//------------------------------// // The Nuclear Option // Story: Equestria Has Fallen // by ward282 //------------------------------// Time Turner and Thunderer sat at the main table in the War Room. Princess Cadence was the only other pony present in the building it was odd to have the room so empty, normally there was a hive of activity but today the eerie quiet made goosebumps form on both their skins. "So the Elements of Harmony can power this.... Grid and then you can use the energy to overload the shield here?" Cadence asked. "Yes, but even with the Elements there is still a strong possibility of a core meltdown and an explosion." Time Turner said nervously. He'd rarely met the Princesses, being in the same room as them was nerve-racking, he adjusted his tie for the eighth time in five minutes. He didn't want to let the Princess down he was only one pony and an earth pony at that, he didn't have magic like unicorns to build things, he'd used his bare hooves, blood sweat and tears. "And the other options?" Cadence asked. "Well... uhm... I'm not sure if you knew but...." "But?" Cadence pressed further. "I studied Starswirl the Beardeds' forbidden spells, mainly the spell involving time travel." Time Turner explained with utter confidence compared to a few seconds ago. It was a subject he'd studied his whole life of course he'd be confident now, this was no surprise to Thunderer who just sat in silence. "I read the paper yes" Cadence said. "I want to recreate the spell to open a portal, I've managed it before but it only lasted a minute or so. The plan would be to go back and warn ourselves but Starswirl put in his books that you should never meet yourself in the past." "And how likely is it to open this portal for a longer time given that you aren't a unicorn?" "With the Elements and The Grid, I have a device called the tesseract that can open portals in time and space, it just needs power put into it for it to work. Setting the time and place is easy, it works off subconscious thought. This would allow a pony to go back to Canterlot, if they took the tesseract with them then they could return, but we'd a large amount of power for it to work. Which brings us back to problem 1." "The nuclear explosion?" Cadence asked. "Yes" Time Turner replied. "And the third option?" Cadence asked This time Thunderer spoke up. "Would be to take the fight to Queen Chrysalis herself and use the Elements of Harmony against her." "We don't have the resources or the ponypower to do so" Cadence explained. "All of the options give us an all or nothing situation." Thunderer explained. "Well out of the three options making an all out assault against Queen Chrysalis is our best one and even then, Equestria is a divided nation now. There's abominations in Buckingham right on our door, I've got Discord waging war with Cloudsdale. Not to mention our dragon problem in Manehatten. Then there's the bandit ponies working with the Queen and the outcast ponies who will neither stand with us or against us. Even when King Sombra tried to kill the Queen she ripped through his heart out and then executed all the crystal ponies." "You're not King Sombra" Thunderer said defensively. Cadence shifted in her seat and levitated the crown off her head. She let her short mane cover her eyes, Thunderer wondered if she was genuinely tired or if she was hiding tears. Since Shining Armour had been turned to stone Cadence led the entire Equestrain Resistance. There were those that didn't trust her, mainly from the events at the wedding but most ponies just wanted to get out of the protective walls of Trottingham. Some ponies had legitimate reasons but others turned to crime to live. "King Sombra had a larger army than ours" Cadence said from behind her mane. "Of slaves" Thunderer quickly replied, "Ponies who had no choice but to fight for him. You have a Royal Guard and a militia force who carry your banner." It seems to me we have to come back to this but one thing is constant. We need to find the Elements of Harmony for all three options." Cadence said now returning the crown to her head. "You've considered my proposal?" Thunderer asked. "Yes. Luna and I have decided that you should lead a team to reunite the Bearers of Harmony, however you'll have to do some other tasks as well. We can't lose Manehatten or Cloudsdale, Soarin and Fleetfoot are defending the cities as best as they can but it won't be long until they fall too." "There is something I need to tell you about the Elements" Time Turner said. Both Cadence and Thunderer had forgotten that Time Turner was sitting in the same room as them, he'd been so quiet for so long. "The Elements seem to be connected to their Bearer, it reflects their emotions and lately the Element of Laughter is losing power. If it loses power then the shield generator will stop working. I'm working on designs for them to operate independent of the Element but nothing that'll work just yet." "So we'll need to move soon" Thunderer added. "Fine you'll leave for Manehatten two weeks today" Cadence said, "That'll give you enough time to collect supplies for the ten day walk and assemble a small team. I'll need to know who you'll be taking soon." "There's a rock farm on the way there, we only go past it as we're avoiding Buckingham. When Pinkie Pie was here she mentioned her family ran a rock farm, we think she may have fled there. We should go there first and then to Manehatten." Cadence listened intently and mulled the words over. "Fine" Cadence said. Princess Cadence stood up and used her magic to open the doors from the building above. Commander Spitfire walked in. "Spitfire, bear witness. I Princess Mi Amore Cadenza hearby order by Royal Sanction a team of ponies who have been tasked with collecting the Elements of Harmony and their respective Bearers." Princess Cadence said, her tone taking a deep boom in what most common ponies called the Royal Canterlot Voice. Spitfire nodded as somepony with her rank would have to approve such an operation. Thunderer turned to Time Turner. "This is it."