//------------------------------// // Moving Forward // Story: The Thousand Year Change // by Darthvalgaav //------------------------------// “I believe that congratulations are in order,” said Princess Luna as both Twilight and Shadow entered the throne room. The Princess was sitting on her throne while Shining Armor was sobbing next to her. The couple looked at their ruler with a bit of confusion. Smiling, Luna decided to answer their silent question. “I was informed the moment the platform shut down. Fearing something was wrong I decided to check on it from one of the secret cameras in the tubes leading to Dome Zero.” “I guess Shining must have been with you,” said Shadow as he looked at the white unicorn. “That must be the reason his liquid pride is all over the floor.” Luna laughed as she stood up to walk over to Twilight. Once she was close enough the blue alicorn wrapped her in a big hug. “I am so happy for you,” whispered Luna softly. This was now one of the biggest days in Twilight’s life. To be able to share it with her, as if she really were Twilight’s mother, made her feel so proud. And as such, Luna wanted to help out as much as she could with what would come in the following months. Reluctantly she released Twilight and began to speak louder. “To celebrate this joyous occasion, the wedding shall be held here in the castle.” “B-But Princess,” stuttered a wide eyed Twilight. “In the thousand year history of the Republic, no pony was ever had a wedding here.” “There is a first time for everything,” said Luna with a smile. “Besides, in the past thousand years, I have never seen the Captain of the Royal Guard marry my prized student before. Besides, this is my home after all.” “W-We are honored Princess,” said Shadow. “Good,” said Luna. “Now that that’s settled, I believe the two of you have work to attend to.” Nodding, Shadow kissed Twilight on the cheek before he walked over to Shining Armor. “Ok,” said the bat stallion as he picked up his future brother in law. “Let’s go for a walk before we get to the training grounds. Can’t have your ponies seeing you like this, now can we?” With that the two left the room followed by Twilight and Luna. As the two mares walked through the castle, Luna continued to talk. “I am so sorry for pulling you away from your days off, but this is a matter of great importance,” she said. “Gigawatt put up a motion to use Operation Umbrella on the planet to ensure that Equestria will never be a threat to us.” Twilight couldn’t hide the shock or horror on her face even if she tried. “B-But what of the other kingdoms on the planet?” she asked. “They’ll be affected too.” “I know my little pony,” said Luna with a sad sigh. “If they didn’t see us as monsters before, they certainly will if we ever have to use Operation Umbrella. I know this is our best chance to keep Discord at bay, but perhaps we could make some changes to the plan as a whole. Find a way to only affect Equestria.” “Well,” said Twilight as her mind began to go into overdrive. “I think it is worth a try. However, the reason why we originally planned it this way was out of fear that Discord could leave the containment zone. If we do it the way you are suggesting it might lower the chance of success by a significant amount. There is also the possible problem of overexposure. We designed Operation Umbrella to last for only a short while. A week at most. However, if we do as Gigawatt suggests then there is a chance that the effects will become permanent. But…I do see what you are saying. We should try to spare as many countries down on the planet as possible.” Luna nodded. “I hope we can,” she said. “While I am personally against using Operation Umbrella to oppress, it can still be useful in case Equestria ever becomes a serious threat against us. It is unlikely given their current state, but it isn’t impossible that one day they may try to find a way to attack us. Even using Umbrella for a few hours will send a strong message of the consequences of messing with the Republic!” Twilight nodded. From what she and Shadow had seen on the planet, the ponies there were still afraid of them. That fear might push them into trying to attack them. Right now that was impossible given the level of both their technology and magic. But given time, as well as the right incentive, there was no telling what they could do. It wasn’t something Twilight wanted to do, but in order to protect everypony in the Republic she would do what had to be done. “There is something else,” continued Luna as the two turned a corner. “Dr. Blue Star was recently imprisoned for misuse of government funds for a period of twenty years.” Luna paused for a moment as she watched Twilight shivered in fear. “Because of this, Crescent Hope will need somepony else working on it. I know I am dumping a lot on you, but this will only be until I can find somepony else who can take over.” Twilight nodded as the two came to a set of large steel doors. On the wall next to it was a circular device in the wall which Twilight walked over to. Once she was in front of it the purple unicorn moved her head close to it. A moment later a red beam of light shot out of the device, covering Twilight’s body. It lasted for only a few moments before the doors opened. Twilight turned to face the princess, bowed, and then walked through the open doors. “Bio-print scanned. Identity confirmed,” said a computerized voice as Twilight walked into the corridor. “Welcome Assistant Director Twilight Sparkle.” -x- “Princess Celestia, it is good to see you are doing well,” said Blueblood as he stood before the princess in her throne room. Off to the side were Cadence, her bat ponies, Trixie, and the five ponies from Ponyville. Sunlight shined through the stained glass windows as the morning sun traveled through the sky. “We feared the worst.” “I’m sure you did,” said Celestia as she tilted her head. “I’m sure that’s why you didn’t see fit to try and release me from my containment.” Blueblood gulped. “W-We feared what might happen if we started pressing buttons without knowing what they did. For all we knew one of them might have killed you.” “I see,” said Celestia. “I suppose that I must take your word on that my dear nephew. But in the future, I suggest that you not exclude Cadence from such meetings. Cooler heads make better decisions.” “Yes,” said Blueblood slowly as he turned to look in the direction of Cadence. It wasn’t an obvious glare, but more like a masked look of distain. “I will make sure I do that from now on.” He then turned to look at Celestia once more. “Is there anything else I can do for you?” “No,” replied Celestia as she shook her head. “You may take your leave.” Blueblood bowed before leaving, As he walked away, however, he cast one more sideways glance at Cadence as well as her bat ponies. It wasn’t a look that the pink princess liked yet she kept her composer. She would not give him the satisfaction of showing that he was getting to her. Rarity, who had a long time crush on the prince, saw it as well. When she had first seen the prince in person she had thought that he would approach her, dazzled by her beauty. Yet he looked down on everypony he saw that didn’t wear a crown. She saw him as arrogant and cruel. The more she saw the more she began to wonder how he could be Princess Celestia’s favorite nephew! As the doors closed, Celestia let out a sigh. Blueblood, as well as the other nobles, would need a new approach than what she had been doing. In a way, what Luna did to her was an eye opening experience. She saw with her own eyes how they would react with her incapacitated. Things would have to change around here and soon. “No then,” said Celestia as she motioned for the other to approach her. Her eyes fell upon the five mares from Ponyville. “Can you tell me why you were in the Royal Archives last night?” “Well ya see Princess,” began Applejack. However she stopped as Rainbow rushed forward and threw the book she had tucked under her wing in the direction of Celestia. It didn’t hit her; it just landed in front of her hooves. Shocked, everypony stared at the aggressive mare as guards pointed their spears at her. “We wanted to know why the hay you’ve been lying to everypony!” yelled Rainbow who didn’t seem to care about the possible danger she was in. Tears where once again began to appear in her eyes. “Everything I was taught in school was wrong! And you KNEW! You knew about Nightmare Moon! You knew the truth about the Republic! And you knew about THIS!” Slowly, Celestia used her magic to pick up the book. Looking at the title, she closed her eyes as she took a guess as to what Rainbow saw in it. Seeing no point in denying anything, Celestia opened the book up and began to flip through the pages. Finally she stopped at a black and white copy of a picture that had been drawn before Equestria had been founded. It was a city in the clouds as beautiful as Cloudsdale while below it were dozens of Timberwolves who sat down with their jaws opened towards the sky. In the middle was a mare who was throwing her new born bat pony foal down to the wolves below. The title of this piece of work was called ‘The Proper Tradition’. “Yes, I knew about this,” said Celestia slowly as she looked up. She handed the book over to Cadence who also looked at the book in shock. One by one the book was passed around, each pony having a similar reaction with Fluttershy’s being the worst. The poor girl broke down into tears. While this was going on, Celestia looked upon Rainbow Dash as she calmed down. Personally, she didn’t blame the mare for her reaction. She knew that what had caused this outburst was her loyalty to both Pegasus ponies as well as her cousin. To see something like this must have been a huge blow. “I-Is this true?” asked Ruby as she stared at Celestia. Celestia nodded. “Before the founding of Equestria, bat ponies were seen as a cursed foal. They wrongly believed that the best thing to do was to end their lives as you saw in that book. But, when my mother took the thrown the first thing she did was to outlaw this behavior. Then, when me and Luna took the throne, a few ponies decided to try and bring back this old tradition. After they were caught I decided to hide this part of Pegasus history as well as any other dark moments from our past.” She paused for a moment before looking at Applejack. “How much do you know about my sister?” During the next several minutes the only ones who spoke were the mares from Ponyville. Celestia was amazed by how much they were able to piece together within such a sort amount of time. Most of it was guess work, however, and there were still some holes that needed to be filled in. “An that about sums it up Princess,” finished Applejack. “But we still don’t know where this Nightmare Moon thing came from,” said Rarity. “That is actually very simple to answer,” said Celestia. “A thousand years ago very few ponies knew how to read or write. After what happened in Hoofshire the story was told from pony to pony, changing a little each time. For example, my sister ran out of a burning building while carrying a colt she had saved from the flames. A few years later the story that was being told was that she had set fire to the building and eat a foal while she watched it burn. After I decreed that my sister’s name was never to be spoken again, new names were created until one came that matched the over blown story. Eventually my sisters one and only holiday, Dreamer’s Eve, was changed into Nightmare Night.” “Excuse me,” said Fluttershy weakly. “But why didn’t you tell ponies the truth?” “I did try,” said Celestia as she hung her head. “But because I waited too long, ponies demanded proof. Which is one of the reasons I decided to hold the Summer Sun Festival in Ponyville. The plan was to allow a small community of ponies to see my sister and the lunar ponies for who they really were. News would have spread and ponies would begin to question what they had been told. I would have been able to go before the so called experts and point out that most of their theories of the lunar ponies were based on guesswork. However, I never expected a pony like Twilight to be there working for my sister.” “So it is Twilight’s fault,” said Trixie. “Trixie knew there was something she didn’t like about her.” “You can’t blame her,” said Cadence. “How was she supposed to know what Auntie Celestia had in mind?” “That is true,” admitted Celestia. “The last few days have been an eye opener for me. It is well past time I dealt with certain problems with my own two hooves. Princess Cadence, I will allow you to keep your own guard and will allow it to grow. I will also give you the great task of helping the bat ponies become accepted in Equestria.” “I,” began Cadence as she gulped loudly. “I will do my best.” “I know you will,” said Celestia with a smile. “Now, I have something I must get to work on. Hopefully this will get Luna to give us one more chance.”