Falling Into the Unknown

“What happened, Tyler?” Celestia said with obvious concern on her voice as she walked into the warehouse where the portal was.

“Some changeling named Chrysalis, apparently their ‘Queen’, decided to open a goddamn portal to Earth.” I stated. “She’s probably hoping for rampant chaos. How do we close it?”

“You… No longer want to go back?” Celestia asked hesitantly.

“I want to go back, but let’s see if we can close the portal first and prevent an all-out war between you and whatever country is on the other side.” I simply stated.

“Will they really attack?” Celestia asked with worry as guards moved around us.

“Depends on which country.” I said. “How do we end the portal?”

Celestia’s face turned grim. “We need time and effort for that. Can you go and… Defeat Chrysalis for us? We shall only be rid of her once she is gone.”

I lifted my rifle up, showing it to her before slinging it over my shoulder. “When do I leave?”

“When we find Chrysalis.” The large pony quickly stated, before her horn glowed a bright yellow for a few seconds, as well as her eyes. When that finished, she stood there, with what looked like a much bigger frown on her face.

“What?” I asked.

“She teleported to the main hive, in the Badlands.” Celestia said.

“And that is bad why?” I said. “You know where she is.”

“Because the main hive is located quite a bit into the Badlands.” One guard nearby said. “There are around ten thousand Changelings inside of it.”

“… Fuck, I don’t have enough ammo.” I said. To put it bluntly, that was a massive understatement.

“Which is why I will order an immediate assault on it.” Celestia said.

“How many guards do you have that can get there within a day?” I asked.

“Over four thousand.” She said confidently.

I nodded. “Is that enough?”

“More than enough. The majority will be unicorns, with pegasi to back them up.” Celestia said. “I am reluctant to order it, but this is more than a small matter for us: She has attacked us for far too long, and must be defeated.”

“Rodger that.” I said, snapping off a mock salute and turning around.

To find Amber and Azure staring at me.

“What?” I asked.

“You do know that you have a high chance of dying in the assault on the hive?” Amber asked.

“Does it look like I care?” I shot back. “At least I’ll be able to take Chrysalis with me. Also, I won’t die anyway. Fate has screwed me over enough, at least in my opinion.”

Azure sighed, and looked right at me. “You are incomparably stubborn.”

“Yep.” I said, sitting down on the ground.

“Well, you’re not going it alone.” Amber said. “Because we’re going with you.”

“We are?” Azure asked.

“We are.” Amber replied, shooting her brother a look that was visible even to me as a death stare.

“Ok, we are.” Azure said quickly.

I quietly laughed to myself, getting up off of the ground and walking out of the building, with Azure and Amber talking in hushed voices behind me. I got in one of the chariots that Celestia had arrived in and waited as said Princess ordered a guard to take us to an are by a town named ‘Hoofington’, before she took off in the direction of Canterlot.

Honestly, I wasn’t surprised when Azure and Amber hopped on right before the chariot took off.

We flew up into the air, headed south, towards my greatest challenge yet.

I could hardly wait.

-=-=-

On Earth

10 miles east of Little Rock, Arkansas

“Put the barriers up facing the direction of the emissions!” A National Guard sergeant shouted, point to an area they had assumed was the front of the portal.

“Sergeant!” He heard a voice call out. Turning around, he froze as he saw the President walking towards him.

“Mr. President, sir!” He finally said, snapping off a salute.

“Where are the scientists?” The President said.

“In that tent.” The sergeant said, point to a rather large one set up twenty feet away.

“Thank you, Sergeant.” The President said, several men in black suits trailing him. The sergeant stood there for a moment, stunned, before shaking it off and getting back to shouting orders.

The President of the United States, James Allen, ducked into the tent. Several men in both military uniforms and civilian clothes walked around, many of them typing down notes into iPads and normal notebooks.

“President on the deck!” One of the military men said, turning and saluting. Immediately, the gathered scientists and officers turned towards him.

“What’s the situation?” The President asked. “Spare me the minor details: Just tell me why the hell a portal to God knows where is here.”

One of the civilians walked forwards, stretching out his hand, which the President shook.

“Just call me Joe, sir.” The civilian said. “At about ten o’ clock PM, a light was spotted in a field by cars on a nearby highway. The police were called, and then the National Guard, and I assume you were notified.”

“I was.” The President simply stated.

“The portal is a disk around twenty feet wide, suspended in the air. It has two sides, and both look the same, except the current side, the ‘front’ as we call it, is a shade of cyan instead of a dark blue. The strangest thing, though, is what we’ve been detecting.”

The scientist held up his iPad, which showed several boxes, with all of them having a straight line though them.

“We have detected some type of radiation leaking through this side, and this side only. It does not correspond to anything on the electromagnetic scale. It simply shows up as a straight line: Either meaning it is in the extreme towards the Ultraviolet side, or the waves are so close together on the Infrared side that it blurs. We can’t tell anything about it, except that it’s completely harmless.”

“Are you sure?” The President asked warily.

The scientist nodded. “Completely.”

“Major, what is your team’s recommendation on the portal?” The President asked, turning towards one of the military men.

“Keep it simple, sir: Watch and wait.” The Major said. “We don’t know why it is here, but sending a human through is unthinkable: And sending a drone through is both a crapshoot and might be considered an act of war to whoever, or whatever, is on the other side.”

The President nodded. “I agree, Major. Keep watching and waiting, and notify me if anything comes up. Dismissed.” The President walked out of the tent, moving towards the back of the camp that had sprung up around the portal.

Various news channels were covering it constantly, with both conspiracy theorists and wackos getting equal time among scientists and ‘normal people reactions’.

The President sighed as he entered the tent that had been assigned to him, the Secret Service waiting outside of it. It was only three years into his first term, and he had a crisis on his hands.

He just hoped he made the right decisions.