//------------------------------// // Book One: Chapter One // Story: Unity: A Tale of Arcadia // by Kieva Lynn //------------------------------// Book One: Gremlins and Gumm-Gumms Chapter One Donald Smothers, mayor of Arcadia Oaks, cast his gaze around the lavishly appointed city counsel meeting room. It was the strangest group of attendees he had ever been to a meeting with: Besides three members of the town counsel including Ophelia Nunez, there were guests from the nearby town of Unity: four humans and four ponies, a Goblin named Brayflox, an Elf girl who went by Tess, and some kind of horse/bug thing they called a Changeling. And then there was also the six-eyed Troll. Donald sighed. Massaged his forehead in hopes of warding off the mounting headache. This was not what he had planned on when he ran for mayor. "So let me see if I've got this right... We're on another planet, in another dimension, and there's no way back?" "Eeyup, that's the size of it." The large red stallion, Macintosh, Donald thought, answered. "And you-" (He motioned towards Ophelia,) "Have learned that there's also some kind of doomsday army of evil Trolls and Gremlins right underneath our feet?" "Probably. According to those I spoke with, there is a chance that this Trollmarket got left behind, as deeply buried as it is. We've not had a chance to check yet." The Troll, Blinkous, said "I'll be doing so as soon as we are finished here." "Is that safe?" Ophelia wondered. "It should be." Blinkous answered. "After all, I won't actually go down the stairs and into the Market itself. I'll just go to where the hidden magic portal should be and see if it opens. If the door is there, it stands to reason the Market is too. And of course, I'll have the Trollhunters with me." Macintosh asked "And just who exactly are these 'Trollhunters?'" "Yes that's my next question too." Donald said. He looked at Counselwoman Nunez. "Ophelia, why are you hiding their identities? If we already know about the Trolls anyway, what else is there to keep secret?" Ophelia answered "They want to preserve as much of their normal lives as they can. Something I can somewhat understand, balancing my position on the council and my family. And of course family is also a part of it: Fear for their family's safeties, I mean. Honestly, I know it's only a matter of time before it all comes out, especially given our current situation... But I gave my word Donald, and I'm not going back on it." "And there are a few of us who know, if it becomes necessary." Sheriff Tucker said. "I saw, and of course our resident magic expert Twilight Sparkle. She's actually with them now." Another of the Ponies, Midnight Steel, looked to Blinkous and asked "I'm wondering about the tactical situation. What can you tell us about this army?" Blinkous shrugged. "Well, there's good and bad. On the good side, Gunmar himself shouldn't be here. As powerful as he is, that one detail is of crucial importance: If I had to choose between fighting ten thousand Gumm-Gumm soldiers by my self, or Gunmar by himself with an army at my back... I'd take the Gumm-Gumms. And no, there won't be ten thousand, or even one thousand. Gunmar's original army is lost in the Darklands. I estimate no more than two hundred soldiers are in Trollmarket." "And the bad news?" The Changeling Xix asked. "Two hundred is still a formidable force. Queen Usurna is certain to launch an attack when she realizes Gunmar isn't coming back. And then there are the Gremlins-" "Tell us about Gremlins?" Brayflox asked. "Ah yes. I'm afraid our Gremlins are a singularly unpleasant people. Dumb, to be blunt, and easily dispatched individually, but present in very large numbers and exceedingly dangerous in spite of their small size." "And of course, on top of all that," Tucker said. "There are a lot of mundane survival issues you need to look at. We can help you with that, for example clearing more cropland around your perimeter, and thanks to the magicite power core we've got electricity to spare. But, I feel the need to warn you, what with you being from Southern California and all, we get actual winters here. And medieval as it sounds you need a wall around the town. That Forest is teeming with dangerous predators." Donald shook his head. He never thought he'd think such a thing, but why couldn't he have lost the election? XXXXX Twilight Sparkle stood in the gymnasium of Fallow Meadows old Cole Porter High School, along with the three teenage Trollhunters. "Ive cast a locking spell on the doors." She said. "There's no risk of anyone interrupting us." "That's good." Jim said. "So, I guess you're wanting to hear our story?" Twilight looked the boy in his eyes. "I'm wanting to understand how you have such powerful magical artifacts. Especially on a world where everyone thinks there isn't any magic." "Man, I'm not even sure where to start..." Jim answered. Toby stepped forward. "I got this." He took a deep breath and said "So it turns out that a famous wizard named Merlin who we all thought was just an old story was actually real and made a magical amulet to give powers to it's holder so they could protect humans and good trolls from evil trolls called Gumm-Gumms but now the leader the of evil trolls escaped from the Darklands and wants Merlin's old apprentice Morgana to cause the night to last forever so he can rule the world." Twilight raised an eyebrow at the boy, who had gotten all of that out in one breath. "Okay, one thing at a time... Humans don't normally know about these Trolls?" "They hide underground. Because sunlight kills them, turns them to stone." Claire said. "Ouch... Though that would explain the endless night thing..." Twilight thought for a moment. "(Though what is it with villains and endless nights) ...You knew about Merlin and Morgana but thought they were fictional?" "Exactly." "Hmmm... And the Gumm-Gumm king, Gunmar... He shouldn't be here with his army?" "Shouldn't be, no." Jim said. "We had word he had left to go looking for Merlin's Tomb, to find Merlin's Staff. He couldn't free Morgana from her prison without it." Noticing how sad the trio looked, Twilight asked "Is something wrong?" Claire said "Gunmar has two of our troll friends. He mind-controlled one and took the other captive. We were probably about to go after Merlin's Staff ourselves, hopefully save our friends too, when the storm came." Twilight gave the teens a comforting smile. "I'm sorry. I know how important friendships can be. I'm sure a way to save them will come up someday." "I hope so." Jim said. He paced back and forth a few times before throwing his hands up in the air. "I hate this! We're here, Gunmar's on earth, we can't save Drall or Arrrgh, and I can't even be all that mad since having Gunmar and Morgana on totally different planets from each other is actually a good thing!" Clair put a hand on Jim's shoulder while Twilight asked "Wait. Morgana is here?" Toby explained "The last word we got back from Arrrgh said that it turned out Morgana's prison is inside the Trollmarket Heartstone. No one knew, except I guess Gunmar." "She's not that much of a threat, so long as she's sealed." Claire said. "She can kinda influence and direct others but-" The girl fell silent as she saw the look on Twilight's face and realized the unicorn was deep in thought on something. "Miss Twilight?" "This one wasn't a mistake." Twilight muttered. "Huh? What?" Toby asked. Twilight shook her head. "Remember what Sheriff Tucker and I told your parents at Jim's house? Singularity is meant to take towns from worlds threatened with destruction, but it's malfunctioning. But from what you say, this Gunmar, even without Morgana, is an apocalyptic level threat. This one wasn't a mistake. Singularity took Arcadia Oaks while Gunmar was gone to save humans and trolls from him." "Wow." was all Claire could say. "In any case, if you're willing I'd like to see what those magic artifacts you three have can do." Twilight said. The teens looked at each other. "I'll go first." Jim said. He held up the Amulet of Day. "For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command!" Twilight shielded her eyes from the brilliant light that accompanied the amulet's activation. When she looked again he was covered in faintly glowing armor. "Impressive." Twilight said. "I assume there's a weapon?" Jim nodded and a sword appeared in his hand. "Double impressive..." Twilight mused, tapping the side of the blade with a hoof. "It's like... Solidified sunlight! This Merlin must have been on Starswirl's level to craft something like this." "Starswirl?" Toby asked. "The greatest unicorn wizard who ever lived. He single hoofedly founded the basics of our modern era understanding of magic over a thousand years ago." Twilight replied. "Toby, why don't you go next?" "All right." The boy held out a small object that at first appeared to be only a cylindrical tube. Then in an instant, a flaming sledgehammer extended out from it and began to float above the floor, buoyant enough to lift Toby along with it. "We call it warhammer." "And it floats?" No sooner had Twilight asked the question than the hammer stopped floating and slammed to the floor, hard. "Sometimes." Toby said. At Twilight's eyebrow raised in the implied question he elaborated, "There was this magic curse that got loose and kept randomly shifting gravity back and forth, between 'weighs less than zero' and 'weighs a ton.' We had to trap it in something to keep it from spreading." "Interesting." Twilight said, examining the warhammer closely. "If you'd like, I'll do a little research. I might be able to make it controllable for you." "You can do that!?" Toby's eye were wide in surprise. "Awesome sauce!" Chuckling, Twilight turned to the third member of the group. "Claire?" Claire had placed an object that looked similar to Toby's warhammer in it's inactive state across the room from them. She now raised a hand towards the object, which immediately flew into her hand and extended into a long staff which she twirled around before making it open a swirling black portal and stepping through, reappearing behind Twilight moments later. Twilight laid her ears back. "Where did you get that... ...thing!?" "Is something wrong?" Claire asked. Shaking her head, Twilight answered "Look, I'm not gonna try to tell you what to do... You're a teenager, I get it. But, if I were you, I'd find another weapon and not use that thing any more than you absolutely have to in the meantime. The magic in it is so dark... I feel like it's smudging my soul just standing this close." "It... Is actually a relic of Morgana." Claire admitted. "And we've already learned the lesson about overusing it... I got possessed. I thought we'd driven out Morgana's influence from it, made it mine." "Well there is a distinctive feel of your psyche overlaying the darkness. That should afford you a little protection. But it's just a veneer." Claire asked "You said you could help Toby, is there anything you can do for me?" Twilight let out an exasperated sigh. "If we had the Elements of Harmony here, absolutely. Without them... Maybe. I'll have to do some research. Both in my own library, and in whatever your mentor can tell me about Morgana." "Trust me, Blinky will be more than happy to tell you everything he knows." Jim said. "No matter how long it takes." Toby added, and everyone laughed. Jim deactivated the amulet, returning to his normal clothes. "Speaking of Blinky, it's about time to meet him and see if the portal and Trollmarket are still there." "Right. Let's go." Twilight said. She released the locking spell on the doors, and they all left together. XXXXX Trollmarket. Queen Usurna paced back and forth with the Gremlin's new leader dangling by his feet from her hand. "I give you a simple task and you botch it. Thanks to your bungling the Trollhunters now know what Gunmar is planning. I should have you all destroyed, but I have a better idea..." She dropped the Gremlin on it's head. Rubbing the top of it's head the creature grumbled out a question in Gremlin speak. "Gunmar told me to have the traitor Dictatious dead before he returned. I do not intend to be the target of his ire for failing." "Rrrrrr?" The Gremlin asked. "No. I'm not going to send you again. What I want from you is a diversion. Tomorrow night you will go to the surface, spread out over the entire town, and raise as much havoc as possible. Once the Trollhunters are properly distracted a pair of Gumm-Gumm soldiers will deal with Dictatious..." Watching the Gremlin scurry away to gather his fellows, Usurna smirked. Dictatious would die, and so would a great many Gremlins. Win-win, as the humans would say.