Chapter 2: "Questions"

48 Hours after the disappearance of Golf Echo Bravo

Two days had passed since the A318 disappeared over the Westmann Islands. The news came as a shock to Airbus, for one of their planes to just disappear could impact their image in the Aviation Industry. Airbus, together with the French, British and Icelandic Government had sent some of their investigators from their respective agencies to work together and put the pieces together. One of these investigators was Álfur Sigurðsson, he was Icelandic.

He was currently in his summer house on the Westmann Islands where he'd be staying until the investigation is over. For Álfur this would just be another day at the office, but he knew that this wouldn't be so easy. The only branch of the Icelandic Military, the Coast Guard had already begun to search for the flight recorders along with the US Navy which had decided to help the ICG. There also was the Royal Navy from the UK that had sent some of its ships to aid and the Royal Danish Navy from Denmark as well.

The TV inside his living room was displaying a short report on the missing aircraft from the BBC. Álfur was looking at the TV and listening while being on the phone with one of his superiors in Reykjavik.

"And as the search for Golf Echo Bravo continues, many have begun speculating whether the MH370 Incident in 2014 is connected to the disappearance of Golf Echo Bravo. The reporter said with a calm, neutral voice as background footage of the Icelandic Coast Guard searching for the flight recorders was playing.

"I've already told Laufar that this won't be easy, I can't understand how you want this done in two months time, we don't even have the recordings from Air Traffic Control yet!" Álfur said while being frustrated.

"Listen Álfur, we are on a tight schedule with the annual report coming and the boss requires all employees at the office by the time it arrives, alright? If it was up to me I would delay it and give you all the time on earth you need." His superior said over the phone, understanding his worker's frustration.

"Alright, alright. I understand. We'll try to get it done, otherwise, we'll just leave it to the other guys." Álfur said feeling already better.

"That's what I like to hear. Oh and we're also sending Ebba to help you, we know that you and Úlrik can't handle it without having too much on your plate."

"Okay. Well, we'll talk to each other next week I suppose about the investigation."

"You bet."

After that Álfur hanged up and looked at the TV one more time before deciding to change the channel.
The TV went pitch-black for one second before then showing an ongoing football game between Manchester United and Chelsea. Álfur could tell the match was taking place Old Trafford. He had been there during a vacation in England and had even been on a tour of the stadium.

"Lingard with the ball now, passes it to Sánchez." The Commentator said as he was following the action on the pitch

"Sánchez, crosses it towards Ibrahimovć... GOAL! THAT'S HIS SECOND FOR THE DAY! MANCHESTER UNITED LEAD WITH TWO GOALS. THE SCORE IS NOW 3-1!"

The crowd at the stadium roared as the tall Swede scored the acrobatic goal. The Red Devils were winning against one of London's best teams if not the best. Everyone in the stadium was jumping and cheering the goal, all except for the away fans that had travelled from the English capital to Manchester. However, Álfur wasn't at all interested in watching the remaining 23 minutes of the EPL Match, sure he loved football and even went to Paris for when Euro 2016 was hosted when Iceland, the underdogs went from being predicted to drop out of the group stage to making it as far as the Quarter Finals where they were defeated by France in a one-sided game with the score at the end being 5-2.

Álfur looked at his phone, seeing the time was 21:37. He looked then at the TV Remote and grabbed it. Before shutting off the TV for the night, he looked at it one more time and saw Zlatan finishing his celebration and returning to his position for the game to continue. Most of the fans had stopped celebrating by now but there still was some clapping.
Then with one press of a button, the television shut off.

Álfur looked around the living room, more specifically at a picture of his wife and two children. Even though he arrived here a day ago it still felt like he hadn't seen his family in a year. He was used to coming home after a long day at the office and being greeted by his wife and two children.

He then took off his jacket and folded it nicely and left it on the sofa as he made his way to the bedroom to get some sleep before starting work tomorrow morning. He would greet the other investigators including Ebba and then it'd be going straight to work. However, what Álfur didn't know was that, in another world, a world that at first glance seems to be a look-alike of Earth was where the missing pilots and the aircraft was.

Ponyville

The two humans that had landed in Ponyville two days ago were currently in the Golden Oak Library, where Twilight Sparkle, a student of Princess Celestia resided. The Unicorn Mare had been for the past two days been asking questions about her new 'friends'. Both for Timothy and Antoine, it was nice to have a creature able to understand them. Both of them had feared in the first place when they appeared in Equestria that they may have to live in isolation, just like in the movie 'Cast Away' that both of them had watched before.

As Twilight's other friends they were mostly fine with these new humans, all of them had asked many questions about their universe. Fluttershy about animals, Rarity about fashion and cuisine, Pinkie Pie about, well, uh, partying and cakes? Applejack about agriculture and also about cuisine like Rarity. But, Rainbow Dash had probably asked the most questions than any of them. Maybe even Twilight.

Having seen the A318 fly right next to her and landing she wanted to know everything about flying and how it worked for them. She had probably lost interest in Daring Do at the point as she was hooked to asking the pilots. Antoine had explained everything when it came to Aviation. He even told her how the world's largest plane, the Antonov An-225 Mryia could even manage takeoffs and how much it even weighed. Rainbow Dash was speechless, but Twilight, on the other hand, began asking how it even was possible to build such a beast to which Timothy responded.
"If there's one thing that the Russians do better than the rest then it's building mechanical beasts."

At the end of the day, the two pilots had probably answered over a thousand questions since there were so many. Mainly from the two mares. Timothy and Antoine would be sharing a recently built house not far from the Golden Oak Library, that way they would always know where they needed to go if they needed help or advice.

Canterlot

The Princess of the Sun had just finished lowering her bright sun as her younger sister Princess Luna began raising her moon. The two Princesses had been busy the last couple of days, mostly with lots of pressing matters such as the upcoming Mayor Elections for Canterlot required the two princesses to prepare major events that would span the entire city, and with the humans landing in Ponyville it only added more paperwork for the two sisters. Maybe too much paperwork as once Princess Celestia entered her younger sister's room only to find her half asleep on a chair with stacks of paper on her desk.

The two princesses were currently walking down a hallway of Canterlot Castle. The night outside was not as bright as other nights but it was still providing some natural lighting for the two.

"Sister, what should we do with these two new creatures and their mechanical beast in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle has not even sent you a letter regarding them yet." Princess Luna said to her older sister.

"I share your concerns Luna, but if I know Twilight Sparkle well, then she's most likely busy asking questions to them," Celestia said with a side of humour in her answer.¨

"Funny," Luna responded with an annoyed voice. While admitted to herself that the small joke Celestia had put in was quite funny she was too concerned to share laugh at it.

"But in all honesty Luna, I have faith that these new creatures won't pose any danger. If it's anything we have to worry about then it's the elections coming up for the Mayor's Office in Canterlot." Celestia said.

"Now if you excuse me, sister, I have some paperwork to catch up on," Celestia said one more time before slowly trotting down the hallway to her room.

And with that, the Princess of the Sun was gone from the eyes of her younger sister. Luna looked out one of the many windows in the castle. Her eyes were looking at the small town of Ponyville that was visible from this hallway. She could barely see the aircraft parked in a grass field. Then she looked at the iconic Ponyville library that still had its lights on. Even though most ponies were sleeping right now she could still see the lights glowing bright inside the library.

"Maybe Twilight Sparkle is asking too many questions," Luna said as she looked away.

The Alicorn looked down the hallway. She spotted a guard walking towards he direction, the guard was wearing the usual golden armour on him and was also carrying a lantern using his horn. She recognized the guard as Staff Sergeant Lighting Strike, a veteran when it came to the Royal Guard, having served for more than 30 years, the guard was quickly approaching his retirement age after having joined quite late for his age.

"Your Highness," The guard said as he bowed down upon seeing the princess.

"You may rise Lighting Strike."

"Is there anything you need your highness?"

"Yes, there is one thing," said Luna. "I need you to send down one or two Pegasus Guards to Twilight Sparkle's home. I need them to perform a one-week recon mission."

"As you wish your highness." Lighting Strike before turning left at the next door which led to the Pegasus Barracks.

Luna looked away and began to walk down slowly the hallway. Her destination wasn't decided. She didn't know where to go. Something was feeling wrong. It wasn't the two creatures, no, everything was fine with them, but the way they got here from what she'd heard wasn't right. How could they just appear coming in from the Undiscovered West. None of this made sense to her.

Sometimes Luna felt as if she had trapped herself inside of a dream or nightmare, and the only way to return to reality was by doing something crazy that at first glance nopony would dare to do. Just like Luna sees and hears when she visits the nightmares of ponies and helps them to solve their issues. Most of the time it works, sometimes, it may need a second try.

Author's Note

Sorry for not updating in a long, long time. I forgot about this story shortly after I put it on Hiatus mostly due to not writing Chapter 2 until recently.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you have any concerns regarding my story then please don't be shy to contact me.

If you disliked this chapter or the whole fic in general, then please tell me why. Doing so will help me to solve any issues and improve. Any feedback is good feedback.

12/04/2018 - Minor edits have been made.
Also, I know this is late but I kind of predicted the score of the Manchester United and Chelsea game, sure United won 2-1 instead of 3-1 and Romelo Lukaku scored instead of Zlatan who has now moved to L.A Galaxy but close enough. (FYI: I am not a Manchester United fan, I'm a BVB Fan)