Convergence

“This spell could be applied for many different uses, simply by changing just some of the basic structure.  It could be used for hundreds of various purposes.”

Twilight Sparkle stood in front of Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria.  The lavender unicorn tapped a chalk board behind her as she explained the new spell she had created.  On it was the basic structure and theories of the enchantment.

Celestia gazed at her star pupil, “Twilight, you continue to amaze me with all of the wonders that you discover.  This spell will most assuredly make a fine edition to the,” The compliments were cut short as the door burst open.

Celestia glanced at the guard that had burst into the room, “Colonel Starblink?  What is the meaning of this interruption?” The colonel bowed before his princess, then spoke. “Forgive me, my princess, but we have an emergency in the courtyard,” Starblink hesitated. “I… we… we have no idea what it… they are exactly.” Princess Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “Take me to it, now.”

<(^)>

James eased himself out of the jet, keeping his hands raised above his head.  He fell the short distance to the ground, rolled, and then stood again, once more making the gesture of surrender.  James heard Alex drop down behind him.  The Pegasus kept their spears hefted at the pair.  One swooped down lower than the rest.  James noticed that its armor had a different insignia than the rest.

The Pegasus spoke, “Who… What are you?”

James was slightly taken back.  A flying horse, no, it seemed smaller than that.  A flying pony with a spear was talking… English?

James slowly opened his mouth; “my name is James, and this,” James motioned behind him, “is Alex.”

The Pegasus seemed just as surprised that the creature in front of him had actually replied to his question. “And how… James, did you come to be here?”

The question was asked firmly, but James did not detect any cruelty or maliciousness in the voice.  It was Alex that spoke up from beside him, “we’re not sure ourselves… we thought we were dead, to be honest.”

The Pegasus snorted at this statement, amused by the biped. “I can assure you sir, that you are not dead or even injured for that matter.  Either way, I’m going to have to ask that follow me and surrender your knife belts.”

James glanced at the belt strapped around his waist.  It was funny, his combat knife and his handgun were right next to each other, yet the Pegasus had pointed out… oh.  It occurred to James that they had no idea what firearms were, of course, he had asked for the whole belt.

Seeing James’ hesitation, the Pegasus tightened his grip on his spear.  James immediately undid the belt clasp and laid it on the ground in front of him, noting that Alex had already done so.

The Pegasus relaxed, then spoke once more, “alright, now follow me.”

He turned, alighted on the ground, and started walking towards the castle.  Alex and James followed the armored pony, and were closely trailed by several more.  Meanwhile, two additional guards swooped in and retrieved the fighter crew’s belts.  The humongous iron doors of the castle opened, and James and Alex disappeared inside of the structure.

<(^)>

Princess Celestia trotted through the halls of Canterlot castle, making haste for the courtyard. “A flying machine?  Two of them?  Are you sure there are only two?”

Starblink was bombarded with questions as they made their way through a set of double doors, down a spiral staircase and into a hallway. Celestia turned the corner into the throne room, and halted.  The two bipeds stood before the two thrones, one gleaming gold and radiant like the sun, the other midnight black, with small star like sparkles dotting its surface.  They were surrounded by a group of guards.  Celestia examined the two men.  They had uniforms, military by the looks of them, and she saw that two of her guards were holding belts that matched the biped’s outfits, complete with knives.  At least they saw fit not to use them.  Celestia walked forward, and took a seat on her throne.

<(^)>

Alex eyed the large pony that had just entered.  A crown sat on its head, and its multicolored mane flowed as if blown by a strong wind.  It was all white, except for its mane and two golden suns that adorned its flanks.  Alex glanced around, come to think of it; all of these things have marks on their flanks.  The white pony sat on the larger of the two thrones, and let its gaze rest upon him and James.

“Guards, leave us.”

The circle of Pegasus bowed, and quickly trotted out of the room.  Alex noted that it was a female voice.  When the last door had closed, the pony once again opened her mouth.

“And now for you two.  I have many questions concerning you; however, I should probably start with the basics.  What are your names?  Actually, more importantly, can you understand what I’m saying?”

Once again, James was the first to speak. “Yes, we can understand you, and my name is James.”

“My name is Alex… your highness.” Alex bowed as he spoke.

The pony smiled, “good, things would have been rather difficult if that wasn’t the case.  I am Princess Celestia, ruler of this land.  Now that we’re all acquainted,” Celestia paused, “How did you get here?  And where are you from?”

<(^)>

“Atlas here, I have eyes on the target.”

“Copy that Atlas, this is Magic, what do you see?”

“Just a smokin’ crater, over.”

“Any wreckage at the bottom?  Are there any signs of striker one one?”

“Negative, all I see is, wait.”

Colonel Ryan Desjar, call sign “Magic,” sat in an AWAC, slowly circling the crater that had been created an hour

earlier.  He nervously tapped the side of his radar screen.  He had known Alex for a long time, and had briefly met James.  He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to tell Alex’s parents if he turned out he was dead.

“Atlas, this is magic, what was that?”

The response took a few seconds in coming.

“Magic, this is Atlas, there is something seriously messed up going on here, were landing the ground team to investigate.”

“Copy that Atlas, proceed with caution.”

Ryan switched his screen over to a live feed coming from a predator drone.  The Blackhawk chopper known as Atlas descended towards the crater, whipping up sand with its spinning rotors.  Five soldiers repelled down from the chopper, and ran towards the crater.  Quickly, they scaled down the side, and arrived at the bottom, or more accurately the edge of the bottom.  The Predator had flown straight over the crater, giving Ryan an unobstructed view.

“Holy crap…”

“What is that thing?!”

The confused calls came from the troops at the bottom of the blast site.  At the bottom of the crater, a large ring of carved stone sat in the middle of the floor.  It looked to be at least three hundred feet wide.  On either side of the ring, was sand.  But inside the ring, the open space continued, through a large cave, and out into the open sky.  The men stared at the sight before them, with sky above and sky below, and a desert in the middle.

“Well… that explains why there isn’t any wreckage.”

Back onboard the AWAC, Ryan stared at his screen, unable to comprehend the image before him.  Things had just gone from bad, to creepy.  Ryan switched frequencies to speak with Nellis air force base.

“Jackpot, this is Magic, you’re gonna need to get the general for this one, over.”

<(^)>

Celestia listened intently to the two humans, as she had learned they were called.  “… and then we ended up here,” James finished.  Alex had already given Celestia a brief overview of their world, and had left the story of how they had left it up to James.  Celestia sat still for a moment, processing the information.  Finally, she spoke.

“It seems that your country has been… declining lately.  In fact, your entire world seems to be a rather unstable place.  The fact that you were brought here during the test of a weapon is also rather, unfortunate.”  Celestia stopped for a moment to

examine the two humans, then she continued. “It is clear that your world is different than ours.  The last war that occurred in Equestria happened almost fifteen hundred years ago, when my sister and I defeated a creature, and his armies, known as Discord.”

Alex stared at the Princess.

“But… that means… your thousands of years old!”

“Almost three thousand actually, I was born shortly after this nation was founded, and my sister born just two years later.”

The two humans were stunned by this news.  James slowly opened his mouth.

“Do… all ponies live so long?”

Celestia frowned, slightly saddened by the question.

“Unfortunately, no, my sister Luna and I are oddities, we were born to a Pegasus mare and a Unicorn stallion after several strange magical anomalies.  Tragically, most ponies live at most a hundred years, and then they pass on.”

James and Alex nodded in understanding.  Celestia then proposed her next question.

“Do you know the location of the place that you entered our world at?”

“Well, we came from the east, and the first thing I noticed when we looked back was a different mountain.  Other than that, I

can’t think of anything.”

Alex made his addition to the conversation, “There was one thing… I thought I was just seeing things at the time but… do you have any cloud cities?  Because of so, we passed one just a few minutes after getting here.”

“Cloudsdale,” the Princess said, “It’s a Pegasus city close to mount Ragnon.” The Princess hesitated, “Mount Ragnon, in the distant past, was a sight where Zebra cultists would perform magical ceremonies.  It wouldn’t surprise me if it was some left over artifact or enchantment that brought you here.” The Princess raised her voice to shout, “Guard!”

A platoon of pegasus immediately burst into the room, clutching their weapons.

The Princess sighed, then spoke.

“Have a platoon go at once to mount Ragnon, and make certain they take spell corps with them!” She then turned once more to the two humans.  "Meanwhile, until we get to the bottom of this, you two shall be staying in guest bedrooms in the east wing of the palace.  As a result of the… differences between our species, make a list of any items you may need, and we will do our best to get them for you.”

Alex bowed to the Princess, “Thank you, your majesty, for your hospitality.”

“Really Alex, it is my pleasure, as it’s very rare that something of this nature occurs.” Celestia smiled as she spoke.

Celestia waited until the humans had been led out of the room, then called, “Twilight?  Are you hiding around here somewhere?”

A side door slowly opened, and a voice timidly replied, “I’m here, Princess.”

Celestia turned to the lavender unicorn.

“I want you to ask which room ‘Alex’ is staying in, and go speak with him.  He seems much more intellectual, and amicable.  Find out everything you can about their world, I’ll send a letter to Spike telling him you won’t be home for a while.”

“Yes Princess Celestia.”