Unity

by Kieva Lynn

Chapter Thirty-Two

With cheers, shouted well-wishes, and waves goodbye, Harmony departed from Sylph Hollow. Herbert set the airship back on course, and they sailed through the skies towards their far away destination. The ground below changed as they went, the jungles coming to an end up against a chain of rugged mountains, turning to desert on the lee side of the peaks.

On and on they flew, with no further signs of habitation below. After another four days of nonstop travel, as the desert below was beginning to yield to slightly less-dry savannah, Bert called for a stop. "What's wrong?" Twilight asked.

"Was scanning ahead with the field glasses." Bert replied. "We've got civilization."

"What!?" Rainbow exclaimed.

"Lemme see..." Twilight said, taking the binoculars. She examined the area ahead of their flight path for several minutes.

"Well?" Applejack asked.

"Some kind of town or city." Twilight confirmed. "Doesn't look Pony or Human."

Herbert asked "Any sign of activity?"

"No."

"I wonder if we're coming up on a third ring?" Xix-xax asked.

"That would make sense." Fluttershy agreed.

"It's good news if so, too." Herbert said. "If there's another ring, we could compare our orientation to it to confirm that we're still on the right track."

"You want me to make some flights?" Rainbow asked.

"Good idea." Reginald said. "Especially after last time."

It was agreed that Rainbow Dash and Xix-xax would fly out in opposing circles from Harmony's position, no more than twenty or thirty miles, to see what there was to be seen. While this new circle, if such it was, would still be enormous, it's position much closer to the center meant that this smaller distance of flights would still be enough to confirm it's nature and adjust their flight heading if necessary. At this point, they were no more than eight hundred miles from the center, and whatever was awaiting them there. And so pegasus and changeling flew out on their ways, while the rest of Harmony's crew settled in to wait.

"Game of cards while we wait, anyone?" Applejack asked.

"I'm game." Bert agreed.

"Oo, me too!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Great!" Applejack trotted to the storage closet, opened the door, and stumbled back in surprise, chocking back a scream as she realized what she was seeing. Everyone else rushed to look, and were also surprised by what was in the closet.

"Belle!?" They exclaimed.

"I can explain!" The fairy said, holding up her hands. "I wanted to come along and help! But I was afraid you would say no! So I hid in here, and then I couldn't get the door open!"

Rarity face-hooved. Dear, the room's not sound proofed. Why didn't you call for help?"

"...I was embarrassed? Please don't take me straight back, I really want to help!"

"Taking you back's not on the menu, least way's not 'til we're on our own way back." Applejack said. "So, I guess I should ask if you like playin' poker?"

Belle grinned. "I'd love to learn... But... Can I get something to eat first? I'm starved!"

"Gotcha covered!" Pinkie exclaimed, and she ushered Belle inside to the galley...

Unity. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo entered the Apple farmhouse, heads hung low. "What did your brother want again?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Dunno." Apple Bloom shrugged. "He just said he wanted to see the three of us."

"Well, here we are." Scootaloo said. "So, where's he?"

"Mac! Where are ya'?"

"In the dining room!" Mac's voice called back.

The trio trotted into the dining room, there finding Macintosh along with Granny Smith and Beth. At Granny's direction, they took seats, and then Mac said "I'd have t' be blind t' not notice how you three have been moping around the last couple days. What's wrong?"

"We just miss them." Sweetie Belle said.

Scootaloo added "Yeah! What if they don't come back? I mean, not that somepony as awesome as Rainbow Dash would have any problem with anything, but what if?"

"Oh you poor kids." Bethany whispered.

"You just gotta have faith." Granny Smith said. "They all know what they're doing!"

"Eeyup." Macintosh nodded. "Still..." He leaned over and whispered something in Beth's ears. She nodded.

"I think so. I'll go get them." Beth stood and walked out down the hall.

"What's that about?" Apple Bloom asked.

"You'll see." Macintosh answered.

A few moments later, Bethany returned with three wrapped packages. "These were going to be Hearth's Warming presents for you." She said, "But as down as the three of you are..."

"Go ahead and open 'em up." Mac finished.

Troubles briefly forgotten, the fillies tore into the packages set before them. Apple Bloom found the crystal apple, Sweetie Belle a crystaline music note, and Scootaloo a crystal figure of a scooter.

"Oh cool!"

"Wow!"

"Thanks!"

"You've not even seen the coolest part yet." Beth said.

"Eeyup." Macintosh explained, "Once you girls get yer cutie marks, those can be enchanted to show them."

The trio regarded the gifts with even greater admiration. "Where'd you find something like this?" Scootaloo asked.

"Yeah. Apple Bloom had us following you whenever you went to the store." Sweetie Belle said. Bloom slapped her.

"I figured you did Bloom. That's why we bought 'em in Shetland Crossing."

"That's cheating." Apple Bloom complained, though with a smile.

"Feeling better?" Granny Smith asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Apple Bloom replied.

Sweetie Belle looked up at Macintosh and Bethany and asked "So, are you two having-" She was cut off by Apple Bloom muffling her...

Rainbow and Xix returned several minutes apart, their information confirming that this was indeed another ring, the same thickness as the first two. "The city up ahead is huge." Rainbow said, "Like, Manehatten huge, and totally empty."

"At least we were still on the right heading." Twilight said, examining the maps. "We can move on, and be at the center in another two days."

"Yeah. But, maybe we should go around the creepy city. It's kind of unsettling." Rainbow nodded, then noticed Belle. "When did she get here?"

"Long story."

"Is going around the city really necessary?" Rarity asked.

Bert said "Probably not. But it would only add a couple of hours to our trip. And if even Rainbow was unnerved enough by it to say something..."

"There's just something... wrong... about it." The pegasus said.

"Okay then, long way around it is."

Herbert returned to the controls, but instead of activating the engines, he called for everyone to join him. "Look at this." He said, indicating a flashing light. "We're getting a radio signal."

"It can't be Unity." Nigel said. "We're way too far out of range for any equipment in town."

"Let me guess." Pinkie said. "It's coming from somewhere inside the creepy city. So we go in to see, get ambushed, and the next thing we know something hideous is laying it's eggs inside us! Well I say no!" She stood up on her hind legs, shaking her forehooves, "Do you hear me universe!? We're not falling for it! I've seen those 'Alien' movies and we're not taking the bait! We-"

Twilight interrupted Pinkie's bizarre outburst. "Actually Pinkie, it's coming from the other way."

"Oh." Pinkie said calmly. "Well that's alright then."

"Okay..."

"Listen to this!" Nigel said. He switched the audio from the headphones he was wearing to speakers. A voice could be heard, speaking in an unknown language. Whatever was being said, the speaker was talking slowly, carefully enunciating each word.

"What in the world?" Rarity asked.

Pinkie cocked her head to the side, and after a moment began to chuckle. "What? Pinkie, can you understand this?" Twilight asked.

"Nope! Not a single word!" Pinkie replied. "I just think it's funny how long some of the words seem to be!"

"She's right. Some of the individual words sound as long as whole sentences."

"Yeah..." Herbert said. "It sounds like German..." When he saw that everyone was looking at him expectantly, he clarified "Sorry, can't tell you what they're saying. I recognize the sound of it, but I've not spoken a word in German since my high school German classes almost sixty years ago."

"Twilight? Could you cast the translation spell on Herbert?" Nigel asked.

Twilight shook her head. "If he doesn't remember the language, it wouldn't do any good."

Bert asked, "Herb, how sure are you that this really is German?"

"Offhand? Ninety percent I'd say."

"Then why don't we go see who's home?"

"Sounds like a plan to me..."

Following the mysterious transmissions, Harmony flew on to the north of the empty city. As they did so, they passed close enough to it's outer perimeter to get a good look without the need for the binoculars, and it was clear to everyone just why Rainbow Dash had found the place unnerving. From what could be seen, there was a perfect grid-pattern to the construction, without any deviations. The buildings were huge, and except for the fact that they got taller near the center, identical to each other. There were no doors, no windows, no signs, no variation in color; even the roads were the exact same color as the buildings.

"It looks like a giant model of a city, rather than the real thing." Belle said.

"Maybe it is." Twilight replied.

"What? You mean like, maybe it was made by a giant thousands of hooves tall? Maybe a giant kid's toy or something, and then whatever is bringing us all here mistook it for a real city and bought it here too?" Pinkie asked.

"Poor giant kid, losing his toy." Fluttershy whispered.

"Oh come on, nothing could grow that big." Nigel said.

"Right. Cube-square law." Reginald agreed.

"Probably." Twilight said. "Though, just in case, we'd better hope that if Pinkie's right, the model is all that got brought here." Everyone looked uneasy at that particular thought.

Rainbow finally said "Whatever, let's just get away from it."

As they continued on, the signal grew stronger. They were coming up on a tall, gently sloping hillside, and the peak of what was assumed to be a radio tower was starting to come into view over the crest.

"That'll be them." Herbert said. "That's where the broadcast is coming from." He bought the airship to a halt. "So, how do we proceed?"

"We could try to contact them." Twilight said. "Over the radio I mean. But since none of us speak their language..."

"Should we have Rainbow or Xix do a flyover?" Rarity asked.

"Kind of risky, but maybe we should consider it." Twilight said.

"Good, because she just took off on her own." Rarity said, pointing to the rapidly receding form of Rainbow as she flew over the hilltop.

Twilight face-hooved. Bert shook his head. Applejack simply said "I hope this doesn't blow up in our faces."

"It's Dashie!" Pinkie said.

"Yeah... That's kind of what worries us Pinkie." Applejack replied.

A short time later, Rainbow returned. After the requisite chewing out from Twilight, she was asked what she had seen.

"Well, I guess you were right about the language you thought you recognized. Because they are human." She began, "And a pretty big city of humans too. Like, four, maybe five times as big as Unity is. There's what I think is a military base, too, but the stuff they had there looked kind of weird."

"Weird how?"

"Hay, I dunno... Really different from the kinds of war machines I've seen in your movies... But, I think maybe we've got a problem."

"Go ahead, what's wrong?" Bert asked.

Rainbow said "Well, there's this symbol thing they've got flying on flags all over the town. And, I seemed to remember it being a bad thing in one of the human movies we've watched. So I grabbed one to show you." Rainbow pulled a rolled up flag out of her saddlebag and unfurled it.

"I'll be damned." Herbert grumbled.

Bert was less restrained: "Son of a bitch!"

Before them, held up in Rainbow's hooves, was a Nazi Swastika.