//------------------------------//
// Book One: Chapter Three 
// Story: Unity: A Tale of Arcadia 
// by Kieva Lynn 
//------------------------------//


Book One: Gremlins and Gumm-Gumms

Chapter Three


As night fell, Fluttershy and Silver Spoon were tending to the needs of her animal friends. "I'll be able to help you more over the summer." Silver said.

"Oh, but summer is for spending time with your friends!"

"I will! But I want to help out here too..."

Fluttershy smiled as she slid a tray of food before a family of rabbits. "You're quite good at it. I appreciate the help."

"Thanks!" Silver Spoon carried a bowl of water to the duck pen, having to quickly jump back as she sat it down and all of the ducks rushed forward. Movement drew her attention to a bird house that was supposed to be empty. "Um, Miss Fluttershy?"

"You don't have to say 'miss.'" 

"I know, but... Wasn't that one supposed to be empty right now?" Silver pointed to the house in question.

"Yes, it is." Fluttershy answered. "Did you see something?" Silver nodded and Fluttershy approached the bird house and peered in through the door. All she could see was darkness. "Hello?"

Fluttershy gasped and stepped back as glowing yellow eyes appeared, and a creature quite unlike anything she had ever seen before stepped out. It was albino white, very small, and was grumbling to itself with a toothy mouth.

"What is it?" Silver Spoon asked, partially hiding behind Fluttershy.

Fluttershy shook her head. "I don't know, but stay behind me." 

Together they slowly backed away as the creature continued to approach. Fluttershy didn't recognize the beast, but she felt certain it's intentions were anything but benevolent. Thus her plan was to back up until they could make a run for her door and shelter in the house. A sound plan, save for the fact that, long before they got there, more sounds like those made by the creature arose from behind. "We're surrounded!" Silver Spoon gasped.

"Stay calm." Fluttershy instructed. "I'll try to talk to them." She looked the first creature in the eyes. "What do you want?"

To the pegasus' surprise, the creature produced a child's electronic toy from behind it's back, and pushed the 'K' button. "'K' is for kill." the toy said in it's electronic voice.

Fluttershy shrank back. "I was afraid you would say something like that." She whispered.


XXXXX


Awkward. That is the only word to accurately describe how the coffeehouse meeting between Macintosh, Bethany, and her parents began. Not hostile, not angry, not hot or cold, just... Awkward. For the first half hour nothing of substance was said. It was Martha who finally broke the ice in a meaningful way: "So Macintosh... You're a farmer?"

"Eeyup. Sweet Apple Acres has been in the family since Granny was a young'un."

"Apple farmers eh?" Ray said. "My own granddad farmed corn and strawberries."

"Hard work."

"The corn yeah, the berries not so much. That side of things, they always did one of those deals where people paid to pick their own."

"Now that's an idea..." Mac mused. Visions of customers harvesting the orchards for him filled his head, but only for a moment. "Nah, Applejack'd never go for it..."

"That's your sister?"Martha asked.

"The older of the two. Apple Bloom's the younger."

Bethany began to laugh."Oh! You've gotta tell them the McDonalds story!"

"Eenope, you tell it better."

Still laughing, Bethany said "Okay, so, it was just after we merged the towns together and humans and ponies still didn't really know each other all that well. So, a group of us are out at the farm helping out when Apple Bloom and her friends come running as fast as they can. They catch sight of Mac and jump on his back crying and freaking out. When we finally calm them down, it turns out that they had gone into the McDonalds on the south side and saw 'Big Mac' on the menu..."

"And they thought... Oh my." 

"Eeyup. Took a week 't get 'Bloom more than a few feet from me."

"That reminds me of something that happened when Beth's Uncle Clyde was little." Ray said. See, it was summer..." He was interrupted by a sudden loud scream. "What the hell?"

A crowd of humans and ponies came running and screaming down the street, pursued by...

"What the hell are those!?" Bethany exclaimed, jumping to her feet.

"Gremlins, Ah'm guessin'." Macintosh said. "Least ways, they look like what the folks from Arcadia said."

"Well what are they doing here!?"

While most of the creatures kept chasing the crowd fleeing from them, a group broke off and headed straight for Macintosh. "Killin' us, if we're don't do somethin' quick." He said, and took a defensive stance. "Get yer folks back to the edge of the window Beth. I'll keep these guys busy."

Briefly torn between duty to her parents and standing by Mac's side, Bethany realized he was right. "Mom, Dad, this way!" She ran for the back door of the coffeehouse, only to stop cold as said door slammed open admitting more of the gremlins. "Mac? We've got a problem..."

"Eeyup..."


XXXXX


"So Mac's meetin' Beth's folks?" Scootaloo asked.

"Yeah. I still can't believe I'm gonna be an aunt." Apple Bloom said. "I'm too young to be an aunt!"

The original three Crusaders were in the clubhouse, along with Micheal, Sarah, and Paul. "It could be worse." Micheal said. "We've got a friend back home who's like, the youngest of seven kids. His oldest sister is over twenty years older than him. He was an uncle before he was born."

"Yikes. That puts it in perspective." Sweetie Belle said.

"So are we doing anything?" Sarah asked.

"It's a little late to do to much." Apple Bloom said, looking out the window at the setting sun. "Y'all wanna play some catch?"

"That's cool." Paul agreed.

They all went outside and began to play. The sun slipped below the horizon, and in the waning light Sweetie Belle suddenly became aware that they were not alone. "Um, you guys?" She whispered, pointing to the edge of the forest where several pairs of glowing red eyes could be seen.

"What are they!?" Sarah exclaimed.

"Not natives, they have eyes." Michael said.

Scootaloo scoffed. "Aw, I bet it's just somebody trying to scare us."

No sooner had she spoken than a trio of small creatures jumped into view. They were small, twenty pounds tops, and basically humanoid, but their skin was green or blue or white while their eyes glowed yellow. They were mumbling and growling, large sharp teeth visible in their mouths.

" If they're trying to scare us they're succeeding!" Sweetie Belle cried out.

Then the boldest of the creatures rushed forward, and jumped on to Sweetie's back. She screamed and would have started running about in terror had she not heard Apple Bloom's firm command to "Hold. Still."

The next thing Sweetie knew, her attacker was gone, bucked clean off of her by Bloom.

And that's when things took a turn for the worse. To the surprise of all the Crusaders, the creature Bloom had kicked away from Sweetie didn't simply land on the ground and run away. It hit the ground and went splat, disintegrating into a puddle of goo. Before they could react, one of the other creatures produced a marker, drew a mustache on it's face, then pointed at Apple Bloom and screamed "Waka Chaka!"

At the rallying cry, over a dozen more creatures emerged from the forest and began to converge on Apple Bloom, who carefully backed away from them. "Ah don't know what he said, but it ain't good!"

"Run!" Paul shouted, and they all turned and fled as quickly as their legs could carry them, back towards the Apple farmhouse.

The kids ran as fast as they could, across the fields and through the orchards, towards the Apple's house, creatures following behind. They reached the top of the last hill and looked down on the house and barn. To find both already under attack.

"Well horseapples." Scootaloo said, and no one corrected her.


XXXXX


Having decided that there was nothing else to do with the study of the Tolkien texts, Twilight and Tess left the library, meaning to find some dinner. "So I didn't get a chance to ask, have you found a place to stay?" Twilight asked as they walked.

"Durban and Gillas are staying with the ship." Tess said. "Unsurprising since it's basically already their home anyway. And the Hobbits... Honestly they've changed less since the Baggins' time than we have. They're talking to your counsel about the rights to dig homes under the hill on the north side of the town."

"And you?"Twilight asked.

"I found a small apartment above the Spoony Bard diner. " Tess said. "The other elves and dwarves are doing much the same, though I expect the dwarves to start prospecting for mining locations before long. They still love the depths."

Twilight chuckled. " That would be a good thing... As long as they don't dig up any more Balrogs."

"That almost never happens." Tess quipped, but before Twilight could confirm that the girl was kidding Trixie came barreling around the corner, screaming.

"Stay back you monsters!" The showmare shouted as she turned and fired several blasts of magic from her horn back in the direction she had come from.

"Trixie, what in the world?" Twilight asked. Then she noticed the cuts and scrapes on Trixie's back and sides. "What did this to you!?" She demanded angrily.

"Some little freaky creatures." Trixie explained. " They came out of nowhere, tons of them! A lot of people got hurt, if not killed. "

Twilight and Trixie's ears perked up as they both heard growling and grumbling sounds approaching just around the corner. "I warned you! Stay back!" Trixie screamed. "I'll turn you into teacups!" (A horn blast) "Or poodles!" (another blast) "Or teacup poodles!" (A third blast.)

"Teacup poodles?" Tess asked with a raised eyebrow.

Trixie shrugged. "I dunno. It just came to me." She blasted again. This time, there was a high pitched scream and a pool of green goop oozed around the corner.

"You killed it." Twilight gasped.

"I didn't have a choice!" Trixie exclaimed. "It was trying to kill me!"

Twilight might have protested more, but a whole mob of the creatures rounded the corner, some of them slipping in their former companion's remains, and charged. Twilight used a spell meant to simply push them away, only for several more of them to pop. "But... I didn't mean to..."

"Worry about it later Twilight!" Tess said, as she urged both unicorns to flee, "Trixie is right. They're trying to kill us, you acted in self defense. Now run already!"

"Right! You're right... Back to the library!" They fled, with the remaining creatures close behind.


XXXXX


Rainbow Dash had no idea what was happening. All she knew was that one moment she was sound asleep enjoying her favorite dream (Wonderbolts leader, saving the world with Daring Do, and receiving the world's first and only platinum medal from Celestia while swimming in a vat of cider) and then the next moment she was running for her life with a growling green... something... clinging tenaciously to her tail.

Flying was out: Two more of the whatever they weres had grabbed at her wings and came away with enough feathers to keep her grounded 'til they grew back in. So she ran, with screams filling the air and added weight on her tail and even more attackers chasing behind. Of course, even on the ground she was still Rainbow Dash, and much faster than they were. Her lead grew with each step, save of course for the one holding on. But that was okay, she had a plan.

Rainbow poured on even more speed, and when she judged the moment was right, braked hard.  Momentum insured that her tail cracked forward over her back, and the creature wasn't able to keep it's grip.  It flew screaming into a brick wall and splattered.

Dash pumped both forehooves in the air. " Yeah! Who's the mare? Who's the mare!?" She boasted, then turned around to see the rest of the creatures still coming.

For their part, the creatures looked back and forth between Dash and the remains of their compatriot until one of them pointed at her and screamed "Waka Chaka!"

"Uh-oh." Dash thought.

The mob surged at her, and there was nowhere to go. Rainbow Dash saw her life begin to flash before her eyes. And then with a loud roar a jet black Hummer slammed into the creatures, crushing some and scattering the rest. " Get in!" Bert Gumbal shouted as he threw the front passenger door open.

Dash didn't need to be told twice. "What the hay is going on!?" She asked as she pulled the door shut.

"I don't have any details yet. "Bert answered. "But the hostiles fit the description we were given for Arcadia's Gremlins." He eased off the brakes and started to roll.

"Gremlins!?" Dash exclaimed. "Aw man I hated that movie. I don't wanna live it."

"Yeah me either." Bert agreed.

"So what's the plan?" Dash asked.

"Right now-" Bert started to answer, but just then a gremlin jumped onto the Hummer's windshield. Bert switched on the wipers, sending it flying, and continued "-Right now, I'm just tryin' to rescue anyone I can. I suppose we should head for town hall though, try to link up with Tucker and whoever else we can find."

"Sounds like a plan." Dash agreed. More gremlins tried to attack the vehicle, some clinging to the side windows while others leapt onto the roof. "Assuming we can get there..." She added, at the sound of them wrenching something loose up top...