//------------------------------//
// Chapter Twenty-Five 
// Story: Unity 
// by Kieva Lynn 
//------------------------------//


Unity
Chapter Twenty-Five


In the aftermath of the foalnapping those among Blueblood's followers who were cornered in Unity found themselves arrested and thrown in the town jail. The general suspicion, among Unity's populace, was that they would be a major pain to deal with. This fear proved unfounded when, to the last one, they renounced the Prince as their leader. As Loyal Vassal explained, "It's hard to stay loyal to a 'god' who runs at the first sign of trouble. Especially when he wasn't even omnipotent enough to know the trouble was a ruse. And quite aside from that," (Here he had shook his head), "I'm honestly not sure what any of us were thinking."

Further surprising the town, the rest of the cultists, those who had stayed behind at Blueblood's, slowly trickled into town asking forgiveness over the next few days. It wasn't long before the would-be god king was all alone. Lacking space (and resources) to keep all of them imprisoned it was decided that those who had not been a part of the foalnapping attempt would simply be forgiven. Most of those who had been directly involved were also released, though under probation and close scrutiny. Only the ringleaders, Loyal Vassal and Platinum Spoon, were kept in jail and even their sentences were measured in months rather than years.

Blueblood himself was a different matter. The former reluctance of ponies to arrest him for his treason against the Diarchy was now gone. Everyone knew that he would have to be punished, for all of his crimes since arriving here. He would probably be held in the jail indefinitely. A team of guards was sent to make the arrest, only to find the Prince had barricaded himself in. They decided to wait him out.

With her father in jail and the cult disbanded, Silver Spoon was now safe to live with the Riches. She chose instead to stay with Fluttershy.

Diamond Tiara, emotionally confused by recent events, wanted nothing more than to ask the Crusaders "Why?" Why had they helped her, her of all ponies, after all she had done to them. She would have to wait, though, as all of them were grounded for risking their lives in the rescue mission.

And then...


XXXX

Twilight Research Time: Day Nineteen:


The morning air was clear and brisk as humans and ponies went about their business. The harvests were finally kicking into gear, and everywhere farmers were bringing in crops to be stored in silos or refrigeration facilities, which were now given power priority. Assisted by a number of volunteers, the Apples were hauling in the day's first load, passing by in front of the Golden Oaks Library, when a deep thrumming sound began to echo across town. "The hay is that!?" Apple Jack asked.

"Sounds like it's comin' from there." Macintosh answered, motioning to the library.

The sound continued for another ten seconds, then stopped. Half a second later, all of the windows in the library lit up, and then the door flew open. Out sprang Twilight Sparkle, bouncing in circles as she jubilantly exclaimed "It works! It works!" over and over.

"Ah'm glad you're happy Twi, but what works?" Applejack asked once the unicorn was calmed down enough.

"This!" Twilight's horn glowed and an object came floating out of the library. It was three feet tall, two feet in diameter at it's widest, shaped like a rounded cylinder and clearly made of Magicite. When Twilight set it down and released her magical grip all could see that the object had it's own pinkish glow, and closer examination showed that it was covered in a network of thin, almost invisible lines. A power output socket was embedded near the base.

"Um, Twilight... It's cool and all, but what is it?"

"I'll tell everyone at once!" Twilight said happily. "We need to get news out to everyone, have a town meeting! Oh this is so exciting!" Taking her creation with her, she trotted away towards the school.

"She's headin' for the auditorium isn't she?" Applejack sighed.

"Eeyup." Macintosh replied.

"And she's going straight there now to wait for everyone even though it'll be hours before a meeting can be arranged, isn't she?"

"Eeyup."

"And there's no way to reason with her when she's like this is there?"

"Nnnnope..."


XXXX


It was early afternoon when the auditorium finally filled with curious townspeople wondering just what Twilight and her team had cobbled together. In addition to Unity's own population representatives were present from both Shetland Crossing and Brayflox' Longstop, and Carl Harner himself came with three men to hear the news. On the stage were Twilight along with the Bakkers and Xix-xax.

Once everyone was seated and murmur of the crowd settled, Twilight began: "We have wonderful news! Research conducted by Reginald and Nigel Bakker, together with myself and the aid of several others, has yielded positive results in two separate areas. First, we have this..." Here Twilight magically removed a sheet covering her new invention, revealing it to the crowds. "What we have here is the first result of full collabaration; The product of Pony magic, Human technology, Changeling energy absorbtion, and Goblin provisions. A magicite power generator fueled by the waste product of emotions."  

The crowd rumbled with excited comments, and several questions were shouted out.

Someone in the crowd shouted "Is this dangerous?"

"It shouldn't be." Twilight answered. "The emotional energy it absorbs is no different than what Changelings feed on, and all indications are that this energy simply dissipates to waste if not used."

"Also," Nigel threw in, "There's no indication of any sort of ionizing radiation coming from the process."

"Are you saying this could power the entire town?" Someone else asked.

Reginald answered "Not this one. This is just a proof of concept prototype. But we could have a full size model working in a couple of months. We can also produce units for Shetland Crossing, Mister Harner's settlement, and the Longstop if desired."

Twilight added "This model could be used to power perhaps fifty homes though. We're considering options for it's use in the interim, as well as a full-time use for it later on."

"And what might that be?"

Smiling broadly, Twilight said "That brings us to our second discovery. I'll let Nigel cover this one."

"Thank you Twilight." Nigel stepped forward. "As you all know, we've had pegasus and gryphon volunteers making long-distance mapping flights, as far out as two hundred miles. As a result, we've discovered that the towns we already know about are not the only ones to have been bought here..."

Nigel motioned to the control booth, and a composite map appeared on the screen behind him. He pointed out Unity, the arrival site of Ponyville, as well as the Longstop, the Mor-tax encampment, and Shetland Crossing. He then noted half a dozen other settlements. They appeared to be distributed randomly. "From what we can see," Nigel said, "Some of these towns are still inhabited while most appear to be totally abandoned. And in fact, to have been abandoned for quite some time; decades, even centuries..."

He continued, "Now, when we look at things on this scale, there's no apparent pattern. But, if we pull out to the full scale, two hundred miles in all directions, something intriguing appears..."

The map on the screen scaled out. At this size, settlements were too small to be seen, but flashing dots marked their locations for all to see. And indeed, all did see the pattern...

"It's an arc." Someone in the audience exclaimed.

Nodding, Nigel said "Exactly. The band in which the storms drop what they take is narrow; about twenty miles wide. But, everything is in a well-defined arc, which we believe further exploration would reveal to be part of a full circle."

Twilight said "And, it's not much of a stretch to suppose that if we were to go to the exact center of the circle, we might find whatever is responsible for all of us being here."

"Then what the hell are we waiting for?" Carl Harner shouted. "Let's do this!"

"Easier said than done Carl." Reginald said. "Look at the size of the arc. The full circle must have a radius of over four thousand miles, making an eight thousand mile round trip."

Nigel said "Also, look here, at the edge of the map..." He indicated a place on the inside of the arc's curve. "Reports from the scouts strongly indicate there's the beginning of a significant body of water, maybe even a whole ocean here, right in our path."

"Pegasai, gryphons... Could they make the trip by air?"

"If there wasn't an ocean in the way maybe." Rainbow Dash answered from the crowd. "But even the best of us have to rest."

There was some back and forth in the crowd about the plausibility of building a ship to sail across the waters. It didn't take long to become clear, though, that such was a pipe dream; An entire infrastructure would have to be built up, over many years, to construct a safe seaworthy vessel.

"So what? We're stuck?" Herbert called out.

Twilight answered "Not necessarily... Pegasai and gryphons can't risk the flight on their own, that's true. But, air travel may yet be the answer. All three worlds represented here have experience with the construction of flying machines; Lighter than air dirigibles on the Goblin's world, petrochemical powered heavy aircraft on Earth, magically levitated airships for the species of Eqqus. We don't have the means to replicate any of those here, of course, but..." She looked at the Magicite Battery. "But, look at what we were able to do in less than three weeks by merging our knowledge and abilities."

The questions started immediately:

"Won't this take up resources we could use here?"

"Isn't this all just a fool's errand?"

"Why don't we just play it safe?"

To the surprise of everyone present, it was Carl Harner who answered, and answered in an unexpected way. "Believe it or not, I agree with the pony." He said. "Fortune favors the bold. Playing it safe is a good way to get complacent, and that's a good way to get killed."

"Um, thank you?" Twilight said, stunned.

Bert however said "Carl, you do know this is about getting answers, not going there and threatening whatever we find if it doesn't send us back."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that was how you felt. It's still better than doing nothing."

"So are you and yours in on helping us out then?" Sheriff Tucker asked.

Carl shook his head. "No. I've got my own plans now that I know all this. You lot can try to reason with the monster that did this to us... I'll handle the threats..." He turned and walked away, letting the auditorium doors slam shut behind him.

"What the hay did he mean by that!?" Applejack asked.

Bert answered only "I have no idea... But for sure it won't be good..."


XXXX


The assembly lasted another hour, with preliminary plans being laid out based upon the available knowledge. It was agreed that a team of unicorns would pool their magic to transport a magicite crystal large enough to power the whole town to a safe stable location whereupon work would begin to convert it to a battery. This was expected to be completed a week or two after the harvests were over, after which additional batteries would be made for Shetland Crossing and the Longstop, both of which needed far less power. Meanwhile, plans would be drawn up for an airship, using the existing prototype battery as it's power source. Everyone who had knowledge of aeronautics, of any species, would contribute to the design, while Bert and a team scouted out the Mor-tax base (And other apparently abandoned towns from earlier storms) for salvagable construction supplies. The actual construction and launch would have to wait until spring, but at least the groundwork could be laid.

As the meeting ended and everyone went back to their work or homes, the Crusaders found each other and took the time to talk for a bit as they walked home. "Being grounded stinks!" Scootaloo declared. "A whole month before we can go crusading again!"

"Yeah, but seein' the alternative..." Apple Bloom said.

Dinky nodded. "Right. Mean as she can be I wouldn't want to be free to play if the price was something bad happening to her."

Everyone agreed with this sentiment, and they were about to continue on when from behind a familiar voice asked "Why?"

"'Why' what?" Apple Bloom asked as she turned to see Diamond Tiara staring at the group.

"Just what I said... Why? I've been mean to all of you. But you saved me anyway. Why?"

"Because it was the right thing to do!" Sweetie Belle said. 

"Mean 'r not, you're still a person."

"Exactly."

Noticing the uncharacteristically subdued manner in which the rich filly was holding her head, Apple Bloom asked "Are you okay?"

"I don't know." Tiara answered honestly. "I feel..." She shook her head, and galloped away, leaving whatever she had started to say unsaid.

"That was weird." Scootaloo said.

"I think she's havin' feelings she's never had before." Apple Bloom said. "And she doesn't know how to deal with 'em."

"What feelings?" Sweetie Belle and Dinky asked.

"Guilt." 


xx


Diamond Tiara ran through the streets of Unity, back towards her home. She arrived before anypony else made it back from the town meeting, rushed to her room, and collapsed onto her bed. She still wasn't sure why she was feeling so badly, though she knew it had something to do with her victims risking their own lives to save hers.

The funny part was, she still didn't actually feel bad about any of the things she had done to them... But she couldn't shake the strange feeling that she should feel bad about it. But why? After all, wasn't she the rich one? The one that mattered? Wasn't it the place of the lesser to do for her? Wasn't saving her just their duty? 

But if that were so, then why was Silver Spoon who was also a part of the better class now acting like she was one of them? Why did her own father never take advantage of his wealth, never lord his power over other ponies? Why, he even gave bits away, free, to help ponies who had nothing of their own! What was up with that!?

The filly was still crying into her pillow when a knock sounded at the door. "Tiara?" Her father's voice spoke as the door swung open. He trotted into the room and sat down next to her, put a forehoof on her shoulders. "Want to talk about it?"

"Not really... But I guess I should." Tiara sat up, wiping her eyes.

"Confession's good for the soul." Rich chuckled. "Take your time child... Tell it in your own way."

Still crying, Tiara told her father everything, all that she was feeling, all the questions that were in her mind, that she couldn't answer. She even told him how she felt about his own behavior, and how there was so much of it that didn't make any sense to her. 

Holding his daughter close, Rich said "I don't think you and I have ever really seen eye to eye. But you know what? I think that maybe you're starting down a better road."

"But why is it better? Daddy, that's what I don't get."

Filthy Rich sighed deeply. "Tiara, what is it about us that you think makes us better than everyone else?"

"Well, we have more money." she answered as if it were obvious.

"And money makes us better... ...How?"

"Um, well..." Confusion crossed the filly's face. "I never thought about it. Maybe... Maybe because we can have whatever we want?"

"Can we? Is there enough money in the world to buy our way back to Equestria? To buy friends? And by that I mean real friends, not just those who act like it to get paid. Tiara... I'm sorry to say this to you, especially now, but... Is there enough money in all the universe to bring your mother back to us?"

"I miss her."

"So do I my child, so do I... But you see my point? Money, it's a good thing to have. But it can't do everything. And it can't make those who have it better than those who don't."

"Then what does?"

"What's in here." Rich said, poking Tiara's chest. "What's in our hearts. How we care for everyone else. The kind of pony you are inside. Because, Tiara, in the end that's all that survives into the next world. Money, fine clothing and rich food, this mansion... It all gets left behind." He then said something that finally got through his daughter's mind: "Your treasure is whatever you choose for it to be. Whatever you care about the most. Which is why it is far better to choose the one that you get to take with you."

Diamond Tiara looked up at her father, eyes wide. "I've messed up haven't I?"

"Perhaps. But as long as you're still alive, it's not too late to do something about it..."