AACB Temp Title

~Summer~

Ask anyone where they were that day and they could tell you.  They'll remember the clothes they were wearing, what they were eating, the song that got cut off on the radio.    We thought we had our existence figured out.  We thought we knew our place.  Then came Equestria.

One day we thought we were alone.  The next day our existence became so much bigger.

At first there was no media coverage of the event.  'Right-wing,' 'liberal,' it didn't matter.  The powers that be decided that the public would be safer without knowing there was another world out there.  Of course, when fractures in space-time are popping up, someone's bound to catch it on camera, and then it's on the internet, and then the proverbial cat is out of the bag and dancing across Broadway.  It's only hours before the first video has over a million views.

It's a simple beat.  A couple of guys walk down the sidewalk in the California bay region, filming their buddy as he stumbles drunkenly along.  All of a sudden they all look at strange purple particles bursting in the air.  They go silent, the party boy's jaw hangs, and then a crystalline rip zips down in front of them.  When it opens up they can see verdant fields and open skies, a palette of natural colors so vibrant it seems impossible.  A white unicorn, almost as big as our horses, looks back through the tear.  Then it flickers and shuts again, and the video ends.

At first the media ignored it. Then they called it a hoax.  As more and more incursions became public knowledge, they couldn't deny the existence of the other world any longer.  The BBC is the first to crack, then CNN, then every media post from every corner of the world puts in their voice.  My bosses are livid, but there's nothing to be done.   For the first time ever, the human race looks out and sees more than just a mysterious void.

All of our stories began there, but I can only tell my own.  This isn't the story of humanity's triumph over a common foe.  This isn't the story of how we fought valiantly for our way of life.  It is only the sound of my voice, and the choices that defined me.

Everyone knows where they were that day.  I was in my bedroom, watching video after video showing glimpses of this alien world.  Maybe someone could sense my desire to contact these creatures, or maybe it was coincidence.  As the sun began to set on Earth, I heard a voice come through my window.

“..n.. ou... me?”

I stood up and looked out the window, thinking that someone was calling me from below.  The dirt roads leading out of the post were empty.  I leaned out and shouted anyway.  “Hey!  Someone there?”

“.. here...” the voice came again, and I couldn't believe my ears.  It came from the potted sapling I keep on the sill.

“Great,” I muttered, rubbing my forehead.  “This alien world thing broke my fucking brain.”

“Assure... not crazy... ve.. foe... headphones?”

I knew that no one was in the room, but I still looked around just to make sure.  If someone watched me trying to plug my headset into a small tree, they would have never let me live it down.  I picked it up off of my desk and inserted the plug into the dirt near the base of the sapling.

“Do you copy?” I said.

“Copy?” the stranger replied.  Definitely female, though barely audible over the amount of static that accompanied her words.  “Oh.  Yes, yes I can hear you now!  Can you hear me?”

“Barely.”

“Hm, that's no good.   If you could get a silver thread instead of what you have now, it'd work a lot better.  But managed to talk, yes!  Hello other world!”

My heart jumped in my chest and I looked around the room again.  I closed the window, the curtains, and made sure the door was locked before adjusting the headset again.

“Assuming I'm not crazy,” I started, “how do I know you're really from that world?”

“I'm pretty sure your species hasn't found a way to use small plant life as an antennae,” the lady replied.  She sounded amused.  “You'll just have to take my word for now.  You know it's real, don't you?”

“It's definitely real.” I sat down, head in my hands.  The full impact of the event still hadn't settled on me.  There was almost a minute of silence before I swallowed and tried to say something.  Anything.  “... I have so many questions.”

“As do I.  Since I so rudely intruded on your space, it's only fair that I let you ask first.”

I couldn't help but smile.  “So you can actually understand me?  Do you speak English?”

“Yes and no,” she replied after some hesitation.  “I'm trying to learn, but we can understand each other thanks to the sp... the link.”

“Okay.  I don't quite understand, but if it works, I'm not gonna shoot it down.”

“Shoot it... oh, yes.  I'm glad.  Now, what's your name?”

“Brandon Summers, Private First Class, Ma'am.”

A pleasant laugh.  “Summers.  I like that.  And?”

“Pardon?”

“Your next question.”

“What's your name?”

“You can call me 'Emerald Flash.'  Or just Emerald.”

“Like that thing that you see when the sun sets?”

“Of course!  Forgive me, I'm just a little excited.  I don't think anypony's ever done anything like this before.”

I couldn't help but laugh at her choice of words—if it was her words.  It could have just been how our universe 'understood' ponies.  I tried not to think about it too much.

“I'm excited, too,” I told her.

“I know!  Now then, why don't you tell me about--”

“Hold on, you skipped me.”

“You technically asked about the green flash.”

“Fine,” I sigh.  “Fire away.”

Another brief pause.  She seemed to stumble over more figurative language.  “What's your family like?  Do you have any siblings?”

“That's two questions,” I muse, but reply anyway.  “One sister, don't see her much.  My ma's an angel.  Dad's a right bastard but he always did alright by us.  Just glad he retired from the army corps before I enlisted.  Don't think they could have handled the two of us.”

She laughed again, a real down home chuckle.  “I know what that's like.  I've got family in the military too.”

I stiffened and was grateful she couldn't see the shock on my face.  For some reason, the idea of technicolor unicorns having an active military just never entered my head.  I tried to imagine the boot camp, the deployments, what enemies they could possibly have.  Part of me was grateful to know that we weren't the only ones with a fight.  Another part of me wished that they didn't have to.

“Tell me about your family,” I said, finally.

“It's a really big family,” she replied.  “It would take a while...”

I lifted the curtain a bit and looked to the sunset, casting red hues across post.  “I have all the time in the world.”

We talked for hours every night.  At first we just exchanged stories, getting a feel for each other.  In some ways, growing up on Earth was a lot like growing up on Equestria.  And in some ways it was completely different.  We both knew what bullies were.  We both didn't know what we wanted to do with our lives until well after school.  We both fell in love with the first pretty girl with red hair we met and a year later couldn't understand what we were thinking.  Family was a big subject, but we talked about everything.

There were touchy subjects, of course.  The ponies were herbivores, and while they didn't look down on us for eating meat, the one time we talked about it was the one time she sounded frightened.  There were times when I thought about giving it up altogether, but I don't think I could give up my mom's shepherd's  pie.  It's just a part of who I am.

As I learned about the ponies from my friend, so too did we learn from our televisions and our computers.  There were nightly specials explaining the difference between an earth pony and a unicorn, and how the pegasi controlled the weather, and how magic worked in their world.  We marveled over the sheer amount of riches that seemed to grow in Equestria just as easily as the grass rose from the plains.  No one seemed to know why we had suddenly come together, but they thought that we could both learn so much from each other.

I must have asked her a thousand questions about cutie marks and magic and farming and every whim under the sun.  She always answered earnestly, but asked me exactly one question in return.  Over time we began to understand each other.  What's more, we were becoming friends, like inter-dimensional pen pals.

The closer we grew, the more difficult the questions became.   “This probably sounds like a weird question,  but... your history is full of a lot of wars.  Which one do you think is the most important?”

“I, uh,” I stammered.  “Are you sure you want to talk about that?  There's a lot more to our history than fighting.”

“I understand how you feel.  No one ever wants to talk to us about it, even though we can read your history books.  Maybe you trust me enough to give me your thoughts.”

I folded my hands and rested my head against them, eyes shut.

“You don't have to answer if you don't want to,” she conceded.

“I need to think about it,” I said.

Just as a matter of being a human being, war affected me in every way.  It meant bread on the shelf cost a dime more or a dime less than it did yesterday. It meant your neighbor's son never coming home again.  It meant that you stopped trusting everyone who smiled at you on the street.  Looking over your shoulder when you were walking to your car, and underneath it if you had a funny feeling in your gut.

“My father was in the Vietnam war.  I haven't seen combat myself.  It seems like such a loaded question, because they all have changed our... my country.  My world.  It's probably different for everyone.  Me... I wasn't even alive during the second World War, but we all talk about it.  We all know it happened.  But it's one where I understand that sometimes war is the only thing that can save you.  Sometimes it's the right thing to do.  That's why I enlisted.  My father believed that, and I do too.”

“Thank you,” she said, and then as if to reassure me, she continued, “Equestria hasn't seen full-scale war in ages, but it's come close.  We have our tyrants, too.”

“I kind of wish you didn't,” I laughed, rubbing my palms against my face.

Two things happened on the summer solstice.

In the morning I received a parcel from New York.  Inside was a reel of silver wire and a new set of earphones.  Security accused me of being an audiophile geek but didn't think much of it otherwise.  He didn't really know any better.

The larger of the two events took place a couple of miles off of the Atlantic Coast.  What began as another minor fracture suddenly exploded outwards, causing a tidal surge and several weather disturbances.  For a brief moment it seemed like the world was ending, and when it was all calm again, a shimmering bubble stood in the ocean.  Just barely visible from the land, it was more than just a window to another world.  It was a gaping hole to the other side, and the only thing between it and us was a glowing dome that neither side seemed to understand.

I waited for Emerald to talk to me that night, but she never did.

“Summers?”

I practically leapt out of bed, groping instinctively for the wooden bat I kept beneath it.  I only managed to jam my hand against something else.  Then through the haze of half-consciousness I remember the sound of that voice.  It'd been several weeks.  The anger of being awakened in the dead of night gave way quickly to joy.

“I was worried about you,” I said.

“I'm sorry,” she said.  “Things have gotten... busy.”

“Tell me about it,” I groaned.  “They're talking about transferring my whole section to the east coast.  The UN is a mess.  Got to be at least a hundred people tossed themselves to their death through that portal before the coast guard stepped in.”

“I'm sorry,” she said.  “We didn't... no one knew that this place would hurt them.  I don't think it's fair.”

“Damn right, it's not fair,” I said, rubbing my temples.  “You get to gallop around here as you please and if we head your way we get a nice deadly dose of rad poisoning from whatever the hell your world is spewing out.”  I bit back my bile, cursed myself under my breath, and sucked in a new one.  “Sorry.  I guess this means that you're going to have to come and see me instead.”

“Maybe someday.”

When I'd reached for my bat, I missed and bumped my hand against something.  I remembered the old guitar I'd taken up and consequently abandoned.  There simply wasn't enough time, but I still loved it.  I pulled out the case and opened it, carefully lifting the wooden body into my lap.

“Can you hear this?”  I asked, and struck a chord.

Emerald sounded like she gasped.  “Yes,” she said.  “You never said you played.”

“Not anymore,” I said.  “I don't even know why I stopped.”

“Play me something.”

I grinned.  She'd always asked, and never demanded, even when it was the most simple thing.  The command seemed almost natural.  “Yes, ma'am,” I drawled, and then began to play a melody I could barely remember.  There wasn't much of a song or a structure, just the melody wandering with my mind, a bitter-sweetness that sung quietly in my room and echoed to her some unfathomable distance away.

I never turned off the news.  At most I muted it when I went to sleep, so the first time the words 'Conversion Bureau' were broadcast to the American public, I saw them plastered across the ticker in bright red letters.   I rolled over in bed and turned up the volume just in time to catch the opening statement of an olive-skinned woman standing in front of a sleek metal building.

“If you could change into a pony, would you?  If I did, I wouldn't be able to hold this microphone,” she said, smiling brightly and wiggling her fingers.  “But there are those who are open to the possibility, and we already have the technology.”

The scene shifted to an aerial view of the bubble and the pastures within it.

“Researchers have been working around the clock since the appearance of the Equestria barrier to find a way to get inside.  Normally, any living creature from our planet can only stand a few minutes on the other side before they die of a sort of radiation poisoning.  While they haven't been able to bring a living human to Equestria, top scientists believe they have found the way to bring a little Equestria into us.”

The scene shifted again to the inside of a laboratory conspicuously devoid of any instrument.  A man dressed in a white lab coat spoke.

“We've been working closely with the Equestrians to get a better understanding of how each of our physical universes work.  The force they call 'magic' can't be generated here, but it can be imported, whether it be in a battery or even a living creature.  With a little help from our equine friends, we've managed to create a serum that will attune a person's body to the Equestrian world...” He chuckled and wrung his hands.  “But it, ah, it does this in a literal sense.  Basically, you become a pony.  And then you can go to Equestria.”

After we first made contact, I thought my world could not have been shaken again.  At that exact moment, though, it began to change again, and in ways I did not fully understand.  The scientist was nervous.  The reporter was skeptical, but a little too excited.  The newscast shifted to the stairway outside the building again.

“The serum was developed in this institution, which will be the staging ground for the first transformations.  But who would make the decision to cease to be human?  It turns out it's not just about tourism.  My partner is with the CEO of Deitech LLC, a mining company based in Austin Texas.”

Another quick cut brought the camera before an older woman in a black suit and tie.

“We've known from the beginning that Equestria has an almost unquenchable supply of natural resources,” she said.  “We don't even know the full extent of what they have, but if we can get an operation going on there,  the possibilities for our species are limitless.”

“And what about the ethical considerations?” said a male voice, off-camera.  “How do Equestrian permits work?   How will we handle rights to the materials?”

The executive laughed and shook her head.  “Most people don't realize that Equestria isn't a world.  It's a country, and there's plenty of unclaimed land outside their borders.  If we open a facility there, this opens up a robust opportunity for trade.  It benefits both the Equestrians and ourselves equally.  It'd pretty much be criminal not to go for it.”

Before the interviewer could respond, the network shifted back to the bureau.

“The first candidates for transformation are likely to be brought on to assist with industry ventures like Dietech's.  Others, though, have more personal reasons.”

The camera panned, revealing a blonde male.  “I like to think of it as a second chance at life,” he said.  “For something better, when I don't have anywhere else to go.”

“But is it your life at all, if you become something else?”

The man laughed.  “I don't know,” he said.  “It'll still be me.”

“Can you know that for sure?”

“I'm willing to take my chances.”

The reporter turned back to the camera.  “Well, there you have it.  Humanity will be taking its first steps into Equestrian civilization, even if it's by proxy of our newly hoofed friends.  We will continue to update you on Conversion Bureau events as they develop.  This is Rebecca Carter, signing off.”

Backed by the enthusiasm of our industry, the first Conversion Bureau opened shortly after.  Heated arguments surged through every office, from online forums to the leaders of every nation.  While they wondered what it meant to be human, and if it was possible to give that up, I couldn't help but wonder what kind of pony I would be.  Not nearly as deep or philosophical as the rest of them, but I suppose I wasn't the kind of person to dwell on that.

Sometimes I thought about what it it'd be like to be a small magical horse.  I never really considered going through with it, though.  I still had another two years in the service and I wasn't going to abandon that on a lark.  The more things changed here, the more I thought that we needed to keep our forces full of level heads.  I just didn't know mine was enough.

I was talking with Emerald when it happened.  Sometimes I would tell her what the news was saying or share articles online, and she would listen with rapt attention, usually punctuated with bouts of laughter.  There wasn't any laughter, that time.

“It's the president,” I said.

“Can you make it louder?” she asked.  “I want to hear everything.”

Sometimes I forgot that she could hear more than just my voice, to my occasional embarrassment.  I cranked the television up until my ears almost hurt and the president of the United States, flanked by two security officers in front of the whole world, shook my home with his words.

“Every day has been a monumental step for all of mankind,” he said.  “Our understanding of our existence grows and we continually face more questions.  It was my deepest hope that our neighboring race would be with us every step of the way, growing as we grow.  It is, regretfully, my duty to inform you that this is now impossible.  Equestria has ceased all efforts to cooperate with us, and is actively trying to deter our exploration of their world.”

“Damn it...”  I slumped in my chair.  “What the hell is going on?”

Emerald didn't reply.  The president kept speaking.

“They refuse to negotiate.  Any of our citizens that has crossed the border has vanished.  And now they have begun pre-emptive strikes against Conversion Bureaus throughout the world.”

On the screen behind him, the image of his office's crest changed to a live feed of one of the bureau buildings, or what was left of it.  Black smoke billowed out of a barely visible outline of wrecked steel framework.  I thought I saw bodies in the wreckage.

“Why would you help make these things and then tear them down?” I demanded.  “It's still a civilian operation.  Those are innocent...”

“We made no attacks,” Emerald cut in, her voice deeper and more grave than I'd ever heard it.  I wanted to believe her.  “We didn't build the bureaus, either.  They were made without our consent or knowledge, using stolen magic.”

Magic.  It was word she never used.  She always shied away from alluding to the mystical, more abstract nature of Equestria.  But it was plain and simple.  The only way to turn a human being into a pony, the only way for their world to exist, was with magic.  And we had gotten our hands on it.

“Then what the hell is going on?”  I shouted.  I realized I was close to panic, and took a few deep breaths.

“Everything your reports have been telling your species have been peppered with little white lies,” she explained.  “The lies got bigger.  What's he saying now?”

I turned back to the television, focused on the president's speech again.

“... will not stop there.  Our intelligence suggests that Equestria has already infiltrated and is prepared to cripple our ability to respond with military action.  We don't know what the first targets are, but one thing is certain.  We will stand. We will fight.  Equestria intends to bring war to our world, but we have seen war before.  We know it. We have mastered it.  We will not allow them to conquer us.”

“Fuck!”  I growled.  “Fuck, fuck, this can't be right.  This can't...”

“Quiet,” she snapped.  “Look outside.”

“What are you on about?”

“Just do it.”

I hurried to my window and brushed open the folds a bit.  I could see a couple of vans parked further down the road, black, aside from a single logo which read 'Grueber Security.'

“Do you see anything?”

“Couple of vehicles,” I said, rubbing my eyes.  “Private security... what the hell are they doing here?”

“I'm sorry,” she said.  “If you still trust me, I think I can save you.”

“What?”

“There's no time.  Get out of there.  Take it and open it when you're sure you're not followed.”

“Take what?  You're not making any sense, Emerald.”

She didn't respond.  My doorbell rung.  There was shouting, and then gunfire erupted somewhere outside.  I grabbed my baseball bat in one hand and the potted plant in the other and ran for the door.  In my haste I almost missed the small package sitting on the ground, unmarked, aside from my name and a green mark in the shape of a gem.  I shoved it into my pocket and ran for my truck.

A man in bulletproof vest, rifle tucked under his arm, came around the front of it and waved it at me.

“I'm going to have to ask you to go back inside, sir.”

Not army.  Not one of ours.  I don't know that I would have hesitated if it was.  I threw the potted plant at him and he tried to strike it away with his gun.  Then I raised the bat and swung as hard as I could.  A dull thunk, a grunt, and he collapsed in front of me.

The sound of gunfire didn't cease, and it was getting closer.  I took the cracked potted plant, now spilling soil everywhere, and threw it into the passenger seat.  I locked the doors and floored it, racing for the opposite exit.

The glass panes in the back of my truck exploded under a sudden volley of gunfire.  The sound of rapid shots hitting the panels made my ears ring.  As I grew closer to the gate, I found it closed and blocked by three more Grueber security vans.

Three vans, at least ten men and women with rifles.  The blockade was obviously made in a  hurry, because there was about a five foot gap between them.  They probably expected me to stop.  I did not.  I stomped on the pedal and the smell of hot oil rose from behind the dash as the truck plowed forward.

They fired a couple shots, putting holes and webs of cracked glass into my windshield, but they were too frantic to get out of the way to do any more damage.  Metal scraped against metal as I slammed between the vans going at least a hundred. The body of the truck sheared, but the vehicles gave.  The wire fence didn't hold me back either, coming down with a crash and following beneath my wheels for a few yards before they gave up.

I just drove.  There weren't a lot of options, anyway.  One road came into the post on one end and out the other, extending a few miles before meeting any other road or landmarks.  I drove.  They weren't following me, for some reason.

A bright flash.  A massive explosion.  The next time I glanced at the rear view mirror, clouds of inferno surged up from where the base used to be.  I slammed the brakes and stared.  I stared until the fire stopped and the smoke continued to pour out.  The first drops of rain battered against my truck.

“... Em?”  I turned to the plant and sighed.  “Please.  Em.  Say something.”

No response.  I slumped down in my seat and for a long time I felt nothing.  Evening turned to night.  Silence occupied the cab.

Some time later, I remembered the package in my pocket.  It was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand and bound with a silvery thread.  I fumbled with it for a few minutes before I managed to untie it and opened the lid.

Inside was single syringe filled with red liquid and a sheet of paper.

32 Strawberry Road.  Midnight.

I didn't know what else to do, or how late it already was.  I couldn't think things through.  I started the truck up and drove into the night.

It was unusually dark when I got to the house on Strawberry Road.  There were no cars parked there.  There wasn't a single car on the street, oddly.  The entire neighborhood seemed abandoned.  It occurred to me that I could have turned on my radio, put an ear out into the world to see what was happening.  I couldn't bear to do it, though.  I knew I wouldn't believe a word of what they said, whether it was true or not.

I left Em, the potted plant, in the truck, but gripped my bat tightly in my right hand.  I knocked on the door.  No response.  I knocked again.  The loosened door creaked back on its hinges.  It was pitch black inside, and I couldn't see beyond the first stairwell.

I wanted to call out, to hear a friendly response, but I didn't.  I squeezed the bat until my palms hurt and stepped inside, groping about for a switch.  I flicked it, but nothing turned on.

I was too late.  There never was anyone waiting for me. Maybe the note was blank, and I had gone completely insane.  Maybe I didn't import a fancy alternate universe radio.  Maybe I built a bomb and killed everyone there and I didn't realize it.  It was dumb, insane, but I didn't know what to think, and the unyielding darkness of the house gave me no room to breathe.

Someone moved.

I lunged forward and bellowed, bringing my bat down hard on whoever it was.  A dull thump of wood on flesh and a grunt of pain.  The figure staggered away and I prepared to swing again.

“Get out here, you sonnova bitch,” I growled.

Something hard came down on my head, and I collapsed.  Blackness became deeper blackness as several unknown figures circled around me.  The last thing I remember was being shoved in a bag and dragged out in a hurry.

When I woke again, my head was pounding and I was moving.  Instead of darkness I was blinded by harsh lighting on the inside of the vehicle.  Something like a cargo hold.  Inside that steel box, three people turned to me.  A man, a woman, and a white pegasus.

“Sorry about the head job, mate,” said the man, “but you were right primed to knock us all out right there.”

I glared at him and rubbed the lump on my head.  “You know the drill.  Name, rank, date of birth.  All you're gonna get out of me.”

The pegasus' wings opened up and he spoke in a soothing baritone.  “Be that as it may, this is not a kidnapping.  It's a rescue mission.  I don't even know why we're going through all the trouble of taking you.  But those are my orders, and I'm going to see them through.”

I sat up and pressed my back against the wall, looking around. They'd kept my bat and the syringe.  They had not brought along the sapling.  My heart sunk.  Even though it was just a plant, it was the only connection I had to Emerald.

“I know where you're coming from,” I said.  “But I need to know some things.  Where are we, and where are you taking me?”

“The only safe place there is.”  The woman spoke this time, and handed me a rolled up piece of parchment.  “This might shed some light on it.  We didn't open it.”

I tore the paper a bit when I unrolled it and began to read.  It was in English, a little broken, but otherwise elegantly scrawled.

Dear Brandon Summers,

I wish that our first letter could have come at a happier time.  Now, war is upon us.  I confess that while you were my eyes and ears, I have been working day and night to find a way to save you.  With you are several of my most trusted friends who will protect you at all costs.  The transport that you're on now will take you to Equestria.

You have an important choice to make. You can become one of us, or you can remain human.  Either way will be painful.  But either way you will have a choice.  I am not asking you to help us. I am only trying to give you an opportunity to discover the truth.

We have been lied to, your people and mine.  We now face a war between worlds, perhaps the first of its kind to ever exist.  It will be difficult.  Many will die.  But I believe that good will triumph.  I believe that friendship, not force of arms, will lead us back to peace.

For now, there is much work to be done.  I am certain that we will one day meet face to face, but for now you will have to be strong.  Trust your instincts.  Survive.  That's all I can ask for.

Your friend,

Emerald Flash

I let the letter hang down and squeezed my eyes shut.  I didn't manage to hold back the tears.

“Well, what's it gonna be, mate?” the man asked.  “You gonna pony up or what?”

“I don't know,” I said, waving the letter.  “You're saying I have a choice.  Don't people like, die, in Equestria?”

“Usually,” said the woman.  “The Bureaus developed a brew that made us compatible with Equestria's physics by transforming us into ponies.  I don't think that was their primary reasoning, though.  It was actually easier for the ponies to develop an inoculation of sorts.  You have to take them periodically, but you can think of it a sort of vaccination.  The first injection lasts 24 hours.  The second lasts 30.  The third... well, you get the point.  If our research is accurate, your body will eventually fully acclimate and you won't need further treatment.”

I grimaced.  “And the downside?”

“You're basically shoving liquid radiation inside your veins.  It's gonna hurt like a bitch.”

At least they were giving me a choice.  I looked around, looking for some sort of window.  The pegasus, as if sensing his concerns, informed him immediately.

“We're above the Atlantic Ocean on a flight we commandeered from a private airport.  The shuttle is enchanted with a simple spell.  Anyone looking at or otherwise sensing this craft will immediately lose any and all interest.  In ten minutes we'll be making a drop into Equestria and the pilot will make a safe landing in Madrid.  They will inspect the plane, but there will be no evidence that we were ever here.”

“Guess I've got ten minutes to make up my mind, then,” I sighed.  “Wait.  A drop?  I don't see any parachutes.”

“That's not my problem,” chuckled the pegasus, wiggling his wings.  I took the empty box from my pocket and threw it at him; he deflected it with a wing and smiled at me.

“It won't be a problem,” said the woman.  “They'll take care of it on the other end.  Trust us.”

I chuckled.  “I at least believe you wouldn't waste all this effort just to hurl me to a spectacular death.”  We shared a good round of nervous laughter and then I finally stood up.  I regretted it a little.  The wound on my head made the room spin, or it might have just been turbulence.  “You have me at a disadvantage, I'm sure.  To who exactly do I owe my life?”

The man introduced himself first, tipping his leather hat.  “Travis,” he said.

“Bailey,” the woman answered next, flipping her hair.  “We'll have time for proper introductions later.  They may look like a little girl's fantasy, but they actually brew up some wicked moonshine.”

“Captain Chinook,” said the pegasus, puffing his chest up.

“Guess you outrank me,” I mused.

“Damn right, son,” he said.  “Eight minutes and we're going down there one way or another.  You'd best do yourself a favor and choose.”

“That's not enough time to make that kind of decision!”

Bailey slapped my shoulder.  “Don't tell me you haven't spent months thinking about it already.”

I lowered my head.  “Yeah.  I'm just not ready.”

“You can always ponify later,” said Travis.  The term seemed to irk Chinook a bit.  “What's it gonna be?”

I looked down at my hands and furrowed my brows.  “I want to see that world with my own eyes.  I don't know if that'll be the case if I become one of 'em, so... I guess I'll have to go with the blood poison today.”

“Right then,” said Bailey, turning to Travis.  “Dibs.”

“Shit,” muttered Travis.  “They promised both of us, you know.”

“And we've only got one shot on us.  You'll just have to wait.”

Travis threw his hat on the floor, stamped it once, and then picked it up again.  “Fine.”  He picked up a silvery briefcase from the other side of the bay and brought it over to me, opening it.  Inside was three red syringes, like the one I had received, and a single blue one.

Bailey pulled out one of the red ones.  Travis rolled up his sleeve.

“You ready?” she asked.

“Never ready for this shit,” Travis muttered.  “Do it.”

She inserted the needle into his arm and depressed the syringe.  The red fluid flowed into his arm and a subtle aura began to radiate from his skin.  He groaned quietly, gripped his wrist tightly, and once she'd withdrawn the needle, he thrust himself back against the wall of the cargo bay.  His breathing quickened.  He obviously fought to stay silent, his face contorted.

“Four minutes,” said Chinook.

“You're up, champ,” said Bailey.

I rolled up my sleeve and nodded.   I barely noticed when she put the needle in, staring ahead.  I couldn't see, but the second the fluid hit my body, I yelped in pain.  It was like being stung by a bee, and then stabbed in the sting, and then funneled with boiling water.  Sweat poured down my body as it surge through my blood, circulating to every corner.  I shook and moaned, falling to the floor.  Bailey squeezed my shoulder once and then produced the blue needle.

“I'd walk you through it, but we just don't have the time,” she said.  There was little ceremony.  She jabbed herself in the arm and shot herself full of the liquid.

While I writhed on the ground doing my best to only scream a little, she folded unnaturally with a dwindling sound.  Then her eyes shut, and she seemed to fall into a deep sleep.  Her body began to shift and melt into a shimmering pale substance.  Where once were arms, new limbs began to take shape.  She lost hair in some places and gained it in others.  Soon a fine coat of yellow fur coated her.

In the manner of a minute she ceased to be a human being, and what came out of the remains of her body was a yellow earth pony, almost the size of our captain.  I almost forgot about the ebbing fire in my veins.  Not even the pain could stop me from watching her change.

The Captain couldn't look away, either.  His stoic stare betrayed a little discomfort, but he didn't hesitate to help her stand once the transformation was complete.  She seemed in a half-dream state, and he draped her over his back, approaching the far wall.  Travis and I pulled ourselves up, obviously shaken.  The feeling of something wrong and poisonous still lingered in my body, but I also felt brilliant and light.

“It's time,” said Chinook.  “See you on the other side.”

The hatch swung open without warning.  Whether we wanted to or not, we were making the drop.  The pressure alone sucked us out of the plane and hurled us down towards the earth.  Below, I could make out the bubble, about a mile wide, and a ring of ships around it, each marked with a different nation's navy.

As we fell, I spread my limbs out, trying to stabilize myself, but I kept spinning.  Then I felt something soft whack against my side, and then again.  Chinook swept past me several times, grabbing and straightening me until I was falling belly down, no longer spinning.

Below in the bubble, about a mile of grassland and a bit of forest shined from the others side, only slightly distorted by the barrier.  It looked like there were some ponies below, but I couldn't rightly make out.

The ships were moving, but not closer to the bubble.  Speed boat and frigate alike tugged through the waves, quickly putting distance between themselves and the bubble.  There could only have been one reason for that. I screamed out to the others, but I couldn't make sense of my own voice.  I could only watch as we plummeted around each other.

We passed through the barrier with only a ripple.  I felt the vaccination heat up inside of me, even as the wind chilled my skin.  The ground came closer and closer.  There were no chutes, no nets, nothing at all to catch us.  Green fields rushed towards my vision and then stopped only ten feet below.

Some golden colored field caught us in mid-air, canceling our momentum instantly.  Three unicorns below turned their heads, concentrating on what could have only been a levitation spell, and brought us gently to the ground.  I collapsed when they let go of me, rolling onto my back, panting on the grass.

No sooner than I'd caught my breath, the missles rained down on the barrier.  As soon as the warheads touched the shimmering membrance, they exploded.  Flashes of light and smoke filled the skies above us and bits of metal contorted as it rained down around us.  The unicorns quickly cast another spell, and the shrapenel bounced off of golden energy fields just above us.  Then a sonic pulse came through the barrier.

And then silence and smoke.  Only a bit of debris had made it through.  Whatever the navy was trying to accomplish, it had only managed to make the barrier waiver a bit.

I drew in breath after breath of crisp, perfect air.  The Equestrians chattered around me in a language I couldn't understand, but it was obvious they were checking for injuries.  One came over and nudged me with her snout, speaking in a thick, broken accent.  “You hurt?”

“No,” I said, rubbing my chest.  “Just hurting.”

She tilted her head, confused.

“I'm okay,” I assured her, waving her off to the others.

Travis swore up a storm.  Captain Chinook tended to Bailey, trying to make her as comfortable as possible.  I sat and stared at the border between worlds.  The ships that had withdrawn formed a tighter blockade.  Helicopters swept about the dome, filling the air with their buzzing.

Now that I was on the other side, I could see that the ponies had established their own outpost.  Tents and small structures had been posted up in a hurry.  The grass had been stamped down into quick paths.  In the distance, mountains, cities, and the rest of Equestira.

Here they built up their first bastion against my kind.  Two forces gathered within sight of each other, just within reach, silent.  I stared at the fleet, silent and unmoving as the ground beneath me. I had witnessed miracle after miracle.  I had come to another world, and found war waiting for me.