//------------------------------// // Programming // Story: The Thousand Year Change // by Darthvalgaav //------------------------------// Twilight let out a frustrated groan. Currently she was sitting in her office which was large enough for fifteen ponies to walk around freely and comfortably. It had to be since she had teams of scientists in there everyday going over the projects that had been assigned to them. Before her was a screen that floated in midair from a device the same size and length as a ruler on her deck. Bit it wasn’t the device that was the cause of Twilight’s anger, rather what was being displayed on it. Since she had gotten to the research department, Assistant Director Twilight Sparkle had been working non-stop on possible alterations to Operation Umbrella. She had hoped that narrowing the field wouldn’t lower their chances much; however the end result was that they had only a thirty four percent chance of success. All Discord had to do was leave the containment area and he would then be able to strike back at the Republic. With such a big area it would make it easier for Discord to evade them. Taking a deep breath, Twilight did her best to try and find ways around this. She entered situation after situation into the computer to try and increase there chances. Each time the purple unicorn held her breath, hoping that she would get better odds. While these changes did improve the odds, they just weren’t as high as she wanted. It wasn’t even at fifty percent yet! “Cookie?” said a voice suddenly which caused Twilight to jump. Turning around she saw another one of her good friends, Pumpkin Slice. She was an earth pony with a light brown coat with a bright, curly orange mane. On her flank was a pumpkin cutie mark signifying her skills at cooking pumpkins into delicious treats. It was because of this skill that allowed her to become Princess Luna’s personal desert chief. On her back was a tray on cookies that smelled so mouth-wateringly delicious it caused Twilight’s stomach to growl. “I think that sounds like a good idea,” replied Twilight with a grateful smile. Using her magic, she picked up one of the cookies. They were large brown cookies with bright orange frosting. Just by looking at them Twilight knew that they were pumpkin cookies, Princess Luna’s absolute favorite. With wide eyes, Twilight turned to stare at her friend who simply smiled back at her. “Princess Luna asked me to make a batch for you,” she said while setting the plate on a nearby table. “After all, you have had a pretty busy week. Not only did Shadow propose but you also adopted a filly.” “I see,” said Twilight with slight relief. There were only a hoof-full of things that normally set off Princess Luna. One of them was when somepony eat her pumpkin cookies without asking. The last time somepony had tried to do this the Lunar Princess order that the perpetrator wash the entire outside of Dome Zero with the absolute minimum supplies before he was allowed back inside. Taking a bite, Twilight moaned in pure delight as she realized why these cookies were so special. The cookie was nice and moist while its flavor reminded her of pumpkin pie. She could fully understand why Princess Luna loved these cookies so much. “Do you like them?” asked Pumpkin. In response, Twilight took another large bite as she nodded. “Oh that’s good. The Princess asked me to cater your wedding so I thought I’d add these cookies to the desert table.” Twilight stopped in mid bite before looking at her friend. “You’re not, ah, going to make it a pumpkin themed wedding, are you?” asked Twilight nervously. While she loved her friends to death, sometimes they had a habit of taking something a bit too far. Right now Twilight was afraid that every dish at her wedding would have pumpkins in it. Even the cake! A little variety would be nice after all. Thankfully, Pumpkin shook her head. “Oh no,” she said with a laugh. “Even I would get sick of pumpkins if I had them with every meal. For right now I was thinking just having the pumpkin cookies as an option for desert along with a few other things. I’m also going to be getting a few extra hooves to help out in the kitchen so there can be a better variety.” Hearing all this, Twilight let out a relieved sigh before finishing off her cookie. She was about to ask what Pumpkin had in mind when another pony entered her office. Both ponies turned towards the door to see that it was Derpy with a big smile on her face. “Great news,” said the crossed eyes pegasus happily. “I just heard from Dinky that her Trooper team won third place in the laser tag free for all!” “That’s great news,” said Twilight as she turned off her computer. After all the simulations she had done, she had reached a very depressing conclusion. Talking with her friends would defiantly put her in a better mood. “That’s not even the best part,” said Derpy. “I heard from Lightning Dust that Scootaloo got her cutie mark. She’s taking the lucky filly to get Programmed right now!” Twilight couldn’t hold back the shock from her face. It was there for a moment or two as what Derpy had told them echoed in her head. Then her eye narrowed in anger as she marched out of the room. ‘What the hay is she thinking,’ thought Twilight. ‘I know Lightning gets impatient when she gets excited, but she should have talked to me about this first. I just hope she told Scootaloo what being Programmed means.’ -x- Meanwhile, a certain orange filly sat in what looked like a waiting room a dentist or a doctor would have. The room was cool. Temperature wise that is. The seats were made of hard plastic making them slightly uncomfortable to sit in. Over in the corner there was a playset for foals to use as well as several toys. In the opposite corner was a table which had several magazines and books on them. Having been here for a while, and being very bored, decided to look at some on the books. Most of them looked uninteresting, but before she turned to leave one cover caught her eye. It was called ‘Boldly Go and the Stellar Temple’. On the cover there was a mare that looked a lot like Rainbow Dash except that her coat was yellow and, instead of a rainbow colored mane, hers went from black to grey in the same pattern as Rainbow’s. The mare was in some kind of vehicle heading towards what looked like a sinister looking castle floating in the middle of empty space. “Scootaloo,” said the receptionist causing the filly to look up from the book. “Your Programmer is ready to see you now.” Gulping, Scootaloo walked towards a door that had opened on the other side of the room. Now more than ever she wished that Lightning Dust had stayed with her. After what happened at Dinner 51 the pegasus mare brought everypony back to Dome One. Scootaloo was about to head back to Twilight’s, but Lightning said that they should get her Programming done sooner rather than later. Scootaloo asked Lightning what she was talking about, but all the older mare would say was that she would find out when she got there. At least Lightning said that she would try to get in contact with Twilight so she could be there for her. Finally, after being dropped off at an office building, Lightning said she had to split and left the filly all by herself. Scootaloo walked through the door and into a very friendly looking office. There was a deck with all kinds of interesting nick-nacks on it. In front of the deck was a nice cushioned chair. Along the walls were a couple of bookshelves and pictures. Behind the desk was a brown unicorn stallion with a messy black mane with glasses. He looked up as Scootaloo entered the room to give her a friendly smile. “Hello there Scootaloo,” he said happily. “Come in. Come in. Have a seat. My name is Daily Planner and I’m going to be your Programmer. Now, before we get started, is there anything you want to ask me?” “Well, ah, I was wondering what Programming means,” said Scootaloo after she had sat down. Planner, for his part, lost his smile for a second or two. Has jaw seemed to drop, but he quickly recovered. “Well, that’s new,” he said as his smile returned. “I don’t think I’ve ever had to answer that question. Well, simply put, being Programmed just means that we talk about options with a filly’s or colt’s future based on their cutie mark. Take your cutie mark for example. It means that your special talent is operating high speed vehicles.” “You mean my scooter?” asked Scootaloo. “For now, yes,” answered Planner as he reached into his desk. He searched for a moment or two before pulling out a large stack of papers. “I’m sure that, in time, you will be able to move on to other methods of transportation and excel in operating them at high speeds as well. “Now then, I tried to look up your grades so I can help you narrow down your options but was unable to find them for some reason. Don’t worry, I’m sure its just a glitch or something like that. So, rather than keep you waiting, I thought we could just go over as much as we can until we find something that interests you. Sounds good?” “I guess,” said Scootaloo. “Excellent,” said Planner. “Now then, there is always room in the Lunar Postal Department and they only require a diploma.” He then flipped through some of the papers. “But I think we can find something a bit better for you. Have you ever considered being a shuttle pilot? Taking crews of miner ponies up to the TOM’s and such? This job requires ponies with special talents like the one you have. Now, you need to have at least a C average when you graduate to apply for this job. In addition, while you’re in school you will have to take some specific classes. Don’t worry thought, their not that hard.” “Ah, I think I might have something in mind,” said Scootaloo in a slightly timid tone. “Lightning Dust told me I might do well in the Royal Guard and…” In a way Scootaloo felt embarrassed for bringing this up. But, at the same time, she couldn’t help it. Back when she lived in Ponyville, the adults never gave her ideas on what she could do when she grew up. Not even Miss Foster encouraged her towards a goal. The only pony who had ever suggested that Scootaloo could do something in the future before she got her cutie mark (or maybe didn’t notice that she had one at the time) was Lightning Dust. She had to admit that Lightning was almost as cool as her ideal Rainbow Dash. Not to mention that both her and Shadow were both in the Royal Guard. But the biggest reason of them all was that she simply had a good time with laser tag. And, from what she had heard, the Royal Guard did things like that all the time! “I see,” said Planner as she searched through his papers again. It took him a couple of minutes, but he soon found a very fancy looking document. “Well before we start on this one I want you to know that the Royal Guard is very hard to get into. Just to apply you will need to have a B average when you graduate. You will also need to take honors mathematics and engineering. They also need you to show them that you participated in at least one sport or after school activity. After all that you will begin private training for six months. After that, if they don’t think your skills are good enough, you are dropped out of the program.” Scootaloo’s heart sank when she heard all this. She could barely scrape by with C’s. She didn’t know what honor’s were, but she had a feeling that they were harder than normal classes. And on top of all that school stuff, they wanted her to do something after school. How was she supposed to do all that? Daily Planner watched as the filly in front of him sank deeper into her seat. Now, he had been doing this job for many, many years. He knew the actions of a filly who was watching her hopes vanish before her eyes and it gave him no joy. He to once sat in a seat like that one while being told that some of the things he wanted to do were out of his reach. Normally there was nothing he could do. Normally. “Scootaloo is this something you really want to do?” he asked. The filly nodded. “Well then, perhaps there is some hope. You see, want usually happens is that I input your decision into the education network so that the schools will know which classes to assign you. But, like I said earlier, there is some kind of glitch that is keeping me from looking up your school information. Now, you need to start taking these classes two years from now. So what I’m going to do is schedule another appointment with you one year from now. Take your time and work on your grades the best you can. Get a tutor and work on some extra credit. When we next see each other we can go from there. If your grades aren’t good enough then I really can’t recommend you going for the Royal Guard and we can talk about your other options again. How does that sound?” “Good, I guess,” replied Scootaloo who felt a little better. “Great,” said Daily Planner. “Now, let’s go over some of your other options so you have more time to think about them.” -x- By the time Twilight got to the Programming office, the orange filly was walking out of the building. The little pegasus was carrying a bag full of pamphlets in her mouth. As soon as she saw her, Twilight made a mad rush towards Scootaloo. “Are you ok?” Twilight asked quickly. “I’m so sorry Scootaloo. I wanted to wait for you to get used to the Republic before having you go to a place like this. When I find Lightning I’ll-” “It’s ok Twilight,” said Scootaloo after she set down the bag. “It wasn’t so bad. I was just a bit confused since nopony would tell me what was going on. I guess Lightning was playing a prank on me or something.” “Or something,” agreed Twilight as she took a breath to relax. “Well then, let’s get going home.” “Ah, Twilight,” said Scootaloo as the two began to walk. “I was wondering, when we get home can we start studying?” -x- Princess Luna looked down at Sunset Shimmer with a mixture of sadness and disappointment. Sunset, at one time, had showed so much promise. However, she had allowed her jealousy to guide her actions causing her to make horrible mistakes. Now, there was nothing Luna could do for her. “Sunset Shimmer,” said Luna in a loud tone. “I am very displeased by your actions today. It has been confirmed by the LBI that you not only cheated in what was meant to be a fun game, but you did it in a way that caused pain. Seeing how close I once was to you, I shall leave your punishment up to the Lunar Senate. Before we throw you in a cell, is there anything you have to say for yourself?” Sunset could only moan in pain. She was laying on her back while holding her stomach with her hooves. It was doubtful that she even knew what was going on around her. “What is wrong with her?” asked Luna to one of her guards. “She (gulp) ate the special at Diner 51,” replied the guard. Luna’s eyes widened when she heard that. She then turned to look at Sunset once more who had begun to gag as if she felt something pushing its way up her throat. Luna then saw the lump coming up the more mare’s throat. Sunset opened her mouth and then a small black alien jumped out of her mouth. The alien then went over to Sunset, forcibly opened her mouth, and pulled out a straw hat and a cane. The alien put the hat on and tucked the cane under its armpit as it began to sing and dance. "Hello, my baby! Hello, my honey! Hello, my ragtime gal! Send me a kiss by wire. Baby, my heart's on fire! If you refuse me, Honey, you lose me. Then you'll be left alone. Oh baby, telephone And tell me I'm Your own!" When it was over, the alien held out its straw hat in front of the Princess of the Night. With a nervous smile, Luna levitated a few bits into the alien’s hat. As soon as he had the coins, the alien danced out of the throne room. -x- Princess Cadence sighed as she walked down the corridors of the Canterlot Castle. She knew that the nobles wouldn’t like the changes she would be making to help the bat ponies, but it didn’t make things any easier. After Celestia had giver her the task of improving things for the bat ponies, the pink pony princess had been met with more resistance than she had thought possible. Some of the laws were simple, like making it illegal for an employer to deny employment to a bat pony without reason. Other laws dealt with orphanages to make sure they were treating the bat foals properly. Sadly, the nobles were making everyone of her efforts difficult. They were using every trick in the book to ensure that what she was doing would take as long as possible to take effect. Some were downright insulting her to her face with no care of the consequences. The only relief that the Princess of Love had right now was that the mares from Ponyville were watching her daughter. At least this way she could work with fewer worries. Just then, a messenger pony came running up to her in a panic. “I was told to get this to Princess Celestia as soon as possible,” he said as he showed her a scroll. “But she’s locked herself in her room again. I-I don’t know what to do! There was a foalnapping in Ponyville and-” “I will look into it,” said Cadence as she took the scroll. “Thank you princess,” said the pony as he walked away. As he did, Cadence began to read the scroll. “No,” she whispered. “Thank you.”