FRIENDSHIP IS SANCTIONED
by Blue Legend/Thirdstring Overlord
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CHAPTER FOUR
Ponyville, Equestria
0615 hours
The sound of the distant explosion rattled the windows of Twilight Sparkle's library.
“Hey, Twilight. Did you hear that?” Spike called. The small mound of tomes in the center of the room made no movement.
Spike grew even more worried. Something had been wrong with Twilight since last evening: she had hurried inside clutching a shoebox, and then had quickly buried herself under a heap of books. Every question he had asked her had been deflected, but it hadn't taken long for him to start figuring out what was up. The books all had names like “Generally Unusual Creatures of Equestria” and “Creepy Cryptids and You”. It was pretty obvious to Spike that Twilight had brought in a weird animal of some sort, but why didn't she just admit it?
As the explosion's last echoes faded away, Spike realized just how much he was tired of this.
“C'mon, Twilight. This is getting old. Could you give me some kind of answer? Please? Just once?”
Still no response. A horrible thought passed through Spike's mind. Maybe the creature had eaten her, or maybe she had been smothered under the load of books. Without wasting a second more, he leaped into the literary mountain and squirmed his way inside. There was a faint glow seeping in from the spaces between the books, and he crawled towards it. Soon he found out what the source of the glow was.
“Twilight!”
She was using an illumination spell to read without having to leave the pile, and it was obvious she had been working all night. Her mane was wild mess. Her eyes were twitching, with pupils like pinpricks. Spike gulped, recognizing it as the dreaded Twilight-Has-Gone-A-Little-Bit-Nuts-Look.
“I'm so close, Spike! I've almost figured it out! I kept looking into the cryptozoology books, as if I could find it in there! That was so silly of me, wasn't it, Spike?” she chortled.
“Uh, I--”
“WASN'T IT?”
“Uh, yeah. That was uh, pretty silly,” Spike agreed, and let loose a hollow laugh.
That seemed to pacify her for the moment. “And then, when I took another look, it hit me. I couldn't figure out what in Equestria it was...but it isn't from Equestria at all! In fact, it isn't even from our dimension! The details...the shadows...they make me sick, Spike! They make me really, really sick!” This last statement was delivered in a tone of voice that could have just as easily announced a birthday party.
Spike was starting to feel sick, too. He was in the lair of a madmare. He needed to find help before things spiraled out of control. Control. That was what he needed to do. Assert control. He took a deep breath.
“Twilight, I hate to break it to you, but...I don't really know what you're talking about. Can we just start over? And outside the pile, please? I think we both need some fresh air.”
Twilight's stomach grumbled noisily. “And some breakfast,” he added. To Spike's overwhelming relief, his friend's pupils returned to more-or-less normal size. She nodded, and they both emerged from the pile.
“I'm so sorry, Spike,” she said softly. “I just got so carried away, and I--”
“It's all right, Twi,” he said. She smiled and pulled him into an awkward hug. He returned it, but he couldn't get what Twilight had said out of his head. What exactly was in that box?
Ponyville, Equestria
0621 hours
Shortly after breakfast, Twilight explained the story of the oddity she had found in Pinkie's room. She told him about the way she had convinced Pinkie she was only borrowing “Mister Floats”, and the way she had smuggled it back home in a shoebox. Eventually, Spike convinced her to let him lift the shoebox's lid and take a quick peek. The skull machine was sickening enough, but there was something else about it that made his breakfast rise in his throat.
The details...the shadows...
“Whoa. That's...pretty freaky,” he murmured, closing the lid and pinching himself. "Ow! Sorry, just wanted to make sure this isn't a dream."
"I told you it would give you nightmares," Twilight sighed.
"Nah, this isn't real nightmare stuff. It's more like the one where Scootaloo turns into a bird and Derpy is the mayor."
“Spike, this isn't time for jokes.”
“I'm serious, though! I really did have a dream where—pph—augh--”
“Spike! What's wrong?”
In a fit of undignified hacking noises, he coughed up a letter.
“Ugh—since when did Celestia get so bad at sending these? It felt like it came in sideways,” Spike wheezed.
Twilight unfurled the message and began reading it out loud:
“'Dear Twilight Sparkle,
We hath learned of a most peculiar event. It would seem that earlier this morn, an unidentified object landed in the Everfree Forest. We are working to ascertain further details on this matter, but as a safety precaution, we hath declared the area off-limits. The Wonderbolts will enforce this until the Royal Guard arrives.
We request thine presence, as well as the presence of thine companions, in Ponyville Square in half an hour. The Honorable Mayor Mare will be holding a meeting; if thou would be so kind as to attend, it would be most appreciated.
This brings us to another point. Complicating matters, our fair sister appears to have fallen into a deep slumber of some sort. The Royal Physicians assure me they are hard at work, but until she recovers, we hath reluctantly assumed her governing powers.
Sincerely,
Princess Luna'.”
The unicorn and the baby dragon stared at each other, and somehow they knew that this was one of those days that would just get weirder and weirder.
Ponyville, Equestria
0627 hours
The impact had thrown Rainbow Dash out of an awesome dream about joining the Wonderbolts, and into a Cloudsdale that buzzed with activity. After managing to calm a neighbor down enough to learn that “a meteor or something” had crashed in the Everfree Forest, she had decided she would join the other pegasi and take a look for herself.
She hadn't bothered to warm up or get breakfast, and now she was starting to regret it. Her wings felt like bricks. Filled with lead. With dumbbells hanging off of them.
A thick cloud of smoke marked the crash site, which she was only moments away from being able to see. Pegasi were swarming around it like bees, and she could hear a steady stream of clicks from their cameras.
It's just a dang meteor. Jeez, she mentally sighed.
A second later she could see over the pine trees, and then saw what had truly landed in the Everfree Forest.
An alien spaceship.
Her jaw dropped. Had it not been for the smoking engines, she would have thought it was a castle. It was at least as large as Cloudsdale, and its dull black hull bristled with countless spires, turrets, and towers.
It's 20% spaceship, 80% evil castle. What. The. Hay.
The architecture wasn't the weirdest part, though. She saw pits and nooks and cracks that should have been too small to see from where she hovered. She wanted to brush it off as some kind of illusion, but there was no denying that it looked just plain wrong, especially compared to the bright green trees surrounding it. It had too many shadows playing across it, too many fine details. She had to look away after only a few seconds.
Her mind raced. If aliens had landed in Equestria, maybe more would come. Maybe they'd blame ponykind for the crash, and Equestria would be swarming with green-skinned pony-eaters before she could say--
Cut it out. You've been reading waaaay too many of those Freaky Files books, she said to herself.
The other pegasi, who were still circling the wreck, looked just as dumbstruck as she was.
Rainbow Dash didn't try to get any closer to the ship, but she couldn't bring herself to leave, either. She wanted to see what would happen next, and maybe find out who these aliens were.
Then again, I'm not so sure I want to meet them anymore.
“CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE!”
The sudden booming voice nearly made Dash's wings seize up. She whirled around to face the loudmouth, ready to kick his rear end to Trottingham.
She faltered. It was Soarin', flanked by the rest of the Wonderbolts. He had wrapped one hoof around a megaphone, and the other around some notecards he was trying to pretend he wasn't reading from. “BY, UH, ORDER OF PRINCESS CELEST—I MEAN PRINCESS LUNA, THIS AREA IS OFF-LIMITS. PLEASE, UH, RETURN TO YOUR HOMES IMMEDIATELY.”
“Princess Luna? What happened to Celestia?” a turquoise pegasus asked. Dash recognized him as Discus, a surly pony who lived nearby.
“UNFORTUNATELY, PRINCESS CELESTIA HAS FALLEN ILL. AS SOON AS SHE RECOVERS, PRINCESS LUNA WILL RELISH HER AUTHORITY. UH, I MEAN, -RELINQUISH- HER AUTHORITY.”
“I doubt that,” Discus sneered. “So tell me, why exactly is this area 'off-limits?' Last time I checked, the skies belonged to everypony.” This was met with a cheer, but Dash didn't join in. The urge to kick a loudmouth to Trottingham was coming back fast.
Soarin' shuffled through the notecards. “UNTIL WE CAN ASSERTATE—I MEAN ASCERTAME—OKAY, FIGURE OUT WHAT THIS THING IS, THE PRINCESS HAS DONE THIS TO ENSURE THE SAFET-EEEK!” he yelled as the notecard slipped away. It pitifully plummeted from his grasp like a wounded butterfly, and he gulped audibly. “UH, ANYWAY, IF YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT IT, MAYOR MARE WILL BE HOLDING A MEETING IN THE PONYVILLE TOWN SQUARE IN ABOUT HALF AN HOUR, I THINK.”
It was quickly becoming too painful for Rainbow Dash to watch.
“Can you believe this, ladies and gentlecolts?” Discus said, turning to face the crowd. “We're about to see the dawn of a new era in Equestrian history, and Princess Luna decides we can't keep ourselves safe. Oh, and Princess Celestia can't object, because now she's 'sick'. And this is all delivered to us by a bunch of glossy superstars who most certainly weren't paid to do this.”
No. You did NOT just say that, Rainbow Dash fumed.
To her disgust, the crowd kept eating his words up. “Hm. Does anypony else smell a...conspiracy?” Discus asked, sniffing theatrically at the air.
“YES!” the crowd roared, completely under his spell now. Rainbow Dash didn't like Luna's decision, but this smug jerk was making her sick.
“I know what we can do,” Discus said, ambition flashing in his eyes. “We can make a movement out of this. We'll be the Truth Team.”
Almost without thinking, Dash snatched up a nearby cloud, wadded it into a ball, and kicked it at him.
“All in favor of electing me as the head of the Truth Team, say—oof--”
The cloud ball lodged itself around his head. Grunting in annoyance, he started the difficult task of pulling it off. Gasps of outrage came from the crowd, and Dash felt dozens of furious eyes on her.
“Sorry to cut you off, but this is no time to have your head in the clouds. What we should really be worried about is down there,” Dash said, pointing at the smoldering wreck in the forest below. “I don't like Luna's decision, but at least she's got her heart in the right place. Maybe this thing's dangerous. Maybe it isn't. But could we at least try to change her mind before we start breaking her laws?”
Discus finally pulled off the cloud ball. “The girl's got nerve. She attacks me, and then claims I'm being unreasonable!” The crowd booed at her like a choir of ghosts.
“But I won't stoop to her level,” Discus continued. “I'll go to this meeting. I invite you all to come with me,” he said, “and together, we'll make sure Luna knows who she's dealing with.” With that, he flew off, his fans shooting one last nasty glare at her before they followed him.
Soarin' and Spitfire flew up to her. “Whoa, you really bailed me out there,” Soarin' said. “Thanks a lot.”
“You could've just handed the horn to me,” Spitfire sighed. “But really, Dash. Once again, you've done us a valuable service. We won't forget this.”
“No problem,” Dash said, glowing with pride. “I couldn't let him get away with that garbage he was saying about you.”
“Say, you'll be at the meeting, right? Because I think they'll need you,” Soarin' said.
“Yeah, I'll be there,” she said, doing her best to hide her lack of enthusiasm. She hated the idea of spending even a single second arguing with Discus, but there was no backing down now.
Celestia closed her eyes, knowing that the end would come soon. The false sun sped towards her, and the final spark of her consciousness was about to be absorbed into its hateful flames.
Suddenly the air was split by a piercing cry, and somehow she found the will to open her eyes again. A two-headed eagle swept in from above, his feathers brilliant with golden light.
“You will not have her!” Its voice was sharp and authoritative, like the voice of a king or a general. Its second head turned to regard her, meeting her with a razor gaze. “Stand, and send this abomination to oblivion!”
She had no idea who or what her savior was, but she was more than happy to do so. She felt her strength rush back, gasping at the way every nerve seemed to blaze with power. The heat felt like a mere annoyance now. She unleashed one last blast of magic at the sun, and this time it was enough. The sickening black patterns broke apart like wet paper, and with an infernal howl, the sun imploded.
There was no time to celebrate, however. As soon as the sun was gone, the clouds overhead boiled and churned. Ashes rained down, and thunder rumbled ominously.
“Out here, we are easy prey for Chaos. We must seek shelter,” the eagle said. It flew to the chains binding the door shut, and swiftly tore them apart with its beak and claws.
“Get inside! Now!” the eagle called.
There was no arguing with that. She galloped back into the palace, slamming the door shut as soon as the eagle joined her. Outside, voices cried out in helpless rage and hunger.
It took several seconds for Celestia to catch her breath. Her mind was racing so fast now, it seemed ready to spin out of control. “You saved my life. Thank you, but...who are you? And what's going on?”
The eagle perched on the back of a chair, one head staring at a window. The other head turned to meet her, its emotions unreadable under its aquiline mask. “My master has fought Chaos for thousands of years. I have been sent to ensure your survival. As for your second question, Chaos has sent you into a dream state. You are more vulnerable to their corruption like this...but you are also more powerful. We can use this against them.”
“In what way?” Celestia asked.
“To understand my plan, you must first know why Chaos cannot launch a direct attack on your realm,” the eagle said, scrutinizing the room's stone walls.
Blue runes shimmered into existence on each of the stones. “The inhabitants of your world are governed by fundamental rules that prevent them from falling to Chaos. Hatred, fear, and cruelty have little presence.”
“That's not entirely true,” Celestia said. “I've seen more than a few monsters in my reign.”
“I know who you speak of. But consider this: did they send nations into centuries of bloodshed and despair? Did they slaughter their enemies even as they begged for mercy? And how many deaths did their rampages cause? They were either vanquished before they could commit such atrocities, or there existed in them a spark of compassion.”
A chill shot down Celestia's spine. She had thought she had seen the true face of evil in creatures like Discord and Nightmare Moon. She had never imagined that there could be something far worse.
“Chaos has found a way around the rules,” the eagle continued. “Two armies have arrived on your world. One of them marches under the blessing of my master. The other serves a false angel that should have long been forgotten. Neither forces are bound by the laws of your reality, and Chaos intends to make use of this.”
“They want to start a war,” Celestia murmured, thinking back to the vision of destruction she'd seen on the balcony.
“A bloody and terrible one,” the eagle agreed. “The violence and the misery will break the barrier between your realm and the realm of Chaos.”
“There must be some way to stop that from happening,” Celestia said.
“We cannot prevent this war, but there might be a way to prevent the bloodshed. Listen closely, and I will tell you how.”
Ponyville Town Square
0655 hours
The air was so thick with noise, the only thing Fluttershy could do was whimper and stick her hooves in her ears. She was surrounded by hundreds of upset ponies, all jam-packed into the town square. Taking to the air didn't help: it was filled with a swarm of pegasi who hardly had enough room to flap their wings.
I don't think this meeting is going to go very well.
She thought back to the strange things that had happened in the last hour. After the crash, dozens of woodland creatures had flocked to her home for shelter. Just as the poor things were starting to settle down, one of the Wonderbolts had knocked on her door and told her that she needed to “vacate the premises immediately.”
Despite her pleas, she had been given no other choice. And so she left, bringing with her a menagerie of wildlife and pets. The Wonderbolts had been nice enough to help her move the supplies, and a few kind citizens had volunteered to watch the animals, but it wasn't going to work for long. Doodles the Kangaroo had already kicked over three apple carts, and Coils the Snake kept trying to wrap himself around the barber pole. He'd almost given poor Greenhooves a coronary, for heaven's sake!
Just then, Fluttershy noticed that Twilight Sparkle was standing close by. She looked terrible: her mane was frazzled, and there were dark circles under her eyes.
“Twilight!” she called, straining to be heard.
Miraculously, the unicorn heard her. She turned to look back at Fluttershy, putting on a weak smile.
“Fluttershy! Good to see you,” Twilight said, as her friend inched towards her through the thick press of ponies.
“You look exhausted. Are you really sure you should be here?”
“I can handle it,” Twilight said. The weakness in her voice made Fluttershy think otherwise. “Besides, Mayor Mare might need my help,” she added, eyeing the angry citizens surrounding them.
Before Fluttershy could say more, the hubbub fell to a much more reasonable level. Mayor Mare had stepped up to the podium.
“Good morning, citizens! Today marks an exciting new chapter in the history of Equestria. I can confirm that an alien spaceship has landed in the Everfree Forest.”
Some ponies gasped. Others asked questions. Still others made accusations. All in all, it added up to a tremendous roar that hurt Fluttershy's already ringing ears.
“Now, I know we're all excited about this, and I'm sure everypony wants to take a look for themselves. But I want to stress that approaching the crash site is strictly forbidden.”
“On behalf of the common pony, I have a simple question: what's Luna trying to hide?” a pegasus yelled. Fluttershy could see Rainbow Dash glare daggers at him.
“Princess Luna isn't trying to 'hide' anything,” Mayor Mare said smoothly. “This is a simple safety measure until we know what's inside that ship. But Discus has raised an important point, which is the fact that Princess Celestia is not feeling well right now.”
“Probably because she's been locked up in the dungeon!” the pegasus said.
“Or worse!” one of his allies agreed. The crowd gasped.
“Now, you both know that's completely unfounded--” Mayor Mare started.
“Until you can come up with a better theory, I believe everypony should be prepared for the worst,” Discus shot back. “My fellows here have come to some remarkable conclusions, and I believe it is their right to share them. Like Crème Brûlée, here.”
“She poisoned Celestia so she couldn't stop a certain spaceship filled with evil moon-minions!” Crème Brulee cried.
“This is no time for conspiracy theories,” Mayor Mare said. “If you'd just let me finish--”
“What's the matter?” Discus said. “Scared that somepony might guess the truth? Mr. Tophat, give us your take.”
“You're all foals! I saw the crash site,” said Tinfoil Tophat, waving a blurry photograph, “and I can certify it came from underground! This is the price we pay for ignoring the Diamond Dog threat!”
Fluttershy watched with growing horror as Mayor Mare lost control of the crowd. Rainbow Dash seemed to be trying to help her, but she kept getting shouted down by Discus's friends. Twilight looked like she was almost catatonic.
“I—I--” Twilight stuttered. Her voice was a mere whisper, and it made Fluttershy's heart sink to her hooves. Dash and Twilight were magnificent speakers, far better than she could ever be. Seeing them brought so low...
It made her incredibly upset. No, upset wasn't the right word. Disappointed? No...
Meanwhile, Discus wasn't stopping. “And another question: if Luna's so innocent, why doesn't she have the guts to show up?”
...Angry. Her pulse raced, and her throat felt parched and sore. Working with animals had taught her a lot about controlling her temper, but it seemed today was about to become one of the Days She Lost It.
“I'm sure Princess Luna will be here soon, but--” Mayor Mare began.
“Mayor Mare, can you confirm the rumors that no investigation will be launched until next month?” Yellow Journal asked.
“I can assure you, there's no basis--”
“A month? This can't wait a month!” a gray pegasus bellowed, pounding his hoof on the ground.
She felt her anger rising, and had the vivid image of a thermometer being tossed into a bonfire. The mercury in the thermometer was shooting to the top, and she knew it was about to burst.
“Mr. Hawk Wings, please--”
“We deserve answers!” Crème Brûlée roared.
“Please, I--”
“Tell us the truth, before it's too late!” Discus bellowed.
“I--”
Fluttershy was almost in tears as the crowd transformed into a mob. The thermometer exploded in a shower of glass, and the image seemed so real that she almost heard it shatter.
“WILL EVERYPONY PLEASE CALM DOWN!” a voice roared. Fluttershy marveled at how bold and confident it sounded: nothing like hers at all. The crowd's rage faltered.
“What if the aliens come to town and see us like this? They'll think we're a bunch of vicious barbarians! We're citizens of Equestria, and we're better than this! Do you want to this day to be remembered as the day we stood together, or the day we broke apart?”
Discus and the other rabble-rousers hung their heads in shame.
“We can still ask questions. We can still hold suspicions. We can still have our disagreements. But for goodness sake, let's do it in a way we can be proud of. Let's do it in a way Princess Celestia would be proud of.”
Fluttershy noticed that the crowd was staring at her. And then it hit her: she was the one who'd been speaking. She gulped and started to back up, expecting a wave of rotten tomatoes.
There was a low rumble. It was the rumble of hundreds of hooves, clapping and stomping the ground in wild approval.
Fluttershy couldn't believe it. Other ponies liked what she had to say? She was amazed and overjoyed, but what warmed her heart the most was the look of gratitude on Mayor Mare's face.
“Well said, Fluttershy. I think we can all agree--” the mayor was cut off once again, but this time it wasn't by a conspiracy theorist.
“Oh, sweet Celestia! They're coming!” an earth pony called, his eyes wide with fear.
Fluttershy strained her neck to see where he was looking, and her eyes went just as wide. Four flying machines were soaring towards Ponyville. They were sleek and wedge-shaped, and made no sound except for a low hum.
The crowd was starting to panic again, but this time she didn't try to stop them.