Past Lives New Lives

Lyra was sleeping in a tent nearby the forcefield. She wanted to be there at the scene when the human manage to escape the forcefield. She was sleeping peacefully until she heard the vrooming sounds outside. She peeked outside and was full of enjoy when she saw a big metal contraption coming toward her.

"Everyone! Look the humans are coming!" Lyra stood outside and brushed herself to be presentable.

"What beast are they riding?" asked the dragon with binoculars, "Must be tough beast when it's skin is made of metal."

"It's not a beast," Lyra took the binoculars off the dragon and look through it to see the machine coming toward them, "It's a car. A vehicle that transport people and objects which is useful for long distances. It's like a cart but you do not have to pull it yourself. The engine does all the work. Judging on it's size and pattern, it's a military vehicle. You guys better stay out of sight. We don't want to overwhelm them."

Everybody, beside Lyra, ran off and hid behind trees or other large objects. Lyra was rubbing her hooves with glee. She would be a part of the history book and crossing meeting humans off her bucket list. Lyra watched as the armored vehicle packed by the forcefield. The doors opened and came out six people dressed in military clothing. Some of them were holding metal sticks while the others are carrying some kind of detecting device. The humans were walking toward the forcefield where Lyra was standing.

Oh my gosh. Okay Lyra, calm down and greet them. This is your dream, Lyra thought, Just smile and say you are a diplomat.

When the humans stood in front of the forcefield, Lyra introduced herself, "Nice to meet you, humans. You are welcome to see our world. I am Lyra Heartstrings, a diplomat of Equestria. I am here to make a relationship between humans and us. We like both of our leaders to speak to ensure that we do not harm you as you won't harm us."

However, the humans were either looking at their devices or looking behind her. It is like she was invisible.

"Humans! I am here! Please notice me!" Lyra was waving her hooves while jumping on her hind legs. The humans kept doing their own business and talking with each other. Lyra couldn't hear what they were saying.

Lyra concluded that the forcefield acted like a one way mirror like the one in the interrogation room, "No. Please listen to me!"

Lyra was bashing her hooves on the forcefield while screaming in the top of her voice to gain their attention but to no prevail, "I would not be denied of meeting humans when they are just in front of me! Open up forcefield. Why life's so cruel?! Please don't go away! We are so close!"

At the humans' POV
"Okay remember the mission. Just collect the data and get back. No distraction, no picking up foreign objects and do not leave the group," the squad leader waited for the confirmation, "We are the most qualified people to provide information for the scientist."

"Sir, yes sir," the six soldiers barked in unison.

"Okay. Initiate our mission now," the squad leader with the five soldiers got out of the car with the last soldier at the steering wheel. The last member was holding a walkie-talkie while sitting at the driver seat to ensure a quick escape if something bad happen.

The two soldiers with the instruments ran to the forcefield and tested it if it was safe to touch where as the other four surrounded them in formation with their weapons out to spot any danger.

"No sign of electricity or radiation," one of soldier with the instrument recorded the findings in their tape recorder, "Forcefield safe to touch. Similar to thick glass but unable crack."

The other soldier dug a hole to see how deep the forcefield went underground, "No sign of end of the forcefield. Highly expected for us to be encapsulated."

"No sign of native life on the other side of the forcefield," the other side of the forcefield was just trees and grass, "No birds, bugs or any sign of wild life there. 100% safe so far."

"Doesn't mean we should be slacking," the squad leader look frustrated at the lack of data, "Trouble is always lurking."

Back at Lyra's screaming
"No... no... no..." Lyra sobbed as the humans continued researching the land, "Why does Celestia forsaken me?"

"There there pony," the dragon patted her back,"There would be next time."

"When?!" Lyra bashed her head against the forcefield, "We cannot shut it down. They cannot shut it down. Maybe the forcefield never shut down and I will not be the first pony to meet the humans. Waahhh!!!"

"Are all ponies art this dramatic?" an diamond dog, that look like a German Shepard, came up to them while closing his ears, "I rather not lose my hearing to a crying pony."

"No idea. Ponies are weird."

A flash blinded suddenly blinded them. When they open their eyes, they see a manticore attacking the humans.

Humans' POV
"We got nothing. The dirt is normal. The wildlife is missing and the forcefield is still there. All I got is the forcefield is made out of pure energy. We still need to find the source of the energy and how does it operate."

"Back to square one. No entry point. At least we are safe here," than a magical blinding light blasted in the middle of the group, causing the soldiers to knocked on their back. When they open their eyes, they saw a lion with a scorpion tail with wings. The beast was standing over one of the soldiers.

"Open fire," all the soldiers shot the beast from different angles. The beast strike the guy with his stinger, who was trapped under it, on his arm before he died.

Two of the soldiers rescue the injured person into the military vehicle to get to the hospital, "Requesting clear path to hospital. Soldier was attacked by a beast. Requesting help for poison. Species unknown. Sending image," the squad leader send the image of the dead manticore from his phone.

The soldier that was stung was put in the back. They cleaned the wound and put a splint on to keep the leg from moving. The soldier was burning up and turning pale. While they were driving back to the hospital, the soldier was mumbling about fighting and staying away from it. However, most of it was just gibberish.

At the hospital
While the doctors and nurses were waiting for the soldiers, they were examining the photo.

"This is a manticore, a mythical creature," the head doctor sat down with both his hands on his face, "We do not have the cure for it. We are dealing with a new creature with a different kind of poison that we need to research."

"Is that mean he's going to die?" one of the nurses asked.

"Most likely. I am still inexperienced. I have the most experience yet I only been in medical school for two years. We should prepare for the worst."

"That is not necessary," a floating ball robot with an electronic face, "I am here to ensure the safety of the inhabitants."

Everybody screamed as they just witness a robot that just wandered into them. "What the hell are you?" one of the doctors pointed at it.

"I am Medical & Ethical Doctor or MED for short. As soon as one of your people got hurt, I was reactivated to aid him/her," MED flew to a cabinet and pulled out drugs and needles, "Make sure to have a room for him while I create the serum. Don't you want to save your friend?"

All the doctors and nurses except the head doctor left to prepare a room for the patient. "How come I have never met you before? I've been here for a couple of days but I've never ran into anything like you."

While MED was preparing the antidote, it answered all his questions, "We are all designed to help humans to migrate to this civilization. We are teachers, advisers, assistance and any other professional work that you need. We cannot have humans running around while there are no experts to aid them."

"So am I unnecessary? Can't you just do all your work yourself?"

"No silly. Human interaction is important to human civilization. I am built to help and serve the humans, not replace them."

"Is there a robot to help us back to our home worlds?" the head doctor begged for an answer.

"No. We are not program to allow you to return where you are from," the MED gave the antidote to the head doctor, "Administer this to the patient and let him rest for at least 24 hours. Going to sleep mode."

"Wait a minute! I have more question," the MED just precipitated into thin air, "Great. Now we are dealing with robots."

Outside the forcefield
"What incredible weapons!" the diamond dog took notes on his notepad, "A weapon that shoots projectiles at high velocity with rapid reloading. How they use their weapons is so simple that a pup could wield it."

"Too bad the humans have left. I would love to see more of their weapons," the dragon and the diamond dog were talking over Lyra sobbing.

"One of humans Sob got hurt and they won't Sob come back again for a very long time," Lyra wiped her tears away and climbed back in her tent, "If anybody wants me, I would be here."

The Conference Room
After hearing the news of the attack, robots appearing out of nowhere and the soldier was recovering in the hospital, the heads of each ministry discuss the findings of a mythical creature.

"So that the guy that was drugged was not crazy," Amia remembered the time when the victim was telling everybody to give up on life, "Mythical creatures are real. This mean their could be magical creatures, giant monsters and deadly predators."

"Should we tell the people?" Orbard looked at each member for an answer, "Should we tell that there are mythical creatures that some could kill us exist in this world?"

Cyka leaned back and moaned, "It's a dilemma. If we tell the people, they would panic. If we don't, they would later found out and won't trust the government aka us."

"It's officially clear that we need to tell them," Justine looked out of the window and saw people minding their own business, "How do we address it? Hearing the news will make people to never leave the room because of some kind of monster. This mean the party is no go."

"Just tell the people straight to the point," Aegeus stated, "Just say everything that we know like ripping off a band-aid. People don't want to hear excuses. They want hard facts and tell them what to do to protect ourselves."

"You right," Min stood up and walked to the nearest exit, "As I am the Ministry of Emergency Situations, I am going to be the one who tell everybody about the beast on every media like newspaper, television news, internet, etc."

"And how would they protect themselves?"

"All we could do is to carry a weapon with you whenever you leave the building and banned people from coming near the forcefield. I bet this is not just a random occurrence."

Outside the forcefield
It was a few minutes before the show start, Twilight heard the news that a manticore attacked a human and Lyra was so close contacting with them.

"I'm sorry," Twilight tried to cheer her up, "I know this means a lot to you but I'm sure there would be a next time,"

"Don't try to give me hope. They are just ordinary civilians, not soldiers. They are not train to fight monsters from our world. They are children compared to real soldiers from their home. I'll bet that most of them would stay close to their home because they are scared. Soldier are trained to face danger, civilians' instincts are to panic and run away," Lyra whimpered.

Twilight notice the show starting, "Come on Lyra. Let's watch the show."

The Show
After watching the scene again of how the soldiers were attacked by the manticore, there was a press conference discussing about the most recent attack.

Min was standing behind her podium with tons of people in the audience. There were cameras and microphones in the crowd to be broadcast on their television and the internet. "As I am the Minister of Emergency Situations, I have confirmed that the manticore is real. The ministers believe that there are many other mythical creatures that can cause harm to us."

"What are proposing for our safety?" a journalist asked.

"The best we can do is for people to be train in gun safety. The monster appeared out of nowhere so it is the best for everybody to understand how to use it. I am not going to enforce that everybody should own a gun but I highly recommend it. Next question."

"Is the person attacked, okay?"

"We recently found out that the mysterious figure have equipped the city with robots that will aid us. However, they cannot help us to get back home. Don't be alarm when you see them. The robot helped us to administer the antidote to the victim. He is now recovering in his room."

"So, are you going to send any more soldiers?"

"Currently no. We have discuss that it is dangerous as the soldiers are inexperienced and low staff. As for now, we are temporarily banning people from coming near forcefield by 5 kilometers or 3 miles until we got a proper military to protect us. The only people who would have access to the forcefield are researchers and soldiers. If you are considering to be a soldier, sign up on the government website. We need all the help we can get."

"Is this going to be a likely occurrence?"

"We are not sure but I would assume so. So to be safe, do not go alone and stay close to our homes."
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"Told you so Twilight," Lyra cross her front hooves and pout.

"Don't worry. They said it is only temporary. Just be quiet and watch what else on."
_________________________________________________________________________________

The next scene show the hospital with the injured soldier in bed. The soldier woke up in the hospital after experiencing the weirdest hallucination he had ever experience. It must be the poison, he thought.

"It's nice to see you alive and kicking," the head doctor was sitting on the chair next to him.

"How long was I out for?"

"Almost 15 hours," he pulled out a pen and notebook, "I need to record everything you have experience before you were stabbed and your dream state."

"Jesus. I don't know," the injured soldier rubbed his head, "All I remember was a flash of light and I was under the beast."

"I got all of that from your comrades but can you explain your dreams. You were muttering throughout your sleep."

"What was I muttering?"

"Phrases like 'watch out', 'stay away', 'manticore', 'fly out of the way', 'stun it', etc."

The soldier sat up straight, sweating and breath heavily, "I remembered that I fought the beast before."

"What do you mean?" the doctor was scratching his head, "Do you mean you fought something like it, like an ordinary lion?"

"No no no," he waved his hand toward the doctor, "I dreamt that I fought it before."

"Can you clarify it?" the doctor started to write down his dream.

"It was so weird. I dreamt that I was with other ponies with swords and crossbows hunting down a manticore. I remembered shooting lasers, arrows firing and barking orders."

"Interesting," he took notes and compared to the drugged person's hallucination. Both of them said that they saw magical ponies in their head.

"It's so weird. I have dreams but this is too realistic as if I was reliving it."

"Beside your dreams, you are alright. I would discharge in the next morning. I will bring a nurse to get you dinner," he close his notepad and left the room, "You should continue your business as usual. I bet the poison screw your brain up. Luckily there was no brain damage."

As soon as he left the room and away from the patient's hearing range, he called Ebele, the Minister of Health, "We got a problem."

The scene fade to black, "Will they find the connection between two dreams? Will people cower in fear as monsters roam nearby their home? Will they fight and solve the mystery of the forcefield? Stay tune for next episode."

Lyra's tent
"Well that's bucking great," Lyra kicked a nearby rock, "May as well wait for another moon or two before we can see humans up close again."

"Lyra," Twilight pulled her to her seat, "Calm down. This is not the main issue. The main issue is why humans are hallucinating about us. It can't be a mere coincidence that two random people have dreamt the same thing."

"It's obviously the guy on the big screen. He managed to pull humans from different dimensions to our world. It's a no brainer for him to find our to manipulate dreams."

"Yeah but why though? If he wanted them to know about us, why don't he just have an entrance way for humans to meet us?"

"Twilight," Lyra pulled herself in her sleeping bag, "I'm tired about today. Let me rest and we would talk about it tomorrow. It's not like they are going anywhere soon."

Why did he choose them and why not from one world?, Twilight thought. Is there a bigger picture I'm not seeing?