Unity: A Tale of Arcadia

by Kieva Lynn


Book Three: Chapter Six

Book Three: Uncertain Days

Chapter Six

Shining Armor held his ears back as the crashing and booming of the battle raged on. They had met the enemy fifty miles northeast of Detroit (What was with humans and their weird mispronunciations of pony place names?) and had been fighting for hours now. The switch to explosive rounds had worked as well as General Morton had reported from Equestria: Faced with a no win situation the enemy shields were little protection and the combined human and pony forces were at last holding their own in a fight.

In truth, Shining was amazed at how well the enemy was managing to hold it's position. They had been lobbing their own ranged attacks at the defenders, but fewer of those were getting through. Save for the very front line where some melee combat had taken place the human's casualties were minimal while the orcs were being pounded hard. They had reserves of course, it had been known from early on that as the front lines pushed forward more troops filled in the space behind them, sent from, well, wherever they were coming from. But troop movements took time, even for this enemy, and recon flights confirmed they were losing soldiers quicker than they were replacing them. "They've got to retreat soon!" Shining exclaimed, "Unless they're willing to sacrifice this entire division!"

"I hope you're right! Ammo's still good but if they keep pushing we'll run dry sooner or later!" Agent Marsh agreed.

Overhead, a trio of warplanes streaked towards the front line, bombs slung beneath their wings. As they approached, fire began rising from the enemy, both cannon fire and also... "Are those?" Someone shouted.

Shining nodded. "Changelings. I guess they finally decided to send them here too."

The Changeling drones flew higher and higher, climbing as fast as they could. It was clear that they intended to intercept the planes, though that seemed like madness until the first drone exploded. It had pulled the cord on it's bomb too soon though, and the plane it meant to destroy escaped. Then the other drones were swarming about, trying to get close enough to take down the planes. It didn't take them long to comprehend that they were far too slow for that. As the planes dropped their bombs, the drones went for a new strategy: They dived, catching up to the falling bombs, and exploding themselves and the bombs with them in mid air, too high to damage the troops below. Then, with the bombs neutralized and the planes retreating out of range, they chose a new target...

"Incoming!" Marsh shouted, and Shining Armor began to charge up a shield. The Changeling drones were fast, diving into concentrations of troops and detonating their bombs as they came. Shining Armor extended his shield as far as he safely could, protecting about half of the army division he and Marsh were accompanying, wincing at the shocks going through his shield as drone after drone exploded against it. The bombardment finally stopped, and he lowered the shield. "Are you okay!?" Marsh asked.

"I'll have a headache in the morning but I'm fine." Shining answered. "That was a nasty tactic."

"Suicide bombers. We've seen it before, though this was played more like the Japanese kamikaze attacks in the second world war than what we're used to seeing these days." Marsh explained.

"Strange that Chrysalis would go along with it though... I mean, she doesn't really care about her drones, they are expendable to her, but she's not wasteful. To use them as fodder on that level, it's not like her." Shining mused.

Marsh suggested "Maybe it's not her shot to call anymore."

"Maybe."

Before Shining could say anymore, a pegasus scout, Whispering Wind, landed beside him and saluted. "Glad to see you're intact Captain. That was vicious."

"Glad to be intact private. Report."

"Yes sir. The back most ranks of the enemy army is beginning to pull back. I expect a retreat is underway."

"That's excellent news." Marsh cheered. They watched as the enemy did indeed begin to withdraw. The army maintained fire on them until they were out of range, but no further air attacks were attempted, given the threat of more Changeling bombers. Soon the enemy was out of sight over the horizon.

"Do we pursue?" Whispering Wind asked.

"Probably not yet." Shining answered, "But it's the human's call. Marsh?" He looked to see Agent Marsh speaking with someone over his cellphone. The man seemed upset, and when he was finally finished with the conversation Shining learned why.

"We've been flanked." Marsh said, and held his phone where Shining and Whispering Wind could see the screen. On it was video from New York City. An enormous airship hung over Central Park, and hundreds of Changeling drones were swarming out and down to attack the city, while the ship itself held air force fighters and bombers at bay with weapons and shields of it's own.

"Buck." Shining hissed...

XXXXX

"Twi--- S---kle..."

"Huh?" Twilight looked all around, finding herself in a void. "Who's there?" She asked.

"T----ght Sparkle... Y-- must h--r me...." The voice came again. It was unlike any voice Twilight had ever heard, feminine, yes, and with a quality of youth in it's tone, but also deep, resounding, ancient and wise beyond her experience.

"I hear you!" Twilight called out. She looked around again, and the realization came to her mind that she was dreaming.

"S--nd f---... You --st be re--y..."

This was a dream, but the voice was real. Twilight felt certain. "I hear you! But it's not clear!" She yelled as loud as she could.

"Th---- g-nera-s y-ur f-e will se--... T--ee k--sto--s... It wan-- y-u to de---t th-m..."

"Three... What? It wants...?" Twilight was straining to understand.

"B-t def--t t--m you mu-t..."

"But why....? I don't understand! I can't hear you clearly enough!" Twilight exclaimed. She was afraid, for she felt certain the voice was imparting something vital.

"WARE!" The voice boomed, and Twilight caught the word clearly before it spoke again softer "Wh-n fel--d is t-e t-r--d, f--- the en--y w--l be... F-ee t-en and th--e..."

"Free? Free what?" Twilight asked. But then she sat up in bed with a yelp.

"Twi?" A knock sounded at the door, and Twilight needed a moment to remember she was staying at the Apple house until the wizards were finished. The door opened and Applejack poked her head in. "Twilight?"

"I just had the strangest dream." Twilight explained. "But I don't think i t was just a dream."

"Y'all mean that lucid dreamin' thing? Had a few of those in my day." Applejack said.

Twilight nodded. "That. But not just that... Applejack, something was trying to talk to me. In the dream. Something real."

"Real? You're sure?"

"Positive."

"Well come on then. Sounds like you need t' have a word with Princess Luna." Applejack said. "And I'll come along 'cause it's pretty clear you're still unsettled..."

Twilight smiled. "Thanks Applejack. You're a good friend."

They made their way into town and to the town hall, where Twilight activated the window to Equestria and waited. It took longer for Luna to appear than she had expected, and when the Princess did show up she looked exhausted. "Forgive my state please Twilight. Applejack. I had to assist Celestia with the transport of a large weapon to Equestria and I am still not recovered." Luna said.

"I see. Princess, I was hoping to consult with you about a dream I just had..." Twilight spelled out what had happened in the dream, leaving out nothing.

"And you believe the voice spoke true? Hmmm..." Luna pondered over the issue.

"Have y'all ever heard of anything like this before Princess?"

"I have. Though it has been a long time." Luna thought for a moment more. "Twilight, I would like to take you back into the dreamworld and replay what you saw and heard. But, it will need to wait, I am far too weak at the moment. Perhaps tomorrow, or the next night?"

"I'll be ready when you are Princess."

XXXXX

The next morning, Derpy Hooves awoke bright and early. As a postmare, she always had to do so, even if the volume of mail was much lessened with only internal correspondence within the town itself to deliver. There was, she knew, talk of establishing a system for transcribing mail from Earth and Eqqus through the window and printing it out for delivery in Unity. But that was a long time coming, so for now her daily workload was pretty simple.

After rousing Dinky from her night's sleep (Always a challenge, the filly could sleep like a centuries old dragon), and getting her fed, cleaned, and out the door for a summer day with her friends, Derpy took the time for a cup of hot tea before strapping on her Royal Equestrian Mail Service saddlebags and winging her way to the post office. It promised to be another calm, tranquil day.

She arrived to find bedlam. The entire office was swamped with thousands of letters, all with 'Pinkie Pie, c/o Sugarcube Corner' as the return address. Derpy's jaw dropped open for a moment in surprise, then she shook her head to get her eyes aligned. "What in the world!?"

"Oh thank God you're here!" A voice called out. Derpy looked to see Allen Granger, the local Postmaster, standing in the midst of the chaos. "I came in this morning to all of this! What is Pinkie doing now!?"

An earth pony head Derpy recognized as belonging to Lucky Day popped up out of the letters. "Hard to say. It is Pinkie after all."

"She delivered all of this last night!?" Derpy asked.

"Seems so." Allen replied. "And from the looks of it, there's one for every single person in town."

"And she somehow got inside, and just dumped the whole lot in the middle of the floor." Lucky explained. "That's why we're in this disaster!"

Another postal worker, an older human woman named Margo, came in pushing a wheeled dump cart and started piling the letters into it. She stopped after a moment and picked a letter out of the pile. "Hey chief! This one's for you!" She called out.

Derpy took to the air and flew over the letters to Margo, and then flew back over and handed Allen his letter. "Open it! Maybe we'll see what Pinkie Pie is doing!"

With a faint ripping sound Allen opened the envelope and pulled out the letter. He began to read:

"Hi Allen! Pinkie Pie here with big news! We're having a party for the whole town tonight! A chance to enjoy classical music, slow dance with your special somepony or somebody, and just take your mind off all of the scary stuff in the world right now! Don't worry about the R.S.V.P., I know it wouldn't get to me in time. Just come to the High School gymnasium at six this evening! Well anyway, I've gotta go. Writing sixteen thousand personal letters by hoof is hard! See you tonight! -Pinkie Pie"

"She wrote all of these by hoof!?" Lucky exclaimed.

"In one night." Derpy added, clearly in awe.

"Okay double time it everyone! We've got a lot of work to do if we're going to deliver all of this today!" Allen said. Derpy and Lucky saluted and set to work. It promised to be a crazy day...

XXXXX

"Careful now Merlin... The fit has to be exact."

"And which one of us made it in the first place?"

"You, of course. But we've used more of the Equestrian mythril than I expected and I'd hate to waste more. I do plan to return most of it you know."

"Yes, the economy will appreciate the return of whatever we don't use."

"I must admit this is a clever variation on my original design."

"It will be clever if it works. Which we'll not find out if we don't finish it."

"Yes of course. First it's 'careful' then it's 'hurry.'"

"Merlin..."

"Yes Starswirl, I know. I've almost got it now... There!"

"The glow is unchanged."

"Well it shouldn't be should it?"

"Yes I suppose you're right."

"What matters is, it has accepted the new magic without disruption."

"Indeed... One down, two to go..."