//------------------------------// // Chapter T1: Denial // Story: [Redacted] // by McPoodle //------------------------------// [Redacted] - Chapter T1: Denial - Today For one brief moment, the metallic spacecraft hung in the late afternoon sky above the Everfree Forest like a silver medallion. And then its thermonuclear payload detonated. The pressure was unbearable. From all directions it poured in, tearing molecule from molecule until nothing was left but ashes. The heat was so intense that the air itself started to burn. And, in the midst of the swirling cataclysm, one single element of defiance: a small bubble of magic stubbornly resisting annihilation. Inside that bubble, Twilight Sparkle was shining like a beacon, every hair of her coat alight with power, trying desperately to maintain the bubble of safety, and to expand it outward to encompass her friends who were stuck outside at the moment the sky exploded. It was a fight she could not win. A voice gently crept into the mind of the unicorn, the voice of a mentor and friend: Princess Celestia: You must remember. With a supreme effort, Twilight nodded her head, tears streaming down her face. And then, suddenly, all was calm. Twilight found that she was lying down on a perfectly-circular patch of bright green grass. She guessed that she must have passed out on the very spot where she had created the bubble. Wearily, she got up to her hooves, and bumped her head against the top of a tent. As her vision came into focus, she saw that the circle of grass was surrounded by a floor of burnt earth. It reminded her of the aftermath of a fire she had once witnessed in the Whitetail Wood. It suddenly occurred to Twilight that the only things she could hear at the moment were the sounds of her breath and her heartbeat. She should have been hearing the sounds of forest creatures, both natural and supernatural, going about their daily business. And if there was a forest fire, she should have heard or at least smelled that. Instead she heard nothing and smelled nothing. It was as if she alone was the whole of Creation. She cautiously walked up to the entrance flap of the tent and poked her head outside. The Everfree Forest was gone. In its place was a flat plain of blackened earth, covered by a thick but uneven layer of fine ash. Twilight turned her head to look up, and immediately started coughing, for a silent ash was steadily falling from a slate-gray sky. She turned her head to the left, and spotted a flattened area that she recognized as the road the party had taken to reach this spot. With more effort than she expected, Twilight created another protective bubble around herself, this one only a fraction as strong as the earlier one, to keep the ash out and the air inside fresh. As she walked towards the path, the bubble also brushed the ash away. Her eyes were intent on the road as she brushed it clean, and so for a moment she didn’t think it odd as she walked over the shadow of a tree. A few steps later, though, and she stopped in her tracks. She turned and looked up, to confirm that there was no physical object to cast the shadow that she had seen. Retracing her steps, she bent down to get a closer look. The clay bricks that had formed the path had been subjected to an incredible amount of heat, so much heat that the patches with a high sand content had been converted into glass. As for the shadow, it was the outline of an area that had been baked somewhat less than the surrounding area. Twilight deduced that the rise in temperature had been so sudden that it had literally baked the shadow of a tree into the path before the same heat had incinerated the tree into vapor. Next to the tree shadow was another, a rounded form that must have belonged to an animal. Twilight’s heart caught in her throat. And then the shadow moved, along with the baby dragon that cast it. “Spike!” Twilight exclaimed in relief, reaching out her forelegs. Spike ran forward through the magical barrier and hugged her. “I never thought you’d wake up!” he exclaimed. The unicorn looked down at the dragon through teary eyes. “How did you get here?” she asked. “I left you behind in Canterlot so the court could get Celestia’s messages without her having to overtax her magic.” “Don’t you remember?” Spike asked. “You teleported me to you right before you collapsed.” Twilight remembered no such thing, but this was hardly the moment to argue. “So you’re the one who set up the tent?” she asked instead. Spike nodded. “The ash was building up really fast, and it was lucky for us that it was your turn to carry it.” “Have you seen anypony else?” Spike shook his head. “I’ve looked everywhere, Twilight! Where do you suppose they are?” “I’m sure they’re fine, Spike,” Twilight said confidently. “Celestia must have teleported them all to safety.” “But what about you?” Twilight sighed. “I foalishly thought I could save everypony, and had a protection bubble in place. I found I couldn’t save anypony after all, and I was too scared to dispel it so that Celestia could teleport me. It’s alright though—she told me to remember, so that means she wants me to document the aftermath of the blast before we all re-unite in Canterlot!” “But Twilight!” Spike exclaimed, pointing one chubby claw at the faint circle of light low in the northwestern sky. “I’ve been here for hours, and the sun’s never moved.” “Celestia’s too busy!” Twilight exclaimed nervously. “I’m sure when the crisis is well under control that she’ll remember to start moving the sun again!” “Are you sure?” “Yes-I’m-sure!!!” Twilight quickly turned away so the dragon could not see the panicked look on her face. “Pick up the tent, Spike, and we can begin taking the path through Ponyville to Canterlot.” Spike said nothing, and began to do as he was told. Eventually, Twilight noticed that her assistant was beginning to cough as much as she had when she was unprotected, so she bid him climb upon her back while she used her magic to finish the job. Just as before, she noticed that this simple task seemed far more difficult than it should have been. “Alright,” she said between pants when she was done. “On to Ponyville! I’m sure everything will be fine once we get there.” Unseen by Twilight, Spike smiled sinisterly. “Of course,” he said. “Everything at Ponyville will be just fine…”