Twilight's Sun, Celestia's Stars

by JKinsley


3. Invention (implied dark)

Twilight stood on the gantries of her large laboratory. Technicians ran to and fro, some with materials, some with print-outs from instruments, and still others scribbled notes or shouted orders. Twilight sighed. The shouting and banging reminded her too much of the events that lead to her being in this lab in the first place. Best not dwell on those thoughts. It wouldn’t do well to have the other researchers seeing you in such a state, she thought.

“Months, Celestia. Months we’ve been at this, and finally, maybe, we’ll have a working product,” Twilight said. Her voice struck a tone between desperation and excitement. “The finest minds and hooves of Equestria toiling away on this secret project, and today might be the day it all comes together.”

“Let’s hope this is worth it, then. But I am glad you’ve been here, my darling. Before you started the research, well,” Celestia said, and then dropped to a whisper in Twilight’s ear, “let’s just say that I had a few too many nights with naught but my hooves and warm thoughts of you.”

Twilight blushed profusely and turned away. Her smile betrayed the seemingly indignant huff that followed, and when Celestia wrapped a wing around her to bring her close, Twilight lovingly nuzzled Celestia’s soft chest and shoulders.

“I missed you too, sweetheart. So much,” Twilight whispered back.

The cuddles were soon interrupted by a large earth pony mare who climbed onto the gantry. Her coat was several shades darker than its usual light brown; her work left her covered in a dark grey soot. “Doctor, Princess,” she nodded quickly to both ponies. “Doctor Twilight, the experiment is ready for its final run. We’re waiting on your orders.” She handed over a clipboard with several charts and diagrams, along with a detailed report.

Twilight skimmed through the information to double-check that it matched what she was hoping to see. She nodded and hummed until she finished reading the material. “Very good, Steel Forge. Start the test."

Steel Forge nodded curtly and turned around to climb down to the lab floor. She spoke quickly to the gathered ponies, and a pair of large stallions wheeled out a large metal tube. A unicorn mare slid a long, thin package down the tube, followed by a ball of the same diameter.

Everypony had already cleared the area when another unicorn mare brought a small torch to the rear of the tube. It was closed, save for a tiny opening with a string sticking out. She lit the string with the torch and it started to spark. She ran for cover like the others.

"Cover your ears," Twilight said to Celestia, before covering her own and casting a semi transparent shield around them.

Celestia clasped her hooves to her ears just in time to see a furious cloud of smoke come from the open end of the tube. A moment later, the loudest noise Celestia heard assaulted her ears. Were they not covered, she was sure she would have suffered hearing loss.

Once she saw Twilight uncover her ears, Celestia did the same. “Twilight, what in Equestria was that? It sounded like you were trying to blow up the lab.”

“Well, it was technically an explosion. Just a very controlled and directed explosion. I give to you two things: gunpowder and the cannon.” Twilight hugged Celestia tightly. “I know it’s frightening. My hope is that we only need this once and we can never, ever return to such awful measures.”

Celestia softened and her shoulders relaxed. “I know, that’s my hope too.” She stroked Twilight’s back and wrapped her neck around Twilight’s. “Will this work, though? Can you really use it against those... monsters?”

“Yeah...” Twilight mumbled. “But I worry we might become monsters, too.”