//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Contact 
// Story: Friendship is Universal 
// by DudeBroBrony 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 2: Contact



On the bed of Princess Celestia the letter from Zecora sat untouched. The sun's rays slowly began to fill the room with it's light as Celestia's magic brought forth the new day. Not too long after the regal Princess would re-enter her room. While she was indeed quite powerful bending the celesital bodies of their world was a tiring feat and required a bit a recovery before returning to her duties. As she began to relax once again she notices the letter sitting on her bed side nearly forgetting about it and the strange green bird who delivered it. Using her golden colored magic the letter would levitate toward her unravelling itself. With a small cough to clear her throat Celestia began to read out loud to herself.

"Dear Princess Celestia, there is danger upon Equestria! A strange glow has begun to appear, it is a phenomenon of which I fear. It drives the creatures of Everfree crazy, of this request you cannot be lazy. I ask you come down to investigate, or else for Equestria it might be too late. It glows and makes a shreiking sound,  it's power looks to be profound. It seems like magic hovering it mid air, as if in our world there is a tear. Please come and seal it soon, or else for this world it could be our doom."

There's no signature on the letter, but just through it's composition Celestia can tell it's author. The Mystic Zecora always spoke in rhymes and it appeared she wrote that way as well. But she knew Zecora was no prankster, if she was writing a letter like this then whatever was happening in the Everfree forest it must be something big.

"Guards, inform my sister that she is to watch over Canterlot. Tell Shining Armor to gather some of his best men and be ready to depart for the Everfree forest within the hour."

With a firm salute the guards posted outside her room make haste to preform their tasks for their beloved Princess. Whatever is happening it cannot be good.


 =======================================================


In a different plane of existance the old man with the graying moustahce, General Throne, watches the purple glowing Tear while sipping on a hot cup of black coffee. A smile is plasted on his face no matter how hard he tries to get rid of it. He's been waiting for this day for much too long. Beside him sits Erika, a woman with a genius level IQ who's been spear heading the scientific side of this operation since day one. She types away at her console unsure of what to expect. The General leans over to her with his growing smile.

"What's our stability?"

"Stability at 96 percent sir. The Tear is holding up better than we anticipated. At it's current size we can go ahead and send in Alpha Team."

That smile on Thorne's face grows even bigger.

"Why don't you do the honors?"

Erika looks surprised at that. She gives a weak smile and a nod. She really doesn't want to be the one sending these men to their potential deaths. With a deep breath she moves closer to the intercom microphone and begins to relay the order.

"Alpha Team, you may now begin. Approch the Tear and enter slowly. God bless you both."

Erika wipes her brow of sweat and looks back to her console. She doesn't want to see those men enter what could potentially be a white void of nothing, or a black hole, she's much better off just watching the numbers on her computer. She's comfortable there.

The first two men, Alpha Team, put on their oxygen masks and proceed to enter the Tear that is now large enough to fit them both. They are the first to journey into the unknown.


=======================================================


"Pinkie!"

Twilight Sparkle raises her hook slightly as Pinkie Pie flies forward crashing into the Library. There's a loud thud but amazingly neither Pinkie Pie or the Library suffer any serious damage.

"Woooo! Again, again!"

Pinkie Pie starts hopping away without a care int the world. Twlight begins to raise her hoof in protest, but she knows it wouldn't do any good. As if her Party Cannon wasn't enough, but the Deluxe Party Cannon was big enough for Pinkie to fire herself around Ponyville. It really was amazing that nopony hadn't be injured yet.

"Come on Twilight! Lighten up! Whats not fun about climbing into a giant cannon and firing yourself around town. Hey, we should start a buisness firing ponies whereever they need to go!"

"Spike, think about it. Does useing ponies as cannonballs really seem like a good idea to you? What if you end up hitting an innocent pegasus just flying by! You have to think about these things every now and again."

Spike's demenor went from extremely happy to pretty darn sad. He thought his idea was pretty cool. As his voice raises to defend himself the sound of the royal horns can be heard not too far away. Twilight immediatly recognises those horns as the Royal Guard and the Princess.

"Wait a minute, those horns...it can't be."

The cute little egghead scratches her head in disbelif as Rarity wizzes by giggling to herself. She couldn't help but get into a bubbly mood whenever royalty showed up in Ponyville.

"Wait! Rarity! Come back! Uhhgg! Come on Spike! We're going to see what's going on down there."

Spike hopped up onto Twilight's back on command as she took off toward the ruckus. Down in the center of Ponyville a humongous crowd of ponies began to form around a blockade of Royal Guardsmen lead by Shinging Armor himself. Behind them was Princess Celestia herself begin pulled on her chariot by her loyal Pegasus Knights. Still unsure of what was going on Twilight began to make her way past the crowd and meeting eyes with her brother.

"Big Bro! What's going on? Why is the Princess here, and why are there so many guards?"

Shinging Armor approches Twilight giving off a slight smile, but right now he's here strictly on buisness.

"Hey little Sis. I can't tell you what's going on. But the Princess can. She's been looking for you and your friends. Something big is happening."

"Big? How big is big? Did Discord break free again? Are the Parasprites back? Did the gross Bug Queen come sneaking in again?"

"No, none of that. Just go ahead and ask Celestia."

Shinging Armor looks to his troops with a nod letting Twilight past them and over to the Princess. Already with the Princess are Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. Just from their expression Twilight can see they don't have a clue to what's happening either. Twilight bows to the Princess before making her final appraoch.

"Princess Celestia, what's going on here?"

Celestia closes her eyes for a moment and gives a breif sigh. 

"Unfortunatly I can't tell you here Twilight Sparkle. But we need to find Pinkie Pie as quickly as possible."

Twilight riases an eyebrow quizzically.

"Last I saw she was launching herself out of a Deluxe Party Cannon."

Not a second after the faithful student stops talking Pinkie Pie falls out of the sky landing on top of her with a goofy smile. That cannon could get some great distance.

"Here I am!"

Rainbow Dash can't help but fall out of the sky laughing as the rest of the ponies give a small chuckle as well. Celestia however doesn't crack and looks to the six ponies sternly.

"Now that I've gathered you all we must make haste. Please follow the guards quickly."

Celestia gives a breif nod before her Pegasus Knights fly her off back toward the Everfree Forest. Fluttershy's eyes go a bit wide in fear.

"Why is she heading toward the Everfree Forest? We aren't going there are we? Please tell me we aren't going there."

Rarity gives a slight pet to Fluttershy's mane in an attempt to cheer her up.

"Fluttershy, we must do as the Princess requests. I'm sure whatever's going on in that forest can't be worse than anything we've gone up against before."

With the Royal Guard leading them the six friends set out for the Everfree Forest.


========================================================


At the compound on the other side Erika looks at her console as the stability of the Tear is begining to fluxuate from 95 to 87 percent.

"Sir, the Tear is starting to destabalize. It's not much, but we might want to pull our men out now."

"Nonsense."

General Thorne looks at her with surprise and disapproval.

"With the reports we've gotten from Alpha and Beta team we need more men in there, not less. An over grown swamp with the growls of beasts is not something I'd leave to just four men."

Throne grabs the intercom microphone and begins giving the next order.

"Delta Team! Arnold 'Agent Orange' Packer and Raymond Hernandez, you are clear for enterance into The Tear!"

With the order given the two polar opposites approch The Tear and put on their oxygen masks. Agent Orange looks excited beyond belif while Ray is begining to shake with nervousness. The two men enter the purple growing rip of time and space. One step at a time the exit their world. As the disappear into the unknown Erika's console begins to flash red.

"Oh no...Stability at 77 percent and falling! 65 percent! 59! The Tear is collapsing!"

"No!"

Thorne shouts and bangs on the glass seperating him and Erika from The Tear itself. The soft purple light begins to flood the compound as a low hum begins to evolve into a high pitched screech. All personel at the compound begin holding their ears in pain as others begin to bleed from their nose. With a sudden flash the noise is gone, the light vanishes, and The Tear is no longer there. Erika begins to hyperventalte starring at her flashing console while General Thorne stares where The Tear used to be stunned beyond belif. A soldier begins to approch the General and the Scientist who is still getting over the shock himself.

"We...we've lost contact with all Teams sir."

All the General can do is sit there and stare. Twenty years of work, now gone is seconds with six missing men.

"May God have mercy on their souls..."


End Chapter 2