//------------------------------//
// Chapter 12: Splendor of the mighty one 
// Story: Escalation 84: A Post-Nuclear Story of Humans and Ponies 
// by dafid25 
//------------------------------//




"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. I supposed we all thought that, one way or another.”
- J. Robert Oppenheimer, 1965.

 



December 10th, 1984, 0730 hours

It was snowing in Vanhoover today, and a thin layer of snow formed on the ground as the city's residents continued their daily lives as usual. 

Such residents include Tara and Maria Charendoff, two human sisters studying at the New Westmarester Elementary school. As they boarded the tram at the 29th Avenue tram station, the radio on the tram had just started broadcasting the morning news. 

"...Good morning, ladies and gentlemen; this is Radio Royal Canada morning news, broadcasting live from the city of Vanhoover. I'm your host, Tanner Foster. Today's headlines, British exile troops are to negotiate terms to be absorbed into the Equestrian Royal Armed Forces, hoping to enjoy the same status of Canadian troops serving as legionaries..."

The tram drove past the developing town of Royal Birch, with residential buildings being built and public infrastructure being laid down. At the same time, the radio kept broadcasting the news and the passengers getting off or boarding at each station. Most humans living in the New Westmarester region are Canadians who inhabited the southern parts of Vanhoover, including Hitchmond, Surein, Vanhoover downtown, and Barnaby. The Northern parts of Vanhoover see most of its human population from all corners of the USSR and the occasional Arabs.

After a 15-minute tram ride, the sisters arrived at 22nd Street station. As they walked past the suburban where the elementary school was, they ran into their pony classmate waiting for them on her front lawn.

"Heya Tara, heya Maria!" Sapphire Night waved to her human classmates, "How are you today?" 

Tara smiled and waved back, "I'm fine, thanks for asking. Oh, by the way, did you know how to do the science homework, you know, question 10, page 17?"

"Aw, that was hard! I still can't figure that one out! Crystals really are not fun when you have to study them..." 

"You both had it easy," Maria joined in, "I had to study how to calculate the power levels of certain crystal mass." 

As the three arrived at the school, Maria waved goodbye to her sister as she walked toward the grade 6 classrooms. Tara and Sapphire walked toward the grade 4's. The two picked out the textbooks in their lockers for the next class when two fillies came looking for trouble. 

"Hey, Tara!" Stout Buckler, his sidekick beside him, gave Tara's shoulder a not-so-gentle push, "Heard you humans are getting more money from the government this month; why don't you share some of it with me? Or else..."

"Or else we will...uh...do something!" Dafter Knucks, Buckler's sidekick, added. "Like eating all your candy from your mama!" 

Tara rebutted, "Hey, knock it out! How many times are you two going to do this?" 

"Yeah. Knock it out, you bully!" Sapphire defended her friend, "Why is it you always pick on the humans?" 

"Because you humans don't have magic!" Buckler laughed at Tara, lifting her backpack out of her reach with his horn, "See what I mean?"

"Hey! It's not fair! Give it back!" 

Buckler started running as Tara chased him, "Come and get it! You dumb-"

Mr. Cadberton, the human science teacher, snatched the backpack from Buckler's magic. 

"Kid, apologize to Miss Charendoff." Mr. Cadberton said in a calm, almost unnerving voice. 

"Bu-but I-"

"No buts." Mr. Cadberton cut his explanation short, "You are getting detention after school today and a phone call to your parents, and that's final. Now, apologize before I have you doing extra homework." 

"I-I'm sorry! I won't d-do it again!" Buckler pleaded. "Not extra science homework! Anything but that!" 

As Buckler and Knucks trotted away with lowered heads, the teacher replied, "remember to study for your test tomorrow." He then turned to Tara and returned the backpack to her, "you okay, young lady?"

"Yes, Mr. Cadberton." 

"Good, take care, and remember to hand in your homework today." He then walked away while throwing a few coughing fits. 

Sapphire turned to reassure Tara, "Don't worry, I will protect you from those two bullies!" 

"Thanks...I owe you." 

"You don't owe me anything; we're friends!" Sapphire Night smiled. 
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"Now flip your textbooks to page 37." Mr. Mudaris, the social studies teacher, held up his ruler with his horn and said, "The war of year 870 ended with the Treaty of Sire's Hollow. The Changeling Empire would retreat further west from Sire's Hollow as Equestria secures total control over Western Equis up to this day. Although Equestria won, the casualties of the war were high and, in the end, turned more Equestrians to advocate for peace, causing the Peace Act of 875, banning the act of declaring war against any nation and the Equestrian Armed Forces from participating in any acts of war outside of self-defense."

While Tara listened attentively, Sapphire fell asleep in the seat next to Tara and dreamt of soaring in the clouds during the dull history section. 

"...Now, the question section. What date did the war of 870 happen, Miss Sapphire Night?"

Sapphire woke up from her nap and asked sleepily, "...w-wha?"

The teacher sighed, "Please stand at your seat for a while, Miss Night. Miss Charendoff?"

"6th of May," Tara answered.

"It's the 5th of May. Sit down, please." Mr. Mudaris replied. "Now, Mr. Chernenko, where was the peace treaty signed?" 

As Sapphire sat down after a while, she whispered to Tara, "How do you even pay attention to all this? Social Studies are boooooooring!" 

"I don't know, but I guess I'm just interested. Also, are you guys really in peace for hundreds of years?"

"Yeah, everypony knows that, and I don't think I have seen a pony alive that even fought in a war!" Sapphire replied. "Well, other than Princess Celestia, I guess."

Tara muttered, "I wish we could have that..." 

"I guess I understand how important the Peace Act is now after you told me what happened back in your world."

The class bell rang as the clock struck ten; Mr. Mudaris then announced to the whole class as everyone picked up their items and readied to leave, "alright, class, remember that two days later, we will have a quiz on chapter 4, and the reply slip of the Ponyville field trip is due tomorrow, I will see you all on Wednesday."

"Tara, are you going to Ponyville with us?" Sapphire asked, "I mean, it's the town of friendship, after all! And Princess Twilight Sparkle lives there!" 

Tara replied, "Of course, I'm going; why would I miss out on this?" 
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The radio on Mr. Bryant Cadberton's desk played the special session of the European Parliament as he ate his lunch. 

Radovan Karadžić, one of the Serbian representatives, argued back and forth against Lazar Koliševski, the Yugoslavian president, on the formal disbandment of SFR Yugoslavia. 

"Mr. President, with all due respect, the federal republic has no reason to exist after the war; if we allow this constraining device to persist, the Serbs will only get buried by the inferior Muslim Bosniaks and Croats-"

"Mr. Karadžić, I will insist you take that statement back!" Koliševski fought back, "Yugoslavia is a nation of-"

"And I shall stand by my views; Serbia is the greater nation amongst all of the Balkans; history has proven that we reign superior; what have the Croats and Bosniaks ever contributed to the Federal Republic?" 

Alija Izetbegović, the leading Bosniak, joined in, "Mr. Karadžić, may I remind you that our beloved Marshal Josip Broz Tito was a Croat? I agree that Yugoslavia should be disbanded, but your version is for all the wrong reasons." 

"Eh, why is it that you are so obsessed with the entire greater Serbia rhetoric?" Slavoj Žižek, head of the Slovenes, questioned.

"Fuck Tito! He has created this monstrosity of a nation; I will gladly piss on his grave if I can!" 

"You shut up! You are a disgrace to all good Serbians that still view Yugoslavia as a nation of equals!"

"Fuck you too, you traitorous piece of shit; Tito can kiss my ass!"

"I will chop your tongue off if you dare talk shit about Marshal Tito again!"

"Eat shit; I will talk about Tito how I want!"

"Order! I will have silence!" François Mitterrand, the speaker, announced as sounds of audible fighting can be heard. 

Bryant turned off the radio, then buried his face deep into his palms. 

He then turned to stare at the ID card he had worn before:

WHITE MOUNTAINS RESEARCH FACILITY 

BRYANT H. CADBERTON  

NUCLEAR RESEARCH DEPARTMENT 

DOB APR 22, 1932    


As Bryant stared at the card and thought of something, a knock on the classroom door dragged him back to reality. Bryant stood up and said, "Come in." 

In came Sapphire Night, holding her workbook. "Emmm...Mister Cadberton? Can I ask how I should solve question ten here?" 

"Oh, I see. You should look up page 56 of the textbook; it should give you some ideas. Here, let me show you..." 

Cadberton threw a violent coughing fit as he tried to explain the question. 

"Oh, dear! Are you okay, mister Cadberton?" Sapphire asked.

Bryant looked at his palm and replied, "I'm...fine. Now, let's get back to your question."
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With the wire attached to the crystal device, the light bulb glowed up in front of the students observing the demonstration.

"Crystals are most commonly used as power sources in Equestria, which provides valuable electricity to keep everything running. It's clean, and a small amount can power an entire city. However, if energy output grows unchecked, then explosions occur, and I'm not talking about firecrackers. Crystals about the size of this classroom can level an entire city." Bryant disconnected the wire and held up the purple, glowing crystal, "One like this could theoretically blow half of this classroom to dust.  Remember, this will be on the quiz."
 
As he turned around to look at the clock, he saw there was still much time before the end of class, and he mutters to himself, “For something with such a low critical mass…” Bryant removed his glasses and announced to the whole class. "Alright, class, since we do have time, I believe I...should tell you all a story."

The whole class looked at the teacher with piqued interest. 

"Once upon a time, in a distant land, there was a man who loved science. He excelled at both chemistry and physics and was a teacher. The kingdom was impressed with what he had to teach; when war came, he was tasked with creating a weapon to help the kingdom prepare for a final measure should the war go south with another empire." 

"Why does this sound familiar?" A human student questioned.

"And when he finally created the weapon, which was a huge bomb, he was happy. More so when the weapon finally had the opposing empire bend its knees and surrender. However, an ally of the kingdom was fearful that the kingdom would grow too powerful with its ultimate weapon and made their versions of it." 

Bryant continued after a coughing fit, "Both sides also started to hate each other, and finally, the scientist realized what he had done when both sides started to threaten each other with his creation, endangering every living creature on the planet. He tried to persuade both sides to give up his creation, but in the end, nobody listened, with the weapons being used to end the world- and the scientist himself." 

The class erupted into a discussion about what the teacher had to say. Some discussed the scientist and the two kingdoms, but most talked about where this story came from.

"That...was the story of a great scientist back where I came from." Mr. Cadberton said, "with a bit of my own sprinkled in."

The class looked even more confused; a filly asked, "Mr. Cadberton, you used to make weapons?"

Bryant went and took out his ID pass from the White Mountain Research Facility out of the drawer, held it up, and said, "I was a scientist for the government, making destructive nuclear bombs, the ones that can flatten an entire city. Those weapons I helped to create... ended up destroying most of humanity." 

The whole class was silent at the revelation, with Bryant continuing, "the scientist thought what he did would bring peace and reduce casualties, and ended up doing the opposite. I guess I also thought that with enough nukes on both sides, nobody would risk ending the world. If I knew what I would contribute to, I...I would have just become a science teacher." 

Tara raised her hand and asked, "Mr. Cadberton, are you saying that..."

"I played my part in destroying the world, and in the end, the effects of my own work came back to haunt me." He said as he threw another violent coughing fit and displayed the red stain on his handkerchief. "This...isn't me bleeding on my hand. This is terminal lung cancer caused by the years dealing with radioactive material and nuclear test sites."    

The entire class gasped and exploded in debate, with Sapphire Night saying, "W-why didn't you tell us? My dad is a doctor, and he healed many ponies that are sick! He can help you, Mister Cadberton!"

"Thank you, Miss Night. But I'm afraid that it's too late. It's terminal." Bryant tried his best to squeeze out a slight smile, " the reason why I am telling you this is that I want to tell you all the most important science lesson I can offer: what you intend for your creation to do doesn't matter; the result does. Don't be what I have become, please." 

He fell silent as he leaned against his desk with his head lowered. His class erupted with words of sympathy and even more questions about his line of work. 

Bryant felt the ghost of Manhattan staring into his soul and judging him. When the time comes for him to die of his own sins as heaven pre-destined, he would die knowing he tried his best to stop anyone else from going through what many before him had to.
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"Really, two years at best? Good heavens, I...I'm sorry, Mr. Cadberton." The principal said to the teacher sitting in front of his desk. 

"Thank you," Bryant replied calmly, "can I make a request?" 

"Go ahead." 

"I would like to teach for as long as possible." Mr. Cadberton said, "at least I can pass down what I have learned in my life." 

The principal extended his hoof for a hand-hoof shake and nodded. "You're always welcome to, Mr. Cadberton. Remember not to over-exhaust yourself." 

"I will keep that in mind." Bryant accepted.

As the teacher exited the principal's office coughing, he saw Tara waiting on the bench outside the office. 

"Can I ask some questions, Mr. Cadberton?" 

Bryant nodded as Tara asked, "...is your family still here?" 

"They perished when the nukes dropped." Bryant sat on the bench, "I tried to run home to them, but...I couldn't bring myself to do it. What about yours? Are they...?"

"No, they're fine." Tara smiled, "My parents have a candy store near the 29th Avenue tram station."

Bryant sighed, "I know it will never be enough, but for what it's worth, I'm sorry for everything I have done." 

"You don't have to, Mr. Cadberton." She said as she took out a lollipop candy in her backpack, "thank you for this morning." 

Bryant held the lollipop and leaned back on his seat, breaking a small smile. "...thank you."

"You're welcome. I should get going now; Maria is going to be mad if I keep stalling."  Tara stood up and left.  'Goodbye, Mr. Cadberton!" 

As his student walked away, he looked at the lollipop he was given and stared at the snow outside, with thousands of thoughts crossing his mind.

Most of them, however, were about the family he could never go back to. 
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"What did the school teach you today, sweetheart?" Tara's mother asked as Tara did homework at the store counter. 

Tara thought briefly, saying, "Today, our science teacher told us a story." 

"Oh, what was it about?" 

Tara put down her pencil and started, "Once upon a time, there was an ironsmith that made the best swords in his kingdom. One day, he was tasked by the king himself to make the best sword ever to defeat the evil dragon. The ironsmith did so, and after a lot of trial and error, he managed to create a saber so powerful, it could split open mountains and the earth." 

Her mother replied, "interesting; what happens next?" 

"When the king personally took on the dragon with his army and won with the saber the ironsmith made, the king returned victorious, and the ironsmith was very happy. However, the other kingdom across the mountains was scared of their neighbor having such a weapon and made their own version of the mighty sword! "

"What about the king?" 

"The king was not content with what he had, he wanted to be more powerful, too. He then ordered the ironsmith to make a more powerful sword and make more of it. The ironsmith did so but pleaded with both of the kings to calm down and not use his creation for war. He was turned down and ignored as war broke out, and both kingdoms were destroyed from the battles, leaving only the ironsmith left; the sad ironsmith left the place he called home, and he never returned." Tara continued.

Tara's mother asked,  "what a sad story, Tara. Did the teacher tell you a happier one?"

"Mom, the story's still not finished." Tara replied, "The ironsmith then went to a faraway kingdom to start life anew, vowing never to create weapons again. Instead, he taught kids in that kingdom to make beautiful artifacts and farming machines while warning them of the dangers of making swords to the day he died. The world enjoyed peace for a long time. The end." 

Her mother gave a small round of applause as she complimented her, "your science teacher sure is interesting, sweetheart.  Was he a storyteller before he became a teacher?" 

Tara thought and replied:

"He was an ironsmith before."