The millisecond humanity ripped open a door through the fabric of time and space was the millisecond in which everything changed, for Earth and Equestria. That much was clear. Whether that change was for better or worse is the real question.
Updates Every Other Friday!
Humanity was headed towards a new frontier in the year 2022. The Portgate, a wormhole through time and space, would soon bring man from his little blue globe into the infinite universe. Soon, humanity would be able to forever explore the unknown to its heart's content.
Of course, things are never as easy as they seem.
The first world they find is a beautiful yet dangerous one, populated by monsters both big and small that lurk in the trees. Hardships pile onto those who pass through the Portgate like lead weights, dragging them behind from all angles. And the world is already inhabited by uncannily familiar civilizations wielding strange, mystical powers as easily as they breathe.
The future of humanity and those who it touches are in the stakes as each decision both sides make impacts their worlds for millennia to come. Whether they make the right or wrong ones is up to nothing but fate and fortune.
My first fanfic. I thrive off of feedback, so give it to me, positive or not! I can't improve as a writer if you guys don't tell me how, so why not leave a comment telling me what you think?
"The worlds we touch, whether they be dead rock or living globe, will never recover from our footsteps. Every breath we exhale, every pebble we kick, and every sample we collect determines the fate of something in the future. Whether we like it or not, we are the writers of our own books - and somebody else's."
-Elias Hulley, 2024
---
How strange it was that over two thousand years, a bunch of apes on a rock spinning around the cosmos went from being young children, marveling at the wonders of their small world, to middle-aged men, sick of the limits of their planet and painfully aware of their species's mortality as it smoked and poisoned itself to a gradual death. Stranger still was the faint but visible ember of wonder that still resided within them, barely smoldering even after the most remote corners of their globe were touched by their hands. This was part of their souls, the ever-present instinct that drove them to explore and invent, to conquer and build.
And that ember, believe it or not, eventually ignited. It had to, especially during what they called "the twenty-first century" - because if it didn't there would be no oxygen to breathe in, only a dirty industrial smog that would smother the ember in a dirty sludge of trash and chemicals.
Enter the Eden Project. A project that, led by the United States, sought to find new worlds for Man to discover and explore. For 20 years, the project slowly and meticulously built itself from the ground up from the first theoretical equation. When the last calculation was performed and the last fastener welded, the Portgate stood ten meters in diameter, a massive ring worth billions of dollars and millions of hours of painstaking labor. The scientists that built the portal then found its first destination, and the machine was set to open a door to the most optimal location they could find. From behind their shields of concrete and metal, mankind watched as the portal ripped open, swirling and glistening in a brilliant shade of turquoise. Without a minute's delay, probes and instruments were sent through the Portgate, their measurements breathlessly recorded and analyzed...
For life to even exist at all was a shock, an impossibly unlikely occurrence that was unbelievably lucky. Nothing could prepare them for the fact that they were exploring a world unbelievably similar to their own. This was not a world of dangerous atmospheres or deadly temperatures; it was one that was just like their home, untainted by pollution or human interference.
Long story short, a larger portion of government spending worldwide went into the "Research and Science" slice of the pie chart..
More and more was being spent on the Portgate with each discovery. Every new revelation or conclusion was another step closer and closer towards the end goal of colonization. Care was taken and would be taken to protect the world on the other side, but the thirst for knowledge and need for living space was too great. Soon, humanity would explore the other side with their flesh and blood, not machines of steel and plastic. And maybe, just maybe, they could find a new home for themselves and finally leave Earth's cradle.
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
-Chinese Proverb
-Leah-
"Ding-Ding-Ding Ding. Ding-Ding-Ding Ding."
The woman sprang from her bed at precisely 5:45 A.M. - the same time she had woken up at for the past eight months. She was a timely person when it came to waking up - after all, research was an important thing to be prepared for, and waking up late would be terribly inconvenient. Her black hair didn't need much besides a quick run-through with a plastic comb that sat next to a framed picture of her Chinese parents, and it took half a minute for her to brush her teeth with the minty-fresh toothpaste that the facility provided every month.
Her quarters would have been almost spartan had it not been for the enormous mess that was covering the floor and furniture. The bedroom, closet, and bathroom that she called her "place" measured about a hundred and fifty feet square, and every inch of it was pure chaos. Dirty clothes and underwear were randomly strewn across the floor of all three rooms, and the walls were completely covered with posters whose contents ranged from the Periodic Table to several maps of Earth in various projections. Her bed was a tangle of blankets and dirty clothes, and the desk was overflowing with electronics, stationary, and books of various shapes, sizes, and subjects. The closet was filled with all manner of junk and refuse, and the only place that could be truly considered "clean" was the bathroom counter. Most women had an assortment of beauty products on their counters, but being "all girly and dolly" was the least of her concerns.
After a quick trip to the restroom and a change into something more "professional", she walked through the door to her quarters. She wore a pair of faded-blue work jeans, a not-completely-sour-smelling green polo, white sneakers, and a small backpack with her laptop, tablet, and notebook inside. Her earbuds went in her ears as soon as she stepped into the hallway, listening to the report that her phone had compiled for the day.
Today is March 22, 2022. The weather report forecasts a clear sky all day, with highs in the mid-80s and lows in the low-70s.
She groaned a little as she walked down the mostly empty hallway and took a left turn. Beautiful T-shirt weather, and here she was, stuck in some bunker in the middle of nowhere, Texas. It was more formally called "U.S. Department of Defense Research Site 22-A", though everyone just called it "the Bunker". Eight stories tall - well, more like one story tall, seven stories deep. It was a bit easier to hide your secret government projects when they lived underground, and more so when they signed 2-year contracts that essentially locked them there and prevent them from leaking classified information. She couldn't complain, though - she got a six-digit salary despite being in her twenties, and the work was satisfying for a girl like her.
In the news, President Henderson has further laid out plans for reforming America's education systems yesterday evening. Among his statements, he promised more opportunities for students of all backgrounds to participate in higher-level, more rigorous courses...
That managed to cheer the woman up a little bit. She always kept an ear out for any news related to education, since it was what made her stand out. State-level violinist, Physics-fair National Finalist, National Merit scholar, and Robotics club president that she was, she always kept her academics as her priority for the 14 years she spent in school and college. By all measures, she was a very bright young lady. The trophies that proudly stood in her parents's house could attest to that.
By the time the news report had finished playing, her phone had switched to her morning playlist as she entered the West hallway. Various pipes and cables ran along the walls and ceiling, but the clean white that the walls were painted helped maintain a sense of cleanliness and organization. Speakers, like the fire extinguishers, lined the wall at regular intervals. They occasionally chimed, then broadcast announcements like "Secretary Pollard, your presence is requested at your department head's office" or "Project head Anderson would like to remind all staff that the public restroom stalls are NOT for formulating equations on."
Not many people were willingly awake at this ghastly hour, so Leah decided to jog the short distance to the cafeteria. People had long stopped giving her strange looks whenever she did something out of the ordinary, and she hummed along to the music as she passed the server farm, then the commons, then the offices, then the glass wall that separated her from the Portgate.
The Portgate. An immense ring of steel that, in her words, "did some science stuff and makes cool swirly circles". It was actually a bit more than that; the Portgate was the project that she had worked on for three and a half years. Millions of man-hours had went into that thing, and she had contributed to a rather sizeable portion of that time. The sight of the three-story ring would faze most people, but the woman was rather used to the sight of it. She continued past it, barely giving it a glance as technicians and engineers scurried around it like ants.
What was more important to her was the greasy bacon and undercooked pancakes that the cafeteria served. Another minute of jogging and she found herself waiting in the short line for breakfast, piling hashed potatoes onto her plastic plate. The sickening smell of almost-artificial fat and cheap chocolate milk floated through the cafeteria's cold atmosphere, and the yellow walls always seemed to get more and more brown every day. Nevertheless, the food was pretty decent, at least in her rather liberal opinions.
She found a seat in the corner of the dining hall and began to dig into her breakfast. The aluminum table and chairs were scratched with use, and the woman's appetite caused quite a few stains to appear on the table. It didn't take long for her to complete her gigantic meal (how she managed to keep a thin frame was a mystery to everybody) and head over to the South wing. When she entered the South Research Area, she grabbed two paper cups of coffee on her way to her work station and dumped three packets of sugar into each one. She usually worked there from seven in the morning to seven at night, so the brown, bitter liquid was an essential part of her life. When she sunk down into her swivel chair after dropping her bag on the ground, a rather unkempt man in his mid-forties wearing a dress shirt and slacks stopped outside her cubicle.
"Hey Leah, you gonna go to the portal opening later?"
"Well, yeah. I'm supposed to be analyzing the portal's stability for the whole thing."
"I mean, it's kinda a given. It's hospitable on the other side, and it's uncannily similar to the Earth. There's not even any killer germs, for some reason. Apparently viruses and bacteria from either side immediately die on the other."
"What do you think's on the other side?"
"Umm...trees and stuff. I thought you saw the pictures?"
"You know that there's only been exploration up to two yards inside there, right? Radio signals are somehow inhibited, and drones can't make it very far without tipping over. So what do you think is beyond there?"
"I dunno. I guess we'll see."
The man smiled, then turned around and walked away. The two researchers went on with their day, just as they had for the past few years.
Routine was nice.
-Noah-
"So, why am I supposed to go with the scientists?"
Noah's blue eyes stared inquisitively at the administrator as he asked for more details regarding his assignment. His blond hair and tanned skin made for a rather striking contrast, but less so when he was wearing the standard issue ballistic helmet that most soldiers wore in the field. His time as a soldier had baked his previously pale skin into a burnt tan, though it was generally covered in the various colors of U.S. military camouflage.
"Well, we still haven't seen what the other side holds in terms of... animals. It's quite hard to get data from there, you know? It's only possible to get the portal to work on some days, since it is still a work in progress, so we can only obtain low-resolution pictures of the other side because of some sort of... interference. Which is why we're sending people, because they don't need to be remote-controlled. So, Noah Breston, if you were to go to an alien world without knowing what lives there, why wouldn't you bring a guard or two?"
Noah shifted a bit in the ridiculously awkward chair as he continued to ask questions. His olive-green T-shirt and camo cargo pants crinkled and flapped as he made himself more comfortable, and his desert-tan boots thunked on the floor as he rearranged his legs.
"But why me?"
"Long story short, you drew the short stick. You might not be the most qualified, but you're good enough.."
"Right... so what am I supposed to do again?"
"Well, once you pass through and confirm that the area's safe, you'll help the researchers set up a base camp and watch your surroundings for threats. We'll be sending in supplies while you do so. Research equipment, food for a month, solar chargers, everything you'll need to stay there. You'll probably only be over there for an hour, though. The researchers will be doing science stuff, so try not to get in the way if you can help it. I won't bore you with the details. Don't worry, you'll have some help."
"Alright then... I guess."
"Great. Remember, the trip is a week away. Don't stress yourself, alright?"
Noah walked out of the administrator's office, his curiosity slightly sated. He had been in the Army for about five years before he was called here for some special project. It was better than sitting around in the Middle East and paid better, so he couldn't complain. Although, now that he knew all the facts, he was a bit less eager.
Nobody knew what creatures lay beyond those trees that the cameras had shakily photographed. In all honesty, he would have liked to bring a 20mm autocannon with him, but apparently the most firepower he was getting was a .50 caliber rifle. They said that he wouldn't be taking on a tank, but Noah didn't want to encounter the things he would have to go up against on the other side. If he had to fight something there, it would preferably be behind a rocket launcher.
At least the pay was good.
-Leah-
"T-minus 2 hours, 30 minutes."
Energy drink in one hand and graphing calculator in the other, Leah stepped over towards the third Leinhardt focus engine and flipped open the cobalt-titanium back hatch, revealing a series of buttons and switches. After doing some quick calculus in her head, she clicked the "Variance Control" setting to 0.2. Calibrating the engines took some time, and it was a rather math-heavy process. Ten minutes passed before she closed the hatch and moved onto the next one. When she finished setting all 6 engines, she hopped down from the platform that she had stood on and walked away from the Portgate.
The ground around the Portgate was in a state of ordered madness. People in white lab coats and high-visibility jackets rushed to and fro, focusing on their tasks. Engineers walked back and forth, performing the thousands of checks and confirmations that were necessary for the first human exploration of a brand new planet. Leah could see the technicians perform the final checks on the power supply lines and the loading crew bring pallet after pallet of supplies to the Portgate. It was a shame that she couldn't go, but she wasn't too bummed out about it. After all, quantum physics doesn't help much when you're on an unexplored planet.
Still, she frowned a little as she observed a dozen men in body armor and combat gear line up around the Portgate. It wasn't really that necessary for there to be that much security, right? She shrugged as she continued to watch the others go on with their work.
"T-minus 1 hour, 45 minutes...
-Luna-
Concatenation gems were terribly complex things. Conductive arcane dust had to be refined into magic ink, which was then used to draw amplification runes on inscribed topaz gems. The designs that were necessary for a successful "power stone," as they were informally called, took tens of hours to carve properly and imbue with magic, and their fractal-like complicity could cause headaches after just ten minutes of work. It was very difficult to get hold of a good influx-concentration gem, even if you were the ruler of the most powerful country on the Equestrian Continent.
But it was worth the cost, in Luna's opinion, for the costly gemstones. The skill of the senior magicians was really something, and she made sure they were well compensated for their work. Their gemwork was perfect in every way, and the stones would be more than sufficient for what she had in plan.
The Princess of the Night was walking along a darker, less known hallway of the Canterlot Castle to the spellcasting chamber, where she would perform an incredibly complex divining spell that would be the culmination of several weeks worth of planning. The chamber was designed to reflect and concentrate a unicorn's magic, making their magic much more powerful than normal. Luna could have simply performed the spell in her bedroom, but she had decided it was important to dive deeper into the issue she was facing. The mild unsettling of the Royal Sisters' stomachs that had begun a few months ago was at first shrugged off as a random feeling. As the feeling repeatedly returned after a couple of weeks, however, it was clear that something was wrong. Luna had been chosen to perform the spell, since her dreamwalking abilities made her more than suited for the task.
The spell Luna had in mind was a very complex one. It required immense amounts of potential magic, which meant that it was near impossible for anyone other than Celestia or Luna to perform it. Not that many people would want to perform it, though. In fact, the only written record of the spell was in a centuries-old book, tucked deep within the Royal Library.
It's not everyday that you need to perform a cross-dimensional vision spell.
Luna stopped at the front of the tall, thick oak doors that were at the end of the hallway. The doors were visibly worn, not with use but with age. She used her magic to pull open the heavy doors, and they ominously creaked open at a painfully slow pace. Luna then took care to close the doors behind her as she entered the chamber, slamming them shut as she walked into the chamber. The fluorescent runes in the wall lighted Luna's way as she walked into the room, guided by their dim glow. Her hooves clopped as she walked on the marble floor, and her eyes followed the various lines and glyphs carved on the floor and along the walls that served as magical channels for those that wished to use the room. All of the lines eventually converged at the center of the room, where a unicorn (or in this case, alicorn) would sit and perform their spell. The chamber measured twenty feet by twenty feet, so Luna took a while to spread the magic gems and crystals around the room with her telekinesis. When she finished placing the last orange jewel she sat down, and as she focused her mind on the spell matrix her horn began to emit a dark purple aura.
As with all spells of high delicacy and precision, extreme caution could still fail to provide acceptable results. As Luna focused harder and harder, little changed in her perception of the magical field. It seemed as if her efforts had bore no reward at all, but she persisted.
Suddenly, out of the ambient static that she was searching, she felt a knot. Curious, she pushed more magic towards it, hoping to gain more information. As the knot grew more and more pronounced, Luna attempted to get a better grasp of the anomaly - and failed. Frustrated, she pushed, harder and harder...
*CRACK*
Luna realized her mistake as soon as she heard the first crystal crack. That realization was reinforced by the next crack, then the next. In a split second, all the crystals had split - and released their energy into Luna. The pulse of energy bolted through Luna's horn and towards the knot, knocking her to the ground. The magical surge hit the knot - and it grew, twisting and contorting into a tangled mess. Then, in an instant, it exploded into a bright flash of light before immediately flattening itself out.
As Luna pulled herself to her hooves, she assessed the damage dealt to the room. It still looked rather serviceable, and the only visible evidence of the incident was the scattering of gem shards on the floor. She let out a sigh of relief, thankful that there weren't any consequences.
Or so she thought.
-Andrew-
T-minus 60 minutes.
Andrew crossed off the last item on his checklist and backed away from the frame. All the parts of the Portgate seemed to be in working order, and they even seemed to shine a brighter grey than usual. Satisfied, he pressed the sleep button on his tablet before turning around and walking towards the pallets. He was rather interested in what the scientists were bringing with them. Scientific instruments, food, building materials...weapons... Andrew took a closer look at the MREs that were stacked up on a pallet, curious about their contents.
"Wow, they have ravioli?"
Andrew turned to face a girl in a green shirt and jeans looking at him. It was clear from her inquisitive nature and questioning stare that she was a scientist.
"Yeah, and it looks like they have beef and mac, chili... seems kinda gross, to be honest."
"What are you talking about? That sounds tasty as heck! It can't be that hard to mess up chili, right?"
Andrew was about to answer, but one of the soldiers walked up to them.
"Guys, you really shouldn't be near this stuff. We're about to move it, and it would be best if you-"
A series of red lights and klaxons suddenly began to blare and scream, but they weren't quick enough for what happened a split second later. There was a flash of light and a loud, warping sound like sheet metal bending and flexing, and Andrew's heart skipped a beat as he began falling - towards the Portgate. Somehow, the Portgate had activated, but the blue vortex was definitely not supposed to be pulling things into it. The pallets of supplies were sucked into the portal that had formed inside the Portgate, and he could see the girl and the guard fall into it just before he followed suit.
Passing through the Portal was instantaneous, and the hard, concrete grey of the Bunker was suddenly replaced with the dark, starry sky of another world. It took a while for this fact to register, and he was still in shock as he landed on the soft grass that carpeted the ground. As he began to process the events that had just passed a few seconds, a heavy cardboard box smacked against the side of his head, knocking him out cold.
Interestingly, the box contained exactly three hundred U.S. military MREs. All of them were the spaghetti type.
Eight and a half hours had passed since Noah had last been conscious and awake. It turned out that falling onto one's head after being pulled into a portal into god-knows-where can really do a number on someone. The soft grass surrounding him swayed and moved with the morning breeze, and a blue and black butterfly landed on his chest as he lay on the ground.
The three people that had been thrown into an unexplored world had all been rendered unconscious a few minutes after their arrival. It was a rather disgraceful arrival, but luckily no permanent damage had been done to the travelers - just a few bruises and cuts here and there. Considering that they had just been tossed into an alternate dimension by a randomly spawned portal, this was a rather lucky thing to have happened.
The supplies, though...
They actually weren't that badly damaged, if a little bit scuffed. The portal had thrown them with quite some force, but the tough containers that they were in helped keep a lot of their contents safe. Thick plastic and solid metal were two materials that man was fond of, and their sturdy nature certainly made them worthy of that praise. Still, some of the supplies were damaged by their trip through the Portgate, and it would be hard to recover them. Not only that, but the cardboard and plastic boxes that most of the supplies came in were scattered around the clearing that the portal had opened up above. The surrounding forest had luckily contained nearly all of the boxes, but the meadow that they were thrown about was quite a large one.
The butterfly that had rested on Noah's chest fluttered onto his nose, and he reflexively sneezed it off. Groaning, he slowly rubbed his eyes open as he woke up from his slumber.
"Ahhh... crap, what the hell..."
His eyes slid open and were greeted by a familiar yet offsetting blue sky, with wisps of clouds spotted across the field of teal. The chirping of crickets accented the occasional breeze that flowed throughout the meadow and rustled the grass.
"...this better be heaven, or I'm screwed."
He pulled himself up, stretching as he did so. As the vibrant greens and browns and yellows of nature came into view, he couldn't help but blanch as he saw the dull browns and blacks of boxes dotting the landscape.
"Oh, son of a-"
A groan disturbed his thinking, and he turned his head towards the source of the noise. The body was a few meters away, but Noah could clearly see the woman rolling off her stomach and pushing herself to her feet. The sight of another person woke Noah up, and he rushed to help the lady get up.
"mnf...what happened?"
"I don't know," he replied. He noticed the girl's green shirt and remembered her, messing around with the food...
"Hey, maybe next time you'll stay away from the boxes. You're not supposed to be standing next to them, you know!"
The woman chuckled a little as she stood up. She surveyed the surrounding area, taking in the sights and sounds of a new world.
"Well, I guess that really happened. How the heck did the portal form anyways? I thought it wasn't due for operation for at least an hour..."
"I dunno," he replied. There really wasn't any way for the Portgate to activate before intended, since it wasn't even primed for action. But for some reason, it had inexplicably opened up a portal without warning. Maybe a malfunction...?
"Oh well," she sighed, "looks like we'll be stuck here for a while. At least we can breathe."
Something about that statement hit Noah the wrong way.
"Speaking of which, why is it that this world just happens to have a breathable atmosphere? Considering how extraordinarily unlikely it is for a planet to even have an atmosphere, let alone one with oxygen, this is just too perfect. Oh my god, I just realized that there's grass. AND TREES! They even resemble Earth's plants, and- LOOK, THERE'S A BUTTERFLY!"
"Calm down, man! Didn't they tell you this stuff before? I mean, yeah, this is weird, but we'll think about it later. First things first, what's your name?"
He slow down a bit before answering with "Noah. Noah Breston. Sorry, I guess it just then hit me."
"Leah Zhou. Good, that's over with. Hey, wasn't there another dude who came with us?"
"Aw, crap. Oh well, we'll need to scrounge up supplies if we're going to survive in this place, so looking for that guy might be a good idea. Let's go."
Together, Leah and Noah began to scavenge, thankful that they had each other.
-William-
The head of the Eden Project had some serious explaining to do. The Portgate had activated by itself and pulled three people into an unknown, alien world less than a day ago, and the heads of government of several governments were banging on his door, demanding that he tell them what happened. At this point, however, he knew just as much as they did.
"So what you're saying that this multi-billion dollar project we've put decades into just malfunctioned, and you don't know why?"
The British Prime Minister was almost screaming at William through the screen he was displayed on, and he was right to be doing so. The Portgate was an enormous investment funded by multiple countries, and the billions of dollars spent on it made the damage more than negligible. But at least it was fixable...with time and money that William had to somehow worm out of tight-fisted bureaucracies.
"Well...yeah. We still haven't figured out what happened, but we know it wasn't the machine's fault. The thing wasn't even connected to power. Rest assured, we're looking into the matter, and you guys will be the first to know."
"Anyways," the Chinese President interjected, "how badly is the machine damaged? When will it be operational again?"
"The Katz drives are totally fried, but at least the stability modules are relatively unharmed. With the same funding we've been provided so far...probably three to four months."
The various world leaders talked amongst each other through the screens for a few minutes, dutifully ignoring William as he sat and listened. Eventually, the United States President took charge and replied.
"We're increasing funding by twenty percent until the thing is fixed. Now then, what about the three people that are missing?"
"Assuming that all the missing supplies were sent through with them, they'll be fine for...about 6 months. They have enough food and water purification tablets, and some temporary shelter as well. Most of the military equipment and ammunition went through as well, so they'll be relatively safe."
"Speaking of which, aren't you worried about affecting what's on the other side?"
"We've already affected that world when we opened the portal. It was inevitable. Plus, weren't there plans for colonization? Either way, we can only hope that the people who were sent to that world don't screw up catastrophically."
"Who was missing, by the way?"
"Let's see... we have an Andrew Martinez, electrical and mechanical engineer...Leah Zhou, quantum physicist,, and Noah Breston, First Lieutenant."
"At least they have a soldier with them."
The world leaders conversed among themselves for a moment before coming to an agreement.
"William Anderson, your objective is now to repair the Portgate as soon as possible, and recover those three people. We must find out more about the other side, and they'll be the ones who know the most about it. Not only that, but the public is clamoring for more information regarding the Portgate. I'm afraid we'll have to come out with this information sooner or later, so work fast on it. Understand?"
"Yes, sir."
The video chat cut off, and Anderson sat in his swivel chair for a while to process the information he had just recieved. It was pretty hard to digest.
-Andrew-
"Ugh...what the..."
Andrew felt himself helped up by two people, though he couldn't quite figure out their identities. All he saw was a blur of blue and green, and his head pounded with his every heartbeat.
"You alright, dude?"
The voice was definitely female, and Andrew swore he had heard it somewhere.
"...Yeah, I'm fine."
Andrew's vision cleared, and he looked around his surroundings. Then he looked at the people who were next to him. They were the same people that he had last seen before the Portgate accidentally activated, the scientist girl and the grumpy soldier.
"I'm Leah, and this is Noah. And you are Andrew Martinez, judging from the name tag."
"Yep," Andrew replied. He scratched his black two-day stubble and snorted.
"Great. We'll get to introductions later," Noah said. "For now, let's gather what we can. Leah and I have already set up a stockpile for scavenged supplies in the middle of the clearing. We're about halfway done with scouring this clearing, and it would be a good idea to finish before sundown. Here, grab my hand."
Noah offered his hand, and Andrew grabbed it as he was pulled to his feet. He could see the pile of interdimensional flotsam about thirty meters away, and it was a rather substantial one.
"Good to see we'll be doing okay," Andrew muttered.
"And we'll be doing more okay if you help us gather more stuff," Leah replied.
As the two other people in this world resumed their scavenging, Andrew sighed as he followed along, grabbing a nearby box with "M.R.E. SPAGHETTI, 300ct" stamped on it and hauling it to the large collection of crates in the middle of the clearing.
"Any place can be a homely place, if you know how to make it one."
-Marie Kate Rose, author of Survival and Persistence in 100 Biomes
-Trio-
The sky was a shade of soft orange by the time the three castaways had decided to stop searching for anything salvageable. Sunset was about an hour away, and the various woodland animals that inhabited the neighboring woods began to get ready for the night. Nature's ambience had changed from the bird calls of day to the grasshopper chirps of evening. The grasses in the clearing swayed and danced with the breeze, and their verdant colors mixed and blended as they did so.
The collection of supplies in the middle of the grassy clearing was rather sizable, with boxes and pallets arranged in a square twenty feet wide. Their dull tones of beige and grey stood out in stark contrast from the bright hues of their alien surroundings, a fact not unnoticed by their collectors. They stood around the boxes, each with a military ration in their hands, and talked amongst each other as they ate their "Chili Mac" meals.
"I think we should see what's in those boxes tomorrow. For now," Noah suggested, "it would be a good idea to set up shelter, at least of some sorts."
"Yep. Those pallets will come in handy sooner or later," Andrew replied, and they'll make real nice building materials. They won't block rain or cold well, but they can do for now. Speaking of which, how are we gonna find water?"
"There's a small creek over there," Noah answered as he pointed towards the east. "We have a few days worth of water over there in the jugs, and we should have enough purification tablets for about two months. I think I can remember how to build a crude charcoal filter, so we should be set for water for as long as we're here if boiling works well. Plus, see those clouds? If there's clouds, that means there's rain, and freshwater, and... Andrew, we'll need a tarp or two for those pallets if it rains."
"I thought as much," he replied. He was about to continue his train of thought, but Leah spoke first.
"Aw, man, this is really good. What about food?"
"Well, we have a few boxes of MREs, and they'll last for... I'd say six months. But afterwards? We'll have to hunt or forage, and I'm not sure if I want to eat alien food. Who knows," Andrew postulated, "the food here might be poisonous or something."
"Hey, I'm up for it. Besides, didn't you see the squirrels? If they're anything like our squirrels, I'm willing to dig into one of them."
"You'll eat anything," Noah teased.
The three humans laughed as Celestia's majestic sun fell, to be replaced by Luna's dazzling night.
"Rise and shine, boys!"
Andrew and Noah groaned as Leah sprang up from her sleeping spot on the grass. The dim shine of the stars and the candescent glow of the moon provided just enough light to provide an outline of her surroundings, but it wasn't quite bright enough to provide a clear image of anything. The sound of shuffling broke through the twilight ambience as Leah pulled herself to her feet.
"...It's not even bright enough to do anything, Leah. Go to sleep."
There was a brief silence, then a more frantic shuffling, then a beep. Leah's face suddenly popped out of her dark surroundings as her laptop screen shined its bright white light onto her.
"...Whassa matta wifyu?"
"Well, if you and Noah are gonna be all dead and lifeless, then I guess I'll have to wait," Leah said to Andrew.
Leah typed in her password when the login screen came up and hit the Enter key. She was greeted, as she had expected, with her pitch-black wallpaper and a small column of icons on the screen's left side. She clicked twice on the orange train icon and waited as "Japanese Metro Simulator 2022" booted up.
"...Shouldn'cha save yer powrr?"
"Don't we have solar chargers?"
Leah clicked on the "Continue" button and began to play the game as Noah and Andrew went back to sleep in the serene silence and darkness of their alien yet familiar surroundings, interrupted only by the pitter-patter of a keyboard and the occasional bird call.
"Oh, thank god!"
Noah let go of the lid that he had just lifted a few seconds ago and picked up the four foot rifle, examining it and searching for scratches or bumps. He ran his hands along the barrel, its tip gleaming in the late morning sun. The words "BARRETT M107 .50 CALIBER" were etched onto the side of the gun.
The trio of survivors were spending the morning unboxing the supplies that had came along with them and organizing them. Although some of the supplies didn't follow them through the Portgate, most of them ended up on the other side and ended up in a generally acceptable condition. So far, they had managed to find a large stock of food and medical supplies in the cardboard boxes. Solar panels that came with the research equipment provided electricity, and a large, oblong crate turned out to contain a sizable military-style tent. A large collection of construction equipment and tools came in two of the bigger plastic crates, ranging from shovels and axes to screwdrivers and wrenches. They had even found a box full of survival gear, packed to the brim with useful tools that were sure to help them during their time on the planet.
But Noah was most interested in the green crates with five-pointed stars on their sides. If he was going to be staying on his world, he wanted to be prepared for whatever he would encounter. He had found more than enough guns, but ammunition was an issue. Even though he had found several cans of cartridges, he knew that they would eventually run out. And then?
They would have to make it last. Noah put the gun back into the case before closing the box and carrying it to the weapons pile. Andrew was standing there, sorting the crates into categories and recording their contents on his tablet. He looked up from the screen and put the tablet down on a box of lab equipment before walking over and grabbing the case from Noah's hand. Andrew set it down leaning against a stack of ammunition crates before picking up his tablet again.
"What was in it?" he asked.
"Um, fifty-caliber rifle with three magazines and maintenance kit."
"Alright," Andrew responded. He typed something into his tablet and was almost finished when Leah seemingly appeared out of nowhere and dropped a cardboard box at his feet.
"Here's some microscopes. Not sure why they have eighteen of them, but oh well."
"Why do we need these?" Noah asked.
"Because I wanna do science experiments here. I know that we might not ever get back home, but it's a fun thing for me to do in my free time. Besides, we might be able to scrap these for spare parts in the future."
"Good point," Andrew remarked. "You said eighteen, right? Well, go ahead and put it with the rest of the science junk that came over."
"Hey, rude! It's not junk," Leah giggled. She set the box down next to a small collection of scientific equipment, glad that she was getting along well with her fellow castaways. The three of them were already pretty good pals, and she was happy to have them with her. She was even happier to know the feeling was mutual.
Their work continued late into the afternoon, and by the time they had finished the sun was already halfway under the horizon. None of them complained, though.
-Luna-
Gong...
Gong...
The gigantic grandfather's clock rang out twelve times with its deep, solemn toll, signaling the passing of midnight. Luna glanced at the clock in her quarters, glad to put down her quill and leave the messy pile of paperwork that was on her Gryphon pine desk for something a bit more soothing. It was always somewhat liberating for her to explore the dreams of her subjects and talk to them in a way that she never could in the real world. When they were awake, ponies always seemed to talk to her like... like she was a princess. But in the dreamscape, she was free to talk with her citizens like a regular pony and get to know her subjects in ways she never could as a ruler.
The navy blue circular rug in the middle of her office was expertly embroidered by Canterlot artisans with her crescent-moon cutie mark. Its fibers were silky smooth and extremely fine, and they were quite helpful in allowing Luna's mind to enter the state of relaxation that was necessary for dreamwalking. She sat down, closed her eyes, and began her meditation, passively charging her magic as she did so.
Dreamwalking involves transitioning the mind from the physical realm to the magical field and from the magical field to the dreamscape. The process was quite magic-intensive, and it could only be performed with the magic of several thousand unicorn mages. Luna was an alicorn, so that was no issue. In fact, the process felt like a simple teleportation spell to her, and once she had gathered enough ambient magic she easily transitioned into the dreamscape, a vast void filled with pinpricks of all sizes and colors. She floated amongst the starlike points, each one representing a being's dream. After thousands of years, their minds were familiar to Luna, and she felt at ease with them.
But there was something off that night. Somewhere, something - or somepony - was clearly different. Luna closed her eyes and focused, honing in on the discrepancy. The three lights that she had found clustered together didn't look any different from any she had seen except for being a bit more dull.
So it was a surprise when she realized that the lights felt...hollow. As if something was missing. Luna paused for a second, contemplating the reason these dreams had a sense of emptiness about them....
Magic.
Or rather, a lack thereof. All living creatures gave off a small yet distinct magical signature. Luna could sense those signatures and find out what species it belonged to, their sex, and their age, among other things. These beings, however, didn't give off a single trace of magic. What were they?
Luna carefully prepared to enter those dreamscapes. She was so used to entering the dreams of ponies that the steps she took were second nature. However, these creatures were something different. Luna slowly and carefully probed the dream, gently easing herself in. She soon found herself standing in a blank white void, which she assumed to be the dream. It was empty, save for a lone wooden bookshelf with an assortment of reading material within it.
She walked up to the bookshelf, staring at the spines of the books that lined it. It was clear that the books were composed of some strange material. It was shiny and smooth, but was definitely not metal. It was too... light for that. She pulled a rather thick book off the shelf, reading the title. Though the language was unfamiliar, she knew that the front of the book read Advanced Chemistry, Third Edition. Luna could tell that "Chemistry" meant alchemy, judging from the flasks and tubes on the cover. She flipped the book open to the front flap and found a rather odd chart composed of labeled squares simply titled "The Periodic Table of Elements", noticing that the pages in the book were made of unbelievably thin sheets of what seemed to be lacquered paper. She estimated that it was at least a thousand sheets thick, which was odd considering books of that size should only be able to hold three hundred or so pages.
The table consisted of about a hundred squares set in a peculiar stack that seemed to peak at the left and right ends. Each square contained one or two letters of the strange language in the middle, with an element name and various numbers above and below it. Luna looked at what seemed to be a guide to reading the squares. She didn't know what an "Atomic Number" or "Molar Mass" was, but the rest was rather easy to figure out. The only problem was that there were 118 elements.
Sure, there was Gold and Iron in the table, but most of the elements were unknown to her. Argon, Polonium, Bismuth...what were they supposed to be? Luna was curious, but she knew that she had to act unobtrusively in a dream for the dreamer to not notice her. If she looked further into the book, the dreamer might notice, and Luna would rather not draw the attention of an unknown being. She slotted the book back onto the shelf, hoping that she would be able to come back to it, before she left the dream and returned to reality.
When she opened her eyes, she immediately looked at the clock. It was about two-fifteen, which was rather early for her sessions. She stood up, trotted over to her office chair, and sat, thinking about what the past two hours meant.
It was a good thing she had prematurely stopped, because it was a lot to take in.
"It's better to shoot first and miss out on answers than to ask questions first and die trying."
-Captain Phil Haswell
-Andrew-
A week had passed since Andrew, Noah, and Leah arrived on a whole new world. The cozy little shelter that the three of them had cobbled together (actually, it was mostly Andrew who did the work) out of a surplus tent and some reclaimed wood was quite large. One half of the shelter was the tent, which served as the sleeping area, work area, and storage for the more fragile supplies, and the other half was tacked together with pallets that had planks nailed over them. This section, though covered with tarps, was rather leaky at times, so it was used for storing tougher, more water-resistant supplies. Rain catchers and solar stills, combined with a makeshift water filter, provided more than enough potable water for three people, and solar panels generated energy for charging storage batteries. Once Leah had caught, killed, and eaten a squirrel without getting sick, snares set up in the woods provided a good supply of food. If nothing crazy happened, they could theoretically live there for years.
Still, there were constant improvements to be made. Andrew was working on making a wood-fueled stove, which would be useful for cooking and keeping the place warm. It was getting chilly at night, and it wasn't far-fetched to assume that winter would eventually arrive. Better to be early than late on this one, he thought.
Somebody lifted the door (which was just a pallet that leaned on the doorway) and shifted it to the side just as Andrew had finished working on the grill. Leah walked inside, wood axe in hand, and slouched down on one of the crates that served as a makeshift seat.
"So, how did being a lumberjack go?"
"Well," Leah replied, it actually went pretty well. The trees around here are about as thick as I am, and they're actually pretty straight. We could probably use the wood to build stuff rather than just burning it,"
"That's good to hear. Any word from Noah?"
"He said he'd call us through the walkie talkie any minute now, so we might as well wait. Does it really take that long to scout out our surroundings, though? I'm getting a bit nervous..."
"Hey, don't worry too much. I'm sure he's fine. Plus, he's found a lot of useful stuff on his trips. The stream that he found is going to be pretty essentiall, and that cave he found would be good for storing stuff in. Maybe that's why he hasn't responded yet - didn't he say he was gonna poke around inside it?"
"You're right. He's probably-"
A loud, monstrous roar echoed throughout the forest as flocks of birds fled skywards in a flurry of wings. Andrew and Leah froze, listening as the echo died down until there was nothing but silence. Snapping out of his trance, Andrew grabbed a walkie talkie from a nearby crate and anxiously spoke into it.
"Noah? Noah! Did you hear that? Are you alright?"
...
...
"..-ashiHEYANDREWohcrap-"
"Oh my god Noah, are you okay?" Leah yelled into the walkie talkie.
"Andrew, Leah- goddamnit- Get the guns out! Like NOW! There's a-"
"A what?" Leah sprung from her chair and pulled the lid off a nearby box while Andrew listened for a response.
"No time, get the big stuff out!"
Andrew rushed towards the box just as Leah slid a loaded magazine into the M33 assault rifle she was holding. Noah grabbed the biggest gun in the box - the Barrett - and loaded it with one of its wide magazines. Leah tossed Andrew another assault rifle, and the two of them pulled the charging handle in unison as they rushed outside. They could see Noah sprinting towards their house, yelling something that the two of them couldn't quite make out.
Just as Noah reached the halfway point between the forest and the shelter, a huge, three-headed creature burst out of the treeline, hissing and roaring as it ran towards him. Its orange scales and green eyes shimmered as it made its way towards a fleeing Noah, clearly intent on devouring the man. The monster was the size of a truck, and its sharp fangs and huge claws made it all the more threatening to the tiny humans it was hunting. It trotted across the clearing at jogging pace in pursuit of its next meal, shaking the ground every time its feet landed on the soil.
A sharp crack bursted throughout the forest, then another. Leah and Andrew fired their rifles at the giant beast, tearing its flesh and peppering it with holes that leaked a caustic green liquid that dripped onto the ground with a hiss. The report of the guns and the stabbing pain drew the monster's attention away from Noah and towards the two humans shooting it. It roared in anguish as it charged the house, determined to stop the burning agony that the creatures had inflicted upon it. Although Leah had little experience with firearms, Andrew regularly hunted back on Earth and was able to accurately fire at where he assumed its vital organs were. The beast was clearly losing its strength, but it still stumbled towards the humans as Noah rushed into the shelter.
"Goddamnit, we can't keep going on like this any longer!"
Andrew held down the trigger of his rifle, releasing a rapid stream of copper-plated lead towards the monster. It wasn't long, though, before his firearm produced a dry click as it ran out of ammunition. He cursed, then hit the magazine release as the beast closed in at sixty meters, then fifty, then forty...
The roar of the beast was nothing compared to the thunderous, earsplitting boom that Noah unleashed into the creature. A Browning fifty-caliber round was strong enough to pierce meters of concrete, and it easily tore a hole the width of a bowling ball into the creature as he unloaded the Barrett into the creature. He had assumed a prone position and had flipped down the bipod, allowing him to rapidly deliver accurate shots of deadly steel at the monster.
When combined with the support of two M33 rifles, the Barrett was more than capable of producing a deafening noise that spread out for miles across the Everfree forest. The final straw for the hydra was the anti-material rifle's deadly armor-piercing shot that instantly decimated its two hearts. It stumbled, then collapsed with an earthquaking thud. The trio stopped firing, allowing the sudden silence that had enveloped their surroundings to take hold. Andrew swapped his magazine for a fresh one, ran up to the beast, and put a gaping hole into each of the beast's heads to make sure that it stayed down. The acidic sizzling of the beast's green blood was lost to the trio, as the earsplitting reports of their weapons left them near deaf and with ringing in their ears.
"Are you okay?" Andrew yelled.
Leah was saying something, but he couldn't quite make out what.
"WHAT?"
She was still mouthing something out, but Andrew didn't hear her.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"
Silence in the Everfree doesn't last very long, and the sounds of Equestrian nature gradually returned as the victorious humans deafly shouted at each other for half an hour and the corpse of the beast spilled its caustic blood onto the grass.
-Applejack-
Applejack knew that the first day of harvest season was always noticeably chillier than the days preceding it. Years of working on the family farm had drilled an instinctive knowledge into her head that allowed her to keep pace with the seasons and reap the largest apple crop she could. That knowledge was what brought her to the far end of Sweet Apple Acres, stretching her apple bucking back hooves in preparation for the apple harvest. She had learned from experience that working from the far back of the field to the side closer to the barn made the late day easier and less tiring. Applejack lined up the wooden buckets beneath the foliage to catch the apples as they fell, which would be picked up by Big Macintosh to be carried to the barn. As she reared her legs for the first buck of the year, she noticed that this year's apples were extra large, a product of the Apple family's loving care of each tree on the farm.
The Apple family was famous for two things: apples and work ethic. Applejack woke up every morning at the crack of dawn, ready to work until sundown. She never shied away from hard work, and she never slacked off. Even when she was doing something like spending time with her friends, she still kept a part of her mind focused on the work she would have to get back to later.
Bucking the apples and hauling them back became a sort of cycle for Applejack, a rhythm that carried itself through her body and let her mind relax as the repetitive work brought her into a sort of miniature nirvana of buck, buck, slide, buck, buck, slide. Soon, the morning became noon and the noon became afternoon. Applejack, though slightly worn out, showed no signs of slowing down. The sweat that her skin secreted had managed to seep through her coat, leaving her orange fur damp and smelly. Applejack's kicks were as strong as the ones she started the day with, and the satisfying thud of hooves meeting wood was always greeted with a steady rain of fruit from the trees.
Suddenly, a faraway roar interrupted Applejack's cyclical rhythm, causing her to stop and look over at the source of the noise. The Everfree Forest was constantly letting out strange noises, so she paid little more attention to it as she picked up her work again. She had almost gotten back into her groove a few minutes later when what sounded like a whip crack popped through the forest again. Applejack paused again, this time much more interested in the noise. There was a short delay following the sound, then a rapid flurry of the cracks bursted through the air. Applejack flinched at this sudden burst of noise, then flinched again as the rate of cracks seemed to double. She wasn't quite prepared, however, for the massive booms that joined the faraway din. It sounded almost as if firecrackers and lightning were going off in the forest at the same time, and Applejack was sure the echo of the louder thunders reached at least part of Ponyville.
After about two minutes, the cracks and booms abruptly stopped. Applejack paused a little longer, making sure that the noises had completely stopped.
*BOOM*
...
*BOOM*
...
*BOOM*
...
A minute passed after the last peal of thunder had let itself out before Applejack turned from the forest. The roar was natural, but the pops and blasts were definitely out of place. Whatever they were, Applejack was a bit nervous. Something that could make that much noise was certainly noteworthy, and she wanted to make sure the gang knew about this as soon as possible. She trotted off towards Twilight's castle, eager to share the incident's details with her.
"Hey Applejack! Where'ya headed? We still gotta harvest all these apples!"
"No time, Big Mac! You heard those noises? I gotta tell Twi!"
Applejack picked up speed as she trotted, then cantered, then galloped at full speed with her muscular legs. They weren't just for bucking apples, she thought to herself as she kicked up a cloud of dust running down the dirt path into Ponyville.
-William-
William couldn't believe that things were going so smoothly. He had expected another accident, another failure, even a slight hiccup as the Portgate was being repaired, but no major delays had been reported at all. In fact, for once in his life he was ahead of schedule. The people who worked on the project were the kind of people who weren't afraid of a little overtime, and the extra infusion of funds he had received meant a lot of it. In fact, the projected repair time had drastically dropped from about three and a half months to less than two, even with all of the extra precautions that were taken. By all accounts, William was doing pretty well at his job.
Because of this, he was much more relaxed as he once again sat in his office, the flatscreen TV in front of his desk displaying the faces of the men and women who ran the world. His greying hair and slightly wrinkled skin made him look much older than his forty-three years, and he scratched his stubble as he put down his mug of coffee, ready to take on whatever the leaders were going to tell him.
"Nice work," the American President said. "I can see that you spent our money well, and I'm glad we chose you for the job. There's not much to discuss today, but we wanted to give you some heads up about a couple of things. Firstly, I'm sure you're aware that we've come out to the media about the incident last night. Needless to say, the people are rather shocked by this turn of events, but most of them also seem somewhat apathetic about the news. This is actually a good thing, of course, since there won't be a terribly big fuss from the public about it. Thankfully, you won't be getting any cameras shoved in your face - at least, we hope. Nevertheless, we'll be increasing security from here on out, just in case. We really don't want any more incidents, so expect a doubling in security soon."
"Do we really need that much?" William replied.
"Absolutely. Not many people know about this location, but if word were to spread it would be a good idea to have extra personnel at hand to keep things safe."
"Which brings us to our next point," the English Prime Minister interjected. "What exactly caused the malfunction? Surely you must have some answers by now."
"How do I put this...Right before the portal abruptly opened, the power regulators detected a sudden spike in energy. We discovered that the energy readings were impossibly high, ten times the maximum amount of power that was even available for the Portgate to utilize. What this means is basically...the surge of energy wasn't from our side."
William was glad that he had said that. The rulers immediately began to rapidly converse among themselves, buying him several minutes with which he composed himself for the next barrage of questions.
"Tell us all you know," the Russian President eventually managed to ask after the talking had somewhat died down.
"That's not much," William responded. "It definitely originated from the alien world, but its cause is still a mystery. What we do know is that the readings aren't consistent with electricity or heat. This means that we don't know exactly what kind of energy it was, but it resembles X-ray radiation the most. The Geiger counters didn't register a thing, though, and the medical examinations revealed no signs of radiation poisoning. Whatever it is, we aren't exactly solid on it."
"Keep looking into it. That is all."
Before William could react, the leaders disappeared and were replaced by the word "DISCONNECTED" in bold red letters. He sighed, and turned to the newspaper that sat on his desk, unread. "Portgate Project Malfunctions; Three Stranded in Alien World," the headline read.
William had always wanted more press attention, but not with those headlines.
A warm mug of hot chocolate and a thick book laid in front of Twilight Sparkle, who always appreciated a cup of cozy autumn warmth when reading in chilly weather. The mug gave off wafts of sweet, milky steam as it sat on her crystal desk alongside Studies in Gemology for the Advanced Mage, which was opened to page 182 out of the 634 total in the book. She lifted the mug and took a sip from it as she flipped the page, revealing a chart detailing the various geometric shapes necessary for properly imbuing precious stones with potential magical power. Crystalcarving was never one of Twilight's strengths, but ever since the appearance of her crystal tree-castle she had decided to focus on that particular area of her studies. After all, if she was going to be living in a giant gemstone it would be a good idea to know more about gemology.
Twilight knew that her new home was supposed to be an improvement from her now burnt-down library tree, but the enormous crystalline castle that she was the inhabitant of had its drawbacks. The large rooms and crystal walls made for a rather drafty castle, which was why the fireplace in her study was filled with a huge pile of burning firewood that roared and crackled as it released a soft warmth into the air. Not only that, but the floor was far too cold and hard for her taste. Hundreds of square hooflengths of carpet and rugs were brought into the castle soon after Twilight had taken residence in it, and they helped a little with the cold and provided a fair amount of protection against falls.
The mug clunked against the crystal desktop as Twilight set it down, entranced in her reading. Far away, a peal of thunder rolled throughout the sky, even though the sky itself was cloudless. That was strange, since the rest of the week was scheduled to be perfectly clear and sunny. Maybe some pegasi were goofing around?
But the thunder sounded way too...off. It dissipated much too quickly, and soon after the first one several more came in rapid succession, each as loud as the last. They even sounded exactly the same, which was odd considering lightning was quite unpredictable and hard to accurately replicate. Plus, there were no clouds for miles and miles, and it was rather difficult for less than a hundred pegasi to make clouds large enough to give off lightning. Something was definitely wrong, and she got up from her desk just as the last crash of thunder died down.
Twilight trotted down the crystal hallways of her castle, the shining walls reflecting both her image and the clip-clop of her hooves through the corridors. The echoes became more pronounced as Twilight entered the front entrance and its high, spacious ceiling. Somebody was knocking on the front door, and she pulled it open with her unicorn magic. Rainbow Dash was standing outside, her chromatic mane boyishly swaying as the opening of the door let a draft into the castle.
"Hey, Rainbow-"
"Did you hear that, Twi? I thought thunderstorms weren't scheduled for the next two weeks..."
"That's not thunder, Dash. It's too consistent to be lightning. Whatever it is, we gotta go check it out. I'll call the girls, follow me."
The two ponies trotted through the main hallway all the way to the room at the far end and stepped through the sparkling doorway. Inside sat a table with a large map of Equestria surrounded by six large crystal thrones. Twilight took her seat at the largest throne and tapped her hoof on the trumpet button on her hoofrest. It was the emergency call button, magically linked to the Element bearers through their cutie marks. Twilight didn't like to use it much since it could catch one of her friends at an inconvenient time, but she thought it was necessary for an event like this.
Five minutes later, Applejack arrived at the table, clearly tired from both the apparent run to the castle and a day of hard work. Following Applejack was Pinkie Pie, who bounced and hopped into her designated seat with the constant energy she had about her. Fluttershy, though she lived near the Everfree, managed to trot inside before Rarity, who took thirty minutes to make herself "presentable, as any proper pony should." As Rarity elegantly took her seat, Twilight began talking.
"Alright, girls, I'm pretty sure you all know why we're here. Those booms you just heard sounded a bit strange, didn't they? I think we can assume that it's not thunder, since the sky is obviously clear. I'm sure you all know that we'll have to investigate whatever it is. Do you guys know anything about it?"
"Ah'm pretty sure it came from the Everfree," Applejack replied. "Ah was working at Sweet Apple Acres when I heard those noises. They sure were as loud as tarnation! But I reckon they came from far away, so it's probably deep in the forest."
"Oh, goodness gracious!" Rarity gasped. "In such a ghastly and uncivilized place? I'm not quite sure that we should be searching in such a...a...brutish location!"
"Come on, Rarity! Don't be such a fancypants," Rainbow Dash responded. "I bet that we could totally handle whatever we find in there. And if it's being a jerk, then I'll. give it a good ol'-!"
"Dash, I'm sure that it won't come to that. Now, anyone else have any contributions?"
"Well, it can't be any creature," Fluttershy softly spoke. "Those booms are definitely not natural. They're too similar. And if it is a creature, then I don't think I would know much about it. After all, something that can be that loud...!"
She slid under the table, teeth chattering as the terrifying thought of the monsters that lived in the Everfree filled her mind with fear. Fluttershy was very good at handling and taking care of animals, but her timid nature and fearful personality often got the best of her.
"Come on, Fluttershy! Don't be afraid! I'm sure if we come across a grumpy old meanie, we can just give it a party!"
"Is that your answer to every problem, Pinkie Pie?"
"Well, it's not a bad one, is it, Applejack?"
"Ah don't even wanna bother answerin'."
"So," Twilight interjected, we know that it was from the Everfree, and that it probably wasn't a creature. Anything else?"
The table was silent.
"Really, nothing?"
The table continued to be silent.
"Okay then. I guess we'll have to go and see what it is. I think that me, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash should go and check it out."
"Why not us?" Pinkie pie asked.
"Well, uh, I don't think that, uh... you guys are... quite..."
"Rarity's too fancy to get her hooves dirty, Fluttershy'd probably faint in under a minute, and Pinkie... you're just weird."
"Wow, Applejack, way to be super rude!"
"Hey, they don't call me the Element o' Honesty for nuffin."
"She's right," Twilight added. "Rainbow Dash and Applejack can handle themselves in a fight, and I know some basic combat magic. You guys would become a liability if you didn't know how to defend yourselves, especially in a place like the Everfree..."
"She has a point," Rarity commented.
"And I couldn't bear hurting another creature," Fluttershy added.
"Then it's decided. The three of us are going to go ahead and look for the cause of those noises tomorrow morning. We'll gather some supplies for our trip today. It's getting dark soon, so we'll have to get them quick. Tomorrow, we meet at the crack of dawn at Fluttershy's cottage."
"Does it have to be that early?"
"We want to have as much daylight as possible, Dash. Go to bed early if you have to. After all, we'll have a long day ahead of us."
Rainbow dash groaned at the idea of having to miss out on sleep. Still, she was excited to explore the Everfree and find out what was making all the noise. It would be just like one of her Daring Do books, like Daring Do and the Adventures of Naz'roh, where Daring do had to search for the Ruby of Despair in the dangerous jungles of...
"Sounds good," Applejack said, interrupting Rainbow Dash's train of thought. "I can get us some outdoors equipment. Sleepin' bags, ropes, maybe a tent..."
"I can get you some food!" Pinkie said.
"And I have some maps of the Everfree," Twilight added. "Alright girls, let's gather up what we need and get ready for tomorrow!"
-Luna-
Like the past tens of thousands of times, Luna's mind easily passed from her spacious office to the even vaster expanses of Equestria's magic field, and it was even easier to slip into the infinite void that was the dreamscape. However, once she was in the dreamscape she immediately searched for what she was looking for: the three alien minds that she was so very fascinated by. Consciousnesses without magic that had such advanced knowledge stored within their memories, yet just out of grasp... Luna didn't want to gain the attention of those minds, and she was rather uncertain as to how they would respond. It was as likely as not that such wondrous minds could be immensely powerful, and she didn't want to awaken an unknown threat upon Equestria.
Luna had decided to look into another mind that evening. As she approached the three points of light, she noticed that they gave off a slight twinge of fear that radiated a feeling of unease into the surrounding space. Curious, she decided to enter the red orb instead of the blue one she had looked at a few days ago. Like previously, Luna eased herself into the dream slowly before being rewarded by the same blank void of the other mind. However, instead of a bookshelf there was a metal rack with wire mesh covering the walls of it. She walked up to the rather utilitarian shelf and ran her hoof along the cold, smooth metal. Unlike the bookshelf, which was rather dusty, this rack was spotless. There was an assortment of objects on each shelf, but judging from the sword and shield on several of the items Luna could guess that the items were related to some sort of military or defense force.
This was certainly an interesting development for Luna. This meant that whatever those minds belonged to, they had to have some kind of army. What were they like? How many? How strong? Question after question filled her head, and she soon realized that those beings could have hostile intentions. If there was a military, then that meant defending...or attacking.
How big of a threat were they?
Luna knew from countless wars in her past that intelligence was the queen of the battlefield (who ruled next to the king of strategy), and she eagerly scanned the shelves for some sort of information. She eventually settled on picking up a thin booklet with a cover of thick, white paper and an illustration of a strange contraption in the shape of an L. She looked at the title of the book and was soon overwhelmed by the foreign words and phrases that were printed on the front cover.
What did Glock mean, and what was a pistol? Semi-Automatic meant some level of automation, and apparently there were 16 other variations on this weapon. And what was "U.S.?" A country? The one thing that she could figure out was the "Caliber" part. From her knowledge of cannons, this weapon was apparently designed to fire a projectile about the size of a...marble? That was extremely odd, and she continued checking the shelves for items of interest. She soon found the weapon that was portrayed on the cover under an olive-green T-shirt and picked it up from the shelf, alongside two thin stick-like boxes that held some sort of brass pellets inside of it.
Judging from its relatively small size, this weapon was clearly a personal small arm. For a weapon, it was surprisingly light, only about one and a half pounds. Perhaps it was because of the strange material that the lower portion (or what she assumed, from the book, was the lower portion) was made of. It was light, yet durable, and was smooth yet had a sort of fine texture to it. Holding the weapon and the sticks, she looked further into the book, flipping to the first page.
CAUTION: Follow safe firearm handling procedures before handling Glock products:
• ALWAYS assume the weapon is loaded and ready to fire
• NEVER point the weapon at anything you do not wish to destroy
• ALWAYS keep fingers off the trigger unless ready to fire...
Fingers...like the ones Minotaurs had? She had met some of them in the past, and from what she had seen and heard they were quite nimble digits, capable of fine manipulation that rivaled unicorn telekinesis. If these creatures had fingers, they were probably great craftsponies and artisans, like the Minotaurs. As for the rest of the safety instructions, Luna found little of note there. Apparently Glock was a manufacturer of sorts? The first factory in Equestria had opened about fifty years ago, and Luna was proud of her country's modernization. The idea of multiple entities mass-producing weapons, though, was a disquieting thought. Equestria's weapons were forged only by order of the Princesses in the Royal Workshops and only for the use of the Royal Guard. What sort of creatures - no, country - would have such an openness towards and demand for weapons? Luna continued reading, slightly unsettled yet curious.
The Glock series of pistols is and has been an advanced and highly capable weapons system for decades, owing to its many features that give it the highest durability, best performance, and most ease of performance. This is due to its:
• Use of low-weight plastic polymers in the receiver
• A Safe-Action system that ensures safe and reliable weapon handling
• A high-capacity magazine size...
Before Luna could get any further, her curiosity got the best of her, and she put the manual back on the shelf. She inspected the weapon further, touching the "receiver" with her dark blue hoof. Luna noticed that the bottom of the weapon seemed to have a cavity in it, and she was rather curious as to its function. She poked one of the sticks into the bottom before accidentally sliding it in. Once it had went in all the way, she was rewarded with a click that accented the locking of the box inside the weapon. Luna didn't intend to do that, and she quickly searched for a way to release the box from the weapon. She pulled the metal top of the weapon back, hoping that it would release the stick. Nothing happened. Maybe she should pull on this lever...?
It was a good thing that Luna had been pointing the weapon away from her body, because the weapon suddenly gave out a sharp crack and emitted a fiery blast from its front end. She let out a small yelp as a brass cylinder flew out of the top as the metal rail quickly snapped back and forth. The cylinder smoked and gave out a smell of brimstone as it fell to the floor with a metallic clink. The weapon soon followed suit with a clack as Luna stopped holding it with her magic, leaving nothing in the air but silence and a sharp, metallic odor.
-Noah-
"I swear to god, Leah, don't you fucking dare take a bite out of that thing!"
"But-"
"LITERAL ACID BLOOD, LEAH!"
"But-"
"JUST NO!"
"Fine, Noah."
Noah sighed as he poked the giant corpse with a plank of wood, watching as the green blood ate away at the tip of it. Some of the semi-melted wood goop dripped onto the morning dew, tarnishing the fresh early-morning air with a foul, chemical smell. "Besides," he remarked, "that thing's been dead for a day. I don't want anyone getting sick because they decided to eat some hell beast's flesh. Things are getting dangerous around here, and I'd rather keep everyone fit and healthy just in case something happens."
"He's a big guy," Andrew remarked.
"For you, at least. This thing might not be the biggest one out there," Noah stated. "Who knows what other deadly crap we're going to find? Damn, we should have built our defenses up better."
"That's probably not the biggest problem, though. I'm pretty sure," Leah asserted, "that that's a hydra. As in a Greek mythological monster. As in the ones known for having several heads and being super venomous. Seriously, what the heck is something that matches ancient mythology so unbelievably well doing on an alien planet? This can't be a coincidence."
"I don't even want to know," Noah sighed. "You know how this place is with coincidences. For now, let's just figure out how to deal with this thing. I'm pretty sure it's going to stink up pretty soon, and the acid blood isn't going to make it easier to move this away."
"Hmmm...hang on, we should let the blood drain out before we even touch it. After all," Andrew stated, it wouldn't be good if acid were to get on us while we're moving it away."
"Didn't the bullets do a lot of the work?"
"Yeah, Leah, but there's still several tons of alien meat that I'd rather get out of sight. It's going to be a real challenge to shove something the size of a large truck even ten meters. Unless...Noah, don't we have a couple pounds of high explosive?"
"About twenty pounds of Composition C, and several deton- Are you sure that's going to be alright?"
"Yeah. I think about a half-pound should take a decent chunk out of it. After that, it should be light enough to shove away from here. If not, we can always use more."
"You sure about that, Mr. I-know-how-to-blow-up-mythical-beasts?"
"Hey, Noah, do you just want it to sit there, rotting up the place? Or maybe you have a better plan."
"..."
"Then it's settled. Believe it or not, I have experience with explosive demolition, and I know how to handle high-explosives safely. I'm going to shove some shaped charges into the body, preferably with some protective gloves, and detonate it from a safe distance and behind cover. It won't spray poison everywhere or throw huge globs of meat at us, but I can ensure that the remaining mess will be relatively easy to clean up. I want to get started right now, since we still have a lot of daylight. Hopefully the entire body will be gone by mid-afternoon."
With that, Andrew walked into the pallet-and-tent shelter, searching for breakfast and plastic explosives.
"Hell is a devilish place, but it's a playground compared to the unknown. I know what tortures await me in hell; I do not know what awaits me in the unknown."
-Captain Jorman S. Haymell, "The Fifth Invasion"
-Luna-
Celestia and Luna sat in one of the castle's smaller dining halls, at a surprisingly dull oak dining table that seated six ponies at maximum. The morning sun shined through the room's lone window, landing on the plain white tablecloth and the slate tile that lined the floor. The wooden chairs they sat on were well worn from centuries of use, and the ponies who sat in them day after day had grown fond of their simple design that favored function over form. The two princesses had lived for millennia together, and their many years of living in much less comfortable conditions taught them to appreciate a simple lifestyle and spartan accommodations. Although they made sure that the public saw them living in luxury, the truth was that they preferred to live their lives much more humbly than their subjects expected.
Their simple yet filling meals also reflected their preference for a simple lifestyle. Celestia was enjoying a hearty bowl of sweetened oatmeal, while Luna was digging into a simple garden salad. Because of their duties as the alicorn rulers of Equestria, their sleep schedules (and mealtimes) were directly opposite one another's. Whereas Celestia was eating her breakfast in preparation for her solar duties, Luna was having dinner right before she slept through the brightest part of the day.
Luna, however, didn't feel like sleeping much after what she had just seen. After the weapon she had found in the dreamscape had...for lack of a better term, exploded, she had quickly exited that mind so as to not disturb it any further. Luna woke up from her trance at around five in the morning, and she was still a bit shaken by the encounter.
"What's wrong, Luna?"
Luna looked up from the salad she had been poking at with a slight twinge of unease. Being sisters meant that Celestia and Luna could read each other's emotions as easily as they did books. She sighed, unsure of how to say what she had on her mind.
"'Tia, you know those beings I've found in the dreamscape?"
Celestia nodded. Luna had told her about the three magicless minds that she had encountered in the dreamscape, and the book she had found in it. Though Luna was rather interested, Celestia was slightly apathetic towards the discovery. Celestia was never too interested in change and preferred tradition and routine, so the news didn't particularly interest her. Luna's news would change that, though.
"Yes, Luna, the consciousnesses. They're quite notable, from what I've heard of them from you, but they aren't all that important in my opinion. That table was interesting, but I don't see how it's supposed to affect our country. If anything, it's probably a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. Probably an alchemist's notes or something."
"Well...it's more that that, 'Tia. I looked into another one of the minds... and I found a weapon."
Celestia had just finished her oatmeal, but she didn't get up just yet. Her eyes widened in surprise as the implications of the discovery entered her mind, though they soon went back to normal.
"Go on," she pressed as she lowered her spoon into the bowl.
"The first mind I went into had a bookshelf inside of it. This one had a metal rack in it. I could tell that it was a soldier's from the symbols on much of the items on it. I remember there were several green clothing articles, a couple of boxes, and... the thing that caught my interest was a sort of... here, I'll show you."
Luna's horn lit up, and a replica of the weapon materialized, floating in the middle of the air. Illusion spells were handy when somepony wanted to show an image of something that was hard to describe, and Luna's experience with magic made the fake weapon all the more convincing. Celestia stared at the black shape, her eyes tracing the outline of the L as Luna rotated it mid-air.
"Interesting."
"There's more," she continued as the weapon faded from their perceptions. "From what I've gathered, these creatures are from a country. A well-organized country with a military force that arms itself with weapons like this. It came with a guide on its use, Celestia, and I learned a lot. These creatures have fingers, like Minotaurs. And they have more than one group that manufactures these! Why? But that's not the biggest thing, Celestia. These weapons are unlike anything Equestria has in her arsenal. From what I've seen from the guide, it's apparently a miniature cannon. And it's light, only about one and a half pounds."
"That's ridiculous! A weapon that light, that's a cannon?"
"Absolutely! It's a small arm, though. Definitely too weak to take down a wall. But from what I've gathered, it can outrange the average archer. It apparently has a range of one hundred hooflengths, and it can fire once every second! Imagine, Celestia, an entire army with these weapons. One casualty per second, over such a range..."
"Relax, Luna. If these beings are here to fight, we can easily defend ourselves. Equestrian armor is the best, and I doubt those things can pierce it. Not only that, but didn't you say that those creatures had no magic? They'll have a hard time against unicorn mages in an open battlefield. Go ahead and look into it, though. I'm rather interested in what you might find."
With that, Celestia stood up and walked out of the room, leaving Luna to her thoughts. She would look in the other mind tonight, that was for sure.
-Rainbow Dash-
Getting up this early is a crime against proper sleep, Rainbow Dash grumbled as she trotted up to the green door. The heavy saddlebags she carried at her side dug into her back, and the chilly morning air was just cold enough to make her shudder a little as she knocked on the door. The dull grey of the morning sky gave little light, but Dash could still see the various critters that surrounded Fluttershy's cottage. It was surprising that the yellow pony was so good with animals, since earth ponies were the natural-born creature handlers. Perhaps it was her kind and caring nature, which made itself evident in all of her actions and habits, that allowed her to care for and tend to them with ease. Even the way she carefully and cautiously opened the door displayed her gentle personality. A warm, homely smile spread across her lips as she pulled the door further open and stepped to the side.
"Oh, hi, Rainbow Dash. Come in, Twilight and Applejack are waiting, they're in the dining room."
"Thanks, Fluttershy. Is everything ready?"
"Yep! You should have everything you need, plus enough food for three or four days. Pinkie Pie had fun making her, uh, 'Super Tummy Filler Bricks for Hungry Little Colts and Fillies'. She told me to tell you that."
Rainbow Dash set down her saddlebags, then trotted into the dining room. Applejack and Twilight were sitting at the dining table, their saddlebags resting next to the stools that they sat on. A lantern sat in the middle, its candlelight illuminating the myriad assortment of bags, belts, and ropes that were strewn across the table. As she entered the room, Twilight turned her head from the map she was reading and Applejack stopped munching on the toast she had in her hoof.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash!"
"Howdy, Dash."
Rainbow dash took her seat at the end of the table and looked around the table. "So," she asked, "what's the plan?"
Twilight set down the map on the table and moved it closer to Rainbow Dash. The map was of the Everfree Forest and its surroundings, with several paths and landmarks scattered throughout the trees. The Everfree was about fourty gallops long at its widest and was about five thousand plots in size. Several lines were drawn across it in pencil, and the lines seemed to converged somewhere in the middle of the forest.
"I've gathered some information from ponies around the forest regarding the source of the noises. Using their reports, I've triangulated the general area that the source of the noises should be in. I had to make do with what ponies have told me, and they weren't very exact about the direction of the booms. Our search area is about four plots, so we have a lot of looking to do. Luckily, it's actually very close to where we are now, so we won't have very far to go. We'll enter here," she said as she pointed at the nearest edge of the Everfree, "and walk straight towards the sound. We're walking through dense forest, so it will probably take us about a half-day to reach the noises. From there, we'll set up camp and search for the source. Hopefully, we can find it. We'll leave after about two days if we haven't, same way we came in. I'll go into further detail once we're inside. Understand, Dash?"
"Sounds like a load of egghead talk, but whatever you say, Twilight. I trust ya."
"Great. Now get ready to leave at sunrise, which should be... in about thirty minutes. We don't want to be late, since we want to have as much daylight as possible for us to look around."
As Twilight and Applejack went back to their preparations, Rainbow Dash grabbed her saddlebags from the living room and began to slide supplies into it. She didn't plan on carrying one of the heavier rucksacks that the others were, since she was a pegasus. If anything dangerous were to happen, she would need to be fast and agile enough to deal with it.
It was easy to underestimate the dangers of the Everfree.
-Leah-
Okay, maybe it was a dumb idea to try and take a bite out of the acid monster.
Leah sighed as the third needle melted inside the hydra's flesh, leaving nothing but a plastic syringe that mildly reeked of a burnt chemical smell. She had been trying to get some samples of the creature's body before the boys decided to blow it all up, but the green liquid that trickled out of its corpse was ruining all her equipment. How the heck does a creature live with acid for blood? And what other freaky things would they find?
All the more reason to find out.
To be honest, she hadn't exactly kept up with her promise of "doing science" since she had arrived. Sure, she did put a couple of plants under a microscope, but she had actually spent most of her free time playing video games like the lazy little girl she was. Besides, biology wasn't her major; physics was, and she didn't exactly remember too much of the former from her high school days. She had little idea what all the organs in the local critters were supposed to do, so how was she supposed to figure out how a monster was supposed to live when its internal fluids were literally caustic?
Leah sighed, then walked back towards the tent with her plastic container of material sampling equipment in her hands. The mid-morning air was nice and cool, and her green T-shirt fluttered in the windy breeze. The clean forest air, though refreshing, was tainted by the smell of old, sour sweat. Her shirt was beginning to really stink after two (three?) weeks, and she would need to wash it soon.
Leah didn't bother pulling the door-slab over the entryway, since the guys were still taking demolition equipment outside and preparing to remove a huge chunk out of the hydra corpse. She put down the box on her table next to her laptop and a low-magnification microscope, then opened her laptop. Andrew's table was covered with tens of thick instruction manuals and a large toolbox, and Noah's had little on it but a half-disassembled pistol, several cartridges, and an empty rifle magazine. Leah sat down at her desk, typing the observations that she had made onto her computer. There wasn't much to type out; all she really did was take a few pieces of its outer flesh that had minimal amounts of blood on it and put it in a glass bottle. She did, however, take a video of the creature, showing it off from all angles and examining its insides (or rather, what was left of the insides as observed from the giant holes in its corpse.) The video would probably be the most important part of her recordings, since she couldn't and didn't know how to properly examine the samples that she had managed to recover. She still had about a petabyte of storage available on her computer, so storing the hundred or so megabytes that the high-definition recording took up on her computer wouldn't be an issue.
"Hey, Leah, what're you doing?"
"Nothing much, just trying to get some samples from the hydra. What about you?"
Andrew smiled as Leah turned to face him. He walked past her, his heavy construction boots thunking on the wooden sheets that served as a floor with his every step. He stopped for a moment in front of a pile of boxes to wipe his forehead and dry his brown skin. Sweat rolled off of his black hair and fell to the floor, each drop plopping onto the dusty and dirty floor. Everything about Andrew, from his height and his musculature to his serious brown eyes and stereotypical Mexican stubble, made him look big and threatening to those who didn't know him. A couple of days with him, however, had convinced Leah that he was actually a calm, quiet man who tried his best to keep those around him happy. Leah watched as Andrew pulled the lid off of a small metal box, then took four tiny metal spikes with wires sticking out of one end.
"That should be all we need. Hey Leah, you should come out of the house. Noah wants you behind proper cover just in case things don't go as well as planned. It probably won't go too bad, but just in case..."
Leah stood up as Andrew slid the blasting caps into his pocket and walked through the doorframe. She followed him to a pile of dirt about two feet high and ten feet wide, where Noah was already kneading what seemed to be white clay into a cone. There were three of them on the dirt ground, each one only about the size of a badminton birdie. Just as she was about to ask about the explosives, Noah noticed her and waved at her to come closer.
"You're interested in the C-4? I thought you'd run away from it. Don't worry, this definitely won't explode unless one of these little metal rods," he said while wiggling a detonator in the air, "goes off. And that's not happening until we hook it up to the blast control box."
"I'm not too concerned about what looks like old dough. Why are you shaping it like that, though?"
"The cone shape lets the blast deliver its explosion precisely and accurately. Our plan right now is to set the charges facing away from the camp to minimize shrapnel - AKA corpse meat. The explosions will just barely blow out almost all of the body's mass, which'll hopefully leave some easily movable pieces of scorched meat that we can shove somewhere else. Andrew did the calculations, don't ask me. Speaking of which - Hey Andrew, I'm done!"
Andrew set aside a black box with several rows of switches and lights on it jogged towards Noah. He took the four charges from his hand, their combined mass barely larger than the the four-by-three inch box the detonators were packed in.
"Thanks, Noah. I'll set these onto the hydra. You guys get behind cover and prepare for detonation, I don't want anyone to get hurt."
As Andrew began to walk towards the corpse, Leah and Noah crouched down behind the mound of dirt. Noah grabbed a nearby ballistics helmet and handed it to Leah, who put it on as he tightened the chin strap. Safety was number one when it came to high explosives, after all.
Several rapid footsteps came from over the crest, and Andrew soon vaulted over the miniature hill of dirt, landing squarely between Noah and Leah. He then plugged a nearby wire into the switch-covered box, his hands shaking as he did so. A rapid panting pierced the calm of the meadow, which was then accented by a high-pitched drone as Andrew turned the box on. A series of red lights flashed across the top, flickering and flashing for several seconds before they turned off. A single green light labeled "READY" lit up, and Andrew took a moment to compose himself.
"Okay, okay... Is everything safe, Noah?"
"Yep. The blast won't damage the house, and the shrapnel should fly towards the forest and away from our base."
Andrew leaned back into the dirt and let out a deep sigh. "I want you guys to assume the fetal position and cover your ears. And whatever happens, DON'T LIFT YOUR HEAD UP UNTIL I SAY SO. Got that?"
Leah and Noah nodded, then grabbed their heads and hunched over their legs. Andrew let out a soft sigh, then crossed himself. His Hispanic upbringing had gave him an appreciation for the power of the Holy Trinity, and it had done him him well through his life. Even when he was trillions of miles from home (and probably several dimensions away as well), he had managed to endure with faith and hope.
With the blessing of the Lord behind his actions, Andrew flipped the "CHANNEL 1" switch.
A small spark of electricity shot through the wire from the detonation box to the four blasting caps. The gram of lead azide in each detonator was then ignited, causing a series of small explosions that would barely make a dent in the hydra body. That wasn't their purpose, though; they were meant to initiate the much more destructive Conposition-C.
C-4, when put under high amounts of simultaneous heat and pressure, chemically decomposes into a mixture of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and several other gases. These gases then violently expand at a rate of eight kilometers per second, resulting in a large, loud, and undeniably destructive explosion that tends to destroy anything in its path.
The hydra had died laying on its side, its stomach facing away from the house and towards the Everfree. By about a thousandth of a second after the lead azide had detonated, the primary explosives attached to its belly had completely activated in a thunderous explosion that rang out across the forest. The earth trembled and shook as shockwaves liquidized and pulverized the monster's insides, turning them into an acidic broth of blood and flesh. The soft underside of the three-headed beast was immediately torn open, sending small chunks of scales and muscle flying into the trees.
The deafening boom that came with the shockwave hit the trio's ears and sent a jolt of shock down their bodies. The echo of the explosion lingered for several seconds, overpowering all other sounds. Then a pittering sound, not unlike rain, edged its way into the surrounding soundscape, followed by a faint bubbling and hissing.
"Oh, oh shoot...shoot! That isn't good, goddamn it!"
Andrew was right. Though most of the acidic flesh-mush was thrown harmlessly into the forest, some of it was randomly flung the other way - towards the house. Andrew wanted to rush towards their precious supplies, but he could only sit in regret and wait for the deadly rain to stop falling. What was actually two minutes felt like hours of waiting and wondering what would be damaged by the shower of liquid monster and acid.
He patted the shoulders of his friends as the last echoes and patters faded out, signaling that it was safe to get out of cover. Andrew shakily stood up, then nervously crawled up over the mound and looked at the carnage he had unleashed. It was hard to tell exactly how much of the body was remaining, but he knew that not much of it was still in one piece. The explosion had blown acid in a hundred-degree fan, leaving a hazy cloud of white gas and a hissing that could still be heard in the silence that surrounded the forest. Not all of the scorch marks were in that direction, though. Andrew turned his attention to the house, scanning it for signs of damage - and let out a sigh. It was mostly unharmed, even though visible holes could be seen in some parts of the walls.
"Jesus..."
"I know, Noah. I know, but we can't let this get to us. We have to just endure whatever nature throws at us. And maybe stop being such idiots while we're at it. Come on, we gotta clean this mess up."
Andrew turned around and walked towards the house, bracing himself as he inspected the damage. For what was probably the thousandth time in a row, Lady Luck had been on their side. As he approached the house, he discovered that the holes he had seen earlier were just chemical burns, most not even deep enough to penetrate the wood and canvas walls of their shelter. The meat and blood mixture was certainly still caustic, but it was apparently diluted enough to protect their shelter from serious damage. Luckily, the solar panels were preemptively stored inside, so nothing was seriously damaged. They would have to be a lot more careful in the future, though. Sooner or later, their luck would ran out.
Andrew just hoped it would be later rather than sooner.
-Expedition-
The journey into the Everfree was tougher than Twilight had expected. Even with her expert planning, they were still only two gallops deep in the forest, and it was already midmorning. The dense forest underbrush grew wildly and densely, meaning that Twilight had to brush them aside with each step. At least they didn't need to worry about critters; so far, the only "dangerous" beings that they had encountered were a bunch of insects and a couple of squirrels. The journey into the forest was rather dull, though, and Twilight's hooves were beginning to get tired.
Though the air was cool and breezy, Twilight still managed to work up a sweat. She looked back at Rainbow Dash and Applejack, who were still fine. They were tougher mares whose lives involved more exercise than Twilight's bookworm personality afforded, and they barely showed any signs of tiring.
Suddenly, Twilight held her hoof up. They stopped, and the sound of running water could be faintly heard up ahead. All three ponies knew what that meant, and they wordlessly pushed on towards the sound of water. Twilight pulled bush after bush aside, continuing forward until there was no foliage left to pull aside.
The creek that they had stumbled upon was a small one, with water slowly trickling down its path. The two or three meters to its side were covered with dried leaves and the occasional fallen tree. Using her magic, Twilight pulled out a map and a compass, taking a moment to reorient herself.
"...If we're here...and that's in the east, then... we should be...aw man, that's bad."
"What is it, Twilight?" Applejack asked.
"It's nothing big, we're just a bit behind schedule. Why don't we take a rest here? We can fill up our canteens and maybe eat something. It'll be nice to rest our hooves after such a long walk," Twilight suggested as she stuffed the navigational equipment back in her bags.
Rainbow Dash was the first to sit down and take her bags off of her back. She flipped open her saddlebag and reached into it, pulling out a surprisingly heavy brick of what looked like condensed fruitcake. Rainbow Dash needed a lot of food to fuel her high metabolism, and the trek into the forest only accelerated it. Still, the bricks were quite filling, and she managed to scarf down only a third of one. The taste was mildly sweet and a little salty, but not bland. She could taste a faint strawberry taste with a little bit of peanut, and the overall flavor was pleasant but not overpowering. Applejack and Twilight were also hungry, and they bit into their blocks as well.
Pinkie sure knew what she was doing with these, Dash thought.
As Twilight finished filling her belly with the surprisingly calorie-dense food, she stood up and trotted over to the river, canteen in hand. Tasty as they were, Pinkie's food bricks were quite dry and thirst-inducing, and a lot of water was necessary to get the pasty bricks down her throat. She dipped the canteen into the creek, waiting for it to fill with water.
*BOOM*
Yesterday's explosions sounded like faraway thunder; this one sounded - and felt - like an enormous explosion. The three ponies immediately turned to the sound of the noise, ears perked up in surprise. Even though they were closer to it than Ponyville, they could tell that it would have been much louder even back in Rainbow Dash's cloud-house. The echo hung around for what seemed like forever afterwards, its persistence only barely dampened by the surrounding trees and foliage. Twilight immediately telekinetically grabbed her compass and map out of her saddlebags again, her head still pointed towards the explosion. She looked at her compass, then back at the noise, then back at her compass, then at her map. A pencil levitated out of her bag's side pocket, and she immediately drew several lines across the map.
"...what was that, Twi?" Applejack nervously asked.
"I don't know. But I do know where it is; northeast of us, about 40 degrees. It doesn't sound too far off, either. We should probably rest for a bit longer, though; I want to be prepared for whatever it might be."
"Whatever it is, I'll beat the tar out-"
"Don't, Dash. It probably ain't a good idea."
Twilight sighed as she walked back to the group, taking a swig from her canteen and putting the map back in her bag once again. Dash is just being Dash, she mused. At least she would have some help if whatever made the noise was hostile. Twilight sat down and watched Rainbow Dash read her Daring Do book as the sound of running water calmed her nerves. Applejack had lowered her hat and was peacefully napping the minutes away. The orange pony was surprisingly calm at times, and her nerves almost never got the best of her.
The three ponies sat there for an hour in uninterrupted peace before Twilight decided that they had rested long enough. They continued on, venturing further into the forest and deeper into the unknown.
Sometimes, the hardest thing to do is to say "Hello."
-Charlie Andrie, The Triumvirate
-Applejack-
This sure ain't where I'd want to spend my evening.
Although it was still sunny in the forest, the afternoon sun was quickly falling below the horizon and would disappear in a matter of hours. Applejack knew that they would have to stop soon; if they didn't, they wouldn't have enough daylight to set up camp. Plus, this part of the forest was quite dense with foliage and underbrush. They would have to sleep on the branches, since the forest floor would be filled with creepy crawlies and dangerous wildlife. Setting up their cloth sleeping bags would take a lot of time - time that they wouldn't have if the sky went dark.
"Uh...Twi?"
"What is it, Applejack?"
"I think we should stop for the night. It'll get real dark soon, and we don't wanna run outta daylight."
"Good idea. I think I've had enough walking for a day. Let's set up camp."
The three ponies stopped in the middle of a ring of oak trees, their coffee-brown bark standing in contrast to their orange and red autumn foliage. The leaves that carpeted the ground were the same shade as the ones on the trees, and they crunched as Rainbow Dash took off with a rope between her teeth. Soon, with the help of Applejack's lasso-tossing skill and Twilight's magic, three sturdy rope hammocks were strung up across the branches of three different oaks. A few more minutes and their packs were hung from the trees, safe from the creatures that prowled the forest floor at night.
Applejack took a look around her surroundings as she climbed up her tree. Having hooves made the task quite difficult, but her earth pony strength allowed her to tightly grip onto the branches and pull herself up to her bedroll. As she ascended, the leaves gave way to the blue and orange sky. The setting sun over the orange and yellow forest canopy made for a breathtaking image, and Applejack paused for a moment to take in the scenery before settling down in her bed.
As she pulled up her bag to get some food, she noticed Rainbow Dash and Twilight pulling out books from theirs. Rainbow Dash, unlike Twilight with her magic, couldn't just make light, so she pulled out a tiny metal lantern from her bag as well. She held it with her wing as she grabbed a flint and lighted it. Dash strung the miniature lamp above her head just as the last red sliver of Celestia's sun slipped beneath the horizon, taking its life-giving light with it.
Applejack, however, didn't have a book with her. She was a simple pony, and though she could read and write decently well her interest were elsewhere. Earth ponies were born to care for the land, and literacy was rarely a concern for an apple farmer such as Applejack. Besides, it was always important to get enough rest for the next day. Pegasi and unicorns always seemed to be out of time with nature, and they didn't seem to have the same connection to the world that earth ponies did. Applejack, on the other hand, knew that sleep was always a well-appreciated commodity, whether on the farm or away from home. After she swallowed the last clump of Pinkie's food and took a sip from her canteen, she simply turned away from the other two ponies and closed her eyes. The wild cadence of crickets and owls quickly put her to sleep.
With Celestia's warm sun gone, the bright, white crescent of Luna's moon soon took over the sky...
-Luna-
It had been a long time since Luna had felt fear in the dreamscape. When she had been banished to the moon so many centuries ago, she had still been able to visit her dear ponies in their dreams. Her separation from Equestria, though, had prevented from going any deeper into the dreamscape, where the real night terrors resided. Even when she had returned several years ago, she hadn't faced anything that would have truly had her shaking at her knees. Now, however, she was staring into an enigma. These beings might be harmless, or they might have hostile intentions. They could be laughably weak, or devastatingly powerful. If she wasn't careful, there was the possibility of serious consequences. She couldn't just ignore it, however; from what she had seen, not acting could have just as disastrous results. She was worried - so much, in fact, that she had had some difficulty in slipping into the right mindset for dreamwalking.
Many ponies would have entered the military mind first had they been in Luna's position. Luna, however, knew that repeated excursions into the same mind would cause her to become more noticeable - the exact opposite of what she wanted. The blue light was the ideal choice that night for one reason: it was the least explored. Whatever was in it might be immensely important or of trivial significance; it was still the best choice for Luna. With the same gentle slip she had learned to employ over the past few days, she dived into the mind.
The same blank space that she had encountered in the past two consciousnesses came into her view, and Luna looked around for something to examine. She quickly spotted the shelf behind her, its wooden panels holding all manner of planks and tools, and stepped closer to examine the legs and the shelves. The wood was quite straight and well cut, though its unvarnished exterior and lack of carvings meant that it wasn't built for appearances. Nicks and cuts were evident everywhere, and paint marks occasionally dotted the wood.
The top three shelves were occupied by planks and some sort of white tubing, whereas the bottom two held an assortment of tools. Some, like the nails and wrenches, were quite familiar. Others, however, were more obtuse, such as a rather heavy tool that seemed to be a drill and a hammer with a claw on the back of the head. On top of all that, the tools were clearly of advanced manufacture. The nails were as straight as a line, and it would take the finest blacksmiths in Equestria to produce screwdrivers of such high quality.
As she passed her eyes over the tools, she couldn't help but notice a small wooden ruler with a crayon scribble decorating its length. "Property of Andrew", it proudly announced in a crude, child-like scrawl. Although it was a lot of information to take in, Luna only continued to survey the shelves and push the questions further back in her mind. She could think about what she had seen later; for now, her priority was looking for objects to examine.
Though she could gloss over them for days, Luna soon ran out of things to look at. The pipes were smooth and strong yet flexible and light, and the planks were well cut but otherwise uninteresting. Even the tools, once she had committed them to memory, were nothing to fawn over. There was not much reason to stay, and Luna prepared to leap out of the dream and back to her office. She would have much time to think about her observations.
Something caught her attention, though. In the corner of her eye, she saw a black mass ominously floating just outside of her vision. Luna turned toward it - and found a squat, grotesque figure hunched over a bloody, mutilated corpse. The monster was completely pitch black, with tentacles and insectoid limbs spurting out from its body at oblique, unnatural angles and glowing white eyes randomly scattered across its amorphous body. It snacked on the body with a series of demonic, malformed teeth as Luna stood in pure shock and terror.
Then the monster noticed Luna and turned its eyes towards her.
Although it was about thirty meters away, the creature quickly scuttled towards Luna at a frightening pace. With each uneven step, the monster dripped a black, frothy goo on the floor. Luna, though she had once fought greater dreamdemons, was shocked by the sudden appearance of such a ghastly creature. Never before had she encountered a creature like that in all her years, and Luna didn't know how dangerous it could be. She backed away from the approaching creature, slowly withdrawing before turning around and galloping at full tilt. Wasting no time, she quickly opened a gateway back into reality and leaped through, immediately closing it once she was through.
Luna woke up sprawled on the ground, her head pounding like a hammer and anvil. The high ceiling was blurry and hard to make out, and her headache didn't make it any easier to gain focus. She felt ill and queasy, and Luna only barely managed to keep from vomiting all over her beautiful rug. Abruptly leaving a dreamscape without easing oneself through the magical field takes a harsh toll on the body, but Luna was no mere pony. Whereas the average unicorn would have been in a coma, alicorns could get away with just a bit of discomfort.
Still, Luna couldn't help but cough and sputter as she lay spread-eagle on the floor, and thirty minutes passed before she could gather enough strength to stand.
-Noah-
Noah twiddled a pencil around in his fingers as he sat on the aluminum folding chair, his gaze staring somewhere past the plywood walls of the house. Crickets droned on through the night, a mind-numbing backdrop that dominated the forest's soundscape and ground against his ears. The late night moon cast a dim glow onto the rotting remains of the mutilated hydra just outside of the house, highlighting the poor choices that the group had made just a few hours ago. Without anything to distract him, Noah couldn't help but stew in his regret as the night pushed on. He was supposed to be keeping watch - they had started to sleep in shifts so as to always be ready for threats - but the boredom of the night had left him with no choice but to wallow in self-pity and misery.
In retrospect, nuking the dead monster was a bad idea. Noah had known about the people who had tried to blow up whales before - it just hadn't occured to him that something similar would happen. Even though they had gotten off scot-free, the potential damage they could have caused wasn't a laughing matter. What was worse, they had expanded some of their precious materials. Sure, high-explosives weren't exactly in high demand as of now, but they couldn't just needlessly use it. Lord knew when they would return...if they would return to Earth.
Every nagging detail, every overlooked mistake and consequence swam around in Noah's mind, aggregating into an enormous mass of worry. What - or who - had heard the explosion? How much longer would they have to survive here? How would they handle a much more serious disaster?
"Are you alright, Noah?"
Leah had gotten up from her desk and walked over to Noah, the concern in her eyes evident even in the dim lighting. Her laptop was brightly glowing on her table, its screen too far away to discern any details. Without any warning, Leah wrapped her arms around Noah and gave him a big bear hug.
"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks. Don't worry yourself over me."
"I'm not going to stop until you tell me what's wrong, you big doofus."
Leah could be a bit childish at times, but Noah appreciated her ability to maintain an upbeat attitude all the time. It was one of the things that kept him going throughout this entire mess.
"Well," he sighed, "I can't help but think about the mess we've gotten ourselves into. I mean, we haven't been making the smartest decisions since we've arrived. Andrew and I should have spent more time thinking about our plan before we blew up the dragon thing and almost destroyed our house. Seriously, someone could have been injured, or killed..."
"You're the one who needs to stop worrying. We might have made some mistakes, but we can't change them now that they're all in the past. Just suck it up and be more prepared in the future. I can't believe I'm telling you this," Leah huffed. "You're a grown-ass man!"
"I understand. Thanks, for-"
The two turned towards the sudden shuffling that came from somewhere in the other room. They were startled by the sudden movement, but not scared. Leah casually walked through the doorway and into the other room to check on Andrew as Noah sat and listened.
"...Ugh, that was a freaking scary dream."
"You awake? Tell me about it."
"Alright...you know that movie? The, the one with the freaky spider monster," Andrew stuttered out.
"Crawler?"
"Yeah. That one. I was in my old middle school, and that thing was chasing me through the hallways. I tried to run, but I was slowing down, and..."
"And what?" Leah sat down on the floor, intrigued by his recollection of the dream.
"I don't know. I mean, I saw what happened, but it didn't make sense. All of a sudden there was this white room, and I was the crawler. There was a dark figure in the room...I couldn't make it out. But she was next to my childhood tool rack, and that made me mad for some reason."
"Wait, she?"
"Yeah. For some reason, I knew it was a she. I remember that really well, maybe a bit too well for a dream. Anyways, I was mad, so I chased her down. She ran away and disappeared, and then I was sad..."
"Then?"
"Then I woke up. Weird, huh?"
"Yeah, for sure. Maybe it's because of all the weird stuff that's been happening recently."
Leah nodded. "Want to get up now, since you're awake and all?"
"Why not. I think Noah could use some sleep after all he's gone through." Days on the alien planet were surprisingly uniform with those of Earth, and the humans managed to effectively sleep in shifts without any ill effects. Each day was an hour longer than back home, but it wasn't hard to adjust. Noah slept from the equivalent of 4 in the morning to noon, Leah from then to 8 in the evening, and Andrew from 8 to 4 through the night.
"What are we doing today?" Andrew asked.
"Moving more dead beast," Leah replied as Andrew pulled himself off the plywood floor, throwing his space blanket off of his body.
Try not to screw up. But if you do, blame it on the circumstances.
-Nathaniel Brooks, How to Succeed in Life
-Rainbow Dash-
The chirping of songbirds slowly pecked away at the thick haze, each burst of sound slowly waking the pegasus up from her sleep. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, blinking away the last remnants of her slumber. She laid in a daze for a moment as the bright morning light filtered through the trees, which was occasionally interrupted by the odd passing cloud. Her head soon became clearer, and she slid out of the sleeping bag and stretched her wings out. A soft yawn slid out of her mouth as she prepared her muscles for the day ahead.
"Good morning, Rainbow Dash!"
Twilight was pulling her saddlebags and her sleeping bag off the tree when Rainbow Dash turned towards her. Her magic made quick work of the hanging bags, but Rainbow Dash noticed that Applejack was already packed up and ready to embark on their search. Probably just Applejack waking up way too early, she thought.
"Morning, Twilight. What're we doin' today?"
"Well, we still have a half-league to travel. Then we'll set up a camp and look around for whatever made those noises. Sound good, Dash?"
Rainbow dash nodded as she secured a footing on the thick branches she had rested on, then fluttered her wings. She hovered around the limbs, easily packing up the bedroll despite having only hooves to do so. Many years of living with hooves meant that ponies had developed rather inventive ways to perform basic functions, and the straps of Rainbow Dash's gear were no exception. It wasn't long before she had completely prepared to embark, and the three set off through the woods.
The warm hues of autumn surrounded the ponies as they trekked, their ears graced with the comforting sounds of mother nature. As they continued, the trees and shrubs became denser and denser. They encountered more and more vegetation with each step into the forest, and soon their vision was almost completely obscured by the browns and yellows of the fall forest. Before long, the sun faded behind the foliage, turning the bright colors of fall into a darker shade. Soon, the first unsettling thoughts crawled their way into the ponies' minds.
Rainbow Dash had started the day with an optimistic outlook, in a sunny and happy forest. Now, however, as Twilight pushed aside branch after branch and Applejack struggled to keep her signature stetson on her head, she felt a little bit uneasy in the woods. The cragged trunks of the denser, wilder forest formed strange shadows in the background, and the cheerful birds chirps had been replaced by an almost sinister breeze that whistled and whooshed as it passed their ears and rustled the branches of the trees.
"I don't exactly like the looks of this place, Twi."
Applejack was the first to voice her concerns about the forest. She wasn't wrong to do so; though the Everfree was much more friendly in certain spots, it could also be quite untamed and dangerous in others. If they were going to encounter trouble anywhere, this part of the woods would be the place.
"Don't worry, Applejack. Everything will be fine. We'll beat up anything that-"
A snap from somewhere nearby quickly cut Rainbow Dash's bravado. The three ponies froze on the spot, completely silent and searching for the source of the noise. Nothing happened for a second - then a rustling sound came from their right, slowly getting louder and closer. Rainbow Dash began to tense her wings, prepared for a fight. Twilight readied her magic, and Applejack quietly assumed a fighting stance.
Suddenly, a brown, blurry mass burst out of the nearby bushes, zooming closer by the second. Twilight's reflexes were quick, however, and she sent a flurry of magical bolts flying towards the incoming creature. Several found their mark, and the injured creature collapsed to the forest floor, sending up a cloud of dirt. The ponies glanced at the canine form lying on the ground, its wooden body and green eyes sending a shock of fear through their hearts. None of them made a sound as they stared, mouths agape, at the body on the ground.
Timberwolf.
Far away yet terrifyingly close by, howls broke out across the woods and broke the silence. Though they were ready for a fight, all three ponies knew that there would be too many for them to keep at bay. Applejack glanced at Twilight, then Rainbow Dash, then Twilight before breathing out "Run!" in a panicked voice.
That snapped the other two ponies out of their stupor, and they began to blindly dash through the forest at full gallop. The dense foliage scratched and tore at their coats, but they still zipped through the branches and twigs at full speed. The calls of the timberwolf pack followed them as they were pursued, a faraway whine that slowly but surely closed in on the ponies. None of the three ponies knew where they were running; their minds were addled by the rush of pure adrenaline, and only two thoughts managed to remain with them as they ran.
Stay together.
Escape.
-Castaways-
Another hunk of meat gone, a hundred more to go.
Thankfully, the acidic hydra blood had mostly drained out of the chunks after they were blown apart. It was important to err on the side of caution, though, and Leah wore rubber gloves and an apron as she carried the bits of flesh away to the designated "let it rot over there" pile. Spots of yellow and black grass marked the places where they had landed, the vegetation corroded and poisoned by the toxic liquid.
She flung the heavy chunk onto the pile, where it landed with a satisfying "thwack". With a quick burst of air out of her nose, Leah turned around and began to walk over to Andrew, who was picking around the main body of the hydra.
"Hey Andrew, what're you doing?" she asked.
"Well, I was thinking...you see these heads?"
"Yeah?"
"They would make a good decoration, you know? We could hang it on a wall, to commemorate-"
"No, wait! We could have it on a wooden spike outside, as a warning."
"Well, who do we even have to warn?"
"I don't know. I guess the wildlife?"
Andrew opened his mouth to voice his argument against the idea, but a distant howl broke their conversation. The two snapped their heads towards the source of the sound, listening as it died down far away. Several more called back in response, some of them too nearby for comfort.
"Oh, crap. Come on, Leah, we gotta wake up Noah!"
Andrew grabbed Leah by the wrist and ran towards the house, almost dragging her behind him. He kicked the door open, quickly grabbing his gun off of a nearby table and tossing another to Leah. She ran over to the back room, sliding a magazine into the stock of her bullpup as she shook Noah awake.
"Is something happening?" he asked as he tossed his covers off. His training allowed him to immediately snap to attention at the drop of a hat, even from deep sleep.
"Something's howling, and I don't like it. Grab a gun and get ready, the howls came from the west side."
As Leah ran back outside to put on her chest rig, Noah hopped to his feet and ran towards the shoddy closet in the back corner of the room. He threw it open and reached inside, searching for a weapon. Five feet high and three wide, the wooden closet didn't disappoint him as he pulled out a menacing black weapon with a large, circular magazine.
Noah took two drum magazines with him as he hurried outside, turning on the holographic sight as he regrouped with Andrew and Leah. He took his place behind the wooden barricades they had hastily set up just a few days ago, kneeling behind the crude wall of bailed-together logs and branches. They were meant to provide protection from projectiles, but they had turned out to be unnecessary in the critter-inhabited woods. The barricades would be of little use against anything that didn't shoot anything - and so far, nothing seemed to do so.
Far away, the calls of what sounded like wolves grew louder and closer. The three humans scanned the trees and bushes, their sights lined up and ready to fire at whatever would burst through. A distant rustling sound faintly emanated from the woods, and it wasn't long before shrubbery began to rustle and shift in the background of the treeline. Noah gripped his weapon tighter, anxiously waiting for the threat to show itself...
The first creature was running at full gallop towards the house when it had materialized from behind the bushes, its purple coat covered with blood-red cuts and bits of leaves and branches. A blue one with a rainbow mane soon followed, then an orange one on its heels. Their appearance was so very alien to Noah and Andrew, yet so familiar...
"DON'T SHOOT!"
"What do you mean, don't shoot?! They're sprinting at us!"
The creatures were still about a hundred meters away, but they were closing in fast. Leah didn't have much time to explain what she was thinking.
"Bags! They're intelligent! Don't shoot!"
Noah and Andrew looked and noticed the saddlebags each of the aliens were wearing. On top of that, the orange one was wearing...a cowboy hat?
"Well, what are we supposed to do?"
To the right of the aliens, some sort of brown canine burst out of the bushes, its predatorial green eyes glowing menacingly.
Then another burst out, headed straight for the three creatures.
Then two more.
Then ten more.
The Mark 30 "Bluntforce" Automatic Shotgun was designed to provide for devastating amounts of close-range firepower. Firing special 16-gauge rimless shells at a cyclic rate of 410 rounds per minute, the Bluntforce weighs 11.2 pounds and has an overall length of 46 inches. Though its muzzle brake and recoil dampening systems negate much of its kick, only experienced shooters can accurately wield its destructive power.
Noah flipped the fire selector to the three-rectangle setting and pulled the trigger, sending a series of loud booms across the meadow. He held it down as #00 buckshot flew out of the gun, zooming past the colorful aliens and into the wolf creatures. Instead of blood, splinters broke off of the wolves as each tiny pellet shredded the wooden predators. Andrew soon followed, taking care not to hit the fleeing aliens. Leah slowly and cautiously made her shots at the strange dog-beasts as well, aiming for the center of mass just like how Noah had told her. One by one, the brown wolves fell, their eyes dimming out as they collapsed to the ground.
The orange creature was the first to fall; one of the canines had caught up to it and pounced onto its prey, taking it down to the ground. Just as it was about to take a chunk out of its victim, Andrew turned and blew its jaw off, then the rest of its skull. Fragments of thick logs and branches chipped off where the bullets struck the wolves, some of which flew into the downed alien. Andrew turned his attention to protecting the injured creature, his rifle cracks and Noah's shotgun blasts almost completely drowned out the softer pops of Leah's weapon.
Leah had switched from her rifle to a smaller, more controllable submachine gun, and she was able to shoot the incoming beasts at a faster and more accurate rate than before. Though it wasn't as powerful as the other firearms, the 10mm rounds were still deadly enough to quickly dispatch each incoming wolf. She aimed for the wolves that were hunting down the blue alien, taking down the closest ones first.
Suddenly, one of the beasts swerved horizontally and headed directly for his target, catching Leah off guard. She let off a panicked burst from her weapon just as the blue creature leaped off the ground, its side limbs extending as if to fly. Although Leah had hit the wooden canine, the recoil pulled her muzzle up, causing a bullet to graze the blue alien's side and send it plummeting to the ground.
Noah cursed as his shotgun's deafening booms was replaced by a dry click. The wolves were slowly gaining ground, and they would soon reach the house. He slid his last drum into his gun as the empty one clanked on the packed earth, pulling the lever back as he watched the last escaping alien turn around and plant its limbs in the dirt. Noah pointed the shotgun at the never-ending horde of wolves - and paused in awe as he watched the thing's head protrusion began to seemingly glow with a bright purple aura. A second later, it pointed the horn at the wooden beasts, a fierce look of determination in its huge eyes.
An almost ethereal arc of purple light burst out from the alien's horn, quickly spreading across the meadow and into the wolves. It swept up the predators off their feet and flung them back into the trees with such force that most of the beasts shattered on impact with the thick trunks, turning them into kindling. The three human defenders watched in awe as the pulse of what appeared to be raw energy destroyed almost all of the canines, sending the rest of them hastily retreating back into the woods.
As the arc faded away along with the rest of the wolves, Leah vaulted over the barricades as the purple alien collapsed to the ground, exhausted by the enormous effort her attack had taken. She quickly slung her weapon back over her shoulders as her sneakers trampled the tall grasses in a mad dash to save the injured creatures.
"Leah, what are you doing?!" Andrew yelled.
"Saving these things!"
"What the hell do you mean, saving them?"
"They're intelligent creatures, Andrew! We can't just leave them injured!"
"Get back here!"
"No!"
She quickly stopped besides one of the hurt aliens and knelt down, barely registering what it resembled. As she scooped the orange creature up in her arms, Noah cursed and jogged over to assist the blue one, dropping his bulky gun as he beckoned for Andrew to follow.
"You can't be serious, Noah!"
"For God's sake, just help me!"
Andrew sighed as he threw his rifle down and ran towards the purple creature. Within two minutes, all three of the humans had managed to lay the three aliens down on the ground, inside their ramshackle home. As the lights cast a different light onto the injured beings, Noah finally noticed the glaring detail that they had all ignored - and choked on his spit as he gasped in shock.
"Real messed up horses, but look! One of them - IT'S A UNICORN! WHAT THE F-"
"What are you- Jesus Christ, they really are!"
As Leah stared at the three small horses lying on the ground, Andrew silently crossed himself with shaky hands. "Ay Dios Mio," he muttered.
Wherever God was, he sure had a sense of humor.
-William-
William glared at the displays on his desk with a liter can of energy drink in his left hand, his right hand busy switching between the various cameras that monitored the surface. He had been told by the higher-ups to maintain a sense of professionalism and dignity, but as he watched the incoming influx of military personnel and equipment that evening he couldn't help but down the rest of his drink, sliding the empty aluminum can to the side. Coffee would have been the more "professional" drink of choice, but William would need the slightly sketchy cans of bittersweet "Voltmax Extra Strength" for him to get through the coming weeks.
Thankfully, the media hadn't reared their heads yet. It would have been a nightmare, dealing with white camera vans and reporters clogging up the two-lane road into the compound. He already had enough on his plate, what with the whole "rebuilding the billion-dollar Portgate in three months" business he had to deal with. Saving the three castaways would probably be a bonus, too - if they weren't dead already.
Tiredly, William reached into the cooler he had rolled in next to his chair and opened another can of energy drink. He was taking a large draft from the can when the door was nearly kicked open by a man in a lab coat.
"GOOD NEWS, SIR!"
William was coughing and spluttering as the man excitedly handed him a sheaf of papers in a manila folder. He managed to compose himself enough to open it and look at the data charts inside of it - and began to choke and cough again.
"What - cough - does this mean?"
"Well, sir, about twenty minutes ago, our sensors recorded a huge spike of...something. We aren't quite sure what it is, but it definitely came from the other side of the Portgate. The energy signatures, though a little bit off, were an almost perfect match to the incident's, but this one was much stronger and more pronounced."
"And?"
"And that means that our calibration and testing runs are going to take half as long! Before, we would have to manually adjust the Portgate's target coordinates to account for minute shifts in dimensional drift. Now, however, the energy spike has just given us a sort of anchor with which we can find and maintain a wormhole with better accuracy and stability."
"Anything else?"
"No, sir. That's all I have. You'll get a more formal report later, once we've fully analyzed the data."
"Alright. Thank you for this report. It's good to hear some good news every now and then."
As the man nodded and hurried back out the door, William sighed and leaned back in his swivel chair. He rubbed his face and sighed in a state of both elation and annoyance. Sure, the three months was cut down to two, but that meant more work for him to manage. He was already overworked and overstressed; he didn't know how much more he could take. Ironically, the only things that kept him going at that point was the fear of getting fired and a faint hope for a peaceful retirement. Not exactly the most motivating encouragements.
Try not to talk to foreigners, if you can manage it; you will risk offending another pony, and heavens knows how rude that is!
-Madame Fetlock
-Leah-
Whatever those weird log beasts were, they sure burned real warm, Leah thought as she flipped through the book that she had recovered from the bags. It was strange seeing how these creatures - no, horses - had developed books almost exactly like humans had. To find a sheaf of papers (if they were paper) with foreign, alphabetical script on them, bound on one side, was borderline unnerving. Even if this world was uncannily similar to Earth, a book was just too much.
Leah didn't think the owners would mind as she leafed through the pages, considering they were knocked out and lying on a sheet on the ground with bandages around their bodies. It had been a scary moment when they realized that the aliens probably wouldn't handle human medicine well. Still, it wasn't like they could just ignore the poor things, and considering how similar this world was to Earth their first aid probably wouldn't have too many adverse side effects.
On the desk in front of her, the contents of the three bags the horses were carrying were neatly spread out and laid on the table. Leah was rather interested in the book and turquoise crystals that she had found among the obvious expeditionary gear, and especially since the purple one was carrying the crystals. It was painfully obvious at first glance that the winged unicorn was another freaky mythological coincidence along with the blue pegasus, but the fact that they were likely intelligent was unbelievable - so unbelievable that Andrew was sitting outside and praying for salvation from this unholy mess.
Speaking of unholy mess, whatever the purple unicorn did was something new altogether. The hydra was already bizarre enough; a unicorn that could shoot lasers out of its horn was absolutely kooky. Maybe it was some sort of implant or bionic, but that probably wasn't the case. The saddlebags were secured with leather straps and iron belt buckles, and apparently they still used oil lanterns for lighting. Not the kind of technology one would expect from a body-augmenting society. The crystals could have something to do with it, she thought. After all, popular culture had taught her that gems and crystals were pretty darn magical things in fantasy settings, and if unicorns weren't fantastical she didn't know what was.
"Hey guys, the unicorn's waking up! Get ready..."
Leah set the blue gemstone she was holding down on the desk and pulled her earbuds out. The cheerful electronic music that she had been listening to disappeared, leaving an auditory void that made Andrew's footsteps all the more noticeable. She jogged over to the front room, where Noah and Andrew nervously twiddled their automatic pistols in their hands. They had decided that Leah would be the first person who would talk to them, since she was the "smart" one. As she took a knee by the purple horse's side, it began to ever so slightly move and shift on the ground. Excitement filled her heart as the unicorn slowly opened its huge eyes, fluttering them in an endearingly cute manner. This was it; this was the moment she would make first contact with alien life. The cultural exchange, the sharing of information...
And so, humanity's first words with another species were "Uh...H-Hi!...there...Are you okay?"
The horse looked at Leah, its painfully cuddly face surprising her as it registered what had just happened. It looked around its surroundings, then back at Leah, before it spoke in the unmistakable voice of a female human...
"Q-Qœnaë ävrúa tusmá? Sønreí apreíden..."
Oh, right.
The language barrier was a pretty obvious obstacle, at least in hindsight. Even with the massive similarities between Earth and this world, they should have expected the natives to speak a different language, even if it was French or something. Leah paused, then hurried over to her desk and grabbed a notebook and pencil. The unicorn watched as she quickly scribbled in it in a frenzied fervor, inspiration kicking her into overdrive.
"What are you doing, Leah?" Andrew asked.
"I remember something I watched on TV as a kid. It was from a documentary about aliens, I believe, on the Discovery Channel."
"Oh, boy."
"No, listen - they said something about a universal language, something every intelligent civilization should be able to understand..."
"Which is?"
Leah, satisfied with her drawings, turned and presented it to the confused horse. It looked at it for a second, then stared back at her.
"Math."
The page was covered with simple mathematical concepts, the kind that kindergarteners would easily recognize. Basic as they were, they provided a solid foundation with which they could build later communication. The first thing at the top of the page was a list of numbers from one to twenty with dots above each one representing their values. Further down were illustrations of arithmetic operations, with multiple examples highlighting each one. Leah set the pencil and notebook down at the unicorn's side, then expectantly waited for it to react.
"Look, this is cool and all, but how do you expect that thing to pick that pencil up? I don't see how it's going to write with hooves."
"Come on, Andrew, it can figure it out. They have books, surely there must be some way-"
The unicorn's horn suddenly began to glow as Leah, distracted, stopped talking and watched. The two men gripped their handguns tighter, wary of the alien's strange power. A second later, the pencil was surrounded by a purplish-pink aura, and it magically raised itself off the ground and onto the lined paper. All three humans watched, shocked, as the pencil moved itself across the paper, writing out strange symbols in surprisingly elegant handwriting next to each of Leah's drawings. After it had finished marking all of the numbers and operators, it dropped to the ground as its aura faded away.
Noah and Andrew stared, intimidated, at the unicorn as Leah gasped and stifled an excited giggle. The horse's ears flapped down to the sides of its head, and an unmistakably human expression of discomfort crossed its face.
"Aww, it looks so cute! Guys, stop scaring it!"
"Did you not just see what it did?! You're the one who's all up in its face, Leah. And besides, we have a right to be scared. If any weird crap gets pulled like that again..."
She sighed, then looked at the sad alien sitting up on the ground. Somehow, it managed to support itself with its two front limbs, all while giving off a look of dejection. Its emotions were easily recognizable and strikingly similar to those of humans, and Leah couldn't help but gently reach behind the unicorn's head and pat it on its back.
"Don't touch it, Leah! It might not like...it..."
"It" froze for a second, then relaxed as she rubbed her hands back and forth on its neck and head. The alien's worry was soon replaced with happiness as Leah's fingers worked their way up behind its ears and began scratching. Leah shared the unicorn's smile as she comforted it, eager to have learned something from her endeavors. While Andrew and Noah stood in awe, she hurried over to her desk and grabbed another notebook, muttering as she frantically scribbled notes into it.
"...base-eight...what a weird addition sign, that looks like...Alright!"
She turned around and presented another series of math problems, this time involving some basic algebra questions. As she handed it to the horse, Leah took a seat by it and watched it quickly translate the human equations into its own numeric system, solve them, then translate them back into a shakier series of Arabic numerals and "X"-es.
"Holy hell, that unicorn is way too expressive," Noah whispered to Andrew as he leaned into his ear. "The way it smiles...the fact it smiles...are we sure we should be so inviting?"
"I wouldn't worry about that," Andrew quietly replied. The two watched as Leah and the unicorn happily conversed through the notebook, mathematical expressions and formulas acting as their medium. Leah would write out a math problem, then the unicorn would translate and solve it. The unicorn would then write up another problem for her to solve, which she would translate and figure out in turn. At that moment, neither Andrew nor Noah wanted to break their little bubble of enchantment and wonder.
Instead, Noah grabbed his nicotine-pen from the nearby table and took a long draw from it. He savored the minty flavor and mind-sharpening feeling of high-dosage vapor juice as he watched Leah scratch and pat the alien as if it were a dog. Nicotine was a bit of a habit of his (not nearly as bad as his father's chain-smoking addiction), but recent events had forced him to ration out his smoke breaks. He only had half of a dropper bottle's worth of juice left, and he didn't want to use it all up at once - but this was something truly worth enjoying.
"You're gonna relax right now, Noah?"
"I can't help it, Andrew. This is a truly magical moment, and I want to enjoy it," he retorted as he puffed out a dense cloud of water vapor and nicotine. There was something whimsically enjoyable to Noah about a girl and a unicorn having fun together, an experience he hadn't expected to think of ever since first grade. It gave a feeling of amusement and elation, and a little bit of something else, too - something he also hadn't anticipated in quite a while.
Hope.
-Applejack-
Applejack woke up with a start, her dreams plagued with visions of timberwolves and death. Sweat rolled down her head as the nightmares slowly faded away from her memory. She remembered running away, away from the timberwolves that chased them through the forest. Then she ran out of the forest, then into the meadow, then there were loud cracks and snaps...
The earth pony held her hooves out in front of her, focusing on the clean, white bandages that were wrapped around them. Applejack let out a sigh of relief, grateful that she was alive. The last thing she remembered was a timberwolf pouncing on her, dragging her to the ground...no, she wasn't dead.
As Applejack rested, her senses began to take in more and more of her surroundings. She was lying on a tarp on the ground, and a crisp white blanket covered her orange body. The ceiling of the building she had rested under was crudely tacked together with planks of wood, and a strange white light emanated from somewhere in front of her. Applejack groaned as she pulled herself up off of the ground - then grunted as a hoof pushed her down.
"Don't stress yourself, Applejack. You're hurt."
"T-Twilight? Are you okay? What happened?" The feeling of concern and worry was mutual between the two ponies as they stared into each other's eyes.
"Long story. Right now, all that's important is that you get some rest."
"I don't think I can, Twi. Not until you fill me in on what happened."
Applejack lay motionless on the ground as she listened to Twilight talk. She explained how the strange creatures had helped fend off the timberwolves, then how the three of them had been seriously injured, then about the fact that the creatures took them in and healed them. She talked about how they were so different, how they were so strange yet so familiar to her. About how they were intelligent, fascinating, curious...
"...and they were so tall! At least a head and a half taller than I am. They stand on two legs, so they're pretty thin, though...oh, here they come! I think this is the female one...judging by their steps. Oh yeah, don't be too surprised!"
The creature rounded the corner and looked at Applejack, who returned the stare back at it. It stood on two legs and had two arms like Spike's with five fingers on each claw that flexed and stretched as it looked at her. Its torso and lower legs were covered by green and blue clothing, as were its feet. The face was rather odd, with no snout and small, beady eyes. A pair of boxy spectacles sat in front of its eyes, occasionally catching the glint of the crisp white lamps nearby.
Twilight grabbed a nearby notebook and pencil with her magic off of a table, then handed it to the creature. It grabbed it out of the air, then drew a series of foreign symbols on it. When it handed the notebook to Twilight, Applejack watched her write something back in the same strange glyphs, then hand it to the creature. It nodded, a grin forming on its face as it left the room.
"What was that about, Twilight?"
"It was asking if you were okay. I said 'yes', and I think you'll be fine for now. I want you to rest a bit longer, though. I don't want you to stress yourself."
"But what are-" Applejack almost managed to ask as she tried to get up out of the covers. A sharp pain shot across her stomach, and she gasped as she lay back down.
"Shh. Only rest now."
With a sigh, Applejack relaxed her muscles and looked around the room. The walls were all made out of the same planks as the roof, and they were tacked together crudely with nails. Crates of various sizes and shapes were piled all around her, some of which were made of a strange, black material. Several tubes that served as lights glowed from the ceiling, with cords trailing out of them and off somewhere else.
"Where are we? How long has it been?"
"Well, do you remember the meadow we were in?"
"Are we in that house?"
"Yes, Applejack. As for what time it is, I think it's been about a day since that happened. We've been knocked out for quite a while. It's night now, I think."
"...alright."
The earth pony suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion hit her body. Her worries had melted away, and she felt at ease. With a smile of relief on her face, Applejack drifted back into her slumber.
The lights that glowed without fuel buzzed with an almost silent hum, like that of a fly. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were lying on their sleeping spots, calmly snoring away as they slept through the evening. Their bodies seemed to inflate and retract with every breath they took, pushing the blankets up and down in a slow, steady manner. A notepad sat before an awake and alert Twilight, who held a slim mechanical pencil firmly in her magical grip. She was not used to seeing writing implements that thin - ponies used stubbier ones because of their need to write with their teeth - but that wasn't the strangest thing about it to her. In order to expose more lead, she had to press the knob at the top of the pencil (which had a handy little eraser on it), which caused it to spit out about a half-nail's worth of thin charcoal. The pencil was feather-light, too - and judging from how long she had been conversing with the female alien through drawings and diagrams, it was also long-lasting.
A few hours had passed since Rainbow Dash had woken up a few hours ago (and not without trouble - she had immediately rushed for the yellow-maned creature after coming to). After the pegasus had calmed down, Twilight insisted that both Applejack - who was holding Rainbow Dash down - and Dash get back to resting. Neither wanted to comply, so she simply faked defeat. As soon as they had turned their backs, however, she had cast a restfulness spell on the two restless ponies. Twilight's academic life as a student of Princess Celestia herself required her to have a complex understanding of magic, and her spell immediately put them into a deep sleep. It was sneaky and underhanded, but they would surely be thanking her in the morning, when they would recognize the soreness of their bodies. Both of the ponies had sustained serious injuries, and it wouldn't do for them to be constantly moving about. Plus, she wanted to focus on what she was doing right now: communicating.
The thin wooden floor was well swept and cleaned, so both Twilight and the alien were comfortable sitting on it as they "spoke". So far, Twilight had learned a lot - that these creatures were from a different world (not even from this planet!), and that they were here as a result of an explosion (accident? portal?). Their conversation was entirely carried out through crude, easily-misinterpretable images, so it was hard to discern what exactly they meant. In fact, Twilight was sure that a large portion of what she had recorded was incorrect - it would probably be resolved with time, though.
[? =]
Twilight stared at the symbols that it had written on its notebook, unsure of what it exactly meant. Question...equal? She would have to ask some more questions.
[? (Speak)], she replied. It had become a sort of crude word between the two, roughly meaning "What did you mean?"
[? (Speak)], she returned again. The alien, clearly flustered, simply sighed and turned to a fresh page. At the top of it, it had written:
[? (Unicorn)(Star)]
It wasn't hard to discern the meaning of the drawings. "Magic," Twilight muttered as she decoded the rebus in front of her. Why was it asking her about magic, though? It wasn't like they didn't have it. After all, how did they manage to kill dozens of timberwolves in a matter of seconds? How did their glowing lamps and contraptions work if not by mana?
[(X)(Unicorn)(Star)?]
[(X)(Unicorn)(Star).]
Fine, she thought. Maybe there's some mistranslation here. I'll just ask.
[? (Light)(Radiation), (X)(Unicorn)(Star)?]
A pointed zig-zag was all Twilight got back. She would have to get a translation matrix gem from Canterlot if she planned to get anything substantial out of these beings, which meant leaving their makeshift home, for at least a week or two.
Twilight hadn't actually thought about what she was going to do in the next few days. Eventually Applejack and Rainbow Dash would be fully healed, and they would theoretically be able to head back to Ponyville. What then? Should they stay in the camp for a while longer? A week? Three days? And after they returned, what would they do from that point on? Was it a good idea for them to keep the existance of these aliens secret?
Judging from past experience, it was more likely to go poorly than anything. Sure, ponies were kind amongst each other and even with different species. Just last summer, that gryphon envoy had received a warm welcome in Ponyville on their way to the capitol. But these tall, imposing creatures that have never been seen before? It would be better for them to stay here in the woods, away from the sight of other ponies. But then they would be harassed by the local wildlife...
A yawn suddenly broke out of her mouth, and the alicorn rubbed her sleepy eyes. Twilight was feeling tired, so she simply drew a crescent moon on her paper to symbolize sleep. She hoped that the hoof-clipping would serve as an adequate analogue, considering the aliens were awake during the day and slept through the night. A weird curve could mean a lot, after all. Just for good measure, she sketched a quick doodle of an alicorn lying down with a blanket on it. It resembled a bale of hay more than anything, but it was close enough.
The alien stood up on its back legs after a second of thinking, then bent down over Twilight's sleeping spot. She smiled with gratitude as it straightened out the messy covers and fluffed the pillow, then gestured towards it with its dextrous claws. It seemed to be glad to watch her trot over to the ground and lay down on it, almost as if it were staring at a cute pet. She didn't love that it viewed her as cute, but Twilight was still glad to be in the presence of good company while she pulled her sheets up over her body and closed her eyes. Slowly but surely, her thoughts dulled down and faded away as she drifted off into sleep, each concern disappearing into the void.
Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.
-Benjamin Franklin
-Pinkie Pie-
"Ohhhhh...but...what if they're in trouble? Heavens knows what horrible, ghastly creatures there are in the Everfree! I won't be able to live with myself if any of them were...were...!"
"I don't think you have to worry about that, Rarity. As long as they're gentle and respectful, they won't have to fear the animals in the forest."
"But what about the cockatrices? Or the dreadful manticores?"
"Well..."
"They could even be attacked by a roving pack of timberwolves! Oh, the sight! Twilight and Applejack and Rainbow Dash, all getting mauled and torn to pieces by those beasts and their terrifying jaws..."
"I...guess..."
"Oh come on, Rarity, calm down! They're fiiiiiine!"
"They are not!", Rarity yelled, temporarily dropping her ladylike manner in a flash of anxiety. Sugarcube Corner's dozen or so midday customers suddenly turned towards the source of the piercing shout, ignoring their meals for a moment as they shot nasty looks at the ivory-white unicorn. The constant chatter instantly faded away into an awkward semi-silence, drawing more attention to Rarity with its emptiness. A nearby pegasus muttered something under his breath before turning back around and resuming his conversation, and nobody doubted it was something very rude. The dozen or so gazes were painfully uncomfortable, and Rarity nervously blushed as she buried her face in her vanilla cupcake.
"It's only been three days," Fluttershy replied. "Didn't they say that they would spend that much time in the woods? Plus, it's not easy to trek through the Everfree, you know that. We just have to give them some time, is all."
"You're right. So," Pinkie Pie asked, "how is Spike doing, Rarity?"
"Oh, he's so well behaved for such a young dragon! Such a gentlecolt. Although, I think he's a bit worried about Twilight (of course, why wouldn't he,) and her friends."
"Hmm... I guess-"
"Holy heck, Princess Luna is here!"
There was a flurry of movement as curious ponies flocked outside, and the ear-grating noise of chairs scraping against the ground was the only thing audible for a brief second. As the mob flooded out the narrow doorway of the bakery, the three friends simply sat and watched through a window as a small mob of people formed around a tall, midnight-blue pony. Princess Luna was indeed there, walking through the thin crowd with an entourage of bat-ponies at her sides. Her glass slippers clopped along the stony cobbles with a tinkling sound, clearly distinct even above the mumbles and murmurs of the gathered spectators. It was truly an odd experience, watching an alicorn stride above the heads of her subjects - and at high noon, too! Luna wasn't completely unable to be out in the sun, but it was certainly a rare sight.
"Why here, though? In the middle of the day, as well..." Rarity mumbled.
The answer came sooner than expected. It was hard to believe at first, but Luna was making a straight beeline for Sugarcube Corner. Each step she made brought her - and the crowd - closer and closer to the bakery until she was through the doors, her silhouette an imposing sight against the bright background of Ponyville's colorful streets. A pair of guards kept the outsiders at bay, blocking the entrance with their short halberds. She paused and looked around for a second, a calm and mystical air about her very being, before finally setting her eyes on the only other ponies in the room.
"Hello there, ponies. Have you seen your friends around lately?"
"Who, Twilight and the others? They went out on a trip into the Everfree forest three days ago," Fluttershy answered. "There were strange noises coming from it a few days ago, and they went to go investigate. In fact, just two days ago, we heard a lot of sharp snaps...like from a whip!"
Luna's poker face was a good one, but Pinkie could tell something bothered her about that statement. She was a master at reading the emotions of ponies, and for all of their power the Princesses were still no match for her natural instinct.
"So my suspicions are well-founded. At least you three are here... Where can we get some privacy?"
"Uh... we can head upstairs...?" Pinkie suggested.
"That'll do just fine. Lead the way, Pinkie Pie."
Pinkie Pie, followed by Luna, Rarity, and Fluttershy, walked past the bakery counter and display, up the stairs, and through the second door on the right. She held the teal-blue wooden door open for the three other ponies before locking it and grabbing a nearby stool.
"That won't be necessary, Pinkie, I can sit on the floor. This is your bedroom, yes?"
"Uh-huh!" Pinkie responded. The cream-yellow walls and pastel-colored furniture gave the room a sense of happiness and warmth fitting for its cheerful occupant. Party supplies were stacked neatly in boxes around the room, and a closet door labeled "FOR SERIOUS PARTEES" suggested that there were a lot more stashed away. Though that day was hardly a special occasion, streamers and balloons festively decorated the walls and furniture.
"We'll be safe enough. I understand that this might be a bit unexpected of me - you know, coming here without warning..."
"It's fine, Princess Luna."
"Just Luna, Pinkie. At least, in private. Anyways, I guess I owe you all an explanation. Where shall I start?"
"At the beginning, please," Rarity answered. "Wherever that may be."
"Hmm. I suppose it started approximately a week ago, when I was dreamwalking. You are familiar, right?"
"Isn't that where you go into somepony's head while they're sleeping and look around inside their dreams?"
"I'm more of an observer, Pinkie. It should have been like any other time, but...I found these odd-...distortions, shall I say..."
"How so?"
"There was a distinct lack of magic. An emptiness, for lack of a better word. I took a look at them, and they were... mystifying, to say the least. Let's just leave it at that," Luna sighed as she unfurled her wings. She couldn't tell them the truth; at least, not yet. How would they handle it?
"So, is that why you're here?"
"I...suppose so. I'm here on account of a development that occurred just a day ago..."
-Luna-
Luna stopped for a minute to look at the dots in front of her, once again unsure of how to proceed. It was foolish of her to expect no changes, but the lack of mana had led her to imply otherwise. Plus, it couldn't be that silly to expect some kind of event, right?
Where there had been only three colorless minds before her before, six now stood in the vast void of the dreamscape. The three new lights were definitely more vibrant, suggesting some sort of magical capacity in these new beings. She could feel the magic emanating from each of them like the radiant heat of a hot flame. Sometime in the past two days, a trio of magical entities had joined the magic-less ones in both mental - and physical - proximity. How and why were both mysteries to Luna, but she had a hunch as to where she would find the answer. One of the new beings was much, much more powerful than the others - in fact, it was likely one of the most powerful beings in all of Equestria at the moment, judging from its enormous magical emanation.
Entering such a strong consciousness undetected was undoubtedly going to be a daunting task, but Luna knew what she was getting herself into. She had slipped through the mental blocks of similarly powerful beings, and this one would be no different. The familiar, cautious ease of her thoughts between the slips and cracks was routine to her, as it had been for centuries, and she was through in no time at all.
When she regained her focus, Luna found herself in a shabby and hastily erected room in an indistinguishable location. The wooden floor was cold and unpolished, and the walls and ceiling were made of a drab green canvas. It was defintely a tent of some sort, like the roomy ones the southern nomads lived in. Tubes hung from the roof at regular intervals, shining a pure white light on the furniture. Crates and boxes of all shapes and sizes were stacked alongside the far end of the tent, while several cots and mats lay on the ground opposite. Three small tables lined the other side, each of them with a metal folding chair at its side. The tops of them were covered with various artifacts of unknown make and purpose, but Luna could make out several pony-made tools and pieces of equipment. Everything was alien and foreign.
The one recognizable thing she could see, however, was a very familiar purple alicorn sitting on the ground.
"Twilight!"
The lavender pony paid no attention to her surprised exclamation and continued to quietly sit over something. Luna quickly galloped over to Twilight and set herself down in front of her, intent on grabbing her notice.
"Twilight! Can you hear me?"
"..."
"Twilight Sparkle, I need you to look at me!"
"..."
Luna sighed as she watched her look over the papers in front of her. Twilight muttered as her violet eyes swept across the pages, clearly focused on the task at hand. She was in one of her study trances, and Luna remembered how it would be nearly impossible for her to snap out of it when she was truly entrenched in her studies. The only thing the Princess of the Night could do was read the sheafs of paper along with her...
Twenty-six symbols at the top of a page, copied over and over down the evenly spaced, parallel lines, were the first thing to draw her attention. To the left of them, several three-columned tables with a drawing, its meaning in Equestrian, and a series of the symbols again in each row. It was clearly created to translate a language, which meant that the symbols were a sort of alphabet. Luna had seen the letters before in her previous sessions, but she had foolishly glossed over them in favor of the meanings given to them by the aliens. Now that she had looked at them from a pony's perspective, however, they were actually quite similar to a snippet of an ancient script she had stashed back in the Royal Library. It was crudely carved onto a slate, but it was still thousands of years old and rather poorly preserved. If only they had patched that section of the roof up properly...
The corner of another paper, hidden beneath a list of grammatical rules, caught Luna's eye as she cursed herself for her past mistakes. She shifted the other papers aside with her hoof and pulled out the sheet of interest with her magic. It was an anatomical (if Twilight's artistic abilities could be called that) representation of...just what Luna was looking for.
They weren't all that different from minotaurs, if she was being totally honest. Similar torso, hands and arms that were exactly the same, both stood on their back legs... although the aliens had no hooves. Their faces were radically different from anything she had seen but still notably simian, and their leg-hands had stubbier fingers than the monkeys she had seen in the jungles of western Zebrica.
Luna was excited. She had information on the aliens, their language... her dreamwalking had reaped a great reward, and coming to the most powerful mind turned out to be a great choice. Twilight-...
Wait.
This was Twilight's dream.
It had to be. That huge magical potential was clearly hers.
Which meant that she had seen the aliens. And if her speck was close to the aliens...
What was Twilight doing there?
-Rarity-
"Oh dear... Will they be okay?" Rarity asked Luna.
She was right to be worried. Luna had just told them what was going on in the Everfree: several dangerous anomalies had materialized, and it was up to her and her Night Guard to take care of it. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack were all in the forest, and they were in deep trouble if what Luna said was correct. The princess paused for a second, clearly hesitant to answer.
"Yes. We will do all we can to protect her, and I assure you that your friend will be unharmed. She's an alicorn, she can handle whatever the Everfree throws at her."
"Oh, thank goodness! I was worried for a while."
"I'm glad to hear they'll be safe, Princess Luna."
"Likewise, Fluttershy." Luna eased herself up from her sitting position with those two words, then slowly walked over to the single window in Pinkie's room. She stared out into the front of the bakery, watching her Night Guard as they stood at attention in front of the doors. The crowd that had gathered just a few minutes ago had largely dispersed, and the previously excited ponies had returned to their daily errands.
"Pinkie," Luna asked as she pulled herself back from the windowsill, "in a couple of short hours we will be leaving for the Everfree. We'll set up a stockpile right outside of the forest by dusk. By then, we'll be inside of it. I don't need to tell you the Everfree's a big place; even with our current forces, we'll take a couple of days to fully comb the trees. Two or three, I'd wager."
"Okie-dokie! Good luck!"
"Good luck," said Fluttershy.
"I wish you the safest of travels, Princess Luna."
"Thank you three for your blessings. I'm sure we'll all need them in the coming days."
With that, Luna pushed open the bedroom door and stepped out, closing it behind her. The trio of friends stayed to discuss what she had told them, oblivious to the reality of the situation at hand.
-William-
The sprawl of black text on white paper brought stirring memories back to the aged director, of a time where things were much simpler and...manageable. It had only been twenty-something years since he was a junior scientist himself, excitedly working away at his physics experiments with a youthful energy. The papers once spoke to him of a world of discovery, a world of brand new possibilities...
Now?
He sure did find his discovery - a whole two inches of it, sitting on his desk.
From what he had managed to scrape together of the tens of different reports, apparently there was some sort of feedback from the Portgate. It had started two days ago, with the surge of energy that the sensors picked up. Ever since that spike, the energy readings had been two hundred times higher than before. It wasn't a big increase in terms of the big picture, but explaining it to the suits without them panicking was going to be a doozy. Big-wigs always managed to misinterpret scientific data. Nobody knew how; they just did.
William frowned at the tablet in his hand as its screen lit up with a reminder. 4:56 minutes to LEADER MEATING, right beneath 3:55 and above andersonWilliam logged in. He didn't care that the meeting was five minutes away, or that he had misspelled "meeting"; he was in a state of exasperated exhaustion that just barely left him enough energy to slog through the absolute mess that was the Portgate incident. Some of the staff had been referring to the Portgate as the "Ring of Death", which was acually a very apt description of William's situation.
The alarm surprised William, rousing him from his microsleep-induced trance as several papers fell off his desk. He anxiously grabbed the tablet before turning the alarm off and scurrying to make himself look presentable. It only took William fifteen seconds to un-wrinkle his collared shirt out, ten to sort the papers on his desk, and another five to accept the already incoming video call.
"Greetings, Director."
Twenty-four faces covered the screens in front of William, each one the head of one of the twenty-four nations investing their resources in the project. Each one was staring at him and his grubby mug.
"Hello. I, uh, suppose you're here for the briefing, right?"
"What do you think? Ever since we learned you've cut repair times in half, we've been ready to hear straight from the horse's mouth!"
"Actually, that was more of a-"
"So! Any news?"
"Well...not much. Work is still continuing on the Portgate, and we'll be done by fifty-two days, give or take a week or two. Not precise, I know, but it's the best we have. Oh and...and, uh..."
"And what?"
How was he going to say this?
"There's, um...we've had a development recently. We're receiving, uh... feedback from the Portgate's sensors."
"What kind?"
"It's, uh... energy."
The murmurs of the world's most powerful men and women freed up a couple of minutes for William to cringe at his poor choice of words.
"...potential security risk. What else?"
"Um...t-the readings first spiked up just two days ago. and since then...they've stayed up, though just a little bit more than before. And they're...noticeably more regular than before. We're getting a steady rhythm of energy pulses, ranging from about 110 to 130 beats per minute."
More discussion, more regret.
"We can't just be unprepared if the time comes. Anderson, we want more security around the Portgate. I'm sure you won't need it, but just in case... we're expecting a doubling, at the very least."
"I...alright."
"We don't know what caused that, but we want to err on the side of caution if it does turn out to be potentially dangerous. If it's any consolation, we've managed to keep the media off your back so far...though we don't know how long we can keep it up."
"Thank you."
"That is all. Don't disappoint us, Anderson."
Within seconds, all of the faces had disappeared off the now dark screen. William held his head in his hands, aggrieved by the thought of more people around the already-crowded Portgate. They would just be an obstacle to the repair process.
"Assistant?"
A shifting bundle of concentric circles popped up on the tablet's screen."Yes, Anderson?"
"When are the inspectors due?"
"Tomorrow, from 6:00 AM to 12:00 AM."
"Ugh...in the Portgate area?"
"South Wing Scheduled Time of Inspection: 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM."
Embezzlement of the entire project's funding wouldn't make up for the headaches, William thought as he shuffled the papers around on his desk. He poured out his fifth Aspirin of the day into his hand, swallowed it dry, and began the arduous task of ordering the stationing of a whole platoon of soldiers halfway across the facility in twenty-three hours. If anything, he would at least be sharing his troubles with the security head of the Bunker.
Suffering, it is said, finds relief in company, but William was feeling everything but relief that moment.
Work strengthens the soul, the mind, the body, and the spirit.
-Verdant Blaze, The Ethic of the Equestrian
-Andrew-
A white cloud of hot breath escaped Andrew's mouth, the cold morning air quickly causing it to fade out of sight. The sky was a dull shade of blue-gray that sat between the colorless dark of night and the bright light of the day, a color that was a perfect match with its analogue on Earth...wherever that was. He took a sip of military-issue instant coffee from the plastic cup in his hand, his insides warming up as the sun began to peek over the horizon. Andrew looked around the fields that encircled the wooden tent-shack as the first rays of light filtered through the trees. He frowned at the gnarled brown lines disturbing the otherwise uniform meadow.
The ugly, twisted remains of the battle two days ago were strewn around the grasses, some of them still giving off wisps of a green gas-like substance even after forty or so hours of laying in the wind. Andrew remembered picking up a chunk of wood-wolf just barely after the last gunshot had been fired; it was firm and supple, like it had just come off a tree. Now, however, they were soft and mushy, crumbling into mulch at the slightest touch.
Gray soon turned to blue with the last sip of the bitter drink, and Andrew set the cup aside on an empty crate. There was definitely more to the forest than met the eye - and if the past week was anything to go by, it wouldn't be anything good at all. A clear priority had been set from the day the wood-wolves attacked; the security of their small shack was no longer ignorable.
An additional door had been cut out opposite the existing one the day before, making it easier to respond to any threats quickly should the time come. The previous wooden barricades were to be reinforced with dirt and wooden spikes, as well as a shallow trench two yards out and two feet deep. Loaded rifles would be ready at each edge of the square defenses, with plenty of ammunition as well. The only way in or out would be through one of two wooden walkways that would be laid over the spikes and trenches and taken away in case of attack.
Andrew savored a minute of respite from his daily toils, enjoying the feeling of the cold air against his body before grabbing a nearby entrenching tool and setting out to dig some holes. Manual labor could be tiring at times, but Andrew didn't mind; in fact, the repetitive nature of the work was something for him to take solace in, a sort of reminder of his childhood. He remembered how he once took his father's old shovel from the shed out back and began to dig long, straight trenches in the backyard lawn. Why, he couldn't quite remember. Maybe he was trying to build a house? His motives were unclear, but he did remember when his father returned from work, and his reaction...
My son, what have you done?
I...I was just...
...heh heh...No worries. I'm not upset. I'm glad you've done this, truth be told. Your mother has been nagging to me all week about how it's so hard to find good, fresh veggies out here in the suburbs. I would have preferred for these holes to be farther back, but...you did an admirable job. I'm impressed.
Dad was a resourceful man, one who always took the best of a situation and squeezed every ounce of opportunity out, even if it cost him a pound in work. The holes soon sprouted with tomato and pepper plants, their fruits bursting with flavor and color every summer. Even if they were in the middle of the lawn, they were still healthy and productive plants.
"Where there is work, there is life," he once said to Andrew out on the front porch. "You might be a bit young to understand, but know this: Every minute you spend working is a minute towards a rich life and a happy family, son."
Andrew didn't exactly have a rich life that moment, though. Marooned on an alien world, not sure if he would ever return home, and stuck living in a ramshackle hut under the threat of danger...a two-story house in a nice neighborhood would have been much preferable. And his family?...
He paused for a moment, the thought taking him away from his work. The sun was now in full bloom, hanging halfway between noon and morning. Sweat had poured out of his body, but Andrew was too entranced in his work to notice until then.
His family...
Leah was an optimist and always tried to make everyone as happy as possible. Noah was a good, strong, protective man, if a little distant at times. They had come together as friends over the last two weeks, each day bringing them a little bit closer to one another. They had grown stronger together, became more open with each other...
Back to his work he went. Stab, step, lever, toss the dirt away. Noah had come out of their little house and started to whittle away at the thin trunks of cut-down trees from nearby. His hatchet hacked and diced away at the tips of the sticks, each chop sharpening a point just a little bit more and more. Soon, they would have their spiked trenches and a little bit more safety against whatever was in the forest. Leah was inside, communicating with the aliens. She could have helped out with their work, but her brain was the more useful asset. If those horses - and the civilization they came from - could communicate with Leah, things would probably work out smoothly. They would be safe, sheltered, treated well...
Or captured, imprisoned, killed, and dissected.
Optimistic thinking, Andrew Martinez. Real uplifting in these times of extreme difficulty.
-Halberd-
In that moment, Sapphire Halberd hated nature, he hated the woods, and he most certainly hated the Everfree forest. Case in point: the mass of branches and shrubs that bogged their little trip into the trees.
Luna's Night Guard was an elite fighting force loyal to the Princess herself, dedicated to protecting the Guardian of Dusk and carrying out her will. They were most notable for their formidable skill in urban fighting and magical combat. They were some of Equestria's finest troops, the very best of the best. They were trained to undergo fierce trials, do the impossible, and fight with the power and precision of a thousand ponies.
That didn't mean that they had to adore slogging through thick vegetation, though. Everyone, from the unicorn vanguard hacking a path through the bushes with their blades to the claustrophobic pegasi to the out-of-element earth ponies, was a little bit disgruntled, even if their faces didn't show it. Their devotion towards the Princess, though admirable, could not completely keep their morale high and their spirits unwavering, as the motto went.
Corporal Halberd couldn't stop his four-pony squad from feeling a bit worn out, either. He twisted his head to the left, his lips finding purchase on the rubber-infused cloth straw strapped to his torso. The waterskin was good at its job - holding water, without leaks, in a portable and easy-to-use container - but horrible at keeping the water palatable. The bitter taste of the inner coating never seemed to go away, even after several years of dedicated use. Still, it was better than the cumbersome miniature barrels that were in use just three decades ago. A bit of a yucky taste was better than having ten more pounds on a pony's back, even for an earth pony as strong as Sapphire himself.
Though his legs were barely tired from the walking and his hooves free of blisters and aches, the deep blue pony was beginning to feel a little exhausted. His natural earth pony magic was strengthened and practiced through months of training, yet he felt almost a sort of hesitance to continue. Maybe it was the hours of dull, monotonous marching they had done. Maybe the forest was just throwing his senses off.
Sometimes a pegasus would rush above their heads, a satchel of machetes over their torso, and deliver the fresh blades to the unicorn vanguard. From what he had heard during their one rest in the middle of the day, the unicorns dulled their blades at a crazy pace. Some of the branches were so hard that they actually chipped the edges of the machetes as they cut them.
A quiet murmur broke out in front of Sapphire, in the front platoon. He leaned over to the side a little to see what was going on. The captain was talking to a pegasus scout, and he wasn't being too quiet about it. Sapphire didn't hear what they were discussing, but the ponies around him clearly did. With a nod, the scout flew back to the rear.
"HALT!"
The hundred pony company snapped to attention at the sound of the command, a reflex they had gained after years of service. Nopony spoke a word.
"Ponies, prepare to set up camp in the clearing up ahead. We'll be staying until sunrise tomorrow. Sergeants and above, the Princess has requested that you meet her in 10 minutes. Understood?"
"Yes, SIR!" Captain Steelshield's voice was quickly drowned out by the cries of the division under his command. Princess Luna had decided to come along for this search mission, though nobody really knew why. This excursion into the woods was probably important, but Luna was rather vague about their objectives. All she had said was that they were searching for "any abnormalities in the region," and that they were to try to be as discrete as possible. Why they would have to be discrete in the middle of the Nowhere Forest, nobody knew either, but at least that was something the Night Guard was good at.
"Dismissed."
-Leah-
"Umm... Day...twelve? Day twelve of this video log. Of us being stuck here, I mean."
"The boys have been making our little hut a bit safer. I think they put spikes in the ground and dug a hole around it. Really hope we won't have to use them. After the whole hydra thing and the wood-wolf attack, I guess we need to be a bit more worried about this kinda stuff."
"Oh! The aliens! New stuff today. Learned a lot about them. Actually, I spent the entire day conversing with them. In real awkward pictograms, too. The unicorn knows a lot of math. And they have these marks on their butts, like, on the side. Apparently they're supposed to be what they do. Nice to know tattoos are universal. Actually, it was on their fur... I'll have to look into that. What else... Oh! The unicorn had a star, don't know what that's about. The pegasus had a really cool cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt. I mean, it has - no, she. They have males and females. She has a rainbow mane. Maybe they have a religion and this has to do with it? And the orange horse has three apples on it. It's definitely a farmer. And apples. That's something I didn't expect, but I probably should have."
"Also. The unicorn did more weird stuff with its horn. Yesterday, it was holding stuff with the weird energy. Today, it made light with it. We were waking up, and it was still kinda dark. So I'm fumbling around, and she - the three horses are all female - her horn just lights up. Like, there's a little sphere of light hovering right above the tip, and it's as bright as a lightbulb. I didn't fall over, but... I mean, yeah. I was a bit surprised."
"I've really been thinking about this ability they have. It's clear that the light is some sort of energy - I mean, it doesn't get much more 'energy' than light. What else can they do? The unicorn practically bulldozed half of the wood-wolves when they were attacking. If we had to fight them, it would definitely be a tough time. Let's hope it doesn't come to that."
Leah stared into the camera, a smorgasbord of emotions on her face. Excitement, curiosity... nervousness, a little bit of fear, just a smidgen of despair...
She regained her focus and wiped the negativity off her face. Sadness never helped anybody.
"I guess that's it for now. Until later, I guess."
With a tap of the space bar, Leah stopped the recording and dragged it into the "Video Log" folder. Another tap, and the sixteen-inch screen shut off, bringing the already dark room into the total darkness of night.
The sky-blue pegasus fluttered down from the sky, her wings kicking up leaves from the ground as she steadily slowed her descent down. She landed on the grass with barely a sound, as was expected from a pegasus pony in Luna's guard. A second later, her two scouting buddies touched down in silence as well, both with an expression of mild interest on their faces. Pegasi were generally half a stone lighter than their earth pony and unicorn counterparts by weight, but their magic allowed them to both drastically reduce their mass and reduce the sound their hooves made. This, combined with their swift flight abilities and ability to manipulate the weather, made them great scouts and air support units. They were part of why Equestria's army had not crossed blades with another for many decades; their strong, disciplined troops were nothing to laugh at.
Sapphire Halberd smiled as he watched the reconnaissance unit approach the commander's canopy tent he was unexcitedly sitting under. Fifty thousand ponies in total protected Equestria under the banner of the Princesses, each one of them unwaveringly loyal and fiercely devoted to their country. No force across the land could match their sheer power, even if multiplied tenfold.
"Captain Steelshield."
The dull-tan unicorn sitting some ways from Sapphire shifted his gaze towards the pegasus calling for him. The twenty or so corporals and lieutenants in the tent also diverted their attention away from their idle chit-chat and towards the scouts that had just entered the tent.
"You're back. See, I'd have preferred a report on this here table, but it's not here. Which means this better be important, because I have a whole lot of waiting that I have to get back to."
"Heh. Well, uh... it is. We found a little wooden shack in a clearing about twenty farrows north-northeast of here."
That alone was news to everypony within a fifteen-foot radius, and they all sat up straight at the sound of the words. For any creature to have set up a structure in the untamed, dangerous Everfree was news by itself, but for it to still be standing meant that it was relatively recently erected. Interesting, since anypony going into the Everfree was either stupid, dead, or both.
"...are you sure about that?"
"I'm sure, Captain. It's all in the report," she answered as she pulled a scroll out of her saddlebags and sat it down on the table.
"I don't care about the report, I want to hear it straight from the pony's mouth. Go on."
"Well, it's a real heck of a shack. About thirty sects wide on each side, and about ten tall. The walls are made of wood planks, but it definitely looks a bit shoddy, in my opinion. Some weird black and grey slabs of smooth stone on the roof, for some reason. We don't know why. Sharp wooden spears for defense, too."
"Strange indeed. You kids see anypony around?" Steelshield asked.
"No. There might have been inside, but we didn't look. Since, well, if there was...we didn't want to get too close, just in case."
"Good. How are those cloaking vests, by the way?"
"Really heavy and hard to fly with, since they keep draining our magic, but they work like a charm."
"Good to hear the surplus gear is still top notch. Anything you want to add?"
"Not really," the red-maned Second Wing blurted out. The First Wing looked at him nastily before turning to the Squad Leader.
"He's right," she replied. "Nothing real notable or interesting we saw, other than what we've said. I didn't want to get any closer, so there's not much to say."
"Hmph. Alright. Snow Flurry, Rouge Sunset, Marigold, you're dismissed. And rinse your coats out," the Captain shouted as the three pegasi walked away.
"Someone go tell Princess Luna," he said, shifting his seating position. "Right, so you all catch that?"
Nods of agreement broke out amongst the squad leaders.
"Well...anyone have anything to say?"
Nobody moved. They were all too bored to ask anything; since the pegasi were all gone scouting, the unicorns and earth ponies were stuck back at camp, waiting for orders from Luna.
"Ugh...alright then. What time is it?"
"Eight and eighty, sir," answered a unicorn.
"So almost noon-ish. When's lunch?"
"At nine."
"Baloney. What are the cooks making?"
"Apple oatmeal, same as this morning."
Groans resounded around the field table.
"Again?," one of the squad leaders complained.
"Better than nothing, I guess," said an earth pony who was polishing his helmet.
"Hmm. What time is it now?" asked the Captain.
"Eight and eighty-two, Captain Steel-"
"You requested my presence?"
Though it was the middle of the day, Luna's arrival was unnoticed by the ponies seated under the tent, almost as if she had materialized out of nowhere. The commanders all simultaneously turned towards the deep, regal voice in unison, drawn once again from their apathy. There was a clanking of armor as all the ponies in the shade of the canvas top quickly stood up and saluted the alicorn, their sense of duty suddenly reinvigorated by the sight of their leader.
"At ease, gentlecolts. I've just heard from a messenger about a structure in a clearing. Tell me more, if you will. But first..."
She nodded towards the tent poles, and four of the squad leaders immediately began to pull down the sides of the tent. Soon, the Princess and her seconds-in-command were immersed in the dark shadow of the tent flaps, giving them some measure of privacy in the hazy shade.
"...some discretion. Now, what can you tell me about what the scouts have seen?"
"Well, a couple of minutes ago our pegasus scouts discovered a wooden shack in a clearing about, uhh..."
The Captain grabbed the report and pulled it open. Some of the writing was smudged, nearly to the point of illegibility. This was not too unusual for the pegasus scouting groups; since they had to write their reports in the field, it was difficult to properly keep their ink dry, especially while in mid-air. A cumbersome system, but it was better that the scouts set their observations on paper immediately rather than on the ground several hours later.
"...that might be a...twenty farrows north-northeast of here. They didn't seen anypony inside, but they didn't get any closer."
"So," Luna muttered, "I think this may be it."
"What is, Princess?" Sapphire calmly asked.
She warily looked around the tent, her head moving from side to side, until she lowered her voice to a near whisper and answered his question.
"Tonight, I will lead a small group of ponies to the structure and search it. I will require a unicorn squad and two earth pony squads to volunteer for this mission, to accompany me. A pegasus squad will also come. Now, who wishes to volunteer?"
Sapphire was one of the first to raise his hoof. He didn't want to sit around the camp and do nothing, and he was also curious as to what they would find there. They would need him, too - his squad was small, but it was one of the best in Luna's army (at least, according to Sapphire.)
"...You, you, and you," the princess announced, a stab of her hoof at a squad leader accenting her words. "Everyone else, please leave this tent for now. My next words are not for everyone's ears, if you know what I mean."
Several grunts punctuated the sounds of the mares and stallions rising from their seats and exiting the tent one by one. Luna waited until the shuffling of hooves outside the tent stopped before going on.
"Before I go on, I would like to apologize for shrouding this operation in secrecy. I know I haven't been upfront with you all, but it was necessary. This is obviously an important issue, since I am present, but I am sorry for leaving you all in the dark."
The alicorn sighed, then dropped her voice down another level.
"What I am about to tell you next must be kept confidential and shall be known by nopony other than those present and their subordinates. Swear it."
"I swear, by the Princess of the Night."
Luna appeared satisfied by the small chorus of voices she received. She closed her eyes, her horn lighting up as she cast a inaudibility spell over the tent and its occupants. Though nothing seemed to change when her eyes opened, she still had a smile of approval on her face for a brief moment before her visage returned to its natural, immeasurable state.
"Commanders, the report you received was well-made, but...that wooden house...is in fact inhabited."
Not a pony spoke a word after she uttered her last syllable, the implications of her words hanging in the air.
"Inhabited by...creatures that are not...native to this world. They...may pose a threat."
Faces shifted, but the ponies still maintained their discipline. Luna had expected more of a reaction from the fact that literal aliens were in the Everfree.
"If it comes to it...I want you all to immediately flee."
That command was what tipped the commanders over the edge. A series of objections rang out from the worried ponies, whose concern for the safety of the Princess was too great to bear.
"Silence, please."
Luna was immediately rewarded with silence. Her horn's glow wavered a bit before she continued speaking.
"I understand you are all concerned for my well-being, but I can assure you that I can handle whatever happens. I am an alicorn, and I am able to deal with any threats to my safety quickly, efficiently, and appropriately. If I give the signal, you must all retreat back to camp - with or without me. That is an order. Any further questions?"
Nopony spoke.
"Very well. I expect all of you to be ready by sundown. You will receive more details then. Pack light, we won't be gone for long. Tell your soldiers, but only them. Do not let word get out. And...be careful tonight. Dismissed."
With that, the invisible field of silence vanished, and Luna stepped out of the dark tent and into the mid-day sun. The smell of apples and oats drifted across the camp...along with a few annoyed shouts from the mess station.
-Noah-
The once roaring inferno in the wood stove was now a small flame, flickering in the dark. Two hours ago, the crude heater was blazing hot, its intense heat filling the room with warmth. Now, as everyone else rested through the night, the dim embers struggled to fight off the biting chill of the night.
Noah buried his hands further in his armpits. His uniform wasn't made to deal with temperatures this frigid, but it was all he had going for him except for a blanket over his legs. He scooted closer to the fire, shuddering as the warmth entered his body.
The six creatures in the back of the house were all either sleeping or on the verge of falling asleep. Noah was already tired from staying up so long; keeping guard was an ordeal for him. With nothing to keep him company but soothing cricket chirps and a hypnotizing fire, he was just barely able to stay awake. The temptation of sleep was too much, and his eyelids slowly drew closer and closer for the last time that night...
A thud from outside jolted Noah out of his exhaustion. Confusion, then fear sent a rush of adrenaline through his body, killing all of his sleepiness immediately. He sat completely motionless, listening soundlessly for whatever was outside.
Footsteps, heavy ones, from behind. Noah's heart skipped two beats as he listened to something walk around from the back of the house to the front. Without a sound, he slowly stood up, grabbed the carbine propped up against the wall next to him, and slowly tiptoed to the front room.
"...eí cheü, eí cheü."
Noah's arms were trembling as he raised the gun and aimed it at the doorway, his index finger pointed over the trigger guard. His thumb flipped a lever on the gun from "S" to "1". The click was loud, too loud. Noah cringed. There was clearly something outside - no, several things outside.
Then, complete silence. The front sight post erratically swayed with Noah's left arm as he quivered in fear. Oh god, they knew he was inside...
Suddenly, a rapid series of hard knocks on the door sent a wave of fear down his back. Noah couldn't call out for help - not when whatever was outside could hear him.
"Whér eit eindæ, pareteü enscräu! Enscräu, par loë cœnsei dín Présne Lon!"
The shrill, high-pitched shout cut through the air like daggers through Noah's chest. He couldn't have responded even if he wanted to - his mouth felt numb, and his throat didn't work at all.
"...Proe cuíde. Finé cuíder!"
Someone was making sound in the other room. In the back of his mind, Noah registered it as either Leah or Andrew getting up. In the front of his mind, he wanted to scream at them for making too much sound.
And then the door swung open, and three colorful horses rushed inside. It took a second for the two parties to fully realize what they were respectively looking at: aliens. The human and the ponies stared at each other in shock for what seemed like forever before Noah finally spoke, in a shaky and hesitant voice.
"S...Stay back!"
They were clad in intimidatingly-dark, metallic plate armor that covered their torsos as well as helmets that looked like they were pulled straight from ancient Rome. Each one of them had a sheathed short-sword at their side.
"I-I said STAY BACK!"
Noah pointed the muzzle of the rifle back and forth between the ponies as he slowly backed away from them. Ignoring his warnings, they advanced further into the room with each step he took back. One of them turned and yelled something out the door, and two more of the aliens entered.
"I swear to God, don't get any closer!"
Two clicks, right past the "3" and straight to "A".
"Të scür të scer? Brë..."
In unison, the front three aliens' horns began to glow. The shortswords slid out of their scabbards and hovered menacingly in front of them.
"Don't you...!"
Noah's finger entered the trigger guard.
"Forégna alta-"
Noah squeezed the trigger.
The 5.56-millimeter weapon was loud, but in the confines of the small room it was deafening. The sharp cracks of the gun became earsplitting explosions that overrode all other noise. Noah's ears rang with each shot he fired, but at least he knew what was happening - unlike the aliens.
What seemed like thick, menacing armor turned out to be nothing but thin sheet metal as the steel-tipped bullets cut through their protection like it was nothing but styrofoam. The three horses in front dropped to the ground, their swords clattering as they fell from mid-air. The two in the back were too disoriented to fight but not enough to ignore what had just happened. Three of their comrades, downed within seconds by a loud, terrifying weapon. Noah pointed the gun at them as the smell of sulphur and copper filled the air. Crimson splatters coated the wall, staining the wood with hot blood.
Suddenly, a flash of light filled the room. Noah blinked, then pointed his gun at the source. Another alien had just materialized in front of him. It was different, taller...and much more fearsome. It was a dark blue alien, with hair that seemed to sparkle and shine like the stars - and it wasn't happy about what he had just done.
Noah didn't hesitate to fire at the new threat. Panic set in, and he held the trigger down instead of firing in short, controlled bursts as he was trained to do. The recoil bruised his shoulder as he emptied the rest of his magazine into the creature. Instead of piercing its flesh, however, the bullets seemed to hit a blue barrier. The alien seemed to be able to deflect Noah's gunshots - but Noah kept firing. With each shot, the barrier seemed to get fainter and fainter, almost as if it was getting weaker...
Click.
The booms suddenly ceased, and the gun stopped firing. Noah cursed as he hit the magazine release and let the old magazine fall to the ground. He turned and grabbed a fresh one off the desk, slid it into the gun, and pulled the charging handle. He would have aimed it at the alien, too - if it hadn't rushed into the back room while Noah was reloading.
-Luna-
Everything was going wrong.
This was supposed to be a simple search operation, one that her ponies had done countless times before. There were supposed to be only three other creatures in the house besides Twilight and her friends - and they didn't even have magical capabilities! They should have been no match for her twenty well-trained soldiers.
Luna and her small charge had approached with utmost silence, as her ponies were trained to do. They knocked on their door, declaring their intent to enter. And they had given fair warning, too!
She cursed as the loud snaps from inside stopped. Perhaps they didn't understand Equestrian? It should have been obvious; they were creatures from another world, after all. How could they be expected to know what her ponies were saying? And how could they not expect such a disastrous first impression with this new species? Equestria's centuries-old institutions had no way of dealing with an entirely foreign race; there hadn't been any since the beginning of written history. Maybe it was just terrible planning, but how could she help it? Two days had passed since she had seen Twilight, deep in study in her dreams, stuck out in the Everfree among who knows what kind of creatures! Celestia would have spent much longer, scrutinizing every detail of her course of action; Luna had just rushed to Twilight's aid as soon as she could.
The swelling feeling in her horn told her that her teleportation spell had finished charging. She concentrated on her target, then released the built-up magic into the teleportation matrix. A bright sunburst of light filled her vision, fading away as quickly as it had appeared. He first thing she saw was her loyal ponies lying on the dirty floor, their life slowly draining away from the wounds on their bodies. She looked at the alien, holding the metal weapon in its hands. Her surroundings were foreign and unfamiliar, but the way it carried itself gave off a universal message of hostility. She stepped towards it, and it shifted its weapon in her direction.
Thankfully, her defensive fields came up just before the weapon rattled off its deadly burst of fire. Her alicorn magic was the strongest, her barrier perfected after countless years of practice and experience - and yet the tiny little weapon (not even the size of a polearm!) hammered away at it, chipping away at it at a rate unbelievably rapid. Hit after hit smashed into her shield, each impact bringing her closer and closer to total vulnerability. Soon, she would be totally open to even the weakest of blows...
The alien suddenly stopped attacking her, a look of terror on its face. Luna finally managed to get a good look at it as she regathered her defenses. Twilight's depiction was quite accurate; Luna had thought that the thin proportions were just caused by a lack of artistic talent, but they turned out to be correct. from the snoutless head to the thin, furless claws.
A curved box dropped from its weapon, the black metal clacking against the wooden floor. It reached for another one lying on a nearby table, apparently unable to continue attacking. Luna had two options at that moment: she could either launch an impact spell, disabling the alien but preventing her from regaining her lost shielding, or she could rush for Twilight and teleport away to safety with her.
She ran into the other room, her hooves moving as fast as she could in the confined quarters of the small area. Surveying the dimly-lit boxes and occupied beddings, Luna quickly found a lavender alicorn sitting up and staring at her with a look of surprise on her face.
"L-Luna?"
Luna ignored the two aliens and two ponies staring at her, too shocked to react. She rushed towards her objective and grabbed Twilight with her magic, laying Twilight over her midnight-blue back.
"What's going-"
A second later, the two ponies were out in the cool night air, outside of the hut. The rest of her Night Guard, hiding behind the walls of the hut in caution, all looked at her as she suddenly appeared right outside the doorway in a brilliant starburst of light.
"Retreat!" she yelled, her voice loud enough to yank her guardsponies from their stares. Within a split second, everypony was sprinting away at top speed, their legs carrying them at full pace.
"Applejack...we need to-"
"Not now, Twilight," Luna huffed as she hurried towards the woods. Applejack and Rainbow Dash would have to wait - the alicorn was the top priority. She looked over at Twilight; her purple coat was covered in bandages. What had they done to her?
Luna's hairs stood up on the back of her neck, an electric buzz filling her ears. She stopped running, the strange feeling too abnormal to ignore. It was indescribably familiar...something that she couldn't quite place her hoof on. Luna turned around, attempting to trace the odd sensation of the feeling.
Nothing was visible to her eyes, but her gut told her something enormous was about to happen...
-Portgate-
"So, why did you decide to leave the barracks for this?"
The man looked over at his partner, anticipating a response as they stood thirty meters away from the Portgate.
"I dunno. Guess it was better than, you know, just...nothing."
"Heh, I know what you mean."
He stuffed the last bite of Choco-Caffeine Granola into his mouth, then shoved the wrapper into the shin pocket of his pants. "These are really good, you know. Why don't you ever get one?" he asked.
"I don't like them. Too bitter," the other guard replied as he shifted the rifle in his arms. A technician walked past them, carrying a large plastic box in his arms. The Army volunteers watched as he set it down right next to the giant metal ring, its frame half-exposed as a mass of wires and metal.
"So, when are they gonna be finished?" he asked.
"Oh, so now you ask? Dunno, they said about two weeks, I think. Though you never know."
"Damn right, you never know."
The technician opened the box, pulling a large metal cylinder out from it and handing it to a woman in the orange overalls of the facility's engineers.
"Hey, check this out!" the man exclaimed as he grabbed his smartphone from his vest pocket. He checked the screen, pressing the home button through his tactical gloves, then showed it to the other guard. "My wife just sent me a video. Hehe, it looks funny. 'why snowmobiles are the most dangerous animal in alaska.' You wanna see?"
"Shouldn't we be keeping guard?"
"For what?" he grumbled as he shoved the phone back into his pocket.
"I dunno, just...it's not gonna look good if - hey, you feel that?" his companion asked as he gripped his gun tighter.
"What do you-"
Blue light filled the enormous underground chamber as the Portgate once again rumbled to life. Everyone in a fifteen-meter radius immediately rushed back from it, forming a circle around the swirling blue vortex. The intercom buzzed out a message in the silence that overtook the normally-noisy testing area as the image of a dark forest and fields of grass shimmered in the portal, lit up by the bright incandescent light flowing through to the other side.
"-do not panic, do not panic! All security personnel, this is a code two - oh for God's sake, forget it. All security personnel, head to the Portgate area IMMEDIATELY. This is not a drill. It-it's opened up again, without warning. Everyone else - evacuate the sector! Head to your designated escape routes and evacuate immediately!"
"Jesus!" the two simultaneously exclaimed as they backpedalled away from the Portgate, aiming their guns at the door to another world in preparation for what would come out of it. They hid behind a nearby service cart, taking cover as they rested the handguards on the scratched aluminum. Each passing second, then each passing minute grew longer and longer as they waited for an invader to come through.
More and more soldiers flooded the room. An officer barked out orders to the men, who formed a ring around the Portgate behind various pieces of cover. Someone hefted a light machine gun onto a nearby crate, setting the bipod on the raised edge of the box. Nothing came through.
Then, a shout - from the inside of the ring - broke through the chaos. Everyone closed their mouths and listened, their surroundings quickly becoming quiet save from the sound of alien crickets chirping.
"...help, we need help!"
A human in the black and grey clothing of the Portgate Security Administration stumbled into the view of the Portgate, their clothes noticeably dirty and unwashed. Sighs of relief were heard throughout the building - then gasps of shock.
"We have three wounded...aliens! They need gunshot treatment, immediately!"
Another man, this one wearing blue, hurriedly walked through the Portgate, something strange in its arms. He set it down on the concrete floor, taking care to place it as slowly as possible.
"..."
A forest green unicorn, bandaged and armored, was lying unconscious fifty meters underground in a research facility in the middle of central Texas. Everyone was speechless.
It seemed like forever until someone uttered the words that set the foundations for the future of Humanity and what it had discovered.
"...well, don't just stand there! Get a medic over here, ASAP!"
"The details were received by each of us by noon. And here we are, two hours later. That's not nearly enough time to read that huge bundle of files, so we were hoping you could explain it better to us. We're impressed that you guys managed to put all that together in such a short period, by the way."
"...What am I supposed to say?"
"For starters, let's talk about the incident with the...species of interest."
"The...the horses?"
"We're as confused as you are, but please, continue."
"W-well, there were five, as you know. Three were severely injured when they came through - gunshot wounds. The other two were hurt, but it looks like they were being nursed back to health. Treatment is being provided for their injuries, and the on-site medical team says they're doing well. Although, I wonder if a veterinarian would have been more helpful..."
"We might be able to do something about that. What else do you know about them?"
"Well, we're in the process of questioning the three..."
"Stranded?"
"Three stranded personnel. We helped them get straightened up and recover from their ordeal, but they were actually quite healthy for being stuck on an alien planet for several weeks. Questioning began at around eleven-thirty. I have the up to date transcript here, let me pull it up...ah, here it is."
"What did they say?"
"Well, apparently the guard was keeping watch in the shelter they made-"
"Oh, is the Portgate still open?"
"Yes, it is. We don't know how, but apparently it's managed to stay open for nine hours and counting - without any input on our end. Additionally, there's much less static interference - basically, everything's much more stable. Looks like the portal's staying open...not like we could close it, anyways. He was keeping shelter, when all of a sudden he hears something outside. Gets scared, grabs an M4, then the aliens pop in."
"Can we call them anything other than 'aliens?'"
"We're working on a name. Probably something involving horses, I'm willing to bet. Anyways, he panics. Five aliens break into your shelter in the middle of the night wearing armor and carrying swords, anyone would be scared. So he shoots. The three recovered aliens are the ones he shoots. Then, and I quote his words, 'a bigger one just materializes right in front of him.'"
"Materializes?"
"Yeah, 'in a flash of light.' The guy was tired, by the way - he's gone over twenty hours without sleep by this point, by the way. I can't imagine anyone hallucinating anything like that just from mild sleep deprivation, though, so I guess it's all true."
"So...teleportation. Gentlemen, this is some very unsettling stuff."
"...yes, anyways, it approaches him. It might have been their commander, and it wasn't happy. He shoots at it, empties the rest of his magazine, but...there's a barrier that blocks the bullets."
"Barrier?! Good lord, if each of them can stop a rifle..."
"Magazine goes empty, he reloads, but the alien rushes into the adjoining room. Now, the other two witnesses said that it grabbed one of three aliens that were resting with them, and 'teleported' away. Then they retreat. Twenty of them outside, by the way, just running away. Few minutes later, the Portgate opens, and that's that."
"A few minutes later...coincidence?"
"Not likely, but nobody knows what caused it. That might have something to do with it, actually - there was another spike in energy eight minutes before the Portgate opened, this one much bigger. We didn't think it would do that, though."
"That alien was their priority, then."
"Yep. Now that you know what happened, here's the question I have: what now?"
"We've wounded three of theirs and taken five. They're not going to be happy. And you said the portal isn't going to close?"
"Decay readings say...not until several centuries, at the least."
"That's the one point of entry into our world. If any...parties...were to come over, it would be through there."
"What are you getting at, Sir?"
"Have you done anything so far, Director?"
"With what?"
"The other side."
"No. No need for a quarantine, and the other side is exactly like ours in almost every way in terms of environment, as we've all known for the past few months. So no, we didn't do anything in particular with the Portgate. Didn't the public call it 'Second Earth?' I guess...we'll have to live with it being stuck open all the time, so no point in containing it. Plus, the airlocks have been working fine enough."
"We need to establish ourselves on the other side."
"What?"
"Militarily. We can't risk their armies coming through, however unlikely it may or may not be, just because we didn't properly secure the portal. Get your security to set up defenses on the other side."
"I'm sorry, but we can't just-"
"Director, this isn't negotiable. Look, we're not going to go on a crusade or anything, just make sure that the place has a fighting chance in case of attack."
"...I suppose you're right. I'll get them to fortify with whatever we can."
"Good. And don't worry if it's a bit slipshod - we're sending a LOT of reinforcements over from MacOlsen field. By the end of tomorrow, you should have light construction crews, heavy infantry weaponry...anything you'll need to build a temporary fort."
"Fort?! The ramps are already crowded enough..."
"Well, make space. A week from now, we'll hopefully be laying concrete foundations."
"...no negotiating, huh?"
"Nope."
"...bring chainsaws. You'll need them to clear the trees."
"Got it. Now, what can you tell us about the aliens?"
"Ugh...straight out of a fairy tale. Three unicorns, one pegasus, and one...regular one."
"Regular one?"
"No wings or horn. Interestingly, the three wounded were all unicorns. Maybe they're a warrior race? The larger one and the 'target' had both wings and a horn. Maybe they were special. I can send pictures, but I have to warn you that they look like they came straight out of a children's book."
"Heh. How much of a threat are they?"
"Plate armor and swords."
"Don't be so dismissive, Director. If they can teleport and protect themselves with...shields, they're pretty dangerous."
"Oh, that reminds me! The researcher who was stranded over there took notes. The horned ones can...use magic? That's what it says, and it seems that telekinesis is also a thing they can do. More worrisome by the minute. The winged ones can fly, and the regular ones are...physically adept, to say the least. There's a lot here, even some basic language documentation. Gold star for her."
"All handy information. But how do the...pegasuses, let's call them...fly?"
"How do they teleport? We're in the same boat, you guys and I. There's a lot to cover, and I don't have a lot of time. Sorry."
"We understand. We'll let you get back to your work for now, but keep in mind this is a huge development. We'll come back with more questions."
"Alright, got it. If there are no objections, I'll sign out."
"So, ladies and gents, what are our plans for the future?"
"I'm just afraid this is going to be a second Columbus."
"But just think! A totally inhabitable world, ripe for our picking..."
"An already inhabited world, may I remind you."
"Whatever. Point is, it's an opportunity worth taking."
"And what about the natives?"
"They're behind us technologically by hundred of years. We can crush their-"
"No! Goddamnit, we can't just do this - just, just conquer the local peoples! We're human beings, and we have moral standards."
"So ignore what we have to gain?"
"No, I...look, our number one priority as of now is to maintain a presence. And it'll be much easier if we're friendly with them."
"Shouldn't we leave this to the analy-"
"The analysts aren't going to be quick enough! For now...let's just focus on the task at hand - securing the Portgate."
"May I remind you that this is a group effort, and that the United States does not have complete control over the Portgate?"
"We provided the most funding, too. And think about it. We can't just steal from other species just because they're weaker!"
"And what if they attack? What if they're not friendly?"
"We'll respond with minimal force, and try for peace."
"So, you're thinking..."
"We can set up a base of operations - well-defended, but not too encroaching - and aim for peace with the locals. Set up diplomacy. Then we can start talking about resources."
"You know...when I walked through that portal to another world...the first thing I noticed was how clean it was, how beautiful and unperverted that clearing was, how nature had blessed it with such beauty and liveliness...
The second thing I saw was the rotting carcass of a gargantuan beast."
-Ethan Fawkner, Memoirs of the Other Side
Two hours had passed. Security had swapped out personnel, trading tired eyes and exhausted visages for coffee-invigorated guards.
Another two hours, and the last pieces of weaponry were fished out from the back of the armory. Why there was a mounted grenade launcher in there, nobody knew.
Yet another two hours, and a few daring scientists tiptoed up to the portal, their instruments pointed at the other side.
Two more hours. The scientists wouldn't back off, even at the pleading of the Kevlar-plated guards. It was comical, the white-coated men and women still probing the enormous ellipse even while tall men with guns were pulling them back away from the alien meadow.
Then, two hours later, the PA came on. An announcement was made, and the scientists made way for the engineers, who hesitantly walked up towards the portal. Blades of grass gently swayed in the early morning sun, some of them leaning just over the edge between the two worlds. They looked at each other, collectively taking a deep breath as they prepared themselves, and stepped over the barrier onto a whole new planet, crates in tow...
-Andrew-
They had run tests on him, questioned him, and he was still stuck in the stupid room.
After they had brought the three wounded aliens (and the two not so wounded ones) across, Andrew and his two friends were taken to the infirmary. The doctors insisted that he submit to all of their tests, but he countered by saying he was fine - he had been there for weeks, he didn't need to get a complete checkup done - and they let him off on the condition that he come back later. They still did some basic evaluations, though, and three hours passed before he was once again carted off to clean himself up. He was given a fresh set of clothes from his room after he showered and shaved, and it was nice to get into something other than his old uniform.
Then they took him to be questioned.
Questioning was a bit too hostile of a term. The room was actually a spare storage space somewhere in the back of the Offices area, furnished with a folding table and six padded folding chairs. They had even brought a sandwich and some much-appreciated coffee from the cafeteria, which Andrew gladly accepted. And he didn't mind talking to the camera and the two interviewers about what had happened on the other side; it was relaxing, unloading the events of the past two weeks and answering any questions that came up.
But now? They had told him to wait as they walked out of the room, the camera still on its tripod. Thirty minutes later, and he was still waiting there, growing more and more impatient with each passing moment.
The door handle suddenly twisted counter-clockwide, and the door swung open with a squeak. A man in a suit and tie took a step into the room and motioned for him to follow.
"Where are we going?" Andrew asked as he stood up from the table.
"We're bringing you to the other two survivors. You'll be doing a group interview for the next couple of hours. Come," the man beckoned.
The two stepped out of the dull, claustrophobic closet and weaved through the cubicles. The clickety-clack of keyboards was punctuated by the occasional thunk of a mug or the high-pitched whine of a printer, and a couple of quiet conversations were audible somewhere in the huge room. They stepped out of the section after a minute of walking, then took a right turn into the West Wing. The familiar white paint on the walls gave Andrew some measure of happiness and familiarity, but that didn't lift his spirits very much as they strolled down the corridor. He felt that he should have been crying with joy when he was rescued, but in all honesty he was feeling a bit...deflated. Those two weeks were the most exciting, most interesting of his life, but now...
They stopped in front of an elevator, the man pressing the up button as he turned towards the aluminum doors. The immediately recognizable ding signaled the opening of the sliding doors, and they stepped inside. An awkward silence and five minutes of walking later, and they were at Administrations.
Andrew was led down a series of wide hallways, past framed pictures of the many accomplishments the site had made over the years. The man paused in front of the door between the two photos of a half-finished skeleton of the Portgate three years ago and a gigantic prototype fusion reactor, then waved Andrew towards it.
"This is your stop. Wait here for now," he said as he walked off.
With a push, Andrew found himself in a spacious, well-furnished waiting room about twenty by twenty feet. The walls were covered with paintings and flat-screen TVs, and a water fountain was conveniently placed in the corner of the room. Couches and sofas were neatly arranged around a gigantic coffee table, its surface covered with magazines and a large platter of sandwiches, cookies, and sodas. A pair of remotes were supposed to be on the table, but only one was visible - the other was buried under the woman lying on the loveseat, a bag of potato chips in one of her hands and a half-eaten BLT in the other.
"Hey, guys!"
"Oh, hey Andrew! What did they do to you?"
"Ugh, the doctors were insisting on making me take all these tests. Then I got to shower, and then they asked me questions for a really long time."
"Same. That is for me, and Noah. And now you," she said through a bite of bread and meat.
"Yeah. Man, I'm still hungry. Will you pass me a Coke? Haven't had one in...well, a while."
"Sure, dude! Not like we're short of those," she muttered as she tossed the can towards him. Andrew caught it with both hands, then let the door close behind him as he had a seat in the other sofa. The man in the couch next to him snored as he lay facedown on the armrest.
"What are we watching?"
"Oh, it's 'Space and Six-Shooters'! I hope you don't mind," Leah said as she wiggled deeper into the cushions.
"Nah," Andrew sighed. "I'm fine with some cartoons, even after living in one."
"Heh."
"Yep," he grunted as he leaned forward. Andrew grabbed three chocolate chip cookies and two ham sandwiches, then sat back and unwrapped the first sandwich. After what he had just experienced, lounging around and watching cartoons while eating food was a great way to unwind. He propped his feet up on the table, sliding Science and Bloomberg Businessweek off to the side with his rubber boot soles as he immersed himself in the sci-fi world of aliens and adventure with Leah. Sandwich in hand, he tore a bite out of the meaty treat.
It was delicious.
-Twilight-
Not like this...
Twilight rolled onto her side, the itchy cotton rollmat no more comfortable than before. She felt drained, unmotivated, lethargic...down in the dumps, as Pinkie would have said. The pony smiled at the thought of her bouncy, overexcited friend back at Ponyville; it had been quite a while since they had seen each other, even if they had been apart for only a few days. "Now that I've thought about it," she murmured, "I really miss Ponyville. Even if it was for...for..."
Five days? Maybe four, but it felt more like five. She couldn't quite remember, which was weird for such a methodical pony like her. She unexcitedly stared at the nice old stallion medic who had switched out her bandages and taken care of her for the past few hours. He was packing up his medicine bag, meticulously sliding each item into its specific pouch with a sense of pride in his smooth, fluid movements. The clattering of metal and wood outside reminded her of a thought she had, and she rolled over onto her back to ask it.
"So...when are we leaving?"
"Tomorrow at dawn," he grunted as he shoved a roll of gauze into the bag.
"Will I be fine?"
"Yes, you just have a few scratches here and there. If you're not feeling well enough, I can assist you, Princess."
"I'm good," she replied. Twilight frowned, a shadow passing through her thoughts. "What happens next?"
"Well, once we reach Ponyville I assume that you'll be free to go. The rest of us are heading back to Canterlot."
With a groan, Twilight pushed herself off the ground and stood up on her hooves. Her right wing still hurt a little every time she bumped into something, but other than that she was feeling great. At least, as great as she could feel at the moment.
The bright midday sun blinded the lavender alicorn as she stepped outside of the dim tent, and her left wing instinctively moved to cover her eyes. It had been barely half a day since Luna had taken her away from the creatures' shelter, and she was still recovering from the...loss? Joy? Her head muddled and confused, she walked towards the Princess's tent, taking stock of her situation as she weaved through the mass of ponies preparing to disembark back to civilization.
Good news first, she thought to herself. She was headed back to Ponyville, back to her castle, back to Spike...
Twilight sighed as she dodged an earth pony carrying a large wooden box on their back. The good news didn't quite outweigh the bad news, as happy as it should have been. When Luna had pulled her out of that bed last night, Twilight left behind her opportunity to study those creatures and their...everything! Their culture, their technology, their society...all out of her reach, as far as she knew. Rainbow Dash and Applejack didn't even come with her. Were they alright? Would the aliens let them leave? Did they even plan on it, even when Twilight was still there?
It was too much for even Twilight to bear, the thoughts that were flooding her clouded mind. She almost ran into the canvas wall of the large, dark-blue tent in front of her, the pearly-white crescent moon large and imposing. The purple pony took a second to compose herself, then walked through the entrance into the enormous tent.
The first thing she noticed was the enormous table in the middle of the tent, its surface nearly completely barren save for a box of cartography tools and a large map. Twilight paused, unwilling to interrupt the conversation that was taking place.
"...well. Well, well, well. We're heading back regardless; we didn't bring enough to stay any longer."
"But the pegasi-"
"Are quite capable, I'm sure, of that task. But we're already keeping constant surveillance on it, and we can't take them from keeping watch."
"...yes, that's true. But still, we can't just-"
"Did you see the hydra?"
"Excuse me?"
"Or rather, what was left of it. We shouldn't have ignored it, Captain. I don't want to recklessly bring my ponies into battle with a force that can rip apart greater beasts, and neither do you. That was a mistake."
"But...but..."
"Look. Do you want to have that happen to these guardsponies? Or would you rather face them with unicorn mages, a steady supply line, and siege weaponry?"
"Siege weaponry?..."
"Yes, I'm afraid. If we present our full military might to these...beings, maybe they'll think twice about starting any conflict. And from the looks of it, they're here to stay."
"Very well, then. I...suppose that's it from me."
"Thank you, Captain, for coming up to me with your concerns."
The light-brown unicorn nobly strided out of the tent, his composure sharp and dignified as he walked past Twilight. She moved in closer to the table, the flaps closing behind her as Luna smiled at her fellow princess.
"Good afternoon, Twilight."
"What was that about, Princess Luna?" she asked.
Luna sighed, her smile changing from polite to amused. "Oh, don't call me that, Twilight! You're a princess now, you can just call me Luna. Everyone else is," she calmly stated as she pulled out a small flask from under the table. "Would you like some water? You must be thirsty."
"No thanks. At least, not until you explain what you were talking about."
Luna set the wooden bottle on the table with a clunk, then leaned back on the cushion she was sitting on. "Don't concern yourself with these-"
"You just said I'm a princess!" Twilight protested. "I have the right to know what's going on, and why you want to bring cannons to the doorstep of those harmless creatures!"
"Harmless?! I...no, you're right. You'll need to learn to become a ruler sooner or later, might as well be sooner."
"How about you start with what you're going to do to them!"
"Twilight," Luna sighed, "they're not harmless."
"But they saved me and-"
"Well, they did. They also gravely wounded three of my ponies in the span of that many seconds."
"They...they did what?"
"Almost had me, too. They wore my shields down to next to nothing. I would have been just as hurt had it not been for luck!"
"I...but...why...didn't you save them?"
"The aliens were too dangerous. My ponies were willing to give up their lives to protect Equestria. You were our top priority. Understand?"
Twilight realized she was scowling at Luna. Ashamed, she backed off and composed herself. "I...I understand."
"I'm glad you do, Twi. I really am. I know it seems a bit too excessive, but they're just too much of a potential threat. Even if they don't mean any harm, we have to be prepared in case they do. Now, shouldn't you be resting?"
"My wounds aren't serious. They're just scratches."
Luna slid the bottle across the table towards Twilight, who caught it with her hoof. "You should drink some water."
Twilight twisted the bottle top off, then raised it to her lips. The water was clear and delicious, which was the opposite of how she was feeling.
"Thanks, Luna," she said as she set the now empty bottle back down on the table.
"No problem. Have a good day, Twilight."
Twilight glumly walked outside, her head as low as her spirits. She had tried to convince Luna that the creatures were innocent, but she wouldn't listen to it. The alicorn cursed herself for not being able to sway her opinion. If only she had been better at debate and rhetoric, she lamented...
Luna watched Twilight leave the tent, gloomily pondering her actions and their consequences. She had been aggressive, overly forceful, and above all else...arrogant that night. Her mistakes weighed heavily on her conscience, each failure a leaden burden she carried with her. Twilight thankfully didn't ask about any of them, but she would soon - and Luna didn't know if she could find an excuse by then. She was too occupied with the other issue at hoof...
She made sure that the purple pony was gone before levitating a piece of papyrus and a quill and ink from her saddlebags. The clink of glass on wood and the rustling of paper was followed by the scritching of the feather, rapidly jotting down Luna's thoughts.
Tia,
I have not contacted you since we departed from Ponyville. My apologies; we have been busy lately.
I do not know how to say this, so I'll be direct: I'm ordering the mobilization of the Royal Guard. What I've seen is enough to convince me, and I know it will convince you as well. We'll iron the details out when I reach Canterlot, and I know this seems sudden and dramatic, but let me explain:
The creatures that I have told you about were the ones who took Twilight and her friends. We entered their shelter, but they attacked us and have injured three of my Night Guard. Their weapons are much more lethal than you would think, sister; in the short span of a few seconds, one of them managed to not only take down three of Equestria's finest soldiers but also nearly took down my primary defense shielding. Like I have said, they are a force to be reckoned with.
But that is in the past; what I have just discovered is much more important. Not two hours ago, a scout team submitted an unsettling report...
Luna looked over at the sheafs of paper to her left. Above the detailed descriptions on the report sat sketches of boxes, strange equipment, and a semicircle, embedded in the ground...
...and it is clear that the Everfree is being occupied.
"We discovered that the Portgate itself was what caused the interference that prevented our drones from effectively scouting out the area. Wireless signals were scrambled by it, but once we ran cables through data transfer was no issue. Come to think of it, why didn't we do that? Maybe they were too much of a hassle. After all, we could only keep the Portgate open for a couple of a minutes at a time. Now? We don't have that issue."
-Jonathan "Blue" Peng, Data Technician
-William-
It was surprising how little work William had that day. Barely any new paperwork was placed on his desk, even after the Portgate reopened, and when they had evacuated he got an entire three hours of rest outside the facility. Sure, he was roused from his sleep at five in the morning, but he got to wait until nine before starting work - a truly unbelievable miracle!
The rest of the day had went delightfully, as well. Not a single shred of paper came in until noon, and that was just a parts order from engineering. He even caught up with half of his work before he stood up at four in the afternoon and walked into the hallway, ready to meet the three lucky people who were the talk of the facility.
William stood in front of the wooden door, straightening out his collared shirt and brushing his hair back with his hands. They were watching television inside, the muffled voices and musical jingles noisily playing through the walls and into his ears. He hesitated, unsure of how to continue, before knocking on the door.
"...I'll get it..."
Something inside shifted around. Footsteps approached the door, and a second later William stood face to face with an unshaved security guard, a look of annoyance on his face.
"Who...ah...UM!"
The guard seized up, shocked by the sudden arrival of the project head in their laid-back state. William never liked it when others treated him as a superior, especially when they looked like they just saw a ghost. The two other people inside turned their heads, then panickedly sat up straight in their chairs and dusted off their shirts.
"I-Sorry!"
"We didn't think it was-"
"Alright," he declared in his deep bass voice. Nobody moved.
"It's okay, I'm just here to talk about what happened. Please, have a seat."
Reluctantly, the guard tensely made his way into a sofa. William gently pushed the door shut, then stepped inside and plopped himself into an unoccupied couch. The woman quickly grabbed the remote and turned the TV off, her sitting position clearly communicating unease.
"I'm sorry, I know you must have been through a lot. Are you-"
"Fine!" the guard blurted out. He cringed as soon as the sound bite left his mouth, as if he was expecting some sort of retribution or punishment for his actions.
William sighed. "That's good to hear. So, you've been interviewed, I take it?"
The survivors looked at each other, then nodded.
"Great, that's great. I'm here because I want to hear what you three have to say."
"But we just-"
"No, ma'am, they asked the questions and you gave them answers. I want to know what YOU have to say about the past two weeks. What do YOU three think about what happened?"
They didn't respond.
"Hmm...I was expecting more of a reply. Okay. You guys said that you found intelligent life?"
"Yes," the woman answered, "we did."
"Oh, that - that's amazing! Congratulations, to all of you, for being the first to make contact with an alien species!"
All three survivors cringed at the word "contact." The guard was especially uncomfortable with the word.
"Oh...sorry. I forgot...that...that...happened." An awkward silence followed, nobody wanting to bring up the event at all. It was still a tender subject.
"Um..."
"Hm?"
"Am...am I receiving any...punishment?" the guard asked, almost too meekly for a giant like him.
"No, um...Noah, you won't. Your actions were spur-of-the-moment, reflexive responses. Considering the situation, I'm told you did very well."
"O-Oh...thanks."
Silence broke out again, though a tad less awkward than before.
"Well...what now?" the man in the technician fatigues asked.
"Oh! Yeah, well," William replied as he took his glasses off, "we've decided, that, um..."
All eyes were on William at the moment, which made him feel very uncomfortable.
"...you three are, uh, going to be part of our first- I mean, second- contact team."
"What?"
"Um, you-you'll get compensation and rewards soon, but for now we have to keep this top secret. Please understand, this is a very...impactful event."
"What will we be doing?"
"The same things you've been doing before, but...you'll be over on the other side. We will also occasionally pull you for, let's say, 'important procedures' should the need arise."
"I don't understand. Why?"
"You three have spent two weeks more on the other world than any of us. You're more familiar than anyone on Earth. Which is why you'll be important people from now on. Get used to having more responsibilities."
"What do you mean?"
"Leah, is it? You're going to be working with all of the researchers we're sending to study the planet as a guide and advisor. You'll also have time to work on other projects you're assigned to, which will be much more numerous now that the Portgate is stable. Andrew, you're going to be part of our construction and mechanical teams. Both of them, yes, but you're a skilled man; I believe you'll do just fine. And Noah...you'll be the most involved. We're setting up a special group of armed personnel to explore the other side, and your services would be much appreciated."
"But," Andrew asked, "couldn't they just get another person to do my job?"
"I don't know why the top brass are doing this, but I'd just go with it if I were you."
"We'll be together, right?"
"You will have opportunities to meet up, both on and off duty. Occasionally, we'll have you help us maintain relations with the locals. Even if you did...injure three of them, you did save another three. Gosh, three everywhere...oh, they'll have good things to say about you to their species. It would be fitting for the first three visitors to also be part of our... appearance. Think of this as a publicity thing."
"Okay. We understand."
"Any questions?"
Once again, the room was silent.
"Really? I was hoping that you'd guys tell me more about what happened, but...actually, never mind that. You guys have been through a lot, please rest and enjoy yourselves. I just came here to tell you the news, but I was also curious. Maybe later, huh?" he asked as he stood up and turned towards the door. "And please, enjoy the food," William said as he twisted the doorknob and pulled it back.
"Mr. Anderson?"
William turned towards the technician.
"Thank you...for this."
"Ah, no, it wasn't me who arranged this. But please, take care of yourselves," he replied as he closed the door behind him. Everyone let out a collective sigh.
"Oh gosh," Leah sighed, "we're going to have to actually do stuff? I thought we'd, like, get famous or something, and not have to do any more work."
"Hey," Noah shot back, "things could be worse."
-Celestia-
Not even the tapestries strung along the castle's interior could completely muffle the commotion Princess Celestia's advisors made as she walked towards the conference room. The frantic ponies (mostly unicorns) clamored for a chance to have their opinions and suggestions heard by the pearl-white alicorn, temporarily throwing their Canterlot etiquette aside in the hopes that they would be noticed. Celestia herself tried her best to respond, but she was outnumbered twenty to one; even as the doors closed behind her and she took her seat, they still voiced their thoughts loudly and pointedly towards her.
"But we can't just move everypony in the active Guard in a matter of days!"
"How the hay are we supposed to tell the populace?"
"You would need to provide tax cuts to the nobility..."
"We need to go up to those things and-"
"Quiet, please," Celestia calmly asked. "Now is not the time for confusion and disorganization. I would like to hear from all of you, one at a time, your thoughts on this matter."
Reluctantly, the advisors silenced themselves.
"Thank you. We'll go around the table. General Maelstrom?"
The gruff, sky-blue stallion sighed. "I can't believe you just told us to move a bunch of our troops-"
"Only eight percent."
"-into the Everfree! I'm not afraid of the monsters in there, but don't you think that that's a bit excessive?"
"Luna wanted to garrison half of the Guard," Celestia countered. "And besides, ninety percent of our troops are idle in their barracks; it's not like we're at war."
"The logistics are going to be a headache. Getting four thousand ponies into the Everfree and supplying them duirng long-term encampment..."
"Leave that to me. Can you do it, then?"
"Definitely," he grumbled, "but it'll be one heck of a headache."
"Excellent. Grand Mage Crystal Arcana, what about the encampment itself?"
"The Night Guard pulled out a day before we received the report, and a day after the portal appeared. There's not much to go on. And if what this says is true - that they only did that in a full day - then I wouldn't be too concerned."
"Still, we mustn't underestimate them. When is the soonest we can expect a report?"
"Luna's already heading back to Ponyville, and should be there tomorrow. They're using the next day to resupply, and two more days to return and set up camp at their previous location again. Add one day to send a report to Ponyville, where we'll hopefully be by then, and that's five days. Meanwhile, we'll be using today and tomorrow to prepare the troops, and one day traveling to Ponyville. Setting up a permanent supply line to their currently vacant camp will take two days, and if nothing happens...we'll recieve a new report five days from now."
"A bit long, but it can't be helped. I just hope that our...visitors don't expand too aggressively in those five days."
"About those creatures...what did Luna have to say about them?" the General asked.
"Well," Crystal Arcana replied, "I actually have Twilight Sparkle's notes on them here with me. I have been informed that they are just a rough copy of the notes that were left at the visitors' shelter, but I trust her accuracy in such matters."
Her horn glowed with a light-blue aura as the buckle of her saddlebags magically undid themselves. A sheaf of papers, bound by a golden paper clip, flew out from the leather bag and spread itself across the polished oak table. The sheets of parchment were covered with crude sketches and quick scribbles, but they were anything but insubstantial.
"Hmm. So this is what they look like?" Celestia asked. "Diamond Dogs, but without fur."
"I was thinking more Minotaur," the Governor of Commerce commented.
"That's not important right now. What is important are these two facts: number one, that they're unable to use magic-"
"Well, we don't have to worry too much about them then!"
"No," the Grand Mage interjected. "Remember that only one of these creatures killed three of the Night Guard - and could have taken Luna's life, as well."
"Hah! We were simply caught off guard, though. I'd like to see them try to injure a combat mage, or stop a cannonball!"
"True," Celestia sighed. "Even if we can defeat them, I can't believe Luna just went into their shelter in the middle of the night, unannounced."
"She has only been back as ruler for a few years, Celestia, after a millenium of banishment. Perhaps she has not become reaccustomed to Equestria after so long gone?"
"Perhaps, but that does not matter right now. Printing Press, how should we reveal this discovery to the public?"
"We don't," the steel-gray unicorn answered. "There's a - let's face it - intrusion of Equestria's sovereignty from the Everfree by aliens. I doubt the public would respond well to that. For now, we should keep this a secret. Maybe later, when things have progressed and we know a bit more about what's going on, we can tell everyone."
"I see."
"But how shall we let it out? There's no way to tell everypony without it being a jarring shock."
"Let's not worry about that, Press. There are other, more immediate issues at hand."
A low, groaning creak suddenly brought all conversation to a halt. One of Celestia's assistants quickly cantered through the large, tall wooden doors and whispered something into her ear, the stressed syllables ahd tense verbalizations all that was audible to those in the chamber save the Princess herself. The alicorn nodded, then rose from the chair as the young earth-pony mare stood at her side.
"Excuse me. Sorry for cutting this short, but I have some business to attend to. We must reconvene as soon as possible...is tomorrow, at ten a convenient time?"
"Yes, Princess," rang out around the table. All of the advisors began to pack their bags and prepare to leave, Celestia's attention elsewhere at the moment. As her assistant left the room, the Princess of the Sun followed, her gaze directly opposite the conference room as she went on with her day.
The LED on the top of the quadcopter blinked red, then glowed a steady green as pre-flight diagnostics ran their course. Its medium-resolution video camera, screwed beneath it on a 360-degree mount, automatically began recording its first few seconds of flight video. The camera displayed a military-sized tent in a forest clearing on the bulky laptop next to it, the lenses whirring as it tried to focus on the American flag imprinted on the side.
"Okay, things look fine, sir. But...that's weird, transmissions are really bad. Maybe it's something with the antenna?"
"Nah, the scientists said this place messes with signals. Can you fix it?"
"I'll try."
2 >> 10 [TRANSMIT_PRIORITY]
Signal: POOR [80% PACKET RECEIVE / 71% TRANSMIT]
"Not gonna happen, sir."
"Well, I guess we'll have to be more careful. Jackson?"
"Hmm?" the built-in microphone caught from afar.
"We're good. Get over here and fly this thing."
"Alright."
"And don't get too fancy; the connection is really spotty."
"Sure thing."
Something from behind made a scraping sound. Suddenly, the camera spun around twice, the surroundings too blurry to make out.
"Jeez, the camera sensitivity on this thing!"
"It's not like the combat drones you've flown. This is a scouting quadcopter-"
"Yeah, but still.."
[CABLE UNPLUGGED]
Battery 100% (00:30:18)
"Let's do this."
The quadcopter's electric motors whirred as its propellors built up speed. Suddenly, it began to rise, gaining altitude as the view of the forest canopy slowly broadened into view. Once it reached 80 feet, the scouting drone tilted forward, flying with a slight lean towards the right. It was circling the Portgate, mapping the surroundings in a spiral path as it spun around the quickly-growing camp.
The ES-20 was a medium-sized reconnaissance quadcopter designed for quick and reliable first-time scouting. Although its battery life was skimpy when compared to similar military drones and its frame was made of a flimsier but lighter plastic, it more than made up for it with a high-resolution 8-megapixel photo camera and strong, dependable motors. It was a relatively recent prototype (only three years old), but the few instances in which it had seen use delivered promising results.
However, in the Equestrian Everfree its wireless transmitter was having a hard time getting through the thick, mysterious static. Occasionally, it would drift a few meters too far forwards as its connection to the flight controller was periodically chopped off, the interference scrambling any communications back and forth. The drone lagged forward, then readjusted, then lagged forward...
Until twenty-two minutes after takeoff, when it came to a complete stop mid-air. Five seconds passed, and the quadcopter turned around and lowered in altitude. The whine of the rotors dropped in pitch as it descended into the treeline. Just thirty feet below it, nearly completely hidden by the foliage, was a large, abandoned encampment. Not a single creature was in sight amongst the empty tents.
Its photo camera spun around and focused on the tents in the clearing, rapidly snapping off pictures at paparazzi pace. As its flight camera switched between infrared and night-vision in an attempt to find any beings possibly hiding from it, the quadcopter descended to just ten feet above the ground. It buzzed around eagerly, taking as many photos as it could before it had to return to recharge its batteries. Nothing escaped its sight, from the long-extinguished campfires to the odd pieces of litter scattered here and there.
Soon, however, it was time for the drone to head back. The quadcopter rose back up to cruising altitude, making a beeline back to the Portgate. It would come back to the encampment later, to further investigate the mysterious tents and awnings. A day later, it would be accompanied by a heavier research drone, which would then retrieve some of the random items scattered around the camp.
But at that moment, it had to refill its batteries. The buzzing noise of the propellors soon disappeared from the tents as the drone headed back to base, the noon sun casting a wavy shadow on the trees.
"When people think of portals, they think of sci-fi portals. Now, I’m not one to slag off on those portrayals. They’re actually not that far off from the real deal, what with the swirly border around a view of another place. But they always seem to line up just perfectly with the ground, don’t you think? They’re always easily traversable, both sides being only a few inches at most off the ground. Well, with the Portgate, both sides were actually embedded in the ground, almost ten feet below the floor Earth-side. There was still plenty of headspace, of course - the Portgate is still thirty feet wide. Another interesting thing is that the ground on our side of the portal was also about ten inches above the other side. I saw a couple of trips and falls, I can tell you that, at least until they put a ramp up. Now - and here’s the real chilling part - what if their side opened up five thousand miles below the surface? In the core of the planet? That right there’s a real mess right there, I tell ya.”
-Erik Mason, Organic Chemist
-Luna-
The Night Guard had already ruffled some feathers a few days ago while picking up supplies. Providing for a hundred ponies for about a week at most was already a challenging task; four thousand ponies plus heavy siege weaponry and semi-permanent encampment? A royal pain, that’s what that was.
Luna slid the check across the counter, her seal a crimson red against the off-white paper. She would have left this duty to the provisions officer, but the unicorn was busy buying medicine at the apothecary. There was a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it; and when it came down to the nitty gritty of things, a hungry army was a useless army. Food was the priority.
“I’m really sorry once again, Princess Luna, that we don’t have enough right now. The amount of food you’re requesting...it was just a bit unexpected, is all! We’ll have to send a letter to the grainhouse, and that’s going to take three days...you said that’s when you’ll need it?”
“Yes, but it won’t be an issue. Thank you very much for your help, Crate Tack. You’ve done a splendid service to me and my troops.”
“Oh, don't mention it, Princess! I'm just sorry we couldn't help you any more than we have."
"No no, it's all right," Luna reaffirmed. "Thank you once again!" she shouted as she stepped through the doorway of Produce Patch's Perishables. The large town of ten thousand ponies was just as important as her four thousand troops, but this was an important deployment; the townsponies could do with a few shortages here or there. Soon enough, the other towns and cities would fill in the gaps left by her soldiers, and things would work out.
Luna looked down at her list. She was almost done with requisitions; here were only a few more stops to go. There was only one last place she had to go, and that was...
Sweet Apple Acres.
Maybe she didn't have to go? Maybe they didn't need apples. Apples weren't as good of a food as oats were. Not so easy to carry. Yes, she wouldn't have to go to Sweet Apple Acres and talk to the Apple Family. No, that wouldn't turn out well. Especially since...since...
The lead cannonball in Luna's stomach sunk deeper. She had no excuses for skipping Sweet Apple Acres. They needed the food, be it oats, apples, or hay. And apples would definitely help with morale. It would be good to put some variety in their diet, something that Luna knew from centuries past would always cheer a pony up. Her soldiers would definitely appreciate some fresh fruits to go with their meals, as a respite from the constant stress of the foreign encroachment on their soil.
Simply put, she had no way of snaking around that fact. She would have to talk to Applejack's family, reassure them that Applejack was safe. and hopefully get some food from them. They would be distraught, devastated by the loss of a family member. They would plead with Luna to bring Applejack back safely. They would beg her to save their family member, make a promise that she might not even be able to keep, then wail and shriek when the bad news came...
Luna stopped herself short. Applejack was tough, she would be fine. There would be no crying, no tears shed on that day; only smiles, and laughs, and joyful reunions. Luna was sure of it.
The gate to the Apple family farm was covered in vines, a crude yet homely sign of an apple hanging from the top by two metal chains. Luna took a deep breath, inhaling the refreshing yet somewhat musky country air. It smelled of hard work and determination, the kind that went back generations and generations. Acres and acres of apples surrounded her, as the farm's name had advertised. And Luna didn't doubt that they were delicious apples, either.
She stepped through the entrance, the dirt and mud sliding off her magical silver slippers as they left their imprint on the ground. The house itself was rather large, a two-story edifice with bright red walls and several large windows. Looking more closely at the surrounding farmland, Luna realized that there were more than just apples being grown on the farm. Corn, carrots, potatoes, and even grapes grew in neat little rows, It shouldn't have come as a surprise to Luna that the Apple family didn't just grow one crop - that would have been a disaster in times of, well, disaster - but she did have her preconceptions of their farm.
"Hiya, Princess Luna!"
Luna turned around as the yellow filly galloped up to her, her saddlebags bouncing up and down as she ran. "Gosh, you haven't been up here before, have you?"
"No, my filly, I have not. Where is your brother?" she politely asked. Applebloom was too young to talk business, but Luna definitely didn't want to talk about Applejack with her around either. That wouldn't go down very well, she thought to herself.
"Oh, he's out in the fields. He usually shows up right about when I get home to take a break, so I'd just wait around here for him. There he is!"
"Howdy, Applebloom. And howdy to you too, Princess," a baritone voice sounded out from behind her. Big Macintosh had come through the barn, a towel around his thick neck.
"Hello, Big Macintosh. I'm here to request supplies for the garrison," she said.
"I saw them soldiers in Ponyville! They were so cool, with their uniforms and armor..."
"Why don'tcha go play with your friends, Applebloom. This is grown up talk," Macintosh stated as he walked up to the porch, the Princess following him to the door.
"Aww, but I'm a big girl!"
"Not big enough for what we're fixing to discuss. Be a good girl, please, for Big Mac."
"Fine," the filly lamented as she stomped off to the treehouse where her friends usually met. "I guess I could use some help with that math homework, too..."
Macintosh made sure the young filly was gone before pulling the front door open and beckoning Luna inside. She wiped her slippers on the doormat before stepping into the living room of their home. Various portraits of family members (some here, mostly gone) lined the walls and mantle, surrounding the ancient couches and old oaken furniture with their many gazes. The shelves that lined the walls were surprisingly loaded with books for a farming family, but a glance at the titles cleared up any confusion. Times really have changed, Luna contemplated. "The Farmer's Handbook," "Pony Agriculture Techniques," "An Almanac of Agriculture"...
"Big Mac? Is that you? And who's with you? Sure sounds like a big fella!..."
"It's Princess Luna!"
"An alicorn, in my foyer? You better not be pulling my leg, Macintosh...darn kids these days and their pranks..."
The thin, knobby hooves of Granny Smith were the first thing that Luna saw of the old green pony as they made their way down the creaky stairs. Macintosh waved at the Princess to have a seat, and Luna sat her too-large frame on a nearby sofa as the ancient mare walked into the room.
"Good golly gee, is this who I think it is? Should I get my glasses out?"
"That will not be necessary," said Luna.
"Shucks, that really is the princess, huh? Golly gee, what's the occasion?"
"Granny, they need supplies. How much do you need, Princess?"
"We're hoping you can supply about forty bushels of apples per week. Of course, we'll be paying you for the food - fifty bits per bushel, in fact."
"Fifty bits? That's a mighty lot."
"Indeed. I don't want to be too stingy, after, uh..."
"Yep..."
"I'm sorry for bringing that up. I understand that this-"
"We know."
"...in any case, we're willing to negotiate-"
"It's just..."
"Hm?"
"I don't get it."
"Excuse me?"
"I mean," Big Macintosh continued, "y'all send a couple of your Guard in to look for Applejack, but you don't come back with anything. And now ya come back with a whole buncha ponies. An entire army! Something ain't right."
"Well, um, that..."
The question caught Luna off guard. How had she not realized? She hadn't given an official response as to what the Royal Guard was doing in the Everfree, and ponies would eventually get curious. They couldn't know of what was really happening - how would they react? And if one of her Night Guard let slip their tongue?
"Oh, don't worry. We'll take you up on your offer."
"Huh?"
"You heard the young gentlecolt! We can help ya out."
"It's fine, Princess. As long as it helps you find Applejack, we'll be glad to support you."
"Wait, really?"
"Yes," Macintosh replied. "We believe in you. Applejack knows how to keep herself out of trouble. I know she'll be okay."
"Oh! Well, um..."
"Hey," he interrupted. "Luna, we know you'll bring Applejack back to us. We just do. So stop your worrying, please. It wouldn't do for a Princess to lack anything she needs, after all."
"I...thank you." Luna sighed, glad that she had just avoided catastrophe.
"Don't mention it. Now, we were about to discuss the deal?"
"Yes, well, as I was saying, we would be glad to repay you for your apples - a fair amount more than market price, if I'm correct."
"So that's it? Forty bushels a week, for fifty bits each?"
"Yes."
"Well, that's a mighty fine deal we got going. We'll accept," Big Macintosh said assertively.
"Thank you," replied Luna as she pulled out a sheaf of papers from her saddlebags. "Here's everything you'll need to know. I must keep this conversation short; there's much to do as of now. If you have any questions, ask an officer. Thank you, again, for your generosity."
"Our pleasure," he said as the Princess stood up and picked up her bags. She walked up to the front door, pushing it open with her hoof, then looked back one last time before stepping outside
With a sigh, she pulled her clipboard out from her bags. Her last stop had gone swimmingly well, and the supply hunt was complete. Luna looked up at her sister's sun, glowing radiantly with the brilliance of a thousand candles.
Did the aliens have a Sun?
-Leah-
With a click, the red light next to her door turned green as Leah waved her ID card over it. She gently shoved the door open, her hands patting the inside wall as she searched for the light switch. They found purchase on a tiny little knob, and Leah flicked it on. Her room was suddenly illuminated with a warm, slightly yellow light, the incandescent lightbulb making a near-indistinguishable buzz amongst the constant low drone that echoed throughout the entire facility.
The first thing she realized was that nothing was where it was supposed to be. Or rather, everything was where it should have been. The once dirty floor was now barren, devoid of laundry or stationary. Her bed was neatly made, and her desk was tidily organized and straightened out.
Leah stood catatonically in the doorway for a second, utter shock overriding her thoughts, before rushing to the closet door and throwing it open. All of her clothes were cleanly folded and organized into the shelves, from her shirts to her socks. Defeated, she slumped down to the ground, her head in her hands.
Someone had come into her room. Someone had come into her room, rooted through her stuff, and organized it neatly. Her perfect system of organization was gone, rearranged and redone without a word from Leah. At least they hadn't found anything incriminating or embarrassing.
That stuff was all on her laptop, thankfully.
She weakly pulled herself up to her feet, using the doorknob as support, before staring around her room. Everything was different - how was she supposed to know where all her stuff was? Leah thought pensively for a moment, pondering her next move.
If she didn't know where the things she needed were...
...she'd just bring all of them!
With a newfound smile on her face, she happily skipped over to the box truck just outside her door and pulled it in. Leah grabbed a folded cardboard box off of it, pressing the edges together to pop it into the third dimension before creasing the bottom flaps together, taping them shut and setting it on the ground. She reached into her closet, grabbed a pile of clothes, and threw it haphazardly into the box. Her clothes only took up a single small cardboard box, but her other things...would take some time.
Why did they have her move over to the other side, Leah pondered almost a day later, when it was just a five minute walk?
The airlock hissed open, and Leah stepped into the Portgate site, her cart in hand. Things were certainly different from the last time she had properly been onsite. Although the concrete floor surrounding the Portgate was as busy as ever, the usual blue uniforms of the technicians was replaced by the safety-orange of construction workers, mingled in with the tan camouflage of military personnel and the white lab coats of scientists. All of the four entry ramps were operating at full swing, each one bustling with activity as supplies were brought to the other side. Two ramps were marked as designated for vehicles, and the occasional truck or armored vehicle slowly drove through the wormhole or out of it and back to Earth's surface.
She swung her trolley around and pushed it towards the portal. A series of yellow duct-tape lines marked out several traffic lanes of various width, each one labeled with their designated traffic. Leah stepped up to the one marked "PERSONNEL WITH CARGO" and began following the snaky line, slowly getting closer and closer to the Portgate until she stepped through the portal and onto the ramp, the fresh yet foreign air flowing through her hair.
Things had changed on the other side as well. In just two days after the Portgate had opened once more, there was already a huge camp nearly two hundred meters in diameter radiating outward from the portal. Most of the buildings were long, roomy tents, but Leah saw a few prefabricated walls being erected as well amongst the canvas and plastic tarps. Just like the other side, people bumbled about the wide pathways between the tents, a sense of purpose strongly present throughout the commotion.
Lost, Leah looked around for her tent. She couldn't figure out which one of the fifty or so tents was supposed to be her new home, especially since they were practically identical. The calls of birds and the dying chirps of grasshoppers was drowned out by the constant sound of human activity, and the morning sun's glare made her squint as she turned her head left and right.
"Need some help, ma'am?"
Leah turned towards the big, burly man who asked the question. He scratched his beard, a dirty blonde shag that almost matched his off-duty military fatigues in color.
"Um, yeah, do you know where the living spaces are?"
"Oh," he chuckled deeply, "they'll be over there." He pointed towards the outskirts of the camp, where the tents were a bit more spaced out. "You wanna come with? I was just headed there."
"Sure, why not?"
Leah kicked the back of her trolley and pushed it along as she followed the man away from the Portgate. They weaved through the tents, the pathways between them clear of the meadow grass that had been there only hours ago. Far away, the sound of hammers and drills rang out through the camp, loud enough to rival the conversations being held around Leah as she followed the man to her destination. Crates and boxes were piled along the sides of the paths, and the occasional folding table and chairs would be set outside a tent's entrance.
"Here we are," he sighed as they took a right turn. "The tents on the left are all living quarters. Don't know why they have them here, since Earth is a short walk away. Later."
As the man walked away, Leah headed towards the tent at the end of the path. She pulled a thrice-folded piece of paper out of her jean pocket and looked at it. "Tent #47, Living Quarters #3" was her destination. Leah looked to her left. "#45, LQ #1" was printed on a laminated piece of printer paper and taped onto the side of a tent, along with a clipboard and a list of names below it. She passed the next tent in the row, stopping just outside the one following that. Her new home was actually pretty large, with a small portable generator chugging along to the side of it. And hopefully, once she stepped inside, she would find...
"Heyyy! Leah! How you doing? Here, have a seat. This one is yours, by the way!"
"Thanks, Andrew!" Leah replied as she carted her personal belongings into the tent. A space heater and fluorescent lightbulbs kept the tent lighted and warm, and she noticed a couple of power strips lying on the ground as well. Eight bunks lined the tent's sides, with a pillow and sheets folded neatly on each one. Leah sat down on the third one on the left and began to pull her belongings off of the trolley and beneath her bed.
"Oh, we forgot to tell you. They'll have wi-fi set up in two days. I figured you'd want to know that, since you carted that, uhh..."
"My pride and joy!"
"Why are there four fans sticking out of that desktop tower? And were three monitors really necessary?"
"It's fine, right?"
"Yeah, I guess, but..."
"That reminds me! You guys know why we had to, like, move all the way here? Ten minutes from our old living spaces?"
"I dunno. Probably because we'll be bringing in more people."
"Why's that matter?"
"Well," Andrew explained, "now that the Portgate's probably permanently open we'll need a lot more people at the facility and stuff. And it's probably easier to establish something over here than to have them live eight stories above the Portgate, you know? They'll probably still have some more personnel aboveground as well, though."
"Why us, though?"
"We know about this place more than anyone else, it'd be better to keep us handy."
"I guess. Hey," Leah asked, "you, uhh...remember our friends?"
"Oh yeah, I do! What do you think happened to them?"
"I'm asking you. Last I remember, we just left the wounded ones at the Portgate and went through."
"I dunno."
"Yeah..."
"Hey," Andrew asserted, "I'm sure they'll be fine. Cheer up! Come on, let's get all that stuff unpacked."
"...thanks, Andrew."
With a smile on his face, the technician grabbed a box off the cart and cut it open with his multitool. He couldn't exactly shake that question from his mind, though.
-William-
"...so yes, the five aliens have been given sedatives on a drip feed for the past few days as part of their treatment."
"We couldn't take that risk, William. I hope you understand."
"I do, but..."
"Look, it's going to be easier to have them knocked out than having them conscious and possibly attempt to escape. I would rather not take chances, nobody here would."
"I suppose."
"The encampment was abandoned, as you say?"
"Yes. I doubt that it's abandoned for good, though. No signs of struggle, but the place was devoid of any supplies. Just tents."
"Observant as always, Anderson. So, let's say that these...equines...come back sometime in the future. We'll have to try to obtain peace, of course."
"How should we do that? I'm not an expert ambassador or diplomat, and I don't think there's anyone on site who can act in that role."
"It's simple, really. We return our 'captives' as soon as they return."
"Won't they react negatively to our arrival?"
"You have load-bearing drones, right?"
"I suppose, but they're not too reliable there. There's lots of wireless interference on the other side, although it doesn't seem to leak over through the Portgate. Wires still function fine, though."
"Great. So we drop them off, as a sign of friendship. We wait for their next move. Act accordingly."
"That's a good course of action. I'll do it."
"Any idea when they'll be back?"
"So far, no. Our drones definitely have a limited range here. If we bring in really powerful transmitters and long-range drones, though, we might be able to learn more."
"Done. Anything else?"
"No, not that I can think of. Strange, since an occurrence this big should be a much larger hassle to handle."
"Alright. Call us if you need something, alright?"
"It was surprising! We hastily set up quarantine as best as we could in the facility. We didn't have an enormous medical facility in the Bunker, but we made do with plastic sheets and rubbing alcohol. It wasn't the most effective quarantine, and I wouldn't have been surprised if things went way worse than they did. So, when nothing happened after three days, I was curious. I took some samples from their bodies - nothing much, just a few mouth swabs - and I took a look at them. There were microbes, sure, but they were all dead! This wasn't an incompatibility issue, either, although I think that would have prevented a lot of cross-transfer of diseases anyways. The biologists said that microbes died whenever they went from one side to the other, but if that was so - why weren't our personnel getting sick? Let me explain; our stomach contains several pounds of essential microorganisms that help regulate digestion. If those died, as they should have, people should have gotten really, really ill. Yet we had people living there for weeks! This just goes to show that we still have a lot to learn about...Eden, as the higher-ups have called it. And...that we have much to be wary about.”
-Michael Yang, Chief Nursing Officer
-Surveillance Detail-
Aerial drones did two things on the other side: exploration and surveillance. Not only was it necessary to scout out the camp's surroundings, constant information about the state of its surroundings was also vital. Whereas the exploration drones were quadcopters equipped with longer battery lives and better cameras, the surveillance drones were winged machines with much faster propellors that allowed for an automated, 24/7 monitoring of the woods.
It was necessary, sure, but that didn't mean the people behind the monitors appreciated it very much. Being cooped up in a dark tent for up to eight hours in a row and staring at a wall of monitors that always showed nothing but the same yellow and red treetops was less than entertaining, to say the least. At least they didn't have to fly each individual one; their AI was advanced enough to handle automated flight patterns in the face of even the harshest conditions.
The pilot leaned back in his aluminum folding chair, setting down the can of soda on the desk to his side as he propped the back of his seat onto the table behind him. He stared at his smartphone, scrolling down his social media feed as the drone footage passed over miles and miles of unchanging foliage. Ever since the camp Wi-Fi network had been set up, the little metal and plastic devices had made an enormous comeback to Earth-level usage levels. Everyone, from the guards to the senior scientists, would pull their phones out every once in a while and check for any new updates or notifications or just use them to pass some idle time.
He sniffled, then grabbed the soda again and put it to his lips, tipping the aluminum can all the way back until the last drop of sugary sweetness fell into her mouth. The empty can was no match for his tight grasp, and it crumpled into a little disc as he squeezed it between his palm and fingers.
"Antonio? Could you get me another Dr. Pepper? I'll give you the money."
"Sure. I was going to go get something to eat, anyways. The cafeteria dishes up a mean BLT, I have to admit."
With careful aim, he tossed the crushed soda can at the wastebasket in the far corner of the tent. A satisfying clang rang out as it neatly bounced off the rim and into the wireframe trash bin. As his coworker stood up from his chair and stretched, he pulled his wallet out from his back pocket and pulled out two crumpled-up one-dollar bills from the inside flaps.
"Here," he said as he handed Antonio the two dollars. Because Antonio would be gone for the moment, he would have to watch over both of their assigned drone feeds for the moment. He shifted his chair to the left, setting himself down right between the two monitor arrays, then rediverted his attention towards his phone.
His social media feed was completely stale, with no new posts or updates from the accounts he followed. He sighed; perhaps his expectations were too high? Sure, he was on another world, but was it really that exciting? The work was boring, but that wasn't the only thing that was disappointing. Not only were they in what appeared to be any old national park forest, but civilization was literally within walking distance - this was like a "camping trip" in the backyard, like that one he had about twenty-five years ago, as a child.
His phone no longer of interest, he snorted and set it aside, rubbing his eyes as he stared at the drone camera feeds. They're almost out of eye drops, he thought as he grabbed the tiny bottle in front of him and held it above his eyes. The long hours of surveillance detail really dried a person's eyeballs out, and the cool saline liquid felt like heaven as it dripped into first one eye, then the other.
Something on the screen flashed by, a streak of contrast from the sheet of yellows and oranges. He furled his eyebrows, then sat up and pressed the space bar on the keyboard to his left. The moving treetops paused, the blur just out of the camera's sight. One of Antonio's drones had caught something odd, or so it seemed, and he skipped back a couple of seconds to confirm his suspicions. Something strange was in the woods, a string of bright colors cutting through the brush. The man looked at the monitor in the lower-right corner, then clicked on the streak. The approximate location of his click was marked by a green X on the drone tracker, labeled "Drone #24, 09:18:02 - 302°H 18°V".
"Let's see what this is," he muttered as he set the drone to "Constant Monitor, Waypoint 1". The camera feed suddenly unfroze, and the drone began to turn around and head towards the X. He zoomed in on the streak as the drone circled around the waypoint, the autofocus painfully slow as the image gradually sharpened...
"...oh, crap...Oh! Oh, gosh, oh..."
He hastily clicked the "Report Observance" button, his hands beginning to shake as he typed.
"Hey, Mason, I got you your-"
"Antonio, get someone, this is important."
"What-"
"Just do it!" he mumbled.
"What's going on?"
"There's..."
He looked up at Antonio, a sense of urgency visible in his eyes. The mass of ponies continued to move east-southeast as the two stared at each other, the drone still circling over its waypoint as the creatures below returned to their encampment.
-William-
"I'm not a general!"
"Well, you have to do something!"
"I don't have the military expertise! Don't you have someone that can take over?"
"We're not asking you to take action, alright? I'm asking you to prepare for any contingency-"
"But I don't know what to-"
The President sighed as William tried to protest. "We'll send someone to assume command of the troops garrisoned over there. For now, though, just order everyone to return to safety."
"Safety? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Then, order security to set up defensive measures."
"I don't know what that means..."
"Understood?"
"No!"
Boop...Boop...Boop...
William slammed the desk phone on its stand, then leaned back in his office chair. He stared at the ceiling as he slowly walked through his next course of action, then turned towards the monitor and the recordings of the aliens' trek through the forest. The horses were back, alright, and in enormous numbers. The spears and swords that they carried with them meant that they definitely were prepared for a fight, and the boxes and sacks they hauled in wooden carts meant they were here to stay.
What was he supposed to do? The aliens were carrying weapons, but that didn't confirm that they would attack the Portgate camp. There was still a chance, though, of offensive action, especially considering the last time both species had interacted. And that would be a disaster - not just for the natives, who were certainly vulnerable to fast-traveling lead, but for the humans who had yearned for a peaceful first contact.
Or rather, a second contact.
He ran his hand through his hair, then picked up his phone again. The head of Project Eden was just about to hit the speed-dial when someone knocked on his door, the raps soft yet demanding.
"Who is it?", William asked inquisitively.
"A representative, whose goods and services might be of use to a gentleman such as yourself..."
William snuck a quick glance at his computer, his schedule noticeably void of visitors. "I don't believe we have an appointment..."
The door swung open as the strange businessman stepped inside. Which was strange, because William swore that it had been locked ever since he had come back from lunch.
"How did you-"
"Hello there, Mister Anderson. John Baker, at your service," the man said as he extended his hand. William stared at the well-manicured hand extended towards him, then hesitantly took it in his and shook it, unsure if he should have called for security or not. He was amazingly dressed, with a business suit and black tie that looked exorbitantly expensive and the suitcase and watch to match, but something about the overly handsome man seemed off...
"Why are you here?" he dubiously asked.
"Straight to business, then? Excellent. Well," he slyly chuckled, "I've heard from one of my...sources...that you need a little bit of, let's say...assistance."
"Excuse me?"
"Of course, we have to have some context now, shouldn't we? I represent Lockheed-Martin as a salesman, of sorts, and I-"
"I'm not interested in whatever you're selling, especially not from the military-industrial complex," William huffed. Sure, the man hadn't killed him yet, but something very fishy was going on in his office.
"Really now?" asked the strange man as he raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure it may seem that way, what with the heroic return of your three adventurers in the news and all that. 'Interdimensional Castaways Return Home,' now that's what I call a sensationalist headline!"
"Get to the point," William uneasily demanded.
The shady businessman leaned forward, and William caught a whiff of his heady, four-figure cologne. "My point, Mister Anderson, is that I'm also aware that there's more to the story than the ink and pulp. That there may be a few facts that were...held in reserve."
"W-What are you talking about?" His gaze shifted around, searching for anything other than the man in front of him.
"Oh, just a few interesting key points. Like...how the Portgate is still open, and has been for quite a few days. Man, that's interesting! Especially since just a month ago, the papers reported that you guys could barely hold it open for ten minutes."
"How do you - I mean, what are you talking about?"
"Not very good at hiding things, huh? Well, I was also led to believe that there may be some things on the other side that are, shall we say...of reasonable concern? And don't worry, your secret is safe with us; after all, we just want to help you out."
"Ugh...how?"
"So glad you asked!"
William was about to lay his head on his desk, but the man suddenly slammed his suitcase on it and threw the top open.
"Jesus!"
"Weapons, Anderson! Weapons, the foundation of society. We've been looking for a place to try out some of these bad boys, but ever since the global clampdown on terrorism, as you know, the market has shrunk significantly. Peace is great and all, but we have a business to run!"
The man began to pull out sheet after sheet of paper and hand each one to William, each one either a blueprint for weapons of all shapes and sizes or a legal document with immeasurably tiny fine print. William grabbed one after the other, staring at the schematics. There was one for a high-wattage laser turret, one for an experimental battle rifle, one for an armed drone...
"And that's just the surface of what we have planned! Five years of no conflict at all is great for brainstorming, and I'm sure a man such as yourself can see the value in our products."
"I'm not the guy you're looking for!"
"Ah, no no, I thought we agreed to keep this hush hush, right? Nobody else needs to know," the man said with a grin.
"But I - no...oh, fine."
"Now, don't you worry a thing, Anderson. This is all courtesy of our company, of course. I know you're a busy man, so I'll condense this down to a couple of sentences. We get to test out our toys in the field - that is, through the Portgate - and you get some defensive measures to use against whatever lies in the unknown, free of charge! We've been absolutely itching to do some quality control, and this discovery of yours is the perfect opportunity! And if that doesn't sound good enough, the Portgate Project takes no legal responsibility."
"This still doesn't sound convincing to me. Besides, the government-"
"The government will be fine with it. We have a lot of influence, you know. Do it for science, Anderson. You know how the greatest advances in technology often come from military research? Don't you want to make our world a better place?"
"I...I..."
-Noah-
"God, it's weird to be back at work again," said Noah as he took a draw from his electronic cigarette. "Sitting around, doing regular two-hour patrols..."
"Put that thing away, Noah! It's making me light-headed."
"You're always light-headed, Leah. And I guess you'll want me to stop drinking? Which reminds me, can't we have good beer for once?", Noah complained loudly.
"This is the only thing they have in the cafeteria that's even remotely alcoholic," Andrew sighed as he lifted the bottle of near-lukewarm big-brand brew to his lips. A military cargo truck passed by, the beige vehicle roaring as it carried its load down the main corridor of the camp. He checked his watch. 1:28 PM - on Earth, at least. In the forest, the horizon was glowing a brilliant orange as the sun began to set.
"Oh, by the way, did you hear about the project head?" Leah asked, excited to share her first piece of gossip since she had returned to civilization.
"Anderson? Doesn't he have a bunch more responsibility now? Like, what with all of the business that's been going down recently."
"Well, last I heard, someone looked at his office CCTV..."
"And?"
She smiled deviously. "And he had a bottle of vodka and a two-liter of orange Fanta on his desk."
Everyone in the little ring of friends laughed as another truck passed by.
"Well, the man does have a lot to handle now," Andrew chuckled as he waved at their surroundings. The wilderness was beautiful, like something straight out of Yellowstone, and a campy atmosphere had developed across the alien meadow. Sitting on three metal chairs in a circle, the trio felt perfectly comfy even without a fire or marshmallows to roast. Rows and rows of tents added to the nature atmosphere...tents that were the responsibility of one William Anderson.
"I haven't had a good mixed drink in forever! I just realized that. Fanta and vodka, curious combo..."
"Shush, Noah. But yeah, they said he was muttering something about 'those accursed businessmen and their shifty deals'..."
"Heh. I know what he's talking about."
"So, Leah, how's work going?"
"All the biologists are going crazy for me! I've been showing them around the place, telling them about the plants and critters and stuff. Dunno why they'd want me, though, since I know nothing about the organic sciences. How about you, Andrew?"
"Nothing much. Just helping set stuff up, like tents and stuff."
"They're making you do that? You're, like, supposed to be working on super complex machines!"
"Well, ever since the portal opened, the Portgate ring is pretty much for decorative purposes. If we ever bring in something with a lot of parts, I might help out. Till then, they're just keeping me around here for general construction labor, maybe a few repairs here and there."
"I haven't been doing much either," Noah added. "Well, at least with the "being part of a special task force" thing. I have been on duty as a sentry, though; nothing exciting's happened, sadly, so I can't complain."
"So, it's pretty much been back to business?"
"Yep."
"..."
*Beep-Beep!*
"Oh, gosh, what now?" Noah complained.
"Noah, what's going on?" Andrew asked. Leah and Andrew watched as Noah pulled out a black plastic brick out of his belt, then sighed as he read the display.
"Head to Security meeting area at 1400, attendance mandatory for emergency meeting. Why wait if it's an emergency?"
"Is that a-"
"I know, I know, Leah. A pager. My dad had one of these."
"Isn't that just the quaintest thing..."
"You should go, Noah."
"Yeah, Andrew, this is probably still important either way." Noah stood up and folded up the chair he was sitting on, leaning it on the side of the tent behind him.
"Alright, later!" Leah yelled as Noah began to walk towards the Security tent.
"Later, guys," Noah called back. His destination was actually rather close by; a short three-minute walk through the narrow walkways of the encampment brought him to a comparatively large tent near the Portgate. He stepped inside, the mass of tan and black uniforms in the room confirming the purpose of the tent.
Most of the armed personnel on the other side of the Portgate was comprised of soldiers pulled from the U.S. Army, with a few coming from the facility's own security forces. Although they were technically classified as an entirely new entity separate from both parties, not enough time had passed for them to be issued standard uniforms or equipment. Everybody was sitting down somewhere around the room from chairs to tables to the floor, so Noah just pulled up a nearby crate and sat down on it.
"Is everyone here?" asked the man standing in the back of the tent near the whiteboard. "Alright, let's get started. You're all wondering why you're here. Let me start by saying that this information is confidential and should not be shared with anyone outside of this room."
Mumbles of curiosity bubbled up around the room.
"At 0920 hours, one of our surveillance drones picked up...discovered...came across this."
He pressed a button on the clicker in his hand, and the flat-screen TV behind him switched to footage of the surrounding forest. The murmurs rose as the streak of color appeared on the screen, then crescendoed to an agitated buzz as the footage zoomed in on the brightly-colored horses below.
"Settle down! Settle down. I believe most of you are familiar with these creatures. They're the locals. And they're armed."
Silence broke out across the room, then disappeared as the mumbling resurfaced once again.
"I know they're just wielding bows and swords, but they can still be dangerous. Don't underestimate them, especially since we haven't seen what they can do. Hey, quiet! QUIET!"
Reluctantly, the audience stopped talking amongst each other.
"Look, this is serious stuff. There's a huge army headed our way, and we have to be prepared if they attack. Alright?"
Everyone looked at each other, then nodded silently.
"Now, we've been ordered to 'standby on defense'...whatever that means. So, after some consideration, me and Lieutenant Jackson here have come up with some plans. Everyone, I need your full attention for the next three hours. We will start by detailing the layout of the outer fortifications, then move on to a briefing on our..."
Noah listened intently for the first thirty minutes, then nodded off for the next three and a half hours.
"Biology in Eden was...awfully odd, to say the least. Actually, it was a sort of mixed bag. On the one hand, we found many instances of organisms from Earth like squirrels, grasses, trees, et cetera. Upon closer examination, of course, they were slightly different from Earth species, but that shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the concept of evolution. However...there were a few instances of very, very unusual flora and fauna. I won't go into detail about them - that comes later - but let's just say that this stuff is dangerous on a whole new level. That blue flower...I'm never touching anything again without at least a full hazmat suit.”
-Cassel Donaldson, Biologist
-Luna-
"Heave, gentlecolts!" the lieutenant yelled as his subordinates pulled on the rope. "We have to get three more tents up by sundown, and I'm not impressed!"
Luna watched the spectacle as she walked through the encampment's wide, open pathways. Her inspection was almost complete, and from the looks of it nothing was out of place. Everything, from the positioning of the tents to the drilling of the troops, was perfect, just as expected of the Royal Guard.
With the enormous influx of reinforcements, a lot of expansion was necessary to shelter and feed her small army. At the moment, the shelter part was being taken care of. And with the new pathway that had been hacked out of the underbrush, a steady stream of supplies would be coming in every day.
"Now, Princess," the unicorn to her side remarked, "there's been some hiccups with the supply pathway. For one, there's been reports of timberwolves in the brush along the sides of the path, but that's to be expected in the Everfree. No attacks yet, but the convoys are guarded should they occur. Speaking of which, we've just received the grain carts..."
"Yes, yes, very good, Feather Quill. Great," Luna mumbled.
She halfheartedly nodded as her assistant rattled off statistics and predictions, the tons and gallons of provisions and supplies becoming mixed up with the morale evaluations. There were other, more important issues for her to consider. Her scouts had reported some very unsettling observations from the foreign encampment - in just a week, they had expanded to over a hundred times their previous size. They had a secure supply line, too; that portal in the middle of their camp couldn't be anything else. And they weren't just taking up space, either. Their tents were clustered tightly together with barely any room to breathe, and the widest pathway through their encampment was constantly clogged with strange carts and wagons that moved without a puller. Or maybe "trackless train" was the proper term?
"...and so, our stocks are topped off and your troops are feeling great, even though they'll be stuck in the Everfree Forest for quite a while. We're in good shape," said Feather Quill with a sense of pride.
"Of course, they're...trained soldiers, yes. What was next in the itinerary?"
"Well, right now your second in command is assessing the strength of our forces with the Mage and Engineer division captains. I would recommend you speak with them."
"Of course, of course. Where are they?" she muttered, her eyes pointed down at the dirt and grass.
"In front of you, Princess."
Luna suddenly froze, then looked up from the ground. They really were in front of her, sitting around a thin, spindly portable table underneath the small pavilion that had been set up for them. The three ponies hardly noticed the alicorn princess standing before them, each one carrying on with their business as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
"Oh."
She walked up to the congregation and pulled a chair out, then sat down as she assessed the others. Commander Saber Parry, a butter-coated unicorn with countless commendations from Canterlot Military Academy, stared at the map in front of her as she conversed with Catapult. Catapult was a strong yet knowledgable stallion whose brown fur was the same shade as the wood of the siege equipment he commanded. And Spellbound, the Second Tier Mage, was happily dozing off in her chair and robes as her old, grey mane flowed over her closed eyes and wrinkled face.
The princess waited for the perfect moment to interject between Saber's and Catapult's conversation before speaking. "Hello," greeted Luna in a calm yet demanding voice as the two finished discussing the battle formations they were planning.
"Princess Luna! Ma'am!"
"Oh, hi Princess," Catapult yawned out.
"At ease, Saber. So," she said as she leaned back in her seat, "you've been discussing our ability to counter the invaders?"
"Well, I wouldn't call them invaders, Princess. They haven't really done much besides set up camp. And trust me, if the need arises, I can assure you that our cannons and trebuchets will rain havoc upon them," said Catapult with a smile.
Luna raised an eyebrow, dubious of the siegemaster's claims. "That is good, Catapult, but how fast are your engineers?"
"The fastest and the most accurate in all of Equestria, I assure you. Our payloads always hit their mark," he bragged boldly.
"A boastful claim, for sure, but I don't doubt that you'll do well. And Saber, I've seen your troops train. They are quite formidable, yes?"
"They're not the average conscript, Princess Luna. They're professionals," Saber stated in a firm, resolute growl.
"But do they have experience?" Luna asked, her lips tightening as she stared at Saber. The pony could beat her chest all she wanted, but it was still up to chance how the Royal Guard would perform in an actual battle. The last time Equestria's forces faced a real threat was four hundred years ago, when a militant Gryphon monarch tried to expand his kingdom by sword. The crushing of his army at Three Claw Plateau marked the beginnings of the Long Peace, a period of stability and prosperity where wars became naught but fanciful tales of valiant battles and brave heroes. Sure, Celestia's ponies had done well in that final battle, but that was in a darker age. War and death were just as commonplace as peace and harmony.
But after centuries of peace, her ponies had become soft. She recalled the night of her return, when her subjects cowered at the hooves of Nightmare Moon; how had nopony thought to fight back? A millennium ago, ponies actually stood up for themselves, taking arms against all that would threaten their families. Luna glanced at Catapult, who was absentmindedly carving his name into the table with a switchblade. Training was important, but it could never predict whether a fresh recruit would hold his ground or tuck tail and run. That was a constant in warfare, no matter when or where.
The problem was that everypony, from the officers to the grunts, was a fresh recruit.
"Hah! Let me tell you, the Royal Guard is trained to stand firm against all that may harm Equestria! Nothing can stop the unstoppable, and that's us!"
Luna chuckled, both in appreciation of the pony's bravado and uneasily at the thought of alien weaponry. "Is that so?"
"I do say so!" Saber exclaimed.
"Well," the Princess sighed, "I suppose you won't mind if I let you in on some facts. Have you not read the intelligence reports?"
"Oh please, who would need to? We're unstoppable! I did skim over it though, and our opponent should be easy to tackle. Why wouldn't they?" she asked.
Of course she hadn't, Luna thought to herself. If she had, she wouldn't be so gung ho about combat with...them. This is definitely her first battle, too; she's raring for a fight. Maybe when she sees the bloody bodies of both friend and for, she'll reconsider.
"Very well. First off, you might as well throw away your armor. It'll be useless against their foe."
"...What do you mean?"
"I was there when we first encountered them. Three ponies in enchanted blacksteel plate armor dropped like stones within a second. That was against one of them, by the way."
"Well...that's no issue! Armor will just weigh-"
"There's at least five hundred of them in their camp. That renders your ground forces dead meat."
"Then our pegasi-"
"Dead as well," Luna bluntly asserted. "Their weapons have no respect for the airborne nor the grounded, I can guarantee that."
"But..."
"We have to consider defense, too. If we were hit by them, our ponies wouldn't fly or run fast enough to escape. Those who would try to stand with their swords and spears will get a hole punched through their torsos, large enough to stick a hoof through."
"I...no, hold on, give me a minute..."
"Catapult, how destructive are your trebuchets?"
"What? Oh," he quickly replied, "we've developed some mighty fine payloads that I'm willing to try out. There's an especially nasty mixture in there that combines thermal crystals with flash powder, and it'll be effective." He snatched a pile of nearby papers with his teeth and slid it over to Luna.
"Great. But you're going to be attacking them, right?" Luna asked. She grabbed the wood-pulp paper and scratched her head, the modern thaumic notation flying just an inch above her head.
"Well...that was Saber's idea, to have both offensive and defensive plans. I think the former won't be necessary, but we can't be underprepared. Right, Princess?"
"That is true. However..."
"Yes?" Catapult straightened up in his chair.
"Can you take down a hydra?"
"Excuse me, Luna?" he asked, flabbergasted at the odd question.
"Are you able to kill or incapacitate a full-grown hydra?"
"U-Um," he stuttered, "well, that is...the trebuchets aren't going to be effective against a moving target, and neither is our siege equipment. That leaves our cannons. We have a total of twelve medium general-purpose cannons as well as four heavy siege cannons, and our cannoneer teams are quite skilled. I'd say that we'd be able to take it down, but just barely."
"Is that so? Impressive, I have to say." Luna smiled as the words left her lips.
"Thank you, Luna. But really, it-"
Her smile disappeared in an instant, the warm smirk suddenly replaced by a stern poker face. "Not good enough, unfortunately. You know how many of those beings were present during our first encounter?" she asked.
"I...yes, of course," said Catapult, in a much less enthusiastic tone.
"Three. And I would like to remind you, siegemaster, that an adult hydra corpse is rotting away just outside of their encampment. Put the puzzle pieces together. Three of them managed to do what you can only do with an entire platoon," she chastised, "and there's four thousand of us against...who knows how many? Five hundred? Perhaps a thousand, more likely. This goes for you too, Saber, what I'm about to say."
The mare and stallion both looked at her with equal amounts of shock, uncertainty, and remorse.
"We know that we are outmatched. But I do not know to what extent. Perhaps we can defeat them on the offensive, perhaps we will reach a bloody stalemate, perhaps they can slaughter us all without losses. This is not the time for blind assaults; we have to hold our cards in reserve."
"What do you mean, Princess Luna?" Catapult asked.
"Wait until we can assess their intentions, their powers and abilities, and their strengths and weaknesses. Then, and only then, can we properly formulate a plan."
"I don't know if that'll help...they seem so impossible to fight now," Saber Parry sighed.
"Oh, please," a high, croaky voice called put from the other side of the table.
"But Spellbound," Saber exasperatedly yelled, "didn't you hear Princess Luna? One of theirs is worth ten of ours."
"And I read the stupid report," the unicorn mage sighed. She barely moved as she spoke, as if she was a statue raveled in the rags and cloth of a Royal Magician. "I've been reading for my entire life, and my eyes still work as well as the day I was born. And I say that we have nothing to be concerned about."
"Oh, we don't?" Luna asked. Something about the words the mage spoke seemed different, like they were more definite.
Spellbound's eyes widened. "Of course not!" she suddenly cackled, her open maw revealing two sets of bare gums. "Who do you think won all those wars? Us! We ponies have the power of magic on our side, and we've used it in every battle since the beginning of time!"
"So that's our solution, then?" Catapult asked.
"They can't use magic. We can. And I've yet to see magic fail us on the open fields of battle," said Spellbound.
"Very well," Luna smiled. "I suppose that's another rule of war I forgot about; playing to our strengths. But..."
"What is it, Princess?" Saber asked.
"...we still haven't seen the full extent of their powers." Luna frowned, then rested her head on the table. "I suppose we will find out soon enough."
-Andrew-
"Andrew? Andrew Martinez? Are you present?"
Andrew looked up, searching out the voice from among the eternal bustle of the Portgate operations floor. He let go of the cart handle as he looked around amongst the mass of personnel, the shout just barely detectable through the din and noise.
"Martinez! We need you!"
The technician pulled another blue-clothed worker away from his work and asked him to take care of his cart, then jogged over towards the call.
"I'm here! Andrew, over here!"
Someone in a dress shirt and khakis turned towards Andrew, then raised his hand and began to walk towards him.
"Martinez," he greeted Andrew as the two shook hands, "we have an assignment for you. And it's much more interesting than manual labor."
"Oh really?" he asked.
"Yes sir. Right through the portal, follow me."
The man led the way as he and Andrew walked towards the Portgate. "So," Andrew asked, what am I going to be doing?"
"Well, a few hours ago we just received some...very interesting packages from, um...what was it? That one company...oh well. Anyways," he said as the pure white of fluorescent lighting was replaced by the warm glow of sunlight, "we found quite a cache of weaponry inside the boxes."
"Woah, isn't that security's job to be handling things like that?"
"Yes, but..." he sighed, "it's a bit different. These weapons are brand new models, much different from our standard gear. There's a huge variety, too. And frankly, security is having a hard time making heads or tails of their new equipment."
"Still," Andrew asked as the two made way for a cargo truck, "they really couldn't figure it out?"
"Well...you'll just have to see. Right this way, to the right. I'm serious, this is stuff I don't think anyone but a skilled technician could handle."
"Alright, I guess." Andrew shrugged. "Better than lifting boxes, I guess."
"Great. In here, please," the man gestured as he waved towards the tent to the left. It was twice as large as the ones, and if Andrew recalled correctly it was security's territory. He stared at the pile of boxes in front of the tent, then walked through the entrance...and almost tripped over another box.
All of the tables in the room were occupied by cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes, with security personnel fiddling away at the contents of each one. Their confused faces spoke volumes as they squinted at what Andrew assumed to be instruction manuals, although each one was almost as big as a phone book. Alongside the boxes and manuals lay a smorgasbord of tools and parts, strewn across the tabletop in a cluttered mess.
"...s-so, what do I do now?" Andrew meekly asked.
"Help figure out what exactly's going on."
Andrew slowly walked over to the nearest table slack-jawed as he picked up a manual. "Lockheed-Martin Experimental CR-22.18 Caseless Modular Rifle, this manual not for use by any persons other than authorized..."
"Oh, that's not what we're having serious trouble with. Over here," said the man from the other side of the room.
"What exactly is all this?"
"That's for you to find out, Mr. Martinez. I think this is the one that's been the most perplexing."
Andrew sighed as he looked at the strange assortment of unassembled parts on the table. "What is this?"
"Here's the manual," he replied as he handed Andrew what seemed to be an encyclopedia at first glance.
"Can't they put this on a tablet?" he asked as he read the title of the hefty manual. "Lockheed-Martin BX-LR Prototype #2983-03, wait...automated railgun sentry?! Are you serious?!"
Andrew lifted his head to ask the man just what was going on, but he was nowhere to be found. He set the manual on the table with a solid thud and quickly tiptoed through the mess of boxes on the plywood floor towards the entrance, poking his head through the flaps when he reached it. The man had vanished into thin air, right when Andrew had needed him the most.
"Well," he sighed, "I wouldn't expect him to be anything but intimidated. God, are we for real?"
The technician shuffled through the tent back to his table, staring at the cardboard boxes piled up to the ceiling on it. He grabbed one out of the stack and cut the top open with his multi-tool, hooking it back onto his belt loop as he opened the top flaps.
Inside was a jumble of parts and fasteners set in packing foam, the collection so massive that Andrew's head almost swam as he stared at it. Rows upon rows of metal tubes, plastic plates, and copper coils lay tightly packed next to an enormous array of circuit boards and wires and plastic baggies of bolts and fasteners. The largest item that Andrew saw as he pulled out piece after piece was a white plastic frame for what he assumed would be the body of the turret, which he set down next to the tripod legs and the camera. Some of the parts, he noticed, had warning labels on them - warning labels that made Andrew more than a little nervous.
As the last extra screw was dumped out of the empty cardboard box, Andrew threw the packaging on the ground and stared at the assortment of parts before him. With a sigh, he grabbed the manual and flipped through the pages, setting it back down when he had found the assembly instructions. Assembling the turret would be fun, he told himself as he scanned the table for the first part he needed. Just like Legos.
A minute later, he frowned as he looked over the table a second, then a third and fourth time. It didn't take long for him to remember the reason he had never liked Lego sets as a child.
-Cavern-
Warmth.
She had not left for so long, content in lying in her resting place and feeling the blissful warmth in her body. Perhaps the occasional foray outside the cave for food, but nothing too flashy. Just enough to live by.
Hundreds of years had passed since the last time she had expanded her hoard, millennia since her birth. That day of carnage, that brief yet unimaginably intense moment of red fire and golden bounty, was long passed, forgotten to those who had suffered her wrath and their descendants. Distant memories, to reminisce about in her early retirement.
She couldn't have done it again anyways, at least not now. It was becoming harder and harder to find wealth without being struck down by the ponies or the gryphons, their attacks fiercer then ever before. Her wings and scales bore testament to that fact, the scars and punctures still sore after centuries.
Adult dragons in the middle of their lives will find a point at which their hoard becomes substantial, when the fruits they reap are to be consumed in comfort. They will then search the land for a suitable mate, combining their hoards and raising up to three children in a new, larger cavern that they "feel out" with their magic.
"But what dragon would want to birth young into such a cruel and unforgiving world?" she asked herself. "There is no wealth for them to seek out, no jewels or precious metals to find. The ponies have taken it all," she lamented as she stroked her red, scaly wings. They had taken it all, and there would be none for her children.
Flames shot out of her nostrils as she snorted, the orange trickles of heat making the air shimmer and wave. This was a troubling idea, but it could wait. She would think about it later, perhaps in a few months. There was no need to concern herself...at least, not for the moment...
Something suddenly stirred within her, a sort of yearning that she had almost forgotten dozing off in her cave. She rolled over on her bed of gold and silver, suddenly unable to relax in her domain. Not since her younger years had she felt this strange sensation, as if there was something out there to add to her collection.
And that smell...that faint yet unmistakable smell that was in the air...
Perhaps she would find her answer sooner rather than later.
For the first time in almost a decade, the dragon rose from her fiery nest and surveyed her surroundings. The cave had seemed fine just a day ago, but now it seemed too empty and barren to her scrupulous eyes. Her wings stretched out from her sides, the enormous leathery flaps nearly touching the stone ceiling.
"It was impossible to keep the Eden Project's secrecy total, especially after we set up on the other side. I think what happened was that once we pulled the three people back to Earth, news got out one way or another. Then, the media came over to the facility a few days later to ask some questions, maybe interview some people - and what do they see? Tons of military vehicles on the way there, and the military setting up outside the facility. Nobody could ignore a story like that. So, now, we have two news vans lining up at the checkpoints for every supply shipment that comes in - and these aren't just from the local news. I saw three cars from BBC trying to come through in one day, the reporters in the front seat and the cameramen and equipment all packed into the back seat. Heard about some people coming from China, Russia, Japan, and even Brazil coming over to report on us from other guards, too, although I never saw them. And I swear, the 'Press' section of the facility grounds was almost half the size of the facility itself.”
-Robert Young, Security
-Luna-
The forest air was chilly that morning. A fresh, clean breeze ran through the tall trees of the Everfree, plucking the fiery leaves off the branches and dropping them on the floor. The clouds in the sky were thin and wispy, slowly meandering across the horizon and past the bright, white sun. Luna inhaled the cool air, savoring the slight chill that filled her lungs. The Everfree's weather was impossible to control, whether by pegasi or otherwise, but she had to admit that she might not have minded all that much if it were always as nice as this.
A gust of wind rushed past her head, bringing with it the rich aromas of her breakfast. She looked down at the rough tin diningware that lay before her, the plates and cups scratched and dented from years of service. A smile stretched across her face - her breakfast might not have been the fanciest, but it was still delicious, and her knife and fork made quick work of the four-pancake stack in front of her. She delicately grabbed the porcelain cup of tea (the quartermaster had insisted on bringing it with the reinforcements from Canterlot for the use of Her Majesty) with her magic and took a sip, setting it back down gracefully with the refinement and etiquette of the highest Canterlot royalty as the taste lingered on her tongue. Luna loved her tea, whether she was in the Capitol or the Farlands, and she never left the castle without a few bags of the leaves in her saddlebags.
Truly, it was the drink of choice for the refined, educated pony.
She quickly glanced around, searching for any high-ranking officers or otherwise that might have been around as she sat outside her tent. They were always such a bother, she thought to herself as she chewed on another forkful of food. Nobody was around except for the occasional regular, and her grin widened as she hungrily stared at her pancakes. They would have a fit if they saw their Princess eating like this.
A minute later, Luna wiped the sticky, syrupy crumbs off of her face with her hoof and licked her lips, raising a metal cup of coffee to her muzzle as she inhaled the rich flavors of the dark roast. She tilted her head back and chugged the drink, letting a few drops spill down her neck as she did so. The warm liquid flowed down her throat, almost scalding it, and the strong, bitter taste woke her up almost immediately. It was a secret of hers that she loved coffee; the nobles were always scoffing at the coffeehouses all around Canterlot's outskirts, and she couldn't have them ogling her for enjoying the stimulant every time she went outside. After a cup, she always felt like she could take on the world - which an alicorn could anyways, but that was besides the point.
Coffee: the working pony's drink of choice.
Her ears perked up as they caught a thumping noise in the distance. It didn't take long for her to identify the rhythmic thuds as a messenger's steady run, the gallops closing in on her location with intense speed. Nobody in the camp would be running that fast, she thought to herself, at a time like this unless it was something important. Luna leaned back in her chair and shook her head as she wiped her mouth with a napkin, disappointed that she couldn't enjoy her breakfast in peace.
"Princess Luna! Urgent message from Scout Group Nine!" the mare yelled as she rounded the corner towards the alicorn, her equipment clanking against her armor as she galloped. Luna curiously stared at the out-of-breath pony as she saluted her.
"What is it?" she asked.
The messenger straightened up. "Twenty minutes ago, Group Nine reported a dragon sighting northeast of camp! Ma'am!"
Luna's eyes widened. "A dragon?"
"Yes! Fire dragon, estimated forty meters."
"Its heading?"
"Directly south, Princess."
She leaned back in her chair. "Is it being tracked by scouts?" Luna questioned, her voice slightly less tense.
"Yes, Princess, Groups Eight and Seven are monitoring its behavior."
"Very well," the alicorn sighed. "I don't think it's headed for us. Perhaps...wait, what about its location?"
"It was five strides away from Group Nine when they encountered it."
"Five, twelve and a half...that's about..."
Luna suddenly pushed herself out of her chair, the realization hitting her like a brick.
"Princess? Orders?"
She stood there for a split second, muttering something under her breath as the mare asked her for further instructions. Suddenly, without a word, Luna leaped past the confused pegasus and began to gallop towards the rising sun at breakneck speed. "Messenger!" she yelled as her hoofbeats echoed throughout the camp. "Relay these orders!"
"Princess! What are you doing?!" the messenger yelled back as the mare followed the Princess, their hoofsteps in sync as they ran past tent after tent.
"I want all commanders and a reconnaissance squad to rendezvous west of the foreign encampment, immediately! Invisibility spells on all observers!"
"Observers? Princess, wait! Where are you going?!" she shouted. Luna was fast, and her pursuer was beginning to lag behind.
"Have the camp go on high alert! Prepare anti-dragon measures!"
"Princess?!"
"I'll be fine!" Luna called back. "No time, just deliver those orders!"
Luna leaped into the air, her wings unfolding and extending to their full span in an instant. She furiously flapped her alicorn wings as fast as she could, the beating sound of feathers on air echoing across the treetops. Her commands hadn't been very clear, but there was no time for that. If anything, she shouldn't have taken those few seconds to issue unnecessary directives. Either way, if she was lucky she would be the first of all ponykind to observe what would happen in just a few moments.
The only question was what she would see.
-Noah-
This was the most calm evacuation and the most panicked defense Noah had ever seen.
At the first sign of the enormous beast lazily flapping through the sky, surveillance hit their (recently installed) panic button with blistering speed. Immediately, the evacuation alarms began to ring, calling all personnel across the outpost to orderly head through the Portgate and back onto Earth. Years of evacuation drills throughout everyone's lives prevented any confusion as everyone began to file out of their tents or head back to base, the queues back to the underground facility orderly and calm. In no time at all, all "civilians" were safe behind the portal and headed back to Earth's surface.
After the last researcher passed through the airlocks, the second part of the contingency plan was enacted without delay. Further announcements would inform the remaining security forces to keep a lookout for a "cargo plane-sized overhead monster, ETA eleven minutes" and order them to prepare for "anti-air procedures."
There were no "anti-air procedures."
Noah cursed as he looked around his surroundings, searching for anything that would help him in the coming fight. The tents around him were all occupied by science equipment or living quarters, and he was too far away from the armory to make it in time. There were still about ten or so minutes before the "monster" would arrive, and his tiny little submachine gun would probably do no good against what he had in mind.
"All security personnel, prepare heavy defenses at the northern side of camp! Bring the biggest guns you have!"
He stared at the plastic casing of his gun. The body armor piercing, 5.7-millimeter rounds loaded in the FN P-90 were all he had, and he would have to deal with it. Noah stomped off to the north side of the camp, his boots kicking up grass and dirt as he ran.
"The target is a...a dragon, about one hundred and forty feet in wingspan and two hundred long. ETA 7 minutes. Do not open fire unless aggression is displayed.
The camp was eerily quiet without any researchers or construction workers in the tents and down the roads. Aside from a few security guards with heavy weapons in tow, Noah was completely alone as he hurried towards the outskirts of the encampment. The only sounds he heard as he ran down the empty road was the stamping of his feet and his heavy breathing, with the occasional shout or order from afar.
The tents began to thin out, their canvas walls gradually being replaced by a sandbag perimeter around the camp swarming with other personnel. Noah slowed down as he walked up to the open space between the front line of defense and the tents, taking caution not to get in the way of anyone else. Security was hurriedly setting up hasty preparations for their incoming guest as well as they could, with some preparing light machine guns and others loading various rocket launchers. Some of the weapons, he noticed as he looked across the sandbags, looked like they were older than Noah himself. Nobody had expected to face an airborne threat in a world whose natives had no known motor vehicles, and he realized that they were woefully underprepared for the gigantic dragon headed their way.
Somewhere behind him, he heard a loud screeching sound. Noah turned his head towards the high-pitched noise, the telltale sound of brakes grabbing his attention. Someone had pulled a humvee up to the perimeter, and its driver was waving at him to get in.
"What do you need?!" Noah yelled as he ran toward the armored vehicle.
"I need someone to get on the fifty. My pal was in the Bunker when the alarms rang. You know how to operate one?"
"I can try," Noah responded as he climbed into the humvee and onto the gunner's seat. He had ridden in one a few times back on Earth, but only as a passenger. Hopefully, the enormous Browning would work like any other gun he had operated before.
"Awesome. Hang on, I'm gonna scoot closer up front," the driver said as he slowly drove the vehicle up to the sandbag banks. He stopped ten feet short of the tan sacks, then turned towards Noah. "That thing should be fully loaded. I dunno if this thing swivels high enough to hit what we're going to fight, but you should be able to adjust it."
Noah nodded, then pushed the massive gun as high as it could go. Apparently, it stopped at about forty-five degrees, and he hoped that it would be high enough. After flipping open the ammunition box to see if it really was full, Noah pulled the charging handle back with a loud kerchunk, readying the weapon for firing. His fingers wrapped around the grip as he moved his head behind the sights, waiting for the first sign of trouble.
An earsplitting roar suddenly burst through the trees, the sound drowning out all other noises as it traveleled through the forest. Silence spread throughout the perimeter as everybody stopped what they were doing, their heads turned towards the sky. The echo of the roar lingered like a cloud of smoke around the camp, gradually fading out as it was replaced by another sound.
The beating of wings.
Noah, being on the gunner's seat on an armored vehicle, was one of the first people to spot the enormous dragon as its figure slowly rose over the treetops. His arms shook as he pulled the front sight post up towards the red beast, the bead constantly drifting off target and off center. The man barely noticed as the people around them lifted their weapons towards the sky, waiting for the behemoth to come into view.
Another roar echoed through the forest, and Noah's breath caught as he saw the dragon spit fire out of its wide, hellish maw. The flames flew as far as the dragon was long, a red cloud of swirling fire that blossomed with deadly heat. Mumbling suddenly broke out amongst the sandbags, the nervous chatter barely audible to his ears.
Suddenly, the dragon rose up into the sky and above the treetops, its beady eyes scanning the camp. Shouts replaced the mumbling as everyone pointed their guns at the leviathan monster. It surveyed the small group of humans below, then roared at the one hundred and eighty-four personnel defending the outpost as it slowly flapped its wings. Another jet of fire streamed out of its mouth, this one much wider than before. The fiery cloud spread across the sky into a huge blotch of heat, obscuring the dragon behind it - until it burst through the cloud completely unfazed, its wings propelling it directly towards the defenders.
Nobody recalled who was the first to open fire on that day. Noah knew it wasn't him, since he didn't pull the trigger until he heard the whoosh of a guided missile being launched, but he would later recall the details to be extremely hazy. What he did know for sure was that he didn't hesitate to unload burst after burst into the gigantic dragon as it flew straight towards them with a look of pure malice on its visage. The ear-splitting, bone-shaking Browning almost deafened Noah, and the weight of the humvee just barely kept the recoil manageable. He didn't know if he was landing his shots, but judging from the reaction of the dragon he assumed that they were doing well.
The fire dragon was a huge, deadly creature, but it was large and slow - and that was its weakness. Its scales could withstand even the toughest of arrows and crossbow bolts, and magical attacks barely impacted the highly-resistant plating on its hide. Only a group of experienced, specially-trained unicorns were known to be able to even scratch a fully-grown dragon, and the immense magic required to pull off such a feat would leave said unicorns exhausted and spent for days on end afterwards.
But the dragon's scales were no match for gunpowder and lead, and the sheer number and variety of munitions thrown at it was absolutely devastating to the beast. The .50 caliber M2 rounds that shot through its hide stung like needles through its flesh, and the scales that were previously its main line of defense were no match for the armor-piercing rounds designed to punch an inch through steel. Even worse were the rockets that the giant dragon was too slow to dodge. Millennia after millennia of torching villages had taken the need for agility and speed away, and the enormous red dragon was a clear, unmissable target against the blues and whites of the morning sky. The rockets, both guided and unguided, slammed into its body, sending scorching-hot copper deep into its flesh and bone.
The dragon shrieked and roared in fury as it flew towards its assailants, steaming crimson blood dripping onto the grass and leaves below. Noah's bursts became longer and longer as it closed in, the gigantic beast unhindered by the volley of metal being hurled towards it. Despite all they had done to put the giant monster down, it was still hurtling towards them at a steady pace. The roars of the dragon became louder and louder, and Noah swore that he could smell charred meat as it closed in.
"Back up! Back up!"
Noah's head almost slammed into the gun as the humvee suddenly lurched backwards, its driver frantically backing up away from the dragon. The barrel of the machine gun veered to the side, sending a stray burst of bullets into the dragon's wing. A deep, ugly shriek burst out from its jaws, the pain sending it further and further into a fit of rage as it dove towards the sandbags.
Time seemed to slow down as something in the dragon's throat began to glow, causing the air around it to bend and warp. Noah watched as the dragon's mouth split wide open, bending as far as it could go before it let out an enormous jet of flame and fire at the people to his left. Most of them managed to dive away from the enormous being's thin, concentrated beam, but a few unlucky victims were caught in the stream of fire. Noah didn't focus on those lost souls as he continued to fire at the dragon, watching it cut a burning swath through the rest of camp and swoop back up for another attack. Even from fifteen meters away, he could feel the intense heat of its flames on his face as it turned around, ready for another attack. The missiles had mostly stopped as their operators ran out of munitions, and the dragon, though visibly hurt, was still airborne and ready for battle. Just as it began to dive towards Noah for a second attack, his gun suddenly stopped firing with a dry click as the spent casings and linkages stopped spilling out of the machine gun.
Jammed, he cursed to himself as he opened the top cover and stared at the gun. "Hey," he called to the driver, "the gun's jammed!"
The driver didn't respond. Noah bent down and yelled again. "The gun's-"
"Get out! Right now!" the driver shouted back as he opened the door. Noah quickly pulled his head back up - and frantically began to lift himself out of the turret as the dragon closed in on the humvee, its jaws opening in preparation. He felt the intense, painful heat of the dragon's fire on his back as he jumped off the roof, the grass doing nothing to pad his fall as the armored car's diesel tank exploded behind him. A sudden, sharp sting ran up his legs, shrapnel from the exploding humvee digging into his calves and thighs. Noah's vision blurred as he tried and tried to stand up, each movement causing his legs to burn in agony.
His bottom half essentially useless, Noah dragged himself across the damp grass in a desperate attempt to escape the heat of the burning vehicle. He almost didn't notice as his arm bumped into something hard and plastic lying on the ground next to him, its purpose known to him only by intuition. Noah pulled the solid, hefty looking weapon towards him, his hand slipping around the grip automatically as he stared at the LCD screen mounted on the side. In a daze, he hefted the gun onto his shoulder and aimed it at the dragon as a series of diamonds and circles followed the beast's torso, causing it to beep rapidly until the beeps merged into one, long tone. Noah, in his dazed and confused state, knew that meant something good, and instinct guided his actions as his index finger seemed to move by itself.
A series of high-power electromagnets inside the fifty-four inch LM-PEAAR railgun activated as Noah wearily pulled the trigger, sending its five-millimeter payload hurtling towards its target at immense speeds. Whoever had loaded the gun didn't properly calibrate it, and the thin metal dart moved through the air at Mach 10 - far faster than it was designed to fly. The sheer recoil of the railgun sent it kicking backwards much harder than anything Noah had felt, throwing the targeting screen smack dab into his face with the strength of a horse's kick. However, the projectile's fins weren't designed to withstand such high velocities, and the dart began to wobble mid-air until it spun towards its target like a throwing knife.
The Lockheed-Martin Personnel-Equipped Anti-Armor Railgun was designed to be capable of firing many different projectiles, but the one it was planned to fire the most was the Type 1-11 5x240mm finned flechette. It was designed to penetrate through feet of armor and disable vital systems such as engines and electronics equipment, where it would cause the most damage. Its dense mass and high speed, combined with its tiny impact area, would be unstoppable by anything short of a mountain. However, it was not designed to be shot at maximum force through a 500-kiloGauss railgun, and it was spinning at breakneck speed just a tenth of the way between the gun and the dragon. Wherever the dart would hit, it would cut an enormous slit rather than a tiny pinprick through the dragon, like a knife through Jello.
That was the first reason he was lucky.
The second reason was that the ten-inch, depleted uranium-tungsten alloy flechette cut a straight path through the dragon's right wing joint, almost severing it completely as it continued past the joint and through its back. Its four thin, sharp fins shattered off as the dart hit the hard, resilient spine, slicing through the rest of its body like razor blades and coming to a stop just before they broke through the other side. However, the rod continued freely through the spine, fracturing the top half and slicing open a deep, wide trench down its back in a diagonal slash before spinning off into the sky. That wasn't it, though; the projectile's sonic boom wrought havoc upon its already serious wounds, tearing the cuts even wider and deeper as the deafening crack pulverized flesh and bone.
Another roar pierced the sounds of battle and fire, this one much louder than before. It was far different from the dragon's previous battle cry; this was a shriek of distress, of pain and agony. The dragon's right wing was completely disabled, and it began to drift right as it panickedly flapped its left wing as fast as it could. With one of its wings crippled, the enormous beast quickly fell towards the ground, its right side spewing blood onto the tents below. A deep, bass thud shook the ground as the dragon smashed into the western side of camp, throwing up a cloud of dirt and debris where its impact crushed the tents below.
Noah, his ears still ringing from the supersonic register of the railgun, looked up towards the sky in search of the dragon. The skies were clear and free of monsters, and he sighed in relief. His injuries suddenly hit him like a sack full of potatoes, and he had a sudden urge to close his eyes and fall asleep. Just before he passed out, however, he saw the faintest trails of a rainbow halo, dissipating into the air without a trace.
The remaining defenders, exhausted and spent, slowly meandered their way over to the defeated dragon, its wounds already sealing themselves off. It would take many months for it to recover, though, and it simply lay there in surrender as its eyes wondered what fate had in mind for the dragon. A slow trickle of personnel began to stream through the Portgate, fire extinguishers and first aid kits in hand as they rushed to deal with the aftermath of the carnage. The dragon had burnt one section of camp and smashed the other, and its fiery breath had grievously injured dozens of people in its assault on the outpost.
Somewhere above the treeline, an observer watched the figures below as they moved to put out fires and aid the wounded. Unbeknownst to those it watched, it looked over the carnage that the dragon had wrought, and the wounds it had received for its efforts. It stared at the shimmering, blue hole in time and space in the center of the encampment one last time before turning around, its wings silently flapping through the cold, autumn sky.
"Our largest issue with the Eden project was not fighting off the wildlife or keeping things private - it was supplying the other side of the Portgate. You see, any supplies that were to be sent through had to travel down nearly a hundred feet through a winding narrow tunnel in order to even get to the ring. The facility only had one tunnel for cargo shipments before the incident, about fifteen feet tall and two lanes wide. It was specifically built for parts that were too big to fit on a cart and into the service elevator, but even then it was crowded in there. Then, once said supplies were on the lower floor - where the Portgate was - the trucks that delivered them drove through, dropped off their supplies, and turned around. This isn't even counting the numerous security inspections that were done on both the vehicles and the cargo. All together, the most we could manage was a shipment about the size of a U-Haul truck every hour, if there were no accidents - which there usually were. I'm just glad that we had the elevators working fine, though they were very slow and had a tendency of breaking down at the worst times. In the end, the best method of getting something through the Portgate was the simplest: the stairwells. Even if our legs were as shaky as a wet cheesecloth at the end of the day, it had one advantage over all the other methods - it's very hard to break a set of stairs.”
-Ed Carerra, Inventory Management
-Twilight-
The candle on the crystal desk burned brightly with a crisp, clear white, its spent wax dripping onto the tray below in slow, steady trickles as the rustling of pages occasionally blew the flame one way or the other. Twilight stared at the flame, then rubbed her eyes as she took her hooves off of the thick, hardbound tome in front of her. Aside from the single candle, the only other light source in the dark, echoey study room was a small, smoky fire in the hearth that quietly smoldered as it burned the last of its fuel. She frowned, then looked back at her book. The alicorn was reading about the many uses of ember scripts, the chapters filled with fascinating information on their multiplicative effects on oxidation spells and thermal reactions as she flipped through the pages.
Twilight sighed. At least, she was trying to read - her focus and studious nature that she was so well known for was nowhere to be found, and she couldn't help but stare at the pages like a foal reading their parents' newspaper, pathetically attempting to put the scribbles and letters together into some semblance of meaning. She flipped the first page, then glared at the first sentence, reading it to herself over and over as she tried to absorb its meaning through the hazy glow of the candle on her desk. Frustrated, she skipped over the next few paragraphs, mumbling about "fire magic" to herself as she quickly parsed the page, then the next, then the next. The thin, warbly sound of paper flapping through the air intensified as she turned the old, papyrus pages faster and faster, her mind failing to catch up with her eyes and her irritation growing stronger and stronger until-
"UGH!"
She grabbed the book with her magic and threw it as hard as she could, watching with angry dissatisfaction as the old, musty encyclopedia flew through the air. A few traces of her magenta aura still lingered on the metal cover as it hit the wall with a muffled clank and fell to the crystal floor, the copper plating dented by Twilight's outburst. Her anger and dissatisfaction quickly fermented into a sickening disgust at herself as she fumed in her chair, and she sighed as she threw her head down onto the desk in frustration.
When everypony had welcomed her back to Ponyville, everything seemed to go just fine. Pinkie Pie was excited to throw a "coming back to Ponyville after being declared missing for two weeks" party (which Twilight kindly declined), the townsponies were going about their day as normally as could be, and Spike wasn't even half-upset by her disappearance. In fact, he seemed to be a little too accepting of Twilight's trip to the woods, and she noticed that there were a few gem specks and crumbs lying around the castle's floors and hallways when she had opened the front doors. But, then again, Spike was growing up. All foals grew up to become angsty teenagers, even if her little colt would be able to torch the whole town to a crisp when he grew up, and this was the beginning of his transition into adulthood. And someday, Spike would leave Twilight and make his own way as a young dragon.
The door to the study swung open slowly and silently, spilling the bright, warm light of chandelier candles onto her head and mane as Spike's feet scratched the floor like a dog's claws. The castle's natural built-in lighting was too warm and yellow for her liking, and she yawned as she lifted her head up to greet her number one assistant.
"Hiya, Twilight!"
"Hey, Spike." She tiredly stared at him as he closed the door behind him, the giant slab of crystal swinging shut as easily as if it were made of feathers. "I really should get some magical lightbulbs installed sometime."
"...You okay?" he asked as he turned around and watched Twilight rub her eyes.
The question took a second for her to process, and she made some effort to nod her head.
"...you sure? Twi?"
"Yeah," she smiled weakly as her eyes met Spike's. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Don't worry yourself over me."
"Come on, Twilight!" he exclaimed. "You're tired, and I know it. I've known you for my entire life. Something's keeping you down, and I can help!"
"...No, it's all good."
He threw his claws up in exasperation. "Twilight, I heard you throw something."
"..."
"I can see a book on the ground over there, Twi. The cover's damaged, and I know you'd try your best to fix it up if you were feeling fine."
"...oh, fine. Maybe I am a bit upset, Spike."
"About what?"
Twilight paused, then scratched her head as she leaned back in her chair. "I...don't know."
"Is it about what happened in the woods?" Spike asked as he walked up to her side.
"I guess, but..."
"You haven't told anyone?"
"No, that's the problem, Spike. I can't tell anypony," she explained, "because it...it's really important I don't tell anypony."
"That's not very good reasoning, Twilight."
"Well, I don't know what to say, Spike..." And she really didn't. Those weird aliens were so fascinating Twilight could spend an entire eternity just talking to them and learning about their society. Their magic and technology was impressive to watch and study, and there was no end to the questions Twilight had for them.
Then, Luna and the military took her from their little shelter by force in the middle of the night, leaving Rainbow Dash and Applejack as well as her notes and research behind. Not only was she separated from her friends, but she didn't know what those guardsponies had done with the aliens. If they had just knocked and asked politely, maybe things wouldn't be so messed up. The fate of those three creatures and her two friends was totally up to debate, but she knew that they were in the hands of those beings; why else would she not have heard from them?
Plus, the Royal Guard was garrisoned in Ponyville for some reason; most ponies simply went on with their lives as usual, but Twilight was certain that they were investigating the aliens in the woods. She knew that Luna's Night Guard had investigated the alien encampment, but now there were hundreds of guardsponies from the Royal Guard as well. And if they were sending hundreds of ponies in there, then that meant one of two things: either there were more of those aliens in the forest, or those three creatures were more powerful than she thought.
"...Twilight! You were spaced out there for a second. Have you slept recently?" Spike asked as he shook her hoof.
Twilight shook her head, then frowned. "I'm okay, seriously."
The dragon raised an eyebrow, then sighed. "If you say so...well, I'm here to give you this," he said as he pulled a scroll from behind him and handed it to the alicorn. "Comes from Princess Luna. Maybe you'll find some answers inside."
Her eyes widened at the sound of Luna's name, and she snatched the rolled-up letter from his claws with her magic and carefully inspected the seal. "This is..."
"Whatever," Spike called back to Twilight as he walked out the door, pulling it closed behind him as his feet tip-tapped down the crystal hallway. "Gosh, girls are so weird..."
She leaned back in her chair and listened to Spike mumble as he walked down the hall. Her baby dragon was thinking about girls. The sheer thought sent shudders down Twilight's back.
The seal crumbled and sent a few specks of wax flying onto her desk as she opened the letter, the scroll written on plain-white letter paper instead of official papyrus parchment for some reason. Twilight moved closer to the candle, squinting as she read Luna's letter to herself.
Twilight,
I do hope that you're handling your return to Ponyville well. It must have been quite discomforting to return to civilization after being isolated for as long as you were; I understand the feeling perfectly, and I can fully sympathize. Hopefully this letter reaches you within a day of my writing it, as I have not secured a courier yet.
I am writing this letter partly to inform you of the current state of affairs regarding the beings you've encountered. I understand that this might not be a topic you wish to discuss as of now, but it is important that I inform you nonetheless. There have been some changes in the clearing you stayed in over the past few weeks; the small shelter has become a large camp of over a hundred acres, and it is still growing. Additionally, there are more of said beings in the camp, with estimates implying up to a thousand individuals. For the sake of security, I will have to omit some details, but it is important you know that the camp is by no means lacking in supplies nor in population.
However, it is my pleasure to inform you that the Royal Guard is well-established and well-equipped as of now, and we are monitoring the encampment. We have not encountered or interacted with said encampment in any way other than observation yet, but what we have seen suggests that we will have to approach them soon. As for your friends, I am sorry to admit that they are still missing. We have not confirmed their current condition, but do not worry - I would wager that your friends are still alive and well, and we will do our best to find them.
Twilight, I will be blunt - I need you to come back to the forest. I know you've been through quite a lot in the past few weeks, and I understand if you are hesitant to return, but our observations are unsettling to say the least. Your magical expertise and studious nature will come in handy if you choose to return, and this is the perfect opportunity for you to learn about your future role as an alicorn princess. I cannot disclose all of what's going on here, but if there's one thing I must say, it is this: we are dealing with something very urgent - critical, even - and we need your assistance and guidance.
I hope that you will come back to the forest and assist us, but if you refuse I can understand. You may not wish to come back to the Everfree, and I do not fault you for that. If you do come, however, you will soon find out why I need you here so desperately.
Her Royal Majesty, Princess of the Moon,
-Luna
17th Day of the Second Month of Autumn.
Twilight was suddenly aware of the silence permeating throughout the study, broken by nothing but the soft whispers of her breathing. She checked the date, then set the letter down on the desk and leaned back in her chair. Luna had written the letter just a day ago, yet her reasons for writing it seemed obscure and unknowable to the purple alicorn as she rubbed her face with her hooves. No, she thought to herself, I know exactly why she's calling me back.
She was out shopping for groceries the day before when it happened. Twilight was counting out change for a half-pound of carrots when she heard the first burst of noise, sharp and rapid like a woodpecker drilling through a tree trunk. Everypony in the market stopped what they were doing and turned towards the noise as it continued, growing in volume as the seconds passed. Occasionally, a faraway explosion could be heard from the trees, each bass rumble as loud as thunder. The loudest sound, however, was a deafening, boomy crack that echoed throughout the sky for almost an entire minute, after which the noises completely stopped. All the townsponies chattered to each other about the weather afterwards, but Twilight knew what those noises actually were - she had been saved by them. And something that loud couldn't be ignored, especially something that could make the last one.
She couldn't think of any reason to object, either. In fact, she was eager to return to the Everfree and her studies into the aliens. Perhaps she would even be able to act like an ambassador, setting up relations between Equestria and the aliens. And Luna was right; this was the perfect chance for her to begin learning about her duties and responsibilities as a ruler.
"So, that settles it, then." Twilight leaned forward and folded the letter up, sliding it into a desk drawer as she hopped off the chair and walked towards the door. Her status as a princess, as well as the signed letter, could get her to the camp with one of the Royal Guard supply shipments, though it wouldn't be the most comfortable trip. She would leave tomorrow morning, with the first trip, if she could finish packing her bags by then. Hopefully, she wouldn't need to bring much - it was well known that the Royal Guard set up many amenities in their camps, and Twilight planned on bringing only the necessities.
Twilight pushed the door open and looked through the hallway window, staring at Ponyville's nighttime skyline. Tomorrow, she would return to the Everfree forest. Tomorrow, she would start her research anew.
Tomorrow, she would find out the truth about the aliens.
-John-
Piece of cake, the man thought to himself as he walked down the beige hallways of the facility's administration offices. The client's more scientist than supervisor, and he'll fold much quicker than the others.
He casually strolled past the framed pictures of machinery and mathematics, his expensive leather shoes making barely a sound against the ugly, vomit-colored carpet. If he recalled correctly, the office he was looking for was a left, then a right down the hall. Unfortunately, it was hard for him to find his bearing amongst the dull, same-looking corridors that he had just walked through a few days ago, and he sighed as he tried to remember how many doors down the hall he had to walk before taking a turn.
He looked to the left, the branching hallway somewhat familiar to his eyes. The man sighed, then reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a small hand-mirror. It was critical to his job that he look as sharp and well-mannered as possible, and he popped a mint into his mouth as he gave his appearance one final check-up. This wasn't exactly a difficult job, especially when compared to the task of cracking one of the Department of Defense's hardened commanders, but it was an important one to the company. They needed clients, and he would get them clients.
His name wasn't actually John Baker, but most people outside of the company knew him by that name. As a "sales representative" of one of the world's largest companies, his job was to encourage prospective clientele to sign contracts with Lockheed-Martin and buy as many of their products (namely weapons) as possible through methods of varying shadiness. He hadn't been in the business as long as many of his colleagues, but he was good at his job - and proud of it. His position gave him a lot of benefits, too, such as fancy clothes, expensive information, and semi-legitimate credentials. After all, his job was important. Selling things to people who didn't know they needed them was a tradition as old as time.
Someone tapped his shoulder from behind, causing John to freeze in surprize for a second before turning around. The woman standing in front of him wore a professional-looking blue skirt and dress jacket, her purse and portfolio a perfect match for her outfit. Her makeup and hair was perfect, and John's minty cologne mingled with her indescribably fruity perfume as they stood facing each other.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Mister Baker. It's been so long since we've met! Five years? And down here, of all places!"
"Mmhm," John nodded. Her voice was silky smooth, like molten silver, yet John knew how well she could use that voice to tug at a man's heartstrings. "So, Diane, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, you know. I plan on getting Mister Anderson over here to come buy some of our prototypes. I take it LM is doing the same?" she asked as she flipped her hair.
"I'd say so. How're things at American Electronics, by the way?"
"We have a whole slew of products that the eggheads created, some of which I know nothing about. Yet they still expect me to sell...science equipment is the closest thing I can call it," Diane muttered.
"Really now? Well, I've already signed a contract with him for the usual. Weapons and whatnot," he shrugged.
"Now, isn't that confidential information you're leaking?" chuckled the woman.
"Oh please, it's not like you didn't already guess it. Did you hear about the other side of the Portgate?" John asked.
"No, and I'm not interested. I don't want any more headaches after listening to those bores go on and on about the doohickey-whatchamacalit."
"It's a real big secret, I couldn't tell you anyways."
"Fine by me."
"But," John quietly whispered in her ear, "let's just say we're in business."
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Diane asked, a look of mild intrigue on her face.
"I didn't say anything," sighed John. The two smiled in amusement at John's quip, the atmosphere between them surprisingly friendly considering the circumstances.
"Fine by me. Alright, enough fooling around. You mind if I go first?"
"I'm just here to check up on him. He's going through a lot right now, believe me. I have my sources. I can come back tomorrow, it's totally fine. Right now, I'm probably the last person he wants to see. You'll do better than I will, what with your feminine charm and all that."
"Well, don't mind if I do," she said as she opened her purse and pulled out a tube of crimson red lipstick and a small tray. John held up his pocket mirror for Diane as she checked her makeup one last time, touching up her face and hair with the skill of an artist as she worked her magic.
"That should do it. Now," said Diane, "I gotta get going. Wish me luck!"
"Alright," he replied as she elegantly walked down the hallway, her hips swinging with each step. John stared at her for perhaps a bit too long before turning back down the hallway and back to the surface.
"Every time a drone passed by the native camp, I couldn't help but watch the little horsies come and go. It was like seeing an old Civil War camp in real-time, colorized HD go about its daily business - with cute little ponies instead of Confederate or Union soldiers. The plate armor and spears threw me off a lot more, too, for some reason. I mean, they had a row of black iron stove going, cooking up pancakes and coffee just like in the old history books. It was weird, you know? Being on a planet possibly trillions of light years away from ours and watching a tiny, orange unicorn in Roman armor grab a mug of steaming hot joe and a plate of syrup-drenched flapjacks. Another thing that I learned was that the flying ones didn't pay as much attention to the drones. At first, they followed the drones and even nabbed a few, right out of the air. They eventually got bored or something, I guess, because within a week or so they stopped looking up every time we whizzed by. Maybe they have tiny aerial spycraft of their own, and were just checking ours out? Or maybe their superiors told them to stop. It was a shame, in my opinion, because we got to see them up close when they tried to take our drones. For a creature that's supposed to be an alien from a totally foreign world, I wouldn't mind hugging one...
-Taylor Albertson, Drone Operator
-Luna-
Luna cautiously pulled the tent flaps closed, her ears perked up and listening for any outside listeners. The single oil lamp hanging from the roof burned dimly, illuminating the dark interior of her personal quarters but not brightly enough to cast a silhouette for any observers to view. She stood there for a minute, her magically enhanced hearing searching for eavesdroppers, before letting out a sigh and sitting down at the folding table in the middle of the tent.
"What did you call me here for, Luna?"
The princess looked at the purple pony in front of her, the alicorn's dark lavender eyes still as bright and eager as ever. Luna's horn glowed with a deep blue aura as she grabbed a silver document box from her bedside stand, its rune locks shining underneath the yellow light in hues of red and gold. She set the box down in front of her with a clatter, the latches and hinges rattling as she did so, and brought her horn down upon the center of the box. With a swish, the glowing symbols and shapes binding the box faded to black ink.
"Twilight," Luna asked as she flipped the latches open and pushed the lid up with her hooves, "will you swear that you will not reveal this information to anyone but me and Celestia?"
"U-Um, yes, Princess..." she hesitantly replied.
"Twilight, one of the most important things an alicorn princess must learn to do is to keep a secret. You must be able to hold your tongue, even under the most excruciating of tortures and the slyest, most persuasive weaseling. Promise me."
"Yes, Princess," responded the purple alicorn, her tone much more serious than before.
Luna nodded. She grabbed the silver box's contents and spread them out on the table, the sheets of crisp white sketch paper covered with detailed drawings and depictions of alien objects. Twilight picked one up and held it in front of her as she stared in fascination at the sharp, angular edges the charcoal markings traced out. The lines were too perfect, too straight and precise to be hoof-drawn.
"Did you draw these?"
"Yes. Do you know how?"
"A recollection spell?"
"Close. Combining a recollection spell with a magical anchor allows me to physically copy images from my memory and onto paper, like a camera."
"Why not just use a camera, then?" Twilight asked.
"At the time, I didn't have a camera."
"At the time? What do you mean?"
"All in due time," Luna stated. "Now, what do you suppose that is?"
"Well," Twilight answered, "the four wheels clearly mean it's some sort of vehicle. There seems to be a compartment for passengers. Beyond that, I'm not sure."
"Not bad. Though, there is one thing I would like to mention."
"What would that be?"
"The object on the roof."
"Let me take a look," Twilight muttered as she squinted at the strange protrusion on the top.
"No need," Luna chimed in as she pulled out another sheet of paper. "This is a larger drawing."
Twilight grabbed the drawing and examined it closely, mumbling her thoughts as she scrutinized every detail. "I think I've seen something like this before. When I was with the aliens, their weapons all had this little protrusion here. I think that's how they hold the weapon, and the lever here is how they activate it. This one is stuck onto a vehicle, so I would assume that this is much more powerful than the ones that the individuals carry. Like the cannons on our galleons, right? And here, these sharp thingies are the 'arrows' that it shoots. I've seen them before. They're much larger than the personnel wielded ones, though, and there's a lot more of them, so this is definitely much more powerful. The difference between a crossbow bolt and a ballista bolt."
"That's actually...amazing that you figured that out, Twilight! I'm impressed!"
"Thanks, Princess," Twilight shrugged. "What can you tell me about the vehicle itself?"
"Not much. Just that it seems to be made of mostly metal, and explodes under high heat."
"Wait, can you run the last one by me again?"
"In a minute. Here," Luna said as she handed Twilight another piece of paper. "Make your best guess."
"So," Twilight muttered under her breath, "definitely another weapon. Same lever and handle. Radically different shape, though. Just a tube, with a box on the side."
"That little tube is what they look through."
"How do you know this?"
"Just keep going," said Luna with an intrigued look on her face.
"If they look through that," Twilight continued, "then that's how they aim it. Strange, the other ones didn't have a tube like that. Other than that, not much to go on. Wait, wait...their weapons all had a tube the projectiles came through. This one is much bigger."
"Good." Luna's face suddenly darkened. "Do you want to know how I got these drawings, Twilight?"
Twilight raised her head from the sketches. "Are you going to tell me? Is it...bad?"
The princess sighed as she closed her eyes and rubbed her face. "I didn't tell you this in the letter, Twilight. The real reason you're here is that, well...I saw something. Witnessed, actually."
"What are you talking-"
"I watched them, Twilight. I saw a fully grown, aggressive fire dragon dive down towards their camp, guarded by nopony but a small force of forty or so of their soldiers." Luna raised her head from her hooves, her eyes tired and weary. "Forty of the Royal Guard's finest would end up as nothing but a crispy snack for a dragon the size of a barn."
"I, um...wow, Princess Luna.."
She stood up. "That thing is a cannon, Twilight. One that shoots straighter, faster, and more accurately than even the finest twenty-pounder in the Equestrian arsenal. One that any common infantrypony can carry, and one that can blast a sizable chunk out of a dragon's scales."
"Wait, that's...terrifying!"
"No, there's one last thing I want you to identify. One more weapon." Luna raised a piece of paper and set it down in front of Twilight, her back to the alicorn as she listened to her speak.
"Alright...huh. This is weird. Way different from the other ones. More like a rectangle. I really don't know, Princess."
"That's what brought the dragon down. Even without it, I could tell the creatures would have taken it out of the sky anyways. But..."
"Princess?"
"I'm the Princess of the Moon, Twilight. I can feel things that nopony else can. I...it...was just so...fast!"
"Are you okay, Princess?"
Luna turned around and looked at Twilight. The faintest hint of pure, anxious fear burned within her shaky, dilated pupils, a sensation the Lunar Princess had not felt in many, many years. "We are dealing with a manticore, Twilight, without a weapon or magic to defend ourselves with. We must hope that the manticore isn't interested in us."
"Princess Luna..."
"That's why you're here, Twilight. You know them better than we do. Eventually, we will have to interact. And when we do, I want to be prepared."
"Princess Luna."
"Twilight, for the sake of Equestria-"
"Luna!"
Luna stopped her monologue as Twilight cut her off. The tent was silent, save for the chirping of crickets outside.
"Luna, I recognize this individual. The one holding the weapon you were going on about."
She leaned forward, getting a closer look at the face of the alien. "Wait, that's..."
"It saved me."
"It killed my ponies."
Twilight sighed. "Luna, they know who I am. They have to, if this alien is still alive and in contact with their society."
"You're right. Twilight. I hope you're ready to play ambassador."
"I suppose I am, Princess."
"Maybe things won't go bad after all," sighed Luna as she sat back down.
The oil lamp flickered as it burned, its flame shifting without direction in the tent's stuffy atmosphere.
-Captives-
"God! Look at that thing!"
"Size of a cargo plane. Good thing it wasn't us who had to deal with it, huh?"
"Yeah...I heard it's still alive."
"What?! How?!"
"Well, it's not quote-unquote 'alive and kicking.' More like 'alive and unconscious, lying on the ground.' They found it still breathing, somehow. See those little bricks strapped to its neck and wings? With the wires?"
"That's not the only place they stuck them. I can see where this is going, and I don't like it."
"One of my pals told me it's plastic explosive. If it tries anything, it's getting a septuple-amputation."
"Isn't it a heptuple-amputation? And shouldn't it be a sextuple-amputation and a decapitation?"
"Heck if I know. Either way, it's gonna die. All the tents fifty feet from it are gonna get taken down in case of rabid medieval lizard. Crushed a bunch of tents when it came down anyways, so they had half of their work done already."
"Heh heh."
"But yeah, how's it feel to be carrying a real live pegasus in a plastic box?"
"Other than the stares, I can live with it."
"Last one, right?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Didn't get my degree just to haul a pretty pony around."
"Hey, be glad you have this opportunity. You could tell your grandkids!"
"Let's not talk about the distant future just yet, alright?"
"..."
"That's the flight mechanic right there."
"Hey, you two! Is that the last one?"
"Yeah. Don't drop them, now. They're still in a delicate state from all the drugs and sedatives we've been pumping in them. Not to mention the bullet wounds."
"Mind if I check?"
"Yeah, go ahead and-"
"Is that...a dyed mane? How do you even do that?"
"Rainbow hair's all the craze these days with the kids."
"It's been the craze ever since I got outta college. No bullet wounds."
"Numbers One, Two, and Four have them. Take care with those ones."
"No problem. Anything else I should know?"
"Nothing that isn't in the briefing. Oh, make sure the locals don't see you with the cargo. If they smack one of their own outta the sky, that'll be bad. After that, you're pretty much in the clear."
"Got it. Thanks."
"No problem. Come on, I gotta get back to the infirmary..."
Rainbow Dash heard, but did not understand. She was aware, but not conscious. The synthetic alien chemicals flowing through her veins made sure that she was neither awake nor dead, but instead in a sort of paralyzed slumber that just barely kept her from waking up to the foreign vocalizations of a species that did not call Equestria home. The pegasus did not feel the padded box she was strapped into sink to the ground as the strange creature clad in blue rechecked her restraints under a harsh, glowing light. Neither did she feel the clink of metal as four steel links hooked around the corners of the crate, chaining it to a drone four times the size of a pony. She did not flinch when she suddenly rose up into the midnight sky, her diarch's brilliant moon but a sliver of a crescent.
Stealthily, the quadcopter floated across the sky towards its destination without a sound, the white, fluorescent glow of humanity's electrical lighting quickly fading into the distance. The heavy-duty yet surprisingly silent propellors hummed steadily through the chilly, breezy air, its four companions following suit. Its five cameras kept watch of the landscape without respite, two spinning rapidly and scanning the surroundings while the others focused on the path ahead.
The drone drifted towards the left as a sudden gust of wind pushed it to the side. When Phoenix Avionics had designed the BT-13c Heavy Configurable Attack Drone, they envisioned the camouflage-green, 8-foot long quadcopter to be a support weapon capable of carrying 500 kilograms of ordinance at a decently responsive speed. Normally, it would have two submachine guns strapped to the side of its propellors as the eight top and bottom weapon racks unleashed hell upon its long list of possible targets with heavy machine guns, missiles, and bombs. Now, however, it easily countered the wayward breeze, the single payload attached to a bomb-bay module far lighter than the metal and plastic implements it was meant to wield. The cluster of drones zoomed forward at breakneck pace, their cargo lazily swinging tens of feet above the ground.
Soon, the warm orange glow of ponykind's fiery torches grew visible as the drones neared the military encampment. Wooden spikes lined the borders of the tents, the former tree stumps carved out of the surrounding forest's woods and shrubbery. Sentries patrolled the borders of the camp, their armor and weapons metallically glistening under the light of the fires. The cameras surveyed the camp below, automatically tagging all the heat signatures it saw as either living creatures or non-organic heat sources.
Though the naturally enhanced eyes of pegasi and the magically augmented vision of unicorns were strong, the cover of darkness was on the side of the quadcopters. Minimal moonlight and the bright light of the camp's braziers hindered the sentries' vision, whose magical vision could not make out the non-living magical signatures of the bloodless automatons. Watch as they might, the drones slipped by their eyes undetected. Stealthily and silently, they slowly dropped down from the skies and down into the clearing surrounding the encampment.
With the gentlest of thuds, each of the five drones delicately set their passengers down on the grass as if they were priceless glass artifacts. As the chains fell away with their release from the quadcopters, the radio-activated coffins unfolded like a blooming flower, exposing their occupants to the night sky and the forest breeze. Three of the ponies were bandaged with clean, white strips of gauze wrapped around their limbs, while the two others were scarcely injured at all. The drones began to rise up into the sky, the grass beneath them waving and dancing as the propellors lifted them into the sky. Their mission was complete...
...except for one last thing.
A blindingly-bright flash of red suddenly burst into the sky, a trail of smoke quickly trailing it as it rose up and above the meadow in a brilliant arc. The flare burned with the intensity of a thousand bonfires, hanging in the sky like a sun as it reached its peak. Shouts began to rise from the camp as ponies ran out of their tents, weapons at hoof as they rushed towards the edges of the camp's borders. A second flare ignited as they galloped, this one blue and much closer to the ground. As the red flare burned and pulsated, its parachute slowing its descent from the heavens, the blue one simply stood, staked to the ground, and fizzled with a deep azure hue.
Soon, the ponies would send somepony to investigate the blue flare. The red one was just to catch their attention; the blue one would burn for many more hours, making sure that those in the camp knew where it was. They would search the surrounding woods, in search of whoever was responsible.
But the quadcopters were long gone, a flock of five specters silently zooming through the forest sky. It was as if they were never there.
"I was in the African savannas studying giraffe migration patterns when they called me over the telephone. I said, "I do not know why you called me! I am just a simple researcher!" And they say, "No, you are the best in the field! Large animal anatomy!" "But then I ask: "What do you need to know?" They say: "It is not that; it is a big opportunity! Very much so." Well, I am not very busy watching the big tall giraffes. So I accept. Did not know that it was in famous Portal-gate! And even bigger surprise! Dragon! Just like in books Mama read to me when I was but a little baby. It is alive, but very hurt. Mean monster, I am told, and very dangerous. Anyways, they tell me to look after it. Study it. And I try - it is very big! I do big animal like horse, not giant animal! Ha ha ha!...
Alexander Ilyich, Large Animal Researcher
-Noah-
It was cold.
Why was it so cold?
Noah groaned as he rubbed his eyes, his back arching as he stretched his muscles. The bright, pristine whiteness of his surroundings threw him off for a second, the walls and bed unfamiliar yet strangely identifiable. Wherever he was, he wasn't familiar with it.
He blinked as he stared at the white ceiling tiles. A curtain surrounded his bed, the blue sheets hanging on a metal loop just above his head. He was in a hospital. But why?
The memories of the battle suddenly popped up in his head, his recollection of events vague and indiscernible. There was a dragon, they had shot at it, and then the car exploded...? What happened next?
The door suddenly swung open with a click as Noah tried desperately to recall his last few memories. He turned his head towards the exit, the motion slow and lethargic as if he was too tired to move a single muscle. Leah's shoes squeaked as she calmly entered the room, Andrew following suit with an expression of relief on his face.
"H-Hey," Noah croaked out. He coughed, the phlegm in his throat clearing as he pulled himself up into a sitting position. A dull, numb pain ran up his back as he tried to wiggle himself upright, and he winced as his body suddenly pained him with a thousand aches and sores.
"Woah, big guy! Slow down, you're hurt!"
"Leah's right," Andrew said. "The doctors told us you got injured pretty badly."
"Ugh...how bad?"
"Well, you had a piece of metal go through your thigh and into your lower back, plus a bunch of burns and cuts. And a broken nose, too," stated Leah.
"That probably explains why I have such a headache," Noah sighed. "Where is this?"
"The medical ward. You were lucky, there were a few injured who didn't get to have a bed like you did! And, well..."
"Well," interjected Andrew, "you could have gotten off...a lot, lot worse."
"What do you mean?"
"They told us that three people died during the attack."
Noah closed his eyes and let out a breath before speaking again. "That..."
"We know."
"How long have I been out?"
"Three days."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah."
"Wow." Noah slowly sunk back into the bed and beneath the covers. The air conditioning softly hummed as he rested, and he suddenly realized that the cool air blowing out from the metal vent was what made him so cold. "I really don't know what to say."
"Aren't you curious about what happened during those three days?" Leah asked.
"Not really, but...fill me in, I guess. Take your time," he added. Noah listened as he lied there under the soft hospital bedsheets, his attention purely focused on Leah and Andrew as they took turns explaining what had happened during the past few days. He nodded as Leah told him about how the dragon was still breathing, but under study and control and severely injured. About how just the day prior, the injured natives were sent back to their camp as a peace offering, to show that humanity had no ill intentions.
"Or so they say," Andrew sighed. "Lotsa land and resources on the other side, I would wager, and everybody knows how much our species needs them. You might be doing a lot more work in the future than you think, Noah."
"Don't you have any optimism, Andrew? Look, Noah just woke up, can we talk about something cheerier?"
"It's fine," interjected Noah. "But I am curious...what's going to happen now?"
"Noah, do you remember how we're supposed to be part of the greeting party for the natives if they do decide to contact us? Well, ever since the five little ponies got sent back, Leah and I are supposed to be ready to go do that at any minute. It's the same with you, although I'm assuming they'll wait until you're healed up."
"Do you think that's going to happen, Andrew?"
"Well, I don't think the ponies can just ignore us."
"Fair point."
"I just hope that, well...things don't go wrong. Just thinking about it makes me nervous. I mean, we'll be making history! If we mess up, the history books will remember us as 'the three people who totally screwed up first contact between humanity and another species'."
"It'll be okay," Leah assured Andrew as she rested her hand on his shoulder. "We'll be alright."
"I dunno," he replied. "I guess I'll try..."
"When am I gonna be out of bed and moving around?" Noah asked. He slowly pulled his arms out of the covers and rubbed his eyes, sending sparks of light dancing across his vision.
"Two more days," Andrew responded. "That's what the doctor told me, anyways."
Noah groaned quietly as his arms flopped onto the mattress. His fingers began fiddling with the bedside remote, tracing the buttons and testing what they did. "So," he replied, "is there anything else you had to tell me?"
"Nothing important. Just something about, like, the group of soldiers you were supposed to assist and your new assignment."
"Okay, that - wait, what?"
"Oh, you didn't know? That exploration team is apparently now a 'active assignment group', whatever that's supposed to mean. I wasn't told much, but I think that means you'll be doing a much broader range of things than before."
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier, Leah?!" Noah quickly sat up out of his bed and tried to throw his legs over the bed's railings, the still-numb limbs unresponsive to his will. A million white-hot pinpricks agonizingly stabbed through his thighs, sending him into a wincing fit as his two friends rushed to help him back under the pristine, unstained covers.
"Calm down! Jeez," Leah sighed as she pushed the pillow back under his back. "I didn't know you were going to be that excited about it."
"Ow, son of a...Well, I...well, first things first, I'm sick of doing sentry duty. Secondly, the exploration team was obsolete from the get go because of the drones. We didn't do much, so eventually we just got reassigned to regular work. What else did they say?"
"Basically, if you're not watching the facility and the job needs someone with a gun, they'll call you."
"Ah." Noah turned his head and stared at the wall, the beige wallpaper bland and depressing. "That's a big list of things, then."
"Yeah..."
The low hum of the air conditioning boomed over the deep, rumbling buzz of the facility's background ambience.
"...by the way, where's my phone?"
-Twilight-
Twilight struggled to sit still as she waited outside the medical tent, the purple pony rocking from side to side in a constant, rhythmic teeter-totter. The cold midday air sent a shiver down her back, one that was quickly chased away by the warm glow of the noon sun. She wondered if her friends would be cold as well; after all, the tent wasn't very well heated. Because the wood-burning stoves were dirty and sooty, they weren't installed in the medical tent in order to ensure cleanliness. Twilight just hoped that the thick, cotton sheets were warm enough to keep Applejack and Rainbow Dash comfortable.
The alicorn had been waiting just outside the entire morning, from sunrise to noon. The medics shooed her out of the tent as soon as she opened the flap, each pony annoyedly lecturing Twilight on the importance of proper rest before booting her out the door. One of them was kind enough to tell her that her friends seemed to be completely fine, just in a deep state of sleep. The other three ponies were fine, too - though their abdomens were wrapped with bandages from their wounds when the captives mysteriously materialized out of thin air, the old wounds that had dug deep into their bodies were healing unbelievably well. If everything went well, the doctor explained, the ponies would wake up at around lunchtime.
There was no doubt that her friends would do well and recover quickly, Twilight knew that. But how? Their return itself was a mystery. Suddenly appearing out of thin air, their location revealed by a burning blue torch, the ponies were quickly recovered out of the black, unfolded boxes they lay on and rushed to the medical tent in the middle of the night. And that wasn't all; the injured Night Guard members (presumed living by some, dead by most) were also returned to Equestrian custody, their injuries mended through means unbeknownst to ponykind. How did they not die? Luna had said the aliens mortally wounded her ponies, but they were still alive and well (though with a few scars). And how did they materialize without anypony noticing?
What was the meaning of all this?
"Princess?" a voice suddenly called out from behind.
Twilight's ears perked up, and she turned towards the medic as he poked his head out of the tent. "Yes?" she eagerly asked.
"Your friends are in a stable condition. They're conscious, but they're still a little bit drowsy and might not feel too well. You can come in and speak with them, but please do keep in mind-"
"Rainbow Dash!!! Applejack!!!"
Twilight sprung through the tent flap and pushed the doctor aside. She ran towards the back of the tent, her hooves cautiously bounding through the narrow aisles between the cots. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were lying in bed, the two mares talking quietly to each other with a look of curiosity on their faces.
"Applejack! Dash!" Twilight yelled as she briskly trotted towards them. The pegasus and earth pony turned their heads, then smiled as their friend pulled them together for one big group hug.
"Howdy, Twi."
"What's up, egghead?"
"Good to see you, girls."
The three ponies broke apart, each mare with a big, goofy grin on their face. Twilight pulled a stool up from the corner of the tent and sat down, eager to reconnect from her friends after several weeks of separation.
"What have ya been up to, Sugarcube?" Applejack asked.
"Well, I...oh my gosh, it's such a long story. I don't know where to begin."
"We got all day, Twilight! Tell us," exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she leaned forward towards Twilight.
"I...where do I start?"
"Fill us in, Twi. What happened after, well...that night?"
"I don't know if I can tell you, Applejack. This is, well...really kinda secret stuff. Luna doesn't want me to just tell anypony about what's happening."
"Princess Luna? Wait, Twilight, you can't not tell us now! Come on, spill the beans!"
"I...no, you girls go first," Twilight sighed.
"Sure thing. Well, you know how we were sleeping and all that. We wake up, there's a buncha loud, ear-bangin noises, and Dash and I can't hear nothin. One of the big'uns kinda makes us stay in the back room, we wait. All of a sudden, a whole buncha them aliens come in, kinda mean-like and stuff. I...huh, I don't quite 'member what happens next. You do, Dash?"
"No...huh. That's weird!"
"Is that...it?"
"Yep! All I remember, though, is that we were, like, taking super long naps for a while," Dash continued.
"Wait, Rainbow dash, what's that supposed to mean?" Twilight asked.
"I dunno, just...I knew we were asleep, but...it's weird. It's hard to describe it, Twi, but...yeah."
"Okay then...Well, do you need to know anything? Being away for weeks on end must have disoriented you two quite a bit."
"First you tell us you can't say anything, then you ask us if we want to know anything? Gee, Twilight, you sure are funny," teased Dash with a jab of her hoof.
Twilight simply rolled her eyes. "Applejack, anything?"
"How long has it been, exactly?"
"I..don't know. Maybe two weeks?" Twilight responded as she tapped her chin with her hoof.
"Alright. Where are we?"
"We're-that is, um, we're in Luna's camp. We're supposed to be watching the aliens."
"An entire camp? Wow. What happened?"
"Oh, that...I shouldn't have said-"
"Princess!" a medic shouted at Twilight. "Luna wants you outside!"
"Oh, why now?" Twilight sighed as she stood up from her chair and pushed it to the side. "I really hope it isn't much."
"We can wait, Twi. Just go do whatcha need to do, Sugarcube."
"See ya, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash called out as Twilight cantered over to the exit. Twilight could hear Luna muttering to someone behind the canvas tarp wall, the conversation clearly a back-and-forth debate between her and some unknown pony. She pushed the flap to the side, blinking as the midday sun temporarily blinded her with its white, radiant glow.
"...but what I'm saying is that we can't determine the exact details of the wounds at this stage of healing. Like you've said, these wounds are completely different from what anypony in Equestria has encountered. And these wounds are definitely healed in a totally incompatible way as well."
"But surely you can glean some more information?"
"Look, any further examination is going to potentially affect their recovery. Who knows what will happen? Maybe their treatment causes severe hemophilia while the patient recovers, and they might die the moment we cut them open with a scalpel."
"You know that's not true."
"Maybe not, but my point still stands. We need to wait a while. Maybe we can ask them what their treatment process was like when they're awake and well. For now, though, we'll just have to wait and see what happens next."
"Very well, then. But please, try your best to find out more about their injuries, Doctor. Ah," Luna said as she noticed Twilight standing in front of her, "Twilight. Doctor, could you please give us some privacy?"
"Of course, Princess," the stallion nodded as he entered the tent.
Twilight watched the gray-coated pony walk through the entrance, then turned her attention to Luna as he disappeared into the tent. "Princess," she greeted Luna, "you called for me?"
"Yes. Twilight, let me get straight to the point. You know why our ponies were returned, right?"
Twilight nodded. "They wanted to be friends with us?"
"There's much more to it than that, Twilight Sparkle. Do you know what we've done to them?"
"I...what do you mean?"
Luna sighed, shaking her head as she continued. "My first meeting with the visitors involved getting attacked, Twilight. That is nowhere near a good first impression. But, as you can see, my stallions and your friends are here with us, healthy and well."
"Yes...go on..."
"The olive branch has been extended towards us. Deliverance has come. However you may think of this, there are two facts at play here. Number one: they have the ability to eradicate this camp and the entirety of the Equestrian continent. I do not doubt the former, and I do not doubt the latter. Number two: they aren't here to do so. If they were, those three Night Guard would have been dead and dissected."
"What are you trying to tell me, Luna?"
The dark blue alicorn leaned forward and rested her hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "They are giving us a shot at friendship. Friendship is good. We have to return this favor."
"But how?" Twilight asked.
"I was thinking about this the other night," Luna explained, "while reading over your notes. You remembered a lot, and I'm impressed. But they were mostly over their language, right?"
"Yes..."
Luna nodded. The straps on the sides of her bags magically flipped open, and Luna's horn glowed as she rooted through the pouches and dividers. "Twilight," she said as she produced a gemstone from her saddlebags, "you do know what this is, right?"
She stared at the flat, hoof-sized multicolored crystal before shrugging her shoulders. "It could be anything," the pony stated.
"This is a high-density, two hundred thousand word language matrix crystal. You haven't seen one in your studies before, and I doubt most ponies ever will. Equestrian is the lingua franca of our entire continent, and there is little remaining to decipher in our world except for millennia-old ruins and dialectical differences. Now, however, we actually have a use for these old, dusty gridded gems."
"I see, Princess Luna."
"I've already inscribed some of the vocabulary from your rewritten notes into the first few hundred spaces. I don't have the context for these words neither their pronunciations, and as such the connections between concepts is quite weak. Additionally, your memory of the notes you originally took might not have been the most accurate. There is one pony in Equestria who knows this language better than everypony else...you, of course."
Luna paused to consider her next choice of words before continuing. "Normaly, I would bring a pony your age into politics slowly and cautiously. Nation-level diplomacy shouldn't rest on the shoulders of anypony under a century old. But...the circumstances are much different from what I would have preferred. Twilight, are you willing to conduct first contact with the aliens?"
"I...I-"
"Before we continue," Luna interrupted as Twilight tried to come up with a response, "I want you to decipher this."
"Huh?"
Luna pulled out a flat, white piece of paper coated in a shiny, clear wrapping from her bags and held it in front of Twilight. "We found one of these with each of our returned ponies, and I think you can guess what it means."
Twilight nodded. "A sun, then a moon, then a sun, then a moon, then a sun. An arrow with a clock under it, meaning that in two days... when the sun is highest, maybe?...a pony and an alien will...meet?! Luna, is this what I think it's saying?"
"What else could it mean?"
"Three ponies will move to their encampment, from the west. They will cycle - no, exchange information, I believe. Broken sword - no violence or aggression."
"So? Are you up to it?"
The future of ponykind - no, all of Equestria - would depend on her actions. In just two days, she would be making history as one of the most important pony in millennia. Could she do it?
"Securing government funds is a fine art, one that takes many, many years of both experience and gumption to master. In order to get even a penny from Uncle Sam's negative treasury, you must first prove that your goal - whether it be coffee cups or carbines - is worthy of being supported, endorsed, funded, advertised, and sodomized by the U.S. Government. In the beginnings of "Fort Plywood," as we called it, there was nothing to throw our boys' lead at but angry chipmunks and an occasional oversized bird every so often. After the dragon came, however...it was all grocery store champagne and thirty-two count brownies. There was already talk of exploiting the resources on the one side, one way or another, and of diplomacy with the locals. Can't have either when you've got fire-breathing tanks roaming around - at least, not with living ones. The money started pouring in fast, and I mean fast. Not just money, too: plenty of good equipment for our men and women as well. By the end of the first month or so, I think, we had six anti-air 20-millimeter turrets and twenty static heavy machine gun nests surrounding the perimeter. Razor wire and Hesco walls everywhere, too. The LM equipment was nice, and we kept it around just in case, but it was more of a sampler than anything useful. Besides, if a good-old fashioned belt of fifty worked for our great-grandfathers, it'll work for us too."
Lee Bradshaw, Head of Security
-William-
"Ladies and gents," President Henderson declared with more than a hint of nationalistic pride in his voice, "we have a plan."
"Should I be concerned?"
William simply sat awkwardly in his chair, his unshaved face itching like crazy as his superiors chuckled at the joke with a sort of professional yet lighthearted attitude. The conference call that would decide the future of humanity's relations with its first foreign species was not going quite as seriously as he had hoped. Why did they have to bust out the good cheer at the least opportune time?
"Anyways," Henderson continued once everybody had settled down, "this thing was buried deep within the White House Archives for god knows how long before we found it. Kennedy signed the plan just three months before his departure from office, and since then it's been stuck under a box of paperwork in a back closet somewhere. The NASA emblem is on here, too. Ahem. 'Procedures for First Contact Protocol with Sapient Extraterrestrial Societies.'"
The President paused for a second to clear his throat and take a sip of water, then continued. "Let's skip to the relevant part. Aha, here we go. 'Establishing the First Meeting and Creating a Mutually Beneficial Relationship.' Blah blah blah... 'At the beginning of the meeting, establish, through appropriate communication channels, an atmosphere of non-aggression as well as a non-threatening gesture of military power and strength. This is to ensure that both sides are willing to communicate positively, but are not completely helpless or weak.'"
"'Once peaceful intentions have been communicated, offer a gift of information or knowledge as a primer to the human species and society as a collective.' Encyclopedia, then. Anderson, you got one on hand?"
"N-No, sir, but I can get a set..."
"'After the exchange is complete, schedule a second meeting through any applicable means. Ensure that the species acknowledges that the next meeting will be for further, in-depth analysis of respective languages.' This first meeting is to be in two days, right? Can you schedule the second one to be three days after that?"
"I can do that. What will we do then?"
"In due time. 'During the exchange, no hostilities are to be made, even if ambassadors are seemingly injured or otherwise hurt in the process. Possible aggressive behavior by the contacted party may not be intended as hostile. Use a visual medium, such as a chalkboard and chalk, to communicate if the species can do so. Do not make any quick, sudden movements or speak loudly and aggressively.'"
"'During the first meeting, establish a linguistic baseline reference from which both parties can build upon. Arithmetic is the recommended starting point, as mathematical concepts are likely to be universal across all languages. Additionally, basic operand symbols such as the concept of the arrow as a pointer and the equals sign should be established as well. Record all communications by the other party as well, and equally partake in learning their language.' This goes on for a while, and I don't have time to read this all. I will be sending everyone a copy of this after this meeting. For now, we'll have to come up with a rough plan of action."
"Excuse me," William interjected, "but...shouldn't we be more prepared? I mean, aren't there people whose job it is to create plans for these kinds of things?"
"Mister Anderson," the President replied, "it's been a miracle that this entire project has been kept under wraps for this long. Currently, we have the eyes of the world pressing down on us, scrutinizing our every move under a microscope. Somehow, by some miracle of God, the media thinks that all you've done was find a forest on some other planet. If we tell them that there are honest-to-god dragons on the other side, or even an alien civilization of literal fairy-book ponies...well, we'd be lucky if the entire world didn't just stop spinning. Trust me when I say that the fewer people involved in this mess, the better."
"Well, why not spend some more time considering our course of action, then?"
"If we don't act, they will. Remember that your people did attack their people before you recovered them."
"That was in-"
"Who knows if they will see it as self-defence? Hopefully we can work out some sort of truce while the return of those injured horses is fresh on their minds."
"This whole thing is just so sloppy..."
"If that isn't the perfect description - no offense, Anderson - if that isn't the perfect definition of this entire mess, then I don't know what is. But we're gonna have to move on. The press, the natives, the public, and even the wildlife are against us - but we still have to continue."
"I...okay then," William sighed. "So we just meet in the west side of our clearing and give them a bunch of books?"
"Yes."
"And then we work on figuring out each others' languages with math?"
"Yes, but do remember that you have notes."
"Why do they have to come to us? Why don't we just go to them?"
"We need to assert our strength. If they come to us, we're letting them know that we aren't just some pushovers they can ignore."
"You kinda already proved that point," William muttered under his breath. "Alright then, I can arrange this. Just a set of encyclopedias and a whiteboard from the offices."
The President nodded. "Shouldn't be too hard. If you just get everything together, nothing should go wrong."
"I don't think anybody can guarantee that."
"True," he replied.
"Wait, one last thing before I go...why are you all so calm? We're about to make official first contact with intelligent life, shouldn't you be more serious?"
President Henderson chuckled to himself as he leaned forward in his chair. "I'm going to be perfectly honest, Anderson...we're all just glad that things aren't worse. Much, much worse."
"-CONNECTION CLOSED-"
-Twilight-
One linguistic matrix, with lanyard.
One Equestrian Standardized Dictionary, 125th Edition.
One copy of "The Royal History of Equestria and the Continent", Scholar's Print.
Ten Equestrian Bits.
Notebooks and pens.
Twilight ran her hoof over each item, the fourth check of her inventory revealing no inconsistencies from her third. Each item on her checklist was starred, checked, crossed through, and circled several times. Slowly and meticulously, she slid first the books, then the pens and bits into the saddlebag before finally slipping the crystal over her head. The hefty matrix weighed down heavily on her, its silver chain necklace digging deep into her neck as the playing card-sized crystal glittered and glistened in the sunlight.
She hefted the bags onto her back, then nodded at Luna as she looked at the purple pony. "I'm ready," Twilight said as her breath steamed in the cold air.
"As am I. Are you nervous, Twilight?"
"I...well, I don't know. I really feel like I should be, but right now I'm as calm as a summer sky. Maybe I'm so nervous, my mind can't register that I should actually be trembling where I stand."
"That's a familiar feeling," Luna chuckled. "You'll experience that sinking feeling in your stomach and that lightness of breath soon enough."
"Aren't you, Princess?"
She smiled. "I suppose I am. I'm just used to the feeling. You will be soon enough, too. Anyways, if we're all ready...let's go."
The three guardsponies that were to be their escort stood up from the dewy grass and picked up their halberds, slinging them over their shoulders as they adjusted their ceremonial armor. Twilight frowned when Luna brought the idea up the night before, but she reluctantly accepted her suggestion. Besides, if Luna was right - which was more than likely the case - it wouldn't matter.
Three ponies with blades wouldn't do much against the aliens. She knew that from personal experience.
Luna waved over at Twilight, who kept right behind her as the party of five proceeded down the wide, sleepy lanes of the camp. There were few ponies walking around the camp, save for the occasional cart or messenger casually meandering down the central avenue. Most of them were busy either doing their assigned duties in the tents or as patrols, or relaxing around fires as they conversed. A few nursed large mugs of liquor in their hooves, the pale yellow ale's smell tinged with hints of fruit and honey as they downed the alcohol in between bouts of laughter and chatter.
Twilight had noticed that things were beginning to slow down around camp since the first few days of its establishment, likely from a lack of pressure to build up defenses or to widen the borders. It seemed as if things were settling into a regular rhythm, as if there were no burning issues that had to be taken care of quickly. Sure, there was the ever looming threat of attack by the visitors - but that was a stale concern, one that had been sitting out in the open for several weeks and was hardly of note by then. Nothing had happened, nothing was happening, and nothing would be happening - and Twilight and Luna would make sure that would be the case.
The tents began to thin out as the ponies walked out into the outskirts of camp, then disappeared entirely as they entered the treeline. Luna cut down the shrubbery and branches in their path without breaking a sweat as they moved further east, her magic blades hacking down the leaves as if they were nothing. The guardsponies' alert eyes swept through the forest, searching for any threats or dangers hiding in the bushes. Their hooves thudded against the ground as they moved, the forest floor's cover of autumn leaves slowly browning into humus and sinking into the soon to be frozen topsoil.
"Twilight," Luna suddenly sighed over the thwacks and snaps of magic against nature, "do you remember what I told you to do when we get there?"
Twilight nodded. "We stand halfway between the forest and their camp's borders, then wait for them to send somebody out to greet us. Once they do, we try to communicate with them and hand them our gifts. Is that right?"
"That's pretty much it," she replied. "I don't know what will happen once we arrive, so there's no real point in trying to completely plan our encounter out down to the last detail. Just make sure not to be too quick or aggressive in your movements."
"That...reminds me. Do you think they'll react negatively to us using magic?"
Luna kept chopping as she formulated her response. "I suppose so. You did say that they had trouble grasping the concept of magic, right?"
"Yes, when I was discussing it with them. Not only that, but when I first used telekinesis in front of them they all seemed...scared, or in shock, or something. I suppose they're just not familiar with it."
"How do you feel about that then, Twilight? Their unfamiliarity with magic, I mean."
"I don't think the minotaurs or buffalo tribes have much in terms of magical capability, but they still know about magic and how it works to a degree. Even if they don't use it, they still understand its limits and capabilities. The aliens, though...I can't say they know even the most fundamental laws of magic."
"So they don't have magic, then." Luna calmly continued forward, as if the statement seemed completely plausible to her.
"A-Are you kidding me, Luna?" Twilight sputtered as she spoke, the suggestion almost too wild to seriously consider. "You know as well as I do the things they can do. How is that-"
"You're limiting yourself to a certain mindset when you say that. I always like to run a proposition through my head several times, testing it with different philosophies and ways of thinking each time. And the most accurate and precise philosophy, by far, is this: the simplest answer is the most likely answer."
"You didn't answer me," she replied with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "How can they come to our world, build those machines, and even kill a dragon without magic?"
"Does a skilled craftspony require magic to create a wrench? Not necessarily. How about a box of bolts? Again, not necessarily. What about using those bolts and that wrench to build a printing press?"
"No, of course not. Earth Ponies build machinery all the time, without magic."
"Now, if I were a pony from a thousand years ago, and you told me that you could make a million copies of a text in just a few days, would I say that you couldn't have done it without magic?"
"Well...yes, I suppose."
"That is what I am talking about. Not everything works on magic, Twilight; a wrench is not a magical implement. But consider how a wrench can be used to create something that seems like magic...do you get what I'm saying?"
"I...huh."
"Their constructs are the printing press, which they wrought from their magic-less tools. We can't simply say that their machines are magical without actually examining them in detail."
"That...is...disturbing, to say the least."
"What do you mean?" Luna asked.
"If they can do all that without magic...wow."
Luna smiled. "Well, we have magic. And magic's nothing to laugh at, Twilight."
"I know, just...gosh."
"Hold," Luna suddenly ordered as her magic blades dissipated. Silence filled the air as the ponies stood still in confusion, wondering just what the princess was thinking. She looked down at the ground, then bent down - and picked up a paper tube the thickness of a pencil stub, one end of the fiber-filled nub slightly burnt. It was clearly an alien object, far different from anything Luna had encountered in her entire life. The tube smelled strangely aromatic, with a warm, burnt sort of smell about it that sent shivers down her back as she sniffed it.
"We're close, aren't-"
"Silence." Luna harshly whispered the command, her ears perking up in search of...something. Twilight heard nothing but the rustling of leaves in the wind and the occasional birdcall, but Luna's expression slowly shifted from curiosity to intrigue as she listened for some far-off sound. "We're close," she muttered under her breath. "Follow me."
Twilight and their accompaniment quietly trailed behind Luna as she pushed aside shrubbery with her magic, the midnight-black blades suddenly abandoned for some reason or another. Her heart began to flutter as what seemed to be litter became more and more commonly strewn across the forest floor, the odd artifacts of a foreign civilization somehow unsettling to the alicorn. It wasn't long before she heard the strange noises as well, a strange amalgamation of harsh mechanical noises, the clattering and clanking of what sounded like construction work, and the constant undertone of undecipherable conversations. Eventually, Twilight got her first glance of the alien encampment in several weeks as the trees thinned out - and gasped in sheer shock.
"Encampment" was nothing short of an understatement; the massive complex was just barely short of qualifying as a military base in the eyes of Twilight. The half-mile meadow was almost completely occupied by the aliens, who had even gone so far as to cut down parts of the treeline for expansion space. It was almost impossible to see over the six-foot tall tan wall that surrounded the entire base, but Twilight could just barely see the tops of the tents and the imposing figure of the portal behind the weapon emplacements and silver, jagged strips of wire that lined the barrier. Although she couldn't see any aliens outside the walls of the enormous outpost, they were clearly anticipating their arrival - dozens of the bipeds stood behind the walls and observed the ponies as they stood there behind the treeline. Twilight gulped as she watched several of their flying contraptions circle around their heads, the strange machines buzzing around and watching them with their dead, lifeless eyes.
Even Luna seemed a bit apprehensive as Twilight quickly glanced at her, the towering alicorn's composure ever so slightly straining underneath the immense pressure of the eyes watching her every move from every angle. She watched as a sweat drop rolled down the navy blue pony's neck and fell on to the dew-covered grass. "Let's get this over with," Luna quickly muttered as she began to move towards the massive compound. Twilight followed right behind her, unsure if the nervous tic she heard in Luna's voice was real or imagined. The small ambassadorial party slowly walked towards one of the openings in the camp's walls, its sides flanked by the same light brown walls and silver wire as well as two more of the emplacements on each side.
It didn't take long for them to reach the halfway point, the ground they stood on devoid of any grass or greenery. The aliens had apparently cleared it all away, either on purpose or through sheer traffic, and Twilight felt a sense of unease as the muddy topsoil shifted and sunk beneath her hooves. "What now?" she asked as she looked up towards Luna.
"We wait," the Princess replied. She held herself in the most dignified posture she could manage, and Twilight quickly followed suit as the guardsponies behind her stood in parade rest. A cool breeze slowly blew across the field, tossing their manes around their heads as they waited for their reception party to appear. Some of the aliens muttered to each other, with a few occasionally talking into little black boxes they carried on their torso or waist. A pair of the creatures in black clothing eventually walked in front of the entrance and set down a large crate, then stood by its sides and waited for the rest of its group to arrive. Twilight watched as more of the black-clad aliens slowly poured out of the entrance, their numbers totaling half a dozen.
Nothing seemed to happen for the next few minutes as Twilight waited for the aliens to advance. "What are they doing?" she asked as she turned towards Luna.
"Preparing their greeting party for us. I don't understand why-..."
"...Luna?"
"Ah."
Luna's face suddenly grimaced at something outside of Twilight's vision. The lavender pony turned her head towards the entrance of the base - and felt her heart suddenly kick into overdrive as she watched a trio of very, very familiar beings round the corner. The female was talking to the black-maned one, both aliens smiling at the dialogue while the yellow-maned one stared at the ponies with a look of fear in his eyes. It seemed to be especially focused on Luna, who stared back at it in equal discomfort.
...This is going to be awkward, Twilight thought to herself as her three friends caught up to the seven other aliens and spoke to them in faintly familiar words and phrases. After a brief conversation between one of the black-clothed aliens, the ten aliens advanced towards Luna and Twilight, who couldn't help but wonder just how earth-shaking the steps they were taking would be.
"Earth is overcrowded. Billions of people inhabit its surface, their hunger for resources barely sated as they produce more and more pollution and waste every millisecond. Exponential population growth would eventually leave humanity with two choices: reduce either its population or its consumption. Now, both paths were unlikely to have ever had any effect on the scar we had left on our environment - at least, not any visible one. It was almost impossible to stop the collision course that was humanity's ever-growing search for more and more raw materials and resources, and there were worries that we would soon run out. All of that changed when we found a new, pristine world that had everything we desperately needed so much. Land, rich soil, minerals, unpolluted air...it was a second chance for humanity to fix its problems and start anew. Unfortunately, someone was already living on that land - and the needs of the millions are always outweighed by the needs of the billions."
-Marti Guptachandra, Economist
-Leah-
It had been a long time since she had spoken the alien language, and Leah figured that wouldn't be the case for much longer.
The odd team of three ambassadors quickly rushed to the west gate, their footsteps crunching into the gravel path that divided the camp into four quadrants. A large pickup truck slowly passed them to their left and turned down into a side road, its flatbed loaded with cardboard boxes full of scientific equipment and tools. All around them, the little camp was bustling with all the energy and the enthusiasm of New York or Chicago, though it most definitely wasn't as big or as populated as the megacities were. It was definitely crowded, though; everywhere they went, Leah felt as if the people and buildings around her were packed together as tight as sardines in a can, the makeshift avenues constantly teeming with all sorts of different personnel going about their business.
She also noticed that the tents were disappearing, too; in fact, the little tent they had called home just a few weeks back was quickly taken down and replaced by a plywood framework, specks of sawdust still hanging in the air when they moved back in. The canvas and cloth tents that used to be so commonplace were being swapped out for plywood and concrete edifices, some of the larger ones near the Portgate even reaching two stories into the air. And it wasn't just the housing that was being replaced; administration buildings, laboratories, and even warehouses were being constructed daily, the labs supplied with biological and chemical testing equipment that the physics-centric main facility couldn't offer at all. And that wasn't even mentioning the Hesco walls that surrounded the camp, each day bringing the two closer and closer until there would be no more space to expand.
Leah shook her head. That wasn't right; they would just tear down the walls and let the buildings spill out. It would happen soon enough, though - every day more and more people spilled into the outpost, many of them taking residence both on the surface (even though the media was still a strong competitor for real estate up there) and on the alien world itself. The facility was beyond packed, that was certain. But for how much longer would it be that way?
What did the future have in stock for them?
"Let's hurry," Andrew mumbled to Leah with a hint of urgency in his voice. "They'll be needing us soon, and I don't want to be late."
They quickly hurried down the road, the three not quite running but not exactly walking either. The sun glared down on their surroundings, giving them a bright, bleached look that was as sharp as the cold air that gently blew across their bare faces. Their hoodies and jeans were probably far from what was appropriate for such a monumentous event, but the garments kept the chilly autumn wind out well. It didn't take long for them to reach the western part of camp - at that distance from the center and the Portgate, there were very few people actually there to get in their way.
"Didn't you say that nobody was supposed to go outside of the walls today?" Andrew asked.
Noah nodded. "They're also trying to keep this low-profile so that we don't have any interruptions while we're meeting the ponies. I think this meeting is on a need-to-know basis."
"Fair enough. Hopefully we won't slip up or anything."
Someone in a dress shirt and khakis waved at the group and beckoned them over. Leah followed Andrew and Noah as they walked over towards the woman, who checked something off the clipboard in her arms and spoke into her walkie-talkie. They were just a few yards from the gate's entrance, the wall barely tall enough to conceal them from the forest and anyone in it.
"Zhou, Martinez, Breston...is that you three?"
"Yes."
"Yeah."
"Mm-hm."
"Good. Now remember, y'all are gonna be there as friendly faces and maybe translators, not diplomats. Just be friendly, but don't try to make any big decisions, okay?"
The three nodded in agreement.
"Now, wait here. When they call for you, just meet up with the people who are already in front of the gate. Follow them. And try not to do anything bad or possibly unagreeable when you're meeting...them. Got it? I need to be somewhere, so good luck!"
Leah ran her hands over the canvas outside of the dirt-filled walls as the woman hurried off somewhere else. She felt an almost nauseating wave of unease suddenly fill her stomach, the anxiety taking her breath away as the full weight of their situation hit her. Thoughts of what would happen if she messed up ran through her head, each hypothetical worse than the last.
"You okay, Leah?" The two men turned towards her in concern.
"Yeah," she shakily replied, "I'll be fine. It's just that...well...you know how big this is going to be."
"Hey." Noah put his hand over her shoulder. "You'll be fine. Just act natural."
"You're right, Noah. I...just give me a minute to collect-"
A sudden burst of radio chatter echoed across the wall, abruptly interrupting Leah and sending a shiver up her spine. The sentries standing on the foot-tall ledges peered over the top with an air of urgency, their walkie-talkies blowing up with activity.
"No time. They're here."
Andrew and Noah pulled Leah towards the gate and stopped just before the corner as a convoy of official-looking men in suits rushed forward, each one carrying some sort of box or tub with them. Each of the containers held a wildly diverse variety of equipment and tools ranging from cameras and microphones to books and whiteboards. They watched as the ambassadors gathered in front of the gate, their expressions sober and serious as they waited for the signal to head forward. It only took a minute for them to receive the go-ahead, and one of the men beckoned towards the three to follow him.
"Should we go?" Andrew asked.
Noah sighed. "Seems like it. Come on."
They quickly caught up to the group and tailed them, the mass of black obscuring their vision. Noah strained to look through the shifting gaps between the suit jackets, then suddenly recoiled in surprise as his eyes widened.
"...Hey, are you the one getting cold feet now, Andrew?"
"Pfft, not a chance. I'm just a bit tired, is all."
"Tired?" Leah chuckled. "I suppose we all are. Noah, are you..."
"She saw me."
"...who?"
"The blue one. Oh God, what am I gonna do?"
Andrew cleared his throat. "Relax. She's not here to hurt you."
"How do you know?"
"Just chill, and everything will be alright. Okay?"
"..."
"Everyone, put your friendliest faces on!" one of the men muttered. Noah nervously tried to correct his expression as best he could into a nonchalant look as Andrew and Leah attempted to mask their nervousness. They stopped about five meters away from the ponies, each party seemingly unsure as of what to do. Both sides stared at the other in a mutual attempt to gauge each other.
The purple winged unicorn was the first to make a move, stepping forward and raising a hoof at the humans. They silently watched, then jumped in surprise as it calmly greeted them "Hello" in a strange, muffled accent. It paused for a second, apparently unsure of just how to react to their reactions, before continuing.
"I am Nœctër Inćerníg, Se-Aréchní of Équies. I come for talking."
Nobody in the group seemed to want to talk, the humans simply looking at each other in confusion and shock. "How do they know English?" one whispered in a nervous, uncomfortable tone.
"I taught her some," Leah shakily replied. "And I'll talk to her." She walked forward, knelt down to the purple pony's level, and grabbed her hoof.
"Hello, Lee-ah."
"Hi. I always called you 'Purples', but...i guess that's your real name."
"Yes. Name...not to yours."
"You learned how to speak?"
The unicorn tilted its head in confusion.
"Speak, you know...talk."
"Talk! I learn from you. And," she pointed at the large crystal dangling on her neck, "this help also."
"Great. Well..."
It stared at her, waiting for her next sentence to come.
"...close?" she whispered.
"Close?"
Leah suddenly leaned in and grabbed the fuzzy purple unicorn in a big bear hug, her arms wrapping around its shoulders and tightening around its back. The humans behind her anxiously buzzed and murmured, clearly torn between stopping the dangerously iffy embrace and keeping out of what they thought would become an unholy mess. Everything turned out better than expected, though; the unicorn returned the gesture and hugged Leah with her front hooves as well, sending conflicting feelings of shock and adoration through the spectators.
"I missed you," Leah chuckled quietly. She pulled back from the hug and sat down on the grass cross-legged, ready to reconnect.
The unicorn smiled as it sunk down onto its rear and slid its saddlebags off of its back. "Feeling...good. Now," it sighed, "do we work." Its eyes focused on Leah, but couldn't seem to quite focus on her.
"Oh! Yeah," she muttered. Leah turned towards the dazed group of humans, the men still too surprised to react. "Do we have anything we're supposed to do?"
One of them patted their pockets and pulled out a folded-up sheet of paper. "Um...Give them the books. Get the books out. Where are they?"
"In here," another replied as they hefted a plastic bin full of thick reference books and set it down in front of Leah and the alien. Leah slid it between the two and opened the bin, then pulled out the first book she found and showed it to the pony.
"This is an encyclopedia. Got it? It's a book that has lots of information...knowledge...knowing...about us humans. We're giving this to you so you can know more about us. Understand?" she asked as she set World Book 2020 A-Az down on top of the pile of books.
The unicorn nodded. Its horn suddenly lit up as a lavender aura surrounded the encyclopedia and lifted it out of the bin, prompting another series of fascinated whispers amongst the human ambassadors as they curiously stared at the phenomenon. One of the men designated to be a cameraman zoomed in on the book, capturing the pony with a hungry-looking expression in frame as the thick tome levitated up to its eye level, opened, and flipped through its pages. Satisfied, it set the book back down and put the lid back on top - and then lifted the several dozen-pound bin with its powers and dropped it in front of its accompaniment, as nonchalantly as if it were a thin paperback novel.
"Caéren esi. Gráca," she quickly said to the three armored unicorns behind her. "And...how say...?"
"Hm?"
It pointed at Leah. "How say?"
Confused, Leah looked around for a moment before she got what it was trying to say. "Oh! Did we not ever talk about this? I," she said as she pointed at herself, "am Leah. I am a human." She waved at the people standing behind her. "They are human."
"Now I know." The unicorn nodded with a smile. "Also give you."
The latches to the saddlebag at the pony's side undid themselves with the same strange force as two thick books slid out of them and floated onto Leah's lap. She picked the top one up, fascinated by the cover's intricate detailing, and flipped through the yellow pages filled with strange drawings and paragraphs of alien text. The script was blocky and simple, yet flowed with a strange efficiency across the paper from left to right.
"I...thanks," spoke Leah breathlessly as she closed the book with a soft thunk and set it back down. "We will learn a lot from this." The woman stood up and brushed her pants, then handed the two books to one of the men behind her.
"We say together is good. Yes?"
"Yes, I believe so," she chuckled lightheartedly.
"Estiiiii... " The purple unicorn nervously shifted around as it hesitantly spoke, her ears lowered and her tail tucked between her legs. "I will..."
"Hm?"
"Stay with you?" she quickly blurted out. It took a second for Leah to decipher what she meant, and her eyes widened in surprise at the same time as the dark-blue unicorn.
"Nœctër! Quie iste acébiña? Eb sloka?"
"Baqü, śiniqe! Maov et intiñe slibi køenib? Ñete viriwa andora, eto mañe plu haorétte," the unicorn replied.
"Anara ist ëst?"
"Mát."
"What are they saying?" one of the men whispered as the tall, dark unicorn argued fiercely with the short, purple one.
"I don't think anyone here can translate that," Andrew replied. "Leah, what are they arguing about?"
It was Leah's turn to be surprised; her mouth was wide open as she turned her head to answer the question. "I...I think the purple one wants to stay with us."
They didn't say a word, but Leah knew what they were just itching to say. Their pained expressions spoke volumes.
"...anara amidaé?" The tall one asked in a defeated tone.
"Ériste cos enseg."
"Astar alo resçuich pvau querci solasti," it sighed.
"I...will be stay you...five sun. And Luorície will be come. I learn...speak, and...human...doings."
"Makes sense. So, guys, she plans to stay with us for five days."
She had ignored the faint whispery chatter of the earpieces the suited men wore, but it was difficult to pay little attention to them as they suddenly erupted with a torrent of high-pitched, tinny shouting and confusion. Leah sighed; it wasn't as if she wasn't trying her best to make things work.
"After that," she continued, "they'll come back to take her back. Straight from the horse's mouth."
More radio chatter. "The higher-ups say that it's going to make relations easier. You can accept."
Leah looked at the unicorn and extended her hand towards her. "Yes, you can stay with us."
Her eyes lit up almost immediately after Leah spoke, and she eagerly extended her hoof into hers. Leah grabbed it and started shaking it, the supposedly foreign custom somehow mutual between the two species.
"I don't know whether to d'aww or to wring my hands," Andrew frowned.
"Quiet, you." Noah silenced the technician as he watched the two wildly different yet oddly similar beings interact, the bond between the two species slowly but surely tightening. He couldn't help but wonder what the next few months would have in stock for him as he watched his friend talk to a real, living fantasy creature with his two very eyes - after all, was this as far as things would get? How much farther down the rabbit hole was he - and by extension the human race - going to fall?
Questions for another day, he thought to himself. Just savor the moment.
-John-
The custodian slowly pushed his cart down the wide, open hallways, the plastic wheels rumbling loudly as it slowly meandered across the facility. His keys jangled against his belt loop with each step, the identification card pinned to his chest pocket keeping time with his rhythm as well. He kept his head high as he walked so as to not attract any suspicion - if anything, looking at the men and women squarely in the eyes as they walked down the corridor seemed to act as a repellent, abashedly sending their gazes elsewhere as if they were the guilty ones. Strange how the times had changed.
There was once a time where the opposite would have been true, he thought to himself as he shoved his cart onto the service elevator and pressed the -1st floor button. People weren't afraid to talk to each other back then. To look each other square in the eye and speak to each other like proper men and women. Nostalgia suddenly washed over the old man, and he couldn't help but whistle out an old, long-forgotten tune as the elevator hummed and whirred.
His stomach floated up into his chest and hovered for a second before coming back down to rest. With a ding, the doors noisily slid open, and the janitor pushed his cart forward into the large, well-decorated lobby. Just a few weeks ago, the lobby was a calm, quiet place for the scientists to gather and discuss their research; now, the slow, echoey chatter was washed over by a deafening din of footsteps and boomy voices, filling the room as much audibly as it was filled physically. It was a struggle just to get past the clusters of people congregated amongst the tables and couches, but the immediately-recognizable hollow rumble of his cart was amazingly effective at clearing out a path for the grey-haired old man, parting the sea of bodies with biblical efficiency.
Eventually, however, the crowd of people thinned out as he exited the lobby and continued down into the service hallway, the pristine, white walls slowly becoming more and more cluttered and dirtied with pipes, electrical wires, and scratch marks. He took a right turn just as he entered the electrical service corridor, checked to see if anybody was around, and pushed open the bathroom door, the shiny stone floor slabs abruptly transitioning into a checkered black-and-white tile pattern. With a click, he locked the door behind him and pushed his cart further into the restroom. Someone was in the second stall, but the custodian simply continued forward, setting his cart to the side as he reached into his pockets.
"Knock-knock."
"Who's there?" he replied.
"The janitor."
"But I'm a custodian!"
"Alright, alright. Hey, can a guy get some toilet paper or what?"
With a sigh, he pulled out the rectangular metal slab in his pocket and stooped down, then passed it under the stall door to the man behind it. "Is that all?"
"Thanks. Karma will pay you back, my good man."
John Baker leaned back and chuckled as the door slowly closed behind the janitor, his fingers sliding across the cool, hard metal of the hard drive. Two thousand and forty-eight gigabytes of top-secret data rested in his hands, the weight of the little wallet-sized slab somehow heavier than he expected. Two whole terabytes of raw, society-shaking power was in his custody, and he could do with it as he pleased. John could even snap it in half and toss it in the trash if he wanted to - and the temptation was gnawing on his conscience.
But John had a contract to fulfill, signed in twenty-dollar pen and with two legally-bound witnesses to testify against him. It would be a bad idea not to follow the instructions given to him, especially considering the nature of his profession and his employers. Then again, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to just hand over the information to the soulless, immoral megacorporation he worked for. Maybe it would be best if he really did toss the drive away.
Humanity's future for hundreds of years to come, or his own hide?
The lock clicked open. John walked out of the stall and snapped the lid of his briefcase shut. The latches went down with a soft click.
