Book One: Gremlins and Gumm-Gumms
Chapter Eight
Twilight and Tess had left the wizard with Fluttershy (Assuring her there was nothing to fear) and retreated to the Golden Oaks Library's upper floor where they conversed in hushed tones. "Tess are you sure? I mean, are you positive?"
"I am. I don't know how I know, it can hardly be magic as little as my people have left. And I don't know how it's possible after ten thousand years..." The young elf peered down over the railing to where the wizard was waiting. "But Twilight, it's him. It's Gandalf. I'd stake my very life on it."
"This raises so many questions." Twilight whispered. "I mean, he knew Starswirl? How?"
"I suppose we should just ask him." Tess answered.
"Yeah but..."
"But?"
"But, I hate going in without any answers at all." Twilight shook her head.
"Yeah... I mean, okay, he's immortal. He goes to the Undying Lands for thousands of years. At some point, at least a thousand years ago he comes back, never mind that that's supposed to be impossible, and goes to your world where he meets this Starswirl..."
"Well hold on... Maybe there's a flaw in our assumptions. Something else has occurred to me." Twilight had bought copies of Tolkien's books up to the loft with her, and she opened The Two Towers. "Let's see... No... No... ...Ahh! Here it is! The passage where Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli have just learned Gandalf is back. They ask him what happened after he defeated the Balrog, but all he's willing to say about the time before he was sent back as the white wizard is this: 'I threw down my enemy, and he fell from the high place and broke the mountain-side where he smote it in his ruin. Then darkness took me, and I strayed out of thought and time, and I wandered far on roads I will not tell.'"
Tess slightly cocked her head as she asked "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking? That this is Gandalf from that time? Traveling across space and time, still the gray wizard since he won't become the white until he is called back?"
"None of this makes sense." Twilight said closing the book, "But I think that makes more sense than any other option."
"I suppose so. But why is he here now?"
"He says he's looking for Starswirl..."
"'The Violet.'" Tess quoted. "That's another thing. There's not supposed to be a violet wizard. White, gray, brown, two blue, yes... But violet?"
Twilight let out a heavy sigh, massaging her forehead with a hoof. "I don't think we're getting any further on our own... Lets go talk to the man..."
XXXXX
Bert Gumbal was coordinating with Midnight Steel, preparing for phase two of the plan. "We'll position the weapons along the top of the canal, the eastern side, every hundred feet, three on each side of the bridge. I'd recommend having the unicorns up there as well."
Steel nodded. "We'll cast the memory spell in unison, push it out as one big wave front. That much power should be enough to negate the magic resistant properties of their armor. Though, for that, even with over a hundred of us here I'll be a lot happier if Miss Sparkle makes it in time."
"She's impressive, that's for sure. But I wonder if-" Bert was cut off by a loud keening scream from out of the tunnel.
"They've got a Stalkling!?" Toby exclaimed, staring at the tunnel entrance.
"What the hell is a Stalkling?" Bert demanded.
Jim shrugged. "Remember the 'flying vulture troll' I mentioned yesterday? Well here you go."
The creature burst free of the tunnel, wings spread wide and moving fast. It strafed the humans and ponies, dodging both Jim's sword and Durban's axe, and entered a corkscrewing spin as it flew high into the sky.
"Why isn't the sun killing it!?" Steel shouted.
Claire shouted back "While technically classified as trolls, Stalklings are immune to sunlight!"
"Wonderful." Bert grumbled, then pulled his gun and started shooting. Angry, the Stalkling dived down straight for him. He ran for his Hummer, which was still parked in the bottom of the canal.
As soon as the monster was in range, it found itself on the receiving end of magic blasts from unicorns and additional gunfire from more of the humans present, plus the remaining small dwarkstones Belle was still carrying. Jim, Toby, and Durban were shouting for the shooting to stop so they could get into melee range, but over all the echoing shots no one could hear them. And through it all, the ever angrier Stalkling just kept on chasing after Bert. Until such time as Bert reached the Hummer, tossed the gun he was carrying into the back, and emerged with a much bigger weapon. "Let's see how you like an elephant gun!" He exclaimed, and fired pointblank.
The Stalkling stumbled back and tried to fly away but it was now missing an entire wing. It fell back onto the floor of the canal and, still motivated by fury over any other emotion, charged again for Bert who was still reloading. The situation looked grim, but at the last moment a flash of purple light heralded the arrival of Twilight Sparkle, who teleported right next to Bert then immediately teleported them both away.
"Do I need to ask?" Twilight said as she watched the Stalkling slam head first into the vehicle.
"Sunproof flying vulture troll." Bert explained as the Trollhunters finished the creature off.
"I am so sorry!" Claire said as she ran up to Bert and Twilight. "I swear we didn't know they had one."
"Are you sure it's just one?" Lyra asked from nearby.
"Reasonably." Toby said. "If they had more I'm pretty sure Usurna would have turned them all loose at once."
"They're closing up!" Someone shouted, pointing to where the magic door into Trollmarket was vanishing.
"Ah guess that answers that." Applejack said, trotting up to the others. "Twilight, what kept ya?"
"Spike said something about an ancient wizard?"
"Ancient wizard?" Claire asked. "Merlin?"
"Yeah, no..." Twilight nervously clopped her front hooves together. "Um, Gandalf, actually..."
At the name, Twilight was met by silent stares from everyone present, for nearly a full minute, until Bert finally said "And that's the 'too much' line for me." He walked away to examine the damage to his Hummer, stopping for a moment to call back "You'll make it tonight, right?"
Twilight nodded. "Yes, I'll be here." She then looked at Jim and his friends. "I actually came looking for you. He wants to speak with you all. And my friends as well." She smiled to Applejack.
"Welp ah guess we'd best go then. Not good 't keep wizards waitin' you know."
XXXXX
Deep in Trollmarket, Queen Usurna was fuming. "They killed the Stalkling!?"
"Indeed my queen. And, worse, humans, in numbers, now clearly know of our existence."
"Then we cannot wait for Gunmar's return." The queen turned to face her underling. "We must launch an assault at first dark, before they can regroup and invade up again tomorrow."
"Begging your pardon O Queen, but is that wise?"
"No. It is not wise at all. We have no option. The last thing we need is for them to bring in their machines and drill or blast an open hole right through the roof of Trollmarket, leaving us with nowhere to hide from the sun... Prepare the invasion!"
XXXXX
"Um, so, I'm sorry I ran away from you before." Fluttershy whispered over her tea.
"As you've already said many times." Gandalf smiled at her. "Do not be afraid little pony, I took no offense."
"I'm glad. I much prefer to be friends."
"As do I, though it's not always possible." Tess mused.
"Indeed, we all would prefer the calm of peaceful times. Ahhh, I believe Miss Sparkle is returning with the rest of our guests..." Gandalf looked across the library from where they were sitting, to an open space in the middle of the floor. A large swirling vortex opened up there, and everyone the wizard was hoping to see emerged as he rose to his feet.
"Thank you for gathering them." He said to Twilight, then turned first to Claire, eyeing her staff carefully. "As Twilight tells me she has already informed you, we're going to have to do something about this."
Claire answered "I... Understand sir. But I don't like it. without the staff's magic I'm not much use in a fight."
"Oh well fear not. It will take some time to gather the requisite components, but it should be entirely possible to strip away the darkness while retaining the functionality with white magic instead." Gandalf turned to Jim, who was still in his armor, and bent down closely examining the Amulet of Day. "Hmmm... Merlin's craft indeed."
"Wait, so, you knew Merlin?" Jim asked.
"The Green." Gandalf answered. "And yes, He, Starswirl, and myself worked closely together a thousand years ago, not long before he would have forged your amulet." He rose and returned to his seat. "Gather in, please, everyone. We have much to discuss."
"You said something to me before... About prophecies?" Fluttershy asked.
"Oh yes indeed. Many prophecies are drawing near, all at once. There is a great enemy coming, an enemy which will conscript all lesser evils to it's service and lay siege to Earth and Eqqus both..." He looked at Twilight. "Your princesses know it's coming, and they've warned the leaders of Man as well-"
"Wait what!?" Twilight exclaimed. "Why wouldn't they tell me?"
"Because they think Unity is safe beyond the enemy's grasp. Which is it for now, but only for now."
"I think Celestia and I need to have a talk." Twilight sighed. "I mean she's the princess it's her prerogative, but still..."
"You mean we'll have a talk darling. We'll be there for you."
"Thanks Rarity." Twilight smiled. "You were saying?" She turned back to Gandalf.
"As I was saying, the enemy is coming. Safe here for now, there will be little you can do to meet the battle with it's armies. Those will need to be met with a fusion of pony magic and human technology. Neither will suffice on it's own. Again, the rulers on both worlds already know this and are preparing. Which brings us to our job here: Meeting and countering the enemy itself. The first thing we need to do, in that regard, is locate and retrieve Merlin and Starswirl."
"But they've been dead for, like, centuries." Rainbow Dash said.
"Not so. Both are Maiar like myself, quite immortal and by nature not subject to the troubles which cause purely physical immortals like High Elves and Alicorns to fade in time. They're out there somewhere, on Earth and Eqqus."
"And how are we supposed to get back to Earth or Eqqus!?" Jim demanded. "We're stuck here!"
"Well ninety-nine percent stuck." Pinkie said.
When the three Trollhunters looked at Pinkie in confusion, Twilight explained "The machine that bought us here, Singularity. It has a kind of 'recall' function that can send people back. But it only works for a small group, automatically brings them back after one day, and isn't working so well itself these days."
"Not to mention you'd have to fly an eight thousand mile round trip just 't get there an back." Applejack added.
"And, I'm not even sure it would work for you anyway, since Singularity bought you here from an alternate timeline." Pinkie said. Everyone stared at her.
"Regardless of the source it's a valid point." Twilight finally said.
"But, so what are we supposed to do then?" Tess asked.
Gandalf smiled. "Fear not. I have an alternative means of transportation in mind..."
The wizard led them out of the library and most of the way across town. The group gathered a great deal of attention as they went, but luckily no one asked any questions. At last they arrived before a two story pony dwelling. It was typical of Ponyville structures, with a wooden frame and dormers on the upper floor, and a curved-top wooden door centered on the bottom wall. Gandalf knocked, and everyone who had followed him, human, pony, and elf alike stood at a distance wondering why the wizard had come here. The confusion was most pronounced among the ponies though, since they knew the homeowner and couldn't begin to understand what Gandalf could possibly want with him.
After getting no response, Gandalf knocked again, and this time a voice arose from within, calling out "Yes yes! I'm coming, I'm co-" The door opened mid-word and the pony looked up at Gandalf. "-Oh my."
The old wizard smiled down at the stallion. "Hello Doctor."