1. Abscond

**Stargate SG1 Equestrian Arc**

**Abscond**

02:36 Northern Atlantic Ocean, 750 nautical miles off the coast of Iceland.

The winds whipped violently and the waves crested only feet below the choppers tail section as it flew low across the North Atlantic. Staying blow radar in a UH-64 Black Hawk meant staying as close to the water's surface as possible while avoiding the ice bergs that floated everywhere. "Gotta love those crazy pilots," Jack said to himself as the craft slowly made its way to its destination.

Colonel Jack O Neill pulled his hood up on his parka and loaded his P90 compact assault rifle as the pilot brought the chopper around looking for a release point. He's dealt with Maybourne many times before, a slime ball always looking for a hand out while searching for a place to stick a knife. He didn't trust him before and he sure wasn't going to start now. But he had information, or so he said, on the location of the N.I.D. vessel out on the waters somewhere below.

There has been recorded gate activity for the last month or so, discovered only because of some dialing problems in the computer. They knew it wasn't the Russians because their Stargate was locked down but the activity still originated from earth so it had to be someone else. It was also hard to pinpoint through seismic activity but they discovered that it was in proximity to the northern end of the Mid Atlantic ridge probably to make it look like magma displacements, but Sam figured out that it originated on the surface and not underground so that meant it was possibly on a cargo ship or Goa'uld craft with a cloaking device, either way, it was well hidden from the satellites. And it moved from location to location to where and every time the S.G.C. or the Air force got close, they would already be one step ahead. But it seems that Maybourne knew where the next stop was going to be, that still didn't make him a trustworthy.

Standing a small ice shelf at the edge of the northern pack, a lone figure stood next to a small watercraft and listened for the sounds of the helicopter on approach then pulled out a small red lens flashlight as it flew around the final iceberg. Maybourne threw the flashlight on the ice marking the landing point upon seeing the craft and the pilot, confirming the signal, swung the Black Hawk around over the target location and dropped the lines.

Jack looked over at his team, Major Carter, Doctor Jackson and Teal'c as they each hooked to their lines and descended to the surface. Jack patted one of the crew on the shoulders "As soon as I'm down get this bird out of here" and with that he made his way down his line.

The Black Hawk didn't waste any time once Jack was on the ground it quickly flew off into the darkness leaving its passengers behind in the cold of the arctic north.

"Heck of a place you got here Maybourne. Cozy if you're a penguin." Jack said.

"Ya, I'm thinking about retiring here," said Maybourne returning the snide remark. "The ship you're looking for is a cargo freighter called the 'Sorrel Roan' which supposedly sank during a freak storm in the Bermuda Triangle a couple of years ago. But in truth it was 'acquired' by the NID and its being used as a covert floating warehouse. It's disguised as an iceberg but we should still be able to see as it passes by which should be any time now."

"Anytime," Jack questioned, "How many minutes in an anytime?"Jack yelled irritated as he clasped his gloved hand together trying to warm them up.

"Soon," Maybourne said reassuring him as he pulled a small pouch from his pocket. "Now before you ask, I don't know where they got the Stargate from, but more importantly, is what they're doing with it. It seems that someone in the N.I.D. has come into a vast amount of wealth lately, enough to pay off some rather high up individuals." Maybourne grabbed Jack's hand and dumped the rather large diamond and several other gems into it. "And that's not all, Rubies, Sapphires, and Emeralds' the size of your fist.

"Enough to saturate the economy," Jack said rolling around one of the diamonds in his hand.

"Enough to start their own economy," Maybourne replied. And to top it all off many of these gems emit high levels of energy.

"How high are we talking?" Jack said putting the gems back into the bag.

From what I understand, I would say Naquadah levels. Like preloaded batteries," Maybourne said holding out his hand for the pouch.

"I agree, Carter said "I can sense the Naquadah in them. Wherever they got these, the place must be rich with them and if the Goa'uld got their hands on this, it could change everything.

Jack gave Maybourne a funny look as he placed the pouch into his own pocket. "Anything else?"

'Ya," Maybourne said annoyed at Jack and his empty palm "I've kept up my end of the bargain. You just keep your end like you promised," Maybourne said.

"I never promised anything," Jack said warming his hands with his breath.

"Come on Jack, I thought we were old friends," Maybourne said with a witted smile.

"We were never friends…" Jack said letting his aggravation show.

"O Neill!" Teal'c interrupted, "A ship approaches."

"All right everyone, Jack said calming down as he grabbed his gear. 'Let's get moving, Maybourne, after we get there, take off and meet us at the rendezvous point" he ordered as he placed his gear into the boat.

"Fine by me Jack, I don't want to be anywhere near that place when this goes down. You guys have a nasty habit of getting into trouble when stuff like this happens." Maybourne said as he fired up the engines.

They made their way across the water and approached the ship from the stern to avoid detection as the massive freighter slowly drove through the ice filled water.

Maybourne brought the watercraft alongside and Jack and Teal'c deployed the grappling ropes. "Ya know Jack; we should get together and have lunch some time when this is all over," Maybourne offered.

"I wouldn't get my hopes up" Jack responded as he and the others made their way to the top of the ship.

Once at the top, Jack turned and breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Maybourne leave. Having him around made his skin crawl but you know what they say about 'friends' like that who needs enemies.

They quickly made their way across the stern of the ship and Teal'c and Carter dispatched two guards with a blast from their Zat-nik-tel weapons. Jack and Daniel went on to scout ahead as they threw the bodied in to a dinghy raft then quietly they made their way to the interior of the ship.

Jack was uneasy as they were met up with little resistance. In fact they hadn't seen anyone as they walked to the lower decks. "Well they didn't just abandon the ship," Jack thought to himself as he made his way down the corridor. After securing several rooms, they made their way down the last hallway they were just about to come to the last door when the ship began to shake violently all around them.

"Jack," Daniel said holding on to a railing "I think this confirms that they do have a Stargate"

"This also means we're running out of time Sir" Carter added.

As they walked down the last corridor there was an open door and Jack could hear voices inside the room. He could also hear the sound of the activated Stargate inside the room and he gave the hand signal to the others to hold for a moment as he crept up to the doorway to listen in on the conversation.

He couldn't tell who they were but one voice was human and the other was definitely Goa'uld. "Great," thought Jack, "That's all we needed," he said under his breath, "Guess they were already in on this the whole time. I wonder if Maybourne new about it… probably"

The light of the Stargate filled the room as the Goa'uld spoke to the other in "The shipment will arrive in a few days. My Jaffa have already begun advanced mining operations on the planet and I will go there myself to take control. The Chaapa'ai is yours to do as you will as we agreed. You will hold this position until then and when I return I will have everything ready for your NID counterparts."

"Ya, that's not going to happen," Jack said to himself as he pulled a smoke grenade off his belt.

As Jack went to toss the smoke into the room as the alarms went off. "Those guards must have come too," Jack said to himself as he followed the smoke into the room. Gunfire erupted from his P-90 and Jack took aim at the Goa'uld but he wasn't fast enough and the alarm gave the Goa'uld enough time to use the hand device to place the personal shield just moments before stepping through the portal and closing it before Jack could run after him.

Carter and the others followed him in taking out the other person in the room with a Zat, stunning him before he could fire back.

Alright, Carter, Daniel, Figure out where he went." Jack ordered. "Teal'c, did you happen to get a look at his crest?"

"Indeed." Teal'c replied in his usual calm voice, "He held the symbol of Ra"

Daniel and Carter sat at the desk looking over the computer monitors delving through the information. "Well were not worried about Ra anymore," said Daniel digging through the information on one of the computer drives. "It could have been one of his remaining Jaffa, but what I find that's confusing is that this information doesn't talk about Ra, it talks about Khonsu."

"Khon-who?" Jack said puzzled.

"Khonsu…" Daniel said glaring at him. "Well as you know, Ra was the god associated with the sun. But Khonsu was more associated with the moon. His name means Traveler and was said to be the watcher over the travelers of the night." Daniel spoke still sifting through the data. "Khonsu was revered as a gentle and compassionate healer who was said to have personally healed the pharaoh Ptolemy IV but he also had a darker side as his name also appears in the 'Cannibal Hymn," which is a part of the Pyramid Texts, and he is shown to be a blood-thirsty deity who helps the deceased kings to catch and eat the other gods.

"Oh." Jack replied even more puzzled than ever.

"Khonsu was also believed to be the son of Mut and Amun but others speculate that he may be the offspring of Sobek and Hathor." Daniel said

"Now those last names I do know." Jack said.

Daniel shot him a look over his glasses. "What I don't understand is; why would a follower of Ra, have information on Khonsu" he said turning his attention back to his monitor.

"Either way O Neill," Teal'c added "If he is indeed Ra or a follower pretending to be Ra, he must be stopped."

"Agreed," Jack said.

"I have the dialing address of where he went to," said Carter "It's definitely not one we had in out lists but we need to get this information back to the S.G.C. for further analysis."

"Okay let's pack it up and get out of here," Jack ordered.

Carter jacked in her portable computer and downloaded all the system files of the N.I.D. computer when they heard the explosions and the ship rocked violently.

"I think we set off a booby trap Sir," Carter yelled, "But I think I can still activate this Stargate before we lose power."

"Do it," Jack shouted "This place is going down."

Carter punched in the address into the computer "Got it," she shouted as the gate finished its sequence and a portal opened up and water started pouring in from the doors. The ship started to lean when Teal'c Carter and Daniel jumped through the Stargate opening and the last thing Jack saw was a wall of water rushing at him through the doorway.


	2. Awakening

**Awakening**

Jack pulled himself out of the water and onto the dock. He turned around and sat with his feet dangling in the water pondering how he got there in the first place. He didn't remember jumping into the pond only that he found himself surfacing next to the dock. He kicked his feat a few times splashing the water and watched it ripple across its surface then he lay back, resting on his arms for a moment and felt comfortable as the coolness of the water slowly evaporated from his skin. Above him, the bright summer sun beamed down upon him and it warned him almost to the point where he didn't need the towel that lay at the edge of the dock. As he looked out over the water, the trees gave a gentle sway as a soft breeze blew in and brought with it the scents of the flowers and grasses of forest that surrounded his property. His place was always warm and welcoming even on the coldest winter days.

Jack grabbed hold of the towel, dried his face then tossed it over his shoulder as he stood up and walked around to the front door to the cabin when he spied the beer sitting on a small table at the far end of the front porch where he must have left it before he went swimming. He walked over to it, grabbed the bottle and popped the top taking a long drink of its contents. It was warm, flat and tasteless as if it had been there a long time he made a sour face as he put the bottle down and walked back over to the front door of the cabin and stood there where he strangely found himself studying the trim work around the door. He had stepped through this door many times before but for some reason, this felt odd and out of place. He wasn't sure, but it was as if he were looking at a stranger. Unlike the summer sun that surrounded the cabin, it felt cold and deceptive as if waiting to torment him should he pass through. But this was his home, one that he had know for many years and he wasn't about to let that stop him and so he shrugged it off and reached to the handle when he heard the activation of the staff weapon breaking the serenity of the silence within him.

The blast exploded against the wall next to him and Jack dove for cover. In his dive he turned and found a nine millimeter lying on the ground and he quickly reached for it, bringing it around to fire upon his assailant. More blasts hit the wall where he stood moments ago and in return, he fired several shots but could not see who it was that was shooting at him and missed his target. In his haste he quickly ran out of ammunition but he knew he had more weapons inside the house and he got up with a barrage of staff weapon energy bolts erupting all around him. He reached for the door handle and opened the door but stopped in his tracks coming within inches of the wormhole event horizon that lay upon the other side of his cabin doorway.

Confusion gripped Jack as he stood there starring at the shimmering light that belonged to the Stargate in front of him. The unprovoked attack seemed to stop as quickly as it started as Jack stood there mesmerized by the portals opening. Jack took his hand and placed his palm against the event horizon and watched it ripple out like the waves on a pond. It was warm and welcoming much like his cabin, much like the touch of an old friend. And for the first time in a long time Jack felt at peace, when the portal erupted in front of him as the form of the giant Goa'uld worm broke through the portal, screeched and attacked.

…

"I think he's finally wakening up" Daniel said.

Jack pulled his arm from beneath the blanket and rubbed his head with his hand, trying to drown out the ringing in his ears when his shoulder popped and he realized just how much he hurt. Jacked looked around the room. It was a light blue colored room with three beds. Teal'c lye in one of them the other he guessed belonged to Daniel. A long white curtain flapped next to an open window that let in what felt like a warm summer breeze. And there was a really small lamp sitting next to a vase on a tiny round table with some small pink and yellow flowers in it that looked freshly picked this morning. Probably all the things that made up his dream he thought.

"Easy," Daniel said. "You have a few bruised ribs and a dislocated shoulder but the, um… doctor, here said you'll be somewhat fine in a few days."

"So this is what it feels like to be, 'flushed." Jack said as he rotated his shoulder a few times trying to work out the kinks. Looking down at his chest he found that they had indeed been wrapped by bandage. "Are Teal'c and Sam okay?" he asked.

"Yes, Teal'c is in his usual state of Kel'no'reem and Sam is down the hall, I talked to her a little bit ago. We were picked up by the um… locals after we were washed out through some underground passageways and into a large canyon of sorts. I was told a few of them were, 'flying,' by when they spotted us." Daniel said trying to mask the tension in his voice.

Jack paused the rubbing of his eyes with the palm of his hand over his nose and shot him his usual perplexed look. "Flying," he quoted raising one eyebrow. Jack sat up and gave him a stern look, clasping his hands together, "So now we have little 'flying' aliens," he emphasized. "Are they at least green this time?"

Daniel just gave a steady sigh trying to break the news as gently as possible. "Yes, some are green, but mostly, multicolored. But at least they speak English and their friendly enough, once you get used to the fact that they're…" he paused

Jack knew something was amiss; they had been to many countless worlds and encountered aliens of all kinds before. "Go on," he said. Anymore, strange was all a part of the job. Meeting the 'out of the ordinary' and 'unusual things' has practically become routine, so Jack sat back, crossed his arms and waited for the preverbal punch line. This won't faze him. As they say, they have seen it all, and he was prepared for anything…

There came a knock at the door and the door slowly opened a small, light brown horse creature with a horn on it head, surrounded by a short but well kept chocolate colored mane walked in wearing what looked to be a stethoscope around its neck over top a doctors lab coat that hung over its tail of the same color of its mane. It stood about the size of a welsh pony only it's hooves were much larger around then any standard horse he's ever known, but what really got Jack's attention was that it had two of the biggest eyes he had ever seen. They took up nearly the entire head, which was also unusually large for such a small creature, and except for the small nose muzzle and large ears, it gave it a very human like aspect.

Jack sat in awe and silence starring at it as it walked over to him and spoke. "Ah, I we're finally awake. My name is Doctor Farrier and I wanted to step in here and check on you. To make sure your bandages are in place."

By the sound of it voice Jack surmised that this 'Doctor' was female but he wasn't about to go searching for confirmation on that.

The creature's horn began to glow a soft tan colored aura and Jack felt a tightening of the bandages around his ribcage. "I also wanted to inform you that word of your arrival has been brought to the attention of Princess Celestia and she is on her way here to meet with you personally. You'll find your belonging over there in the closet, or at least as much as we could find."

Jack and Daniel watched in silence as the unicorn doctor levitated a clip board and pen in front of them and jotted down some notes then levitated them back into the pockets of her lab coat. "The princess should be here shortly, I assume you will want to make yourselves presentable for her. Good day to you." And with that she turned and walked out of the room.

"… Anything except that," Jack thought as he looked up at Daniel at a complete loss for words.

Daniel put a hand to his mouth and cleared his throat, "Mythological creatures."

"Mythological creatures," said Jack now questioning his sanity and the possibility that he might actually be dead or hooked up to yet another alien machine to drive him mad.

"Yes," Daniel said. "The main denizens of this planet seem to be Unicorns, Pegasus, and other equines. But they seem to use the general term "Pony" when talking about themselves. They call this land Equestria but I'm not sure if that's a local or planetary name and we are in a hospital that in the village of Ponyville. The majority of these 'Ponies' are female and judging by the fact that there's a Princess on her way, I'm guessing this is a matriarchal society. They don't seem to be at too odds with bipedal creatures but I don't get the impression that they've ever seen a human before either. But with the fact that there was a Stargate here, and by some of the things that I have seen so far, I suspect that there was some kind of human influence sometime in their past. Quite possibly the Ancients, but I have yet to prove that theory.

Jack shook his head and threw up his hands, stopping him in mid babble. "Just how long have you been awake?"

"Oh. About a half hour or so" Daniel said trying not to sound too uncanny. "Well, it goes to say that until recently, Egyptology and Norse mythology were but mere myths and it turned out that had their root beginnings with the Stargate on earth. So, is it so farfetched an idea that Mythological creatures such as Unicorns and Pegasus also started with the Stargate as well. Who knows, we might even see a dragon or two here," Daniel said, failing to hide his enthusiasm.

Jack put a hand on his face "Multi colored talking horses," Jack said, "We have officially seen it all."

"Funny, that's what Teal'c said," said Daniel.

….

A short while later both Jack and Teal'c were up and about finishing up a checklist of items that was recovered by these 'ponies,' including all their weapons, the p-90's, Zats, and Teal'c staff weapon. Either, they didn't know what weapons were, or they felt secure enough to let us keep them, Jack wasn't sure which, but 'he' felt safer with them in their hands. They had also recovered the back pack items and rations along with the GDO. Nothing here seemed the worse for wear despite being through the spin cycle of a worm hole. They had even gone as far as to wash and fold all their clothing and had them neatly tucked away in the closet "Tidy little things," Jack said to himself as he passed Teal'c's staff weapon over to him. It was nice and warm here so they decided to forgo the overcoats they wore in the cold Atlantic sea, fatigues always suited him better anyway.

They gathered their things and headed for the door, Carter and Daniel were outside and had already started talking with some of the locals trying to find out if any of them knew if they had seen any others like them in recent days but so far no luck but he was sure that without the gate, the Goa'uld would soon have to make their move.

This of course was a problem for them as well, if the gate was buried under a mountain, they were going to have to find it first and hope it still works. That will have to be the first priority, Jack said to himself as he donned his hat and sunglasses walked outside.

He stood outside with Teal'c at the front doors to the hospital and surveyed the area and was a bit surprised on its size of the village for such small inhabits. Ponyville, he guessed, was approximately about a mile and half or so around give or take. Many of their homes were well crafted and covered in a thick layer of flowers or vines making it a quaint little village that kind of reminded him of an old English town, right down to the thatched roof design, nestled between rolling hills.

There were scattered tents with wears for sale and the air held a sweet smell of baked goods like fresh bread from the oven, nothing like what he was expecting. The pathways were neat and clean and there were wagon loads filled with fresh piles of hay and straw probably harvested not that long ago. Birds sang from many of the trees and the clear skies were a wonderful bright blue with the warm glow of the sun beaming its warm radiance across the land.

This could be just like any place back home… except for the thousand pares of large eyeballed horses staring at him.

There were ponies everywhere of all colors of the rainbow. Some wore clothing, many did not. There were ponies on the balconies and windows of the homes in town and even a few of the ones with wings were flying or hovering nearby and all of them watching them.

"Curious bunch," Jack said.

"Indeed," Teal'c said in his usual monotone voice.

"Hello," Jack said waving a hand in the air. "I'm Colonel Jack O Neill and this is Teal'c" pointing to Teal'c who bowed in greetings.

Jack had that awkward feeling wash over him like a flood. You would think that after talking to both Sam and Daniel that these ponies' reactions would have been more receptive but he got nothing more than whispers and talk amongst their selves until one of them bravely stepped forward through the crowed.

Judging by what he saw with the doctor, and the fact that Daniel said they were mostly female, he easily guessed she was a she. There were some ponies that were slightly different from the females of roughly the same size, but because of the lack of numbers, he guessed that these were the males; now he could see why the females were in charge.

The one that walked forward was a light colored purple pony with short curly pink striped main and tail. She didn't have wings or a horn, nor did she were the clothing like some of the others. But what stood out most, was the fact that she had these three little yellow flower marks on her, um, butt. "Probably some sort of ritual markings," Jack thought. He couldn't see it on the doctor because of the outfit she was wearing, but now that he noticed, he noticed that they all had some sort of markings on their collective rumps.

"Greetings she said, my name is Miss Cheerilee. "Don't mind the others; their skittish at first until they get to know you. When Mister Jackson and Miss Carter came out, most of them ran away except for Twilight and her friends, but they're starting to feel more comfortable around you.

"I'm honored" he said trying to hold back the cynicism. "I don't suppose you know where, um, 'Mister Jackson' and 'Miss Carter' went to?"

"I believe that they went with Twilight and her friends to the library. I can take you there if you like," she said.

"Lead on" Jack said painting a smile on his face as best he could.

….

The sounds of chains rattling in conjunction with pick axes, shovels, and the scraping of bare claws upon the rock, stone and mud, echoed throughout the caverns as three dog like figures, pushed along a cart full of dirt and muck towards the dumping point. Each one, chained at the neck and ankles to the cart, labored as hard as they could trying to push the heavy load up the rocky path, all under the watchful eyes of the creatures in silver armor who stood there with the fire and lightning sticks in their claws.

The ceiling had collapsed when water that sprang from the large metal ring and flooded the cavers and now they were forced to dig new tunnels back to it. They were not allowed to rest and when one of them fell, they were quickly punished with pain from the smaller lightning stick until they began to move again.

Many dogs got hurt and tried to escape at first but they failed and were captured then quickly bowed down to their new masters. They began by making them dig for all the gems and crystals that their caverns held but even the dirt and mud held a special interest to the silver creatures so nothing was left to waste.

As the three pushed the cart onto the dumping point, three of the silver creatures walked up to them, two of the guards pointing their fire sticks at them and the three dogs cowered in fear. None of them spoke as the third guard unlocked one of them and dragged him off down the corridor with his friends looking on with terror in their eyes knowing there was nothing they could do about it.

He walked between them; his body slumped over with his ears drawn low. He was frightened of the silver armored ones. He was once the leader of the Diamond Dogs until the silvered ones ripped his shirt off and placed him in chains like the others.

He let out a small whimper as they led him down deeper into the mines. He knew where he was going. They were taking him to see the one in gold armor that showed up before the flood. One that he quickly learned to fear even more then the silvered ones; the one called Ra.


	3. Assembly

**Chapter Three**

**Assembly**

Laca's, First Prime to Lord Ra, walked his prisoner through the caverns with his head held high. Jaffa were proud warriors even while gathering lowly creatures such as these. They were ordered to gather slaves and he did so without question and it did not matter why. These were useless beasts even as slaves and lord Ra has a purpose for them and he would follow his orders to the letter. They walked in to one of the caverns that they had the slaves build in order to accommodate Lord Ra's presents even though it was unbefitting of a god, to lower himself to such paltry accommodations. But that wouldn't be for long, Lord Ra's plans have already been set in motion and after he conquers this world, he will regain his throne as supreme leader of the System Lords.

They took the prisoner to the edge of the throne where Laca's reached back to the dog like creatures collar and yanked it to the ground where it curled up in a ball whimpering on the floor.

"_Silence in the presents of your god_" Laca's said in Goa'uld. The creature may not understand the words, but it understood his activated Ma'Tok staff now pointed at him and it quickly became silent and Laca's turned back to attention and waited for Lord Ra.

The room had been filled with items that were brought forth from the Tau'ri home world through the Chaapa'ai, one of the most significant was the sarcophagus where Ra slept. The sarcophagus itself stood upon one end, surrounded by many of Ra's personal belonging. As the sarcophagus started to open up, it bathed the cavern in the light and Ra stepped forth from within and Laca's and the other Jaffa knelt in honor to their god while the dog creature covered his head with his trembling paws. The light reflected off his traditional golden armor and ceremonial helm giving him an aura of power as Ra walked over to an alter table that had been placed next to his sarcophagus. Upon it sat a small container that had been lavishly decorated and surrounded by gold and gems gathered from this world along with an assortment of items of Goa'uld technology, at its foot rested a rather large and ornate container. Ra placed his hand over the small jar, staring at it in silence for a moment, then reached over and placed his hand within a small glove like device "_Report"_

"_As you ordered my lord," _answered Laca's_ "The slaves are continuing with digging out the Chaapa'ai but these creatures cannot determine its exact location within the rubble. We have also begun our campaign of enslaveing some of the surface dwellers. We had some difficulty in capturing some of the prisoners but we were successful in bringing these beasts under your rule."_

"_And the device?" _ Ra asked.

"_We are still in the process of securing the location my lord, when we secure the Chaapa'ai and bring forth more Jaffa we…."_

"_Enough," _Ra spoke angrily as his eyes glowed in frustration but his anger quickly faded away. _"You will begin the second phase of our operation and take what Jaffa you need to secure that location."_

"_And what of the slaves in the mines?" _Laca's boldly asked_. _

"_Leave them, they will not be unguarded for long."_ Ra said. _"Their fear of my wrath will keep these slaves in line"_

"_Yes my lord," _Laca's said as he stood up "Kree, Jaffa," he ordered as the other two stood attention then the three of them marched from the room leaving the prisoner alone on the floor.

After a moment of silence Ra walked over to the prisoner as it once again started whimpering. "As for you, do not fret creature, your god is a merciful one" Ra spoke in perfect Taur'ri, a language these creatures understood "And all that you have to do, is tell me everything I want to know."

…..

As the three of them made their way across town Jack made mental notes of the area while the pink pony, Miss Cheerilee, babbled on about something on pony history. Turns out that she was a teacher from the local pony school but that was about the only thing of interest he picked out of the conversation. Fortunately, Jack was so used to Daniels lectures that 'babble,' was something he learned to auto tune out long ago. Teal'c on the other hand, seemed to be quite interested in her conversation. Either that or he was so used to silently gathering information on someone by letting them talk on their own as a trait left over from his First Prime days.

She led them down some winding paths and around several homes and shops, one of which he swore looked like a ginger bread house that his grandmother made one time, that lead to a rather large tree in the center of town. A sign post just outside the small red front door marked the place with the picture of a book painted on it and Jack surmised that this was the library.

The place had been carved out and made to look just like any of the other homes in the area. There were several windows and a couple of balconies way up in its branches that seem perfectly at ease with the swaying in the gentle breeze but Jack stopped short of being impressed as Miss Cheerilee knocked on the door then stepped back as it opened with a subtle glow that had a purplish tinge. "Come in." another female's voice said.

While Teal'c talked some more with the teacher pony outside, Jack stuck his head inside the doorway to see that Daniel and a purple Unicorn delving through a stack of books, both seemingly so involved with reading that they didn't even move when the door opened. "Looks like Daniel found a new study buddy," Jack thought to himself. He didn't care what they were reading as long as it was about a way to get him back home.

Making more mental notes, she was a darker color purple pony with purple eyes, a deep purple and pink striped mane that was neatly trimmed around the horn with matching colored stripped tail. He also noted the markings of this pony with a large pink star that was surrounded by five smaller white stars that kind of reminded him of the locking sequence of the Stargate, but not quite.

Carter was also in there sitting at a small table with another group of "ponies" surrounding her, enthralled by the lap top computer that she was using.

One was a bright yellow Pegasus with light blue eyes, a long pink mane and tail with three small butterflies for her markings, "Butterflies, how quaint."

A second was an orange freckle faced pony with a blond mane and tailed and green eyes that was sporting three apples as a mark. He didn't see any wings on her and he couldn't tell if she was a Unicorn underneath that western style hat. "A real cow girl that one."

The third was definitely another Unicorn. All white with blue eyes and lavender colored mane and tail, both with long drawn out curls. Her marking was that of three blue diamond like shapes. "Oh yes, this one must be a real gem" Jack mocked to himself.

All this color was making him ill and never did he appreciate olive drab more than he did right now so he decided then and there that when he go back to earth he was going to spend the next month watching old movies on a black and white TV in a dark room just to get this crazy place out of his head. "What in the world would the Goa'uld want with these guys? You wouldn't think they would want them as hosts… or worse Jaffa. Can you imagine, a whole army of pink and purple Jaffa ponies, striking fear across the galaxy with the power of colorful cuteness. Enemies would give up because they wouldn't want to hurt something they might find adorable. Oh yes, I can so see the Asgard bowing down before them now. The rainbow of colors alone would bring them to their grey little alien knees."

Jack stifled himself in mid snide chuckle coming to the realization that he might actually be right. Oh how he hated his gut reactions sometimes.

The purple pony finally looked up at them "Hello," she said as she stood up and walked over to the door. "You must be Colonel O Neill. My name is Twilight Sparkle…"

"Twilight… Sparkle…" Jack quickly thought but again stifled a crud remark.

"…And these are my friends Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy," she said pointing a hoof at the white, orange, and yellow ponies respectively as they each walked forward; except the yellow one Fluttershy, who seemed to live up to her name and just wanted to hide behind the other two but was still there to be introduced.

"Um, Hi…" Jack started to say but he jumped and banged his head on the top of the door frame as another pony, who seemed to pop in from nowhere below him.

"Aww, they're here, and I was planning a big surprise party for them," it said in a high pitched, almost rubbery squeaky voice.

"And this is Pinky Pie" Twilight continued her introduction.

"Ohh, this is so exciting though. We can still throw a party. It wouldn't take me long to set one up, all you have to do is stand outside for a few minutes, I just got done reloading my party cannon, then you can come back in and we can all yell SURPRIZE," the pink pony yelled.

"Ah… no, maybe later," Jack said holding one hand up stopping her in mid excitement while rubbing the back of his head with the other. This blue eyed pony was pink from her curly mane head to curly tipped tail with three party balloons as a mark, no surprise there, and about as bubbly as a Champaign bottle, "I don't know how much more of this I can take," Jack thought to himself.

"Actually," he said, "I just need to take these two away from you for a few moments," pointing at Carter and Daniel.

As the four of them walked outside and over to a bench Jack turned and was unsurprisingly amazed that he saw the little pink pony had already begun zipping back and forth dragging things back into the library from who knows where. "Little bundle of energy that one." He said then chose to ignore it and turned his attention back to his team. "Okay guys, I hate to break up the fun but we've still got a Goa'uld roaming around and a Stargate to find. Have we found anything useful?"

"Well sir," Carter said, "I have been going over some maps that Twilight provided and according to the information based on where they found us I think its buried deep under the mountain range to the east and according to Rarity there's an indigenous tribe of whom they call 'Diamond dogs' who dwell underground and may have unknowingly uncovered it by accident.

"So now we have intelligent dogs as well?" Jack questioned.

"Well," Carter said, "According to Rarity, calling them 'Intelligent' may be overstating it a bit.

"Actually I've discovered," Daniel added, "most of the life forms on this planet have some sort of intelligence and these ponies have a lot of respect for everything here, including insects, so think twice before you swat a mosquito, they might consider it murder."

"Right now," Carter continued, "I'm in the process of triangulating the depth of the Stargate based on the amount of time it took for the water pressure to push us to the surface and the elapsed time for the Stargate to auto shut down. And from what I'm calculating it's pretty deep. If the tunnels have collapsed I'm not sure how we can even get to the Stargate.

"Twilight and I," Daniel added, "Were looking to see if there were any references to the Stargate within their history trying to find out who put it there in the first place but even she admits that the only one who may know anything about it would be her mentor Princess Celestia, and here's the kicker, when I questioned her why, she told me that because the Princess has been ruling over Equestria for over a thousand years…"

"…And you might be thinking she already is a Goa'uld," Jack said and 'this' Ra wanna-be is trying to get back in touch with her after being gone so long.

"That is my hypothesis," Daniel said. "She may even be this Khonsu ally that I read about in the file back on the ship."

"But the real Ra is dead," Teal'c added, "killed by you and Colonel O Nell on Abydos."

"Yes, but if she is Khonsu, she has been stuck here for over a thousand years and she may not know that 'this' Ra is a fake and that he could be planning a reunion that she may not be expecting," Daniel said.

"Teal'c, Carter, if this Princess Celestia is a Goa'uld, do you thing you can sense it when she gets here?" said Jack.

"I do not know O Nell," Teal'c said, "This place gives me the feeling as if there were Goa'uld all-around us."

"I'm the same way Sir," Carter said, "but I don't think is anything related to the Goa'uld. The sensation is based off the amount of Naquadah in our blood in relevance to the Naquadah in the area and this whole place feels like one gigantic Naquadah reactor. I can even sense Naquadah in the ponies of this village, especially the Unicorns. And it's even stronger around Twilight and her friends. But I didn't observe any location wounds left by a Goa'uld entering their bodies and natural naquadah in their blood would explain why these ponies have abilities such as telekinesis but without a blood sample, I couldn't prove it."

"Well then," Jack said, "there's only one way left to find out. Someone's got to go up to the Princess and lift her… mane and look"

"And if she does indeed turn out to be this Khonsu" Teal'c said.

"Then I guess these ponies are going to have to figure out how to live without their precious Princess," Jack said. "After all, she's just a little pony. How hard could she be?"


	4. Connections

**Chapter 4 **

**Connections**

"Well let's not get too hasty on that, I think we need to do some more digging before we start shooting up the place. I want to find out a little more about her and this place." Daniel said as a rather large shadow quickly passed over them.

They each looked up and saw that the shadow was made by a rather large carriage that was being pulled… well "flown", by a small team of four Pegasi like an old west stag coach. Jack noted that each Pegasus looked to be a larger white stallion wearing some sort of gold plated armor that looked something like an old Greek military uniform. He also noticed the small squadron of Pegasi working in pairs of two flying circles high above much like fighter pilots would do back home.

"Guess we'll find out soon enough," Jack said as the carriage circled around and came in for a landing on the other side of the Library tree where Twilight and her friends now gathered. The carriage itself was painted white and decked out in violet and gold trim. "A little ostentatious" Jack said unimpressed with the flamboyant entry. "Guess this must be our little princess," Jack said as they slowly made their way over to the field where she landed

"Little?" Daniel said questioning Jacks choice of words.

The carriage's lone rider was rather tall compared to the other ponies, about the size of a good riding horse. She was all white and had the wings of a Pegasus, with a much larger wing span, and she had the horn of a Unicorn which was not a combination that he had seen in the other ponies of this world. Her mane and tail was this pastel colored rainbow mix that that seemed to gracefully flow around her body, and she wore a rather large, gold and jewel encrusted collar around her neck and matching crown upon her head. All of which screamed typical Goa'uld entry, but Jack was willing to be both courteous and diplomatic about this; for the moment anyway.

"She's an Alicorn," Daniel whispered loudly and Jack gave him a quick glance from the side.

Princess Celestia stood upon her carriage, spread her wings and leapt into the air, soaring briefly then touching down in front of the carriage where Twilight and her friends bowed and greeted her respectfully.

"It's good to be the princess," Jack said muttering a miss quote from an old movie he once saw just loud enough for the rest of the SG team to hear. "Is anyone getting any Goa'uld vibes off of her?"

"It is as I had suspected O Neill, I sense what could be an extremely strong presents around her, but if it is a Goa'uld, I cannot say," Teal'c said and Carter nodded in agreement.

Jack silently watched her and despite the excitement of Twilight and the other ponies who gathered around her, Celestia stood tall, folded her wings in place and greeted each and every one of them, while at the same time, she placed a firm but thoughtful look with those deep violet eyes over at Jack and the rest of his team assessing their strengths and positions. She eyed each of them, and the weapons that they carried calculating the risk of open engagement should it come to that, much the same way that he was doing to her.

"A little fan fair and a show of strength," Jack thought to himself re-evaluating the situation as they each locked eyes on one another "clever". This was a game that he had played countless times with numerous leaders and it only happens in that first moments when you only have that split second to make a decision to over… or underestimate you're opponent. Most leaders fail one side or the other but Jack did not get the impression that she had, when she smiled and walked over to them.

"Greetings Travelers, and welcome to Equestria, What do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"Greetings Princess" Daniel said cautiously stepping forward "We travel from a place called Earth through what we call a Stargate, but before we get into talks I must ask to do something personal of you…" he started to say as he reached a hand out towards her.

Suddenly everyone, and every pony, became excited and alert, Twilight and her friends all gasped as the guard stallions snorted, spread their wings and trotted forth to defend their princess, but Celestia herself remained calm by spreading a wing out towards her guards halting them in place then gave a nod of permission for Daniel to continue.

"I trust that you will inform me on what you are looking for" she said as he cautiously proceeded to her side.

Daniel reached in with a hand and swept apart of her surprisingly soft mane away from the back of her neck in search for the mark of an entry wound that would have been left by a Goa'uld while making a quick study of her physique and he noticed another mark when it hit him from out of the blue.

"Get your hands off the Princess," it yelled out as it smacked into Daniel knocking him to the ground.

It was a light colored, ill tempered, blue Pegasus with a rather colorful mane and tail of dark red to deep blue like that of a rainbow that came in and pushed Daniel to the ground. Jack looked up and saw a single Pegasus flying a circle overhead confirming his suspicions of where she came from.

And she was so involved and almost pugnacious in chewing him out for touching her princess that she didn't even notice the purple and white auras surrounding her, holding her back.

"Rainbow Dash!" the princess said only slightly raising her voice in ire.

"But, he…"she said starting to protest.

"It's quite all right," Celestia said continuing on at a more calm tone as she and Twilight released Rainbow Dash from their spells.

"Are you okay Daniel?" Samantha said.

Rainbow Dash hovered closer "Sorry about that," she said apologetically and holding out a hoof to help him up.

"Ya, I'm okay, she just knocked the wind out of me." Daniel said as he grabbed ahold of her forehoof, picking himself off the ground and after re-adjusting his glasses he noted that she just helped him up with the strength of her wing beats alone.

"Ah, She's clean" Daniel continued dusting himself off. "The princess, that is."

"And what prey tell were you looking for?" Celestia asked.

"I was looking for the entry wound of a Goa'uld symbiote" Daniel said. "We followed one here through the Stargate which is why we are here. We've come to find it and stop whatever it has plans for here on your world."

"And what is a Goa'uld?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, they're these little snake like things that like to take over a body and make them do all kinds of crazy things…evil things… like trying to take over the universe kind of evil, stuff like that." Jack answered sarcastically.

Twilight and her friends let out a mass gasp as the sound of that hit home while the little yellow Pegasus curled herself into a shaking little ball behind the orange one.

"And you thought one of them might be inside the Princess," Twilight concluded calming down and thinking rationally.

"Yes," Samantha said, "Normally Teal'c and I can sense them but something about your world nullifies this feeling so we had to look in order to make sure that you weren't already compromised."

"Then I understand your concern, it is unfortunate, but I do not know anything about these 'Goa'uld" said Celestia.

"Our other problem," Samantha continued, "is that when we came through to your world, your Stargate was buried deep under a mountain and the one on the other end was on a sinking ship in the middle of our ocean which is why your world got flooded. Thankfully between the subsequent collapse of the cavern due to the flood and the gate's thirty eight minute window, your world had not been completely wiped out from the sheer volume of water of our ocean.

"So that leaves you without the ability to get back to your world." Twilight interjected.

"Yes, until we can get the gate unburied," Samantha said.

"Then it is settled," Celestia spoke up. "I must go for now," she said looking up at the position of the sun. "Twilight; You and your friends will assist them in any way that you can. If there is a new threat to Equestria, I trust that you and the other bearers can handle it."

"IF!" Jack snorted to himself as he watched her turn and walk away. "And just what are these ponies going to do about it, kill a Goa'uld with kindness? That's not happening."

"Look Princess, Jack shouted irritated. "I don't think you don't quite grasp the situation you're in. The Gould's mean business and they won't stop trying to take over your world especially if you have something of value to them…

"All the more reason why it is they who must help you." Celestia spoke cutting Jack off in mid rant. "I think it is you who does not understand. I have learned to trust in them and their abilities as a team as I am sure you have in yours." Celestia spread her wings, leapt into the air and landed upon her carriage. "There is a higher value in the friendships that they hold that no creature can take away. A lesson you could learn from them so do not underestimate them based on what you see. Their guidance could be the key to the success of this endeavor." And with that she then nodded to the Pegasus team and they took off leaving Jack to ponder her words and to eat his own.

"Alright everyone, you heard the Princess," Twilight said. "Let's bring it together and figure out what we need to do next. It will be dark in a couple of hours so we will need a place for you to stay at while you're here."

"Ya'll can stay in our barn." Applejack said. "It's probably the biggest place we have in order to accommodate ya'll till we get this figured out."

"Awww," Pinky whined.

"What's the matter sugar cube?"

"I had the party all set up in the library, now I'll have to move it all to the barn. Oh well, good thing I'm always ready for a party emergency." She said reverting back to her bouncy old self.

….

Jack stood in the doorway of the barn and looked over the farm that they had been brought to. "Sweet Apple Acres they called it" he said to no one in particular biting down into one of its fruit. "My how like Eden this world is." quoting something her heard long ago but couldn't remember where. It was a rather large apple orchard farm nestled in the foothills on the outskirts of town and it had all the amenities that one would expect from any farm back home. There were more piles of hay and buckets upon buckets of apples everywhere and even a crazy old grandmother pony in a rocking chair on the front porch. Only thing missing was her shot gun and Jack would have suspected he was in Arkansas. Oh, and the other animals, the cows, the pigs, the sheep only, back home, you didn't have to worry about them trying to strike up a conversation with you. "I swear when I get home, General Hammond is going to have to lock me away in a rubber room. But, on the plus side, these apples are really good."

On the down side there was still a Goa'uld on the loose and for the moment there was nothing they could do about it. There was a dense forest a few clicks away that He and Teal'c are going to check out in the morning while Daniel and Carter make their way to the mountain tunnels in search of the gate. The ponies had sent word out to some of the other towns and villages across Equestria but no one has reported anything as of yet but he suspected that will all change by morning. "Nothing to do but try and get some rest," he thought. He doubted that will any rest once all this hits the fan.

The sun had begun to set in the west as the full moon rose over the eastern sky. The moon shinned brightly as Jack studied it for bit. He had seen many moons across the galaxy and each one had its own unique characteristics. Some moons were either larger or smaller than that of earth or they had multiple moons which always threw him off but this one, this one here reminded him of home for some reason. It was almost the same size and shape of earth's moon but there just wasn't something quite right about it and Jack couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Twilight had brought over some more books from her Library for Daniel and he was once again engrossed while Carter and Twilight went over some calculations. Even Jack had to admit that that pony, despite her lack of experience, was almost as smart as Carter. She was almost like having both Carter and Daniel rolled into one. As for Teal'c, He was doing his thing off by the fire pit in the yard. Jack learned long ago to never bother him when he's trying to meditate. Feeling useless Jacked wandered over to Daniel side and peeked into the pony book that he was reading.

"Does it at least have a good plot?" Jack questioned.

"Actually it is a history book" Daniel said without even looking up at him.

"How can you even understand that? It's all scribble. It's as if someone stuck a pen in their mouth and scribbled a bunch of lines on a page."

"Actually, you are correct. That's how ponies write. But the one thing I noticed right away was that their written language uses a line style dialect similar to that of the Ancients and crossed with symbols based off their marks that resembles hieroglyphics so that alone makes me feel more positive that the ancients did something here long ago. And the other thing that I found out was that the ordinary ponies, that's the non-Unicorn and Pegasi, call themselves "Earth" ponies."

"And this affects us how?"

"Well, how many other planets that we've been too know of the word "Earth." And the only place I've found the word is in Ancient writings on earth so that alone shows that there was a connection between our worlds long ago."

Jack just shook his head "ya know, I think I'll go see what Teal'c is doing."

…..

Teal'c sat next to the pit as the fires light reflected off of him and casting a long shadow behind him doused only by the brilliance of the light of the moon. Normally this would be done by candle light in the privacy of his room but that was not meant to be here and so the fires light would have to suffice for the time being. As for the privacy that was another matter as he could hear the attempted whispers and giggles of someone hiding behind one of the bales of hay nearby.

"You may come out now, I am aware of your presence" Teal'c said.

"I told ya'll to keep quiet" a small pony said as she came out from behind the hay bale, She was a yellow Earth pony with a larger red ribbon in her mane.

She was soon followed by another, a small white Unicorn with curly pink stripes. "I just wanted to see it."

"I just want to know what awesome thing he had to do to get it!" said an orange Pegasus with a violet colored mane.

Teal'c could easily tell that they were but children and was not offended by the interruption of his meditation "For what prey tell are you referring to," he questioned.

"My name is Apple Bloom," the yellow one spoke and these are my friends Sweetybell and Scootaloo." She said pointing to the young Unicorn and Pegasus. "And we were wondering how you got your cutie mark."

"My Cutie Mark?"

"Your Cutie Mark; the one on your forehead" Apple Bloom said pointing a hoof at his head

Teal'c quickly realized what they were talking about "this symbol is not a cutie mark as you say. It is the symbol of a false god and it serves as a reminder that someday all Jaffa will be free."

"What's a Jaffa?" Scootaloo asked

"Jaffa are those who serve the false gods as soldiers. Many still believe that the Goa'uld are still gods."

"Are there any here?" Sweetybell said shaking and obviously scared.

"Do not fret little one. No harm will come to you. Of that I promise. Now if you will excuse me I must meditate" and Teal'c closed his eyes once again.

"Come on Apple Bloom," said Scootaloo as she and Sweetybell walked away leaving Apple Bloom there for a moment staring at Teal'c.

…

The sounds of staff weapon fire echoed across the field as a tall, incorporeal figure surveyed the land in front of it. "_Report!_" Ra's voice boomed from the holographic device.

"_My Lord," _Laca's spoke on bended knee._ "It has been done as you have commanded. The denizen creatures of this world are being captured as we speak and taken to the mines. The device location has been secured as two of my Jaffa warriors have sacrificed themselves in your name in order to secure it but we were successful and it shall be fully operational by morning._

"_Excellent," I have a new mission for you Laca's, there is one among the equine creatures that has ability to search and locate objects even deep underground. You will find this one… this one call "Rarity" and bring it to me."_

"_Yes my lord. It shall be done."_


End file.
