//------------------------------// // Science Must Continue // Story: Diplodocus // by The Cloptimist //------------------------------// "The search for knowledge is, undoubtedly, the most important cause to which any pony can dedicate their lives. Even the illustrious former Head Mare of this very institution, the Princess of Friendship herself, spent her own early life in the study of science and the advancement of knowledge. She understood. She knew what all ponies who pursue peace, happiness, friendship and harmony come to know: knowledge is everything." Chancellor Sunburst looked out into the darkness of the lecture hall, trying to see the audience behind the glare of the stage lights. Even without being able to see their eyes, he knew from experience that he had them where he needed them; another class of first year students, young minds set on the right track for Starlight to mould and prepare. He took off his glasses, and wiped them on his cloak. "Knowledge. Is. Everything." At this speed, at this altitude, the air looks like nothing else in the world, somehow visible for a split second as it whips past her head. She curses the imperfect seal formed by her goggles; too fast now to lift a hoof and straighten them, the wind holding her forelegs up in place, stiff in front of her... she'll have to just live with the feeling of being pushed backwards, the sting in her tear ducts, and fix it on the next pass. Faster. Rainbow Dash grits her teeth inside the warm flight suit, stretched tight over her muzzle. She's leaving a rainbow trail behind her, she can sense it even if she can't see it, beyond a tiny change in the light reflecting off the outer surface of those damned goggles. Faster, Dash. The cloud is too far away to see, but it will be past in a blink. Or, it would be, if she could blink. And then, just as it starts zooming into view, about to loom impossibly large in her vision... it stops, almost stock still. Some high-speed flyers can make this happen, a moment where everything clicks into perfect harmony, where their minds clear so completely and charge through so many thousands of subconscious calculations that it feels like the whole world is in slow motion, shapes and colors blurring, the air curving around their wings and hooves, huge, easy swings in direction with the tiniest change in heading. Rainbow Dash isn't quite one of those flyers. Not exactly. Even after all these years, she can't make it happen on command. Sometimes it doesn't happen at all, and she'll crash into something, hopefully something soft, sometimes something not, and she'll spend the weekend soaking in a hot bath. And Applejack, sponge in mouth, tending gently to her scrapes and bruises. She wobbles slightly in mid-air. But sometimes, when she really concentrates... sometimes it happens for her anyway, and then it seems like things slow down for her, more than they ever did for anypony else, and everything becomes easy, way easier than it did for anypony else, and she can do anything. It's how she got to be the greatest Wonderbolt of all time, to pull off move after move after move, and she still doesn't entirely know how she does it. The best times, though... the best times, she thinks, are the times when it doesn't happen, when everything's whipping past - at the special kind of lightning speed known only to the fastest of the fast, the kind of speed where, by the time you see something, you've already hit it - and she pulls the move off anyway, because she's Rainbow Dash. Not today. Today, she'll settle for just being awesome, rather than feeling her life flash before her eyes. Although this one might be a challenge, she allows herself to think, as she begins to roll, spinning upside down, over and over... and spinning, and spinning, like a shot from a rifled cannon, the horizon spinning with her, the ground and the clouds above and below and below and above. C'mon. Dig deep. Just a little more speed. Faster. Scootaloo wants her to do a multiple barrel roll right at the moment she breaks the sound barrier, drilling a neat furrow along the top surface of a cumulonimbus cloud, and then letting the rainbow shockwave tear the whole cloud in half in a perfect straight line, right along the perforation, like a giant mid-air iceberg effortlessly breaking in two. It'll be so fast and so clinical that nopony will even see what just happened, until the two halves are drifting apart and they show the replay on the big screen in slow motion, at which point she'll only hear the growing applause in the distance, because she'll already be lining up a return pass to stitch them back together again. It's ridiculously difficult, and needlessly dangerous... which is to say, it's a classic Scootaloo move, designed for the top Wonderbolts to scare the crowd as much as to thrill them with their skills. The kind of move that got Scootaloo laughed out of the Academy's aerial choreography team, until their crowds quadrupled in size overnight. It's gonna look awesome. Here comes the cloud. Check angle of approach. Adjust half a degree. Keep spinning. ...faster! "Ma'am... Miss! You can't go in there!" "The hell I cain't," snorted Applejack, trotting towards the huge, ornate doors of the throne room, as the Sergeant of the Royal Guard lit her horn and prepared to point her spear at the angry orange intruder. "Outta mah way now, ya hear?" repeated Applejack, angrily. The sergeant stood her ground, jaw set firmly, eyes locked on Applejack, without a word. "...If'n you'd be so kind as to step on aside there, soldier?" "Back away, miss," said the sergeant, lowering her spear and frowning as her colleague began to draw closer. "As ah believe ah already said to yer friend over there," Applejack motioned to the nervous-looking young stallion in his smartly-pressed uniform, "...ah need to see Princess Twilight." "Yes, and as I said to you, you can't go in there. Now, back off, or I'll have to arrest you." The doors slowly swung open, a gleam of sunlight glinting off a polished helmet as Gallus poked his head out to investigate the commotion. "Stand down, guards," came a loud, authoratitive voice from behind him, startling every creature in the hallway. Every creature except one. "...Howdy, Princess," said Applejack, removing her hat and bowing in a simple curtsey. "Hello, Applejack," said Princess Twilight, emerging from the opening doors, wings raised in ceremonial position, in her full, gleaming royal regalia. "It's nice to see you." "Wh... Applejack?!", said the sergeant, eyes wide, suddenly sheepish. "Pleased to make yer acquaintance," nodded Applejack, straightening her hat back atop her head, as the sergeant blinked and stammered. "...I'm sorry, milady, I didn't... If you'd just have... Your Majesty, I'm sorry, I didn't know who she was!" "That's quite alright, Magnolia," smiled Twilight, kindly. "I appreciate you looking out for my safety like this. I'm lucky to have such dedicated guards." "Ain't no hard feelins there," said Applejack, with a disarming grin. "Ah got kinda riled up there. You're doin' a fine job." Magnolia blinked and shuffled and stood to attention. Twilight smiled again, and turned back to Applejack. "I can see you have something urgent you want to talk about," she said, with a look of concern. "Would you like to come through?" Applejack nodded. "The doors, please, Gallus," said Twilight, and Gallus followed the two ponies back into the throne room, pulling the heavy doors closed behind him as the hoofsteps and murmur of conversation disappeared into the background. There was a pause. The air hung heavy in the restored quiet of the corridor. "...I'm going to be in trouble for that," said Magnolia, flustered, looking up at the stained glass window directly above her. The likeness was unmistakeable, now that she was looking for it. "I feel so stupid! I didn't even... I mean, I've never seen her except in pictures. And she wasn't what I was expecting. But the hat, and the shawl... I didn't get to check her cutie mark, but I should have known... I thought she was just some drunken pony from the sticks!" She looked down at her armored hooves. "...And she looked so old," she muttered. "...I knew it was Applejack all along," said the stallion, unconvincingly, before Sergeant Magnolia's withering look told him to pipe down. The two pegasi sat on the cloud-hill, behind a row of rolled up cloud balls serving as makeshift sandbags, next to an impossible tree that had somehow been planted there two thousand feet in the air. The Captain sat almost entirely still, the only sign of movement an occasional tilt of the head as she tracked her target through her binoculars, her megaphone sitting unused beside her. The other pegasus pawed nervously at the strap of her goggles, her fidgeting studiously ignored by the concentrating Captain. "I don't think she can make it," murmured Barley Barrel, wincing as she stared up into the sky. "I think you might finally have pushed her too far." "She can make it," said the Captain, not turning around, continuing to track the rainbow blur across the sky through her binoculars. "Thinking she can't do it is what's gonna drive the audience wild." "But she's so... uh..." "Choose your words carefully there, airpony," growled the Captain. "She's so... experienced", said Barley. "She does less guest spots every year, she spends more time away on the ground, and she's, well... She's not getting any younger." The Captain lowered her binoculars, and turned to look at Barley over her aviator shades, eyebrow raised. "She's still Crash. The best Wonderbolt there's ever been. Even now, she can pull off moves nopony else in the compound can do - or that nopony can do until they've watched her prove it can be done, anyway." "But, Captain..." "I trust her with my life, airpony. Whether you trust her with yours is up to you, but you gotta remember she already saved it a dozen times whether you trusted her or not. And the day she's finished will be the day she tells us she's finished. Understood?" "Yes ma'am," said Barley. "Things... Things ain't been great recently, Twilight." Applejack cast a nervous glance at Gallus, who made an ostentatious show of standing to attention, showing off how much he definitely wasn't listening. "Dashie... uh, ah mean, Rainbow... Well, she's meant to be takin' it easy. But she ain't doin' anything of the sort." She cleared her throat before continuing. "Feels like she's spendin' more time with the Wonderbolts than she did when she was Captain. And ah know all the other wives and husbands and marefriends and coltfriends, they're always goin' on about how they're all right proud of their Wonderbolts for makin' Equestria safe an' bringin' so much joy to everypony young and old, and ah know ah'm meant to feel that way too, but... well, Twi, ah don't. Ah did mah worryin', watchin' her doin' her stunts and crashin' and all. Ah thought we could move on." Applejack pawed at the immaculately-polished tiled floor with her scuffed hoof. "It ain't that ah want to stop her doin' what she loves. It's what makes her Rainbow Dash, ain't it?", she said with a smile, though still refusing to meet Twilight's kindly gaze. "But ah just thought... it's been so long now, ah thought we deserved some time alone. An' then she gets called away again, an' then ah get home and our cottage ain't even open because there's a great big ol' tent coverin' it up." Applejack looked up, and fixed Twilight with a glare. "An' the pony who put up that tent, the pony who's lookin' to lock me outta mah own home, shows me a letter that says she can do just that, just as she pleases, pretty as a picture." Applejack frowned, still not looking away from Twilight. "An' that letter she shows me? It's signed by none other than you, Twilight." Twilight nodded in understanding. "Applejack..." Applejack held up a hoof. "Made me feel mighty foolish, that did. So, beggin' your pardon, Twi... Princess... but ah'm feelin' like you owe me some kinda explanation." Gallus visibly tensed, while Twilight looked down for a moment, deep in thought. "As mah friend," finished Applejack. The leaves on the mid-air trees started to shake, then the branches, and then the transplanted earth beneath their hooves began to tremble as a low, rumbling noise grew more and more intense, getting closer and closer... "Here she comes," said the Captain, not flinching. "Should we, uh... you know... take cover?" asked Barley, alarmed. "Not a chance," said the Captain, binoculars still in hoof, eyes still fixed on the approaching rainbow blur. "She's getting closer..." "Yep." "Captain... she's not gonna make it... she's got to pull up..." You're not going to make it. Of course you're going to make it. You aren't. Too fast. Too high. Spin too irregular. You're gonna crash. You're gonna crash, and you're gonna die. No, you stupid foal. You've done way more dangerous stunts than this. Yeah, when you were twenty years younger. No. You can land this. Think of her. Yeah, think of her. Except that she's not here, is she? You always do this. You go where she can't easily follow, again. You leave her on her own, again. Wonder why it feels like you're pushing her away? Because that's exactly what you're doing. Pushing her away. Further and further. No. Imagine she's watching. Imagine she's right there on that cloud, just like when she first came to watch you. Yeah, that's right, you feel that? You feel that adrenaline rush? Feel your heart swell up? Remembering how proud she was? How proud you were to show off for her? The showers afterwards? Yeah. Good. Good, Dash. Imagine she's right there. But she's NOT right there. How could you do this to her? This is the dumbest thing you've ever done. She's the best thing that ever happened to you and you're risking everything. You won't get away with this. It'll go wrong. It'll go wrong like every other time you ever tried to come up with good ideas on your own. Except now you won't have her to help pick everything up again. Shut up, alright? Just... just shut up. You need to concentrate. There's no time left. "You know how much I care for you and Rainbow. I hope you do, after all these years. But the search for knowledge..." Princess Twilight tailed off, sucking in her breath, and letting it out slowly. "You have to understand, Applejack," she continued. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn more about Equestria's past. It's the palaeontological find of the century. Perhaps of all time." "But, Princess..." "When I call it a once in a lifetime opportunity, Applejack, I'm not just using a figure of speech. There are ponies who lived their whole lives writing books about the chance they might live to see this day, for themselves, or for their mothers or grandfathers or great-grand-ponies who had the same dreams. I grew up reading those books. I can't deny the researchers at the museum the chance to finally live those dreams just because my friend lives nearby and it'll inconvenience her. I can't." "Twilight... I'm askin' you for just a little more time. Just a little more time, is all." "...I'm sorry, Applejack," said Twilight, shaking her head. "I promised Petunia at least a month." "Ah... Ah don't believe it," said Applejack, and the look of betrayal on her face was enough to cause Twilight to wince in sympathy. "Applejack," said the Princess, not without kindness. "You, of all ponies, should understand that sometimes friends need to tell friends things they don't want to hear. As a true friend, I couldn't lie to you." "But, Twilight... ah mean, Princess... our cottage! Me 'an Dashie, we need this! We've been lookin' forward to it for moons now. You can't just..." "I'm truly sorry that I couldn't give you the answer you came here hoping for, Applejack," said Twilight, closing her eyes as she bowed her head in sad resolve. "But I'm afraid this decision is final." There was a pause. Applejack felt her eyes welling up with tears, and she grit her teeth and willed those tears right back into her uncooperative head, and looked up, ready to meet the Princess' eyes, ready to stare her down if need be. The Princess didn't flinch. The pause went on. Gallus cleared his throat uncomfortably. Finally, Applejack took off her hat, bowing politely. She may have lost this one, but that was no reason to forget her manners. "...Ah understand," said Applejack, and she turned to leave, walking slowly out of the throne room past the two saluting guards. Gallus gave Princess Twilight a look, not quite understanding what had happened, not quite wanting to believe this was the way the conversation between his two former professors was going to end. "I don't believe it..." Barley climbed back to her hooves, out of the pile of scattered cloud-ball sandbags she'd knocked over in her eagerness to dive out of the way, and looked in astonishment at the furrow Dash had cleaved in the cloud in front of them. The sides of the newly-carved groove looked blackened and razor-sharp, as if cut by a red-hot sword, with tiny rainbow embers still fizzing like little miniature lightning storms along the seared edges. Slowly, the cloud peeled apart, like two islands suddenly separated and floating away from each other, all under Barley's gawping, blinking gaze. Captain Scootaloo lowered her binoculars for the first time, and turned to look at her, peering over her usual ever-present aviator shades, fixing Barley in her glare. "Do you remember the first time you saw her fly, airpony?" "Sure I do, ma'am," said Barley, blinking rapidly. "I was in her fan club. Or, well, a fan club we made up for her. Back in my home town. We wrote her a letter, me and my brother. She called us Junior Wonderbolts... Did a routine with us." "Sounds familiar. But do you remember how you felt, the first time you watched her?" "Yeah," said Barley. "I mean, yes ma'am. Like I couldn't trust my eyes any more. Like anything could be possible now. Like all the stuff I'd ever read about might be true. Like a pony could do anything." The Captain nodded, with a knowing smile. "That feeling, airpony? The feeling you had back then? The feeling you just felt again right now? That's what it means to put your trust in Rainbow Dash. And that's why ten thousand ponies are gonna turn up to watch you do what she just did, and put your poster on their bedroom walls, and tell their friends at school about the impossible thing they saw." She grinned, and raised an eyebrow. "Because now you've seen it can be done. And I know I can trust my best flier when I say you're not gonna let yourself get beat by a fifty year old pony who lives ground-bound on a farm. Do we understand each other, Barley?" "Yes, Captain," beamed Barley Barrel. "Good. Now, once she's done part two, and stitched this all back together again, I'm gonna need you to get up there and give me twenty laps." Scootaloo looked at the scattered cloud-balls littered all over their half of the newly-bisected cloud, as the rumbling began again, signalling Rainbow's approach for the second part of the routine. "...And then, you can be in charge of helping clear up this mess you made." Twilight looked at Gallus, and then at the slowly trudging form of Applejack as she walked towards the throne room doors, head bowed in sadness. Gallus watched, as the Princess thought to herself for a moment. Bit her lip. Looked up at the windows, at the ceiling. Down at the floor. At Gallus. At Applejack. At Gallus again. At her own reflection, in the mirror-polished golden horseshoes on her hooves. He watched as, more than once, she took a breath, raised her hoof as if to say something... and then seemingly think better of it and stop herself. And, finally, just in time, just as Applejack was about to nudge the doors open... finally, she couldn't stop herself. "Applejack!", Twilight called out, hurriedly, all regal reserve and poise suddenly gone. Just for a moment, Applejack heard the same voice she'd heard all those years ago, the voice of a stiff, awkward lavender unicorn, calling out to her for help as she dangled over a cliff edge in the Everfree Forest. Twilight Sparkle. Her friend. "Applejack?", Twilight called out again, and this time Applejack slowly turned to look at her. "I was thinking... Let's meet up soon?," said Twilight, almost pleadingly. "Not for our monthly summit... Not for work. Just the two of us. We can go out for donuts, or maybe you could bring some apple cider. Just... away from work, for a little while. You and me." A pause. "...Like old times," Twilight added, seemingly hoping for a reaction that didn't come. There was another pause. "...Ah'll see," murmured Applejack, sadly. "Ah don't know when ah'm next like to be round these parts. But, uh... It's always good to see ya..." She paused once more, and then tipped her hat again. "...Princess," she finished, and sloped out of the throne room. Twilight and Gallus watched her trudging sadly away, Magnolia closing up the massive doors behind her with a resounding oaken thud. "Gallus?", asked Twilight, eyes not moving from the closed door. "Yes, your Majesty?", said Gallus, still standing to attention. "...I'm going to have to make that up to her."