Chronology notes:
Stop! You are reading the twelfth story in the Bonds of Eternity Series.
The first story in the series is Family found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1307/
The second story in the series is Nihil Novi Sub Sole found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1444/
The third story in the series is Friends in High Places found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1716/
The fourth story in the series is Trust found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1973/
The fifth story in the series is Domino Effect found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2151/
The sixth story in the series is To Whom It May Concern found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2465/
The seventh story in the series is Bridge Over River Rijn found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2726/
The eighth story in the series is The Way of the Maneaanite found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2931/
The ninth story in the series is Diamond in the Rough found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/3062/
The tenth story in the series is Old World Blues found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/3265/
The eleventh story in the series is Archimedes Constant found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/3672/
Midday in the Heart of Equestria
Chapter 1
Princess Celestia had never been more bored in her entire life, which was truly saying something because of how unnaturally long that life had been. She never liked the World Leaders Conference. Every year, she dreaded it, knowing it would just be endless bickering back and forth between the parties, which was exactly what was going on at this moment. King George of Welara, and Governor General Albert Isaac of South Island had entered their fifth verbal sparring match with King Olaf of the Twin Gryphon Kingdoms of the day, and it would not be the last.
Princess Celestia hated the World Leaders Conference, sometimes she thought it would be better to just cancel it out right, but no, she couldn’t do that, if she were to just up and cancel, there would be nothing to stop the Twin Gryphon Kingdoms and Welara and her dominions from trying to kill each other.
Since the return of Princess Luna, she had taken a more active role in management of the conference, resulting in Celestia mostly sitting by watching them bicker with extreme boredom; she looked around and noticed Cheval de Gaulle, President of the Cheval Fourth Republic and Saul Goebbels, Chancellor of Bundesrepublik Schäferhund where having their own verbal sparring match over who knows what. Czar Alexandre of the Cossacks was sitting quietly reading a book.
Luna was clutching her head in pain, having a headache from all the noise, this was working out pretty much as could be expected, the World Leaders Conference was never productive, and by the end all it did was keep peace in the world holding for another year, until the next one.
‘Hem ehm’, Princess Celestia said quietly, causing everybody in the room to become silent. ‘I think that is enough for today, we shall adjourn for the rest of the day, and resume sessions at eight o’clock tomorrow morning’.
Everyone in the room glanced slightly at each other and shrugged, they all rose from their seats and filed out of the room. Leaving Celestia and Luna alone in the room together.
‘Sister, it’s not even midday!’ Luna proclaimed.
‘Yes, I know’, Celestia said simply. ‘King George and King Olaf need the time to work the bitterness out of their systems, it’s only the first day of the conference, Luna, I’ve been here for more of them than you, trust me, I know what I am doing’.
‘Nothing ever gets done at this Conference the way you do it!’ Luna proclaimed. ‘Maybe it would help if you actually cared about the rest of the world and its troubles!’
‘I care about the world just as much as you do Luna’, Celestia said passively.
‘The hell you do!’ Luna cried out angrily. ‘You haven’t even said anything about the Said Canal Crisis’.
‘I don’t know enough about the Misr’s grievances to make a fair statement about the matter’, Celestia said plainly.
‘Well that’s the problem, maybe you should come down from your ivory tower once in a while and take a good long look at everything instead of sitting back and doing nothing. This is now, you can’t ignore the rest of the world like you did while I was gone’, Luna said in a huff as she stormed out of room.
Celestia sighed, it wasn’t that she ignored the rest of the world; it was that she needed to tend to her own first. Her subjects were the most important things to her; she had to protect them because they could hardly protect themselves. So they looked to her to protect them.
Celestia liked to think she had done a good job; she had made sure that they would be safe... although, now the other nations had made that job a lot harder.
...
The royal unicorn trotted up and down the corridors, her long, flowing pink mane bouncing in with each step. Princess Celestia was lost in thought; the year had once again just turned. Year 4000 of the reign of Queen Gaia, Celestia couldn’t believe it had been that long already. Time passed for the royal unicorn much differently than it did for the rest of their subjects. Celestia had been born only a thousand years into her mother’s reign and was still only on the cusp of being a mare.
Suffice it to say, the royal family were different. Though they were different in ways that their subjects wouldn’t... couldn’t understand, they weren’t ready. Celestia knew this already. It was one of the few things that she and her parents agreed on.
Celestia rounded the corner and found herself accidentally bumping into somepony else.
‘Oh! Pardon me your highness, I am so very sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going...’ the pony said.
‘Oh, that’s quite all right’, Celestia said with a small smile. She had bumped into Emerald Sparkle, her mother’s protégée; the emerald green unicorn pony was aptly named.
Emerald Sparkle brushed her celadon mane back into place nervously, something that Celestia noticed that she did often when she felt out of place. Emerald Sparkle had been pretty much considered part of the family since she was young, Queen Gaia’s own personal student, though, Celestia had begun to see less and less of her after the mare had obtained her cutie mark, a thermionic valve. It became clear that the unicorn’s talents lay elsewhere from what mother could teach her. The royal family’s skills were in magic. Not science.
‘Emerald, please, I’ve known you your entire life, you’re like my other sister, you don’t need to be so formal with me’, Celestia said simply.
‘I know’, Emerald said with a shrug. ‘I’m just nervous... that’s all, the Sunburst project is ready for testing, my dream within my grasp... I’m just worried I’m not going to be able to contain myself for the queen’.
‘You are awfully excited about a weapon... Emerald’, Princess Celestia said uneasily.
Emerald Sparkle frowned slightly. ‘It’s not the weapon itself that I’m interested in; I’m interested in the applications of it! If the weapon works, we can adapt the technology to generate power! We’d be free of our reliance of fossil fuels, which we’re going to run out of eventually. Imagine cheap, clean energy for everypony! It’s just... it’s so exciting!’
Celestia offered her a shrug. ‘I haven’t really been keeping up with science...’ she said, her voice beginning to trail off, causing Emerald Sparkle to frown.
‘Oh you really should! It’s so exciting Princess! There is so much that science has to offer! The sunburst project alone has so many applications! I wouldn’t be surprised that if in 10 years we’ll put a pony on the moon! We might even be able to leave our little Tau Ceti system!’ Emerald said. She was starting to get excited.
‘Tau Ceti?’ Celestia asked in confusion.
‘You know? The star our planet orbits?’ Emerald Sparkle asked.
‘I just call it the sun’, Celestia said with a shrug.
‘So do most ponies’, Emerald Sparkle said with a frown. ‘But that implies that ours is the only one! There’s another star a lot like ours that’s 12 light years from here! Can you imagine what we might find if we were to go there!? Maybe we’d find intelligent life! Oh I just get so excited at the prospects!’
‘Emerald, don’t you think that’s a little silly? I mean... aliens? What is the likelihood of them existing?’ Celestia asked with a frown.
‘What’s the likelihood that they don’t?’ Emerald Sparkle asked. ‘I mean, think about it, what if we are the only planet with life on it? What will happen when our sun dies? Is that just it? Are all civilisations in the universe dead?! It’s too depressing to think that we’re all that’s here, there has to be something else!’
‘I suppose...’ Celestia said, slightly unsure of herself.
Emerald Sparkle gave her a reassuring smile. ‘Well, I have to go; it’s almost time for my audience with the queen! It’s been nice talking to you again Celestia... I’ve kind of missed it’.
‘I have too’, Celestia said nodding in agreement. ‘You really should come around more Emerald; I know mother has certainly missed your visits, and I’m sure Luna would be a better pony to talk about science with than I would, she’s really interested in... Oh what do you call it, radio?’
Emerald Sparkle nodded. ‘I think maybe I will have to, I’ve forgotten how much I missed you and Luna’s company... I think maybe I will’, she added a smile. Causing Celestia to return it.
Emerald Sparkle gave a polite wave goodbye, and trotted off to visit with Queen Gaia.
Celestia turned and continued to walk; she thought about the words that Emerald Sparkle had said. What if there were... aliens... out there? And what if they weren’t friendly?
Then what?