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.
DétenteChapter 2
Twilight and the beige creature stared at each other in shock for a moment. Her eyes roamed over it, from the odd
looking short mane on the top of its head, to its tiny eyes, and the long legs that, despite all logic, seemed to support it. She noticed that it was not in fact beige colored but merely wearing beige colored clothing head to foot. Her head only came up to the creatures chest, and she had to crane her neck in order to look it in the eyes.
"H-hello," said Twilight nervously. "Welcome to Equestria, my name is Twilight Sparkle. What is yours?"
Instead of responding the creature settled down on its haunches, bringing it to eye level with Twilight. It began to speak in soft tones in a language that Twilight did not recognize and slowly reached out a hand towards her. The alien creature’s fingers stoked slowly through her mane, causing Twilight to rear back in shock.
*****
"Whoa there, easy, there's no need to get spooked," said Sergeant Jonson, the second engineer. The bizarre little unicorn creature that he had attempted to pet had reacted violently, rearing up on its hooves and neighing excitedly at him.
"Jonson, what the hell are you doing down there?" shouted Major Valson.
"Greeting the locals sir! There's a purple unicorn down here, and some more horse creatures off in the distance."
There was an uncomfortable pause before Major Valson broke the silence, "purple unicorn?"
"Yep, it's got a little horn and everything."
"I'm coming down there, clear some room."
Major Valson dropped to the ground landing in a crouch and sending his head spinning and pulsing with pain. He hissed and gripped his temples waiting for the head splitting tide to recede. As he became more lucid he became aware of a whinnying sound, looking around he spotted Jonson's unicorn. He stared at it, his mind refusing to believe that such a creature existed. It was garish purple all over, with an enormous head, short muzzle, and the biggest puppy dog eyes you have ever seen. He could have sworn that it was talking to him, and the expression on its face seemed surprisingly like pity.
Major Valson stared at the bizarre creature for a moment before turning to Sergeant Jonson: "Tell me the truth, am I hallucinating? Because I really hit my head hard back there, I could still be lying on the deck peacefully bleeding."
"No sir, this is very real."
Major Valson gave a resigned sigh and allowed his shoulders to momentarily slump before straightening back up. When he spoke again it was with a forceful voice "all right, the rest of you get down here and start setting up a base camp, priority on the radio. Dawley, go to the tail and corral the men from the rear compartment and bring them here."
*****
Twilight looked on in bewilderment as the creatures moved around her, paying her no attention beyond the occasional curious glance. She felt confused and lost, two emotions that she was not accustomed to feeling. The creatures were treating her as if she were hardly even there, as if she weren't talking to them, as if she was ... an animal.
Rarity chose this moment to rush up to Twilight. "What are they, and why are they wearing those horrid jump suits?"
"I don't know, but I think I know how to find out. Watch them for me," and with that Twilight teleported off with a flash of light.
*****
Major Valson’s eyes nearly popped out of his sockets. He raised a shaky hand and points where the unicorn had just been standing. “Did you just see that?”
Captain Dawley looks up and asks “see what?”
“That unicorn, it just disappeared!”
“I don’t see anything, there’s just that white one that’s been hanging around the edges of our camp.”
“Yes, exactly, it disappeared in a flash of light. Like magic.”
“Like magic? Sir, are you feeling all right? You should probably let me have a look at that nasty hit on your forehead.”
*****
Twilight appeared in her library mere moments after leaving the field. She rushes towards the nearest bookshelf hastily pulling tomes off and then discarding them in her haste to find the proper one. Meanwhile, upstairs a baby dragon tossed and turned, trying to sleep through the noise. Finally, with a world weary sigh, he raises himself from his bed and stumbles downstairs.
“Twilight, what are you doing? I need my beauty sleep,” said Spike sleepily.
“Spike, something incredible has happened! A machine of some sort carrying creatures I have never seen before has crashed outside Ponyville. It all happened immediately after all that fog rolled through. Spike, take a letter.”
“Wait, aliens have landed in Ponyville? And what fog are you talking about?”
“The fog that rolled through just earlier, did you sleep the entire day away again?”
Spike scratched his head and then shrugged noncommittally. Twilight sighed in exasperation before throwing a quill, ink pot, and parchment at him.
“Here, take down this letter quickly: Dear Princess Celestia, Something incredible has happened. Ponyville was covered by a thick, impenetrable fog; this was followed shortly by a brief but disorienting sensation of falling. As the fog lifted I heard something large pass overhead, and, following the noise, I witnessed a great gleaming machine fall from the sky. Rushing up to the machine I witnessed several alien creatures get out of it. Despite my best efforts to communicate with them they did not seem to realize that I was intelligent, why, I don’t know. They seem to be mostly harmless and I will try to establish contact shortly. Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight got to the end of the book shelf without finding what she was looking for. With a scream of frustration she drops the few books that she was still holding in her aura to the ground. Looking down she spies a small blue book propping up one leg of her desk and upon pulling the volume out she finds the book she had been searching for the entire time.
“Talking with Dragons: A Field Guide to Translation Spells,” Twilight read aloud. She turned to Spike and continued “this is the best book available about the practical application of translations spells. I hope I can use it to communicate with the aliens.”
Twilight trotted quickly towards the door levitating the book along behind her. “Send that letter immediately,” called Twilight just before the door shut behind her.
*****
In Canterlot the letter popped into existence, falling into an enormous pile of similar messages. The room was dark, the only light coming from a banked fire, even the heavy curtains were drawn, blocking out any sunlight. In front of the enormous fire place two indistinct shapes huddled together. Occasionally a wing would flutter or a horn would catch the light of the dying embers of the fire revealing the shapes to be none other than Celestia and Luna the two Alicorn Princesses of Equestria.
Hushed voices can be heard from behind the door to the chamber. Somepony was having a very heated argument just outside, though nothing could be understood through the thick door. Finally some sort of agreement seemed to have been reached and, after a pregnant pause, a gentle knocking came at the door.
“Princesses are you all right?” a voice called faintly through the door.
Hearing these words the two alicorns shifted but neither made any move to get up.
“It’s just that something has happened, we don’t know what to do, and ponies are starting to panic. Um… please?”
This got a response, with one of the shadowy forms finally standing up.
*****
Outside the princesses chambers Public Sector, the chief bureaucrat of the Equestrian Civil Service, huddled with a few royal guardsmen. The aura of fear and despondency was thick, nopony seemed willing to meet anypony else’s gaze. Those present had begun debating quietly whether they should open the doors, when suddenly they were flung open. Standing fully framed in the doorway was Princess Celestia, her wings were fully extended and her neck straight, she was engulfed in a near blinding radiance. Everypony felt rejuvenated, any of the stress that was plainly evident moments before washed away. The guards stood to attention and Public Sector bowed deeply as their sovereign paced slowly out into the corridor.
“What has happened during my … absence?” Celestia asked, folding her wings against her body.
“Your sudden departure threw the government into chaos. Orders weren’t given, goods weren’t moved, nopony seemed to be able to concentrate on anything. Everypony just stopped working and huddled together in small groups.” As she talked Public Sector watched the princesses’ face and saw the subtle tightening of her jaw and slight lines around her eyes that momentarily hinted at some deep pain, before Celestia regained her self control and her face became an impassive mask of benevolence once more.
Public Sector bowed a second time, even more deeply, and said: “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep order. Things just collapsed too quickly and the panic was too general for me to organize any sort of response.”
She was very surprised when she felt somepony nuzzle her and she looked up into the warm eyes of her diarch. “I am sure you did more than anypony could expect of you in the situation. But now we have work to do and I need my number one administrator on the job,” said Celestia. She strode purposefully past Public Sector, her sister following in her wake.
Public Sector trotted along beside the two diarchs with the guards falling in behind. Glancing at them she could not escape the feeling that something was wrong. Neither princess had said anything about why they had fled, or why they were coming out of seclusion now.
“What can you tell me about the event that preceded this?” inquired princess Celestia.
“Nothing much, very little information reached us before it stopped coming altogether. However, from what I gathered it was not very serious, there were very few reports of injuries, no deaths, just a lot of frightened ponies,” said Public Sector. “We don’t know what caused the event, or what effects it has had.”
Princess Celestia nodded in acknowledgement, “I need you to send somepony to my chambers to retrieve the messages there. They should be piled next to the desk. I need them to sort through the messages and give me the most important ones; I can deal with the rest later.”
The small group was rapidly approaching the central sorting room, office in the castle through which much of the paperwork of the Equestrian government traveled at one point or another. Two guards rushed forwards and opened the enormous double doors, instead of the usual sound of purposefully writing quills and shuffling papers they were instead greeted by the quiet murmur of worried voices reverberating off the domed roof. The voices hushed as the two sisters strode into the room; the aura of fear and panic began to dissipate, being replaced by one of embarrassment and curiosity.
After a few minutes Public Sector and the princesses reached the center of the room where her desk stood on a small dais. Climbing up and into the familiar seat she swept her gaze across the room. All the little conversations were breaking up and ponies were slinking back towards their desks.
Leaning over, Celestia whispered in Public Sector’s ear. “I have complete confidence in you.”
The princesses and their retinue then continued on towards the door on the other side of the chamber while Public Sector settled down to her work.
*****
The radio crackled into life, “… Valson of the 32nd Bombardment Group. We have made a forced landing on a previously unknown island north of Hawaii and are in need of rescue. Repeat, this is Lieutenant Valson of the …”
“This is Hawaii, Colonel Potter speaking. We read you loud and clear, we’re glad to hear from you, it seemed you might have been lost. How does your supply situation look? Over.”
“All the survival equipment has been salvaged from the aircraft and the plane itself seems to have remained mostly in one piece. All cargo is secure and safe. Over.”
“Good to hear. Now, what was that of an unknown island, what makes you so sure that it’s unknown? Over.”
“Do you know any islands that are inhabited my miniature pastel colored horses? Over.”
An uncomfortable pause follows before Colonel Potter asks incredulously: “miniature pastel colored horses?”
Major Valson waited for the Colonel to continue, and when he doesn’t the Major forced down his nervousness and continued talking. “Yes sir, some of them have little horns like unicorns and some have wings like pegasi. They come in all different colors, yellow, green, and even blue. They seem very curious and intelligent; this one purple unicorn in particular kept walking through our campsite and examining everything. Over.”
“… Are you high? Over.”
“No sir, we have crashed on a very large island populated by multicolored mythological creatures. I don’t know what else to tell you. Over.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw the purple unicorn approaching, and as he turned to face it he froze. It was trotting quickly towards him, while behind it a book seemed to float. His face became slack and his jaw fell open. The creature pulled up in front of him and the book levitated in front of its face. A blinding purple flash seemed to emanate from the bizarre creature, and as Major Valson blinked back tears he heard a strange, and definitely feminine, voice.
“Hello, can you understand me now?”
He blinked his eyes and squinted, trying to see through the spots in his vision. It almost seemed as if … the unicorn was speaking. He froze his brain incapable of processing the impossible situation he found himself in.
Twilight stared at the alien in confusion. “Are you all right? Oh no, I hope the spell didn’t do something weird.”
The alien suddenly seemed to break from its reverie and began shouting frantically into the small black cylinder it held. “Holy shit, the horse thing just started talking!”
"Wait, what horse thing?" asked Twilight. The little box that the black tube was attached to spat out some more of the aliens language.
"Yes, it is really talking! Here," the alien addressed Twilight directly for the first time, "say something." It shoved the black cylinder right up in her face.
Twilight took a step back "what is that? Why do you want me to talk to it?"
*****
In Hawaii Colonel Potter listened as a series of distressed sounding neighs burst from the radio set. He depressed the transmitter switch and broadcast back to Major Valson. "God damn it Valson, quit bugging the wildlife and get back to work! A maritime patrol plane will be dispatched to your position soon. Out."
*****
The alien looked momentarily disappointed before turning its stern gaze on Twilight.
