Chapter 2

“You seem very confident of your analysis of Discord.”

“I spent quite some time putting it together. Interviews, facts, all were checked personally by me.”

“Well, if this information is correct General, then it seems as though our problems have just started.”

“Perhaps, Mr. Secretary, but at least now we have a grasp on the what the unknown is capable of.”

“True, but what about the enemy? What do they know about know about us?”

“I wouldn't go as far as calling whatever lies ahead our enemy. However, I can guarantee that whoever is out there can easily breach our security, if they haven't already.”

---

Two Days After the Attack:

“Alright gentlemen, tell me what I'm looking at.” Secretary of Defense John Casey sat down in a small conference room deep below ground. Around the table were several of the nation's highest military personnel, including the Chiefs of Staff. In addition to these high ranking officers and their advisers, there were a few of the lower ranking officers, Admiral Bogart being one of them.

“We're looking at a coordinated hit on every major city across the globe. Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Bejing, Moscow, London and Paris.” General Paxton said. “Also, Seattle.”

A map of the world flashed up on the screen, red dots over every city that had been hit.

“Casualties were extensive, each city averaging over two million dead and millions more injured.” Paxton continued. “However, the military suffered relatively little, almost none at all.”

“So this attack wasn't meant to cripple us?” Secretary Casey asked.

“As far as we know, this attack had the sole purpose of a terror attack.” Paxton replied. “What's more disturbing is that we have no idea who, or even what attacked us.”

“Actually, General, I believe Admiral Bogart may be able to shed some light on that.” The Secretary of the Navy interjected.

All eyes turned to Bogart, but he did not skip a beat. “As you may have heard, Seattle was the headquarters of whatever that thing was. When we took down the Seattle hub, the rest fell instantly.”

“We all realize that you saved the planet.” The Secretary of the Air Force cut in. “But how does that help us right now?”

“Because I learned its name, what's more I and most of the men saw it.” Bogart shot back.

That had the everyone's attention. Bogart pulled an artist's sketch of what he had seen in the castle up onto the large screen. “First of all, it's name is Discord.” Bogart said and then pulled up a picture of the note. “Second and more importantly, he's coming back.”

Three stories above the secret meeting, still deep underground, three men sat in the security room having an important debate.

“You're kidding me, right? 'Day of Discord?' No way. 'Discord Disaster' sounds way better.” Lieutenant Butter said.

“Nah man, you don't what you talkin'bout! 'Day of Discord' has that kind of, Sci-Fi, sound to it, yah know?” Sergeant Williams responded.

“What do you think, Robin?” Butter asked the third man in the room. Corporal Robin was about to answer when the door to the security room opened.

“Officer on deck!” Williams yelled.

“At ease, gentlemen. Just checking.” Colonel Granger walked in and sat down. “How's it going?”

“Nothing to report.” Butter said.

“Good, let's hope it stays that way.” Granger said. “Can I get you boys anything? Coffee maybe?”

“No Sir, we just sent Private Miller to go get some.” William replied.

The men all liked Granger. Typically, the type of colonel they got was some snobby jerk with ideas of getting a general's promotion and usually walked on their men to get it. Not Granger, he had no promotions in mind and would rather treat his men with respect.

It was tough being assigned to a base that technically didn't exist, but ever since Granger had arrived, morale had been on the rise. His job was head of the Marine security detail that guarded an underground base in the middle of a forest miles from civilization. The hundred or so men couldn't go on leave unless they first changed into civilian clothes, ensured that nothing could identify them as Marines, and drinking was out of the question.

The former colonel had been strict with the regulations, terrorizing the men and punishing them for the slightest offense. Granger was his replacement, equally as strict when it came to things like security and maintenance, but at the same time giving the men enough freedom to not feel as though they were in prison.

He also made sure that the men knew he was bound by the same chains that they were, often times giving up certain privileges that he alone was entitled to. The effect had been felt immediately, and soon the men swore that they would serve with him even if they had to run through hell to do it.

“So did I interrupt anything?” Granger asked.

“No Sir, we were just discussing the news.” Butter answered.

“Oh, what was so interesting in the news?” Granger leaned back in the seat and propped his feet on the railing on the wall.

Butter explained: “Well, the recent attack, the news networks all have different names for it. C-N-N is calling it 'The Day of Discord,' Fox is calling it 'The Discord Disaster,' and M-S-N is calling it 'Contact; Discord.' I said that I like 'The Discord Disaster' while Williams says that 'The Day of Discord' is better.”

Granger looked between the two men and thought it over for a moment. “Yep, gonna have to go with Fox on this one. 'Discord Disaster' is my vote.”

Butter gave a triumphant laugh while Williams groaned. “Man, shoulda' known officers would side with each'chother.”

Granger smiled, it felt good to have something to smile about after all that had happened. The stress had been piling on ever since the VIPs had shown up. The Secretary of Defense, several Chiefs of Staff, and even Admiral Bogart himself were three floors below having an important meeting.

Suddenly, a red light came on and a small beeping began. The men stopped laughing immediately and were all business.

“Motion detected, two miles east, too big to be wildlife.” Williams said.

“Drone launched, eyes on in one minute.” Butter reported.

“Sniper teams report that they are aware of the bogey, beginning sweep now.” Robin said.

“Tell them to hold fire until we have visual confirmation.” Granger ordered.

Robin relayed the information while Butter and Granger watched the monitor of the drone feed. The forest was spread out below it, the thick trees made it impossible to see through.

“Switching to infrared.” Butter announced. The screen turned blue with several red blots, the largest of which was definitely human shaped and moving straight towards the base.

“ETA until snipers have visual?” Granger asked.

“Should be up right now.” Robin said.

Butter typed on the keyboard in front of him. “Okay, setting drone to auto pilot, and switching feed right now.”

The image went from an overhead view of a blue forest to a ground view of a green and brown forest. In the distance, someone could be seen moving.

“Zoom in.” Granger ordered. “Do we have sound?”

“Coming up now.” Butter said.

The person slowly got closer while a collection of forest noises filtered in. Butter typed on the keyboard some more and the ambient noises faded to leave the voice of a little girl. The video confirmed that a girl of high school age dressed in a sweatshirt and jeans and wearing oversized glasses was indeed walking through the forest holding what appeared to be a sort of phone with a long antennae.

She could be heard muttering. “Stupid thing, why can't I get a bearing?” She slapped it a few times and another voice, a boy's voice could be heard. “Oh yeah, hitting it is going to make it better.” Granger relaxed. “Tell our boys to stand down.”

“Sir, snipers cannot confirm origin of the other voice.” Butter said cautiously.

“It's from her cellphone. She was probably out camping with her friends and got lost.”

Williams shook his head but said nothing. “Should we release the dogs to scare her off?” He asked.

“You kidding me? She couldn't outrun a Chihuahua much less our Shepherds. I'm going out. I've got a niece about her age, so I can handle her.” Granger explained.

“You going out like that Sir?” Robin asked.

Granger gave him a 'are you kidding me' look and said. “Of course not, remember that we're undercover.”

He stepped out of the room. Butter turned to the other men and smiled. “You got to admit, Granger's the only guy I know who would rather talk to her than let the dogs out.”

Williams turned back to the monitor. “He's got balls, that's for sure.”

Granger stepped out of the concealed door wearing a United Forest Service uniform and walked towards the girl's location. The door was closed by a concealed Marine standing guard. The girl was easy to find, snipers were watching her every movement and gave Granger constant updates. He could hear her arguing with her cellphone and why it wasn't working from quite a ways away and probably could have found her without the sniper's help. She didn't notice his approach and he stopped not more than ten feet away. It was then he noticed that the backpack she had on was squirming.

“I hope that's not a Spotted Owl in there.” He said loudly. The girl nearly threw her cellphone and whirled around, an embarrassed look on her face.

“Oh, um, *Gulp* Hi.” She managed to say.

Granger raised an eyebrow. “You know, this area is off limits. Only thing allowed to be here are endangered owls.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn't know.” Then she straightened up. “Well, if the only endangered species are allowed out here, then why are you here?”

Granger smiled, at least this girl had a little spirit. “Counting.” He explained. “I keep track of the owls in this region. And, I also keep nosy little girls out. Now, that backpack has something moving inside of it, can I please see it?”

The girl recoiled at first, but then nodded. She took off the backpack, set it on the ground and unzipped it. Out popped a little dog that barked cheerfully at Granger.

“Well, what do we have here?” Granger knelt down began to scratch the dog's ears. “You're not a spotted owl, are you?”

The girl smiled as she pet her dog. “His name is Spike, he has a lot of personality in him.”

“I can see that.” Granger said as Spike nuzzled up against him. “Well, no harm, no foul. I'll get you as far as the nearest road, then can you find your way back from there?” He asked.

She nodded and put the backpack on again, Spike cheerfully sitting comfortably. Granger started to walk and make idle conversation. “So, you got a name?” He asked.

“Twilight.” She said.

“Twilight huh? Got a last name?”

“Sparkle, Twilight Sparkle.” She admitted.

Granger looked at her with disbelief. “Tell me, are your parents from Woodstock?”

“No.” She said rather confused. “At least I don't think so.”

Granger's earpiece crackled and Williams' voice came through. “File pulled up, she matches her school ID; Canterlot High.”

Granger was about to say more when thunder ripped through the forest. Spike whined. He looked up and saw the skies clouding over, except the clouds looked strangely off. “Odd.” He said to himself. “Not supposed to have rain today.” A big, fat drop came down right on the girl's glasses. Granger looked over and saw brown discoloration.

“Hold still.” He said. He wiped his finger across the glass and sniffed it. It smelled like chocolate. Another drop came down, then another and another until the entire forest was engulfed in rain. Chocolate rain.

Suddenly, the girl's cellphone began to beep excitedly, except Granger could tell it wasn't a cellphone now.

“What is that?” He yelled.

“It's nothing.” Twilight said, hiding it behind her back. Granger took a step towards her and she backed away.

“Listen, you have five seconds to explain yourself or I'll,” Granger stopped.

He noticed that the trees were going down. He looked down and realized that instead he was going up. Twilight realized it as well, only too late. By the time Granger had managed to grab a tree branch and hold on for dear life, she was starting to float away.

“Help!” She cried, flailing wildly.

Granger pulled himself to the tree and turned around. The entire forest was rising, anything not anchored down. Leaves, rocks, even the rain had formed into little droplets and were just floating up.

“Colonel! Colonel! Are you there?” Williams yelled into the earpiece. Granger ignored him. The girl was too far way from any tree to grab onto something, but she hadn't risen above the tree tops yet. Granger sighed and then coiled himself up. He carefully pick a tree that coincided with his and the girl's path and then launched himself. She saw him coming and reached out for him, but he ignored her outstretched arms and body slammed her in midair. He heard her gasp for air, but at least now they were moving.

Granger managed to rotate himself in midair and use his body as a shield when the two of them slammed into a tree. Now it was Granger's turn to have the wind knocked out of him, however he latched onto the tree with one arm and held onto the girl with the other. She sobbed into his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Just then, the Twilight's device stopped beeping. Granger realized too late what was about to happen. Gravity kicked in and before he could tighten his grip, he was ripped from the tree and fell earthward. Branches smacked into his back and he grasped at the limbs, but to no avail. He landed with a thud in muddy ground.

Normally, such a fall wouldn't have been to bad, but again, he had used himself as a human airbag for the girl.

“Ow.” He managed to wheeze.

Twilight groaned and began to push herself up, pushing Granger back down. “What happened?” She asked. Granger ignored her and rolled Twilight off with an undignified push. He got to his feet and tried to get his communication set to work.

“Granger to base, status?” He demanded.

There was a large amount of static, then Butter's voice came through, alarms blaring in the background. “Colonel! It's a mess down here, we have several sections in danger of collapsing and personnel are pretty shook up!”

Granger cursed, looked at Twilight's shocked face and instantly apologized for his language. “Butter! Get the VIPs to their rooms! Two guards per room! Launch the drones and do a full sweep of the area! Engineers are to report to the most critical sections and keep them shored up! And open the hangar door, I'm coming in!”

Granger turned his com off before Butter could respond and grabbed Twilight's device out of her hands.

“Hey!” She protested.

“How did you get this?” He said while trying to figure out how to turn the device on.

“I made it!” Twilight explained. “After the attack, I made it to track the magic that was used on the cities!”

“And you tracked it here?” Granger surmised.

“Yes, but the signal keeps fading in and out. It's like it's being blocked.” She said with a frustrated stomp.

“Like it's underground.” Granger whispered. He whirled on Twilight. “I need you to turn it on and then get clear of here!”

Twilight was taken aback, then stood up to Granger with a stubborn expression. “No way! It's mine and you'll need help when you find its source!”

Granger rolled his eyes and then grabbed her arm and pulled her along as he ran through the forest. Twilight tripped a few times but managed to keep up. In front of them, a hill open up to reveal a Blackhawk helicopter on a massive elevator.

They reached it and Granger keyed in a code that dropped the elevator back into the ground. As they got deeper into the earth, he turned back to Twilight who seemed to be in shock, even the dog Spike was poking his head out of the backpack and looking around nervously.

“Turn it on.” He said giving her the device.

She turned it on just as the elevator reached the hangar floor. There was only a single Marine standing guard at the door. When he tried to challenge them, Granger shot him a look and the Marine backed down. Twilight's device slowly got more excited as the two of them got deeper into the complex. Marines stared at them as they passed, but Granger barking orders quickly turned their minds back to the tasks at hand. Finally, they reached a heavy door that led to a bunker room where a VIP stayed. They were scattered throughout the complex so that in the event of a collapse, not all the VIPs would be trapped.

Twilight's device was beeping so rapidly that Granger thought it would explode. The two Marines outside looked at it warily as if it might be a bomb.

“Something big is in there, it's giving off some of the highest readings I've ever seen!” She exclaimed.

Granger looked at the door, then at Twilight. “Listen, go find Lieutenant Butter, he's in the security room on level Bravo, and tell him everything you've told me! He'll help you from there!”

“But I can help!” She protested.

“NO!” Granger yelled and Twilight recoiled. He knelt down and softened his voice.“Listen, this isn't some magical fairy land where some magical princess comes in and saves the day! This is the real world! And right now, you're greatest contribution is getting that device in the hands of the security council!”

She looked at him for a moment, then turned around and ran off. Granger could have sworn that the dog waved at him as she did. He turned to the two Marines standing guard. “We have a bogey in that room, don't know what, but it's big.”

“That's Admiral Bogart's room, Sir.” The Marine on the left said.

“Maybe whatever hit Seattle is here for some payback?” The other Marine said.

Granger's blood froze. The Marine was probably right. Admiral Bogart, a national hero, could be dying as they stood here talking! Granger pushed past the Marine on the right and keyed in his clearance code.

“Prepare to breach!” He said to the two Marines. One dropped his rifle and reached into a wall cabinet, pulling out a massive flamethrower. The other Marine merely shook his head. “Josh, you and your toys.”

Granger pulled out a .45 pistol and held it level on the door as it slid open. The three men ran through the entrance with weapons ready and froze. Not voluntarily, Granger wanted nothing more than to pull the trigger, it was because they could not move at all. There, in front of them, sat the creature known as Discord chatting on the phone like nothing had even happened.

“Yes Mr. President.” Discord said in Bogart's voice. “Yes, the base appears to have been attacked. However, security teams have secured the Chiefs of Staff and are currently sweeping the area for the source of the disruption. What? Have they found anything?”

Discord waved his hand at Granger. “No, Mr. President.” Granger felt his right arm move on its own, bringing the pistol back and pointing directly at his own head, the cold metal pressing on his temple. “No, they have not found anything.”

Bang!