Nineteen Months Earlier
Princess Twilight Sparkle sighed to herself as she looked out over the city. She could remember when the balcony on which she stood was one of the highest points for miles around, giving her an unparalleled view over the surrounding land as far as she could see. Now, the steel obelisks rose above her on all sides, and she could never shake the feeling that at least one pony was watching her from the many windows that faced Canterlot Castle.
The Equestrian Heritage Trust had allowed there to be a half-mile radius around the castle where every structure was classed as a listed building, so would remain untouched by the modern constructs, but it never seemed to be enough breathing space for Twilight when she was out on the balcony. The castle hadn’t felt the same for years. The glorious orange of the sunset was of some comfort, indicating that night was almost upon them. The darkness gave her the closest thing to privacy, without the presence of her royal guard to keep the civilians at bay.
“So,” came an unexpected but friendly voice from behind her. “A bit for your thoughts?”
“It’s nothing, Celestia,” Twilight replied, not even looking back. “Just… reminiscing.”
“I do the same myself quite often. This balcony used to be my favorite place to do so. Sadly, it lacks the privacy that it used to.”
“It’s more than that.”
“I know,” Celestia responded, stepping up to stand next to her former student. “The years seem to fly by, nowadays. Twenty years can feel more like two.”
Twilight allowed herself to smirk slightly. “It feels exactly like twenty to me.”
“Give it a few more years,” Celestia said, also smirking. “Immortality does have this unique way of blurring the time as it goes by.”
Twilight thought the words over as Celestia looked out to the horizon. It wasn’t hard to miss the thin plume of smoke rising just beyond some of the smaller buildings in the distance. The fire that had caused it had long since been extinguished, but the smoke had resolutely stayed put.
“So,” Celestia asked. “I assume you’ve finished your final report.”
The only response Twilight could manage was a simple nod.
“And?”
Twilight took a deep breath, and slowly recounted the words she’d memorized from the many hours of research she’d done in the past week. “The newly constructed apartments had been built with piping that was far below standard, as a result of the construction company trying to cut corners to lower their expenses. The initial explosion killed most of the ponies in the building, as well as several who were walking past at the time. Luckily, the building was incomplete, so the only ponies inside at the time were construction workers.”
Celestia nodded sadly, not wishing to consider the death count if the building had been finished, and if there had been any families inside. “How many survivors?”
Twilight paused before she answered, thinking how best to word her response. “Initially, there were six ponies who had been doing electrical work in the basement. The explosion was on the top floor, so they were shielded from the blast by the many levels of flooring.”
“Initially?”
“They survived the explosion, but then they were trapped in the basement by the flames and the rubble. Luckily the basement roof had been reinforced, so there was no risk of it collapsing, but the rubble instead blocked all the exits. It took the fire teams seven hours to get through to them, but by that time, they had all succumbed to the fire, mostly due to smoke inhalation.”
Celestia didn’t answer. She simply kept her gaze fixated at the smoke on the horizon.
“With those six, and the eighteen still missing, we’re assuming a death toll of thirty four. The fire fighters are still going through the rubble, but the only remains they’re finding now are just… well, bits and pieces.”
After a deep sigh, Celestia finally responded. “What about the construction company?”
“The CEO has been taken in to police custody, and after having a quick look at their current stock devaluation, I’d say that it’s pretty much finished.”
“Well, at least that’s one less item to worry about. Did you finish the condolence letters for the families?”
“Yes, I had my assistant write them each out by hoof, and after I signed them I had him take them to your office.”
“Excellent. Once I’ve signed them, I’ll make sure both Luna and Cadence sign them as well.”
“It feels like we sign more and more as each year goes by.”
“I know what you mean. But I suppose we all have our way of dealing with things. I mean, you have EQUIS, Luna has…”
“What?” Twilight asked, cutting Celestia off mid-sentence. “How did you know about that?”
Celestia chuckled to herself. “Twilight, we all know. Me, Luna, and Cadence.”
“Anypony else?”
“Don’t worry yourself, we’re all sworn to secrecy. Anyway, it’d still be a secret if you hadn’t left your sketchbook in the Library by mistake.”
Twilight blushed slightly. “When was this?”
“A few years ago, not long after EQUIS had its first mission. I saw you get up to leave, and I saw that you’d left your book behind. I was going to call you back… but you’d left it open and… well, I couldn’t resist a look when I saw what you were working on.”
Twilight’s cheeks began to flush, turning bright red.
“I must say, I did find your alias to be rather entertaining. What was it again?”
The amused expression on Celestia’s face eased Twilight’s tension, and she allowed herself to grin slightly. “Dusk Shine,” she said with a chuckle. “I would have told you, but I thought you’d be angry.”
“Twilight, why in all of Equestria would I be angry?”
“Because… well, you know.”
The penny dropped for Celestia as Twilight couldn’t even bring herself to look at her. “Ah. You never talk to me about that.”
“Because I never once doubted your motives. I know that whatever reason you had for lying for so many years… you had the best interests of Equestria at heart.”
“I’m truly thankful that you think of me so fondly. But you didn’t need to hide EQUIS from me. One part of being Princess is allowing our subjects to reach their full potential. Some ponies were curious about outer space, so you set up EQUIS to allow them the opportunity to reach and explore it. Even if I had known when you set it up, I would have made no attempt to stop you.”
Twilight hung her head slightly. “I’m sorry. Sometimes I feel there’s just so much more for me to learn about being a Princess, it just becomes too much for me to bear.”
Celestia stepped up to her former student, and lifted her chin to face her. “There is always something for us to learn. Even ponies as old as I am. It’s just a case of learning it at your own speed.”
Twilight smiled gratefully at her mentor. It never ceased to amaze her how much Celestia could make her feel better in bad times.
“But,” Celestia continued. “I fear that this ‘modern age’ may be a bit more difficult to come to terms with. The annual death toll caused by accidents has quadrupled in the last two years, and I fear it will continue to rise.”
Twilight thought on this for a few seconds.
“Have you looked in my sketchbook at all lately?”
“No,” Celestia said. “Not at all, since that one time in the Library.”
“Well, I’ve been working on some new projects, and I think I may have a solution.”
“Some new kind of rescue equipment?”
A large grin appeared on Twilight’s face. “Something like that.”
“Do tell.”
“Well, the number one problem with rescue equipment nowadays is that it is expensive. Expensive to build, expensive to maintain, expensive to use. And a lot of places simply can’t afford this equipment, so if and when disaster arises, they have to have the equipment shipped from the nearest available place, and that’s only if they can afford to have it shipped in the first place.”
“And if it has to be shipped, that also makes time a factor.”
“Exactly. If rescue equipment is needed, it’s fairly safe to assume that it is needed urgently. If it has to be shipped from some place far away, then time becomes something that the waiting ponies simply don’t have.”
Celestia thought for a few seconds. “How many of the recent accidents have…”
“I know what you’re going to ask,” Twilight interrupted. “In the three years alone, more than eighty percent of large scale accidents have seen ponies die because of the lack of nearby rescue equipment. In fact, in many of these accidents, it would have been possible to save all the ponies who perished, if the equipment had been on hoof within a couple of hours.”
“So, what are you proposing?”
“What we need is a rescue organisation that has all the latest equipment for any eventuality, plus some quick transport for said equipment.”
“Quick transport?”
“Yeah… well, it’s… it’s kinda hard to describe. I’d have to show you the drawings.”
“Drawings?” Celestia asked. “So, you’re thinking we should build some kind of ship.”
“No. Not a ship. Five.”
“Five?”
“Five ships. And then in addition to those, there’ll be separate smaller vehicles to serve for each different kind of rescue.”
Celestia groaned slightly. “I’m afraid I don’t fully understand. Are you suggesting an expansion of the public services?” she asked bluntly. Her transition into the newer age of technology had been far less easy than it had been for Twilight, and thus she was struggling to grasp the full extent of what Twilight was proposing.
“Not exactly, but what I have in mind is actually far more complicated,” Twilight said, acknowledging Celestia’s confusion. “I’ll tell you what. Meet me in the broom closet in ten minutes. I’ll bring some sketches.”
- - - - - - - - - -
Broom closet, as it turned out, was quite the misnomer. Then again, in Canterlot Castle, the Princesses hardly ever received much privacy. Discovering that they had been bugged during idle conversation was a more common occurrence than seemed plausible, but they’d soon come to realize that the only place that anypony of royalty could truly talk openly was somewhere that nopony else even knew existed. The wider branches of Celestia and Luna’s extended family were left out of the loop, but the four alpha alicorns each had created secret rooms known to only them, as well as one more – ironically referred to as their ‘public’ one – where they could meet as a group. The latter was always referred to as the broom closet.
Twilight’s hooves echoing around the walls of the corridor made for the only break in the eerie silence. The sun had set only minutes earlier, and she had to be quick if she wanted to get to the broom closet before the next guard patrol made their way through in less than two minutes. Strict scheduling had always been second nature to her, even during the old days in Ponyville, and her personal guard was expected to operate with equal punctuality. She knew they had mastered perfect timing for their patrols, so she wasn't remotely surprised when she heard the creaky hinge on the door as it swung open down the corridor. There were several twists and turns between there and her, but the guards would be on her in less than thirty seconds.
She illuminated her horn – which glowed the dark purple with a green aura that only alicorn magic could produce – and rested it on the mosaic at her hooves. After a gentle shudder, the tiles of the mosaic sunk into the floor, gradually descending in a spiral pattern. What had once been a crystallized picture of a young Luna dressed as a sunflower (apparently a result of losing a bet she’d made with Celestia when they were both fillies) was now a small staircase. Twilight quickly made her way down, with the tiles rising back up behind her the moment she’d stepped through the small archway at the bottom. She listened to the hoofsteps of the guards passing above her, oblivious to the secret entrance, before she made her way to the glowing room at the end of passageway.
Upon hearing multiple voices, she crept cautiously, not wanting to make herself heard. She knew Luna and Celestia would be playing poker, and it always made for entertaining listening before she went in.
She huddled behind the archway at the end of the corridor, knowing that her fellow princesses would be far too focused on their game to be even slightly aware of her presence. The silence hanging in the air lasted for a while, and Twilight was beginning to consider abandoning her playful eavesdropping, but Celestia’s frustrated voice halted her in her tracks.
“Come on Luna, you gonna call or stack?”
Twilight grinned to herself. Luna was clearly having one of her bad nights. To be fair, each of them had their fair share of misfortune when it came to cards, but Luna seemed to have the more prevalent share. And Celestia just loved to push her buttons when she was getting frustrated.
“Just give me some time to think!” Luna snapped back ferociously.
It had been a genuine surprise to Twilight when she had first spoken to Luna, as royalty to royalty, out of the view of public. The princess of the night, for somepony so traditional as to refer to herself as ‘we’, was surprisingly laid back and casual during idle conversation, and easily wound up when it came to game nights. Though Celestia had asked such an innocent question, the undertones were clear: ‘Your cards suck tonight.’
“Alright!” Luna announced dramatically. “I’ll call, and I’ll raise you a thousand bits.”
Twilight’s eyes widened. Even Celestia was a little taken aback. It was a common tactic for Luna to try and raise the stakes and scare her opponents into folding. Trouble was, it never worked. And it always played out as a massive loss on her part.
“A thousand bits? Jeesh, you sure about that?”
“Positive,” Luna said determinedly, with a pout that made Twilight think of a filly whose parent took away their favorite toy. It amused her no end.
“Okay,” Celestia replied with a shrug. “I’ll see you, then.”
“Two pair, kings and jacks,” Luna said proudly, dropping the cards on the table with a flourish. Twilight nodded to herself. Luna had gotten a lot worse on other nights. In comparison, these cards were fantastic. But Twilight recognized Celestia’s body language in an instant; the gentle nod of the head, one eyebrow raised slightly, and an overall nonchalant expression with a small grin forming in the corner of her lips. Luna was, of course, too determined to win to take any notice of this.
“Hmm,” Celestia said. “Not bad.”
“I know, right?”
“Only problem is…” Celestia’s voice trailed off as she dropped her cards onto the table, one by one.
Eight. Eight. Ace. Ace. Ace.
Luna’s jaw dropped.
“Full house, aces on eights.” Celestia said smugly, leaning back in her seat. “And you can come out now, Twilight.”
Twilight laughed as she stepped through the archway. “How much does she owe you now, Celestia?”
“If I counted right, this puts the debt up to around seven million, three hundred thousand and ninety bits.”
Luna facehoofed. She did occasionally have a lucky night, but the last one had been about four months ago. Her reasoning that, statistically, it had to happen sooner or later seemed less and less logical with each night that passed them by. It still marveled Twilight that she hadn’t given up already, but the best she could guess was that a thousand years on the moon had given Luna the patience of a saint. Or driven her mad. Or a bit of both.
As Luna tensely packed the deck of cards away, she spotted what Twilight was carrying tucked under her right wing. She’d clearly had a brief chat with Celestia prior to the card game, and was fully up to speed on what they were about to discuss. At least, she was as up to speed as Celestia, who was still very unclear about Twilight’s intentions.
“That’s not your sketchbook,” Luna noted as she slid the deck of cards into one of the drawers in the table.
“No, it’s not,” Twilight said as she lifted her wing and slid the book out with her magic.
Her sketchbook was much larger, and much heavier, but the book Twilight held looked like it was straight from the Canterlot Library. Reddish brown with a golden horseshoe insignia on the cover, the kind of book that nopony would give the luxury of a second glance.
“This was a gift from A.K. Yearling,” Twilight explained as she placed the book down on the table. “She gave it to me at the launch party of the final Daring Do book.”
Luna and Celestia both rolled their eyes and braced themselves for Twilight to go into fan-mare mode, but luckily for them, she was too focused on the other matters at hoof.
She twisted the three golden straps on the spine of the book, much like a basic combination lock. However, the book really began to intrigue Twilight’s fellow princesses when the horseshoe in the center of the cover started to glow. Twilight took this as her cue to twist the panel on which the horseshoe sat counter-clockwise, turning it to an orientation that made it look like a big ‘C’ in the middle of the page. The golden clasps on the spine popped away, and the book swung open… the wrong way.
Luna had to do a double take at that. The book had opened, but it had opened from the spine. The edges of the pages were now the only thing holding the book together.
“Nifty gift,” Celestia noted. “Why the secrecy?”
“Well,” Twilight explained as she began to take out various folded up papers from the book-turned-briefcase. “Some of these sketches are so secret, I’d be afraid to have them on show outside of my workshop.” Twilight always referred to her private room as her workshop, where she could read, relax, and above all, work, in peace. “This gives me a bit more peace of mind when I’m going back and forth with important papers.”
Luna’s mind began to race as she imagined what sort of things could be on the stacks of paper Twilight was pulling out, checking, then putting into two separate piles on the table. Each paper had been folded up and stamped with some sort of ID number on the top right corner, presumably for filing purposes. Twilight had evidently committed an entire system to memory, and was now searching almost mechanically for the ones she needed. Celestia and Luna kept quiet.
Before too long, Twilight found what she was after, and with an ‘ah’ sound, she put down one paper separate from the other two piles. One pile was much higher than the other, and was picked up by Twilight and returned to the book. What was left on the table was the one piece of paper that had been pulled out last, and the smaller pile of five pieces.
“So,” Celestia said as Twilight closed her book/briefcase. “Time to find out what you wanted us to see.”
Luna nodded as she looked at the pile of five sheets, sat just in front of her. In the top right corner, where Twilight had stamped a code for filing purposes, she saw five characters: ‘PR_DRT’.
The paper Twilight finished with, stamped ‘PR_X’, was the first to be unfolded. Luna slid over the pile of other papers to make space on the small table, as the large piece of paper took up the most of what was available.
When the paper was finally unfolded, Celestia and Luna moved round the table to stand either side of Twilight, as to get a proper look at the drawing.
“It’s a ball,” Luna said bluntly.
“No,” Twilight said, almost dejectedly. “Look closer.”
Celestia leaned in, and noticed a section of the picture that was a cross-section. The ‘ball’ had many internal layers, stacked one on top of the other and making the whole thing extremely dense. On the surface layer, thick tubes fed from small tanks attached to the side into what looked like spark plugs, dotted equidistant from each other across two rows around the top and bottom. The spark plugs looked like they went deep into the sphere, all the way past the layers and into the void in the middle. It was a ball of sorts, but none like Celestia had ever seen. So it stood to reason that it had to be so much more than just a ball.
“Alright,” Luna said, breaking the silence. “I’ll bite. What is it?”
“Well, lately I’ve been looking more into power than propulsion,” Twilight explained. She was almost glad Celestia and Luna knew about her involvement with EQUIS. It saved her a lot of explaining. “The main problem with current propulsion is fuel efficiency. We burn through fuel at an incredible rate, and pollute our world in the process. So I started looking into alternative ways I could power the space shuttles that EQUIS uses.”
Celestia’s jaw dropped as far as Luna’s had when she’d lost the game. “Is this a nuclear reactor?”
“No,” Twilight answered firmly. “At least, it’s not nuclear, but it is a reactor of sorts. First of its kind. To be more specific, it’s a fusion reactor.”
“A fusion reactor?” Luna asked, skeptical of the new concept. “What does that even mean?”
“Well, these tubes feed matter into the empty space in the middle here,” Twilight said, gesturing to the various parts of her elaborate sketch. “Beneath these protective layers, atoms are crushed together and release massive amounts of energy. The energy is released as heat and can then be channeled to engines, generators, whatever it is you need to power.”
“Hang on,” Celestia said, beginning to get a headache. “Is this safe?”
“Perfectly,” Twilight answered without even a second thought. “It’s the same process that powers the sun.”
“Woah woah woah,” Luna interrupted. “The sun? You want to build a sun?”
“If my calculations are correct, which they normally are, the layers of shielding would be more than sufficient to contain the fusion reaction safely.”
Celestia sighed. “So where are you going with this?” she asked. She was uncomfortable with the concept, as well as completely bewildered by it, but she had faith in Twilight’s abilities, and if Twilight had confidence that it was safe, she should as well.
“Well, I initially designed this to power space craft, with possibilities to expand to public use later on, but after going over the designs, I ran into a problem. In the wrong hooves, this could easily be used as a weapon of mass destruction.”
“So why are you showing this to us?” Luna asked.
“Because of this,” Twilight said, taking the paper marked ‘PR_DRT’ and beginning to unfold it. It was Celestia’s turn to notice the characters on the one below it, marked ‘PR_LVTHN’. Once the new paper was laid out on the table, Luna spotted the large words printed at the top of the page, answering what the characters stamped on it meant: ‘Project Dart’.
The picture in the middle stuck true to the name above it. A sleek rocket with sharply angled wings. The air intakes at the tail section for the rear thrusters barely stuck out of the body. A close inspection showed the glass canopy for the flight deck was perfectly shaped to cause no aerodynamic drag whatsoever. The whole thing looked like it was built entirely for the purpose of flying quickly, and with the cutaways revealing more than half a dozen jets in its tail, it looked like it would be very good at that particular job.
“So this is… what, some kind of new space ship?” Celestia inquired.
“Close, but not quite,” Twilight said. “Six years ago, some Captain from the Air Force got in contact with EQUIS, asking them to put him in contact with the elusive ‘Dusk Shine’. He had been asked by his superiors to try and locate a contractor for a top secret project. See, the Air Force planes were getting a bit out of date, and they wanted some new planes for their fleet. This is what I came up with, but they pulled out before I could show it to them. Their funding got pulled apparently. But I finished the designs, and this was the result.”
“Well?” Celestia asked, starting to get frustrated. “Are you going to explain what good a military jet that was never built will do us?”
“Think about what I said earlier,” Twilight answered, slightly hurt from Celestia’s condescending tone, but not willing to let it show. “Rescue equipment may be out of reach to some areas, and if it can be shipped, it takes a long time. What if we could eliminate speed as an issue by making sure it got there quickly, every time?”
“I’m listening.”
“Project Dart was commissioned around six years ago. With the designs I had then, my best estimates for its top speed were around one thousand miles per hour. Not exactly slow, I know, but I was anxious to do better. But, the fusion reactor was a much more recent design. And if my calculations are correct, Project Dart with the reactor powering it could reach more than ten times that.”
Celestia’s eyebrows rose as she began to take serious interest in what was being said.
“So, bring Project Dart with the fusion reactor into production then?” Luna suggested.
“That would be a reasonable plan, but remember what I said earlier? In the wrong hooves, the reactor could be used to destroy. If we were to use it for anything, it would need to be kept a secret.”
“Right,” Celestia said. “Look Twilight, no offense, but I’ve been up since six this morning. Would it be possible for you to cut to the chase?”
Twilight nodded, and unfolded the other four pieces of paper one at a time and giving the princesses a quick description of each failed project. There was Leviathan, a troop transport ship designed for the military. Trident, one of the first designs for an EQUIS space craft, but it had been scrapped due to the complication of the design. The ironically named Titan, a small but capable submarine designed for the navy. And finally Orion, a deep space satellite monitoring station, that had also been one of Twilight’s first concepts for EQUIS.
“Girls,” Twilight said when she’d finished unveiling each abandoned project. “This is our fleet.”
“Fleet?” Luna asked. “Five mismatched machines that could not be more different from each other, and you call them a fleet?”
Twilight smirked. “You say different, I say variety. The idea here is to cover all bases.”
“Bases for what?” Celestia asked.
“Bases for emergencies. In danger on top of a mountain? Covered. At the bottom of the sea? Also covered. Deep space? Guess what, that’s covered too.”
Celestia’s eyes widened as she began to catch on. “I’m guessing that you have no intention of making these designs publicly available.”
“Not at all. Now, sit down, and I’ll give it to you straight.”
The two sisters returned to their seats, Luna pulling a glass of whiskey from under the table as she sat.
“The idea is simple,” Twilight explained. “An independent organisation dedicated to saving lives. No politics, no ownership issues, just call if you’re in danger, and we come to the rescue. The designs I have here will be our craft, and the fusion reactor will be the real game changer. Project Leviathan was predicted to have a top speed of about three hundred miles per hour. I predict, when powered by the reactor, closer to five thousand.”
Luna began to catch on to the significance of the proposition. “With speed like that, you could get anywhere on the planet in, well, a few hours at the most.”
“As far as more specific rescues go, Leviathan was originally designed to be a drop-ship for military troops. This means it's big enough to carry all kinds of equipment. It will definitely be the workhorse of the fleet, but it’s definitely up to the job. We could probably even have Titan on permanent standby inside it.”
“So,” Luna said. “Leviathan is how you get equipment to a rescue scene. What about Dart, what would that be for?”
“Reconnaissance. With the phenomenal speeds I’m predicting for it, it could be halfway across the world from where it started by the time Leviathan could get airborne. Dart would get to the scene first and work out what equipment is needed. It could then radio to a base and then keep them updated on the way there.”
"And with Trident and Orion, you could even theoretically perform rescue missions in deep space," Luna noted.
A deep yawn from Celestia was clear indication to Twilight that they'd discussed more than enough for tonight. She could tell that the other two princesses were on board with her idea, but it was definitely getting too late for them to process new information.
“I think that’s all we can handle for tonight,” Celestia said, saying what they were all thinking. “Time for bed I think, Twilight has a big day tomorrow.”
“So she does,” Luna replied with a grin. “Her lover gets back from his dangerous mission in space, doesn’t he?”
Twilight blushed as Luna put the extra stress on the word ‘lover’, but laughed it out. As she’d grown into the role of princess over the years, Twilight’s relationship with Luna and Celestia had steadily become more and more casual. Now, their banter was so natural it felt odd to be so formal, but that was necessary in public. Down here, their royal equivalent of a gang clubhouse, was one of the few places she could banter comfortably any more.
But Twilight shook the thoughts of nostalgia from her head as she thought the words over in her head. Words she’d been longing to hear for so long, that her heart almost refused to believe it was almost time. But it really was time.
Her coltfriend was coming back tomorrow.