Time dragged.
Word had spread that it was now the Princess of Friendship holding Court and suddenly there were more petitioners than ever, each hoping for a more sympathetic hearing than they may have otherwise secured from the Sun Princess.
They all seemed to be droning on interminably and Twilight kept her starched smile in place as she tried to focus on each little niggle and gripe that bogged down the Court from hearing really important issues. Her eyelids drooped, and one by one the Court officials could see her attention slipping away, all thinking similar thoughts along the lines of, “Well, that didn’t last long.”
As they ran up to lunch the doors were suddenly flung open and a rainbow maned cyan mare burst in, completely failing to observe any of the established courtly protocols.
“Wha .. what’s going on?” startled Twilight, who had been on the verge of nodding off to sleep again.
“Twi, we got problems!” said the daredevil flyer, hovering in place in front of her.
“Excuse me Miss!” interjected the Court usher, “Everypony thinks their issue is the most important in Equestria and there is a process to be followed that will give you a time and a date when your grievance can be heard and not before!”
Rainbow Dash completely ignored the Court usher, who to her mind was nothing more than a jumped up pencil pusher anyway.
“Twi, weather team says there’s a big storm coming in and it’s going to hit Canterlot, slap bang in the middle!” said Rainbow, smashing one forehoof into the other for dramatic effect.
“Miss, I must insist!” barked the Court usher.
“No, no, let her speak” said Twilight, “This sounds important.”
The Court usher felt a little humiliated and returned to his seat, continuing to stare daggers at the cyan mare.
“Can anything be done?” asked Twilight.
“Well, it’s more powerful than we can handle” Rainbow explained, “We can’t stop it, but we can possibly divert it - you know, so it can hit somewhere else instead.”
“Where would that be?”
Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck with her forehoof and replied uncertainly, “Ponyville.”
Twilight was mortified. “How much damage will it cause?”
“I’ve never seen a storm like it, Twi. It’ll be serious wherever it hits.”
“Is there any place you can divert it where it won’t hit a built up area?” Twilight asked desperately.
“No way, Twi. I’m sorry, somewhere’s going to get hit, and hit hard. You just gotta choose where.”
“Court dismissed!” ordered Twilight, “We’ve got a disaster to avert!”
“Twi, I don’t mean to be pushy, but the sooner we know where to direct it, the greater the chance we have of making it happen.”
“When’s it due?”
“Tonight, Twi, tonight!”
“It has to be Ponyville” said Twilight sadly, “It’s the smaller of the two. Send regular reports on its progress to Ponyville and Canterlot as we may have to evacuate one or even both.”
Rainbow saluted smartly and flew up to an open window at the top of the throne room and sprang out of the Royal Castle heading back to the weather team.
“I need the generals and heads of Civil Defence in the briefing room ten minutes, tops! Send a messenger ahead to Mayor Mare in Ponyville and tell her to prepare for evacuation! Prepare the Royal chariot! Get the Canterlot evacuation plans!” she barked in quick succession, before turning to the Court usher with an apologetic smile and adding in a much more conciliatory tone, “Sorry to cut across proceedings.”
The Court officials rose and bowed respectfully, but Twilight had already left for the briefing room.
As she entered the briefing room, she became aware of the bustle from half a dozen caretakers and cleaners hurriedly setting out the the tables and chairs for the forthcoming meeting as the first few invitees stood back, giving them room. Then, as if watching something exploding in reverse, it all came together in an instant and the staff disappeared leaving the room ready for the urgent business of the day.
Twilight sat at the head of the table, and one by one seats filled up on either side of her. She smiled, respecting the promptness with which those she had summoned streamed into the room and was delighted when a serving maid appeared at her left side offering her tea and cake. Perhaps today wouldn’t be so bad, she thought.
An aide, red faced and panting presented himself to Twilight as she tucked in to a delicate French fancy, offering a hardcovered codex coated in years of dust. Her eyes lit up immediately; Celestia had thought of everything!
She wiped her forehooves politely on a serviette, then absent-mindedly licked the last traces of frosting off her forehooves and opened the cover, scanning through the copperplate script that looked as if Celestia had written herself. Twilight made appreciative “oooh” and “aaah” sounds interspersed with an occasional “mmm” as she sped through her former mentor’s notes, recognising how her forward planning would save a lot of time, and potentially ponies lives too.
By the time she looked up, most of the seats to either side of her were filled, all eyes on her, but before she started the meeting she summoned the aide over once more to request him finding a similar document for Ponyville. Even as he was disappearing through the door on his latest mission, Twilight got to her hooves and trotted over to a whiteboard on which she outlined the nature of the emergency and plans Celestia had made centuries ago for the protection of Canterlot’s citizens. Principally, this involved accommodating the populace within the castle and the garrison as the most sturdy buildings in the city as well as a network of civil defence shelters that most had never even heard of. She appointed one of the generals to be her second in command and take charge of the defence of Canterlot on her behalf while she went to supervise the protection of Ponyville, her adopted home.
The red faced aide returned, shaking his head sadly and Twilight suddenly knew there was no point waiting any longer. Leaving the military in charge, she excused herself and left them to it; at least they had a plan, and if there was one thing the military could do well it was to follow a plan. Ponyville needed her more right now, but so too did Nyx. Should she take her? Should she even wake her? Given her adverse reaction to the serving staff recently, should she even be away from her side?
The decision was finely balanced, and in weighing up the options, she suddenly remembered how scared Nyx had been in the storm when they had first met and this tipped her judgment. She wrote instructing her daughter to be in whichever location wasn’t going to be hit, taking the final decision under advice from the weather ponies, but ensuring that if she were to travel it would be with an escort and that she allowed enough time to make the make the journey safely. She gave the note to the aide with explicit instructions to ensure that Nyx followed them explicitly and then left to board her chariot.
The sky looked perfectly clear out to the west where she knew the storm would come from, but Twilight still stared towards it for her entire journey. As they approached their destination, she looked down, recounting her decision to steer the storm over this quaint and idyllic little town that she loved and called home, wondering what it would look like tomorrow.
The chariot landed by the Town Hall where the Mayor was waiting anxiously for her, the tension evident in her face.
“Princess Twilight” she greeted, clearly eager to hear first-hoof what was going on, “Please come in, we have much to discuss.”
“Madam Mayor” she replied, still in Canterlot mode, “Summon your highest ranking military officers and the civil defence, we need to talk!”
“Surely you know Twilight” replied the Mayor, “We don’t have either.”
The Princess of Friendship had never really considered this aspect of local infrastructure before, but the enormity of its absence suddenly hit her, and she felt sick inside.
“Um, I don’t suppose we have any evacuation plans, do we?” she asked, already fearing the answer.
“Well, of course” replied the Mayor, “As soon as the messenger arrived we started going through the archives, but as of this moment, no.” The look on her face said it all.
“Right!” said Twilight with determination, ”It’s you and me then. Call a meeting and get everypony together now!”
Twilight took the brief lull to fly back to the Golden Oak Library. Just because they couldn’t find any record of an evacuation plan in the Mayor’s office, didn’t mean it didn’t exist, and if it did, it would be in the library, right?
“Oh, hi Twilight” said Spike, strolling nonchalantly across the library, comic in one claw and mug of cocoa in the other, “Didn’t expect you back so soon.”
“Yes, I can tell” said the lilac librarian acerbically, surveying the general untidiness all around, “But we haven’t got time for that right now. Spike, I need your help. Evacuation plans for Ponyville. Please tell me we’ve got some …”
“OK, I’ll go check in just a minute …” began Spike, completely missing the gravity of the situation.
“NOW!” ordered Twilight, “Ponyville’s in serious danger. Do your best and bring what you find to me in the Mayor’s office.”
Spike dropped his cocoa and his comic and quickly about-faced as Twilight made for the door, taking in the spreading stain of the sweet smelling beverage as its puddle spread across the floor and shook her head in disapproval. Although the sight rankled her sensibility, she knew she had bigger problems right now, but the image would continue to haunt her for the rest of the day.
Twilight trotted back into the Mayor’s office and was ushered into a seat facing the Mayor’s desk where tea and cake had been laid out for them both.
“I don’t like it, Ivory” said Twilight, “I don’t recall ever having seen any evacuation plans, but I’ve got Spike going through the library now. He’ll join us as soon as he can find something.
“What do they do in Canterlot?” asked Ivory.
“Well, Princess Celestia put together civil defence plans a long time ago. I don’t think they’ve ever been used.”
“What’s in the plans Twilight?”
“Well, the ponies all take cover in the Royal Castle and the garrison and there’s even a network of underground shelters that everypony’s forgotten about. She’s planned it really thoroughly.”
“Why then would she not do the same for Ponyville? I’m sure she cares about the ponies here just as much.”
“Well, of course she does. There must be something.”
There was a pause as they both sipped their tea.
“Unless it’s so obvious she didn’t think it was necessary to write it down!” exclaimed Twilight.
“What do you mean?” asked the Mayor.
“A sturdy building! Oh, it’s so obvious Ivory!” babbled Twilight, “ The Castle of the Two Sisters! It’s the strongest building for miles around!”
“Of course!” agreed the Mayor as both ponies jumped to their feet and made for the door, Twilight swinging it violently open in her haste, only to be confronted by a startled looking baby dragon who had just put a claw up to tap on the door.
Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, not wanting to knock her assistant over and Ivory bumped into her flank, pushing her into the wide eyed dragon who still had his claw raised to knock on the door that wasn’t there any more.
“Aaah!” screamed Spike.
“Ooof” gasped Twilight.
“Sorry ...” said the Mayor
“Oh sorry, Spike” said Twilight as the baby dragon picked himself up, “Got anything for us?”
“Uh, no Twi. If they exist, then they’re somewhere else, ‘cos they sure aren’t in the library. What’s all this about an evacuation anyway?”
“The Mayor’s called a meeting where we’re going to have to tell everypony that there’s a strong chance a storm could hit.”
“Whoa, pretty serious then?”
“Yes, but don’t worry, I think we may have found a way to protect everypony.”
The streets of Ponyville were deserted; shops were closed and even the ponies tending the fields had come in to hear the news. Twilight took centre stage with the Mayor by her side and explained the high probability that the storm could hit at night and given the notice there would be little time to make any arrangements other than to put to gather supplies of food, water and bedding.
As Twilight was speaking, a blue pegasus flew straight up to the stage and landed right by her side.
“Princess Twilight” he said, turning his head away from the audience and then continued at a whisper, “I’m Clear Skies from the weather team. It looks like it’s going to miss Canterlot …”
“I understand” said Twilight, “When’s it going to hit?”
“Tonight, your Highness.”
“Thank you and please continue to keep both Canterlot and Ponyville informed of progress. We are going to evacuate to the Castle of the Two Sisters before the storm hits, so look for us there if we’re not here.”
“Thank you, your Highness” he said and turned to depart as quickly as he had arrived.
“Mares and Gentlecolts” announced Twilight, turning back to face the audience, “I have just received word that the storm is still on track to hit here tonight and Madam Mayor will now outline the agreed evacuation plan and I expect everypony to follow it to the letter; anypony causing delays will tie up others to help them, putting them at risk too, and that is not acceptable!”
“Thank you Princess Twilight” said Ivory, “We are going to relocate to the Castle of the Two Sisters until the threat of the storm has passed. I am looking for teams of ponies to relay essential supplies starting as soon as we can. Take special care to remember the needs of the youngest foals, the sick and the elderly.
Within twenty minutes the first party was ready to make the journey into the Everfree Forest, earth ponies laden down with heavy saddle bags while unicorns levitated as much as they could in their magic and some pegasi flew patrols while others carried what they could.
Twilight volunteered to lead the first party so she could start organising the accommodation at the castle, while the Mayor stayed behind to co-ordinate the evacuation.
Between them, they had a plan.