Chapter Thirty
Unity
Chapter Thirty
"Fairies?" Twilight asked, looking back and forth between the new arrivals and Bert. "I thought humans were the only intelligent species on your world."
"We are." Bert answered, not taking his eyes off the new arrivals. "But we have myths and legends about beings like these, just like we do about unicorns and pegasai."
"They look kind of like a human equivalent of Breezies." Fluttershy whispered.
And so they did. There were five of them, three male and two female. Each was larger than fairies are usually thought of as being, though still quite small, about two feet high. Their skin was a pure albino white, and their hair seemed to grow in all colors of the rainbow; two had green hair, and one each violet, pink, and blonde. Aside from their eyes, which were larger in proportion to their heads than human eyes, and the translucent dragonfly like wings with which they flew, though, they looked identical to tiny humans.
They wore simple clothing, made of some kind of fabric like cotton, belted at their waists. The lights Bert had seen approaching through the dark jungle came from tiny lanterns each of them carried. The blonde, a female, hovered a little closer to the humans and ponies. "Echoca?" There was an undeniable questioning tense to the word. "Echoca fao? Nok lek nok, fomorra Belle?"
"Twilight?" Rarity asked.
"Right." Twilight nodded and her horn began to glow. But before she could cast the translation spell, the blonde speaker turned to one of her companions and spoke. The addressed male produced a pouch from his belt, and blew the sparkling dust it contained up into the air.
"Can you understand me now?" The blonde fairy asked.
"Wow! You have magic too then!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"A little. My name is Belle, and these are my friends." Belle introduced the others, "Terrance, Titania, Obereon, and Wilhelmina." The remaining fairies each bowed as their names were spoken. In turn, Twilight introduced herself and the others, and then Belle asked "So, why have you come? We know that you are not in league with the Tyrathca... We watched their attack on your ship. So, could it be... Are you here to help us?"
"Erm, I'm sorry miss but we're actually just passing through. We were kidnapped from our own worlds and bought here, and now we're hoping to find whatever is responsible." Reginald said. "We only landed to repair damage from the attack."
Belle looked down sadly. "I see."
"As long as we are here though," Fluttershy said taking a step forward, "There's no reason we can't listen to your story."
Bert nodded his agreement. "Yeah. I for one don't like leaving a potential enemy at my back. You say those missiles came from someone called 'Tyrathca?' Why would they attack us with no provocation?"
"It is what they do." The fairy Belle had called Terrance said.
Belle elaborated: "We, like you, are not really from this place. Nor are any of the other beings we've met since our arrival four years ago. At first, we were happy. We had a future again. Though we didn't band together with the other races nearby as you seem to have done, we all traded with each other and got along peacefully more than not. But then, three months ago, a new storm came, and delivered the Tyrathca city. Volunteers from each of the local races tried to make peace with them. They slaughtered those who went, and have been slowly advancing ever since."
"It's the Mor-tax jerks all over again." Rainbow said.
"Yeah, except that these guys don't seem to be getting sick."
"I'm curious. What did you mean by having a future again?" Twilight asked.
Obereon said "Our own world was dying. We had little time to live, when the storm came and bought us here. It saved us, as it saved our neighbors. The Yilane for example speak of a great mountain which fell from the heavens and bought rains of fire and blackness. And the Lyrick say that their world's oceans were freezing solid."
"Whoa now, hold on." Applejack said. "Three different races from three different worlds, all from worlds that were dying... And the squid-things' home was dying too." She looked about, unsettled. "Is there any chance that something was happening to our worlds too?"
"Surely not darling. The Princesses would have called on us." Rarity said.
"Even if it was something even the elements couldn't fix?" Xix-xax asked.
Pinkie laughed. "Nah! I woulda gotten a tell if that was happening!"
"There's a Pinkie-Sense tell for the apocalypse?"
"Why wouldn't there be?"
"Whatever. What about Earth?" Applejack asked.
"Nothing that we knew of." Nigel said. "Guttrix? What about your world?"
The Goblin shrugged. "Fake moon fall. Primals rampage. Empire attacks. Hydelyne always doomed one way or other."
"Yikes."
"Me know, right?"
"Why don't a few of us go and check this out while the rest are working on the engine?" Twilight asked.
"Good." Bert agreed.
xx
It was decided that Twilight, the Bakkers, Herbert, and Applejack would stay behind with the airship while the rest of the team went along with the fairies, first to their town, Sylph Hollow, and then on to get a look at the Tyrathca. Xix expressed an interest in meeting the other races in the area, and Belle assured them that the odds were high that one or more of each would be present in town.
As they traveled through the jungle, roars and calls from a wide variety of creatures echoed about. "Where we ended up, most of the local wildlife is kind of dangerous." Bert said. "Have you had trouble with it here?"
"Not so much." Titania answered. "Many of our people have a gift for communing with animals."
"Though I expect we'd have issues if that were not the case." Obereon said.
"You can communicate with animals then?" Fluttershy asked. "It's a talent I possess as well, though I couldn't really get anywhere with the more aggressive natives."
"You should see her with an injured beast though." Rarity said. "It's quite impressive how well dear Fluttershy can gain thier trust."
"Are you a veterinarian then?" Belle asked. "We have none here."
"Oh my! Do you have any injured or sick pets? I'll be happy to see what I can do for them."
"Thank you. I'm sure many will appreciate it." Belle nodded. "But now, here we are..." Following their guides, the team pressed through one last patch of vegetation and found themselves standing on the outskirts of Sylph Hollow. It was surprisingly different from what they had expected; The town was built, mostly, into the trunks and branches of the trees, though there were also ground-based structures. Lights glowed in many of the windows, and to the great shock of Bert who was expecting a primitive culture, there was steam-engine based technology everywhere. In fact, the fairies seemed to have carried steam power much further than it had ever gone on Earth.
"Steampunk." Xix whispered, sharing Bert's surprise.
"Steam what?" Obereon asked.
"I think it just refers to our machines." Belle guessed. "And yes, we've done a great deal with this kind of power source."
"Well I'm impressed." Rainbow said.
"Thank you. We take great pride in how far we've come in the short time we've lived here." Titania answered. "But, we'll have to abandon it all soon if the Tyrathca aren't stopped."
"Why don't you take us someplace where we can get a good look at them?" Bert asked.
It was about then that fairies in the town itself took notice of the new arrivals. Voices went up, some in fear, others merely curious, and Belle flew further into town, trying to calm the population down. The sound drew more attention though, and soon more fairies were peering out the doors and windows of their homes, curious to see what was going on.
From the door of one oversized (for the fairies) building came a new creature. It was perhaps four feet tall, with pale blue-green flesh, and looked like an erect-walking frog with thin white hair atop it's head, dressed in something most closely resembling a toga. "That is a Lyrick." Terrence explained. They're amphibians, able to breath water and air both. They start life as non-intelligent larvae that have to live in the sea, then change to the intelligent adult form you see when they reach adolescence."
"It must be hard for them to learn," Xix said, "If they don't know anything until they're almost adults."
"Nah." Obereon said. "When they first change, for the first few years, they have perfect eidetic memories. A Lyrick that changes at age fourteen will be caught up in learning by the time he's sixteen."
"Impressive." Bert mused.
"Yeah." Rainbow chuckled. "Better keep them away from Twi, she'll pester them about ways to learn faster."
Everyone chuckled at this, and then Terrence pointed over Bert's shoulder and said "Ah! And here are members of our other allied race."
As everyone turned to look, the happy mood evaporated in favor of fear. Fluttershy hid, Rainbow and Xix fell into combat ready positions, and Bert drew his gun while Pinkie, who had seen every human movie shown thus far and therefore instantly recognized what was standing before them screamed "Velociraptors!!!"
XXXX
Shetland Crossing. Macintosh and Bethany walked together through the border town's commercial district, looking for just the right thing to buy. "I never would have guessed Apple Bloom was hard to buy gifts for." Bethany said. "She seems like the kind of happy easy going girl that'd be delighted with almost anything."
"Usually she is." Mac replied. "Hearth's Warming gifts though, that's gotta be just right."
"Uh-huh... Tell me the truth Mac, is it her that gets picky or you?"
"Ain't sayin'."
"Yeah, that's what I thought."
They both chuckled and then Mac said "Either way, I had t' come here to do the shopping... This time of year, no way Bloom'd not be following us everywhere we went if she knew what I was really up to."
"Of course," Beth said with a grin, "For all you know Bloom and I have a deal where I find out what she's getting and she finds out what I'm getting."
"Nah, you'd never do that. 'Sides, it's too late for that."
"Phooey." Bethany pretended to pout, then gasped and ran to a storefront window. "Say, what about this?" She asked.
Mac joined her at the window. Inside displayed on a rack was an apple-shaped piece of cut crystal, that seemed to glow in the light. It was clearly intended for a pony; The placard describing it indicated that it was designed for the owner's cutie mark to be magically inscribed at the center, from where it would be visible in any direction.
"Well, she ain't got her cutie mark yet of course..." Mac said, "But if they can add it in later... Let's find out." He went to the door.
Inside, Bethany's first impression was that the store was a pony equivalent of a Hallmark store. There were cards, and a wide variety of collectibles, mostly hand (or hoof) crafted. The bell over the door rang, summoning the shop keeper, and Beth had to slightly restate her assumption: It was the Gryphon equivalent of a Hallmark store.
"Ahh, customers. How may I help you?"
"Lookin' at the crystal apple in the window." Mac explained. "If I buy it for a filly that ain't got her mark yet, can it be bought back later?"
"Not necessary." The gryphon said. "As you can see, I'm no unicorn. All those pieces come with instructions on how to cast the enscribing spell, any unicorn could do it for you."
"You have more?" Bethany asked.
"Indeed, they're along the back wall." The gryphon led them there, and left them to look for themselves.
The collection was extensive. There were crystal pieces in the shapes of houses, of animals, of tools and books and even one that was a globe of Eqqus. Both Beth and Mac's attention was drawn, however, to one in the shape of a scooter, and another that was a musical note.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Eeyup..."
XXXX
When Pinkie screamed 'velociraptors' several things occurred all at once. Fluttershy cowered further back behind her friends, Xix took the form of a raptor, and Bert took a shot at the adult dinosaur. Said shot went wide of it's intended target though, when Titania lunged forward to throw off his aim. Ponies were shouting, Fairies were shouting, and then Rainbow Dash made her move, trying to ram the adult raptor (For they did indeed look like movie raptors, an adult and three young). The ramming maneuver failed when the creature moved faster than she expected. In a heartbeat, Dash was on the ground, on her back, with the raptor standing over her.
"No! Don't eat my friend!!" Pinkie exclaimed.
The raptor looked her in the eyes. "And why would I do something so uncivilized?" It asked.
The team was suddenly silent. "You can talk?" Rainbow asked.
"We are Yilane. We are people, not monsters." The dinosaur answered.
"The two aren't mutually exclusive." Bert said.
"Indeed not. As you demonstrated by trying to assault me."
On closer inspection, Bert and the Ponies now saw that the Yilane didn't really look more than superficially like the Jurassic Park monsters. It was true that they were dinosaurs, theropods, but they were smaller than what was seen in the films, not much bigger than ponies. Similar to a pony's mane or a human's hair, the top of their heads were covered in downy white feathers. The claws on their toes and fingers were sharp, but small. and they wore harnesses to which were affixed tools.
"Um, I think we've had a misunderstanding..." Fluttershy said softly, stepping out from behind Rarity. "Can we talk this out?"
"I think we need to." Belle said. "Why would you react like that?"
"It's kinda my fault." Pinkie said.
"Not really." Bert said. "We don't really have anything like Yilane back home... But we do have some stories with things that look like Yilane... And are very dangerous."
"And so you instantly assume-"
The Yilane interrupted Terrence. "They did. And in front of hatchlings, no less. Still, no lasting harm was done."
"We're sorry." Fluttershy whispered.
"Yeah. Now can you let me up?" Rainbow asked from under the Yilane.
"Oh, yes of course." The creature stepped off to the side. "My name is Eisha, and these are my young, who do not yet have names. Dare we hope you are here to assist with our Tyrathca problem?"
"They attacked us." Bert said. "We're at least gonna look into them. Though, I guess what just happened here is a lesson to not assume the worst of them."
"Assume the worst, no." Belle said. "Learn from experience the worst, we've done that already."
"Well, if you can lead us to them, we'll see." Xix said, returning to her normal form.
"Come on then." Belle said, and took the lead as they moved back into the jungle...
xx
It took two hours of careful progress through the thick jungles to reach the edge of the Tyrathca-claimed area. Looking through the cover of undergrowth, they could see a large chunk of territory clear-cut out of the vegetation, and several structures. To the surprise of the ponies however, the structures were not the high-tech buildings expected from a species able to build and launch missiles. They were round, bell shaped, two-stories high... ...And made of mud.
"Am I missing something here?" Rainbow asked.
"Yeah." Bert agreed.
Eisha said "The Tyrathca are strange. So far as we can tell, they have a very high level of science and technology, but only ever build the minimum needed to survive and expand in whatever their circumstances are. They arrived with high-technology, yes, but against us they've used only swords and spears and a clawful of guns."
"So they had missiles and probably other better weapons, but didn't use them against you because they weren't needed." Rarity said. "But when they saw our airship, they decided it warranted the stronger attack."
"That's my guess." Belle said.
Rainbow asked "But wait a minute... If they're not using the good stuff against you, how are they winning so easily?"
"Yes, that's a good question." Bert asked.
"Keep watching and you'll see." Belle said.
And so they continued to observe. After several minutes, a Tyrathca appeared from inside one of the huts. It was five feet tall, and had six limbs, four that it walked on, and two with six fingered hands on them. On it's back were a pair of stunted wings, and it wore a harness similar to that worn by the Yilane. The Tyrathca moved several steps out from the door, then turned back and made a hooting sound.
The sound proved to be a call; several more creatures trundled out of the hut. Each was similar to the first, but smaller and with distinct anatomical features. One type in particular, there were four of them, looked especially vicious with large sharp scythe shaped claws on each limb and think armor over it's body.
"From what we can tell, there are several types of Tyrathca." Eisha explained. "The first type you saw is a breeder. They produce all the types, and seem to be the only ones with any real intelligence. Then you have builders, workers, and soldiers, among others."
"Soldiers would be the nasty ones, I assume?" Xix said.
"Yes. They are ultra-lethal even without any armor or weapons. Give them blades or guns and you've got a nigh-unstoppable threat."
"Yeesh." Pinkie whispered.
"You know..." Bert mused, "If they only build what they absolutely need, it stands to reason that they don't have all that many of the more advanced weapons... Hell, maybe they even blew all the missiles they've got in that attack on us..."
"Are you considering helping us out?" Belle asked hopefully.
"I don't know yet." Bert answered. "I'd like to, I really don't like bullies, but I'm not sure how much we could accomplish honestly."
"Yeah, even if we did exhaust all of their missiles and stuff, what good would it do when they weren't using it against you anyway?" Rainbow agreed.
Rarity said "Why don't we go back to the airship? We can discuss what we've learned with the others and maybe arrive at some kind of plan." Everyone agreed, and they turned back the way they had come...
xx
The team arrived back at the Harmony to discover that all of the shrapnel had been cleared from the engine, which was now partially disassembled as new components were put in place. "Can you all take a break?" Bert asked. "We gotta talk something over."
With everyone gathered around, what had been learned was related to those who had stayed behind, along with Bert's desire to help out. "But, what could we possibly do?" Twilight asked.
"We've got an airship and three heat rays." Bert answered.
"We can't just fly in and start blasting everything!"
"Why not? They started it." Rainbow argued. She glanced over at Bert. "I don't like bullies either."
"No one here likes bullies." Nigel said. "But let's stay rational."
"Yes. The most helpful thing we can do is to finish our mission." Twilight said. "Maybe what we find at the center will help us to do something."
"And leave innocent people behind to suffer!?" Fluttershy asked.
"Only for a few days."
"Look, Twi's right about finding some answers t' all this being the best thing we can do." Applejack said. "But not at least tryin' to do something before we go on? It don't sit right."
"Indeed not." Rarity agreed.
"Uplanders once help Gobbiefolk, now Guttrix want pay it forward."
"Alright, alright..." Twilight said. "You're right. But what are we supposed to do?"
Pinkie looked across the circle to Xix-xax. "I've got an idea!" She said...
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For the occasion...
drat... was hoping for artemis fowl fairies...
oh well! 
time to exterminate the technological parasites! 
Oh noes!!
Ahhhhhahahaha maaaaan, I just love how many things are coming from like, books and such, its so facking neat!
Awesome job dude, awesome job!
I love it!
Let's hope they blow those nasty aliens apart!
Keep it up dude, keep it up!
REFERENCES!
... Your description of the tyrathca leaves me confused, because when I googled them, I found they were willing to work with humans when their interests didn't overlap...
When is the next update? Are updates once a week?
*Brought?
Basically Daleks?
6353243 Artemis Fowl, you say?
6353393 only without the mindset of 'overkill everything that isn't pure Dalek' from what I can gather
You know, for a second there, I thought you'd gone full evil and brought Tyranids to this world.
Glad to know I was wrong.
Fairies and raptors, getting kinda crowded.
Clever girls and boys and magical steampunk fairies?
Hooooow do I get to this world. I would like to speak with some friends.
6353495 indeed
I just read your story today and really liked it so far :)
Excellent work, please keep it up :)
W00t, called it.
6334572
Well, mostly, anyway.
For my next prediction, I think Pinkie was right; the Yilane really are velociraptors. Raptors are known to have been highly intelligent, and if they formed a civilization back in the Cretaceous, how would we know about it? And if the storms were bringing beings from different geological time periods, how would the characters know about it? And the Yilane description of a "great mountain which fell from the heavens" sounds suspiciously like the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.
Rainbow is pegasus. By tackling someone she would loose her advantage of flying. The best way to attack would be aimed kick, wind attack or lightning. Rainbow is too expirienced to do this against dangerous oponent.
...and so my first impression of them was a micro-managed RTS race...
Time to bomb some bugs straight to hell.
6354137 Correction good sir, the Utahraptor is theorized to be the most intelligent. The Microraptor has the feathers as described above but is considered to be the more primitive of the raptor types. It was also the Utahraptor that was the template for the so-called Velociraptors that terrorized Humans in the Jurassic Park movies. In truth the velociraptors were MUCH smaller than the movie made them out to be.
Hmmm. More aliens that don't seem to have anything better to do than kill other people... without even trying to communicate first.
I think music from the first Final Fantasy game would fit here pretty nicely.
Spore....
So they have now encountered some extremely undeveloped version of the Borg...
you're spouting more references than Archer after movie night
Right...time to go bitch-slap some meanies
6353243 you know, I've wanted a Fowl movie for so long, and we definitely have the level of technology to give a good one.
Also, yay, fellow Fowl cans!
"Well, nothing Congress would admit."
6356988 aren't they making one? or was that canceled? and artemis fowl is pretty friggin' cool
6354580
Well, the evidence is that all of the dromaeosaurids had feathers including Utahraptor.
However, it wasn't the inspiration for the raptors in Jurassic Park:
Jurassic Park (novel) published: 1990
Jurassic Park (film) released: June 1993, (post-production finished in May).
Utahraptor first described in the journal Hunteria: June 1993, a month after the film was totally completed.
So let's say at some point an city or town appears and it is from an alternate earth rather than from the same dimension where the city first introduced is from, what type of city or town are we talking about?
6357771 Huh, I did not know that.
... Okay, so all of those references? Awesome, and I like what the future will bring with all these special species coming in, I'm kind of wishing more of this 'from fiction' kind of thing happens, it would be hilarious for Minecraft or something like that to appear.
I imagine Eisha speaks in a really posh British accent.
Two things. One: is Bert Gumball a reference to Bert Gummer from Tremors? Two: can you add Inkopolis and Octo Valley from the game: Splatoon into this?
Now all we need is to have Inkopolis and Octo Valley from Splatoon get transported here... (Please do it)
Climate change. The melting of the ice caps. The way the Sahara is encroaching on the already diminishing rainforests. Water levels rising. The way we're using up our resources. 'Nothing that we knew of,' my goddamn ass. That is complete wafflefucking bullcrap.
That is unless, of course, the Earth they came from somehow doesn't have those problems.
6382072
Plus Nuclear War is a real possibility. Economic crashes on Greece could lead to collapse of the EU.
Nok.
I did some research because I was slightly interested in learning about the story and I learned that what you referenced is actually a story called West of Eden. East of Eden is a 1955 movie about someone with favoritism issues in his family that he tries to overcome.
Soon we have Titania, and Oberon eh. If there is a Puck in that town don't let him near the CMC or the pranking trio that is already there.
And now I can check Shakespeare off the reference checklist.
i never saw the Night's Dawn trilogy and when you introduced the Tyrathca. i though for a second about Tyranids and that did ring a huge alarm bell on my mind.
6401290
War never changes
I can see it now... i had name ideas so i thougjt id share them with you.
"Our entire town was lifted into the sky and placed here, where are we? And why are there pastel ponies, masked midgets, flying lions, insectoid equines and goddamn fairies here?"
"First, allow me to be the first to apologize for this, the force that brought you here isa power outside of our control, we call it the Liberator, its a machine that finds dying worlds and transfers the last remnants here, however, the machine began to malfunction, unjustly bringing civilizations here without cause or reasoning, we have established contact with our homeworlds and we can visit for supplies and seeing loved ones but within the hour, you and whatever you happen to have on you at the time, is pulled back here"
"So, what? We're stuck here? Where is here?"
"I'd like to be the first to welcome you and your people to Unity, capital city of the United Sanctuary, the first nation established in The Fellowship Circle" (friendship circle was too obvious)
These Tyrathca, the way they're described, they remind me of the Tyranids
WHAT THE FUCK, BERT!?
Seriously? Did you like do a mind-swap with Carl just then? Did it NOT penetrate your situational awareness that NO ONE ELSE IN THE TOWN was reacting to the fucking raptor? Didn't you just come from a town with fucking DRAGON, for Pete's sake?? You just start opening fire in the middle of introductions!? 
6357771 6357916
For Jurassic Park, it was an ironic accident of fiction just happened to (somewhat) predict a scientific find, much like Well's fictional predictions of (implied) radioactivity in WoW that preceded its actual discovery by a few years--or his prediction of atomic weapons decades before WWII in the Time Machine.
Actually, JP got it severely wrong, by even naming them velociraptors, as they were very well known when the novel and film were created, whereas velociraptor was known as far back a 1925, but Deinonychus was discovered in 1969.
JP was originally a novel by Michael Crichton, published in 1990, which is also when production on the film began. Deinonychus, being not much smaller than Utahraptor, was a much better fit for the film's reptilian villains than velociraptor. Even so, the film's critters were still larger than the biggest Deinonychus yet found, and only when Utahraptor was discovered a few years later did the criticism die down.
So yeah, they sort of fucked up there.
6791253
Shouldn't that be "Fellowship of the Ring"? I mean, the Fellowship began in the Outermost Ring--you know, the One Ring that surrounds them, the One Ring that finds them, and in the.... ♪♫
Story was built on an interesting idea but poorly written done here
The Yilané are from West of Eden, not East of Eden
So the fairies are a bit of a mix of classical fae/pixies and contemporary fairies? That's cool.
Because why not?
Raptor Red, I presume?
I kid! I kid!
I assume when you say East(West) of Eden, you are referring to the book, not the anime?
Have you, perchance, read C.S. Lewis's Out of the Silent Planet?