> Hetalia: Journey to The Strange World > by IamtheRazgriz > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Seriously... ANOTHER World Conference?! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Everybody was sitting around the oval table as America kept rambling on about whatever it was. No one knew. He kept talking about the same thing for what seemed like hours. Although it was only a few minutes. But, those minutes seemed to forge into hours as he talked and talked. He was like an annoying little dog- one that always barked at everybody and everything that came within viewing distance of it. Like a bird that doesn't stop cheeping and making noise, only it to piss you off it seems. Everyone was either falling asleep, bored out of their minds, or just angry at him. Germany especially. He was feeling very fucking pissed at America. He felt a deep anger inside, a deep, deep anger which had felt just like a Doberman Pinscher that was about ready to rip open a stranger's neck, because she was protective of its owner. Just like the stranger was going to attack at any second. England felt the same way, but with less ferocity and with a headache in place of it. He felt more like misery was the victim and he was the misery. And the fact that the torturer and host was America, his younger-cheeseburger obsessed-more annoying brother didn't help at all. Italy, the only exception of everyone being annoyed or bored, was as happy as a lark, as he had started to play with one of the many white flags he had in his possession. He was imagining he was in a place where there was all-you-can-eat pasta, and it tasted something like a rainbow coming out of your mouth. He was imagining that it tasted extremely delicious. Japan, with his hobby of refraining from speaking and analyzing the situation to find the way to speak in the least offensive way possible was just saying little tidbits of answers like, "possibly", "I'll think about it", and "I will look into the problem", had also been getting annoyed by the second because of America. But he was also the calmest, and most cool-headed of the bunch, which made him the best for sitting through long lectures by America. England, now easily the most upset had just started to argue with America, and he wasn't the only one, as France was feeling very much the same as England- with a killer headache. And then there was Russia. No matter what, he always kept a cheery disposition. He was also the most evil-like of them all. America stopped his speech, and got sucked into the argument. "Why don't you just shut up already!?", screamed England. America turned his head and looked at England, in his olive drab colored suit. He was also wearing a red tie. He answered, "Yo, dude! Why don't you chill? It might really help! Being you're so uptight and all!" "What!?! I am not uptight! If anyone is uptight, it is most definitely not me!" "Why don't you two just settle down and be more relaxed like me?", asked France. Simultaneously, England and America yelled, "Why don't you stay out of it!? You're the weird one!" France was then shocked by what they said. He felt anger begin to well up inside of him, and his mouth dropped open. His eyes had opened wider than his mouth. His heart skipped a beat, and he felt like he was just shot- like he was playing a game of some sort and out of nowhere was kicked for no reason, as if everybody else had decided he wasn't welcome. He was from then on sucked in as well. "I am not weird! You're just jealous because you're not me!" America and England cut him down saying, "Shut up!" Japan agreed with America's argument, about England chilling out. When he said, "I agree with America.", England yelled at him. England was now in a full-blown fit of anger, and his headache was gone, because he was doing something to take his mind off of it. He was now angry at Japan, and yelled, "How in the hell could you possibly agree with him!?" China couldn't take anymore of the arguing, his ears felt like they were bleeding. "Ai Ya! So much fighting between three countries! How do they stay allies? Hey, would you like to try some snacks now?" Although he tried it before, it never worked, he didn't suspect his trick to try now, but in an odd turn of events, they stopped fighting to try some. As they opened up the packets and slipped them into their mouths, they actually enjoyed them. They said, "Thank you for the snacks!" China was happy, and said, "You're welcome!" It was perfect, the snacks stopped their fighting, and everybody else became happy. It was perfect, or at least China thought it all was. The three turned down the snacks, like always, and did not stop fighting. They actually said, "Keep your stale snacks!" China now had a reason to argue too. "What!? My authentic Chinese snacks are not stale! Look at the expiration date! It says... EXPIRED!!!" After looking at the expiration date, China felt defeat when the expiration date said that they had expired two weeks ago. He felt the same way he did when he took in Japan, and tried to teach him about his culture, and failed. That is how he felt, and he didn't bother fighting anymore. Russia, he was not showing his anger like anybody else, since he didn't need to. In fact, what he really wanted was to be able to live with everybody in peace. He spoke up, and everybody shut up to listen, since they were all afraid of him. "I think so it would be best if you kept quiet, no? Kol, kol." Now they knew he was pissed. They could sense his dark, aura without even needing to see. Russia was equally like them because he had a thing or two which he absolutely adored. America loves cheeseburgers. China is obsessed with Hello Kitty. Germany's most favorite things in the world were beer and bratwurst. England loved tea. Russia loved an alcoholic beverage like Germany, but his was even stronger. It wasn't liquor, it was not hard lemonade. It was vodka. He adored vodka and sunflower seeds. He was completely different from everybody else though, in the case that he was really scary to be around, and he did the most dangerous things sometimes, like jumping out of a plane with no parachute, even when China tried to do his best to make him jump with one. Many times Russia had sat down in the cursed chair which kills whoever sits on it, and he broke it. He was downright evil, but he really meant good. At this point, Poland said, "Russia, don't make me go out on you!" Poland was they only country not afraid of Russia. He was not afraid because of all the border disputes they've had over the years. Poland thought of Russia as a big pest, like roaches. A pest like field mice that are living inside your house and eating your food. Russia thought of Poland as the same. It also is funny how the only person Russia fears is his little sister, Belarus, while he concerns for his big sister Ukraine. "You know: You're really annoying.", Russia said to Poland. "You are too!", Poland said back. Just like that, everyone started to argue all over again. This pissed off Germany even more, and he was about ready to snap. He was walking on a thin tightrope, and it was about to snap. The tightrope was his mind, the atmosphere his anger, and he was the trapeze artist. He was being swallowed up by his anger, and his mind would snap at any moment, so would he, and he'd start screaming at everyone to shut up, before he wore them as his clothes. Well, except for Italy, seeing he didn't misbehave in these stupid world conferences. Yes, Italy behaved like a good boy who was always getting good grades in school, who was a little boy that was too young to realize the fun of misbehaving. On top of that, he was completely defenseless. He wasn't stupid, he was not weak- well, he was a little bit, no not a little bit. He was very weak. The only thing he did was wave a white flag when it came to battling. And if he wasn't battling, he was mass-producing them. Germany once attempted to keep a diary for the sole purpose of figuring him out. It took him twenty-eight days, and he never figured him out. "Poland, please don't get beaten up by Russia again!", Lithuania said to him. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. So I'll protect you from Russia if he does anything to you, alright?" America yelled, "Oh yeah? Well at least I don't make horrible tasting food like you!" "What!? My food is not bad!", England said in defense. France, in his strange, soft voice, said, "I must agree with him. You don't have any taste for food at all. You make food that is simply bland! Wouldn't you agree, little brother Italy?" Italy looked towards France, confused, and said, "Huh?" "England's food is simply terrible, wouldn't you agree?", he told Italy. "Dammit! I told you my food doesn't taste bad, you ass! You only want it to!" "Yeah big brother France! His food tasted terrible!" "Hey, guys! Please calm down!", exclaimed China, with some fear in his voice. Germany had it worse on his end. Since the end of World War II, things weren't turning out the best for him. He couldn't get anybody to stop fighting like he used to be able to do. His power slowly fell out of his grasp like a slippery bar of soap that had just barely been wet. He just wasn't as scary as he used to be. No one feared him as much as they did during that era that felt as if it were long ago. The only nation that still feared him was Italy. Italy depended greatly on Germany, and Germany still even held onto him as a friend, despite his questionable abilities on the front lines. He had something to make up for it, however. He was a great cook. Italy had that thing about his food that caught on to you like a cat caught on to catnip. The only way he could describe it was as this: Italy could make a meal, and no matter how much his mind told him to throw it into the trash as he could, he couldn't, for he knew that it would be one helluva tasty meal. However, the fighting in the room was getting to him quickly. He gritted his teeth, and tapped his foot as much as possible, but he couldn't forget about the situation around him. He finally snapped, and his mid-to-low, firm voice filled the room. "I've had enough of this nonsense! Every time we hold one of these world conference meetings, it always comes down to this damn fighting between all of you! Do I need to remind you that we hold these meetings to try and solve the world's problems!? Just once, I wish that we could hold a successful meeting without all of you asses bickering and arguing over what, how badly England's food tastes? You all need to grow up, and mature a little." Everybody in the room had quieted down, as he had hoped. "I know most of you hate each other, but it doesn't always have to come down to us arguing like children. I can tell that you aren't happy to be with your enemies in the same room, but please, just try to show some hospitality towards others for a change. And if you don't want to stop fighting, then I'm not taking any role in this argument. I'll be leaving if it stays like this, and I won't attend these silly little meetings." After his speech, he got out of his chair and left the room, the door staying open slightly ajar, not closing all the way. The first to make amends was Russia. The second was China, and third were England and France. Then it was Japan, America, Poland, and Lithuania. They all took a break, and the only one who stayed was Canada, the country nobody cared about. "I guess I'll just wait here for my turn.", Canada said in a soft, quiet voice. At the same time, the little bear he was always holding said, "Who are you?" Canada always said back to him the same answer, "I'm Canada." His pet bear always was forgetting who his owner was. After they had all returned, they decided it was time to get started. After they all took their seats, Germany spoke. "Alright, what's on the agenda for today?" America suddenly said, "Whoa! Check this out! Page number five says something about a strange looking thing that looks like a portal! That's totally awesome!" > The Portal That is Awesomeness Doubled > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Germany and everyone else was completely shocked by what America had just said. They didn't know how to actually reply to that, except for England saying, "What!? Portals don't just appear from out of nowhere, you idiot!" Although America was England's little brother, and he loved him, he really thought he was completely stupid at times. No one played attention to England when he said that. Italy exclaimed several times over, "Hey everybody! I have white flags! Look, I made some for everyone!" Germany scolded Italy for being stupid. "Italy! That's enough! What is this 'portal' you're talking about, America?" America exclaimed, "Oh? It's... some really cool... blue colored... thing that... app...eared... over some un... inhabited island!" "America, we can't understand you when you're stuffing burgers into your mouth.", England explained to him. America loved burgers so much. He loved them so fucking much, he would try to fit them into his schedule whenever possible. He attempted to stuff them down his throat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. France tried to talk with him. "America? Don't you think that you could be less vague and give us a better description?" He pulled out a remote, and with the click of a button, America showed them a live feed video of the portal. It was a deep blue in hue, and had some electric blue streaks running through with the deep blue colors of the portal. It was sucking up small things like grass and leaves, and they disappeared after passing through the gateway. They did not come out of the other side, it was like a wormhole. It was flat, and anything that passed through one side, did not come out right behind on the other side. China exclaimed that it looked like it was positioned there by some sort of enemy to try and destroy Earth little by little. "If that's the case, I'm up for some fighting myself!", Russia said. America started to get thrilled that someone was speaking literally the same thing he was thinking about in the back of his mind. He started a conversation with Russia. "Dude, you ready for some fighting?", he exclaimed. Russia said, "Yes, I actually am. I'd love to see the enemy's faces when I crush them, and they come crawling to me for mercy." At that moment, everybody could sense Russia's aura turning dark again, and became afraid. "What about my ideas? Do you wanna hear them?", Canada asked. "Wha...!? Did you hear that just now?", England asked. America asked them all, "Hey, did anyone else hear something?" "No.", China said. Japan said, "I think I may have, but it might have been nothing." Of course, he obviously meant "no". "Everyone, shut up and get back on topic!", Germany yelled. And just like that, everybody quieted down and continued on as normal. "Maybe we should form a big battle army with me at the front! Cause I'm the hero!", America said. He always thought he was the hero. Everything in every single one of his plans had him as the hero, and everyone else "backing him up". What this meant although, is that he actually did nothing, and took all the credit for everyone else's work in a battle. He did intentionally too. He purposefully took credit for all the efforts of everybody else. "You know, every single one of your plans has you as the hero, America. Why not let someone else lead for a change?", France asked him. America seemed quite offended greatly by this, and defending his role as the hero, told France, "What!? No way dude! I ain't gonna stop being the hero I am!" England had something else to say about it. "I think the only logical explanation would be to go and check it out. Not try to just fight for no reason." "Easy for you to say!", America said. Italy was running around the room, waking his white flag, while chanting, "Va. Va. Va. Va. Hey! White flags for everyone! Don't you want one!" "Everyone! I think England is completely correct in the matter at hand! We can't just waste energy fighting.", everybody else said. "Very well then, I think we can stop fighting.", said France. America said, "Totally! In fact, why don't we go check out that really awesome portal?" "All right, but remember to be prepared! Don't be wasting time while we are away. We don't want too many problems arising while we are gone. At any rate, we should only be there for a little bit, before we leave.", Germany told all the people in the room. "Maybe they'll give me my turn soon.", Canada said to himself. His little bear once again forgot who his owner is. "Who are you?" Canada told him, "I'm your owner, Canada." "Oh." "Anyone else just hear that!?", England cried out. England looked very frightened and was once again shot down by America. America said, "Dude I think you're just hallucinating again" At that very moment, one of England's hallucinatory friends showed up. Only he could see these, and he always acted weird according to everybody else. Don't listen to him! You're not hallucinating England., he could hear it say. "Thank you for saying that. Obviously no one else cares about you like I do.", England told his friend. China was watching England the whole time, and he said, "Wha...!? England, I th-think you're hallucinating again!" England looked very calm and under control when he look to China with a look of confusion. "Are you going to try and tell me you can't see my green friend here?" "Green friend!?", Germany said to himself. How is that possible!? If there isn't anybody on the Earth who is green, then, who, or what could that be?, he thought. Unless he really IS hallucinating! Germany could now just imagine a whole bunch of weird looking bug and animal things. All of them around England. Laughing, talking, and playing. They looked very strange to him. They discussed over the portal for about another hour or so. Consulting America's alien friend Tony, and many other things. While talking to Tony, they couldn't understand what he was saying. All except for America. Everyone else just heard, "Fucking. Fucking. Fucking. Fucking." Occasionally, America would ask Tony something, and they'd hear, "Bitch. Bitch." America didn't seem to mind at all, since he was good friends with the alien. But, the big thing now was getting the conference all wrapped up. They all were finished speaking, and so they bid their goodbyes till the next day, when they'd be going to investigate the portal. All of them retired to their houses for the day. Japan was just leaving the building when Italy had caught him while driving his red convertible. "Hey Japan!", he said, in a cheery voice. Japan turned around and saw Italy was just leaving the grounds. Japan lived far away from Europe, and since the conferences were held in Europe, he had a long walk. Japan quickly, but not confusingly replied back to Italy's greeting, "Huh? Oh, hello Italy." Italy asked Japan if he needed a ride home. Japan remembered exactly what had happened the last time, and told Italy that he would love to, but only if he didn't drive like a mad man this time. "I'll be safe today, I promise!", Italy told Japan clear as day. What Japan did not catch upon was the extra emphasis in the word "safe". Japan accepted his offer, and he made a mistake, just like previously. Because of the last incident, he vowed to make safer cars. This meant that he of course made them with a limit on horsepower when they were road cars. Not a single one exceeded the country's limit of 237 Horse Power. The racing cars for Rally Racing had a limit of 299 Horse Power. This ride home ended up the same way as his previous ride home with Italy. He drove really quickly, passed cars left and right, and it all ended at Japan's place, with Japan hiding in the back seat filled with fear, and because he felt sick to his stomach. Italy looked in the back seat, and said, "We're here!" Japan couldn't even move or speak. > Journey to The Strange World > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Everyone was inside the "belly" of a cargo plane, ten-thousand feet off the ground, in the air. They all were as quiet as they could be, while Italy was singing a little tune. Germany, sitting right next to him, could hear him singing away. All he could think then was, Wow. This guy is just plain weird. Suddenly the loud speaker on the wall in the corner of the plane was heard. It was the pilot. The speaker crackled as the old thing started up. "Attention! This is your pilot speaking! We will be at the DZ in three minutes and thirty-five seconds... Repeat: drop zone will be reached in three minutes and thirty-five seconds. Please make sure you have your gear ready, and that you are ready to jump." The speaker made a high-pitched noise as the pilot turned off the PA system. One that sounded like the screech heard when you try to place two antennae of walkie-talkies right next to each other while they're turned on. It was all really quiet then, until, that is, America spoke. "Yo, guys!," he said. Everyone turned their heads to look at the arrogant, self-centered nation. "Alright, now that I have the attention of everybody, here's the plan! Russia, back me up! China, you're going to back me up! England, you'll back me up! Germany, you can ba-," he said, before England interrupted him. "How many times do I have to tell you everything is NOT about being the damn hero?!," England yelled at America. Everyone could see the rage in his face. His face became red, filled with anger and apathy. "There's more to strategy than just rushing into battle unorderly and random!" America replied, "Dude, if that's the case, how do you explain how I kicked your ass in the revolutionary war?" America stopped, realizing what he just said. "Well, you see... I just wasn't prepared, that's all!," England argued back, failing. America quickly forgot what he said earlier and continued arguing with England. America said, "You sure 'bout that dude? 'Cause I'm sure that your army was as ready as ever! I beat you 'cause I didn't march along in orderly fashion and acted on orders. Yep, it's true! I acted on instinct, and had hidden in the trees and bushes." France butted in. Like he always does. "Why don't you two just settle down and stop all this madness?" England became even more infuriated at his mortal enemy's voice. Then England stopped talking, the atmosphere around him became cold, and he hung his head, staring at France across the way, peering deep into his skull, still while hanging his head. He finally spoke, in a low, whispery voice. "Shut up you wine-loving bastard!!!" His voice tone and volume increased as he said, "No one was talking to you!" He was yelling by the end of his sentence. That just lead on to an argument that folded out like always. England called France a "wine-loving bastard". France called England a "tasteless, boring nation". So on and so forth. Everybody was so involved in this argument they never even heard the PA speaker start back up. They suddenly heard someone talking again."This is the co-pilot speaking. DZ has been reached... Prepare to jump in one minute." This time it was a woman's voice. The guide person (that nobody noticed before, since well, he was Canada.) stood up, and opened the cargo bay door with the push of a button. Slowly, but steadily, the door opened up till it was pointed at a slight downward angle. The Speaker crackled on last time before they jumped. "Alright. Prepare to jump in ten seconds..." And the countdown begun, "9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1... NOW!!" Everyone jumped from the plane one at a time. They all yelled something when they jumped. For America, who was the first to jump, he yelled, "Wooohooo! Alright!" Russia, who was second, yelled, "Vodka!" He also didn't jump with a parachute. The crazy guy. Then China, third to jump from the plane screamed, "Pandas!" The fourth to jump, Japan, didn't yell anything, but instead said, "This is not my idea of fun!" Italy screamed the whole way, being the wimp he is, and screamed about not wanting to jump, and wanting to instead go home. England and France fell out of the plane simultaneously while they were still fighting. Germany was the only one most like a soldier of the whole gang, since he was extremely disciplined. He was the only one to not say anything when he jumped. They all fell down as gravity took them careening at the same speed towards the earth. Since Russia was the only one without a parachute, he quickly fell and landed in the shallow beach waters below. Taking a look around them, they had noticed the moon in the sky was almost directly above them. It was around 11:45 P.M. where they were at in the world. They floated down gently and landed safely on the beach. When they finally managed to escape the prison of their parachutes when they landed on top of them, they could hear Russia on the beach. He was slightly moaning, asking for Vodka. But mostly asking for Vodka. Russia spoke with them about his injuries, "Well, I can tell I've got a broken bone in my arm, and I've also got a sprained ankle, as well as a headache from impact. But other than that, I can still go!" They perked up a camp for themselves for overnight. Each nation's bedspread resembling their own flag. They made themselves a little campfire and some food. England was turned down for meal preparations because of his bad taste and bland cooking. They wanted something potent with flavor, a meal that would do well to fill them up. They decided that either Japan or Italy would be cooking tonight. After a slightly longer than needed debate, they decided it would be Japan catering the food. So, with some things that he managed to find on the island (as well as the Chinatown China had built on the island), Japan had the right ingredients to make a food that was held highly in his house. He was able to make nikujaga. First, they needed to start a fire... Where would they get the firewood from? "Hey guys, I'm gonna go look in the forest over here, alright?," Germany said. "Dude, that's a totally great idea! Let me go wi- oof!!" Germany clotheslined America when he attempted to run past him. "Actually, I intend to go alone. Don't come with." Germany turned around, and walked into the forest. It seemed like it was quite dark from a glance. As he vanished into the forest, America jumped up and tried to run into the forest after Germany, in hopes of finding him, and insisting on coming with. England stopped him, though, just when he reached the tree line. "America, you doofus! If he wants to go alone, let him go alone. Do you understand?," he said. America said, "Hey! Let me go! You're not the boss of me!" He was fighting England's unusually strong grasp to no avail. "By the way, why is your grip stronger than usual? What happened!?" England told America why, "I used my black magic to summon up strength to stop you, because I knew it would be difficult. Trying to hold you back? You're like a tank!" "Are you trying to call me fat!?" "No! I'm simply saying that if I were to try and stop you with my normal strength, you would beat me and run off easily. But, if I use my black magic abilities, I can summon more strength, just enough to grab you and hold you back without losing my grip on you. Now do you understand?" "Yeah, I totally understand, you crazy bastard.," America said. Sarcastically. "What are you talking about!? I'm not crazy! If anything, you're the crazy one!" "Dude, you talk to yourself out of nowhere, and not to mention out of turn while at world conferences! And you were also talking to yourself while at Japan's house, remember?" England started to wonder what he was speaking about. He asked America, "How do you know about that visit?!" America and the others really wondered what England was making a big deal out of this for. America continued to talk to England. "Dude, you really don't think that Japan wouldn't tell us what happened after that eventful night? You really ought to pick up your ass and stop dragging it around." England and America argued for the rest of the time till Germany got back. Nearly an hour later, he stepped out of the forest. Italy lit up at the sight of his friend. "Germany! Germany! You're back! I was really getting worried that you might've gotten lost or something! But you're back, and now I don't have to worry anymore." Germany set down the logs of wood he found, and they managed to get themselves a fire started, with extra logs he found sitting off to the side. They could feel the constant, steady breeze blowing around them as they remembered the portal that was above the island. Suddenly, the breeze felt stronger, and the fire was put out. From nowhere, the breeze then felt like a strong suction upward, and they were all lifted from the ground. They all screamed in perfect unison as they neared the portal, yelling, "Aaaaahhhhhh!!!" ****** When Germany left the campsite, he had two things on his mind. Good. Now that I'm alone, I can go investigate this portal thing before I go back to the beachfront. He started his investigation, taking note of his compass direction. Northeast. Better keep track of it. As he walked towards the center of the island, he started to feel a suction, which felt like it was pulling him towards the direction he was going. He took another look at his compass, and it was acting up. Strange... My compass is one of the best there is. Why is it acting up like this? Spinning around in circles. Germany was quite confused about this phenomenon. He watched the needle spin around faster and faster, gaining speed with every revolution it made. It seemed to get to the point that he couldn't see it at all. He began to wonder what would cause it to spin this quickly. But, he thought, it's spinning in clockwise circles! So this island is in the Northern hemisphere. Better keep going. He kept walking in a straight line, until the suction force felt more like it was pulling him to the right. So he turned, thinking that he better keep going in the direction of the suction force. He kept walking, continually keeping note of his compass, how many times he had made ninety degree turns, and how long he walked in that particular direction. He kept walking and walking, and he didn't stop until he reached his destination. Once he made it to the place he had been searching for, his compass needle was spinning so rapidly that he felt his compass start to vibrate in his hand. Jesus, it is spinning so fast, it feels as if this thing is something completely different than what it is. The place he reached was a huge clearing, with one portal sitting on the ground, showing what the place was that it led to. He found objects flying off the ground into the portal above him, and from the portal in the ground into the portal above him. He had reached ground-zero now. The suction felt more like a strong wind circling around him, trying to pull him up into the portal, yet at the same time, the portal below him. Then he realized. All the objects flying into the portal up in the sky were small things, like twigs, rocks, and various other light debris. Anything that fell into the portal below him was all heavy things, like full grown trees, boulders, and live organisms. Bigger ones which couldn't grab onto something for protection. Germany quickly hurried back to the campsite, but remembered to grab firewood on the way. And he slowed down, caught his breath, and fixed himself before he picked up the twigs and branches off the ground and walked out of the forest. They were able to start up the fire, and start making the nikujaga. But before anyone could be served any food, the fire was blown out by the wind, and they were picked up off of the ground by the suctioning forces. Shit!, Germany thought as the fire went out. Not now! I was just going to warn them! They all were pulled towards the center of the island, and into the portal in the ground so fast it made their heads spin. They all blacked out as soon as they went through. > The World That Nobody Knew of... Until Now > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Everyone awoke in a dark forest, barely remembering the critical situation that had happened. Some of them didn't know, some did. Italy was scared out of his mind, screaming that he wanted to go back to Earth. Well, he remembers what happened. Good thing I do too, Germany thought. England was moaning, "Ugh, what happened? All I remember was that we were lifted off of the ground somehow, then I passed out. Oh, my head!" That means England doesn't remember anything... Everyone got up, dusted themselves off, and caught their balance. Then, before anyone commented on the situation, America pointed something out. "Yo! Look over there! A light that is obviously an exit out of here is shining through the trees down this path! Let's go check it out." America wasted no time himself taking off towards the light in the distance. France then yelled out to America, "I hate to be the one to wreck your day, but I don't think we can just go off and check something out before we come up with a plan!" America was brought down by France's comment in an instant. "I hate to say so, but he's right. We need a good plan before we just go on a mission," England said. "We need a good plan before we do anything else," Russia exclaimed. Germany stopped the argument, saying, "Then it's settled! We'll make up a good plan before any further courses of action are taken!" They stood around for about an hour or two, coming up with the perfect plan for what had been happening at the moment. Many choices were made... Many choices were turned down... For a while, it seemed that they couldn't think of anything. Thier moment of feeling down proved right. They couldn't think of a plan, and so they decided that the group as a whole would simply just go and explore the strange world they now were in. "Ai ya! We just wasted our time doing nothing," China yelled out. Germany had no idea what to say. He was really considering cursing out everybody for wasting time that they could've used to investigate the world that they had just woken in an hour and a half earlier. And so he did... ****** Twilight Sparkle was in the Golden Oaks Library researching the portal that had recently appeared just the previous day. She spent all day trying to figure out what it was, and why it was there. Fact of the matter was that her and her friends had found it just late in the day, yesterday. "Whoa! Hey guys, check this out," Rainbow Dash yelled out with excitement. The five other friends quickly galloped over to where Rainbow Dash was floating: underneath a portal in the sky. "What in the hay do you reckon that thing there is," Applejack asked. Twilight was bewildered at the thought of something like this suddenly popping up in the middle of the ever free forest. How did it appear? Why did it appear? What was it there for? Twilight finally snapped out of her stupor and answered Applejack's question. "I-I have no idea. It could be anything!" Pinkie Pie decided she would excitedly add on to Twilight's answer. "Ooo! Ooo! What if it's a portal of some sort. Or maybe it's a weird kind of cloud!" The five other ponies looked at Pinkie Pie with a weird look of confusion and contemplation. They had no idea how to respond to that answer. Rainbow Dash said, "Okay...?" Fluttershy cowered behind the others and made a small squeaking noise barely audible to a dogs ears. Rarity asked her, "Uhh, what was that Fluttershy dear? You'll have to speak up if anypony is to hear you." Fluttershy grew weak and a pit formed in her stomach, and she felt very compelled to speak, but couldn't as she opened her mouth. But no words came out. "Fluttershy, Ahh think y'all would be able to speak to your friends," Applejack told Fluttershy straight up. She finally got a grip of herself and her emotions after about five seconds, and spoke clearly to them all. "I think that maybe if we study it, and take some time, we'll be able to find out what it really is, and what it does." She didn't really think that, though. She had originally said--squeaked, "I'll just stay back here while you go ahead, so don't mind me!" The truth was that Fluttershy was scared to death of this thing. She didn't want to tell anypony though, since they may ridicule her. But she knew that her friends definitely would NOT do that to her at all. Well, except for Rainbow Dash. She however, against most odds, deduced that Fluttershy was scared to death of it. "You're scared, aren't you," she said. With the sound of a deep breath, Fluttershy confirmed Rainbow Dash's suspicions and said, "Yes..." She laughed; Rainbow Dash laughed. She laughed so hard that her sides hurt. After three seconds, she instantly straightened out her face and then said, "Makes sense. We do not have any idea what this is, so yeah." Twilight still scolded her for laughing at Fluttershy. She didn't let it go by unscathed. She was, after all, the princess of friendship. "Rainbow Dash! You shouldn't make fun of your friends," she said. Rainbow Dash defensively stated back to her, "But I couldn't help it! Besides, you saw that I stopped myself as quickly as I could!" "That doesn't matter! What does matter is that you still did it in the first place! I want you to apologize to her." It was settled, there was absolutely no chance of Rainbow Dash winning this one at all. She felt the crush of the defeat and so did as she was told. And with a sigh, and some sort of resent in her voice, she said, "I'm sorry for laughing at you, Fluttershy. Now can we check this thing out, or what?!" "Alright, y'all can calm your horses! We'll go on and take a look at this crazy thing," Applejack said, directing it to Rainbow Dash. As she sat in front of her studying place-- her personal desk-- Twilight spoke to herself quietly. "This doesn't make any sense," she exclaimed. Her mane was frizzy and sticking out all over the place. She had been awake since she woke up the previous morning. For 32 hours she had stayed up. She was starting to feel the symptoms of this, feeling the fatigue and tiredness that came with it. The mare was drifting asleep, when Spike came upstairs and told her that she needed to get some sleep, or she was gonna crash. Her retort was that she needed to try and figure out what this thing was and prepare the town if it posed any threat. Spike said, "Twilight! You always get like this whenever you're tired. You need some sleep; besides, you can't think straight if you're tired and all." Twilight pondered the thought of falling asleep. "Alright," she said. "But I'm going to finish my studies whenever I wake back up!" Spike laughed at her reply, then told her that he would take care of the library while she was asleep. She lied down into her bed, closed her eyes, and fell asleep before she knew it. He took a look at the library and seen it was in a huge mess. "Ohhh... Twilight... Why do you have to do this?" There were books lying around everywhere. "This is gonna take a long time..." > Same Old, Same Old > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Awww man! This is gonna take forever!" Spike had been cleaning the library for three and a half minutes since he first saw the big mess of books. So, was it really going to take forever? He couldn't really actually tell himself. But those three and a half minutes had felt like three and a half hours. So, he asked Owliscious-- Twilight's personal pet-- if he would like to help. "Hey Owliscious," he said to the owl that was the same size as Spike, with a little size difference. Though it was a bit of a strange size equivalency. Although they were about the same size, the owl was stronger than him. The owl also seemed to have more intelligence than Spike did. He could find something right away, and easily do Spike's jobs with more results in a shorter time than Spike himself. But he was also quite gullible at many times. Spike had more than once fooled Owliscious at many things, and even caused him to go off doing an errand that never even existed in the first place. So Spike was about to ask Owliscious if he could help him clean up the books. And so he said, "Hey Owliscious," in a tone that almost sounded menacing, but not exactly. And well, because he's an owl, all that he said was, "Hoo". Spike always forgot that the only thing Owliscious said was, "Hoo". And because of this, he constantly got into an unneeded argument that was always one-sided; it always seemed in turn of Owliscious's favor. "You," Spike said back to him, slightly irritated. "Hoo," the smug owl replied back. Spike got more upset and it showed through his voice and gestures. "I said," Spike started to yell, "you!" He threw books in the air when he said that. Must've forgotten that he was holding those in the first place, thought Owliscious. He let out a small laugh, but he didn't let Spike notice it. He proceeded to help Spike Clean up the books, and so they cleaned. With him helping, it all went by much quicker. Spike was wondering what was going on. Why was he helping him now? He was just getting him angry a minute ago, right? So, why? "Hey, Owliscious? Why are you helping me?" "Hoo!" "You." "Hoo!" "You!" "Hoo!" "You!" "Hoo!" "I said YOU!" Just then one of the worst things happened. It was bad enough that this cleaning was happening. But this was actually worse. Now they had a whole 'nother problem on their hands. "Spike," Twilight yelled. Her voice echoed through the tree like they were actually in a prison cell rather than the Library. "Hoo." The owl just face-palmed in bewilderment of how weird Spike really was. By now, five more minutes had passed by so quickly. The library did look noticeably cleaner than it had from when he started to pick up. "Yes," asked Spike. Of all the things that could happen, why did she have to wake up? They were so close to finishing now, why did she wake up? "What's up with all the noise down there?! I'm trying to sleep!" Spike pondered for the words he needed to say. He couldn't think of anything. He started to say something so it seemed like he was answering right away. He said, "Uhh... Well, uhh... Owliscious and I were just hanging out! After all, we ARE best buds, haha... Right?!" The last part was in a more cynical tone than before. He sounded more like a guy talking through the radio, on the other side. He probably couldn't have sounded any worst than he did right there. "All right," Twilight said. "Just try and keep it down, okay?" Spike replied back with a more upbeat tone now, "Yes ma'am!" He was looking at the owl now, and looked relaxed. "Whew, that one, was close! Now let's finish cleaning up this mess." ****** "You guys are all idiots!" Germany was yelling at everybody for their time wasting skills. If they were put into the Guiness Book of World Records, they would be the record holders of the biggest time wasters ever! These guys never made actual damn good use of the time! He continued yelling, "God damn! You guys are the worst at coming up with plans! You fucking seriously just wasted hours of time to do nothing but come up with a plan that takes two seconds to come up with! You know, we're all going out there right now, and we will at least see what this place is like, yet we will not let our guard down!" "Yessir," everyone yelled. Germany yelled, "Align your ranks!" And so they complied. They just looked like they were going to war now. It was a little bit weird. It was actually kind of funny to look at. Hell, it's just funny thinking of this situation. Everyone was still arguing about almost everything. "Everyone Shut Up!" Germany yelled at the top of his lungs to everyone. "I get it! You all want to go home, well I also do, but we can't just sit here arguing about the problems that we face every other day. Now if we want to get back home, we have to work together. We don't get anywhere fighting with each other like this. So there can't be anymore of this crap!" Italy seemed to be very unhappy about this speech, and he was scared. Look at him. So handsome. It's no wonder that he can get the ladies so well. Soon, enough, he'll belong to me though!, France thought to himself as they stood there. He was thinking of Italy. He wanted Italy to belong to the French territories so bad! Look at him, all smug with his stupid face! Who does he think he is?! Eyeballing Italy like that, what a pervert!, thought England. "I heard that...", France said. "Wha...?! How?! That was all in my hea-- unless... Although we hate each other to the grave, it's possible that these feelings of hate have somehow manifested into a mental link," England exclaimed quietly. To himself. Okay now, they were getting somewhere... Despite all the arguing. At least they managed to start their way out of the forest, albeit in an ungainly way. They weren't exactly marching, and they also weren't sneaking, they just were walking. They walked like this for a little while before they made it out of the forest. "Wha...?! I don't understand this at all! Wh-Where in the world are we?!", Germany asked rhetorically. America then said, "Whooaaa! Hey dudes, check that out! It's some weird looking horses, look!" America pointed off to their right and everyone but England looked off in amazement. Germany, still reeling from the shock they had actually ended up in some other world, was almost going insane. Okay, keep calm now. Nothing good will come if I'm pent up like this, Germany thought. "Hey, are you alright Germany", Italy asked. Germany looked up, became aware, and kept his composure. "Yes, I'm very fine. I'm just so damn dumbfounded at what the hell this all is--" "Hey, what's up?" America yelled out to the strange creatures, which the group just now noticed had some strange markings on their flanks. England got up and smacked him upside the head so hard he felt the shock throughout his entire body. "Fool! You don't just yell out to those things we have no idea about; especially not when we just happen to show up to their world and pop out of a forest!" "Well sorry for being nice and social! Is it really that bad to be nice to strangers?" "In this case, I'm not sure, but don't be going around talking to random things we don't even know about! What if they're hostile you dumbass?!" America retorted with, "Dude, look at us! I doubt two creatures that we just met are going to kill us or anything with numbers like these!" "Well there are obviously more of them you, idiot! Compared to them, we're the two creatures that we just saw over there compared to us! Understand what I'm saying," He said. France then decided to contribute: "I must agree with England right now. We can't just start gallivanting off talking to creatures we don't know. They might not even speak our language!" "Wait a second, you would never agree with me! What are you up to now, fascist?!" "I'm not up to anything! I'm simply agreeing with you in the matter at hand." Japan said, "Hey guys! They're leaving, look!" Japan pointed out the one thing nobody was worried about at all in this moment. He was the only one who payed attention to the new creatures after everyone else got caught up with France, England, and America. "Alright, Japan! Way to go dude," America cheered. Germany said, "Enough!" Russia decided he would speak as well. Screw it, why not just forget the meaning of 'staying under the RADAR'? He said, "Why don't we just dispose of the evidence that we're here in the first place?" He had his water pipe in his hands now. England freaked at the suggestion of this. "A-Are you suggesting we kill them?!" Russia, still smiling and happy said, "No. Just knock 'em unconscious and put them in this forest here!" "We can't do that!" England was questioning the sanity of Russia. Who in their right mind acted so brash? Oh yeah... America. But Russia was a different story. He wanted to solve things with violence, he wanted things to be done right. And he really wanted things to be done right the first time. But they couldn't do that. They had to let them go. They can't just go knocking things out cold. "I'm sorry, but we can't do that Russia. We have to leave them be. We should tail them, if anything," he said. "Alright then. Kol kol..." Russia put his water pipe away. "Now we need to choose someone to tail them. And fast," England said. "America's too noisy," France said. "Italy's too scared," Germany stated. "Russia isn't stealthy at all," America said. "England could go... But he wouldn't be the best choice," said China. "China cant go either," Russia said. "France is good at sneaking up on people, but he's too noisy when he speaks to himself," England said. "Germany just doesn't cut it either. He can get a short temper, and he gets angry really, really quickly," Italy exclaimed. Everybody stopped and looked at Japan at once. When he noticed, he started to sweat and feel insecure. "Wh-Why are you looking at me like that?" Japan, just catching on, said, "Alright, I'll go, but we can't risk detection, so obviously I go alone." With that, he started to walk off towards the direction of the creatures. "Hey Japan!" Japan heard Germany yell and turned around to listen to what he had to say. "Stay alert, and stay alive," he said. > Reconnasaince of the Extravagant Equines > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Japan caught up to the two creatures they had just encountered very quickly. He didn't get too close, though. In fact, he just got close enough to see that one was a pale yellow color and had a pink mane and tail. He also noted the mark on both of its flanks. "Interesting... It seems so weird to look at right now, but these things--," It appeared that they could also speak. He shut up as they started talking to each other, while he found a barrel to hide behind. They also stopped too, so it made perfect sense to hide. "Fluttershy! What are you doing?! We need to get to Twilight's place now," said the other one, which had a sky blue coat, and a rainbow colored mane and tail. The one that was yellow, a.k.a. 'Fluttershy' spoke, "I just saw this poor, helpless animal, lying here in the streets and had to help him Rainbow Dash." "Well, we need to get to the library now! Come on! We need to tell Twilight what we just saw! Take him with you. Fly to Twilight's!" "Oh, alright! Come on little guy, I won't hurt you. It's okay. There, see? That wasn't so bad now, was it?" Fluttershy held them up for a while where they were in the road. Finally they got up and going to the library. Took 'em long enough. The ponies went to the library as fast as they could, luckily as they avoided all the other ponies. As they passed one by, she did say 'Hi' to both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. However, they didn't notice her since they were too worried about making it to the library in order to get the news to Twilight. Japan couldn't go on any further, there were too many ponies around to go. He'd be spotted. "Dang it, there's no way I can follow them through there! It's too open, not enough cover!" He decided that he needed to go back to the group and tell them what he saw. If anything, this was beginning to become a little ungainly since they ended up here. He only wondered how the others were feeling about this situation. ****** Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were over investigating the area near the Everfree Forest where the portal appeared just recently. They were there because they just noticed it wasn't there. It disappeared about two hours after the countries went through the portal, but the two ponies never knew that until they saw them. Rainbow Dash even got Fluttershy because she thought it would be better to check it out with a friend, and since Fluttershy was the only pegasus she was great friends with, she thought that she might as well just give it hell and go ahead. That, and no other pony wanted to go with. "Fluttershy! You gotta come here and check this out," Rainbow Dash said. She was already hovering outside of Fluttershy's little cottage which was a reasonable distance from Ponyville, just down the dirt road to the south, over the bridge, off to the right. Her hooves were crossed, and she wanted a reasonable amount of time from when she showed up and knocked on the door, to when she answered the door. She was not disappointed, as Fluttershy peeked her head out of her door in about ten seconds. As she waited for Fluttershy, though, she noticed that there were a few clouds up in the sky, and then realized the forecast called for sunny weather, not partly cloudy weather. And so in that time, she managed to clear up those clouds, and make it back down in front of Fluttershy's door before she even answered it. She also, however, noticed the portal disappeared. It flickered a few times, and noticed a few strange creatures falling out. But that was actually before she decided to find some pony to go investigate. She asked many of the town's residents she knew that had exposed themselves to danger before. She went around asking many of the Pegasi that had taken part in the water transfer from the Ponyville pond to the Cloudsdale Weather Factory. But no matter whom she asked, they all said the same thing: "No." She began to grow very weary of the task of flying around trying to find a pony who'd fly with her to the site of the portal, so she gave up and decided to ask Fluttershy. She never even wanted to go with her in e first place, for fear of exposing her to any possible danger that may be too tough to handle. So she just flew over towards Fluttershy's cottage. I don't want to do this, but if I have to, then so be it. She waited outside of the small ungainly cottage for Fluttershy. She finally showed up, and asked Rainbow Dash what she showed up at her cottage for. Rainbow Dash, in excitement, said, "You've got to come and see this! That portal that was over near the Everfree Forest disappeared just a little while ago! You have to come and see!" "Oh, er... I don't know about that, but, I suppose that I could go along and see it if it means that much to you," Fluttershy said. Rainbow Dash practically squealed in excitement that Fluttershy was going with. She wasted no time grabbing Fluttershy out of the doorway and flying over towards the Everfree Forest. They made it to the Everfree Forest in just a few minutes, which was the time it took for the countries to get from their waking area, to the big clearing they were spotted. Fortunately, it was mainly all thanks to the closeness of Fluttershy's Cottage. When they got there, Rainbow Dash's suspicions were confirmed, as they saw the portal was indefinitely gone. Rainbow Dash quickly spoke to make sure that she was correct. She said, "Do you see that!? The portal's gone!" "Er... Yeah, you're right! It is gone! But wait, look! There are some strange, scary, creatures over there." Fluttershy pointed a hoof towards the strange bipedal creatures that just appeared there. Both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash stared in bewilderment as one of the creatures suddenly yelled out to them. It yelled, "Hey!" But then one of them smacked the other who just yelled out to the ponies. Rainbow Dash grabbed Fluttershy and bolted towards the library to get Twilight. She never felt more scared in her life. ****** Germany, Italy, America, China, France, England, and Russia were sitting around in the clearing waiting for Japan to return. It had been a few hours already since he left for the spy mission. Russia in particular was making sure that the Baltics were keeping his house in order. He called home to make sure they had it ready for when he got back. "Ahh... Hello! Yes... Make sure you clean it up real good! Yeah, I will be home a little late tonight, da! Alright, now make sure it stays like that... And make sure that Poland doesn't ransack my place! Alright, goodbye!" > The Extreme Demands of Russia > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia, the three Baltic states under control of Russia, received the phone call from Russia nearly thirty minutes, giving them the details of what they must do that day. Estonia had blond hair, it was sort of like a short version of a mop haircut. The outfit he wore was an Infantryman's uniform that was grey. He wore a tie and white undershirt underneath it. He was the oldest, and tallest of all the Baltics. Lithuania, the second eldest, and second tallest, had the same hairstyle as France, except it was light brown. He also had brown eyes to compliment the look. It looked just like Estonia's, except for the fact it was dark green. And then there was Latvia. He was the youngest, and shortest of them. He had blond hair that resembled Sealand's and America's. He also wore a red general's battle uniform. He had blue eyes. The phone was ringing. It was the phone call they were dreading all day long. A few times the phone rang, before Latvia finally picked up the receiver. Visibly shaken by who it might be, he stammered, "H-hello?" "Hello Latvia!" As their suspicions were confirmed, it was in fact Russia on the other end of the line. Lithuania asked him who it was, and was immediately filled with dread the second Latvia put his left hand over the microphone end of the old-fashioned receiver and said, "It's Russia!" Estonia told Latvia to give him the telephone. "Yes, what is it, Russia," he asked. Russia answered him with his usual cheery voice. It was the one thing that made everyone think he was so scary. After all, not only that, but the fact that he was mentally cracked from his constant strain to survive and be his own country when he was still young only made it worse. Russia answered Estonia, "Ahh, what was it now? Oh yeah! I need you guys to keep the house in order for when I get home later, all right?" "B-But Russia, we already were going to do that when you called." "Oh really," Russia asked, not all sarcastically. "Yes," Estonia said. "Okay! I'll be home a little late, da! So could you guys keep Poland from ransacking my place? If he notices I'm gone he'll try something." "Yes, Russia. We'll do just that!" "Okay then, bye now!" After that, he hung up. Through the whole conversation, Estonia was shaking, fearing what may happen. Russia could've told him that he would make sure he learned a lesson for how he spoke to him, or maybe he could've said he would make them humiliated for no apparent reason, just for Russia's entertainment! But he didn't. He was just like he was every other time. Estonia let out a sigh of relief. He was happy that he didn't have to talk to Russia anymore. But how would they protect the house from Poland? He always had the weirdest ideas, so they never knew how they could do it, in case he did something crazy, like put an engine in his place and fly it over to crash it into Russia's place. Except for Lithuania, he knew what to expect. He was the one who had been friends with him almost since the day they met. Except for the fact he was a little weird... First off, Poland was a cross-dresser– he wore women's clothes half the time. Second, he would say his opinion, but then when he finished what he was saying, he'd invoke his shyness towards strangers. No matter how brave he acted, once he said what he wanted, he'd start acting awkward, and say the weirdest thing, hide behind Lithuania, or any other allies he had. One such case was back in the day, when first meeting Lithuania, he was cool, and collected, but once he stated his opinion, he started being awkward, saying, "Er.. Well... Um... Show me your pecker!" It just goes to show that Poland is one awkward man. Nobody is as strange as him. Estonia looked to Lithuania with an expression as to interrogate him about Poland. When he noticed, Estonia finally asked the question, "Lithuania. You spent the most time with Poland! So you ought to know what he might try and attempt if he realizes that Russia is gone! Huh? What do you think he'll try?" "I'm not quite sure, but we'll have to stay on guard for any kinds of raid, or attack. Then again, being it's Poland we're talking about, he may just not even try anything! Just make threats," Lithuania stated. "Thank you for the information," Latvia said. "But how are we going to keep him from doing it in the event he actually does attempt to make the house a mess?" Lithuania stopped to think about it. He never did think about it. "Shit, I never actually did think about it..." Estonia replied, "So what you're saying is that there's a chance that Poland may blindside us?!" "Actually, yes. That is what I'm saying." "So we are screwed?! That's it, we're all gonna get it from Russia! I'm just glad it isn't Germany," Latvia exclaimed. Latvia was actually more afraid of Germany than he was of Russia. If he could choose between a punishment from Russia, and a punishment from Germany, he'd actually choose to receive Russia's punishment over Germany's. Lithuania shook Some sense into Latvia, saying, "We're not screwed, Latvia! We'll be just fine!" Oh how he wanted to believe that, but he didn't. Deep down inside, he actually did believe they were screwed. The phone suddenly rang again. They were in the middle of taking care of Russia's house. It was only five minutes ago Russia spoke with them. Lithuania picked it up. "Hello?" It was Russia again. "Hi Lithuania! How're things going? I expect that you guys will be able to handle the job?" Lithuania said, "Yes, we can do it. We've already started." He could tell Russia was happy, because of the sound of his voice. "Okay! By the way, I have another job for you guys! Would you mind at all if I asked you to clean up some of the snow around the place? It's starting to build up and needs to get cleaned up." Lithuania stood for a while contemplating, when Russia asked him, "Are you there, Lithuania?" "Yes, I'm here. We can handle the job. We'll get to it right away." "Alright now, good luck!" Russia hung up. Lithuania put the receiver down, and told the other two, "We have to go out to shovel the snow now..." "What," Estonia and Latvia said in unison. "We can't do that! It's somewhere near negative-thirty minus out there!! We'll freeze our asses off," Estonia yelled. Lithuania retorted, "As if you would've said otherwise! You'd be just as afraid to decline!" Estonia wasn't actually really offended, because Lithuania was right. He would have said the same thing Lithuania said. He actually felt somewhat ashamed that he wouldn't have said anything different. He said, "You're right. I wouldn't have said anything else." "Does it matter right now? Let's just get this over with and clean up the place! I don't know about you guys, but it don't want my ass handed to me," Latvia screamed. "It's already been ten minutes since Russia called! That means we haven't done anything in fifteen minutes," he said. "Let's just worry about cleaning right now." Both Lithuania and Estonia looked at Latvia strangely. He didn't normally act like that. He never acted like that. Estonia asked, "What got into you? You never talked like that before!" Latvia realized that he did, in fact, yell. He replied, "Really? I'm sorry. I just am not looking forward to being punished for not doing this. I do look forward to not getting yelled at. Or being hit, or locked up, or anything not good!" "You know what? Yeah, let's get cleaning," Lithuania said. And so they finally got to cleaning. > Making Contact > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rarity was in her home-slash-workplace, "The Carousel Boutique", when she heard the news from Twilight. She was busy trying to come up with a new design for her new dress in her new collection. As she sat at her little kitchen table, with her designer glasses on, pencil held in magic, she heard a knock on her door, which sounded a lot more like pounding, according to her standards. So, with a frustrated sigh, she got up from the table, and marched over to the door in anger (She already was interrupted three times before, once when her sister Sweetiebelle left to play with Applebloom and Scootaloo, another time being a browsing customer, and the third a package for her, which she didn't order, until she found it was from Spike, and reluctantly accepted the letter). While she was walking across the showroom floor, which had string and fabric strewn all over the place, she thought to herself, "I must clean that mess up right away when I'm finished working." Rarity thought of just denying the visitor, saying that she was closed for the day (She was so baffled when the one pony showed up wanting to look at designs for clothing, she couldn't even refuse then), until she realized it was Twilight. Rarity reeled back for a moment, before she caught herself and welcomed her friend inside. She spoke to her friend in the voice she spoke with when she was slightly distressed, saying, "Twilight, I didn't know you'd be coming over! Well then, what is it?" Twilight didn't answer her question, but rather asked her where she was, and why she didn't come to the library. "I didn't know my presence was requested a the library, Twilight, so may I ask you this: How was I supposed to know I was wanted there?" "Didn't you get the letter from Spike, giving you specific details about what was happening today, at this time? You should have received it about 15 minutes ago," Twilight retorted. Rarity said, defenseless, "Yeah, about that letter..." She had no idea of how to reply to that, since she didn't even open it, let alone read it. She just threw it in the trash. Although it was obvious that he had a crush on Rarity, he didn't know that every other pony in Ponyville, and Celestia, knew about it. And although she felt quite ungainly about the fact a baby dragon– well, not so much a baby dragon– had a crush on her, she actually found it quite amusing, and dare I say, cute. Twilight asked Rarity, "What about the letter?" But Rarity just said, "Nothing. It's nothing." With that she put on her bad poker face, you know, the horrible smile they use when trying to cover up a lie. "Well there's no time to worry about it, we've got to get back to the library, stat! Everypony is waiting for us there." Before she knew it, Rarity was following Twilight out of the door, and to the library, but not before she locked up the door to "The Carousel Boutique", and flipped the sign so it read 'closed'. Well no wonder why that pony wandered in looking for clothes, even though they didn't buy! It was because she forgot to flip the small sign! ****** At the library, five of the six friends were talking about the big problem. Pinkie Pie was more worried about problems like parties she absolutely had to throw. After all, being the most active, happy, and ADHD-all-over pony in all of Equestria meant that even she had big responsibilities. Pinkie Pie was worried about the problems she had, so she barely heard what was happening. She was busy working out her own problems, until she was brought over to the circle forcibly by Twilight's magic. This frustrated her greatly, enough that she yelled the following question really loud, "What was that for?!?" "You weren't listening to me earlier when I asked you to come over here five times, so I had no other choice," Twilight answered. "You were too caught up in your own things. Now you should stay sat here. Now where was I...?" "Ah think you were busy tellin' us 'bout what Rainbow Dash an' Fluttershy 'ere told ya they saw over by the Everfree Forest," Applejack reminded her. "Thank you, Applejack. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were over at the Everfree Forest trying to find out what happened to the thing in the sky, because it's gone. Well, what they found was very strange. They saw bipedal creatures: creatures that can walk on two legs." Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack all gasped, then Rarity asked, "Well, how many of these creatures did they see?" "Eight of them! They were all in a big group, and looked like they were coming up with some sort of plan. They can also talk! One said something to us! It yelled something like, 'Hey, what's up,' or something like that," Rainbow Dash quickly said. "Yes, thanks for that, Rainbow Dash. It was useful," Twilight said. "What do you think we should do?!? Should we throw them a party? Or maybe ambush them, and then tie them up and question them? Or maybe we cou-" "No, Pinkie, we can't do either one of those things! It could be too dangerous," Applejack told Pinkie. Applejack then looked at Twilight, and asked, "What do ya reckon we do, Twilight?" Twilight answered, "I think we should approach them nicely, and avoid any confrontation that may be hostile." She continued to speak, "If we are going to attempt any contact, it better be friendly. We don't know how they may act." "I agree with Twilight," Fluttershy said. "So how are we going to do it?" ****** The fellow countries were all at the small clearing still, and it was starting to get dark out. Japan made it back just a few minutes ago, while the sun was still setting. They decided they would start a small campfire to keep warm, and that China would cook this time, since he could do anything almost instantaneously. They were surprised when he got all his stuff for cooking right out of his bag on his back. "Do you carry all your stuff in there wherever you go, China," America asked him. China just answered him without looking up, "Yeah. It helps to be prepared, you know. Why do you think I carry this bag? It isn't just for my panda friend." They were going to have some of them go out to gather up supplies, but China had enough, of course. "Wow, China. You can fit lots of things in your bag, can't you," Italy asked. "Yeah, sure. I don't always have these things with me, because that's when I don't need them. But when I leave home on potentially dangerous mission, I take them with just to be safe." "Hey, what's that over there? Do you see that," England asked everyone. He pointed over towards the darkness behind America, who was sat right across from him at the fire. He noticed that there were six beings in the darkness approaching. In fact, they looked to be some sort of equines, all about the same size. America quickly turned around to find that England wasn't actually hallucinating, but in fact, he was actually seeing something real. America said, "Woah! Hey guys are you seeing this?!" Germany answered, "Yes, I can see this as well." Everyone else gasped, and Italy hid behind Germany. Just then, the strange creatures actually spoke. One of them spoke, in a female voice. "It's okay, we're not going to hurt you." The one that spoke was purple, with a mane that was a deep bluish-indigo-violet, with light purple and pink streaks, while the tail was the same way. "They can talk," Germany exclaimed out of pure shock. "Yes, we can talk." England said, "Well we weren't thinking of hurting you, either." The one that was flying, which was blue with a bizarre rainbow colored mane, said sarcastically, "Can we get this over with?" That made it clear at least two of them were females. The purple one spoke again, "Yes, Rainbow Dash, just be patient." The one called Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves, something that amazed the countries still, and pouted. "Why don't we speak? Isn't that why you came here," Germany asked. "Perhaps we ought to introduce ourselves. Well then, my name is England." "I'm Twilight Sparkle, but everyone calls me Twilight." America pointed out Rainbow Dash and the yellow one, saying, "Hey, you two are the ones that I saw earlier!" Twilight said, "Right, you've already 'met' Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy." As she said their names, she pointed to them, respectively. England then said, "This obnoxious one is America." When England told them his name, he exclaimed, "And I'm the hero!" "What did I say? He can be quite obnoxious and arrogant." Italy came out from behind Germany and said, "I'm Italy! And this guy here is my friend, Germany! And he is my other friend, Japan!" He pointed to Germany and Japan, respectively. "H-hello, I'm Japan. It's nice to make your acquaintance," Japan barely managed to say. France then introduced himself, and said with his suave voice England hated so much, "I'm France. Nice to meet you." "Hello, I am China. It's a pleasure to meet you," said China. And then there was Russia..., "Hello, I am Russia! I like Vodka and Sunflower Seeds. I hope we can become great friends." It wasn't so much what he said, as the way he said it... (I leave that one for you to figure out by yourself) Everyone felt a sudden, strange chill run down their spine, except for a particular pink pony, which in fact became very happy. "That is Pinkie Pie. She's the crazy friend who loves to throw fun parties!" Pinkie Pie then chimed in, "Oh boy, he seems really nice and friendly!" (She doesn't realize he has ulterior motives, which in fact are him wanting to be friends with everybody, but with them all 'one with Mother Russia'. He just wanted the whole world to be Russia.) "Please allow me introduce myself. I am Rarity, the most fashionable pony here in Ponyville," the white one with the curly, purple mane said. Then, the orange one introduced itself, talking in a southern accent, and said, "Mah name is Applejack. It sure is a pleasure to meet y'all folks! Ah'm the most honest pony 'round these parts. Ah help run Sweet Apple Acres, the family apple farm, with Big Macintosh, mah older brother, Applebloom, mah younger sister, and Granny Smith, our granny." "Well then, it sure is nice to meet you all. Hello," England replied. Germany then said, "Yes", then mumbled under his breath, "If that's how you put it, I guess..." "Well, what do you say we get down to business," Germany asked. Twilight agreed, and they all sat down and spoke. > Japan (Filler) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- We all sat around the fire exchanging silly stories and trying to figure out answers to the questions which we did not know the answers to. America seemed infatuated with the talking creatures, which had explained that they were ponies. I was amazed! I even did not have technology to project animals thoughts or allow them to speak, but here were some ponies, which actually had that ability all on their own! I couldn't believe it! Reluctantly, I asked them a question which probably sounded unrealistically fathomable to them. I asked, "Excuse me, but–", I said nervously. "How are you abrle to speak so fluentry in our language?" I was nervous as I expected a laugh or some mocking. Instead the one named Twlight Sparkle answered with another question. She asked, "I'm not sure I quite understand your question. What exactly do you mean?" I searched for the correct words, "Well you see–" "I think that what my friend Japan means is: 'How can you speak like us when you are animals?'", Italy interrupted. I said, "No, not exactry that! I mean–" Twilight cut me off this time, "I think I understand now. You want to know how we can speak clearly, just like all of you guys? We just are able to, to be precise. We were born that way. Do you understand?" I understood now. I thought they used some sort of magic to communicate with us, or something like that. "Yes, I do. Thanks very much for finding the time to answer my qrestion!", I said nervously, and very quickly. Thank goodness I didn't have to speak anymore. I was getting very worried I would have to keep talking, and therefore rudely take up time!