//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 - Speculation // Story: Chernobyl = Everfree // by Piece Bot //------------------------------// 1000 Years Later - 10 Years Before Present Day Holding a pile of books under one arm and carrying a cup of coffee in the opposite hand, Twilight Sparkle was running to her tower on the castle grounds. Being careful not to spill any coffee on her dress, she skirted a few people milling about the courtyard and rushed to her destination. Getting to the doors, she calmed herself and pushed them open with her back. Edging across the wood, she took a sip of coffee and moved a bit quicker. She pushed herself off the door and moved away before it shut. Twilight clenched her teeth and cringed when she heard it slam loudly. “I really need to get that fixed,” Twilight said through gritted teeth. She moved up the marble staircase, depositing the books back in their rightful place. Standing up from the bottom shelf, Twilight turned and wondered where Spike disappeared to. He probably went to Moondancer’s party. Looks like I’ll have to find the book on my own. Twilight picked up the lukewarm cup of coffee off the floor and downed the rest of it in one gulp. She then put the styrofoam cup in the nearby bin, and moved to the middle of the room, and slowly turning in a circle, she looked at the polished wooden bookshelves and the leathered spines of the books. Spotting the correct shelf, she stopped spinning and carefully picked up a book. “Dictionary of Everything? No,” Twilight muttered to herself and placed the book back. She picked out a couple of other books and scanned their titles. Seeing that they weren’t what she was looking for, Twilight moved on to a different shelf and tried there. Finally, after turning over nearly half the library, Twilight found the book she was looking for near the back of her gigantic library room. “A History of Equestria: 6th Edition. I wonder why this wasn’t near the front,” Twilight wondered out loud. She moved back to the front of the history books section, carefully stepping over the books Spike was going to put back for her. Placing the book on one of the reading stands at the front, Twilight rapidly flipped through the pages till she found the correct one. She tapped her finger against the page and proceeded to take a notepad out of her jeans pocket and a pencil out of the bun in her hair, causing it to come undone and flow down to her waist. “Elements of Harmony, see Mare in the Moon. Okaay, that’s odd.” Twilight flipped to the Mare in the Moon entry and quickly scanned the passage. She took notes down and once done, looked over them. “On the longest day of the thousandth year — isn’t that when the Summer Sun Celebration is? I have to tell Princess Celestia!” Twilight panicked and went to get Spike but remembered that he was most likely at Moondancer’s. “I don’t have time for this!” Twilight shouted in a huff and ran to the door. When she reached to open it, the door moved forward on its own and banged into her face. Grasping her nose in pain, Twilight glared at the person who had opened the offending door and found to her delight that it was Spike. Given how messy his green hair was, he didn't really care for his appearance that day, and his unzipped purple hoody and a lime green t-shirt underneath only supported that notion. His runners were a light purple with mint-green stripes running along the sides. Spike’s mouth hung open and he quickly went to Twilight’s side to see if he had hurt her in some way. “You okay, Twilight? I’m sorry, I didn’t expect to see you there!” Spike shouted in a brief panic. “Spike? I thought you went to Moondancer’s party,” Twilight asked nasally. She wondered if the door had broken her nose slightly. “I didn’t even know that you were back yet. I went to go, but then remembered that I forgot the present I was meant to give her. You going somewhere?” Spike asked as he stepped through the door. “Ugh! We don’t have time, Spike! We have to get these notes to Princess Celestia right away!” Twilight brandished the notes in front of Spike’s face, but Spike pushed the arm out of the way. “So that’s where you’re going. Want me to come along?” “Yes, of course I do. I just have to get these notes to the Princess immediately!” Twilight said hurriedly and without waiting for a reply, raced out the open door towards Celestia’s castle. Spike sighed and ran at full speed after her, but even that was not enough to catch up to the racing teenager. “Twilight! Slow down!” Spike shouted running after her. He looked down to catch his breath, and when he looked up, he saw purple and pink hair whip past the castle doors. The least she could have done was wait up for me. Spike almost tripped on a rock in his path; he stumbled but recovered in time to quickly run up the stairs without falling flat on his face. Breathing in slowly, he opened the heavy wooden doors of the castle. Come on Twilight. Please tell me you’re— of course. Spike interrupted himself by seeing her slip past some velvet ropes and a couple of guards; straight into the throne room where Princess Celestia was most likely holding a court with her subjects. A queue extended from the throne room and partway into the hall itself. Face-palming, Spike sighed and walked straight past the queue to the velvet ropes. He slipped past the guards the same way Twilight did much to the disdain from the queue. Inside, he saw that he was correct about a whole crowd of people being addressed by Princess Celestia. Spike moved to where Twilight was and saw her hopping slightly from foot to foot. “Twilight? Everything okay? You seem a bit anxious,” Spike whispered, concerned. “Of course I’m anxious! I didn’t expect Princess Celestia to be holding court right this second! I thought she would be here all alone and that I’d have a bit of time to talk with her about this,” Twilight whispered back, nervously flicking through her notebook at random intervals. “Where are your glasses?” Spike asked, quickly noticing that she wasn’t wearing them. Twilight reached to the top of her head in response and placed them on her face. She smiled and went back to impatiently waiting for Princess Celestia’s court to finish. After about ten minutes of constant shuffling, Twilight saw Princess Celestia motion for a ten minute break. “This is our chance Spike!” Twilight squeaked excitedly and immediately rushed to the princess’s side, leaving Spike to get through the crowd on his own. She really needs to cut down on that coffee, Spike grumbled. Once Twilight reached the princess’s side, Twilight hurriedly bowed. Looking back up, she saw that Princess Celestia was wearing a white robe with gold trim along with a light grey dress underneath it.. “Princess Celestia, I’m sorry to bother you but I need to speak with you about something,” Twilight said tentatively. Celestia laid a hand on Twilight’s shoulder and smiled softly. “It’s alright, Twilight. Come with me to my chambers. It will be more private there than out here,” Celestia said and without another word, she got up and began to escort Twilight to her private chambers. “What is it you wanted to talk to me about?” Celestia asked as they walked. Twilight fidgeted with her notes and smiled nervously. “Well, you see, it’s about the Summer Sun Celebration that’s happening tomorrow. I think something terrible is going to happen and I’ve got no idea if we can stop it or if it will come true or -” Twilight ceased her talking as she saw that Princess Celestia was in deep thought. “Princess Celestia?” she asked. Celestia looked at her pupil with a blank stare before coming back to her senses. “‘Something terrible will happen tomorrow’? I think I know what you are saying. Do not worry about it Twilight Sparkle. If something does come to pass, I will handle it,” Celestia said reassuringly, feeling her wings twitch slightly under her robe. Before Twilight could respond, Princess Celestia opened her chamber door and invited Twilight and Spike inside. The princess’s chamber was spacious and curved rather than a traditional four-sided room. Spanning a rather large portion of the wall was a window that overlooked Canterlot and beyond. Sitting in the middle of the room was a bed with a curved foot, that covered a sizeable part of the floor. The bedsheets were cloud white with the pillow cases being a light grey. It was here that Princess Celestia invited them to sit. “Now. Can you repeat what you were trying to tell me earlier?” Celestia asked Twilight. Twilight responded with a nod. “Tomorrow is the Summer Sun Celebration, right? Then that must mean that tomorrow is the longest day of the year. And it’s been, what, about a thousand years since the banishment of Nightmare Moon?” Twilight asked, not entirely sure about the exact date of when the first Summer Sun Celebration had started. Celestia gave a small flinch at the mention of the banishment. She sighed, and nodded in confirmation of her student’s knowledge. She remembered the date perfectly, since she had started to move both the sun and moon on her own. “Yes, Twilight. It has been that long since the Celebration had started. Where are you going with all this? That Nightmare Moon is going to come back and bring Eternal Night? You know that’s just an old wives’ tale,” Princess Celestia said with a fake-cheerful air. Twilight didn’t seem to notice it though. “I know that but what would happen if it was true?” Twilight whined. “If it was, then I would do everything to stop it. However, you should stop reading those books and make some friends. This is why I am going to send you to Ponyville to look over the preparations for the festivities tomorrow,” Celestia said with finality. She stood up and retrieved a rather small scrolled up bit of paper off her bedside table. “I was meant to send this to you earlier, but I got held up. This is the list of what you need to do. Take it, and try to make some friends while you do so. I’ve arranged for you to live at the local library and taken the liberty to arrange transport as well.” Celestia handed Twilight the scroll. Twilight took it and unfurled it with Spike reading over her shoulder. “I can do this. Thanks for the talk Princess. Come on Spike,” Twilight said with a relieved mind and lead Spike out the door. She put the scroll into her jeans pocket and quickly looked at herself in a mirror on the wall. As she fixed up her hair to get it back to normal from its dishevelled state, Twilight decided that her wearing dark blue jeans with an equally dark purple, short-sleeved shirt with a bright pink star in the middle was good enough for the people of Ponyville. After fixing up her waist-length hair, she looked down at Spike and sighed. “What’s the matter Twilight? We’re going to a place outside of Canterlot! Isn’t it great!?” Spike asked excitedly, holding his hands up in the air. “Yeah, it is. But why does the Princess think I need to make friends while supervising the festivities? I’ve only got one good friend and that’s enough for me,” Twilight said in a huff. “Who’s the friend? Oh right! Me!” Spike said after seeing a glare from Twilight. “Come on. We may as well get this over with. I can research the Mare in the Moon further at the library in Ponyville,” Twilight said and managed a small smile before returning to the glare. She walked quickly out of the castle with Spike at her heels. Seeing that there were a couple of guards stationed at the airfield, Twilight reckoned that was how she was getting to Ponyville. The guards wore grey, streamlined plate armor with slits for their eyes and mouths. In their hands, they held assault rifles. As Twilight and Spike approached, both guards stood at attention and saluted them. “Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia’s personal pupil?” one of them asked although it was hard to tell which because the armor bars her view of their mouths. Twilight nodded. “Spike, assistant to Twilight Sparkle?” they asked again. Spike nodded fearfully. “We have been asked to escort you to the Princess’s personal aircraft. Please, this way.” The guard that spoke moved away from the gate and lead Twilight and Spike to the aeroplane. It was the only plane on the runway, which seemed to extend to the end of the cliff face. The plane was sleek and narrow. It seemed to be designed for speed. As they walked closer, Twilight and Spike noticed that the nose appeared to be facing downwards instead of at a straight angle parallel with the plane. On the side facing them was a single word. ‘Concorde’. It looked like it wasn’t associated with any airline company working in Equestria. “This is what we’re going to Ponyville in? It looks like that there isn’t a runway at Ponyville that could slow this down enough without crashing!” Twilight exclaimed, looking at the sheer length of the runway just for take-off. The guard didn’t answer and merely escorted them to the steps that would lead them inside. He stood to the side and watched Twilight and Spike walk in. Once he was sure they were safely in, he ran to the front and waved at the pilot, signalling that it was all clear to go. While the engines started up, the guard quickly ran to the minimum safety distance and watched it take off. The Concorde quickly gained speed and when its nose lifted, the plane did as well. When it rolled off the edge of the cliff, the plane immediately took off rather than falling to an impending crash. The plane climbed higher and higher until all that could be heard was a faint sonic boom as it sped towards its destination.