//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10 
// Story: Homeland Security 
// by Verathuum 
//------------------------------//

	“I don’t expect you to know Auflorsung is an empire instead of a country; especially since you know so little as it is. Anyway, yes Auflorsung is an empire. It covers the entire world that is not already taken by your allies: the west hemisphere. Anyway, there’s a country called Alba, that’s where I’m from; at home I’m an Alban, but here I’m an Alba-Florian, or just a Florian. There’s Deutsch where Tennerac is from; Fjorl, where Dezler comes from, and there is a country called ‘Auflorsung,’ where the empire actually sprouted from, and the name stuck: that’s where we were when you and I met. It’s actually a crater, the whole country. That’s why mountains surround the whole thing. Alba is two craters: so there’s a big mountain range in the center but on either side, they quickly slope into the sea; like I said before, Auflorsung has been plagued by asteroids for a long time,” Jolterix explained.
“What are the Albans like, then?” Luna asked trying to keep him on track.
Jolterix immediately grew a large smile on his face. “Well we’re an interesting bunch, but I’ll start from the beginning. Before we had a modern civilization, we lived in tribes, head-hunted, and went into battle naked.”
Luna shot him a weird glance which he understood.
“It’s a psychological thing, I think,” he said. “Anyway, when the first empire came through, several millennia ago, we were able to hold them off so they built a big stone wall to separate us. Then over a few centuries we kind of evolved mentally and everything. That, I bet, would have been a fun time to be alive because that’s when we created kilts, or skirts for men. We’ve got our language: Gaidhlig and I find it to be much less guttural than Florian Common.”
“You named your language garlic?” Luna asked mishearing him. “How did a race that made skirts for men and a language called ‘garlic’ become the most powerful?” Luna asked herself silently.
“No, Gaidhlig: Gah-lik,” he pronounced. “So then we lived happily like we did, then the Auflorsung Empire, or “Grossereich” as they call it, came into being and sort of placed us under their rule without fighting or anything. Some treaty, I don’t know, I wasn’t there. Then a thousand years later I was born, and then a thousand years after that I met you, which leads us up to today.”
“Uh-huh,” Luna said not quite sure what to say. “Then what about you, yourself?”
“Well I was born one thousand, one hundred nineteen years ago in Alba,” he began before Luna interrupted him.
“Ha, so I am a few centuries older than you: I’m one thousand, four hundred twenty-two,” she said proudly.
“Then that makes you as old as my mother,” Jolterix said.
“Is that weird to you?”
“Not particularly,” he replied. “So then…let’s see I was born, then went to a school in Alba, then high school in Alba, then college in Alba, then I got into the military, as is required of all Florians. I got training as a pilot in college so the same was in the military. I’ll be honest with you: the military there was a joke. No one will attack a country that they’re not even sure exists so training was a minimum, discipline was a minimum…it was a fun time. I’m sure you remember Dezler say something about how he and I were on the same carrier during that time. We got out at the same time, he went into politics, and I remained a pilot. Tennerac…I didn’t meet him till afterwards.”
“Sounds like a full life,” Luna said, “Much more than I’ve done.”
“Which is?”
“I was born several years after Celestia during a war. Discord’s people were hunting mine for our body parts since we found a way to become immortal through magic, but his people couldn’t do that. They killed us and harvested our organs, then assimilated them into their own bodies so they could live forever. My people, Alimen fought back and killed most of the Draconnemen: Discord’s people. We killed them off, but they killed us off as well. My parents built a castle in the Everfree Forest where Celestia and I were born. When I was still little, two Draconnemen came and my parents had to fight them. They killed my dad and my mom died a few decades later from wounds. Celestia raised me from then on, and when we were older we formed this kingdom: Equestria. After a hundred years at the most, I became tired of her being the favorite and the main ruler, so I rebelled. She banished me to the moon for a thousand years because of it, and I only returned several years ago,” Luna explained her past.
Jolterix looked at her and stopped leaning against the balcony’s rail. “I’m so sorry,” he said solemnly. To Jolterix, he saw what he interpreted as the real reason why they needed Auflorsung’s help so much: Discord has caused a genocide before and nearly drove a race to extinction. She didn’t want to let that happen again, and he understood being a Florian threatened by extinction as well. He and Tennerac had decided a while ago that Equestria would receive military aid from Auflorsung, but he had yet to tell Dezler. He raised his helmet and turned back to Luna when she spoke.
“It’s fine,” she said, “There’s nothing that can be done now.” Jolterix simply nodded. “Especially since your and Tennerac’s presence alone has got him scared. I’ve never seen him like that,” she said smiling as if that was vengeance enough, but they both knew it was not. They stood in silence for a few moments and Luna looked at Jolterix. “Why did you stop talking?” she asked him. He ignored her inquiry and she sighed and looked into the night again. “Maybe he’s crying?” she wondered to herself with a smile. “How adorable: the invincible Florian is crying.” She smiled at that thought as she stared into the distance losing track of time.
“I think he’ll be scared when he sees this,” Jolterix finally said after an unknown amount of time. He looked up and Luna followed his example. The stars became distorted and the sky began to ripple until a visible slit tore its way across the night sky. It ripped open and sunlight poured through and a scarred land could be seen in the tear: Auflorsung or a protectorate of the empire. Inside the portal, above the cratered ground were large black objects slowly rising, or falling towards Equestria. They passed through the portal and they hovered completely still over Equestria: gigantic ships hovered silently over the land. About five ships, all weaponized and intimidating from their looks alone. Red lights stretched from the front to the rear of the ships in lines and, on occasion, intricate symbols: possibly insignias of different Florian countries. The hole in the sky sealed itself and the sunlight went away, returning Equestria back to night.
“What’s going on?” Luna asked with evident fear in her voice.
“Well I talked with Tennerac just now and we agreed that Auflorsung should help Equestria in this fight. We both got on the radio with Dezler who allowed it, and we opened the portal and now the military has arrived,” he explained.
“What portal?” Luna asked, but she was really trying to ask how the portal worked.
“Imagine a piece of paper: Equestria on one side and Auflorsung on the other. You just fold the paper so Auflorsung sits above Equestria and you can travel very fast in between the two lands. That’s basically what that portal did there,” he explained knowing what Luna was trying to ask him. “Tomorrow, your citizens are in for a big surprise.”