//------------------------------//
// Chapter Eleven 
// Story: Unity 
// by Kieva Lynn 
//------------------------------//


Unity
Chapter Eleven


With the troublesome element removed, the remainder of the meeting went more smoothly. In fact, there was only one more subject to be discussed: What to name the newly merged town. Both sides understood, of course, that keeping either name would be unfair to the other side. But beyond that opinions were all over the map as to what name should be used.

From the human camp came suggestions such as 'New Frontier,' 'Rivendale,' and 'Farland.'

Ponies suggestions included 'Gallopfre,' 'New Trotlantis,' and, from Pinkie, 'Bob.'

All of these were rejected for one reason or another, along with too many others to count. By and large, names suggested by either species were seen by the other as too focused on the species which suggested them. Indeed, for the bulk of the night the only thing humans and ponies could agree on, name wise, was rejecting Spike's suggestion of 'Dragon-vale.'

It was past ten o' clock when Bert felt a tug on his pantleg. Looking down, he saw a tiny unicorn with a gray coat and blonde mane. He called for quiet, then knelt down with the microphone. “What's your name sweetie?” He asked.

“Dinky sir... Dinky Hooves.” 

“And, did you have an idea for what to call the town?”

“I think so. I mean, this is about working together right? So, why not call it Unity?”

“From the mouths of babes...” Florence whispered. “Or, you know, foals. Same difference.”

“That's my girl!” Derpy exclaimed. The crowd chuckled, and seeing the reactions Sheriff Tucker called for a vote. Unity was approved by an overwhelming majority...


XXXX


The great move began in earnest three days after the meeting. All over Ponyville, homes and businesses were detached from their foundations and moved through a combination of Unicorn magic and Earth-pony brute strength, while guards traveled along to either side for protection. A new dirt road was bulldozed through the center of the old Fallow Meadows park, running from Main street on one end to the front of the High School on the other. 

Though the old Town Hall (Now insistently renamed Pallazo de' Blueblood) did indeed have to be left behind, Twilight found a way to transplant Golden Oaks Library; Several of the humans with construction experience excavated a large hole. With the help of a dozen other unicorns Twilight uprooted the tree, roots and all, and slowly transferred it to the waiting hole, which to her delight was directly adjacent to the human's own library. 

Altogether, the move took five days. By the time everypony was settling in to their new location, the magic-enhanced generators were coming online, providing power to the unified city center. The wall was completed a week later, and school for human children and pony foals resumed the next day, to the dismay of youths in both species.

The number of individuals who had chosen to go with Carl Harner or Prince Blueblood was very small: Harner's group counted less than a hundred, mostly older males who had strong prejudices to begin with, though there were also a small number of families. Blueblood's loyalists were even fewer in number: His eight loyal guards, two wealthy families determined to 'stick with their own,' and a dozen others.

All around the outside of the wall, bare ground, stripped of local timber to help in the wall's construction, was plowed up and turned over to farmers for cultivation. Crops of corn, wheat, and soybeans from seed stocks were soon poking through the ground. Meanwhile, the Apples continued to brave the short forest journey to their groves; guards were provided, and it was agreed that the next segment of land to be cleared for crops would connect the existing farms with Sweet Apple Acres for added safety.

As one would expect, the strain of being dislocated from everything they knew was tough on the morale of Human and Pony alike. With the provisional council's blessing, Pinkie Pie began holding a series of parties and other events to bring needed cheer to those who needed it: Parties on Sundays, Free Movie Nights on Wednesdays. Sports teams were formed as well, football, basketball, and hoofball. Trixie found her niche as an entertainer once again, and Vinyl Scratch provided music whenever it was needed.

Early on, it was agreed that John Tucker would remain in the role of Sheriff over the combined police force/guard, with Midnight as his second in command. Given his age and the condition of his heart, Herbert chose to sit out active involvement, though he happily offered advisory aid if it were needed. With the pegasai weather team working to keep things stable in and around the city, Roger was mostly out of work as a meteorologist, though he did keep a close eye on conditions further away, trying to gauge how long they had before winter set in.

Bert took to making long forays into the surrounding forests, seeking to learn more about their new home. When word of this got out, he found himself at the head of an entire team of human and pony specialists, along with additional guards, making regular expeditionary trips. Reg and Nigel Bakker were on the team, along with Twilight and several others. They searched for anything of value: new plants and animals, new food, water, and medicine sources, and at Rarity's desperate insistance some local equivalent of cotton for clothmaking. (Wool was in supply from a small number of sheep, but it wasn't enough on it's own.) Other needs included metals for construction and technology, hydrocarbons for fuel and fertilizer, wood pulp for paper, and a litany of other materials. 

Bethany finished up her last high school classes and got her diploma. Having not yet found a permanent niche, she helped out wherever there were needs. One day, shortly after the wall was finished, she ran into Macintosh who aside from helping with the council had returned to his farming work. They talked, had lunch together, the first of many such meetings. Neither quite noticed how the meetings were gradually becoming more frequent.

Time passed. Crops grew. At the thirty-day mark after the wall was finished, a new generator was finished, allowing the town's water treatment plant to be bought back online, removing the need to boil water before using it. (And there was much rejoicing). Several students from the high school A.V. club got a radio transmitter working and started a new radio station; Though mostly used for important news, there were also music blocks, primarily an early afternoon slot that Vinyl and Octavia fought each other over.

Twilight researched everything she could find, hoping for an answer to why they had all been bought to this world, and how to return home. But after reading every single remotely pertinent book five times over, she had to admit that if there were an answer, it wasn't in her sources.

Carl Harner's group did better than anyone in town had expected. Moving ten miles upstream, they managed to construct a secure settlement at the mouth of a steep valley. They had no defensive wall, but the rough terrain seemed to deter most of the local fauna from bothering them. Of course, such a small village lacked all the resources to be truly self-sufficient; In spite of their feelings, they had to occasionally come into town for trade.

Three months passed, at times seeming as if it had been in the blink of an eye, at other times feeling like many long years. Most of the combined town's needs were found; wood was plentiful, metallic ores underlaid the forest floor, and after three tries Rarity found a cotton substitute that didn't cause hives, rashes, or itching when worn. A basic economy was established as well, though the lack of a new source of gold or silver for coins was problematic. Routine set in, the two species grew more accustomed to each other, and for the first time many were able to see that maybe they would actually manage to survive, even thrive, in their new circumstances.

And then one day...


XXXX


As was her habit, Twilight Sparkle rose with the sun, dragged Spike kicking and screaming from his own bed, and prepared breakfast for them both before opening Golden Oaks for the day. In spite of the much larger Fallow Meadows library right next door, she was if anything busier than ever; As many ponies came in as ever had, and she had curious human guests as well, along with regular consultations with various specialists. These were mostly school teachers curious about the pony equivalents of their own fields: literature teachers checking out pony fiction, history teachers trading lessons on the past, science teachers curious about the Thaumic field.

On this particular day Twilight spent most of the morning with Reginald Bakker, comparing and contrasting Human and Pony classical fiction. The basic storylines and concepts were remarkably similar. “The parallels are astounding.” Reginald said.

Twilight agreed. "Yeah. And it's not just literary styles. For example, we both have a holiday that features the young going around town asking for candy. They're even both themed around scary things and feature costumes! And also one about romance, and a midwinter celebration featuring pine trees in homes and lots of little colored lights..."

"And yet the original meaning and purpose of those holidays couldn't be more different." Reginald said. 

"Exactly!" Twilight agreed, exasperated. "It makes absolutely no sense!"

"Oh I don't know... In my experience everything ultimately makes sense, it's just that we don't understand it yet..." Another though occurred to him, and he said "You know, ever since you first mentioned it last week, I've been rather surprised that ponies would have a figure called the 'Gluemaker.'"

"Why is it surprising? I mean, I know that humans used to make glue from equines..." Twilight shuddered at the thought. "So glad you guys don't do that anymore."

"Yes, but that's my point. Humans used to make glue that way, sure, but surely ponies never..."

Twilight's eyes opened wider as she understood what Reginald was going for. "Oh, no! Of course not! But, you know that we aren't the only intelligent species on our world. These days, Gryphons are civilized beings that would never hunt and kill anything sapient for food, and in general we get along with each other pretty well. But a couple of thousand years ago was a different story. Back then, they saw us as prey. And they didn't waste the parts they couldn't eat..." She shuddered again. "So, when ponies back then went looking for missing relatives and found... ...that...."

"Good lord, that must've been horrific for them."

"Right. So, as time passed and Gryphons learned better than to hunt other sapients, the true stories of what they had really once did morphed into legends about packs of mad Gryphons out to make glue of everypony they could find. Then the centuries turned those legends into the demonic figure of 'Kraytos the Gluemaker.' And finally, in modern times, the myth mellowed into a bogy-creature used by exasperated parents to make troublesome foals behave."

Reginald looked at Twilight and said "'Clean your room or the Gluemaker will get you?'"

Twilight laughed. "Exactly. And trust me, it worked."

"Oh come now!" Reginald joked, "Certainly you were never..."

"Nope, my brother on the other hand..." She sighed, hung her head low. "I miss him..."

"Now now, none of that!" Reginald said. "We're all down here you know, but we've got to believe things will get better."

"Yeah I know." Twilight managed a slight smile. "Thanks."

They arrived at their destination, a former Ponyville establishment called 'Cafe Carte.' Sitting at the counter, both placed their orders and listened to the radio, which was playing Vinyl's show. Or, trying to play Vinyl's show... The thumping beat of dubtrot suddenly stopped mid-song, to be replaced by the strains of a classical concerto, which lasted mere seconds before also falling silent. Everyone in the cafe heard the voices over the radio:

"For Faust's sake Tavi! Can't I even go to the can?"

"We are in difficult circumstances my dear. Stirring music lifts the soul."

"Then play it during your hour! Now gimme that record!"

"Never!"

Sounds of a scuffle came over the airwaves, along with foul language.

"Every day." Another cafe customer said.

A waitress replied "Yeah, but I think they're getting better at it."

Glancing aside at Twilight, Reginald asked "Are they...?"

"I suspect so, but I'm not sure."

"Thought so, only couples can quarrel on that level."

The scuffling sounds continued, getting quieter as Vinyl and Octavia got further from the microphone, eventually fading to silence as they left the room. There was perhaps two minutes of utter silence, and then hoof steps could be heard, followed by a quiet voice whispering "It's clear! Come on!"

More steps were heard, followed by another voice asking "Are we all ready?"

"Ready here."

"Me too."

"Okay then... on three..."

Three voices boomed out of the radio: "Cutie Mark Crusaders! Radio Disk-Jockeys! Yaaaay!!!!!!!"

"Oh dear..." Twilight grumbled, a hoof on her forehead.

"How long have they been free of their last grounding?"

"About a day..."


xx


The remainder of Twilight's day was spent dealing with the aftermath of the girl's latest crusade. She still wasn't sure exactly where the fillies had found that awful recording they played; 'Epic Rap Yodeling Opera' was not among the musical styles of either species. All the unicorn knew, as she climbed into bed, was that her ears still hurt, and she had gotten off lucky compared to the poor woman who had gone into labor from hearing it, or the pony who's home almost burned down when a startled Spike spit fire on the wall.

Twilight was rudely awoken two hours later by an insistent beating on the Library door and the sounds of a voice, Bert, she thought, shouting "Twilight! Twilight wake up!"

Grumbling sleepily, she opened the door, to find Bert, Roger, and Big Mac. "Uh-oh. What's wrong?"

"Not sure if'n it's wrong or right." Macintosh said. "But look..."

Twilight looked in the direction Mac was pointing, and all sleepiness evaporated immediately when she saw: Far in the distance, nearly to the horizon, a storm was brewing. And not an ordinary storm, but one identical to the storms which had bought Ponyville and Fallow Meadows to this world.

"Is this it?" Twilight wondered. "Are we going home?"

With a flutter of wings, Rainbow Dash arrived from above. "There's another one." She said, "Too far to see from ground level here, in the other direction."

"Are they coming this way?"

"Couldn't tell. Don't think so."

Suddenly, thunder rumbled through the skies. A single rumble became a dozen, and then a continuous low growl. All around, humans and ponies emerged from their homes, seeing the storms and asking the same kind of questions Twilight was already pondering: 'Is this it?' 'Are we going to be sent home?' 'What if the storms hit where the towns were bought to? Shouldn't the ponies run back to where Ponyville was?' And so forth.

"Mac!" A female voice called out. Twilight looked to see Bethany approaching. "Is this it?" the girl asked.

Bert answered "We're not sure what it is yet."

"Well, I, I mean we, um, if we're all going back where we belong, we'll miss you all." Bethany said.

"Eeyup." Macintosh agreed. "In spite of the bad, there's been good too."

"Don't be getting ahead of yourselves." Bert counseled.

"Oh!" Twilight suddenly exclaimed, "Blueblood, and the humans who left with Carl Harner..."

"They're all seein' this as sure as we are." Macintosh said.

Bert agreed. "Right. Too dangerous to go after them."

Ready to argue back, Twilight started to speak her mind when it all became a moot point. The thunder and lightning from the storms reached their peak, and there was a brilliant flash of white light, blinding even at a distance. And when the light faded, when people could see again, they saw that nothing obvious had happened to them. Humans and ponies were both still present, along with the town itself, and in the sky overhead the light of two moons shone.

"Um, did we just miss our ride?" Roger asked.

"Maybe."

"But why would the storms come again just to miss us?" Someone asked.

"Well that's the question..." Bert replied. "What we have to ask ourselves is, were those storms picking up... ...Or dropping off?"

There was a general gasp of comprehension among the crowd. "Wait, you're saying maybe somepony else has been bought here?" A green stallion asked.

"Two storms, just like before." Bert said, "So maybe somepony and someone, another town from each world."

"Well, we've gotta check this out then!" Bethany said.

Twilight nodded. "Yes, of course. We should sent out a pair of search teams first thing in the morning, preferably a mix of both species in each since we don't know which town is from which planet..."

And then Macintosh spoke the words that put a chill down the spine of everyone in range to hear him. "Beggin' yer' pardon Miss Twilight, but I can't help but see one other possibility... Even if those storms did bring two more towns here, who says they have t' be from Eqqus or Earth...?"