Chapters In that particular day, thousands of young people around the world had just disappeared from their home without a single trace. Most of the belongings had disappeared as well. Clothes, technology, money and everything they own just disappeared without a trace. Many suspected that they just ran away but it was quickly debunked when police explained on national television that many of time have stable lives and loved by the community. The biggest question is how they managed to remove all the belongings without anybody detecting them. It devastated the family as the police cannot find any evidence or foul play of their disappearance. All the police can do is to assume them missing hoping one day they would be found.
Author's Note
This is my first story. Please do not be to harsh about it.
Kevin Vu was one of the victims that were kidnapped. He woke up like any other day like nothing unusual happen. He did the daily routine like trying to stay in bed after the alarm for at least ten minutes to make her sister mad for making her late to school. However, there was no annoying sister to wake her up or his mother yelling him to get up before whacking him with a broom. He thought they were being nice to him for once but he got a bad feeling about it. He pushed himself out of his bed and rubbed his eyes. After clearing the blurry vision in the morning, he found himself not in his own room.
"What is going on?" he picked himself up and searched everything in his room.
After finding that all of his personal belongings such as clothes and his phone, he stood back and addressed his surroundings.
"Calm down. This must be early birthday present from my family," he looked around his room, "This is my dream room but what the hell did they know how I like my room to look like and what to put in it. All of these furniture can cost a fortune."
He got out of his bedroom expecting to see his family but all he could see is rooms that he never seen before.
"Mum! Dad! Little Sis!" all he heard was silence, "This is not funny. Come out now. This is freaking me out."house ' but nobody was here. Everything in his house was brand new and nothing was out of place.
"Okay! Okay! Calm down!" Kevin became to hyperventilate, "There must be a logical reasoning to it. My parents must have sign me up on a TV show and didn't tell anything to me. Maybe I am on a hidden camera TV show."
He slapped himself to stop thinking about the stupid conclusion, "Don't be stupid. This is illegal if they did that. I just call my parents or the police and they would track me down. Simple as that."
Before he could reach for his phone, there was a knock on his door. He slowly creep away from the front door and try to hide somewhere safe.
"Kevin! Kevin Vu! It's me. Dexter Yamada. We went on the international summer camp five years ago. We use Skype together a lot."
"Dexter!" he rushed to the front door and gave him a big hug, "What the hell is happening here and how do you know where I am?"
After they released the hug, Dexter explained the situation the best he can, "First answer. No idea. There are people from all around the world who are just lost and confuse like us. Second answer. Your name is on the mailbox in front of your house."
"At least I am not the only one," Kevin just remembered what he need to do, "I need to call my parents."
Before he could run to get his phone, Dexter held him back, "It's no use. When I tried to do it, all I get was an unconnected message even though I can call other people like us."
Kevin slumped over his couch, "My parents are freaking the hell out and I can't do anything about it."
"We get some answer," Dexter pulled out a letter for him, "We all got this letter saying to go to the city square."
He ripped open the letter and read the news. All it gave him was the map of the entire city and the surrounding area.
"We are restricted inside the red circle but it has all the things we need and want. Like the beach, empty fields, city life, etc," Dexter trying to lighten the mood as he walked around Kevin's room.
"This still doesn't explain anything. They could explain why we are here or where we are in this freakin' letter!" Kevin was seen clearly frustrated.
"We need to leave in an hour. Just get rid of your pyjamas," Kevin stared at his pyjamas with moons and stars on them, "Why that pyjamas? You look really silly in it. You look like a giant baby."
"Shut up! It's nice and comfortable. Just wait here while I change in my room."
After Kevin getting change into his jeans and a plain t-shirt, they left for the bus they need to catch.
To pass the time, Kevin asked a question, "Do you think the others from the international camp will be here as well?"
Before Dexter could reply, somebody broke the conversation behind them, "Speak of the devil! You’re here as well!"
Kevin and Dexter turned around and surprised that all their friends from camp is here as well.
"All you guys are here as well!" Dexter was over the moon to see all his friends again in one place, "It must be faith when all of us haven't seen each other in real life in years and here we are altogether."
"The fourteen of us back together!" Patrick, the one who yelled behind them, celebrated at the union, "Just like old times."
All the fourteen friends went around in a circle and put their hands over each other, "Remember the cheer," everybody nodded.
"We are the WESTERN ASIAN," they yelled at the top of their voice. This group consists of Asians from around the world who were either born or grew up in a western society.
"Let's get going. We don't want to be last to get on the bus."
On the way to the bus, Kevin noticed an unopened letterbox from one of the houses. The letterbox said Robert Nguyen on it.
"Another Asian Kid. We should get him before he misses the bus," Kevin walked up to the front door and knocked at it loudly, "Wake up Robert!" We need to get to the bus to know what is going on here!"
He heard a whimper behind the door. Must be shy and scare.
"Come on. We are here to help you. As soon as we know the answer, we might find a way to get all of us home."
"Are you sure? Aren't you going to hurt me?" a voice was heard behind the door. It sounded very young.
"My name is Kevin. Just open the door and we can talk," Kevin tried to persuade him to come, "We will find some answers. I know you are scare but you have to trust me."
The person opened the door and revealed a young boy, close to being a teenager.
"Who are you?" asked Robert with caution, "Are you here to take me back home?"
"We are the same situation as you but we are going to find our way back home," to make the kid to open up, he asked some questions, "How old are you and where you from?"
"I'm twelve. I'm from Queensland," Robert answered softly.
"Queensland!" one of Kevin's friends yelled, "He's from Australia just like me but I am from New South Wales."
"Thanks for the info!" Kevin faced back to Robert, "Let's get going. There is a big meeting to know why we are here. Follow us so you don't get lost."
While Robert was talking to Kevin, the other talked about the young kid.
"Is there anybody else young as him?" Daniel, the oldest and leader of the group, asked, "The youngest person I see beside him is eighteen years old."
"No, everybody we have seen is between eighteen and twenty," Dexter signed, "He might be the youngest kid in this situation."
"It must be a mistake when everybody is over eighteen while we have a twelve year old kid."
"We can take up the complaint to the city square," John joked, "I'm sure they are reasonable people even when they kidnapped thousands of people against their wills."
Daniel conked him on his head, "Not in a funny mood at the moment. The person who trapped us here had some kind of stupid reason and somebody had to take care of that kid. He didn't seem capable to take care himself without his family."
"We are twelve once. He is not totally useless. Just make sure he had some guardian to look over him once in a while. I was left home by myself for a week when I was twelve year old and I turn out fine."
Dexter spotted Kevin and Robert walking together, "We got the kid. Let's get to the bus before we miss it."
Luckily the whole group managed to get on the bus before it left. It was freaky as there is nobody was riding and only being control by an A.I. Robert felt small and scare as everybody around him was way older than him. A girl tried to approach him and said that everything will be alright and he will see him mum and dad again. However Robert stayed quiet and looked away from other people. The girl clearly got the message that he was scared and was terribly shy so she returned back to her seat.
When the journey ended, everybody got off the bus and went off to the city square. When they got there, it was packed with people from all over the world. The city square contained people from different country, culture and religion from all over the world. They were all talking in their native language and demanding answers for their arrival. When the clock strike ten, a jumbotron that everybody can see turn on and shown a shadowy figure sitting behind the table with a microphone.
"Welcome ladies and gentleman. Congratulation! You're the first people to enter a new world. Give yourself a pat on your back," the shadowy figure cheered as everybody just stared at him. It was confusing as he was only speaking one language but everybody understood him.
One person stood out from the crowd and cussed at him, "Bullshit! We didn't sign up for this! This is illegal! We won't sue you if you get us back home. We will cause a riot if you don't meet our demands!"
"You are a brave guy, aren't you? I hope this changes your mind," he pointed the finger next to the crier and out came a laser.
Everybody, who is close by, jumped out of the way of the laser. The laser left a scorched mark on the ground. Everybody panicked and tried to flee.
Everybody rushed to their spot and stood quiet to hear the shadowy figure, "You are chosen as it is your destiny to do so. There is no mistake in my choosing. Just continue your business and follow my instructions when you are needed."
"Hmmm. There might be a mistake!" Daniel yelled, "You accidentally got a kid here whereas I can only see people who are near adult!"
"Like I said, there is no mistake. That kid is also part of the program. Like it or not."
Throughout the time, the shadowy figure stated all the rules that concern them. To make it short there is a list.
After answering all the questions, a random person called out a question that is on their mind, "Is our parents okay?"
"How about I show you instead," the shadowy figure disappeared and replaced with hundreds of news around the world concerning them.
Everybody knew what they in. They are trapped in a giant prison like rats. Even they are provided everything they needed, they are being watch by a figure that they cannot see or touch. It was like being watch by an ATV camera 24/7. Nobody knows what to do but accept his request. This is going to be bad for them.
Before they could leave, the shadowy figure gave one more message, "Almost forgot. There will be more people coming so you are not alone. Thank you for listening," he quickly turned the jumbotron off before anybody could react to that.
All went back to the bus to return back 'home '. Everybody took their seat and sat their quietly without looking at each other. Nobody was in a talking mood and all wonder about the future.
Their thought was interrupted was by some guy cursing out loud, "This is fucking bullshit. That asshole kidnapped us and treated us as lab rats."
"Dude. Chill out. We will think of something."
"NO! You shut the fuck up," the guy continued to rant, "We are fuck! No communication, follow some tyrant and no 'permanent ' damage. This all spell disaster. We are going to die here."
"Hey!" Kevin yelled back, "Calm the heck down. Try not to swear or scare us here. There is a child here."
"Good to know! He need to learn what the fuck is happening here. We are in deep shit and he need to grow the fuck up quickly. His childhood is destroyed, our future is destroyed, and maybe our lives will be destroyed."
After hearing the comment caused Robert to whimper because he would never see his family again.
"Thanks a lot shithead. You made a kid cry and he is going to die," after the confrontation, everybody were yelling and cursing each other.
This went on a good ten minutes until a red haired girl stop the escalation, "Shut up. All of you. We are becoming like animals."
Everybody stopped and starred at her, "If we don't calm down, we will tear each other to shred. We are not the enemies, the person in the jumbotron is. I bet he want us to lose hope and faith so we would not try to find answers for our kidnapping. So let our heads stay screw on and think about what to do."
They all calm down and this time they stay quiet, "I know it is the scariest day we have ever experience but we have to calm down. Just go to bed, have a good night sleep and we have a good clear mind tomorrow."
By the time they got back, everybody went back to their designated home.
"Want to stay over at my house for tonight? May as well make the best out of the worst situation," Kevin asked the group, "We can play video games and eat bunch of snacks."
Everybody agreed with the proposal, "Robert, do you want to come to?"
Robert reluctantly agreed and followed Kevin to the house.
They spent rest of the day playing online multiplayer games and browsing on social media. It was funny they can manage to play games with people from back their home world but they can't communicate with them. The social media blocked any tweets, videos or pictures they tried posting. They call it quit when all the websites they can think of (even MySpace) to say that they are being held against their will are all blocked. Robert just sat there and watched the guys just having fun like nothing bad happen. He know they are pretending because they tried to liven the place to keep him feel safe. He know that there was something coming for him.
Humans! I thought they were a myth.
Meanwhile at Twilight’s Castle, everypony were having their usual morning chats about what they have done.
“Spitfire offer me to train the newbies while she is away to do so some business,” Rainbow Dash bragged, “She knew how awesome I am that I’m able to train them even it was only for one day.”
“That’s nice, Rainbow,” Twilight turned to face Fluttershy, “What about you?”
“Oh,” Fluttershy twirled her hair, “Nothing much. Feed the animals, had tea with Discord and read some books like the usual.”
Spike was carrying a tray of pancakes for the girls, until everypony felt a big tremor on the ground. Spike tripped over and dropped the pancakes. Fortunately Twilight managed to catch the pancakes with her magic before it could touch the ground.
“What thuh blazes jus' 'appen?” Applejack picked her hat from the floor as everypony was recovering, “Was it an earthquake?”
“No,” Twilight felt something unusual in the air, “It’s much bigger than that. I can feel it but I don’t know what it is exactly.”
“Is it a big monster?” Rainbow Dash threw some punches in the air, “I’m really itching for a good fight.”
“Rainbow!” Rarity gasped, “You cannot expect every problem have giant monsters and solve it by using brute force.”
“No girls. It’s much bigger than a monster,” Twilight rushed to the open window and stared at the direction of the strange force, “Something big is here and as the duty of a princess, I have to investigate it.”
There was a big flash that blinded the girls then Princess Celestia and Princess Luna appeared in front of them.
“Twilight, we heard a disturbance beyond Equestria. We need you and your friends to come with us to find this source of power,” Princess Celestia pointed at the direction of the disturbance, “We need to determine if it is safe to be left alone or need to be swiftly destroy.
“I know, Celestia,” Twilight scrambled to collect everything she needed to write down the new discovery, “Is it dangerous?”
“We sure it is not dangerous at the moment,” Princess Luna reassured the group, “But it is safer to be prepared for anything unpredictable.”
The princesses teleported all of Twilight's friends to the place where all major nations connected. It was originally a barren place with no clear evidence who should own the place. After heavy dispute between the leaders, there left it as no one's land. Now it was replaced by a city surrounded by suburban towns and green field with a beautiful beach which is protected by a large forcefield. Leaders from different nation and nearby communities were all observing the buildings and trying to find any signs of the inhabitants. Cameras were flashing, reporters were writing every detail down on their notebook and soldiers were holding the civilians away from the forcefield.
"This is amazing," Twilight was in awe as she see the complexity of the giant buildings, "These skyscrapers are way bigger than the ones from Manehatten and look like they are mostly made of glass."
"These creatures must be highly intelligent to be able to construct buildings that big without looking unstable," Princess Celestia saw the leaders discussing with each other, "Twilight, please continue observing. I am going to meet the other leaders with my sister."
As soon as they left, the girls are talking about the new arrivals.
"Wow. A new species visiting us," Pinkie was jumping up and down, "I hope they like parties. I wonder what kind of party they like to do. I never planned this kind of party before."
"What if they are killer aliens from outer space like in the Power Ponies from issue #394,The Alien Unknown?" Spike whimpered.
"If they are killer aliens, then I am ready for them?" Rainbow Dash was doing punching motion to showcase her willingness to fight.
"Spike! Rainbow Dash! Stop putting silly nonsense in our head," Rarity pointed all the beautiful buildings and surroundings, "They are obvious civilized creature. I bet they are just explorers from faraway lands and want to spread their culture."
"Where are thuh creatures anyway?" Applejack complained, "This look like a ghost town."
"Maybe they're shy," Fluttershy offered an idea, "If I were them, I would be hiding from strangers."
"Or it could be a cult," Everypony stared at Starlight Glimmer, "What? I was a leader. I know how a cult operate. You have to be one to know one."
"Okay," Twilight cut the conversation short, "Let stop thinking of theories of why they are here and try communicating with them."
"How?" Rainbow mocked Twilight by staring at the forcefield with her hoof above her eyes, "I don't see anypony there. Maybe we should just walked up to them and knocked at the front door and asked for direction.
"Very funny Dash," Twilight looked annoyed, "We just have to gained their attention. Something big and flashy that nopony could ignored."
"Like fireworks and loud music!" Pinkie Pie pulled out her party cannon.
"Maybe but we must make sure that the forcefield is not sound proof and if anypony live nearby."
"Why don't we ask?" Pinkie managed to popped behind the guards and knocked on the forcefield, "Hello. We come in peace. Wait. Doesn't the aliens suppose to say that?"
Twilight yelled at Pinkie, "Pinkie, don't do that. We do not know if it is safe to do so."
Before Twilight could berate Pinkie further more, a loud robotic voice came out from the forcefield, "Hello, how may I help you?"
Everybody, including the guards, took a couple of steps away from the forcefield. Nobody knows how to react to the forcefield that just started talking. Twilight speak up for the ponies.
"I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship. I am here to know who you are and what are you doing here?"
"Hello Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship. I am an A.I, artificial intelligence, that protects the inhabitants inside the forcefield."
"Who are the inhabitants and where are they?" Twilight asked curiously.
"Let make it more fun. How about a television show?"
"Hmm.. What's a television?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Oh dear. You don't have T.V. Well it is like a movie but in smaller episodic parts. It will explain the dynamics of the civilians and how they cope with the new situation. Get yourself comfortable. The show will start in three hours," the A.I turned itself off and replaced with a giant timer counting down.
"Wait. I need more answers," Twilight tried to gained back the attention but the A.I didn't reply.
"Cool! Movie Night! Lets get some sofa and snacks before the show start," Pinkie looked really please with the outcome.
"The artificial intelligent treat this situation as a drama show," Twilight was fuming, "Meeting a new civilization is not some kind of entertainment."
Princess Celestia came up to her and put her wing on her back, "It's okay Twilight. Just listen to it and we will understand them more."
"Fine!" Twilight huffed, "Let just teleport back home and retrieve the stuff for 'movie night '."
When it was ten minutes before the show start, Twilight took note on all the stuff they needed for a perfect movie watch and the materials to take notes on everything about the new civilization.
"Food check. Drinks check. Chairs check. Papers, quills and ink check," Twilight checking off the list as the girls settle in their spots.
"I hope it is an action show. I want to see some fighting!" Rainbow was pumped.
"Darling," Rarity laughed, "This is likely an introduction show. It will be mostly aiming at the culture and the inhabitants."
"Maybe how they party!" Pinkie munched on her popcorn while waiting.
While the girls discuss about the show, Twilight had an uninvited guest.
"Twilight!" Lyra Heartstrings popped in front of her.
"Aaargh!" Twilight stumbled over and dropped her stuff, "Lyra? What are you doing here?"
"To see the humans of course," Lyra was setting her sitting location, "I knew humans exist. My human sense is tingling."
"What the tartarus are you talking about? Humans don't exist. They are just foals' tales."
"Really. Does that mean Nightmare Moon doesn't exist as well? I clearly remember I was there when Nightmare Moon announced her arrival."
Twilight facehooved herself as she got a point, "What made you think that they are humans? What proof you have?"
Lyra shoved papers and diagrams of humans, "Look at the pictures of houses. Remember I show you the pictures when we were in school together. You just laughed and said grow up and humans don't exist. Here's my proof."
Twilight stared at the pictures and gasped at it. Many of the pictures reassembled the building within the forcefield. She clearly remembered when she first saw them. When she first saw it, she blatantly tossed it away and said that many of the buildings are too ridiculous and unstable to be a proper structure. Her whole world shattered when everything Lyra have said could become true.
"How?" Twilight was in clearly amaze on how accurate the diagrams are, "How did you know?"
"Research and dreams that you almost shattered," Lyra laughed, "I know that humans are really and I just prove it in your face."
"Sorry Lyra," Twilight felt guilty on how she treated her ideas, "Your drawings are so close to the real ones that it could not be a coincidence."
"No probs Twilight. Water under the bridge. I just want to see humans for the very first time. It's so exciting that your dreams will become true."
"Well, you can join us," Twilight offered, "We have food and drinks."
"Sure, I can take the offer and I rubbing it in your face for not believing me."
"Deal. I deserved that," Twilight led her to the sitting spot until she noticed something wrong, "How did you get her so quickly? Using public transport would take at least a week non-stop to get here."
"I got connections," Lyra smirked.
At Bon Bon's house
Bon Bon spotted her bag unzipped in open space.
"Lyra, you know not to leave my stuff out! It has all my most important gadgets for my missions!"
Bon Bon checked all her equipment and noticed something is missing, "Lyra! Why the tartarus did you want to use my magically infused portable cart? Is it because I won't lend you one because it is really important and expensive?"
Bon Bon found a sticky note under her bag. It read, "Gone to find humans. Won't be back to tomorrow. XOXO. Lyra <3"
"LYRA!!!"
Back to the plot
"TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!"
The show started with an epilogue.
The pilot episode
Film: Show the earliest civilization of humans
Narrator: Humans. Remarkable creatures. They are small, fragile and magicless they still managed to survive through many disaster. Humans, an intelligent species, evolved and made the environment adapt to them.
Film: Show the changes from the early civilization to the middle ages then to the modern ages.
Narrator: Like every good thing, there is always a evil thing.
Film: Shows invasion of other countries, cruel leaders, slaving and massacre.
Narrator: With almost 200 countries. Wars is inevitable. Expanding the lands, conflicts of interest, religion are the only few reasonable reason why they fight with each other. (Many of the viewers gasped at the numbers. They don't have that many nations in their world)
Film: Showing different wars in different eras.
Narrator: As they advanced, they made stronger and better weapons. Nations need to advance themselves to stay relevant in the world and not become obsolete. Some wars can last for hundreds of years. Millions of people died for either good, bad or no reason.
Film: Showing many leaders with different views to govern their country and showing threat to each other.
Narrator: Leaders have the power between peace and war. One wrong move can risks millions of people's lives.
Film: Showing figure heads that supports peace and harmony.
Narrator: There are people who will risk their lives for a better future for the whole of humanity.
Film: Showing advancing technology
Narrator: The humans are never complacent. They always strive to be better than other nations. Outsmarting the enemies is the sure way to keep your country safe. Brute force doesn't work anymore.
Film: Showing countries representing their best attributes.
Narrator: To prove their worth, they either show their; military power, religion, culture, wealth and production.
Narrator: No matter how far people advanced, war never changed. The conflicts between nation created terrorism, poverty, destruction of people's livelihood and racial bias. To put it simply, if you don't look, act or think like us, you are an enemy.
Film: Showing a dark-skinned boy who tried to presentable but couldn't help crying. Subtitles were added on the bottom.
Boy: It's tough. I am just a normal kid caught between two warring nations. I was lucky to be alive as I was late to a place where I suppose to meet up with my friends. A bomb hit that place any all my friends died. It was traumatizing to see your friends' lifeless bodies scattered across the field.
Narrator: This is a common case for people in a poor country which is often caught in conflict.
Film: Separating the countries into three categories: First World, Second World and Third World.
Narrator: People from the third country, the poorest of all countries, tried to get to either the first or second world countries. However there are obstacles in the way; citizenship, wealth, history, waiting time, space, etc. It is exceptionally hard, almost impossible, to escape for a better future.
Narrator: These people have something special that nobody else have. From different background, culture, laws and religion, they are really good people who do not wish harm to innocent people.
Film: Showing them standing in rows, feeling scared and confused.
Narrator: In order to collect them, we took them while they were asleep. Even though they are angry and upset with our method, it is the best for them and for you. Let's see how they react to their new environment.
They show the scene when somebody yelled at the shadowy figure to take him home. People panicked and follow the person's rules. Everybody saw the reaction of hearing the news that they were assumed dead.
"Ah feel sorry for 'em," Applejack commented, "Takin' away from your family and noway back home."
Now it was the scene with people in the bus losing hope and cussing at each other.
"They scare and angry. No hope can lead to disaster," Fluttershy whimpered.
The next scene show some people discussing at the table. They were discussing what to do and how to do it. They proposed they should host a meeting with everybody to find the best solution.
It was shocking to see one of the people noticed something, "Guys, do you feel being watch?"
"Of course. That cunt is everywhere. He maybe a pervert watching us shower."
"No, not him. It is like being watch by hundreds of eyes like we on a web show," the guy started to stare around to find any hidden cameras.
"You overreacting a bit. Maybe a good night sleep and some food will do us some good. We got people from all around the world. We would think of something good."
"At least they are calm and logical at the moment," Twilight took note on how they react to being kidnapped.
"Thousands of years of fighting made them tougher than you think," Lyra added, "They know they need to think straight to find answers."
Another scene shown a group of girls looking over their map.
"This place is ridiculous. Look at this," the girl with blond hair pointed at each section of the map, "That place is like a winter wonderland whereas the opposite side is like the Sahara desert. They got every kind of season and environment within the red circle."
"Maybe he is kind enough to have every kind of environment to suit our needs," the girl with glasses pointed everybody in the room, "We are from different part of the world. We adapt to weather differently. It is unfair to have a specific weather where most people weren't exposed to."
"But how?" the blond girl pulling her hair, "Creating weather that are totally different next to each other is literally impossible. This is like a Disney movie but without walls to separate them. I could literally drive from the desert to a frozen wasteland within a couple of hours."
"Don't do that. Bodies can't adapt the two extreme of weathers within a day. You will get sick quick."
"We can tell how the community is separated. It is obviously that people who live in the hotter area either live near the beach or the desert whereas the people who live in colder areas live in the giant land of ice or snow."
"At least we are not just stuck under one weather. A good variety is good for our mind and body."
"You always look at the bright side. This doesn't mean we should get comfortable. We are still kidnapped."
The next scene shown people polishing their guns and arming themselves.
"That monster trapped us here and we won't be some lab rats," he loaded some bullets in his gun, "I bet he going to kill us for his benefit. Maybe he would summon monsters that we have to defeat."
"Are we sure we can do this?"
"Don't worry I have been using guns since I was six years old. I learnt all the gun safety, laws and shooting protocols."
"Yeah but not everyone can use a gun. It easy for a USA citizen to use one compare to other countries where they are extremely hard to obtain and even outlawed. Do we think we have enough people to protect everybody?"
"No, but we have to try," he put the gun away in a secure place, "For us and the humanity."
"We need to form a government. Too many people from different countries. So many different rules. We need laws to keep us safe without it there will be anarchy."
The last scene shown Kevin and his friends hanging out.
"Do you think he would hurt us?" asked Dexter as he played a first person shooter.
"He said he won't do permanent damage," Daniel explained, "It still mean he would hurt as in some way."
"Yeah. The best we can do is to follow his rules until we find a weak spot or an exploit to get us home," Kevin grabbed a controller, "If you pissed him off, he would limit our resources including food and weaponry."
"I hope he is not a monster. We got a kid here," Dexter stared at Robert sitting by himself watching television, "Why is he here? Where are we all here? Why are we so important? What make us so special?"
"We will get answer sooner or later. Just play the game and we would think about it tomorrow. It's going to be a long day."
The show end with still images of people with different emotions: anger, confusion, happiness, fear, hopelessness and depressed.
Film: Show a Caucasian boy being injected by some drug in his sleep.
Narrator: The drug will exposed him to the hidden secret of the people. Will people ignore it like he is a madman or is it a sign of a prophecy? Who is going to be the leader of the new nation? Will they be under one leader or multiple leaders with different ideology? Will this divide the people. Stay tune for the next episode tomorrow night.
The show ended and everybody clapped at the show, couldn't wait to explore their culture and advanced technology.
"This is amazing," Twilight was in awe as she finish taking notes, "Ignoring the wars and death of some nations, it is really interesting. I feel like watching a documentary mixed with drama on how nations advanced to keep ahead of other nations. They always strive to be better because of some immediate war that could possibly come. Faster communication that connect around the world, powerful weapons that decreases the time of training, cultures and religion spreading. They are remarkable creatures."
"It is something that I would never imagine," Princess Celestia was highly impressed with the creature, "With only using the power of science, they managed to create everything that I wish it would happen know."
"Indeed sister," Princess Luna added, "It's easier to host the world leader conference by staying in our own kingdom."
"Truly. Last time I lend the ruler of the Deer Nation with a flying chariot to get to the conference quickly, he ended up being air sick and had to cancelled it. He swore to never take transportation by flight."
"Hey Twilight," Lyra interrupted Twilight while the princesses were talking, "How do you like about the humans?"
"They are a really unique creatures. After reviewing you theories, they are almost spot on! How did you do know that?"
"I just know. I knew spending more than a decade on humans will be good for something."
"Twilight, who is your friend?" Princess Celestia asked as she finished talking with her sister.
"Celestia!" Twilight pushed Lyra in front of her, "This is a self acclaimed human experts. Most of her reports were spot on before the show started."
"Hi," Lyra was nervous for meeting the ruler.
"Really?" Princess Celestia was surprise to hear an expert on a new species, "I would love to discuss about it. Maybe I should make you a diplomat."
"Are you sure?" Lyra was concerned with the proposal, "Isn't Twilight more qualified?"
"Twilight would make a good diplomat but you have the knowledge of humans before we any of us ever know. Humans were considered a myth ever since I could remember."
"Sure, I could brag to Bon Bon that I am going to be the first pony to communicate with humans," than she was tackled.
"Thank you for your cooperation," Princess Celestia turned to Twilight, "We have to be back at the castle. I am going to send a pony who will record the show and send it back to me.
After Lyra getting back home by Twilight's magic, she got tackled by Bon Bon.
"Lyra, where have you been?!" Bon Bon shook her like a rattle, "You knew how worry I was when I found you missing."
Lyra just smiled at Bon Bon, "Hi Bon Bon. I got good news."
"Not now. Where is my gadget you stole from me?"
"Hey! It's not stealing. I'm just borrowing it for a short amount of time without telling you."
"Still stealing. Where is it?" Bon Bon hold out her hooves.
Lyra dropped the broken gadget in her hooves, "Your cart got destroy in the way. It was so fast that I managed to get to the border by only spending half the day. It crushed into a tree because I couldn't stop in time."
This made Bon Bon fumed with anger, "Don't worry. I will pay for it because Princess Celestia made me a diplomat and I am going to be the first pony to meet the humans."
Lyra ended up sleeping on the floor with only her blanket to keep her warm, "You don't have to take my couch!"
"I'm sorry. It seem I like to take stuff without asking the owner for permission," Bon Bon slammed the door loudly to get the point across.
Leadership and Conspiracy
In the sleeping city of humans, it was disturbed by a screaming guy in the middle of the city square.
"Monsters! Colorful Ponies! Dragons! Gryphons! Dogs! Magic!" the guy who was drugged while asleep was shouting and running around, "We are fucked. No way back home. We're doom! The borders will not protect us forever."
Residents who were nearby woke up and crowded around him to hear his rant, "Forget your family. We are going to die. No hope, no future. We will never escape from this hellhole!"
"Calm down," a girl with sunglasses came up in front of him, "Please. Just take a deep breath and think carefully."
"Fuck no!" the guy was now in a fighting stance, "One of you could be a bug that can change to look like us. I will fight anyone of you if you get to close to me! Back off!"
The two big guys crept up behind him and tackled him to the ground, "Let go of me you fucks!"
"Not a chance mate," said one of the guys holding him down, "Somebody go to the police station and get some handcuffs."
"We're in deep shit! These creatures could wipe us out within a few minutes. Nobody is safe. It's better to commit suicide than to wait for them to come. Heed my words! Be prepare for the worst if they managed to get in."
The same girl took off her sunglasses and examined him. She found a puncture shot on his arm.
"He had been drugged!" the girl announced to the crowd, "He need to clear the drug out of his system."
"That guy has been drugging one of us!" a random person yelled from the crowd, "Who else is drugged here? What else is he going to do to us?"
"Don't panic. He want us to do this," nobody listened to the girl as they were busy running around like headless chicken, "I don't want to do this."
"Stop panicking. We need to concentrate on what we need to do. The more we panic, the less time we would be prepare for the worse. Treat this place like as your home and go back to your business as best as you can. I know you are scare but we have continue our lives to keep us sane. Just please go back and hang out with each other."
As soon as the crowd dispense and the girl signed with relief, "Being a leader here is way much tougher than a high school leader."
"That's really good. You got a knack for being a leader," said the boy who brought the handcuffs and a megaphone.
"Thanks. Being a leader is kind of my thing," she handed the megaphone back, "By the way, why are you holding a megaphone."
"Uhmm... You see I always wanted to hold one. This is the only chance I can get my hands on," the boy was bashful for giving a weak excuse.
"Just put it back where it belong after you finish playing with it," the girl looked at the handcuffed guy, "He's unconscious. All the screaming and thinking weird stuff really did a number on him. I bet he would forget everything about it when he wake up."
"We just met. I don't feel comfortable by giving my name away," the boy tried to be reasonable.
"Understandable. Everybody's first time here. Hard to trust anyone is the trust worthy but I know in my heart that they are all good people."
"You should run for leadership," the boy checked the unconscious guy's pulse, "I heard rumors that people wanted to elect a leader."
Amia thought to herself, "I'll keep that in mind," Amia walked away to do what she was doing.
The video of the rant went viral on the internet that only the citizens of the trapped city can watch. Kevin shown the video to his friends while Robert was playing with his tablet.
"Somebody got drugged," Kevin paused the video, "This is getting dangerous to stay here but we have no choice."
"So this drug make us blubbering idiots," Mick Wood cross himself, "May god protect our souls."
"I wonder if god can even find us here," Dexter signed in frustration, "We are in a new world and we are toys to that maniac."
Kevin replayed the video to carefully listen all his rant, "Mythical creatures? Why them?"
"Maybe he is an avid reader of fairy tale and fantasy stories. Drugs can do some weird things to your head."
"Maybe or the guy from the jumbotron give us a clue about this world in a unconventional way by giving us drugs."
Daniel sat down next to him and sarcastically stated what he just said, "So giving drugs to us cause us to see visions of made up creatures that could be real in this world. Some which could kill us in a instant. Oh yeah. I almost forgot. Colorful magical ponies also exist. This is not a cartoon. This is the real world."
"Technically, there are unlimited number of universes. So there could be one that fit the description."
"You not helping Dexter," this shut Dexter up, "Sorry. It's too far fetch to be able to comprehend that those mythical creatures are really and they could be waiting by the forcefield. When it disappeared, they would run in and kill us as many of them might see us as prey."
"But what if it is true?" Kevin kept pressing on the theory, "Stories of dragons and unicorns don't exist out of nowhere. Maybe they came to our world since early civilization. Now we are paying our debt by sending people to their world."
"In many Asian's stories about dragons. If we treat them with respect and kindness, they would leave us alone and may protect us from harms way. If they are real, just leave them alone and show them we mean no harm," Dexter added.
"Maybe we need to pray to them to leave us alone in peace," Mick kneel down and hold his hands together.
"Okay," Daniel was frustrated with the idea, "If it was true, then why could he just send videos of the human race to them. It much more easier than kidnapping us."
"Maybe he wanted to show us live in front of these mythical creatures. It is much more interesting and captivating than just watching it on T.V and think it was fake," Kevin theorized
A phone made a ping sound, "Hold that thought."
Daniel pulled out his phone and read the text, "Guys. There is going to be a meeting within an hour. It's about electing a leader."
"This early!" Will Vay laughed, "It had been only a day and now we got into political stuff."
Will Vay is considered to be the jokester of the group. He always lighten the mood when things turn bad or scary.
"I hope we have many candidates unlike America who have to either choose Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump," Will laughed.
"I am sure that we have better people then them," Kevin reassured the group, "We don't have giant donors. We have people from every diversity. No smear campaigns. Young people who know how to talk to other young people without sounding cringey. Most importantly we most likely don't have to wait a year to vote."
"Should we bring Robert? He's kind of young to vote," Dexter pointed at Robert who was just staring at them.
"Just bring him with us," Daniel kept looking at his phone for more detail, "It would be much safer for him to come with us. I don't want that guy attack the kid when we are not here to save him."
"Okay. Everybody, pack up your stuff and off we go to the City Hall."
At the City Hall
"Thank you for coming at such short notice," he shuffled the sheets in his hands, "I am Farman Smith the spokesperson for today's meeting. We need to address the issue of leadership roles."
A girl from the crowd yelled, "How did you make all of us understand you? Not all of us understand English!"
"It's the microphone. I think there is a multilingual function installed in this microphone. Maybe in all microphones," Farman composed himself before speaking further, "As we have people around the world. We need to have proper laws that everybody abide to so we can ensure safety and reduce conflict with each other."
"Why a leader?" another person yelled, "We are all good people. We don't need any government to dictate what to do. We have morals unlike those bloody politicians and lawyers."
People's voices were rising up until Farman slammed his fist repeatedly on the podium, "Settle down people. After investigating the population, we got exactly 50, 000 people stuck here. From different culture and believes, we need to have a stable government so we don't end up in anarchy because of some silly argument."
"After researching about their history, the people who got the special text please go to the back stage. Those who are chosen are suitable to become leaders based on their leadership roles and their law education," after some people left, he resumed his speech, "Okay. After briefing with the them, they would be proposed about many things and you have to vote like alcohol drinking age and.."
He was interrupted when everybody said eighteen.
"Eighteen it is then. Just wait here so we set up the podiums for them."
"Wait. There will be more than one leader?" asked a confused member of the crowd.
"Yes. Different leaders with different point of view will ensure that the laws will be unbiased. This will be like a jury system."
In the backstage
"Thanks but I got one problem," said one of the members.
"Sure. What is it?"
"How the hell do you know about our past?"
"You see," Farman was sweating a bit, "While I was browsing the main police station, I found a computer with all of our profiles."
Everybody gasped, "You mean that big guy have all our details. Well that's great."
"Yeah. That's why I needed you to be their leaders. The people will riot and fight against each other. They need guidance. They need protection. They need to feel safe and happy. After thorough investigation, you all are the best people to keep the place from being a hellhole. For humanity, please accept the offer."
"One moment," the chosen people all huddle together and whispered something. After some argument they come with an answer, "We will become the leaders but we need to hire some people to help us govern."
"Sure. Just look in the police data base and I am sure you would find someone."
"I don't feel right about it," Amia rubbed her shoulder, "Looking into people's profile without permission. I feel like a scummy politician who is breaking the people's rights."
"I know this is bad but we need to. We need to assign the best people for the most important mission to ensure our survival. Sometimes we need to make some necessary evil to benefit our society," Farman looked away and toward the the front stage, "Please do not discuss this to the people as this could lose trust in us."
View Online
When things get tough, we need to be tougher
Lyra was on makeshift stage with a podium by the forcefield in front of all the nations' leaders, scientist and enthusiast. Twilight and her friends were there as well.
"Thank you for coming to the first human lecture," Lyra brought out a large book, "We are learning about the human's behavior and culture."
She brought out a slide projector and show case the human bodies; male and female, "These humans are intelligent species however ignorant to problems. They separate themselves depending by their color of their skins, believes and ethnic background."
Next scene shown symbols of religion, "Unlike us. They don't have immortal figures to follow. So many humans believe that their are gods that they cannot see and must be please. This lead to holy buildings to show their dedication of their gods."
"Wait. There is no immortal creatures?" asked a minotaur with a pen and notepad, "How do they elect their leaders?"
"Good question," Lyra flipped some pages in her book, "There are several form of government. Let me put it briefly. Democracy; rule by the people, Republic; people elect representatives to make and enforce laws, Monarchy; I don't need to explain that, Aristocracy; rule by wealthy and educated people, Dictatorship; rule by one or group of people, and lastly Communism; a classless society where all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs."
"What are their stance on environment?" a deer put her hoof up.
"Some people care. Some people don't. Many people tried to save the environment but the rich businesses and politicians keep pushing the issue away because of profit. Any other questions?"
"How about wars? We haven't been in a war for more than 500 years," a gryphon asked.
"Like we just saw from last night show. Millions of humans, maybe up to a billion, throughout history have either died fighting or got caught up in wars. Fortunately they are not a dying species. There are over seven billion humans currently living in their world."
"Is this a joke?" the unicorn in a sweater vest was shocked with the news, "This mean that people outnumbered the whole population of every nations of our world by more than two times."
"Don't worry," Lyra calm down the audience, "They are fragile creatures. They have bigger problems than trying to fight us. They just lost their family and they wanted to go back home."
"I had stories of them since I was a hatchling. Do you think they have stories of us?" the dragon raised his hand up.
"There are strong evidence of them knowing about us but they would treat it like some kind of foal's tales."
"How should we greet them?"
"Just bring the least intimidating diplomat from each nation and say something along the line we are not here to fight."
"Their diet?"
"Omnivore. They eat almost everything. Meat, vegetable, fruit, bugs, you name it. Some cultures prohibit some certain food while others doesn't. So don't assume they all eat the same thing."
"Look the show is starting!" everybody stop staring at Lyra and now watching the screen.
The City Hall
"First off. Ministry of Foreign Affair goes to Amia Roussea, a French citizen," she went on stage and stand behind her podium. People went on stage and stood behind their podium when Farman announced their name.
"Ministry of Treasury goes to Orbard Richter. a German citizen."
"Ministry of Justice goes to Justine Young, a British citizen."
"Ministry of Environment and Energy goes to goes to Cyka Meyer, a Dutch citizen."
"Ministry of Agriculture goes to Terra Greene, an American citizen."
"Ministry of Defense goes to Aegeus Galatus, a Greek citizen."
"Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation goes to Christopher Yang, a Singaporean citizen."
"Ministry of Homeland Security goes to Aallotar Jokela, a Finnish citizen."
"Ministry of Industry, Innovation and Science goes to Kenji Abe, a Japanese citizen."
"Ministry of Trading goes to Barra Flood, an Irish citizen."
"Ministry of Culture goes to Evgeni Vasiliev, a Russian citizen."
"Ministry of Emergency Situations goes to Min Shí, a Chinese citizen."
"Ministry of Gender Equality goes to Helena Olvirdottir, an Icelandic citizen."
"Ministry of Health goes to Ebele Chidubem, a African citizen."
"Ministry of Employment and Economy goes to Cortez Castro, a Spanish citizen."
"Ministry of interior goes to Guido Achio, a Mexican citizen."
After introducing everybody, Farman explained the sudden leadership, "These are the most reliable and skilled people we have find. They have been in many leadership roles and been to higher education so it would ensure our safety. To make it unbiased, we found the most diverse group of leaders as it would be fair for all races. Please raise your hand up if you want to ask one of them for any issue."
Farman picked the man from the crowd, "Yeah a question for Guido Achio. Who should own guns? Some countries banned it, some countries allowed it, and some countries heavily restrict it."
"To ensure the best for our people," Guido spoke out with pride, "we need to be strict on which people who should own it. They need to pass a mental evaluation, gun law and safety, time to process your background and criminal history, license for each gun they own and hours of training with trained experts. Failed with one of the requirements, we will not provide you one as it could endanger the people around you and yourself."
"Question for Treasury, Agriculture, Trading and Employment. Why do we need your ministries when all the stuff were provided out of thin air? We are like in the Sims games."
"As you can see," Crotez explained, "we needed those kind of stuff when bad stuff happen. What if he decided to cut our supplies? What if we met the natives and wanted to trade? What if they have something that we needed but we can't give anything important as it could jeopardize our lives? We need to be self-efficient if disaster strike."
"Question for Mr Abe. Which side of the road we should ride on? The left or the right?"
"Excellent question. I strongly believe that some part of the nation should be either left and right. However, most countries ride on the right side so most part of the nation will be ridden of the right. To ensure which part of the nation ride on which side of the road, we would set up signs and gates to tell which side is which."
"We are running out of time. We have only one more question left. If anybody still have questions, please wait in the straight line after the conference. More details will be posted online."
"Yeah!" a girl called out, "Should we find out what is outside the border?"
"I would not advise to until we know more about the outside world," said Aegeus, "But we would need a group of experts to come to the border to analyse the forcefield. We want to see if there is any opening or a weak spot that we can exploit. Our forcefield is the only protection from any immediate danger."
"A wall that Donald Trump would love to have," joked Terra.
"Who's Donald Trump?" asked a guy wearing an American flag cap.
Farman was shock to hear that, "Aren't you American? Do you know about the election?"
"Of course I do. I was going to vote for Bernie Sanders."
"Hmmm..." Farman was confused with the statement, "Sorry sir but Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race."
"No, he didn't. He is winning in the polls last time I check," this lead to loud talking among the crowd, obviously confuse what is going on.
Farman was lost in thought as if he just experienced a existential crisis, "I think I just discovered something new to be shock about."
Farman left the stage and brought in a white board. He drew two circles. A bigger circle in the center that represented the new world and a smaller circle that represented Earth.
"This is what we assumed what happen to us," he drew an arrow pointing from Earth to the middle circle.
"To confirm my suspicion, I needed to ask more questions," he faced toward the crowd, "Raise your hand up if you never heard of World War II."
Some people raise their hands up. He asked other scenarios that the people should know about such as the 9/11, ISIS, major natural disasters, even famous figures that revolutionize the world but there always be a group of people would raise their hands up for not knowing them."
"My worst assumption become true.," he went back the the whiteboard, "After seeing your hands I concluded that this assumption is wrong."
He drew many small circles around the center circle and all the arrows pointing toward the middle, "I believed that we all come from different worlds."
"Wait," a guy shouted out, "You mean we are from different parallel universes with different history and outcome."
"Exactly. If we manage to find a way to connect to Earth, we do not know which Earth is ours. There are literately a infinite number of Earths."
"So we're fuck even more. Well goodbye to any chance we can get back to our home people. We stuck here forever," people were crying and yelling about any hope they had were lost for good.
The scene froze and became black and white, "After discovering about there are more than one Earth, the people are in panic and disarray. Will they calm down and continue moving forward or this is the downfall for the new human civilization. Stay tune for tomorrow episode."
Lyra's Stage
"They don't seem very adaptive," said a changeling, "They are just panicking most of the time."
"Humans react poorly when they experience something that it should never happen. When something that they have learnt for many years were thrown out of the window, they would question their sanity. If it didn't follow any science or logic, they would go into a mental breakdown. They grew up without magic so they would have a hard time understanding on how magic works."
"Sound like somepony we know," Rainbow snickered as Twilight puffed her cheeks with embarrassment.
"If the forcefield disappeared, what should we do?" asked a minotaur.
"They are extremely territorial. Let them find us first and do not show them any weapons. They react poorly to them as it is a sign of war. Just stay away from them and do not have many of you stay here at the same time. I bet they would be shock when they found out if they were being watch like a zoo."
"Let just hope they meet us before they tear each other apart," Twilight whispered to herself.
Back at Kevin's house
"Don't be so pessimistic. Maybe when the 'overlord' got bored of us, he would release us back to our home world," Dexter tried to lighten the situation even though it is so depressing that the word depress would feel sorry for them.
"I'm being realistic. We have more chance to roll the same number a hundred times in a row with a hundred sided dice than seeing our families again. Even if he gets bored, what make you think he would return us. He more likely left us to die,"
"Look at the bright side. We don't have responsibility. Just us guys hanging out without worrying about bills and taxes."
"Yeah but we have to deal with the natives, the maniac, the looming feeling of death, crazy conspiracies and etc," Daniel listed the problem, "That's not a really good trade off."
"Guys," Kevin faced the group, "Thank you for sticking with me but I need to be alone for today. All the stuff happening today and yesterday was really overwhelming."
"I understand. Big stuff happen today and bigger stuff would happen tomorrow. I'll just bring Robert back home and let you have a lie down."
At the conference room
"What do you expect us to do?" Aegeus shouted back, "Have a big party?"
"That's a good idea," Terra smiled at the proposal, "A good party is a good morale boost."
"How's that going to work? Let celebrate that we are going to be stuck here forever. Even if they do, people are still scare to go outside because of 'him'."
"We have to try," Kenji gained the attention of everybody by slamming his fist, "We are humans. We don't give up when times get tough, we beat them. When we got hit by an earthquake, tsunami, volcanoes and tornadoes, did we give up? No, we rebuild and made it stronger and better than it was before. We did the unthinkable. We landed on the moon, dived so deep in the ocean that the light can not reach and made the internet to connect all of us. While this is an unusual situation, we do not just give up. We are the pioneers of the new land. Our parents did not raise us to be wimps. We are born to be leaders to guide our people for a better future. If it is too tough for you to handle, you should leave the table."
After hearing the speech, everybody were motivated to lead the new nation. Everybody went to their computer to look up the best people to do the jobs; the event organizers, farmers, mechanics, soldiers and scouts for recon, scientist for discovering about the new world and a way back home, etc. Everybody were pleased how it turn out to be and believed that everything will turn out right.
After the presentation
"This old book," Lyra hold up her book, "I found it in my mother's attic since I was a little filly. However it was incomplete when I first found it so I went around the world, have connections who have similar interest as me and my dreams, I finally complete the book."
"Whoa. All of the effort for a mythical creature that could not exist."
"Yep and it's worth it," Lyra put her book away in her saddle, "And I not just going to give it away. Including you Twilight. This book is my entire life's purpose. I never leave this out of my sight."
"Come on Lyra. Can you show me the book? Or at least show me the author's name. That pony could have written other books."
"That's the funny thing. There was no author. Even from other sources, there was no author. No name, location or any clue what species who wrote this. So I assume that the pony or other species don't want to show their names because they don't want to be ridicule. I don't blame them."
"That's a shame. I wonder if all the information they got is from dreams like yours."
"It's the strongest hypothesis, Twilight. Wherever they are, I would make them proud by being the first pony to meet them."
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
"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
"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
"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
"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
"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
"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
"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
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."
"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
"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?
After the week of exposing the truth of mythical creature possible roaming the new nation, people were either hiding or carrying firearms to protect themselves. The city could be describe as a ghost town if there weren't some soldiers and police officers patrolling the area for any sign of threat. Making a party is hard enough when nobody seem to be in the mood to do so. However Terra Greene, the Minister of Agriculture, and Evgeni Vasiliev, the Minister of Culture, are the people organizing the event who won't back down from the challenge. They were communicating be using the lavalier microphone that are clipped on their shirts.
"Are you sure it would work?" Evgeni signed as she reviewed the plan, "Would a party cheer them up?"
Terra put her hand on Evgeni's shoulder, "That's the best we can do. We are trap here and we don't have any clue on what was trapping us. The best way to keep the morale up is to have a party and reassure them that everything is going to be alright."
Evgeni looked around to see all the decoration being hang up and tables being set up, "Could a few balloons and food really brighten the mood? How can we persuade people to come to the party? Even with all the protection, what make you think we can stop something bigger like a demon?"
"Don't worry I got that all cover. The fliers that I have sent out yesterday would guarantee that most people would come. I may have fib that a theory explained that good emotion will strengthen the forcefield."
"Isn't lying to the people is bad?"
She crossed her arms and explained her reasoning, "It's just a white lie. The government had been caught lying to us many times. Unlike us, it is beneficial to all of us. Not the politicians, banks, wealthy and the powerful."
"Even if this is safe, would it make people really make people happy?"
"Don't worry," Terra spun around to emphasize the decorations and placement, "We have been planning this the whole week. We are the most two experienced people to organize school events. We took in consideration on culture, religion, superstitions and taboo. I organized the placement so nobody would fight over some kind of conflicting culture. If this doesn't work, what will? Like it couldn't get any worse, right?"
Everybody looked really stiff while they were dancing. Foods and drinks were mostly untouched and whispers of being scared can be heard across the crowd. None of the fun activities were used at all.
"Great party, isn't it?" Evgeni joked as she was drinking from a beer can, "The people are really hype about it."
"They just need some encouragement," Terra looked around for something interesting, "Karaoke! I just sing a song and everybody would join in. Good music can really liven the mood."
Terra rushed to the karaoke stage, "Good luck. Don't make yourself a fool."
"Well this party sucks," Kevin said as he stood in the middle of the crowd, "My grandfather's birthday party have more energy than this."
"What do you expect?" Will leaned against the light pole, "Soldiers are around us and we're still trap. We got the only kid on this world who is babysit by Daniel. I know they have good intentions but the only thing we need now is any chance for getting us home."
Kevin crossed his arms and signed, "Even if they do, they need to find the right universe and the are infinity of them. We have better luck finding a needle in the ocean without removing any water."
"So we make the best of the worst situation," Will dragged Kevin to the food, "All of our friends is waiting at the table. We got protections from every direction. It is not likely for our situation to get worse."
"Dammit Will," Kevin knocked Will's head, "You just jinked us. We're fucking screw."
Will rubbed his head, "You don't bloody believe those stuff, do you?" A magical portal appeared in the middle of the dancing crowd. "You have to be fucking kidding me."
Everybody scattered and ran into the closest buildings while screaming in terror.
"Head to the cover!" commanded Terra with a karaoke microphone, "Don't leave until it is safe to do so."
The soldiers and police officers surrounded the portal while hiding behind the bulletproof shields and holding their guns toward it. As they waited, a figure floated down from the portal. Everybody went wide eyed as they just saw a pony.
"Chief? Am I drugged or do we just see a small pony?" Everybody who heard him just nodded their head.
It was a brown haired grey pony with a horn. It was wearing a lab coat which was obviously too big for it and not designed for ponies and safety goggles. The pony was looking around for a second before disappearing back into the portal by using the scroll which it brought.
"What the hell did we just witness?"
"Okay, we got proof that there are sapient species living in this world," Min showed a picture of the unicorn, "A creature wearing clothes and know how to teleport are not just some simple barn animal."
"Oh god," Aallotar, the Minister of Homeland Security rubbed her head, "People are now more scared of the outside world. What other mythical creatures we will see? Dragons, pegasi, fairies, gryphons, what next?"
"The forcefield is the only thing that kept us safe. However, they manage to get in but we cannot get out," Guido, the Minister of interior looked around for answer, "What should we do? They are now feel more unsafe than ever before. Not only wild animals but sapient beings. We are the aliens to them. We don't know how they will react to us."
"Calm down people," Amia was waving her hands to calm them down, "If we have manage to meet to them, I will negotiate with them and said we came here against our wills and we are not here to start a war."
"What if?" Barra, Minister of Trading asked, "What if they brought us here? Maybe they want to research us about adapting to a new world, the human culture, our government, etc. Are we being watch like if were on a TV show like Big Brother?"
"If that's the case, we'll show them that we are good people. Show them our culture, our intelligence, relationship between each race. If they see we are good people, they would greet us with open arms."
"Do you think they would accept us? Humans fight each other because of skin colors. Now we are the aliens to them so would they be kind enough to accept us or would they slaughter us?" Guido put both his hands on his hip, "I was mistreated when I visited America and they told me to go back to Mexico. Would they force us to go back home even though we do not know how to get back."
"Look we will deal with it when it comes but for now we need to keep the civilians safe."
Kevin and his friends ran and hid in Kevin's home with Daniel babysitting Robert. "Is everybody okay? I saw pictures of a pony appearing in the party," Daniel counted all his friends to see if everybody made it back home.
"We okay. Where is Robert?" asked Dexter, "It is not safe to be alone."
"He's in his room but this is the least of the worries. Right now we need to keep ourselves safe. So we making some ground rules," Daniel pulled out a large sheet of paper and wrote down the rules with a marker.
Rule number 1: Never be left alone.
"Does everybody understand this?" everybody nodded, "Good. We can only rely on ourselves. Do not be too open to other people. We do not know other people's motives. They are strangers and from different worlds. If worse things happen, we need to protect each other first."
"Do you think you are going to war?" Kevin was shocked to hear his reasoning, "We think we can only protect each other."
"Better safe than sorry. Look buddy this is a very delicate situation. To keep us safe, we need to find some kind of underground bunker and stack of supplies. This place have full of surprises. Maybe there is some underground abandoned room we can use. What if the guy cut off our supplies, the forcefield disappeared, some unknown disease? People will be fighting for survival," Daniel pulled out the map, "Just collect the supplies from the designated areas and we will find our safety bunker. I care for all of you and I am not willing to take a risk for our safety."
Princess Celestia was sitting on her favorite cushion on her balcony while sipping her favorite tea. When she saw the headline on Equestria Daily, she spat out her tea.
Unknown pony already met Humans, a picture of a pony from the party that she recognized.
Princess Luna rushed in with her own newspaper, "Sister, have you seen the news?"
"Yes, I need to write to Twilight. This is something that she needs to know."
Twilight and her friends met Princess Celestia and Princess Luna at the Canterlot's castle throne room.
"We came as fast as we can," Twilight huffed, "What is the problem?"
"This," Princess Celestia tossed the newspaper in front of the girls.
Twilight picked it up and remembered about reading it, "The pony that managed to get in. Very hard to identify him when his coat is covering his flank."
"No need to Twilight as we have identified him," Princess Luna looked at a stained glass window, "That's the pony we are looking at."
Twilight looked at what Princess Luna was looking at. Her eyes went wide and her mouth hang open to see what she was referring to. "Starswirl the bearded! The Starswirl the bearded."
"The same but in his younger years. Most likely in his adolescent. The portal he summoned was a time travelling spell," Princess Celestia rolled up the newspaper, "There were no record of him meeting these creatures or inventing a spell that can travel this far in the future. I know Starswirl would record anything that is revolutionary or important to his studies."
"So what does this mean?" Starlight asked, "Maybe he wanted some information not to be talked about or some information just got lost in time."
"I am assure to you that I have taken serious care for all of his research and discoveries. Starswirl would mention that he would make a time spell that can travel at least a thousand years in the future or meeting monkey-like creatures. That is something I could not ignore."
"What do you think it means than?" Rainbow asked, "He didn't make much of an impact besides telling the whole civilization that there are ponies in this world."
"Time will tell. All we can do is wait."
"Are you sure that there are abandoned underground bunker?" Xing whined as they have been wondering on the open plains for a while, "I think that we are wasting our time."
Daniel shushed him, "Look. When the forcefield is down, we get the upper hand on survival. Just look for something unusual and use your metal detector to find some metal trapdoor."
As they were scouting the area, Will got the metal detector beeping loudly and rapidly, "Guys. I think I've found something."
Kevin and Dexter, who brought the shovels, dug the hole where it was beeping. They took turns digging the hole until they hit something hard. They brushed the dirt off and found a giant metal valve. They all turned the valve as it was rusted and weathered. The grunted and heaved as the metal valve slowly turned all the way open. Daniel flipped it open and find it was a small simple concrete room. It look like it could fit a couple of people at a time. Daniel flashed his light to see anything else and found a metal door with a number keypad.
"Look like a secured underground bunker. It even have a keypad to access. Judging by it's cobweb and dust, it haven't been used for a long time," Daniel climbed down and checked the keypad. "It's down. I bet the fuse box on the other side. We need to either power the keypad and find the code or break down the door."
"Or I could do this," Kevin climbed down with him and pushed the door open, "Look like it was left unlock."
"Why the hell did they left it unlock if this was so important to have a keypad?"
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth," Kevin walked in and inspect the surrounding, "We do not have to blow up a door and need to replace it. By judging by it's surrounding, it is like a lounge room with more rooms to explore."
Dexter pushed past Daniel and slide his finger on a coffee table, "Just a bit of dusting and this is like the ultimate man cave. Underground bunker with a ton of space."
Before more people could think of designing the new room, Daniel broke the thought. "Look guys. Before we move in further in, we will collect our survival gears and hide the entrance area. We don't want any more people ending up underground. There will be blood when there are limited space underground if there is a war above us."
"What if there is more space than we needed?" Mick asked, "My belief said I could not abandoned people if they are in need."
"We choose the most trustworthy ones. We have a limited amount of space. I know on the system said we are good people but good people will do bad things when facing a deadly situation."
"Who do we choose then?"
"Anybody we met who are friendly to us then we will reveal the bunker when we are in a dire situation."
Meanwhile there was another group of people in a cabin on a snowy mountain. They found a underground bunker similar to the one found in the middle of the plains.
"I guess the previous owners were as cautious as us," the man with a large camouflage fur coat grabbed a flashlight and explore down the winding stairs, "Look like a long walk. Somebody really dug deep into the mountain deep. Must be hiding something good."
"Really good hiding place from the enemies. High in the mountain in a blizzard make it unlikely for us to be caught early," a girl with a woolly beanie rubbed her hands together, "Now we are safe from most disaster unless the creatures from the outside manage to get in."
"Better safe than sorry. Just collect all the essentials and we could survive down here for a long time."
"Or have an underground plantation and live down there for generations like Fallout ."
They looked around the bunker until they spotted a fuse box, "Want to power the underground bunker? Sure, why not." After flicking the switches on, everything underground lit up and the doors automatically open.
Back at Daniel's group, the lights went on and the door popped open, leading them further into the bunker. "Did anybody touch anything?" everybody shook their heads, "Is the bunker heat detected?"
"Hey look the door is open," Will just walked in without a care.
"Will get back here!" Daniel rushed to him and pulled him out, "You don't know what is in there. We cannot just walk in and expect nothing bad to happen."
"Look nothing bad happen but you should see this," Daniel rolled his eyes and follow him into the new room. There was something in the room that caught his eyes.
"Jesus," Daniel was hanging his mouth as all his other friends follow behind him. All of them of similar reaction, "That's a big goddamn map."
The map was as big as a billboard yet the size of a single room dorm is as small as a pea. The map shown that the underground bunker has ten levels, each level was as wide as the borders, and contain every basic needs and entertainment complexes. "Oh god. This look like you could take the whole population of a couple of small countries with room to spare. "Look like we don't need to hide it from them. This is like a whole city was put underground."
"Look," Dexter pointed all the key points, "Multiple science labs, businesses, farms, multiple entry points, sports field, rivers. The person who created it really take into consideration of recreating the surface. Whoever the person was wanted this place to be self-efficient and don't want to worry about low supplies."
"Like 'Fallout'," Daniel looked at each entry point and compare to the surface, "Most of the entry point are underneath important facilities; the government, schools, hospitals, far away lodges, etc. As if this place was threatened to be nuke and they built an elaborate bunker."
"Should we continue moving forward?" before Will could opened another door, Daniel pulled him away roughly, "Ouch. What the hell is that for?"
"Don't you get it? This is not just an ordinary bunker. There could be traps in there. Let's just call the ministers and they will deal the rest. Maybe this place have some information we need to uncover," everybody jumped and stared at the phone on the wall ringing, "I thought this place was abandoned."
Patrick, one of Daniel's friend, slowly walked up to the phone and pulled it toward his ears, "Hello?" A foreign language was coming out of the phone, "Sorry. Do you speak English? Do you have anybody else there?"
After hearing a few shuffling and people talking in the background, a girl answer his call, "Hey. Sorry for that. Are you alone?"
"No, I am with some of my friends. Where are you calling from? I am calling from the entrance in the middle of the grassy field nearby the forest."
"We are from a cabin from one of the mountains. Accessible by gondola lift or any air transport. Do you have the map?"
"Yes, we got the map. The map is so big that I could use it as a tent," he heard a giggle from the other line, "Anyway who am I speaking to? The name's Patrick, Patrick Death. Please don't make fun of my last name."
"Sorry," the girl soothe her voice before continue speaking, "My name is Jessica Ivanov. My friends wanted to find a hidden bunker. I bet you have the same idea."
"Yeah but thank god that there is enough space for all of us and for many generations," he quickly corrected his last statement, "Not that we will be trap here forever! Ha ha ha." After giving himself a breath he thought about the call, "What the minute? How did you call us?"
"There is a phone book beneath the phone," everybody looked down and found the phone book as thick as the whole trilogy of Lord of the Rings combined, "I called each number that connect to the entrance to hear if anybody can listen to the phone call under the floor. Luckily we got you. Also we are the one who turn on the electricity."
"Thank you for that," Patrick stared at his friends and they all move their hands to hurry up, "Anyway, my friends need to leave to tell to the government about the findings. This could be the key to our homes."
"Okay, nice talking to you. It is the best for us to get the government. Goodbye," Patrick heard the phone being hang up. Everybody agreed to leave the bunker and leave it to the big people.
The floor of the ministry office was being torn apart by a crowbar and discovered a hidden hatch.
"Those guys were right. There is a hidden underground bunker right under us," the ministers slide the wooden planks away and clean the dust.
"Yeah, look at the map that I got on my tablet," everybody looked at the map and whistle at the size, "You can fit an entire nation underground."
"Let just send in a swat team and bring in the scientists and hackers afterwards. I bet they have computers with all the information about universe jumping. I hope they didn't delete them."
"Okay, remember we'll breach each room. One at a time," the riot squad held their position and breach each room and aiming guns at aiming every corner of the room. They repeat each process until the whole level was clear.
The squad leader called into his radio, "Level -1 is clear. Request for the hackers on the double. Do not pass level -1. That area is not explore yet."
The hackers went to the main computers and tried to hack into the mainframe. However the hackers were puzzled by the complexity of it's security.
"Could you like reset the password or something?" asked the squad leader.
"This is not as simple as resetting the password. The security is so highly advanced that not even the government have this kind of protection. By judging by it's coding, I bet they are centuries above us."
"Obviously, they have mastered the ability to go to other universes. Maybe they are more than a millennium advance than we are."
"Yeah, hacking an Apple phone after a protection update is baby stuff compare to this. Like a baby trying to challenge a professor."
"How long do you think you can hack it into? The only thing we have is time."
"I don't know. I am an expert of hacking but this is insane. This can literally take generations just to understand the basic."
"Fucking god dammit!" he bashed his hand against the steel wall, "Say goodbye to our old lives."
"The only way we can get in is a password," the hacker signed and packed up her stuff, "But there could be more protection walls that could delete all the files if we input the wrong password too many times. It's better safe to leave it and find the password later. Maybe they kept it in the other levels."
"It took almost a whole day running away in heavy protection gears with guns just to clear one level. The lower levels have more rooms to breach. Give us a break."
"Don't need to complain. The only thing we have is time like what you just said," all the hackers left the room and returned back to the surface.
"Okay guys!" he clapped his hands to alert his squad, "Let have a quick check in each room again to find anything we miss and get back outside. It's going to be a long week for us."
Before they could head off, there was another call from his radio. "The guy from the jumbotron is back! Get back to the surface immediately! It is streaming in any of your electronic devices!"
That same person appeared on the jumbotron and every social media devices, "Congratulations on discovering the hidden underground bunker. You are one step closer to the answer. By discovering the bunker and trying to hack the computer, you wanted answers."
There was a background music that was slow and sadistic, "Let's play a game," the person show a picture of a clean tall standing buildings. "If you complete an objective, mission or problem, you will be safe and may be awarded with a prize. If you fail than this will happen." The next picture showed the city was in ruined and monsters were attacking the city.
Everybody just stood there, watching what more hideous stuff will happen, "The first mission will only require three people; Justine Young, Terra Greene, and Aegeus Galatus." The three chosen people were frozen in place, "You are required to enter a cave in the mountain at the blizzard zone."
"We dead," Justine sat down on her chair and put her whole face in her palm of her hand.
"Cheer up. Like she said, it is just a game. A sadistic game but still a game," Terra tried to cheer her up.
"Really. I know you find the bright side of everything but that just stretching it," Aegeus looked really unimpressed with her reasoning.
"Look buddy," Terra's behavior just flipped upside-down, "The party is ruined, people are scared, we got a underground computer that we cannot hack, and I am scare shitless. I have the right to look for something good in a shitty situation. Bloody stop kicking us when we are down and help us pack and search for a guide."
Aegeus leaned back away from her and nodded at her request. She look like she would beat the closest person to her if somebody just push her a little further.
"Good. For being a good listener you can find a guide for us," she dragged Justine out of the door, leaving Aegues with the other ministers.
Guido patted Aegeus's shoulder, "I will pray for you. I would make sure your death will not be in vain."
Aegeus stared at Guido with disbelief, "You believe that I will die!" Everybody around him nodded. "I just going to pack my stuff."
Kevin and his friends were discussing about the new dilemma.
"Do you think we did the right thing?" asked Kevin, "We just released a deadly game in our lives now."
"Doesn't matter. Sooner or later somebody else would find the bunker like those people in the mountains," Daniel stared in the direction of the mountains where the first mission located, "The best we can do is to look after each other back."
"What happen if we were to separate? Teaming with random people?" Will asked as he was lying on the ground playing on his phone.
"Do the best as you can. We will support you as much as we can. If you find somebody trapped in a risky situation, don't attempt to save him or her." This cause Patrick to have a massive spit take. "Hey! I needed to clean that."
"You want us to leave the people to die when we could save them!" Patrick was all up in arms with the proposal, "Even though we don't know them but they are people who have lives!"
Before he could rant more, Daniel put both his hands on Patrick shoulders and stared directly into his eyes, "I know this is sound wrong but this is about survival. We don't have experts to save us and most part of the map spell danger to us. If we can't come back home, than we are the closest to a family. We are not risking your life for somebody else. It would devastate us. Don't be a hero. Be a survivor."
Patrick stared at the ground with no sign of movement until he looked up and nodded.
"Thank you. We have a long day and we needed some rest. I hope those people will be okay."
Lyra's tent, after watching tonight's episode
Lyra was staring at the bulletin board with all the newspaper clipping about the humans, "Hidden underground bunker, young Starswirl the Bearded, random monsters appearing, drugs, caves, deadly games, creepy leader. What does it all mean?"
"Lyra?" Lyra jumped and stared at the intruder. It was Twilight Sparkle holding a cup of tea, "Sorry. I thought you wanted a cup of tea."
"Thanks," Lyra made a loud sip from the tea, "Yeah. I needed that."
"What do you have here?" Twilight walked up to the bulletin board, "I see you trying to solve the mystery just like them."
"Right. Me and the other human enthusiast and finding the answer. If we somehow answer the question and send it to them, it would solve most of the troubles. It's very hard to observe their culture if they kept hiding in their holes."
"Come up with any theory or conspiracy yet."
"After the human enthusiast meeting we came up with some theories," Lyra threw the sheets of theories on a small table she set up.
"The first theory is they were brought here to see how humans and us react to each other. If we won't harm them, the forcefield will come down and we will meet for the first time. Using drugs to see that there are us on the outside without meeting us will ease them in understanding about the new world"
"The second theory is that the drugs are transforming into us. Memories of being like us will trick their mind as if they were the natives all this time."
"The third theory is they are human sacrifice to the flying spaghetti monster."
"Really, Lyra? Flying spaghetti monster. This is just plain ridiculous even for you," Twilight pushed that theory away.
"One of the members were drunk at that night and we take every theory into consideration. The fourth theory is the shadowy figure is training them to fight against us. They have obviously have lethal weaponry that we can never imagine."
"The last one is reincarnation. Do you believe in reincarnation, Twilight?" Lyra was waiting for her answer.
"I am not sure. There are scientists, professors and philosophers trying to find a definitive answer but we still do not know how to determine it."
"What if they were people from our past have a second chance of living in the human bodies. The person who brought them here wanted to bring back the memory of their past lives. The hidden facility could be a drug lab to test how the drugs react to people's memory. Like you said earlier, that there was no record of Starswirl the Bearded finding humans or time travelling to the future. The best bet that one of them is the reincarnation Starswirl and manage to go back in time to see his spell still work."
Twilight just stood there with careful consideration, "It could work but we have to wait and see further. It's too early to confirm any theory. However if it is true, I could meet my idol, Starswirl the Bearded!"
"Yeah, you and famous sorcerers of the past. It's like a dream came true for you."
The next day, Nearby the cave entrance
"This is the far I can go," the guide said through his thick mask, "Me and the crew have the trucks full of supplies if something bad happen. Most likely that the cave entrance will collapse so I recommended you to stay away as far as possible when we're going to dig you out of there."
"Thanks," Justine, Terra and Aegeus stumbled through the thick snow with large backpacks towered over their back.
When they reached to the cave entrance, they saw it was a small one that is as small as a room in a suburban house. There wasn't any tunnels or holes leading to other places. As soon as they got in, the entrance was blocked by the snow.
"Typical," Aegeus signed as he explored the room.
There was nothing in this room except for the walls, the ceiling, a rock and a first aid kit in the center. Terra opened the box and revealed three syringes with green solution already inside. Terra picked one up and closely examine the drug. It was not any drug she had seen before.
"Does anybody know what kind of drug this is?" the others shook their heads, "Great. New drugs that could be lethal. What fun. Does any of you know how to use syringes?"
"I know," Aegeus put the syringes back into the med-kit, "Taught medical training at army training and summer boot camp. Extremely important for saving your comrades and allies."
Everybody were organised to make tents and a campfire. He administered the drugs to the girls first before he did it himself, "If you have any sign of sickness or hallucination, please tell us." He sat on the rock as he check his pulse, "We'll take shift on staying awake duty. I will go first. You girls should sleep first."
The girls went to sleep as he called the people who were waiting on the outside. Thank god for good reception . "Hello, Reporting that we are still alive and breathing at the moment. Over."
"Hearing loud and clear. Are you guys alright? Over."
"Yeah, we all injected some drugs and show no sign effects yet. I hope this is not just a scare tactic. Can you help us escape? Over."
"No can do. The mission is still in effect and we can't get anywhere close. You have to be there for a while. Maybe until the drugs kick in. Over."
"Understand. I will contact you when we experience more unusual stuff. Over and out."
Aegeus sat on the rock while browsing the internet. After a hour of standing guard, the pictures on the phone became distorted and his fingers became numb and tingly. Crap . "First Report. Within a hour of waiting, experiencing distorted images and numb feeling in hand." As he walked toward one of the girl's camp, he started to hear voices. 'I claim this rock for Pegasopolis! ', 'I planted my flag first! ', 'Hey! You invaded our territory! '
"Second Report. Few minutes after the first report, experiencing voices. Quotes most likely from a general, commander or explorer," he heard a scream from Justine's tent, "Drug effect on Justine right now. Checking on her."
He rushed toward the tent and pulled open the flaps, "Justine, are you alright?" What he saw shock him. He was staring at a white unicorn with pink mane wearing a purple cloak and crown. He slapped himself to shake off the stupor and only found it was Justine clenching her head. Now I am imagining ponies . He pushed away his problems and made sure that Justine was okay. "Justine? Are you hurt?"
"I am not sure," Justine kept clenching her head, "I am hearing voices of some kind of leader arguing with others."
"Me too. Just stay awake and calm down while I check on Terra," Aegeus left Justine to check on Terra. She was sleeping peacefully but he need to wake her up to make sure if she was experiencing something funny.
"Wake up. Are you alright?" Aegeus shook her shoulder.
She groaned and shifted in her sleeping bag, "Is it my turn yet?" Terra opened her eyes and faced toward Aegeus. Her eyes went wide open and screamed as she shuffled to the back to the tent.
"Calm down. It's me, Aegeus," Terra stopped shuffling and rubbed her eyes.
She opened her eyes and signed with relief, "Oh god. I thought I was seeing a flying pony."
"Oh god. Me too. Is everybody experiencing voices and seeing ponies?" Aegeus recorded another finding on his phone.
"What do we do?" asked Terra, "Should we go back to sleep or stay awake?"
"I recommend that we stay awake for the time. We don't know what other side affects could happen to us."
As they were waiting for the mission to end, they surrounded the campfire while listening to loud music, talking and slapping themselves to stay awake. However, they are failing to do so as they discovered the side effect of the drug. It was drowsiness. No matter how much they tried to stay awake, they fell to the ground and slept like a log.
After 12 hours of waiting, the rescuers got the memo from the game maker that they were allowed to release them. The whole crew dug the snow to clear the entrance and found the three survivors sleeping next to the still burning campfire. The guide rushed toward them and shook Aegeus, "Wake up. Are you alright, sir?"
Aegeus's eye instantly went open and tackled the guide to the ground, "The Windigoes are coming! We're doomed and it's all your fault!"
The guide kicked him off and put the distance between each other, "What the hell is wrong is you?!"
Aegeus stood there for a second and stared at his hands with fear, "What the fuck is happening to me?"
"It's okay, sir. The drug was screwing your mind. Come on we get you and the girls back to the hospital and see any other effect."
"Yeah, you're right," he pulled out his phone, "This has all the recordings of the drug's effect. Give it to the ministries and they will find the purpose of the drug."
The trio were taken in the drugs while the doctors were checking their vitals. The doctors said that they are in fine condition except for the rapid heart beating and a fever. It was concluded that they were in a lot of stress and needed some time for rest.
After hearing the recordings
"Same like the person who were drugged earlier," the ministers were sitting down while writing down all the key points.
"It's funny that the names they repeating sound like children's characters," Amia chuckled at it's ridiculous, "Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane, Chancellor Puddinghead, Clover the Clever, Smart Cookie, Private Pansy. They all sound like little girl's toy names."
"What more ridiculous that during their sleep, they were acting like one of them. Does this drug make us act like different people?" asked Orbard, the Minister of Treasury, "I do not know many drugs but I don't believe there is a drug that can actually do this."
"There's not," said Ebele, the Minister of Health, "People change their personality when they are too depended on the drugs but there is no such thing as drugs with the main purpose is to change their personality."
"So we're dealing with an unknown chemical," Cortez, the Minister of Employment and Economy, slammed his fist on the table, "Damn it to hell. Why there is nothing going our way?"
"Doesn't matter," Abe, Minister of Industry, Innovation and Science, said nonchalantly, "We are all getting drug anyway. All we can do is to be prepare and get to the hospital quickly."
"You seem to be taking the situation easy," Cortez stared straight to his eyes with menace, "Why are you so calm about this? Do you think we should give up fighting back?"
"You mistook what I'm saying. I merely said that the person keep drugging us to find the answer. The less we fight, the sooner we get the answer. To answer your first question, I am not surprise at anything now. That person who brought us here have the power to transport us to different universes. So anything can be explained by advanced science. Maybe the computer will show us the basic understanding of us being here and how this place operate. The best we do is to play along."
"Even if it leads to our death," said Evgeni, the Minister of Culture.
"I can see losing battle when I see one. We fighting against a person who is centuries, maybe millenniums ahead of us, but they only give us our current weapons. Who is most likely to win, a man with a bow and arrow or an armored tank?" he looked around and find nobody else speak up, "We are the people with the bow and arrow and they are the people with the armored tank. It is wise not to anger them."
Over the week, randomly chosen people were given a location and came back drugged. They all tell similar stories on how they were something else and the role they played in. Luckily the people only have to stay in the hospital for a day as the side effects weren't permanent. However they all have a nagging feeling in the back of their head as if somebody was warning them.
Daniel pulled up his phone and saw his destination to the drugs and his companions, "Shit, we are next." The companions are all his friends' names.
Kevin and his friends all drove to the military base. The military base was deserted and military vehicles were left unguarded.
"Do you think Robert will be okay alone?" Kevin was seen clearly worried about Robert's safety.
"We don't know anybody else who we can trust but he is a twelve year old kid. I bet he been alone many times before. I told him to stay under the bed with his doors lock and microwave the food if he is hungry," Daniel reassured the team.
"Why the point of having a military base when we do not have enough people who been in the army?" Kevin commented as he slide his finger on a tank, "The robots must have been keeping it clean."
"Maybe we are protected by an army of robot. I hope they don't turn terminator on us," Will laughed as he climbed on a jet plane, "Wow. I have never gotten to this before."
"Get back down here," Daniel yelled, "This is no time for jokes. I have a bad time being dragged here and I don't want to think of killer robots."
"Kill joy," Will slide down and did a back flip, "Still got the moves."
"Stop messing around and find some kind of sign or something."
They all stood there while looking in every direction until one of them yelled out that he found something unusual in the middle of the airway. They all approach it and find a newspaper box with maps in them. Patrick pulled it open and took out the maps. As all the maps were taken out, the newspaper box disappeared like dust.
"Creepy but we got our objectives," Patrick handed out the maps with their names on it, "Why put our names on the maps?"
They noticed they were all given different location across the military base. "Shit. We are splitting up! This is like one of those bad horror movies. Even the back of the map said that we could not stay together."
"Okay let me see the map so we know where you heading to," Daniel collected the maps, "Kevin, the IT room. Dexter, the basement. Xing, the armory. Me at the operation room. Patrick, the security camera room. John, the delivery room. Mick, the psychology room. Nick, the kitchen. Zac, the training area in the forest. Po, the sea shore. Will, the special convert operation room. We are really far apart from each other."
"What should we do?" asked Mick, "Do you think we will be okay?"
"Not sure but we have to complete the mission. If you are in trouble, just scream for help. That is the best we can do."
Everybody walked off in different direction to find the drug.
Patrick's Security Camera Room
"Okay. Where are you hiding those syringes?" Patrick looked under the panels and found nothing, "Nothing but dust and crap."
I wonder if the cameras are still operating. He pressed the big red button. All the screens showed up of different rooms of the military base. "Still functional. I wonder if I can see them."
He saw all his friends in their located room. "They look alright. I guess we are still looking for the syringes."
He took his eyes away from the screens for a second as the door closed behind him. "Must be the wind," as he looked back, he found all his friends were in a predicament. "What the crap just happen?!"
He saw Kevin was tied up in cable wires, Dexter trapped in the basement punching the door to let him out, Xing was held at gun point by levitating guns, Daniel was zip-tied to the commander's chair, John was being drowned by unending flowing of letters, Mick was duct taped to the sofa, Nick was trapped in the walk-in freezers, Zac was trapped in a hole, Po was buried neck deep in sand and Will was held down by a robot.
"I need to help them," he tried to open the door but it was locked, "How the hell? How could it happen if you can unlock it from the inside?" The unlock button switch was jammed and bashing the steel door down is out of the question.
He stared back at the screens and found that one by one, the screens were turning blue. "Stop it! I need to make sure my friends are safe." He pressed random buttons and switches to stop making it worse. "If there is a god, please save my friends."
Words appearing on the screen. It read LET'S PLAY A GAME over and over again. "I like games but this is bullshit. If you're watching me, come out and face me like a man!" he stood in a fighting position with both his arms held in front of his face.
IF YOU WANT TO ESCAPE, TAKE THE DRUG
A green syringe rolled in front of him from the shadow. "Sorry. I never took drugs before. I only let doctors do syringes for me." The syringe floated in front of him and toward his arm. "You really have thought of everything, haven't you?" The syringe stabbed into his arm and the green fluid drained into his body. "Well, this is goodnight for me."
"Tell me what you know! I know you see stuff you shouldn't be seeing." Patrick heard voices in his dream but everything was just darkness.
"I am not telling you anything," a second voice spatted.
"I give you one more chance before I get really angry. You saw how I tortured your comrades. Tell me what are you doing here!"
"Fucking your mother," a punch sound echoed through the room, "Nice hit but your mother hit harder."
"That's it! Bring in the knife!" after a while, he once again give the other voice a warning, "I give one more chance before I cut your wings. Tell me what did you steal."
"Your sister's virginity," another punch was heard, "Ha. Doesn't matter. I'm doing it for the Queen. I rather die than speak to some filth like you."
"That's what I am going to do." Nothing but the sound of loud scream of pain and agony filled the room.
WAKE UP!
"Wake up, buddy," Daniel shaking Patrick's body, "You having a nightmare."
Patrick woke up and saw everybody were standing around him, "Man feel like I got hit in the head with a bat. How long was I out?"
"Yeah. We all got drugged. We been knocked out for about 15 hours. Come on. Lets go to the hospital and have our health check and talk about our dreams." Daniel drugged Patrick to the cars.
After Patrick cleared his head for a second, he asked a serious question, "How did you escape?"
"We don't know," replied Kevin, "We just woke up and we found ourselves lying on the ground. We gathered at the entrance and notice you weren't there. We ran to you and found you lying on the ground, drooling."
"Really? Than what's the point of scaring us. Why don't they just give us the drugs?"
"I think it is related to our dreams," Dexter responded, "After hearing the reports that most of the dreams are correlated with the scenario they were trapped in. I dreamed that I was a prisoner like I was in the basement. I bet it is the same as you."
"Yeah, doesn't matter. Let just go to the hospital and check if Robert is okay."
As they reached to the car, Kevin pulled out his phone and found it was off, "That's strange why was it off. What about you guys?"
All of his friends pulled out their phones and found that they were off as well. "I hope Robert didn't call us." As it was finish loading to his menu, he found a voice message stored by Robert.
"We all got a message from Robert," Daniel was in shock, "Everybody give me your phones!" Daniel played the messages according to the time.
First message: "I heard knocking. I hear robot voices. Please hurry."Sob * Please hurry."Breaking door sound * "No! Argh!" Sound of Robert's screaming filled the air and robots saying that they completed the objectives. Sound of rattling and scratching faded away until silence. It was a long ten seconds of silence before the phone hang up. The last message was recorded about three hours ago.
"Forget the Hospital! We need to save Robert. He's just a kid!" Daniel jumped into the driver's seat, "Get fucking in! We need to get him!"
"Do you think we can save him? We are fighting an advanced human civilization," Patrick buckled his seat belt as Daniel revved up the engine, "I don't think it is possible to rescue him."
"We have to try," Daniel clutched the wheel and stared at the road, "He just a kid for fucking sake. I can't forgive myself if they hurt him in some way. Out of all of us, he's one who least deserve it."
When they reached Daniel's home, where Robert was hiding, there was police tapes and police officers around there. Daniel ran up to them and demanded answers. "Where is Robert?!"
"Calm down, sir," a female officer held her position, "Is this your home?"
"Yes, my name is Daniel Low, the resident of this house. I requested to enter the house, immediately," he pointed at his home that was broken into.
"No can do sir," the female officer wrote down the conversation on her notepad, "We have the robots cleaning the mess before you can enter."
"Those bloody robots kidnapped the kid. Let me at them," the officer pushed him back, "Let me in. I have to find him."
"Please. Let the police do the work," she flipped over a page, "Can you say who was living in your residence while you were away on your mission?"
"A freakin' child!" Daniel bellowed out the answer, "Robert Nguyen. 12 year old male."
"A twelve year old kid?" the officer pulled out her tablet and scrolled through the list of residence detail, "Shit. How did I miss that? This is a lot worse than I thought."
"That's why I need to save him. Please let me in for god's sake."
"Sorry. I wish I could help but it is protocol for no citizen may enter a crime scene. I recommend that you stay at your friend's house until we clear up the crime scene."
"You're no help. Let me in so I can bash those robot's brain," he was held back by a taser pointing toward him, "Hey. No need for that."
"Sorry but I have to follow orders. If you keep disobeying, I would have to tase you. So back off so we can do the job."
Daniel tried to argue back but was pulled back by all his friends, "Sorry, he had a bad day. Thank you for not tasing him."
They release him when he was a good distance away from the crime scene. Daniel shrugged his shoulders and stared menacingly at his friends.
"You should have back me up. We could have save him!"
"Shut the fuck up and listen to them!" Kevin yelled back, "He got kidnapped by robots and we don't know how to stop them. If we have kept disobeying the officers, we would be all in jail."
"Sorry, is this a bad time?" a woman with a notepad and voice recorder approached them, "Are you the resident of the house?"
"No, it's alright and yeah that is my home," Daniel pointed at his house, "How can I help you?"
"Hi, I am Jessica Ivanov. I am a news reporter. I got information that would benefit you."
"Hey," Patrick noticed that name, "Aren't you the girl from the cabin?"
"So you must be Patrick Death. Funny that is how we meet up irl," she chuckled.
"Thank god for real help," Daniel praised her, "Let's just go to Kevin's house and we can talk about the kidnapping."
Kevin's House
They watch on the tablet which was recorded by a bystander. The robots were carrying Robert in a sack as they walked toward the closest underground bunker's entrance. People tried to shoot it down but the bullets bounced off like rubber.
"I should have been there," Daniel covered his face with his hand, "I bet the guy plan this so he was unprotected. I wonder if it was the right for leaving him alone or find a random stranger to protect him."
"It's not your fault," Jessica tried to calm the situation, "The robots just walked right in and pulled him out like it was not a problem. There is nothing we can do even when we are there."
"So what will happen to him?" Dexter replayed the video and seeing Robert being dragged away, "Is he the only one?"
"Nope there are 10 others," she showed 10 different people being dragged from the home like Robert, "All at the same day and at the same time."
"Is there any connection between them?" Patrick was confuse why the robots only take 11 humans, "Is there any common traits between them?"
"Nope after researching their backgrounds, they have no connection between them. Race, religion, gender, culture, background, believes and even blood type, I have checked them all and find no connection. Check the internet if you can find something. They have all our details."
"Can't we save them? Maybe the SWAT team."
"No can do. The SWAT team manages to reach to level -3 but the entrance to level -4 is blocked. That is where they were taken. Level -4 and -5 are inaccessible at the moment. They tried using explosives and power tools but they could not make a dent."
"So, what do we do now?"
"I am sorry but the best we can do is for you to go to the hospital and report about your dreams. After that, try to leave your lives as normal. The police and the ministries are doing their best."
"How could we when they kidnapped a child? He would be emotionally scarred."
"I don't know but this is what it is," she packed her stuff to leave, "Just don't do anything rash and stupid. We just lost 11 people and breaking the rules would not help our cause. Leave it to the police."
At Princess Twilight's Castle
Twilight signed as she was reading the newspaper. It shown eleven people, including a child, were taken against their wills to a place where they couldn't be rescue. The last official report of kidnapping (or foalnapping for pony terms) in Equestria was more than 200 years ago. Equestria haven't had experience these kind of problem for a long time.
"I wish I could help them but I am useless when the forcefield is still up," Twilight signed as she sipped her coffee, "At least they are cooperative creatures. They are working together to save or at least control the situation despite their differences."
Her sandwiches grew legs and danced on her plate, "Discord. I am not in the mood for games."
"You are never in the mood for games," Discord was swinging on her chandelier, "You so caught up on human's civilization that you forgot to visit me. So I visit you instead."
"Not right now," Twilight blocked the view of Discord with her newspaper, "They are in serious trouble. However they only picked eleven citizens but why?"
Discord pulled the newspaper from Twilight and closely examined the kidnapped people with binoculars. "Hey give it back!"
"Not right now," Discord kept staring at it, "It is serious to check those humans."
"You being serious. Ha! That's a joke," Twilight joked.
"First time for everything," Discord kept staring at the pictures for a long time which was really creepy.
After waiting at least a minute, Twilight coughed to gain his attention. "Found anything."
Discord dropped the newspaper and stared distantly away from Twilight, "Twilight. Have you ever heard the saying that the eyes are the window to your soul?"
"Discord?" Twilight was clearly confused and scared at Discord suddenly quoting a famous phrase, "What are you saying?"
"I seen those eyes before. Throughout my entire life, I seen those eyes before even when I've never met a human."
"Discord, what are you saying?" Twilight waited for a response.
"I am trying to say that I have seen those eyes before. The way they look. They were important to me before but I couldn't remember. Why is that?"
"Do they remind you of anypony important?" Discord didn't say anything back, "Please, I need to know." Discord disappeared before she could say anything else.
Discord. What are you hiding?
A month since we got captured. A week since Robert, a little kid, got kidnapped. It's very hard to move forward when nobody can do anything to save him. Everybody assumed the worst for the eleven kidnapped people. They would be likely to be tortured, experimented or maybe even murdered. The whole society felt like garbage when the only child resident was taken away. He was only a kid who was ripped away from his family. At least everybody, who wasn't kidnapped, were drugged already. Maybe they have some answers.
"Congratulations! You have passed your first mission," the shadowy figure cheered, "I know you would obey my orders."
Nobody say anything but stared at the jumbotron with grimace or fear. Daniel looked like he was going to burst if he didn't get any answer.
"As you did a good job, I would award you with something to entertain you," the empty field, where Kevin found the hidden bunker, was replaced with multiple colorful buildings, "A new amusement park with all your favorite rides around the world!"
Before Daniel could blow his top, somebody else beaten him to it, "You sir are inexcusable!"
Everybody turned their head to Aegeus who was on a podium berating the shadowy figure, "You stole our lives, threw us to some monsters and kidnapped some people! And you have the audacity to award us with an amusement park!"
"A defier. You get the answer when the right times come."
"Don't you have humanity?!" Aegeus was turning red, "You just kidnapped a kid. If you don't give us those people back, there would be rebellion! Do the right thing and give back those people and tell us where are we here!"
"Hey!" the shadowy figure first time shown a hit on anger in it's voice, "Don't you dare talk back to me. I am the controller of your land."
"Give us answers now! We are sick and tired with your psycho games. As a leader, I have to protect the people and I say to give us the answer!"
"Well you such in a hurry then you would be the first person to retrieve the next clue," the shadowy figure clicked her fingers.
Small floating orb robots flew out from the manhole and surrounded Aegeus. Each robot grabbed a part of part of his body and held him down with his back facing toward the sky. The people around him stood away from his and made a big circle. One of the robots flew toward the back of his head with medical tools in it's disposal.
"Hey! What are you doing? Stop this th......" he was knocked out by the sedative drugs. Everybody stood back as the robot did their duty. After a minute of intense silence, the robots left and leaving the body behind.
The closest medics surrounded him and took him to the hospital. "Obey me or suffer the consequences," the jumbotron turned off, leaving only a black screen.
"We're screwed. That person is not a pushover," Kevin whispered to himself.
The Hospital
"Argh...." Aegeus groaned, "What happen to me?"
"You were knocked out after trying to fight back," the doctor explained the situation while he was sitting by his bed, "You were only knocked out for only an hour."
"Oh yeah. I remember know."
As he tried to leave the bed, the doctor pushed him back down, "You're in no condition to leave. Your brain got inserted by a microchip and we do not know any side effect to it."
"Wait wait wait wait," Aegeus tried to understand the last statement, "What do you mean I have a microchip in my brain?"
"While you were knocked out, the medbot explained in great detail about your procedure. As you were tackled down by the robots, one of them inserted a microchip while you were unconscious. Don't worry there is no scar which is kind of unbelievable but living with robots make you change your mind."
"I don't care about the scar! I care about the microchip!" Aegeus pointed toward the back of his head, "Why is it doing here?"
"The medbot told me that it is stage two of the procedure. Trying to remove it is almost impossible, even we have the best doctors from our own world. The microchip is connected to the most important vitals of the brain. We asked the robots to remove it but they deny my request."
"I got mind-probed by aliens!" Aegeus shouted into his pillow to soften his scream, "How it could get any worse?"
"At least you are alive and not probed in the butt," the doctor handed a tape recorder to him, "Record every side effects of the microchip in great detail. Just press the buzzer when you need something. Don't try to leave the hospital. If the microchip somehow control your brain, we have locked the doors so you couldn't escape. Have a good day."
The door locked, leaving only Aegeus alone, "At least he left a laptop for me. I wonder what on the news."
Most of the news was about him got attacked and implanted with a microchip. Another news was now a magical room appeared in the middle of the city square and having people to have appointments for implanting by microchip. If people tried to avoid it, robots will come and dragged you to it.
"Great. I hope I am still sane after the procedure," he switched off his phone and went to take a nap, "I hope no monster find me."
I just jinked myself, didn't I.
Fluttershy's cottage
Twilight was having tea with Fluttershy. The main reason Twilight was there was to talk about Discord.
"Fluttershy?" Twilight started the conversation, "Have you seen Discord recently?"
"Hmmm.... Not really. Now that you mention it. Why do you ask?" Fluttershy scratched her chin with her hoof, wondering where have Discord gone to.
"Oh you know. I'm just haven't seen him recently so I thought where would he most likely to be than with Fluttershy."
"Twilight," Fluttershy tone turned a bit serious, "I know you are not here because Discord didn't visit you often. You are here because something wrong with Discord, aren't it?"
Twilight signed, "Yes. You are right. Something is bothering with Discord."
"Oh my goodness. Is he alright?"
"I'm not so sure," Twilight's ear flopped down, "Have you read the newspaper about the kidnapping?"
"Yes, I did," Fluttershy teared up, "Those poor humans. It had been a week but they could not reach them. Especially the small child. I hope they are okay."
"I sure do to," Twilight set down her tea, "I need to know where Discord is. When was it the last time you seen him?"
"Last time I seen him was the day I heard the kidnapping. Discord told me to cancel all the plans with him and he won't be seeing me for a while."
Twilight hummed loudly as she was thinking aloud, "Discord must have some connection with those humans. He said he recognized those eyes even though he never met them. Being immortal means he might met them once during the whole lifespan. Maybe it is a coincidence but there could be more than meets the eye."
*Ba dum tshh* "PINKIE! IT'S NOT THE TIME FOR JOKES!"
Discord's own dimension
"The one down side of being the Lord of Chaos is finding the right memory," Discord was holding his brain that he took from his head and shaking it to release files of memories, "Come on. There should be something here."
He had been doing this non-stop for a whole week. Files and documents littered the ground and it filled up his whole house. Even his second house was full as well. "I really should hire a secretary." He kept shaking and shaking his brain until there was none left. "REALLY! It must be somewhere in the pile."
Discord tossed away useless documents as he scoured through them, "Chaos 101, don't need it. How to play a flugelhorn, don't need that. Twilight's most secretive fanfictions, don't nee.... Maybe I should keep it for some light reading and blackmail." After only scavenging for 5 minutes, he gave up, "Forget it. If it's so important, it will come up sooner or later." He summoned some feather dusters to swipe the documents away.
"After a week of shaking my head, I think I deserve a break," Discord clicked his claws and summoned a beach folding chair and a drink, "I should visit Fluttershy after a short nap."
Before he could took a wink of sleep, a feather duster brushed against his nose. Discord tried to shoo it away but the feather duster kept bothering him. He tried to ignore it by facing away from it but the feather duster kept doing what it did.
"What?!" Discord was obviously not happy with it, "I'm trying to get a nap. What's so darn important to wake me up from my beauty nap?"
The feather duster pushed a book to his hoof, "What's this?" He picked up the book. It was a plan black book with white title read 'REGRET AND GUILT' . "I made lots of regret and guilt. What does this book have to be so important?"
Discord was unable to unopened it as it was locked, "Strange. It's locked with an unusual key hole." The key hole was thin and long as if only a piece of paper could fit it. "Not to worry. I just click my claws," the lock didn't disappear, "That's odd. Maybe I need to do it the old fashion way."
Discord summoned a hair clip and fiddled around with the lock. As he thought he managed to unlock it, he got a nasty shock. The shock was so powerful that it covered Discord in soot. He gave out a loud cough which produced a ring of smoke. "Obviously, the past self really don't want me to find something hidden in this book which included the key location. Past Discord, what have you done so horrendous that you do not want to remember?"
The Hospital, Pass Midnight
"Don't want to," Aegeus turned his body away from the voice, "I just got mind-fucked so let me sleep. We can talk when the sun is up. If it is so important, you can talk to the ministries."
"This is something you can't ignore and only you can see me. So open your eyes and look at me."
Aegeus huffed and moaned with the rude intrusion, "If you are a nurse, I would be writing a complaint for waking a patient in his sleep in the middle of the night." As he looked for the voice, he couldn't find anybody there.
"God, I must be hallucinating."
"Look down," the voice coughed.
He looked over his bed and saw a pony. Not just any pony. It was a dark blue pony with wings. It's mane have three different tone of blue and have a picture of a hurricane on his butt. The armor it was wearing resembled as one of those Spartan soldiers. The armor it was wearing meant to look intimidating but Aegeus couldn't help but cooed at how cute it is.
"Aww.. You look so cute like a baby trying to dress like an adult," Aegeus laughed, "I'm going insane."
"I am not cute!" barked the pony, "I am Commander Hurricane, the former leader of the Pegasus Tribe, and you are not insane."
"Sure you are and I'm god," Aegeus mocked him, "A pegasus talking to me in my bed. The microchip really mess my head."
"I am not a hallucination. I am real just as much as you are," Commander Hurricane stomped the ground, "I am ordering you to listen to me."
Aegeus ignored him and put the tape recorder on, "Woke up in the middle of the night, found a talking pegasus in my room. Either I am going insane or the microchip really screw my head. Why I'm not scare because I got kidnapped to another world. This is the least of my worries."
"Would you bloody stop ignoring me and listen to what I say?!!" Commander Hurricane was shouting in the top of his voice.
"If you can't hear anything but me, the pony was yelling to listen to him. It's really hard to talk with a loud mouth here."
"That's it!" the pony tried to tackle Aegeus but it phased through him, "I really hated that I could not touch you."
"First note: imaginary creature tried to attack me because of the lack of communication but couldn't touch me. Strong sign show I am going insane."
Commander Hurricane signed in defeat as he sat on the end of his bed. He sat down, flopped his ears and made whining noises like a puppy. Aegeus could help but feel guilty as he saw the pony. Aegeus signed and sat down the tape recorder, "I give you one chance to give me an explanation."
"Thank God you listen to me," he cleared his throat and introduced himself, "I am Commander Hurricane, the former leader of the Pegasus Tribe. I am here to explain what is happening to you."
"Sure, I am not going anywhere (Because I am locked in)," Aegeus held up a buzzer, "However, if you do any funny business, I would call the nurse immediately."
Commander Hurricane explained everything to him about his life story and how he know about Aegeus's entire life. Aegeus remained emotionless throughout the conversation.
"After you were implanted by a microchip, I have finally have a voice and to be able to speak with you. Now we are here, stuck in your hospital room," Commander Hurricane concluded his life, "Any question?"
"Yeah. Are you an A.I. who liked to fuck with me?"
Commander Hurricane didn't expect that response, "No! Haven't you been listening to my story?! My glory, my ambitions, how we united the three tribes! How I can explain your entire life?!"
"That microchip is obviously you. Being in my brain means that you have all the information about me and like to screw with my feelings," Aegeus rolled out of his bed and repeatedly pressing the buzzer, "We all got kidnapped by an advanced race so it is obviously they made an A.I. companion to keep an eye on me. Nice try program but I won't be fool by you."
Commander Hurricane threw both his front legs in the air, "How do you want me to prove that I was real and you are in my world?"
"Don't know. Maybe meeting a real pony holding a history book," a door opened revealing a nurse, "Thank god you here. I think the microchip gave me an A.I. which is a pony who is looking after me. Apparently the A.I know my entire life so I bet the microchips also read our minds and memories. The A.I. kept saying that he was real one point in time and won't shut up about it."
After a brief conversation with the nurse, he was left alone again with Commander Hurricane.
"At least they still list me as sane," Aegeus pointed toward the pony, "Now, I am stuck with you. I don't know why you are here and what are you going to do with me but if you try to control my brain, I would locked myself into a tiny room and throw away the key."
"I'm not your enemy here. I am more like your guardian angel who you cannot see and touch until now."
Aegeus walked pass by him and pulled out his laptop, "I'm too far awake to go back to sleep so I just play along that you are real and type down all about you world."
"Are we still doing this thing?" Aegeus ignored what he just said and got ready to type, "Fine! I will start about my world. In Equestria, before the two princesses, there are three tribes...." the typing sound of the keyboard filled the whole room through out the night.
Lyra's Tent
"Isn't it weird that we can't hear what the humans are talking about after an object called a 'microchip ' was place in their brains?" Lyra recalled multiple episodes having humans' voices were distorted or cut away while talking about the implant.
"This is weird, isn't it? I bet that it build suspense for us viewers," a diamond dog, another human enthusiast, was analyzing the implanted humans, "All of them were talking to somebody even though they were left alone. Some ranging from ignorance to full blown panic. I'm betting that the 'microchip' make them hear voices. Some are coping more easily than the others."
After a piece of silence, Lyra brought up something embarrassing, "Princess Twilight was reading about your 'flying spaghetti monster ' theory. She thought it was hilariously stupid."
"Why would you do that?!" the diamond dog dropped his head on the table, "I had spaghetti for dinner and I was drunk after I was dared to drink a whole bottle of wine. How come you listen to me? There was no proof that the spaghetti monster is real."
"And there are no facts that deny it," Lyra rebutted, "Doesn't matter. One of the rules of this committee is that we take any theory or conspiracy. No matter how ridiculous it is."
"I shouldn't have come here and made myself an ass," a walking donkey was annoyed by his comment, "You know I don't mean that!"
It had been a few days since Aegeus has met Commander Hurricane. He was the first person to be implanted and the first person to leave the hospital. Many people, who were implanted, were also experiencing their own 'A.I. '. Some of them cope with it much more easily than the other. There was one person who tried to jump out of a hospital window but luckily there was a robot which caught him in time. Unfortunately being out of the hospital doesn't mean that Commander Hurricane just disappear. He would look like a crazy idiot if he was talking to thin air.
"So glad that I am free from the hospital. Being cramp in a room is a pegasus' worst nightmare," Commander Hurricane stretched his wings and did some flips. There was no response from Aegeus. "Come on. Speak to me, sir! How many times I've said that I am not an A.I. like one of those video games."
"Just," Aegeus stopped walking and addresses something, "Just stop talking. It's bad enough I am seeing a flying pony. You are saying that we are in your world that many monsters will kill up if the forcefield just vanish. I got a lot of stress now as I have to make the people feel safe and not turn our lives into bat shit crazy. I was a leader in many things but making people stay sane because of aliens is not one of them."
"Maybe if you listen to me, I would give you some pointers," Aegeus just walked away from him, "I have to control my tribe when the food was scarce and the windigos were everywhere. Isn't this enough experience for controlling a nation?"
"Yeah and the power of friendship can get us back home," Aegeus cheered sarcastically, "To solve the missing eleven people and getting us back home, we should hold hands and sing songs that everything would be fine tomorrow."
"You don't have to be an asshole about this!"
"I have all the rights to be an asshole as we are fuck either way, advanced aliens or killer monsters."
As they reached the ministry hall, Aegeus explained some rules. "Don't talk to me unless you are spoken to. Sit in the corner and don't fly above us. Be a good pony and don't do anything you regret."
"I am not a pet you know. I have the same rights as you have." Commander Hurricane huffed as he crossed his front hooves.
Hospital
When they were allowed to visit him, everybody were gathered around the door. "Remember guys. People who were implanted with the chips will have some kind of mythical creature friend. Just talk to him like how he is going and don't push him to talk about his A.I."
As they opened the door, they found Daniel was talking to nothing. As soon as Daniel noticed them, he stopped talking with his A.I. and faced toward them. "Good that you're here. I was so worry that you forget about me."
They all laughed as they surrounded his bed. Will came in last with balloons and flowers. All of the other friends didn't agree on bringing any gifts for him. "You know I am not dying."
"I know but if you are really taken over by an A.I. we came here to say goodbye to your mind. Or the A.I. cause you to self-destruct so it's better to have it than not to have it," Will tied the balloons to a bedside table right near Daniel's head.
All the friends just stood there, not saying a word. It was kinda awkward to discuss about their A.I. when they first got them. Daniel broke the silence by asking them a question, "So, do you want to talk about my new 'friend '? I know you are thinking about it."
Everybody nodded. "Okay. My A.I. is apparently a red dragon. He can change size as he can turn as big as a building or as small as us. His name is Tyrath, a major general of his dragon clan."
"Obviously," Will laughed, "You were always a leader material so it's appropriate that your A.I. is a leader of some kind."
"Yeah and he doesn't want to be treated as an A.I. You have heard that all of them said they were alive before and they have been looking after us since we were born."
"Yeah and it doesn't give out a creeper alert," Will joked, "I hope he gave you some privacy."
After another long silence of discomfort, Daniel let them go as he didn't want them to feel guilty for leaving him alone. As soon as he left, he continued the conversation with Tyrath.
"So, you were killed during one of those assignment. Are you planning to have revenge of something?"
"Doesn't matter. I have been dead for a long time. Even my enemies are dead. It's better to keep moving forward and get you back home. I put your needs over my needs. If we have the chance, I would like to see how the world advance compare to my time. I bet they are using advanced weaponry like you humans. Just in your world's last century, you have built many things that are thought are impossible. If magicless flightless fragile creatures like you can do that, I wonder what my world achieved."
Ministry Office
"Welcome back Aegeus Galatus," Cortez gave a brief hug before leading Aegeus to his seat, "I heard you are seeing a flying pony."
"Yes but we should ignore it and make sure the people aren't going any more crazy than before," Aegeus looked at the recent reports, "I see we are improving somewhat."
After discussing about the state of their community, they found a drop of people panicking and a raise of people going out and having fun. It was reported that they were got use to being stuck here for a month now and people wanted to spend their days if it was their last day to live. Some people assumed that their own world declared them dead so they treated this place as their new permanent home.
By the end of the meeting, everybody went home doing their own business. Aegeus walked up to Commander Hurricane which stood there like rock. Commander Hurricane acted like one of the British soldiers that tourist try to make them laugh. Aegeus told Commander Hurricane to follow him back to his home.
As they got home, Aegeus flip through some channels to find a documentary about the military so it could entertain Commander Hurricane. Luckily, he was so absorbed with the show that Aegeus can do his own business without being interrupted. When he returned back, he saw Commander Hurricane holding some kind of rifle.
"What the hell did you get the rifle?!" Aegeus hid behind the wall, "Please don't shoot anything."
Commander Hurricane rolled his eyes and made his rifle disappeared, "You know it is all in your head aka your imagination."
"Also I was taught that holding high caliber weapon is no joke," Aegeus calmed himself and sat next to him, "You should know that. You were in my head when I was in military school."
Commander Hurricane didn't say anything for the rest of the night as Aegeus was busy eating dinner and watching his favorite TV show. In the middle of the show, Aegeus said something out of the blue, "Commander Hurricane?"
"Yes?" Commander Hurricane was unsure with Aegeus's tone.
"What will you do if you met your allies, Princess Platinum and Chancellor Puddinghead? The ponies you've killed? Stuff you regret?"
"I don't know," Commander Hurricane faced toward the ground, "Meeting the other tribe leaders are fine but meeting the ponies that I killed is another thing. I did it to show that the pegasi are not push over. That was a sign to show that I am willing to kill for food for my ponies. Meeting them would be really awkward. I am not a perfect pony."
"Do you regret killing them?"
"Of course I do. If we weren't so stubborn and try working together, I wouldn't need to make meaningless bloodshed," tears were dropping on the ground as he continued the story, "If I wasn't so prideful, many foals and fillies would still have their parents and many parents don't have to hear that their children have died for their clan. Why? Why was I such an idiot? I am a bad pony."
"No, you're not a bad pony."
"Why?!" Commander Hurricane stared straight into Aegeus's. Tears and snort ran down his face, and his eyes were puffy and red, "I sent those good ponies to their death. I am responsible for their misery. As a leader I should put my ponies first than my pride. I am such a fool."
"Stop it!" Aegeus pulled up his laptop, "Looked at this."
He show a timeline of all the wars, "Look at leaders from my history. They have sent many people to their death for many reason. Some of them even for nothing. Some wars can last of centuries. Some wars were fought and they forget the purpose of it. Some wars began because of the most ridiculous reason. You have more humanity than many of the leaders that I have shown you. You a good leader. You did it for your clan's survival. You made mistakes. This mean you're a pony. Not the all knowing God. At the end you allied with the other leaders and face against the common enemy. If you didn't, all your ponies would die. You admitted your mistake and work hard for the ponies' better future. That sir is a clear sign of a good leader. A good leader who won't back down from a fight and kept doing what's right for his ponies. So wipe those tears and be proud what you have done!"
Commander Hurricane sniffled, "Why are you telling me this? You think I am just an A.I. Why do you care?"
"Because you are too real to be just a dumb A.I. You have feelings when you express your story. You got a heart that show regret of the ponies who died for a good cause. If there is a chance that you are real in one point in time, it is an honor to meet a true hero and a strong leader for your clan."
After hearing the speech, Commander hurricane broke down but he was smiling, "Thank you sniff Thank you for seeing the good in me."
"That's what friends are for. If you did really watch over me, I'll watch over you as well. I am stuck with you so I will make the best of the situation."
Hospital
"If we manage to open the forcefield, do you have somewhere you wanted to visit?" asked Daniel.
"Maybe visiting my homeland but other than that not really," Tyrath replied with a bored tone, "I got all the entertainment I need from your world."
"Don't you want to visit your descendants?"
"I don't have any. I will assassinated before I could get laid."
"So you die a virgin," Daniel laughed, "Well that's a sucky life to have before you die."
"Hey!" Tyrath crossed his arms, "I didn't expect to be murder while planning the next attack. I was too busy perfecting my plan than to be chasing after some dragoness."
"Whatever! At least I already got laid," he heard a scream from the room above, "Look like another person got a new friend."
"I hope it's a dragon I know. I hate to be alone without my dragon friends."
Daniel just got a random question from his head, "What if that one of the people got a friend of your assassin? Would you kill that human if you have the chance?"
"Killing a human when he is not the one who murder me is not honorable. If I have the chance to have the conversation with my assassin, I would like to have a long 'talk ' with him."
"That's good to hear," he looked up at the clock, "It's getting late so goodnight. If you can't sleep, please don't look at me. Just hide behind a curtain or under my bed. I don't feel comfortable being stare at while I'm asleep."
"Okay I'll keep my mouth shut," he did the zip motion on his mouth and lied under his bed.
While Daniel was waiting for the sandman, another question popped up in his mind, "As you said that you have seen my life. Have you seen me having sex and masturbating at porn?" He heard a soft chortled from the dragon, "Great. You even know my intimidate moment of my life."
"Ready to meet your friends," Aegeus stared at the hospital automatic sliding doors, "Princess Platinum and Chancellor Puddinghead are waiting for you. If you feel uncomfortable, we could come back another day."
"It's not necessary," Commander Hurricane signed, "Even we were allies, we still have bad blood between us. We would insult each other, make threats and even break peace when nopony else was looking. Fortunately we didn't and ponies are still united. I hope they forgive me as much as I forgive them."
Commander Hurricane and Aegeus went to Justine Young's room first. She claimed that she had Princess Platinum in her head. He knocked on the door to hear Justine's permission. After hearing the okay sign, he let himself in to see Justine in her bed reading a book. Justine put her book down to greet him and pointed to the nearest seat for him to take.
"How's going with your friend in your head?" Aegeus just said it nonchalantly, "First time is a bit creepy."
"She's doing fine for now," Justine faced toward the window, "She is there and just there staring outside. We talked to each other a lot and she wanted to talk to Commander Hurricane. She got a lot on her plate at the moment."
"It's understandable," Aegeus looked at where Princess Platinum supposed to be, "Princess Platinum, we know you can't see or hear each other. So I will be speaking for Commander Hurricane as Justine will be speaking for you."
"Princess Platinum understand," Justine said for her, "She doesn't know how to start."
"Commander Hurricane will be doing it first. He got a lot of time to prepare for this day." Aegeus sat there listening to Commander Hurricane said and repeating what he said to Princess Platinum, "Good morning Princess Platinum. I would compliment your looks but you know we can't see each other."
"It's nice to meet you after for so long. I see you are doing well with your friend so far."
"Yeah, first time seeing me and he wanted to ignore me as much as possible. Anyway, in our past life I am so sorry about what I say to you and how I treated you. Seeing another perspective in life show me that I was being a speciest. If I could go back in time, I would beat myself up and have the alliance the first meeting we would get. I hope you would forgive me for all the nasty stuff I said to you."
"No, you're not the only one to blame. I was being a bitch and I should be cooperating with you. I guess I put my pride so high and being pampered so much that I put my citizens in risk. I am deeply sorry on how I was treating you. Thank you so much for listening to me. If we have another chance of living, I wanted to work together without any bad blood between us."
"So do I. I see that we become better ponies. Maybe it was the higher ones give us a second chance on life and forgive our sins. Right now our job is to bring the humans back to their home. We will need all the help we could get."
"You're right. Their needs are above ours. As soon as we leave the hospital, I would do my hardest to find the answer and get them back home. It is selfish for us to stay if they want to go home."
"Indeed. Thank you for understanding. I think we got everything off our chest. Now I need to talk to Chancellor Puddinghead. She is waiting for me."
"Before you go. Could you say for me that I am sorry for all the stuff I did to her and her ponies? "
"Of course. We're allies. Dead or alive." Aegeus said farewell to Justine and left to Terra Greene's room.
They have a similar conversation with Chancellor Puddinghead about their regrets, saving the humans and heading for a better future. The leaders made up and left with smiles on their faces. After the emotional time of reconnecting with their friends, Aegeus decided that a nice stroll and watching the sunset is the best for Commander Hurricane's mind.
Daniel's Home
Daniel's friend all gathered up to have a meeting set up by Daniel.
"Glad to be back home. Anyway welcome friends, we're discussing about the kidnappings, especially Robert," Daniel pulled out a whiteboard and written down all the main facts they know. "11 people kidnapped. No similar traits or history. Kidnapped in either level -4 or -5 bunker floor."
"No shit Sherlock," Will leaned back further in his chair, "That are literally the only facts about it. What next? That the sky is blue."
"Fine," Daniel just lifted his arms up and dropped down, "My dragon friend, Tyrath, was a major general. He dealt with many situations like kidnapping, protection, wars and assassination."
"I heard he fail that last part," Will laughed.
"Goddamn it Will. Stop making him angry!" Daniel now shouting behind Will, "Tyrath, I can see you trying to strangle him. I don't care he was making fun of you. You've been dead for god sake how long. Just help me find our friend and we don't have to worry about it. I know you care about the innocent victims so please just ignore him and help me write down the plans and theories."
Daniel was mumbling to himself as he wrote down more ideas on the blackboard. As he was writing down all the ideas, everybody else was browsing on their phones to read the latest news.
"Okay, fun time's over! Please look at the board," Daniel stood out of the way to present his blackboard. The blackboard was covered in theories, bunker's entrances and the A.I . "Tyrath have compiled a list of ideas on why he was kidnapped and how we could save them."
"First possible weak spot: After looking through the maps, Tyrath found there are less entrances but more secure in the lower levels compare to the ones above. This lead to that the lower levels have significant information and protection compare to the others. If the whole bunker operated like a company, the lower ones are considered to be the VIP, secretive science lab or the head office. Stuff that are out of citizens' eyes.
Second possible weak spot: It's possible that the weapons are designed to hold humans back. Maybe someone like a native aka dragons, ponies, changelings, etc. could fight back. Their bodies are designed tougher than us and having magic give them an upper hand.
Third possible weak spot: The password to the computer. If we find the password, we could easily shut down all the defensive system and find the answer to our kidnappings. However we could not hack it, so this one is a dud."
"That's good to hear but we are useless to it. Trying break in is impossible, we do not have any 'natives ' to help us and the password is impossible to crack," Kevin signed in defeat, "Everything is stack against us."
"This led us to the reason why were they kidnapped," he flipped the blackboard and shown diagrams of the kidnapped people who were trapped in a cage. "Why are they trying so hard to protect them from us. We've come up with a couple of theories."
He drew empty thought bubbles from the kidnapped people's head, "First theory, they don't have a companion. Even a powerful computer make some mistakes. By hiding their mistakes, the robots hid them so it wouldn't disrupt their experiment aka us. To make the perfect experiment, they remove unwanted variables aka them. Either they are disposed, returned back home or kept as prisoners."
He drew demons and monsters in the thought bubbles, "Second theory, it could be possible that their companions are evil people who had power in their past. Maybe they have the power to control them to do their evil bidding. So to keep us safe, the robots kidnapped them. Maybe it was dangerous to be left alone so the companions need to be extracted from their minds."
He rubbed out the thought bubbles and replace it with depiction of godly powers, "Third theory, their companions are almighty gods and they are so ancient that they existed before any literature could record them."
"Really?" Kevin leaned forward, "So you saying a child could have an almighty god that could rival their native's leaders. However they all died because of plot development."
"Anything is possible," Dexter butted in, "We got kidnapped to a different world so having gods is not far of a stretch."
"Tyrath had said that them being kidnapped is really important to them. Maybe they have something in common but it is not addressed in the computers."
"It doesn't matter," Kevin signed, "They are still people. Our goal is to find the weak spot and alert the authority. As much as we wanted to save them, we are not soldiers. Only a few of us in this world are and they only have a couple of years of experience. We are just ordinary people who got stuck in a new world."
"The ones in our heads are. With our technology and their experience, we would save them. All we need is to collect all A.I with military training and save our friends. This is the best shot."
"Daniel," Dexter stared at the map, "It's impossible. Look at this. Everything is secured, we're being watch 24/7 and our weapons are primitive compare to theirs. It's a lost cause. We should give up when we have the chance and try to spend the rest of our lives living normally as possible."
Daniel tried to argue back but Dexter cut him, "Please think. I know it sound selfish to leave a child behind but this is a suicide mission for anyone. The most experienced military person we have said that it is impossible to break in. This is the first time in history when we are encountering an advanced civilization and we are the guinea pigs. We don't have any plan to follow or any tactics to use. It feels so wrong but it's the right thing to do."
"May god forgive our souls if it's sinful," Mick put both his hands together and pray, "May the kidnapped people to be safe from harms way."
"Are we really that useless?" Daniel asked to himself, "So useless that we could not even protect a child. What if another one of us got kidnap? Should we just let them have it?"
"It's for the best. The only thing we can to do is to pray for theirs and our safety. Have faith and someone or something will save us."
They heard a scream from outside their house. It was just the robots dragging a person to be implanted. It was a likely occurrence when more people were being scare to be mind-controlled.
"I hope my A.I is a fun creature to play with," Will laughed to ease the tension but it didn't do jack shit.
Canterlot's Castle
It had been a couple of days since the conversation between Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle was discussing about Discord with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in their private room.
"Those eleven humans who were kidnapped have some kind of a connection to Discord. He said that they reminded him of someone in the past. Do you think you can identify them by looking at these pictures?" Twilight showcased large images of each victim with the highest definition she can get.
"We've identified the picture many time, Twilight," Princess Luna said, "We've never encounter a human in our entire lives."
"Indeed Luna," Princess Celestia added in, "Discord was millenniums older than us. It's possible he have met them before we were even born. He had travel to many places and spread chaos so it is likely that he encounter someone like them. However we would never know until Discord explain what is going on."
"What about 'eyes are the window to the soul ' quote? Is there a greater meaning to this?" Twilight asked.
Princess Celestia was in deep thought before continuing to speak, "As an immortal, I've seen many ponies come and go. After experiencing so many of them, I can tell about their personality by looking into their eyes. I can see if they are either determine, brave, kind, loyal, etc. When I look into the humans' eyes, they reminded me of many ponies that I've met before. Some a really long time ago."
Twilight connect the pieces, "Are you saying that these victims' eyes reminded Discord of someone important so long ago? Someone so long ago that make a big impact in his life but he forget about them? Is this why he was avoiding us?"
"Most likely. Discord have made many enemies in his life. Maybe those humans reminded him really important creatures in his life that he held a grudge with and he won't let go."
What did they remind Discord of?