Détente

Détente

Chapter 1

The day dawned bright and clear.  From the very peak of Canterlot Mountain to the great roiling fog banks that marked the edge of the known world the entire realm of Equestria was at peace.

*****

Meanwhile at Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington State, the sun has been up for a while.  The harsh light played across the tarmac, and reflected off the buffed aluminum skin of an enormous aircraft lining itself up at the end of the runway.  The airplane is a B-36 bomber, and even in 1955 it is an antiquated refugee from a previous era.  Is round fuselage, straight wings, and mixed propeller/jet propulsion belong more to 1945 than the era of jet interceptors and surface to air missiles.

Inside the cockpit of the glistening bomber Major Aston Valson, the commander of the plane, strapped himself into his position next to the pilot.  He plugged his headset into the planes com system and switched it to the channel which he knew would get him in contact with the bases control tower.  He depressed the switch to open communications with the tower and began the final preparations for lift off:

"Checklist completed, ready to start engines," said Major Valson.

"Roger crew, breaks are set, fireguard is standing by, start engines," responded the tower.

At this point the engineer began to start the propeller engines one by one.  The engines sputtered to life, the propellers turning slowly at first, then picking up speed.  A loud throbbing noise filled the aircraft and the airframe began to vibrate very rapidly, setting the crews teeth on edge.

All engines turning smoothly, the bomber taxied out onto the runway.  Major Valson gives final orders to his crew preparing the plane for takeoff.

"Start jets one, two, three, and four."

"Starting jets," responded Captain Dawley, the pilot, as he reached up to the jet control panel and ignited the engines.

"Close windows and hatches."

"Windows and hatches closed," a chorus of voices responded.

"Cabins report."

"Nose ready for takeoff."

"Radio ready for takeoff."

"Aft  compartment for takeoff."

"Engineer, take off configuration."

"Standing by for propeller reverse, safety check, and takeoff power."

"Crew, stand by for takeoff, engineer, give me takeoff power.  Jets 100%."

The bomber began to trundle down the runway, slowly picking up speed.  Soon the front landing gear lifted off the tarmac, and the plane seemed to pause, as if uncertain whether to fully commit to the sky or stay earthbound.  Finally, the bomber laboriously lifted off the runway, its heavy load making it sluggish and ungainly.  As it fought for altitude, the wings flexed, and, unbeknownst to the crew, a rivet popped free, allowing a small trickle of oil to leak out and drip from the trailing edge of the wing.

The bomber gained altitude and headed west, out over the Pacific ocean.  Once it reached 40,000 feet the bomber stopped climbing and leveled out.  The crew relaxed as best they can in the vibrating airframe and settled in for a long flight.

*****

Far off the Equestrian coast lie great beds of sea weed.  Fleets of small fishing vessels leave sleepy coastal hamlets each day to gather the harvest, bringing it back to be dried and sold.  Most ponies would willingly travel far off the coast to find a good harvest, but they would stay far away from the mist at the end of the world, with a few exceptions.

Blue Jacket, an earth pony from the town of Hoof Sands, was one such exception.  He regularly sailed out to the sea weed beds near the fog, far past where the others would go to, as a result, he got a better haul than any pony else in his village.  The fog had never bothered Blue Jacket, but something seemed different today.  It seemed to take a lot less time than normal to sail out to where he does his gathering and the fog itself seemed different; thicker and darker.

His misgivings were confirmed when Blue Jacket realized that he cannot see the buoys marking the far beds that he liked to gather from.  With a sinking feeling, Blue Jacket realized that the fog has advanced, swallowing up parts of the sea that had previously been safe.  Blue Jacket quickly tacked away from the encroaching fog, heading back towards shore.  However, as he does so, he noticed grey tendrils had begun to materialize out of the air, and soon he was completely engulfed in the fog.

*****

Meanwhile on Earth, Major Valson checked on the status of his aircraft.  He switched his intercom to the engineers channel:

"Engineer, what is the status of the aircraft?"

"Oil level is slightly below optimum, everything else is fine."

As Major Valson reaches towards the intercom controls his headset crackles into life:

"Sir, navigation station reporting an unusual weather phenomenon."

"Go ahead navigator," replies Major Valson.

"There seems to be some sort of cloud cover hugging the ocean, you probably can't see it from up there in the cockpit."

Major Valson unbuckled his harness and stood up slightly, allowing him to see a roiling cloudbank out of the corner of the windscreen, it seemed strangely solid and clung to the ocean's surface.  Sitting back down he calls up his navigator:

"Navigator, call in the phenomenon to Meteorology, continue on present heading."

"Understood."

The bomber continued on its course over the mysterious clouds.

*****

The fog rolled rapidly over Equestria, quickly covering the seas and coastline around the island nation.  As it moved inland it slowed down, pooling in valleys and pilling up behind hills.

The fog finally reached the valley where Ponyville is located and spilled down, coating the entire town in grey clouds.  Fog filled the streets, dimming the bright noonday sun, it curled around trees, and wafted down alley ways.  Ponies stared around in confusion at the sudden change in weather.

Twilight Sparkle was walking down the main street in Ponyville with her friend Rarity,  when suddenly she became socked in by fog.  She looked towards Rarity, or rather where Rarity should be, since she could not see her friend through the thick fog.

"Rarity, are you there?" asked Twilight in a panic.

"Yes, I'm still here.  What do you think is going on?"

"I don't know, this fog is so thick I can't even see my hoof in front of my face!"

"Oh, I know darling, I can't see anything either."

From somewhere in the fog came the sounds of ponies beginning to panic.  Confused voices called out of the mist, trying to find lost loved ones, or figure out where they are in the blinding fog.

"Oh no, we need to do something quick!  I'll go send a letter to the princess telling her what's going on, you go try to find Rainbow Dash and see if she can clear these clouds away!"

"Of course, she is probably with Applejack at this time of day."

"Right, lest go!" said Twilight as she turned to run to the library, and ran right into something.

"Ow," said Rarity, "I seem to have run into something."

"I think that was me," replied Twilight, cradling her head.

"Why did you bump into me?  The library is in the other direction."

"What do you mean, the library is that way, Sweet Apple Acres is over that way."

"Darling, I hope you realize that I can't see where you are pointing."

"Oh, right," says Twilight, opening her eyes.  "Well, it seems we're lost, we need to find some way out of this fog."

*****

"I found a wall!" shouted Twilight in triumph.

"Oh good job darling!  Do you know where we are now?" asks Rarity.

"No," replied Twilight, the disappointment plain in her voice.

"Well no matter, at least it's something."

The dainty sound of Rarity's hooves sounded through the mist as she moved towards Twilight.  However, before she reached her friend she is overcome by intense vertigo.  She felt like she has dropped, leaving her stomach in place.  Somepony screamed, and with a sense of detachment Rarity realized that it is her.

*****

Major Valson sipped a very bad cup of coffee while staring out of a port hole at the never-ending mist below.  The flat cloud layer that they had previously encountered gradually gave way to hills and mountains formed of ethereal, roiling mist.  Major Valson was staring at a particularly large mountain of mist that seemed to have some sort of protrusion sticking off of it in a rather odd position.

The airplane began to shake, gently at first but with ever increasing violence.  Major Valson rushed back towards his seat when the plane drops what felt like ten feet and he is picked up and slammed into the ceiling.  His paper cup of coffee hit him in the center of his chest, splashing scalding coffee all over him.  Just as suddenly the plane levels out and he drops to the floor, clipping the edge of the engineering station in the process.  Quickly scrabbling to his feet he sprinted back to his seat and strapped himself in.  As he reconnected himself to the com system he is practically deafened by the frantic shouts of his engineer.

"Sir, that last crash knocked something loose, we're losing oil fast!"

Major Valson felt feint and beginan to black out.  He fought back against the encroaching darkness and replied to his engineer:  "how long do we have?"

"A couple moments, then the engines on the port wing will catch fire!"

As Major Valson opened his mouth to order the engines shut down, the plane shuddered again and the world seemed to fade.  He felt something brush his face, and reaching a hand up, it came back sticky and red.  Suddenly he felt himself being violently shaken, and he came to with his pilot shaking his shoulder.

"Don't die on us yet old man!" shouts Captain Dawley.  "We need you to get us through this!"

Shaking off his fatigue Major Valson reestablished contact with the engineer.  "Engineer, current status."

"Port engines unresponsive, fuel dropping, losing altitude rapidly."

Major Valson's throat turned dry and his palms began sweating.  Reaching over to his control panel he switched the com system to public address.

"Crew, prepare for forced landing, repeat, prepare for forced landing.  Navigator, communicate our current position to Strategic Air Command."

*****

"What was that?" groaned Twilight, rubbing her temple with a hoof.

"I don't know, but that beastly fog is finally lifting," replied Rarity.

Twilight stood up and looked around the rapidly reappearing street.  Everything seemed to be fine, no obvious damage or changes.  She cocked an ear at a bizarre buzzing sound.  She looked around but can't find the source despite the rapidly fading fog.

*****

Aboard the rapidly descending aircraft, Major Valson faded in and out of consciousness.  People talked over the com, but he can no longer make any sense of it.  Out of the corner of his eye he sees what looks like a fairy tale castle perched on the side of a mountain where the misty mountain he had been examining earlier had been located.

The plane began to rattle and shake, reminding Major Valson of flak his bomber used to catch over Berlin all those many years ago.

*****

The buzzing noise gained in volume, rising to a great roar.  Something extremely loud passed directly over Twilight's head, causing her to crouch and cover her ears.  The ground shook, glass shattered, and ponies screamed in terror.  Looking up afterwards she noticed that the mist is swirly and eddying like something absolutely enormous passed just overhead.

*****

Major Valson felt the impact of landing, it was significantly harder than normal.  Metal screeched and the cabin began to fill with smoke as the plane careens down some semi flat surface.  Idly, Major Valson wondered what they had landed on, since they were supposed to be flying over ocean.  The plane began to slow noticeably, when, with a wrenching thud, it comes to a complete halt against some immovable object.

*****

Hearing an enormous crash, Twilight rushed towards its source.  The fog continued to fade around her, but as she got closer to where she heard the noise the air began to be filled with a black smoke and foul chemical smell, like when that dragon fell asleep near Ponyville.  As she rounded the last house she is confronted with a sight the likes of which she has never seen before.  An enormous thing was sitting at the far end of a fallow field.  Light glinted off of it, making it very difficult for Twilight to get a good look at the thing.  As she ran towards it she became increasingly aware of just how enormous the thing was.  It was bigger than any building in Ponyville and most of the buildings in Canterlot.  The only thing which she could compare the cylindrical bulk of the thing to was a tower from Canterlot Castle.

Rarity pulled up behind Twilight and gazed in fear at the fields new occupant.  "What do you think it is?"

"It must be some kind of enormous machine.  I don't know of any creature whose skin is made out of that kind of metal, and look, there seems to be writing on it!  I wish I could read what it says," bubbled Twilight.

"Listen darling, this could be dangerous, perhaps we should inform the Royal Guard and let them deal with this."

"No, this is the most incredible thing to happen in years!  An artifact of an advanced civilization falling out of the sky right near Ponyville, who would have thought."

By this point Twilight and Rarity were nearing where the artifact had impacted a large hill.  Behind them they could hear a crowd of Ponyville residents gathering to gawk, though none had come as close as the two mares.

*****

Major Valson awakened to the smell of burning insulation and the sound of tortured metal.  He hung limply in his crash harness until he felt the brim of a cup being pressed to his lips.  Drinking greedily he felt somewhat rejuvenated and began to get out of his chair.

"All right, listen up!" he called.  "We seem to have crashed on some uncharted island, grab The Box and any survival gear available and head for the emergency exit."

One of the airmen present wrenched open the emergency escape hatch in the wheel well.  "No go sir, its blocked."

"All right," said Major Valson.  "Open the access hatch, looks like we will have to jump."

One of the other airmen opened the circular hatch in the bulk head and they began to pass the equipment out, starting with the box containing the pit.

*****

Twilight stopped her incessant babbling, staring in fascination as a circular door opened in the side of the artifact and boxes begin to be tossed out.  Then a long beige colored thing dropped out of the door as well.  As she moved closer to investigate, the beige thing stood up and looked at her.