Chapter 1:
What Was Found Under the Leaves

Rainbow Dash loved the breeze. As a pegasus, she was always comforted by the wind in her mane, but today, she took it slower. The air was still, the clouds were put away, and the sun bathed the ground with an amber glow. There was nothing quite like trotting through White Tail Woods in Autumn. The Running of the Leaves wouldn’t be for another four weeks, but already the leaves had changed, and ponies and other critters passing through had caused some to fall already. She was actually out here practicing for the annual event, making mental maps of the new routes, and keeping in shape by exercising her legs. Winning wasn’t as important in a race like this, as she had discovered a few years back, but it was always good fun, and Rainbow was hardly the type to back down on a challenge if she had no other pressing matters.

Rainbow stopped under an oak tree some squirrels had been traipsing through, and reached into the saddlebags she took with her to pull out her canteen. She had been up since dawn, a feat only accomplished through willpower and her love of all things sporty. As she drank her supply of nice, cool water, she took a moment to look at the sky she was so fond of. Not a cloud in the sky. Of course, that was the schedule, and Ponyville had been very good at keeping schedule with their weather ever since Twilight helped with that one Winter Wrap-Up, and they were especially protective of their weather patterns after last year when Rainbow tried to keep winter away for the sake of keeping her pet, Tank, from hibernating. She thought about that and blushed hard, thankful she was alone in the woods. That was so embarrassing. Even now, she could hardly believe she had gone that far, but on second thought, perhaps it wasn’t so surprising. After all, she often took risks and went out of her way to do extreme things for those she cared about. That was just the kind of pony she was.

Not one for introspection, and getting antsy from sitting so long, she decided her break had gone on long enough and packed up her things, continuing her trek down the trail. After she had gone a ways down, she noticed the leaves had grown in number, which confused her. These paths weren’t often traversed by many ponies this close to the Running, to save some leaves for everyone else, so the fact that there were so many leaves on the ground at this part of the forest was concerning, to say the least. Rainbow wondered what could have caused this to happen. A certain distance in, there was a tree that had been completely emptied of leaves, and below its boughs sat a pile that sat taller than the average stallion. It was as if someone had just bucked the leaves right off. Of course, this was not the most bizarre thing about the tree; what really caught her eye was the pulsating blue light coming from the middle of the pile.

Immediately taken aback at the unusual sight, Dash decided to investigate. Upon closer inspection, the glowing blue flashes were at the center of the pile, near the base of the tree. She began digging down, pushing copious amounts of foliage aside. At last, she got to the center, and had to take a moment to adjust she eyes in order to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating.

Within the pile, next to the trunk of the tree, sat a wristwatch, albeit none like Rainbow had ever seen before. It, every now and then, would put out an intense flash of blue light, like a lighthouse beacon, from its face, which had no hands and looked as dark and endless as the ocean at night. A pit in the center of an intricate, yet basic outer rim, a bright sky blue, that looked like a dial, or a jar lid that could be screwed on or off. Along the rim, there were buttons of different shapes and sizes, and they went all the way around. From the center came two sleek metal bands that formed the strap, with what looked to be an end of a clasp on either end, presumably to attach and form a circular band around the arm of whoever it belonged to. Speaking of, who did it belong to?

Rainbow Dash looked around, and saw no-one in sight. She hadn’t seen anypony earlier on the trail, and it was too early in the morning for anyone to have been anywhere down the trail, unless they had been up during the early hours of the morning kicking the leaves off the trees. It was safe to assume, therefore, that the owner must have lost it the day before, or even before that. That still didn’t explain why the thing looked so weird, though. Who would own a watch that looked so weird? What was the point of a watch with no face to tell the time? And how did it make that light? Electricity? If so, where was the generator? If it was magic, was it cursed? Was Rainbow going to turn into a snail if she touched it?!

The glow looked a bit more menacing as she stared at it, in the depths of the leaf pile. Dash took a deep breath. She steeled herself and prepared mentally to reach for it. After all, this wasn’t the first time she had faced potential doom. And who knew? Maybe it came from aliens and she would get superpowers from this. She stopped and looked up for a second. After reminding herself that she needed to stop borrowing comic books from Spike, she steeled herself and reached down again. Her hoof came nearer to the device, and the glowing stopped. She made contact, tensed up, and…

Nothing.

Rainbow looked around. She took a hoof and felt around herself, seeing if she had grown any extra limbs or ears, but everything was the same. She looked back at the mysterious device, and gingerly lifted it from its resting place on the forest floor. After wiping off some stray debris, Dash took a closer look. The face was made of some type of really thick glass, and had little lines running up and down, making little squares. The material the rest of the watch was made of was some strange foreign material, something unnatural that didn’t feel right, and the metal that made up the rest of it was strange-feeling. It made her fur stand on end.

“… What are you?” she asked the watch.

Of course, she didn’t expect a response.

“Hello. I am P.E.T.A.L.D.”

Rainbow screamed and dropped the thing. As soon as it hit the ground, the light that came from the circular face lit up fully, and with the blinding light came a loud whirring sound, and little wiry tentacles poured out of the buttons on the side of the face and propped it up to face Dash, like arms. She stared, bug-eyed, at the contraption as she was certain she was about to be violently turned into mincemeat. However, as she shut her eyes and braced for the end, the light dimmed, and turned into a wave like water against the lines she saw on the face earlier, which were now lit up, but not as brightly as the sliver of pale blue in the center. The ends of the straps connected as if pulled by a magnet, and the whole thing appeared to sit up and look at her. This was especially disconcerting because it didn’t have eyes as far as Rainbow could tell. It then proceeded to speak again.

“Please, don’t be alarmed denizen. I am not here to harm you. Can you understand me? I heard you speak English, or whatever you call the language in this realm, if you call it language. Oh, perhaps I’m going too fast. What is your name?”

As this nightmarish thing talked to her, Rainbow wanted to scream, but she was paralyzed. She couldn’t keep her eyes off of it, but she also couldn’t help but notice its incredibly feminine, if echo-y voice. It had a soothing rhythm to it, as well as a peaceful, reassuring tone, but that didn’t change the fact that it was clearly coming from the watch. … Or was it? Rainbow looked around, suddenly feeling less terror and more than a little annoyance. If this was some prank, she was gonna... She got off her back, which she had fallen onto when she threw the watch, and called out.

“ALRIGHT, WHO’S THE WISE GUY?!” she said to anyone who might be waiting in the bushes along the sides of the road. Spinning around, she found no-one, and started to look before she was stopped by a calm, level voice.

“My sensors don’t read anybody else in the immediate vicinity, but if you are uncertain, then yes, I am the one speaking with you.”

Rainbow turned to see the watch, now facing her with that same… look? She didn’t even know if that was what she should call it, but she did notice the ends of the line in the middle of its face (fitting for a clock for it to have an actual face) were pulled up in the corners as if it was a mouth smiling. The smile, if you could call it that, was almost motherly; small, yet patient, calm. Rainbow took pause at that. How could an inanimate object look so sincere? … Rainbow Dash decided she had gone insane, and decided to give it a chance. “Um, you?”

“Yes, myself. And you are… ?” As it spoke, or whatever it called the way it made sounds, Rainbow noticed the line that made its mouth warbled up and down, splitting in two and looking suspiciously like lips.

“Oh. Uh, my name’s Dash. Rainbow Dash. And what did you call yourself?”

The “smile” on the watch grew a little. “I am known as the Portal Energizing Teleportation and Location Device, but you may call me P.E.T.A.L.D.”

“Wait, did you say, ‘Petal?’”

It somehow managed to nod despite not having a neck. Or head, for that matter.

“But you spelled it with a ‘D’.”

The smile disappeared. “It’s silent,” the watch said with a bit of annoyance.

“Okay, if you say so. Wow, this is so weird.” Rainbow held a hoof to her head in preparation for a migraine.

“Are you in pain? I don’t know your physiology, and therefore cannot in good conscience prescribe you any medication, but I do have counselling programs for those unaccustomed to such events as my presence. On a scale of one to ten, how much mental strain does my being here put on you?”

“Twenty, but… ” she sighed, “I’ll be fine. What are you, anyway? And how can you talk?” She pointed her hoof accusatively towards her current speaking partner.

“To answer your first question, I am a sentient program designed by a one Emeril Langston to assist in the search for and apprehension of criminal entities. In order to fully extend my services to their fullest reach, I have been fitted with a device and programmed with the data that makes me capable of interdimensional travel, including the creation of portals between space and time for travel between short distances within one singular reality. However, to prevent my being used for malign purposes, and so that if I ever go rogue I cannot alter timelines and destroy universes, I cannot be used without one of my owners present, and should I be lost without them, my program and all my data is contained within a mainframe in my reality of origin, and all extensions of myself, such as this form which you see before you, have a limited battery life, so that I cannot be used by anyone who may have ill intentions. Does this information help?”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes were saucers. “Could you say that again? I lost you at ‘I am.’”

P.E.T.A.L.D. sighed. “To phrase it in a way that you may understand, m-.” She paused.

“Um, hello?”

“Pardon me, but in my haste, I neglected to ascribe you a gender, if such things exist in this realm. Do you prefer to be called-”

Dash blushed heavily. “Not ‘Mister,’ if that’s what you’re thinking!”

“Right, Miss?” Rainbow nodded her approval, if begrudgingly. “Right, then, Miss Dash, to phrase it in a way you might understand, I come from another dimension, and I make portals. Anything else?”

“One thing.”

P.E.T.A.L.D. listened intently. “Yes?”

“You think you can catch me?” Her eyes rolled back in her head, and before she hit the ground, Rainbow was out cold.

Author's Note

Hope you guys enjoyed this first glimpse into the horrible train wreck that is my head. And welcome, me, to this fabulous website! I hope to enjoy your comments and criticisms for many days to come. But mostly criticisms. Because I don't really have time to update this regularly. Just a heads-up. But yeah, let me know what you think. Bye, I guess.