SAC
The day broke, bright and clear. From the very peak of Canterlot Mountain to the great rolling fog banks that marked the edge of the known world the entire realm of Equestria was at peace.
*****
Meanwhile at Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington State, the sun had been up for a while. The harsh light played across the tarmac, and reflected off the buffed aluminum skin of an enormous aircraft lining itself up at the end of the runway. The aircraft is a B-36 bomber, and even in 1955 it is an antique. It’s round fuselage, straight wings, and mixed propeller/jet propulsion belong more to 1945 than the era of jet interceptors and surface to air missiles.
Inside the cockpit of the gleaming bomber Major Anders Valson, the commander of the plane, strapped himself into his position next to the pilot. He plugged his headset into the plane’s aged communications system and switched it to the appropriate channel for the base’s control tower. He depressed the switch to open communications with the tower and began the final preparations for lift off:
"Checklist completed, ready to start engines," said Major Valson.
"Roger crew, breaks are set, fireguard is standing by, start engines," responded the tower.
At this point the engineer began to start the propeller engines one by one. The engines sputtered to life, the propellers turning slowly at first then picking up speed. A loud thrumming noise filled the craft as the frame began to vibrate.
All engines running smoothly the bomber taxied out onto the runway. Major Valson gives final orders to his crew preparing the plane for takeoff.
"Start jets one, two, three, and four."
"Starting jets," responded Captain Dawley, the pilot, as he reached up to the jet control panel and ignited the engines.
"Close windows and hatches."
"Windows and hatches closed," a chorus of voices responded.
"Cabins report."
"Nose ready for takeoff."
"Radio ready for takeoff."
"Aft compartment ready for takeoff."
"Engineer, in takeoff configuration."
"Standing by for propeller reverse, safety check, and takeoff power."
"Crew, standby for takeoff, engineer, give me takeoff power. Jets 100%."
The bomber began to trundle down the runway, slowly picking up speed. Soon the front landing gear lifted off the tarmac, the plane seemed to pause half on and half off the ground, as if uncertain whether to fully commit to the sky or stay earthbound. Finally, the bomber lifted laboriously off the runway, its heavy load making it sluggish and ungainly. As it fought for altitude, the wings flexed, and, unbeknownst to the crew, a rivet popped free, allowing a small trickle of oil to leak out and drip from the trailing edge of the wing.
The bomber gained altitude and headed west, out over the Pacific ocean. Once it reached 40,000 feet the bomber stopped climbing and leveled out. The crew relaxed as best they could in the vibrating airframe and settled in for a long flight.
*****
Far off the Equestrian coast lie great beds of seaweed. Small vessels leave sleepy coastal hamlets each day to gather the harvest, bringing it back to be dried and sold. The further out you go the better the seaweed becomes, but most ponies still stay far back from the large wall of roiling mist which marked the edge of the world, there were too many stories about what lay beyond it.
Blue Jacket, an earth pony from the town of Hoof Sands, was an exception. He regularly sailed out to the sea weed beds near the fog, far past where the other boats would go, as a result, he got a better haul than anypony else in his village. The fog had never bothered Blue Jacket before, but something seemed different today. Almost as if the trip out to where he does his gathering was shorter than usual, and the fog itself seemed different; thicker and darker.
He readied his anchor and rake, ready to begin gathering when he realized that he couldn’t see the buoys marking the far beds that he liked to gather from. With a sinking feeling in his gut, Blue Jacket realized that the fog had advanced, swallowing up parts of the sea that had been previously traversable. Blue Jacket quickly tacked away from the encroaching fog, heading back towards shore. However, as he did so, he noticed grey tendrils began to materialize out of the thick fog, and soon he was completely engulfed by the encroaching vapors.
*****
Meanwhile on Earth, Major Valson checked on the status of his aircraft. He switched his intercom to the engineer’s channel:
"Jakobs, I need a maintenance check on the plane"
"Oil level is slightly below optimum, everything else is fine sir."
As the Major reached towards the intercom controls his headset crackled into life:
"Sir, navigation reporting an unusual weather phenomenon just below us."
"Go ahead Wesley," replied the Major.
"There seems to be some sort of cloud cover hugging the ocean, you probably can't see it from up there in the cockpit sir."
Major Valson unbuckled his harness and stood up slightly, allowing him to see a rolling cloud bank out of the corner of the windscreen, it seemed strangely solid and clung to the ocean's surface. Sitting back down he called up his navigator:
"Wesley, call in the phenomenon to Meteorology, continue on present heading."
"Roger that sir."
*****
The fog rolled rapidly over Equestria, quickly covering the seas and coastline around the island nation. As it moved inland it slowed down, pooling in valleys and piling up behind hills.
The fog finally reached the valley where Ponyville was, coating the entire town in grey clouds. Fog dimmed the bright noonday sun suffusing the town in a watery grey light. Ponies stared around in confusion at the sudden change in weather.
Twilight Sparkle was walking down the main street in Ponyville with her friend Rarity when suddenly she became socked in by fog. She looked towards Rarity, or rather where Rarity should be, since she could not see her friend through the thick fog.
"Rarity, are you there?" asked Twilight in a panic.
"Yes, I'm still here. What do you think is going on?"
"I don't know, this fog is so thick I can't even see my hoof in front of my face!"
"Oh, I know darling, I can't see anything either."
From somewhere in the fog came the sounds of ponies beginning to panic. Confused voices called out of the mist, trying to find lost loved ones, or figure out where they are in the blinding fog.
"Oh no, we need to do something quick! I'll go send a letter to the princess telling her what's going on, you go try to find Rainbow Dash and see if she can clear these clouds away!"
"Of course, she is probably with Applejack at this time of day."
"Right, let's go!" said Twilight as she turned to run to the library, and ran right into something.
"Ow," said Rarity, "I seem to have run into something."
"I think that was me," replied Twilight, cradling her head.
"Why did you bump into me? The library is in the other direction."
"What do you mean, the library is that way, Sweet Apple Acres is over that way."
"Darling, I hope you realize that I can't see where you are pointing."
"Oh, right," says Twilight, opening her eyes. "Well, it seems we're lost, we need to find some way out of this fog."
*****
"I found a wall!" shouted Twilight in triumph.
"Oh good job darling! Do you know where we are now?" asks Rarity.
"No," replied Twilight, the disappointment plain in her voice.
"Well, at least it's something."
The clip clop of Rarity's hooves sounded through the mist as she moved towards Twilight. However, before she reached her friend she is overcome by intense vertigo.
*****
Major Valson sipped a very bad cup of coffee while staring out of a port hole at the never-ending mist below. The flat cloud layer that they had previously encountered gradually gave way to hills and mountains formed of ethereal, roiling mist.
The airplane began to shake, gently at first but with ever increasing violence. Major Valson rushed back towards his seat, strapping himself in just as the plane dropped what feels like ten feet. His forgotten cup of coffee spilled all over him, scalding his crotch. Working through the pain he plugs him headset back into the plane.
"Sir, that last crash knocked something loose, we're losing oil fast!" said the engineer.
“God damnit! How long do we have?” said Major Valson.
"A couple moments, then the engines on the port wing will catch fire!"
As Major Valson opened his mouth to order the engines shut down, the plane shuddered again and the world seemed to slow down. Major Valson looked out the window and regards the clouds below, hoping that there is somewhere to land under there.
"Hey, don’t fall asleep on us old man!" shouts Captain Dawley. "We need you to get us through this!"
Refocusing on the present Major Valson reestablished contact with the engineer. "Engineer, current status."
"Port engines unresponsive, fuel dropping, losing altitude rapidly."
Major Valson's throat turned dry and his palms began sweating. Reaching over to his control panel he switched the com system to public address.
"Crew, prepare for forced landing, repeat, prepare for forced landing. Navigator, communicate our current position to Strategic Air Command."
*****
"What was that?" said Twilight, rubbing her temple with a hoof.
"I don't know, but that beastly fog is finally lifting," replied Rarity.
Twilight stood up and looked around the rapidly re-appearing street. Everything seemed to be fine, no obvious damage or changes. She cocked an ear at a bizarre buzzing sound. She looked around but can't find the source despite the rapidly fading fog.
*****
Aboard the rapidly descending aircraft people talked over the com, making last minute preparations for the landing.
*****
The buzzing noise gained in volume, rising to a great roar. Something extremely loud passed directly over Twilight's head, causing her to crouch and cover her ears. The ground shook, glass shattered, and ponies screamed in terror. Looking up afterwards she noticed that the mist is swirly and eddying like something absolutely enormous passed just overhead.
*****
Major Valson and Captain Dawley peered out of the aircraft through the last shreds of the fog, trying to find a place to land. They were passing over a large forest with hardly a break in the canopy, until Major Valson saw a field in the distance. Captain Dawley managed to keep the plane flying long enough to crash in the field rather than the forest.
It was a much harder landing than normal. Metal screeched and the cabin began to fill with smoke as the plane careened down the semi flat surface. Major Valson watched with dread as the plane approached a large hill. The plane hit the hill and dug in, coming to a wrenching halt.
*****
Hearing an enormous crash, Twilight rushed towards its source. As she got closer toward the source of the noise the air began to be filled with a black smoke and foul chemical smell, like when that dragon fell asleep near Ponyville. As she rounded the last house she is confronted with a sight the likes of which she has never seen before. An enormous thing was sitting at the far end of a fallow field. Light glinted off of it, making it very difficult for Twilight to get a good look at the thing. As she ran towards it she became increasingly aware of just how enormous the it was. It was bigger than any building in Ponyville and most of the buildings in Canterlot. The only thing which she could compare the cylindrical bulk of the thing to was a tower from Canterlot Castle.
Rarity walked up behind Twilight and asked, "what do you think it is?"
"It must be some kind of enormous machine. I don't know of any creature whose skin is made out of that kind of metal, and look, there seems to be writing on it! I wish I could read what it says," said Twilight.
"Listen darling, this could be dangerous, perhaps we should inform the Royal Guard and let them deal with this."
"No, this is the most incredible thing in, oh, at least three months! An artifact of an advanced civilization falling out of the sky right near Ponyville, who would have thought!"
By this point Twilight and Rarity were nearing where the artifact had impacted a large hill. Behind them they could hear a crowd of Ponyville residents gathering to gawk, though none had come as close as the two mares.
*****
Major Valson groaned and rubbed his bruised chest where his crash harness had dug in. The smoke from burning insulation made his head feel thick and painful. He unbuckled himself and struggled to his feet, trying to clear his head.
"Alright, listen up!" called Major Valson. "We seem to have crashed on some uncharted island, grab the box and any survival gear available and head for the emergency exit."
One of the airmen present wrenched open the emergency escape hatch in the wheel well. "No go sir, its blocked."
"All right," said Major Valson. "Open the access hatch, there should be a rope ladder somewhere around here."
One of the other airmen opened the circular hatch in the bulkhead and they began to pass the equipment out, starting with the box containing the pit.
*****
Twilight was examining one of the machines supports when she heard a scraping noise. She watched in fascination as a small circular opening appeared in the machine and some sort of rope and wood contraption was thrown out. She held her breath as some sort of lanky, beige creature climbed down the rope contraption. It froze as their eyes met.
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So, this is the first serious piece of creative writing I have embarked upon since Elementary school. In other words rip it apart, I need to improve!
So... the Enola Gay in Equestria?
I know where this is going.
EDIT: Oops. I just guessed. And wrong.
Well...as long as humans are shown farely and not as a bunch of a-holes, and if the USA are the good guys...I might fave it.
OK my first impression was wrong, thought it was the Enola Gay crashing, but nope it's Peacemaker. Wonder how the Cold War will go with Equestria popping up. Don't see Equestria really going for communism though
1612801 Actually it's a B-36. The Enola Gay was a B-29. Totally different.
Happy to see you finally got this up.
1612848
I made an assumption when I saw the description.
1612801
The Enola Gay was a b-29 Superfortress, that right there's a Peacemaker (b-3... 6?), a plane not designed for peace.
Also, the title's French for calm, or a pause. Huh.
1612802 Why does the USA always have to be the good guys :(
Faved, will start reading when I'm supposedly asleep
1612912
Yeah, I want to see one where the ponies get nazified.
"Mr. President, we cannot allow! AN EQUESTRIAN PONY GAP!"
Favoriting! I'm greatly looking forward to more of this. I've always been interested in nuclear weapon 'incidents'. And for something like it to happen in Equestria intrigues me. If those guys were carrying a nuke, anyway.
Putting this on my read later list.
B-36 on cover. Automatically must read.
Okay! This looks like it has potential. My only problem with it is that narration is usually done in past tense (ex: said), not present (ex: says).
1612900
Sorry, I tried to stick to present tense, but I have trouble telling which I am writing in. Weird right?
1612999
Yes exactly.
1613257
Thanks!
Wow! I can't believe the response to this so far! Thank you all.
I am afraid that I won't be able update for a while yet, I have work to finish before the end of the semester, but seeing how many people are interested in my story is definitely inspirational.
1612876
Détente can also refer to the trigger of a firearm.
"appuyer sur la détente" = "pulling the trigger"
1612999 Well the scary thing is that B-36's where almost always carrying nukes. only in the late fifties did they stop carrying them, having been replaced by more advanced bombers.
"How will Equestria fare in the playground of giants?
If they feel like they want to attack, immediate destruction.
I like it, but please don't make this another dualistic/maniqueist story (the usual USA are badass heroes and USSR are evil communists stuff) I truly hate that kind of stuff.
1622677
Don't worry, the Soviets (and the Americans) will both have their heroic and dastardly moments.
Love it! Didn't notice any spelling or formatting errors, but, grammatically, you should definitely pick a tense. In my biased opinion, you should go with past tense. It's what we've been reading forever, and the story feels better that way.
Just my two bits.
1622852
Yeah, I thought I was writing in present tense, but apparently I can't tell what tense I write in during the heat of creativity.
1622848
and don't forget to show the power of the motherland and it's history with all it's glory!!!
YAY!!!
... and... the american too... if you want to...
1622858 Yeah. When creativity strikes like lightning, you gotta write fast, or it's lost.
1623484
No, I'm just really blind when it comes to tense.
Present tense bothered me slightly, but that was very minor.
Faved, will track.
Will there be Dr Stangelove? That would officially make this one of my top ten favorite fan-fics of all time!
1625186
Probably not. Sorry, I'm going to try and stick to the true history of the era.
1625279 Too bad...I'll still give it a read though! I can imagine it now...
1612802 Why should the US necessarily be the good guys?
If it's going to be a story about the Cold War, the allegiance should best be left open to interpretation.
1627084 The USSR single handily killed 30 million of it's own people. And that's just in the 30's. Not counting the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's. I assure you, the USSR was evil.
1627100
In this case of course, one should rather demand that the Soviets not being the good guys.
One should keep in mind that the US was far from saintly.
In such historical scenarios, one should always take the time to instill a sense of moral ambiguity. The Cold War was purely a battle for one's own ideology and influence, wth both sides acting exceptionally dirty and underhanded.
This works especially well in a story featuring ponies and Equestria, a literal third POV on the events between the two human powers.
1627152 Well, it's true the USA ain't no saint, but there's a big difference between the bad things we did (Jim Crow, Japanese Internment) and what the USSR did (genocide, selective starvation of the entire Ukraine, mass murder of its own citizens)
So yeah. I'd say no matter how you slice it, the USSR comes off as evil. Now the real choice Equestria would have to make is weather or not they become neutral (like Switzerland, who would sell Jews to Nazi's for the gold taken from dead Jews' teeth) or become an ally (like England, which had the whole India and Ireland thing)
That's the choice they have to make.
I'm sorry if this comes off as hyper-political, I often tend to avoid such things. They only lead to pointless fights. I hope you understand.
Seriously? You have typos in the description.
I hope you get an editor.
WOW i havent read somthing like this in a long time not in 17 years. i em 16 so thet means i have never read enythink like this. and i love it it's GOOD
1631207
Glad to hear it.
Present tense is a bit awkward but the story could get very interesting,
Also, please don't go "Humans Are Bastards" or have the ponies be Purity Sues. Have all three sides be somewhat morally grey.
1634271
Of course I won't.
Interesting; Equestria caught in the middle of the Cold War. Faved.
1612802 Why the US? Why not Canada?
1698003 Cause this is the Cold War, and in that case, the only major nations that were really involved were the USA, the UK and the USSR.
Canada really wasn't involved in the same way as the USA and the UK were.
And I like Canada.
They got awesome maple syrup.
This is quite promising, amigo. I look forward to whatever you have in store.
Oh, and as to that guy I mentioned before- Bruce Munro- he's on deviantart as "Quantum Branches", or something to that effect. He did a scenario quite similar to yours, and is certainly worth a look.
1887242
What guy you mentioned before?
When you left your comment on my user page. I just brought it up because your story and his material are somewhat similar, and I figured you'd want to check it out.
Mostly, I like the potential that this story has. Most of the Equestria/Earth stories are set in the present, but this story is set in the 50's back when risk-less rewards were unheard of. Both the USSR and USA will scramble to curry favor with this new land if for no other reason than to deny their opponent Equestria, and in two years time, the space race will begin.
There has not been much in the way of character development or anything beyond basic set up yet, and while that is slightly disappointing, it is not surprising since it has yet to breach 2.5K words. The way that the story sways back and forth from present to past and then back to present tense should be addressed at some point, and only one of the two tenses should be used in narration.
You also bothered to track me down; therefor, you get a
Update on the update?
1995139
What?
1996045
When should I / can I - expect an update / new chapter to this fic?