//------------------------------// // Chapter One: Anomalies // Story: Heroes and Allies // by LewisClarke //------------------------------// Preface: The Authors Notes. (You can skip this.) I wrote this story to combat the notion the Human race has to be portrayed negatively in stories. Frankly, I grow tired of stories where human characters leave their families behind, (who presumably grieve over their disappearance for the rest of their lives,) just to live in a fantasy land. I also grow tired of fics like The Conversion Bureau, where humans are looked down on as inferior, so you won't find anything like that here. There, I said it. In this story I endeavored to show the real Equestria, the world the Equestrian Department of Censorship would never allow to get into the show, and when two great worlds meet, they meet as equals... -Lynolius I don't own MLP or anything related to it. That goes to Hasbro and Studio B. I don't own any media linked to, or featured in this story, and don't claim to. Sue me, and friendship goes out of the window! I mean it! I am not a nice guy when you sue me! Three small scout fighter jets soared over the peaceful plains of rural Georgia, on the eastern seaboard of America, on a planet called Earth. …“Dobbins Command, this is Sparrow One. It's happening again.”... …“Come again, Sparrow?”.... …“We think we've detected an anomaly. Bearing 101, at 42,000 feet, about two miles south-east from our current location.”... …“Are you absolutely sure!? Does the rest of your flight detect it as well!?”... … “Hold on... Yes, confirmed. There is definitely something up there. Should we investigate?”... …“Immediately! This is the closest we've ever come to catching one this early! Your squadron is the only one in the airspace, so get up there ASAP!”... …“You've got it command.”... …“If what we think is true, who knows what it could mean for all of us. Your fighters have quite the sensor suite, and I'm not sure if it's blind luck or a miracle that you are all so close, but go on and start scanning.”.... …“Yes sir! Looks like we have some work to do. Flight! Follow me up!” …. Chapter one: Anomalies It was the black of the night in the city of Canterlot, in the Kingdom of Equestria, on a planet called Earth. Celestia, the ever graceful monarch of the land, woke in a strange fright. This was odd, because the alicorn princess hadn't had very many nightmares since her sister's return. “I don't remember dreaming of anything,” she thought out loud. “-and certainly nothing unpleasant.” She paused to think to herself. It was almost like some force had awoken her, yet her bed chambers were empty. “Perhaps this is one of Luna's tricks,” she thought, but there was no sign of her either. Celestia reached out with her magic and felt a strange feeling of sickness creeping over her. Not a physical illness, but one of an almost magical nature. Worrying that something was amiss, the princess couldn’t help but dash out of her famous Canterlot Palace and take watch over the night, as she had done many times before when her beloved sister couldn't. After a few minutes of brisk flying, she noticed there was no immediate threat to be seen. No monsters harassing the locals. No heinous crimes being committed. No unimaginable horrors being unleashed. There was, however, a pair of foals throwing rocks into a stream that ran by the palace. She would have worried, if she hadn't noticed that their parents were standing nearby, talking and watching over them. She landed, and walked over to what looked like a small family. "Perhaps they felt this strange energy," she thought. “Greetings.” she said in a friendly but concerned tone. A very excited stallion quickly ran toward her and bowed deeply. “Hello princess! It is an honor to finally meet you! I am Rain Strike, your humble subject, and this is my wife Whistle Willow.” proclaimed the stallion, a pegasus, who she figured was the father of the foals. The stallion gave another short bow, and turned just in time to keep one of his children from pushing the other into the pond. His greeting sounded as though he was an official greeter, one that had been waiting his entire life to use those skills with someone as esteemed as her. With a much more worried look, the mother, a unicorn mare, quietly asked, “Is something the matter? Are we doing something wrong?” Internally, Celestia wondered why a family was throwing rocks into a pond at three in the morning, but she didn't want them to think that they were guilty for no reason. After all, it is certainly not illegal to toss stones into a pond, regardless of the time. “Oh no,” she quickly answered. “I felt like going out for a walk, or fly, as it were. I noticed your family enjoying themselves, and I came to say hi. It's nice to spend time with my subjects without a parade being set up in my honor, though I must admit that this is a strange hour to be out.” The family looked at the princess with an almost dumbstruck expression. It's not every day that a princess and co-ruler of Equestria shows up just to shoot the breeze, but more or less, it was happening right in front of them. The family explained that they were coming home from a family visit to Applelanta, and that they had decided to rest at this calm point on their journey and set up a camp. Appeased that nothing seemed to be wrong in the area, at least for the time being, the princess began a playful competition with the foals to see who could hit a small lily pad with their rocks, and the young ones all warmed up to the idea that their princess could be a normal pony too, just like them. The parents even joined in at one point. "My! My! That's three!" Celestia chuckled. "I must say, this has all been quite refreshing, but I must take my leave of you now." The princess nodded. Remembering why she left the castle in the first place, Celestia said her goodbyes and prepared to go back, she stopped, and turned back to face the family. "You wouldn't happen to have felt anything strange during your journey, would you?" Celestia cautiously spoke. “My wife said she felt odd earlier, said something about a stomach ache,” spouted the father, “Dear, do you still feel ill?” he asked. The mother thought for a few seconds, shook her head and said, “Come to think of it, I feel fine now. It was probably something I ate along the way.” She smiled contently. “Is there something we should have noticed?” “No, not really, I was simply wondering,” the princess quickly answered. She still felt a bit odd herself, but regardless, she gave a dainty wave and bade them goodbye once again. With that, she was off into the night. ****************** A lone earth pony trotted along a deserted path towards his home in Ponyville. Lime Tree had always felt... out of place. As an earth pony, he found himself trapped between a silly, misguided jealousy for the other pony races, and pride for his strong earth pony heritage. He didn't hate unicorns or pegasai, but he did envy them at times. It was true that earth ponies were physically the strongest, and had a deep connection to the land itself, but unicorns could do some of the same things they did with their magic. "That never did seem fair," the earth pony thought to himself. As a foal, he had always wondered why earth ponies did the farming and unicorns were of the rich and famous nobility. In his mind, it made a lot more sense for the earth ponies to make laws, seeing as you don't need a horn or wings to do that. He typically went into deep thought when on trips, to pass the time. But today, he was coming home from a trip to Canterlot, where he had proposed the very same ideas he was thinking now. He wasn't actually a senator, but he had friends who were. The nobility had chuckled at the thought of mere commoners making national law. “That must be how they see us,” he thought. “-lowly peasants.” There were earth ponies in Pony Parliament, but there weren’t very many, and they never seemed to be able to get any say in decisions, not that parliament had much power anyway. He was no noble, but he had learned a lot from his friends in government, who had encouraged him to study law in school. Maybe he could change things. The earth pony shrugged. “-or at least restore some balance.” His philosophical thought process was cut short by a loud inhaling sound, as if some beast was preparing to utter its worst roar. He had taken a shortcut through a small section of the Everfree forest, as he often did, and realized that the sound he'd just heard could be one of the forest's many fearsome creatures preparing to devour him whole. He looked up, and saw something far more terrifying. This terrible beast opened its gaping maw right in front of him. It opened its mouth farther than he had seen any creature do so, short of a dragon. The worst part of it, was that this creature was a sickening, almost tooth decaying shade of bright, hot, pink. “Limey! You're back!” the beast roared. “Yes Ms. Pie, I have indeed returned.” the green earth pony stated in a clearly fake noble accent; one that Pinkie Pie found extremely amusing. While she laughed, Lime Tree beat her to what he was sure she would say next: “You think you should throw a “Green-earth-pony-acquaintance-has-finally-come-back-to-his-home-town-party?” the young stallion suggested. The pink “beast” had a look on her face that could only betray that she was completely amazed that somepony had actually suggested that she throw a party. She quickly snapped out of it. "One, super, awesome, welcome home party, coming up!" and with an excited nod, she ran away at a speed that made Lime wonder if she ever ran the Running of Leaves Races in the fall. Shaking his head in wonder, he took stock of his surroundings. It seemed that he had been in such deep thought, that he hadn't even realized that he'd unwittingly trotted right into Ponyville square. “Home.” he thought. “It's about time.” ********************** A while later, Lime Tree trotted up to his humble abode, and was about to open the door when he realized that a certain pink party pony could be waiting behind it, ready to surprise him. “Not this time!” he smugly thought to himself. He swung the door open, ready to be assaulted by streamers and balloons. He braced himself, just to see that his home, a small cottage near the edge of town, was exactly as he had left it. Utterly amazed at the sheer lack of partying in front of him, he regained his composure and went inside. “Pinkie must be going soft,” he mused. He put his bags down, and walked upstairs to his bedroom. As he opened the door, an explosion the likes of which he had never seen before detonated right in front of him, an explosion of ponies, some of which he considered his friends, all yelled, “SURPRISE!” And he had never been more surprised in all of his life. ******************** “Luna, I’m glad you're awake!” the princess of the sun spoke urgently. “You are aware that I'm almost always awake at night, correct? It's kind of my element.” the night princess uttered matter-of-factly. Her face then lit up. “I have just used two contractions! I have endeavored to speak more modern vernacular recently, and this week I have devoted my study to contractions!” “As proud as I am of you,” Celestia began, “I came to ask if you felt any strange disturbances tonight.” “I fear not, though I must admit I did suffer from a bit of indigestion earlier, I assumed it was that guest chef from Prance, but I just could not stop eating, it was most delicious! Do tell, did you ever get any of-” Luna stopped as she noticed her sister's worried look. “Pray tell, sister. Is something bothering you?” the midnight blue alicorn asked. “No, maybe I... I am not sure. I think I’m just tired.” the exhausted alabaster alicorn spoke. “Well I’d say that it'd be best if you'd try and get some sleep. See what I did there?” the now bubbly moon princess proudly spoke. “Yes Luna, more contractions.” a very tired Celestia muttered. Luna wasn't done. “I'm most exited!" "Don't you mean exc-" Celestia tried to correct, but was cut off. "I'd think not. There! I have done it again! Ha!” Luna exclaimed. Celestia figured that if there was ever a time to be unconscious, that time was now. “Good night, Luna,” she sighed, and went up to bed. Hoping that she was worried over nothing. ****************** … “Sir, the phenomenon is gone, but we got some really cool readings off of it.”... … “What'd you get?!” … … “If I’m reading this right, there is a double radar reading in the vicinity of the event. There were also some really strange energy signatures emanating from it.”... … “You can't mean...” … “Yeah, it's like there’s something inside it.”.... … “Are you saying that it's some kind of portal?”... …. “Um, no, but it really did seem like you could just fly into it.”... …. “Return home Immediately. We need to further debrief you. Good work, boys and girls, you may have just made one the most important discoveries in human history!”.... …. “That'd be something. Alright sir, we're on our way.” ….