//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Unity of the Worlds // by CK Holliday //------------------------------// Date: 3/1/14 Location: Sacramento, California Time: 09:53 "Mr. Governor, Mr. Sandoval and Ms. Brewer are here." a voice spoke over the phone. "Very well, send them in please." the Governor replied. Jerry Brown had been elected Governor of California twice, once in 1975 and again in 2011. During his terms, he had gained valuable experience, which he used in every problem he encountered. However, no amount of experience could have prepared him for this. Governor Brown's thinking was interrupted by the sound of his door hinge squeaking. In stepped Brian Sandoval, the Governor of Nevada, and Jan Brewer, the Governor of Arizona. "Good morning, Jer!" the Governor Sandoval greeted, "How've you been?" "He he, please don't call me Jer." Brown responded, shaking the Nevadans hand, "How's your day been?" "Well as good as you can be when you were woken up at 3 in the morning and told that all Hell's broken loose." "I have to agree," Governor Brewer spoke up, "If you don't mind, I would like to hear the official report of what happened." “I'm afraid that if you're looking for more information than you already know, you won't find much in the report." Governor Brown admitted. He walked over to his desk and picked up a large envelope. He opened it, pulled out a piece of paper, and began to read. “At approximately 12, Midnight, on the 22nd of February, a thick fog settled over California, Arizona, and Nevada. The fog was deemed too thick and highways were closed and planes were either grounded or diverted. At approximately 3 A.M. all communication to anywhere outside of the three states was cut off and Internet has become slow. The fog lifted at approximately 3:30 A.M. revealing a totally new landscape…” “Yes, we know that part, what else is there?” Governor Brewer interrupted. “So far the only new information we’ve gained is that there are a few radar contacts northeast of us,” Governor Brown said, “However, those radar contacts aren’t big, they’re about the size of a man, if not smaller.” “So what happens now?” Governor Brewer asked. “Now, we respond to this crisis,” Governor Brown answered, “the only question is how.” “Isn’t it obvious?” Governor Sandoval asked, “Now we have to learn more about what’s around us. I’ll do my part by launching every drone out of Nellis to take a look around.” “You can’t do that.” Governor Brewer protested. Brown looked her in the eye. “Well who can? We can’t reach the President, the Secretary of Defence, no-one. As far as we know we may be the highest ranking people in the entire world. Now knowing that, who is the most authorized to order a military strike?” “We are.” Governor Sandoval answered. “Exactly. Now since Governor Sandoval is going to be launching HIS drones,” Governor Brown began, “I will order the launch of a U-2 from Travis Air Force Base to get a good look at the world. Alright let’s get this show on the…” “Wait.” Governor Brewer interrupted, “Don’t you think we should inform the people of our current situation as well as the possibility of new ‘neighbors’? They may begin to think we’re keeping something big from them.” “Which we are currently doing.” Governor Sandoval finished. “We’ll let them know of our situation, but we shouldn’t tell them about the possibility of inhabitants.” Governor Brown decided, “ don’t know how we’re going to tell them we’re in an entirely new world, much less with possible inhabitants. They may jump to the conclusion that the people are hostile and we’d have a War of the Worlds type panic on our hands.” “And just what if there are inhabitants and they do become hostile, Jerry?” Governor Sandoval asked. Governor Brown looked him in the eye. “Then we do what we Americans have done every time we’ve been met with hostility since the founding of our nation: Fight till the end.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 3/1/14 Location: Ponyville, Equestria Time: 11:18 Twilight Sparkle sat in her library, immersed in a science-fiction book. She normally isn’t a fan of the genre, however this particular author interested her. He claimed that these stories were actually predictions of the future. Stories of aliens colonizing and terrible wars all were interesting enough as stories, but to claim that someday these things would become true seemed completely impossible and terrible. Her reading was interrupted by a loud knocking at the door. Reluctantly, she got up from her book and answered the door. The alicorn’s friend, Rainbow Dash stood panting heavily. Her mane was a mess and she was sweating profusely. “TWILIGHT!” the pegasus shouted while panting, “UFO… BIG… ONE EYE… HEADED FOR…” “Rainbow Dash,” Twilight interrupted, “calm down. Come inside and tell me what’s wrong.” The two ponies walked inside the library and sat down on a small couch, “Now what happened?” “Well, I was flying around my house,” Rainbow Dash began, “and I heard a buzzing noise. I was worried a swarm of parasprites was coming, so I flew up high to try if I could see anything. That’s when I saw it.” “Saw what?” Twilight asked. “A big UFO!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, stretching out her arms for emphasis, “It had to be at least five or six times the size of a pony! It was big, white, and had a propeller coming out of it’s rear end. I didn’t get a good enough look at it, but it looked like it had a big eye looking camera coming out of the bottom.” “Rainbow Dash, you know as well as I do that there’s no such thing as UFOs. They’re just science-fict…” “SHHH!” Rainbow Dash shushed, “Do you hear it?” “Hear what” Twilight asked. “Come outside, I think it’s here.” Rainbow Dash said worriedly. The two of them walked outside, Rainbow Dash holding a book over her head to act as some sort of protection. Twilight decided to speak up. “Rainbow Dash I don’t see or hear anyth…” “LOOK!” Rainbow Dash shouted, pointing a hoof to the sky, “THERE IT IS!” Twilight looked in the direction her friend was pointing at. After looking for a while, she finally saw it. To call it strange would be too much of an understatement. It was indeed large, much larger than anything that should be able to fly. It did have a large propellor coming out of the back, which explained how it was able to stay airborne without flapping it’s wings. It also had a sphere at the bottom, which Twilight thought was the camera Rainbow Dash was talking about. Twilight looked at it for what seemed like an eternity for her, until her friend broke the heavy silence. “Stop it!” Rainbow Dash said. “What do you mean by ‘stop it?’” Twilight asked. “You've gotta know something, like, I don't know some propeller jamming spell, so stop the UFO!” Rainbow Dash commanded. "Really?" Twilight deadpanned, "A propeller jamming spell?" "Oh, come on!" Rainbow Dash shouted, now more frustrated than before, "Just do it!" “I can’t just stop it.” Twilight told her friend, “What if there’s a pony inside. Maybe they’re just..” “Twilight, there is no way that thing is pony made. That thing is nothing like anything I’ve ever seen before, so please bring it down!” Rainbow Dash begged. Twilight simply stared at her friend. The proud and mighty Rainbow Dash was scared. Truly scared. If whatever this thing was had the power to frighten the most proud pegasus in all of Equestria, what would it do to everypony else? Twilight began the spell. A purple aura surrounded both her horn and the object in flight. Rainbow Dash watched the spectacle to see the object stall in flight, and eventually fall down. "It landed in the Everfree Forest!” Rainbow Dash shouted, “Come on! Let’s go kick some alien flank!” Rainbow Dash flew off into the forest. Twilight sighed to herself. What had she gotten herself into?