//------------------------------// // 2. Twilight vs. the Venator // Story: Once Upon a Venator // by Boogaloo10 //------------------------------// It was a lovely day in Equestria. The sun was high and shining happily down upon the green grass. The birds sang their sweet melodies, the notes floating in the slight breeze that flew through the air. Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath. Today was going to be a wonderful day. Twilight used days like these to find a lovely place around Ponyville, such as under a tree or on a warm bench, and read a book. She found such a place on a soft patch of grass by the river that ran by the town. Twilight sat down, opened her book, and took a deep breath before beginning to read. But not long after she began the chapter, a strange hum filled her ears. At first, Twilight thought it was some kind of bug and swatted around her head with her hoof. She tried to ignore it, thinking it must have just been her ears ringing. But as the noise got louder, it sounded less like the typical "eeeeee" ears make and more like a faint roar. Sighing, Twilight scratched the inside of her ears and looked up from her book. She noticed an odd shadow on the surface of the water. Becoming curious, Twilight tried to ignore the noise and got up to investigate. The shadow was faint, but still noticeable. It looked sort of blobby from the movement in the water, but it held and almost triangular shape. Seeing as there wasn't a fish that could produce such a shadow, Twilight looked up to see what could be casting it. Right there, up in the sky, above the shadow, was a triangular flying... thingy. "Well, it can't be a living creature," Twilight thought to herself out loud. "Nothing I've ever read about is shaped like that." She itched her ear again, as the roar was becoming louder. Come to think of it, the flying thingy was getting bigger... Twilight's eyes popped wide open. "I'll bet they're connected somehow!" she gasped. After thinking about it for a bit, she decided to follow the flying thingy to investigate further. Twilight trotted through Ponyville, keeping her eyes on the thing in the sky. Occasionally she would flash looks at the other ponies walking down the street. They didn't seem to notice the giant triangle in the sky or the ever-annoying roar that came with it. It was making the whole situation a little bit freakier. Soon, the triangle flew over White-Tail Woods. Twilight grimaced, knowing it would be harder to follow under the trees. This thought was followed by a facehoof as she remembered she was an alicorn and could easily fly over the trees. After flapping her wings a little to warm up, she took off after the triangle once more. Twilight was a gasping mess of a pony as she swerved over the trees of the forest. While she wasn't going all that fast, she wasn't used to flying for this long. The sun had moved quite a bit overhead, indicating she had been flying for several hours. At least the triangle should be landing soon, Twilight thought. Over time, the flying thing had become steadily larger and more defined as it came closer to the ground. This caused Twilight some distress, considering the fact that the triangle seemed to be a giant metal machine, with no wings, that was somehow flying even though it shouldn't be scientifically possible. The only thing keeping Twilight's mood in check was the chance that there could be some kind of spell that allowed it to fly. Finally, the triangle landed. Twilight was so relived to stop flying that she simply crashed onto the ground through the trees, gulping up the air. Once she recombobulated herself, the alicorn snuck up on the triangle. The roar it had been producing had stopped, but a brief hissing noise came from it. She trotted towards the sound, ready to investigate. Peering through some bushes, Twilight noticed that a ramp had fallen from the triangle, revealing a rectangular hole. A shadow moved in the darkness that was within the triangle. It came closer and closer to the ramp until it stepped out into the sun, revealing-- --Fluttershy? Twilight's head began to spin with questions. What is Fluttershy doing on a flying triangle? Did she fly it? Did she build it? Oh, I hope she tells me how it works! If I knew-- The alicorn's inner monologue was interrupted when another being stepped out into the ramp. This one looked fairly humanoid, but it had odd horn-like things hanging from its head. This brought forth another slew of questions. What is that being? I thought humans would turn into ponies when they came to Equestria! Of course, I don't even know if that thing is human! Did it build the triangle? Twilight let out a frustrated shout as she leapt out of the bushes, forgetting that she wasn't alone. The not-human turned its head toward her. Twilight panicked, flew around in circles for a few seconds, then finally teleported herself back to the safety of her castle. A pink light exploded in Twilight's bedroom, leaving a disheveled purple alicorn in its place. She took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. The not-human saw me! What if it's going to track me down? What if it finds me? What should I do?! A lightbulb went off in Twilight's head. "I'll write a letter to the Princess."