//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Meanwhile // Story: Ponyville, USA // by Rox //------------------------------// - July 3 - - Colorado Springs, Colorado - Milo Baxter - Milo had worked as security at The Black Sheep, a popular music club, for six years. It was a good gig but throwing rowdy drunks out once or twice a night was about the height of excitement when it came to the actual job. He really just liked standing post while the live music blared from inside. All sorts of genres and artists that kept it interesting almost every night, and he had grown to like it. That night they were busier than normal Thursdays, with the big holiday the next day giving most people the day off of work. So far everyone was having a good time though the DJ wasn't exactly adventurous. He was playing mostly unmixed tracks of pretty much what was popular the moment, though there was one point where, to regales of both laughter and boos, he played What Does the Fox Say. That was going to be stuck in his head for days no doubt. There was still quite the line to get in, to the point he tempted to tell a bunch of them that they might as well head off to Cowboys or some other club. It was going to be a long night. Somewhat involuntarily he glanced to the west. It was still boggling to him what lay behind them. He couldn't quite wrap his mind around it. Growing up he had actually come to the conclusion that they were alone in the universe. Well, it was just another way the universe made fun of him. He spotted a couple of teenagers in a tight circle towards the middle of the line. It wasn't the fact that they were in a circle that tipped off some suspicion. It was that they were teenagers. That in, and of, itself was cause for suspicion. He casually walked over, just to make sure they weren't passing anything illegal around or at the very least there was an adult among them. Perhaps he'd haze them a little bit anyway. Teens got really defensive really fast and that was always entertaining. But before he could even fully construct in his head exactly what he was going to say, another pair of figures caught his eye. They were wearing long hoods, which honestly probably meant they were nerds or something, and they were awfully short and walking really wobbly. Both were leaning onto a large, sheet-covered box that had squeaky wheels that were doing exactly that. Forget teenagers, what the heck was up with these two? The cloaks they were wearing were straight out of the 1820's and thereby stuck out like a sore thumb. They stopped on the sidewalk, about 15 yards from the crowd making up the line and busying themselves with their little cart. Milo wasn't sure if he could exercise what little authority had on them even if they were doing something wrong, so he decided he'd just let weirdos be weirdos for the moment. Turning his back on them is precisely why he literally jumped out of one of his shoes when the first note sounded off loudly behind him. One foot now shoeless, he spun back around to see a sight even stranger than he had imagined. It was two of them. Two of the Eek- Eck- ponies. One was white with striped blue hair and sunglasses with a white horn, and the other yellowish with green stripes. Oh, and the box? It was a freaking portable turn table complete with speakers. Milo could hear a couple of people near him ask what was going on, though beyond a few feet he couldn't hear anything else. The two of them were already blasting music, and even though it was nothing he recognized it did sound pretty good. But what was he supposed to do here? That town out there was supposed to be ringed with guards, and there was no doubt in his mind that these two had somehow snuck past them. This was definitely not in the handbook. Though that pony was one heck of a DJ. Thirty seconds into the song, and despite the fact that most everyone was dead shocked by their appearance, Milo found himself tapping his foot to the beat. From what he could tell, the pony was mixing the song on the fly, and everybody knows that takes skill. First, it was one guy. The man stepped out onto the street, coaxing his girlfriend along with him and waving on the waiting crowd as he started bouncing with the beat. Then those teens joined him. Then a few more. Then the ponies dropped the bass and turned a street into a dance floor full of humans getting into the swing. As the first song ended and the ponies, now equipped with two more speakers that the club owner had dragged out, called out above the noise of the crowd. "DJ Pon-3 is in the house! In the words of a good friend, IT'S TIME TO PARTAY!" I think I'm gonna like these guys thought Milo. - July 4 - - Canterlot - Celestia - "-and that's the plan." Luna looked at her sister with more than a little skepticism, which Celestia could understand. Frankly, the plan they had would be a lot better if they knew more about the source of the issue, but the fact was they didn't. That was a frustrating feeling to say the least, and one they hadn't known for a long time. "It's the best we have, sister," Celestia said gravely. The situation in Equestria in the time since Ponyville disappeared had gone from confusing to beginning to edge on dangerous. The magic field was in total chaos, and since Discord was nowhere to be found, they could only attribute it to the mysterious spell. And nature was rebelling because of it. Just in the last week there had been three volcanic eruptions. Thank goodness nopony was seriously hurt, as any nearby towns were already on high alert for danger and had evacuated quickly before the pyroclastic flows and lahars could strike. But all the residents of Foal Mountain were now homeless, and they weren't the only ones. Earthquakes, rainclouds dropping too much water and causing floods, and even a landslide near Yonderhill. Even the weather was going crazy. Random lightning strikes and even spontaneous tornadoes. Natural disasters happen, but never with that kind of frequency. Coincidence was unlikely. Cloudsdale's Weather Headquarters were thoroughly embarrassed even though Celestia didn't blame them one iota. They had never let weather get out of control like that before, and it bugged all of them that the cause of two town's disappearance was apparently a storm formation. The Mayor of Cloudsdale expressed what all of them must have been feeling in a tirade against himself saying, "We should have been able to stop it! We're supposed to be the masters of the sky!" It had taken half an hour to calm him down enough to let anypony console him before they could finally talk through a strategy. The Wonderbolts and the weather patrols of Equestria would take shifts around the clock to watch carefully for any signs of trouble. Unicorns set up emergency beacons in each town that could be touched off by anypony at any moment, at which point a signal would be broadcast to Canterlot Castle. But that was not the plan that Luna was referring to. It was the plan to stop it. "T'would be a great risk to follow this course of action," she said. "Not just for our citizens, but for thou, my sister." "It is indeed. But since it is not possible nor would it be wise to induce the spell, our only recourse is to wait for it to happen again," Celestia reaffirmed. "But you don't even know if thou can stop it," protested Luna. "And neither I nor Equestria would be able to bear it if we lost you too." Celestia nuzzled her sister as a way of comfort. "If I am caught up in the storm then everypony will be in capable hooves. If such a thing were to happen perhaps I could seal it from the other side, wherever that may be." "Don't you dare even think about doing something reckless!" Luna spat, glaring very seriously at Celestia. "Even if it is foal-hardy, we will stand by your plan to the very letter! And I will be there to make sure you do!" Celestia hadn't seen her younger sibling this fired up since she found out about the Changeling incident after the wedding. It was actually kind of refreshing. As young mares it had been Luna that had been the cautious one holding back her more boisterous older sister from doing anything too stupid. That had been just more salt to the wound when she had been forced to banish her sister when she became Nightmare Moon. Seeing a return of her old self in the past years since her liberation was more comfort than Luna knew. "If you must," said Celestia with an appreciative smile. "Perhaps between the both of us we can solve all these secrets." "It's amazing there are secrets from us at all," answered Luna, still troubled. "I was sure that our father had taught us everything about magic we'd need." "I'm sure that not even father knew everything," said Celestia with a laugh. "Even if he 'saw everything there was to see' as he put it." "That's what mother said." - July 5 - - Horseshoe Bay - Spitfire - Spitfire shook her head in amazement and frustration. She and her Wonderbolt squadron had been busting a lot of weird weather lately, and it was starting to take it's toll. The clouds over Horseshoe Bay were spinning around like they were trying to form a hurricane or something. They were dropping rain without any sense of order, and there was even a fog bank of considerable size forming from the east. The local weather team had just been flat overwhelmed and had sent a message to the Wonderbolts for assistance "It's confirmed. This storm is not an event like the one at Ponyville," reported Fleetfoot, flying up beside her. "Just another weather magic spike." "Good. Then it's a go. All wings dive!" Spitfire ordered, relieved. The well trained aerial team obeyed immediately, dropping from their stationary hovers into accelerated dives. Spitfire led the way, picking out a collection of clouds as her target. She plummeted straight through the first, bashed the second with a kick before changing direction to slash at the third. She changed direction over and over again as the elite flyers eliminated the rogue clouds systematically. The sky was finally clear after about 15 minutes. The fact that it took around a dozen highly trained ponies that long was a testament to how big of a mess it had been. I must be getting old Spitfire thought unpleasantly, cracking her neck and rubbing a sore shoulder for a moment. She was still the top ranked flier, but she was starting to feel it. She was sure it would only be a matter of years before young upstarts like Rainbow Dash would surpass her. Well, she would have. Spitfire had heard the Princess' theory about how it was some sort of wild transportation spell, but she had surveyed the damage herself and to her it looked more like a meteorite struck. She didn't usually disagree with the Princess, but this time she inwardly did. She never admitted it nor showed it but the whole thing scared her. That was the hardest part about holding a position like hers. You aren't allowed to be scared. "Thanks a million, Cap," said the mayor of Horseshoe Bay, a plump earth pony named Palm Oasis. He wore a Horsolulu shirt and thin Rose colored sunglasses that gave him the permanent appearance of a tourist, which is something of a fashion in the beach town. He definitely didn't have the look of a mayor but he obviously didn't care. His town was thriving so it didn't appear to matter. "No problem Mr. Mayor," Spitfire said, returning a hoofshake. "Sorry to leave so soon, but we need to get back to Cloudsdale as soon as possible. When we get back we'll probably already have another emergency to run off to." "Don't jinx it!" said an exhausted Soarin, who promptly collapsed. Spitfire rolled her eyes and picked him up, half tossing him into the air to get him flying. "No excuses! Let's get back before Manehatten calls telling us that there are clouds raining sarsaparilla!" "I could deal with that," answered Soarin as they gained speed, the pegasus salivating. - Atlanta, Georgia - Discord - I haven't had this much fun in millennia! Discord thought to himself. He had transformed himself into a jackalope so to be smaller. He didn't want the humans to know about him just yet. They were just too much fun. Always so serious. So straight laced, even more so than that killjoy Celestia. But that made them even more fun to mess with! He'd been teleporting all over the place, spreading some good old fashioned chaos. Oh, nothing too evil. He was reformed after all. Discord hadn't felt this alive since he was young. And considering that he's older than Celestia and Luna by too many years to count, now that, THAT was saying something. From his hiding place in a bush he spotted a young woman enjoying an ice cream cone with a toddler, whom could be reasonably assumed to be her son. He spent a little time trying to come up with a good prank before he finally decided to go with an oldie but a goodie. A little pepper, a child sized sneeze, and all the trees in the immediate area suddenly fell down, much to the surprise of the woman who stared in total shock in every direction. Cackling, Discord slunk off in his disguise through the bushes, wondering where he should teleport to next. - Cincineighti - Lightning Dust - I'm not bitter. I'm Lightning Dust! The coolest and best flyer around! Dust sat in the local cafe gorging on a hot fudge sundae. Nowadays all she did was her weather job, eat ice cream til she was loopy with sugar, then go to bed. Her dream of being a Wonderbolt completely crushed, and it had nothing to do with her skill. In fact as far as she could tell she was kicked out for being too good. So here she was, stuck back in her hometown doomed to the same job that she had been already doing for years. She had considered trying for the Royal Guard but they turned her down. Apparently getting kicked out of the Wonderbolt Academy is tantamount to a black list. "Hey, Dust, there's some more clouds rolling in." An earth pony named Sand Hill, whom Lightning Dust had known since school, was leaning in the door. He was the only one who wouldn't look at her with either pity or condescension since her dishonorable discharge, and also the only one who had never backed down from saying what he thought to her face, no matter how much she scared anypony else. Therefore, he was her best friend. "Yeah, what of it?" Dust shot back. Sand didn't even flinch at the venomous reply, but instead trotted farther inside and raised an eyebrow at the demolished ice cream before switching his hazel gaze at her. "You keep eating ice cream you're going to lose wing-power while you gain pounds. And plus, it's your job and I'm not about to let an athlete like you balloon into a sob story. So stop being a wimp and get out there!" Lightning Dust stared hard at the tan colored stallion, who had a short, spiky gray mane and tail, then she put down what was left of her sundae, flipped a couple of bits onto the counter and sulked out the door. Of course he was right. "Remind me to slug you later," Lightning Dust said, giving Sand Hill a little playful shove. "And remind me to make you do extra pushups in your workout today," Sand said with a wry smile. - July 6 - - Celestia - Celestia watched the horizon as she raised the sun to begin the day. Equestria's beacons had been silent since their installment, but the only thing keeping her from hoping that the worst was over was reports from other lands of missing towns. Luna walked past her, tired from her night's vigil but still with enough energy to give that look that she had given her every day since their planning session. Now that the sun was raised and on course, Princess Celestia turned to the task she had been at for days. Just watching the magical channels and monitoring the magic field and it's unthinkable shrinking. She was brought fresh hot tea as she settled into the special room she had set up, and settled in for what she sincerely hoped was a long day of nothing. She even would field her official audiences with subjects in this room so that she always could keep an eye on the magical alarms. She took a sip and a deep breath as she sat back in the plush chair, mentally preparing to take on another day in a time she would rather sleep. That's when the lights started flashing red like Hearth's Warming Eve. - Loveland, Ohio - Jay Griffin was eating a bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats, rather complacently watching Discovery Channel from across the kitchen. There was a program about birds of prey or something like that. He was so zoned out he hardly noticed when the light suddenly dimmed. But he did noticed when the thunder belted its way through the air. Jumping up, he peered out his and watched in horrified fascination as lightning produced huge flashes all around. Their house was separated from the rest of town, but suddenly it was starting to look otherwise. He didn't know how, but there were buildings now among the trees that sure weren't there before. There was a blinding flash right outside his window, what he would usually call a flash-boom strike it was so close. But then to his utter shock, the window was suddenly shattered. Jay dove to the floor, covering his face as he felt the glass pelt him. His first reaction was to look himself over. Nothing was sticking out of him anywhere but he did have a fair amount of cuts on his hands. His second act was to stand up, but then to promptly freeze in place. The kitchen table was destroyed, and there was a blue, flying version of one of those things that had yellow highlights in its mane and a white lightning tattoo on it's backside. It was still alive and was rearing it's head, rubbing a sore spot with it's front hoof. "Owww. What in the heck happen-" It froze when it saw him, and they stared at each other for a few oddly silent seconds. "WHAT THE TARTARUS ARE YOU!?" It suddenly screamed, pointing at him as it backed away with wings flared, successfully destroying his mom's expensive vase. - Spitfire - "Where did those come from?" Soarin yelped. Spitfire cursed herself for not watching the skies more carefully. In Cloudsdale they made the weather, so no one thought to watch out for it. They were supposed to control it. But now black clouds were rolling in, more like fog to the city in the sky as the lightning flashed. It was everywhere so fast that even the speedy pegasi couldn't flee. Spitfire saw no point in running, so she held on to Soarin and closed her eyes, wondering what the next life was like. She felt a sensation in her body like she'd never experienced as a bolt finally made contact. She kept her eyes closed, even after the feeling stopped. Am I afraid I went to the wrong place or something? I was good wasn't I? She opened her eyes and saw... Cloudsdale. Pegasi were everywhere, shaking their heads and making sure their friends and family were alright. "Where are we?" asked a bewildered Fleetfoot gliding up to her. "Let's go earth side and figure that out." After a rapid descent, the three Wonderbolts looked around in every direction and saw... A lot of open land. Well, they had been over parts of the Buffalo reservations at the time but those had more variety than this! Grassland, bushes, a few trees on mountains in the distance. Essentially barren. Spitfire reached a conclusion. "Dang it. We died and went to-" - Wildwood, Missouri - A cyclist skids to a stop and whips out his phone so that he can film the light show before him, and his jaw drops when it looks like a copy of the St Louis Arch suddenly materializes after a blazing bolt nearly blinds him. - Middle River, Maryland - A fisherman in the Chesapeake Bay watches as another black storm blazes away on shore. - Pompano Beach/Ft. Lauderdale, Florida - Early morning beach patrons scatter as lightning dances around them, sending cars swerving as the city lights up under the black clouds. Smaller buildings appear in an instant where before were streets, parking lots, or parks. And then there were others.... - Somewhere in Nebraska - "Where are we Chief?" "I have no idea, but did our route always have this much corn?" - In the Jungles of Nicaragua - A pegasus with monochromatic hair is pulled out of sleep by a sensation that she equated to falling after some annoying boom. She peeked outside her tent, and after a few minutes standing quietly listening for anything potentially dangerous decided nothing was amiss. She then promptly trotted back inside, curled up in her sleeping bag, pulled her hat over her eyes, and went back to sleep. - Los Angeles, California - Mira Gonzalez drove her car like a woman possessed (so basically like a normal Californian woman) as she sped off towards north LA. Chaos was reigning as people were scattering every direction in confusion. The first clue that history had been repeated was a brick building that looked like something out of the 1930's, only new, standing where a Walmart parking lot used to be. But it got stranger. She had been in this part of the city before, with Hollywood only about a mile or so away. And while she couldn't pretend to know how everything once looked there were definitely some oddities. Like this pawn shop that still had the same grungy old signs, but was now a solid color of pink, including a white striped awning. Then there was another one of those buildings built out of the past, but unlike it's more colorful counterpart was the same dull tan of the Dilliards it just replaced. The district looked like Willy Wonka had taken a part in designing it. Mira had to get out of her car now as the traffic was too snarled, and that's when she finally saw that it wasn't just people running crazy in the streets. There were Equestrians too, looking every bit as scared and confused as the taller humans around them. "Hey! Somepony help us!" She heard a cry to the left and saw a car with a crunched hood and two Equestrians standing over another, which was lying unmoving in the street. Mira acted on an impulse and ran over to the scene. The ponies, one an orange female with yellow hair, and the other a blue male who looked very young, both looked up at her like she was going to eat them. There was a larger stallion on the street, definitely hurt badly and partially pinned under the car. "Don't be afraid, I'm gonna help. We gotta move this off of him!" They hesitated, but then nodded and both shouldered against the car and moved it before Mira could even offer what strength she had. She mentally cataloged that then started looking over the injured one, calling up every stupid anatomy class she had ever taken and hoped the same applied as she started first aid. - Near Grand Prarie, Alberta, Canada - Kenneth Norrison could only stare open mouthed at the sight before him. It was straight out of a fantasy epic. Part of him wondered if he was just going crazy but he could see others getting out of their pulled over cars just like he had, and they were pointing and taking pictures too. The aliens in America had come to Canada. And they brought a huge castle that looked like it was made out of crystal. - Similar scenes played out in Utah, Connecticut, and Texas, as well all over the globe. Spain, Australia, Germany, Japan, Egypt, Italy all would see major events among others. Meanwhile... - - Reno, Nevada - Discord - Discord could feel the magic crackling through the air as he sat atop the casino roof. Even though there were no rifts in the immediate area Discord could feel them all over the world. So it's all finally falling apart he thought, without any real emotion. The truth was he couldn't place an emotion. He couldn't decide what he wanted. On one hand, it would be joyfully chaotic to just let it happen, and besides, even if he did help it would only delay it for a few months at best, and at the cost of most of his magic that would take probably close to the same amount of time to recharge. Is that really worth it? he thought as he sipped chocolate milk upside down from a glass. But then there was... "Okay, fine! But after this, I owe you nothing! My debt will be paid and that's that! DO YOU HEAR ME?" Discord yelled at the morning sky, with some stars even still visible in the west. Then with a new, albeit grudging, resolve, he began gathering the substantial magic within his body, making sure to leave enough behind to get him somewhere where he could rest until it regenerated. Then he extended both paw and claw to the sky as he concentrated, remembering an old magic spell that he frankly never really thought he'd ever really see again. And he snapped both fingers at the same time with a resounding crack that more than one pedestrian mistook for gunfire. - Pasadena, California - "Did it all just stop?" "I th-think s-so. Satellites aren't p-picking up anymore activity." - 2 Minutes earlier - Celestia - "It's just no use if we don't know the spell!" Celestia cursed. She was firing every containment spell she could think of at the expanding, lightning-filled, black clouds that were already starting to flash away the residents of Paint Louis, most of whom were still in bed. Luna was trying too. Desperate, Celestia tried a sealing spell, the very same she had used with the elements to banish Nightmare Moon. It did absolutely nothing as the lightning intensified. "Sister, we have but one course of action," Luna yelled, her booming voice clear even over the thunder. What course of action? Our plan has failed. She watched helplessly as the storm had nearly exhausted it's strength, having already taken most of the town, teleporting any ponies she happened to see away. Unexpectedly, Luna nuzzled her under her chin. Celestia pulled back and looked at her in surprise, wondering what that was all about. "I will do what I can," Luna said cryptically. Then before Celestia could react, Luna spread her wings and with a burst of pegasus magic blasted towards the lightning. And just as Celestia began to scream, a single bolt seemed to reach out, like the stray branch of a tree that was usually pruned, stabbed out and touched the Princess of the Night. And in an instant was gone.