Convergence

Rainbow Dash half flew, half flopped into the courtyard of Canterlot castle.  Her breath came in pants, and she trembled slightly.  She had flown at breakneck speed all the way from Cloudsdale.  Any faster, and she would have left a trail of sonic rainbooms.  A pair of concerned pegasus guards rushed up to the bedraggled Rainbow.

“Excuse me ma’am, but are you alright?”

Rainbow looked at the two guards.

“Look, I’m Rainbow Dash, OK?  Like, you two need to let me speak with the princesses right now, because Cloudsdale is sort of…”

The guards glanced at each other as Rainbow’s voice trailed off.

“We know what happened at Cloudsdale Ms. Dash.”

One of the guards stated,

“However, by chance, Princess Celestia has ordered that the bearers be brought to Canterlot.  If you like, I can take you to her immediately.”

The guard looked over the still shaking Rainbow.

“Are you sure you’re ok?”

Rainbow glared at the guard.

“I’m great, ok!  Never better!  Just hurry up and take me to see the Princess!”

<(^)>

“Ryan, it’s nice of you to drop in.”

Ryan “Magic” Desjar stood in front of General Anderson’s desk.  Behind the Desk sat the General himself.

“Please, take a seat.”

Ryan immediately did so.  The General watched him from across the desk, hands folded neatly.

“If I were to tell you that the President was not only involved in, but responsible for, an unconstitutional action, what would your response be?”

Ryan hesitated.  He knew that the wrong answer might prove fatal, at least to his career.

“If I was told that… and was sure that you were telling the truth… then I would say that the President would be in violation of the very foundation of this country, and would therefore have to be stopped.”

General Anderson nodded, though his face still remained devoid of emotion.

“You do know that if the President were to hear about you saying that, you would likely be stripped of rank, and dishonorably discharged from the military.”

Ryan gulped.

“I understand what the consequences would be, sir.”

The General continued to look at the radar operator.

“And if I were to, hypothetically, tell you that I was involved in actions to stop this unconstitutional thing, actions that would be considered treasonous if word of them were to escape, what would you say?”

“I would say…”

Ryan hesitated.  The General coolly eyed him.  Ryan knew that his career, and reputation, was on the line.  It would be so easy to just go with the crowd…

“That you are a man who is extremely brave, and that it would be an honor to assist you in any way that I could.”

Anderson smiled.

<(^)>

The forces of the United States military had taken up residence in a small village at the foot of the mountain.  They had been ordered to exterminate anyone they might find; however upon entering the village, they found it completely deserted.  A few soldiers sat in the main room of one of the commandeered houses, playing cards.

“Spooky, if you ask me.”

The soldier, who had spoken, Seth Haf, knocked the table and set his cards down.

“What, this place?  Look man, but if you haven’t noticed, this entire operation is just bizarre.  First of all, we are in a completely different world, maybe even universe.  Is it just me, or was that enough of a shocker for one lifetime?  Then, we get told that the inhabitants are not only sentient, but horses.  Not only that but we are told to execute them on sight.”

The soldier, who had voiced this, called Joseph Allan, threw two aces down on the tables, drawing shouts from the other men.

“Now it just so happens that we haven’t seen any of them yet, which is lucky, but the question is, if and when we do see them, and if they happen to be noncombatants, how many of us will execute them?  Some might not think about it, being lost in the idea of them being a different species, but honestly?  I’m not sure if you’ve noticed or not, but if anyone is intelligent enough to make a place like this;”

He waved his hand around.

“Is clearly sentient.  And everybody knows that we certainly haven’t been attacked in any way.  It seems to be a pretty good guess that the president hasn’t even tried contacting them diplomatically yet.”

“You think too much Joe.”

Another man shuffled cards.

“It’s not our job to question orders, just listen to ‘em, and that’s exactly what I plan on doin’.”

Joe stared back at the man.

“If you were ordered to turn your weapons in a city full of innocent people back home, would you do it?”

The soldier shifted uncomfortably.

“Well… no.”

“So why would you do the same thing here?”

“Their horses Joe…”

Joe slammed his fist onto the table.

“Horses who are obviously just as capable of rational thought as we are!  I wouldn’t want them to come in and slaughter us if it was the other way around!  Did you think about that Tom?”

“Look Joe…”

A fourth player said.

“It’s not that I don’t feel a little bad about this.  We all do.  But if command catches you talking like that…”

“Screw command.  We seemed to have enjoyed talking about just how messed up they all are until a few days ago, so why that’s different now, I’m not quite sure.  As for me, if I’m ever told to drive my tank into a city full of noncoms, I can tell you right now what I’d do.  Turn right around and nail the freaking moron who gave me the order right in the face.”

Joe dropped his cards on the table, and spun around.

“And you can tell that to the morons at command.”

<(^)>

“So seventy parts saltpeter, fifteen parts sulfur and fifteen parts charcoal?”

“Exactly.”

The scribe’s quill danced on the paper, bathed in an orange glow.  Jonathan looked over the writing.

“That’s exactly it, good work.”

The scribe merely nodded in response.

Celestia was about to inquire to Jonathan, when the double doors once more swung open.  A very exhausted looking Rainbow Dash stumbled in.  The pegasus quickly collapsed into one of the room’s chairs.  Twilight perked up at the sight of her friend.

“Rainbow, what’s wrong?”

“Everything!  But especially Cloudsdale.  It’s officially screwed.”

At this point, the bedraggled pegasus noticed the three humans.

“Woah, wait!  What are those things?!”

She leapt to her hooves, and bounded up in front of Alex.

“Are you a spy?”

“Rainbow Dash, these creatures are friends.”

Princess Celestia frowned at the winged pony.

“Huh, could’ve fooled me.”

Rainbow eyed the emblems on their clothing, noting that the markings were the same as the ones on the machines that attacked Cloudsdale.  Suddenly Twilight realized something.

“Wait, Rainbow!  How do you know about what happened to Cloudsdale?  Did a guard tell you?”

Rainbow snarled.

“I know ‘cause I was there!  I got bucking front seats to the fire fest.  After being literally blown out of my hotel, I got knocked out and woke up on a cloud.”

“You got knocked out?”

The mare blushed.

“Well… maybe a little bit. But that’s beside the point.  How do you already know about Cloudsdale?”

Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Because we got a magical message within a few minutes of the attack!”

“Oh.”

Rainbow sat down.

“I guess I probably didn’t have to fly so hard then.”

Princess Celestia couldn’t help but smile a bit, despite the darkness of the whole situation.  She had to cling to whatever amusing tidbit she could at times like these.

“No doubt you left several tornados in your wake.  I am glad that you are here Rainbow Dash, I having a feeling that we will need the Elements of Harmony before this is all over.”

James snorted.

“No offense, but what exactly do you think those magic necklaces you told us about are going to do against a whole army.”

Luna stepped out of the shadows in the corner of the room.

“Trust us…”

The princess of the night spoke softly.

“The Elements are more powerful than you could possibly imagine.”

Celestia looked at her little sister, then back to the humans.

“Luna experienced first hoof the power of the Element of Harmony.  I…”

Celestia hesitated.  Luna bowed her head, and continued where her sister had left off.

“More than one thousand years ago, we were corrupted by a dark spirit, and tried to overthrow our sister… She was left with no other choice than to use the Elements on us, banishing us to the moon for a millennium.  I did not return until just two years ago.”

James blinked, and Alex shook his head, smiling.

“Well… I guess that these “Elements of Harmony” might prove useful after all.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said, “They can mess up these morons.”

Alex smiled at the mare.

“As long as I get to see a tank go flying to the moon, I’ll be happy.”

Rainbow smiled back.

<(^)>

“There are reports of discontent among the ground troops.”

President Nickelson stared at General Harry Zumwald.

“I thought that we had anticipated dissent.  What’s the problem?”

“We did anticipate dissent, however, we didn’t anticipate that forty percent of the troops would be… incompliant.”

“Forty!”

Nickelson stood, and turned his back on the General.  He walked over to a window, gazing out.  The base was a knot of activity, with vehicles and men working hard to accomplish their respective tasks.  Everything seemed to be going so perfectly, yet…  Nickelson whirled around.

“How in the heck can it be forty!  You Morons have obviously made some sort of idiotic mistake!”

The General nervously flipped through some papers.

“No sir, we have double checked and triple checked everything.  It’s at forty percent.”

The General hesitated.

“Or… Forty two, to be precise.”

“They haven’t even engaged the enemy yet!  They hardly know what they’re fighting.”

The General sighed.

“The troops were uncomfortable with this assignment before it even started.  The entire idea of a different world, and especially the idea of going there, is rather frightening.  Now that they’ve been ordered to kill anything that moves, I think it’s the straw that broke the camels’, or perhaps the ponies’, back.”

“Dang morality,” The president sat back down, “It’s the most absolutely useless sentiment.  It prevents people from doing what’s necessary for what they think is right.  What a waste.”

The President meticulously thought for a few moments.

“We will have to keep the ground troops back a little, and hope that the enemy attacks first.  We can’t use them to attack any settlements until their convinced that the target is actually hostile.  That severely slows our offensive, however...” The president spun his chair, so his back was once more to the general.  “The air force can continue attacking.  As long as the killing is mechanical, not up close and personal, the majority will stay silent.”

Nickelson smiled. “One way or another, everything will always find a way to royally screw itself over.”

He turned back to the attentive general.

“And do you know what happens when it does, General Zumwald?”

The General hesitated.

“No sir.”

“Ha!  No one knows.  That’s why politicians exist.  But to answer my own question, someone with a vision will step in, take the reign, and use the whirling discontent of the people to build their own dreams.”

The President adjusted his tie.

“And if I have anything to say about it, that person is going to be me.”

<(^)>

A drop of liquid hit the marble floor, followed by another, and another.  Colonel Starblink wept quietly off in one of the side passages of Canterlot castle.  Bucking humans, stupid bucking murdering humans…  Starblink suddenly heard hooves on the marble floor.  Desperately he tried to swallow his pain, and hide his tears.  It was of no use.  Dealing with sorrow was not a common event in Equestria.

Princess Celestia walked halfway past the open archway to the corridor, and then stopped to take note of the pegasus.  Starblink started to quickly trot away from the regal pony.

“Colonel, halt.”

Starblink stopped, and without looking at the princess, answered.

“My Princess, I will stop if it pleases you but,”

Starblink choked down a sob.

“I request that you allow me to return to my quarters.”

The Princess walked to stand beside the mourning pegasus.

“Starblink,” Celestia spoke gently, and abandoned formalities, “what is causing you so much grief?”

Starblink shuddered.

“My family… in Cloudsdale…”

“Yes?”

Starblink collapsed to the floor.

“They’re… dead.  All of them.  Every single bucking one.”

Starblink felt ashamed of such a tearful display of emotion in front of his princess, yet she had asked.  A large wing descended, covering the trembling body of the Equestrian colonel.  Starblink was surprised, enough to momentarily forget his plight, by such an open display of affection.  Celestia smiled at the confused pegasus, before she kneeled beside him.

“Starblink… I can tell that you have much love for your family, and their passing must hurt you greatly, as it should.”

Starblink raised his head to look at the Princess.

“And of course, you must take time to mourn them, to honor them, and commemorate them.  But you must get through the pain.  I have seen more ponies than I care to recall die, and loved many of them.  But you have to continue.  Especially now Starblink.  For now, we stand on the edge of an abyss, wide enough to swallow us whole, and if we don’t turn to fight it, then the tragedy that has occurred for you will occur for many, many more.”

Tears ceased to fall from the colonel’s eyes.  Celestia nuzzled him for a moment, before withdrawing her wing and standing.

“Will you fight for me, Starblink?”

The pegasus looked at the Princess, who for a few moments, had taken time from the whole country to comfort one lowly soldier.  Perhaps it was a vast misallocation of resources.  But perhaps not.  Starblink took in everything he could see of the Princess, knowing that he would now fly through the burning gates of Hell and back again if she so ordered him.

“Princess, I would gladly obey any order you gave me, even if it was too throw myself upon the enemy with my wings and hooves trussed up behind my back.” Starblink stood, and tentatively, nuzzled the Princess back.

“I will fight for you.”

Celestia smiled at the pegasus stallion.  As long as she could gather a mere handful of ponies as loyal and fearless as Starblink, she knew that Equestria could overcome even the most impossible of odds.