//------------------------------// // Book Four: Chapter One // Story: Unity: A Tale of Arcadia // by Kieva Lynn //------------------------------// Book Four: Our Worlds At War Chapter One The Element Bearers and Trollhunters watched the video footage from New York, of the mysterious monster now attacking the city. "Disgusting blob..." Rainbow Dash muttered. They watched as the creature roamed at will through the city, tearing things up everywhere it went, keeping attempted counter attacks at bay with the acid attack it had already demonstrated the first time a warplane tried to destroy it. Luckily, most of Manhattan's inhabitants had by now evacuated or taken shelter in the cores of large strong buildings or deep in the subways. Given New York's population, there were bound to still be people in the way. But not nearly as many as they might have feared. "Well we have to do something." Jim said. "Gandalf, how does that teleporting spell you included in the amulets work?" "With yourself and your pony partners in close proximity to each other, hold the amulet aloft and think on your target. You will all three be transported in ten seconds." Gandalf explained. Starswirl added "Be warned, that each of the three amulet groups will be moved independently. Until you have some practice, it is quite likely the groups will arrive up to several hundred feet from each other." "Then let's get started." Twilight said. She looked to Luna, watching through the comm window. "Princess, I still want to examine that dream I had, but it will have to wait until we get back." "I understand Twilight. I will be ready." Luna nodded. Jim said "Okay, Twilight and Applejack with me, Rarity and Fluttershy with Claire, Pinkie and Dash with Tobes." Once everyone was in the proper positions, the three Trollhunters held their amulets high, as Gandalf had said, and focused their thoughts on New York City. They all vanished ten seconds later. "And now we wait." Merlin said. "Unless you go and help them." Blinky suggested. Gandalf said "That time will come Blinkous. But not yet." "Mithrandir..." Tess said, "So long as you have time now, I'd like to ask about something. Something Twilight and I were discussing before you arrived..." XXXXX Jim, Twilight, and Applejack found themselves in a dark alleyway in between a pair of ten story buildings. "It worked." Applejack swallowed. "Yeah, now let's find the others." Jim agreed. "But first: 'For the Glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command!" Moments later, armored and ready, they ran out into the streets. It was a chaotic mess, with vehicles abandoned in all different directions, often blocking a straight path through. They began to make their way through the mess, only to be sighted by a trio of orc soldiers. The orcs roared and charged, firing their weapons as they came. Jim and Applejack reacted swiftly, Jim deflecting blasts with his sword as he advanced on the center orc. The enemy soldier didn't even try to avoid Jim's attack, confident he was safe all the way up until the last moment when he fell. Applejack, meanwhile, charged the rightmost orc and bucked it hard in the chest. It went down, still breathing but not getting back up. Then Twilight, seeing that something about the armor the wizards had made allowed their attacks to work on the enemies, blasted the final orc with her horn. Like the one Applejack had taken down, it wasn't dead, but it was in no shape to fight anymore. "I guess bein' made by human and pony wizards means this stuff counts as mergin' our abilities." Applejack said. "Good news." Jim agreed. "Now let's find the others before any more of those guys show up." Meanwhile Claire, Fluttershy, and Rarity had arrived in Central Park itself. Claire activated their armor immediately, a good thing for almost as soon as they were there this team was set upon by a pair of changeling drones. The drones dived in from directly above, and dropped a pair of small bombs. "Run!" Rarity exclaimed, and dived for cover herself behind a large tree, while Fluttershy hid in a trash receptacle and Claire ran as hard as she could down the path they had arrived on. Luckily, the bombs weren't terribly powerful and no one was hurt. But now the changelings were coming again. They attacked from opposing directions, one aiming for Claire, the other for Rarity. "My kingdom for a shield!" Rarity exclaimed, and to her surprise the glowing bands on her armor momentarily glowed brighter and a shield of mythril appeared on her left foreleg. "What!?" She barely had time to wonder before the drone struck the shield full speed. Rarity was knocked backwards, head over tail, and the changeling got knocked into the sky before, unable to correct it's flight, it crashed on top of it's partner approaching Claire. Both were out of the fighting, at least for a time. "Where did that come from?" Fluttershy wondered. "Maybe the wizards threw in some extras?" Claire suggested. "It's not like we had time to ask them." "Still you'd think they could have said something." Rarity said, examining the shield. "I wonder how I get rid of-" The shield vanished even as she spoke the words. "Hmm. Well that's easy." "Good. Let's see how well this new staff's teleporting works. I'm gonna try to take us straight to Jim." Claire said. She concentrated, and a portal opened up before them, shimmering white rather than the dark portals the old Shadow Staff had made. They stepped through. While all this was happening, Toby, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash arrived on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. "Great. I hope the elevators are working." Toby sighed. "Why?" Dash asked, hovering just past the deck. "Funny, but I can't..." Toby looked at his amulet. "They did say I could control the warhammer's weight now... Let's armor up! 'For the wisdom of Starswirl, Warhammer is mine to command!'" Armor in place, Toby said a silent prayer and jumped. It worked as well as he had expected, the warhammer in 'lighter than air' mode allowing him (And Pinkie, also holding on tight,) to glide safely to the ground while Rainbow Dash flew alongside. "Not bad." Dash said when they reached the ground. "Now where's everyone else?" "Don't worry, I'm sure Claire will portal them all to us." Toby said. Pinkie nodded. "Right, but in the meantime we have a teensie little problem." "Problem?" Dash asked. "Yeppers! Them!" Pinkie pointed to a team of orcs running at them, weapons held ready. Three things happened all at once. Toby swung warhammer, slamming it into the ground with a blow that rattled the approaching enemy and broke their coordination. Then, Rainbow Dash swooped in and unloaded a barrage of kicks and punches on the closest orcs, driving them back. As they tried to reform and attack again, Pinkie was suddenly in their midst. The orcs tried in vain to grab hold of the pink pony, but she was faster than they could react to. This had the consequence of causing many, many 'friendly fire' incidents, orcs falling from the blasts of their own weapons. But even more orcs were coming from behind the first wave, pouring out of buildings they had been clearing. "I think we're gonna need some more help here!" Toby shouted. "We can take 'em!" Rainbow Dash argued. "Especially if Pinkie keeps-" Dash noticed that her friend was no longer among the orcs. "Hay! Where'd she go!?" "Right here silly filly!" Pinkie answered, popping up from behind Dash. "But how... Oh never mind! Let's fight!" "Actually I think Toby's right. We need more help." Pinkie said. As if she were a pink pony prophet (And who knows? It's Pinkie.) A portal opened and admitted the other two teams. "Tobes! What have we got?" Jim asked. "Whole army." Toby pointed. They must have had the misfortune to arrive in the midst of the proverbial hornet's nest, as there were hundreds of Orcs charging now. "We have to lose these guys if we're even gonna get to the real target!" Twilight exclaimed. Then, without warning, the ponies began to rise up, hovering in the air, their elements shining brightly. Elements and eyes aglow, they unleashed a torrent of power that cascaded over the orc army, turning it to stone in mere moments. Their work done, the elements faded and the ponies dropped back to the ground, still in their armor. "W.... What was that!?" Claire shouted. Twilight explained "That was the power of the Elements of Harmony. But they've never activated entirely on their own like that before. Strange..." "Can you use that again anytime soon?" Toby asked, "Because I'm getting a vibe like we just blew our limit break on trash mobs." "Disturbingly, that comparison actually made sense to me. There is a wait, while they recharge." Twilight answered. "But it's not too long." "About an hour, if I remember correctly." Rarity added. "Well I can hardly call the power wasted with so many of them..." Twilight shook her head. "Yeah, let's not look the gift hor... Well, let's take this as a win and go find our real target." Jim said. "Sounds like a plan." Applejack agreed. They headed north. As they went, Rarity said "You could have said it darling... We are familiar with human idioms after the past year after all." Jim could only laugh... XXXXX Back at the Golden Oaks Library in Unity, Tess had told Gandalf, Merlin, and Starswirl what she had learned from Twilight about the strange similarities in cultural observances, as well as about the faint magical current which was present in both the Red Book (Original and copies) and Starswirl's prophecies. "So, it seems strange right?" She concluded, "Do you have any ideas at all on what's happening?" "Curious..." Gandalf mused. "We know, of course, that Faust left her prophecy and arranged events to bring pony and human into contact with each other. I wonder now if perhaps she has not been more busy than we thought. Consider, Christmas predates Hearthswarming and Valentine's Day predates Hearts and Hooves Day, while Nightmare Night comes long before Halloween, at least Halloween in it's current form. Perhaps Faust was keeping tabs and influencing important festivals to be similar, to ease the union of the two races." Starswirl said "But that would only explain the general form of things. Surely even one as powerful as Faust could not have bought about the tiny details seen in how the celebrations are the same. Could not have, and I suspect, would not have been allowed to meddle that deeply into free will even if she does technically have the power." "A valid point." Gandalf conceded. Tess was confused. "You've lost me. Just who or what is this Faust? I mean I know she's the mother of the Equestrian princesses, but... What is she beyond that, to be as powerful as you're saying?" "Well she's an Oyarsa of course." Merlin said. At Tess' still confused look, Gandalf elaborated Merlin's statement. "You know that we you call wizards are in fact Maiar, servants of He whom your ancestors called Eru." Tess nodded. "And then, you also know that beyond us are the Valar, far more powerful servants." Gandalf said. Tess nodded again, and Gandalf continued "An Oyarsa is even more powerful than a Valar. Each of them is, typically, assigned to the protection of an entire world. Faust was Eqqus' Oyarsa, until she was reassigned to a higher posting." "And you think she's responsible for these coincidences?" Tess asked. "As Starswirl says, on the basic level yes though there may be more going on as well." The Doctor, who had been listening in quietly, suggested "It could just be some quantum entanglement. Link things together in the right way and they follow each other no matter how far apart they are." "Particles yes, entire cultural traditions?" Tess countered. "I seriously doubt that. Still, I suppose we've gotten some of the answer and that's better than nothing... What about the other issue? The magic current in the books?" "May I borrow you goggles to see for myself?" Gandalf asked. Tess handed them over, already set to scan magic fields, and the wizard spent a great deal of time examining Twilight's copy of Starswirl's prophecies through them before passing the goggles to Starswirl who looked briefly before passing them to Merlin. While Merlin looked, Gandalf said "Also curious. You said that Twilight proposed a connection to us as an explanation for this phenomenon. I can categorically deny that theory." "Then what...? I mean it's been there from the beginning. Even before we had things like these goggles the elder elves could sense the current in the original Red Book." "Yes, and I suspect it's been there in all of my writings from the beginning as well." Starswirl said. "But as for why it's there, I too am at a loss." "Weird." Tess said. "And troubling." Merlin said. "Things of this nature, unexplained things that is, have a way of biting you in the rear at the worst possible moment. We need answers." "Then let us start looking for them." Gandalf agreed...