Unity: A Tale of Arcadia

by Kieva Lynn

Book Four Chapter Seven

Book Four: Our Worlds At War

Chapter Seven

The mind and magic of Morgana in the body of Gunmar. It was a potent combination. From the start, the Element Bearers and Trollhunters were forced to scatter to avoid energy blasts Morgana was firing from the tip of Gunmar's blade. "Who does she think she is!? Link!?" Toby exclaimed.

"I don't get that." Rainbow Dash answered.

"Here's my big worry: Since those blasts are coming from Gunmar's sword, what if they still have the mind control enchantment on them?" Twilight asked.

Jim swore at this, while Claire said "Helmets! Jim resisted the Decimar Blade in the Darklands by using the armor's helmet!" Twilight nodded and a helmet appeared over her head, including a horn guard. She looked around and saw everyone else had protected themselves as well.

"So what's our plan?" Rarity called out.

"We'll let you know when we have one!" Dash answered.

The battle quickly became chaotic. Morgana was assaulting anything and everything she could see, enraged by what had been done to her. She seemed focused mostly on getting to Morgan, but in her rage she was also lashing out at the world, launching devastating magical attacks at everything in sight. It was fortunate that the surrounding area was already evacuated. Fluttershy and Applejack worked together to move the still unconscious Morgan while everyone else kept Morgana's attention away from her as best they could.

As the battle progressed, Jim and Rainbow Dash found themselves on point, dueling Morgana with their own blades. They separated to either side, hoping to maximize the advantage of outnumbering her, but with a body made of dead stone she had little to fear from an occasional strike even from the Daylight sword. Supporting the battle from further back were Twilight, Rarity, Claire, and Toby. No one was sure where Pinkie had gone, but Twilight said "It's Pinkie. She's up to something that will help."

Twilight and Rarity were firing magic blasts from their horns, but it was no more effective than sparklers. Claire opened a portal beneath Morgana's feet but the sorceress caught her fall, grabbing onto the edges of the portal and pulling herself back out. Then Claire and Toby tried another trick that had worked before, portaling him into a position to bring the Warhammer crashing down on Gunmar/Morgana's head. She saw it coming and grabbed him by the foot, throwing him hard far across the field of clouds.

"Twilight darling this isn't working." Rarity said.

"I know, I know, we need a plan... But Gunmar's body is already dead. How do you kill what's dead!?"

"That is indeed a puzzler." Rarity agreed.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, Applejack was carrying Morgan on her back while Fluttershy hovered to the side, stabilizing her so she didn't fall off. They had gone several blocks away from the battle when she finally said "All right. I figure this should be safe enough for now." They carefully moved the woman's body so that she was sitting on the clouds with her back propped against a wall.

"We should go back to help." Fluttershy said. "But I hate to leave her alone."

"I hear you there."

"Oh but Applejack! You have to go back! If Morgana dispels the cloudwalking spell while you're this far away from Jim..."

"Eeyup. That'd be bad. Tell you what, you stay here and keep an eye on her, I'll head back and pitch in."

"Okay, that will work." Fluttershy lunged forward and hugged Applejack. "Be careful!"

"Ain't I always?" Applejack grinned and trotted back the way they had come from.

Alone, Fluttershy settled in to keep an eye on Morgan. She didn't have to wait long for developments. Barely five minutes later the woman groaned and began to stir. Her eyes fluttered open. "Ugh... What was that?" Her eyes focused on Fluttershy. "A pegasus? Where am I little one?"

"You're in Cloudsdale, on the world of Eqqus. How do you feel?"

"As if I was stretched in twain... Which, if I remember correctly, isn't far off the mark. Please little one, tell me what is going on! The last thing I remember before coming to here is bidding Master Merlin goodnight before retiring to my bedchamber."

Fluttershy was nervous. But she understood that the truth, however hard, was the best choice. "You might want to stay sitting down for this... The night you remember, it would have been a thousand years ago."

"A thousand...!?"

"Or more."

"But... But I am not immortal like Master Merlin! 'Tis true my magic would grant me longevity but not like this! I don't appear even to have aged a day." Morgan shook her head. "Are you certain?"

Fluttershy explained "Well I don't know the precise details, but, you turned evil and became a supervillain calling yourself Morgana and allied with evil trolls and tried to kill Merlin and make the world into eternal night. Merlin fought you and eventually imprisoned you in a heartstone. You were only recently freed."

"I can tell you speak true... But I have no memory of any of this. Nor can I comprehend why I would do such things." Morgan rose to her feet and began to pace.

"Maybe... When the battle here is over, we'll be going back to Unity. If you know the right spell you could come with us, speak with Merlin."

"Merlin is allied with you? That is good..." Morgan's head fell. "But I dare not face him after what you say happened. He is not especially forgiving."

Fluttershy hovered level with Morgan's face and put a hoof on her shoulder. "I know he can be a meanie. But I'm not sure you have anything for him to forgive. That pulling in two sensation you had? You really were pulled in two, you here in your body and the Morgana part pulled out and put in Gunmar's body. Maybe 'Morgana' was never really you. And aside from that, it's not just Merlin. Starswirl and Gandalf are in Unity too."

Morgan managed a smile. "Starswirl? Gandalf? I've not seen them in years. And yes, I'm certain they could keep Master Merlin in che-" She paused for a moment. "Little one, did you say Morgana is in Gunmar's body?

"Um, yes. We beat him with sunlight a while back, but our real enemy sent his body here and put her in it."

"We have to go help! This is worse than you realize!" Morgan ran towards the sounds of the battle, and Fluttershy followed...

XXXXX

"I'm sorry Miss Pie... You want me to what!?"

Far across Cloudsdale from the ongoing battle, positioned opposite the Weather Factory for balance reasons, was a complex of large structures with a very industrial look. A casual visitor might have mistaken them for factories, but they actually housed the enormous and powerful engines which were used when the ponies of Cloudsdale decided to move the city from one location to another. In the midst of the complex was a single twenty five story tower. The lower floors held administrative offices and equipment storage, but the top two levels, glass walled all around, was the control center for engine operation and navigation.

Pinkie Pie, still in her armor, was standing in the middle of the uppermost level, facing a flustered pegasus stallion who had the bad fortune to be at the controls when the battle had started. "You heard me." She pointed to the large tabletop map of Equestria. "We need to move Cloudsdale to this exact location, and we need to do it right now!"

"But Miss Pie, that's a very dangerous place. If the-"

Pinkie interrupted "Of course it's dangerous! Dangerous is what we need! Now will you get to it already!?"

"I'm not sure I should without the mayor's approval..."

"Oh for crying out loud! There's not gonna be a Cloudsdale if you don't help me out!" Pinkie exclaimed, exasperated.

"But I just don't-"

"What's going on here!?" A loud voice boomed out across the control room.

"Ahh! Mister Mayor!" The pegasus ran to meet the new arrival. "Sir, Miss Pie here is suggesting a very unwise course of action, and I don't think-"

"She's an Element Bearer you doof! Do as she says!" The mayor boomed out again.

"Oh! Um... Very well, right away sir..." He set to work at the controls and in moments Cloudsdale was on the move. "There you go Miss Pie. Exactly as you asked. I just hope this doesn't blow up in our faces." The pegasus looked all around, but Pinkie was no where to be seen...

XXXXX

Unity. Big Macintosh and Bert stared down into the deep tunnel the Dwarves had bored through the ground in the center of the town's park. It was eight feet high, ten feet wide, and sloped down at a steep angle continuing for fifty feet before a broad landing where it turned a hundred and eighty degrees and continued further into the earth. The walls were still bare soil held in place by temporary wooden beams, but it was clear that things were nearly ready for the concrete. "Damn they're fast." Bert said.

"Eeyup." Mac agreed. The town council had given the Dwarves permission to build their emergency shelters, and the Dwarves had wasted no time in starting. There were a total of eighteen shelters, arranged in an inner circle of six and an outer circle of twelve, placed as evenly around the town as possibly. Each was a hundred feet deep, and large enough to support up to three hundred for two weeks. This of course wasn't nearly enough for everyone, but expansion plans were in the works as well, and it was assumed that a significant percentage of the able-bodied population would stay on the surface to fight anyway.

Durban hauled himself out of the tunnel and shook off the dirt that was clinging to his clothing. "So it's looking good aye? Another day and we'll be ready to install stairs and the permanent walls and roof and stock the shelters at the bottom. Then it'll be up 't you to decide how you want to secure the entryways here on the surface."

"There's supplies for building some small sheds." Mac said. "Quick, simple, and best of all plain enough to not draw an enemy's attention right off the bat."

"Aye, that's always wise." Durban agreed.

Bert said "This is good, but I'm still kind of worried about people getting cornered down there with no where to go."

"Fear not. Each of the shelters has additional tunnels connecting them to at least two of the others. Those tunnels will be hidden behind trick walls to throw off any foes who make their way into the shelters." Durban explained.

"Excellent. But I'll still want to booby trap, possibly mine, those tunnels as well." Bert said.

Macintosh said "Another suggestion: Could you build shelter chambers and stock them, then totally remove the tunnels leading in except for some air vents? That way Unicorns could teleport folks in and there'd be no tunnels in for enemy's 't find."

"Tricky but doable." Durban concluded after a moment's thought. "In fact, I'd almost suggest doin' that with all the shelters, but I expect there aren't enough unicorns able to teleport to move everyone are there?"

"No." Bert confirmed. "I've been wondering about the Trolls though. Blinky talked about some kind of Troll mass transit system called a Gyre. From what he said, the things run through tunnels at hypersonic speeds. Imagine combining that with Mac's idea... Build the isolated shelter, with a gyre tunnel running from it to some place a few hundred miles away..."

"I see where you're going lad." Durban nodded. "Get as many people in the basic shelters as we can, then one lot at a time take them to the isolated shelter and transport them to safety far away. Of course, a few hundred miles... That'd take even we Dwarves a mite 't dig out."

"Still a good long term plan though." Macintosh said.

"Yeah. I doubt it'll be ready for this war, but there's always the next one." Bert said. "So, is there anything else?"

"Aye, two pieces of good news." Durban said. "First, Gillas has agreed to loading some of those heat ray weapons on our airship, and Miss Trixie and Lyra are working to install shield enchantments like the ones on Trixie's wagon. If the battle does come here, we'll have a little air support."

"Good news." Macintosh said. "And second?"

"Second..." Durban grinned. "Second, look what we've found while boring out these tunnels..." He held out his right hand and opened it. A large nugget of gold ore was nestled in his palm. "The land here is rich in metals. Once this is over we can start mining in earnest, and we'll have everything we need to build and grow an economy."

Bert and Macintosh both managed a smile. That they were able to look forward to a future was a good sign indeed...