> Rebirth of Magic: Cold, Cold Heart
>  by JimmyHook19
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Deputizing for Others
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is said that in times of danger, heroes will come together to face the rising tide of evil, and fight back to preserve the light. These heroes can come from the strangest of places.

This is the story of one such hero. Although he appears to be Sprout Cloverleaf, you may be surprised to learn his true origins...

Oh? Here to file a report? Sorry for the delay, my desk was in a mess. Let me finish shuffling these papers and then I'll get to the matter.

No, I'm not the Sheriff. He's over there, talking to somepony. Funnily enough, Sunny seems to be conversation as well. That's odd. Then again, socializing is something good... apparently.

That? He's Hitch. Got a bit of an ego on him as well. Thinks he's the most handsome thing in the universe. You know, the type with a big fanbase and the paid off mortgage? Me? I'm renting a property somewhere down that way.

I'm just a Deputy. That means I do all the stuff that Hitch would rather not do, as well as provide extra muscle when responding to cases. Thankfully, the worst that seems to happen around here is just a minor bit of littering.

What's that? You're not here to file a report? That's a first. What is it you wanted?

Oh, I see. You're interested in learning about the incident. The incident where, naturally, I proved myself to be the true hero of the day against that piece of swine. I'll gladly tell you the tale, as it's very heroic indeed. It has great battles, daring escapes, swooning romances, and distances so big you can count them on multiple hooves. It's all very exciting. And it only gets better every time I tell it. Seriously, my version is the best. Not like Sunny, who will probably tell you in painful detail about how the books were in the wrong order.

In order to begin the story, we must go backwards in time beyond the last few months of our history. It will even require us to go across this thing called a gap, to find ourselves in another dimension entirely, filled with things that make this place seem exotic.

I was originally to be found in a place called the Northwest, which was very big and very exciting. A scattering of small towns dotted this landscape, filled with hardy people who went on exciting adventures and brought back exciting stories of travel, the animals they had encountered, and wondrous scenery within the mountains.

One of them was a place called Oregon, and within Oregon lay a rugged little town called Ashland. A perfect base for setting off into the wilds of this untamed land and seeing what beauty awaited around the corner. A friend of mine from this exotic place called England was going to live there for a year, before an annoying thing meant he didn't. I hear he eventually ended up somewhere else in the land, though I can't recall where.

But in that town lived me, the only town I had ever lived in. My dad managed a local festival and hardware business, and my mom was a librarian. I even had a brother! Such an extravagance, eh?

I was called James in those times, and there was nothing I loved more than heading into nature and seeing what adventures I could find in the wilds of Oregon. I was kinda like a modern day John Muir, if he's a concept.

This one sunny day I decided to go on an adventure to Crater Lake, which is an enormous lake in a crater, hence the name. This lake would be a great place to stop and pass the time, and not only that had amazing fishing opportunities. Speaking of which, there's a good lake near the lighthouse if you fancy catching some fish.

I loaded my car with stuff and took a look to ensure I had all I needed. I informed my folks where I was going, and then drove off into the wilderness, not noticing a unicorn looking at my house for some reason.

The drive was about 90 minutes, which is a long time to be driving, so I stopped off for some food along the way at a roadside cafe. It was nice enough, but then again drivers are a captive market. Once I was done I was back on my way and off down the road towards Crater Lake. I didn't mind the food, as I'd be getting plenty of exercise on my way round the park.

The main fishing chance was at the bottom of a long ramp, which was a long walk. This was because, as I mentioned, the lake was in a crater. So I went down into the lake with my equipment and got fishing.

After about thirty minutes, I thought I finally had a catch and pulled back on the rod. But it didn't move. The rod jammed, and I was worried it might snap in two if I didn't act fast. So I released it, and suddenly spotted something floating on the surface of the water.

A hat. A peaked cap, not unlike one you might see an army officer wear, was floating on the surface of the water. "What the?" I said, and went to take a closer look.

This proved to be a rather bad idea. As I looked, a storm boomed overhead in an otherwise clear sky, and I was soon inside the water with my body below the surface. As I looked about the water, I suddenly saw a large machine sitting there below the water level. Sure, it was rusty and looked like it had seen better days, but what stunned me more was its shape. It was on treads, yes, but it looked like a horse!

Who would build a robot like that? I thought, before I left the water, taking the cap with me. The rain was falling now, and in my soggy state I needed to get warm.

I soon found refuge in a cave, having taken the cap with me to protect my head from rain. When examining it closely, it seemed to shine.

All available hands are needed! said a voice. Take his place, James of the Line!

I had no clue what this meant, but would soon come to realize what it meant. The top of the cave seemed to be getting further away from my eyes, before some form of balance was restored.

A quick check revealed the world had indeed become bigger, and my neck was now longer. I must have looked like a giraffe by that point as my face got pulled about. A few adjustments of my mouth and blasts of pain revealed the bones in my face were being broken to reshape it into a new shape. They eventually healed in a new shape, but it produced a strange effect. Sort of like... a muzzle? Was this some sort of dog?

My existing brown hair was turned to a yellowy shade, most of which was pooled at the top of my head with some along the back of my now outrageously long neck. My hearing briefly vanished, which was a bit weird as I could see the lightning raging outside, but this issue was soon resolved when two more appeared up top, making for an incredibly loud cacophany. I also had enormous eyebrows for some reason. And dark green eyes. That's definitely not normal.

Some more snaps and cracks from my arms now revealed they were the opposite way round to how they were supposed to be. I regarded this situation with both confusion and horror as my fingers shrank into my hands, which soon reshaped into hard stumps. Hooves, maybe?

My chest was stretched out into a new shape whilst my legs underwent the same strange mutation as my former arms. My feet were also converted into a pair of hooves as any remaining clothing was ripped to pieces or fell off from a lack of support.

My rear began to itch, and I was rather concerned by that. Luckily, it only turned out to be a tail, the same colour as my hair... mane? Was that what I had now?

Red fur sprouted all over, with the colour shifting to white down to my hooves, which were dark in colour.

What on Earth had I eaten to witness that? That must have been a dodgy cup of coffee back there. I staggered out of the cave as best I could, with a distinct lack of coordination as I moved along. This was seriously weird, and trying to move on my back legs hadn't worked at all.

As the storm seemed to clear, I noticed the cab was still there. It had previously been far too small for me, but I stuck it on my head and tried to use it protect my head from the rain.

I blinked. This day had turned seriously weird.
> Maretime Five-0
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I spent a few minutes processing all of what had just happened. Not only was I out in a forest in the wilds of Oregon, I was also a pony... for some reason. I had no idea why, or who had thought this a good idea. Perhaps I'd had too much cheese recently, and this was my body's way of telling me that I needed to lay off the cheese for a bit. Apart from that, I needed to figure out how to get out of here without anybody- yes, anybody, as that was the word in that world- noticing. The last thing I wanted was lots of little girls trying to go for a ride on a horse. The horse being yours truly, of course. Hey, that rhymes.

But I soon got an answer to my own question as to what I was meant to be doing. There was a sudden energy surge, and a voice, the same one I had heard earlier, spoke up to me. "Well, you're still here. Transporting lots of people between dimensions is a lot of work. But one more can be moved. It may just take a little bit more power!"

Sure enough, a white light soon entered my vision, and it was so bright I had to shield them with one of my forelegs as best as I could. I was unsure of what was going on. It was rather like standing in a tunnel and seeing a train coming towards you with the lights on full blast.

I soon found myself back on the vision settings I liked, and this was a bit of a shock. The world seemed to slowly be fading into view, with the white void slowly filling with colour. You could say I was living in colour.

As I focused my eyeballs, squinting a bit as I did so, the world around me was erupting. It was so piercing I had to shield them again. I was used to fairly drab places, and this level of colour and light was unsettling. I can only assume this is what watching The Wizard of Oz back in 1939 must have been like, when the movie switches to colour.

Once all the light shifts were done, I was finally able to see where I was. I was in some sort of coastal town full of brightly coloured buildings and other useful things. The street was very wide, and some sort of rails ran down the middle. The buildings looked oddly southern. Perhaps I had somehow ended up in the south? My mom- human world, not Phyllis- is from that area, and my folks had considered moving there at one point, but something still didn't feel right. I'm pretty certain you find towns like this down there.

"Hello, Sprout!" called a voice. I looked over, and saw a pony with an oddly green coat and a blue and grey mane trotting past. "The patrol doing fine?"

I had no clue who this was. So it seemed my name was Sprout. "Uh, yeah, sure, everything's in order. Nothing out of place."

As the sun set, the other pony seemed concerned. "I'm surprised you think that. You may be a Deputy, but that unicorn and earth pony are up to no good." He shook his head. "Sunny always was a fool. And now her curiosity is probably going to get her killed."

I figured out where I was and got my memory jogged. I'd seen the film, but had forgotten a couple of the character names. So I was at some point after Sunny and Izzy had escaped the town of Maretime Bay. I had to check in at the station and find out what else I was missing out on. "Don't you worry, sir! The MBPD will make sure that unicorn is brought to justice! We'll just need to complete a lot of paperwork first!"

The other pony nodded. "Good luck. If this isn't the start of a unicorn invasion, I don't know what is." And the slinked away.

So, it seems tensions were high in earth pony territory. I set off down the pathway, whistling to myself and singing briefly.

"Oh! I do like to be beside the seaside!
I do like to be beside the sea!
Oh I do like to stroll along the Prom, Prom, Prom!
Where the brass bands play, "Tiddely-om-pom-pom!"

I had reached the office when I had finished singing, and pushed open the door. Hitch wasn't here, and the place still looked a mess. My desk had a mountain of badly stacked papers on them, and the notice on the desk read DEPOOTY.

Clearly Sprout couldn't spell, so that would need cleaning up pretty fast. I headed into the room and sat at my chair, determined to figure out what was going on. Most of the papers seemed to concern petty crime like littering and the odd theft case, but overall the place seemed pretty quiet. I could see why so many ponies enjoyed settling here.

My new body still took some getting used to, and my coordination at the desk was a bit limited. I glanced about a bit at an evidence board, which had a number of red strings locked onto images to try and connect them together. Boring!

Or was it? Out of interest, I looked at it. It was a map of Equestria as it was now, all the time after the Fall. The different countries- The United Earth Pony States, the Pegasus Empire, and the Union of Federal Unicorn Republics- were clearly marked, alongside all their major settlements. Hitch had clearly marked the board with a place called Bridlewood, as well as a suspected staging ground. The note below it read potential attack? Below it was a snap of Izzy. So, clearly Hitch though Izzy was a unicorn spy, sent here to scout out our defenses in anticipation of an attack. No wonder Fillydelphia was on high alert.

Moments later, the door opened, and I returned to my desk. Hitch didn't even speak to me, instead depositing something in an evidence box before grabbing his badge and bandolier. He then began packing a bag.

"Err, what are you doing?" I asked.

Hitch looked to me, seemingly not approving of my interruption. "Considering the earlier disturbance, there is now a problem. The justice is out of balance, and I must correct it. I'm going after Sunny and that unicorn and bringing them back to Maretime Bay."

Oh, that's when I am in the story. Talk about dropping me into crap creek without a paddle. I decided to try and talk Hitch out of going on his own. "You cannot be serious. Wander straight into the lands of the unicorns and pegasuses? What if they fry your brain? Or you get eaten?"

"I'll cross those bridges when I come to them," Hitch replied, as he went over to the door. "Besides, you cannot stop the beat of the long march of justice. Hopefully there'll be no buses either." He stopped again, and turned back to me. "And one more thing, Sprout."

"Yes, boss?" I said, starting to shuffle things around on my desk.

"Try not to start a war whilst I'm away, OK?"

"Understood," I replied, and watched as Hitch left the building, closing the doors behind him. Right, he was now gone and off on his way towards Zephyr Heights, if I recalled correctly. That meant I could now act as I saw fit- and try not to start a war in the process, or even other forms of civil trouble.

"Right, objective one- don't turn into a genocidal dictator," I said to myself, and set about resetting the office to my benefit. Away went all the messy boards and the confusing and poorly laid out evidence tables. In their place went new boards, computer systems, and other equipment any sheriff might need for solving crimes.

The feature I was most proud of was a hologram of the planet. If any evidence was fed in it would display on the board, and the touchscreen next to it would allow me to quickly switch between different types of information depending on what crimes were happening.

I also had to try to get to the bottom of why I was here. I was aware of the whole human in Equestria concept, but I was a human in the body of a pony- a pony bronies love to hate, admittedly. As far as I knew I was the only human in this position, which raised the obvious question- why? Why had I been brought here when so many others would be much better suited to this?

And why Sprout?

I fired up the globe and took a look at the first feeds that came in. Nothing especially dramatic to report just yet, except for one image which appeared right over Maretime Bay.

"Looks like that's my first case!" I said, and dashed out of the office and towards danger. Crime won't pay when Sheriff Sprout's in charge!
> Titans of Industry
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning dawned, and I am proud to report that criminal was caught and jailed. Last I heard his trial was coming up for his theft. But I had more important things to deal with than deal with every single little crime and problem. If I was truly function efficiently as sheriff, I needed to ensure I could have several sets of eyes and ears on the ground to keep an eye on things for my operations.

To this end I appointed two extra deputies and had them tackle the mini problems and small scale matters of small order. I had other business to attend to. As the sun shone over Maretime Bay, I had a few idea about seeing to the town. If I knew anything about this story, CanterLogic was the prime manufacturer of military equipment and gear in the region, and as such it seemed like a sensible place to start my assessment of our capability to defend ourselves.

I left the station and closed the door, already seeing Deputies Rufus and Dahlia at work keeping the town in order. It warmed my cold heart to see justice being dispensed so efficiently, as it helped keep this town in line.

I made my way through the streets of Maretime Bay towards the CanterLogic factory, which certainly dominated the local skyline. The front end of the building was fronted in heavy glass which seemed to make the building shine in the sunlight, with an entrance at the front built in the familiar Maretime Bay style. The building was built on a hill, and extended a long way backwards (as factories should do), to give plenty of space for making things. I made my way up the hill, already a bit short of breath even as I reached the top. Seriously, how could anybody see me as a threat, huh? I'd struggle to keep up with a fly!

Up ahead was the entrance, and two security guards were standing there, weapons held at attention. "State your business," said one of the guards.

"Sheriff Sprout Cloverleaf," I said. "Under the powers granted to me under the Police and Law Enforcement Act, I am here to inspect production capabilities of this factory."

The other guard checked the information. "What happened to Sheriff Hitch?"

"He's away on a mission," I explained. "He left me in charge. Now then, I believe you two have a job to do- after all, remember who your boss is."

"Of course," the first guard said, and opened the door. "It's just with the country having been put on alert status we need to be certain of all proper security measures and equipment lines, that's all."

"Doing your job," I replied. "Excellent work. Carry on, you two."

They nodded as I stepped through the door, and into the atrium of the factory. The signage directed me underground to the production floors, so I went down the stairs and into the production section of this massive facility.

Production lines snaked throughout the building, covered in all sorts of equipment, and gear for various different tasks and jobs. I took a closer look at several of them. The first was a spotting scope which the owner wore to keep an eye on the skies.

I took out a book and took some notes on it, noting its distinct weaknesses. I headed through the room and off to another part of the plant, which was making a metal hat with a white antenna and red dot on the top.

This reference had gotten a chuckle out of me when I'd seen the film. It's clearly an allusion to the tin foil hats conspiracy theory. I took a look inside and looked at the mechanical workings. Again, a problematic piece of equipment which had various flaws, which I noted down.

The third and final item to attract my eye was a box that seemed quite innocous at first. I trotted over to it and hit the button on the side. The top burst open and large numbers of balloons flew out, causing the pack to float upwards before it crashed into the ceiling and popped, falling back down to earth with a bang.

What a useless piece of junk. Sunny had been right on at least one thing in that regard. I needed to talk with the mare in charge if I was actually going to get anything useful done around these parts. I exited the plant, noting the complete lack of proper engineering safety on most of the base.

I found my way upstairs again to try and locate Phyllis' office. I knew it was in the building somewhere, as it was clearly marked on a map, but none of the reference markers made much sense to me as the film only shows very little of the factory. I had completed the ascent via the lift and turned to the right, following the signs throughout the facility and towards the destination I needed to get to, just a little bit away.

The administration levels couldn't have been more different than the production levels, in that they felt like a nicely maintained office. A bit bland, but nicely maintained nonetheless. Pictures of Phyllis were everywhere, and this I could only assume was where Sprout had gotten his vanity from. I continued onwards through the corridors and doors until I had found the relevant office.

I knocked on the door, and waited.

"Enter!" said a voice.

I pushed it open, and found Phyllis sitting at her desk, glancing at a computer monitor which looked like it was straight out of the 1980s. She looked up, and looked a little surprised. "Oh. Hello Sprout. I wasn't expecting to see you here."

I closed the door behind me and took a seat. "As part of my duties as sheriff I undertook an inspection of the factory and its production capabilities. And what I found wasn't good."

"Sprout, has Sunny been putting silly ideas in your head again? At least she can't influence you now, ever since she ran off with that unicorn. Poor girl probably has a fried brain now."

I took out my notes. "I found goggles that allow the wearer to watch the skies whilst rendering them unable to see anything in front of them, making them functionally useless. Pegasi could exploit that! I also found an anti mind reading helmet that doesn't work, and a balloon pack which lacks any sort of release equipment, making it impossible for the wearer to land unless they either crash into something or the balloons run out of helium. All of these devices are hindrances rather than helps, and I say we should do something to-"

"Sprout." The single word cut through the air quite fiercely. "There's nothing to be concerned about. The nation may be in a state of alert, but they always do that whenever something happens. I doubt the unicorns and pegasi could mount an attack on us without fighting each other, and besides the traps and splatapault batteries would drive them off with no difficulty! This factory has kept our citizens safe for years, and will continue to do so for years to come."

This was going nowhere. I needed evidence if I was going to convince Phyllis that the world was in danger, as the spirit had hinted. Not even appealing to her bigotry had worked. "I'll come back with evidence of the danger we are all in, and it will be good."

I left the office, frustrated, and exited the factory.

I wandered along the seafront path, which would slowly lead me out of town. Some ponies seemed to be playing on the beach. Good for them.

I knew I had to find something good if I was going to convince them that we had to do something. But what, exactly? It's not as if the enemy will just casually drop their battle plans right into your hooves. I had to find conclusive proof of what was going on.

I made my way out of the town and onto the cliffside path, which was very long and a bit steep. The lighthouse loomed in the distance, which was always a nice thing to see.

I turned a corner and soon went into another corner of town. This was a side area seemingly full of old production gear and machinery which once had a use, but no longer saw much use anymore.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash, and an explosion dropped before me. "What the?" I asked, before rolling out of the way of the blast and landing nearby. I was at a slight loss for words at what had just happened, and then I looked over.

More blasts soon began to rock the area, and I touched down with some skill to try and see what was going on. There was a lot of smoke, so it was hard to see what was going on.

And then it spoke. "Well, it looks as though the meddlers got here before me!"
> Bulletstorm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A large machine floated in front of me. It was tall, and quite notable for being bipedal in its stature. This was surprising, as if this was a pony built machine the designer would presumably have gone for a quadrapetal stance, which it did not. This in turn gave some clues about who had built it.

It was painted grey, and had two legs that were articulated forwards, rather like those of a human. The feet were big blocks of metal, and the chest section was narrow. Both arms had weapons attached to them, which looked like some sort of energy rifle and a rotating cannot respectively. Above it was a head, mounted on a neck joint between the shoulders. This head had a single eye in the middle, which was presumably used by the pilot to see where the machine was going.

The pilot then repeated his statement. "Well, it looks as though the meddlers got here before me!"

I had no idea what this being was talking about, so I tried to regain my breath as best as I could before the subject on the opposite end of the machine started gloating again. "Well, that brings an end to my easy domination, as that meddling pony is constantly getting in my way!"

He didn't even seem to have noticed I was there, based on how he was constantly rambling on. At least, I thought it was a he based on the voice. "But no matter. I have more than enough firepower to handle this particular little problem. A pathetic little pony won't be a match for my weapons!"

I decided to get a quip in. "I think you'll find I'm average height!"

"For a weakling, yes," the figure gloated, as the chest partially retracted to reveal a person sitting there. I couldn't see there face, but what stood out to me was the fact they seemingly had a striped item of clothing on, which was a bit odd. "But this machine is the ultimate in what can be designed! Prepare to be blown away!" The chest closed again. "I'd say it's been nice knowing Sprout... but it really hasn't."

Just then, the machine floated back into the air, and swung its arms about. The weapons moved into position, and I quickly dashed out of the way as it opened fire. Energy blasts rocketed forward and blew up the place I had been standing as I ran about.

"Clearly some sort of targeting defect," the pilot said. "Still, no matter. Sustain fire!"

The large machine continued firing away at the terrain, as I simply tried to keep moving. I began to sprint in the direction of the lighthouse- not because I intended for it to get blown up, but because there was a line of trees that I knew would protect me.

I rolled behind a boulder as a storm of missiles rocketed from the machine, slamming into the ground and blowing some other things up. I thought I would be safe behind this lot.

Unfortunately, I was very wrong. I heard a loud hum, and there the machine was above me. "Hello there," the pilot said. "Hide and seek won't save you this time."

I cursed and sprinted off as he began firing again. It seemed that machine had access to a lot of firepower, but either that it wasn't very accurate or the pilot was simply dreadful at aiming. That was no excuse to get cocky on my end, though. If I wasn't careful of where I went, I knew I would probably be reduced to a messy paste on the landscape. I rolled and dodged as more firepower roared my way, and this soon led me onto a barren patch of ground with little on it.

I did notice a nice unicorn trap to hide in, so I jumped on that to trigger it. These traps were virtually indestructible! There was no chance of that machine getting me in here! I was safe!

Or so I thought. There was a loud sound, like the tearing of metal, and the machine simply pulled the lid off the trap and looked at me.

"Shoddy earth pony engineering," the pilot mocked. "Like everything in this world, second rate and rubbish. You should really consider appearing in a better generation."

I ran again as the ground was once again filled with fire, and I only just escaped when something weird happened during the run. I know, calling something weird after all the existing strangeness. But please bear with me.

I soon found myself slipping and sliding, and the ground collapsed below me just as more firepower flew my way. I was now seemingly in some sort of dark chamber, with a door at one end and the sky visible through the hole I had just created.

The pilot of that thing gloated as I stayed down here. He was clearly convinced that he had won the battle, but I was certain I could turn the tide.

I turned around, and saw something behind me that amazed me. Sitting there in this chamber was a large red machine that looked like a red pony, with treads where the hooves would be, and a large cabin where the head would be. Not only that, it kinda resembled me.

Of course, I then recognized it. It was the very same machine that I had found at the bottom of Crater Lake, where this whole sorry episode had started. Whilst on the one hoof mightily convenient, on the other hoof I now had a means of fighting back against that monster and emerging on top. This would truly be a great day in the history of Maretime Bay!

I just had to get it started. I hopped into the cab and checked the controls. It had power and brake pedals, as well as a manual gearbox and other displays. The digital readout at the front contained a spot for a speedometer, an oil pressure light, and even a radio.

I noticed the fuel gauge stated there was fuel in the tank, so I turned the key. At that moment, the starter circuit ignited, and with a cough four diesel engines roared into life, with smoke plumes pouring from the back of the machine. Other systems came online, and I flicked through the options. I hit LOAD AMMO, and then set off out of the tunnel and faced the robot.

"Time for a fair fight!" I said, as I hit a few more switches. Two weapons deployed on the side and began to spool up.

The pilot of the other machine looked unimpressed. "That little toy?" he said. "I could blow that up in my sleep!"

"Do your worst!" I replied, as the weapons- a pair of splatapault batteries- opened fire, the balls flying through the air and exploding on all sorts of everything. "Get stuck on things!"

The machine fired on the ground and tried to blow my robot up, but I was driving very fast. I noticed that each tread was controlled separately, so I could drive sideways to maintain the target in my sights. Although that thing was fast, it was no match for my driving.

And the weight of ammunition that was flying through the air soon had a useful effect on the enemy. Several splatapault balls exploded against the machine, which soon got stuck on the ground and struggled to move, even with engines roaring at full power.

It was time to blindside them. One last splatapault barrage blocked up the sensor systems and caused a ball to explode over the machines' visual sensor. The pilot was blind as well as deaf, which made him functionally unable to continue the fight against me.

The machine finally broke free. "Vision impaired! I cannot see!" The robot roared upwards into the air, unable to figure out where the enemy was. "This won't be the last you will see of me! I shall return some day in the near future and finish what I started! The others shall be easier to take down!"

As it flew away, I sat there, panting with the exertion of the battle. I had done it. I had driven that robot off and minimized damage to the local area. I had won.

But that encounter left me with more questions than answers. Who was that figure who had attacked me and Maretime Bay? What did he want with us? What had he meant by 'another generation'?

And most importantly of all, what had he meant by 'the others'? Was he alluding to Sunny and Hitch? Or somepony else? This was a confusing matter, to say the least, and I would need to investigate.

I began to drive the machine back towards Maretime Bay. I needed to find out what could be done to prepare us for that thing's return.

But before that I had to deal with the thing they never show in crime procedurals. The paperwork. And this incident would have so much paperwork.
> Insurrection, or Something about Sweetcorn
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was right on one front. There was a lot of paperwork related to this incident. I can see why police procedurals focus on the investigative elements, the shootouts, and the car chases. Most viewers would find several hours of police officers filling out page after page of paperwork extremely boring. All part of the job, I guess.

I had to check through the database to see which forms needed filling out in order to keep our police records up to date. And it was a lot. I set the printer running to get all the forms out and ready to fill in whilst I went over to the digital evidence board and added the day's events to it.

Phyllis had wanted proof that we were under threat? Now I had it. The machine, or rather an image of it, was posted on the board, and I tried to connect it to other things. I collected my evidence and thought hard. The machine had been piloted by a humanoid, or human, based on what little I could see of them when I had looked at them through my monitor. That firmly ruled out an attack on the part of either the unicorns or the pegasi.

But we were already on high alert. I was concerned somepony could spin the story and try to get this used as an excuse to start a war. That wouldn't end well for anypony. The only way to truly win at war, and a cold war if the film was anything to go by, is to not play.

I tried to connect the elements together. The person at the controls of that machine was clearly a fan of stripes, based on what I could see. I wondered if this had any connection to us, but was unsure. I couldn't think of anything stripy connected to Earth Ponies. I checked through my data once more, and once I had pinned that all up the printer beeped to indicate it was done printing the paper. This was handy indeed. I quickly got the stack of papers placed onto the desk, and took a close look at the pile. There were a lot of boxes and subsections to fill in, and this would take a while to complete. Perhaps I should hire more deputies.

I continued to dig through the stack of papers, my eyes focused on the task at hand. The weaponry that thing had packed concerned me as well. As far as I knew, none of the races had kit like that. The splatapault was hardly comparable to a modern rifle, and throwing a tennis ball was hardly threatening if the unicorn was especially big or simply moved out of the way. It takes a fair bit of force to stick a tennis ball to anything.

I had only one conclusion. Those weapons, and that machine, had come from another world. Another another world, as the one I had started in was yet to reach that level of technological capability and power.

I was only partway through the pile when suddenly Phyllis burst in through the door and closed it behind her. "Sprout!" she said. "There you are!"

I glanced up from the desk. "Huh? What's going on, mom?" God- sorry, Faust, it felt weird saying that.

Phyllis looked at me, concern in her eyes. "First a unicorn in town, then this attack from that giant thing? You were right, Sprout! You were right! We are in danger. I'm so, so sorry I didn't listen to you."

I got up from my desk. "All in the past," I replied. "Right now we need to decide what to do."

"The first thing that needs doing is to deal with that angry mob out there!" Phyllis replied, pointing to a growing crowd of ponies outdoors. Their words were muffled by the doors, but I could tell they were somewhat annoyed. "If we don't dispel them, it could turn to violence."

Violence. That's not good. It would reflect badly on me as a sheriff. I nodded and stepped back. "I'll get this tidied up, then I'll do something.

"There's my boy," Phyllis replied, getting oddly close to me. "The town needs its sheriff, and with you at the helm I'm certain we'll be kept safe from whatever nonsense those unicorns and pegasi are cooking up."

She went outdoors to speak to them as I got some of the paper moved, in order to create the illusion I'd done more work than I actually had. It was time for my date with destiny. My first public address as Sheriff of Maretime Bay! Let's make it a good one, as this will go down in the history books.

I strode forward, and pushed open the doors. "Citizens of Mareti-"

Unfortunately, I forgotten the door was on a sprung hinge. It immediately flew back and slammed into my muzzle.

"OW!"

I pushed the door back open, rubbing my nose.

"The Sheriff is here to speak now," Phyllis said. "That means you, sugarcube."

I switched on a microphone and addressed the crowd. "Citizens of Maretime Bay, I am aware we find ourselves in a time of great crisis. First, an apparent incursion by the unicorns, and a suspected abduction of one of our own citizens."

"Sunny had it coming!" shouted a voice. "She always wanted to be with them anyway. Attaching wings and a horn to yourself? That girl needed therapy."

"I trust there will be no further interruptions," I said. "Anyway, we were attacked again earlier today, and I fear that we may be in danger."

"What if the unicorns come back?" another voice said.

"And what if they bring the pegasi with them?" said a third. "That's what happened the last time they attacked us!"

I tapped the microphone. "I shall see this town through its darkest days and we shall emerge victorious. But victory can never be obtained without sacrifice. The price of our freedom is eternal vigilance, for without it we are nothing."

I adjusted the sound system as electric guitars began to play in the background. Here's hoping I could sing well. "Now is not the time to be complacent! We should do something!"

Well, here goes nothing.

"Something is lurking, something is near/
Something is feeling stranger, stranger!
Stirring up discord, whipping up fear/
Whispering softly, "danger, danger!"

"Outsiders creep up slow and steady/
Wings glistening, horns at the ready/
Think what they could do to the status quo?"

"Oh no!" Phyllis added, for some reason.

I moved about the crowd to check everypony was listening.

"They're gonna steal, plunder, and pillage!
They're gonna take over the village!"

At this moment, I looked at a family who weren't paying attention.

"Don't just sit on your butts and do nothing and wait/
Let's enter a blind, irrational state!"

I turned my attention back to the crowd, and moved into the square once again, focusing closely on the crowd.

"Better get nervous, better get tense/
Better not let them catch you blinking!
You don't need a reason, fillies and gents/
This is no time for sober thinking!"

Time for a bit of reverse psychology. I knew exactly how to get them in a mood to commence rearmament.

So I suggested the first thing that came to mind. "Mob!"

"Mob?" a pony asked.

"M-M-Mob, mob!" I replied. These fools were cottoning on.

"Mob?" asked another pony.

"Mob?" asked yet another. Yes, I know what I said the first time.

"Angry, angry mob!" I replied. Nothing like stoking social rage for getting things done.

And this, it seemed finally got them onside.

"Mob, m-m-mob, mob!
Mob, mob, angry, angry!"

I jumped on a building and continued with my address.

"Sharpen your senses, sharpen your tongues/
Sharpen your moral indignation!
Gather in groups and ready your lungs/
Holler with pent-up aggravation!"

This time, the crowd didn't need any prompting.

"Mob, mob, m-m-mob, mob!
Mob, mob, angry, angry!
Mob, mob, m-m-mob, mob!
Mob, mob, angry, angry!"

To my surprise, things didn't suddenly turn into a Disney Acid Sequence. That was a relief. Still, a conveniently timed streetcar rolled past, so I jumped onto that and fired up a megaphone to see if I could address even more ponies.

"Fight, see in black and white/
That's your pony right!
Time to lift your manes and proudly-

"Throng, numbers make you strong!
Millions can't be wrong/
Especially when they're screaming loudly!"

I turned to an assembled crowd and decided to latch onto their insecurity.

"You might not have a bale of hay to borrow!
Are you saddled with your sorrow?
Are you scared about tomorrow?

"Well, it's all gonna work out painlessly
If you follow my orders brainlessly!"

I jumped in front of the crowd and began to move forward. They began to follow in step behind me. Time to see if this had truly worked.

"Who are we?" I called.

"We're an angry mob!" the mob replied.

"What are we?" I added.

"We're an angry mob!" the mob replied again.

Time to see if they were really following my orders brainlessly. "Look at this corn!"

"It's on the cob!" the crowd answered.

Time for one last test. I looked over to a pony who was sitting at a table. "Look at that guy!"

The pony, who was wearing a hat, looked over. "Erm, my name's Rob."

Perfect. Step one of my plan was complete. All that remained was to sing the last bit of the song. We marched down the street towards the CanterLogic factory, the crowd moving in perfect step.

"Mob, mob, m-m-mob, mob!
Mob, mob, angry, angry!
Mob, mob, m-m-mob, mob!
Mob, mob, angry, angry!"

The mob continued singing this whilst I went off on my own separate vocal line on top.

"M-Mob, m-mob!
M-Mob, m-mob!
M-Mob, m-mob!"

We stopped in front of the factory, and sang the last bit.

"...angry, angry mob!"

One of the crabs then clicked his claws aggressively. I smiled. The plan to initiate rearmament had worked. I knew I was doing the wrong thing, but I was doing it for the right reasons.
> Crash Sale
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now that I had assembled the concerned citizens into an action league of sorts, I had to figure out how in Equestria we were going to make all the weapons we would need to drive off that threat, should he ever decide to attack us again. This required me to look at spreadsheets, which has the potential to be seriously boring to those without the know how to look at them. Like me.

CanterLogic could easily be put onto a war footing. There was more than enough space in the factory to allow for the making of heavier and larger weapons of war. I mean, Sprout of the movie had managed to build a tank without too much trouble, so there clearly was the space for the larger machines to be made. But could we make the heavier machines with the resources we had.

I took a close look at the information sat in front of me, and it didn't look promising. Anypony with a passing knowledge of anything will know that maintaining and building an army requires a lot of resources. But most importantly it requires a lot of money, and based on the frankly shocking state of our own defenses we needed to step up the game before we got blasted to smithereens by any invading army. And not one formed of unicorns or pegasi, as the citizens seemed to think would be the case.

But there lay the problem. I had looked in the budget for the money needed to initiate equipping my militia with proper weapons such as rifles and equipment such as armour and helmets.

And there lay the problem. There wasn't enough of it.

As we hadn't fought a full on war in a very long time, our budget had shifted towards personal defensive gear (which didn't work properly).

I sighed. This left us in a serious mess. As impressive as that machine I'd found had proven to be in combat against that guy, I was only one pony. And one pony is not an army to say the very least. I was going to need help.

Back in the land where I had once come from, although regional defensive units had existed, the core of military power had been under the control of the government, who had maintained one of the largest fighting forces on the planet. If this place was in any way similar, they could be a sensible thing to look to.

But how to contact them? Based on looking around there was a distinct lack of Internet or the equivalent near here, as I hadn't seen anypony with a cell phone (those only came in after Reunification, when C-Net Towers were installed across the country).

So where to go? There had to be some sort of telegraph, as how else would the army coordinate when on the move? Luckily, my office soon gave me an answer.

Earlier on, I had spotted a map in the room which indicated the locations of the major cities in Equestria. Maybe that would give me a clue.

I glanced to it and saw several cities marked. Amongst them were Vanhoover, which fell squarely within unicorn territory, Zephyr Heights (which was firmly inside the pegasus lands), and Fillydelphia, which lay to the north of my current position (probably the same route that Hitch took when he chased after Sunny and company). I noticed that all three of them were marked with stars rather than dots. I also only recognized two of them from Generation 4, suggesting these cities survived to be repurposed into capitals after Canterlot ceased to be the capital at some point in the past.

The key gave me a clue. If a city was marked with a star, it meant that it was the capital of the region. I glanced back and saw that Fillydelphia was, indeed, the capital of the UEPS. Well, that probably made things nice and easy. All I needed was to go there, speak to whomever was in charge, and then return here and tell the locals the good news. Weapons production usually generates lots of jobs. And ponies like it when there are jobs to go around, right?

I just needed to figure out how I was going to get from here to Fillydelphia. I pulled out another map, this one on a much smaller scale, and looked closely at the route before me. It was a long one, to say the least. I checked the scale on the map and noticed that it was pretty small, so it was at least 100 miles between here and there.

Having said that, the entire journey was on a paved road, at least according to the markings I was looking at. Numbers usually indicate paved roads, right? This would at least be something resembling a fun journey of sorts. Provided I didn't get attacked on the way, of course.

I then remembered what else was going on and what else I needed. Considering the movie didn't show much of a highway culture in Equestria, I couldn't assume there would be roadside restaurants like there were back in Oregon. If I was to be travelling for a long time, I was going to need some food. And drink. And other useful things that a pony travelling a long way might need as they roam across the nation in all its wilderness.

To this end, I began to dig through the items at the station. I found a box in the bottom cupboard that seemed to have something in it. I took it out and took a look closely.

It was a pizza. Probably one Sprout had been historically eating before I came here, as I would never leave a pizza sitting about in a box for no reason. Having said that, the pizza was surprisingly good condition considering the fact it had probably been sitting out for quite a while. I closed the box again and turned back to the desk as I adjusted the hologram.

My attention was briefly distracted by the door opening. I turned to see who it was, my eyes moving to track the new entrant to the building.

It was Phyllis. "Hey mom!" I said. "Anything concerning you?"

"Sprout, I have bad news," she replied, her voice fraught with worry.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She took a deep breath. "There's not enough money in the budget!" she said. "As you know, money for arms production is partly supplied by the state, and we simply don't enough in order to start rearming, as it would put us into debt."

"I know," I replied. "I just ran the math myself."

"Oh," she said, looking surprised. "That's unlike you." She stopped, and then glanced at the map. "Why do you have a map of the route to Fillydelphia out on the table?"

I glanced up at her. "That's part of my plan. Tomorrow, I'm going to be taking a long journey."

"Where?"

"To Fillydelphia. If I can talk to the government and convince them to provide money and official support for rearmament, it'll make equipping the militia easier. After all, big flying robot things are less likely to attack if we have troops, right?"

Phyllis looked concerned. "Sprout, you've never travelled outside Maretime Bay before! Are you sure you know where you're going?"

I pointed to the route. "Follow the road signs. That's how roads work, right?"

"Well, that's rather self explanatory. But what about the other things? Such as transport to get there? It's 100 miles by that road, and not all of it is tarmac paving- some is cobblestones! And what if you get attacked by bandits? Or- Faust forbid- a unicorn or a pegasus?"

I glanced to my monitor as the message jingle had played. Although we didn't have phones, we did have computers and similar technology of a roughly 1980s level. Something about a fish being stolen. I could sent one of my deputies to deal with that.

I turned my attention back to Phyllis. "There's a first time for absolutely everything in the world. How are we supposed to move forward and grow as ponies if we spend our entire lives confined to one settlement? We can travel and get the help we need, and then I'll return as soon as I can. The extra funding will help us be prepared for whenever that thing comes back. Besides, as you say yourself, to be scared is to be prepared."

Phyllis huffed, but otherwise nodded. "Alright, Sprout. You've made your point. Have a safe journey." She then left through the door and turned left.

"CanterLogic's the other way!" I called.

I immediately saw the familiar beehive hairdo going the other way.

That was easier than expected. I grabbed the information I had access to and prepared to set off for my other desk to compile it. It was time to take my destiny into my own hooves and step forward into the future.

And hopefully save the world whilst I was at it.
> Go Tell that Long-Tongued Liar
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had found my means of transportation by looking in Maretime Bay's reserves. It turned out that the city maintained a reserve of trucks for transportation and cargo purposes, and this would suit my purposes nicely. Turns out they weren't that complex to drive, only featuring a pair of pedals. Whomever had built them had the kindness to make them automatics. I'm from a place which doesn't do manual cars, which is where you change gears manually, so I had no idea how to operate those sorts of vehicles. Naturally, I preferred automatics, and as this was an automatic it gave me considerably less to think about as I would be driving along.

I refueled it from a nearby fuel tank which had some gas in it. Well, diesel actually. Earth pony society had seemingly settled on powering large vehicles using diesel fuel, which made sense. Although not as good for the environment, diesel fuel is good for big machines going long distances.

I just noticed Sunny giving me an odd look. I can only assume she's annoyed I'm doing her usual pitch for environmentalism. Well, I can say whatever I want!

Once refueling was complete, the engine was easy to start. They sure kept them in good condition, and we would be needing them if we were going to have a chance of surviving against the threat that faced us. I hopped out of the cab to check the doors, and went over to a button.

Handy thing that everything around here is opened by a large red button. I pushed it to roll the door back, and then went back to the truck. I slid under the door and climbed into the cab before slamming the door behind me. The door on the other side then opened.

I reached over and closed it, before belting myself in. Safety first!

I sat back in the cab and moved my back hooves to try and look for the levers. It still felt a bit odd driving in this position, and as such I took a few attempts to get the truck moving. It was much harder driving than the strange red machine that looked like a pony. I drove the machine round a curve, checking my mirrors to ensure the road was clear, and then turned the machine onto the road.

A flashing light warned me the streetcar was about to cross. I watched as it rolled past, sounding the horn as it rolled by. I turned the wheel to the left and drove down the waterfront, rolling down the windows to cool the cab down as the air conditioning was broken. Or maybe it had been broken by somepony (probably somepony annoying or maybe or enemy had sabotaged it). I stopped when I heard a voice.

"Sprout?"

I stopped and saw Phyllis following behind on hoof. "Mom?"

She passed me a brown bag. "Here's some food I prepared for you!"

I took a look inside to see some sandwiches. "Thanks, mom!"

"Drive carefully, and let me know when you arrive in Fillydelphia!" she replied.

"Sure thing!" I replied, and then blasted the horn. With a blast of smoke from the exhaust pipe the truck rolled under the bridge and began to follow the highway towards Fillydelphia.

I hammered down the road for the first few miles, but as the map indicated to me the road suddenly switched from paved tarmac to cobblestones. Clearly they were short of money when building it. Though it did result in a rather different driving experience. I suppose the obvious point of comparison would be to riding on a fairground ride that's bouncing around rather a lot, which can induce motion sickness. I was being bounced up and down on the truck's suspension, which didn't make for a particularly fun driving experience, I will admit.

The miles rolled by underneath the truck's wheels as we rumbled along, that truck and I. It is true that when you have a long road trip before you and you are the only motorists, the vehicle you drive becomes your travelling companion. They develop personalities, and lives of their own. You come to learn their foibles, their quirks, and the features which characterize them on your long adventure.

Road traffic was also pretty quiet as well, to my surprise. It seemed that most of the towns I drove through, of which I drove through several, it was interesting to see most of them were self sufficient. I saw fields of crops that stretched as far as the eye could see, and many agricultural buildings such as barns, farms, and fields with large tractors and combine harvesters. There was even a rather large pony struggling with driving a ridiculous looking tractor about. I'd never have that sort of trouble in this truck!

Speaking of which, I spotted a tractor pulling onto the highway with a heavy agricultural load in front of me. Here I was, hoping it would only be going one field along to drop off something or deliver some other supplies to somewhere else.

Nope. Curse my luck, the tractor was stuck there, going along at about 20 miles an hour, for 15 MILES! No wonder so few ponies drove about, if this was a regular hazard to motorists. I honked the horn a few times to try and get them to hurry up, but they paid me no attention. Typical country bumpkins.

I continued my journeys through earth pony land. The place amazed me to an extent. None of any of this had been touched on in the film or what of the TV show that I had watched, but yet here it all was, continuing on and showing its work behind the scenes. I honestly wondered how life would continue when the cameras would turn off, and I guess now I knew. The world just kept on going even when we weren't watching, with other ponies like the ones here who were the heroes of their own stories.

It was soon failing in terms of the light when I rattled past the sign that informed me I was passing the Fillydelphia city limits. It seemed that after a long journey I was finally here, and all I needed to do was park up and then head to my destination.

But then I saw what might be a bit of a hindrance to my proposed journey. I came to a stop behind some vehicles in front of me. Some soldiers were standing next to some gates, and several tanks were sitting nearby, with their barrels seemingly trained on anypony foolish enough to rush the location.

So it was a checkpoint. I might be waiting here for a while. I moved the truck forward with every vehicle that was checked through the checkpoint, and parked up each time we were forced to stop. It was all very tedious. There must have been a lot of individual documents to check on that run.

I sat back for a bit whilst awaiting my turn for the checks and balances to be administered. I waited and waited and waited. It all seemed to take an incredibly long time to do these checks.

But finally, a soldier stopped next to the truck, and looked in through the window. "Name?" she asked.

"Sprout Cloverleaf," I replied.

"Reason for visit?"

"Official business in Congress," I replied.

"Documentation?" she asked, indicating to a notice in front of the roadway. Handily, this gave a list of documentation accepted as valid for passing through the checkpoint. These ranged from student IDs through to even government passes.

I then had an idea. I produced my Sherriff's badge (given to me when I had been promoted to cover for Hitch's absence), and presented it to the soldier. "Sherriff of Maretime Bay."

The soldier nodded as she studied the badge. "I wasn't aware Hitch had retired. But this checks out. Authentic MBPD issue, and the data code is correct." She handed the badge back to me and nodded. "You are clear to proceed, Sherriff Sprout. Best of luck with your business in the city today."

I nodded, and thanked her for her service, before preparing the truck to move off. The doors before us opened, and the tanks still continued to train their batteries on us. It was time to move off. With a roar from the engine, the truck moved through the gate and into Fillydelphia proper.

The street layout and overall design of the buildings was certainly reminiscent of human cities. The place was nicely laid out and quite bright, which I certainly appreciated as we rattled along. In fact, it felt a lot like Washington, D. C. I guess that's consistent with the earth ponies being like the United States, based on what I'd seen so far.

I found a parking space and parked the truck, before hopping out of the cab and stopping the engine. I had a short walk to my destination, which gleamed on a hill before me.
> The Importance of Being Persuasive
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I strode up the steps towards the Capitol Building, which dominated the skyline of Fillydelphia. It was a spectacular building constructed out of white marble, though it probably had a metal skeleton to support most of the framework and the dome, as marble apparently can weigh quite a lot according to ponies who know more about construction than I do.

Boy were these steps huge, though. I glanced from side to side to see large buildings all over the place. Museums, perhaps? They certainly looked quite dramatic, and some of them still had lights on. It was quite impressive to see, and the city seemed quite pretty. Why hadn't the show ever taken us here?

I slowed down and saw a monument off to one side, and stepped over to it for a moment. It was some sort of war memorial. It was built of of many columns with stonework on the top. Each of them had the names of what appeared to be major battles written on them. I recognized a few of the names. Ghastly Gorge, Rainbow Falls, Baltimare, all of those were familiar names to a brony. But others, such as Thunder Bay and Discord's Dip, weren't. Presumably places that appeared since The Last Problem?

I continued looking about the memorial, and then spotted the centerpiece. It was an earth pony soldier, standing guard and standing tall over a unicorn and a pegasus respectively, who were falling back, looks of shock and fear on their faces. Behind them was another statue of another earth pony soldier helping a comrade back to base, carrying them on their back.

The first statue was titled THE UNION ENDURES. The second was titled simply COMRADES.

I saw more battle names around the sides, and then I realised I had entered the wrong way. I walked down another pathway flanked by fountains that were still running. I stopped in front of a marble slab that marked the entrance to the memorial.

The text was simple and plain. THIS MEMORIAL IS DEDICATED TO THE BRAVE SOLDIERS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FIGHTING FOR THE EARTH PONY WAY OF LIFE. THEIR NAMES LIVE FOREVERMORE.

Then below that: IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR, 0002-0005.

So, that gave me something of a clue as to how earth ponies recalled the war. I believe the original Sprout talks about an 'epic battle' in the movie. If this memorial was true and not just more state produced propaganda, it seems he understated it a bit.

I continued on my way up the stairs, and soon found myself near the entrance. The building seemed very imposing from this angle, but the white marble made it look like a beacon from my position, particularly from where the sun was positioned somewhere nearby that was somewhat useful on that front.

I began to climb the stairs to the building proper, and soon found myself on a front porch before a door marked VISITOR ENTRANCE. Well, seeing as I was a visitor it seemed reasonable to assume I would enter here.

I stepped through the door, and after being checked through by security I arrived in the lobby, which was a lower level rotunda with chairs and seats for visitors to use. Armed guards were everywhere in the room, which was hardly a surprise. Given everything I had seen so far, the world was in a state of heightened paranoia, what with all the other races going about their works and daily lives.

I sat and waited for a while, regretting the fact I had forgotten to pick up the book I was going to read and had left it in the truck. I sighed and focused on some of the paintings on the walls, which appeared to depict more moments from this country's history. And it seems they'd packed a lot into about a thousand years.

After some waiting an official looking pony came over to me. "Are you here to speak to anypony in particular?" she asked.

"Yes," I said. "I wish to address the Defense Committee. I come with dire news of affairs further to the south."

The pony looked at a clipboard. "I'm afraid they're currently in a meeting, and will probably be in session for the rest of the day," she said. "You can come back tomorrow if that would work."

I tried to get my point across without sounding overly dramatic. "Our nation is in danger. If we don't act fast, there may not be a tomorrow to come back to."

Just then, a pony in what looked like a suit exited a room and walked past us, heading for a water cooler and filling a cup before heading back our way. "Did I overhear that correctly?" he said, turning to us. "Did one of you say our country is in danger?"

"Yes sir, I did," I replied. "My name's Sprout Cloverleaf, and my hometown was attacked a few days ago. We have to act, and now."

"Follow me," the pony in the suit said. "This is important. Guards! Let him through!"

So, that's how I found myself addressing the Defense Committee of the United Earth Pony States Senate, who seemed very interested in what I had to say. I made sure to leave no detail out, including how I had fought off that machine (but not defeated it, I made sure to emphasize). I have to say I can't recall being this good at public speaking, but something was clearly working as their faces gradually looked more and more concerned.

"A flying mech, you say," said one Senator. "That is concerning. Could this be a new pegasus weapon of war that is being tested in our lands?"

"He said it had a pilot who looked like a bipedal creature," said another. "The only issue with that is that the last bipedal creatures in Equestria went extinct centuries ago. But whatever it is, it is very dangerous indeed, clearly. This must be raised with the Department of Defense."

He turned to the stand, which I was at. "You arrived at a fortuitous time, Mr. Cloverleaf," he said. "When you arrived, we were discussing the military budget, which is currently in a bit of a state. Currently, the approach puts a lot of strain on private security companies like Bellwater and CanterLogic- which I believe you have a stake in."

"Yes sir," I replied. "My mother is the CEO."

"I thought the name Cloverleaf rang a bell," said another Senator.

"But," said the first again, "this news that you bring to our attention is very worrying indeed. It is imperative that our nation is able to defend itself against any and all threats to our life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. To this end, I have a proposal to make to all of you."

He paused, before continuing. "I propose that, tomorrow, during the main session of Congress, that we table a bill to allocate additional funds for the military, and to allow for the initiation of full scale rearmament. Our country can only stand strong when our defenses are secure, and although it may get held up with tiny gaps I have reason to believe it will get through both Houses when the evidence that Mr. Cloverleaf has presented it revealed to those concerned."

He looked to me. "Well done, Mr. Cloverleaf. You have done your country a great service by bringing this to our attention. Now, unless there are any other points that you need to make you are free to leave the session."

I nodded. "That will be all, sir." A guard then escorted me from the chamber and back to the lobby, from where I exited the building and looked up at the night sky.

I knew life here wouldn't be easy. I was far from home, on an alien planet, working with an alien culture and society in a body that was not my own. But to sit and despair about it all would be pointless. A great man once observed that those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are busy doing it. And the people of this world did need a savior, somepony to guide them to a better future.

This was a tough world. A bright world, but a tough one. However, I had already been through the fires of war and had emerged stronger than before. Ponykind had seen big threats before. And as they say, you should always aim to leave the world a better place than it was before you entered it.

And seeing as I had entered this world, albeit not through my own volition, that statement still stood tall and true. I had to do my bit, not just for earth ponies, but for ponykind as a whole! The road would be hard, I knew that, but the rewards would be truly great. Everypony, friends again!

I stepped down the steps back towards where I had parked my truck. I had a long road in every sense of the word ahead of me.
> We Keep Marching On
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke the next morning, and once I had everything in order I finally set off for my journey home towards the town of Maretime Bay. It was a long journey back towards my home, and as I drove along, the roads rumbling by underneath my wheels of the my truck, I found myself in need of something to do. Luckily, I still had yesterday's food, and had picked up some coffee on my way home to ensure I could stay awake for the journey on the road on my way home. It was certainly nicer doing the northern section in proper levels light as I rattled along that highway of legend.

At least the sea was nice to look at, which provided me some company as I drove along the road. I felt quite relaxed as we went along, actually, that truck and I. The ground and sky and sea continued to role by as the sun continued to rise next to me. I even had to boost the air conditioning slightly in order to keep cool, actually. The region was certainly quite humid if nothing else. The terrain began to be light up by the sun's rays as I rolled along the road, and saw the world unfold around me in considerably more detail with a smile. Boy was this a world worth fighting for, in my mind. I relaxed and continued to rattle along the road at speed, before the scenery began to shift once more around me.

After a period, I needed to pull over and rest. Unfortunately, it seems that they hadn't figured out highway service stations yet, and this meant pulling over and resting was reliant on side roads and laybys. I know that's technically not what they're meant for, but I'd seen plenty of other drivers use them that way, so I figured they were fair game as well. I pulled into one and stopped, cutting the engine as I did so before I began to enjoy the meal from yesterday and experience the rejuvenating effects of coffee.

I enjoyed the coffee very much. Clearly Equestrian ponies are able to handle caffeine based on their biology, as otherwise they'd be in serious trouble if they happened to drink it, which would be a huge problem based on my old world. As I sat there, I tuned into the local news to find out what was going on.

What I heard surprised me a bit. The radio station- FBS, or Fillydelphia Broadcasting Service- was talking about some sort of military spending bill, which attracted my attention. It had been passed through at speed and was currently awaiting Presidential approval.

But something confused me a bit. The name of the bill was a bit strange. I had explained to them the threat wasn't a unicorn or a pegasus attack, but rather something from another world. And yet the bill was called the Defense against the Unicorns and Pegasi bill, which made more than clear what the purpose of the bill was.

What was going on?





I got my answer as I pulled back into the garage in Maretime Bay, and wandered into the main CanterLogic building where Phyllis' office was. I made my way out of the lower levels and up to one of the upper levels, finding my way along the stairs fairly easily.

It was a gentle walk to say the least, and although I was breathing quite heavily when I was at the top, I was glad to have made it up there. I went in through the door and saw Phyllis sitting there at her desk, looking quite pleased. "Extra funds for production?" she said to herself.

I then decided to address her. "Hey mom."

Phyllis turned the chair and her face changed to a smile. "Sprout! You're back! How was it?"

"Well, I did get to talk to them and warn them," I said. "And something about a bill was on the radio."

"Ah, yes, the Defense against the Unicorns and Pegasi bill," Phyllis replied. "I heard about it on the radio. It's certainly needed in trying times like these, and will hopefully help to get our little town back on its feet after the little incident we had a few days ago."

The very same one that I'd mentioned to the authorities all that time ago, funnily enough. And yet they chose to use a name that might inflame global tensions. Not the smartest of ideas in my mind, but I had to go along.

"But why call it that? Why not just call it the Increased Military Spending Act and be done with it? Surely that'd be less inflammatory to the world situation right now?"

I was certain Phyllis would see reason in this case. But that was sadly a fool's errand.

"Sprout, I thought they thought this to you in schools. Unicorns and pegasi are not our friends. As when that unicorn turned up several days ago and took Sunny away as her slave." She sighed. "Poor dear. I do feel a bit of sympathy for her, even if she always spouted nonsense and was brainwashed by her father."

The narrative with Izzy seemed to be changing every few seconds. First she wanted to fry Sunny's brain, then she was hauling her away as a slave? Consistency is clearly not a thing in this part of the world.

"Besides, that's how it's always been around here, in this land. Since time began we have been enemies. We have been enemies ever since the old times, and especially since the invasion one thousand years ago. Follow me."

We went away out of the office and into another room, which I presumed was a boardroom of some sort for the company. Speaking of which, I had never seen members of the board around the facility. I could sense they probably usually turned up on when required for a meeting. The lights flickered on, and this illuminated a back wall which revealed something interesting.

Hanging up was a painting which showed a battle scene. Upon it were a large formation of tanks thundering across the landscape, with infantry moving up to support them on the side. Fighter aircraft, mostly biplanes, streaked in from on high, their propellers thundering as they fired rockets and dropped bombs at their targets on the ground. Before them were monstrous depictions of the other tribes. The pegasi were buckling under the assault, whilst the unicorns were fleeing for their lives on the edge of the field. It was clearly a battle from the war that had been mentioned a few times.

"This is a personal favourite of mine," Phyllis said. "The original hangs in the National Gallery in Trottingham. I took you and a school trip to see it one time- a pity Sunny spent most of the time trying to argue with a member of staff that it depicted a false scenario. We must go and see the cyclorama version some day."

I read the caption at the bottom. "Gadsden's Charge: the Valiant Earth Ponies drive back the Cannibalistic Pegasus and the Cowardly Unicorn."

"It's part of the Battle of Thunder Bay, the battle that secured our freedom," Phyllis smiled. "A truly glorious day when we made it clear to the other tribes we would not be slaves."

"Slaves?" I asked.

"I know you slept through some lessons but I had idea it was this bad. Whenever you played at Sunny's house you always wanted to use her figures to recreate the battle, though Hitch always let Sunny play out her crazy fantasies. That girl needed help." She coughed, then began to tell the story. "A long time ago, our planet was a different place to now. The pegasi and the unicorns had always wanted to take our lands and steal our resources, and they had a common enemy in us. So they forged an alliance and attacked our lands, tearing through the terrain and damaging anything they came across. We fought them off in many battles, and their final attack came at the Battle of Thunder Bay, where they assaulted our forces with a massive army.

"They expected we would break and run from the enemy. But our lines held, and we even repulsed their attacks. Eventually, our armour and other vehicles arrived, and with air support we drove them back in the charge depicted in this painting. And we've been preparing ever since. If they come back, they'll wish they'd never attacked us."

I nodded. "Well, thanks for the history lesson." I knew I had to get back to work, so I stepped out of the door and wandered over to a balcony. I stepped onto it, after opening a door, and stepped onto the breeze and looked out over the sea.

It was oddly peaceful, and quite quiet as well. Ponies were just going about their usual business on the beachfront.

And there I was, concerned. Hitch had told me not to start a war whilst I was away. And I feared I had done precisely that.
> Mutually Assured Destruction
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A week passed by, and the effects of the Defense against the Unicorns and Pegasi Act, as it was now known, were starting to become noticeable within our local area. The region had undergone a profound transformation. The population had been recruited, where they lacked other occupations, into military production. Those not recruited into military production had become subject to military recruitment drives, with citizens being encouraged to sign up and serve their country, or at the very least become a reservist if the call to war was required. This wasn't what I'd expected, but with my position as Sheriff of Maretime Bay I was in what was termed a protected occupation, and thus I was exempt from military conscription of any sort. Because between you and me going to war didn't sound too appealing. Very messy. A lot of cleanup required.

These changes had shifted the nature of our town as well. Several temporary military bases and forts had been set up in the area to house the growing numbers of troops in the region. It wasn't just troops. Armour pools were being assembled, and were being filled with armored vehicles of every type and shape. Tanks, mobile artillery, transports of all types, helicopters and gunships, and other craft were being put into position in readiness for combat deployment. Something in me was concerned that this would trigger an arm's race with the other tribes, but data I'd seen on the pegasus military confirmed that was even more massive than ours, so many earth ponies saw this as a way of getting even.

How was all this stuff being made, I hear you wander? Or wonder. One of the two. It turns out the bill also turned other facilities over to military production, even civilian ones. The factories that already existed to make military equipment were struggling to keep up with demand, and temporary factories had been built in the region thanks to our coastal access. Water is vital for powering these facilities, both for tidal and hydro power and a number of other useful features.

Not even the main CanterLogic factory was immune to these changes. The lower levels, which had once produced poorly made defensive junk that had proven to be more of a hazard to us than to the enemy, had been converted for the making of small arms. Rifles, pistols, and machine guns rattled off the production lines at incredible speed, all needed to keep our troops armed and supplied. The ammunition was made at another site to minimize the risk of explosions and other things that would damage a military factory.

The old entrance hall and main floor, which had sat in front of the main production level, had been gutted. The stage where the annual technology demonstration took place had been removed, along with the lobby where visitors used to check in. Something about them wasting space, or something like that. Phyllis had grumbled about the loss of a space to exhibit her items, but the military had overruled her, stating that being ready to fight was more important than making a profit.

And what had happened to that level? Well, it had been turned into an enormous tank factory.

Numerous assembly lines labored day and night, turning iron and steel into parts needed for armored vehicles- tracks, hulls, plating, turrets, and other critical components (although the weapons and engines were fitted elsewhere). The skies were black with smoke from all the production, and hastily laid railroad lines were being used to move these supplies about the area.

It was a surreal sight, seeing my previously quiet region of the world turned into an enormous military park. I guess this was how a lot of people in England felt when the Americans arrived and were being squeezed into local towns and cities. But this was the consequences of my actions. When I'd gone to Fillydelphia I hadn't anticipated that the government would make a response quite like this.

What if the other leaders simply upped arms production in response and we just ended up at war? We'd be in quite a lot of trouble if that happened. Not to mention other side effects had occurred. You see that concrete lamp post just out there? That was made of cast iron before all of this began. It was removed as part of the scrap drives they had running to ensure there was enough iron and steel to make weapons. Understandable, but the affect it had on the town was dramatic.

I stood there, one dreary, gray day, looking out over the sea which by now was filling up with ships as part of the rearmament program. Behind me was the endless smoke of the factories, and before me was an endless sea of gray ships ready for action. I didn't envy any of those sailors in the slightest, endlessly swaying up and down on the water. Just thinking about it is giving me motion sickness.

I was thinking to myself as a military brass band marched past, playing a patriotic tune. I knew the melody from the world I'd come from, but of course the words were different, singing about how pegasi and unicorns would be driven back.

I probably sound like a stuck record, but this was not what I'd intended at all. Law of unforeseen consequences and all that.

I sat there, thinking to myself. And it was then I remembered something from long, long ago.

I hadn't heard anything from Hitch in a long time. Was he in danger wherever he had gone? He had been heading for the lands of the pegasi a while ago, and hadn't reported back at all. Given the lack of speech I could only assume the worst was happening. Hitch was in trouble, and he needed my help. Specifically mine. Who else has the handsome looks or bravery of my heart, that could help him out of such a terrifying situation as the one that surrounded us?

I knew what I had to do. I went home to the flat I rented and collected together things I would need for a long journey that lay ahead of me. A bag for things, some snacks, other useful supplies that would be needed for a long travel distance, and the other tools which I might need.

I figured I would leave without telling anypony. After all, Phyllis could run this place by herself without any difficulty. She's both the mayor and the head of the town's biggest employer, so she could easily run things. Besides, with the Military Police and my deputies to keep order, nothing bad should happen in Maretime Bay.

I just had to make sure I was away and gone before curfew. Being out after the curfew was generally a bad thing, as you could be put in jail and be denied ice cream. And that's just terrible!

I flipped the bag onto my back and prepared to get on my way towards my destination. I had a lot of travelling to do, and seeing as the truck I had used to get to Fillydelphia had been requisitioned by the army I had no choice but to make my long journey entirely on foot. Or on hoof, so to speak, as I didn't have feet.

As another band marched past, blasting more tunes (or it might have been the same brass band- I couldn't really tell them apart by this point), I made my way down the streets, before hiding behind a trash can to avoid a military patrol. Once they were out of the way, I moved off once more down the beachfront as best I could. I then stopped behind another object to avoid detection.

Once I had cleared the many obstacles, including hiding behind Sunny's smoothie cart at one point (I'm amazed the military didn't hall it away and use it as wood), I made my way out of town under the bridge. I began to climb a gap and up past the lighthouse, which had been requisitioned by the army as a watchpost for watching the sea approaches should any ships try to sneak up. I suspect unicorn ships are only medium sneaky.

Once I was away and clear from the town, with the sun beginning to fade behind us and turning the skies a brilliant shade of orange, the enormity of what I was about to do fell upon me.

I was heading away from comfort and all I had ever known and heading out into an unknown land, full of all sorts of dangers. Not just the guy I'd fought in that big robot, but the other potential threats too. Dangerous lands, hot deserts, and all sorts of lands awaited me to the north in this new realm.

But I had to go. Hitch needed help, and as such I had no choice but to make a journey north. I sighed and set off.

I had no way of knowing this journey would be my making.
> A Pale Moon Rises
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was out into the landscape, and on my way. The world before me was starting to unfold once more as I headed inland, away from the coastlines and oceans that had been my constant companion for so much of my time in Equestria. Little did I know it at the time, but I wouldn't be seeing Maretime Bay again for a very long time. So much would change between me leaving the fair city behind and returning to those streets once more, and the world would be turned upside down before my very eyes.

But enough about that for now. I had to continue on my journey and find Hitch. No doubt he was in trouble as he wasn't reporting back. As I trotted on my way, a horrible thought crossed my mind.

Hitch had travelled to Zephyr Heights, following Sunny as she had headed that way with Izzy. What if the rumors were true? What if the pegasuses had eaten them? That was a scary thought.

And one no doubt put into place by propaganda departments across the land to whip the populace up into unreasonable hatred. I had to be careful. I had to stay on the even keel and level. I could not afford to succumb to the prejudices the original Sprout had possessed. I had to ensure I did my part, hoof to heart, and make this world a better place than when I arrived when I left it. Thought, in all likelihood, I won't be leaving this place any time soon. I've been through some tough scrapes and come out the other side tougher. This should be no different.

As I continued on my way through the Earth Pony lands, the landscape continued to shift and change. Rolling fields and cliffs gave way to soaring peaks and mighty canyons reaching to the sky or plummeting down into the earth itself. Forests that seemed to stretch onwards into infinity unfolded before my eyes, pushing my vision to see better and more exciting sights as I went on my way. This place was absolutely stunning, which served as a notable and harsh contrast to the cruelty and bigotry which seemed to underpin the ponies who lived here. Truly an example of environmental storytelling- the prettiness of the landscape served to distract from the ugliness of the reality of life in this world. As I went along, I continued to wonder what in Equestria had happened for this world to fall from a united utopia held together by principles of love and community and become a Cold War esque landscape divided by hatred and fear, with the threat of destruction hanging over our heads like a sword.

As I passed by two bombastic statues of Earth Pony soldiers, their weapons at the ready (and actively sending a hostile message to any pegasi who happened to see them), I spotted the border was coming up ahead. Perfect! I crossed over the border itself without anypony noticing, and I was on my way once more. This was way more fun than sitting in a factory and building a big robot whilst shouting racist slogans from a pulpit.

As the sun began to set from the sky and travel down to the land itself, I realised I would need to find a place to spend the night. I wandered onwards as the sky turned from blue to an orange shade, which was certainly pretty to see, but I had no time to stop and look. Hitch needed help, I knew it, and I would keep going as long as I had to and get him back home safe.

I finally arrived in a small settlement which didn't seem to have much of anything. Back in the human world, we'd have called them 'one horse towns', but given everypony in this world is an equine of some description that statement wouldn't have made a lot of sense. I had to find a way to blend in, or else I'd be mincemeat!

Luckily, I soon spotted a way to find out what was going on. Not far from me was a local bar and tavern. I didn't have any way of staying the night, so I might have to use an irregular method of getting a place to rest overnight. I continued to move below the windows, and as I looked up I saw the light from a flat screen TV. Far better than the cathode ray tubes we were stuck with back in Maretime Bay. Cathode Ray Tubes are the reason Earth Pony TVs are so boxy and take up an entire table, by the way. I'd get a flat screen but they're rare right now and I don't exactly have the money to buy one.

But I'm getting off topic. I stopped below the window and glanced back up to the TV. It was some sort of address to the public, being given by some guy in an army uniform and a peaked cap. It looked kinda like the dictator outfit I would have worn had I not actively decided to go against the script.

The volume was not possible to discern, so I couldn't hear what was being said. But I could read the subtitles that had been put on. They seemed to be automatic captions, which produced some... interesting sentences, but at the same time I could figure out what was meant from context.

"And already, our enemies are making moves against us- moves that the False Queen refused to move against as yet another act in her litany of failures to keep you protected. Rest assured that the New Government will not make those same failures. In fact, we shall rise to face the rising aggression of these enemy nations and assert our racial superiority!"

This didn't sound good. In the movie Sprout is the one who goes off on a rabble rousing crusade and nearly starts a war. Had my decision to not follow the script resulted in the world replacing me with another rabble rousing crazy pony? I looked down and hid for a moment as some trucks passed, then popped my head up again once the beam of the headlights was gone.

The speech was still going, and it was still just as offensive as ever. "Even now, their alleged Defense against the Unicorns and Pegasi Act is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to disguise their true intentions- an invasion of our lands to steal our resources and drive us from the lands our ancestors claimed all those millenia ago! The rush to war has begun, and we must meet it face on!

"The only way to fight fire is with fire, and for that we must respond in kind to their aggression. Right now, we are instituting full scale conscription to ensure we have enough soldiers. Mares and foals will work our factories, and we must produce many more machines to counter this blatant and corrupt act of aggression from this so called 'democracy'.

This will not be an easy time. Indeed, with traitors in our own government and the flight of the Royal Family I have no doubt we shall come under attack. But we shall emerge from this crisis victorious and the greatest and most powerful nation on this planet. Gloria Pegasi!"

The broadcast had ended, and I went and hid behind the building, my head low. The horror and shock in my heart was building from what I had just learned.

It seemed I was after the coup in Zephyr Heights after Queen Haven was overthrown. Either this General was the public face of the regime or he was the new ruler. And if he was the new ruler, the army was running the country, meaning that the Pegasi were now a dictatorship!

This was so much worse than I could have imagined. I had gone to Earth Pony leaders to try and make things more peaceful and be able to defend ourselves from this striped guy who had attacked me.

But instead all I had done was start a war in a Netflix move. I really hadn't achieved anything at all.

As I looked down, annoyed at why the universe seemed to be determined to make me the butt of all its jokes, my head was filled with an odd sense of clarity. I had seemingly made this mess. But that meant I could also unmake it.

And that meant finding Hitch and telling him what was going on.

There was no time for staying overnight. Who knew when this war would begin? Time was not on my side and never had been, so I had to get moving. I thundered out of town, my hooves pounding the floor like never before.

The night was almost upon me, so I was almost navigating by instinct. But they would have to do.

The world needed saving from my actions. And in a moment of delicious irony, the pony who was going to do it was me.
> The Lands of the Unknown Ones
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had left into the night in such a rush I had later realised I had made a rather severe mistake when leaving. I had been relying on staying overnight in places when the sun was down, but seeing that alarming broadcast had made me realize I had to hurry up if I was going to prevent a potentially planet destroying war from breaking out and killing everypony. You can probably guess that, thanks to my awesomeness, it didn't break out (or else I wouldn't be telling you the story), but I didn't know that at the time.

I continued on my way, realising that travelling at night required a flashlight. And this was something I hadn't packed. Which was a bit of a worrying oversight on my part. Oh well. I'd have to stick to lit roads and hope nothing too bad happened. But if it did I was up a creek without a paddle, so to speak.

Once the night time journey was over, I stopped in another town on the edge of somewhere and spotted some pegasi talking together. They seemed to be complaining about something.

"I know lying to the people wasn't the best of things to do," said one. "But General Gulfstream is far, far worse! He's conscripting citizens into the army and sending them off to pointless wars! And for what? To satisfy his own ego? I don't want my daughter coming home in a plywood box just because some madpony fancies playing war games!"

"But they are our enemies!" Said another. "If we don't do something they may come and kill us!"

I made sure I was out of sight as I listened. Couldn't afford to get killed now, could I?

Another pegasus chimed in. "Apart from the lying, they treated us well. Gulfstream sees us as cannon fodder to serve his dream. And the racial purity laws he's proposing bringing in- these are disastrous! They'll prevent most of us from getting work!"

"Hear hear!" said another.

So, the first began to speak again. "I say we reverse the coup and fight back to restore the monarchy! What say you?"

The crowd, it seemed, were swayed. "VIVAT REGINA HAVEN!"

OK... they were now speaking some weird fancy language I don't understand. What is it with these places and weird foreign languages? At least the ponish spoken here seems to function very similarly to English!

But as I snuck out of the area, I had learned a valuable clue from the experience. That General I had seen on the TV earlier was a coup maker and an unpopular one at that. The average pegasus didn't like him, it seemed, and wanted the Royal Family back.

Well, that's an interesting turn. I mean, they didn't harm them in the movie, so I guess it makes sense, kinda. This was information I could use to my advantage if I had to, but I wasn't in that position yet. I still had a lot of ground to cover and plenty of things to do as part of my mission.

Speaking of mission, I soon found moving forward through the Equestrian hinterlands a little difficult as Gulfstream had decided to make things difficult for ponies like me. I became aware of it when I noticed the ground shaking, so hid in a bush to avoid being spotted by whomever was in there.

Up ahead, I poked my head slightly out so my eyes were barely visible (and hopefully my mane or forehead were not either). As I watched ahead, a large formation of tanks suddenly rolled by, each painted dark green with some sort of camo pattern.

They looked very different to the tanks we were building, that's for sure. Presumably they had different design needs for them. I couldn't tune into the radio chatter as I lacked a device with which to do this, but soon after they were followed by choppers fitted with searchlights and broadcasting messages.

"LOYAL CITIZENS OF THE NEW PEGASUS EMPIRE WILL HAND OVER ANY AND ALL INFORMATION OF THE WHEREABOUTS OF THE FALSE QUEEN AND HER SPAWN IMMEDIATELY, OR YOUR LIVES ARE FORFEIT!"

Spawn? It's a bit rude to call Pipp and Zipp spawn. They're her kids, for Celestia's sake!

Oh, Celestia? She's a mythical figure from long ago. I'll tell you more later.

Before long, the path was clear through the hinterlands of Equestria, and I could finally press on and continue with my journey. I continued to head onwards into the darkness of the land, the sun's race doing little to balance out the negativity and shock that I felt within my heart at how such a peaceful and cheerful looking world seemed to be on the brink of such an ugly war.

The coup news concerned me as well. Had the General launched his coup as a response to the military build up brought about in response to the bill that I had lobbied Congress for? Had I, without realising it, brought this place to the brink of a global war and destroyed the hopes of all here?

If that was the case, then how could I forgive myself? The title of that bill was a big problem, but if we ended up clashing on the battlefield that would help nopony whatsoever.

I shook my head and kept going. There was time. Time to fix this. Time to put all of this right, and built a better, brighter tomorrow on the ruins of the old world I trotted over. Damaged homes and abandoned villages remained sitting around as I made my way into the landscape and further north and west. I recalled from the map that Bridlewood was somewhere in the west of the continent, which was a place I was yet to go. Off I continued, covering the land as fast and efficiently as I could before arriving somewhere. The ground seemed to have changed somewhat, with the seeming foothills of mountains somewhere nearby, and some rocks being scattered amongst the boulders and grasslands of this wild terrain.

I pushed aside two trees and my mouth fell open at what I saw. Standing there, seemingly untouched even after all that had happened, was the Palace of the Two Sisters! It was on the other side of a rope bridge, so I crossed that and stepped into the ruins. Considering this place had been a ruin back in the previous Generation, the fact the ruins were still standing thousands of years on from that was nothing short of remarkable. And back in my old world we have buildings that are thousands of years old and still in one piece!

I looked in my saddle bag and suddenly spotted a camera in there, so took it out. Odd. I couldn't remember packing a camera. Had it somehow teleported into my bag without me knowing?

"This place is proof we used to live in harmony," I said. "Probably a good idea to get some photos of this!"

So, I went around and took snaps of the interior of the place to assess what sort of shape the area was in. The building was, well, a ruin, and hadn't entirely stayed together. Many roofs were missing, and a few walls had fallen over and covered the pathways inside with rubble and rock.

But the central throne room was remarkably intact. Two thrones sat there, along with a back wall and what looked to be the ruins of some sort of machine with six slots. I trotted over and looked inside, spotting six emblems.

This was the device that had contained the Elements of Harmony, when Celestia had banished Luna to the moon over two thousand years ago! It was all still here! If Sunny was here she'd be beside herself with excitement!

Speaking of Sunny, she was probably with Hitch. I kinda owed her an apology for being a jerk to her. I was about to leave when suddenly I spotted an intact book case, with books on it. I trotted over and looked closely at it, before noticing one of the books.

A complete history of Equestria, Revised and Expanded Edition - Includes the reign of Twilight Sparkle the title on the spine said.

A complete history would be invaluable, so I picked it up and took it with me. Sunny would no doubt have the skills to interpret this information better than I did.

Eventually, I left the old ruins behind and headed away in the direction I had been coming, which required me to head further north and west. The terrain was beginning to feel a bit foreboding, but at the same time I felt that I was fully prepared for what was to come.

Equestria was a fictional land I knew very well. True, much of it had changed since Friendship is Magic, but at the same time it was also exciting to see what had changed in the landscape.

And up ahead would lie some of the greatest discoveries of all time!
> Didn't Think this Through!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was soon on my way once more, ready for whatever might be coming my way. The place seemed to be nice once more, but what surprised me more was that the Palace of the Two Sisters seemed to now be within pegasus territory. Surely the unicorns would want such a monument to their own power and might incorporated into their own lands?

Or had they just forgotten that the place existed?

The latter is probably a lot more likely, given that this racially divided world seems to have forgotten that once members of all three tribes saved the world from destruction, only to fall back into their old prejudices and feelings about one another.

Is change truly possible under such circumstances? Or are we simply going to fall back and repeat the same mistakes as our forebears until the end of time? It was a sobering thought, I must admit. And one that made me determined to help to build a better future. I kinda knew Sprout's reputation as a punching bag in the main show and the catalyst of the tribes coming back together, but this time I wanted to help them come back together, not ignite a race war in the process!

Even if it seemed my actions had done that anyway. Which is why I had to hurry on my way.

This was where the map began to let me down. I fully understood that cartography of other lands seemingly was not very good despite us having planes (as presumably unicorns and pegasi would not take kindly to an earth pony aircraft flying through their airspace), and this meant our maps were pretty bad. The pegasus ones are probably better (as if they have internet they probably have satellites and a space program to get said satellites up into orbit), but I didn't have one. And this map was very unhelpful.

I studied it, with its questionable markings like 'possible swamp here' and 'death awaits here'. What a joke of a map. A toddler could have done better than this! How does 'death awaits' help anypony in any way?

The map also had no marking for north, or even a scale. I know old maps are often meant to be read with east at the top (this, incidentally, is the route of the word 'orientated', which means 'face the east'), but that wouldn't have made sense with this one. North equals top has been the standard for a very long time, and should stay that way as it's easy to read!

I pushed onwards through the dark lands, until I entered more sandy terrain. I was on a cold desert highway with the wind blowing through my mane, and I had to stop for the night as the wind was picking up, threatening a storm in the local area.

"There has to be a town around here somewhere," I said to myself as I pushed onwards. The darkness was refusing to yield anything useful, though, and it seemed at first my search was hopeless. But, after a long time on the move, I finally found what I was looking for.

A small town loomed out of the darkness, sitting there before me like a beacon of civilization in a landscape of barbarity and potential savagery. Here I could finally get a rest, something to eat, and hopefully get my bearings for heading away from this place and travelling into wherever Hitch was.

I walked down the street, noticing only a handful of pegasi outside. My disguise seemed to be holding, so I kept going, and eventually found a building helpfully labelled a tavern.

I opened the door and stepped inside- and there couldn't have been a greater contrast to before.

Inside, a great fire blazed in a massive fireplace. The landscape glowed with warmth on the brick and wood walls, covered with all sorts of unusual objects the owner had presumably collected. The tables were packed with ponies discussing things, and sharing drinks. Or three, depending on how many there were and what they were drinking. I only hoped pegasus ale was not stronger than what I was used to in the human world. I liked mine quite weak, so anything stronger and I'd probably be seriously drunk in no time.

But it seemed nice to stay in, and the alternative was wandering through the cold with a lack of a powerful light source. I chose to stay, and took a seat at a table with a number on it. Sitting in front was a digital display, and I took a look. It provided options for food and drink to order, and seemed to be much more advanced technologically than what the earth ponies had.

Which makes sense, given the pegasi have tech dominance in this timeline. I scrolled through the options, eventually settling on a chicken dish with two vegetables (what we would have called 'meat and two' back in the old world), and what looked like a rather light ale.

A few minutes later, the food was delivered with the drink, and my eyes noticed my colleagues were all eating meat as was I. So that answers the age old question bronies have over whether Equestrian ponies can eat meat. I dove into my food and drink as I clearly hadn't eaten properly in some time. I relaxed as the music flowed onwards and the warmth became a friendly place for me.

Unfortunately, my suspicions about the drink were rather correct. I hadn't realised it at first but pegasi brew their beer a lot stronger than earth ponies do, and as a result after a bit the world began to spin a bit. I can't remember a huge amount about the night as a result, but safe to say I remember something about falling over on some stairs and being pulled somewhere.

It was all very odd. Whomever would have guessed my first experience of being drunk would be as a pony, huh? Never again, that's all I say.

I woke up the next morning with a splitting headache, and lying on a bed in a room overlooking the street. The sun was up, and I groaned as I rolled out of bed and looked out. "That was rough," I groaned as I looked down. My eyes traced activity in the street, and to my surprise plenty of ponies were already on the move, getting on with frontier life. Did they mostly heard cattle out here? Or did they plant cash crops? I'll need to look into this more later on, or maybe ask Sunny when she's done talking to the pony over there. Seriously, how long has that conversation been going on?

I had to head downstairs to settle my tab, so I did. I stumbled down the stairs and stopped outside the door, then opened it and stepped through. The last thing I wanted was to pay for a new door. I was at the bar, and stopped at the pony cleaning some glasses.

"I'd like to settle my tab, please," I said.

"Sure, that'll be six and sixty," the bartender replied.

I placed some coins on the bar, and he picked them up. "Thank you for... hold on a minute. This isn't pegasus currency."

Wait, what?

He put the coins back. "These aren't pounds and pence. Those are earth pony coins. How exactly does a pegasus have earth pony coins on him?"

I gulped. I hadn't even considered the possibility that the three tribes had their own currencies. I was truly screwed. "Uhh, well, you see, I, erm, happened to find them and-"

Suddenly, somepony else pulled the bungie chords securing my disguise off, and it fell to the floor, along with the wings I had made. "Hey, what in the world?"

The entire tavern fell quiet, and the eyes all looked over in shock. And then somepony spoke up.

"That's no pegasus! He's an earth pony! Gulfstream was right! They are invading us!"

Well, shit. The band had seemingly anticipated chaos, as they started playing a jaunty, upright tune. But it didn't really fit what was going on, as suddenly objects began flying through the air. Glasses exploded on the floor, covering the ground with alcohol. This made it extremely slippery. Chairs roared through the air like missiles, slamming into objects and walls. I ran for it as best I could until my hoof got stuck on a patch of sticky ground, and I rolled out of the door and onto the floor.

"GO AWAY AND NEVER COME BACK, TINY BRAIN!" shouted one of the patrons.

I hauled myself to my feet and dashed off as quickly as I could. So, you think I have a tiny brain, huh? Well, they'd all be looking pretty silly a few weeks down the road. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I had escaped one crazy situation, but had soon blundered into another one, which wasn't much fun. How in the world was I going to navigate now?
> The Vales and Mountains of my Soul
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It wasn't long before the landscape began to change again. Upon leaving the town I headed west, and soon the land shifted away from the arid desert landscape I had been in and began to shift into a rocky landscape. This landscape also rose in the air as I went along, on a somewhat steep gradient. Hills! These were hills!

As I kept on climbing, the landscape with alpine fields and plant life sitting underneath local hills was wondrous to behold. It began to remind me of Oregon, a place I would probably never see again now. I stopped to take a few photos, and looked down into the valley below to see mist flowing through it and into the local area.

I was hit with a tinge of sadness as I saw it. This stunning place was a reminder of the home I had once had and would now probably never see again. It was simply another reminder of how out of place I was, a fish out of water, although so far the whole punching bag thing had gone a bit better than I had thought it would. I looked down, lost in my own thoughts (as often happens when one is on their own for long periods of time), before I shook my head and looked around. Now was not the time for wallowing in the past and what might have been! Now I had to push onwards and reclaim the future, and leave this place a better place than I had started in it.

Not that I'll be popping it anytime soon, of course. Prime specimen of earth pony health over here!

So I went onwards, continuing my ascent into the mountains surrounded by clouds and glacial landscapes. Ice began to slowly build up, and the grass was gradually replaced with snow. Towering mountain peaks so tall their peaks seemed to scrape the sky itself stood all around me. I was in awe of what I was seeing once more. All this sitting out of view of the audience. Did the world function like this beyond the screen or was it merely a reflection of my own desires and subconscious thoughts about the world itself?

That made no sense, of course, so I dismissed the thought and pushed onwards into the clouds. The path was showing no signs of levelling out, so I just kept on climbing my way into the sky. Not a problem! The view from the top was probably amazing, and so I simply kept on going as I reached something that seemed to be the top.

The cloud and fog also seemed to be lifting, and this relieved me. Often this denoted a plateau, or a levelling off at the very least. I soon passed a sign in front of me.

HURRICANE'S PASS

HIGHEST CROSSING OF THE WORLD'S EDGE MOUNTAINS

14,000 FEET

Wow. Talk about high. Makes some of the mountains back home seem like toddlers. Getting this high would be illegal in most places!

I came to a stop, and suddenly saw a figure through the mists, sitting on a rock. "Hello?" I called, as I stepped forward. It was definitely a pony I was seeing, but who precisely?

As I got closer, they turned to look at me. They were a turquoise pony wearing a purple cloak, presumably to help with the cold weather, and some frizzy hair seemed to be spilling out of it in shades of greens and blues attached to her scalp.

I then spotted her horn. It was a unicorn! I couldn't help but admit she somehow seemed familiar, though...

She then spoke, looking just as surprised as I was. "Sprout? What are you doing here?"

Of course! It was Misty, the battered unicorn who had managed to collectively melt the hearts of the brony community. But I thought she was introduced in Make your Mark! If we're in the movie and she's here, then how much else has changed in this world? I knew about this general guy, but if a canon, named character is wandering around too early then what is going on?

So I spoke, also a question. "Misty? What are you doing here?"

I know answering a question with a question is considered rude, but the words she had said gave me hope. Back when this journey had started, I had heard these words:

"Transporting lots of people between dimensions is a lot of work. But one more can be moved. It may just take a little bit more power!"

If one more could be moved, that suggested others had been moved before me. And if Misty knew who I was, what if she had been moved as well? It was entirely possible that I wasn't alone in this place, and this possibility along filled my heart with hope.

Misty spoke, dragging me out of my thoughts. "That's as good a guess as any."

She had sat on a rock, so I did the same, and shrugged my shoulders. "I came looking for Hitch."

"Well, he went another way," Misty replied. Something was clearly off. She was being really abrupt with me, which was odd to say the least.

As she sat there, I finally got a closer look at her, a closer look than you could have got when a TV screen was in the way of your perception. I hadn't noticed this before but she had freckles!

I smiled internally as I sat with her. I have no idea how Phyllis would have reacted to me interacting casually with a unicorn, but there I was, free of her attitudes and mindset, whilst sitting her with a pony I have to admit was actually pretty cute. But I didn't think I was falling for her. Finding somepony else attractive and loving them are two separate things.

But she still seemed down, so I chose to break the silence. "Hey, are you OK?" I asked. "You seem troubled."

Misty looked up at me, the first time her eyes had made contact with mine in a long time. "I am currently experiencing emotions and feelings I never thought I'd experience. And I'm here, on top of a mountain, on an alien planet, in the body of a fictional character, talking to another fictional character about how I feel. This is either the greatest comedy or darkest tragedy ever written."

Ouch. It's not fun living in a world where you're the butt of jokes. Trust me, I knew that feeling all too well. And this was the confirmation I needed that she was a former human! "I know how that feels."

"You do?" Misty asked, sounding audibly surprised.

"It's never easy trying to survive in an alien world in the body of a character intended to be a hate sync, and yet I've somehow managed to survive. If you need tips or help with surviving out here, I suggest going against what they expect of you and following your heart instead. That's exactly what I did." Well, that got a lot more meta than I thought it would. But that was exactly what I'd done, after all. I'd followed my instincts instead of simply resorting to the actions of the canon character, and things had turned out better than hoped. At least I wasn't leading an angry mob in knocking a lighthouse over!

Misty then spoke once more, and this attracted my full attention. "Thanks, Sprout."

"No problem, Misty. Now then, shall we get off this mountain?"





On our way through the mountain, I learned more about Misty's experience. Not to say mine was fun, but YIKES! Falling into a pool and being changed in what sounded like the most excruciatingly painful way possible was not fun. Not least given she hadn't been born a girl. Or mare. All I could say is that experience must have been pretty terrifying for somepony like that, not to mention ending up in the clutches of Opaline.

I did get some amusement from Misty suggesting Opaline's pool was never cleaned, though, as apparently it smelled awful!

The landscape began to change around us once again as we began to drop down through the mountains. The fog was back, for one, and it was easy to imagine that spirits were whirling all around us. But not windigoes. No chance of them being around given what happened in Ending of the End Part 2.

Misty seemed scared, though. "Something's not right," she said quietly.

I nodded. Truth be told I felt a little concerned as well, as things seemed to be out of balance. "I know, Misty. But the sooner we're off this rock the better. The bottom can't be that far away, right?"

I was wrong. The fog and mist made judging our position rather difficult, but I soon realised that we seemed to have hit level ground. We had reached the bottom! We-

My heart sank as the fog cleared. We had reached a small clearing area. And lots of strange spirits floated before us in the light.

"What is this? High fantasy cliché day?"
> Spirits of a Lost Age
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I don't remember ghosts in the movie," I said simply, looking at the confusing scene before me. As I stood there, trying to puzzle out what was happening here, the ghosts suddenly turned their attention towards me, their empty eyes glaring at me and seeming to not be happy at my precense.

"Maybe we disturbed a ghost reunion?" Misty said.

"Why would ghosts have reunions?" I asked.

"Why wouldn't that?" Misty answered in return, with a question. "Does being a ghost prevent you from being able to have a social life?"

That's a fair point, actually. Was there anything in particular about ghosthood which prevented you from socializing or doing other things? I imagine that when you're not off scaring people out of old houses that you'd probably not have a lot to fill your time with, so you probably get up to other things.

The ghosts continued looking at us, still annoyed. So we had intruded on a social event! Oops!

"We'll just be going," I said, and turned back- before suddenly walking into a wall that wasn't there. "OW! That wasn't there a moment ago!"

Misty tapped it with her hoof. "Invisible walls?" she said. "I thought that was only something in video games trying to stop you going to a place in the game too early!"

"You could say that," said a voice, that soundly oddly nasally and yet familiar at the same time. We turned around to see a very fat man in striped clothing standing there, his greasy fingers pointing at us. "Movie characters reappearing where they don't belong, but Make your Mark characters now! Honestly, I thought I'd dealt with that possibility when I attacked the castle! It wasn't enough for her to be causing me trouble, now Opaline is getting in my way!"

I had kinda figured that Opaline was around given that Misty was wandering across Equestria and had the locket from Tell your Tale around her neck. But what did he mean about attacking the castle? "Who are you, and what do you want?"

"I want nothing but this world to be gone!" he bellowed. "Friendship is Magic deserves its five more seasons, and you existing is preventing that from being the case!"

Oh dear. I recognized the rhetoric. How had he gotten here. "Look, I know trying to get Season 9 remade didn't work, but what do you hope to achieve by trying to get Hasbro to cancel G5?"

"You have me confused for somebody else," he said. "I shall destroy this world and ensure the perfect utopia of old Equestria never dies! And I shall keep fighting onwards and removing the roadblocks no matter how many times she keeps bringing them back!"

If he was implying what I think he's implying, he was trying to get the G5 world to fall apart by removing key characters from the narrative and causing the world to destroy itself! That's silly, even for a G5 hater.

But something, or somepony perhaps, kept bringing the ponies back? Was that how I got here? I mean, this whole scenario had begun when I had been told to take his place. His place being Sprout, I assume, but that would explain Misty too. Maybe this guy killed Misty and another person from my world was selected to replace her?

This was beginning to feel like a very confusing anime.

But before anything else could be said, the figure laughed. "But know now that you are finished! The world cannot stand as it is! Even know the tribes prepare to obliterate one another in a firestorm of devastation and death- one that you partly made possible, Sprout. Know that in trying to save your pathetic world you damned it forever. But I shan't give you that pleasure." He turned away and stormed towards a nearby exit. "Now, my army of ghosts! Avenge the fallen world! Preserve the honour of Generation 4!"

What a nutter. Just because I enjoy G5 doesn't mean I hate G4! True, there were things G4 could have done better, but that's not a way of saying I dislike it as a setting, because I don't. I wouldn't be a brony without it, after all!

Suddenly, the ghosts seemed to come to life, and charged at us. "Split up!" I shouted. Misty and I suddenly ran in different directions and began to circle around the arena. "Hopefully they'll get dizzy and lose track of us!"

Misty nodded, and dashed off in another direction. I glanced over my shoulder to see a ghost looking behind him. Damn! I'd forgotten constraints of biology don't apply to ghosts! How else would the headless horseman be able to move about despite the head being very important for bodily functions?

I dashed round the side and spotted something interesting. The ghosts seemed to be circling in the center, and a series of energy blasts thundered from there. "Jump over them until they stop!" I called.

Misty and I engaged in frantic jumping until the mess was well and truly over, and then we started on the circling move once again. This was getting tiring, but it seemed to be working. Two ghosts flew at her, but Misty pulled off quite the backflip to dodge them, before running into a spinning leap to make two others collide with one another. Hey, she's certainly very agile out here, which makes sense.

We closed in on the side of the arena, the ghosts still going despite having run round and round in circles for several minutes with no signs of the battle coming to an end. Usually these sorts of boss encounters keep going until either you or the enemy run out of health, but I couldn't see any health bars anywhere.

Wait a moment. That video game analogy gave me an idea. We already had an invisible wall, and what seemed like some sort of cage boss fight in an arena with enemies who swarmed you. I wonder if this striped guy had played a lot of fighting games?

I suddenly spotted a torch at the side of the field which had fallen over and was poking into something, as there was intense energy sparking. I suddenly had an idea, and glanced over to Misty. "See the torch?" I asked.

"Yes!" she said, puffing and panting from all the galloping around. She did look really tired out.

"It's cutting through the invisible wall!" I said. "What if we use them to cut our way out and escape?"

"It's worth a try!" she called, and dashed over to grip another. She pulled it free using her mouth and hooves, and I grabbed the existing one and dashed over to the same section of wall. We slammed them into the wall and began cutting. It was extremely slow progress, but we soon had a hole the size of a pony cut into the invisible wall. I indicated for Misty to jump through first, and I then followed her out of the hole and moved onwards into the arena.

The ghosts seemed annoyed at what had happened, and attempted to give chase, but were halted when they crashed into the invisible wall. It seemed they couldn't detect the hole and use it, so it was a relief that we could engage in boundary clipping and they could not.

Whomever said all programming mistakes were bad, eh?

As we made our way further down the mountain (following a sign that told us Bridlewood led that way), I reflected on our experience together. Truth be told, I'd only known this world from the screen and sound system I had at home. The characters existed in another place, another time, another world. Even though I'd been here for so long now, I still felt like I didn't know it all too well. Hitch had left so suddenly, and I hadn't met another character from the film or TV show.

I'd only known Misty for a short while, and yet we had worked together to save each other's lives from chaos and those ghosts. A debt I knew I could never truly repay. I smiled as I looked at her. "You did great out there."

"Thanks!" Misty said, blushing as she did so. She's so adorable when she does that.

Wait a second. We hadn't known each other for that long, and yet I felt something between us. Was I really falling for a fictional character?

Well, I suppose she's technically not fictional here, but that's something of an academic point I guess. I had to keep moving and figure out my emotions later on, as the state of the world didn't really give me time to be frolicking about with mares. Besides, our destination was in sight. It was surreal seeing everypony else. Pipp and Hitch, Sunny and Izzy. They were equally surprised to see me!

But Zipp was conspicuous by her absence. Where was she?

That could wait. Our destination lay ahead. Hopefully here I could catch my bearings and finally find out what in the world was going on these days in Equestria.