Convergence

Andrew Nickelson, President of the United States of America, sat among mounds of paper work in the oval office.  He flicked his eyes over a new bill, which was surprisingly less than one thousand pages, before slamming a “veto” stamp down onto it. “Morons…” Nickelson whispered to himself, before tossing the stack of paper onto the right side of the desk.  Nickelson looked down to his belt as his pager beeped, “Yes?”

“Mr. President, Senator Bill Johnson from Nevada is here to see you.”

The president smiled, Bill was one of the few senators in the house that wasn’t either against him, or a complete idiot.  He could afford to take a break from his paper prison to have an intelligent conversation.

“Very well, send him up!”

“Yes Mr. President.”

Nickelson pushed aside mount paper-est so that he would have a clear view of the senator, when he arrived.  A minute later, the door to the office opened, and Senator Johnson stepped into the room.

“Bill!  I’m glad to see you!  I must say, your visit is a bit of a surprise!”

“Mr. President, as always, it’s a pleasure to speak with you.” Bill seated himself across from the President.  The senator

then opened a brief case that he had brought with him, and removed a laptop.

“I brought a surprise with me.”

The Senator spun the laptop to face the President.  Nickelson reached forward, and pulled the computer across the desk, eyeing the screen with interest.

“What is this?”

“It’s a report I received half an hour ago from General Anderson, the commanding officer of Nellis Air Force base.”

The President rapidly read through the report.  His eyes grew wider as he neared the bottom.  Slowly, the President sat back.  Seeing that Nickelson was done reading, Senator Johnson spoke;

“It looks like this is the Deus ex machina we’ve been waiting for.”

“This place… it’s inhabited?”

“Yes, we did a bit of recon, and the locals are primitive, at least compared to us.  They shouldn’t be too much trouble.”

“All that land… untapped resources… nobody knows about this, correct?”

“Just us, the Director of the CIA, and the personal of Nellis A-F-B.”

“Well, it looks like we’re gonna be able to pay off those forty trillion bucks after all.”

The President reached over to his pager.

“Get me Andrews Air Force base, I think it’s about time I took a trip to Nevada.”

“Yes sir, Mr. President.”

<(^)>

Alex heard knocking on the finely carved wooden door.  He quickly walked over to it, tugging it open.  In front of him stood a lavender unicorn.  The pony swept its eyes over Alex, and then cleared its throat.

“Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle, a personal protégé of Princess Celestia, are you Alex?”

Alex nodded.

“Good, it’s nice to meet you, may I come in?”

Alex stepped aside, making room for Twilight, “of course.”

Twilight smiled.

“Thank you,” she trotted past him, and Alex closed the door.  Twilight turned back to face Alex;

“I’ve been asked by the Princess to inquire more about your world, and give you some information on ours," Twilight paused for a moment, "is now a good time?”

“Sure,” Alex spoke as he moved to sit in one of the room’s several chairs.

“Good,” Twilight sat down opposite of him.

“What would you like to know?” Alex asked.  It had seemed to Alex that Twilight had barely been containing herself from asking questions, and this theory was soon confirmed.

“Honestly?  Everything!” Twilights eyes lit up. “I mean, nothing like this has ever happened before, ever!  How does your world work?  What is that machine that you came here in?  What is your culture?  Sciences?  History?  It’s literally, a whole world of knowledge.”

Alex smiled; at least he wasn’t the only geek in this new world.  Alex quickly began to talk.  Twilight stared with wonder at Alex as he spoke, absorbing the information.  Alex spoke about Earth, its history, human technology, and recent world events.  In turn, Twilight told Alex about Equestria, the Princesses, and magic.  The two stayed up long into the night, sharing information about their respective planets.  By the end of the night Alex had learned many things.  Among them was the fact that he had at least one friend here in Equestria.

<(^)>

Alex woke up to pounding on his door.  Quickly, he slipped into his jump suit, and ran to the main room of the guest suite.  He opened the door, and found James, Princess Celestia, and two royal guards waiting for him.  The Princess spoke;

“Alex, we have discovered the portal that has connected our worlds; we believe that several of your countrymen have as well.”

Alex perked up, “Really, are there any plans to make contact?”

“That’s why I had to rouse you and James.  It appears that your country is massing a force on the other side of the portal.  I need you both to fly back and defuse the situation before somepony does something rash.”

James stepped forward.  Alex noticed that he was once more wearing his belt with the handgun and combat knife, and was holding Alex’s.

“Alright buddy, you heard the lady, we’re scrambling in ten minutes.”

Alex accepted the belt from James, and stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind him.  A few minutes later, the two men were back in the cockpit of the Strike Eagle, going over preflight checks.

“Master power switch, on, electronics are coming online.  Fuel is good to go; engines are green, closing canopy… now.”

The canopy dropped down onto the jet, covering the crew in a glass bubble.  Several platoons of royal guards were clearing the main street, making room for the Strike Eagle to take off.  Two Pegasus, unburdened by armor, stood on either side of the jet.  They were supposed to lead the F-15E to the Portal.  Alex glanced back at Princess Celestia, who was standing next to Twilight at the edge of the courtyard.  He raised his hand in a salute.  The Princess smiled back at him.

“Alex, you good to go back there buddy?”

“Ready to fly, over.”

James pushed forward on the throttle.  The F-15’s massive engines roared, causing the temperature in the courtyard to rise.  The fighter began to accelerate down the stone street.  Alex glanced up, and to his surprise, the Pegasus were actually keeping up with the fighter.  James waited until the fighter hit one hundred and twenty knots, and then pulled back on the stick.  The fighter leapt into the air, and began to make the journey home.

<(^)>

“Jackpot, this is Air Force One, were requesting permission to land, over.”

“Copy that Air Force One, you are cleared to land, and welcome to Nellis, over.”

The Belly of Air force one split open in several locations as landing gear began to emerge.  The air space around Nellis had become a busy place in the past several hours, with C-5 and C-17 transport planes constantly arriving with equipment and soldiers from different parts of the country.  However, for the moment, the air traffic controllers at Nellis were only worried about one plane in particular.  The Jumbo jet quickly touched down at the base, and taxied off the runway.  A convoy of Humvees pulled up next to the idling jet, and a staircase was extended to the door.  With a hiss, the door opened.  President Nickelson stepped out into the open air, smiling at the warm Nevada sun that beat down on him.  He quickly sized up the military force gathered at the base.  His smile grew.  Things were moving faster than even he had dared to hope.

<(^)>

Colonel Ryan once more sat in the E-3 AWACs, high above the Nevada desert.  His radar screen was a buzz of activity, with flights coming in from all over the country, and helicopters ferrying equipment to a staging area just short of the crater.  Suddenly, a new aircraft began to transmit in the area.

“… One, is anyone reading this?”

Ryan saw a new contact appear of his screen, just above the crater.  He activated his radio;

“Attention unidentified aircraft, this is United States Air Force AWAC 311, call sign Magic, Please identify yourself.”

“Oh thank God!  Magic, this is Striker one one, we need you to direct us to Nellis AFB, we are way low on gas, over.”

Ryan would have fallen out of his chair if he hadn’t been strapped into it.