Prologue Part 1: Security Breach

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-Prologue 1: SECURITY BREACH-2064AD
Location: Earth

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-Authors Note: The Prologue provides crucial background. The Main 6 and friends are introduced in Chapter 2-

The blinding rays of the dawn sun began to shine through the energy shield surrounding the surviving city of New York. As the sun slowly rose up over the horizon, the night watchers posted at four positions of the city prepared to change shifts for the day watchers. North of the barrier city, a team consisting of sky scouts shut down the radar scanners and energy pulse cannons. The radar scanners were only used at night, and their main purpose was to continually scan for biospiritual entities, or living spirits. These spirits were a constant threat to the city, and the citizens of New York, along with its remaining government, were on constant alert.
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“Fifty years ago, the earth was in a state of complete economic and social collapse. The year 2015 marked the year that humanity’s concept of the universe changed forever. Everyone thought it would happen differently. Everyone thought peace was at hand. Everyone thought…but if only everyone knew what was to come.
The Bible spoke of Revelations. The Hopi spoke of the blue star. Countless civilizations predicted the end times. But no one knew for sure what was going to happen. On December 21st, 2012, scientist and spiritualist believed that the Earth had entered into a different type of energy field, located on the other side of the planar galaxy. This energy field created a massive global awakening to the world. For two years after 2012, the world was at peace. A man, whom they called Matraiya, rose up out of Europe and claimed he had returned to the Earth, after the Earth crossed the planar galaxy. He claimed he was the “Messiah”. He claimed to have the power to fix the Earth. And for a long time, the world believed him.
In 2015, the blue star…the blue flash as they call it, happened. Matraiya and his government kept the world ignorant to the destructive asteroid headed for Earth.
One thing was for sure: something supernatural and spiritual took place: Nothing that could have been explained by science at the current time. Those of us that were left, either were not destined for this passing, or were chosen to stay and fight. Matraiya was not the Messiah to most of the worlds shock, and as soon as the flash (asteroid strike) of 2015 happened, things got a lot worse. Before the Earth could breathe again, the earth became a battle ground for two advanced civilizations. (At least, that’s what we were led to believe). The battle of good and evil turned from Earthly, to Galactic. The surviving people of earth were caught in the cross fire, and barely had enough resources to survive…let alone defend their own planet. No matter how long the battle raged on between the alien races, the conflict seemed like a never ending stalemate. But it was too late when we found out we were all deceived. The asteroid that stuck Earth contained the spirits of creatures from another world, and I still think they never intended to wage war with us. I believe their spirits are lost and confused, still searching for meaning and purpose. Through the media, we were led to believe the war was Galactic, but in actuality, our own government deceived us so that they may escape the planet, and keep us “common” folk busy fighting a war that we could never win. My ancestor’s final message was:

Take back the world in which you’ve lost.

We have fought with you, and shared the costs.

One day things will be set right.

Now it’s your turn to bring back the light.

To them, it was no longer their fight to win. Our family and our old friends had passed on. The humans had to take back control of the planet. The humans adopted much of the alien technology to help them fight the war of the worlds. Everything from energy shields, to free energy generators, anti-gravity machines, improved thrust technology, life support systems, and adopted designs of space craft.
Ten years ago in 2055, the Earth passed through the planar galaxy once again. The humans survived the transition, but the alien’s spiritual bodies were weakened enough so that we could take refuge in barrier cities. All forms of plant life on earth had begun to die, and nuclear fallout was tremendous. The barrier cities provided the only real source of protection for humans.
All it took was simple contact with an alien phantom spirit, and the soul of the human being was instantly separated from the body. Although humans took comfort in knowing these human spirits would move on, it was also uncomfortable to know that there was nothing that could be done to revive them. In 2058, scientists created documented scientific proof that the body cannot function without the spirit present. This was always assumed, but eventually became scientific fact, as it was something that could be measured. The concept of an all knowing God became reality to much of the surviving humans. Somehow, people began to believe that everything was going to be OK. Deep down inside, some believed that God, as well as Gaia (the Earth Spirit), and humans working together in harmony would save the Earth. It is now 2064AD, and the Earth continues to search for meaning, a purpose, and the destiny that awaits us. I still have faith that things will be set right. We can’t give up. We have to hold on. We will find a way.”
-Signed, Aki Ross.
After finishing her journal, Aki laid her iPad 10 back on her night stand, and passed out.
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Suddenly, the piercing sound of a medium tone alarm clock interrupted Aki Ross’s repetitive dream. She slowly opened her eyes and moved her medium length black hair from the right side of her face. It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the bright white light illuminating the bland, steel constructed apartment style housing room. The room was nothing special, and certainly wasn’t aesthetically pleasing. Nonetheless, it was somewhere to sleep, away from the noisy city streets below. Inside the barrier city, Aki Ross lived on the 25th floor of Building three, which was a designated research and housing lab for the DSW, the Department of Science and Weapons technology. Next door to building three, was the 5 story, heavily armored research laboratory, owned and operated by Dr. Sid, Aki Ross’s mentor. Before disarming the alarm, Aki thought of the slight change in her dream as something out of the ordinary. Instead of the repetitive dream of an Intergalatic war, right before two alien army’s clashed, Aki saw a bright blue flash next to her and above her. She then brushed off the thought from her mind, and sat up from the twin sized bed extended out from the wall.

“Computer, ALARM OFF” she said with a slightly annoyed tone. As soon as she gave the command, the computer de-activated the alarm. Before she could gather the rest of her thoughts, another sound came over the intercom of her steel apartment complex: It was the sound of Dr. Sid’s mature, and calm voice. However, his voice was more strained than usual. Aki could detect a sense of concern in his voice on this particular morning:

“Aki, Aki, are you up out of bed? I may have found something. I need you to come to the lab as soon as possible. We may have a problem.”

Aki tries to replay the sentence in her head, as she wasn’t quite fully awake yet.
“Um…yes. Yes Doctor, I am up. May I ask what the problem is? You seem more stressed than usual. Are you ok?”

Dr. Sid replied with a hint of impatience. “I am not quite sure Aki. It depends on your definition of OK. Something has happened with project Blue Beam. Please see if you can get here as soon as possible. Make sure you don’t run into Douglas Hein, he is always looking for a reason to shut us down”.

“I’m on my way Doc” Aki responded more attentively. She then terminated the computer transmission.

Aki began to think to herself: I haven’t had a shower for a couple days. Looks like today is going to be the same routine: and speaking of same routine, what was with my dream last night? It’s always the same dream. A dream of the war long ago; I am standing in the ruins of a battlefield, as the alien races attempt to destroy each other. Everything happens so fast. But before the dream continued, a blue flash of light nearly blinded my eyes. And then I saw the Stargate. The Blue Beam project: it was…activated, followed by the sound of turbine engines up over my head. Strange that it would change now, especially when it’s been the same for over two years. It’s just …

Aki then began to talk aloud to herself, rubbing her forehead as if she was over thinking things: “Hmm. Who am I kidding? I haven’t found the meaning to my current dream; I don’t need to be worrying about another part of it.”

She got up from her bed, and dressed into her silver grey work uniform, which consisted of a black collar. As she gathered her things and prepared to head out the door, she glanced over at her bathroom door, wishing she could just relax for five minutes. Aki placed her hand on the electronic hand scanner to proceed out the entrance to her apartment, but then she stopped herself as sliding door began to open. She released her hand from the scanner, closing the door once more. Aki decided to take a quick shower. She deserved it. The Government wanted nothing but projects to be completed, and questions to be answered for a constant 48 hour period. It was time to take at least five minutes for herself.

Ten minutes later, Aki was dressed back into her uniform, and placed her hand on the door scanner. This time, her hair was slightly wet, but straight. She felt better than she had in a long time. At least now, she could focus a little more. The shower seemed to get her mind off of the dream she had last night. It was time for work, and not time to ponder on fantasy.

Aki stepped out of her apartment and began to walk down the quiet hallway of the science and weapons research building. It was 6:00am in the morning, and most “sane” people were still enjoying a night of rest. This was the time of morning where the night watchers switched with the day watchers. Watchers were needed at the North, South, East, and West ends of the city. The sun was almost fully over the horizon, and Aki could hear the sounds of the shift change alarms coming from outside the city. It sounded like a buzzing siren; not one of the most pleasant sounds she had ever heard. But then again, this wasn’t a pleasant world to live in.

Aki continued to walk down the hallway. She could hear every echo of her footstep, hitting the white tile floor below her. When she reached the elevator, she was suddenly startled to realize the elevator door immediately opened up, before she could reach the button. She then let out a startling and alert gasp, as a silhouette in the elevator met eye contact with her.

“Well good morning Ms. Ross, and how are we doing today?” Douglas Hein said with an arrogant, military-like voice.

“Douglas! You scared me. This is just...a little unexpected, that’s all. I am doing fine. I just need to get to the lab…” Aki was saying, but Douglas cut her off.

“Yes, I heard all about your little conversation with Dr. Sid” (the elevator door began to close, then Douglas put his hand next to the sensor to open it once more) “look, why don’t you come on in and we can talk about it on the way down.”

Aki stepped in the elevator with caution, and did not break eye contact with Douglas Hein. Douglas continued as the door to the elevator closed.

“So as I was saying, I am a little-bit-concerned. You know we have scanners on every intercom frequency. All I am trying to do is ensure the security of this city. Now, let’s get to the point shall we?” (The elevator passed floor number 15, stopping on 14 to pick up another worker. Because of the extra company, Douglas lowered his voice to a whisper) “we can talk about this later, because I don’t think you know much. But Sid mentioned something about a problem with project Blue Beam. Under orders of the Mayor, I am instructing you to find out what that problem is, and report back to me…understand?” Douglas blankly starred at Aki as he finished his sentence.

Aki then cautiously responded:
“Um…sir. I will report on what I know, and what I find out…directly to the Mayor. If the Mayor ordered it, I will talk to him. He doesn’t need a middle man to handle the matter.”

Douglas then frowned a bit, but recovered the frown to a fake smile.
“Fair enough Aki. But I am warning you, if you try any funny business, I will personally make sure that project Blue Beam and the Stargate, along with your entire operation, will be shut down. Surely, it will be for the safety of the city. Besides, the machine has a few glitches…I mean potential problems.”

Aki then tilted her head, “You...you just said glitches, what would you know about glitches? The machine is not even operational…”

Douglas tried to remember his recovering sentence, but Aki could sense he was hiding something.
“I said potential problems. Surely, machines that can travel between worlds without the use of a second medium are bound to screw something up. We have close eyes on you; you and your team.” (The elevator then opened the doors to ground level) “Well, here we are. Good day Aki! The mayor will be expecting that report in 12 hours.”

Douglas then walked off into the main hall of the building. The main hall was open, and vast. However, it too, was not aesthetically pleasing…unless one counts machines, scanners, and hovering ceramic and glass carts of weapon parts pleasing.

Douglas was no longer visible, as he became lost in the crowd of military, and civilians heading off for the work day within the barrier city. It was now fully morning, and the glow of the amber colored barrier shield high above the city was now mixed in with the glow of the sun. One could only slightly differentiate between the outside world and the barrier limit.
Aki was somewhat disturbed by her encounter with Douglas, but she continued to walk to the lab, not thinking much of it. Besides, if a person thought too much of one thing in this world, he or she would go crazy within days. Some things needed to simply be accepted. Accepting the reality in which one was presented was the key to surviving on Earth this day and age.
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After what seemed like an eternity to Aki, she finally reached the main laboratory after getting passed security. Only one final obstacle was in her way: a giant steel reinforced, blast proof, and “phantom” proof, security door that secured the Blue Beam containment room at ground level in the middle of the laboratory building. The security door was extremely advanced, and only six people in the city had access to it: Aki herself, Dr. Sid, Gray Edwards (the military captain of their team), Ryan Whittaker (weapons specialist and military team), Neil Fleming (a student of Dr. Sid, and friend of Aki), and Jane Proudfoot (another military team member). To open the door, Aki had the machine scan her hand on the wall. The same scanner scanned her eyes, and matched up her facial features with the computer database. She was also required to enter the password: BLUESTAR84188, and finally, say her full name as the computer voice activation system recognized her voice.

Throughout the entire process, she kept rolling her eyes…as did everyone else. The genius designer of the containment room might have built the most agile security door in human history, but failed to completely seal the room. On both sides of the door were two viewing windows, about 3 feet tall and 10 feet wide. Despite the heavily reinforced glass, everyone knew one shot from a high intensity handheld pulse cannon equaled immediate access through the glass. Aki thought about all her tax dollars wasted on a stupid good-for-nothing security door. Plans were sent to the Mayor to seal the windows, but he responded that “it is more important that we know what is going on in that room, for the security of the city.” The door then slowly cracked open to the right, and Aki slipped inside. The door closed behind her just as quickly…and she rolled her eyes again.

Aki was immediately met by Jane Proudfoot, one of the only women training in the local Military:
“Bout time you showed up Ross! We were beginning to think you were going to pick up some breakfast for us!” Jane said in a tom-boyish tone.

Aki smiled “Well, you know me: better late than never. Actually, I wanted to take a quick shower. But the reason I am late was because I ran into…”

Gray Edwards, the loyal military leader of the group interrupted.
“Because you ran into a split end!” Edwards jokingly claimed. “Man, women and their hair. Can’t you guys just like, worry about more important things!” Gray smiled again.

Jane crossed her arms “Boy, you know I can kick your ass. You best not be talking about a woman’s hair! And you wonder why you’re still single…mmh, mmh, mmh”

Ryan Whittaker then walked over to make peace negotiations. “Alright, alright, guys”, he chuckled, “in all seriousness, Dr. Sid called us all here for a reason, and we should probably get to the point, sooner rather than later.”

“I agree, sheez!” Neil Fleming chimed in with a proud, yet somewhat weak tone of voice. “In fact, after scanning and analyzing these read outs from the computer database, I am very concerned.”

“As am I Neil”, Dr. Sid, the elder genius scientist in charge of the Blue Beam project, stepped down from the main platform of the Stargate to begin to address the main topic of the meeting.

The entire Stargate room was mostly empty black space, except for some advanced glass computer screens on the wall. The center of the room housed the main controls of the machine, as well as the main database. Overall, the lighting of the room was rather dim. The orange glow from the Stargate mechanisms surrounding the main portal, as well as the computer electronics all around the room, emitted more light than the actual overhead lights did. A series of 1 inch thick cables ran from all the main computers, directly to the Stargate machine itself. Each cable was connected to an electronic device: under, on the sides, and overhead of the main Stargate. Dr. Sid was careful not to trip over any of the cables, as he stepped down from the platform, which was about three feet higher in elevation from the rest of the room.

Dr. Sid continued. “As you all know, except for Aki here, there has been a possible security breach of the Stargate.” He paused for a moment, and then continued in a concerned, but calm voice. “I am not sure how to interpret the data from these machines just yet, but one thing is for sure. The computer is telling us that something major definitely happened last night. Neil and I still have a massive amount of data to sift through, but from what we can gather, the Stargate became fully operational at 2:46am last night. The security cameras have already been checked, and were found to be on a continuous loop; the footage is completely useless. I have already contacted the Mayor about the matter, as this is now a danger to the entire city, and completely out of our hands. This will compromise our research, but we need to figure out how, and who activated this machine.” Dr. Sid then paused for a moment.

Aki spoke up. “Doctor, how could this have happened? I…I mean, Blue Beam has never been in operation before, and we were always afraid to test it, due to a lack of scientific data. It’s just, I mean, if it really works than that’s great! But who could have done this?” Aki began to think she was rambling.

Dr. Sid picked up the conversation. “I understand your mixed emotions Aki. I was excited at first too, but I am very conflicted. We cannot fully interpret the data from the computers, but one thing is for sure. An EMMENCE amount of data poured into the main computer last night, and she is still trying to compress the files. We also know the Stargate was activated, because the Obtainium fuel has been depleted by 30 percent. Finally, our last piece of key evidence lies with the wrist controller. As you can see, the controller is locked back up in its place, but it most certainly has been used according to the computer. I tried to have Neil analyze it for DNA, but it’s completely sterile.”

Dr. Sid stopped, as Aki began to open her lips. “Doctor, I have a bad feeling that Douglas Hein could be involved with this.”

“Um, well please explain Aki.” Dr. Sid asked.

“On the way to the lab, I met Douglas in the elevator. It was as if he was waiting for me. He informed me that he wanted me to report back all of my findings about this very conversation we are having. I asked him where he got his orders from, and he claimed they were from the Mayor. So I simply told him: If the Mayor wants to know, I will tell him myself. But I guess you have already informed him…anyway, he said the machine had a few glitches. But that did not concern me. He corrected himself soon after that, and avoided the fact that he was talking about it in past tense. I mean, you had to be there. It didn’t feel right. I could be over reacting, but the aura he was giving off didn't feel right....I know he's hiding something...”

“I see. Well, thank you for bringing this to my attention Aki. We will certainly follow up on it.” Dr. Sid then focused his attention on the rest of the four members of the team. “Team, we are faced with a serious problem on our hands. Mr. Edwards, will you and your team be willing to guard the Stargate, at least until we can get some answers?”

Gray Edwards smiled “Of course we will! Jane and I can guard the main door, while Ryan and Neil…”

Suddenly, Gray and the rest of the team in the Stargate containment room were interrupted by flashing red warning lights and a computer voice:

“INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT” the computer wailed.

Just as suddenly, the main security door slowly opened, and military SWOT with heavy armor and pulse weapons entered the room. Before the team could respond and even take another breath, they were met face to face with twenty-five SWOT personnel, Douglas Hein, and the Mayor himself.

The commander of the SWOT team was the first to call out an order.
“Alright men, secure the area. YOU [he pointed to Neil] shut down this computer system. SID, you have been ordered to cease and desist all operations regarding project Blue Beam, as of now.”

Gray Edwards stepped forward “Now wait just a damn minute! You can’t shut us down! We’re on your side too you know! This place has been breached last night, and we need to figure out who…”

Edwards was interrupted “Oh for God’s sake”, the Mayor yelled, “Will someone please shut off that ridiculous alarm.”

Neil shut down the alarm through the computer system. At the same time, the SWOT team lowered their weapons and stood at attention. Douglas Hein then stepped forward.

“Well, I’m sorry to have barged in like this, but it’s my understanding that the Mayor wishes to shut down this project, for the safety and security of the city.” Douglas then turned to the Mayor “Mr. Mayor, with your permission, I believe it would be in everyone’s best interest to terminate access to this room for all six members. If you give me access, I can have my team guard the entire facility and guarantee its safeguard.”

Dr. Sid, usually calm and rational, couldn’t stand what he was listening to “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND DOUGLAS! Eh, UGH, Mr. Mayor…clearly this is not the appropriate choice of action! Granting only Doulas access to this facility IS SURE TO JEPORDISE THE CITY, IF NOT THE ENTIRE EARTH ITSELF!”

Aki Ross spoke up to the Mayor. “He’s right Mr. Mayor. We don’t yet know who broke into the machine, and activated the Stargate. We don’t even know where that Stargate portal led to, and what the consequences of those actions will be. We need time to turn this into an official investigation.”

As the Mayor pondered on Aki’s statement, the SWOT leader informed his men and women that they could head out of the room. Nothing needed to be contained any longer, as no one put up much resistance. Bringing such weapons into a delicate room could spell disaster after all.

“I am aware of the danger and the confusion we all face here”, the Mayor replied, “but we cannot ignore the fact that this isn’t an ordinary military or political operation. We are talking about a machine that has the potential to mess with the space time continuum…”

Neil Fleming interrupted “Actually sir, it’s not a time machine. It’s simply a transportation device. But then again, if you travel to one side of the universe and come back, the time difference between the universes could alter time itself, thereby creating a paradox and other weird situations that we don’t quite fully understand yet, but..”

“NEIL!”, Ryan yelled. “…you’re not helping.”

The Mayor continued “Well, I seem to stand on my original statement gentlemen, and ladies. We don’t understand the situations that could arise by using such a machine. Therefore, we must shut it down for now. Dr. Sid, unless you and your team can fully interpret and understand the data, it is too dangerous to proceed with the project. Besides, we have enough to deal with outside the city…alien phantoms, constant war. And if I am not mistaken Aki, you are still on a mission to find plant life out there somewhere. It would be best to focus your efforts on those things, for all our sakes.”

Dr. Sid spoke up again “I am warning you Mayor, if you give Douglas full access to this machine, something could go terribly wrong! How could you think of such a thing?”

Douglas frowned at Sid, as the Mayor continued:
“Dr. Sid, I have already thought about those aspects. Douglas Hein is a trusted leader of this society, and your unnecessary bias is quite unacceptable. I need you to transfer this data to your other lab, where you can interpret and study it better. The rest of the team will accompany Aki on any scientific research that needs to be completed. And Neil, you will stay with Douglas Hein to watch and monitor the computers. It is my understanding you cannot safely shut down the system without some time. Well, I am giving you that time. You have until this time tomorrow morning to have this area shut down, and sealed for further investigation. Mr. Hein will accompany you. That is an order. Now, we must attend to other matters. Good day to you all and I hope you all understand this is for the best”.

Dr. Sid thought to himself after the Mayor finished talking: Why do I feel like he is going to regret those words?

Soon after, the team left the room, along with Douglas. Everyone on the team was discouraged and felt defeated. The only person left behind was Neil Fleming. He had to figure out a way to shut down the computers. But Aki called to him:

“Neil! Why don’t you come with us? We can shut this down after breakfast. You need to eat something.”

Neil fully agreed to the idea of some good breakfast food. Besides, after a morning like this, it was time for everyone to sit down and ponder on what just happened. As the team walked out of the hallway, with Douglas and the Mayor no longer visible, all six of the team members exchanged silent glances while walking out of the building. Everyone knew what the other person was thinking: I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

Prologue Part 2: Up To No Good

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Prologue (PART 2)
-Up to No Good-

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Dr. Sid, Aki, and the rest of the team settled down for breakfast at a casual diner, two blocks away from the main laboratory. The sun was well above the horizon, and the city went about its normal day to day operations: security, food rations, green house containment, medical supply stock, and other basic survival operations. This day in age, a person did not have complete freedom to choose what he or she wanted to do with their life. Instead, if an individual was found to be good at particular tasks, that was it; the Government would decide where that person would be best suited to work: Unless of course, one was a part of a special family, such as the Hein’s.
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Families such as the Hein’s (or street named “Elite”) were solely responsible for building and containing the barrier cities. The technology had already existed to provide barrier cities for all human civilizations. But they were not needed until 2055: the year the Earth passed through the planar galaxy once more, causing the remaining alien creatures to become hostile spirits. Unfortunately, the technology should have been implemented well before 2055. To the people living in current day, 2064, nine years felt like so long ago. The cities and designated zones were already predetermined, but the shields and their generators were not activated as fast as they should have been. As a result, only a few barrier cities have been mapped. Each city had to start living on a philosophy of fending for themselves. New York City was so far the largest known barrier city in the United States. Others included: Chicago, the District of Columbia, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Austin. The state of Florida was practically inhabitable, as it was covered by water. However, one would think New York would be as well. But from what scientists can tell (given the limited resources available), the Oceans didn’t necessarily rise, but Florida slipped into the Atlantic from a recent fault line, and unknown disturbance. The eruption of Yellowstone around 2030 made the center parts of the United States inhabitable. From what New York knows, the above cities mentioned are the only barrier cities in the United States.

Others were lucky enough to survive in their own homes, and maybe they have somehow figured out how to build their own shield generators, but it is hard to tell. The only other known barrier cities around the world were as follows: 1 in Europe (location unknown), 1 in China (location unknown), 1 in Sydney, and 1 in Brazil (actual coordinates unknown). Access to space flight in advanced spacecraft was possible (especially to attempt to contact other cities, and map the new Earth), but heavily restricted. A spacecraft was practically worth more than all the Gold on the planet. If a pilot flew one, and came into contact with a phantom, it would mean destruction for the person, as well as the craft. Unless one had a very good reason, travel outside the city was extremely restricted.
So, with limited resources, only a few spacecraft, and a handicapped communication grid, the world and its inhabitants were pretty much on their own. Hundreds and hundreds of animal species had died of from the war. Virtually all plant life was destroyed, and much of Earth’s breathable air comes from either what’s left in the atmosphere, along with massive oxygen generators; but these generators were predicted to fail in about 5 more years.

Scientists claim that, without a massive effort to re-populate the Earth with plant life, the Earth would not sustain enough capacity for respiration. The scientists have even set a “kill date”: 2095. In thirty more years, if nothing can be done, life will not be sustainable. To top it all off, the barrier city life support systems were given the following kill dates: Nuclear power generators, 2070 due to depleted Uranium. At this point, the city would move to solar power, but the solar power would not be enough to sustain the shields. So before listing anything further, without the use of nuclear power, 2070 (5 more years) was the kill date New Yorkers set. If they made it to 2095, that in itself, would be a miracle.

In relation to the Hein’s family, Douglas Hein was the son of the man who made the barrier city of New York possible. After Douglas Hein’s father passed away just a few years ago, Doulas has taken it upon himself that he owns almost everything in the city. The Mayor and Government officials themselves do not do enough to restrain his authority. Douglas keeps claiming that his father passed down many secrets to him: where to find fuel, how to perform maintenance on a shield generator, and even training on how to defend and attack the alien phantoms. Whether he really knows these things, or it’s just his dumb luck, the city respected him enough to give into almost all of his demands. But now Douglas had almost full access to project Blue Beam, and there was virtually nothing Dr. Sid and his team could do about it.
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The team of six sat around a rather small booth table in the diner two blocks away from the lab. They had already ordered and eaten their food. The menu at the diner was almost first class food, compared to other parts of the city: concentrated orange juice (which was mostly water and artificial flavoring), re-hydrated potatoes, freeze-dried grits, crackers, scrambled imitation eggs (mostly soy), and bacon flavored freeze-dried strips were some of the more popular menu items. After the meal, the team struggled to find grounds for a conversation.

Gray Edwards sat next to Aki Ross. Edward’s hand went up to his forehead, as he tried to think of something to say. “Ugh. Well, ugh. Can you guys believe that guy Douglas? I swear, if his last name was something other than Hein, I would personally give him a fist for a sandwich”.

Ryan Whittaker smiled a bit, and stated in his deep voice, “Gray, I’d like to see that. Maybe you can punch some of the pride and arrogance outta him! Uhh, forgive me Lord. Ha ha.”

Jane joined the conversation. “Well boys, I’m tellin ya! Yous guys might get into trouble for something like that, but I’d say one kick in the nads from a woman…he’ll never want to show his face near us again!”

The group smiled for a bit, all except for Dr. Sid.

“Sid, come on. We may have lost a battle, but we have not lost the war.” Aki said in a comforting voice.

“I know, I know. But I can’t help but feel responsible for what’s taken place today. If I had not called the Mayor about the security breach, maybe, just maybe we would still be in there trying to figure it out”, after a brief pause, Dr. Sid continued, “Listen everyone. Take a look at this”. Dr. Sid pulled out a handheld device on the silver booth table, and brought up a small holographic image of a nearby star system. “From what I can gather here, at least from the data I see, I may be able to pin point a rough location of a nearby galaxy that the Stargate may have opened a portal to. But without access to an extremely powerful satellite image, all I can do is guess. There is no telling where the portal could have opened to…but one thing is for sure. The main computer system is designed to scan the galaxy, and even clusters of galaxies. We may have even found a way to tap into other dimensions.” Then Dr. Sid smiled for a bit, reaching his hand up around the back of his neck: “I’d love to explain the science to you sometime! But that’s not the point”. Dr Sid continued with a serious tone of voice: “In theory, the computer is designed to open a portal IF AND ONLY IF it finds a location, specifically a planet, which is suitable for human survival. If the oxygen levels are too low, it should not open a gateway there: if the location is too cold or hot, same scenario. The only factor the computer does not taken into account in regards to human survivability is a different dimension and/or level of physics. So far as we know, if there is such a thing as different laws and physics in other parts of the universe, it should not affect human survivability, and therefore, would open a portal there.”

There was a brief moment of silence as Dr. Sid finished his explanation. Most of the group still looked a little confused. Then Neil Fleming spoke up shortly after, “Um, what I think Sid is trying to say in a nutshell, is that because the portal was activated, it is almost guaranteed that it led to a part of the universe where a human could survive, at least for a respectable amount of time.”

“Precisely” Dr. Sid confirmed. “Which really worries me, because whoever breached the room, managed to get past security, stall the cameras, access the security software, and hone in on a habitable part of the universe…which makes me want to give up, because I have yet to figure out how to lock onto a location, let alone find one. Last but certainly not least, I do fear Douglas has something to do with it…but until we have undeniable proof, nothing can be done. He is too powerful a figure in this city.”

“So we’re just going to stand by and do nothing?” Jane asked frustratingly.

Dr. Sid was about to speak up, but Aki spoke first: “Jane, we are going to do everything we can. For now, we all need to be on our guard. And I think it would be best if we…”

Aki was interrupted by an intercom message from Sid’s mobile device. “*static*…Sid…*static*, Sid this is the commander of the South SWOT team…*static*…if Mr. Fleming is there, we need him back at the lab…and only him, so these Blue Beam computers can be shut down. *static* I have orders from the Mayor and Douglas Hein himself. Over”.

“This is Sid, over. I request permission to assist Mr. Fleming in the shut down. It takes more than one to properly shut down the computers. If you would be so kind as to…”

“Negative. *static* Hein specifically mentioned that if you asked to assist, permission would not be granted. Fleming is perfectly capable of shutting the machines down himself *static*, if he needs help, Hein will contact you. *static* Edwards, Whittaker, and Proudfoot…you are to report to me immediately for a training operation. Aki, you will assist Doctor Sid back at the research laboratory. Except for Fleming, none of you are required to take immediate action. Fleming, you are to report to the facility in 30 minutes. Confirm orders..*static*”

“Orders confirmed Sir” Neil said with slight hesitation.

After Neil spoke, the transmission was terminated. The team started to finish up what was left of their drinks and plates, and proceeded to get up and leave the diner. No one said much, except for a few glances and short sentences. Dr. Sid put his hand on Neil’s shoulder and looked him straight in the eye.

“Neil…I want you to go to the lab just like Hein and the commander has ordered. Shut down those computers, just like I told you. But don’t cut off the main power. If you do, as you know, it could jeopardize the entire project. But if anything happens…if Hein tries to use the machine, enter the following code into the computer: STARGATE911. This will put the machine into immediate shut down, supposedly, but it will also notify me that something is wrong. Of course, you already know this, but just keep it on your mind.”

“I will.” Said Neil, “and I will do my best. I just hope it goes as planned....if we can even call it a plan.”

The team said a few other words to each other, and then departed. As the team walked out into the narrow streets of the barrier city, it was considerably darker than usual. How could they have missed it? A solar eclipse had appeared out of nowhere, at least unpredicted by Dr. Sid and the astronomers in the city.

Neil himself had very little time to think much of it. Walking back to the lab was his main mission. Instead of gazing toward the sky, his mind was focused on getting to the lab. As Neil reached the main glass and steel doors of the 5 story Stargate and Research building, the sky became almost as dark as night; except for a small halo from the eclipse. The decrease in sunlight caused the barrier shield over the city to illuminate its orange glow just as it would at night. Neil stepped inside, as the door slowly shut behind him.
______________________________________________________________________________

After security checkpoints, and walking down many halls, Neil finally reached the center of the building. He stood in front of the huge security door, once again laughing on the inside at the two glass windows on either side. That thought ran through everyone’s mind. The security door was just overdone: if not that, then the viewing windows needed to be heavily reinforced.
The hall was quiet. There wasn’t a soul around or anywhere outside the room to the Stargate. Neil waited for about three minutes, thinking that the entire situation isn’t a great idea. After deciding enough was enough, Neil attempts to open the security door. He first places his hand on the hand scanner. The computer scanner turns red. “ACCESS DENIED”.
Neil thinks to himself: Wow. They cancelled our clearance within a matter of hours. They sure were quick to terminate our access. I wonder if Hein knows I’m already here.

Just then, Neil could hear footsteps coming down the white, marble floored hallway. It was Douglas Hein. Without saying a word, Douglas reached Neil, and opened the security door by simple card access. When the door cracked open, Neil waited for a response from Hein. Hein simply glanced over at Neil, and hand motioned him to step inside. Neil felt uneasy, but stepped inside anyway.

Here they were again: back in the dark Stargate room, lit by the amber computer components and touch screen monitors. The door closed behind them. Hein locked the door using a second card key that controlled the electronic magnets. Hein then glanced back at Neil.

“Well, go on then. Start shutting down the computers. Just do your thing, and I will make sure things run smoothly.”

Neil didn't say a word. He walks to the center of the room, then up to the Stargate platform. Neil checks to make sure everything is in proper order for a half shutdown. He steps of the three step platform, and heads to the center of the room once more. This time, Neil sits down in the main metal chair, cushioned with a memory foam fabric. He cracks his knuckles and begins to type some codes into the computer. Before Neil initiates the shut down, he activates the Obtainium fuel cells.

Activating the fuel cells was necessary for a shut down, because it was the only way to spend any amount of extra fuel left in the firing cells; the fuel system consisted of fuel cells, and firing cells. It was standard procedure to activate the fuel cells for long term fuel storage, and then the fuel system and computer system could be shut down from there. Neil wasn’t sure if any fuel was left in the firing cells: but since the security incident, it was better to not leave that to chance. Leaving Obtainium in the firing cell for an extended period could create a “meltdown”: similar to a nuclear type meltdown, but much, much worse.
Neil activates the fuel system, and activation lights became visible from the fuel system overhead, attached to the main ceiling.

“Ok Douglas. Everything is set to go…once the computer confirms depletion of any fuel left in the firing cells, I will initiate a few more tasks, and then the final code for a half shutdown. It will then take 24 hours for the computer to shut down completely. I am going to go ahead and enter the shutdown code…”

Hein quickly raises his voice, while slowly walking over behind Neil. “THAT….WON’T BE NECESSARY, Mr. Fleming.” Neil freezes up, his hands still on the computer keys. Hein continues, this time directly standing behind Neil, with his hand reaching for some sort of device.

“...You see Neil, when I used this machine the first time to travel to another world, everything was set in place! You should have seen the world I visited!” He pats Neil on the shoulder a few times. “It was truly a grand world. I was only there for a few minutes, but I learned that their world was a lot like ours was 50 years ago!”

Neil, shocked of what he was hearing, tried to distract Douglas “So, ugh, why didn’t you just tell us you wanted to use it? We don’t…don’t even know how to properly activate it, but you do!”

Neil begins to type a code in the computer while trying to distract Fleming: S-T-A-R-G-A-T-E-9-1
Hein pulls out a stun gun, and presses it against Neil, pulling the trigger. Neil instantly freezes up, his hands separating from the main keyboard, as he starts to lose all muscle movement. Neil's facial expression froze.

Hein grins. “Heh, nice try Mr. Fleming. But you didn’t even let me finish my story!” Hein’s tone of voice starts to sound menacing and psychotic. “Oh, what a wonderful world I visited. It was a lot like Earth! I believe they called their country, the Osean Federation, or something. Well, Mr. Fleming, I have a lot of business to attend to. And judging by what I can calculate, I can be gone just 5 minutes, but spend years over at other worlds. IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITES! Imagine the chance to save our own world, by visiting others. I simply think it might take more than just a silly diplomatic approach. We have 5 years left Mr. Fleming, 5 YEARS. I AM NOT going to leave the future of our world in the hands of our pathetic government. It’s too bad you couldn’t activate the Stargate. Perhaps it would have been easier for you, if I hadn’t planted a kill virus in the system from day 1, granting me the only access.”

Neil wanted to respond, but couldn’t. The stun gun had temporarily impaired his muscle movement, and speech. Hein then began to wrap up his conversation. He stepped over to the wrist control device, and fastened it to his wrist. He then walked back over to Neil and the main computer, and uttered a final statement:

“Well Mr. Fleming, I have you to thank for this! Thank you for showing me how to reactivate the firing cells. I swear, all these computer codes and languages can give me a headache. Well, I guess I best be going soon. And don’t worry, by the time I am back, that stun of yours should just about be wearing off. Maybe I can convince you to see my side, to see why I must do this. You will see...you will all see. The only way we can save our own world, is if we take over another, and inhabit it ourselves. Good day Mr. Fleming! See you in 5!”

Hein activated the main Stargate firing switch, located on the right side of the main computer system. With just one press of a button, and a computer calculated equation, the empty center of the Stargate ring began to spark with what looked like blue lighting. The amber glow of the computer machines around the Stargate intensified, and the room filled with an abundance of sound waves and static noise. In ten seconds, the Stargate began to spark rapidly, until finally emitting a constant beam of blue light. The once dark circle of the center or the Stargate was now a swirling vortex of blue electric energy. The energy was light blue around the edges of the machine, and black at the very center. The energy spun around like any other vortex would, and white and blue lighting sparks began to spark even more. The overhead support system began to shake, as the Stargate was now at full operation. The Obtainium fuel started to deplete rapidly.

The computer then honed in on a signal “SYSTEM-READY. STARGATE-ACTIVATED. SYSTEM AT CRITICAL MASS”

Neil could only watch, as Hein slowly stepped onto the platform. Hein stepped over the power wires to the Stargate, and was soon feet away from the blue vortex itself. Hein turned back to look at Neil, and gave one last final solute. Then, Hein stepped into the portal, with the wrist gadget glowing and activated. As soon as the computer detected that Hein stepped through, it shut the portal down. The vortex collapse from the outside in, and vanished.

The computer then initiated another message. “STARGATE TRANSFER COMPLETE. FUEL LEVELS at 45%.” The female computer voice then paused for a moment, before initiating another statement. “…..WARNING. ERROR OCCURRED. LAST KNOWN POINT OF ORIGIN UNKNOWN. DETECTING ANOTHER LOCATION ……………….LOCATION FOUND. TRANSFER COMPLETE. CHECKING SYSTEM OPERATION”.

The computer went on, and Neil began to drown out the statements as he started to gain feeling back in his fingers. The computer screen still had the emergency code almost fully typed. S-T-A-R-G-A-T-E-9-1. Neil managed to enter 1 as the last digit. As a last effort, Neil used the rest of his strength to activate the security code. He pressed the enter key.

The computer came over the intercom again “SECURITY CODE CONFIRMED. SECRUITY BREACH.”
The alarm sounded, and Neil fainted: collapsing out of his chair unto the floor.

Chapter 1: Birds of Steel

View Online

Music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlnegZzNZAs

Chapter 1

-BIRDS OF STEEL-

2012AD (Same time as 2064AD on Earth)
Location: Osean Federation: Sand Island Air Force Base

Character Profiles Reference

Kei Nagase pulled back on the stick, and climbed at maximum speed 1,000 feet every 3 seconds. The F-18 Superhornet began to lose momentum, and she adjusted the rudder left while deploying flaps at 20 percent. The F-18 began to fall back down to Earth, when she suddenly increased engine power to 80 percent, and pulled back on the stick once more, setting the flaps back down to 0. A successful upside down 360 degree turn; the computer kept track of her score in the simulator, and so far, she was top of the leader board against the other four members of Razgriz. Now it was time for the classic fly-by. Blaze took the lead to the south of the runway air strip, 5000 feet above the ground. Blaze and Nagase lined up for the flyby, barreling toward each other just under the speed of sound.

“Blaze, here we go. On my mark...Reeeeady-HIT IT” Nagase shouted, and her and Blaze turned their aircraft sideways, passing each other just feet apart. Another successful fly-by. The rest of the team, began to power down their aircraft in the simulation, and lined up in formation. All five members of the Razgriz demonstration team landed in unison, all in flock formation.

-SIMULULATION COMPLETE- The scrolled text said on the screen. –Most Points: Captain Kei Nagase-

The team began to shut down the simulators, and crawled out of the individual simulation jets one-by-one. Alvin Davenport (AKA Chopper) was the first to approach Nagase.

He extended his hand to Nagase for a friendly hand-shake: “I hate to admit it Nagase, you were a brave and skilled pilot during the war five years ago, but you kick some serious butt in demonstration!”

Nagase returned the handshake with a slight grin. “That’s funny coming from someone who knows how to come back from the dead” she winked.

Captain Jack Bartlett also came over to Nagase “Well, I must say to you Nagase…to all of you. It was an honor serving with you in the war 5 years ago. And I am thankful to have the honor extended, by leading the best flight demonstration team that Osea has ever seen. Nagase, you keep flying like that, and you’ll be promoted to the flight hall of fame one of these days. You’ve learned a lot kid. You all have! Let’s go do this thing for real.”

On that note, the hanger doors began to open, slowly revealing the bright rays of the afternoon sun over Sand Island air force base. The team, already suited up in their G-suits, each took their polished grey helmets, and stood at the entrance line to the hanger. The practice demonstration was about to begin. Blaze “Blaze” Smith, Kei “Edge” Nagase, Alvin “Chopper” Davenport, Hans “Archer” Grimm, and Captain Jack “Heartbreak One” Bartlett began their solutes as they approached the modified FA-18 Superhornet aircraft; Blaze in the number 5, Archer number 4, Nagase number 3, Chopper number 2, and Heartbreak One, number 1. Today was the first semi-public reveal of the finest demonstration team in the land, meant to be a symbol of peace and wonder. It also gave the pilots something to look forward to, and an opportunity to shine in the light once more, but thankfully, not because of a war. The pilots families and friends, as well as President Vincent Harling were at the demonstration that day.

The demonstration team still called themselves Razgriz, representing the demons of the North Sea. Everyone recalls the legend. And the narrator or the demonstration show had the privilege of introducing Razgriz with the classic legend, a legend that felt so real five years ago, and restored a hope that was once lost in a land of discord. The announcer began:

“When history witnesses a great change Razgriz reveals itself, first as a dark demon. As a demon, it uses it power to rain death upon the land, and then it dies. However after a period of slumber Razgriz returns
Its raven wings ablaze in majestic light.

Amidst the eternal waves of time

[-At this point, the Osean Anthem began to play over the loud speakers across the base, and Razgriz began firing up the jet engines, and closing their cockpit canopys in unison”]

“Out of the abyss peer the eyes of a demon
Behold! the Razgriz, its wings of black sheath
The demon soars through the dark skies
Fear and Death trail its shadow beneath
Until Men united wield a hallowed sabre”

-The music bean to get more intense, along with the narrators enthusiastic tone of voice-

“In Final Reckoning, the beast is slain
As the demon sleeps, man turns on man.
Its own blood, and madness soon cover the earth.
From the depths of despair awaken the Razgriz.

The Demon of the world of Fairytales
The Demon from the North Sea”

-Razgriz then set the engines to maximum power, and began to shoot down the runway in unison, in a triangle pattern via maximum take off-

“Behold once more, RAZGRIZ! The United Osean Federation’s premier demonstration flight team, and wartime heroooooooes!”

The medium size crowd at Sand Island base, along with President Vincent Harling began to clap and cheer. Seconds after, a popular song came over the intercom, setting the mood for the beginning of the show: Kenny Loggins “Danger Zone”.

The five aircraft kept their formation, reaching 500 feet, then 1000 feet, turned around heading back over the base. Heartbreak One came over the intercom “Alright kids, here we go! Demonstration starts now. White smoke, on my mark. 3-2-Reeeady HIT IT!”

In unison, Razgriz activated their smoke machines, and began their intense aerial stunts. The first 5 minutes of the show insisted of a bird formation, called the “Birds of Steel”, and then each of them broke off to perform individual stunts and tricks.

“Archer, engaging!” Hans Grimm (Archer) began his rookie routine, but it was still intense. Archer performed multiple flips, maximum take off climbs, and stall outs. The rest of the team had some spotlight moves, and soon all started to head to the center point of the runway, 1000 feet in the air. Each jet passed each other in a collapsing, then expanding circle pattern, while activating the smoke. This created an impressive star pattern in the sky. The team then regained formation near the end of the show, except for Blaze and “Edge” Nagase. It was time for the signature flyby.

“Alright Blaze, it’s just how we practiced in the flight simulator. We can do this!”

“Right!” Blaze responded. “I’m North, 180 degrees, heading your way in 5 seconds at maximum speed.”

“Turning and lining up for position now.” Nagase responded.

This was it. The signature trick; traveling insanely fast only to react at the last minute, passing each other on opposite ends only feet apart. Blaze and Nagase got closer, now only 5 seconds until reaction time.

Nagase began the final countdown and call orders “Puuulll, Steeeeeaaaady, annnnd, SMOKE ON, REEEEEADY, HIT IT!!”

Both aircraft suddenly turned on their sides, creating immense G-forces, and a sound like no other. They had unintentially reached the speed of sound; Nonetheless, a perfect flyby.
The audience on the ground was in complete amazement and began to cheer wildly, only to be met by an unwelcoming sonic boom, taking out some glass near the hanger.

Chopper came on the radio “Wooooooooo-hooooooo, now that’s a flyby!”

“Alright team, line up, we’re going in” Captain Jack Bartlett commanded. 1,2,3,4,5: the Razgriz Hornets lined up one by one from behind, and extended their gear simultaneously. Seconds later, the team touched back down on runway, and came to a unison halt. The announcer began wrapping up the narration of the show: A successful first time flight demonstration….minus the sonic boom.
______________________________________________________________________________

In perfect unison, Razgriz shut down the jet engines, opened the canopies to the jets, and climbed out. The impressive maintenance team assisted them in every miniscule and precise detail of the final solute. Razgriz then stood side by side, saluting the Osean flag.

“Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, let’s hear it ONE more time for the Razgriz Demonstration team!” the announcer shouted.

The crowd once again cheered and shouted. Some of the kids still covered their ears, thinking another sonic boom was going to hit, because to them, it was triggered when the audience cheered. But everyone enjoyed the show. Captain Jack Bartlett then dismissed the team:

“Razgriz, atten-hut. Solute. At ease” After the formal calls were made, he turned around and informally congratulated the team for a successful flight. The team shook hands with each other, and began to break off to visit their family and friends that came to see them. After a few minutes passed, President Vincent Harling approached Captain Jack Bartlett as he was inspecting his plane.

“Captain Bartlett, it’s an honor to see you here today!”

Bartlett immediately met eye contact with the president, who was dressed casually in khaki shorts and a golf tee. “Mr. President, the honor is all mine!” The two men exchanged grins and met with a firm handshake.

“Please Captain Bartlett, today, call me Vincent. What you all did up there was most impressive, and I think it’s going to be a wonderful symbol of hope, patriotism, peace, and excitement for generations to come.”

“I couldn’t agree more Mr. Preside, um, Vincent. It’s an honor in itself to take something originally designed to defend and to destroy, and turn it into something patriotic and expressive. At first, we weren’t too sure of the idea…I myself feared being reduced to a stunt performer. But I see it’s much more than that now.”

“Indeed it is Captain Bartlett. So I hear you and your team won’t be getting much rest! You are flying out this evening to the main ISAF command base, correct?”

“Yes sir,” Captain Bartlett responded, “Duty calls. We’re taking the show planes to ISAF command to set up another practice show eventually, but for now, we were requested to take fully loaded war ready Superhornets to ISAF, for a routine training mission. We may be a demonstration team, but our first duty is to the Osean Air Force.”

“Right you are Captain. I couldn’t persuade you to retire and rest if I tried. Although, I still would suggest it” President Harling winked, “but thank you, you and your amazing team, for everything you have done. If there is anything you need, you let me know!”

“I will be sure to do that sir” Captain Bartlett smiled. The secret service motioned President Harling that it was time to leave, so Bartlett and Harling said their good-byes and departed ways for the time being.

Archer was shaking hands and catching up with old friends. Blaze was talking to his family, and Chopper was surrounded by kids wanting autographs: “Alright! Who’s next, who’s next!?”

Nagase made her way through the small crowd to Captain Bartlett, who was still at his plane.
“Hey! I um, saw you speaking with President Harling. I’m glad you guys had a chance to talk for a bit. Isn’t your family here though? Any friends? You haven’t left your plane since we landed…”

“My family and friends are right here Nagase. You four are my family and friends. But don’t tell Chopper I said that. I still need to maintain a hierarchy of proper authority here!”

Nagase’s smile began to fade, “So your family couldn’t make it? Um, (Nagase could tell Bartlett’s expression began to fade) never mind, it’s none of my business.”

“That’s alright Nagase. I know you mean well. Listen, about thirty more minutes here, k? Then we will need to wrap it up, get some dinner, and head out for the 3 hour flight to ISAF. Let the other three know, we need to leave 9pm sharp.”

“Sounds like a plan Bartlett” Nagase responded.

Captain Bartlett’s expression still had not changed. “No, that’s an order.”
______________________________________________________________________________

As nightfall approached, the maintenance team assessed the minor damage to some of the hanger glass. Luckily, the main wave of the sonic boom had not made much damage. Blaze and Nagase knew a briefing would come up about it, and most likely, they would be held fully accountable for the damages. However, nothing happened…no one really mentioned anything about it. There were even rumors around the base that they wanted to incorporate the sonic boom into the routine, only next time, at a much higher altitude.

6 O’clock at night rolled around fairly quickly, and the team had enough time to say their good byes to their families and friends. The base slowly became less populated, as boat escorts took the visitors back to the mainland. The team had a chance to take a shower, catch up on their journals, and chill out for awhile. Hans Grimm (Archer) was at the flight simulator, trying to perfect his signature moves, and hopefully get a score relatively close to Nagase’s. Overall, the base was rather quiet. The only person not occupied with a de-stressing task was Captain Bartlett. He hadn’t left his plane all day.

The team had pulled all the demonstration Hornets into the hanger. But, Captain Bartlett was with them the entire time, still wearing his G-suit. He sat down next to the plane, closed his eyes, and started flashing back to the time of the war. The flashbacks were out of sequence: first he was visioning himself behind enemy lines, then bailing out of his plane, then hearing the news that Chopper had fatally crashed during a hero ceremony, before the city was attacked. All the images and horrible thoughts of the war began filling his head…but he never forgot that one glimmer of hope.

The hope of Razgriz’s success, and return of a fallen member. Bartlett remembered the news like it was yesterday: Chopper was presumed dead after what looked like a fatal direct crash into the field at the stadium during the peace ceremony. The journey home almost turned out to be Choppers journey to a permanent home. After the war, the whereabouts and conditions of Razgriz were not disclosed for privacy and protection purposes. The team later found out, as Chopper began to approach the stadium, he made a last ditch effort to deploy the air brakes and flaps, while bracing himself for impact. That’s all Chopper remembered. The rumor was that the cockpit of the plane was still mostly intact, but the wings and body were on fire. Civilians that were still in the stadium took notice at the shock of a fallen hero, and five of them risked their lives to save Chopper. Chopper was pulled from the burning plane, while some of the rescuers suffered third degree burns. Chopper was in bad shape. They were told that the only thing that kept him alive was wanting to be there for the Razgriz team, living long enough to see them come to victory. The extent of Choppers injuries were never revealed. Chopper had major burn marks on his body, but invisible under a full G-suit. All Chopper knows is, he owes his life to those five brave civilians (who all survived as well) that pulled him out of the plane and escorted him to the emergency room. Captain Bartlett never asked his commander why they were never told of his survival during the war. He knew why. Losing Chopper made Razgriz come together even more, as they had even more to fight for, and that helped to motivate the team to righteous victory.

Razgriz was the only family Bartlett really had now. And he made sure he was going to be the most loyal Captain a squadron could ever have…he would never lose another solider. Not without going down with them.

Bartlett then heard a voice over the intercom:

“Team Razgriz, please report to the dining hall for dinner, and a briefing in 10 minutes”.

Captain Bartlett slowly sat up, and had one last thought about his younger days. He thought about the old wars, ISAF, and his long time friend nicknamed Mobius One. He glanced back at the plane and whispered a phrase under his voice:“…Amidst the blue skies, a link from past to future. The sheltering wings of the protector..."

Chapter 2: Friendship is Magic

View Online

Music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ChZYB9o4fM

Chapter 2

-FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC-

TIME: 1 Month after the Canterlot Wedding (End of Season 2)
LOCATION: Ponyville, Equestria

Click Here for Character Profiles Reference

A good size rain storm for Ponyville had been overdue for over a week now. An intense thunderstorm dominated the midnight sky all across Ponyville and into the Everfree forest. The Pegasi that controlled and scheduled the weather tried to schedule a less severe storm, but without a good drench, some of the local crops were endanger of withering. At Twilight Sparkles home, the local library, the main 6, Spike, and Vinyl Scratch spent the night for a fun sleepover after a long day’s work, celebrating and keeping each other company through the storm overnight.

Applejack lay asleep on the main living room sofa, while Pinkie Pie curled up near a corner. Fluttershy made a little bed next to the landing on the stairs, full of pillows stacked up like a miniature fort. She was not fast asleep; Fluttershy was very much awake, hoping that the storm would soon pass. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Twilight slept in Twilights room, along with Spike (the baby dragon) on his miniature bed. Vinyl Scratch was still up, sitting at the kitchen table on the main floor trying to compose an original song for Rainbow Dash’s practice audition in seven days. Pinkie Pie insisted that Vinyl come over for the sleep over, and she gladly accepted the token of friendship. Vinyl had most of the song composed and written out, but she couldn’t help but feel something was missing. She thought to herself, in essence, that the song needed to be about 20 percent cooler. Vinyl rested her tired head on her hoof, blankly staring at the music piece written in front of her. She experimented with several types of bass beats and rhythms on the magically controlled computer program, but none seemed to fit just right.

Back in Twilight's room, Twilight Sparkles ears began to twitch as she lay asleep. She began to toss and turn rapidly…
______________________________________________________________________________

Twilight stood above water, and began to find herself in a strange world; a world that she never could have imagined. She began to slowly trot backwards, as the ground began to shake, and something was closing in fast from a distance. Suddenly, she ran into something, and quickly turned around frightened. A silhouette of a tall figure appeared before her. She tried to call out to it…

“Hey, my name is Twilight, what’s your…..your name?” The ground continued to tremble.

The figure began to slowly come into the light. Twilight’s eyes were gazed upon the eyes of a human woman, who looked upon her with concern and confused.

“My name is Aki, and you must be a figure in my dream. But strange, I don’t know what you are, or what this means?”

“What do you mean?” Twilight shouted with lesser volume, “What does what mean?”

Suddenly, the two found themselves before two huge alien army’s, each carrying some type of advanced weaponry. The alien armies stopped and starred at each other, creating an ear ringing silence. But their attention was drawn to a burning flash of fire coming down from the heavens. Twilight was suddenly blinded by a flash of blue light, and she raised her hoof in front of her eyes. When she looked again, everything around her was spinning and disappearing. Suddenly, the blue light began to flash brighter and brighter….
_____________________________________________________________________________

BANG…A huge crash of thunder shook the library, sending Fluttershy diving for the covers, and waking up Twilight into a scream…

“Ahhhhhh!” Twilight set up and yelled frantically, until she quickly gained consciousness.

Vinyl was just about to doze off, when her red magenta eyes suddenly shot open from the crash of the lightning bolt. All of the other ponies, as well as spike, were also rudely awakened by the crash of thunder. Rarity sat up from her bed rubbing her tired eyes with her hoofs. Rainbow Dash quickly awakened and glided over to Twilights bed, her wings only making a small whisper in the air. Twilight was still breathing heavily while she held her throbbing head.

“Twilight, hey, Twilight, you alright?” Rainbow Dash asked in concern.

Rarity met Twilight and Dash at the other end of the bed. “Yes, dear, are you ok? You are sweating and all shook up. Is…is it another nightmare?”

Twilight did her best to conjure up something to say, “No, it’s ok girls. Thank you though. It’s probably just the lightning”.
“Hmm, that lightning bolt was offely close to this place for a controlled Pegasus storm. A little too close…” Rainbow Dash said, her voice cracking in the middle of the statement. “Rarity, can you stay with Twilight? I’m going to check to see what all the commotion is about.”

Rainbow Dash then proceeded out to the hallway, and flew down to the main floor, “Up and atom everypony!” she shouted, just as Fluttershy began to emerge from the covers at the staircase landing, only to retreat to them once more.

“Rainbow Dash! Y’all best watch your level of volume this time of night, you scared poor Fluttershy” Applejack stated firmly, while sitting up from the couch.

Fluttershy tried to crawl out a bit, still shaking from the sudden crash of the lightning bolt: “Oh, ummm, um, I ah, I’m fine! See, no worry! Angel here is keeping me company” (Angel: Fluttershy’s pet rabbit).

“See!” Dash said in a cracked voice, “She’s fine. Now if you’ll excuse me, Applejack, I’m going outside for a bit to see where that bolt came from”. Rainbow Dash proceeded outside into the pouring rain, not caring about getting the least bit wet. She looked left, and then right…nothing. Suddenly, she heard the groaning of some pony above her, and naturally, Rainbow looked straight up above her, only to find a wet grey Pegasus pony with blond hair sitting on a dark thundercloud rubbing her head.

Dash shrugged and let out a sigh: “Derpy! What are you doing out this time of night in the pouring rain...crashing into houses?”

Derpy, still dizzy from the cloud impact and discharge of the electrical bolt, looked down upon Rainbow Dash with a concerned look, “I ummm, I ummmmm…”

“Well?” Dash demanded.

“I just don’t know what went wrong…” Derpy said apologetically.

“Ugh, that’s your answer for everything! ughhhh” Rainbow brought her hoof up to her face for a facehoof. She then looked back up at Derpy Hooves and slightly changed her tone of voice to being more comforting. “Hey, listen, why don’t you come down here and spend the night with us Derpy (Dash thought to herself: Am I really saying this?) ...It’s too dangerous out here right now.”

Derpy suddenly gave Dash a huge smile, “Okay!” and proceeded to fly down. Derpy trotted inside as Rainbow Dash flew up and pushed the thundercloud back into the sky. Rainbow Dash and Derpy were soon inside, their mane and tails drenched from the pouring rain.

Pinkie Pie, wide awake and fully energized, broke the silence.
“DERPY! You came over for a, SLEEP OVER! Oh my gosh, I’ve never had time to hang out with you much, we’re going to have so much fun, and it’s going to be awesome, and we can play games, and eat ice cream or stay up all night…or we could do all THREE of those things! Or was that more like four things? I guess it could have been two things, more like a bazillion things…”

“Umm Sugarcube, that’s sounds great! But let’s get these two some blankets and a warm fire goin so they don’t catch a cold” Applejack stated kindly.

“That sounds like a plan!” Spike stated as he walked down the stairs, “…man, haha, a nice fire sounds pretty awesome right about now.”

“Spikey,” Rarity called behind him, also coming down the stairs, “would you be so kind to build that fire for us!? Pretty please please please!?

“Of course Rarity! I’ll get right on it! (Anything for you Rarity! Spike thought to himself).”

Vinyl Scratch emerged from the kitchen out into the main floor of the library, her head also still slightly spinning from the crackling lightning bolt: “Derpy! Alright, now this sleep over just got twice as cool. I wub it!” she winked while grinning.

Rainbow Dash, Derpy and the others began to gather around the fireplace as spike began to get it going pretty good. Just one small breath of fire was enough to light the wood and straw. Spike was extremely satisfied that he began how to control his small fire breathing, not needing an unplanned belch to initiate it. Although it was Spring going into Summer, the storm brought a cold front through the town of Ponyville, decreasing the outside temperature to around 40 degrees Fahrenheit. The houses in Ponyville relied on fans to mostly keep cool, and their shining fur coats (coupled with a working fireplace) kept them warm through the winter. Although electricity was known, magic was much easier and simpler to control.
Twilight began to start another conversation, as the seven other ponies gathered around the fireplace.

“Well, since it’s an hour past midnight and we are all wide awake; I guess we might as well stay up until the storm passes!” Twilight stated, trying to put her strange dream out of her mind. “So Vinyl, how is that song coming along!?”

Rainbow Dash’s ears propped up as she met eye contact with Vinyl “Oh yeah! How is it coming? I mean, I am sure it’s going to be awesome! You are one of the best electronic music composers Equestria has ever seen! “

Vinyl smiled, brining her right hoof behind her head: “Aww, thanks Dash! And it’s coming along pretty well! I haven’t gotten much sleep yet, but that lightning bolt sure woke me up…”

Derpy’s expression began to sadden “Oops. I’m sorry Vinyl, I’m sorry everypony. It’s just; I thought I was told to work through the night to make sure the storm didn’t get out of control. The other Pegasi are still up in Cloudsdale monitoring the rainfall. I was pushing the thundercloud through the sky, when a gust of wind sent me toward the ground, and before I knew it….”

Applejack chimed in “Awe shucks Sugarcube, it was just an accident! These things happen! Y’all best be not working through the night next time though. I reckon you have enough on your hoofs as it is!”

Randomly, Vinyl Scratch’s eyes widened as she jumped in the conversation…”Hey everypony, that’s it!” she then turned her attention to Rainbow Dash, “Hey dash, I know what’s going to make your song so much more epic! At the last part, when you perform your signature filly flash and then sonic rainboom, what else would the audience need to hear, than the crackling sound of some electronic thunder sound effects! Yeeeeah!” (Vinyl began bobbing her head back and forth as she imagined what the song would sound like with the added effects).

Rainbow smiled, while slightly lifting off the floor, slowly moving her wings “Alright! That sounds awesome V! I trust you completely! Best-composer-EVER!” Rainbow said, as she reached across the floor to give Vinyl a hoof bump.

“Except for Octavia”, Vinyl winked, “she herself is totally awesome!”. Everyone nodded in agreement.

Rarity steered the conversation in a new direction, while Fluttershy sat next to her, enjoying the company of Angel and the warmth of the fire.

“So Twilight dear, you seem to be a lot better than you were 30 minutes ago. I don’t suppose you want to talk about it, but from almost every night a week after your brother’s wedding, you’ve been having bad dreams. We are all a bit concerned for you!” Rarity stated, half hugging Twilight who sat next to her.

Twilight sighed, “Well, I guess it really is that obvious, hmm. I don’t know everypony,” she said in a calm yet frustrated voice, “a nightmare sure would be nice right about now, because the same dream has been haunting me almost nightly. I know you guys won’t think I’m crazy, but…” Twilight’s horn began to glow a purple hue, and she used her magic to retrieve a book from the library shelf. She turned to a particular page in the book about reoccurring dreams, “it says here in this book:

Most dreams contain messages that serve to teach you something about yourself. However, soon after you wake up to go about your daily routine, you tend to quickly forget what you dream about. The message in recurring dreams may be so important and/or powerful that it refuses to go away. The frequent repetition of such dreams forces you to pay attention and confront the dream. It is desperately trying to tell you something. Such dreams are often nightmarish or frightening in their content, which also helps you to take notice and pay attention to them.

Recurring dreams are quite common for anypony or any creature, and are often triggered by a certain life situation, transitional phase in life or a problem that keeps coming back again and again. These dreams may recur daily, once a week, or once a month. Whatever the frequency, there is little variation in the dream content itself. Such dreams may be highlighting a personal weakness, fear, or your inability to cope with something in your life - past or present.

The repetitive patterns in your dream reveal some of the most valuable information about yourself. It may point to a conflict, situation or matter in your waking life that remains unresolved or unsettled. Some urgent underlying message in your unconscious is demanding to be understood.

(Twilight then skipped ahead to the next paragraph)

In rare cases (although only documented through testimony)

nightmares for pony’s particularly specializing in magic may not concern the past or the present at all. It may in fact, concern something that is set to happen in the near or distant future. Whatever the reason, it’s important to pay attention to the underlying message of the dream, but not to become consumed in its content. If you are experiencing such dreams with a regret or feeling of void, something in your past or current present is amiss. If you feel a sense of urgency and you have expertise in the field of magic, it may be a prophecy that has yet to be fulfilled…”

Twilight stopped reading, as she had gotten to the point she wanted to make, “You see, these nightmares…the sense of urgency fits my description so well, it’s almost like this book was meant for me. And in my dream, it’s not a nightmare about Discord, the Changelings, or any of that. I see myself in another world, staring at the face of a human woman -(the other ponies dazed in confusement at the term ‘human’)- and so far, the last two nights have been the same dream. But Rainbow Dash, I have dreamt that you were surrounded by a blue, almost vortex blue light, and then you just disappeared. And we were all in another world, and we…”

Applejack interrupted as Twilight’s speech pace quickened, “Whoa Twilight, you lost some of us there a couple minutes ago. But if I may speak for everypony, if this is really concerning you, we should all talk about it.” Applejacks voice began to soften, as she widened her eyes and slowly smiled at Twilight, “we trust your judgment Twilight, especially after you were right all along about the Changelings.”

The other ponies nodded in agreement, along with Spike. Pinkie Pie then chimed in enthusiastically, “Yeah Twilight! You are like a super awesome know-everything best friend! If there is anything you need, we’ll be there together! We all watch out for each other, because our friendship is magic!"

Everypony nodded and smiled, and some hugs an encouragement were exchanged throughout the group. Spike made it his mission to be sure to get the change to give Rarity a hug as well.
______________________________________________________________________________

The group stayed up till 3 in the morning, as they began to talk more about the dream, but also about the normal happenings around Ponyville. Pinkie Pie passed out the remaining chocolate cupcakes left over from dinner, as well as some special muffins for Derpy. The expression and joy on Derpy Hooves’s face made Pinkie Pie’s night. All eventually began to quiet down, as everyone slowly migrated back to their sleeping areas. The stormy night died down to only a slight gust of wind with a light drizzle. Fluttershy was finally able to shut her tired eyes, curling up next to Angel with a slight grin. Vinyl Scratch made her way back to the kitchen table, putting the finishing touches on Rainbow Dash’s song. She added the thunder effects at the end, and timed it to match Rainbows demonstration perfectly. Vinyl then made her way to a small air mattress, and slowly shut her eyes while listening to some smooth new age classics from the old days.

Tomorrow was going to be a big day for her, but mostly for Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash was going to practice her flight routine for the second annual young flier’s competition, this time with Vinyl Scratch’s awesome song. For now, it was time to get some rest. The remaining ponies that lay awake eventually shut their eyes, dozing off into a deep sleep through the calm night, listening to the smooth sounds of the raindrops echoing in the wind.

Chapter 3: The Encounter

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Music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-JdeTv27VY

Chapter 3
-THE ENCOUNTER-

Ponyville, Equestria the following day:

Throughout the rest of the night, there had been no more disturbances from nightmares, lightning bolts, or any other disruptive events. Every pony lay fast asleep throughout Twilights house, just as the bright morning sun began to slowly rise over the Equestrian horizon. Outside of the house, the landscape began to light up in its colorful and awestruck beauty as the beam of sun rays fully emerged from the depths of the night.

As the sun rays began to shine through the crystal clear windows of Twilight’s home, not a single pony was disturbed. Twilight rolled over in her bed, half covering the sun rays with her pillow. Rarity slept peacefully on the other side of Twilights room, and Rainbow Dash simply rolled over on her belly, adjusting her wings and hooves under the covers while she found the best sleeping position to avoid the rays of the sun shining through the window above Twilights bed. Spike was fortunate to not be disturbed by the sun. Downstairs, the rest of the ponies slept peacefully as well…all except one pony; Vinyl Scratch was wide awake, laying on her air mattress, listening to the finalized version of Rainbow Dash’s demonstration song.

Vinyl emerged from her bed, leaving her purple DJ glasses behind. She carefully walked to the kitchen, doing her best not to make a sound as not to disturb Derpy Hooves, whom slept nearby. At the kitchen, she managed to quietly drink a glass of crystal clear water from the sink. As she stood there, she stopped to gaze through the kitchen window, witnessing the beauty of the sunrise in its entirety. She closed her red magenta eyes, smiled, and took a brief moment to enjoy the warmth and beauty of a day that had just begun. The rays shone through her brilliant blue mane, and onto her white coat. As a DJ, Vinyl was always traveling, hosting shows, and rarely got a chance to stop and enjoy herself. Now, she had an amazing group of friends, she thought to herself; her BEST friends. A single tear began to form in her closed eyes, as she pondered on that wonderful feeling. She opened her eyes slowly, her eyes re-adjusting to the bright rays of the sun, and the single tear trickled down her face…she had never felt this special, and this “at home” in a long time.

A few minutes later, Vinyl retrieved her small MP3 device by using the magic of her horn, and she headed upstairs to Twilights room…the MP3 device following her, floating through the air. She walked toward the cyan Pegasus pony, Rainbow Dash, who was still fast asleep.

All the other ponies, and Spike, could afford to sleep in. But Rainbow Dash and Vinyl Scratch needed to head out early to begin the practice run.

Vinyl placed her hoof on Rainbow Dash, slowly tugging at her wing.
“Psssst….Dash…Rainbow Dash...” she said in a whisper. “Time to get up! R-D, C’mon let’s get moving!”

Rainbow dash rolled on her side, facing away from Vinyl. She let out a big yawn. “Ehh..umm, not now V. Trying to-get some…sleep…practice my moves…umm, and stuff…”

No matter how many times Vinyl tried, she couldn’t get Rainbow up from her deep sleep. But just then, she thought of an awesome idea. An idea that was sure to wake up Rainbow Dash, without waking up the others. She took her headphones from around her neck, and used her magic to carefully place them over Rainbow Dash’s ears. Rainbow’s colorful mane was in the way a little, but Vinyl managed to get the headphones on snug….Rainbow didn’t budge. Vinyl scrolled through one of the most up-beat dubstep tracks she could find. She turned the volume all the way up; before pressing play…there was a brief moment of silence…Vinyl thought to herself “This is going to work for sure!”………PLAY

WUUUUUUUUUUUUBBUBUBUBUBUBUBUBUBUBUBUBUBUB

“YEAHHAHAHAAHHHHHHHHH” Rainbow Dash leaped out of her bed with tremendous speed, then sped toward the wall, crashing onto the ceiling overhead where Rarity was sleeping, only to come back down landing on top of Rarity….Vinyl didn’t know whether to panic, or laugh uncontrollably. She held her mixed emotions and waited to see what happened next…

“What the!? OWE, Rainbow Dash! Are you out OF YOUR MIND! Get off me!” Rarity bucked Rainbow Dash off of her. Rainbow lay on her backside, starring up at Rarity “How can you be sooo insensitive! And I know I’ve said that before, but I REALLY MEAN IT THIS TIME! A lady does not like shenanigans and immature pranks during her beauty sleep!”

Rainbow Dash didn’t hear what Rarity was saying; her only thought process was –“what just happened?”-

Spike and Twilight were wide awake by this time, observing the scene in front of them. Rainbow managed to gain her footing, and then glanced over at Vinyl Scratch. Vinyl was also thinking something…-oops…- as she tried to conjure up a fake smile, hiding the MP3 Player.

“Ah HA!” Rainbow yelled, stomping over to Vinyl Scratch. “You’re the one who did this, aren’t you? Well…aren’t you?”
Vinyl’s ears fell by the sides of her face, as she sat in sorrow and shame. Now she’s done it. She had just gained an amazing group of friends, and ruined it all because of a prank gone wrong.

“…yes…it was me every pony. I-I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to be so rude” she said, trying to fight the tears about to fill her eyes. Vinyl was insecure because of her lack of friends from a tough music industry, and this made it even worse. Her once tough and outgoing personality shattered in the heat of the moment.

However, Rainbow began to slowly smile at Vinyl Scratch…”Heh heh heh, BEST-PRANK-EVER!” Rainbow then began to laugh heavily, “bahahaha, I haven’t woke up that quickly early in the morning since, well I don’t know when! You know what V, you and I are going to get along just fine!”

Rarity frowned a bit, “Well, I didn’t think it was very funny! Honestly!”

Rainbow put her hoof on Vinyl, whispering in her ear “Exactly my point...the finale of me landing on Rarity, priceless!...Oh and V, watch out…cause I’ll get ya back!”

Twilight, Spike, and Rainbow Dash began to fill the room with a soft laughter. Vinyl soon joined in, and Rarity (after getting over the shock and being a little over dramatic) began to laugh as well. Vinyl immediately regained her confidence. She thought to herself “these really are my best friends”.

Because of the incident upstairs, all of the ponies on the lower level were already wide awake by the time Rainbow Dash, Vinyl, Spike, Rarity, and Twilight trotted downstairs. Of course, everypony wanted to know what was going on. An overactive alarm clock was said to be the cause of the situation. Besides, how was Rainbow Dash going to get Vinyl Scratch back if everypony knew what happened?

All the ponies and Spike eventually settled down at the kitchen table, and some out in the main library living area. Rainbow Dash tried to convince the others that she had to go out and practice, but Applejack insisted that she get some breakfast first.

“Rainbow, y’all need to eat something before performing your athletic activities” Applejack insisted, “besides, Vinyl is coming with you, and she needs something too! Here, ya best try my wonderful breakfast apple pie, with some of Pinkie Pie’s amazing blueberry muffins!”

Derpy Hooves flew into the kitchen “Ohhhhh! Did somepony say muffins?”

“Fine…” Rainbow Dash sighed.

“Ya won’t regret it one bit!” Applejack winked.

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Derpy (who wanted to help) began working in the kitchen, and after 20 minutes, Twilight’s house began to fill with the amazing aroma of fresh baked apple pie, and blueberry muffins. When breakfast was officially ready, everypony at the table and in the living area stopped their conversations, as they enjoyed the amazing breakfast. Derpy Hooves was silent and smiling the most as she ate her breakfast. Spike was constantly complementing Applejack and Pinkie Pie, and Vinyl Scratch thought it the best breakfast she had ever had. Fluttershy wasn’t very quiet after she finished her breakfast. Surprisingly, she felt much more energetic than usual.

Fluttershy then looked down, as Angel was softly kicking her hoof. “Oh, Angel, I’m sorry. You want your breakfast don’t you? Here I have some of your favorite; Fresh grown carrots!” Fluttershy smiled at Angel. But, Angel crossed her little rabbit arms, and looked away. Fluttershy continued, “But you always like carrots? What’s wrong?”

“I think she wants one of those totally awesome muffins!” Rainbow Dash insisted.

“But there aren’t any more? And I would hate for Applejack and Pinkie Pie to have to go through the trouble of making more…” Fluttershy said.

Vinyl then spoke up, slightly raising her hoof, “I finished my Apple Pie, but I still have a muffin left! She can have mine, I insist!”

Angel gladly accepted the token, as Vinyl handed the muffin to Angel. Fluttershy thanked Vinyl Scratch for her generosity.

And soon after, Pinkie Pie walked in “Okie Dokie, I guess I’ll just have to bake some more while you two are out practicing!"

Rainbow gulped, “Oh yeah, speaking of practicing, we have to get going! Vinyl, you ready?”

Vinyl took her purple DJ glasses over her forehead, slipping them down over her eyes “READY. Let’s do this!”

Soon after, Vinyl and Rainbow were getting ready to head outside. They had to walk to the other side of town to get to a small open field. The field was made of a soft grass and dirt, so if anything went wrong, Rainbow wouldn’t be crash landing into rocks. Just as Vinyl gathered up her gear and Rainbow hers, Derpy Hooves stopped them from walking out the door.

“Hey! Umm, if it’s ok with you guys, I’d like to come and help! Rainbow Dash, I’d love to see your routine, cause it was so amazing at last year’s competition! And I would love to hear your song Vinyl Scratch!...” Derpy’s eyes, slightly crossed, began to widen as her smile grew.

“It’s ok with me!” Vinyl said, “Dash?”

“Sigh. Ok, you can come along Derpy. BUT JUST TO WATCH! Please don’t go near any thunder clouds, for all our sakes!”

Twilight, across the room, glanced at Rainbow and frowned.

“What?” Rainbow asked, as Twilight gave her a stare.

Derpy smiled heavily “Yay! This is going to be so much fun!”

The three of them began to walk out the door into the bright daylight of Ponyville. They said their good bye’s to their other friends, and walked along the town’s main pathway, heading the open field. Although Rainbow Dash could quickly fly to the open field, she enjoyed hanging back and talking to Vinyl Scratch. Derpy Hooves followed close behind, listening not to their conversation, but to the birds and other sounds of nature.

They were halfway to the open field, when the bright sunny day of Ponyville began to fade into overcast. The bright rays of the warm sun quickly faded behind the incoming clouds.

Rainbow Dash looked up, halting her conversation with Vinyl and Derpy, “That’s weird? There is no Pegasus storm scheduled for today. At least, I sure didn’t know about it. I wonder what’s going on?”

Suddenly, the clouds began to fill the sky even more rapidly, and a bright blue flash of light illuminated near the edge of the Everfree forest, off into the distant view of the on-lookers of Ponyville. The bright blue flash suddenly came about a second time, lasting for a good 5 seconds, filling the sky and the ground in which it originated with a deep blue, swirling light. And just as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone.

Rainbow Dash, Derpy, and Vinyl Scratch, along with other on-lookers, stopped and stared at the spot in which the flash originated. “Sweet Celestia, what the hay was that?” Rainbow Dash yelled, hovering above ground with her wings flapping rapidly.

Derpy and Vinyl had no words, they simply stared in confusion. Rainbow Dash broke the silence once more, “C’mon guys, that happened near the field we are going to. Let’s check it out”.

Rainbow Dash quickly flew ahead of them, and Derpy slowly followed behind. “Hey wait up!” Vinyl Scratch yelled.

As the gang raced closer to the point of origin, the clouds and darkness of the sky began to wither away once more, slowly revealing the rays of the radiant sun.

______________________________________________________________________________

Everything around Douglas Hein was spinning, and he found himself lying on his backside, in a strange environment. This never happened the first time he stepped through the Stargate. The first time was painless and easy. Something was not right. Hein reached his arm over his line of vision, and gazed into the small monitor of the wrist gadget. Everything else around him was still white washed. The monitor of the wrist gadget was slightly cracked, but it seemed to be in fair condition. The message flashing on the monitor was simply –ERROR-. Hein slowly sat up from the cold dirt ground, and tried to make out his surroundings. His white washed vision was improving, but very slowly. Hein examined the dirt in which he sat upon, and thought it very strange and peculiar. He took his left hand and picked up a handful of dirt, slowly releasing it as the wind carried some of it away.

Something was very strange. Unlike Earth, and unlike Osea (the world he visited first), this dirt was ‘different’. It had a similar texture, a similar sensation, but its reflection and complexity were different. He couldn’t make out what it was. As Hein’s white washed vision began to improve, he started to view his surroundings. The trees were magnificent, the sky was radiant, and the edge of the forest in which he sat was dark but full of complexity. The more Hein took in his surroundings, the more he would look back at his own body, and notice that it did not match. His skin, his entire body seemed to be slightly off from his surroundings. He began to think it was the other way around again. Perhaps the surroundings were strange, and he was still normal.

Hein pressed a button on the wrist gadget, bringing up a small hologram, about the size of an average globe map. He whispered a command into the gadget “Ugh, computer. Calculate distance, and space coordinates from Earth, or last known point of origin.”

The computer in the gadget knew what to calculate, but was unable to identify a name or location for Hein to understand. Hein began to get frustrated, “COMPUTER, are we in Osea, light year coordinates 45.6948.9771-01?”

The computer responded “Negative. Last known point of Origin was Earth. The system was unable to locate 45.6948.9771-01. During transfer, a fatal error occurred. You have been teleported to an alternate location.”

Hein began to get frustrated “Damn this machine. COMPUTER, WHERE AM I? Search your database to interpret an answer that I can understand.”

“You have been teleported to an alternate location. An alternate dimension; you currently exists within an alternate reality, not parallel to Earth’s. Light year coordinates cannot be calculated at the current time. The coordinates to Earth still exists, but their remains only enough fuel for one more transfer to Earth. But as a warning, the transfer will randomly open a portal to 45.6948.9771-01, this location, and Earth. According to my sensors, your stress levels seem to be very high. Shall I play a song of your choice?”

Hein didn’t respond to the computer. All he knew now was that his plan was falling apart quickly. The system transported him into an unknown world. The composition of the atmosphere was slightly different as well, and he noticed that it was becoming harder to breathe.

Hein stood up from the ground, and began to walk out of the edge of the forest. He found himself standing at the edge of a grass and dirt field…the same field Rainbow Dash, Derpy Hooves, and Vinyl Scratch were rapidly approaching.

Hein looked around, and noticed everything around him was silent. He didn’t know what to expect, but he knew he had to get back to Earth. His respiration pattern was becoming more unpredictable. Hein began to reach for the wrist gadget around his arm, and began to re-trace the coordinates back to Earth. Hein began to think to himself, “This attempt is a disaster. There is only enough Obtainium for one more transfer. AND I WAS SO CLOSE TOO, SO CLOSE TO FINDING AN ANSWER. I’ll avenge my family from those spirits if it’s the last thing I’ll do.”

Hein fell to his knees, before initiating the final transfer procedures. He looked up into the alien sky and whispered a single phrase “My beautiful family. I’m sorry. I have failed you…”

Just then, Hein began to hear noises approaching the field. He squinted his eyes to get a better view at the incoming figures. One was a cyan colored horse creature with a Rainbow colored mane, flying towards his location. Before Hein could get a look at the other incoming figures, he stepped back into the edge of the forest out of plain site, keeping his eyes focused on the incoming figure.
______________________________________________________________________________

Vinyl Scratch did her best to keep up with Rainbow Dash and Derpy Hooves, as she tried her hardest to gallop to the field.
Rainbow Dash reached the edge of the field, close to the location of the blue flash. She softly landed on the dirt field, and slowly tucked her wings next to her. She stopped, looked off to the side, and perked her ears up, listening to anything out of the ordinary.

“Wacha doin?” Derpy said, standing behind Rainbow.

“Ah! …Derpy, shhhh! You’re going to blow my cover! Be quiet….”

Vinyl Scratch caught up to Rainbow and Derpy, and immediately dropped her sack of equipment she had slung around her neck. She collapsed on her backside, placing her hoof over her beating heart.

Vinyl tried to conjure up words while breathing heavily, “Oh-my-gosh. I-can’t breathe. You guys are really fast! I need to work out more….um guys?”

Derpy smiled and glanced toward Vinyl, saying very loudly “RAINBOW DASH TOLD US TO BE QUIET CAUSE SHE’S LISTENING FOR SOMETHING!”

“DERPY! Ugh, I give up.” Rainbow Dash sighed. “Something strange went on over here, and I want to get to the bottom of it. Oh my gosh, this is just like DARING DOO AND THE MYSTERY OF THE HIDDEN TREASURE! Only, this has nothing to do with treasure.”

Vinyl stood up after she caught her breath, “To be honest, it could have just been a lightning strike, or better yet, a pony practicing his or her magic. Something could have just gone wrong, and caused a flash, ya know?”

Rainbow glanced at Vinyl “A flash THAT big? Weeeell, I guess you’re right. I’ve seen Twilight do some pretty awesome stuff, but what other pony could have done this? All I see is….”
______________________________________________________________________________

As Rainbow and Vinyl carried on with their conversation, with Derpy listening in off to the side, Douglas Hein was only yards away at the edge of the forest. He couldn’t believe was we was seeing, and hearing. Three talking ponies, all somewhat cartoonish-looking, but still very defined and three dimensional, speaking the same language, and talking about magic. Hein thought these creatures very familiar, but couldn’t place his finger on it.

A few seconds passed, and he still couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Perhaps, if they were hallucinations, they may not react to a rock being thrown near them. So that’s just what Hein did. He picked up a small pebble, and chucked it near the ponies, the pebble landing a couple yards from them.
______________________________________________________________________________

“What was that?” Derpy Hooves said in slight fear.

“See, something is in there…I’m going to check it out” Rainbow bravely claimed.

“NO, wait! Rainbow, it could be dangerous. Allow me! I can use magic after all..”
______________________________________________________________________________

Sure enough, they reacted to it. Hein slowly stepped back, still crouched on the ground, thinking about what he was going to do next. Here were three talking ponies that spoke English, talked about magic, and two of them could fly.

Hein began to laugh in a whisper,”Computer, see if you can scan my blood system for any signs of drugs, or side effects from the transfer.”

The computer then stated, rather loudly “Blood Toxicity is normal. No known side effects of the transfer. The three creatures nearby are genuine biological creatures. They seem to be equipped with very similar level of intelligence.”
The entire time the wrist gadget computer spoke, Hein was trying to shut it up. But it was too late…
______________________________________________________________________________

“Hey! We know you’re in there! C’mon out and show yourself!” Rainbow Dash demanded.

Vinyl Scratch put her hoof on Derpy “Derpy, you might want to head back to the other side of the field. We’ll see what’s going on.”

Derpy Hooves gladly took orders, and flew to a safe distance.

“Yeah, um, show yourself and no pony gets hurt” Vinyl yelled, her horn beginning to glow a red hue. Vinyl was thinking that this wasn’t a good idea at all, but this was her chance to prove that she could stand up with Rainbow Dash in a seemingly dangerous situation.

Douglas Hein smiled from behind the edge of the forest, and slowly stood to his feet. He cautiously walked out into the field, standing face to face just yards away from the two ponies. Hein put his hands into the air, and slowly lowered them once more.

“I have nothing to hide! And I didn’t mean to frighten you. Can you understand me?” Hein asked.

“Frighten us?” Rainbow ‘s voice cracked, “you’re the one who should be scared right now! Who are you? And what are you doing in Ponyville?...um, what are you?”

Vinyl whispered over to Rainbow Dash “Dash, I-I don’t think this is a good idea…I have a very bad feeling about this” her horn still glowing, ready to defend themselves.

Hein continued “I was traveling through this forest and…simply got lost. I see that you can understand me. Can you tell me where I am?” Hein said with a fake comforting voice.

“Um, you’re in Ponyville dude. You know, Equestria? Under the guidance of Princess Celestia.” Rainbow stated. She continued on, “Are you even from here? And you still haven’t told us what you are, and why you’re here!”

“Alright, alright!, Hein smiled (this one is really persistent), “You’re right. I am from a place called Earth. I am certainly not from here, and I need to get back to my home. I am a human being, a very common species where I come from, and I am simply here to find some answers.”

“Earth? Is that somewhere near Ponyville?” Rainbow Asked.

“Um, Rainbow Dash?” Vinyl said fearfully.

“Where in Equestria is Earth?”

“Rainbow Dash!” Vinyl finally getting Dash’s attention.

“What is it V?”

“I-um, I read about Earth once. On one of my tours. It’s just an old pony’s tale, or it’s supposed to be. Earth is, another planet…” Vinyl stated, unsure about the events unfolding.

“I am impressed!” Hein said, “Not only do we speak the same language, but you seem to know where I am from. Surely this cannot not be a coincidence; perhaps I should meet with this Princess Celestia sometime soon. I am sure we can work something out in the future…”

Rainbow Dash interrupted “I don’t think so. Our job is to protect Equestria from creatures like you. You say you are not even from Equestria, so what makes you think you can just earn our trust that quickly?”

Hein’s goal of manipulating Rainbow Dash and Vinyl Scratch was not working. They were smarter than he imagined. He could tell, simply by their tone of voice, that he was not going to get what he wanted, when he wanted.

Derpy Hooves was in the far distance, trying to see the events unfolding in front of her.

Hein reached his left hand over to his right, attempting to begin activating his wrist gadget.

Suddenly, both Rainbow Dash and Vinyl Scratch stomped their hooves into the ground, with a serious facial expression. Vinyl Scratch’s horn began glow even more, as she prepared to defend herself and Dash from Hein.

Hein didn’t have any time to further the conversation, or for any games.

“Well, how cute; two little ponies, half my size, thinking they can do something. You know, back in my world, I could have a great use for a pony that can use magic, and I guess we could find a use for the stubborn cyan one too.” Hein’s voice began to sound deep and menacing again, “I know we only had a short conversation, but it seems to be going nowhere. Ha ha ha, imagine when I get back to Earth! I won’t be arrested, because I can finally prove the existence of other intelligent life, and maybe with this so called magic, we can find a use of it that can save our world! Tell me, what kind of magic is this?”

Vinyl Scratch was ready to defend her and Rainbow Dash, but she didn’t know any good offensive spells. She began to wish Twilight Sparkle was with them.

Rainbow Dash began to sound a lot less confident, especially after the menacing voice of Hein. “Um, well, heh heh…” her and Vinyl Scratch began to take continuous steps backward, but Hein only continued to step forward, his hand over the wrist gadget.

Rainbow Dash continued “Well, it was nice meeting you, but I guess we’ll just be going now. Good luck with getting back home! BYE!”

Rainbow Dash proceeded to fly out of the area towards Derpy, but she remembered Vinyl had no choice but to run, as she couldn’t fly. Dash held her position, and glanced over to Vinyl with an unsure and scared look.

“FINE” Hein said abruptly, “If you won’t show me what kind of magic you can do, then ALLOW ME TO SHOW YOU SOME MAGIC OF MY OWN”.

“VINYL, RUN!!!” Rainbow yelled.

Both Vinyl Scratch and Rainbow Dash turned around and attempted to sprint to safety. Rainbow could fly, but didn’t want to leave Vinyl behind. Their efforts to escape seemed promising, but it was too late.

Hein immediately activated the wrist gadget. Just as quickly, lightning and dark clouds began to fill the sky, as the wrist gadget filled half of the field with a bright blue flash. Vinyl Scratch and Rainbow Dash were knocked to the ground, their front hooves out in front of them. They both slowly turned around, huddling next to each other. The bright blue beam they had saw before, they now found themselves face to face with. The beam then re-appeared glowing brighter and brighter, as Hein disappeared into it. Vinyl and Dash immediately found themselves immersed into the blue light, as a swirling vortex began to enclose upon them. Their eyesight began to fade, and everything around them began to appear white washed and blurry.
Derpy took cover on the other side of the field, her hooves covering her head and blonde mane. After what seemed like half a minute, everything went silent.

A few blue electric sparks then re-appeared, and vanished. Derpy Hooves slowly looked up with tears beginning to fill her eyes. She thought she did something wrong. She thought she could have helped if she tried. All she saw was the clearing of the sky once more, and a couple cyan feathers and white strands of fur began to float down to the ground, landing softly upon the grass.

Chapter 4: Harmony Disrupted

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Music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3F2pr2FbfQ

Chapter 4: Harmony Disrupted

Right before Derpy’s eyes, Rainbow Dash and Vinyl Scratch were…gone.

Derpy stood near the edge of the field in shock. Time didn't seem to exist for a moment as she tried to gather her thoughts and come to her senses. The air surrounding her began to smell ionized with the hint of burnt sulfur. She had never smelt anything like it before. The other residents in Ponyville, about a mile away from the field witnessed the blue electric energy shooting into the sky just moments ago. Derpy only stood by for a few seconds before adrenaline started to pulse through her veins. Without any hesitation after her moment of shock, she turned and started running as fast as she could. All she could think about was getting help, and the only place she could go was Twilight’s library.

Derpy picked up speed as she began to run faster than she ever had before. She wasn't focused on breathing; she wasn't focused on how hard she was treating her body; she was only focused on her destination. She began to lift her left wing, followed by her right wing while running. Finally, after one flapping jolt of her wings, she was in the air. Derpy kept flapping her wings, trying to gain speed…trying to fathom what she just witnessed before her eyes. Twilight’s library began to come into view. The library was all she looked at, but suddenly, she noticed some ponies in the front yard of the library…it was Twilight Sparkle and the entire gang. Derpy, fixating on Twilight’s position, stopped flapping her wings as she began to rapidly glide down in for a landing.

Applejack noticed Derpy first, as she began to glide down rapidly: “What in tarnation?”

Before Applejack or anypony else could say anything, Derpy hit the ground with her front legs in front of the Library, and just before Derpy started flipping out of control, Derpy suddenly froze with a purple glow surrounding her body.
Twilight had saved her from a painful crash landing.

“Derpy!”, Twilight yelled as she released her safely on the ground, “What are you thinking coming in that fast from flying? You almost got seriously hurt!”

Derpy sat on her hind legs and began to breathe very heavily: “I…..have….something to say…Rainbow….Vinyl…are”

Applejack rushed over to comfort her, “Woah, take it easy Derpy. Catch yer breath, that’s it…easy does it”.

Rarity also walked up to Derpy, worried and confused, “Darling, are you ok? You look awful!”

“Oh Derpy, I’ll be right back”, Fluttershy said worried, “Let me get you some water!”

Fluttershy galloped back into the library to fetch some water for Derpy. By this time, she was only just beginning to catch her breath as the adrenaline began to wore off. She felt major pain erupt from her lungs as she began to get dizzy and disoriented. Fluttershy came back after fetching a glass of water, and caringly gave it to Derpy Hooves. Derpy took the glass with her hoof and drank the water until her throat began to burn less. The cool sensation of the fresh water began to revitalize her body as soon as it washed down her throat.

“Now, what was it you were trying to tell us?”, Applejack asked.

Pinkie Pie, usually excited and happy, looked upon Derpy with a worried expression on her face. Spike stood by ready to assist anyway he could as Derpy began to explain the situation.

Before Derpy could say anything, Twilight spoke up: “Is this about that bright blue light we saw coming from where you were? Did something happen?”

Derpy shook her head in agreement with a sad expression, and then tears began to fill her eyes.
“I…I…” Derpy struggled, “I’m so sorry. There was nothing I could do. There was…this figure…standing on only two legs…and…and” she began to weep, making it harder to make a complete sentence.

Spike moved his way in front of Derpy as she sat on the grass: “Hey! We’re here for you! Me, Twilight, and everypony else! I’m sure whatever happened, it wasn’t your fault.”

Twilight agreed: “Right! Just about everyone in Ponyville witnessed that blue lightning, or whatever it was. Did somepony get hurt? Are Rainbow Dash and Vinyl OK?”

“Umm..I don’t know. I don’t think so”, Derpy began to cry, “I don’t know what happened. All I know is there was a bright blue flash of light. Dash and Vinyl tried to escape. They told me to run and to not get close. Then I was knocked down by the flash, and then they were…gone.”

“Right. Thank you Derpy, that’s all we need to know.” Twilight then turned around standing next to Derpy. Twilight faced Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike: “Ok girls, Spike: Something strange is going on in Ponyville, and it’s up to us to find out what it is. We need to get to that field as fast as possible. I don’t think there is any time to prepare. We don’t know what we are dealing with, but Rainbow Dash and Vinyl Scratch need our help! Let’s go!”

Fluttershy fell behind the group as they rest of them began to walk off from the front yard of the Library towards the direction of the field. “Oh, umm….I think I might just stay here just in case Rainbow and Vinyl come back! My animal friends will need help and I just can’t leave them…”

“Fluttershy, LETS GO!”, Rarity came back and nudged her to follow the group.

“Eekk! Oh, Ok.” Fluttershy then looked back at Angel, “Angel you stay here ok? I’ll be back soon!”

As Fluttershy and Rarity caught up to the group, along with Derpy, their fast walk turned into a trot. A few seconds later, the group was galloping through the town, paying no attention to neighbors nearby. Twilight led the galloping group, her head tilted slightly forward with a determined look on her face. Spike hung-on on Twilight’s back as their pace began to quicken.

“Spike! I know this is a weird time. But I need you to take a letter!” Twilight yelled, “Something is not right; I can feel it!”

Spike hung on as he spoke, “How am I supposed to do that when we are galloping though the town likes racehorses?”

“Please Spike! Just try, I fear we don’t have much time to send it!” Twilight yelled.

“Ok, I’ll try!” Spike yelled back. Spike then reached into Twilight's bag strapped to her back and pulled out a quill and a piece of paper. He couldn't seem to hold on and write the letter at the same time.

“Sorry Spike” Twilight yelled as she also tried to breathe harder “I’ll write it using my magic, I just need to you send it.”

Twilight then brought the letter over to her peripheral vision, and using her Magic, she began to write:

“Dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,

I am calling upon you both in a matter of great importance. There has been a major disturbance in Ponyville, and I fear it may have something to do with my recent and reoccurring dreams. Princess Luna can shed some light on the dreams, but I call upon you to warn you and the other residents of Ponyville and Equestria. A blue flash of light has seemingly been the cause of Rainbow Dash and Vinyl Scratch’s sudden disappearance. I don’t think I have time to warn you before we fall into the same fate: because I fear that we are Rainbow and Vinyl’s only hope. I did not have time to gather the Elements of Harmony, but through our friendship, as well as Derpy Hooves and Spike, we will see to it that everything regarding this situation is rectified. Please be our guides in this if something were to happen. And to both of you I say farewell, and hope to report back to you as soon as I know anything further.

Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle”

“Spike! It’s ready!” Twilight yelled, as she handed the letter back to Spike using her magic.

Spike took a big breathe in, and then exhaled a green fire sending the letter on its way to the Princess.
By this time, the gang had galloped up onto the spot of the blue lightning incident. The group slowed down to slight trot, and then a cautious walk as they began to enter the field. The same smell of the ionized air and burnt sulfur was recognized by Derpy. To the others, it was one of the strangest scents they had come across. Fluttershy brought up the rear of the group.

Derpy glanced over at Twilight, standing by her side, and lifted up her hoof, pointing into the direction of a lone cyan father and some white stands of fur: “THERE!” Derpy yelled.

Twilight and the rest of the group ran towards the spot Derpy pointed at. But Derpy approached more cautiously, “Caaareful! That’s the last place I…saw them”.

As the group approached the scene, the sky began to seem darker. The atmosphere near the blue flash was electrically charged, and the fur of the ponies began to slightly stand up because of the charged air.

“He he, weeee!” Pinkie Pie laughed, “My fur feels all tingly! And my mane is…woah! YOU GUYS, You all look funny! Haha!”

“Ahhh! What the hay is going on?”, Rarity yelled, “My mane is getting all messed uuuuup!”

“GIRLS!”, Twilight yelled, “NOW IS NOT THE TIME! Something happened here. Some type of…portal”.

Twilight looked around for a bit. Her horn began to glow as she searched for any sign of Rainbow Dash and Vinyl Scratch. She closed her eyes and tried to remember a spell; a spell that could take her to Rainbow Dash using the bond of the elements. She thought that if she could lock onto Rainbow Dash’s location, she would find Vinyl too.

Suddenly, Twilight’s entire body began to glow purple as she began to utter a spell:

“By the universes mighty power,
In this darkest hour.
Show me the path of Loyalty,
And lead me to her current reality”

Twilight repeated the chant, which included everyone in the group:

“By the Universes mighty power,
In this darkest hour.
Show us to the path of Loyalty,
And lead us to her current reality!”

Everyone in the group began to glow the color of their fur and skin: Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Derpy, and Spike.

The colors surrounding them began to fade into a bright blue and radiant light. The wind picked up around them and tossed debris in every direction. Twilight’s eyes began to glow a bright blue as she opened them to complete the chant one last time:

“By the universes POWER,
In this darkest hour.
Show us the path of LOYALTY,
And lead us to her current REALITY!”

As soon as Twilight yelled “REALITY”, everypony and Spike was frozen and overcome by a blue flash of light. As fast as the light came, it was gone.
With a final crack of lightning, the field was now empty. Not a creature was around, and no bird chirp or noises could be heard. The group was now gone. Gone to wherever Rainbow Dash, the element of loyalty, had gone.

______________________________________________________________________________

Soon after the groups disappearance, word quickly spread across the town of Ponyville…that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were making an urgent visit.

Chapter 5: Blinding Light

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Music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkvNmb9tMII

Chapter 5: Blinding Light

Captain Bartlett was the last one of the squadron to make it to the dining hall. He was still in a daydream trance by the time he made it to the group, thinking about the old days of the war and Mobius 1. He slowly sat down at the edge of the table with the other four members: Blaze, Nagase, Davenport “Chopper”, and Grimm.

Nagase was the first to speak to Bartlett: “Captain Bartlett, that was some pretty skillful flying up there today! Wouldn't you agree?” she said cautiously, not knowing what was bothering him in his mind.

Bartlett looked up from his plate: “Yes, it sure was, mostly by the four of you. To be quite honest, you were the most skillful pilot out there Nagase. If you keep flying like that, you are going to set some records.”

Nagase smiled, “Well, thank you…”

Bartlett interrupted: “But, there is also a good chance that if you keep flying like that, you are going to get yourself killed. I’m talking to you as well Blaze” Bartlett said, now glaring over at Blaze, “You both approached each other way too fast on that flyby. When we fly to the ISAF base tonight, I’m going to have to explain to the engineer, who helped to build this place, why some of the hanger glass is broken.”

Chopper joined the conversation: “Captain, sir! They didn't mean to do approach the sound barrier. I mean, that trick is already hard enough to do, seeing as how fast they are already flying.”

Hans Grimm attempted to jump in, “Well, the way I see it, what’s done is done. Otherwise, it was a pretty awesome show today. The crowd loved it. I think.”

Bartlett rejoined the conversation: “Look. Nagase, Blaze…it’s not your fault” Bartlett began to say as he was rubbing his forehead, “Team, I apologize. I’ve been stressed out lately, and although I don’t like to admit it, I am sorry for my accusations. You are right. It was an accident”.

As the dinner conversation continued, the team exchanged dialogue about some of their past experiences of the war. The nations over Osea were at peace once again, and it seemed like the kind of peace that would last a long time. Unfortunately, the team felt as though society never knew who they really were, or what kind of heroes they deserved to be. But, they were all OK with the fact that most people would never know. Their families came from all different types of backgrounds, and their hopes for military retirement were in the near future because their contract for a demonstration flight team ran out in just a couple more years. They could only see their families a few times out of the year…even their families didn't know what roll they played in the war, as they were sworn into secrecy for fear of retaliation by the former enemy.

As everyone finished their plates, the team got up from their table in the dining hall, just as a voice came over the loud speaker: “Team Razgriz, please report to the hanger and suit up for the 3 hour flight to ISAF. Your planes are now ready.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Some time passed, and then the hanger door began to open, revealing the sun set which brightly lit up the horizon. The entire team: Captain Jack Bartlett, Kei Nagase, Blaze Smith, Alvin “Chopper” Davenport, and Hans Grimm suited up in their G-suits for the short journey.

“Alright team”, Captain Bartlett yelled just before climbing onto his jet, “Listen up. This journey to ISAF would normally take seven to eight hours. We are going to do it in three. As part of our extensive training, we will be making the entire journey traveling faster than the speed of sound in our F-18 fighter jets.”

The F-18 fighter jets they were using for this journey were different than the F-18 stunt planes. The stunt planes had a smooth and slippery feel to them when flying, and were only equipped with a smoke machine. The F-18 fighter jets they were using for the journey were more for military use: a fully automatic on-board machine gun with close to 1500 shells, 3 long distance high capacity fuel tanks attached to both wings and the underbelly, and 8 high intensity missiles per craft: 6 air to air and 2 air to ground per jet. These jets were also equipped with a specialized weapon that was classified as Top Secret: a laser pulse canon that was powered by the electricity generated by the jet engines. The pulse canon only did slightly more damage than the machine gun, but its ammo was unlimited as long as it didn't overheat and the jet engines were still functioning.

“Razgriz, canopies down, and let’s move out in formation.” Bartlett ordered.

One by one, the armed F-18 jet aircraft started up the twin jet engines and slowly moved out into the open air from the hanger. They lined up single file as they made their way to the main runway on Sand Island air force base. The main runway was now lit up with red and green lights as the light being emitted from the setting sun faded away.

Captain Bartlett, the plane leading the group, made a turn onto the runway. Bartlett slowly brought the jet to a standstill and activated the brakes. Nagase then pulled up beside him on his right, followed by Blaze on his left. In the back of the group, Chopper pulled to the back right and Grimm on the back left.

The team was now communicating through the aircraft’s radio transmitter, and Captain Bartlett was the first to speak through it:

“Alright team: Razgriz, lock and load. During our flight, remember, we are using your call signs and not your real names.” Bartlett demanded.

One by one, the Razgriz squadron sounded off:

“Kei Nagase now Edge, engines charging, brakes locked.”

“Alvin Davenport now Chopper here, engines charging, brakes locked.”

“Hans Grimm now Archer here, engines charging, brakes locked”.

By this time, all five of the F-18 jets were screaming at maximum takeoff engine thrust.

“Blaze here, engines charging, brakes locked.”

“Captain Jack Bartlett now Heartbreak One here, engines charging, brakes locked. Make sure your flaps are set to 40 percent”.

The control tower then came over the intercom as soon as the team completed their final checks: “Razgriz, the air is now clear. You are go for launch and maximum takeoff.”

Heartbreak One then sounded: “Alright team, the fat lady has song, flaps down! Maximum engine thrust achieved. Release your air and wheel brakes on my mark: 3...2…1…MARK!”

All five of the pilots released the brakes in unison, sending the F-18 jets screaming down the runway leaving nothing but a trail of smoke and a smell of un-burnt fuel from the afterburners. Everyone in the control tower, as well as the personnel on the ground quickly stopped what they were doing, and stood at attention as the jets were screaming down the runway. One of the captains of the base called for a unison salute. The world may never have known what great heroes the Razgriz squadron truly was, but for those that fought alongside them, they felt as though Razgriz demanded as much hidden respect as possible. The base personnel watched at attention as the jets took to the air just seconds after screaming down the runway. Only a few seconds more had passed before the 5 fighter jets retracted their landing gear and climbed into the night sky. It was truly a site to see.

Soon, the sounds of the roaring jet engines faded into silence, and the bright take-off lights from the Razgriz squadron disappeared into the night.
__________________________________________________________________________

1 Hour into the Flight:

“Keep in formation Razgriz”, Heartbreak One said over the intercom.

Razgriz was now an hour into the flight, traveling just over the speed of sound (approximately 800 miles per hour). Razgriz had to cover a distance of over 2,000 miles in three hours. With the speed of sound being about one mile every five seconds, they were covering ground very quickly. The modified F-18’s were built to handle these intense speeds, despite the long distance and heavy fuel and weapons payload.

“Razgriz, give me a status check on your aircraft.” Captain Bartlett said calmly over the radio.

“Edge here, all systems good.”

“Chopper here, all systems good.”

“Archer here, all systems are good.”

“Blaze here, all systems good.”

*static* “Umm, Captain, Archer here. Eighty-six that last call. I seem to be having an issue with my altimeter and…whoa, what the…my compass and computer is starting to go out of whack.”

“Heartbreak One here: Archer, run a diagnostics test. That seems unusual for a plane that sophisticated.”

“The diagnostics are coming back normal Captain. Autopilot is functioning just fine. My compass is still going whacko. What’s your altimeter say?”

“I’m reading 32,000 feet” Captain Bartlett stated.

“Ha ha, well according to my altimeter, we are going from 10,000 feet to 30,000 feet up and down every few seconds! It’s funny, it didn't start happening till you called for a systems check. This is very strange.”

“Heartbreak One here: Team, I want everyone to switch from Autopilot to semi-auto. Slowly reduce your speed from 695 knots to 435 knots in unison. We will then descend to 15,000 feet. The high altitude and high speed could be affecting Archer’s computer system. Follow my lead.”

The 5 pilots slowly reduced their aircraft speed from 695 knots to 435 knots. They were now well below the speed of sound. The team slowly made their decent, and to help keep them from picking up any more speed while descending, they used the air flaps and air brakes to keep a steady speed.

About 10 minutes had passed before they safely and slowly reached 15,000 feet.
Nagase then spoke over the radio: “Edge here, Captain: My plane now has the same issues. My altimeter is going crazy, but the computer still seems to be registering OK. What are we flying over?”

Grimm then spoke: “Archer here: We are nowhere near the poles, so electromagnetic field interference shouldn't be possible…should it?”

“Blaze here: Not unless there was a solar storm that we didn't know about.”

“Chopper here: My aircraft is beginning to do the same thing. Man, this is really weird guys. Me, Edge, and Archer are having issues. Heartbreak One, and Blaze, are your planes OK?”

“Heartbreak One here: Well, I was about to speak too soon, I am also having problems…”

The captain was interrupted by Nagase. Nagase’s computer began to flash a mild warning light with a low tone beep: “Guys! Edge here: My computer system is giving me a class 3 warning. High intensity electromagnetic field disturbance.”

“Heartbreak One here, I’m radioing in to ISAF”

Captain Bartlett began to try and contact the ISAF base (their destination). He dialed in the correct coordinates and came over the radio. The system also had a courtesy copy so the rest of the team could listen to the conversation: that is, if they heard anything…

“ISAF, this is Heartbreak One with Razgriz, do you copy, over?”

*Static*…………………………………………….

“ISAF, this is Heartbreak One with Razgriz, requesting a mild Mayday, over?”

*Static*…………………………………………….

The Captain then switched coordinates to the Sand Island radio tower:

“Sand Island, this is Heartbreak One with Razgriz, do you copy, over?”

*Static*…………………………………………….

“SAND ISLAND, this is Heartbreak One with Razgriz, Mayday, Mayday, do you copy, over?”

*Static*…………………………………………….

“Damn!” Bartlett switched again, now to a completely open channel: “ISAF or other affiliated tower, this is Heartbreak One with Razgriz. Do you copy? Requesting a mild Mayday. Mayday, Mayday, over?”

*Static*……………………………………………..

“Razgriz…Heartbreak One here. Communications are down. And it also looks like our Navigation way-point is completely off course.”

As soon as Captain Bartlett mentioned they were way off course, from 15,000 feet in the sky, the lower clouds began to clear away. What should have been land by now was nothing but open water, with the moon reflecting off the surface into the night.

“You mean we’re flying blind here?” Chopper said stressfully, “What about satellite hookup? Even a homing beacon…anything?”

“…This is your Captain, team Razgriz. I know this is a potentially dangerous situation. But we have been in worse before. I can’t tell you why we are way off course. I can’t tell you why the instruments are malfunctioning. I can’t tell you why I cannot make contact with a single soul on this planet, except for the four of you. What I CAN tell you is I am going to do everything in my power to get us out of this mess.”

The aircraft remained on semi-autopilot at 15,000 feet. Each plane was having malfunctions in the navigation system, the altimeter, and even the basic compasses began to spin out of control. But up until this point, this was the least of their worries.

“ MISSILE SYSTEMS ARMED” Nagase’s computer responded.

“Nagase!” Bartlett yelled into the radio, “De-arm your systems at once! You are not authorized to…”

“CAPTAIN!” Nagase interrupted, breaking Bartlett’s transmission, “I’m completely locked out! It’s not me, the system armed itself!”

Seconds later, everything corrected itself.

All five of the planes began to receive correct readings on their instruments. The navigation system for each plane slowly began to come back online. If this remained constant, Bartlett could radio-in for help in just a few minutes.

“Chopper here: Well, that was interesting! You know, I am not even going to ask. Let’s just get back on course and radio for help as soon as we can.”

“Blaze here and I agree. Captain, what are your orders?”

The group was still in a V-shape formation. Captain Bartlett lead the pack of steel birds; but Bartlett didn't hear Blaze’s last transmission.

“Captain?” Blaze asked.

Bartlett stared into the black night, because right in front of him, a blue flickering light (which looked a lot like a star on the low horizon) caught his attention. Shortly after, all 5 members of the squadron began to stare at the same blue star. The blue light slowly increased in intensity and size.

“Captain…” Nagase asked nervously, “We should radio for help, yes? We are going to run out of fuel soon.”

“Heartbreak…One here”, the Captain broke concentration from the strange blue light miles ahead of them. “Radioing for help now, lets change course first team. I am not quite sure what that thing is up ahead of us. Nothing is showing up on radar either….”

*WARNING*…Suddenly, all systems on-board the Razgriz planes began to severally malfunction, and every warning system on-board the computers went critical. At the same time, the blue light that the team thought was miles ahead of them, exploded into a massive wave of blue electric energy just about a mile in front of them.

“CAPTAIN!” Grimm yelled, “ALL SYSTEMS CRITICAL! I CAN’T MAINTAIN MY POSITION!”

All five of the aircraft began to shake violently, and it was some of the worst turbulence the team had ever experienced as fighter pilots.

“HEARBREAK ONE HERE! TEAM, REMEMBER YOU’RE TRAINING! EVASIVE MAUNEVERS NOW!”

“BLAZE HERE, THE STICK IS NOT RESPONDING!”

“NEGATIVE, CONTROLS NOT RESPONDING FOR ME EITHER!” Chopper yelled.

“NON RESPONSIVE CAPTAIN!” Nagase yelled.

“OK TEAM, WE MAY LOSE RADIO CONTACT WITH EACH OTHER! NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, DO NOT EJECT! I REPEAT, DO NOT EJECT! OUR SURVIVAL RATE WILL ALMOST BE ZERO IF WE DO!” Bartlett yelled.

“CAPTAIN! WHATEVER HAPPENS, I WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW…” Nagase was suddenly cut off.

All close range radio contact had failed.

The blinding blue light illuminated the cockpits of the aircraft with a great intensity. No matter how hard they tried, the team could not get the aircraft controls to respond. The blue energy beam kept pulling the aircraft closer and closer to the center concentration of the light. The aircraft remained unresponsive, and the team remained helpless and vulnerable. All 5 of the aircraft began to be pulled into the electric light illuminating the night sky at 15,000 feet. Nagase slowly opened her eyes and stared into the light. In front of her, she could see a faint image of a city of ruins, with some sort of glow surrounding a section of it. As suddenly as it began, the blue energy began to collapse onto itself, taking the entire Razgriz team with it.

When Three Worlds Collide

by steelmatt6

Prologue Part 1: Security Breach

Prologue Part 2: Up To No Good

Chapter 1: Birds of Steel

Chapter 2: Friendship is Magic

Chapter 3: The Encounter

Chapter 4: Harmony Disrupted

Chapter 5: Blinding Light