//------------------------------// // I // Story: Reaching out, Part 1:Firestorm // by Erstwhile Tail //------------------------------// Celestia stood wearily on the balcony of the throne room. Where less than 4 months before, Equestria had come its closest to being doomed. The Storm King had been dead for those 4 months, they were sure of that. But this new threat that faced their nation would have more devastating consequences should it rage out of control. The Everfree forest was on fire, it had been raging for almost 2 weeks now, its speed and intensity was unlike any wildfire in Equestrian history. All efforts to contain or slow the spread were met with little success, they had bought hours, maybe a day at most. The heat and smoke had been too much for the firefighters and the pegasi weather teams operating the rain clouds. They simply didn’t have the means to contain the inferno. Even now she could see it in the distance, the smoke and eerie glow of the fire cutting through the once beautiful landscape. At the front of this disaster was the little town of Ponyville, its citizens being desperately evacuated before the inevitable. There was little they could do to save the town, and if the wind in the valley went unchecked for much longer, the smoke from the fire could blow anywhere in Equestria causing all sorts of havoc. There was also little stopping the fire from spreading to the prairies and up to the forested mountains. This meant the fire could easily spread to any part of central Equestria in a few weeks with devastating impacts. But Celestia had a card up her sleeve, one she had not been able to play during the invasion thanks to her being encased in stone, but was more than able to now. Only she, Luna and a handful of her closes staff knew about the second bridge, reaching to a planet across the stars: Earth. Celestia turned on her heel and walked briskly into the throne room. The guards immediately stood to attention. “Guards, leave me. I have private business to attend to. Raven, please summon my sister. Tell her it is of the upmost importance.” She calmly requested. The guards bowed and left while Raven nodded with a quick, “As you wish your highness” before jogging off towards Luna’s chambers. Celestia sat in her throne and rested her head in one of her hands. They were out of time and choices, they needed their help. She only hoped they could. Minutes later, Luna appeared with Raven popping into existence via Luna’s teleportation spell. “Sister, you summoned me, what is the matter. Besides the obvious.” Luna said as she guested to a window, an abstract stained glass from so long ago that Celestia had forgotten the reasoning behind it. “We are fighting a losing battle in the Everfree. I’ve ordered all firefighter personnel and Weather teams to pull back when the evacuation is complete.” Celestia said with a heavy heart. “Out of the question. The fire would destroy Ponyville and run rampant to the base of the mountain. If it can’t burn its way up, the smoke and heat would finish the civilians off.” Luna said, her voice one of protest and anger. “Which is why we need their help.” Celestia stated. “Sister, I don’t want them to introduce themselves to this world and vice versa in this situation, but we simply have no other option. The fate of Equestria is at stake and we’ve exhausted all our other options.” Luna’s face fell slightly as she came to this realization. She had been spearheading the effort to contain the fire. Celestia had taken on both the duties of Sun and Moon once again to give Luna more time and energy to focus on her operation. But even her magic was doing very little to curtail the fire’s spread. With a heavy sigh she looked back at her sister. Then took a seat in her throne besides Celestia’s. “Very well, if it gets that fire contained, that’s all I care about right now.” She said, a hint of sadness in her voice. Celestia knew that ever since Luna’s return from her exile, she’d been trying to prove herself a lot more than she’d done a millennium before. Perhaps it was a way to make up for the crimes of Nightmare Moon, but that would have to be a discussion for another day. “Raven, if you would be so kind to activate the bust of Commander Hurricane.” Raven approached the bust, before pressing the nose of the bust with a finger. The eyes glowed for a second before casting a large hologram, technology wasn’t a very big thing in Equestria and their tech was not on par with this piece gifted to them by their friends. The hologram rendered a large circle with a line drawn laterally across. A female voice coming from hidden speakers spoke, the line dancing up and down with the synthetic voice. “Please provide clearance codes” it stated flatly over the speakers. Celestia spoke with the confidence and clarity that came with the hours and hours of practice she put into recursing her security code. “Sierra, Uniform, November, Bravo, Uniform, Tango, Tango, Two, Zero, One, Zero.” “Voice print and access code accepted. Welcome Princess Celestia, secondary voice print and access code required.” Luna cleared her throat then clearly and confidently gave her access code. “Lima, Uniform, November, Alpha, Romeo, Echo, Charlie, Lima, India, Papa, Sierra, Echo, Two, Zero, One, Niner.” “Voice print and access code accepted. Welcome Princess Luna.” A new menu was rendered showing a single contact: Colonel Casey. “Contact Colonel Casey.” Celestia stated. “Priority?” The artificial Mare asked. “Flash” Celstia replied. “Connecting” The menu was now replaced with a single person, she was like the Ponies but without a tail, wings or horns and with a more flat face with ears on the sides. She wore a high ranking officers uniform. Celestia had never been used to the fact that she looked physically there, but wasn’t at the same time. “Yes?” The human’s voice, rich with experience and rhetoric, sounded through communication link. She blinked in surprise as she realized who had contacted her, “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna? To what do I owe the pleasure?” “Colonel Casey, we have a situation.” Luna replied.