//------------------------------// // The Vote // Story: The Thousand Year Change // by Darthvalgaav //------------------------------// In the skies above Equestria, Princess Cadence, her guards, and Darkwing flew at top speed towards the small town of Ponyville. It was in one of its nearby forests, the Everfree Forest, where the new bat colony was located. Hoping to make a good impression with its leader, as well as to save time, the Princess of Love had decided not to bring her chariot with them. During the long flight, Cadence began to feel something that only powerful unicorns or alicorns could feel. It was powerful magic unlike anything she had ever felt before. For a brief second, she thought that it was a group of unicorns, casting a very powerful and complex spell. However, a feeling of dread seemed to come with this feeling. She could feel both anger and sorrow in the air, which only got worse as time went on. Then, about ten minutes later, the feeling began to fade. And Cadence didn’t know if she should be happy, or afraid. “Mommy, is something wrong?” asked Midnight, who was lying on Cadence’s back. “I’m fine,” she lied as she gave her daughter a reassuring smile. “But you were making a strange noise inside,” indicated Midnight, getting into a sitting position. “I was what?” asked Cadence, unsure as to what her daughter was referring to. “Your heartbeat,” explained Ruby as she flew a bit closer to Cadence. The bat pony then pointed to her ear. “We could all hear your heartbeat raise. If it’s about meeting Lone Wolf, we can still turn around.” “We shall do no such thing,” declared Cadence firmly. “I just felt some powerful magic. That’s all.” “Oh,” responded Ruby, who looked to the two who had come from the same colony as she did. Both of them shrugged, not knowing what to say or do. “Whatever it was, best to put it out of your mind,” suggested Darkwing as he flew to Cadence’s opposite side. “Because we’ll reach the Everfree Colony in a few hours. I suggest you use this time to come up with a game plan. Trust me, Lone Wolf won’t be happy knowing that I’m leading you there.” “I understand,” said Cadence with a nod. ‘I need to focus,’ she thought. ‘I just hope that whatever that was, it didn’t hurt anypony.’ -x- Luna found herself in the teleportation room of the Crescent Hope. The room was large, holding several square shaped pads on it, with each having six circles on each. Each of these circles were teleportation devices. When the ship was being built, Blue Star had pointed out that having more teleporters would give the ship a large advantage, in case something went wrong on the surface, or if you needed to get a large amount of ponies out of the ship in a hurry. The door then opened as Captain Starway entered, along with ten of the ships medical crew. Starway did her best to hide her shock as she laid eyes on the survivors. Princess Luna, however, saw it as plain as day. She too felt the same way. As for the medical crew, upon seeing them, they all rushed over to their Princess first with healing pods floating behind them. “I am fine,” stated Luna as she gestured to the others. “Attend to them first. They need it more than I.” Nodding, the medical team went to work. Princess Luna watched as most of them rushed over towards Shining Armor and Lightning Dust. Out of all of them, Shining Armor looked untouched and, besides panting a bit due to using so much magic, looked fine. Lightning Dust was another matter. “This looks bad,” proclaimed a member of the medical team when she saw Lightning’s missing wings. She and another pulled out their scanning equipment and began to examine the mare. “Rapid and shallow breathing, weak pulse, rapid heartbeat, and clammy skin. I think she’s going into shock. Get her in a healing pod, pronto!” As Lightning Dust was gently placed into the egg-shaped pod, Luna shifted her attention towards Shadow Blade. He was breathing hard as he tried to swat away the medical team from scanning him, or tending to his many cuts, which were dipping with blood. “I’m fine,” he snarled, almost swaying while he did so. “But sir, you’ve lost a lot of blood,” noted a member of the medical team. “It’s pooling on the floor!” “It’ll stop…when-” began Shadow, but stopped when he suddenly fell forward, colliding face first with the floor. Taking this opportunity, the medical team also placed him in a healing pod. Luna then turned her attention to her sister, whose body lay directly behind her, covered in blood. Unlike her two soldiers, Luna noticed that none of the medical team seemed to want to examine her, or offer any medical aid, to the solar princess. Eventually, one did reluctantly begin to look at her. And since the healing pods weren’t big enough to fit Celestia, she was roughly lifted into the air by Shining Armor, and taken to the medical room. “I-I can’t believe that this is all that remains of your honor guard,” uttered Starway, walking over to Luna, her head hanging low. “If only I could have gotten the ship to move a little faster.” “There was nothing you could have done,” said Luna softly. “You are bound to the limits of the ship. Regardless, we are grateful that you managed to get to Canterlot as fast as you did. Because of this, some lives were saved.” “We can at least be thankful for that,” agreed Starway with some reluctance as the two exited the transporter room. Luna led the way towards the bridge, with Crescent Hope’s captain by her side. “I hope your mission was successful, at least,” said Luna, hoping to hear some good news. “We managed to find a nice isolated spot in the far north, where nopony would bother us,” informed Starway as the two turned a corner. “The nearest pony settlement is at least a two day journey by hoof. Once the equipment was unloaded, we began to harvest the ice and bring it aboard the ship. However, when I got the distress call, I ordered that all crew members to be teleported onboard, and the equipment was left behind in an effort to get to Canterlot sooner.” “An understandable move, given the situation,” replied Luna. “How much ice did we get?” “Not enough,” said Starway with a sigh. “Right now, several compartments of the ship have been loaded with ice. It is estimated that once it has been melted and sent through the purification systems, the Republic’s water supply will be out of the danger zone. Just barely, though. We will still need to return and collect much more ice, so we can get back all that was lost.” As soon as she finished saying this, Luna and Starway entered the bridge. As they entered, everypony there stopped what they were doing and saluted the two. Luna gave them a nod, causing them to return to what they were doing. While they did this, Luna walked towards the large screen, which showed the moon getting larger at an impressive pace. “Have you contacted the Republic of anything?” asked Luna. Starway nodded as she took her seat in the captain’s chair. “As soon as we began heading towards Canterlot, I contacted Dome Zero to inform them that something had happened, and you were under attack. They tried to teleport you out from there, but due to the high magical interference, they were unable to do so. I was then informed that the Senate was gathering, in case the worst came to pass.” “No,” stated Luna, her eyes narrowing slightly. “The worst has yet to come.” -x- Meanwhile, back in Canterlot, Hot Pants was bent down besides one of the fallen pegasi. Using her magic, she gently picked him up and began to examine his wounds. This didn’t take long as she quickly noticed that his neck was nearly been cut off. Taking a deep breath, she maneuvered the body over to one of the many wagons that had been brought in, and set the body in it, along with all of the others that had died. ‘There’s just so many,’ thought Hot Pants, looking across the courtyard, her ears flattening as she did. All around her were ponies working hard as they sorted their dead comrades from those who were either badly injured or clinging to life. This had started as soon as the Lunar ponies had left. Once they were gone, Prince Blueblood stormed into the castle without issuing a single order. With nopony else to turn to, all eyes were on the single high ranking officer there: Hot Pants. When they came to her, her first order was to get Aerial Ace to the hospital wing, and then to begin searching for more wounded officers. To her surprise, all of the guards saluted her, said ‘yes, ma’am’, and then went straight to work. Personally, she hadn’t expected this. Soon after that, Crème showed up to inform that the city of Canterlot was in full panic mode. Ponies were either in the streets screaming that Nightmare Moon had blocked out the sun, while others were taking advantage of the situation by looting many of the homes. After explaining all of this, Crème said that she was going to take her remaining pegasi out into the city, so they could try and keep things under control. Hot Pants nodded and wished her the best of luck. So far, things were going by smoothly. Fourteen wagons had been gathered to better move the dead, until they could be properly placed to rest. Nopony was arguing, complaining, or stalling in any way with their work. “My leg!” came a loud scream that cut through the area like a knife, followed by loud sobbing. Hot Pants turned and ran to the source. There she found Lord North Star, who had bandaged an amputated foreleg of another guard, while Fancy Pants lifted the poor stallion up with his magic. “No need to worry, old chap,” said Fancy Pants in a reassuring tone as he carried the stallion towards the castle. “We’ll have you fixed up. Right as rain in a few months, I’m sure.” Once the two were out of sight, Hot Pants began to look at North Star. His coat was covered in blood stains, and his mane looked like a wreck. If it wasn’t for her knowledge of who this pony was, then she would never have guessed that he was a noble. “Thank you for all your help,” she said at last. North Star just waved it off. “Think nothing of it,” he replied with a sigh. “It’s the least we can do, after they risked their lives to defend this place. It is a pity that something like this had to happen in the first place. Hopefully, it will open the eyes of certain ponies, so we can avoid any further bloodshed.” “You don’t think that,” began Hot Pants, but stopped when she noticed something. Two members of the Guard were bringing in another wagon. However, instead of placing it alongside the others, they were instead bringing it towards the castle. Narrowing her eyes, Hot Pants raced towards them, with North Star right behind her. “What are you two doing?” demanded Hot Pants as she neared them. Once she was directly in front of them, she pointed towards the other wagons. “That wagon is needed over there!” The two guards looked at each other. While they remained silent, they were giving the other a look that said ‘you tell her’. Finally, one of them sighed in defeat, and a moment later, the two turned their attention back towards the lieutenant, who was now beginning to lose her patience. “Sorry, ma’am,” said the one who had sighed. “But we have orders to bring this into the castle.” “And why are you bringing two dead Lunar soldiers into the castle?” demanded North Star. Hot Pants’ eyes widened as she looked over at North Star, who now stood at the back of the wagon, so he could clearly see what it was carrying. Ignoring the two soldiers, Hot Pants’ galloped to the back and gasped at what she say. Sure enough, there were two corpses of Lunar earth ponies still in their armor. After seeing this, Hot Pants’ turned her attention back to the two guards. “Who gave the order?” she demanded. “I did,” said the sneering voice of Stareye. “Is there a problem with that?” Hot Pants turned around to look at her superior. He was standing a few feet away, surrounding by his newly appointed lieutenants. He was looking at her with distain, his eyes focusing on her messy mane, the drain blood and dirt on her coat, and her equally dirty armor. By contrast, Stareye looked as if nothing had happened. His armor was as clean was ever, and even seemed to be polished. The stallion’s mane looked like somepony had recently worked on it, and his coat seemed to shine. His lieutenants, on the other hoof, seemed a little different. Their heads were no longer held as high as before, and a few seemed to glancing around nervously, as if they expected to be attacked or something. All around them, the Guard began to slow down in their work, so they could better hear what was going down. “With all due respect, sir,” began Hot Pants, “we need every resource available in order to properly take care of both our wounded and dead. And, while I understand that we need to take the enemies corpses out of the general populace, bringing them into the castle seems foolish, given what we have seen of-” “Silence!” roared Stareye. “It was by order of Prince Blueblood, now the ruler of Equestria, that these two vermin be brought to the castle. “Furthermore, you may cease your current activities. I never approved of any of this, and I deem it a waste of time. Just round up all the dead and put them in the caverns underneath the castle, or something. As for the wounded, they are to be discharged from service.” Everypony’s eyes widened when they heard that. Some even took a step away from the current Captain of the Guard. North Star was the first to recover, glaring at his son with disgust clear in his eyes. “That is no way to treat your fellow soldiers,” he said, while Fancy Pants made his way onto the scene. “Especially the ones who gave their life fighting for their homeland. They deserve to be returned to their families, so they can say their goodbyes.” “And you can’t just toss out the injured ones!” said Hot Pants. “Many of them will be able to return to duty in a couple of months. A year at most. Many of they are highly trained soldiers, with years of experience. Also, Princess Celestia would never allow this to happen! She would never-” “But, she isn’t here anymore,” said Blueblood, his words cutting through the air like a knife. “We were going to keep her safe in her room, but she refused. Now she has been captured by those Lunar lowlifes.” “As it stands, I am in charge of our military until Prince Blueblood relieves me of my duties. And I say that it would be a waste of our time to identify each rotting corpse, track down their families, and return them. As for our injured, well, we can always get more bodies to replace them. Perhaps we should start a draft. Say anypony with a cutie mark and up. Old enough to know your special talent, old enough to fight.” As Stareye said this, the lieutenants were now beginning to look even more nervous. Some were taking very visible steps away from him. “You’re insane,” growled Fancy Pants. “I promise you that will never happen.” “Then, take it up with the Prince,” said Stareye lazily. “Oh, and by the way. There will be a meeting in the throne room in about ten minutes. All of the nobles and ranking members of the Guard are supposed to be there. Please use this time to clean yourselves up, so that you pass as presentable.” As Stareye walked away, Hot Pants nearly fell back on her plot with her mouth opened. ‘What am I going to do?’ she thought. ‘Many of the ponies in the medical wing need serious help. We can’t just throw them out and act like they aren’t our problem anymore. It isn’t right! But-’ Just then, she felt a hoof on her shoulder. Looking to her side, she saw North Star giving her a reassuring smile. “There, there,” he said gently. “I’ll take care of everything.” “But how?” asked Hot Pants. “I know some ponies who would be willing to help take our fallen heroes’ bodies back to their respected homes,” mentioned North Star. “I’ll also pay the medical bills for those who were badly injured.” “You won’t be alone,” inserted Fancy Pants. “I’ll help.” Hearing this brought a smile to Hot Pants’ face. “Thank you,” she said as she hugged both of the nobles. “It’s no problem at all,” responded North, pulling out of the hug. “But, now we all need to get going. We have less than ten minutes to figure out how we are going to deal with Blueblood, so things don’t get any worse.” As the three began to walk towards the castle, a certain statue on the other side of the estate began to grow a few more cracks. Inside, Discord was feeling all of the delicious chaos as it fueled his release. Soon, he would be free of his stone prison. All he needed was another powerful burst of chaos or two, and then he would be-. At that moment, a white substance landed inside Discord’s nose. With no way to wipe it clean, the Lord of Chaos vowed that when he was freed, he would get that bird. -x- Back on the moon, Land Share watched as Crescent Hope landed in its docking bay next to Dome Zero. Unlike other transport vessels, a special door had been created that resembled the lunar surface, which opened up to an underground hanger. Along the walls were many mechanical arms wielding plasma torches and other such tools used to repair the ship. Once the ship landed, a doorway opened. When it did, Land Share expected Princess Luna to be the first to exit, along with Shining Armor and Shadow Blade. Instead, however, he saw several members of the medical team rushing out of Crescent Hope, with two healing pods right behind them. And from their windows, Land Share saw the two that were in there, a feeling of dread began to grow in the pit of his stomach, believing that they were dead. Luckily, he quickly realized that it wasn’t the case. However, seeing them like that was still a hard pill to swallow. ‘N-no way,’ thought the senator as he fell on his plot. ‘There’s just no way either of those two could have been put in such critical condition.’ It was then he noticed Shining Armor exiting the space craft. Behind him, traveling in a shield bubble created by his magic, was Princess Celestia. Her body was covered with bandages that were soaked with blood and would need to be changed soon. The captain of the Shield Corps looked at the senator for a brief second, before looking away and quickening his step. Then, Princess Luna exited Crescent Hope, looking a little worse for wear. Gone were both her armor and regalia, leaving her completely naked while she walked towards Land Share. As she did, ponies began to unload containers filled with ice, leaving Land Share to a shocking and sad conclusion. “Are the others d-dead?” he asked softly. Luna slowly nodded her head. “I will explain more when I meet with the entire senate,” she said as she continued to walk, Land Share following her. “Please, Princess, is Shadow alright?” begged Land Share. “His life isn’t in any danger,” replied Luna, her voice very soft. “The medical team informed me as we landed that he simply lost a great deal of blood. The healing pod is currently working to patch up his wounds and stabilize his condition until he can get an infusion.” “Thank the stars,” exclaimed Land Share with pure relief in his voice. “I didn’t know how I would be able to face his family to give them the news if it had been more serious.” Upon hearing this, Luna nearly stopped in her tracks as the weight of his words hit her heart. Images of Twilight waking up, simply to find that the stallion she loved was dead, caused her insides to twist. Tears nearly formed in her eyes as she envisioned Scootaloo crying besides her adopted mother. “H-how are they?” asked Luna. Land Share let out a sigh. “Twilight is still unconscious,” he noted sadly. “No change in her condition, so I suppose that’s a good thing. If only her heart hadn’t been damaged, then she’d be up by now. “Scootaloo is a different story,” he continued. “Went to check up on her after I spoke to Shadow earlier. She had apparently woken up shortly before I arrived, and one of the nurses had let it slip about Twilight. The fool should have kept his mouth shut until Shadow returned. When I entered the room, she was doing her best to try and leave her bed to see Twilight, but the doctors wouldn’t let her. “After what happened with Sunset Shimmer, they were concerned that seeing Twilight in that kind of condition would be too much for her, both emotionally and mentally. They were about to sedate her, but I stepped in to try and calm her down. It took a while, but I managed to reassure her that Twilight was going to be ok, and that what they both needed right now was rest.” “I see,” said Luna, thankful for Land Share’s assistance in this matter. She knew that Twilight would also be grateful that somepony was looking out for her daughter, while both she and Shadow were indisposed. “So, what happened next?” “I asked her if she needed anything, and all she asked for were some of her textbooks,” answered Land Share. “I quickly got them for her, and once she got them, she dived right into them. Before I left, I told the doctors to watch over her, and let me know if anything happened.” “Very good,” said Luna, noticing that she was near the Senate Room. Less than five minutes later, Luna and Land Share entered the room where the other senators were waiting. Looking at the ponies gathered, Luna could see relief on each of their faces. As the two took their seats, Luna noticed that, standing off to the side, was Bunsen Burner. Normally, a meeting like this wouldn’t concern a pony like him. ‘Perhaps,’ thought Luna, ‘they called him in for information, in case they needed to launch a rescue mission.’ Upon seeing her, Bunsen began to stand, in order to leave, but Luna looked at him and shook her head. Right now, she wished for him to remain, in case they still needed any scientific help. “Princess, we were beginning to worry,” commented April Showers. “Thank the stars you came back safely.” “I too am thankful, not only for me, but also for the few others that were able to return as well,” said Luna heavily. Her words had an immediate impact of all those present, each one had a look of both confusion and worry. Seeing no point in delaying that matter, Luna began to tell them of the events that transpired. While she did so, nopony made a sound. They listened with great intensity, their anger growing as they heard of Blueblood’s arrogance and the battle that took place. Luna continued to tell them of her battle against Celestia, and how she had managed to defeat her, as well as her realization that Blueblood had taken over, fooling Celestia utterly. The only thing that Luna could not tell them at this time were the battles that her honor guards had fought. All she could do was inform them of the injuries that both Shadow and Lightning sustained. It was Luna’s belief that those who did not make it had fought until the very end, refusing to allow themselves to be captured by the enemy. When she finished, the feel of the room was different than when she first entered. Anger now rippled in the air, and there was a fury on each face of the Senate that could scare even a dragon. “This news…is most unnerving,” said Scorpio after a moment of silence. “That is an understatement,” growled Gigawatt before slamming his hoof against the table with enough force to crack it. “Princess Luna, I fear I must demand a call for the war vote. Things have gone too far not to.” “I agree,” said a stone faced Luna. “Equestria has made its point very clearly. The ponies there do not wish to have peace with us. So, I shall call for the war vote. “But, before I do, there is something that I must tell you. We are a nation that has never experienced the pain of war before. It is not glorious nor fun. It is not a place where a pony can find his or her destiny. It is something that often brings out the worst in ponies, and those that return might not ever really return.” “Princess, are you trying to talk us out of war?” asked Stock Market, who appeared to be lightly shaken by Luna’s words. Princess Luna shook her head. “No,” she answered. “I want this war just as much as any other pony in this room. But, I am the only one who has ever experienced real war before. It would be wrong of me to declare war like this without giving everypony here all the facts. “Now, all those in favor of war please raise your hoof.” As soon as these words left Luna’s mouth, the hooves of both Gigawatt and Scorpio shot into the air. Everypony else however, seemed to have their anger tempered by her words. Then, much to her surprise, Land Share slowly raised his hoof. After he did that, one by one, all of the remaining senators raised their hoof. “The motion is carried,” said Luna. “We go to war.”