//------------------------------// // Chapter One // Story: Unity // by Kieva Lynn //------------------------------// Unity Chapter Two Ponyville town hall. Twilight Sparkle groaned as she picked herself up from the floor. "What happened?" She mumbled. "Heck if I know." Applejack answered. Twilight looked and felt a brief tug of annoyance that the farm mare was the only one who had apparently managed to keep on her feet through the, well, the whatever it was that had just happened. Applejack continued "All I know is, the lightning went crazy like no lightning I've ever seen before. Then there was this huge booming sound and flash of light." Standing now, Twilight shook herself off and tried to focus. Everything looked normal enough, at least inside the building. There was no smell of smoke in the air, a relief after so much lightning. And... "What is that sound!?" She exclaimed. "It just started darling." Rarity said. "High and low back and forth..." "Some kind of alarm?" Rainbow suggested. "Maybe..." Twilight pondered. "This would be a good time for an alarm to be going off." "Yeah, but what pony in their right mind'd make something so annoying?" "Good question." "Okay, let's get organized." Twilight said. "A.J., Dash, take a look around outside, see how much damage there is. Pinkie, go down into the shelter and make sure everypony is unharmed. Spike, take a letter." "Ready when you are Twilight!" The dragon said, producing quill and parchment. "Dear Princess Celestia," Twilight began, "We have just experienced a most unusual event here in Ponyville. A rogue storm of incredible power blew in from beyond the Everfree forest. The storm has dissipated now, and everypony who took shelter in the town hall seems to be okay. However, the storm itself had some most peculiar properties, of a kind that I have never personally encountered or even read about..." Twilight stopped as Spike snickered. "Something funny?" "Sorry Twi. It's just... Something You've never read about!? I never thought I'd see the day." Fluttershy and Rarity chuckled softly as well. "It does seem unlikely dear." Rarity said. Twilight shook her head. "Okay okay... Enough humor at my expense, there's a letter to send." She resumed dictating. "For one thing, Rainbow Dash swears that the storm intentionally attacked a pegasus attempting to disrupt it. While this is not entirely impossible, it would require a spell matrix to hold a consciousness magically. Which leads to the second anomaly: The storm was entirely devoid of any Thaumic energies whatsoever. As you know, this should be impossible; even if a thaumic vacuum could be created, the surrounding energies would flow into the area to correct the imbalance. With regrets, I must admit to having no idea whatsoever on how to explain this. Any assistance is appreciated. Your loyal student, Twilight Sparkle." As Spike rolled up the scroll, Fluttershy asked "Thaumic energy?" "Magic darling." Rarity replied. "Thaumic is the scientific term for it... But Twilight, are you certain? No magic in it at all?" "Zero." Twilight confirmed. "Ready to send!" Spike announced. He held out the scroll and blew fire, burning the scroll into magical energies that swirled around and around before dissipating. "Everypony's okay!" Pinkie announced, bouncing back up the stairs from below, followed by some of the braver townsponies. "Good. Now let's-" Twilight was cutoff as a shimmering green cloud appeared, and condensed into a scroll which fell at her feet. An all-too-familiar scroll. "Isn't that the same scroll Spike just sent?" Spike popped the seal and read the first line. "'Dear Princess Celestia. We have just experienced...' Yeah, that's it all right." "Why did the letter come back here?" Fluttershy asked. "They're supposed to return to sender if they can't be delivered." Spike answered. Twilight nodded. "Right. But why...?" The front doors slammed open, to reveal Applejack and Rainbow Dash with frightened expressions. "Um, Twi, y'all might wanna come take a look at this..." "Oh my, how bad is the town damaged?" "The town itself is fine, far as we can tell." Applejack said. "And as you can hear that awful sound has finally stopped too. It's just... well... Come look." With Twilight leading the way, the ponies in the lobby filed out into the now brightly-sunlit day. As they looked about it became clear that the town had indeed weathered the storm with little or no damage. It was Dinky Hooves, riding atop her mother's back, that noticed first. "Wow! Look at that!" She exclaimed, pointing off to the north. Twilight looked, and her jaw fell open. Where there should have been nothing but open fields leading up to the slopes of the lone mountain where Canterlot stood, there was now a thick forest that continued to the feet of a much larger and more intimidating chain of mountains. The peaks continued as far to the east and west as she could see, snowcapped and unfamiliar. Of Canterlot there was no sign. "W... What!?" "Where's Canterlot!?" "Where are the Princesses!?" "Where are we!?" The voices grew ever more panicked. Twilight wanted very badly to panic along with them. But she had a duty, and so instead she shouted "Okay! Calm down! Everypony just calm down right now!" "But what's happening?" A still-panicked voice shouted from the crowd. "I... I don't know." Twilight admitted. "But whatever it is, we'll all get through it if we just stick together. Amidst a commotion of ponies being jostled out of the way, the Mayor arrived and proclaimed "Miss Sparkle is correct! We need to work together to gather supplies and create a secure area. The town hall itself is our best choice for that. So, if everypony will follow me back inside, we can make our plans and get started, allowing the Element Bearers to work on the larger issue in peace." She turned and trotted back into the building, followed by the crowd. "Well thank goodness for that." Applejack said. "So, you're up Twi. What should we do?" "I think... Reconnaissance first... Rainbow Dash?" "Ready!" "I want you to fly straight up, five hundred hooves, and see whatever there is to see." Twilight said. Dash nodded, saluted, and started to fly away when Twilight quickly grabbed her by the tail. "Huh!? What gives?" "I mean it Rainbow Dash." Twilight said. "Straight up, look around, straight back down. No matter what you see, no flying off on your own!" "Okay okay, sheesh... Be right back..." Pumping her wings hard, Rainbow ascended rapidly to the altitude Twilight requested. Leveling off, she scanned the surrounding area. Mostly she saw forest, and to the north the great mountains. Ponyville itself was now situated at the center of a meadow surrounded by the forests. Looking closer, the pegasus saw that the entire town had apparently been bought here, even Fluttershy's cottage and Sweet Apple Acres, but the cutoff line was sharp along the perimeter. Thoughts of home led her to look for her own cloud house, but it was nowhere to be seen. "Great. The one thing the storm doesn't bring..." Moments later, Rainbow's ruminations on the loss of her home were cut short when she saw movement out of the corner of her eyes. Focusing, she could just barely see... ...something... hovering in the sky perhaps two miles away. "What the hay is that?" she whispered to herself. Rainbow considered ignoring Twilight's concerns and flying over for a better look. Before she could do so, however, the mystery flier descended straight down. Watching, Rainbow saw what she had somehow missed until now: Another town. Twilight and her friends watched as Rainbow Dash slowly fluttered down to the ground. "Well?" Pinkie asked. "The whole town's here." Dash replied. "Flutter's place and the farm too, but not my place... And, there's a new town that way." She pointed west. "A whole new town!?" "Yeah. Funny looking too, buildings looked a little too big and they're not made like the buildings here... And, one other thing... Something flew up from the town, then went back down." "'Something?' What kind of something?" Twilight asked. "Yes dear, there are only so many intelligent beings that can fly... Was it a pegasus, or a breezy, or (Celestia forbid), a changeling?" Rarity asked. "None of them. I don't know what it was, except that it wasn't just, like, a bird or a bug or something..." "Weird... But we need to investigate!" Twilight declared. "Come on girls, it's time to meet the neighbors..." XXXX The Spoony Bard diner, Fallow Meadows. Bert was, of course, the first one back on his feet following the flash. He peered out the diner's windows, shocked to see sunlight where there had been only the darkness of the storm. "Alright folks, everybody on your feet!" He shouted over the still roaring storm sirens. Roger stood, helping Florence up. "What the hell just happened?" "That flash... Bert, did some nutjob finally drop the bomb?" "No bomb... Least ways not a nuke." Bert said. "We're still here after all. Don't blame you for thinkin' that though, bright as it was." "So what did happen then?" Another patron asked. "I mean, something's not right here." "I don't know, but I intend to find out." Bert said. "Anyone wants to come with, I'm heading over to the Sheriff’s office. Maybe they'll know something, and maybe they can turn that damned siren off." Most of those who were in the diner, including Florence, Roger, and the cook followed behind Bert as he walked down the street. The height of the buildings in that part of town screened locations further away from view at ground level, so none of them yet noticed the change of locale. Halfway to their destination, the sirens fell silent. "Thank God for that." Roger cheered. "Don't be too happy about it." Bert said. "Look." He motioned to a nearby traffic light, which was dark. "Aw man, the power's out?" "Yep, whole town I'd say." "Great." They walked the rest of the way in silence. As the group was approaching the station, Sheriff Conrad Tucker stepped out, holding a rifle. "Bert, am I glad you're here." he said. "Never thought any of the weird stuff you survivalist types go in for would happen here." "For the love of... I'm not a conspiracy nut!" Bert exclaimed. Then belatedly he added "Wait... What weird stuff? You mean the storm?" "Nope, c'mon, you can see from our roof..." Bert and company followed as the Sherriff led them up onto the roof of the four story building. From there, they could see the surrounding forest and mountains. "What... ...Where the hell are we?" "The million dollar question my friend." Tucker replied. Roger said "The storm... I know how crazy this sounds, but that freaky storm must've done something to us." "Yeah... Now we know why the power's out." Bert said. "Sheriff, you've got generators for the station right?" Tucker nodded. "Yeah. And I think I know what you're thinking Bert, and there's bad news on that front too... We've got our radios online, computers too... There's nothing. No radio, no television, no internet." "But what could knock everything out all at once?" Florence asked. Bert said "Radio interference? That's what first alerted me that something was up, I was getting heavy static on frequencies that should have been crystal clear." "I don't think so." The Sherriff answered. "See, we can't get any outside communications, but our own radios..." He pushed a button on his radio. "Allen, Allen you read?" "Loud and clear boss." A voice came back. "Okay, just testing. See? No interference now." A look of intense concentration came over Bert's features. After a moment he said "But if the airwaves are clear... And there's no active broadcasts..." He blanched. "You've come to the same conclusion I did then." Tucker nodded. "Wherever that storm's taken us, it's not just around the corner... We're not on Earth anymore..." A ruckus erupted among the group at these words, one that took the Sherriff several minutes to calm. Still not wanting to believe it, but knowing that it made more sense than any other option, Florence asked "So, what are we supposed to do?" Bert said "Getting intel on our surroundings is the first step." "Right." Tucker agreed. "And we're already working on that. Come on." He led them back to ground level, and into the back parking lot of the police station. Here they found a pair of young men working around a small machine. "A drone?" Bert asked. "Exactly. We've mounted a better camera than it came with, we're just gonna send it up, get a good look." Tucker started back towards the door. "We'll be able to watch in real time. Back inside, Tucker and the rest of the group along with several deputies stood watching the video feed as the drone flew upwards. They could see the seemingly endless forest, and little else. Bert looked close, searching. "Hot damn!" He suddenly exclaimed. "Look here! That's my place." "Good news. We might need the weapons." "You've got 'em... Supplies too, food, medicine, fuel..." "Hey! What's that!?" Roger said, pointing at the screen. "Some kind of bird?" "Maybe..." Tucker radioed to the men operating the drone. "Can you guys zoom in on that?" "One sec..." The view suddenly began to change, zeroing in on... "You guys seein' this?" "Winged horse?" "Yep." "Pegasus. That's what the Greek Myths called winged horses." "Am I allowed to say I'm not seeing it?" "Is it just me, or is it looking this way?" "It is! Guys, get the drone back on the ground." Tucker and Bert exchanged worried looks. "What the hell do we do now?" They asked together... XXXX Deep in the unfamiliar forest six ponies moved in a tightly huddled group. "I know it's not the Everfree," Applejack said, "But darned if it's not giving me the same vibe." "Yeah, anything could be in here." Pinkie agreed. "Not what I needed to hear right now." Fluttershy whispered. Several voices muttered their agreement. "Oh, but anything can mean anything!" Pinkie said. "Not just anything bad!" "Maybe..." Twilight said. She sounded unconvinced. Rarity asked "Rainbow dear, we've been walking for half an hour and you said it wasn't that far... Are you sure we're still on the right course?" "I'm wondering the same thing." Twilight agreed. "Can you take a quick look?" "Sure thing." Rainbow flew out of sight above the forest canopy, then returned a few moments later. "We're good. It's just over the next rise." "Did you see anything else?" Fluttershy asked. "Like, maybe who lives there?" "Well, actually yeah... I didn't wanna scare you..." "We need t' know." Applejack said. "Right, well... They're some kind of tall things, walkin' around on their hind legs like minotaurs." "Minotaurs!?" "No, like minotaurs. Smaller though, but still a little bigger than ponies... No horns, not much hair..." "Freaky." "Totally." The friends continued on in silence, climbing the rise and looking down on the new town. "It's bigger than Ponyville." Twilight observed, "Maybe half again as big." "Yeah... And look at those creatures... Never seen anything like 'em!" Applejack said. "Oh but look!" Fluttershy squealed, "They've got pet dogs! They can't be all that bad if they keep pets can they?" "Hey! If they like pets like we do, maybe they like parties!" Applejack and Rainbow grabbed tightly onto Pinkie's tail before she could bounce into the center of town and pull a party cannon out of nowhere. "Maybe later Pinks. After we know more about them!" "Aww.... Then again, the more we know the better I can make it... Okay!" Pinkie grinned. "Crisis averted." Twilight thought with a sigh of relief. She said "Okay, let's go..." xx Meanwhile in Fallow Meadows, Sherriff Tucker was debating with Bert on how best to proceed. "Look, it's clear we're on some kind of alien planet. We need to know more about it if we're gonna survive..." "I agree!" Bert said, "But going out half-cocked'll just get people killed. Fortify and defend first, then go exploring." "Fortify with what!?" "There's more than enough supplies in town for a couple of weeks. Especially with what I've got." "We can't just sit here-" The Sherriff was interrupted by a deputy charging through the front door. "Sherriff! It's here!" Tucker frowned. "What's here?" "The winged-horse-pega-thing sir... It's approaching on foot... And it's bought friends..." xx At a range of one hundred hooves (Just under one hundred fifty feet) the Element Bearers stopped and stared at the mysterious town before them. The locals had noticed their approach, and most ran into whatever buildings were closest to them, but a few had stayed and stared back. "Okay... We're here..." Rainbow said. She looked at Twilight. "Do you wanna ring the bell, or should I?" "For now neither. They know we're here. Let's let them make the next move." Twilight sat down to wait. Rainbow shrugged. "You're the egghead." And so they sat, and waited. It was a short wait. Less than ten minutes later a rumbling sound rose, and grew louder. Moments later a large metal carriage pulled into sight and grew closer, before stopping twenty hooves away. Doors opened, and three of the beings emerged. One was dressed in camoflage. The other two wore what Twilight suspected were the uniforms of guards. All carried what at first looked like some kind of sticks, but as they drew closer she recognized the features and swallowed fearfully at what she knew they must be. "Here we go girls..." Twilight whispered. Be on guard, but don't do anything rash... ...Rainbow." She chuckled at the stare her friend gave, then looked up at the creatures. "Greetings. My name is Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia, and these are my friends. We come representing Ponyville, and hoping that you have answers to our questions..." xx "Are those... Unicorns?" The deputy asked as he stared out the window of Bert's Humvee. "What the hell is this Bert?" Tucker asked. "I'm starting to think we're all just hallucinating." "Nah, life's never that easy." Bert answered. He braked to a stop. "So here we are and there they are... Plan?" "Play it as it lies." Tucker said. He opened his door and stepped out, reaching back in to retrieve his rifle. The three men walked slowly, cautiously, until they were almost close enough to reach out and touch the nearest pony, a lavender specimen with a horn. Said unicorn stepped forward. "Queelie. Ne xaxa yo Wernka Dernas, dotii t Paolo Celxia, utuos be graxx. Retran lo traxn Predibur, corta ne fomarroa." The men exchanged glances. "Language... Duh, shoulda seen it coming." Bert said. "Language?" the deputy asked. "Maybe they're just dumb horses making noises." Bert shook his head. "No... Listen to it, there was structure, cadance, meaning... That wasn't animal sounds, it was words." He looked to the ponies. "I'm sorry, we can't understand you." xx Twilight face-hooved. "Oh! Oh duh! Of course they don't speak our language, how could they?" "Well can you translate?" Applejack asked. "Of course!" Twilight smiled. "Translation matrix creation is a very simple spell. All I have to do is borrow the information from the language center of one of their brains... I wouldn't do this without permission ordinarily, but we need to be able to communicate." In later days, both human and pony would recall what happened next and shudder, the fear of how close both came to disaster, the thoughts of what might have happened if they had... Twilight looked at the nearest creature and closed her eyes. Her horn began to glow, and a moment later a glow appeared around the creature's head. And then the screaming started. Twilight's eyes popped open to the the creature yelling and panicking, jumping back, trying to brush the magic glow away. The other two were pointing their weapons at her and shouting angrily. Realizing that she had made a mistake, Twilight canceled the spell, sitting and gesturing with her front legs in what she hoped were non-threatening motions. The two creatures fell silent, and stopped pointing the weapons at her. The third however... xx Sherriff Tucker looked back and forth between the purple pony and his deputy, the latter screaming and swiping madly at whatever the glow around his head was. He reached a decision, bought his rifle to bear along with Bert, and shouted "Stop! Cease and desist! I will open fire if you don't stop right now!" Of course, the pony could have no idea what he was saying, but perhaps the general idea would get across. To his surprise, it did. The pony stopped, and began gesticulating. "What's it doing now?" "'Don't shoot!' Motions?" Bert suggested. "Or maybe it's apologizing. Or trying to explain what it was doing." Tucker said. "Either way, let's see what happens." He moved his aim away from the ponies, Bert following suit. "Carl, you okay?" Tucker called to his deputy. "I will be!" The man angrily replied, leveling his gun. "Damned thing tried ta brainwash me or something!" He moved to fire, but Bert was quicker, grabbing the end of the gun and skewing Carl's aim away. The gun discharged with a loud roar, the shell flying harmlessly afield. "What the hell is wrong with you!?" Bert was about to exclaim, but before he could speak he was beaten to the punch: The rainbow-maned pegasus was in the air, staring down the deputy at close range, yelling in words the men couldn't comprehend though given the context Bert suspected much of it was vulgar. Pegasus and deputy were clearly about to come to blows. The situation was defused on both fronts when a lasso wrapped around the angry pony's waist and started pulling her back, while Carl was manhandled to the ground by Bert and Tucker. "Now what's this nonsense about mind control?" Bert asked. "That's science fiction." "And so are aliens?" Carl exclaimed. "You saw it! That glow around my head..." "Could've been anything. Tell me, if you're so sure it was trying to control you, what did you feel?" "Feel?" "Yeah, you shoulda felt, oh, I dunno, trapped in your own head, or a voice saying 'Kill all humans' or an urge to point the gun at me or your boss... You feel any of that?" Bert asked. "Well, no." Carl admitted. "Okay then." Bert continued, "Headaches, nausea, itching, painful burning sensation?" "No nothing!" Carl said. "I didn't feel a thing at all!" "Then maybe it wasn't an attack. I mean, come on, if that was what they were doin' don't you think they'd have done it to all of us?" Tucker was chuckling to himself. "Damn Bert, I thought you were supposed to be the paranoid one, not the voice of reason." "Prepared doesn't equal nutcase." Bert said. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not just trustin' them... But someone's gotta give this a chance. Might as well be someone that can defend himself if it turns out bad." "Yeah, I just hope Carl didn't already cause that." Tucker said. And then, from the crowd that had gathered at the edge of town, came a scream for help...