//------------------------------// // Preparing for future // Story: Innocence Once Lost // by Scorched Earth //------------------------------// (Authors Note: Please read the comment. In case you don't, I want to say I am NOT happy with this chapter, yet I can't find a way to write it better. So try to live with it, we return to planned writing in next chapter.) Proof reader/Editor: Biker_Dash “And that's what is going on currently. We might get called to Canterlot to explain the situation, so be prepared,” Twilight explained to gathered mares. After Princess Luna had visited them, she had called everyone together to inform them of the situation. “Also, we need to think better way of dealing with you all here. At this rate we will end up with entire town suspicious.” “How about we create talismans for us? Something that changes our appearances when worn? That way we could move more freely,” The other Twilight suggested. “Sounds good. Then we would just need to think up cover stories. Ideas?” “I could be an old friend from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.” “Well, I think I could pass mah double for a relative who lost her farm,” Applejack said. The other one gave a sharp look at her, but nodded. She didn't like how convincing such lie would be or that she would need to lie at all. “Don't look so glum, we ain't techni... te... directly lying. You're me, so ya are in certain sense mah relative. You don't have farm here, so ya have lost it! We just leave out the part where you are me.” “Hmm, I could pretend to be someone who want to study making dresses. It would give me a good reason to help around shop,” Rarity said. “Oh, that would be lovely! Maybe I could catch up with my backlog!” Her double answered. She had to cut down the number of orders a lot, since working on a dress took much longer than previously. “Well, what I could pretend to be? I mean, I can't exactly pretend to be relative,” Rainbow Dash asked. “How about a relative to Scootaloo? Visiting and staying for a while. It could also help dealing with Scoots friends,” Her double suggested. “Okay, what if her real relatives come calling?” She asked. Other ones expression turned dark. “Bastards never even sent a word... Not a single letter asking 'How are you?', not a single inquiry who I am. Sometimes I wonder if they even know Scoots is still alive.” Rainbow Dash winced at this. Her double took her responsibility as a parent very seriously. More seriously than she had expected. “Ooh! I could be long lost relative who only recently found that...” Pinkie Pie started, before she was silenced by everyones (except her doubles) stare. “No. Also, you are no longer allowed to watch The Barns of our Lives,” Applejack said. “You're just a normal relative who is visiting. End of discussion.” Last thing they needed was overly complex reasoning why there were two, way too similar Pinkie Pies running around. “So that leaves Fluttershy. Ideas?” Twilight asked. Everyone tried to think for something. “How about just someone who wants to study medicine and animals? Do we really need some overly complex story?” This worlds Rarity asked. Everyone gave a thought at this and nodded. “ I mean, we...” “We agree on you, Rarity. That could be just enough reasoning.” Rainbow Dash said. “Hmph. Next time make a sound. How I am supposed to know if you just keep silence?” “Sorry, sorry...” Dash apologized. “It's okay for me...” Fluttershy said. “Well, with that taken care of, we need to make the talismans. Why don't you people write your preferences on a paper and me and my double here will take care of them once we got time? Meanwhile, you could practice your new roles, to keep the this thing waterproof. We don't need ten different and contradicting stories flying around, OK?” Twilight said. Others voiced their agreement for this. After a few minutes, each one had a rough designs down, except for cutie marks. Since coming up with good cutie marks turned out to be harder than expected (except for Pinkie Pie, who declared her cutie mark would three cupcakes), they decided to go with rather generic designs. Rainbow Dash had grown rather tired of all the planning two Twilights put them trough. Still, she guessed they had their reason to do such complicated plan. She herself would have been happy just going around like they had previously. “Let's take a detour. Me, Rarity and Applejack had planned to meet together earlier, before you guys showed up. We should meet at the Apple farm,” Her double said suddenly. “What are you guys meeting about?” “Coming up with a plan to get Twilight into therapy. She's been... worse than ever before recently. I think that the Lunar Crisis was the last straw.” They adjust their flight paths to head towards the Apple farm. “Therapy? I heard Rarity, the your Rarity, speak about it. Also, what the Lunar Crisis?” “It's a crisis that happened about an year ago. Twilight and the Princess Luna were visiting the humans in their capital, on the moon. However, a group of terrorist ponies snuck in and detonated a bomb that killed a city's worth of humans. That's the simplified version, the real series of events was much more complicated.” “Aaand?” “Well... let's just say that the type of combat she saw there and the aftermath... she didn't take it well. We are all worried that one day she might kill herself.” “WHAT!?” “Yeah... So we need to get her into therapy, to make her to start dealing with her problems. With you guys appearing... I think it's more urgent than ever.” “Why so?” “Look, your guys didn't experience the war. Unless your world suffered some sort of cataclysm, it's pretty much the same as ours ten years ago, right?” “Yeah?” “So, now she is constantly reminded of what she has lost. She gets... grumpy, to put it mildly, when she starts to remember things. She also pretty much in constant depression, even if she tries to hide it.” “Wow... I can't really imagine Twilight like that.” “Yeah... but she refuses to listen to us. So we decided to gather up and think something up. You guys came at slightly bad time, the Remembrance Day is in few week.” “A what day now?” “The Remembrance Day. A day during which we celebrate the end of The War and give our respects to fallen. That's the worse day for Twilight. She pretty much spends the entire day at the graveyard...” Two kept flying in a silence, until they arrived at the Apple farm. Applejack was waiting for them. “Ya sure it's good idea to bring her here?” Applejack asked. “Ah left mah double inside the house.” “Yeah. I doubt she could do anything and since Scoots has her friends over my house, it's better to keep her outside for now.” “Fine, if ya say so. Rarity is waiting for us inside.” Applejack pointed her hoof at the Rainbow Dash. “You, keep quiet, okay? Rarity doesn't know you are here and this really doesn't concern you. No offense, but you don't know all the details. Understood?” “Sure, sure...” Applejack nodded at this and lead the group inside the barn. Rarity was waiting for them inside. Her ears perked up when the group trotted inside. “Hmm? Do I hear hoofsteps of three ponies?” “And there goes the plan to keep this secret,” Applejack said. “Right, so Dash brought her double here too. She has agreed to keep quiet about this. Is that OK with you?” “Hmm, I guess so. As long as she doesn't tell anyone.” “Good. Now, first things first. We all agree that Twilight needs help, whenever she admits it or not?” “Yeah.” “Absolutely. Poor one is clearly having a hard time, even if she tries to hide it!” “But how do we get her to agree to get help?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Well... I know you two don't like this but... Trixie could try and...” Rarity started, before being cut off. “No. Even if she has redeemed herself, Ah am NOT going to walk up to her and beg for help,” Applejack said. Dash nodded her head. “Besides, what help would she be?” Rainbow Dash asked, giving a skeptic look at Rarity. “Well... if you promise that you won't tell anyone I let you in a secret.” “Fine.” “Pinkie Pie promise.” Everyone went through the motions, wanting to know what this secret was. “Good. Now, the reason why I think Trixie might be a good candidate is... that she herself took therapy. After Princess Luna gave direct order to get help and her squad dragged her into the therapist's office, but never the less, she went through therapy. Me and Spike once caught her leaving the office and talked to her. It's the reason why she still has her command. Had she not gone there, she would have been discharged a long time ago.” Applejack and both Rainbow Dashes stood in silence. That was not something they had expected. Sure, Trixie's rise in the Guard had been a surprise itself, but that she too had suffered from WTSD? Maybe her claims that she had never wanted to be a hero might have been more true than what they had thought before. “Okay, so how would we even do this? 'Hey Trixie, you went to therapy, can you convince Twilight to take some too?' Yeah, I don't see that one happening,” Rainbow Dash said. “Besides, it would need to be you who would need to talk to her, not us. If she would find out that you told us, then we would be in trouble.” “Ah agree with Dash. This ain't some simple thing we are asking.” “If you can't do it, I will do it. We need to help Twilight. She can't keep going like this!” “Fine... fine... Ah just feel Ah am betraying her or something...” “I know darling, but... we can't either just stand aside and watch her destroy herself.” “True... Damn that war. Before it, we didn't need to think things like this,” Rainbow Dash said, shaking her head. So much had happened. “Well, I will call her tomorrow and try to convince her.” “Right, see ya all tomorrow.” Applejack said. “Now excuse me, I need to attend to the farm. It's good to have help for once.” “Okay, let's head back. I think Scoots friends might have left already, if not we could visit Pinkie or Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash said to her double before walking outside. “Hey, can ya take Rarity home first? Ah brought her here, but Ah can't take her back.” “Alright, sure.” “Thank you” Rarity said with a smile. She wished she had brought Spike with her, but she couldn't risk the dragon to accidentally slip details of this meeting. “Alright troops, listen up. The Guard is mobilizing once again. This time we got Discord as our enemy. That's why your weekly training regime has been doubled.” Trixie could hear disheartened grumble from the ranks. Then again, that was to be expected. “I want each and everyone of you to be on his or her best. Am I understood?” “Sir, Yes, Sir!” Came the reply from assembled troops “Good. DIIIIIIS-MISSED!” Troops dispersed, each one to their own task. Some would have a day off, others would return to their post. Trixie watched this and once again questioned how in Celestia's name had she ended up in this position. It had started as a simple ego trip, to get more praises. Now, she was in charge of her own unit, Trixie's Raiders. Not only that, but her troops actually respected her. It felt good. In return, she had promised herself that she would do her duty and take care of her troops. Even if it put her in middle of the worst situations. The idea of her troops being disappointed at her scared her. The looks they would give or worse, silent guilt from those would end up dead if she would abandon them. However, even then she was not looking forward with this thing. If things went like the Princesses planned, they would form an alliance with the four biggest players in the area. That included humans. She wasn't sure if she could keep her troops in line, or if she could even keep herself in line. Too much bad blood between two nations. “The Human Empire”, as it was called. Not The Human Refuge, like it was officially. An empire, with all the bad connotations it brought with it. Everyone spoke how humans were to be looked out for, but nobody saw the poison inside Equestria. Hopefully, a common enemy would help to ease the tension, if even a little bit. The whole Lunar Crisis had brought both sides together, even if to mourn the lost. Then there was the Remembrance Day, when Equestria would remember the worst moments. The humans had a different day, one held two weeks later. The Day Of Reclamation, when humanity reclaimed it's place in the world. Little was know about it, since most of it took place on the moon. She didn't notice she had arrived at her office. It was quite different from her days as a traveling showmare. She had taken up show business to follow in her mother's hoovesteps. Her father had not liked the idea, but in the end had given up. Still, they had made up after Trixie had joined the Royal Guard. Which reminded her, she needed to read that proposition forwarded to her. Her sergeant, recently promoted, Long Spear, had given her his idea of reforms that could be made to the Royal Guard. It called to reform the Royal Guard into the Equestria Defense Force, as well as institute a nationwide conscription. It would certainly allow much better defense formation. Equestria lacked trained soldiers and equipment. Current volunteer Royal Guard and locally trained militias simply didn't work. They needed a more coherent army. By conscripting everyone and giving them basic training, they would have an entire nation as a reserve force. However, before she could go trough the proposition again, there was a knocking on the door. “The door is open. Please enter.” She raised her head and saw Princess Celestia walk in. She quickly saluted. “Princess Celestia! It is a honor to meet, however may I ask why are you here?” “At ease Captain. I wish to ask you to do a personal mission for me.” “Anything you order, Your Highness.” “I want you to take a squad of guards and investigate events south of Los Pegasus. There has been reports of unusual dragon activity. Seems like a group of them suddenly banded together, all at once.” “Dragons? That's weird. I will take my best troops and take care of it, Princess.” She took a quick glance at the proposition in before her and closed it. “Your Highness, if I may, I was recently given a proposition to reform our armed forces. It seems to hold quite a lot of good ideas, so if you could, please take a look at it. It might be completely different from what Equestria is used to, but we need to change to meet the needs of the people.” Celestia took the proposition and quickly glanced trough it. “I will certainly go through this. However, implementing these would take much longer time.” “Yes, I do not expect that such changes would be implemented without a thought or that they would happen overnight. However, I simply ask you to take a look at it and consider it with the generals.” “And what do you think of this proposition?” “It has merit. It would certainly strengthen our defenses without sacrificing too much of tradition. However, I am afraid of public reception. Universal conscription might be hard to sell to the population.” “Indeed... Indeed... Very well, I will take a look at it. Please carry out your mission and report directly to me.” “Yes, Your Highness. Your will be done,” Trixie said with a salute as Celestia left. Now she needed to pick her team before heading out. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE FIRST CITIZEN WILL ARRIVE IN A WEEK!?” Fahrenheit shouted at her assistant. It was going to be four kettle day once again. “DO YOU REALIZE I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH PEOPLE TO HANDLE SUCH VISIT!? WHY WAS I NOT INFORMED EARLIER!?” “Um, Ambassador, we just received the word, it appears it was decided on a spur of a moment and...” “A MOMENT IS A GOOD WORD! WHERE THE HELL AM I GOING TO PULL OUT ENOUGH GUARDS, NOT TO MENTION LODGINGS FOR THE MOST FUCKING IMPORTANT MAN IN THE WORLD!?” A knock at the door silenced the fuming ambassador. A soldier peeked his helmeted head in. “Ambassador, the Royal Guard wishes to ask if something is wrong? They say that the shouting can be heard all the way to the castle,” The soldier said. Fahrenheit took few deep breaths, before calming down. “I apologize for inconvenience,” She said to the soldier. Then she turned back to her assistant and pointed a finger at him. “As for you, you start to gather every single guard you can get and find the best possible hotel in this city. As well as you get plenty of talismans. We need to set up one insane AM-field, I don't want The First Citizen to die because a malfunctioning talisman! Reich und Gott, why didn't they build this embassy thinking for a moments like this!?” The assistant sighed. It was going to be a six kettle day. He would need to check where he put those reassignment papers his predecessor gave him. Then he would need to make ready ones for his replacement.