Here's the final chapter. I have to admit this is just doesn't look right to me. The battle is fine, but the ending looked a lot better in my head. I think I should go back and write the stories that led up to this. Either that or write something different. Maybe my muse will return and I'll be able to rework this. Anyway, check it out.
Chapter 9: Getting Out of Dodge
Twilight Sparkle watched the pegasi land in the group. “There’s no sign of the Order,” Firefly said.
“They’ll be here soon,” Magic Star said.
Twilight Sparkle found her eyes wander across the bleak landscape. Even for a desert, this place was deserted. They stood on a plain encrusted with white salt. There were mountains in the distance as well as dunes and other plains. However, life, even plant life, was sparse and appeared dead or least dormant. Death Valley was an all too fitting name for it.
‘The hottest place on the continent,’ Wind Whistler had said when they prepared to leave. It was the lowest point in what humans called North America, below even the level of the sea. Since air warms when it sinks, the heat here was often oppressive. Even in the waning hours of daylight, Twilight Sparkle was sweating in the heat both in the air and radiating from the ground.
It was also incredibly dry. She took a generous gulp of cool, fresh water from her canteen which was almost empty already. Hopefully the Order would show up soon. She did not know how much more of the parched heat she could take.
She suddenly felt a gentle, cool breeze wash over her. She looked to its source and saw that Ice Crystal and Gusty had combined their powers to cool everyone off. “Thanks, you two,” Magic Star said. “That feels great.”
The sun kissed the horizon and started to disappear behind the mountains in the distance. It had long since set in Dream Valley, but they were a couple thousand miles west from there/ Because the sun moved on its own…or rather the planet spun like a giant top and the sun stayed in one place, sunrise and sunset was occurring constantly somewhere on the planet.
It made her uneasy. This world was so alien to the one she knew. It had strange geographic features like freshwater seas and deserts almost completely devoid of life. It was also almost completely devoid of magic. She had thought magic was required for life. Even the Everfree Forest had magic though chaotic. However, this world somehow lived without it.
However, perhaps what disturbed her most was that Smith person. The air of cruelty to him was chilling. She had faced Nightmare Moon and other evil and malicious forces. However, the coldness, depravity, and conviction he displayed put them to shame. He thought he was right and deserved to do whatever he wanted because of it. She hoped most humans were like Megan and not him.
She turned to Magic Star, “Can you tell me about the Order? Why would they do this?”
Magic Star sighed and looked down as she appeared to be collecting her thoughts. “The Order is a group of fanatical humans. They believe this world’s civilization will end soon a new era will emerge where the most powerful faction will rule supreme. They intent to be that faction and steal advanced technology while sabotaging others’ research to make sure they are.”
Twilight Sparkle shuddered. “How could anyone look forward to the destruction of their own civilization let alone do such terrible things in preparation for it?”
“It’s an odd human behavior,” Magic Star said. “However, the Order is exceptional even for them.”
“There’s also a personal aspect to this. Although Magic Star wants us to stay out of human affairs, many of us believe we should make an exception here,” Fireball said. “Groups like the Order tend to make sure their future comes true. We liken them to the witches who believed in the same philosophy of might makes right. Having lived in such a world, we wouldn’t wish it on anyone. The Order must be stopped before they can do to humanity what the witches did to us.”
“Now that they’ve taken interest in us, I can’t really argue against,” Magic Star said. “Whether I like it or not, they’re our problem.”
“Wow. That’s deep,” Rainbow Dash said. “I have to admit, when I first saw your pink castle, I thought all you did was tea parties and boring stuff like that. Now I realize you put so much on the line for everyone.”
“We only wish could more sometimes,” Lightning replied.
The faint glow around Glory’s horn brightened. “I’m picking up movement out of the west. There’s a lot of it, moving in fast, and moving in our direction.”
Gusty and Ice Crystal stopped their breeze, letting the heat surround them again. Everyone stood their silently and looked to Magic Star.
“Everyone understand the plan?” Magic Star asked.
Everypony nodded.
Magic Star sighed and relaxed her body. She then tightened it again and took on a stern composure.
Twilight Sparkle squinted as she looked west into the setting sun. A large dust cloud emerged over the curvature of the horizon. It remained low to the ground, but it was wide. She soon saw odd flying machines suspended under wide, rapidly spinning rotors. On the ground were several strange land vehicles. The odd sounds they made reached her ears. This was actually the first time Twilight Sparkle had gotten up close and personal to the technology of this world, and like everything else it was bizarre to say the least.
“They’re too early,” Ice Crystal whispered to Magic Star. “The rainbow is still rebuilding power.”
“I’m well aware of that,” Magic Star replied calmly.
“I count five helicopters, a dozen S.U.V.’s and one tractor-trailer,” Hurricane said. “We’re talking sixty guys at least.”
“Against all of us?” Tornado scoffed. “They shouldn’t be so cocky.”
“Don’t forget they have the bargaining chip,” Ribbon scolded.
“I’m guessing they have the princess in that crate the lead helicopter is carrying,” Fireball said. “Though, if they brought the truck, I wonder why they’d go to the trouble.”
“We’ll soon find out,” Magic Star said coolly.
The vehicles stooped about a hundred feet away. The massive cloud of dust they kicked up kept coming towards them. Twilight Sparkle shut her eyes and turned her head away in preparation for the hot, dry, and probably salty dust to spread over them. However, she heard a blowing sound. She opened her eyes looked forward. Gusty’s wind magic cut through the cloud of dust and blew it off to the sides.
The flying vehicles landed behind the land vehicles except for the one in the center. It carefully lowered the dark gray container it held and landed behind it and in front of the line of vehicles.
A human male hopped out of the lead flying vehicle. Twilight Sparkle recognized his face as that of Smith’s. He was huge with a powerful build even though he looked older. He walked past the container towards them. Other humans wearing olive green clothing got out of the rest of the vehicles carrying strange, long devices of some kind.
Twilight Sparkle gulped has a shiver worked through her. This was the man and organization who captured Princess Celestia, feat she would have thought impossible before coming to this alien dimension.
“You’re early,” Magic Star said.
“So are you,” Smith replied. “How do you get from place to place?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” Magic Star replied. “However, we’re not here to trade notes. Where’s Princess Celestia?”
“She’s right here.” Smith pulled a device from a large pocket on his vest. He pressed a button on it, and it made a small beep. The cable attaching the container to the flying vehicle blew off with a spark, and the walls and top fell to the sides to reveal Princess Celestia shackled to the bottom.
Ribbon glanced to Magic Star and nodded.
“What was that?” Smith asked abruptly.
“Ribbon is a telepath,” Magic Star said. “She was confirming this was Princess Celestia and not some kind of trick.”
“Fascinating,” Smith said quietly. “What we’re going to do here is simple,” he said more clearly. “The unicorns will board our tractor-trailer.”
The giant land vehicle with a long box behind it backed up with long-winded beeps. It turned around so the back of it box faced them and backed up towards them. It stopped with a strange hiss, and a couple of humans opened the back door and pulled out a ramp.
Smith took a key from another of the many pockets on his vest. “I’ll then leave you the key to unlock the princess’ shackles and you will be on your free to go on your merry way.”
“How do I know you won’t turn around and kill us?” Magic Star asked.
Smith laughed loudly. “Please. Contrary to what you might believe about us, we don’t go around killing people or ponies without reason. You and your flying friends are of no use to us, so you can go.”
He turned to Twilight Sparkle and the other unicorns. “Get in the truck.”
Blinding flash suddenly lit up the area and just as quickly vanished. The humans looked around confusedly. Smith turned to the container and did a double take. Princess Celestia was gone.
“Where did…” Smith started to say.
“She’s up there,” someone shouted and pointed to Twilight Sparkle’s left.
Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing. Princess Celestia stood on the crest of a nearby rise.
“But, how?” Smith frowned and bared his teeth. “It doesn’t matter.” He turned to the humans and pointed to two of them. “You and you, come with me. Everyone else stay here. If the ponies try anything, shoot them.”
Smith and the two humans he pointed out ran towards the rise. The others trained their devices on Twilight Sparkle on the others. Twilight Sparkle felt her skin pickle with sweat. She knew what they were holding were ranged weapons of sorts. Anything could bring a hail of projectiles their way.
Smith trained his device on Princess Celestia. “Don’t think you can double-cross me pony.”
A bright ball of electric blue light shot from the device at Princess Celestia. The ball went right through her. Smith and the two flanking him stopped. Everyone looked to her standing there, not even reacting to being shot.
Celestia disappeared off the rise and suddenly reappeared shackled to the platform as before with Stargazer, Eclipse, and Sparkler next to her. Sparkler had her horn pointed at a shackle with white sparks flying from it. The three other shackles had been burned in half and lay on the platform.
“Nice job,” Eclipse said mockingly.
“How was I supposed to know he’d take a shot at my illusion?” Stargazer shot back.
“He’s a human with a gun, it’s almost a foregone conclusion,” Eclipse said.
“I thought he wanted her alive,” Stargazer said.
“You do realize they can see us, right?” Sparkler asked, not taking her sparking horn from the shackle.
Stargazer and Eclipse turned to the crowd staring at them. “Oh for the love of…” Stargazer’s horn suddenly began to glow. A small device floated out of its holder on the one of the humans’ belts. They all stepped back as it hovered in front of them. A pin in it flew out.
“Grenade!” one of the humans shouted. They all ran away from it. Twilight Sparkle did not know why until it exploded with a deafening boom and filled the area around it with a fiery blast.
The shackle fell off Princess Celestia’s leg. Sparkler’s horn dimmed and she picked up her head. “She’s free.”
The four jumped off the platform and ran towards the group.
A blue ball shot towards the main group. Hurricane jumped out of the way to avoid being struck. The ball faded as soon as it hit the ground to reveal it was a piece of metal.
Twilight Sparkle turned to where the projectile came from. Smith and the other two were bounding down rise towards them. The other humans had also recovered and were training their weapons. Barricade’s horn lit up and blue dome of energy surrounded them just in time to block the onslaught of projectiles fired at them.
“A little piece of rainbow would be good right now,” Stargazer said.
Magic Star placed her hoof on the small device in her ear. “Bow-Tie, we have the princess, but things have gone south. We need the rainbow five seconds ago.”
“We’re still rebuilding power,” Bow-Tie’s voice said from the device. “We can open it in two minutes.”
A loud explosion thundered over them. The ground quaked and Barricade winced. Cracks formed and spread a little on the dome where smoke rose in a column. “I can’t stave off this kind of a hammering for two minutes,” Barricade said with a strained voice.
“Tear down that shield and then switch to tazer darts,” Smith shouted over the onslaught. “I want them alive.”
A human shot something out of a larger device at them. The projectile shout flame out to its rear and exploded on the shield. Barricade set his teeth on edge as more cracks formed on his shield.
“What about Agent White’s men?” Wind Whistler asked.
Magic Star again touched her ear device. “Agent White, they’re here. We need assistance.”
“We’ll be there in five minutes,” White’s voice said.
“We’ll have the rainbow before they can get here,” Tornado complained.
“If we can’t hold them back, then let’s blow them back.” Gusty leapt out of the shield. She blasted a cloud of dust in Smith’s direction. He and the two humans with him flew off their feet and slammed into the rise.
The shield collapsed into a square in front of them and rushed forward. It knocked several humans down before dissipating.
Sparkler formed a bright spark on the end of her horn. The spark flew forward and ignited like a flare in a group, forcing them to cover their eyes to keep from being blinded.
Everything descended into chaos as the unicorns unleashed their magic. Ice, fire, lightning, and tornadoes tore into the crowd, sending them in random directions to get away from the hazards. A human got one of the larger projectile launching devices, but it was surrounded by a pink aura and flew out of his hands. Smith got to his feet in time to be blown down by Gusty again.
The flying machines started to spin their rotors. The slowly lifted off the ground with that strange sound they made. Magic Star turned to Rainbow Dash and the others. “It looks like it’s your turn.”
Wind Whistler, Firefly, and Hurricane took to the air. Rainbow Dash followed them, but Twilight Sparkle could tell she was not sure what they were supposed to do. There were flying machines remotely like them in Equestria, but nothing as powerful as these things.
Wind Whistler grabbed a sizeable branch off a dead tree. She flung it into the rotor on the tail. Sparks flew out of it as the wood splintered. The flying machine spun around and bounced off the ground. The two humans inside it jumped out of it before it tipped over on its side, breaking off the blades of the main rotor.
“The tail rotors are their weakness,” Wind Whistler said.
One of the remaining flying machines fired a rocket in Firefly’s direction. She made two tight loops with her legs on the inside. The rocket tried to follow, but spun out of control and tumbled away before exploding harmlessly in midair.
Twilight Sparkle stood there and watched the battle unfold. “A very interesting place you have found, my faithful student,” Princess Celestia said to her.
Twilight Sparkle looked up to her. She felt a pit form in her stomach. “I’m sorry for getting you into this.”
“Perhaps you should help get us out of it,” Princess Celestia suggested.
“Incoming!” Chief shouted.
Everyone ducked as a rocket split to spread a net. They jumped out of the way and it snagged nothing but the desert floor.
Twilight Sparkle realized the flying machines were the biggest threat. She remembered what Wind Whistler had said about their tail rotors. She focused and her magic built up. She thought about the tails of the flying machines. Her magic reached its peak and she inflicted it on her targets. The tails on all the remaining flying machines were surrounded by a pink light. They bent and twisted into unrecognizable shapes. The four machines all spun down out of the sky. Their occupants jumped out just before they hit the ground rolled out of the way before the blades fractured on the ground.
Twilight Sparkle exhaled as she let her magic subside. “How was that?” she asked, still panting. Bending metal was harder than it looked.
“Very good, my student,” Princess Celestia said.
With the air threat gone, the pegasi began diving at humans. They kicked them back and threw them into each other. Along with the magic attacks from the unicorns, they did not have the opportunity to use their weapons.
A land vehicle raced towards them. However, it smashed into an energy barrier, smashing in its front. Fireball toasted another with fire and Lightning fried another with electricity. The smell of burning oil and chemicals filled the air as columns of thick, black smoke rose from the destroyed machines.
Twilight Sparkle turned to Magic Star. “Does this happen often?”
“Often enough,” Magic Star answered. “You get use to it after awhile.”
“I think I’ll just stick to learning about friendship, it’s much safer,” Twilight Sparkle said. “Assuming we get out of this.”
A flash lit up the salt flats and colorful light shined from behind them. Twilight Sparkle looked back and saw the vortex of the rainbow. She never thought she would be so glad to see the swirling funnel of light.
“Everyone into the rainbow!” Magic Star shouted. “Fireball, hold them at bay.”
“You got it!” Fireball shot a stream of flame from his horn. He lit a line on fire between them and the humans. The humans backed away from the wall of yellow flames that made even the heat of the desert more intense.
Everyone ran towards the rainbow. Princess Celestia was first into the rainbow with Truly and Chief close behind. The pegasi flew into it and everyone else jumped in.
Twilight Sparkle was ready to jump in when she heard an engine roaring. One of the land vehicles jumped over the wall of flames and barreled towards them. She thought fast and with her magic brought a pillar of stone up through the desert floor in its path. The vehicle swerved to avoid it, but grazed it and fell over its side. It slid to a stop, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.
“Quick thinking,” Magic Star said. “Now let’s get out of here.”
Twilight Sparkle followed her into the vortex. A burst of warm light surrounded Twilight Sparkle and she was in the underground chamber in Dream Valley, thousands of miles away from the desert and those humans. The vortex faded meaning they could not follow either. She heaved a sigh relief.
* * *
Smith climbed out his overturned S.U.V. He watched the strange phenomenon the ponies had disappeared into collapse in on itself and vanish. He pounded his fist on the door. However, he suddenly felt the urge to laugh.
“Good show, ponies.” He chuckled. “You’re far more devious than I gave you credit for.” He bent his mouth out of the smile it had formed into. “I’ll remember that the next time we meet.”
He looked to the scattered men and destroyed equipment. He should be angry they took such a lopsided beating. However, it only increased his desire to obtain magic. Then they could inflict this kind of damage themselves.
“Sir,” one of the soldiers shouted. “There are a large number of helicopters headed this way.”
“It’s probably White and his people,” Smith grumbled. He took out his radio. “This is Smith. Pick us up.”
* * *
Celestia looked at everything around her. The odd tunnel they appeared in led out into a large chamber. Dozens of ponies were gathered at the opening, looking at them. Pinky Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and two Applejacks were among them.
“Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, “I want you to meet the ponies of Dream Valley.”
The others that had come to the desert joined the group and bowed to Celestia. “I am Magic Star, the Mistress of Dream Castle,” the yellow earth pony with green hair said. “On behalf of our group, I welcome you to our home.”
Celestia smiled. “Thank you, Mistress Magic Star. I am glad to see you took good care of my student and her friends.”
“It will be an hour before we can open a portal to your world,” Magic Star said. “If you want, we could give you a short tour and explain some things about this world.”
“I would like that very much,” Princess Celestia said. She looked at the chamber and the bizarre machinery around it. “From what I’ve seen, there’s a lot to explain.”
* * *
Agent White looked down at the salt flats below them. In moments they would be over where the ponies had called from. They crested a hill and flew over a valley. That was the location, but it was empty. There were scorch marks, but nothing remained. It was like no one had been there.
“Not again,” White grumbled. “How could they have gotten away so quickly?”
He turned to his pilot. “Head back to base.”
The pilot nodded and turned them back the way they came.
White took one last look at the valley. The battle had to have been fierce with plenty of wreckage. They could not have driven away in such a short time and cleaned up so thoroughly. He knew the ponies had some kind of machinery that let them reach any place on earth which is why were gone. Apparently the Order did too which would make his job that much harder.
* * *
Luna blinked her eyes open to a flash. A swirling vortex of light and color formed in front of her. She nudged Spike lying against her side.
“What?” Spike said groggily.
Luna slid herself out from under Spike and stood up. She examined the thing in front of her. It was like nothing she had ever seen, but it was exactly where Celestia had broken through to the other dimension.
Her older sister then appeared in it along with Twilight and her friends. She ran into the vortex, ignoring what dangers it might pose to nuzzle her sister’s side. “You’re back.”
“And it’s definitely good to be back,” Celestia replied, nuzzling Luna in return. “You wouldn’t believe what’s on the other side.”
Luna looked up and saw three other ponies behind Twilight and the others. “Who are you?”
“We’re ponies from Dream Valley in the other dimension,” the white unicorn said. “I’m Gusty and these are Wind Whistler and Magic Star.”
“Ponies from another dimension?” Luna asked.
“It’s a very long story,” Twilight said. She then yawned. “We can talk about it tomorrow. I’m ready for bed.”
Her friends grumbled their agreement.
Celestia turned back to the earthling, Magic Star. “Will you be forbidding interdimensional travel?”
“You saw how dangerous our world is,” Magic Star said. “That was just the Order who we thought was none of our concern. There are harpies, penguins, and all other kinds of dangers like nothing your kingdom has ever seen. I’m afraid anyone coming to our world would be putting themselves in danger, or worse someone from our world could learn of yours.”
“However, we live in a world of risk,” Celestia said. “If we tried to avoid all risk, we would never improve. I think it would do your ponies good to be able to come to Equestria. You have been on your own for so long, knowing there are those like you and being able to interact would be good for you. In fact, how would you like to be a part of Equestria?”
“Why would you want us to be a part of your country?” Gusty asked.
“You’re ponies like us,” Celestia said. “You might not be exactly like us, but that doesn’t matter. You’re also protecting a very powerful force in the rainbow from evil forces. I would be honored to know such valiant ponies were a part of my land.”
“Come on, Magic Star,” Gusty said.
Magic Star paused. She heaved a sigh and smiled. “Why not? However, don’t expect regular visits.”
“I hope you can spend more time in Equestria and have a better visit than your first,” Twilight said. “I promise things are usually less hectic here.”
“They’re a lot more fun too,” Pinkie Pie added.
“As well as more refined,” Rarity said.
“We will look forward to it. We will also see if there is a way to communicate between dimensions,” Wind Whistler said. “In the meantime we should get back to our world and let you get back to yours.”
Everyone said their goodbyes and the three ponies disappeared back into the vortex and that collapsed into nothing.
“Can some explain what just happened?” Luna asked.
“We were just saying good-bye to some new friends,” Twilight said.
“Speaking of friendship,” Celestia said, “did you learn something new?”
Twilight nodded. “I learned that no matter how far you travel and how strange the places you visit, you’ll always find friends if you look hard enough.” She stopped and looked at where the vortex had been. “However, I think I’ve learned what it means to be a hero too. Those ponies put their lives on the line to help others with no glory or reward waiting for them. They do it because they know it’s the right thing to do. Even if we would never meet them again, they did all that for us.”
Applejack looked around. “Speaking of ‘heroes,’ where are the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”
* * *
Magic Star walked down the ramp to the opening of the tunnel with Wind Whistler and Gusty flanking her. “Part of the reason I agreed is because we’re unfortunately going to have to take a low profile here. Now that the Order is after us specifically, we cannot leave anyone exposed. We’re protected here under the field that conceals Dream Valley. However, in the outside world we’re a constant target. That unfortunately means keeping our relationship with Megan’s family a secret.”
“Sundance will be heartbroken to hear that,” Wind Whistler said. “However, I have to agree. They would be in danger if the Order learned about them.”
“What about the harpies?” Gusty asked. “They know about our connection to Megan and her family. What if they tell the Order?”
“Considering their dispositions,” Wind Whistler said, “I find it highly unlikely the Order and the harpies would ever cooperate. We should also consider finding ways to hide our identity while out in public.”
“You mean like ponies in disguise?” Gusty asked.
“Possibly,” Wind Whistler replied.
Magic Star sighed. “Yet another enemy to worry about. This world is starting to look like our old one.”
“At least everyone from Equestria has safely returned to their own world,” Wind Whistler said.
“Hey, Magic Star!” Applebloom said as she, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo trotted up to them.
“Wait…you were supposed…why aren’t you back in Equestria?” Magic Star asked angrily.
“We stayed behind and hoped no one would notice,” Scootaloo said. “There’s still way too much to see and do in this world. Our special talents might still be out there.”
“We could pilot one of those flying thingies,” Applebloom said giddily.
“Helicopters?” Magic Star asked dully.
“Yeah those,” Applebloom said.
“Cutie Mark Crusader Helicopter Pilots, yay!” The three smacked their hooves together.
Magic Star scowled at nothing in particular. She was just scowling at it being late and at her nearly getting killed or captured and at just when she thought it was all over it was not. “How long before we can bridge to Equestria again?”
“One…” Wind Whistler started to say.
“Too long!” Magic Star cut her off.
* * *
“The pony we captured escaped and we weren’t able to capture any others,” Smith said into the microphone to the recorder. “However, the night was not completely fruitless. The remote E.K.G. scans we took during the battle validated my theory. While using their magic, the neural activity of the unicorns increased far beyond that needed for cognitive thought. How they can safely raise their neural activity and manifest it as magical powers remain a mystery requiring more in-depth study of unicorn physiology, but the Order has taken an important first step to adding magic to our perfect arsenal.”
He stood up and walked to the windows covered by blinds. He pulled one set open and stared at the Matter Assembler Scatter Send Device. The ponies had something similar. Along with magic, he wondered what else they might have.