51 watchers. In hindsight, I should have expected this. (+sneak preview) · 11:47am Mar 12th, 2013
I go to bed with 36 watchers. I wake up with 51 (stupid GMT timezone). Not only am I surprised by this, but I am surprised that I am surprised at this. After all, I did get an EQD feature last night.
So, to celebrate this, I have decided to give you guys a sneak preview of my rewirte of Twilight's Voyage, a Sci-Fi Alternate Universe fic about poines IN SPACE! You can currently find the fic on this site, but I would recomend against doing that until I have finished the rewrites, as I don't like it at the moment.
Anyway, without any further adieu; the first scene of Twilight's Voyage (spoilers ahead, content may be subject to change as it is pending editing):
Fifteen years after Princess Luna's banishment...
The sharp clop of hooves on marble echoed throughout the eerily silent halls of Canterlot Castle, perpetually coated in an orange glow from the angry sun outside. The pony whom the sounds originate from hurried past empty rooms, abandoned guard posts and bare walls, before reaching a pair of massive, golden doors. Pausing, he shivered, feeling the waves of power emanating from the room.
Three short knocks broke the ever present silence, followed by the slow creak of the great doors as the opened, admitting the night blue unicorn. He quickly trotted up to the the throne at the end of the room, and its inhabitant.
“Princess Celestia,” he said, bowing.
“Arcane Scroll,” a strained and exhausted Celestia replied, her normal calm and grace replaced with weariness, a golden light.
“Your Highness, when was the last time you slept?” Arcane asked, worry wrinkling his brow.
Celestia sighed and closed her eyes. “I haven’t slept since... since I banished my sister. I have... Nightmares.”
Arcane Scroll took a step back with surprise. Princess Luna had been banished to the moon fifteen years ago.
“Princess, I—” Arcane began, but Celestia cut him off with a wave of her hoof.
“No Arcane, not Princess.” She sighed again. “My parents are dead, my sister is gone. I am your sole sovereign now. I am your Queen. Not that I deserve it.”
“Very well, Your Majesty.” Arcane bowed again. “We have finished the evacuations. All those who are fleeing are now on the starcraft.”
“All those who are fleeing?” Celestia asked, her tone dangerous.
Arcane gulped. “There are reports of some ponies—mostly the old—who have elected to die here on Equis, rather than in, and I quote, 'Some strange metal contraption'. We have done everything we can to persuade them otherwise, but they are quite stubborn. I doubt even you could change their minds.”
“Very well.” Celestia sighed. “More burdens on my shoulders. What of the other nations?”
“They finished their exodus last week. Their craft have already left the system.”
“I see.” Slowly, laboriously, Celestia stood up, her horn still lit with magic. “So its just us then.”
Together, they walked down the hallways, open windows displaying the devastation laid upon the land. Where once there had been lush fields, only scorched wasteland remained. Forests were missing, with only burnt stumps indicating they ever existed. Rivers and lakes were dry, leaving empty hollows where they once flowed. In the center of it all sat New Canterlot, a gleaming machine of steel, one of the three newfangled starcraft to help the ponies of Equestria escape the hell their world had become over the last fifteen years, the other two being the Cloudsdale and the New Manehatten, both already in orbit with their precious cargo.
And hanging above them was the reason for it all. Red and angry, the sun hovered, gripped in a solar storm, its ferocity never seen before. The only reason Equestria had lasted this long was because Celestia had spent every moment since the fiery orb became unstable pacifying it, and the toll was clearly shown on her face.
A chariot—one of the newer, sealed machines, rather than a traditional pegasus pulled chariot—was waiting for them, ready to take them to the starcraft. One short flight later, the scenery flying past at incredible speeds, and they arrived at New Canterlot, their new home.
“Welcome, Princess,” a guardspony said, bowing low.
“Queen. I am now your queen,” Celestia corrected. To the guard’s credit, he didn’t react to the proclamation at all.
“Your government awaits you at the observation lounge,” he informed her. The guard led Celestia and Arcane Scroll through the steel hallways, a clear contrast to the marble of the palace. Somber faced ponies lurked in the adjoining corridors, watching in silence at the procession.
A small pegasus filly, her coat light green with a white mane, approached the group. She looked up at Celestia for a moment, before leaning in and hugging the large white alicorn. Celestia stopped as the ponies surrounding her gasped.
“You’re so pretty,” the filly said, “pretty and sad. Someone as pretty as you shouldn’t be sad. So I’m giving you a hug. Hugs make everything better!”
Celestia stared in shock at the filly clutching her leg, before cracking a small smile. “Thank you, little one. And your right—hugs do make everything better.”
The filly grinned up at Celestia, before letting go and scampered of, only pausing to give a quick wave.
“I haven’t felt this good in years,” Celestia said, reaching up and touching her face, where the smile remained.
“Prin—Your Majesty,” Arcane prompted. “We have to keep moving.”
“Of course.”
They continued their journey, and arrived at the observation lounge with no further distractions. There the members of Her Majesties Parliament stood, a window set in the far wall, Old Canterlot standing proud, its white walls washed with orange.
“My Queen,” Arcane Scroll said. “The communication system is online. Everypony can hear you.”
Celestia nodded her thanks. “Mares, stallions, my little ponies. Today is a tragic day for ponykind. But also a great day for ponykind. Today we leave our homes behind. Today, we travel to places we could never of dreamed of before. Before the sun grew wild, before my sister fell to darkness. The last fifteen years have been hard on all of us. But not once did we give up. Not once did we despair. Not once did we falter in our search for a solution. And we found it—the starcraft. Designed to take us to the stars, so that we may begin anew, they are our greatest achievement as a race—and our greatest hope for survival.
We step into a new dawn today, my little ponies. A new future for our people. And we will embrace it.
Today, we say goodbye to our world, and hello to a whole new one. Captain Wing, you may begin.”
Celestia’s voice fell silent, replaced by the equestrian national anthem, as the engines roared into life. The ship vibrated, and the view dipped, the land falling away as they rose upwards into space.
To Celestia, it felt like it took mere minutes for them to leave the planet, passing the solitary moon, her sisters face still engraved upon it, Luna’s tainted soul still bound within it.
“Celestia, its time,” Arcane eventually said, forgoing all formalities.
She closed her eyes and lowered her head. A moment later, the light on her horn winked out. The effects were instantaneous. The sun flared, tendrils of fire lashing out at the planet below, cleansing the surface of everything. A second burst and the moon was treated to a similar fate. Again and again, the sun lashed out at the planet, as if making up for the fifteen years it’s fury had been bound by Celestia’s magic.
“It’s over,” Celestia said, a tear flowing down her cheek. “It’s finally over.”
She swayed, unnoticed by the other ponies watching the destruction of their home, before collapsing, their startled exclamations being the last thing she heard before unconsciousness took her.
Interesting preview. At first I thought it was set in the past, since Luna had been bound to the moon, but apparently it's the future, what with the technology and all. But if it's the future, where are Twilight and the Mane 6? Is it the FAR future?
Anyway, it was intriguing. Though, I noticed some grammatical issues here and there...
I look forward to the first chapter. :)
911390
Oh, sorry, I need to make that clearer. This is set in the past, just after Luna was banished, but due to the solar storm endangering all life on the planet, science and technology accerlated massively (because magic), giving them a very high tech level. The rest of the story then continues 985 years later, at the canon "present day", except it's now in space.
As for the gramatical issues, I still need to wring it through a proofreader/editor.
911408 Oh, I see. So it's an alternate reality thing. Well, I guess Luna will never be seen again, since she's stranded in their original system. Kinda sad.
Well again, it looks interesting. Can't wait. :)
911453
Don't be too sure about that.
This looks interesting.