//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: The Golden Disc // Story: Queen of the Predacons. // by Gyvon //------------------------------// Chapter 3 The Golden Disc The next day dawned grey and dreary. One look at the weather report showed rain scheduled for all points north of Ponyville. This included Canterlot Airbase, headquarters of the United States Military and Autobot presence on Equestria. Located an hour's train ride north of Ponyville, it only caught the edge of the Pegasus-generated storm. Lieutenant Commander John Kelley only took note of this because of the damp Alicorn sitting on the other side of his desk, busy reviewing a few last-minute Customs forms. Due to the unique nature of Equestria and its inhabitants, there were a few restrictions placed on tourists, specifically Unicorns and Pegasi. "Let me get this straight..." said Cadence, staring intently at the paperwork. "Neither Shining Armor nor Myself can use magic in public other than telekinesis unless either of us are personally threatened?" "Correct." replied John. It was a knee-jerk reaction by the governments on Earth. They saw Unicorn magic as a potential weapon. Everyone knew it was unfair, but nobody had come up with a better solution yet. "And I'm not allowed to fly more than three hundred meters off the ground?" she asked. "Correct, but that's voluntary." That was more for a Pegasus' (or in this case, an Alicorn's) safety. "Fly any higher, though, and you have no right to complain if you get hit by an airliner." Cadence actually laughed, though she knew John was deadly serious with his warning. "Well, my husband and I can live with these restrictions." she said, signing both forms. "Speaking of, where is he?" asked John. "I sent him ahead." she said. "I needed to talk to you in private. It's about you and Twilight." John's eyes narrowed, he knew exactly where this was going. "Did Luna put you up to this?" he asked. "No she didn't." replied Cadence. "I can tell you care deeply for her. It's my special talent, after all." "I thought it was spreading love." retorted John. "It is." replied Cadence with a disarming smile. "But it only works if there is already a connection between ponies or people. I've learned to spot the signs." John sighed, giving in to her logic. "I do care for her, yes, but not in the way you're implying. She's like a sister to me." "Is that all?" she asked. "Yes, that's all." said John, who then began to chuckle. "God, not even married for a day, and you're already getting pushy. Save it for your husband." Cadence, for her part, couldn't help but laugh along with him. It took them several minutes to calm down. "Alright John, let's leave it at that for now." Cadence finally said. "So, anything my husband and I need to know about our itinerary?" Gyvon finally got his own laughter under control as well. "You'll be arriving at RAF Brize Norton. Normally you'd have to take a shuttle bus to the city, but I've arranged for a chopper to fly you to Heathrow. From there, a limo will take you to your hotel. After that, you're on your own." "Thank you." said Cadence, smiling sweetly now. "I'm sorry for putting you on the spot earlier." John just waved the apology off. "No worries. Just have fun on your honeymoon. Oh, and please send in Sandy on your way out." With that, Cadence bid John farewell and left to join her husband. A minute later, John's secretary, an orange-coated yellow-maned Unicorn mare walked in. "Alright Sandy, anything interesting on the schedule today?" Sandy Shores cleared her throat before speaking. "There's a staff meeting in an hour. Probably about the Changelings." John grumbled, already imagining the new security headaches that particular species was going to but the base through. "Later this afternoon..." continued Sandy, "you have an interview with CNN. Other than that, it's Sierra squared Delta squared." John hit his head on his desk with a groan. Same shit different day. The mood in the train car carrying the Element bearers back to Ponyville was upbeat despite the lousy weather. The only exception being Twilight Sparkle, having barely slept a wink due to her itchy back. She was staring out the window, sighing to herself. "Ya alright there, Twi?" asked Applejack. "I'm fine." replied Twilight, reaching up with a hind leg to scratch her back. "Just didn't sleep so well last night. This itchy back is killing me." "Maybe it's your lucky day!" piped in Pinkie Pie. "That's only for you, Pinkie." stated Rainbow Dash. With a yawn, Twilight got up from her seat and headed for the cabin door. "I'm going to find some coffee." A few cars down, Twilight was sipping her second cup of coffee, staring out the window as the train passed Canterlot Airbase, feeling a little better with some caffeine in her system. She was still a little out of it, and was startled when she felt a hoof on her shoulder. She turned to see Rarity looking at her with a concerned expression on her face. "Twilight, I think we need to talk. I'm worried about you." she said. "What is there to be worried about?" asked Twilight. "It's... about you and John." replied Rarity. Twilight groaned. "Rarity, I'm not in the mood for this." she said. "I've already had this talk with Cadence before she and Shining Armor left for their honeymoon." "Well, I'm sorry Twilight, but it needs to be said." stated Rarity. "I can tell you have feelings for him. The others might not see it, but I do." "That's pretty much what Cadence told me this morning." Twilight growled. "And you should listen to her, Twilight." said Rarity. "Your sister knows what she's talking about." Twilight sighed, and turned her attention back towards the window. She barely even acknowledged the terrain outside the speeding train as she tried to make sense of her feelings. Rarity, thankfully, was willing to leave her alone with her thoughts for now. After several minutes of silence, she finally spoke. "You're right, Rarity. I do care for him." she said. "But ... I don't know how he feels about me, and I'm scared of finding out." "I don't think you have to worry about that, Twilight." said Rarity. "Remember when we attempted to use the Elements on Nemesis Prime two months ago?" she asked, receiving a nod in reply. "I distinctly remember him yelling for you to get to safety before throwing himself in between us and that monster. I know that the safety of the rest of us was implied, but he specifically called for you to run. "I think you're reading too much into that." replied Twilight deadpan. "That may be the case..." said Rarity, "but he does spend most of his time with you, and not the rest of us girls." Twilight had to give that point to Rarity. It seemed that every time John had a free moment he spent it with her. Twilight kept telling herself that it was because she was the first pony he had met when he arrived in Equestria, that it was only because they were friends. She didn't even realize that she had yet again lapsed into a long silence. "I... I just don't know." she said. "It's alright Twilight." said Rarity. "Nopony ever said this was an easy subject. However, if you ever need to talk, my door is always open to you." However, Twilight had a few other things on her mind right now, chief among them the fact that Ponyville was in sight. All she wanted to do was to go home and take a nap, itchy back or no. It was sunny over Sweet Apple Acres, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders planned to make the most of the pleasant weather. They were in the north orchard near their treehouse, digging holes anywhere they could in an attempt to earn a "Treasure Hunting" cutie mark with little to show for it but dust-covered coats. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom had long since given up in this latest endeavour, but Scootaloo would not be denied, and continued to dig. "C'mon Scootaloo." said Sweetie Belle. "I don't think we're meant to have a treasure hunting cutie mark." "Yeah, Scoots." Applebloom interjected. "Besides, Big Macintosh is gonna tan mah hide when he sees all these holes in the orchard." "No!" exclaimed the orange Pegasus around the shovel handle in her mouth. "I can't give up now! I'm so close to finding something " Scootaloo picked up the pace of her digging, despite the protests of her friends. This continued for several minutes, until even Scootaloo was starting to lose hope, when suddenly, *clank*, her shovel connected with something metallic. "Girls." said Scootaloo softly. "I think I found something." "What is it?" asked Applebloom. "Is it a treasure chest?" continued Sweetie Belle. "Hold on. Let me dig it out." said Scootaloo, now carefully excavating the object. It was round, roughly the size of a cart wheel. The object was made of a gold-colored metal, though it was far lighter than if it were made of actual gold, and Scootaloo could lift it out of the hole with ease. Now that it was fully revealed, the crusaders could see that on one side of the object were strange markings, unrecognisable save for one that looked like a human standing next to a tree. "What is it?" the three fillies asked in unison, completely forgetting about their search for a cutie mark. "We should go ask Twilight Sparkle." said Sweetie Belle. "She might know what this thing is." "Is she back from Canterlot yet?" asked Applebloom. Before they could continue their discussion, the Crusaders are interrupted by the sudden appearance of Applejack, who stared slack-jawed at all the freshly dug holes. "What in tarnation!" she exclaimed, glaring at Applebloom and her friends. "What's the meaning of this? Applebloom, yah had better have a good explanation!" Before the Crusaders could respond, Applejack spotted what they had uncovered. "We were trying to get our 'Treasure Hunting' cutie marks when we found this disc." said Scootaloo. "We were just about to go see Twilight to see what it was. Is she home?" Applejack's eyes narrowed as she took in what Scootaloo said, but she finally nodded. "She should be. Alright girls, y'all take this here disc to Twilight. When you get done, y'all'd better come straight back and fill in these holes before Big Macintosh finds 'em." Twilight had only just laid down for a nap when she heard knocking at the library door. Normally, the door was opened for any and all to come and enjoy a good book, but Twilight Sparkle was far too tired, and had chosen to keep the door locked for the day. She hoped that whoever was at the door would go away and rolled over in her bed, hoping to catch at least a few hours sleep. However, it was not to be, as whoever was at the door knocked again, jolting Twilight out of bed. Cursing under her breath, Twilight headed downstairs and towards the front door. She paused before opening it, trying to calm down, only to be interrupted by even more knocking. Even more irritated, Twilight slammed the door open and glared angrily at the three fillies she found on her doorstep. "What." she growled. "We...we're sorry to bother you miss Twilight." said Sweetie Belle. "But we were digging over by our treehouse and found this strange golden disc." As she finished, Scootaloo held up the disc for Twilight to see. When she saw it, Twilight's eyes widened, and she completely forgot how tired she was. "Do yah know what it is?" asked Applebloom. "No girls, I'm afraid I don't." said Twilight. "Would you mind if I studied it?" Scootaloo started to object, but was cut off by Sweetie Belle. "Of course not, Twilight. Now, if you'll excuse us, we've gotta go fill in some holes." With that, the Crusaders headed off in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, leaving the disc on Twilight's welcome mat. She picked it up telekineticaly and carried it downstairs to her lab. Her nap could wait. "Note to self: buy GM stock." muttered John as he sat at his desk, reading various documents. The latest one was a news article saying that General Motors had patented a conversion kit that would allow ponies to actually drive a car, and were planning to license its use to other car companies, including Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, and Mercedes. This was good news for American tourism, as most of the country was practically inaccessible to Non-Pegasi due to a lack of public transit. He put the article aside and picked up an intelligence report. He could tell immediately from the header that it was from Dinobot, and that it was nearly a week old. The former Predacon had somehow contacted at least one dissenter among the Predacon ranks and was milking his contact for information. The latest intel stated that there was another attempt on the life of Megatron, the leader of the Predacons. Unfortunately, that was the only information in Dinobot's report, and it frustrated John to no end. While nobody had seen hide nor hair of Galvatron since the Battle of Canterlot, the location of the Predacon base was common knowledge, and there was no way of doing anything about them. One of Dinobot's earlier reports put their numbers around ten thousand, and the tunnel system they occupied had the approximate square-mileage of Guam. It would be suicide to try and oust that many enemies from a dug in position As such, both the U.S. and Equestrian Armies were forced to let the Predacons rot. John crumpled up the report and tossed it in the nearest trash can. The rest of his papers were inane drivel that he had no need to peruse. He'd read the same information dozens of times. He was brought out of his stupor when his intercom buzzed. "Colonol Golovko's here to see you, sir." said Sandy. "Send him in." said John, clearing off his desk. When the door opened, a mountain of a man stepped into the office. At nearly seven feet tall, Colonel Vasily Antoniovich Golovko, Commander of Canterlot Airbase, towered over most men. Loud, brash, gregarious, fond of vodka, the man was stereotypically Russian with only his Midwestern accent giving away his origins. Born in Indianapolis, the son of a defecting KGB agent had never set foot in the Rodina. "So John, anything interesting today?" asked Vasily as he took a seat across the desk. One thing John loved about the man was the fact that he did not care for formalities, not in private at lest. "Absolutely nothing." he replied. "Why did you insist on giving me an office? You don't need me here. Sandy could do my job." "I felt like you could use something to do besides loiter around the hanger with the other Autobots." said Vasily. "But you are right. We really don't need you here." John threw on his best hurt expression. "Are you firing me, boss?" Vasily let out a full-belly laugh. "Of course not. I'm telling you to take a vacation. A long one. In fact, I'm making it an order." John began laughing as well. "God, taking orders from an Army puke. The boys at Annapolis would never let me live this down." he said with a grin. "Ah hell, Silverbolt can look after the shop for a while. I needed an excuse to take a few days off anyways." "Oh? Why's that?" asked Vasily. His eyes widened in surprise when John relayed the conversation he had with Princess Celestia. "Are you sure it'll happen soon?" "That's what it sounded like." "Well, it'll definitely give you a chance to get to know her a little better." said Vasily with a wink. John face-palmed at what the Colonel was suggesting. "Oh god, not you too! Why is everyone trying to play matchmaker?" "Princess Luna may have put me up to it." he admitted. "Besides, you have to admit that the two of you would make a cute couple." "Seriously?" John groaned. "You don't think it's a little weird?" "No stranger than the dragon pup with a crush on Miss Rarity." replied Vasily, running a hand through his greying hair. It was almost 10:00pm when exhaustion finally caught up with Twilight. Her attempts to study the strange disc had proven fruitless. The only thing she could determine was that it was not made of gold, nor any material she recognized. Her attempts at translating the glyphs were equally useless, as they matched no Earth or Equis language. Not even her limited references of Cybertronian languages turned up anything useful. Eventually, Twilight had decided that the golden disc could wait until morning. She needed to sleep, and her bed was calling. Twilight found herself on a vast, windswept plain. She recognized the location. It was where she, her friends, and John met Primus after using the Elements in the Battle of Canterlot. However, something felt off to her. When she stood before Primus, there was a sense of peace. Here though, dread filled her very being. She heard pounding footsteps behind her, and turned to see... It was not Primus. The silhouette of the humanoid being was massive, towering over her far more than Primus had. From its head extended large, curved horns, while skeletal wings flared out from its back. The only feature Twilight could make out were a large mace clutched in its right hand, and its blood-red eyes, staring down at her, seemingly into her very soul. "Shabba duul." The monster's voice rang out, sending shivers through Twilight's very core. Before Twilight could respond, the monster raised its mace, preparing to smash Twilight. "Iim ba kuum." The beast swung it's mace... ...and Twilight Sparkle woke up, shivering in terror.