Unity: A Tale of Arcadia

by Kieva Lynn


Book Two: Chapter Six

Book Two: Wizard Quests

Chapter Six

Time Turner's back yard was full to bursting in the pre-dawn darkness. Gandalf was there of course, Tess, Twilight and her friends, the Trollhunters; everyone who would be going. But there was also Krel and Aja in their human disguises, and family members saying goodbyes. It took an hour longer than the Time Stallion had hoped to finally be ready to depart. "Now if I can have eveyone's attention? Make sure you've not forgotten anything, we can't very well make extra trips back!" He said.

"Oh!" Pinkie exclaimed. She pulled Gummy from her mane and handed him to Silver Spoon. "I'm ready!"

"I think we're all ready now Pinkie." Twilight giggled.

"Wait, don't forget this!" Claire's mother handed the girl an envelope.

"This is the video explaining to people on your Earth what happened?" Applejack asked.

Ophelia nodded. "It's two hours long, with explanations from myself, our mayor, and interviews with Twilight and Blinky. The envelope is already addressed and stamped. All you'll need to do is drop it in a mailbox."

"And hope they believe it." Jim said.

"We're doing as much as we can." Twilight said, and Gandalf agreed:

"Quite. We have our purpose. We cannot be distracted by other issues." The wizard turned to the Doctor. "Well, are we ready then?"

"Actually, I suspect there probably is one more thing to get out of the way." The Doctor replied. "If you'll all wait here for one moment..." The Doctor trotted through the door into the Tardis, and was gone for only two minutes before he returned: Driving Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle before him.

"Double phooey." Scootaloo complained to the chuckles of everyone present.

Then, with a final round of hugs and goodbyes and "Be carefuls" the team climbed aboard the waiting machine. "It's like a clown car in reverse." Ophelia whispered as far more passengers entered than it seemed like could fit from the outside.

Finally the doors were shut, and the two teams were standing around the outer rim of the control room as the Doctor went to work at the center console. A strange noise echoed through the air, and everything began to vibrate as a portion of the console started rising up and lowering down over and over.

"Mister Turner!?" Rarity cried out.

"Fear not my dear, this is normal! Nothing to be alarmed about!" The Doctor replied, though there was a hint of concern in his expression and he was rapidly moving from panel to panel around the console, throwing seemingly random switches. And then, even faster than it had started, it was over. Everything went still and quiet. "Alright then colts and fillies, here we are! Canterlot Castle!"

"That fast!?" Tess wondered.

Oh well of course. Skipping between realities isn't like traveling through physical space. There's technically no distance at all between them. So come along, I expect the Princesses are waiting for us outside."

They were. Everyone piled out through the doors to find the Diarches standing side by side. "Princess Celestia!" Twilight cheered, and ran to her mentor who wrapped a wing around her.

"Oh it's so good to see you in the flesh Twilight." Celestia said, "Even if it is only for a brief time."

Luna said, "Doctor. I assume you will want to examine things before making another trip?"

"Yes, yes. It won't take long though, an hour off the hoof."

"Then come, friends, and let us share a meal before you depart." Luna motioned with a wing and guided everyone into the castle.

As they walked along the halls, Twilight asked "Princess, is Shining Armor here? I had hoped to see him for a moment as well."

Celestia shook her head. "Oh, I am sorry Twilight... Your brother is... On assignment..."

XXXXX

Baffin Island, Earth, Fallow Meadows Timeline: Shining Armor had decided, in a matter of minutes, that he would never complain about how cold the Crystal Empire was ever again. This place made it seem downright balmy. Not that he could afford to pay any heed to that; the army of horrors trying to kill him, his soldiers, and the humans they were here to help were undeniably the first priority.

After Celestia had delivered them to Earth, Agent marsh had at once arranged transport north. The Human's flying machines were faster than Equestrian airships, impressively so, but cramped and noisy. They had landed at a place called Iqaluit, the large island's only city, and headed further north by land. In route, Marsh had briefed Shining on the current situation, in particular the Canadian counterattack which was expected to still be ongoing when they arrived.

What they had found, on arriving, was the utter bedlam of a full scale battle between powerful armies. The air was filled with a choking haze, bullets and missiles were flying, the ground rocking with a constant rumble of explosions all around. And the army was in retreat, their opponents slowly but inexorably advancing south. Shining and Marsh watched as a trio of bombs dropped from high above detonated right on top of a phalanx of the enemy's ground troops. The flames roared all around the troops, but they just kept coming, as if nothing whatsoever had happened. Then one of the hostiles spotted them.

"Look out!" Shining screamed, tackling Marsh to the ground as some kind of energy blasts crackled directly over their heads.

"Thanks." Marsh shuddered. "This is worse than I thought. How can we do anything when the standard infantry troops walk through thermobarics like it's nothing!?"

"Let's see how they like what we've got." Shining said. He charged up magic in his horn and started firing at the enemies, scoring several direct hits, none of which did anything at all. Then he had to quickly shift to a shield, in the face of a massed counterattack with whatever those weapons the enemy carried were.

"At least your shield works." Marsh said as he watched the energy blasts fizzle against it."

"Yeah, it's something." Shining agreed. "But we've still gotta keep pulling back. The shots aren't getting through, but from what we're seeing I'd be surprised if the troops themselves didn't walk right past like it wasn't there."

"What are your orders Captain?" A Pegasus named Gliding Wing asked.

"For now, fall back. And you all have permission to speak freely on any ideas you've got."

"I have a big blank sir." Gliding Wing said. "Didn't Faust say we could take these guys working together?"

An Earth Pony Lieutenant, Strong Wall by name, said "But we're not really combining anything are we?"

"What do you mean Lieutenant?" Shining demanded.

"What I mean, sir, is that we're still just using our magic, just like the Humans are still just using their machines! There's no real merger of the two!"

"He may have a point Captain!" Marsh said, "There are experts on both our worlds trying to figure out how to do that!"

"I knew I should've talked to my sister before we came." Shining groused. "They've already got some good mergers going in Unity. In fact..." Shining Armor cast his mind back to his first extended talk with Twilight through the windows, when she had insisted on telling him everything that had happened since Ponyville was taken. In particular, he remembered how she said they had driven off some very persistent, and nearly invulnerable, local predators... "Mystic Arcanum!" He shouted for one of his Unicorn troops.

"Sir!"

"I can't let this shield drop. I assume you know explosives spells?"

"Yes sir Captain sir!"

"Marsh! I need a couple of rounds!"

"Here!"

"Arcanum! Enchant these with with the explosives spells! Pattern the enchantment to detonate on impact!"

Mystic Arcanum's horn glowed. "Done!"

"Fire away Marsh! Let's see what it does!"

Agent Marsh took aim at the nearest of the enemy soldiers and fired, resulting in two surprises. The first was, that the shell did not explode. But it did penetrate the target's defenses, knocking him to the ground dead. "Why didn't it blow?" Gliding Wing wondered.

"A good question for later." Shining said. "At least it got him."

They continued to back away as the enemy advanced. The small team was catching up to the retreating Canadian line, which forced the enemies to slow and fight as well, and gave them a chance to seek cover. "So what should we do now?" Shining asked.

Marsh answered "We'll need to fall back to Iqaluit, inform Whitmore, Celestia, and the other leaders of what happened... Though... I've got one more of those shells. Seeing as they don't seem to actually explode for some reason, maybe we should put it to a better use."

Shining grinned. "What do you have in mind?"

"How would you feel about getting ourselves a prisoner of war?"

"I'd say that would be very beneficial. But how?"

"If you're willing to take a risk, we'll let one of them get close. Maybe even inside the shield if you're right about them walking through it. Then I go for a good shot, something to hopefully incapacitate but not kill, and we carry it back with us." Marsh said.

Shining mulled that over. "Risks are necessary. Gliding Wing, can you carry one of them?"

"As long as it's no heavier than it looks, no problem." The Pegasus confirmed.

"Agent Marsh, let's do this."

They crept back out in front of the lines, Shining activating his shield again as soon as they were clear. The enemies were everywhere along the northern horizon, but one group, perhaps a single division, was closer. Shining motioned to them, and Marsh nodded, and opened fire with regular ammunition. This put them on the radar, and energy bolts began slamming into the shield yet again. The troops charged, but the terrain of ice flows shattered by bombings worked against them, and a handful of outliers advanced far ahead of the main force. In particular, one of the troops was well ahead of any of his comrades. He got to the shield, and as Shining predicted walked right through, raising his weapon as he came.

He was too slow. Agent Marsh's rifle cracked, and the enchanted bullet tore through the troops's defenses, knocking him to the ground unconscious. "Great shot Marsh! Wing, grab him up and let's haul flank back outta here!" Shining yelled. Gliding Wing grabbed up the soldier, while Mystic Arcanum tried to pick up his weapon in a magical aura but couldn't do so. They retreated back again, behind the lines, and headed for Iqaluit as fast as they could.

"Arcanum, what happened?" Shining asked.

"Apologies sir. I thought it would be a good idea to bring the weapon too, but I just couldn't get a magical grip on it."

"Something to do with why magic by itself can't hurt them?" Marsh asked.

Mystic Arcanum nodded. "That would be my guess."

"Well at least we got this guy." Shining said. "I just hope we can figure out some answers from him..."

XXXXX

After breakfast, everyone gathered around the Tardis again. The door was closed, the Doctor still inside running his checks on the time circuits and other systems. They were generally split into two groups at this point. One included Gandalf, Tess, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. They would remain on Eqqus, and along with Princess Luna go north, to the Windigo Lands, in search of Star Swirl. The other group included Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Jim Lake, Claire Nunez, Toby Domzalski, and Blinky. The Tardis would deliver them to Arcadia's Earth, to search for Merlin.

The Tardis door opened and the Doctor trotted out. "Well then, everything looks good. We should be going."

"Good luck Y'all!" Applejack waved.

"Good luck to you too!" Twilight waved back.

Luna looked to Gandalf. "Shall we be on our way? It is a long journey."

Gandalf nodded. "Yes, but... Twilight Sparkle, one more thing if you will?"

"Yes?"

"I... Feel that I should warn you... Make no mistake, Merlin's heart is in the right place, he means well, and he genuinely is a force for good." Gandalf said, "But his personality can be a bit... ...Abrasive."

"'Abrasive?'" Twilight asked, head cocked.

"Twilight." Luna said. When Twilight looked at her she continued "Gandalf is attempting, using polite words, to warn you that his compatriot is an ass."

"Merlin's a donkey!?" Pinkie asked.

"No."

"But... Oooooohhhh..."

"Yes quite." Gandalf confirmed. "Try not to let it bother you. Just get him back and I'll reign him in. And now, yes, we really must be on our way." He turned and started walking north, the rest of the Eqqus team following close behind.

"Well let's be on our way too then." Twilight said.

They turned towards the Tardis, and the Doctor opened the door, and out fell...

"Aja?" Everyone exclaimed.

The girl held up her hands. "I can explain!"

"I don't think you have to." Twilight said. "You wanted to do your part since your brother did his."

"Yes! And since I am after all training to be a warrior, what better way?"

"Well, we are short one compared to the other team." Rainbow said.

"And it's not like we can take her back." Claire added.

"Let's just board shall we?" the Doctor said, "You can work it out inside."

"All right." Twilight sighed. Not even to Earth yet, and already there were problems. She hoped it wasn't an omen...