Unity: A Tale of Arcadia

by Kieva Lynn

Book Three: Chapter Four

Book Three: Uncertain Days

Chapter Four

On Eqqus, the biggest issue facing the defending armies was a shortage of human built technology. They had all the magic they could want, with which to enchant the guns and ammo, but little to be enchanted. Experiments were carried out with applying the ammo enchanting system with Equestrian cannons, but the lower power of those left the results wanting. On Earth, meanwhile, Shining Armor and Agent Marsh were having the opposite problem: All the advanced weapons they could ever want, but less than a half dozen unicorns to perform the enchanting. "At least the local crystals work as well for holding magic as ours." Shining thought to himself as he completed another batch. "We'd be in a real bind if we were short on these too."

"Captain Armor?" A voice drew Shining out of his thoughts to see a courier at the door. "Message from Equestria sir. General Morton sends word that using explosive shells was as effective as he'd hoped."

Shining pumped a forehoof at this news. "Yes! Pass the word on to Agent Marsh as well please. The next time we meet these guys, maybe it'll be on more even terms."

The courier saluted and left, leaving Shining to resume enchanting the next batch of crystals.

As it turned out, he didn't need to wait long for that next chance. The following day enemy forces, which had been slowed by the urban fighting needed to take Ottawa, resumed their southward march, but now shifting southwestward veering to pass between Lake Huron and Lake Erie towards Toronto and later Detroit. "Odd..." Marsh said as examined the map. "Southeast would make much more sense... It would lead them straight to New York City and Washington."

"Another mystery." Shining Armor pondered. "The latest word from Eqqus is similar. They've entered Equestrian territory and have a straight shot towards Canterlot in under a week. But instead they're heading towards Appoloosa and Dodge Junction."

Marsh looked up from the map, in the direction of the approaching forces. Then behind his back, to where three full army divisions, two active and one reserve, were waiting with magic-enchanted weapons and explosive rounds. "This is it Captain." He said. "The first full scale test of what we've built so far."

"Let's hope it works." Shining Armor agreed.

Twenty minutes more and the battle was engaged...

XXXXX

Arcadia Oaks. Jim, Claire, and Toby were having lunch at their favorite pizzeria. They were mostly left alone; after the first couple of weeks of the word being out people had started to adjust, though all three of them noticed frequent sidelong glances in their direction. "You guys still think telling was a good idea?" Jim groused after the hundredth stare in his direction.

"I really do Jim." Claire said. "I know it's annoying, but being where we are now, it's for the best"

"Yeah Jimbo! I mean can you imagine you having to keep the helmet active all the time when you're armored up? Or Claire and me having to wear glasses whenever we aren't fighting?" Toby asked.

Jim needed a moment to get the 'glasses' comment. Then he did. "Ha ha. I doubt either of you could pull off the Clark Kent deal."

"Exactly my point my man. Exactly. My. Point." Toby chuckled and grabbed another slice of pizza.

It was a few minutes later that the bell over the door rang and they looked to see, of all people, Merlin standing on the threshold. The wizard looked about, met Jim's eyes, and hurried across the room towards them. "Ahh! Trollhunter!"

"Merlin." Jim greeted back, staying cold and businesslike in mind of the wizard's harsh personality. "What can I do for you?"

"I find myself in need of your assistance." Merlin replied. "Working with Gandalf and Starswirl... I admit it is pleasant to have the company of other wizards again after so long, but the work is long and thankless, and Gandalf a tireless taskmaster. I can barely get ten minutes a day away from them. which is a problem, because I have a plan of my own I desire to advance, but I have not the time to gather the magical ingredients required." Merlin handed Jim a sheet of papyrus. "Might you be able to procure these items?"

Jim gazed over the list. "I'll see what I can do."

"He means we'll see what we can do." Claire interjected.

Merlin bowed slightly. "You have my gratitude. Just deliver them to the Library once you are finished. And now I had better return there myself. I am already late. Trollhunter. Lady Claire. Tobias." He bowed again and hurried out.

Toby stood on his chair and looked over Jim's shoulder at the list. "Antemonstron shell. You think that one Strickler had is still hidden in his back office?"

"Probably." Jim answered. "Where are we supposed to get an Auf femur?"

"Janus Order headquarters. I doubt Gunmar cleaned up after he was done with them." Claire suggested.

Jim smiled and kissed her. "Brilliant. All that leaves is..." He stared at the final entry on Merlin's shopping list. "Okay how in the hell are we supposed to get that?" Toby and Claire could only shrug...

XXXXX

"Right this way my dear." The Doctor led Tess through the maze like interior of the Tardis, towards a lab where he and Krel had been examining the sample of nanites taken from the slopes of Mount Doom. "I want to thank you again for agreeing to assist in this little investigation." They entered the lab, where Krel was already waiting in his disguise as a Hispanic teen.

"I'm happy to." Tess replied. "So what have you got?"

"First, take a look at this." Krel said. He pushed a button and a hologram appeared in the middle of the room, showing a massively magnified image of one of the nanites. It was a long, narrow, vaguely cylindrical affair. At one end were what looked like a trio of metallic tentacles, constantly waving in sync with each other. At the other end was a faintly glowing blue orb. And there was a small opening at the halfway point of the main body, with four more of the metal tentacles, these unmoving, one in each corner of the hole.

"As you already know they are capable of independent movement. That's what these moving parts at the back are for. And there is also a very tiny cargo compartment inside, just big enough to store a bare hoof full of individual atoms. The tentacles at each corner of the opening are presumably to maneuver something inside. " The Doctor said.

Krel continued "But the business end is this component here." He pointed to the glowing orb on the front of the device. "It seems to be a thaumic scanner. These little guys can sense the presence of magic fields. In fact, as advanced as the scanner is, I expect it can even detect subtle differences in the strength, resonance, polarity, and other properties of specific fields."

Tess frowned at that. "What in the world can they possibly be doing with a set up like this?" She wondered.

"That of course is where we're hoping you can help us out." The Doctor said. He pushed another button and the holographic image of the nanite vanished, replaced by lines of machine code. "We've cracked and decompiled their software. Krel and I have been able to make sense of some of it... For example, the thaumic scanner at the front is linked to the tentacles that propel it at the back so it can guide itself towards magic fields. And there's a 'return' command that tells it to go back to the surface, presumably for collection, once it's little cargo hold is full. But most of it deals in very arcane magical data and that's not the forte for either of us."

"So you need me to look through the code and see if I recognize anything at all that might tell us the function." Tess nodded.

"Precisely correct my dear." The Doctor smiled. Krel smiled too, but it seemed a bit nervous. Which bought a question to Tess' mind:

"So... How many lines of code are there?" She asked.

"About... Seven hundred thousand." Krel answered.

"Wonderful..."

XXXXX

Scootaloo and Nyma were walking side by side through the park that stood between Unity's town hall and the high school. "So you think the others will want to play hoofball again?" Nyma asked. "That was fun!"

Scootaloo answered "Probably. But I'll bet they insist on a 'no shapeshifting' rule, at least for goalies."

"Phooey. That's what made it fun!"

"Trust me, I know. You wouldn't believe how many 'no wings' rules there are in sports. 'No horn' rules for unicorns too. But I guess I can understand it... It would be kinda unfair to just zip by in the air while the other team is grounded."

"Yeah I suppose so." Nyma admitted. "Hey! Isn't that...?" She pointed with a hoof to where a trio of human teenagers were sitting on a park bench.

"Yeah I think so!" Scootaloo nodded. She galloped to the bench and asked "Hay! Aren't you that Trollhunter guy?"

"Yeah that's us." Jim Lake answered.

"Wow, you guys are so down I can sense it from way back there." Nyma said. "Is something wrong?"

Claire explained "We're supposed to be gathering magic ingredients for Merlin. But the last thing on his list is impossible."

Scootaloo jumped onto the bench next to the girl and examined the list. "Bottled lightning? What's so hard about that?"

"Wait! You know how to do it!?" All three of the teens were yelling over each other.

"Well I can't do it myself. But I know who can! Come on!" Scootaloo hopped down and, Nyma by her side, led the Trollhunters across town. The first stop was to see Twilight.

"Merlin needs bottled lightning?" The unicorn asked, head slightly cocked in confusion. "May I see that list?" Jim handed it over, and Twilight spent several minutes mulling over the ingredients. "Odd... I can't begin to imagine what he might want with these ingredients. But if the wizards need it we should help them right? I know exactly who should have what I need to make a lightning jar. Come on!"

Fifteen minutes later, they were at Bert's house. "A mason jar and different types of metal wire? Yeah I've got that, come on." Bert led them through his house, illiciting stares at the many weapons and mounted trophies lining the walls.

"So, I'm guessing you like hunting?" Toby asked nervously.

"Used to. Too damned dangerous here." Bert answered. He opened a code-locked door and they went down a narrow flight of stairs to a basement which proved to be a veritable armory of weapons and other supplies. "Wait at the workbench, I'll get what you need." Bert said, and vanished into the maze of shelving.

"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Claire asked, looking about nervously.

"Yeah, this guy has 'conspiracy nut' written all over him." Toby agreed.

"Oh Bert's okay! He just likes to be prepared!" Scootaloo said, then looking at the massive bunker added "Really, really, reeeeeeally prepared."

"And he's been nothing but a friend and asset since we arrived here." Twilight agreed.

"If you say so." Toby said.

"We do. Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and me would have been monster chow if he hadn't saved us!" Scootaloo said.

Bert returned with the supplies soon after, and Twilight needed only minutes to assemble them into a lightning jar. "This will hold the full power of a lightning bolt?" Bert asked.

"It seems awfully fragile..." Jim agreed.

"Well yes, like this it is." Twilight said. "It still needs one last component..." Her horn lit up and she put an enchantment on the jar. "That will work but both we, and Merlin when he gets it, need to be quick. Except for gemstones and certain metals, solid objects don't 'hold' enchantments for very long. I'd say this will last a week."

"Then let's go find Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo cheered. "She can kick out a lightning bolt in ten seconds flat!"

"Kick...?" Claire asked, confused.

Twilight grinned. "Oh that's right! You've not seen yet! Pegasus magic isn't just for flying. It also lets them control the weather in a lot of ways. They can walk on clouds like they were solid surfaces, make it rain or snow, and, yes, quite literally kick lightning bolts out of the clouds."

"That's kind of awesome." Toby said with a grin of his own.

"Exactly! So now that we've got the jar we just need to find Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo galloped up the stairs, calling for the others to follow her.

"Wouldn't any pegasus do?" Jim asked.

Twilight shrugged. "Hero worship. Dash has been like a big sister to her since she's an orphan*."

Jim merely nodded. Having been abandoned by his father when he was five, the boy could understand at least a little what that was like. "Okay, let's catch her before she's on the other side of town!" The group rushed to do so...

Author's Note:

*This chapter was written before Scootaloo's family showed up on the show, when the fanon assumption was still 'orphan living in an orphanage or foster home.' Since it's been the assumption through the entire Unity story, I've kept it here, just like I kept the original Unity story's assumption that Diamond Tiara's mother was a good pony who died, contributing to Tiara's attitude (written, of course, prior to Tiara's canon redemption when the Crusaders get their marks.) It does add another layer to the story's 'A.U.' quality, but such is the peril of starting a fanfic while the source material is still ongoing...

Comments

[Venerable Ro]

Author's Note:...

Hey man, AU is AU, it'd be pretty unlikely to assume that every one of manifold universes carried on in the same way. 'tis simple enough to imagine that some past adventure ended in tragedy instead of a narrow escape.

[Herald of Opera]

9936119
Freak stingray accident. >_>;

[Tangent]

Author's Note:

Well, it's not like they can't somehow visit other versions of Equestria where things went down differently, given that's exactly what they're currently doing with both versions of Earth.

I can sort of see how Scootaloo's parents might have died in this AU though, given that they are essentially Steve Erwin & Jane Goodall style cryptozoologists in a world where the highly dangerous mythological monsters they are investigating and researching are all too real.

[KeePony]

There going to kick themselves when they realise it's a leyden jar and only magic is pegasus making a charge for it to hold

[Kieva Lynn]

9936257
And, also the magic enabling it to hold the full power of a lightning bolt, as opposed to the much smaller charges a standard leyden jar could hold, so there's that.