The Changing of the Guard: An Alternate History of Earth and Equestria (1901-1914)

Chapters

Prologue: Dreams In the Darkness
Chapter Two: A Brave New World
Chapter Three: The Miles We Travel, The Places We See
Chapter One: Haunted By a Million Screams

Prologue: Dreams In the Darkness

Prologue: Dreams In the Darkness

It was the nightmares again. Their figure twisted and turned in her bed, her face contorted in what seemed to be horror and pain. It was so real...so, vivid.

“No...no...,” she whispered, her voice cracking somewhat in fear and terror.

They'd been coming to her for what now was almost two weeks. Every night, they depicted the same things. A field, where poppies bloomed, their red petals waving in the light wind. This was how it began, always so calm and peaceful. She could see the fields stretching off into the distance, the lines of flowers turning the land into a field of red. It seemed so perfect, so content.

And then, the nightmare began. Dark shadows, of tall, lean gaunt figures, marched across a muddy field now, in a disorderly line. Silently, they made their way through a fog, ghostly shapes receding in the distance. Then, a steadily blinking light seemed to come from across the field, and the figures stumbled and fell, their bodies twisting in violent, jerking motions. No sound came, and it was as if some thresher had reaped them from a field, obliterating them in an instant.

Now the sleeping figure's mental image began to run, stumbling through holes big, uneven, filled with water, slime, and decaying remnants of the shadowy figures. She was running, not knowing where to go, or what to do, but to get away from this unknowable carnage, so real, yet so dreamlike. Words emanated, words not in her voice, not in any voice she had ever heard. Sounds of battle, sounds of death, sounds of pain, sounds of sorrow, sounds of a world gone mad.

She kept running. Overhead, shapes moved, unrecognizable, silent as a grave. They burst into silent fire and crashed into the ground, flames spouting from their carapaces, more of those gaunt shapes, now inside dead or crawling out. The dream was increasing in pace. Images were clearer and more muted at the same time. The pained look on a body, the twisted wreckage of a town, vast metal machines crawling across the land and spitting death.

Now she was running as fast as she had ever run. The images flashed past, barely registering anymore as figures, slowly becoming more and more nightmarish in appearance. A skull loomed out of the darkness, its grinning visage swallowing her whole. Down she fell, down, down, down into something she could not understand.

The mental image of the restless figure came to, and found itself in a serene scene once again. Now, where death in its uncensored form had been, stood the poppies again, waving in the breeze, their petals twisting in the wind. Nothing but poppies, twisting in the wind. The dark shapes gone, no more death, and destruction, just the eerie, silent world of poppies, spreading to the horizon. Like something had gouged a wound in the soil, and the poppies had sprung forth, as some representation of the earth's wounded state, like living blood.

And so, Twilight Sparkle slept on, her mind a morass of calm and confusion, waiting for the dawns early light to bring her comfort. For in her mind, she knew that days of comfort were shortly drawing to a close.

Chapter Two: A Brave New World

Chapter Two:
A Brave New World
“Let the future tell the truth and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine.”
-Nikola Tesla

o.O.o

Outside the Ohio Bubble,
8:09 A.M.

Sgt. Freiheart glanced at the line of militia privates and NCO's behind him. There were about fifty men in the platoon all told, including the ones who had gone through the “bubble”. To be precise, he didn't think it was a bubble. More like an overlarge dome or somewhat pigskin football that was becoming popular at some colleges. But what did he know? Born the son of a clock-maker in Saxony, he'd left Germany in 1890 after the policies of the new Kaiser showed that his ideas would not be kind to many in the new Germany he envisioned. Now, he lived in Columbus as a factory worker, among others from the old country, and had a good, Christian family. He didn't question orders too much, for such a thing a sergeant must be careful of. But interpreting and extrapolating orders was much easier to do.

He noted one face missing. Private Michelson, who he had sent to Xenia, twenty odd miles away in the rain, to telegraph state militia headquarters in Columbus on the situation. Damn hard convincing them that what was going on was not a joke or the ramblings of a drunken platoon. Counting the men in his head, he watched as they cleaned their rifles, polished the bayonets, and prepared for battle. If horrible things existed on the other side of that bubble, they'd make sure they paid dearly for each life they may have taken.

Noting the light rain fall through the woods canopy, he glanced at the watch in his hand. They marched in twelve minutes. Snapping shut the watches case, he stared at the pulsating field that was the bubble. Something about it both calmed and scared him, in a way he could not fathom. Wiping a drop of rain from his brow, he pulled his field cap lower down over his face, the wide brim protecting against the more errant drops.

The clock was ticking, and what it counted down to, he could not guess.

o.O.o

Sweet Apple Acres
8:11 P.M.

Luna was startled for a few minutes that the creatures before her could speak Equestrian. However, perhaps they came from a world where it was a common language. The tallest one, with a curled mustache filled with some sort of waxy substance, seemed nervous and somewhat stressed out, seemed to be the leader. The strange thing was that they all seemed garbed in a similar blue tunic, with brown pants, and off-white leggings. She then noticed their feet were also clothed in some sort of brownish covering. Finally, after several minutes of awkward silence, while trying to think of the best possible way to begin interspecies diplomatic relations, she blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“You speak passable Equestrian,” hoping it was a compliment.

“Equestrian? You speak pretty good English.”

She frowned at that.

“No, this is the Equestrian language. You must be mistaken.”

Their leader seemed to freeze up for a second, before his features relaxed.

“Look...your, highness, or majesty....”

“Princess Luna will do.”

He paused at that, then seemed to shake it off.

“You're in a land of talking equines, of course they have royal titles and names. Would be silly of them to go around saying “hey old friend, how are you pony number six...”

Luna arched an eyebrow at this. This certainly would need study on their species penchant for talking to themselves in a ridiculous fashion under stress. She cleared her mind of that. Best not tell them they might be required for study. She gave a small cough, which got his attention.

“Since it appears that we have introduced ourselves, perhaps the courtesy could be extended to ourselves?”

The leader seemed to pause to mull over her use of the royal, We, before he replied.

“I am Second Lt. Daniel Mays of the Ohio State Militia, formerly of the United States Occupation Force in Puerto Rico. These are my men.”

Ah, a short hand for their race. Men. Duly noted. Odd how he mentioned two locations, a Ohio, and a United States, plus this Puerto Rico as well. Another thing to enquire about later.

“Oh. Well, nice to meet you, Second Lt. Mays. Um, how are you finding Equestria so far?”

He glanced at the Apple family, eying Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom with apprehension. Clearing his throat, he answered her query.

“I'll admit to warmer receptions elsewhere. Though mainly at the time we didn't know about the fact that this orchard had such...staunch protectors of the crops. We'd have paid for the apple, but we didn't know much about this place when we through the bubble.”

Luna connected the basic meaning. One of his soldiers or militia men, as she guessed they were called, must have tried to take one of the apples from the trees, and unfortunately did not realize the protection the Apple Family afforded their trees and produce. However, it seemed of the three Apple family members in the kitchen, only one was holding a grudge, and it was more the concept that ponies, or whatever these beings were, would take an apple without asking or paying. Big Mac was simply sitting there, placid look on his face, and hay-straw gently switching from one side of his mouth to another.

“Dear me, what ever happened to your clothes?”

At this, both the “man” called Mays and Luna looked at Rarity. She was pouring over the mud covered Thomas, tsking at their muddied clothes, and out of sorts ways. Thomas for his part was trying not to giggle at the sight of the glasses which had somehow appeared on the bridge of the white unicorns nose. Fortunately, she was more preoccupied with the clothes than his hand over his mouth, body wracking silently with laughter at the sight of a equine with pair of glasses on its nose.

“And these stitches, who did them? They're positively horrid. They look they were done at one of those cheap Bittsburg stitching factories.”

A spurt of laughter came from the other privates mouths, though Rarity was too busy examining the rest of their stuff to care. This also meant that a certain pink pony was free to move about unhindered.

Luna turned to find Mays backed in a corner with the frizzy maned Pinkie excitedly questioning him about parties, what men liked to eat and drink, if they played pin the tale on the pony or what songs they liked to sing. A look of abject confusion and to some degree, terror as the blue-eyed gaze of Pinkie Pie filled his vision made Luna chortle. She stopped when he shot a look at her, which was quite good she had to admit. Slowly trying to inch his way up the wall, his eyes seemed to go wide as Pinkies gaze kept level with his, even though he was standing up at full height. Hurriedly he grabbed one of his men, who seemed to yell angrily in an unfamiliar language to Luna's ears, and was shoved unceremoniously into the legs of Pinkie. The man took off for a far corner of the room with a pink blur following behind, desperately seeking to get away from the exuberant and questioning pony, shouting in that strange language. The Lt. turned back to Princess Luna, an arched eyebrow questioning about the energetic pony terrorizing his men.

“Sorry...is that particular young lady always like that?”

“I've not met her enough to know fully...but from what my sister says, she is full of laughter and energy most of the time.”

“Oh sweet Jesus...”

She cocked her head at that. Some sort of stress word, like how many ponies used In Celestia's Name, as a stress relieving word. Curiouser and Curiouser. Luna considered what exactly else to ask. Contact with not only another world but, an entirely new race of creatures was something she was unfamiliar with. Dear, what would her sister do? She pondered this for a bit, as Mays drank his tea in silence, slowly looking at the assembled ponies and men. She was startled by his polite cough as he set his cup down.

“I have your name, your highness, but I'm afraid that I do not know the others assembled here.”

He indicated the Apples and the two of elements of harmony who had accompanied the Princess in.

“Oh..”

She bit her lip. How to explain things.

“The young unicorn examining your soldiers uniform is Miss Rarity, a local fashion designer and one of the elements of harmony.”

At this Rarity nodded her head, and clasped a hoof to her chest as if accepting applause, before continuing her appraisal of the sewing, tut-tutting and tsk-tsking at every flaw she found. Meanwhile, Nowak was still trying to keep the energetic Pinkie Pie from grasping his face and stuffing another baked good in it, cursing in Polish all the while.

“The other one is Pinkie Pie, another element of harmony. She's also one of Ponyville's party planners and baked goods enthusiast.”

“Thats why she's trying to choke to death one of my men?”

Gasping for breath, Nowak spat out the rest of a cupcake, cursing a storm in the tongue he'd brought over with his sisters and brothers from the old country seven years ago. However, Pinkie didn't notice, having turned her attention to the rest of the men she hadn't met yet. They were all looking nervously at one another, seeing who could be the sacrificial ram. It was almost like a vaudeville routine with each shoving the other in front and waving their hands frantically as the implacable pink pony moved towards them.

Luna turned to face Mays, giving for an equine what may have been a shrug of the shoulders.

"We did say she liked meeting new..friends?"

Mays turned to look at the chaos among the remaining three soldiers Pinkie was causing. Currently, Nowak was outside, doubled over and emptying his stomach from the sudden influx of sugar, while Thomas, Spencer, and McDonald were still wildly trying to run, while the supplications of pink pony behind them to try just one more cupcake and perhaps also play a game of pin the tail on the pony fell on terrified ears. The small pony that had kicked Spencer earlier in the shin was rolling on the floor, tears of laughter spreading down her face. Mays turned back to face Luna as the scene grew more chaotic.

“You don't say.”

o.O.o

Canterlot Castle
Royal Throne Room
8:14 P.M.

Celestia had felt the change in the ground of Equestria as well as her sister. Though they may not have looked it, the alicorn sisters had elements of all three types of pony co-mingling together in harmony. The magic of the unicorns, the flight and majesty of the pegasi, and the connection to the ground and land that only Earth ponies had. What had stepped onto Equestrian soil was foreign, new, and unusual. However, she was busy giving orders to all town leaders across Equestria to report anything unusual happening near their villages, towns, cities and hamlets. She couldn't let any of her subjects get hurt because of what the last prank of Discord had created. Whatever he had done to not only her most faithful student, but her country and her people, would not end with lives lost this day.

Already, messenger ponies were arriving in and out of the courtroom, carrying with them notices about the incident in its barest details, and stating to keep their community safe. Any local constabulary and royal guards stationed in the towns and cities were to assist in searching for any unfamiliar phenomenon. The Canterlot Castle guard, the largest force in Equestria numbering at over two-hundred guard ponies just for the enormous castle, had been mobilized to help search the nearby towns and countryside. A state of emergency had been declared, for Discord was considered a top level threat to all of ponydom.

She sat back on her dais, and went silent. Closing her eyes, her mind went out in search of her sister. It was not mind reading or mental telepathy, but something on a deeper level than that. Emotion empathy reading was a powerful thing, and as of now, only the royal sisters could do it. She finally found her, outside of Ponyville, at a familiar orchard. So, whatever had come through had come through at the Apple homestead. That much was something new. However, her younger sisters emotions varied from second to second, though the most common was one of curiosity, confusion, and currently, a rising well of anger. Apparently she was getting ready to let loose her temper again....

o.O.o

Sweet Apple Acres
8:17 A.M.

“We are not shouting, We are raising our voice.”

“You are, you are shouting. For you, shouting isn't just raising your voice, its damned well making it sound like Niagara Falls in a thunderstorm!”

Currently tensions between Equestrians and what Luna now knew as “humans or man” had reached an all time high. Mays and Luna were trying to dominate the conversation by what Equestrians called saddle shaking and what humans called saber rattling.

“We do not know of this “Niagara Falls” that you speak of.”

“Of course not, you've never to been to Canada or upstate New York.”
“We know that, neither have you been to Canterlot Falls, which are much more sonically resonate than our voice.”

This had all seemed to go so well earlier, thought Luna. They'd been making some inroads while Pinkie had conquered the remaining soldiers into playing a game of cards, though when they learned it was not going to be poker or blackjack, they had given an audible groan. However, on that front things had gotten quieter, and the men were slowly realizing that an animal with no real ability to pick up cards naturally, was now cleaning them out of the various matchsticks and penny candies they had secreted on themselves. Meanwhile, Luna and May's had managed to get into an air of informal discussion, talking basically about a few things, such as population and government. She had been both surprised, intrigued, and somewhat disturbed when he had told there was at last estimate over a billion humans back on Earth. Luna thought that Equestria could possibly hold less than three million perhaps, with its various settlements fluctuating and skewing the census results.

Then Rarity had enquired into what exactly was the material of the boots they were wearing. At that, Mays had seemed suddenly mindful of what and who he was talking to and had been rather recalcitrant on the issue. A mumbled word or two about leather, and the somewhat talkative officer had clammed up. Whatever the problem about the boots was, it had gotten worse when Luna had announced that they would have to be taken into royal custody as a precaution for the time. With that, things had gone downhill, with both sides stating that since they had no formal national recognition of the other they both did and did not have rights to do so.

Then the insults had started, and rather unkind things had been said about monarchies, dualarchies, republics, and democracies. In point of fact, both sides had been using it more to let out the stress they were both under, but things that had been said had hurt, which only caused more shouting and glaring. Finally, after about five minutes of heavy breathing, Mays and Luna turned to look at the stunned group to one side. Pinkie and the soldiers were frozen in mid-game, stunned looks on their faces directed at the two at the center of the argument. Rarity was nowhere to be seen, though the sound of stomachs being emptied no longer emanated from behind the house, so it was presumed she was helping tend to that fellows discomfort. Finally, the normally laid-back Big Mac, was covering his little sisters ears, his own perked up at some of the language that had been used.

Mays looked across the table and offered a hand in a conciliatory gesture.

“I'm sorry, your highness...I believe the stress and newness of this place got the better of me.”

“We...er, I apologize as well. I should have taken into account that you would also have family and friends who you cared for on the other side. My desire to ensure the safety of the citizens of Equestria from harm was probably overriding any logical line of thought in regards to visitors.”

He waved his hand.

“I understand. But this does present a problem nonetheless. As of right now, neither the United States of America nor the...what was the full name again?”

“Dualarchy of Equestria.”

“Dualarchy of Equestria have recognized each other as a legitimate authority as nations nor their citizens as being citizens of another nation. Which is a big doozy of a problem.”
He rubbed his mustache. Then a horrible thought dawned on him.

“And I think things might just get worse in a few seconds...”

o.O.o

Outside the Ohio Bubble
8:21 P.M.

Sgt. Freiheart blew his whistle. The double line of militiamen snapped to what could be called attention by a very lax and somewhat blind captain, and began to march forward into the bubble, rifles at the ready. The rescue mission had begun. As the last one to go through, he glanced at the darkening September morning. Shaking his head, he marched through...and as with others before him, into history through no fault of his own.

o.O.o

Sweet Apple Acres
8:23 P.M.

“What do you mean Equestria is about to be invaded?”

They were standing outside now, Mays having produced a pair of field glasses from a pouch on his belt. He trained them on the bubble. And from it he saw the middle of a column of familiar uniforms marching through, the advance guard spreading through the orchard, scouting ahead for anything unusual or threatening. Thankfully, the dimming sun and lights from the advancing men allowed them to be pinpointed a lot easier than it should have been.

“Your majesty, I do believe that Sweet Apple Acres as these fine ponies call it has been invaded by the rest of the platoon under my command. I don't know how good your guards are, but I'd advise them to stand down.”

“Why?”

“Can they take a .30-40 Krag round to the skull in that armor of theirs?”

The look of confusion and puzzlement on her face indicated that she had no concept of firearms or firearm specifications, such as round type. Not surprising, he doubted ponies could wield human designed firearms without extreme difficulty or would have the need to develop them. War might even be something anathema to them on a personal level, seeing as how they all seemed rather content. He cleared that thought from his mind and gave a quick explanation to the befuddled looking princess.

“Let us just say that our weapons shoot pieces of metal very, very fast into something or someone...”

Luna was only slightly enlightened on the subject of exactly what sort of weapons humans used. She did realize that those odd stick arrangements they had encountered earlier near the bubble must be the devices he spoke of that shot metal out of it. A new and terrible weapon that ponies had never met before. It also took her a second to realize he was speaking to her again.

“They'll be at the treeline in a minute, and I'd rather they not spot you and accidentally shoot you. Thats one diplomatic incident that no matter of paperwork could cover.”

“As a representative of the government of Equestria, it is my duty...”

“...not to get shot by some militia men from Columbus Ohio. You'll meet them in due time, but I wish to ensure they don't take a pot-shot at your rather imposing presence your majesty. So if you could head inside and send out Mr. Macintosh if its possible. He's a bit more normal looking...for a equine at least.”

Nodding, Luna realized that he was right. Pretty much everything about her could spook someone who saw didn't know any better. As she headed in, she saw Mays light a strange stick in his mouth and expel smoke, which was a bit a acrid to her nose. Heading in, she spoke quickly to Big Macintosh, who merely shifted the hay-stalk in his mouth, and walked out. Now, only time would tell if the invasion would end peacefully...or in flames.

o.O.o

Ponyville Hospital and Medical Care
8:34 P.M.

Applejack looked over the sleeping form of Twilight, resting in one of the hospitals many beds in the urgent care ward, then at the clock, showing it was after midnight. Fluttershy had stepped out for a drink of water and a breath of fresh air, and Rainbow Dash was lying on the floor, also trying to get some rest, her wings twitching and mouth moving as if in a response to some dream. Pinkie and Rarity had yet to return, though she knew that as the day grew later, it might have been hard to get around Ponyville with shops opening and more ponies on the streets. While Ponyville was no Manehattan, it could have its own traffic problems from the small size of streets and the fact it was a stop on the Equestrian railway, so there were more goods coming in and being delivered from across the country. Many were talking of the changes that might be coming from the big cities some day, such as large department stores and magical animated lights, that advertised wares day in and day out.

Putting her hooves on the bed, she watched as the light breathing of Twilight raised and lowered the bedsheets, her mouth slightly open as her body recuperated from the terrible energies drained and shoved through a single unicorn. Even Twilight, for all her talent with magic, was still a young mare when it came to it, and the event had been draining. Only rest and nutritional foods would help. Thankfully, she wasn't going to canter off the mortal coil just yet, but it wouldn't be a pretty recovery either.

Nurse Redheart entered the room, her nurse cap sitting perfectly centered on her head. Applejack looked up, eyes misty with tears of sorrow and tiredness.

“Is there anything I can get you Applejack? You should really have something to eat and drink.”

“I suppose I could have some water and any fruit you might have. I am kinda hungry...”

Nurse Redheart gave a smile.

“I think I can get that much for you. We've got some of your families apples that were delivered yesterday that are still fresh. I'll go get some for you.”

Applejack nodded in thanks.

“Thank you kindly Nurse Redheart. I guess I'm so gosh durn tired and tuckered out, I've been thinking only of watching over Twilight.”

Giving her a smile of assurance, Nurse Redheart nodded.

“Its a good friend that cares enough to spend their time with their friend in such a situation as this.”

Her own mouth twisting into a nervous smile, Applejack looked back down at Twilight, allowing Nurse Redheart to trot on out in search of sustenance for Applejack and to check on the other patients at the hospital. It would be a long day...

o.O.o

Five Miles From the Ohio Bubble
8: 46 A.M.

Second Lt. Sanderson glanced at the map in front of him. Unlike his fellow militia officer, Second Lt. Mays, he was in a fully functional, brand new tent out of the rain. And unlike the men under May's command, they too were warm and drier than they were. They'd spotted the other platoon camping in the woods several hours ago, and he'd made sure his scouts kept a close watch on them. The little war game they were playing was mainly a rivalry exercise than any actual tactical advantage over the other. The two groups were part of the few remaining militia units that had not been split up or demobbed after the last war. That, and the natural rivalry between the militia men from two of the largest cities in the state was a natural progression from the normal dislike between Columbians and Clevelanders about each others respective cities.

Now his scouts were reporting that they entire enemy platoon had packed up, and hoved off into the woods, except for a single man on a fast horse who had headed off to Xenia. He'd pondered the actions of the other side. Mays was a dullard at times, or at least appeared to be so from Lionel Sandersons own personal assessment. But the woods presented a decent place of ambush. It'd force his own men to have to fight their way through trees in the midst of September and the start of fall, which was even worse.

Sergeant Patrick McLehey glanced up from the map as well. He didn't have the same low opinion of Mays as Sanderson did, but only because he'd met him and didn't seem quite as much of a ...ass, as Sanderson was. Plus, he'd met his opposite number Freiheart before at a dinner of the Society of Cinncinatius in Dayton a few months back, and he'd seemed a decent sort. That, and Mays had been at least fairly cordial about the whole little war-gaming session, making it more into a contest of wits than a grudge match as some of the men wanted it to be, commanding officers included.

“Sir, we wouldn't have much chance in the woods if they're smart enough to dig in. One of the things I remember from San Juan and Kettle was that the Spanish had the high ground and were dug in. It was only because they had poor leaders and slightly worse equipment that the battles for the hills allowed us to capture Santiago de Cuba went as well as they did.”

He mentally waited for his CO to make up his mind on the matter. Really, the best thing to do was wait until the wargames were over and everyone went home for the next few months. Militia weren't used to following complex orders. It was mainly “see that hill, charge up it and capture the top”. Not some overly complicated maneuver created by an armchair general trying to command what basically amounted to clerks, farmers, and other men who needed to supplement their meager pay with the small stipend paid by the state government to the militia into grand battles. Their proud history ended with the Civil War, and became just mundane. Not bad, not great, just good.

“Yes, I suppose you are right sergeant. We'll wait them out for a bit. They're going to enjoy being eaten by all those disgusting insects. But to be on the safe side, we should send in a few scouts just to make sure they're not doubling out and around us.”

Sergeant McClerey nodded and saluted. Turning around he stifled a laugh. Double back and around? In this rain? You'd have to want your men grousing and getting drunk to shove them through the crap that was pouring down at an even steadier pace now. And sending in scouts at least let the other side now that they had been spotted.

What he didn't expect was that in an hour, his men would tell about new developments in enemy deployments.

o.O.o

Sweet Apple Acres
8:49 P.M.

Sgt. Freiheart didn't expect his commanding officer to be currently sitting on a water trough next to a big, cinnamon red draft horse, and smoking a cigarette, the red flare of which was what stopped him from yelling at the figure sitting in the darkness in front of them. He also didn't expect the horse to seem annoyed by the hand on its nose and the smell of the cigarette, lip curling in a manner like some of those prudes back in the German Village who thought public smoking was inappropriate. The horse seemed to shift in an agitated manner, head jerking somewhat as if trying to get away from the smell. The rest of the platoon caught up, though a few hung back near the tree-line.

“Sergeant, good to see you're punctual as usual.”

The rather matter of fact tone of Mays was slightly unnerving. Freiheart found the man to be a lot more nervy and jumpy at times than most men, but not usually this calm. Maybe it was the rather fine blend of a warm fall day, and the scent of apples on the trees that was making him feel calm. Certainly, it was affecting the others to a degree. Deciding the situation warranted his acting naturally in front of the men, he snapped off a quick salute, which was returned by the lieutenant.

“Sir, I wish to report we have the entire platoon currently at the ready and accounted for, excepting yourselves and the men that came with you.”

Mays looked up at the sky for a second, and hitched his hands into his uniform pockets.

“At ease men.”

Following orders, though somewhat confused, the platoon stood down, rifle butts smacking into the warm soil, and backs loosing some of their slack.

“You haven't met Big Macintosh here by the way have you? He don't say much, do you Big Macintosh?”

“Eeyup.”

It took several seconds for the men in the platoon to figure out that the horse had spoken. To be blunt, that a horse had spoken. Some of them shifted nervously, and many were still unnerved by the unnatural calm of their CO.

“Now then, Big Macintosh has some farm chores to do, don't you big guy. Odd at this time of night yes, but still, beggars can't be choosers.”

At this, the horse rolled its eyes, shifted the hay-stalk in its mouth, and once again uttered an “eeyup.” Then, turning around and swishing its cropped tail, wandered off to the water pump, where it began to pump water, carefully measuring out the amount needed with each working of the handle.

“Is that horse...”

“Pony, he's a pony...”

“Err...pony, pumping water?”

“Yes, and I'm sure you'll see some even stranger things in the next few minutes that are tame compared to that.”

Stubbing out the cigarette, and being mindful of the litter, Mays scooped it up and dumped it a nearby waste barrel. The look of what could be called thanks briefly flittered across the cinnamon stallions face for second, before he picked up the bucket of water and took to a nearby plow, which he began to wash and clean.

“There's another one for example. A pony cleaning a plow, not something you see back in Xenia or Toledo.”

Freiheart was still trying to regain his composure at this revelation, when at a call from Mays, an even larger...pony...came out from the house. She was tall, only slightly taller than a normal sized horse, and dark-blue in coloration, like midnight blue. The strange thing was she had wings like a pegasi, but a horn like a unicorn. On her head sat a silver tiara, as did silver shoes on her hooves. As she exited the house, her wings spread out for a second, and were certainly very large, and very strong.

“Men of the 12th Platoon, C Regiment of the Ohio State Militia, I, as your commanding officer, present for your introduction, Princess Luna of the Dualarchy of Equestria. You may hold you applause at this time.”

Nervously folding her wings back up, the Princess managed to shove a reply out of her mouth, nervous at speaking to so many at once.

“Err, hello, and welcome to Equestria gentlemen?”

o.O.o

Ponyville Hospital and Medical Care Center
8:54 P.M.

Twilight blearily opened her eyes and saw a tiled ceiling. Slowly twisting her head she saw Applejack quietly snoring nearby, her head lying on the head. The silent honk-shoo that came from the farm ponies mouth was somewhat calming to Twilight. Slowly sitting up, she saw Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash lying on the floor, Rainbows legs twitching and muttering in her sleep. Twilight tried to move her right front leg, and found a clear tube leading to a liquid nutrient bag, which was slowly dripping its contents down the tube. Sighing, she laid back on the bed. Strangely, she didn't remember much what happened, besides that she'd been locked into a deep trance, and then a sudden burst of energy had flowed in, then out of her, creating...something. Outside she noticed was totally dark, though the electrical lights of the hospital outside and inside ensured that darkness would not be a problem.

Her eyes blinked at the ceiling tiles, trying to count them, as she couldn't think of much else to do. It must have been some slight vibration she made in the bed, but she heard Applejack slowly yawning and smacking her mouth, clearing out the taste one usually gets after sleeping.

“Twilight, you awake?”

At that, both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash began to come around, the genteel yawn of Fluttershy overwhelmed by the louder and longer one of Rainbow Dash, who shook out her rainbow colored tail and slowly came over to the bed, a look of worry over her face.

Glancing up at her friends, Twilight sat up again.

“I guess yeah...one moment Princess Luna was reading my dreams, the next thing I remember is waking up here.”

The others crowded around her bed.

“You don't remember anything at all?”

Fluttershy looked at her with a mixture of confusion and shyness, normal for the yellow-pegasus.

“Er, no. As I said, one minute I felt her mind, the next I'm lying in a hospital bed with the three of you sleeping like logs.”

“Well, er, I don't know how to explain it, Twilight. You might want to relax a second, its a pretty complicated story....”

o.O.o

Sweet Apple Acres
9:04 A.M.

The platoon had been allowed by the Apples to set up camp in the main yard of Sweet Apple Acres, and were still trying to get used to the fact about the situation. Currently most were trying not to get the little filly, whose name they had learned was Apple Bloom, from trying to use them as martial arts practice targets. Currently, Sgt. Freiheart was bawling out the men and getting them back into a semblance of order. When Luna and the Apples had found out that most them hadn't eaten for over twelve hours, they'd managed to strike a temporary deal with the newcomers that Luna would pay for any and all goods consumed from her personal monetary fund, if the men promised to work some of that off in the future. The agreement was struck and currently some of the mens bags bulged with several round, apple shaped objects. Though it was hard to tell in the nights darkness, it seemed to get lighter as the large, round moon hung overhead, lighting up the farmyard bright enough for all to see more than six feet in front of their faces.

Mays glanced at the princess. She was different, none to say the least, from what he expected of royalty. For most of his life the longest living ruler of the British Empire had been on the throne, until a few months ago. Now her son was on the throne, and how different things were in their styles. She, a quiet, reserved woman after the death of Prince Albert. He, a much more lively and traveling King and Emperor. But this princess...well, something about her made him see a hidden sadness, and something resembling an age beyond her physical looking years buried beneath a regal exterior.

He was watching the parade of militiamen standing at attention as their names were checked off a list, Nowak visible to some degree still bent over to a degree reading the names. The rest were holding their rifles at attention, and desperately trying not to draw the attention of the sergeant, who seemed to be compensating for the sudden revelation that not only did intelligent life exist on other planets, but that it was in fact relations to creatures not too much unlike ones back home. Indeed, his bluster was wearing down quicker than usual, shown by his slipping back into English, rather than the thick German he normally used when overly angry.

“Does your second always speak in that strange tongue?”

Princess Luna was looking at him, her eyes merely curious about things. After the fallout from earlier, the two had managed to come to some sense of discussion. Somehow, Mays knew he should head back through to report to HQ, but somehow, felt that it was best to discuss things for now. Besides, leaving Freiheart and the other men alone with Pinkie Pie might cause an inter-planetary incident, namely “Pink Pony Accidentally Slaughters Thirty-Five Men Through Over-Feeding of Baked Goods”. That would be one for the newspapers back home.

“He does when he's angry. Says its how the reserve regiment sergeants back in the old country would discipline the men who'd forgotten to stuff their shirts into their trousers.”

He leaned back against a cart of hay, his face going curiously calm.

“Course, like Nowak, its just a excuse to curse without others catching on how much they can cuss. Especially since only about thirteen other men in the platoon understand German or Polish. But given they live in a place where a man who knows English is likelier to get a job then one who isn't, they hide it most of the time.”

She seemed puzzled at this. How to explain the different cultures, languages, and anti-immigrant feeling among a good portion of the population and workforce at times. Perhaps another time when he didn't have more immediate concerns.

“I'll explain later. Right now, thats a lesson in money and society I don't have time for.”

He stuck a cigarette in his mouth, but out of decorum and politeness towards his host, he merely kept it in there. Sometimes he wondered if it was good for him, but then he remembered huddling in a Cuban swamp before advancing towards Santiago de Cuba, with nothing but a cigarette and hurriedly made coffee to keep himself awake.

“Ah.”

She fell silent for a second. Now, the men were milling about, since the sergeant, having found only a few of them to be lacking in the proper graces of being proper soldiers, and having assigned such men to assist the Apples as best as possible, the rest were trying to create an impromptu game of baseball. Already, some were arguing about rotations, field size, and bats and balls. Luckily, since some of the men were part of their towns or cities amateur teams, a few had the balls, but not many had bats. Then, one found some discarded, slightly rotten wood planks, and after finding gloves to wear while holding them, had started a game. Of course in the growing dark, the balls often as not thudded into mens legs, shoulders, and other areas, which of course led to yelling and pained groans of dismay. Thankfully it was light enough that the underhand ball tosses allowed most of the rolling balls to be found again.

“Tell me, what is this..game, they are playing?”

“The national pastime, Baseball.”

“Base...ball? How does one play, this, baseball?”

“Not the way they are...”

Already, arguments had again broken out, with the pitching team arguing that batting team had cut past bases, and the other side stating that the other team kept moving their men from the previously delineated base areas, and thus were following up where the runners went. A few sitting on the sidelines jeered for them to get on with it. Indeed, it was only when the small, greenish face of Granny Smith poked her head out of a window and yelled about youngin's and their yelling that things quieted down. Many of the men feared one thing worse than their German sergeant, and that was their grandmothers. Toning it down verbally, but using facial and hand gestures that would get one thrown out of the Savoy, they continued to play their primitive game, with more groaned calls of pain and several more tamer insults.

“The goal is to score a full run around the bases, or have loaded bases, and a hit that allows all those on the bases to run them, without scoring three misses?”

“That is just the start, princess, but from just observing them and trying to make out the movements, not too shabby.”

She gave a bit of nod.

“But what is that symbol of the middle...finger, you call it, with the nail side pointing towards another player.”

Going silent for a second Mays struggled to find an answer.

“Think of it as...a, a, crude meaning for what happens when a male and female pony make a baby pony, and the step that occurs to make it.”

“Oh, you mean...”

Her face blushed deeply before she could finish. Relieved on not having to explain how deeply the two (or in some cases, one fingered salute was exactly insulting), Mays turned back to the game.

“What do you do for fun, Princess?”

“I go to the opera, listen to recitations, attend...parties.”

He noticed that she didn't seem all excited about that sort of thing.

“Is that fun, or royal duty that you're talking about?”

Her eyes shifted away, lip bitten for a second in nervous thought. Hanging her head, she nodded.

“So, what do you want to do for fun?”

She perked up at that.

“Perhaps, I could try a hand at this baseball of yours? I may be a princess, but I've had fun before. This does not seem as challenging as the spider-throw.”

Deciding it might be a good way to show she wasn't an all powerful princess with the power of imprisonment or war to be feared by the men, Mays nodded, confused though about spider throwing. Who picked up and threw spiders?

“Perhaps you'd like to take a pinch at being the pitcher?”

She nodded, and gave a smile. Perhaps things can work out between us after all, thought Mays.

o.O.o

Ponyville Hospital and Medical Care Center
9:17 P.M.

Twilight had managed to sit up for more than two minutes by this point, but the doctors said she'd have to stay until the morning, if only to make sure she didn't have a relapse or something. Thankfully, they did have a small library for long term patients to choose from, though the word small was accurate to a large degree. To her regret, they did not have any of her personal favorite fiction books, those of Daring Do, but they did have some of those science-romances as written by Herne, the renowned author of such stories. Speaking of stories, the one her friends had quickly told her seemed...impossible. But here she was, in a hospital, so something had happened that had led to her being here. But the whole concept of being puppeted by a intelligence after-image of Discord was too frightening to think about now.

Opening the book, she glanced at Applejack, who had fallen asleep again on a mat on the floor. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was grinning and twisting and turning in her sleep, making noises like flying. Apparently, she was dreaming of winning yet another race and becoming a Wonderbolt, because the few words that came out were self-congratulatory and also contained numerous references to blue-suits with lightning bolts, which sounded familiar to Twilight. Fluttershy was curled up in a ball underneath a hanging shelf, mainly because it was out of the way, but also because she could put a wall to her back. The canary yellow pegasus was gently snoring, if it could be called that, the gentle whisper of breath almost like the most delicate fine plateware in breathing form.

Twilight looked around. It was good to have friends like these, those who you could count on and love as friends, even in dire times. With a dozy sigh, she put the book down, and fell asleep once again. What portents the morning would bring, she did not know. But she had a sense, as the last glimmer of light peeked under her eyelids, that it would be exciting and new.

o.O.o

Sweet Apple Acres
9:30 P.M.

“THOU HAST BEFOULED THE BASELINE!”

Pinching his brow, Mays noticed how the men were arguing straight up with the Princess, in the blazing light of the campfires. Again. For the past ten minutes, the two sides had been locked in argument, one side coming to her side and arguing that indeed, the other team had befouled the baseline. Meanwhile the other side insinuated that yes, a princess she may be, but baselines were not something she was accustomed to, and therefore she was in the wrong. It didn't help that it had taken her five minutes to loosen the speed of the ball, as so far they'd gone from eight to three relatively quickly, the other hurtling over the horizon towards the nearby town that the princess said they had come from. After that, all the batters had started inching as far away from the catcher as much as possible, who was already hiding behind a upturned water-trough for safety from the princesses insanely fast-fastball.

“THY...I mean, you have clearly no idea of mathematical learning. Clearly one can see that the base-line is off by eight inches then before.”

The others surrounding her all took an appraising look at the line, and noticed indeed it had been scuffed anew. New shouting began, and this time more were on her side. With a look of smugness that made Mays almost fall on the ground laughing, she trotted over.

“Indeed, the game of base-ball is most fun. However, does it always devolve into such argumentation?”

Mays nodded.

“Though only when you let amateurs play. Professionals have to worry too much about being paid their smallish salaries to get too involved in arguing that much. Though they sometimes take it to an art form with their lingo, so to speak.”

She closed for a second, a smile escaping from her veneer of regality after foray into this new medium of fun, lost in a moment of personal accomplishment and bliss. Then her eyes opened wide as she noticed the final setting sun, oddly late for the season to be setting so late, even for a world such as this. A worried look came over her face, and she paced for a second.

“Tia!”

“Who?”

“My sister, Celestia, I've forgotten to send word of all this. Oh dear...”

She seemed to be getting herself into an anxious state.

“Can't you send one of your guards to her with a message?”

She paced nervously, snout snorting every now and then in anxiety.

“No, not even the fastest flier in Equestria could reach her before I have to take the reins of the night.”

“Reins of the night?”

Seemingly blocking out the question, she pondered what course of action to take, still deep in thought. Then she turned, her face suddenly close up in Mays own face. He backed off as she quickly blurted out what idea had come to her mind.

“Of course, Twilight Sparkle's assistant Spike, he can send a letter to Celestia about this. Why did we not think of it earlier?”

Cantering off to her guards, she gave quick orders to find and bring back Spike. As two of them flew off back to Ponyville, to the two most likely locations where the dragon could be, a sense of relief seemed to wash over the princess of the night. She un-regally sat her tail end on the ground and stared at the setting sun.

“It has been quite the day, has it not, Lt. Mays?”

“Indeed, princess. Though my actions will probably have most of the diplomatic corps of the United States in a twitter...”

His voice became posh and dignified, a parody of some East Coast dandy put into the state department.

“...You let a foreign head of state play baseball with your men, and didn't provide them with a red carpet or carriage? What were you thinking?”

Giggling somewhat, she too attempted it as well, her voice sinking into the upper-crust accent of a Canterlotian Diplomatic Officer.

“Princess, how could you degrade yourself by having fun with common folk such as soldiers. Royalty must have standards, as a means of giving the people a symbol of never-ending awe and fear. Please do not suppose yourself to be having the “fun” that is undignified for a magnificent member of Equestrian government as yourself.”

They both laughed at that one as well.

“Of course, they're right in some ways. I've probably broken every rule in the book when it comes to greeting heads of state. Course, I don't think there was anything ever written that mentioned pony heads of state. I suppose they'll have to write a whole new book.”

“Hmmm...yes, and I suppose that we shall have to rewrite our own books...should Tia be open to dialogs between your world and ours. That is a problem we shall come to when we pass over its waters.”

She seemed thoughtful now.

“Still, I must send the letter saying I cannot return tonight. It will help allay worry or fear. And then I must control the night a bit more closely than I have been for the past seven mintues.”

“Eh?”

She gave a smile. Perhaps it was time she told him what she really could do....

o.O.o

Canterlot Castle
9:45 P.M.

Princess Celestia had retired for a time to her private study, to take a breather from the state of emergency that Equestria had been put under for now. Lying down on a small sea of pillows near the window, she looked out at the falling sun in the sky, only four hours of light left. She hoped Luna could return soon and take care of her nighttime. Celestia had done it for over a thousand years, after Luna's banishment, but it was her sisters special affinity and talent that allowed the true beauty of the night to come out.

She was startled by the sudden appearance of a letter in her study. Twilight would be recovering, but doubtful she could have sent this letter so soon. Her mind racing, she finally decided it must have been sent on Luna's orders. Magicking it over, she opened it.

“Dearest Sister,
Due to recent developments, I will be delayed in the Ponyville area a while longer. However, do not fear that I am shirking in these duties that I am normally charged with. I shall raise the night and the moon as before, but not from Canterlot as usual. I am sorry if this is a disappointment, but fear not, I am in safe hooves. Iron Gait still does as he does best, and has made sure that no harm has come my way. However, I do request that you visit Sweet Apple Acres as soon as it is possible for you. The recent developments made by Discord have led to an even bigger event being thrust upon us. This requires our dual talents I fear.
Love, Luna.”

Celestia read it again, and wondered. What could have been the thing that was keeping Luna from returning? Unless she'd discovered one of the portals already.

Sitting upright, Princess Celestia mulled things over. She could stay in Canterlot a while longer, thus allowing Luna some extra time to access the situation, and giving her the responsibility she had been trying to regain since recovering from the Nightmare incident. Or she could leave now, and arrive and assist her younger sister. What to do? Thinking for a minute, she sighed. Perhaps it would be good to give Luna some space to do things her own way. To let her younger sibling feel that she could do things all the time with her bigger sister looking over shoulder all the time. Still, the message had asked for her assistance, and letting it slip too long would have the adverse of effect as well. Celestia thought, and thought, till her thinker was sore. Then, she magicked over a bottle of ink, a quill, and a few sheets of paper. Time to write her reply.

o.O.o

Road to Sweet Apple Acres
10:05 P.M.

After seeing that Twilight was in the safe hooves of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, Applejack had excused herself, mentioning that she had the rest of the Apple family to take care of, but that she'd be back first thing in the morning to check on Twilight and see if she needed anything. The road was lonely back to Sweet Apple Acres, but since the nearest strand of the Everfree forest was nearly half mile off, she didn't need to worry that much about things from the forest. They rarely ventured near the roads, and kept mainly to the dark, forbidding forest. However there were rumors of a large pack of Timber Wolves had moved in and were fighting a vicious war for territory against the normal wolves that inhabited the forest. However, deciding that speed might be a good idea, she picked up the pace. Off in the distance, she could see the fence line and the outer rows of apple trees of her families homestead. As she looked up, she saw what to her was a horrifying sight, the red and orange flickering of fire.

“Oh no...”

Now, she pushed herself into a full run, eyes glancing in terror at the sight of what could only in her mind be a fire in the fields. How long had it been going on? Where in the orchard was it? Was Apple Bloom and Granny Smith okay? She knew Big Mac could take care of himself, but her youngest and oldest relatives trapped in a blazing home filled her with fear more than the loss of the entire crop. You could rebuild a farm, but not a family.

Nearing the entrance to the farm, she leapt over the fence in a leap that had she been in a rodeo, would've won her a blue ribbon for excellence in dexterity and skill. Pushing her already tired legs onward, her body screaming that she stop before she hit a wall in terms of physical exertion, her face contorted in a mask of determination and horror, she rounded the last bend in the road that lead to the farmstead proper. However, instead of the terrifying sight of Apple Bloom and Granny Smith screaming in terror from a second floor window, only a single light could be seen from Apple Blooms room. Ignoring the light of the fires off to the side, her mind concentrating solely on her family, she charged inside, barreling up the stairs and streaking past Big Macintosh, arriving outside her younger sisters room. She peaked in the doors keyhole, as she heard voices conversing.

“Oooh, tell me nother' one.”

A male voice, one unfamiliar to her ears, laughed.

“Another one, I just told you how the Vice-President charged up San Juan hill with his Rough Riders, and how automobiles work.”

The familiar pleading voice of Apple Bloom returned.

“PLEEEAAASSSEE?”

The male voice coughed for a second, and finally broke down.

“Alright, but then you go to bed. Your brother will probably make me repaint the whole barn if I keep you up much longer. And don't point that sad, pleading face at me again, that could be considered a torture device in some countries.”

“Big Mac wouldn't do that. He'd just make you slop the pigs.”

“Oh, thats reassuring. Alright, I'll tell you about the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago, and the White City that was built there. That sound good? Course I won't tell you about Dr. H.H. Holmes, because otherwise I think your brother would smack me for giving you nightmares.”

Applejack, deciding she couldn't bear not knowing who this stranger was telling stories to her youngest kin, burst in. At first, her eyes were concentrated on Apple Blooms bed, where the young filly was snuggled under the covers, glancing at the door in surprise. Next to her on one side was Princess...Luna? What was she doing here, thought Applejack, what do I say, what do I do?

It was after that she noticed that on the other side, leaning over in mid tousle of her sisters mane, was a strange, bipedal creature, wearing clothes all over, and a sickly pale-pink coloration. Its eyes seemed to go wide as the orange farm pony burst in the door, eyes open wider than its own and heavy breathing making an impression on it quickly.

“What the...”

“Applejack!”

Her little sister shot out from beneath her covers and zipped across the room, grappling her sister around her left leg, eyes full of tears of joy.

“Ah, but..whata, hay?”

Noticing her discomfort, Apple Bloom looked at Luna and the strange creature, who was now sitting quietly, hooves...no, the structure was all wrong. More like the talons Spike and other dragons had, or the ones griffons had. Though they appeared to be less pointy, and more rounded.

“Applejack, you interrupted story time....”

Her sisters eyes went into a cross between a pout and depression, slightly upset, slightly sad. Meanwhile, the double revelation of the Princess of the Night, Ruler of the Stars, and Maid-Mare of the Moon, was not only calmly sitting in her younger sisters bedroom, but also doing so calmly with an odd creature. Already, the Princess was standing, wings folded and eyes imploring Applejack to not be too hasty with her actions. The other thing stood, and she saw how tall it was, a grin passing over its face in a nervous manner. For a second, she saw four sharp, predatory teeth, shaped like the ones she saw in her dog Winona's mouth whenever she ate or drank water. Nervously, though with a look of conviction on her face, she glanced at the Princess, then her sister, then at the...thing.

“Would somepony please tell me what's going on around here?”

Luna looked as if she were about to speak, but Apple Bloom's own impetuous and excited nature beat the princess of the night to it. Her excited run through was so confusing that Applejack put up her hooves to slow her down. Apple Bloom, taking a few seconds to realize this, continued on, before stopping. Finding the torrent of information slowed, she reiterated her question, though her eyes for a second, blazed a dark emerald green at the figure that the audacity to rub her sisters head like some six month old foal.

“I would like mah question to be answered a little slower, please.”

The princess looked over at the figure, who shrugged back at her and seemed to suggest through its pose “you're the all powerful second and equal ruler of this land, you talk to her, oh Princess of the Night.”

“Miss Applejack, we are sorry if this may have seemed to be worrying to you...”

“Worrying? Worrying? Twilight's still in hospital, and I come back to what looks like my family and livelihood going up in smoke, and you think I'm worried?”

She began to pace, as Luna and the figure shared a glance. Then it looked out the window in case a fire had broken out. Raising an eyebrow, it turned back once it realized what must have been the alarm signs of a fire to the orange pony in front of it.

“Applejack, don't be sore. Princess Luna and Mr. May's here were only telling me some stories.”

“Telling you some stories? What stories?”

“Like about how the Rough Riders went up San Juan hill, or how ponyless carriages were built and made!”

“About who and what now?”

The figure coughed for a second, before speaking in a deep, somewhat guttural version of Equestrian.

“Miss...Applejack? Your sister is a fine young filly, and she wasn't afraid when we first came here.”

“We?”

Ignoring her puzzled question for a second, he (or so she guessed...most mares didn't wear facial hair, and this one had a large mustache for sure) he continued.

“She stood up to what she perceived a threat to her farm. Course, we'd been cowed a bit by your brother Big Macintosh, who told of our...first transgression against your farm.”

“What?”

For some reason, while her brain was firing off complicated questions to her mouth, some odd filter had gotten installed, and only simple and rather dumb sounding questions came out.

“Well, when she learned that private Spencer had tried to...liberate an apple from one of your trees, she was in quite a state for awhile. I'm afraid his leg will be sore for quite some time from the three kicks she gave him over the period of the night.”

At that, Apple Bloom's face broke into one of her wider, and smuggest smiles.

“However, since we're here, and your brother has agreed that for any of your produce we eat, that we'll help pay off the bill the Princess is footing for it, by working on your farm. While most of the boys don't know too much about apple orchard proper, though I think a few might have been raised on a few, most know more basic farm work, and we noticed your barn could be in need of fixing.”

“Err...okay.”

Applejacks mind raced. What was everypony going on about? What was this strange figure, who Apple Bloom called Mr. Mays? And why did he mention others as if they were in a large bunch.

“Alright, while I'm rather vague on the particular's, who are you and all that, if you don't mind me asking too much?”

The figure composed himself, and cleared his throat.

“I'm Second Lieutenant Daniel Mays, of the Ohio State militia. As for the others, well you can meet them if you want to, but you might want to get some sleep first. The princess hasn't given me all the details, but she mentioned you were among those that were involved in whatever it was my men and I walked through to get here.”

“I suppose that could be construed as being part of it...”

Applejack shook her head.

“You keep saying that there's more of you, whatever you are's...here at Sweet Apple Acres? Where?”

“Right outside, in the large clearing out there. About fifty or so...”

“Fifty!”

With that, Applejack's tiredness and all these new revelations began to overtake her. Slowly losing the energy in her legs to keep standing, she keeled over on the floor, fast asleep, and a familiar snoring sound soon came from her lips.

“Oh dear...did we break her?”

o.O.o

Xenia, Ohio
11:43 P.M.

Private Michelson glanced at the clock hanging on the outside of the town hall in Xenia. The town was modernizing quickly. He saw a trench where some workmen were preparing to begin installing the new water and sewage system links in this part of town. The town was only a few miles from Dayton, and only an hour or so's train ride to the capital. Compared to what else there was to look at, it was positively dripping with excitement.

He saw a sign for a nearby hotel, where he'd have to stay the night till the telegraph office opened up later in the morning. Hopefully he could get there before the crowds filled it with communiques to sisters in Sacramento and brothers in Boston. And hopefully, this delay wouldn't adversely affect the others. He sure hoped to hell that if command and the governor asked for proof, he could find that bubble again. But now, it was time to rest. He entered the hotels lobby, and as the silent rain fell with an even more hushed pitter patter than before. The world outside grew silent, as if the whole world was still holding its breath over some great event.

For had he read the newspaper board outside the main desk, he would have noticed a headline, and a horrifying one at that. Indeed the news would have been apparent in the noticeable depressed atmosphere from the people around him.

“President McKinley Shot-
America's Idol Struck Down by Bullet From An Anarchists Gun While Visiting Pan-American Exhibition.”

Chapter Three: The Miles We Travel, The Places We See

Chapter Three:
The Miles We Travel, The Places We See

“Perhaps one of the only positive pieces of advice that I was ever given was that supplied by an old courtier who observed: Only two rules really count. Never miss an opportunity to relieve yourself; never miss a chance to sit down and rest your feet.”

-King Edward VII of Great Britain and Ireland

Road To Ponyville
6:55 A.M.
September 7th

A ramshackle cart, made of bits and bobs from other smashed, destroyed, and rotten wagons and carts, rolled down the hill, nudging the slow, world weary owner in front of it. The mare behind the cart shafts looked down the road, eyes bleary with days of hunger and sleep deprivation. A wisp of silver hair fell from her mane, which she tucked back into the work-mares bun it had been tied in for quite some time. Sighing, she glanced about, hoping for some sign of civilization. She'd been on the road from Detrot for about five days, having only stopped in the small hamlet of Trotters Dell where she'd had to clean dishes for the towns watering hole to get a somewhat clean bed and a meal, and that had been on her second day out. Now, three days later, she was somewhere familiar, but not entirely sure of where she was.

Her blue coat was dirty, and she felt in need of a proper bath, not waving her hooves and legs through a small waterfall that could barely be called that at all. She noticed a fence line to her left, with a large orchard of apple trees growing inside. Though sparks in her mind were telling her that apples were familiar, and possibly involved in some former fiasco from her life, she trudged along. Apple orchards and fences meant some kind of civilization, right? She continued along, looking for a gate or something. Maybe if she talked to the owners, she could do some work in return for a bath and some food. She didn't know how to do farm work, but at this point she wasn't too proud to learn.

Finally, she saw a gate. After careful maneuvering, she managed to get herself and the ramshackle cart through it in one piece. Trotting through the early morning light, the first rays of the sun just barely peeking over the horizon, she wandered down one of several dirt paths running through the seemingly never-ending forest of apple trees. Finally, she noticed a clearing ahead where the orchard seemed to stop. Slowing to a halt, she glanced at the wide open space. Nearby burnt the remains of several campfires, dying down to cinders. Shapes sat huddled in the still dark morning, or lying down on the ground, wrapped in blankets. Wearily, she stopped, and unhitched herself.

A nearby shuffling sound made her heart run cold for a second. No pony could make that kind of noise, where was the clop of hooves on the ground. To her growing horror, amplified by her weariness, a tall gaunt shape walked out of the darkness, its long arms and legs swinging in a fashion she was unfamiliar with. It stopped, noticing the new, if ugly cart. Then it spoke in a low guttural sound, like no language she had heard either.

"Gdzie do cholery, że część z kałem krów pochodzi? Wygląda jak ślepej borsuk wykonana go w wichury."
("Where the hell did that piece of cow excrement come from? It looks like a blind badger made it in a windstorm.")

She whimpered for a second, covering her eyes in fear. The sound and the movement seemed to attract its gaze in her direction. Sounds like hoof falls, only different came in her direction, the voice angrier and more guttural now.

"Kto tam? Czy to ty George? Przysięgam będę kopać, że tłuszcz szyję same w dupę, jeśli jesteś osobą, która przeciągać to na mojej pościeli."
(“Whose there? Is that you George? I swear I'll kick that fat neck of yours up your ass if you're the one who dragged this over my bedding.")

The thing leaned down, noticing the blue coated, silver-maned pony lying prostrate on the ground, quivering in terror. Suddenly, he was startled as she let out a scream of terror, and fled off into the night, heading towards the Everfree forest by cutting through the orchard. Already, several men were jolted awake by the scream, and glanced at the upset Nowak, who was carrying his rifle in one hand and holding onto his hat with another, chasing after the fleeing figure.

""Czekaj, ja nie chciałem cię przestraszyć. Wróć mały niebieski kucyka! Woods nie są bezpieczne dla takich jak ty!"
("Wait, I didn't mean to startle you. Come back little blue pony! Woods are not safe for such as you!")

Nowak groaned. Great, he'd startled some traveling pony looking for a spot to rest, and now she was fleeing for the woods outside of Sweet Apple Acres. He mentally kicked himself for speaking in Polish in such a harsh tone. Of course the pony wouldn't have understood him, not when they spoke English. Nowak himself spoke it the best out of his family, being one of three who had been sent to the city schools at the age of twenty to learn it. But he slipped into the mother tongue of his family out of habit, due to the bilingual nature that his home had. Now he was chasing a frightened creature into still dark woods.

Ahead he saw her clear the fence, just barely brushing it, before rushing on in her terror, looking back to his huge form galumphing after. In her tired state she wouldn't be able to run much faster or further, but for now the adrenaline rush had kicked in. Onward she ran, outpacing the ill-exercised soldier. Groaning even more, he leaped over the fence, hat nearly flying off, and rifle nearly tripping him painfully. Behind him, he could hear more shouts, and more cries of soldiers following them. She was crossing a roadway ahead, and a good sixty-yards away from the treeline. He put on a short burst of speed, hollering at her in English to stop.

Behind her, the blue mare heard shouting, this time in accented Equestrian. The figure behind her was gaining, and she was slowly running out of steam. Yelling, she kept running, blindly and without heed to the dangers of the forest. She made a final leap, only to slam into the side of a furry backside. Reeling, she barely noticed the sharp teeth bare inches away from her face at first. When she did, her scream was stifled by her own throat, coming out a hoarse whisper.

It was a large, wolf-like creature, and indeed, it was a wolf. Its face was bare inches from hers, mouth taut in a hungry snarl. Around her she heard more growls, and noticed she was in the midst of the pack. Slowly, she closed her eyes, hoping the end would come swiftly. As the wolfs hot breath washed over here, and her eyes screwed shut for the inevitable final end, a large crack, like an overly large firecracker sounded, and hot blood smacked her in the face. Fearing it her own, she opened her eyes, only to find the body of the wolf in front of her slowly swaying, a hole blown through its head, messy and bloody. Topping over to one side, she noticed the rest of the pack was concentrating on something other than her. Turning, she saw the figure from before pointing a long, thin object at the pack, working some mechanism on it. A second wolf jumped at him, but it too was put down, bleeding from the heart. Now the pack was in confusion, for rarely had they come upon predators or creatures that stood up to them, aside from Timber Wolves or the occasional manticore. This thing with its stick of flame and death was new and unnerving. Finally a third wolf tried to attack, but was put down with two quick shots into its torso, bleeding profusely. The pack, bewildered, turned and ran off into the nearby woods, barely looking back over their shoulders at the strange creature. The blue mare turned to look up at the thing that had saved her, but her over-exertion caused her to faint into a deep, black, sleep....

Nowak looked down at the pony. This was going to be fun. Slinging the rifle on its shoulder band over his shoulder, he knelt down, and carefully picked her up. These ponies were damned heavier than he thought they would be. Struggling to carry her surprising heaviness, he put one foot awkwardly in front of the other, and managed to get a slow pace going, as headed back to camp. Off in the distance he could see the other who had been following behind slouching towards him, their gaits showing that they were tuckered out already from their sudden morning run.

“Alright. I've got her picked up. Now its only...half a mile back to camp. Damn...”

Shifting his weight, he started to slowly make his way back with the unconscious blue mare limp in his arms at a better clip, her silver mane drifting in the wind and her unicorn horn poking him somewhat in the arm, eliciting a spate cursing in Polish all the way back. Never again would he chase after a pony this early in the morning.

o.O.o.

Ponyville Hospital and Medical Center
7:16 A.M.

Rainbow Dash woke up sleepily, her gaze watery from the loud, and slightly impolite yawn that she gave. Fluttershy did not stir, her own delicate breathing barely making it across the room, but Twilight turned in her hospital bed, and gave a moan. The click of a door knob turning the tumblers in a lock woke up the cyan blue pegasus more to the world than a few seconds ago. In came Nurse Redheart and Doctor Tox, his glasses perched on his nose in an almost perpetually annoyed look.

“Ah, Miss Rainbow Dash, I see you're up. Good. Miss Sparkle is going to be run through some final tests, to make sure everything is fit and above board with her health. If things come in positive, she can go home with you in a couple of hours.”

“Okay doc...”

“Alright, good to know you understand. Now, some of these tests are ones that are a bit personal, so if you and Miss Fluttershy would be kind enough to find something else to occupy your time with during those sessions...”

“Oh...of course, heh, patient confi-, confidentally, err, privacy and all that.”

“Yes, that.”

He gave a small smile as he looked at Twilights charts.

“However, I doubt we shall find anything too wrong with her. At most Miss Sparkle will simple need a large amount of nutrient intake over the next couple of days to make up for all that she burned through last night. I'm sure as her friend you'll ensure she eats enough to make up for that.”
“Sure doc, its what friends do.”

“Of course. I'll be back in a bit to start the testing, but I wanted to come in and notify you of the information, and check on Miss Sparkle's immediate condition. All's in order on that issue, so need to worry.”

With that, he and Nurse Redheart left.

“More tests...wheee...”

Rainbow Dash noticed that Twilight was sitting up now, apparently having gotten up during the conversation. She trotted over, her rainbow tail flicking in concern.

“How you feeling Twilight?”

“Better than last night, but not as much as I wish. Ugh, there's this horrible pounding in my head like someone gave Pinkie Pie a pair of bongo drums.”

Rainbow gave a pained expression at that.

“That does sound pretty nasty.”

“I suppose it could be worse. It could be Pinkie with maraca's and a calliope.”

That was a mental and sound image that Rainbow Dash could do without. It wasn't that Pinkie was a bad pony per se...just that letting her have musical instruments tended to involve an over excessive amount of energy being put behind and into them, meaning she could be going at four in the morning whilst one was jamming a pillow on their head. And Rainbow Dash did consider Pinkie a good friend. She was also a useful interrogatory device, which they had used to try to coerce Applejack into spilling the beans over the Canterlot Rodeo about a month back. Of course, it hadn't worked out exactly as planned, but nonetheless, she was a warm pony most of the time who just took her normal look on life to some extremes.

“Speaking of Pinkie Pie, where is she?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Same place as Rarity? Last I remember, they were going to Sugarcube Corner then your library to get some things for you. Haven't seen them since last night.”

Twilight rubbed her chin with her left hoof, deep in concentration.

“Thats odd. Usually Pinkie and Rarity are pretty good about keeping track of time. Pinkie almost scarily so it seems. I wonder what happened to them?”

Rainbow Dash thought as well, before an idea came to her.

“Doctor Tox said that you were going to have some private tests later, right?”

“Yeah...”

“So, why don't Fluttershy and I go take a look around for them then? I'm sure that we'll get back before they release you from the hospital.”

Twilight thought, and nodded.

“Good idea Rainbow Dash. They can't have gotten too far away.”

o.O.o

Sweet Apple Acres
Apple Family Home
7:27 A.M.

Rarity awoke to find herself in a guest room of the Apple families, usually used when distant relations came over from far away. Gently yawning, she turned over to find the deep blue eyes of Pinkie Pie staring her straight in the face. After a few long seconds of doubly trying to catch her breath and stave off a sudden chest pain curiously close to being a heart attack, she managed to wheeze out a question.

“Pinkie, what are you doing in my bed?”

“Hiya Rarity, gee your such a sound sleeper, I've been up since six, and you won't believe all I've talked about and seen and heard, and touched, which is kinda odd sounding isn't it, and anyways there's the party to plan for....”

“Pinkie, I'm going to ask again, why are you in my bed?”

“Well see, the Princess needed somewhere to sleep once the sun came up, and I volunteered my room for her to use, so then I decided to come down to my bestest friend Rarity's room and spend some time with her for a while, and then things just got so tiring that I kinda fell asleep in your bed, but thats okay, because we are friends, aren't we Rarity?”

The big, sad eyes came out, and Rarity couldn't not help feel somewhat sorry for her friend.

“Alright Pinkie, alright, enough with the puppy dog eyes. Just please, ask a lady next time if it is okay.”

“Yay! Oh, I knew you were a good friend Rarity, and thats why I like spending so much time with you because you're so under...”

At this point, to stop the tidal wave of information gushing forth, Rarity plugged Pinkies mouth with a hoof, which only made her mumble incomprehensibly behind it.

“Pinkie, when I take the hoof away, I want you to answer in a complete, coherent, and normal paced speed, the answer to the following question. Have you seen Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy at all?”

Taking the hoof away, she waited. The pink pony seemed deep in concentration, rubbing both her head and chin in a thoughtful manner, before taking a deep breath.

“No.”

“Okay, well at least you were concise on that.”

Rarity mulled over that. For Pinkie, such a short answer was unusual. Just as she was about to ask another question, three small voices and giggles sounded outside her door.

“Oh no...”

She quietly walked over, and opened it, sending three fillies to the floor. Before her was Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and her own sister, Sweetie Belle.

“What are you three doing here, and up so early for anyway?”

“We had a Cutie Mark Crusader meeting today, and it was Apple Bloom's turn to host, since the clubhouse is in her families orchard.”

Rarity looked nervous for a second. She didn't want them to hang around these...soldiers, too much. It wasn't that she thought they were monsters, but Rarity knew how rough in language and tumble in action they could be. Though she had to admit, the leader of the group outside was certainly more of a gentlemen than a certain blond haired, thick skulled, unicorn dope she had the unfortunate history of being acquainted with.

“Sweetie Belle, I want you to promise me that you won't spend too much time near those...err, men, I think they're called, outside.”

“Awww....”

“No, listen to your big sister. I'm only doing this for your safety.”

“Fine.”

Crossing her legs, she sat on the floor, a pout on her face, while Apple Bloom and Scootaloo shared a look.

“Sweetie Belle, those, men, as they're called are fighters, they're not the sort of people its safe to associate with. And I never said you couldn't talk to them....”

Sweetie Belle's eyes looked up for a second, less sad and angry then before.

“But I want you and the others to be careful, and if they tell you to do something for your safety, I want you to listen and not ignore it. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Rarity.”

Reaching down, Rarity gave Sweetie Belle a big hug, getting a wink from Apple Bloom, and a look of pure gagging from Scootaloo, whose face was contorted like she had sucked on pure lemon juice.

“All right, you three go behave yourselves. And remember what I told you.”

The three dashed out of the room, the calls of “oh gee, lets go see if they can help us with our cutie marks!”

Pinkie, who had in the meanwhile had been bawling at the emotional hug, was now rolling on the floor.

“Pinkie Pie, what are you doing darling?”

“Oh, just waiting till you were done. Rolling is fun see, whoo, whoo, whoo....”

Sighing, Rarity decided to go downstairs and get something to drink, as she hadn't eaten in dogs years it seemed. Pinkie kept rolling on the floor, laughing and talking about planning the biggest, bestest party she could think of for the new arrivals.

Downstairs, Rarity found a tired Big Macintosh and the man called Mays sitting at the table, playing a game of what looked like chess. Currently, Big Mac was winning. Mays was holding a mug in his right hand, and was pointing one of his fingers at Big Mac with a comical scowl on his face.

“You're not the simple farm type you lead others to believe, are you?”

“Nope.”

“One of these days I'll see if I can get more than those monosyllabic answers you seem to be fond of.”

“Maybe.”

Sighing, and sipping his tea, Mays shoved a piece across the board and slapped the small counter.

“Your turn, Big Red.”

Big Macintosh merely stared at the board with the concentration he seemed to give everything in life, and an expression of passive acceptance always seemed to be plastered on his face. Mays looked at their new arrival. She saw the gleam of the white canines for a second as he gave her a grin.

“Morning, Miss Rarity. How are things with you?”

She took a second to recall something to bring up.

“Err, everything is fine. I was wondering if I could help with anything involving those clothes you're wearing. You don't look like you have much else and they...probably...are a bit, how you say...”

“Odorous?”

“Yes, that's the word. Slightly like Spikey...I mean Spike after he's helped me with my garbage can.”

She gave a nervous grin. Rarity was a bit afraid of this tall, gangly creature, though she kept mentally telling herself that calling them creatures was rude. She also expected him to take offense at the comment on his and his mens odor. He surprised her.
“I'll admit, we haven't had a good bath in about three days, been in the field that long. Probably could do with a clean and a wash to the old khaki. And I'll probably have to shove some of the men into a nearby lake to get them to wash up. I'll see if I can't get a few men to help you, help pay off the price of quartering us here it's going to take on the Apples and the princess.”

He sipped his coffee, and went nearly bug-eyed when Big Mac finally made his move, putting Mays in checkmate.

“Goll durned equine chess master! You sneaky, orange maned, green-apple marked...marked...pony!”

“Eyup.”

The finger went up again, wavering like unicorns horn in battle at the cinnamon red pony across the table.

“When you have time, and I get back from escorting Miss Rarity about, I'm going to make you wipe that smug look off your face mister.”

“Perhaps.”

Scowling, Mays drained the rest of his coffee, almost instantly regretting it when the still very hot liquid swirled down his throat.

“Gahkh... hot, hot...all right, I've got to go, but I'll see you later,”with a pointed finger once again emphasizing his words.

Nodding, Big Mac trotted off, most likely to supervise some of the chores around the farm. Mays, rubbing his tingling throat, stared after the receding figure of Big Mac, as did Rarity.

“How smart is that fellow?”

Rarity looked at the swishing tail of Big Macintosh and took a second to come up with a reply.

“Smarter than many first think, I believe.”

o.O.o

Sweet Apple Acres
Farmyard
7:40 A.M.

Private Lionel Brooks glanced up the book he was reading, being one of the few given a short break of rest, before being made to patch the fences surrounding the property. Those three were staring at him still.

“No, you can't touch the gun.”

“Please...”

“No, its not a toy. Guns are not for little children...or fillies, to play with. They're dangerous. Plus, your brother would use me as his plow-puller if I did something as insane as letting you play with a firearm.”

“Big Mac, he's not that bad.”

He put the book down, his right thumb keeping place.

“Not that bad, you say. When something resembling a Clydesdale, but with the intelligence that a human normally has, and possibly smaller temper, butts a gun in two, you don't argue whether he's nice. You argue whether you're going to have teeth in the morning if he gets upset because his young sister asked a very stupid man to let her touch, fire, and get injured by a gun. So the answer is no.”

“Hmmmph.”

He glared at her for a minute, and her glaring back. Her friends gave looks of sadness, anger, and a whole mixture of emotions that young people made. Rolling his eyes, he put the book away.

“Fine, I will teach you something. But not anything involving guns or firearms. Does that alleviate your distress and disappointment?”

They nodded. Ruffling in his bag, he got out a penny box of matches, and a pack of cards.

“Now then, whose ready to learn how to play Blackjack?”

The three of them turned to one another, their eyes wide as saucer plates, and he could sense a yell coming on.

“Cutie Mark Crusader Blackjack Players, Yay!”

“Oi vey...”

o.O.o

Near the Everfree Forest
7:46 A.M.

Sergeant Freiheart was overseeing the burial detail of the dead wolves from Nowak's morning adventure. Currently, six very grumpy, and very tired soldiers were using borrowed shovels to make deep graves, the deeper to better ensure that other wild creatures didn't dig them up and try to eat the corpses. Nothing worse than having bloated animal carcasses sitting in the sun, and not a vulture to be found. Thankfully, the men were only grumbling a little, which meant he didn't have to verbally encourage them as he usually did.

After about an hour, they had dug a fair sized hole, big enough for the three dead wolves to be dropped in and buried in.

“Alright lads, get that first big fellow in there. Nice and gentle, we don't want it exploding on you now due to buildup of gases inside them.

The men all gave him a look as if to say, thank you for the image sergeant. Ignoring it, he turned to look at Sweet Apple Acres. It was a nice orchard, orderly, and pleasant on the eyes. However, his mind wandered to the inhabitants of this world. Talking ponies were...odd. No, they were strange. Perhaps bizarre? Whatever they were, it was still a shock talking to them and acting as if they were normal...people. He'd been raised in a very Lutheran fashion, and though he had as yet to describe the beings as evil, or spawn of the devil, which he might not couch in those exact terms, it was certainly frightening in a way.

The men had by this point carefully lowered the final body into the ground. They'd now begin the process of covering them with lots, and lots of dirt, which the already tired soldiers were starting to get sick of looking at. The sergeant trusted his commanding officer to a degree. Certainly, the man had a way with words and such, but he was acting somewhat unprofessional around the men, acting more laid back and casual to some degree. Indeed, the men themselves seemed more inclined to look at the sky then do their assigned tasks, which encouraged them to be given a proper tongue lashing. Perhaps it was something in the air, for even Freiheart felt that he was loosing his touch.

Shaking his head, he watched as the men quickly shoved the dirt in over the bodies, hoping to be given some less disgusting task, like slopping the pigs or whitewashing a wall, anything that didn't involve dead bodies. Maybe he should take it slow for awhile. He hadn't had a proper holiday in years, the last time being when he'd gone to Cedar Point with his wife six years ago, and that'd only been for three days. Indeed, he felt his cares and pains somewhat slip away the longer he stayed here. As his thoughts again brought him back to reality, he saw they were pretty much done with the burial.

“Alright men, lets get back to the farm, and see what we do next.”

Sighing, the men hitched up their trousers, slung shovels over their shoulders, and lined up to head back. Nodding that they at least knew enough to get in line, he blew his whistle, and they began the march back to the farm. Nearing the entrance to the gates of the farm, he noticed the white and purple unicorn walking with Mays. Mays noticed him and returned Freihearts salute when it had been given.

“Sir, burial finished sir.”

“Good, sergeant. Now then, I want you to get the men to demob down to their...undergarments.”

He said this in a conspiratorial fashion.

“Sir.”

“Oh, don't act so teutonic and stoic. You're going to march most of these men to nearby lake, which Big Macintosh has agreed to show you to, and make the men take a bath. Partly because we all smell, and partly because its hygienic. You have your orders, carry them out.”

“Yes, sir.”

Turning, Freiheart began to yell at the men to get back to camp.

“You heard your commanding officer. Get ready to get demobbed!”

o.O.o.

Ponyville
Main Street
8:12 A.M.

Lyra was bored. Bored, bored, bored...bored. Usually she spent most of her days practicing her musical compositions, writing new ones, then playing them out on the various instruments she kept in the basement she shared with her two roommates, Bon Bon and Golden Harvest. It was also where she kept her more eclectic reading materials. Now she was out, looking for something to do to get away from the cramped basement.

“Ugh, why is life so boring.”

The mint-green unicorn trotted along, barely making eye contact with anyone. Normally, she spent her time writing, composing and reading, but for once she felt an all consuming boredom with everything, and her writers block struck like a snake, slowly causing her to lose all interest in her normal activities. Even reading the arcana she stored in a special box didn't interest her.

Some, especially those close to her, might call her obsessed about pony lore and legend. She put it that she was academically interested, which just happened to fill a large void of her normally easy life. For Lyra, the arcane and mystical were forgotten parts of pony history that needed to be appreciated. As she trotted down the street, she noticed that a lot of ponies were slowly stopping and parting. Wondering what was going on, she kept going on till she bonked her head into a pair of legs. A deep throated “oof” was the response from the injured party, and as she fell backwards onto her hinder, she noticed a tall, gaunt figure standing next to the unicorn known as Rarity, who was one of the Elements of Harmony.

The figure wobbled for a second, before righting itself. A wide brimmed hat, folded up on one side sat on its head. It reached down what could only be a...hand.

Inside Lyra's boredom popped, replaced by her innate curiosity. A real, live human. So the legends were true that such a race had existed on this planet before. She gave in to the curiosity over the fear she should have felt, and reached her hoof up, which he grabbed. Pulling her up back to her four footed stance, he tipped his hat. She noticed that like some local stallions that he had a large, bushy, wax-styled mustache growing on his upper lip, its ends curled at the points, an interesting affectation.

“Wow...”

“Err, hello, Miss...”

“Lyra, the names Lyra.”

He shook her hoof, his five fingers gripping her appendage in a firm, but not crushing hold. The human gave a smile that showed pearly white teeth, though one

“Well Miss Lyra. I didn't appear to be looking where I was going, and I knocked you down.”

She blushed.

“Actually, it was my fault. But I'm so excited to meet you. I've never met a really live human before. I thought you all were just part of Equestrian legend and ancient history.”

As she was about to continue, she noticed a look of confusion flash over his face. Lyra didn't know what to say.

“Are you alright?”

“Hmmm...yes. Humans as myths....huh.”

His face slid back into an amiable look.

“Well, Miss Lyra, it seems since I'm the first human you've met, I might as well make a good impression. Care to come with me and Miss Rarity here to her boutique for a bit? She's been kind enough to offer her services for assisting my men and I with our rather small clothing problem.”

Rarity nodded at this, and glanced at the mint-green unicorn who had briefly stopped their progress. The two unicorns knew each other informally as being different ends of society, Lyra being a daughter in a prominent Canterlot unicorn family, who had escaped to Ponyville to get away from the hustle and bustle of the capital. Which meant that the Canterlot fashion obsessed designer unicorn had asked Lyra during her first weeks living in Ponyville about the fashions, which Lyra had been at a loss to describe. Strangely, to Rarity's own bemused inner fashion critic, Lyra didn't wear dresses nearly as much as she wore more stallion oriented wear at formal occasions.

Lyra nearly attached herself to May's leg in her excitement, which his sudden panic nearly made him try to shake her off before she could cut off circulation down there.

“Are all of you ponies this clingy? Between you and the pink one...”

A shudder passed through his form, at the thought of the sight of those large blue eyes, just before a cupcake lodged itself in his throat earlier that morning. The soldiers in the platoon already were trading war stories of being assaulted by the speedy pink pony. Many claimed she could do things physically impossible, such as be somewhere before a man got there, or hide inside incredibly cramped spaces smaller than her own body. Mays thought that if she could be put into an enemies headquarters, they'd surrender within a day. Then he shuddered again. Some things were cruelty beyond compare. It wasn't that he hated her. She was nice enough, for a pony, but her exuberance and skill with baked goods (especially ensuring that people ate her baked goods) had put the fear of God in him.

“..I've been hugged more times than my mother ever did to me. Than again, mother was a strong believer in hardship makes you stronger, and enhances your faith. Ah, I remember the time my cousin Roark and I made the dumb mistake of falling into a beehive with a glue pot and burnt toast. Good times...good times.”

Snapping out of his revelry, he noticed the odd looks they were giving him.

“Heh, family memories. Anyways, what do you say?”

Lyra beamed a wide smile at him.

“I'll take that as a yes. You can close that smile. I believe your head will fall off if it gets wider.

Stepping carefully, he made a small space in the crowd for Lyra to stand on the other side of him. Meanwhile the unicorn looked up to the sky and thanked Celestia and Luna.

“Best...day...ever!”

o.O.o

Columbus, Ohio
Governor's Residence
9:49 A.M.

Governor George K. Nash glanced at the desk that sat in his office. On it sat a pile of letters, telegrams, and important files that he needed to review. Sighing, he looked out the window at yet another day of horrible weather. His assistant had organized them at least, which meant he wasn't forced to gaze through a pile of junk and trash. Sitting in the chair behind the desk, he stroked his mustache.

After about ten minutes, he's read a singular report on what the state senate was currently debating, and was currently reading messages involving political appointments that needed to be addressed. Then there was pile of telegrams he had to read. Slitting up the letter from one, noticed it was from the headquarters of the state militia.

“Wonder what cash allowance they're asking me to suggest to the Senate this month...”

He slit open the packet, and tipped out the message inside. It was marked important. Deciding it would meant he wouldn't have to read financial reports for another seven minutes, he began to read. His eyebrow raised in credulity. A mysterious orb, or bubble, appearing outside Xenia? Impossible, the soldier who reported this must have made a prank of the situation.

But he tapped his mustache with a pen. However, this report did sound too detailed to be fabricated on the cuff. If it was a hoax, a whole platoon had decided to walk off the face of the Earth, for Militia HQ reported that a second platoon in the area had lost all trace except for the soldier who had sent the report of the enemy platoon they had been wargaming with. In a way, it made a sick sense that there was a mysterious bubble men walked into and seemed to disappear off the face of the Earth.

He tapped the desk with his fingers, and thought deeply. This was a problem. He couldn't go off high-hauling to the Congress in Washington about this. Sure, as governor it was his prerogative to involve the federal government as he saw fit. And if this “bubble” really was something new, why, it was only fair that Ohioans benefit from its discovery, in a reasonable, well-thought manner. True, it could be the biggest hoax in recent state history, but if it was true...well, he believed that it bore investigating. And with the unfortunate things in New York state and Washington going on with the President's recovery, well...it made sense didn't it to have the state investigate first. However, it might be a good idea to inform Washington anyway. They were getting bees in their bonnets all the more sometimes when states ignored them and did their own things.

Taking out a pen and paper, he wrote a quick cable letter, and using his recently installed phone, called his secretary to have it delivered to the nearest telegraph office, and wired to Washington quickly. Sure, things would be weird, and they probably wouldn't believe the tale of a possibly drunken platoon, but their were too many odd ends not connecting. Firstly, why would a lone soldier concoct such a tale? Secondly, how could a whole platoon seem to vanish off the face of existence?

o.O.o

Ponyville Library
10:07 A.M.

Twilight had been finally allowed to be discharged from the hospital under the care of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash and now Twilight sat on her bed, the cool darkness of the upper part of the library washing over her. She felt better than she had at the hospital, and had managed to keep down a daisy and watercress sandwich that Spike had made (not that there was anything wrong with his cooking, but solid food staying down was easier said than done). Now, she was just sitting, staring out the window at Ponyville. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had agreed to help Spike tidy up, and she could hear them muttering downstairs.

Sighing, she turned to look out the window. She noticed that a veritable flood of ponies was heading out towards the town hall off in the distance. Curious, she leaned forward, suddenly realizing her wooziness was still there, and loosing balance, toppled off the bed, along with a pillow and some of the sheets. As she griped at herself about getting tangled in them, she heard Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Spike quickly coming to her aid.

“Twilight, you okay?”

The exasperated look she gave the wall from her position on the floor completely missed her three friends.

“Yeah, I'm just a little woozy after all those tests. How much blood did they draw again?”

“It was a single hypo Twilight, not Spike's private tub you were ranting about on the way here.”

“You told them about that? Thanks, Twilight....”

Shaking her head as Rainbow Dash shoved a paw underneath her back, Twilight was slowly lifted back to her hooves, intact, if somewhat dizzy. Rainbow trotted to the window, and put her hooves on the sill.

“What's that big crowd doing heading toward Rarity's place?”

Twilight, Spike, and Fluttershy came over to the sill as well.

“Oh my, that is a big crowd. I hope Rarity is okay.”

“I'm sure she is. But wouldn't she have come to check on Twilight? I mean, she promised to get some books last night with Pinkie at about forty after seven you said, but Luna disappeared at about the same time that Rarity would have arrived...”

Spike went silent.

“Spike?”

Spike looked nervously up at three staring at him intently.

“Look, in all the excitement, I forgot that Princess Luna disappeared last night. One minute she was here, the next she and her guards were gone. I thought she might have gone off to Canterlot or maybe to stretch her wings or something...”

Twilight pondered.

“It's only about a six minute walk from the hospital at a good pace, and Rarity and Pinkie left at about four-thirty-nine, which if they made it over here by four-forty-five or so, would have seen Princess Luna and her guards leave. Perhaps she caught them and they went with her?”

Fluttershy nodded, the logic seemingly making some odd sense to her.

“Then perhaps it's Rarity coming back?”

“Makes as much sense as anything else.”

“Maybe we should go greet her?”

Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight.

“Are you gonna be okay going out? If you can't sit up in bed without falling on the floor, I'd hate to see you walk outside.”

“Hah hah, funny Rainbow. C'mon, lets go.”

Twilight wobbled down the stairs, catching herself on the bannister, and giving a glare at the others that if they said anything, she'd make a stink about it. Making it to the door without injury or serious property destruction, they opened it to find the throng of ponies tight near the door.

“Excuse me, coming through...hey, watch that hoof. I've got a direct line to the Princesses, and I'm not afraid to use it.”

As the other ponies grouched about Twilight and her friends aggressive crowd control skills, they managed to slowly make their way to Rarity's Carousel Boutique, which was surrounded by ponies, including Mayor Mare. On spotting Twilight, she slowly trotted over.

“Twilight, you need to do something. Rarity has brought...well, I don't know what it is, but she's brought it to town, and now she, it and Lyra are inside. Half the townsfolk are getting worried about it.”

“Rarity and...Lyra?”

Mayor Mare nodded. Feeling an unfortunate feeling in her gut, Twilight merely glanced back at Spike, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash.

“Of course we'll check Mayor Mare. You can be assured that if there's a threat, we'll take care of it.”

Showing a nervous appreciative smile, Mayor Mare stepped back from the door, which Twilight opened, and followed by her friends stepped into the boutique. From the private design rooms in back they could hear the familiar humming Rarity, while in the dressing room next door, Lyra's voice was speaking at an excited pace.

“Rarity?”

The humming stopped, and the purple coif of mane peaked out from the private designing rooms.

“Twilight, is that you darling? Oh, its good to see you're okay. Look, I'm working on something at the moment, but I'm sure Lyra and Mr. Mays would love to have you and Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, and Spike have a little chat with them, hmmm?”

“Uhh, okay. You sure you're okay Rarity?”

“Never better, darling. I'm in the zone right now, but I'll be right with you in a few minutes.”

And with that, the door to her design studio went shut. Twilight glanced at the others, who gave shrugs of might as well back, though Fluttershy was the most reserved, and hung back a bit from the others. Slowly trotting to the dressing room door, they opened it to find Lyra sitting on a chair, legs dangling over the side, and talking to somepony blocked by the door. The four trotted in, as Lyra spied them, she stopped. As the four transferred their gaze from the mint-green unicorn to the pony behind the door, they realized that what was behind the door wasn't a pony. The tall gaunt figure looked like a cross between some of the greater apes found near zebra lands, and dragons, only without being covered in fur or scales, and certainly didn't have a tail.

“Hello ladies.”

o.O.o

Sweet Apple Acres
10:14 A.M.

Applejack woke up, her muscles sore, and her head pounding with a sleep-deprived headache. She found herself in her room, hat tucked neatly on a special hatstand nearby, and her mane still tied up in its ponytail. Stretching her legs, she swung out and onto the cool hardwood floor, and trotted over to the hatstand and grabbed her hat from its hook. Twirling it on her hoof, she managed to launch it into the air and onto her head with ease that showed years of practice at doing the trick.

Stepping out into the hallway, she noticed it was fairly quiet inside the house. Trotting down to Granny Smith's room, she noticed that her grandmother was asleep in bed, snoring peacefully under the covers.

“Ah, what happened last night. I can't quite remember correctly.”

Trotting downstairs, she smelled tea and toast being cooked in the kitchen. Deciding that getting some grub was the best idea, having not eaten anything much since the breakfast of the previous day, she headed on in. Peeking in, she saw sitting there at the table was Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. And another one of them tall hairless things from the night before, holding a pack of playing cards, whilst setting it down on the table.

“Look, I've taught you blackjack, I've taught you poker, heck, I've taught you find the lady. I don't know much more than that. Heck, I barely even know Whist. That's what I've got left.”

“But we still haven't gotten our cutie marks yet.”

The big pairs of eyes of all three fillies of them unleashed themselves on his already weakened conscience towards upsetting small, pastel colored animals, especially horse like creatures .

“Alright, alright. Stop with the eyes. After this, if at the end of this game none of you are branded...”

“Cutie Marked.”

“..well, whatever you call those things on your flanks, I'm done with playing cards with you three. You'll just have to drag me into something else. Because let me tell you, I'm not losing like that again.”

He waggled a finger at Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

“The two of you aren't reincarnated card sharps from the old Mississippi river boats are you? Because I've never seen anyone win quite that much before.”

Both grinned ear to ear, as they shoved their little piles of matches out, having taken most of his box in their playing of various hands of cards.

“Okay, I need coffee.”

“Coffee, we don't gots any coffee. Only tea.”

He slid a hand up his forehead, pushing back his bangs.

“You're kidding? You don't have coffee?”

“Yup. Mr. Mays finished the last batch this morning”

He shivered.

“Oh God, what sort of world have you opened to ours, where coffee is taken by officers? Is it some sort of divine judgement for last April, because I have reason for that...”

Dejectedly, he poured a cup of tea and began to drink it.

“I'm only drinking this for the caffeine jolt, or what little I'll get from it.”

Applejack decided it was best for now to go check on Big Macintosh, so she quietly walked to the front door, and heading out, noticed even more of them about. Spotting Big Mac chewing some of his hay a distance off, she broke into a trot, and soon was next to him. His forelegs were hitched over the top of a fence, and he was observing more of them marching about, fixing fences, and

“Whatcha doing Big Mac?”

“Watching.”

She saw that he was paying particular attention to the ones repainting the barn, who were arguing over spacing between one another

“Sure do make a mess of themselves.”

“Eyup.”

Applejack felt a stare at the back of her neck, and turned to see the Princess up, and looking at her.

“Uh, Princess Luna, I didn't know you was there.”

“No apologies are necessary, Applejack.”

Noticing the sudden silence following the princess addressing her, Applejack stood silently for a second, waiting to see if the dark alicorn would speak to her any more or if she was for something else.

“Applejack, you're considered the element of honesty, and one of the most dependable ponies in Ponyville...when you choose to ensure that honor before reason is put aside for the greater good.”

Tilting her head, it took the orange farm pony a moment to figure out what exactly the princess was saying. As far as she could translate, basically she was being told that her honor sometimes could impede better judgement. While somewhat riled at that, her memories pushed that back down with the memory of the infamous solo-applebucking incident two years ago.

“Walk with me, Applejack.”

Knowing that it was both a request, and a sort of royal command of sorts, Applejack slowly walked alongside Luna, who was concentrating on some space in the middle distance. Finally, after they'd left the farm proper, and were deep among the orchards, she again spoke to the confused farmer.

“I know you have not had a proper time to acclimate yourself to the new arrivals, Applejack, but I must ask, what is your honest opinion?”

Applejack kept walking, deep in thought for a second.

“As you said princess, I can't rightly say, partly because I have yet to actually talk to em'. A pony can't make judgements without good evidence of character.”

“Evidence of character, seems our sisters most faithful student has seen fit to rub off on you, Applejack.”

Blushing for a second, it took Applejack a second to reply.

“I suppose, though I might attribute it to good ol' Apple family sense. Granny Smith says that appearances can be deceiving, its what's their true nature is that you have to base things off of.”

The princess seemed to digest this.

“Yes, your words do have a traditional oral generational wisdom, which has a basis in past conflicts, but which has a strong basis in modern day social interactions.”

“Eh, what?”

“Your words have a ring of truth to them.”

“Oh. Sorry, its just that Twilight sometimes gets all wordy and fancy in her lingo.”

Luna nodded. However, her face turned back to one of contemplative concern as they continued on.

“The reason I ask, is because my sister will be returning shortly, and so far you are the only one of the Elements I have had time to talk about this with in any informal setting. Miss Rarity left to go back to town a while ago, and Miss Pinkie seems to be using her baked goods as a means of interrogation involving party planning.”

“Yeah, she gets like that. Wait, did you say Rarity went back to Ponyville? Did she go alone?”

“No, Second Lieutenant Mays went with her, though he's willing to be called mister at times. He said it had to do with helping her with making clothes for humans, and carrying back materials she might need to patch up their more...worn items.”

Applejack furrowed her brow at that.

“I hope they don't cause to much of a ruckus.”

Luna smiled.

“I hope not too. But I believe they'll be in good hands soon. I heard from one of the guards that came back that Twilight Sparkle will be soon gracing Ponyville with her presence again, after being released sometime this morning.”

“Twilight's okay?”

Luna nodded.

“I fear it was mainly exhaustion from shoving that much magic through a single individual unicorn, even one so gifted as Twilight. However, I doubt that even a depraved individual as Discord would have killed her then.”

“Why not?”

“Because it wouldn't have been funny. To see that she was used, how she may have, in some form or fashion, been used as something to bring about the end of Equestria? We know that Twilight Sparkle has...issues with responsibility and acceptance. To Discord, the more horrible thing to do would be to let her live to see how her magic, one of the most important things to her self, destroyed everything. It goes into a cruelty that I remember from the first time.”

Luna went quiet for a second, before resuming.

“However, our issue now is not what happened, but what may happen and our recourse on planning for the future. The future of Equestria and its citizens depends on acknowledging that what has happened is done. What we must do is see what lies before, lest we head to self-destruction. I ask only that you try to make a good impression on them. Perhaps, if we can win a victory here, we can win something larger in the future.”

Applejack looked at her fields. She saw how teams of them were helping prepare for the final harvest of the season, and saw how they were working hard, honestly, under the gaze of her brother.

“I suppose I'll try. Besides, Apple Bloom seems to have taken a shine to spending time near them, they can't be all that bad.”

“No. But I doubt ponies and their kind will ever have a full, peaceful accord. Our worlds are two different. And now that they are permanently joined, we must strive forward anyway.”

Luna paused, her mind thinking back.

“On a second matter, this morning, they tell of a pony who they saved from wolves following her panicked flight from the farm. While they have been keeping her in the barn for now, they state she has made mention of you before, and others of the Elements. They feel if perhaps a familiar face were to speak to her, they might be able to help her. Currently, she has yet to fully stay awake for more than a few seconds.”

“Sure thing, Princess. I always try to help the ponyfolk.”

“Good. I must meet my sister soon. However, I hope to hear how your day went, young Applejack.”

Luna unfolded her wings, and beating them with a gentle, yet powerful stroke, flew off to the part of the fields she had agreed to meet her sister in. Stretching her neck, Applejack headed back to the barn. A sick pony was a pony in need, and no matter the circumstances, an Apple always helped those in need. Outside stood two of the humans, their “guns” as she had overhead them being called earlier in their hands.

“You fellers got a sick pony in there I hear?”

“Yes ma'm. Our medical orderly Elijah tried helping her, but he's a human doc, not an equine doc. You hear to help, ma'm?”

Nodding, she waited as one opened the door at that response.

“Be careful ma'm. She's had flashes of magic from that horn of hers. Walt here spent ten minutes with a horrible morass of slimey, green hair.”

Applejack paused. That sounded familiar.

“Well, I'll try to be. You fellers can come in if I call.”

Standing at attention as she entered, Applejack had to remark to herself that at least they knew enough not to question a lady about her farm and where she could and couldn't go. Turning herself around for a second, she saw one of them leaning over a figure lying in a pile of hay.

“You the one they call Elijah?”

“Yes I am. You know anything about medical care for ponies?”

“Not as much as some of the doctors in town, but I know enough about basic care. Whose the injured one?”

He stood up, his body no longer blocking the view of the tired and emaciated party. Applejack took only a few seconds to recognize the face. The blue fur, the silver mane, both were familiar. The only part that wasn't familiar was the weak, pained expression on the formerly haughty face that had been in town over a year ago. Stepping back for a second, she leaned in.

“Trixie?”

o.O.o

Sagamore Hill, Long Island, New York
11:16 A.M.

Vice-President Roosevelt looked out at the large lawn that was part of the property of Sagamore, from the large wooden veranda in the back. Sagamore was his home away from Washington D.C., and the capital cities politics and squabbling. Here...here, he could get away from it all and enjoy some down time from what little the Vice-President did. Since the Senate usually had a President pro-tempore overseeing things half the time, and given the President's rather, cool relationship with his Vice-President acting on matter in the senate, Roosevelt had a lot of time to either visit and stump speech across the country, or relax.

Right now he was preparing for a trip to Mount Marcy, in North-Eastern New York State, where his family was already heading. His personal love of nature often meant he took the opportunity to visit and experience it first-hand as much as he could. It sometimes disappointed him when people ignored the resources that pure, unaltered nature could give, and saw nothing more than a cheap thing to be burned and built over. It disappointed, and in a way, angered him that nature could be treated like that.

He leaned on the railing, breathing in the somewhat cool autumn air slowly, and staring at the green, cool grass spreading off into the distance. It was magical in a sense, how connecting with nature could be. Sometimes he did wonder if preservation of animals included shooting them, but that thought didn't always occur. To him, conservation sometimes had to occur in some forms more than others, and while he knew that it might be a long time before anyone thought of large scale conservation seriously in government circles, the thought did come to him from time to time.

Leaning back and stretching, the bristly mustache on his face scratching his nose for a second as his mouth scrunched up in a yawn, he kept thinking of nature. Of politics, of the President's health, of things to do, and things that could be done. In all, he thought of the now and the future. What he didn't think of was exactly how his immediate future would play out beyond his trip. Certainly, one wouldn't imagine oneself as not only the first president to travel abroad while in office, but to travel to another world? Who would think of something as strange and patently ridiculous as that?

o.O.o

Canterlot Castle
Celestia's Private Chambers
11:41 A.M.

Luna had sent a message about twenty minutes ago, thanking her sister for responding so quickly to her last one. Celestia herself had been still worried about what exactly was going on at Sweet Apple Acres, and as promised, would arrive shortly. However, her sisters last letter had stated that it would be best if she didn't arrive directly at the farmstead, but at a secluded grove in one of the distant fields of the orchard, where they could talk in private. Sending one last letter with her acquiescence to the request, Celestia pondered the situation. Though Luna was still very much the behind the scenes political player she had been before...before the incident so long ago, she was still very much a youth in some ways, still at what could be called adolescence at times, prone to exuberant actions and secrecy of the youthful sort.

Smiling at happier days in recent months, where her sister had broken out of the self-imposed shell she had surrounded herself with following her being freed of the Nightmare, Celestia was still worried. That youthful naivety had been...well, partly part of the reason that she had fallen to the jealous rage and depression that had set off the events which had broken both sisters in a way so many years ago. The rather unfortunate belief that nopony had ever appreciated her nights, when she only had to look to the ponies who worked by night. Those that sought her moon in the safety of nightly travel, and others who could have told her, but were never asked. Celestia wanted to ensure that never again would the two sisters have such a thing to come between them. Indeed, Celestia had been delegating a lot more responsibility to the night court of Luna to show that she trusted her, that she was not simply Princess of the Night and Moon, Sovereign of the Stars, but that she was an equal and co-ruler of Equestria.

However, a deep part of her own mind constantly seemed to shout that this was more obvious than simply trying to communicate with her younger sister on a personal level. Indeed, the voice sometimes asked her in its unfortunately biting commentary, that the two had not had a good sister to sister talk in over three months, with the longest being over a span of two minutes and thirty-five seconds at a hurried breakfast one morning, and most of it involved hurried explanations, greetings, and goodbyes. Its further, and sometimes annoying commentary, continued on that she was again pushing her sister away, by not simply being her friend, rather than her co-ruler. Sighing, Celestia sipped at a cup of water she had forgotten she'd been holding telekinetically for the past two minutes.

A knock on her chamber door momentarily startled her, so quiet had it been.

“Your majesty? The second carriage is ready outside for you.”

Opening the door, she stared down at the guard who had knocked.

“Thank you Private Steel Shod. I shall be there presently.”

Saluting, the guard turned and headed back to where he had come from. Celestia finished the water, and magicked over the royal day vestments of state. However much she wished she could just wear normal clothes when she felt the inclination to do so, the fact remained that for many ponies, the princesses must look the part in public. And thus, Celestia and Luna tried to live up to that expectation, not only as a professional need, but perhaps, a personal one, for they both wondered how much their thousands of years of life were wrapped in being the rulers of Equestria, and not their own selves. Were they merely extensions of the crown, symbols of power and awe to those who needed something such as that to look up to? Was there actual character behind those masks of royalty, prestige, and so on? These were questions Celestia often wondered about, and sometimes made her think hard on. How much of herself was Celestia, and how much was Equestria?

Shaking her head, clearing them of those painful thoughts, she trotted out, where two guards near the door swung in step, one to each side of her, as she headed for a carriage yet again. Back to Ponyville, and to discover what it was that her sister had found from this portal of Discord's.

o.O.o
Carousel Boutique
Ponyville
12:02 P.M.

For a minute, Twilight and the three others behind her had simply stood in shock staring at the figure before them, who seemed nonchalant for whatever it was. Then they'd looked at the mint-green unicorn sitting across from it, and had seen how excited, nee, overjoyed she was being in the same room as it. Then they'd looked back at it, who was currently nervously rolling a white stick between what could only be talons or fingers, though they were not sharp like Spikes or a griffons, but rounded and somewhat thinner and longer.

“Well, this little social gathering has gotten off to a good start. I suppose I must start the introductions. My name is Daniel Mays, from Dayton, Ohio. I'm sure you fine ladies (upon noticing the rather masculine features of what could only be a small dragon hidden behind the body of the blue pony glaring at him) and gentleman know Miss Lyra.”

Lyra waved a hoof somewhat nervously.

“I'm afraid I don't know your names though. Rather rude, since I can't call you pony A, pony B, and so forth, can I?”

The four were startled still, and merely nodded. Finally, Lyra, deciding it was best to make introductions before the four in front of them forgot their own names, did it for them.

“Mr. Mays, these are some of Ponyville's more distinguished residents. The pegasus currently glaring at you is Rainbow Dash, the shy, reserved pegasus in back is Fluttershy, and the purple unicorn in front of you is Twilight Sparkle, along with her assistant Spike. Everyone in Ponyville knows them, being the Elements of Harmony and all..well, the first three anyway.”

He mused on that. The Elements of Harmony had been something Luna had glossed over, barely remarking on them other than that they had freed her from a prison of sorts, and they were considered a means of combating grave threats to the land, being the end of the line in terms of power. Which was worrying. While he wouldn't have said anything out loud, privately in his mind, he considered the implications. If two Princesses, both basically near-gods in physical form, could not overcome a great threat, but six fairly ordinary ponies to his eyes were the last hope...well, what sort of weapon could it be used as? Certainly, the power they wielded would cause many diplomats and leaders back home nervous.

Currently, he was dealing with three new ponies, one of whom had been responsi...no, Princess Luna had told him enough after the Applejack incident the night before about what had happened, that the one unicorn standing before him had been used. It was unfair to blame her, since so far nothing of any real damage had been done (other than possibly having him and his men considered deserters, but that thought was shunted carefully into a mental side yard of storage) so far. Best ensure to put the right foot forward. While Rarity and Pinkie had accepted him to a degree (the pink one more so than the elegant unicorn, who he felt had some reservations, but was trying to be polite and a good...something. Host wasn't the right word. Neighbor either. Certainly not friend.

Whatever Rarity's current relationship was, it was at least headway. But now these three were here, without Princess Luna to ease some things. Sure, he'd made what could be called a friend of sorts in Lyra, but currently she was examining the exact grain of the carpeting on the floor, trying to allow the conversation to pass over her. Finally, the purple unicorn indicated earlier as being named Twilight Sparkle broke the long silence.

“Right, well, this is getting kinda awkward. Yes, as Lyra said, I'm Twilight Sparkle, this is Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and my ward slash assistant Spike. As you've already introduced your name, Mr. Mays, I have to ask, what are you?”

Mays twisted his eyes to the ceiling for a second.

“Would you believe me if I said I came here through a glowing, weird bubble from another world?”

Twilight nodded, her friends doing so as well.
“But what are you exactly? I mean, we've never seen anything like you before. Sorry if thats a little rude.”

“Eh, we're all rude at some point in our lives, might as well not get too badly hung up on it. Of course, I'm still trying make sure that I'm not going through a Nebuchadnezzar Phase myself.”

The look on their phases reminded him slang might not be universal everywhere.

“Err, tipsy, soused, four sheets to the wind, drunken?”

“Ohhh...”

In Ponyville, alcohol was a very controlled substance, due to some past incidents involving Berry Punch and the town flagpole and sunflower garden. No one dared give any to Pinkie Pie, for fear of what would happen if her high sugar buzz and alcohol were mixed in her mental cauldron of unpredictability. Indeed, the most alcoholic beverage recently created had been when the Apple Family left a few barrels accidentally sitting in the back of their barn over the last winter. The incident with Big Macintosh earlier in the spring still had not left the minds of many who had seen the sight of the normally quiet Big Mac stumbling down the street, singing about griffons and Twilight for a good five hours, before sprawling in a gutter outside Twilight's library, and mumbling about toys, Twilight and Smarty Pants. The lyrics of the griffon song were especially memorable....

“See the little griffon
See her little talons
Look at her little beaky-weaky
Isn't the griffon sweet?
....Yes!
See her preen her tail,
See her soar up high,
Look at her spread her wingy-wingies
Isn't the griffon sweet?
...Yes!”

Indeed, for several weeks the stallion had been quieter than usual afterward, and had been in an embarrassed self imposed exile from Ponyville by staying at Sweet Apple Acres. It had taken Fluttershy's coaxing and the fact that Applejack needed him to haul the large wagon into town for an important supply run, that he'd been able to leave the farm without a panic attack of nerves. However, they didn't need to worry about the incident being repeated, because Applejack and Apple Bloom had burned the remaining stuff in secret. And Twilight herself had remained politely silent on the issue, not mentioning the display that had occurred outside her home and which had featured her name sung drunkenly in the late afternoon by the large, red stallion.

Twilight looked up at the figure called Mays. His face seemed fairly kind, though she noticed the hard lines of a soldier, from all her days in Canterlot near the Royal Guards.

“If I must be precise, I am a Homo sapien, or “wise or learned man” in Latin. Other shorter words are man or human. Does that answer your question, or do I need to go deeper into the proposed lineage of my entire species according to Darwin's followers?”

“Yeah, I think that answers enough for now on that front. But what are you doing here, in Rarity's shop?”

“She offered to help patch up and clean some of my mens clothes, and I came to town to help her carry them back.”

“Couldn't she have done that herself?”

Rarity, finally finished, walked in.

“Of course, darling, but Mr. Mays wanted to be such a gentle..man, that I felt that it was impolite to refuse his offer. Besides, he offered to give me a basic pattern for humans anyway. They're anatomy is...so, well, different, that I needed a challenge. I've been bored for weeks, since I haven't had a single original idea for dresses or suits at all.”

The drama queen was coming out, and there was no stopping it.

“What was I to do, when someone who could give me inspiration offers to help me? And I've gotten all sorts of new ideas.”

The unicorn tossed her mane to one side, her work glasses settling on her nose a bit more firmly.

“Well, fine...that makes sense. But walking into the middle of Ponyville in broad daylight, with, with, him...sorry, what were you thinking? Half the town is in a state, and the Mayor asked for us to look in on this personally.”

“Twilight, perhaps we could, maybe, ask a bit more, before judging them to harshly, I mean, we want to oh, give a good report to the Mayor, right? That is, if you want to...”

Fluttershy kicked the floor nervously, as did Lyra across the room.

“Yeah, Fluttershy's got a point Twilight. We can't jump to conclusions before we know more, isn't that part of your whole egghead creed or something, Twilight?”

Glaring at Rainbow Dash, Twilight glanced back at Mays. Unusually for Rainbow Dash, who unusually wanted to buck first, ask questions later, had come up with a fairly logical idea.

“Alright, but we've still got a crowd of nervous ponies outside, and the Mayor can't wait on our answer forever. I suppose we'll just have to introduce him.”

Twilight turned on Lyra.

“Lyra, I know someponies have made assumptions about you because of your...interest in humans...”

The mint-green unicorn seemed to go moody at the memories of that sort of thing.

“...but, I need you to talk to Mr. Mays here and get as much information down in thirty minutes as possible. If we can get Mayor Mare to calm down enough, then perhaps the rest of Ponyville will as well. Rarity, you keep doing what you offered to help Mr. Mays with. We might be in a tight spot, but I suppose a promise is a promise.”

“Alright, darling. Mr. Mays, Lyra, if you'll please step into the next room for a second, I need to take some measurements. Lyra, there's pen and paper in the oak desk out in the main room, you can ask Mr. Mays all the questions you want while I'm measuring him.”

Lyra beamed. Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

“Rainbow, I need you and Fluttershy to stall the ponies outside from storming inside or fleeing Ponyville. Make sure to keep their attention as long as possible.”

“Oh yeah, I can show them my new routine I've been trying to get down to show to the Wonderbolts.”

“Okay...uhm, do I have to do anything loud? I don't think I can do..uh, loud.”

“No, just help Rainbow Dash if she needs it.”

“Oh dear...”

However, her slightly plaintive despair was lost as Rainbow Dash shoved her out the door, wings beating furiously for a second at the weight of the older, but extremely reserved Fluttershy held her back.

“C'mon Fluttershy, lets just do as Twilight says. Besides, I wanna show them my Demolition special.”
“Oh my...”

Twilight sat down, Spike at her side. Her composure broke down, as she listened from next door a three way conversation between Lyra asking question, Mays responding, and Rarity giving minor orders while taking measurements. Twilight fell onto her back, hooves spread akimbo, and a look of tiredness washed over her.

“Oh Spike, what will I tell the princess?”

“Tell her what? That you're managing the situation as you normally do, but organizing the best response available at the time? You've done this before, I don't think Princess Celestia is going to start ignoring you for trying to prevent a situation.”

She turned to him, her mane falling about her face.

“But Spike, what will she do when she discovers that Rarity brought something possibly dangerous to Ponyville, without writing her?”

“Snap out of it Twilight! She's not going to banish you or anything like that. She'll just probably want to discuss the decision with you, or something like that. Heck, she might even thank you for trying to make a tense situation less tense.”

Twilight rolled over for a second, before sitting up. She smacked one hoof into another.

“You're right Spike, I can't let my fears get the best of me. But I'm still kinda nervous.”

“Well don't be. You're Twilight Sparkle, the only pony in town to peacefully halt an Ursa Minor, who stopped Nightmare Moon, and believed in her friends enough in the end to defeat Discord. Whats a single human compared to that?”

A hint of a smile broke out across her face. Suddenly, she reached out and hugged her assistant in the biggest hug possible.

“Twilight...you're...crushing...me....”

Dropping him nervously, she rubbed the back of her neck.

“Sorry Spike, got a bit carried away.”

“Thats...okay.”

Falling to the floor, and out of breath, Spike gave her a thumbs up weakly, before gasping for breath some more.

“You write to the princess, I'll send it. Just give me a minute.”

“Alright Spike. You sure you're okay?”

“Never..uhgh, better.”
“You just lie there for a bit, I'll have that letter ready soon.”

Spike wheezed some more.

“You do that Twilight, you do that.”

o.O.o

Canterlot Castle
12:10 P.M.

Celestia glanced at the carriage that was waiting for her. Inside sat two nervous ponies from the diplomatic corps, usually used to dealing with the burro's across the sea, or the zebra's to the south-west. While they knew not what they were going to be doing, they knew it had to be important for the Princess to command that two of the best diplomats in the corps were to accompany her on a personal mission. Odd that they were being kept in the dark, but they had learned sometimes the state had secrets it needed kept secret.

“Is all ready?”

The captain of the guard, a protege of Iron Gait, by the name of Long Shanks, nodded, his trim beard marking him off as an officer in the royal guard.

“Yes your majesty. We can be at the scene within forty minutes, with the tailwinds that Canterlots weather control has managed to direct today.”

It was said with the military precision she had expected from captains of the guard. To the point, with little embellishment or half-truth's. It was something she admired about them, being able to tell her things without trying to overly please her all the time. Unlike many of the unicorn aristocracy in Canterlot, who wined and dined at the official gatherings with each other to try to get in her good graces. Most she found to be stuffy, arrogant, and boring, and the few she could stand and actually want to talk to too busy doing important things such as managing businesses or ensuring a smooth running of government beyond her immediate control. Those sorts might actually have had something worth saying at times, had not more, cloud-headed ponies, believing their natural superiority interjected themselves between the Princess and those they considered lower down the totem pole.

She nodded in a regal matter at both of them, and then as she entered the carriage, did so at the attentive captain of the guards. At her nod, he gave the order, and the carriage took off into the sky. Thankfully the pegasus weather control station in Canterlot had ensured the least amount of clouds between Canterlot and Sweet Apple Acres, thus ensuring no chances of rainstorms or the like. Deciding that breaking the ice so to speak with the two nervous diplomatic ponies would make the trip less tense, she turned to the male earth pony sitting right next to her.

“I'm afraid I haven't met the two of you before. There are so many ministers and employees, that it becomes hectic at times trying to remember my own name.”

The nervous grin he gave didn't give her much hope for a trip a bit looser of the tense air.

“I'm Straight Quill, and this,” he gestured to his female unicorn partner, “is Stiff Parchment, your majesty.”

He coughed for a second, in a rather nervous manner.

“Is something the matter?”

“No, your majesty, it is just that we were dragged off our last assignment without warning, and thus have no knowledge on what we are to be dealing with. Is it the griffons, or the burro's?”

She paused. What could she say, when her sister had sent barely enough to puzzle out herself on who or what they were dealing with?

“At this time, I can only say that it is a new party to the world political scene, and that you prepare yourself for the unpredictable.”

Both of the diplomatic ponies looked at each other, and gave a worried look. Sighing internally, she did wish that diplomatic ponies could learn to adjust to the unexplainable. It seemed like it would be a long ride to Ponyville now.

o.O.o

Sweet Apple Acres
3:49 P.M.

Princess Celestia was the first in the carriage who saw her sister sitting quietly in the clearing of apple trees, chewing on an apple with little care. If she had heard or seen the carriage arriving, she didn't seem to register it at all, merely continuing to eat the apple. As Celestia stepped out, followed by the two clerks from the diplomatic corps, her sister finally seemed to give notice of events occurring around her.

“Ah, sister, I see you have arrived at last.”

“Luna, are you alright?”

The elder alicorn sister trotted closer, as did Luna.
“Of course. Would I be standing here if I was incommoded or incapacitated dear sister? No, only my mind is working more than it has since I have been given a new lease on life, as some would say. The situation is bigger than thought before, Tia.”

Celestia quietly listened to Luna as she spoke. Sometimes it was better to be a listener than a questioner, because ponies would be more willing to speak if they felt they were free to speak without interruption or interrogation.

“Did you see the portal on your arrival dear sister?”

Celestia nodded.

“Good, otherwise I was afraid we'd have to fly back to it to show it to you. All is well on that front, though how much wellness this situation can be given with those portals across the planet and Equestria is frightening enough to contemplate.”

She gave a nervous look at her older sister.

“Tia, I do not know how to explain all that has happened in just a few words. All I ask is that you come with me to the main part of the farm. Then I think, the visual will explain more than the verbal.

Celestia nodded. This was part of the trust not only between two rules, but friends and sisters, even if she was worried about what she might find. Seeing the look of satisfaction slip across her younger sisters face, which then slid back to one of measured calm and study, she suppressed a internal giggle and an external smile from escaping at the quick change over her sister face. Turning, she beckoned the diplomatic corps ponies to follow behind the them.

“Your letters did not give me much to go on, Luna. Even if the visual might explain more than just words, I am still willing to hear anything you think might be valuable to preface what comes next with.”

Luna walked in silence for a bit before replying.

“Tia, the situation is rather delicate, so I believe that a light hoof is needed to ensure the best face of the Equestrian nation. Which is what I have been trying to do. The world they come from is certainly is different from out own, and some of the views they hold may seem very, very dangerous in some cases. But I feel that if we can show how peaceful we can be, we might be able to ford very troubled rivers with a bit more...ease than else wise we could.”

The look on Luna's face was one of firm conviction. Celestia tried to think of how hard it must be for Luna to have to get back into the diplomatic resolution mind frame of modern times. Deciding a more light-hearted question might help calm things down for a bit.

“Luna, how much did you have to use the Voice?”

Nervously averting her eyes, Luna responded.

“Only a few times. Mainly when assuring that our pitch in baseball was not considered foul.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. Baseball? What in Equestria could Luna have been up to? However, they were approaching the main part of the farm. From it, Celestia could hear the sound of several voices, arguing over something, among them Applejack's. As they entered the main part of the farm, it took even the Princess of the Sun and Day a second to realized what was different. And it took those on the farm a minute to realize that there was a large, white, rainbow-maned alicorn standing nearby, and watching them. Even Celestia herself paused, and her own composure briefly slipped. From legends even before the arrival of the alicorn sisters, stood what she knew from the old books and oral tales, the creatures known as humans. Luna gestured with a wing to them.

“Sister, meet the new arrivals.”

o.O.o

Carousel Boutique
4:09 P.M.

Rarity was annoyed. For one thing, she was used to ponies, who, while varying in body structure in various ways such as height, they were normally on the horizontal plane of design, not the vertical. Which wasn't difficult when dealing with someone short, like Spikey...er, Spike, she mentally corrected herself, it wasn't difficult when dealing with him at his current height. But humans must really drive whoever on their world made clothing to dismay and possibly some hint of insanity as well. It wasn't that she couldn't do the work. It was the fact that unlike ponies, they were harder to keep still. And apparently, needed to use their arms and hands to enunciate the finer points of their verbal communications. She'd had to stick Mays in the rear of the leg a couple of times to enunciate her own needs.

“So, does your world have ponies?”

“Yep. Mules, donkey's, horses, ponies, zebra's, they're all there in some shapely fashion or fashioned form.”

“And do they talk?”

“No. Most of the time they glare at you and attempt to throw you into a rose bush or some other painful object. They're smart, but they have yet to understand the concept of fire, let alone any language that doesn't involve snickering and neighing all the time.”

Lyra was speed writing as fast as her mental telekinesis could move her pen. Already, they'd filled up six pages out of a total twenty on hand, mainly ranging on yes or no questions, with extra details on what animals or beasts were similar or different between worlds. However, now they'd gotten onto the topic of technology.
“So, you don't have magic?”

“Not unless you count vaudeville and theater acts as magic. No, its pretty much steam and to some degree with newer technology, petroleum distillates that power our machinery.”

Rarity jabbed another pin into the back, eliciting a groan of pain from the owner of said leg.

“Gah, I didn't even move that time!”

“You did, right when I was taking an important measurement. Now, hold still.”

“Geez, you could just smack my hand next time. The back of my leg now feels sticky with some of that blood you've drawn with that thing.”

Rarity meanwhile kept on measuring. So thin, what did they not eat enough, or what?

“Ahem...”

“Sorry Lyra, little miss Vlad of Wallachia, or should I say, Ponyville, keeps trying to impale me. GAH. What now!”

“Sorry, slipped that time.”

“You wish.”

“Don't I...”

Lyra rolled her eyes. She had learned in the past hour or so that not only were humans mysterious, but they also used crude language and snide asides more than anypony she knew.

“Alright, if the two of you are done bickering yet.”

“NO!”

Lyra sighed. It was going to be a long afternoon. She sat back, and decided to take a nap as the human and Rarity went at it full tilt, each describing the other in terms that would make most of the Canterlot society types faint in surprise and shock.

o.O.o

Himmel Berg
Bundesvereinigung der Griffon Kurfürstentümer
4:28 P.M.

Sharp Talons and Eagle Nose were brothers, and they enjoyed the thrill of the hunt. Considered by their peers to be the best hunters in all of the Kurfürstentum des Hochwaldes, they were known for their prowess and skill, their ability to lead the hunted animal on, before closing in for the kill in a sudden strike. No other hunters had ever won more trophies, of both the pelt and metal kind. They'd even been awarded by the Emperor for their skills during the great Imperial Hunt of 1890. Now, they were soaring over the lands owned by their father, one of the many electorate princes of the Bundesvereinigung der Griffon Kurfürstentümer, looking for something new.

It was true the brother had hunted many things. They'd killed everything from rabbits to vultures, deer to even the occasional pony that had become “lost“ amongst their vast estates. They did not entirely believe that the practice of the higher court that since ponies and griffons were at peace, they did not need to kill an equally sentient being. But for the two, they believed in the superiority of the griffonic race. That the years of peace made those in court weak from not having tasted the flesh of one of their kinds oldest enemies.

And not much else was safe from them. Both showed the scars of intense battles, for they fought and hunted hard. Sharp Talon's left foot was still gnarled to a degree from their experiences hunting down an Ursa Minor, which had left eighteen of their best beaters dead before the two had struck the killing blow. They made deals with the local magistrate of justice that they would met their own brand of punishment on the criminals caught by the local constables. Many times villagers would see a wagon of prisoners escorted out of the local holding houses, and trundle up to the villa on the Himmel Berg where the two lived most of the year, only to return an hour later empty.

Now, they soared high above the clouds, heading to the west, to the little hunting cottage the two used for some of their more exciting and dangerous hunts.

“Brother, what are your plans for this weekend?“

Sharp Talon cast his right eye in a curious answer to see what his older brother would answer with.

“I'm sure as always that we will find much to hunt. Certainly, after that last pathetic batch of prisoners the magistrate hauled out of the cells, we could do with something more suitable for nobility such as ourselves?“

His younger brother nodded in agreement. There had only been one prisoner worthy of the hunt, who had nearly slipped away after evading them in the forest for several hours, but had been caught when he had made the mistake of trying to use the river as an escape route and to cover his tracks. In repayment for a worthy hunt, he'd been given a quick, painless death, and his body placed in a cremation they gave all their worthy foes. Very few had their ashes in the special pots that decorated the brothers trophy room marking a worthy mark of honor.

Suddenly, the elder brother spotted something new. His thick, Himmel Berg accent cut through the High Old Griffonic tongue the two used to style themselves as the princes of old, compared to that abomination called Equestrian.

“Brother, what is that I spy?“

The younger brother looked. There was a giant bubble of writhing energy sitting in the midst of the forest, and big enough to fly through.

“I'm not sure elder brother, but whatever it is, bears investigation. Do you not agree?“

“Yes...I do, perhaps we can find something interesting on the other side.“

The two turned majestically in the sky, at a turn that would have made a Wonderbolt jealous with its grace. They headed towards the bubble, not sure of what they'd find. Hopefully, there might be something worth hunting.

o.O.o

Hof, Bavaria
German Empire
4:35 P.M.

Constable Dietrich Bernhardt of the Hof Police, glanced at his pocket watch and silently swore. Half-past four and it was yet another boring Saturday afternoon. He shielded his eyes against the fairly bright sun hanging overhead, and groused that there wasn't anything to cover the sun. Tsking, he pulled down the policemans shako he wore and continued on his beat. Hof was fairly vibrant city on the German border, sitting on the river Saale, and a fairly decent place to live, even if it wasn't up to the modern cities of Berlin or Düsseldorf.

Currently his route took him to some of the more remote areas outside the city, and for that he needed his bicycle. Hitching one leg over the seat, he leant over the handle bars and began to pedal. His route was one of the longer ones, sometimes extending out into the countryside proper surrounding Hof. Humming a tune he'd heard recently being played by a wandering musician, he was oblivious to the world for some time. As he neared the end of his route, he heard a scream of terror, and as he looked around to find the source, a little girl came running from behind a house.

"Mutter, Vater, Mutter, Vater ...."
(Mother, father, Mother, father)

Climbing off his bike, he caught her as she ran towards him.

"Kleines Mädchen, was ist denn los?"
("Little girl, what is the matter?")

Her eyes showed terror in them, and she could only blurt out a few things in her panic.

"Die Klauen .... riesigen Adlern .... Mutter, Vater ... Monster"
("The claws....giant eagles....mother, father...monsters")

Dietrich didn't know what she was talking about, but he could tell her terror was real. He unholstered the revolver he had at his hip. Perhaps someone had attacked her family and her mind did not know how to effectively say what had happened. If so, it was best to have a firearm at hand should he encounter some violent brigands. He approached the rear of the house. A rank, familiar odor came to his nose. It was almost like the smell of the slaughterhouses he had worked in years earlier.

As turned the corner, he noticed two things. One was the odor was much stronger now. The second was the creature leaning over a body. Stepping forward, his mind raced as it recognized exactly what it was. A griffon for sure, with the leonine lower body, and the raptor upper body were familiar as being part of some of the Christian lore of the Catholic church and being part of Germanic legends. He also saw that the things beak was stained red. He thumbed the hammer on his revolver, which drew its attention. Its pupils shrank as it regarded him. It made a move as if to come at him, but he noticed it glance over his shoulder, and heard the light flapping of wings. Dietrich darted for a nearby tree, with a second griffon close behind. Ducking under a branch just barely, he heard it smack into it. Had to get somewhere where his back wasn't exposed. The first one from before was charging now, but he fired off a shot from his gun, hitting it in the middle of one of its wings.

The shriek it gave startled him less than the fact it began cursing in German.

"In der Kaiser-Namen, das tut weh wie die infernoes der Unterwelt!"
("In the emperors name, that hurts like the infernoes of the underworld!")

While it stopped, he snapped off two more shots, hoping to hit it somewhere. Apparently he hadn't, as it scurried off, while its twin continued to hunt him. The injured one he could see hiding behind a overturned wheelbarrow, and it shouted to its twin.

“Bruder, hast du die unverschämten Affen gefunden?"
("Brother, have you found the impertinent ape?")

"Nein Sharp Talon, ist er unter dem Baum."
("No Sharp Talon, he's under the tree.")

Great, thought Dietrich, they're smart. And angry. I've got smart and angry bird-lions hunting me. Daring to look up, he could see the shape of the other one glide overhead. Glancing back at the one behind the barrow, he saw it peek its head over the top. He had three shots left. Hand wobbling, he aimed from behind the tree at its head, and pulled the trigger. It only took a second for the result to become clear. The scream of pain and rage from the one overhead told him he must have succeeded, and looking back, saw the form of the griffon behind the barrow, sprawled dead in the dirt.

A furious beating of wings grabbed his attention again. It seemed to be heading to the south-west, away from town and the scene of the fight. Waiting a second, he came out. The second griffon was gone. Dietrich thought of the little girl and headed back to the street out front. Already a crowd was gathering nearby, and he saw the little girl clutching the dress of a nearby neighbor. A nearby businessman in suit and tie, who seemed to represent the crowd, came forward.

“Offizier, was ist denn los? Wir hörten Schüsse und Geschrei. "
(“Officer what is the matter? We heard gunfire and screaming.“)

Dietrich holstered his gun. How to explain. From nearby, he heard the shouts of a couple more of his fellow officers. Up came Sgt. Krup and Officer Bilderbeck.

"Officer Bernhardt, was ist los? Wir haben gerade von einer Frau sagen, dass geflügelte Ungeheuer angegriffen hatte jemand angesprochen worden, und dass es Schüsse auch. Pflege zu beantworten?"
("Officer Bernhardt, what is going on? We've just been accosted by a woman saying that winged monsters had attacked someone, and that there was gunfire as well. Care to answer?")

Dietrich rubbed the back of his neck, then scratched his hair, pushing his short shako forward. He was still trying to understand all what had transpired himself. Sgt. Krup meanwhile was getting impatient.

"Sergeant, ich glaube es. Besten, wenn Sie mir folgen aus dem allein zurück, und ich denke, es wäre klug, diese Menschen zurückhalten."
("Sergeant, I think it best if you follow me out to the back. Alone, and I think it would be wise to keep these people back." )

Glaring, but agreeing, Krup ordered officer Bilderbeck to stand on duty, and wait till more officers arrived. Grimly, he followed Dietrich out back, his own nose wrinkling at the smell. However, he soon understood why Dietrich had wanted to keep people back. There were not only the bodies of the girls young parents, certainly not a pretty sight now...but also the remains of a large, and undeniably real griffon, part of its head taken by a bullet.

"Mutter Gottes. Was zum Teufel ist das für ein Ding?"
("Mother of God. What the hell is that thing?")

Dietrich didn't say anything. He could already here more police officers out front, keeping the crowd back. Whatever this thing was, it had a brother according to the dialect those things had shared between them. And if it had a brother, and they were smart...well, that was not a good thing to dwell on right now. However, one thing that he didn't think about at the moment was where it had come from....

Chapter One: Haunted By a Million Screams

Chapter One:
Haunted By A Million Screams

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

-Theodore Roosevelt

o.O.o

Ponyville Library
Morning of September 6th, 1897 A.D.(After Discord)
5:22 A.M.

Spike was worried. Twilight had been suffering from severe sleep problems the past few weeks, but these past three days had taken their toll on the normally organized unicorn. Her hair, while brushed , was frizzier than it should have been, her eyes were bloodshot, and her normally calm demeanor gave way to intense mood swings, alternating between short bursts of annoyance and anger, to depression and tiredness. Picking up the mug of hot chocolate he'd made himself, he sat on the small stool behind his writing desk, and took out his quill. He hated going behind Twilight's back, but her health was more important than some other things. And he knew of only one pony...scratch that, alicorn in Equestria that could help in the matter.

Inking the quill pen, he scribbled down the customary Dear Princess Celestia that opened up most of his letters to the princess. Scratching his chin absentmindedly with his claws, and composing his thoughts, he began to write. Every now and then, he'd look up at the alcove about the main entrance, where Twilight lay sleeping, her fitful sounds drifting down in the early morning to his ears. Shaking his head, he kept going, stopping only to take a drink of his hot chocolate or re-ink the pen. Finally, after what seemed like hours, but what was only thirty-five minutes, the letter was done. Wrapping it up and affixing the royal clasp of Princess Celestia, with the purple ribbon that indicated it was from Twilight, he churned the internal dragon fires and let out a wisp of green flame.

The scroll seemed to turn to ash, though this was not the case. In fact, the scroll was now transported to the royal castle, where it was either delivered directly to the Princess, or left in a waiting stack of other letters. He'd know soon the response of the Princess, unless she decided a personal intervention on behalf of Twilight was necessary. Spike glanced up at the now more peaceful sleep that Twilight seemed to have drifted into. Shaking his head, Spike tided up his writing desk, and started to work on organizing the library. While Twilight had a definite system that seemed to change inexplicably from time to time, Spike, as Twilights assistant had enough familiarity with Twilights thinking style to organize it by himself.

He carefully and quietly worked for a few hours, tidying up, and when he placed one of the last books back on the shelf, he noticed it was approaching eight in the morning, and Twilight had yet to stir. Last night must have been a doozy for her to oversleep. Suddenly, he felt a familiar internal reaction, and it was a big one. Desperately running for the kitchen, he shoved his head into a low cupboard, to muffle the sound of the incoming letter, out of fear of waking Twilight. If she knew he had sent and received a letter concerning her to the Princess, her already frazzled state might make her do something rash, as she had with the tardy friendship lesson several months back. Out came a thick bound scroll, with the seal of Princess Celestia, rainbow ribbon wrapped smartly around the paper. He snatched it quickly before it fell into the sticky gunk below the sink trap.

He needed to get out of the house, and read it without worrying about Twilight discovering his communique. Quietly walking back to his writing desk, he scribbled down a quick note explaining he was eating breakfast out this morning and would be getting some new writing supplies as well, which was partially true, for they had run low. Affixing it to the writing desk with a short tack, he slowly opened and closed the front door of the Ponyville Library behind him, and walked off towards Sugarcube Corner. Some food in him might help calm his worried feeling.

o.O.o

Sugarcube Corner
Ponyville
7:59 A.M.

Applejack rarely ate at Sugarcube Corner most mornings, preferring to spend her time at home with her family at their ritual breakfast family time. However, the need for supplies in both produce and some farm equipment had forced her to get out of bed earlier than usual, even for the normally early morning apple farmer. Knowing that breakfast would be done by the time she got back, and stomach all complaining from lack of sustenance, she had decided to stop by the towns main bakery and breakfast cafe. She glanced up at the gingerbread stylings of the bakeries exterior, and gritting her teeth, pushed the door open, the small bell above the door jingling.

Mr. Cake, the head baker, was in the kitchen, humming an unfamiliar tune. Mrs. Cake wasn't anywhere to be seen, but that didn't mean no one was watching the register. Pinkie Pie, her hair poofy and frizzy as usual, was gabbing happily to Lyra, a local musician and amateur archaeologist. The topic seemed to cover a wide array of subjects, mainly pertaining to music, parties, and the study of pre-Pony civilizations, with the pink earth ponies head shifting about at an alarming rate to newcomers, but at a speed which long time friends recognized as being normal for Pinkie. At the sound of the bell over the door, Pinkie turned to look at who was coming in.

“Applejack, what are you doing here? Ooh, have you come for the chocolate muffins, blueberry scones, blackberry fritters...”

Applejack held up a hoof to slow down her friend.

“Pinkie, ah just came to get som' break'fast before doin' som' shopping for supplies. Now what can you git me that's quick and easy on an early riser?”

Pinkie did not seem fazed by this, but by some internal energies tapped by her legs, she zoomed around the counter, and to Applejacks side, one hoof around the farm ponies neck, and escorting her firmly, but without causing pain, over to a table and chair, where Applejack suddenly found herself sitting in said chair and with a napkin tied around her neck.

“Let's see, you wanted something quick and light on the stomach...ooh, I know, strawberry strudel! But Mr. Cake won't get a fresh batch out for another ten minutes...”

“I'm sorry Pinkie, but I only came for something quick, I don't think I can wait...ten...minutes...”

Applejack had slowly faltered while she looked at the slowly widening puppy dog eyes of Pinkie, and tried to look away, but like a cart-wreck, she couldn't look away. Finally, shaking her head, she let out a sigh.

“Alright, alright...I'll stay till Mr. Cake finishes the strudel.”

Pinkie shot straight up and laughed with glee, her smile suddenly returning.
“Yeah. Oh gosh oh gosh, what sort of host am I, I didn't offer you anything to drink, I'm not a good friend or host if I don't get you something to drink...”

Wishing to cut off her friend before she exploded in a paroxysm of energy, Applejack blurted out her answer.

“I'll tale a cup of your hot chocolate!”

Pinkie quickly calmed down, zoomed over to nearby metal reservoirs of drinks, and quickly put together to what Applejack silently admitted was a darn good looking cup of hot chocolate. Quickly bouncing over, cup not spilling a drop in the intervening space, she set it down in front of Applejack and waited. Feeling that tasting it now and giving her assent would mean her friend might get back to her duties quicker, Applejack took a quick taste, slightly burning her mouth.

“Why, its delicious Pinkie.”

Her friend beamed another smile, and bounced off back to Lyra, task complete at the moment. Applejack sighed internally, and looked around the place, needing to take her mind off things and let the chocolate cool for a bit. Suddenly, she noticed that across from her at the table was a familiar green-spiked, purple scaled figure, intent on reading what appeared to be a letter from the Princess. Not sure if he knew what had just transpired, and wondering why Spike was out so early by himself, she cleared her throat.

“Spike?”

The dragon took a moment to recognize the voice, and it seemed that he may not have heard her. However, a hurried rolling up of the scroll, and a certainly not innocent glance, with nervous smile across his face.

“Applejack. What are you doing here? I thought you ate back at Sweet Apple Acres usually?”

Applejack was concerned. Spike, normally open about a lot of things, was seemingly trying to divert attention away from the royal scroll he was reading.

“Spike, what was that you were readin'?”

Her eyes narrowed a bit, making him even more nervous.

“Was that a personal letter to Twilight from the Princess. Spike, how could you?”

He shook his claws in front of him. Spike turned his face down for a second, then sighed.

“Its not like that Applejack. Its a letter I got back from the Princess to the one I sent her about four this morning.”

Applejacks face turned from one of mild disappointment, to confusion and worry. What was it that was so secretive, that Spike felt the need to act like this. She decided perhaps tact and a more gentle approach was needed.

“Spike, whats the matter? Something going on with you and greed again?”

He shook his head.

“Its not that...its..its..Twilight.”

Applejacks face turned more concerned than before. Twilight was a pretty down to Equestria pony, if somewhat overtly concerned with organization and keeping up good appearances with the Princess. If it was bad enough that Spike, the normally acerbic and easy-going draconic assistant to worry, then it must be bad.

“What's wrong with Twilight?”

He paused. How to explain. Finally, gathering enough courage, he began to tell her.

“She's been sleeping badly for the past two weeks now, and its gotten steadily worse the past three nights. It has something to do with her dreams, because she keeps talking in the night, and twitching as if somethings bothering her. I don't know what the problem is, because she won't talk about it to anyone. She just says “its none of your worry Spike, I'll be fine. Just some built up stress, or something.”

Applejack digested these facts. Twilight had an unfortunate inability to admit her feelings or issues to others, fearing that they would reject her or laugh at her. Indeed, the brilliant unicorn pony was good when it came to close friends most of the time, but insecurity stemming from her days in Canterlot caused her to retreat into a shell of privacy and self-doubt. It was happening less, but it appeared whatever happened was a doozy to make her clam up.

“No one at all? Not even the Princess?”

Spike shook his head.

“No one. Especially not the Princess, her whole self-doubt depends on not disappointing the Princess for her to get anywhere. Which is why I had to send the letter in secret. She'd refuse to let me write and send one if I asked. And its not just that she's not sleeping well thats part of the problem.”

Applejack cocked her head at that. Spike had to pull the memories back up to the surface of his mind. They were some rather painful memories.

“Two nights ago she magically turned on all the sinks in the library. It was only when I found my basket floating into the kitchen that I realized what she had done. She's been sleep-magicking. For a unicorn according to some books, when they're stressed out, they do things like that. Or set fires. Or cause concussive blasts.”

“She done that yet?”

He shook his head.

“No, thankfully she's only done the water, and moved books around in the middle of the night into the middle of the library. Though sometimes she moves them really fast...”

He rubbed the side of his cheek.

“And she's been a bit more tense lately. Not that she's mean, but she's not taking stressful situations well, and gets bent out of shape a lot easier. Snaps a lot at simple mistakes she's made more than she used to. I don't know what to do, and certainly not how to talk to her.”

What he said was the truth. From past experience, Applejack knew that Spike by himself wasn't enough to get through to Twilight. An intervention by her friends might be the only thing to get her to talk and open up. Thinking, she didn't notice that Spike had shut the letter tight and jammed it under his seat, and was glancing out the big windows of the bakery at the Quill and Sofa shop across the way, where the subject of their conversation stood. Even from this distance, Applejack saw that what Spike was saying was the truth. Subtle hints, such as slightly blood-shot eyes, frizzled edges to her mane, and a posture indicative of poorly slept nights, could be made out by someone looking for them.

The gaze of Twilight flashed over to the bakery, and spied Applejack and Spike staring at her. Smiling weakly, she began to trot over.

“Take it.”

Applejack felt the letter being jammed into her thigh.
“Why?”

His quick look indicated the reason would be an especially peeved unicorn who had issues with her temper. Grabbing it in one hoof under the table, she quickly, if somewhat clumsily jammed it into her left saddlebag, just a few seconds before Twilight trotted in, a look of both concern and curiosity passing over her face at her assistant and Applejack sharing breakfast, which Applejack had realized had arrived while she and Spike had been talking. Twilight trotted over, pace quicker than was needed for indoors.

“Spike, its after nine. Why didn't you wake me?”

The young dragon slowly gave out an answer.

“Well, you were sleeping kind of badly last night, and I felt you should get some sleep to make up for that.”

A light blush and a twist of her head showed Twilight didn't want to acknowledge her sleeping problems. When she turned back, a small smile was on her face.

“I suppose I should say thanks Spike. I feel a bit more rested than I have been.”

Applejack could tell Twilight was not telling the whole truth. She wasn't lying, but she was being kind to Spike for his own little half-truth's sake, which she probably did not know about.

Looking at the counter, Twilights stomach growled. Giggling for a second, a half-nervous, half-serious laugh, she looked at Spike.

“I'm going to pick up something to eat and go back to the library. See you back there in half an hour?”

He nodded, and seeing things were resolved, she trotted off to the counter, where Pinkie began a lengthy spiel, which Twilight unfortunately could not pause like Applejack could. Watching for a second, Spike let out a sigh of relief.

“Spike, you're gonna have to talk to her about it.”

He looked dejected for a second.

“I know, but if I tell her, or ask her, she'll just get defensive. And then things get awkward for a few days. Can't you and the others come and talk to her as well. As her friends, she might listen if there are five compared to one intervening.”

Applejack mulled on it. What he said was true, but it would be difficult. Some ponies didn't like it when others tried to talk to them about problems, and Twilight was the sort to either get exasperated with her friends or with herself, neither a good route to go down. It'd take planning. Waiting till Twilight had picked up her purchase and left, Applejack then turned back to Spike.

“Spike, I want you to keep Twilight busy till the others and I can get over there. It might be after noon, but I think we can stop some of our things if its to help a friend. Think you can do that?”

Spike gave a grin.

“Of course. I'm sure the way I sorted the books this morning will keep her busy for at least a couple of hours.”

Applejack nodded in agreement and understanding. Obsessive about orderliness and tidiness at times, Twilight could be found buried in a pile of books, ordering or reading them, often at the same time. It was something to do for now.

Spike leapt off his chair, and glanced up.

“Thanks Applejack.”

Leaning down, Applejack rubbed the spikes on top of his head, trying to encourage him.

“Its alright Spike, I can't let a friend or friends go without help. Now, you better go get those supplies and go see to Twilight.”

Spike affirmed his agreement on the plan of action, and soon Applejack could see him trotting next door to Quills and Sofa's, on the first part of his errands. Sighing, she ate the strudel in three bites, ashamed she couldn't finish it at a bit more leisurely pace. Glancing at Pinkie, she knew where to begin her round-up of the others.

o.O.o

Ponyville Library
12:35 P.M.

Twilight glanced at the books on the shelves. While Spike had done a fairly decent effort organizing them, she preferred having a personal hand in rearranging and organizing them. The glow of her unicorn magic drifted over numerous books, barely taking any of the energy that magic required.

“A History of Middle Times Mages, Magicians, and Wizards, haven't read that in awhile. Over there you go.”

Already, she had formed a small pile of books for her personal reading pleasure. All around her, more books were gently floating into new spaces, organized by whatever personal system she kept in her head. Thankfully, Spike was picking up faster that back in Canterlot, and it would take only twenty minutes, rather than the previous forty-five minutes it would normally take her by herself. Ducking for a second as a set of Encyclopedia Equestrianica floated past, twenty-nine books in all, and one of the largest in the collection, she giggled as the books jostled for the proper place on a lower shelf. Then she watched as Night Lights Guide To Incandescent and Illuminatory Spells and Potions settled itself on a nearby shelf, snuggling in between a biography of Star-Swirl the Bearded and a book on wild beasts of the Everfree Forest.

A light rapping on the door and Spike's voice calling that he was back, entered her thoughts, and she continued to sort, while also opening the front door for him. His face was hidden by the package of inks, pens, and paper that he had bought from various sources around town, and was now precariously balanced in his little claws. Seeing this, Twilight quickly shunted the remaining books into spaces, and helped him carry them to the storage box.

“Spike, I've told you to use that cart when I'm not there to help. You're still a baby dragon in some respects.”

He made an eye roll at that. While mentally ahead of many filly ponies his age, his short stature and still youthful strength often caused him problems, especially when carrying more than he could.

“Geez Twilight, you act like I'm still out of the egg.”

He dusted himself off, and started sorting out his writing supplies from the supplies he had gotten for Twilight. Both used different paper types, different inks, and different quills. It wasn't that they couldn't use the same sort, but both wrote differently, and personal preferences in paper and ink, while somewhat expensive, was a shared eccentric trait between the two. Twilight herself took the inks and pens designated for her own use, and placed them upstairs, at her personal desk. Spike seemed unusually quiet. Certainly, he was not talking about someone he had met, or as usual conversations seemed to flow, for his unrequited love for Rarity.

On that subject, Twilight had yet to discern the two's actual feelings. Though the incident with Spike's worst draconic instincts had left the two with a silent understanding that both parties knew of the others feelings, Spike had been quiet on the subject a bit more than usual. Rarity herself had not brought it up, but seemed to use the term “Spikey-Wikey” when she thought no one was really listening. Twilight cleared such thoughts out of her head, concentrating on the task at hand. Maybe if she kept her mind off the dreams again, she might not have them.

“Alright Spike, its time for rebinding.”

Already ahead of her, he'd laid out the materials needed to rebind and fix books. While ponies in Ponyville were nominally careful with the printed page, freak accidents and some of the tomes ages required constant battles to keep them from turning into a pile of expensive wood pulp. Once again burying herself in her work, she barely heard the mail-mare Derpy at the door. The mail slot swung open, a few letters and catalogs dropped in. Then it swung back and slapped the mail-mares hoof, and a sound like a sucking of breath came from outside. A quietly whispered adulteration on the sharpness of mail-flaps followed.

“Strewth, what do they make these flaps out of, razor blades? ”

Spike, hearing this exchange with better clarity of thought, opened the door to find Derpy sucking on her hoof, a small trickle of blood dripping down the hoof. She gave a nervous grin, though the effect was made somewhat silly with her mouth full of hoof. Twilight came to the door, and seeing the blood, yanked the injured pegasus inside.

“Derpy, did you cut yourself on the mail flap?”

Nodding, the blonde-maned pegasus sat quietly on the floor as Twilight went to get the first aid kit. Spike stood nearby, and sorted the mail. He looked up at the golden eyes of the grey pegasus, slowly drifting up and down in opposite directions. To an outsider, Derpy may have appeared for want of a better term, mentally challenged. In truth, she was smarter than she appeared, it was her unfortunate short term memory loss and bad eyesight that attributed to her general aura of being klutzy. But she was a loving mother of two, one her own, one adopted, and had a faithful, if extremely odd and mysterious husband. Her eyes slowly focused on the dragon down below, and she gave a small grin again.

Spike gave a grin back. Derpy was disarmingly kind and likeable, and even though he had brief interactions with her, she never seemed put out by life too much. And she was punctual, it had to be said.

Twilight finally returned with her first aid kit, and after requesting the injured hoof, sprinkled a cleansing balm on it that she had gotten from nurse Redheart. Letting it dry for a small bit, she then wrapped a swath of bandage around the wound, which was pretty nasty.

“Now, you keep off that hoof until you get to nurse Redheart at the hospital. I know you have your rounds, but its in your best interest to have a professional look at it.”

“Okay Miss Sparkle.”

Switching her mailbag to her other side to balance it out, Derpy trotted back outside, and making sure not to step on the injured hoof, slowly, but surely got off the ground, and flew off towards Ponyville Hospital. Sighing, Twilight snapped shut the box containing her supplies, and floated it back towards the kitchen.

“Spike, could you read the mail please? I need to use the sink for a minute.”

As the sound of running water plinked, then swooshed into the kitchen sink, Spike glanced back at the letters. A letter from Miss Cheeriliee asking Twilight to give a practical demonstration of unicorn magic to her class, another from the Mayor about the Town hall Renovation Project. Then a few bills of sale from postal orders received earlier, and a catalog of books released from the major publishing houses of Equestria. The usual.

“Just the usual. More on the Town Hall fund, something from Miss Cheriliee, bills and that catalogue from Canterlot Book Company.”

Her interest was apparent because a second after that he was flying through the air, desperately clinging to the catalogue as it rushed into the kitchen, and smacked him into a counter, while it continued on, opening gently in front of her.

“Oh, there's all sorts of new ones out. Dynamics of a Comet, Mythological Creatures of the Appleloosian Frontier...”

It was like Pinkie Pie in a candy shop, though less messy. Twilight was pouring over the catalog so much, she didn't notice the orange maned pony wander past the kitchen window, and tip her stetson at Spike, who quickly ran to the front door and opened it. Outside stood Applejack, and as promised, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, where is the poor, restless darling.”

“Rarity, she's not poor. She's just Twilight.”

“Darling, you don't know the first thing about a mare with nightmares. It means portents of things to come. Especially when it concerns unicorns.”

“Now what the hay is that supposed to mean?”

Pinkie had bounced off, leaving Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to break up the looming grouch match between the rough and tumble earth pony, and the more stylistically inclined unicorn.

“Um, if I might be so, um...bold, didn't we come here to help Twilight?”

Rarity and Applejack blinked for a second, as their shy friend quietly stared at them.

“I suppose I was being a bit melodramatic.”

“And I shouldn't get all hot and bothered when you spout off about something I'm not inclined to recognize by your descriptions.”

Both gave a small hoofshake of apology, and turned to the state at hand. The sounds of pages being turned still came from the kitchen, so for now they had time to get ready. Applejack stood near Spike, watching the kitchen, while the others ensured that Twilight wouldn't try and hide or run off if confronted. It was unlikely to happen, but Twilight was the sort of unpredictable pony at times who would try and hide rather than admit anything to anyone.

Twilight trotted into the room, and her eyes gave a curious look at her assembled friends.

“Spike...is something going on?”

Applejack spoke first.

“Twi, we're worried about you. Spike told me this morning how you've been having bad dreams and won't talk to him nor anypony else about them, and how you're getting worse and worse.”

Twilight's eyes gave a small hint of surprise that her secret was out, and nervously bit her lip. Applejack moved forward, and held her gaze with Twilight's.

“We just want to help you Twi, we're you're friends, and we care about you. Making yourself into a tired, nervous wreck with these things ain't good for you.”

She put her right hoof around Twilight's shoulder, and her face turned to one of comfort. Twilight sighed, and looked up into the friendly, warm face of Applejack.

“Oh, you're right. Its just that I've been so..so..afraid of late, that I couldn't admit anything to anypony. I felt if everypony knew, they'd think I'm a freak.”

Tapping her hoof against Twilights shoulder, Applejack beckoned the others to come closer.

“Come on sugarcube, lets have none of that. We wouldn't think any the less of you for anything that you dream. We're your friends, and we're more concerned with what they're doing to you, than to what they are.”

Applejack sat down, and the others did as well, forming a semi-circle around Twilight. Realizing she had to get them off her chest, even if it frightened her, Twilight sat as well. Spike, knowing that some things required friends more than assistants, quietly left to get them something to drink. It might be a long afternoon for them all.

o.O.o

Canterlot Castle
Later That Day
3:08 P.M.

Princess Luna sat quietly in her room, examining the books on her shelves. It had been awhile since she had read anything at all, being torn between her tasks of re-taking the reins of commanding the moon and night sky, and dealing with the night court. She poured over the titles, a mixture of non-fiction and fiction by authors old and new. An original draft of Starswirl the Bearded's Aniomorphic Spells and Other Magical Castings, a complete quarto of Inked Quill's best plays, or Tales of Spell and Hoof Among the Zebra's by the explorer Lace Veldt. All these and more were in her private library, and she barely had time to read them.

A knock came at her chamber door. She raised her voice enough to be heard, but not using the full Royal Canterlot Voice that had been a faux pas at the Nightmare Night Celebration several months back.

“Come in.”

A messenger pony, carrying a scroll with the royal seal and the purple ribbon of Twilight Sparkle, her sisters prize pupil, came into the room.

“I came to deliver this letter, your majesty. Unfortunately, I could not find her highness Princess Celestia, and so I..uh, well...came here.”

Luna knew that many of the staff were, uneasy around her. Unlike her brighter, more outgoing sister, Luna was a much darker, mysterious pony in attitude and appearance. As one of the two alicorn sisters who ruled Equestria, her already mysterious air was enhanced by the natural awe and fear the two seemed to project. She glanced at the messenger, and tried to smile in a warm way. It wasn't that she couldn't be open, friendly, and full of fun, Twilight Sparkle herself had shown her that. The problem was, smiling was something she wasn't as used to, and sometimes the smiles were either too small, or made Luna look like someone who had their entire face injected with a bit too much in the way of painkillers. This time, she seemed to succeed, and he became a bit less nervous.

“We see. Our Sister is currently meeting with ambassadors of the donkey republics, and thus will not be available for some time. However, We would be glad to hold onto any communique meant for her.”

The messenger nodded, and carefully put the letter down on a nearby tray meant for them, and scuttled out of the room not unlike a rather large lobster seeking hydration. Sighing, the Princess levitated the letter over. Normally, she wouldn't read letters addressed to Tia, but...well, it was her sisters favorite student writing, and Twilight had helped Luna to feel more open with others. Perhaps a small peek wouldn't hurt.

Luna opened the letter carefully, holding the seal and ribbon to one side as to put it back on quickly should anypony come. The opening lines were normal, with the full list and titles of her sister, and so forth, followed by the familiar Dear Princess Celestia she had noticed on other notes from Twilight before. However, what followed was different than the others. Not some simple “magic of friendship” lesson as it might have been, it told of something else. Something darker. Of dreams and nightmares that would not go away. Despite having promised herself to only look at a portion, the letter dragged her interest in, making her oblivious to the world.

“Ah, dear sister, I see Twilight's problem has concerned you as well.”

Nearly jumping a foot in the air, she spun around to find Celestia behind her, smiling knowingly. Not some disappointed or stern look for her having read her letter, but a concerned one at the letter itself flashed across her face a second later.

“I was expecting such a letter later today. Spike, her dragon assistant sent one this morning about the problem. My response was to advise him to send a second letter once the full details were found out. It appears that is what arrived.”

She trotted over, still somewhat taller than Luna, whose own height was quite large among other ponies in Equestria. One of her long, white wings draped itself around her younger sister, and she bent her head down a bit, reading the letter. Luna glance up at her older sister. Celestia was engrossed in the letter, eyes rapidly speed reading the words on the page, no sign of worry or anger evident on her face. Finally, after what seemed like ages, she sighed. Luna let Celestia put the letter down on the tray, and sat quiet for a second, waiting for her sister to speak. Speaking softly to herself for a second, Celestia finally remembered her sister.

“Luna, what do you think?”

Taken aback that it was a question about her thoughts on the matter, she took a second to recollect her thoughts.

“It is worrying, dear sister. Twilight Sparkle has never shown a propensity for clairvoyance or dream future reading before, has she?”

Shaking her head, Celestia glanced at a stained glass window at the distant end of the room. It showed the two sisters, fighting the dragonequus Discord, a copy of one in the hall of history. Luna followed her sisters gaze.

“You believe Discord has managed to break free and is trying to influence her, dear sister?”

“I do not know what to think. Whatever is affecting my most faithful student in such a manner is worrying. It may be a portent of things to come. And from her nightmares, it seems something will engulf our world.”

She went silent again. Thinking it was best for her to leave, Luna was nearly at the door before her sisters voice spoke again.

“Luna, if she were to agree, would you perform a dream-meld?”

A swallow caught in Luna's throat. She had guessed her sister might ask her that. She turned, a tear trickling down her cheek.

“I do not ask of this lightly Luna. I know before your...banishment, we agreed that unless a terrible catastrophe was to occur, you would never do that again because of what could happen.”

Luna was torn. She had promised back before being influenced by the Nightmare that she would never enter and read anothers mind while they slept, for it was when one was asleep they were the most vulnerable. An unscrupulous person could have done great harm in another mind whilst they dreamt. Now, she might have to break that promise, on her own sisters request nonetheless, and use a technique she had not practiced for over a thousand years. Nodding, she silently stared at Celestia.

“I know this pains you, but it must be done. For though we ourselves cannot tell the future, these dreams may hold answers that do. And if they do...we must know.”

Celestia headed to the door.

“I shall compose a letter to Twilight and her friends requesting a visit with them in Ponyville tonight, and then gather the royal carriage. We must make haste to their place as soon as possible.”

Luna weakly nodded, and let herself out. She made her way to nearby balcony, and looked out at the city below. It was quiet, peaceful, serene. And as the ponies below went about their affairs, she had a feeling of abject dread she had not felt in a long time. Worse than when she had been freed from the influence of the Nightmare, she felt something similar to a steel blade enter her heart in pain. She feared for not only her life and her sisters...but everypony in Equestria as well.

But why, was all that she could think of.

o.O.o

Ponyville Library
4:10 P.M.

Spike glanced at the clock in the kitchen. The Princesses were do to arrive soon. The hurried note sent by Twilight when he had received the response to the one containing the dream information had confirmed that yes, Twilight would be delighted to have the royal personages visit Ponyville and talk with Twilight and her friends. Having been roughly slapped a few times to get him to send it, he'd wandered back to the kitchen, to let the girls talk some more. While he was a baby dragon physically, mentally he knew enough that sometimes, you needed others than those you saw everyday to let yourself open up to. Plus, he'd hear enough in the kitchen to get notes down for Twilight's letter to Celestia on the dreams.

Now, it was six hours after they'd started, and they were waiting for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to arrive. While by hoof it was a three hour journey to Canterlot, by aerial carriage or train, the time was lessened to an hour or so. Currently he was brewing up more tea for them to drink, and finding more sugar cookies for them to snack on. Just as he was about to head out, he heard the familiar wing beats of an Canterlot Royal Guard. He'd wondered why the two sisters had a need for a carriage, when they could fly, or in some cases, teleport. Twilight's explanation had been long and filled with overly complicated words and sentence structure, but the gist had been mainly for appearance, and also because of the great energies the sisters needed to control the sun, moon, and sky, they spared overtaxing themselves to allow greater fine control over their respective domains.

Spike entered the main room, just as the door opened and Celestia and Luna stepped in. Out of habit, Twilight and her friends prostrated themselves before the Princesses, while Spike himself gave a small bow, as he had learned whilst attending the Canterlot court. Celestia raised a wing, a sign that they needn't continue bowing. Twilght was the last to stop, her face looking dejected at the floor.

“Twilight Sparkle, what is the matter with you?”

The princess asked that not in a disappointed tone, but one of compassion and worry. A sniffle came from Twilight's mouth, before the flood came out.

“I didn't want to disappoint you by thinking I was having problems and I'm just so nervous and tired and I want to know what these dreams mean and how to stop them, and I didn't want you to think I was a freak.”

The Princess waited for her to slow down and breath some air, all the while watching her younger sister glance about the room. Finally, when Twilight was done, she looked at the smaller and at the moment, insecure student of hers.

“Twilight Sparkle, know that I care for you as I do all those ponies who are under our rule.”

She gestured to Luna, who was looking their way now. The younger alicorn sister came over, her eyes worried to a degree.

“Twilight Sparkle, what I ask of you now is something that I would not ask under normal circumstances. However, I must ask your permission first.”

Luna stepped forward.

“As ruler of the night and the moon, we..err..I have a special connection to dreams in either form of nightmare or good dreams. This connection, through a special spell, would allow me to read your dreams even while you are awake. Unfortunately, it is a very invasive spell, and requires both participants to be in cooperation to work. Other wise, damage may occur to both of us.”

She let her head droop, while Celestia continued.
“Twilight my most faithful student, my sister and I do not take this task lightly. We thought never to use this again. I must ask for permission to do this from you, for both yours and my sisters sake. Do you agree to the dream-meld?”

Twilight looked up at her mentor and one of the leaders of Equestria. She gave a small, wordless nod.

“Good. Then we shall proceed quickly. Luna?”

Her sister came over, and held up a hoof to Twilights forehead.

“What we are about to do is dangerous. For now, clear your mind of everything except your memories of the dreams themselves. This will prevent any memories of other things from interfering or being revealed.”

Twilight nodded, and closed her eyes. Luna did so as well, and touched her horn to Twilight's, and a gentle glow of magic could be seen around both of them. For what seemed an eternity, the two were silent, locked in a mental connection. Then, with a gasp, Luna was sent reeling, smashing into a nearby globe. But, just as the others were to go to help, Luna shook her head at them and waved her wing back at Twilight, as an image appeared in the air, faint at first, seeming to come from Twilight's horn. Then it grew into terrible clarity. The misshapen figure began to move and animate, and its familiar visage grinned at them, wearing a sharp cut suit and tie.

“Discord,” the elder alicorn princess spoke, steel in her voice.

“Ah, you do remember.”

Fluttershy suddenly was up close enough to glare in its face.

“You big meanie. You should...you should...get out of her right now, Twilight's suffered enough because of you. I think you're a big old meanie, and...I can't think of anything else, but I'd let you know if I did...”

Seemingly losing all her rage, Fluttershy quietly flew to the side of Rainbow Dash, who was also trying to control her temper. However, the look on her face suggested that it was only because there were more important things than yelling at Discord's little figure. Everyone else was slowly adjusting back into the proper frame of mind after her little outburst. Rarity gave a little sniff.

“Yes, I can't believe we're once again arguing with a tacky mental projection. Really, is it so hard for you to just come up with something more tacky than a white suit? Black or dark blue is much more your color and I think...”

“RARITY!”

Sheepishly, she stopped.

“Sorry, got carried away. Anyways yes, Fluttershy is right, you have no right to be in her mind and tormenting her like this. She already suffered enough last time.”

Meanwhile, the figure was mouthing with one of its hands “talk talk talk”. When Rarity was done, the figure glanced about the room. He espied Luna, and gave a little wave.

“Ah, and now I get to see the whole play set. Luna and Celestia, plus their six little mares and a dragon. How cute. You don't happen to have little hair brushes, do you? No? And I agree, pink is not your color Celestia. ”

Applejack stepped forward, the other four behind her, their faces locked into a mixture of horror and anger at the dragonequus. Celestia held a hoof out, stopping the orange earth pony in her tracks.

“Anyways, you all are probably wondering how if I've been defeated, I'm talking to you? Well, lets just say that this is merely a magical sprite, with a limited command of my unique powers and intelligence, talking to you. Locked away until a spell of sufficient power unlocked it from that mess of a brain that is Twilight Sparkle's.”

The figure brushed off its suit, even though it was spotless.

“How did you get in Twilight's head?”

This came from Rainbow Dash, her wings beating furiously, barely holding back from trying to launch herself at the figure.

“Easy. When the rest of you were all your little broken selves, and she lost her faith, I merely cast a spell sprite that would give you this message, with a simple little...touch to the nose, so to speak. At the moment, it can only talk.”

At that the voice got darker.

“But it can do much more than that....”

The sprite snapped its fingers, and a jaunty top hat appeared on its head. The sprite whisped its way over towards Twilight, who was locked in a trance.

“You see, her very will was stronger than the rest of yours. It took all of you becoming complete and total opposites of yourselves to break her down to the level I wanted. See, I wouldn't risk the war for Equestria's soul by putting my eggs in one basket so to speak...”

Celestia stared at him, fire hidden behind her eyes. He looked at her.

“Don't worry, your precious little student's mind is perfectly safe. She just won't remember the several times she's tripped over rocks or bumped her shins on table edges. Useless memories.”

“Will you quit yapping on and just talk about your big prank?”

The Discord sprite paused, as Rainbow again spoke, this time at a level not quite at yelling, but close enough. He gave a small sigh.

“Very well, if you must know, I'm going to use the magic contained in the one of most powerful ponies in all of Equestria to open inter-dimensional portals to another world. There, happy?”

A sour look spread across the sprites face at having to reveal his prank so early.

“Wait, what the hay are you gonna do?”

A chalkboard appeared next to the figure. Changing to look like a professor in lab coat and glasses, and wielding a pointer, the sprite pointed at the board, where a diagram showing two spherical objects hung apart from each other.

“See, this world, lets call it Equestria for want of a better example, will be joined through multiple points to this world, lets call it...bah, let you find out yourself. Anyway, these two worlds are joined together, through permanent portals which go both ways.”

The chalkboard disappeared.

“Why you telling us all this?”

Again came a sigh.

“Because honest Applejack, its fun to see you understand half the problem but not knowing the be all and end all of whats coming. Thats part of it being a prank, the part you don't see coming.”

“That is true, the best pranks are the ones you don't see coming.”

Pinkie Pie had now decided to join the conversation, free from an hoofs that might held her back.

“Of course. See, even your Element of Laughter agrees on the whole prank business...though maybe not on the specifics.”

“Your darn tooting thats correct. A prank should be played because its funny and the other pony will laugh as well. Not because its mean or out or spite.”

Her frizzy hair bounced about.

“Really, I should know. Its like when Rainbow Dash nearly pranked Fluttershy with that squirting turtle, it would have been wrong to prank someone who might take it the wrong way.”

At this revelation, Rainbow Dashes face grew a bit red, as Fluttershy stared at her in a confused and somewhat puzzled manner. Meanwhile, the Sprite had grown tired of listening to their banter. Returning to his suit and tie, now black as the color on the other side of midnight, an anti-black of sorts, he whistled till the ponies paid attention to him again.

Now, if you'll excuse me...”

The figure began to fade, and suddenly Twilight's eyes opened. Only instead of their normal color, they emanated pure, blinding white, light.

“Whoa nelly...”

“Discord!”

But it was too late. Twlight's magic surged and careened through the room, whipping up objects and dashing them asunder, books flew out windows, the globe itself twirled and twirled, till the sphere broke free of its spindle and careened into the kitchen. The intensity of the magic grew higher and higher, Twilight's small form rising above the others, controlled by the small sprite.

“Can't you do something your highnesses,” Applejack yelled over the wind that came from all around.

Luna shook her head.

“We cannot, for whatever spell he is using, may cause damage or harm to all of us, including Twilight if we do not have the proper counter. It is his game now....”

The intensity rose higher, and higher. Rarity shrieked as a flock of dictionaries slammed into the wall above her head, while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy dodged Twilights brass telescope as it shot past. Spike was hurriedly trying to keep the quill pens from attacking, but was unfortunately getting humorous ink drawings drawn on his scales. However, the wind seemed to be dying down, and the objects began to lose their locomotive powers. Finally, eyes going back to their regular color, Twilight was dropped unceremoniously to the floor, like a puppet with her strings cut. Her eyes opened on the visage of Princess Celestia looking down at her.

“Princess...Celestia?”

And with that, she was out like a light. The others crowded around her, though the stepped aside as the both alicorn sisters came closer. Silently, their horns glowed, and an aura surrounded the small, purple unicorn. They stood silent for a second, their faces not showing more than concern. After a minute, the aura stopped glowing around Twilight, whose breathing was coming in small, quiet bursts now.

“Is Twilight gonna be okay, Princess Celestia?”

Celestia looked at Pinkie, who had been, unusually for her, quieter than normal.

“Yes...but she needs medical care soon. The use of that much magic, to do whatever that sprite Discord created has severely weakened her. Please, as her friends, take her to Nurse Redheart over at the hospital. She will know what to do.”

Nodding, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash slowly picked up their friend, and carried her on out. Only four were left. Spike was busy trying to get a small fire put out in the kitchen, and Applejack was just looking off in the distance for a second, before turning to look at Celestia.

“What are you gonna do, Princess?”

Applejack was holding her hat in one hoof, looking determined, but with a veneer of fear on her face as well.

“I shall go back to Canterlot and begin a search for these portals. I cannot risk innocents harmed by accidental discovery of them. They must be found, and guarded. That much is clear as of now.”

She turned to Luna.

“Sister, will you stay here and inform me on developments, and give them comfort?”

Luna paused, then nodded. She would have preferred to head back to Canterlot and read up on what spells Discord could have done, perhaps to find a way to stop them. But she knew that her sister was not brushing off her younger sisters magical knowledge or planning. These five had a friend used as a puppet in a prank, and needed comfort. Plus, besides the dragon Spike, none of them would now what to look for in the stacks of books at this...smaller library.

“Thank you. I must leave now, Applejack, do not despair. Twilight will be better soon, I promise.”

The orange mare looked up, tears of understanding and tiredness dripping down her face a bit. Twilight was her friend, and she cared for the bookish unicorn as a friend should. When Applejack had been as stubborn as a fencepost about Apple bucking season, Twilight had been there to try to talk sense into her, even though Applejack had brushed her off about “doing it by myself”. Nodding her head in thanks to the Princesses words, she put her hat back on and left, heading to Ponyville Hospital and Medical Care Center.

After she had left, only Luna and Celestia remained in the main part of the library.

“I shall see you back in Canterlot, dear sister.”

Celestia gave in a way a hug to her younger sister, and then stepped back. Concentrating for a second, she disappeared in a flash. Luna stood in the midst of the wreckage of the library. Spike was still trying to put out the fire in the kitchen, and seemed to be winning. Thinking it best to let him finish first, she began to tidy up. Even if this library was smaller than the ones at Canterlot Castle, it might hold something of use. Letting out some of the anxiety she had been holding since the revelation of Discords sprite, she let out a deep breath, full of anger, terror, and anxiousness. What the coming days were to bring, she did not know. But in the back of her mind, she knew that Equestria would have a storm ahead to face, though if it would weather it, she could not guess.

Clearing her thoughts, she continued thinking about cleaning the room. She heard the final cup of water being poured in the kitchen that put out the burnt drapes, and a sigh of relief from Spike. Luna thought that perhaps he knew how Twilight would organize the books.

o.O.o

Twenty-Six Miles Outside Xenia, Ohio
7:45 P.M. (Eastern Standard Time)
Night of September 6th, 1901 A.D. (Anno Domini)

Second Lt. Daniel Mays, of the Ohio State Militia, was upset. The training exercise his platoon was involved in had gone from fairly mediocre to downright idiotic in terms of competency of both sides drilling and maneuvering. The last war had shown the rather embarrassing incompetence of not only the national army, but also the communications between the state militia and guard units, Ohio's included. It was only the fact that the Spanish military in Cuba had been led by men even more foolish than the United States own that they had even won. Now, he was stuck in the midst of a September downpour, with no lit fires, and half the tents moth-eaten or downright scudgy beyond repair.

His platoon was currently war-gaming against another platoon from around Cleveland, as part of an exercise suggested by some of the men. Now, wet and frozen, and nearly twenty-six miles from the nearest town of importance, he felt like an upset and gawky looking wet cat.

Sergeant Mathias Freiheart, a German-American from Saxony, was chewing on tobacco, a habit the man had whenever in the field, mainly dealing with that “it don't cause stink or smoke” like cigars or other tobacco products did. Plus in this rain, who the hell could light anything before the match went out or the pipe filled with water. And like all sergeants that Mays had met, the man could whip even lazy ass bastards like the Militia men into order, though it took something close to two minutes of non-stop curses against their mothers and fathers, many which would make a farmer blush in shock. Now, the sergeant slowly got up the speed needed to converse and chew at the same time, in the thickly-accented English he spoke. Thankfully, he spoke it well enough that except for rare occasions, everyone knew what he said.

“Best get the men under cover. Rain soak through uniform, cause illness, them easy prey for Lt. Sandersons men.”

Mays agreed with him. Sick men were no use to him, and the coughing and hacking of ill men hiding in bushes to ambush the other party was rather ineffective. Thankfully the platoon was in a stand of what his college education deemed to be Aesculus glaba, or the Ohio Buckeye tree. Their broad branches still held plenty of leaves.

“Alright men, get under cover. We'll wait the night out. Get what tents aren't beyond repair sown together and make a small canopy and floor. Keep the snakes and bugs out, as well as the rain.”

Grumbling more at the rain than the practical orders, the militiamen started trudging into the trees. Mays tapped his foot. Privates McDonald and Thomas should have reported back six minutes ago from their scouting mission deeper into the nearby forest. Perturbed that the two might have some illegal spirit they were sharing against regulations (or what rules and regulations he could get them to follow), he prepared to order a party out to search for them.

However just as he was about to finish briefing the six men he was going to send, a halloo broke from behind a nearby tree, and Thomas and McDonald were roughly escorted by Sgt. Freiheart into the small mass tent that was being constructed. He gave a small growl at them, and then saluted Mays.

“These two came stumbling into camp sir. Said they had some ting to report to you.”

Mays looked at them askance. Scouts should have known something about keeping reports with him, or at least the sergeant. Best here them out, before they were disciplined. Cleaning all the mud-caked boots in camp would be best for now.

“Very well sergeant. Might as well hear them out.”

Over the next three minutes, he heard a wild tale involving the two of them on watch in the woods, silently scouting about, when a fast wind had bowled them over into a tree, which seemed evident from the leaves and mud caked on their backs as well as fronts. Then, they claimed to have seen a large, perfectly white beam of light strike the ground not twelve, though it may have been seventeen (accounts varied to some degree on exact distance) feet away from them. The story got wilder, explaining that the land on the other side of a bubble, maybe thirty-five feet wide, and an unknown height, had been different than the dark woods around it. They then explained that they decided that explaining was the better part of valor, and had come straight back to camp, to explain. The explanation was ludicrous, but either they could hide liquor smell better than any men alive, or they'd gone off their rockers.

He pinched his brow.

“You expect me to believe that?”

Waiting for his permission to let them speak, they finally explained that yes, they did, and they could show him right now if he so wanted. Deciding that while humoring them was bad, confirming that they might have problems with either their mental faculties or their hip flask lids was key.

“Alright, let's examine this “bubble” of yours. Sergeant, I want five other men and yourself to come with these two and myself to find this mysterious bubble.”

“Yes sir.”

The sergeant wheeled around, and trod off, yelling at five other men to get their sorry keisters back over to the commanding officer, or he'd stick hot embers down their trousers. Quickly, five men with guns, ammo, and water were at the ready.

“Ready and waiting sir!”

Returning another salute, he bade the two scouts to lead them on into the woods.

“Alright, show us where the event happened.”

The two, also carrying guns, ammo, and water, though still covered in mud, silently began to retrace their steps. After about six minutes, they seemed to be getting closer, by the two mens body language. The sergeant and the five others were slouching behind, dealing with mosquitos and thorny tree branches smacking them in the face, arms, and legs. Slowly, Mays began to become aware of a bright light in the midst of the forest.

“There sir, there.”

Thomas pointed towards a clearing. The light was brighter now, though not uncomfortable to look at. Slowly the small squad entered the area the men had been in before. Now Mays wondered if he was going slightly for the loop. There, as the two had said, was a giant, clear bubble, slowly shifting in the night. What looked like water ripples flowed across the surface, bouncing into one another.

“Right...well...I suppose you weren't making things up about giant bubbles. Err...sergeant?”

Even the sergeant was somewhat dumbstruck. Quickly regaining his composure, he looked at his commanding officer.

“Sir.”

“Take Private Rostakovich back to camp, and get the rest of the men. Tell them to bring full kit and supplies.”

“Yes sir.”

Smartly turning about with that precision few could master, he did not have to encourage the named private to follow him back to camp. It might be about twenty minutes before the full platoon got back. Enough time to examine this...bubble. Approaching it, he gave it a light tap with his Browning M1900 pistol. It rippled and flowed, but it did not seem affected beyond that. Certainly very curious.

“Alright. Thomas, McDonald, you will come with me and Private Spencer and Private Nowak into this bubble...see if it there's anything inside. Trudeau and Larson will stay here for the when others return. Do you all understand?”

The men saluted weakly, somewhat because they were nervous, and affirmed the orders.

“Alright gentlemen, into the breach.”

With that, he stepped through, followed by the four nervous soldiers behind him.

o.O.o

Ponyville Library
7:47 P.M.

Luna felt something in the world change. She had felt it during the magical power unleashed by the sprite of Discord's control of Twilight Sparkle, but this...this was new. Like something new, unfamiliar, had set itself down in Equestria. And whatever it was, was nearby. She'd spent most of the night helping the dragon rearrange the books, often times sneaking a peek. To her own envy, which she quickly got over, Twilight did have some new and rare books that she herself had never read. One day she would have to visit as other ponies did, and as someone interested in checking the books out.

The force she now felt sent a wave of energy through her body, causing her normally slow flowing hair to quicken in pace. Stress was getting the better of her. Perhaps the night air would calm her. As she stepped outside, she realized the four guards ponies who had been waiting for her return, were still at attention.

“Your majesty.”

“Oh, Iron Gait, I forgot you were still out here.”

The old but reliable leader of the pegasus guards nodded. He understood that what had happened inside was something that kept slightly minor things like his fellow guards and himself out of the big picture. They had not seen or heard anything of the event, but the appearance of four of the elements of harmony bearing a fifth one towards the hospital had been the first signs of something troubling. However, Princess Celestia had appeared, giving orders that they were to assist her sister in anyway possible, before she had disappeared in a flash.

“It is alright your majesty. We came back from getting water anyhow.”

“Good. I would rather not have to tell my sister that the royal guards keeled over from dehydration because I forgot about them.”
She gave a small grin, allowing the guards a small smile as well. However her face turned to stone a few seconds later.

“Captain, something has appeared nearby. Possibly from another world. My sister said I am to investigate all occurrences and report them back to her at the palace.”

A loose interpretation of “keep me informed of all events”, but the words were more important than the actual meaning. Nodding, the captain got the other four together. Sensing something in the bushes nearby, she turned her head, horn glowing. A small “eep” and a pink shape rose from the bush, followed by a purple manned unicorn. Taking a second for recognition to kick in, Luna slowly stopped the flow of magic. Pinkie Pie and Rarity, two of the elements of harmony, were sheepishly looking out of the bush, though the unicorn was momentarily concerned with the leaves in her hair and was frantically trying to get a woolly bear to stop trying to eat it as well.

“Miss Rarity, Miss Pinkie Pie. What are you doing here?”

“Well, we were going to get Twilight some books for her to read when she got up and maybe get Spike as well, but then we saw Sugarcube Corner and thought to get her some scones, which Twilight really loves, and then we saw you talking with your guards ponies and we thought it might be neat to come on over...”

Rarity slapped a hoof over Pinkies mouth, though mumbles managed to still get past.

“What Pinkie is saying, your highness, is that we did see you come out of the library, and your worried look made us, curious. We didn't mean to pry this much.”

Luna managed to connect the dots fairly quickly. When she did, a laugh came out, then a small splutter of giggles. The two elements of harmony looked confused.

“Sorry...sorry...Its just been so long since anyone has tried to spy on me...sorry. Princess of the Night Court and Spies, etc.”

Regaining something akin to royal composure, she looked at them.

“I have a feeling that if I tried to dissuade you from coming, you'd only just come anyway.”

“Well, your majesty....”

The unfortunate timing of Rarity's removal of her hoof from Pinkies mouth allowed the energetic pink pony to rapidly agree to come along and provide sugary treats to those involved, and certainly she wasn't going to go without one of her bestest friends Rarity. Glowering for a half a minute at being dragged along, Rarity agreed to come as well. Luna stood straight up.

“Very well then. Iron Hoof, you and your fellow guards ponies shall accompany myself and the elements of generosity and laughter to find any of these portals which may be nearby.”

The pegasus guards saluted.

“Yes, your majesty.”
“Very good. Let us be off. Perhaps we can be back before the seventh toll of the seventh hour of this morning.”

With that, she climbed into the back of the royal chariot, and beckoned Rarity and Pinkie to sit next to her. Slowly Rarity climbed in, making sure to not ruin anything, and marveling at the expensive cloths and metals it was made out of. Pinkie bounced in, nearly rocketing Rarity back out, but thankfully calmed down enough that the guards could move without her falling out. Quickly they rose up into the sky, and began the search.

o.O.o

Five miles from Ponyville
Apple Orchard
8:01 P.M.

The small first band of militiamen were currently nervously looking about the apple orchard they were in. For one thing, things seemed...off. The sky was the right color, the ground was as well. But it was so..so..colorful. Pastel even, as though it wasn't actually a three-dimensional world. And a second thing was that even though he was three-dimensional, and knew right now he was three-dimensional, Second Lt. Mays was currently feeling as though he was two-dimensional, and not in the personality department either.

He held his pistol out in front of him, and looked around. They were on top of a hill overlooking a apple orchard plantation, apple trees stretching as far as the eye could see. Behind them stood the bubble, flexing as the wind hit its skin. Down the hill and about a mile distant, sat a small farmstead, pristine and clean looking. Maybe there were people nearby he could talk to. Off a ways, he thought he saw something that looked like a horse, but in the early morning light, it was hard to tell. It seemed to be simply trotting along a fenceline, likely let free to get some exercise by whatever farmer owned the property.

Mays heard Thomas cursing as an apple bonked him on the head. They were nearing the end of growing season, and already some looked kinda brown. Spencer was attempting to spear one with his bayonet when out of the blue, his rifle was sent flying.

“What in the blue blazes?”

The horse from earlier, and a large draft horse by the look of it, had kicked it out Spencers hands. Now, it turned its gaze on the rest of them. There was something...well, wrong about it. To Lt. Mays mind, the thing looked awfully human in the face. For one thing, the eyes were not the black spheres of most equines, but more like humans, only exaggerated, with large white sclera, and larger pupil and retinas than a normal horse. Then, there was the fact its face not only was frowning, but also had a twig of hay sticking out one side of the mouth, almost like some rural farmers Mays had seen elsewhere.

“Alright big fella, no need to get all upset. We're friends...right.”

Mays glanced at Private Thomas, who was trying to calm the horse. It merely glared at him and the other.

“Okay, right. Sorry for trespassing on your owners land.”
Now he was apologizing to the horse? He'd heard talking to them seemed to calm said creatures down, and horse whisperers were known to be among the best tamers in the business. Right now, he doubted any of them would do any good.

“Private Thomas...you raised horses, right?”

The private nodded, not taking his eyes off the prodigious hooves of the horse. The others gaze went down there as well. Big, blackish-brown hooves met their gaze. Horses were not a mystery to most of the men, but you had to respect them as well. Men dumb enough to mistreat one sometimes found that they had more memory for mistreatment than one would give such a creature. And hooves could kill if the blow was powerful enough or in the right place.

Mays had also been noting the rather odd coloration of the horse, a sort of cinnamon red, with a bright green...apple, branded on both rear ends. Odd brand, but maybe the orchard farmer branded all his horses with the brand.

“Maybe we should put the guns down. I don't think it likes the pointy bits.”

The others nodded. While they could shoot it, they felt that doing so would not only get an enraged farmer at them, but might be a bad idea in the long run. Slowly, after ordering it, they put their guns down, and put their hands up in a placating manner.

“Alright boy, we ain't gonna hurt you. Just keep calm.”

The motion seemed to placate the red-horse, who expelled a snort, and what for a second sounded like “eeyup.” Slowly pointing its head towards the farm, it seemed to be escorting them there. Deciding that behaving was the better part of valor in regards to this horse, the men held their hands out in front of them, while glancing back at their erstwhile captor. Now it seemed as though it was concentrating on keeping an eye on them, and the anger that had seemed to have been on its face was an implacable calm look. Mays shivered. Something bizarre was going on, and he had the unfortunate feeling he was going to be caught in the middle of it. Then he shivered worse then before.

Imagine the paperwork that he was going to get....

o.O.o

Above Sweet Apple Acres,
8:04 P.M.

Princess Luna saw it first. A large bubble, projecting from a hill in the north-fields of Sweet Apple Acres, pulsating with energy. The size of the thing was enormous, and the carriage could have flow through if needed at its current heigh. The odd thing was, it was not a true spheroid bubble, but more like an oval, wider in the middle than the top or bottom, and growing to a point at the top.

“Set us down near it, Captain Iron Gait.”

“Yes, your majesty.”

Slowly the carriage descended, landing near the bubble, but not passing into it. After it stopped, Pinkie, Rarity, Princess Luna, and Iron Gait left the carriage proper and began to look at it. Pinkies eyes were wide and she was scrambling about, giving it a mixture of glares and excited gazes. Rarity seemed to be more analytical, brow furrowed in deep concentration on the ground nearby, and slowly trotted off a ways. Luna and Iron Gait shared a look with each other. Both had seen many things in their respective lives, but the worried look that slowly tightened their mouths and brows into deadly concern was apparent. He was the first to break their mutual silence.

“What is it?”

“A portal that the sprite Discord created of himself formed. A door to another world from our own.”

Without warning, Pinkie hopped up to it, poking it everynow and then before one of the guards dragged her back, still babbling on about what exactly it was, and what might be on the other side.

“Oooh... do you think they have parties...we should throw a party for whoever is over there, I wonder if they like cake or ice-cream...”

Just as Pinkie was about to launch herself through it, she tripped over an object on the ground, and again was dragged back. Rarity glanced over, and raised an eyebrow at the wooden object lying on the ground.

“Funny, its not like the Apples to leave branches on the ground. Usually Big Mac or Applejack clear the fields twice a week of such debris.”

Luna examined the object, picking it up with her magic. Part of it was made of wood, from the lower end on up, till it became part of a metal tube, with a sharp knife on the end. Around it lay several more, though one seemed broken, as if something powerful had kicked it, and the smashed apple on the end may have been the reason for its destruction. A fifth object, smaller, and made entirely of metal, sat a bit away from the rest. Whatever it was, it looked dangerous. Sensing it would be good to stop the curious Pinkie from touching them, she gave orders for them to be stuffed in a nearby tree hollow. Rarity herself had been off looking at something else again, and muttered out loud about it.

“This is most peculiar.”

Luna, Pinkie, and Iron Gait trotted over. There in the early morning mud, were tracks. One set was recognizably that of Big Macintosh, the eldest Apple sibling, and one of the strongest stallions in Ponyville. But the four..hoof prints, for want of a better term for the strange tracks alongside his, were odder. They were pointed at the front them gradually changed towards the back into a larger, more rounded shape. A deeper hole was beneath the back part of the impressions, as if a smaller hoof grew from the larger one and had bit a hole below the main part of the hoof. The tracks led off to the main farm part of Sweet Apple Acres.

They all stared. Whether Big Mac had been taken hostage, or he the reverse, one thing was for certain. Whatever had come over, had met him, and now were headed for the farm. Dashing back to the carriage, they climbed aboard.

“To the farmhouse!”

o.O.o

Sweet Apple Acres
Farmhouse
8:06 P.M.

Lt. Mays was in a right state of mind. Right now, he was calmly drinking tea with a withered, green-skinned pony, who looked like his aunt Roberta, a smaller, yellow skinned, red maned one with a bow in her hair, and the large, cinnamon red one that had caught them. Right now, the other men were slowly adjusting to the singular realization that the ponies, judging by comparison of sizes with real life equines, were in fact the advanced species on this planet.

The first thing that had made him realize that, was the fact that the house and barn were shorter than was necessary or logical for a human farm. Secondly, the fact that the withered grandmother figure had been pumping water, while the small yellow one was curiously trying to fix a wagon with a hammer. And doing so fairly well, to be fair. The fact that it had in what seemed to be an odd dialect of English after conversing with the big one, had immediately kicked Spencer in the shin, on the subject of being a “no-account apple sneak-thief”.

And now they were drinking a passable blend of tea, from a box marked Canterlot Fine Tea's, Fancypants Speciality Blend. It was enough to make the logic centers in his mind slowly grind to a halt and accept it. Right now, the oldest of three ponies had fallen asleep, gently snoozing in a nearby rocker. As for the other two, their glares told him to be very slow in his movements. Spencer was still mumbling a storm of curses involving the kick to his shin, not very pleasant given the hoof on the animal involved, and the speed at which she had flying kicked him in his leg. The others silently stared at their teacups, pulling nervous sips every now and then.

Outside came a clatter of more hooves, and the sound of a carriage. The ears of the awake ponies perked up, and they stared out a nearby window. Mays noticed a large black as midnight shape drift past quickly. The door opened, and two larger ponies, slightly smaller than the one they had been caught by, entered, wearing golden armor, and what appeared to be wings folded up against their sides. Behind them came two smaller ponies, both female, one a purple maned, white skinned unicorn, and the other a bright pink pony. The pink one seemed to be held back by the unicorn, all the while trying to leap across the table, at the same time speaking faster than Mays could catch up with. At most he heard repeated mentioning of parties.

Then, she came in. She was tall, taller than the cinnamon pony, and thinner to. Her blue skin was un-mottled except in the back, where a splotch of even black midnight highlighted two moons on either side of her flank. The dark-blue as a summer-night sky mane seemed to flow like it wasn't actually hair. And after glancing at her eyes, Mays noticed that the others seemed to defer to her in some manner. After a second it clicked into place that she was wearing a small crown or something not unlike a tiara.

“Lads, stand up and give the nice lady horse a bow.”

Slowly, so as to not spook the others into a frenzy of shin-kicking or anything else, the five men stood up and slowly bowed, low enough that they could examine the grout on the floor. After hearing a polite, but firm cough, they stood at attention. The tall, black one was looking at them, as were the others. And suddenly he was clutching his ears, as were the others, as a loud voice seemed to come from her throat, louder than many of the cannon he'd heard fired on July 4th every year as a child. Quickly the voice dropped as if it realized how loud it had been.

“Sorry, still learning...”

Strangely, he could understand it through the ringing in his ear, but it was far away and close at the same time. Shaking his head, Mays grasped his hat from off the floor, dusted it off, and grasped a support beam nearby. His face set in an nervous grin, he gave a small salute, and wheezed out his answer

“Apology...accepted....”

He caught his breath, and at the same time as the tall, female pony with wings and horn, said, “Who are you?”