> Malta Mayday > by WainbowHedgie > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > I: Intercept > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 October, 1969 RAF Luqa, Malta No. V (AC) Sqn Razor 1-2 Fg Off. James Burkley Field Training Exercise "All flights, Magic, begin exercise." With the cut of the radio static, I knew that this zone was now an active training zone. The coast 12000ft below was certainly about to hate us, extra noise from the afterburners interrupting the latest English Sunburn Tournament. I love Malta, so hot that anyone who comes back with no tan is almost certainly lying about their visit. Not great for us in these speedy greenhouses. The Lightning F6, a great improvement over the F3 by... very little actually, wing pylons able to carry external tanks are great, in anything other than a dogfight like this. The itinerary for today is chasing some Vulcans from 50 Sqn over the Maltese coast. Again. These two Redtop's will start to get bored of this view stuck if I don't fire them off sometime soon. "Magic, Razor 1-1, request Bogey Dope. In an instant my ears perk up at the radio activity. Waiting on the answer to start looking for our oversized bomber friends. "Razor 1-1, Magic, BRAA 288 for 20 at 15000, Flanking Snapping to the left, I look high to see an object somewhat far away. We were flying at bearing 300. Time to catch up then. "Razor Lead, 1-2, Visual" "Razor 1-2, Lead, Roger. Razor Flight, Lead, maintain heading for intercept, climb at 10, engage burner on my mark." "Razor Lead, 1-2, Climb 10, burner on mark" "Razor Lead, 1-3, Climb 10, burner on mark" The simultaneous answer was a testiment to our training. I pull to 10 degree AoA and maintain formation with Razor Lead. With just the three of us out and a single Vulcan up this morning, there wasn't much radio chatter. I'll admit that I'm a little bored here. What I would give to have something actually happen for us to get to do some real work. We have state of the art aircraft, capable of hovering vertically just above the ground and even climbing in that state, albeit not very quickly and very limited in terms of maximum altitude. Take that Yanks! Your Phantom cant do that. Neither can ours but that is besides the point. "Razor Flight, mark." Thump. The aircraft shook a little at the immense power of the afterburner, the mach meter was startying to tick up rather quickly going from just below mach 1 to mach 1.2 in roughly 25 seconds. These engines are absolutely beautiful, hungry, but beautiful. I check my IR cool as we rapidly approach the target. With the heads cooled and prepped, leaving my fingers far away from the missile release trigger and gain a lock on the not-so-gentle giant. "Fox 2" I call turning off the IR cool and master arm. At this range, that would have likely been a splash, no telling whether the bomber would live to tell the tale though. "All flights, Magic, ENDEX. Razor 1-1, rogue aircraft entering airspace BRAA 042 for 20, 17000, hot. Intercept and determine hostility." "Magic, Razor 1-1, Roger." "Lads this is not a drill, turn to merge 042, maintain climb of 10. Prepare Redtops for emergency. Me and my big mouth. Just can't shut it can I? "I have visual, on my mark, break and form escort." "Mark" Being on the left wing, I cut the afterburner and pull out left to swoop onto the right wing of our intruder. As I started my turn in, a sudden very heavy turbulence cuased me to almost lose control of the aircraft. This bird is fast, it works, but it just hates to actually fly in anything other than a straight line sometimes. Looking around I saw absolutely nothing. No con-trails, no specks in the sky to indicate other aircraft. Maybe I'm just being blind. "Magic,Razor 1-2, I've lost sight of everyone.Requesting Bogey Dope," ... "Magic, Razor 1-2, radio check, over," ... In theory Magic should be further ahead of my current bearing and should be less than 40 miles away. The radar however has other ideas on where the aircraft should be. Such as simply ceasing to exist. Glancing around and seeing no damage to the aircraft nor any change in handling confirms that I've not been hit by a stray bullet or missile. What I do see however is a coastline off to my right wing, with diminishing fuel load currently sat at roughly 40% in the mains and 50% in the ventral, I have to find a runway to land on and sort this mess out. Princess Twilight Sparkle "I shall consider your request carefully and report back to you soon on whether you have been granted the funding or not." Nodding to the guard to let the court-goer leave the room. Very quickly my visage goes from the false smile to a tired frown. Why on Equus would I ever give ten thousand bits to open yet another resteraunt with more of the same dishes down resteraunt row. To think I wasn't ready for this at my coronation just one month ago. I can also see why Celestia and Luna both agreed to retire and leave all this behind them. Looking at the register of appointments for today, thankfully that was the last one. Not one of these nobles actually had anything good to say or request in their appointments, treating it more like spending time with royalty that I don't really care about except the pay check if I play me cards right. I suppose that I am thankful with how they go about trying to get under my tail, they're about as subtle Rainbow Dash is patient. Speaking of whom, she just burst into the throne room. "Twilight, we may have a huge problem on our hooves." She continued pulling out a map from under her wing, "A regular training patrol spotted some flying contraption moving at high speeds of the coast of unknown origin and our top flyers can't catch it. Whatever it is, this thing is going faster than me post-rainboom." "How much faster?" "Not too much according to my most recent reports, older reports seem to present it as moving faster. To add, it seems to be shaped like a pegasus of some kind and not a balloon." "It's slowing down, try to guide it to somewhere safe to stop on the ground." "I've already sent a team to guide it to the runway at the academy." "Clear the rest of my day Raven, I think this is a matter I must tend to personally. I shall fly myself there, a detachment should not be necessary for the location, I believe Lieutennant Dash is perfectly capable of providing protection." Raven leaves with a nod. I stretch my wings popping slightly.I need to get out more. My wings feel numb and achy and I havent even taken off yet. This day just became more interesting. Fg Off. James Burkley There really isn't too much to see. Cruising by the coastline at mach 1.1 and no afterburner for the obvious reasoning. There have been signs of civilisation. The odd city here and there and from what I can tell at this distance, an active airstrip on a mountain at my 10 'o' clock. With no frequencies though nor any real way of knowing where I am, landing will be hard. A short flyover should allow me to see if the landing is even feasable. Judging by the small wings being deployed around me and attempting to catch up, this has to be a military base for training purposes, any other base would have supersonics on my wings right now trying to contact me. The lack of new friends on my wings suggest that these are subsonic aircraft and more than likely to be turboprops from their size. Pulling back on the throttle and deploying the pitiful excuses for airbrakes I begin to slow. These thin sheets of reinforced aluminium may have worked well for the sabre about 20 years ago, but we need something better than that for this beast. Dropping subsonic now and good timing too as I'm sure the locals don't like their windows being smashed now that I am down lower. Needless to say, this mountain base is certainly different. Heck, this mountain is different. Pretty sure mountains don't just poke out of the ground like an apple core left on the desk. Who climbed that anyway to actually build the runway? How did any form of logistics get to the base with no visible road to be see around it? Why do I need to ask all this when all I want is fuel, a map and a cup of tea to rest after this flight. ... Well my speed has dropped nicely for a makeshift pattern to check the runway. 500 miles per hour should do me well enough to check, turn and land should the runway be clear. Everything looks normal in truth, activity is high but runway has been left clear. Interesting building design and certainly well done, they almost look like real clouds despite the obvious building shapes up top. If it looks like this underneath then from the ground you might not even know there is a base here besides the traffic. Not seeing any aircraft out nor any obvious hangers, not my problem on how they store aircraft provided I don't have an extended stay. Lets not push my luck any further after all this. Going out long I have time to slow and turn in to line up for a final. 300 mph. Flaps fully down, drogue shoot prepared and airbrakes retracted. Stay cool. An overshoot could lead to a problem with that cliff but this bird should stop in time. Good descent rate. Coming over that cliff edge. 250 mph. Runway under me now, steady. TOUCHDOWN. Drogue deployed. Steady. Maintaing direction with braking and rudder. 100 mph, we're safe. Coming to a steady stop. Leaning back in silence, I have the chance to relax for a moment. Down and safe, time limit removed. Seems like I'm being redirected off the runway by some ground crew, never seen that uniform before. Pulling off the runway into a clear spot, I shut down and disconnect myself from all the oxygen feeds. Opening the canopy and taking off my helmet I look to the side. ... "Ah." Princess Twilight Sparkle Silence dominated in part due to the horrendous noise of this... thing but also from the unbelievable craft. "How did this fly faster than you Rainbow? I can't find any trace of magic either to actually allow it to fly in the first place." "You tell me Twilight. You're the egghead, I'm just an officer in line for Captain when Spitfire retires." "That could be sooner rather than later judging by her sudden need for time off. Before you ask, her reasons are not for me to share Rainbow. She will tell you in time." Soon enough the noise died down and stopped altogether, thank Celestia. The small glass cabin opened up to reveal a creature removing a helmet. Hold on, this looks like a human from the mirror world but not as colourful. "Ah." Well, it speaks I think? "Is my oxygen mask working correctly because I'm pretty sure horses can't build airfields." "Your mask is working fine, you have landed in Equestria, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle." "They talk too, wonderful. If I'm really here can you just get me a ladder so I can get out of the aircraft?" Rainbow is already on the case. A small team of ponies move to retrieve a ladder from the storage area. Not sure why Pegasi need a ladder but I can't complain. A few moments later, a ladder is placed under the cabin and the creature climbs out. Very much a male of the species judging by the voice. He seems to be tall, wearing a green suit with all sorts of wires and pipes connected to it. His light brown mane is matted from the helmet. Once he reaches the bottom of the ladder and streches he turns around. "Equestria huh? Never heard of it. Do you have a map to compare?" > II: Evaluation > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fg Off. James Burkley Well this is a little awkward. The blue one sent for a map from somewhere inside the buildings. Am I in a kid's dream here? Or is it a man's worst nightmare? Surrounded by pastel horses that have wings besides Princess Twilight here I believe she called herself. I mean, they speak English. ENGLISH! Maybe Doctor Who did have some merit after all... No. No, as fun as that show was even it had differing languages at times like those strange ant things from a few years ago. Well, judging by the lack of obvious aircraft here nor any apparent sound of one, the ground crew probably don't exist to any degree or simply don't want to touch the drogue chute so I may as well pick it up myself to safely store away. "How does it fly? After you landed I performed a quick scan and found no magic of any kind to assist in lifting or lightening the craft." If they don't know how an aerofoil works, hence a monoplane then why do they have a runway? "Okay Princess, to what purpose does this runway serve?" "Well, for the pegasi to have a safe place to land at high speed if necessary." "Does your nation have any sort of flight capable craft?" "We have airships, the latest and fastest way for non-pegasi to cross land and ocean relatively comfortably. Even those need floatstones to assist with the weight of the ship underneath the balloon." "Oh dear, this is going to be a loooong chat." I sigh. "So, this aircraft in particular is the Lightning built by BAC, this variant is the F6. The earlier models were built by EE but those details don't matter right now. The Lightning F6 is one of the latest and most advanced aircraft ever built for the purpose of interception and could climb at 20,000 feet per minute up to 60,000 feet to some of the highest flying spy aircraft and bombers." I pull out my notebook and pencil. "The reason this is at all possible is down to those wings and how as a nation we have managed to refine the design in the last 50 or so years to allow such high speeds." Drawing an aerofoil shape on the paper and a quick sketch of how the air flows around the wing. "This shape is known as an aerofoil and is designed to accelerate the air over the foil to create a pressure difference between the top and bottom of the wing called lift." I draw an arrow from roughly the centre of mass pointing up. "While this is a rough sketch of the force diagram you can see the idea. As your airspeed increases, the lift increases, hence a greater force acting up on the wing." Drawing an arrow down and writing mg next to it I continue. "This lift has an opposing force however. The weight of the whole airframe acts down which reduces the resultant force from the wings and most importantly will cause your aircraft to lose altitude if you are going so slow that the weight has a greater magnitude than the lift. This also happens at high altitude which could lead to a stall. Hopefully that satisfies your curiosity for now." Throughout that whole lecture, the Princess just took notes and nodded along. Just by her note taking and stance I can tell that she is a scholar at heart. "Thank you, that will satisfy for now but I would love to know more about your flying machine. We will need to compare measurements though and create conversions where we can." I nod. "I have a feeling we can and will need to do that sooner rather than later." The map had arrived and was placed neatly on the ground unfolded. I pull out one of my charts. Oh. Looks like I never took out my UK chart. This thing was always useful for map practice showing the whole of the Isles after all and perfect for my purpose here with a mini map of the world on the back detailing the other map series for designated areas. "The map I have here is specifically of my country. It is an Aerodrom chart in truth showing all the roads and airfields in the country rather than borders, counties and the like." I lay it out unfolded next to the map of Equestria that had been brought out for me. "You're lucky that we even have a full map of Equus here. Had to pull it out of the office cabinet. I'm Lieutennant Rainbow Dash seeing as I haven't actually introduced myself formally." "Thank you Lieutennant Dash and I don't believe I have actually formally introduced myself either. I'm Flying Officer James Burkley, which is equivalent to a Lieutennant in the army back home." Damn Yanks have gotten here already with the L-ooo-tennant shit. We invented the word after all, its L-ef-tennant. "Why did you say Lieutennant in such a strange way?" "My people invented the word in the first place quite some time ago. It has carried forward from older forms of English but your way of saying it was adopted by the Ya-Americans back home when they broke away from the Empire. That wasn't the only word either but we can discuss it later." "Anywho, we need to compare these measurement systems. My chart here is 1:1,000,000 which means that 1 inch on this map is roughly 16 miles in the real world. Each box here is 1 and a half inches wide and 2 and a quarter inches tall but those boxes don't help too much really. There are conversion scales on here from imperial to metric too which could be of use. To cover the basics of imperial, the system the UK uses, you can see the inches here, 3 inches makes 1 foot, 3 feet makes a yard and 1760 yards makes 1 statute mile or roughly 5000 feet. 6000 feet makes 1 nautical mile or about 2000 yards. As you can guess in aviation we use nautical miles due to the ease for conversion. I can see us turning to metric at some point though seeing as using powers of ten is much easier to remember and faster to do mental maths with too." Twilight makes a small noise and begins. "I see. Your country has a very similar system to our old one which works out to be roughly the same with different names for the units that's all. We now use a number system which seems to be identical to your metric system listed here. I brought it in under my rule to standardise our measurements and make them more precise, both systems are accepted however while the transition is underway. I also did it to bring Equestria forward into line with the other few nation states on Equus. From what I have been told by local mayors is that most of the residents are happy with this change, especially those who work with materials who have to order from outside of Equestria and the research community is happier with not having to convert units in papers." "That is exactly why I can see the UK transitioning to metric at some point down the line. The conversions are so much easier, but bringing in new tools for metric measurements may put off carpenters and masons back home. Having both available though does allow everyone to be happy seeing as many people struggle to visualise both systems when giving a rough length for something." I turn over the map to show the world as I knew it. "This is the map of Earth. The continent I see on your chart simply does not exist anywhere. As a species we have photographed most of the planet either by scout aircraft or more recently with spaceflight." Princess Twilight didn't reply, opting instead to turn around and head towards the Lightning. Her horn lit up. I thought she was joking about the magic stuff, I mean, most people in the past put unexplained effects to magic and called it evil in some cases, but this. This is actual magic. Why else would her horn light up like that? Her horn only cut out after a few seconds. "There is definitely some magical residue around the aircraft, but not spellcraft itself. Natural magic. Particularly strong in this case too. Can you tell me what happened before you appeared here? That way I can get to work on identifying what the cause was and potentially send you home." "We encountered an unidentified aircraft entering our training airspace. As we broke away from our formation I came across a sudden bout of heavy turbulence. Thinking back all of my electrics had some sort of minor malfunction at that moment but quickly returned to normal, as if they were disrupted externally. I'd say that was when I left home and appeared here. Where is this base on the map?" Lieutennant Dash points at the base along the west coast at the edge of the mountain range that almost splits the country in half. "With the coast to my right with a river feature clearly nearby and knowing my airspeed for the given time I would say I appeared near Las Pegasus. Are you having a fucking giggle? Is that city full of casinos and nicknamed The City that Never Sleeps per chance?" Lieutennant Dash answers me first. "Yeah. How would you know that?" "There is a city in the USA that happens to be very similar called Las Vegas. There seems to be a common theme here with names. Many of your cities seem to be named after an American city but turned into a horse pun." "I think I know what the situation may be. I shall gather a team of the finest researchers to investigate around Las Pegasus for magical anomolies. If this is what I think it is, you may run into some problems with actually returning home." Turning around to Twilight, the sense of dread I had managed to ignore until now started to finally break through my barriers. Come on, I need to maintain my proffesionalism for the sake of humanity as some sort of impromptu ambassador. "I hope I'm wrong." "I hope you are too. I guess my stay has been extended... indefinitely." I sigh. "Seeing as that is the case, my aircraft will have to be stored properly to prevent damage. Anywhere the aircraft is out of the elements is fine and that fuel will need to be drained and stored properly judging by your demeanour Princess. I'm going to be here for some time aren't I?" "If my theory is true then you may never return. I'm so sorry." She seemed to wilt at this. Her head now held low and her hears flattened to her head. "Well I know nothing about magic, it simply doesn't exist. But I do understand some of the language used. Nature is something that cannot be controlled and probably never will be. Don't beat yourself up over something like this." "I'll have some protection spells placed over your craft to prevent corrosion." "That fuel will still need to be taken out for safety. Store it in a cold tank and keep it away from flames or sparks of any kind." "Follow me Mr Burkley. I will need to speak to you formally in Canterlot and sort out the paperwork for all this." Following her towards a chariot, I can't help but think of home and the last thing I ever said to my girlfriend. Sorry Annie. Looks like I failed to keep my promise. > III: Cultural Exchange > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Princess Twilight We've sat in silence most of this flight. I suppose there really isn't much to talk about in truth. He's stuck in a new world where he is the odd one out for the most part coming from a clearly more technologically advanced society and there may be no way back. The only time I have ever experienced that in some form or another was crossing through the mirror to the alternate world. "Princess Twilight?" "Please, in private just call me Twilight." "Twilight, tell me about this place and I can tell you about my home. A cultural exchange if you will?" "I certainly can. Equestria was founded roughly 4000 years ago as a unification between the tribes, Unicorns, Earth Ponies and Pegasi. Before this unification there was quite a bit of fighting which encouraged Windigos to feed from this division causing a horrific winter. It was only when the Windigos followed the settlers to the new land that they realised the cause. From there all parties agreed to work together, solving the Windigo issue. Afterwards, the old leaders worked together for some time and at that point a group of the most powerful Unicorns in the land banded together to raise the sun and lower the moon each day." James seems to snigger at that. "What's wrong?" "You don't actually believe that a bunch of you raised the sun do you? Does your species not actually know about orbital mechanics to any extent?" "Celestia had raised the sun and moon for over 1000 years during a certain event that I will get to in a few minutes." "Simply put, I don't believe you and I'll explain why after your done talking." "Fine." I continued "Celestia and Luna at that time were just Unicorn travellers who helped as many ponies as they could and guiding leaders in towns to make better choices to help the populace. Their efforts were noticed however and when a crisis broke out, a food shortage, their natural ability to manage those around them and give the right advice while maintaining a calm appearence landed them in the spotlight. It was at this point that the previous methods for raising and lowering the sun and moon were becoming noticeably weaker and under threat of failing. The Sisters rose up to the task and managed to complete the daily cycle by themselves whcih rewarded them with ascension to alicorn status and their cutie marks." "Throughout the next 3000 years the sisters managed Equestria and fought a great deal of foes. The main villains being Discord, the Spirit of Chaos, Sombra, the Crystal Tyrant and Tirek. Discord was all about fun and games, messing with the laws of physics and ruining life on Equus. The sisters found and used the Elements of Harmony to deal with him. Tirek was out to steal all magic from the pitifully weak Ponies. The Sisters in combination with his Brother brought him down and trapped him in Tartarus. Sombra however was different. The Elements were used to trap him but his influence was not fully disposed of. He brought the Crystal Empire down with him during his banishment but left Luna a small present in the form of Dark Magic. This little surprise slowly corrupted Luna until she turned into Nightmare Moon. Celestia banished her to the Moon for 1000 years using the Elements." "I come into the story with my friends in recent years. I'll put it simply. Nightmare Moon returned and we turned her back to Luna. Discord returned, we petrified him again and have since reformed him. Canterlot, our Capitol, was invaded by Changelings, we dealt with them and reformed them later. The Crystal Empire returned with Sombra, we dealt with it and now my Sister-in-Law is in charge. Tirek returned and almost won but we sent him back to Tartarus. As a direct result of our actions this era has been nicknamed the Twilight Era." "Sounds like you were busy Twilight." "Yes we certainly were but I think that crash course will help you out." "Well I can't give you every detail about my world but here goes nothing. We never had a single nation in truth. Land was always passed back and fourth between a whole multitude of empires over the past few millennia. Throughout most of our history we have been at war based on many grounds. Many were about religion and beliefs or some massive inferiority complex..." He carried on to explain the many vast empires of his world. I found it absolutely fascinating that so many languages and nations existed and continue to exist. There were also many atrocities committed by many nations too. He explained the slave trade, religions, major wars that lead to millions of civilian deaths. I couldn't believe what I was hearing when James told me about Hitler and the Third Reich. Sending millions to death for a certain belief was insane and completely irrational. He also explained the horror stories from the other end of the spectrum that is politics in his world with the USSR which also killed millions over it's lifetime and is also a war waiting to happen. "As you can see, my world is certainly not a nice place. It still sin't. Things are improving however and if any sort of link can be potentially established, you could teach my world some lessons of peace." "I just can't understand why your people would commit such horrific acts and yet make and do some extraordinary things that we could only dream of ever doing here." "I couldn't even answer that myself. My only guess is desperation during unfortunate times. People all have different views on issues but often never talk about it with thosr they know that have an opposing view. People should stick with their morals on issues but also listen to others. Echo chambers are the worst thing to ever happen to anyone and often lead to hyper-radicalisation of that person." We didn't really have much to talk about after that, we were arriving in Canterlot shortly anyway. James is right though about many things. Our Dark Ages after all did have some similar outcomes due to echo chambers, as James put it. If we can make some kind of link to Earth then we certainly need to be wary with politics, technology and social norms. I just hope I don't disapoint him. Fg Off. James Burkley This landscape. It all feels like the greenery of England. Maybe the rolling hills of the Midlands? I shouldn't think about that now. ... Fuck it. I miss home and flying over this land certainly doesn't help. Oh lord why? What on Earth are my parents going to recieve through a telegraph or maybe a visit from a fellow pilot? What are they goping to do with all my comics? What about my records? Shit. I just bought a brand new single from some new band, I think it was called '7 Inches of Satanic Panic' but I had also bought som new stuff from the Eagles and the Beatles. Not that my parents liked that single either. I miss that homely feel of stepping out the door, talking to neighbors that I know I will probably never see again. Maybe I have a chance. If Twilight is right and can work out how to operate the portal for a gateway back. Maybe I do have a chance at seeing my family again after these few months away. Maybe. Oh my lord what is that? It's a city on the summit of a mountain! You damn ponies are insane. I suppose the answer to the factor of safety here is magic because physics would say goodbye to this city very quickly otherwise. As we approach the city I can really see what appears to be Spanish infulences with whites and golds as the main colours of the buildings in the city itself. The city feels warm yet clean as a result, much better than most cities around the UK which are often filled with litter among other things. I really hope that the ponies are much better at looking after their property and those around them. We come in to land outside what I would call a palace. Guards stand to attention and salute. It all looks very medieval or middle ages relative to home but I can adapt to that. We hop off and enter the palace into what appears to be the main throne room where the guards decided to stop tailing us and close the large double doors behind us. "You strike me as more of a humble ruler than a pompous one." "This was inherited from the Sisters. I haven't changed much here either in truth, just a new throne and moved some of the decor slightly." She looks over to what I can only assume is some sort of assistant. "Raven, could you assign our guest a room, oh and bring some paper and quills please?" Raven nods and walks off with her clipboard. Twilight turned to me. "Now that I know a bit about your world and you know some of mine, I think it's time we discussed your situation here while research into that portal is underway. For now you will have residence in the Castle and that offer will remain for the duration of your stay however long that may be. The Castle does offer food of all kinds due to diplomats from other nations having many different diets so we can accommodate yours as best as we can. I wish to set out what I want you to do however. I need you to ideally start integrating into our society with aid from me and a few individuals i know will do the job nicely whom you will meet in due time. By integration I mean talking to the populace, making friends and ultimately getting some form of job, I can offer the latter if you fit into such positions but I do feel as though your knowledge and time would be better spent around the Wonderbolts Academy. Does that make sense?" "It certainly does to me, basically adapt to the locals, make some friends, get work and settle into society. I suppose this is in the event that I can't go back?" "You hit the nail on the head there. As I previously stated, there is no garuntee you will make it back, not only that, you may find yourself wanting to stay here and in the event of that, as long as you have integrated I would be more than happy to grant you citizenship status in Equestria." "Thank you for making this so much easier than it would be back home in a similar situation. Now, I didn't explain orbital mechanics did I?" "No, which is why I asked for Raven to retrieve some paper. I want to make notes and I'm sure drawing could help you explain." Raven then walks in with impeccable timing. "I have a guest suite being prepared and here is the paper you asked for along with a set of quills." "Thank you Raven, report to me if anything comes up, otherwise we will be having a discussion here." She silently nods and walks off once again. "So it all starts like this..." > IV: Head on Desk Collisions > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fg Off. James Burkley Never have I ever seen a scholar so stubborn about what they already believe to know. It took the rest of the day to convince Twilight about orbital mechanics as far as I knew anyway after reading up on the topic before I entered Officer Selection. Now I know how Italians felt trying to convince Spain that the world is indeed round and not the centre of the universe, this time however I was convincing a regnant that Equus was not flat, orbits exist and space travel is certainly possible. It still wasn't over. "I'm telling you all I know, if your claim to immortality is true then as your nation develops you can see space travel grow for yourselves." Twilight in disbelief called upon the now retired rulers to come and help solve this issue too about an hour ago. To which their wisdom has been about as useful as an arse bandit is to society. Celestia basically said she had no idea how her magic worked and in what way Equus' solar system worked. Luna admitted she hadn't the foggiest either but agreed that it did need investigating, even going as far as to agree with orbital mechanics. "I'm no astrophysicist but I do believe that you are actually maintaining a day and night cycle on a tidally locked planet. The case of the moon, its in orbit still but enough force could adjust its orbital position." Twilight interjected "Fine, maybe we can begin to research rocketry and find out ourselves. Secondhand knowledge is often flawed when given from old memory." "Your kind's most advanced form of engine is a steam engine. Your houses are a mixture of medieval and some more modern designs in which I'm sure your magic has played a significant role. You need to have some sort of industrial revolution much like my home that allows mass industrialisation of Equestria. Without industry and advanced machinary you aren't getting off the ground anytime soon with heavier than air flight." "We have industry! We have weather factories and mills of different kinds." "You still need some form of energy production and an energy grid, you need improved industry which will require said energy system. You may be able to use magic to improve the efficiency of energy production and when it comes to designing industry. Quality control is a must! You need materials that all come out from different batches at good rates that are as close to identical as possible consistently. Basic resources such as paper, steel and its varying forms, wood, iron, coal, oil, fuels, glass, ceramics and many more. All of those are necessary to build an industrial powerhouse and it must come to some form of mass production through machinery. You need precision tools to make components for advanced materials and thorough training if manual tools are used, and I expect they will for a start. An Industrial Revolution in Equestria is feasable if you start expanding production of resources. You need to have an understanding of the atom, how molecules work and the fundamentals of Chemistry!" "Do you mean Alchemy?" "Oh good Lord above..." Celestia interjected, thankfully. "Enough you two. This can be discussed at a later date where you, Flying Officer Burkley, can assist in the planning. I would personally like to take a look at the notes you have taken Twilight as to review them and speak to some professors to begin studies into these phenomena. "I provided some experiments that you could do to prove what I have said as much as I can, the most important ones that you can do rather quickly regard the curvature of the planet." "I shall keep that in mind, I'm sure the studendts would be happy to band together to research this theory." With that, Celestia and Luna left to make the necessary arrangements in proving everything I have said thus far. This could have been a lot worse. I just pissed off the ruling monarch and my neck is still intact. Sure, the ponies don't seem set on violence in any way shape or form, even going as far as to despise it, that doesn't mean that I was going to necessarily remain unharmed after this little debate. Then Twilight smiled. FUCKING SMILED. "It didn't take long for me to see what Celestia and Luna meant by everypony around me always bowing down and never refuting anything I say or do, never arguing with me as if I'm some higher being that knows all. I'm still a pony for Celestia's sake and have only been an alicorn a comparatively short time. I'm certain most ponies still remember when I was that unicorn student of Celestia herself. Thank you for treating me like anypony else." "People get things wrong, although I didn't think about what I was actually doing until we had already gone quite far. It may not happen as much now but Royalty back home would probably have me locked away or worse for daring to speak against them and their God given right." "Ah yes, the religion thing. Well violence isn't very common here thankfully and has become very frowned upon. Development of games centred around violence would never be banned however, Games are a valid learning tool after all and if based around real events, can make those very events easy to remember. Religion still exists in a few places around Equestria but is becoming increasingly rare simply by it's flawed logics and restrictions in freedoms. Unlike your Royalty back home, I serve my ponies here and wish them to hold enjoyable lives in freedom where they can enjoy the rights to speak as they wish to and hold civil discourse properly rather than muting out one side or another under the veil of hurting others like some nations around us have." "Your society is still so strange to me. Peaceful, has some modern technology, the rest seemingly ancient. Royalty that actually believe in freedom and willingly hand it out. A dream of many back home that could be a reality if we find that portal. You could learn so much from us, as much as we could from you." "Here's to hoping we find that portal then." She passes me a cup of very delicious smelling herbal tea. "Let us build ties from this day forwards for the benefit of us all. We drink our tea and head for bed. What a day today has been. That Night Sunburst POW. Flop. A letter? Who would be sending in something this late? Wait, thats Luna's seal! Grabbing the letter I open it up wondering what she could be asking of me. Sunburst. You may have heard about the events earlier in the day, if not then do not worry yourself as an annoucement will be made tomorrow discussing the full details. To summarise, we have a VIP from another nation which happens to be far more advanced than we are. He wishes to help us as we help him to get home. It is my understanding that you are a capable researcher and reliable if your position as Vice Principal is anything to indicate. You are being allocated funds to research the claims made by our VIP, in particular the nature of our planet, our planetary system and the atom. Attached is a copy of the transcript Twilight made during the conversation which details some experiments and known knowledge acording to our VIP. He has stated that he can give further details if necessary to aid research. You may hire researchers but Twilight suggested having students aid you in this research assigned as extra-curricular. Regards Luna A research project? This is a long transcript. These experiments, some seem crude but logical, others very precise requiring great care. Gives me options for students then. What the hay is an alpha particle emitter? The Next Morning Fg Off. James Burkley I don't want to leave this bed. It must be magic. I need to get up. Five more minutes please, I am in comfort that I thought could never exist. Alright, enough's enough. Bringing my hands to my eyes I give them a rub and sit up forcing myself to wake up before the day ran away from me. Sliding off the bed, I waltz over to the bathroom and start the shower. Roaring to life, the shower comes out at a near perfect temperature but a little too high pressure for my liking. There must be some kind of standard that most enjoy being employed here because all this makes getting up a lot easier and less time consuming. They even supply a shaving kit! Ponies can grow facial hair I guess despite the fact that they have fur all over their bodies. I washed myself quickly, shaved and cleaned my teeth quickly. This is the point where I would have put on my No.1 Dress but I don't have it here, only my flight suit. Placing on my pale khaki undershirt and trousers, I pull my flight suit on without strapping up my g-suit or any of the gear required for flying, I leave the room and head down to the mess hall with some directions from the guard. As I close in on the hall, the conversation between Twilight and some other pony can be easily heard. "Sunburst, I understand that some of these experiments may seem borderline unfeasible but they are true experiments. We need to know if what James has said is the truth and the only way is through these experiments." "They seem like a wild goose chase! Some of these are very barebones but make mathematical sense with clear proof. Others use made up names and don't hold up to any understanding nor theory we could ever concieve. Like this list of radiation emitters, alpha, beta and gamma. The only radiation we know about is magical radiation, the residue left after significant spellcasting which can sometimes be harmful. We know that the harm comes from a significant concerntration but can't understand why a physical residue gives off energy like that. It's not magical energy, but it still affects cells in our body!" The two turn to look at me as I enter the room. I have to give sunburst credit that all this is a lot to take in, but may give answers to many events that the Equestrians have encountered so far in their lives. "I think if you asked more about radiation or performed the experiments on the atom as given in the transcript which I can only assume you have, then your little magical radiaiton suddenly would make more sense and you could even identify the kind of radiation it gives. I understand that this is lots to take in but all I ask is that you perform these experiments and others you may think of, you may make the same conclusions we had, albeit much faster." "You must be Mr Burkley, please to make your acquaintance. I'm Sunburst, Vice-Principal of the School of Friendship and a magical researcher. I will perform the experiments naturally but I need more information about Chemistry as you put it. All that was said on the topic is the transcript was our lack of understanding of it, I can only assume that is where the conversation ended for the night." "I'm afraid so, allow me to use that quill and paper, I'll write down as much as I know that you will need to succeed in these experiments. What I'm about to give you is more of a mixture of Physics and Chemistry. I had to study both at a more advanced level than most if I wanted to become a pilot and have a good chance of finishing training with high marks and making it to fast jet training." Sunburst nodded along. "It begins with materials and what our world is really made from..." > V: Printing > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fg Off. Burkley Twilight's Lab That Afternoon Ugh. Writing on this chalkboard really takes me back to school, if only we had better options. I had already explained the concept of atoms and drawn out the experiement that we were going to perform. Sunburst seemed to insist on having someone else present while I spoke to aid the investigation and Twilight was busy. Now we have Starlight Glimmer here to aid, as if the names were just starting to get creative then back to the sky. "The point of this experiment is to derive the structure of atoms. We fire our alpha emitter at the gold leaf foil, we know from earlier theory that this radiation is a large structure and should reflect back entirely, the detectors will flash a light when a particle passes. You have the advantage of magic to record and detect all reflected particles making this experiment much shorter than it was back home." "So we measure the angles and this helps us understand atoms in which atoms of different masses are the foundations of all materials that surround us?" "That's the gist Starlight yes, this experiment in particular discusses the structure of the atom, in particular the nucleus which I spoke of earlier. If I had any textbooks and papers from my home to utilise, I would since memory can be clunky at the best of times." Sunburst piped up for the first time this year. "Couldn't you ask Luna for help there and somewhat pull the information from the dream realm, if not the books you would need?" "I could ask, from what I understand that could be nigh impossible. Get on with the experiment for as much as I have described and tell me what you find." When I was told that the castle had a small store of these strange materials, I knew I had to be careful and insanely lucky to find something useful. Thankfully they were sensible and stored the radioactive substances within enchanted boxes which prevented the radiation from escaping. Sensible but still dangerous. To find Uranium however was not too surprising, a common alpha emitter present nearly everywhere around us. I knew what I was looking at because the ore was a slight yellow-green crystaline structure, not overly high grade but enough that if extracted would be a suitable alpha emitter for us to use. Twilight gave the go-ahead for us to use it. I was not going to be responisble for Equestria making a bomb with this, intentional or by accident, a simple addition of acid and filtration will give all we need, Uranium Oxide is nearly harmless anyway as long as it is safely handled, a point I made very clear to Starlight and Sunburst. Uranium Oxide is not particularly radioactive, enough for this experiment. I don't expect Ponies to figure out Enrichement to make pure U-235, incase they do however, I may have to warn Twilight. Approaching the main throne room where I would find Twilight discussing matters with the Sisters, a thought crossed my mind. I just opened a can of worms for the Ponies here. Radioactivity and the path towards a greater understanding of the Universe. Not only that, the potential use of the energy in atoms and more. Maybe those documents are actually really important for Twilight to see. The Guards opened the door for me, giving them a small nod I enter the room finding Twilight laughing with a rather bemused look on Luna's visage at Celestia's expense as it would seem. Twilight looks my way and waves me over. "Afternoon James, hope your lesson and lab time is going well?" "It is, I trust them enough to setup and use the equipment safely. I do have a question for Luna however with regards to dreams." "What would that be Mr. Burkley?" "Please, James is fine, no senior officers as far as I can see from my home to complain. It has dawned upon me that my memory may not be excellent on some of the matters and could even be factually incorrect in some places if I'm remembering some data wrongly from papers. To avoid some lackluster explanations or incorrect experiments, is there anyway to retrieve papers and books I have read personally on a subject from my dreams?" "As far as I am aware, there is no direct way to transfer information from the mind into a physical form, however there are methods to get around this from past necessities that may help. I could use my magic for example to feed the information to a magical quill in the waking world if a physical copy is necessary. From there we can get the paper printed properly or just use it as is. Alternatively we can use dream solidification to nail these papers and books into your head leaving you able to recall and draw the information out on chalkboards accurately." "That is remarkably helpful actually, what are the chances of performing the former to retrieve some textbooks?" "Whenever you feel ready, the process will be somewhat lengthy for the both of us despite a small passage of time in reality. I'm sure Twilight will supply the quill and paper required." The mentioned Princess then teleported said materials into the room, a stack of paper half my height standing at roughly two and a half to three foot tall. Twilight smiles at my strange look. Did she have that on standby all the time? Ponies, honestly. "Judging by the eagerness of Twilight there, we could start now but I have inexperienced students using equipment in the lab. Maybe someone could watch over them so they don't get hurt." Celestia decided to stand up at this moment. "Don't worry, I can handle that for a couple hours. Maybe they can explain it to me too." She spoke leaving the room headed for the lab. "Well, let's get this over with." Sitting down, I was sleeping in moments. Luna Entering the dream construct, I found myself quite surprised by the bustling town centre I found myself in. A large open square containing some greenery, otherwise not much else. Solidifying the dream, I disperse the crowds a little finding James sitting on a wall with some textbooks by his side. "Welcome to Market Square Luna, Nottingham, my home. These are the books I shall need for now. They cover off atomic theory, give relevant experiments and there are a few here that detail flight, engines and more." "This shall take some time, and a lot of paper. Thankfully the spells I need to use dont require me to read the book, but simply allow it to scan through the pages which takes a little time on our end. Tell me about this place." "Nottingham is a city in the United Kingdom, my country. Market square is just one of the many places people pass through, gather at or meet others in. Plenty of buses pass through here and there are shops for nearly all your commodities. Life was finally starting to get better though. My early childhood wasn't as hard as some, I was born at the end of the rationing period in truth in 1948, got off lucky. Cold war is all I have to really worry about as it currently stands, causes some infighting around the world but it's better than the World Wars not too long before I was born." "World Wars?" "I'm surprised that you haven't been told all the details yet by Twilight, I can show what I know I think if those books won't go away that is." "With a solidifyed dream, you have more control over the construct than a regular dream. I am interacting with the books, so they should stay." "OK, well I can't place us in the battlefields, but I can show depictions and films taken showing it all." The motion picture began just in front of us. The scenes seemd to change rapidly but it was enough to show the extent of the conflict. Explosions, weapons, death. So much. The scenes morphed from black and white into a coloured depiction. My head became nauseous and my stomach churned bile ready to be ejected from my body as scenes of charred corpses and screaming men filled the screen. Burning bunkers and trees. Men being dragged back with no legs. Then it ended. A cloud in the shape of a mushroom left on the screen slowly rising. Cutting to a city, presumably the very same I just saw under the cloud, collapsed into ashes and rubble. "The Second World War was one of the most brutal conflicts in Human History so far. Seventy Five million people lost their life as a result, roughly Forty million being civilians." "Why James? Why would such a conflict ever arise? Not even the unification wars became this bad, the injured being limited to soldiers, civilians the minority in the occasional battles." "It's a long list that some are still wracking their brains to complete. Some of it was our fault after the First World War, the assasination of a duke, a diplomat, caused a war, which grew due to alliances in Europe, eventually bringing in the USA as a result of the U-Boat campaign sinking vessels in the atlantic. Afterwards the blame was put almost entirely onto Germany, it was pretty much the only survivor of the losing side. Austria-Hundary was falling apart and Italy never joined the war on Germany's side to begin with. From what I can tell, we caused hyperinflation in the German economy and which lead to some resentment and that only grew as extremist parties began to gain traction. Once Hitler was in power, he did some good, pulling Germany out of the Great Depression fairly well and seemed to handle the nation well. Once he started to pressure and his views became more open, we stood by and did nothing. We could have prevented a Six year long conflict. Hindsight is such a wonderful thing. Without the technology, maybe this would never have gotten so bad, but technology brings so much good!" "I'm afraid I can't see that James, not after all this." "Well watch." The screen flashed up again showing railways mass transporting goods with engines not powered by steam. Flying machines similar to James' but some larger, some taking cargo, some taking people to places all over and faster too. One that stood out was 'Concord' being noted as the first supersonic passenger aircraft being tested. The view switched to towering vehicles powered by fire below, pushing people high up into the 'space' James had described prior, even footage supposedly from the lunar surface. My mouth was agape at the achievements made by the human race. This could open up so many opportunities for our species. Maybe the information James brings to us could be of great use. "As you can see Luna, technology and research has allowed us to reach the final frontier and master travel across the planet. I hope you can see and understand why this is so important and what it could all mean for Equestria as a whole." "I think I do." > Interlude I > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Audio log Date: 9th October 1969 Location: RAF Binbrook Last review date: 23rd April 2042 "What do you mean gone? An aircraft simply does not disappear in the blink of an eye." "I'm sorry sir, but there is no sign of James, nor his aircraft. According to the few that saw his last position, there was a bright flash and he was gone." "Well here is your new task then. Perform surveillance of the area and find anything related to the incident, I was to know what happened to that poor boy." "On it sir." "Sergeant, patch me through on priority lines to MI5, we have to give them the report." "You're patched through now sir." "Squadron Leader Burnham, there is no need to give a verbal recount, we have heard enough. Send the report and we shall take over investigations from here." LINE CUT END RECORDING New review date added: 1st May 2042 I close the audio log once again. I've listened to this recording over and over again, reviewed the transmission logs during the incident with all gathered evidence but the whole thing still doesn't make sense. "Face it Harry, you'll never find your great uncle. Even if he lived, however unlikely it is, he would have died years ago. They gave up in the end because there was so little to work with and given the climate, it was a lost cause after a few months." "Just because they couldn't do it, doesn't mean we can't find out anything or even find his body." I turn to a knock at the front door. With a sigh, I grab the key and unlock the door to see a government official holding a briefcase. "Are you Harry Burkley?" "Yes sir, I am." "May I come in and have a chat with you?" "Sure." He enters, closing the door behind him, taking a seat next to the table in the corner of my flat. Pulling out a card, he passes it to me over the table. Agent Randall  MI5. I look up at him slowly nodding at me. "I've come for a visit due to a breakthrough in an ongoing investigation related to a family member of yours Mr Burkley. A certain James Burkley who went missing back in 1969. Upon your request to review the case to find some closure as to what happened, we decided to re-open the case fully for an investigation into what truly happened that day. Believe me, this was no small task, all that paper and those damned tapes." "Why? I wasn't informed of anything, I thought I was ignored." "You were for some time, until a select few noticed a correlation between what happened to James and other strange observations in the area as a whole. Having this brought up to the head of Mi5, or what's left of us anyway, it was ultimately decided to investigate with our new capabilities using technology that simply never existed even as a thought to MI5 back in the late 60s. You may or may not know, but air traffic has been barred from entering that specific airspace since the incident occurred in 1969. The region seemed to have an effect on aircraft systems that had gotten too close to a central point, resulting in the airspace being deemed unsafe upon the end of the investigation for reasons unknown. It is my understanding you have a copy of this original investigation? It is all public access now if people wished to look." "I do sir. I can't make heads or tails of it though from the lack of information." "That would be why the case closed in the first place, Mr Burkley. While there has been some background research into the airspace over time, very little has really been found out due to the reserved nature of these investigations. With some small risk, we have found out that the area around the centre heavily irradiates the surroundings with an unknown energy. This energy seems to break up matter into its basic atoms and send it somewhere at very high speeds." "So my great uncle could have been alive somewhere?" "Potentially. This is only a very recent discovery and there is still plenty more to research. Now comes the important bit between us and your flatmate here. The two of you as of right now have been offered a job assisting research into this phenomenon due to the familial ties and complete unknowns we are dealing with here, for all we know, your great uncle could still be alive out there due to a whole assortment of reasons. You will simply be required to assist as interns, crunching numbers and supporting the researchers with some training. I need an answer now ideally so we can transport you two to some new accomodations in Cyprus on camp." I look at Oscar, nodding. "We accept."