The Mickey Dilemma

Chapters

Sacrifice
Trouble (2)
Adversary (3)
Ransom (4)
Curiosity (5)

Sacrifice

Guns were blazing, security was running around helpless; the crew was losing control dramatically. It was not everyday that this kind of thing happened. Nothing could stop him; bullets, fire, sulfuric acid, even the greatest minds of the crew were baffled by his strenght. To make matters worse, the gigantic Starship was heading straight to a collision with the heart of New Mexico. There was little time left. A decision had to be made. The officers tried desperately to contact satellite commands orbiting Earth for some kind of hope, but all communication was futile. No single second could be wasted.

'Sir.. We must do it.' proclaimed the Engineering Officer JO-58 as power was cutting off dramatically. 'We can't stay on this ship. We must evacuate and--'
'Officer!' yelled the General in anger, demanding his immediate attention. 'I'm not getting off this ship. You can go if you want, but I must stay. I lived here, I'll die here. It'll always be this way. Very well.. Do it.'

Nodding in fear, the officer runs back as the General turned back around and sat on his old, yet comfy chair he had always used all his life for the last time, enjoying every second of it. He looked up towards the broken, zapping commands and muttered like a mad man; 'Goodbye, old friend. It was nice--' before being blown to bits by the ship's unstability. Meanwhile, the order echoed throughout what was left of the ship to evacuate at all costs. The crew left their current tasks and simply ran to the escape pods, which were each big enough to fit 10 people in for a maximum of 72 hours. There was place for everyone, well, almost everyone, as some were already blown up by then or malfunctionning.

JO-58 looked back at the ship one last time, the ceiling blowing down, the lights flickering faster and faster, and at a beauty never forgotten. 'Come on, hurry!' a fellow engineer exclaimed in the pod, waiting for the day-dreaming Officer, as he jumped in and before he knew it, the pod was already launched. The glass window showed a good view of the doomed Starship. He had rarely been outside the Starship, and had never been so close to Earth. He was born there, raised there, and almost died there. It was how it was supposed to be. Well, not anymore. The ship was now but a distant shadow; the power had been completely shut off. Never would such a beauty be forgotten, never.

The last sight to be seen was of the grand, and majestic explosion of the main core. A good half of the ship broke away into the void of dreams, and the rest was still heading down to Earth, although there was a good chance it would burn up in the atmosphere, given its current state. 'Hopefully that son of a slack is gonna die for real this time.' a fellow crew-member laughed off, as the others joined with him. It seemed like such a happy, albeit tragic ending to such a wonderful creation. All because of one man. One man, with all his strenght, managed to destroy one of the most beautiful creations that Humanity had ever created.

It was not over. Oh no, it was far from all over. Looking down, there was something wrong. Very wrong. As the Starship descended further and further into the atmosphere, there seemed to be some kind of.. violent outburst. It was inexplicable at the time. It was like a gigantic, light grey cloud had taken over a good portion of North America, and was swinging around like a humongous cyclone. What could it have possibly been? We were all amazed at the sudden sight, and could not stop gazing at it. It turned and turned at inexplicable speeds, and as we watched, it got denser yet seemed much heavier and more powerful.

As if the crew didn't see enough already, this 'violent outburst' started to literally lighten up. The pod was moved and stopped in its track from landing to examine it further. Besides, it didn't seem like a good idea to land in such an extraordinary phenomenon at the time. When a better view was established of the event, jolts of lightning could be seen from above, shooting at the ground like a God showing his anger at the Earth. How such a thing was possible, was inexplicable by anybody, even after spending decades in space exploration and studying events such as these, nothing was found of that size and abnormality.

Some theorised that it may be the long-awaited end of the world as predicted by many, but at this moment in time and in our sinless world, it was unaccounted for. Whilst some optimistic minds in the pod rejoiced of the fact they were not on Earth at the time being, control of the pod was slowly being lost and they were being pulled towards the inexplicable cyclone. Panic started. Desperate minds tried to regain control of the pod, but they all knew, deep down, that it was futile to even attempt. Many lost hope and started to accept their inevitable deaths as the pod slowly but surely headed towards the gigantic clouds of God. Could you blame them?

As the last bits of the Starship desintegrated into thin, literal air, the distant pods were nowhere to be seen. Only theories could be made of their conclusions, however that would not matter for long anyway. As they barged in closer and closer, the vibrations were felt, its cranked noise echoed throughout the distant air, and the pod was losing power and stability in priorities. The cloudy gas clouded the outside world, and the deadly flashes were the only source of available light in short intervals. It was like a war. It was like death in itself. Before they knew it, the pod started to flash, zap, and it seemed their deaths were finally arriving - until something happened, something impossible.

After a significant explosion, there was a bright flash of nothing but a void of white for a good few minutes. Everywhere one looked, it was bright, blinding white. They could feel themselves, but they seemed somewhere.. so right. As the time passed, the white void started to cloud away to bring way for the incoming darkness, but soon enough they started to regain consciousness. Each individual seemed to almost wake up from an inexplicably long coma, or perhaps they woke up from death and whatnot. As each member opened their eyes once more, they were amazed, yet so confused. Silently and in shock, they slowly got up and examined what laid in front of their wide-open eyes.

Over the horizon, light green hills could be seen, cartoonish landscapes were never-ending, everything seemed so.. perfect. The sky was brighter, more blue than ever before, and the air was as clear as one could ever dream of. After looking over the place for what seemed like hours, they started to come back together and theorise on what happened.

'Well, it could certainly mean something. It can't just be heaven or something.' started John MacDorele, one of the smartest minds of the now-lost Starship.
'Are you quite sure?' replied the unnamed engineer. 'It could very well be. I mean.. When will this trip end?!'
'To be fair.. I mean.. Perhaps we have entered some kind of.. How do I put it.. Alternate universe.' the Officer proclaimed as many gave him a peculiar look. 'Well, let me see. It's just a theory; it's not.. it's not meant to be real, but uh.. It.. Heh.. Certainly feels like it is.'
'Good point. Right, I think we oughta accept it and move o--' started the engineer.
'Accept it?! Are you out of your mind?!' interrupted John MacDorele. 'We can't just--'

'Everyone, stop arguing!' replied another crew member as attention silently turned towards him. 'Over there, I can see some kind of settlement! It seems.. Primitive, rather, but could be of slight help.'
The remaining crew started to move towards him and looked towards the horizon with him, and to their amazement, a small, peaceful settlement was seen near their location. The Officer looked towards his right and in the distance was a dark, wicked forest to be seen. He nodded to himself and was confident the settlement was the way to go, but was still very nervous about his choices.

As the crew started walking in a patriatic manner, they had a better insight of the new world in which they had discovered. The trees looked fine and perfect, the horizon was nothing but great hills and mountains which looked like the perfect doors to heaven, and the settlement, not far from here, proved to be quite of help as suggested. As they peacefully arrived in the settlement, they panicked a little before entering, but realized they had no choice, so with a tactical plan, they got in, all careful to make sure they were right. The now-unified crew of 8 members walked, quietly and with little worry, to the village or town.

The houses looked perfect, yet rather quiet. The birds were heard signing into the distance, proving this was indeed a similar universe to theirs, to their benefit. At one point, they stopped, and the Officer stepped up in the seemingly middle of the town, with markets being put up before the population would rise. Not much were seen of their figures just yet, but they seemed to have hooves instead of hands and fingers, some had a horn on their head, and they did not have much body hair, if any. It was then that one purple pony with a familiar, cowboy hat jolted up and catched the Officer in his imminent sight.

More and more of these.. creatures were seen walking towards the tall figures, in their amazement. Not a single word was exchanged in the intercourse. It was a good few minutes that an audience of a relative size was made. They seemed to look like a more intelligent, evolved version of ponies, albeit a bit smaller but with more facial expressions, and brighter and unique colours to each. It was also noticed they each had a tattoo on their lower back, which was quite strange indeed. After a few minutes of awkward staring and examination, one started speaking his mind, in an impossible language to be spoken here.

'Eeeaaahhh.. And you are?' started the orange pony, seemingly confused but rather casual about the whole situation. The Officer looked at his crew who nodded him to start and he stepped up, once again. 'I am.. Officer JO-58, from our Starship which has collided with Earth, our home planet. We seem to have been caught in an interdimensional rift tha--'
'Woah, woah woah. In English, please?' the pony interrupts once again.
'Well.. Um..' the Officer restarted in annoyance, unsure of what to refine. 'Well let me put it this way. We basically come from another universe, like yours! It.. Kind of looks like here in our universe, with a bit of uh.. Changes.. But uh.. Yeah. And so our ship crashed, and uh.. We woke up here!'

'Oh oh oh! Let's host a party for these guys!' an enthusiastic pink pony exclaimed, much to their suprise.
'Pinky, ugh.. Not now!' the orange pony replied in annoyance, although it was too late as the other ponies starter rejoicing all of a sudden and with great speeds, started to set up balloons and party items in flawless co-operation in the minimum amount of time.

This rather suprised the crew members. Such a race seemed rather good, beautiful and perfect in many ways. They didn't seem as conflicted as humans sometimes are, even if they lived most of their lives in almost a 'space-tribe' working together to fix problems and advance further at any given time. Obviously, they weren't perfect, but they were rather different than humans in some ways. Of course, it seemed rather strange that they had very similar, if not the same senses as the humans did. In fact, what was the most suprising thing was the fact that they could speak a language such as english. Perhaps it was just the way it was supposed to be.

The party went very well. The crew members stopped being so serious for a while and just went along with it. It just felt right for them, and natural. Besides, if you have the opportunity to have fun, you should just take it. The time for worry was for another time, and the Mickey threat seemed to have gone by the time. By the time. It was such a good feeling. Knowing that they used so much brute force, that so much hope was lost at the time. It was a heavenly feeling. The party in itself was fantastic. The crew met a lot of the ponies, and were introduced to a lot of the things in their community, in which the land was known as 'Equestria'.

Of course, after that, the light blue sky started to get darker and the air also got cooler over time, and they started to get worried about what would happen to them during the night, as they did not exactly have a place to sleep in and such. Conveniently, the party was called off in the end and everybody went home, still happy and hyper from the long day of partying. The newly introduced Pinkie Pie and Applejack said they'll give them some place to sleep for the night, much to their rejoyance. It didn't seem so dark at night as it did on Earth, and it was warmer as well, and the days seemed a bit shorter as well.

When asked, Applejack just said it was because their leaders, Celestia and Luna, controlled the Sun and the Moon. The crew weren't very sure what to think of that, but kept quiet for the time being in hopes of not offending them. Walking through the now quiet town known as 'Ponyville', they came across a rather luxurious, big house looking over the town. Another pony was waiting outside, seemingly having some sort of meditation time, with her purple horn litten up. They were unsure what to think of such things, but they weren't suprised, given what they saw already.

The pony then regained consciousness and apologized. 'Well, hello there. My name's Twilight, Twilight Sparkle. Just uh.. Call me Twilight. Who are you.. ?' she asked in casual confusion, suggesting she was already aware of humans being in Equestria. 'They're from.. Uhm.. Somewhere..' Applejack starts, turning to the crew, who nod back to her to continue. 'Uhh.. Do you have some space to keep them for the night ? Because uh..'

'Oh, but of course !' Twilight jumps back up from her seat. 'Do come in ! So that is.. 1,2,4.. Okay, 8 beds ! Let's go !' she proclaims, nodding them to come in, in which they do in enthusiasm. The inside was absolutely fantastic and magestic. The many paintings and the well-lit and decorated house, as well as the big tables in the middle gave way for a fantastic and huge room, as if she was some kind of princess living in a small castle in a tree. Most of the paintings were of her and her friends, but some were on the landscape and of multiple pony figures, probably of Luna and Celestia as they thought to themselves, examining the place figuratively.

'Here are your beds !' she says as she makes way for them in a rather large room occupied with a number of beds that she perfects with her magical horn, much to the crew's suprise. 'I know. I know ! Fab, right ?' she says, enthusiastically. The crew enter in amazement, a little bit shy to use such magestic beds, but neverthless are so happy to finally get some rest. 'Well you boys have a nice sleep. If you need anything I'll be in the room down the corridor. See ya !' she finishes with a very happy tone, jumping around with much excitement, as she closes the door behind her, giggling with her friends.
After the crew get silently treated and relax in the very comfy beds, they breathe a little after all that excitement and start talking to each other, as well as introducing themselves more. 'Well, well, what a day, huh?' proclaims the Officer, giggling a bit with the others. 'Not everyday you get something like this.'
'Sure you don't.' John replies. 'It's mad when you think about it. Even I wouldn't figure it out.'
'Hey, maybe if we fall asleep we'll be back or something.' Max jokes as the others laugh with him.
'Ehhh, this is so dumb.' the Officer continues as he sees some of the others have already fallen deep asleep ; can't blame them. 'Well, we'll see what happens tomorrow, we've got time. Nowhere to be, no one to miss. This is closest I've ever been to Earth.'

As they all started to get sleepy and fall asleep, this was the most bizarre and amazing day of their life. Most days were rather boring to be fair for them, I mean, going to space is cool and all, but it does get boring after a while. This was something not to miss. It was, of course, rather tragic, but to them, they had a new perspective on life now. No real point missing the dead ; they won't come back alive, unfortunately, much as we'd love them to. It would be so for the next few hours ; they would be deep asleep. No AC, no engine noises, no one watching them via security cameras. They were free. For once, they were truly free.

Trouble (2)

'Everyone up!' a loud, yet familiar voice rose up in the room. 'Today is a special day! Princess Celestia has been alerted of your presence, and requests to meet with you!'
After having a minute or so with the crew slowly waking up after a long, but heavenly night sleep, they started to slowly get up from their beds, with the silent figure watching over them.

'Twilight.. That is fantastic news. We'll be.. very happy to meet your Princess!' the Officer replies to break the awkward silence that seemed to last so long, still rubbing his eyes lightly.
'Alright, well, I'll be downstairs. Do take your time to get dressed, cleaned, etc. The showers are down the corridor over there. I also had some.. Modifications added.. Do go in the dressing room!' she said as she sprinted back downstairs in a flash.

Looking at each other and having quiet discussions, they all enthusiastically got up at last, and started making their way to the dressing room. What followed was pure amazement. The huge dressing room was filled with many clothes, manly clothes with a fine texture, neatly arranged in stacks. The room was approximately the size of their sleeping room, although a significant bit taller. In the corner of the room was seen a white pony, with a purple mane. Her 'tattoo' was masked by her arranging some clothes down. She seemed to be wanting undisturbed, but she shot up after one cleared his throat rather quietly and unsuspectingly.

'Why, hello there!' she started as the crew jumped in suprise. 'I'm Rarity, welcome to Ponyville! Let's get you boys dressed! Well, there's lots of choice! You may choose your outfits for the day.' she finishes with a rather warm smile as the crew started to enthusiastically walk around the fabulous dressing room, having loads of choices for them, each outfit being quite different and unique.

After about 15 or so minutes of looking around, trying around new outfits and laughing and giggling as if it was the perfect home, they were ready for the day, each wearing rather similar outfits that were hell to find due to the rather messy order of choices. This was to signifiy their 'crew' status. Besides, they were true men, not little boys playing dress-up. To add more detail, they were wearing rather manly items, such as leather jackets, fitting trousers and sharpened boots, almost looking like an army uniform, although much more casual and rustic. After all, weren't they meeting the all-knowing Princess today? Of course they were.

Going down after their rustic showers and all, they felt quite clean. The showers had fantastic modifications, although there were only six of them so some had to wait behind, much to their displeasure. Of course, they ended up going downstairs as a team, and made their way to Twilight, who ordered them into the dining room. The dining hall was a beautiful area. A rustic table was laid down, with a wide cover, and rustic plates and customs, sparkling a few honourable gasps among the crew. They were sat down immediately and given the best breakfast of their life; and specialities from Ponyville. The chefs were exquisite at their work and were thanked by the crew, who were eternally thankful for the meal they had.

For any 'normal' person in a household, it would seem like a rather ordinary breakfast, and, although it was rather rustic and special for the occasion, it would not be considered heavenly as much. But, to a person who spent their whole life, decades in a lonely Starship in space, eating rashionned foods every single day, their opinion would be much different. It was like to taste true freedom after years of isolation, in jail and such. Imagine spending your whole life locked away in a dark place, and again seeing the sun like it never was. They truly felt satisfied, and it took the best of them to enjoy it. It was a never-ending pleasure that would carry on, even if it was the only one in their lifetime.

After being let taking their time eating their breakfast, they were moved to the gigantic, heavy blue steel doors of the mansion, carved with magnificent structures in them and stood as they opened for the second time in their lives like the biggest blue whales jumping from the ocean. Such a thing could never be forgotten. All of this place was so amazing that it was hard for them to even grasp the possibility of such a heavenly place existing.

Walking down the lane to the rest of Ponyville, they catched a numerous amounts of differing looks from different, unique ponies from all the sides. Some were weird looks, some disturbed, some looks of amazement even. It was not everyday that this kind of thing happened. Besides, whilst it was there to enjoy it, why not? Both the ponies and the humans were amazed at each other, yet it seemed so normal, somehow. I don't think anyone really, deeply knew what really was going on, behind speculation. The town seemed to increase in density after walking around for a bit, until they reached the town hall.

The town hall was something magnificent to see. It wall tall and rustic, almost looking like a familiar cake figure. However, it was thin, unlike many town halls in our era. Such culture, they had never really seen. The most they had seen were the quarters of the now-deceased General they used to serve loyally. It, like Twilight's castle, overlooked the dense population of Ponyville and its pink doors gave entrance do a fantastic, perfect place.

'Welcome, welcome everybody!' proclaimed Twilight as more and more ponies were setting up their daily projects and tasks around the place. 'This is the town hall, as you can see. We shall enter, and after a brief introduction, you shall be met with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna! I know, I know! Exciting for all of us! Well, no reason to wait!'

Soon after, the pink and beautiful wooden doors opened and gave entrance to the almost comical-looking area. It was beautiful in every way, and gave the spotlight to the crew as they entered, examining the place thoroughly. This was something, again, that they could not miss. Beautiful in sight, and the atmosphere felt warm and comfortable. After a few seconds of uninterrupted looking and scrutinizing, they were interrupter.

'Hum hum. Welcome!' a voice yelled warmly by a green, rather aged pony wearing square, smaller glasses. 'I am the Mayor of Ponyville, and I am happy to welcome you to Equestria! As of now, you will meet the glorious and majesticic Princesses of our nation! Behold!'

The curtains shot up and the small audience around them cheered, and the doors were slammed shut, and the spotlights turned down a bit and made way for the magestic Princesses, who advanced as one, confident to the audience, who clapped and cheered more and more, with the crew joining in optimistically. The Princesses looked confident. They were overlooking the place, confident of their grip on them. They seemed like rustic, and unforgiving Princesses, yet they still kept looking quite warm but strong. Very powerful beings, they seemed as such. The crowd cheered around for a good minute or so before increasingly calming down in volume, so naturally it felt rather casual. However, it was sure they worshipped their Princesses greatly.

'Welcome everyone!' the more dominant-looking Princess started. 'I am Princess Celestia, for those who don't yet know me, and I welcome you, humans, to our Kingdom!' as she spoke, more looks were defined to the humans, especially in her pauses.
'And I am Princess Luna!' the other shot up, as confident as her sister was. 'We are sisters, always been, always will. We welcome you thoroughly, visitors.' she continues with a warm tone, followed by short claps of cheering and whistling from the attentive audience.

Looking down at the calmed audience, Princess Celestia continued, with a more worried look on her face, yet keeping her confidence at all costs, was some of the officials left as instructed. 'We have.. some news.. for all of us. But.. Especially you, humans.' she starts, giving a stranger look to the crew, who looked confused but still had some sort of idea what it could be, deep inside, even if they weren't too sure yet. 'We.. Have lost communication with several key locations around Equestria. Patrols were sent there but.. Never came back. No message, no reply. Nothing. We would be asking the Mane Six crew to go and check out the problem, but they need some.. allies. Humans.. I know you've arrived not far from now but.. I'm afraid this will be the perfect opportunity to prove yourselves and your strenght. You talked about some sort of Mickey.. Is that so? Speak.'

Looking at the rest of the crew who nodded him to step forward, the Officer walks one step and looks up at the dominant leaders. 'Yes. That is correct.' he starts, a tiny bit shy but not showing it, wanting to keep his true strenght with him.
'Want to tell us more about him, please?' she continue.
'Yes, of course.' he continued, pleased to be able to tell more details off his chest. 'Some sort of.. Well, he is like us. Just like us, really. However, he has some distinct features. It's going to be rather hard to believe but uh..'
'Yes? We are listening.'
'Very well.. He has some kind of immortality. Well, I don't.. Don't know about aging, but at least he is invulnerable to almost anything we've used to try and destroy him, and uh--'

'Woah, woah! You mean you've even tried using the power of the rainbo--' a blue pony with unique rainbow hair started, who was with familiar faces before Pinky's hoove shut her up.
'Hmm.. Uhm.. Yeah, and after we.. Uhm.. Blew up our Starship.. Our own, yep.' he continued looking back at the crew for an instant. 'We uh.. We thought we might have destroyed him for good. But maybe not. Maybe he survived.'
'Well, that does seem rather interesting to tell. Of course, we deal with some.. inconveniences like these rather occasionally. It could be something else.' she says, rejoicing the crew a slight bit, although they were a bit more worried now. 'Do not worry. We shall look into it.'

All seemed fine for a few minutes of silent thinking, a few diverse but extremely quiet and brief conversations within the crowds, muttering, and the officials looking increasingly worried. This was, until the air started to almost crack. It vibed increasingly, and as people thought they were a bit sick at first, it started to shake terrifyingly, and the crew being pushed to the ground. Chaos in the town hall! Ponies falling off their chair, tables breaking, in fact the whole building was collapsing on a small scale.

'Everyone out!' ordered the Princesses, as everyone obviously rushed out the doors and cracks in the wall, the Princesses magestically flying out from the wall and back down again as they watched the humongous building collapse slowly, as well as many houses in the distance. What was happening?! The crew looked around, dazed and worried, as the ponies ran helplessly outside and so many ponies, including multiple familiar faces, ran towards them in a rather quick pace, to keep in the comfort of the pack. What they could see is a gigantic ball of fire, falling straight from the sky, heading slowly but surely down in the distant fields, with the people looking in amazement and shock, with wide eyes. Then the worst came, the worst feeling and realization of all time. The crew looked deeper and deeper into its figures and shadows, and realized something familiar, something.. too familiar.

Looking at the distant shapes, it seemed like a bundle of heavy, grey steel, clogged up together in jet-like shapes and familiar figures. It robust wings, its heavy top, and its flat but bouncy surface. Its gigantic size and corridors visible, burning up into inevitable flames, and the particles coming out, the wires hanging out and zapping out from their powers. It was the Starship. It was their Starship. A good portion of it, heading straight down from the sky. Their Starship.

Adversary (3)

Chaos ensued. Helpless ponies running around the place, just as confused as the crew were. Many started to jog away as it reached further and further down into the ground. Boom! Slowly but surely, the remains of the doomed Starship hit the ground one by one, burning up into flames into the day's sky and what followed was a shock to everyone. The ground shook once again, this time much stronger than ever before, and the walls, the houses blew off into oblivion by the crash and force it caused to move towards the helpless ponies, who were, along with the crew, flung into the air and smashed into breaking houses. They were hopeless and nothing compared to the power its destruction.

After an seemingly eternal time of darkness and confusion. The crew and ponies started to wake up again, clumsy in their footsteps, but regaining consciousness neverthless. It took a while, but they regained their senses in the end, whilst the crew re-assembled together around an unmoving corpse on the floor. It was John. He was dead, killed by the monstruosity that was an already doomed Starship. Poor him. They all felt sorry, in silence, as they lay around him, the ponies too dazzled too even feel anything by that point.

'He was a good man.' started one of the remaining crew members. 'And for that, we shall never forget him.' he said, as they stood around and gave their last respects to the doomed man. He lived a honourable life, and now, he lived to have a honourable death amongst his crew. This was what he'd wanted. This is what he'd always have wanted.

'We're very sorry about your friend.' Twilight jumped them from behind. 'He.. Seemed like a very good person.' she continued with a few notable tears in her eyes, trying to keep them in. 'I'd have loved to know more about.. him.'

It was at this moment that, for the first time, the crew and the ponies finally felt together as one, and at peace. They never felt different anymore; they were the same. They needed to work together to solve this conflict. It was no longer just a temporary pass-along, they were real beings with real feelings. And for that, respect was required by everyone. They looked at their comrade for one last time before giving each other looks of honour and patriachy, and started to walk away from him as multiple ponies grabbed his corpse for his honourable end.

Looking over the distance was nothing but fire and dark, grey smoke. In fact, they could actually smell it from here very well. A thick, muddy smell of asphixation. It was not something you'd like to have, ever. Some of them coughed at the disturbance in the air. Such a wonderful, yet shocking sight. It was rather hard to bare, even for such noble men. Not even a quarter of their Starship was this small, so imagining such a huge Starship, in fact, bewildered their initial expectations. Never did they actually grasp the concept of their Starship's actual size from here. It was all they really saw in their lives.

'Ladies and Gents!' proclaimed the grand Princess Celestia, standing over the confused and dazzled audience. 'Please go back to a safe place. Shelters, anything. Don't stay out too long. We don't know what could be left in that.. thing. Help anyone you can. The hospital is working 24/7 at maximum efficiency. Meanwhile..' she continued, looking back at us from the running, busy ponies. 'I need a team to explore those hazards down at the crash site. You will have breathing aids given to you to protect against the potential hazards in the air.' she says, as some ponies gave them breathing masks, looking like they were made for both ponies and humans perfectly.

'Then we shall go too.' proclaimed a familiar voice with a rainbow mane along with her 5 other friends, standing over, confident.
'I.. I don't think that's a good idea, Rainbow..' the Officer started in a dazed tone.
'Then we won't let you go.' Applejack continued, as confident as her peers, looking at Celestia who, with a sigh, nods in the end silently.
'Very well.' the Officer continued, looking back from Celestia. 'Come on then.' he says, as the ponies start walking with him after being given breathing aids to aid their survival.

Looking back at the half-destroyed town, they could see inexistant houses, blown up bits everywhere, and ponies running around, setting up tents and camps to aid the survivors. It seemed like such a mess. The atmosphere seemed rather unfamiliar, especially in the areas they came from. The ponies looked confident, but deep down it was felt that they were quite touched too. You could feel that something like this did not happen everyday. However, they took great efforts to hold it in emotionally. They seemed like strong and robust creatures.

As they walked along in the beautiful and sunny fields, the atmosphere and the air darkened as they approached the nearing crash site. It looked bigger and bigger, in fact, it looked almost unreal. Big chunks of steel huddled together, crashing perflectly into the middle of the fields. Smoke came out, and the power was now non-existent, another hazard gone. The generators were totally buzzed, and occasional explosions were seen on the sight, many being too small to even do anything by that point.

As they walked closer and closer to their inevitable objective, their vision started to diminish, almost being stuck in spotlights in a dark box, which made them suprisingly alert to any threats that could be around, and inevitable. Then it came to them, what bad or good could even come from here? Apart from the fact that this was a good portion of the ship, and caused significant damage to the area, it didn't spawn any other threats, even after careful inspection. Whilst Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle looked around with their magical powers, enabling them to examine the place more carefully, the crew looked around, with slight nostalgia of their older selves. They had come a long way since then. This was not something to forget. They were never going to forget such a rudesome experience.

After careful inspection over an hour or so, they found nothing much but scrap, some theorising they could use it as ressources to build new housing for the people in Ponyville, or perhaps build new machines and such, as they were apparently in need for some. Perhaps this would finallly make them evolve signficantly in terms of technology and such, even if magic was already a concept in their world. It would certainly come to their advantage in a rather good way. It is very important to do such things.

'Alright, well, I don't think we're getting down anywhere.' Rainbow concludes. 'Perhaps we should go back and report. I mean we could use it for ressources, sure, but..'
'Well it is very unlikely anything, or.. anyone could survive this. Pity. Perhaps we could have found more of your kind.' Twilight continued, looking a bit sorry at the crew.
'Or perhaps there is..' an engineer of the crew says, looking, frozen, shocked at what stood not far from him, and as the crew started to join him as well as the ponies, looking as confused as ever.

What stood in front of them was impossibly familiar. A rather tall figure, intimidating in every way, with two arms and two legs, standing tall and upwards was staring down to them with a look of hatred, but also of rather mad senses. A good portion of his skull was filled with no hair, but of steel which was flat on his skull, and the other three quarters being of dark, brown hair. He also possesed unique facial features and lighter, brown eyes. He looked like a man in his 30's or 40's at most. Even for that, he looked rather young for his age, and in perfect health. His body was slim, but not too slim. His body was the ultimate man's dream, and his remaining uniform that ressembled the crew's old clothes was shockingly too familiar.

'Well well well.. What have we got here? You survived.. this. But I did too. Huh, not a suprise, huh?' the figure started, very confident of itself, with a sarcastically evil, quiet tone.
'Mickey! You survived..' the Officer replied in utter shock, as Mickey started to walk around, in a passive stance.
'Well, my old friend, it is inevitable that I would survive. Thinking that you, my friend, could stop me, was.. foolish, and arrogant of yourself. Why did you think that would stop me? You just led to unnecessary complications, as well as leading to so many deaths, Officer.' he continued, with a confusing smile.

'So you're the one they been talkin' abou' 'hen.' Applejack continues, in utter digust. 'How could you do this?!'
'Me? Oh, I'm not the baddy here. Sure, I may have.. Attempted to take over the crew.. Well, no point in that now, is there?' he laughs mechanically, looking back at the crew, mocking them for every cent they had.

'That's enough!' the Officer yelled in anger as he mindlessly got his glock gun out and started shooting aimlessly into his adversary in pure anger, who took each bullet precisely to show his power.
When he ran out of bullets, he dropped his gun in desperation. It was truly Mickey; he was not dreaming. This was neither a dream nor a nightmare. This was reality.

'Suprise!' Mickey shouted in suprise as he jabbed an automatic pistol, strange-looking for our time but normal in their future selves, as he shot bullets around the place, many catching one, including Rainbow Dash in her right wing. The shock was inevitable; two crew members were already down to the ground, not breathing. They were now down to only 5 members. Horrible thinking.

'WHY?!' the Officer yelled in total anger, as Mickey ricanned more and more, feeding off of their anger. He threw his gun at Mickey who just picked it back up and threw it in the ruins.
'I need'nt kill you just yet, fortunately for you.' he says, jabbing his gun right back into his pocket. 'Sorry, it was just so fun that I could not stop myself!' he laughs, but regains his serious tone soon enough as the intimidated ponies and crew look up at him again.

'What do you want?!' Twilight steps up, also injured a little in the legs.
'Well uh.. Let me put it this way.. I do what I want, right?' he legitimately asks the audience, in which some of the braver ones nod slightly for him to stop his death stare. 'Well well well, since I'm in that.. ugh.. PONY world of yours, no pun intended. Hum.. I'll need.. How do I put this.. Yes, a host body. Does uh.. Anyone know what that is?'

Looking around his audience, he could see faces of familiarity, and many guessed what it is correctly in their minds. It was not that hard to grasp, even if not done before. Getting this as a sign to continue his speech, he continues a bit awkwardly after the unnecessary silence.

'So, yeah, basically I need to be.. inside someone. Sounds wrong, dunnit?' he giggles like a madman, as the crew give each other a few looks of confusion as to what he needs other than that, or how he plans to accomplish this.

'Yeah, and uh, who you gon' get for that? I'm not being your lil' punk.' says one of the surviving members of the crew, who stares confidently at him down the eye.
'Nah, not you, silly.' he says, giving him his death stare whilst still keeping his victorious smile. 'One of you lil' ponies.. things..' he continues, staring at his secondary audience, as they step up in front of the crew, looking back at them, unsure of what to do.

'Now uh.. Let me take my pick.. Huh.. Got loads of time.' he says, tapping his watch sarcastically. 'Soo.. Stupid question.. But any volunteers?' he asks seriously, looking around, knowing of course he won't get one.

As the ponies stand still, staring down into his soul, he resumes rather quickly. 'Very well. Uhm.. Pink blue orange purple white.. Uhh.. You know it's hard for me to choose!' he says, like a mad man inside. 'How about a lil' examinatio--'

'Ugh! Just choose someone! We didn't choose for this, in fact--'
'Rainbow, leave it.' Applejack replies to her pleads of annoyance, that shuts her up, still annoyed on the inside.

'Alright, uh, you the Pinkie one, come with me, yeah? No questions asked.' he orders on a strict tone, as she looks around her friends, a look of rather sadness on her face.
'Pinky, this is goodbye for now. Don't worry..' Twilight says, running up to her and hugging her one last time as Mickey watched, rather impatiently. Her other friends also hugged each other as a group one last time, as the crew watched from the side, looking equally upset about her leaving.

'Alright. Let's go.' Mickey says, looking back before starting to walk away, waiting for Pinkie to catch up. Pinkie looked back at her friends for a moment or so before walking down with her new adversary, helpless to do anything. This was until something happened, somethring hopeful.

'Now.' Twilight muttered, as Rainbow suddenly made everyone jump by going at super speed from the sky, making the whole audience look up on her, as she started to make her way to crash into Mickey and Pinkie. Before he knew it, he was nearly crashed into, but the audience's optimism was quickly snapped off as, with great and brute strenght, he managed to punch Rainbow right in the face and make her crash loudly a few meters from him, leaving everyone unharmed, and knocking her out for a while.

'No!' Twilight yelled in anger as she used her horn to throw some sort of curvy line of destructive, red magic that burned the air on its way straight into Mickey's heart, in which he, again, with great speeds and impossible confidence, he managed to deflect with his elbow, and throw it back at three times the speed back to his densely staged audience, who were blown off into the air by its rude explosion, knocking them on the side, leaving rashes on their skins and clothes. The Officer was the first to get back up, and look up into the distance, but the smoke covered everything up, leaving no trace of his adversary.

Meanwhile, the remaining ponies and crew got up and started studying tactics as they looked into the distance, helpless to do anything. Strong ennemies were not the first to be vanquished. They would not be the last, either. Confidence was key to all this.

'Shall we go get them?' Applejack asks to Twilight, listening attentively to her response.
'No. No point as of now.' she replied, looking down into the clearing distance. 'He's too strong for us alone. We'll have to charge up the elements of harmony.'
'What? We need them to..' Applejack interferes.
'It would have grown more power over time, I'm sure of it.' she concludes, looking over the landscape one last time, dominantly, as they stop in their tracks and turn back confidently, walking back from the ruins to Ponyville in loneliness.

Ransom (4)

The gleam of light shone in through the cracks in the wall, and the distant, as well as the shimmering, dying light. Only the air could be felt around her, as if she was in some sort of impossible void. Although conscious, she refused to open her eyes. She didn't want to open them. Opening them would be admitting of the true situation, which could prove to be extravaguant. Opening her eyes would admit it is way too real. Groaning and muttering before her, she slowly, but surely realized where she was. She didn't want to admit it, but it was inevitable. She was truly hopeless and without help. It was not one of the most mundane occurrences in daily life. Rather, it was the opposite, and a horrible one at that.

At last, it was inevitable that she would, in the end, open her eyes. Looking around, nothing was familiar. In her inevitable panic, she tried to struggle in her metal bonds bonds with no success and no rules. She tried to get up but rested immobile, much to her miscontent. She tried to mumble something but her mouth was covered with a dry, tight and heavy dirty cloth. She tried to muffle with no real success. It was quite awkward, and uncomfortable - especially for someone like her, to be in such a horrid position, and open for anybody to do anything to her that they wished. Even that sounds wrong, doesn't it?

Her fears were mostly situated on the door at her front right of her, in which it was the only real plausible escape, if she could even escape from her bonds in the first place, that is. Of course, her dreams of escape were quickly shortened by the fact that a key was heard loudly turning in the rusty lock of the door, and a masked figure appeared, much to her displeasure. He locked the door back up and placed the key on the small table nearby, also looking rusty and quite old. The lightly-masked figure slowly but surely approached her and, as he grabbed a stool, sat down next to her, examining her with his few, small amateur holes in his hooded face.

'Well, well..' started the hooded figure, as Pinkie jumped in suprise, in a dark and echoing tone throughout the dark, concrete-walled room. 'What do we have here?' he continued, as Pinkie stared at him in despair, almost pleading to be let go, fully knowing that wouldn't be the case. She tried to wriggle in her bonds, in which her captor let her to her pleasure, fully knowing she won't get out as she well did. It was then she started giving up, and, in despair, looked up to her captor, hoping for something to happen.

After breaking the awkward but eternal silence, he finally got up from his chair and started walking around the dense, echoing room of darkness and concrete. At last, after walking around inexplicably for a few moments without cause, he got closer to his poor, innocent prisonner and removed his mask and smacked it down on the floor, looking straight at her. How decent. Mickey, it was, again. Pinkie was a little disappointed for it to be him again, but seeing his past personality, it could be much worse. Pinkie tried to, once again, muffle something, but it was, really, just a grasp for air.

'Well, time for work!' he continued, on an unusually depressing tone, as he quickly stretched and ran to the table opposite, covered by dirty, heavy curtains, almost transparent but covered with dirt and dusty items. It was probably for the best that she did not see the rest of the items, as when he turned back to her, panic struckt her once again and she struggled in her bonds and muffled pleads for help. It was a rather new-looking, although dirty, heavy-looking drill, that he tested bit by bit in his hands, creating an unusually quite noise, but neverthless proving to be quite a threat. He sat back down on the stool next to her and, for his own sick-minded pleasure, almost cut Pinkie by trapping her with the drill in front of her, turning it on and off to scare her to her wits, making her cry and beg all the time.

At last, he finally put the drill, safely on the floor, with a somehow reassuring smile on his face. 'Don't worry.' he started, looking more confident and less depressive of himself. 'I'm not going to hurt you. Well.. It's complicated.' he continued, reasurring her less and less at each instant. She tried to wriggle at times, knowing full well she wouldn't get out so easily. Perhaps, her friends would come, guns blazing out and about, rescuing her like a damsel in distress. She was just like that, bound and gagged at the mercy of her captor. That is, if he had any mercy, which could be a potential saver, as many of her previous did.

'Time to work!' he proclaimed, as he got up once again, this time much more optimistic-looking as he moved next to Pinkie an uncovered a set of buttons, levers and such in a densely-populated white, but rather dirty table, as for the rest of the room she was in. 'Let's go!' he muttered, as he started readying the buttons and pulling some of the levers. What followed was panickingly confusing as Pinkie looked around the place. Colours and newly-discovered buttons were seen light up, LED lights were turned on around the room and the wires were now more visible and vibrating. Her captor mercilessly grabbed some energy clamps and stuck them just strong enough to her arms, legs and torso, making her get stung a little. She felt like a hopeless being in a robotic suit that was build around her whilst she was awake.

She started to shake in fear, and because of the power brought on to her. She became to legitimately get worried about herself, as she was bouncing up and down but kept quickly secured by her strong bonds which carved into the top layers of her skin, just enough for blood circulation to pass by. She tried to scream but it would not do much, in fact she was already gagged so that was a no-no for her. She started to faze away, the last of her breath being of her consciousness, overlooking the great man who captured her, dragged her to a place of nobody, and was given but no chance at all of escape, or redemption. This was the end of Pinkie Pie. The end of not only any pony, but the end of a good friend.

'Now, it is time! Now!!!!' he yelled, turning on all the buttons like a madman, unable to be recovered from his unimaginable madness as all the power started brightening up Pinkie's non-moving corpse, only budging due to the vibrations and vibe from the air and electricity. Shouting like the madman that he was, he grabbed Pinkie and started to move in towards her, almost disappearing at times from her brightedness. As he moved in closer and closer, he started to almost brighten up, as if he was going to explode at any moment in white colour, as the crew did in their initial crossing to the new world. Why, world, why?

As he started to faze and fade away, knowing his plan would truly work, he stopped any regrets from inside his mind. Any humanity. Any morals. As he did so, each part of his body started to lose more and more of its figure, its colour, its appetite. In a matter of a few minutes ,he was nothing but thin air.

Waking up, only the light was seen. The bright flashes of white gave him a new, but rather familiar perspective that he had felt before. Then, he remembered it. The initial crossing. It was happening all over again, except this time, he wasn't going anywhere. In fact, he would become totally in this world. Looking up to the new sky in the desolated ruins of his slightly underground and lost laboratory that was shed to pieces by his rudesome experiment, his dazing vision was still kept alert by his strong mind and reflexes. He looked around. Nothing. Nothing but his corpse lying, perflectly intact, on the floor.

He opened his eyes fully, at last. He looked around. Nothing but the fields, with, in the far distance, being the great city of Canterlot that he had previously visited. Of course, this was but a distant dream. He looked down. His hands, now turned hooves. His ears, now turned floppy. His back, now turned party. He was a new person. He was a new self. A stronger self. A true self. He was now truly in his world, a world where he could achieve what he wanted without a depressive atmosphere. He was finally free in his new, bright, cartoonish body of a pony. Goodbye Mickey. Hello Mickie Pie.

Running into the distance, he tested his reborn powers, smashing rocks and branches into who-knows-what, and jumping at great speeds and heights. He ran and traverse the fields like a little, excited and innocent child that he was reborn as. He looked, one last time at his eternal corpse and looked away, confident this is the way it should be, should've been, and always should be. Goodbye Mickey, hello Mickie Pie.

Author's Note

I feel my writing skills have slightly improved since the first few chapters. After all, it is all a matter of perspective and atmosphere. I focuse it more on this one, which is why it's significantly shorter than the other chapters. Neverthless, enjoy it.

Curiosity (5)

'Well, well.. I don't know.' the Officer continued, looking at the well-laid Equestria map, almost hologram-like in design, and in a rustic manner at that, thinking carefully about the plans.
'I do admit, it's quite unlike anything we've seen before - I mean, our attack tactics usually work. But then, it didn't.' Twilight continued, equally as unsure about the situation.
'He can't get away with it forever. He will be stopped eventually.' reassured Jake, one of the surviving crew members.
'He's already taken Pinkie.' muttered Rainbow Dash, a bit disappointed and depressed to her friend's disappearance and potential fate. 'I don't know what they'll do with her.'

'A good portion of the map has potential areas, many being key locations to our knowledge, to where this Mickey threat could be located.' continued Twilight, confident of her research. 'Studied long enough, we may be able to locate him successfully.'
'Of course, it may be exact, or far from approximate.' continued Applejack, reassuring everyone of the insecurity of the plan.
'Maybe we could.. hum.. Use hypnotising?' Fluttershy suggested quietly, a bit socially worried that she said something wrong.
'That's not a bad idea.' continued Rainbow Dash, a bit more cheerful in her tone. 'But are we sure that would even work? I mean it sounds like a risk.

'This whole situation is a risk.' replied the Officer, in almost a war-like tone. 'However, yes, it is a potential hazard that may help us--'
'Sir, with all due respec--' started Alex, interrupted quick enough.
'Sir, we may have to call for a large army of reinforcements. In fact we may need one in itself..' interrupted Jake, who got his new idea finally spoken out.
'Hmm.. Good idea, I'll give you that. How plausible is it?' he asked his friend Twilight.

After thinking for a while, Twilight finally replied: 'Yeah, I mean, we could obviously get trained volunteers, or the royal guard but that's really it. We usually use the elements of harmony or something.. I don't..'
'Here's an idea, then!' Applejack continued in amazement, as all the attention tuned in to her. 'Why don't we combine those? So one small-scale army would be searching for his location throughout the country whilst we--'
'--find the elements of harmony and use them! Of course!' Twilight interrupted and finished as Applejack intended to. 'Genius..'

As they all stood quietly from the table at once, they readied and took off for the journey. Signs were put up rather quickly around town to ask for volunteers, and many assembled near the ruins of the town hall. It was more than a mere spectacle. So many ponies leaving their daily duties in a flash to join up the volunteers, in hopes of serving their great nation from evil threats and figures, notably Mickey at the time being. As at least 200 ponies stood in rows and lines rather sparsely in the area, Twilight confidently got up the rock and started her small-scale speech to her new crews.

'Hello, everypony!' she started, confident and in a loud voice, as her friends watched over her. 'Today is a special day! We need you to go around the country, recruit, and explore! We must find this Mickey human, who has been taunting us and also kidnapped.... Pinkie Pie!' she said, as the audience gasped in shock and despair.

'But now isn't the time for tears! We shall rise up against this evil threat and destroy it for good. WHO'S WITH ME?!' she yelled, as the audience cheered and whisled in a patriotic manner, confident of their benefit. Twilight got down from her high rock and joined up with the rest of her crew, as the ponies started dispersing and running like flash to the outer corners of the town, ready to start their journeys as loyal volunteering soldiers.

The royal guard also engaged. They went along with squads of ponies in numbers, hoping to protect and further their research of the evil Mickey threat. It was the most royal guard activity the Mane 6 had ever seen in their lives, which was quite fascinating to them indeed, but even more so for the remaining crew of 5 humans. It was a beautiful, yet rather despairing spectacle.

'Hey!' a voice, rather high in pitch, was heard echoing from behind, as three little ponies marched together in a well-thought line and sat down in front of the humans, almost patting them in a way. 'We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders! May we join you today?' one started, seemingly more dominant in physical attributes.

'No, no and no!' Applejack interfered. 'You 'gals are going right back home!' she said, annoyed a little, and started pushing them back.
'Wait wait.. Who in the hell..' the Officer started, extremely confused about what just happened.
'They're the.. Cutie Mark Crusaders.. CMC.. You know, you're a bit young.. Maybe another time, huh?' Applejack reassured, as she left them in place, rather disappointed, and looked at her in despair.

In silence, the crew and the Mane 6 turned back casually to start their journey. It was around noon, and the sun was shining brightly. On their way out of town, they could still see the giant ruins of the crashed Starship. Only a fool would not see its dominance and alien-like presence. Well, it was an alien-like presence, to be perfectly honest. Turning to the right, they saw the great, dark trees that looked a bit out of place with the rest of the light and cartoonish fields. It looked damp, moist and ancient, almost too magical in nature. They stood there quietly, examining the entrance, almost checking for any traps or something, even if that wasn't the case, before once again casually continuing their journey into the literal depths of the woods.

With a few shivers then and there, the forest did not seem too supernatural, even if that kind of vibe was felt in it. It looked remote but very, very active. Almost like a rainforest, a big one at that. On the way, Twilight, as with her good intelligence, explained the history and reasons of the Everfree Forest, some tales being horrid and rather disturbing, especially at the time being and convenience, but some were also lighter, some even got out a giggle or two. It was a long, but not boring journey. In fact, the fear made it quite a stress, rather than a boredom. What could be felt was almost a claustrophobic blue gas in the air, but being unsure if it really existed or was just an illusion, they chose not to see it as a threat, for the time being. There were more important matters, anyway.

The journey seemed to take like forever. It was an endless stroll throughout endless woods. It seemed pointless at some stages, some thinking and fearing they would be inevitably lost in the endless, casual woods of strange sparse nature. That was not even suprising, considering the supernatural vibe that was visible and felt so naturally. Nothing was the same everyday in Equestria; it was not as boring sometimes as their past lives they lived so comfortably in the safety of their Spaceship. Some strange, but such convenient-looking areas could almost be marked off as non-different, as they looked so close and ressemblant to each other. It was not an everyday sight, and, whilst it was disturbing and full of so many secrets, it was not opened up for too long amongst the bigger crew.

It was a place forbidden for all good will, almost. No ponies or anybody was seen anywhere, although it was speculated by some that they caught the glimpse of a strangely constructed hut there and there, but no correct memory of it was amongst the crew, and the ponies did not have any comment on the quiet, private human conversations that they had. Detours, mostly small ones, had to be taken due to the large amounts of hazards in the area, or just mindless vines and annoying road-blocks. It was rather frustrating, at times, but just made it longer. In fact, the sunny day looked significantly darker in the forest, not including the few heavenly breaks from the endless trees that looked almost supernatural in their dryness and convenience.

As of then, the new Mickey in his new form was now strolling around, keeping to the countryside, enjoying his new, more flexible and convenient body. It was like a dream come true; this magical body of a pony just mashed in together as such, enjoying the beautiful, vivid and living sunlight coming out of the brightening sun. Although this was so, he was still as excited as when he first entered his new body, although he got more used to it now and could use it without clumsiness in consciousness or physical orientation. His new voice was sort of like an echoing, robot-like evil voice, but combined with Pinkie's light tones and Mickey's mad, extraordinary loud tones and confidently-carved tones. It was so supernatural, even for him, to accomplish such things, but in his mind, this was more like a casual work day, add in that as a side effect of immortality in beings, wise from birth or mad from life; it didn't change.

'Here it is.' started Applejack, looking towards the giant, open opening of the cave right in front of them, staring in equal amazement at the dark insides of its mysterious nature.
'Welcome to Harmony.' Twilight continued, her voice almost breaking a little as she was so amazed and happy to finally find such a wonder, and as the crew watched in equal amazement.

'It's.. It's.. Beautiful..' muttered the Officer, unknowing why he said such a thing for his nature and personality.
'Ain't it? Well, we ain't got all day, let's go, no lollygaggin'.' Applejack giggled, as the rest joined in and walked casually down inside the mysterious and powerful-looking cave.

After a rather long corridor of a few strange, but non-natural vibes, this time the crew felt they reached their objectives, but were unsure of what to do next, as Twilight started working on her inevitable magical skills once again and the carefully carved, although easily missable rock doors tore open, literally, as bright light figured on the outsides of its lair. One by one, they entered, carefully examining the gigantic, natural stone room. Around it felt like dead rocks, but the middle was the opposite of dead. A large tree, perhaps bigger than Twilight's mansion, was visible in the entire middle of the place, conveniently placed for beauty and power, as well as dominance over all living beings, even non-living for that matter. The ponies started to bow down to the tree, almost religious-like, as the human crew knelt down behind them, respecting the Great Tree for unknown reasons, as it felt the vibes forced them to do such things. It felt.. both unnatural and natural at once; inexplicable for that matter of amazement.

'Oh, great Tree. Please, wake up from your long dawn.' Twilight started muttering loudly, almost communicating with the tree as if it was truly an alive being.
As she said so, the tree started to lighten up even more, temporarily blinding the crew and the ponies, who didn't bother to look away as Moses once did. This was a god they were speaking to, not just anything or anyone. At least, that's what it felt like. Why was a totally different matter, or at least in their small, inexplicating minds. It was quiet for a while until a great voice, as if god himself had spoken, echoed throughout the room like an old man speaking, watching over all living things. Like some kind of Force.

'Yes, my little one, what do you need?' he started, brightening up at each tone and stopping, almost like a machine in itself, but it was much more than that in reality.
Twilight, a bit unsure and intimidated, answered rather quickly in possible confidence: 'The.. There is a man, called Mickey.' she continued, looking back at the crew slightly, as the Tree listened seemingly attentively, or as speculated if it was even conscious or not, or if it was so much more. 'He.. He threatens you. He threatens all of us. He threatens all of Equestria. He threatens.. Harmony.'

After listening attentively and rather desperately for the old wise tree's answers, it looked as it thought almost like a brain, which looked intensely familiar but deep down, they knew it was so much deeper than so.
'Yes.. Yes.. The Harmony.' he continued, a bit confusing in its wise words for unwise men, but with a more casual, somehow more reassuring and familiar tone of voice. 'We must protect the Harmony.'

'Yes. We must. And.. I hope we shall, however we must destroy--' Twilight started.
'Yes! The Mickey threat, I've heard.' he interrupted, confident in his tracks, thinking attentively as it seemed. 'However, I cannot afford to lose myself to the elements. I must keep clear. A sacrifice must be made.'

Everyone stopped, and looked at each other. What did he mean? What did IT mean? What did this object mean? What did this inexplicable object mean? Was it good, bad, neutral? What did it want? A sacrifice? What did that mean? Literal? True? False? Convenient? So many questions raised through the crew's heads, desperately looking for answers, or just one answer to one particular theme would be sufficient. They hoped it would not be anything too shocking or despairing, but it was inevitable, and necessary, perhaps, to convey the Mickey threat.

'A.. Sacrifice? Of whom? What?' Twilight continued, despaired for an answer.
'A sacrifice of two. Two of your living beings. I will let you decide, otherwise I cannot help you.' he replied, shocking the team.
'Why? Why do you want two of us?' Twilight continued, rather angrily in tone and force.
'I cannot use my elements again, it is too dangerous. Once was enough. Two would create more, sufficient Harmonial energy to defeat the one you speak of.' he continued, confident in itself.

'We.. We have to, it's our only choice.' Twilight sighed, looking back at the team, fully knowing their shared despair as she had.
'I volunteer.' a human suddenly jolted.
'So do I.' another did.
'Wait! What are you..' the Officer stopped them in curiosity, but they ignored him and stepped forward, much to the team's shock.

'Great Tree, I am Ethan Jackobian, and I volunteer to sacrifice.'
'Great Tree, allow me to present I am Josh Kebault, and I wish to sacrifice as well.'

Although they were rather quiet, the rest of the team looked in shock but thought nothing to try and stop them. It was a necessary sacrifice, as the tree had said. They did not bother to really said goodbye as, with great brute strenght, the tree started to lighten up once more, blinding everyone else almost, and after a minute or so of eternal confusion of whitedness and careless mess of supernatural events, the unwell-known Ethan and Josh, both brave in their dignity, were gone. Taken by the tree. Feelings were mixed; some felt anger, some felt sad, some felt neutral. In fact, some felt literally nothing. It was so bad at this point that, anything had to be tried. For the sake of the people. For their sake. For the sake of Equestria. For the sake of Harmony.

'Very well. You may now receive your powers.' the tree continued, as Twilight looked up as he suddenly jolted white bolts of power to Twilight, who exploded in white light before coming back down again, as if she teleported to some pocket dimension and suddenly came back in the fraction of a second, this time looking more vivid and bright, although that would be temporary as expected to use it against her inevitable threat.
'Use it well, Princess Twilight.' he continued, the crew gasping at the news of her royal rank, unknown truly to them before. 'Protect Harmony, and protect your people.' he finished confidently and loyally, before shutting down in bright and vividness and going back to its long-lasting dawn of everlasting light, as the crew walked back more confidently, although quietly back to the depths of the Everfree Forest, dark in its nature but holding many key, beautiful secrets.