Stargate: Equestria

Connection

Chapter 6

O'Neill strode back through the town at an unhurried pace, ignoring the ponies who shied away from him this time. It didn't take very long before he heard a gentle clopping of hooves on the ground beside him. Glancing down, he murmured, "Hey there Freckles."

"Colonel," came the amiable reply. "If it ain't too much trouble, can I ask ya ta call me Applejack? AJ's fine too. I got to admit I don't like that nickname much." The brim of her hat hid her face from him, but her voice was steady and polite.

O'Neill waved a hand expansively. "Hey, I make fun of everyone. Why should I make an exception for you?"

"'Cause I asked politely."

He pursed his lips, then puffed out a breath. "Fair enough, Applejack."

She tilted her head so he could see her smiling up at him. "Appreciate it, Colonel."

"Call me Jack. So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

She gave a shrug. "I'm on my way back to the farm. Pinkie Pie pulled me inta Sugarcube Corner ta help her make cupcakes. That took up mosta my day."

"Ah. So you're responsible."

"Come again?"

"She tried to commit assault by cupcake earlier."

Applejack let out a small laugh. "She is a character, all right."

They walked along in silence for a minute or two before O'Neill casually asked, "So are we gonna have guards on us every night?"

She blinked up at him. "'Scuse me?"

"None of us have been left alone for more than a couple minutes in Ponyville. Fluttershy found me earlier, Pinkie Pie found Teal'c, and now you're escorting me back through town."

The pony tilted her head, frowning in puzzlement. "Yeah? So what?"

O'Neill shrugged. "So if I didn't know better, I'd say you don't trust us."

Applejack's face twisted up into a mixture of confusion and annoyance. "Well, aside from the fact we only jus' metcha today, we've been hangin' 'round ya because we like ya. It ain't a matter of trust, it's a matter of wantin' ta get ta know ya better."

He grunted. "But what about them?" He gestured at a random pony, who started in surprise at the attention before ducking down an alleyway. "See? You and your friends are the only ones who've spoken to us."

"And humans are all the same where you come from?" she shot back. "My friends and I have an easier time with new folk. That don't make other ponies here any worse, jus' different." She let out a huff of breath. "Guards indeed. Ain't no need to be so cynical, Jack."

"Try telling me not to breathe. That usually works better."

She snorted out a laugh. "All I'm sayin' is we're not out to getcha. An' I don't think you're out to get us." She bumped his leg with her flank, smiling up at him. "Relax, will ya?"

"No promises."

As they approached the large tree of the library, the door swung open and Carter stepped out into the street. She had to duck under the doorjamb to do so, and let out a long stretch before looking up and smiling. "Hey, Colonel, Applejack. Twilight Sparkle was right, it's a tight fit in there."

O'Neill stopped by Carter, but Applejack demurred. "I best be getting home. Y'all have a good night." With a smile for each of them, she continued on down the road.

The humans waved and watched her go, then Carter turned back to O'Neill. "So where did you set up camp? I could use some downtime." O'Neill pointed off into the distance, and she nodded. "I'll let Daniel know." She pulled the top half of the door back open, poking her head in as she relayed directions to Jackson. That done, the two began walking to camp.

"So did you find anything...juicy?"

Carter quirked an eyebrow at him and smiled. "Not really, no. The library is pretty fascinating, and I learned a lot about Equestria." She paused, then frowned thoughtfully. "But very little actual history. Most of it is collected applied knowledge, and what history there is only goes back a few hundred years." She pursed her lips, musing. "I did find an account stretching back about a thousand years, though, and Twilight filled me in on some of the details." She briefly outlined the story of the Mare in the Moon and how Celestia imprisoned her sister Luna there for a full millennium.

O'Neill cut in with a frown. "Celestia? The same one Twilight talked about? A thousand years ago?"

"I thought that was weird too. As far as Twilight knows, Celestia is immortal."

He grunted. The pair reached the campsite and began rooting around in their bags for personal items. O'Neill slipped a couple apples out of his pack and tossed one to Carter. "Think she could be a Goa'uld?"

Carter caught the apple casually with one hand. "Well, that's the interesting thing. Celestia imprisoned Luna for...well, turning evil, basically. As if she became a different person entirely...or pony, I guess." She took a bite of the apple and waved the hand that held it vaguely as she ate. "Then, last year this 'Nightmare Moon' character returned to Equestria and attempted to claim dominion. Twilight seemed a little reluctant to talk about it, so I didn't get all the details, but from what I understood she and her friends performed a kind of...I don't know, exorcism on this Nightmare Moon, freeing Luna and restoring her personality." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Sound familiar?"

O'Neill saw her eyebrow and raised a second. "Sure sounds like the egobugs to me."

"Exactly. It's possible Nightmare Moon was Epona trying to return to power. Or it could have been some other symbiotic creature entirely, but Goa'uld seems likely." She shrugged. "Either way, it sounds pretty likely that Epona is permanently dead or gone."

"That's the trouble with you optimists," O'Neill complained. "You're always being...optimistic."

Carter smiled at him and finished the apple, then began to unpack her surveying equipment. "Well, as long as we're here, I might as well take what readings I can. I didn't get a chance to collect any data on P5J-924, so this is better than going home empty-handed."

O'Neill lifted his apple in acknowledgement. "Have fun," he called after her in his usual deadpan. "Don't go too far."

---

It was well into evening when Jackson returned to camp. O'Neill had his P90 spread out in orderly disassembly before him on a blanket, methodically cleaning each piece. He glanced up at Daniel, a hint of disapproval in his voice. "You're late."

Jackson tossed his backpack into the cradle of a nearby tree's roots and settled down by the fire. He shrugged sheepishly. "I guess I lost track of time. Twilight Sparkle has an incredible library, and I swear she's read every book in it."

O'Neill began to reassemble the rifle, snapping pieces back together with slightly more force than necessary. "You didn't radio in. Carter and I were about to go look for you."

"...Ah. Right. Um...we sort of took the radio apart so I could show Twilight the fundamentals of radio communication." Jackson's contrite note brightened. "She was really interested and picked it up faster than most college students. And the fine control she has with that telekinesis is really amazing! You'd think their object manipulation wouldn't be that hot considering they don't have, you know, fingers, but I don't think I could have done as good a job of reassembling it. And I'm starting to get a handle on the kind of forces she employs. They call it magic, but it seems more like a sort of extrasensory -"

Daniel might have continued on in that bubbly tone for some time had O'Neill not interrupted with a long-suffering sigh. "Did you figure out the gate symbols?"

"- right. Well...no. Twilight had her little dragon buddy send word to the capitol for some more books. We should have better luck tomorrow."

"You better. This whole thing is starting to remind me of Abydos." O'Neill fixed the other man with a hard-eyed stare. "We need to get out of here before you decide to fall in love and stay behind again."

A flush suffused Jackson's face, but he didn't retort. For a time, the only sound in the camp was the steady clacking of metal on metal as O'Neill finished putting the rifle back together. By then, the anger and embarrassment had left Jackson's face, replaced by an expression O'Neill recognized and feared: that faraway look of a theoretician with too much time on his hands. "If both participants are sapient beings, is it really besti-"

"Do not finish that sentence, Jackson." Silence fell again for several heartbeats, broken by O'Neill's audible shudder. "I'm going to sleep."

---

O'Neill awoke early the next morning to find two ponies standing over him. He didn't recognize them specifically, but their manner was clear enough. Their polished gold uniforms, square jaws, and no-nonsense expressions marked them as guards. No matter how many civilizations O'Neill met, no matter how bloodthirsty or mild-mannered they were, guards always looked grumpy and none too bright. Jackson would probably call it a universal constant or something.

The colonel sighed and rubbed at his eyes. "All right, boys, I'm up." He straightened to a sitting position, and the two guards took a couple of careful steps away. O'Neill rolled his eyes and covered a yawn with one hand, dragging his pack to him with the other. "Why the long faces?" Around the small camp, Jackson and Carter had already awoken and were busy cleaning themselves and the camp up.

One answered, his voice crisp and strong. "Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia demands your presence immediately. Come with us sir."

O'Neill shot the guard a bleary-eyed glare, less for the order than for missing the joke, then dismissed him entirely from his world. He dug around in his pack until he came up with a protein bar and flask of water. Popping the top off the canteen, he took a long swig of water, then began to unwrap the protein bar. He tore the metallic wrapper down the seam, carefully peeling it away from the chocolate-flavoring-dipped nutrition stick.

The guards bore this in silence for all of ten seconds. Then the one who had spoken cleared his throat and advanced on O'Neill, his glare intensifying. "Sir, when Princess Celestia demands an audience, you will not keep her waiting."

O'Neill adjusted the half-opened wrapper until the protein bar looked nothing so much like a menacing figure with a huge, flared collar. Only then did he look up, giving each of the guards a flat, direct look. "You see him?" He waved the bar at Jackson, who looked up in bemusement. "He's died often enough to make a cat nervous. Carter over there?" Carter paused in repacking her bag as he pointed his breakfast at her. "She blew up a sun." The bar swiveled around until it pointed to himself. "Me? I've killed more gods than you'll ever meet." He jabbed the bar at the guard who had spoken, and the armored pony took a step back as though it were a weapon. "Royalty waits until I've had breakfast." His position made clear, he bit down on the bar, taking its head clean off.

The guard who had spoken scowled and snorted out a breath, but the other cleared his throat and gave him a pointed look. They both settled into silence as O'Neill deliberately chewed on the bar, closing his eyes and making a show of savoring each bite. Jackson shook his head and went back to his own belongings. "I wish you'd stop teasing the locals for once, Jack."

"Applejack asked me to stop being so cynical last night. That's two wishes that'll never come true." O'Neill finally finished off the rest of the bar, wadding up the packaging and stuffing it back into the pack. He took another drink from the canteen, then got to his feet with a groan. The ponies paced a step as he towered over them, but all he did was grab his tac vest and gun, getting everything slung in place. "All right, boys. Take me to your leader." He smiled a little over at Jackson. "You know, that never gets old." He got an eyeroll for his trouble, which just stretched the grin wider.

The group strode into town, the two guards flanking the three humans. As they approached the library, they could see a finely-wrought gold chariot sitting empty by the door, but nobody else. "Hey, Laurel, Hardy." Though the two ponies shared a look of confusion, they did glance back up at O'Neill. "Where's Teal'c?"

"Teal'c?"

"Yeah, our other team member? Tall, dark, way too serious?"

The two traded another look, then the speaker shrugged. "We only know of you three."

O'Neill sighed and took a second to gather his patience. "All right, then he's probably still down at the infirmary." He looked between the two guards. "Go tell him to come back here. You can take his place guarding the prisoner."

The talkative one bristled, glaring up at O'Neill. "We do not take orders from y-"

"Hey!" O'Neill's voice barked out louder, authority ringing even in the single word. "Your 'princess' wants an audience with us. She doesn't get it until my whole team is here." He jabbed a finger at the ground in front of him for emphasis and stared down at the pony, eyes hard. "Now. Go. Find him."

The two guards hesitated a heartbeat longer, then with sullen expressions they turned away from O'Neill and began trotting down the road.

Jackson sidled up behind O'Neill, voice pitched low. "Don't you think you were being a little hard on them?"

O'Neill answered steadily enough, although impatience tinged his voice. "Daniel, when have I ever let pompous blowhards push us around?"

"I'm just saying you might want to be a little more careful. Judging by their armor and the fact they showed up with the princess, they're probably royal guard. Their opinion of you might carry some weight."

"Let you know when I care."

Jackson traded a shrug with Carter, and the trio waited in silence for a minute. A thought occurred to O'Neill, and he turned to frown at Jackson. "Didn't you say last night your pony friend sent for books?"

"Yeah." The same frown was on Jackson's face. "We were just going to continue our research today once a courier had sent the books along."

"But now we have royalty coming to visit." O'Neill arched an eyebrow. "Strike you as odd?"

They fell once more into thoughtful silence until a weary-looking Teal'c trudged up the road to them. "Good morning!" O'Neill called out in a too-cheerful voice. "Did you leave the twins to look after our new friend?"

Teal'c came to a halt in front of the trio and nodded gravely. "They were not happy about it. I made it clear that their options were limited."

O'Neill nodded approvingly. "Good man. How did things go with the Japanese?"

All three stared at him. Even though Carter and Jackson were behind him, he could feel their eyes on him. Teal'c eventually gave voice to what all three were thinking, voice cautious. "To whom are you referring, O'Neill?"

The colonel twisted around, looking at all three with mild annoyance. "You know." He waved a hand vaguely in the air. "Jaffa. Ponies. Japonies. Japanese."

Other than a soft groan from Carter, the stark silence stretched on well into discomfort. Eventually O'Neill complained, "Well, that's what happens when I get woken up for no good reason." He cleared his throat and eyed Teal'c. "Brind'l. How did it go with Brind'l?"

Teal'c answered as though no horrific pun had actually been loosed on the world. "Quite well, Colonel. He still will not tell us anything about his comrades, but I do not think he intends to continue fighting in Epona's name."

"Well, that's something, anyway. One down, a bunch more to go." O'Neill jerked his head to the library door. "Let's go meet her Princessness."