir, is there any way I could contact my cousin? I think she needs to know about this immediately.” “Just a moment, Lt. Harrison what's his stats?” the officer called out, beginning to write down what he heard as Lt. Harrison started calling out numbers. Sarah tried over and over to get their attention but they were professional in their tasks. Finally the officer turn to her after Robbie’s bandages were removed for cleaning the wounds. “My god, what did this?” “That’s what I'm trying to tell you and I don’t think you'll believe me.” “just gonna say he looks like an animal attacked him, except for the wood here.” “Well you are right in that assessment, but not by a normal animal. He was attacked by a large wolf the size of a grizzly bear that’s made of wood.” “You’re right, I don't believe you, but why does this concerns your cousin?” “The area we were in had extremely high radiation levels of the same type of that found in the Great Pacific Anomaly.” “Oh come on! Captain! Change of plans, instead heading for Portland General Hospital, we need to make for the military base. Code Orange.” there was a string of curses that followed that comment from the rest of the crew. They were only a quarter mile from the hospital when they had to change directions. “Anyways who is your cousin?” “Doctor Magen Johnson.” … Location: Portland, Oregon Military base and Naval yard Time:  1:00 pm The crew of the base’s air traffic control tower noticed that one of the air ambulance that was heading towards Portland General Hospital suddenly change directions and was now heading towards the military base. This was very confusing as this kind of thing doesn't happen without good reason. “Flight 2910, please respond. Over.” called an air traffic controller. “This is flight 2910, over.” “we noticed you've changed direction and are heading towards restricted air space. Please confirm if this true.” “You are correct.” “please state your reasons for this change.” “we got a possible code Orange for you.” “Did you say code orange?” his comment got his colleagues attention. “Yes, a code orange, and in need of immediate medical attention.” “Uh copy that. Please continue your current heading and land at helicopter pad 2.” he let go of the Com button and turned to his CO and said, “We got an incoming code orange, alert the boys in R&D that medical attention is needed.” … Dr. Megan Johnson was in her newly constructed office in the underground lab look at the latest test results for shielding from the strange radiation of the Great Pacific Anomaly. So far a particular alloy seems to work well for the task but is not perfect as some of the radiation still leaks through. Just as she was writing so notes down, the phone rings, putting a dampener on her mood as she picked up the phone. “Hello, Project Divine Shield, Doctor Johnson speaking.” “Dr. Johnson, you're about to get company. We got a code orange incoming, medical attention needed.” said the base commander over the phone. The phone went dead. Great, another person exposed again. Hopefully it would be a false alarm like the three times before, but this time it's different. A medical emergency is coupled with it so that could be a problem. Magen got up and headed for the medical area of the underground lab as she heard the alarm start up. She met with the medical staff just as the elevator ding open to reveal four soldiers carrying a stretcher with a 12 year old boy on it. A fifth soldier was carrying a backpack that belongs to the boy. Magen didn't see the boy’s face but all the blood drained from her face when she saw who was following the last soldier. For the last person she wanted to see at that moment just walked in, her cousin Sarah Vahlen. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together that the boy was Robbie Vahlen, Sarah’s son. She met her cousin before Sarah could enter the medical bay. “Sarah, you're the last person I want to see here. What happened?” Megan asked. “Robbie called for help before his radio cut out. When we found him, he was out cold on the ground bleeding from his arms and legs next to dead body of a wolf.” “Okay, but that doesn't explain why you're both here.” “Well where we found him was in a clearing filled with many glowing multicolored crystals and here's the part you won't believe. The wolf was as big as a grizzly and was made of wood and moss.” Sarah pulled out a digital camera and showed Magen the pictures she somehow had taken without anyone noticing. … Location: Canterlot Castle throne room Date and Time: December 10th, 2016     1:30 pm Princess Celestia sat on her throne trying to ignore a growing headache as ponies lined up to petition complaints as many of the ponies were family members of guards that were called back into service from their holiday vacations. Even the nobles were complaining about it since their normal business was interrupted by the steady influx of concern citizens. She was in the middle of alleviating the concern of particularly distress pregnant mare, who was worried her husband had to be called away so close to her due date, when her secretary whispered something into her ear. “Sorry, I have to cut this short miss Honeywell, but something has come up that needs my attention. I'll try to make sure Mr. Honey Shield is there for the birth of your child but I can't make any guarantees on the matter. Farewell my little pony.” Celestia said, dismissing the mare before turning to her secretary. “Mr. Sharp Schedule please let the petitioners know that I'm not taking anymore petitions today unless it's a real emergency situation. Oh, and please let Mr Honey Shield know he is on family leave unless he feels like he is needed at his post.” “Yes Princess, right away and would you like me to send in the messengers?” asked Sharp Schedule. “Yes please.” A moment later the doors opened to a slightly out of breath pegasus in a weather service vest. He looked to have gone through a major storm to get to the palace for he was dripping wet and slightly singe. Yet the weather schedule said that it's supposed to be sunny with only a couple of light snow storms across the country today. Something was obviously wrong just by judging the stallion’s odd appearance. “Princess, the weather is completely out of our control right now.” he said in panic, not even bothering with formalities. “currently we got a major storm blowing in from the north dumping enough snow to bury Ponyville.” he paused for a breath. “Is this all that’s wrong?” “No, Manehattan is experiencing a large coastal storm that's flooding many homes and businesses. I’ve got similar reports from up and down the east coast. The Crystal Empire is in such an intense blizzard that the magic dome that protects it has shattered. Seadaddle has ice blocking their harbor, Appleloosa has a dust storm, and Cloudsdale been blown off course and is falling apart. The weather factory there been destroyed. I don't know about the rest of the country country, but Canterlot is the only place where we still have control.” “Wow I never thought it get this bad. Do you know what is causing all this?” “Well not really, but I have a theory. At every location of these weather problems there are cracks in the sky above them. I think that's the source of the problems so far.” “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. For now focus on the safety of the ponies in Cloudsdale and see what you can salvage of the weather factory there.” Celestia said with great concern. The pegasus turned to leave when another pony burst through the door carrying a worn-out and injured griffin who really needed to see the doctor. Unfortunately the griffin insisted on seeing the Princess before the doctor but didn't a reason why. “Princess Celestia, what is going on here!?!.” the griffin exclaim. Before Celestia could speak he cut her off. “I come here seeking aid for my people and on my way here I find that Equestria is in just as much chaos as the griffin empire! If I didn't know better, I say Discord is up to his old tricks again.” “I’m sorry to hear that the griffons are not doing much better than us at the moment and I'm sure that I'll get more reports and request like yours before the day is over. I think this disaster will be over with soon but until then please be patient.” “be patient! Why I never…” the griffin said as he was carried away by a guard towards the infirmary. “ugh… it's going to be a long day,” she said as another messenger arrived. … Location: Ponyville, Equestria All throughout the land disasters popped up as the dimensional barrier finally began to break, but the magic which caused these disasters will not allow the creatures  caught in them to be seriously hurt or killed by them. That is the saving grace or at least that's what Twilight Sparkle thought as she and Spike worked at melting the snow that deep enough to buried her tree castle. She woke up to the sight of snow blocking her window this morning, something that doesn't happen when your bedroom window is fifty feet from the ground. “What’s with all this snow?” Twilight asked in frustration when the snow tunnel collapsed again. “I know that we weren't schedule this much snow.” Spike, who was out of breath from breathing fire, took a gasp before saying, “Could this be related to the chaos magic?” Twilight was about say something in reply when a thought occurred to her. “Spike, you're right. Let's go inside, I have some calculations to do. Uh… where's Starlight Glimmer?” “down here.” came a voice from a pile of snow. “Ah we’ll have you out in a moment.” “Thanks.” … The Great Pacific Anomaly was beginning to look very much like a massive dome of light to the naval blockade and the coastal cities within a 1,000 miles from the site. Many earthquake sensors were picking up quakes from the area. If anything, everyone knew something going happen and it’ll happen soon. Almost everyone were watching TVs and many were thinking the end of days has arrived or close to it anyways. Captain Morgan sat on the bridge of the Discovery keeping one eye on his sensors while nervously eyeing the light dome that covered 170° arc in front of him. The Discovery currently sat in the middle of a ring five ships, a cruiser, two destroyers, and two frigates. Their sensors were all linked together so that if something was picked up by one ship, they all would see it. The military commanders had drafted Captain Morgan and the crew of the Discovery as their ship has the most powerful and precise sensors available. The dome suddenly collapse before a multicolored shock wave exploded outwards. Captain Morgan grabbed the intercom microphone saying, “brace for impact.” managing to duck down behind the console seconds impact. All the windows shattered as the wave of rainbow light passed over everything and continued on.* Following the shock wave was a loud roaring sound as a huge wall of water appeared on the horizon. With his helmsman still dazed, Captain Morgan took the helm and steered a course for the wave and gunned the engine. The other ships quickly followed suit as everyone started praying that they’ll survive. First the cruiser’s bow dipped in a little before going nearly straight up as the wave hit. This happened to nearly every ship as they went over the top of it and came back down on the other side. “Damage report.” called out Captain Morgan . “Aside from broken glass and a few minor injuries, surprisingly nothing to report sir.” “Ah Thank God.” Morgan sighed in relief. “Sir, sensors are picking up a massive landmass nearly a hundred miles ahead of us.” “Wait for orders from command.” “Captain, orders from fleet command to investigate the landmass sir.” “Of course, proceed with caution.”